Have You Started Your Christmas Shopping?

I know what your thinking! Christmas? It's not even the fourth of July!

In my opinion on the fourth of July summer is pretty much over. Oh, you have the rest of July for the swimming, the bar-b-ques, the sun burns, but when August hits our minds go to school clothes, books and the changing schedules.

July has always been my least favorite month of the year. In which case I don't mind that it seems to go by so fast. It won't be long before a visit to Hobby Lobby will be a winter wonderland experience. The Christmas trees all lit, stockings hung and ornaments galore!

It won't be long before flip flops turn to UGGS and 63 degrees turns to 36 degrees. But no worries Christmas is still six months from next Saturday. And the days won't start getting shorter until next week.

Have a wonderful summer!

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Laundry Day!

Today's blog is really going to age me, but I feel I have to share about my laundry. Weird I know, but todays topic just the same. My question is: Does anyone besides me remember when Mondays were laundry day?

I mean laundry day...the whole day.

As I was growing up, my grandmother would do laundry on Monday (this is where the aging comes in). We would go down to the basement..not a pretty sight, dirt walls, dirt floor and the smell of dampness filled the whole room.

I loved helping her! There she had a wash machine and two square tubs...one for rinsing and the other for really rinsing. When the machine was done she would crank the handle and the machine would push each piece of clothing through the wringer at the top of the machine.

My job was to catch them on the other side and put them in the first rinse tub. Then my grandmother would take each piece out of the tub, wring them by hand and put them in the second tub. Then she'd repeat the wringing out, put them in a basket and carry the wet clothes up the stairs to the laundry lines that hung from the house to the end of the yard. Then we'd hang each piece and go back to do the next load. Late in the afternoon she would take each piece of clothing from the line to fold and put in the basket.

As I was dreading to start my daily load of laundry, I thought what am I dreading? It only takes a couple of minutes to put the laundry in the machine. I have those new front loads that have sensors that do all the work then lets me know when its done.

I think my grandmother would be amazed at the very thing I take for granted. Forgive me Lord for overlooking the blessings that hit me in the face everyday. By the way Tuesday was ironing day...but thats a whole different story.

Have a wonderful and blessed laundry day!

 

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Just call me Gams!

Every summer my two granddaughters come to stay for a week. This year it will be two. They are ten and almost eight years old. It's strange how grandkids turn you back into a kid yourself. Life becomes an event, a party, a whole different world. The everyday drudgeries of life are cast to the wind.

The girls favorite thing to do is swim. I was thinking that we could take pictures of the pools over the years without the girls even in the picture. You could tell their ages by the size of the pool. From a very small baby pool to last year buying a large one with the ladder, the pump and oh yeah because of its size, the city required we put up a temporary fence around it. Can you say Gams?

That's what we do as grandparents, we make everything a little bigger, a little better and a lot of fun. Its hard to stuff all the fun into a weeks time, but we do it. Swimming, sewing, riding scooters, crafting, eating out, night, night talks, Worlds of Fun. Whew!!

I love making memories with Mackenzie and Morgan. For those few days everything is NEW again. Something only a Gams would understand.

 

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Happy Summer!

I hope everyone had a great holiday weekend!

It's now official....summer has begun. Schools out, the grill is hot, lawn mowers are humming, gardens are growing, pools are splashing, kids are playing.

Ahhh! The beginning of a whole new schedule - just sayin'!

Enjoy it! Remember it won't be long until fall.

Have a safe and awesome summer.

 

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My Nesting Place

I think spring has finally come to stay.

It's been touch and go for a few weeks, and summer is definitely trying to interrupt. As I was cleaning and preparing my front porch for all the flowers I had spent most of the morning carefully picking out, I realized what I love about spring is the new areas I find to nest. Places that call to me to come sit awhile. It becomes an extension of my home, and besides preparing it is half the fun.

This year we had to buy new furniture since the old was beginning to look a little shall we say used. New area rug...check, new furniture...check, new fire pit...check, new top for the gazebo...check, new netting...check, throw in some pillows, last but not least hang the chandelier.

After hours of sweat and lots of hard work and the sun beginning to set, I sat in my new chair, snuggled in and looked around. To my surprise many of my neighbors were nesting too.

Spring opens up a whole new world, so don't forget to take time out of your busy schedule to build your nesting place.

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How's your lawn looking?

Don't you love the smell and the look of freshly mowed grass?  

The color, the sound of the humming lawnmowers,but wait, why does your neighbors yard look so much thicker, almost like  carpet.  

Wait! Look how much greener their green is than your pale green. No matter how our life is,  the grass always looks greener on the otherside....everyone has heard or said that line...and most of the time we think its true. 

I mean when we compare our lives to others we never have the green, evenly cut, flowing in the wind, thick like carpet grass. We see our ruts, the worn spots, weeds, not to mention the POO! 

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Simon Says

When was the last time you played Simon Says?  

Remember how you felt? 

You would begin the game with all the confidence that you would not move until simon told you to. Before you knew it there you were sitting on the sidelines.

Being a" people pleaser" is kind of like playing Simon Says. You have set your goals and a plan to get there, you have all the confidence that you can do this, that your not going to move unless it is part of the goal.

It doesn't have to be big goals, it can be your goal for the day. Before you know it there you are moving in other directions that aren't part of the plan. You find yourself doing everyones plans but yours. 

Not being able to say "NO" will eventually find you sitting on the sidelines, burned out, discouraged, forgetting where you were even headed.

Before you say "YES", stop and think: Am I doing this for the right reason? Or am I doing this to please others  so they will like me... think I am a wonderful person... tell others how great I am...look good to make myself feel better about me.  If any of these sound familiar.

SIMON SAYS....LEARN TO SAY "NO". 

 

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Where do you live?

This week as I was talking with a client, a picture began to pop into my head. Let me take you there...

Imagine a beautiful pond at the edge of a meadow full of tall green grasses blowing in the wind, touched by the color of various wild flowers big and small...as you scan the meadow the beauty of it all is amazing. The sense of peace overwhelms you. 

The pond itself has its own beauty, there are lily pads floating with burst of colorful blooms, you can see a swan or two gracefully gliding across the water, the reflection of the sun dance glistening jewels so bright they hurt your eyes. 

The temptation is too much - you just have to take your shoes off and wade slowly into this pond.

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Are you running on empty?

I'm excited, very excited ! 
This is my first blog, so that now makes me a blogger. This is quite an accomplishment for someone who finds the (for dummies) books too complicated. I think I'm ready to do this, so here goes.
As a life coach for women and director of a women's group for the last ten years, I definitely have a lot of opportunity to hear what goes on in the lives of women. My conclusion: Women - no matter size, hair color, beautiful, ordinary, tall or short - all deal with the same issues.

My goal for this blog is to bring women from all over together, to touch on topics of everyday life, to encourage one another and try to help put some balance in our busy lives.
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