food, crochet, merriment
1) Baby secrets
2) Bags to cut up to make more…ahhh…bags.
3) Random things popping out of the ground
4) A box of new bows
5) New hubcaps!
6) An evening cloud burst
7) Huge, strong, gentle hands
8) A cute new book to read
9) Our mountains
10) A new daddy
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Your turn—
Let’s add to our “Million Things To Be Happy About” page.
So, what makes YOU happy—right this minute?
Tell me in the “comments” and I’ll add it to the Grateful list AND the quote rotator.
GO!
Better With Labels
I sat down at the computer to make labels for the organizer boxes from last week. I’ve found that– see through or not–it’s a pain not to have them clearly labeled. But somehow, my fingers never typed the list. In fact, they didn’t behave at all. They just…kept…remembering…stuff.
Cool, sweet, gentle…stuff.
Forgive me. After this post, I swear, I’ll stop. I may need help…
I suppose I didn’t realize that the old time tv was such a crack-up. Some times, ok, a lot of the time I’m pretty sure that the laughter is only brought on by the fact that it’s all just so low budget and dopey in comparison to all the fancy-schmancy theatrics we’re used to these days. But then on the other hand, as Lynnette pointed out—good, clean humor, innocent and silly is just so dang much fun.
When I was 7, I used to come home from school everyday and watch Hobo Kelly. In fact, she sent me a giant “Sugar Daddy” for my birthday one year. I must have been in her fan club or something.
I know…kinda scary.
Shannon mentioned this one…Is it really still on? That restores my faith in all things retro.
I could never figure out how come they could make a radio out of coconut shells, but couldn’t repair their silly boat.
And I always thought I’d grow up someday to be Jane Wyatt from Father Knows Best. Save me…but I love the dresses with the tiny belts and the hair and the lipstick and the way they called each other “darling.” I think I was Donna Reed in another life…or wish I was.
Thanks for indulging me this one last time. Now I’ll try very hard to behave myself and stick to the current century. Maybe I’ll even make some labels for the boxes…
…who knows?
Awhile back, I was casually reading a good friend’s blog and found out that she’d never seen the movie “It’s a Wonderful Life.”
“Positively obscene,” I told her. Everyone knows that you can’t go to heaven if you haven’t seen “It’s a Wonderful Life.” Slight exaggeration, maybe, but it still felt wrong to know anyone on earth who hadn’t seen it.
So even though it was past Christmas and we really have been making every effort to put all the green and red tubs back in the garage–we kept this one movie out and invited our sweet friend over to see it for the first time in her life. It was a lovely experience to watch someone–besides me–cry in all the right places. She was even a great sport with all our commentary, which can try the patience of even the most sturdy mountain woman. In the end, of course she loved it, so I’ve come to a conclusion of sorts.
Maybe this “Christmas movie” isn’t such an exclusively Christmas movie. In fact, it felt like the perfect show for this time of year when we are all trying in our own way to be little better than we were last year. What a great reminder to “bloom where we’re planted,” and make the most of what we’ve got–whatever it is. Because we just never know the difference we may make in the lives of someone else, just by being ourselves.
1. The snow coming down as I type. Our state always needs more water. So it’s a big deal to get all this new stuff. I just want to be snowed in at least once in my life.
2. Pink lights on a canopy bed. It’s very exotic and makes me feel particularly fancy somehow. Even if I’m just wearing a sweatshirt and jeans.
3. A baby girl who loves her monkey.
4. A baby boy who loves to laugh.
5. A baby “chomp” who could show up any day now. Maybe we’ll wake up one of these mornings and Lyndi will have a sweet, warm bundle all cuddled up with her. I suppose, in real life we’ll know when she decides that she’s truly coming. But since Lyndi is having a home birth–it could be a surprise for us–any time now.
6. A well attended puzzle on a wintery day.
7. Dear friends in a beautiful place.
8. A beautiful place
9. A pristine kitty
10. A letter from a happy boy in a very cold, faraway land.
*******
According to legend, a young man while roaming the world came across a spring of delicious crystal-clear water. The water was so sweet he filled his leather canteen so he could bring some back to a tribal elder who had been his teacher. After a four-day journey he presented the water to the old man who took a deep drink, smiled warmly and thanked his student lavishly for the sweet water. The young man returned to his village with a happy heart.
Later, the teacher let another student taste the water. He spat it out, saying it was awful. It apparently had become stale because of the old leather container. The student challenged his teacher: “Master, the water was foul. Why did you pretend to like it?”
The teacher replied, “You only tasted the water. I tasted the gift. The water was simply the container for an act of living-kindness and nothing could be sweeter.”
Self-motivation without gratitude is impossible. Our energy is “sapped” when our entire focus is on what’s wrong instead of what is right with our lives. One of our greatest challenges is to live and love in spite of pain and disappointment…to find gratitude in the midst of it all.
Reflect for a moment on this beautiful quote from Melody Beattie:
“Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. It turns what we have into enough, and more. It turns denial into acceptance, chaos to order, confusion to clarity. It can turn a meal into a feast, a house into a home, a stranger into a friend. Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today, and creates a vision for tomorrow.”
President Eyring’s talk about gratitude
