Keepsake quotes

I'm cleaning out my desk, and found a paperclipped bundle of quotes and sayings tucked in one of the little cubbyholes. I'm going to put them here, probably never to be looked at again, but they meant enough to me at one time to print them out and attach them to my refrigerator. Maybe they'll mean something to someone else someday.

There are only two things you "have to" do in life – you "have to" die, and you "have to" live until you die. You made up all the rest.

One of the best ways to begin familiarizing ourselves with the virtue of patience is to reflect systematically on its benefits. It is the source of forgiveness. It has no equal in protecting our concern for others, however they behave towards us. When patience is combined with the ability to discriminate between the action and the one who does it, forgiveness arises naturally. ~ Dalai Lama

Every behavior you participate in will have a consequence. ~ Brian Tracy

Work joyfully and peacefully, knowing that right thought and right efforts will inevitably bring about right results. ~ James Allen

An idealist believes the short run doesn't count. A cynic believes the long run doesn't matter. A realist believes that what is done or left undone in the short run determines the long run. ~ Sydney J. Harris

Whatever you give a woman, she will make greater. If you give her sperm, she'll give you a baby. If you give her a house, she'll give you a home. If you give her groceries, she'll give you a meal. If you give her a smile, she'll give you her heart. She multiplies and enlarges what is given to her. So if you give her any crap, be ready to receive a ton of shit.

Keep nothing in your house that you do not know to be useful or believe to be beautiful. ~ William Morris

Happiness is not the absence of conflict, but the ability to cope with it.

Often the difference between a successful marriage and a mediocre one consists of leaving about three or four things a day unsaid. ~ Harlan Miller

Anger makes you smaller, while forgiveness forces you to grow beyond what you were." ~ Cherie Carter-Scott

Finish each day and be done with it. You have done what you could; some blunders and absurdities have crept in; forget them as soon as you can. Tomorrow is a new day; you shall begin it serenely and with too high a spirit to be encumbered with your old nonsense. ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

Live simply. Love generously. Care deeply. Speak kindly.

Remember: If a dog was the teacher, you would learn things like:

• When loved ones come home, always run to greet them.
• Never pass up the opportunity to go for a joyride.
• Allow the experience of fresh air and the wind in your face to be pure ecstasy.
• Take naps.
• Stretch before rising.
• Run, romp and play daily.
• Thrive on attention and let people touch you.
• Avoid biting when a simple growl will do.
• On warm days, stop to lie on your back in the grass.
• On hot days, drink lots of water and lie under a shady tree.
• When you're happy, dance around and wag your entire body.
• Delight in the simple joy of a long walk.
• Be loyal.
• Never pretend to be something you're not.
• If what you want lies buried, dig until you find it.
• When someone is having a bad day, be silent, sit close by, and nuzzle them gently.
• Enjoy every moment of every day!

When choosing the path of Life, you are choosing a road of obstacles. May they be as simple as speed bumps, or as complex as a step drop off a mountain. No matter what the obstacle, you must know there will be a big pile of pillows at the bottom of the mountain.

When choosing the path of Life, you are choosing a road of obstacles. May they be as simple as getting a detention in your schooling years, or as complex as losing a love one. No matter what the obstacle, you must know there will be a big group of people who love you, waiting at the bottom to cushion your fall. ~ MEM

The brief guide:

• less TV, more reading
• less shopping, more outdoors
• less clutter, more space
• less rush, more slowness
• less consuming, more creating
• less junk, more real food
• less busywork, more impact
• less driving, more walking
• less noise, more solitude
• less focus on the future, more on the present
• less work, more play
• less worry, more smiles
• breathe

10 Days

Still haven't been to the doctor ... it's just so darned easy to avoid waiting rooms and X-rays and my doctor suggesting that, ahem, as one gets older one can expect a little pain.

Yes, he's said things like that to me in the past.

So I've not taken an intentional walk for four straight days now, which is killing my mileage goal for the year. I'd planned to walk yesterday, but I missed a step coming down from a stepstool and wow, did I ever feel it (and am still feeling it).

I'm keeping busy. I just don't really feel like writing. Or knitting. Or painting interior walls. The things that are keeping me busy are cutting grass, mostly, and decluttering. My husband's church is having a rummage sale in a couple weeks, and we're taking advantage of that event to clear out some, um, rummage.

If I were moving in a couple weeks, I could probably get rid of a lot more rummage. I'm not quite there yet in my thinking, however.

One thing I've been pondering is this: Just how many drinking glasses does a two-person household need? We don't entertain much, and when we do it's generally just one other couple. If I were going to have a larger event, I'd most likely buy disposable drink and dinnerware. I'm thinking of keeping six large and six small tumblers, which would take care of the rare times we need(?) real glass glasses at the table.

Probably no one remembers what their iced tea was served in anyway.

Anyway. I'm still alive. Still having pain. Still keeping busy.

How about you?

Struggling

I'm barely managing to get my four miles a day in lately. I see a visit to the doctor in the fairly near future to see what's going on with my right leg. I've been rollering it, thinking it might be iliotibial syndrome. 

I wish our healthcare system here in the good old US of A allowed one to go straight to physical therapy without going through an MD first. Insurance companies won't pay for PT if it's not prescribed first. I'm not a doctor, nor do I play one on television, but I'm pretty sure that's where I'm headed. 

Lucky is home by now, I'm sure. His final trail journal entry is here. With all the hoopla about Scott Jurek and his supported speed record, Lucky is way more inspiring to me. I feel pretty lucky to be walking four miles a day on a paved road. He averaged about 15 a day on a trail. That's impressive.

I'm still maintaining the weight loss that happened the month of April, but not making any progress toward the eventual goal. It would be very sad for me to think that the strict Whole 30 is the only way I can lose. Looking back on the 2013 experience of almost making it to my goal and then gaining back a bunch o'pounds, I think a strict Whole 30 could be the only way to maintain. 

Much. Thinking. Ahead.

The first load … pans and dinnerware and the
food processor, oh my!

The dishwasher was installed last Tuesday, and is working well. I didn't realize that these newfangled energy-saving machines had such a long cycle. Nearly two hours, start to finish, but I guess that's normal. The water-saving feature that makes it energy-efficient results in using more electricity and an extended cycle. 

Not sure how that saves energy, actually. 

But it's kind of fun knowing I don't have to stand at the sink for an hour cleaning up a boatload of dishes after a big cooking session. 

Lots o'graphic design work going on here. Many, many ads for a program book for an annual meeting coming up in September. Quarterly newsletter goes out Monday or Tuesday. I feel somewhat chained to a screen lately, but since it's hot-hot-hot and humid-humid-humid, I'm glad to have an excuse to not be weeding the flower beds. Heh.

And with that … time to fire up Photoshop and get to work!

He did it!

Lucky scaled Mt. Katadhin yesterday, early afternoon, ahead of schedule. He hasn't updated his journal yet, so I won't link to it, but I will when he does. A remarkable achievement!

Just checked again (five minutes later) and here's the latest entry.

I know one shouldn't compare oneself to another as far as fitness goes. We're all at different points along a line beginning at bedridden and ending at setting a speed record for hiking the Appalachian Trail. With tennis and soccer and baseball and marathon and jump rope and swimming medals and trophies in there, too.

But I can't help but compare Lucky's being 73 and hiking more than 2000 miles in five months to my efforts to get four miles a day.

I didn't do it yesterday. Only 1.45. I was hot and dehydrated and hungry and hurting. And I just turned around and went home.

Easier to do that on the road I live on than on the Appalachian Trail, for sure. But I'm smack dab in the midst of those summer doldrums, and need to find a way to get motivated again.

At any rate … here I go, all about me, when this is Lucky's day! YAY!

One down, one to go

Well, Scott Jurek did indeed break the supported speed record for hiking the Appalachian Trail, by about three hours.

Lucky isn't able to update his journal – he's busy covering those last 50-ish miles! – but the weather in Maine has been decent and he should get to Katadhin tonight.

Guess I'll have to find something else to do for a while.

HAH! That's not difficult. Our Democratic women's group is hosting the statewide annual meeting. We're selling ads for the program book, and I'm doing the artwork for those ads. We have to stock a hospitality suite with snacks and beverages, collect items to put in goodie bags, make sure the banquet favors are completed on time (and don't break in the meantime!), and a host of other little and big tasks between now and September 18.

I don't have anything else to say this morning … I do, actually, but I don't have time!

Wow. I had no idea.

So it's been a while. Again. It gets easier and easier to let the blogging go. I suppose keeping up to date on Facebook is usurping blogging these days. It's certainly easier to post a captioned photo there than it is to string my thoughts together into several paragraphs.

Sometimes easier is better. But not usually.

At any rate, I've been busy or I would have been writing more often.

I've been too busy to even check e-mail. As I've been going through the last several hundred or so, I found one from MapMyFitness that offered this:

Those two weeks of no exercise in late May and early June killed my progress for the year. But I'm less than 40 miles below my 600-mile mid-year goal, so it's still not unreachable.

And, frankly, most women my age aren't putting that many hours into fitness. So yay! Debbi for the win!

And USA WOMEN for the World Cup win last night! What a lot of fun that was, and I don't think anyone expected the US to dominate as they did.

The knitting, running walking, reaping and eating is pretty much the same as it ever was. I hope your holiday was everything you wanted it to be.

I would hope all the feel-good 4th of July feelings would result in less divisiveness as a country. But the number of rebel battle flags I see flying would indicate otherwise.

What's it going to take?