Wordless Wednesday

It's Easy Being Green...Kinda

Being "Green" is now more important than ever. It is a saturated topic in every media avenue. I have always been a nature girl and involved here and there in my causes, but I had never sat down to really dig into the heart of the issues or their solutions.
I became intrigued and commited to doing something, even small after becoming addicted to the show "Living with Ed". Which for those of you who don't know, is the reality TV show that follows Ed Bagley Jr. and his quest to be an environmentalist. You cannot watch that show and walk away not wanting to mend at least one of your bad enviromental habits.
Well, to be honest, that was my first true ADULT "I am going to be a better citizien on this planet". My first moment of having true compassion for living creatures would have been when I saw the Muppet Movie and actually realized that Frog's legs do come from Frogs. (Thank you Steve Martin as the bad guy) That was my first stint at being a vegetarian.
What started out as a conversation between Michael and I regarding my love of the show and some idea's I had for my house has morphed into an all out going green challenge. When my back is turned my regular lightbulbs are changed to compact florescents. I am ordering countertops that are made out of recycled glass and my wish for solar panels and a small wind turbine has Michael looking up blue prints on how to build one yourself reusing items you already have in your garage. (The making my own is his idea, not mine.)
I am not sure the exact point when we crossed the line, but I am loving it. What started off as my project to turn the beautiful bones of my house into my cute English inspired cottage has become my project to have a "Green" English Cottage inspired home.

Manic Monday: Boil

I have been trying recently to find more inner peace. Cliche I know, but none the less true.
I have always been stubborn with a short fuse and my blood seems to boil very easily. I can honestly say that nothing has ever just rolled off of my back. Being ready for a battle at every turn seems to be part of my nature.
I have discovered writings and teachings by Pema Chodron. My newest favorite is "Don't bite the Hook" teachings on dealing with things that arouse anger in us. I am hoping that perhaps Pema has the answer to help me listen more, talk less and to mantain a higher boiling point in regards to my temper.
Part of being stubborn is never wanting to listen when someone, anyone, is telling you that you are wrong or even worse, that you have failed.
There have been a few individuals that have, through their words, actually reached a deep, dark place in my soul that makes my ears perk up and listen. Pema makes me listen. Maybe it is her voice. Maybe it is because I have always held Buddist and their teachings in such high regard. Pema struck a chord. I highly reccommend her to anyone that is looking for a new door to open, or a direction to face when trying to understand our inner workings and the things that make our hackles go up.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GrgznKit-vI&feature=related

http://www.beliefnet.com/story/160/story_16054_1.html


Pema Quotes:

Selected Pema Chodron Quotations

• The truth you believe and cling to makes you unavailable to hear anything new.

• We work on ourselves in order to help others, but also we help others in order to work on ourselves.

• When we start out on a spiritual path we often have ideals we think we're supposed to live up to. We feel we're supposed to be better than we are in some way. But with this practice you take yourself completely as you are. Then ironically, taking in pain - breathing it in for yourself and all others in the same boat as you are - heightens your awareness of exactly where you're stuck.

• If we learn to open our hearts, anyone, including the people who drive us crazy, can be our teacher.

• There's a reason you can learn from everything: you have basic wisdom, basic intelligence, and basic goodness.

• Compassionate action starts with seeing yourself when you start to make yourself right and when you start to make yourself wrong. At that point you could just contemplate the fact that there is a larger alternative to either of those, a more tender, shaky kind of place where you could live. - In the Gap Between Right and Wrong

• We habitually erect a barrier called blame that keeps us from communicating genuinely with others, and we fortify it with our concepts of who's right and who's wrong. We do that with the people who are closest to us and we do it with political systems, with all kinds of things that we don't like about our associates or our society. It is a very common, ancient, well-perfected device for trying to feel better. Blame others. Blaming is a way to protect your heart, trying to protect what is soft and open and tender in yourself. Rather than own that pain, we scramble to find some comfortable ground. - In the Gap Between Right and Wrong

• When you begin to touch your heart or let your heart be touched, you begin to discover that it's bottomless, that it doesn't have any resolution, that this heart is huge, vast, and limitless. You begin to discover how much warmth and gentleness is there, as well as how much space.

• A further sign of health is that we don't become undone by fear and trembling, but we take it as a message that it's time to stop struggling and look directly at what's threatening us.

• Gloriousness and wretchedness need each other. One inspires us, the other softens us.

• People get into a heavy-duty sin and guilt trip, feeling that if things are going wrong, that means that they did something bad and they are being punished. That's not the idea at all. The idea of karma is that you continually get the teachings that you need to open your heart. To the degree that you didn't understand in the past how to stop protecting your soft spot, how to stop armoring your heart, you're given this gift of teachings in the form of your life, to give you everything you need to open further.

The Importance of Being Oscar

Oscar has made it through his storm. Upon taking him to the vet he has been diagnosed with diabetes.
She with the most squimish stomach has learned to give insulin shots twice a day. Oskie takes them with grace and then "yells" at me for a few moments before sauntering off in his princely Garfield "esk" way. He is walking better, looking better and almost back to his grumpy and pampered self.
For the rest of his long and happy life, he will need the shots and for the rest of his long and happy life I will say every time I give them "See Oskie, you just take the veggie tray to school on your birthday instead of cupcakes, no problem".
That line is compliments of Benji. It was his response to my dramatic tears and indistinguisable muttering...

Sunday's With Oskie

“Watch a cat when it enters a room for the first time. It searches and smells about, it is not quiet for a moment, it trusts nothing until it has examined and made acquaintance with everything.”

Jean-Jacques Rousseau quotes (French philosopher and writer whose novels inspired the leaders of the French Revolution, 1712-1778)

Oscar Wilde (as seen in the above photo) has been with me since February 2001. He has been with thru relationships, career changes, and every imaginable type of adventure. He has listened to my stories and made sure I was never alone.
I never thought about him being mortal until he recently became ill.
How could he be mortal? The cat who picked me? The cat who, when I cry, curls up in my lap and just looks at me patiently. No judging, just sitting...
I went to the Humane Society that day, way back when, searching for a fluffy orange kitten. Instead, my coat was pulled from behind by a very large tabby cat whose paperwork said "Big Cat, Social". The orange kitten they brought into the room didn't stand a chance, Oskie had already picked me.
There was a list they gave me that day. The first thing was "don't be upset if your new cat runs and hides". Not Oscar. He did a complete loop of the condo, looked up at me, jumped up on the couch and took a nap. I took that as his approval with the place.
There are 800 things to do and so many other things that I could write about, but I find myself just sitting next to him.

Friday's Feast

Appetizer

When you drink soda/pop/coke, do you prefer to drink it from the bottle, a can, or after pouring it into a cup?

In a glass with ice and a straw

Soup

What television show are you willing to stay up late to watch?

I don't, that is why DVR is magical.

Salad

Name one person, place, or thing you think of as brilliant.

A place? Mackinac Island

Main Course

Would you be willing to work 4 10-hour days instead of 5 8-hour days in order to save gas?

Absolutley!

Dessert

If you were a superhero, what would you call yourself?

Mmmmmmmmmmmm..."Omega"