Perfect Ending

Yesterday I had the perfect ending to the perfect day. To start with the day was just generally a bad day. It started off bad when I woke up at 3:00 AM thinking the Ross Perot, the one time owner of my company, had passed away. I know, weird but I still got up and Googled it just to make certain that I had not suddenly been blessed with psychic abilities and foresight. Next, the day just went bonkers because it is approaching the holidays and pretty much all of my team took the day off, which means that is the day when everybody needs something....so I was crazy busy switching gears all day long.

The one thing that I was looking forward to was getting together with my group from church to have a potluck and celebrate the Winter Solstice. I was to pick up a meat and cheese plate. I, of course, waited until the last minute to do this and was sorely disappointed in my selections, however, I found something at the grocery store, grabbed it and ran.

The church is about a 20 minute drive from my house, so I left in plenty of time as I wanted to get there early and help set up. I had brought some candles as I thought that would be nice to help set the mood. However, that was not to be. As I'm driving along at about 70 miles an hour, I start to hear the wubba wubba sound that just keeps getting louder. I at first thought it was a car next to me that was passing me but soon realized that there was nobody there. My car then started to handle strangely, which I initially thought was just the wind pulling it, however, I quickly realized "nope, that ain't the wind". I was a little over a mile from my exit and decided that I could make it as I didn't want to pull over on the side of the highway in the dark. Therefore, I put on my hazards and eased over to the right hand lane and eventually made it to my exit. I saw ahead a Quaker State sign that was all lit up with lots of cars and thought "Oh Yay! A garage right where I need it!!" Turns out that it was a restaurant. (Who knew that there was such a place a Quaker Steak and Lube...)

I get out of my car and walk around to look at the tire expecting to see a flat....It was completedly shredded and I had been driving on the rim. Luckily a nice lady approached me almost immediately and offered her husband up as pit crew.

You will notice in the picture that the tire is still on the car....or rather the rim is ther and the tire is sort of wedged up under the car.

I was so happy to have this person come and change my tire, and another couple of folks offered assistance, which is one reason why I am very happy to be living in Texas and the South where there are still lots of gentlemen out there to always offer a hand. The manager from the restaurant came out as well to see if I just needed air, as they have a air machine on site for free, being a car themed restaurant and all. He quickly realized, and chuckled, that obviously air wouldn't do a whole lot of good at this point. So he offered some coffee to warm me up. I declined as I'm not a coffee drinker.

As my good samaritan worked on my tire, I took the following picture of the path of destruction that my car left as I was pulling into the parking lot:

Yeah, that whole black streak is my tire dissentigrating.

After the tire was changed my GS and I took the car over to the air pump and the men gathered to get air into my spare and make certain that I was okay to head off. I offered to buy my GS and his family dinner, which is what THEY were there for, but he refused and told me to be on my way and be safe and that I would be spending that money on a new tire instead.

I then made it to my church thing about 20 minutes late and then started shaking. Needless to say, this morning I will be heading back to the Firestone place to have them replace this tire and make certain that the other tires are all fine as well. You will recall that I only purchased these tires at the end of September (New Tires).

Anyway, thank you to the nice people who helped me out. I really don't think I could have done that all on my own. I will definitely be sending good karma out to you and will pay this all forward. We have to remember to look out for and take care of one another....
 

Losing Loser

Well, I've officially hit the point where I've gained back all the weight that I lost last year...hopefully, though, I'll be able to stop the progression. Wait, not hopefully....I WILL stop the progression. I lost that weight by taking a physician prescribed pill, which was basically legal speed with the added bonus of having an appetite suppressant...I didn't learn anything from being on that program and as soon as the medicine stopped.....well here we are.

I'm addicted to weightloss programs and I go into them with great expectations...only to sabotage myself within 24 hours. I recently attempted a new program that focuses on your metabolism and hormones and getting everything in balance. It requires a lot of supplements and protein drinks and a very strict menu. I've been trying it for about two months now and have yet to make through an entire day without cheating. It is killing me....

I came to the realization yesterday that it really wasn't worth me continuing to spend the money for the supplements and all KNOWING that I'm not going to follow the program. I walk out of there KNOWING that I'm going to cheat. When I came to this realization I mentally smacked myself in the head and admitted that I have a big problem. I then went home and started looking at Overeaters Anonymous (it is the Alcoholics Anonymous program but for food). I really know that I have a problem as I sat there and looked through their website while eating a can of frosting....yes, spoon in hand eating frosting reading about how I have no power over food....and I started to cry...again.

Today I'm at a point where I don't really want to participate with my family at Christmas...and it isn't because I don't love them and don't want to see them...it is because I know there will be pictures taken and conversations had and I will feel like a failure and a fraud. I know that my family will read this and I know that they love me no matter what and that they just want me to be healthy and happy. And I know that most people don't understand my problem with food....hell, I don't understand my problem with food. I really do not understand why I can't stop eating....I just know that I can't seem to have "just one" of anything. I know that I don't need or want anybody saying to me "do you really need that? haven't you had enough? should you be putting that in your mouth?" Those phrases just push me over the edge and cause me to feel horrible guilt and will drive me to binge when I'm alone. If I'm out with you, let me monitor myself; let me beat up on me without added pressure.

Therefore, I'm taking the first step in the Anonymous playbook and admitting that I have a problem and there is no quick fix or miracle pill that is going to help me. I know that I need to stay focused and continue to admit that I have a problem and find a healthy way to address it. I've also rejoined Weight Watchers....again. Maybe this time I'll stick to it....maybe. I'll keep you updated.

Kismet....

It is funny how things sorta happen. For example, Tim Curry has popped up recently in a couple of places in my world.

First, I was watching Clue - The Movie last night.

Don't ask me why, it was just on and I couldn't help myself. Everytime I watch this movie, it makes me think of my BIL Graham's sister and BIL's wedding. I house sat for Graham's parents during the wedding as they wanted somebody to be there as they had read that often times burglars will break into houses and steal wedding gifts because they know that the family will be at the wedding. Well, they said I could bring some movies over to watch while I was killing time and they had a BetaMax player (not VHS) and Clue-The Movie happened to be one of the movies at Blockbuster on BetaMax that I actually wanted to see. So, now, whenever I see the movie I think of Brant and Angela.

Now today, I'm catching up on reading blogs and I come across Jane's reference to her husband being mistaken for Tim Curry. Which, I can totally see!!

Tim Curry

Compared to:

Jane with Husband Tarzan

Although I really hope to never see either of them dressed as Dr. Frank-N-Furter ever again....

Dog Bite Update

Well, I wanted to give you all an update of my dog bit experience.

First, the dog's teeth never actually made contact with my skin as I had jeans on and there was no tear in the jeans, however, there was a small puncture (the size of a pencil eraser) and some blood. The spot sort of welted (is that a word?) and bruised, but it is all healing nicely at this point.

I did drop Leo off there this morning and while in I told the folks there, including the owner, about what happened. I hated doing it because I don't like being a tattle-tale and wasn't out to get anything from it, but after speaking to others I felt that it was important for me to make them aware of what happened. She knew immediately which dogs I was referring to and not because they have had other incidents, but because they are the only "family" with two of those types of dogs and they normally only come on Thursdays (note to self). The owner had the person covering the desk "make a note" in their files and that those dogs will always need to be on special leashes when brought to the front going forward.

As an aside, she comped Leo's stay today, which I told her she didn't have to but was happy that she did.

Anyway, all is well in the ABBA/Leo world... at least for now.

Dog Bite

I have to say that I LOVE Doggie Daycare. I take Leo to a place called BARK!, which is about a little over a mile from our home. Leo loves to go there as well, when we get close to the driveway he gets really, really excited and it is all I can do to put the car in park and turned off before he is trying to jump out the door and get in there and start playing. All of the folks that work at BARK! also say they love Leo because he is such a sweet dog.

Last night, though, when I was picking him up I had an altercation. Okay, maybe altercation is an exaggeration.... Here's the tale:

When I entered the lobby there was one person in front of me picking up her dogs. She was working with the girl to purchase a package and trying to do math in her head for which would be the best option. She was completely oblivious that there would be other people waiting and just kept at trying to get the best deal (which is to purchase a 30 day package, but maybe she wasn't up for this package as she didn't plan to have her dogs stay there that often). Well, eventually, she came to a decision and paid. The girl behind the desk went to get her two dogs and told me that she would have Leo sent up as well. I didn't think anything of that statement at first, until I saw the other person's dogs. (Normally, if there are multiple people waiting for dogs they will bring them up together, unless they are really big dogs).

So, a couple of minutes pass and she brings the other dogs up, a rottweiler and a doberman (or maybe 2 rottweilers, they had the same coloring but one was slimmer than the other). The lady takes both of their leashes (I'm standing by the counter over to the side not crowding anybody and just hanging out) but the smaller of the two dogs pulls out of her collar and charges at me. The daycare employee and lady both make a charge for the dog and do get a hold of her but not until after I was bitten:

Puncture on right thigh

I didn't say anything about the incident to the ladies getting the dog under control because I was a little in shock and I didn't have a tear in my jeans (I would have gone all sorts of crazy white girl if my new jeans had been torn). The lady finally got her two dogs out the door.

Unfortunately, she was parked right next to me (okay, she was actually parked in the handicapped spot and had left her door open, which I guess is the sign that "I'm not handicapped, but don't ticket me or get mad at me because I'm only going to be here a couple of minutes - or 30"). As I'm walking Leo out and past her car, both beasts lunge at Leo and start barking up a storm, which causes him to cower behind me and I struggled to get him to my car, although as soon as I opened the door, he was in the car in two seconds.

Leo is so not a fighter...he is such a lover. We get in the car and he starts snuffling at me and I give him a hug, unfortunately, he decided that he wanted to stand on my thigh as I drove home...the same thigh that was burning from the bite. It wasn't until I got home and took off my jeans that I realized that the skin had actually been broken and there was a big welt around it.

Ah well, we'll survive and hopefully that person won't bring her dogs to BARK! very often. At least I know that Leo is safe there as they are in the big dog area and he plays in the small dog area. I worry about the other dogs that might have to be in the big dog area with them, though. 

30 Days of Gratitude - Day 30

Today, I want to profess my gratitude for Life!!

Because I can I not only want to live but I want to LIVE!! While we are stepping into the final month of the year, I want to say goodbye to gratitude and hello to a month of reflection and then starting the new year full of LIFE and CREATIVITY!!

Thank you all for joining me on my continued journey. 

30 Days of Gratitude - Day 29

I cannot believe that I have gone this whole month and have not recognized the gratitude that I have for my fantastic sister, Marti (and by extension her husband Graham). Marti was my first friend and my best friend and will remain so forever. She is a wonderful mother to Kathleen and Colin:

Kathleen, who, sadly decided to go to the University of Texas in Austin
and is now a Longhorn. She is an amazing kid with an old soul.

Colin, in September celebrating his 15 birthday. Sitting next to him is his cousin, Luke.
Colin has been a charmer since the day he was born.  

Marti is also a great teacher and from what I understand has the patience of the angels to tolerate her classes. She has an incredibly sensitive heart and cries when she reads "Where the Red Fern Grows" to her students. Marti and I can get tickled at the silliest things together, usually our mom. My only wish is that we would spend more time together just the two of us, but I know she is busy with the kids right now, but hopefully in a couple of more years we can hang out together for sister time.

In the meantime, I'm very grateful to have such a wonderful sister who has given our family two great additions as well as brought into our fold her husband, Graham and via Graham a whole extension of his parents, sister, brother-in-law, and their kids. When Marti and Graham got married, we increased our family not by just one but by 6 and then some.

Oh, and one last thing, totally unrelated to my gratitude for my sister.....

There was a time many, many moons ago when Kathleen wore a Texas A&M shirt!!

30 Days of Gratitude - Day 28

Today I am grateful that I have a house where I can escape and be myself. We live in a time where I, as a single woman, can purchase a house on my own and make it into a home for me, my puppy, and hopefully a place where my friends and family feel comfortable enough to make it their home as well.

If home is where the heart is and if this is the case, then my home is where ever my friends and family are because that is really where my heart resides. 

30 Days of Gratitude - Day 27

Today I want to state how grateful that I live in a place where potable water is plenty and I do not have to worry about staying hydrated.

Sadly, there is still parts of this world that water is not as plentiful and people still struggle to just live. Here are some statistics that I found on Water.org.

• Every 20 seconds, a child dies from a water-related illness. 
• Women spend 200 million hours a day collecting water. 
• 3.4 million people die each year from a water related disease. That is almost the entire city of Los Angeles. Nearly all deaths, 99%, occur in the developing world.  
• 780 million people lack access to clean water. That's more than 2.5 times the United States population; or approximately one in nine people. 
• Lack of access to clean water and sanitation kills children at a rate equivalent to a jumbo jet crashing every four hours. 
• Of the 60 million people added to the world's towns and cities every year, most move to informal settlements (i.e. slums) with no sanitation facilities. 

These are just a couple of sobering thoughts about how important water is to this world and even though it is the most abundant compound on Earth's surface, covering about 70 percent of the planet, providing it in a safe and drinkable way to all of the inhabitants is still an ongoing challenge. Consider how important water is to you the next time you fill up your glass or wash your hands or do you laundry. Imagine living in a world where it is not so readily available to you.

30 Days of Gratitude - Day 26

Today, I am grateful for audiobooks. I know, weird thing to be grateful for, but I do enjoy them as I can listen to one while I'm doing other things, like working on reports at the office or designing and putting together a quilt at home. If it didn't confuse me, I would listen to one while I was reading another book.

30 Days of Gratitude - Day 25

Today, I want to profess my gratitude for Wishlists!!

I have created one for myself on Amazon.com. Actually, I have a number of lists out there that help me sort out mostly books or music that I want to purchase at some point. I also set one up for people who are looking for things to give to me.

I've been making wishlists since I was a small child and it is so much easier now....just a click of a button.

However, I will never forget the year that I provided a multi-paged wishlist based on the Sear's Wishbook where to each of my grandparents. I wrote down the page, item number, color, and all other important information that they might need to provide appropriate Christmas presents. Mom tried to tell me that I wan't going to get EVERYTHING on the list, as if.... I replied to her that I was only providing them lots of OPTIONS!!

I still like to offer lots of options on my Wishlists!!

30 Days of Gratitude - Day 24

Today I want to go a little light and profess my gratitude for puzzles.

I am a huge fan of puzzles and have been for a long time. I love doing crosswod puzzles, especially over breakfast with my parents (they do the ones in the newspaper every morning, just to keep their minds sharp).

I love doing search a words primarily as a way to sort of relax the mind and yet doing these puzzles has trained me to be able to look at things differently when life just isn't quite right.

Ever since I was a little kid I've loved to do jigsaw puzzles and for a while I received one every year for Christmas. I had one that was like 500 pieces and all chocolates and I would challenge myself to see how quickly I could put it back together. Because I put that one together so many times, I think I got my best time under 5 minutes....of course it helps if you don't tear it apart completed.

I have rencently downloaded a jigsaw app on my Kindle Fire, and I am enjoying putting together jigsaw puzzles on that while watching mundane television in the background. The only problem that I find is once in a while, Leo demands that I pet him instead of play....ah the horror!!

30 Days of Gratitude - Day 23

Today, I am grateful that I do not feel the need to shop on Black Friday. In fact, I am grateful that there is such a place as the Internet (see earlier post) where I will be doing ALL of my Christmas shopping. I do not intend to step foot anywhere near a department store or mall for the next 6 weeks...

Instead, I will be spending this day hanging out with my folks for awhile and catching up and maybe doing to quilt designing with my mom...or reading....or working on the crossword puzzles....or just staring off into space and enjoying the quiet of the country.

30 Days of Gratitude - Day 22

Today I am spending time with my family and extended family via my brother-in-law. I am grateful that I have them and that we all live near enough to be able to spend this time together.

I wish each and everyone of you out there a Happy Thanksgiving and hope that you are able to spend this time in the company of people that you love.

30 Days of Gratitude - Day 21

Today, I am grateful to the life sucking entity that is the Internet. Without this amazing thing (Thank you Al Gore), I would not be able to:

• Diagnose my dog's illness
• Identify whether what I'm about to feed my dog will kill him
• See what each of my friends is doing AT THIS VERY MOMENT
• Read and learn about all sorts of fascinating people
• Find recipes for my crockpot, cakes, pork tenderloin, and silly putty
• Find quilt patterns that I will never use
• Find ceramics tutorials that I will forget about
• Do all my Christmas, Birthday, I'm sad and I want something shopping
• Try and find a date
• Create wishlists of books, music, movies, shoes that I want to get
• Reserve my seat on a plane
• Purchase tickets to a fair
• And so many other exciting and/or mundane things.

 Thank you Internet for making my life.... sad and lonely and never experiencing the great outdoors....

30 Days of Gratitude - Day 20

Well, I've put it off long enough. I have to mention how grateful I am to have my Leo in my life.

As you may know, Leo has had some challenging health issues. Ever since I recieved his a year ago in July, he has been on one type of antibiotic or another for an upper respiratory problem or pneumonia, or at least that is what we assumed it was. I'm having second thoughts on all of that at this time.

We recently had another bout of illness, but I decided to just ride it out rather than rush to the vet, just to see how he faired. I also started thinking about what happens prior to him getting sick. For the longest time, I would blame it on Petsmart, because I would take him to get groomed and within 24 hours, he would be sick. However, I started thinking and realized that he has been to the groomers and NOT gotten sick, so was it possibly something else?!?

I then realized that on the first weekend of the month, the weekend that he normally goes to the groomers, I also give him his heartworm pill. Ding Ding Ding Ding!! I decided to do some research on possible side effects of giving him this medication, which is basically a pesticide that he ingests. It turns out that there are some side effects (the following is taken directly from drugs.com):

Adverse Reactions


In clinical field trials with Heartgard Plus, vomiting or diarrhea within 24 hours of dosing was rarely observed (1.1% of administered doses). The following adverse reactions have been reported following the use of HEARTGARD: Depression/lethargy, vomiting, anorexia, diarrhea, mydriasis, ataxia, staggering, convulsions and hypersalivation.

Well, upon reading this, I made the determination that his issues may lie more in his medication than in his bath. He experiences a number of the symptoms, including vomiting, lethargy, anorexia (loss of appetite - not the psycological issue), and probably some ataxia or convulsions, because he does have more leg and foot spasms during this time than normal. With this being said, I'm going to perform an experiment next month and NOT do the hearworm and the grooming on the same weekend. I'm also going to go ahead and start researching what options are out there for preventative heartworm medications that are not administered orally.

I just have to think that we know he has an impaired immune system due to his childhood illnesses, compounding that with giving him a strong pesticide has to make me reconsider everything that I've done for this poor baby... How can I give him something that causes him so much distress?!?

Oh, and as a funny story... Leo is no longer being put into his crate when I leave the house. Since he is in daycare at least 3 times a week, he has a lot less energy and boredom, so I feel comfortable with the knowledge that he isn't going to destroy anything. However, I still do not allow him to just roam free throughout the house. Instead I gate off my kitchen, which has tile floors, and close all of the doors along the hallway. This gives him plenty of space to roam up and down the hall, I also leave him with water and food, if he hasn't eaten it for the day, as well as his bed (unless he starts tearing it up). He seems to be okay with this, he doesn't enjoy me leaving him behind and he has started refusing to eat his treat and/or his food until I return. I feel a little guilty over this, but he has to learn that I will always (I hope) come back to him. Anyway, a couple of weeks ago I left to go to dinner with a friend and he was alone in his space. When I returned a few hours later, I opened the door from the garage and expected to have him come flying down the hall to greet me, which is the norm. Well, he wasn't there. The house was completely silent and he wasn't in the kitchen or garage. I started to panic, until I opened the door to the pantry (one of 2 doors that are off of this hall) and he comes shooting out of the dark in a complete panic. After hugging on him and calming him down, I took a look in the pantry. Now, there is no telling how long he was actually in that pantry, I mean did he find his way in there as soon as I closed the door and pulled out of the garage or was it right before I returned home, no matter, though because he did not get into a single thing...even though his treat bag is on the floor, the trashcan is in there, he was within grabbing distance of any number of things....nothing was touched. I figure the door hadn't been latched tightly and he bumped it with his nose in his sniffing around and when he went in and sniffed behind the door it was pushed shut. Since he does not have opposable thumbs nor the understanding of pulling the door open, he was trapped.....poor baby. He has been avoiding the pantry ever since that event.

30 Days of Gratitude - Day 19

Well, I couldn't be grateful for my Mom without being equally grateful for my Dad.

I'm grateful for my dad, this year especially, because he is on the mend. He was diagnosed with cancer in February and has been battling it via chemo therapy for many months. He recently finished up his last round and went back for another scan. We are all thrilled to learn that the cancer is gone, for the most part, and we expect many, many more years of him being around.

My dad has always been sort of a moral, ethical, career, life touchstone for me. While Mom has been the comfort and encouragement that I've needed, Dad has been the voice in the back of my head...much like my conscience. I've always thought about what I was about to do as to whether Dad would be proud or angry or discouraged in me. I've always wanted Dad to be proud of me, and I think I've accomplished that....and now I'm working really hard to not worry so much about what Dad is going to think because I know that he will love me....no matter what.

So, I am grateful for having two parents who love and respect me (and whom I love and respect and am in awe of).

And, since I put some embarrassing pictures of my mom out here yesterday, I have to post some of my dad as well....

Dad would be willing to entertain us by coming in from the garage
(you can tell he was working on something based on his attire) and
show how he could do a headstand in the middle of the floor.
The man had skills!!

For a brief couple of years, we were the proud owners of a
Model T Ford. Dad was never really big on fixing up engines
so nothing really came of this car, but it did run briefly...

Dad is an amazing artist and woodcraftsman. This is in one of his
classes that he has taken to learn how to make amazing sculpture
out of wood...I tell you, I come from crazy, talented stock!!

I just love this picture. This is Dad and me standing on the beach
in Florida one Christmas, just watching the waves come in...

30 Days of Gratitude - Day 18

Today, I am grateful for the most amazing woman that I know....My Mom. Today is her birthday. For some reason, I cannot find any recent pictures of her, however, I have found some doozies from years past....

Birthday Cake made from scratch by my sister and I in 1980ish.
That was perhaps the densest cake ever made....there is no
telling what ingredient we may have left out....but the imporant
one, Love, was in there and doubled.

Mom, beautiful 30+ years ago. Still beautiful today, although now she
wears less polyester and lots more cotton.

Mom was always willing to join in the fun....

....Or just be the fun at any party...She still is our social butterfly.

After retiring, Mom's opportunity to expand her art has increased
and she is an amazin artist!!

Mom a few years back at Frank Lloyd Write's house Falling Waters.
Mom is a huge FLW fan.

There are so many things that I can say about my mom, besides the fact that she is an amazing wife and mother, artist, teacher, life student, inspiration. My mom has been such an influence on who I am today. Don't get me wrong, we have had our issues, but what parent/child relationship hasn't had issues, but those battle wounds have only allowed our bond to become stronger.

Mom, I love you and I hope that you have an amazing birthday, even if you do nothing more than the crossword puzzle and drink coffee.

30 Days of Gratitude - Day 17

Today, I am grateful for old photographs. I spent some time today going through some old pictures that I have scanned from the boxes and boxes of ones at my parents' house. Looking at them made me laugh and remember the simple times of when I was a kid. I had a great life growing up....

Looking at these pictures makes me think of the song "Photograph" by Nickleback:


Oh, and just as a warning, my family may come and pinch my head off my body when I post some of these photographs....

30 Days of Gratitude - Day 16

This is NOT a picture of me and I do NOT have manly feet!!

Today, I am grateful that I have a job that allows me to work from home a couple of days a week. I could probably work from home every day of the week, as long as I actually get my work done, but I know that if I don't go into the office and see other human beings that I will lose all ability to maintain my personal hygiene and will never put on pants that aren't stretchy again.

The benefits of working from home are too numerous to really go into, but the primary ones are that it gives me the chance to do things like laundry and dishes in between meetings and reports, thereby freeing up my weekends to do the stuff that I REALLY love to do like watching marathons of America's Next Top Model (Freudian slip that I first typed "marathongs"?). It also will alleviate some of the stress that my poor puppy has when I leave him (more on that in a separate posting).

Thank you technology gods who have created the ability to get my work done even when I'm not at the office....as long as I do not turn into Homer Simpson when he worked from home....

30 Days of Gratitude - Day 15

Today I want to pronounce my gratitude for my church, Horizon Unitarian Universalist church.

I've only recently started attending, well this past summer, and it has been a great experience. I had looked into the church about 10 years ago, but only in a cursory way. It wasn't until this summer that I decided that I really wanted to find out what the church was all about and I went to investigate. I was happily surprised at how open and welcoming the members were.

The services open with the following Affirmation:
Love is the doctrine of our church;
The quest for truth is its sacrament,
And service is its prayer.
To dwell together in peace,
To seek knowledge in freedom,
To serve humanity in harmony with the earth,
Thus do we covenant together. 

They also pronounce the importance of the "Free Pulpit and Free Pew" which states that we come together with the freedom that the Minister may say what he wants without fear and that we as congregants are free to accept what is being spoken or not accept it. It is a very open church and that is what I really enjoy about it.

I chose today to be grateful for my church because I am part of a small group that meets every other Thursday, this being one such day, where we are exploring Spirituality and what it is and how it impacts us. It is allowing me the opportunity to discuss my ideas in a safe environment and learn from others. In the end, I hope to gain a new perspective on myself and to improve who I am....make me a better me.

If you are unfamiliar with the Unitarian Universalists (UUs), here is a list of what the UU Association promotes:

• The inherent worth and dignity of every person,
• Justice, equity, and compassion in human relations, 
• Acceptance of one another and encouragement to spiritual growth in our congregations, 
• A free and responsible search for truth and meaning, 
• The right of conscience and the use of the democratic process within our congregations and in society at large, 
• The goal of world community with peace, liberty, and justice for all, 
• Respect for the interdependent web of all existence, of which we are a part. 

Okay, to be totally, 100% honest I am not "officially" a member yet, I have only been considered a visitor. However, on Sunday, I will be "signing the book" as they call it and becoming an official member of the church. This is a little exciting for me as I have never been a member of a church as an adult.

I Got Flowers

First the guard at the gate called me and asked which lobby I was closest to so that the delivery person would know where to bring my flowers. When I got this call, I hung up thinking they probably had the wrong person, but whatever. Then, the guard at the front desk called and said that I had flowers, so I was convinced that it was really for me and had to walk down there to get them.

As I'm walking down, I was thinking "what could these be for? who would have sent me flowers? do I FINALLY have a secret admirer or stalker?"

When I get to the front desk and read the card, it says "Thank you for all your wonderful hospitality!! Melissa"....Being the lack of short term memory person that I am, I'm thinking "what?!?" Then it dawns on me....Melissa.... My friend who came down and stayed with me and went to Texas Renaissance Faire with me.....duh!!

Now I have lovely fall flowers in my office with a big reminder: ADD WATER NOW!! I'm lucky to have folks who remember me with such kindnesses. 

30 Days of Gratitude - Day 14

Today, I am grateful for a football game that was played some 20+ years ago that sealed my decision to go to Texas A&M. I admit that I'm not a rabid A&M football fan like some people (Sara), but I do like to see my team win.

This past weekend, we won and we won BIG!! We beat the hell outta the number 1 team, Alabama and it was exciting. I was watching the last couple of minutes of the game with some friends in a bar after Sara's bridal shower, and needless to say we were on pins and needles.

Well done, Aggies. Well done. 

30 Days of Gratitude - Day 13

Today I want to express my gratitude for the written word. I love books. I love physical books that I have stacked on the bedside, coffee table, shelves, etc. and I love my electronic books on my Kindle that I flip through reading off and on. I love going out to Amazon.com and perusing what books they have recommended for me. When I'm in Target, I wander through the book aisle. If I'm at a mall, I will swing through a Barnes and Noble just because. I love books.

Sadly, I do not have a library card because, well, I don't like to read books that have been man-handled by other people. My parents are BIG library book borrowers, which is great for them. I just can't do it. I'm like George Kastanza from Seinfeld who got in trouble for taking a book into the restroom at the book store...I imagine everybody takes their books to the bathroom, especially library books and I just don't want to think about it. 

Veteran's Day Project

As I mentioned earlier, I am grateful to have had today off as my customer observes Veterans Day. I took this time to start a new project and I'm 2/13ths of the way finished....

I've decided to make a calendar for the office. Each month there is a different block and then the 11 numbers (0-8, plus an additional 1 and 2... the 6 will be turned over to be used as the 9). So, here is what I've accomplished thus far:

Nothing too spectacular, but it made me happy while making it. Now I just have 11 more months to make....

New Challenge for ABBA

My Mom (Creative Crone) was recently invited to join an international on line quilting group called Art Quilts Around the World.

Well, when I replied to the group's blog about how excited I was for my mom and that I'd like to join, as well, I just haven't had a lot of experience at art quilts, one of the members reached out to me and invited me to join the group as well....even as a beginning art quilter.

So, my new challenge is that I will be taking on their challenges and stepping into making art quilts. I've very excited.... it will certainly be new for me. The first challenge is to create a self portrait. Hmmm, what to do....