Happy Little Trees

I have a cool mousepad with my company's name on it. It connects to my workstation via a USB port and glows blue. It's kind of fun. My co-worker asked me if I had ever read the directions to the mousepad, which I had not. She said the directions had some issues in translation. So, I read them.

Excerpt from the instructions:
"Welcome to use aurora player's evil spirit cushion, please read a manual carefully, in order to understand in an all-round way and use a product correctly."

My other favorite:
"Open the top cover, remove the sponge hands and hold the organism both sides, there should not be damaging. Scratch to check the evil spirit cushion, otherwise should get in touch with local distributor."

I am a bit nervous that my mouse pad is an evil spirit cushion, but nothing bizarre has happened yet.

I am taking a spin class today.

The creator of spinning was a guy named Johnny G. I really don't know how facts like that get in my brain. Maybe from reading magazines, or perhaps Uncle John's Bathroom Reader.

Whatever the case, I will be spinning. I kind of wish that the spinning class could be linked to a spinning wheel, and after all the hard work, each class member would get a bit a spun yarn to take home. It might be a neat twist on things.

...Or maybe the bikes could be hooked up to generators, and the electricity for the music and lights would be supplied based on amount of effort exerted by the class.

For now, I will just settle for calorie burn and wait for the freshly spun yarn and the generators.

Friday is here once again. I'm not the type of person that lives for Fridays, because there are so many other days in between. If I just lived for
Fridays, that would be cutting back my lifespan by a lot.

I enjoy Fridays, because it's sweet anticipation for rest, relaxation, and usually some fun. I've got some plans to visit a friend, workout, maybe watch some movies, eat, go to church, do some laundry, and just chill. Life really is so much like a box of chocolates.

Life has been on a roll. My sickness has finally passed. All the tissues have been taking out with the trash. And I finally started back on my workout schedule. ...And I also had a Valentine! And, I got to celebrate President's Day with a day off from work for the first time in a few years! I feel very blessed.

I have two dear friends that are both getting married this spring. I'm in both weddings and they are a week apart. Due to a lack of extra funds after the holiday season, I waited awhile before I purchased the bridesmaid dress for the April wedding.

Okay, honestly, I was dreading it. Being a bridesmaid is something I do out of love for my friends, and I will leave my comments at that. But the procedure of buying a dress did not go as easily as I had thought. I've bought bridesmaid dresses before, so I didn't think it would be a bad experience.

I stopped by the dress store after celebrating President's Day with a massage, and walked in thinking I would say, "Size 0 for me!" [note: sizes have been changed to protect all parties involved] and then I would leave with maybe a dress in hand or order one. After being called, "sweet girl," "baby girl," and "sweet baby," while standing at the counter, finally the sales rep took care of my case.

"Okay, sweet baby, your dress is espresso [brown], and it's a number 7230, ohhhh! and the wedding is April, yeah, we're gonna need a rush order. It will be a $15 fee." said the lovely sales rep.

"A $15 fee?" said me.

"Oh, no, we better use the $30 fee!" said the not as lovely sales rep.

"A $30 fee?!" said me.

"Oh yes, you waited too long. What size are you?" said the not near as lovely sales rep.

Then, the next thing that made me not-so-happy was the dress size issue. Sizes are a sensitive issue with women. I have lost some pounds within the last year, and felt pretty confident with the size that I am. So, I said, "I need a '0'." I tried it on, and then decided, "ummm...I need the '2'." I wanted to be able to eat at the wedding.

The now evil sales rep came in my dressing room and said, "Okay, take the dress off and then I will come in and measure you."

WHAT? I am a bit of a modest person and generally prefer privacy when in my skivvies in a dressing room. I did not feel a bond with this woman and want her to see my in a personal way. But she came in the room and did my measurements. Thank goodness I have on decent underwear--not my best, but not embarrassing. I have a high waist, but she measured low and the results were pretty much what I thought since I do keep track of things like this.

I rejoined her at the counter, and she then gave me her results using a chart, "Here's where your measurements fall, "You're a 0 for the hips, a 2 for the bust, and an 4 for the waist. You'll probably be best with a 2." Exactly what I told her in the beginning before the strip session!

I was struck by a memory of my pastor telling a story about how his impatience at a store didn't appear to be very Christlike. So, I said a prayer for a rework of my attitude and bought the bigger dress and paid the bigger fee, and did all of it in the name of love for my sweet friend's wedding.

I forget about the poor. Sometimes I get a little too focused on my own needs and wants to remember them.

I read something in the bible today, and it's fuzzy in my mind. It was about the poor. It was about helping the poor, but I can't remember the exact reference or the rest of the story. I need to have my bible to check for book marks or other things on the page to jog my memory. I'm a bit upset with myself for not focusing on it more, because it would have given me some wisdom I needed.

I know some people who are dealing with being poor today, and I'm trying to put myself in a bit of a more uncomfortable position and help them in the way God leads me. The hardest thing about helping the poor is realizing that just because you help them doesn't cure their poverty, but I guess it's about one cup of cold water at a time.

After this crazy lingering sickness, which I have declared a mild version of some type of flu, I am still feeling a bit run down. Each day, I get a little better, but I know that I'm not at 100% quite yet. It's discouraging that all my New Year's fitness goals are laying on the shelf collecting dust while I try to collect energy.

At first I thought, I needed to press through the tiredness, but now I think I need to give myself a little more time before I start back up my relationship with gym equipment. I miss exercising. It's good for a person with ADD tendencies. And, the Y has free cable! Although sometimes I spend the entire time on the eliptical flipping through the stations.

Okay, posting this has worn me out. I'll save the rest for another day.