{thunderbolts and lightening very, very frightening}
Posted by kristispyder on August 16th, 2008 filed in lifeComment now »
Spike.
We have bichon named Spike. Would you like him? Cheap! He is cuddly and loves to give kisses. You can have him for your very own. What is the catch? Wait, why would you think there is a catch?
Well there is no catch, he is adorable and loves to tilt his head when you are talking to him. Except, well, except when our other dog, Sparky, who loves to sleep under the bed, sleeps under the bed. See, Spike dosen’t like to be alone. But his bark is barely noticeable. Except this one he has. I don’t know how he does it but it is sharp and VERY high pitched. Goes right to your backbone that one does.
Oh and then there are storms. He isn’t very fond of storms. Of course to be fair, neither is Sparky. I suppose I should feel very gratified that I am so very good that I can protect them from the fierce thunder god. I just wish storms were confined to daytime hours.
3:30 am…3:30 am that is what time I was awaked the night before last. I stayed up til’ 5 then handed them off to my husband. Make that long suffering husband. He isn’t a dog person. But ours are small and cute, so he endures.
I guess I will keep him after all. The dog and the Husband.
See, I love puppy kisses and he loves to give them. Not an even trade, sleep for a teddybear face and kisses, but what can I say, I am a sucker.
Spike
{the kindness of strangers}
Posted by kristispyder on August 13th, 2008 filed in Floral, Uncategorized, lifeComment now »
One would think that if you come to someones door bearing gifts, you would get a wonderful reaction. Which is of course the operating thought behind the cloud of happy theory a lot of people have.
It would surprise a lot of said happy people to know the most common reaction is that I get looked at like an alien from a distant galaxy and they look at the flowers/plant like they have never seen anything like it before in their life. Not only that, but how DARE I bring something so pretty and full of life into their vicinity. How dare I show them something like that when obviously, no one could ever have sent them flowers. There must be a grave mistake. All of this even though their name is written clearly on the card.
Then they usually ask me who they are from.
Okay people, do you really want me to read the card? Do you really want me to know what the guy you went out with last weekend wrote to you that he decided he has to seal the envelope? Do you? I think it is like reading someones mail. But that is just me.
I do try to read the card to the them if the person is elderly, or in the hospital. I am not quite as ignoble as I sound.
I did actually have one person tell me “If they wanted to help me why didn’t they send me money instead of this shit”. She had just suffered a loss in the family it seemed. Charming.
{cheep, cheep, cheep}
Posted by kristispyder on August 12th, 2008 filed in RandomComment now »
Do you know what Twitter is? It is a micro blog. You only have 107 characters in a post. It is the new thing and it is suppost to be where you put your random thoughts though out the day. I love the idea and I am going to try it out. I have access to a computer at the shop, so we shall see. Check me out @ My twitter
{the morbidity of the floral industry}
Posted by kristispyder on August 12th, 2008 filed in life1 Comment »
I am a floral delivery driver. Not something I am particularly proud of at this point of my life. I have never been the corporate ladder type, but I also thought I would be doing something at least a bit more creative by the time I was 40. Then again, I was always a late bloomer. Perhaps I will catch up.
But that is not what I want to talk about here.
I just love the people who tell me I must have the best job. They visuallize that I go along everyday bringing flowers to people and creating the big cloud of happy. The only people who I create this big cloud of happy for are the ones who think I have the best job. The cynical part of me wants to say that I don’t care if people are happy or not. Personally, if the house has a house number on it (you would be surprised how many don’t, god help them if it catches on fire) it is a score for me. Double points if they are actually home. I have observed that if there is a car parked at the curb you have a 80% chance that no one is home. I don’t know why this is, but there you go.
Every once in a while you run a cross a person who does bring you joy. I just love to deliver to people who are celebrating their 80th or 90th birthdays. They always tell you that is their birthday and how old they are. It sort of gives you faith in a weird way that maybe things will go on and that the sky isn’t going to darken forever.
What those people who walk around with a cloud of happy around them don’t understand is that about 75% of the people I bring flowers to have no idea. And depending on your beliefs, probably don’t care. They are dead. If it weren’t for the funeral business, the floral business would grind to a halt. That is the fact jack. I know where every funeral home in the area is. If a new one opens up, it is a big deal.
The joke in my family is that if my Mom or I ask you if you know someone, it is propbably too late. They are dead.
The BBF always sounds so sad when I ask her if she knows someone. ::giggle:: I have to automatically tell her they aren’t dead.
So there it is, the big unknown of the floral industry, we thrive on the deaths of others. Ha!
{i think i jumped}
Posted by kristispyder on June 18th, 2008 filed in life2 Comments »
For a while now I have felt like I have been on a precipice. Looking down trying to figure out how to get where I want to be, to be the person I want to be. Of course the person I want to be is me. So, when I caught wind of what was happening on the internet I was curious. And as I am sure so many people, particularly women, in today’s society can say Oprah has changed my life.
Actually she was only the delivery system. Ekhart Tolle was the real person who changed my life.
I have never really bought into the new age movement. I love some of the ideas, but there has always been enough of the element of a snake oil sales pitch about it that I have never really taken it to seriously. I have never thought of myself as a person who would seek enlightenment. I never thought of myself as that self sacrificing. Well, it seems that you never know yourself as well as you think you do.
Reading Tolle’s book “A New Earth” was fairly life changing. His other book “The Power of Now” (actually his first book) was even more so. And the change was instantaneous and noticeable. I never realized how much I lived in my head. I never realized how judgmental I was. I never realized how much my ego had taken me over, I did know how much of a drama queen it was though.
This is all about living this moment. This moment is all there is. The future doesn’t really exist. Because when the future happens it becomes this moment. The past is all in your mind. That moment doesn’t exist anymore. Your ego uses your memories of the past and expectation of the future to keep you paying attention to it. You are not your ego. You are not the voice in your head.
Mind you this is hard. Really hard. You can’t get rid of your ego. You have to learn to live with it, but at the same time you have to learn to become an observer of it rather than buying into what it has to sell. For me that is fear and anxiety. There is no room in the Now for fear or anxiety. They only create problems for me and when I am really present (really in the Now) they cease to exist.
It is really that simple. Live in the Now.
The process, however is HARD.
I am stumbling around with it right now.
But I am still trying.
{obama}
Posted by kristispyder on February 20th, 2008 filed in politicsComment now »
Yesterday I made a contribution to Barack Obama’s campaign. I have sort of been on the fence about Hillary and Barack, but when a Hillary pollster called me and I couldn’t say that I would vote for her, that pretty much told me where my support lies. So yesterday I made it official. Keith says he hasn’t gotten enough experience. It could be argued that that is a good thing. If you don’t know how the machine works, perhaps you find a new way to get to your destination without the having to travel the same routes.
I look at it this way. I could vote for either of them. Both are policy wonks. (Oh, to have a policy wonk in the white house!!) But Obama just is so inspiring to hear. He speaks of hope and the future. It just makes Hillary look so much more like a typical politician. And let’s face it, the Clinton’s are close to becoming a dynasty.
If only she would have taken a stand before she found out if the country would follow. If only she would have taken the lead on the War and not waited for others to take the risk then jumped on the band wagon. If only.
The argument about not having enough experience while pointing to the President is just not a good one. See, Bush Jr. was a social experiment that went horribly wrong. The country wanted to see what would happen if they voted in someone just like themselves. The answer is you have an idiot in the white house. I personally want someone smarter than me in the white house.
The bottom line to all of this is…Barack Obama is the first person I have ever wanted to vote for. I have never had that before. I have spent all these years voting against people. Obama I want to vote for. It’s a good feeling.
{chemistry}
Posted by kristispyder on January 30th, 2008 filed in life1 Comment »
Life is interesting. I have been taking anti-anxiety drugs for about 2 years or so. The last time I ran out I forgot to get them refilled (let’s hear it for the ADD/dyslexia addled mind!). And a funny thing happened. Suddenly, I was thinking more clearly. Suddenly I was feeling more creative. Suddenly I was afraid to take these drugs that I thought were getting me through the day because I felt better without them. What do you do about that? I am not one of these people who think it is a sign of weakness to take advantage of better living though chemistry. I am one of those people who thinks that if you have to take 12 pills to make the day look brighter, then by all means do it!! Life is too short to live miserably. I am also one of those people who will thump you on the head if you stop taking your meds because you just don’t want to anymore.
Am I one of those people now?
I just turned 40, maybe my body chemistry is finally going to normalize. It would’t surprise me. My chemistry has always seemed to have a mind of it’s own. Never reads the text books, dosen’t care what it SHOULD be doing. Bit cheeky it is.
So there you have it. I am the person who wanted to have “Better Living Through Chemistry” tattooed on her arm, and now I am finding that sometimes it is all about moderation.
Did I say that?
*this is a post from my vox blog that vox screwed up
{one last try}
Posted by kristispyder on January 27th, 2008 filed in crafty, lifeComment now »
I have decided to give wordpress another try. Not sure why. I guess VOX seems a little like cheating. Go figure. So, here I am. Again. I have been pretty creative lately, so here is a link to a wedding book, I have created (Thank you so much K. Pertiet) and below is a charm I created for my Aunt.
{vox}
Posted by kristispyder on October 26th, 2007 filed in UncategorizedComment now »
I have come to hate the posting interface on wordpress. It drives me crazy. There is no such thing as really saving something. The last post I made? The one with the Halloween list? It took me over an hour to get it right. I would have to go and actually code the breaks between the numbers. Then heaven forbid that you have to change something, because if you do, you will have to recode the breaks after you fix whatever was wrong. So, with that in mind, I am setting up a blog on vox. I kind of like it. It is somewhere between live journal and wordpress. Here is the link Me on Vox I will see how it works. The Halloween post is the first, but I really like the look.Me
{i think you should apply these to everyday life}
Posted by kristispyder on October 26th, 2007 filed in lifeComment now »
I just got this from my mother-in-law. As Halloween is my favorite holiday, I thought I would pass it along.
With Halloween upon us, it is worthwhile to remember a few simple rules to help keep this season healthy, happy, and SAFE!! Please use these helpful hints this and every year.
2. Never read a book of demon summoning aloud, even as a joke.
3. Do not search the basement, especially if the power has gone out.
4. If your children speak to you in Latin or any other language which they should not know, shoot them immediately. It will save you a lot of grief in the long run. However, it will probably take several rounds to kill them, so be prepared. This also applies to kids who speak with somebody else’s voice.
5. When you have the benefit of numbers, NEVER pair off and go alone.
6. As a general rule, don’t solve puzzles that open portals to Hell.
7. Never stand in, on, or above a grave, tomb, or crypt. This would apply to any other house of the dead as well.
8. If you’re searching for something which caused a loud noise and find out that it’s just the cat, GET THE HELL OUT!
9. If appliances start operating by themselves, do not check for short circuits; just get out.
10. Do not take ANYTHING from the dead.
11. If you find a town which looks deserted, there’s probably a good reason for it. Don’t stop and look around.
12. Don’t fool with recombinant DNA technology unless you’re sure you know what you’re doing.
13. If you’re running from the monster, expect to trip or fall down at least twice, more if you are female. Also note that, despite the fact that you are running and the monster is merely shambling along, it’s still moving fast enough to catch up with you.
14. If your companions suddenly begin to exhibit uncharacteristic behavior such as hissing, fascination for blood, glowing eyes, increasing hairiness, and so on, kill them immediately.
15. Stay away from certain geographical locations, some of which are listed here:
Amityville, Elm Street, Transylvania, Nilbog ( you’re in trouble if you recognize this one), anywhere in Texas where chainsaws are sold, the Bermuda Triangle, or any small town in Maine.
16. If your car runs out of gas at night in a lonely road, do not go to the nearby deserted-looking house to phone for help. If you think that it is strange you ran out of gas because you thought you had most of a tank, shoot yourself instead. You are going to die anyway, and most likely be eaten.
17. Beware of strangers bearing tools. For example:
chainsaws, staple guns, hedge trimmers, electric carving knives, combines, lawnmowers, butane torches, soldering irons, band saws, or any devices made from deceased companions.
18. If you find that your house is built upon a cemetery, now is the time to move in with the in-laws. This also applies to houses that had previous inhabitants who went mad or committed suicide or died in some horrible fashion, or had inhabitants who preformed satanic practices.
19. Dress appropriately. When investigating a noise downstairs in an old house, women should not wear a flimsy negligee. And carry a flashlight, not a candle.
20. Do not mention the names of demons around open flames, as these can flare suddenly. Be especially careful of fireplaces in this regard.
21. Do not go looking for witches in the Maryland countryside.
HAVE A SAFE AND HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!