Treasure Hunt Day Two Winner and My Wednesday

And the winner is . . .

Phyllis Lamken of Idaho!

Congratulations Phyllis!

Long, hot day today. Took Princess to dance class and mailed a few packages. Went to the massage therapist. As I was driving home I saw my friend Joan, walking. I picked her up and dropped her off at her massage appointment! That was funny.

These days I am mostly working on sorting out the new inventory I brought home from my trip--I've got some wonderful stuff and I can't wait to get it listed! Anything you're looking for? When do you start shopping for Fall clothes? There are lots of theories on this at the seller's board I am part of, but I thought I'd ask some "real" (non-seller) people :)

Princess spent the day adoring her new "pet" seahorse. She found a little plastic one she got last year and decided today it was her most favorite thing in the world. We even had to google what seahorses needed to be happy in their habitats . . . in case you wonder; sea sponges and shrimp to eat, stuff to curl their tails around, and stuff to hide behind. She spent hours today creating a habitat for it.

"Habitat" is one of her favorite words these days, and tonight at dinner we had some fresh mini mozzarella balls from Costco which concerned her because they were in a tub of liquid. Worried her until I told her that it was just what they needed to stay fresh and delicious. Then she says:

"Ah. So it's their habitat?"

"Sort of."

"That's great! I bet they are soooo happy in their little habitat! And we want them to be happy little mozzarella balls, right Mom?"

Right. I hate it when my midnight snacks are grumpy.

Oh what a beautiful morning!

Today I am really enjoying the sunshine and blue skies. Princess and I sat on the front step and had lunch together and the smell of the spring air was dizzyingly wonderful. It's a smell I have always loved; heat, earth, growth. True intoxication at it's finest. It has been a day to stop and breathe it all in.

Our health insurance has an online wellness center that has a lot of little classes you can take. Last week they sent me an email reminding me that if I wanted to win a weekend getaway, I'd better get busy and finish my Stress Management Lifestyle Improvement Course pronto. I could use a weekend at a spa, let me tell you, so I've been doing a some here and there the last few days.

I am currently on Phase 2 Step 1, and yesterday it talked about how to assess your personal stress level and take a balanced approach to the everyday stress in your life. Paraphrased (this is what I wrote down and put up on my desk so I can memorize it):

1. Appraise
Does the situation threaten me OR does it provide and opportunity that could turn into something good?

2. Letting Go
Can I let go? Is the situation out of my control OR can I do something about it?

3. Be Rational
Is this a hassle or a HUGE EMERGENCY?

Going through these three steps whenever a person, place or thing begins to cause stress in your life seems like a lot of work, but it also seems as though it might actually help sort the daily wheat from the chaff and make my life easier.

The first instruction was really an interesting thing to me. I am great at reflecting back on something and realizing what a fabulous lesson it was; I am not as good at being grateful for a trial in the middle of it. I think I would like to be and so I am going to work on that. Cultivating flexibility and the talent of seeing a bigger picture and purpose in our mundane struggles makes good sense to me.

An adventure is only an inconvenience rightly considered.

An inconvenience is an adventure wrongly considered.
~G. K. Chesterton

Post Op

Well, the maxillofacial surgeon gave me a thumbs up and a long stemmed rose at the post-op appointment today! He also gave me more medication, for which I am extremely grateful. When I explained the pain, he looked at my original e-rays again and said "Ah. Well that explains it. Considering that I had to shave off about half of your jaw bone in order to get the bottom teeth out, you're right where you should be as far as pain levels go." Wow. Way to make a woman feel better! He also commented that he was glad my husband was home taking care of me--most women are not able to take enough time off to truly heal as they should, and that from meeting my husband in the recovery room after the surgery, he could honestly say that my husband was the most concerned and interested husband he'd seen in all his years of practice :) I am so blessed :)

Today Princess finished her Nature Art class through the County Parks and Rec department. She brought home all kinds of wild art projects during the last 2 weeks and I think she enjoyed it. I am less impressed by the Creative Kids Cooking classes. No information can be found about the instructor on the website or through Google, and so far from the last 2 classes, she enjoyed "all the kids going out to his truck to meet his dog". Hmmm . . .

I started to get some garden photos tonight, but I got really woozy and the battery on the camera died, so this is all you get. Strawberry yield for the day, peppermint, basil, English thyme, peas, yellow crookneck abundance. My husband fertilized the garden last night and weed-ate and mowed tonight. He's such a trooper! The yard is not his favorite place to labor. WHY are my pumpkins getting 2 inches in diameter, turning yellow and popping off the vines??? Help!?!

The Ladybuggary

My Princess came in from the front yard a couple weeks ago to tell me how excited she was about her new "Ladybuggary". I had not ever heard this term before, but she told me (with no little amount of condescension at my ignorance) that it means a habitat for ladybugs. Not to be confused with an ordinary

"Buggary" which is a habitat for

regular kinds of bugs or a "Sluggary"

which is a habitat for slugs.