I didn't become a dog owner until I was 50. By then I had figured out that after 44 years of being owned by cats and 31 years of dating or being married to men that I liked woman and dogs much better.
If I had known how amazing it was to experience unconditional love from a four-legged furry mass of love, I would have had less ex-husbands which would of been good for all involved.
After a long day of working I come home to a welcome committee at the kitchen door. Chloe walks up to me with her latest favorite toy of the moment to show me what she has. Fast Eddie and Chancey are bouncing and making funky little sounds at me. Heaven!
Now having four dogs ranging from barely furry at 30 lbs. to extremely furry at 55 lbs. isn't without its drama and lots of work to maintain them, our house and our sanity. Tyler Noel is the fourth dog and not ours but he is with us every day and has a occasional sleep over with us.
So an average day consists of walking them for about a mile (thanks Mary), feeding them twice a day which is drama in itself. I could write an entire posting on that alone. Letting them in and out to go pee, to bark at passing motorcycles (thanks Chancey), to howl(a group event) at Yogi, our neighborhood black bear. Breaking up fights on whose toy that belongs to at that moment in time. Which means yelling over and over at Fast Eddie because he is our trouble maker and bully of the group. Trying not to break your neck as you step on Mr. Dinosaur (hard plastic with sharp spikes) and the story goes on and on.
I can't believe the amount of dog laundry we do each week. There are dog towels to wipe off their muddy feet when returning from the dog park. There are throws to protect and cover the couch and beds. There are blankets that we wrap ourselves in while watching TV while the dogs lie on top of us. Then there are the blankets that each dog gets covered with at bedtime. Oh, did I mention that Fast Eddie doesn't like to experience cold or rain so he has an assortment of dog coats he can choose from.
Today is a great example. While at my Saturday part-time job, I get a call from Mary. Fast Eddie just came in from outside stinking of something he rolled in and part of it is smeared on his leg. Minutes later he promptly throws up large quantities of grass all over our living rug. So between giving him a bath and cleaning up the carpet more towels that will have need to be cleaned.
It is now 7:30 p.m. and all is quite in doggie land, I’m going to go watch a DVD and lounge with them before letting them out at 10 p.m. for one more pee. Then each one gets a night night treat which means making sure that Fast Eddie doesn’t eat Chancey’s treat. Then they all get tucked in and everything is quite until something goes bump in the night.
More later…
Saturday, November 21, 2009
Friday, November 20, 2009
I'm back to posting.....
Good Morning!
I have already been up for more than two hours doing some of my morning chores: paperwork, picking up dog toys in the living room and more dog toys down the hall, doing laundry, folding it (3 loads), tidying up around the house, riding my in-door bike about 2.5 miles and so on. And this is also the time period when I have a chance to think about what is happening in my life. And a new addition to my morning routine, is praying.
Praying is a new thing for me. I’ve been searching for a religion and a church since I was seven years old. At that time we lived on a military base in Lincoln, Nebraska. I would go up to complete strangers and say “What Church do you go to?” they would tell me and I would say “What time will you pick me up on Sunday?” Let me tell you I saw some beautiful churches that way. Didn’t find God but the hunt was on…and would continue for many years.
I found God in my teens but not a Church that I wanted to grow old in. Well, I’ve finally found it in All Saints’ Episcopal in South Hadley, Massachusetts. The way they have accepted Mary and I with open arms has been truly amazing. The result of their love is that we are both very actively involved with in the Church. So much so that when I have too much to do, which is often, I just volunteer Mary to do it. She is now teaching Sunday School, she helped with the weeding and mulching this past summer, and she was a great help at the Columbus Day Food & Tag Sale Extravaganza. The joke running around at Church these days is “Great to see you Mary, what did Sharon volunteer you for now?”
So back to prayer. It really is a wonderful source of comfort to me. I’m not the type to ask God for parking places or to keep the light green until I can make it through the intersection. I am getting into the habit of asking for his guidance and wisdom for the day I face ahead of me. Plus I pray for any of my peeps who are experiencing trouble in their lives whether it be illness, the death of a loved one, unemployment etc.
Well my time is up. I've got to move on with my day, hopefully more thoughts tomorrow.
I have already been up for more than two hours doing some of my morning chores: paperwork, picking up dog toys in the living room and more dog toys down the hall, doing laundry, folding it (3 loads), tidying up around the house, riding my in-door bike about 2.5 miles and so on. And this is also the time period when I have a chance to think about what is happening in my life. And a new addition to my morning routine, is praying.
Praying is a new thing for me. I’ve been searching for a religion and a church since I was seven years old. At that time we lived on a military base in Lincoln, Nebraska. I would go up to complete strangers and say “What Church do you go to?” they would tell me and I would say “What time will you pick me up on Sunday?” Let me tell you I saw some beautiful churches that way. Didn’t find God but the hunt was on…and would continue for many years.
I found God in my teens but not a Church that I wanted to grow old in. Well, I’ve finally found it in All Saints’ Episcopal in South Hadley, Massachusetts. The way they have accepted Mary and I with open arms has been truly amazing. The result of their love is that we are both very actively involved with in the Church. So much so that when I have too much to do, which is often, I just volunteer Mary to do it. She is now teaching Sunday School, she helped with the weeding and mulching this past summer, and she was a great help at the Columbus Day Food & Tag Sale Extravaganza. The joke running around at Church these days is “Great to see you Mary, what did Sharon volunteer you for now?”
So back to prayer. It really is a wonderful source of comfort to me. I’m not the type to ask God for parking places or to keep the light green until I can make it through the intersection. I am getting into the habit of asking for his guidance and wisdom for the day I face ahead of me. Plus I pray for any of my peeps who are experiencing trouble in their lives whether it be illness, the death of a loved one, unemployment etc.
Well my time is up. I've got to move on with my day, hopefully more thoughts tomorrow.
Friday, August 21, 2009
What is Attitude?
Norman Vincent Peale was a believer that focusing one's positive thoughts was one of ways to having a happy and successful life.
I agree with that. I have a tendency to think a lot of negative thoughts and unfortunately they happen. I keep trying to change that by working on thinking positive thoughts insted. I've noticed that the response time to happy thoughts is much slower than negative thoughts. Wonder why that is?
Below are other people's thoughts on living a positive life, enjoy reading!
The longer I live, the more I realize the
impact of attitude on life.
Attitude, to me, is more important than facts.
It is more important than the past,
than education, than money, than
circumstances, than failures, than success,
than what other people think or say or do.
It is more important than appearance,
giftedness or skill.
It will make or break a company,
a church, a home.
The remarkable thing is we have a choice
everyday regarding the attitude we will
embrace for that day.
We cannot change our past…
we cannot change the fact that people will
act in a certain way.
We cannot change the inevitable.
The only thing we can do is play on the one
string we have, and that is our attitude…
I am convinced that life is 10% what
happens to me and 90% how I react to it.
And so it is with you…
-Charles Swindoll-
Nothing has any meaning in life except the meaning we give it.
-Tony Robbins-
Attitudes are more important than facts.
-Karl Menniger-
There is nothing good or bad, but thinking makes it so.
-William Shakespeare-
On of the nice things about problems is that a good
many of them don’t exist except in our imaginations.
-Steve Allen-
Experience is not what happens to a man; it is
what a man does with what happens to him
-Aldous Huxley-
I agree with that. I have a tendency to think a lot of negative thoughts and unfortunately they happen. I keep trying to change that by working on thinking positive thoughts insted. I've noticed that the response time to happy thoughts is much slower than negative thoughts. Wonder why that is?
Below are other people's thoughts on living a positive life, enjoy reading!
The longer I live, the more I realize the
impact of attitude on life.
Attitude, to me, is more important than facts.
It is more important than the past,
than education, than money, than
circumstances, than failures, than success,
than what other people think or say or do.
It is more important than appearance,
giftedness or skill.
It will make or break a company,
a church, a home.
The remarkable thing is we have a choice
everyday regarding the attitude we will
embrace for that day.
We cannot change our past…
we cannot change the fact that people will
act in a certain way.
We cannot change the inevitable.
The only thing we can do is play on the one
string we have, and that is our attitude…
I am convinced that life is 10% what
happens to me and 90% how I react to it.
And so it is with you…
-Charles Swindoll-
Nothing has any meaning in life except the meaning we give it.
-Tony Robbins-
Attitudes are more important than facts.
-Karl Menniger-
There is nothing good or bad, but thinking makes it so.
-William Shakespeare-
On of the nice things about problems is that a good
many of them don’t exist except in our imaginations.
-Steve Allen-
Experience is not what happens to a man; it is
what a man does with what happens to him
-Aldous Huxley-
Sunday, August 16, 2009
What is Grace?
I found this bit of philosophy on a bottle of shampoo, bath and shower gel distributed by philosophy®. Great stuff, worth the money. Their website is: www.philosophy.com. Life is a classroom, we are both student and teacher. Each day is a test. And each day we receive a passing or failing grade in one particular subject: grace. Grace is compassion, gratitude, surrender, faith, forgiveness, good manners, reverence, and the list goes on. It's something money can't buy and credentials rarely produce. Being the smartest, the prettiest, the most talented, the richest, or even the poorest, can't help. Being a humble person can and being a helpful person can guide you through your days with grace and gratitude. To me this speaks volumes about how people could better their life by one five-character word, g r a c e. The actions of compassion, gratitude, surrender, faith, forgiveness, and reverence could stop a war instead of starting one, could soften the heart of a parent of a gay child, could stop a family feud before members are no longer around to make amends. The power of one word could change history, if not world history, at least your own. What have you done today to share grace with others?
Sunday, July 26, 2009
Try this sometime at a party…
Have you ever gone to a party and wondered who everyone was but you didn’t feel comfortable asking? Well, I decided I would introduce myself to every single person at this party that we attended last night. I had a blast! And look at who I met...
Terry & Lucy – our co-hosts at their 2nd annual party! They have a lovely home and a wonderful new expanded pottery studio for Lucy. Lucy is very talented and we own several of her creations, go to http://www.luciapottery.com. Also, they have eight chickens that in the future will produce either blue or brown-colored eggs.
Andrew – is the 11 year-old-son of Lucy’s. Awesome soul-searching eyes. He’s going to break lots of hearts in a few years!
Luke – is the 14 year-old-son of Lucy’s. Awesome soul-searching smile. He too is going to break lots of hearts!
Karen – neighbor of John’s, Lucy & Terry’s, and a wonderful friend of ours.
John – neighbor of Karen’s, Lucy & Terry’s, father to Ellie.
Ellie – John’s daughter. Ellie at age 13 has sparkling eyes and a mega-watt smile. I advised her father to keep her away from boys until she’s at least 18 if not 21!
Wendy – is a massage therapist with 14 years of experience and lives around the corner.
Dave – husband to Fran. They live across the way from Lucy & Terry. And, he is the keeper of the Green River.
Fran – wife to Dave. She is the mother to the only person that I couldn’t remember her name!!
Garth – husband to Melinda. He is a fermentologist and brews “local mead from local bees” at Green River Ambrosia. Go to http://www.greenriverambrosia.com to learn more.
Melinda – wife to Garth. She creates fabric art that can be used to dress up your kitchen or dining room areas. She sells these items at the local farmer's market.
Evelyn – recent knee reconstruction and lives next door to where I work on Saturdays.
Terry #2 – hung out with Evelyn & Janet.
Janet – hung out with Evelyn & Terry #2.
Ann & Donna – thought I was amusing learning everyone’s names.
Julie & Jess – they too thought I was amusing learning everyone’s names.
Patti –spent the day cleaning out stalls at her barn making her bad knee even worse.
Dawn – technical writer and makes pottery.
Gail – makes pottery.
Molly – makes pottery and dances like Ellen DeGeneres.
Ben – walked in with Molly, does that mean he’s her boyfriend? He was wearing a Feedco Seeds cap. What is Feedco?
Tim – husband to Tiffany. He was a librarian for nine years and is now attending Nursing School. He is a dedicated Mac owner and convinced me that my decision to leave the PC world is the right decision!
Tiffany – Tim’s wife, whose dog as a puppy ate the entire contents of her jewelry box! The end result is that all of her jewelry became squeaky clean.
Sara – porcelain is her favorite medium, worked with it in College, is now back to taking lessons with Lucy. I saw two of her bowls in their beginning stage in Lucy’s studio. They were nicely executed.
Nate – Sara’s boyfriend, awesome smile and great hair!
Mike – husband to Linda, father to Jamie and Matt. He works at Smith College.
Linda – wife to Mike, mother to Jamie and Matt. She is a graphic artist.
Jamie – daughter of Mike & Linda. A devoted animal lover, now a vegetarian at the age of 10. Future veterinarian?
Matt – son of Mike & Linda. Great hair, slightly curly, has a great smile even with those braces!
Look at what I would of missed if I hadn't gone outside of my comfort zone. Meeting all these great people last night was a wonderful experience. I will definitely try this again, it was a very empowering moment for me.
Terry & Lucy – our co-hosts at their 2nd annual party! They have a lovely home and a wonderful new expanded pottery studio for Lucy. Lucy is very talented and we own several of her creations, go to http://www.luciapottery.com. Also, they have eight chickens that in the future will produce either blue or brown-colored eggs.
Andrew – is the 11 year-old-son of Lucy’s. Awesome soul-searching eyes. He’s going to break lots of hearts in a few years!
Luke – is the 14 year-old-son of Lucy’s. Awesome soul-searching smile. He too is going to break lots of hearts!
Karen – neighbor of John’s, Lucy & Terry’s, and a wonderful friend of ours.
John – neighbor of Karen’s, Lucy & Terry’s, father to Ellie.
Ellie – John’s daughter. Ellie at age 13 has sparkling eyes and a mega-watt smile. I advised her father to keep her away from boys until she’s at least 18 if not 21!
Wendy – is a massage therapist with 14 years of experience and lives around the corner.
Dave – husband to Fran. They live across the way from Lucy & Terry. And, he is the keeper of the Green River.
Fran – wife to Dave. She is the mother to the only person that I couldn’t remember her name!!
Garth – husband to Melinda. He is a fermentologist and brews “local mead from local bees” at Green River Ambrosia. Go to http://www.greenriverambrosia.com to learn more.
Melinda – wife to Garth. She creates fabric art that can be used to dress up your kitchen or dining room areas. She sells these items at the local farmer's market.
Evelyn – recent knee reconstruction and lives next door to where I work on Saturdays.
Terry #2 – hung out with Evelyn & Janet.
Janet – hung out with Evelyn & Terry #2.
Ann & Donna – thought I was amusing learning everyone’s names.
Julie & Jess – they too thought I was amusing learning everyone’s names.
Patti –spent the day cleaning out stalls at her barn making her bad knee even worse.
Dawn – technical writer and makes pottery.
Gail – makes pottery.
Molly – makes pottery and dances like Ellen DeGeneres.
Ben – walked in with Molly, does that mean he’s her boyfriend? He was wearing a Feedco Seeds cap. What is Feedco?
Tim – husband to Tiffany. He was a librarian for nine years and is now attending Nursing School. He is a dedicated Mac owner and convinced me that my decision to leave the PC world is the right decision!
Tiffany – Tim’s wife, whose dog as a puppy ate the entire contents of her jewelry box! The end result is that all of her jewelry became squeaky clean.
Sara – porcelain is her favorite medium, worked with it in College, is now back to taking lessons with Lucy. I saw two of her bowls in their beginning stage in Lucy’s studio. They were nicely executed.
Nate – Sara’s boyfriend, awesome smile and great hair!
Mike – husband to Linda, father to Jamie and Matt. He works at Smith College.
Linda – wife to Mike, mother to Jamie and Matt. She is a graphic artist.
Jamie – daughter of Mike & Linda. A devoted animal lover, now a vegetarian at the age of 10. Future veterinarian?
Matt – son of Mike & Linda. Great hair, slightly curly, has a great smile even with those braces!
Look at what I would of missed if I hadn't gone outside of my comfort zone. Meeting all these great people last night was a wonderful experience. I will definitely try this again, it was a very empowering moment for me.
Tuesday, July 21, 2009
Many thanks to Barbara & Stephanie…
Until this morning they were complete strangers to me. I met both at Woodstar Café, which I personally believe is the best coffee shop in all of Northampton, and the friendliest!
I started talking to Barbara when I could tell that she wasn’t sure where to pick up her order. I then went into great detail about how wonderful the food is especially my favorite, which is the Nantucket sandwich. She smiled and told me she is from that area. Well, from there I asked if she’d like to share a table for a few minutes. We chatted so long that she ran out of time on her meter. I hope she didn’t get a ticket!
It was such a wonderful moment in time. It felt like meeting up with an old friend that you haven’t seen for a long while and sharing memories. We talked about lots of things including religion and how life is not always fair and never what you expect it to be. We talked about her two boys. Yes, she showed me their pictures. She’s a proud mama and she should be. They are so handsome! I spoke about Mary and our dogs. It was a fun time.
As we were winding up our conversation and exchanging e-mail addresses, I tried to write down my blog address, but couldn’t remember if it was blog or blogspot.com. This is where lovely Stephanie comes into the story. She was sitting next to us with her computer, (yes Woodstar has WiFi). I asked if she would be willing to try several versions of what I thought my blog address was and she figured it out. Go Stephanie!
I have not written anything in my blog since February, but thanks to meeting these two, my writer’s block is over!
I started talking to Barbara when I could tell that she wasn’t sure where to pick up her order. I then went into great detail about how wonderful the food is especially my favorite, which is the Nantucket sandwich. She smiled and told me she is from that area. Well, from there I asked if she’d like to share a table for a few minutes. We chatted so long that she ran out of time on her meter. I hope she didn’t get a ticket!
It was such a wonderful moment in time. It felt like meeting up with an old friend that you haven’t seen for a long while and sharing memories. We talked about lots of things including religion and how life is not always fair and never what you expect it to be. We talked about her two boys. Yes, she showed me their pictures. She’s a proud mama and she should be. They are so handsome! I spoke about Mary and our dogs. It was a fun time.
As we were winding up our conversation and exchanging e-mail addresses, I tried to write down my blog address, but couldn’t remember if it was blog or blogspot.com. This is where lovely Stephanie comes into the story. She was sitting next to us with her computer, (yes Woodstar has WiFi). I asked if she would be willing to try several versions of what I thought my blog address was and she figured it out. Go Stephanie!
I have not written anything in my blog since February, but thanks to meeting these two, my writer’s block is over!
Saturday, February 21, 2009
Other People's Thoughts
Below are thoughts from others that I have recently found helpful in my personal journey...and you might find helpful in yours.
Fear – Author: Unknown
False
Evidence
Appearing
Real
Recipe for Joy – Author: Jerry Hicks
Seek joy, first and foremost
See reasons to laugh
Seek reasons to offer words of praise to self and others
Seek beauty in nature, beasts, and other humans
Seek reasons to love in every segment of every day
Look for something that brings forth within you a feeling of love
Seek that which uplifts you
Seek opportunity to offer that which uplifts another
Seek a feeling of well-being
Know that your value can only be measured in terms of joy
Acknowledge your absolute freedom to do any of these things
Or not do any of these things
For it is, without exception, your choice in every moment of every day.
No title – Author: Charles Swindoll
The longer I live, the more I realize the impact of attitude on life. Attitude, to me, is more important than facts. It is more important than the past, than education, than money, than circumstances, than failures, than successes, than what other people think or say or do. It is more important than appearance, giftedness or skill. It will make or break a company…a church…a home. The remarkable thing is we have a choice every day regarding the attitude we embrace for that day. We cannot change our past … we cannot change the fact that people will act in a certain way. We cannot change the inevitable. The only thing we can do is play on the one string we have, and that is our attitude. I am convinced that life is 10% what happens to me and 90% how I react to it. And so it is with you. We are in charge of our Attitudes.
Fear – Author: Unknown
False
Evidence
Appearing
Real
Recipe for Joy – Author: Jerry Hicks
Seek joy, first and foremost
See reasons to laugh
Seek reasons to offer words of praise to self and others
Seek beauty in nature, beasts, and other humans
Seek reasons to love in every segment of every day
Look for something that brings forth within you a feeling of love
Seek that which uplifts you
Seek opportunity to offer that which uplifts another
Seek a feeling of well-being
Know that your value can only be measured in terms of joy
Acknowledge your absolute freedom to do any of these things
Or not do any of these things
For it is, without exception, your choice in every moment of every day.
No title – Author: Charles Swindoll
The longer I live, the more I realize the impact of attitude on life. Attitude, to me, is more important than facts. It is more important than the past, than education, than money, than circumstances, than failures, than successes, than what other people think or say or do. It is more important than appearance, giftedness or skill. It will make or break a company…a church…a home. The remarkable thing is we have a choice every day regarding the attitude we embrace for that day. We cannot change our past … we cannot change the fact that people will act in a certain way. We cannot change the inevitable. The only thing we can do is play on the one string we have, and that is our attitude. I am convinced that life is 10% what happens to me and 90% how I react to it. And so it is with you. We are in charge of our Attitudes.
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