First Friday of 2014 Celebration

2013's last sunset in SW Louisiana

I'll be honest and say that I really wasn't in the mood to celebrate today.  It's been a weird two days, and not in a good way.  This week marks the one year anniversary of one of my patients being accidentally shot by his cousin.  His mother came to the clinic with another child yesterday and cried.  Yesterday a colleague's sister died while giving birth to her first baby.  Flu and RSV are running wild in Southwest Louisiana.  One patient lost a father to flu.  She's only 2 months old and sick herself.  
Not a very bright beginning to 2014. 
Tonight I was just going to visit blogs that I follow to see what folks around the globe were up to and well, a funny thing happened:  I found things to celebrate.  It reminded me of the cool things in life, even if they seem insignificant.  Life is tragedy yes, but it's also victories and celebrations.  We can choose to wallow in sadness or look for the joy even in pain. 
So I have two things I want to celebrate this week:
1. The privilege of being able to share in both the joys and sorrows of so many peoples' lives. 
2.  Bloggers.  It's so amazing how people who don't know each other personally can be such an encouragement.  Thanks to all who share! 

Happy New Year--2014

I’ve got my black-eye peas so I’m thinking 2014 is starting off well. 

Last night I stayed up until the New Year came.   It’s like Halloween crossing to All Saints Day.  You can imagine something magical happened.  And everything feels new and fresh, full of promise.   I know it’s psychological but I love to see one year end and another begin.   

I was disappointed at how many of my friends and family went to bed early this year.  It makes me realize how different things are now.  Used to I might actually be the first to go to sleep…no, I don’t think I’ve been the first to crash. 

I don’t have any resolutions this year.  I guess if I did it would be to continue to enjoy life and not be the first to crash.

Plans for this year…at least for now:

1.    Continue with Celebrate Fridays—it’s good to focus on the little victories.

2.    Blog at least on Fridays.

3.    Continue cleaning out my house—new approach is Live with Less. 

4.    Continue progress on novel—but not stress over it.  It’s my story.  It’ll get written when it gets finished.

(more plans as they come to mind…)

Trust in the Lord with all your heart, lean not on your own understanding.  In all your ways acknowledge Him and He will direct your paths.  Prov. 3:5-6

2013 In Review

To Celebrate the Year 2013 I turn to Robert Frost
 

Into My Own

One of my wishes is that those dark trees,

So old and firm they scarcely show the breeze,

Were not, as 'twere, the merest mask of gloom,

But stretched away unto the edge of doom.

I should not be withheld but that some day

Into their vastness I should steal away,

Fearless of ever finding open land,

Or highway where the slow wheel pours the sand.

I do not see why I should e'er turn back,

Or those should not set forth upon my track

To overtake me, who should miss me here

And long to know if still I held them dear.

They would not find me changed from him they knew--

Only more sure of all I thought was true.

    
 
I'm Celebrating the End of 2013 knowing I am more sure of all I know to be true. 
It was a year of growth both in medicine and writing.  Spiritually, my faith was, and still is, being tested, and I'm growing closer to God and knowing the Holy Spirit is with me. 
 I feel ready to start 2014 as a continuation of that growth...
 

Celebrating Small Things

I'm managing to get this posted on Friday--a Celebration in itself!
Thanks to all the wonderful comments and encouragements. 
A few small accomplishments:
1.  My inbox on my computer is empty--folders created for the emails I need to save.  Who knew you could make a "filing cabinet "
2.  The guys at the recycle place were impressed to see me twice this week.  Old soap buckets make good recycle bins at my back door. 
3.  Hairapy.  I love going to get my hair cut and styled.  Lydia is The Best!
4.  I made a selfie I kind of like.  It must be the hair!  (usually mine is curly, though)

Merry Christmas to all.  Next week may we be celebrating time spent with family and friends. 
Jesus is the Reason we Celebrate this Season. 

Sensational Saturday

I missed the Celebrate Post on Friday.  Not to be deterred, I'm going to post it a day later. 
I don't like junk mail, nor do I like spam mail.  And yet, it keeps coming and coming.  I often ignore it....more often than not I ignore it. 

Which brings me to this Week's Celebration:

1. I cleaned off the kitchen table.  Mainly it was junk mail I shredded and recycled.

2.  I cleaned out my email box--all 789 of them.  I read the important things, most of the time.  But I'm bad about not deleting the unimportant.

3.  I've committed to daily purging instead of once a quarter or so spending two or three days working on it. We'll see next week how that goes.

Any suggestions for motivating better organization? 
Hope everyone is having a great Christmas Season. 

Celebrating: Small Marshmallows

In Louisiana we don't have much snow and sleet.  In fact, sometime we've worn shorts and T-shirts to New Year's Parties.
Sometimes, though we actually get real winter weather, and, while I know it's not like our friends up north, let's face it, 43* F is cold no matter what part of the world you live in.

Tonight I'm celebrating:
1.  Getting all my phone calls done at work. 
2.  A fire in the fire place and a good book.
3.  Swiss Miss Cocoa with those tiny little marshmallows. 

Those marshmallows are the coolest things! 

November 29th-Bring on the PEZ!

I look at posts of my family on Facebook doing all these family things on Thanksgiving and, while I love my job, I was wishing I'd picked teaching or some other such job....anything instead of medicine.  Anything that would close on the holidays and the day after. I refused to shop on Thanksgiving.  I feel the pain of having to work so others can "get a good deal." At least in my line of work it's not the kids' fault they got sick. 
It's hard to stay aggravated though, when you not only like what you do and the people you work with, but you also get to bring your PEZ to work!  And share the PEZ with others. 
This year Bring Your PEZ to Work coincided with Celebrate Friday.  What better thing to celebrate but PEZ dispensers and a job to bring them to? 

Not satisfied with going to the office, my PEZ joined me for my writing as well.  Next year, though, Captain Jack Sparrow isn't allowed to come.  He's quite distracting when you're trying to be creative. 

Celebrate Friday

I like this post because it means that it's Friday!  And, while I have to work this weekend, it's different, so Friday is still great.

This week's good stuff:
**Spring Flowers
**Amazing Co-Workers
**A patient's family bringing me a gift of Urban Decay eye-shadow. (MAC may have competition)
**Ceiling fans on patios


 I could go on and on, since if you really look, there's a lot of little things that add up to a better week than you thought.  This is a good challenge for me since it makes me focus on the good.
Try it out if you haven't.
Check out here for the link:



Celebrate

Special Edition of Celebrate Friday

Taking a Break

Those of you who read my E and U posts during the A to Z Challenge got to meet Erik Shepherd James--newest addition of the Tulsa James Gang.  
Creating Wordlenik just received a special announcement from Mr. James he would like to share with his blog fans:
At High Noon today Ava Mackenzie arrived in a Dallas Hospital. She is the daughter of Melanie and Jeremiah  She has the distinct honor of being little sister to Annabelle Fern and first cousin to Mr. James.

Silly Big Sis

Annabelle was excited to say Hello to this new Kitty in their home. Hugs and kisses were shared all around, though Annabelle couldn't take too much time out of her busy schedule.  She was overheard at the hospital as saying "I'm ready to go, Gee."
Ava was reported to have said "Are we going to Sonic for a Java Chiller?" This cannot be confirmed however. 
Mr. James is excited to share his newborn wisdom, though he says he does worry about being surrounded by so much estrogen. The biggest concern?  Now he'll have to scream louder. 
Mr. James would like to give a word of advice to his fans.  He learned this from Uncle J.  "Always tell the people at the hosptial first, especially Grandparents, before you post the announcement on Facebook."  It does seem like sage advice.

Ava certainly has taken Texas by storm--extending even into Southwest Louisiana!  We will have to keep track of these two feisty cowgirls. 

Celebrate Friday!

So today is the day to post things to celebrate about this week:

Good things this week:

• Unexpected Burritos--a pharm. rep. brought food to our office on Wednesday.
• A no plans Saturday. 
• Sunshine after tornadoes and hail.
• Roses finally blooming! 

Check out the link on the right to find out more on Celebrate Friday. 

Next 6 Stops on the A to Z Road Trip:
Sandy--be amused and amazed by Flat Stanley's adventures
Shannon Lawrence--she'll have you submitting, attending writing conferences and Seeing Ghosts
Suzanne Sapsed --need some scrapbooking ideas?  Want to know about Harry Potter in Orlando?  Suzanne's your girl.
Yvonne Lewis--beautiful photos and poems
Hilary Melton-Butcher--positive notes and things to think about
Ficticious Amo --great stories, especially Lizzy's story during April.