Salad anyone...?

Knowledge is knowing a tomato is a fruit; Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad.

Off to have some salad... ;)

What do a bus, a train and a desk have in common...?

A bus station is where a bus stops. A train station is where a train stops. On my desk, I have a work station...

A Para ... what???

A Paraprosdokian is a figure of speech in which the latter part of a sentence or phrase is surprising or unexpected in a way that causes the reader or listener to reframe or reinterpret the first part. It is frequently used for humorous or dramatic effect, sometimes producing an anticlimax. For this reason, it is extremely popular among comedians and satirists.

I'll be posting a different one every day, so check back often.

Here's the first one - "To steal ideas from one person is plagiarism; to steal from many is research."

New Year's: Look Not behind Thee

I have three goals in mind for this year - improve my relationship with my husband; treat my body as the sacred temple it is and respect the stewardship I have been given over the money and resources I have. To take a line out of the video posted here, I'm striving to believe that, [in all of those three areas], " ... [my] future can be better than [my] past.

All the very best to you in 2011!

Arrgg...

Do you ever wonder why it is you do the things you do? Do you find yourself irritated and aren't sure what's up? Do you find your anger toward someone or something to be out of proportion [ as in way over the top] toward the person or incident? And, lastly, do you ever find yourself on your knees, either physically or mentally, asking for help to overcome these tendencies?

What you ask for, you get - I guarantee it!

I have been struggling with being more generous in opinion, less judgemental, more loving, kind, giving and forgiving - in short - more charitable. 'Charity is the pure love of Christ' and when you love that way you aren't quick to be irritable or angry and so I have been praying for more opportunities to practise these traits.

Now, I consider myself to be a nice person - loving and kind normally and I don't usually have trouble keeping myself under control but lately... wow...there's a Mrs. Hyde popping out!!!

That doesn't deter me, though, from asking, again, for opportunities to show I can do it.

It's funny - aka strange - that I no sooner get off my knees with all the best intentions in the world and within 5 or 10 minutes I totally blow it. Even as it's happening I can see myself and in my head I'm saying, "Diane, this is not charitable - you know better than this - now you stop it," and just as quick I ignore the admonition and keep acting badly. The process continues to my admitting I did badly, vowing not to fall into that trap again and putting another smile on my face....for about 10 minutes! Yikes... here we go again...

This is day four of this fiasco but I'm not quitting. This is obviously something the Lord knows I need to have down pat and so I will continue to submit to His teaching process. I've long believed that if you cultivate good habits, you will automatically fall back on them in situations where you don't have the time or opportunity to think clearly. I want to have charity so deeply a part of me that I am automatically charitable.

We all walk this earth with our burdens, trials and tribulations. We all need charity and so, we ought to give it to others. I love it when someone overlooks my less than kind attitude or cutting words and just loves me. It takes my bite away, I find myself feeling accepted -warts and all- and I gain the strength to tackle this desire again.

I figure if I want it, I better throw it out there freely so when the bread on the water comes back it's not full of worms and mold ;)

I hope you have a great day. Take care.

Thanksgiving

I am, typically, an optimistic person. I prefer to think the best of people and to expect the best things to happen. I know those who would rather think the opposite way but I can't see myself spending all my time expecting the worst and being constantly surprised when it doesn't happen. Don't get me wrong - I like surprises. I just would rather spend my time with my face turned toward the sun and being disappointed from time to time.

You might be saying," '...disappointed from time to time'? Where do you live, girl? Disappointment is around every corner."

To them I would say, ' you're right, it is.' But - it's all in how you view disappointment.

Life is meant to rub the edges off us and smooth out the corners. That doesn't happen without disappointments, trials and troubles. I look forward to what I will learn every day because I know there'll be something. Sometimes the things I learn about myself, others and the world are not pleasant things to find out but it is all there to help in my earthly experience so I've learned to embrace it.

I try to take that attitude into prayer, too. I thank the Lord for all the people there are, ever were or ever will be - both good and not so good. They all help me learn. From the good I learn how to reach higher, last longer and shine brighter. From the not so good I learn how to avoid trouble, the consequences of poor choices and how long it takes to recover from mistakes.

I am thankful for every day whether it holds birth or death, sickness or health, poverty or riches. What a magnificent world this is! Beauty is all around. Even on cloudy, wind swept, rain drenching days I know the sun is shining somewhere and I just have to close my eyes to see it. I know that God can bring beauty from ugliness, strength from insult and injury, and a full amazing life from a pile of ashes.

I'm thankful for you. It doesn't matter whether we disagree with each other, see eye to eye, or are somewhere in between - I love you. You enrich my life just because you exist and I hope I do the same for you.

Take care until next time.

Under Construction

I just discovered there is are new templates available. Please be patient as I try on all the colors and patterns. Hope it isn't too hard to navigate through the debris ;)