Tuesday Tunes

I decided to start a new trend with my posts on Tuesdays. I’ll focus on music that fits my mood for that day. Today will be a mix of Sunny tunes for this rainy day. We all need something to brighten our day and lift our spirits occasionally. I only included 5 songs on this list, so it isn't too long to sit and listen to. This one is titled My Yellow Tunes.

My Favorite Things

As my last post was a little depressing, here is one a little bit more up-lifting.

One of my fondest memories is watching the Sound of Music each year when it aired on TV around the holidays. It wasn’t the subject matter of the movie so much as the music that I loved. On of my favorites is "My Favorite Things" that Julie Andrews sings to the Van Trap children in the movie. Here are the lyrics to remind you of that special song.

Raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens
Bright copper kettles and warm woolen mittens
Brown paper packages tied up with strings
These are a few of my favorite things

Cream colored ponies and crisp apple streudels
Doorbells and sleigh bells and schnitzel with noodles
Wild geese that fly with the moon on their wings
These are a few of my favorite things

Girls in white dresses with blue satin sashes
Snowflakes that stay on my nose and eyelashes
Silver white winters that melt into springs
These are a few of my favorite things

When the dog bites
When the bee stings
When I'm feeling sad
I simply remember my favorite things
And then I don't feel so bad

After reading through those lyrics again, I decided that I should make my own list of favorite things and staying with the theme of things and not people here is my list.

Shells on the beach
Sun in the sky
Green tea in a clear coffee mug
A scone lying near by

A clock that goes tic toc
Wisteria on the vine
Fingerpainting while drinking
A glass of red wine

Juicy pears and crisp apples
Leaves in the Fall
Warm and fuzzy blankets
Buddy playing with his ball

Gemstones of every color
In purple, red and blue
Rubies are my favorite
I bet you have one too

What are your favorite things? Have a good day.

Despair

What is despair and how do we deal with it? According to the Miriam-Webster dictionary, it is a feeling of losing hope and confidence. What happens for us to get to that point of losing our hope or confidence? In most of our lives it is a trigger that sets it off. Losing something that you once had is usually where it starts, like a close friend or family member, losing a job or going through a divorce or even becoming very ill. We all deal with despair differently. Some people fall into a deep depression while others go on about their daily business. Despair can cause physical illness as well as mental. Our bodies are so consumed with the loss of life, health or job that we ignore the signs that we need to keep it healthy. Numerous instances have occurred where the loss of a spouse can bring on despair so strong that the surviving spouse dies soon thereafter.

So, what do we do when we know we are in despair and how do we bring ourselves back out of it. I’m sure that Psychologists around the world have written numerous studies and documents on treatment of despair, but to a lay person we just want to get through to the next day. I don’t speak from a lot of experience, but I have lost a valued job and a close family member. Losing the family member was the hardest and longest to come out of so each instance can have a different range of intensity with death being the highest. If you have never experienced the death of a parent, child or spouse, then you may not understand the length of time involved to “get back to normal” if you ever can. I think that we can have hope again and gain our confidence back to continue with our life and enjoy the life we have left. Time here is the only thing that we know is constant and time will be the only thing that will ease the pain.

So again what do we do to ease the pain of loss? There are several ways to help ease the pain and one is immersion in hobbies, other family members, work, friends, etc. Sometimes just the simple act of doing something with your hands will put your mind at ease and let it focus on something other than loss. Some people offer tributes by creating shrines, while others eliminate all evidence of the other person. Hopefully, most of us are somewhere in the middle, but here again it is all in how we personally need to deal with the situation and how capable we are mentally to deal with the loss.

My purpose for writing this is for my own well being and future reference. There are times that I need to remind myself that there have been moments in my life where the loss has been significantly higher than what I may be going through at that moment when I feel I am in the midst of despair.

I need to:
Be angry at the loss and not at people.
Let the memories come and recognize them for what they are.
Build that shrine, paint that painting or scrapbook those pictures to remind me of that person and hopefully happier times.
Immerse myself in my hobbies and things that I love to do.
Take time to be sorrowful and not feel bad about it.
Understand that it may be awhile before I feel “normal” again.

Spring Barrel Wine Tasting

My family and I are planning our annual ritual of attending the Spring Barrel Tasting in the Tri-Cities this month April. One of the fun things we do to prepare is to decorate our wine glasses. As part of the fee to taste wine at some of Washington’s top wineries is a wine glass. In the past we have used puffy paint to write our name on the glass and add other decoration as well as add rhinestones and stickers. This year I am thinking about wine glass charms that has their picture on one side.

I am now struggling with do I take the paint, stickers and rhinestones and let them decorate their glass along with the charm or just leave it at the charm. Last year the stickers and paint made quite a splash at the winery’s we went to as everyone wanted to know where we found such unusual glasses. It also helped us find our glass as we set it down and then promptly forgot were we put it as we painted our name on the glass. This sometimes happens after a couple glasses of wine….LOL. If you live in the WA State area and are interested in attending the tasting, here is the link to the web site. http://www.wineyakimavalley.org/events/eventsD.asp?evID=379 If you come and see a group of crazy family members with painted and sparkly wine glasses, most likely that is us.

Easter Items

If you are like me, each year I want to decorate for Easter. I go out and purchase all kinds of Easter items, decorative eggs, plates, candy, gifts, etc. and it can all add up. On a recent trip to one of our local antique malls, I found a slew of Easter items, some antique, some vintage and some just gently used for pennies on the dollar of what you would have to pay if these were new.

Take a trip down memory lane and purchase some of your items at a local antique mall. The merchants need your business just as much as that large discount center.

These items were found at the South Tacoma Antique Mall in Lakewood, WA.
http://www.southtacomaantiquemall.com/.

Have fun shopping and you never know what you might find that you can't live without.

Make it NOW

What’s going on right now? Everyone I talk to seems to be in a funk and not looking that far forward. It’s like something might happen next week that will bring everything to a halt. I think that with the world economy we should go back to our roots, whatever that is. I have seen more people getting into crafts and making their useable items, cooking/baking more and spending more time with their family. I’ve always been one to see something in a store I like and think to myself "I could make that much cheaper" and then go home and not make it. Now, I find that I am making those items that I once wished I had purchased, such as a crocheted scarf or afghan, good smelling soap, sachets, decorative pillows, curtains, jewelry, dinners I can pop in the microwave for lunch, art glass plates and fine art paintings. If you want to start a hobby/craft of your own, there are numerous resources on the web such as Wiki How http://www.wikihow.com/Main-Page, EHow http://www.ehow.com/ and DIY Crafts http://www.diynetwork.com/diy/crafts/ just to name a few.


There is even more that we seem to be cutting back on and that is services such as manicures and pedicures, massages, hair treatments, house keepers, lawn maintenance workers and travel agencies. All these things we can and are doing ourselves and saving money, but what happens to those service people if all of us stop using their services? I think this is what we are seeing. I do know that if I was to lose my full time job tomorrow all the extra services that I use would be stopped. I would have no apology as it is just a fact of life and survival becomes primal and our first priority. Who will care if my nails aren’t filed and painted to perfection?


I have no answer, but do know that the worst may be yet to come and we may have to tighten our belts a little bit more. My best advice that I may have to take real soon is to either make it or do it yourself. Plan now for your kid’s future and your retirement.