09 February 2008

mm mmmm good...

eating words for breakfast: Most of the slush melted away leaving a thinner layer of ice which hopefully will melt away today in the 56 degree sunshine. Maybe I need to work on my abililty to see beauty in muddy streets. From a mom's point of view, I only saw the prospect of & actualization of thick, ick mud on a little girl's long, pretty, pink skirt. Oh, and the garbage was picked up afterall.

On a more hopeful note, I got this in my email today from the Colorado Community of Mindful Families yahoo group:


Promise Of Prosperity
Chinese Year Of The Rat
Chinese New Year this time around is the Year of the Rat, which brings with it the promise of prosperity. The Chinese admire the rat for its quick mind and ability to gather valuables and save them for the future. Since 2008 is the Year of the Rat, the year ahead should offer many opportunities to acquire wealth, as well as the ability to make choices that enable us to provide comfort for a long time to come.

Since the rat sign is the first in the Chinese zodiac calendar, we may feel the energy of a cycle beginning. We may also feel a pioneering spirit that helps us to forge ahead with a completely new endeavor. Looking beyond Western culture’s distaste for rats, we may be able to appreciate their ability to thrive in less than ideal conditions. This quality might offer us hope that whatever challenges we may face will only serve to make us stronger and more able. The rat’s ability to solve problems is well-known, so we can choose to enjoy any challenge that helps us keep our minds sharp while also making life more of a game. A competitive nature may
develop within us, leading us to use the rat’s ability to focus on priorities. The rat can also remind us to be less worried about pleasing everyone we meet and more focused on our goals.

We should be aware of the rat’s habit for collecting and not allow ourselves to become so focused that we neglect those around us. Being constantly on the alert for opportunity can be stressful, so we can make the decision to balance our pursuit of prosperity with the enjoyment of good food and atmosphere and the people we trust to offer us both support and space. With the energy of challenge and possibility, the year is likely to be exciting without being explosive. The Year of the Rat is sure to offer the type of enjoyable challenges that will enable us to become all we can possibly be.



It's quite timely, actually, in that last night I decided that I would spend the next week diligently looking for a new job. We got new guidelines for our dress code & it's not worth the investment in a new pair of white or black tennis shoes, new pants, new shirts. Right, it's not a big deal, really. But it's the principle of the thing. Oh & the "no extreme hairstyles including, but not limited to, multi-color hair & mohawks", "no extreme or offensive tattoos" and "no extreme or offensive body piercing". Define that please? When I took this job, it afforded me the ability to be a little creative. It is, afterall, a retail shop which sells "creativity". It's a $7/hour job. With no pay higher than $10 (at the managerial level), why am I wasting my time? It's a job for a high school student. It's certainly not why I spent 5 years at university as a single mom and now owe tens of thousands of dollars in student loans. I could make more money at Good Times...and they would provide the uniform.

So wish me luck as I brave once again "the real world" :)

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