Wordless Wednesday - My neighborhood

One Sentence Post - 10 years younger and 10 lbs lighter

Excellent posture and a warm smile will make anyone look 10 years younger and 10 lbs lighter.

Perfect Moment Mondays - Duckling Rescue

Thank you for joining me for another Perfect Moment Monday hosted by Lori of Weebles Webblog. Perfect Moment Mondays are an opportunity to practice the Art of Appreciation which helps me keep things in perspective. (Like Not blowing my stack when my regularly quite ripe 14 y/o son doesn't bring home his dirty gym uniform for the Second Week in a Row!! I fully expect the gym shorts and tshirt to walk home and throw themselves at my feet to be washed. Sorry, I digress. See how much I need this Perfect Moment stuff to keep my balance?)

This week's Perfect Moment happened yesterday when I called my husband on his cell phone while he was out running errands. He told me he was parked right around the corner from our house and was trying to help two woman who had stopped in response to a Mother Duck distressed that two of her ducklings had fallen into the storm drain. The Mother Duck was quacking and agitated and had to be herded a half a block away with her other ducklings while my husband and another neighbor tried to rescue the ducklings. My neighbor went and got a long handled pool skimmer and both men laid down in front of the storm drain. The two ducklings were going back and forth, side to side, trying to jump from the concrete ledge inside the drain to escape with no success. My neighbor finally was able to get under each duckling with the skimmer net and bring it to the opening where my husband reached in and scooped them up with both hands. We brought the ducklings over to the mother and other ducklings where they ran to the Momma Duck who quacked and greeted her little lost ones with a joyful, "I Found YOU!!"* My husband said the ducklings were so soft and weighed as much as a cotton ball. He was beaming and it is wonderful to share and be a witness to a perfect moment for him and also for the Momma Duck.

*Guilty as Charged of the Crime of Anthropomorphism.

Fabulously Frugal - 31 Days/31 Giveaways in May

There is some major swag in blogland to be had and I am so glad I found this great website that has Discounts on Fashion, Home Accessories, Food freebies, Coupon codes to major department stores and Cool, handmade boutiques among many other savings and Giveaways! The blogger in charge of this site is really up to date on her research and with Fabulous Frugal "Connections".

So, please stop by Fab Frugal to try and score some treats for yourself which so far has included a silver candle, a book, and necklace! And it's only the third day!!



(I love to share discounts w/my friends, it's genetic.)

Things that make me go "Hmmm"

Someone needs to explain to me-

Why people will tolerate behavior from a dog that they would NEVER tolerate from a human being?

Why my neighbors have to warm up their new model car for 15 minutes every morning when it's SIXTY DEGREES outside?

Why doesn't the phone company just tell you that the technician will be at your house 15 minutes after the end of your 4 hour appointment window?

How my cat knows I've cleaned her litter box even though she is sound asleep and at the other end of the house?

Why my kids put the empty milk carton back in the fridge? (Anybody? Please?)

Why I don't cut myself more of a break?

Do you have any ponderings you would like to share? (Is pondering even a word?) Thank you and my best for a Conundrum Free Weekend!

"It's all just stuff"

Thank you all so much for your supportive comments about my son's bike getting stolen. You all "get it" and I thank you for that. I was thinking about my attachment to possessions and sometimes things like this happen to remind me, "It's just stuff." To accept the transient nature of "things" or the illusion of ownership is an ongoing process for me. I also realize that this was in some backhanded backward way, a pretty inexpensive lesson that I live in the real world, a real city, (granted, it is considered a suburb of Los Angeles, but we have approximately a quarter of a million people in the Santa Clarita Valley. (A big city no one has ever heard of.))
So, now we make sure our doors and gates are locked and I learn the Buddhist lesson of nonattachment anew. "And so it goes." *

One attachment that I do celebrate today is my 15th Wedding anniversary! Note to hubby (who studiously will not read my blog or any blog for that matter.)
- Thank you for loving me, putting up with me, standing by me and our family, taking care of us, and still making me laugh, and my ears wiggle after 15 years. Here's to the next 15, Honey!

Thank you for the gift of your time and allowing me to get all philosophical in your face today.


* Billy Pilgrim, "Slaughterhouse Five" by Kurt Vonnegut.

More than a bike was stolen

Our son's bike got stolen from our side yard over the weekend.
It sucks, I'm pissed.
I hate how it makes me feel about my home and community.
It makes me sad that my son has to experience this.
I hate that there are opportunistic scumbags who would do this.
Not only took the bike, but the helmut and bike lock too.
I laid in bed last night wondering how the bike was doing and if it missed its' boy.
We can get another bike for him, but something else was lost that we can't replace so easily. That feeling of security, of respect.
That's what really stings.