Birthday Weekend 2012

The birthday weekend started out pretty uneventful.

I took Friday off to go play with my girlfriends at Career Conference in Duluth GA.

We ate lunch at Chipotle on Friday and ALL of us got ill.  UGH.

Saturday's lunch was a nice linen affair.

Cheesecake

Flower arrangement that I should have stolen.

Me looking kinda tired.

Bracelet I won! Yay!

Sunday morning was really NICE.  I slept in, didn't go to church, didn't watch tv.  Went outside for some air and found this iris in the backyard.  I thought the dog dug up all my bulbs I planted.  Obviously she missed about 3 of them.  Yay AGAIN! I thought it was a lovely sight after that storm on Saturday. A sweet birthday present to wake up to.

Sunday I had to get boys from their dad.  I went to Christina's to get my gift & a glass of merlot.  Company with friends you love is always a treat. I had some birthday cake there and enjoyed the girls.

Sunday night my youngest brother and his wife came over with lilies and a birthday cake.  How sweet.

I didn't party this year like I did last year, but this birthday was so sweet to me.  I felt loved, special and extremely blessed.

So grateful for March 25, 2012.

William Made Dessert

Yum yum.  I love my sons.

My Labor Day Sunday

I got cute.  I had to wear my white linen pants, even if they were a size too big.














 I went window shopping

.

Had some jewelry cleaned.

Played with Courtney and Candice and Sire 

Chilled with good friends Jerrie and Christina. 

Talked junk to the boys, not the ones I gave birth to.
It was great.

Saturday and Monday will be posted soon.  ILY

Friends and Vampires

“Please don’t contact me ever again.  You add no value to my life and you drain my energy like a vampire.”

That was a text message I had to send to someone on Tuesday, June 7, 2011.  I had to do it to protect myself from the poison this person was offering me in the guise of “friendship”.  I really don’t know what their definition of friendship is, but it is very different from my definition.

This person would call me at odd hours to cry, complain, and over-analyze most details about their miserable life.  At first I thought I was helping by offering possible solutions on how to cope with stress and love oneself.  However, I quickly realized none of that was working.  I soon found that I was dealing with a miserable person who was totally content in his misery.

I'm NOT sorry, but I DON'T DO MISERY!  Look at the title of my blog.  C'mon people!

The very next day, Wednesday, June 8, 2011, a real friend called me.  Mind you I had not spoken with this real friend in many months.  However, I consider her a real friend because our definition of friendship is the same.  She is not a vampire and she is very supportive.  We may have lost contact for a few months for whatever reasons but we always get back together where we left off.  She is so sweet and I would never do anything to harm her or use her.

I am so grateful for the real friends in my life.  I am also grateful for the wisdom to know the difference and to take the necessary steps to protect my little world from what I call Vampires.

Where do some minions posing as people get off with that “friendship” thing anyway?  I mean this non friend only calls me about his problems and has nothing of value to offer me or my life.  When my sister passed, his attitude was so nonchalant about it.  As a matter of fact, he said he would call me right back when I told him.  He waited over a month before he called me back and offered the most pathetic condolence ever.  And to think, my sister used to tell me to be nice to him.

I am so grateful that I sent that text message.  Life is too short to be trying to please people who care NOTHING about you.  Life is too precious to give time and energy to people who give nothing in return.  My life is too special to me to waste on the waste of this land.

• I associate and befriend people with similar life values as mine
• All of my friends have positive attitudes and they are very loving people
• My friends are healthy and constantly strive to improve themselves
• My friends and associates have much to offer their environments and communities and do so gladly without wanting payment in return
• My friends love themselves and they have a healthy respect for themselves those they encounter
• When people come in contact with my friends, they feel better about themselves
• My friends love life and carry much JOY inside of themselves.
• My friends recognize Vampires and do not associate with such creatures.

Wikipedia has a great article on friendship that I highly recommend.

I just wanted to get that off of my chest.  I feel much better.  Thanks.

2011 New Year Appreciation & Eradication

Happy New Year Friends and Family.  Thanks for reading my blog.  I appreciate all of you.  We’re 6 days into 2011 and I have been living in a state of Pure Joy ALL 6 of these days.  I woke up feeling great this morning.  I am so thankful that I have discovered this JOY.

My Appreciation/Gratitude List for today January 6, 2011:

• I am thankful God woke me this morning with the energy I needed to start my day.
• Thankful that my children are healthy, wealthy and wise today.
• Thankful for the friends in my life who are loving, kind, funny, supportive and uniquely themselves in so many ways.  (Examples:  Jerrie, Christina, Pele, Sandra, Mama…).  I love them all dearly.
• I appreciate the steady stream of income into my bank account.  LOVE that.
• I am appreciative and thankful for this new sense of self I have.
• I am loving the attitude of this man with the golden voice, Ted Williams.  He is so thankful for everything that comes his way.
• I really appreciate people who are grateful for all of the little things in their lives.
• LOVE my dog, a German Shepherd named Sable.  She brings me so much joy.  Just caring for her and being responsible for her adds value to my life.  I love Sable.

January 4, I did an eradication exercise.  I made 3 three lists.  The first list was a list of all of my achievements and blessings in 2010.  The second list was a list of everything I want to eradicate and get rid of in 2011.  The third list was a list of my desires, hopes, dreams, and wants for 2011.  The exercise of making the lists and burning the lists gave me power and more joy.  I am thankful I did that exercise.

Happy New Year to all of you and many blessings to you this year.

I appreciate all of you and I express this appreciation to all of you from the infinite abundance that is my natural state, knowing that as I do so it will expand and reflect back to me.

~~Namaste~~

November 28, 2010 Gratitude

Dear Blog,
It has been 6 days since my last post.  I am not proud of that but we will move on put all judgments aside.  In order to do what you want to do you must JUST Do IT.  Nike has that right.

This past week has been nice.  William and Allan spent Thanksgiving with their dad.  TJ came home.  Tariah spent the night with me one night.  The week was so nice in retrospect that I almost forgot Aunt Flow came to attempt to wreak havoc on my body and my mind.

We went to Jerrie's for Thanksgiving Day.  Thanksgiving evening I went around the corner to the twins house.  All in all it was nice, quiet and there was no drama.  Loved it.

I did NOT participate in Black Friday.  I never participate in Black Friday.  I listen to the horror stories of every body else's Black Friday escapades and I know Black Friday is not for me.  I love the deals you can find on Black Friday, but I am not so sure they are worth the hassle of fighting deal crazed shoppers over.  I can wait.  Besides I find all of my deals at http://shopping4.momoneyonline.com and http://www.momoneyonline.com.

How bout dem GAMECOCKS!?  They are ranked #10 this week.  GO GAMECOCKS.  Yep, they are going straight to the SEC Championship!  As I type this I am watching Fox NFL Sunday Pregame Show. I love me some Jimmy Johnson.  Nobody beats Jimmy Johnson.  Jimmy Johnson is Lead Dog this week.  He actually predicted that The Cowboys would beat The Giants.  How could he have known that?  Nobody with half a brain cell would have predicted that.  Not even Miss Cleo.  He just did a segment on The Cowboys beating The Giants recently.  If you missed it, I'll look it up for ya.

Every Sunday I watch CBS News Sunday Morning.  I love that show.  They did a vignette on Andy Borowitz this morning that really inspired me to blog EVERYDAY.  Not everyday for a month.  Not everyday for a week.  Not everyday for a year.  EVERYDAY.  Every day Andy writes a fake news story and publishes it.  He calls it The Borowitz Report.  I love that he puts that much effort into his work.  In addition he writes for The New Yorker magazine.  I can write everyday.  I cannot promise that everyday will be a quality post but I can post something everyday.  I'm writing now.  My regular readers know that this is not my best post, but it's something.

Today is Sunday, November 28, 2010 and I am thankful for:

• CBS News Sunday Morning being such a great show.  I watch it faithfully EVERY Sunday morning.
• A peaceful and loving Thanksgiving Holiday.Show all
• Family that I love.
• The fact that I am not pregnant.  I am way too old for young baby activities: changing diapers, midnight feedings, ear infections, spit up, breastfeeding, etc.
• YouTube.  I use YouTube as a search engine.
• Facebook.  I use Facebook as a news site.  I get most of my news from facebook.
• My son all grown up.  He is doing his grown up thing and I am proud of him.
• Quietness.  I love my alone quiet time.
• Blog readers.  I love all yall.

This entry is my expression of appreciation to all that is in my life.  I express this Appreciation from the infinite abundance that is my natural state, knowing that as I do it, this expression will just expand and reflect right back to me.

Namaste

When A Parent Loves

As I was cleaning today, I was thinking about the mothers and fathers in my life who LOVE other people’s children.  All of those thoughts brought to mind R.Kelly’s latest hit When A Woman Loves.  If you listen closely it sounds as if he’s singing about his mother or a mother.  During my chores today my thoughts were more focused on when a parent loves.

When a parent loves, the world is loved.  When a parent loves, love is shared with all of us.  When a parent loves another person’s child, they are really loving ALL of our children.

• I remember when TJ was younger and so many of his friends would come over for sleep overs, dinner, lunch, play dates, whatever, anything, time with our family.  Little did I know at the time that us taking in other children to spend some time with was soothing and helpful to their parents.  I’ve been told several times by several different parents that us having their child over was a blessing to them.  We were just loving our child and treating their children as our own.  We had no idea we were really blessing someone else.
• When I was growing up my mom used to work in a daycare center.  EVERY day she would bring home “some stray child” whose parent was not able to pick them up before the center closed.  Although I was a bit selfish during my early teen years, having someone else’s child around really didn’t bother me.  My mother taught me how to love strangers and see past the exterior of people into their souls.  I am so grateful to her for that.  Thanks to my mother, I have several sisters and brothers that neither of my parents created biologically.  My sister Kathy LOVED having someone else’s child to watch over and love.  That was her thing, loving other people’s children.
• Kathy loved other people’s children so much I believe they thought Kathy was their mother.  I remember when Kathy was just 19 or 20, she took in another woman’s baby as her own and practically raised her for years.  I am grateful to Kathy for that because did ALL of us a great service by showing love to a child who needed it.
• Allan spent the weekend with one of his best friends this weekend.  When I went to take him to the meeting place, I realize that my good friend took on 6 children this weekend.  I thought it was just going to be her kids and Allan.  Don’t know why I thought that because every time I go over there, her oldest always has a friend or two hanging around.  Pele always loves our children as if they are her own.  I love her even more for that.  That’s the love of a mother she shows my children.  The love R.Kelly sings of in his hit When A Woman Loves.
• When I was married, my husband had a great camaraderie with children in every neighborhood we lived in.  Before TJ was born, the neighborhood kids would come over and ask if Mr. Tony could come out and play.  He played football with them in our front yard.  When we moved back to Columbia, he played basketball and football with the neighborhood kids.  He always had their best interest at heart.  There was no malice towards them and he genuinely cared about them as if they were his own.  The love of a parent towards another person’s child is what he has always demonstrated.  Even after our divorce I can still see it.  My ex-husband was and still is a father figure to someone else’s children.  I appreciate that he does that.
• My BFF has two daughters of her own.  Well, this weekend she had a total of 4 girls to care for.  One of them is an infant.  She enjoyed every moment of it.   She did it because the mother needed help.  Plain and simple.  She loved all of them as if they were her own too.  I am thankful she does that.
• Jerrie has been taking care of my oldest granddaughter since she was born.  Jerrie has no grandchildren of her own, but she calls mine hers.  She’s a co-grandparent.  As a matter of fact, Ms T is at Jerrie’s right now giving her all of the love a grandchild gives.  I am thankful to Jerrie for the love she has given to my son, my daughter-in-law, and my grands.  Another example of when a parent loves another parent’s child as their own.

This entry is my expression of appreciation to all of the parents who love.  I express this Appreciation from the infinite abundance that is my natural state, knowing that as I do it, this expression will just expand and reflect right back to me.

Namaste

OMG! I Missed THREE Days!

So, I've been participating in NaBloPoMo 2010 and I missed Thursday, Friday, AND Saturday (Nov 11-13, 2010).  Today is Sunday, November 14, 2010 and I have so much to be thankful for:

• Thankful that I didn't miss today.
• Thankful that I missed 3 days because people in my life found me valuable enough to request my time and support.  So so so thankful that I could be of help to my special crew.
• Appreciative to TWC for internet service here at home on my laptop.
• Thankful to RCPL for allowing me to renew Busting Loose from The Business Game AGAIN.
• Overjoyed I got to see Amira today.
• Appreciative to City of Columbia for water to do laundry and to SCE&G for electricity.

I love yall....

Namaste

Today Was A Good Day

This song describes how I feel about today. Yes, Today Was A Good Day!

I am thankful for the following:

• Home
• Sanity
• Car
• Family
• Love
• My Dogs
• My Friends
• The dinner I personally made that almost killed me. Spaghetti, homemade meat sauce, Texas toast with Mozzarella cheese, white wine and ............. a Cinnabun from Cinnabun on Fort Jackson.  Yeah, I may die in my sleep tonight after all of that good stuff.
• Nice quiet time with myself and a good book. What am I reading? Busting Loose From the Business Game by Robert Scheinfeld and The Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle.
• A post about loving women that was shared by my boy Ken. You can read it here. I highly recommend it!

Today was a good day.
Namaste

NaBloPoMo November 9, 2010

Long Day.  Got much done.  Sleepy Now.  Quick Post.  Thankful for the following:

• appreciation for paying my car taxes
• got new tag decals on my car
• Starbucks Soy Caramel Macchiatto
• Allan passing 4 & 5 multiplication tables this week
• good friends like Jerrie Friday
• being a mother and NOT a father (not that anything is wrong with being a father)
• dinner bought, paid for, and cooked all by me
• spoiled rotten puppies in Sable (7mo old German Shepherd) and Lobo (6mo old Siberian Husky)
• me singing in the car.  Man I'm badd but I love singing in the car!  LOVE singing in the car!
• I D E A S  -- luv em.....  got any good ones you wanna share....

Namaste

We Have Dragons!!

Today is Saturday, November 6, 2010 and I am thankful for:

• My Own – So thankful I have my own house, my own car, my own peace of mind.  God Bless The Child That’s Got His Own.
• Family Movie Night – We watched How To Train Your Dragon tonight.  I enjoyed it.
• Peking Wok – Lemon Pepper Chicken and Shrimp Fried Rice for dinner.
• Robert Englund – He’s a much better Freddy Krueger than Jackie Earle Haley.
• Today right now.  Getting much better at Living In The Now.

 

God Bless and Don’t Digress…

 

namaste

Appreciation for November 5, 2010

Every November I usually post about gratitude, gratefulness, thankfulness and just plain old appreciation.

My goal for November 2010 was to post everyday. Well, I got side tracked until I saw a post on blogher about NaBloPoMo. It reminded me of my yearly November activities so I signed up and here I am.

Starting today I will be posting EVERYDAY this month.

Today is Friday, November 5, 2010 and I am most thankful for:

• Paid bills - I have been collecting unemployment since April and God has made it possible for my mortgage and utilities to continue to be paid during this financial diet.
• TJ - TJ finally got his own place and I am happy and appreciative for that.  I've been talking to him this week and he really wants me to come visit him when his dad goes this weekend.  The problem is that my car needs to be serviced and I'm not comfortable driving it that far until I can pay for the full servicing of my car.  Maybe his dad may get the appreciation bug and let me follow him in his car while he drives the u-Haul of furniture we are giving TJ.
• Fresh Air - This change in the weather here in SC has the air very fresh and crisp.  I love that.  Thanks for the fresh air.
• NaBloPoMo and BlogHer - Thanks for bringing it to my attention that I really should do this yet again.
• My Mom - She has been my biggest supporter and fan.  I love Mom and I am so very thankful to have her in my life.
• Music - love it!
• Robert Scheinfeld - I read two of his books this month:  The 11th Element and Busting Loose From The Business Game.  The second book is by far one of the coolest books I have read in a very long time.  I appreciate what I have learned from both of these books thanks to Robert Scheinfeld.
• My Dogs - They are such a pleasure.  I love walking them and I love seeing how much pleasure they get out of a simple walk.  Dogs are so simple.  I've lost 15 pounds since I got them because I have to walk them 2-3 times a day.  My German Shepherd and my Siberian Husky are the best!  So glad we took them to training too.