Thursday Thirteen - 6th Edition

Thirteen Things to Know About The Season

1. A single sneeze can spray droplets infested with bacteria and viruses as far as 3 feet.

2. Because viruses must invade cells of a living host to reproduce, their life spans outside are generally shorter than that of bacteria, which reproduce on their own.

3. Any sort of nutrients-food particles, skin cells, blood, mucus-helps microbes thrive, which is why your kitchen sponge is a breeding ground.

4. According to Philip Tierno, director of microbiology and diagnostic immunology at the New York University School of Medicine, at room temperature and normal humidity, Escherichia coli (E. coli), a bacteria found in ground beef that causes food poisoning, can live for a few hours to a day.

5. The calicivirus, the culprit of the stomach flu, lives for days or weeks.

6. HIV dies nearly instantly upon exposure to sunlight.

7. Other microbes form exoskeleton-like spores as a defense mechanism, like the bacteria Staphylococcus aureus, which is responsible for toxic shock syndrome, food poisoning, and wound infections. In this way, they can withstand temperature and humidity extremes. Tierno says this bacterial spore can survive for weeks on dry clothing using sloughed skin cells for food.

8. The Bacillus anthracis, the anthrax bacteria, can also form spores and survive tens to hundreds of years.

9. Hepatitis B virus may survive up to a week.

10. Flu viruses tend to live longer on surfaces than cold viruses do.

11. It's generally believed that cold and flu viruses live longer on nonporous surfaces — such as plastic, metal or wood — than they do on porous surfaces — such as fabrics, skin or paper.

12. A person can spread the flu starting one day before he or she feels sick. Adults can continue to pass the flu virus to others for another three to seven days after symptoms start. Children can pass the virus for longer than seven days. Symptoms start one to four days after the virus enters the body. Some persons can be infected with the flu virus but have no symptoms. During this time, those persons can still spread the virus to others.


13. The best way to avoid becoming infected with a cold or flu is to wash your hands frequently with soap and water or with an alcohol-based sanitizer.


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How To Grow Amidst The Bullshit

One of my challenges as a mother is to not take all of the shit my kids do personally. I ask nicely once . . . twice . . I go closer and cup their sweet little faces, resisting the urge to squeeze their cheeks together until their pretty eyes pop out . . and say it again. But when they continually stand there with their heads up their ass with no concept of time even though we do the same freaking routine EVERY morning . . my head starts to spin and these vile words come out of my mouth. THEN the little bastards are listening, aren't they?!

So much for not being sarcastic . . just wait, the personal growth part is coming: )

So, how do I use these frustrating situations for personal growth? I can't put my head in the pantry and meditate because we have to get to school, and SOON. Mr. Tolle doesn't have three kids and two dogs so how does he know? If all I had to do was go to the mountains and be one with nature things would seem much easier.

So, I'm supposed to be ONE WITH THE SITUATION. Don't resist it. Don't make it about me and my mothering skills. Focus on the moment as it is, not as a means to an end. If I'm busy trying to get to the next moment, thing or place then I'm not present. Believe it or not, it works! I have been very aware of when I am not present. Even if I don't feel like I can really be present in the moment, just being aware of that is remarkably enlightening.

I think children are so good at being Present that it is frustrating for the rest of us that are caught up in the dysfunction of what we call life. We perpetuate our dysfunction long enough until they are ready to join the insane, adult world.

Can I stop my own madness?

One With The Situation

I am reading Echkart Tolle's book A New Earth right now, Oprah's book club selection. I have had the book and read half of it prior to the book club selection and have picked it up again. In a very small nutshell, this book is about disidentifying from your ego, i.e., the content of life vs that which enables the content to be - the inner space of consciousness. I think this would make no sense if you haven't read the book. I really get what I'm reading and it is profound although I don't think I can begin to communicate it in a few sentences. The knowing that I feel when I read this book makes it hard to be sarcastic about my life. I have taken pleasure in the past from being sarcastic and perceiving myself as 'funny'. I think it is time to move on.

On the same note, I don't want to write with expectations of anything other than personal growth. Although, I think it would be hard to write knowing that others are reading without admitting that it must be feeding my ego in some respect. Perhaps if I chronicle my growth in an honest fashion then I will at least be able to admit the aspects of ego that are a part of this journey.

I hate the use of the word journey, by the way. I think it's WAY overused.

On a totally different note, I am watching the show "Moment of Truth" right now and I can't help but say the this woman and her husband are complete fucking idiots. It's painful to watch and yet I am still watching it. Will the money be a comfort to her after she's ruined the life she has created for herself??

The title of this post "one with the situation" was one of the points in the book that resonated me. Rather than resisting what happens, one should (not the correct word 'should') become one with the situation and focus on the NOW. I had a great example from this morning but I am too exhausted to relay it. I will write about it tomorrow.

Thursday Thirteen - 5th Edition

Thirteen Questions 1. What are you afraid of? 2. What gives you joy? 3. What are you waiting for? 4. Can you go a whole day without complaining? A week? 5. How many things can you do today out of pure love and kindness? 6. Have you created the life that you really want for yourself? 7. If not, do you take responsibility for that or blame someone else? 8. Do you live your life on purpose or just let it happen to you? 9. When is the last time you really had FUN? 10. We all have the same 24 hours in a day. How are you using yours? How often do you use the excuse that you "don't have time"? 11. Do you smile first or wait for the other person? 12. When hugging someone, are you the first or last to let go? 13. What do you love about yourself?

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Thursday Thirteen - 4th Edition

Thirteen Things I LOVE about my husband (not necessarily in order of importance) 1. He is tall, dark and handsome. 2. He still brings me flowers. 3. He is the first to notice a beautiful sky. 4. He is one of the most patient people I've ever met. 5. He still tells me I'm cute. 6. He is the most driven, ambitious, tenacious person I've ever met. 7. He has a HUGE, loving and generous heart. 8. He cries to country songs. 9. He loves his mama. 10. He is the most amazing father to our three children. 11. He never says no when I ask for a massage, even the non-sexual ones. 12. He's like my own private yacht. 13. He is the strongest person, both physically and mentally that I know. BONUS: 14. He makes me feel safe. 15. He makes the bed. 16. He can fix just about anything. 17. He always smells good. 18. He makes me laugh. 19. He is so very smart.

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The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others comments. It’s easy, and fun! Trackbacks, pings, comment links accepted!

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Thursday Thirteen - 3rd Edition

Thirteen Translations for Things Women Say DISCLAIMER: the comments below are from a random sampling of women and do not represent the thoughts of the blogger. 1. Does my butt look big? Translation: Do I look good? Correct answer is always "you look great!". That way you are not technically lying if our butt really does look big. "Big butt? So what?" is my husband's typical response. He can get away with this because of the OBVIOUS humor. 2. It's not the size of the boat, it's the motion in the ocean. Translation: this is the equivalent of the male answer above. We are just trying to be nice. We really want our own private yacht. 3. Honey, would you please take out the trash? Translation: Jackass, if you throw something away and the trash is full then TAKE IT OUT! 4. I love it when you are the last one out of bed in the morning and you make the bed. Translation: This is exactly what we mean. We LOVE it. It's foreplay in every sense of the word. 5. No, I really don't want anything for Valentine's Day, birthday, anniversary, etc. Translation: I really don't want anything BUT a thoughtful gift would be nice. REEEALLLY NICE. ALWAYS play it safe and come home with a 'thoughtful' gift. If you were smart, you would have a stash of 'thoughtful' gifts. Remember, perception is reality. 6. I love being a wife and mother; it is all I ever dreamed of. Translation: PLEASE, go to work, eat in solitude, have conversations that involve multi-syllablic words, wipe white-boards, not butts, take a sh*t by yourself, really, I'll be here poking my eyes out. 7. I am naturally thin. I eat whatever I want and just can't gain weight. Translation: I am either compulsively anorexic/bulemic or am so strung out on #@* that I could care less what I eat. 8. I've never done this before. Translation: Really, I've never done this before. 9. I'm not hungry, you go ahead and eat what you want. Translation: If I eat off of your plate the calories don't count so make sure you include enough for me. 10. Let's just stop and ask for directions. I'll even get out and pretend I'm the one driving. Translation: FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, let's stop wasting our time and figure out where the hell we are going. It takes a secure man to ask for directions and we LOVE that. 11. Ahhh, I am so tense, I could use a shoulder massage. Translation: I could really use a shoulder massage. This does not mean, I repeat does not mean, I am so horny and could really use a stiff #*%. 12. Honey, I could use a few hours to myself. Would you please take the kids SOMEWHERE besides here. Translation: If I don't get a loooooong moment to myself I am likely to pull a Britney. Fess up ladies, I know there are many of you out there trying to figure out how you can get committed for 72 hours. What exactly do we have to do to get that sort of treatment? I'll shave my head, take off my underwear, speak in a British accent .. . so far no one's buying it. 13. Honey, we really need to talk. Translation: Bring home the private yacht, the thoughtful gifts, the shoulder massage and an afternoon alone and we promise we won't talk about our feelings.

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The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others comments. It’s easy, and fun! Trackbacks, pings, comment links accepted!

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