magick musings…

…about fall weather? After work, I walked two miles every day this week except Monday. Tonight I also cleaned house, did laundry, made a few phone calls, made plans for Sunday afternoon, cooked dinner, and made my list of things to get done this weekend.

I :heart: clean sheets. I am probably the only person I know that changes them religiously every Saturday and even sometimes during the week. And I have my favorite ones I love to use. 500 count (or is it 600? I forget) Egyptian cotton in a pale yellow. There is just something so comforting when I slide into them at night after my bubble bath.

We are all creatures of habit and routine. And I have a new one. I found a wonderful radio station I can tune into on my computer. It is 103.7 FM lite rock and there is a female DJ named Delilah who is great. She encourages people to call in and dedicate songs to their loved ones. Some of their stories touch the heart and soul. The music is an ecletic mixture of love songs, country, easy listening, and light rock. So at night, once I have watched the shows I can’t miss, I tune into her and listen as I blog, write, clean, answer emails, or whatever all the way up to bedtime.

Tonight is Ghost Whisperer and Moonlight night. I plan on coming home, lighting all my candles, pouring a glass of White Zinfindel and watching TV in my favorite chair. Couple of my friends and I will call each other during the commercials to discuss what’s happening. We are so silly, but…we…have…fun!

Someone asked me the other day how do I know what to write about? They don’t know me well because those who do, know I blog like I talk. About whatever is on my mind at the moment. About whatever is happening in my life at that time. Maybe not everything, but most. We’d be here forever if I did that.

Enough about me. I will leave you with a joke and another pumpkin sighting.

**There once was a religious young woman who went to Confession. Upon entering the confessional, she said, ‘Forgive me, Father, for I have sinned.’

The priest said, ‘Confess your sins and be forgiven.’ The young woman said, ‘Last night my boyfriend made mad passionate love to me seven times.’

The priest thought long and then said, ‘Squeeze seven lemons into a glass and drink the juice.’

The young woman asked, ‘Will this cleanse me of my sins?’

The priest said, ‘No, but it will wipe that smile off of your face.’ **

Another scary pic:

~Sandy

Thirteen Things I like about Fall! 1. Days seem brighter without the glare. 2. Cool days 3. Cooler nights (I hate hot) 4. Scarecrows (always thought they were so cute) 5. Pumpkins (believe it or not, I tried pumpkin ravioli today. Yum!) 6. Candy (caramel tastes sooo much better this time of year) 7. Cookies (all kinds as long as they are chewy) 8. Fall scents (pumpkin, apple, vanilla) 9. Halloween (my favorite holiday for some weird reason) 10. All the new TV series start 11. Football (don’t actually get to watch it much but…go Cowboys!) 12. Baking is so much more fun. 13. End of daylight savings time (time seems more relaxed) Links to other Thursday Thirteens! 1. (leave your link in comments, I’ll add you here!)

Check out this work of art!

~Sandy

…was wonderful!

But what truly happens at the retreat STAYS at the retreat! Right, Girls?

No mention of black lace panties (not me, but some one else we all know and love)!

And no mention of margaritas, hot tubs, 2:00 am laugh sessions, wine and cheese party, oodles of chocolate, wonderful speakers, lasagne to die for, fantastic gifts from the hostess, hunky guy card decks, yummy cheesecake and brownies, killer bunnies…

Nope, what happened at the retreat STAYS at the retreat.

Thanks to Carolyn whose hard work is appreciated by all of us!

~Sandy

…leaving for a writer’s retreat this weekend.

It’s a once a year escape where a group of writers meet to share ideas, talk out problems, laugh, talk, forge friendships, reinforce a bonding as only like minds can accomplish, share a glass of wine or two, and kick some butts that need serious attention. Mine in particular.

But I am happy to say that I have been able to get a little writing done.

Very little. But I will gratefully count what is there.

I can actually feel stirrings of the passion again which has been missing for so long.

It’s a wonderful feeling. Like an old friend coming to visit. This time I will hide its suitcase and demand it stay.

It is not easy to do something you don’t HAVE to do when your life is in turmoil. I need to get back to the things that excited, inspired, and motivated me about my writing.

I was listening to Mark Cuban (owner of the Mavericks and note to my youngest son out there: there better be an invitation to a Mavs game with you this year) speak on the radio and he was asked about his experience on ‘Dancing with the Stars’. He said that every week he and his partner decide what the goals are for the week. What do they want to accomplish and when they decide, they make it a definitive goal.

That is definitely a problem of mine. I just go with the flow although I really love making lists and adhering to them. I am flexible, but need to work on being just a tad bit more stringent. If it is important to someone like Mark (whether you like him or not) in dancing, then it is a good probability that is why he is successful in business.

Did you know he is 6’3″ tall? He looks so short on television!

See ya Sunday!

~Sandy

I have the cutest neighbors across the street. They have been so kind and so willing to help in any way they can. For grins, let’s just call them Mazzie and George. Mazzie is all of four feet tall, has a thick accent of some sort, and is just adorable. It is fun to watch her giggle at everything George, her husband of a million years, says and does.

I had just walked in from work when the door bell rang. It was Mazzie wiping her hands on her apron with such a worried look on her face. She proceeded to tell me how she and George noticed around 10:30 that my garage door was up!

I never leave my garage door up. I always watch it go down before driving out of the driveway. I know I did this morning. I. know. I. did.

After much debate, they decided the best thing to do was come over and close it for me. I can just picture them holding hands as they sauntered across the street, nothing but the mission on their mind.

The garage is a fairly deep one. And the button to close the automatic garage door opener is located at the opposite end of the garage. So it is a loooong way from the button to the garage door.

George was first up.

He pushed the button and ran to duck under the door but couldn’t quite make it. He tried again. And again. Finally, he had to rest, Mazzie explained, and she was quite worried the way he was breathing so hard.

She thought a moment and decided that since she was so much smaller, she had to be faster so she convinced him to let her try. She tried three times, but never could make it to the door before being cut off each time. It wasn’t long before she was resting next to George.

While they were leaning against house catching their breaths, George spied a long 2 x 4 piece of wood lying in the garage so he got an idea. Armed with the wood, he punched the button with the end of it and being closer to the door that way, he didn’t have quite so far to run to slide under before the door closed.

Mazzie got more and more animated as she told me the story. She was so proud. She actually clapped her hands and the smile on her face was priceless.

I felt horrible. Can you imagine me coming home with two sweet little old people collapsed on my driveway?

There was no way I was going to rain on her parade though. I thanked her perfusely and made a big deal of what wonderful good samaritans and neighbors they were.

But I did give her my numbers to call should it ever happen again. Now I just need to think of some nice gift to bring them to show my appreciation.

~Sandy

…not to think about something, what do you think about? Exactly! The very thing you are NOT supposed to think about.

Talked to a friend at work today about her craving for her favorite ice cream. She was bemoaning the fact that she needed to lose 20 pounds but her husband had recently purchased a gallon of Blue Bell’s Hot Fudge Sundae ice cream – her favorite – and how she could think of nothing else but it sitting in her freezer.

Calling her name.

Her husband just told her not to think about it.

Riiiiigghht!

So now all I can think of is the pint of Blue Bell chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream sitting in my freezer.

Calling my name.

Don’t think about it…don’t think about it…don’t think about it…

Came home tonight and did my walking but only walked a mile. Slacker.

I’m just so tired this evening and can’t even begin to imagine why.

I feel a bubble bath and calling it an early night coming on.

But I will NOT think about chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream!

~Thanks to Nancy for submitting the quote!

~Sandy

…last night. So here is something to make you smile.

**Tom forgot his wedding anniversary and his wife was really ticked off at him.

She told him, “Tomorrow morning, I expect to find a gift in the driveway that goes from 0 to 200 in under 6 seconds, AND IT BETTER BE THERE.”

The next morning, Tom got up really early.

When his wife woke up a couple of hours later, she looked out the window, and sure enough, there was a small gift-wrapped box sitting in the middle of the driveway. Confused, the wife put on her robe, ran out to the driveway, and took the box into the house.

She opened it, and found a brand new bathroom scale.

Tom is not yet well enough to have visitors.**

…Have a good day today!

~Sandy

…or ‘in’ I should say.

Several of my girlfriends came over last night and we spent the night as only girlfriends can. Talking, drinking, eating, and laughing ourselves silly.

They can be bad…so bad!

But we behaved. Sort of.

Didn’t let Dennie book the stripper and no matter how many times MY computer visited the Le Bare website, it wasn’t me doing it. I swear!

But Brenda-who-refused-to-be-the-designated-driver-and-take-us-to-Dallas, your punishment for leaving early is to spend this next week scouring the internet trying to find your ‘MySpace’ website we created for you after you left. 😈

Not really, but we thought long and hard about it. We gave you reprieve. This time.

After the last friend left and I straightened up the house, it was 2:00 am. I laid in bed thinking about how blessed I was to have love, friends, and the opportunities I have. Undoubtedly, it has been tough lately, but I love Mik’s favorite saying:

“In the end it will be okay. If it is not okay, then it is not the end.”

Did my walking this morning and have an appointment late this evening at my favorite place I buy my makeup to have a ‘makeover’. Might be fun. I could learn a new trick or two. And it is free! But the bad thing is that I have to take off all my makeup before I get there. Gasp! Hope I don’t run into anyone I know.

But right now, have tons of deskwork to do!

Have a great Sunday!

Sooo looking forward to Monday.

~Sandy

sung by Sandy Posey

…waaayyy too soon.

Woke up this morning at 3:30 am with my mouth throbbing horribly. It took me a hazy minute or two to figure out what in the world could be wrong until it flashed back to me. Stumbled to the Advil and two tabs later felt pretty good. But took me an hour to get back to sleep.

Tonight I decided was a good day to start my walking again.

Grabbed my walking shoes, my iPod and took off. Since it was too windy to leave bread crumbs, I thought of bringing a map (I am so directionally challenged), but decided to live dangerously.

It turned out to be the best thing I could have done. Since I have no one to walk with now, I turned up the music, which works wonders on soothing the savage soul. Mix that and the beautiful sunny weather with a slight breeze that was gentle enough to just caress… I could have walked for hours. Found my way home just fine before dark.

It has been a very emotional week both at work and on the personal front and the endorphins kicking in was just what I needed to uplift my spirits.

Since I am just rambling tonight, I will leave off with a joke. Everyone who knows me knows how much I love to laugh and I choked on my diet coke I was laughing so hard at this one.

Thanks to Kathy B. for sending this:

A very loud, unattractive, mean-acting woman walked into Wal-Mart with her two kids, yelling obscenities at them all the way through the entrance.

The Wal-Mart Greeter said pleasantly ‘Good morning, and welcome to Wal-Mart. Nice children you have there. Are they twins?’

The ugly woman stopped yelling long enough to say, ‘Hell no they ain’t. The oldest one’s 9 and the other one’s 7. Why the hell would you think they’re twins? Are you blind, or just stupid?’

‘I’m neither blind nor stupid, Ma’am,’ replied the greeter. ‘I just couldn’t believe you got laid twice.’

‘Have a good day and thank you for shopping at Wal-Mart.’

~Sandy

…don’t fear it!

Note from Sandy: Got an email from one of my blog readers who chastised me quite sternly for not writing any of my motivational blogs. So, in that person’s honor (and you know who you are), here goes.

Tess Gerritsen recently blogged about how NOT to feel like a loser when things are not going just right in your writing career. She wrote about how hard a writing career is. How the publishing industry excels at making you feel a loser. And how she often feels like one even with almost 20 books under her belt, many of them award winning best sellers.

How could she ever feel like a loser? Beautiful, talented, successful both as an internist and a New York Times Bestselling author.

Mind boggling to say the least.

Author JA Konrath writes that ‘The secret to being a winner is confidence. Since most of us lack in this department, being sensitive artist types, we have to learn to fake confidence.’

He also goes on to give ideas on exactly how to do that. One of those pearls of wisdom struck home to me:

7. Focus on success. You’ll fail sometimes. We all do. But if you focus on the good things that happen, and push down the bad, you’ll be perceived as a winner. Perception equals reality.

I believe this advice should also follow us in every aspect of our lives. Whether in our careers, our love, our relationships, or our families.

Have you ever been so down and depressed over a situation that it is difficult to think past it? It not only colors your thinking, but your attitude and your actions.

Has fear of success or fear of continued success affected the way you present yourself to others? Even to the point of when you look in the mirror in the morning you don’t recognize the face staring back?

It’s hard looking past those negative and worrisome feelings. It’s difficult to push them down when they are all consuming and you find yourself paralyzed with what might or might not be.

It’s like what Keanu Reeves’ character in The Replacements call fear of the ‘Quicksand’. One thing goes wrong, then fear takes hold causing another, and then another until you become neck deep in the mire and unable to get out.

To be a true winner means searching deep and finding the success that even failures bring.
To be a winner means faking confidence until the real thing shows up.
To be a winner means you never quit no matter how bad the fear is.

~Sandy