Happy New Year

It's 2008!!!

It's gonna be a great year!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

More perfect timing

Thursday morning I took my Jeep to the mechanic. After waiting for their Jeep guy to get there to look at it I learned it was going to be more extensive than I had thought. I had them take me home. They called a couple hours later with a quote of almost $900 for the repairs, mostly due to labor costs. OUCH, my portion is $420, the warranty I purchased picked up the rest. I was planning on $100 and I could have stretched things to $200 but $420 was a bit out of my reach until next payday. My gut told me to call my mom. It was the middle of the day in the middle of the week, normally she is at work. BUT, not today, she took the week off. I got her credit card number so the mechanic could get paid. I'm going to pick up my Jeep in the morning. This whole incident would have been a major disaster had it happened any other time. I had a car available to use while my Jeep was out of commission, my mom was home on a day she normally wouldn't be, and the leak was found before I hit the road to drive back to Minnesota.

Talk about timeing, it's time for me to go to bed.

A bright light--heartwarming news story

Imagine this: a 17 year old girl in New York missed a year of school due to severe stomach problems. Most people would be into to the "poor me" state of mind, but not this girl. She saw a need and as a result of her fund-raising efforts a new school has been built in Cambodia. (click on this blog title to read the news story)

I no longer read this type of story and say "good for her" and leave it at that. Instead I ponder about what I can do to change the world. In the 5 minutes since I read the article I have not come up with any grand plans, but I have come up with some interesting questions. Why are kids able to see a problem and find a solution so easily? They seem to not be distracted by all the "what ifs" and red tape. Maybe it has something to do with Jesus' statement in Matthew 18:3 "And he said: "Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven." What is it about children which makes it easier for them to enter the kingdom? Maybe it's because their thinking is not as tainted by the world yet as most adults? Maybe I'm thinking too much about this, maybe I and others just need to do; stop thinking and just do.

iTunes

I've known about iTunes for some time now but have just recently got into it. I LOVE iTUNES!!!! I got a giftcard for Christmas and have downloaded some song on to my laptop. I've subscribed to some podcasts too.

The biggest reason I love iTunes is because it will save me money. Most of the time when I buy a CD it's because of one or two songs, so I end up spending $15 or more when with iTunes I pay $.99 for each song.

I guess there is a feature where you can look up what's on your friends playlists. I'm going to research this (with Google of course) and will report back with what I find.

Another reason to work all the overtime I can

This morning I discovered my Jeep had a fuel leak. It's very small and I can see the spot it's dripping from on the tank. I had a brief freak out (as I tend to do when sudden stressful things happen) but soon after I got a "feeling" that I should check the warranty paperwork I got when I purchased my Jeep. The fuel lines, injector, and tank are all coverd with only a $100 deductible. YEAH!!!! I had $200 come in VERY unexpectedly on Friday so no problem covering it.

The timing of the leak could not have been much better. My brother and sister-in-law are in Minnesota and drove my brothers truck up there so I have my sister-in-laws car to use. If they were here it would not be so easy to drive it.

Someone/something was watching out for me

On my way home from work I learned exactly how long I could drive my Jeep without putting gas in it. I had just turned off of the main road and was just a short distance from home when the engine sputtered and died. I was able to coast through a right turn and a slightly illegal left turn at the entrance of the strip mall and just barely made it to the pump at the gas station. I could have easily run out of gas on the main road but instead I felt like something was pushing me the final hundred yards or so to the gas pump.

What did I get myself into?

We had Christmas a little early and I recieved my favorite things, gift cards to buy books. I have a Barnes and Noble membership and am on the Borders Rewards program. I got discount coupons in my e-mail for both bookstores and went shopping Monday afternoon. I got the following books:

The Science of Oneness by Malcolm Hollick
Findhorn Retreat book/dvd set by Eckhart Tolle
The Disappearance of the Universe by Gary Renard
Divine Intuition by Lynn Robinson
Trust Your Vibes by Sonia Choquette

Now, where do I start?

One down (maybe), one to go. The journey continues

All signs are pointing for me to return back to Mankato and have it be my home base for the rest of my journey.

I think I have found a place to live. It's in an area I like and the people sound sane. I got two responses to an ad I placed and the one sounded promising and my gut (which has never failed me) tells me it's a good place. One the second one my gut told me an immediate NO!

So, now I need a job.

I am going to continue on my journey, it's just taking a different form than I thought. Sometimes you need to get away from everything familiar to learn some things and sometimes you need the support to learn others. I feel like I'm at the point where I need more local support. I also feel like something is about to happen there and I need to be a part of it. What that something is I don't know, but I need to be there. I am looking into retreat centers within a few hours of Mankato to spend some weekends at. If anyone knows of a good one, please let me know.

I'm sorry, I just have to laugh

It's snowing here in Northern Virginia, which is nothing new. There is about 1 inch on the ground and all the schools are closing early. I find it SOOOOOO funny.

Social "norms'

Not too long ago I was criticized for my lack of makeup use and not making my hair all “girly”. My lack of makeup and such has been linked to low self-esteem by the same person. This is one person’s analysis of me and they couldn’t be further from the truth.

So are people going to magically love me more if I wear a little makeup and do my hair all fancy? No, I don’t think so. I never have worn makeup and don’t intend to any time soon. Please don’t take the rest of what I am about to say as judgment of anyone who wears makeup, these are my thoughts as they pertain to me and me only.

I feel like wearing makeup is like wearing a mask. If people love or like me more because I wear makeup I feel they like their feelings are based on false pretenses. I think this is very much an extension of the same line of thinking that wearing white socks with everything is acceptable and red socks are not. When I do wear white socks it’s only because the white socks are closer to the top than the red or purple or green socks. The color of socks I wear or makeup or fancy hair does not define who I am. When I do these things that are against “societal norms“I feel liberated.

As for the lack of makeup being equated with lack of self-esteem… When this “theory” was brought to my attention I got angry and immediately felt defensive, which, for me, is usually a sign that it is true and I don’t want to acknowledge it. I didn’t say anything in response to the “theory” but I did think about it for a while that night. What I know to be true for me is that my lack of makeup is directly liked to my HIGH self-esteem. Why would I want to put something on my face that would detract someone from seeing the natural beauty that radiates from me? When I am truly filled with joy I’ve been told by many people that my eyes sparkle. Why would I want to detract from that? When I have done my hair all fancy I spend the majority of my day worrying if it still looks ok. I have better things to do than worry about my hair.

So today when I go to work I will not be wearing any makeup and my hair will probably be pulled back in a pony tail. I will be dressed in clothes that acceptable according to the company guidelines. No where in the handbook does it say I have to wear a particular color of socks. Today I will probably wear white socks simply because they are at the top.

Oh and while I’m on the issue of social norms I have one other thing I’ve been wondering about. Who invented the fitted sheet? And who decided that the sheet sets sold in the USA have to be a fitted and a flat sheet? Don’t they know most of the world uses FLAT sheets for the bottom sheet?