“If I could live my life over again, I would have gone to bed to rest when I felt sick instead of pretending the earth would stop if I wasn’t at work for a day… I would have burned the pink candle carved like a rose instead of letting it melt in the pantry… I would have talked less and listened more… I would have invited friends to the table even if there is a stain on the carpet and the couch needs to be cleaned. I would have eaten popcorn in the “good” room and wouldn’t have worried so much about dust when someone wanted to light a fire in the fireplace.— with Esme Kopelowitz. I would have taken the time to listen to my grandfather telling stories from his youth. I would never have insisted on driving with the car windows down on a beautiful summer day, just because my hair was freshly styled and fixed. I would have been lying on the meadow with my head on the grass. I would have cried and laughed less watching TV and more watching life. But, most of all, to have a second chance at life, I would cherish every moment, I would really look at it… I would live it… I wouldn’t get so worked up over petty and petty things anymore… Don’t worry about those who don’t like you, or rather, you shouldn’t care who does what… Instead, let’s cherish the friends we have and the people who love us… And to what we do every day to improve our mind, body, soul, emotions.” Written by Erma Bombeck 1979.
Thank you for taking time out to read my blog. I thought this was worth the read. As always, we stand together! Karen
One thing I seem to be dealing with is stiffness. Yes, I’m stiff almost all the time. If I sit for more than five minutes, drive for more than five minutes, I’m stiff! When I get up in the morning, I’m really stiff! I officially feel like the Tin Man!
I would bet you’re the same way. As we get older we seem to be chronically stiff! It isn’t so funny when it’s happening to you. Is it arthritis, or is it something else? I’m not sure. If you know, I’d like to know. Would it really make a difference to know?
There are all kinds of information on You Tube helping us stay upright, and healthy. Here are just a few.
It isn’t just stiffness, it’s a whole bunch of things we have to deal with. Balance is a huge issue, and we all deal with balance sooner or later.
Eating well is another way to stay healthy. I believe sometimes healthy foods are way too expensive, and cooking is another subject all together.
Are any of you tired of cooking like I am? After putting together meals for a family for more than sixty years, I’m most definitely over it. Standing at the stove for longer than five or ten minutes is a killer for me. How about you?
Do you love cooking? I use to, but not any longer. Are we even suppose to cook when we get older? Shouldn’t someone else be doing the cooking? Maybe the imaginary chef! Wouldn’t that be nice?
I hope you were able to get something out of today’s blog, we could go on talking about our aches, and pains for hours, but I don’t want to focus on the negative. We must push the negative aside, and find the positive pieces of aging. It is freeing, and I really do not care about what anyone thinks. Your comments, and thoughts are always welcome.
One last thing; I’m learning that people that live longer, and feel better are existing with a positive attitude, and do activities they love. That is the key to being happy in the “Golden Years!”
Thank you for stopping to read my blog. I’ll be back soon. Remember we need to stick together for support both mentally and physically. Together we stand! Karen
After sitting and thinking about this post, and what to write, it came to me. In my life I have made many transformations. Regardless of whether you consider them for the bad or for the good, I have learned something from all of them. Actually I’m grateful for the negative experiences, they have made me who I am today. At the time I wasn’t so happy, but reflecting back, some things make me chuckle, and some have made me grow!
As I’ve grown through my life, my ideas and attitudes have changed. There was a time of innocence, a time of testing my wings, a time of my wings being grounded! Then my wings flew once again, and I went through some real growth, I mean real growth! A time of calmer waters, and reflection. Some growth comes from hard times, some comes from quiet reflection. For me this time was one of quiet reflection. Learning why I made the decisions I made, and how I would manage to reverse some of those decisions, most importantly how not to make the same decisions again. Each time, I grew, and reflected, and grew. I grew one more time with the best decision I’d made in many years. This time resulted in being happily married for twenty nine years now. It’s never to late!
Those were decisions. The things I’m going to talk about now are also decisions, however they are internal decisions. The process of Giving myself an attitude adjustment!
Words from Dr. Wayne Dyer
For one reason or another, I won’t mention how I think I downloaded these ideas, but I always thought you had to step on others to get ahead. This went on for many years along with a very negative attitude. At some point maybe forty five years ago, I didn’t like who I’d become and after giving it many hours of thought, decided to change my way of thinking.
I somehow found a little paperback book by Eric Pace. Funny, I remember his name, but not the title of his book. In essence it said to change your thinking, and you’d change your life. It was an easy read, and it rang a bell with me. I don’t remember how many times I read it, but I couldn’t get enough. Just about the same time I was introduced to Wayne Dyer. He said pretty much the same thing, however Dr. Dyer had reading material along with CD’s, lectures, and anything else that would inspire you. I became totally infatuated with Wayne Dyer. I couldn’t get enough on him. Anyone I ran into that was having a problem, I’d tell them about Wayne Dyer. If you don’t know about Wayne Dyer, do yourself a favor and Google him, or look him up on YouTube.
There was so much useful information on those CD’s that before long each time I had a negative thought I’d replace it with a positive thought and I felt better about myself. I was honoring myself, my higher self, and my creator just by those positive thoughts. After that my glass has always been half-full!
You see, negative thoughts pull you down, negative people pull you down, and in the process it’s sometimes necessary to shed the negative people in order to fly like you are suppose to. The shedding process happens all by its self. When those negative energies try hanging around you, they don’t like the change in you, and go elsware to unload their negativity. You may find those people do the shedding for you, they just aren’t comfortable with positive energy.
Make some new, positive friends!
The world is full of negativity, and it doesn’t have room for any more of the same. The world needs positive people to have good thoughts, and deeds. We need each other, and there is a huge group of positive people to be friends with. They will find you because a positive person has a light around them, that negative people don’t have. Positive attaracts positive, and negative attracts negative!
“It’s never to late!”
Spread the light, show others who you were really meant to be, and glow in your beauty. We are all special, and all have that little spark of the devine in us. Let it shine bright, and be a beacon for others!
Recently I was in a workshop at the Artist Tree in San Marcos. The artist giving the class was Cathy Carry, and if you aren’t familiar with her work, please take time and look her up. Cathy has a distinct style that I haven’t seen in too many present day artists. I’ve always been interested in her work for a number of reasons.
Cathy is really good at what she does!
She is an excellent colorist!
A great teacher!
Easy to get to know, and willing to share!
So when the opportunity presented itself for this half day class, I jumped on it, and I wasn’t disappointed!
In my February 4 post, I talked about the class, and a little about my history with Cathy Carry.
Last week one of my paintings that wasn’t working, just found itself with a fresh coat of gesso on it, and the beginning of not just a new painting, but a new technique! It started out so well, and just like anything else one is trying to master, went downhill……. There isn’t much else to do to it at this point, except maybe gesso over it once again. However, I’m not going to do that.
Here is Why!
When I’m working on a new technique, I like to look at it, analyze it, let it sink in, and give it a chance to talk to me. That is my process, and in doing that I can see things I don’t want repeated, things I might do differently next time, or even things I really love about the painting. This painting has all of that! I have posted pictures from beginning to end, and I don’t think I’m going to go any further on it, but rather keep it so I might be reminded of what direction I want to go, and what direction I never want to go again!
The pictures are also an attempt at stomping back my ego, and get over myself! After all you can’t be perfect right out of the gate, and how can I develop a style if I don’t practice, practice, practice?
Taking pictures of my work as I’m painting is one of the ways I find things that might, or might not be working. I’ve done this for years, and it has helped me a great deal. As I’m gathering the pictures to include in this post, I’m seeing new things that I like, and things I realize now I don’t want to repeat. So thank you one and all for prompting me to keep writing, and to me for listening to you. I’m learning as I sit here and blog!
P.S….As I look at this painting, and trying to figure out what isn’t working, I’m seeing many things that I hadn’t seen before. I said it was finished, but I’m going to play with it just a little more, and then my intentions are to leave it alone, call it finished, and learn from it!
WordPress has many helpful posts that enable a blogger like myself to see their evil ways. At the beginning of December, my intention was to catch up on all the changes, and helpful tips WordPress had to teach me. I’ve seen my evil ways…and now I want to change them! Well, it probably will happen […]
Old as Dirt and Proud of it! 
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