UNLUCKY Things

As most of you who read this know, I started this blog as part of a weekly challenge by another scrapper and blogger in Scraptown.
Our first challenge was to make a list of 10 things that we consider to be unlucky that happen in our daily lives.
For the last 4 days I have racked my brain about finding items I think are unlucky.
I came up with one;
Have my gas tank of empty when pay day is a week away.
I even started a notecard to make up a list, but still, nothing else comes to mind.
I guess I look around my daily life and I see it filled with good things.
I was once a pesimist and could have well passed the 10 unlucky things, but over the last 10 years I have become an optimist.
My glass is always half full, never half empty.
Even my gas tank being almost empty and the fuel light blinding me in the pre-dawn hours doesn't effect me. I guess I know I have only 2 miles to go from my home to work and I can make it all week until payday.
I've done it, so I know.
Coming up with this list has been one of the hardest things I have done, next to getting two teenagers thru high school.
As I sit here writing this, I look around and try to think of some unlucky things that I have experienced in the last year.
And I still can't think of anything.
So for this week anyway...
Life is good.

Just curious

Do you ever wonder who reads your blogs?
Its usually something I am thinking about as I sit here and write.
Are you really interested in what is happening in my life in Nebraska
or could you really care less and are just browsing.
I guess I dont see my life as exciting and with nothing to exciting happening in it.
Just another day on the merry-go-round.
Of course I don't tell all about my day's at work or what my life is like.
There needs to be something to bring you back to read.
Today isn't one of those days.
Its a gloomy First Day of Spring.
The sun isn't shining. Its wanting to rain, but is only doing it on and off.
The birds are fornicatin', as Rabbit from Bambi would say.
That's about all the excitement going on here.
Today is chore day for me since I am home.
I am opting not to go into work since I have no appointments.
I could have gone down to clean, but I will have time in my day tomorrow for that.
My home NEEDS my attention.

I know it's not anything exciting.
But some time's.... That's just life.
Thanks for taking the time to read my post.
Have a great day.

The Mind of a Scrapbooker

Most people who know me in town only know that I am a counselor/manager of a weight control center.
Most don't know that I am a passionate scrapbooker.
Some of them don't understand how I can stand to scrapbook.
"I have tried it. I have all the stuff. It is too stressfull for me to even try."
I have heard it all, so I tend to keep that one personal fact to myself anymore.
They don't understand how it relaxes me.
How laboring over a page for more than 30 minutes puts everything in my crazy world back in to perspective.
This is my relaxation.
Scrapbooking centers my soul.
I love the creativity of it.
Everything I create comes from my own mind.
The older I get, the better I have become at accepting the compliment that I am creative.
Maybe not as creative as the scrapbooker's who own their own companies or are always getting their pages/creation's published, but, to people in a town of 25,000, I am creative.
Scrapbooking is a world I love to be in.
When I am scrapbooking, I shut out everything.
I tell people I scrapbook with not to think I am rude, but just focused because I usually only have 1 or 2 day's to scrap.
Most understand. Many do not.
My girlfriend who got me started scrapbooking is in the "do not" column.
She is a social scrapbooker.
She rarely gets anything accomplished at a crop, other than networking.
Try as I might to become a social scrapbooker, its just not for me.
I like being around other scrapbookers and talking occassionally, but, please let me do my thing.

I have discovered I need my creative side to exist in harmony with the rest of me.
When I am not able to be creative, I am crabby. I hate my job. I hate my world.
I can't battle my inner self.
I can't ignore the layout idea's that wake me from my sleep.
I can't wait to create a new page.

Are you a complainer?

I have recently taken a long look in my mirror.
I don't like some of what I have become.

I guess it really got me thinking when I watched one of the morning news shows (I'm all of a sudden addicted to Fox&Friends and the Today Show) and they showed the newest wristband craze.
A pastor thought of it.
You wear it. When you complain you have to move it to the other wrist.
In 21 days it is suppose to help curb your complaining or at least make you aware of how much you do.

I work in an enviroment where 95% of the people I see complain about one thing or another, and unfortunately, one of my closest friends is a cronic complainer. If she isn't able to complain, she isn't happy.
So, last week, I sat and did some soul searching about the person I was portraying to others.
How do I want to be remembered?
As someone who did nothing but complain about every thing and most every one?
Or, as someone who took life in stride and being thankful that the good Lord in all his wisdom let me enjoy another day.

I have always told my kids and husband to name 5 things that happened good in their day when they are complaining about it, but have never reversed it to myself.
Time to take stock in what I want to be remembered for and the kind of person I am.
I want to be grateful for what I have been given since it's only mine for such a short time.
When I sit and look around now, its time to pick out all the wonderful gifts I have, and I can think of 3 right off the top of my head.

Look around and make a list of your own and be thankful for it.
For it can all be taken away in the blink of God's eye.

And all is right with the world

Have you ever noticed how much better mood we humans are in when the sun is shining and we can open up our homes after a long winter?

Today everything, except my diet, is right with the world.
The geese are still flying over and their honks sound like singing.
The kids in the neighborhood are outside shooting hoops and playing.
Their little voices carrying on the light breeze.
The sun feels so warm and the air is clean and fresh.
The human race remembers what it is to be neighborly on days like today.
People wave and smile.
They take time to stop and look at the passing light clouds.
We go out to our gardens to check to see if the flowers we planted last fall made it thru the winter weather.
Mine look alive, but only time will tell.
This kind of weather makes us want to dig in the dirt.
To explore the places we love that take us back to nature.
To be active and shake off our winter blues.
Life is perfect on a day like today,
and all is right in the world.

Being a an Army Mom

I am so proud of how well my children have both turned out.
They are down to earth.
Respect others and each have dreams and minds of their owns.

Like my profile says...
My son is 19 and enlisted in the Army.
He is currently stationed in Texas at Fort Hood and he loves it there.
Its always warm. Warmer than Nebraska anyway.
He can run around in a t-shirt and jeans when he is not in uniform.
Kileen is a big enough town that there is plenty to do and
most of the time he and his buddies are taking road trips to Austin or
Dallas/Fort Worth to let off steam from the week.

Getting used to his Army lifestyle has been an adjustment.
Our phone conversations never last more than 5 minutes.
He always answers his phone, probably when he shouldn't,
but its getting other family members to understand that he isn't always free to talk is where he is coming to me to vent.
He calls me and talks when he has time, but usually he is surrounded by his friends and its hard to hear him.
My family likes to call him and talk for 15 to 30 minutes.
The other day he was at the doctor's office for a drug test and had to step out of line to talk with his aunt.
This I heard about.
"Make them understand Mom that this is my job. I could have gotten into serious trouble."
"Hit ignore Steven. Let them leave you a message and don't feel bad about doing it."

When he first went to Texas, his departure date for Iraq was set for the end of June, beginning of July. Two weeks ago it was pushed back to August and this week, its September.
He told his dad he would come home for the next 4 day vacation they got.
He may be in the field over Easter so it may be the end of May before we see him again.

I am thinking a trip to Texas may be in order once we know he is back from the field.

The Morning Routine

I hate our mornings around here.
I have for the last 20 years and I am sure I will for the next 50.

My husband is just not a morning person.
You do not speak to him before 10 a.m.
My daughter has kind of taken on the same persona.
God help her husband someday.
My son is the same until he is out of the shower.
Then his personality is revived.
Did I know this before we got married?
No.
I have said something in the past but have learned to just keep my mouth shut.
I hate that I have to be the one to say "I love you" as he shuts the door to leave.
Is he even thinking of me and that maybe I would like to have him look me in my eyes and say those words rather than shut the door as I am saying them.
Its hard to be married some days.

This is one of those days.

I feel absolutely worthless.
I wonder if he would miss the "I love you" if it didn't come.

I know it's amplified even more by the absolute dread he has for his job.
Both of us are in bad places with our jobs, but his is worse because the "abuse" he endures comes from his General Manager.
Perfect example.....

Monday the managers had a meeting about why they thought the car dealership was so slow the month of February.
In the middle of my husband giving his thoughts as to why the service department was slow, the GM cuts in and says....
"I would really like to take an axe to people's heads."

WHAT?!?!?!
My husband said nothing more and just went on with his day.
He never says anything.

Tuesday, in the scheduled managers meeting, the GM announced that every one's pay plan was going to be reviewed.
Our pay has dropped about $15,000.00 in the last 4 years, which was the last time he saw a raise from the dealership.
As a matter of fact, none of the mechanics or any of the other help in the service area's have gotten raises in the last 4 years.

Today, my husband gets to ride to North Dakota for some kind of service meeting with the same GM.
He has talked to a General Motors rep that comes around about once a quarter to check on things.
Her comment was, all dealerships are like this.
Really? The owners of the dealership know this goes on and are okay with it?
What is wrong with these people that they think it's a job boost to have people working for them who hate their boss and know nothing is ever going to get better.

Signs of Spring

I just love when you can smell the change of season's in the air.
I went for my afternoon walk (which usually happens at 5:30 a.m.) on Sunday.
I live a block from our local lake and was so happy to see the Snow Geese with a few Canadians mixed in, heading North.
I love to hear the honking as they fly over the house.
The geese sound out the start of Spring and the beginning of Fall for me, when they head back South.
The Linden tree in our front yard is covered in buds.
The snow on Sunday was melting away and as of Monday it was gone.
What a beautiful blue sky too.
The sun seems to be shining extra bright even today.
It is a good time to stop and take in the beauty of God's creations we see every day with new eyes.
I always wonder about that with people who live in places that offer such awesome sights.
Do they stop to enjoy the beauty of it on their ride home or has it turned into the same trees, mountain, sky, etc., as it was yesterday.
I always wonder that when we are on a road trip or on vacation to a different part of the country.
To me, Nebraska is flat.
The ride to Lincoln is flat.
But go 60 miles west of Norfolk and you start to run into the sandhills.
Talk about enjoying the scenery.

With the onset of "Daylight Savings Time" on Sunday, March 11th,
it will seem weird to wake up and go walking with out seeing the sunrise.
When I leave in the early morning hours, Orion is right above my front door.
I always say good morning to him.
Being married to a hunter and having a son who loves to hunt,
he is our guardian and is always welcome.