Monday Mystique ...

just had to have two words beginning with M. Anyway, went to Yoga tonight (with Mark). I still can't do half the moves, but hopefully I'm getting better at it.

I was in the doldrums this weekend, melancholic. Really dragging. I did absolutely nothing - wait that's a lie. Saturday was okay, went to yoga in the a.m. and then met Amanda at Starbucks (and then Marshalls and Cost Plus) and it was beastly hot ... oh and then Paul and I went and saw "the Time Traveler's Wife". However, Sunday was a different story .. after church I did as little as possible .. it could have been a productive day but instead was just a wasted day. I was wishing life were different.

I don't really know how to describe it. Maybe just marking time, waiting for things to change, or just going through the motions.

Today, I decided that the only way for life to be different for me now is to do the things I would do in the "different life" that I'm dreaming of -- to the extent I can. I was thinking "what if I were in this life, the different life, what would I be doing"? So I thought of the things that I picture in this different life and I realized that I can do some of those things now. So maybe I can make my life I'm the life i'm dreaming of. Does that make sense?

If I don't want to watch TV, I don't have to. If I want to watch TV, I can.

If I want to go somewhere on the weekend, I can.

Cooking doesn't have to be dull and boring. I can explore different types of foods, new recipes, I can make it interesting.

If I want to read books and go to the library, I will. If I want to go to thrift stores, antique stores, or yard sales, I can and will. I don't have to wait for this dreamed of new and different life to live the way I want to.

Maybe one day all my dreams will come true, but I'm not holding my breath.

later.

Friday's Fab Four

1 -- played Pinochle --haven't done that in forever. Had a good time and we won! I kinda pushed myself to bid more and tried hard.

2 -- got fingerprinted (the lady fingerprinting me still had no idea what/where Washington, DC was and or is - these Californians just don't know their geography)

3 -- had sandwiches for dinner (it was too hot to cook)

4 -- ran a mile (and a total of 3.6 miles on the treadmill!)

It's actually Saturday but I thought I'd finish my Friday first. til tomorrow.

Thursday's Deep Thoughts

Don't know that I have any deep thoughts tonight but I did have some great popcorn. From Popcorn, Indiana. I wonder if that's a real city. Let me check ...



okay, so it is. A little south of Bloomington (home of Indiana University, my brother's alma mater). If I ever go to the Midwest to visit my sister Anna, or my niece, Katie, I'll have to go to Popcorn. Anyway, it is the very best bagged popcorn I've ever had. Not that I'm a popcorn connoisseur...

I'm not very deep today. maybe next week.

Wally World and Monday Madness

We needed a new carpet to put over the messed up carpet in our living room so we went to Target, but the only carpets they had that were big enough were $150. Not only did we not want to pay that much but we also didn't like them ... sooooo we went to WalMart. It was packed! Everyone must have decided that they had to buy something (and I thought we were in a recession?) ... The lines were 10 people deep. However, we picked up our bag of carpet and made it through My husband left me alone to fend for myself and somehow, for once in my life, I picked the right line! Got through in less than 10 minutes! The rug is now on our rug in the living room.

My #2 son is finishing up the deck. Oh, he went with me to yoga tonight. Fortunately, I was so engrossed in trying to get all the moves down I forgot to be embarrassed -- not about him but about me! I can't believe how hard yoga is.

Let's see, for the rest of the madness ... the grandson and his parents are spending the night tonight. Gave the grandson a bath. Fun to have him around. Then he was sitting on the floor playing with a bucket (why buy toys???) and just laughing up a storm, for no reason! it was too cute.

Lego is sleeping next to me ... as I write. He usually is on the other side of the bed, but tonight he's decided he wants to push me out of the way instead of the husband. Normally, it's Weezer who is crowding me, but with the baby and the dog in the house he is on edge and isn't hanging out with me :-(

I'm just rambling. I was thinking how I'd like to go to Michigan for a week in the fall. Just to get away and be somewhere peaceful and quiet ... maybe next year. Well, back to stupid, mindless, computer games.

ta ta for now

longings

My soul thirsts for You, my flesh yearns for You, In a dry and weary land where there is no water...

early quilt pic

I've uploaded my most recent quilt. It's for Kelly on her birthday next week. I'm really happy with the binding and the pattern. Not so sure about the colors, I hope she'll like it. Here's one picture.

Saturday

Five good things today ...

1 -- had a good office party! WOW!

2 -- went to Marina, California, to a DiMaggio family picnic.

3 -- good food

4 -- working on the quilt .. looking good

5 -- yoga

I'm feeling good now except a slight headache.

and then some. Talked with the daughter, talked with the father

politics

I apologize for being political but I am tired of trillions being thrown around like it's nothing. It reminds me of when we first moved out here and someone told us about a house that was being sold and was such a great deal, only $600,000. It was and is obscene. But those numbers, like the deficit numbers are thrown around like they aren't huge numbers.

I hate it. All the money, all the politics, all the posturing, all the lying.

Okay, so my sister said to think of happy things ... so here goes

1 - I got a lot done on my quilt today -- need to do more tomorrow, but that will come. I want to finish the top before Saturday, which means I need to buy the border and binding .. and then I need to buy the backing. I think I'll use yellow flannel ... I hope she likes it.

2 - I had coffee with a dear friend today

3 - I didn't work today

4 - my feet are finally warm

5 - the cat didn't attack me today

6 - I returned the pants to Walmart

7 - I had a baked potato for dinner

8 - watched the Office and 30 Rock

Things are good and I had a lot of happy times today. Actually, other than listening to the political stuff around the house today, everything is good. Maybe I should be worried ...

trillion

I decided I wanted to know just how a big a trillion is, since that number is thrown around an awful lot these days ... so here we go. I copied this from someone else, another website ... Katie maybe you can show me how to had a link so I don't plagiarize ...

A million seconds is 13 days.
A billion seconds is 31 years.
A trillion seconds is 31,688 years.

A million minutes ago was – 1 year, 329 days, 10 hours and 40 minutes ago.
A billion minutes ago was just after the time of Christ.

A million hours ago was in 1885.
A billion hours ago man had not yet walked on earth.

A million dollars ago was five (5) seconds ago at the U.S. Treasury.
A billion dollars ago was late yesterday afternoon at the U.S. Treasury.
--

The country has not existed for a trillion seconds.
Western civilization has not been around a trillion seconds.
One trillion seconds ago – 31,688 years – Neanderthals stalked the plains of Europe.

Days off

I took yesterday and today off (it's Thursday morning now so I have to talk like this). I took the days off just because. I didn't have anything I needed to do or anywhere I needed to be.

It's been nice. Ran some errands. Did some stuff that needed to be done (washed two cars ...). And basically, just hung out. I didn't go to the gym and I ate too much junk. But otherwise a good day. I worked on Kelly's birthday present which I'd really like to finish up tomorrow, at least well enough to get some help with it on Saturday - or next weekend at the latest.

It's hard to believe there was a time when I didn't go to work every day .. I can't even remember what it was like, it was so long ago. Yeah, I had five kids at home so it wasn't relaxing, but still ... makes me look forward to retirement, if that day will ever come.

when I finish Kelly's quilt I'll take pictures, but I won't post them until after I give it to her. I think I'm making too many squares so I'll probably end up having two quilts instead of one. I'm thinking with the leftovers that I'll make a small quilt to hang over my work area... She doesn't read this so there's no fear of her finding out about it ahead of time. I hope she like it. I was cutting the pieces when she was home last and she didn't ask about them ... I think she had other things on her mind.

Here's to having a productive day tomorrow...

self-control .. self-discipline

self-control -- control or restraint of oneself or one's actions, feelings, etc.

self-discipline -- discipline and training of oneself, usually for improvement:

Soooo, I don't have enough of either of those. They both seem so restrictive but I know that the result is good. If I could exert self control when it comes to eating -- particularly things like cake and cupcakes and other sweets -- I would have lost the weight I want to already. If I had the self discipline to exercise the way I would like, I would be in the shape I want to be. But I don't use enough of either of these. It all comes back to, why do I do the things I don't want to and not do the things I want.

I've been thinking about these two things a lot today. Actually helped me to go to the gym tonight. I think the self-control thing is harder .. oh, I don't know, they are both hard.

On another note, the cats were outside tonight and spooky was acting weird, running after something ... she found a skunk earlier this summer so I looked outside to see what she was running after and there were two raccoons sitting on the fence. If I'd been on the ball I'd have taken a picture, but I've heard nightmare stories of raccoons killing dogs so I ran out to scare them away and to get the cats in. They both came in right away so I think they may have been scared too. However, the raccoons were really cute!