perspective

Today marked five years since a close friend's last chemotherapy treatment.  One and a half months younger than I am, she has yet to enter her 30th year.

A close family friend, around my mother's age, begins her own cancer treatment this week.

(source)

four

Four years ago today, this wee little guy appeared in our driveway.

[pics from April 24-May 16, 2009] 

Happy Birthday, Junebug :)

goodness

I make smoothies almost every day.  A pitcher-full of thick, slurp-able goodness.  Oftentimes they are aesthetically unappealing, a dark greenish-brown concoction.  I get most excited when they turn out a surprisingly bright green, or dark red, or even orange.  I think each one is beautiful.  I am aware of the life-giving elements whirled together in its creation.  They are always delicious, except for that one time MusicMan thought it would be fine to throw some tomatoes in.  Today I started adding fresh-squeezed lemon juice.

The cool smoothness is enjoyable, but sometimes I just need to crunch and munch.  Last night I finished off the banana chips.  Today I was rummaging the pantry again.  In between and after my two pints of goodness today, munchies have consisted of: grape tomatoes, roasted macadamia nuts, dark chocolate, mini Altoids, blue corn chips, microwave popcorn.  Now I only have one mini-bag left, then I can start using my Whirley Pop.  Had TJ's crescent rolls for lunch, filled with pepperoni leftover from pizza party night, jalapeno, mozzarella & diced mushrooms.  My stomach doesn't quite know how to handle today's hodge-podge.  I was supposed to sauté the rest of the mushrooms tonight, with garlic and spinach.  Perhaps I will be less crunch-craving tomorrow.  

unfinished

The last few weeks have felt very disjointed.  I seem to be going from one thing to another without achieving any sense of completion.  I have felt rather fragmented and need to gather myself back together.  I do notice that my best days are those following a night of enough rest, and I should really accept and remember how important that is.  Last night I spent some time reading in bed, got almost eight hours of sleep and actually felt like starting my day with some physical activity this morning (and did so).  What a welcome change of pace.  It is a powerful thing to reach a place of feeling most like myself and the me I want to be.  I wish to achieve and maintain that.  I wish this for everyone.  What strength we would all have!  

In other news, a week or two ago, I found a blog that I was inspired to follow called Our Freaking Budget.  Have fun exploring the tabbed sections along the top of the page.  I find Joanna & Johnny to be relatable, genuine and funny, and couldn't help but overindulge myself in all of their enjoyable stories when I first happened across them.  Another blog to check out: Neon Fresh.  Roo is quite entertaining.  And I appreciated her recent post about turning 30.  

A quote: 

"I am.. a firm believer in disruptive change as a positive force. ... When you tear up your life, it forces you 

to embrace the idea that you can become someone better than who you used to be."  

-- from Michelle's post on Remodelista

Also, watch this.

nutty

I was stuck in barely-crawling traffic, starving, hoping to make it home in time for World News with Diane Sawyer, wishing I'd gotten my granola bar out of my bag before tossing it in the now unreachable trunk, when my eyes fell upon a sticker on the truck in front of me.  It stated, "Nuttier than a squirrel's turd."  I scrunched up my nose, which made me think of the Grey Squirrel song from Girl Scout days.  At least I didn't feel so hungry anymore.  I'll have to pass the phrase along to Music Man; I'm sure he'll enjoy incorporating it into conversation somehow.

I marveled at how many people live out on the northwest side of town, "so far away".  The long, curving exit ramp that takes me to 290 was backed up immediately upon exiting the Beltway, and the next seven miles until home can take 30 minutes (that's a fun 14mph average).  Sure enough, a half hour later I had finally escaped from the highway.  After sitting in line at the light for a minute or so, I noticed it right there in front of me: the Nutty Truck, again.

I am just now remembering how I was almost in an accident when my journey home first began, and that was before I had even made it onto the highway.  There were two left turn lanes, of which I was in the right lane, where one can either turn left or go straight.  As I was turning, the car to my left apparently wanted to go straight, and almost rammed into my side.  We'd been moving slowly enough that I wasn't sure if there had been any impact or not.  We both pulled over to check it out, and thankfully it was fine.  She said, "I don't think you were supposed to turn left."  Actually, she wasn't supposed to go straight from a left-turn only lane.  Ah well, that was just the beginning of a nutty ride home.


On another note, today I am considering myself a savvy shopper.  I got a nice pair of pants and a soft drapey t-shirt for only $23.70 total -- less than the full price of the shirt alone.

Almost as good as the $26 I saved on these shoes a few days ago:

Today's thunderstorm is finally blowing through right now.  I was expecting it all day, but am glad it waited out the evening commute.  There was a decent downpour on Easter Sunday afternoon, too, and I realized how much I had missed the sound of splattering rain and thunder's endless rumbling & roaring.