Crying

Why do you cry? Not the reasons. But physically, why does your body cry? And what makes your body do that?! Haven't you ever wondered?

I looked it up;

"Crying signals to yourself and other people that there's some important problem that is at least temporarily beyond your ability to cope."

"Research suggests that when you cry, your body releases endorphins and oxytocin. These natural chemical messengers help relieve emotional distress along with physical pain."

"When you feel an intense emotion - say, hurt during a breakup or joy during a wedding - you get worked up. Your heart rate may go up. Your breathing changes. And that response comes from the sympathetic nervous system - think fight or flight. Basically, your body is getting riled up. But when you cry, your body actually starts to relax, Your heart rate slows down. And the opposite system, the parasympathetic nervous system, is getting involved, which suggests that tears are something that actually may allow our nervous system to mellow out and recalibrate."

Did you know that tears are different, depending on what causes them? 

"There are 'basal' tears. Those are just the in general tears that keep your eyes moist all day. Then there are 'reflex' tears. Those are the tears that wash away harmful irritants like smoke or particles. They contain substances, such as antibodies, to help fight germs. Last, there are 'emotional' tears. They contain additional proteins and hormones you won't find in other tears, such as prolactin, potassium, manganese and stress hormones. Your body doesn't make these tears automatically. It is thought that emotional tears themselves have an evolutionary purpose: They're a way to get empathy. Research has found that people who get social support when they shed tears report that they feel better than those who hold back their waterworks, or who don't have any support."

That was interesting!

I'm so soft...

...when it comes to animals. Ugh. I can't even watch the dodo stories anymore! I know they always have a happy ending but the pain to get there is just too much for me. 

We, my fella and I, have become bird lovers! I don't even know how many different kinds of birds we get at our feeders. A couple dozen for sure. (side note; Blue Jays are actually brown! We perceive then as blue because of a phenomenon called light scattering) But, I don't love it when the raccoons invade the feeders at night! And I don't love it when the squirrels climb in there either! Sometimes though, I'll let them. Especially if a particular squirrel just keeps coming back after I've scared it off 3 or 4 times! Then I feel like, oh, it must be really hungry! See? I'm soft. It gets worse! 

About a month ago, I was looking out the front window and I saw this little pitiful squirrel. I have one little feeder in the front yard and it was looking for anything yummy that the birds have thrown out. It had really been beat up! Half her tail is gone and her little right foot is all mangled up! She was limping and just kept laying around in the yard. I felt so bad for her. So I left her a little pile of sunflower seeds and peanuts. She likes the sunflower seeds the best 😊😊 Well, it's been a month now and she's still around! Not limping so much, but probably struggling. So we leave her little piles of sunflower seeds every time we notice her out there. I know, I know. It's nature and I shouldn't make her dependant on us for food. I don't care. She's just not going to last that long so what the hell. I'm gonna feed her!

See her little toe, just hanging there? Ouch! She can't use that foot much but she can walk on it now. It's been long enough now that when we see her and take some seeds out, she doesn't run away anymore. Now she waits to see what we're going to do. 

How do you listen to music

I never really thought about that...how you listen. I don't mean like on the radio, or ipod or stereo. I mean when you listen to music, do you listen to the whole thing? or just parts of it? That's still kind of confusing...

OK, 10+ years ago when I was watching American Idol, Keith Urban was one of the judges. He was the first musician I had ever heard talk about music. When someone would audition, he would make comments about their sound or their style and reference other musicians - like, that sounded a lot like how so and so used to sing the blues, or your style is a lot like so and so (a soul singer), etc. And I thought, wow, he's a real fan of music! Not just country music, but all music. That was interesting to me. 

Then, there's my fella. He's always talking about how a song is "well crafted" or how the bass guitar sounds or how the drums sound. I only hear the song as a whole, and the lyrics.

A couple months ago, I was listening to an interview with Vince Gill. He spoke a lot about how he listens to music, as a musician. He said; it's not normal, how I listen to music. I listen to all the pieces of a song...the bass, the rhythm guitar, the fiddle or the banjo, the drums, the piano: and I thought about my fella! That's how he listens too! I think it's because he played an instrument when he was younger. I don't think all musicians are like that though. I always like to listen to people who have a passion for their craft/career/hobby, etc.

Lifestyles of the rich and famous

Do you remember that show? It was popular in the 80's and was hosted by a fellow named Robin Leach. We used to watch that and marvel at all the over the top, luxurious things rich people had. It never made me want all that though. I thought it was so crazy! I still do, think it's crazy. But now when I see those things all I can think is, why? Why do you need a house that's 25,000 square feet? That's 13 of my houses!!! Do those people actually live in those houses? It's so dumb. Honestly.

Anyway...my fella and I watch this guy on YouTube whose name is Enes Yilmazer, and all he does is show mega million dollar homes and yachts. A few months ago he did a tour of the biggest, most expensive penthouse in the world. It overlooks Central Park, is 17,000 square feet and is for sale for, get this, $250,000,000.000. That's right, 250 million dollars. Once, he did a tour of a $100,000,000.00 yacht! My yacht better be the size of the Titanic for a hundred million dollars!! It's just unbelievable. I like to watch them though, to see what you could spend too much money on. Sometimes it's pretty cool. But most of the time I don't think I'd care for it. Like, do you really need your walls to be made of panda marble? What the hell is that anyway! And does your bathroom actually need to be 1200 square feet? I always look at the overhead lighting and the kitchens are outrageous! None of them have "laundry rooms" though. LOL  I love the glass walls that open up completely, but I can't help but think, they would only look pretty for a few hours after they were cleaned. I don't want people in my house everyday, cleaning it. That's weird.

I guess I'm not a big thinker like that. You can find him at;

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCHWbZM3BIGgZksvXegx_h3w

if you want to see crazy, greedy, narcissistic, grandiose, luxurious, houses. 

It's fun sometimes 😊

Things I didn't use to hate!

Leaving the house. This could be bad news after I retire! But, when you're young, you never want to be home!

Driving. Except that I love road trips! I just mean when you're younger you'll drive anywhere, at any time! Now I want to incorporate my errands so I only have to go out once.

Alcohol! Oh I still like it, and I'm working on becoming a whiskey drinker, but now it's just for taste, not the buzz...or the hangover.

Shopping. I hate shopping. Unless I can get it online, shopping is just such a chore. And it requires leaving the house AND driving. humph!

Starting anything after 9:00pm. Or anything that requires me to stay out past 9:00pm!

Lack of sleep. 20/30 years ago this was not a big deal. Now? Forget about it! I need naps 😄

Sitting on the floor. Hell, I used to do all my drawing and painting and coloring, laying on the floor! Ha!

Waiting in line. Once, at the grocery store, I got so ticked off that I just left. Walked away from my cart and everything! 

Heat and humidity! I want to go to the State Fair every year but if it's over 80 and humid, I can totally skip it! I would so much rather be cold/cool.

Work. hahahahahahahahaha. 

Uncomfortable cute shoes. Yeah, sandals, flats and tennies for me, all the way. Slippers are even better! 

Television. Now that we don't have cable and have to stream everything we watch, I don't care what's on. Isn't that funny? Our TV used to be on allll the time. Even just for background noise. Now, I'd just as soon have some music channel on or the World Live on YouTube. I know that partly I am not a relevant viewer, but even when I was, there wasn't a lot on TV that I had to see.

what's your addiction?

I read an article today that listed the top 10 socially acceptable addictions. 

#10 - Netflix, et al; the whole binge watching thing

#9 - video games; no surprise there

#8 - porn; it's an easy thing to access because it's so available on the internet 

#7 - work; seriously?! I guess if  you really love what you do...

#6 - shopping; oh, you mean like buying ALL the pens?!!!! ooops

#5 - gambling

#4 - Social media; I see this everyday. Social media is a time thief

#3 - alcohol; you would be surprised how many functional alcoholics there are

#2 - sugar; !!!! oh man. I guess for me it's the sugar that comes from carbs. Boy is that hard to quit!

#1 - Caffeine; not just coffee, tea or soda either. It's all those energy drinks. Really bad for your health.

ink joy

Somebody stop me!

I can not stop buying pens. All kinds of pens! Glitter pens, colored gel pens, metallic pens, pens that write like chrome, erasable pens!, pens that write on dark colors, silver pens that have a colored border, gold pens, more gel pens, pens that write with mixed colors, dual tipped pens, paint pens, pens that have two tips, pens made for making dots, neon pens, water color pens, calligraphy pens! It's ridiculous. I feel like it might be an addiction! 

These are even called, INK JOY!!!

But watch out! If you use these and set something hot on the paper, all the ink disappears!

whoosh!

How can it possibly be July 6th already? Holy crap! I guess I didn't pay much attention to May. 

Where did May go? Hmmm. Oh! Mother's Day was in May 💗💕 Mine is really great!! We painted, at home. Drank a lot of wine, snacked some and had fried chicken from Holly Hock Hill for dinner. It was a good day.

I cleaned up my craft room!! Hey, don't laugh. It was a big job. I moved most of my books to the sunroom because I needed more craft space. Go figure. It's a beautiful room. Every time I go in there I think, this is my dream come true. 😀📍📏📒📌🔎🔪🔮✏✂💯 I know it seems like a lot, but I've been collecting hobby/craft things for decades. And it's going to serve me well in retirement!

Also, we watched a lot of movies. Most of them weren't noteworthy. But I did think that "Gone Girl" w/Ben Affleck was delicious!! It made me wish I had read the book. And speaking of books, I read one by that wildly popular author, Colleen Hoover. I mean really, she has a ton of books out there! This one was called, Verity. I thought it was pretty average. I'm not a big fan of romance novels though. It was an easy read though. 

May seems kind of blurry otherwise. sigh

...speaking of the workplace

This is another fascinating article about the changing workplace. 

https://www.fastcompany.com/90912672/workplace-well-being-worse-deloitte-survey-leaders-wrong-employees-quit

I'd love to know how history is going to look back on this time. All of the effects of the pandemic. What and how society changed. When the baby boomers are gone and Generation X is no longer relevant and the world is left to the Millennials, Gen Z, and the new Generation "Alpha," what will the world look like. What will be their priorities? Their dreams for the future?

What your parents share

Did you know, you get your ability to lose weight from your mom? 

But, how easily you gain weight is something you get from your dad's side.

Your ability to focus, or lack thereof, is because of your mom's genes.

If you hit puberty early, that's your dad's fault.

How well you age and how much you show it come from genes you only get from your mom.

Also, your mood(iness) is more likely to be passed down from mothers to daughters. 

The sex of your children comes from your dad's genes.

The genetic risk of Alzheimer's comes from your mother.

A woman's fertility is inherited from her father.

And debunking an old myth, your hairline is determined by both your parents, not just your mom's!

Cha cha changes....

This is such an interesting article about today's workforce!  I know I mention the workforce a lot, but it's part of my working life so it's interesting to me.

‘Older generations are so confused': This young woman on TikTok says Gen Z, Millennials don't share the same work ethic as Boomers — 3 reasons why she might be onto something

Story by Vishesh Raisinghani   

Generational grumbles are as old as time itself. There’s probably a cave painting about how the younger generation ruined the hunter-gatherering economy with their “fancy agriculture.” Since then, every successive generation has found a new medium to express their disappointment with "them young’uns." 

One recent example comes from the comment section on TikTok, which recently erupted when a young lady explained why Gen Z and millennials don’t exactly share the same values when it comes to work.

“Older generations are so confused about why we don’t want to work hard anymore or prioritize our careers,” Demi Kotsoris says in the clip. “We know how short life is now.”

Kotsoris goes on to explain that the pandemic and greater access to information have reshaped the perspective of younger generations and made them question whether work should be the center of their lives.

Of course, the response was heated. “This mindset is so [‘you only live once’] that you will regret those decisions later,” reads one comment on Kotsoris’ video.

“People are just SELFISH & LAZY NOW,” says another.

But the replies may have missed the point of the video. Here’s why Kotsoris’ message resonates with so many younger workers and why her experience highlights some deeper truths about modern work.

Work isn’t as rewarding anymore

For baby boomers coming up, there were clear rewards for working hard. Putting in an average amount of effort allowed a typical worker to buy a nice home, raise children comfortably and travel the world. In the 1980s, the average home price was just four or five times the median income. Now it’s closer to 7.5 times.

Having a college degree was also far more rare in the 1980s. Now, nearly everyone on the job market has a degree, eroding that edge for workers. Meanwhile, the dollar has been eroded too. Wages haven’t kept up with inflation for decades, so an hour of work today isn’t worth as much as an hour of work in the '80s.

Upward mobility also saw a decline. A person born in a middle-class family in the 1940s was 93% likely to outearn their parents by the age of 30. For those born in the 1990s, that rate is just 45%.

Some boomers could beat the odds and create generational wealth by investing in stocks. However, even that's not as easy as it used to be. The S&P 500 was trading at around 10 times its earnings during the 1980s. It’s now trading in the low-20s.

The relationship with employers has changed

The employee-employer relationship has also changed since the '80s. Defined-benefit pension plans are nearly extinct. A major corporation that went public before the 1970s was 92% likely to survive the next five years. By the early 2000s, that rate had dropped to 63%.

Unions have also declined, which means workers now have far less bargaining power than their parents did.

All these factors have made younger workers question the value of company loyalty and lifelong careers.

The pandemic altered perspective

The global pandemic may also have shifted work culture for everyone, not just younger employees.

The crisis triggered a retirement boom. And at the same time, younger workers saw how short life can be, and how easily their lifestyle can be disrupted by a global crisis like a pandemic or climate change. A study by Deloitte found that Gen Z and Millennials are more likely to prioritize work-life balance, flexible work arrangements and purposeful work.

The pandemic highlighted that remote work is a viable option for many companies. In fact, a survey by Buffer found that 98% of remote workers would like to continue working remotely at least some of the time for the rest of their careers.  

Music and smiles

Last week, a friend of mine and I went to see Ain't Too Proud, the life of The Temptations. I love all that old Motown music. It did not disappoint. Plus, she had a great time too. Double thumbs up. This was the last show of the season. My favorite play-mate and I have season tickets for the next Broadway season. It includes; Frozen, Mama Mia, To Kill a Mockingbird, Hadestown and Tina Turner.

Have you heard the song, Till You Can't, by Cody Johnson? I'm not kidding when I say, it's the BEST cheesy song EVER!! I love it!! How about the Hardy song, Wait In The Truck? I always feel bad that I really like this song. Oh!! And the song, A Rock. It's clever. Sometimes when I'm listening to my playlist on Amazon music, I'm surprised when some of the songs pop up. Like, Crazy or Crazy Train or Dream a Little Dream or Paint It Black or Me And Mrs Jones or Uptown Funk. And I picked them all! 

The other day we were watching some show about John Williams, the composer. You know, he wrote the music to Jaws, Jurassic Park, Star Wars, Indiana Jones, Lincoln, Harry Potter. Music really does make a movie sometimes. I really think about that sometimes when we're watching a movie. I really, really, really love books but I would miss music more if I didn't have it. Think about that song from your teens that always makes you smile when you hear it. Or, "your song" with your significant other. Music that makes you feel like summer. Or music that's soothing. Recently we've been listening to a lot of classical guitar. It can play all day long and I don't get tired of it. It's true, that music is healing.

fun stuff

This morning, the DJ on the oldies station I was listening to said, Paul McCartney was going to be 81 years old this month. Then he said, "where does all the time come from?!"  I loved that! Pretty great way to say it 😊

All the rest of this post is filled with the things that have made me laugh the last week or so.

I showed this picture to my fella and said, this is the thinnest and most fit I was in my whole life. (37 years ago) And he said, "god really blessed you" and I said, Uh huh. Then what happened?! and he said, "then YOU took over." Normally, that would have really pissed me off, but I laughed like crazy!!! Omg that was so funny!

This is one of my favorite young pictures of us. It was at my brothers wedding in Las Vegas, 1989.

Look at this cool horse I did!!! It's not really my design though. A woman asked me if I could make this, she sent me a picture, and I said yes. It's a little different than the original but she loved it. It was fun to do something so different.

A coworker bought this for me. I feel both ways about it. It's funny as hell but on the other hand, is it ok that people think I feel that way?!

On our front porch, a tiny little House Wren couple is building their nest in the little home we provided. We're loving their song all day and watching them stuffing stems and twigs in there.

THIS is hilarious!!!!

I love it when school is out and traffic is so much lighter but this is sooooo true about summer!

I feel this could be accurate!

 

This ad cracked me up because, well, honestly, I didn't know he was still alive. What is he, 90? Good grief dude. Just stay home! hahahahahahaha

And lastly, panda videos. I'm not kidding! Those chunky rascals crack me up! They're intentionally playful and it's the funniest thing to watch when you need a smile :-)

Disney

I love Disney animated movies. Especially the old ones, where every cell was hand painted; like Bambi and Snow White. I also like some of the newest ones, like Frozen, Encanto and Moana.

I love the streaming channel, Disney +. One, because they have all the Marvel movies! 😃 They also have some great channels, like Nat Geo

I'm not really a fan of Disney amusement parks though. I think Walt is turning over in his grave, at the cash cow they've become. For instance, if I just want to go to Disneyland for the day, depending on the date, it could be $179!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Disney World tops out at $159 a day. But if you go in August, on a Tuesday, it would only cost you $109. I think that's so ridiculous!

They say that business isn't that great for the Disney brand these days. So they fired their CEO and got Bob Iger to come back. I don't think the previous ceo understood that Disney wasn't broken, he didn't need to fix it. They shouldn't be involved in politics or trying to be "woke." Disney is supposed to be about kids and making kids smile. No agenda. 

Aaaaand this whole thing with DeSantis and Florida is so stupid. Again, stay out of politics. And if you don't like his policies, hey, you're going to outlast him for sure, just chill out.

As for the movies? Just tell good stories. Stories for kids, not their parents. Geesh.

life, death, love and grief

I know how fortunate I am, that until recently, I've never lost someone I truly loved.  

A couple of weeks ago, my brother passed away. We knew it was coming, but I guess we weren't expecting it to happen so soon? Anyway...I told my fella, "I don't know how this is going to go for me, so I'm sorry in advance if I'm mean to you." He's been pretty wonderful.

I got the news from my sister-in-law about 11:30 at night. In those first couple of hours, I just didn't know what to do with myself! I was so fidgety. I was angry. I was sad. I paced. I cried and cried. 

In the days that followed, I felt all the things.

Physically, sometimes I couldn't catch my breath. Sometimes I felt a physical pain, like a weight on my chest. I'm tired. Sometimes I’m nauseous  

Emotionally, I'm angry that he didn't take better care of himself. I'm angry that he didn't do what the doctors told him to do. He just did whatever he wanted. While that might have been a good way to live in his mind, it sucked for all the people around him, that loved him. Then I think about the things I wish I would have said to him, the last time I saw him. Then, I'm incredibly sad for my mom. I can't imagine what it feels like to lose a child. I'm incredibly sad for my brother's children. They've lost both their parents now. Who is going to love them unconditionally? Who has their back? Then I wonder...I wonder if you know that you're dead. Does something happen in your brain that tells you that? I wonder if he was scared. Did he have regrets? That hurts me, for him, to think that. Then I think, I don't have anybody to say to, 'remember that Christmas when...or remember when we told mom _____ and really did ______?' He use to say frequently, "you know we aren't normal, right?"...because we were so close. He said he didn't know anyone that got along with their sibling(s) like we did. 

I'm still feeling all the things. I cry in my head a lot. Weird. For 30 years, we had a running joke going about cows. I saw this funny little cow thing at Hobby Lobby the other day...I cried in my head.

Mostly now it just feels weird. I wish I could think of a better word or way to say it. But it's just so WEIRD. How can this be? That he's not here anymore? How is that possible? Weird. I guess that's "denial."

Before his health started to fail him, he was one of nicest people I've ever known. Genuinely nice. He thought everyone was interesting in some way and he had meaningful conversations with strangers all the time. He laughed easily. He just wanted to have fun all the time. He was so stubborn! See? now I'm mad at him again! Weird. He loved being a dad. He loved all the commotion. He had a strong work ethic and was a loyal employee. He had fish and a bird for pets when he was young.  He was never really a dog or cat person. He was a skateboarder and had a paper route when he was a little guy. He was a NASCAR fan and an avid Raiders fan! He had stunning blue eyes, which he passed down to one of his daughters and a grandson. He loved having a garden and growing peppers. He really liked spicy food. He liked to cook, from an early age. His favorite movies were comedies. He loved to go fishing and he liked camping out. He was game for anything. I loved that about him. He had SO many friends! He was lucky in that way.

Sigh. I'm sure going to miss him. 

 😥 9/28/1964 - 4/19/2023 💔