Randomdumbdittydumdums…

It is so freeing to write when I don’t expect anyone to read it!   Why?  Because there is no one to JUDGE.  And yet all my lovely readers have always been so positive and encouraging…    Whatever.

What?

Ever?

Just something to jot down and get the fingers moving over a typepad, over the KEYS.  We do still call them keys and not buttons, yes?

♦

SO, today I met an interesting lady who had 4 or more books in her walker-basket.    Maybe I should say where I was…  I was at the nursing home that is not so much nursing as not-quite-independent living home.

I commented on my friend’s books, “Oh!  You like to read!  Any of these good?”  and she replied that she reads the first page and the last page and makes up stuff for the middle.

Aint that great?   I smiled at her with comradery joy and understanding.   “I can’t remember what I read anyway.”

♦

 

And then later…   Another friend who always has a smile for me;  a smile of recognition for someone I am not but I don’t dissuade her.   She tells me that her brother keeps her holiday decorations for her and brings them when it is time.  She doesn’t have room to store her angels, her 2 foot tree.  But he does and he took it on himself to do that for her and help her find the spaces and places to decorate her room in style, with her own memorable stuff.   I thought that so sweet.  So simple, so sweet.

This is that lady that assumes I gave her a violet flowering plant and always asks me if I’ve seen the blooms.   And thanks me for giving it to her.     I don’t know who she thinks I am; I did not give her the plant.  But I complement the blossoms and the caregiver – she must be so wonderful to keep that flower going and blooming and living!   and she is.  Wonderful.

♦

I’m getting weepy at the craziest songs.    I am also listening to a lot of sports radio talk.   HUH?  Anyway, when the commercials come on – always many many minutes of penis enlargement and sales tapes to improve business yappings, I switch to my Dixie Chick CD.     Remember that song Earl?      When Earl had to die, nah nah nah nah nah nah…  etc.     The first verse describes how Wanda files for divorce  and lets the law take it from there, but Earl ‘walks right through that restraining order and put her in intensive care’…   Then Wanda’s friend MaryAnn catches the red-eye from Atlanta and I burst into tears.

What a great friend.

 

Second Draft

[note:   based on suggestions I received, I pared down the bit abt the hunting dog, added some to the reception we get and realized I didn’t have my framing (ending) quote.]

Service to others is the payment you make for your space here on earth.
– Mohammed Ali

Dear Readers of this Newsletter,

Hi.   My name is CuriousC and I am a volunteer.   It all started when I inquired about the possibility of bringing my Oscar Pup to visit the residents.

My dog is a very active little guy of only 70 pounds and I wanted to find an activity that we both could share.   Being a Therapy Team sounded PERFECT!    We could visit schools and nursing homes and hospitals and CHEER people UP!

Little did I realize that it was going to be ME* (and Oscar) that would be the one(s) being CHEERED.

I am humbled by the reaction and appreciation I receive when Oscar and I visit  Shaw Home.   Everyone is so nice!    The residents, the staff, even the Misty the Cat seems responsive to our weekly visits.   The smiles are warm and the greetings of “Oh look!   Oscar is here today!” are said with such enthusiasm.    One resident even sings songs to Oscar.  Through the experience of bringing Oscar in each Thursday, I have formed many wonderful friendships.   It has encouraged me to expand on my volunteer time beyond just the human part of a pet therapy team and now I help keep the books in the library* sorted, I teach computer skills, do a few odd jobs like clean out the basement, and occasionally accompany lunch outings.

How Oscar feels about the experience is a whole ‘nother story.    Next time I will share  about the special friendship between Oscar and Misty the Cat.

Affectionately,

Oscar’s Mom

No act of kindness,
no matter how small,
is ever wasted.
– Aesop

*  We have the largest Large Print Collection in the area!

cool!   word count is 296!   🙂

HIdeinWhitetoSkipLine

Copyright © 2010. CuriousC at Idea Jump! All rights reserved. This post was originally posted by Curious “C” from the Idea Jump! blog.  It should not be reproduced without express written permission.

Why I Do What I Do.

OK – this is my FIRST PASS ATTEMPT (supposedly a ‘draft’?) of my possible and required committed-to article for the nursing home newsletter that if you read the prior post will make sense….

Service to others is the payment you make for your space here on earth.

Mohammed Ali

Dear Readers of this Newsletter,

Hi.   My name is _____.   I am a volunteer.

It all started awhile (a while?  I get SO confused when I need to have a space inserted between that a and the w — seriously, let me know somebody which it is?!  thanks) ago when I inquired about the possibility of bringing my Oscar Pup to visit the residents.

My dog is a hunting dog by trade but doesn’t get to hunt.   (I had no idea that when I would tell people that he was a hunting dog that people would freak out like I had a semi-automatic hidden in my belt.  I do not.    I try not to tell people he is a hunting dog anymore.  I say this instead:    “…one of the sporting breeds, like Golden Retrievers?”)    Anyway, he is an active little guy of only 70 pounds and I wanted to find an activity that we both could share.

Therapy Team sounded PERFECT!    We could visit schools and nursing homes and hospitals and CHEER people UP!

Little did I realize that it was going to be ME* (and Oscar) that would be the one(s) getting CHEERED.

I am humbled by the reaction and appreciation I receive when Oscar and I visit _________.   Everyone is so nice!    The residents, the staff, even the Misty the Cat seems responsive to our weekly visits.    I find it very rewarding and have gone on to volunteer time not just as the human part of this pet therapy team but I help re-alphabetize books in the library*, teach computer skills, do odd jobs like clean out the basement, and occasionally accompany lunch outings.

How Oscar feels about the experience is a whole ‘nother story.    Next time?

* You all know, don’t you?  that I am referred to as “Oscar’s Mom”?   Few people really know my name…   Which I’m perfectly fine with.  Really!

HIdeinWhitetoSkipLine

Copyright © 2010. CuriousC at Idea Jump! All rights reserved. This post was originally posted by Curious “C” from the Idea Jump! blog.  It should not be reproduced without express written permission.

Volunteerism Quotes

Guess what!   I’ve been invited to contribute to the newsletter of the nursing home where I volunteer.    I thought this space might be a great way for me to ‘practice’ a few ideas.       I’ll write here my samples – get an idea how it looks and how it sounds before I submit to the editor.

First, how about some inspiration:

I shall pass through this world but once. Any good therefore that I can do or any kindness that I can show to any human being, let me do it now. Let me not defer or neglect it, for I shall not pass this way again.
Mahatma Gandhi

Everyone can be great because anyone can serve. You don’t have to have a college degree to serve. You don’t even have to make your subject and your verb agree to serve… You only need a heart full of grace. A soul generated by love…
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

One is not born into the world to do everything but to do something.
Henry David Thoreau, poet, writer, philosopher

Service to others is the payment you make for your space here on earth.
Mohammed Ali

Volunteers are the only human beings on the face of the earth who reflect this nation’s compassion, unselfish caring, patience, and just plain love for one another.
Erma Bombeck

No matter how big and powerful government gets,
and the many services it provides,
it can never take the place of volunteers.
Ronald Reagan

Throughout my life, I’ve seen the difference that volunteering efforts can make in people’s lives. I know the personal value of service as a local volunteer.
Jimmy Carter

We make a living by what we do, but we make a life by what we give.
Winston Churchill

I have been the recipient of love and service, therefore I can love and serve. There is great satisfaction in service to others, in seeing people and their conditions change.
Clarence E. Hodges

How far you go in life depends on your being tender with the young, compassionate with the aged, sympathetic with the striving and tolerant of the weak and strong.
George Washington Carver

No one is useless in this world who lightens the burden of it for someone else.
Benjamin Franklin

No act of kindness, no matter how small, is ever wasted.
Aesop

The miracle is this – the more we share, the more we have.
Leonard Nimoy

Snowflakes melt alone – but together they can be traffic stoppers!
Anonymous

Volunteers aren’t paid, not because they are worthless, but because they are priceless.
Anonymous

“You cannot hold on to anything good. You must be continually giving – and getting. You cannot hold on to your seed. You must sow it – and reap anew. You cannot hold on to riches. You must use them and get other riches in return.” Robert Collier

“All that you send into the lives of others, will come back into your own, tenfold”…..   May Kay Ash

Partial Post

Howdy.

I have started and deleted I dont know HOW MANY posts and thought I’d best just put anything ‘out here’.   But nothing has seemed interesting or blog-worthy.  I have been visiting you all and lurking (by ‘you’ I mean all of you who might be wondering what’s happened to me and why I haven’t posted here awhile.  You know who you are, right?!)

Allow me to give you a sample of various thoughts streaming across my consciousness:

It’s raining here today.   

I am addicted to the TV show Bones.   Anyone see it last night?!

I read 300 pages for last weekend’s 24 Hour Read-A-Thon.    It may not seem like much but it probably represents about 6 hours of reading time.     So, what was I doing the other 18 hours of the ‘Thon!?     I slept about an hour and half (it was a NAP!)  and I went to yoga class for 2 hours.   Of course, there are some activities that are difficult to do while reading and I did some of those.   and the rest of it, I was blogging!   Reading posts of other readers, participating in mini-challenges to keep us all excited about the Read-A-Thon, and commenting.   COMMMENTING COMMENTING COMMENTING and all the clicks and links and reading posts to comment on.    That’s what took most of my remaining 14 hours:   cheering on the approximately 150 other participants!      It was fun.   🙂

I’m reading The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett;  I’m about half way through the 972 pages.    After I finish, I will continue to read Oliver Sacks’ The Man Who Thought His Wife Was a Hat.     And then I hope to start In the Woods by Tara French.  

If you want to know what I’m up to blogging-wise and don’t know about my book blog, you may want to visit me there by clicking here.     

I’ve made a few pies lately:    Chocolate Pecan, Orange Meringue, Chocolate Cream, etc.    I’ll be baking a Bourbon Apple tomorrow.

Oscar is the most apathetic therapy dog in the universe.    But he’s loved and beloved so I keep dragging him along on my volunteer visits.   It’s not that he is unfriendly;  more like obstinately apathetic in a cooperative kind of way.

I haven’t traveled anywhere lately but I have a trip scheduled to Phoenix in May.

I’m having lunch this Friday with my friend Teeni – looking forward to that!    Maybe we’ll take a photo.    We’ll definitely be talking about Joan! 

When I logged into this blog today, I noticed that a few days ago, one of my posts had 133 hits.   WOW!    It was one of my Duffy posts…    I’ve been averaging about 20 hits a day here, in case you want to compare stats…

It’s really strange how I have set up such different worlds between my blogs.    Almost like having two different residences – my summer home versus my vacation home?    Totally different neighborhoods, weather, architectural styles…     It’s just odd, in a way.    

A huge happy hip THANK YOU to JavaQueen for granting me some linky-love and giving me an award!   The one called Let’s Be Friends!!   yes, let’s!

By the way, does one’s avatar ‘go away’ with disuse?     I’ve been leaving comments under this ID but my pretty little kite isn’t showing up…

Well, just bookmark this post for when you need to get some sleep.  ZZZZZzzzzzzzzzz.   But, it’s SOMETHING!

Thanksgiving Alphabet of Gratefulness

A – Apples, attitude, ancestors, automobiles, autocommentarianism, the alphabet

B – Books, Blogs, Book-Blogs, BlogBuds, bees, balls, balloons, beer, baubles

C – Chocolate, caramel, coffee

D – Dogs

E – Energy, electricity, exclamation points!

F – Friends, flowers

G – Gardens, the words go and golly, goodness

H – Health, hearts, hands, happiness, my husband, the word hootenanny

I – Imagination, ideas, my Intuition shaver

J – Joy, jumping, jolliness

K – Kindness, kissing, kites

L – Light, love, left turns with no traffic

M – Money, music, marbles

N – Nice people, noodles

O – Opportunities, oranges, Oscar

P – Parties, panthers, plumbing, pie

Q – Queen Elizabeth

R – Rascals, rest and relaxation

S – Sunshine

T – Trees, travel, trust, toes

U – Understanding

V – Volunteering, velocity, the words: very, vroom

W – Wonders of the world

X – XRays? Xylaphones?

Y – the color yellow, YES!

Z – the words zippy and zowza

Librarianism

I just wanted to announce something exciting that I will be doing tomorrow, Friday, November 14, 2008:    I’m playing ‘librarian’ at the nursing home I volunteer at!   I’m quite excited.

The only requirements were that I was willing to do it and I know how to alphabetize.  (in that order)  Check!

A local city library donated their discarded large print books and so I get to pull books off the shelves and now add the new (old?) ones!      I have permission to keep any that look good to me.   I’m to throw-away all the paperbacks and tiny print books and any damaged ones.     Actually, the paperbacks will be going to a big ‘sale’ that is upcoming…

I have always secretly wanted to be a librarian.   When I was trying to decide what to major in as a college freshman, I was turned off by how much education was required for the jobs that I thought sounded ‘fun’ and how much pay resulted upon graduation.   So sad!   Not that I am/was all that motivated by money but, well, I guess I was a bit upset by the cost/benefit ratio compared to other college degrees I could get.   Why not spend only 4 years (usually 5 if you mess up ANY semesters, like I did)  in college and get a degree that was paying huge!  (ie, engineering) compared to spending countless years getting a PhD in Library Science and earn half an engineer’s salary?   (I truly wish I could go back 25 years and re-think all this;  oh well.)

Back to tomorrow:

I’m really excited for this crazy task that I’m sure all the other volunteers rolled their eyes at and found better things to do with their time…     I’m playing librarian!

Did you ever play librarian as a kid? I did…

Also, did anyone see last night’s promo for next weeks’ episode of Bones?    hee hee…

In the meantime, I have reviews in my head of Marley & Me and Interpreter of Maladies = AWESOME! and can anyone remind me why I wanted to read The Mathematics of Love by Emma Dawson?  I’m on page 4 and already confused what’s going on.  I can’t find the review/blog that inspired me to bookmooch it.

* this is dreadful:   I was going to post this, since it is of more ‘book’ nature, on my other blog but I’m paranoid about that job I interviewed for and that the other blog is being looked at by people in a position to hire me!   Am I justified that this post doesn’t make me look too impressive?  sigh, I’m a basketcase…

Random Thoughts at the Regularly Scheduled Time

Getting Away From It All…

♦  This post/title is from my drafts.   I don’t know what happened that made me not post it.   And if I stole this post title (some uneasy feeling makes me wonder) that I apologize for not properly crediting and will fix/acknowledge/change if reprimanded.  These green ♦ things/sentences are NEW and the purple were the original parts of that draft…   Just so you know.  In case you are curious.

♦  Got this from the cool QUOTE feature at Writer Chick.   (Can you tell I think she is awesome?)

You will never be happy if you continue to search for what happiness consists of. You will never live if you are looking for the meaning of life. — Albert Camus

♦  I don’t know why this is underlining….  I can’t seem to turn it off….

♦  OK, figgered it out.

♦  I have a million things to do!  in the next H O U R.   and I’m sitting here blogging.  sigh.

♦  Job Post # 6 or 7 of lots:  (see?  I’m frantic just to post something/anything)    I have applied for a few jobs in the last few weeks and keep finding more interesting things pop up here South of Boston.   I really REALLY don’t want to commute.   Anyway, only one reject letter so far.   I’m also thinking about being a substitute teacher.    I love children but only when they are cute and adorable and agreeable and clean.    Not that I hate them when they aren’t all those things, but…   

♦  I’m spending a lot of my time reading and yapping about books so if I’m not here much, you know where to find me.     if you don’t, you just need to read down a few posts…

♦  OK, I really gotta go.    toodles, my pets!

Monday Musings

I want to establish some more disciplined blogging habits.   I hope to actually visit the “My Comments” section of the dashboard BEFORE I do anything else, then respond to comments here (thank you!) and then visit the bloggers blogs that have stopped by and then visit my must-visits faves, then other blogs in my roll at random (hey – wonder what THEY are up to these days…) and then post.

But I’m not disciplined.

I usually go bounce around and leave a few comments and when I do go visit My Comments, it’s always the comments I just left 2 minutes ago.  

Then I remember my google-reader and get overwhelmed how many blogs I’ve added to this service, how many posts the count is up to, and then I go do some laundry.

 

Did anyone watch Wimbledon?!    wow.   WOW.      I do admire the male tennis player physique…

♦

While on vacation, no – while on the drive BACK from the holiday to the neighborhood, I was writing in my journal about all the fun things I am inspired to do!     I must be more disciplined to ACCOMPLISH and get the mosaics COMPLETE.  DONE.   I want to get back to scrapbooking.  First I must re-organize my craft room.    I want to sew.   I want to design or take apart a few dresses and recreate in other more fun fabrics!     I have curtains to hem and hang that have been patiently waiting for me for 14 months now.    I have a camera that I really should sit down with the book and understand what the thing is doing (at those times when I get the display chart and can’t get it to go back to ‘next photo ready’ aim.   I always turn it off and turn it back on.  sigh.) 

And, now, I have so much to do today that is just life stuff.   laundry, groceries, my volunteering – I’ve got 4 appts today.  TODAY!

♦

  The latest CAIRN.  Before the 5 year old thought it was cool to knock it down…

♦

I have company visiting later this week and I need to get ready.     Just so you know, I won’t be posting much on the ol’ blug during the next fortnight or so…

Happy July!Yours truly, Curious C

Me in Six

Yippee!  I’ve been tagged for a meme.   Not just any meme – that extremely difficult SIX WORD meme that has been going around.    Thanks Annie aka Writer Chick (click here for her wonderful blog and her meme post.)

This one is difficult.   I’ve done it once already but it was awhile ago so I’m going to give my brain a chance to construct a new one, more relevant to this mid-2008 time in my life…    Here we go – by the way, I consider myself extremely well-skilled at brainstorming.   

Loving Life But Scared to Live

Why Must I Always Add ‘But…”   ?

Life is Grand, My Miniscule World

Caring and Committed, Courageous and Consistent  (the first line to an affirmation I wrote 10 years ago!)

Yea, But…  I Always Have Excuses

Easy Choice Generation, Difficult to Choose

Can’t Make It, Sure Can Spend!

Hanging Around, Enjoying Life, Waiting, Watching.

Lots To-Do, No Motivation to Start.   (I cheated and made “to do” one word?!)

All I do:  Blog, Read, Laundry  (not really, I could keep adding a ton more words.   Hey, maybe I do more than I think.   figures…)

Great Ideas!  So Why Not Jump?

Ah, I see a negative attitude pattern.   Looks to me like I need to challenge myself to think a little more positively, to dare to reach out and DO something.    SO.   That said, this post about to be published, I’m off to start my day.   I have to do a little dog maintenance, a little self-beauty maintenancy (you know, get presentable) and then visit the Rehab Hospital.   I also have to pick up dog food, take Oscar for a few hours of playing with his friends, and buy vitamins.    I also have my English-Improvement Tutoring late this afternoon which I’m enjoying quite a bit.     I suppose I should develop a few more hand outs for my Elderly Computer Training Course which is first thing Thursday and work up a questionaire for the dude who wants to hire me.  (ugh)     I also want to investigate Firefox more and actually attempt the download.    and, of course, I have blogs to visit, my other blog to post on/at, those blog buds to vist, and pay bills.    So let’s attempt a twist to that last Six Word Meme Result:

Great Ideas and I’m Jumping NOW.

XOXO,  CuriousC

“Far away there in the sunshine are more highest aspirations.   I may not reach them, but I can look up at them, see their beauty, believe in them and try to follow where they lead.”

-Louisa May Alcott