Sweet Tea

It's a Sweet Tea kind of day.
I made mine with Good Earth Sweet & Spicy Herbal Tea, and threw some cherries and an orange slice in. I guess it's not really sweet tea... Sweet tea is Southern sun tea with a ton of real sugar thrown in. But this will have to do for today.

There is a gentle warm breeze, high temps...
My neighbors empty hammock.. (why oh why do they NEVER use it? I wanna go jump in with a book and some sweet tea...)  One of these days I'm gonna do it. They are so nice, they wouldn't mind... However, I would rather just have one myself & not lay around their yard...

My weekend at the Bestie was Fabulous.  We didn't do much. That is what made it so fab.  We did exactly what we intended... laughed, ate, and was lazy.

Something about completely vegging with a Bestie... It is heavenly.   It was plenty hot down in southern Tennessee.  We lounged in the pool on Saturday morning. Until it got too hot.  Then ran off to see a movie (Bad Teacher...cute predictable chick flick. Not grand, but fun). We also grabbed a bite out.  But, mostly just talked the days away, watching HGTV, sipping on wine, and eating fabulous cupcakes.  Early Sunday I was back on the road for my 8 hour drive home.  I love her dearly and wish she was a few hours closer at least.

Monday, Hubby left for a business trip. Gave me a great opportunity to clean the carpets. Then I watched a bunch of goofy Lifetime Movies.

Tuesday, I visited a couple of Hospice patients and had a funeral to attend. 

By 6pm I was starting the Yoga class, breathing for the first time all day.

After class, some of us went out to a nearby Italian Restaurant. Iozzo's Garden of Italy.  Oh Baby! Made that workout worth every struggle!  Ohhhh old Italian Restaurants are the best!  We sat outside, again, enjoying this amazing gentle summer breeze we have been blessed with lately.

Carol, Me, Jill, Joann & Jerrilee

What beautiful women.
Inside as well as out.
They have incredible souls and I feel such joy being in their presence.

The Hubby is home from his business trip early. I am trying to catch up on blog readings.  Boy, its easy to get side tracked then takes forever to catch up! 
I just wanted to let you all know that I am well and busy.  I guess that is good. Even though I have a lot I wanted to blog about & never seem to enough time.
Love to you all~

Patience Sweet Patience

 

Romans 5:4 

"And endurance produces character, and character produces hope." 

Patience has always been a challenge for me. Always!  As a little girl, and as an adult. I may appear to be a woman of peace and patience...but those who know me, know another side of me.

For as long as I can remember, I have prayed that God help me in this department.  However, the old saying, "be careful what you wish for, or pray for."  Is so true. I think God puts more challenges in front of me to build my tolerance and my character.  

Ironically, once again, patience is trying me... as I am writing this post, something is askew and it will not allow me to add photographs. Grr! Could this be from dropping my laptop last night? oh crapola!

Last night, after a trying night of yoga (Jerrilee introduced Tibet Yoga and my body wasn't quite ready.), I had to run a quick errand. Stop at the drug store and pick up a case of bottled water.  No problem.

HOWEVER~ 1st I pull in and noticed the Redbox station (for my non-American friends~ Redbox is a national DVD movie rental franchise. Simple concept..Plug in your credit card, pick your movie rental, and on your way. Quick and easy. Just $1.00 per movie per night.  AND the coolest feature is you can return it to any Redbox kiosk. Doesn't have to be the same one you got the DVD from.  We love it because of the quickness and simplicity of it.)

Anyway, back to my story~

There was a boy around 10 standing there looking through the selections. He had a service dog with him.  No car near him, no adults. I figured his parent must be inside the drugstore. 

I'm thinking, great, I will pick up a movie for Hubby and I on my way out. 

I get my case of water and get in line... There is one cashier, and six people in front of me. 

Come on! Patience Janis...

They opened a second checker as it was my turn (naturally).

I make my purchase and out to the Redbox Kiosk .  Oops little boy is still there.  I drive over to the Kiosk so he knows I am waiting for my turn.  He glares at me. I wait.  I now have my Credit card in hand, car off parked in front of him.  That is when I notice he is freaking playing with the Kiosk! He is clicking each movie, reading the synopses, and then moving to the next movie. He turns to me, I make that friendly nod, and hold my credit card up (my way of saying~ Im waiting for my turn.) "Mom" finally shows up and  boy is begging her to let him get a movie... they argue about it being PG-13. I have now waited too long and am standing outside my car, so Mom see I am still waiting on my turn.  A car pulls up with another customer so I stand behind Mom and boy in line. Mom is now freaking doing the SAME thing boy was. READING each movie, one by one. And Boy is having a rather long conversation with the new people about his service dog. Through me as I stand between them. I am so annoyed, I say, "oh never mind!", and get back in my car and leave without a movie.

Okay~ lets stop for a minute.

There are no written rules about using a Kiosk that I know of. It's kind of more of a common courtesy thing. BUT not everyone has common courtesy. So, for anyone reading this that doesn't have this, let me explain the unwritten rules when using a Kiosk...particularly a DVD rental one.

*1~ Already have an ideal of what movie you are interested in. You can go online & read about current movie releases.  At least decide what category or rating. In fact go here: REDBOX to find out what is avaible near you.

*2~Make your selection, and move on

*3~ If people are waiting, and you don't know what you want, step aside, so people can return there movie, or get their selection. especially when they have been waiting for a long time (I was there 15 minutes waiting)

*4~ No one wants to hear your argument about movie selections. 

*5~ If you don't have a credit card...you can't get a movie.

I know this is terrible rude of me. I apologize now for any feelings I hurt. I just have to vent this because IT DRIVES ME CRAZY!!! So if you are one of those people...STOP IT!  PLEASE STOP IT NOW!

Which brings me back to patience. Was this one of those things God throws out to me to give me endurance? Is this something that needed me to get back to my center of peace?

Maybe, just maybe, I need to go do some yoga and meditation♥

Ohmmmmmmmmm

Ohmmmmmmmm

Yoga (Sanskrit, Pāli: योग yóga) refers to traditional physical, mental, and spiritual disciplines, originating in ancient India, whose goal is the attainment of a state of perfect spiritual insight and tranquility...wikpedia

 This week I joined a Yoga class.  I use to LOVE Yoga. Back when I was super limber, thin and healthy.  That was twelve years ago.  My dear friend Jill forced me to go because I use to make fun of her..especially the whole "Ohm" part.
Well, dear Jill has re-entered my life.  I am tickled she has moved back to Indianapolis (in fact we live in the same neighborhood). She is getting me back on my toes.  Jill's my Buddy that I worked for/with many years ago at our children's school as lunch room ladies.  I also helped out on ocassion when she ran a catering company at a private college.  Then she moved away...Bad Jill!.  Ahh but wait... the birth of her precious Grandson made her come back to Indy. (Yay! Thanks Dalton!)  She is the Buddy that had the English Tea Party for the Royal Wedding (go HERE .
So anyway....
Jill is still into Yoga and I feel so stiff, restricted, and well old.  I have been wanting for some time to find another class but without Jill, I seem to find the crappy ones.  Jill let me tag along on Tuesday to
Healing Arts Indy. A beautiful old building downtown with, drum roll please... the BEST YOGA class ever! Now if you go to this link, it will show you some instructor I don't know... Jerrilee Lucas is my absolute fabulous instruction, whom, dare I say, I have fallen in love with her after just one session. Jerrilee's business card has several locations so I am guessing she travels a bit to teach her classes.

Yogis hold the belief that the body, mind, and spirit must be in balance in order for a person to be in harmony with themselves and their environment. This is achieved through exercise, breathing and meditation- the three main yogic structures. Yoga poses improve circulation, stimulate abdominal organs, and put pressure on the glandular system of the body, which generally results in less stress and better health.

 I think I'm a natural once again. Check this photo of me out:
Don't be jealous..

lol.. Serious is that a real person?
or how about this one:

This is more like my favorite pose: 
Ironically it is titled "corpse pose" .

I am really enjoying this class.  I still giggle when they make you do the Ohmmmm. I am trying to respect and understand the meaning of the mantra. But still feel silly therefore must giggle.

Another great thing is this amazing Deli across the street. So if it gets to be  too much I can always be this person:
(warning..this cartoon is rated R due to language). It so made me crack up. That's Jill the blonde & me in pig tails.

 

A Natalie Cartoon

Counting Sheep

Last night, I could not fall asleep. I worked late, I could hear the kids laughing as they waited to go on their trip, Annie was out for the night so I worried about her, the dog kept growling (at the kids laughter), and the husband snored.

I have had sleep issues many times. I like to try to fall asleep before Sergio, but that doesn't often happen. The worst culprit is usually thinking too much. Worry worry worry! The "what ifs, what abouts, and oh, I forgot..."Counting sheep never worked for me. But I have been known to try counting. I have tried television, radio and reading. Sometimes it works, sometimes not.

Here are a couple of winners that have worked for me:

Yoga Relaxation: You tighten your muscles (all) and slowly, starting at the head working toward the toes, relax each muscle and talking yourself into the relaxation; "my forehead is relaxed, my eyes are relaxed", and so on.

Home Tour & Design: As a Realtor, I have visited hundreds of homes. They are cataloged in my brain. I often would take a home tour (and still do)and redesign with our stuff or how we would decorate. I have done this with friends homes as well. You have to start through the front door and tour each nook & cranny. I rarely make it through a home complete.

These usually work, but if all else fails, then get up and go Blogging!