Swiftly Pass the Days

Life is still busy for which I give thanks. I don't even want to think of life with nothing to do. Can you imagine??? A month or two of nothing in the world to do but pass away time might sound good to most of us...but I am sure it soon would be much worse than all the years of going to work week in and week out!!!

Check out this pic. This is of our youngest son scuba diving off the Bahamas. Now I don't know about you but I am quite content just to look at these pictures. I have no desire to go look a shark in the face! He also sent a beautiful video that shows him with 30 or more sharks swimming all around him while a fellow from the scuba tours was feeding them raw meat. Now to me that takes a person that perhaps is a little over the edge!! Obviously, when he was born and they passed out brains he thought they said trains and said let them go by!!! Just kidding! When I knew he was going to the Bahamas and was taking his scuba gear, I just tried not to think about it until he returned. But that didn't work very well. At the time he went, there was a hurricane headed straight at the Bahamas. We kept in touch to let him know what was going on...so he never failed to mention what he had seen on the day's dive. So much for the well laid plans!!!

I am busily working with my digi scrapping and he also wants me to do two hands-on pages from his trip. I have plenty to fill my evenings! I like it that way, though. At my age...if you aren't activly busy doing something it is the old snore away time in the chair as you try to watch TV!! Ahh...the joys of aging!!!

We went to Busch Gardens for a while Sunday and got to see this female lion up close.It is so awesome to get to look at these animals eye to eye! They have thick plastic or glass panes that allow the animals to come right up to the windows. I personally love the apes and gorillas the most, but have to admit this lion was something special, too. We have gotten to see the male like this and his size is quite intimidating!

I love having the passes to Busch. We are only about thirty minutes away so we will decide to run over on the spur of the moment. It is nice because we only go for as long as we like so it is a very nice get away!!

The weekend is here. Hope you all have time for family fun and take some special time for you, too. If you aren't contented, you can't be the person you need to be for your family. You are important, too.

My thought for the day.

Enjoy

Thought for the Day

Inflation hasn't ruined everything. You can still use a dime for a screwdriver.

---Unknown---

I'm Just Wandering

It has been about two weeks of little irritations of which nothing was a big deal yet I could feel it wearing away at me. Just little work glitches and computer problems, software problems and unfinished projects that all want to be the proud winner of driving me over the wall. Not going to happen. I am holding my own!!!

But I haven't posted just for the fact that there has not been anything very interesting to post. But here I am with the wanderings of my life just because I am here!! I do have to boast just a tad about our wonderful Tampa Bay Rays!! They are just awesome! From worst to first!!! Can you believe it? I am now a baseball fan in the worst way!!! They are playing today at 1:00 and I sure am going to be listening. If they win this game they will be the division champs! Can't wait to see what happens!!

Election time is fast approaching. Everyone needs to vote. Please be sure to know the candidates and vote your convictions. We have the great privilege of voting so please don't just cast it aside.

Also I want to make you all aware of a wonderful blog. It is Demented Therapy. It is my daughter's blog and I think you will enjoy it. It is just her place to gripe or whatever about things that are...shall we say...getting under her skin. I find it delightful in the fact that it is therapy just because she can type it out...get it out of her system...and let it go at that. Maybe that is demented in a way...but hey, if it works!!! I don't know, perhaps there is a way you could write her about your pet gripes. Haven't thought about that before!

Hummm speaking of pets...LOL...I need to let you in on another wonderful site. It is called Sam Sezs. It is a site about cats written by a cat named Sam. There is a wonderful part where cats write in for advise. It is really cute. Look it up and enjoy a few minutes there where you can relax and just chuckle and laugh!

Well, Jim and I had to find someone new to cut our hair this week. Our beautician that we have had for about seventeen years is no longer working late enough for us to get to her shop due to the fact that she has had a baby. Do you know how traumatic it is to try to find someone new to cut your hair??? I mean...where do you start? Everyone has certain things they like and don't like done with their hair. How can you explain all this at one time to someone new?? Well, we bit the bullet and found someone. They really did do a good job...well sorta!?!! My hair is now parted on the left not the right (due to the fact that they cut your hair facing away from the mirror...thus you have no idea what they are doing!!)...LOL but I guess I like the change. I don't think my hair is thrilled about it. It still wants to part on the right but I just keep telling it...no, no...other side. Jim has beautiful waves in his blond and graying hair but he hates them. So he has them cut out. Well...until the other night anyway. She says you can't cut waves out. Hummm...we will show her you can. But all in all we are satisfied and lived through it. Technicalities will all come in time!!

I see that Mr. McCain has suspended his campaign until this economy whatever is settled. Isn't it terrible right now? I am sure that if we didn't have credit cards we all would be standing in lines to get food as many of our parents did. I am not sure that using the credit cards is the answer but....

I have rambled enough for you today. I hope to get some pics soon to share and get my flat Barbie going. All in due time. I am making progress. Hope you all have a good weekend coming up.

Just my thought for the day.

Enjoy

Thought for the Day

"Sleep is a symptom of caffeine deprivation."

---Anonymous---

First Week Back After Vacation

The first week back after vacation is not the best week of the year...especially when you work with a bunch of guys that don't even know how to put a purchase order on a hook!!! LOL All in all my return this year was pretty easy compared to all the others. I guess they believed me when I said you can use my desk and do whatever you want...BUT...when I return, I want everything just like I left it with all you need done in one stack...or there had better be a huge Starbucks sitting in the middle of my desk!!! Knowing they are pretty much on the...shall we say cheap side...not to mention would not be caught dead inside a Starbucks...I thought I was pretty safe asking for that!!! For some reason going inside one scares them. They say...I'm not going in there!!! But anyway, this week has been pretty uneventful for which I give great thanks.

However I sure am looking forward to that trip for my Friday Starbucks with Jim. Sorry to say we have had to cut out our daily trips due to the economy. Couldn't justify the dollars...but it sure makes Friday seem very special!!! LOL

I have been working on so many things at home right now and finally getting a few finished up. Mainly trying to figure out ACDSee to organize my digital scrapping so I can digi scrap again. I don't want to let it go any longer and get so bogged down that I feel like I will never get out! I am so thankful for help from Terry of Terry's Tales. She has been working with the patience of Job with a very slow learner!

I did take time to request our mail-in election ballots. They are urging everyone to use the mail-in ballot to eliminate the long lines at the polls. Never have done that, but our daughter has done it for quite a while and it has worked well for her. I guess it is better than lines standing in the hot sun!! Even the early voting had lines for the big elections. So we will give it a try!!!

Will be heading up next week to our daughter's for our grand daughter's eleventh birthday, so we will be finishing up the last present buys Saturday! Other than that no great plans.

Guess I need to close and finish up here so I can get ready to go home. In about an hour I should be sitting at our favorite Starbucks looking out the window at the beautiful sites of Florida. It is so beautiful here. Everyone landscapes so nicely! By the way...you do realize that I am helping the planet earth when I drink my Starbucks...right? They give away all the used grounds for you to put into you soil to help your garden. I knew there was a good reason I did this!!! LOL

My thought for the day.

Enjoy

Thought for the Day

Rest is not idleness, and to lie sometimes on the grass under trees on a summer's day listening to the murmur of the water or watching the clouds float across the sky, is by no means a waste of time."

---J Lubbock---

Not A Waste of Time

I have not fallen off the face of the earth. Instead, I have been on a week of wonderful vacation. A vacation when not a thing was done except 'vacate'!! Vacate the entire body and mind of all the things we usually do day in and day out. NO schedule! NO plans! Well...only one. That was not to sleep in and waste the day by sleeping it away!

How wonderfully relaxing it was. However, I think more relaxing for me than for Jim. He is definitely the "goer" of the two of us but he said he enjoyed it, too! We ended up doing small 'jaunts' around home and they were a lot of fun.

Probably the trip we enjoyed the most was to Weedon Wildlife Preserve. This place was so wonderful for us. Oddly enough it is only about eight miles from our house and we had never been there in the seventeen years we have lived here.

You enter the preserve off a pretty busy street in a city of about 1/4 million! Yet as soon as you get there...almost utter silence! After living on a peninsula of about 2 million people for all these years the silence was at first almost deafening! But it sure didn't take long to adapt back to the peace and quiet of the country we had lived in back in Ohio!!

There was a beautiful new boardwalk of about 2 miles, where you could walk and talk and not hear anything other than your own voices and wildlife. You could feel your body just start to unwind and start to settle in to perhaps what God really had in mind for us. All of a sudden you forget about all the hustle and bustle of the busy city you just left and begin to feel a peace a body seems to seek. It almost makes you wonder where we went wrong. How did we end up destroying so much of what God gave us to keep us aligned with him? Something we will never get back!

As we walked on and saw the beautiful mangroves and more of the newly placed boardwalk we came to about the end of our trail. And there...as if we had walked into heaven, there was the most beautiful lake we had ever seen. You stand frozen in place as you see such a breathtaking scene. Such peace! Such beauty. Fish jumping in the lake, birds singing, crickets chirping. It is something you forget about when you live in a big city. We needed to be reminded of places like this. You want to prolong your time here.Vacation. Time away from all we do day in and day out. Time to disconnect. This was beautiful . I wish it for all of you.

My thought for the day.

Enjoy!

Thought for the Day

"If you know someone who tries to drown their sorrows, you might tell them sorrows know how to swim."

---Mom---

All Part of Life

Sorry I haven't been around lately. As the previous post said, another unwelcome turn appeared on scene. More computer woes.

On Friday last week, at least if I can recall correctly, it was Friday...our son who lives in New York/New Jersey surprised us, or rather me, by stopping in for the night on his way to the Bahamas (lucky him!) for vacation. He was actually staying with his friend in Ft. Lauderdale. He called father around 2:00 in the afternoon to let him know he would be in but not to tell Mom. They all love to play games with me! So as I was sitting scrapping...I see a car pull up front, the door open and all of a sudden I am getting a kiss from behind! DS #2! How nice that was!!! He took us out to eat a Carrabbas and we had a very nice time.

The next day DS was going to go to the gym and head back to Ft. Lauderdale. On the way he just happened to drop me off the best hot pressed Cuban sandwich...as he always does when he leaves. Our family is steeped in tradition! Friday proceeded as usual, looking forward to the long weekend...it had been a really hard week for both DH and me. They day over we proceed to our "traditional" Starbucks stop and head on home. Trouble on horizon we didn't expect. As I proceed to do the normal walk in the house through the kitchen and dining room I press the button for the computer monitor and then the computer. Nothing is happening!!! Only the blue screen on the monitor that says HP Invent. I asked "What is this? We don't usually get this screen!"

So right I was. As we got exploring, we had no computer, no televisions and no phones. As we found out, it was our lucking day to have been struck by lightning! We didn't even know there had been a storm. That is the good Florida weather! It seems that the surge came through our cable. (Suggestion...make sure your cable goes through your battery back up/surge protector. Our didn't!) Fried the computer, not the brand new printer. Got the cable boxes but not the televisions. Shorted the phone boxes outside...not the phones. Ugh.

Well, although the limping budget didn't like it...it was off Saturday to shop for a good, yet cheap computer *sigh* Not only was this a money concern...as you all probably know by now...neither Jim nor I am really high up on the computer hardware knowledge scale. So here we are going down the aisles of Walmart with darling daughter Nancy on the cell phone!!! I am reading boxes to her. Good...not good...fair...real good. Good price...bad price...oh brother!! Why do I have to be so stupid about these things???

Well, off to Best Buy. Start to look again. Then this young man comes up and wants to help. Seems nice. I like him. So as only I could do, I say to him, I really did say this, "Are you smart?" I didn't have to look at DH. Nothing I say ever affects him. He just goes on!!! The young man smiled and said to me, "Yes." I was impressed. Not too many people will really admit they are smart and not look cocky!! I said, "I knew you were...I could tell". We both had a chuckle. Ha ha...we bonded at that point!!

So our woes were discussed, along with what we would be doing on our computer, and he led us to the computer he thought would fill our needs. I was thrilled. Having gone over what I needed with DD and what was on this I was very impressed with him. And the price was unbelievable. It was on sale! Thank you, AGAIN, Lord!

I didn't bother to call DD. I knew this was right. You know...sometimes you just know these things.

LOL LOL I do have to add one more thing. Our darling daughter has been wanting a MAC in the biggest way for the longest time. So when I got in the car...mean Mom called her and said, "You are going to hate me!" "Mom," she said. "You didn't get a MAC did you?" "You are going to hate me", I repeated. "Mom, did YOU get a MAC?" I just laughed. "MOM, did you???" LOL by now I am laughing so hard. I finally had to come clean and tell her I did not get a MAC. She said,"I was just about to hang up on you!! LOL LOL"

Sometimes it is just fun to play!! Takes a lot of the tension out of doing something you really don't want to do. But in the end she was really amazed at what we had bought and the price we got. The end of what started out a pretty bleak aturday.

That was the start of a long few days. The next few days had been filled with learning how to set up a new computer...oh what a joy!!! Thank God we knew how to match colors!! Then cable repairman and phone guy! Wonderful fun!!! We are still putting bits and pieces back together but it is coming.

Now that we are out of the stupor of the shock of this all hitting at once we can look at what really happened. It really wasn't that bad. Oh, the budget took a very unwelcome hit...but a blessing that we could handle it. We had to deal with redoing a computer. So...we got some extra together time and got to work on something together. We missed the TV really bad...but...made us realize how addicted we were to it and even picked up books we had laid down and I got to scrap! That was nice. Now the phones...it was rather pleasant without them. We had our cells so family could still reach us. Bet we drove the solicitors crazy not being able to call...and we have the NO Call set up...doesn't work very well, does it. But life is getting back to normal slowly but surely. But this is all part of life.

And believe me, Jim and I both know we would rather have our problems of the past weekend than most anyone else's problem! We are always keenly aware that no matter what is happening to you...the person standing next to you is most likely dealing with a problem many times worse than yours.If all our problems were put in a hat we sure would be hoping to draw out our own!!

Life is not easy. But as they say...let's not sweat the small stuff. At the time I saw that blue screen on the computer...I didn't think it was a small thing...then coupled with the TVs and phones! But you know what...? They were small things. As time went on...we were able to laugh about it. All this at once! And after a few days of confusion and hassle...we are pretty well back to normal...or rather what we call normal!! LOL And I am pretty sure better off because of it!

We have a brand new computer...with no trash on it that downloads when you put a new program on your computer. The TVs are working great! The phones are back on...I missed all those solicitors on my answering machine. I do need to see why we are still getting those wonderful calls! And we sure had a break in the hum drum of our lives!! Had some good laughs together, especially as I was trying to tell Jim how the directions said to hook up that silly computer ! I was designated reader of directions!! Not always a good thing since men and women use opposite sides of their brains for that kind of stuff and see it totally different!

Remember. Life is good. Thank God for it. Enjoy it.

My thought for the day.

Just felt like sharing a bit of beautiful Florida with you all today. Take a close-up look. I think these are beautiful. Hope you like it!!

Thought for the Day

"Back up my hard drive? How do I put it in reverse?"

---Author Unknown"---

Me??? Speechless???

Well I had hoped to post before this, however, life took an unwelcome turn! I was looking forward to a very nice weekend of at least one day of scrapping but I had my plans changed in a big hurry!

It started off as a usual Saturday morning. Got up and poked around. Checked out the Memory Makers Magazine forum and looked at a few digi sights and dreamed of future purchases. Talked with darling daughter and darling son #2. My daughter said she would check back with me later after she went to the grocery and come on my computer and help me set up Photoshop editor. I wanted it as my default editor and it seems to like ACDSee better! Something wasn't set just right, I guess!!

So after feeding the dog and cat and having coffee, Jim and I venture out to enjoy breakfast. Our life has become so nice. We set it up so we never have to hurry. I feel it is our payback after raising the family, working and going to college with three kids in junior high school all at the same time!! Got back home, was looking at Memory Makers Magazine and Nancy called to start work on the computer.

We tried to get her in on my computer and it wasn't working. Checked a couple things...all looked OK. Then we checked the thing we needed most...no Internet! Can't come on my computer if I am not on the net!! So to make a long story shorter...you know me...I can't make it short...I might leave out an important detail...as we got to looking at things...everything just kept getting worse and worse!! Nothing but nothing was working...or at least working right. Then all of a sudden...this. Do you know what this is??? It is a DEAD computer!!! It went completely wacko! And I think I went with it.

You see...I had never had a laptop until my boss gave me his old one when he got his gorgeous, humongous Mac. I was so so thankful for it. Absolutely fell in love with it. Now you have to know that I feel there is no room in our budget, at least now, for me to get a laptop. And I was just getting into my now beloved digi scrapping and that is what my laptop was for. When it went I saw a whole lot of happiness flying out the window with it!!! *Panic!!!*

We worked on it a while trying to get it up and humming...but nothing would work. While we took a break waiting for it to try to boot or something...I forget now...Jim had decided that we were going to get an external hard drive so I could forget about having to deal with a flash drive since the lap had such little room on it. (Only two gig I had been telling my daughter.) While I was ecstatic, I had big doubts about wanting to pay out money right now. Oh well, worry about that later I guess.

Nancy called back and I am telling her about getting the hard drive and she says "No". I said "What" she said, "No. Don't do that. I am going to give you my laptop and I will take yours. Mine has 40 gig on it and that will solve your storage problem." "No way" I said. And do you know what she said to her darling mother???? "No. You have no say in the matter!!" Well, now. That is what I used to tell her...I was certainly not used to hearing it from her.

I will spare you the drivel of all the trying to restore some sense back into that dead computer. I spent hours trying to get it back to factory settings and reinstalling Windows XP which froze and would not go in.

So Sunday, after our trip to the Bradenton Flea Market and Ellenton Outlet Mall, we go to pick up my new little...er...big baby! I was totally speechless! All I could say was OH...Oh...Oh...They all were laughing at me. Jim said I was like a kid on Christmas morning.

I can not believe my daughter did this for me. It brings tears to my eyes. My daughter is one of the sweetest people you will ever meet. She is so caring about everyone. She helps me so much with my computer. She really is a guru! And she is so patient! I keep telling her I know you are rolling your eyes...which she vehemently denies!!

So this post is for my daughter. It is my thank you to her. Not for my computer...don't get me wrong...I love it...not for all her help she gives me on my computer...I would be lost without her...not for all the nice things she does for her dad and me...we love her for that, too...but for being the kind of person she is...gentle, kind and giving to everyone. She brings joy and happiness to everyone around her. We are so proud of her. I don't think I ever told her this, but others will attest to it...I have always said Nancy has taught me so much more than I have ever taught her! Thank you, Nancy, you are very special to so many people!

I do need to add to this, though. When we got up to Nancy's to get MY computer, she of course tries to boot up the "dead" computer. I told her I at least got it to Windows 98 so that she could probably reformat. Well low and behold. She boots up and Windows XP...which I had tried to load two times and it froze in the middle...not even getting through the installation and to finalizing install...is totally installed on the computer. Then, when she looks to see how big it is she says "Mom, this has 13 gig on it, not 2!" Oops...I was thinking RAM all this time!

I checked.

She wasn't rolling her eyes!!!

Bless her.

My thought for the day.

Enjoy.

Thought for the Day

"You haven't lost your smile at all, it's right under your nose. You just forgot it was there."

---Unknown---

No Smiling Grumps!

I have noticed a very strange thing. I need some people to try it and see if what I have found is true.

I deal with many many people a day...most of them being on the phone. And I must say many of them seem not to be in very good moods...or at least what I consider to be good moods. Now I realize that I am a basically "up" person...not giddy high...but a positive up person and some people are basically not an up person. However, when we deal with each other I think we need to remember to try to be nice to each other. As I have said before...what else to we have than each other?

I must admit that when you deal with these sort of down and nasty, humbug people all day, it can drag you down so you really don't care too much what they have to say. I can't do that. Number one my God and my parents don't want me to be that way and number two it is my job not to be that way. But I am here to tell you...some days it gets pretty hard!!! LOL

So I decided to try something I had heard many many years ago. I tried answering the phone with a smile. Do you know...it makes a difference? A BIG difference! When you smile...it is terribly hard, if not almost impossible to be grumpy or irritable or downright nasty!

I was astounded at what happened. So what do I do? I am sitting in my office all alone...trying...outloud to say things that are nasty. Acting even like I was really mad at someone! I couldn't do it! I really couldn't do it! Can you believe that??? I tried again. Couldn't do it. Tried again. Failed.

So my conclusion at this point after "rigorous testing procedures"...LOL...that you can't do it. I guess maybe it is in the same category as trying to sneeze with your eyes open! Can not be done!!

Thinking even more on this, now I am wondering if that is the way God meant it to be. Maybe...just maybe...God wants us to think about how we treat each other. And to smile...so that what I am saying matches what I am showing...I had to make a conscious effort to do it. I "wanted" to be nice. Maybe nice isn't really as built-in as I had thought.

It is so easy to get caught up in the day...in all the world around us. But we shouldn't do that. You know...each of our days are numbered...from the day we are born we start to die. I hate to think that we waste our precious time given to us by being angry, or moody or generally down all the time. Everyone has their days. We have emotions and God gave us those emotions. It is natural to be down sometimes. But we cannot afford to waste the majority of our time complaining and moaning and snarling and grouching and all those others things that bring not only us but most everyone around us down.

I need you to coddle me some. I need you to try this and see if what I found to be true. I am really curious about this. It was the strangest thing! I tried to think of something that really had upset me and went back to that and tried to growl and yell about it...and I could not do it! Weird is what it was.

Give it a try...would you? Let me know what you find out! I think you will find the same result. We can not smile and be a grump.

I am now trying to always answer the phone with a smile. I don't always succeed yet...but I am working on it. And when I do succeed...I find that my day goes much better and I go home in a much better mood. (As an aside...I think the same thing works when something goes wrong in the office. If I smile...I can let it go by...if I don't...it sends me down a spiralling hill!) Perhaps this affects more of life than I think!

Give it a try. I am anxious to hear from you!

My thought for today...

Enjoy

Thought for the Day

"You can observe a lot just by watching.

---Yogi Berra---

It Makes My Skin Crawl!!

It really does. I don't know if I am a germ-a-phobe or not...I guess somewhat! Since there are just the two of us, my husband and I eat out almost everyday, so we see the workings of a lot of restaurants! I probably think this is not a very good thing!

First of all, I am sure some people think we have just had an argument because many nights we can go through an entire meal without saying much, if anything, to each other! But, that is because we have been married forty-three years and just being together is speaking in it's own way to us. We had worked side by side together for about twenty-five years which meant we were together 24-7/365 days a year. We loved it...while I don't recommend it for most...and still miss it since we moved to Florida and had to take separate jobs! But having been together...our desks were so close we could touch each other by reaching out...we really don't need to speak to hear, if you get what I mean. Anyway, by not chattering much at times, we have ample time waiting for our meal to look around and notice what is happening around us. And by doing that, conversation usually ensues!!

Have you ever noticed that they wipe off the tables with the same rag that they wipe the chairs off with? That grosses me out! I mean, people have sat I don't know where through the day...have sat their rears down on the chair, leaving whatever kind of germs you can think of on that chair, and now they are wiping all those seats off and then using the same rag to wipe my table off. Give me a break. I try hard to ignore that!! (And have you ever looked and smelled that rag? I think they have used the same one for days on end!!!)

But before they wipe the table off with that what I call contaminated rag...they first have to rid...or as Ohioans say..."red"...the used...or dirty...dishes from the table. So they pick up everyone's silverware and plates with their bare hands with no caution whether or not they touch the part that has been in people's mouths. Okay. So much for that. But then they pick up the glasses. Have you EVER watched??? They stick their bare fingers in the glasses and pick up not only the glasses but all the germs which whoever drank out of that glass were carrying around with them!! YUK!!! Then might I add...they don't wash their hands, but go to the kitchen and carry out MY food with those germs being laid down on the edge of my plate!!! Oh Lordy!!! Try not to think about that #2!!! LOL Not to mention they have stacked the dishes up on their arms with the bottoms of the plates...which have sat and/or slid across only God knows where...touching the food on the plate under it! LOL

Ummm. This gets better! What about all those condiment bottles??? You know it is bad enough when I see them "marrying" them. Do you know what that is? It is when they empty one bottle into another to make it full and throw the empty away. Now think about this. (In some states it is illegal.) You keep emptying one bottle into another and the contents in those bottles can become older and older...rancid is the word. Lots of botulism build-up because you keep adding new on the top of old and so on and so on...until someone gets sick that night and doesn't know from what!!! And get this...one day I was watching while I was eating, and I look over to see a man use the ketchup and then, get this...are you ready?....he licked the rim all the way around with his tongue and then put the lid on and sat it back on the table!!! I can barely bring myself to use ketchup off a table anymore!!!

Oh! One other little thing while I am venting!!! Have you ever watched the waitresses or waiters set the tables? They always...always...pick the silverware up by the part you are going to put in your mouth or on your food!!! Doesn't seem like much until you realize they just took money at the cash register just before that!!! And we all know about the dirty money!!! *sigh*

Now while I am no germ-a-phobe like Howey Mandel...this kind of stuff can really make my skin crawl!! Maybe the management needs to do a little training! Yet, maybe the management doesn't know about germs in the first place. But this happens in almost every restaurant.

How about you? Have you seen any things like this happen where you eat?

I have pretty well learned to not look around so much or at least not think so much! It helps!!

My thought for the day

Enjoy

Thought for the Day

"More and more I've come to understand that listening is one of the most important things we can do for one another. Whether the other is speaking or playing or dancing, building or singing or painting, if we care, we can listen...Listening is where caring begins."

---Mr. Rogers, of Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood---

Are You Listening???

Several years ago, my boss at the time, was standing beside my desk. He was saying some things (I could hear him!) and I continued press forward on the work at hand which he needed. All of a sudden I hear...did you get that...I 'hear' him say loudly and very empahatically..."Barbara. Do you hear me?"

I stopped what I was doing and looked up at him...not even a foot away from me and said "Yes. You said..."and I repeated everything he said to me...I think word for word! He said, "Well, you weren't looking at me!" Oh my goodness. I didn't think I had to do that with adults. That is what children need. They need for you to look at them to be assured that you are really hear them.

I guess some adults have not had a good experience with people who really listen! They really do not trust that they have your attention if you are not actively looking them in the eye! Really not their fault. I was raised in a family that listened to each other. And by doing that...we learned to listen to others. They were probably raised in a family where that was not something that happened often.

Listen. What does that mean? MSN Encarta Dictionary says: "Listen. Make conscious effort to hear. Pay attention." OK I get that. But what does conscious mean? They say, "Awake; keenly aware. Fully appreciating the importance of something." Humm. That was interesting to me. I get the fact that it takes work to listen. When we listen, we need to make an effort. A conscious effort...We need to hear...fully appreciating the importance of what people are saying. Well now. I have always thought myself a pretty good listener...but now as I think about it...perhaps my skills need honed just a bit. I guess I really wasn't listening to my boss. I was hearing but not really listening!

I try very hard to listen to what people are saying. I even try to understand why they are saying what they are. But I have let that effort part slide a bit...not fully appreciating what they say. You know...what I say to people I feel is important. I hope they listen. And I need to offer them the same by listening to them and appreciating what they have to say.

I don't want to say to people, "Do you hear me? Do you hear what I am saying? And I need to tell people more often...I hear what you are saying.

Stop and think about the people you really really like. Why do you like them?.........I bet if we really think about it, it is because they listen to you. They care what we are saying. By listening...we know they care, and we all want to be cared about.

We all want to be cared about. It is important to each of us. And Mr. Rogers, as he said in the quote above, was right. Listening is one of the most important things we can do for one another. Because listening is where caring begins.

It is somewhat like love. You can give without loving. But you can't love without giving.

You can hear without caring............

But can you care without listening?

Listening and hearing. There is a difference. A BIG difference.

Are you listening????

My thought for the day.

Enjoy.

Thought for the Day

"The trick is in what one emphasizes. We either make ourselves miserable, or we make ourselves happy. The amount of work is the same."

---Carlos Castaneda---

Advertising Dollars!

I had seen a post yesterday that brought up some thoughts I had not had in a while. This lady was talking about name brand clothes for her infant. Ugh. Give me a break!! I know this is a sore topic for a lot of people but each of us is entitled to their own opinion and I sure have one!!

Ask our children. I bet to this day they know our feelings about name brand clothes!!! There were none in our house. Well, except for one pair of sneakers which our lovely daughter snuck in. We were on a day trip to Kings Island amusement park in Ohio. On the way home we stopped somewhere, but I have long forgotten where. But you know the kind of places...lots to sell and "good prices" yeah, right, for the tourists!!!

We were letting the kids each pick out a thing they wanted and our daughter, then in early junior high school, found these shoes...two pairs...that she liked. They both looked pretty nice so her father said pick one. It doesn't matter to me. How she kept a straight face I still do not know...but one was a generic type good looking tennis shoe and one was about the same look really. She said...OK. She made a choice. Well it wasn't till a day or so later till one of her brothers mentioned well you let Nancy get name brand why can't we??? Name brand. What name brand??? Those Rebok tennis shoes she bought. Reboks? What are Reboks??? We were informed that those were the hottest "in thing" around right then!!! *sigh* It was then we had to start paying attention to the fashion style of the young and not so famous!!! LOL We had been had...but it didn't happen again. And no...the boys were not given the opportunity to have a pair of Reboks. She played the odds...and won. I guess to the victor goes the spoils!!!

We tried to explain to the kids. First of all...most, although not all the time...the moderately priced no name products are as good, if not at times better made, than the so called name brand clothes.

Second of all, there is no way we were paying those kinds of prices to advertise some one's product for nothing. Do you realize how much free advertising these people get? And people are PAYING to get the honor of advertising for them? This is ridiculous to us!!!

Well, I know it made no sense to the kids at that time and it probably would not have to me either. I would rather have been like everyone else...even if it was at my parents' expense!!!

But my whole point is...we are being taken as fools. These companies are getting free advertising dollars...and I am talking lots of free dollars...by making the public feel that they just have to have their label displayed on their chest, on their feet or across their rears...or they just are of inferior quality (or are of superior quality) to the rest of the world!!! Hogwash!! I refuse to buy into such a deal! Not to mention the fact that with some of us, they are really getting their money's worth just because they get a bigger "spread" than with most people!!!

How sad it is to think that children, especially, are being made to feel inferior to their school mates because mom and dad can not (or perhaps choose not) buy these expensive digs for them. (Or even that they are superior to those who do not have them because their parents buy them for them). I find that heart wrenching...on both sides!!! School uniforms are a good thing...but that still doesn't change the street clothes at the movies and malls...there still is a stigma.

Oh I guess there are bigger things to be concerned about...but I can't help but wonder what effect this really does have on the inner workings of some children........

I hope not much.

My thought for today.

Enjoy

Thought for the Day

"Nothing shows a man's character more than what he laughs at"

---Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe---