Quote of the Day

WOW!!!

I didn't realize how far behind I was in QOTD this week, but when that happens, you all know I've been feeling bad. This week has been "one of those" weeks, although I didn't think it was going to be. I was actually able to get out of the house for a FULL FIVE HOURS on Tuesday to get my hair done, and added a MUCH NEEDED eyebrow wax & tint. Needless to say, I am going to have to call and complain about the color, because it doesn't look like my roots were done... in the least. I could go back to another salon next week, and they would do it, probably wondering why I waited so long. I know it sounds a little pety to get upset over something so meaningless in the whole scheme of life, but it's taken 3 weeks of cancelling and rebooking to actually get me there, due to my ongoing illness. Needless to say, it doesn't make happy at all. In addition, the girl who did my hair was far more concerned about when she was going to get her hair done than what was going on with my hair. I don't think I've ever had anyone color my hair not check to see if the blonde had taken before they took me to the sink and pulled out the foils... Well, not until Tuesday, that is, and I don't have $160 to pay to have it done again.

Anyway, back to the "title" of this post...

I was so excited when I saw someone post this yesterday on Twitter, because it's the way I've tried to live my life for quite some time now. I've also tried to explain it to Shay, countless numbers of times, to no avail, and when I saw it written this way, all I could think was, "He would understand that." Weirdest part of it is that it's by a Rabbi. Coincidence? I don't believe there is such a thing. So, without further ado, here's today's QOTD:


If you won't be better tomorrow than you were today, then what do you need tomorrow for?
~ Rabbi Nahman of Bratslav

Friends vs Texas Friends

My best friend sent this, as an email, to me a couple of days ago, and I thought I would post it for all of my Texas readers out there. There's just nothing else like a connection between people from Texas, even when you don't know each other. It's very strange, but very true.



FRIENDS VS TEXAS FRIENDS

FRIENDS: Never ask for food.
TEXAS FRIENDS: Always bring the food.

FRIENDS: Will say 'hello'.
TEXAS FRIENDS: Will give you a big hug and a kiss.

FRIENDS: Call your parents Mr. and Mrs.
TEXAS FRIENDS: Call your parents Mom and Dad.

FRIENDS: Have never seen you cry.
TEXAS FRIENDS: Cry with you.

FRIENDS: Will eat at your dinner table and leave.
TEXAS FRIENDS: Will spend hours there, talking, laughing, playing dominoes or cards and just being together.

FRIENDS: Know a few things about you.
TEXAS FRIENDS: Could write a book with direct quotes from you.

FRIENDS: Will leave you behind if that's what the crowd is doing.
TEXAS FRIENDS: Will kick the whole crowds' back-ends that left you.

FRIENDS: Would knock on your door.
TEXAS FRIENDS: Walk right in and say, 'I'm home!'.

FRIENDS: will visit you in the hospital when you're sick
TEXAS FRIENDS: will cut your grass and clean your house then come spend the night with you in the hospital and cook for you when you come home

FRIENDS: have you on speed dial
TEXAS FRIENDS: have your number memorized.

FRIENDS: Are for a while.
TEXAS FRIENDS: Are for life.

FRIENDS: Might ignore this.
TEXAS FRIENDS: Will forward this to all their Texas Friends and those who once lived in Texas.

Quote of the Day

I am a success today because I had a friend who believed in me and I didn’t have the heart to let him down.
~ Abraham Lincoln

This quote hits really, really close to home. I would NEVER have succeeded in any of the things I began succeeding in had it not before for friends who believed in me, who gave me the strength to push myself further than anyone else ever pushed me before. And when I wanted to quit, I was so afraid of letting that person down that I just kept going. It's amazing what a little fear can do to inspire you... if you let it.

That's why I chose this quote today.

Quote of the Day

How far you go in life depends on your being tender with the young, compassionate with the aged, sympathetic with the striving, and tolerant of the weak and strong. Because someday in your life you will have been all of these.
~ George Washington Carver


I'm not feeling very well today, so I'm just going to post this quote. I "think" I may have figured out a way to get my laptop up and running so I can post from the bed. If so, that would be amazing, and I can put some of the things I have on paper in Word and transfer them here, to this Blog for everyone to read. I know all 3 readers are dying to read my thoughts on random things. hahaha

Quote of the Day

Stress is an ignorant state. It believes that everything is an emergency. Nothing is that important.
~ Natalie Goldberg, author

This is pretty self explanatory, but I think it's something we all need to step back and think about. All too often we put emphasis and importance on things that don't matter in the real scheme of things. Plus, when we get so stressed out, more often than not, it makes things much harder to deal with than if we were calm. It doesn't help our health any, either. There are so many health problems that stress has been proven to cause, and who needs that?

Let's all try to keep stress down to a minimum, learn healthy ways to relieve stress and live a healthier life style, especially in this tough economic time.

Ciao, mi amores!!!!

Graphic Quote of the Day

Quote of the Day

Just don’t give up trying to do what you really want to do. Where there is love and inspiration, I don’t think you can go wrong.
~ Ella Fitzgerald

And to make up for the three days I missed....

True friendship is like sound health: the value of it is seldom known until it's lost.
~ Charles Colton

If one dream should fall and break into a thousand pieces, never be afraid to pick one of those pieces up and begin again.
~ Unknown

Be kinder than necessary, for everyone you meet is fighting some kind of battle!
~ Unknown

Anything for a $

I was just looking around on the Target website, and I stumbled upon one of the "strangest", if that's the correct word, things I've ever seen... the Deluxe Pet Stroller.





You may be asking yourself, "Why does she think this is so strange?"

Well, I'll tell you. It's because where I come from, when you have a dog and you go on a walk, THE DOG WALKS, TOO!!! I believe this is where the phrase, "I'm taking the dog for a walk," comes from, and some people even make a living as... DOG WALKERS!!!

So, I ask myself, "Why would you need a stroller for a dog? Am I missing something?" If so, please enlighten me.

Thanks!!!

Quote of the Day

Destiny is not a matter of chance, it is a matter of choice; it is not a thing to be waited for, it is a thing to be achieved.
~ William Jennings Bryan

Quote of the Day

He who knows best knows how little he knows.
~ Thomas Jefferson

I love this. I often find myself saying, "All I know is that I don't know anything," or "I don't know nearly as much as I should." This quote reminds me of that, especially since I always seem to meet people who think they know EVERYTHING, but really turn out to be clueless. In those cases, I usually find myself saying, "Wow, it must be nice to know everything at the age of (20-something)," or "All this time, and I never knew I was friends with the first perfect person on Earth besides Jesus. I can't believe it was right in front of my face, and I never even saw it." Can you tell how often I use sarcasm to deal with things I think are complete ridiculous?

Help Get Funding for the Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act

Today, John Walsh was on Oprah. He was talking about FINALLY naming the killer of his son, Adam, 27 years ago, and asking for help to fund the Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act that will expire on July 25, 2009. If you click on the name of the act, you can get a idea of what the act does. In short, it creates a national sexual offender registry (which does not exist at this time), and "instructs each state and territory to apply identical criteria for posting offender data on the Internet (i.e., offender's name, address, date of birth, place of employment, photograph, etc.)" It also makes it a felony, instead of a misdemeanor, for sex offenders to NOT register. In the words of John Walsh, "Wouldn't it be nice for the women and children in your life to know if your neighbor is a sex offender???"

For me, this is a cause close to my heart, both professionally and personally. If you feel it's important, PLEASE, take the time to print out the letter and send it to your senator and house represenative here.

Thanks everyone, and in the words of Ghandi, "Be the change you want to see in the world."

Quote of the Day

'Tis better to be silent and be thought a fool, than to speak and remove all doubt.
~ Abraham Lincoln

I think this is pretty self explanitory.

DWTS

I'm not saying that it wasn't time for Steve-O to go, BUT I just want to say, FOR THE RECORD...

"When I tried to vote for him last night, on my first call to his number from my cell phone, about 5 minutes into voting, the recording said, 'You have used all your votes for the evening.'" Ummmmmm, how can that be when I am the ONLY person who uses that phone, and it was with me the entire time I was watching the show? Was I the only one who had this problem? What if all the people who had been voting for him in the past had this same problem, and all eight of their votes didn't count?

Obviously, at this point, there's nothing that can be done, but something needs to be done in the event such a situation arises in the future.

I know Steve-O wasn't anywhere near the best dancer, but he sure did show people that recovery is possible, even when you put yourself in a vulnerable position and when times are tough. Who would have ever thought you'd see a "real" Jackass on Dancing With the Stars, and NOT see him act like one?

WHAT IS WRONG WITH PEOPLE????

OK, I have to get this off my chest!!!

Perhaps I've been living in a cave, or something, but lately I have been AMAZED at the way people treat others and the things they will say about them. Granted, most of the things I'm talking about are in forums and message boards on the internet, BUT I have also seen some of the worst behavior by children... American children, in the past 3 years, while their parents just stood there and ignored them. No wonder this country... NO, this world, is going to Hell in a handbasket.

The first example I wanted to bring up is Melissa from the Bachelor. Oh, and for the record, I did not watch the show. I only know what I read online and what I saw on news/talk shows after the guy ditched her. But, back to my point. After she decided to appear on Dancing With The Stars, I saw a link about her having a new boyfriend and how her parents and new bf came to the show to support her. To me, this was a good thing, but I can't tell you how many ugly, nasty comments I read from people whom I can only assume don't know her, and probably NEVER WILL, who were bad mouthing her AND her parents, because they didn't want to be on the Bachelor episodes, yet now that she's on DWTS, they will be on TV. Those who were making the comments were making Melissa and her family sound like the worst people on Earth. I was shocked and appauled. I mean, come on, people. It's one thing to watch the show. Who doesn't need a dose of "reality" tv every once and a while to remind you that your life isn't that bad, BUT to take it so seriously that you have to demean others? That is ridiculous. I really don't get it.

Then there's American Idol. This is my first year to watch this show, other than the try-outs in past seasons for the humor factor. A few weeks ago I was reading some comments where people were saying Danny Gokey was trying to use his wife's death to get sympathy votes. Really? Give me a break. I wonder how many of those people have lost someone close to them, much less the person they vowed to spend the rest of their life with. It really makes me ill to see people passing such judgement on people they don't know. Granted, I don't know Danny, but he seems like a good enough guy, and AI is a SINGING CONTEST, and THE GUY CAN SAAAAAAAAANG!!!! Why not give him the benefit of the doubt??? Why not be NICE???

But, I just read the worst ones of all, although I'm sure there are much worse out there. The amazing Scott MacIntyre, who my father didn't know what blind and said, "That guy's alright, but he always walks around like he doesn't know what's going on," is being belittled and made fun of for what he should be reverred for. It turns out, not only did he struggle with blindness to become an awesome musician, but he was also on dialysis for two years before he got a kidney transplant. He doesn't even look like he's on steroids, which is something people who have transplants have to take for the rest of their lives. That, in itself, is an amazing thing to overcome. He's a super hero, and you have jerks out there making fun of him, the way he looks, etc. What are they gaining? It's just ridiculous to me.

OK, so I said my peace... a little. I really could go on and on and on and on and... but I won't. I thought about linking you all to the articles I was talking about, but I don't think they deserve any more attention than what I've already given them.

One final thought: If you don't really want to have children and/or don't like them, DON'T HAVE THEM!!! All you're doing is setting them and the rest of the world up for failure. If you don't want to parent your children, you shouldn't have them, either. I'm sorry to say it, but those are the kinds of kids, more often than not, that wind up in trouble. Teach your children manners, respect, responsibility, consequences, and the value of everything... especially education. Perhaps if parents went back to parenting the way our parents were raised, the world would be a little nicer place to live.

Shalom!!!

Graphic Quote of the Day

Ok, since I'm past midnight, I decided I would put TWO graphics up today. I "created" both of the graphic parts, if you want to call it creation, because this is about as far as my mind can create when it comes to computer stuff. Now, if we're talking crafts... that's a whole different ball game. I can cut, paste, sew, stamp, paint, etc like none other. hahaha







Both of these have significance to me, because of Shay (pronounced like we say the word "shy").

Captain Freed!!!

I just saw on Twitter via CNN: U.S. ship captain held by pirates off Somalia has been freed, senior U.S. official says. Three of four pirates killed.

Hallelujah!!!

Graphic Quote of the Day

So, this one NEEDS something, but I can't figure out what it is. I don't know if it's because of the "new" pain I'm having, or because of the copious amounts of Vicodin I've taken today, since I'm now having a "little visitor" who always seems to make herself present during holidays. Yes... THIS IS MY LIFE!!! When you feel like you can't take it anymore, and you're going to lose it, turn on reality tv, and laugh your butt off.

That reminds me... A Twitter "friend" made a comment about wearing a helmet cam when I told her how I should be followed around with a camera crew for my own reality show, and it makes me wonder... HOW MIGHT ONE DO THAT WITHOUT LETTING THE PEOPLE AROUND YOU KNOW??? I'm telling you, I would have a cult following from my falls, alone. hahaha

With that, I hope you all have a Happy Easter & Mazal Tov!!!!

A Day Early...

but just in case I get side-tracked tomorrow, I wanted to wish everyone a VERY...

Graphic Quote of the Day

This is, seriously, one of my favorite quotes... EVER!!! It's a simple concept, but something so few people really think about. I believe Lance says it in his first book, "It's Not About the Bike", but it may be in the second book, "Every Second Counts." It really doesn't matter, because the concept is the same. If you have pain, it will go away... eventually, but if you quit, you can never "un-quit".

Right now I have to keep this in mind as I am in a tremendous amount of physical pain, going on almost 2 years now, and it's to the point where, a lot of the time, I feel like it's never going to go away. Just now my primary care physician's office called, and they won't give me anything to get through until wednesday, even though they know I've been trying to get ahold of the specialist I WAS seeing since March 27 to no avail. So, I've been laying around in excruciating pain for two weeks now, and all they're saying is, "Take some Advil." Thanks!!! Oh, and Happy Friggin Easter!!!

Oh, and for the record, let me just say that I have NEVER asked this doctor for any pain medication in the 25 years I've been seeing him... not even when I've broken bones, or had some of the worst cysts he's said he's ever seen that I would drain myself. It's not like I don't have an extremely high tolerance for pain. For the love... I started crying, and in almost two years, this was the first time!!!! Yet, I digress. I'm going to think positively, and maybe when the nurse calls back, she will have good news.

Quote of the Day

Only the wisest and stupidest of men never change.
~ Confucius

I don't think I will be passing this quote along to my almost 77 yr old father.

Facebook "Quizzes"

I've taken a lot of these little quizzes on Facebook in the past little while, while I've been on a leave of absence from work, but today was crazy. I took four, I think, and all of them "hit the nail right on the head". It's amazing to me how that happens, because A LOT of the grammar is wrong, and these are obviously not scientifically based. Hell, I don't know how they're made up. I just know that ANYONE can make a quiz. Maybe I should make up a crazy one, and see what happens as part of the "social experiment" I'm working on.

I'll have to look at format, think about it, and then get back to you all... IF I decide to do it. But, here are the four quizzes from today.

1. The Inner-Nationality Quiz: What are you... really????

You are Sweden

You are friendly, gentle, and modest, with a good heart and a lusty nature. You laugh easily, have a well-developed sense of irony, and tend to understand people intuitively. You are interested in new people, but will always maintain notions of insider vs. outsider, and this will lead you to commit to a group of friends and lovers who will be with you your entire life. If you have a weakness it's your timidity -- you feel pressure to remain 'lagom' -- on an even par with others. But this is also your strength.

"tend to understand people intuitively"... that is so spot-on that it isn't even funny. My friend once asked me, "How do you know these people are going to do these things before they do them?" I said, "Because I can just tell how they are." And, one of the biggest issues my ex and I had was that I would continually tell him, "This or that is going to happen if you do A, B or C," and it would wind up happening about 90% of the time, yet he still wouldn't listen to me. This is also how I know we should have NEVER gotten divorced, and that he regrets it, too, but that's for another day... or week... maybe month. LOL

2. Which Flower are you?

You are a daisy

You are carefree and light. Whimsical and spontaneous. A total optimist, you always try to see the positive side of things. You are artistic and imaginative... you float through life with a smile.

Incidentally, my favorite flower is the Gerber Daisy!!!

3. What instrument should you play?

Clarinet

You are a Clarinet, a gentle instrument but can be loud. You are filled with emotion when you play.

I played for SEVEN YEARS

4. Which love language do you have???

Gifts

You are a person of gifts. This means you are most touched when people give you a gift, because it means they were thinking of you when they bought, created or found what they give you. You see life as a gift, and it's things in it!. Gifts and giving is your emotional tool and you will therefore also use this to connect to other people. Gifts are a great way of communicating, but when someone else you love doesn't necessarily talk the way you do, it doesn't mean they don't love you. What would be their primary love language? The downside of giving gifts without talking or doing things for someone else, may come across as a quick fix to escape building a further relationship. Try to put in some effort by finding out what the other person's language is, too. A good conversation or spending time with them can be a gift to them, more precious than box of chocolate! One last point to mention is that God also communicates in your love language. He uses gifts, too. He says in the Bible that He loves you, that you are the apple of His eye, and that He wants you to come to Him and talk to Him. He loves you and gave Jesus (God Himself in human form) to bridge the gap caused by the fall of sin through which we cannot fully obey the law He gave us. He made the solution through Jesus, and when accepting Him, you'll accept God Himself, Who loves you, and wants to communicate with you. Jesus is the greatest Gift, Who gives salvation FREELY to whoever accepts Him. Praise God!

I LOVE giving to others. One year I was at short track speedskating competition in Montreal on my birthday, and I went out to dinner with some skating friends for dinner; one from Canada, one from Belgium and one from Latvia. I brought all of them presents, and earlier in the day I'd given presents to two of my friends from New Zealand. I just love to give!!!!

Maundy Thursday

Do you know what Maundy Thursday is? If not, you can go to Wikipedia and find out.

And, tomorrow is Good Friday, do you know the symbolism of this day???? Check it out here.

Shout Out - Linky Loo

One of my oldest friends in the world has opened a jewelry store on Etsy. She actually did it some months ago, but with all of my health issues, I TOTALLY forgot. But, since I've been trying to figure out ways to make money while the doctors try to figure out the source of my pain, I was looking at jewelry, and I remembered Ann's store. I'm really interested in making rings, and I wanted to see if she sold any. Unfortunately, she doesn't, but she has some really nice things. If you're interested, take a look and buy... if you like what you see.

Quote of the Day

How many legs does a dog have if you call the tail a leg? Four. Calling a tail a leg doesn't make it a leg.
~ Abraham Lincoln

I got this from Dr Drew via Twitter... my newest addiction.

Happy Passover

To all of my Jewish friends, and family, I wish you a very HAPPY & BLESSED Pesach/Passover as it began at sundown this evening!!!!

Quote of the Day

In every life, there's a moment in time when all things wrong can be made right.
~ Dr Phil

Graphic Quote of the Day

I'm working on my Photoshop skills, so I made this one from a quote I like. Enjoy!!! I have an appoint with GI specialist #2 in the morning. Not my favorite thing, BUT hopefully this one will actually take less than 2 hours to see me, and give me some answers. I know, I expect far too much from doctors. Call me crazy, why don't you!!!!

It's a little past 4:30pm, and I turned my computer on for the first time today. The world must be coming to an end!!!

Graphic Quote of the Day

It's a pretty pain-filled day, with a new one to add to all the old ones, so I'm adding a "new" part to my quotes. I won't be writing my thoughts on it, because it's pretty self explanatory. So, enjoy while I attempt to take a nap and ease the pain.

Quote of the Day

A man may fail many times, but he isn't a failure until he begins to blame somebody else.
~ John Burroughs

WOW!!!! How many times have YOU been blamed for something someone else FAILED doing? I don't mean like when you're mom said, "Someone clean the kitchen," and your little brother told you he'd do it and didn't, but when Mom asked, he said, "She said she was going to." I mean when someone failed at something and they blamed you for their failure.

I can't even begin to list the number of things I've had blamed on me; things that happened in different cities, different states... even different countries.

I used to have a client when I represented speedskaters, and when he was having a tough time during training (in Holland & China), he told me it was my fault. Let me point out that I was back here in the US, and that season was the BEST SEASON OF HIS ENTIRE 21 YEARS IN SKATING!!! Let me also say that, in my book, if I have to take responsibility for his bad skating, shouldn't I be given credit for his good skating, as well, especially since I was living my life in my time zone and his, which ever it was at the time with all his traveling to competitions and training, and doing EVERYTHING for him while he was gone for a year "stationed" in Holland? Apparently, we didn't see eye-to-eye on that one, and this how my best-friend Ami and I came up with the joke about me having "super powers".

Actually, one year ago today, my ex-husband's best friend was in a car accident in Chicago, and that was, once again, MY FAULT!!! Get this... I was in my city in TEXAS, a good 1500 miles away, and because I sent "the friend", who hates me (the good Jew that he is), a text message in a blinding snow storm that he was driving in, and HE CHECKED IT, it's my fault he had the wreck!!! Now, you tell me, what in the hell was a guy FROM ISRAEL who'd been in Chicago less than a month driving in a blinding snow storm? And on top of that, why did he check a text message while driving? Can you say STUPID??? Oh, and by the way, I did know exactly how the events would unfold... because of my super powers. And for those of you who didn't get that joke, it was sarcasm. Needless to say, "the friend" convince "the husband" it was my fault, and we didn't speak for about a week. It was ridiculous. Even my mother-in-law said her son... her ONLY son out of 4 children, who is also the baby, was ridiculous for placing the blame on me. But, I'll tell ya... Watch out if you get super powers. They'll get you in trouble every time!!!!

There are MANY, MANY other examples I could share, but these are two of the best, funniest and easiest to explain. My point is that EVERYONE fails. That's a part of life. Go back to the Michael Jordan post. He didn't even start on his high school basketball team. Look at Babe Ruth. He held the home run title for years, but he also held the strike-out record. It's only when you blame other's for your failure that you have truly failed, because by then you can't even accept your responsibility, and more than likely, you've given up/quit. And what's worse than quitting? Anything??? I don't think so.

Sidenote: There is a time and a place to stop, but that isn't the same as giving up/quitting, but that's for another day.

Mazal Tov!!!

Linky-Loo

Once again, I have stumbled up a WONDERFUL new site via Twitter. For you female readers out there, it's called Queen of Relationships: Because Love Just Isn't That Simple. She combines humor with common sense things we "should" think of, and know, when in a relationship, but always seems to escape us, because we are in love. It's informative... AND humorous. Could you ask for more? I think not.



Why didn't she write this latest article, "How to Get my Ex Back", in August? And, why didn't I know about this blog then??? Oh well, such is life. Everything happens for a reason, and it is what it is.

Where can I park my Prius?

Sensible... AND good for the environment while economical. Besides, I'm not exactly the "gold rim" kinda gal

Quote of the Day

Sometimes the heart sees better than the eyes...use your heart today!
~Henie

I'm obviously going through a lot of stuff right now, and I think most of the "emotional" parts happened because I didn't follow my heart. I listened to other people's "reasoning", and it got me where I am today. I usually live life with no regrets, but this isn't one of those times, so I really like this quote. Sure, I KNOW everything happens for a reason, but right now it doesn't feel like it... NOT ONE OUNCE!!!!!