The Law of the Garbage Truck

I needed to read this today.   Namaste`  J  Sherry

 

One day I hopped in a taxi and we took off for the airport . We were driving in the right lane when suddenly a black car jumped out of a parking space right in front of us. My taxi driver slammed on his breaks, skidded, and missed the other car by just inches! The driver of the other car whipped his head around and started yelling at us. My taxi driver just smiled and waved at the guy. And I mean, he was really friendly.

So I asked, "Why did you just do that? This guy almost ruined your car and sent us to the hospital!" This is when my taxi driver taught me what I now call, "The Law of the Garbage Truck."

He explained that many people are like garbage trucks. They run around full of garbage, full of frustration, full of anger, and full of disappointment. As their garbage piles up, they need a place to dump it and sometimes they'll dump it on you. Don't take it personally. Just smile, wave, wish them well, and move on. Don't take their garbage and spread it to other people at work, at home, or on the streets.

The bottom line is that successful people do not let garbage trucks take over their day. Life's too short to wake up in the morning with regrets, so..... "Love the people who treat you right. Pray for the ones who don't."

Another hectic weekend

Seems like I barely had time to catch my breath let alone sit down and send/return emails or update blogs.  But that is alright; once the frost/snow hits (perish the thought!) things will slow down a little and I’ll have more time.

The weekend in review:

1)      Staff Debriefing at The Buff.  Always a good time, for sure.  My good friend Becky and I were there but unfortunately we were the only ones that showed up.  No worries. As I was following her to her house to pick up some garden fresh zucchini, our good friend (and co-worker) Jerome was headed towards The Buff.    I returned to The Buff to have one more with him and catch up on what is going on in his life. It’s why we have these debriefings.  We work at the same facility but rarely get the time to chat and catch up with each other.  He’s sooo devoted to his granddaughter Taylor that his smile is beaming whenever he talks about her.   We both then headed to the main event. (see #2)

2)      Girls Gone Wine – at our good friend and co-worker Donna’s.   She moved in to a wonderfully beautiful apartment and was hosting a girls night out complete with wine and delicious treats.  Yes, I called her and asked her if it would be OK for Jerome to follow me up there! He wasn’t the only male there, luckily.  Another gals husband was there to surprise her.  I left there after an hour and headed home and make dinner for the hubster who wasn’t having a very good day at all.  Luckily I was able to cheer his spirits with a home cooked meal and my sparkling wit and humor!! J

3)      Saturday I seriously needed to clean house.  So I decided to stay home from the gym and clean and do the laundry thing.  Yuck!  Much more fun to go play, but responsibility prevailed.   Our good friends and neighbor’s daughter got married Saturday.  So, I had a date with my husband Saturday night and attended the wedding. She used to borrow my romance novels when she was younger.  I told her on Saturday that now has her own romance.   It was good to see the family celebrating, although it was bittersweet when the groomsmen stood at the front of the Church and  Matt’s spot was vacant in honor of his absence due to his accident and subsequent convalescence in the hospital.  Hubster had a great time catching up with childhood friends/neighbors and we both enjoyed a night out together. What a beautiful wedding it was. 

4)      Sunday.  What a blur!  Had my private yoga session, then stopped to see my sister as well as Joan and Karen before they headed back to Minneapolis.  Peggy is home from the hospital and had two of the best home health nurses available.  Then I spent the afternoon with Blaine.  Yes, another wonderful Sunday afternoon spent with the #2 man in my life.  He recently had new carpet and linoleum installed (thanks to the sewer backup a few weeks ago) and wanted is apartment “put back in order.”   Blaine’s trouble areas are time, task and money.  But let me tell you this; when he has something on his mind that he truly wants to happen, there is no stopping him! He organized a group of friends and me to come to his apartment yesterday to put it together.  He had a plan and was able to articulate AND implement it.   Now the only question I have is this:  WHY did I get stuck cleaning a bachelor’s bathroom??   Ewwwwwwww!  L  Next week?  Oh joy….the “kitchen needs some work Aunt Sherry.”  J J

5)      A co-worker is on vacation and has asked me to check at her house and feed her cats.  She has 4 of them.   So, on my way home from Blaine’s, I stopped to feed and water them, take in their mail, and water flowers.  The only problem was I was supposed to have 3 cats (the 4^th had been taken to the Vet because it has diabetes and needs daily shots); only 2 showed themselves to me.  I was in a panic.  Oh my gosh!  I looked EVERYWHERE!!  NO cat.  How could I lose a cat when I hadn’t even been there yet over the weekend.  Then I thought, “it’s dead!”  Oh no!!!   Just as I was going to call Lynn and deliver the news, I looked up and there it was, peeking around the corner.  HUGE relief!!

6)      Home to cook supper.  I figured I needed some serous brownie points as I had been pretty much the absentee wife this past week.  I went the whole nine yards; baked chicken, REAL mashed potatoes, gravy (Ok, from a can because my homemade gravy turns out like soup.  But hey!  It’s the thought that counts, right?!), creamed cucumbers (thanks to neighbors and friends), grilled zucchini (thank you Becky!).  Yep…I think I won a few points back…J

7)      I was able to relax finally around 9pm last night.  Just enough time to recharge the batteries and prepare for another hectic week. 

There it is folks…my crazy life as I know it! 

 

I got my blue jeans on!

Yesiree…..I got my blue jeans on and I’m ready for the weekend…..bring it on!! 

What’s on deck?

Well, I’m off work today at noon (woooo hoooo!) and I’ve got an entire afternoon mapped out.  No appointments, just running errands like crazy.  A very good friend and co-worker is having an open house at her new apartment tonight at 7pm.  It’s kind of a “girls gone wine” theme, so I need to make sure that I pick out just the right bottle of wine to take to her house.  Should be a good time and I’m looking forward to it.   I won’t be staying super late though. I told hubster I’d be home by 8 or 8:30pm.  As we’ve been like two ships passing in the night lately, I need to be home to spend time with him. Thank goodness he’s an understanding and tolerant husband.  He keeps the reins loose, but one of these days he’s gonna reel me in!  (That’s not a bad thing). 

Saturday is going to be spent at the gym tomorrow morning – early – then home to clean house (trust me, it needs it!).  Our neighbor’s daughter, Melinda, is getting married this weekend – tomorrow.  We’re invited so we’ll be doing the wedding thing tomorrow night.  That family has had a bit of drama in their lives the last few weeks.  Their 2^nd son, Matt, had a bad motorcycle accident a few weeks ago.  He’s still in the hospital but is out of ICU, has his feeding tube removed, and is on the mend. Yay!!!  It’ll be a bittersweet wedding as he was to be a groomsman.   I’m just thankful that he’s alive and making progress in his recovery.

Sunday? I have my private yoga session, will probably hit the gym at some point during the day, and definitely go see my sister and nieces before they leave to go home.  I need to spend time at home too and make a good supper for hubs.  I’m thinking roast chicken, garden vegetables sauteed with a olive oil and spices, and smashed potatoes and gravy!  Hmmmmmmm.  I’m thinking hot-fudge Sunday for dessert! 

OK.  I’m already exhausted thinking of everything to do!  ~LOL~   It’s all good!  There will be plenty of time to slow down when the snow flies – which I hope is a LONG time away!

Enjoy the weekend folks!!!

Sherry

 

A short night

 

I’m feeling a little sleep deprived right now.  Yesterday was an extremely LONG day – even by my standards.

I was up yesterday at 5:00 for work and didn’t hit my bed for sleep until 1:00 am this morning – and up again at 5:00am for work. Add to that waking up around 2:30 this morning due to the storm that blew through our area.  Four hours of sleep is not enough for me.   What was going on you ask?  Besides the normal day of work, I had yoga classes last night (rescheduled from my normal evening of Thursday – tonight- due to availability of The Bunker). I then made a quick trip to the grocery store for the “emergency list of items” my hubster said we couldn’t “live without”, you know….pop, ketchup, toilet paper, bread, and the most important…… chocolate! ~L~

Then up to the hospital to see my sister Peggy who had surgery yesterday. Nothing serious, though she will be in the hospital for a few days.  They had her on morphine post-op and apparently she got a little wild with the staff (chuckle).  My nieces are here from Minneapolis and they were relaying just a small bit of events from yesterday afternoon.  Oh my!  I think she needs to wear a medic-alert braclet so that she never gets that stuff ever again!  So the girls could eat, I stayed until 9:30pm last night –long enough to see that she got her pain meds (no morphine) and that she was resting comfortably.

Home by 10:00pm only to find a message that hubs was going to be harvesting as “late as he could go” to try and finish the oats before it stormed.   I could have gone to bed but I hadn’t eaten yet, and I know that he hadn’t either.  Sooooooo….we ate supper last night at midnight.   Yeah….I know!!! NOT good for the digestive system at all.   I made something light – as much as I could – and we sat together and ate and discussed the days events (as much as we could between bites of food and falling asleep).  ~L~ 

The bonus to yesterday was that I had two great yoga classes, I got to talk with my sisters, and I saw Joan and Karen (nieces)! 

So yeah, it was a short night!

Sherry

My 1st weekend home in weeks!

Yes, I FINALLY have a weekend home and nothing, absolutely NOTHING planned.  Yeah!!    Now, I’d like to say that I’m being productive on the home front – you know, cleaning, cooking, baking, being Suzy-homemaker and all that jazz.  Yeah….not so much! ~L~

Nope, I’m enjoying the afternoon and roaming around the house looking at all the projects that I should be tackling, then promptly sitting down at the computer to play on FB, download music, update blogs, or even search for new and interesting books to read for the winter days ahead.   Productive –schmuctive! ~L~  (That’s a new word!  You heard it here first!)

I’ve been living life with both guns blazing recently.  Do not get me wrong, I’m enjoying the hell out of it.  But every once in a while, a person needs a little downtime to rejuvenate the body and the spirit and prepare oneself for the days ahead. 

I have been cooking hubster some meals this weekend.  Trust me, that in of itself is an accomplishment.  We have a saying at my house, “when the smoke alarm goes off, supper is ready!”  ~LOL~  Ask him, he’ll verify it wholeheartedly!!  It’s not that I’m not a good cook, it’s just that when I cook I tend to do it like everything else in my life…hmmm…fast…~L~  I admire men who cook fabulous meals.  I know of two men in my life (friends) that do a lot of cooking in their households.  Not only do they do it, they seemingly ENJOY doing it too. Relaying how their rack of lamb turned out tender and juicy,  or the roasted chicken pasta primavera (from scratch, mind you!) was pure orgasmic. (I’ll never look at pasta primavera the same way again!)  You ROCK!!    Cooking isn’t my forte at all, but one must eat to survive and that pretty much says it all. 

Cleaning?  That’s an entirely different story.  Ok, maybe it’s similar in the fact that I do NOT enjoy doing that either. ~L~  I would much rather be out playing than inside doing mundane household chores like mucking out the kitty litter, folding unmentionables, and doing the dishes. But I also do not want the Department of Health to condemn my home! ~L~  I must say though, that while I AM doing some of those mundane chores, I have the music blaring (this IS me we’re talking about!) and I’m having absolutely wonderful daydreams about jetting off to Greece to explore the Mediterranean, Australia to see the Blue Mountains, or  even sitting on a ocean side beach watching the waves roll in to shore while watching the beautiful sunrise.  Then the dryer buzzer goes off and totally spoils the daydream!  Hrrrrrrmmmph!!

It’s not that I’m irresponsible or do not appreciate what I have, as some people would gather from this writing.  Trust me, I know what I have and I appreciate it every day!   It’s about me living life and wanting to experience so much  and not wanting to waste the life that I live on doing the mundane things.  (My critics would say that I need to grow up).   To each his own. I’m so past what others think of me.

My motto again?  Yes, that’s right, ”Life is too short!”  

So this weekend has  been totally about refueling my gas tanks for the upcoming weeks.  If I indulge in a few fantasies and daydreams along the way, so be it! It’s all about life people…and livin it good!

Palm Trees and Blue Sky

Ok….  Maybe not here, but in my sunshiny world, I’m thinking I’m sitting on a beach somewhere looking at nothing but blue skies and palm trees!    Oh, how I wish! ~L~

This week has been an absolutely great week!  It kind of makes up from the week from hell last week.  It’s actually quite funny how things work out.  We need to have those rough weeks to make us appreciate the good ones that come along.  

So what is going on in my world this morning?   Not a darn thing…. ~L~

I absolutely LOVE Thursdays!!  Why? you ask….   Well, it’s like this.   It’s the prelude to the weekend.   Peeps are gearing up for the R & R of the weekend.  They’re finishing up classes, work obligations, clearing their calendars of everything except all of the fun that they are going to have over the weekend. 

Myself, I FINALLY have a weekend where I don’t have anything going on.   While I’ve been looking forward to a little down time on the social calendar, I’m a little sad because that means I really should stay home and give the house a little TLC.   Notice I say “SHOULD”…~L~  Knowing me, I’ll find someone to run amuck with me and we’ll end up going to lunch, a movie, run, bike ride, etc.   What is my motto these days??  C’mon peeps, you’ve heard me say it before… Yesssssssss, that’s it!!    “Life is too short to clean house!!”  ~L~

Have a darn good Thursday!!

Sherry Bo-Berry!

 

 

Life in the Fast Lane

This summer has been a wild ride! Goodness gracious! It seems like everything is always falling on the same weekend. There are many Saturdays where I have 3 or 4 things going on at the same time. Unfortunately I cannot attend everything, but I give it the good ole try!


Every weekend of July was pretty much packed with events. I enjoyed each and every one of them too. Never let it be said that this girl didn’t have her heart in anything. Nope. I jumped in with both feet and partied like I was a rockstar wannabee!

See, my thoughts are this…. Life is too freakin short to be staying home during the summer when the weather has been superb! I mean, REALLY !!! We’ve actually HAD summertime weather around these parts and it’s been fantabulous. Beautiful sunrises, gorgeous sunsets and the days have been warm, sunny and divine. We really couldn’t ask for more….except MORE….know what I mean?

What has been going on to get me in this good mood today….a MONDAY at that?

1) Adrian 125th Celebration (see previous post for my thoughts on that wild weekend!)

2) College Reunion! THAT was spectacular. Though we were small in numbers, it was absolutely wonderful to connect with people that I haven’t seen in 20 years. I was stoked to just sit and relax, sip a few beers and listen to what has been happening with them over the years. These people were my family for 4 years. While it’s been many years between our last meeting, that family connection is still there.

3) I was able to connect with a friend who will be leaving the country for quite a few years. Though we haven’t been super close friends, I admire them and all that they’ve done with their life. They are strong, confident, know what they want and go after it with both guns blazing. I do not know when – or if – our paths will ever cross again, but it was nice to spend time together and know that we connected on a deeper level. As I told them, “you’ll always be in my thoughts.”

4) Connecting with friends, if even for an hour or two, to say “hey! I appreciate you.” We had a “staff debriefing” (OK…HAPPY HOUR!) recently. What fun to sit with fellow co-workers and let our hair down for a while. That was the first of many to come, I’m sure. Since I seem to be the coordinator of this particular event….you can BET on it!

5) Dance. Oh my gosh! I LOVE to dance but seldom get the chance to do so. A co-worker was married this weekend. Quite a few of the staff were in attendance at the dance it was great fun to sit and visit and, of course, dance. To those whose feet I stepped on- literally…I’m Sorry!

6) We have a Doctor in the family! Yes, my god-daughter Joan is now a PhD of Cancer Biology. She is such a brilliant young lady and I admire her for her work etchics and determination. She starts the last two years of her medical school now. Yes, you heard correctly. In 2012 she’ll be a MD, PhD. Can you say…PROUD?!!!

7) Time with Blaine. As if 1-6 weren’t enough to make me smile, I spent an entire afternoon with my guy Blaine. He had a rough week last week, so my goal was to spend some time with him and hopefully help him out a bit around his apartment as well as boost his spirits. As usual, he boosted mine.

Yes….the summer is going fast, but I’m living it in the fast lane, so guess I can’t complain!