Sunday, February 22, 2009

PASSING OF TIME


I will be not be posting anything for this week. We have lost a member of our family and I will be spending the time with family remembering a great man and his life.

Remember life is very short and we all need to live Life in Celebration

Saturday, February 21, 2009

TODAY

I just wanted to share a peaceful photo with you today. I wish everyone well today and hope your day was pleasant. 

Live your Life in Celebration 

Friday, February 20, 2009

TRANSITION






First day.














Nine months later almost to the day.





WARNING: This is about some soul searching and trying to find out about me. You may not want to read further. I just hope I have opened my eyes to some aspects of my life and how I have been living it.


It is interesting what just 9 months can do. You start clean and fresh as you do when you are born. As you grow you make changes making your life better. Each change is another layer of paint. You add a piece of furniture that comforts you and soothes you. This is the process where you turn a house into a home. You decorate your home with items that make you comfortable and pleases you and you can identify with. 
This vacation home has been so much fun watching it being built, buying the furniture, stocking the kitchen with stuff, buying towels, picking out paint colors, looking at wall decor, and planning when is the best time to be here to work on all it. I have been so busy looking for all of this stuff and wanting to make sure I got the perfect lamp, the most unusual table, and the ideal sofa that I lost track of me. Who I am and what all of this stuff means to me. What is says about me and if I am happy about what it says.  I don't want to have my ego be the definition of me. 
I have been kind of reading this book by Echart Toole; A New Earth - Awakening to Your Life's Purpose. I am not very far into the book but it has been hitting on some issues I know I need to work on. Here is a excerpt from the book which I am trying to incorporate into my life,"One of the most basic levels of identification is with things. My toy later becomes my car, my house, my clothes, and so on. I try to find myself in things but never quite make it and end up losing myself in them". It is not this house or anything I own that makes me who I am. I really think I have much more to offer as a person than how I have decorated my house but the trick is to remember that. I don't want to be identified by my choice of couch or the size of my home. I don't want to think that people only like because of it either. I know I need to look past things and remind myself thing are just what they are and they don't define me as a person. I have to do things that make me happy not do things for the purpose of making other people happy in some obscure hope they will be happy and like me.
This is were I look back on this photos and think about what they mean. Are the photos a chance to share the process or is it the lame hope of you making me a better person because I have what I have. How does one not keep tripping over their ego as they make their way in life. 

Today is a good day to think about what Life in Celebration means to me and I hope to you too.

Thank you for reading.






















Tuesday, February 17, 2009

JUST A DAY

This is one of the flowers I got from my husband on Valentines. I wanted to share it with you all. I thought they were lovely. Hope you all had a great weekend and holiday. I stayed on at our vacation home and my husband flew back to work for the rest of the week. I am staying because I am having some tile work done and someone needs to be here to make sure the work is done.  I would have to say that it is much better than going home to the snow and cold. It has been rainy here but the temp has been in the 50's and will be climbing up to the high 60's. Can't complain about that. 
I kind of took the day off. My husband's flight was a 7:50 a. m. which was O.'dark-thirty for any of the stores. After taking him to the airport I had to kill time until the stores opened at 9:00 a.m. If you ever need to go to Home Depot or to Target the time to go is before 8:a.m. When I got to Home Depot about 7:45 a.m. I think I was the only customer there. It felt like I surprised some of the employees. A couple of them scurried off to some task which was assigned to them. They acted like I caught them slacking off. The point about all of the this is you will get the best service and all the help you could possibly want or need. 
One of the down falls of having to kill time is you also kill any extra cash you have. You spend a lot of time looking at things you don't need but talk yourself into them anyway. If my time was limited then I would be in and out with what I really needed. So, I guess my second point is, go early and waste no time looking at stuff. I went in for a drawer pull for the bathroom and walked out with 8 replacement rollers, 3 small plastic paint tubs, 2 packages of replacement rollers for the very small roller and finally hope to finish the small entry to the master bedroom and the kitchen while I am down this time.  Target was worse, because I went in with nothing in mind and walked out with a toothbrush holder, two short sleeve polo shirt, and two 3/4 sleeve tee shirt. The tee shirts need to go back their not right.  Once it turned 10ish I was able to really get into some serious shopping. The $100.00 store, Costco, received some attention, Tai Pan deserved some looking and an small purchase of around $30.00, TJ-Maxx ended up with about $144.00. Two pictures jumped into the cart, a new bread knife snaked its way into the cart, then came those 3 workout pants that back flipped into the cart. So, my cart was there at the check out full with no real help from me. I did have a few other stops where I had much better control over the shopping cart even though several things kept trying to come home with me. I felt I had done enough damage to my Amex so I headed home to arrange the loot.
I did my duty in aiding the economy. I know the stores are living their Life in Celebration and I hope you are too.


Monday, February 16, 2009

RECONNECT WITH FAMILY AND STUCCO SAGA

THIRD TRY

STUCCO SAGA

Well, I do have to say the patch is looking better. Now comes the issue of paint. When they tried to paint the first attempt they missed the mark by several shades. I will be able to tell you more in the next few days.

RECONNECT WTIH FAMILY

As you all know for some people it has been a three day weekend and a lot of people have been out and about visiting friends and family. Such was the case with us. My niece and her husband came down to go thru the Parade of Homes. They both really enjoy seeing all that is new in the mystical and wondrous over the top in home building and design. After seeing several of the house on tour they  spent the night with at our home. We went out for Mexican, which was good by the way, and sat around and talked until we couldn't keep our eyes open. We haven't really had a chance to spend much time with them in the past. When we do get together for family events they are really events with 30 to 40 people there. With so many people there it is not really a good time for a one on one with any one person or any of the couples. Their visit was good for us, as my husband was able to get to know my niece and her husband and I got to reconnect them. It was nice to be reminded what wonderful people they and how easy they are to be around. 
Val and Teri it was great to have you come and stay with us and we  hope you will plan to do so again soon. 

I also have two new people who are following my blog and I want to welcome them. Their blogs are http://crossingbridge.blogspot.com and the http://wildstormjournal.blogspot.com. As with all the blogs I follow they all have a little something to add to our lives. With a story to tell about themselves that adds a new dimension to mine. 

Remember live your Life in Celebration.



Thursday, February 12, 2009

HOME REPAIR










As you may know we have a vacation home. It is less than a year old and we wanted to make some changes to the lighting setup. We thought it would be wonderful to add under the cabinet lighting and some rope lighting on top of the cabinets. Then we had some can lights I wanted changed. S, the saga begins. This company I had chosen comes over and starts making the changes. The first day of work went very well and I was quite pleased with the work. Then came the second day.
It started off with the lead calling to say they will be about an hour later than scheduled. When they did finally show up and started the install things really started to go south. They were having trouble getting the electricity from one side of the kitchen to the other. There was a firewall behind the microwave giving them headaches. The next thing I know one of them is outside drilling a hole in to the side of my (stucco) house. They told me they could not think of any other way to make it work. ( I wish they would have talked to me before the drilling.) 
As of this morning, thanks to the help from my bestest friend Stacy and her camera, you can see things are not going well. 

Well time will tell and next week I have a feeling I will be doing the telling. Stay tuned for the FIX!
Today is a day I must remember to live my Life in Celebration. 





Second Attempt




First attempt.


Not a good start.








Tuesday, February 10, 2009

MY NEW GOLF BAG

YIPPY!!!! 
I have been looking for a new golf bag for about a year. My husband surprised me with this one today. I can't wait to load it up with my clubs and get out and play. 
I now have a purple bag that seem to multiply every time I went out to play. It seemed that everyone had to have one just like mine. 
I really like to be unique and with this I think I will. I have not seen one anywhere. My husband told me that he had to order it on line and they have stopped selling them. The first time I saw it was in Mesquite and I really liked it then. I know that someone will have one just like it but the chance of any of my friends having one is slim. 
I am ready for the season to start. For those who don't know me know that I play a lot of golf. In summer I would say that I play about 3-4 days a week. I play in a lot of tournaments around the state. I don't often win but I really have a great time with all of my friends that I play with. 
Sometimes I feel really bad for the person who is playing with me when I am not on my game. Because when your bad your really bad. I just hope they still want to team up with me.  As the season progresses you will be hearing about how I am doing out on the course. The good, the bad and the ugly. 
My husband had great taste don't you think? He really is good at picking out things that I like. He generally picks out all of my handbags and he does very well. I get a lot of compliments on them. 

Okay girls just a friendly reminder, my name is not Dot like my bag.

Remember always live your Life in Celebration


Monday, February 9, 2009

RUST WALL

This is one of the walls Stacy and me painted last week. Personally I think it turned out fantastic. What do you think? Can you give me some ideas about what kind of art work would look good? Still trying to get my brain around what I want on the wall. This is the great room at our vacation home. We purchased it last June and I am just getting around to painting the walls other than the standard builders colors. This is were Stacy spent 3 days last week helping me and it will be where I will be spending all of next week, trying to finish the job.

Remember to live your Life in Celebration.







Saturday, February 7, 2009

BIRTHDAY'S

Tomorrow is my husband's birthday. He will be 59. We are going out tonight to celebrate with seven other couples. It should be a blast. We all enjoy each others company and it could be a little loud when we are all there. 
We will also be celebrating two other men in our group. Bill who is only 4 days older than my husband and then Greg who is 5 or so years younger. The women in the group have always gotten together to celebrate our birthdays so a few of us wanted to celebrate the men's also. What it really amounts to is just getting out and getting together over good food and some good wine. 

It is really interesting on how we look at our birthdays. When we were young there were all those landmark dates that either our parents or we looked forward to. Our first birthday, our 5th birthday, when we turn a teenager, when we turn 18, when we turn 21, when we reach that quarter century mark or when we leave our 20's. Can you remember what those birthday's meant to you and how you felt on those days? In our youth the time could not pass fast enough you couldn't wait for your 16th to get your drivers license. The license is a ticket to freedom. The 18th birthday is the beginning of adulthood, you are legally able to vote, buy, and be held accountable. Your 21st birthday allows you to be a consumer of spirits, openly drink in front of your parents.
From you 21st birthday it seems like it is all down hill from there. Who really looks forward turning 30, 40, 50 or even 60 years old. What is really sad the time from 21 to 42 years old seems to pass like greased lightening.  As the years stack on you just get done with one celebration of your birthday and it is already time to stack one more on your pile of years. 
I have some friends that want to stop celebrating or even acknowledge their birthdays. I tell them why would you want to stop having birthdays? Isn't that like being dead? I want to celebrate each and every birthday because I want to be here a long time to help celebrate all of my friends birthdays.
Celebrate each and every birthday as if it was your first and you have your whole life ahead of you. On your birthday you have a fresh start on a whole new year you get to live your life in Celebration.
Happy Birthday honey may you have many more years of good health, good wealth, and good happiness.

Love you.

May you all celebrate your birthday with joy and happiness.

Thursday, February 5, 2009

EVERY PAINTER NEEDS A STACY

I just put in about a 14 hour day. Finished painting the great room. I am using Antique Bone on four of the walls with an accent wall of rust. What a change it made in the room it is so vibrant and stunning. I love it. I have a white leather couch and it really stands out against the rust. 
I have been on a mission getting our second home done. I have the master bedroom and a small entry into the master plus the kitchen painted and I will be done for know. Still have the bathrooms to do but at this point they can wait. 

I really have to count myself very lucky to have as good a friend as Stacy is. She have willing given her time to help me paint and there are not a lot of people who would do that. I mean she stayed all day and painted with me. What a wonderful person as I would never have gotten as much done as I have at this moment without her help. THANK YOU STACY.

Always live your Life In Celebration

Wednesday, February 4, 2009

NEW WORLD

How fun to find people from all over are reading my blog. It is a great feeling to think people are interested in what I have to say. What is also interesting is reading what others have to say. We all have our stories and each story impacts us all in some way. If is the telling of your story or the reading of others that makes us different some way. The change can be monumental or so small we don't notice the change until sometime in the future where that change if felt and utilized. 

I would like to recommend a blog: This site you will see people from around the world saying on thing 'Hello America'. It is really interesting and the person who has this blog is very clever. It is just people saying hello. I love it.

It is late and I am tired. I have been meeting with contractors, took a 45 min. walk around the neighborhood and taped and painted an entryway and two walls of the great room. It looks fantastic if I have to say so myself. 

Everyone have a good night and remember to live your 'Life In Celebration'

Tuesday, February 3, 2009

FINDING MY WAY

I can see where a person of my age is behind the 8ball with all of this new tech stuff. I have quite possibly a good six months of reading on how to blog. I have joined a few Google Groups and so far everyone has been so helpful and full of information and recommendations. I plan on reading most of everything they have recommended. It is a daunting task but I really do fill that it could quite informative and satisfying. 
I really think blogging is a great form of communication where you are able to get to know someone and become friends without really ever meeting them. You able to laugh and cry and celebrate their life as well as your own. What I want to do is be able to share who I am with people because we all have a story. What I don't want to do is make this a soapbox where I whine and cry about things I can't change or really do anything about. I want to make a difference in my life as with telling about my life I feel I will better understand who I am. Talking things through with yourself in this form helps you put things in perspective. 

To all of those who have help me so far thank you.

Live your life in celebration.