Raisin-a-ruckus One Day at a Time

Mel

So you know my bestie, Mel. She had been absent from my life. I miss her!! She's going to nursing school. When she's not at school, she is busy in her garage making cool stuff. She made me a jewelry organizer out of an old shutter.....she added knobs..,,and some rods......and whalla!!! A fun piece!! I'm enjoying it this morning! Clearing dresser space.....dreaming of coffee time with Mel this summer when she has some free time to raise a ruckus with me.
Hope y'all have a great day!!
Peace and love to ya!!

Beautiful

We went to hear Max and the high school choir sing today in a cathedral. It was beautiful. It made me cry. Max has such a beautiful voice. He sang a solo and I did.....I cried. I went with my mom and then felt bad that I hadn't sent an alert to EVERYBODY to come. When Max got home tonight he said, "I had at least 10 people come up to me and tell me that my grandma is the cutest person they have ever seen." I have to admit, I agree!! I am so thankful for this day! Loved it.

Peace and love to you!!

Happy Friday!

I am waiting for the man from Roto-rooter to fix an issue in the drains of the bathrooms. Hopefully, it's a quick fix. I've been waiting since 9 and it is now almost 1. What do you do while waiting for a repairman? I have organized all the kitchen drawers, reorganized a couple cabinets, actually cleaned the kitchen, cleaned my dresser off in the bedroom, folded two loads of laundry, took a shower and now I am laying down.....relaxing. I know as soon as I fall asleep, the guy will show up. Maybe I better run downstairs and oh I don't know....,fold more laundry? Pay a couple bills? Man. The possibilities are endless. I feel trapped!! Although I had nothing else planned for today. Silly, isn't it? What excitement do you have planned for this Friday? Tell me. I'm bored. Heehee. That's silly too.

Peace and love.

A few observations

1. I have noticed lately that I miss a lot of action on my phone. Since I don't look at it constantly, sometimes I forget that it even exists. Sadly, I miss Ian's calls. He always leaves the nicest voicemails like, "Hey Mom. You never answer my calls but I want you to know you are beautiful and I love you more than life itself." I usually listen to it while climbing into bed and then go to sleep feeling like a great big heal for missing his call and also thanking God for raising such a great son! I also have missed FaceTime calls from Season, and texts from Asa needing a ride home from work among other things. I do feel pretty good about not being consumed with those silly games and watching Facebook like a hawk. There IS more to life than those things. Who knew?? I am taking a meditation class on my Happier app. Do you meditate?? It's pretty fantastic.

2. I am making a To-Do list this morning......and a grocery list! The only way I can get Sam up in the morning is with a bowl of cereal..... that boy gets breakfast in bed every day during the week. We were out of cereal this morning except for a stale bag of crumbs I found tucked in the back of the cabinet. I've been a little off kilter for the past couple weeks so I have not made any lists. The one I am making today is getting pretty long!! I think I must thrive in chaos because the longer it gets, the more excited I am becoming! I guess I like organized Chaos. I'm pretty giddy over this list.

3. I have been containing myself. It's not fun. This morning, as I was hurrying the boys along, I blurted out my silly thoughts and laughed at myself. I got Asa to laughing and it was one of the most enjoyable mornings I've had in a long time. I know my boys aren't on the same wavelength as me but I am on a wavelength that is enjoyable to me. I must seize that.....or lose myself,,,,,even if I annoy the crap out of every tired cranky soul that I live with. I'm funner that way. Life is funner that way. It makes me happy. I'm thankful for my sense of humor. If you aren't laughing at the mundane, you are missing out!! HeeHee!

4. You know what? I need to take that damn computer class. I'm pretty sure what I want is not a 9-5 job. I am inspired that cousin Ronnie took her whole company ROWE.....check it out here . That website says: " In a ROWE, you control when, where, and how long you work. As long as you meet your objectives, the way you spend your time is entirely up to you." How awesome is that? That is what I need.....if I only had an objective to meet. I'm gonna find a worthy objective to get paid for. Just watch me. I think I need better computer skills though.  I just added that to my list. :) Ideas on that?

5. It is a beautiful day! It just is. Hope can brighten any day. Faith can anchor the soul. And being full of LOVE can make your cup runneth over with gratitude and acceptance and bliss. Those things bring peace.....which is lovely....even on a cloudy day.

Peace and Love to you!!

Today I am thankful.....

For.....

!. Even though I stayed up til 2:30 this morning watching The Wolf of Wall Street last, I DID NOT oversleep! It's a good thing!

2. The sun appears to be shining! I have a hiking date today!

3. The seminar on Monday landed me some new friends! One girl chatted with me on Facebook  last night and it made me LOL. So funny.....and FUN!!

4. I feel good today!!

5. I do not owe any taxes this year.....well, some.....but not much.....so YAY!!!!

6.  I have food in the house and some change in a jar and a roof over my head. I take that for granted some times.

7. I downloaded "audible". I've been listening to audiobooks. Why haave I not considered this an option before??

8. I customized the songs on my iPhone. Now I have storage available. It has stumped me for weeks why my phone has not been working properly.....the storage was full.....of music. Now it's not. It's a good thing.

9. We rewatched the video of Ian skydiving last night. I am so thankful he survived that.

10. It's wednesday! I don't have to cook!!! Yay!!

What are you thankful for?

Peace and love to you!

 

Wowza!

The seminar was nice! 15 women. Powerful women spending a day together. There was a small amount of lecturing and a whole lot of discussions. Deep discussions. It's interesting what we all carry around....never saying....or even letting on that we are hauling a heavy load, isn't it? And it's like we have all been beatin down in this life.....where is the love and compassion? This world is just as capable of offering the LOVE! Maybe we just aren't capable of recieving it. I loved the seminar. I guess what I walked away with is a good reminder that what we focus on is important, The focus of our life is what gets bigger.....so if you focus on lack, you get lack. If you focus on power and positivity, that is what you get in your life. AND you have no control over the outcome. You can't force fate or destiny. It happens. You have to surrender and watch and wait. At one point, I became a little giddy! He started talking about Jack Canfield and his book, "The Success Priciples". I told the lady I was sitting next to....."At one point, I wanted to be Jack Canfield!" She was all like "What??" I said, "Ya. I've always kind of wanted to be a motivational speaker and encourage people." There were actually two ladies in my group and they very earnestly looked at me. I thought I was joking. But they both looked at me and said, " I can see that in you. You have a "STORY" to share." One of the gals came up to me at the end of the day  and handed me her business  card and said, "I'd like to meet with you and talk about your story. Please call me." I actually shared very little about myself but several women spoke to me about what I did share and said I must be a very strong women and I think they were rather intrigued to hear more. I kind of got the feeling they liked me.....and really, why wouldn't they?? Several gals wanted to set coffee dates.  Throughout the whole day, I kept getting the thought in my mind that at the very core of success....of worthiness....of IT ALL.....is SELF LOVE. You got to love yourself...... with love comes forgiveness and acceptance and a whole lot of peace. I think at the core of my success......that is my message.....Love. Self Love.  You can't love anybody if you don't love yourself first. You just can't. But if you accept yourself and embrace your shortcomings and idiocracies, it allows you to see that no one is perfect and tolerate others more abundantly. We are all unique in are own way. I can't strive to be myself and expect you to be who I want you to be............then belittle you by gossipping.....which is what women do to each other.  So, see?? I am on a roll over here.....my mind is realling with ideas! All things possible!  I have some mirror smiling to do today.....and several coffee dates to make. You know what I have been thinking lately? I really don't like coffee so much any more...... maybe we will do lunches!

Peace and Love to you!

Big things.....

Have ya ever been to Dallas?? It's one big traffic jam after another. Seriously. Strangely, I wasn't scared for my life. Aaron drove. I didn't mind. He was all like "I got this." I felt about as safe..... as I did when I was in St. Louis with my friend, Ami, driving. She's confident.....like Aaron was. That confidence just makes ya feel safe. Those are about the only two times I have felt safe as a passenger in traffic.....that I can think of. I feel safe when I am driving...... most of the time. I like being in control. I really don't care if I ever go back to Dallas but I'm glad we went. Texas is a busy place....too damn busy for me.  Oh! While we were there, we went to the botanical garden. The tulips were in bloom. It was beautiful. You know what I have forgotten for almost my entire adult life?? I love gardens. I spent my entire college years in the garden. I planted and mowed and got really dirty  and soaked in the sun. I loved that. Being at those gardens reminded me of one of the things in this life that was truly mine and I loved. It was a great feeling....one I hadn't felt in awhile. A reminder of who I am...... what I love. I have no clue why I stopped gardening.....or really why I started. I guess at the time, it just felt like the thing to do. Did I ever tell you about my college experience and how I didn't know what I wanted to do so I just skimmed the course catalog and picked horticulture because I thought the people in that field would be great people to hang around with? That's why I have a B.S. in Agriculture.....I had never even grown a houseplant before that. Farming wasn't in my blood or anything. It was a whim. I did love it though....I'm glad I acted on that whim. Another thing I loved in Dallas was visiting the boot shop in the historic west end. I like boot shops and it was a good one! I did not get boots, though. I am full up on boots. I just touched them all. Every pair.....and I loved doing it.  If you would ask Sam what he loved the most, it would be the Mavericks game. The boys had so much fun at that game. Or maybe it would be the thrill rides that he and Aaron did together. Sam had never done anything like that before and I think he is hooked on free-falling. Now he says he  feels like a man!! That's the thing about being a mom.....you spend a lot of time watching other people do what they enjoy....and you enjoy watching them enjoy the things they enjoy....but you tend to lose site of the things you actually enjoy. I know that makes sense. So....... tomorrow....Monday morning...at 8 am....I will be at my "mavericks" game. I will be at THE  seminar I enrolled in a few weeks ago ...the Oxygen series.....with several other women in the same boat as me......searching. I'm totally excited!! It's ALL day! This is the guy I will be listening to.....

 

I love listening to inspiring, positive people. I'm expecting great things! BIG THINGS!! If I were a boy....I would be expecting to feel like a man by the end of the day. I can not wait to tell you all about it on Tuesday. Yay!

It was nice to get away and now it is good to be home! It feels awesome to be full of hope and dreaming again......but also have sweet memories to cherish of a delightful spring break road trip.  Life is good!!

peace and love to you.

Just a glimpse....

Is all it took!! I was at the elevator with all my crap and I happened to look at myself in the mirror. I thought, "OMG! I have to get a picture. I look ridiculous!!" And then I whipped out my phone and took this selfie and rejoiced at how busy I must appear. I did delight in that moment. Vacations are fun! Aaron and I just ate breakfast at a little diner that was amazing! We overate. He's laying down. I'm walking circles in the parking lot. We've had a great time. I'm ready to go home tho.....ready to get back into my somewhat normal routine, eat properly, plant some spring flowers.....tell you about some epiphanies I had while being all busy and looking ridiculous. Ok!! I guess we are beginning our journey home! Home. Don't ya love it!! I do.
Peace and love to you!!

Well, hello.....

From Dallas! We hopped in the car last night at 8 and ended up in some Oklahoma town this morning. It took us 3 hours to find an open hotel room. We checked into a holiday inn at 3 am. I've never had such a hard time trying to get a room! Luckily, we didn't fall asleep while driving. It was getting to look like it could be a possibility. Today, The boys suffered through a trip to the PINK PISTOL.....Miranda lambert 'a store in tishumingo, Oklahoma. A delightful experience. I found it on Facebook yesterday and said, "let's go there!!" So we did! And now we are in Dallas. We rolled into town right at 5:00.....during rush hour. Man. Texans can't drive well or something because there were a lot of cops and ambulances and sirens....and traffic jams. We stopped at several hotels here before finding a room. I guess when people travel they make plans ahead of time or something. I like to just go and see where we end up. The boys raced right over to the mavericks game. I stayed in. A peaceful evening....alone.....it's quite nice! So.....I will keep you posted as to what we are up to. I'll be just as surprised as you! What are you up to?? I'm reading a book! Lol.

Spring break

We are trying to decide where to go. Any ideas?? Tell me!!