The View Out My Window

This is what I saw when I woke up this morning. I drove to New Mexico a few days ago, sick as a dog, but went to the Dr. and got some antibiotics.

So now I'm lying in bed working, blogging, and watching it snow! Beautiful.

Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening
Robert Frost
Whose woods these are I think I know.
His house is in the village, though;
He will not see me stopping here
To watch his woods fill up with snow.

One Hundred Things My Mother Taught Me A Million Times - Chapter 25

#25 – “Don't wear too much makeup. It will make other women distrust you."
(The photo of me and my youngest son, Colt has nothing to do with this blog post - I just like the picture)

This one of one hundred things that my mom taught me a million times, is one I’ve purposely put off talking about because I have such mixed feelings! Just reading and thinking about it makes me feel a little on edge, irritated. Why? Because I don’t want to believe it and intellectually know that it is not an absolute, but in a deeper place, I think it is true, sometimes, and that really, really bothers me. It bothers me that I think it is true, and it bothers me that it could be true. OK. Breathe, breathe. Now, let’s just back up and try to take a little less emotional look at this issue. 

Makeup has a sordid and deadly history. We know Cleopatra wore it - you saw the movie with Elizabeth Taylor, right?  Well, what Cleo/Liz didn’t share was that her lipstick was made from finely crushed carmine beetles mixed with ant's eggs.  This sounds pretty disgusting, but then I strongly suspect that my favorite 99-cent Walgreens lipstick is made out of ground up kittens, by a 4-year old in some 4^th-world country.

Midlife Gals Om Shinasti Yoga

I should have know that my Austin friends KK & Sal would have a better Yoga class for us.

This is just a sample of the hilarious antics these crazy gals are up to. Click on Midlife Gals Om Shinasti Yoga above to visit their website. Ommmmmmmmm.

Click on the arrow and turn up the sound!

Om Shinasti Yoga

MY 2010 EXERCISE REGIME - POO CHI

Going Rogue versus True Compass

I thought this review, which was written for the Odessa American Newspaper by my friend Charlena Chandler, comparing Going Rogue: An American Life by Sarah Palin and True Compass: A Memoir by Edward M. (Ted) Kennedy, was balanced, an interesting perspective, well-written, and well ...  you'll see ... especially since it was published in west Texas "Palin country!" I'd love to get your comments back. For those of you unfamiliar with how to comment on my blog, it is really simple. Click on "comment" then choose as your profile, "anonymous" and go at it.

Thanks to Charlena Chandler, author of the exceptional book  

On Independence Creek: The Story of a Texas Ranch, 

 for being such a wonderful writer, person, and friend.  

Going Rogue versus True Compass
 Reviewed by Charlena Chandler

I can’t see much difference in memoir and autobiography, but I am sure that writing either one objectively is a near impossibility.  To paraphrase Scottish poet Robert Burns, we “cannot see ourselves as others see us.”

Two recent publications, both on the NY Times bestseller list, prove that personal stories continue to intrigue us.  We like autobiographies, obviously, especially by political figures.

If you seek contrast in your reading, look no farther than these two books.  We have the old Democrat versus the young, well, somewhat, Republican.   We have the seasoned member of the political world versus a newcomer to the national scene.  And then there’s the interest of two so completely different lives that the reader will wonder if these writers grew up in the same country.