BCGII's Xanga

Not my cuppa tea. So I thought.

Wed, 17 Sep 2008 13:25:33 GMT

“Sometimes we are too busy with the concerns of living to give much thought to life.” ~ Thom Lemmons

I had a different post about a different book recently plotted and planned for this garden of ours — that all changed earlier today when I went shopping with my daughter at a local thrift store for her Homecoming Dress.

(For those of you in other places not stateside, Homecoming is an annual high school ritual marked by a football game [the other kind, not soccer] with the local rival school, and a formal dance the following evening — it’s a great excuse for the kids to get very dressed up and for the parental units to take pictures. It’s usually the last time we see our kids looking this good until Prom, or the “Spring Formal”.)

While my daughter perused the clothing aisles of the GoodWill Store, I perused the massive used book selection. For reasons still marginally unknown to me, I snatched a small hardbound novel off a shelf and flipped thru the pages . . . READ THE REST AT GO! SMELL THE FLOWERS main site.

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At least once a week (if not more) I'll be over at GSTF with my usual wit, wisdom and personal brand of blahhhh-ging flavour. I'll keep you updated here, so you can go over THERE. It's my new home away from home and this time being committed is more than just a threat from the local psych ward.

I'm going to announce my next picks for the highly coveted "Flower Smeller" award in the next couple of weeks too. So, stay tuned.
And dudes, please leave a comment when you visit me . . . It's okay to comment elsewhere. You won't get flogged by the Xanga Gods! I promise!

Go ...t four minutes?

Thu, 05 Jun 2008 15:31:25 GMT

This is a recap of my post at Go! Smell The Flowers.

As some of you know, This Blue Collar Goddess has been faced with a number of emotional trials lately. I have a good friend who sends out a daily mass mailing with a thought or a piece of information to his mail list and for the last few days he's been hitting the mark with ineffable accuracy for me.

First, there was an "Om" meditation. Then there was a reminder to "Breathe". Then today, a marvelous composition on "compassion" which I translated to "semantics".

**SPOILER ALERT**

For those of you who won't take the time to watch the four minute flick above (heh, I forgive you I do!) what happens to the beggar is a subtle shift in wording.
A man comes along and changes the sign to read, "Today is a beautiful day, I cannot see it" instead of "I am Blind. Have Compassion". The beggar is graced with a bounty of goodness, both material and emotional for the rest of the day.

I don't know if some of my inability to express myself as succinctly as I'd like to is a result of Mercury going retrograde, but I haven't been able to communicate what I'm feeling without flubbing it up even after editing, and editing and ... in some cases, editing would only make the situation worse. It's so frustrating!

My dilemma is that I am blind (not literally, you dig?) and I need to find compassion among those who I associate with, but I keep saying, "Omigod! I'm blind! Help me!" when what I should be saying is, "Today is a beautiful day, and I cannot see it. Help me."

Indeed. Today is a beautiful day. Can you see it?

50 Billion Bucks

Sat, 31 May 2008 15:22:33 GMT

One of the founders at GSTF asked today what any of us would do for the world if we had Fifty BILLION $. I replied that I wouldn't know what to do with 50 Million, let alone fathom that amount.

But truly, my answer was pretty straight forward after I googled, "how much would it cost to end world hunger".

"The cost of providing one billion people with 250 kilograms of grain every year is approximately $40 billion dollars a year. That would seem to be a lot of money, but with one billion people to pay, it is no big deal: $40 a year! An even more moderate estimate is provided by the organization Netaid: Just $13 billion dollars a year and the basic health and food needs of the world's poorest people could be met.
With $50 billion a year as an estimated cost of ending world hunger, the expense for each well-off person is one dollar a week. It is the growth in the number of rich people on the planet, while the number of poor has not grown, that results in this favorable situation, unprecedented in human history." Tor Norretranders

What about you? What would you do with 50 Billion Dollars?

Go! Honor Our Soldiers

Mon, 26 May 2008 20:26:23 GMT

Copy of my post at GSTF today:

Today in the good ol’ USofA we’re celebrating our soldiers. Past, present and (unfortunately) future warriors who have given their lives to the service of their country.

What I wish, what I truly wish — being the dreamer that I am — is that we could lay down our weapons in all countries, agree to disagree and stop murdering each other.

What I wish, what I truly wish — being the dreamer that I am — is that we will someday have a world wide Memorial Day, in honor of the men, women and children all over the globe who have suffered in the name of War, and that a world wide picnic of vast proportions (including kosher all beef hot dogs, tofu hot dogs and veggie burgers for our discerning guests) would be arranged and we would be ashamed, and saddened by our actions of the past; joyous for our humanity and developed sense of democracy.

What kind of dreamer are you?

FREE FLOWERS CONTEST!

Fri, 16 May 2008 12:04:22 GMT

Competition time again at Flowers! Your chance to win $60 of flowers delivered anywhere in the world courtesy of our partners Flora 2000, the International delivery experts.

To enter make up a fun connection between the four people below and leave your answer in the comments at Go! Smell The Flowers and include something about yourself, your blog, your website or you in the answer. Your chance to have fun and promote yourself.

So here we GO!

I won the last round, and sent flowers to mommy dearest over Mother's Day! She said they were stunning! So, with all the graduations, weddings, birthdays and memorable moments coming up for you, surely you can think of someone who would appreciate the bouquet? Hey -- if you win, you could send them to yourself!

Keeping It Personal II

Thu, 15 May 2008 14:55:33 GMT

That's right folks! The blah-g is up at BlueCollarGoddess!

After tossing around a few ideas to engage thoughts and ideas regarding the growth of awareness in the Blogosphere; for me the final vote came down to "Hunger".
I kept the issue "close to home" so to speak.

Here's an excerpt from the less personal view:

"Our society has the resources to end hunger and poverty, but is choosing not to do so. And once again there are voices saying the federal government should abandon the field to churches and charities. But if we have learned anything in the ensuing 75 years, it is that the effort to give our nation’s families economic security and to lift them out of poverty requires all sectors..." – FRAC

If you post your own views regarding the latest Bloggers Unite campaign, just post the link here in the comments section so visitors from all over the world can find you.

Bloggers Unite For Human Rights

Wed, 14 May 2008 19:27:29 GMT

"Bloggers Unite is an initiative designed to harness the power of the blogosphere to make the world a better place. By challenging bloggers to blog about a particular social cause on a single day, a single voice can be joined with thousands of others to help make a real positive difference; from raising awareness for cancer, to an effort to better education systems or support 3rd world countries."

Let's spend some time tomorrow with this cause and spread the word!

Find badges for your website HERE. Or, you can make one yourself!

If you choose to join up with the Bloggers, leave me a comment so people elsewhere can find you, and link up with you.

Feel free to join the Go! Smell The Flowers blogring here at Xanga for more updates on worthwhile endeavors across the net and especially with us.

When Am I Gonna Get It?

Mon, 05 May 2008 17:40:41 GMT

Below are the schedules for economic stimulus payments related to tax returns processed by April 15, 2008:

Direct Deposit Payments
If the last two digits of your Social Security number are:	Your economic stimulus payment deposit should be transmitted to your bank account by:
00 – 20	May 2
21 – 75	May 9
76 – 99	May 16
Paper Check
If the last two digits of your Social Security number are:	Your check should be in the mail by:
00 – 09	May 16
10 – 18	May 23
19 – 25	May 30
26 – 38	June 6
39 – 51	June 13
52 – 63	June 20
64 – 75	June 27
76 – 87	July 4
88 – 99	July 11

Some taxpayers may receive smaller economic stimulus payments than they anticipated. By law, the stimulus payments are offset to satisfy past-due taxes, student loans, child support and certain other debts.

My FAB Five For April!

Mon, 05 May 2008 14:23:13 GMT

Update II -- I'm still waiting to see who y'all (those listed below) are going to come up with as YOUR personal choices for the award. Let me know as soon as you post them!

------- here's the org. post from BlueCollarGoddess (published in April) w/ the new flower smeller candidate -----

While talking to this guy on the phone yesterday, we discussed community.

I'm a huge fan of "community" -- being raised by a lunatic mother who let me run around Esalen naked and tossing rose petals. I was one of the original gazebo kids. I don't know if what is known now as the "Gazebo" was there when I was there while mommie dearest was practicing her spiritual path with my Aunt Frances, it doesn't matter.

What does matter is that I'm involved in this community now. Go! Smell The Flowers was introduced to me a few months ago when I was presented with a "Flower Smeller" award -- and later I entered what is now known as the infamous "Blog Idol" for a shot at being one of the "Founders". I wish I could say that I Am a "Founder" -- meaning that it was my idea and energy that began this excellent group -- I am pleased as all shyte to be involved today in the capacity I am having won that highly coveted spot over there.

I did award five people the "Flower Smellers" badge some time ago, and I'm going to do it again because I can. In fact, I will do it every month -- originally I awarded Jenny, Ana, Mel, Lucy and Feithy. For reasons known between us they didn't (to the best of my knowledge) blab about it.

They can, and SHOULD if they want to. (You go girls ...)

Here's the gig:
1. If you are awarded the flower smeller badge or are a founder of “GO! Smell the flowers” then pop the flower smeller badge up at your blog and award it to 5 others by writing a post with links to the 5 blogs or websites that you choose.
2. You can award this badge to a maximum of 5 people per month from now until eternity as and when you come across more flower smellers.
3. Link to this post so that people can find the origin of where the award started and find their way to this community.
4. Proudly display the Flower Smeller award with a link to the post that you wrote announcing your award.
5. All flower smellers - be prepared to be approached to write a 500 word account of yourself to feature in our 2009 book - The Flower Smellers that some of founders will be featuring in - here’s a few examples we prepared earlier, in PDF format for now over at The Flower Smellers page. As more badges are awarded we’ll start a blogroll of ‘Flower Smellers’ and also include the links in the page, the flower smellers.

Here's the good stuff, aka: My Next Five.

SuSu. If anyone knows about flower smelling (and the metaphor it represents) she does.

SekhmetDreaming. Not a victim, a survivor.

MommaRose. Fer crissake! Do we need to explain it?

~~Nanny. She's my Nanny. She personifies The Flower Smeller.~~
Update! I completely forgot that our Nanny is on Holiday.
My new choice for the flower smelling award this month is my BFF DubhSidh. I was going to get her next month (can you believe I've already made my list and checked it twice?) -- her post today is a prime example of why I love and respect the woman so much. And have, long LONG before there was the electronic stamp or email. We used to send proper paper and ink letters that would require three or more stamps.

Clothespin. He's in transition ... he's finding his way through the thorns.

Have fun you lucky five, and don't be afraid to spread the love. Everyone else, stay tuned for more Flower Smelling Goodness, take a look at GSTF, get involved if you're so inclined. I am positive that our "community" is going to grow like ... a wildflower! ( I was going to say 'weed' but the implications are just too funny ...)

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In my personal life, I am once again the full time lunatic mother of my three nearly grown children who constantly amuse and frustrate me.

I think that about says it all.

I Can Has Question?

Mon, 05 May 2008 00:55:06 GMT

You can!

From GSTF -- "Why wait until you’re dead and pushing up flowers from the grave? Life is too short and we endeavour to inspire people and help them discover their reason to be and be the best they can or at least think about what they can change in their life for the better! Who doesn’t want that?"

Someone gave you the heads up and said, "I award you this marvelous green badge that says 'flower smeller' because I think you're a flower smelling kindah dude/dudess."

You don't need to panic, but you should feel pretty nifty. Think of it as a pat on the back and someone giving you huge props. They like you, they really like you.

What do you do next? We'd like it if you told everyone that so&so thinks you're the bees knees, but you don't have to. There aren't any requirements. No obligation. And that's about it.

Should you be inspired to spread the love -- or become involved, you can. Pay it forward by nominating five other folks a few times a year. The standard is once a month, but we're not picky.

You COULD join the Blah-g Ring. That would be kinda kewl.

Eventually, there will be a book. You may be approached to add a blurb in the book about yourself if you've been given the Flower Smeller award. Again, you don't have to participate. A simple, "no thanks" is good enough for us.

So you think chartreuse is a yukky color? That's okay. We don't. If you have mad photoshop skills and want to make your own badge to match the dreamy colors on your website, we won't mind.

We're not a club, we're not a cult ... well, maybe we're a blossoming cult (didya catch that?) so you don't have to join up with anything, however -- should you be interested in participating in the forums or the blogs at Go! Smell the flowers, we're not going to stop you. Just be aware that there are thorns in this garden, and lively debate does happen from time to time.

For more information, do feel free to jump on over to the ABOUT section at GSTF, or message the Garden Ho, your very own Blue Collar Goddess right here.