Ten Years of Angels at Work

Ten years.  In some ways, it seems like it was yesterday.  In others, it seems like it was 25 years ago.  To those who lost a loved one, it probably feels like eternity. 

At my current job, the PR person sent out an email to ask if anyone wanted to be interviewed by the local paper about what they were doing on 9/11/01.  I gave it some thought and quickly dismissed responding to that email. I talked to a former coworker about my feelings later that week, to see what her feelings were.   You see, we worked for a company that played a role in communication with some of those passengers during their last moments.  And my former coworker is pretty much on the same page as I am. We choose to let that day be in the past.  At least as far as talking about it to others.  That being said, I want to re-post my 9/11 post from last year.  Because I still believe it to be true.  And it warms my heart to give this some thought.  I'd love to hear your thoughts on this.



As I sit here thinking about what I want to say in today's post, I'm overwhelmed. How do I say something unique to honor those who lost their lives nine years ago? What I want to say has been said so many times, by so many people. It feels trite. But to not say it seems disrespectful.

You see, I feel the way to honor each of those lives ended on 9/11/01 is to allow each of those angels the opportunity to create the peace in this world that we so desperately need.

This may seem simplistic but if you don't mind, follow with me for a short journey. Imagine you lost a loved one that day. (I know this is not such a stretch of the imagination for many of you). Think about the things you did, the fun you had, the way they made you feel when they walked into the room. When you think of that, are you filled with peace or anger? Chances are you feel the joy of that relationship. You feel the peace in your life that your guardian angel would want for you. You feel the peace that this world needs.



The news media these days certainly throws a lot at us to stir up anger. Whether it's about building a mosque at Ground Zero, or burning Qurans in Florida, it seems they want to keep those fires burning. Sometimes, the best way to extinguish those fires is to turn off the news.

Today, I choose to honor those angels who are working double time to combat all the anger in our world. Today, I choose to live a peaceful life. Today, I choose to thank those whose lives were given involutarily so that they can be the angels that remind us that peace in our world starts with each of us individually. Today, I choose joy and peace. And today, as always, I will not forget.



Things I Think I've Learned This Week...

Courtesy of
donnabellasangels.org

Angels among us!!  My brother went for his radiation yesterday and met with the oncologist after.  The nurse on duty explained to my brother that her dad had the same cancer.  She made sure my brother understood some points that will speed up his recovery.  Something he really needed to hear. I'm always in awe when I hear of the right person being in the right place, to say the right thing at the right time.   It's amazing when you really look at your life and realize that there really are angels in our midst.  

Courtesy of
cobbcast.cobbk12.org

All this talk about whether or not to bring technology to the classroom has some good points on both sides.  But until the decision is made to teach kids what they need to know instead of "teaching to the tests", we aren't going to grow as a nation. There's no getting around the fact that technology is here to stay.  We just need to learn how to make it work for us.

We need more business owners to be politicians, and more politicians need to learn how to run a business in order for the craziness in Washington, D.C. to stop.  I'm convinced that career politicians don't understand that you have to have the money before you spend it.  You don't create the money by giving back to people what they earned to begin with.  So, my solution...switch jobs.  See if you can understand how things work on the other side.  Then make decisions.  Or we'll vote your ass out!!



Courtesy of
http://www.cartoonstock.com/
directory/r/rhetoric.asp

 

Being the geek that I am, I printed and reviewed the President's Thursday night speech.  I took each paragraph and decided whether it was rhetoric, a suggestion, or a solution (does it give an answer, a "how" something needs to happen).  And here's what I came up with:  Out of 54 paragraphs, 45 were rhetoric, and 9 were ideas/suggestions.  None actually outlined anything new (but we were told that THAT would be coming next week).  In my humble opinion, that was quite a bit of hot air. Too bad for us, I guess.  We need solutions.  

I'm so grateful to my daughter's sister-in-law, Anna, for taking a beautiful picture of me with my grandkids.  She is an extremely talented photographer, and it truly shows that she loves capturing life.   

Photography by Anna Buti

I have had the honor of offering my input to the business plans of one of my very good friends as she develops a business that will offer her creativity to the world.  I can't wait to see what comes of it.  Maybe I should ask for stock options now, before she makes it to the big time!!!

I miss following up on everyone's blogs, and will probably take some time this weekend to catch up.  Also need to create a little to keep that part of my spirit fed. 

This weekend, each and every channel seems to be spending some time airing 9/11 "stuff".  I know I'm not alone in still grieving deeply on this anniversary.  But I truly wonder why they have to show some of the stuff they show.  Are they hoping to get the prize for "most gory details"? 

Okay, enough of my opinions and things I've learned this week.  Just leave me a comment with yours.  I'm off to read some of your blogs.

A Couple More Pages

Can't say there's much going on here.  I found out yesterday that there's actually woodgrain on the top of my desk.  Who'da thought???  Yep...that means I'm getting thru the stacks.  Can't say I'm doing it alone.  I'm lucky enough to have my buddy Margo helping me!!!!

I've worked on a couple digital scrapbook pages.  I'm trying out a white background, but once I print them out, I'm feeling compelled to add something with a little dimension.  But here are the pages sans embellishments.



A few years of birthday cakes for grandson #1. 
I'm not that good, but he enjoys them.




Funfest at Indian Trail
June 1, 2011


So that's all for now!  I'm trying to make it a point to do a little blogging, a little visiting, a little scrapping, a little painting and a little photography each day.  Well, make that each week.  And if I'm not DOING it, I'm reading more to learn.  I'll keep you posted on how that goes.

Happy Hump Day.  We're halfway to the weekend!

A Week in Review - For Sanity Sake

Nobody I know - just makes me smile
Courtesty of http://go.funpic.hu

Another week in review.  A little reflection of my week.  I love how it puts things in perspective.  Because when all is said and done, coming home and enjoying family and friends is just about the ultimate in joy for me.  So without further ado, here are some things I noticed last week:

Parents who decide to wait til the last minute to reregister their kids for school and then try to be extremely rude and nasty to me and try to blame the postal service for not receiving something that was mailed out in May only teach their kids that it's okay to not accept responsibility for something that is clearly their fault.

I adore parents who come in with checkbook in hand and say to me, "Man, I blew it this time.  I lost what you mailed me.  What do I need to do now?"  Way to teach your kids how to own it and live with it!!  Kudos to those parents.

The love of my life is a wonderful man.  He's good to me.  He just has this "time" thing that is okay for him, but frustrating to me.  When I get past my frustration, I consider myself the luckiest girl in the world that he loves me.  Because as a former coworker advised me, "we've got to call him 'Poor George' because he lives with you, and we know what he's up against."  I know...I probably shoulda been offended...but coming from this coworker, it was funny.

You probably all know I don't believe in coincidences.  I believe that things happen by design.  Whether you name it God's plan or something else, there are reasons things happen.  This week, a woman stopped into my office to enroll her granddaughter in our school.  After five minutes of reviewing the paperwork, we realized that the gram and I went to school together.  And she was one of the persons the reunion committee was looking for.  Right in front of me.  Yep, things happen for a reason.

Only a couple weeks after I made a declaration that I was going to try to mail things more often, I fell off the wagon.  Time to get back on.  I love it when people tell me how happy they were to receive something in the mail from me.  Happy heart!!!

I have not embraced my affirmations and gratitude (A&G) statements lately.  "Too busy, no time."  Such b.s.!!  Because when I don't take time to embrace my affirmations and express gratitude, my world turns to crap.  I can't tell you what a difference it is.  But A&G can take a nasty day and turn it around in a matter of minutes.  I know... duh!!!!

Sometimes, you can get the wrong doctor.  I found out this week that something that has nagged me for a number of years is something that could have been addressed a long time ago.  But every time I asked about it, the doctor brushed it off.  The doc is no longer in my life.  I think that's a good thing. 

Teaching hospitals are good and bad.  Good because you feel like your case is able to give the next group of doctors some hands-on experience.  Bad because you sometimes feel like you are an object while the teaching is going on.  No, I wasn't treated like a guinea pig.  But it's surreal to be the object of discussion yet not join in. 

Courtesy of http://go.funpic.hu

Have an awesome Monday!!  Try not to lick a pig.

Just Another Homework Assignment...

Taking another class online over at Big Pictures Classes.  This one was a free class entitled "Words to Live By".  I'm trying to make the entire album a digi or at the very most a hybrid (part digital/part traditional).  I'll end up printing these out as 8x8 pages.  Here's what I've got so far:

My friend MF's wedding day

Yeah, I know I'm still focusing on that darned fire. 
I'm still in awe of nature!!

That's all I got for now, my dear friends.  I'll check back in a couple days to reflect on the week.
Make today a great one!!  Just remember, you only get to enjoy this day once.  There are no do-overs.

This Week's Reflections

I know I haven't told her yet, but I do love the concept of wrapping up a week with a review of sorts.  Nicole over at Destinations Unknown has a weekly post about Things I've Learned This Week.  I like that. 

I like the idea of a short and sweet list of the week as I reflect on it.  And I have maintained for many years that I will be a lifelong student.  So why not reflect on what I've learned?!  (Thanks, Nicole). 

Things like:

• It's been 3 months since my kidney surgery.  Man that time went fast and I'm feeling great!!
• When you get diagnosed with cancer, it's okay to not like what you are hearing.  But it can be inspiring to others to watch how you handle it.  And my big brother is amazing!!  (Love ya, Larry!!)
• I really am getting better at working on damaged photos in Photoshop.
• I need a new cell phone.  My flip phone takes its sweet time pulling in text messages.  I end up getting them 24 hours later. 
• Mother Nature is simply amazing.  In less than a month, she can go from this

July 3, 2011

to this

July 31, 2011

• My daughter knows how to touch my heart.  And it's the little things that touch my heart in a big way.
• I'm not good at computer repair.  And I need to have the ability to view videos on my computer.  It's been a over a month that I've tried to restore my video capability since loading a new version of Adobe Flash Player and I'm not getting anywhere.  Therefore, I'm handing my computer over to my favorite IT guy so he can make it like new again. 

It might be a few days before I visit your blogs and leave comments.  But once my IT guy does his magic, I'll be back taking online classes and showing you the results!  Have a happy week!!

Creative Avenues - The Road Now Traveled

My friend Leanne over at From Chaos Comes Happiness once said that she doesn't multi-task very well when it comes to creativity.  I think I'm the same way.  Sometimes it's art journaling, sometimes it's card making, sometimes it's writing/blogging and sometimes it's scrapbooking.  But I don't seem to be able to do more than one of those and feel like I'm putting a part of myself into them.  Does that make sense?  I guess it's like driving.  You can only be on one road at a time!

Lately, I've been having some fun taking up Design Challenges over at Big Picture Classes.  We are issued three challenges a week, roughly every other day.  And I've really been doing a good job of keeping up.  I thought I'd share with you some of the layouts I've completed in this class. 

The first challenge was to take something common and use it to design your layout.  I came up with this:



A checkerboard layout
(I love how the flash caught the center of the flower)
Photo courtesy of Colleen Buti


Challenge #2 was to use your photo as your base.  (I'll probably re-do this one by handwriting instead of computer writing). 

Cormick's Imagination

Challenge #3 was to use orange:

What a happy little girl!
Photo courtesy of Christine Buti

Challenge #4 was to use vintage font/type in your layout

So Silly
Photo courtesy of Christine Buti

Challenge #5 was to use a symbol as part of your layout (I think I may tweak this a bit).


The Door - left page



The Door - right page

Challenge 6 was to do an almost monochromatic layout.

Challenge 7, one of the most difficult for me, was to use bold/busy paper. 

Challenge 8, use a sign.


Photos by Edward Fox Photography


We've got three more challenges to go.  Can't wait to see what they are. 

But I guess that's all I have for you today!!  Sorry I can't think of any deep, probing, life changing question to post!  It's just not in me right now!!

Tricks of the Trade - Marketing Version

Saturday, my BFF Murph and I went shopping for bridesmaid dresses at David's Bridal.  She's standing up for an "across the pond" wedding of her friend Andrea.  Since Andrea is having a civil ceremony PLUS a church ceremony, Murph needed to try on dresses for each event.  I got to be the photographer and first-round judge.  Andrea gets to make the final decision. (And just for the record, there was not one dress that Murph tried on that DIDN'T look good on her! )

But as I sat there looking around the store, I discovered something.  Nothing earth shattering.  And actually, not really NEW information.  Just proof that the display marketing they do in stores has nothing to do with real sized girls.  I wanted to show you.  


Dress on display at David's Bridal



Dress on display at David's Bridal

Note the back of the mannequins/dress forms.  See how they don't can't even have the dress zipped up all the way.  Now, we're not talking plus size dress forms here, People.  We're talking about those thin microscopic waisted dress forms that they use.  And then they use the smallest sized dress available to display.  Hence, the inability to zip it up all the way. 

WHY do they use them instead of the forms that are closer to the size of a real woman?  Because they think they won't sell as much.  Because our society has saturated our thinking that if you're not an itty-bitty thing, you're not sexy.  Are we ever going to get past this thinking?  Are we ever going to realize that "having a little meat on those bones" is not necessarily unhealthy or unsexy?  Y'know, we can change it, don't you?  We just need to be aware of these things.  We need to be aware of what marketing is trying to drizzle into our brains shove down our throats.  And then let those stores know that you'd like to see something on display that looks more like the people you know. 

It's nice to know there are some stores out there who "get it".  David's Bridal apparently is not one of them. 

The Little Tree That Could

When the world says "Give Up",

Hope whispers "Try it one more time." 

-- author unknown --

Over the July 4th weekend, my neighbor had a garage fire that totally destroyed the garage and destroyed a lot of their belongings they had stored there.  The fire also damaged a portion of my garden.  I blogged about it here.  This week, the owner's insurance adjuster told me there was nothing in the owner's policy that would cover the actions of his tenant.  So there was nothing that they would be doing to repair the damage to my garden. 

After feeling sorry for myself for a couple of days, this evening I took another look at the garden.  

A couple weeks ago, I was convinced this hydrangea was a goner.

But this evening, there is hope.  I see growth.  I see promise. 

It may not be this year, but I'm sure next year, it will end up looking more like it used to.

Same with the ornamental pear trees --  What started off like this a couple weeks ago:

is showing signs of new growth amid the burned and charred branches and leaves.

I now envision my tree saying to itself, "I think I can, I think I can, I KNOW I can."

What's not to love about the perseverance of nature?  Maybe we could all use this lesson at some time in our lives!!

Where flowers bloom, so does hope.

-- Lady Bird Johnson --

Pros & Cons

Refuse to accept the many reasons why it can't be done

and ask if there are any reasons why it can be done. - Hanoch

Have a happy Saturday!!!