Under Construction

I can't seem to resolve my header HTML issues on my own, I didn't get very many good pictures from Christmas and I don't do very well at making New Year's resolutions, so while my blog makeover is underway I am going "under construction" for a brief time. I hope it won't be more than a week or so, and I reserve the right to come back in all my HTMLy glory if the makeover takes longer than expected.

I've never had a facelift or anything of that sort, so I don't exactly know what a "makeover" involves. I don't think it is at all like when those Mary Kay ladies come to your house and leave with you looking like a much fancier version of yourself, at least I hope not. I don't think I will be coming back with a "sexy" page. I'm a lot more Pottery Barn than Laura Ashley. I'm hoping for a SimplicityRUs sort of blog makeover, with no nagging HTML issues.

I will, of course, continue to visit as many of your blogs as I can while I await my reconstruction and I will be looking forward to 2010 and wishing all of you a Happy New Year.

Six Word Saturday

To participate  in 6WS Visit Cate Here

Blogger issues are driving me crazy.

A few times in the last month or so I have gotten an e-mail telling me that my blog header is only HTML code. I asked some others to look at it and it looked fine to them. Then, a couple of days ago I got an e-mail from  Jeanne at The Raisin Chronicles telling me that when she pulled up my page that it was nothing but HTML code. Again, I asked a few others to look and it looked fine to them. Argh! Now, I know I don't have a massive number of readers, but I really value the ones I do have and I would like for them to have something besides code to read when they are nice enough to stop by. My computer skills don't extend toward even having a clue about how to figure out what the problem is.

My hair pulling and head banging (not a good solution, but it was all I had) over this problem will hopefully come to an end soon. My daughters (who are probably very tired of me calling them with computer questions) gave me a blog makeover for Christmas from thedesign-house.  I don't really know what a "makeover" involves, and I like a fairly simple page, but hopefully in the next week or two I will quit looking all HTMLy to some of the people some of the time.

P.S.

Jeanne, from the Raisin Chronicles above, has been kind enough to e-mail me detailed instructions for a possible fix and offered to help me by phone if I am too techno-challenged to follow them. I will work on this later today when I have a long enough period of time to challenge the HTML gods. Thanks, Jeanne

Random Thoughts Tuesday

Random Thoughts Tuesday from the UnMom

My thoughts, if I actually have any on this Tuesday before Christmas, are definately random so when I saw this meme at  OhMy Goddess I thought it was perfect for me today.

How many of you wrote your Christmas wish list on your blog? Have you had any comments from Santa?

I'm not as ready for Christmas as I would like to be, but I'm not very stressed about it. I have 30-35 people coming to my house on Christmas Eve and I think I have everything planned for that. I only need to prepare ham, turkey, brisket, cheeses, dips, and various other hors d'oeuvres (yes, I did have to look up how to spell that) and I think everything will be fine. My daughters (thank you Jill and Joanna) are doing all the baking, so there will be lots and lots of yummy desserts.

We have about 8 inches of snow predicted, starting tonight and continuing through Christmas Eve, so we will have a White Christmas.

Our stores seem to have a shortage of Mint Chocolate M & Ms.

I thought this was my 100th post since I started blogging in January of this year, but it turns out that

 it's my 101st. or maybe my 99th, it depends where I look for that number.  Despite my computer skills being somewhat lacking and the frustrations that comes with that lack, I have enjoyed every minute of it. It has definately helped me fulfill my original goal of, as my title says, Living Consciously. The surprise serendipity has been all the wonderful blogs and bloggers I have gotten to know. Thank you to all of you for the friendship and support you have given to me.  

I wish a very Merry Christmas to all of you.

Hope and A Christmas Miracle

Calling it a miracle may seem a little too fanciful, unless you are a 7 year old girl named Hope and a seemingly impossible hope comes true for you a few days before Christmas.

Last spring Hope, who is my granddaughter, had to say goodbye to her dog she had known and loved all of her life. There was seldom a picture of Hope that didn't have her "Sammy girl" somewhere in it. It was a hard loss for the then 6 year old little girl. She has wished for another dog ever since.

Last week, on a cold day, a little, heartbreakingly cute guy with tan fur, a fluffy tail and no collar wandered into my daugher's yard. She brought him into the house to warm up and when Hope came home from school she immediately fell in love with him. As they were hanging "found dog" signs throughout the neighboorhood my daughter, Joanna, reminded Hope that it wan't a good idea to get too attached to a dog that wasn't yours.
They talked about how sad his owners must be that he was lost and that he probably missed them too. They called animal control and the local humane society to report the found dog.

They started calling him "Thunder". He slept in Hope's bed at night. While constantly reminding Hope that he was someone else's dog, Joanna was also having her heart stolen by Thunder. Every time the phone rang, she got a knot in her stomach thinking it was Thunder's owners calling to claim him.

After the second night Thunder was with them Hope left for school telling her mom, "I know his owners are worried, so I hope we find them. But when they come to pick him up, I wish they would just decide to let us keep him".  Joanna told her that she agreed, but that just wasn't going to happen.

That day the call came while Hope was at school.  The owner had seen their found dog report at the local humane society, from where she had adopted the dog just a couple of months before. When  the lady came to pick him up, Joanna tearfully told her how much they had enjoyed having him there and asked if it would be okay to bring Hope over to the woman's house when she got home from school so she could tell Thunder goodbye. At that point the woman, who had another dog or two, got a little teary herself and told Joanna she thought the dog would be happier and better off in his "new home" where he would get more attention and have kids to play with him.  They talked a little longer and Joanna got the woman's assurance that she wanted them to keep Thunder. I wasn't there, but I'm sure that by then Joanna was more than a little teary-eyed.

Hope came home from school to "A Christmas Miracle" and Thunder has a wonderful new forever home.

Dear Santa

I love seeing a beautifully decorated house at Christmas time and a buffet table laden with the Christmas finery and the foods of the season is truly a sight to behold. But, sometimes it just becomes too much. In many blogs and comments I've read lately I'm hearing stress and fatique and a sense of just not being able to do it all. I blame Martha Stewart. I found the following letter to Santa which pretty well sums up how I feel about Martha and her "never lower your standards" attitude about "gracious living". I have abridged the letter becuase it is very long. I have no information about who to attribute it to, but I like the way the writer thinks.

Dear Santa,

I rarely ask for much. This year is no exception. I don't need diamond earrings or comfy slippers. I only want one little thing and I want it deeply.

I want to slap Martha Stewart.

Now, hear me out, Santa. I won't scar her or draw blood, or anything. Just one good smack, right across her smug little cheek. I get all cozy inside just thinking about it. Don't grant this wish just for me, do it for millions of women across the country. Through sheer vicarious satisfaction, you'll be giving a gift to us all. Those of us leading average, garden variety lives aren't so overly concerned with gracious living.

We feel pretty good about ourselves if our plates match when we stack them on the counter, buffet-style for dinner. We're tired of Martha showing us how to make centerpieces from hollyhock dipped in 18-carat gold. We're plumb out of liquid gold, unless it's of the furniture polish variety. We can't whip up Martha's creamy holiday sauce spiced with turmeric. Most of us can't even find the turmeric, let alone figure out what to do with it.

Martha tells us that she's already making homemade holiday gifts for friends. Not just gifts, but "amazing" gifts. Martha's obviously not shy about giving herself a little pat on the back.

The letter goes on this way for a while and and ends with;

There you have it, Santa. If there was ever someone who deserved a good smack, it's Martha Stewart. But I bet I won't get my gift this year.

You probably want to smack her yourself.

Don't let trying to do it Martha's way get you down

As Helen Keller said:

The best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or even touched. They must be felt with the heart.

Keep it simple and enjoy the season

A Man And His Dog or Why My Man Is In The Doghouse

The other night when Doc was on his way to bed he stopped by the room I use for my office at home. I was at the computer. Dodger was asleep on the couch in my office.

Doc sat down on the couch by Dodger, petted him, gave him a hug, said good night, and yes, he said "I love you" to the dog then walked out the door to go to bed. To me....not a word, not a gesture, not even a pat on the head. I just laughed, but, of course, I had to go into the bedroom a few minutes later to point out his "oversight" to him. Even if I had felt slighted, it would have been well worth it to see how embarrassed and flustered Doc was when he realized what he had done. Doc is a pretty good gift-giver, but he doesn't usually venture in the direction of jewelry. That may change this year.

There is something about men and dogs.

How Dogs and Men are the Same:

From Shooters Dog Humor

Both take up too much space on the bed.

Both have irrational fears about vacuum cleaning.

Both mark their territory.

Neither tells you what's bothering them.

The smaller ones tend to be more nervous.

Both fart shamelessly.

Neither of them notice when you get your hair cut.

Neither understands what you see in cats.

Both have an inordinate fascination with women's crotches.

Oh, Christmas Tree

My grandchildren came over to decorate my Christmas tree tonight.

The tree decorating went very well.

The picture taking after the tree was decorated  was not quite so picture perfect.

At least no one had their finger in their nose this year.

Six Word Saturday

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I have never understood this style

He Didn't Eat My Homework, but....

This was, by far,  NOT the most embarassing thing I have ever had to tell my friend Patty, but I had to tell her.

She loaned me a book and my dog ate it. He is not normally a book eating dog, at least I don't think so. We have only had him a little over a month and he has been a pretty good guy for a one year old with a sketchy past and no pedigree. It may have been literary commentary, but I'm not sure if he liked it so much he devoured it, or disliked it so much that he destroyed it. It is a pretty serious book titled The Infidel, by Ayaan Hirsi Ali. I had to look that up. If I had tried to figure it out from what Dodger left of the cover it would have been written by Ya Ir Al. Maybe he just doesn't like serious. A replacement book is on the way from Amazon and Patty is still my friend.

Dodger and the book

Do you think he looks at least a little guilty?

If you want to read a really fun dog story go here and read about Hot Carl

How We Celebrate Christmas

My Friend Betty at A Glimpse Into Midlife did this Christmas meme  titled How We Celebrate Christmas. I really liked reading her answers about how she celebrates Christmas with her family in Paraguay. The other thing I liked about the meme is that it made me think about my own family's Christmas traditions  and I liked the idea of thinking about them, not just doing them out of habit.

1. Egg Nog or Hot Chocolate?
I really like egg nog as a Christmas time treat.

2. Does Santa wrap presents or just sit them under the tree?
Santa leaves presents under the tree on Christmas Eve.

3. Colored lights on tree/house or white?
Colored lights on the tree and white lights on the bushes in front of the house.

4. Do you hang mistletoe?
I don't hang mistletoe, even thought I grew up in Oklahoma where mistletoe is the state flower.

5. When do you put your decorations up?
Decorations go up throughout December....I can't face it all at once. The tree goes up in the middle of December. We may have to forego outdoor decorations this year due to very cold temperatures that have the gound frozen and bushes covered with snow.

6. Favorite Holiday memory as a child?
Lots of aunts, uncles and cousins coming for Christmas.

7. When and how did you learn the truth about Santa?
I don't remember how old I was, but I knew for a couple of years before I admitted it.

8. Do you open a gift on Christmas Eve?
One gift on Christmas Eve.

9 How do you decorate your Christmas tree?
My tree would in no way qualify as a designer tree. It has decorations  made by brother and I when we were kids, and ornaments made by my kids and by my grandchildren. I have ornaments that go back to my parents early Christmases during WWII. It has multicolored lights, multicolored bulbs, candy canes, and sometimes cookies. It has  ornaments that I have brought home from trips to foreign lands, ornaments that were gifts from friends and family, and a lifetime of memories.

10. Do you remember your favorite gift?
My favorite gift every year is a calendar with pictures of my grand children from the previous year.

11. What’s the most important thing about the Holidays for you?
Most important. That's a hard one. I like the mixture of religious and secular all stirred in with family and friends and good will. The food is good too.

12. What is your favorite Holiday Dessert?
Decorated sugar cookies.

13. What is your favorite holiday tradition?
My grandchildren coming to decorate my Christmas tree.

14. What tops your tree?
An angel that has been atop every Christmas tree of my life. I called her "The Christmas Lady" when I was little. She got a new dress about 20 years ago. She used to have wings with a light behind them. She is showing her age a bit like anyone in her sixties might, but she is much loved.

15. Favorite Christmas Show?

 







16. What is your favorite Christmas Song?
 Silver Bells.

I have made this a little shorter than Betty did, due to the cold, a short attention span and some frozen brain cells.  I'd love to hear about the Christmas traditions at your house.

When Calls Drop, Who Calls Back?

There's a lot of talk about cell phone etiquette, but I have an issue that I never hear discussed and I think it needs to be addressed. When you are talking to someone and one or both of you are on a cell phone it is not unusual to be talking, talking, talking and suddenly realize that no one is listening. The call has dropped. 

Here's what usually happens with me when a call is dropped. I realize I'm talking to no one, so I immediately call back the person I was talking to. The call goes right to their voice mail because, of course, they are trying to call me back, getting my voice mail because I am trying to call them back. I think, oh, he/she is calling me back, so I wait a minute for the phone to ring. He/she thinks, oh, she is trying to call me back, and they wait a minute for the phone to ring. When the phone doesn't ring within a few moments, I think, oh, he/she is waiting for me to call back, so I call and he/she........well, you get the picture.

I'm suggesting an easy solution that will save us all a lot of time if only you will accept me as the Queen of Cell Phone Etiquette and follow this rule:  The person who placed the original call is ALWAYS the one to call back. Simple. Easy. Problem solved.

Now I'll start working on a rule for that guy standing next to you in line at Starbucks describing his conquest from the night before.

Six Word Saturday

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Who thinks up word verification words?

Love From The Crib

I got an award from a beautiful blogger at a beautiful blog  Speakingfromthecrib. 

She gave me the Superior Scribbler Award and I am all atingle to get this from an uber blogger like she is. She is one of those who has umpteen jillion followers and gets so many comments that they run off the page. They come in numbers that would boggle, or bloggle, my mind. She is a fun and smart aspiring writer, as you will see when you go visit  her here Speakingfromthecrib.

Though I am old enough to be her mother ( I know this because she is the same age as my oldest daughter) she has been nice enough to let a struggling technodweeb blogger like me hang out with the cool crowd.

If I haven't said it before or said it enough, my family is the best thing in my life. Though none of us are perfect and there were some less than perfect years in my life when my kids were growing up, we all got through it together. Of course we love each other, but the icing on the cake is that we like each other. As family goes, it doesn't get better than that. The following is from a recent post on my daughter Joanna's blog.

Thanksgiving was fun, fun, fun! We spent the day at Mom's with aunts, uncles, grandparents, brothers, sisters, cousins (1st, 2nd, and 3rd) and dogs. We ate a lot and enjoyed spending time with everybody. I can honestly say we do not have one of those "let's make it through the holidays so we don't have to spend time with these people anymore" families.Thank goodness! It was a fantastic day! .

Thanks, Joanna

Things I Wish I Could Still Do

There's no time like the present to look to the past. With that thought in mind, I'm going back to some thoughts  from a long ago post about things I wish I could still do.

It occurred to me recently that there a lot of things that I have been able to do at some point in my life that I don't or can't do anymore. This is sadly not a complete list, but includes a few of the things that are probably now in the past for me:

The splits-Not a lot of call for this in everyday life, but it would sure be nice to still have that kind of flexibility.

Roller skate-I could, I'm sure, still roller skate, but I had the opportunity a couple of weeks ago and chose not to, mostly because I've broken my tail bone three times and that is the way I always seem to fall, and I would surely fall. 

Drive over the speed limit-Without feeling guilty.

Hand stands and cartwheels-Again not much call for these, but still fun things to do.

Ski the blacks-I guess I could still do this, but I refer back to the broken tail bone thing above. I'll stick to the greens and blues...with lots of breaks for a hot toddy. 

Leap tall buildings in a single bound-Okay, I could never actually do this, but it would be nice to have the confidence of youth that makes us feel like we could.

Stay up all night-Or at least get by on only six hours or so. I am pretty fond of a good eight hours.

Water ski-I actually could and would still do this, but no one with a boat and all the equipment has made me an offer for a while.

Drink coffee after 2 p.m.-Don't want to threaten that good eight hours.

They say life is about trade offs, and back when I could do the splits, ski the blacks and stay up all night I didn't have any grandchildren.

A Surprise Package From Far Away

5,180.1 Miles

That's how far the package I got in the mail from my friend Betty at A Glimpse Into Midlife traveled to get to me. Betty is a wonderful blogger and a great friend. Her's was one of the first blogs I ever read, before I really even had a clue about blogging. What a wonderful thing that a friendship can grow between two people with that much distance between them. Because most people are so honest and forthright on their blogs, I sometimes think we know our blog friends as well or better than those that we share a face-to-face friendship with. It turned out that Betty and I both had the idea of sending one another a gift at the same time and our gifts apparently crossed in the mail.

Betty sent me some beautiful handcrafted items from her town, Filadelfia, Paraguay.

There was a beautiful handwoven mat. I know just where I am going to put it.

And this handmade Christmas tree ornament. I have a special affinity for tree ornaments and enjoy collecting them from all over the world. How did Betty know this?

And this cute little souvenir from her town. I think this might become a tree ornament also.

Thank you so much, Betty, for your friendship and thoughtfulness.

Six Word Saturday

I am glad Thanksgiving is over.

I don't mean this in a bad way at all. I had a great Thanksgiving with family and friends. I shopped for, cooked and cleaned up after (all with lots of help) a big meal for a lot of people. Shopping, cooking and cleaning are not, not, not, a part of my regular routine . It was fun and now it's over. It's good to  have a good thing behind you. And, best of all, now I get to eat leftovers.

To participate in 6WS visit Cate at ShowMyFace here.

Thanksgiving

A Thanksgiving MeMe from  Nessa who said this:

I looked around for a Thanksgiving MeMe and I didn’t like any of them exactly the way I found them, so I did some turkey style carving and loaded my plate with what I wanted.

1. Where?

At my house for the first time in many, many years We usually go to my brother's where there  is a group of 25 or so. They had to be out of town this year so we will be at my house with a smaller group. Word about my cooking must have gotten around.

2. What?

Pretty much the traditional meal....turkey, dressing, mashed potatos, sweet potatos, green beans, cranberry sauce, corn casserole and lots of pies. There may be some extras that  those who have heard about my cooking but decided to come anyway bring for their own self-protection.

3. Who?

There will be 10 for dinner, my youngest daughter and her family, my cousin and his family and Doc and I. There will be 8 more for dessert, my son and his family and my oldest daughter and her family, and 2 for a glass of wine on the way off to their dinner that I didn't cook. 

4. When?

Dinner at 3 p.m. and dessert at 4:30 or 5 until it is all gone.

5. How?

That is the question I have been asking myself.

Thanks to Nessa for this fun MeMe.

The truth about my cooking is that I can cook, I just don't do it very often these days, so I just have to get my head in the game and it will all be great. And, if I do say so myself, I make the BEST pies, from scratch, crust and all. I wish I could share of piece with all of you.

Happy Thanksgiving

End Of Life Is Inevitable, But There Are Lots Of Ways To Look At It

My friend's son died last week. He was only 43 and his death was unexpected and a dreadful shock. My friend is a woman with strong faith and she has firm beliefs regarding the spiritual aspects of death. Our conversations after her son's death and my thinking  and reading this week were more about  how we think about the end of life, both that of a loved one and our own. Talking about the end of a life is not fun or popular, but it is inevitably talked and written about, even sometimes with humor.

Life does not cease to be funny when people die

any more than it ceases to be serious when people laugh.

 George Bernard Shaw

Grief can't be shared. Everyone carries it alone,

his own burden, his own way.

Anne Morrow Lindbergh

Health nuts are going to feel silly someday,

lying in  hospitals dying of nothing

Redd Foxx

A man's dying is more the survivors affair than his own.

Thomas Mann

They say such nice things about people at their funerals

that it makes me  sad to realize that

I'm going to miss mine by just a few days.

Garrison Keillor

.....grief makes an hour ten.

William Shakespeare

Everyone wants to go to heaven but nobody wants to die.

Joe Lewis

We all have to die someday if we live long enough.

Dave Farber

And for bloggers

If my doctor told me I had only six minutes to live,

 I wouldn't brood. I'd type faster.

Isaac Asimov

Six Word Saturday

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 Never trust a dog named Dodger

or

All is well that ends well

I've posted in the last couple of weeks about how Doc and I have adopted and fallen in love with a litte mutt named Dodger. Our "perfect" little guy has shown his not so perfect side.....he is an escape artist. Our now Artful Dodger staged his own escape Thursday night  by jumping on a table in the garage, hitting a garage door opener with his paw and taking off as quickly as a pickpocket. No, I don't think he knew what he was doing. I think it was a fluke and an oversight on our part leaving the opener on the table, but he was gone.

After alerting the neighbors,who were very nice to us help look for him,  and driving around for hours calling his name,  to no avail, we spent a long, sleepless, anxious and lonely night.  He has a chip and a rabies tag, so I held out hope. Friday morning, after hours of contacting all the places you can contact to find a lost dog, we got a call from our vet that they had gotten a call from the local humane society and he was there. I had tried to call there all morning, but they don't answer phones until 11 a.m.  Someone had found him and taken him there Thursday night. . We are a happy family today.

Artful Dodger

Random Dozen #1

I'm joining Linda's Random Dozen for the first time today. You can check out Linda's blog here

1. If you could master one sport what would it be?
I would like to be able to play tennis better and I would like to be able to understand all the rules of soccer better.

2. When you make a purchase, do you go with your gut instinct, or do you do research to make and informed decision?
I'm pretty much an impulse buyer, so that doesn't leave a lot of time for research. I'm that way with everything from shoes and ear rings to cars and houses.

3.There is an old kids' game that says you can find out what your movie star name would be by using your middle name as your first name and the name of the street you grew up on as your last. What is your movie star name?
Jean Wheeling

 4. Would you rather give up your favorite music or your favorite food?
I wish I could answer this differently, but I would probably give up a favorite song before I'd give up a favorite food.

5. There are two types of banana preferences. One is pristine yellow, almost to the point of being green; the other is spotty and more ripe. Which is your preference?
Definitely the pristine yellow ones, unless I was going to make banana bread.

6. Your favorite tree is?

Weeping Willow, or Aspen. We have about a dozen Aspen trees in our yard, and they are beautiful in the fall when their leaves are golden and in the winter when they are bare and snow covered.

7. On a scale of 1-10, how tech savvy are you?
I'm pretty low on that scale, probably 2 or 3, but I'm here and learning.

8. Has H1N1 touched your family?
Thankfully, no.

9. Are you an analytical person, or do you just accept things the way they are without questioning or scrutinizing?
At work I'm analytical. Otherwise, I think I need to worry less and analyze more.

10. Is your personality more like that of a dog, cat, or Koala?
Probably more like a dog. Dogs are pretty open about their feelings and wants. Cats are more inscrutable.
I don't know much about Koalas.

11. Do you keep in touch with friends you made years ago?
Not near as much as I wish I had. I have lost track of some friends I was very close to at one time.

12. You are checking out at a grocery store. In the express lane, there are more people than the regular lanes, but of course, their load is less than those in the regular lanes. Which lane do you choose (assuming you qualify for the express lane) and why?

I always use self-check out.

Career Path-Not or I Think I'll Just Keep The Job I Have

I've had my current job for over 11 years and there are days (weeks and months) when I think I need a change, something different and maybe part time. I'm not even sure how to go about looking for a job in today's world, but I'm pretty sure a resume  is involved and that's where I run into trouble. My career path (or lack therof) has zigged and zagged such that my resume would probably only zig-zag its way to someone's trash.

My first job, other than babysitting, was when I was 14. I opened mail for a newspaper columnist, Troy Gordon. He wrote a humor column for the Tulsa World, so he, in turn, got some pretty funny mail. Not a bad first job.

When I was 16 I worked after school in the stationery department of a fancy department store. My favorite part of that job was getting to go to the store's hoity-toity tea room during my dinner break.

Then came college and a journalism degree. That got me a job at a newspaper with stellar assignments like writing obituaries and covering school board meetings in Norman, OK.

Then came Motherhood, my most important and most lasting job, but not exactly a resume filler. Over the next 15 or so years, I had several part-time jobs in several cities. I taught pre-school (loved it) for a few years. I did some free lance writing for local publications. I worked as an assistant producer for a radio talk show, which was one of the most fun jobs I ever had. I did some modeling and taught a class at a junior college called "Poise for the Professional Woman". (I hated that name). I wrote feature stories and a weekly column for the Daily Oklahoman in Oklahoma City.

After some life changes (divorce) and some additional schooling, I went to work full-time for the first time in years as a paralegal. After a few years I decided I needed something more lucrative and worked for a factory rep firm that sold furniture to hotels and hospitals. I was a dismal failure at that job, but to this day I can identify the manufacturer of the fabric on a chair in a hotel room.

A couple of zigs and zags after that I began my current job in financial services.

Since I have no clue how to put all the above into a coherent resume, I guess I will keep the job I have until I get the courage to call myself "retired".

Sundays in my City

To participate in Sundays in my City
visit Unknown Mami here: http://www.unknownmami.com/

We woke up to a lot of white in my city this morning. There is nothing more quiet and peaceful than an early morning walk in the snow. We have 6-8 inches now with a foot predicted by the end of the day.

There is snow

and more snow

I missed the best picture, me falling and sliding down a hill on my bum.

There will be chili for dinner tonight.

Six Word Saturday

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I wish blogging wasn't so addictive.

Becoming One Of "Those People"

Yes, it's true, Doc is becoming one of those people. You know those people, the ones that get a dog and treat it like the child they never had, even though they have had a couple of kids. We have only had Dodger for a few  days and Doc has already checked out every veterinarian, pet supply store and dog groomer in the area. They have gone together to the dog park, the regular park, the donut shop, the pet store to get "fitted" for a collar and just out and about because "he looks like he wants to go for a ride."  Dodger is pretty good at looking like he wants to go for a ride....every time he sees Doc open the door to his truck he jumps up into the front seat.

I , of course, have been a perfectly sane and reasonable dog owner (or as our neighboring city, The Rebublic of Boulder,  changed their municipal code to say, dog guardian). I have only hand fed him a few times, and only if he seemed reluctant to eat. I have only bought a few dozen toys for him, and I only take him in the car with me if it involves a necessary dog guardian task.

Oh, and I have planned a couple of play dates for him, mostly to meet the grandkids, and a neighbor dog or two.  He still has two more grandkids to meet, but so far he has been a champ-gentle  with the little ones and playful with the older ones.

So, I just have to shake my head at Doc and his silliness. I"ll let them have their fun....I have to go check the internet for doggy seatbelts.

Sunsets and Faces

Sunsets like this

Make me wish I was a better photographer.

So do faces like this

and this

One Lovely Blog Award

Thank you so much to delicious Alix at Casa Hice for bestowing the One Lovely Blog award on  Living Consciously. I am so pleased to receive it and especially to receive it from Alix. Her blog should be read by everybody. She is sometimes funny, sometimes touching and always interesting and honest.

If I had the computer skills to create an award I would create the Thank You For Making Me Feel Like One Of  The Cool Kids" award and bestow it on Alix. Instead, I will just say thank you and quote Alix in regard to the award.

"It's lovely, you're lovely and there can never be too much of that!"

I'm As Corny As Kansas In August......I'm In Love With A Wonderful Guy

Yes, it's true, I'm in love, and he is truly a wonderful guy. Though a bit of a mutt, he is a very handsome, friendly and full of life one year old.  He told the people at the shelter that his name is Dodger, so I guess, we'll stick with that. He has had a pretty sketchy life for his first year, but seems to have retained a positive spirit through it all and is ready to share all he has to offer in a forever home.

As I was driving home from the shelter after meeting and falling in love with Dodger, the old song from South Pacific, "I'm In Love With A Wonderful Guy", came on the radio.

I'm as corny as Kansas in August

High as a flag on the 4th of July

If you'll excuse the expression I use

I'm in love with a wonderful guy

I am in a conventional dither

with a conventional star in my eye

And you will note there's a lump in my throat

When I speak of that wonderful guy

Corny, I know, but it was exactly how I felt after meeting Dodger.

Dodger has to spend one more night at the shelter so he can have his little boy parts tampered with first thing tomorrow. Doc will pick him up before I come home from work. Needless to say, I can't wait. I'm sure there will be surprises, both good and bad, as with any new member of a family, especially a canine member. But for now, I'm in love with a wonderful guy, and I can't wait to get him home.

I'm Ready to Shop, But It's Just Too Soon

I heard the first Christmas television ad of the year last night. At least it was the first that actually penetrated my psyche. It did make me feel like I should start my Christmas shopping, but I can't just yet. It is a little too soon. I am not one of those people who can do my shopping for Christmas in October or November and get everything wrapped and put away in the closet to wait for the big day. Nope, once I start I can't stop. I have to wait until I barely have time to get it all done, just sliding under the wire around Christmas Eve.

 If I did start now, or if I had started in October, I could probably have it all done and ready to go by the first of December and be set to sit back with a cup of egg nog and enjoy the season. I could do they that, but I know I wouldn't. I have tried it before and it just didn't work. I am not a particularly good shopper or a very smart shopper. I don't really like to shop, for anything. I am an impulse shopper and the spirit of the season just keeps those impulses snapping no matter what I have already bought.

I will have a list of things that are needed and wanted by a family that is struggling this year, and this year there are many struggling. I will get that done first, and that may be the best shopping of all.