Heather Rae Scott

From Ali Edward’s One Little Word:

Essentially the idea is to choose a word (or let it choose you) that has the potential to make an impact on your life.

Maybe you want to invite something or maybe you are hoping to subtract something. Maybe your word will be practical or hopeful or creative or fanciful. Maybe you need a big word, something in-your-face that will challenge you everyday. Maybe you need something smaller and quieter that will whisper gentle tidings as you make your way throughout the year.

Whatever word you end up with, make sure it is your word (not your sister’s, mom’s, partner’s, child’s, etc). You can share it publicly or keep it close to your heart. 

Admittedly, I haven’t done this for about  a year. I’d peek through my archives on here, but some got lost or deleted in the shuffle from switching web hosts once or twice. Holly Jacobs had pointed me in the direction of chosing a word instead of making a list of resolutions I know I won’t be able to keep. My friend Sunny aka Lyn Cash on the sidebar said something the other day about chosing goals instead of making resolutions and it got me to thinking about what I wanted to do.

The word change kept popping into my head. There are a lot of things I want to change. There are changes that I need to make and changes that have to occur for me to be happier and healthier. Change is my word for 2010 and this snippet from Susan Miller’s astrology zone cemented it.

“All in all, this month seems to bring a major turning point, when you reach a moment of truth and see your needs and wishes very clearly. You know what you need to do to make yourself happy – and suddenly a path is appearing before you that you can follow in months ahead. It’s time to reinvent yourself, dear Cancer, and you seem ready, willing, and able to do so. “  Susan Miller from Astrology Zone 

 

What about you? What’s YOUR word for 2010?

This is my Christmas present from Dee Tenorio. Isn’t it gorgeous? The crab in me is giddy with glee!

I want to make sure all of her hard work paid off–and I want to be diligent in the New Year, not just with writing but in keeping up better with this blog. Which means, you all need to stop reading these on Facebook and come on over to the regular blog. It’s much prettier! *hint-hint* I’m also looking for FAQs. So ask away….please.

http://heatherraescott.com/wordpress

So, this morning…the bagpipes on my cell phone are going off. I’m in the bathroom, but I know who the bagpipes are tooting for. My Grandmother. That’s her ringtone. She’s Scottish for those of you who don’t know. Anyhow, she left me a voice mail and I called her back. She didn’t say hello. Nope. Instead I got:

“Heather? I need you to call your friend who sees things–”

Now, let me pause for a moment and say that I do have a friend that my Pap has visited. She didn’t know he was my Pap persay, just that there was a man making her eggs in her dream and was concerned about me. This is the friend my GMa is referring too. You can believe what you will about things like that, but I do believe that my Pap talked to her.

“–and I need you to tell her to remove the hex from me!”

I’ll admit it, after the initial feelings of WTF, I giggled to myself. Because, you all know I have the Psychic Network as friends. My main-squeeze is Sylvia Brown for God’s sake. We’re tight like bread and butter.

I’ll admit it. I bit on this one. “Why are you hexed, Grandma?”

“Because I fell out of bed this morning!”

Another WTF moment passes. “How did you fall out of bed?”

She attempts to explain this make-shift-bed she’s on. All I know is that the mattress is smooth and she landed where the sun doesn’t shine. Add that to her losing her wallet at the airport on the way down, my Uncle and his wife getting sick so they can’t take her shopping and she feels strapped without her bankcard and there’s an eighty-three year old woman sitting in Alabama who wants a ‘hex’ removed.

Calling Sylvia Brown, STAT!

Christmas is fast approaching and I’m still not done with a few things, I can’t tell you about those last-minute-items because well, my kids read my facebook and this blog goes over there as well and lately, more people comment over there than they do here and this site is so much more prettier and less white and blue.

Every year it’s somewhat of a battle. A battle of practicality versuses…bling. I love My Guy, and I try to get him, I really do, but sometimes he leaves me scratching my head. Last year, we agreed upon only presents that could fit in our stockings. It worked for the most part, although he cheated slightly because he couldn’t fit the pajama’s in there. I’m so easy to buy for. I’m not picky. I don’t complain. Even when he handed me a griddle for Mother’s Day one year…

He, on the other hand is picky about everything. Clothes. Tools. Shoes. He’s extremely hard to buy for. I think I have the perfect gift for him and well, it never really is. He asked me what I wanted for Christmas and I told him more than anything I wanted an eReader. He asked me how much and I told him I wanted the Sony Pocket Edition and it’s $199. He asked me if I would rather have just one gift or three $50 ones. I said, one gift. He got irritated and told me I didn’t make any sense. He said, well what else do you want? What do you need?

I don’t neccessarily need anything. Everything I want is high-priced. If I can’t get a Sony eReader, I’d love an iPod Touch or a new cam corder to record the kids–something I haven’t done in so damned long. I’d love a new COACH bag or a new Vera Bradley. He asked me if I wanted a new coffee pot. Yes, I do, but not for Christmas. He asked me why and I said because that doesn’t just benefit me. It benefits everyone in the house. He shook his head again. I got him a new Carharrt that ended up getting here when I wasn’t home. He wears it to work everyday. That benefits him, even though I really wanted to wrap it and put it under the tree. He wanted me to sit down here at the computer with him and pick out things and order them and I said no. I want it to be a surprise. That’s part of the magic of Christmas. I get excited about it. It’s my favorite time of the year. So, I made a list. He looked at it and scrunched his face. “You don’t want any clothes?” he asked.

That’d be a no. I want to lose weight, so unless it’s a hoodie, I don’t want it. Hoodies hide everything. He told me I was crazy. I laughed and agreed. I am crazy. I thought we were past this. Past the practical. I want bling. Haha. I want shiny, sparkling and electronic. And if it can’t be electronic, then it can be sparkly, shiny and gold. ‘-)

Please tell me that I’m not alone in this battle.

I’m writing today. And trust me, it just might.

Yesterday, I ended up with a kick ass migraine. I slept off and on all dayand into the evening, so I spent this morning catching up on things that needed to be done. Now, I’m waiting for lunch to cook–baked potatoes in the microwave. Hoping the carbs kick-start my brain.

So, why is writing a problem? I don’t know which story to work on. So, I’m going to open both files and do something I’ve never attempted to do. Jump back and forth. This may be a scary thing, folks. But since my brain works like a computer, this may be the best thing I’ve ever tried yet.

Still haven’t finished decorating the house or getting my butt in gear to do some online shopping…what are you going to do today, if it kills you?

I cannot believe it’s the first of December already. Worse, I haven’t even started my Christmas shopping. Every year I promise myself that I’ll start earlier and I never, ever do.

The tree is up and the rest of the decorations are in totes. I’m usually really into Christmas and this year, not so much. I’m not sure why. Maybe because I’m entering a new stage in my life. The one where my kids are too old for Santa Claus and some of the magic has disappeared. Maybe because I have no clue what to buy them and they haven’t given me suggestions that are under $300.

How about you? Have you started or finished your Christmas shopping. I may have to hate you a little if you reply that you’re completely done with your shopping.

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving and yet another thing I’m thankful in my life for is the man in my life, Mark. We’ve spent the last thirteen years together, through the good, bad and the ugly. We’ve worked hard to maintain our relationship and while it hasn’t always been pretty, the one constant thing is that we love each other and are willing to work through any obstacle. Trust me, there’s been many.

This past month hasn’t been a pleasant one for me. I’ve had a lot of personal issues in my life to work through and when I think I’d see the silver lining in the clouds, they’d blacken back up. I’m not an easy person to live with and some of the things I do, Mark doesn’t always understand. But just when I think he doesn’t get it, he goes and does something like this. I can’t share the entire card with you, but I can share some of what he wrote.

Hedr,

If you are wondering why I bought this card blank, I can assure you it’s not because I have numerous words of wisdom to throw into it. It’s only because I didn’t have my glasses when purchasing it.

 

The rest is about stuff being beyond my control and him having faith in me. And that is why I’m thankful for him, because he always manages to make me laugh. Even in some of my darkest hours.

PS He calls me Hedr because of my friends little boy who couldn’t say Heather. It’s stuck for twelve years.

There have been a lot of changes in the past week for me personally. Some have been good and some not so good. I joined in on a thing on Facebook in which every day until Thanksgiving, I was to say what I was thankful for. I did it for a couple of days and then stuff happened and stopped. I know it isn’t Thanksgiving, but my brain is mush and on overload, so while this was in my head, I wanted to get it out.

In speaking to my mom today about some of my concerns she said something that made me cry—made her cry too—but it was precisely what I needed. I love my mum. We don’t always see eye to eye and we’ve had some obstacles to overcome. But she said to me, you know what, Rae? When everything is said and done and the dust settles what matters is that you were true to yourself and more importantly, if everything is crumbled around you, it’s okay. You still have your family and your friends—the ones YOU chose to be your family. THOSE are the things that really matter, because if you don’t have them, who do you have? She said she could not have gotten through the last thirteen years without me—thirteen years ago, my step-father died and it was rough. She went from being a stay-at-home-mum to working full-time to support her. She’s retiring in December and faces the unknown once again.

You won’t often hear me say, “My mum was right.” Because we agree to disagree on a lot of things—finally—ha-ha. But even when things were bad between us, she was still there for me. She might not have been there the way that I needed her to be, but that’s okay.

So today, I’m thankful for my family. All of them. Good, bad, and the ugly. The ones I never see, the ones I longed for a relationship with, the ones I sometimes can’t stand, the ones that have disappointed or hurt me. I’m thankful for them. I’m also thankful for the friends whom I’ve made my family. The ones I chose. Without you—and you know who you are—there are weeks that I couldn’t get through without you.

What are YOU thankful for?