Have you ever noticed it is the seemingly smallest of things that will drive you crazy?
The little pinprick troubles that annoy you?
Like little mosquitos buzzing around your head and in your ear, you  swat fruitlessly at the tiny twirps (well, they CAN get pretty big in Alaska!)  as you let them persistently get your goat?
Maybe it is the squeak (like in my swivel recliner!) or the squeaking wheels that grind away?
But what does it all add up to?
Nothing more than robbing you of the joy you are filled with, the grace that overflows, given to you as you wake up new each day.
When you focus on those smallest of things, you let it steal away precious time that could be spent on things that TRULY matter –  on the things of the day are important and  make a difference.
So today, when those smallest of  things come at you, don’t let them  rob the joy and peace that shine from your face – that joy that others  look for in you,  counting on in you, because of the incredible, unmistakable person you are in their lives.

There’s a big difference in “can’t” vs “won’t”……it comes down to choice and willingness. This week I took 4 days to “be still and listen” – no big writing (unless it was something I heard). I chose to limit my computer check time to 30 min in late am and late pm (or middle of night!)…….
But by being still I found myself being filled……almost giddy, like the bubbles in Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory (original version). Charlie kept saying ” I can’t get down! I can’t get down”, after making a (questionable choice with his grandfather to disobey ‘orders”)….he wouldn’t do what he had to do because he was afraid….but he COULD – when he trusted in someone important in his life AND when he chose to act – from the bottom of his heart (BUUUURPP!) 
Without the belch and belly-aching, which will you choose? Can’t or Won’t? Act? Trust? The choice is yours!  Now I have to get back to digging out my office after 4 days of ‘stillness’!!

Winter in Alaska this year has had its extremes. No two days have been alike, from our first termination dust that sprinkled the mountains, to minus 50 below temperatures, and winds that blew at a peak of 138 miles, coupled with our regular January thaw (while all you Lower 48’ers/Outsiders took ALL our snow!!).  We marvel as our property sits at the base of the Talkeetna Mountains with Government Peak, the gateway to Hatcher’s Pass, towering outside our front door and graces our picture windows.   From Care’s Corner we  can look over to Pioneer Peak, part of the Chugiak Mountain Range, and Bill’s frequent drives to job sites in Talkeetna (2 hours away) bring delightful photos of Denali like the one above.
Even with that incredible view that surrounds me, I have found myself caught up working at a frenzied, feverish pace,  (with a steep learning curve!)  learning what it means to REALLY be a published author, and feeling well enough to tackle the projects. But have found I really need to pace, and to take a break each day.  Like many of you, today I  treated myself and went “out” for lunch!  It was WONDERFUL!!  Kula and I grabbed the frozen tennis ball and launcher, and we hiked out in sub zero, crystal clear, robin’s egg blue sky and crunched through the snow, cleated our way across the frozen river (praying we wouldn’t find any soft spots covered by snow! BRRRRR!) climbed on all fours (BOTH of us!)  up the embankement, and followed moose nugget lined trails sprinkled with freshly gnawed wood chips to the beaver dam that some very busy critters have been building, on the back of our  20 acre property.  I counted 12 more spruce and cotton wood trees they are munching on, to add to their already humoungous den and dam……While we enjoy watching their work and marvel, we also are wondering how we are going to manage the trees in our forested area of acreage…..creative nurturning of nature I think…..(smile…. I’ll  leave that to your own interpretation!)
So, don’t think I’ve disapperared just because I haven’t been blogging recently!  I’m just busy like the beavers, chipping away, shipping out books (thanks for checking out book site at  caretuk.com!), working on speaking presentations (first one tomorrow night!)  and prepare for book signings and our first “official whilwind book tour” March 17-29 in the Pacific Northwest. We’ll be visiting and sharing this new “baby” with our family and frontline friends. 
I really hope you will find your own “Denali” to marvel over today…..do something different – instead of lunch in your office, or grabbing that PBJ at home or zipping through a ‘drive-thru’ – why don’t you go “out” like I did? Stop to breathe in the fresh air! Let the rain drops hit your head or the ice/snow crunch under your feet, or even feel the AZ/FL sun like so many of our friends!! Even five minutes in that setting and you’ll be set to dig in for the rest of the day, energized to keep working, busy as a beaver!! (But save the trees, PULEEZE?!!)

I just listened to www.Unmistakable Creative podcast: Internet: All or None? by Srini Rao and Greg Hartle. They are also behind The Instigator’s Experience that I will attend in L.A. in April. 
 It really got me thinking as I’m sitting (yes Srini) huddled in front of the woodstove as the winds outside blow everything and everyone away with 50-80mph winds.
The podcast thoughts are swirling as fast as the winds outside.
I’m not a 30 something anymore. (Try doubled!)
I wasn’t raised with a Nintendo, Gameboy, Xbox, Play Station, Face -Book, Twitter or computer at my beck and call.
Remember carbon paper? Remember mimeographs? Remember IBM hard frame paraphernalia that would take up whole rooms that we now hold in the palm of our hand?
But does it have to be all or none? Is there a middle ground?
There are days when I find myself on checking Facebook and a couple groups I need to be in, checking emails, checking weather, reading other blogs, listening to podcasts and even SOME days finding time to write, too. My eyes are blurred by the end of the day, and often grumpy when my “almost none internet” hubby enters the door. HOW CAN IT BE 5 p.m. ALREADY? I JUST STARTED!!
I think we have to find time to pace and find that middle ground. We have to have a life and give ourselves permission to unplug and even to leave something undone for that day.
Relationships, face to face, are getting lost. Look at the non-unplugged generation coming up. Ummm, could I ask for a little respect on the side please instead of a grunt or whazzup?!
Yeah, I’m a geezer, finding her way in this blogging, podcast, webinar, writing, passion finding journey.
And I LOVE it!
(But I’d still like a little respect here and there ,you young whipper-snappers!!) 

The sun is setting slowly in the west. As I gaze out my front window, shades of rose petal pink turn to dark lavender on the heights and valleys of the Talkeetna Mountain Range in Alaska.
The color purple has surrounded me all day – not just because it is one of my favorite colors, (people tell me I bleed purple), or that I am a Hero of Hope for the Great West Division/American Cancer Society, sharing about survivorship and how to get involved in the fight, but purple is the color for  cancer survivors.
So as I watch the sun set and the purple mountain’s majesty, I watch the waning hours of World Cancer Awareness Day come to a close.
It seems everywhere we turn we know someone who is fighting this demon called cancer, dragging friends and family along. But knowing that over 400 lives per day are being saved brings solace. Knowing that because of the researchers and fund-raisers and team working that has been done over the years, I am alive.
Somehow knowing that I am a recipient of many, many people’s work from around the world, keeping me alive through 11 separate battles with this ugly disease over the last 40 years,  makes my reflection  looking upon the mountains even more meaningful. Some of these people, with their unmistakable creative talents, took risks – financial, social, and educational. Some may have even risked their own families and/or marriages because they BELIEVED.
Now it is OUR job to keep that BELIEF alive, supporting wherever we can, whenever we can, to whomever we can, in the way that we can. Each person will have their own way. Some people will think inside the box, some outside the box. But we cannot ignore that when we look to our left, or we look to our right, ONE of us will be the recipient of one of these person’s life passion, who BELIEVED.