HERE'S TO YOU THURSDAY

If you haven't been paying attention (smack to the forehead), the letter writing has begun. If you want to play along with this one, click here for the curriculum. I am still working on cleaning out my mental house. Chris would call it cleaning out the chicken coop. For those of you new to that analogy, she says that when you have a lot of personal crap that needs cleaning up, it is like cleaning a chicken coop. It is crusted over before you start working on it, so it doesn't smell that bad. However, as soon as you pull out your scraper and start digging that top layer off, it begins to reek. And that is when you have to make the call. Do I stay and clean this place out, even though it smells so bad I think I might vomit? Or do I cut and run and not look back?

Of course, that chicken coop is your life. And there really is no cutting and running. All you can do is play duck and avoid with your issues. Usually that just creates MORE issues. I call it cleaning house, because that mental picture is easier for me. Your mental house is only so big. Each time something bad happens, it in in our nature to shut the door to that room, lock it, and vow never to return. You do that enough times and you might be left pacing the foyer, because that is all the space you have left. So... that means opening a door, picking through what's there, really looking at it, pitching the trash, cleaning off the usable stuff, and understanding the lesson that took place in that room. This life is all about teachers and lessons. That is it. We signed up for a lesson and we got a teacher. The teacher may have been really hard. (understatement) But it is pointless to remain angry with a teacher when we signed up for the class. The fact that we don't remember signing up for the class is irrelevant. We learned. Now, we let go. And we have one more room we can breathe in.

So, the letters, for me, are going to be a bit like that whenever possible. I am still cleaning house, swimming in the deep end of the pool, cleaning the chicken coop. Whatever way you say it, the truth remains the same. However, here's the thing about the letters. You can participate and swim in the shallow end if that feels more comfortable for you. I love this whole blogging thing. There really are no rules. It's your blog, and you can write what you want.

Now....

It is that day again. What day is that you ask? How can you have forgotten? Drum roll please. It is HERE'S TO YOU THURSDAY, of course! The very best day of the blogging week. It is the precursor to the best day of the work week.

I notice that I actually have some newbies for this event. How exciting! Well, here is what is going down. This is a weekly event. The best (or worst) part is that I am not going to explain why I chose "whatever" footage for each of you. If, you watch your footage and are scratching your head at the end, well that means I didn't do a very good job. However, all is not lost. You can email me at rarichards68@gmail.com and ask me what I was thinking when I chose that particular piece of footage off of youtube and connected it to you. And then I will tell you. Then I will start sending up prayers that I haven't offended the crap out of whoever is on the receiving end of that email....lol. Because, honestly, I will tell you right now... I admire all of you enormously so I really hope that doesn't happen.

Also, this is not an exclusive venture by any means. I hope that you will take the time to watch ALL of the footage because I don't pick bad footage:-) I also hope that you might check out the blog of the person I dedicated the footage to because they are pretty darn awesome. If you haven't figured this out yet... I pick the footage based on something that you've written or something that I've gleaned from your personality. Think on that for a while... If you are having trouble watching the entire video (meaning it is being cut off on one side), click on it a couple of times and it will take you straight over to youtube. If you click on the four squares at the bottom corner of the video, it will enlarge it to fill your screen. The escape key will bring it back to normal size. The back arrow will bring you back to my page. Of course, you will have to deal with this all over again: Lastly, don't forget to turn off my music player at the bottom of the page. Sorry for the inconvenience.

Now, let's get this PARTY STARTED!!!!

This one is for everyone:




This one is for Liza at Middle Passages:




This one is for Mitzi at Southern Style:




This one is for Kim at Saving My Life:




This one is for Phoenix at Res Ipsa Loquitur:




This one is for Red Shoe's Chronicles:




This one is for Nicole at Destination Unknown:

Law of Attraction - Power of Vis @ Yahoo! Video

This one is for Misery at LEFTOVERS from ILLUMINATION:




This one is for Chris at A Deliberate Life: