Ponder This...Involuntary Shimmying

Most of my blogs so far have been on more of a serious note, but I'm going to lighten the mood for a bit with a frivolous topic...pedicures. For Mother's Day I received a gift certificate for a pedi and a massage, and I decided to do the pedi first. I should tell you that I have never had a pedi in my life. In fact, I have not had paint on my toenails in roughly 12 years. Though I consider myself a fashionable person, I am a pretty low mantainence kind of girl. My nails grow nicely, and I don't really mess with them other than to shine them up with coconut oil now and then.

So, on to the "experience". I arrive at the spa (Be Renued), and I'm greeted by a nice girl who appears to be 14, and is wearing shorts and cowboy boots. (I really don't understand this trend, but that is for another blog.) My pedicureist (is that a word?) leads me to a chair where I put my feet into a heavenly warm bubbly tub. She's got to go get something, so she hastily explains the chair remote to me, switches it "on" and disappears. Now this chair starts massaging my back, and it feels pretty nice. I'm starting to really relax, when suddenly, the chair starts the shihatsu portion of the massage. I am forced into the most violent involuntary shimmy you can imagine. I mean, parts that should not ever be moving are about to shake OFF! Aside from being slightly embarassing, it is a little too much on my back, then it calms down again, but not for long... I text a friend and tell her that I am in the midst of involuntary shimmying, and in her helpful wisdom, she texts back, "Go with it.". What choice do I have? I'm alone and I'm pushing every button on the remote, most of which actually cause the shimmy to INCREASE in strength. Finally, the timer stops the machine and I am not about to restart it.

Now comes the real foot action. The lady doing my pedi is really cute and sweet, and not a glamourpuss. She's very pleasant, and she buffs my feet with some kind of loofah on steroids. It doesn't hurt, but there were a couple of times where I nearly peed because it TICKLED. I should tell you that I am actually NOT ticklish, so this was quite unexpected. Next, she starts yanking my cuticles, or pushing them back, or whatever they do. This is uncomfortable, and makes me think of POWs, but she's not actually hurting me, so we press on. Now she grabs some green and gritty goo (I'm sure the proper name is exfoliant), and rubs it on my lower legs and feet, and we rinse it off in the heavenly warm tub. Nice, and barely even awkward having a stranger rub my legs and feet, since she's so friendly and professional.

Now to the polish. My favorite color is purple, so I picked an irridecent lilac shade, and she applied it with amazing speed and accuracy. I did not watch the process because I was too busy looking at a magazine (Elle), which turned out to be an entire book of nothing but advertisements featuring 14 year old girls in shorts and cowboy boots. Finally, we reach the end of the pedi and I look down at my feet...only they are NOT my feet. My feet look natural and pleasantly inconspicuous. The feet I am looking at are screaming, "LOOK AT MEEEEE! I'M PURPLE AND FLASHY!". I politely ignore them, thinking maybe they won't be so loud the next time I look. When I get home, my daughter immediately pronounces that they look like ogre toes. I think she was trying to kindly tell me that the look isn't "me". I take a glance at them and I have to agree. A few hours pass, and my feet are starting to showboat just a little less. My daughter tells me that they'll be ok..it's growing on her. I'm still not sure what I think.

I've decided to leave the polish on for a few days, and when it starts to chip, I'll remove it and go back to my coconut oil...but I may shimmy just a little for fun. ;0)

Ponder This...Frozen in Time

For those of you who read my blog post, "Not-so-instant Gratification", you know that I've been hankering to dig out my old school "film" camera. Well, I did it! I saved the first roll for last weekend, and took some shots of my hubby, my kiddo, and some of my friends during the Blog-a-thon. It was a lot of fun! That camera had not been turned on in over 7 years. The zoom was even a little "sticky" from sitting closed for so long! The first thing anyone did after they took a photo with it was look to see how the photo turned out, which of course was not going to happen. You see, whatever happens when you click that shutter is permanent. ALL of the action, the good, the bad, and the occasional closed eye shot, are going to live on forever...frozen in time.

For all the shots I'm posting, visit: http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.1748676078363.2087484.1282664827&l=897d0e68ad

Ponder This...Things I've learned from the blogathon.

So, this blogathon has been a lot of fun for me. Part of that is due to the fact that I have seen some of my best friends as a result of this gathering. Another part is due to meeting new people. Here are some things I've learned so far

1. It is best to meet a "Burleigh boy" by having some sort of extremely awkward comment to start it off. (Anyone can make said comment.)

2. Art can make people uncomfortable. (Only those who were there can really know what I mean.)

3. Smoothies are a great pick-me-up for tired bloggers. Also, tired bloggers make lots of really funny expressions while drinking them.

4. It's hard to keep your facts straight after you've been up for more than 17 hours.

More to come.... :0)

Ponder This...Why Blog?

There may be as many reasons to blog as there are people who do it. Many people blog because they have an area of interest that they love to discuss with like-minded enthusiasts, such as gadgets, couponing, music, etc. Others use blogging as a way to break into the writing business, or to tell funny stories. There are those who seek to help others who are "in the same boat" with a disease or condition. These are all great reasons to blog.

My reason is something entirely different. I love language. I like the way it can be made to flow on a page, or off the tounge. I have always wished that I had great talent in fictional writing, and I always read great fiction with amazement and a tinge of jealousy. But, I know that's not my bag. What I do have is a near constant inner dialogue about everyday issues. I've secretly been blogging for years...it was just inside my head, where you couldn't see it. If I happened to be with someone, they probably ended up hearing it, but more often than not, that delicious flow of words stayed right in my brain.

Recently, a couple of my friends told me about their blogs, and I started reading them. I realized that this was exactly what I needed...a place to put my "musings"...a home for all that "writing" that had been going on for so many years already. So, here it is, for the whole world to see, though I suspect only about a handful will ever read it. :0) Why blog? Well, that's for YOU to decide.

Ponder This....Attention, Please!

How long has it been since you paid attention? Now, I'm not talking about merely looking at what you are doing, I mean really staying absolutely in the moment, and taking in everything.

I was driving down Rupe yesterday, with about a hundred things buzzing in my head, and it suddenly hit me that I rarely ever think about or do one thing at one time. Most often, my hands are busy with one thing, and my mind is busy with the next things on the to-do list. That means that many times I am missing out on a lot of what is REALLY going on. Ever have a converstation with your mind half on the TV show you're watching? How about while you are driving? Can you make eye contact with the other person? Can you really engage yourself in what is happening?

There are so many things that demand our attention on a daily basis, like people, gadgets, work, entertainment, food, pets...the list goes on and on. Of all these, what is the MOST important to you? I have decided that people, and people I love in particular, are the most important. Many times they are only getting a tiny piece of my attention when we are together, because of all the other things distracting me. So, I'm going to make a mindful effort to give my FULL attention to people more often. That may mean we have to turn off the TV for a few minutes, or that I need to park the car before I hear how your day went. I think I want to look you in the eyes when you're talking to me, and really listen, instead of just hearing. After all, attention pleases all of us. :0)

Ponder This...Not-so-instant gratification

Digital cameras give us instant gratification. You take a shot, check it, and if everything's not perfect, you delete and try again. We can zoom in and get only a fraction of what the old "film" gave us in a photo. We can edit out the toys all over the floor, or the goofy face someone made, or the random pet that wandered onto the scene at precisely the wrong moment. We can erase the photos the kids took of the weeds in the backyard, or the bad hair day we had on vacation with just the touch of a button. Is this always a good thing?

While cleaning off an old bookshelf, I ran across some of those little photo albums we used to get back before we had a digital camera. They were full of random memories. There were lots of candid shots. There were photos my daughter took of her stuffed animals, and halves of our heads, and beloved pets who have gone to Heaven now. It was an amazing treasure trove of things and times I'd forgotten. What's more, I could hold them. Since going digital, I rarely print a photo. They scroll on my screensaver or flash on a digital frame. But, holding these photos was like placing my hands around a little bit of the past. It's almost as if to prove that those moments were solid once, as real as the photo in my hand.

So, this week I have decided to dig out the "film" camera, dust it off, and make some new, not-so-instantly gratifying memories to find someday in the future...like long forgotten, perfectly imperfect treasures.

Ponder This...Death is death

Osama Bin Lauden is dead. It is prudent that those of us who are targets of his organization are relieved that he can no longer personally threaten us. That being said, I can't help but feel that street parties and public displays of celebration are not appropriate. We claim to be a Christian nation, and so, is it right to teach our children that the killing of another human being is a cause for celebration?

Am I saying that we should have let him go free? No. Am I saying that there was another way out of the situation our special forces were sent into? Not at all. It is a somber truth that men kill one another, regardless of the reasons or provocation. Death is death. Nothing to celebrate.