Things I've learned lately

The list below is just the tip of the iceberg.

1) When you do yard work:  Don't wear flip flops.

2) (Addendum to #1)  When your husband says you need new tools to keep the yard tidy, buy them for him...those clippers really are sucky.

3) BBQ's are really gross.

4) Going back to bed after the kids leave for school is almost always a bad idea.

5) If something bad happens to you, people's number one advice for you is to sleep.

6)  Cars, especially old trucks, need lots of oils and liquids put in them.  If you don't know the name of the liquid, you are in trouble.

7)  Everything is really expensive.

8)  Blood sugars and sadness are like heterogeneous liquids.

9)  Those who pass on are closer than we think.

10)  Strangers are going to ask questions if you have a ring hanging around your neck.  And if you give them the simple answer that it is your husbands, they will not be afraid to follow up with, "Why isn't he wearing it?"

11)  Everyone has good inside them.  Sometimes they hide it, but it is there.  They let it shine when they are enveloped in compassion for another person.  As hard as it has been to lose Ryan, if there is a silver lining...it's that good people's countenances are shining all around me.

12)  Scrambled eggs taste better cooked with butter rather than a cooking spray. 

13)  Accepting help.  It's not as easy as it sounds.

14)  Writing sets me free.  (Validated yet again.)

15)  There is a cat "thing" going on in my neighborhood.  They sit at the end of my driveway for hours.  They look in my window.  They pace the fence.  If I wasn't sane, or almost sane, I would think they are guarding my house.  One in particular tries to come in every time we walk in the door.  I'm not a cat person.  It's a bit amusing, but horrifyingly eerie at the same time.

16)  If you have good credit and pay all your bills, (including your mortgage,) on time...your mortgage company doesn't want to talk to you.  "Call back when you are behind on your payments."  ummm...no thank you.

17)  It isn't enough to set your alarm for 2:00.  You must make sure it says AM and not PM.

18)  Christmas music is mostly nostalgic and depressing.

19)  If you love someone.  Tell them.  Guaranteed that they need to hear it.  I'm sure they are waiting for it right now. 

20)  Bad blood sugars don't last forever.  The future holds better numbers.

21)  Look up.  The sky has a message for you.

22)  God answers prayers.

23)  Pump sets can seem eternally frustrating, but if you keep at it...eventually you become the boss.

24)  If everyone treated everyone else with the same kindness they treat me, this world would be amazingball.

25)  Don't comment on your teenage son's facebook status 12 times.  

26)  Try new things.  Strawberry Rhubarb pie is the the bomb!  I had it for the first time in October and realize I've missed out on its wonderfulness lo these many years.

27)  Liquid Drano doesn't always work.  Not cool.

28)  Waking up your son to kill a big nasty spider is ok. (Someone told me to vacuum up the big suckers, but what if it survives the original suckage?  What if it lives and lays baby eggs and new spiders are born in the canister?)

29)  I have a music problem that I need to deal with.  I can glean a message from every song anywhere and apply it to me.  Most people don't even listen to the words.  I'm learning I want to be most people. 

30)  Awesomeness has no age limit.  My children are way stronger than I give them credit for.  The other night my leaky eye syndrome was acting up.  (Usually this only happens when the boys are at school.)  My youngest L took my hand and sat and cried with me for a half hour.  He comforted me with the sweetest words.  How can a 9 year old intuitively know what to say to make everything better? 

31) Which will be my last one...and I know it will bug the heck out of some people that I'm not ending on a nice even number...but...I'm doing it because I've learned I have a bit of a rebellious side to me, and I'm embracing it.