Heres Janie Parrish

My neighbors across the street are retired and keep to themselves for the most part, although we do wave and even stop to chat once in a while if we see each other out in the yard. Whit usually drives his truck when they go out, but today his wife Janice was driving when they pulled into the driveway. That struck me as odd and when Whit got out of the passenger side; Janice rushed around the car to help him out and up the stairs into the house. So I knew something was wrong. After lunch I headed over to see if there was anything I could do to help and they seemed to appreciate the offer. Turns out that Whit is fighting cancer, which I was very sorry to hear.

I love the neighborhood that I currently live in. I can’t say anything bad or negative about any of my neighbors, which is something that I have never experienced before. Every single place that I have ever lived at there has been a huge hassle with at least one neighbor, which makes for a lot of stress and anger for everyone involved. Who the heck needs more stress in their lives? Not this girl…..

My brother is busy will all of his home improvements that he has started since he just now received his tax refund that has been held hostage by Uncle Sam for way too long. Most people got their money months ago and the money has been spent all ready. I’ve been getting emails from he and his wife telling me of their trials and tribulations with it all, I can really feel for them, it isn’t easy living in a place that is undergoing such drastic changes, along with all of the different construction work going on.

They are finding more things that need changing/fixing as they go along and will end up costing them a bit more than they previously thought, but I think that this is pretty much normal procedure, from other stories that I have heard.

They are now finding out that some of their doors will be needing replacements. It is just one more important decision, and I’m glad that I don’t have to make all the decisions that they are facing, it is a good thing that they have Internet access in order to find such things with such ease, just a few clicks here and there and hopefully the task is done.

My father is thinking about driving up to their place with mother and seeing how their progress is coming along and to see if there is anything that they can do to help lessen the stress of everything that is going on, in their time of need. He has been instrumental with the paving stone ordeal and is now trying to convince my brother to let him help with the landscape lighting installation that will take place early next spring as soon as the weather isn’t freezing cold and no more chances of a snow storm. Since he retired, my dad is always ready and willing to help others with stuff like this, he just isn’t cut out to just sit around watching TV and doing cross word puzzles. He has always been such a hard worker and rarely had time to help others, but now he has plenty of time and is ready to make up for lost time especially since he says our mom is driving him crazy around the house!

One of the major concerns with folks these days is the issue of stress. Each one of us has been affected by this economical mess that President Obama is trying so desperately to fix. It’s all about the all mighty dollar, it is making people crazy with grief, despair and total stress.

The Stress Institute offers techniques for stress reduction on their website of Stressinstitute.com that are worth taking a look at. I was told about it at work and decided to take a gander at it myself and thought enough of what they have to offer there to pass it along here.

After one of the many long, hard stressful days that just really kick my butt, I can’t wait to get home and kick off my shoes, take my bra off and open a nice bottle of wine, then I turn on some good music and light a couple of candles. That is the recipe for my “feel good.” I’m not that picky about wine – there’s a great selection of reds and whites for under $15 a bottle. I buy a variety of wines and try to keep them on hand. Sometimes I just grab a bottle without even looking at the label until it is open.

The candle is a different story. I like to buy fragrance candles and have all different sizes and fragrances. Sometimes I splurge and buy the expensive ones, but often I’m happy with just a little votive that I pick up at Target. My favorite is called, Angel Whispers, by Glade.

If I can squeeze in a nice hot bubble bath into the mix I can soak my troubles all away, at least for the moment.

We are all looking for ways to reduce and manage our stress levels these days. The economy is in such a crisis that most of our lives are being turned upside down due to this mess that are government has gotten us into. Hotlines are becoming over burdened with phone calls with people in desperate need of help and guidance from the volunteers that man these phones. And all the news programs and talk shows are doing what they can with advice and ways to help reduce the stress that most of us are experience in today’s world.

I’ve found a website of Mindfullivingtv.com which has some pretty interesting options available to online users, that I have found to be pretty cool. They are the WebTV of the future, with their recent launching of four new original TV shows right online, that are designed to help you face your fears and help transform your life. Their one concerning quick meditation is appealing to me at this point and wanted to share this information on to you, my readers, for your use, if desired.

I have tried meditation in the past, but really couldn’t get into it all that much. But I’m thinking that now would be a good time to get it another try, I’m hearing such good things about it from so many people. I just need to set my mind straight and give it the chance that it deserves, because I deserve it!