COME VISIT.

That’s not such a big deal when all I am talking about is blogging. When I am working in the ER it is a bit more of a problem. There have been days where I was surprised I managed not to kill anyone make any mistakes.

My poor baby waiting for doctor

My little 3 year old has been coughing for days and started running a high fever today. The last two nights have been spent listening to her cough all night and going to her countless times during the night to comfort her.

Last night my hubby even got kicked out of bed and slept in my daughter’s bed while she crawled in with me and slept coughed all over me all night. Hubby says he is too old to sleep in a bunk bed anymore, even if it is the bottom bunk.

So I have been sitting her for a long time staring at the computer screen and willing myself to write my blog for today. Not because I think the world is going to come to an end if I don’t write for one day. But rather because I have committed to myself that I want to write everyday.

I usually spend a long time writing my posts and when I don’t I am not as happy with my work. I have so many half written posts and so many ideas in my head. And like Paula who wrote today in her blog post Mojo? What Mojo?, my thoughts have all seem to have disappeared as well.

So as I was beating myself up and deciding what to write, I patted myself on the back and said: “Susie, it’s ok if every once in a while you do not have energy. Give yourself a break”. Not that that concept is something new to me. I have learned to do that really well in regards to housework, errands and all kinds of other stuff. (I am sure my husband is nodding his head passionately at that comment. I am thinking he is tired of washing dishes and living in a pigsty mess.)

But until today, I have not let myself do that with my blogging. Maybe I am worried that if I will let my blogging slide if I don’t continue to live up to the standards I have set for myself. I don’t know.

So I hope my giving myself a break and not writing something too deep today is okay with all of you who read my blog. But truly it really is okay every once in a while to admit you are out of energy or inspiration. I am sure that it is nothing sleep (or an extra few hours in a day) won’t remedy. Hopefully, I will get some soon. Heck, it’s only 1 am…….

Have any of you ever just run out of steam?

Image:
WAVES OF ENERGY
Airton Kieling | Flickr Creative Commons

Those who believe in The Secret and The Law of Attraction (which I do), will tell you that your thoughts and energies are attracting the person to you in.

Either way, that is what happened to me yesterday. A few days ago I was thinking about how there are some people in your life who never even know what a positive source of inspiration they are to you. I thought of someone like that and I said to myself I really should just take the time to write her a short note about how every time I have spoken to her I always find myself smiling.

Yesterday I needed to do food shopping, one of my less than beloved chores. I kept pushing it off, and I finally managed to get there in the late afternoon. As I am shopping, who do I run into? Of course, you guessed, the woman I was thinking of.

She lives in my community but I see her maybe once a year. She is about ten or so years older than me and we met years ago at exercise class. (Since I haven’t been there for years, it explains why I don’t see her much.) She is well off but what I like about her is that the way she is, I have never found myself envious of her. I am just happy for her and all the opportunities she has. Among other things, years ago she spent 9 months traveling around the world with her family and she has an amazing convertible.

But she is down to earth and so friendly. She is open and empathetic and like I said to her when I bumped into her, everytime I have a conversation with her she lifts my mood.

I was glad I had the opportunity to bump into her and tell her in person what I was thinking. Sadly, I am not sure I ever would have gotten around to writing her a note.

So take a few minutes to think about someone you appreciate, miss or wonder what ever happened to them. You might just draw them back into your life.

Have you ever had this happen to you?

Image:
THINK
Stig Nygaard | Flickr Creative Commons

Yesterday I read a really good article on Oprah’s website about the power of authenticity written by Mike Robbins. It not only explained why you should be authentic but also gave 5 principles as a guide for being authentic. The principles are: knowing yourself, transforming your fear, expressing yourself, being bold and celebrating who you are.

All of those are things I have been working on. As far as expressing myself, I haven’t needed that much practice. I am a very open person much to the chagrin of my husband. What you see is what you get. I do not have a good poker face and I stink at lying. I also sometimes tell people too much and too easily. (Now you get why I like blogging. )

So because I am such an open book, people often tend to open up to me as well.

As many of you know I entered a competition whose prize is a book contract. Of course I asked everyone I knew to vote for me. If you haven’t voted for me yet click here for the information.

I was pleasantly surprised when a good friend of mine sent me back a request to read a manuscript he had written. It was good and it had obviously taken a long time to write. All that came to mind is that the more open I am and the more I go after my own dreams, others open up and share their dreams as well.

It was heartwarming and encouraging to me. Maybe part of my journey whether I ever publish a book or not, is to be part of the process for others. Who knows? It was just nice to see.

Have you ever found that when you open up, people open up to you as well?

Image:
TALK TO ME STRAIGHT
Robert Nunnally | Flickr Creative Commons

Some people see only the outer beauty, some see only the inner beauty. Some are lucky enough to see both.

I am sure we all know couples where one person is a beauty, and the other is quote the opposite. Sometimes we even shake our heads in amazement but obviously, outer beauty isn’t everything.

We also all see everyday things differently. What is a work of art to one person is an eyesore to someone else. What is beautiful to one person is a nuisance to another.

If you are an animal lover you probably appreciate the beauty in animals that I could never appreciate. Sure there are some things that maybe I appreciate on a superficial level, but not quite the way someone who truly loves animals would. (Though I do love flocks of birds soaring in the sky. They fascinate me.)

I give you my version of ugly. Cows.

So maybe it is just the really awful smell I associate with them. Or the way they poop everywhere. Which takes me back to the smell.

So while I do like to drink milk, sorry black and white fellows, you cows are a bit ugly looking.

So what do you think makes someone or something ugly as opposed to beautiful. Is it just looks or something more?

Image:
New York-Beauty and the Beast
Video4net | Flickr Creative Commons
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This post was inspired by the prompt of “UGLY” at The Gallery Week 6 run by Tara at Sticky Fingers.

There are things in life that we can do all on our own and then there are things in life that we need help with. Many times we fail at things we really want simply because we are too embarrassed or too proud to ask for help.

As long as I can remember I have wanted to help people people live positive and motivated lives. I love reading. I love all kinds of self help, spiritual and self betterment books. I love being able to help someone who is down and sees no hope to find that hope and succeed.

I started blogging because I thought that maybe it was a way for me to help even a few people here and there be inspired by life and all the opportunities it offers whether your day is good or bad. I was surprised to see that in under 2 months I had over 4000 hits on my site. That encouraged me to work even harder at writing and to move my blog to a site where I had more options and control.

When I received an email about a spiritual author competition and the possibility of winning a book publishing contract, I knew that I had to at least try to enter. So I did.

And now I need your help. The first round of the competition is basically a popularity contest. The top 250 authors with the most votes will proceed to the next round.

The voting in the first round ends on May 3rd. The 250 authors with the most votes on that day will advance to the next round.

It really only takes a minute or two to register to vote. I would really appreciate your votes and it would be really great if you could blog, email, facebook or tweet to your friends and followers about voting for me.

I believe that if you don’t ask, you can’t be told yes. If you don’t try you can’t succeed. So I am trying to make a dream into reality and I am asking for you help.

Here is the link to my page on the competition.
http://www.nexttopauthor.com/profile.cfm?aid=2838

Please vote for me and help spread the word.

If you can please let me know in the comments if you have passed on my reuqest to others. Thanks so much!

Image:
WRITERS OF THE FUTURE DREAMBOARD
Angel | Flickr Creative Commons

I guess she was either trying to make it really hard on me or she didn’t realize that this is the second time I have been tagged with this meme. I thought I did a good job the first time around, and I have been racking my brain for another 7 interesting facts about myself.

But like the title of today’s lesson, never turn down a challenge that is not harmful. So since this one is in good fun, my hubby helped me out and this is what we have come up with. Not quite as interesting as the first list but still…..

1. I can shape my tongue into a flower.

2. I have a Bachelor’s Degree in Psychology and an Associate’s Degree in Nursing.

Nursing School Graduation

3. In 7th and 8th Grade I was on my school’s basketball team basketball. I was famous for my 2 handed over my head foul shots. (Not a pretty sight)

4. I have finished each of the Harry Potter Books in less than a day and I have reread each of them dozens (if not more) times.

5. When I’m upset at my kids, for some reason I end up yelling at them in Hebrew. Go figure because English is my mother tongue. I guess I want to make sure my kids understand me really well. I also find it hard to have a medical conversation in English. But that is understandable because most of my nursing career has been in Hebrew.

6. I have done rappelling down a 50 meter drop from the top of a cave. How embarrassing is it that fifty 11 and 12-year-old kids did it with less dramatics than I did? For my daughter’s Bat Mitzvah we took fifty of her friends on a field trip and rappelling. (Yes, we were insane to have voluntarily have done that!)

7. When I was 18 I smashed up my boyfriend’s black sports car while he was in the car with me. He saw the other car coming and tried to get me to stop the car but my reflexes were just not very fast. Then when I heard the police sirens coming I tried to run away and leave him there on his own. But guess what? He still proposed less than a year later and married me anyways. It does kind of explain though why unless he is unconscious he does not let me drive while he is in the car. (BTW-I have a picture of him and beloved car before the wreck, but am too tired to go searching for it now. Maybe I will add it later.)

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So now that I have proven myself up to the challenge, I now have to tag seven other bloggers. I think that is the hardest part.

The rules are as follows:

1.Copy the award to your blog.
2.Insert a link to the person who nominated you.
3.Share seven things about yourself that you haven’t told us before.
4.Nominate seven other bloggers for the award.
5.Link to their blogs.
6.Tell the nominees about their award

I tag: (all bloggers who are new to me)

*Amanda at I am a mommy
*Mommy Needs Coffee
*I Know I Need To Stop Talking
*Alice at Alice’s Adventures In Blogland
*Siany-Sian at Musings of the Siany Sian
*Miss McFarley at *McFarley Makes A Mess *
*JK at WEST OF THE PENNINES

Images:

GUTTER BALL
Peter Shanks | Flickr Creative Commons

I racked my brains for quite a while to try to find the right title to convey what exactly I was referring to. I am not sure it is 100% what I wanted but it was the best I could come up with after working night shift and getting home bleary eyed in the morning.

So in case the title wasn’t self evident, let me explain. If you are enthusiastic about a pursuit and you keep at it, the people close to you are going to inevitably be drawn in by your enthusiasm.

I have been noticing for a few weeks that when something unusual or funny happens around the house or to our family, my kids have started blurting out, I bet you are going to blog about that. A few times, the thought to blog about a certain topic hadn’t even entered my mind until someone in my family bought it up as potential blog fodder.

This past Sabbath we were 18 people staying over by us. (Actually 18 plus one gorgeous baby.)  Over the course of the day my blogging was of course discussed and once again I got suggestions about potential blog topics. I thought it was so nice how people were enthusiatic for me about something that was inportant to me.

So what I say is this. Share your enthusiasm for your joys and hobbies with those you love. You never know which of them will be your next source of inspiration.

Have you ever had people join in when you are enthusiastic?
Image:

ENTHUSIASM UNCURBED

© David M. Goehring | Flickr Creative Commons

We all have our own opinions and views on life. We each enjoy doing different things and each of us is proud of different accomplishments. What we view as a silly or unworthy pursuit, may be a very important and fulfilling part of someone else’s life.

The other day I was reminded of the importance of making sure not to belittle things that are significant to others, even if we ourselves view them as pointless.

I was talking to two people, one of them a good friend, and told them that I have started blogging and that I write everyday. The facial expression, comments and attitude of complete ridicule and disregard that I got from my good friend was completely unexpected and really unwarranted.

Luckily for me I am in a different place than I used to me. For the most part, I don’t let other people’s views cloud my perception of myself. I enjoy the blogging. I feel it is very cathartic and helpful to me. I am also pleased with the results. So thankfully, I really was able to shrug her comments off without feeling the least bit hurt. I did tell her that it was too bad and that I was happy, so I really didn’t care what she thought.

The whole incident did make me think about how careful we have to be about how we react to other people’s hobbies, thoughts, goals and ambitions.

Has someone reacted to you in a way you did not expect? Have you ever reacted to someone else’s news in a way you now regret?

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Images:

BLOGGING FUN
© Mike Licht | Flickr Creative Commons

What there is, is a lot of cooking. Especially a lot of cooking with potatoes. Lots and lots of potatoes to peel and some carrots as well. But mostly potatoes.

Did I mention lots and lots of potatoes? Here in Israel Passover is a 7 day holiday. Did I mention it was a 7 day holiday with lots of potatoes?

After Passover, we pack away our Passover dishes until we need them again next year. Usually I am quite organized with typed up lists for the following year. I write down things needing replacing, things to buy and where I put everything.

Last year I was not my OCD self and did not type up the list. So it wasn’t until after I suffered through peeling about 20 pounds of potatoes that I realized that I had written down that I need to buy a new good peeler.

Gosh I wish I would have seen that before the holiday. All I know is that I am having 18 people for the Sabbath and that is a heck of a lot of potatoes to peel. It was not fun peeling them with the lousy peeler that didn’t want to peel. Actually it was a bit frustrating.

The Lousy Peelers

One thing is for certain, there will be a big note with my lists for next year. There is no way I am not going to have a good peeler for next year’s potato fest!

Any peeler recommendations anybody?