Thursday, February 26, 2009

Three Things

Facebook is okay, but I still like blogging better, when I have something to write about.

I started working in Photoshop on an old photo my sister gave me and I don't quite know yet what I am going to do with it. But I had a chance to look through the
Somerset Apprentice magazine today and work and I am somewhat inspired so I imagine something will come of my efforts.

One of our students will not be returning to school after the Mardi Gras holiday. She died as a result of an accident on the parade route in one of the smaller towns around here. Such a tragic accident.

Wednesday, February 04, 2009

I Had an Excellent Title for this Post

But I forgot it!

I am feeling much better. I still have a bit of a dry cough and a squeak to my voice, but I imagine I will live!

I joined Facebook, and have been playing around over there the last couple of days. Some of you know that already, but if you don't know it, and are on Facebook yourself and want to be my friend, let me know, and we'll become friends! I joined under my real name so you might need to contact me for that information. I debated whether to do it that way, because I am mixing some of my real life people with some of my cyber-peeps and sometimes that can be a bit scary. For now, I am keeping my blog away from Facebook, for several reasons. I'm not quite ready to come out of the blogging closet! Just today, one of the professors said said something about something on her Facebook page, and told me "We need to get you on here, it would be fun." I don't know yet about my fellow employees seeing my Facebook page (and I am sure I don't want them seeing my blog). But I imagine it will happen before too long (seeing me on Facebook). And I will deal with it then. I'm just funny about stuff, pretty much a private person. And I have thought about what a paradox it is to call myself a private person when I have been writing this blog all these years. I'm not sure what that says about me. I'll have to think about that.

Now I need to get caught up with my blogging. I know some of you have written a ton of stuff that I have missed!

I'll be around...

Saturday, January 31, 2009

Feeling Blah

First of all, thanks for all your encouraging comments on my last post. I am doing better with the eating, not so much with the walking. But hopefully, I will soon start that too. I have been sick for a little over a week with some kind of hacking crud. I worked all week, but that is about all I did. I am feeling somewhat better now, but still sound like a squeaky-voiced something-or-other when I talk!

I keep thinking of things I want to write about and then not writing anything. I don't know what is up with me. Anyway, at the very least, I am still alive and hope to get caught up on my blog reading and commenting soon (again!).

Thursday, January 15, 2009

Gratitude. And Resistance.

I've been wrestling with some things. One of those things has been this diagnosis of diabetes. I have not yet decided whether I want to say that "I am a diabetic" or "I have diabetes." It seems silly, but there is a difference in my mind. I am overweight, and there is a bit of shame in admitting diabetes, no matter how I express it, as though I might have brought this on myself, but I do know skinny people with the disease. The other thing is, when the news is fairly public, people have all kinds of ideas about what you should and should not be doing and sometimes those ideas are not exactly accurate. But, at any rate, the only true shame would come in me receiving this diagnosis and not doing anything to help myself.

The (still weird) doctor has increased my medication. I have been to one part of the education presentation. I am trying to be mindful of what I eat. I have not yet taken a walk or done any sort of real exercise. I have been irritated at having to check my blood sugar every morning (oh I know, that is indeed whiny, things could be so much worse) and I have been irritated to find my numbers are still a little too high, in spite of my (sometimes) sacrificial eating habits and regularly taking my medicine. That almost makes me want to go out and eat one of those tubs of ready-made sour cream chocolate cake frosting, just for spite (hey, I never claimed to be perfect!). But I know that would be counter-productive. So far, I have resisted the temptation. Exercise is what is needed. Exercise is what I have been resisting.

You might be wondering what brought this little tirade on. It is that I am slowly gaining a new perspective and appreciation for this diagnosis. I often see things in a skewed sort of way, and I am beginning to see diabetes as a bit of a gift to me. I seem to need boundaries (we all need boundaries) and having to eat mindfully and in a disciplined manner (about the same amount of carbs each day, about the same time each day) is slowly starting to shape me into a healthier lifestyle. I need to be reigned in. Otherwise, I would continue to eat whatever I want, and however much I want, and Lord knows it would all have caught up with me eventually, so at least I am getting an early start before too much damage is done. For that, I am grateful. It does not mean I am happy about the limits. I am not. But I am grateful for the opportunity the limits present.

And I really need to adjust my attitude and get up off my duff and at least take a little thirty minute walk every day. The funny thing is, I see the habit of walking as a time for prayer, for meditation, as an all-around calming and positive habit. The benefits would far outweigh the “pain” and inconvenience of the effort it would take to walk. Sheesh. I know I need to do it. And one day soon, I will.

There are other things on my mind as well. Who knows, this place might become a confessional of sorts for a short time. We shall see.

Tuesday, December 30, 2008

A Moving Experience

An amazing video followed by a thought-provoking quote, something to ponder as we welcome the New Year....



"Night is drawing nigh. How long the road is. But, for all the time the journey has already taken, how you have needed every second of it." --Dag Hammarskjold

Tuesday, December 23, 2008

Remembering Christmas

If I have your address, you probably received this card in the mail by now (if you'd like to receice a card next year, send me your snail mail address and I will put you on my list). The photo is a little different. I played in Photoshop a bit and I really like the results, even though the changes I made were quite subtle and very simple.

A very Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to all of you...

Christmas-that magic blanket
that wraps itself about us,
that something so intangible
that it is like a fragrance.
It may weave a spell of nostalgia.

Christmas may be a day of feasting,
or of prayer, but always it will be
a day of remembrance--
a day in which we think of everything
we have ever loved.
--Augusta E. Rundell

Sunday, December 14, 2008

Winter Wonderland Fascimile

(and Beware the Long Arm of the Law)

Here are a few photos of the teency amount of snow we received last week. I was awake at 3 a.m. and went outside to watch the white stuff falling from the sky.

Pitiful, ain't it?

If you look closely, you can see my footprint in the right corner of this shot. Want to know what shoes I was wearing? I had on a pair of flip-flops! My feet were freezing!

This is the stump of one of the cedar trees taken out by Hurricane Rita.

Now, about the long arm of the law. My daughter was in Sam's and she saw two older women looking like they were about to engage in a throw-down, or at least a shouting match. It seems one of them thought the other one had cut in line at the check-out. I asked what they looked like and she said they looked like they came straight from her grandmother's Sunday School class. I don't think anyone's "witness" was tarnished, as all they did was shake their finger (their pointer finger) at each other! Daughter did not feel the need to intervene in this altercation (if you remember, she recently graduated with a degree in Criminal Justice, and now she feels obligated to uphold the law everywhere she goes!).

But when she was driving home, at a particularly busy intersection, she saw two grown men with their windows down, yelling at each other and pointing (that) finger (not their pointer finger) at each other. There was a lot of traffic and so she pulled out her badge she has to get into court and discreetly covered the edges so the men did not know it was just paper and then proceeded to act as though she was calling someone on her cell phone to make a report. It did not take long for the men to roll up their windows and not another harsh word was said.

And then my mother had the story to tell about how two older women in WalMart got into in the food place and one was picking up a chair when a man intervened and saved the day (the police came later and took them both away). All of this leads us to wonder, what is it with senior citizens and their tempers these days? Lawsie.

Also, in another reference to the long arm of the law, we saw my son's first juvenile probation officer this weekend. She remembered him and us and seemed glad to hear that he was doing well. Sometimes I wonder if they get tired of hearing mostly bad news about their young clients. We were fortunate to always have good experiences with any of the authorities we had to deal with during that time.

Oh yeah, I put a "follow this blog" thing on my sidebar. If you want to do it, all you do it click and then it does something and your little icon is there. I am not sure what the point of the thing is, but I thought I'd try it out and see what happens. Blogger is making it so easy to add a bunch of junk to your sidebar these days!