A Week for Thankfulness and Respect

This week I am thankful for many things. That's what having a Holiday set aside for thankfulness is supposed to do. Get us thinking about the good lives we have. And we do, no matter what we are facing.

A few weeks ago, the boys were being typically challenging boys and to assist with reminding them about being respectful, I created an acrostic for RESPECT which has defintiely helped them remember. It goes like this:

R- Remember who you are...God's child and a (last name inserted)
E- Eliminate (get rid of) bad behaviors(and attitudes)...because of who you are!
S- Stop and think! (How would you feel if this situation was happening to you?)
P- Please be polite!
E- Encourage everyone! (Find good things to say to and about others!)
T- Talk with nice words only.


Just a quick overview daily with emphasis on one of the principles has upped their opinions of themselves and each other remarkably. When behavior exhibits that is contrary to respect, I simply point to our new chart and say one of the pharases, ie: "Did you forget who you are?" or "Because of who you are, you can act nicely and special now." Or "Eliminate that attitude! Remember who you are!" OR "In this home we are respectful and say nice things to each other.". etc. So far, after a little more than a week, it is working well. The boys both got a record number of stickers on their charts for the week, along with a certificate to acknowledge that feat. They feel very successful and I feel very less stressful!

Amazingly, Handsome has excelled in his reading last week, and is grasping math quite well. His attitude towards learning is very good. We have talked about how thankful we are that he is smart and has a good brain that works well. Not everyone is so fortunate. They have a second-cousin with cerebral palsy, who cannot learn the same way, so the illustration hits home.

Thankfulness is part of repect. When we can understand how blessed we are, no matter what is going on around us, when we can give thanks to God for life itself, and the air we are breathing, then we are showing respect, for God, for life, for ourselves! It is amazing to me, that scientist have shown that thankfulness brings better health. Not so much that it does, but that even though it has been proven, how quickly we forget. It is so much easier to complain and feel sorry for ourselves, apparently, than it is to rejoice in our sorrows and be thankful they aren't worse.

Well, I have done enough preaching for now... I actually have this week off from the kids, due to the other grandparents coming from Colorado to visit them, so I am off to Home Depot to rent a carpet cleaning machine. Tomorrow I tackle those pine needles outside and the kitchen deep-cleaning. And yes, I am taking time for myself. I am meeting Tuesday and Wednesday with friends for lunch, and catching up on some writing. All things to be thankful for...I CAN write, I HAVE friends, and I CAN STILL function enough to clean my carpets! Thank you, God!

If I don't blog again before, or you don't get a chance to read again...have a Blessed Thanksgiving Day and wonderful time this week! Go to a ball game...relax...have a drink! (water is best!)...bake cookies...be with friends and family...BE THANKFUL!

Blog, Blog,let's make a Frog! (or a turkey!)

I REALLY should blog at least every other day. Life IS very interesting. If I had been more faithful in blogging this week I would have shared with you our wonderous adventures at the Children's Museum. It has only been opened about a year, if that, but is a great place for youngsters. Baby Girl had a blast! At the first station which was a pizza kitchen, she was so engrossed that she really did not care if I was around or not. I would have posted pictures of this great day, had I not accidentally deleted them from my camera before I downloaded them onto the computer. Thankfully, I did manage to get some printed at Walgreens before the deletion.

ANYWAY...the day was Wednesday. The mood was excited. The kids were happy. The museum is not inexpensive, in that it charges the same for everyone over the age of one year. But, in my opinion, it is worth it. After the pizza kitchen, which also captured Handsome and Hunky's attention, we went to the store. There were grocery carts just the size of the kids. And shelves and shelves of goodies to be purchased at the cash registers complete with scanners and moving conveyor belts. There was a bakery. All the food and boxes looked real, just in child size. There were even scales and beans and rice to weigh. There were miniature racecars with several elaborate tracks. A motorcycle, a crank-up car, and LOTS of interesting textile objects to touch, and see. Ladders to climb. Balls to roll. Sand to paint with in a lighted drum. An art studio with houses to paint, crafts to make, and puzzles to solve. Tricycles to race down a course pre-made, along with helmets and traffic signs etc. There was a fantastic "forest" of what Hunky called "hanging floaties" and Handsome dubbed "hanging noodles" which is closer to what the museum called them. HUNDREDS OF THEM IN BRIGHT COLORS hanging from the ceiling. The boys had a blast meandering through them over and over again. There were bright tents and tunnels as well. Hunky did not want to go home. Handsome finally wore himself out and suggested we leave. Baby Girl was so tired, she could no longer protest any decision!

SO...if you get a day with nothing to do and have a child in your life...and a little extra cash...GO FOR IT! To the museum made just for kids...but lots of fun for adults too!

BEWARE!!!

BEWARE OF MEN IN THE KITCHEN! Now, my husband does most of the cooking. He likes it. I paid my dues in the kitchen for more than 30 years. Time to let him do it! And, the fact is, he is a good cook. He follows recipes to the tee. (So why are other types of directions so hard for him to take???)

Anyway, amazingly enough, he cleans up after his own cooking. Well, in the male version of "cleans up". One wouldn't want to examine the oven or even closely look at the burners...or the fridge...or behind the toaster or coffee maker, etc. I get to them monthly or so. (Just joking...the burners and counter space meet me weekly at least.) And HE does most of the dishes...BEFORE you salvitate with jealousy...

So, last night I decide I WANT to cook and planned a romantic dinner for two. I opened lower cupboard number one, looking for my microwave pressure cooker, AKA vegetable steamer. There it is! Well, PART of it...the lid..in two pieces. So, where is the pot? and the little pointy thingy that you insert to hold the veggies out of the water? (see what a technical cook I am!)

Open lower cupboard number TWO! Out fall the Tupperware veggie trays...two of them. What are they even doing in THIS cupboard?? That is NOT where they belong! Oh, there's the pot! Yeah! But where, oh where, is that pointy thingy? Rumble around in the cupboard number two...discovering...HE apparently doesn't know that Tupperware bowls STACK into themselves....OR that a salad spinner is not a colander! YIKES!

Oh, there's the pointy thingy, way in the back INSIDE the pitcher! NICE! I must admit, that at first I hollered (HE was gone to the bank!)

Then I realized that I really AM lucky that I don't have to come home every day and try to figure out something to make for dinner. HE gets off more than an hour earlier than I do, so it makes more sense for him to cook dinner. AND HE can think before he has a cup of coffee in the morning (unlike me), so breakfast makes more sense to be fixed by him as well. Lunch...well, that gets shared more frequently on the weekends...usually between him and a fast food place! I get to cook for the grandkids...yeah!

So, I prepared my romantic dinner in silence (even after he came back), leaving the wayward items on the floor where they landed.

Did he notice? Well, yes, finally! He asked if he had done something that became the reason that there were veggie trays on the floor. Well, YES! and NO! The cupboard had looked like an explosion of a Tupperware factory mingled with odds and ends of other "wares", but now it is all nice and tidy again...except for the veggie trays. He inquired as to where the trays are supposed to be...in a different cupboard all together...OH!

The YES! part is that he didn't ask where things went...Oh, yeah, I almost forgot! Men rarely ASK for directions! (See what I mean...he doesn't have to ASK a recipe!)
AND he tossed the items in like one would throw a football, apparently. Why would I expect anything else from a male? I remember now! I cleaned his apartment before we got married...ONCE!...enough said...should've known! DUH!

And NO! That part comes back on me...I SHOULD have known! Should have checked the cupboards more often. Should explain the difference between a colander and a salad spinner. On the other hand, I still call parts of steamers "Pointy thingys". Sheesh!

My New Rooms

Here are my new rooms. The fancier one is my formal living room. The other is my family room. It looks like my leather couch needs a cleaning, but it is mostly shadows! I did clean it and plan to restore though, also.

We Did It!

We are the "disaster recovery team". Yes, we are! The boys in their firemen outfits and I back in the "grandma-can-do-anything" mode, have put our pvc pipe house back together again. Grandpa turned out to be unavialable for such a feat, as he was needed at McDonalds last night instead. So, I told my muscles to "buck up" and act like 20 year olds and let's get this thing done. Well, I can't call it exactly "done" as we still need to put a side and a half on it and a roof covering. But it did not have those in the first place either. THIS time, I did not tie down the side together completely in hopes that if the wind returns, it will just blow through and not balloon into the tarp walls. I also taped all the ends and connections with duct or strapping tape for extra support. Monday we will secure the frame with wire from old coat hangers. Let's hope it makes it until then!


Have a great weekend, Everybody! Yeah, it's FRIDAY!!!!! SMILE!!!!

Metamorphosis of a word...

When I was a teenager, it was a funny, silly identity word.
When I was in my twenties, I took offense at its use to describe me.
In my thirties, I tried to change so as not to identify with it at all.
In my forties, it came in handy as I found I needed it to get through some rough times. And I found out it meant much more than I thought...in a positive way.
Now that I am in my fifties, I rejoice that I CAN still identify with this word! I NEED it!

The word? "HYPER!"

Once I loved the attention of being "hyper". I was funny. I enjoyed being the center of attention. The more "hyper", the better.

Then, I took offense as I interpreted people to insinuate that I should "calm down!" (I probably should have, but I didn't like others thinking I should!) "Why are you so "hyper"? is all I heard.

I spent many years trying to be what I thought others wanted or expected me to be, especially as a wife and mother. Nearly gave myself an ulcer! (Probably did give myself something...) "Just be meek and quiet, like a nice Christian woman." (My mind tossed the thoughts over and over, trying to find a way to change. I never quite made it.)

THANK GOD I didn't!

The fifth decade of my life turned my world upside down. Challenges to my core values, belief system, and life-style came unexpectedly. I found that being "hyper" gave me the needed stamina to meet the challenges, and occupy myself with positive things to do. And keep going even when I didn't want to.

And now, here I am caring daily for grandchildren. Chasing them. Building things out of pvc pipe. Having pillow fights. Playing hide and seek. Carrying them out of "predicaments" they seem to find themselves in. My peers no longer call me "hyper". Now they marvel, sometimes with envy, at my "energy".

Besides, I spent many years in Children's Ministry...(and still am) which is a great excuse to to stay "hyper".

Update!

I read my own blog and realized that I mentioned several things which I have left hanging. I think daily of things I want to share on this blog but seem to forget all about it once I am home.

I did get a different couch. I found a leather one for only $40.00 on Craigslist. Well, not exactly. I inquired about one advertised for that price but found it had been in a home with smokers. Won't work for me! Especially with Handsome's condition. But she called back and said she had one that had been in storage and not exposed to smoke and was leather. She said I could have it for the same price since she liked me! (imagine that!) It is a good color for the room. It has a little wear and tear...but is still a great deal. I thought I had the other one sold. They came. They saw. They left their friend to help my husband drag it out to the curb. They went to get the cash. They came back and declined to take it. So, now it sits on the slab, awaiting a home, wrapped in a new tarp.Anyone need a nice hide-a-bed couch? It remains on CL.

The boys and I got the pvc pipe house finished...frame-wise. Just today we put up sides of tarps, all attached with shower curtain hangers. It was adorable, but I didn't have my camera. Unfortunately the wind kicked up and turned the tarps into parachutes, frame and all. Grandpa will have to repair it all tomorrow as I have pushed my muscles to the limit. The boys, on the other hand, turned the situation into an opportunity to play fire and rescue men. They were disappointed, but have faith in Grandpa Steve to make it fine again. And they became "heroes".

I wish I could face disasters with such a creative mindset! Oh, to be young again!

more silly pictures!

Happy days!

There are as many opinions on Halloween as there are costumes these days. Some have resorted to calling it "Harvest Festival" time, to which I personally have no objection. But if one studied the history of the night, actually calling it "Halloween" in no way should offend the Christian faith. It originated from the term "Hallowed Eve" preceding "All Saints Day" and emphasized prayer. There was much belief in actual "spirits" (of the dead) in those days, so the pagans decided to "dress up" and invade the prayer services disguised as departed spirits. I actually think that should be a good commentary on the power of prayer...it bugged those pagans so badly, they had to find a diversion! Anyway, be it as it may, what has come of all of that should now be a day of fun and an opportunity to rethink our fears, including those from our childhoods.

As you can see, we use the opportunity to dress up in silly costumes and meet the neighbors. I found it quite nice to meet the people who live next door to my daughter, and a lot of others in the neighborhood too. The simplicity of childhood comes out on Halloween. Fathers and grandfathers roamed the streets along with the moms and grandmas OR manned the door dressed in all kinds of disguises, including my husband! Neighbors trusted neighbors to watch their kids and to give them goodies untainted. Some definite opportunities for on-going friendships were established amidst the super heroes and princesses on the street!

But the real saints of today...are the parents (and neighbors) who sigh and remember that the reason the kids are racing through the yards and houses, and can't seem to sit quietly all weekend, is the untainted goodies so freely given! Yes, it takes patience and understanding and teachings on self-control, and efforts to monitor the "stashes"...but it is all worth it to see their smiling faces and know that your kids are not worse or better than the neighbors, just as full of sugar as everyone else! And that can make you a saint in some people's estimation!

Pictures are of me, my grandchildren and the neighborhood kids (and some church friends too!)And Grandpa too!