Girls, Girls, Girls

The nieces were in the house this weekend.  They enjoyed performing their cheers in front of the fireplace.  Our oldest niece, Presley, provided very specific feedback at one point this weekend...

Presley: Pat-Pat, when you have a baby, can I babysit?

Me: Yes.

Presley: Will you go to a girl orphanage where they only have girl babies, and get a girl?  I want you to have a girl baby.

I cracked up.

I do love my girls.

Lucky Me

Is this photo of a duck or a bunny.  It depends, right?  As most things in life your perspective is key to your outlook and well being.

My mother, who was an extraordinary public school educator for 33 years before she retired (hello, traumatic brain injury!), had a poster in her classroom: "We can complain because rose bushes have thorns, or we can rejoice because thorn bushes have roses."

I like that quote.  There's a lot of wisdom in that one sentence.

This week a little unexpected bonus hit my paycheck - because I've been killing it at work.  I was already trying to think of ways to convince my husband I "needed" to spend my bonus on a new entry table from Restoration Hardware...(Hello, Stack 50 Table!)

But this week one of our AC units went out.  I don't mean to brag, but our house has three AC units: one for upstairs, one for the main part of the house, and one for the master bedroom.  My husband is out of town Monday through Thursday each week, and all week, I felt like my husband was trying to save money by keeping the house warm.  It felt warm, but I would just go to bedroom where it was a perfect 69 degrees.

When my husband returned from his business trip, he immediately asked if I had noticed that the downstairs AC was set on 74 degrees but the house was 84 degrees?  I told him I thought it was warm, but I didn't look.  My husband shook his head at my reply, but in my defense: if I need the temperature in the house adjusted I tell my husband and he does it via the Internet.  I don't look at the wall mounts.

So, our AC was broken - a coil was cracked?  We had to get it fixed.  We "needed" to have working AC.

My perspective: it's a bummer that we had an unexpected house repair, but it was awesome that my unexpected little bonus covered the cost of the repairs - no damage to the monthly budget.  How great is that?  My life is awesome.

Pretty in Pink

The pink leather was faded.  The pink crystals were dull.  After 3+ years Dooley's collar was no longer good enough for a princess.  Luckily, Baby Girl has a YaYa (my husband's mother) that knew it was time to return to bright pink leather and shiny pink crystals.

We received a brand new version of Dooley's collar in the mail - the princess looks like a princess once again.

Thank you YaYa.

High School Ring

I found my husband's high school class ring recently.  I put it on.  If my husband and I would have attended the same high school, then I'm sure we would have dated! Ha!  I would have worn his class ring?  Ha!  I would have taken him to prom!

We both went to different high schools last century, and really at that time I don't think it would have been possible for us to date; however, the world today is very different.  Today, I do think it's possible for gay high school students to live openly in high school: date, go to prom, etc.

The world is getting better.

Lessons from Joan

The tributes to Joan Rivers continue to sprout up on television and online even though the octogenarian died over ten days ago.

When was the last time we (as a society) were surprised by the death of an 81 year old?  We're surprised because she was as relevant today in 2014 as she was in the beginnings of her long career.

Since her death, I've read a few articles written about her and I've spent some time on her Wiki page.  I always try to learn something from those who have sustained success, and by any standard Joan was successful at the end of her life: she had a television show, a stand up tour, and she was worth millions and millions of dollars.

However, Joan had a career with significant peaks and significant valleys.  I've decided that the key to her success, is that she kept moving forward.  She never let a failure define her, because she was always trying something new.  She never stopped working.

The key takeaway: if you get knocked down, then you get up again. That's the key to success.

If something doesn't go your way, then have enough courage to try one more time and always one more time.

QOTD

Our daughter's namesake, Sarah Dooley, hosted us a few weeks ago in Houston, and we had a conversation that went something like this...

Dooley: I know we don't like the same yogurt.

Me (looking in the fridge): it looks like you have my favorite yogurt!

Dooley: Oh good, while I was at the grocery store I bought the gross yogurt because I thought that's what you liked!

Wedding Weekend

This weekend, my husband and I drove down to a rainy Austin, Texas to attend the wedding of one of my champion colleagues.   The wedding was lovely.  They looked really happy.  When I attend church weddings I'm always extremely curious what's going through all the women's minds when the priest reminds the wedding guests that according to the Bible God created woman FOR man?  By design that seems like a self serving point of view, since men wrote the Bible.  I could be over thinking this, but it seems like mind control to state you (woman) were created for me (man).  Why did women still accept that point of view?

I'm curious.  I'm not trying to offend anyone's religion.  I'm not a religious person and I'm always shocked when that part of the Bible is quoted.

It was a quick trip: down on Saturday and back on Sunday.  Our kids (Trigger and Dooley) spent the night with my husband's parents.  My husband's parents do not have any grandchildren living in our state, which means they are always willing to help take care of our dogs and they are also always willing to encourage us to hurry up and give them more grandchildren.

I've been waiting for our life to slow down before we have kids...

When do you think our life will slow down?