Love Yourself

One of the hardest things for a woman to do is to care for herself. We're so busy taking care of Life, of Family, handling all the little details that come with a home, kids, and even work, that we forget to take care of ourselves. Now that my own kids are grown up, and don't need me as much, I find I have time on my hands. But so accustomed to always being busy, I need to learn all over again how to nurture my self.

One of the things I've noticed is that we still do things the way we used to. Knowing that there are so many other things to take care of, we may have let ourselves get into habits that aren't needed any longer. Let me give you an example. I used to come home from work and pile my purse and my lunch bag on the counter top and go about a routine. But what if I had a place to store it, the counter wouldn't look so cluttered. With less clutter, a room gives off an ambiance that invites one to take time to curl up in a favorite chair and spend some time reading. Or maybe that spot on the counter could hold a vase of flowers. Its the little things!

My suggestion, then, would be this:
If you open it, close it.
If you take it out, put it back.
If you throw it down, pick it up.
If you take it off, hang it up.

And, of course, make time for the little things that make you feel good, lift your spirits. It only takes a moment longer to do things right the first time (as Momma would tell me so often).

Sick is no fun

Usually I'm healthy, don't often catch the bugs that go around, but when work stresses reach an all time high and interferes with the rest I should be getting as well, then the bug finds a way to zap me and take me down.

I fought my way through the work week, but it took me down. I've spent last weekend in bed, resting in one way or another. I can honestly say, I've had my fill of the old Friends episodes. lol The work week passed in a struggle of getting through, and while there are many things that need doing, things to get caught up again, I did not over extend myself, and took plenty of short rests (in the sun, of course!) to get back to my usual healthy self.

One of the things that happen when chores get behind, when you don' t feel well, is all the fun things in life fall by the wayside -- like getting out and taking pix. Or staying in and taking pix. :)

I picked up my fav book last night again, "Romancing the Ordinary", and while its good reading, makes you think about normal things in different ways, its harder to put her ideas into practice. but necessary! I'm growing older, and am alone, so I need to make sure I'm taking care of me, my needs, and making Life special. Because you just can't wait for someone else to make it special for you. We're all worth the effort, if only we'd make it, rather than letting TV, media, the internet, use up our time that we could be using on ourselves.

Ok, just me rambling today, seems there's still a bit of foggy brain going on, so I'll close.

HUGS to everyone!

Ring-a-Ding!!

Don't you just love it when your phone rings.... and its someone you want to talk to? I'm not much of one for talking a lot on the phone -- I use it mostly to keep in touch with my parents. But lately, I've had a few phone calls that , well, they just thrill me to my toes. And no, its not the phone sex kind (*gasp*!) or the "you've just won a million dollars" kind (oh darn... there goes that cabin in the woods dream...). It's my bestest friend. And there's no better way to carve out a little time for us. Thanks, for the phone call!

When I was growing up, we had two phones in our house. One hung on the kitchen wall, and had a reasonably long cord, the other was in my parents' bedroom. When I was in high school, after school I was allowed to use the phone in the bedroom to talk to friends. I didn't do it often. Until I discovered -- yes, you guessed it -- boys. If my parents were in bed, I would sneak out to the kitchen and dial, sitting huddled against the dining room wall while I talked. I remember the first boy who called and talked for hours. His name was David Boardman. I don't have a clue what we talked about, but I can remember my mother hollering "It's been 30 minutes, time to hang up now." (I'm quite sure after hearing that, I would roll my eyes, and giggle with David about mothers.)

I remember thinking it was the greatest thing in the world... someone wanted to talk to me!! It was among the first of my crushes, which didn't last when he got me in trouble in History. It was during a movie we were watching. And he kept poking me with a pencil. Finally, I just began to ignore him. Little did I know it wasn't him, it was the teacher, trying to see if I was awake. lol. After that, I wasn't so thrilled with David Boardman any longer. (I truly hated getting into any kind of trouble at school!)

quick thoughts

nearly a year
has come and gone
our closeness
has grown by
leaps
and bounds.

Days when I
imagine
we couldn't get
any closer
and still we do.

Nary a moment
goes by when
I don't long to
feel your arms
hugged
around me.

Stressed....

..... to the max. What a week this has been at work. I am on day 11 of a 12 day stretch, and .... well, I'd be fine if all I had to do was my job, without all the hassles of people. But that's just not how the real world works, but I'm sorely tempted to make it that way for my one last day by taking all my work INTO the security cage and being OUT of the way. You know that old saying: Out of sight, Out of mind. Well, if they don't leave me alone, I just may GO out of my mind! hahaha

Of all the surprises, however, today was a real shocker. The Manager of my Big Box Store was let go. Of course, these things are never done "out of the blue" -- so there must have been issues that most of us weren't privy to. That being said, I know some of the reasons given included favoritism. An employee was hurt outside of work, had to have some surgery, and was out of work for a very long time. He allowed them to come back to work with a "light duty only" restriction, and that's not allowed per Corporate Rules. (I'm sure its worded in a more technical manner.) There were some other reasons shared with the general group about "not following policies" but no details were shared.

What does this mean now? and for me? I'm not exactly sure. It will take approximately three weeks to get another store manager interviewed and hired on, and who knows what that will mean for the future of the store. I've had awesome managers, and I've had some 'not so awesome' managers. With the components and issues our store has had in the past couple years, I know that as a group, we will be "under a spotlight" as far as how we each do our jobs, individually and as a group. This should be interesting, to say the very least.

In the meantime, it will be very intense. I told my helper, Alvis, that we do it by the book, or we don't do it at all. If he's unsure, he needs to ask. In the meantime, I'll be working extra hard to stay caught up. I'm just gonna love the next month, I can tell. Not.

Comfort Level

Are you comfortable naked???

I read an article today that asked this very question.

It described how a woman who is not comfortable with her nudity wanting to try an experiment, and when at a girlfriend's house, asked if she could undress. Her friend was understanding, and gave her approval. While the woman in question didn't get overly comfortable ... "I had wanted to walk around, but I found myself rooted behind the table and chairs. That's as comfortable as I could get. But I did it." (Article here)

In the past few months, I've not been overly shy with sharing my photography, my nudity, as art. (In front of live people, I'm sure I'd be more ... shy!) But the point I found interesting was the reaction of her partner when she described what she did, and how he felt it was a breach of their intimacy.

Our society is driven by an unrealistic ideal of physical beauty: More than 60 percent of American women are a size 12 or larger, yet we're bombarded by images of size 0s, which can fuel a barrage of insecurity and self-doubt. (taken from here)

Definitely not good for a woman's self image when she's self conscious. And frankly, I think we as women are harder on each other, and ourselves, than the men in our lives. I Googled a few phrases, trying to find more -- and its not a subject that many want to talk about. Sure, there are articles how you can make changes (ie, diet, exercise) but so much of it geared toward getting back to that unrealistic ideal of beauty.

From a male standpoint, I found an article at www.askmen.com about 78 love secrets, mostly related to helping a woman feel more comfortable with her nudity. One of the men who had dated a lot of younger women said, "A woman with the joie de vivre that comes from having a bank of life experiences is a much bigger turn-on than a youthful body." (Very comforting to me as I reach my "golden years"! ) Their other piece of helpful advice to men: "Helping your woman embrace her flaws is only one of the many ways you can get her to break free of certain sexual inhibitions. Aid her in feeling more confident, and she'll open up more often to let you in."

I think one of the best things we can do is learn to be comfortable in our own skin. It won't be the same for everyone. Each of us sees our own flaws, and nothing else. But I'm willing to bet that with an increase in our own nudity, even if only in our bedrooms privately, we can begin to feel better about who we are. Why not try it a few times and get past those old stereotypes that have been forced into your head for so long!