I tend towards optimism. Having been called Pollyanna a time or two, maybe a little too much. My mom has said I get it from my dad. She thinks we both encounter a huge pile of horse poo and start digging because there has got to be a pony in there, right? Maybe I've been gifted with a little more faith. Where I know Who's in control and that I can trust Him. I can't say I always trust or always feel this. Sometimes I get down in the dumps and cranky and feel sorry for myself, overwhelmed or depressed. But I'm always looking for a glimpse of blue in that gray, murky sky. I can't stay down long. Which is something I'm grateful for. I don't have a long list of grievances that I can stew over or chew like a cud. I generally take things as they come, planning ahead to keep the crazy controlled if I can. And accepting it if I can't. I also don't take myself too seriously. Which makes me terrible at grammar and the annoying details of writing a book. Oh, the trade-offs in life. A comma placement isn't going to make me crazy but I sure know some who'd fall on their sword over grammar. When I run into other optimists I can't help but just bask in their attitude. This guy, Adrian Solano is from Venezuela and his first experience with snow, ever, was basically as this was filmed. He trained by roller skiing at home in Venezuela and had never seen snow. He had planned to practice a month or so before the trials on actual snow but the border authorities didn't believe his story so he returned home. He finished dead last. But said the best part was falling because then he could get up again. Read his story here. (And if you feel really optimistic after reading this...sign up to win the $20.00 Amazon gift card I'm giving away. The rafflecopter link is here. http://fernandzula.blogspot.com/2017/02/money-money-moneymoooonnnnneeeyyyyyy.html )
I'm excited to announce that after seven or so grueling hours I have put together an adorable play kitchen. We've had a borrowed one that gets loads of action. But it had a new house to go to and since our wall was now blank, and Amazon gave me $8.63 off of a purchase, and the new kitchen was adorable retro turquoise, and an 18-month-old chef hangs here and loves it, and scads of visiting cousins might just want to play with it, I pressed submit order. It came in a flat box. Very flat. I've lived long enough to know that flat boxes mean lots of assembly. Whew. There were 38 pieces...maybe 39. And then all the supporting screws and bolts and nuts and accessories. I ripped the box open and began tediously putting this together. Note: If you want a play kitchen and you know it will arrive in a flat box, do not, I repeat, do NOT start this project two hours before gifting hour. You will hate yourself. This is not a Christmas Eve project. (Unless you start at 6:00 a.m. that is.) I did have to enlist Rob's help. For a few things. A) when I exuberantly overtightened a screw on an accessory and heard a crack and suddenly the screw turned real fast I realized I broke the plastic screw housing. Rob came to the rescue with his super glue. Thank goodness the break was behind the cute medallion. B) The HINGES!!!!! I could not get those suckers right! Holy sweet everything that is good and wonderful!!!!! The HINGES!!!!! AUGH!!! So he invested an hour of his life in this activity as well. Ironically, I had been thinking I loved the fact that Kidcraft's directions were helpful. Rob did not think so. Apparently, our minds process instructions differently. We both loved that the screws etc were mostly in a bubble packaged box cardboard backing and the letter of the item was on the front and the back. No bags of screws! Once everything was open it turned into a little more complicated mess but it was less overwhelming than 15 bags of screws/nuts/bolts. Rob was so impressed with the quality and workmanship. Every piece of word and screw hole etc was perfectly lined up. The finish is great and it's rock solid. Definitely worth the price. For the record I got it for $112 before the discount. I included a link to it but it looks like the Amazon ones are sold out and it's third party only so definitely look around if you are thinking about getting it. It is so cute! And it's done! Yay!!!
In my never ending marketing of...wait for it....drum rollapalooza, my one and only book, Out of the Frying Pan, I'm giving away an Amazon gift card. You might wonder what the strings are. Well, they aren't too terribly, mind-numbing. Simply a) Join my Author Page. b) Follow Zu-Fer's Facebook page, C) do some dang tweeting. There you go. Author page: http://www.bookfun.org/group/kelly-klepfer-author-groupHint. You get an extra play for this. Just sayin. And if you tweet every. single. day. you can get 3 entries every. single. day. I mean, it's easy. Not like you have to bake a cake and decorate it.
Somehow I missed National Love Your Pet Day. But I'm still in the week, so that counts. Just don't tell the girls.
Extra treats for everyone!!!!!!
Anyhoo I was asked to post this graphic about dog pairings. Ha. No it's not like pairing wine with meals. A little more complicated than that. However, not all breeds are cuddle buddies. My beagles get along with each other (mostly) and their boxer/lab nieces. But they come running when one of the big dogs gets too playful. They've also hung a bit with a German Shepherd, some dachshunds, and a few Heinz 57s and seem to do okay. In my experience the personality and heirarchy seems to be the key with my pups. If you are a dog person, here's information you just might need! PuppySpot is a service committed to helping responsible breeders place their puppies with caring individuals and families. They take pride in their No Puppy Mill Promise and have a zero tolerance for puppy mills or substandard breeding practices of any kind. If you are looking for a new puppy, check out their adorable puppies for sale!
My loyal companions and I had breakfast bright and early. Well, I ate while they stared at me willing me to drop said food. I think they are adorable when naked. And the chair sitting thing explains the tweed wardrobe I own. Of course, I also give them the last bite. Who's trained who? Or whom's trained whom. Ha Ha. I like that. Little freakin whoomers! Also I have convinced myself that they LOVE the heck out of me but the truth is they love my sharing spirit and the fact that I think they are adorable when naked, or in their harnesses or being naughty. So the last two days I've spent learning I know nothing about my job. Things I learned twenty years ago are supposed to be somewhere in my brain. I was tested over this, I am supposed to know some of it, right? Fortunately, they are expecting nothing out of me. I believe I will have to ask to be given a task to do. I asked if I could get an order off the order hook yesterday and was given permission. So there's that. They have students from the radiology school nearly every day and they are tweaking them and their performance constantly. So in that I'll fit right in. Maybe. I'm scared to death to touch the equipment. Also there is a big red button that shuts everything down. It is in a perfect location for a Kelhap. Which is a mishap where I am intimately involved. I am very afraid. I also forget how much I hate being out of my little village. I introduced myself to a couple of people and got somewhat pleasant greetings. One just said. "Hi...." monotone. Nothing. Nothing. Nothing. Then there are people dropping in constantly. Do I introduce myself to everyone? That's awkward, but so is standing or sitting on the outskirts of a conversation. Sheesh. Then, am I going to even be there very often? Should I just slip in and do my business and leave. Or is this actually going to be my new job and I'm going to be there every. single. day? I feel like when I am done with the huge amounts of medical records I'm dealing with the handwriting on the wall implies that I might very well have a new space to work from. The weird thing about the massive amounts of change makes me feel okay about that. What!?!?! So weird. Grateful for my job. And my crazy beagles. And goodness gracious every speck of the rest of my crazy life and the people who inhabit it!
Apparently, my life theme this year is change. Oh, wait, maybe that was last year's theme and it's oozing over into 2017. Regardless That's my word. Change. Did you know it's trendy to have a word define you this year? And who doesn't want to be like all the cool kids? Finally, as we finish the 2nd month of the year I've found my theme word. I mean I like change. I really do. Boredom gets to me. I like to shift and learn and rearrange things to keep them interesting. To a certain degree. One environment at a time. Today I go to my job and then get to walk over to another clinic and get trained on equipment I've never laid eyes on. Our independent small clinic was purchased by a LARGE entity that has many locations. My x-ray equipment of 15 years is being phased out because it's becoming a dinosaur. And I will be an extra and floating tech in the other clinics in my realm that have x-ray equipment. YIKES! These clinics take lots of different x-rays. I've literally been shooting the same body part since I left my training days twenty years ago. I wouldn't know how to position an ankle at this point even if it came with Ikea style instructions. (That's supposed to be funny, so laugh, please. I am and I hate to laugh alone.) Can we all scream LEARNING CURVE? Church. Yep. Change there, too. BIG CHANGE. We have rearranged our Sunday morning activities to make room for a church three times our size to use our facility. And we overlap a bit. Or a lot. And their aesthetic is different. Not their doctrine, though. And it's so great our facility is getting abundant use, but there's a wee bit of adjustment. Tweaks of space and attitudes. Challenges. Home. Ha. An adult daughter and an almost 18-month-old refilled our empty nest. Change. So great. So fun. So doubling our house size and opinions and needs. These are mostly amazingly rich changes. They really are. I'm getting better benefits, literally and figuratively. I'm benefiting from having my world stretched. I don't want or need my world to revolve around the things I have shaped into my safe havens or built a box around. I do want my faith stretched, my mind stretched and my self stretched. I want to live my life with hands wide open and heart engaged. Change will stretch me and grow me. What I have learned while navigating so far into this sea or uncertainty:
One step at a time.One day at a time. One minute at a time. There will be interruptions. There will be stress and pressure and sometimes overwhelming urges to scream and pull hair. (Mine and others....not even kidding. But I am laughing.) But if I can breathe through this minute. Communicate that I literally need a minute to breathe and process, I'm going to be okay. It's all going to be okay. I will be glad of all of these changes. They are challenges that will make me a more fulfilled and better human being if I chose to let them do just that!
I can control my attitude if I can control nothing else.Panicked people react. I can choose to think it through and process those tiny details before I blurt things out or make huge statements that are impossible to unsay. Much of what is happening is transitional dust and debris. There appears to be more change than there actually is. Much of what is going on can be labeled "This too shall pass" and it will.
So there we go. What are you learning? What's your chosen or assigned word of the year?
