Unbelievable how time flies

I've recently started using and selling Young Living Essential Oils. They are amazing; they can be used for so many things. My mom has virtually cured her insomnia; my dad has brought his blood sugar under control to the point where he has decreased his medication to almost nothing. My husband does not snore anymore (thank you, God, for Young Living essential oils). They also smell fantastic! Their uses are virtually unlimited and I'm very excited to have stumbled upon them.

We had a week-long vacation in Vancouver at the end of June. We hadn't been back for five years -- way too long. The weather was a bit cool, but nice. We only had one day of a bit of rain. We ate so much it wasn't even funny. I'm sure I came home about three or four pounds heavier. We're planning another trip at the end of July. We are planning on driving south from Calgary to Montana, Wyoming, perhaps Utah. Anybody got any neat places they can recommend?

Too bad about Germany losing the final to Spain in Euro 2008. Soon the German premier league will be on again and I'll get my weekly soccer fix. Can't wait. The first game goes the 15th of August.

Did anyone see the men's final of Wimbledon? What a match! Amazing.

From the Yoga Sutras of Pantajali

Watch your thoughts ... they become words.
Watch your words ... they become actions.
Watch your actions ... they become habits.
Watch your habits ... they become your character.
Watch your character ... it becomes your destiny.

So much to tell

Let me start with some awful news that came from my family in Germany this past weekend. A cousin-by-marriage was shot and killed by her husband. My cousin had been utilizing shelters for some years, apparently. I never met her. She was 40 years old and left behind two daughters, aged 9 and 10. I recently read Brian Vallée's book The War on Women and now all the statistics and stories of the women in that book have hit home. My uncle, my cousin's father, has had several bypass operations and has a weak heart. We are worried he will not be able to withstand this shock. Years ago one of his two sons (three children altogether) was in a severe car accident and he remains severely brain-damaged and is in a home. The other son and his wife will try to adopt the two girls.

Needless to say, this was the worst possible news. It's one of those things you think happens to other people, but to have it happen in your own family. I've been very sad ever since.

In happier news, Blogdog will be interested to hear that I've gotten quite addicted to knitting. It's hard to fit it in between watching German premier-league soccer matches, practicing piano, walking long walks with the dog, reading, and, oh yeah, working and sleeping. But I manage.

In other unrelated news, this past Palm Sunday I was officially confirmed in the Lutheran Church, so that was a big event. But our pastor has since left us to take a posting in Wisconsin of all places, which is sad because he was really the most sincere, down-to-earth person, with fluent German and English so that he was able to conduct the two services. We will miss him, and right now we are limping along.

More soon, hopefully. I will check in with all my regulars this week.

I'm Still Alive

I've been busy lately with all sorts of things. I've started writing again, too, just not on my blog. So much has happened since I last posted anything. There are a couple of big news items. My pastor may be leaving our church, which really makes me apprehensive. I spent much of Sunday in tears after I found out the news. He won't make a decision until the end of January, though, so I'll try to hold off on any contingency plans until then.

I have recently started making my own cheese and find myself with all this WHEY that I don't know what to do with. A little research has turned up conflicting opinions on whether you should feed it to your dog. This morning I think I gave him a little too much, but he seems to tolerate a few tablespoons a day just fine. One nice fellow on a farm in Vermont gave me some advice. Thanks!

Christmas is racing towards us and I have done very little. Some charity work and we bought the tree but we haven't put it up yet. Anyway, must run. Will blog again soon, I hope.

If you're into AWWW-isn't-that-adorable ...

Then check out Chandira's blog and click on the Otters in Love YouTube video. It seems I'm maybe the last to see it, but just in case. Thanks, Chandira.

Please tell me not all teams turn into the Canucks

Wouldn't you know it? You pick a sport, settle on a team and then, next thing you know, they begin their losing streak or well-you-can't-win-'em-all slide. First the Canucks, then the Yankees, and now, Bayern-München, a German Bundesliga soccer team, the #1 team in the league, I might add. They had 2 1/2 games where they didn't score and then in their match Saturday against Stuttgart they finally scored, but Stuttgart (last year's champions, but not doing so well this year until recently) won the match 3-1. Bayern-Münich barely get three goals scored on them in a month never mind in one match. So I don't know what was up with them.

Anyway, the doctor I edit for has recently been offered a large-ish sum of money to help get his first book, which is currently seeking an agent or publisher, published. He was all agog over this and called me several times a day with ideas and/or queries as to whether I had any ideas. The whole thing left me feeling like one of those cartoon characters who a really fast person goes past and the unfortunate left standing is spinning around, comes out dizzy and not even knowing which way they're facing. It was disorienting and it stressed me out. I begged him to please give me a few days to think things through, but I guess he must have been so excited that he didn't hear this. Finally I'd had some time to think things through and when he called me again to offer more "thoughts", it took me a minute or two to get wound up, but then I let him have it with both barrels. Without more background this has to sound confusing. He recently switched to Mac computers and refuses, in true absent-minded professor, I-live-in-my head fashion, to read manuals or take a course, so he phones me for every little thing. I has left me cringing every time the phone rings. It has made me screen calls, even when I'm sure they're not from the latest financial institution trying to sell me yet another credit card. Then, on top of that, my other half has deemed that we need new phones. I thought our old phones were fine, but for reasons I won't go into, he wanted new ones. We haven't had much luck so far. But yesterday we bought a DECT 6.0 Panasonic and I think this one might work. Suffice it to say, that I wish the phones would just go away. I'm so tired of them.

Anyway, that's all for now, I think. Check out this bibliophile before you go anywhere else. Fabulous stuff.

Rockies down 1 game, 1 run

I hope the Rockies turn it around, but it's looking not too good; it is the bottom of the 7th and it's 2-1. It would be great if they went to Colorado with a split. I'm not normally an NL team fan, but I don't like the Red Sox, so go Rockies.

The weather here in Calgary has been freaky lately. We had 22° on Tuesday (that's about 74° for my American friends) and a few degrees warmer yesterday. When I was walking the dog, I was in thin sweatpants and a t-shirt, and I was wishing I'd worn shorts. This morning we had two inches of snow on the ground, a cold wind and I got an opportunity to wear my new Bayern-München soccer scarf that I bought on the weekend (I bought a jersey, too, it's GORGEOUS!). I've been watching German soccer on GOL-TV and I'm loving it! And, my favourite team is at the top of the standings (and I can't say the same for the Yankees or the Canucks).

Game 1 -- Not so Good!

As I am an ardent Yankees fan, I can't in good conscience root for the Red Sox. Besides, they're rather disgusting with all that spitting that goes on all the time. Earlier tonight, they showed a statistic that said that Manny Ramirez has had 24 post-season home runs, vs. 18 of Mickey Mantle's. What a completely misleading statistic. This offends me as a mathematician (it's messing with the science of statistics) and as a Yankees fan. When Mickey Mantle was playing, there weren't division playoff games. That means that Ramirez has played in potentially three times as many games post season games as Mantle did, and against teams that arguably weren't as good as teams that make it all the way to the World Series. All of Mantle's post-season home runs were WORLD SERIES home runs: all 18, while Ramirez has a paltry 4 in the world series; the other 20 came in division playoff games. Anyway, go Rockies. I believe it is bad karma to root AGAINST teams, to hope teams lose, and I don't think I'm fooling anyone when I root for the Rockies, but I still say, GO ROCKIES. Still, here we are in the bottom of 5th, and it's 6-1. Crap.