Love Story

(source)

So true.



Watch it here.

Makes me cry every time.

Happy Friday everyone.

Running and Digging Holes

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In the book, Holes, Stanley has to dig a five-foot deep, five-foot wide hole every day. His fellow diggers tell him, "The first hole is the worst." Yet, the second day his body is screaming in pain from the first day and his hands are all bloody and can barely hold the shovel. Another kid tells him, "The second hole is the worst." The third day, yup, "The third hole is the worst." And so on. Until finally someone says, "The next hole is always the worst."

Always the next hole. The one you have to anticipate is the worst, not the one you've already dug.

That's how I feel about running lately. I used to run. A lot. I was on the track and cross country team, I ran half marathons and even did a full 26.2 once.

Nowadays? Having to get up at 3:30 in the morning for work has pretty much ceased any consistency with my workouts. (I've always done better in the morning.) I've been trying to run when I get home, and let me tell you, getting out the door is pure torture. And so is the 20 or so minutes I'm forcing myself to run.

I know I did this to myself, not keeping it up. I hope one day my body remembers that it liked running at one point in my life. I hope that one day it will not make me want to cry every time I look at my watch during a run and realize I'm not even halfway done. I hope that I will someday actually feel more in shape than out of shape.

Until then, I just have to face the fact that the next run is always the worst.

Until it's finally not.

Breakfast Club

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My only day to sleep in is Saturday. I know, I know, some people never get a chance to sleep in. However, when my alarm normally goes off at 3:30 AM, I really enjoy being able to catch a few more winks on the weekends.

Unfortunately, at any given time one of the teenagers in my house sees it as their main duty to drive me completely insane. Which is why this conversation last night didn't really surprise me as much as just irritate me.

10:00 PM

"So, Heather, you don't have to wake me up tomorrow, 'cause I already set my alarm."

"For what? It's Saturday."

"For Saturday school."

"You have that again?"

"Yeah, remember I told you last week?"

"NO."

"Well, I do. So can you drive me and Johnny?"

"I drove last time. Can't Johnny's mom drive this time?"

"I don't know, and anyway I don't have Johnny's phone number. He got his phone taken away again."

[swearing under breath] "Fine. But I'm not driving you next time. You need to check with Johnny's mom to get a ride. Otherwise, you're walking."

"Okay."

At 7:00 this morning I slept-walked to the car with three teenagers in tow (apparently the other bleary-eyed kid who slept over at Johnny's had Saturday school, too). When we arrived at the school, it was a little sad to see just how many other kids were stumbling out of their parents' cars onto campus.

Definitely more than just a brain, an athlete, a basket case, a princess and a criminal.

(source)

I suppose I should look on the bright side. This way, I finally have time to go on the computer without having to push another teenager off Warcraft; never an easy task.

Plus, with one teen's birthday today, and a football game of said teen's to attend, the day's pretty full as it is. I guess I count myself lucky that I get a head start. (Kind of.)

Have a lovely weekend, everyone.

I think I'm going to go watch a John Hughes' movie.

General Consensus

Apparently, the collective took a vote without me knowing it.

It appears that the following was agreed upon...

When eating giant pieces of this:




It's best to eat it like this:




When I sat down to dinner last night, I was the only one who wasn't shirtless.

I'm glad the agreed-upon dress code wasn't mandatory.

Life Lessons

image source

I found this over at Southern Inspiration, and thought it would be great to share. This was written in an article by Regina Brett in The Plain Dealer, a newspaper in Cleveland. I love this list.


To celebrate growing older, I once wrote the 45 lessons life taught me. It is the most-requested column I've ever written. My odometer rolled over to 90 in August, so here is the column once more:


1. Life isn't fair, but it's still good.
2. When in doubt, just take the next small step.
3. Life is too short to waste time hating anyone.
4. Your job won't take care of you when you are sick. Your friends and parents will. Stay in touch.
5. Pay off your credit cards every month.
6. You don't have to win every argument. Agree to disagree.
7. Cry with someone. It's more healing than crying alone.
8. It's OK to get angry with God. He can take it.
9. Save for retirement starting with your first paycheck.
10. When it comes to chocolate, resistance is futile.
11. Make peace with your past so it won't screw up the present.
12. It's OK to let your children see you cry.
13. Don't compare your life to others. You have no idea what their journey is all about.
14. If a relationship has to be a secret, you shouldn't be in it.
15. Everything can change in the blink of an eye. But don't worry; God never blinks.
16. Take a deep breath. It calms the mind.
17. Get rid of anything that isn't useful, beautiful or joyful.
18. Whatever doesn't kill you really does make you stronger.
19. It's never too late to have a happy childhood. But the second one is up to you and no one else.
20. When it comes to going after what you love in life, don't take no for an answer.
21. Burn the candles, use the nice sheets, wear the fancy lingerie. Don't save it for a special occasion. Today is special.
22. Over prepare, then go with the flow.
23. Be eccentric now. Don't wait for old age to wear purple.
24. The most important sex organ is the brain. 25. No one is in charge of your happiness but you.
26. Frame every so-called disaster with these words 'In five years, will this matter?'
27. Always choose life.
28. Forgive everyone everything.
29. What other people think of you is none of your business.
30. Time heals almost everything. Give time, time.
31. However good or bad a situation is, it will change.
32. Don't take yourself so seriously. No one else does.
33. Believe in miracles.
34. God loves you because of who God is, not because of anything you did or didn't do.
35. Don't audit life. Show up and make the most of it now.
36. Growing old beats the alternative -- dying young.
37. Your children get only one childhood.
38. All that truly matters in the end is that you loved.
39. Get outside every day. Miracles are waiting everywhere.
40. If we all threw our problems in a pile and saw everyone else's,we'd grab ours back.
41. Envy is a waste of time. You already have all you need.
42. The best is yet to come.
43. No matter how you feel, get up, dress up and show up.
44. Yield.
45. Life isn't tied with a bow, but it's still a gift."

What the Hell am I Doing Here (in Blogland)?

(alternatively titled, My Schizophrenia is Keeping Me From Finding My Niche, alternatively titled, I'm Too Tired to Play Nice Anymore)



Today I'm still feeling tired.

And depressed.

And persnickety.

And mean. Really mean.

Not a great combination of emotions when you're writing a post, but I figure I might as well lay it all out there. This blog is supposed to be therapeutic after all. At least that's what I thought about it at first. Sort of like an online diary, expelling my thoughts to, if nothing else, get them out of my head and put something more productive in their place. (Ha! Hasn't happened yet.)

Instead I found myself caught up in one of the typical delusions of the blogosphere where I imagined other people were actually reading my crap. I read other people's blogs that had tons of comments and looked to see what they were doing to promote traffic. I participated in carnivals and commented on other blogs, and that did bring some traffic.

But you know what? I found I just don't have the energy to keep it up. Or the desire, really.

In order to keep people tuning in, (since my content alone won't keep 'em coming back) I'd have to have giveaways. I'd have to tell everyone to leave a comment and I'd pick one of them to win some sort of bauble I've made or bought (I guess the lucky ones get stuff donated to them. Hey, anyone out there want to donate a T-shirt emblazoned with Depression Sucks! for the cause?). And that just smells too much like having to join a sorority and essentially "buy" my friends. (Hey, I told you I was feeling mean. You were warned earlier.)

Either that, or I'd have to take such a violent stance on something that I would be willing to rail night and day about my cause and actually dare people to disagree with me just so I could tear their comments to shreds. I just don't have that in me, mostly because I just don't care that much what other people think. That, and I'm also a wishy-washy scaredy-cat.

It's not that I really have anything against people who use their blogs to showcase their products and/or ideas; I mean, blogging is just the newest platform for advertising. More power to 'ya for using it as such. I just get irked when people blog about all the "friends" they've made through their blog, when really they are just people hoping to win free stuff or people who are just looking for a fight.

Or maybe they really are making friends. What do I know? I never had the money (or desire) to join a sorority.

I don't really have a point to my meanness today, but I guess I'm just re-emphasizing to myself that I don't have a direction to my blog, which is bad if I wanted to get more readers.

See, the experts say you should have some sort of theme to your blog, so readers know what to expect. Whether it be decorating, saving the earth, religion, money-saving tips, knitting, politics, or alien abduction, it should be consistent so people who are interested in the same things can go to your blog to learn something new about their favorite topic.

I'm afraid I'm too scatterbrained/schizophrenic/bored easily to stick to one thing.

For example, I tried "going green" with my posts at first, and while I found out a lot of cool stuff when researching for my posts, I also found that most "greenies" are sanctimonious hypocrites, at least the most prominent ones are. (No offense to those who are simply trying to help the earth in their little corner of the world.) I didn't want to be lumped into that group; plus, I've found better ways of going green from homemakers who are just trying to stretch a dime (instead of buying the newest, greenest product that costs 10 times what normal people can afford.)

Geez, I lost my point back there. Although I have a sneaking suspicion that I never had one.

One thing though, I sure do feel better. Getting it off my chest helps.

It's a good thing I don't have any loyal readers, since they would all be offended by now. But just in case I haven't gotten rid of my last lurker, I'll just list a couple of other groups/things that have irritated me lately. That will relieve more stress while at the same time ensuring I've alienated everyone under the sun. Just so no one feels left out.

* I HATE drivers in Southern California. Apparently, everyone's parents down here married their own sibling and then gave their subsequent offspring a set of car keys. I have never seen more ridiculous behavior exhibited than on So Cal freeways by people who supposedly have enough knowledge to pass the driving test. They are all cell-phone abusing, burger-munching Chatty Cathys who pay more attention to putting on their make-up in the mirror than the road in front of them. I actually saw a guy playing the flute while he was driving the other day.

* I hate people who can't be bothered to put on actual clothes and brush their hair before they leave the house. And I'm not talking about the mother-of-four with sick kids who is running to the drugstore for anti-nausea medicine after an all-night barf fest. I'm talking about those twenty-somethings who show up to work/class/dinner looking like they just rolled out of bed and can't be bothered to dress up unless it's for a date. It's like they feel like everything/everyone else is just not important enough to put in effort for.

* I think people who say they are starving! and act as if they really are while they are walking into a restaurant have no idea the real meaning of the word and should be shot on site.

* I think people who are passive-aggressive and use guilt as part of their artillery should also be shot on site.

* I think anyone who says their mother is their best friend must not have had really good friends growing up. (Yes, this one is mainly out of jealousy.) Although I think people who try to be their kids' best friends should try instead to be a parent.

* I hate tattlers, kiss-ups, do-gooders, shmoozers, holier-than-thous, know-it-alls, ignoramuses, and close-minded hypocrites.

* I also hate haters, which must mean I loathe myself. Of course.

Hey, maybe that's my theme!

Happy tax day everyone! Oh, yeah. I also hate the IRS.