Category Archives: musings

Bono on the difference between Grace and Karma

Posted in musings by

I looooooove this. Bono expresses beautifully many of my own feelings.

Jon Kuhrt's avatarGrace + Truth

Bono_on_Bono_Cover“It’s a mind-blowing concept that the God who created the Universe might be looking for company, a real relationship with people, but the thing that keeps me on my knees is the difference between Grace and Karma…

You see, at the centre of all religions is the idea of Karma. You know, what you put out comes back to you; an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, or in physics – in physical laws – every action is met by an equal or opposite one.  Its clear to me that Karma is at the very heart of the universe.  I’m absolutely sure of it.

And yet, along comes this idea called Grace to upend all that “As you reap, so will you sow” stuff.  Grace defies reason and logic. Love interrupts, if you like, the consequences of your actions, which in my case is very good news…

View original post 274 more words

Beautiful Words

Posted in books & book reviews, musings, writing by

beautiful words

I love words.

I love what they represent, but, more than that, I love them for what they are.

Words are beautiful.  Amazing.  Mismatched stings of letters that describe and determine everything that does or could exist, even if these things exist only within the words themselves.

It’s why I love books so much.  An entire world within my hands, within the pages, within the words.

And it’s not just fiction that has the potential to be beautiful.  Life itself is such a wonderful gift, but so many people use words to make it miserable and wrenching and  desolate.

It shouldn’t be that way.

Oh – I’m not perfect.  I’ve said my share of horrible things over the years.  We all have.  But we all have the gift of free will:  the potential to better ourselves.

Sometimes it’s hard, but we truly won’t see the blessings that surround us every day unless we look for them.  Unless we open our eyes and we smile.

Unless we make the choice to be happy.  And to share that happiness.

And words are there, waiting to help us share it.  Because every time you put words together you have the opportunity to make something beautiful.  Something happy.

You have the choice of bringing forth happiness into this world, or bringing forth despair.

What a powerful choice that is.

Roaming Rosie Signature

Are the 80s Back?

Posted in musings by

I still think it’s surreal when I walk through the stores and see girls clothes on display that look like they came right out of the 1980s.

For example:

photo: Bargain Briana

Okay, her hair is great.  That’s not 80s hair.  But the dress?  Add a little shoulder jacket and that could have been worn to any of my school dances!

And these outfits from Kmart remind me of my childhood … they even have 80s/90s hats!

And, I mean, is it just me, or did JCPenny just discover a couple boxes of 30-year-old sweaters??

Is it just me?  Or have you noticed the trend, too?

Seriously, people.  Share.

 

500 Footprints Later …

Posted in activities for kids, musings, wanderings in the world & web by

I’ve posted in the past about being amazed at the popularity of a pin.

This pin recently topped 500 repins, which is pretty cool.  But the weird thing?  I’ve found other pins about this article, altered photos in fact, that weren’t pinned by me at all.

Hmmm…

Well, it’s weird, but hey, technically they all lead back to my Salt Dough Footprint Heart article if you follow the “source” links…

Oh well.  The information is free.  Universal.  Heck, I didn’t even come up with the idea.  I originally saw it at The Imagination Tree.

But I guess that’s what the internet is all about.  Sharing.  Ideas.  Community.

Sharing ideas with your community.

Ideas should be free.

More Beautiful for Having Been Broken

Posted in musings, wanderings in the world & web by

kintsukuroi to repair with gold

Saw this image on Facebook today.  Can’t get it out of my head.

The thing about this word is, I really do find the dish more beautiful then it would have been without the gold.  Still beautiful before, but even more so now.

Kind of reminds me of the Princess Bride, where, in the first chapter, Buttercup learns of Westley’s death and she suddenly becomes the most beautiful woman in a hundred years.  Because she was “a great deal wiser, an ocean sadder.  …understood the nature of pain, and beneath the glory of her features, there was a character, and a sure knowledge of suffering.”

Granted, the Princess Bride is one big, long satire, but it leads me to wonder how much wisdom there is in that thought.  In that concept of becoming more beautiful for having been broken.

More confident, for what I’ve been through, certainly.  More self-aware.  Saddened by my current circumstances, but continually gladdened by my blessings…

But more beautiful?

I suppose that depends on your definition of beauty.  If that definition includes confidence and happiness, well, then I guess I’ve been through the kintsukuroi process, too.  :)

 

A Head in the Hunny Pot Kind of Week

Posted in coffee, musings by

 

It’s been this kind of a week:

 

winnie the pooh oh bother

 

So I think I’ll do some relaxing this weekend.  Relax my brain.  Rejuvenate it.

You know, drink some good coffee…

 

coffee

 

curl up with an amazing book…

 

cat reading book

 

watch some of my favorite movies…

 

movies

 

during which I’ll probably fall asleep on the couch…

 

cat sleeping

 

but that’s okay, because at least I’ll…

 

dream

 

and that’s wonderful.  Because lately I’ve found that dreams can sustain us.  Our goals are part of what make us who we are.

 

you may say i'm a dreamer lennon quote

 

And I love making my dreams come true.

Even if I need to take a day off to relax.  And fall asleep with a good book in my lap.  :)

Why Books are Awesome

Posted in books & book reviews, musings by

Yesterday, I passed my state licensing exam for real estate!

Woohoo!

And today I signed on with a local broker, so I can start working on my new business … an essential part of me moving onto the next stage of my life. This is huge.

Huge.

I’m excited and I’m relieved. I’m happy that I don’t have to study tonight. But still, even though I’m looking forward to my new career in real estate, I plan to talk about housing and housing markets and all that stuff on my real estate blog and Facebook page… not here. This blog is for everything else. Like my first love: books. I’ll always be a writer, no matter what my “day job” is.

And, on that note, I’d like to share 10 Reasons Real Books Are Better Than E-books.

Enjoy :)

{{{This was originally posted at roamingrosie.blog.com, but I’ve since transferred my blog here}}}

Let The Night Come

Posted in music, musings, quotes by

I can’t seem to stop listening to “Can’t Hold Us” by Macklemore.  Especially the video.

The song grabs me.  It holds on tight.  And I can’t sit still.
Why am I so addicted?

It’s the passion.  The energy.

For me, music is nothing without passion and energy.  It’s why I love Nina Simone.  It’s why I love Bob Marley.  People who speak to us, deep within us, and shake our universe in such a way that even when the song is over, we’ve been forever changed.  Singers who’s songs never really leave us.

Which is why I made this image tonight, with a quote from the video’s version of the song:

Let the Night Come

Let the night come, before the fight’s won,
Some might run against the test.
But those that triumph, embrace the fight ’cause,
Their fears then prove that courage exists.

Never abandon hope.

Raw!  :)

Roaming Rosie Signature

{{{This was originally posted at roamingrosie.blog.com, but I’ve since transferred my blog here}}}

Eat a Cookie

Posted in musings by

It never gets easier.

Watching my kids walk away.  Waving goodbye.  Blowing kisses.  I love you!

(don’t cry, don’t cry, don’t cry)

I never imagined that I could ever be blessed with such incredible, wonderful, amazing children.  And I never imagined that my marriage would fall apart.  Or that I would find myself with a 50/50 time-sharing arrangement for the two little angels that carry not only my genes, but pieces of my soul within them.

It breaks me every time I say goodbye, knowing that will be the last time that I see them, hug them, kiss them, hold them for another week.

But (and this is along the lines of my last post, Choose Happy) I have found that survival exists in the decision to stay positive.

It’s not easy.  But it’s essential.

And because it’s not easy, sometimes we need help.  And this is why I love Sesame Street so very much:  because they not only appeal to the children they are teaching, but they use humor to reach right into the minds of the parents, translating exactly how we  feel.  Kind of like this:

cookie monster

Cookie Monster knows just exactly how I feel.

And tonight is a cookie night.

{This was originally posted at roamingrosie.blog.com, but I’ve since transferred my blog here}

My Happy Place

Posted in musings, wanderings in the world & web by

 

my happy place

Where is your happy place?  Mine is the beach.

The beach along the Gulf of Mexico of Florida’s west coast to be specific.

My toes digging into the soft, silkiness of the shore, the cool breeze drifting in off the water as the mesmerizing sound of the waves breaking relaxes every muscle while I settle into the velvet sand.

And watching my kids build and dig and laugh and splash and thoroughly enjoy themselves.

This is my happy place.

{{{This was originally posted at roamingrosie.blog.com, but I’ve since transferred my blog here}}}