Weirdest bathroom decor ever

Liebster Award – A big thank you

 

Mylunchanddinner was too kind to award me this.  I am obsessed with her food related blog and consider it a high compliment.  Now, if only I could do something about these foodie cravings.

As usual, there’s rules!  What you say?  I don’t need no stinkin’ rules!  I’m learning to play nice and follow them.

Liebster Award Rules:

1. Thank your Liebster Blog Award presenter on your blog.
2. Link back to the blogger who presented the award to you.
3. Copy and paste the blog award on your blog.
4. Present the Liebster Blog Award to 5 blogs who you feel deserve to be noticed.
5. Let them know they have been chosen by leaving a comment at their blog

And here’s my 5 you should be reading…I mean it…read them!

My story to you

Scotia Night Poetry

Not Yet There

Heroes Not Zombies

Swimming Blindly

Thanks again and here’s to more blogging!

Very Inspiring Blogger Awards!

Mindmindful sweetly sent me this and I appreciate it.  I really enjoy her blog and it’s always nice to know something you’ve posted has been read and maybe inspired someone else.  Thank you so much!

Not one for rules, but I’ll abide by this one.  I’m to unveil 7 interesting things about myself (seriously, I could only think of 3) and I’m to pass this award along to 7 others who inspire me.  That part was easy.

7 Interesting Things About Me

1. I’ve lived a lot of places.  Let’s see, there was Kentucky, Arizona, NYC, Pennsylvania, Connecticut, Massachusetts and Rhode Island.  One of my favorite lines from The Head and The Heart is “my roots have grown but I don’t know where they are.”  Pretty much sums me up.

2.  I’m in management even though my hair is various hues depending on what month we’re in.  Yes, they think I’m weird.

3.  I’m a vegetarian who hates tofu.

4.  I do not have even one little tattoo.  I keep thinking I might some day, but nothing so far.

5.  I saved my sister’s life twice, and this is after she wrote on my doll and threw my crayons away.

6.  I am a movie afficianado…but I’m not much for chick flicks.  I still watch Goodfellas sometimes to fall asleep to.

7.  In a one month period my daughter had chicken pox, croup, fractured her elbow and stuck a styrofoam peanut up her nose.  No one warns you about that stuff in the parenting books.

 

7 New Recipients

Maggsworld –  So open and honest, I’ve been following her blog for a long time now.  She is wise and funny.  I think she’s going to make the world a better place.

NotLostJustWeird -  He’s weird, yes.  But hysterically funny too.  His posts sometimes just make my day.

MoreZenNow - An eclectic collection of writing, subversive songs (yes, the one about Jesus) and photographs.  Her blog makes me laugh and think.  I usually can’t do those simultaneously.

MyLunchandDinner – I’m a foodie who has lost her way.  I found this blog and it’s given me the fever again.  It inspires me to find better food.

Glutenvygirl –  Here’s a confession.  I can eat gluten.  But I love this blog anyway.  She has such great recipes.

Thelaughinghousewife –  I admire her spirit and her humor.  Plus she posts jokes.  I’ve never been able to tell one to save my life, but they make me laugh.

Lifeandothermisadventures – I admire her so much for her honesty in sharing her life with us all.  Sometimes I cringe, thinking she deserves so much more and it’s a testament to her writing that I care at all.  I’ll be following.

 

Thank you to everyone who blogs and reads.  It’s a strange thing we do.  But here’s to sharing pieces of our lives so we can all see we’re not alone.

 

 

 

 

Oprah

I’m not a fan.  Yes, I said it.

Hear me out.

I always admired her ability to overcome her hardscrabble life.  Oprah was not born into a privileged world.  She overcame a lot of personal and private pain.  She endured racism and sexism.  She rose above it all despite the odds.  She is a truly an underdog story.  Then something happened.

I was a full fledged koolaid drinker of the O cult.  I wanted cashmere panty liners and dark chocolate bon bons made with free range eggs and cocoa gathered by an elf in the Peruvian jungle because she told me it was one of her apparently many favorite things.  She taught me to diet, and then not.  She exposed Tom Cruise for the alien being he is.  She built a school in Africa for young women because she’s the gentlest most generous heartest individual this side of Mother Theresa.  Then I opened up a magazine and read about her 40 million dollar private jet.

Now, I’m not anti-capitalism.  If you can, and do, make your billions, you are not contractually obligated to save one living soul with a dollar of your money.  Maybe morally you are, but even that’s in question by atheists.  The truth is we should help people not because of some heavenly obligation, but simply because it’s the right thing to do.  No, I’m not a commie.  I just learned the art of giving on Sesame Street.  I admired Oprah for her philanthropy and thought it was wonderful for a woman who came from nothing had a 50 million dollar mansion and a cadre of people to attend to her every whim.

Then the plane burst my bubble.

This is not to say I think Oprah should fly the overly friendly skies with her fans.  The woman would not get one moment of peace even in first class.  She is not just an actress, etc., she is an icon.  If only for brief respite from the public eye, she should have her private plane.  I get it.  I know!  I would probably have a private plane too if I had her fan base.  But I think I could get by with a 10 million dollar private plane.  I’m not ostentatious.

The lightning bolt that woke me from my Oprah stupor was the realization that her fans, the women (and men!) who love and adore her, paid for that 40 million dollar plane.  Now, I know Julia Roberts could have a 40 million dollar plane and that would have likewise been paid for by the fans who see her movies.  But Julia is selling me entertainment, even if she made that god awful movie with Tom Hanks.  Oprah is just selling.

Allow me to elaborate!

Oprah is one long info-mercial.  She is selling us people and products.  There are hand lotions made of baby goats milk and cashmere capes with fake fur collars.  Along with her absolute most favorite books that somehow touched her life and her soul, she will parade handsome doctors on stage who will tell us the things we need to do and to buy to be better selves.  Here is a gold-plated pen that changed her life.  There is a flower arrangement that costs more than a car payment, but it’s just divine.  She sells us movies and music and perfume.  Her magazine is one giant ad with our favorite saleswoman on the cover with a big ole grin.  Buy these things, she whispers in our ears.  You’ll be more like me.

So I know Martha and Rachel likewise have their magazines.  But Martha and Rachel “do” something.  Martha can make a centerpiece arrangement out of molted pigeon feathers and crab apples.  She can show you there is an actual use for a mortar and pestle.  Rachel can make you a three course meal in under 30 minutes and stay cheerful the entire time.  Oprah cannot make you a Thanksgiving dinner.  But she can sell you the products you need to make it yourself.  She sells.  That what she does.  She sells lifestyle, people and products.

You only have to go back and look at the rabid fever of her Oprah Favorite Things episodes to see what she really is.  She is an evangelist of capitalism.  The Billy Mayes of lifestyle.  Buy! Buy! Buy!  You can’t live without things.  Scream and shout and hug your neighbor because you’re getting an IPad!  And there’s a car for you and for you and for you.  Of course Oprah hand-picked and purchased every single item she’s giving away.  Oh wait, you were watching from the comfort of your living room and now you just have to have that Kindle loaded with all Oprah’s picks because all those people were fortunate enough to just get one.

And then she flew away on her 40 million dollar jet.  She started her Own network and implored you to watch.  You only have to go as far as her website, which I will not link to here, to see she has built her Crystal Cathedral of materialism meant to snake oil us all into believing we can be our best selves if we wear this, and read that, watch this and eat that.  Here’s these great buys I promise you will love.  If you for one minute do not believe these products are placed there like a Coke can on a table in front of your favorite actor, then you are delusional.

My problem is that Oprah has made millions (billions) off telling us we need what she has.  We can be successful like her.  We can smell like her.  We can eat what she does.  We can read the books she curls up with at night.  And that’s fine and good.  She is a lifestyle brand.  Her product is her.  She is not for one minute obligated to share any money that she does with anyone.

Except think about how many lives 40 million dollars worth of clean water could have saved.  Instead of telling us what lipstick to wear, how about how simple it is to donate to Heifer.org or to volunteer with Habitat for Humanity.  I know, I know.  I’ve raised your ire.  She gives back, you say.  She donates time and money.  She doesn’t have to, but she does.

She also sits in her 50 million dollar mansion and flies out on her 40 million dollar private plane and tells you your life will not be complete unless you have a hundred-dollar leather wrap around bracelet.  I don’t begrudge her the success she has achieved or the wealth she has accumulated.  She has just done it by telling us all we can be better people because of the things we possess.  Don’t believe me?  Pick up her magazine.  There on every page is a transaction being enticed.

I’m not saying you shouldn’t love Oprah.  I’m not saying she’s a horrible person.  I’m sure she’s quite lovely and giving and generous.

I’m just not buying what she’s selling.

Happy Birthday to Ewe – I recycled this poem from last year

You blow swirly girly sunshine up my skirts

Tickle my giggle until my tummy hurts

Forgive my spiral and my snark

Give me reason to light that spark

You are the muse to my glittery part

Global warm the glacial thaw of my heart

Put on my wellies when I slip in the squish

Listen to my rant and banish it with a kish

You’re the keen in my peach

The sand on my beach

The grass in my meadow

You’re a wonderful example of a fellow

So for your birthday I gush

And overwhelm you with smush

My enthusiasm you can’t muzzle

Even with a damp huzzle

Happy Birthday to the amazing ewe

I feel like it’s my birthday tew

Just because I get to know the squish

And give you another birthday wish.

Music Mondays (On a Saturday) – Mount Eerie

I decided to make a video one day.  No particular reason, just snippets from a life to cobble together and show my friends.  I immediately thought of the song, Lost Wisdom.  Below see my tribute to Mount Eerie, one of the most ethereal bands I’ve heard in a long time.

They’re poetic, yes, and convey a mood of quiet calm.  I like their no-frills contribution to music and the clearness of their voices.  This is not a band you listen to if you want to cheer up.  They don’t coddle to our needs to be uplifted.  They simply tell a story with words and sound, so aching you can’t help but be affected.  This is not to say you want to listen to them when you’re exercising.  Another one of my favorites of theirs:

Sometimes you just have to listen to something else.  Expand your horizons.  This band is one of those that will.

Now go listen!

I’ve Been Tagged

I’ve been tagged by someone I’ve really enjoyed following: Life and Other Misadventures. I like to answer questions…someone close to me knows this. I know there are rules, but I’ve never been much for following directions or reading instructions. I like the idea of spreading questions through out the universe, but I’d rather not “tag” someone who doesn’t feel the same. So, if you like being tagged, then by all means leave comments with your answers to these questions.
…

My questions:

1. What things do you like to do to unwind when you’re stressed out?
I like to paint or listen to music. Preferably at the same time. Other things relieve stress but this is a family show.

2. What was your earliest memory?
Getting lost in a neighborhood and a man carrying me back to my family. It could have gone badly but didn’t. I can still see his hands reaching out to me and smell his cologne as he held me in his arms.

3. What was the best Halloween costume you ever wore?
I Dream of Jeannie. I loved that long pony tail.

4. What’s on your “bucket list?”
To travel across the United States visiting tourist traps and eating pie in diners.

5. What’s the worst job you ever had?
Working at an emergency room clinic. I was far too prone to queasiness.

6. If you could change one thing about life, what would it be?
I’d be writing this as I was traveling through Japan.

7. What’s your favorite thing to eat when you cook for yourself (or snack you eat over the sink when no one’s around)?
Puff Pastry Margarita Pizza from Trader Joe’s.

8. What’s your biggest motivation for getting up in the morning?
I just can’t wait to find out what’s going to happen. That and my kid’s good morning and then good bye hug as I trudge off to work.

9. What song describes you?

10. What was your favorite book as a child?
The Monster at the End of the Book. It was my daughter’s too.

11. If you knew you would be stranded on a desert island for several years and you could only listen to music you’d brought with you, which five albums would you put in your suitcase?
The Head and The Heart by band of same name; In Time: The Best of REM 1988-2003 – REM; Rumors – Fleetwood Mac; Transference by Spoon; Anthony & The Johnson by band of same name and last but not least, Moondance by Van Morrison.

Thanks for tagging and sending me the questions. Sorry I’m breaking the chain!

The 'Parent Within' and its role in Recovery from Abuse.

Reblogged from Boundaries of the Soul:

When we think about child abuse, our thoughts often stop at sexual abuse of minors. However, the term child abuse, often replaced by child maltreatment, has a broad spectrum of definition. The WHO defines it as follows :

“Child maltreatment, sometimes referred to as child abuse and neglect, includes all forms of physical and emotional ill-treatment, sexual abuse, neglect, and exploitation that results in actual or potential harm to the child’s health, development or dignity.

Read more… 738 more words

This is a fantastic post from Boundaries of the Soul about recovering the "child within." Anyone who has had issues in their childhood should read it.

Mammo-grammar

So I went for a mammogram today.  It was strange.  It was scheduled at the hospital where I was born and during the drive there I drove by my first school.  There was the park where I played as a child and the street I use to sled down when it snowed.  Thank goodness it was a  perfectly routine procedure but it was the stroll down nostalgia lane that weighed on my mind.

The reality of growing older sometimes blindsides me.  I can put as many colors as I can imagine in my hair, but I can’t change my age.  Along with the twinge of reality, comes relief.  Maybe physically it’s time for me to take better care of myself, but mentally I feel like I’m almost there.  There are still residual doubts and lack of self confidence, but for the most part I grew up to be self assured and practical.  I am what I yam, blah blah.

It took a lot of trial and error.  I didn’t exactly have a blueprint in my dysfunctional parents.  Yes, I no longer speak to them, but it’s a decision that should have been made years ago.  I no longer regress to the mess I was in their presence, especially my mother.  I no longer feel the need to seek their approval, only to find it’s still unattainable.  Instead, I concentrate on my own daughter who is tripping through life and I’m there to brush her off and put her back on the path.  I want to give her the support, I lacked growing up.

This doesn’t mean as I drove by my past that it’s all bad memories.  I can allow the good ones to the forefront and not feel the need to reach out to my parents again.  It wasn’t all bad.  But the what was is no longer allowed in my life.  I’m not one of those people who believe you can blame everything on your childhood.  At some point, you have to take responsibility for the decisions you make.  Especially ones that implode your life.

I never demanded more, because I never realized there was more.  I’m old enough to know it’s okay to want what you never had.  It changed the chemistry of my brain and my heart.  What I want is completely different in my mammogram stage of life than in my carefree stage of life.  So, even though I’m at a stage to be medically poked and prodded, I feel as if my mind is finally healed.  Even if there are whole days of regression.

I realized the important lesson I’ve learned at this age is that it’s okay to deserve more.  It’s okay to want better.  It’s okay to reach out in the dark and find someone who is just as scarred.  It’s okay to reveal the soft underbelly of your soul and chance rejection.  It’s about seizing the happiness, the joy and yes, the love with full knowledge it could hurt along the way.

I thought of these things as I had my mammogram.  For all you ladies who have not experienced it yet, it’s not that bad.  Sure, being fondled by a stranger may put you off (or maybe not), but it’s rather clinical and over quickly.  There is absolutely no pain, despite having your breasts in a vice.  You walk away and think it was less evasive than most tests we have to endure.  I’ll know my results in seven to ten days.   The thoughts swirling in my mind will surely last much longer.