Half Price! Clearance! BOGO!

 Okay Ya'll listen up and read on! Now you know the difference, the huge difference, between what a pair of most male eyes see upon entering any store of any kind versus what the female eye sees. Now most men walk in any store and if they see something they like then the search is over…most won’t even price it, just march right up to the counter with it and check out.

Now the female eye enters a store, and it goes on the immediate prowl by scanning, quickly, every sign on every rack and they will only move towards those that say “Half Price! Clearance! BOGO!” Now mind you the female eye as already checked ahead and knows this particular store has sales going wild and that’s why we are there instead of another store to begin with. We are professional deal finding, coupon scanning, and rewards points kind of shoppers. Even if it doesn’t matter, financially, if you have to pay full price it is just natural instinct to seek out the best deal for what you want! And don’t think we won’t bring up, at checkout, that so and so sells the same item for this cheaper price and work our way right on up to a “price match” and get even more of a discount.

Now, this explains fully why when you ladies shop with your fellows and then go to lunch together or dinner later that you are the only one who came out of the store with way more than one bag and still has money left to eat with while your fellow has one bag, two shirts, and is broke! Now you must explain “the art of shopping 101” to him and yet this same scene will play out every time. Trust me…Ladies know the art of the deal and that it all starts with our kind of thinking of “Half Price! Clearance! BOGO!”

Pam’s nighttime thoughts…

Cleaning out our closets...

We all commonly refer to the above as doing our "spring cleaning" but it is amazing how many limit that to tossing out that junk that is in the way 0f everything or cleaning off and polishing up those dust covered tabletops or grabbing the broom to attack those pesky spider webs. Spring cleaning doesn't stop at tidying up all of that stuff that we know company just might see. Spring cleaning can be an exhausting job but we all know that it HAS to be done and yet we will slam the closet doors shut to hide more junk than we just cleaned up. Think about your own closet...we all have clothes we can't or don't wear anymore, we all have shoes we have replaced but just can't toss the ones with the holes in them, we all have some box of overflowing stuff to which we only add more stuff to, we all have some piece of memorabilia from some point in time that there just isn't room for anywhere...and the list just goes on. But, one day we open a closet door looking for something particular that must be buried underneath this heap of things we have just shoved in there to get them out of the way "for now" and after enough digging we decide to grab up that trash bag and clean out our messy, catch-all closet so we can make some sense of it and see the inside much more clearly and orderly. During that "spring cleaning" we throw out, rearrange, donate, and so forth so that we can easily find the things we use and need most often that belong in our closet. But somehow new stuff will end up replacing the old stuff only to become old stuff itself by the next spring cleaning. Cleaning up one mess merely to make room for a new mess is not cleaning out the closet.

The inner closet can get much of the same treatment as the closets in our houses do...shove it out of sight and no one will be the wiser that it's there at all. Our inner closets hang with skeletons that clutter up any space for anything new to have a place to sit. Let's see...there are skeletons of secrecy that locked lips have kept hidden...there are skeletons of regret that serve no purpose to us in the here and now...there are skeletons of turmoil if ever we did the wrong thing for every right reason...there can be quiet a few skeletons hanging around for different reasons for which we choose not to discuss...and then there are those skeletons that are just best left alone and allowed to be that pile of bones that they have become over time. Our inner closets are sprinkled with dust and cobwebs and musty air that stifles the chance for us to finally breathe fully. Spring cleaning applies to those inner closets as well, only we must do it more than once a year...the job is a tad more intricate and takes more time of deep consideration. Whether we wish to admit it or not those inner closets will eventually bugle against their doors from the inside as those skeletons grow in numbers until one day the doors bust open and everything just tumbles out. Don't minimize the task of bagging up those skeletons and burying them properly and letting them go for it can be an emotionally taxing cleanup. Take the time to rid your inner closet of as much "junk" at a time as you can so you can throw the curtains back and finally let in some light. Remember this...no more than your company can see the mess inside your bedroom closet can anyone see the skeletons in your inner closet but that doesn't really matter for you know the junk is in both closets and it should bother you enough to put your gloves on, get out the cleaning supplies, and just make a day of freshening up the messes we hide and shove to the side. On the day we least expect it or see it coming is the day we will get deep in the dirt and start cleaning out our closets so that we feel better about having done so. Just knowing that things have been made neat and tidy and properly disposed of makes us feel better about us. Do that for yourself...demand it of yourself...owe it to yourself...and then reward yourself for a hard job well done.

Pam's late-night thoughts...

Celebrating my 100th blog...and my puzzle box of pieces

 Celebrating 100 blogs…

Tonight is a special night as I am sharing my 100th blog! WOW! Those 100’s are landmark numbers in many ways, and it is a landmark for me indeed. I have revisited every blog I have ever written from 2012 forward to now and it amazes me, with each one, at how much has changed and it amazes me more at how much has not changed. For me, these last 99 blogs have shown so many parts of my journey of life over the last 12yrs as my first blog entry was in 2012…seems impossible even as it rolls across my screen printing what I’m thinking. What a ride it has been, much of it chronicled here with every subject matter that came to my mind and that I sat up, unable to sleep, and wrote into the wee morning hours to post. I recall those restless nights when my mind wanted to write something down so badly that it won the contest over my body and up I got. I have always loved all things words for all of my life as they called me down this path at a very early, young age. It is, for me, not a case of me finding my destiny but rather my destiny found me. Sometimes in life we make certain choices and, equally on the other side, sometimes certain choices make us. I’ve seen life from more challenging angles than I can count, and I have also viewed it from as many beautiful angles that so many never take the time to see. Folks will say “it’s all about the journey,” and in part that would be correct but at the end of the day it’s more than that...it is about “what we learn from the journey.” See, way too many will stroll aimlessly through their journey with nothing ventured nothing gained and they miss so much of the ride. The journey has taught me, a few times the hard way, that we get it right by starting off getting it wrong but with a feisty spirit we can use those as stepping-stones of either what to do or what not to do. No one has ever opened a jigsaw puzzle box and discovered a completed puzzle inside…life ain’t a crackerjack box where we just reach in and pull out our prize. Those puzzle pieces all have a very firm fit in one specific designated place that helps join each of the other pieces together and it is that which we work on for the duration of time granted to us here on earth. We know what picture we would like to see once put together, but we don’t get to pick the box we want…we work with the box we are given, and we must study each piece as we place it. If we are wise and choose not to repeat mistakes, then we better our chances of becoming satisfied with the picture we are putting together. One day at a time is how we take life in stride and one piece at a time is how we build our puzzle with pride. I’ll have to wha-hooo on this one as the ride has been a slew and host of amazing events, moments, experiences, lessons, and memories. I try to offer up a wide range of things to share here and for anyone who has visited my page…I hope you fancied the read genuinely as I wrote them as so. Writing was the dream that chose me, it was inside my puzzle box, and I couldn’t be happier with how the pieces have fit together thus far…. sometimes I did nothing, they simply fit themselves together. I believe in lifting people up and plugging them into some inspiration…I believe people need that because I know I did and still do. So, having marked this moment as my 100th blog I am dedicating it to you and your puzzle box, your journey, and to all of the flashes of glee when the puzzle pieces fit snugly. No journey is unworthy, no traveler is unworthy, and no puzzle is impossible. It is always about the journey but not all about the journey…your participation in it is always an equal part of the journey. May we all continue to move forward, to grow as we go, to learn as we should, to enjoy our progress, and to be ever so content and proud of what we did with our own puzzle box of pieces. 

Cheers to #100!!!

Pam's late-night thoughts...

Paper Words of Shredded Thoughts...

 Customarily we know them as journals, diaries, or just plain notebooks of stray passing thoughts. It's those jagged glass-like thoughts that we hurriedly jot down as words of therapeutic purging on some unsuspecting piece of paper that just happens to be within our reach at the moment. It does not matter, at the time, if the paper is lined or bound or wrinkled or even torn...it matters only that it is to become home to these words of ours that float about inside of our heads. We want a place to put th0se words down, we want to give them a new home or to return to visit them again with closure or to just let the paper now take the burden of any shredded thoughts that we no longer wish to give free room and board t0. For some those paper words are secured with their own lock and key and some are loosely tucked together in some unused drawer or even folded away neatly in some stack that is merely gathering dust. For some those paper words are regarded highly and pressed firmly onto fresh, crisp pages in some special bonded folder or clipped together at the sharp, unfolded edges and slipped inside some box of "things and stuff." Those paper words...those words we put to paper...those words are fragments and letters that make up the scribbling of shredded thoughts that are part of us. And no matter where they may be tucked, they compile a history of doors we have closed, battles we have fought, losses we have lost, tears we have shed, mountains we have climbed, sacrifices we have made and so many, many other elements that have brought us to where we are as a person today. 

But, after all of the reflection has been reflected upon, I hope that your pages will continue to turn, not stopping in mid-sentence, and that the paper words keep flowing and that the thoughts find a way to cease the shredding and that the chapters that follow are written more carefully with poise and grace for they now write a story of future possibilities and dreams within reach. May all of the pages be lined, and may your penmanship be straight and may every stroke of your ink form new paper words that now lead you over the threshold, with mended thoughts, of many new open and welcoming doors.

Pam's late-night thoughts...

Of Positive Meaning...

If you have a voice, one of positive meaning, then speak it...

If you have a cause, one of positive meaning, put it into action...

If you have a dream, one of positive meaning, pursue it, seize it...

If you have a broad vision, one of positive meaning, be the first domino...

If you have a heart, one of positive meaning, let its beat be heard...

If you conceive a better way, one of positive meaning, then lead on...

If you fight the good fight, one of positive meaning, fight to win...

If you have friends, those of positive meaning, cherish them...

If you have been there and have advice, those of positive meaning, share with one who is there now...

If you can give that minute its full 60 seconds, those of positive meaning, then make many minutes...

IF...what a small and large word, some of positive meaning...some not but IF goes a long way both ways...so,

If you have a winning hand, with positive meaning and outcome, then lay your cards on the table and sweep the middle...

If you must do anything, of positive meaning, go all in...

If destiny smiles upon you, with lots of positive meaning, be sure to be grateful and always pay a tad forward...

Plan all for the sake of positive meanings...for that is as it should be done.

Pam's late-night thoughts

Life's Spider Webs...🕸

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It all began simple enough, as I suppose most things do. You ever feel like the best way to equate some of the events of your life are to compare them to a spider web? The small, seemingly harmless creature begins to weave a webbed sculpture with nothing more than a single glistening strand of silk that stretches from one point to another. It continues to weave dynamic geometrical shapes until it has created an intricate piece of art. We can only wonder how this tiny creature could achieve building such a beautiful splendor in what seemed to be the blink of an eye. It spreads about it an air of curiosity that draws us to take a closer look at this spectacular creation. The closer we get the more engrossed we are with the precision and detail laboriously applied to this miniature world of silken strands. 

We are so in awe that we fail to realize the purpose for which the web was designed to begin with. It was not created for the joy of one to gaze upon but for the sole reason that one would become trapped in the paralyzing sticky residue that lies, unseen, on the surface of those glorious silk strands. By the time we realize this, it is usually too late: we are already caught and struggling in vain to free ourselves. The more we struggle, the more entangled we become. In moments of panic, we become held hostage to this silken captor and no exit makes logical sense. Not all things apply to all things, and I am in no way saying that all of the good things out there are hiding all bad things. It is, however, amazing at how often, once entrapped, we see that we have failed to realize that the art of the spider webs was to create chaos to those who admired too closely.

Pam's late-night thoughts...

Do we really wish to do it all over again?

      "If I had my life to do over again..." We have heard it, and I am sure we have almost all said it but let's take a reflective and thoughtful moment to really examine the wonder and wish of starting again. If we were given the chance to do it all over again, I am sure there would be so much we would do and so much we wouldn't have done. Looking back sometimes fills us with regrets, and it makes it hard to move forward for we wish we could change them. The small regrets are those that eat us up inside and that is one thing that makes us want to do it all over again. But do we really wish to do that? It's a fair question to ask yourself and the answer will truly lie solely on how you feel about the destination your life has arrived at.

        We say that we would do so many things differently and no doubt we would all alter a thing or two or throw a little seasoning into our wind but that does not mean that we would have not reached the same outcome simply because we traveled a different road. See, we don't get to do it over again with that knowledge of knowing what we know now, it would be an entirely different journey with all of the similar learning lessons awaiting us. We may travel the other path of the diverged road and yet still meet the same outcome only by the means of a different route. We may seize those moments to change some things, but you cannot stop your feet from leading you down the path they are meant to travel for all roads are different but often lead to the same place. If you are happy and content with your life in later years, then do not wish to do it all over again for you came VIA the path the universe unfolded before you. No matter the paths we cross we all swim thru the mud, coast thru the valleys and climb steep mountains but I believe we each arrive exactly where we were meant to be. Be happy that the mistakes didn't hold you down and that the positives carried you forth for we get one chance to ride this ride so enjoy it and don't wish to do it all over again...especially when the scent of "the best is yet to come" lingers in the air. 

Pam's late-night thoughts...