Beware..

I found this at Deb's journal today.  There is an email going around trying to get AOL user's to part with personal and financial information.  This is NOT AOL!!  Please go and read.  Oh, by the way, Deb has a fantastic journal!

I also wanted to tell a few readers who have shared with me personal prayer requests by email and IM that I have been praying daily for you.  I will continue to pray and I thank you so much for your prayers.  I have put a cross in my journal on the left as a symbol of continued prayers that go out for all of you daily.  Know you are loved and prayed for.

My Brain and Trees

                       

 

Good morning everyone.  It has been too long since I have written.  Sometimes I think I will lose readers because I take too long to write between entries.  I take longer than all of my favorite journals.  I don't know what this means.  I don't know if this means anything.  I know that I have four or five entries in my head and I have not been able to get them down in my journal.  It gets very frustrating for me.  More than you know.  It is my brain.  My brain is my biggest enemy.  I am hoping I do not lose readers.  That is a big fear of mine.  Let me tell you what my brain does to me daily.  Maybe you can then understand.  Whenever I do anything that requires thinking it can take in so much and then it shuts down.  So when I go on the computer I have to decide to write a journal entry immediately or read other entries and do what I enjoy to do on the computer.  If I chose the latter, my brain is way too overloaded and tired to write an entry.  Alot of times my brain is too stupid in the morning or mushy to be able to retrieve words and I must wait awhile.  Then if it is raining or I am having a bad day or I am suffering from a bit of depression it is hard to get anything out of this brain.  Any kind of brain activity for 45 minutes to an hour and a half depending on how easy it is on my brain, requires a time-out for me.  A time-out is a time for me to be alone.  Anyone who knows me knows that look on my face when I need a time-out.  It is not a good one.  My mood is not the best either.  By the middle of the day my body AND mind need a time-out and I go into my bedroom and turn off the light as all of my senses have been barraged and I can not take any more of "living" and "sensing" for the day and must re-group.  Sometimes I re-emerge from the room.  Sometimes I do not.  It depends.  So, my friends, you probably can understand why I am not making daily, and sometimes twice daily entries in this journal.  It is so, so important that I keep it up, though.  I will keep fighting to keep it going.  Perhaps I am worrying for no reason.  It is very hard to live with several illnesses that attack you all the time and sometimes they just keep assaulting your spirit.  These illnesses are illnesses of my central nervous system.  I must make time for me.  Time to re-group.  I will do this.  Time in nature.  Time to read a good book.  Time for myself.  Time staring at nature.  Time taking pictures of beautiful trees.  Time to sit under a tree.  Time to stare at trees and learn from them.  Time plopping on the bed and watching a good movie with my daughter (you up for it, Chelsea?).   These activities actually give me energy and don't take away from me.  I learned awhile back, and it was a very interesting experiment, that when my senses are assaulted, the best way to fix this is by soothing my senses.  It is amazing.  I found this out through a wonderful therapist who worked with chronically ill patients.  I am forever indebted to her.  It was a new experiment for her, too, and she was amazed.  So, now I am off with my daughter to go out to lunch with my Dad.  I think that will be very nice for us.  I hope you enjoy the tree that I took.  Trees are my favorite thing in nature.  I will write an entry about them later.  I wanted to put this picture in today to remind me to slow down.  Also, I wanted to let everyone know that we all are trees with our own story.  Our own life.  Our own beauty.  Trees, my favorite part of nature.  Not the best picture.  There was too much sun behind the tree when I took the picture, but I wanted to share it anyway.  Trees.  More on them later... 

What is Love?

Wow, I just finished an entry with pictures included and it got eaten!  Vanished.  Poof.  It is gone.  It has been a frustrating couple of days and that did nothing to lighten the load.  Let me try this again... I have not been feeling well with the poor weather and something on my mind and my not very good mood so my fibro. has been acting up and I have been hiding in my home.  It was very nice to be talking with Krissy this morning and get an invite to lunch today.  We had a very good time!  In fact, all of my photos for the Photo Scavanger Hunt were taken today while I was out this afternoon with her and John.  Krissy's and Therese's subject this week is "What is Love?"  It had me smiling alot and I really needed that.  I hope you enjoy the photos!

The first subject I chose was a birdfeeder.  Why does this depict love you ask?  I think it does because Krissy keeps it filled through all four seasons.  She gets all kinds of birds and even some furry animals eating out of it.  I also have birdfeeders at my home.  I think it is love to reach out of yourself and think of creatures that are more helpless than yourself.

The next subject I chose to photograph is front page of this birthday card here.  I celebrated my birthday a little over a week ago.  This card came all the way from England!!!  Thanks, Amy!!  I chose this to represent love because I received no fewer than 30 cards and emails in my box for my birthday!!  Most were from my Journal Pals!!  You guys make me feel so loved!!!  This is the most loving community ever!  Oh, btw, if anyone wants to purchase the best homemade cards ever, drop over to Amy's site and check them out!  Just click on her name!            

         I chose this for my next subject.  "Mother and child".  Needs no explanation.

My last photo was supposed to be of nature, but I captured something that I had not intended to.  Krissy and I were standing in her front yard talking about love and picture-taking and  about our nice afternoon and I was taking a shot and this is what came out:

   Krissy and I.  Standing together after one of our many outings.  Leaning towards each other.  Best friends.  Late afternoon.  We are love.  "Twins Born At Different Times" we call ourselves because we are so close.  I love her so much.  She loves me.

 

Redneck humor for Thanksgiving..

You might be a redneck if...

You've ever had Thanksgiving dinner on a Ping-Pong table.
Thanksgiving dinner is squirrel and dumplings.
You've ever re-used a paper plate.
If you have a complete set of salad bowls and they all say Cool Whip on the side.
If you've ever used your ironing board as a buffet table.
On Thanksgiving Day you have to decide which pet to eat.
Your turkey platter is an old hub cap.
Your best dishes have Dixie printed on them.
Your stuffings secret ingredient comes from the bait shop.
Your only condiment on the dining room table is ketchup.
Side dishes include beef jerky and Moon Pies.
You have to go outside to get something out of the 'fridge.
The directions to your house include "turn off the paved road".
You consider pork and beans to be a gourmet food.
You have an Elvis Jell-o mold.
Your secret family recipe is illegal.
You serve Vienna Sausage as an appetizer.

Congrats MM!

 

Yay!!!  My buddy and friend's journal and one of my favorite is Editor's Pick this week.  If you want a treat go visit Michael's Journal!  Congrats, MM!

Smart Stuart!

Stuart is such a smart one!!  He figured out the answer to the riddle below!!  Kudos to him!!

Good day everyone!  I have been having a hard few days with exhaustion and sleepiness.  I just want to get under my covers and disappear for a couple of days.  I have had a couple of weeks of busy-ness physically and in my brain and now I just want to escape for awhile. 

My brain doesn't even feel like giving me information to type this entry, but I am going to try and then I am going to get under the covers with my cat.  I do hope she joins me.  She was not a bed cat or a lap cat for four years and now all of the sudden she has been joining me almost nightly in my bed!!  This started about a month ago.  Why would a cat do this all of the sudden?  After four years?  I have been ecstatic about it as I enjoy her warm fur and her lovely face and her company.  She is not a bed hog and she does not like to plop all over me.  She has her little corner right up near my face.  It is truly lovely.  She said, "Hiiii!" this morning.  You all probably think I am crazy.  She is very vocal.  I was walking around this morning telling her, "Hii, hiii, hiii, hii!".  Then in her meow voice she said, "Hiii!"  She tries to copy the tone of my voice.  Silly cat.

My neurologist called me on Saturday, believe it or not.  He said that, yes, they inserted a non-programmable shunt when they had intended to insert a programmable one.  They admitted to their mistake!  Finally!  I was even amazed that they had admitted to it.  There is a bit of good news to this, though.   To get switched over to a programmable shunt is much easier than I had thought.  I am not going to get it switched unless I really have to, though.  Switching involves local anesthesia, not general, and can be done in the office, and they don't have to take out the shunt.  So I am not upset like I was.

I volunteered yesterday at a place called The Faith Centre.  It has a thrift store, a food bank, a coffee shop (fee donuts and coffee), a bible study, and you can check out books for free.  I was there for about an hour and a half.  I was tagging clothes.  It was a very nice to be a part of something that is larger than myself.  I am definitely going back.  The only problem with it is that it really bothers my pain.  But then so does everything else I do, so I am going to definitely go back.  There are about six volunteers there at any given time.  I had not realized how much work goes into places like these.  Being on disability, sometimes it is hard for me to feel like I have a "purpose" in life.  I am sure those of you who are also an disability know what I mean.  It is something that I am constantly struggling with.  What's neat about The Faith Centre is that I can work whenever I want, with whomever I want, or not at all on certain weeks.  Sounds lovely to me.

I have a riddle for you guys.  Put your answer in the comments section and I will tell you if you are correct.  Sorry, Krissy, you can not anwer this as I am pretty sure you have heard this:  An archaeologist finds the frozen remains of Adam and Eve.  Their bodies are whole in ice.  How does he know he has found Adam and Eve?

I am off for lunch and a nap...Take care and go VOTE if you haven't!