What do you do for a living? I'm a dog. Enough said.

Mardi La Fey is her given name. She is also known as Fluff-fey, Barkey La Fey, Tuffy, Mard and Baby. We rescued this fine animal a year ago January from an animal shelter in Sacramento. We had actually decided to get a dog and were looking for a dashhund. As we toured the facility we did see one very old dashhund, but he had "adopted" papers on his kennel. So we proceeded to wander around looking at all the dogs, watched those that were together interact and basically just looking to see what might suit us as new dog parents. Then there she was. A "Katrina" survivor. They called her Cari. She looked at us with soft doe eyes and didn't jump up on the fencing, just looked, quietly. Hum...not to bad.



We proceeded on and made another round of looking at all the animals, even some cats. It was Roger that was enamoured by this little bull dog. I thought "Oh great, a 1 year old pit bull" I could hardly believe that we would be interested in this dog- the breed & age. But she looked so sweet and had such a calm personality. So we visited with her in a private room and decided that we would adopt her (even though the whole time she was trying to figure out how to get the door opened and pee'd on the floor. She wasn't really too interested in us at all.)



The next day I was able to pick up our new baby. We had certain training issues to resolve, as she had been kenneled since she was approximately 4 to 6 months old. Jamie (an absolute animal angel and my daughter-in-law) gave me wonderful advice on potty training and other questions that came up .


Mardi is now two years old and is a steadfast friend and member of our little family. We love having her as a pet and she has brought many hours of joy and laughter to Roger & I. She does have the tendency to be the "pack leader" always. It seems as though we humans sometimes mistake who is the real master in human/dog relationships, we might have it upside down!



We don't need an alarm system in the cars when we have Mardi with us because she barks so loud at anything that comes within 10 feet of the car that people don't even dare to look at her. It is said" Never look a bull dog in the eye". Roger tests this theory by pointing at her and getting right in her face looking her in the eye. Usually she just licks him as if to say "please don't bug me, I'm trying to be nice". Other times he has gotten a bite!



I love the way dogs live in the moment. Budda said:

Master your senses,

What you taste and smell,

What you see, what you hear.

In all things be a master of what you do and say and think.

Be free.

I think we can learn alot from our four legged, furry friends. Unconditional love, loyalty, affection, playfulness, non-judgement, generous sloppy kisses, totally relaxing in the sun and many more.

Take these wonderful attributes of a dog and mirror them into your own life. Let's take a good look at ourselves and see where we can add these wonderful qualitites that our dogs are so abundantly supplied with.

Treat all people the same with a generous spirit.

Technotarded

I saw this word in G & S blog on one of the comments made to them. Well, I could relate totally. I do not technically know the finer and more intricate parts of this electronic age. I still have never sent a text message or even used alot of the features on my complex phone. When Aurora helped with some feature on my phone a couple of years ago, she just looked at me and rolled her eyes. Well, nothing has changed, I'm still a technotard.

Now something I really know alot about.
This week I successfully moved many, many boxes from our apartment down to storage. Since I have been packing and cleaning everything, anticipating a move since February, I had an entire room full of packed boxes! I had really been procrastinating taking everything to storage because of the two flights of stairs from the apt. to the truck. Well it just so happened that I received the motivation because of a picture I saw in my mind of how I wanted the room to look. Love that re-decorating impulse! I pulled everything out and into the front room. Got the other room cleaned, furniture moved around and organized, closet revamped. Pulled all the boxes from the living room to the front porch. Did a few deep breath's, a few yoga stretches and into mountain pose. Comtemplated for a moment and got my head right about the task at hand and I was ready to go.

As I put the last box in the back of the Explorer I was totally impressed & pleased that I had packed just the right amount of boxes that would fit nicely into the truck! It took less than 15 minutes to unload everything into the garage and I was so happy it was done. At least this phase. This got me to thinking about things I am grateful for. So I thought I'd do a partial list.
My favorite things:
Divine intervention
my loving husband & BF, my sons, daughters, & granddaughter, my extended family
good health
watching my boys perform
Garrick's art; Quinn's art
books
sleep
laughing
contemplating
when things happen at just the right time
when things just work without effort
irony
when my hair looks good
good food
spirit
intuition
communication
loosing weight
color
flowers
nature
animals
money
kindness
kisses & hugs
seeing someone after missing them for a long time
beaches & the ocean
perfect temperature days
Red Bull
a clean house
good ideas
creative people
music
acoustic guitar, piano & fiddle playing together
winning a jackpot
traveling to a new place
ice cream
little children
love letters
being apart of something noble & edifying
truth
living in America
beliefs
old rusted stuff
rocks
small boxes
hot shower & Bubble bath
seashells
big puffy white clouds in a bright blue sky
being objective
analysis
holistic & spiritual guidance
hearing people say they love me

think about what your favorite things are...I know I could go on for days but just chose a few. XOXOXO

Today ask God for the gift He has carefully preserved within our heart. Grace. I was driving home from the grocery store a few days ago and was thinking about who knows what when suddenly the car in front of me slowed down quite abruptly. Irritated, I wondered what was going on, who or what was causing this sudden delay. Hurry up I thought, I want to go home. Then as I was surveying the area I perceived to have a major problem, a beautiful deer hopped across the road and leaped over a tall fence. I was astonished as I saw this graceful creature take to the air. My thoughts immediately reconciled the situation and I too slowed to a snails pace to capture this animal in motion. As I proceeded slowly I notice four more deer grazing in a yard. As I passed I stopped and reflected that nature has such a soothing remedy for this topsy-turvy world of ours. I could not even remember what I had been thinking about four minutes earlier but focused my attention on the beautiful trees and flowers that graced the road. There were horses and a bright blue sunny sky. The air was cool and I felt deeply satisfied at that moment.

There is a tendency to become overwhelmed in our thoughts and feel as though there is no resolve or there is a constant turmoil going on in our brains, trying to figure out relationships, money, work and boredom or being over extended. Just stop for one sec and take a deep breath, blow it out and release the tension. Breath in energy and renewal. Look at nature, smell the roses, sit in the sun and be still.

There are so many things we fear, yet to have fear is to not believe you are spirit and that Grace is not available. Except to the extent that you become religious or change your whole life. This is an error in thinking. For Grace, which is God's infinite, never-ending love, is always here for everyone. No matter what. He is just waiting for some to recognize this, for grace is the answer to all despair. We are never alone. We are never left alone. It is always there whether you believe it or not. It is truth.

You cannot learn Grace. It is a gift. It is through an opened mind that we can hear the call to awaken. In a world of seeming hate and fear, through Grace which is so opposite to everything in this world, hate and fear are gone and we see love in all things.

Let your own spirit be your guide. Do that which you know and feel in your heart is from a loving perspective. Forgive, be decerning, have compassion and love, love, love.

One morning a woman named Beverly I was caring for died. I really liked her and as I watched her speak to and change over to "the other side" I gave her a blessing and released her. It is always emotionally draining for me to experience this phenomenon. I came home and needed to re-boot. I felt exhausted and drained of my energy. I took my Mardi out for a walk. As we passed by a field, three black and orange butterflies swirled around me for several minutes and then followed me along the path. I smiled and lightly laughed at their presence after such a morning. I knew God's love was with me. Perhaps the presence of the butterflies was to let me know Beverly made it and was happy, that is Grace to me.