the four agreements

Be Impeccable With Your Word.   
Don't Take Anything Personally.  
Don't Make Assumptions. 
Always Do Your Best.  

5: small things

the movies
movie theater popcorn
previews
artsy films
comfy clothes

4: small things

feeling better after being sick
new friends
doggie love
morning coffee
music!

3: Small Things

lady bugs
sprouting daffodils
blue skies
fresh dirt
warm breezes

2: Small Things

wine

wine club

guaifenesin-codeine solution

bed

sleep

1: small things

New project.
That which you place your attention on, grows.
For the next 365 Days I'm planning to place my attention on finding
Grace in Small Things.
Here are my five things for today...

Hot Showers
 A Comfy Bed
Riccola Cough Drops
Tulips
Candlelight

The of Heart of Life....is good.

Pain throws your heart to the ground
Love turns the whole thing around
No, it won't all go the way it should
But I know the heart of life is good....

Brene Brown on The Power of Vulnerability

Prayers for my auntie

One of my favorite aunties is very, very ill and has nearly stepped through death's doorway more than once in the last two months. She is perched there even now as I type this up. Today, we all wait with baited breath to hear news of her.

When the calls come I'm fine, rational. When I hang up, I weep. Why do I let so much time slip through my finger tips when I could be with, talk to, or even just think happy thoughts of the ones who mean so much in my life? Is this what it means to get older...To realize that they aren't kidding when they say life is short, make every day count, live each day as if it's your last?

Falling off the wagon....

I'm sick. What do you do when you're sick? Eat homemade chicken soup. So that's what I'm doing and I'm feeling a bit better already. I think it's alright to make exceptions in case of illness. That's my line and I'm sticking to it.

New Year's Resolution

.........Live in the moment.

I'm going to try to shoo away any worrisome, non-present moment thoughts this year. They don't do anything to improve my life. It's possible that they do some damage.

Dinner tonight...

If you make a big enough salad it really does fill you up. Tonight I had fruit salad on top of a huge plate of baby spinach. My jaw got tired by the end but my belly is full!

Did you know that one hundred calories of broccoli has more protein that one hundred calories of beef? No problem except that do you know how much broccoli that is? Lots.

Left overs and a movie...

Super fine day. It was a frigid kind of cold out today so I set a fire in the fireplace when I got home from work. We had an eclectic dinner of parmesan chicken for the kids and left overs for me then watched The Help together. Not too many thoughts about what I was eating. I turned the leftover rice and beans into a stew and had a salad for dinner. Greek yogurt with granola from Starbucks for lunch, oatmeal and banana for breakfast. Seems like lots of grains and too much sugar but oh well. Tomorrow's another day.

Right now I'm sitting in front of the glowing embers waiting for the fire to go out so I can turn in to bed. Lovely day.

Today...

.....I ate like a vegetarian. I did have some dairy in my salad at lunch. But mostly I had fruit, veggies, nuts, and rice. Yum.

Oh yeah...And coffee. Coffee is a hurdle I'll have to tackle later.

Have you seen Forks Over Knives? I stumbled upon it when I was searching Netflix for a movie one night. It was an interesting movie but one of the best things about it was that it prompted me to do a bit of investigation into the claims of the researchers. They claim that eating a low fat entirely plant based diet can dramatically reduce the incidence of cancer and heart disease. Very interesting indeed. What I learned was that I may need to be careful about wheat protein as well. Gluten may be as much of a culprit in heart disease and cancer as saturated fat and cholesterol.

My, my, my. What have I gotten myself into?

New Year, New Adventure

Journaling is a worthy pursuit, or so I'm told. I wish I had a dollar for every January first that I've started fresh with the hope of gaining clarity, gratitude, or peace of mind through journaling.

This year is going to be different!

I'm starting a new adventure. I've decided that I will finally make the commitment to eat a much more plant based diet. I don't like labels or boxes so I refuse to give my new lifestyle a name (such asVegan, Vegetarian, Plant-Based, Ovo-lacto-vegetarian, Pescatarian or the like). I will only promise to do my best to make healthy choices and try write them down here.

You may be wondering...or maybe not...what prompted my decision. This may sound far fetched but it all started in my fifth grade class with Ms. Stone, "The Coolest Teacher at Meadowbrook Elementary", when we hatched chicken eggs. Or to be more precise it all started when she let us dissect the unhatched eggs. I couldn't eat eggs for ages after that. The uneasy feeling lingered pretty much forever and I've been caught in the complacency trap ever since. Meat is the easy convenient choice abundantly accepted in the Mainstream American Diet, and therefore has been the cornerstone of my diet all my life. I, like many other Americans, was indoctrinated into the belief that animal protein is the healthy way to go. You need meat and eggs and milk to build a healthy body. Right?

Wrong. I think. So I'm heading into new territory with a lot of excitement and a little bit of trepidation. I'll try to keep a journal of how it's going and maybe one day in the future I'll look back and wonder what all the fuss was about. My hope is that on that day I'll be healthier and more sure than ever that I made the right decision.

Wish me luck!

PS: Tonight's dinner....Steamed green beans served with wild grain pilaf made with black beans, and a side of fresh strawberries. Feeling very satisfied and a little bit smug about how happy my belly is right now. (Roasted an organic rosemary chicken for the rest of the family. They seemed happy too.)

photo (o)ops

smile mom, my girls say.

relax, it's just a picture

you look cute. really.

Charter for Compassion

Home for the Weekend

She was home for 30 minutes. We got home from JMU at 3:30. She left to visit her band friendlets by 4:00. It was good to see her anyway....

Moving on....

I wish I had something wise and compelling to write about today. But then again since not too many people see this blog I don't know if it makes much of a difference how wise or compelling my words are.

Things are going fine with me, thanks. I got Abby off to college with a minimum of drama on my part. No racking sobs, no pulling of hair. Just a very, very happy college freshman and a couple of old farts wandering around the house wondering where everyone went.

So now the kids are all gone and we're trying to figure this grown up life out. We've had kids in the house since we were 23, married just 13 months before Lauren showed up. The house is very neat most of the time. We've still got both of the hairy children so we're not completely alone. They're a lot of company......

Last year I started working on this patient satisfaction project at work which has turned into nearly full-time work. It may officially become full-time before the year's out. I have mixed feelings. Now my time is free to be filled by things other than school, homework, marching band and swim team. So do I fill it with work? Will that fill me up? The jury is still out one that one. I don't mind working but I miss my free time. Is there any happy medium? I'm not sure.

Brad says I think too much about things. I guess that's true. ......Maybe I could just relax and be happy with the all the blessings that have been bestowed upon me......maybe.....

Simple Truths