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Saturday, September 8, 2012

Conquering Mosquitoes... Or At Least Making An Effort | Mary Gulivindala | Blog Post | Red Room

Conquering Mosquitoes... Or At Least Making An Effort | Mary Gulivindala | Blog Post | Red Room

Saturday, July 14, 2012

THIRTY WISHES

Thirty Wishes Today They All Came True, Thirty Wishes Because There's Just One You


The characteristics of a righteous man
You walk and talk among this foreign land
The world today has sadly gone astray
It's ignorance you choose to keep at bay

To define you precisely, has no limits
Sincerely I will pen my honest thoughts
Indescribable is one word just the start
My ode to you please listen and take heart

Long ago earlier in other times
A man was both nobel forever kind
Brave valiant courageous, always true
Filled with duty, principles, just like you

I look to you my dazzling shinning knight
Armour you need not of, your truth and might
Code of honor, loyalty, strength you wear
They protect you, no other men compare

Your sword is selflessness humble service
Do good to others that's your life’s purpose
Live life each day with peaceful sword in hand
To sleigh the wrong conquest is your command

A damsel in distress when we first met
Life pressing down on me I don't forget
Chivalry, your gentleness and kindness
Broke all resistance, transformed my blindness

Prince charming gratefully he does exist
Your loving tenderness I can't resist
Passionately desire in your kiss
You send me to a place ecstatic bliss

You walk each day assured sunrise anew
Moving forward confident in point of view
Thirty wishes today they all came true
Thirty wishes because there's just one you.


HAPPY 30TH BIRTHDAY EVAN, I LOVE YOU!!!

THIRTY

Loving
Kind
Honest
Loyal
Strong
Humble
Smart
Funny
Handsome
Patient
Passionate
Honest
Sexy
Protective
Inquisitive
Simple
Trustworthy
Faithful
Brave
Courageous
Exciting
Sensual
Adorable
Chivalrous
Powerful
Sturdy
Helpful
Warmhearted
Gentle
Manly




OBSERVATIONS OF MY THIRTEEN YEAR OLD SON


Where did the time go you were just a little boy 
I've turned around and your not little anymore.

You are tall, dark and handsome, funny and kind 
Your mind is developing, your getting smarter with time

I pull myself back to take a good look at you, 
To witness who you are today and accept you for you. 

This is not an easy task, it's hard for me to let go 
I want to live in the past, keep you little but no

That's not how life works, you continue to change
In spite of myself I must let go and not complain

You have always been my teacher, even when you were a child
But now you are so smart, an intellect, my shinning star

This time in your life is not easy for you
I don't know how to help you so what do I do

I will step back and listen, pay attention to your thoughts
Respect your opinions and honor your heart

I pray you are grounded, don't get caught up in the game, 
Of who is better, has more money, no two people are the same

You be you because your special, I've known all along
It's my honor and my privilege to call you my son.


Wednesday, May 9, 2012

DANDELIONS GET A BAD RAP.


WEED OR FLOWER?


It’s springtime and the flowers are blooming. Chestnut Hill locals are out in their yards toiling the earth planting flowers, manicuring bushes, watering their yards and weeding their gardens to make their curb appeal beautiful, and it’s working. I secretly observed one neighbor singing to her tulips, they were very happy. I too am doing the same with my foliage… singing.
Gardening is new to me.  I am a big city girl. Three years ago I rented a small property where all I needed was a weed whacker for lawn maintenance. My porch flower pots were my pride and joy. Well things have changed.
Recently I purchased my own lot of land. Now I’ve moved up to a non-electric push mower. Gratefully, I can still get away with the weed whacker method in a pinch when necessary. I called up a friend who is a landscaper and asked if he would come over and tell me what I bought. I didn’t know if I was pulling weeds or flowers and the trees… I own trees now!  So he came over and pointed saying, that is a weed, that is a flower, this is called… and he spoke in latin, and I rolled my eyes.
I began to become more conscious of my surroundings walking through town looking at my neighbors landscaping. I was doing my due diligence prior to my landscaping efforts. Yes I am the one with my phone taking pictures of your lawn, be flattered not frightened. One day while sowing seeds and pulling weeds on my own lawn, I realized this is hard work! I thought my hanging flower pots were maintenance.
I started looking around and questioning why I was pulling certain weeds when they are just as pretty as other leafy greens. They are small, dainty and not intimidating right? What’s wrong with this clover like specimen that has been labeled a weed and therefore discriminated against? They serve a purpose, which is to send your kids outside and tell them to come back when they find a four leaf clover. Then we will get a pot of gold!
My yard doesn’t have much color yet however I do have a few beautiful small yellow flowers. They are known as dandelions. Dandelions have been unjustly labeled a weed, dismissed, plucked and thrown out by many. I got to thinking and I thought to myself, what person on high said the dandelion was a weed? Why is it the black sheep of the gardening community? They are awesome! They start with a green stem and a white poof of blow away wishes.They are little wish makers and have given many children countless moments of magical hope. I remember my lawn growing up as a child and pulling that flower, closing my eyes, making a wish with all my might and then the big moment, blowing on the mystical white seed heads. I would watch as they floated off to wish fulfilling land, they were my field of poppy bliss… and then I would forget about them. I used to make bouquets out of them for my mother and by her reaction they were the finest flowers ever grown. Hey it kept me happy for a minute.
So how come “someone” has reeked havoc on the dandelions and convinced people that they are less than, say the tulip or hibiscus??  I started to get mad, here I was in the dirt on my hands and knees killing an innocent flower because someones aesthetic said so. Well I have some news for that “someone”.  First, the dandelion is not a weed it is a flower and I have proof.  I wikipedia’d it.
Taraxacum ( /təˈræksÉ™kʉm/) is a large genus of flowering plants in the family Asteraceae
French dent-de-lion, meaning lion’s tooth) is given to members of the genus, and like other members of the Asteraceae family, they have very small flowers collected together into a composite flower head.  Each singleflower in a head is called a floret”. 
That is FOUR TIMES the word FLOWER is used in it’s opening definition. Wikipedia is a very credible source for research that I find quite convenient. They make topics very easy to understand.
Dandelions are not only beautiful flowers, they have lots of nutritional value. Energy, dietary fiber, protein and multiple vitamins like A, B, C, D, and K. Europeans have gathered dandelions to eat since prehistory and Europeans are foodies, and smokers.  Dandelions are used to make beverages that are HEALTY like caffeine-free coffee, root beer and WINE.  I told you they had blissful happy mystical qualities. They have medicinal properties as well. Did I mention wine?
I would like too encourage “Hillers” to embrace the dandelions.  Don’t pull them out of their natural habitats, let them grow, embrace them, they are beautiful.  Let’s all come together and take a stand.  Now if you do pull them, please use them.  Make a dandelion salad and some wine.  Have your neighbor over, sit on the porch, fellowship and watch the grass grow while you enjoy your delicious, nutritious meal.  Does Weavers Way sell dandelions??



Monday, February 27, 2012

 Multi-Tasking Mom Gets a Dose of Her Own Medicine

I am not unique. Americans live in a fast paced world filled with deadlines, have to's, hurry up's, over booked schedules, and the internet highway... which leads me to a street called Exhausted. Can you relate? In order to “live” in this world I have to juggle a lot of balls at once. Up until recently I proudly wore a crown, with lots and lots of jewels, which I received at my self produced coronation ceremony. I am the competent, multi-tasking, productively functional Sovereign Queen of my Queendom. Oh yes, I can do it all!

Here are some examples that you might identify with yourselves, especially if you are a mother. While frying burgers for dinner in a pan, I also hold a conversation on the phone, usually confirming an appointment, carry a load of laundry upstairs while wiping up the dust bunnies off each step with my sons dirty socks that I just picked up off the living room floor, drop off the hamper of clean clothes that we live out of for the week and then race downstairs and go flip the burgers. Then add cheese.

I don't have time to go to the gym so I have incorporated my cardio workout into my life by running to work fully dressed with my pocketbook banging off my hip pretending that I have to catch the train. I try to look very important by looking down. I'm up to two blocks. I have started to run everywhere because I think if I have to walk it, why not run? Burn those calories. If you see me, please honk. I need encouragement.

Another real life example is while taking a shower, I brush my teeth, wipe down the tiles with a cleaning sponge and plan what I have “to do” for the rest of the day in my head. If my kids are around I am usually shouting out “don't forget your books” or “I won't be home until late today” and their favorite “go take the dog to the park”... they often retaliate. I continue to wash everything and I spend the rest of my shower arguing.

Am I the only one? Do other people multi-task constantly? I carry a dust cloth in my home and wipe down everything as I walk around. I consider myself a professional picker upper because I am constantly picking up a book, shoe, or glass and depositing where it belongs.

Recently this behavior started to wreak havoc on my brain. I can't remember things. My memory is fizzling out. I know this because I ask my son “did you do your homework?”, He replies with something and then I ask him the same question about seven more times. I'm forgetting things. I never forget things. Recently I find myself running back into the house because I forgot my phone in the charger or a jacket, or something I need. Yesterday I drove to CVS specifically to pick up cat food. Thomas, my cat was down to one kibble. I did my shopping, pulled up to my home and Hello??? I forgot the cat food, the reason I went to the store. Luckily I didn't exit the car and unpack the make up I just bought so I quickly drove back, to Thomas's approval. It's exhausting.

I have assessed this crisis recently and have thoroughly tried to find ways to change this behavior. I am 45 years old but my memory is 82. Time management would be the “professionals” vocabulary. I can not find a solution because I am the bread winner, cleaning lady, cook, driver, coach, teacher, mother and the list goes on. Some days I want to drive around with a crock pot in the back of my car just so I know my kids are getting dinner. Seriously!

This has become so problematic that I took it to my therapist. Wouldn't you be if you lived like me? My therapist and I have spent the last few sessions addressing this issue because I can't remember what we discussed the week before. This week I had a breakthrough. I remembered what my brilliant therapist said. Yea brain!

Here's the skinny. I hope this helps you too. I'm not loosing my mind. My age could be a slight factor but not equal to the degree of my forgetfulness. I have been diagnosed as a chronic multi-tasker. I didn't know this was a disease. Multi-tasking used to work for me and I was proud of my abilities to...multi-task. Well, no more. It has turned its back on me and I, as well as everyone in my life, am suffering. It's a family disease. It effects everyone. The good news is there is help.

My no nonsense, tell it like it is therapist gives it to me straight. I am not being present in my life. (I secretly think she is a recovering multi-tasker herself but don't know due to the therapist/patient boundaries.) My response of course was denial. Look at all I do. How can you say I'm not present in my life? My ego was being assaulted. Eventually when my brain calmed down and I was teachable, Lynn (an alias name) told me that by doing all these things at the same time I wasn't concentrating on any of them therefore multi-tasking is affecting my memory. Oh, the shame. I had to lay down on the couch. It took a few minutes for me to process what I was hearing. Finally it resonated with me and acceptance followed.

Now onto a plan of action. The plethora of events I must do daily is not going to change anytime soon. To think that I can focus on one thing at a time is only going to set me up for a relapse. The key here is balance.

Here is the suggested prescription, which I know but don't do. I must meditate and be still daily with myself. Now I love to do this on vacation but it this producing anything?? Yikes, I'm slipping back in the disease. By meditating and consciously practicing quieting my over stimulated mind, I will achieve a renewal in energy and clarity. Thus, I wont have a constant forgetter for a brain. So simple and yet so frightening to trust that doing nothing is doing something. I have to do this one day at a time If want to be present in my life and stop the insanity. My name is Mary and I am a recovering multi-tasker. I have one day.

Just like the sober bartender, the irony of it is that I teach meditation and wellness. That my friends is what I'm usually multi-tasking about.  

Monday, January 30, 2012

A TOOL FOR INNER PEACE … People are Dogs

A TOOL FOR INNER PEACE … People are Dogs

Monday, January 2, 2012

BLANK SLATE 2012

Blank slate new year
Step into my world without any fear
My past is the teacher I love and adore
The good and the bad and still I need more

More lessons are coming I don't know it all
Thank God that I know this or else I would fall
Back into the pit that trapped me a bit
But I climbed my way out and never will quit

The talents and gift that I'm to share
The timing frustrating I will not despair
Just keep moving forward is all that I know
Give it my best and then go go go go

A blank slate a new year of possibilities
I hold in my mind, soul and heart it will be
Until time decides that it's time to let go
And share what was given and all that I know

I'm busting out in 2012