Wigging Out

Stole this from my friend Callie.

"Family are like underpants!!!! Some crawl up your butt, some get a little sideways, some are your favorite, some are holy, some are cheap and just plain nasty, and some actually cover your butt when you need 'em too!"

I am so grateful to my friends and family this week. I’ve only got about 15 more hours to sweat thru and then I’ll find out what the results are from my squish test and the follow up digital scan I had to have last week.

I call and they get me laughing and take my mind of of things. Patty even offered to put me to work helping her pack up her house. I’ve been Miss Debbie Downer all weekend they keep me sane.

Attitude

I was talking to my friend Marrey the other day about attitude. So many people see the glass as half empty, that negative attitude is so counter productive. I try hard not to worry and obsess over things I don’t have the skills or knowledge to change. I try not to worry or stress about things but sometimes life sneaks up on me.

A long time ago the Frog and I read a book on Adversity. The main theme was we NEED Adversity in our lives to help us stretch and grow. Last week at General Conference  there were a lot of references to how important attitude is in facing our trials. Then I read this.

"The longer I live, the more I realize the impact of attitude on life. Attitude to me is more important than facts. It is more important than the past, than education, than money, than circumstances, than failures, than success, than what other people think or say or do. It is more important than appearance, gift, or skill. It will make or break a company...a church...a home. The remarkable thing is we have a choice every day regarding the attitude we will embrace for that day. We cannot change our past...we cannot change the fact that people will act in a certain way. We cannot change the inevitable. The only thing we can do is play on the string we have, and that is our attitude. I am convinced that life is 10 percent what happens to me and 90 percent how I react to it. And so it is with you... we are in charge of our attitudes. "
~ Charles Swindoll

Here’s to Attitude. Keep those thumbs and spirits up!!

True 100 Years Ago

"In the first place we should insist that if the immigrant who comes here in
good faith becomes an American and assimilates himself to us, he shall be
treated on an exact equality with everyone else, for it is an outrage to
discriminate against any such man because of creed, or birthplace, or origin.
But this is predicated upon the man's becoming in very fact an American, and
nothing but an American...There can be no divided allegiance here. Any man
who says he is an American, but something else also, isn't an American at all.
We have room for but one flag, the American flag, and this excludes the red
flag, which symbolizes all wars against liberty and civilization, just as much
as it excludes any foreign flag of a nation to which we are hostile...We have
room for but one language here, and that is the English language...and we
have room for but one sole loyalty and that is a loyalty to the American people."
Theodore Roosevelt 1907

I’ve been reading a lot the last few days and I find it really curious this was so long ago and yet addresses some very real issues going on now.

I found a number of other quotes along the same theme. One of those is from a speech he gave in 1915

”There is no room in this country for hyphenated Americanism. The one absolutely certain way of bringing this nation to ruin, of preventing all
possibility of its continuing to be a nation at all, would be to permit it to become a tangle of squabbling nationalities .”                                                 

— Theodore Roosevelt, speech before the Knights of Columbus, 1915, New York

He also said that any immigrant to America who doesn’t learn the language in five years ought to be sent home. Which is hysterically funny to me, because while I was reading that I was waiting on a prescription at the hospital pharmacy. About every 3rd page there was repeated in Spanish.

I am an Idiot!

I am the stupidest person in my life. Lucy was acting like a crazy after the Budha baby left so I asked her if she wanted to go for a ride in the car. Went out to the garage, got in, buckled up, turned the key, put it in gear and stepped on the gas. Then we heard a horrible sound.....it was like fingernails on a blackboard, only really loud with someone squealing. Let's just say Melissa Leo was not the only one who dropped an "F bomb" this week.
I forgot to hit the button to open the garage door!!! It's all broken and bulging out. Right. Like the neighbours aren't going to see it and know exactly what happened. The whole world now has proof positive of what an idiot I am. Plus it will not close all the way. Who knows what types of critters will take it as an open invitation to set up housekeeping. Stupid! Stupid! Stupid!

Almost 10,000 Days

Well I didn't get a Valentine but I did get to play with flowers and see others getting their Valentine's so that was something to feel grateful about. I was my own Valentine. I wore my Pink jacket, Hot Pink cami and Pink tunic and my fav Hot Pink Crocs. Then I took myself out to a "Red" dinner and before you ask I was at El Rancho Grande where else? Yummy!
Lucy went with me to get the flowers and on part of my deliveries. She wore her Pink sweater too. We had fun. we even went to the Dog Park .....which she adores.

I read an essay about someone being married 10,000 days. The Frog and I almost made it. We were only 41 days short. It's crazy how much I miss him some days. It has gotten easier but not this week. Too much Love in your face all around. Especially on TV.

I'll just have to learn to settle for doggy kisses instead of Frog Kissin'.

Books~Enlighten & Entertain

I have a ton of books. Lots and lots of books. Mostly fiction. Mostly CMR's (Cheesey Mormon Romance) from Seagull or Deseret Book. For the last 8 years I've been trying to only buy books that aren't full of sex, or creepy crawly scarey mind games. For instance I don't read Stephen King or Dean Kuntz they don't give me a good feeling when I'm done....I've literally not come even close to finishing the last ones I tried to read.

That being said.

I've been on a kick to re-read some of my favourite authors from long ago. I've been discovering most of their books still have the words to really move me and cause me to think. Isn't that what books should do? With all the books available for free on the internet and in the library am I choosing the right ones?

So right now I'm reading Louis L'Amour's Bendigo Shafter and I came across this little pearl of wisdom.

"You are luckier than you know. I mean in the books you have to read. People who came west cannot bring much, so they try to bring the best........A mind, like a home, is furnished by it's owner, so if one's life is cold and bare he can blame none but himself. You have a chance to select from some pretty elegant furnishings." 

Can I just say I Love this man? If you haven't read anything from him.....start.....my favourites are Down the Long Hills, Last of the Breed, and the Lonesome Gods.