I ran across this photo when working on one of my “someday” projects, sorting and framing old photos.

This is a photo of a blow up dragon I purchased on one of our vacations to the beach in South Carolina, in 2001.

We (just me and my husband) were sitting in chairs close to the water, reading and enjoying a beautiful day at the beach.  There was a dark haired, beautiful little girl close to us playing in the sand and sitting on this colorful, cute dragon.  As I watched her, my thoughts went to thinking maybe, just maybe, I would have a grandchild just like her.

After dinner one evening, we stopped at one of those beach stores always found in beach resort areas, and there it was, the little dragon. I bought one!  It was going to be for my grandchild.

At the time my son was engaged, and I thought his life was set in order, and my grandchild would not be far off.

Unfortunately, life took a turn, and some years later, my son’s relationship with the young woman he was with for years, ended.

“Suddenly”, that is life isn’t it?

He is still trying to recover and find his way.

He will be OK, God must have something else in mind for him.

As for me, I believe that by purchasing the little dragon I was being bold, and being confident that God hopefully has a grandchild already planned!

I have the little dragon stored in a safe place.

In life we need to declare good things and believe in our God and then just sit back and watch the awesome things He will do for us.

Expect, believe today, that all things are possible.

See ya!

I was at my local grocery store today and I heard a mother say to her child, “you are so stupid”.  How horrible.

I used the title of my blog today, “Nails in a Piece of Wood”, to make a point about words.  Words do matter!

When you hammer nails into a piece of wood, or a fence post, you can remove the nails, but the holes remain.  The same is true with words.  Once spoken they can never be taken back.

I can tell you from personal experience, that you never forget cruel, critical words. They are with you for the rest of your life.

I once had a teacher in elementary school tell me, in front of the entire class, “Why aren’t you as smart as your older sister”.  Well, from that day forward I just felt I was stupid, and could never do anything.

Once an immediate family member told me, my sister, and my brother, “you look like bums”.  Why?  Why would you say that to children?

We were clean, but maybe our clothes were not the best.  We were wearing what we had, and what we were given to wear. Granted they were probably hand-me-downs, but was that our fault?

Those two statements have stayed with me and shaped my life in such negative ways. I never felt that I could accomplish anything but a simple office position and I never had any self confidence.

I never believed that I could be successful until much later in my life when I finally realized, I’m OK.

Promoted from my entry level job, up the ladder, to a Manager, I was given a highly visible position, representing my company, traveling, and training for the Quality Department.  Many times I was asked to travel on the company jet, and to give presentations to various groups.  Why me?  Because I was valuable, I knew my job and others did not!

I always spent too much money on clothes, and my appearance, never feeling I looked nice or that I was at all attractive.   Another result of cruel words.

In today’s world, hopefully teacher’s cannot say such things to children without being held accountable. Although I never told my parents what the teacher said to me, I guess I was too ashamed, later in my life I did share this with my sister and brother.

I hope that everyone reading this will remember that words do matter and never speak in such horrible ways to children, family members, employees, or anyone. You just may be responsible for the difference in someone’s life.

I am a child of God, and I know I am valuable, and have much to offer in this life that I now love so very much.

Love to all.

On Sundays I always try to catch the TV broadcast of Joel Osteen.

If you have never listened to him I suggest you do so at least once.

He is the Pastor at the very successful Lakewood Church, in Houston,Texas.

Joel’s message is always a positive message for living and believing in God and all He can do in our lives.  Encouraging us to let go of negativity and doubt that often bring us down.

The message last week was ” Be a Miracle to Someone”.

You can do this in small ways everyday, small things in the lives of people to encourage them or show them that you care can be huge, and life changing.

Pick up the phone and call someone who may be alone or feeling so lonely.

Hug someone in pain.

Smile at someone, say “good morning”.

Listen to someone with your heart.

Buy someone a cup of coffee.

As Joel stated, “don’t just be someone passing by”.

Friday I was at one of my favorite stores, Michael’s Arts and Crafts.  I was in the isle where you would find drawing paper and crayons for children.

A sweet lady came up behind me and said, in a giggling way, “I love crayons”.  When I turned around I realized that she was mentally challenged.  She appeared to be in her twenties.  I replied, “I love crayons too”.  She was with someone who may have been her mother and she was pointing out all the things she would like to buy.

When I was in the checkout lane they came up behind me. Again she kept asking for things and especially wanted an “Angry Birds” coloring book that just cost a dollar. The answer she was given was “no”.

As soon as I left the store I realized that I should have bought the coloring book for her.  I am sure it would have made her very happy.  Why didn’t I do that?

I was one of those “passing by” people.  Oh how I regret that I didn’t do that simple something to brighten her day.

I imagine now how she would have said in her giggling sweet voice and smiling face, “Oh, Thank You”.

If you have the chance, be someone’s miracle tomorrow.

I know I will never miss that opportunity again.

Love to all.

Before my day comes to an end I find peace and joy in writing down my thoughts.

I have kept a journal for several years now and I wish I had done it all of my life.

You can do this anytime during the day, it doesn’t have to be at bedtime.

I journal everyday, but do it when you want to or feel the need, it is not meant to be a chore.

It is so beneficial to me to write down something that is on my mind. Examining a stressful situation by expressing my thoughts and feelings allows me to step back and take a look at what is upsetting me before saying or doing things I will regret. Cruel, harsh words are hard to take back after being spoken.

I try to be as honest in my writings to myself as I possibly can.  It is calming just laying down your worries.

There are so many journals on the market today since journaling is being seen as a positive thing to do in your life.

There are many types, art journals, travel journals, prayer journals, and gratitude journals just to name a few.

One other thing that I do everyday in my journal is to add at least one thing that I am grateful for that happened during the day.

Here are just a couple of examples from my journal this past week.

– My grown son came over to me as I was reading, fluffed my hair, and said “I love you Mom”.  Do you know how many people never have anyone to say “I love you” to them?

– Thankful that we were able to help someone this week by giving them our spare refrigerator that we kept in our garage for extra drinks and such.  These folks are broke and were having to use coolers to keep their food cold. Right now they are lucky to make the mortgage payment.

Being thankful is so very important to loving your own life.

I thank God every morning for another day and every night for the joys and gifts of that day.

Give yourself a gift today of a journal, and give this a try.

Happy joyful, peaceful, journaling!

Today was just one of those days.

I went into my bedroom and passed my cat sleeping in the window.  The window was up, and a breeze was coming in, that was all it took.  I laid down across my inviting, made up bed, and gave myself the joy of an afternoon nap.

If you have not yet explored the joy of afternoon naps, I urge you to do so and discover this instant magic medicine!

For those who work, I know it is difficult, but find the time to treat yourself on the weekend.

You don’t need to justify it!  If you are sleepy, just sleep.

It is like a “reboot”.

It motivates and refreshes us to get up and go back to the things we need to get done.

I have read naps also have several health benefits, such as lowering blood pressure.

Happy weekend everyone, give yourself a “reboot” when you can!

Take an awesome nap!

I was recently visiting one of my favorite blogs and the post of the day was the blogger’s trip  with her husband to Spain.  The photos were really beautiful.

Seriously, I know I will probably never be able to go to Spain. It is not in our budget or something we think about doing in the simple life we lead.

But…….I was able to get away for a few days with my husband to beautiful Rising Sun, Indiana, on the Ohio River. My sister and her husband joined us as well.

I would like to share some of the special moments of our jaunt……

—  We were all sitting outside on a really pleasant evening just talking about this and that, and the talking led to laughing, the uncontrollable kind of laughing we always did as children.  We laughed until we cried!  Remember?

—  I took a “selfie” of all of us!  Only my second one in my life.  They seem kinda silly to older folks, until you take part in one.  What fun!I

—  I just recently started “Texting” and love it!  I can keep in touch with my son during the day, and connect with my dear sweet nieces.

The problem I have is that it takes me forever to complete one line.  Constantly touching the wrong key, deleting and typing over and over again.

I have a feature on my phone that allows you to speak into the phone and it will type your message. I tried it!  What a hoot!

I spoke into the phone and it never typed what I said, and seemed to pick up what everyone else was saying around me. It was as if it had a mind of its own.  When speaking into the phone to complete a “text” to my niece about her father, it ended up saying “he is the fattest”, what the heck, I didn’t say that!  Again, we laughed at what the darn thing was typing until we cried.  We almost wet our capris!

–  As my conversation with my sister continued, we decided to call our brother in New York City.  It seemed like the perfect time for us to connect with him.  We spoke to each other and all said, “I love you, and miss you so much”.  We are criers, and after we hung up, our eyes were filled with tears. Denny is a lovely person, so very dear to us.  He is the baby of the three of us.

Rising Sun, Indiana is not Spain, but I wouldn’t trade the moments we shared together that evening for a trip anywhere.

What a joyful time for all of us!

Today, May 2nd, is “Brothers and Sisters Day”.

I want to share mine with you today.  How I love them!

This is my baby brother, Denny!

Denny was my playmate and my companion when we were young children.  We played together for hours.  I loved paper dolls and he would let me place them in his toy cars and he would drive them all around the bedroom for me.

Always so sweet and so good.

Denny now lives in New York City, and years go by when we do not see each other.

I am very sad for that.

My older sister Yvonne!

Yvonne loved to be out playing ball with all the boys!  We were quite opposites in the early years, I was the “prissy” one as you can see above. I so loved purses.

Were those our “designer” jeans?

When looking for photos of us together, in almost every photo Yvonne is holding my hand. She does that now!  She is my best friend in my older life.  Now that our mother has passed, Yvonne is the one I call when life is not so good.

She has so many friends, because she is loyal and loving to everyone.

      If you have a brother or sister, tell them you love them today, forget the petty things of the past.  Forgive and forget, renew your relationship with them.

Life really is too short!

Yvonne and Denny, I love you both so much!

To the outside world we all grow old. But not to brothers and sisters. We know each other as we always were. We know each other’s hearts. We share private family jokes. We remember family feuds and secrets, family griefs and joys. We live outside the touch of time.

– Clara Ortega