KNITTING, STAINED GLASS AND PLANTING, OH MY!

I love hobbies.

I've tried many of them.

Just don't ask how many I still have.

I was told I need a hobby. Hobbies are good for therapy and they keep your hands busy. They're calming and can relieve stress. Lets see.........I think I'll start out with knitting. Good place to start. My cousin, who got me in and out of more trouble than I can think of, called me. "Hey, Rose, I'm starting a knitting class...want to go?"

Being the amiable person that I am I replied, "Sure."

OK, most people go to the class and purchase needles and yarn. No big deal, right? I got the bag, I got circular needles, I got two types of knitting needles and I bought angora yarn. I didn't want to knit a plain old sweater. I was going to knit a masterpiece. Mel and I decided we could start making sweaters and then selling them. Hey, I was ALL in for that one.

When I got home I showed my husband everything and told him how excited I was to start the class. He looked at me with a slightly raised and arched eyebrow and said,

"I'll give you $500.00 if you finish that sweater."

Well, I knew I had that 500 in the bag. I told him, "no problem." Let me ask you, do you think I EVER got that 500?

Let's move on to stained glass. I have to say one thing about my ex-husband. He may have been a lot of things but he was patient with me. When I told him I wanted to take a stained glass class he just looked at me and said okay and then walked away shaking his head. As I look back he was probably wondering how much this little adventure was going to cost him. If you read about the knitting you know the outcome. I still have some of the knives that I bought for that class. The glorious window remains a vision.

Probably my crowning glory is the garden. Now I love plants and flowers. I loved walking out in our yard and smelling all the jasmine and seeing the lush greenery. It was gorgeous. I can do the planting and the admiring. Maintenance, however, is a different story.

I bought bags AND BAGS of soil. I wanted beautiful little rows of tomatoes and onions. I wanted green peppers and rows of potatoes. With each row planted I would proudly tell my husband how much money we were going to save and how good it would be for us. God Bless Him, every time I mentioned it he just looked at me and walked away shaking his head.

We could have gone to Europe on what I spent on that fictitious garden. Do you think the veggies ever made it to the table? I'll bet you answered correctly.

My latest was beading. My girlfriend asked me to join her. I knew what was going to happen and I still went with her. I told her what was going to happen, and I STILL went with her. Yep, it did happen again. I am the proud owner of a beading bag and tons of beads and a bracelet that looks like a three year old did it.

After all this, I've come to the conclusion that hobbies are not my forte. I've also concluded that I am the idea man. I can visualize it, I can put it together. I'll direct the picture but someone else needs to do the physical work and maintenance. In the event I still want to attempt something creative, I should stick to solitary pursuits that don't involve ANYTHING artsy-craftsy. I tried scrapbooks and the pictures are still in one place but I have a TON of paper and materials to make the largest scrapbook in history. QVC has to love me. I just don't seem to learn.

After all of this my daughter calls me.

For the "outlaws" birthday we're going to a painting class.

"You in, Mom?"

Be afraid, be very afraid.

Maybe I should try biofeedback.

BUT IT'S A DRY HEAT

40 feet up.

Under the eaves.

In the shade.

And it's still 114.

You would think that after 53 years I would get used to the summers in Las Vegas. Nope. Not at all. As long as I was in the pool I would be ok. Other than that? No way. Stay inside in the air conditioned house or get in the air conditioned car. 

Since the onset of my medical issues a dislike has turned into an intense hatred.

Plus, the heat makes me very irritable.

I don't know whether its the change in temperature that causes a flare or that my thyroid has caused the intolerance for heat but I feel like I'm going to pass out in this extreme heat. We've had excessive heat these last few weeks. I wasn't kidding about the 114 degrees. The official heat is measured at our airport about 40 feet up and under the eave in the shade. Really. In all actuality it will probably be 119 in the lower parts of the valley. This kind of heat is smothering. The temperature in the car can easily get to 140. You don't mess around with those kind of temperatures.

It gets dangerous.
No kidding.

If you can you have to plan any errands in the "cooler" part of the day. That means before 10 in the morning and after 7 at night. Last night at 9 pm it was 105.  Even then I take a cooler with me to the store because a trip to the store can mean frozen food can start to thaw and milk begins to warm up. Sunglasses are a must if you have light sensitivity (which I do). 

And you have to stay hydrated.
Again, no kidding.

So I'm hibernating this week and praying that the heat will break, otherwise, it's going to be a doozy of a summer. The natives of Las Vegas used to joke that the official temperature was lower so the tourists wouldn't be scared away. I know that the temperature on my car registered 120 the other day coming home from Costco. 

So here I am wishing I was in Antarctica.

There is one upside....

Hey, it's a dry heat!

Thank goodness for small miracles!!


Update: The clouds have moved in and the humidity is starting to rise. Great. Just great.

HAPPY FATHER'S DAY 2015

It has been 41 years.

Some days it seems like yesterday.

No question about it. I was a daddy's girl and proud of it. I still remember the day I found out that he was sick. I remember sitting by the window in Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital nestled in his shoulder crying my eyes out. There was nothing that he could say or do that would make this any better. He had always been able to fix anything for me.

But he couldn't fix this.

It was one of life's defining moments for me when he died. The loss of my dad had such a huge impact on me. I didn't think anything or anyone could take his place in my heart. He pushed me because he knew that I needed to be pushed. He was tough and he was fair. Justice was a big part of his personality and he passed that on to me. He made me focus because he knew that I could sometimes be scattered. He was proud of me no matter what.

He sang "there she is, Miss America" when I walked in the room.

I've tried to pass those kind of memories on to my daughter. There is something special about that kind of relationship and he would have absolutely adored her. I don't have a lot of regrets about life but I do regret that he couldn't have known her. If he spoiled me that is only a small speck compared to what he would have done with her. She would have been the apple of his eye.

So, another Father's Day without him has come and with it a little piece of my heart still breaks. 

But, I am so thankful that I had a father that I could hold dear to my heart. 

I have wonderful memories that are such a part of me and that now make me smile.

Happy Father's Day Daddy.

Miss you?

Doesn't even come close...............

I'VE WALKED MILES IN MY SHOES

It's been awhile.

I need more shoes.

So.

More walking in my shoes.

Mornings? Coffee with a diet coke chaser.

Doctors just throw more pills at you that don't work.

I want to get moving again.

I never know from one day to the next what lovely symptom is going to pop up. 

 Of course then there are the words we all love to hear, "I get tired too."

I don't even remember what it was like to wear these all the time. 

Sometimes it just gets depressing.

It costs a lot to have Fibromyalgia.

It feels like you've been hung out to dry.

So when all those symptoms seem to never go away.

I always try to remember that tomorrow will be a better day.

or....

sometimes.....

I just can't help it......

I just have to say.........

POSITIVELY POSITIVE

I always think 

before I speak.

If only I would do that before I act.

I've always been a thinker. I think before I speak; which is a good thing but I don't always think before I act, which is a bad thing. That little oversight has been at the crux of most of my issues. You would think that a thinker wouldn't have that problem. I analyze; over-analyze, over-analyze again and then beat it into the ground, kill it, bury it and then unfortunately, resurrect it and start the process all over again. It would be a plus if I did that before I decided to act. 

Sometimes, it's just plain ole' impulsivity. Sometimes, there is just not enough time. I've always thought that it's better to ask for forgiveness than to ask for permission. Did I say I had problems? This is why.

As I research right brain and left brain function, I see a startling fact. First, meditation does grow the gray matter in your brain. I'm not saying you have to sit cross legged and say ohm but some sort of quiet time focusing on nothing but relaxing your body and getting your brain waves down to something lower than an beta level would be highly beneficial. Second, thinking does affect your body and will go in the direction of your thoughts. Remember, the power of positive thinking?

The beta level is most associated with our normal waking state. Beta helps with analysis, logical thinking and active attentive function. Stress can throw the beta level into overdrive. I am VERY familiar with the beta level in overdrive.

Positive thoughts increase the dopamine in your system. Conversely, negative thinking brings cortisol and other lovely things that are only intended for the flight or fight syndrome into your system. That syndrome is there to keep us alive. It's not there to be used on a continual basis or as a way to live. That impacts your body in a very unhealthy way. I'm very familiar with that also.

Negativity also obscures your thinking and stands between you and your realization. I heard this today and pondered on this for awhile. While I have talked myself into many, many things; having the ability to move beyond my fears isn't one of them. It would be interesting to find out how much I could really do if I didn't talk myself out of things due to fear or my inherently cynical way of thinking.

How do you take a natural cynic and turn that around into a positive force? I haven't figured that one out yet. I've got a litany of quotes regarding human nature:

                         No good deed goes unpunished.

                         Human nature will never fail me.

                         When you see the light at the end of the tunnel 
                         it's probably the train coming at full speed.

                         I expected times like this but I never thought 
                         they'd be so bad, so long or so frequent.

                         It's always darkest before it goes pitch black.

                         In the battle between you and the world, 
                         bet on the world.

See what I mean? The list is endless. How in the heck to you take something ingrained in your very being and turn it into a positive? 

So, lets sum up.

I need to be more positive.

I am positive that I'm a cynic......

or.....a realist.

It's like Vegas in the summer.

Hey.....it's a dry heat!