Good Advice from Dear Abby

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January 2023 Check In

Can you believe how fast January went by?  Well it seemed fast to me.  We had a sad loss in our family.  My beloved Uncle Frank passed away.  It wasn't entirely unexpected but still...you are just never ready and it was sooner than I expected.  I'm glad though that he didn't linger on and on and he seemed ready and my cousins, his daughters, got to spend a good quality day with him the day before he passed.  I know that he and my brother are probably in Heaven playing golf on the the most beautiful course and no fees! My dad is sitting in the golf cart with the pups and watching them play.  It just seems so strange that all of my dad's original family are all gone now.  His parents and his 3 siblings are all gone from this earth.  It is just such an odd feeling.

There were also a lot of celebrity deaths, it seems, in January 2023

Adam Rich
Jeff Beck
Lisa Marie Presley
David Crosby
Lance Kerwin
Lisa Loring
Gina Lollobridgida
Annie Wersching
Cindy Williams

Enough of sadness...let's move on to how things are going.

Bible/Prayer Time: Going well.  I am current on my daily Bible reading and I have been taking extra time in prayer - there is SO much to pray for, SO many people to pray for.  I could pray 24 hours a day and still need more time.  

Crafty Time: Going well.  I completed 2 prayer shawls and started a third. Project Life pages are up-to-date and I even started a separate project called 52 Weeks of Me.

Healthy Time: I had a follow up doctor's appointment and things were great! My blood pressure, cholesterol, A1C and basically ALL blood work was improved and in the normal ranges.  The only thing not in the normal range...my weight...but it was down from the last visit and my doctor seemed optimistic.

Project Time: No progress yet but January was a busy month for me and that is totally ok. 

This month I completed 4 books, went to see the final show of the B-52s (K.C. and the Sunshine Band opened - what fun!) and went to the Harry Potter Experience - very cool. I discovered a few new TV shows, "Accused", "Alert: Missing Persons", "Will Trent", & "That 90s Show".  Also, one of my old time fave shows "Drop Dead Diva" has been running daily on Hallmark Movies and Mystery channel. I also had a weekend get-a-way to visit my mom!

My life has been very busy but other than going out of state for Uncle Frank's funeral, life has been pretty good so far in 2023.  My family seems healthy, my kitty cats seem healthy, we have homes and jobs...what a blessing that things are going pretty well so far.

One Little Word - 2020

It has been several years since I did One Little Word, inspired by Ali Edwards.

I found a little quiz on her Facebook page (I believe) to help me choose a word for 2020 and the results stated my possible word is "Harmony".

When I read the meaning - I thought "BOY, DOES THAT FIT ME!"

Harmony: You are seeking agreement in your life. Your search for balance and peace propels you forward. 

That is exactly what I want...agreement in my life, balance and peace!!  So I am going to focus on this word for 2020.   Sadly, I am not going to follow Ali's workshop for various reasons but I am going to let this word be my guide.

#OneLittleWord2020

I Am So Blessed

I have been kitty sitting my nep-mew since Saturday and this morning I said goodbye to him because his mommy, my sister, is coming back home today.  He is such a sweet kitty and he is so pretty - his coat is so shiny and healthy.

I've enjoyed spending time with him the past few days.  After I kissed him goodbye, I headed to work.  I have Sirius XM and was listening to 70s on 7 and they were playing such great songs...I was singing along to all of them and I didn't get into any traffic and I didn't have to deal with any jerky drivers....the day was starting out great!

I arrived at work and after plugging my Surface Pro in, I headed to the break room to fix my morning glass of iced tea.  

I thought - boy, I am so grateful that we have this awesome Pebble Ice Machine (I love ice but especially love pebble ice!)

So I poured my tea into my loyal Bubba Keg (if you don't have a Bubba Keg, you need one).  I had ice left in it this morning from a drink I made YESTERDAY morning - keeps your drink cold (or hot if you prefer) all day!!!

As I sipped my first sip, I looked out and admired the wonderful view I have of the Atlanta skyline.  Although it was an overcast day and the sky wasn't as blue and pretty as usual, it is still a breath-taking view.

I actually can see 2 skylines - the midtown skyline (in the photo) and the Buckhead skyline - but I didn't take a photo of that because I couldn't get a good shot without my reflection in the window.

The trees are all at various stages of green as their Spring leaves are coming out.  I love Autumn with all its colors but Spring is even more stunning at times because of all the different shades of green - so pretty.

I thought to myself as I admired the view...what a truly blessed and lucky girl I am.  I have a great job, I work with great people, my boss is wonderful.  I live in this AMAZING city and I live in this AMAZING country - I know it isn't perfect but we truly do live in a great country - we are free and can practice the religion of our choosing, we can speak out and not worry if we will be thrown in jail or killed.  I am so lucky to have been born in America and be an American citizen.

I thought about how blessed I am that I have a wonderful family.  That I had parents that loved me and were so good to me, they helped give me my education so that I could work at a job in such a beautiful building and in a building that is 10 minutes from home - even better.  I'm just so, so, so blessed!!

It is amazing what taking just a minute out of your day and reflecting on the blessings of your life can do - it is also amazing how many blessings you can think of in just a minute's time.

Thank you God for my life - You are so good to me!

Bloggy Changes ???

I can't believe I have had this blog for almost 6 years !  Wow!

I've always kept my blog somewhat light-hearted and mostly posted recipes, crochet and knit things, funny photos and some videos but I've been thinking more about what direction I want to go in as the new year is starting to creep upon me.

I've pretty much kept it kind of non-personal but I'm thinking of changing it up a little bit.  I am not going to come here and share my deepest, darkest secrets (not that I really have any) but I may write a little bit more about the on-goings in my life (which will still include some recipes and knitting/crochet stuff). 

While I have had almost three-quarters of a million viewers, the majority seem to come from Pinterest in search of this Chili Dog Casserole recipe, which is great!  But I just don't get the feeling I get a lot of readers, which is okay too.

I started thinking about who this blog is for - it is for me.  I don't have ads, I'm not here to try to make money or get endorsements, as many bloggers do (nothing wrong with that but that isn't why I started a blog).

I mainly started because of Ravelry.  As a way to document my crochet/knit projects. Lately it seems like all I do is post Funny Friday's - which I do enjoy but there is a lot more to me than that.

So... we shall see - I am just exploring and deciding what I want to do.  Only time will tell.

Chinese Symbols and Tattoos

I saw a guy with a Chinese symbol tattoo on his arm today.  I have no idea what the symbol meant, but I guess it had some meaning to him.

Upon googling.... I found out that Justin Timberlake has the Chinese symbols for the four elements tattooed on his side (Wind, Earth, Water and Fire) -WATER is the 3rd symbol there on his side

More googling, led me to these wrist tattoos on some stranger (not Justin), one says WATER, the other one says Fire.

 

Still more searching, and I found this WATER tattoo (in blue no less) on someone's foot.

It just made me wonder....do the Chinese tattoo random English words on their body? 
If so, I imagine it would look something sort of like this...

I bet her friends would think she is soooo cool !!!

Happy New Year - 2012 !!

Happy New Year.  A new year feels like a clean slate.  I'm not making any resolutions this year but I do have a few goals.

My One Little Word this year is "Completion" because there are so many things that I want to am going to complete this year.  Half-way completed home projects, half-way read books, half-way finished craft projects (knitting, crochet and scrapbooking), losing weight, projects in my mind that I've wanted to do for a long time (such as make a recipe book and scan old family photos and order a book of them for everyone).  Lots and lots of things to complete and this is the year that I'm going to do them.

Another goal is that I will read the Bible in a year.  This is something I've wanted to do for many, many years and I never make it past February.  I have used my own reading plans (found on-line in previous years) but this year I am using the One Year Bible - when I have it sitting right in front of me each day, how much easier could it be?

So...those are my goals for the year, do I have others? Sure but those are the main ones.  I don't know what 2012 will bring, so far it has started kind of rough, with my dad being very ill and in the hospital (where he has been since 10/31/2011.  But one thing I know is that God is in control and I anticipate that 2012 will be a good year for me.

101 Things

I was reading somewhere on twopeasinabucket.com and someone posted about the website DayZeroProject.com, it is sort of where you can put your list of things you want to do (somewhat of a Bucket List) but apparently you are supposed to complete these 101 things in 1,001 days.

I have never made, what I prefer to call a Life List, things I want to do - I'm not sure if I have 101 things but I do have several things so I might as well start listing them. Some of them I have accomplished, so I am including those too...I will add to this list as I move along - maybe eventually I will have 101 things...

Here they are in no particular order (just wrote them down as they popped into my brain)

1) See the Statue of Liberty
2) See the Alamo
3) See Mt. Rushmore - DONE
4) See the Golden Gate Bridge - DONE
5) Ride a Horse
6) Learn to Knit (already know crochet) - DONE
7) Give blood at least 3 times each year (2009-DONE, 2010-DONE, 2011)
8) Read 10 classic novels
9) See the Eiffle Tower in Paris
10) Vacation in London
11) Drive across the country
12) Drive up the east coast during Autumn
13) Send a secret into PostSecret
14) Complete Photo Project 365 (2009-DONE, 2010-DONE, 2011)
15) Get to my goal weight
16) Maintain my goal weight
17) Meet Donny Osmond - DONE (more than once!!)
18) Get new carpeting for the house DONE

19) Re-wallpaper (or paint) the bathroom
20) Complete my Las Vegas Scrapbook albums
21) Complete my 2 Disney trip scrapbook albums
22) Visit DisneyWorld/Universal - again DONE
23) Write my life story (biography)
24) Make my own recipe book
25) Walk up Stone Mountain (again)
26) Walk all the way around Stone Mountain
27) Finish ALL of my "work-in-progress" craft projects - only one more to go
28) Learn to knit with double-pointed-needles
29) Knit myself this hat
30) Knit myself a pair of fingerless gloves - DONE
31) Watch all of Season 1 & 2 episodes of Fringe (before season 3 starts)
32) Clean out the living room closet - DONE
33) Clean out the hall room closet - DONE
34) Clean out my bedroom closet - DONE
35) Set up a usuable scrap room
36) Make a will
37) Take a tour of Italy
38) See the Northwestern Coast (Oregon, Washington, Toronto)
39) Go to Yosemite
40) Get regular manicures
41) ???

Go-To-Feel-Good Songs

I used to have one go-to-feel-good song - "Walking on Sunshine" by Katrina and the Waves - that song makes me instantly happy ! I love it! But now I have a 2nd go-to-feel-good song. "Say Hey (I Love You)" by Michael Franti and Spearhead. It just instantly puts me in a good mood - so now I have TWO go-to-feel-good songs.

I also love this video - they look like they are having such a good time - I especially like all the kissing at the end.

Awesome Things

As mentioned in my New Year's Day post, my One Little Word of the year and my theme for the year is Happiness !

I bought the book "The Happiness Project" by Gretchen Rubin. While I haven't really started the book yet (just haven't taken the dedicated time I feel I need to sit down with it) , I have been following Ms. Rubin on Facebook and have really enjoyed reading her each day.

Today, she posted a link to a blog that I have actually read before but had forgotten about. . . 1000 Awesome Things.com as of today, there are 332 more Awesome things to come. There are lots of things on the list that I have said to myself are wonderful things.

Such as:
Sleeping in New Sheets (or even freshly washed ones)
Getting your choice of seat in the movie theater (I love getting right in the middle)
The first scoop of peanut butter of out jar (man I love that!)
Putting potato chips on a sandwich (I do this all the time! Love it on bologna especially)
Perfectly stapling through a thick stack of paper (doesn't happen a lot - but love when it does)

I am always noticing things like that. Just the other evening I put on my freshly washed PJs and thought about how awesome that was - love the smell and the softness.

Everytime I put ice in my glass, I'm so grateful to God for that. It is incredible to me all the uses He made for water and ice being my 2nd favorite thing about water (drinking it is my first) but how cool is it that He designed water so that when you freeze it, it turns hard and it cools your drinks (and is great for munching on too - but don't tell my dentist that - he gets on to me for it)
I just love ice - it is one of my favorite things !

When I go on a long driving trip (which I've done a lot of the past 2 months) - I go to QT before I leave (that in itself is awesome because they have big drinks, for a cheap price, yummy hot dogs and taquitos and they even have an ATM from MY bank). So I can stop, get gas, get a drink, get a snack and get my cash - all in one place before heading out for my long drive. I get the big 32 oz and pack it with crushed ice as much as I can (you can choose from crushed or cubed ice - also awesome). I then either fill it with Diet Dr. Pepper or buy some bottled water, then top it off with more ice. After I start driving, the drink is gone in an hour or so but I have ice for the whole trip! I just munch on it the rest of the way.

There are so many wonderful things in the world - even little things like ice - you just have to open your eyes and look for them - don't take things for granted - lots of things can make you happy, if you just let them.

Examples:
Today's date - it is 1/11/11 - that is pretty cool !
My office is closed for a snow day - sweet !

Life is a Rock (But the Radio Rolled Me)

As mentioned in my previous post, my word of the year is "Happiness"

I heard this song on the way to work today and I totally love this song - haven't heard it in years! It makes me HAPPY (especially about 1:54 into the song when they say Osmond, Donny)