Archive for August, 2006

Who Moved My Cheese

Tuesday, 29 August, 2006 at 4:01 pm · Filed under Uncategorized ·Tagged ,

I started reading a book called, “Who Moved My Cheese“, by Spencer Johnson. It’s a book about change and willingness to adapt.

If you’ve ever had a life-changing experience, you should grab a copy, even if you check it out at the library, and it’s a quick read. There is a lot to learn about it, like how to get over fear of change and start living again.

I won’t give out any spoilers on this, but if you have difficulty dealing with the unexpected realities of life, this is a must read.
Thanks for visiting Lisa’s Place. :)

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The Weekend

Sunday, 27 August, 2006 at 4:02 pm · Filed under Uncategorized ·Tagged ,

Fixing up the House
We found that you can fix little things up in the house for not too much money. For example, the threshold between the garage and the house… $11. A new chandelier/light for the dining room, check the sale rack at Lowe’s. Replacement windows… do it yourself for a little less.

Mind you, we can’t buy all this stuff at once, but we’re out pricing things. If you can hit sales, or hit the clearance racks, you can get some nice stuff even $100 off from their original sales price.

We’ve also picked a new color for the trim outside. Traditional brown. Ought to go well with our cream-colored siding.

The Birthday Girl
A certain little kid is having her first real birthday party in a couple of weekends. Invitations are sent, and I’m sure RSVP’s will start coming in next week. Today, we went through the toy section at Wal-Mart together to get ideas on gifts. Half-through with already 10 – 15 ideas, I said, “You realise we’re just getting ideas right now… We’re not going to end up buying ALL of this stuff, right?” “Yes”, she said, “just ideas, mom.” (thank you)

I can’t believe she is almost 6.

Pans in the Fire
A few weeks ago, I was talking about frustration and “pans in the fire”. I thought they went up in smoke, really. It’s been two weeks since I talked with anyone. But today, (it’s Sunday, you know?) I got an email from one of them with status. “I sent your credentials on. You’ll hear from us soon.” Not acceptance, mind you, but promising. I mean, she could have said, “We tossed your credentials in the trash.”, right? Besides, it was the second response she had to the same email. It might be a good pan.

An Apology
My blog is dull an boring (is that redundant?) I keep writing and you keep reading, but I’m sure I’m that end-of-the-day reading material you look at just to make yourself sleepy so you can go to bed and actually sleep, right? I thought so.

I’m rethinking the direction of this blog. I promise something of value soon. :)

Thanks for visiting Lisa’s Place. :)

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Ambien is My Friend

Saturday, 26 August, 2006 at 4:03 pm · Filed under Uncategorized ·Tagged

In the face of any stress whatsoever, I fail to sleep through the night. That causes it’s own problems. Without adequate sleep, people cannot think straight, so I choose to rely on Ambien.

From the time I take Ambien, it’s 10 minutes until I am out. Completely out. For 8 entire hours.

The feeling of a long night’s sleep is a good one. I still dream while I sleep. Generally, my dreams are good, but I still have nightmares about my former employer. In time, I will get over those.

Thanks for visiting Lisa’s Place. :)

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Earth School

Tuesday, 22 August, 2006 at 8:07 am · Filed under Uncategorized ·Tagged ,


I’ve always felt like life on earth is all about lesson learning and practice for something different that happens at the end of our stories. I saw this at Gemmak’s, and also subscribe to the Daily Om via email newsletter. Most days, I can get something very profound and true out of these postings. Here’s one I can really relate to.

A Life Of Learning
Earth School

Life is the province of learning, and the wisdom we acquire throughout our lives is the reward of existence. As we traverse the winding roads that lead from birth to death, experience is our patient teacher. We exist, bound to human bodies as we are, to evolve, enrolled by the universe in earth school, an informal and individualized academy of living, being, and changing. Life’s lessons can take many forms and present us with many challenges. There are scores of mundane lessons that help us learn to navigate with grace, poise, and tolerance in this world. And there are those once-in-a-lifetime lessons that touch us so deeply that they change the course of our lives. The latter can be heartrending, and we may wander through life as unwilling students for a time. But the quality of our lives is based almost entirely on what we derive from our experiences.

Earth school provides us with an education of the heart and the soul, as well as the intellect. The scope of our instruction is dependent on our ability and readiness to accept the lesson laid out before us in the circumstances we face. When we find ourselves blindsided by life, we are free to choose to close our minds or to view the inbuilt lesson in a narrow-minded way. The notion that existence is a never-ending lesson can be dismaying at times. The courses we undertake in earth school can be painful as well as pleasurable, and as taxing as they are eventually rewarding. However, in every situation, relationship, or encounter, a range of lessons can be unearthed. When we choose to consciously take advantage of each of the lessons we are confronted with, we gradually discover that our previous ideas about love, compassion, resilience, grief, fear, trust, and generosity could have been half-formed.

Ultimately, when we acknowledge that growth is an integral part of life and that attending earth school is the responsibility of every individual, the concept of “life as lesson” no longer chafes. We can openly and joyfully look for the blessing buried in the difficulties we face without feeling that we are trapped in a roller-coaster ride of forced learning. Though we cannot always know when we are experiencing a life lesson, the wisdom we accrue will bless us with the keenest hindsight.

Thanks for visiting Lisa’s Place. :)

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Roses are Red

Sunday, 20 August, 2006 at 7:44 pm · Filed under Uncategorized ·Tagged

I am reading, “Roses are Red”, by James Patterson. This book is part of a crime series, where the main character, Alex Cross, is a liaison between the local police and the FBI. He works on major crimes, like bank robberies, kidnappings and murders.

James Patterson has a knack for keeping a reader reading. Not only is there a crime centrification, but there is also the personal life of Alex Cross, where his love interests keep falling apart in dramatic ways. For example, his wife is murdered in a drive-by shooting, which oddly enough, was a crime never solved.

In addition, there is Christine, a principal at a local school, who was kidnapped for a year and, during that time, had Alex’s baby.

In this particular book, Alex’s daughter, Jannie, has suddenly started having grand mal seizures. The neurologist is trying to find out why.

This is my first James Patterson read, and I’m interested to see how it ends. From the looks of it, the characters keep reappearing in subsequent novels. I suppose, not only an interesting writing expedition for the author and reader, but also not a bad marketing strategy.

Halo

Thanks for visiting Lisa’s Place. :)

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When Good First-Day-of-School-Days Go Bad

Monday, 14 August, 2006 at 4:09 pm · Filed under Uncategorized ·Tagged

So, I had good intentions. There was a new outfit and new shoes. There was the mix for French Toast sitting in the fridge, just waiting to be her breakfast. I was prepared to make the first day of 1st Grade good.

TLK wakes in a tearful display. She doesn’t want to wear the new outfit. Fine, get out of bed and wear whatever you want. The tears don’t stop.

“What is wrong?”

There is a list:
“I don’t want to go to First Grade”
“I won’t be in a classroom with Rylea and Alicia!”
“I won’t ever see you again.”
“I want to stay with YOU!”

Ummm… Where I am going is boring. You wouldn’t like it. I will see you after school, just as I have every day since you stepped or crawled out of the house.

“I want to wear my flip flops”. and, the best ever, if you’re a person who is not a morning person and does not enjoy rushing around to actually make breakfast on a work day:

“I’m not hungry!”

LOL. I understand emotions. I have plenty of my own.

And really, it was just one more piece of french toast for the dog.

How do you think she’ll be when I pick her up? Laughing, I imagine, and full of wonderful details of her day, along with plenty of lovely paperwork for me to complete.

You know, this is starting to sound like my first day of work! :)

Thanks for visiting Lisa’s Place. :)

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Sturgis Pictures

Sunday, 13 August, 2006 at 5:10 am · Filed under Uncategorized ·Tagged


Outside the Full Trottle Saloon, where they don’t wear many clothes.

Downtown Sturgis

The Full Throttle Saloon
Lots of bikes

Sam Elliott with some chick who wanted her picture taken with him.
Thanks for visiting Lisa’s Place. :)

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Nursemaid’s Elbow Rears Its Ugly Head.. Again

Saturday, 12 August, 2006 at 4:12 pm · Filed under Uncategorized ·Tagged

a good elbow, gone bad
My day care director called me at 10 till 2 this afternoon saying, “I think there’s a chance your daughter broke her arm. I can call the rescue squad if you want. I’m not sure what you want to do.”

Me: I’ll be RIGHT there.

Ok, hell… I’m on the other side of town, but nothing 80 or 90 mph could not cure.

When I got to her, like I normally do, and see that she is still breathing and fine, having anticipated something worse when I saw her, my eyes welled up with tears. I asked her if she was ok and she burst into tears. She could not move her arm.

I drove her to the doctor and they got us in right away. We tried to put together what happened. She was on the zip line at school with another girl and started to fall. Megan grabbed her hand to keep her from falling, and she fell. We didn’t know if she fell on her arm or on her rearend or what.

It occurred to me… “You know, she HAS had nursemaid’s elbow in this arm before…”

Better safe than sorry, we thought, so it was off to the hospital for an xray. It was a rather loud, panicked xray, mind you, where I was calmly asking, “Is there any other position you can put her in than this?” because from just the sound of it, they were killing her with what they were doing, although I knew they were not. She was in a lot of pain.

Finally, the xray is good. The bones are not broken. Back to the doctor’s office, where the ligament was forced back to where it was supposed to be, and all was right with the world again.

It is rare, after age 4, to have nursemaid’s elbow. I guess we are just lucky.

Thanks for visiting Lisa’s Place. :)

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