Houston, MO

There is a song that I love that goes like this:

Have I done any good in the world today?
Have I helped anyone in need?
Have I cheered up the sad and made someone feel glad?
If not, I have failed indeed.

Has anyone’s burden been lighter today
Because I was willing to share?
Have the sick and the weary been helped on their way?
When they needed my help was I there?

After reading the fantastic post put up by Liz & Bill Spear, I felt the need to reflect on my actions of the day. Had I helped someone? Had I helped to fill the needs of someone that could not help themselves? Had I made life better for those around me?

It does not need to be something huge, or some grand gesture to let the world know how good and wonderful you are, that defeats the purpose. Charity and honest affection for your fellow human beings is not about who can make the biggest splash and get noticed the most by doing good deeds. It is about the quiet moments of kindness and simple, unacknowledged goodness that make a life better because it was touched by them.

It's about lifting those around you when they are too weary to take another step, be it physical or emotional. It's about taking a moment to talk to that kid at the pool that drives everyone crazy by asking a million questions. . . . probably because he's lonely. Or about smiling at the massive, scary, tattooed biker guy in the gas station aisle even though your knees turn to jelly. . . . because maybe he's having a rough day and could use a friendly smile. (Yes, big, scary biker dudes have bad days too!) Or maybe it's paying for the car behind you at the drive through at Arby's, or dropping off some school supplies at a local charity.

It's does not really matter what you do, so long as you just do it. And sorry, but this is not a "it's the thought that counts" type of deal.

Actions speak volumes louder than words. What do your actions say about you?

Today is just one of those days. The sun is gloriously streaming down from a perfectly blue summer sky, a light breeze wafts along carrying with it the song of a bird and the scent of freshly mown green grass combined perfectly with that of grilling burgers. It's the epitome of the perfect lazy summer day. *sigh*

And yet here I sit, in my remarkably uncomfortable, standard issue office chair alternating between gazing longingly out my window at the summer slipping by. . . and typing like a woman possessed so I can get out of here and properly putz!

Ah! The long lost art of putzing! What's that you say? YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT THAT MEANS??? *gasp*

My friend, let me educate you!

PUTZING: (putt-zing) -

1. The long lost art of saying "to heck with it" and enjoying whatever comes your way.

2. The art of loafing around and generally having an remarkably good time, while doing mostly nothing.

3. A more negative connotation indicating laziness or sloth. . . ignore this one.

The point of putzing? Once your work is done, let it go! Look, there it goes!. . . And now it's gone, beyond any hope of calling it back or renewing it or reviving it or chasing it down! So just let it go! That's right. . .

Let it go baby!

You know what they say. . . . Work hard and play harder! Once the hard work is done, the great ones party! So get your work done, and then putz or play to your hearts content. Just remember to work first! ;)

*sigh* Today is one of those days. One of those days where you just want to drop everything to run and play in the summer sunshine. After the week this has been, I want the beach!!! Ah! The glorious beach, with it's magical relaxation qualities! The pounding of the surf, the warm glow of the streaming sunshine and the soft white sand, all perfectly punctuated by the occasional cry of a seagull. Throw in some quality boogie boarding and body surfing followed by some truly excellent fried calamari and life would be bliss! . . . . It's perfect. . . . Except for the tiny fact that I'm stuck in Idaho, with spruce trees and grizzly bears! . . . *sigh* . . . . Well, at least I have the pool! ;)

For those of you who were wondering where I disappeared to today and why the promised webinar is not yet up (an for all of those who were not wondering as well) prepare yourself for a tale of woe and medication!

Dun, dun, DAA! (insert choice of scary music here)

I was at the dentist! Truthfully? He's a very sweet man, and genuinely cares about what he does and the comfort of his patients. The experience was really quite nice. . . . . all things considered.

I was able to squeeze into his schedule because one of my teeth has been bothering me a great deal of late. It escalated from mildly annoying to utterly excruciating on this past Saturday. (When I post the webinar video, you will probably see a few faces I make that are really out there, even for me. It's because I'm trying to alleviate some of the pain by wiggling my jaw.) After calling around to about a million dentists on Monday (Ok, so it was only 6, but still!), I was able to get an appointment with Dr Lynn Blaisdell.

This morning at 10 am I was seated in his office filling out paper work. I left his office at a little after 11: 45. . . . . So you can guess that things did not go so well. What I had mistakenly thought was a filling that needed to be replaced, turned out to be the discovery of a massive cavity in the next molar over. . . . . followed by numbing, lots of drilling, a partial root canal, a temporary reconstruction and finally recommendations of either pulling the tooth or getting a complete root canal and reconstructing the tooth using a porcelain cap. So, much fun! Yea, me. . . . :(

So after being tenderly cared for, (Dr. Blaisdell is truly a wonder! I did not feel a thing. . . . literally! ;) I was ushered on my way with a prescription for antibiotics and pain medication called in for me and told that the numbing agents should wear off in an hour or so. . . . . Three and a half hours later I could finally start to feel my lips. I took the antibiotics and first dose of pain medication as directed, and WOW! Let me tell you what, those lil suckers are amazing! ;) No pain anywhere!

But there are some down sides. . .

1. My head feels like somebody hijacked my brain and stuffed my head full of cotton balls and helium. (It's not nearly as fun as it sounds!)

2. Because of the temporary filling, my mouth tastes like the hospital smells. Or like what gauze smells like when you open the package. (In short, BLECH!)

3. I am having a horrible time getting anything done because I keep falling asleep! It's really sad how easily any kind of medicine affects me, anything stronger than regular aspirin and I turn into Sleeping Beauty. I waited until my hubby came home to take the full dose of the pain meds because I did not want to fall asleep and leave my 4 year old daughter to her own devices. (it's just not safe to do that!) So when he did get home and I took the medication, I decided to take a "quick nap". . . . Five hours later, I woke up and was wondering how in the world it got dark so fast after only 20 minutes. ;)

4. I'm getting really sick of yogurt. I have been craving nachos all day. . . *sigh* but it's just not going to happen. :(

5. My capacity for spelling, typing, phone conversations and any other form of intelligent communication has dwindled to nothing. I'm between doses at the moment, hence my semi-coherent state. I'll go take the next dose like I am supposed to here in a few minuted when I finish this. I held off for a bit because you really can't write a decent blog post when your brain is doing a fairly impressive imitation of jello.

So to sum all this up: I went to the dentist today and it was actually a MUCH better experience that I expected. If I'm not completely coherent tomorrow, it's not my fault! And I don't like taking drugs. . . . even though the Doctor told me to. ;)

Alan May, you are my new muse! ;)

Alan posted a very, very good blog post, A Tale Of Two. If you have not read it yet, you really should. But what got my creative juices flowing was the "How would I handle this?" part of the blog.

Racism is right at the top of my pet peeves list. To be blunt: It's a stupid, antiquated attitude that should have been completely stamped out eons ago. Personally, I don't care if someone is neon pink with purple spots; their skin color and racial heritage do not make a difference to me. . . . it's their actions and who they are as a person that matter.

The fun thing about Alan's post is that I actually do know how I would deal with it . . . . And it's the main reason that I would make a terrible Realtor!

My response to the racist attitude of the seller would be something like this:

*jumping out of her chair, Phly runs over and claps a hand over the clients mouth and furtively looks at the ceiling*

Phly: "SHHHHH! Are you crazy? Do you want me to get my license pulled? You can't say things like that! They will hear you!"

Seller: "What?"

Phly: "The government! Have you not heard of the new Inter-racial Diligence Information Observation Technology? Idiot!

Seller: "What did you just call me?"

Phly: "No! The Inter-racial Diligence Information Observation Technology or Idiot for short. It totally makes it illegal to even think about asking about the race of a buyer. I could get my license pulled for even talking about something like that!

*Phly pulls the seller out of their chair and drags them towards the door*

Phly: "Look, I'd like to help you. . really I would! But I also really want to keep selling houses if you know what I mean!"

Seller: "So you mean. . ?"

Phly: "Yep! They are listening in right now! So, since I've hit my one per day Idiot limit, we will have to talk about this another time."

*Phly shoves the seller out the door, quickly closes and then locks it. She mouths through the glass at the seller, "Idiots are everywhere!"*

I think everyone will agree with me that it would be best if I stick to blogging, and leave the Real Estate Market to the more tactful members of the human race. But, MAN! . . . . . What I would not give for five minutes with a hidden camera and then an upload date with You Tube after that experience! ;)