Things That Matter
Posted May 12, 2013 | Notes to Self, Welcome to My Life
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Assignment: List five things that matter in my life right now.
http://www.getorganizedwizard.com/my-account/21-day-simplify-your-life-challenge/day-2/
THE FIVE THINGS THAT MATTER MOST TO ME RIGHT NOW
- My family and friends
- Meeting my obligations
- Feeling good
- Expressing myself
- Feeling connected
You know you’re old when….
Posted May 1, 2013 | Lessons I've Learned, Random Observations, Today I'm Grateful for..., Web Wisdom
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…you look at this graphic and say, ”Yep! [1] There are some advantages to getting older”! [2]
[1] If you know where this came from, please let me know so I can give well-deserved credit to her.
[2] “But who cares?”
Where have you been lately?
Posted April 22, 2013 | Welcome to My Life
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I’ve been “in the fast lane to Flipsville, home of the fleece-lined straight jacket with 34 luminous buckles that spell out, ‘I am not nuts, I am raisins.’” [1] [2]
Since I’m not there yet, I just have the straight jacket. I’m looking forward to getting the luminous buckles soon. [3]
* * *
[1] I heard this years ago when I was in high school, read to me from a book that a friend of mine had. I’d be happy to give credit if I knew who to give credit to. After all, wouldn’t you want to get credit for thinking up something like that?
[2] If you say this really fast, which takes a little practice, it adds to the effect.
[3] Which also explains why I haven’t been posting anything here lately.
Color me blue. What color are you?
Posted March 30, 2013 | Personality Tests
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I love personality quizzes. Today I decided to find out what color I am.
www.blogthings.com/whatsyourinnercolorquiz/
Your Personality: Your natural warmth and intuition nurtures those around you. You are accepting and always follow your heart.
You in Love: Relationships are your top priority, and this includes love. You are most happy when you are serious with someone.
Your Career: You need to help others in your job to feel satisfied. You would be a great nurse, psychologist, or counselor.
Web wisdom: The best thing ever
Posted February 15, 2013 | Today I'm Grateful for..., Web Wisdom
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@janeson59 spreddin smyls an luvs dus be bestist fing evva .. uggs ..@hergracethecat @thatstripeycat
— Henry(@henryandfriends) February 15, 2013
With love from Henry…and me
Posted February 14, 2013 | Holidays, My Kittehs, Today I'm Grateful for...
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Henry @Henryandfriends
This is the valentine he sent into the Twitterverse today. I hope it warms your heart as much as it did mine.
Note that Henry, being a British sort of bear, writes with an accent 
In case you don’t speak British Teddy Bear, here’s the translation: I have a big heart that is here to share, so you will know someone does care. With love from Henry
Love to you, and to all my friends, both online and IRL (In Real Life). I hope that your Valentine’s Day – and every day – is filled with love.
@ThatStripeyCat decides she has to be on Facebook
Posted January 24, 2013 | My Kittehs
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Stripey sending a dm to her fur-husband, Honeybell @Wildboutbirds.
Well, it had to happen sooner or later. Stripey has been on Twitter for about three years now. She met her fur-husbnad Honeybell (@Wildboutbirds) there, and they had a Twitterverse wedding on September 2, 2010.
Honeybell recently got a Facebook account, so of course Stripey decided that she had to have one, too.
You can’t exactly “put your foot down” when a cat wants something, but I did manage to purr-suade her to share mine. We are now Janeson Keeley (Stripey Keeley). Hopefully you’ll be able to tell which status updates are from Stripey and which are from me.
Gotta go now. Stripey wants to use the computer….
. . .
Just so you’ll know, “MOL” is short for Meow Out Loud. It’s the accepted feline equivalent of LOL. I won’t even try to explain Sleep Sheep, Shaunie, and the ‘lets yet. Let’s just say that Stripey has an active fantasy life and leave it at that for now.
A memory that lasts longer than the snow that helped make it
Posted January 24, 2013 | Cool Stuff, Photos & Photo Galleries
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Walking in a Winter Wonderland.
Okay, maybe I’m a little late with this since the snow fell last week on the 18th, but it’s supposed to snow again tomorrow, and that reminded me that I wanted to write this post but have just been too busy to do it.
That afternoon Buffy left work early, stopped by the house to get his iChargers, and got to my apartment just as the snow was covering the ground.
I wanted to take a walk in it. Since I live somewhere where you can walk TO a place instead of just walking but not being able to end up anywhere specific, Buffy (a connoisseur of foods from the round, beige food group) suggested that we walk to IHOP for dinner.
The snow flakes were falling steadily and were big and fat – like the “real” snows I remember from when I was a kid. It was dusk, and we walked the mile to IHOP through the fluffy white flakes under the glowing pink sky.
Down Durham Street toward Huff Lane.
Buffy had to borrow my hat. Cute, huh?
I got to wear my new ski jacket in actual snow. Whee!
Going up the hill on Speedwell. I never have figured out why Speedwell is the only cross street between Grandview and Huff Lane. If you know, please enlighten me.
It was a wet snow. A few branches bit the dust. So to speak.
Power lines courtesy of Appalachian Power, and we are grateful for them. Unlike many others, we had electricity the whole weekend.
The nice wet snow stuck to everything, making the trees very pretty. Dry snow isn’t nearly as flattering to trees.
Walking through the neighborhood made me think of Ralphie walking home from school in “A Christmas Story.”
Valley View Boulevard is on the other side of this berm.
The corner of the Valley View complex from Huff Lane at Churchill.
Walking down Huff Lane, which, at least on this night, didn’t have a speed limit.
We made it to our destination and were greeted by warm lights, hot coffee, and pancakes with butter and hot maple syrup. Heavenly.
Warm, dry, and full of sweet, warm food, we walked back in the dark – except it wasn’t dark: the sky was glowing pink and the ground was glowing white.
Once home, we sat on the couch in front of my faux fireplace and drank cocoa.
* happy sigh *
Priorities: When you’re at the age when your friend’s parents are dying
Posted January 15, 2013 | Lessons I've Learned, Random Observations
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Soon after it was announced, I registered for the Roanoke Regional Writers Conference, starting the night of January 25th with a reception and opening ceremonies and continuing on the 26th with a full day of classes, ending with a discussion on blogging by a panel that I had agreed in October to be on.
On December 31st, the mother of a friend of mine died unexpectedly. Several days later, I learned that her memorial service was to be on Saturday, January 26th at 2 PM.
Did I put two and two together? Nope.
In early January I was replaced on the panel by someone more agreeable (and quite likely more knowledgeable) than me. Odd, but no big deal.
But this weekend the number “four” popped into my head. The Universe is a strange and wonderful place, and by being replaced earlier, I didn’t have to worry about putting anyone else in a bind by having to cancel at the last minute. And I would have. Yay, Universe!
I’m at the age where my friend’s parents are dying at an alarming rate: four in the last two months alone. Having “been there” and “done that,” I know that having people visit the funeral home, open house and/or attend the funeral is very comforting. I had a sense of that when my father-in-law died and my husband hugged a person that he didn’t even especially like when she came to the visitation at the funeral home. (My husband is not a “hugger.”)
I felt it for sure and certain when my father died, and because of who and how he was, very few people came who didn’t know either my brother or myself. I appreciated those friends who took time from their busy days to attend.
When my mother died, it meant even more to me to have friends there, many of whom had taken care of me as best they could while I took care of her.
Susan Ayers and I chatting in the peanut gallery at the 2012 Writers Conference evening session. Photo by Dan Smith.
I’ll go to the conference’s opening night reception on Friday and attend some morning sessions on Saturday. I might even grab a quick lunch. There are people there I only get to get once a year, and I want to have a chance to visit with them. I want to attend the classes and learn new stuff. But however much I’d like to stay for the afternoon sessions and the panel discussion (observing it being infinitely more relaxing than being part of it), attending a memorial service to honor the mother of a friend I’ve had since sixth grade is more important.
There’ll be other writers conferences. I have only once chance to share in the celebration of my friend’s mother’s life. Not a difficult choice on my planet.
For $30,969.30 shouldn’t I have ended up with a bionic arm?
Posted January 14, 2013 | Random Observations, Today I'm Grateful for...
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Shouldn’t sparks be shooting our of my fingertips or something?
Today I got the claim information for my hospital stay on December 18th.
| Total hospital and provider charges (in network): | $30,969.30 |
| Paid by plan: | $18,375.82 |
| My charges – copay: | $150.00 |
So I ponder:
- Why the hell does hospital care cost so much?
- If I had gone in without health insurance and been able to pay privately, would they have charged me the entire $30,060.30?
- If I had to pay for it, could I have gotten them to accept what the insurance paid?
- What was the 30 cents for?
- For $30K worth of medical care, shouldn’t I at least be able to shoot lightning bolts out of my fingers or rotate my hand 360 degrees? Certainly that much money should buy me some superpower.
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A common position: Tinkering with my iPhone in StarbucksYou'd think that with all the time I spend working on the computer, I'd pick another way to spend my time. Alas, that is not the case. I've noticed - in my advancing age - that my brain is getting full. Since I don't want to take the chance of forgetting anything interesting (if only to myself), I thought it might be nice to have a place to offload the stories and minutiae that are filling it up so I can make room for more stuff.
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