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Archive for the ‘Everyday’ Category

These Are The Golden Years

Posted in Everyday, tagged on August 14, 2012| 2 Comments »

Arthritis, bursitis, phlebitis, oh my! The only thing that makes getting older bearable is the creative way we treat our afflictions. Husby’s practicing medicine on himself again. Hopefully he’ll be less limpy soon.

Creative Ice Packing

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Taking Charge

Posted in Everyday, tagged , on August 10, 2012| 4 Comments »

I know you’ve all experienced life’s ups and downs.  Lately, it seems, my life has been nothing but downs and downs.  At least that’s what my perception has been.  Truly I have nothing to complain about, but you know how it is when your brain kind of melts away and you lose all the tools needed to help you cope with those downs?  Maybe that just happens to me.

After a few especially trying weeks I finally went to see a doctor and was feeling empowered.  Don’t ask why that made me feel empowered, but know I was feeling ever big and very adult-like for doing it.  I was happily driving home from my appointment when I went to shift gears on my 1998 Saturn (nothing but a manual transmission for me) and she completely failed me.  After fourteen years she decided to take leave of her service and left me stranded in the middle of the street, causing a minor traffic jam.

Dead.  My beloved car was dead.*  Of course by this time the empowerment I was feeling was taken over by that pesky anxiety I’ve been enduring.  Husby was out of town and I had to deal with the situation all…by…myself.  But guess what?  I did it!  With a little help from a phone call to Pinky (brother-in-law and really smart about all things car-related) I got a tow truck to come pick me and my car up and haul our sorry little selves back home.

Husby returned home that evening and we trashed all plans for the next day in order to go car shopping.  Yay!  More anxiety!  My decision-making skills have been on a major tropical vacation lately so this task seemed especially daunting.  Luckily Husby was with me and we didn’t encounter any high-pressure sales people on our joy test-riding adventure.  Finally we settled on the car we both liked.  Empowered again! Now I’m all that driving around in my new car, which looks like a space pod.

The Space Pod

Here’s the thing. It doesn’t matter what you think you can’t do because chances are pretty good you can if you take off your scardy pants and go for it. With the events of the past couple of weeks I’m feeling ready to take some chances, because right or wrong going out on a limb once in a while just makes you feel more alive.

* My wonderful little Saturn lost her life, but she became an organ doner.  Her salvagable parts will go to other Saturns to prolong their lives.  Yay!

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This Is A Test

Posted in Everyday, tagged , , , on August 6, 2012| 7 Comments »

There’s something in the air. The universe is conducting a test, I’m sure of it. The bad juju has been hanging around for months now and it’s wearing people down. It’s a test I tell you. A test to see what we’re made of.

I’ve seen others struggling through sad or difficult events. I’ve heard “what else can possibly go wrong?” after a landslide of misfortune. The synchronicity of these unfortunate happenings between unrelated people is just too remarkable.

One of my challenges is a nagging, free-floating anxiety. A nervousness about I-don’t-know-what. It could be waning hormones or other wonky chemicals. Or maybe I have some deep, dark conflict hiding in the recesses of my mind manifesting itself with sweaty palms and quickened breath.

I haven’t figured out what’s going on with the universe or why its nasty pranks are affecting me the way they are, but whenever I’m feeling especially anxious my brain clicks into the Mel Brooks channel and I get this song in my head. It sticks there for a while too.

It could be worse. I mean, if you’re suffering from high anxiety why wouldn’t you want a sassy song like that playing in your mind? It takes the edge off a little.

How is the universe treating you lately?

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Ah, It’s Easy…

Posted in Everyday, tagged , , , , on July 31, 2012| 1 Comment »

Lately I’ve had to do a lot of grown-up things and it’s just wearing me down.  Big grown up things like making decisions and providing for myself.  Oh, some of you may laugh, but I know there’s a bunch of you out there who know exactly what I’m talking about.

Allie knows what I’m talking about and has depicted her version of conquering enduring adulthood here.  I love the productivity chart and can completely relate to it.

When I get worn down by the daily grind of adulthood I lose sight of the joy that is everywhere around me.  No one should be devoid of joy.  It’s against the nature of life.  And when it’s time for me to find some bliss again I look to my heroine, Dame Marjorie Chardem, better known as Maude.

Time for a little Harold and Maude, I believe. Life affirming, uplifting, spiritual and funny. Maude, in her mature adulthood, held onto that child-like wonder and never stopped seeing the world as a place of pure delight.

You can do what you want, the opportunity’s on

And if you find a new way, you can do it today

You can make it all true, and you can make it undo you see…

Ah, it’s easy

Ah, you only need to know…

Cat Stevens

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Possum-Playing Squirrel

Posted in Everyday, tagged on July 30, 2012| 2 Comments »

As much as I love watching the suburban wildlife in my back yard sometimes it freaks me out.

The other day I was enjoying some time on the deck, sipping my Diet Dr. Pepper and catching up with my e-mails, when looked over at the fence.  There he lay, on his stomach across the top of the fence post.  His little legs were hanging lifeless, his head and tail were still.

I watched this squirrel for quite a while.  There was no movement.  None.  I watched and watched.  This squirrel wasn’t moving.  At all.

I closed out the e-mails on my smarty phone and switched over to the camera.  Maybe this little guy was just resting very comfortably?  What a cute photo, huh?  So I snapped a picture from the deck.

All flaked out on the fence post. I was pretty sure he was dead.

Then I thought, that squirrel has been laying there motionless for at least fifteen minutes. Could it be some cruel joke played by one of the neighbor kids? He found a dead squirrel and decided to drap it over our fence to freak me out? Or maybe someone was trying to be helpful, getting the dead squirrel out of the grass so no one would chop it up with the lawnmower?

I decided to walk slowly toward the squirrel to see if it would move knowing something was approaching.  Slowly, I walked toward it. Still, no movement. I crept closer, to within eight feet of that little possum-playing devil, before he decided to sit up and take notice.

He’s not dead. He’s just mad because I disrupted his relaxation with my incessant camera clicking.

After spending about twenty minutes trying to figure out if the squirrel was dead or not it was proven that he was indeed alive. Just all tuckered out.

I can totally relate.

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