Today, I am thankful for my meditation practice. With the house being a complete mess, a kitchen remodel looming over head, and social obligations, my normal routine of things has been knocked off kilter. I’m a routine person, very much the girl of habit. When that gets messed up, I get a little cranky (I’ve been this way since birth).

Every morning this week the alarm has gone off and I have literally crawled out of bed. I’ve been so tired that I’ve just wanted to sleep in and skip the meditation. So, I kind of made a compromise. I’ve slept in the extra 15 minutes, but still get my practice done while Chris is finishing getting ready. It’s made us about 10 minutes late every day (not really…we get to work around 8:00 and don’t really have to be here until 8:30). But I feel that it’s been worth it.

Lots of big changes coming up in the next few months. There’s the chaos and destruction in the home. I have one month left in this lab before I move to the new one. I’ve never been one that handles too many changes at once very well. My meditation practice keeps me sane (or saner at least). I am thankful for those fifteen minutes that I devote to just one thing. And I am thankful for the peace that those measly fifteen minutes brings to me each day.

Have a wonderful Halloween weekend!

You have to sing it like the guy from Fiddler on the Roof. TRAAAADITIOOOON! TRADITION! (Ha! Bet you’ll be singing that all day.) The pumpkin has always been a tradition taken very seriously in my home. It begins with the hunt to find the perfect pumpkin (this year’s is white one!), that one that speaks to you. The one that says “I will make THE best carving pumpkin on the planet”. Then, the pumpkin has to rest for a week on a table that you pass by on a daily basis. The reason for this next step is so that you can contemplate what your carving is going to be, which is really the hardest part of pumpkin carving.

This year the tradition of pumpkin carving was shared with Zelda. We were supposed to do this at her Whores and Smores party, but I was the only one that brought a pumpkin for carving. Plus, by the time I made it to her house after the parade, I was so tired that all I wanted was to sit and drink cider. So Chris and I took sweet potato fries (Jersey Sweet potato) and hamburger (faux BBQ “beef” for me) fixings over to her house Tuesday evening for a simple evening of dinner, fried okra, laughter, The Biggest Loser, and pumpkin carving (see Zelda’s pumpkin Cletus).

I had it in my head that I may be able to accomplish things around the house this week, but every evening so far I’ve had some sort of social event or teaching thing. The last thing I needed to be doing was hanging out at Zelda’s carving a pumpkin. But you know what? That was the most relaxed, easy going evening I’ve had in weeks and probably, with out it, I would have most likely missed out on my most prized Holiday tradition.

I’m learning to love the chaos that surrounds me, but only like a relative you’re forced to see about once or twice a year. Happy Love Thursday!

I’ve had some days the past week where I think it would be easier to list the things that do not make me happy. That’s when I’m reminded of just how important this happy list has become.

• Sharing my list with others
• Speaking in terrible broken Spanish with my barista, Melody
• Stealing office supplies
• Stolen office supplies
• That tree down the street that looks like it’s on fire
• Chris getting to see Star Wars in concert
• David Bowie hopping up randomly every day for a week
• Chatting online with Todd in Japan
• Making Todd tell me what every thing is in Japanese
• Beer Friday’s with Robin
• Ghouls Gone Wild Parade!
• Being in the Ghouls Gone Wild Parade
• Smores made with Reese’s Peanut butter cups
• Seeing Wayne Coyne at Coffeeslingers
• Organizing my new desk
• Naked juice
• Being appreciated for my yoga teaching skills
• I still smell like smoke
• Brunch at Classen Grill, waiting to be seated with a group of roller girls that were also in the parade
• Making lasagna
• Mushroom tofu
• Playing with the Halloween features on Picnic
• La Baguettes
• Carving pumpkins

There are also times when I feel like I haven’t added to the list, or that the list gets shorter and shorter as I continue with this project. It feels nice just to see that I can find things to be happy about.

Did I mention that I was actually in the Ghouls Gone Wild parade this year? You may even remember last year’s entry and parade pics. Looking back at that entry I notice that I mentioned something about riding my scooter as Amelia Earheart. OK…so I walked and I was dressed as the purple cakra. Who cares?!?! All that matters is that I was in the parade.

For some crazy reason I thought that I may be able to carry the camera around with me. It was interesting being behind the scenes and I got some pictures of this before I handed the camera over to Chris. He took some pictures, many of which are at odd angles as he imitated paparazzi, and then the battery died. Doh!

Doesn’t matter. The whole evening was great. We got to hang out briefly with Quinn and spend the rest of the evening with Zelda and friends drinking cider, warming toes at the campfire, and eating smores. I think if there is one smell that sums up the entire month of October it would be campfire smoke.

This week has started the social event ball rolling with the U2 concert. It’s one event after another all the way through Sunday and some where in all of that we plan on getting the office in order. But even though I’m tired (I could use a really long nap) and the idea of dealing with the house makes me even more tired, I am thankful for the social activities that are planned this weekend.

Tomorrow is the 3rd Annual Ghouls Gone Wild Parade along with Zelda’s Whores and Smores party. This year I am walking along with the Art of Yoga’s float in the parade. I”M IN THE PARADE! All I know is that I’m supposed to show up in all one color, but I don’t care. I”M GOING TO BE IN THE PARADE! So…I’m thankful for parades. I am also thankful for the pumpkin I’m going to carve at Zelda’s. He’s a white pumpkin that I’ve named George and I think I just now decided what he’s going to be. You’ll have to tune in later.

Have a great weekend and wonderful Thankful Friday!

Chris and I met the most awesome woman at the Farmer’s Market on Saturday named Susan Bergen (see Things that Make Me Happy). She’s with Peach Crest Farms and normally doesn’t do the Farmer’s Market circuit, but that day she was filling in for her son so he could be at the OU game. Totally unnecessary information. She was selling (among other things) watermelon radishes and cutting off bites for people to try. For those of you have never tried a watermelon radish, big ones are mild and little ones are Red Hot hot. Poor Susan thought she had nearly killed me as I chocked and my eyes watered. She took pity and gave us her water.

When I could talk again she asked us why were at the Farmer’s Market. Chris and I told her about how we’d recently seen Food Inc. and Fresh. I mentioned that at least by the end of Fresh we were not crying, but, in fact, were inspired to grow food even though I am the black thumb of death. This is when Susan told me how to start my own veggie garden, a plan that is so stupid easy simple that it brought tears to my eyes (again). My heart swelled with hope and a realization that I can do this. And you know what my friends? So can you, because I am going to pass on the knowledge ( I took notes, seriously).

Step one: Throw leftover vegetable waste on the ground. That’s right. On the ground. No need for tilling or clearing. Just plop it down in an area of your yard that gets five hours of sunlight a day. Next step is to add a layer of newspaper. Add a layer of cardboard on top of that. Then add a layer of bagged soil. Be sure to check the soil first. You want fluffy dirt, not clumpy. Check before you buy. Make a row in the dirt with the edge of your hand. Sprinkle in seeds like spinach, lettuce, and radishes. Cover and wait. This will get you started and by spring, your garden plot will have composted enough to start other vegetables.

I hugged this woman when we left. Not only has she inspired me with possibilities that even I can grow vegetables, but she provided me with support. The woman gave me her phone number! Told me to call when ever and if I have problems or questions. And I know. This is such a long entry to get to the point. But it’s rare when I come across a person/book/movie that lights up that can-do spirit. I had to share. It’s like that church song we used to sing as kids, This little Light of Mine. Hide it under a bush; Oh No! I’m gonna let it shine.

Happy Love Thursday.

Yesterday, I was tired and cranky and it totally reflected in my post. Later that day I reached over to write something on the “Things that Make Me Happy” list and I realized that I had more then just one thing to write down. I also read over the ones I’d listed and it cheered me right up.

The List continues:

• Funny videos about bacterial conjugation
• XM radio
• Turning off the news
• Time with Chris
• Love Thursday’s
• When one of my favorite songs pops up randomly on my Pandora Play list
• Thao with the Get Down Stay Down
  
• Bonfire with friends and laughter
• sunshine
• Susan Bergen from the Farmer’s market (there’s a bigger entry here. the woman almost made me cry with happy)
• Having tea at the a new tea house
• That perfume I like that smells like blood oranges
• Learning to grow my own veggies (part of that Susan Bergen entry)
• Watermelon radishes
• My new scooter keychain for my scooter key (it’s a little blue scooter!)
• Getting to watch a movie all the way through…by myself
• U2 in concert LIVE
• Doing the wave in a huge stadium packed with people while waiting for U2 to take the stage
• Loose leaf tea
• Getting one task accomplished in the evenings after work

I’ve also noticed that more things get added to the list on weekends, then during the week. Which is a good reminder of why I have decided to not teach on those days.

Over the weekend we managed to get really lost (like 20 miles out of the way lost), find our friends at Fall Fest and eat and drink and laugh around a campfire. We did all our grocery shopping, planning our meals with the idea we’d have an oven/stove by now. No oven/stove. Pulled everything (almost) from Chris’s office and partially assembled one desk and then we went to the U2 concert. We have got to stop cramming everything into one weekend.

When things get like this, I feel like tasks get only half way accomplished and never finished. Like Chris’s office crap is going to be in the living room until we move. We’ll be tearing up the kitchen floor soon to lay new tile. Meanwhile, we’ll still be tripping over office crap. What’s happening in our house right now is called multitasking on the most horrible scale. And since I’ve taken on the art of unitasking, this current situation is not sitting well in my gut (I feel the hives just below the surface).

And really? I don’t know what’s happened here either. That first sentence should have been something like this: “U2 was the most awesome concert in the history of concerts!”. And they were. I’m still in shock and awe. I saw one of the most influential bands in the history of music, live, on stage, with a space ship! And if it hadn’t been for that concert, the highlight of the weekend (really…the year), I’d probably be curled up in a corner, silently rocking, with remnants of desk construction instructions (35 fucking steps people) littered around me.

Maybe I’ll put the desk drawers together this evening.

There are so many things to be thankful for on this Friday I almost don’t know where to begin. I’ll start with the weather. Yesterday, some time after lunch, the clouds that had been like a quilted blanket over the state of Oklahoma finally started to break apart and move south. The sun came out and even warmed things up a little.

In hopes that this weather was planning on sticking around for a while, I pulled on my thigh highs, an extra layer of socks, jeans, t-shirt, sweater, coat, glove liners, mittens, and a scarf and hopped on my scooter to scoot to work this morning. I was about half way to work when I realized that I could no longer feel the tips of my fingers and that I had no legs. But instead of slowing down, I picked the speed up to fifty (or so) and relished in the blast of cold wind. It’s been weeks since I’ve been on the scooter and I feel like my soul really needed the ride this week.

We have some big construction things coming up; projects that make my stomach hurt just a bit. Mrs. Swan decided that since the oven was kaput, it was time to rip out the old kitchen and start new. This is great because maybe I’ll have a kitchen I actually feel comfortable cooking in, but sucks because we will be with out a kitchen for a while (the work is being done by Chris’s brother. if he would actually communicate his plans, we could help and speed things up a bit, but Chris’s family is retarded). All of this coincides with Chris’s latest office remodel.

Chris is carving out a nook for me in the office so I will have my own space. I’m pleased about this for two reasons. First. MY OWN SPACE! And Secondly. The last time Chris carved out a nook for me in an office it was at the old place. I had three blissful months of my own desk space and then he moved us in with his mother. I’m hoping history will repeat itself here, but move us out of his mother’s house.

Wow! Didn’t mean to drag the Thankful Friday entry out so long. That’s what I get for missing a week. Be thankful for the weather, the friends you plan to share it with, and even the changes it may bring. Happy Friday!

Yeah…that’s actually the slogan for the Oklahoma Library system. They even made up posters with famous Oklahomans reading their favorite books. But that’s not what this entry is about. Actually, I shrivel up a bit when ever I’m asked about my favorite book. I can never choose a favorite. I just love to read.

I grew up in a home without cable or Nintendo. We lived (actually, my parents still live there with out cable) in a very rural community five miles outside a very small town. I was the only girl my age in the neighborhood until I was five or six and then I still had to ride my bike a mile or so to get to her house. I had a lot of alone time. But that’s OK. I’m not scarred or bitter. I learned to play and use my imagination and read. One of the best things to do was fold a bunch of books up into an old blanket and find a bare patch amongst the tall grass of the pasture. I’d lay on that blanket for hours reading and taking breaks to gaze up at the blue sky and puffy clouds.

I am a devourer of books, a habit that has been coddled and encouraged by Mom, sister-in-law, sister, and husband. I keep the ones that are important to me and pass on the ones that are popcorn. But I always have a stack waiting for me on the night stand. I pick them off one at a time and then start a new stack. And that’s my love Thursday. I can look at that stack of books and sigh a pleasurable sigh at the wonderful possibilities in those pages.

Happy Love Thursday!