Sunday Snippets

"Now please don't think I'm a slob--I'm not.  I'm not dirty.  Dirty is an old sandwich on your floor.  I'm--messy. Messy is where you can't find your other shoe.  Often."
--Hoda Kotb; Hoda: How I Survived War Zones, Bad Hair, Cancer, and Kathie Lee


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"There are some things you can't share without ending up liking each other, and knocking out a twelve-foot mountain troll is one of them."
--Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone; J.K. Rowling


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"Funny how the mundane is actually the glue that keeps friendships alive."
--Hoda Kotb; Hoda: How I Survived War Zones, Bad Hair, Cancer, and Kathie Lee


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I hope you're having a beautiful holiday weekend!
                                                

Sunday Snippets

"Like a huge wave that barrels across the ocean, or a gentle wave that laps the shore, there is an undeniable ebb and flow to life. I try to remember that.  Move forward, move forward, move forward."
--Hoda Kotb; Hoda: How I Survived War Zones, Bad Hair, Cancer, and Kathie Lee


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"Being a mother gives you a singular sort of vision, a prism through which you can see your child with many different faces all at once.  It is the reason you can watch him shatter a ceramic lamp, and still remember him as an angel.  Or hold him as he cries, but imagine his smile.  Or watch him walk toward you, the size of a man, and see the dimpled skin of an infant."
--The Pact; Jodi Picoult


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"People who forgive generally have more and better relationships with others, feel happier and more hopeful, and score higher on just about every measure of psychological well-being."
--Dr. Fred Luskin; The Oprah Magazine, May 2011


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"It's important to listen.  Most people just want to know that they are heard."
--Anne Meara; The Oprah Magazine, May 2011


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"Adults, light-years away from this, rolled their eyes and smirked and said, 'This too shall pass'--as if adolescence was a disease life chicken pox, something everyone recalled as a mild nuisance, completely forgetting how painful it had been at the time."
--The Pact; Jodi Picoult


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"People who lie about their age are denying the truth and contributing to a sickness pervading our society--the sickness of wanting to be what you're not."
--Oprah Winfrey; The Oprah Magazine, May 2011




                                        Hugs and love, 

What I'm Reading (Also)

Do you know Jodi Picoult?  If not, you're in trouble.  Well, not really, but you're definitely missing out.


Picoult is one of my favorite authors, and I intend to read all of the books she has written. (I like her that much!)


Her novels have creative and interesting plots that pull me in immediately, but at the heart of her work is always a dilemma, a giant question of morals and ethics that makes me reconsider beliefs I've clutched onto without really exploring.  


Right now, I'm enjoying The Pact.  It's a story about love and loss and complication, oh, and murder. . .or suicide.


                 I can't wait to see how it ends, 

I've Got the Fever (If you make it through this post you deserve an award)

Yesterday, which will be the day-before-yesterday by the time you read this, I felt bad, horrible, no-good.  Secretly, I've been waiting for this sickness because it's been taunting me.  A sore throat this day, stuffy ears the next. If you don't know what I mean when I say 'stuffy ears,' count your blessings.  Seriously.  Do it. 


After a few days of feeling like Mediocre Mable, I decided it was probably just my allergies.  If you don't have to regularly think about your 'allergies,' count your blessings.  Seriously. Do it. 


So, I carried on with life as usual until yesterday, remember: day-before-yesterday to you.  My ears hurt; my head hurt; my throat hurt.  Bad news all around. 


Today, which will be yesterday by the time you read this, everything got worse.  I even had a fever.  Or, "got the fever," as I like to say. Don't you think that sounds more serious?  I do.  I mean, "I've got the fever" is a lot better than "I think I'm running a low-grade temperature."  Having "the" fever is a more adequate expression of how I'm feeling.  Besides, where I come from people arbitrarily add "the" the lots of things, so it comes naturally.  


I think I should take a moment here to explain that although I appreciate a spontaneously thrown in "the," I do NOT, under any circumstance, add an "s" to the end of something that is not supposed to end in "s."  For example, the store is named Walmart not Walmarts.  That's tacky.  Here's another: it's Kroger not Krogers.  Again with the tacky.  Am I being harsh?  Probably.  Blame the fever.  I now realize how irrelevant this paragraph is.  Blame the fever again.


Back to the sickness.  I haven't decided if it's doctor-visit-worthy yet.  I feel like it might should be because of the fever. I rarely get the fever, but I'm holding out for a couple of days to see.  In the meantime, I've been "resting" and trying to decide what "resting" really means and rediscovering that I'm no good at the "resting" because I feel restless.  Sometimes, okay all the time, when I'm sick I spend the beginning of the illness trying to prove to myself that I'm fine.  It's a really ignorant thing to do, but, nonetheless, I try it every time.  


I'll do chores and lift things and get myself all out of breath and feeling like I might die before I decide to sit down.  Then, once I can breathe again, I repeat the process.  Yes, I know it's bad for my health.  No, I cannot stop.  It's just a thing with me.


I think it's because I really hate being sick; I'm no good at it.  No matter how badly I'm feeling, I always feel like someone will think I'm faking it.  How ridiculous is that?  Beyond ridiculous, I know.  I guess that's why I always have to prove to myself that I really am sick.  


The other reason that I'm no good at being sick is that I feel guilty.  I spend lots of time apologizing.  How ridiculous is that?  Beyond ridiculous, I know, but I can't help it.  I've done it my whole life.


After wearing myself out a million times yesterday, I decided I really am sick.  My suspicions were of course confirmed by the presence of the fever.  I don't often get the fever, remember?


Since I am sick, I'm supposed to be "resting," which is another thing I'm no good at when it comes to being sick.  If I feel healthy, I have no problem in the "resting" area, but when I'm sick, no sort of "resting" works for me.  For me, sickness equals restlessness, even when I'm sleeping.


Here are some of my troubles with "resting:"  (Yes, I realize you don't care)


1.  Lots of people "rest" by lying on the couch or in the bed and watching t.v. all day.  I can't watch t.v. all day without feeling lousy about myself which adds to my ridiculous guilt about being sick.  Plus, the t.v. is sometimes too loud.


2.  I read a lot when I'm "resting," but when I get tired of doing that because my head might split open from aching, I'm at a loss. 


3.  "Resting" usually requires staying in the same spot for lengthy periods of time.  I'm no good at that when I'm sick because I am perpetually uncomfortable, and I feel guilty for not moving for hours on end.


4.  This list could go on, but I think it shouldn't.


I said all of this to say, well, nothing.   I hope by tomorrow, which will be today by the time you read this, I'll be feeling better, but I'm kind of doubtful.

I know this picture of my sweet Dixie has nothing to do with this post, but she is so cute, I just couldn't resist!

If you're wondering, yes, I do know how senseless this post is. Blame the fever. 

                    Have a healthy day, 

What I'm Reading Now

"To millions of loyal viewers, she’s “Hoda Woman,” Kathie Lee Gifford’s slightly more restrained sidekick on the fourth hour of the Today show. Still others know her as a correspondent for Dateline, for which she has traveled from Baghdad to Burma and covered everything from hot zones to hurricanes. Now Kotb tells her own story, beginning with her Egyptian immigrant parents’ embrace of the American dream right to her nightmare year battling breast cancer and dealing with divorce. Throughout, Kotb’s voice is as infectiously enthusiastic as her trademark smile, each episode imbued with stalwart courage and sincere charm. From her fondness for the music of James Taylor to her fierce loyalty to New Orleans, Kotb’s memoir of life on the road, on the air, and in the trenches is not only an absorbing inside look at the high-speed world of high-stakes journalism, it is also one charismatic woman’s story of how a can-do attitude and caring family have provided the foundation and support for an exhilarating life." --Carol Haggas




“Hoda writes the way she lives: honestly, intelligently and beautifully. No matter how her hair looks. And the reader can tell no matter what she’s sharing at the moment that she is smiling that big Hoda smile. You will too.”
—Kathie Lee Gifford, New York Times bestselling author of Just When I Thought I'd Dropped My Last Egg: Life and Other Calamities

You should totally check it out, 

Easter Eggs 2011

Maybe if I had not procrastinated and had remembered that I had lovely pictures of our Easter eggs to post, you would have gotten a nice post about our Easter experiences.  (BUT) I did, and I didn't, so you didn't.  Sorry about that.  I hope you aren't heartbroken.  Okay, so I know you aren't.

Easter egg dyeing is my favorite, and Hub loves it, too. Every Easter since we started dating, we've dyed eggs together.  And since I'm all about establishing traditions early, this one is definitely going to stick.  I wish we could dye eggs more, but maybe then it wouldn't be so special and so fun.

I hope my children (in the far away future) like to dye eggs.  If they don't, I'm totally forcing them to do it anyway.

Do you have leftover dye?  If so, call me!  We could dye some non-Easter eggs together.

You know it's a great idea.

                                                           Loves,

 

P.S.  Yes, I did mean to use the salutation "Loves."  I quite like it. :)

Sunday Snippets

"We turn not older with years, but newer every day."
--Emily Dickinson
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"'If you want to make God laugh, tell him your plans.'  This book is dedicated to anyone, like me, who's made God bust a gut."
--Hoda Kotb; Hoda: How I Survived War Zones, Bad Hair, Cancer, and Kathie Lee

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"'And that's what I think love is,' Chris said quietly.  'When your hindsight's twenty-twenty, and you still wouldn't change a thing.'"

--The Pact; Jodi Picoult

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"If you haven't doubted, you probably haven't thought very hard about what you believe."
--George Bush; Decision Points
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"Dear Student Who Tells Me She Would Do Anything to Pass the Exam,
Would you. . . . . . study?
Sincerely, Your Teacher."
--www.dearblankpleaseblank.com
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Happy Sunday,

           

Sunday Snippets::Happy Mother's Day!

"I feel that in the heavens above
The angels, whispering one to another,
Can find among their burning terms of love,
None so devotional as that of 'Mother'"
--Edgar Allen Poe

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"Are we not like two volumes of one book?"  
--Marceline Desbordes-Valmore


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"I remember my mother's prayers, and they have always followed me. They have clung to me all my life."

                                                                                      --Abraham Lincoln


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"A mother is the truest friend we have, when trials, heavy and sudden, fall upon us; 

when adversity takes the place of prosperity; 

when friends who rejoice with us in our sunshine, desert us when troubles thicken around    us, still will she cling to us, and endeavor by her kind precepts and counsels to dissipate the clouds of darkness, and cause peace to return to our hearts." 

                                       --Washington Irving

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"God made a wonderful mother,

A mother who never grows old;

He made her smile of the sunshine,

And He moulded her heart of pure gold;

In her eyes He placed bright shining stars,

In her cheeks fair roses you see;

God made a wonderful mother,

And He gave that dear mother to me."

--Pat O'Reilly

~~~~~


"I'll love you forever;
I'll like you for always;
As long as I'm living,
My mommy you'll be."
--Robert Munsch


~~~~~




Dear Mama,

There are no words to express how beautiful you are.  A better mother, I cannot imagine.  Thank you for standing beside me, guiding me through, picking me up, and loving me without fail.  Thank you for always celebrating me, helping when I need you most, and teaching me to handle life's trials and tribulations.

Everything I am is because of you.

I love you,