0330

This one of my favorite photos that my son took...because I have many moods and I feel a change coming on...yes, it is that time of year and lots of monkey jumpin' in the brain. Maybe that is why I am up at 0330. The only thing about being up a 0330 is that I know my girlfriend Robin is already out in the moon light...no, not howling at it...but walking her dog before we have to show up at work.

This next year will bring major changes in both my personal life and work life. Do I know what they are? No. But I can feel them and for me...my third eye is always my guide except when the monkeys poke it!

So I make my lunch, drink a cup of coffee to face a day that I know is going to be slammin'...end of the year surgeries and people breaking stuff either on the mountain or just walking around town on the ice. But, what I do know...is I can do anything for a day!

Putting It In Perspective

When people complain about the snow and the berm that is created by the plow in Central Oregon...you gotta just put it in perspective! Although there have been years where I remember piles of snow, I have never seen snow like this! My mom was reminiscing in an email this week about our lives in New York City. Just she and I, while my dad was overseas on an active duty assignment. She said there was a 24 hour period where 27 inches of snow fell and we couldn't leave the apartment for 3 days. Lonely times for a foreign woman with a baby.

Putting life in perspective helps you keep the "hebegebbies", the oh my god, the sky in fallin in, did you hear that...away.

Merry Christmas!

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Christmas Eve

It is hard to believe it is Christmas Eve! It crept up on me in a quiet way. I think it is because there is no family in town this holiday and life is quiet. We have never had a holiday where it was just the 2 of us but, I do know that this year does not feel good or bad...it is just this year. I am taking it all in and doing only what I like...except for today.

Love is a powerful force and because of it...on Christmas Eve...I am going to be sitting in a theater...watching...with a bag of popcorn...TRUE GRIT...by the Cohen Brothers! Ahhh, I am such a sucka for love!

Howling at the Moon

I sooooo wanted to stay up and watch the total eclipse of the moon...but my body clock was getting sleepy at 8:00 pm and I didn't take a nap in preparation...so, off to bed I went. Then a little after midnight I woke up to go to the bathroom and remembered the moon! I quietly went from window to window upstairs looking for the eclipse. The sky was dark so I new the moon was shrouded in his cloak but the snow provided a beautiful landscape.

The issue was I had no idea where the moon was...I couldn't see the eclipse from any of the windows! So I went back to bed. Early the next morning Greg asked how his Galileo was and I told him of my frustration at not being able to find the moon. He asked what time was it when I was dashing around? Midnight. He pointed straight up. The moon was directly overhead and wouldn't be viewable from our windows.

The most wonderful thing is being in love with someone who can tell you where your moon is....

OHHHH The Future

I don't know...I am so enjoying the present that why get worked up about the future??? The mantra of questions I hear all around me are...What If? Do You Think That Could Happen? It Feels Scary, what do you think is going to happen? What will we do???

My answer...I don't know, let me whip out my crystal ball! What I can do is live fully in the present. Make choices in my life that are fulfilling, kind, stimulating, honest...and you know what...if I do that, pretty much the future most likely will be good. What can I say, I'm a cup half full kind of gal who occasionally likes to stick her head in a nice warm beach full of sand.

John Kennedy may be right and I have often said it myself, "Change is the only thing you can count on." But it is coming whether I worry about it or not and if I live the present fully...the future is mine.

One Of The Seven Deadly Sins

by Marta Dahlig

Envy, one of the seven deadly sins. I avoid envy because she is a trickster. When you let Envy creep into your heart you begin to evaluate your own life through filtered glasses. That old saying that the grass looks greener on the other side...well, green with envy can lead you down a path of decisions that are not in your best interest.

Poor Bernie Madoff, nobody would sympathize with him now...but many envied him 5 years ago. On top of the world (with other people's money) he looked like the symbol of financially and familial success and was envied by many. Now he sits in prison, his son has committed suicide and his grandchildren are possbily working on having their last names changed so as to not be associated with him.

Envy has a way of putting blinders on your sight...you only see the surface which looks sooooo good but envy does not allow you to see below that surface.

Making New Traditions

One of the most important things that I have always wanted to pass to my children was the importance of making "traditions." It is such little things that make such a huge difference as you get older.

Christmas was always a big deal around our house...although the holiday cheer was generated by my dad and myself as his assistant. Decorating the tree was a time to be together and have snack dinner.

As life and work does need to go on...Greg and I will be bringing in the holiday cheer sans family...so we decided that we needed to create some new traditions that will be ours, together. Yesterday as we decorated the house, I reminisced about my dad, we had snack dinner and we made Spanish coffees! Fire and all!!! It was so much fun that we are now going to make Spanish coffees our decorating tradition!

I went to the OR's party for the first time and danced my tootsies off. I am not sure it will be a tradition...but it was fun. I may take Enzo to get a picture with Santa!

I guess what I realize is that traditions can evolve and new one created and still be a tradition...maybe the tradition is to be open to new traditions!

One Pet Per House!

I have to admit he was kinda cute sitting between 2 cans of beans looking at me...but, at first he made me pee my pants!!!! I bent over to take a eye level look at him and he just stared back...then I shook my red apron hanging on the door and he retreated to the back of the pantry.

I looked at Enzo (useless pet) who looked at me with an expression of "what the hey is this woman doing looking in the pantry when she should obviously go change her pants!" I was freaked!!!!!!!! I have never seen a mouse nor any clues that a mouse has been inside my house since we moved here over 3 years ago. So I ran out to the garage and got a package of mouse traps that we had from one of our old houses and spread peanut butter on it...left a note for Greg and headed to work. By the time he came down from his shower...Enzo was saying a passage from the mouse bible.

Of course being one of those people who is a slight germaphobe, the next day I spent all afternoon bringing everything out of my pantry, washing the tops of my can goods, throwing away anything that looked like my dear departed friend might have looked at, sniffed, or nibbled!

Then I set 2 more traps and am happy to say he was a single guy with no date who just came in from the cold to party.

Pause

I was almost asleep last night when the word "Pause" entered my brain. It bounced around in there and then as I started looking at it and thinking about it I came to believe that it may be the most important word in our dictionary today! Just think if that guy who pressed the "fire missile" button in North Korea had just paused for a second and really thought about the repercussions.

How many times have we regretted something we had said because our mouth was in gear before our brain realized "what the hey" was going on...Pause. Such a simple word...but so powerful.

My "Pause" button is nice shiny red thing that sits in the middle of my brain. I use it often, to prevent heartache, to prevent over scheduling myself...to really think about how I want my life to play out day to day. Every so often I take a "leap of mouth" and then I realize that I need to shine my pause button...think before speaking...chose who to share my thoughts with and slow down. Some days at work I have to employ the little monkey in my brain and have him jump up and down on the button all day long...whewwww...on those days we have both worked hard...to PAUSE.