Day 2380: The goods

Yesterday, as I was looking for

• a good haircut,
• good people,
• good conversation,
• good animals,
• good gifts,
• good places to hang,
• good books,
• good reflections,
• good walks,
• good advice,
• good neighbors,
• good memories,
• good homes,
• good puns,
• good food,
• good weather,
• good material for this blog,
• and other goods,

I encountered the word “good” (and other good words) several times. Can you find the goods in the good amount of photos that I took yesterday?

 

Did you spot the goods?

Good people who have been reading this blog for a good many years might have recognized our good neighbor Karen and her good dog, Faxy, among all the other good images.

Also, I took two  good shots of this good mural …

… during a good walk through the good Neponset River Reservation because my good son and good boyfriend were trying to guess what was on the missing panel (in the upper left corner next to the good bee).  What would be your good guess?

What would be a good song to include in this post?

Gratitude is always good, so thanks to all who helped me create today’s good enough blog post and — of course! — to YOU, my good readers.

Day 2191: Try me

Let’s try on this definition of “Try me” from The Free Dictionary:

Try me

Also found in: Wikipedia.

Try me.
Ask me.; Give me a chance.

A: I don’t suppose you know what the Achaean League is. B: Try me.

I don’t suppose you know what the Achaean League is, because I don’t either.  However, ask me and give me a chance to show you why I’ve chosen “Try me” for today’s post title.

I didn’t try that moisturizer at MiAlisa Salon yesterday, but I did try to take other photos, which involved trying things.

I tried on some new socks and leggings yesterday morning, despite reading an online article, “What Middle Aged Women Should Not Wear” which included patterned socks and leggings. Try as I might, I can’t find that article today. Also, I’m past middle age, so maybe it’s not so bad if I keep trying those things. However, that combination might be particularly trying.

There’s my friend Deb, trying to pick up leaves in her back yard. Do you want more information about those yellow leaf-picker-uppers?  Try me.  If I don’t know, I can always try to ask Deb.

Here are other images I tried to capture yesterday:

I enjoy images that show people trying new things, including crafts like mosaic quilting and flameworking. If you’re trying too hard to read some of those pictures, try clicking on them to make them larger.

Do you know what season it is around here?  Try me.

As I try to finish up today’s blog post, I’m going to try to share what else is on my mind.  I do want people to try me — to ask me and give me a chance.   I try to convey that as best as I can.  Sometimes I might try too hard and perhaps people find that trying. Also, I can find it trying, sometimes, to try to ask others for what I need.

Do you have questions about all this?  Try me.

Here‘s “Try Me” by James Brown.

 

Do you want to know how much gratitude I have for all those who helped me create today’s blog post and for you?  Try me.

 

Day 2038: I give up!

In the last two thousand and thirty-eight days of blogging and living, I have never said, written, or thought, “I give up!” Today, I am saying, writing, and thinking it. Why? Because starting yesterday, every time I use my laptop to try to create a new blog post, contact WordPress support, or do many other essential tasks, all WordPress gives me is this unhelpful, unchanging screen:

That gives me nothing and no way to post or to get help.

I’ve given this a lot of time and many attempts at solving this. My mind is giving me no more ideas and options.

I give up!

But I can NOT give up blogging, no matter how many new obstacles life gives me, because this blog and my readers give me so much.

So how can I keep giving myself and my readers more daily gifts?

My phone does not give me the ability to contact WordPress for help, but it does give me the ability to create a new post.

So I can give you, today, this daily blog and give you my latest photos.

Harley is obscured there, just like solutions to my blogging problem are hidden from me now. Is it curtains for my blog? Or will some solution become clear and emerge?

Is there a recipe of steps that will give me back the ability to blog from my laptop? If not, maybe I can give myself comfort with the delicious food Michael gives me.

Maybe some computer genius, somewhere, will give me some solution to my WordPress problem. If not, I’ll just keep blogging, giving up disappointment and judgment.

This is the kind of look I give the world when I’ve had no sleep the night before. I’m going to give my haircutter, Mia, a look at this photo the next time I see her, so she can give me a similar haircut next time.

Even if nobody can give me the answer on how to blog again on my laptop, my phone will be just that good as my daily blogging machine.

I give my patients the choice of five “Coping and Healing” groups every week. This gives me tremendous satisfaction.

If you were lost in the woods — of WordPress or elsewhere — and it got dark, what would you do? I’ll give you all the time you need to think about that.

Michael keeps giving us amazing meals — that’s the one he gave us last night before we gave my son Aaron a ride to the airport.

I took this photo to give me a clue about how to find my car in the enormous and confusing parking lot at the airport, which always gives me a headache.

After I took that picture, we did not give up when we were told that Aaron needed a printed-out visa to board his flight to India, even though a website had given him the erroneous information that he could board by giving the visa information on his phone. Michael and Aaron gave me his bags to watch while they ran to the Hilton Hotel, which had printers which gave Aaron what he needed.

I give up trying to explain that any better.

Is it time for you to give up some comments below?

First, give it up for Jason Mraz performing “I Won’t Give Up.”

I now give up thanks for all people, animals, and things that help me create this daily blog, despite all the obstacles life gives me.

… “You’re golden!”

Day 2022: Raise the bar

Let’s raise the bar in this blog today and look at two definitions of “raise the bar.”

raise the bar
To raise the standards of quality that are expected of or required for something. “Since higher education became available to a greater number of people, businesses have increasingly been raising the bar for entry-level employees.”
See also: bar, raise
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms. © 2015 Farlex, Inc, all rights reserved.
raise the bar
Fig. to make a task a little more difficult. (As with raising the bar in high jumping or pole vaulting.) “Just as I was getting accustomed to my job, the manager raised the bar and I had to perform even better.”
See also: bar, raise
McGraw-Hill Dictionary of American Idioms and Phrasal Verbs. © 2002 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.

Somebody raised the bar in my neighborhood with this:

I agree that our nation could use some bar raising these days.

I shall now attempt to raise the blogging bar by sharing all my other photos from yesterday.

I think that church sign raises the bar, don’t you?

Here‘s “Raise the Bar” by The High Strung:

 

I’m sure you’ll raise the bar in the comment section, below.

Thanks to all who raise the bar as best they can, including YOU.

 

Day 1658: Ready?

Ready for some links to other posts I’ve written about being ready? Ready or not, here, here, here, here, here, here they come.

After I wrote that first “Ready” post on Day 10 of this blog, I was ready to create this t-shirt:

I left the house before I felt ready yesterday (wearing that t-shirt) because a furniture delivery at our new home by the sea was scheduled between 7:30 and 10:30 AM. I wondered if I would be ready for my 9 AM haircut appointment, miles away, and then ready for Comcast to come to the new home in the afternoon.

The furniture delivery guys showed up at 8 and I was ready for them. However, I wasn’t ready for this exchange:

Furniture delivery guys: You ordered a white table, right?

Me: No!

Furniture delivery guys: You didn’t?  That’s all we’ve got.

Me: Arrrrgh.

Furniture delivery guys: It’s a poker table, right?

Me: Are you guys yanking my chain?

Furniture delivery guys: (silence and then laughter when I punched one of them in the arm)

Me: Do you guys usually pretend you have the wrong stuff?

Furniture delivery guys: ALL THE TIME.

Even though I wasn’t ready for those guys to be such excellent actors that I was totally fooled for a few moments, I was ready for them to deliver our dining room set and so were they.

They were definitely ready for their close-up.

On my way to MiAlisa salon, I was ready to take a picture of a car in front of me with the license plate “ANGRY,” with my iPhone set to ready, aim,  fire on the dashboard of my car.

Ready to learn that the car on the left is the Angry one? That reminded me that those ready furniture delivery guys had told me that people readily get angry when they pretend they have the wrong stuff in the truck.

Ready for my other photos from yesterday?

 

Whether or not we’re ready, we’ve moving to our new home by the ocean tomorrow, July 17.

Gotta go pack so we’re ready for the movers tomorrow at 7 AM, but first, are you ready for more thanks from me?

 

Day 1063: Hair and now

A couple of days before now, I put this hairy post up on my Facebook page:

So, I am tired of believing, on any level, that my lovability is connected to how young I look and/or the way I wear my hair. Therefore, I am seriously considering cutting my hair super short and letting my hair color be completely natural. So my profile picture might be looking VERY different, very soon.

Now, the amount of support I got from this post was hair-raising.

Yesterday, I went to see my beloved hair expert, Mia at MiAlisa salon (appearing now in previous blog posts here, here, here, and here). I brought along these pictures of hair:

I noticed this sign at Mia’s hair salon …

… when my hair was this length:

I could still see all the wonderful words on that sign when my hair was this length:

And despite my son Aaron’s prediction that I might judge myself negatively after radically changing my hair, I was non-judgmental when I took these photos last night …

… and I’m still non-judgmental, hair and now.

Do you have any thoughts or feelings about hair, now?

Here and now, I’m grateful to Aaron, Mia, MiAlisa Salon,  Amuleto Mexican Table in Waltham and you (no matter what state your hair’s in now).

 

Day 930: A Super Fun Day

I had a super fun day yesterday.

What would make a day super fun, for you?

Here are two reasons why yesterday was super fun, for me:

1. I saw my favorite hair artiste ever, Mia (who is super fun to talk to) , at her Watertown, Massachusetts, USA hair salon, where she trimmed my hair and  my  three super-fun, colorful hair extensions.
2. My boyfriend Michael and I stumbled upon a super fun festival/carnival, where I saw this:

That was actually the final super fun photo I took yesterday, moments before my super fun iPhone died.

Who wants to see more super fun photos?

I’m going to take that as a “Yes,” super fun readers!

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  
  
  

As I told Michael yesterday, it doesn’t take much for me to have a super fun day. Indeed, after eating the super fun home made gnocchi (made at somebody’s super fun home, I assume), I engaged in only one super fun carnival activity (pictured above, in a super fun shot). It was, truly, super fun for me.

If any one of you super fun readers guesses that super fun activity, I’ll include a super fun photo that Michael took, in tomorrow’s post.

Is that a super fun deal?

Oh, and here’s a super fun fact about me: I’m afraid of heights.

Here’s some super fun music, which a fun band was playing at that super fun festival/carnival yesterday:

I think that 1950s video of the super fun song “Rockin’ Robin” with Bobby Day is super fun. Do you agree?

Now, I’m off to have another super fun day, including brunch with my super fun friend, Deb.

Super thanks to Mia, to Michael, to MiAlisa Salon, to the St. Mary of Carmen Society, to all those I saw having super fun yesterday, to Bobby Day,  to robins and others who are rockin’, and to you — of course! — for making my day super fun, every time you visit.

Day 881: Faces and numbers

Let’s face it, my dear readers (with dear faces), facing my life experiences through this daily blog of 881 posts has helped me face a lot, over the last 29 months.

On the face of it, I like numbers. I find that knowing numbers often helps me face things.

Here are some numbers that would help me face the near future:

1. The number of faces who will be looking at me during my conference workshop on my therapy groups, in 6 days,
2. The number of workshop packets I need to make over the next 5 days (equal to or greater than the number in #1, above),
3. Numbers regarding the therapy groups I’ve been doing, over the last 43 months, that will put impressed or otherwise positive faces on that unknown number of workshop participants (see #1, above).
4. Figuring out how to get more than 5 hours of sleep a night, so I can face each day with a well-rested face.

Here are some numbers I faced over this past weekend:

1. My #1 son (and only child), Aaron, faced 3 audiences of many faces over the last 2 days, in the 1-act  play he wrote and  directed with 1 other person (his close friend Cameron) and which he also acted in, with 9 other people.
2. My happy face saw all 3 performances.
3. After the performances, I faced more than 30 smiling faces telling Aaron how much they loved the play.
4. Let’s face it, I also loved the play, to the nth degree.
5. Aaron and Cameron’s 1-act play included way more than these 7 plot elements: (1) Aaron’s High School Economics textbook, (2) the economist who wrote that textbook, N. Gregory Mankiw (whom Aaron invited to attend,  with 1 email), (3)  Satan (played by 1 of Aaron’s closest friends Clark), (4) God, (5) at least 3 levels of economics, (6) 1 large nuclear warhead hidden under 1 brown cloth and (7) 1 giant abacus (which is an ancient counting device).
6. At least 8 people I love saw Aaron’s play,  including my 1 sister, my sister’s spouse Linda, my childhood friend Barbara, my ex-sister-in-law Deborah, Deborah’s daughter Laura, Laura’s daughter Victoria, Aaron’s father Leon, and — last but not least — my boyfriend Michael.
7. Before I saw 2 performances of 6 1-act plays yesterday,  my #1 hair stylist, Mia, gave me 1 awesome haircut and 1 purple hair extension.

Here are 27 photos from yesterday:

                          
               

                    

I have 1 more story to tell you, today, about faces and numbers.

Yesterday, while I was taking 20 of the photos shown in this post, the doorbell rang 1 time, where Aaron, Michael and I live. Aaron, who had been in the 1st performance of his play the night before, decided to answer it.

Aaron found a family of 4 — 1 mother, 1 father, and 2 children approximately 11 or 12 years old — at our door. They gave Aaron 2 pamphlets:

About 2 minutes into Aaron’s conversation with this family of 4, he realized he was still wearing most of his makeup from the 1st night’s performance of his 1-act play. Here’s 1 photo of that makeup (shown in this blog for the 2nd time):

What would be your 1st guess about what happened during Aaron’s conversation with 4 Jehovah’s Witnesses, with 1 cross on his forehead and tears of blood running from his 2 eyes?

According to my #1 son, all 5 people spent  5 minutes with each other ….

.

.

.

.

.

.
… and not 1 person said 1 word about Aaron’s face.

What number of words might you say about THAT (or anything else in this post)?

1 more thing to face here: A musical number.

That’s “God Bless the Child,” performed live by Blood, Sweat and Tears for 7 minutes and 53 seconds  (with over 300,000 views on YouTube).

Countless thanks to the large numbers of faces — especially Aaron’s — that helped me create today’s post. And a huge number of thanks to you — of course! — for spending n minutes of your precious time with me, here and now.

Day 195: Self care, wisdom, kindness

Yesterday, I had a Day of Narcissism.

That is, I got my hair cut and my nails done.

Before I left the house for all that, I wrote my daily blog post, on Personal Power, which included a worksheet I’ve used in group therapy.

I also use a Self Care Worksheet in the groups I do. Here are the questions on that worksheet, which I will answer right now:

Self Care Worksheet

Question:  What does self care mean to you?

Answer:  It means paying attention to my needs; treating myself kindly; getting good sleep, food, drink, and other sustenance; asking for help when I need it; and, sometimes, pampering myself!

Question: What are some examples of things you’ve done for self care?

Answer: Getting a massage, getting to bed early, drinking lots of water, calling a friend, getting my hair cut, getting my nails done.

 

Question: What gets in the way of you doing self care?

Answer:  Not having enough time, putting other people’s needs over my needs, feeling like I don’t deserve it, labeling it as “narcissistic,” “self-centered” or “selfish” (especially when awful things are going on in the world).

Question:  How would you like to be, regarding self care?

Answer: Doing it whenever I can, without self-judgment.

Another aspect of  self care, for me, is spending time with people who are kind, as I’ve written about many times this year (for example, here, here, and here).  It’s also self care for me to spend time with people who are wise.

Yesterday, when I went to get my hair cut,  I got to spend time with Mia, who has appeared in, one way or another, in several of my posts. Mia inspired one of my personal favorite posts,  “Reasons why somebody hasn’t e-mailed you back yet.”  She has been a wonderful supporter of my writing.  She is also very kind and very wise. She struggles with some self-judgment, at times (as do I).

And she gives me fabulous haircuts.

I’m not seeing Mia, these days, as much as I used to. That’s because I recently stopped having her color my hair — I’m taking care of that department now.

And here’s one of the many things I love about Mia. When I showed up yesterday, at her hair salon (MiAlisa, in Watertown, MA), and she saw what I’d been doing coloring my own hair, she said, “I think it looks GREAT.”

I had done some “mind reading” (a cognitive distortion, listed here) about what Mia might think and say about this, I must confess.

I had thought that (1) My hair color might actually have looked pretty awful  (because I can never really tell what I look like to other people,  for oh so many reasons) and (2) Mia, for oh so many reasons, might suggest, in some way, that I re-consider having my hair professionally colored.

Nope!

I learned (or re-learned) a lot in my trip to Mia’s salon yesterday, including:

1. I get anxious when I go to a hair salon. The anxiety has to do with (a) the fear that changing my hair might bump my looks into the realm of Not Good Enough  (I sometimes use harsher labels for this, which I’m not even going to write here) and (b) I feel weird, narcissistic, or otherwise self-judging when I do something like spending hours focusing on My Hair.
2. Women who are very beautiful and cool (like Jessica, who works at Mia’s salon) have thoughts similar to the ones I expressed in #1, above. I know that, because I’ve heard this from lots of beautiful and cool women, plus I had a great talk with Jessica while she was washing my hair.
3. I miss Mia, so much, when I don’t see her!!  Yesterday, I made sure I wrote down this affirmation she uses:

“I have enough, I do enough, and I am enough.”

Thanks, Mia, for all that, and so much more.

After I had my hair cut yesterday, I went to get a manicure and pedicure. I don’t get my nails done often — maybe three or four times a year.

I don’t know why I go so seldom, since I always feel better afterwards. Also, I have found a nail salon that I LOVE. It’s M T Nails in West Newton, MA.

This is the main reason I love going there:

The people who work there.

 

That’s Lynh.

The very first time I went to M T Nails, Lynh (and the other people there) greeted me so warmly and kindly, I felt welcomed and at ease. (I get anxious when I go to nail salons, too) (especially new ones.) Every time I’ve been since, Lynh has  been just as welcoming, warm, and kind. Also, she ALWAYS remembers my name and details of previous conversations we’ve had, even when I walk in unexpectedly or when I haven’t been there for a LONG time.

Lynh is always gentle, with people’s feet and with their feelings.

Also, Lynh suggested the nail color shown on my toes, above.

I always feel better walking out of M T Salon than I felt when walking in.

And I always feel much better, walking out after I’ve seen Mia, than I felt walking in.

(I’ve heard people, at work, use that exact language describing other kinds of self care they’ve appreciated: feeling better walking out than  they felt walking in.)

Thanks to Lynh, Tina, and everybody else at M T Nails; to Mia, Jessica, and everybody else at MiAlisa Salon; and to you, of course, for reading today.