Why I Adore the Internet . com .com .com!

So elegant and independent

Time to lighten up. Like this bird. He just sits there watching over everything, letting people take photos and then flies away when he gets tired of it all.

And that’s why I love the internet. I can fly away when I get tired of it all, read everything from the Christian Science Monitor and the New York Times to other people’s blogs. I can post photos to my blog or Facebook page, keep in touch with friends all over the world and find incredible deals.

Oh yes, the deals. I’d much rather shop from the comfort of my own home than head off to a noisy and crowded mall whose stores charge at least 30% more than what I pay online for the same merchandise!

I’m not a brand name junkie. I don’t need to spend $70-600 on a pair of jeans to feel like I look good. Truth is, I still have a few pounds to lose before I feel like I’ll look good in jeans anyway 🙂

The deals. Lots of restaurants have great deals if you sign up for their mailing list. Some will send you a free meal certificate just for joining. Others remember your birthday with the same thing. Some send coupons for one item, like a cup of coffee or a piece of pie.

Free samples of everything under the sun are available. Lots of sites to find these. Just type “free samples” into your search engine.

FatWallet.com has people all over the country searching and posting deals for everything from electronics to free movie tickets.

I love the internet because I’ve gotten lots of writing and editing jobs as a result of being wired to it. Now wireless, of course. I went to South Korea to teach because of the net. I went on a press trip to the U.S. Virgin Islands and met one of the premier “green” engineers in the world. I traveled to Savannah and Chattanooga to write articles about those two great cities.

But mostly, I love the net because of my ability to stay in touch or get back in touch with friends and family. I have many “cyber” friends – folks I’ve never met in person. Yet, we’ve developed close relationships and we’ve even talked on the phone sometimes. I’ve gotten in touch with people I haven’t seen in years.

The one thing I don’t like about the internet is internet dating. I don’t want to date someone whom I don’t really know, and I’ve never heard of one of these relationships lasting. As a matter of fact, all the people I know who have dated after meeting someone electronically had relationships that ended badly to say the least.

Well, that’s enough for today. I hope your day is light and lively.

When the **** Hits the Fan…

don’t run. It won’t do any good at all.

Instead, sit still for a moment and face it and all the consequences, situations, pain and anguish it causes. Running doesn’t do any good. Drinking away your pain only lasts as long as the effect of the alcohol lasts. Indulging in shopping or over-eating just because are just other ways of running.

STOP.  This is an acronym for Stay There Only Peacefully.

Why? Because if you can do this, you will not only grow from the experience, but the pain will pass more quickly.

Pick a flower, go for a walk, admire God’s handiwork in the clouds, help someone out, eat something healthy for more and better energy, read something spiritual, volunteer at the humane society or the homeless shelter, or buy a card and send it to someone.

These things I listed above will take you out of yourself. Getting out of yourself when you’re in crisis is the only thing that will work quickly to start the healing.

Almost everyone I’ve ever known (and some I’ve not known but have heard about) wants to run from painful or bad situations. Hence, they stay in pain longer, take their anger out on others or do something harmful to themselves or their finances (such as shopping when you don’t really need to or eating unhealthy food).

I usually give myself a certain amount of time to feel sorry for myself. That helps. But there have been some situations where I continued to let a negative situation get me down for years. I hope I never do that again.

I’d like to be a beacon of love and peace to all I meet. I can’t think of anything more wonderful than having people say that about me when I die. Of course, I won’t know if they do, but that would be the greatest tribute I can think of.

Happiness doesn’t have to be an elusive butterfly. For me it lies in having a right relationship with my God. When that is at the top of my list, all the pain, sorrow and anger melts away.

Have a blessed day and thanks for stopping by!

The REALLY Hard Decisions

Bootsie and Annie, my sweet pets

 

Life’s a bowl of cherries, right? Well, sure, but all cherries have pits, although some have their pits removed.

What’s the hardest decision you ever made? What was the outcome? I wish you’d share with me in the comments section or by email.

Maybe your hard decision was about letting someone go through divorce or otherwise. Perhaps it was about saying no to a child who kept depending on you. It could be that it was leaving a place behind and starting somewhere new. Maybe it was about turning off life support or selling a home.

When we’re young, the “hard” decisions seem like a piece of cake to us when we’re older. “What college should I attend?” “Do I want to accept this job or that one?” “Should I ask her to marry me on Valentine’s Day, or should I wait until the end of the school year?”

Looking back, those types of choices seem so easy to me today. Don’t worry about what college you’ll attend, just make sure you go. Take the job with the best benefits. Ask her to marry you on Valentine’s Day…it’s romantic. Smile.

But the older we get, it seems the harder the decisions get. So we talk with friends and/or family, research the heck out of it, and finally, it seems – in desperation – we talk to God. Sometimes we wait on God’s guidance and sometimes we don’t. I like it when I wait. The outcome of the hard decision always seems to have a bit of a glow on it then – God’s glow.

I’m facing a hard decision right now. Do I keep or let go of my two wonderful cats? My babies. My rescue babies. My precious kitties who know when I”m upset and who snuggle next to me every night. My fabulous animals who chase each other up and down the hall and then one of them will wait around the corner so she can pounce on the other.

Because, you see, this darned COPD is not well enough yet. And every night I cough, and every day the cat hair build up all over the house and I’m afraid my sweet babies are making/keeping me sick.

How do I make a decision like this? It’s certainly not necessary to talk with friends and family about it. I KNOW the right thing to do, because my doctor told me so and because of how I feel. I just don’t know how I can live without them.

Yep – I’ll turn this one over to God tonight. It’s too big for me. And I know that if I listen carefully, God will not only let me know what to do, but He’ll also give me the strength to do it and survive it, maybe feeling even better than I do today.