Cold Weather Public Service Announcement

Boy was it cold outside this morning. It was so cold there was "frost on the pumpkin." If you're not in the know that means there was ice on the windshield.

Well, I've discovered the perfect de-icing system: turn on defrost as high as it will go with the heat going and turn on windshield wipers as fast as they will go.

I was in a hurry today and I added another element: -------- water. It's not the first time I've used water.

Just a FYI: Before putting water on your windshield you should either turn off the wipers or atleast stand back. Just sayin'

Blessings

So goofiness is hereditary?

My mom used to worry about early onset of Alzeheimer's. I say used to because I think the antics of my sister and myself have finally convinced her she's not alone. She'd do silly things or forget things and think there was some "major" reason for it.

As I started relaying my multitude of stupid stories, she began to feel better. My sister adds hers and now mom is trying to figure out how she has such ditzes for daughters.

It's not that we're ditzes, we just want to make our mom feel better. I mean, that's selfless isn't it?

Really, you'd think that we'd keep our blonde moments to ourselves. Of course, neither of us is blonde although I once did highlights for awhile. Now I'm just greyish brown, totally time to color my hair. Ever since the bozo episode, I have hair coloring fear, but I'm working on it. I digress, although we should probably stay quiet, we (especially me, I'm all about bringing joy to other people's lives and if I can do something to make someone else feel a little better, I'm all over it.) Oops, digressed again . . .

Sis called the other day and said, " Okay, you're never going to guess what I did."

Well of course she was right, how in the world would I be able to guess. I shot some random guesses out there but I wasn't right, go figure.

"You know how you drove away from the drive thru bank with the cannister?"

"Yes, that was a good one."

"I did it, too!"

Laughing and spitting my drink everywhere I replied, "Did they call you,too?"

She said, "I figured they would, but they didn't. When I took it back the next day they laughed and said they'd called a bunch of people, but didn't know what happened."

"So ditziness is hereditary?" I questioned.

"Guess so."

See Mom, no worries. You're okay. Your daughters on the other hand I'm not so sure about.

Gotta love it and keep smiling!

Attitude of Gratitude

Grat-i-tude:–noun
the quality or feeling of being grateful or thankful

Gratitude and thankful are two words that I believe go with my word of the year "blessed."

I am a "glass half full' gal. I'm always looking for the positive in every situation, I guess that's one of the reasons I chose blessed to be my word. As annoying as it may be, I want to be positive. It isn't always easy, sometimes I have to push myself to find the positive. I just find my life a little easier if I do.

Some might call it "sticking your head in the sand." Others might say you're "making lemonade out of lemons." I say I'm surviving.

This Sunday at the Stampin' Up Open House I saw some scrapbooking friends I hadn't seen in awhile. One of my precious friends, Darla, has breast cancer. She's had one surgery and was only able to do 4 shots of chemo because of her liver transplant. They found a bit more and were going to take it out on Monday. She is very positive about the entire thing.

I had no intention of going to the open house, I missed my exit and decided to head that way. It never ceases to amaze me how God works. I'm grateful that I can add my prayers to those already going up for her. The power of prayer is an awesome thing.

So gratitude, thankful, blessed all seem to fit together like a puzzle.

"A thankful heart is not only the greatest of virtues, but the parent of all the others."- Cicero

"Be thankful in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you who belong to Christ Jesus"

1 Thess. 5:18 (NLT)

Blessings,

Missy

Give me back my socks already

Okay, I have a real major issue here. It's been weighing on me for many years. I just feel that it is time to bring it to the forefront because I know I am not alone.



It's no wonder I hate doing laundry. You see, it scares me.



Why is it that I can put a certain number of matching socks in the washing machine and when I take them out of the dryer there is a different number and they no longer match?



Well, I've pondered this problem for many years and think I have finally come up with an answer.



I know that some of you probably agree with me that there is a sock monster but it has always confused me how he manages, now I think I'm on to his tricks.



Here's what I'm convinced is happening, are you ready for this? The "Sock Monster" takes them. The "Sock Monster" has the ability to travel from house to house with a simple poof (Think of the house elf Dobbin in Harry Potter). There also must be hidden "elf" doors in both the washing machine and dryer. He takes some socks from my house and delivers them to other houses. He does it just to mess with our minds. It's just not right I tell you, just not right.

So here's where the rubber meets the road. It's simple really.

I know you have my socks people, so give them back already!

"Hey, Dad . . . "

Being a dad, you don't necessarily know that nothing good comes from those words. The other shoe always drops.

As a mom, I just sit here and giggle. Hubs comes to me and says, "Guess what J asked me?"

"No telling dear, what did J ask you?

"He wants to know if he can borrow my truck on Saturday."

"What's wrong with his truck? Why does he need your's?"

"He wants to go to the movies."

"Again, what's wrong with his truck?"

"He said Lizzie might go."

"Still don't see the problem. Last time I checked there were two seats."

"And maybe Lizzie's friend."

"Hmmmmm..."

"And maybe Rus."

"And what did you say?"

"I told him I'd think about it."

"And have you thought about it."

"Yep."

"And what did you decide?"

"Nope."

In total agreement I say, "Good plan."

Simple Joy

What a day full of silly memories that's what yestrday was.



After church the boys and I went to mom and dad's and ate. I had no intention of staying forever and figured the boys could head home whenever they were ready.



Mom suggested we play SkipBo if we could get one of the kids off of the computer. Dad doesn't like SkipBo much so he just napped. Noone wanted to play so I was going to head home. Just as I was headed out the door, Rus decided he would play, so we did, mom won, he is not a good loser. No more SkipBo.



We used to play SkipBo with my Nanny, the cards were actually hers. She's been gone for 10 years It's been too hard to play the game without her, especially for my mom.



Mom said Cindy, my sister, would play if she was there. We called and she said she'd come in after a bit and play before she took Rachel home.



In the mean time, Dad wanted Jeremy to see if he could download the CSI Miami theme song onto his phone. He said, "You know ''oooh ah wee, oooh ah, ooh ah'" Jeremy chimes in, "I'm pretty sure it's 'Who are you?"



Jeremy's point totally made sense, mom and dad's - not so much. Dad was still totally sure he was right. After checking on YouTube we found out J was right but Dad still wasn't satisfied. He did set his Pa's phone to that ring.



Cindy came and we played "Thirteen" first. She won all four games and didn't let you forget it. Then we played SkipBo partners and it was Rusty and Mom against Cindy and I. Cindy went at first and somehow we pulled out my going out next. I feel totally certain it had nothing to do with the 9 I put down in the 5th discard spot (there are only supposed to be 4 discard spots but I so can't help it if they weren't paying attention! Cindy assured me she'd had a SkipBo any way but it was much more fun with the 5th discard!) Cindy also felt it was necessary to hedge her bets and remind us all that even if WE didn't win, she had gone out first so she was the Queen. And remind us, and remind us, and remind us)



Anywho, it was nothing major, but just a lot of little pieces of joy and memories.







"So I commend the enjoyment of life, because nothing is better for a man under the sun than to eat and drink and be glad. Then joy will accompany him in his work all the days of the life God has given him under the sun." Ecc. 8:15 (NIV)

Life Verses

Every Christmas I give my mom a 365 Day Devotional Book. I take myself to LifeWay and read the backs of all ot them. The problem I have is that I can never remember which ones I've gotten her. To alleviate that problem, I check the publish date and choose one published that year. Pretty smart, eh? This year I got her one about Life Verses. It intrigued me because I'm really big on verses fitting situations.

When I was a teenager I had a couple of interesting ways of deciding what my devotional would be for the day.

I'd either say a quick prayer and ask God to give me a good verse to meditate on and then open up my Bible. Amazingly the verse always fit. Don't know why I was so amazed--I asked, He answered. Duh

The other way I chose a devotional was to look in a book of pocket promises from the Bible. I'd choose a subject that was laid on my heart and then pick a Bible verse. That would be my meditation for the day.

Anywho, this was the start of my fascination with verses. It was that fascination that aided in my choice for my mom and it seems to be a good one. I may have to go pick one up for myself.

My only problem with a Life Verse is that I have a hard time choosing just one. Therefore, I decree that I can have as many as I want.

I will choose a predominate one because it's my go to verse:

Jeremiah 29:11 “For I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord, plans to prosper you and not harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future.”

One of my goals this year is to memorize atleast a verse a week. I know there is atleast one blog with this challenge on my blog reader. It may be Beth Moore's, not sure, I'll have to check it out.

I don't know what it is about Target

I don't know what it is about Target, I love that store. Can't figure out why. I know reasons not to like it:

• It' s a French store and the French are just downright unsupportive of us here in the US.


• They refused to allow the Salvation Army to ring their bells at Christmas. Now on the one hand I thought it was a bit tacky to stop people from raising money on the other hand I was grateful because those bell ringers drive me crazy. They are everywhere and even when I give in one place, I feel guilty if I don't give in another place. My choice what I want to give to at Christmas. Ultimately, I liked it. This year they game a nice size lump sum to the Salvation Army so that was good.


• It's not the cheapest store around. Wal Mart certainly has cheaper stuff for the most part.

But I love them, that's all I know.

The Look

The other night my hubs and I went out to eat at Black Eyed Pea. We ordered and I was working at being quiet. You see I say working at being quiet because as I've mentioned in my previous posts, I do LOVE to talk. My hubs, on the other hand, likes quiet. You know what they say about opposites . . .



As I was saying before I so rudely interrupted myself, I was trying to be quiet. He had mentioned the other day that he enjoyed going to eat with our oldest son because he didn't talk the whole time. (I feel the need to add that this was highly unusual because oldest is rarely quiet-- guess he gets that from me, eh?)



Although it was against my better judgement, I worked really hard at being quiet.Well, I had to do something while I was waiting on the food so I just looked around. Everytime I happened to look towards a waitress, they'd come and ask if I needed anything.



You may be thinking,"That's a good thing, right?"



Now don't get me wrong, it was a good thing, but this was happening with noone else that I could see



Finally, my husband started laughing and asked if I was giving my scary teacher look. I told him I wasn't, I was simply looking around.



If you're a mom you most likely know what I'm talking about. It's the look we develop to get our kids to do what they need to do without saying a word. It's a gift we moms have.



Well, many teacher's learn to develop some kind of "The LOOK". You don't start out with "The LOOK" you develop it. Not everyone's look is the same and some barely have "The LOOK" at all. I'll admit even after 12 years of teaching, I had a rather gentle look.



Then I moved to my present school and it didn't take me long to figure out that "The Look" couldn't be gentle or you'd be eaten alive. I can now give "The Look" and quiet an entire classroom or stop a fight. Granted it's only elementary but I have some tough cookies.



Anyway, "The LOOK" has come in useful in a variety of ways and with a variety of people. And boy do I get a chuckle when my husband says, "Stop looking at me like that, I'm not one of your kid's!"





"Your eye is a lamp that provides light for your body. When your eye is good, your whole body is filled with. But when your eye is bad, your whole body is filled with darkness. And if the light you think you have is actually darkness, how deep that darkness is!" Matthew 6:22-23 (NLT)

The Cycle of Music

"Hey Mom, I was just listening to Bon Jovi. They've got some great music. Have you heard of them?"

"Hey Mom, I just found this band Journey. I really like some of their music. Have you heard of them?"

"Hey Jeremy, I'm a child of the 80's. Of course I've heard of them and knew them when they were still on vinyl, doofus."

Amazing, huh?

The Pearl Bracelet

For Christmas my parents gave me a pearl necklace. Mom has decided to give us jewelry each Christmas, sort of as a legacy. They also gave me a pearl bracelet. I wore my pearls today. Mom and I work at the school together so I wanted to make sure that she saw I was wearing them. She only works part time there you see. I'm glad she was there because when she saw me wearing them and told me that the bracelet had been my grandmother's, her mom's.

It just upped the specialness a thousand fold. They already had the special factor because they were from my parents. My sister said we need onyx next year, by the way.

My Nanny died ten years ago, you see. I loved her beyond abandon. Since she's been gone, I feel as if she is my guardian angel. As I mentioned in my last post, I love to talk. One more person for me to talk to, it doesn't seem so strange to talk to a guardian angel as opposed to just talking to yourself. Anywho, (that's my word for a while) I so appreciated that, having a part of my nanny. The old and the new pearls look great together.

My Nanny was a very wise woman. Don't they sometimes equate wisdom with pearls? Well, maybe some of her wisdom will rub off on me.

"Tune your ears to wisdom,and concentrate on understanding." Proverbs 2:2

God Bless!

One Little Word, Really . . .

Well, I just love to talk, drives the rest of my family crazy. What do you expect? I live in a household with 3 males. They are really no fun when it comes to listening to me but I don't care. They can't stop me. I have a secret . . . are you ready for it? I mean really are you?





I am an excellent conversationalist and listener, now here is the secret . . . I don't need anyone else to listen to or talk to, I just carry on a conversation with myself. Really, when you think about it, who better than yourself. Sadly though I even find some of my mutterings annoying. But that is so NOT the point.



All over the internet are blogs that talk about choosing a word for the year. This is a word to live by, or to contemplate for the year. I started making a list of a variety of words. I think that my word will be Blessed. I have a rainbow of blessings:

• I am so blessed to be a child of God.


• I am so blessed to have a loving husband and two loving teenage sons. Sometimes loving and teenage don't go together very well, but my boys are loving, not perfect, but loving.


• I am so blessed to have my mom and dad as a major part of my life and the lives of my boys.


• I am so blessed to consider my sister my friend. It hasn't always been like that, but I'm glad that we're friends now.


• I am so blessed to have a best friend who is always there and that I don't have to agree about everything with but know that our friendship will continue to endure.


• I am so blessed that I have a church family that cares and that I care about not to mention the friends I've made.
  
• I am so blessed to be able to be a part of the youth group and touch the lives of these precious teenagers and have my life touched as well.


• I am so blessed to have a job where I am respected and that I love to go to everyday. I have always wanted to be a teacher, but the jobs haven't always had great leaders. I am blessed with great leaders at my school


• I am so blessed to have a niece who is an angel, no really I mean it. I am also blessed to consider my bff's son my nephew.


• I am so blessed that my needs are taken care of and many of my wants are too.

I know that I could go on, and assure you I will add to my list, but really I think BLESSED is the perfect word. Not saying it will be the only word because I am a woman of many words, but definately the top word.

Please don't think I'm bragging, well, maybe I am but not in a bad way. In our lives things don't always go the way we think they should and sometimes we just need to stop and have a reality check. So have you had your reality check lately?

“But blessed are those who trust in the Lord and have made the Lord their hope and confidence." (NLT) Jeremiah 17:7

Good Night and God Bless!

My Reality Show

Now don't get me wrong. It's not like I'm addicted to reality shows or anything, really. Okay, well maybe a little. But in the world of reality, tonight was a busy night. I had to flip channels. It all started with "The Bachelor" AND the World Wide Dance Competition (or whatever the name is.) I had to flip back and forth, I loved them both. Then "Real Beauty" and the UT football game--- HOOK 'EM HORNS ---atleast I haven't fallen for "Mamma's Boys." Then I had to catch a late run of "The City" and "Bromance". I know, it's sad.

How bout them HORNS?!? They totally ROCKED!

Getting tired so I'm ending my second post!

Okay, Here I go

I have wanted to start a blog for such a long time so I'm just jumping in and getting started. I have put it off for so long because I wanted it to be perfect. Now, I just want to get started.

I have so much to learn, but I'm just going for it. They say the best way to learn is just to do it, so that's what I'm doing.

Okay, I'm excited, I've done it and now that I've taken the plunge it should be easy.

So there, I did it!