Love/Hate Relationship

This time of year brings the following emotionally-charged words...

• Thanksgiving
• Christmas
• family
• New Year

I think it's safe to say that many folks have a sincere love/hate relationship with the entire holiday season.

If you are fortunate you absolutely love the holidays and all they entail. You're joyful and relatively stress-free.

Some folks just hate this time of year. They find no joy in the season and experience greater levels of stress and/or depression.

Then, I think there's 'the rest of us.' Those I mentioned above who see-saw between the two, or simply maintain balance somewhere in the middle.

• Realizing and acknowledging how very much we have to be thankful for
• Having difficulty feeling thankful during very difficult times and circumstances
• There's a strong focus on good food during the holidays - Yum!
• Difficult time of year for weight and health management
• Entertaining, decorating, traveling, shopping
• Entertaining, decorating, traveling, shopping
• Gift-Giving
• Finding money in the budget for gift-giving
• Exciting, stepped-up schedules
• Even less time to get everything done
• Time with friends and loved-ones
• Difficult or uncomfortable relationships for some; others are alone and lonely
• Wanting the perfect gifts for everyone
• Wanting our kids to appreciate the true meaning of the holidays
• New Year! New Beginning! New Resolutions!
• New Year, nothing changes, resolutions broken or not even attempted

The holidays can be a wonderful, magical time. They can also be pain-filled and depressing. I pray you make the most of the season and can be joyful. I pray, too, that you are sensitive to those around who may be struggling. Let your heart, not our commercialized society, dictate how you spend the holidays. Don't hesitate to show your love and always be open to receiving love from others.

May Holiday Blessings be Yours...

Ctrl-X

Wow...

Ctrl-x is a shortcut to remove text on the page and move it to the clipboard when using Microsoft programs. When blogging here it just removes the text; it's gone. Ouch.

a blank page

So many times I come to this place and want to write. I feel so much and want to express that here...on this blank page...but the words won't come.

I don't think it's having something to say as much as it is wanting to be heard.

Food For Thought...

Happy Birthday Wishes

to my sister-in-law, Carol, in Cocoa, FL.

Enjoy your special day!

There's not a cell phone battery around that can stand up to two 8-yr old girls on a marathon Sunday afternoon gab session!

Miracle in my kitchen... 'John,' the caterpillar Abbey brought home a few weeks ago emerged from his chrysalis today and is now a beautiful butterfly. She's been misting him with water all along and now he has Gatorade-drenched cotton balls in his cage.

Change of plans...I thought I would meet with Elisa tomorrow. Swap some coupons, get Zach's car seat to her - normal stuff. Guess that will have to wait. They're on their way up north for the holidays. I somehow thought that would be later in the week and I'd see them all again before they went. Oops.

I hate buying books that tell you how to save money...

Breaking tradition this year and going to eat out on Thanksgiving. Let's just say I'm not going to win any popularity awards for that decision.

Abbey, my 8-yr old, made wonderful Sloppy Joes for our lunch today.

Feeling good about cleaning out two freezers this afternoon...that is until I remembered there's one more to go. Need to have clean freezers in order to save all that money the aforementioned books are going to help me with!

Facebook and the Internet easily open long-closed doors. It's an emotional see-saw deciding whether to make those connections or leave them be. Most recently I've found that a best-friend from my teen years made a move she'd always talked about (yay!) and another old friend seems to be doing well when I really thought they would have been dead by now. That's good to know!

Laundry is evil.

That about wraps up my random thoughts for this afternoon. Have a blessed and very Thankful week.

Oh Boy, Oh Boy, Oh Boy...I Love New Toys!

Have you heard of Kindle? The portable book/magazine/newspaper reader by Amazon.com? It's a pretty cool gadget that's been on my 'wish list' for a while now, but a little on the pricey side.

Well, today, I received a notice in my inbox that Kindle for the PC was available for FREE download. So, in less than two minutes, I can go to Amazon.com, download a book (most for 9.99), and begin reading it on my computer.

• No going to the book store.
• No waiting for my beloved UPS deliveries.
• No Shipping Charges
• No storing the books in ever-decreasing storage space.
• No dropped books in the bath tub.
• No torn pages, missing pages, coffee splatters

I'm in book and computer lover's paradise!!! You've really got to check this out!

I'm so happy, Happy, HAPPY!

A Day In the Life...

I was so excited yesterday to find out that our daughter and son-in-law are expecting a baby girl. Ooh...a baby girl!!! That will make 1-boy and 1-girl for Shannon and Josh, and 1-boy and 1-girl for Elisa and Rob.


I wish you could have seen the smiles - the joy in their eyes. How blessed to be able to share in that moment with them! Oh man, I can just see our grandson, Zachary, as a big brother. Having had 5-children of my own I like to imagine these scenes with a nice musical soundtrack playing in the background - that way I don't hear the squeals and screams that usually accompany sibling play time.


But...that wasn't the only news...


We also found out yesterday that our oldest daughter is a possible match to be a kidney donor for her father-in-law. She now moves to the next level of testing and nothing is certain at this point. We knew the family was being counseled and tested but we hadn't given it much thought beyond that. Now it looks like we're having to give it more thought! I'm very proud of our daughter for not hesitating to step-up-to-the-plate. As a mother, however, I have my own concerns. She is, after all, still my child...no matter how old she gets or how many of her own children she has. I believe some of my concern comes from the fact that my own father lost a kidney to cancer a number of years ago. My thoughts quickly hit on the 'What if...' questions.


Less dramatic but noteworthy just the same is the celebratory fact that our oldest son was able to get all his first-choice classes for next semester. He's a junior in college and class schedules are often a concern. Did I mention he's a worrier? Wow - yes, like you wouldn't believe!

Rounding out the day are homeschool issues, Boy Scout issues, Abbey so happy to have finished her first Nancy Drew book, a zoo field-trip, spiritual discussions, holiday planning, current events discussions and, finally, movie and pizza night at my mother-in-law's home. We're watching 'Up' and I'm looking forward to a lighthearted, relaxing evening. Tomorrow I get to babysit Zach while Rob and Elisa take in a football game.


And so it goes...each day has a new set of joys to celebrate, fires to put out, laughter to share, dreams to dream, tears to cry, and so on. I really love the 'and so on' part!

So if you hear me mention my (pick one: quiet, boring, laid-back, un-exciting) life, please remind me of my blog posts like this. After all, it's just part of 'a day in the life...'

All the best...

Giving Hope - A Message from "Be The Match Foundation"

Today I want to take a moment to promote a cause that my husband and I have been a part of for 10-years now. We are registered with the National Marrow Donor Program as potential donors. It's possible we'll have the opportunity to save someone's life one day.

I urge you to take a moment to visit BeTheMatchFoundation.org for more information.

Thank you...

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You have the power to help, the power to give hope.

Be The Match Foundation supports the work of the National Marrow Donor Program. Together they help patients receive the marrow or umbilical cord blood transplant they need.

Your gift will help in many ways:

• Add members to the Be The March Registry, so more patients have the chance to find their match.
• Provide financial assistance to patients to make their transplant and recovery possible.
• Advance medical discovery to help patients live longer, healthier lives.

Thousands of patients with leukemia and other life-threatening diseases rely on Be The Match Foundation and the National Marrow Donor Program to make their transplants possible.

The need is great.

Every gift counts.

You make the difference.

To make a gift, visit http://www.bethematchfoundation.org/ or call 1-800-507-5427.

You may also mail a gift to: Be The Match Foundation, 3001 Broadway Street N.E., Suite 601, Minneapolis, MN 55413-1753

*Be The Match Foundation is the new name of The Marrow Foundation.