Linda Meyers – Begin with Yes
Filed under Attitude, Encouragement, Family, Favorite Quotes, Friendship
Free Spirited via Cathy Ruggiero
Filed under Attitude, Encouragement, Favorite Quotes
Zen to Zany via Carol Auclair Daly-Art by Anita Opper
Filed under Attitude, Encouragement, Favorite Quotes
Zen to Zany via Cathy Ruggiero
To my way of thinking, music is magic.
If I’m in the shop working on something and one of our long time favorite songs starts, I’m instantly transported – 14 again and dancing at a party or remembering something I thought I had long forgotten. The years fall off. If the music is slow, I may hum along. If it’s fast, I jump up and shake my parts in time with it, feeling just as I did umpteen years ago, pain gone, creakiness gone, a smile on my face. Isn’t that amazing?
It’s been found that playing favorite music in hospitals makes patients happier and heal more quickly. Music from the big band era played in nursing homes brings smiles, tapping feet, happy memories.
I don’t understand it, but it’s a miracle we should take advantage of whenever possible. Bop to the beat in your heart to get an instant burst of energy!
Filed under Attitude, Encouragement, music
credit: unknown
Yesterday, even with the concrete mixer, vibrator, and help from our friends, we really worked hard to get our ham radio tower base form filled.
Today, my husband is finishing making new ‘arms’ for the cart on which the concrete mixer sits as a small thank you for our friends help. If he finishes today, we’ll call and see if they’ll be home so we can return the concrete mixing stuff and give them some more tomatoes.
Otherwise, other than normal stuff, today is a quiet day. No ‘have-tos,’ no rushing around, no working a lot in the heat (although I need to do some stuff in the garden and check for ripe tomatoes.)
A day to regroup, play with the dog, enjoy having a/c when our heat index is in the danger zone for the rest of the week.
Filed under Encouragement
Awakening People via Tim McGraw via Cathy Ruggiero
Filed under Attitude, Encouragement, Favorite Quotes, kindness
Sirac Sayan via Mehmet Tayfun Dur
I don’t know what it is about being young that makes it not only desirable, but IMPERATIVE that you blend into the crowd you call your friends.
I remember vividly one morning when my mother, who had taken the time and effort to make me an outfit for school, chose a Thursday for me to wear it. I explained to her that if you wore green and yellow on a Thursday, it meant really bad things, according to my friends. She scoffed, insisting I wear the outfit. I started crying, panic-stricken that she would make me wear it. We ended up with a compromise. I would wear something else that day, but would happily wear it on Friday…
It’s amazing to me, looking back, that I unthinkingly swallowed up the garbage my ‘friends’ spewed. And my ‘friends’ would have been unmerciful to me, teasing, ostracizing, and making my life a living Hell without further thought or care.
I now wonder what kind of culture we had – where being different meant losing your ‘place’ in the social order of your life at school. I wanted to dress like everyone else, talk like everyone else…. Another glaring thing I remember was an absolute no-no was wearing clean sneakers. Not only did you have to have the same type of sneakers as everyone else, but they MUST be dirty… I remember how important it was. I wanted SO much to be accepted, to feel a real member of the group. I was never in the ‘IN’ crowd, but at least I made the NEXT level.
It amazes me because I grew up to PRIZE individuality, creativity, thinking outside the box, NOT CARING what others think. How did I get to this place – other than being old as dirt? Feelings are complex. I’ll probably never understand why I never wanted to lift my head up, never wanted to stick out in any way.
I WISH we could teach/demonstrate/convince our children and grandchildren and/or students to develop their personalities based on their interests, encouraged and happy to strive for what delights them, lights up their souls. I wish THEY, in turn, would not only accept, but WELCOME the differences in the people around them, encouraging each of us to dive into all sorts of things to discover what they are, how they relate to us, and whether we want to know more or not.
So much of my life was spent worrying about what others might think. I was afraid to look stupid/awkward/gawky/put-in-whatever-word-you’re-thinking. I missed a lot of experiences I now regret. I missed a lot of possible friendships. I just hope each of us, regardless of how we spent our childhood, learns to bloom – embracing as much of the excitement and joy the world has to offer as we can.
Filed under Attitude, Encouragement
Elizabeth Gilbert via Corliss Barnes Darnell
I’ve decided to stop feeling guilty.
The list goes on and on and to be honest, I’m sick of it.
I can come up with endless excuses – in fact, I could teach a course on it. I’m very creative, too; coming up with more and more as the time allows, rather than putting my head down and doing better.
But I’m sick of coming up with excuses, too.
Right now “doing the best I can with the energy I have and the willpower I haven’t” will have to be good enough. Life is too short to agonize over every bite I put in my mouth, or how my to-do list is getting longer, rather than shorter. So what!
I’m going to TRY to ’embrace the glorious mess that I am’ and give myself a BREAK.
That’s not to say that once I incorporate the new labor-intensive focus of raising our lab to be a polite member of our family into my lifestyle that I won’t TRY to do better – but for right now, what I can do is ENOUGH.
Filed under Attitude, Challenges, Changes, Encouragement, Favorite Quotes
Desmond Tutu via Lisa Bearnes Richey
Filed under Attitude, Encouragement, Favorite Quotes
http://www.itsalovelylife.com via Krafty Max
This is a lesson I finally learned, though it took about half of my life.
I met my husband-to-be when I was 14, in ninth grade. He had just signed up for the Marine Corps and he would leave at the end of the summer. My parents allowed me to invite him to go with us to our swimming club. And that was the beginning.
I lived – from then on – for when he got leave from the Marines. Almost everything else in my life was ignored, endured, put on hold. Then I was waiting for him to get out of the Marines. When he did, we waited again until he enrolled at the same college I attended. We did that for one semester and then he dropped out. So I was restlessly awaiting graduation from college so we could be together all the time. My parents said we couldn’t marry until I got my teaching degree, but they relented when I got into this special program that allowed me to finish my degree, doing my practice teaching in Tulsa.
From 14 ’til 22 years of age I basically WAITED, letting many good things pass me by.
The advice above is priceless. We only have one life. Live every day. Stop waiting.
Just STOP.
Filed under Acting Like a Grownup, Attitude, Encouragement
Well, shoot! I bought 5 tickets for the PowerBall Lottery Friday after Lunch Bunch. The estimated grand prize was $447,800,000, or ($279,175,254.46 cash). Even after taxes are taken out, that would be a handy sum.
There was one grand prize-winning ticket from the lottery of California…
I don’t know if there has EVER been a PowerBall or MegaMillions winner from Arkansas, but I’m sure ready to be the first. My husband’s list of goodies keeps growing, and my list of people I’d like to give a boost is growing, as well.
I won’t buy another group of tickets until the prize goes over $400,000,000 again.
But the Publisher’s Clearing House winner will be chosen June 30th….
123RF.com
Filed under Dreams, Encouragement
Huffington Post
One of my husband’s and my favorite things in the world is home grown, red, ripe, sliced tomatoes with a meal. No matter what else we try to grow, tomatoes are the main thing.
We built a raised bed, square foot garden for our other veggies (though I AM trying some grape tomatoes in two of the squares this year), but we moved our tomato plants to the east side of the house. We have a brick planter in what we call “The Nook” beside the porch at the end of the house, plus an eight foot brick planter on the east end of the house.
This is the 8 foot planter. We have six plants here. We planted two plants every two weeks.
This is “The Nook”. There are only two plants here, planted two weeks apart. As you can see, we have really large plants that are difficult to keep supported.
Here is a closeup of some of our green tomatoes.
And here are more.
And HERE is the first ripening tomato! Whooopeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!
Here is celery I started inside by cutting off the bottom 2″ of the stalks I bought from the store, putting them in water, and then transplanting them to the garden. I’m not getting neat ‘stalks’ like you buy at the store, but the plants look healthy. I’m not sure if I should cut off individual stalks as they grow or what. It sure is fun watching them grow, though.
This is a grape tomato plant. If you look carefully, you can see the yellow blossom at the top.
Here’s a second plant where you can see the tiny green tomatoes growing.
I managed to save a few romaine lettuce plants and one red leaf lettuce plant.
I feel like a kid at Christmas. This is a spaghetti squash grown from a seed I removed from one I had bought at the store and cooked. Isn’t it cute! :0)
I’ll try to get pics of my tomato plants to show you tomorrow.
Margarita Bloom via Cathy Ruggiero
Filed under Attitude, Encouragement, Favorite Quotes
Sean Dietrich writes a blog post called “Sean of the South.” I’ve told you about it before, and I can’t say enough about his writing. I can’t just read his thoughts. I FEEL them. I react. I laugh, sometimes out loud. I tear up. Sometimes the tears spill out. He tells us about life. He reminds us of the good in the world – many times when we might feel it’s mostly gone. I’m reposting today’s blog post, called, “Happy.” You’ll see what I mean.
________________
HAPPY
“The happiest day in eleven-year-old Aaron’s life was when he went hunting for the first time.
“All he ever wanted to do was go hunting,” says Aaron’s mother. “His daddy was a big hunter and fisherman.”
Was.
But Aaron’s daddy died in a car accident many years ago. He never got a chance to go.
Enter Joe Seuferer, neighbor and avid hunter, who just moved in next door with his girlfriend.
The first things little Aaron noticed were the Browning stickers on Joseph’s truck. One thing led to another.
Aaron’s first buck was a six-pointer.
The best moment in eighteen-year-old Erica’s natural life was her first guitar recital—which happened last week.
As a girl, Erica lost two fingers in a ski-lift accident. She’s been wearing her sleeves long ever since.
A year ago, she she saw a YouTube video of a man with no arms, playing guitar with his feet.
“When I saw that guy,” said Erica. “I was like, ‘I got no excuses.’”
Erica claims that after learning guitar, she feels she can do anything.
Forty-three-year-old Danny just experienced his happiest earthly day acting in a Hollywood Western.
The lucky dog.
Producers put him on a horse and dressed him in full cowboy regalia.
“I was an extra,” said Danny. “It was like living a childhood dream.”
Danny started riding horses during childhood. He wanted to be in rodeos, but it was not to be. His family went bankrupt when he was a teenager, they sold the farm.
“Losing everything at that young age was traumatic,” he said. “I quit riding altogether.”
Today, Danny makes good money pushing a pencil. He has a wife. Two kids. He pays the bills.
He started riding again last February.
When a friend arranged for Danny to be in a movie, he nearly had a heart attack.
“I got to ride with the outlaws. I know it sounds silly, but I was REALLY happy.”
Seventy-four-year-old Mary Lee’s happiest minutes were seeing her grandbaby, Grace, for the first time. Grace was born with Down’s syndrome. Her birth mother put her up for adoption—post-birth.
Mary Lee heard about the child and suggested her daughter apply to adopt.
“My daughter can’t have kids,” said Mary Lee. “But we knew she was meant to be a mom.”
So, Mary Lee and her daughter spent the first eight months in a hospital, watching Grace undergo heart operations, surgeries, and illnesses.
Bringing her home was a victory.
On Grace’s first overnight stay at Grandmama’s house, Mary Lee didn’t sleep a wink.
“That’s the most beautiful child I ever saw. She makes me so happy.”
Happy.
I don’t mean to point out the obvious, but I’m going say it: you’re not going to live forever. Neither am I.
I don’t know what makes you smile, laugh, or feel good, but you deserve to be doing more of it. A lot more. In fact, you deserve to be so giddy your cheeks hurt.
And if for some reason, you aren’t happy today, then find someone to make happy.
And you will be.”
Filed under Blog Repost - Wonderful Posts, Encouragement
Begin with Yes
My list has been thrown up into the air and has blown away in the wind lately – ever since we made the decision to get a new puppy in the middle of trying to get my husband’s cataracts removed.
We only have one more appointment with the eye doctor and my husband is feeling fine and getting his energy back now. He is being a big help with the puppy now, so I’m not feeling quite as fried every night way before it’s time for bed.
Today I called our dirt guy to tell him we were functional now and to please put us on the list to clear the land for our planned greenhouse, as well as repair our driveway. Happily, he MIGHT be able to work our projects in this afternoon!. We have some errands to run, but we shouldn’t be gone long and will be home to receive his call if he can, indeed, come today. :0)
Now that my husband is recovering, I’m feeling more able to call on him to give me a bit of time and space to regain my sanity. I’m delighted that we adopted Amber, but she is a double handful of extremely active puppy. I find that I’m a much better ‘mom’ to her when I can get my act together a bit between sessions.
So I’m ‘adjusting accordingly’ right now, and hoping to get a little bit of my normal life back soon.
Filed under Attitude, Challenges, Changes, Encouragement
Purple Clover via Cathy Ruggiero
I would LIKE to take the above to heart and quit worrying, but it seems to be something I carry deep into my DNA. I TRY to say I’ll stop, but then it rears its ugly head again.
I worry about things about which I have absolutely no control – a sure sign of stupidity – but, KNOWING it’s stupid and ACTING on it are two different things.
So, I post this in the hope that each of us will read it and digest it, hoping that THIS TIME the sense of it will sink in.
Filed under Attitude, Encouragement
“Happy Heart” – Pinterest
My husband and I have been super lucky to live in a place and time when we can get such good health care. We live in Greenwood, Arkansas. We are older than dirt and are covered by Humana.
If you’re in the area, an absolutely wonderful family physician is Charles Jackson, M.D. at Bailey Clinic in Greenwood, a member of the Cooper Clinic/Mercy Hospital network. We don’t like doctors as a rule, but we both feel we won the lottery when we found him. He takes good care of us.
When I developed cataracts in 2009, Dr. Jackson recommended I go to Dr. Christopher Greer, D.O. at the Cooper Center for Better Vision in Fort Smith, AR. He removed my cataracts and I was very happy. I was pretty shocked when Dr. Greer personally called me the night of my first surgery, asking how I was and telling he would see me the next morning. He did this with the 2nd eye, as well.
My husband needed cataract surgery recently. We of course wanted Dr. Greer. My husband’s 2nd surgery was on the 16th, and he reports his vision is improving daily. Again, Dr. Greer called the night of the surgeries to be sure my husband was doing well. We cannot recommend Dr. Greer, and his partner, Dr. Renner, highly enough.
Our surgeries were performed at the Outpatient Clinic at Mercy Hospital. The whole surgical staff provides an orderly, competent, and compassionate experience. We were amazed to receive a Thank You card from the surgical staff, signed by all the people involved with us! We’re sending one back to THEM tomorrow, saying, “It is WE who should be thanking YOU. Thank you so much for your competent, compassionate care.”
We’re lucky that there has been so much progress in medicine since we were born. The things we have had are now treated routinely with so much less recovery time than ever before.
We are very grateful, indeed.
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