Saturday, February 14, 2009


Happy
Valentine's
Day!
May you be
visited by
St. Valentine,
the cupid, and
your heart
pricked by
the arrow of
love.




The Best Valentine

Flower: Tupils. Much more creative than roses. They smell romantic.
Activity: Reminders of why you love the one you chose.
Dinner: Vegetarian. Keep it light.
Candy: The best quality of chocolate that you can obtain.
Movie: Ghost
Theme: Be nice and kind to your partner. Pamper. Ooh and ahh.
Pledge: Grow old with me. The best is yet to be.
Gift: ____ is/are a girl's best friend. (insert your favorite!)





























Sunday, February 8, 2009

The Cost of Being Simple




DREAM OF THE DAY: Home Makeover comes to West Virginia and knocks on my door! I have a great apartment in town. Perfect for one! Yes, you correctly recall that I am happily partnered, but maintaining separate living spaces a few miles apart works for us for now. The apartment is cozy and comfortable, but I want more shelves/drawers and a re-organized kitchen to maximize the space. And, the office could use a re-do.

Real Simple, Country Living, Martha Stewart Living, Domino, and Ophra are my favorite magazines. I constantly think about organizing spaces, creating a soft country feel (not rustic, and not country as in country music), unique furniture pieces, flea markets, re-purposing things, and self-improvement. Although I dislike the subscription cards that are loose inside the magazines because they fall out in the most inconvenient nooks and crannies, I admire the good marketing tactic because you just can't ignore them. The price of these magazines is on the edge of making them a luxury. How many things in the mags are really worth the standard off the rack cost? $4.95 for another recipe that gets stored in the already overflowing box? $6.95 for
another article on weight loss as if we don't get it by now. $3.99 to find out that clipping coupons saves on the grocery bill. When I think of the number of mags that I have kept for years and never opened again, I am tempted to send the publisher a storage fee. Yet I continue to gather the information. No kidding, I read every page. Why? Am I an infomaniac? A magaholic?
I feel good about saving 70% off the cover cost of the five jewels mentioned above by renewing my subscription. Never mind that I have to clip coupons to afford PB & J for the brown bag lunch, use reward points to finance presents, get gas at Kroger with ten cents off a gallon based on my accumulated grocery points, and get my DVDs from the library. It's a good thing.

Thursday, February 5, 2009

Passion, Where Art Thou?

DREAM OF THE DAY: I am self-sufficiently wealthy; friends, stuff, freedom. I read two books a week. I blog everyday; some for fun, some for money, some for self-expression. I love my work

How many people are there in the world who are alike? Raise your hand if you like sunsets, candlelit dinners, snuggling, walks on the beach, and happy endings. I can see thousands of hands pop up in the air! Okay, raise your hand if you like good food, movies, money in your bank account, and vacations. Another bunch of hands just went up! Now, to the extreme, give it up if you like art, want social justice, are religious/spiritual, and want to make a positive difference in the world or at least in your circle of contacts. My guesstimate is that 80% of people reading this say yes to one or more of the "likes".

Today, I am interested in the people who are like me and identify with the statement " I can not figure out what I want to do with my life." It is a complete puzzle to me. Not new, mind you, I have had this puzzle out on the table for about 20 years now. My library consists of so many books about self-help, career guides, spiritual topics, and the like, that there's hardly room for anything else on the shelves. Amazon's selection in these genres seem small in comparison!
All the reading and praying and evaluating has not worked. I am no closer to discovering a passion than I was way back when. My passion list goes something like this: food, sex, sleep, reading, and writing. Pretty general, huh, and not much room for a career path that I can see. Well, now that I review the list again, I might be able to combine all of those into a porn career, but that's not such a great idea on many levels; trust me on this one!

If you have contact with the great Buddha, the Dali Lama, or similar such identities who are supposed to have all of the answers, perhaps you could have your people contact my people and I could get on with a fulfilled, passionate life.