Busy weekend

It's been a busy weekend!! Gymnastics yesterday morning along with a birthday party in the evening, bike riding this mornin before it gets too hot and a visit this afternoon (which I was kind enough to adjust times- poor monitor has enough to deal with).

Here's some pics of this weekend!!!




Alex, Lani, and Samantha




A little dark, but here's the boy




Messy kid





Samantha and Mick




Headstand!!!




Early morning bike riding!!!!

-- Post From My iPhone

Aug 29 QOTD

"Don't borrow someone else's spectacles to view yourself with."

-Simon Travaglia

**This quote was sent to you by a friend using the iPhone app Zen Daily. Click Here to download it.**

Finally!!!

The girl finally has training wheels that work, and has already managed to fall a few times!! She has the grace of a bull frog!!!


-- Post From My iPhone

August 28 quote of the day

The more a man knows, the more he forgives.

-Confucius

**This quote was sent to you by a friend using the iPhone app Zen Daily. Click Here to download it.**

Bike ridding!!!

Grandpa getting the training wheels ready.


Alex the tool man!!!



Daddy, alex, grandpa and Mick- how many men does it take to help a 6yr old ride her bike???


The proud transformer rider!!!


Still trying to help the little girl- she will getvit yes she will


-- Post From My iPhone

This zen quote is for you

To be wronged is nothing unless you continue to remember it.

-Confucius

**This quote was sent to you by a friend using the iPhone app Zen Daily. Click Here to download it.**

Bike rider number one

Here's the boy with his bike that grandpa Randy bought. He loves it!!!
We have pads and helmets the while nine yards. The girl is waiting for
daddy and grandpa to get the training wheels on her bike...they are
off to the tool store to get a wrench or something.

This zen quote is for you

When the heart grieves over what it has lost, the spirit rejoices over what it has left.

-Sufi epigram

**This quote was sent to you by a friend using the iPhone app Zen Daily. Click Here to download it.**

This zen quote is for you

Too many people miss the silver lining because they're expecting gold.

-Maurice Setter

**This quote was sent to you by a friend using the iPhone app Zen Daily. Click Here to download it.**

This zen quote is for you

Self-discipline is when your conscience tells you to do something and you don't talk back.

-W.K. Hope

**This quote was sent to you by a friend using the iPhone app Zen Daily. Click Here to download it.**

Darn cat

He is definately a dork. He climbed up on the couch, circled several times like a dog ad then dared me to move him once he laid down. Gotta love my Brian.

Monday...ughh

It's Monday. What else can I say. I'm posting from my phone draining the battery despite the fact that I'm right next to the computer but I'm too lazy to get up. I was woken up 30 min earlier than normal by (1) the dog whining (2) the kids playing Barbie (3) the darn cat chewing a plastic bag next to my bed. My son still has pnemonia. To add insult to injury my uterus is painfully squezing out my endometrium. My friend got her car stollen and now has no car, no car seat and no stroller. And I've only been awake an hour.

Anyone else care to chime in on what might happen today? Whatever happens I must not take it out on a poor innocent bystander. Lol. Repeat after me: it's not a store clerks problem if a price doesn't come up right today, the driver next to you doesn't have to drive according to your rules and midol is my best friend for the next seven days. Oohhmm. Oohhmm.

Today will turn into a good day, because it has started out great. I may be tired and in pain but my children are with me, I woke up, and my husband has a day off from work!!! It will be a good day because it already is!!


-- Post From My iPhone

I'm a bad blogger

I have neglected this blog for three days- with reason!!! My poor boy has pnemonia! I've been trying to keep him busy at home while trying to entertain Mick and her friend (who I have yet to take back to her parents cause she's been keeping Mick busy). The doc said his pnemonia wasn't bad he just had to be calm, so we went to the zoo yesterday. He couldn't walk around so I rented him a stroller and got a million weird look because a seemingly healthy 5 year old was sitting in a stroller lol. Oh well. I'll be back when he's feeling better and blogging as usual!

-- Post From My iPhone

My silly kitties

Really, what's the point of buying them kitty beds when all I have to do is leave out rolls of papertowels?


And this one? Don't get me started. He will let the girl put him anywhere and will let her play with him for hours on end!

-- Post From My iPhone

August 10th

On a withered branch
the crow is perched
every evening.

Just a plain pretty poem.

My two buggers

I'm testing out a new app from my iPhone. Seems to be working, guess we will see how this posts.


The buggers goofing around.



I'm scared, my girl looks so old, but she's only 6!!!

-- Post From My iPhone

Boogie Boarding at Venice Beach!

Finally Hubby got to come with us to the beach today! The waves were AWESOME for boogie boarding and they were coming in FAST and HIGH! Mick had a blast and Alex was still recovering from getting dunked the last time! So...without further delay...here they are!

Alex learning to jump rope

August 9th

When the followers of Zen fail to go beyond the world of their sense and thoughts, all their doings and movements are of no significance. But when the sense and thoughts are annihilated all the passages to the mind are blocked and no entrance then becomes possible. The original mind is to be recognized along with the working of the senses and thoughts; only it does not belong to them, nor is it independent of them.

Still thinking about this one.

Mick learning to jump rope

We still don't have it down, but she's getting there!

August 7th and 8th

I'm sorry! I was so crazy busy yesterday I completely didn't update with the Zen quotes...updating yesterdays and todays

August 7th (yesterday)

This is the reason why the swordsman is always advised to be free from the thought of death or from anxiety about the outcome of the combat. As long as there is any 'thought' of whatever nature, that will assuredly prove disastrous.

I think that for my family (both married and extended friends that I hold dear) this is a great quote. Coming from a military "family" we all need to keep this in mind. If you go into a fire fight and are so focused on the outcome of the fight, or your mind is so distracted by fear you can't concentrate on the task. Lack of concentration will cause harm. If you are even concentrating on WINNING you can still loose. Empty your mind and focus on the task.

This goes for anything, even home and work tasks. If you are working on a project or cooking dinner and are so focused on the desire for glorification ("This is the best project ever" or "This is the best dinner ever") you are liable to mess it up somewhere. You will make a mistake, of that I have no doubt. Concentrate on the task. Don't do something seeking glory or fearing failure. Just do your best and put everything into whatever it is you are doing!

August 8th (Today)

While Zen teaching consists in grasping the spirit by transcending form, it unfailingly reminds us of the fact the spirit expresses itself only by means of form

This one is a bit more difficult for me and if any one wants to chime in and throw their two cents in the ring I won't rebuff you for it! For me, this means that Zen teaches that to grasp the spirit and realize what it's nature is, you try to do it by transcending (rising above) the form. However, you must also remember that the spirit can ONLY express itself by form. If one seeks to find the spirit and is desperate and frantic about doing so, then one will fail. To transcend the spirit and grasp it, one must practice zazen and let the spirit take it's form naturally.

August 6th

Wind subsiding,
the flowers still fall;
bird crying, the mountain
silence deepens.

Just a pretty poem

Today's Beach Trip!

Today was Venice...me, the girl and my friend Brea! It was a BLAST!

Here's Mick after we buried her!



Waiting to catch a wave!


She caught it!!!


Finishing up with that wave



She was making a sand castle I believe!



She is getting so brave! We are going back to the beach on Friday with my grandparents and hubby, so he will get some way better pics. It's really hard trying to take the pics while not getting the camera wet and at the same time keeping an eye on the girl. She ended the day trying to paddle into the waves like she saw the surfers doing and was doing a great job until she totally got smashed by a wave and swallowed some nasty water...at that point she decided that she wanted to play in the sand! LOL!

August 5th

To train yourself in sitting meditation (zazen) is to train yourself to be a sitting buddah. If you train yourself in zazenyou should know that Zen is never sitting or lying. If you train yourself to be a sitting Buddha you should know that the Buddha is not a fixed form

Pretty forthright I should say.

The Getty Today

My sis had a class meeting at the Getty today so Mick and I tagged along. She's still a bit young to appreciate the finer art however, she did have a blast in the family section playing with masks and drawing bugs and walking around outside. All in all it was a great day. To top it all off, my grandma's in town!!!! So we will be going tonight to meet her and my grandpa for dinner!

Love My Hair!

I have been IN LOVE with my hair since it was done!!! I love having different colors in it!! It's so nice to be able to color my hair the way I want now! 8 years of military control over my hair is done and it's so dang nice to do it the way I want to!

One more SOA pic!

This was taken last week on the SOA set. I have to admit, though I love actors it takes alot for me to work up the nerve to ask them for a pic!

Left to right: Mitch Pileggi "Darby"; Me!!!; Dayton Callie "Cheif Wayne Unser"; Mark Boone Junior "Robert 'Bobby' Munson"

This morning so far...

My daughter...she is definitely in a class by herself! We went grocery shopping this weekend and bought a huge box of waffles...well, she wanted to make that box into a Barbie house, so that was our project Saturday afternoon. Apparently the Barbies have moved out and the cats have moved in. They are so good to her...letting her play with them and smoosh them into different places. Here they are in their new Barbie house...poor kitties!




And here is the darling cat lover now!

I have PAGES!!!

Thanks to this post I now have two pages for this blog! That's so awesome!!! I will be adding a few more pages, but I wanted to get a public "thank you" out to this amazing blogger! These are the easiest instructions I have ever found for adding pages to Blogger!

I also wanted to make it known to readers that I have a "share this" button added to the bottom of all my posts...now if you like what you read you can click "share this" and share it on twitter, face book, friend feed and email!!!

Get my blog out there! Lets get me over 1000 views!

August 4th

Regarding all things, only understand that there must be no attachment. No attachment means that feelings of hate and love do not arise

Now from my readings of forums and books it's come to my understanding that many believe that Buddhism preaches dis-attachment from society and things. This is completely untrue. Buddhism teaches that unhealthy attachment is bad. By unhealthy it is my understanding that an absolute desire to own and posses is the bad attachment. For example, what is happening with my mother. Her unhealthy attachment to my daughter is what lead to her first suicide attempt---that is a bad attachment. It is ok to have an attachment and a love for someone, but when that love turns from the unselfish desire to protect and be with someone to the driving obsession to own and control that's when it gets bad. To love a child or a spouse is a good thing, as long as it is done in the right way. Love is a great emotion, but one has to realize that the love is just that love. It's not an arm of control or ownership, it's love. Unselfish love means letting someone do their own thing and still offering support and compassion to that person. By loving someone and not letting that love turn into an all encompassing attachment is the right way to love someone. The same goes for material possessions. It's ok to really like the TV you just bought, but when the "love" for your TV turns into an addiction and takes over your daily activities you have a huge problem and you just opened a huge gateway for suffering. When the desire to have the TV that everyone has, you have a problem. When the desire to own that TV (because you think it will make you happy, or your think it will make everyone like you) leads you to ignore your family in pursuit of the money to buy the TV you have created an unhealthy attachment for a material object and now you are suffering and so is your family.

Makes sense to me. Anyone else?

August 3rd

There is only one reality, neither to be realized or attained. To say "I am able to realize something" or "I am able to attain something" is to place yourself among the arrogant.

Today's Zen Buddhist reflection. I'm not too sure that I get it. I will definitely think about this today until I can understand a little bit. It will more than likely take longer than today since I haven't had a smoke in about 12 hours and I"m going crazy...lots of meditation and squats today.

I need to quit

I need to quit smoking. I have tried several times, but I just need to quit. My gums are HURTING and I am more than certain that it has to do with my smoking. I STINK and it's just NASTY!!!! SO! Here we go. I have one more pack to go and then I'm done. And in that pack there are only like 8 left...so today I will be done.

No guarantees and no promises. I might go back to it, but I'm going to give it a shot. I don't need cigarettes to be calm. I have learned other methods to relax. I have used every excuse under the sun...if I need a quiet moment I can go in my room and meditate..that's healthier for me anyway. If I need a smoke I can do squats till my butt hurts. I can do crunches till I wanna barf. I'm going to really give this a shot.

Wish me luck!

Daily Wisdom

I found a book at Borders yesterday that has Daily Buddhist Wisdom. I love this! It gives you something to think about every day and really reflect about. I will try my hardest to put up something every day!!!

Here is today's

August 2nd
My advice to those whose eyes have not yet been opened to the truth- Leap from the net and see how immense is the ocean.

Here's my take on that. If you haven't had your eyes opened and you have yet to see the truth...just jump! See how large the truth is! Let go of your bubble, your comfort zone...and see what you are missing!

My new Hair!

Here's my old hair...plain jane brown and nothing special



Here's me with my new hair!!!!