Changing mindset VS Doing something tangible

How many of you out there tell yourself when angry or sad to think about happy good thoughts and pleasant things and then you find yourself turning that facial expression from upside down to up and around into a smile?

Self talk or the power of positive thinking can be quite impressive, and the same can be said for negative thinking or not allowing any positive vibes to infiltrate your downed brain waves of logical resolve.
One step further on this plateau of decisive reasoning for mind conditioning would be to truly alter pessimism is to do something more than just thinking yourself out of the doldrums but doing something tangible.
Whenever in the past I felt too much in myself, have it be the realization of daily efforts gone awry or just unhealthy with my many medical issues I found helping others was a concrete way to change things for others while uplifting myself and my feelings about the world.
I always said whenever I volunteered, which I did on and off for over forty years that it was my selfish way to feel really good about me!
Yes! Helping other is a wonderful way to feel great, because it is true evidence of what you are doing, proven in anyway, shape or form that has been done to aid all the others. From as minimalistic, as a kind word, to teaching them how to contend with their own physical needs, to giving them some much needed items or time or just plain listening, honest caring is really something!
And so whenever I had been down in my life, for me meaning in health or emotionally; I have served others and soon would forget my own problems and know that my help was what they needed at that time, oh what a feeling!
Whether it is after a natural disaster, or working with ‘special kids’, or scouts, or the elderly, or ills, what-have-you… life is more fulfilling when you can help others over and above yourself, and there is a wee bit of selfish joy in that. And this is not for money it is purely from volunteering and receiving self-satisfaction.
Collecting things to distribute for need or challenging the public to help financially with fund raising it all does have its place.
The most fun is when trying to come up with new ways to do any of the traditional methods in any massive community, but when needs are rather basic, such as food, clothing, and shelter than that’s a no brainer and can be just a bit of thinking, brain storming with others; in considering the logistics of where and how to assemble the needed components in a safe place while so much is still going on… and that is a conundrum I would say. Much over the next several months, years will have to be done for our neighbors who have lost it all due to Mother Nature’s wrath, and the best ideas to get it done have to be assembled with logic and realism on how and where to begin.

Different organizations and emergency management people are a place to start, but never be an added part of the problem think and proceed with caution.

After Hurricane Andrew hit on August 17, 1992, we watched it all unravel on the TV and felt compelled to go and help and so we did, but we planned out how and what we would do.
We brought all our own camping gear including food and a port-a-pot and contacted local businesses with requests for goods to bring down in the lawn trailer that we would be filling with the items. And when all was said and done we received two thousand pounds of dog food from the Greyhound Pet Association, and two pallets of sun screen from Hawaiian Tropic. I had negotiated with them being in promotion at the time we worked with them on occasion, and so that is how we got the sunscreen, logically feeling with homes destroyed people would be exposed to the elements not unlike the soldiers in the Gulf War who they had also sent the sunscreen too at the time. The dog food was just dumb luck because the gentleman who loaded, the fork lift driver, the sunscreen into our trailer told us he volunteered with the Greyhound pets and that were where we got the dog food from his garage, he insisted we take two thousand pounds!
Our plan was to go down and deliver the two items and then help the Red Cross however they needed us.
But to our surprise they had more people than they knew what to do with and so after we dropped off the dog food to the Campbell shopping center, where some veterinarians and others took over since the building wasn’t stable enough for people, it had been a Humana medical space, we helped vets with pet triage, not unlike a MASH unit for people with injuries.
So many touching stories came out of that time we spent there, we reunited so many people and pets and found foster care for many others who of course had no homes to take their pets back to… hugs and thanks were our rewards and love was abundant and constant shown with each and every person who knew that you were there for them, just so simple…but a tangible reward for all the parties involved.

Remember the most important thing in life is how you live it, and we all know this is not a dress rehearsal, and even though I do get down with thinking, as many do with chronic illnesses, my sadness is often over all my many mistakes that at this point I have no way of changing… and so I take solace in the things that I did do right too… and feel sad that I can no longer do what I once did in that realm… but I self talk and turn my frown around as I recall the good I did do, as we all should!

Tis the season to show you care, actually its all year long and so just do it! Especially when the need has been so violently been thrust upon us all…

On that note of remembrance of how we all can do our part no matter how small…let me be the first to wish you a very happy good night and ask you to count your blessings and to share your overages and we will too!

And next time be here or be square, OK?

Happy Valentine's Day!

By the time you all read this you have either had a very lovely and wonderful Valentine’s Day or not one you wish to discuss.
It all boils down to expectations and your history of how your acceptance is of the endless changes that occur as time marches on.

Having some surprises are very sweet, and the ability to be a realist when these holidays arise and their importance to you as an individual or of a pair, in a partnership with your significant other makes the main difference in how you perceive these occasions, which mostly last only ONE DAY.

Subjectively we all have our own somewhat reasonable or not so reasonable ideas of how the day should go, which notoriously can be the cause of disappointment.

Personally after forty two of them with the same man, and married for thirty-nine of them, my emotions have been known to fluctuate.
You see, today is also our wedding anniversary, as I indicated above, our thirty-ninth.
To many a milestone in many cultures in this day and age of a more than fifty per cent divorce rate, and miraculous by most standards.
To say that these years were smooth sailing would be a complete lie, and dishonesty is not something I do well.
As anybody knows anything worth having is worth the effort to work for it, right, and so that is what we do daily!
Sure we argue and complain, but as many might not realize when you marry you do not meld your brains together; you get to keep them separately with all those supposedly idealistic reasons why you first fell in love in the first place, and you get to keep those opinions of yours with them!
Of course logically this may all cause conflict, but never ever boredom.

Which brings me to how our anniversary Valentine’s Day went today, well… we decided that we will celebrate tomorrow since every year when we have tried to go out it is pure craziness, that is the waits at restaurants, and so we have finally decided to go out when it becomes a bit tamer day, like tomorrow; although the kids are off since it is President’s Day too! We will see what will be. Actually, when it comes right down to it, just being together is a celebration in itself, and for that we should rejoice.

And so to all you youngins out there just think when times get tough, always remember why you fell in love in the first place, and that you should always compromise, and for the men in the relationship… remember that she is always right! LOL
And yes, then it should last a lifetime, and of course don’t forget to laugh!

Good night to all and to all count those blessings and we will too!

So it happened again...

Ha, ha, ha, I did it again! I published with just the title.
Funny thing about concentration on what you are doing and eye hand co-ordination...you either got it or you don't!

But the actual thing that I was referring to in the title happening again was getting an annoyed person’s dirty look and feeling that I was in their way while shopping at the warehouse club with hubby this morning.
The man said under his breath you gotta take up the whole isle?
I was on my scooter and my hubby was in front with the shopping cart, mostly full of the paper goods that we stock up on every few months or so, and we both looked at each other and you could definitely see that there was more than enough room for the person to get through; he was just another uncompassionate idiot that saw a fat woman on a scooter and assumed that I was a lazy SOB, more than likely.
These people don’t even look you in the eye to speak; they are cowards who just assume, and would never give anyone a benefit of a doubt.

It’s not easy any time, anywhere in life for anyone these days.
Everyone should be more humane and understanding.
But apparently they are not… our local news just ran a horrendous story about horses being killed for their meat right across our state just outside of the Miami area, horrible! They are not just slaughtering them like a butcher would; they are slow killing them brutally with lack of knowledge that we in America do not eat horse meat or for who knows what reasons.
What is this world coming to?
Every week more injustices continue to occur; people are losing it.

My cousin in Virginia sent me an email today that was quite hysterical by showing how stupid some are by just not getting it.
But the more I thought about it the more I realized that how sad that truly was, but this is something I have been thinking about since Jay Leno’s commercials took to the airways with his old Jay Walking segment where he asks people on the street questions like, who lives at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, and the young woman responds with I have no idea he follows up with the question about Sponge Bob’s residence, which she oddly enough did know! Scary!
The question that I have been pondering is… should we actually enjoy and laugh at this stupidity? Or should we be more aware of this major very massive problem with people and say to them wouldn’t you like to know the correct answer so that you could be better informed?

As human beings on this planet should we really make fun of the stupid?
Or would we, as the more knowledgeable be wiser and kinder to teach when we see this wrong occurring?
I say that we make a pact today to stop stupidity in its tracks and prevent the spread by laughing at this horrid virus!
When we encourage it by chuckling at this behavior, mark my words that you heard it here first that it will spread like a wildfire!
Unite America we must all do our part, and even me who at times have showed her dumber side I will respect all who intervene and stop me from being the fool.

On that note of silliness I will hope that you all do your part and hop on my latest bandwagon to cure the world, or perhaps just a small part of America of this erratic unpleasant and ignorant reality of our society.

Good night to all and to all count those blessings and I will too!

Snakes, nets, hubby ...oh my!

Does anyone here remember me telling you about the time that an incredible Great Blue Heron, stole, out of our pond, two of our beautiful goldfish that had been nurtured to grow to be over a foot in length at four years of age?

Well, that is when we had decided to use the netting we had purchased previously to protect our aqua babies from natural predators, because up until then, this spring, they fortunately, had not noticed them. We had lost the mighty oak, in Hurricane Charley that had been quite protective and shielding, and then we had tried our decorative canopies, but the windy summers proved them not to be a very long survivor of nature’s wrath, and so we decided to try the netting over the pond, which was a suggestion of many.

It proved to do the job for keeping the large predatory birds out but the smaller ones would get caught in it, but fortunately we were able to untangle them before they would come to any real harm. But today my husband noticed our elusive black rat snake had gotten entangled and was getting more so as we watched in horror, and so my hubby took his knife and went outside to cut him out of the netting, and then utilized garden scissors as he got closer to him to complete his brave mission of releasing the harmless, but beneficial creature from its entrapment! We both decided that we would have to find another way to protect our water babies, and so, I remembering that one of my PBS shows mentioned that another heron on sight would be a preventative measure, since most herons are territorial. We did not have any herons that fit the bill, so to speak, what we did was improvise, pretty close in the same family, with our long ago put away, classic, but tacky, plastic Flamingoes. Now they are standing sentry duty over our water feature in front of the only large opening left surrounding the pond. We have been allowing the flora to overgrow somewhat to create a natural shield, but the main side, opened to our view had been left unprotected, but now it is in duplicate!
We do have five more if need be, we used to have a full set of eight, but when we had a couple out in our front garden, would you believe either someone stole it or it blew away metal legs and all, it more than likely was stolen.
You know, they aren’t made anymore, and some consider them collector items, but we didn’t after that, and they mostly have been stored in our shed since that sad day.

On that ridiculous note…I will bid you all a good night and to all count those blessings and I will too!

PS WORLD: I think that Barack and Michelle that you two rock! Date night is great! Who else can afford to support Broadway if not our main man and his 1st lady in-charge? We need the ones who can eat out and go to shows, movies, theater etc. to keep the others working! Just because some of us have to be cautious with our money, why shouldn’t those others who do still have disposable income use it where it can do some good, why shouldn’t they stimulate the economy? Get real people!