Saturday, March 31, 2007

One thing leads to another

One Thing Leads to Another


My personal quest for enlightenment and self actualization started for me in earnest a short time after May of 1986 when my husband and I were separated for almost a year. (I like to say that for the shock value!) It was not choice that separated us, but a new job that took my husband 1500 miles away. We thought we had sold our home in New Mexico. My husband went to California for training for his new job. The kids and I house hunted in Spokane, Washington and were excited about what we had found. When we returned to New Mexico though we learned that the couple who had bought our house could not qualify for the loan. With great disappointment for my husband and I the house went back on the market and the kids and I stayed put. The kids didn't mind so much not having to leave their friends.

So, for a year I was a single stay at home Mom. Most of my friends had moved away. And of course my husband was 1500 miles away. "No more eggs to fry......" Yes, I did have a pity party, for just a bit. The house was always at it's best, ready to show to a prospective buyer should a realtor call. So, when the kids were at school I had lots of time on my hands. I decided to spend this time productively.

Whether it was true or not is another story, but, I had believed myself to be fat since the forth grade. And I decided one more time that I was going to conquer the fat. I went to the library often and spent a lot of time reading the treasures I would bring home. I remember sitting at the typewriter typing an eating plan after reading several books by Geneen Roth. And while typing I had an Ah hah moment! This day was the first time I asked myself why. Why was I fat? I changed direction and started reading and working through "The Viscott Method a Revolutionary Program for Self-Analysis and Self Understanding" by David S. Viscott. Thus the journey began.

It was at this time that "The Oprah Winfree Show" was nationally sindicated and I was hooked after the first show that I watched. Through Oprah I was introduced to Wayne Dyer, Gary Zukav, Harville Hendriks, Dr. Phil and Depok Chopra, to name a few. Then while visiting a friend back east I watched the Wisdom Channel and discovered Louise Haye. While talking on the phone with another distant friend she mentioned a book titled something about loving yourself. I didn't write it down, but looked for it the next time I was in the library. What I came up with was titled something like "How to Love Yourself". I have it in a box in the garage I think. It turned out not to be the book my friend was talking about, but it's simple message was essential for me. There was also Marianne Williamson, John Gray, John Bradshaw, Jung, even Covey and Freud. Yes, I've read them all and more. I am, if nothing else, well read!!!

I am not in total agreement with everything everyone of them mutters. Neither do I discount everything they say because I don't agree with every detail. I just really have wanted to know.

I must have been born curious, always wanting to be the fly on the wall. My older brother always had his friends and would be off somewhere with them. I would be with my Mom and her friends listening to them gossip and talk about their biggest concern, how to lose weight. Anytime there would be people gathered talking I had my ears close by. And I kept many secrets because somehow I knew that if I repeated any of what I was hearing I would not be allowed to listen anymore. I still have many secrets locked inside. do do.........do do (that was an attempt at the 'Twilight Zone' music).

Anyway, there I went, off on a tangent and forgetting where I was going with this, which is why I don't post much and spend a lot of time watching the cursor blink.

I just really have wanted to know.

Saturday, March 24, 2007

100 books

100 BOOKS



If you want to play along, simply take the list below, paste it into your own blog, put READ next to those you’ve read, WANT TO next to those you are interested in, AGAIN & AGAIN next to those you’ve read and can’t stop, and leave blank those you don’t care to read.
1. The Da Vinci Code (Dan Brown) read
2. Pride and Prejudice (Jane Austen) read
3. To Kill A Mockingbird (Harper Lee) read
4. Gone With The Wind (Margaret Mitchell) read
5. The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King (Tolkien) READ
6. The Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring (Tolkien) READ
7. The Lord of the Rings: Two Towers (Tolkien) READ
8. Anne of Green Gables (L.M. Montgomery) READ
9. Outlander (Diana Gabaldon)read
10. A Fine Balance (Rohinton Mistry)
11. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (Rowling)
12. Angels and Demons (Dan Brown)
13. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (Rowling)
14. A Prayer for Owen Meany (John Irving)
15. Memoirs of a Geisha (Arthur Golden) READ
16. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone (Rowling)
17. Fall on Your Knees(Ann-Marie MacDonald)
18. The Stand (Stephen King)
19. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (Rowling)
20. Jane Eyre (Charlotte Bronte) READ
21. The Hobbit (Tolkien) READ
22. The Catcher in the Rye (J.D. Salinger) read
23. Little Women (Louisa May Alcott) READ
24. The Lovely Bones (Alice Sebold) READ
25. Life of Pi (Yann Martel) ?
26. The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy (Douglas Adams)
27. Wuthering Heights (Emily Bronte) READ
28. The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe (C. S. Lewis) read
29. East of Eden (John Steinbeck) read
30. Tuesdays with Morrie (Mitch Albom)read
31. Dune (Frank Herbert)read
32. The Notebook (Nicholas Sparks) read
33. Atlas Shrugged (Ayn Rand) read
34. 1984 (Orwell)
35. The Mists of Avalon (Marion Zimmer Bradley) read
36. The Pillars of the Earth (Ken Follett)?
37. The Power of One (Bryce Courtenay)
38. I Know This Much is True (Wally Lamb)read
39. The Red Tent (Anita Diamant)
40. The Alchemist (Paulo Coelho)?
41. The Clan of the Cave Bear (Jean M. Auel) read!!!!
42. The Kite Runner (Khaled Hosseini)
43. Confessions of a Shopaholic (Sophie Kinsella)
44. The Five People You Meet In Heaven (Mitch Albom)
45. The Bible read
46. Anna Karenina (Tolstoy) read
47. The Count of Monte Cristo (Alexandre Dumas) read
48. Angela’s Ashes (Frank McCourt)read
49. The Grapes of Wrath (John Steinbeck) READ
50. She’s Come Undone (Wally Lamb)read
51. The Poisonwood Bible (Barbara Kingsolver) read
52. A Tale of Two Cities (Dickens) read
53. Ender’s Game (Orson Scott Card)
54. Great Expectations (Dickens) READ
55. The Great Gatsby (Fitzgerald) READ
56. The Stone Angel (Margaret Laurence)
57. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (Rowling)
58. The Thorn Birds (Colleen McCullough) read
59. The Handmaid’s Tale (Margaret Atwood) ?
60. The Time Traveller’s Wife (Audrew Niffenegger)
61. Crime and Punishment (Fyodor Dostoyevsky) read
62. The Fountainhead (Ayn Rand) read
63. War and Peace (Tolsoy) read
64. Interview With The Vampire (Anne Rice) read
65. Fifth Business (Robertson Davis)
66. One Hundred Years Of Solitude (Gabriel Garcia Marquez)read
67. The Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants (Ann Brashares) read
68. Catch-22 (Joseph Heller) read
69. Les Miserables (Hugo)read
70. The Little Prince (Antoine de Saint-Exupery) read
71. Bridget Jones’ Diary (Fielding)
72. Love in the Time of Cholera (Marquez)
73. Shogun (James Clavell)read!!!!
74. The English Patient (Michael Ondaatje)read
75. The Secret Garden (Frances Hodgson Burnett) read
76. Tigana (Guy Gavriel Kay)
77. A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (Betty Smith) READ
78. The World According To Garp (John Irving) read
79. The Diviners (Margaret Laurence)
80. Charlotte’s Web (E.B. White) READ
81. Not Wanted On The Voyage (Timothy Findley
82. Of Mice And Men (Steinbeck) READ
83. Rebecca (Daphne DuMaurier) read
84. Wizard’s First Rule (Terry Goodkind)
85. Emma (Jane Austen) READ
86. Watership Down (Richard Adams) ?
87. Brave New World (Aldous Huxley) ?
88. The Stone Diaries (Carol Shields)
89. Blindness (Jose Saramago)
90. Kane and Abel (Jeffrey Archer) read
91. In The Skin Of A Lion (Ondaatje)
92. Lord of the Flies (Golding) READ
93. The Good Earth (Pearl S. Buck)read
94. The Secret Life of Bees (Sue Monk Kidd)
95. The Bourne Identity (Robert Ludlum) read
96. The Outsiders (S.E. Hinton)
97. White Oleander (Janet Fitch) read
98. A Woman of Substance (Barbara Taylor Bradford)read
99. The Celestine Prophecy (James Redfield)read
100. Ulysses (James Joyce)
I've never been big on rereading books, though I have, not realizing it for many chapters.

Sunday, March 18, 2007

Gratitude

GRATITUDE



"Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. It turns what we have into enough and more. It makes sense of our past, brings peace for today and creates a vision for tomorrow."
~~~Melody Beatie

Saturday, March 17, 2007

Spring

Spring

Spring has sprung.

The grass has riz.

I wonder where

The little birdies iz?

Monday, March 12, 2007

Blogging

Incredible

It is too incredible what this blogging business has done for me. I haven't been doing it very long, yet the benefits are huge. Thanks Lucky.

I think blogging is what it used to be like to write letters! When I graduated from High School I traveled with a family to Hawaii. The family then moved to Korea and I stayed in Hawaii and wrote long letters home to my Mom and bestfriend. When I say long letters, I mean 10, 15, 20 pages. Oh and I almost forgot about the sailor I wrote long letters to when I was in High School. His name was Maynard Robert Kanoinoiokalani Kaleokalani. He was also my first kiss! Just one.

Anywho...the benefits of blogging.....back to the benefits of blogging.

The most recent benefit is that I got all fired up reading some blogs that are way out there. I remember a time when I was able to guide peoples thoughts back to rational reasonable thought. I was well known for it as a matter of fact. Then I had children and a slight shift occurred in my sensibilities. I spent much less time talking to peers and most of my time being a mother. That was almost 36 years ago.

About twelve years later when my youngest started school I started reading self help books and writing about what I learned. The volume of my writing filled several garbage bags when we pared down before moving to Nevada. I kept a small portion. Blogging inspired me to dig them out and reading them has been amazing and uplifting just as it was to look through photo albums to find pictures to post on my blog.

I hope to share some of this writing with you.

How long has it been since you looked through your phots albums? Do you have journals that you haven't read in OH SO long?

Friday, March 02, 2007

TONI


This blogging business is like going to my favorite store in Spokane, WA-"Mels". I seldom bought anything there because I wanted most everything they had. I have only so much time that I can be on the computer because my husband is finishing his MBA at UNR and is on the computer a lot. So I have to chose between writing and reading blogs.

i JUST DON'T KNOW HOW YOU YOUNG'UNS DO IT.