Raisin Bran

A man told a story at George Jones' funeral about how much George loved Raisin Bran cereal and would eat it every morning for breakfast. As much as he loved Raisin Bran he did not like the raisins. So his wife, beginning out of an act of kindness, would remove all the raisins from his cereal. I'm sure over time her beginning act of kindness was see more as an act of love and devotion.




I remember as a child dreaming of Prince Charming riding in on his great white stallion and sweeping me off of my feet and carrying me to a beautiful castle on a hillside. As I grew older I realized there are no such things as Prince Charming and beautiful castles. Those dreams formed more into realities of spying a tall, dark and handsome stranger across a crowded room. Our eyes meet and we instantly fall in love. Time goes by and we find ourselves in a huge 3 bedroom house with a white picket fence. There are two of the most beautiful kids playing together in the yard on a perfectly built wooden swing. He goes to work from 9-5 at his job where he earns six figures while I stay at home decorating the house, cooking dinner and planning lavish parties. That too, was just a fairy tale.


Reality actually comes in the form of falling in love with your high school sweetheart, getting married, having two children and then finding yourself in the middle of a divorce. Just too young and dumb to figure out how to make a last and how to work at marriage. After all, love and marriage is not supposed to be work. It is supposed to be all rainbows and butterflies. Then reality slowly transcends into finding who you think is Mr. Perfect, getting married and having two more kids. And again finding myself in the middle of an ugly divorce.


Starting over was not easy. I remember struggling to make the bills. Struggling to figure out how to balance work and home and life. I remember no longer wanting some fairy tale relationship of stallions and castles, of picket fences and lavish parties. I remember wanting to find a real relationship with a man that would treat me like my dad treats my mom, like my brother treats his wife, like the relationship my sister and her husband share. I remember trying to make those relationships happen out of old friendships. Searching for something out of nothing. Spending nights feeling like I would have to just settle for what I could get simply because there was just nothing out there worth looking for. No more Prince Charmings even existed. They had all been taken.


Funny how when you stop looking and settle into a life that you feel is where you are supposed to be that it turns out to not be that plan at all.


I remember my friend at work telling me that they were hiring a new maintenance guy and thinking "i hope he's cute." Working in a place that is predominantly women you sometimes long for a little eye candy.  Finally, the day arrives that he is to start work. Introductions were made. He was nice and not bad looking. Really, I wasn't even interested. I was in a relationship and things were going ok. That is all anyone can ever really hope for is an ok relationship.


My current relationship continued. Spending time together whenever possible. But as that relationship continued on an even keel another was just beginning. The maintenance guy and I were quickly becoming friends. Conversations with him came easy. We talked about kids, failed marriages, sports, nothing and everything. We would spend time together at work having lunch. Occasionally we would get together outside of work. Time went by and I found myself seeking is advice on all kinds of situations. He was becoming my best friend. Offering sound and unbiased advice about all kinds matters. It always seemed he had logical answers and would help me reason through all kinds of situations.  A new relationship was growing and I was too blind to even notice.


But in the midst of another failed relationship was the beginning of a beautiful friendship. And in the middle of the growing of a beautiful friendship I found my Prince Charming.






I came home the other day and told Brian the story about George Jones. I asked if he would take the raisin out of my Raisin Bran. Well, of course he would.


Who knew Prince Charming takes raisins out of Raisin Bran?

Random Thoughts #1

I have officially made it one week without social media! Honestly it hasn't been as difficult as I thought it would be. Brian and I have discussed plans for renovating the house. We have decided with starting in February adding to the budget for painting and laying new linoleum in the bathroom. (Todd will be pleased that we are "Daving" for the project). This should be interesting since we have never done any type of project like this together. I have picked out the color for the bathroom and he agreed. Like he really had a choice ;). We have discussed the progression of the updating of the interior of the house. Considering I have been living here for 7 years, it is about time I finish what I started.
I have also read one book this week. It was alright and I wouldn't really recommend it to anyone so I won't bore you with the details.
Slow start but a start none the less.
Oh and I have blogged a little bit. I am sure many of you were wishing for more!


Well, I'm sure some of you are curious as to what "Daving" for the project means. So I will try to explain. We, and by we I mean Brian, have been through the Financial Peace program. I merely listened to the CD's in the car on the way to and from work. Brian knew he had a captive audience. So I have coined the term "Daving" instead of "saving". Clever I thought. Anyway, that's what we do. "Daving" also means I have to sacrifice some of my regular spending money to Michaels. And we all know how much I love Michaels. So my scrapbook spending will be put on hold. Which will now lead to a new obsession of attempting to find cool and colorful ways to decorate my home. I have grown weary of the drab walls without inspiration and decoration. There are only a few pictures splattered here and there throughout the living room and bedroom. I will somehow have to figure out how to post pictures to the blog of the befores and afters of the upgrades. I have tried but it seems to take forever for the pic to load.
These are all very random thoughts but I felt the need to post something.


Be Inspired....to be creative!

Add a little color!

While working in the nursing home you quickly learn there are three things that you do not interfere with: Bingo!, getting your hair fixed or getting your nails painted! Period! No exceptions. However, occasionally there are the few and far between that would much rather come to therapy as opposed to going to some fun filled activity of the day. One such person was Annie. She said it was much more entertaining in the therapy gym than in some room playing bingo with a bunch of old people. And by entertaining she didn't necessarily mean she was all excited about doing therapy. She was more interested in what new coming and going was circulating in the therapy gym. What new person was in therapy. She always wanted to know if they were older than her and most proud to find out that she was still the oldest but definitely didn't look it. Although sometimes you did have to cut a deal with her if it was the day for her to get her nails done. Even at 98 you still gotta look good. Never know who you will run into. Not that she was looking for anyone. All those men were told old.


I the previous day I had come to work with my nails painted some spring salmon/melon color. She had asked if I would bring it and paint her nails the following day. Deal made. She had told me it wasn't her usual color of browns and neutrals but you only live once so might as well add a little color. However, on the next day I was surprised when she asked me to remove it. We had both been so excited about the new color and agreed it looked splendid on her. She quickly explained that she had initially like the color and thought it looked really nice on me. But she had changed her mind after her son had been in and didn't really like the color on her. I tried for a  short time to convince her to just leave it for another day or two and if she still didn't want to wear it I would remove it for her. I suppose she finally got tired of hearing me whine about it and her response was priceless.
"Well, I really think it looks good on you but.....I think it makes me look like an old hooker."
Nail polish removed.


Be Inspired....add a little color to you life. But make sure it doesn't make you look like an old hooker.






Please feel free to leave comments on any of my posts.
But remember I am on hiatus from facebook so I won't be able to see if you comment there for another 3 weeks. You can leave a comment here on my blog page even as a guest or anonymous.
I am in the process of trying to switch my blog over to another website. I will keep you posted on whether I get that accomplished or not.
Thanks for all those reading and hopefully leaving comments.

Just put some soot on it

Working in a long term care facility provides great opportunities to hear great stories. Some of them I have shared with friends and have been told many times that I should write those down. So what better place to do that than here. And yes, I have changed the names to protect the innocent. One of my all time favorite stories is from a lady that is no longer with us. Let me provide some background. She was one of the most wonderful and most beautiful women I will ever meet. She was funny and had no bones about speaking what was on her mind. I guess that was a perk of being 98 years old. We would always tell her that when she turned 100 we were going to throw her a party. Her response was always the same, "well, I guess you will have to do it at Memorial Gardens".  One of her days in therapy as we were doing some exercises on the pulleys and joking around she commented about how silly she was. She told me it was probably because of the dent in her head. I just laughed at her assuming it was just one of those things that old ppl say. Then she proceeds to tell me to feel the top of her head. Which I did. ANd there it was! a dent! So this was her story and I am going to attempt to tell it as she did. This I of course paraphrased....but pretty dead on. I heard the story more than once because I had her tell it to me all the time.


"I remember I was somewhere around the age of 5 or 6. I'm not real sure. Old enough to be in school. And one time I was sitting on the floor supposed to be getting ready for school. I was never in a hurry. Well, that would make my brother so mad cuz he was always ready to go and there I would be lagging behind. Well I guess mom had probably told me a hundred times to hurry up. And my brother had to wait on me cuz we had to walk together. (this is where I would always make the snide remark about walking up hill both ways in the snow and she would always say of course). Well, anyway. I guess he had had enough because he picked up a butcher knife and smacked me on the head with it.
(she was all very calm about the whole situation but you can imagine my surprise and all the questions. and yes it was with the sharp end of the knife) well, I was bleeding all over the place. and mom just reached up and got some soot and put it on my head. you know what soot is don't ya. it's that stuff in the stove pipe when you burn wood. well she put it on my head, wrapped it up and sent me to school. after that I was a little faster at getting ready for school. but I do think that is why I am so silly is cuz I have a dent in my head."


I always loved to hear her tell me that story. And every time I asked she would comment that I should know it by now and tell me the story again. So thank you "Annie" for spending time with me and sharing part of your life with me. I feel honored.

30 Days of Being Inspired

As the New Year has come into full swing many people have started off the usual way of making New Year Resolutions. I for one am not big on doing those. Most of the time resolutions just set ppl up for failure and leave you feeling like a loser. The typical resolutions of losing weight, exercising, eating right are made and soon forgotten within the first week or the first sign of a Twinkie. This year I will not be doing a resolution. This year I have decided to make small goals for myself that are easily obtainable and build on those to make myself a better person. If you have read any of my posts before I have mentioned doing this before. I think it was in one of the 2011 posts. It works. I think I am better person for some of the choices I made. Or at least I hope I am. With that being said.....

I have Been Inspired to not use social media for 30 days! which includes Pinterest. Why on earth? some of you may ask...
Simply because I have found myself wasting tons of precious time looking at pictures, reading all kinds of useless information and seeing lots of links to odd pictures. Don't get me wrong. I do enjoy looking at real pictures of my family and friends on vacation or silly videos of their kids. But I stopped to think of all the time I could spend being more productive. There are things I should be doing at home. I have made a mental list of the things I would like to get accomplished within the next 30 days. Not listed in order of importance.
 Maybe get the bathroom painted and start doing some real decorating in my house. Finish my scrapbook room so that I can be more productive when I sit down to actually put pictures in the albums rather that thinking of ways I can re-re-organize (not a typo) the room. And maybe even find all my stuff rather than spend half my time searching for what I wanted. Which in turn may also keep me from spending so much money on things I already have. "Dave" would like that! (wink to Brian)
It will allow me to spend a few minutes each day (or every couple days) posting something on my blog. Because I know ppl are dying to read what is in my head!
It will allow me to spend more time with my family as opposed to "with" my family. There is a difference in spending time in the same room and spending time together.
It will allow me to start reading some books I have been wanting to read but "just can't seem to find the time to do".  Hoping my sister mailed that copy of The Book Thief today.
It will allow me to spend time doing some actually studying the Bible as opposed to just checking in on Sunday and joining in on the Sunday lesson. Which will also allow me time to spend in prayer.
It will allow me time to just maybe cook a real meal a couple days a week rather than just throwing something in the oven or fixing a pizza.
It will allow me to spend more time being a productive person in general.
So as I begin my sabbatical from Facebook and Pinterest so begins my 30 Days of Being Inspired to do something...anything...other than wasting time.

I can be the new Oprah

Well, as promised in my post "random thoughts #1", I have started reading Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother. And honestly, I'm not quite sure what I think of the book. I am more than half way through it. I have read all about how great of a person she is and what she has acheived in life. (that was sarcasm-sometimes lost in translation, no pun intended). She has introduced me to her daughters, her husband, her parents and in-laws (mostly her mother in law) and told me all about her heritage. She has shared stories about how she has chosen musical instruments for her children and how she expects them to excel (because it is the Chinese way). She has told me about how she disciplines her daughters (because it is the Chinese way). She has told me why she has chosen to treat her children the way she does-because it is the Chinese way. But "the Chinese way" seems to be more of an excuse than a reason. Unless I have missed it she hasn't really explained to me the Chinese way. She has told me how her parents came to American, worked very hard and expected much from their children. Respect was expected and rewards were not given. She explained how her children are expected to do great and excel in everything they do because she and her husband have put a roof over their head, food in their stomach and clothes on their back. Things she has given them are little and not rewards (but are sometimes bribes).
I'm still trying to form an opinion of the book. As for her, I know we wouldn't be buddies!
Further reviews to come once I finish the book. I encourage others to read it. Share your thoughts.
This may turn over a new leaf for me-I can be the new Oprah! Well, only in the aspect that I can do book reviews and start a book of the month club! HMMMMM...what a thought!

One and a Half Men

I have blogger's block. I have been sitting in front of my computer waiting for the words to just flow from my fingertips because I know that there are many of my friends just dying to read what I have to say. So today's topic of choice is Charlie Sheen. Many think the man has gone off his rocker. Calling him bipolar. A freak. A wacko. I have even referred to him as a narcacistic drug addicted whoremonger. One of whom we all loved to watch on Two and a Half Men. And didn't he play himself rather well. So that's my point. When "Charlie" was just a fictional character we all loved him. Laughed endlessly at him. Couldn't wait to see what/who he was going to do next. Crazy enough, he even had one of his ex-wives play the girl of his dreams that got away on the show. But when the fictional "Charlie" stepped off of Mars we were all appauled at his behavior. Well, his behavior was just fine as long as no one talked about it or acknowledged it. But when he decides to open his mouth and let the whole "middle class American" in on his Men are From Mars lifestyle we all seem so shocked. He, himself, told us we were not able of comprehending what was going on in his head like he was some sort of extra-terrestrial. I sooo couldn't help but laugh at that one! The life of a rock star/movie star. We love them as long as we can continue to keep up the facid that they choose for us to believe. They do their movies, sing their songs, live in their mansions, throw their parties. We choose to believe that their parties are all glitz and glamour. Drinking a little wine, having dinner, talking about old times with friends, playing cherades and saying goodbye at the end of the night. Like the wonderful parties of the early years with Clark Gable, Greta Garbo, Marlon Brando and the list goes on. But didn't they all have their checkered pasts too. People just chose to ignore them. And the stars chose not to speak of them. Keep them quiet. And when something did leak out it got swept under the carpet by publists and managers. The difference here is good ole Charlie boy didn't keep quiet. He decided to talk about it. Get back at someone. And now what? We all think he is a little weird. What we know for sure is....he likes to do the cocaine (got caught but has he ever been charged with anything?). LIkes to spend money on hookers and porn stars. (Hugh Hefner has half naked women living in his house too but you don't hear him talking a bunch of shit. And believe me those girls aren't cheap). Moral of the story Charlie....you should have kept your mouth shut, finished your season of Two and a Half Men and no one would have thought you had gone off your rocker. Life goes on. Guess they could name the show One and a Half Men now!!