There’s an updated obituary for Aaron Buckley.  I posted about his untimely and suspicious death a few posts down.  It was good to read all of the guestbook posts to his obituary, so many people cared about and loved him.

They will find out who did this to you, Aaron.  They must.

Everyday should be National Spank Out Day!!! Stop Hitting Your Kids, You Fucks!

http://docsdomain.net/blog/?p=770

Actually, I’m quite disturbed by this news. I’ve been teary-eyed off and on since I heard about it yesterday. Someone I grew up with, went to school with, and who was in my husband’s class in school died under suspicious circumstances early yesterday morning. Aaron Buckley was a good guy. My DH, Rick, even roomed with him and a few other guys right after high school. His family, and he, have been long-time residents of my little hometown. My dad still lives there, the incident happened just around the corner from my dad’s residence.

This is the 4th person (that we know of) from Rick’s class (one class ahead of mine) that has died (the other’s are: Ryan Adams [motorcycle accident], Mike Burg [suicide], and Abe Wade [automobile accident]). This is the craziest one so far, although Mike Burg’s suicide was pretty messed up, too. I hope they find out what happened and who was responsible. Please, pray for his family, the not-knowing has to be making this so much harder for them.

http://www.legacy.com/Herald-Review/

http://www.wandtv.com/Global/

Really, I can’t stand Mother’s Day (it feels so much like Valentines Day… a day conceived to get people to spend their money and celebrate love one day out of the year, when love should be a daily expression).  I don’t have much of a relationship with my mom and I don’t need a day to remind me of that.  It all feels so contrived.  The dinner after the dance concert (our dance concerts are always on Mother’s Day weekend) and feeling that I have to buy her something, when I really don’t have the extra $ to do so.

And for myself, as a mother, I don’t want 1 day out of the year when my family feels that they should celebrate me.  My family is pretty good about staying in tune with each other every other day of the year.  I don’t need a special day celebrating motherhood.  The celebration is in the small things that happen throughout the rest of the year.

KWIM?

So, I needed a new checkbook register today. I do have some extras but they all have old calendars on them, some as far back as 2001 - 2003. So I set myself on a quest to find what I needed online.

I knew I had found a great checkbook register printable online a few years ago but had either never saved the link or had misplaced it in the mess of bookmarked links that are on my numerous web-browsers. So, my first task was to find that webpage. I took me awhile but, yes, I finally found it. Funny thing is that what I actually found was the comments page on this webpage and about 5 comments down was a comment from me. lol.

Here is the BEST printable checkbook register on the web. Print Your Own Checkbook Register by www.jannarama.net.

Then, I knew I had to find a printable calendar just the right size to use with this register and with the outdated registers I already have. Again, it took some searching and reading forums to find what I needed. What I found is a calendar that you can customize to the size that you need. Then download it to either Word or Open Office (Open Office is free to download here: http://www.openoffice.org/) and print.

Here is the BEST printable checkbook calendar on the web and the specs to make it the right size.

1. The webpage: http://www.calendarsthatwork.com/
2. Click on The Free Collection
3. Scroll down until you find the Yearly Landscape calendar. Click on it.

Here are the specs that I used to make it the right size to use with the checkbook registers.

• Size: A3
• Width: 80%
• Height: 60%
• Sheet Layout: The 5th option. Which has 4 red squares.

4. Then click download and print off your calendar.

You will need to trim your calendar and tape it to the register. Or better yet, print it off on sticker paper, trim, peel, and stick it to the register.

I’ve been spending my time lately finding ways to earn $ or points towards gift cards.  There are some good programs out there.  There’s a lot to learn about this way of bringing in extra $.  I’ll be posting more about all of this soon.

Over my lifetime, I’ve pretty much always felt a connection with the Devine.  Even as a child my world would line up in ways that amazed me… and when these things happen to me now, I’m still amazed.  I’m sure many people experience this… you’ll be thinking about a friend, for whatever reason, and all of a sudden the phone will ring and it’s that friend.  These are the kinds of experiences and incidences that I’m talking about.  I don’t call them coincidences because I don’t believe there is such a thing… I believe everything happens for a reason.

Lately, for me, these things have been happening right and left.  Just a week ago, I was sorting out some email and found reoccuring messages.  Here’s some examples:

These two emails were about worry… the first one coming from SparkPeople and the second from The Daily Groove.

“Worrying does not empty tomorrow of its troubles…. it empties today of its strength.”  -  - Aunt Linda, as quoted by Jennifer Cribbs, SparkPeople community member

The destructive power of worry

Legend has it that 90% of what we worry about never comes to pass. Whether that is statistically precise or not, there’s probably some truth to it in your life. How much of our lives do we miss because we’re agonizing over what might happen down the road? How often do we fail to act–even if it’s the right thing to do–because we fear any number of possible consequences? Fretting over the future doesn’t solve any impending problems. It only paralyzes your actions of the present. It stresses you out, makes you mentally and physically tired, and saps all the fun out of what could have been another great day. Next time you start to worry about what might happen, think of this: You can prepare, but you cannot predict. So do what you can, and forget what you cannot.

THE DAILY GROOVE ~ by Scott Noelle

www.enjoyparenting.com/dailygroove

:: Transcending Worry ::

Actuality is “what is,” in the now.

Possibility is “what could be,” in the future.

When you imagine possibilities, wanted or unwanted,

you bring them closer to actuality through the Law

of Attraction.

If you *worry* about the possibility of your teenager

getting in a car accident or your toddler falling

off the slide, you experience it almost as if it

were actual, and you put out a vibe that influences

them toward actualizing those (or similar) unwanted

possibilities.

But when you imagine your teenager getting home

safely or your toddler joyfully mastering the slide,

you attract those desired possibilities instead.

So it’s good to shift from worry to a more

positive focus, but the best way to do that is,

paradoxically, to *allow* the worry to be.

When you’re willing to be *present* with the

worry — to *witness* it without judging or

resisting it — its underlying source begins

to heal.

http://dailygroove.net/transcending-worry

Feel free to forward this message to your friends!

(Please include this paragraph and everything above.)

Copyright (c) 2007 by Scott Noelle

and these two email are about contentment and happiness the first by YogaJournal and the second by SparkPeople;

Find Contentment in Samtosha

Yoga is much more than a physical practice. It is also a philosophy about the way we should live. According to yogic philosophy, we cause ourselves pain by desiring things we don’t have but think that we need. In other words, we hurt ourselves by yearning after what’s out of reach.

Samtosha is a niyama, or guiding principle of yoga. This principle encourages us to develop contentment. It prescribes the merit of striving to be grateful for what we have rather than yearning for new and different things. The word samtosha is also sometimes translated as “happiness” because, by finding contentment with what we have, we also find joy, relaxation, and peace.

You can practice samtosha in all aspects of your life—toward your family, friends, and your career.

“The foolish man seeks happiness in the distance, the wise grows it under his feet.” - - James Oppenheim, short-story writer, novelist, poet

The key to happiness

The secret to happiness is not to get what you want, but to want what you already have. If you think about it, most discontent grows from want. We want more stuff, more excitement, more pleasure. When we don’t get those things, we’re resentful and unsatisfied. Take away the want, and you take away the unhappiness. When your quality of life is tied to your desires, fulfillment is a shadow that escapes your view. Like trying to imagine a new color, the harder you look, the harder it is to see. Does this mean you stop setting goals and striving for a healthy lifestyle and better life? No. It means you can appreciate life regardless of the outcome. It means you can relish the pursuit while accepting the possibility of failure. It means you can still enjoy the ride. Happiness is not a destination–it’s a way of life.

This kind-of stuff just blows me away.  It happens to me a lot with reoccuring messages.  Many times it will happen to people through music.  You’ll be going through something and you’ll be thinking about it… and the next song that plays seems like it was written just for you.  It’s wild!  And it makes me feel so eternally grateful and blessed.

My point is to tell you what happened to me yesterday.  I had two of the awesome incidences.  Like I mentioned in my previous post, I’ve been working on my family ancestry.  Remember that when I tell the story.  So the story goes… my DD and I went to the library in between dance classes last night.  As we were checking out, I noticed a stack of books behind the librarian.  The book right on top was called, “Finding your family on the internet:  The ultimate guide to online family history research.” So I asked the librarian if they were available for check out and yes, they were.  This is brand new arrival book… not even scheduled to be put out on the floor until this Friday the 7th!

The second incidence also started at the library.  I had planned on checking out the book, “How to win friends and influence people”, so while I was in that section, I thought I’d look and see what other kinds of books were in that same subject area.  I ran across this book called, “Out of the box for life: being free is just a choice”.  It seemed to fit my area of interest, so I checked it out.  Then a bit later after getting home from DD’s dance class, I turned on the tube… watched SVU and then started to flip around (because there doesn’t seem to be anything on at 10pm but the news) and ran across Oprah.  She was having the author of “Eat Pray Love” on again.  I watched her first show with the author a month or so back.  I loved it, so I decided to watch this one.  Great show… I must read the book… but back to the story.  So sometime during the show, Oprah mentions the part in the Wiz of Oz where in the end Glenda tells Dorothy that she’s always had the power to go home… the power was inside her.  So forward to the end of the show… I decided to take out some of the books I brought home, picked up the “Out of the box” book and started reading and what should happen to be on the first page!  Here it is quoted from the book, *In many ways, we are all like Dorothy in the Wiz of Oz, searching all over to find our way home.  Although she didn’t realize it, all Dorothy had to do was click her heels three times to get there.  She always had the power.  She just didn’t know it.*  *Like Dorothy, you probably never dreamed that getting home to your true self could be so simple.*

WOW! WOW! WOW!  Yep, I feel eternally grateful and blessed!

Lots has happened since I last posted.  My last post was about all of the APers in my area… well, we ended up making our get togethers weekly.  We’ve missed the past few weeks because of illness and just plain holiday business… but it’s been great meeting with all of the on a regular basis.  It helps to keep us sane in this community.

I’ve been spending much time on MySpace, MyFamily and Facebook, keeping in touch with friends and family.  I’ve been doing my family ancestry (along with my sister) and I just love feeling the ties to my family’s past.  One line of my family has been researched all the way back to the 1600s, that just blows my mind.  I suspect that I’ll have to jump into learning about the fashions, cultures, and WOL of the past… just to feel closer to my past.

We had the best day yesterday.  I set up a get-together with the group of AP (attatchment parenting) families that I know (most of us homeschoolers [all of us very eclectic or unschoolers]… one of the families isn’t of homeschooling age yet… they are leaning towards it.  By the time that decision rolls around, I have a feeling that’s what they’ll choose) at the free day at the zoo.  We ate lunch then played on the play ground until everyone arrived.  Then spent some time in the zoo.

We all just had a blast.  The mom’s and dad got to chat and catch up and the kids got to run and play.  I got to meet one family that I’ve been wanting to meet for over a year now and the biggest surprise was that my friend Karen and her kids came.  We haven’t seen them since March.  It was so good to see her and catch up with her.  She’s one of my dearest soul friends and is such a blessing to me and to this world.

We are truly blessed to have this handful of families in our lives and in this area of all places.

Who new that this was possible.  But it’s exactly what’s happened and it’s not as fun.  So what’s this new way of frying my brain?  Reading… that’s what.  And not just reading some lame ol’ fiction book or some girly mag… but some really tough sh*t.  I’ve been diving into religions of the world and spiritual books.  I’ve been reading old classics like “Walden”… which let me tell you is tough to read.  No one writes like that anymore.  But the message is fabulous so I push through.

Then there’s the fact that I feel like I’ve been hit with vertigo stemming from having the religious rug pulled out from under me.  It’s a strange feeling to change the way you see things.  Knowing that the truth isn’t *out there* but it’s *in here*… yet, still having to take baby steps to trust that knowledge because it’s such a new revelation and experience.

So all of this new input is frying my brain.  It’s so much to process.  I’ve never used my brain in quite this way before.  I’ve actually taken the last week and just vegged-out to give myself a break from some of it.  I watched a lot of good movies and am catching up on the past seasons of Medium (on of my favorite shows) before the new season starts in January.