Day 5: Fingers

Day 5 started with an early morning appointment at a coffee shop near the Westfield Shopping Mall. During my 20-minute drive I was trying to muster up some warm fuzzies about my fingers. The best I could do was a brief moment of appreciation for my lack of arthritic joints -- definitely a good thing.  I gave my fingers maybe two to three minutes of attention and then began grousing about the abundance of orange barrels between me and the mall.

I got to the coffee shop, went in, ordered my double shot espresso and handed over my debit card.  That's when I noticed. The middle-aged woman waiting on me had a thumb, an index finger and three stubs where her fingers should have been. Not just one hand was affected, both of her hands were maimed.

What are the odds that on my fingers appreciation day I meet a woman missing her fingers?

Consider joining me on this self-appreciation journey. Click the 30-day challenge above to get started. I have to say, it felt a bit eerie today...

Day 4: Creative Spirit

Day 4 was easy breezy. From the time I was a kid, I've been told I'm creative. It's one of those "truths" about myself I embrace - unlike the truths I ignore.

Spending the day appreciating my creative spirit made me realize the power of labels. "Creative" wasn't exactly the label I was tagged with early in my life. It was "starving artist." It took me well into adulthood to realize starving artist wasn't one word. Eventually, I extracted creative from starving artist and have happily integrated that label into my identity.  Until today, I've never spent much time appreciating my creative spirit. It was good.

What can you appreciate about yourself? Click the 30-day challenge tab above and join me!

Day 3: Blue Eyes...So what

Day 3 was "blue eyes appreciation day." So what? Since day 2 was a total dud, I felt like I needed to jump start day 3. I decided to take my dog to the park. That way I could spend a good half-hour walking the trails while talking to myself - outloud - pretending to be on my cell phone. It went something like this, "I appreciate my blue eyes, oh there's a chipmunk, I appreciate my blue eyes, oops, almost stepped in dog crap, blue eyes, blue sky, poison ivy, there's another neon pink X on an Ash tree, what was that again, oh yea, blue eyes..."

Somehow I managed to yank my ADD brain back on track and for a good share of my walk, I gave thanks - outloud - for my blue eyes. My dog was extra happy since she thought I was talking to her the entire walk. By the time we got home, I was feeling less foolish about this self-appreciation experiment. The surprising part was that for the rest of the day, whenever I needed to surface from a negative vibe, the blue eyes thing sort of helped.

Try it, I dare you...click the 30-Day Challenge tab above...don't make me do this alone...

Day 2 was a DUD

Self-appreciating is not for the wimpy. I would size up day 2 as an all out DUD. As a general rule, it's not good to pick something about yourself to appreciate that requires Advil to get through the day. Feet were my preassigned item for day 2. Dumb choice. I have seriously high arches that are seriously falling. Falling arches are painful and pain made appreciating my feet difficult. Hopefully day 3, blue eyes day, goes better.

If you'd like to give self-appreciation a try, click on the 30-day challenge tab above.

Day 1: Gosh, I have a Great Knee

This is day one, and I admit to feeling a bit silly. My chosen item to appreciate about myself today is my right knee. Sexy, I know. My right knee is significant because thanks to a skilled orthopedic surgeon and an anonymous donor, it actually works the way a knee should work.

I spent better than a quarter century with a "trick" knee. In addition to predicting the weather, my knee routinely "gave out" if I so much as looked at a pea-sized pebble. This condition resulted in numerous less-than-graceful maneuvers and a total void of stylish shoes in my wardrobe - two distressing situations.

When I finally decided to have it fixed, I was shocked to learn the "fix" required a ligament from a cadaver. Once I got over the shock of a "cadaver" part in my body - I had the surgery and voila - no more trick knee.

Until today, I never stopped to appreciate my knee. I also never stopped to appreciate the person whose ligament I received. Thank you...

Click on 30-Day Challenge tab above to find out how you can join me on my 30-day adventure.

Family vacation without the Internet - YIKES!

I am on vacation with my family and for the record -- it's different than being on vacation with the butt sisters. When I'm with the butt sisters I check out of the other roles I play in life...IE. mom, wife, chauffeur, meal planner, ATM, and problem solver. While on vacation with my family I retain ALL my daily roles with the addition of one more -- person who sits around while everyone else is off having fun.

Not that I'm complaining, exactly. I do enjoy time where I can do my own thing, read, write, snooze...the usual vacation stuff. The difference is my "free" time is structured around the needs of everyone else.

I can't sleep in because Techno Spouse has to get to the course in time to "practice" BEFORE his 7:30 a.m. tee time. I can't go back to bed because teen and friend have to be dropped at the bus stop by 9:20. It's necessary they get to Japan asap to consume sickeningly sweet beverages sealed with a glass marble. I still can't go back to bed because maintenance will be showing up any minute to fix the toilet.

The good news is - once I get everyone situated (and the toilet is fixed) I have a couple of hours before it's time to repeat the morning in reverse. I choose to spend my time in the company of complete strangers. Here I sit with a collection of other Internet-deprived folks.

We are in Orlando, and much to my dismay, my travel agent - Techno Spouse - booked us a timeshare WITHOUT wifi in the rooms!!! What was he thinking????

If you had asked me WHO misses the Internet most while on vacation -- my flipant reply would have been teens, of course. My teen can't get through a meal without checking her Facebook - but here I sit with an eclectic mix of adults - not a kid in sight.

Accross the room sits a guy close to 80 with his laptop open. His little-old-lady wife has her own laptop with flower stickers on the cover. Next to them a couple of middle-aged women are furiously typing and laughing. Nearby a guy in business attire is speaking German into his cell while banging his keyboard. He doesn't seem happy. A young mom sits next to me downloading her Disney pics - sleeping baby with Mickey, sleeping baby with Snow White, sleeping baby on It's A Small World ride, sleeping baby on Safari ride in Animal Kindgom ... gotta love sleeping babies... Hot guy just replaced young mom sitting next to me. I immediately sit up straighter (never underestimate the value of good posture). Oh darn - hot girlfriend joins him. I resume my slouch.

Suddenly I realize I am the sole English-only speaker in the room. Hmmm -- I should have paid more attention in French class, or better yet learned Chinese, Japanese or Spanish. Hot guy is busily negotiating some type of business deal on his Blackberry -- seemlessly going between Spanish and English. There are several other languages I don't recognize in the room. I feel like the clueless American.

Clueless or not - I am an American and since I'm on vacation I have plenty of time to watch the Olympics and currently Michael Phelps is making me proud!

Time to go - Techno Spouse needs to be picked up...

When is it okay to be a jerk?

Sometimes I wonder if being nice is worth it. I’ve recently had a couple of opportunities to be a full-scale jerk – justifiably. Remember the concrete guy? I opted for the high road, or maybe the coward’s road – whatever way you look at it.

I could have been a jerk. He deserved it.

But I didn’t.

A couple of days ago I had another opportunity to pull out my inner jerk. Here’s the story…

I was minding my own business cruising along the Ohio Turnpike on my way to Cleveland. My companion, a pregnant co-worker, has to pee a lot. We pulled into a rest area, parked and headed for the facilities.

As we approached the building a herd of teens came barreling out. And I mean barreling. Apparently, we were invisible as they commandeered the sidewalk, pushing through without so much as an “excuse me.”

We shook it off and headed into the bathroom only to find ourselves surrounded by a busload of little old ladies. For the record, otherwise friendly little old ladies get MEAN when they have to pee.

We eventually get a turn and finish our business. We then head back out to the parking lot. I look toward my car and can’t believe what I see – a guy, an adult, placing his two Coke cans ON THE HOOD OF MY CAR!

Are you kidding me???

My inner jerk was right there, ready to blast this guy. But the nice girl in me clicked my remote causing my lights to flash, which gave the moron the heads up. He was busted. He grabbed his Cokes off my car as I approached. I said nothing. Got in my car – slammed my door -- and pulled away.

When I told Techno Spouse the story his inner jerk came raging out with a list of things I could of or should of said or done. What do you think? When is it okay, and even desirable, to bring forth your inner jerk? Am I a wimp or just a nice girl? What would you have done?