Since I'm filled with gratitude (for more than 5 or 6 things) on this Sunday evening,
I have decided that will be my topic tonight.
1. Even though my sister and her husband are 'on the road' traveling the USA indefinitely (currently in Florida), we're able to connect and catch up often thanks to cell phones. We're both exceedingly grateful for Verizon's free cell to cell minutes that let us talk as often and/or as long as we choose without running up huge phone bills ... something neither of us can afford on our pensions.
2. I'm blessed with wonderful friends in the real (and virtual) worlds who fill my life with sunshine and keep me from being lonely and/or too reclusive. This past week Carol hosted Book Club at her house and managed to get me there (even though I've opted out recently because it's become more of a 'social gathering' than a discussion group. I'm glad I attended for many reasons. I enjoyed reconnecting with friends I hadn't seen for a while and catching up briefly, updating email addresses, and learning of more upcoming events. However the best part of the evening was the lengthy discussion of the biographies of women we'd each read this past month. It felt like the Book Club meetings we had way back when we started more than a decade ago.
3. As those of you who read Small Reflections already know, I spent Saturday afternoon with my Red Hat 'sisters' ... enjoying lunch and celebrating St. Patrick's Day a bit early because we won't see one another again until after that holiday. To top off a delightful day, I won a lovely Red Hat mug in the drawing!
4. With help from Hootin' Anni, I learned how to find a program called 'Paint' that is apparently a part of Windows ... but that I knew nothing about. Through trial & error ...(and through a little searching through the Help files)... I managed to teach myself how to put text on a graphic and created my Message in a Bottle post for Haiku Friday. If you've not heard of and/or participated in this meme ... check out the directions and links to others who have ... then consider creating a message of your own to share. I'm planning to do another one at Small Reflections sometime soon.
5. That reminds me ... I'm also thinking about doing a simplified version of the Kind Fives Meme at Small Reflections soon, and I invite others to create your own Kind Five lists on your blogs ... and to encourage others to do likewise.
6. Now that I know how to add text to a graphic, I'll be able to create unique new awards of my own to pass along to blogging friends ... and that sounds like fun!
7. I've managed to free up memory on my Dell Laptop by moving photos to an external hard drive (and also to DVDs as a backup), run 'clean-up' software to remove unnecessary files, and defragment the drive ... so that instead of just 3 gigs of available memory, I now have more than 13 gigs free. That makes everything run better and may allow me to hold off on investing in a new computer right now (which is good for my finances).
8. Although my email 'inbox' has 76 messages to check at the moment, I've managed to ignore it in favor of visiting blogs I enjoy to 'catch up' ... for it had been far too long since I got around to reading and commenting everywhere I wanted to. It feels great to begin to reconnect in this manner, and I hope I'll be able to stay current on a more regular basis in the days, weeks, and months ahead. If I didn't get to your blog today, I hope to do so very soon as time permits.
9. My garden continues to surprise me with new arrivals each day ... even as the weather changes rapidly ... from the rain showers of last weekend ... to 70+ degree weather at the beginning of last week turning to high 50s/low 60s degree weather on Friday & Saturday ... only to return to 68 degree temperatures at the beach here today. Molly & I took a nice long walk together ... but I didn't let her run free at Dog Beach because there are too many dogs on the weekends. She played there last Tuesday and we'll go again next week if the weather holds.
10. I had a shorter than usual, but delightful conversation with my writing buddy (who lives in St. Paul, Minnesota) today. Our commitment as we left Taos in early August was to connect for at least 3 months ... but it's now been more than 7 months and we feel such a bond that we plan to continue our weekly calls indefinitely. Some weeks we talk for 90 minutes to a couple of hours ... and other times (like today) our conversations run 20-30 minutes based on what else is happening in our lives on Sunday mornings.
11. I've followed through now with Wellness Wednesday posts here for the 3rd time and am proud of myself for taking on this challenge. Keeping 'wellness' clearly in mind is helping me make changes in my life. In addition, I've adopted Yertle's 'Monday Motivator' idea and plan to make it a regular feature here ... again as a means to keep myself moving in the 'direction of my dreams' while simplifying my life and breaking free of self-imposed limitations. I appreciate all of you who offer support and encouragement in the form of comments along the way.
12. Meeting new bloggers recently through the 50+ Bloggers and Wordless Wednesday (in addition to the T-13ers and Haiku Friday participants) has extended and enriched my online experience. I'm amazed at the wonderful diversity of interests and talents in this virtual world and delighted that technology allows us to connect with people all over the world we might otherwise never have the opportunity to meet.
2. I'm blessed with wonderful friends in the real (and virtual) worlds who fill my life with sunshine and keep me from being lonely and/or too reclusive. This past week Carol hosted Book Club at her house and managed to get me there (even though I've opted out recently because it's become more of a 'social gathering' than a discussion group. I'm glad I attended for many reasons. I enjoyed reconnecting with friends I hadn't seen for a while and catching up briefly, updating email addresses, and learning of more upcoming events. However the best part of the evening was the lengthy discussion of the biographies of women we'd each read this past month. It felt like the Book Club meetings we had way back when we started more than a decade ago.
3. As those of you who read Small Reflections already know, I spent Saturday afternoon with my Red Hat 'sisters' ... enjoying lunch and celebrating St. Patrick's Day a bit early because we won't see one another again until after that holiday. To top off a delightful day, I won a lovely Red Hat mug in the drawing!
4. With help from Hootin' Anni, I learned how to find a program called 'Paint' that is apparently a part of Windows ... but that I knew nothing about. Through trial & error ...(and through a little searching through the Help files)... I managed to teach myself how to put text on a graphic and created my Message in a Bottle post for Haiku Friday. If you've not heard of and/or participated in this meme ... check out the directions and links to others who have ... then consider creating a message of your own to share. I'm planning to do another one at Small Reflections sometime soon.
5. That reminds me ... I'm also thinking about doing a simplified version of the Kind Fives Meme at Small Reflections soon, and I invite others to create your own Kind Five lists on your blogs ... and to encourage others to do likewise.
6. Now that I know how to add text to a graphic, I'll be able to create unique new awards of my own to pass along to blogging friends ... and that sounds like fun!
7. I've managed to free up memory on my Dell Laptop by moving photos to an external hard drive (and also to DVDs as a backup), run 'clean-up' software to remove unnecessary files, and defragment the drive ... so that instead of just 3 gigs of available memory, I now have more than 13 gigs free. That makes everything run better and may allow me to hold off on investing in a new computer right now (which is good for my finances).
8. Although my email 'inbox' has 76 messages to check at the moment, I've managed to ignore it in favor of visiting blogs I enjoy to 'catch up' ... for it had been far too long since I got around to reading and commenting everywhere I wanted to. It feels great to begin to reconnect in this manner, and I hope I'll be able to stay current on a more regular basis in the days, weeks, and months ahead. If I didn't get to your blog today, I hope to do so very soon as time permits.
9. My garden continues to surprise me with new arrivals each day ... even as the weather changes rapidly ... from the rain showers of last weekend ... to 70+ degree weather at the beginning of last week turning to high 50s/low 60s degree weather on Friday & Saturday ... only to return to 68 degree temperatures at the beach here today. Molly & I took a nice long walk together ... but I didn't let her run free at Dog Beach because there are too many dogs on the weekends. She played there last Tuesday and we'll go again next week if the weather holds.
10. I had a shorter than usual, but delightful conversation with my writing buddy (who lives in St. Paul, Minnesota) today. Our commitment as we left Taos in early August was to connect for at least 3 months ... but it's now been more than 7 months and we feel such a bond that we plan to continue our weekly calls indefinitely. Some weeks we talk for 90 minutes to a couple of hours ... and other times (like today) our conversations run 20-30 minutes based on what else is happening in our lives on Sunday mornings.
11. I've followed through now with Wellness Wednesday posts here for the 3rd time and am proud of myself for taking on this challenge. Keeping 'wellness' clearly in mind is helping me make changes in my life. In addition, I've adopted Yertle's 'Monday Motivator' idea and plan to make it a regular feature here ... again as a means to keep myself moving in the 'direction of my dreams' while simplifying my life and breaking free of self-imposed limitations. I appreciate all of you who offer support and encouragement in the form of comments along the way.
12. Meeting new bloggers recently through the 50+ Bloggers and Wordless Wednesday (in addition to the T-13ers and Haiku Friday participants) has extended and enriched my online experience. I'm amazed at the wonderful diversity of interests and talents in this virtual world and delighted that technology allows us to connect with people all over the world we might otherwise never have the opportunity to meet.
An even dozen seems perfect, so I'll stop here.
Thought for today
"I love not rushing the process. My mind doesn't shift until it does, and when it does shift, it's right on time, not one second too late or too soon. People are like seeds waiting to sprout. We can't be pushed ahead of our own understanding." Byron Katie
"I love not rushing the process. My mind doesn't shift until it does, and when it does shift, it's right on time, not one second too late or too soon. People are like seeds waiting to sprout. We can't be pushed ahead of our own understanding." Byron Katie
8 comments:
Thanks for the reminders. Being grateful is always the better option. Sometimes it's hard - but well worth keeping in mind. This will be my focus this week. :)
~Chani
What a great post, you know how I love the Gratitude theme!! We have verizon as well and those free cell to cell are great! You are grateful for so much it is inspireing! I so agree with #12,...(LOL)I am just learning to know you but I sure like what I read! HUGS!
Before going online, I did some journaling. A big chunk of it had to do with "wants." Stuff, feelings, attitudes, situations, that I want in my life. I was dissatisfied coming to the journal, and dissatisfied leaving it. I think I need to go back and make a list of everything I already have, everything for which I'm grateful.
Thank you for reminding me about what's truly important.
Chani – You’re quite welcome. I’m happy to be able to share something of value to you and wish you well.
Greatfullivin – How nice to find you visiting here at ‘my other blog’ … and I’m reminded how it’s the one that showed up in your Technorati data. (Note to self: I need to learn how to access stats like this some day). Of course you’d like #12 and if I’d been ‘on my game’ …(as opposed to being drained from the day’s activities)… I would have included ‘Greatful Gals’ in that one. My mind works best in the morning and fades by evening. Perhaps I’ll amend the post later today when I finish with email and responses to comments.
Karen – I’m happy to be a catalyst for you this morning, but remember that dreaming of the future is important too. You might recall that my 3 necklace links (purchased while I was in New Mexico) say ‘dream, believe, achieve’ … and, of course, my ‘Message in the Bottle’ post was about this topic as well. That said … when I lost my marriage and believed my life a disaster … listing 5 things I was grateful for each day restored a sense of ‘balance’ to my thinking and opened up a world of possibilities I’d never considered before. Methinks it’s essential to do both rather than either/or.
I appreciate all of you stopping by and sharing your thoughts, and I wish you each a delightful day.
Hugs and blessings,
What a wonderful list. I can relate to so many of them. Cell minutes is one of the biggest ones for me. My twin lives far away and now that I've changed mine to hers, we get to talk free 100% of the time.
You're truly blessed in your life. It's so nice to see you know it. *big hugs*
This is such an uplifting post! Have a great day!
I enjoyed reading your gratitude list. We have Verizon, too, and it's nice to be able to talk to family who live far away from us without running up our phone bill.
Chuck – Why thank you so much! Convincing my sister to switch from Sprint to Verizon took a while, but she’s happy about it now. Yup … counting blessings is a great way to remind ourselves of just how wonderful our lives are. (Thanks for the *big hugs*)!
MomOf3 – I appreciate your feedback and lovely wishes. I hope you’re having a delightful day too!
Betty – Thanks for checking out ‘my other blog’ today for the first time. It seems many of us are pleased with Verizon’s free cell to cell minutes and put them to excellent use to stay connected with family ;--)
It’s a windy day in Southern California and I’m wishing it wasn’t, but reading over my list before responding to your comments has my mind clear and serene again after my walk with Molly … so thanks.
Hugs and blessings,
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