Friday Fotos....

What's that saying, "Too cool for school"? Just love C's attitude!!















 M is such a confident, happy girl!!

Latest residents at daughter #2's house.

 Planting seeds......

and the results so far.

What a glorious day today! I was able to open the windows 

and let the breezes clear out the stale air of winter.

Wishing everyone a restful Spring weekend and 

may the warming winds clear your air and heads!!

Thursday's Thought for the Day....

“Always dream and shoot higher than you know you can do. 

Do not bother just to be better than your contemporaries or predecessors. 

Try to be better than yourself.” 

― William Faulkner

Tip for a Tuesday....

*taken from Pinterest, via Woman and Home Magazine (UK) on Facebook.

A Monday Memory....

Recalling a habit which could only fall into the "What was I thinking?" category, I had a discussion with daughter #1 recently about the manner in which I would begin the summer tanning season as a teen.

Friends and I would go "down the shore" with the express intent of obtaining a suntan. Arriving on the sandy beach around nine a.m., we would commence the ritual by generously lathering our bodies with Johnson's baby oil.  Towels were then unfurled, and we would lie down for the next eight hours, turning over every half hour or so, breaking only for lunch or bathroom breaks.  This was serious business, mind you, so despite the heat and boredom, we persevered through the day.

You can imagine what we looked like by eight p.m.  Red as cooked lobsters!!  What other result did we expect?  When reading the description above it strikes me, as it may you, that it is not unlike the recipe my mother taught me for broiling chicken!  So yes, that is essentially what I did.  I literally broiled myself there on the sand.  

What (or rather who) finally cured me of this insane behavior?  Our neighbor across the street from the first house the Englishman and I lived in.

Betty was a lovely woman and the only one in the neighborhood who spoke to us.  She worked in the local school and took the summers off.  She had a membership for the swimming pool at hotel nearby. Like my "teen" self, she would lie by the pool for hours.  Oh and it showed. By summer's end, she was as bronze as mahogany wood.  And wrinkled.  Heavily, heavily wrinkled.  In fact the wrinkles were so deep that her skin hung in folds.  I was shocked to learn she was more than ten years younger than what I suspected was her age.  

That did it for me.  I vowed then and there to stop sunning myself ever again.  I saw my future before me and I was horrified by it.  All the preaching, warnings, and pleadings by my parents did nothing to dissuade me in the way in which Betty's image before me did.  Here, in the flesh, was proof to me of what years of repeated tanning could do.  

Sunscreen became a staple in our house as our girls were growing up and I tried very hard to limit their exposure to the sun.  These days, I religiously apply sunscreen to my face and try to limit the exposure to my arms and legs to fifteen minutes or so, just to get a dose of vitamin D.  Then on goes the sunscreen.

And finally, I silently thank Betty for the skin saving lesson she taught me all those years ago.

Thursday's Thought for the Day....

“Cultivating the habit of good deeds will not only affect those around us, it will improve our own emotional well being.” 

― Debbie Macomber, One Simple Act: Discovering the Power of Generosity

Wednesday's Wisdom....

Catalog shopping

The number of catalogs that have entered my home via the post office, if laid end to end, would probably circle the globe. Multiple times.  Whereas, in the early years, I felt a certain excitement when a new one would fill the mailbox, these days I view them as more of a nuisance.  The majority of them go straight into the recycling bin.

For the most part, there is very little I need these days to arrive off the UPS or FedEx truck.  But every now and again I hold onto a catalog or two and study them carefully.  

My attitude used to be one of, "oh, I can't afford that" or "that would be too much of an extravagance". But I confess that having that approach would often leave me feeling like a "poor little thing," a nickname my Dad had for me when I was a small child.  So I decided to try a different approach.

When a favorite catalog arrives, I give it a quick scan, noting all the items that appeal to me and think - yes, maybe I'll order that.  Then I go through the same catalog again several more times, at a much slower pace and really give thought to each "maybe".  And nine times out of ten, I decide I don't actually want the item.

This new approach has eliminated that feeling of denial I used to have.  Instead, I look upon the exercise as one of having carefully considered my choices and made a decision that I am happy with.

Just thought I would share that in case it is of help to someone else.

Tip for a Tuesday....

See something, say something....

Last Wednesday I was so sorry to see on the tv news that two firefighters may have died while battling a historic nine alarm fire in Boston.  I then sat down at my computer, with hopes of finding more information online.  What I saw on Facebook brought me up short.

There was a post from Woman's Day magazine, stating that "thoughts" were with two celebrity families during this very difficult time.  Clicking on the link, I was shocked to see that they were talking about that Paltrow woman.

"Seriously" I shouted out. With all that is currently going on in the world, someone chose to single out this person as someone who needed our thoughts?  I was fuming!

At that moment I could hear the Englishman in my head, as he often suggests to me when I am upset about something - "If you feel that strongly about it you should say something."  So I did.

I immediately commented on the post, "Seriously?  If you are serious about this post I will no longer be subscribing to your publication."

Within minutes thirty four others posted similar reactions and I had five "like" on my post.  I then "shared" the post on my Facebook page.  Thirty minutes later, I saw that the post had been pulled from the site.  Good! Maybe whoever put it up in the first place got the message!

There are still 239 people missing from that Malaysia Airlines flight, thirty unaccounted for from the mudslides in Washington State and two heroic firefighters dead, and a yet a woman's magazine thinks we should spare our time and thoughts for a celebrity.  Outrageous!

So, what to do?  Besides putting up my comments, I have since unsubscribed to all communications and social media involving Woman's Day magazine.  In the grand scheme of things, I'm sure it won't impact their publication at all.  But it certainly made me feel better for having taken some action on the matter.

The Englishman is right - it is important to speak up when you feel strongly about things.  So that's my "tip" for today.  "Speak up and say something."  Perhaps it won't change anything, but at least, like me,  you'll feel better for having done so.

And who knows, maybe if more of us speak up, we can actually make a difference.