Tuesday, March 15, 2011

Gotta Love a Ukulele

Click here for Rock 101.9 RXP // New on RXP: a new solo Ukulele song by Eddie Vedder! :)

Beware the Ides of March

Today is March 15th, or "the Ides" of March. In Shakespeare's play Julius Caesar (Act 1, scene 2), it is the day that a soothsayer or fortuneteller tells Caesar to beware; turns out to be the day that Caesar is assassinated.

With everything going on in the world today, it feels like a good day to beware. If I was a superstitious sort... which, of course, I am... I would be wondering what to make of all of the tragedy we've been seeing lately. Especially since I stayed up late last night, watching coverage of Japan's triple disaster: earthquake, tsunami, and nuclear threat.

I read on The Huffington Post the other day that a few Christian groups have calculated and come up with the idea that May 21 will be the day the Christ returns... Judgement day. (If you are interested in reading the story for yourself, you can go HERE. (I always thought that the second coming was supposed to be a surprise! I don't suppose He's going to be happy with them if they've ruined it!)

I believe that May 21 will be a Saturday. And I'm pretty sure my whole family will be home. So I've decided that it will be a good day to have a nice family dinner. I'm not sure what I'm going to cook yet; maybe it will be warm enough by then to have a barbecue. And if it isn't raining, I think we'll have a little campfire in the back yard that night.

And I'm pretty sure that on May 22 we'll be having leftovers, and cleaning up, and relaxing. Hope so, anyway. :)

Monday, March 14, 2011

My new teapot


This is my new teapot, hand made by my nephew Steven. I love the way he made the leaves and berries around the top. The color is great, too. It goes really well with my dining room. I love a cuppa tea.

I've made a lot of kids laugh because if anyone has anything wrong, I almost always try to cheer them up by offering them a cuppa tea. And for the most part, there are very few kids who want tea. (At first. I've gotten a bunch of them to like it, lately.) There's nothing more cozy than a nice warm cuppa tea with milk and lots of sugar. Very soothing.

I always had tea with Gram. When she stayed with me, when the kids were little, after the morning rush of getting people out the door, once things got calm and quiet again, she would always put the kettle on. The first cup of tea in the morning was to get moving, and drank while standing and organizing and doing whatever it was I did in the mornings when the kids were little. Getting out the cereal, finding a better pair of socks with no holes, mediating a dispute. But the SECOND cup of tea, THAT one we would sit down and drink quietly. She would tell me a story. She was a great story teller. Or we would read the newspaper. That was back when people had the newspaper delivered to the door every morning... do tell! Can you imagine that, the newspaper, made out of paper, and read every single morning?

Now, my first cup of tea IS my second cup of tea, because I don't have to get anyone organized or out of the house. Gram is gone, and so is the newspaper. I stopped getting it once upon a time when it had nothing worth reading, but it was costing money, and it was a pain to remember to recycle. Now, I take my cuppa - and my new teapot - to the computer, and read the news and status updates and blogs and stuff online. I think about Gram's stories. I'm going to start writing some of them down, along with her recipes. I don't want them to be lost forever.

My life has changed a lot over the years, but a lot of things remain the same.

Friday, March 11, 2011

Wednesday, March 02, 2011

The Law of the Garbage Truck

I saw this on a friend's facebook page. I really liked it, and I wanted to remember it. So I put it here so I can read it again.

This has to be one of the best emails I have received in a long time because when you sit and think about the meaning, it is so true. Law of the Garbage Truck

One day I hopped in a taxi and we took off for the airport.

We were driving in the right lane when suddenly a black car jumped out of a parking space right in front of us.

My taxi driver slammed on his brakes, skidded, and missed the other car by just inches! The driver of the other car whipped his head around and started yelling at us.

My taxi driver just smiled and waved at the guy. And I mean, he was really friendly.

So I asked, 'Why did you just do that? This guy almost ruined your car and sent us to the hospital!'

This is when my taxi driver taught me what I now call,'The Law of the Garbage Truck.'



He explained that many people are like garbage trucks. They run around full of garbage, full of frustration, full of anger, and full of disappointment.

As their garbage piles up, they need a place to dump it and sometimes they'll dump it on you. Don't take it personally.



Just smile, wave, wish them well, and move on. Don't take their garbage and spread it to other people at work, at home, or on the streets.



The bottom line is that successful people do not let garbage trucks take over their day.

Life's too short to wake up in the morning with regrets,

so ... Love the people who treat you right.

Pray for the ones who don't.



Life is ten percent what you make it and ninety percent how you take it!



Have a garbage-free day!



"Faith is not believing God can,it is knowing that God will."

Tuesday, March 01, 2011

A New Day

It's a new dawn, it's a new month, it's a new year...


although I did take this photo LAST year.

Today I'm going for an interview for a new job. I'm still optimistic and at the same time, I'm not expecting to get the job. But I do think it's within the realm of possibility. I'm going to try my best, and I've been meditating on the idea that the universe (Higher Power) (God) wants what's best for us and if it's meant to be, it will be.

I've been thinking a lot about my beliefs lately.

I'm going to write here about what I believe, but please don't think that if it's different from what YOU believe, I'm judging you.

I always liked the line from the bible that says "In my Father's house are many rooms. I go there now to prepare a place for you." I might interpret it differently from other people, but I take that to mean that God has a place for a lot of different beliefs, and Jesus is one of them, but not the only one.

I like the Buddhist idea of deciding for myself what I believe, not just accepting the information that is handed to me, on faith.

I do believe in "God" but I don't believe in "Him." I think "HE" is too narrow of a pronoun and "God" is too small of a name for what the higher power actually is.

I don't really believe in church as THE place to connect with that higher power. I think church is a great place to connect with other people, to build community, and that there is a lot of higher power within community of peoples.

I believe in prayer. But I hate telling people that I'm praying for them, because of all the connotations that word has. Maybe meditating is a better word. "I'm meditating for good things to happen to you." That doesn't seem right either. "I'm focusing positive vibes on you, man. Groovy." lol

I believe SO MUCH in prayer, that I hesitate to ask for anything specifically, because I really believe you have to be careful what you ask for, because you just might get it.

So going on this job interview today, I'm not praying I get the job. I'm praying "Thy will be done," which really is the best prayer, to me. Considering my belief that "GOD" wants what's best for us, doesn't that seem the most realistic prayer?


And it's a beautiful, sunny day... and a brand new month, almost spring... and whatever will be, will be. Amen... :)