Sleeping with Bread

The examen, based on the spiritual exercises of St. Ignatius, helps a person hold onto what spiritually nourishes him by looking at what is giving him consolation in his life or causing him desolation. It allows someone to express his gratitude to God for the good stuff and turn to him for solace for the bad stuff. It is quite simple. You simply ask yourself, in the last day/week/month what gave me consolation and what caused me desolation.

My greatest consolation is that somehow.......someway I've been able to build and earn enough integrity and trust that I was asked to put my signature on the paper.

"I don't want anyone else's name--just yours. You're the one I trust."

To be told that--was humbling.
I don't know what I've done--how I've 'earned' this place in her life....I'm just humbled that I have.

I'm grateful.
I'm in awe.

I'm humbled--truly....

And I'm sad.
.....And bit overwhelmed.


My greatest desolation in the past week came in the honour of being appointed "attorney for decisions concerning health matters".

I'll get to decide when it's 'enough'.


G-d will guide me.
He gave me a good heart.......

Sun Day

Fairy Reading

Many of us lived in situations where it wasn't okay to identify, have, or talk about problems. Denial became a way of life - our way of dealing with problems.

Many of us still fear problems. We may spend more time reacting to a problem than we do to solving it. We miss the point; we miss the lesson; we miss the gift. Problems are a part of life. So are solutions.

Today, we learn to focus on solving our problems. First, we make certain the problem is our problem. If it isn't, our problem is establishing boundaries. Then we seek the best solution. This may mean setting a goal, asking for help, gathering more information, taking an action, or letting go.

Face and solve today's problems. Don't worry needlessly about tomorrow's problems, because when they appear, we'll have the resources necessary to solve them.

TFTD

Love is an expression and assertion of self-esteem. . . .

--Ayn Rand

How easily we love others when we feel self-assured, when we're comfortable in our chosen work, with our families and friends, with our directions in life. But the way isn't always smooth, nor should it be, and for this we can thank God, our protector and mentor.

The challenges of a rough passage confront us when it's time to grow. Seldom do we cherish the growing, and yet the gifts promised by these challenges - the increased self-awareness, the heightened sensitivity to others, the greater humility - make every moment that lies ahead profoundly more personal.

Hindsight is convincing. The paradox is that the more we trip, but pick ourselves up and move ahead with determination, the more self-assured and thus loving we'll become.

Taking flight

He grumbles, he mutters, he makes certain to tell everyone it's my quirky deal....

He soooooooooo lies.

<-- baby cardinal

Not exactly the cutest thing on the block--but there ya have it!
Or there WE have it...or had it, if we're being 'technical'.

He tells me he was hoppin' around the back yard.

Seems himself couldn't stand to see the other birds dive bombing him while the parents tried to shoo 'em away, apparently without a whole lot of success. His poor little baby birdie wings just weren't quite where they needed to be to take off and get some flight time.

Did the parents dive bomb him-who-saved-the-baby-from-other-dive-bombing-birdies?
Well......yeah..... Like they knew he was trying to save their baby?

Mr. Cardinal did finally figure it out.....eventually.

NOT that he'd mention it--but of course we had to stay out with the mosquitoes to make sure Mr. and Mrs. Cardinal were doing their obligatory parental responsibilities--mainly upchucking seed and water into baby cardinal's little beak. *shudder*

They did!

What good little parents!!!

And this morning--empty box.

I'm choosing to believe baby cardinal bought enough time to get enough growth and enough encouragement to flap his little self outta there and move on with his little birdie life. :-)

And I'm choosing to believe that come fall he'll make it his mission to sing just for me.

*laughing*

Himself insists this fall the saved Mr. Cardinal will be singing just for HIM.

Hahahahahahaha....he's soooooooo funny.

Sheeeeeeshhh--I mean, gimme a break.
Everyone knows it's all about MEMEME.

;-)

Fairy Reminder

Sometimes new possibilities occur to us only through action. If we take the risk of the first step and keep our eyes open, we will see the next step.

Too much planning, too much carefulness and analysis, may block all action.

We saw sheepies!

The good news it was my idea.....

Not the sheepies, of course--but the walks.
Every evening for the past three nights....yup.....that's been the routine!

Mostly cuz himself has ulcers and they've been giving him problems.

(NO IT'S NOT CUZ OF ME.)

The man is a chronic worrier, I swear......
I tell him and I tell him and I tell him......but does he listen? NO!

Oy......

He wasn't willing to do other things I offered up as solutions--but he was willing to go for walks with me in tow.
Or, with him in tow--guess it's all in how ya look at it.

I DO tend to be a bit A.D.D....

Oh look! Pretty flowers!!!

OH LOOK!!! How cute is that puppy.....

OH LOOK!!!!!

.....yeah well...my feet tend to go in the direction of the OH LOOK and he's scrambling to catch up to the detour I take.

It's all good, though. Supposedly his tummy is a bit better with the past three nights of taking walks.



What's that got to do with sheepies?

Ummmm.....not a darn thing....... LOL

Bitty Thought

More of the same gets more of the same. What we were given to practice, we practiced. What we practiced, we became. What we became, we are continuing to become - only more so - every day of our lives. We can do ourselves a favor by being aware of what we practice.

Courtesy of the new bubble gun!

To delete or not to delete--that is the question.....

k.....

The whole idea of a storage harddrive is to clear room on the laptop for better performance.

It's a good idea!

Only...I cringe at the thought of destroying the photos that are on here.

I mean--what happens if I lose the storage harddrive?!

Shouldn't you have two of things--in case one fails and then you can fall back on the other?!

k.....that makes sense.

Probably makes more sense to upload a copy of the stored photos to the desktop and surrender the laptop copy.

On the other hand--three copies are good.

Cuz if some are good, more is better!

Yeah......well....what was the point of the storage then. *sigh*

I can do it!

I can!

I can DELETE!!!

Oh gawdddddd......LOL

I'm such a dweeb some moments.

A kindly reminder from the fairies

Stop trying so hard to control things. It is not our job to control people, outcomes, circumstances, and life. Maybe in the past we couldn't trust and let things happen. But we can now. The way life is unfolding is good. Let it unfold.

Stop trying so hard to do better, be better, and be more. Who we are and the way we do things is good enough for today.

Who we were and the way we did things yesterday was good enough for that day.

Ease up on ourselves. Let go. Stop trying so hard.

Today, I will let go. I will stop trying to control everything. I will stop trying to make myself be and do better, and I will let myself be.

Backup!

Right.

There's this little cord that goes into the little port thingy that plugs into the little whozit thingy that hands over 500GB of space.

Geeze--wish it was that easy to get more space in this house. I could use a sunroom for winter sitting. Granted, I could patio sit in -10 weather-- I'm smart enough to choose not to.

Yeah.......well.......

Whozit thingy is lit up.

A bazillion photographs are copied.......I assume that's what 'backup' means.

Sounds much more techy than 'make a copy'.

Right.

I've 'backedup' my photo files on the laptop to the whozit thingy.

What I'm suppose to do with it now that they're copied....'backedup', I have no clue.

Unplug it maybe? Put it back in the cute little carrying case and stick it......someplace?

*laughing*

I'm sure this was a smarter idea than the dozen flash thingies I've been using to copy and move photos FROM the laptop TO the desktop.

Apparently this little booger will 'sync' that into happening if I plug it IN to the desktop.....whatever that means and however that works.

k.

I have a new toy and I don't know how to use it. LOL

TFTD

The place to start is where you are. The way to start is by doing what you can, with what you know, using what you have.
You may get it wrong at first. But if you wait until you're sure you can get it perfect, you'll never get it done.

The best learning comes from doing.

Garden Magic

Things that make me happy

....four bunnies waiting in line for their breakfast.

....seeing Geoffry the Groundhog reappear. *laughing*

....early morning wee giggles from the bedroom.

....fresh sweet peas.....nummmm!

....bazillions of bubbles from the new bubble gun. (yup......another one!)

....the smell of the fire burning.

....watching himself BE the granddad.

Fairy Thought

Worry and Stress

"Make plans but don't plan results." This is a simple phrase cautioning us against unnecessary worry and stress.

If our plans involve other people, we would be wise to work joyfully toward realizing our dreams, but we should not expect or worry if others do not want the same goals. Nor should we worry if others are not as enthused about our ideas as we are. We know, by applying the Serenity Prayer, that we can only change ourselves; we cannot force changes in others.

Another cause of unnecessary stress in planning results comes from our ingrained habit of regarding ourselves as inadequate. All too often, those of us who make plans give up on ourselves when we predict the outcome of our dreams on the basis of our past experiences. We falsely conclude that because we failed or felt empty in the past, we'll most certainly not succeed in the future; thus, we quit too soon and rationalize our resignation with a "Why bother to try?" attitude.

TODAY I will make plans but not plan results. I will work out my plan, one day at a time, knowing that my past performance is NOT an infallible indicator of my present or future success. I will look forward with hope, not despair.

Lily Leopard

TFTD

Today, I will solve the problems of today. I might have become so focused on solving all the problems in my life that I haven't noticed the little problems that arise each day.

Do I have anything that needs to be completed or resolved today? I will take a moment each day and work on what I need to do just for that day. Even though solving long-term problems is necessary, so is solving the smaller daily problems. Not allowing things to pile up keeps me from feeling overwhelmed.

Today I will pay attention to what needs to be solved today.

Yes, I'll kick him.......

The little booger waltzes in, steals your heart all over again, turns your world upside-down, destroys every room in the house, runs like hell and laughs when she knows she's done whatcha told her not to, tosses toys from the bed and says 'UH oh' and looks all kindsa wide eyed innocent, TOTALLY undoes any sane menu you have cuz if she wants pasta AGAIN--pasta it is!.... and you STILL wanna have her come back soon......

Even though YOU NEED the quiet and the break. LOL
I need it! Oh man do I need it....

Yesterday--to the park for a couple hours, giggling and running and having a grand time with granddad. (Nana sat and watched--until it was time to go down the slide....which she went down a bazillion times....) Of course she had to swim in the afternoon. And of COURSE there's another park she hadn't visited so that had to happen after dinner.

Small wonder the child wasted no time with brushing teeth and crashed out when I laid her in bed. I wasted no time crashing out myself! Ohmygosh.....

Granddad?
'The next time I suggest a long weekend with the bug--kick me.'

LOL Yeah, right.....first to whine about how quiet it was.
First to remind me 'She waits til she's blocks away and then waves and says bye bye.'

I had to inform him that she waits until he's inside a couple of minutes--then it's a point, a frown, a wave and a 'bye bye'.

And then I showed him the picture.......

Yup.

He turned into a gooey puddle of gakiness....and suggested maybe we could have a visit again-- next weekend.....LOLOLOL

Reading for Today

Trying excessively to make a point with another may mean that we have not yet made that point with ourselves. Once we make that point with ourselves, once we understand, we will know what to do.

The issue is not about others understanding and taking us seriously. The issue is not about others believing we're good and good enough. The issue is not about others seeing and believing how responsible or loving or competent we are. The issue is not about whether others realize how deeply we are feeling a particular feeling. We are the ones that need to see the light.

Today, help me let go of my need to control outcomes by influencing the beliefs of others. I will concentrate on accepting myself, rather than trying to prove something about myself. If I catch myself in the trap of trying to emphasize something about myself to another, I will ask myself if I need to convince myself of that point.