Perceiving

The challenge for wannabe writers is that they wait to be inspired before writing resulting in months going by without a single word published. Instead, why not write often, and maybe some place after the many articles written that you wish nobody read, the flash of brilliance comes and then lingers.

Last night I went to a women's conference at my friend's church. In the middle of the program, they introduced a young lady named Jenn who is battling cancer. She's been through rounds of chemo but the cancer came back. Right now the only thing that is easing her pain and allowing her to enjoy life is this medication not covered by medicaid. Fifteen dollars per pill to be taken three times per day. $45 per day. The price to live a day with manageable pain.  For those who are healthy, never take a day for granted. But don't stop at being thankful because life is not just about you. To this lady, a complete stranger who's been through so much, I am happy to bless her with a few days of relief. http://www.youcaring.com/jennifer-garcia-410949

Some days it's hard to be optimistic about your financial future. There are daily warnings of a housing bubble, stock market bubble, currency devaluation, higher interest rates. The wealth that you have today could potentially be wiped out in an instant based on factors beyond your control, yet you cannot live each day as if the sky is going to fall tomorrow. "The real measure of a person's wealth is how much he would be worth if he lost all his money"  -- Bernard Meltzer That is why this quote is so relevant. Wealthy people are not worried if they lose all their money tomorrow because they know they can gain it back again. The important thing is your ability to create wealth, or put another way, your ability to add value to others.  No one can take that away from you. Being wealthy is a mindset, a discipline. I heard someone say that a wealthy person can lose one million dollars today and make it back the next year. However, give a poor person a million doll...

Until you commit your goals to paper, you have intentions that are seeds without soil -- Anonymous

On the heels of Hurricane Sandy, the most devastating storm to hit northeastern US and eastern Canada in decades, all we can do is stand by and wait. You need to see the pictures to appreciate the magnitude of the storm. http://www.theatlantic.com/infocus/2012/10/hurricane-sandy-after-landfall/100396/ Damage to Toronto was minimal however we had booked our flight out to Africa via JFK airport, one of the big three New York airports that was flooded and shut down due to the hurricane. I've been monitoring our flights daily the past few days. The clean up effort taking longer than originally hoped, I see flight cancellations gradually trickle on to the next day. And then the next. The day before our scheduled flight out, our long-haul flight stands to be the first flight out of JFK for this airline after hurricane Sandy hit.  This morning, JFK airport has re-opened with limited service, the first plane touching down on its runways since. If we manage to escape this calami...

Actually, it's not Monday. It's Tuesday. Five minutes ago anyway. I was enjoying an hour of guilty pleasure watching Ugly Betty season 3 on DVD when ET the hiphop preacher's voice rang in my head, "How committed are you? Are you no TV committed?" If you don't know what I'm talking about, you gotta see this motivational talk on how to live your dream. I stopped the DVD after the first episode. Yes, I am no TV committed.

Decided to make some pesto with the fresh basil from my garden. This is everything from my basil plant. After discarding the stems, it yielded to 1 cup of packed basil leaves. Fresh basil from the garden Next, toast 1/8 cup of pine nuts for 5 minutes in the oven. Also prepare two cloves of garlic. Preparing the ingredients for pesto In a food processor, throw in the basil leaves, toasted pine nuts and garlic and pulse until finely chopped.  Then add 1/2 cup of extra virgin olive oil and blend. Blending the ingredients together  The finished product: 1/2 cup of basil pesto. To be enjoyed at a later time. Basil pesto