Another Kwote

Read this last night:

"... if we genuinely love people, we desire for them far more than it is within our power to give, and that will cause us to pray." - Richard Foster in Celebration of Discipline.

Oh Me Oh My

I'm chewin on this: Could it be that part of getting over ourselves is accepting ourselves?

From Wayne Muller's How, Then, Shall We Live?:

"Accepting who we are, who we have become, our lives, our jobs, our friends, our destiny as it has evolved - this is a fruitful practice. Accepting who we are is a practice of non-harming. Sadly, much self-help literature contains seeds of harm: We are urged to remake ourselves into someone who will be spiritually or psychologically acceptable, and that acceptance is conditioned on our performance in the areas of therapy, growth, or meditation. We are still not accepting ourselves unconditionally, just as we are in this moment, with a full and joyful heart.

A more merciful practice begins with acceptance. .... By surrendering into a deep acceptance of our own nature - rather than by tearing apart who we are - we actually make more room for genuine, rich, merciful, playful growth and change. If we feel our fundamental strength, creativity and wisdom, then change is not frightening at all. Things simply fall away when they are ready, making room for the rich harvest underneath. "

Some Like It In A Pot Nine Days Old

9 days!
Do you see that over there? --------->>>
ONLY 9 DAYS LEFT!
wow..............

If you get a chance you simply MUST go visit Going Jesus!
Check out the Bridezilla cake! And WAY FUN Favors.

Elsehow, It's 65 degrees right now, might gonna get up to 77! Heat Wave! WOOOO!

Also, WYCE is streaming on line. Take a listen, if you have high speed internet - you never know what you'll hear next! They have a rule I like - I hereby declare that ALL RADIO STATIONS should abide by this as law also: They never play a song twice within 5 days! Even if you beg and whine and cajole they won't play it again for 5 whole days! (no, I didn't try it, they said that on the air!) So unlike commercial radio there's not the ad nauseum playing of the most popular song of the moment. I fell in love with it while driving to Grand Rapids one day. The station I was listening to in Lansing crackled and fizzed it's way into thin air while I drove past Portland. So I turned the radio off. Right around Saranac I turned it back on to find a GR station and it was at the same place on the dial which happened to be WYCE. Lo and behold I discovered this glorious place where one moment you could hear jazz the next moment folk the next moment blues, or worldbeat or rock.....etc. Was certainly great for my ears. So check it out if you have some time.

Confessions of a Cereal Spiller

There is this woman in my life who is so full of blessings and grace for all those around her. I appreciated her already and recently she prophesied over our upcoming marriage and I want to share this with you because I believe you'll be blessed by it also. Here is what she said:

"You will spend all your days gazing into each other's eyes as you pop chicken nuggets into each others mouths until you are completely and utterly satisfied. and then all the lambs, lions and butterflies in your neighborhood will come and lie down at your feet as you picnic. the lambs will lick your toes until you giggle so hard that you will fart the sweetest vanilla scented gas. the butterflies will dance around kevin's head and the lions will allow you and your honey to ride on their backs off into the sunset. blah blah blah the end."

This was a huge relief because I was certain we were in for some rough water at some point but now I know we can be sure of eternal bliss and happiness.
Thank you so much, dear friend!

In other news... I've been keeping a dream journal for just over a year now. It's lots of fun. I like it best for keeping track of themes and once in a while it's fun to go way back and laugh about the good ole dreams.

The dream titles I use reflect the dreams themselves for the most part -
Unlike this blog - where the titles may or may not have anything to do with what I write. Some of them are pretty funny all by themselves.
I got to thinking that some of those titles might make great posts.... I could write starting with a title and go from there.

Albino Spiders
Virus Tornado
Underpants
Underwater Driving
Can't Save The World
Pat and Mouse Turds
Hairy Chin
Smoking With Dad
Softball with Cate Blanchette
Riding a Camel

Or...... if I string them all together it still sounds like just the kind of dreams I often have:
The Albino Spiders came after the rampage of the Virus Tornado. The funny thing was that my Underpants were completely repellent of both the spiders and of water, which was convenient for the Underwater Driving I was engaged in. After much time under the sea I realized that I Can't Save The World because I'm not able to roll down my windows underwater. I began thinking about Pat and Mouse Turds while rubbing my big Hairy Chin when suddenly I found myself Smoking With Dad ! He suggested between hits that we play Softball with Cate Blanchette. That idea sounded much more interesting to me than Riding a Camel , so we bought our tickets and got in line.
And then I woke up.

Poem sent to me today:

RETHINKING REGRET

Let's thank our mistakes, let's bless them
for their humanity, their terribly weak chins.
We should offer them our gratitude and admiration
for giving us our clefts and scarring us with
embarrassment, the hot flash of confession.
Thank you, transgressions! for making us so right
in our imperfections. Less flawed, we might have
turned away, feeling too fit, our desires looking
for better directions. Without them, we might have
passed the place where one of us stood, watching
someone else walk away, and followed them,
while our perfect mistake walked straight towards us,
walked right into our cluttered, ordered lives
that could have been closed but were not,
that could have been asleep, but instead
stayed up, all night, forgetting the pill,
the good book, the necessary eight hours,
and lay there -- in the middle of the bed --
keeping the heart awake-open and stunned,
stunning. How unhappy perfection must be
over there on the shelf without a crack, without
this critical break -- this falling -- this sudden, thrilling draft.


Elaine Sexton
Sleuth
New Issues

Copyright (c) 2003 by Elaine Sexton
All rights reserved.

Blah Blah Ganoush

A word about Titles:

Here on Captainwow the titles have a life of their own. Sometimes they are relevent and sometimes they are not. The mind is a queer thing and the words therein have fluid meanings.
This morning I thought up a really really groovy title while driving to work. No blog content, just a great title.
Can't remember it.

It makes me think of those great ideas you get sometimes when dreaming.
The hardest class EVER for me was Algebra. Both times. High School and College Algebra had me in tears. Sometimes when I was dreaming I'd think of a GENIUS way to figure something out and would think OH that is so SMART I'm SURE to remember THAT!
And I never did.
Or sometimes I've dreamed of ways to solve other problems. Only ONCE did I have the presence of mind to write one of these genius plans down.
My mom had gotten me a pair of earrings that, due to their design and the structure of my earlobes, I could not get them on. I LIKED them so I tried and tried but it didn't work. Then that one night I dreamed about it and thought it was such a BRAINY IDEA that I wrote it down so I wouldn't forget.
And it was COMPLETE INSANITY.
Even while writing it you'd think I'd have caught on that it broke several laws of physics and that it just couldn't EVER work.
But no I didn't catch that part and wrote it down anyway .
I wish I'd saved that scrap of paper. Cause it would be very entertaining now. At the time though, I was very frustrated so I threw it out.

So I'm thinking maybe this GREAT BLOG ENTRY TITLE I thought up this morning might have been something like that.
Perhaps it was Complete Insanity.
Maybe it's good that I don't remember it.

You're so vain. I bet you think this blog is about you.

Speaking of Vanity (which we weren't).......

I'm currently in the process of whitening my teeth with one of those Crest Whitening Kits. My dentist says it works well and isn't bad for me but I should drink coffee through a straw (and red wine) or it will just stain my teeth even more. This is of course because I am unwilling to go two weeks without caffeine.

Yes, I know that caffeine is the root of all evil. Feh!

So ya............Hi, I'm Captainwow and I am an unrepentant caffeine addict and I am much more vain than I'd like to be.

Everyone in unison: Hi, Captainwow!

In Other News, I got me wonathoze fancy shmancy LCD Flat Panel Monitors last night.
I feel so much less crowded now. The old one was of course the size of a row boat and I had to HIT it several times to get the picture to stabilize.
Bruised and battered, it finally it got tired of my abuse and left me altogether.
On the rebound, I went right out the next night and got me a new one.
I think I'm in love.....

Wedding Blurb

So far I've tried to spare you the whole Bridal Squeeking. Didn't want to turn this into my wedding blog. But today is an exception because in case you haven't been watching the count down there are only 18 days to go. Back in September this seemed a good bit away, and now it's almost here. Wow.

We discussed with our minister the possibility of opening with this:
"Mawwiage..... Mawwiage is what bwings us togethaw today.......... Mawwiage, that bwessed awwangement, that dweam within a dweam... "
But we've decided against it.
Kevmo goes today to pick up the Mawwiage License. We are so unbeWEEEEvably GEEKED.
I've really not much else to say since I have major wedding brain.
It's time.
I DO already, OK?
So let us boogie our bad selves on down to the BAHAMAS!
But first we shall have a sacred ceremony and then a BIG SACRED PARTY and then we will groove on down the road.

Sacred and Scared aren't that far apart, are they?
I just noticed that.
Yup, I am scared. Scared but sure.

Cue the Indiana Jones theme........
Or as the Kevmo would say:
"Bum bum BAAAAAAAAAAAHMM!!!!!!"
Cracks me up every time.
If you haven't heard him do that yet, just listen for it. It's good.

It doesn't come across in the written form as well, I'm seeing as I try to write this but if it helps any, it's a sort of sarcastic music theme thing like in a movie when you know something great has just happened or something really BAD is ABOUT to happen. Just in case you needed the music to help you figure out it was a key moment.

The funniest yet was when we went to Boston Market for dinner (again) and he said "Oh, maybe I'll try something NEW this time! Bum bum BAAAAAAAAAAAAHM!!!"

Ya, so in summary: I'm marrying Amazing Man in 18 days (bum bum baaaaaaaaaaah!) and I'm pretty geeked about it and I just thought I'd tell you (again).

Quit Playing With Your FOOD!

I can find a way to play with just about anything, so THIS! looks to me like lots of fun!

Dare to Dream

Do you ever not know you're scared about something until you're not and then you go "WHEW! That was really freakin scarin me!"
wow.

And last night I had a dream that reminded me how afraid I used to be of the dark.
I dreamed I was out and realized while walking that if I didn't hurry up I was going to have to walk home in the dark and that old creepy panic snuck back in and I felt that feeling that I haven't felt in a long long time.

And another thing that has always scared me is water. I can deal with it. I can swim and I like snorkeling and I love being in boats but I am really careful about how and what and where and with whom I am in or around water with. Underneath this layer of control there this completely irrational fear and if I let it, it can completely paralyze me. The other night I dreamed I was needing to swim from one body of land to another. The ocean between was really choppy and I was with my mom. So we started swimming. I remember thinking how scared I was and how I hated that my legs were dangling in this dark water and how I felt that almost out of control panic but not quite so I kept swimming. I knew if I kept pushing I'd get where I needed to go and it would be over. Along came this huge wave and I swam as hard as I could and then I got even more scared so I shut my eyes really tight and swam for all I was worth and suddenly the wave let me down gently on the sand on the other side. Just like that, I felt the soft wet sand on my face and I was out of danger. I was so incredibly relieved!

The way I'm interpreting this dream is that once in a while something takes me by surprise and sets me down gently. Once in a while something I hate so much or am so afraid of turns out to be helpful or even completely harmless. Or someone I thought I needed to have my guard up with turns out to be benevolent instead of dangerous.
Life is just like that I guess.

Flip! Flop! I Was Takin A Bath!

Remember when Flip Flops were called thongs?

New News Today:

I got a new pair of Flip Flops and I'm wearing them and it feels GREAT!

My 8 year old keyboard at work is retiring. It has had so much use half of the letters are worn off the keys.
I spilled coke on it the other day so the Enter key sticks on the number pad and lately the ALT key has been having a will of its own.

The Magnolia trees are blooming.

It's byoootiful out today.

I'm not quite so snarky today.

I believe I'll also be getting a new mouse as the right click button has also developed seizures.

My favorite gel pen ran out of ink while writing out a fax form today so I got a new one from the supply closet.

I ate a taco for lunch.

I've sneezed 9 times today already.

I can't remember my dream from last night.

Mirror Mirror on the Wall, Who is the Snarkiest One Of All?

If you're keeping track, and I know you are -- my mood is now Snarky. Went from Blessed to Snarky in one day. Or maybe two. Yesterday I was too snarky to update it.

My snarkiness is peeking through the Prozacsphere and causing my Ionic Field Deflector to malfunction again. But I will repair the damage before the warp coil is affected, have no fear. Just be sure to spit your gum out before securing your helmet for take off. Otherwise you'll have to swallow it.

SNARK really is a word, according to the dictionary:
SYLLABICATION: snark·y
ADJECTIVE: Inflected forms: snark·i·er, snark·i·est
Slang Irritable or short-tempered; irascible.
ETYMOLOGY: From dialectal snark, to nag, from snark, snork, to snore, snort, from Dutch and Low German snorken, of imitative origin.
OTHER FORMS: snarki·ly ADVERB

Ok? -- cause I'm still BLESSED. And I know this.

BUT......

It feels like this: that phrase from Steven King's "The Dark Half":
" The George George Starked over the Starky Stark."

When this writer who's NOT named George Stark begins growing a "tumor" or alter ego named George Stark and doesn't know it until he goes to type in his name on his typewriter only to find he can type nothing but George Stark. So he closes his eyes really tight and concentrates as hard as he can and tries to type "The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog". He opens his eyes to see that he has succeeded only in typing "The George George Starked over the Starky Stark."

Rhymes with: "The Gin Gin Snarked over the Snarky Snark!"

PBTHPBBBPBBPBTHTH! feh.

If I was a penguin it would look a little like THIS.

Raccoons and Deacons........

Amen!
Real Live Preacher Good story. I like this.

If You Don't Like My Peaches Then Don't Shake My Tree

I had a guy approach me in the parking lot this morning at the coffee place. Immediately he could see my guard was up, because I stopped walking and let him come my way - I wasn't going to get trapped between two cars like that. So I stayed out in the open and he gave me his line - you've heard it before. Blah Blah Blah I have no home blah blah blah I just need a buck so I can get a bagel blah blah blah. So I'm sure he's doing this for a reason and he maybe is down on his luck but here's the thing. He didn't stink. I felt more tired than he looked and dang it - it was COLD out and he had only one layer of clothing on. Homeless my foot. So I told him I thought he was full of shit but he could have the dollar I had left in my purse and I'd give him 20 if I had it why didn't he just ask openly instead of trying to come up with some big long line and waste my time. He raised his hand and said HONEST I'm not a nutcase -- and I interrupted him and said No maybe you're not, but I am, so take this dollar, it's all I have this morning (it really was) - and get away from me. He did take my dollar - of course - and moved on to the next person telling them a completely different story.
I felt kinda badly because you know - what if I'm wrong? Maybe he stayed in a shelter last night and got a shower and just visited the laundromat yesterday and was not cold and maybe I just patronized and insulted someone honestly having a really bad time - but he caught ME at a bad time and I guess I just didn't have the patience for it. So, Mr Man in the Parking Lot, maybe the whole big long story doesn't work anymore cause the rest of us are jaded.
Maybe if you appeal to people's goodness instead of their guilt you might get a little further and not freak people out so much.
Or maybe you're just full of crap and you need to get a job.
I heard a story about my brother getting approached by a homeless guy once. He worked with homeless people in Jacksonville Florida and I hear he was really good at it. This particular guy was someone he knew so when the guy asked him for a smoke he said naw, I don't have any but I bet you do - how bout YOU loan ME a smoke and I'll owe you one. So they sat down and had a smoke together.
The guy I met this morning was smoking - maybe I should have asked him for a smoke. Mighta worked out feeling better for both of us.

Hot and Cold

The office building I work in is a typical office building filled with typical human beings. Part of my job is facilities management. So I get to hear all the complaints about the HVAC system. Not only is there the usual problem of not being able to please everyone or sometimes even ANYONE, we also have the most retarded HVAC system ever manufactured. This time of year the thing typically gets way confused because the weather is still a little cold out but when the sun comes out it heats up certain offices so the system thinks that particular zone needs tremendous cooling so if your office is in that zone, you're screwed. It freezes people out regularly, while at the same time someone else on the other side of the building may be frying to death. It's truly insane.
So one day not too long ago I was moving some files around and putting last years' files in the basement and stuff like that so I was getting a little hot. Not wanting to be a whiner and not thinking about the retarded furnace/air conditioner, I simply opened my window to cool my office off. Which worked quite nicely for ME but also turned out to be torture for my co worker across the hall since the system thought that it was now cold in our zone so it began blasting heat at full fan speed in our zone, cooking everyone but me. Finally she said something to me about it and when turning the heat down didn't work I thought to me "oh, well I'll just FOOL the thermostat (which is in my office) by lighting my lighter under it and heating that little baby right up!" Not only did it not work, it created a melty brown spot on the bottom of it. OOPS! It is now quite obvious what happened there. Thankfully, it still works - or at least as well as it ever has.
I figured no one would ever notice, but sure enough, last week we had some other issue with the system and when the repair man came to address other issues, he was standing in my office afterwards chatting about the state of our system. I sat there sweating just a tiny bit thinking "Man, I sure hope he doesn't glance over there at that thermostat." Of course he did. I was busted! He grinned and said "Ayup! You tried heating that there up with a lighter, didn't you? Happens all the time, ma'am. Desperate times call for desperate measures. But I wouldn't recommend you do that again. Nooo... Just turn the heat down instead or open a window."

The Raccoon Stories

Real Live Preacher wrote a very entertaining 5 part series on his epic battle with a racoon. Click here to read more about it: The Raccoon Stories

And this just in too: Burt's Bees ROCKS!
They now have TINTED lip balm!!! good stuff.

Fishy Business

The robin came back today. He pecked at my window and this time I had no mercy. I ran out there and waved my hands and yelled at him and told him I was scaring him off for his own good. At least he's not flying into the window anymore. He's probly too exhausted.

And here's a funny story for you. Disclaimer: If you're into this kind of stuff then I apologize if any of the following offends you I certainly don't mean to be anti-christian or anything.

If you know me very well you know I don't like "Jesus-y STUFF" Very much. I don't like the idea of commercializing spirituality - though I know it's done all the time. We could go round and round about that I suppose. I have "christian artwork" around, some has meaning to me and I have it for that reason.
My feeling is that there ARE people out there who really do go both ways with the tolerance thing but many people are only religiously tolerant as long as you're not a christian. It's fine if I want to abstain from certain behaviors if I'm practicing Islam or Taoism but if I'm a CHRISTIAN and I do or do not do something for faith reasons some people have illogical reactions to that are based on mostly bad information and in some cases complete ignorance about world religions or spirituality in general. These are the same people that will hold Christians to some standard that no one could possibly live up to and are quick to yell Hypocrite at the first sign of humanity. These are the people I'm going to piss off if I accidentally cut them off in traffic and I've got one of those cute little crosses or fishes on my car. So that's why I don't have a Jesus Loves You bumper sticker on my car. Though If I ever find one that says "Jesus would love you MORE if you DIDN'T DRIVE ON MY BUTT!" I might buy it.
Ok so back to my story. Here's me, in the CHRISTIAN BOOKSTORE getting a Henri Nouwen book and I desperately needed mints. So I looked and the only ones I could find were - you guessed it - the little mints shaped like fishes in a tin that has scripture written on it. They're called SCRIPTURE MINTS.
How cute.
So I bought them out of desperation.
And they tasted nasty.
KA and the Kevmo got a good laugh out of me having SCRIPTURE MINTS in my posession. But here's the kicker. The other day those fish mints were gone all but one and I left the tin in my car as an emergency backup. I bought more mints at Starbucks because I LIKE those. They're YUMMY, not nasty and they don't have the potential of helping me make myself look like a hypocrite! BUT the dang thing had a top that didn't work well so most times I'd try opening it and the whole top HALF would come off and mints would fly all over the place. It was quite annoying and it created in me sinful, violent thoughts of finding the person who put that tin together in the factory and shoving it up their nose.
Last night I had a gentler idea. Aha... I could transfer them to another container that wouldn't irritate the crap out of me! I thought about putting them in a ziploc baggie.... but that just wasn't very neat and tidy.
Finally I remembered I still had that stinking SCRIPTURE MINT TIN!! Perfect! The most redeeming quality of that tin is that it is easy to open. In went the Starbucks Mints and I was golden.
- Except now I'm stuck with the SCRIPTURE MINT TIN for another round and it cracks me up every time I pull it out!
I think it could be an April Fools Joke from God.
Very funny, God.

Architecturally Challenged

I saw a link that was so funny once. It said Click HERE to continue clicking pointlessly. So of course I clicked there and nothing happened.
I thought about doing that to you guys but figured I'd just tell you about it instead. But actually if you'd like to experience it for yourself you may click on the the word HERE and see what happens.
ahem.
In other news, For 3 hours now, this poor Robin has been trying to get in the building. He tries each window and then he goes around and tries it again. I've chased him off, talked nicely to him, yelled at him, tried reasoning with him (or her) via psychic gentle thinking at him - and all to no avail. It's quite stressful for a couple of reasons. It's distracting, (cause I honestly AM trying to work today) and it seems like it would HURT to fly into a glass window like that so I feel sorry for the poor thing. And also, it's messing up the nice clean windows I just paid big money to have cleaned. Or rather the COMPANY paid money to have cleaned. Anyway, it's making me a little bit nuts.
It most certainly could be worse. I read this today on anamnesiac.com: "i will be spending the night with 40 ninth graders tonight (community service retreat). We will be working with, preparing meals for, and eating with people whose lives have been a series of crushing blows, but the girls are concerned that they won't be able to take a shower...."
Wow, sounds like me sometimes. The things I whine about!
Anyway Happy Monday - hope you had a great weekend. I sure did. This weekend I went into a store that made me want to morph into Martha and MAKE EVERYTHING!!!!
Scary but fun!

No disrespect intended

Check this out: The Dalai Lama Gets a Makeover -- Beliefnet.com

What do you love?

A few weeks ago when I was home sick, I watched some TV. Mostly I don't watch TV cause I don't have very much time and the TV in my house doesn't have cable so there's not much choice - a few local stations, the GVSU station and the religious station. I don't miss it that much because I've been conditioned in the past not to need TV. I grew up not watching it because my family didn't have one (by choice) for more than 10 years. I'm quite good at entertaining myself without one. (as you may have gathered from previous posts) When I have cable TV I go nuts about it - actually have to make myself DO things during the commercials and set time limits for my inner girl so that she doesn't sit on the couch watching TV and eating popcorn her whole life.
I'll sit here and spout to you how pointless most TV is - how evil of a time sucker it is and how much the media reeks with agenda etc.... but sit me down in front of one and I'm wide eyed and mesmerized.
So when I'm sick I watch TV some - it takes no brains or energy and it just is comforting sometimes to visit my old pals on Days and see who's demon posessed these days.
Well I flipped through the channels this one day and there was an older woman on the public TV channel - can't remember her name or what book she wrote but she was talking about doing what you love. I'd always heard that concept - as in, you should do what you love for a living and then you'll be happy. But that formula doesn't work entirely for everyone and she is the first person I've ever heard preach it in a more practical way. Her thing was not to say go get a job being a basket weaver if that's what you love, but she was saying if that's what you love, and you're not doing it then you're cheating yourself and the rest of us too.
She went on to explain that the gifts that we have, the things we love to do not only bless us but bless others too. If you can't do what you love for a living for practical reasons, then at least work it in somewhere. If you're finding you have no time to do anything that you love then there's something unhealthy about that.
So I liked that and I've been chewing on it ever since. The question for some then is "what do I love?" Most people in my life ARE doing things that they love and it shows. Jane re-discovered that she loves to knit. She knit me the best scarf and it's kept me warm all winter and it has bling blings on it and I LOVE IT! And KA loves to have parties and she and Janet threw me the best shower EVER and loved it and I and everyone else there was blessed by it. And I have art that my friends have made and I have poems that people have written and have eaten wonderful dinners people have cooked and enjoyed it. The ripple effects can't even be quantified.
If we don't know what we love then we need to take time to find things we love, which can be difficult for some. What turns me on? What makes me excited? What gives me joy when I do it? It means re arranging life enough to go on the adventure of discovering what it is we love.
So I began thinking about what I love and what I'm gifted at and how can that bless others and I came up with a lot. Even Tennis. I'm not that GREAT at it but I LIKE it. If you think about it - it requires two at least. And aren't we blessed when we do something we love with someone else who loves it and can't do it alone?
I'm good at playing the flute. I have a degree in it, I've studied hard and can play quite well. I did make a living at it for a while but for various reasons decided my priorities were different and it seemed I didn't love it anymore when I had to do it for money. Other people get very concerned when they hear I'm not playing much these days. It's like the cardinal sin to get a music degree and then not play in an orchestra or something. But I don't love it like I did... or I love other things slightly more. I get off on teaching someone about music and seeing the light bulbs go on in their head and seeing the joy they get from making music themselves. So I will teach again. But full time? I'm not sure.
I also receive huge rewards from processing with people. Spiritually connecting, nurturing if necessary. Helping people in their search for God is much more exciting than just about anything else I know. "Seek and ye shall find" is something I really believe. It's so exciting to see how creative the spirit can be and to be part of that discovery process.
So if I love these things and I DON'T do them, effectively I'm holding back gifts from others who might be blessed by the very thing I love.
How just like God to wire us in that way so that everyone benefits when we do what we're good at and what we love? These things become more than hobbies or interests or something we should try to make money by doing. It's true that we all have to earn money to make our way. If we do what we love and make enough money at it then great - if we can't, (or don't choose to) then by fitting it in what we love and are gifted at (usually those two things go together) - wherever we can, we're potentially giving joy and love and blessings to God, to ourselves and to those around us.
And that's just downright groovy if you ask me.

Of Chillows and Governors

Drumroll.......
And now, the moment you've all been waiting for, the results of the Chillow Pillow Research.
It works. It's this thingy that you slide in a pillow case on top of a pillow to cool your head while you're sleeping or resting. Or it can go behind your back whilst working away on your blog.
It has a gel/foam inside that absorbs water. I poured 2 quarts of water in it and pushed all the air out and ta da! It acts as a heat sink and takes heat from the body and distributes it out into the air. It is amazingly effective.
Now, I'm not getting paid to say this I've just had incredible amounts of email requesting more information on the mysterious gadget that I bought recently, and I wouldn't want to disappoint my huge fan base.

In other news, Governor Granholm smiled at me today. I feel speshul. I have no political feelings toward her or opinions - to me she's just another person with a whole lot more ambition and a ton more riding on her shoulders than I have. Once in a huge while it's just fun to name drop. So me and Jennifer exchanged smiles today. She was treating her staff to a luncheon at the Cafe I hired to cater a lunch at work yesterday. The chef there is quite amazing and they put together great lunches for us now and then.
So today, I was returning all the byootiful dishes they loaned us to present lunch with and as I was getting in my car the Gov was getting out of hers (with security close at hand of course) and so I bowed and curtseyed and begged to kiss her hand and they had to drag me away kicking and screaming.... wait! no, I'm thinking of a different story.
Anyway - I did smile, and so did she and I drove on outta there with a big grin on my face, thinknig how fun it would have been if I could have told her what the owner of the cafe just said about her. He was all nervous when I got there, he said she was coming and they were preparing a really big lunch for her - he said "That Jennifer Granholm is KICK ASS! I just LOVE HER!"
What a great compliment!!