1. Drink plenty of water. 2. Eat breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince and dinner like a princess. 3. Eat foods that grow on trees or plants. 4. Live with energy, enthusiasm and empathy. 5. Sleep 8 hours nightly. 6. Practice yoga, meditation & prayer. 7. Sit in silence 10 minutes a day.
~A Simple Life Guide~
1. Do the right thing. 2. The best is yet to come. 3. Get rid of anything that isn't useful, beautiful or joyful. 4. However good or bad a situation is it will change. 5. No matter how you feel, get up, dress up and show up. 6. Your inner most is always happy, so be happy. 7. God heals everything.
I found this so inspiring. Thank you so much, Melissa, for sharing.
We had a beautiful Christmas, as always. We are ever, ever so blessed & my hope & prayer is that amidst all the hoopla, we never lose sight of our blessings. More importantly, we never lose sight of the reason we celebrate Christmas. Growing up, we always celebrated Christmas. My mother, every single year, went overboard. There were so many presents, by the time we were teenagers, we were getting a little sick of them. Plus, the rule was, only one person could open a gift at a time, so it literally took us hours to get thru all the gifts. I remember one Christmas opening gifts took 4 hours. But there was one thing missing - Jesus. We celebrated His holiday, without Him. In my opinion, my parents had a lot of nerve doing that. I find it appalling. So very thankful my children are being raised the proper way, knowing why we celebrate this awesome holiday.
Every Christmas Eve, we celebrate with my husband's side. They all came here yesterday. It was awesome. So much yummy food that blew my blood sugar level out of the water. LOL I enjoyed every minute of it. ;o) Good conversations. Much laughter. Special Christmas gifts. Beautiful memories. Our final guests left around 7:30 p.m..
Last night, when I finally had time to very, very briefly collapse & reflect, I discovered I am absolutely adamant about changing our Christmas preparations. I say it every year, but next year, changes will be implemented. I'm determined.
It's been a very difficult week. Shopping was not complete. Not one single gift had been wrapped. My boys behavior was pretty much dispicable, which made for M-W being miserable for everyone. The house was not clean & ready for guests. Groceries were not bought for all the food that needed preparing. I was sick (fortunately, I had an antibiotic from a few weeks prior that I had not filled, so I filled it this week. Yay!) Jags was very sick & went to CareNow one night. She received a steroid & antibiotic. Merc was quickly following in Jags' footsteps, so I ran her to CareNow one night. She didn't need an antibiotic. Our plumbing backed up one morning, which resulted in a completely flooded master bath (& parts of our master closet), so we lost time handling that. Hubby typically takes the week of Christmas off, but this year he chose the week after Christmas. His work this week was extremely busy. Tuesday we were alerted by a neighbor that there has been a suspicious vehicle in our neighborhood for several days & the police have been notified (more than once) & the tags of the vehicle have been ran. Thursday early evening, hubby & I feel confident we spotted this suspicious person (right in front of our home, where's he's been spotted before), so we took time Thursday evening alerting more neighbors. By the time our Thursday ended, we headed to bed about 1:00 a.m.
Friday, Christmas Eve, started again bright & early. We had last minute preparations to complete before family arrived around 12:30 p.m. Low & behold everything worked out just perfectly. I knew it would. It always does. But lurking in the shadows was exhaustion. Big time.
By the time everyone left, the children were wiped. Which is an extremely huge blessing, on Christmas Eve. ;o) We got everyone shuttled to bed, only to discover they were all hungry. Back down they all came. Bents had a horrible tummy ache (he was the most tired, due to being up reading at 1:00 a.m. on many nights!) & hubby even had to run to CVS to get him some Pepto (we never use that & will never again - it has 2 different reds in it!). We were thinking it could be something serious, but finally the pain ceased & he's been fine today, Christmas Day.
In a not so good predicament, hubby & I then had to pull out all of the children's gifts, sort them into piles & begin putting together & wrapping. None of this had been done in advance. There had been no time. By this time I'm now suffering from a severe tummy ache & thinking I was going to throw up. But again, we got it all accomplished, it worked out just perfectly, & we slid into bed @ 1:00 a.m. Totally, completely & utterly exhausted.
And the funny part? With all the goings on, we totally forgot to purchase groceries for our turkey, dressing & all the trimmings Christmas day dinner. LOL Cracked us up. We have no groceries for us. And believe it or not, because we are so tired, we are thankful there is no large meal to cook! Ü
The above is why I am determined to implement new changes. Not just a few - but many. Such as:
*All gifts will be purchased, documented & wrapped in advance. Hopefully, way in advance. And put under the tree. Because our children are still young, we have never put gifts under the tree for fear of them being destroyed or unwrapped. Next year they will be displayed under the tree for admiring. And building anticipation. :)
*Menus planned in advance, & as much food as possible, purchased in advance.
*The number of gifts my children receive lowered. I think they receive too many gifts, too many expensive gifts (I feel my mother, at Christmastime, creeping in ;o) - I need to remember they receive many gifts from family members - so definite changes will be made in this area. My hope is to get inspiration & suggestions from others & try to come up with a new plan. I.e. does each child get a certain number of gifts? Or does one set a certain price for each child? Etc.
*Deep cleaning can begin in advance, so the last minute cleaning can be done quickly (bathrooms, dusting, mopping, vacuuming).
*My "I want to do" Christmas fun list is always too exuberant for the amount of time we have to actually do them. Resulting in, many items on my list don't get done. I want an abundance of time to watch Christmas movies, view Christmas lights, bake lots of different Christmas cookies w/ my children, do Christmas crafts with my children - I just want ample time to spend & be with my children. They are only little once.
*I want to bring back annual Christmas jammies/lounge wear. I never used to do this - I borrowed the idea from someone else for a year or 2 & fell more in love with my Christmas photos. Too darn cute. I want more time to find & purchase color coordinated jammies (that they can wear all year, of course!)
*And the exhaustion. I desire no more exhaustion. Now I know at Christmastime, with all the activities, hitting the bed tired is expected. But last night, Christmas Eve, I was on the verge of flat out passing out. I wasn't even sure I could sort & wrap the children's gifts. But of course I did, of course we did, all the while swearing we would never experience this misery during Christmas again. I am certain, we won't. And I am very excited about that fact! Ü
We picked up Panda Express for lunch & noticed Albertson's was open. Hubby just ran back to pick up some bananas & frozen pizza & they are closed. LOL It's time for me to ransack the freezer/frig/pantry & see what I can muster up for dinner. ;o)
Tomorrow we are back at it, because my side of the family is coming on Monday. So we get to do it all over again. However, much less elaborate. ;o) Then, Audi's birthday is Friday, Jags' is Saturday & Merc's is Thursday.
Oy! Merry Christmas! ♥
(Enjoy the video of my nephew (he's on the left!) playing a little "Bachman jig" last year. Ü )
I didn't let Jaguar help w/ the mixing, only because she's sick (upper respiratory infection). I did, however, let Mercedes participate, but forgot to take a photo!
Well?
Success! And so much fun! Ü
Next? Mini Kisses Chocolate Blossom cookies! (Basically, chocolate sugar cookies with Hershey's kisses in the middle!)
Bentley, Audi & Mercedes were playing outside. I am always outside with them, but tonight I came in & began cooking dinner. I had the back door wide open & the curtains open so I could hear/see the children. I checked on them every few minutes.
I had to go to the bathroom, so I went outside to see where they were. The boys were playing & Mercedes was playing with a little tricycle. I came inside, hurried to the bathroom & washed my hands, to resume cooking. This all took like, gosh I don't know, 2 minutes at the most? I was walking back into the kitchen when the boys came running in yelling Mercedes had fallen into the pool.
I was already close the back door, & when they said that, I started running. I had panic & fear I have never, ever, ever experienced. I slipped into a different zone & I ran out the door screaming. While I was trying to exit the door, Jaguar was standing there (I never saw her) & I must have knocked her over - the thunk I heard when she fell was unbelievable. By now I'm crying & screaming trying to reach my baby & I fell out the door because I fell over Jaguar. I was laying on the patio, hysterical & my legs froze. My baby was drowning & I could not move. My legs would not move. By now I was about to pass out because my baby was in the pool. My baby was probably dead in ice cold water. I looked up in hysteria, trying with every ounce of energy I could muster to get my legs moving, & she was standing in front of me, soaking wet. I remember getting up but almost passing out. Everything was blurry & spinning.
Evidently, while I was in the bathroom washing my hands, for whatever reason she entered the pool area & fell into the pool, in the deep end. She started screaming & Bentley & Audi heard her. By the time they reached her, she was holding on to the coping trying to prevent from slipping under. My boys. OMG my boys. They each grabbed an arm of hers & pulled her out which was no easy task, considering she was soaking wet. My boys saved my baby. By the time I had gotten to her it could have been too late.
I was so hysterical, Bentley phoned hubby while I just sat & cried & gasped for air. I couldn't breathe. I couldn't even undress Mercedes. Just thinking of what could have happened - sends me back into hysteria. So fast accidents can happen. So fast. I had just checked on all of them. I was literally in the bathroom for a minute or two. Why Mercedes entered the pool gate is beyond me. She never, ever does (& when she does I'm right there to shoo her back out). Thank God, Mercedes is now in dry clothes & fine. Me, not so much. I don't want to live here anymore. I want the pool gone. It's not worth it. It's just not worth one of my children drowning.
Thank you Jesus for saving my baby. She very well could have drowned. And my two precious boys. How I will forever thank them for saving my baby.
*At dinner, Mercedes said "I fall in the water. To get football." We now know she probably attempted to walk across the cover, to retrieve the little green football.
It works! For the 1st time in 5 years, I'm able to hang my wreath on the front door! I had to find an adequate location on the beveled glass, so it's a little lower than I anticipated, but that's ok! Ü
It's just a darn shame that I don't like the wreath anymore! LOL :)
Tada! The white dresser! Poor girl needs a generous amount of TLC (don't we all ;o), but that's not going to happen any time soon. :) What I love about her the most are the feet! I think they make the dresser look a little contemporary'ish. The dresser was $30.
White (brand spankin' new) crock $1.75 (I bought one at Marshall's about a month ago, not as deep as this one, for $12.99 or so)
Heavy silver bowl - $1.00 (suddenly it's looking a little hub cap'ish to me ;o)
Pink ballerina canvas for Mercedes' room - $2.00
New roll of The Container Store striped Christmas ribbon - $1.00
4 or 5 shirts for wees, including a (new) Tommy Hilfiger, Justice, GAP & Arizona
(long sleeve shirts were BOGO so I got one for free)
Total: $50 for everything Ü
After Pine-Sol'ing this girl, I placed her in the front living room. That's likely where she'll stay until I strip & paint her.
I now have 3 furniture pieces awaiting painting: my $80 Craig's List desk (which is now in the breakfast area, where I originally wanted it, & I/we am using the dickens out of it! Don't know why I even put in the foyer to begin with!), my $11 garage sale nightstand/end table & now white beauty. No refurbishing will even begin until late Jan. or Feb. '11. I'm ok with that. They'll get done when they get done & I'll use 'em in the meantime! I mean really, don't tacky pieces just add character, anyway? :)
(Please ignore the fact that my face was crooked this day, too! I don't shoot as often I used to - obviously, I need to slow it down & pay attention to details. ;o)
I frequently hear that I never post photos of me. And I don't. Truth be told, I have so much weight to lose, I can't stand looking at photos of me. Nonetheless, today I decided to have hubby shoot some of me so now at least, I have some. So this is me, today. Ü
Below: Serious. I am almost always smiling, & if I catch myself not smiling, then I smile. I don't need a reason. Ü Hubby may have been talking to me here & that's why I'm not smiling. Wait, that doesn't sound right. LOL ;o)
I do, I do have teeth! :)
I feel very awkward doing impromptu photo shoots, because I never know what to do with my hands. That's why I typically put them under my face.
Below: Someone decided to steal my thunder, thus ending photo shoot. Whew. Not only did Bray crack me up, but I think it's funny you can see my Seventh Generation cleaning products on my kitchen counter. Teehee. :)
'Tis no secret I am swiftly on my way to becoming the next Julia Child. Or Paula Deen or Martha Stewart, or whomever (professional chef) tickles your fancy. ;o) Ok, maybe not. But. Should I splurge? First let me show you my current beauty, that is approximately 10 years old. ÜAin't she purdy? Might I add she works just fine, is easy to clean, is very reliable & wonderfully hideable. Just like any good woman. Ü
But alas - these are beauties, too. And the color options rock.
So expensive, so bulky & I would think, not near as simple to clean. Also, just another appliance to add to the countertop. I am not a fan of cluttered counters.
Help a girl out, here. Do you have one? Is it worth the money? Could you live without it? Please, do share. I have a decision to make. Thank you. Ü
Next? Mini Kisses Chocolate Blossom cookies! (Basically, chocolate sugar cookies with Hershey's kisses in the middle!)
I was already close the back door, & when they said that, I started running. I had panic & fear I have never, ever, ever experienced. I slipped into a different zone & I ran out the door screaming. While I was trying to exit the door, Jaguar was standing there (I never saw her) & I must have knocked her over - the thunk I heard when she fell was unbelievable. By now I'm crying & screaming trying to reach my baby & I fell out the door because I fell over Jaguar. I was laying on the patio, hysterical & my legs froze. My baby was drowning & I could not move. My legs would not move. By now I was about to pass out because my baby was in the pool. My baby was probably dead in ice cold water. I looked up in hysteria, trying with every ounce of energy I could muster to get my legs moving, & she was standing in front of me, soaking wet. I remember getting up but almost passing out. Everything was blurry & spinning.
After:
Tada!
Little booger's still cute as the dickens. He informed me he'd like $20 for both teeth. Boy's delirious. ♥
Below: Serious. I am almost always smiling, & if I catch myself not smiling, then I smile. I don't need a reason. Ü Hubby may have been talking to me here & that's why I'm not smiling. Wait, that doesn't sound right. LOL ;o)
I feel very awkward doing impromptu photo shoots, because I never know what to do with my hands. That's why I typically put them under my face.
Below: Someone decided to steal my thunder, thus ending photo shoot. Whew. Not only did Bray crack me up, but I think it's funny you can see my Seventh Generation cleaning products on my kitchen counter. Teehee. :)
Ain't she purdy? Might I add she works just fine, is easy to clean, is very reliable & wonderfully hideable. Just like any good woman. Ü
