Overheard in Lousiana Last Week

Two different conversations:

Guy #1 was dialing the phone and said he must have had a wrong number because all he got was "Please leave your numeric message after the beep."

Guy #2 says, "Don't mind him, he's impotent. He can't even dial a phone. Did I say impotent? I meant to say incompetent. What is impotent anyway?"

The second one went like this:

"Ain't she purty (referring to his wife)? Don't she just look beautiful? Well, 'cept for her teeth. I sorta accidentally threw them away last week and we ain't had time to go back to Lafayette (presumably to order a new set).

(Day 2 of 30 Days of Thanks will have to come later--already I am crowded with trying to get myself together. Son's lawyer was not in yesterday, he (and the rest of the office, with the exception of one lone male secretary who knew nothing) took the day off yesterday...sheesh...more later on that subject.

November 1st? Uh.....

I'm venturing out a little more into the open with this NaBloWriMo project, not writing so much in private. But don't worry, I will try to remember to wash my hands afterwards. November 1st already, and I don't have much of anything to say!

I also joined the 30 Days of Thanks group, so I will be posting something each day I am thankful for. I am a grateful person, but I often have trouble expressing specifically the things I am grateful for. Maybe I will improve as the month wears on.

So, today, on day one of 30 Days of Thanks, I'm thankful for the progress my son is making.

Personal Announcement

My son is coming in on Wednesday for a meeting on Thursday with his (public defender) attorney. He wants to go by himself because he "created this problem" and he wants "to take care of it". That's a bit scary to me, but I am willing to let him go alone. You can rest assured we will be talking to the District Attorney again about the case. My hope is that he will be allowed to stay in Houston and report to them here from time to time, or whatever it takes to clear him. But this is one of those places where Mama just has to let go and trust (again!) He has made a lot of progress this last year or so. Dear God, may he continue to move forward and find his way in this world.

Habits

I think, when one sees this quote, the reaction will either be a caustic "Well, duh!" or a quiet "Wow, that is so true!" The words were written to me in reference to a decision I have been pondering for several years. I will not write of that decision here.

The thing is, I have lately heard several references to the habit of reviewing one's day at the end of the day. I used to do that, sort of, in an informal way, but lately have just been falling into bed and drifting off to sleep with no thoughts whatsoever of how I lived my day. That, my friends, is what they call an unobserved life (there is a popular quote about the tragedy of an unobserved life, I thought I had it in my 46 page collection of quotes, apparently, I do not).

I thought of this "thang" I created and I told myself that it is never too late to cultivate a new habit (or to renew an old one, in this case). So I am going to take some time at the end of the day to review my day. Maybe I will makes some notes in my journal or maybe I will fall asleep with the thoughts in my head. And somewhere in there, I will also take the time to thank God for the blessings of another day, for every day is valuable whether I see it as a good day or a bad day.

BTW, I posted this earlier and then came back to add the following:

My pattern for reviewing my day is somewhat setup to follow recommendations I condensed from the AA "Big Book". I have had all this written out on an index card for several months, but never really actually used it on a consistent basis.

IN THE EVENING

1) Review my day:

• Was I resentful, selfish, dishonest or afraid?
• Do I owe someone an apology?
• Have I kept something to myself that should be discussed with another person?
• Was I loving and kind toward all?
• Did I think of myself most of the time?
• Did I think of what I could do for others?
• What could I have done better?

2) Ask God's forgiveness and inquire what corrective measures should be taken.

3) Don't forget to thank Him (I think I may have added this one myself, though gratitude is a common thread in AA wisdom).

The following is an example of a behavior that obviously needed to be reviewed at the end of the day. There are others for me that are harder to discern, such as the question of whether or not I have kept something to myself that should have been discussed with another person. I tend to hold a lot of things in that really should be let out (in a healthy way).

For instance, it is a common thing for Type Nine personalities to be out of touch with (or deny completely) their anger. So sometimes, they have little temper outbursts that are shockingly unlike their normal peaceful behavior. This happened to me the other day after almost getting pea-laid (that is not the correct spelling, but pronounce it as it is spelled, it is Cajun French that roughly translates to "knocked down") in the parking lot by a big black Hummer when she starting backing up with me behind her.

I honked my horn way longer than I needed to, and then I shouted at the top of my lungs, though no one but me could hear me, "Don't you see my ass back here?" I don't usually talk like that, and I don't usually have hissy fits like that, but still, I am sure I needed to seek forgiveness for that uncharacteristic act, because it was neither loving nor kind and it was not a healthy way to express my anger.

NaBloWriMo

For a couple of years now I thought I might someday take up the NaNoWriMo challenge but I never quite had the confidence nor the trust in myself to churn out 50,000 words in 30 days that would look anything like a novel at all. (I never could quite come up with a plan, though from what I understand, some people start out with no plan. They just start writing and they don't quit till the end of November--and they end up with some semblance of a novel!)

However, Linda posted about another November challenge that I think just might be the thing to cure my recent case of blogging lethargy. It's called NaBloWriMo. All I really have to do is post something every day for the month of November. Sound like fun? We shall see. Anyone want to join me?

Check It Out!

Dear Blog Readers,

I stayed up past my bedtime last night and updated my Blogroll list. All the links should work now, and I added a few links I have been intending to add. Please let me know if there are any that do not work. I tested them all and everything seemed to be working perfectly well.

Do you ever have a little thing that needs to be done, and it would be so simple to stop and get it done, yet you keep putting it off and putting it off? When you finally just stop and get it done, it feels very good.

Sincerely & Resolutely,
Annie Simpleton Oddflower

While I've Been Out

I've been trying to figure out what I have been doing since October 10th that I could write about, but believe me, there has not been much happening (sometimes that is a good thing!). Rather than making something up, I'll just lay out a few random things as they come to my mind. Be assured, this post will contain nothing profound or earth-shaking.

• My young boss backed into me a couple of weeks ago. He always moves 90 miles an hour. I always move at a turtle's pace. He thought I was gone already. I thought he was still in the office. In the meantime, I have been driving an 08 Nissan Altima with a keyless entry and ignition. All I have to do is get in the car, put my foot on the brake and push the ignition button and the car starts. I am fascinated by this setup. Through a few experimentations I have figured these things out: You can't lock the keys in the car (it beeps ferociously). You could (conceivably) set the keys down somewhere near the car (but not in the car), start the car and drive off without the keys, but when you got to where you were going and stopped the car, you would not be able to start it again. One thing I wonder about, but have not tried, is what would happen if you were to push the ignition button while driving down the road--would the car stop right there in the middle of the road?


• We had a friend over last weekend who installed two new toilets for us. They are the "high seat" kind, 18" tall, I think--good for our knees in our infirm years! They have been declared by expert flushers to have superior flushing capabilities. They do have excellent flushing capabilities, but I wonder, how does one qualify for the status of "expert flusher"?


• I have taken an Enneagram personality test and have been declared to be a Nine--a Peacemaker, Mediator, one who is capable of seeing all sides to an issue and can pretty well get along with anybody. Another characteristic is that they have trouble getting their momentum going when they get stopped. Obviously that has been a problem for me lately.


• I've just recently gotten caught up again with my blog reading. Some of you have been very busy while I have been sitting around in my lethargy.


• I've been trying to think of some kind of theme that I would post about once a week (to get my momentum going again). I can't think of anything specific. I guess I will just have to decide to write once a week whether I have anything to say or not. Maybe eventually, something worthwhile will come of the effort.
  

• I came across this quote in my blog reading several weeks ago. I glued it into my journal as a reminder to myself. I wish I could write in depth on this, but I can't quite get my thoughts together on it. I feel like an empty-headed fluffball lately (I started to say "blonde" fluff-ball, my peacemaker tendencies made choose "empty-headed instead. My apologies to any empty-headed readers I might have, but I just could not offend my blonde readers!) Here is the link to his blog, Letters From Kamp Krusty. I have to admit, I often don't "get" him, and I have not been reading his blog lately, but these few words resonated with me.