Thought for the day

Well, i am almost done with my first week back to school.  i am definitely enjoying being back in the academic setting again.  Honestly, i do not have quiet the excitement that i had last year, but none the less, i am still excited about it.  i believe that my schedule, this semester, is going to allow me to do all of the things that i need to do.  Yesterday, i did my "shop and drop" of my classes.  i always register for one class more than i intend to take so that i can get a feel of the class, what it needs from me and how much of my time will be invested.  Having to take some of the general education classes again, this is a good strategy because i still have plenty of time to fill those voids.  And, at some point during the semester, i will be arguing with the registrar's office about my credits but that's for another day.  Since, in one of my social work classes, i need to get in 40 hours of volunteer work by the end of November, taking 5 classes and working a part time job will be too much.  So, dropping one of my gen ed classes works well for me and frees up my schedule so that i will be able to get it all done.  It will be an extremely busy semester for me, but i look forward to the challenge!

This Old Thing

My Mom's chair.  i call it that because it was the chair that she would always sit in the living room in this chair and talk on the phone.  It has lots of nicks in it along the arms and the ladder back.  The seat is well worn and the upholstery is faded.  But, for a "formal" chair, it is still fairly comfortable and i love that i have it.

Originally, it belonged to my Great Aunt Sara, which is whom we got it from.  It sat in the front hall of the family home in Wingate, NC.  After Sara's death, and the household was divided up among the family, this chair came to live in our home in our living room.  And that, as said before, is where my memories of this chair come alive.  With the invention of the cordless phone, Mom no longer had to sit in the kitchen or the bedroom to talk on the phone.  And, she did love to talk on the phone...a gene i did not entirely inherit.  She would take the phone into the living room and sit in this chair and talk...sometimes for hours.  It makes me remember that she talked to Grandmother every day, which is kind of amazing as so few of us talk to anyone on the phone every day anymore.  Towards the end of her life, with all of the chemo and medications that wore her body out, sometimes Mom would fall asleep while talking on the phone in the living room.  Most of the people she talked to understood this and would simply hang up when they realized she had fallen asleep in the chair with the phone in her hand.  And one of us would just go in and check on her, asleep in this chair.

i have had this chair for about 12 years now.  Sometimes it sits in my living room. Sometimes at my desk.  Wherever it is, i do love sitting in it.  It brings back so many good memories for me.  i cherish it.

Thought for the day

i don't know if my perspective on things are changing because i am getting older, or if i am reevaluating my priorities, or if i am simply just missing propriety and manners.  i think there is a time and place for everything and given all of the freedoms allowed people these days, that has gone by the wayside.

Most of my life, Sundays have been days of peace and reflection.  Now that i am getting into a Sunday routine that is working for me, i really do enjoy the peace of it all.  Having said that, there are just some things that, for me, do not go along with what i want my Sunday to be.  Things that work for other people do not necessarily work for me.  And i am meaning what i find to be appropriate.  We all have different tastes and boundaries.  And that is fine.  But, for me, i must stick by the ones i have because it will help me reach my goals of inner peace.

This morning, i got up, started brewing coffee, walked Squirt and fed the kitties out back.  Then i got my cup of coffee and sat down at the computer to do my crossword puzzle, check Facebook and listen to "With Heart and Voice" on NPR.  So far so good.  When i logged onto Facebook, the first thing i saw was not one, but two, pictures of hairy asses.  They were from a group that i thought would be fun to be a part of in order to make some new friends and get to know people.   But, honestly, that was not what i wanted to start my Sunday off with.  If guys want to post those pics on Facebook, more power to them.  It's just not something i really wanted to see before i had my first cup of coffee.  i do not go to Facebook to look at people's private parts.  There are plenty, and i mean plenty, of places on the internet for that sort of thing.  For me, Facebook, even with all it's problems and drama, is someplace i go to get away from that.  Oh well.  And when i logged into my Yahoo messenger, i received a message from a friend and the conversation immediately was turning towards an adult nature.  Sometimes it can be fun to just chat back and forth like that, but it's 8am on a Sunday morning...a bit early for me so i politely ended the conversation and had some more coffee.

There is nothing wrong with these kinds of things and i am not condemning anyone for it.  It is simply just not what i want on my Sundays...especially Sunday mornings.  Some things still need to be sacred...literally and figuratively.

Ah, well.  Time for more coffee.

Cheers

Recipe of the week - easy baked curry chicken

This is a great recipe that only takes a few things that one usually has in the pantry.  We've had it several times and really like it.  And it's so easy to do after a day of class or work.  Enjoy!

Easy Baked Curry Chicken

4-6 Skinned Chicken Breasts
1 Cup Mayo
Curry Powder
Crumbled Cornflakes

Mix the Mayo and curry powder (how much curry you use just depends on your personal taste).  Set aside.  Pat dry chicken breasts.  Spread curried mayo over chicken.  Top with Cornflakes.  Cover with foil and bake at 325 for 1 hour.

I like to take the foil off 20-30 minutes before it's done so that the cornflakes can crisp in the oven.

Enjoy!

Note to self

Don't let a bad day ruin your goals.  So, today you did not feel like you could leave your safety zone.  Tomorrow will be different.  Just find things to do within your zone today to make it worthwhile so that you do not feel like things are a complete loss.  That is all.

thought for the day - photos

i am far from a computer savvy person, but this week i have finally figured out how to scan pictures onto the computer.  Finally LOL  If you have seen me on Facebook, you already know that i have been posting pictures.  i really am enjoying it and it is truly fun to share these pictures and memories with people.  But, in some ways, it has made me sad.  i look at myself in these pictures and i wonder what happened to that person, to that life.  Things that were once important to me are not as much anymore and i miss that.  So many of the pictures, so far, are of family gatherings.  i really do miss having that connection with my family, both immediate and distant relatives.  Getting together to share a meal or celebrate a birthday.  Those were wonderful occasions and Mom was so good about coordinating them.  And i never really realized exactly how many of those kinds of things we did.  So far, most of the pictures i have scanned have been from 1988 and it seems like almost every month there was some kind of get together.  Today, i am lucky to get together with the family once, maybe twice a year.  i want to figure out a way to recapture that.  There are so many people that i just do not see anymore.  And, of course, as one grows older, family and friends change.  The definition of family changes.  It's not simply blood relations anymore.  i long for that sense of family again.  As i continue to scan and post pictures, i will also start finding a way to make those things happen again in my life.  i am my mother's child, after all.  It is possible.  Now, just have to find some other willing participants.

Cheers

thought for the day - a short reflection on life's lessons

Whenever i take Squirt out for a walk, which is 4 or 5 times a day, i have noticed that is one time when my brain seems to go into memory overdrive.  i don't know what it is about the act of walking outside that just takes me down memory lane, but it does...every time.  Sometimes good memories, sometimes bad...but you can't always pick and choose which memories pop into your head!  That would be way too convenient.

Today on our morning walk, as my mind was invaded with thoughts of days past, i stopped to think about when people say "if i had it to all over again, i wouldn't change a thing"  i know sometimes i have said that, because of the things in my life today....Michael, college, Squirt.  i am suppose to be where i am today and saying that makes me feel better about the poor choices i have made along the way.  And then i started wondering that if i am where i am destined to be today, who is to say that i would not have ended up here had i chosen a different path?

i am a full believer that things happen for a reason....mainly to teach us lessons in life.  Whether or not we learn from them is our own individual problem.  i can honestly say that i have learned from some of mine more than others.  But, if i am where i am destined to be at this point in my life and nothing would change that, then hell yes i would definitely do some things differently!  i am not about to go into a long laundry list of all of the things i would do differently because that would take way too long LOL  But i would certainly take more care not to make the same mistakes, at least not all of them.

So, i know i need to go back and look at what has gotten me here, the good and the bad, and take a good long look at them.  Keep track of the things i took away from each situation and keep them constant in my life today so that i am the person i want to be.  That is the only way i will learn from them.  Can i change the past?  no.  Would i change the past?  yes!