Just my thoughts…

Never would I have expected to see this pandemic happen in my lifetime; not only in the world, but in our country. But it’s just blowing through our homeland and it scares me because nothing can stop it.

Social distancing, I’ll be the first to admit I was one of those that asked why this wasn’t done when the flu was so rampant over the winter months (and still is). But I am keeping my distance, only going out for food and that is to pick up my order.

I also didn’t realize the severity of COVID-19. But after watching the news, I learned fast. And it truly scares me. I heard yesterday that the lungs can be permanently scarred giving a lifetime of issues.

But I am not allowing the fear to take over my life, I am refuse to let it overwhelm me. If I do feel the anxiety creeping up on me, I stop and pray. I will reach out to a friend for some conversation and encouragement. And I try to limit my access to the news and all of the social media posting.

Speaking of social media, I am enjoying all the posts on family bonding. And the distant visiting via skype, zoom, facetime, etc. My girlfriends and I have done some girls nights via zoom and it was so much fun!

I think we need to take this ”reset” not only for us humans, but the earth as well, and realize the lifestyles we have been living. Think of all the cars that are not out on the highways, the planes that are not in the air, the boats in our small local waterways that are docked, our earth is responding by healing itself.

We are healing our families by spending more quality time together and checking in on each other. Maybe some are even turning to God and strengthening their faith. I love seeing the postings of family games, and families cooking together, working in the yard and garden.

We are out taking walks or runs; being confined at home is giving us the time to exercise and rest. Even catching up on projects around the house.

If this quarantine is teaching us anything, I think it’s that we need to spend more time at home together. It is teaching us that we are not STUCK at home but rather safe within our walls that we are so blessed to have.

We are so accustomed to jumping in our cars and driving all over the place all on a whim because we just don’t want to be home, or we are bored.

Home isn’t so bad is it?

I think this time of fear is also teaching us about selfishness vs sharing. I know many are afraid that we will be confined in our homes and not have enough food and that fear has caused unnecessary and awful hoarding. Our pharmacies and food stores are essential and will stay open so we should not worry.

I feel bad for our healthcare professionals that are working long shifts and want to head to the store after their shift, but they are finding empty shelves.

I have been taking advantage of placing my grocery order and just picking it up but the other day my order wouldn’t process so I had to go inside. I was saddened to find so many empty shelves.

We cannot imagine what it must be like to go without because we are so accustomed to having anything we want at the reach of our fingertips. And now those empty shelves are making us realize just how fortunate we are, at least most of us. There are already many families in our country that experience “empty food shelves” on a daily basis. This is another lesson we need to learn, share, because not everyone has enough food. Before COVID-19 hit our land, a lot of our neighbors were already experiencing empty pantries and hunger.

I know everyone has their thoughts and opinions on our current situation, and I certainly didn’t want to feed into any deep winded options and conversations. It doesn’t matter if anyone reads this, it doesn’t matter if anyone agrees or disagrees with me. These are just my feelings that I wanted to jot down and express.

I pray and have hope that everyone will be well and that this virus will soon be over so we can heal and move on. If anything I pray that we have learned our lessons about health, time, family, and gratitude.

Be well my friends and stay healthy.

Happy New Year!

Well, here we are at the beginning of another year. I cannot believe how quickly time is flying past me!

I am also a little disappointed in myself that I didn’t post as many blogs as I planned, or that I didn’t cook as much as I would have liked!  My days and evenings just seem to get away from me, working a full day usually gets the better of me with the fibro and arthritis that I have. Throw in some time to try to exercise and get my pup some exercise, housework and family, my life just seems to be moving too fast.

And that is something I want to work on!

But what is most important, is that every morning that I am blessed with, I just try to be a better person than I was the day before.

I guess the New Year always brings us thoughts of attempting to make our lives better with resolutions. I am sure I have mentioned before that I don’t usually make resolutions. I set GOALS.

Now I realize that many of you might want to challenge me that resolutions and goals are the same. I beg to differ!! To me a goal is what I strive to accomplish, it’s a “work in progress”. But maybe the REAL reason I choose a goal over a resolution is because of all the failed resolutions I have had in my lifetime.

That being said, I no longer beat myself up if I didn’t do what I really planned to do, yea it might disappoint me but I don’t stress over it.

I know most people want to eat healthier and exercise. But, so many of us fail with the high expectations that we place on ourselves. I have done it myself!

I always strive to live a life that is calm, hopeful, kind and loving. I think that is what most of us try to do isn’t it?

It just gets challenging with all of life’s twists and turns.

This year I am trying something a little different with my goals. I will try to begin each month focusing on one or two things that I want to improve upon. For instance, for January I will concentrate on my health and my family.

Start the month out by writing them down. Write down you plan too.  Sometimes putting our thoughts into words on paper makes it a little easier to follow.

Then at the end of the month, put out the list and see how you did.  If you didn’t quite accomplish your goals, just continue on with the list you made but see if you can tweak the plan to make it work.  Then try again.

I plan to focus on eating healthier, trying to stick to my schedule of swimming 2-3 times a week and instead of spending time watching a Hallmark movie I will read or do meditation and yoga. However I need to fit that in, I will definitely be working on a plan.

I am just not going wake up tomorrow morning and resolve to go to the gym and eliminate certain foods from my diet.  It won’t work, and I know it.

My plan for family is to hopefully get us together for Sunday dinners or a game night. Maybe after each night that I swim I can swing by and visit one of my kids for a little. Anything I can do to spend a little more time with my kids and grandkids.

My daily goal is to be more aware of my faith and spirituality. Concentrate on prayer to get me started in the morning, even if that is 10 minutes of meditation. My goal is to take the time to slow down and be thankful, hopeful, and mindful of my thoughts and my day, all day.

Give it a try, but remember you are human, you will make mistakes. You might slack now and then (who doesn’t), but when you do just recognize that you did and promise yourself that you will try again tomorrow.

Be kind to YOURSELF!!

LOVE yourself!!

Stress is not healthy.

I just want to wish you all a happy, healthy and prosperous New Year! And thank you for stopping in to see me! Live well and happy!!

Making a Prayer Book

Years ago a friend of mine embellished a notebook for me as a gift.  I didn’t want to use this beautiful creation just to jot down notes and scribble to-do lists, so I turned it into a prayer book.

I wrote in some prayers but mostly it was filled with friends and family that needed prayers and support.

I remember quite a few friends asking me, after they heard me say “I’ll put you in my prayer book”, what do you mean!!

But now, after many years of praying on the book and praying for every single person carefully written with love, it’s time to start a new book.

If you would like to make your own prayer book, here are some ideas.

Choose a notebook of your liking.  It does not have to be fancy or expensive.  You can buy a very inexpensive notebook or composition book and cover it with scrapbook paper.  You could even go all out and use a 3 ring binder.  It will be your personal prayer book, be creative , or be a minimalist like me, simple.

This time around I will be using a book that has a covering that I think is called moleskin, and I’m really hoping it is not made from the skin of moles!!!  If it is, please don’t burst my bubble!!  It also has an elastic band that can keep the book closed, holding any slips of paper with prayers or quotes or prayer cards I may find that I decide to tuck inside.

The first page will have a favorite prayer, bible verse or quote, I haven’t decided just yet but I’m leaning to The Lord’s Prayer.  I was raised on that and The Hail Mary.

The remaining pages in the book can be filled however you want.  I just simply list prayers, quotes, bible verses and names of people that I want to pray for, and I write them in pen.  If you want to use pencil and erase them once the prayer has been answered you can, but I leave them in my book.

If you want to create a section with a page for each day of the week, designating that day to pray for something particular such as  Daily for spouse and children, Sunday for family and friends, Monday for school and teachers, Tuesday for world events, etc.

You could also make sections for Blessings, Bible Verses, Inspiration or Self Improvement.  You might even want a section to hold funeral cards from family members that list their birth and death dates.  We need to continue to pray for our loved ones even after they have passed.

You can embellish each section or page if you want, if you like to draw go ahead and doodle something in your pages.  Use colorful paperclips or flags for sections, be creative if you like.

As we enter into the upcoming holiday season of giving thanks and spending time with those that we love, get a head start and make your prayer book!  Live well friends!

Happy New Year!

May you all be blessed with laughter and joy, peace and love, health and prosperity in the New Year!

If you make resolutions, good luck but do not beat yourself up if you mess up a little, you are human and will make mistakes.  As for me, I gave up resolutions a long time ago, too much pressure!  I just try to be the best person I can be, I try to keep myself grounded & positive, and surround myself with healthy relationships.  I try to keep my body as healthy as possible with good food, yoga and meditation.  I struggle with fibro pain on a daily basis, and believe it or not…dealing with daily pain really keeps life in perspective for me.

I also keep God in my life, my religious and spiritual faith keeps me going.

I hope you are enjoying a new day filled with delicious food and family and friends!  HAPPY NEW YEAR!

PINK OUT, Women’s Cancer Fund

As I do every spring, I attend the Pink Out Women’s Cancer Fund event.  It is a night that is filled with fun, friendship, food and awe.  Money is raised for the Pink Out Fund, information is  HERE.  Please make a donation!

The mansion is a beautiful piece of architecture and design in itself but it is totally decorated in pink for this event.  The girls in the committee are all dressed in a theme outfit and we are greeted at the door by Jane Rice with a hug, a hug that is one that you would give your best friend as she enters your home for a girl’s night.  The committee women’s husbands wearpink polo shirts; they direct the parking and offer you a ride to the mansion in golf carts.  There are tall pink flags waving in the evening breeze as you drive up to the mansion, gorgeous pink flower arrangements are placed throughout the rooms (donated and crafted from plastic bottles and bags and painted), tables are adorned with pink fabric and ribbons, and beautifully hand-blown glass hats and purses dress the tables outside in the backyard.  The drinks for the evening are of a pink nature of course, made with cranberry or pomegranate juices, pink plates and napkins, pink food ~ pasta with a pink sauce and salmon, even the salad dressing had a pink hue to it! 

The entire place is filled with women in pink, it looks like a pepto bismol bottle exploded!  It’s one the most wonderful things you can experience.  The sister-hood, the love, the caring.  And then you are humbled when you see someone that is obviously undergoing chemo treatments.  I ran into a friend that I hadn’t seen in a long time.  She had no hair and my heart instantly ached for her.  She told me that she shaved her head for her daughter-in-law who has breast cancer.  LOVE

Volunteers for the evening, also in a theme outfit but different from the committee girls, are walking around all evening collecting your empty plates and cups.  There is also a  silent auction and raffle drawings. 

Then Jane speaks, her story of surviving cancer is amazing and makes me tear up every time.  A guest speaker spoke last night, a young woman; I could not move from where I was standing.  As she was introduced by her friend, it was mentioned that she was a tough cookie; she also mentioned a t-shirt that this young woman wore, it read “hey cancer, you picked the wrong bitch”.  And cancer did.  This young woman’s story was shocking and heartwarming and I couldn’t help but cry.  She had a doctor appointment, had her breast exam and was given a clean bill of health, in a matter of 2 months I believe; she did her own breast exam and found the lump that changed her life.  She talked about how she wanted to “feel” what cancer was like so for a few days she didn’t take some medicine, which she said looking back was probably not a good thing, but she still wanted to feel it.  After a treatment she was so sick but still went to work, had to excuse herself and then went back to work.  She did then take the meds, and she said that she really couldn’t explain why she wanted to do that but she did.  She also told us how she would have a treatment and then go home to put on her bikini, hop on the John Deere and mow her yard.  Yea I think she might be a tough girlie!  She told us though, she was still depressed and sad BUT she was not going to let cancer live her life, she was going to learn to live her life with cancer. 

After she spoke and walked away we were asked if we remembered a young bald girl 2 years ago in a pink fluffy dress, a lot of us agreed that yes we did, that was her and she will be celebrating 2 years of being cancer free this month. 

Next, Jane asked all the women in the room that had breast, ovarian or uterine cancer to come forward.   Women from all corners of the room walked up, some beside me.  I just cried.  They held hands and stood around a tree that was decorated with names of those being remember or honored with women’s cancer.   It was so moving. 

At the end of the night as you walk outside you are greeted by the husbands in pink polo shirts again.  They help you down the steps, hand you a gift and escort you to your car in the golf cart.  They use lights to guide you out of the cart and walk you to your car, open your car door and get you in the car safely.  And finally, they tell you “get home safely”.

People that care. Friends, family.  Amazing.  Please make a donation, this is a wonderful organization.

Ladies, do your breast exams!!!