When the anxiety hits a home run..

There are some days when everything is just too much.

When it feel like the floor is tilting and beginning to crumble, the ceiling is teasing disaster by falling bit by bit onto your head and the walls are squeezing you from all sides

I am having one of those days today. I feel like if you look at me wrong I will simply implode. My chest feels like I am caught in an iron vice; I can't seem to get enough air yet the air I do have is making me dizzy and light headed.

I hate the feeling of helplessness. Even though I like to go with the flow and let life lead me where it may I usually try to keep an oar in the water to provide some guidance into the direction I want to flow.  Whenever that oar is forced out of the water the anxiety attacks start.

These suck my energy, my smile, my hope. The things that make me who I am. They drain me and leave me feeling like an orange that has lain in the sun for too long.

Today the anxiety will take parts of me. Today it wins and there is nothing I can do to prevent it. Nothing anyone can say.  I will do all the things I have learned help minimize the damage but in the end....pieces of me will still be gnawed away.

Such an illogical thing to sit in one side of your brain and watch the other side fall down even while acknowledging  that it's not the end and knowing that tomorrow things will be put back in their rightful place and life will fit and feel just fine.

However, as illogical as it is, I am thankful for the part of me that calmly reassures the rest of me that we will survive this.

Yea..it's "cheating" ...but it's cute cheating :p

I know..linking to another post instead of being witty or wordy is cheating in a way.  But there are three reasons it's okay today :

1) It's Monday.
2) It's the Monday after Easter ( This means I am still in a ham and candy induced brain coma)
3) The photo's from Nice Animal's post are just SO darn cute..well..it's worth the cheat!

Enjoy: Top 27 Adorable Pictures of Pets Growing up  


#100HappyDays..What is it all about?

I am sure by now many of you have come across the hash tag " #100HappyDays " on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram. So what is it? The general idea is for you to take one picture a day of something that makes you happy and post it to your social media of choice for 100 days in a row.

  When you go to the 100 Happy Days website there are no clues to the origination of the project. I had to do a little digging and found this interview with Dmitry Golubnichy, the creator of the project. In a nutshell he started a mission in his own life to find more happiness and then decided to challenge the rest of us. Pretty cool, huh?

 Joining the project is simple. You just head over to the website, fill out a little pledge box and go.


The shocking part is the calculation that 71% of people fail this challenge. I admit, I was shocked by this number. Snapping a photo and posting doesn't take that long and even if you use Instagram it requires no more than a few extra seconds while you choose a filter.  Can it really be that stopping to find one thing in your day that makes you happy is that hard?  Are we intimidated by that? I really don't know the answer. I feel that the real issue isn't time, as many state, but that we don't feel the need to make time in our life for Happy. We are always busy trying to get something, earn something, or find something to get to the happy that we forget to stop and just be happy.

I began the project 20 days ago and am enjoying it very much. It's kind of interesting going through your day and suddenly thinking, "There. That moment right there is my happy thought."  

Have you Taken or will you take the challenge?

What's your Happy?


Instant Vegetarian...Just add Boredom

Liberty & Neighbor Teeny getting ready for a sleep over @ Teeny's house:

Liberty: Have you eaten yet?

Teeny: No, but you can eat dinner @ my house.

Liberty: Ok. Are you sure? My mom made Salisbury Steak, It's my favorite!

Teeny: I can't. We don't eat meat.

Liberty: Oh. That's okay. I eat meat everyday..I'm bored with it.

I'm falling in love....

I have Google Reader for the 50 or so blogs I read daily and I love it. I have a Google Reader app for my phone so I can stay in touch while on the go. But yesterday while searching extensions for Google Chrome (My preferred browser) I ran across Feedly, a magazine style feed reader. It uses your existing reader account (in my case google) and then allows you to sort by category & create your own categories and is available for many different browsers. Plus, it allows you to choose topics that interest you and add/delete those from your 'Cover' allowing you to discover new blogs. This feature allowed me to find This adorable DIY project. So I'm quickly falling in love with it. Give it a try and let me know what you think :-)

Lamb, The Gospel according To Biff, Christ's Childhood Pal

Did you ever wonder about Jesus as a child? If he ever did anything funny? Stupid? Childish?

Well, Christopher Moore (with his usual straight forward & smart ass sense of humor) wanted to answer some of these questions and thus began the discovery of Lamb, the Gospel according to Biff, Christ's Childhood Pal. It's irreverant, intriguing, hillarious and shocking. It's also one of the best things I've ever listened to (I did the book via Audible).

If you have any biblical knowledge you will easily recognize many of the stories through out the book. The twist? They are all told from Biff's (Jesus' BFF) point of view. Biff does have trouble recalling some of the stories at first. After all, he has been dead for thousands of years and today suddenly one of the Lord's Angels is all but holding him hostage in a hotel room. Regardless of his sudden resurrection Biff does an excellent job recreating Jesus' childhood in a way never told before.

Lamb
The Gospel According to Biff, Christ's Childhood Pal

by Christopher Moore

The birth of Jesus has been well chronicled, as have his glorious teachings, acts, and divine sacrifice after his thirtieth birthday. But no one knows about the early life of the Son of God, the missing years -- except Biff, the Messiahs best bud, who has been resurrected to tell the story in the divinely hilarious yet heartfelt work "reminiscent of Vonnegut and Douglas Adams" (Philadelphia Inquirer).

Verily, the story Biff has to tell is a miraculous one, filled with remarkable journeys, magic, healings, kung fu, corpse reanimations, demons, and hot babes. Even the considerable wiles and devotion of the Saviors pal may not be enough to divert Joshua from his tragic destiny. But theres no one who loves Josh more -- except maybe "Maggie," Mary of Magdala -- and Biff isnt about to let his extraordinary pal suffer and ascend without a fight.



Give it a read (or listen as I prefer) and let me know what you think!

President Obama wants to speak with our youth.....



Okay, so I'm a bit slow. The speech from the President has, apparently, been everywhere..and I just heard about it today. In my defense, we don't have any television in my house right now, and a chance to read a paper or even listen to the news is somewhat dicey in my constant daily rotation of work, kids, homework and 3 different sport practices.

Today happens to be a priceless & rare day as Prince Charming and I have no work, no games to attend, no practices and no children. So, taking a chance to catch up, check up and check in on the world I log into my kid's school website. And there, in bold letters, is a link titled: District's Position on President Obama's Speech to Students. Already wondering what I've missed, I click the link while simultaneously searching google for "president's speech to students". Once I find out what the speech is all about read some backlash, I have a funny feeling I'm not going to be happy with the school and flip over to the district's letter:
School District ###'s students will not be viewing the message at school. The district feels that parents can determine if you would like to view this message with your children. This way parents and their children can discuss the President's message.


Now, I have to tell you...I am kinda stunned. The President of the United States of America wants to speak to the children of America and encourage them to be responsible, make goals and do their best...and people are flipping out??

Uh, okay!

Like I stated..I can be slow. Admittedly. But people, what exactly do you expect our President to do during this speech? Send subliminal messages to our children asking them to take over their household and vote him King of the World? I can tell you right now that my kids will think it's really cool that the President wants to talk to them. Thinks they are important enough to warrant a speech. Thinks they are worth enough in this world and country that he wants to take time out to speak to them.

Telling our children to be responsible and take responsibility for their education is a good thing people! Last time I checked, learning to set and achieve goals was also a positive thing! These traits go beyond educational success and translate into the real world by making self sufficient and productive adults.

And on one (okay..a few) last note(s), ask your kids how many movies they watched during the last school year. I know my kids watched approximately 4 movies during the 2008-2009 school year. Apparently Chicken Little has more educational value than a speech by the President according to my school district. If I can swing the time off work, I will be taking my kids out of school for the President's speech..because I think it's important for my kids to hear this, they will think it's even cooler to hear it live..even if via the television, I think that it's important to take a stand when the world becomes so ridiculous, and as PC just pointed out, I think if you're so anxious for funding then you should probably listen to the guy who takes part in signing the paychecks.

What do you think?


Yeah, it's cheating....


Okay, so I suppose it is sort of "cheating" to post a youtube vid as a post after being gone. But...It's something, right? And besides...it's really cute and funny...so I should be forgiven :-D

Enjoy!

The Great Post-It Seige...

Frustrated workers in France have taken matters in thier own hands. Fed up with working conditions, not being heard and the number of layoffs, employees at a 3M plant decided to take thier manager hostage. While reading this article I was surprised to learn that this type of thing happens somewhat often. Maybe U.S. companies should stand up and take notice!

When pigs fly






Alex: Mom, when are you going to buy pop tarts?

me: I don't know. When pigs fly!

Alex: Moooooom. You always say that.

me: Yep, that's 'cause I am fun like that.

Alex: I think I will just invent and build a flying pig....then it won't be a problem.

Yep, that's my boy! Nothing stands in his way...not even flying pigs.