Tag: funny

Monday – Funday

Credit: @woofknight, X

Isn’t the cooler weather wonderful?! After such a hot summer, it’s like diving into a cool, refreshing, clear pool of water.

How’s everyone doing? This was a tough weekend. I’m feeling that universal, low-lying, but seeping in kind of stress in the air, like we had when the pandemic first started. And when you have that kind of permeance of uneasiness, swirling all around you, it sort of punctuates your own individual stresses, doesn’t it? Whatever helps you with stress and concern in your mind and in your body and in your spirit, is your own “toolbox.” Don’t forget to open your toolbox, and to use and to utilize your own helpful “tools.” (exercise, prayer, meditation, music, friendships, nature, healthy, wholesome meals, crying, release, easy chores, funny shows etc.) Also, use this as a time to find and to test new, healthy tools to help ease your stress during eventful times.

“Every one of us is, in the cosmic perspective, precious. If a human disagrees with you, let him live. In a hundred billion galaxies, you will not find another.”
– Carl Sagan

“If we have no peace, it is because we have forgotten that we belong to each other.” – Mother Teresa

“For me, forgiveness and compassion are always linked: how do we hold people accountable for wrongdoing and yet at the same time remain in touch with their humanity enough to believe in their capacity to be transformed?”– bell hooks

“Humanity is good. Some people are terrible and broken, but humanity is good. I believe that.” – Hank Green


“We cannot despair of humanity, since we ourselves are human beings.” – Albert Einstein

“You must not lose faith in humanity. Humanity is an ocean; if a few drops of the ocean are dirty, the ocean does not become dirty.” – Mahatma Ghandi

“During bad circumstances, which is the human inheritance, you must decide not to be reduced. You have your humanity, and you must not allow anything to reduce that. We are obliged to know we are global citizens. Disasters remind us we are world citizens, whether we like it or not.” – Maya Angelou

Are you passing on love or are you passing on pain? Heal your pain and pass on love.

So Extra

I saw an advertisement today for embellished slip-on shoes. The description said that these slides were a little “extra”. That seems to be a common catch-phrase these days. “She’s a little extra . . .”

The thing is “extra” means different things to different people. The slides being advertised didn’t look “extra” at all to me. But they were being sold by a company that traditionally stays in the black to brown color wheel of traditional, plain, timeless ballerina flats. The “extra” slides being advertised were black ballerina flats, with a thin band of rhinestones.

It’s fun to be a little “extra” sometimes, right? And a little extra you, is different than a little extra me. Yes, someone who is “extra” all of the time can be exhausting to be around, but at least they always keep it interesting.

Today, do something a little extra. Get the extra hot sauce on your lunch. Some other ideas that I saw on websites when I looked up the urban dictionary’s version of “extra”: a lemon wedge on your dog’s water bowl, bright red fake nails with an extra set of bright red fake nails hanging off of them like charms, a grandfather with a computer screen bigger than our large screen TV in the family room.

The other day, when my husband and I were in line at Chipotle ordering our food, a conservative looking young lady was waiting on us. When she smiled, I noticed an unusual glint of color and gleam on the top right corner of her mouth. Upon closer inspection, I saw that she had decorated her teeth with crystals. It honestly looked really cool and intricate. I told her how impressed I was, and my husband said that after my compliment, the young lady and her glitzy teeth just continued to beam and beam. (on an aside, if you only do one extra thing today, give someone a genuine compliment. Notice something that they have taken the time to do for/on themselves or for others, and be extra extra with your compliments, such as on their fancy hair, or their great combination of clothes, or their patient kindness in helping an elderly person, etc. I can never understand why people are so dreadfully stingy with compliments. They cost you nothing, and they make another person feel so good and “seen.” And I promise that you, too, will feel extra good for making another person feel happy.)

Are you passing on love or are you passing on pain? Heal your pain and pass on love.

Monday – Funday

credit: @woofknight, Twitter

We have been hanging out with our two middle sons and their friends this past weekend. Our sons are 25 and 22. They eat a lot, and they have high, fast, young people metabolisms. I’ve been trying to keep up as best as I can. This lipstick will definitely come in handy for the rest of the week. I just couldn’t keep it secret from you until Favorite Things Friday. Ha!

Are you passing on love or are you passing on pain? Heal your pain and pass on love.

What I Was Going to Write

This was the rant that I was going to write:

I’m sorry that I am delayed here this morning. I was dealing with a couple of “customer service” (oxymoron) issues. I am not one who likes to stay mired in negativity and complaining. I believe that I am a fair and reasonable person and I’m as conflict-avoidant as anyone, but sometimes I feel like unless I become a real live, much parodied, angry, middle-aged, up-in-arms “Karen”, nothing happens. In society, we love to make fun of the “Karens” but there is a reason why the so-called “Karens” exist. You can’t just stand up for your rights assertively anymore. It’s like you have to jump through hoops until you become exhausted and hysterical and maniacal, and then somehow you then get turned into “the bad guy.” For years and years, I have preached to my family, if you want to get something done, you have to become their “PITA”. You have to make it so that their number one goal is just to get you out of their hair, whatever it takes. More than once, my family members have admitted, “Oh wow, you were right about that one, Mom.” It shouldn’t be this way. It shouldn’t become a “Where’s Waldo?” level 832 puzzle to find an actual, real live Customer Service person to speak to about a legitimate concern.

I am not an opportunist. I have integrity. I am all about fair solutions. I understand that the “Karen” memes were created to call out the true, obnoxious “Karens” of the world. But we have a world of choices out there, and businesses do not want to learn this the hard way.

But you don’t need all that extra negativity in your day, so instead, here’s a cute puppy:

Are you passing on love or are you passing on pain? Heal your pain and pass on love.

Like Rugrats

Trip, our Boykin spaniel, is out getting groomed by our mobile pet groomer, Angelica (and she is an Angel, because Trip is probably the devil in canine form). When I first met Angelica, she said, “Hi, I’m Angelica, you know, like on Rugrats.” I remember thinking to myself, “I wonder if her mother ever thought that this is how her daughter would introduce herself when she named her beautiful baby ‘Angelica’.” But honestly, I have never forgotten Angelica’s name, and although I’m ashamed to admit it, I’m not the best with names. However, whenever Angelica’s van pulls up to my house, this is the first picture that comes to mind:

Recently I reached out to an author named Tamara. She says that she introduces herself to everyone with a Dr. Seuss-like rhyming twist, so they’ll remember her name more easily. “Hi. I’m Tam-I-Am.” (She likes to go by the nickname “Tam”.) So when I emailed her, I started with “Hi, I’m Kelly-Bo-Belly.” Seriously. But then I thought, do I really want to call attention to my belly??? Oh well, too late, this go around.

Tam-I-Am claims that she also adds, “from Maine” to her introduction of herself to other people. “Hello, I’m Tam-I-Am from Maine.” She claims this makes for a great conversation starter because people either love Maine, or they are, at the very least, extremely curious about it. This reminds me of a woman I met, whom I will forever call, “Linda From Dunedin”. We have an adorable little town near to us called “Dunedin”. It’s Scottish and extremely hard to pronounce, for any visitors who aren’t in the know. It’s not pronounced “Doon-din” or “Dun-uh-din”. The correct pronunciation is “Duh-Knee-Din” (at least around here). Anyway, I met Linda From Dunedin at a women’s group, and that’s how she introduced herself to everyone. To this day, I don’t know anyone from that group who calls her just “Linda” anymore.

How do you introduce yourself to people? What about you is unique and memorable? You are the only, one-of-a-kind you someone will ever get the privilege to meet, and if they’re really lucky, get to know. As a name remembering trick, it is a common tip to try to tie someone’s name with how they look, or where they are from, or from a character in a book or a show that reminds you of them. Angelica Like Rugrats, Tam-I-Am, and Linda From Dunedin have already done the hard part of that trick for people. They know that people will want to remember them. And people with that kind of self-confidence and panache and “Hello World! attitude” usually are the memorable, interesting people in the world who make you feel happy and lucky to have met them. And even luckier if the relationship grows.

Are you passing on love or are you passing on pain? Heal your pain and pass on love.

Monday – Funday

Summer often likes to leave with a bang in our state. I am not too concerned. We live pretty far inland, and we’ve lived through many big Florida storms and many big Florida storm scares. If you don’t get a daily blog post from me later in the week, just figure that our power is out. Still, I’ll take any extra prayers and good juju for the people in the path of Idalia.

Have a great week, friends! Here are some bonus thoughts that I wrote in one of my inspirational notebooks this past weekend, from my readings. I’m sorry, I don’t know who to credit some of them to:

+ When a human reaches the end of his or her rope, he or she reaches the beginning of God.

+ Choose change before change chooses you.

+ We all have gifts that we don’t recognize, not because they are hidden but because they are so much a part of us that we can’t see them. Other people are the mirrors that allow us to see. – Holiday Mathis (***I really like this last one. We are often told that other people mirror the traits about ourselves that we don’t like and which we tend to disown in ourselves, so it’s a nice turn to think about people being mirrors to our positive traits, too. It’s also true that the traits that come naturally to us, we tend to discount. But these unique attributes of ours are gifts to us, and to others. My husband has the uncanny ability to find lost things. He’s found glasses buried in sand in the shore of the ocean. He’s found tiny earring studs at the bottom of a pool. If I lose something, I often wait for him to come home, because I know that he’ll find it. This gift of his, was the first thing that came to my mind, when I read this quote. What are some uncanny traits that you have that are so naturally a part of you, you can’t see them? I bet that your loved ones could tell you.)

Are you passing on love or are you passing on pain? Heal your pain and pass on love.

Little Tidbits

Our dog, Ralphie, the yellow Labrador retriever has an enormous mouth with folds and folds of lips. We feed all three of our dogs, a mix of three different kinds of kibble that our veterinarian recommends. One of the brands of their food has three different sizes of kibble, just in its bag alone. Lately, we have figured out that “Ralph, the mouth”, who eats everything you can imagine (he loves bananas!), does not prefer one of the kibbles in that mix, which are little dark brown pieces smaller than the size of a pea. He picks them out and sort of hides them under his bowl. How he is able to quickly scarf down everything (we feed him with one of those slow feeder maze bowls, to help keep his weight down, by making him eat more slowly) and still pick out those tiny little pea-sized kibbles and hide them, using just his enormous, lippy mouth, is still a mystery to me. I’ve never met a dog like Ralphie before him. Like our son says, “Ralphie is always on a mission.”

Changing the subject, I read a cute story about Paul Newman yesterday. A woman happened to be on vacation in the same beach town as Paul Newman and his family. Early one afternoon she went into a little sweets shop and she saw Paul sitting at a corner table eating a donut. She didn’t want to appear flustered and starstruck, so she ordered an ice cream cone and then quickly left the shop. After the woman walked a few steps, she realized that she had been flustered and starstruck and had left her ice cream cone in the shop. As she turned around, Paul Newman was right behind her. He gave her a flash of his gorgeous blue eyes and a big smile and he said, “It’s in your purse.”

Are you passing on love or are you passing on pain? Heal your pain and pass on love.

Monday Funday

Our Labrador retriever, Ralphie, spent a lot of time with us in the pool this weekend. He’s now an interesting shade of yellow-green. Ralphie is definitely “that blonde kid on the swim team.” You can’t miss the fact that he loves to swim.

There are two quotes that stood out for me, from my weekend reading. They are by the same author, Ehime Ora:

“Today will be an easy day if you let it be. Try not to spiral in your thoughts. Not everything that you think is true.”

“You deserve peace in your life, not just low stress. There’s a difference.”

Are you passing on love or are you passing on pain? Heal your pain and pass on love.

Monday – Funday

A wise person once said to me, “You don’t go to the gym, see a totally fit, “stacked” person and say to yourself, Hmmm, I wonder why they are here? They are already totally fit.”

When you see the totally fit person at the gym, you inherently realize that they are there at the gym to maintain their body’s strength and flexibility. They got fit at the gym, and they stay fit by regularly going there to work out. Their body’s strength and flexibility and health are a priority to them, and this is shown by their actions.

My hairstylist is 60 and I have been going to get my hair done by her for almost a decade. Since I’ve known her she has always been thin and svelte. Even during the pandemic, she kept her weight steady. My hairstylist also has to stay on a gluten-free diet for her digestive health, and she told me once that it really bothers her that people assume that she is thin only because she is on the gluten-free diet. She works hard at maintaining her weight, and her health, and it “irks” her that people think that she just lucked into her long-lasting body type.

Whatever you admire about a person – their relationships, their career, their style, their health, their knowledge, etc., most likely did not come easy. Even if the natural, raw talents and abilities were there, it is difficult to grow, and to maintain these gifts. It’s an uncomfortable truth, but the facts are, people live their priorities. It’s insulting to someone to treat their best attributes, assets, and gifts as only lucky breaks, which just happened to easily and randomly fall upon them, out of the clouds, and then magically stay there, without any effort on the lucky person’s part. When you see the admirable “finished product” of success, health, happiness, you don’t see all of the “behind the scenes” of blood, sweat, and tears, research, desire, tough decisions, and prioritizing that it took to get there, and then also, to keep it.

Are you passing on love or are you passing on pain? Heal your pain and pass on love.