The Doctor Is In

Some days I feel like Lucy in the Charlie Brown cartoons. Hopefully not the mean side of Lucy (you know -- the one that always pulls the football out from under Charlie Brown's feet!), but rather the Lucy in her psychiatrist booth with the "doctor is in" sign.

I have a knack for attracting people who want to share their life story with me -- or who just want to share intimate details of things -- even though they don't know me. And this is fine, if I'm helping someone who just needs another person to listen. But it also baffles me.

The latest was the sweet girl who works at the dry cleaner. I don't do much dry cleaning these days, so I've seen her maybe 10 or 12 times in a three year span. We don't talk much -- just the usual -- hi, how are you, we chat about the weather. But this time around, I got an earful! It involved her sister, her mom, a land dispute, a credit card issue, a new car and various colorful four-letter words. I let her get it off her chest and had little idea what to say other than, "I sure hope things work out!" That was the best I could do.

This girl knows nothing about me other than what she sees on the surface. I was so surprised at what she was sharing with me. The same thing happened to me when my son started kindergarten. The mother of one of his new friends introduced herself and then would call me on the phone and talk and talk and talk about some really personal things. She was nice and I didn't want to be rude -- but it would make me a bit uncomfortable.

Maybe there are just people out there that are anxious to share details of their life regardless of who is listening. Or maybe they need someone -- anyone -- to just plain listen. Who knows. But personally -- I would be nervous and hesitant to share too much without knowing a thing about the person I'm speaking to. Do you agree?

I haven't posted any quotes lately, so since today's post is about listening, I thought I should share some quotes about that very thing.

The first one fits my household quite well!

Home is where you can say anything you like cause nobody listens to you anyway. ~Author Unknown

We have two ears and one mouth so that we can listen twice as much as we speak. ~Epictetus

I see from my previous post that I am definitely not alone in my love of 80s music -- I may just have to play some blogging games with that in mind. You know me and my silly games -- gotta have some fun once in a while. So stay tuned!! There could very well be fabulous prizes involved! (Well, okay -- not FABULOUS -- because come on folks, this isn't the Price is Right or Deal or No Deal -- it's just my blog! But there will be prizes nonetheless!)

Have a great week -- and thanks for stopping by!

"Feeling Nostalgic?"

First, before I get to the "nostalgic" part of my post...here is my latest scrapbook page inspired by my good friend Christi on her creative prompt blog. I love this ad she chose and had so much fun with this page! It's nothing elaborate -- cardstock, rub-ons and some circle & hole punches -- but I'm happy with the result.

Now on to the title of my post...it's what my hubby said to me when he walked into our family room last night and heard the mix of CDs I had put in our player -- Journey, Billy Joel (not the newer stuff, but "Glass Houses"), Janet Jackson, Hootie & the Blowfish and Eric Clapton.

I'm not quite sure why I chose this particular mix, but I do know it was because of my visits to Carolyn's blog that I was in the mood for Journey. Carolyn has a great music play list on her blog. I could just leave it up all day and listen. And although my music choices were not made in order to be nostalgic, I do have to say -- whenever I hear Journey, I definitely feel nostalgic. All of a sudden my senior year of high school in particular comes flooding back to my memory.

Do you have certain music that reminds you of high school? I graduated in '87, so I can think of so many bands from that time period that I enjoyed. But Journey, Rick Springfield, Asia -- and who remembers Glass Tiger?? I swear -- three of my girlfriends and I listened to the Glass Tiger *cassette* (gasp! not a CD, but yes, a cassette tape) over and over and over again! I think I will always love 80s music.

I have once again fallen behind on my blog visiting. I hope to catch up with all of you today if I can.

Happy Hump Day!

Batton Down the Hatches!!!

It's a Tennessee snow storm -- and I didn't even run out for supplies. Hee hee -- I am so mean -- but when we have a winter storm watch here I have to chuckle -- because I'm from Illinois -- and as you can imagine, a winter storm in Illinois involves just a little more snow than what you see here. Even Apollo is wondering where the rest of the snow is! LOL

(And to be fair, I realize the mountains around us probably get more snow than we do where we live!)

I am also reminded of the day last year when my hubby took my son to school and it was deserted. He called me and said "School is closed -- they have a snow day." I looked outside to see a whole bunch of nothing. Not a snowflake as far as the eye could see. I thought he was lying and laughed at him. But it was true. Apparently the school buses could not travel up the hills as the roads were icy, which makes sense. But when you're from Illinois, you are used to not having a snow day until there is about 22 feet of snow, okay?

Moving on...

My dear friend Christi included me in her list the other day of bloggers who "make her day" and it's time for me to return the love! It's a You Made My Day Award and here is how it works -- you are to give the award to up to 10 people whose blogs bring you happiness and inspiration and make you feel so happy about blogland! Let them know by posting a comment on their blog so that they can pass it on. Beware! You may get the award several times!

Now I have quite a list of people I could give this to, but I am going to start with these friends who always brighten my day by visiting my blog and leaving comments and whose own blogs make me laugh, inspire me and often give me wonderful things to ponder. I will probably have to do this again sometime so I don't leave anyone out, but today I choose:

Christi
Alice
Jayne
Nancy
Carolyn
Linda
Suzanna
Dawn
Mary Jo
Theresa

As I said -- this isn't everyone I could have listed. I am thankful for all of you who take the time to read my ramblings. And I love to keep up with you and your thoughts on your blogs.

On that note -- I'm off to prepare for my day in the elements -- gotta bundle up to get through that blizzard out there! Ha!

Happy Birthday to my Hubby ~ and a Proud Mommy Day!

I was very much in the blogging mood earlier today, but now that the day is coming to a close, I am feeling rather exhausted. I had no time to blog when the mood hit me, so let's see if I can do this with limited energy! :)

Where to begin....I guess the obvious choice is by saying Happy Birthday to my hubby, who will most likely not even visit my blog. He does not read it as far as I know -- and when he has in the past, he enjoys poking fun at it, so I don't encourage him. LOL But anyway -- Happy birthday Matt! You can now quit telling everyone you are THREE years younger than me, when in fact it's only a little over two years younger. (And remember, since I am older, I must be wiser! LOL)

My day started out so great. First thing this morning I attended an honors assembly at my kids' school. My kindergartner received a promising pupil award and my third grader received first honors and accelerated reading awards. First honors meant he got all A's this quarter -- in his academics AND behavior. Now normally he gets B's for behavior and I'm okay with that -- he's an eight-year old boy! But it makes me so proud that both of them are making such great progress this year. Not only that, but days like today make me very grateful that we switched schools this year. It has been such a blessing. The atmosphere at our new school is just so different from what we are used to and my kids love it.

I am also grateful because when my son was in pre-school, his teacher told me I needed to hold him back a year. She was sure he had ADHD and would struggle. I was very torn about what to do and when I decided to go ahead and send him on to kindergarten, I was not completely sure I was doing the right thing. Kindergarten was a little tough -- plus we moved during that school year -- but by first grade he was right on track. And now he is getting straight As and reading so well and in a school where he is happy. I don't feel like I can ask for more than that.

Well, I know I had about a million things running through my head earlier to blog about, but I'll be darned if I can remember them. Maybe tomorrow I can figure it out and I'll be back.

Hope you all are having a good week!

Some Things Just Don't Go Together

I have been in a non-rambling mood lately (I know that's hard to believe!), but I thought I should blog today so I don't get out of the habit for too long!

This morning I remembered something funny my 8-year old son said on our holiday road trip and it just made me laugh to myself. As we drove into the state of Kentucky, the kids were so excited to finally be in a different state and they did a few "woo hoos" and "yippees" -- then my oldest got really quiet for a bit and I could see the wheels turning in his head. He finally asked us quite seriously, "Mom and Dad? Do people in Kentucky speak the same as we do?"

It was hard not to laugh -- but we assured him the locals would indeed be speaking English.

Another thing that made me smile this morning is when I drove by a local store here that simply cracks my husband and I up. We've never been inside -- but it's the name of the store. It's called "J Floyds Golf and Guns" -- and I'm sorry, but I just don't understand how "golf" and "guns" go together. (Apparently they don't go together, because poor J Floyd has had a going out of business sign up for a little while now!)

Anyway, I was saying this very thing to someone...how do "golf" and "guns" get put in the same title. It's funny, right? And of course my eight and six year olds decided to explain it to me. As if they were feeling pity for poor old mom who is too dense to understand. My oldest starts with "Well Mom, you know, golf is a sport and some people use guns for sport -- so really, they do go together." My six-year old pipes up -- "Yeah Mom -- you know -- some people think huntin' is a sport and they use guns. So it's like golf."

Okay -- if you say so kids! I still think it's odd. Some things just sound funny when put together as a pair.

In the town we lived in previously, there was a fast food chain that was known for their yummy custard and they also served food. Each day they would have a custard flavor of the day and they would post it on their sign outside along with their food special. They would list it altogether in such a way that instead of making you say "Oh yum, let's go get some!", you could very easily lose your appetite for the day. The sign would read "Chocolate Raspberry BBQ Beef" or "Peach Cobbler Tuna Melt" or "Mint Chocolate Reuben Sandwich" -- Blech! A simple space between items would have been helpful!

Some things just do not go together. Like golf -- and guns. Just my opinion of course!

On a different note, I completed a second scrapbook page this week and I think my husband was going to take my temperature -- two pages in one week? That hasn't happened in ages! But I am so happy to be scrapping again.

Alrighty then -- enough from me today -- hope you have a great day!

Finally -- a completed scrapbook page! Whew!

It has been sooooo darn long since I've done any pages for my scrapbook, that I was starting to wonder if I would remember how to do it! But thankfully this weekend -- in bits and pieces -- I managed to put together one page.

I used Christi's creative prompt #19 to get me going and here's what I came up with. I was inspired by the colors and overall design -- and hopefully you can see the connection! LOL -- Sometimes when I use a piece as inspiration, I'm afraid mine ends up not looking too much like the original. But it inspired me -- and that's what counts I guess.

It feels good to have my first page of the New Year done and makes me anxious to do more.

I'll have to keep this short today, but I also wanted to post one of my favorite quotes today. It's from Aesop's Fables -- "No act of kindness, no matter how small, is ever wasted." I have this on a magnet on my refrigerator and every time I read it I think how true it really is.

Okay -- gotta run -- but I'll try to be a better blogger this coming week. Hope you have a good one!

Happy New Year Everyone!

I had every intention of starting the year off with a post, but yesterday got away from me and I just didn't get it done.

It is 8am and my children are all still sleeping. (Although typing it has surely just jinxed me and they will show up at my side in a minute!) I am ruining them this winter break -- letting them stay up late, and sleep in the mornings. I feel like we have been recouperating for this past week from our whirlwind trip out of town and it really is pretty nice to not HAVE to get up early and to not have lots of places we have to be. It will be over before I know it and we will be back to our hectic daily routine.

Today is the day I need to pack up the Christmas decor. I used to always keep my tree and decorations out until the weekend after the 1st, but since having children I am very ready to get my house back in order by the 1st of the year. Probably because the chore of finding ROOM for their new toys and presents is overwhelming enough. So wish me luck on getting the tree packed up with three children underfoot. I don't know which is more work -- getting the tree out or putting it back.

Have you all made some New Years resolutions?? I have been thinking about that for several weeks -- and honestly, I always have a few pretty big goals in my head that I want to just continue working toward. This past year, I did not make big strides toward any of them, so this year -- I WILL get them in writing and I will work toward them. I keep reminding myself I'm not getting any younger. There truly is no time like the present.

So I realize I am totally rambling as usual...so for today -- Happy New Year, enjoy the day and thanks for stopping by!