I know you are asking, “What are you doing throwing that negative stuff in here on this day, Marcia?”

I couldn’t help myself – because there IS good in it; I just had to hunt for much of it. Really, isn’t that part of what Shelly’s vision for Only the Good Friday is? Hunting for the Good – in spite of ourselves? Leaving the snarkiness, as she puts it, behind

OK. Here goes in one long run on paragraph, Only the Good!

The sky was blue, the Florida air was wonderfully cool. Leon and I made some decisions on RV Panoply remodeling. Now, you know I want two or three different things at once, and Leon does not always seen the brilliance in ALL my ideas, so that was a major accomplishment, grin. We agreed on my sofa/bed design with extra storage, my smaller dinette with larger table, our flooring, and my step covering idea. (Do you see the trend there? It’s only ’cause I have more hours to scheme.) Part of the sad news was a separation – with a child involved. I had to dig deep on that one. The three of them are young enough to regroup and make the best of it, whichever way it goes. (Shh, I KNOW the youth of our world don’t always make the right decisions, this is about the possibilities!) I get to take a break from my new home search this weekend and concentrate on…. work, lol, and RV Panoply. I won’t mention the worst news, but people have them in their prayers… and that, in itself, is a good thing. And tweeting little senryu and micropoetry and just thinking ‘out loud’ on Twitter helped put my mood into perspective: 2 year old inner tantrum mixed with bleeding heart for them. As to Haiti, as depressing as the statistics are, if you read the numbers you realize just how many people HAVE helped. We just need to squeeze a bit more out if we can, quickly.

There, not the most positive of my Friday posts – but I see the hope, the fun – and I read it and remember that I had to force a smile a couple of times, but they DID give way to genuine ones.

Everyday cannot be perfect – but everyday can be made better with effort.

Tweet This Post

There are ways around S.A.D. like specialized lights, but I have another idea to help y’all get through it: VOLUNTEER.

Why not? It can’t help but make you smile – and think of how many other people will smile ’cause of you. That creates light, right? OK. So, SAD lights are not quite the same type light, but the principle is!

Not enough hours? Many of us associate volunteering with helping month after month, but there are plenty of one time opportunities.

Can’t find the right place? You could start simple by doing a search online or asking co-workers or neighbors. You could, however, take the easy route below – the one with a reward on top of the feel good reward!

So, on this Only the Good Friday, why not consider this:

Disney is offering admission to either Disney World or Disneyland if you volunteer for one of the organizations linked below. And guess what? Some allow children from six and up to volunteer. You search by your zip code and nearby areas. There is a variety in types for people of all skills and skill levels:
Give a Day. Get a Disney Day

Tweet This Post

I have still not gotten back in the swing of blogging every day or even several times a week, but, for once, I’m O.K. with that – for now. That is good, acceptance.

My good today is personal. Leon and I made the decision to take a chance and move into a manufactured home in an RV Resort, assuming we can get financing in the current financial climate. It is small, but when we went to check it out on a Tuesday, it was alive with people walking their dogs, talking to their neighbors, working on their homes, washing their RVs, playing golf, and helping us find a home, grin. (If we do buy there, I will show pictures.)

Granted most of these people are retired – and we won’t be. We will be working and for a while living in two places, but we have been so isolated from socializing and fun in recent years, working way too hard. So, though rife with logistical problems and his having to build a new referral base, we want to do it. That is good, taking a calculated risk. (Did I just say that?)

I could list many more positives and some negatives, but today, I must ignore that he will still have clients over 3 hours away for many months…

We are smiling, though. Insanity? No, we are both so tired of renting already that even less than 700 square feet sounds perfect, especially when Panoply will be parked outside our door, where we can finish remodeling her and ready to run away with us.

For now, Panoply remains shrouded from the road ahead, but her time is coming….

What’s perfect in your world today? Yesterday? This week? Jump on the bandwagon. Check out what Shelly has to say, grab a banner/button and start sharing your good one day a week. You can do it!

Tweet This Post

Well, it could get easier, if someone keyed it for you, but that would take the joy out of it.

I’m not in to texting. Sure, I text my husband information he needs when asked. Occasionally I send a quick “look at this” with a pic to our son, but I’d rather hear their voices.

Two organizations, in particular, have allowed us to text a word to a five digit number – and our donation for Haiti relief is added to our cell phone bill. And they made the minimum amount affordable for many.

@wyclef on Twitter pledges that all money texted will go to Haiti. Text “yele” to 501501 to donate just $5.00.Please note, after I posted this, I discovered a lot of chatter on the internet that there is some questions about Yele’s ability to track the money, etc. Because of that, please, use your own discretion. Read what has been written about them and make your own decision. I have not removed this because I have not read all the information….I originally saw this organization’s spokesperson on a newscast on TV and assumed they had prior to being slated, the organization had been checked out.

Per @RedCross, to donate $10.00 toward Haiti efforts via the Red Cross just text “Haiti” to 90999.

The amount already donated is staggering just through that texting is incredible, but it is so needed.

So, it’s Only the Good Friday, and how much better can it get than people making it easy to donate when needed. And there are so many other organizers collecting.

People are coming together… the way it should be.

If you can’t donate (and there were times in my life, I could not have come up with a penny unless I found it on a street), then talk to people, smile at people, pray for people. Do something nice for the person standing next to you. Spread your own inner glow, it is definitely needed with all this stuff going on around us.

Speaking of that, you so want to read what Shelly at this Eclectic Life is spreading good about this time, especially, if you need a smile.

Tweet This Post

My brother wrote and performs this song. He wrote it because someone he knows had relatives that pretty much ostracized that person because they practiced a different religion than the rest of the family.

The person was kind, gave to others, and basically followed the major tenant of all religions, “The Golden Rule”! This person believed in God.

I’m going to be honest here, as I have been before. I truly believe that whichever religion you believe in is right for you. Why? Because I believe religion was man made to fill the need every human has to have guidelines and more importantly the comfort and ‘home’ that comes from a belief.

But, this post is not about what or what not you believe, it is about kindness and concern and a human’s empathy for another. A good thing.

Some of you are questioning where the Good is in this much more than others are. For you all, I offer this: One good I see in this is that my brother was so moved by another person’s hurt that he wrote a song to share, an expression of love.

Only the Good Friday is a good thing. It is an excuse for blog readers to stop and speak of good, as in not gripe and smart off for at least one day of the week. Feel free to join in. Check out This Eclectic Life’s post for the week, She’s “all warm inside” – and gather the links of other bloggers who participate.

I hope you have a good moment in your day, today – and everyday.

Tweet This Post

On the one hand this is not a great thing, but on the other, it means I embrace change. An important attribute to survive our daily lives as we have little control over so many things. (Sounds good on paper.)

Shelly’s Only the Good Friday gives us a further excuse to start our year out right. In our family, we have practiced asking each other for “one nice thought” periodically, though, in honestly, it has traditionally been me who does the asking. It has proved effective, though some days the responses were more on the lines of, “We had macaroni and cheese for dinner.”

Now I do not like the word, “nice”! So, I’ve decided to reword it to, one reason to smile. So, since I did not go back to doing Wordless Wednesday, I am thinking about making Wednesdays a day to give one reason to smile.

Ulterior motive? Yep. One reason to smile allows me to choose words or pictures or both! I’m learning. Our reason to smile over Christmas, our son’s sweet old dame, Bella, was a joy to be with.

Now, what is your Only the Good Friday thought? Surely you have one. While you are thinking, why not head on over to This Eclectic Life and check out her Only the Good Friday post and then follow the links to others who took the time to post their good! And then, ask your family what their reason to smile is today. They just might surprise you.

Tweet This Post

It is Only the Good Friday – and for me, the good was discovering this song during lunch break today. It is a wonderful song. I chose to post for you the acoustical version, but if you want to read the words, click on the official video. The words are found by clicking “more information” on the right side.

This song is about revising how we live: swimming steadily through life, keeping our heads up. We’ve all needed this reminder, I think. Let’s keep swimming. But before you start swimming again, you may want to read Shelly’s post on helping others dress for success. It is a very good thing.

Tweet This Post

• On a personal note, we have a new bed – chemical free! More about that another day.
• My brother and his girlfriend are going to bike in the woods, one of their favorite pastimes – one that reenergizes them both physically and mentally. His 58th birthday.
• Leon had especially nice happen work related today and if he’s happy, well…
• Someone I love dearly is expecting her first child in just a few weeks!
• There is a wonderful breeze outside causing branches to sway, giving the illusion of a Western Washington winter against this afternoon’s gray Florida sky, grin.
• I remembered to do a bit of exercise today, a very good thing.
• Through Twitter I found a software bundle for the Mac FREE -There was at least one program I definitely wanted out of the bunch, several I might really appreciate once I use them, and one or two I have no use for. It is the MacHeist nano Bundle, just click here., if you are a Mac user. Six days left to download them. Whether for their own eventual gain in part or more, as they get your email address, it is still a nice gesture on their part.

But the real point today, is we can make ourselves smile by little things, as well as the big ones. We just have to look for the good in our day. Sometimes it is only about us, sometimes about others, sometimes it is about the world, like yesterdays’ Blogblast for Peace.

Good is out there. Shelly at This Eclectic Life knows it – and wants us to find it – at least on Fridays, and if we have the world in our heads today, it is a bit harder than normal. That is precisely why I focused on personal good today, the world overwhelmed me.



Tweet This Post

]]> http://rvpoetry.com/2009/11/06/1019/feed/ 0 http://rvpoetry.com/2009/09/11/933/ http://rvpoetry.com/2009/09/11/933/#comments Fri, 11 Sep 2009 16:11:45 +0000 Marcia http://rvpoetry.com/?p=933 The poem below (Don’t run away, please, one poem won’t hurt you!)… lost my train of thought. Oh. This poem was posted this morning at MeeAugraphie.com, my poetry blog – but I feel it needs repeating!

Few people can forget it is 9/11, even those that prefer to. I think some feel too much attention is paid on it – even though they do have the upmost respect for what people suffered. Those that suffered the most may not understand that way of thinking, but some people are different in grieving habits. But every memorial pulls sorrow a bit farther away from the heart hanging on to it… bit by bit healing happens for some.

And, I know, you are thinking, “What the heck are you doing, Marcia, this is Only the Good Friday? Helloooo.”

To coin a phrase, “I’m just saying…” I know the good below happens somewhere to someone on 09/11 – my heart told me so and it never ever lies! So, I’m sharing it with you.

Intervention by Nature


Tears hung in waiting, locked
securely in heart’s hold

but nature conspired release
in rendezvous with mind,

So, blue sky reflected love
while rainbows wrapped your heart

as hidden stars winked in knowing,
they’d be reached for again.

Sun rays dimmed quietly in respect
and moon glow dispelled the dark

and lightning flashed quick memories
bringing laughter out to play

Bold thunder cried for healing,
and your fear and hate lost grip

allowing instincts’s tidal pull
to kidnap your tears at sea

Marcia McLees Bogaert
09/11/09

There, thank you for reading it. It poured out of my soul this morning onto paper.

Check out what Shelly discovered about family history, it is really strange, as I checked a bit of mine in recent months. Add your own!

Remember the past, believe in the future, be yourself today.



Tweet This Post

]]> http://rvpoetry.com/2009/09/11/933/feed/ 0 http://rvpoetry.com/2009/09/04/identity-theft-thwarted-i-think/ http://rvpoetry.com/2009/09/04/identity-theft-thwarted-i-think/#comments Fri, 04 Sep 2009 22:32:48 +0000 Marcia http://rvpoetry.com/?p=927 Today is to write about Only the Good per Shelly. Well, I woke up before 4 and couldn’t go back to sleep, so the fact I am not throwing mini temper tantrums from lack of sleep is a good thing, according to Leon. He knows it must be a special day for me to be this tired and still (mostly) pleasant! But then, I spent those hours in bed trying not to wake him up before dawn tweeting haiku and senryu and stuff, so I was a happy girl.

But, this is not about that. This afternoon Leon got an email from DirectTV saying they would be out to install our service at the address we moved from over a year and a half ago…. hmmmm, not funny. Had his email address and a phone number for one of us – and, of course, his name. Now, I took over at this point. The man was trying to get work done and he was distracted enough by my wanting to talk about which RV we are going to get and when we are going to say to heck with real work, grin, and just do it. So, he did not need to be dealing with this, too.

DirectTV put a fraud notice on the account, connected me with Security so I could make sure they stopped the installation. The good news is it appears they did not give his social security number, but were going to pay a large deposit to avoid having their (our) credit checked. I immediately put the fraud alert out to the credit bureau and so on.

Why would they give them Leon’s email address, does NOT make sense… does not….

I got the impression this happens more than we would like to think!

I was told I would never have known until they ran out without paying…. assuming they did. I also discovered a lot of things are not caught by credit reports. The good news for us, I check our bank accounts, both business and personal more often than the average person – ‘caught a bad charge that way a couple of years ago! I had slacked off a bit checking quite as often, you better believe I will go back to my old habits.

Now, I don’t want to have you searching for what to do if it happens to you, so here is the link I obtained decent information from:

http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/edu/microsites/idtheft/consumers/defend.html

I have to get the followup letters mailed certified mail, return receipt tomorrow morning.

So, watch your back, y’all! And in the meantime, check out what Shelly managed to type that was good, and see what others had to share. Add your own! Today she wrote about grace in small things on Only the Good Friday

Have a good day!



Tweet This Post

]]> http://rvpoetry.com/2009/09/04/identity-theft-thwarted-i-think/feed/ 2