Tuesday, November 28, 2006

IKEA Madness

I've heard how BIG IKEA is. I've heard how crowded it is. And so, I've stayed away from that store and all its hype. The image I have is so unappealing...

But I needed to find a (cheap) simple table and (cheap) simple book shelves and people kept suggesting I try this out, and so finally today, I did.

First of all, the store is so big that I actually felt nervous I would get lost and not ever find my way back out. It's also so big that I have no idea if I saw all of it or just parts of it. But I knew pretty quickly, I wanted out.

It was just overwhelming to me. There may very well have been something in there that would've been just perfect for me but I would've had no idea how to find it, or what to do once I did. So I just grabbed a catalogue and headed for the EXIT signs. And then I kept following the exit signs until FINALLY I saw the door.

YAY!

Sunday, November 26, 2006

Rockettes

Last night my dad took our family to see the Rockettes do their Christmas show. It was SO good and if you need something to get you into the the holiday spirit, that should do it. I think it only runs though December 3rd, so you better hurry and get tix if you're interested! Have fun-

Wednesday, November 22, 2006

The Meal Before the Feast


Tommorow is Thanksgiving...And while it's really all about giving thanks, it is also about the big feast that you share with some of those you're thankful for. Usually that meal includes turkey. And rarely does it involve Mexican food.

Which is why I find it so vital to eat Mexican food the day before. I tend to demand Mexican food before a vacation (because most places I travel don't have Mexican food), and before Thanksgiving and Christmas. Those are the days it's very hard to come by enchilades or tacos. If I know I can't have it, well, that's when I want it the most.

So I was so happy when my friend suggested we eat at Blue Mesa for lunch today. I got my cheese enchiladas and even got to bring a little home in a to-go box. So if I need it, I've still got a little stash I'll have with me tomorrow. And I will be thankful for yet another thing in this world... Mexican Food!!!

Tuesday, November 21, 2006

Missing Birthdays


URGH! So last weekend my friend came into town to visit her family and go to her college reunion. I spent one of her days here with her and at the end of our visit, she happened to be on the phone with her brother and made a reference to her birthday. Until she said that, it never occured to me that THIS was the reason, or at least another part of the reason for her visit. She's been my friend SINCE 4TH GRADE, and I forgot her birthday.

Then today I flip on my computer and read an email sent to me yesterday from my sister's husband reminding me that "today" (yesterday) is her birthday. I've been calling her all week and she's been calling me...We keep having to leave voicemails because our schedules just haven't jived...But never once did it occur to me that yesterday was her birthday.

What my friend had said when I was wigging out over forgetting her birthday is probably just what my sister will say when I apologize about forgetting HER birthday: That it's no big deal. But IT IS!!! I don't think it's important to put the correct amount of candles in the cake at this point, but oh my gosh, the birthday man or woman should get a card, or balloons, or a cupcake, or at the very least, a phone call on their birthday from the people that love them.

And these are two of my most loved people. Happy Belated Birthday!!!

Sunday, November 19, 2006

Easy Like a Sunday Morning

Ahhhhh....Sunday mornings are just the best!

I don't regularly attend church (or honestly, even irregularly) but I do have my own version of church and how I feel spirtiually connected on Sundays.

I think the world, or at least the one I live in, moves slower on Sundays. There's no hurry to get up. There's no schedule to follow. There's no appointments. I actually didn't get out of bed until 10:30 today. That's really late for me. I read for a while, drifted back to sleep, woke up and just rambled stupid stuff to my husband, trying to rouse him from his own lazy morning.

I actually enjoy the Sunday paper. I think the typical "bad news" is more balanced out because there are more comics and they're in color! And they throw in coupons, and even a magazine called Parade!!! Yay! I love a parade! And of course, we've got a travel section.

And breakfast is more than just 1/2 a banana on most Sundays. There's time for scrambled egges and Sweet Potato Pancakes, or if we're feeling out-of-control crazy, there's even sometimes donut holes!

Most Sundays, like most days, I still do my run. Or I walk my dogs on a l-o-n-g walk. But I don't feel compelled to get a real "work out" in on a Sunday-

So many of my Sundays I spend a few hours with my friend Elaine in the afternoon. We tell each other how great we are, we share our profound thoughts with each other, and we laugh and laugh and laugh.

I love Sundays. There's no hurry, there's no worry... All days should be so easy like a Sunday morning!

Wednesday, November 15, 2006

Thinking of and Tinkering with PINK

I have spent the week picking out the pink for my ROOM! (The spare bedroom I am finally converting into my "office", altho I hate that word, "office" and all that it implies: Work?! Urgh. SO, it's more like Kerri's Playroom...)

I started off conservatively with a light pink called Carnation Pink. But urgh!!! Light colors just DON'T do it for me, even if it's pink. So then I liberally slapped on a very HOT pink called Tiger Pink. GRRRRRR. Personally, I liked it, altho didn't love it. but a friend of mine saw it and said, "I'm a little concerned once it's on all four walls it's just going to be overwhelming...Ok, no-- I'm a LOT concerned." My husband said it looked like Pepto Bismal. I told him to shut his pie hole, then he got out the Pepto and compared it to my wall...and Oh My! he was right. So then I shut my pie hole. I went BACK up to the paint store.

So then I went with an in-between pink with the pleasant sounding name of "Pink Bauble"- Not as appealing as TIGER Pink, but the color is probably better. This time, instead of painting just a large square, I painted the whole wall. When THE MAN got home, he didn't say anything negative about it. He might have even said something somewhat complimentary. But at this point, the paint fumes had already gotten to me, so I'm not sure.

Anyway, last night I bought a can of Primer and 2 gallons of Pink Bauble. So I'm more commited to this color than I had been to the other two. 8 times more comitted as a matter of fact! This morning and most of the day I primed the wall. I decided enough was enough. I had a headache and burning eyeballs to match and decided it best to take a break until tomorrow. I am so eager to get the pink up there and see how 4 walls will look...

Sunday, November 12, 2006

Not Crying Causes Headaches

This weekend I went to a very sad funeral. Sadder than most I've attended because it was a funeral of a very young mother that had not only a husband that loved her, but two very young children. I didn't know her well but I found it so hard to control my emotion as I sat in the church looking at pictures of how great her life looked when she was alive. What a huge loss. Unimaginable.

But I felt like such a fraud having these uncontrollable tears running down my face. This was really not MY grief. Like I said, I really barely knew this person. Her husband was a close Jr. High School and High School friend of my husband. I had only met her a few times. But I just felt so sorry and sad for her family. And so sad for the thought of her knowing her time was cut so short with the people she loved. What that must have been like for her...

If you've ever been to a movie that was unbearably sad and you were trying so hard NOT to cry: That's how I felt. My chest felt heavy and my head hurt. I just kept thinking, "I'll cry about this later, when I get home, and I'm by myself. NOT NOW" If her family and close friends were able to keep it together, I certainly should be able to! But if at that moment I could've really cut loose with the cry I needed at that moment, it would've been primal. It instead was contained to just the tears running silently down my face.

So because of trying to contain that emotion, I felt head-achey and a little sick all day. And no, I didn't go home and have the good cry I had planned on. In fact, we went to a birthday party for my 90-year-old granny-in-law and crying then wouldn't have been okay either. Yeah- no, not at all.

I am thankful for human compassion. That church was full of people feeling just as I did. When we see someone else suffering, it really does become our grief too. I know all of us that were there have that family in our thoughts. I think we probably all have headaches today...

Wednesday, November 8, 2006

Here's a Little Proof...

Okay, I made the post about how SOME people forget there manners, and aren't so interested in helping others. But then I clarified that there's still plenty of kindness out there and "I see it all the time". And I do. For example:

I JUST got back from Home Depot. I was there to look at their magazines for ideas on decorating my "Dream Room". I had no intention of buying a $10 magazine for one picture, so I brought my little journal to jot some ideas down.

First, an employee came over and offered me his marker to write with because I couldn't find one. He told me he had plenty and I could just keep it. THEN another employee brought me a comfortable chair to sit in and said, "This will be a lot better than the floor!"

So there you have it. It happens all the time. Kindness. It's all around... I've just got to be aware of it and focus and those people that spread the good around rather than the others that forget to...

Tuesday, November 7, 2006

Chivalry Is (NOT Really) Dead

Because of my spine issues, I need someone to carry my amp and guitar up the ladder to my perch when I'm playing at Potbelly. I almost always have to ask for help (which I hate) and I often get the sense that it is begrungingly done. I ask nicely and I always say thank you. I DON'T take the help I get for granted, but still I can tell some of the "boys" (and I do mean boys, not men) seem very annoyed by my request for help.

Being that this is a public blog, I won't name names here...but URGH! It just seems sort of ridiculous that I am now sure that some are not only not cool with helping me, but have complained about it!!! OH MY GOSH. Meanies. And who I thought was most helpful was the one complaining the MOST?!!! Makes me so sad.

But I cannot say "Chivalry is Dead" because there are still plenty of men out there who open doors for me and other ladies and do all sorts of sweet and helpful things. And I for one, LOVE THAT.

I know that it's in my best interest not to post a blog in anger, so I'm flipping this one to gratitude for the people, men and women, who do kind acts for others on a regular basis. I see it all the time...

Thursday, November 2, 2006

Go Find a Sandwich Pal!

I've mentioned my Artist Way group here on my blog before. I've gained a lot not so much from the book as from the people in my Circle that I meet with weekly! Being creative is contagious. We're all creative and it's important for us to make time for that creativity each day. So this group has helped me work it into my life without feeling indulgent when I do.

One of my friends (from this group) and I are now what the author of the book refers to as "sandwich pals". I don't know why we're referred to as "sandwich pals" exactly. We don't eat sandwiches together. BUT putting the name aside, it's a good, simple suggestion.

AND THIS IS WHAT IT IS:
Find a friend that you can call when you're taking on some creative task that for some reason you've been avoiding. It might be beginning the first chapter of you memoir, or getting out your brushes and paints for your next painting, or sitting down at your piano and playing around for 20 minutes...It may be small, but it feels daunting and you've been avoiding it. You just call up your friend and you say, "Hey, I'm about to go work on my essay for 30 minutes and I'm going to call you when I'm done." You don't need to waste a lot of time explaining your task or why your dreading it or anything. Just state your intention and GET GOING!

You're not necessarily inviting any feedback from your "pal" , it's basically just someone that's on your side, holding you accountable for doing something that deep down inside, you WANT to do for yourself. Having that small bit of motivation can make a big difference.

My friend has written 3 short stories this week just because of this new "Sandwich Pal" thing we have going on. Lot's of times, that "just 15 minutes" turns into an hour! Or two! Sometimes, when you just take the smallest step you find you want to take more and more and the next thing you know you've really accomplished a lot. But you will accomplish very little (and by very little I mean nothing) if you don't take that first little micro-step.

I've helped my "sandwich pal" just by answering the phone, saying "Okay, good...go!" and then looking forward to hearing from him when he calls me, or emails me later to tell me the task is done and then I just say something like "Rah-Rah!" My job is easy, but yet I feel I'm serving an important purpose.

Try it! It's delicious!