Living in the Moment

Cheer's to a dozen of your favorite cookies and a case of milk to dunk them in! 

 

Have a perfect weekend of fun and relaxation!

 

Monday we'll share our first Book Club review.

Are You Ready for the Holiday Weekend?

This pup is!  I won't take up your time today, I know you're getting ready to enjoy the last weekend of summer.  Hopefully Mother Nature will be reminded that it's time to cool down!

When It’s Gone, It’s Gone

 

We jokingly make up sayings like Manic Monday, Hump Day (Wednesday), and Finally Friday to help us get through the week.  Some week’s are tougher than others.  My question is, if we continually struggle to get through the week, why or how does the year go by so darned quickly?  Not just this year but every year – the older I get the faster time flies by.  I can’t seem to get enough done in a day and then it’s gone.  Poof!  Forever. 

I know people who live in their memories like yesteryear is a much happier place than today.  In some aspects, I agree.  In others, it worries me that they are missing out on the joys of today.  It may be that today is a bit overwhelming where yesterday can be seen in its entirety and in as slow a motion as the mind makes it.  Maybe yesterday was a happier time for you but if you can’t step past it and into the present, you will never be happy today and life will be over tomorrow.

The world, by every standard, is a tough place.  We do our best to navigate the steep terrain that becomes our path of choice.  Do we make the right decisions?  Not always.  Do we have regrets?  Of course we do.  Does life tend to shock us at times?  You bet it does.  Is it easier to live in your head than have your feet firmly planted on the ground?  At times, very much so.  In the end, however, we have to put one foot in front of the other, grab the reins of life and roll with it. 

Remember the past with fondness, respect your experiences, and appreciate today for what it brings to you:  a new day filled with opportunities, a chance to change the things that need changed, and value what is important.  Don’t waste the day living somewhere else in your head.  When it’s gone, it’s gone.  You can't get it back.

First Kiss

I love Snoopy with his typewriter.  Some days I feel like I’m sitting on top of a doghouse, writing, or trying to write, anyway.  I recently got hold of some old notebooks and binders of my writings from high school; my class journals and short stories that reflected grade marks at the tops of their pages.  It has been fun to sit down and read some of my old words and discover how far I’ve come in both experience and ability. 

Writing a “love” short-story is a little difficult when you have no experience!  Yes, I was one of those girls in high school.  Boy crazy but no one was really interested in being stalked.  (Just joking!  I was too shy to stalk anyone.)  But writing about it was different.  I had an imagination.  I knew what I wanted to happen – my lips to caress those attached to some cute male specimen.  The thought made me breathless and giggly.  My girlfriends and I talked in depth about those tender moments we couldn’t wait to encounter.  Boy, did we talk!

My first kiss came on a warm summer night in mid-July between my junior and senior years in high school.  I remember being nervous and googly-eyed.  It was my two best friends and I along with him and two of his friends, all hanging out together.  The parings began and soon I was alone with him, booted out of my own car, and standing on a dirt road out in the country.  (It was a small town so getting to the country was a very short drive.)  Asking me questions, he soon discovered I was a virgin kisser and with what little I understood at the time, the game was on!  Oh, how I wanted that kiss – and got it too.  But drawing a line on the dirt road of where exactly those kisses might lead put a little damper on the evening.   

It didn’t matter.  Having had my fantasies brought to life at last, I was the princess going home to her castle.  However, the princess was late, curfew broken, and the king was none too happy about it.  I scarcely remember his raised voice, the stripping of my car keys, and the grounding lain out before me.  My eyes were sparkling as I relived the feel of those soft lips covering my own, the nerve-endings throughout my body responding, even hours later, while my father's anger exploded around me.  I went to my room smiling, wanting to be alone with my thoughts so that I could relive the evening.  Whatever else happened to me that night was of little consequence.  My feet were not even touching the ground.   

Thank you B – for those memories make me smile, even now, many years and two marriages later.  I guess that first kiss is special and one you truly never forget. 

That's enough of my gushing for today.  We are only the sum of our experiences.  I hope the sharing of my story takes you back to your first kiss and that you remember yours as fondly as I have.

Grandma’s Refrigerator

 

What do you hang on your refrigerator?  Is it filled with magnates, letters of the alphabet, business cards, cartoons, or photographs?  Mine has all of those things and pictures my grandson has drawn or painted or glued.  In fact, I received a picture just last week in the mail, addressed to Grandma.  The back was covered in marker scribbles and the flap was lined with at least twenty stickers, keeping the cargo safely concealed inside.  I had to chuckle when I pulled it out of the mailbox.  Inside was the simple outline of a house in orange marker that had been folded at least eight times.

When I called to thank him for the picture, my son asked me what was in the envelope.  Apparently, my grandson had drawn it the first day of pre-kindergarten and treating like a precious gift via Fort Knox, would not let either one of them view it before mailing.  That made me laugh even harder.

You can always tell a Grandma’s refrigerator above all others because of how it’s decorated.  I love filling up the empty spaces with treasures.  Labor Day is this weekend and we will be getting together with the kids.  I’m hoping my mom and I will have more of my grandson’s pictures to fight over!  (It really isn’t much of a fight – she picks a work of art, then I pick one – when there are many are share.)  Hopefully that will be the case as I seem to have extra room on the refrigerator right now!

One More Week!

 

 

This picture depicts me pretty accurately this morning as I stayed up late last night to finish The Mountain Between Us by Charles Martin.  It was worth it.

I’ll go into depth on the book next Monday as this is the book club pick for the month.  You still have time to pick it up and read it.  Or, you may want to check out the discussion next week before doing so.  Either way, be sure to join the discussion string via comments on this blog.  It will be fun as we examine the story and chat about our personal perspectives. 

I’m really looking forward to our conversation regarding this book!  Have a great day!

Cow-A-Socky

I looked up some of the “You Know You’re a Hillbilly When…” posts on the internet but they were so degrading I refused to put them on this blog.

It’s sad that there are people who make a lot of money playing a “hillbilly” or “redneck” role.  A comedian standing in front of a crowd giving a rundown of the impoverished for a laugh is one thing but walking in their shoes is quite another.  Some chose to live that way, others don’t. 

Have you seen the movie “Winter’s Bone” starring Jennifer Lawrence?  Jennifer played Ree, a 17 year old girl who had to track down her drug-dealing father (and breadwinner) so that she can save the family’s dilapidated home from being taken out from under them.  The movie is both sad and disturbing as you know that there are truly people out there forced to live such a lifestyle.  

I meant to put the above cow picture on as a little Saturday funny but when you really think about it, the hillbilly slant really isn’t.  I apologize.  Bad me.  

I'm sitting here at my desk in the luxury of a nice house typing on the keys of my laptop.  I have a solid roof over my head, food in the refrigerator and pantry, heat, air-conditioning, electricity, warm water, and a closet full of clothes.  And if I don't have something I want, I just be-bop out the door and go get it.  I know a lot of people in this country could and should get off their behinds and get a real job rather than relying on the government to pave their way.  It's truly unfair to those who need the system and those of us who have to work to support the system.

So...look where I've gone with this post.  I refuse to talk government or politics here.  Hillbilly or no, I think I'll stop now before I give an opinion that I can't take back!  Have a great weekend.