Helpful, considerate people

Since the nicer weather, I have noticed that drivers are less considerate...they have been cutting me off, turning in front of me, running red lights. I decided to exercise extra caution (no sense in getting a dent in my new car), but to be honest was feeling aggravated. A few days ago, I made a conscious effort to stay relaxed and unaffected by the inconsiderate drivers around me, to say to myself that they must have some very important reason for behaving the way they are, and to bless them on their way. I was controlling my reaction and attempting to put a positive spin on the actions of these drivers. It worked, traveling the city became more enjoyable. Yesterday I read this facebook post from my niece. "It's truly sad to see so many people who have somehow lost common courtesy. Why are we so selfish and wrapped up in our own world that we can't give the thank you wave to someone letting us cut in or a simple thank you to the person holding the door for us...just noticing the general rudeness of people." I did have the occasion to deal with four very helpful people today. One at the insurance and ambulance service company, one at the district library, and the young woman who pulled her car back so my dogs and I could get by. My new mantra, "treat people as I would like to be treated." Being proactive here.

Tragedies

Certain tragedies grab hold and won't let me rest. The sun shines, the sky is blue, but sadness hovers at the periphery of my mind. And I can't explain why I feel more connected to certain tragedies than others, becauuse all tragedies are loss. I remember the crash of flight 255 in Detroit. I looked at the pictures of the victims in the paper (pre computer days), studying the faces of families, honeymooners, business people. My eldest daughter had attended a seminar in Japan. A few months later the tsunami completely devastated Japanese villages. This past winter, I scrolled through photos of homes destroyed on the east coast by the large amount of snowfall. Over Memorial Day weekend, a foot of rain dropped on Texas, causing massive flooding. I read about a young high school student caught in the flood and drowning on her way home from prom. A husband who went under the flood waters and hasn't been seen since. A house ripped off stilts, carried downstream taking several family members downstream, It broke apart after crashing into a bridge. I can't imagine hurtling downstream in a house in the dark. Three men, three women, three children. So far only one man is accounted for, a dad and husband whose wife and children are missing. Three bodies have been pulled from the river awaiting identification. My thoughts and prayers are with the families in Texas who have suffered the loss of loved ones or their homes.

Tiring week

Thursday afternoon, my dad called to let me know that my mother was in the hospital. She had celulitis and needed IV antibiotics. I visited her at the hospital in the morning to help feed her, worked at the flower shop and then stayed with her at the hospital until she was settled for the night. One evening, hoping to entice my dad to eat, I stopped at a restaurant and bought a turkey, mashed potatoes and gravy dinner and some chicken soup. My mother came home yesterday afternoon along with a prescription for heavy duty antibiotics. Her blood saturation level is low and she has some fluid in her lungs. I visited after work--my sister-in-law was at the house helping. My dad said he didn't get much sleep last night. I came home and took a nap for a couple hours. Have to get up early Monday morning.

Back online with a 10" RCA tablet

Today I bought a RCA tablet with keyboard. It has a 10.1 inch screen and front and rear cameras. It is an android tablet and does not run on Windows 8. It will take a while to learn how to use it, but it is so good to be online again. I decided that I needed a good sized screen, dual cameras and a keyboard. I read consumer reports this morning and unfortunately, there are many unhappy customers. The complaints vary from "the machine won't turn on to the screen shows black and white streaks." It's sad, because I really like the tablet, user friendly and efficient and if my tablet dies, I will be upset. I only paid $150 and it has a 1 year warranty which is what I would expect. I might purchase an extended warranty because I like the tablet so much. I am not used to the right shift key so am constantly paging down. The distraction of the tablet seems to have helped me forget about gum and teeth pain. I have a dentist appointment tomorrow and really don't think there is anything seriously wrong. I have been using toothpaste for sensitive teeth and a gum numbing oral rinse and taking acetiminophen. I think the mouth pain is a reaction to stress or maybe the loss of the Asus tablet. It was expensive and to find the touchscreen unexplicably damaged caused major disruption in my life. On the Integrative Nutrition workshop front, we discussed relationships. My sister said, "I know all about you!" and "Is your mentally ill friend still in your life?" When I told her she was, my sister said, "I'd let her exit your life." It upset me because I have been friends with my mentally ill friend for over 30 years. I answered some questions to determine which Ayurvedic body type I am, and had the same number for summer/pitta and spring/kapha. Our homework this week is to eat a serving of leafy greens every day and to try some new leafy greens, in my case bok choy.

Insurance runs out

On Saturday, my husband told me that the insurance to replace my Asus T100 tablet would end the next day. I facetiously and with no mal intentions told him that my tablet would break two days after the replacement insurance ended. On Monday afternoon, I browsed for riding boots. I need some mid calf riding boots for spring and summer my current riding boots are fur lined. Shortly after online shopping, the tablet began showing lots of ads and scanning continuously. I surmised that I had picked up some malware so downloaded a malware scan and an anti virus program. I decided to clean the screen as you know how many fingerprints get on a touchscreen device. That was when my heart dropped to my toes. I noticed a pin sized hole with tiny cracks spidering from it on the touchscreen. The tablet was ruined and the replacement insurance has expired. I have absolutely no idea how the damage occurred! I did not drop the tablet. I did not expose it to extreme temperatures. To be honest,I've rarely used it in recent days. I can only surmise, that something got between the touch screen and keyboard. My husband had upgraded his phone recently and as part of the package got a tablet. It works well but has only a virtual keyboard which I find difficult to use for my blogging.

Integrative Nutriton Pilot Program

My sister, her husband and daughter, a friend from exercise class and I are participating in a pilot program, "Integrative Nutrition." I thought the pilot was going to be about healthy eating. The leader is serious about preparing whole foods for her family and about free trade products, so she definitely has a slant to her workshops. Last Thursday we met as a group for the first time. She started the evening with the question "what is new and free?" My husband and I had just returned from a stay at a bed and breakfast to celebrate our 40th anniversary. We stayed on the third floor of a Victorian style home, away from all the other guests. We drove to small cities in the area, and ate at the Grill House, featured on Travel TV. On the way home we visited the air museum. We saw exhibits starting with the Wright brothers up to the Space Shuttle. We blasted off on a simulator and flew to the International Space Station. Very fun! In 2012, a plane was dredged up from Lake Michigan where she had sat for 50 some years. She is being refurbished--her engine parts rebuilt and the body repaired. The process will take about five years. I sat in the cabin of a helicopter--no body or engine. It was the only cabin that I was sure I would not have to be shoe horned out of! And the bed and breakfast was the start of a 5 day vacation! So I felt at peace. The second activity was to fill out a form appropriately called "The Circle of Life." We place a dot on a spoke indicating where we think we are regarding career, finance, spirituality, relationships, social life, health, healthy cooking etc. If a dot is toward the center, we might consider working on that "food." The leader said that a joyful, fulfilled person is less likely to head toward food. My homework is to consider a goal, think deeply on why I want to work on that goal, and then divide it into monthly increments. The pilot program lasts two months. I was thinking today that it is so easy for me to prejudge. I will learn in the next months the intricacies of the Integrative Nutrition Program. I am going to take gossip with a grain of salt. I got a load today from my daughter's friend and will be careful about believing it all. You know I heard a very interesting bit on the radio. The speaker was saying that it is how a person makes one feel that attracts. It is not physical beauty or outside attributes. He gave the example of two people talking, and one asks the other, "What do you think of my scar?" The other person responds, "What scar?" I have to remember this in my relationships.

Spring cleaning

We've been busy preparing the house for weekend guests. We bought a new queen mattress set so set up the old set in the guest room. Lots of exercise trucking furniture downstairs and setting up the beds and laundering linens! Yesterday, since it is spring, I cleaned. Spiffed up the bathrooms and removed the rugs from the kitchen and cleaned the laminate. My husband did some grocery shopping--breakfast items for our Easter Sunday meal and rolls and pumpkin pie to take to my Dad's for dinner. Today, I am taking my friend to get her reading glasses, going to lunch and making a stop at the grocery store. I have some banking to do this morning and hapkido in the evening. Not too much on my list except to clean the aquarium. I am hoping to make it to church if all goes well.