Coffee

A group of alumni, all highly established in their respective careers, got
together for a visit with their old university professor.

The conversation soon turned to complaints about the endless stress of work
and life in general.

Offering his guests coffee, the professor went into the kitchen and soon
returned with a large pot of coffee and an eclectic assortment of cups:
porcelain, plastic, glass, crystal - some plain, some expensive, some quite
exquisite.

Quietly he told them to help themselves to some fresh coffee.

When each of his former students had a cup of coffee in hand, the old
professor quietly cleared his throat and began to patiently address the
small gathering.

''You may have noticed that all of the nicer looking cups were taken up
first, leaving behind the plainer and cheaper ones. While it is only
natural for you to want only the best for yourselves, that is actually the
so urce o f much of your stress-related problems."

He continued. "Be assured that the cup itself adds no quality to the
coffee.

In fact, the cup merely disguises or dresses up what we drink. What each of
you really wanted was coffee, not a cup, but you instinctively went for the
best cups. Then you began eyeing each other's cups.''

"'Now consider this: Life is coffee. Jobs, money, and position in society
are merely cups.

They are just tools to shape and contain Life, and the type of cup we have
does not truly define nor change the quality of the Life we live.

Often, by concentrating only on the cup, we fail to enjoy the coffee that
God has provided us.


God brews the coffee, but he does not supply the cups.


Enjoy your coffee!''

T

I love to cook!

I'm one of those women that most men love and a lot of women envy: a woman who loves to cook and does it well.

Though I have my insecurities, my cooking is not one of them. I am a very good cook. I can't claim all the credit for it; I inherited my love of cooking from my mother and, I've learned, from her natural mother before her. Growing up, while my mother cooked the usual fare – fried chicken, roast chuck, roast chicken and the like – she also regularly cooked a variety of other meals, including duck, goose, oysters, shrimp and the like. When I was home this summer, my younger brother asked me jokingly, "if you like to cook so much, why aren't you fat?" I laughed and told him that while I love to cook, it doesn't necessarily mean I love to eat. I mostly enjoy cooking for others and seeing others enjoy the food I've prepared. I also find it therapeutic , in an odd way, to do the cutting, chopping and slicing while preparing the food. I love the sifting of the flour, the rolling out of the dough and the chopping of the nuts. I find that when I'm down and depressed about something, there's nothing better for me than to get in the kitchen, roll up my sleeves and make something from scratch. Of course since I now live alone, I must constantly find someone to give my food to, mostly my sons. I'm that person who sees something that looks good on Emeril or another cooking show, goes to the website, prints out the recipe and cooks it. I don't feel there's much I can't cook – other than biscuits. Well, I can make a passable biscuit, but I'm still not satisfied with my biscuits. I've tried numerous recipes but haven't quite hit upon one that results in the light, fluffy biscuits I desire. One rainy afternoon, I tried three different recipes in a row – all to no avail.

Because I love to cook, there' have been ideas for several different types of food establishments in the back of my head for years. I've finally settled on one. I'll reveal the specifics of the venture at a later date as I must first get everything, including funding, in place.

I also must admit that I am something of a food snob. I dislike, no, I despise, fast food. I see most of it as empty calories prepared by often less than clean hands. I don't eat out much, but when I do, I want quality food prepared correctly. I don't eat everyone's food either. I rarely participate in the potluck thing at work either. I find that there are a lot of people who think they can cook who can't. One guy I know makes spaghetti casserole that he always brings to work functions. Basically, it's spaghetti with sliced wieners mixed with Prego Sauce and topped with slices of American cheese. Now this dish may sound interesting to you, but believe me, it doesn't taste very good at all. Surprisingly, he actually gets requests for this dish. Different strokes, I guess.

Now, while my ancestors are from Virginia and not Louisiana, I make a mean, put your foot in it, seafood gumbo. Recently, I attended a house party and one of the guests, a man actually born and raised in Louisiana, brought gumbo. I just knew it was going to be good. I got a bowl and piled a heaping amount in it, got the Tabasco Sauce and a spoon. Well, let me just leave it at, not everyone from Louisiana can make good gumbo. It was so bad I threw most of it in the garbage. Funnily, this guy actually raved about his gumbo the entire night. I made sure I hid my smirks.

My younger son seems to take after me. After working at several restaurants, he has become a quite adventurous and daring cook. He'll call me up and ask me what are shallots? How do you make fresh pasta? How do you make hash browns? He'll sauté some shrimp, toss in some fresh garlic and mix it with pasta in a minute. Recently he also made breakfast tacos to go along with a seafood supper. (He is after all, a 6'3" young man whose appetite is always ravenous.)

What's on the menu for today? Mahi Mahi in a cream Cognac sauce over wild rice pilaf accompanied by a Greek salad!

Bon Appetit!

T

I’m Dancing Like There’s No one Watching!

One of the resolutions I made for this New Year was to sing and dance every day. Music is such salve for my spirit. There's an old superstition that however you bring in the New Year is how you will spend the New Year. I brought the New Year in singing and dancing (and playing cards). I'm reminded of the following:

Dance Like No One's Watching

We convince ourselves that life will be better after we get married, have a baby, then another. Then we are frustrated that the kids aren't old enough and we'll be more content when they are. After that we're frustrated that we have teenagers to deal with. We will certainly be happy when they are out of that stage.

We tell ourselves that our life will be complete when our spouse gets his or her act together, when we get a nicer car, are able to go on a nice vacation, when we retire. The truth is, there's no better time to be happy than right now. If not now, when? Your life will always be filled with challenges.

It's best to admit this to yourself and decide to be happy anyway. One of my favorite quotes comes from Alfred D Souza. He said, "For a long time it had seemed to me that life was about to begin - real life. But there was always some obstacle in the way, something to be gotten through first, some unfinished business, time still to be served, a debt to be paid. Then life would begin. At last it dawned on me that these obstacles were my life."

This perspective has helped me to see that there is no way to happiness. Happiness is the way. So, treasure every moment that you have. And treasure it more because you shared it with someone special, special enough to spend your time... and remember that time waits for no one...

So stop waiting until you finish school, until you go back to school, until you lose ten pounds, until you gain ten pounds, until you have kids, until your kids leave the house, until you start work, until you retire, until you get married, until you get divorced, until Friday night, until Sunday morning, until you get a new car or home, until your car or home is paid off, until spring, until summer, until fall, until winter, until you are off welfare, until the first or fifteenth, until your song comes on, until you've had a drink, until you've sobered up, until you die, until you are born again to decide that there is no better time than right now to be happy...

Happiness is a journey, not a destination.

Thought for the day:

Work like you don't need money,
Love like you've never been hurt,
And dance like no one's watching.

So, this year, I'm dancing, and singing and I don't care who's watching!

T

Sunday Morning

It's a beautiful Sunday morning here in San Antonio. We've been having, even for us, unusually warm days for nearly the last week, highs in the 70's. I'm loving it. (There's a reason I moved from Pennsylvania.)

I've had an amazing week. No earth-shattering events, however, for reasons that I don't understand and am not questioning, it seems I'm gaining a sense of stillness, balance in my life. I began reading, again, The Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle. I knew, but had forgotten or rather had not been living, the principles taught in it. I am, by nature, a worrier or what I like to call, an anticipator. You know the type, anticipate this, worry about that, expect this, a kind of what if this happens person. I'm learning to separate my mind from myself. Sounds kind of New Age, right? But hold on, don't get caught up in labels. Our minds are ever in motion, constantly thinking, anticipating, even awaiting. This process prevents us from the stillness that is necessary for us to become attuned to ourselves, our being. The most brilliant accomplishments - musical compositions, literary masterpieces, even scientific discoveries - have come from a moment or moments of stillness. It is when we are most in tune with our true self. True intelligence operates silently. Stillness is where creativity and solutions to problems are found.

Be still for a moment and allow and enjoy the suchness of the moment.

Have a blessed week!

T

Disappointment

Disappointment is defined as: a feeling of dissatisfaction that results when your expectations are not realized.

Lately, I've been thinking about disappointment and my ownership in it. I realize that we have control over disappointment in our lives. Often, we set expectations about jobs, lovers, children and even ourselves. We have an agenda and when that agenda or expectation is not met, we feel such a sense of disappointment. So, are we setting ourselves up for disappointment when we place an expectation or agenda on something or someone over whom or which we have no control? I suspect we do. The only person or thing over which or whom we have control is ourselves.

Yet, I think it normal, even human to have expectations. It's how we handle it when those expectations, for whatever reason, are not met that is at the crux of the matter.

Think about these disappointment quotes:


The size of your success is measured by the strength of your desire; the size of your dream; and how you handle disappointment along the way.”

Disappointment to a noble soul is what cold water is to burning metal; it strengthens, tempers, intensifies, but never destroys it.”

We must accept finite disappointment, but never lose infinite hope.”

and my favorite:

“Ones best success comes after their greatest disappointments.”


Disappointments are a part of life. It's how we handle it and what follows it that truly matters.

T

Daytime TV Musings

I worked for more than 20 years during the day. That being the case, I've missed out on the "pleasures" of daytime t.v. Now that I am a student who, for the most part, is home during the day, and since I often have the t.v. on, if only for company, I have gotten a large dose of daytime t.v. My observations:

1. Most of the commercials are for technical or trade schools for the people "who aren't doing anything but laying on the couch." One nauseous technical school actually says this in their commercials that are repeated back-to-back during the same commercial break. Others feature mainly minority young adults who say things like, "I have seven children and didn't even graduate high school." One of these schools has a grammatical error in their commercial that has irritated me for more than a year: "We can train you to be a nurse's aid." (The correct word should be aide.)
2. There are a lot of women out there who have so much sex with so many men that Maury Povich constantly finds women who are testing more than 10 men to determine who is the father of their baby. One woman was on her 25 "possible" father. (It wasn't him either.)
   
3. Oprah has some kind of fixation on Dr. Oz. If I hear her mention "poop" one more time, I'm going to puke. Watch for him to get his own show soon.
4. Oprah needs to shut up and let her experts talk. I'm noticing now, though, that more and more she doesn't have an expert, she just gives her expert thinking on guest problems.
   
5. People are willing to tell the world their most intimate business on court shows. I guess they do it to get a free trip to and hotel stay in New York, Chicago or Miami. Oh, and every woman should know by now not to get a cellphone, furniture, car or apartment in their name for a man. It doesn't matter if "he had bad credit." That's why he can't get those items and that's why he's not going to pay you back and will mess up your credit.
   
6. No particular ethnicity corners the market on trashy behavior. The court shows, Jerry Springer and Maury Povich all prove this.
   
7. Now that the new year has come, the rest of the commercials are for weight loss products, quit smoking products, so-called healthy eating products, payday loans, title loans and Wal-Mart. I guess people are fat and broke and want cheap stuff after the holidays.
8. Lifetime TV repeats the same movies over and over and when they finally quit, the same movies are moved to The Lifetime Movie Network.
9. Judge Mathis plays bid whist and knows how to do all the latest line dances.

My t.v. is now mostly off during the day. Late night t.v. is not much better. What man truly believes there is a product that will make him grow four inches? Or, what man wants to use a product that "might" cause an erection that lasts for more than four hours? Who knew that on certain nights, after a certain hour, Oxygen becomes an Erotic QVC?

Ok, I'll quit.

T

I didn't make my bed this morning.

And you know what? The world didn't end. The Good Housekeeping Committee didn't show up banging at my door. And, I didn't hear my mother's voice in my head chiding me. For those who don't know me well, this is a big thing for me. I am such a creature of habit - and routine. Even though I've not worked for two years, I arise each morning early and before I take my daily bath and brush my teeth, I make my bed. Today, I didn't. No reason. No excuse. I just looked at it and said, I'm not going to make my bed today.

This year, I'm really trying to do things differently. While I doubt that not making my bed daily will become a habit (I really do love the look of a neatly -made bed), I'm realizing that I don't always have to be "on" and neither does my home. What a breakthrough! What's next, leaving dishes in the sink overnight?

T

My Favorite Things

Hey, Oprah has a list of these, why can't I?

Things I love, aka My Favorite Things

1. The sound of a child laughing
2. Dark Chocolate
3. Simply Apple Juice
4. Bearded Men
5. My sister's macaroni and cheese
6. Beautiful Smiles
7. Sunsets
8. Sunrises on a beach
9. Lighthouses
10. Books
11. Jasmine Vanilla bath products from Bath & Body Works
12. Cheesecake
13. Chinatown by Bond No. 9
    

now you just know I have more than 13! :-)


T

Sunday Morning

Several years ago, I had a very serious relationship with a man who lived in another state. We communicated, A LOT, via e-mail. One of the most special routines we had was to write each other intense, heart-felt e-mails on Sunday mornings entitled Sunday Morning. Sunday mornings were a time when we both relaxed from the stresses of the previous week. I would sit on the patio of the townhouse where I was living at the time, sip on a cup of tea and write to the man I loved to my heart's content. He, sitting on his patio in St. Louis or in his garden in London would do the same. It was a special time.

I digress. I think I'm going to convert Sunday Mornings to my blog. It will be a collection of my thoughts from the preceding week and perhaps my thoughts, desires and hopes for the upcoming week. Welcome to the inaugural edition of Sunday Morning!

It's amazing to me that though I am not exactly a youngster, I continue to grow and learn, not only about the larger world around me and the people in it, but also about myself. As an old lady told me many years ago, I will continue learning until I'm laying in my grave. I'm discovering that living in the moment is not necessarily a bad thing. Not planning or anticipating each and every thing and instead, just enjoying what is, is less stressful. I tend to be a person that looks down the road - far down the road - to see or imagine what lies there. The danger in doing so is that often we cannot appreciate what's going on at the moment for the constant looking ahead, the constant wondering "what if?" This change has been liberating, even freeing for me. I forget to worry. :-)

This past week was an interesting one for me. I continue to enjoy, immensely, getting to know a new person in my life. It's fun and, strangely, a boon to my self-esteem, my ego. I've been on a three-week break from my interior design classes. Those three weeks have been filled with a series of happy things and some sad things. My father's health continues to decline and I am struggling with facing the inevitable. My oldest son is engaged to a wonderful woman whose company I really enjoy. We spent an evening together last week looking at photo albums of my son as he grew up. We laughed and laughed. I couldn't find the naked baby pictures, though. I think my son threw those away sometime recently. Yes, all mothers have those naked baby pictures and yes, we will show them to the women in your life when you are older. Accept it. :-)

The week ahead will be busy. Classes start tomorrow and a volunteer effort I'm starting with some others will begin to take shape this week. I've resolved, though, to continue to blog regularly, hopefully daily.

I'm determined that 2008 will be a new year for me in a number of ways and living in the moment will be my new mantra.

Have a blessed week!

T

We Can't Afford to Forget

Today, I went to see the new Denzel Washington film, The Great Debaters. As sat through the more than two hour movie, I experienced a range of emotions: sadness, anger and most of all PRIDE. Though the film is called fact-based fiction, and there is artistic license in the film, the film is a true story. The actual final debate took place at USC and not at Harvard, and other than the Farmer characters, the other characters are composite characters. Nonetheless, it is a story of triumph. It is a story of courage. It is a story of those who paved the way for us.

African-Americans have experienced AND overcome so much in this country. What other group of people could still exist in 2008? All of us today are standing on the shoulders of the ancestors who came before us. Ancestors who were stolen, enslaved, beat, lynched, and dehumanized in every conceivable manner; ancestors whose children were taken from them; ancestors whose families were torn apart; ancestors who witnessed lynchings for no other reason than the color of their skin. The image to the left is the lynching of Laura Nelson in Oklahoma in 1911. It is from the book, Without Sanctuary. Difficult to view, but we need to, we MUST remember our ancestors and what they endured that enable to be who we are and where we are today. Our lives should honor the legacy of those who came before us, as should the lives of our children.

Yet, our ancestors persevered. Yet our ancestors did not give up. Yet, our ancestors were able to carve out a legacy in a country that thought them less than fully human. Every one of us, everyone of us, has ancestors who stood, fought and even died so that we could be where we are today. We need to remember the legacy of those who came before us and honor it. We need to remember and we need to inform our children so they are aware, don't forget and pass it on to the generations who follow.

I admit to not being a big Tyler Perry fan until I watched his Madea's Family Reunion. There is a part near the end where Maya Angelou and Cicely Tyson talk about ancestors and those who came before us and how many of us today dishonor them because we have either forgotten them or are ignorant of their struggles and accomplishments.

The Great Debaters is just one story out of thousands of stories of the people who came before us. I urge all of you to see it ....... and remember ..... and honor the legacy of our ancestors by our behavior.

T

What is this thing called Love?

I'm not asking a rhetorical question. It seems love means different things to different people. It often seems love is indescribable. For some, it's a feeling of floating on air. Others say being in love gives a person a certain glow that others readily notice.

Check out these quotations on love:

• Love is everything it's cracked up to be. That's why people are so cynical about it...It really is worth fighting for, risking everything for. And the trouble is, if you don't risk everything, you risk even more." - Erica Jong
• "Sometimes love is stronger than a man's convictions." - Isaac Bashevis Singer
• "Love is the master key that opens the gates of happiness." - Oliver Wendell Holmes
• "Love stretches your heart and makes you big inside." - Margaret Walker
• "Love has no awareness of merit or demerit; it has no scale... Love loves; this is its nature." - Howard Thurman
• "Love is like war: Easy to begin but hard to end." - Anonymous
• "Where love is, no room is too small." - Talmud
• "Loves makes your soul crawl out from its hiding place." - Zora Neale Hurston
• "Love is the irresistible desire to be irresistibly desired." - Mark Twain
• "Love is more than three words mumbled before bedtime. Love is sustained by action, a pattern of devotion in the things we do for each other every day." - Nicholas Sparks
• "To love is to receive a glimpse of heaven." - Karen Sunde
• "A love song is just a caress set to music." - Sigmund Romberg
• "Love is an act of endless forgiveness, a tender look which becomes a habit." - Peter Ustinov
• "Love is like a violin. The music may stop now and then, but the strings remain forever." - unknown
• "Love is the only sane and satisfactory answer to the problem of human existence." - Erich Fromm
• "Love doesn't make the world go round, love is what makes the ride worthwhile." - Elizabeth Browning

Many people are afraid of love and therefore don't seek it or even run from what looks like it might grow into love.

Even others say there really is no such thing as true love. No such thing as a true soulmate.

Still others say that "love hurts." That, perhaps, is the saddest comment of all to me. It causes me to ask, "if it hurts, is it really love?"

In the movie, The Firm, Tom Cruise's wife tells him: I loved you before I knew you. Even before I knew you, there was the hope of you. Call me a hopeless or hopeful romantic, but I absolutely love this concept. I like the idea that we know what love means to us and that the challenge is to find the person who fulfills that promise, that hope.

I'm learning that perhaps we enter new relationships asking ourselves "Is this the one?" Instead, I suspect (because I certainly don't have all or necessarily any of the answers) we should learn to let relationships happen, follow a natural course, instead of trying to force the relationship, or the person, into who we want it or them to be. I'm talking about a kind of live in the moment mentality. I strongly believe that what will be, will be.

I love the quote from Elizabeth Browning:

Love doesn't make the world go round, love is what makes the ride worthwhile.-



T

Random Musings

Why do people decorate their vehicles for Christmas? I never noticed this until I moved to Texas in 1984. I think it is the most ridiculous thing. Since I live in Texas where just about every other vehicle is a truck of some sort, I see big F-150 trucks with Christmas wreaths and bows on the front grill. Why?

Why are clerks surprised when you tell them they've given you too much back in change?

Why are May-December romances more acceptable if it is the man who is older?

Why was HBO "Off the Air" for several hours on Wednesday night? Subscribers pay for this premium channel. Do they get a rebate/refund when it is "off the air?"

Have you noticed that practically all channels synchronize commercials now? Trying surfing when a commercial comes on while you're watching a program. Chances are the majority of what you'll encounter will be more commercials. I HATE COMMERCIALS. This new practice of synchronization seems to be an attempt to force me to watch a commercial. It doesn't work. I keep surfing until I hit something, anything,, that is not a commercial.

What's that tapping noise on my third-floor dining room window?

T

My Apartment is Haunted

I've begun to think that over the last few weeks. There have been strange goings on in my apartment. Not things that go bump in the night, but washers that start running without any input from me, wastebaskets whose lids suddenly start swinging even though there is no breeze in the room, objects that disappear and reappear. I could go on. On New Year's Eve, in preparation for a party, I looked for some lingerie I've had for several years, specifically a black garter belt and black strapless bra. I live alone and only my sons have a key to my apartment, a key they've never used. Yet, the black lingerie and a white set are simply gone - vanished. In addition, other items have simply disappeared. I am a very organized person. I absolutely hate looking for things, so I am almost fanatical about putting things back where they belong so I don't have to look for them. I don't misplace things. Come to think of it, while things haven't exactly gone "bump" in the night, I do hear unusual, unexplainable noises some nights. I've been tempted to ask the apartment management if someone died in this apartment, but since I've just renewed my lease and would be unable to break it, I won't.

A few years ago, I learned about the phenomenon of "disappearing objects." One night, I was giving myself a perm when the phone rang. I was using a blue comb I had had for 15 years. As the phone rang, I went to put the comb on the vanity countertop to go into the other room to answer the phone. The comb missed the countertop and I heard it hit the floor. After answering the phone, I walked back into the room and bent to retrieve the comb; it was gone. I spent about 15 minutes looking for that comb, even opening drawers and doors that had been closed. No luck. The comb was simply gone. One son spent ten minutes looking for it; another son spent 30 minutes looking for it. Both to no avail. When I moved from that house in 2006, the house was completely clean - and empty. We never found the comb. Being the logical, analytical person that I am and knowing that I am NOT crazy, I set off on a search to find out what could have happened to the comb.

I learned that there is a whole field of study on what is called the "disappearing objects phenomenon." It seems that many, many people have shared my experience of the disappearing blue comb. Many people have experienced misplaced objects, often keys. You "know" you put the keys in a particular place, yet when you go to retrieve them, they're simply not there. Often, you will scour the entire house looking for the object only to discover them in the place you first looked. You chalk it up to overlooking them or perhaps even simply shrug it off as something weird. There are numerous reports of objects that disappear - and often reappear, sometimes in places originally searched, other times in places that cannot be explained. One woman told of keys for a new car found in the pocket of a coat she had not worn for years before the car was purchased. Perhaps the weirdest thing for me was people who report objects reappearing, materializing, before their eyes. One woman couldn't find her car keys and needed to get to work. Her spare keys were with someone 30 minutes away. She asked (the Universe?) to please return her keys. The keys materialized before her eyes. Here are a few links on the subject:

http://amasci.com/weird/unusual/objs.html
http://paranormal.about.com/library/weekly/aa060500a.htm
http://paranormalinsider.com/2007/09/objects_that_disappear_and_rea.php

I should explain that I've long known that I am psychic; I've just never developed my talent for many reasons, most of them religious. I have always been able to intuit people and situations. I would chalk it up to chance or gut feelings though I knew otherwise. To be truthful, the whole subject scares me somewhat. A few years ago when I visited a local clairvoyant, she told me that I was as psychic as she is and that I needed to stop being afraid of it. So, I can't say that I rushed out to buy books to learn more about the subject, but over the years, I've purchased a few books on the subject.

What do I believe? I think it's arrogant of us to assume that, religious doctrine to the contrary, we know everything there is to know about the subject and that our dimension is the only dimension that exists. I can't explain it, but I know in my heart (my gut?) that something exists beyond what we know and have been taught.

Believe me, at this point, I don't want to ever see my blue comb again.

On Bearded Men

I have always liked facial hair on men. I think back to a boyfriend I had in my early 20's who had a full beard. I liked nothing more than to stroke the hair of his beard. Facial hair, neatly trimmed of course, will make even an unattractive man attractive. This has not changed as I grow a little older. Now, I don't care for the scraggly beard or the Santa Claus look nor, for that matter, the handlebar moustache or strangely, goatees with no other facial hair. But, I find almost any other type of facial hair hugely attractive.

Over the years, I've talked to quite a few men about beards and even tried to coerce a few into growing one. One of my brothers wears a beard fairly regularly. He says it's easier on his skin than shaving which seems to cause his skin to break out. A close friend told me a few years ago that he thinks men who wear beards should - the implication being that men who wear beards would be unattractive men without them.

It seems that beards, and facial hair in general, have faded in and out of popularity, especially in western cultures. During the era of the Viet Nam war and for a time after it, beards were immensely popular. Hippies wore them, usually uncropped and free-flowing. Black Nationalists and others in the black power movement also sported beards. Of course, beards have long played a role in religion, in Christianity, Judaism, Islam, and many other religions.

In the U.S., for quite a while in the 1960's through about the 1980's, many employers forbid male employees to have any facial hair other than a small, trimmed moustache. The military of many countries ban beards, including the U.S. Army and Marines, ostensibly for reasons of hygiene and, oddly, because beards prevent a good seal on gas masks.

A lot of women, my mother for one, abhor beards. My mother says they're scratchy and itchy. Another friend hates them because she says food gets caught in them. Yet another friend says that in very "intimate" encounters, they cause abrasion. I won't delve further into that discussion.

Personally, I love facial hair. Often, when out shopping, I have to refrain myself from commenting to a male stranger, "great beard." I suspect many men know that women like me exist. Many men with neatly trimmed beards seem to exude a healthy confidence that they know how good they look with their beards. They seem to have an invisible sign that reads, "I know I'm working this beard."

Oh, if the beard is salt and pepper or heaven forbid, silver, they could father my next child.

T

Happy New Year

Like many people, this is the time of the year when I make resolutions, or as I like to call them goals. Each year, however, the same set of goals seem to be on the list. They say that stupidity is continuing to do the same thing and expecting a different result. That said, although there is one goal that is carried over from last year, the rest of the list are new items.

1. Quit Smoking - this is THE year I will.
2. Find supplemental income. Resolve that interior design IS my new career and find a job or internship in that field.
3. Continue in my spiritual walk.
4. Learn Spanish and refresh my French.
5. Find a relationship.
6. Get back to the gym and get toned.
7. Stop multi-tasking. Relax and do one thing at a time.
8. Sing and dance more.
   

I've printed this list and will post it in a place where I see it daily.


T