Life's Ramblings

Apparently, I am the only one giddy about having lived through an earthquake. It was 5.5 on the Richter scale and happened this afternoon. I was on the couch on the computer when I felt a shake. I thought my cat was sharpening her claws on my couch. It lasted about 20 seconds and was felt all over Michigan, Indiana, and New York. It came from 12 miles from the Earth near Quebec, Canada.

It was very interesting to feel this shake. It was almost surreal and felt very odd.

Other notable events. There is another tornado watch. I hate tornadoes. I never hear the sirens and am completely dependent on others to hear them for me. Hopefully this will just pass by.

I subscribe to the Daily Om web page. They send you your horoscope and meditations. You can take online classes to learn about intuition and different meditations. I have been getting horoscopes from this page for awhile now and recently they have been very similar. Here is the horoscope for today. This more for my information than yours because I wanted to keep it and this seemed like a good place to store it. It is very fitting for the occurrences of my life.

June 18, 2010
A Leap of Faith
Sagittarius Daily Horoscope

You may feel more inclined than usual to take risks today, provided those risks have a calculable benefit to your goal-realization strategies. A progressive and courageous mood can facilitate your efforts to uncover hidden opportunities in your domestic spaces and in your workplace. You may find that you easily recognize those people and situations that have the power to aid you as you endeavor to reach your objectives. Making the most of this newly developed confidence can be as easy as taking chances and trusting yourself enough to accept that, whatever the outcome of those chances, you will cope admirably. As you address life’s complexities today, an open mind can be your greatest tool.

We empower ourselves to achieve many goals we might otherwise never meet when we are willing to take risks that require us to move outside of our comfort zones. Throughout our lives we face opportunities that demand that we immerse ourselves in the unknown. When we make a leap of faith, we demonstrate that we trust in our ability to effectively cope with any contingency the universe places in our paths. Our focus is fixed firmly on those steps we must take to ensure our efforts are met with success—even when we are unsure of what will befall us in the future. As pioneers, we carve a path for those who share our ambitions and will follow in our footsteps. Adopting a progressive approach to meeting your objectives today will help you move forward more quickly than ever before.

A whole bunch of new things have been popping up out of nowhere this week. Things that further complicate my thoughts of life in general and where I want to go with it.

First, I was emailed from a woman in Florida who just received funding to open a preschool exclusively for preschool aged students with disabilities. Any kind of disability accepted. I was a fan of hers on Facebook and she contacted me to see if I may be interested in a position at the school. It would not open until next year. Since, it is so new and doesn't have consistent funding I have my doubts, but this yet points to a drastic move outside Michigan. All arrows are pointing South. Very far South. South outside of my comfort zone. Some more to think about.

Second, I met another man yesterday a few years older than me. He is interested in going out. He was my substitute teacher's aide and was very nice. Why is this important? Well, I asked for a parade of men to come into my life and it seems to have started! Three very nice guys in the last 12 months. My odds are getting better. Some more to think about.

So, you see a whole bunch of new things happening that make me go hmmm. My latest series of events that is leading me to somewhere!

Could this be the first time? The first time I could win a contest? I enter contests and never win, but maybe I will this time.

My friend Sarah wins everything. She has a blog too and has been inspiration for this one. She wins movie tickets, gift certificates, free dinners, and probably chocolate. I'm hoping someday her luck will rub off.

Sarah is having a contest with CSN stores. I'd load some pictures, but I don't know how to yet. They have a boatload of stores (over 200!)that offer all kinds of merchandise. Visit today!

Am I a winner? I will find out June 26th!

I am prepared to admit I have a problem. A serious problem. A problem I never imagined I would ever have. What is it you wonder? It is an addiction. It is an addiction to something I never thought I could be addicted to. Should I share something so private? I suppose that everyone that reads this blog are invited souls that already pretty much accepts me as I am.

Hello, My name is Janet. I have an addiction. I am addicted to PUERTO RICO!

I wanna go back in the worst way and be there longer than a couple weeks. My brain is working overtime scheming how to get back. The culture is amazing. The history rich. The land phenomenal. The water is alive. There is so much I want to learn about it.

I usually accomplish my goals. But this is crazy even for me. This is a step out there. It is over a thousand miles away. Not to mention it is basically another freaking country despite being a commonwealth of the United States. Must think further about this. Must think how I can satisfy this need and desire. Must think why and where I'm being led. What am I being told? What am I suppose to do? This is more than a lackadaisical I want to go there for vacation. This is an impulse. It feels like something inside me has been found that I never knew was there. I've been asking the Gods where my path is and am I following it. Lots of meditating on it. I need to think.

Puerto Rico or bust!

There's a party goin' on right here
A celebration to last throughout the years
So bring your good times, and your laughter too
We gonna celebrate your party with you

I like to celebrate. It all began in college. I was a three time college drop out before I buckled down and got to business.(Don't be so shocked)

So, I began to celebrate my collegiate achievements. At the end of the semesters, I would buy a novel as my reward for just attending class and then finishing out the semesters. Sort of Applied Behavior Analysis to myself. Or, I'd have ice cream for good grades. (that means extra ice cream on top of the normal and good grades were usually Bs and Cs since I'm not very studious) Then beginning my actual Special Ed classes, I began to treat myself to dinners and celebrate the accomplishment of getting As. This upward trend is due to maturation and being tired of working 60-70 hours a week as a paraprofessional and pet store salesperson and eating Ramen Noodles.

When undergrad graduation started to become closer to reality, I started to celebrate and count down the days. I started counting down two years before graduation. Nuts? Yes, but by now I had 6 years of college already! I became known in my SPED cohort as the celebrator and at any given time someone (including profs) would ask how many days were left until graduation and I would promptly answer. 545 days. 400 days. 200 days. You get the idea. At each 100, we would go celebrate. It was fun. It was motivating.

After my first year of teaching (God help us all that was the most wonderful experience because I met some fantastic friends, but the most horrible teaching experience to date) So, after the first year of teaching I celebrated. After the second year of teaching I didn't celebrate. I miss celebrating. I often stop and look around my classroom and take a peek at my checking account to realize the most remarkable accomplishment of my life and that is I am a teacher. A teacher of severely impaired tiny kids who are the light of their parents' lives, who are scared to death to leave their children at school because of all of their severe medical and physical needs. And they leave them with me! All 11 (right now) of them. How awesome is that?

I decided I was going to celebrate this year. I haven't celebrated in a long time the little things that are happening. I will celebrate my third year teaching. I will celebrate my friend's successful, but stressful first year teaching down south. I will celebrate my friend's successful second year teaching urban kindergartners. I will celebrate my supportive boss.

But most of all, I'm going to celebrate everything I have learned over the last three years. The hard parts. The easy parts. The crying parts. The laughing parts. The amazing hugs. And the most important parts of all being the friendships I have made. Awesome friends!

Cheers to you and may Kool and The Gang celebrate with you!

One of my all time favorite shows is Survivorman. I love Les Stroud. If you read his biographies and autobiographies (yes, I have both) he leads a very fascinating life of survival with nature. If you have never seen his show, he takes a bunch of cameras into a survival type of situation, whether it is a plane crash, getting lost in the woods, or lost at sea. He teaches the viewer how to survive practically within this environment using the resources that are available to him and how to find your way back to civilization.

I have used some of his suggestions before while camping or hiking, but of course I was never in any danger. Well, here is an adventure I had recently where I felt like Survivorwoman! I was never in any danger, but it was one of the most exciting, coolest moments I have ever experienced.

It happened while I was in Puerto Rico. The people I was with liked to sleep in a little and I decided I only had a short time to be on this island and needed to use every moment to my advantage. I woke up one day at 6:30 a.m. and decided I was going to head west on Shacks Beach. So, essentially I was walking towards the Dominican Republic. (this is just fascinating to me that I was so close)

It is a sunny, bright, blue skied day. Not a cloud in the sky. I have my camera,phone, and some water and am enjoying the view and solitude. I fail to notice that behind me to the Southeast there is a rain cloud. It starts to sprinkle and I knew that it tends to downpour in PR. I'm thinking "crap" as I am about 1/2 mile away from the rental. So I begin to look around to see what my environment is. I see palm tree fronds hanging over this tall aluminum fence. There are about 10 palm tree fronds overlapping one another creating a sort of shelter. I climb under there just as it starts to pour.

Picture it.
You are sitting under palm tree fronds in a downpour staying completely dry facing the ocean and seeing the waves while about 6 yards away are two crabs chasing each other around the beach. There is some sun peaking through the clouds. There is no one around in either direction.

I mean, how awesome is that! And you know what? I was so thrilled with it all I forgot to take pictures of my survival.

I start to watch for breaks in the rain and pay attention to how the clouds shaping and what direction they are going. I'm determining when the best time would be to walk back to the rental while the rain is down to a slight sprinkle. The clouds break just a little and I decide it is time to head back. No sooner than I walk in the door, it starts to pour and it poured most of the morning. No one knew I was gone. I snuck back in and got comfy on the couch with my Puerto Rican coffee with my book.

So my survival lasted for about 2 hours. The most peaceful 2 hours of my life.

Puerto Rico offered an abundance of experiences that I never thought I would ever live. To have this survival experience, as silly as it may sound, has helped open my doors to my realization that my life needs to expand.

So, have you been a survivorman or survivorwoman lately?

An owl's hoot is quite remarkable. Such a common sound to people, but for some of us it is an amazing sound. You can't see it usually. I have been blessed with seeing many owls in my short lifetime, but I never heard them.

My family and I would go camping every weekend. At night time around the fire my family would hear the owl hoot. They would always ask, "Do you hear the owl?" and I always answered no. I couldn't hear it over the sounds of the crickets and other nightlife. I always felt like I was missing something not being able to hear the simple hoot of an owl.

I moved out to the country about 5 years ago. One night, I was sitting next to a fire in my yard very similar to the fire at the campsite with my mother. She asked me, "Did you hear the owl?" and of course I said no. Then, I heard it. I heard my first owl ever. It was so amazing and I was completely thrilled. I heard this wonderful creature that I could never hear before. A very normal thing possibly for others to hear was miraculous for me.

I have lived in this house for 5 years and for 5 years I have been hearing the owls. I write this post today because I know that very soon the owls will start hooting. I am getting more and more anxious to hear them because it is such a special sound. My doctor told me once that I should not be able to hear a thing.

I was too busy listening to the owls to hear what he said.