An apprentice once complained too much. His master ordered him to pour a handful of salt in a glass of water and drink it. He did it, even though the water was bitter and foul.
Then the master took him to a lake, ordered him to throw in the same amount of salt, and drink again. This time, the water was fresh and clean. This shows us the discomfort is in how we respond and perceive trials.
Will you be drinking water from the lake or the glass?
Saturday, November 27, 2010
Thursday, November 25, 2010
Happy Thanksgiving
It's Thanksgiving! It's always mind blowing to me how quickly the Holiday season comes around each year; but nevertheless I love it anyway.
I am so blessed with so many things to be thankful for, and I'm not sure where to start. Guess I'll just jump in
Today, I am thankful for my husband and son. They mean the world to me, and make me smile so many times a day, I wonder if I ever even smiled before.
I am thankful for my family. I can honestly depend on my family for anything, and I love that we can come together so easily without hating each other at the end of the day.
I am thankful for my job. I have such amazing co-workers, that they make a wonderful job even better at the end of the day. In the same vein of thought, I'm thankful for my paycheck. Without it, the rest of my life might not be so cheery.
I'm thankful for my friends. I have met and befriended some of the met amazing people in my life, and I'm so blessed to know each of them. (Whether we've met in person or not doesn't even seem to matter.)
I'm thankful for the roof over my house, the warm air that fills it, and the laughs that happen in it daily.
I honestly live a blessed life. I know this, and couldn't be any happier about it.
Happy Thanksgiving Y'all.
I am so blessed with so many things to be thankful for, and I'm not sure where to start. Guess I'll just jump in
Today, I am thankful for my husband and son. They mean the world to me, and make me smile so many times a day, I wonder if I ever even smiled before.
I am thankful for my family. I can honestly depend on my family for anything, and I love that we can come together so easily without hating each other at the end of the day.
I am thankful for my job. I have such amazing co-workers, that they make a wonderful job even better at the end of the day. In the same vein of thought, I'm thankful for my paycheck. Without it, the rest of my life might not be so cheery.
I'm thankful for my friends. I have met and befriended some of the met amazing people in my life, and I'm so blessed to know each of them. (Whether we've met in person or not doesn't even seem to matter.)
I'm thankful for the roof over my house, the warm air that fills it, and the laughs that happen in it daily.
I honestly live a blessed life. I know this, and couldn't be any happier about it.
Happy Thanksgiving Y'all.
Thursday, November 18, 2010
How's Your Skin?
Or, maybe I mean, How do you feel in it?
I've always been over weight, but I'm honestly ok with how I look. I would love to lose some weight, but I don't freak out and stress about it. It naturally fluxuates, and I could work harder to lose, but I'm too caught up in life (and excuses) right now.
I can always rely on the things I do like about myself to keep my self esteem boosted. I don't really need outside input to feel good about myself, but there are people and the things they say that always helps.
How do you feel in your skin? Are you ok with enough of yourself that you are ok with the whole? Is there anything or anyone who makes you feel better?
I've always been over weight, but I'm honestly ok with how I look. I would love to lose some weight, but I don't freak out and stress about it. It naturally fluxuates, and I could work harder to lose, but I'm too caught up in life (and excuses) right now.
I can always rely on the things I do like about myself to keep my self esteem boosted. I don't really need outside input to feel good about myself, but there are people and the things they say that always helps.
How do you feel in your skin? Are you ok with enough of yourself that you are ok with the whole? Is there anything or anyone who makes you feel better?
Wednesday, November 17, 2010
Growing up, revisited
A little while ago, I posted about growing up.
After talking with a friend the other day, I realized my big issue with people who can't get over small things is the amount of relativity in their lives.
When you grow up in a nice house, in a nice part of town, with parents who always work full time jobs, or better yet have a stay at home parent, that love and cherish you, chance's are you're a pretty sheltered person. I don't mean that in the negatively connotated way that many do. I mean, literally, you are sheltered to the adversity that many others suffer through in their lives.
Empathy can only get you so far. You need to live through eating grilled cheese and working two jobs to really get what I'm saying. As a parent, I've struggled, but more so, I've seen it as a child. I've lived through it. I've worked (maybe not as hard as I should have) to achieve a better life for myself and my family.
Which makes it hard for me to get how anyone could actually care about trivial, meaningless things like what someone posts on facebook. And again, I don't mean that all things posted on facebook are trivial. Bullying, in adults and teens a like, is rampant on social networking sites, blogs included. By trivial, I mean who cares if someone posts the same thing you post or doesn't agree with what you say. Those things are small fries in comparison to real world people who are fighting to keep the electricity on and feed their kids.
If you've never had that real world adversity in your life, then it might actually be world ending if your junior class chooses prom glasses that you don't like. But the loss of a grandparent, two grandparent-in-laws, and the birth of my child later, I honestly don't care.
If you follow my facebook, then you'll see just how much I don't care. I say it a lot. I don't care about immature, teenage crap. I don't care (nothing personal if the person who posted this is reading what I wrote on fb last night, just a great example) if my husband goes out and drinks with his friends. As long as he's not becoming an alcoholic and sleeping with other women, I don't see an issue with his being out whenever he chooses to, doing whatever he chooses to do. He's an adult, and I trust (No, I KNOW) that he wouldn't do anything to hurt himself, me or our son. I don't care. I don't care if he has facebook friends who are women, and posts on their walls. Why would I care? I have guy friends, and post on their walls. I posted on his best friends wall last night.
With all of that said, professionally, I know that their are people who care, and with reason. I know that there are mental disorders (anxiety being a big one) that cause some insecurities and other things that can lead to people caring. If you're one of those people, you've been excused from my semi (but not really) rant.
Of course, doesn't change the fact, that I really don't care. Maybe I'm too apathetic and dissociative, but that's a whole other blog post. : )
After talking with a friend the other day, I realized my big issue with people who can't get over small things is the amount of relativity in their lives.
When you grow up in a nice house, in a nice part of town, with parents who always work full time jobs, or better yet have a stay at home parent, that love and cherish you, chance's are you're a pretty sheltered person. I don't mean that in the negatively connotated way that many do. I mean, literally, you are sheltered to the adversity that many others suffer through in their lives.
Empathy can only get you so far. You need to live through eating grilled cheese and working two jobs to really get what I'm saying. As a parent, I've struggled, but more so, I've seen it as a child. I've lived through it. I've worked (maybe not as hard as I should have) to achieve a better life for myself and my family.
Which makes it hard for me to get how anyone could actually care about trivial, meaningless things like what someone posts on facebook. And again, I don't mean that all things posted on facebook are trivial. Bullying, in adults and teens a like, is rampant on social networking sites, blogs included. By trivial, I mean who cares if someone posts the same thing you post or doesn't agree with what you say. Those things are small fries in comparison to real world people who are fighting to keep the electricity on and feed their kids.
If you've never had that real world adversity in your life, then it might actually be world ending if your junior class chooses prom glasses that you don't like. But the loss of a grandparent, two grandparent-in-laws, and the birth of my child later, I honestly don't care.
If you follow my facebook, then you'll see just how much I don't care. I say it a lot. I don't care about immature, teenage crap. I don't care (nothing personal if the person who posted this is reading what I wrote on fb last night, just a great example) if my husband goes out and drinks with his friends. As long as he's not becoming an alcoholic and sleeping with other women, I don't see an issue with his being out whenever he chooses to, doing whatever he chooses to do. He's an adult, and I trust (No, I KNOW) that he wouldn't do anything to hurt himself, me or our son. I don't care. I don't care if he has facebook friends who are women, and posts on their walls. Why would I care? I have guy friends, and post on their walls. I posted on his best friends wall last night.
With all of that said, professionally, I know that their are people who care, and with reason. I know that there are mental disorders (anxiety being a big one) that cause some insecurities and other things that can lead to people caring. If you're one of those people, you've been excused from my semi (but not really) rant.
Of course, doesn't change the fact, that I really don't care. Maybe I'm too apathetic and dissociative, but that's a whole other blog post. : )
Wednesday, November 10, 2010
Poppy
Is there a person in your life that has never let you down?
I have one of those peeople in my life, so I'm going to take a quick second to recognize him.
My grandpa was born on November 10th, 1939. He was a middle child with several sisters and brothers. They lived, among many places, in a small shack near the river. As a teen, he loved building and driving fast cars, and dating girls.
He married my grandma on 03/14/59, the day before her seventeenth birthday. They had three children in three years, all girls. He worked countless odd jobs to support them, and loved to do hands on arts and other crafts.
In the mid sixties, my grandmother was diagnosed with Hodkin's Lymphoma and he picked his family up and moved them to Colorado. The hospital there was better for cancer patients; and he really wanted to prove that he could take care of his family on his own.
While living in Colorado, and doing other countless jobs like grave digging, he was dianosed with Multiple Sclerosis. He continued working, and eventually came back to Oklahoma when my grandmother was in remission.
They moved back to her family farm, where he still lives today.
In the late 1980's my grandma began having increasing difficulty with her vision, and by the late 1990's was completely blind. He took care of her every need and put up with her many demands. He put up with his own illness and issues, never stopping to be the victim, and did every trivial task from making her cereal to driving her around. Once she became more acclimated to her vision loss, she enrolled in the tech school nearby to become a medical transcriptionist. He took her daily to class, and picked me up from school on the way home.
On my sixteenth birthday, they sent me an orange/pink rose. I kept it for years before it distengrated from moving.
When my grandma became sick again he dealt with her constant pain, lack of motivation to do anything, and inability to eat much more than cereal. He didn't complain much, just did what he'd promised to do the day they married.
Let me just say, for the record, times weren't always great. They bickered a LOT. But they still loved each other and were a great example of how powerful the vows we take when married truly are.
My grandma passed away in 2006, and as hard as that was I can't imagine my life without him. I know that one day it will happen, but I pray often that his happy, relatively healthy life will continue for a long time to come.
That was his life, and his trials. His daily life of caring for his spouse, but where does anyone else play into that? Well, when he could no longer work and was placed on disability, he and my grandma were my primary care-givers while my mother worked.
I spent more time running through damp grass and playing in dirt than most girls every dream of. As I grew, I still spent as much time there as I could. He and I would watch TV, or I would just go and sit at the computer enjoying being in their house, with them. He was always there if I needed anything, and is continually so today.
I'm sure most girls feel this way about their dads, but as mine took a little longer to grow up than most, My Poppy was my fill in Dad.
Anyone who knows this man, knows just how special he is.
My inspiration for this post, other than his complete awesomeness, was my sister posting on our local newsman's facebook. His name is also Jed. She posted, "Happy Birthday Jed. My grandpa's birthday is also today." To which he responded, "Is he from Gracmeont? I just talked to him this morning, he has called to wish me a happy birthday for the past two years."
And that's just the kind of person he is.
I have one of those peeople in my life, so I'm going to take a quick second to recognize him.
My grandpa was born on November 10th, 1939. He was a middle child with several sisters and brothers. They lived, among many places, in a small shack near the river. As a teen, he loved building and driving fast cars, and dating girls.
He married my grandma on 03/14/59, the day before her seventeenth birthday. They had three children in three years, all girls. He worked countless odd jobs to support them, and loved to do hands on arts and other crafts.
In the mid sixties, my grandmother was diagnosed with Hodkin's Lymphoma and he picked his family up and moved them to Colorado. The hospital there was better for cancer patients; and he really wanted to prove that he could take care of his family on his own.
While living in Colorado, and doing other countless jobs like grave digging, he was dianosed with Multiple Sclerosis. He continued working, and eventually came back to Oklahoma when my grandmother was in remission.
They moved back to her family farm, where he still lives today.
In the late 1980's my grandma began having increasing difficulty with her vision, and by the late 1990's was completely blind. He took care of her every need and put up with her many demands. He put up with his own illness and issues, never stopping to be the victim, and did every trivial task from making her cereal to driving her around. Once she became more acclimated to her vision loss, she enrolled in the tech school nearby to become a medical transcriptionist. He took her daily to class, and picked me up from school on the way home.
On my sixteenth birthday, they sent me an orange/pink rose. I kept it for years before it distengrated from moving.
When my grandma became sick again he dealt with her constant pain, lack of motivation to do anything, and inability to eat much more than cereal. He didn't complain much, just did what he'd promised to do the day they married.
Let me just say, for the record, times weren't always great. They bickered a LOT. But they still loved each other and were a great example of how powerful the vows we take when married truly are.
My grandma passed away in 2006, and as hard as that was I can't imagine my life without him. I know that one day it will happen, but I pray often that his happy, relatively healthy life will continue for a long time to come.
That was his life, and his trials. His daily life of caring for his spouse, but where does anyone else play into that? Well, when he could no longer work and was placed on disability, he and my grandma were my primary care-givers while my mother worked.
I spent more time running through damp grass and playing in dirt than most girls every dream of. As I grew, I still spent as much time there as I could. He and I would watch TV, or I would just go and sit at the computer enjoying being in their house, with them. He was always there if I needed anything, and is continually so today.
I'm sure most girls feel this way about their dads, but as mine took a little longer to grow up than most, My Poppy was my fill in Dad.
Anyone who knows this man, knows just how special he is.
My inspiration for this post, other than his complete awesomeness, was my sister posting on our local newsman's facebook. His name is also Jed. She posted, "Happy Birthday Jed. My grandpa's birthday is also today." To which he responded, "Is he from Gracmeont? I just talked to him this morning, he has called to wish me a happy birthday for the past two years."
And that's just the kind of person he is.
Tuesday, November 9, 2010
New...Er, Old Journey
While I was in college, I had two jobs. The first was my high school job at a family owned grocery store that my great uncle, dad, and mom also worked at. I spent some great years working there, and still enjoy the small town atmosphere the store provides.
After we moved to the town I was going to college in, I decided I need to get a job there. I mostly worked for recreation then, as I was awarded a full cost of attendance scholarship.
So after applying and being offered a job at Bath and Body Works, I put in my two weeks notice and started a new journey. I was beginning a new job after 4 years at my previous job.
I stayed there for another two years, one as an associate and one as a Sales Lead (which is like a junior manager). There were three SLs at a time and there were days we ran the store more than the manager. Not that she didn't do her job, but she wanted us to learn how to do it on our own.
My last few months there I just knew that I would be eventually moving up and getting a Co-Manager job in a bigger store. But, that just never happened. I was coming from a small store, and would have been thrown into a huge store. It was obviously just not meant to be.
Since then, I've followed the store, several of the people I worked with have moved on to bigger stores. And now one of the girls I was first trained by is the store manager at my old store. She contacted another friend from there who I'm extremely close with to come back to work, and said friend also volunteered me. : ) The store was down to 7 people total and with holiday coming up, they should have about 25. She was desperate, and we were awesome when we were there.
So I went today and filled out my paperwork to go back to my college job
and my first shift will be this Sunday evening for a meeting. I'm so ready to get back and (get that discount) meet new people, spend time in such an oplifting holiday atmosphere. Maybe it will get me past my grinchiness.
After we moved to the town I was going to college in, I decided I need to get a job there. I mostly worked for recreation then, as I was awarded a full cost of attendance scholarship.
So after applying and being offered a job at Bath and Body Works, I put in my two weeks notice and started a new journey. I was beginning a new job after 4 years at my previous job.
I stayed there for another two years, one as an associate and one as a Sales Lead (which is like a junior manager). There were three SLs at a time and there were days we ran the store more than the manager. Not that she didn't do her job, but she wanted us to learn how to do it on our own.
My last few months there I just knew that I would be eventually moving up and getting a Co-Manager job in a bigger store. But, that just never happened. I was coming from a small store, and would have been thrown into a huge store. It was obviously just not meant to be.
Since then, I've followed the store, several of the people I worked with have moved on to bigger stores. And now one of the girls I was first trained by is the store manager at my old store. She contacted another friend from there who I'm extremely close with to come back to work, and said friend also volunteered me. : ) The store was down to 7 people total and with holiday coming up, they should have about 25. She was desperate, and we were awesome when we were there.
So I went today and filled out my paperwork to go back to my college job
and my first shift will be this Sunday evening for a meeting. I'm so ready to get back and (get that discount) meet new people, spend time in such an oplifting holiday atmosphere. Maybe it will get me past my grinchiness.
Monday, November 8, 2010
What's your favorite thing about...FREE?!?!
The other day I posted a blog about free, free, free holiday cards. Well here is the skinny on that deal.
First go to shutterfly.com and upload all of your pictures! I do this religiously, as it's the best place to get prints, and they store all your photos for FREE. (See, free again)
Then, check out their Holiday Card designs. This one is my favorite. I love how it lets the picture shine, but also enhances it a bit with holiday cheer.
They also have more traditional Christmas Cards that are super cute!
And last but not least, if you need some holiday gifts, they have awesome things like Calendars (who wouldn't love a photo calendar of my beautiful kid), Wall Art Canvases, and lots of others!!
My suggestion is: Go upload your pics, browse their cards (and pick out your favorite to get FREE) and then sign your little blog up to get free cards too!
First go to shutterfly.com and upload all of your pictures! I do this religiously, as it's the best place to get prints, and they store all your photos for FREE. (See, free again)
Then, check out their Holiday Card designs. This one is my favorite. I love how it lets the picture shine, but also enhances it a bit with holiday cheer.
They also have more traditional Christmas Cards that are super cute!
And last but not least, if you need some holiday gifts, they have awesome things like Calendars (who wouldn't love a photo calendar of my beautiful kid), Wall Art Canvases, and lots of others!!
My suggestion is: Go upload your pics, browse their cards (and pick out your favorite to get FREE) and then sign your little blog up to get free cards too!
Friday, November 5, 2010
Free, Free, Free!!
Free, Free, Free. Did that get your attention? Free?
Anyway...
Bloggers get free Holiday cards! Check it out!
Anyway...
Bloggers get free Holiday cards! Check it out!
Monday, November 1, 2010
Growing Up
As an adult, I realize that some things just don't matter. As an adolescent whose brain (the prefrontal cortex, specifically) wasn't developed completely, I didn't realize that.
I can now see the childish-ness and completely immaturity of my thoughts, actions and decisions.
I can remember bickering with my junior class over the prom glasses we chose. I want to scream at my stupid teenage self: WHO cares??? No one. I threw them away years ago.
But I honestly thought that was life ending.
I have a friend who thinks that every time any says something that could apply to her that they said it directly to her. She honestly believes that.
In my world full of reality, there isn't much room for narcissism.
I look at my younger sister, living in her drama filled high school life where everyday is a new friendship lost over a boy, I feel for her. I am so glad I'm over that part of my life. While I hate being old, that's more young than I would like to achieve.
I prefer being an adult, who is grown up enough to care less about small piddly things in life that don't hurt me.
I can now see the childish-ness and completely immaturity of my thoughts, actions and decisions.
I can remember bickering with my junior class over the prom glasses we chose. I want to scream at my stupid teenage self: WHO cares??? No one. I threw them away years ago.
But I honestly thought that was life ending.
I have a friend who thinks that every time any says something that could apply to her that they said it directly to her. She honestly believes that.
In my world full of reality, there isn't much room for narcissism.
I look at my younger sister, living in her drama filled high school life where everyday is a new friendship lost over a boy, I feel for her. I am so glad I'm over that part of my life. While I hate being old, that's more young than I would like to achieve.
I prefer being an adult, who is grown up enough to care less about small piddly things in life that don't hurt me.
Welfare and Policies?
In high school/college, I worked at a grocery store. I saw people coming through with foodstamps getting more money than my parents spent on groceries. We never bought name brand groceries, yet here are these people I knew didn't have a job, hadn't worked in years buying name brand everything. And lots of junk food, snacks, and non-healthy foods like fruit. Pop instead of juice. And the kicker was steaks, several packages a month. I had a major problem with this.
This summer while taking a social work class I was posed the question, "Should the adults recieving food stamp and other welfare benefits be required to take a drug test to recieve said benefits?"
My original thought was, Of course. Of course they should. Why should someone who can't be straight and working be allowed money that other deserving families be getting?
Then the more I thought about it, I started considering the children of those families. The children of those families wouldn't wouldn't have anything to eat otherwise.
Those are my general ideas, so what do you think? Should adults who recieve benefits be tested for drugs?
This summer while taking a social work class I was posed the question, "Should the adults recieving food stamp and other welfare benefits be required to take a drug test to recieve said benefits?"
My original thought was, Of course. Of course they should. Why should someone who can't be straight and working be allowed money that other deserving families be getting?
Then the more I thought about it, I started considering the children of those families. The children of those families wouldn't wouldn't have anything to eat otherwise.
Those are my general ideas, so what do you think? Should adults who recieve benefits be tested for drugs?
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