Outside the Pigeon Holes

I am taking a class called a MOOC (Massive Open Online Course) through a website called Coursera . Coursera MOOCs are taught by major universities in the United States and abroad - and they are FREE! If you enjoy learning I recommend checking out what they have to offer. The subject areas range from arts to history to engineering and trigonometry. Really, go check it out. It's a treasure trove for learning addicts like me. So, anyway, the class is called 'Creativity, Innovation and Change' which is taught by faculty from Penn State University. Its focus is to help you discover your creative style (everyone is creative - creativity is not limited to the arts and humanities!) and offers strategies for beginning and following through with innovative ideas. One of my favorite exercises was Life Ring. It is explained in detail in the book 'Center - A system of 6 practices for pursuing your passions and purpose in self, family, work and community'  - you can get this bo...

Yesterday I went to see my favorite head shrinker...I have known Dr. V for about 10 years. He rescued me from the craziness that is my brain by prescribing medication to me. I trust this guy. I don;t care that he isn't an outward Christian (I really have no idea what his faith is, but he does respect mine and speaks with me about it often). I just love Dr. V and I believe that God placed him in my life when I needed him. Yesterday he told me that the hypervigilance that I an experiencing right now is completely  understandable. Hypervigilance is: A n enhanced state of sensory sensitivity accompanied by an exaggerated intensity of behaviors whose purpose is to detect threats. Hyper vigilance is also accompanied by a state of increased anxiety which can cause exhaustion.  The way this plays out for me is that I am in an almost constant state of fear that everything I hold dear is threatened and/or will be taken from me. I fear that my friends are mad at me, think ill of me...

Morphing happens to one's goal/dream list as life catapults its way toward one's destiny (mine is Heaven, guaranteed!). Was thinking about mine recently and realized I have met some of them and am getting closer to others and have added some things and removed some things. In no particular order (crossed out = YAY!) 1. Visit Australia 2. Visit St. Croix 3. Teach Sozo 4. Have one week without worry (removed - need a lobotomy first) 5. Grow to a point of complete trust in my salvation 6. Meet a man I can love and TRUST 7. Cut a CD 8. Sing on the VWS Praise Team (removed) 9. Go horseback riding again 10. Knit something ridiculously cool 11. Visit Best Friends Animal Sanctuary in Utah 12. Meet the remaining favorite celebs that I have on my list. 13. See certain loved ones get set free and/or find Christ 14. Sing with David Phelps (even if it's just "Happy Birthday"!). 15. Spend time with Father God, Jesus and Holy Spirit everyday and cu...

NOTE: Please forgive the horrid formatting in this post...Blogger is screwing up picture placement and spacing and I can't fix it...So, like that last post that had random words in it...Just ignore...SIGGHHH... On with the story.... Not only did I single-handedly carry the 12-ton boxes up the stairs, I also put together my new Ikea computer desk all by my little self...With no cussing and only a few WTF?'s (that doesn't count since it's a question and not a curse).    Destruction Construction calls for music. Pandora Internet Radio set to John Tesh or Yanni works well to keep the nerves soothed. Are you laughing at John Tesh? Shame on you. He is a good Christian man...And he gives free healthy lifestyle tips on STAR 93.3!      Um...Looks like I already violated rule number one...The guy in that picture is obviously not a badass if he has to have a friend help him carry the boxes!    Dinah shows how she matches the Birch Effect color scheme of the ...

As I adjust to life on my own I am experiencing some crazy ups and downs. Which I guess is normal. But today I feel called to finally lay down what has happened over the last few years so that its damage will not affect what God has in store for my life on all fronts. When you're married, you're locked into a particular mindset - an idea of the future. And even though it might not be what it should be, it does provide some amount of stability. So when that old, comfortable rug (no matter how bad its condition) is pulled out from under your feet, it turns even the familiar on its end. Through God's divine grace, I have been returned to where I started when this all began. My mom lives in the apartment below, I am single and enjoying the adventure thereof, I have the perfect job. Do-overs are a blessing. However, it is also impossible to pretend that I am the same person I was then. Because there's this span of time that happened. Years given to another person. I was...

This is Officer Brown of District 3...He came to take prints off the door at Denny's music store which was robbed last night. They broke out the window of the back door, took about $3,000 worth of merchandise and $1500 cash. Yeah - there used to be guitars on those stands. The up side is they didn't take all of the higher-end stuff. It looked like a smash and grab kind of job. Officer Brown was really cool. He told us while we watched him fingerprint that fingerprinting is about the only thing they do on CSI that is realistic. He said they get phone calls from people saying stuff like "I watch CSI I know you guys can take someone's eye out and see what they stole last! I know you can!" Always good to have laughter in the midst of suckiness...