Heard from Little Dude

One of the great blessings for me this weekend is that I got to hear from Little Dude. He left a short message on my phone at work. I have not heard from him via phone or facebook since probably May or June 2010. I have not had the means to reach him so I turned him over to the Lord for protection and care. It was good to hear his voice and to know that the Lord is taking good care of my boy.

Feeling Almost Human Again

This last weekend was the physical inventory at work. It is all consuming for about a week before until a few days after. Both body, mind, and spirit. So I am just now starting to feel human again. Saturday was a blur of time. Leave house 5:45 a.m. and get back after 6:00 p.m. Sunday up and out and back at work by 8:00 a.m. and home again after 4:00 p.m. Quite the roller coaster. Body exhausted. Mind numb. Glad it is over for 2010. I will try not to think about the twice a year program for 2011. 2010 was hard enough to recover from.

Glad I have a job. It is such a blessing in these days and times. So mixed blessing this weekend for sure.

My Simple Pleasures List

finding shapes in clouds, kaleidescopes, music, dancing with abandon, ponytails, stuffed animals, coloring, watching tv or movies, collecting pennies for pennies are powerful, smiles, laughter, wearing pink lipstick, ice-cream cones, melty chocolate, talking with friends, snuggling with my MR.

SIMPLICITY is SWEET

The following article appeared in Monday's edition of the Leftist Journal here in Louisville, Ky. It really touched me because of the wisdom and sincerity of the article. The author(ess) Jessica McClain, is a junior at Eastern High School. Please take time to read it, it is very well written and holds a very valuable life lesson.

"The joy of a lawnmower"
Remember when we were little, and something as simple as a trip to the playground was the best thing in the world? A trip to the ice cream parlor made us shriek with joy, and seeing your parents after school was the highlight of your day? As we grow up, we lose sight of the joy in the simple things. Now going to the park while babysitting is a chore, the ice cream cone that would make us unbelievably happy as a child has too many calories, and seeing our parents is not exactly the highlight of our day. We lost sight of what is really important. Why can't we all learn a small lesson from who we used to be, the ones who were content with what we had, the ones who simply loved being alive?
This summer, my cousin came to visit from Minnesota. She has two sons, Jackson, a 2 year old, and Sullivan, who is 18 months. Jackson absolutely lights up my life. When he visited this summer, I took him down to the park. On the way there, we had to walk under a rather low-hanging tree. The leaves brushed his head and he immediately started laughing and shrieking with joy. I asked him why he was so happy and he said in his adorable little toddler voice: "I just love trees Jessica!" I started laughing, my brother started laughing, and I realized how the simple things should make you smile.
It was then that I started wondering about the joy that fills a toddler. Why can they be so pleased with the simple things, when older people are supposed to be so wise with the years? Honestly, I believe the opposite is true. Toddlers have such an insight that the rest of us lose with time. They don't live to please anyone, and they just live and roll with the punches. A scraped knee is the worst thing that could happen to them, and the trauma of that is brushed off with the next simple pleasure that enters their life. Why do we insist on dwelling on how someone stole our boyfriend, or heaven forbid someone says something about us behind our backs? It's my goal to find the joy that a toddler finds in everything I do.
I went to Florida with my family for Christmas last year. Of course, Jackson and Sullivan were there. The day that their family was going to the airport, it was my job to keep Jackson out of the way. We found one of the giant rolls of paper, and Jackson laid down on it and I outlined him. We drew his face, his clothes, and his hair on it, but I still needed to keep him distracted for a little while longer, so we decided to make a list of what he likes on the side of the paper. Besides the obvious things he told me he likes, like "baby Van", and mommy and daddy, he told me he loved lawnmowers. Jackson has a little bit of an obsession with lawnmowers. He was actually a lawnmower for Halloween last year.
Every time I am with this kid, I intentionally look for lawnmowers. I see it first, and immediately turn to Jackson. Slowly, he realizes what the roaring sound is, and his face lights up as he screams about how yes, there is a lawnmower! Now, when I see a lawnmower, I immediately think of Jackson, and how I wish I could get that excited over something so simple.
I really have been trying to get that mentality back. I think if people could keep that mentality through their lives, our tidbits of truly pathetic drama as teenagers would be laughable. If we were all like toddlers, a hug would fix any sadness, a kiss would mean all was forgiven, and simply laughing would make all the other things fade away. End.

GRATITUDE ABC's

apples, ants, acorns, babies, butterflies, bed, baths, cats, coziness, crocheting, crosstiching, butter, dandelions, dads, dirt, dragonflies, daizies, ears, eyes, eggs, flowers, fishing, camping, fluffy things, garden, gifts, atonement, girlfriends, husband, hands, home, ice-cream, insects, inchworms, jam, Jim, joking, kindness, kids, goats, kites, land, love, life, living, dentists, doctors, money, making things, medicine, magic, moms, family, friends, napes, noses, needles, ocean, oven, movies, books, baking, oddities, peace, pies, church, potatoes, pumpkins, quilts, quiet, quirks, reading, raking, riding, safety, solace, speach, trying new things, turkey, time, unicorns, universe, child, son, Tobi, uniforms, victory, voice, singing, violins, worms, waking, sleeping, work, xrays, xena, xylophones, zebras, zees, zoos, animals, dogs, etc.

Gratitude Helps Insomnia

If I wake in the middle of the night and cannot go back to sleep, I usually spend those dark hours with personal beratings. I won't go into details. Very depressing!!! So last night I woke up and started the routine of blah blah blah. It would be less painful to be on the rack or receive a whipping. Out of the blue my mind took a different turn. I decided to focus on a new blog post about GRATITUDE and all of the things I am thankful for. So I started with A and decided I needed to find at least 3 things for each letter of the alphabet. Let's just say this worked better than counting sheep. By the letter L I was out like a light. That being said, I will do my next post as an alphabet counting journal. Now you know the method behind the madness.........

NEVADA VACATION

In October we were able to go to Nevada and see Mom and Dad S. It is always fun to go and see them and make sure that they are doing well. We arrived on a Saturday stopped in to see the parents and then checked in at the hotel. We relaxed and got ready for the rest of the week. I love the television stations in the hotel room. They have one called classic tv and we get to see reruns of shows like "The Rockford Files" and other 70 and 80 greats. It is a lot of fun!

Sunday we went and picked up Mom and Dad. Got them checked in and spent the rest of the day talking and walking and lazing around.

Monday: Sam's Club run. All morning at Sam's club and toting things back to Mom and Dad's. They live on the second floor so then we get good excercise toting things upstairs and into the apartment. Afternoon was sports (World Series) and Football. I brought some books on CD so I listened to my books and crosstiched at the same time.

Tuesday: Walmart Run. Same as Monday just a different store. Afternoon is the same with football games, Book and crosstich for me.

Wednesday: Thunderstorm with lightening and rain!!! We were glad for these storms because the overcast skies followed us to NV. It lowered the temps from an expected 85 to 90 day to a cool and comfortable 65 to 70 a day. NICE!! It was fun to watch too. POURED rain a few times.
I woke with a migraine on this day so the stay inside was a blessing for me to recover.

Thursday: Went on some walks and to the "mall". They have a little outlet mall where we can pick up some things for our kitchens. We usually also peruse the dollar store. They have "Dad's" rootbeer and we count that as our treat for the day.

Friday: SAD DAY!!! We leave around 9 a.m. It is always bitter sweet to leave. We hit some rain on the Cajon pass and got home around 3 p.m. Mini Moo was very happy to see us. We had a dear friend check on her and the home while we were gone. We are so grateful for friends to look in on our Mini Moo so we don't have to stress or worry.

Saturday: Laundry, grocery shopping, etc. It is good to be HOME!!!

Sunday: Relaxed and rejuvenated soul and body. Stayed home from church with my sweetheart to recoup and get ready for the upcoming week.