Afternoons and Coffeespoons

There is an innate danger when the worlds of "change" and "time on my hands" collide. There is something to be said for having the comfort of the familiar wrapped around you. As much as I ponder and plan things, my life leaps from one thing to another, with not even an ounce of grace...

Worldless Wednesday-Random Scenes from My Life.

Salem

Katie and I at GB Football

Make a wish Dad!

The Linda, aka Mom :)

Sam

Holly as a Bob Kitten

Michael and Brittany

Random Photo

Hollys Birthday

Random Photo

Brittany and Gigi

Brittany and Caitlyn

Brittany and Holly

Holly

Friday Feast

Feast One Hundred & Seventy Six
Appetizer: What is your favorite beverage?
Diet Coke

Soup:Name 3 things that are on your computer desk at home or work.
Proposals
Process presentations
Pictures of people I love to keep me sane

Salad: On a scale of 1-10 (with 10 being highest), how honest do you think you are?
9.9999999 (White lies totally count)

Main Course:If you could change the name of one city in the world, what would you rename it and why?
Any city that has “new” in front of it. I.e. “New London” “New Baltimore” etc. Be original people!!!!!

Dessert:What stresses you out? What calms you down?
What doesn’t stress me out?
Being held calms me down, I am high maintance.


Leftovers:
AppetizerWhat was your very first job with a paycheck?
Dairy Queen

Soup:Did you ever lose something really important to you?
My mother’s high school graduation ring

Salad: What is the best Christmas present you ever received?
THEE best? I like them all.

Main Course: Tell about a favorite “hang out” place for you and your friends when you were in high school.
I really do not remember?

Dessert:Name something that always brings a smile to your face.
My dogs.

Appetizer: Which language would you like to learn and why?
German, because I remember nothing from my class I just took 6 months ago

Soup: What’s the funniest thing you’ve heard or read so far this week?
Stewie on Family Guy “Gina Davis has a bad gum to teeth ratio”

Salad: Which movie was so bad you couldn’t watch the whole thing?
Broke back Mountain.

Main Course:If there were a holiday in your honor that didn’t use your actual name, what would the day be called?
“The Festival of Boo”

Dessert: Name one movie which is coming out soon that you would like to see.
The Orphanage

Appetizer:Have you ever flown in a helicopter?
Hell no!

Soup: What color is your warmest coat or jacket?
Black Wool pea coat.

Salad: What is your favorite rainy day activity?
I cannot say in this forum >:)

Main Course:Describe your hands.
Oh Lord, way to big for my little body and creepy long fingers.

Dessert:If you could eat only one nut for the rest of your life, what nutwould you pick?
Brazil nut

TGIF and Wee little mice who talk and help clean...

[Sally's letter to Gillian] "Sometimes I feel like there's a hole inside of me, an emptiness that at times seems to burn. I think if you lifted my heart to your ear, you could probably hear the ocean. The moon tonight, there's a circle around it. Sign of trouble not far behind. I have this dream of being whole. Of not going to sleep each night, wanting. But still sometimes, when the wind is warm or the crickets sing... I dream of a love that even time will lie down and be still for. I just want someone to love me. I want to be seen. I don't know. Maybe I had my happiness. I don't want to believe it but, there is no man, Gilly. Only that moon…"

One of the saddest things that I have ever been told is “There is no such thing as a Knight in Shining Armor” It was one of those random events that stoned me. The first time I heard it, was from husband #2, and then from various other people in my life.
I would just like to state for the record, that I have never needed a swash buckling anything to come and show me the way out of the castle and into the promised land, but more so someone loyal, brave and kind, willing to help slay the dragons, and who adores and loves me and treats with the up-most respect. The Knight of “always going to be there when you call.”
I believe in the kind of love that weathers every storm, that becomes well worn and trust worthy. I want there to be the happily ever after where the boy gets the girl and they stay together until the credits roll. Chivalry cannot be dead! I want to stand on the side of Hallmark and shout that the crap they have inside of the mushy Valentines Day cards can be true, that it is possible, and real, and out there in the real world, people have found it.
I do not ever want to get swallowed up in the bitterness and regret. I have before and the occasional wallow isn’t something not on my radar by any stretch, but without the rope of real love and connection, I wouldn’t like it here very much. I do love to pretend that I am bitter and jaded and that love and emotion are for suckers. It makes me feel more in control of situations that I truly have not that much control over.
If I ever have children of my own to pass that knowledge on to, I would absolutely tell them they should never settle for anything less then falling in love and spending the rest of their lives with their best friend. Giving in to the harshness just feels like giving up on the best things in life to me. I do not ever want to admit defeat on the happily ever after. Life would be awfully gray. I can slay the dragon just fine thank you, but it is better with a true partner.

Thursday Thirteen
13 More things learned along the Long Way
Sometimes people are just cruel, and it never makes anything better to try and figure out why.
Never be the band-aid when the wound wasn’t caused by you
Books on CD help make the work commute tolerable
The best feeling in the world is when someone is genuinely happy to see you
Sometimes, it really is their loss and not yours
Roses do not smell that good
You really can’t please everybody all of the time
The answers to all of life’s questions can be found in the movie “The Godfather” or the Kenny Rogers Classic “The Gambler” (the song, not the movie)
Dessert is important
Dog’s really are man’s best friend
Snuggling is magic
Sometimes you just don’t grow out of being afraid of the dark
The fact that I exist, means that at some point, my parents looked at each other for the first time and thought “What if?”

Ahhh the comfort of Robert...

I discovered Robert Fulghum in the 7th grade. (I was never normal, not even as a child)
I simply adore his writing. I quote him allot. When I am having a really rough day or looking for a spot of inspiration. My books are so ear-marked and nasty it is almost time to buy new copies. I highly reccommend them. The below is something that a snippet of popped into my brain when driving home, so I "looked it up in its place"...


"To get through this life and see it realistically poses a problem. There is a dark, evil, hopeless side to life that includes suffering, death, and ultimate oblivion as our earth falls into a dying sun. Nothing really matters. On the other hand, the best side of our humanity finds us determined to make life as meaningful as possible NOW; to defy our fate. Everything matters. Everything. It is easy to become immobilized between these two points of view - to see them both so clearly that one cannot decide what to be or do. Laughter is what gives me forward motion at such intersections. We are the only creatures that both laugh and weep. I think it's because we are the only creatures that see the difference between the way things are and the way they might be. Tears bring relief. Laughter brings release. Some years ago I came across a phrase in Greek - asbestos gelos - unquenchable laughter. I traced it to Homer's Iliad, where it was used to describe the laughter of the gods. That's my kind of laughter. And he who laughs, lasts."


Robert Fulghum (1937 - )
Source: It Was On Fire When I Lay Down On It,

Worldless Wednesday

Friday Feast #175

Friday Feast #175


Appetizer
What is your middle name? Lynn
Would you change any of your names if you could? Yes
If so, what would you like to be called? Her Royal Majesty

Soup
If you were a fashion designer, which fabrics, colors, and styles would you probably use the most?-Black, all fabrics, just in black. 90% of my business attire is black.

Salad
What is your least favorite chore, and why?-Folding laundry

Main Course
What is something that really frightens you, and can you trace it back to an event in your life? Abandonment and Yes

Dessert
Where are you sitting right now? At my desk
Name 3 things you can see at this moment.
My monitor
Mug of Java
email from a friend saying G-love and Special Sauce will be playing a week from today and that we are all going.

Wordless Wednesday

Manic Monday One

Manic Monday: One
“One day, you will look back on this and laugh” I have no idea who coined that phrase, but apparently they were an optimist. There are numerous “One Day’s” that I can now look back on and snicker and proudly (if not quietly) think to myself “Amen, I made it through that” Unfortunately, we do not see so far into the future when that one day event is crashing all around us. When I stuck the eraser up my nose in 1st grade and had to have it removed with a hypodermic needle. When the boy I liked in 3rd grade threw away my valentine. The time I threw up in the car on a way to a meeting, 5 hours from the office. Failing a Home Economics. Project because a girl in our group used salt instead of sugar. (wasn’t me!) I am glad I have gotten to that “One Day” where I can laugh at those moments. One good laugh can erase countless bad feelings.

Cough...Sniffle...

All I have to say for today is, they can map DNA, Give people artifical hearts, but they cannot cure the common cold???? WTF? *Becky goes back to hiding under her blanket*

TGIF and sweep up the confetti...

The first week of 2008 is coming to a close. 365 days ago I had no idea what the year had in store for me, and I am sure I will be just as surprised 365 days from today. I don't think I would have believed anyone if they told me the 2007 story anyway. I have gained and lost people in my life, moved, had to see my siblings as adults, not as children. One of my oldest and dearest friends became pregnant with her first child, that event in itself made me stop and think about what is truly important, and what I can close the book on.
I am generally anxiety riddled at the thought of major change, but by some grace of God; I am looking forward to this year. I really hate to say it, because I will sound older than I actually am, but with age, wisdom does come. (even for me :) ) After all, Thursday's Child has far to go anway, right?
So, we should all raise our stiens to the distant horizon and embrace what ever it is that we are sailing into. (and maybe put on a lifevest, and a helmet, and maybe some padding...)

Friday Feast

#174

Appetizer:
When was the last time you received a surprise in the mail, and what was it?
A birthday present from my Aunt Nancy. (June)

Soup:
If you could have a summer and/or winter home, where would you want it to be?
Summer: Mackinaw Island
Winter: South Beach

Salad: Pick one: pineapple, orange, banana, apple, cherry.
Pineapple

Main Course: Describe the nicest piece of clothing that you own.
My Burberry Trench Coat

Dessert: If you could forget one whole day from your life, which day would you choose to wipe from your memory?
I really do not want to forget anything, it would change who I am? “Those who forget their history are doomed to repeat it”

Thursday Thirteen

Thursday Thirteen
“13 things I intend to accomplish in 2008”

1) Stay in touch with family better.
2) Stay in touch with friends better. (catching a theme?)
3) Actually send a book to a publisher.
4) Grow a vegetable garden.
5) Spend a week in the U.P.
6) Forgive myself.
7) Learn how to cook.
8) Find a little more patience.
9) Take life less seriously
10) Realize that everything isn’t black and white, that living in the gray is okay sometimes.
11) Volunteer at an animal shelter.
12) Recycle as a daily habit.
13) Learn to be careful for what I wish for, because sometimes you do get it.

Wordless Wednesday that is almost World-Less

I absolutely Ninja’d this picture off of my friend Nancy’s website. I love this picture of Mark, it makes me giggle. I dug out the pictures of the grand Chicago adventure the other night. I laughed and cried. Those will be another Wednesday.