Energy, wherefore art thou?

I have been dragging my butt for weeks now. Not necessarily feeling bad, but not feeling good either. I ached all over and the idea of getting out of bed each morning has been an Herculean effort.

Today, after crying about it, again, my daughter asks if I would like to try a 5 hour energy shot. I've never consumed this concoction before, and quite frankly was afraid to try it. However, since I've started punching up my vitamin intake and it still was having virtually no effect, I thought, "Sure, why not."

So, Brit gets one from her "stash" and says that maybe I should start by taking only half. I drank said half and followed it with an apple juice chaser. (it doesn't taste very good) Within about 20 minutes, I started feeling a LOT better.

Maybe I could paint the house by nightfall.



This post brought to you by 5 hour energy, Extra Strength.

April 19th

It's April 19th. But then, you already know that. I've been watching with great interest on the news how cities are losing money and cutting services to near nothingness. Makes me wonder what the rest of the world thinks of the mighty USA, but that's a blogpost for another day.

So, it's April 19th, four days past the dreaded April 15th, or four days past my charitable donation to the federal government. Why do I call it a charitable donation, might you ask? I call it that simply because I expect to receive absolutely nothing in return for it. When giving to charitable causes, we do not want for ourselves, we want for others.

This month I have been giving money hand over fist to anyone or anything that came along, it would seem. There was the aforementioned donation to the government, (and that hurt like a mother!), I paid $400 to my friendly neighborhood landscaper to remove my giant 30+ foot Chilean mesquite (before it fell into my house from all the rain!), and my home warranty was due (and you can bet I'm gonna pay that because I don't want a second mortgage should my AC decide to die, ever!).

That's not all. My tags are due on my car, paying a vet to vaccinate and medicate two beagles, a windshield replacement, my quarterly HOA fee (yes I know the good, bad and the ugly of it, I work for a company that manages them, remember?), and a bill complete with deductible for an urgent care visit I had two months ago.

All of this in addition to my regular monthly bills. Did I mention my mortgage payment went up by $11.00 per month because, in their estimation, my escrow account would be short? Perhaps they have not noticed that my home value has gone so extremely low that they will, in my estimation, be cutting me a check later this year because there is too much money in said escrow account! Give me back my 85 cents I tell you!

It may sound like I'm whining. Really, I'm probably not. I wish to extend my gratitude at this point to the illustrious and gregarious El Presidente Obama. Thank you for allowing me to fund your uber ridiculous economic stimulus plan, and self titled Obamacare. Thank you for bailing out the banks, we know what would happen if they were allowed to fail. (Duh, they'd have to learn from their mistakes and start square one, like the rest of America).

I digress. It's April 19th, the birds are singing and it's supposed to rain today.

To be or not to be, that IS the question

It's an interesting existence we live. In school we are taught about basic human needs; food, water, shelter, and love. Yes, I said love. That love yearns for us to have some semblance of acceptance from others. We look to our parents for that acceptance in our very early years. What if that acceptance is withheld?

Where is it to be found, then?

Some will look for it in others, substitutes perhaps. Some look for it in the form of addictive behaviours. Sometimes it is placed in the wrong hands. To quote a song, "I'd rather hurt, than feel nothing at all."

The Saviour taught that we are to love others as ourselves. I'm never more reminded of this principle as when the Easter season is upon us. A reminder of how we are to conduct ourselves with our fellow men or women. He loved the very least of us, and the scorned among us.

So, when we aren't accepted by others, or they place conditions on that acceptance, we have a decision to make. Are the conditions acceptable to ourselves? Do we place those same conditions on them? Is the price too high?

We need to examine our intent with each one of our relationships. It isn't very fun to feel that no matter what we do or what our intent is, we can't make someone accept us. Acceptance of this very fact can allow us to move forward without regret.

Life is short. "Some people come into our lives and quickly go. Others stay a while, make footprints on our hearts, and we are never, ever the same."