We decided Monday night to take a big leap and list our house for sale just to see what happens. For a long time now I have been voicing my frustration with all the "stuff" we have accumulated. I just want to scale down to the bare necessities. I have a big problem with my children thinking material items are important and that is the message they have been receiving unfortunately. I believe in order to receive new gifts you have to make room for them and this means deciding what needs to go. The past couple of months to my surprise, we have had really good luck liquidating several large ticket items inside our home and it feels so refreshing! This is incredibly scary and I'm a nervous wreck. I love my house and the memories it holds but I am willing to sacrifice it to make room for my family's new gifts.

Spring on Campus

One of my favorite places on campus just happens to be right across the street from my building. Sitting in the gazebo watching the fountain, it's hard to remember how ugly this space was just two years ago. Now it is peaceful and reflective. For a year now I've been saying I want to bring my girlies here for a photo shoot. Hopefully this year I can make that happen.

Better than Wii Fit!

I got one of the best abdominal workouts this past weekend. No, it wasn't from spending time on the Wii Fit or the PS90 workout. These sore muscles were from two days of non-stop laughter courtesy of my girlfriends. I can't explain why we turn into12 year old girls when we get together and I don't even care. I just hope that we have many more trips like this last one and that we never grow up.

Things you might have overheard this past weekend.

• Your language is offensive!
• That's what "she" said.
• Why is my name different? --- It's because you forgot your card dumbass!
• Help! I'm in hell. I'm in Buffalo's watching the KSU game surrounded by purple AND I'm out of water!
• If some creep starts bothering us tonight I'm gonna go, "HAAA HAAA HAA HAAA!" That will scare him away!

• Oh my gosh... she's rolling that big ol' cooler into McDonalds!
• Most people just say "hello" when they meet someone.
• What is that smell?!
• I got a text 19 times that says 'monkey balls!'
• If she face plants I'm laughing. Just sayin'.
• My legs hurt. -- That's because you ate at IHOP.
• Do we need to send you a text occasionally to remind you to open your mail?
• Oh my gosh.. that dude looks like Aggieville Bill in 10 years!
• Quick! Put your arm around me. NOW!
• Dude.. do you eat garbage?
• It's right there! You are f@#$in' dumb.
• I'm not making a payment this month cause my On-Star sucks!
• Okay.. you are gonna have to trust me. 
• The salt from those french fries burned my nose!
• And so it begins...one of us falls. Well, she is the weakest link. 
• Do you believe in signs? That one says "bitch." You did say you wanted to move here to be closer to your people.
• Are you girls here with girls or are you girls with guys.. or both?
  

Crazy Friends = Awesome Weekend

I have read and for the most part I believe we receive little subtle hints from the universe guiding us towards our purpose. Personally I haven't put much stock in the hints I have been getting because frankly I wasn't interested. However when the same theme keeps presenting itself even I can't help but say, "okay perhaps I should at least check into this." For as long as I can remember I have enjoyed writing, especially poetry. The two common themes that keep popping up around me have been communication and travel. I have no idea how those two things tie in together however it does have me curious enough that I am seriously thinking about checking into some writing classes. I would love to be a travel writer but those jobs are few and far, reserved for the well known and published. I am more inclined to try some freelance writing just for fun and just see what happens. If nothing else I will continue to expand my mind and perhaps have more interesting blog entries! No promises though.

I was feeling a little..okay, a LOT left out this week. The girls were out of school for Spring Break and had made plans for some fun days. I was so glad they were having a good time but it still stung a little to come home and hear their synopsis of the day. Enough! Today was our turn and I was bound and determined we were going to make the most of this last day of their break. So, first we started with a 3D matinee watching Alice in Wonderland. It actually dawned on me during the movie that this was the first time I had ever been to a 3D movie! How sheltered am I? Next we played some black light mini golf and then we hit the mall to empty mom's billfold. By the time we finished we were wiped out and hungry so we hit McAllister's for dinner before braving the icy roads home (which turned out to be a small adventure in itself). The only thing we couldn't agree on was ice cream. Apparently my littlest is now an ice cream snob and will only settle for Baskin Robbins. All in all the day was full of bad English accents and lots of giggles. Days like today remind me of what is most important and how much I love those goofy crack babies. Apple/tree? Perhaps.

I think Tanya and I became friends somewhere around 6th grade. There were four of us who always hung out and I remember a lot of car rides to Salina and Manhattan for birthday parties, sleep-overs, dances, cruising, etc. Later we were in sports together; volleyball, basketball, track. We were both really pretty decent in track and we ran sprints together and several relays. I have several scars from running relays with her and one particular "baton incident" still cracks us up.

After we graduated she went to Great Bend and I went to Huntsville. We would go months without hearing from each other but then those were the days before cell phones. (Wow.. I sound like my mother). We never completely lost touch like we have a tendency to to with childhood friends. I love that I get to see her for some really good quality time once a year. We both love to get glammed up and go out so we have kind of made New Year's Eve "our" special event. We spend months finding the perfect dress then we spend the entire next day recovering on the couch, often with an ice pack, wrapped up in blankets, and eating cheese. Ah, good times.

I've seen my friend a lot more this year but not for positive reasons. She was in town the whole week during my Dad's final hospital stay. She was constantly checking on me, offering to help with whatever she could, making sure I ate, offering to get me out of the house.. just whatever. I will never be able to effectively thank her for that and even if I tried she would just say, "Hey girl, that's what friends are for."

Now my sweet, generous, loving friend needs me for the same reason. Dad has been gone two months and it feels like yesterday. So many days I want to just crawl in a hole and hide. I can't and I won't do that to her. I pray that God will give me the strength and the courage to be whatever she needs right now. She deserves that and so much more because, "Hey, that's what friends are for."

If you could go back in time and change one thing, one event, what would it be and would you want to? Everybody has things they would like to go back and change if they could. I know if I knew now what I knew then I'd be a totally different person but that is not God's plan. Unfortunately we have to make mistakes. The trick is to learn from them so we become better people.

My do-over would be staying in Dodge City and not moving to Alabama. When Jamie and I started dating I lived in Huntsville Alabama. I love the South and Huntsville was such a hip, cultural, invigorating city. You could get up in the morning and decide to either go to the mountains or to the beach. Both were within a half days drive.  Jamie had a great job as a Journeyman Lineman at Victory Electric in Dodge City but the town was dirty and full of illegal workers. There were a number of beef packing plants that surrounded the town and every time you went outside you could smell them. We didn't have children yet but I knew I did not want to raise them there.

When I moved to Dodge the deal was that someday we would move back down South. Jamie made good on that promise four years later however he took a job with a contractor who skimped on safety measures. This error resulted in his injuries. As much as I hated Dodge, if I had not been so insistent that we move he would not have been hurt. We could have waited for the "right" opportunity to come along.

Every decision we make whether it is good or bad is a learning experience. God does give us do-overs; it's called the future.

Have you ever had someone tell you something and you just can't seem to get it off your mind? Whenever that happens to me I have a tendency to roll it over and over for a couple of days tenderizing the hell out of it. The other day a good friend out of the blue told me they thought my "assets" were ranked in the following order 1. smart 2. funny and 3. attractive. I took that as the compliment it was intended I mean, what woman doesn't want to be thought of as intelligent. I know I sure as heck don't feel that way most days so it felt good that someone would perceive me as such. One thing that never ceases to tork me is watching a woman working a room acting like a complete ditz and getting away with it because of her looks. I take pride in never being that person. As far as being funny, that's cool too. Who wants to be around someone with the personality of a cucumber? So the thing that I am wondering is how would someone know those top two things without engaging me in conversation? What would that conversation have to consist of? So my conclusion is this; I simply need uglier friends.

Maybe It Was The Boyfriend

Okay, I'm really thinking this is serious. First she makes a special point to tell me she has a new boyfriend because "Mom you need to know these things!" Then she changes her "relationship status" on Facebook. Red flag, red flag! Now come the excuses to go over to his house because it is spring break and today he comes out to watch her bowl. Even though they hardly said two words the entire morning, nor did they sit together she still managed to be a complete bowling stud muffin with a 201 game! So was it all the sugar she had for breakfast or the fact that she has been progressing so fast on her game all season? Heck, maybe it was the boyfriend!

Thank goodness for March Madness, ESPN360, and dual monitors!

Perhaps I should start this post with a disclaimer but I'm not sure what it would be. Maybe that I really am not crazy but then I know I would receive emails from my friends arguing that point. Lately I have read various sources talking about how now is a time of heightened intuition, spirituality, etc. I also found it interesting to see a large, beautiful eagle in city limits yesterday. He was sitting on the left side of the road as I passed him on my way to work. I passed him again on my way home sitting in a tree on the opposite side in the same vicinity. Last night I read about the significance of the eagle so I am wondering if that was in my head or if it was something more that caused me to suddenly wake at 4:10am. I was pretty sound asleep and dreaming when I suddenly heard a familiar voice speak to me in my head. It was only one, brief sentence but it was loud and significant enough to jolt me to consciousness. In fact the voice interrupted my dream like a child urgently wanting to be heard. It was odd... and a little weird. It was a good weird.

Yes I admit I correct your grammar in my head

Disclaimer: You are about to read a pure bitch session. There will be venting but it is not to be taken personally.

One of my biggest pet peeves is sloppy grammar. If it happens as an accident or an oopsy slip, it is acknowledged but quickly forgiven. However, if someone continuously ends a sentence with the preposition "at" then they should not be shocked when my head spins counterclockwise and my ears begin to bleed. If the person speaking holds a masters degree or a PHD and teaches for a University then I believe it is completely acceptable to punish them with a high five to the forehead. After all, they have to learn somehow.

Some argue that there are some instances when it is okay to end a sentence with a preposition. An example of this would be when the sentence does not make sense if you were to leave the preposition off at the end. A sentence such as "What step are you on?" does not make sense if you leave off the word "on" so this is considered by some to be okay. I don't know but it makes sense.

The use of tense is another pickle and I admit I have to watch this one. Today I repeatedly listened to a woman in my group say, "We was going to... " and "We was thinking we would...." I swear my brain shut down and I could not even focus on the rest of what she was saying because in my head all I could hear was, "were, were, WERE!" To make this even a little more uncomfortable these conversations were with our peers from other State Universities and Kansas Legislators. I guess it was only "uncomfortable" for me because no one else even flinched.

I've been accused of being uptight and maybe I am to a certain extent. However, next to sloppy grammar the thing I dislike the most is looking like, sounding like, or being mistaken for an uneducated hick. I strongly believe if you want to be taken seriously you have to exercise good language skills. I personally witnessed this today and unfortunately for those who have to endure me, it ruffled my feathers even more in this regard. Sorry guys.....

There are a lot of things you don't want to hear from a child under the age of 11 and I heard two this weekend. One was, "Mom, I have a boyfriend and I thought you should know." I am not a fan of 6th grade drama and my first thought was, "here we go again." She also has a birthday coming up in a few weeks and has been busy planning a boy/girl party. (Lord help me....)

The other is "Hey Mom, I had beer and hot dogs at my friend's house!" Well, technically it was root beer but she still thought the "WHAT!" she got from me was hilarious. Then when I asked her to go feed the dog she said "Sorry Mom, I can't. I'm still drunk." I informed her the walk from the garage to Ellie's pen would sober her up! (Little smart@%*!)

Who do these kids belong to anyway? I sure hope their mother comes to get them soon.

Train sings my "happy song" right now and all the credit goes to my lil' Sydie. Sunday in the car this song came on the radio and I had heard it but really didn't think too much about it... until I heard her sweet little voice belting out all the words in the back seat. Soon, all three of us were singing at the top of our lungs. Now, every time it comes on the radio I crank it up and I'm back in that vehicle with my little "Soul Sisters" just a singin' away with a smile and a warm fuzzy feeling in my heart.

I may bleed crimson and blue but let the record show that I can and will effectively impersonate a "Cat" when the overall cause is greater than just school pride. To view the rest of this album, visit the K-State Alumni Association page on Facebook.

Despite the bickering, phone calls from upset constituents, and the constant battle with accurate reporting by one of our media sources, I would not trade my experience in municipal government for anything. An old friend once told me when I was new on the council, "Don't let the bastards get you down" and those words reverberate in my head quite often.

The days I've spent chaperoning the youth academy and teaching them about city and county government give me a renewed, positive perspective. How could you not after spending the day with these crazy kids!

I was researching meditation techniques online and came across a great article about karma. In it was "The Dalai Lama's Instructions for Life" and I felt compelled to share this. There are a lot of days I have wished that life did come with an instruction manual. Ultimately it is up to us individually to create our own happiness and that happiness should not depend on someone else.

Instructions for Life by The Dalai Lama

1. Take into account that great love and great achievements involve great risk.
2. When you lose, don’t lose the lesson.
3. Follow the three R’s:
   -  Respect for self,
   -  Respect for others and
   -  Responsibility for all your actions.
4. Remember that not getting what you want is sometimes a wonderful stroke of luck.
5. Learn the rules so you know how to break them properly.
6. Don’t let a little dispute injure a great relationship.
7. When you realize you’ve made a mistake, take immediate steps to correct it.
8. Spend some time alone every day.
9. Open your arms to change, but don’t let go of your values.
10. Remember that silence is sometimes the best answer.
11. Live a good, honorable life. Then when you get older and think back, you’ll be able to enjoy it a second time.
12. A loving atmosphere in your home is the foundation for your life.
13. In disagreements with loved ones, deal only with the current situation. Don’t bring up the past.
14. Share your knowledge. It is a way to achieve immortality.
15. Be gentle with the earth.
16. Once a year, go someplace you’ve never been before.
17. Remember that the best relationship is one in which your love for each other exceeds your need for each other.
18. Judge your success by what you had to give up in order to get it.
19. If you want others to be happy, practice compassion.
20. If you want to be happy, practice compassion.