While everyone is complaining as gas prices rise to $4.00 a gallon, my husband put a different perspective on the situation.
Our Corolla gets about 35 miles to the gallon. He asked me if I would walk 35 miles for $4.00. I said, “No, of course not.” He said, “then its a pretty good deal to only pay $4.00 to travel 35 miles.”
My husband is the kind of guy who sees the cup half full.
Do you make resolutions each year? I know I do. Almost every female probably figures a few pounds shed this year would be a good idea.
Also, I make resolutions to:
Talk to my children more often. Emailing just isn’t the same.
Save more money…some years, any money would be nice.
Go to church more often.
Get more involved in my community, do volunteer work.
Either expand my own business or get a full-time job.
Wow, I could go on and on. I didn’t realize there were so many things I was unhappy about. lol
The truth of the matter is, it is all up to me or you if they are your resolutions. There is a saying that it takes 21 days to form a habit. I guess if I went to church 21 times in a row, it would be easier to make myself get up and get my lazy butt out of bed. It just becomes part of your routine.
A New Year’s Resolution is a GOAL. Now, I know about goals…heard about them for years. Let’s see, you write them down and keep the list on your refrigerator where you will see it every day. You break it down in small attainable goals…daily, weekly. Sounds simple enough.
Losing weight should be so simple. You certainly can break that down into small attainable goals. You can control it daily. But, it is so hard. I try to keep junk food such as chips, candy and cookies out of the house so I am not tempted. I am working on portion control, now. Even if I splurge and eat a piece of chocolate, at least it isn’t 5 chocolates.
Discipline….I don’t like that word. Maybe part of my problem is………I think I am all grown up and can do whatever I want.
When I was growing up and mom made a cake, I loved to lick the bowl as we called it. I remember thinking, when I grow up I am going to make a cake and just eat the batter. I actually tried that and it was pretty good for the first teaspoon or two. It tastes better on the finger or spatula than it did by the spoonful. Too much of a good thing, I guess.
So, in closing I will say: Whatever your resolutions are, make sure you make time to make great memories, too. With my Dad’s passing, I find myself remembering so many good memories about him. I hope someday, my kids will do the same about me.
Happy New Year folks.
It’s 6am and I am sitting at the computer enjoying a cup of coffee and half watching a lady on the television teaching exercises. At least this lady is older and isn’t dressed in those skimpy clothes showing all her great curves. I know those women are showing you how great you can look if you exercise, but I find looking at them discouraging. I can’t imagine that I could ever look like them. Afterall, they look 20ish or 30ish. I guess I should imagine myself looking better and not compare myself to them. Right!
Exercising! I keep telling myself that needs to be part of my routine for the day. They say it takes 21 days to form a habit…I usually last about 6 days. lol
Yeah, I will start exercising today…after I unclog my kitchen sink, get a belt for my washing machine, work 6 hours at my job, grocery shop, mail bills, go to bank, make posters for a yard sale tomorrow, buy a present for my nephew and a new answering machine, straighten up my house, and cook up 5 lbs of hamburger meat into four ounces patties.
I use to go back to bed every morning after I got my husband out the door for work at 530am. Now, I find I need the extra time just to get my list of “things to do today” completed.
BUT, I am very thankful that I have the good health to perform these chores and the money to purchase the things I need.
I have already looked at the grocery store circulars and have found a couple of bargains to purchase. I see paper towels and t-bones are on special. yoo hoo
Wow! Christmas shopping is another “thing to do” that I need to start on. Every year I tell myself I will start early and maybe even start a Christmas Club at the bank. So far, no luck. There is always next year. tee hee
Think I will go see if I can get my daughter up for an early morning walk. We discussed it last night but we didn’t say we would start this morning. Wish me luck.
Years ago, I asked my husband why he loves me and he said, ” I love the way you make me feel about myself.” Do you make your husband feel good about himself?
Sometimes it seems as women, we get a bad deal. Afterall, most women seem to be working and caring for children (or their parents) and their homes. Most men seem to come home from work and usually their day is about over. We run into the house, fix a meal, take care of the kids and laundry and dishes and whew…I am exhausted thinking about it. My kids are grown, so my life is a little simplier.
My husband is great…considerate, loving, hardworking and so many more adjectives like those. But, he doesn’t like to do housework unless he has to do it. I only work part-time and I make sure I am home to have dinner almost ready when he walks in the door.
See, my husband is smart. He compliments me about how delicious my meals are and how great it is to have dinner waiting for him when he walks in the door. And I can’t tell you how many times he looks down at his plate of food and it is so colorful and hot …. and he says “I wonder what the peasants are eating tonight.” I know he feels like a King. That is how I want him to feel. Spoiled rotten, loved and taken care of. He may not be “Brad Pitt” but he is the man I love and I don’t want any cute little secretary tempting my husband to stray. I think I make him happy and I know he makes me happy.
Forget all that women’s lib stuff when you get home from work. Treat your husband like a King and he will treat you like his Queen. My husband will massage my feet while we are watching tv and that’s better than flowers or candy or jewelry to me.
After dinner, we take time to sit on the porch and talk about our day or sometimes, I get him to do a small project for me outside. We don’t have cable tv and that is a blessing because I am afraid we would both be couch potatoes.
I think it is so important to laugh together, too. I was married previously and divorced and I can’t ever remember laughing much in that marriage. Not even in the beginning. Everything was always so serious. Have fun, laugh at yourself, laugh together.
Be gentle with your criticisms. Encourage each other. Be a good listener. Kiss your husband when he comes home from work and take time to make him know you are glad to see him even though your day at work was probably just as tough as his. He is coming home to his Castle, his refuge, his safe place. Make sure you are making it a place he wants to come home to. Always say I love you before you fall asleep. You will be amazed at how you will be rewarded. If you didn’t start doing this when you first married, it may take awhile to reap the rewards. So if you are newly married, start doing those things now.
So in closing, if you want your husband to treat you better, treat him “special” and communicate your needs in a nice way. I remember some preaching years ago that basically said, a man needs to be respected and a woman needs to be loved. Works for me.
It is late and I should be sleeping but my mind is racing. Do you lie in bed and think about what all you need to do tomorrow? I do…and it drives me crazy. Or I lie there and realize I didn’t do something today that I meant to do. Like go shopping and buy dog food for my three 55 t0 60 pound dogs. I guess I will give them hot dogs and dog biscuits for breakfast. Good thing the store is only two miles away.
Talking about sleeping…..I am not a doctor and I am not prescribing any medicine but I have found if I take a motion sickness pill before I got to bed, it really relaxes me and I fall to sleep and wake up so refreshed. I should have done that about l0pm. lol I am a lot like my mom and I hate pills. Even if I have a headache, I try to put off taking anything. I say, it will go away once I fall asleep.
My thought that is really keeping me awake is news of the death of someone I knew from 6th grade thru high school. His name was Steve and he was my 6th grade boyfriend. He was very popular and remained so thru high school. He was so cute. He reminded me of Elvis Presley…with his dark hair and good looks. I didn’t really keep up with him but I saw him in l979, I believe. Then again in l989 maybe. He lived in my hometown where my parents still live.
My best friend, next to my mom, is Martie and she lives in Dover, NC. We have known each other since we were three years old and she told me, we met in a ditch. I don’t really remember that part. It doesn’t matter how many months or years it has been since we have seen or talked to each other, our conversation picks up like it was just yesterday. She is still the same wonderful person she was as a teenager girl. She never would speak badly about anyone. She is a good Christian woman. I always said she was my best friend…but, she didn’t say that about me but it didn’t matter. She had a few really close girlfriends and I think she would never chose one over another because she wouldn’t want to hurt anyone’s feelings.
So, I guess my thoughts for today are of my youth and friendships. Nothing earth-shattering. Just memories of people who were/are important to me.
Good night.
I seldom get sick but the last few days…yuk. This morning I woke up and no nausea, no pain and wow, I think I am well.
You know the saying, “you don’t know what you have till you lose it.” That is appropriate for good health, too.
I would consider myself very healthy…for my age. The only medication I take is a prevacid and I don’t really take that unless I end up snacking before bedtime. So, it is easy to just take it for granted that I can get up and work all day. I expect my body to allow me to do all the things I plan to do for the day. Whether it is mowing the lawn, weedeating and pulling weeds from my flowerbeds, painting the outside of a house, putting up fence with my husband, or taking a l0 hour trip….I expect to do it and not have any pain afterwards. Well, I do occasionally have a few aches and pains which reminds me that I am not 20 anymore. But, I am a strong person so I keep going.
The last couple days, I stayed inside my home and it drove me crazy. I wanted to get outside and work. This morning, I woke up realizing that I am back to normal and thankful for my good health. If I hadn’t gotten sick, I wouldn’t realize how great it is to feel “normal”.
My daughter is dealing with making a decision that is not necessarily going to get a blessing from everyone in our immediate family. So, do you do what everyone else thinks is good for you or do you go out on a limb and do what you think is best?
I have made a lot of decisions in my life trying to do “what is expected” of me. Now, I wonder how many things in my life would be different had I chosen to do what I wanted to do. I can think of one decision I made thinking “God” wanted me to do a certain thing. Oh my gosh, was I ever wrong. Sometimes we need to pray (if you are real religious, you will think you need to pray about everything), sometimes you need to go with your heart, and sometimes you just need to use common sense.
So to my daughter I would say, pray about your upcoming decision, know in your heart why you are choicing the route you want to take, and it if it makes good sense……do it.
The great part about family is they will always love you. You may hear an “I told you so” if it doesn’t turn out to be a good decision but you will only hear it once……… or twice.
I saw that on a RV one time and laughed but the older I get, the more I understand the real meaning behind that sign.
My husband commented that it seems a lot of people who have retired at his job have died soon after retirement or are in such bad shape physically when they do retire, that they don’t get to enjoy their retirement.
So, while you are healthy enough to do the traveling and sightseeing, go for it. You need to save for your old age but ….. take time to enjoy life.
My girlfriend told me her brother-in-law wouldn’t even go on family vacations because he was so worried about having enough money for retirement. He died recently and he and his wife didn’t get to make all those memories they could have made. He was in his early fifties.
I have been up since about 1:30am so I have been doing a lot of thinking and working already. My husband and I had an exhausting week and went to bed shortly after dinner. So, we both woke up and decided to get out of bed since we were wide awake. I made a pot of coffee.
At 3am this morning, I was making breakfast steaks (thin sliced t-bones) and scrambled eggs and toast with OJ and coffee. I know what you are thinking…why would you be doing that? We ate dinner at 5pm so we were hungry for one thing. Second, I saw it as an opportunity to “make memories”.
My husband is great about remembering little things I have done in the past that make him think I am an incredible woman who loves him. That is exactly my intention.
Have you ever heard anyone say, “I wish I knew then, what I know now”????? This “thought for today” deals with that phrase. You need to “make memories” as often as you can because it enhances your relationship. You would be surprized how easy it is once you start thinking about the other person.
For instance, we were burning a pine tree that was destroyed by lightning. We were out there watching the fire to make sure it stayed contained. We got our chairs and sat far enough away to not feel the heat yet close enough to keep an eye on it. I went inside to get us a bottle of water and came back with a clothes hanger and a bag of large marshmellows, too. Calvin chuckled when he saw what I was carrying. He looked like a happy kid. I will remember his face for a very long time with that silly smile as we roasted marshmellows. I am sure he will have a good memory of the day, too.
It has taken me a long time to get this idea in my head but honestly, if you do special things to make your spouse happy, you won’t regret it. You will be amazed how he/she will start doing the same thing for you. So, “make special memories”.
One year, my husband gave me one carat diamond earrings and I gave him socks. I will always remember that. LONG STORY that I won’t go into now.
I was just thinking how blessed we are to live in our country. We have our share of problems but we do have our rights and freedoms. How fortunate we are to just jump in our car and run down to the grocery store where there is a bounty of food. As I contemplate my goals for my garden, I am glad I don’t have to depend on it to feed my family.
I told you I have six chickens. Well, my chicken yard was 60×40 and I decided since I don’t really want more chickens (get plenty of eggs with five hens), I would use part of their yard for a garden. We moved one side of the fence to make the chicken yard 20×40 and will use the remaining area for a garden. Afterall, the area is already weeded and fertilized. My neighbor is supplying me with horse manure and discarded hay to work into the soil, too. I have sandy soil. My sisters Sandy and Jeannie, in Newport, NC has beautiful dark black soil and can grow anything. I am jealous.
I actually started a compost bin last year but haven’t done much with it. I throw stuff in it but I definitely need to rotate and flip the contents. I am hoping to make some of that dark black soil I love. lol
Take some time for yourself to sit on your porch (if you have one) and enjoy a cup of coffee or tea and watch the sun come up. That peaceful time will make your day start off great. Try not to think about problems or how much you have to do today…just relax.