Progress.....slowly but surely.

Okay---  That's 80 bagged treats in the Halloween tub--only 120 more to go. I figure I can take my time and make multiple messes all over the livingroom floor. And besides--we have enough candy BUT I think we need a few more toys.  *laughing*  I always think we need a 'few more' for Halloween.
But boy, am I behind.  We did get the punkin gang and the ghosties out.  I opted to forego decorating the back of the house and stuck with the front.  Less put out is less to retrieve.

And today we've got rescheduled plans for the punkin patch!  Woohooo!  Way behind in making that one happen to.  I sure hope all the cool gourds aren't gone!
Nahhhhhhh....we'll send the Bug to retrieve cool ones from the field if that's the case.  We like pickin' 'em from the field, but I'm thinkin' she'll be doing that with grandad and not Nana.  There's still questions about how I'm actually going to GET to the patch since it's a bit of a haul from gravel road.  Gravel on crutches when you're nonweight baring.....oh boy.....  Thinking grandad'll be pulling into the yard!  LOL  It'll all work out.

OH!!!!  And I have plans for a white punkin!  We just gotta get one or two.
And a few cool orange ones.
And gourdy guys.....and indian corn!
And some squish, I think.....maybe.......  Dunno.
Pretty sure we'll have our wagon(s) filled! LOL
Woooooohoooooooo!!!!

Today's Fairy Reading

Sometimes we concentrate on our losses instead of our gains. We see a chapter in our life closing, and we mourn. We must leave some friends behind, or say good-bye to a social life we enjoyed. 

We need to grieve all these losses. Then we can see more clearly what the change has brought us. For every loss, we've gained blessings. For every friend gone, we have the chance to make many more. A whole new life awaits us when we're ready to be part of it.

Gated Grasses

Rawr and grrrr and pfffffffffft!

Yup--still working on the whining bit.  Yup, getting better at it!
Yup, that ain't a good thing.  LOL  I'm suppose to be working on getting better at NOT whining.

Focus Mel.  Focus!

In the meantime, lemme whine......  Somehow there's a scratch on the lens of my camera.  Now, I say 'somehow' knowing full well it's me that's managed to put it there....at some point in time. Pretty sure I can guess how it happened given I lug that thing AND try to walk with the crutches at the same time.  Sometimes I'm not the most 'careful' of persons with the camera--which is why I've been amazed at how durable this one's been.  *sigh*  Unfortunately, I can see the blur in some of the photos I've taken and I'm not a happy bunny.  Some scratches are doable and they don't interfere with the photo....this one.....*sigh* apparently is going to interfere to some degree. NOT happy about that one.  So I'm checking out cameras and trying to decide if this is the perfect time to invest in a new one.
HA!
HA.

Of course this isn't the perfect time.  I'm not allowed to work and who knows when I'll BE allowed to work.  Somehow, indulging in a new (undoubtedly spendy) camera while those are the circumstances seems a bit....irresponsible?
Right.  Which is exactly why I'm just LOOKING.
*sniffle*  I don't want a new camera.  I love my camera....and I've loved it for eons.

Yup.  I'll try to make it work AND research.  But no buying at this point.
And seeings how the majority of my photos are taken sideways outta the window of the backseat of the Jeep....LOL  I think I can just buy time and sulk for a bit and THEN decide if a new one has to happen.

*sigh*

RAWR!!!!!!!  :-/

TFTD (*ahem*)

We are creatures of habit as evidenced by our getting stuck in old viewpoints long after they have quit serving us. However, that fact doesn't restrict us for all time. Anytime we want to cultivate a new idea, an alternative approach to a situation, we are free to do so. 

We have all known some elderly men and women who have the spirit and enthusiasm of the very young. Unfortunately, we have also known the reverse. How sad to observe the forty or fifty year old person who has quit living. Their whining belies their age. Who will we be? The choice is always available to us. And we can remake it as often as we wish.

What a relief to know that if we're old and resentful today, we still have the opportunity to be young and full of laughter tomorrow. We maybe can't do everything we used to do, but this decision is still in our power.

Lovin' the View

Hmmmm....saving this one....

“Disturb us, Lord, When we are too well pleased with ourselves, When our dreams have come true because we have dreamed too little, When we arrived safely Because we sailed too close to the shore. 

Disturb us, Lord, when With the abundance of things we possess We have lost our thirst For the waters of life; Having fallen in love with life, We have ceased to dream of eternity And in our efforts to build a new earth, We have allowed our vision Of the new Heaven to dim. 

Disturb us, Lord, to dare more boldly, To venture on wider seas Where storms will show your mastery; Where losing sight of land, We shall find the stars. We ask You to push back The horizons of our hopes; And to push into the future In strength, courage, hope, and love.” 



Pretty powerful piece.
I really, really, REALLY liked it.
And I really, really started to inventory myself as I read (which meant I had to read it a number of times....LOL).


Pretty good considering this bit was written in 1577.
436 years later.........What are we/What am *I* doing differently?
Always the inventory..... (that ain't a bad thing.)

Daily Reminder

There’s a way forward. To find it, start moving.

To make some progress, you must make some effort. Get going, make the effort, persist at it, and the progress you seek will come.

If you’re concerned about making mistakes, your concerns are very well founded. But holding yourself back because you fear you’ll make a mistake is the biggest mistake of all.

The positive possibilities are out there. The way to discover them, and to make the most of them, is to get yourself out there too.

Oohhhh what fun.

:-/

Seriously.  This is why ya ought NOT let your partner in on your plan to reform.

The suckers will hold you accountable every freaking time.
And I do mean EVERY freaking time.

This is an asset. And a liaility.


Nevermind though....with any bit of luck I'll distract him with an offer to dine out to give him a break from having to cook.  (Tomorrow is Egg Day...can't miss that one!  LOL. It's on the calendar so it WILL happen!)  So out for dinner tonight methinks!! I can dine where there's booth seating....I just sit myself sideways and park the leg on the booth.  No one has to be the wiser.  He gets the break AND anything his heart desires for his dinner....I get a change of scenery and I usually get a treat of some sort....like a drive through some park in hopes of catching some wild life lurking in the shadows.  Definitely a won/win deal!!
AND he'll be distracted by the proposition of something yummy.
Which means......
:-D

Yup....always thinkin' and proud of it!!  Hahahaha...

Nesting in Colour

Fairy Thought

Don’t be too hard on yourself. But don’t be too easy on yourself either.

Push yourself steadily and persistently toward meaningful success and achievement. But don’t beat yourself up when you happen to fall short.

Remember that most things are rarely as good as they seem or as bad as they seem. Take the ups and the downs in stride, without letting them throw you off track.

Act with confidence, but not with arrogance. Live with humility, but not with despair.

Live each day with the very best of expectations. And find the positive in even the most undesirable outcomes.

Earth Shaker

And again.......

Oy......notsomuch yesterday!!
I tried the 'do over' after the stupid utility bill---and then......  *sigh*  The toilet decided it wanted to have an issue with a drip.  The cause of that bitty 'drip' that happened down the wall behind was revealed to me when I opened the tank lid.
Holy cow....We had a FOUNTAIN in that tank!
I thought it was kinda cute, actually......and gleefully called he-who-would-be-amused in to see it.  Uh huh....himself was 'not amused'.  And I, in all my infinite wisdom, offered to simply fix it--grab me a replacement valve and I'll simply drop it in.  Easy peasy.  :-)

:-/

Right....  WRONG!!!!!

I went to the patio and he-who-proclaimed-me-everything-but-an-invalid (he did THAT in the parking lot last week and I let him live.......but it was dang close!!!) diligently dismantled the toilet tank and went on his way to retrieve a replacement valve.  I smiled and waved as he pulled out.....seriously trying NOT to whine cuz my widdle feewings were hurt.  Actually, notsomuch--more like 'tell ME I'm not capable cuz I'm on crutches'......grumbling, crabby, and looking-through-the-spell-book-and-puttin'-one-ON-ya-babe witchy.

I stayed on the patio--he-who-fixed-the-toilet....fixed the toilet.
Voile'.  NO more fountain.

....k....., even *I* know, on the flip side, it wasn't about me being incapable at all--oh BOY am I capable.  It's simply not smart to be trying to do all that tasky stuff  in a non-weight bearing leg situation. And in all honesty--all the fella said was 'no you won't 'fix it'--that's not wise'.
Didn't stop me from twisting it into something it wasn't, of course!  And it didn't stop me from finding other things to carry on about instead of making a simple, very obvious statement.

"I don't like not being able to help."

I did get around to saying that out loud.  But only after watching 'The Family Man' which is a gooshy movie sorta on the same plane as 'It's a Wonderful Life'.......which, GO FIGURE , gets me weepy.  *rolling eyes* Last nights movie got me to tell that itty bitty sh***y committee to SHUT UP ALREADY.

So.....Back to the challenge and maybe a different strategy.  I'm thinking I list the things that I wanna whine about--and sit on it for 24 hours.
And then I can decide if it's 'whine worthy'.

*laughing*  Of course it'll be whine worthy....all things I whine about are ALWAYS whine worthy.

Yeahyeahyeah.....I will get this!
Yeahyeahyeah....I've tried for 24 hours before and didn't!
BUT I WILL THIS TIME!

And I discretely checked himself out this morning.  He's good.  His ears didn't morph into long fluffy ones and there's no fluff ball on his butt.
I gotta work on those incantations.......

Today's Reading

...we do not always like what is good for us in this world.

  —Eleanor Roosevelt

Most of us can look back and recall how we fought a particular change. How certain we were that we wouldn't survive the upheaval! Perhaps we lost a love or were forced to leave a home or a job. Retrospect allows us to see the good of the change, and we can see the necessary part each change has played in our development. We've had to change to cover the distances we've traveled. And we'll have to continue changing.

We know when change is coming. Our present circumstances will begin to pinch.

Change means growth. It's a time for celebration, not dread. It means I am ready to move ahead.

ummmmm.........

Do overs!!  Do overs!!

NO FAIR that they sent the electric bill this morning!!

C'mom...we've had the same electric company for 20 years sending the same pathetic excuse of a perforated "tear here and enclose with your payment" slip  that is 1/8 of an inch from the fold of the billing statement that NEVER TEARS "HERE".
What?!  They couldn't bother to drop the perforation another 1/8th of an inch to give us a fighting chance to actually successfully TEAR HERE?!?!
*ggrrring*

*ahem*

Yes well....that's a perfectly understandable "complaint" dontchathink?
Yeah....him notsomuch either....

I DIDN'T TOSS IN THE WORD "SCHMUCKS!!"......
Like that mattered!?
Not one flippin' iota....

Things that make me happy....

....finishing the Halloween wreath.

....having the Bug (and her parents) stop to play.

....rescheduling the trip to the pumpkin patch.

....the ghosties in the yard.  :-)

....the neighbor's light up punkin and ghostie.  Woohoooo.......the more the merrier!

....the brand new cup with the witchy hat and broom.  Mwahahahaha!

....Ooohhhhh!!!  The itty bitty banner the sister made me.  

....AND 22 days and counting!!!!!!  *practicing witchy laugh*

Repeat!!!!

Alright.....I did an 'okay' job.  Well, I did an 'okay job' until about 9pm when the 'ohhh....this is bigger than an ouchie' pain found me.  (something about the night time....eeshhhh).  Did I simply ask for a painpill and a glass of water?  Oooohhhhh nooooooooo....
Drama!  Lots of drama and lots of whining.  I think I musta been making up for the whole DAY in that moment. (k.....part of it was anger that I'm still doing that level of pain after 5 weeks--cuz that ain't right and yes, I'll ring the physician who'll AGAIN tell me 'it's only been 5 week'.  Pffffttttt!!!!!  Oh, and rawr! Hmmpf!)  Seriously--I knew I'd started whining and thought......GO for the gold, Mel, what the heck!! LOL  Yeah, yeah......so typically me......

I must say, he-whom-I-told-cuz-I'm-better-with-accountability did a stand up job of helping me...."You're not whining are you?" "Are you going to whine?"  "Do I need to get the cheese out now?"
Helpful, verrrrrrrrrrry helpful.

And NO, I'm not whining ......I'm......reporting.  :-/

*ahem*

Sooooooo.....into another whine free day!
I can DO it.  I can DO it!!!!

Go!!

Today's Reading

One must be leery of words because they turn into cages.

—Viola Spolin

We defeat ourselves with labels. We hem ourselves in; we 

shorten our vision; we cut off opportunities in the making. 

We influence how others think of us, too. Someone wise said 

that we teach others how to treat us. Are we teaching people 

to expect nothing great from us because we are always afraid? 

Do we shatter their vision of our potential by never thinking 

we can handle what may come?

We become the persons we have programmed ourselves to be. 

We can revamp the program, anytime. And right now is a good 

time to begin.

It's time for praise. We are all that we need to be, and more. 

We will be helped to do all we are asked to do. We have an 

inner beauty that only needs encouragement to shine forth. If 

we smile from within today, we will free ourselves from our 

negative cages. A new life awaits us.

To catch myself each time I insult myself will be a challenge, 

but one worth taking on. And it's one I can win! 

Oh boy..........

*laughing*  I love a challenge.

Off I GO.....into a whine free day!!!!

The hanger-oners