The Irish Mardi Gras

What's the deal with St. Patrick's Day? I'm going to have to google this to find out why we're all drinking green beer.

...excuse me while I google that...

I'm back. Now it makes more sense. It's a Catholic holiday, for which Lenten restrictions are lifted. So if we gave up alchohol, we could drink it. If we gave up chocolate, we could eat it. 

If I didn't give up anything for Lent, am I still allowed to act like a fool today? 

Survey says...yes! 

Slainte!

Choices

Also found in my Drafts folder:

We make zillions of small choices every day. Every hour. Every minute. For example, right now I'm choosing to drink a pink lemonade and vodka drink while listening to the TV and waiting for dinner to finish cooking.

Walked the dog. Walked during soccer practice and found a fantastic bike trail that I didn't know existed! Maybe I should try finding a new radio station. Or park in a different parking lot at work.

Saw two friends at the grocery store - because I went to a different store!

Options are so nice to have. Use them!

Martha Stewart

Found in my Drafts folder:

I like Martha even more now that I know she drinks.

Back in the Saddle!

I'm not sure why, but I'm back. Somehow my laptop even remembered  my login and password, thank goodness. I just reviewed the old blog posts, and kinda made myself laugh. :)

The youngest is still doing all of our baking, he's almost ready to get his driver's license, and he's talking about college.

The middle has already totaled a few cars, is going to college, and planning her next International vacation. She has a habit of saying things like, "I guess I forgot to tell you. I'm going to 'Egypt, Europe, Arizona' for '3 weeks, 25 days, not sure how long.'  

The eldest has moved in with his wonderful girlfriend, is going to school, and working part time.

My, the times have changed! I really like having kids that are young adults. We still have the battles over dishes and whose turn it is to use the washer and dryer tonight, but things have calmed down considerably. We're all retired from soccer. Damn I miss it.

Last weekend I still felt a very strong urge to run away. A friend and I packed up and went to Santa Fe for the weekend. We drove through rain and snow and traffic and snow and fog and snow to get there. It didn't phase us a bit. Once there, we ate, drank, were merry, shopped, wandered, and drank some more. We both bought cowgirl boots, because we CAN! They were also half off. ;-)

Then we slept late and drove to a 200 year old Native American Catholic Church (I think so, anyway) with freaky statues and paintings and "healing dirt." I had no container to hold the dirt, so I wrapped it in money. I made an envelope out of cash. And it worked.

The trip seemed to heal my heart and soul in an unexpected way, and I can't wait to go back!

Quotes

I love quotes, especially when they appear seemingly from nowhere, at the perfect time, and jump off the page at you. They attach themselves to my brain like an octopus tentacle might.

"Life is a comedy for those who think... and a tragedy for those who feel."

This quote jumped out at me this morning, and it made me appreciate the fact that I'm mostly a Thinker, and I can find humor in anything. Even the dark parts of life.

I just spent a long weekend on a positively lovely vacation with 8 fantastic women. We ate good food, drank cocktails, lounged on the beach, walked, swam, talked, talked, and talked. It was so good for all of our souls.

Upon return to work yesterday, I found out there would be "an announcement" today, we should "stay focused on our projects" and continue "business as usual."

The irony of the timing was indisputable, so I waited till I got home, and then laughed. Life takes such amazing twists and turns, you just never know what's coming. I choose to find humor in that...and "choose" is the key word.

Without laughter, I have nothing.