A to Z Theme Reveal: Pictures from the Past

Hello everyone!  I am getting ready to participate in the AtoZ Blog Challenge  next month. 

 

My theme is PHOTOS FROM THE PAST. I will post a photo every day in April representing A to Z a favorite moment I captured on my camera with a short paragraph about it. My hope is to inspire anyone who loves photography to get out there and document your life and bring it back to share on your blog.

 

I hope you'll follow along on this venture and leave a comment when you feel like it.

 

love, susan



First Day of Spring Life List

Looking Out My Window 6:17 am and it's still dark. Thank you daylight savings time. It's still crisp in the mornings but spring has arrived. Everything is comin' up!

 

As I Ponder We had a great weekend but now it's over. My old dog "Missy" and I attended the annual Pooch Walk fundraiser for a local pet rescue. Our registration number was 730! There were hundreds of people and dogs of every type. Missy was a little freaked out at first but she got into it once we started walking. When I was registering, she slipped out of her collar and my heart did flip flops for a minute. Time for a new collar, I guess. Luckily, she didn't bolt.

 

What I'm Learning Ever since I got back from Hawaii, I've taken naps on the weekend when I feel like it, guilt free. Screw guilt!

 

What I'm Creating I'm gearing up for the A to Z Blog challenge that starts in 2 weeks. The theme for my blog this year will be Photos from the Past. I have thousands of digital photos that I'm going to sift through to find my a to z posts. The posts will be short paragraphs with a little bit about the photo.

 

What I'm Reading Never picked up my book last week. Oh, well.

 

What I'm Watching Could be I didn't read because I watched a little bit too much Netflix. I watched "Blow" starring Johnny Depp and Penelope Cruz. This movie was done in 2001. The only thing that held my interest was Johnny Depp. Not a great movie, in my humble opinion. Watched a couple episodes of Shameless because I am shameless.

 

 

That's me in the middle!
At the pooch walk on Saturday.

Remi

 

What's On My Camera Oh man, you'd think I could find something besides squirrels to photograph but you'd be wrong. Not feeling it yet. Winter just about took all the life out of me. I'm pretty sure my inspiration will be back any day now.

 

A Quoted I Want to Share (from the movie "Blow")

Fred Jung: [to young George as they leave the bank, after declaring bankruptcy] Sometimes you're flush and sometimes you're bust, and when you're up, it's never as good as it seems, and when you're down, you never think you'll be up again, but life goes on.

 

A Peek Into My Week It's light now until at least 6:30pm so I'm hoping to put on my walking shoes and get my girls out for an evening walk every night this week. I'm ready to be outdoors. Dog class on Wednesday night. Maybe a haircut.  Eat, sleep, work, repeat 5 days in a row!

 

A Final Thought It sure was a hard winter. I'm still recovering from the worst winter blues I've had since we moved here 8 years ago. I don't really see myself growing much older here. I need to be someplace a little sunnier, ya know?

 

love, susan

Happy Pi Day ~ Mid March Life List

Looking out my window It's still dark because of daylight savings time. Boo hiss. It is warm enough that I went outside barefooted in my nightgown to call in my barking dog.

 

As I Ponder My weekend was filled with laughter, tears, and more laughter. I went up to Mt. Hood with a sisterhood of 5 other women I'm close to. It was the kind of weekend you see in the movies.

 

What I'm Learning It's not so scary to tell the truth about myself. In that sacred place this weekend, we got down to the nitty gritty about things. Things that are not for public consumption, but truths that can be taken out and handled with care. If my truth helps only one other person, it becomes an asset.

 

What I'm Creating Time. I'm creating time. Can you create time? I think so. I got two loads of laundry in this morning before I go to work. I won't have another load until the end of the week. If I work it correctly, I should have a fairly clear schedule next weekend to do something fun with the hubby.

 

What I'm Reading I got a little distracted this last week. Still reading True Notebooks. My daughter-in-law lent me a Kindle book on minimalism this morning and I only have 14 days to finish it so that's my priority.

What I'm Watching We watched a good movie up at the cabin called How Do You Know with Reese Witherspoon, Paul Rudd, Owen Wilson, and Jack Nicholson.

What's On My Camera I took a couple of pics with my cell phone at the cabin. You can see there is still snow. When we arrived Friday night, it was less packed down and difficult to get from the car to the cabin with all our junk.

A Quote I Want to Share From the movie we watched:  We are all just one small adjustment away from making our lives work.

A Peek Into My Week Doctor appointments and dog class on Wednesday night. Maybe with changing to daylight savings time, I'll be able to go out for a walk with my dogs after work.

A Final Thought I had so many great moments over the weekend. Each of us 6 women are at different places in our lives but we all have similar struggles and joys. I tend to want to focus on the joys these days. We've got some hard days ahead but there is no purpose, that I can see, in future tripping. At my age, I'm just doing this life one day at a time. Making plans but not planning the outcome.

love, susan






Altruism

I've always loved the word altruism. Way back in the day when I worked in the mental health field, I was part of a team that met every morning for 30 minutes to check in, debrief, make a plan for the day, and discuss case management for clients who were chronically mentally ill. It was during that time that I heard the word used. I had to look it up as it was not a word used in any other part of my life, ever. One of the social workers explained it in terms I could understand. He said to think about sitting at a table with several people, a lovely meal in front of you, and the only utensil is so long that you cannot bring the food to your own mouth. The only way to consume that beautiful meal is to feed the person across from you, and they you. That's altruism.

In my writing jounal this morning, this word came up as I am getting ready for a special weekend with some beautiful people in my life. Altruism.  It isn't just for special occasions or when it is convenient. It is for every occasion.

Food for thought.

love, susan

Going Old School

I'm linking up with Kat over at Mama's Losin' It  (Writer's Workshop) with a prompt she provided. I'm recovering from a  case of writer's block so I need all the help I can get. I do love me some lists so I chose 8 Things I've Accomplished This Week. Here goes:

• Ordered a desk calendar at work.  I hate to admit it but I'm going old school with a desk calendar. Too many things going on in my office and the electronic calendar is not cutting it for me. It kills me to go backwards technology-wise.
• Wrote every day in my journal. I've been journaling for years and usually don't have a problem jotting something down every day. The events of this winter have killed it. Earlier this week, I wrote a letter to my Utah pen pal and poured out my heart. It was like magic. I broke free and started writing in my journal again.
• Ate a salad for lunch every day. Doing food prep on Sundays helps keep me on the narrow path of healthy eating. Yay me!
• Got my dog to class. We had not been to class since late November due to inclement weather in our area. Felt good to get out of the house. My dog was less crazy at the end of the hour.
• Made a doctor's appointment. I had been putting that off far too long.
• Started prepping for the A to Z Challenge This is a blogging challenge for the month of April. I've done it a couple of times but skipped last year. Decided to join in this year. It will be good for me. It's a great way to meet other bloggers and add some new blogs to my roll. Here is the link if you are interested A to Z Challenge 2017.
• Wrote letters to two pen pals Thank goodness for pen pals who hang in there with me and my long stretches without writing.
• Posted this in Writer's Workshop Thank you, Mama Kat!

love, susan 

Hello March, I've Missed You! Life List

Looking Out My Window It appears it will be a nice day but when I let the dogs out this morning, there is still a chill in the air. The wind blew all night. This is how the weather shifts out here in eastern Washington.

 

As I Ponder This morning while journaling, I could hardly remember all the things I did this weekend. That's a sign of a good weekend, me thinks. A friend asked me to go dog walking Saturday morning. Loved that! Hubby and I drove out to Heppner, Oregon (86 miles) to attend an annual spaghetti feed Saturday night. A friend at our table won the grand raffle prize ... a big screen TV. It was good fun. Yesterday, I did a lot of food prep for this week. I also took a hot bath and squeezed in an hour nap.

 

What I'm Learning Last Wednesday night I went to dog class. When I got home, I was a bit energized by the class so I decided to go grocery shopping. I think I'm going to change my shopping day to Wednesdays instead of early Sunday mornings. This will free my weekends. I am also incorporating my son's idea of doing laundry during the week. I did that last week and only had to launder sheets over the weekend. This frees me up to do fun things on the weekend. I hate housework.

 

What I'm Creating Since that photo organizing project that took me a month, I haven't picked up any new projects yet. The most creative I've gotten has been in the kitchen. When I was preparing my salads for this week's lunches, I scoured the cupboards for creative ideas. I added craisins and black beans to my salads. I'm taking crackers and pecans to work to add when I get ready for lunch. I like a colorful dish!

 

What I'm Reading I decided to leave Insomnia by Stephen King for another time. So I'm reading True Notebooks by Mark Salzman. Mark is a writing teacher who goes into prison to teach hardcore juvenile offenders. He is surprised by their writing.

 

What I'm Watching I saw movie on Amazon Prime called "Whiskey Tango Foxtrot". Excellent movie starring Tina Fey.

What's On My Camera Dogs. What else?

 

In the Kitchen I love when the weather gets warmer. My tastes change. I crave vegetables, cottage cheese, anything lighter. This week we'll be cooking out of the freezer as I prepped a lot yesterday and froze individual servings for 2. Tacos, curry stir fry, anything that will go on a tortilla. No bread in the house. So sad.

A Quote I Want to Share

Take it easy, don't let the sound of

your own wheels drive you crazy.

(Lyrics from song written by Jackson Browne and Glenn Frey)

Peek Into My Week Work. Eat. Sleep. Dog class. Shopping. Haircut. Mt. Hood on Friday with my chick friends. WOO HOO!!!

 

A Final Thought Last week I wrote to a pen pal who lives in Texas. I noted that I had not written in my journal since December 29th. There have been many things going on in the lives of loved ones that is too painful to face. I am the queen of denial. So when I wrote that in my note to her, I decided it was time to put pen to paper and get back to journaling. Grief visits when it wants. Putting it aside won't make it go away. That's that. Funny how the tools I have to survive are always there when I'm ready to pick them up and use them. Huh.

love, susan

So Long Feburary 2017 Life List

Looking Out My Window It is 6:20am and almost light. Cloudy but no snow.

 

As I Ponder The weekend was fun. We drove over to Roslyn, Washington to meet up for lunch with family we haven't seen in 10 years. It was a joyful day and it did my heart good. My ex-sister-in-law (I hate calling her ex) has a beautiful family and her daughter and three sons joined us. I'm still smiling about it. I'm glad we made that happen. It was exactly half-way for us to meet.

 

What I'm Learning Well, as I promised myself I would do, I took a good nap yesterday when I felt like it. It was a struggle with the voices in my head that said I should be doing something productive. I need to keep practicing this self-care thing.

 

What I'm Creating I've been going through a huge pile old Cook's Country magazines that I picked up at a book sale a couple of months ago. I like to tear out recipes that maybe I'll try.

 

What I'm Reading I'm almost done with Settle for More by Megyn Kelly. I've been too busy to read so I'm hoping to finish it this week and start a new one. Next up: Insomnia by Stephen King

 

What I'm Watching I watched America's Sweethearts yesterday on Amazon Prime. I love John Cusak but wasn't crazy about him in this movie. I'm also still watching Shameless on Netflix. There was a particularly disturbing episode where the mom attempts suicide on Thanksgiving. It was true drama that caused me to pause and really look at this show differently. It is dealing with every kind of dysfunction known to man. I'm hooked!

 

What I'm Hearing I've got one whining dog who is never happy. She wants out, then she wants in. Irritable, restless and discontent best describe her.

 

What's On My Camera: a selfie of my sis in law and me.

Ally and Me

 

What's Happening in My Kitchen I'm gearing up for the D.A.S.H. diet this week. Hard boiled eggs, salad, grilled chicken, hummus, yellow and red peppers, almonds, non-fat yogurt, and sugar free jello.

 

A Quote I Want to Share From Megyn Kelly's book Settle for More: "Our priest is Father Jonathan Morris, who is on Fox News sometimes. He's supportive, thoughtful, and good-looking. So handsome, in fact, that his nickname around the studio is Father What-a-Waste (God forgive us)."

 

A Peek Into My Week I think dog class starts back up on Wednesday. We've been trying to get a 6 week class done since December but the weather has cancelled all but 3 or 4 classes. So we're going to give it a go this week. Other than that, I'm going to focus on getting some steps on my FitBit.

 

A Final Thought Having lunch with my family on Saturday really filled my cup with joy. My niece's oldest son shares the same birth date with me, he'll be 5 in May. He sat next to me for 2 hours and I fell in love with him. He was that engaging. I'm not often smitten with children but he managed to capture my attention. I carry those moments with me and call on them when parts of the day get rough. In my job, my wish is to treat people with care and understanding ... to pay attention and really hear what they are conveying. People deserve that. My encounter with the little one reminds me that everyone, no matter their age, deserves undivided attention.

 

love, susan

Susan's Top 10 Hawaiin Favorites

Hawaii

I'm not going to spend too much time reminiscing about our trip to Honolulu last week. It was nice and I enjoyed almost every minute of it but I'm over it now and on to the next thing. That's how I roll. While I love going, I love coming home just as much. They say a person should have a life they don't need a vacation from. I think I mostly do. What I need is sunshine. And, we got plenty of it last week. Here are my top 10 favorite things that happened in Hawaii last week:

1. We ate some fantastic dim sum and chicken katsu. That alone would have made the trip worth it. We simply do not have good Chinese food where we live.
2. Walking was incorporated several times into our days. We average 6.5 miles every day and I truly enjoy every step. The more I walked, the more I wanted to keep walking. 
3. Naps. Sometimes more than one a day.
4. Reading time. I did most of my reading on the plane.
5. People watching. OMG! Honolulu/Waikiki is a melting pot of people from all over. The fashionistas are everywhere and you can't get a better seat for seeing beautiful Japanese women in high fashion.
6. We had no agenda. No shows to attend. No dinner reservations.
7. There was always a nice breeze.
8. A great, affordable public transit system.
9. No bugs. I looked for 'em believe you me! The first couple of nights, I imagined I could hear cockroaches scurrying across the floor but there were none.
10. Sunshine.

That's about it. 
love, susan

 

February Post Tropical Vacation List: Jet Lag and All

Looking Out My Window I see there is a bit of frost on the windows and a clear sky full of stars. All the snow has melted and there is a promise of spring. And, layers of dog poop to pick up after the month of snow that finally melted.

 

As I Ponder My vacation is here and gone. I'm a former future tripper so I hadn't thought about our trip until just a week or two before we left. I tried not to have big expectations but still ... it's over now. Time to give a little thought to the next trip. Nashville in April.

 

What I'm Learning Jet lag is real. I don't remember experiencing jet lag before but after traveling the entire day until midnight on Tuesday, I woke up yesterday with a terrible foggy head. I called in sick and slept it off. I like to think I'm wonder woman and immune to such things but it turns out I'm not. I'm still dragging a bit this morning but I'm going to hit it hard today. I can't imagine how many 100's of emails await me at work.

 

What I'm Creating Well, physically I didn't create a thing last week but mentally I created some space for resting my mind. We walked an average of 6 1/2 miles every day while in Hawaii and it really helped clear my mind. I did a lot of thinking about how I need to take better care of myself and slow down a smidge. Not an easy task.

 

What I'm Reading I'm 2/3's finished with Megyn Kelly's Settle for More. It's an easy read and enjoyable.

 

What I'm Watching On the plane over to Hawaii, I watched the movie The Accountant starring Ben Affleck. Loved it!

 

What I'm Hearing As little as possible. I'm a little tired of the noise level in my life. While on vacation, I recognized that I need to be the controller of my filter. Negativity needs to live somewhere else.

 

What's On My Camera So. I dragged my Nikon 3200 over to Hawaii and about 3 days in I was ready to pitch it into the ocean. Just too heavy. I ended up using my cell phone for the few photos I took. I got some nice shots. Lesson learned.

 

What's Happening in My Kitchen I'm gearing up to go on the D.A.S.H. diet for two weeks to get my blood sugars under control and get on track with eating salad daily. My doctor recommended this plan several years ago and I've done it before.

 

A Quote I Want to Share From Megyn Kelly's book Settle for More in thinking about her job with a prestigious law firm where she was working too many hours:  "I enjoyed my colleagues and had many fun times. But it's fun swimming in the ocean, too, until suddenly you realize you might be about to drown. It's still beautiful, and the water's as blue and warm as ever, but it's up above your lips and climbing, and you quickly find  yourself desperate to get back to shore."

 

A Peek Into My Week This is Thursday. I just need to make it through today and tomorrow so I can regroup. I'm hoping we are going to take a road trip on Saturday to see someone special. Sunday, rest.

 

A Final Thought I've been running pretty hard this winter. I heard the truth when my dog trainer said my dog can sense it and that's why she's a little crazy. I serve no one well when I'm in such a hurry. My key words from here on out will be 'slow down Susan'.

 

love, susan

Mid February: Signs of Life List and Ode to Mr. Kitty

Today I went outside seeking signs of life. I found it.

 

As I Look Out My Window The sun finally came back. The snow is almost all gone and the forecast is promising.

 

As I Ponder Last week was just downright weird. I had a couple of days where I thought I might actually 'lose it'. February is my least favorite month for the weather and darkness. If the weather wasn't bad enough, I came home from work Friday and learned our cat died. He was 16 years old but still. He was really my husband's cat and he will miss him the most. Mr. Kitty lived a fat cat's life and provided us with entertainment money can't buy. That little 'sack-a-shit' (as he was fondly nicknamed) was up on the counter, lounging on the dish drying mat on Wednesday. I know. My hubby and I agree that we both want to die like he did. He just laid down under the kitchen table for a nap and didn't get up.

 

What I'm Learning The older I get, the more I realize how important it is to take vacations. For lack of a better term, my emotional and spiritual cup gets empty a lot quicker than it used to. When I'm tired, I need to not keep pushing myself past my limits. It serves no one.

 

What I'm Creating I made 55 Valentines for co-workers this week. I handwrote various quotes on every single one of them. Whether or not they are appreciated matters not to me. I enjoyed making them more than I can even say. I love V day.

What I'm Reading Up next: Megyn Kelly's Settle for More.

What I'm Watching We are still watching Shameless on Netflix. We watched two movies over the weekend ... Frankie & Johnny and American Experience X. Both good movies.

What I'm Hearing The temps finally warmed up so I'm hearing other things than the heater fan. I can't wait to see my electric bill for January.

What's On My Camera I went out today and found signs of life. It really cheered me up to see the crocus coming up and that my cactus made it through this harsh winter.

What's Happening in My Kitchen Nothing to write about.

A Quote I Want to Share What you seek is seeking you. ~ Rumi

A Peek Into My Week The weather will be turning tropical for me.

A Final Thought Want what you have.

love, susan



Mr. Kitty



Early February: Life List

As I Look Out My Window We still have snow on the ground but it warmed enough that I wore my flip flops out last night. I have an "above-freezing" rule. If it's above freezing, my feet deserve some air. I was born to have my feet free.

 

As I Ponder Saturday night we went out for pizza with some great friends. Winter has us all suffering cabin fever so when someone mentioned going out, I got on it and everyone we invited showed up. Apparently, everyone else in this city had the same idea as the local pizza place was jammed with families. We squeezed our group in and it really lifted my spirits. My friend's 16 year old daughter sat at our table and we had a great discussion about all the books she's read. There is hope for our future!

 

What I'm Learning Perseverance is my strong suit. I finally finished organizing my photo collection and I'm mailing out the last envelope today. I have heard back from many people who I sent old photos to and they are happy to have them. I underestimated how long it would take me to get through all of them but once I had them spread out, I made myself see it to the end. I'm not a quitter.

 

What I'm Creating I have a stack of envelopes for a month long project to send out a card every day to someone. They are already addressed so all I have to do is write notes. Writing is a love second only to photography. Since this is February, some people will be receiving a valentine.

 

What I'm Reading Still reading A Little Life, which is not a little book. I got some reading time over the weekend and I think I'll be able to finish this book by end of the week. The next book in line is Megyn Kelly's Settle for More.

 

What I'm Watching I watched about half of Finding Dory on Saturday. Love me some Ellen DeGeneres!

 

What I'm Hearing Pretty much everyone I know loved the Super Bowl game yesterday and half-time entertainment by Lady Gaga. I saw her interview on CBS Sunday Morning and couldn't wait to see what she'd bring to the show. If you missed it, you can watch it here Lady Gaga Interview on CBS Sunday Morning. 

 

What's on My Camera Remi and I chilled all of Sunday. I rarely have days where I don't leave the house at least once to run an errand or to take photos but I made myself sit still yesterday. I even took a much needed two hour nap, guilt free. Remi got to go down to the park and run off some steam on Saturday. Here we are chillin' and watching the game. Often times when I am at work, I think about Remi and wish she was sitting next to me at my desk. I really get the whole service/therapy dog thing. My dream job would include an office dog.

 

What's Happening in My Kitchen Lots of leftovers. We'll likely have sloppy joes for the 3rd time to finish it off. Tomato soup. It's going to be one of those weeks where we eat what we've got since I didn't make it to the store yesterday.

 

A Quote I Want to Share Do with what you have. (I think my mom said this a lot)

 

A Peek Into My Week I'm going to finish that book I'm reading, come hell or high water. Write some letters. Go to lunch with a work friend. Dog class on Wednesday. Work hard.

 

A Final Thought It was nice to take a break yesterday from the political shit storm that has reigned down on us the last two weeks. When Face the Nation came on yesterday morning, I listened for a minute and promptly turned it off. The Super Bowl was a nice distraction. I'm glad I watched it. I hope America felt the relief as much as I did. We'll see.

love, susan