Ash Joie-Lee

When I saw the word for today was Explosive, I was going to create something visual. But then I had an explosive occurrence this weekend.

Now, normally, I wouldn’t say anything negative about my hubby here on my blog, but, well, he has an explosive temper and to be truthful, when I saw the word, that was the first thing to pop into my head.

To his credit, I will say, he has come a long ways since I met him and his explosive outbursts are now few and far between. As a matter of fact, his last major explosive outburst caused him to break his hand when he hit the refrigerator door. A very good lesson for him!

So, all of that said- This weekend his neck/shoulder were spasming and he was in a lot of pain and therefore took some heavy duty muscle relaxants and pain killers. On Saturday, we decided to take our dog to the dog park. He should have stayed home as these meds make your brain mush and knock one out, but he went along.

He ended up just staying in the car and sleeping while I did the doggy park thing.

So, once we were done, dog in hubby’s lap, on the way home, I thought it’d be nice to stop at Sonic and buy one of our fav drinks there - a Route 44 Cherry Limeade ( for those who don’t know, I think it is a bit more than 64 ounces)

Well, we were in hubby’s car, he has a Saab (no drink holders) so he installed these very nifty drink holders on the doors, but with this drink being so big and top heavy, one has to keep a finger on it and hold it on corners or it will topple out.

Now, he had slept, I thought he was awake and doing OK.

He didn’t say a word regarding this drink when I was ordering it and there was no way I could hold it on my side as his car is a manual.

So, he has the drink in his drink holder, holding it with a few fingers.

We are on our way home, happy dog, my mouth salivating, anxious for the sweet cherry limeade elixir to hit my throat once we got home.

All, is fine, until we got on the very winding street to our house. I hadn’t noticed, but he had dozed off……

I rounded a corner and suddenly this huge drink of pink heaven is flying out of the holder and all over the floor on his side.

At this point, an explosive reaction occurred. Ummm…I dare not even repeat the words and the actions. The poor dog was terrified and I thought hubby would bust his door and break his elbow and I think the entire county heard him. Wasn’t pretty.

This explosive reaction went on for another 10 minutes while the dog and I hid.

I lost every ounce of my precious drink….my last visual was of that bright juicy cherry sittng next to that glorious wedge of lime, glistening in a pile of pink ice, about 3 inches deep all over the floorboard of hubby’s car.

One redeeming quality of hubby’s explosive temper is that after his explosion, he is fine. He never holds grudges or harbors his anger. A soaked pink floorboard mat is draining on the porch. And I, well, I am still craving a Route 44 Cherry Limeade from Sonic.

I have been wracking my brain to come up with something for the word ‘date’. I mean, how hard can it be? Today’s date, Jan 21st, is a special date - it is Martin Luther King Jr. day.

I also got to thinking about the date that is edible (yum, love those!) I came up with a little diddy poem….but, be grateful I did not post that!

So, my mind wandered to a book I have by Alexandra Stoddard called Grace Notes. It is quotes and insights for every day of the year. So, I looked at what was said for today’s date, Jan 21st.

This one struck me as very appropriate.

“Play a game with yourself. The rule is: Don’t assume anything. See everything as though for the first time. As you eleminate prejudices and labels, new insights will begin to emerge.”

Excellent! Why do we let assumptions rule our thoughts? Assumptions and labels are very nasty critters.

Besides being very good advice to live by, it is also a great way to see new things artistically.

I also looked at todays date numbers (as in numerology) 1-21-2008=14=5

Five means Freedom and Discipline. Again, very appropriate for today.

Dan Millman wrote in regards to what the number 5 means:

“Imagine a bird soaring high above, feeling one kind of freedom.

To experience life fully,

it must land and go through

the arduous task of building a nest.

Through this discipline comes another kind of freedom,

to experience the depths of its life.

How have you felt free?

and how have you felted trapped?

Can you apply the discipline in your life

to explore the depths and, in those depths, to find another kind of freedom? “

Interesting how the two go hand in hand…freedom and assumptions.

I may have gotten a bit off course with the word ‘date’…but things seem to come together as they should.

I have been so busy in setting up all of my ‘professional’ sites that I have not had time to just come over here, let my hair down and get back to the days of blogging whatever is on my mind.

OK, so I’m back. I set this blog up so I can talk about more personal things as well as what I am currently working on…so I guess it is a bit of my personal life and a bit of my ‘professional’ life….but wait….I work 24/7. My personal life is my ‘professional’ life…

Regardless, I LOVE it!!

So, it’s Monday and on Mondays I go blog surfing (aka networking) and I came across a weekly meme called Manic Monday. Perfect!

Now, this week they are doing a Manic Monday Carnival..taking all the words from 2007 and highlighting member’s posts.

Well, since I joined today, I am just going to use the first word that was given for 2008…the word, “one”.

I decided to do this list style:

One thing I want: A MAC computer!

One rule to follow: Always listen to your gut feelings.

One time I…cut the head off of a dog.

One place I want to travel to: Hawaii

One color I love: purple

One spice I love: cilantro

One drink I love: Margaritas

One thing I need to do today: my last few silly/humorous Valentines designs

And the one thing I know…there is never just one thing!

P.S. OK, ok, I’ll explain the dog head chopping. I worked for a Vet and it was a dog found in the wild that ‘possibly’ had rabies. Head needed to go to a lab. I got to work and Doc said…”What’s in the bag outside, chop it’s head off and stick it in the freezer”. Yep…just like that…