123RF.com
I’m already a lucky woman – but I would LOVE to be a gazillionaire who could change lives. To that end, I bought –
I’m also entering the PCH Sweepstakes regularly….
If I could win one, two, or all three of them I would smile my face right off the front of my head. :0)
These things are so large now that I HAD to participate. They say the odds of getting hit by a meteorite are much better than winning either of these games, and are probably the same for the PCH sweepstakes. But I know my chances of winning are “0” if I don’t enter.
The drawing for the MegaMillions is tonight.
The drawing for the PowerBall is tomorrow night.
The PCH contest winner will be announced Feb. 23rd.
And – while the winners have not been chosen or announced, I have a little bitty pinpoint of hope that “I” might be the one!!!!!!!
Filed under Attitude, Encouragement
Diane Dobson Barton via Cathy Ruggiero
Filed under Attitude, Encouragement, holidays
kingofwallpapers
“I hope that in this year to come, you make mistakes. Because if you are making mistakes, then you are making new things, trying new things, learning, living, pushing yourself, changing yourself, changing your world. You’re doing things you’ve never done before, and more importantly, you’re Doing Something.” ~ Neil Gaiman, British author
Filed under Attitude, Encouragement, Favorite Quotes
Shannon Hale, The Goose Girl via Lisa Bearnes Richey
Filed under Attitude, Challenges, Encouragement, Favorite Quotes
Stephen King via The Writers Circle via Cathy Ruggiero
Filed under Encouragement
We put up our “Happy New Year” mailbox decoration with Calvin & Hobbes today. I’ve still had to ‘think’ a bit when writing a check to get 2017 on it. NOW – another year has whizzed past my head, making my hair blow!
“My Wish for you in 2018:
May peace break into your house and may thieves come to steal your debts.
May the pockets of your jeans become a magnet of $100 bills.
May love stick to your face like Vaseline and may laughter assault your lips!
May your clothes smell of success like smoking tires.
May happiness slap you across the face and may your tears be that of joy.
May the problems you had forget your home address! In simple words …….
May 2018 be the best year of your life!!!” ~ Source Unknown
American Hippie via Kitchen Crafty Fun via Stephanie Youmans Wilson
Filed under Attitude, Encouragement, Favorite Quotes
Dave Hedges via WisdomtoInspiretheSoul.com via Cathy Ruggiero
Filed under Encouragement, Favorite Quotes
healthyplace.com via begin with yes
If you’re lucky enough this year to be surrounded by friends and family, happily buying and wrapping presents, secure in your home and finances, thinking of what you’ll serve, how you’ll decorate….
Take a moment or two to realize how very, very lucky you are, and that many people – people you know and don’t know – might be feeling bad. Many things may have happened – Mother Nature type things, like losing your home in a wildfire (or those who have recently lost everything in the hurricanes and flooding.) They may have lost a job or are having trouble finding work that will pay the bills. A death in the family has left a humongous sink hole threatening to swallow them up. There may be sickness, they may have lost a beloved pet. Their family members may be too far away to be home with them.
Whatever people might be dealing with, it’s harder during a holiday – especially one as big as Christmas and New Year’s. Everyone asks you if ‘you’re ready for Christmas.’ It’s almost expected that you’re bubbling over with joy and thinking only of the frantic rush to get everything done.
Just take a moment or two –
Pay attention to those around you. For friends and family, be aware of each person’s situation. Give an extra hug. Help them smile. Reach out and show them in any way you can that you care. The best gifts there are – love, caring, hugs, kindness, friendship are all free. Take time to give each of these freely and in abundance – and then make a point of BEING THERE throughout the new year.
Filed under Attitude, Encouragement, Holiday Gift Ideas, holidays
Albert Einstein via NTDLife via Laufrain Taylor
I guess we’ve all met them. I call them, “balloon prickers.” They rain on every parade, poke holes in your happiness and suck the life right out of you, if you allow. I avoid them like the plague. Life is too short. (End of cliches… I think – )
Filed under Attitude, Encouragement
My friend, Laufrain, shared this on Facebook. I wanted to share it with you.
word porn via Laufrain Taylor
Filed under Encouragement
Dalai Lama via Elephant Journal via Cathy Ruggiero
sayingimages.com
To me, this is NOT a Pollyanna-ish saying. It’s not that you simply paste a happy smile on your face and just decide to be happy (though sometimes this is a good technique). It’s an ongoing exercise in trying to control how you react to what happens around you. It’s taking bad things, doing what is in your control to do about them, and then stubbornly trying to see the bright side. You can choose to get mired in the fear, grief, and anger, or you can deliberately choose to get beyond those feelings, channeling them into something more positive, more life-giving.
I wasted a lot of time worrying. Usually I worried about things over which I had absolutely no control. I’m gradually making progress in recognizing old ruts and choosing NOT to fall into them again. If it’s at night, I get up, go downstairs and read to distract my worrisome thoughts that seem to spool in my head, playing over and over again with no solutions possible. The distracting myself allows me to let go – even just for a while – and focus on other things. During the day I get up and get involved in an activity that will take all of my attention.
When we lost our two-month old daughter to SIDS many years ago, my husband and I both seriously considered suicide. Our hearts and guts had been ripped out, and we couldn’t see any way we could go on. We looked at our two-year-old son, though, and realized how selfish we were being. He needed us. My husband needed me. Minute by minute we consciously decided that we would give everything we had left to the ones we loved. We decided to try to help each other work through the pain and find reasons to reach out to each other and our son and become stronger together. We chose not to allow this horrible thing to ruin the rest of our lives.
I consciously look for reasons to be happy. To be honest, I’m truly surrounded by wonderful things. I’m continually finding sights, sounds, and activities that make me happy. I’m working every day to live in the NOW – to appreciate all I have. I rejoice that I have the freedom to decide how I’m going to spend my day. I’m getting better at controlling what and who I allow to come into my life. I’m getting better at deciding how I will react to things I can’t control, but must deal with. Every morning I choose to MAKE it a good day.
Filed under Attitude, Challenges, Changes, Encouragement
purpleclover.com
I’m still feeling hurt and angry at the verbal attack by our family member on my husband’s birthday. I’m re-reading daily what other wise family members told me regarding looking at this with compassion for the source of this, rather than focusing on what was said or how WE feel about it. One thing that is resonating now is that until I can LET GO of this, it continues to harm. Our family member has probably gone on to other things. I’M the one mired in negative feelings.
I’m a bit old to change my stripes at this stage of my life, but I’m NOT too old to nurture feelings already inside. I have a lot of compassion inside that comes surging up when I see bad things happen to good people. I strive to show kindness whenever I can. I usually can see the other person’s point of view – something that has resulted in a lot of ‘differences’ being nipped in the bud even before the disagreement really gets going. This situation is no different, really – only in the ‘personal’ nature of the attack – and the fact we didn’t see it coming and had done nothing to warrant it.
As I do other things, I’m thinking about what our wise family members said. I’m GRADUALLY seeing this as an opportunity to use the good things inside me to help my sweet husband consider the SOURCE of this vicious judgment of his character, his beliefs, his service in the Marine Corps, his performance as a husband and father, his membership affiliations, his politics, his worth as a human being as the judgment of one person who is deeply unhappy and hurting. It’s pretty amazing that the judgment of one other person, in one vicious note, can smash your feelings of self-worth. I WON’T ALLOW IT.
I’ll continue to hang on, try to show my husband in every way I can what a wonderful human being he is and how much I treasure every day with him – even when he makes me angry and ready to strangle him. :0)
I’m reaching inside, past the child all wrapped up in hurt and anger, to the adult who is usually able to deal with bad things in the best way I can. I really wish this person had attacked ME. I could handle that SO much better!
Filed under Attitude, Challenges, Encouragement
creativeartworksblog 
When ‘Favorite Thing’ Meets ‘Pet Peeve’
Matthew Stockman, Getty Images
I LOVE to watch figure skating. It’s one of my favorite things in life. My husband found that the contest for who would go to the Winter Olympics in figure skating was on television Friday and Saturday nights. I was in Heaven. The ladies skated on Friday and the men on Saturday. Seeing so much dedication and talent in one place is awe-inspiring.
Matthew Stockman, Getty Images
The women were all very talented, but it seemed to me that the contest wasn’t as close as the men’s. I have to say I’m really pleased to live on the same planet as these talented people.
The reason I titled this post “When ‘Favorite Thing’ Meets ‘Pet Peeve'” is the people who ‘help’ me watch the performance. Yes, they’re professionals. Yes, they know better than anyone how well the people skate. They’ve watched these folks in practice. They have been where these young people are and know what they’re feeling and how nervous they are.
My pet peeve is that I don’t want to listen to them! I want to watch the ice skating. I want to listen to the music they’ve chosen. Even “I” who can’t tell the difference between a ‘quad,’ and a ‘triple lutz’ (spelling?) can SEE when someone does a brilliant job of skating. I can tell if they almost fell or actually fell on their butts. I don’t care what the name is of the thing they’re about to do. I don’t want to know how nervous they are or that they had trouble in practice. I JUST WANT TO WATCH THEM SKATE AND LISTEN TO THE MUSIC. The commentators can talk in-between performances, even showing ‘where-little-Johnny-fell-on-his-butt’ over and over again, if they would like.
The result of this pet peeve is that once the skater begins, it’s about 4 seconds before one of the commentators HAS to tell me what is coming up and how important it is that little Johnny doesn’t fall on his butt this time. I mute the sound and watch, then unmute to see if I can hear at least a few seconds of the music before another commentator HAS to break in to tell me that little Johnny said that this performance was really important to him tonight. Well, DUH!
So, the performances are largely done in silence in the Lewis household. Amazingly, even without listening to the commentators, we can tell who did a good job and who didn’t. We realize all the years each of these talented people have practiced. We have an idea of what they’ve given up to get to this place. We want them to do well.
I just WISH we didn’t have to appreciate them in silence…
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Filed under Delightful Surprises, Encouragement, Favorite Things, Pet Peeves
Tagged as commentators in figure skaing, when favorite thing meets pet peeve