Cool Changes to the Blog

    Change is good, or so I've heard.  So, I am making some changes to the blog and I hope that you enjoy the improvements!  The first thing that you will notice is that I have added additional pages that you will find in the tabs along the top.

     As part of my New Year's resolution to enjoy each day more, I have chosen to throw some of my interests into the blog on separate pages.  If you share those interests at all (or just wanna be nosy), you can see what I have to say or show you.  Who knows, you may be interested too!  I would love to hear your comments on my posts and to get some interesting conversations going.

    I have always loved photography, but been scared of wasting all that film over the years.  But digital photography has changed all that!  Now, if I don't like my pictures, I can just hit the delete button and pretend they never existed!  And you guys get to enjoy all the fruits of my labor in this area!  By clicking on that heading, you can check out my view on the world.  It may be twisted, it may be beautiful...only you can decide what it means to you!

    I am also excited to spotlight some of my favorite people...the adventurous, the dreamers, the doers!  They are the ones that are starting on their dreams while working full-time jobs. They are sometimes taking the jump into the unknown, if possible.  Sometimes, they are just making the little jumps and just trying out new interests.

     If I can get it to load up right, today I will be adding another new twist that spotlights my stepson, Adam, along with two of his friends.  It is a podcast called "3 Guys 3 Questions".  They each come to the podcast with a question that all three of them have to answer.  I hope that you will enjoy this new feature (and I hope that my limited technical ability will allow me to load it!!)  If not, it may be another day before you can enjoy, but I will accomplish this somehow!

     Wish me luck with the podcast!!  And I hope that you enjoy the additions to the blog!  Keep following along and let me know what you think...the good, the bad, and the ugly!!

Make the most of each and every day!

     Happy New Year!!! I hope that everyone has had a wonderful beginning to the new year.  Whether you partied out with friends or stayed home with family, we all welcomed in the new year with wishes for good health and many blessings.

     This year, I am making only one resolution:  To make the most of each and every day! 

     Life is too short to do anything else.  Spend quality time with friends and family.  Follow your dreams. Take that trip.  Pull out that special china.  It doesn't matter what this means to you.  Just enjoy!

     I have people in my life that think that I've lost my mind with some recent changes that I've made.  Maybe I have lost my mind, ...that is beside the point!  LOL

     But the truth is, I am happy with where life is taking me.  I am making changes everyday that are taking me in the direction that I want to go.  I am no longer just existing and making it through each day.  I have taken control of where I am going and I love it!

     With the start of the new year, I am going to continue more of the same.  I plan on adding more of my interests to this blog.  So, if you have an interest in the same area, please follow along.  I also know some fascinating people that have done just that and I would like to introduce you to them.  They have chosen to start their own blogs or podcasts.  They have started a writing career while still teaching.  They are starting a homestead on their own.

     Once you meet some of these people, you will no longer question following your own dreams.  You will realize that it is just a choice that you make everyday to do something that you love to do.  So, don't let anything stop you this year from what you love (unless it is illegal or immoral...that should stop you! LOL).  But for everything else, go for it!

    Who knows?  It might be you that I will be spotlighting by 2016 because you will be an inspiration to other, too! 

Merry Christmas!!

     Although this picture was taken in the middle of November, it seemed appropriate to add it to today's post.  Not sure what the weather has in store for us in the next several days, but I decided it was safe to go into the picture file and add an older shot.  
     If I remember correctly where I took this picture that day, I will be looking out the back door of the cabin once we get it completely built.  I am so glad that I have taken pictures of what our views will be like.  It will give us some inspiration in the next few months when we are stuck inside doing more of the planning.  I could probably even print these out and put them around our plans...you know, to make the inspiration a little more "inspirational"!!
     Not sure what the next few days have in store for us, but I hope that everyone has a very Merry Christmas!! We will be celebrating ours on Saturday with my family.  May God bless all of you this holiday season and all through the year!

 But I heard him exclaim, ‘ere he drove out of sight,
"Happy Christmas to all, and to all a good-night!"

 ~Clement Moore

Christmas is almost here!!

      Can't believe it...Christmas is almost here!!  I know, don't shoot the messenger, but it's true.  For the ones of you that try to do it all for the holidays, I applaud you...but also, hope that you have time to truly enjoy the season, also. 
      I have been there myself, and I know how hard it is to enjoy the season when you are so worried about "getting everything done on time" to have a "perfect Christmas".  Back when I was a single parent, I would do everything in my power to make the holidays magical for my child.  Getting him to as many of the holiday happenings that I could, baking cookies, mailing Christmas cards,  decorating, Christmas shopping and wrapping presents...and that was on top of working a full-time job that required extra time spent preparing for and attending work-related holiday events.  I love the Christmas season, but I am even tiring myself out typing all of this.
     My son is now an adult and I think that his childhood Christmases turned out fairly well.  Was it because I managed to get all of the above done?
      I don't think that was it at all.  I think that it was because Mom was able to spend some quality time with him.  He was also able to spend extra time with his all of his grandparents, great-grandmother, aunts and uncles, and friends. 
     It wasn't the number of activities that we were able to fit in or things that we were able to check off of our to-do list...it was the memories that were being made by just being together.
     So, if you can, set aside your to-do list, and just spend the time with the ones you love.  There is only one perfect Christmas and it will never be outdone.  It has been the most perfect Christmas of all time.
     I have now taken the pressure off of you to have the "perfect Christmas".  You now have permission to sit back and really truly enjoy the Christmas season with your family and friends, without all of the fuss.

Merry Christmas to all of you!!!

Loving the Change of Seasons

 

 

 

     Before I go any further, let me just say as a lifelong Hoosier, I love the change of seasons....I really do!  I love all of the beautiful shades of green in the springtime, the long days of summer and swimming, and the rainbow of colors every fall.

 

     In winter, I love the holiday season and the beauty of the sun hitting the snow-covered landscape.  However, the one thing that I am not a fan of in the winter is the blah dreariness that seems to come with the territory.  But I guess that I can look on the bright side... cold temperatures, bare trees and gray skies just make you love your nice warm home even more!

 

     Since this is one of those blah, dreary days, I just thought that I would put a picture from my neck of the woods this past fall.  Note the green grass and that the trees still have leaves on them...and the beautiful sunset is anything but blah and dreary!!

 

What is your favorite season?

 

 



 

Don't worry, Be happy!

     I love watching a show called "Oprah's Master Class".  Why am I telling you this, you ask?  Several months ago, one of the celebrities, Morgan Freeman, I think, was telling about when a teacher asked what he wanted to be when he grew up. His answer was, "to be happy". He said that the teacher replied that he didn't understand the question.
     I think he understood the question much better than most adults ever do! To be happy is what all of of are truly striving for in our lives. And I am not referring to the big moments that just take our breath away-type of happy...those are great, too.  But, they're not everything.
     I am actually thinking more of the everyday contentment that washes over us at the end of the day. That is the best feeling in the world!
     This Thanksgiving, I got to spend the day with 3 out of my 4 siblings (and talked to 4th on the phone). What makes my day is knowing that they all seem happy with their lives.  Does this mean that they are rich or have no problems at all? Absolutely not... But they all seem content with how their lives are going.
     New homes, new familes, new puppy! Kids all happy, healthy and doing well in life. Life's problems are all being handled and nothing that is too big or too tragic to bear.
     There is nothing in life like seeing the ones you love happy and content and living the life they want!

 Love you guys and love seeing you happy! Life is awesome!!!

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!!!

     Happy Thanksgiving to all of you!   I know that we all will have different plans for the holiday.  Some will be spending the day with family, or friends.  Some people actually like spending the day to themselves:  coming from an extrovert, that sounds crazy to me,...but to each his own!!

     But no matter how we spend the day tomorrow, we will all be spending it doing what we should be doing all year long...giving thanks!  For God above, for waking to a new day each day, for good health and for providing us with the necessities of life.  For once the necessities of life are met, everything else is just icing on the cake.

     My son has a favorite old saying that he found somewhere..."I cried because I had no shoes, until I met a man who had no feet".  That puts a lot of things in perspective!! 

     So, while you are passing that plate of turkey or stuffing yourself with pumpkin pie tomorrow, just remember to continue saying your thanks for all of these wonderful blessings in your life.  Because much of it is just the icing on the cake...or should I say, the whipped cream on the pie!!!  LOL

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!!!