HAPPY NEW YEAR!

My oldest son.

The beginning of a New Year always seems to fill us with new hopes and new dreams. I often wonder why is it wait until a new year to have new hopes and dreams. To me everyday is a new beginning. I celebrate life and smile at some of the things that use to anger me.

I guess at almost 59 yrs of age, I've learned that anger is a waste of time and energy. I now take that anger and turn it into creativity. A week ago I was handed a $1400 estimate for work that needs to be done on my car, after a solemn look, I smile and walked away with a smile and a prayer and I'll take care of it when I can. I remember things I would have been all bent out shape. Now I know that stuff really does happen.

It's not the big things we often treasure, but the small ones. My older children dropped by to see me if only for a few minutes. The kids that are away at school calls to say 'Hi' or 'Mom I have a problem'. The family gathers to celebrate on holidays. The long drives to pick up the two that are away at school and being happy that I can still tackle the highway. I'm happy for having the ability to get along with my kids friends, they enter my home with a big 'Hello, Ms. Day' or 'Mama Day'.

Last October a Marine Recruiter came to home, this young man a long ways from home has found a home in my home, with me and my kids. He came over while I was alone one Saturday, surprised me, no warning, just showed up. He saw I wasn't in the Christmas mood and before I knew he had gathered my tree, lights and decorations and began to work. He decorated the inside and out. He spent Christmas Eve and Day with us. These are the things I'm thankful for.

My recruiter and his girlfriend

My recruiter's (my other son, as he refers to himself)outside handy work.
When I think of all the kids that come through my life with hugs and kisses, I feel truly blessed.

So you see, the other things in life, like mechanic problems can't override the feelings I get from the calls or visits from my stepson and daughter or their friends.

My stepdaughter and her new beau passing through on their way to visit her mom in KS

Happy Holidays

It's been a while since we've been together and nearing the end of the year, I feel it's time to share some thoughts with you.

I've spent the last month picking items from ETSY adding them to my blog's favorites as gift suggestions, I've even purchased a few myself. I hoped you dropped by and enjoyed the suggestions and found something from my list to purchase for your friends and family.

During the month like most I've been busy preparing for the holidays and the upcoming year, looking forward to both, joy for the new and sentimentality for the past. There is always so much we wish we could have accomplished this past year and so much more we want to accomplish this coming year. Rest easy my friends, there is always time. Remember there is a time to work, a time to play, a time to pray.

For the upcoming year I would like for us all to be happy even during trying times. Be healthy, take care of yourselves, if you're no good to you then you're no good for anyone else. Be giving, at all times, if only a smile to a stranger, it all comes back. Play and laugh often, it's good for the soul but above all pray. Pray for healing and love for yourselves, friends, family, your enemies, the world. Like it or not, we are all in this together. On this note I want to say....until 2011

HAPPY HOLIDAYS!!!!!!!!

Be safe, be kind, be joyous!

PS - Please, hang up the phones, no texting or drinking while driving, the life you save might just be your own.

I Believe - Wisdom

Wisdom to the people I care about.........

Things you should believe

A Birth Certificate shows we were born
A Death Certificate shows we died

Pictures show we lived!
Have a seat...Relax. ..And read this slowly.

I Believe... Just because two people argue,
Doesn't mean they don't love each other.
And just because they don't argue,
Doesn't mean they do love each other.

I Believe... We don't have to change friends if
We understand friends change.

I Believe....No matter how good a friend is, they're going to
Hurt you every once in a while and you must forgive them for that.

I Believe...True friendship continues to grow, even over
The longest distance. Same goes for true love.

I Believe...You can do something in an instant
That will give you heartache for life.

I Believe...It's taking me a long time
To become the person I want to be.

I Believe...You should always leave loved ones withLoving words.
It may be the last time you see them.

I Believe...You can keep going long after you think you can't.

I Believe...We are responsible for what we do, no matter how we feel.

I Believe....Either you control your attitude or it controls you.

I Believe...Heroes are the people who do what has to be doneWhen it needs to be done, regardless of consequences.

I Believe..Money is a lousy way of keeping score.

I Believe...My best friend and I can do anything or nothing And have the best time.

I Believe...Sometimes the people you expect to kick you
When you're down will be the ones to help you get back up.

I Believe...Sometimes when I'm angry, I have the right to be angry,
But that doesn't give me the right to be cruel.

I Believe...Maturity has more to do with what types of experiences you've had
And what you've learned from them, and less to do
With how many birthdays you've celebrated.

I Believe...It isn't always enough to be forgiven by others;
Sometimes, you have to learn to forgive yourself..

I Believe...No matter how badly your heart is broken,
The world doesn't stop for your grief.

I Believe...Our background and circumstances may have influenced who we are,But we are responsible for who we become.

I Believe...You shouldn't be so eager to find out a secret.It could change your life forever.

I Believe...Two people can look at the exact same
Thing and see something totally different..

I Believe...Your life can be changed in a matter of
Hours by people who don't even know you.

I Believe...Even when you think you have no more to give, when
A friend cries out to you - you will find the strength to help.

I Believe...Credentials on the wall do not make you a decent human being.

I Believe...The people you care about most in life are taken from you too soon.

I Believe.....You should share this to all of the people you believe in, I just did.

'The happiest of people don't necessarily have the best of everything;
They just make the most of anything.

Sharing Words of Wisdom

Another week, another thought:

Notice the good things about people.



We all have qualms with some people. There is always something about someone we don't like and we have a tendency to focus on those faults or dislikes.

This week I want to focus on something that is really difficult for most, including myself. This week let's find and make a list of everything good about that person.

Pick just one person you interact with on a pretty regular bases and list their positive findings.
This exercise is good for you. It helps you, your thought process, your heart. It takes a lot of negative energy to focus on the ugly, you have to hold all the bad you feel for that person the better part of day. This makes you unhappy and will keep a frown on your face. You'll even frown in your sleep.

This week we will focus on the good. As Will Smith stated, "Inheritedly, there is good in everyone." Even if they only love their pet, that is something good.

I'll start with 'They':

1. Have a beautiful smile.
2. Willing to help others.
3. Love family and friends.
4. Hates injustice.

Give me yours.

Super Bowl - Love and Hate

Love:

1. All the hype
   


2. Going to breakfast with Misters out of town visitors (didn't want to get out of bed)



3. The National Anthems by both singers, why two? ( it worked for me)



4. Home alone ( should have watched the game like Tom Cruise - Risky business; do girl's do that well? : )



5. The drinks, the food or otherwise.



6. The company, having fun and talking ....IT!
   

Hate:

1. Coming down from the party

2.Having to drive home (through police traps)

3. Being on the road with drunk driver

4.Your team losing

5. Your friends leaving ( especially when it's a 4 -5 hr drive)

Life can suck sometimes but in between the dashes at least we can live : )

I passed up, I heard fantastic birthday party this past Friday. Everything to wear, didn't like my hair. Margaret Bush Wilson, 90th birthday bash and I chose to stay home. Mister and his sisters went, only to hear about the rubbing of elbows I missed. Truth be told, it wasn't the hair, I just didn't want to go. The ground was covered with snow and ice, two of the things I hate most.

We all make choices in life, I wasn't in the mood to meet or mingling with Congress people, Mayors both past and present, Deans of the Universities, PH D's, prominent attorneys or whomever. Sherryl? How do or even pass this up? Peace..a part of history first hand. We all have our day's. Hell I didn't want to go to breakfast on Super Bowl Sunday with a PHD, but I did, and it wasn't all that bad and still I passed up the second opportunity not to be in the company of a part of a history making female, a famous Missourian, once more today. Just wanted to be alone to think and be with my art. A time without Mister or the kids. This is when you know you really need some ME time.

As long as I have Mister, I haven't missed a thing. Margaret's legacy in the state of Missouri will not change and I do know I will meet her on a more intimate level. I like intimacy.

What are likes and dislikes? How was your weekend? Miss out on anything special. Share.

I will share what I was working on in my next post.

By the way I was rooting for the Cardinal's.

I Say This.....I'm Back

While sitting here browsing the web and listening to easy listening from the sixties and seventies, music I grew up with, I began to realize how easy time passes us by. I was just a teenager yesterday and now I’m a granny. I wanted so much out of life. I had plans that somehow managed to fall by the wayside because someone told me I couldn’t.


I have spent my entire motherhood trying to encourage my kids to be and do the very best they can. I tell them never let anyone tell them what they can’t do.


You know with kids you sometimes have to be direct. Break things down into smaller steps. “I can tell you, you can’t jump off the roof and you shouldn’t. But never allow anyone to tell you you’re not capable of learning or performing a task, and you believe it. Always give 100% of what you have inside into any project and if you succeed fantastic, if not, know that you gave your all.”


We as parents must encourage our kids daily and love them irregardless, that’s what we do. Give to them everything we wish we had growing up ( not talking materialism). Tell them you love them daily and watch the love flow back, do much so you can’t breathe. It’s a wonderful feeling.


I started this post months ago and just got back to it. Sorry, it took so long, I didn’t realize buying a house could be so time consuming and I quickly learned that I’m not Super Woman. More about that later.


For now, take care, be blessed and LOVE.




Sherryl


http://www.newdaycrochet.etsy.com/

HAPPY BIRTHDAY

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!!!!


Happy Birthday to YOU….Happy Birthday to YOU….Happy Birthday, Dear Flo (mother)..Happy Birthday to YOU!

This lovely lady would have been 91 today. She was one of the hardest working women I know. She loved just as hard as worked.

When I was younger I use to hate her job, she was gone early before it was time for me to go to school and came home long after school was out, only to eat dinner, take a bath, go to bed to do it all over again. I remember begging her to stay home, I needed her home. She couldn’t…..you see, she was a single Mom.

There was a time she worked two jobs, one was to have carfare to get to the one that paid a little more. There was a period I stayed with my grandparents for awhile to go to school and she took a one room efficiency close to the bus stop and her job so she could not only take care of me, but her mother, father and other family members that often needed a bit of help from time to time.
She never thought much of herself; she cared for others more and at the time I did not know why she worked so hard. Had she had only stayed with my Dad, I thought she would not have to work so hard. That had nothing to do with it. If and when there was a need in the family, she was always there trying as hard as she could to fulfill it.

I was sixteen when I began to spend serious time with my Mom. We had moved closer to her job, better living conditions and it didn’t take as much time for her commute. As a matter of fact she got door to door service. One of the guys she worked with lived not very far from us.
In our new surroundings I learned to quilt from her. I use to sew all the time and she would take my scraps and turn them into quilts. From her I learned to cut pieces from the fabric leaving very large useful pieces, something they didn’t teach in school. She use to make pleated skirts without patterns, by hand. She never learned to use an electric sewing machine, she only like the old treadle machines.

I use to love to look at her quilts; to and for me they told a story, a story of my teen years and adulthood until she stopped quilting. We use to go skating; of course, she just liked to watch. For my twenty - first birthday, she bought me a new car, it also included a payment book for my monthly payments and lecture on when I could and could not drive. She could not drive so I became the designated driver in the house. My mother became a best friend once I became an adult, we could talk, share and hangout just about anytime or anywhere, we laughed together; we cried together. From her I learned to carry that love and connection into my relationships with my girls as well as my boys.

There is so much more I could tell you about this woman I call Mom, but then it would be a book. I think about her often, almost daily and I write this with tears in my eyes, but a smile in my heart for having been able to know such a wonderful, kind, loving person. All that met her loved her.

Six years ago, on this day the birth of my grandson happened, so I look at him and hold him close in heart for he was born on the day of his great-grandmother, whom if were alive would spoil him rotten. She died, November 14, 2000; she was old, sick and tired. She had dementia, but she lived a wholesome life while she lived.

Remember to tell everyone close to you at least once a day, even if you’re angry with them, that “I love YOU”, those three little words are heard by my children, grandchildren regularly and I from them.

This is my Happy Birthday Song for my Mom - Flauzella Clark, August 1, 1917 - 2000.

Sherryl

Visit: http://www.newdaycrochet.etsy.com