Step1: go to this link.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AVREYLm_DqA

Step 2: Let it buffer and then stop it at the 2:21 minute mark.

Step 3: You won't understand the Italian, but you will remember the cartoon.

Step 4: Come back to my blog, scroll down and feel it.
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Around here, if you’re not a Steeler’s fan, you’re not having fun.  Matt has been a Steeler’s fan for years (it all started with a teenager trying to irritate his father), and it has really rubbed off on the kids.  This year, it has even gotten to me.  It’s fun to have your team go to the Superbowl!  The kids have been so psyched, and really getting into it.  Game day is gonna rock!


 

Cabin fever is at an all-time high around here.  Maybe we have no excuse, since we just went on vacation, but it takes more than one week in SC to make you not notice that the windchill is -1 outside.  It doesn't help that I was sick for a day and a half -- and I do mean sick.  In bed.  Kids running the house.

Mom being sick around here is harder on them than it is on me.  (Well, maybe.)  People get crabby, people fight, people get depressed, husbands start to wonder if he's going to lose you ... (36 hours!!!)  It's a good exercise, I guess.  Lying in bed motionless, aching in every cell makes you appreciate you ability to do housework (which is always a mood-lifter for me, strangely).  It makes your kids appreciate your presence -- even if you're crabby, it's better than "not there."  And your husband tells you over and over again how great it is to have you back, and not just for the work aspect.  He's very sad without me ... is it wrong that I think that's just great? :-)


Today I am back to my old self, except now there's a serious cramp in my neck from lying abed for too long.  I know you don't care about that, but it's keeping me from thinking of anything else to write!  My neck hurts, my neck hurts, my neck hurts ... isn't that what you're supposed to do when you have writer's block?  OK, ok ... I'll end your misery.  I have stuff to do anyway.  Just wanted to stop in so you don't stop stopping in.

 

Oh, and in case you're wondering ... yes, the end of Julia's poem was about death but she wasn't in a suicidal mood.  :-)  She handed it to me quite cheerfully and proud.  It's just that she's really got a poet's soul.  She was lying in bed with her face buried in a pillow, and noticed that her breath got very hot ... which led to the cool breaths, which led to a diversion into the different roles of breath, including the breaths of a dying person.  She's deep, but she's not macabre.   Thanks for the compliments.

 

Cool, crisp, life sustaining,

Frigid, sharp, oxygen containing,

Hot, stifling, strained,

Burning, smothering, pained,

Slowing, thinning, almost done,

Inhale, exhale ... none.

 

by  (wait for it ...)

 

 

 

 

 

 


 


 

Julia Ziebro (age 12)
My child is amazing.



 

Instead of New Years Resolutions, I am posting the following that I found somewhere.  It's so appropriate to my life, and a nice set of goals.

 

A GREAT RECIPE FOR A HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!
   
    1. Take a 10-30 minute walk every day.  And while you walk, smile.  It is the ultimate anti-
depressant.
   
    2. Sit in silence for at least 10 minutes each day.  Talk to God about what is going on in your life.  
Buy a lock if you have to.
   
    3. When you wake up in the morning complete the following statement, 'My purpose is  
to__________ today.  I am thankful for______________'
   
    4. Eat more foods that grow on trees and plants and eat less food that is manufactured in plants.
   
    5. Drink green tea and plenty of water.  Eat blueberries, wild Alaskan salmon, broccoli, almonds &  w
alnuts.
   
    6. Try to make at least three people smile each day.
   
    7. Don't waste your precious energy on gossip, energy vampires, issues of the past, negative 
thoughts or things you cannot control.  Instead invest your energy in the positive present moment.
   
    8. Eat breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince and dinner like a college kid with a maxed out 
charge card.
   
    9.. Life isn't fair, but it's still good.
   
    10. Life is too short to waste time hating anyone.
   
    11. Don't take yourself so seriously.  No one else does.
   
    12.  You are not so important that you have to win every argument.  Agree to disagree.
   
    13. Make peace with your past so it won't spoil the present.
   
    14. Don't judge or compare your life to others.  You have no idea what their journey is all about.
   
    15. No one is in charge of your happiness except you.
   
    16. Frame every so-called disaster with these words:  'In five years, will this matter?'
   
    17. Forgive everyone for everything.
   
    18. What other people think of you is none of your business.
   
    19. GOD heals everything  - but you have to ask Him.
   
    20. However good or bad a situation is, it will change.
   
    21. Your job won't take care of you when you are sick.  Your friends will.    Stay in touch!!!
   
    22. Envy is a waste of time.  You already have all you need.
   
    23. Each night before you go to bed complete the following statements: I am thankful 
for__________.  Today I accomplished_________.
   
    24. Remember that you are too blessed to be stressed.
   
    25. When you are feeling down, start listing your many blessings.  You'll be smiling before you know 
it.