A very wise bear.........

“Poetry and Hums aren't things which you get, they're things which get you. And all you can do is go where they can find you.”

“Sometimes, if you stand on the bottom rail of a bridge and lean over to watch the river slipping slowly away beneath you, you will suddenly know everything there is to be known.”

“Rivers know this: there is no hurry. We shall get there some day.”

“Don't underestimate the value of Doing Nothing, of just going along, listening to all the things you can't hear, and not bothering.”

“When late morning rolls around and you're feeling a bit out of sorts, don't worry; you're probably just a little eleven o'clockish.”
-----Winnie the Pooh

Lent.........

OR

I'm trying to decide which to give up for Lent. Beer or Diet DP? Ought to give up both, but wisdom (such as it is) tells me to only do one at a time. I was going to try to give up procrastination but........ as you can see, I would have more success at fasting. I'm thinking I have seven more hours to decide. Will let you know how it's going.

Peace.

How about those Giants?!

If I'm gonna watch football - it's gotta be exciting. Heck, I don't even watch TV, let alone football! But exciting it was! A great game and a great win! I thought the coolest thing about the whole thing was that two brothers got to win back-to-back Super Bowls. How cool is that?! Every time they'd show Peyton Manning cheering his brother on - it just choked me up. A very perimenopausal thing to do, I know! My co-workers tell me it's because I'm a big sap. Which is probably right, but as good a reason as any to cheer on a team, I think. (Plus the Patriots beat the Carolina Panthers in the Super Bowl a couple of years back and us folks from North Carolina still haven't gotten over it!).

Death and taxes........

That about says it all. No, I promise I'm not paranoid! But I am pretty damn disgusted! I paid an unmerciful portion of my income this year to the feds and to the glorious state of Virginia. I worked my butt off, squeezing money I couldn't afford to squeeze out of each paycheck for five months last year to pay off a huge chunk of my credit card debt. No one informed me, however, that the interest the credit card company forgave would have to be reported on my income tax return as INCOME! So, no return for me another year. And, even worse, I'm back to another payment plan with Uncle Sam for another year or so to PAY more taxes to the feds and to the glorious state of Virginia!

I am so bummed out! Just when it seems like you're about to see the light at the end of the tunnel...... SLAM! You're hit by the train! This time the train is called the IRS (and the glorious state of Virginia who charged me almost as much as the feds). Death and taxes - you know the drill. The only sure thing in life........

I sure hope your filing goes better than mine. I was blind-sided by this one. Had already made some plans for my return.

I thought about sending my return, along with a picture of all the babies I delivered this year, to Dick Cheney. Reckon he'd front me a loan?

Peace.

She is coming back......

Did you feel it this morning? Did you feel it in the air? She is coming back to us. She's on her way. The warm sun that pulls the sleeping flowers from the ground and wakes the sleepy, stiff earth. The winter wheat is green and will soon start to grow tall. The days are longer. The nights are losing their bite. Today is the start of that drawn out game of push and pull, as spring starts her approach and winter threatens to keep her at bay. The time when the bushes start to flower then another hard freeze will leave the blossoms wilted on the ground.

But I could feel her this morning. She's coming. My spirit is lifting her sleepy head, anxious to see her here, but leary, too, of stepping out too soon, only to be caught in the cold. She's coming.

The sun is coming back to us and soon Spring will be here. In all her glory, she will soon come. Bless the days of warm sunshine. Bless the nights to deep sleep. Soon the whole world will be awake!

I am ready.

Holy Smokes!!

Dr. John just paged me and told me to go on home. Said I'd had a long week and gave me the afternoon off! Said he'd cover call the rest of the afternoon. NAP TIME!! Holy smokes! Somebody must've done something right! Very cool. I'm headed home. Goin' to the grocery to get fixins for chili and then home to crawl into my nest of comforter and quilts and flannel sheets - me and my hot water bottle and Pete the crippled cat. For a long winter's nap!

Now that's what I call a good day!
Peace.

Go Red Day...............

Today is national Go Red for Women Day. Did you wear your red? Me, neither. I forgot. I was so overwhelmed by the process of having to get out of bed this morning into that big ole, cold house..... I stayed up too late last night, talking on the phone to my son, Daniel. What a great conversation we had, though! Awesome! We talked for two hours - about music, school, work, women, men, music, politics, money, church, family, friends, music..... it was great. I love talking to my sons on the phone. We get into some great conversations. Never can tell where the conversation might go!

So back to the National Go Red for Women Day. Go Red for Women is a movement of the American Heart Association to help women come together to make changes necessary to reduce the risk of heart disease and stroke. There's a great website that explains all about it: www.goredforwomen.org Everyone around the hospital today is wearing red. I can't believe I forgot!! And I work with women everyday! And I'm at risk for heart disease - though so far, so good for me and my heart.

I've been reading a book about how to get healthy. Quite a few years back, I kept buying all of these self-help books, trying to fix myself. Instead, I almost made myself crazy. I ditched the self-help stuff and decided to live my life the way that seemed best to me, for me. That seemed the most logical thing to do at that time. And, actually, I think I turned out alright. I mean, I got my quirks and stuff, but, on the whole, I'm pretty much alright. I'm a good person, a good friend, a really good mom (even if I do say so myself).

But I've been thinking a lot lately though about my need to get healthier. Particularly in my physical body, but in my spirit, too. So I bought this neat book and I've been reading about getting healthy. It's a good book. Kind of almost a "getting healthy for dummies" kind of read - easy, straight-forward.

I keep thinking today will be the day that I start. Then I procrastinate another day. That's not going to get me very healthy!! So, little steps and starting today is what I'm going to do. Little steps lead to bigger steps. Maybe by the time I head to Russia, I'll be able to run ALL the way down my road (instead of just part way) and I'll be a non-smoker. That's the hope anyway. I want to be a normal sized, physically fit non-smoker. So I'll have to do it all. But little steps at a time. No fries, no smokes and no beer today. I'm taking a nicotine-beer-french fry holiday!That's the little steps for today.

And, when I get home, I'm going to take a long, hot bath with lavendar oil in the tub. Then I'm going to put on my red long-johns in honor of Go Red Day and I'm going to have turkey chili and a cup of tea. And then I'm going to knit.

Not bad for small steps, I don't guess.
Go Red!