Grateful

Have you ever had those moments when, amidst whatever you're doing, everything in the world seems so much clearer and out of the blue you understand something, or maybe you know what you want to do, or something like that. I have been having a week like that. I don't know what it is exactly, but I feel incredibly empowered, like I'm really on the right track with my life. I know what I want to do, who I want to be. I know mostly how I am going to accomplish it and I have some really big lifelong goals that I'm working on. I have some really positive things going on that truly outweigh the negative and I just feel good. That isn't to say that I don't think about things too much and confuse myself, but when I can clear my mind and focus a little bit better, everything makes sense and I know that what I'm doing is right for me. Oh, how I wish I could remember that 24/7.
I have a whiteboard behind my door in my bedroom that I put quotes and reminders on, things that make me smile, and some that just remind me to do something. I recently updated it with some new statements and now, every time I shut my door, I see these new phrases that give my life purpose and meaning. So, I guess that at this very moment, despite the turmoil of the workplace and the weird world in which we live, I personally have peace and for that, I am GRATEFUL.

Needing a laugh

I was watching America's Funniest Home Video's last night. There were two little kids - a brother and sister doing karate (rather, pretending they were doing karate). The little boy keeps looking at the camera and saying "Do you want a piece of me??" The little girl steps in front of him after some of his bantering and, in the cutest little voice, says "Yeah, do you want a piece of ham?" So she heard, do you want a piece of meat? I laughed so hard!!! Hope it brightens your day.

Therapy

I just saw this quote on my sidebar; it's by C.S. Lewis and I absolutely love it! It is now my therapy quote - you know, that one eye opening comment that helps to either define or solidify your position/belief in, well, whatever.

"It may be hard for an egg to turn into a bird: it would be a jolly sight harder for it to learn to fly while remaining an egg. We are like eggs at present. And you cannot go on indefinitely being just an ordinary, decent egg. We must be hatched or go bad."

It's been almost 3 weeks since I started 'the project' in my room. It has changed a lot since we finished the painting but I think everything has made it to a more permanent arrangement. I have been clearing out all the old junk and the fun memories and now, to my amazement, I have open spaces in my room and I don't know what to do with them exactly. I still have stuff that needs to be put away but I am having trouble thinking of redistributing the stuff in my clean space. I guess I'll just have to get over that one. The good news is that I have almost all of my stuff out of Lori's room - it looks almost liveable again, so COME HOME LORI!! Oh, and if you haven't heard, she is coming home in just over a month. She and her roommate Tausha (hi Tausha) will be visiting for a week and I just can't wait!!! It's going to be a party here. (Pretty sure I might be 'sick' (cough, cough) one day, but I would never really do that).

If you're wondering what she is doing this summer, take a look at these...

Lori didn't come home this summer so she could stay and work as a cake decorator. This is what she gets to do everyday. This cake, however, was not for work. She made this cake FOR FUN after she got home from work. What can I say? She is A-W-E-S-O-M-E!

So here we are again, on the edge of another fun and exciting week. I hope yours is great, too.

Promises

As promised - here are some pictures...

This is the quilt

It took just under a month to do, thanks to a wonderful mother who devoted herself to its completion

It is so bright and cheery.

I absolutely love it!!!

Next is the everchanging bedroom.

This is the before shot - I almost forgot to take one!

This is what I saw when I woke up every morning

Bye bye clouds. It's too late to turn back now.

Fortunately I haven't looked back and I don't regret any of it.

This is the new color!!!

This was one of the last pictures I took last night after rearranging the furniture. It looks as though the dog doesn't mind this a bit. (This is the much more calm side of Paco - he spent the day following me around, absolutely freaking out about all of the extra commotion. I think we took a year off of his poor little life) This is him, completely calm and ready to settle in for the night.

Of course we had to try the quilt on. It looks so great with the new color scheme.

That concludes our photo tour. Unfortunately I don't have the completly finished product, mostly because it isn't quite complete yet. I have already rearranged the furniture twice since the above pic was taken, so who knows how it will ultimately end up. If you want to see it though, in its entirety, you'll just have to stop by.

Funny thought

I have a ton of friends who have recently had babies and it has been so much fun reading everyone's posts about how quickly their children are growing up. Today as I was reading though, I was struck with a thought that literally made me laugh out loud. On every blog I have read today, there was an update of height and weight, all the new things the baby can do and some funny stories about having children. As I was reading the stats on some of these children - I thought how incredibly funny if parents did that for their teenage/adult children. Can you just imagine..."At 25 year-old check up, Scott was 6'2" and 190 lbs", all followed by what new ability he has discovered and a picture of a funny face. All I can say is that I'm glad that my parents DON'T do that.
In other news, the quilt is completely complete and I will be posting pictures soon.
Have you ever read the book "If you give a mouse a cookie"? Basically, if you give a mouse a cookie, he's going to need a glass of milk, and it continues a chain reaction of needs based on what you gave him. Well, if you give me (or let me help you make) a new quilt, I'm going to need a new color on the walls, and once that is done, I will have to rearrange the furniture. So, we spent yesterday, Memorial Day, painting my bedroom (I will also be posting before/after pics...one day). It went from a beautiful sky blue color with clouds on the ceiling to a bright, summery yellow. The furniture has also been moved - I'm still not sure if I like it or not, but luckily, that is a lot easier to change than say, repainting because I didn't like the color, right?

Bubbles

I found out (or more correctly, was reminded) how much I love bubbles. We found 12-16 inch tubes of bubbles at Wal-Mart for - brace yourself - $1!!!! That's a whole lot of fun for a buck. Needless to say we bought several tubes and have been enjoying them immensely. So what are you still doing here? Go buy some - you won't regret it!

You've had a birthday..

Shout HOORAY!!! Happy Birthday to my wonderful sister Lori! I hope you had a wonderful birthday and that this year will be the best yet.
Her birthday was yesterday and I am still bummed that I didn't get to celebrate with her. Oh well, I guess that's the way life is.

I have a spreadsheet at work that I put together about a year and a half ago. I update it every once in a while. One page has events that I am looking forward to and the other is full of quotes (confession: I am a quote freak!). I haven't opened it in a while, I seriously mean months. I came across a quote that, in the past day and a half, has brought me a lot of peace, confidence and encouragement. One day I hope to know who said it.
"It's not who you think you are that holds you back; it's who you think you're not"

And with that, I'm ready to conquer my future...