Changes & Progress... Perhaps.

Howdy Gals! I hope you all are having a wonderful holiday season & your toes and/or fingers have not turned blue. Last night as I was doing my pre-slumber face wash, I discovered a new mole on my chin. The mole had an inhabitant. One super friendly strand of hair!!! What the holy blue blazin' moly mackerel?!?!? The hair was just a'wavin' at me in the mirror. And all I could think about was: Has this been sticking out of my face all freakin' day? How many folks saw it and were frightened when speaking with me? Ugh. Bleh. Gross. Those were my first thoughts. And then... bada bing bada boom! I became okay with the mole. Plucked out the hair. Finished washing my face and went to sleep. I just cannot fathom spending good energy [read: time I could be sleeping] panicking about facial flaws. Or the rest of my outer flaws. Would I love smoother, silkier skin? Sure. But I gotta be okay with the skin I'm in. Plus, it could be worse. If I ever become a burn victim, I'd pay big Monopoly money for the skin I currently have. Finito. My eating habits are getting a wee bit better. I see some curves to my mid-section & I'm still exercising regularly. The jogging has been put on hold as it's freakin' cold. At least by Georgia standards. And my toes and fingers go numb so dang quickly it's a shame. A shame that one Foghorn Leghorn could attest to. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W0D6DZuTPsA

I just finished watching Michael Moore's "Bowling For Columbine" about gun control/violence/whatever in America. It made me want to run away, as do all of his films. I wish we American's weren't so dang scary or so dang violent. Sheesh! Inhaling and exhaling peace. :-) So, I went to small town Mississippi again last weekend. The roundness of all the folks was so so so disheartening. And because I walked about a mile and a half (round trip) to get oatmeal and coffee a couple times scared the crap outta my big friend and his family. "Why you walkin? That's too far! You could get kidnapped out here! Nobody walks `roun' here!" Uhm... Yea! No freakin' kidding! Everyone there needs a walk or three, but instead they all just came to their doors to stare & wave at me walking by. It's so rare for them to see walking people that I was asked FOUR times by FOUR different people if I needed a ride. They figured I was stranded and walking because why else would I be walking alone on those roads. Please take note that there's maybe 5k people in/around this town. Seriously, what could happen to me walking to and from McDonald's on the main drag?!?! Great thing is that I got the senior discount because, "I can just tell that you're not from here. You just don't have the look of people from here." Yep, that's what the McD's cashier guy told me. Oh, my sweet sweet small town Miss'uh'sip! Such a special place. I did get to see a friend from Clovis while there. Her parents now live sorta near where I was staying. I also swung through Tupelo, MS and saw the house in which Elvis was born. What an eventful ... okay, not so eventful... trip. 

Delights, I hope you all are doing fabulously & usher in 2013 just the way ya want. TAPS, glad you're back to work on your own terms and hours. Be great! Cheers!

Celebrations:

♣  Being off work until Wednesday 

♣  Maintaining decent grades

♣  Easy to manager hair

♣  Crown Royal Maple & spiked hot chocolate  :-)

♣  Making delicious fish and veggies

♣  Having someone fix SinnABurst's rattling sound for free

Objectives:

♠  Donate clothes and shoes and un-wanted xmas gifts

♠  Connect with at least 3 old friends

♠  Read 10 pages per night of Team of Rivals

♠  Do next to nada for the next 3 days

♠  Smile & be generous

Mental Stability

Hi Delights! What a rough couple of weeks this has been for a lot of folks in this country. I know we all feel "something" for the community in Newtown, CT where the shootings took place. And the week before in Portland. Then, a day after the awful events in Connecticut, some guy shot three people at a hospital in Arkansas & some other fella shot 50 rounds in to the air at a mall in California. I find myself wondering about the mental health of the shooters. What sort of traumas had the 20-year-old kid in CT endured that gave him the capability to completely disconnect from life?!? He had no regard for human life at all. How does that happen? The bootleg sociologist and aspiring counselor in me has plenty of theories and they all are pretty sad. I always hate when a person can find no peace in their soul and they go off and do the unthinkable. That has got to be a terrible feeling. I don't know if any of you know anyone personally connected to any of these horrible events, but my thoughts are with you anyway. We're all mothers or aunts or occasional baby sitters or god parents to some wonderful kiddos, so I wish you serenity as you try to process and/or explain these terrors. 

I'm entering my 3rd week of the counseling program and happy to say it's going well. I'm on top of all my assignments thus far but still struggling with others' writing. I have to remind myself on a regular basis that their writing does not affect my grade. I may need to play some Enya and chant that phrase celtically. :-)

Celebrations:

♥  That the country is coming together to help the folks in CT and still helping Hurricane Sandy victims

♥  Colouring my mini-fro Red Hot Rhythm

♥  A wonderful & much needed vacation to Phoenix

♥  No airport delays

♥  The kiddos in my life have received their xmas gifts from me already

Objectives:

♣  Continue to exercise and eat better

♣  Clean, recycle, & grocery shop

♣  Try e-couponing for the first time

♣  Un-pack, do laundry & prepare for the week

♣  Remain optimistic about folks' mental health & how fragile we are

Enjoy the day! Ms. Awesome:  GO BEARS! 

Partly Cloudy!

Howdy Delights! Just want you all to know that my partly cloudy really means I'm partly drunk. Was packing for my upcoming Phoenix trip and decided to have wine during the process. There will be quite a few errors in this blog. Justsoyaknow! Maurice is on his way out, but the Lumberjack lingers. I want cookies sooo bad. Help me Baby Buddha! I want to change the spelling of Maruice's name and add an "x." Thus making him Maurixe. Just ran that idea by my gal pal & she said it doesn't look right. What sayeth thou, Follow Through'ers? Anyhoo, my first week of the counseling program was a cinch, which sorta scares me. I've already finished the assignments for week two. Equally scared. I'm sure week three will bring on some challenges, right?!?! Sure. In other news: I'm still hanging with the Country Fella `cause... Well, I just like him. And I think he's gonna mature a little more by the week. However, there's another guy on the horizon who's caught my attention. Yowzuh! I'll keep you all posted as to how that plays out. I'm still rockin' with the fitness, but maybe need to look at my eating habits again. Or maybe it's just cause the Lumberjack was around & I felt the need to eat an over abundance of chocolate. Let's go with that. I actually feel healthier & am getting in the groove of jogging (although I still don't really like it). I had my hair cut off again & plan to take better care of it this time around as it grows/fro's out. I really want an oatmeal cookie. Damnit!

Celebrations:
= Drunk packing for Phoenix
= Steady fitness regimen
= Easy to maintain hair
= Upcoming vacation
= Great wine
= Going to the Spurs game in Charlotte last night

Objectives:
♣  Make sure to look at what I packed to ensure I have the right stuff
♣  Clean & do laundry before I leave
♣  Get a mobile Hot Spot device
♣  Find a ride to the airport  :-)
♣  Rid myself of the Lumberjack

Have a wonderful week, Delights! Own IT!