girlfriends Part I

good friends

girl friends

the very best of life are those 2 things

I am blessed with some of the very most wonderful good girl friends:

Jerri
who is a thoughtful, winsome soul

Bbarb
a generous, glorious person

Carol
one of my oldest & dearest friends

Miki
now passed but her presence is still making an impact on my world

Liz
who is a confident, boisterous woman with a rockin' sense of humor

Annie
one of the sweetiest people I've ever met

Crystal
a joy of a person,
she makes you feel wonderful just being in the same world with her

Sharon L
so confident in herself & where she is in the world
that you have to really notice where you are

Kerri, Ava, DebW, Sharon H, Bevvie, Audrey, Nikia, Dena, Tammy, BethAnne, LeeAnne, Carol (OR), Marcia, Janice, Carol (MO), Annette, Sandy

I don't often enough tell these wonderful people how much they mean to me,

how much it has meant to me to have them in my life,

how thankful I am to have met them
& how rich my life is because of them

may we all be so blessed to have good friends and girl friends

lifelines

"Some one ought to do it, but why should I?"
--
"Some one ought to do it, so why not I?"
Between these two sentences lie whole centuries of moral evolution.
Annie Besant

so I try

I try to do what ought to be done.........

I try to live my life with purpose and clear intent

it is not easy nor is it clear
& yet I keep trying

the work of few is felt by many

we work

we try

we find a way to be heard

I live in a haiku

or so it seems sometimes

as there is only the echo of my work

in the actions of others

namaste

dreams & goals

there are goals at the end of our dreams

they are the reason we get up and move in the morning

those are often little goals

getting out of bed

or

getting thru the day

or

getting to the weekend

no matter how small,

they still count as goals

the dream we have of life lived well make each of those a reality

then there are the BIG goals

career

family

personal value

they also are a part of a life lived well

enjoy this link:

http://www.thedreammovie.com/

it's all about a goal being a dream with a dealine

live well

our patio to be............now is

we'll be working on our patio today

got the rock yesterday

~3000 lbs of flagstone

to cover ~200 square feet

of this

and here it is.....
all done but for the plantings
we are going to put creeping rosemary between the stones
with sage & lavender & bush rosemary on the perimeter
mayne add a potted bit of peppers and tomatoes
(for home-made salsa)

the lizards are out (& the furgirls)
enjoying the new flagstone

what a wonderful idea.................

"Dare to be average!"

I have been a "flybaby" for a while now and it has made a huge difference in my life.

For those who don't know about the Flylady, here is her webbie:

http://www.flylady.net/

the thought that you can dare to be average is an interesting one

you need not be the very best, if you are having fun.

you need not get "A" grades, if you are learing for enrichment.

you need not be the master artist, if you can feel good when you paint.

you need not make a fortune, if you can enjoy what you do at work.

we will not all be the Bill Gates, Mozart, Richard Feynman, Bach, VanGogh, Stephen Hawking, Mick Jagger, or Sean Connery in our chosen profession..........

what ever profession that might be.

but we can enjoy what we do,

how we live,

and who we are

to the fullest possible extent of our being

family

You hear a lot of dialogue on the death of the American family.
Families aren't dying.
They're merging into big conglomerates.

~~~~~~~~~~ Erma Bombeck ~~~~~~~~~~~~

and Erma is right about that,
the merging of families.

Above is just one small section
of the huge conglomerate that is my dad's side of my family.

and there they all are.

Now mind you this is only a portion of my dad's side of my family.

My mom's side is not so numerous,
but has a variety of characters that rivals larger clans.

& then there is my hubby's family
OY VEY!
what a crew they are.

All of my famliy members are wonderful people,
in their own interesting and different ways,
but without variety

how dull would visits be,
how boring conversation,
how dreary our world.

So here's to my vast, glorious, robust & wonderful family!

Love you oodles,
one & all.

pause

When before the beauty of a sunset or a mountain,
you pause and exclaim, "Ah,"
you are participating in divinity.
Joseph Campbell

floors

floors are the foundations of a room

if the floor covering is icky & ugly & old

then the room becomes an uncomfortable place to be

so I'm re-doing the floor in my spare room

the carpet was gastly nasty

tore that all up

sealed the cracks in the concrete floor

&

now I'm re-surfacing it

the concrete color isn't the most consistant

but that's mostly me since I'm just pouring it into the water for the concrete till it looks ok

the new floor is very tactile

which is kind of nice

and the color is working out mostly ok

we'll see in another coupla' sections

if there is a pattern happening or not

I can always paint it after it's all new

kind of a metaphor for ourselves

we can un-cover & then

re-cover

re-surface

re-seal

re-state

re-paint

re-heal

re-lease

& it's always at our foundation where the work starts

can you hear it?

music is the sound of god's voice in our everyday world

Jazz Is the Sound of God Laughing
http://tinyurl.com/8ejut
by Colleen Shaddox

this is a great essay
and it makes one think...............

what would the soundtrack for your life be?

bluesy and hopeful?

or gospel, joyous & uplifting?

or jazzy (the sound of god's laughter)?

or classical, delicate & resourceful?

can you find the music in your life?
can you hear the music in the world?

can you hear god laughing?

moments

The same stream of life that runs through my veins night and day runs through the world and dances in rhythmic measures.
~Rabindranath Tagore, Indian Poet, Playwright and Essayist

we so often pass thru life in fits & starts,
not really seeing what is around us,
not really feeling what is within us,
not really hearing what is said to us.

we need to remember to pause
to just wait a moment
to see
to feel
to listen

our memories are made of those moments when we took that pause
shouldn't we be making more of those every day

a man once said that this life is the longest thing we will ever do

shouldn't we enjoy more of it along the way
shouldn't we make this the journey worth remembering
shouldn't we particiate more actively in the events along the way
shouldn't we remember that we are all part of a bigger picture

wednesday

welcome to the middle of the week

leaving

Now I do try to keep the political commentary out of my blog..............

out of my journal................
and out of the workplace..........

But this needs to be said,
this needs to be commented on,
and the excerpt that most concerns me is this:
"...the new contract, to deliver intelligence services in Iraq through 2009..."
the article is here:
http://tinyurl.com/d734y

are we ever going to leave?
the government keeps saying we aren't an occupation force but contracts like this seem to indicate otherwise...................

when are we bringing our soliders home?

stitched gums

and so there is the gum graft (#2)

and from inside my mouth,

the place where the graft was harvested

harvested

what a word for this part of the operation

there was lots more blood with this graft than there was with the first

choking on it at times even

altho, truthfully,

I was practically upside down in the dental chair so the surgeon could see what he was doing
and the suction thingy was right there

but the taste....

blech

so now I get to heal

and keep my teeth

keep my health

purple part deux

so I get to go for part 2 of the gum surgery today........

not overly excited about this...........especially as the doc mentioned 'shaping' the previous gum graft........................so does this mean both sides of my mouth will be numbe & sore & PURPLE for days?

guess we get to find out in a couple of hours...............maybe I should take & post a pic this time........................

I do like the way the 1st graft took......and I lost a bit of the weight that I wanted to (eating only the very softest & luke-warm foods very slowly will do that)

and I'll be keeping my teeth for a good long time.............so it's worth it & not a vanity thing...a health thing..........vanity would be a boob job, teeth are for health.................

no really
read about it
here:
http://www.breathcleaner.com/TIPS_gums.html
It is important to know that research has shown that people with gum disease are twice as likely to suffer from heart disease. Several theories explain this link. For example, oral bacteria may enter the blood stream and intensify fatty plaque formation in the coronary arteries. Gum disease also increases the amount of fibrinogen (a potent natural clotting agent in the blood stream). That would increase the chance of blood clots and a stroke.

and here:
http://my.webmd.com/content/article/104/107269.htm
Gum disease does more than endanger your teeth and gums. It can also lead to and worsen far more dangerous ills.

so I'm keeping my health by keeping my teeth

and I can smile more & better with healthy gums which makes the day just go by all that much more happily

clearing the air

rain is wonderful

and rainbows are better

they clear the air
clear the skies
and if you sit patiently & watch
they clear the mind

listening

do we really hear when we listen
(or so pretend)
to each other
to ourselves
to the world

to really hear what we are listening for, we need to pause, breathe and turn our ears on, turn our hearts on


to really hear each other, our selves & the world,
we must first hear the quiet silence of peace,
then we can truly hear, truly listen, truly understand what is being said

even if it is unspoken

so pause
breathe
be still
listen

you'll be amazed at how much you'll hear

traveling time

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Time to travel

to get away, even for a bit

to relax

to rest

to recharge

Love the summer traveling time

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Vacations are wonderful time to visit with family and friends

time to get into the out & about

time to explore the world around us

time to share yourself

family visit

We have family visiting

this is a good thing...........they are wonderful, generous, gentle, vivacious, spontaneous people to whom we happen to be related

an unusual occurance for many it seems

I was talking with my on-line family of buzzard sisters, and we have more than a few blood relatives that we'd rather not have to deal with any more than necessary.

I have some of those in my blood relatives as well..................but these visiting are NOT of that ilk. (which is why we are enjoying the visit so very much)

what a gift to have family members that supports & encourages each other in the day-to-day world

& what a shame that there are so few of those in our real-life world

be sure to let those you care about know you are thinking of them
give them a jingle, a hug or send a card (email or snailmail)

they are a precious, wonderful part of your world.

clean carpets

carpets take forever to dry.................

even when they are professionally cleaned & you live someplace with extremely low humidity

so we are walking on damp flooring...............not wanting to move any of our predominantly wooden furniture back onto damp carpet...........

we did decide that if this doesn't really clean the carpet of the pet-mess smell, then it will come out......piece by piece & we'll do the following:
1> paint the cement flooring
2> tile the floors
3> wood laminate
or 4> some combination of the above

this house is a bit older & the carpet had been here thru a renter or 2 (at least that's what we were told when we bought it) and that can generate areas where the current resident pets feel obligated to mark the turf as theirs...........................unfortunately that is all too often in the main living areas................

carpet will remain clean or be removed...............

and the cleaner guy (bless his heart) commented that taking out ALL the carpet in the house would be way too big a job.................

LOL...............oh my --- he's never seen me at that kind of work but my hubby has & did that comment make him laugh......

so off to watch the carpets dry & dream of hardwood laminate, tile & brightly painted flooring......................