CHAPTER 3, PAGE 31

I HOPE YOU DO !

I hope you woke up this morning with a big smile on your face

I hope the sun is shining just for you and the birds are singing their very best songs...

I hope your coffee is hot and tastes just right and the cats are purring contentedly, and the mailman waves a cheery hello and there are no bills in the mailbox...

I hope just everything goes your way ...

I hope everything is well with your world, a place for everything and everything in it's place...

I hope you can enjoy all you do and you are complimented on the way you look and you can laugh and talk and share to your heart's content

I hope you have all you wish for yourself and those dear to you, and all your dreams come true...

At the end of the day I wish you a perfect moon shining just for you, a snug and cozy bed with the softest of pillows and I hope you sleep like a lamb with a smile on your face...

I hope you have a perfect end to the perfect day and

I hope that every day is just as wonderful in it's own way

I hope your day is ... filled with love!

GOOD MORNING

I believe this day is supposed to start out sunny and then this evening we’ll have a few showers. I’ll be at my Dad’s as usual for a Saturday. We’ll probably stay indoors most of the day because he doesn’t venture out very much. But he has a terrific view from the dining room table and we sit there a lot.

I love to listen to him tell the stories of long ago and very often find out something new that I never knew about him before. It is good to share the stories and pass them on too !

I find that I very often do the same with my children and they really love to talk about when they were kids and yes, I find out a lot I never knew by listening to them too ! Some good, and some not so good!

I’ve learned to treasure all the moments the bad and sad as well as the funny and delightful. They are here for such a short time and then are gone just like a gentle breeze in a hot summer’s day.

THOUGHT FOR TODAY

I hope you still feel small when you stand beside the ocean, Whenever one door closes I hope one more opens, Promise me that you'll give faith a fighting chance, And when you get the choice to sit it out or dance... I hope you dance…

From the song "I Hope You Dance" As performed by Lee Ann Womack

 May your day be blessed with a few SMILES and lots of SUNSHINE to warm your heart !

MA

 

 

 

 

 

graphics by: www.amretasgraphics.com

 

CHAPTER 3, PAGE 30

IT’S SO EASY

It’s so very easy to gripe and complain

To dwell on your sorrows or maybe your pain

To start every day with a feeling so blue

Wondering why life is unfair to you

It’s also easy to feel all alone

To think no one else knows

The heartache you’ve known

It’s easy to look in the mirror and see

A person whose luck is as bad as can be

But looking at things in a whole other light

Can make all your problems seem ever so light

If you start every day with a really big smile

If you do what you need to with grace and with style

If you think of how much worse your life could have been

If you take just one frown and turn it into a grin

If you see someone else that’s much worse off than you

Yet they seem to be happy that should give you a clue

How easy it is to forget what we’ve got

To dwell almost always on what we have not

But practicing how to be thankful for things

Makes it easy to face life and all that it brings

I’m not saying it’s easy to hold up your chin

To not feel discouraged and throw the towel in

But counting your blessings instead of your woes

Brings new comfort and hope to your life, Heaven knows

Find something good about every new day

Find something positive that you can say

No matter how trivial, little or small

Even if you think that is not much at all

A small thing today and another tomorrow

Will add up and grow til it lightens your sorrow

Each day becomes easier and then you’ll see

A smile in the place of where a frown used to be

Author Unknown

GOOD MORNING

I found the poem above quite by chance and after reading it, I thought someone must have written it just for me. It says so much of what I really do believe.

It is FINALLY Friday and I’m so ready for the weekend. I have lots to do with being away last weekend, but I’m going to enjoy every single moment of it. I’ve been paying dearly for those few short days of vacation that I truly enjoyed.

THOUGHT FOR TODAY

Doing the best at this moment puts you in the best place for the next moment.

Oprah Winfrey

May your day be blessed with a few SMILES and lots of SUNSHINE to warm your heart !

MA

 

 

 

graphics by: www.untilthengraphics.com

 

CHAPTER 3, PAGE 29

 

There is always something to chuckle about.

Sometimes we see it. Sometimes we don't.

Still, the world is filled with humor.

It is there when we are happy and

it is there to cheer us up when we are not.

Allen Klein

Good Morning !

I think I must have Spring fever. I seem happier than I can remember being in a very long time. My daughter even asked me what I’d been drinking. I don’t drink as a rule and I don’t take any meds except for the daily multiple vitamin and occasional aspirin.

Of course the anticipation of vacation and then the actual vacation probably helped a lot. I hope that what ever it is – it doesn’t go away.

From my morning devotionals…

Would anyone dare to say that their life is as sweet and delicious as a warm, fresh Krispy Kreme doughnut?

I think God’s intentions for our life is to be something sweet and wonderful, but that doesn’t mean that bad times aren’t going to happen. It’s how we view those bad times that makes the difference

THOUGHT FOR TODAY

Angels can fly because they take themselves so lightly.” I think children help grown-ups take themselves lightly. That’s why they are such blessings.

G. K. Chesterton

May your day be blessed with a few SMILES and lots of SUNSHINE to warm your heart !

MA

 

 

 

graphics by: www.untilthengraphics.com

CHAPTER 3, PAGE 28

Dear God,

So far today, I've done all right.

I haven't gossiped. I haven't lost my temper.

I haven't lied or cheated.

I haven't been greedy, grumpy,

nasty, selfish or overindulgent.

I'm very thankful for that.

But in a few minutes, Lord,

I'm going to get out of bed;

and from then on,

I'm probably going to need a lot more help.

Amen.

 GOOD MORNING !

Just like the little prayer above, I’m going to need a lot of help today. I had a wonderful 4 day break from work, but it is going to be hard going back today.

I think we should be able to ease in to work after time off, but no, it hits us full force and we do pay the price for those missed days.

I put up just a few of the over 300 pictures I took for you all to see. It was all just wonderful and I loved every moment.

I didn’t get to the beach by the ocean as they discovered it was over 4 hours away and not the 2 that they originally thought, but they had a beautiful lake there that had a beach, only problem was it opens next weekend. That was justfine with me we had summertime weather and I was warm! After the winter here, it was marvelous!

THOUGHT FOR TODAY

Sooner or later we must realize there is no station, no one place to arrive at once and for all. The true joy of life is the trip.

Robert J. Hastings

May your day be blessed with a few SMILES and lots of SUNSHINE to warm your heart !

MA

 

CHAPTER 3, PAGE 27

A gentle word,

like summer rain,

May soothe some heart

 and banish pain.

What joy or sadness often springs

From just the simple little things

 By Willa Hoey

Good Morning !

I'm up early while everyone else sleeps.  I'm leaving for home around noon today and saying good bye will not be easy.  I'll miss everyone so.  But I have to go...

Back to work tomorrow!

THOUGHT FOR TODAY

 

A perfect guest is one who makes his host feel at home.

 

May your day be blessed with a few SMILES and lots of SUNSHINE  to warm your heart !

MA

CHAPTER 3, PAGE

Ten Things You Will Never Regret:

1. Showing kindness to an aged person.

2. Destroying a letter written in anger.

3. Offering an apology that will save a friendship.

4. Stopping a scandal that was ruining a reputation.

5. Helping a boy or girl find themselves.

6. Taking time to show consideration to parents, friends, brothers and sisters.

7. Refraining from gossip when others around you delight in it.

8. Refusing to do a thing which is wrong, although others do it.

9. Living according to your convictions.

10. Accepting the judgment of God on any question.

 

Author Unknown

 

GOOD MORNING !

We've been busy and on the go.  The weather remains bright sunny and very warm.  I was forced in to finding the shady side of the deck on their porch to sit in as the sun was a little to much at one point yesterday. 

Today we do more sight seeing and shopping too !  I need to find a little gift for the babes at home that are watching my critters.

 

THOUGHT FOR TODAY

 

You can clutch the past so tightly to your chest that it leaves your arms too full to embrace the present.

 

May your day be blessed with a few SMILES and lots of SUNSHINE to warm your heart !

Ma

CHAPTER 3, PAGE 25

While on a walk one day, I was surprised to see a man hoeing his garden while sitting in a chair. "What laziness!" I thought. But suddenly I saw, leaning against his chair, a pair of crutches. The man was at work despite his handicap.

The lesson I learned about snap judgments that day has stayed with me for years now: the crosses people bear are seldom in plain sight.

Author Unknown

It is better to be silent and suspected of stupidity than to open your mouth and remove all doubt.

Abraham Lincoln

GOOD MORNING!

I woke up to a sleeping house this morning and took advantage of some quiet time to use their computer and say good morning to you all !

The sun is up and it beautiful here

THOUGHT FOR TODAY

My grandkids believe I'm the oldest thing in the world. And after two or three hours with them, I believe it, too.

Gene Perret

May your day be blessed with a few SMILES and lots of SUNSHINE  to warm your heart !

MA

CHAPTER 3, PAGE 24

It is not always easy to....

apologize

begin over

take advise

be unselfish

keep trying be considerate

think and then act

profit by mistakes

forgive and forget ...

but it usually pays.

By Richard Hamilton

Just a note to let you all know we arrived safe and sound and it's like summer time here !  Just wonderful !

Will post more soon!

THOUGHT FOR TODAY

Home is the place where the great are small and the small are great.

Glen Wheeler

May your day be blessed with a few SMILES and lots of SUNSHINE to warm your heart!

MA

CHAPTER 3, PAGE 23

To laugh is to risk appearing the fool;

To weep is to risk appearing sentimental;

To reach out for another is to risk involvement;

To expose feelings is to risk exposing our true self;

To place your ideas, your dreams, before the crowd is to risk loss;

To love is to risk not being loved in return;

To live is to risk dying;

To hope is to risk despair;

To try at all is to risk failure;

But to risk we must,

because the greatest hazard in life

is to risk nothing.

The man, the woman, who risks nothing,

does nothing,

has nothing,

is nothing.

Author Unknown

Good Morning !

Happy Friday everyone !

This morning I’m doing the HAPPY DANCE. This evening after work I’m on vacation for the next 4 days. I’ll be meeting up with DS#1 and his family and then we are driving to visit the ‘Sunshine Babes’. They live about 8 hours away. It’s a long drive, but not too long.

I don’t know if I’ll be able to make an entry regularly or not, I’ll just have to see how hectic things are. If you don’t hear from me, just know I’m having fun and enjoy every bit of my four days.

I’ll be flying home on Tuesday afternoon as I need to be back to work for Payroll on Wednesday. DS#1 and his family will be staying there for the rest of the week enjoying their vacation.

This little trip is part of my birthday gift from these two sons and their families. . They are such good kids! I’ll take lots of pictures to share later.

Thought for Today

I have witnessed the softening of the hardest of hearts by a simple smile.

Goldie Hawn

May your day be blessed with a few SMILES and lots of SUNSHINE to warm your heart.

MA

 

 

 

www.heartwarmingholidays.com

 

CHAPTER 3, PAGE 22

I see the dew glisten in the crystallike splendor

While God, with a touch that is gentle and tender,

Wraps up the night and softly tucks it away

And hangs out the sun to herald a new day.

Helen Steiner Rice

The sun shall not smite you by day, nor the moon by night. Psalm 121:6

GOOD MORNING !

The world we live in today is caught up in a lot of negativity. This of course rubs off on us too but it's up to us to make sure that as little as possible of it gets clung to us. No matter how ordinary today may be, we will have an influence on someone, perhaps without even knowing it.

Each day is ours to make as good or bad as we want it to be. If something isn’t going right,or if I’m feeling blue, or even if the weather is cold and bitter I always look for something good to dwell on . Lots of times I have nothing more that my thoughts of being on that warm sandy beach soaking up the warmth.

Lots of people are burdened with bad health or crippling diseases and amazingly these people are often the most pleasant people to be around. Perhaps they are like me, striving to live ‘On the Bright Side’

Thought for Today

Do not start today, with the broken pieces of Yesterday.

May your day be blessed with a few SMILES and lots of SUNSHINE to warm your heart !

MA

 

 

 

graphics by: www.untilthengraphics.com

 

CHAPTER 3, PAGE 21

Spring brings trees, grass, crops and gardens in every shade of green; yellow pond flowers, crocuses, daffodils, tulips, and other spring flowers; cool evenings and warmer days; open houses for grads; the return of the summer-only birds; geese nesting near the pond; baby ducks, baby geese, and fawns; the first bounty from the garden; Women’s History Month; April Fool’s Day; Earth Day; Passover; Cinco de Mayo; Mother’s Day; Father’s Day; Flag Day; Easter; Memorial Day, and many more seasonal holidays and traditions to celebrate.

GOOD MORNING !

Lots and lots of good things do come with Spring time. I’m sure that the list above doesn’t even begin to cover all the things that Spring does bring, but it’s a beginning.

Life is full of moments and the longer our earthly journey takes us the more opportunities we have to create, observe and forget them.

Journaling certainly has a way of helping us to remember. Moments of exquisite joy and fond memories are often forgotten until something triggers our brain and brings them back. ‘Aha’ moments that should not be forgotten. We all have much to teach and perhaps to learn as well.

In the movie ‘The Sound of Music’ Julie Andrews sang The Hills Are Alive with the Sound of Music. That is the way I like to think of Spring ! I love the beautiful flowers and all their wonderful smells and brilliant colors.

THOUGHT FOR TODAY

Take the best parts of life and go with them

May your day be blessed with a few SMILES and lots of SUNSHINE to warm your heart

MA

 

 

 

graphics by:  www.untilthengraphics.com

 

CHAPTER 3, PAGE 20

Most of the battles

Of life are won

By looking beyond the clouds

To the sun.

Helen Steiner Rice

Today look beyond the clouds and you’ll find some rays of sunshine.

GOOD MORNING AND HAPPY SPRING TO YOU !

The long awaited day has arrived. Spring has sprung as they say.

In my life I’ve had many circumstances to look beyond the clouds and find those rays of sunshine.  I grasp at every little occasion to find those golden beams. Life is just too short to waste one moment on anything negative. Yes, the clouds come and go and sometimes we do need them, but if there is one thing I know….it’s that when it gets dark and all is bleak a glimmer of sunshine can brighten up the day.

I have to tell you about the highlight of my day yesterday. A while back my youngest sister and caregiver of my Dad, told me about an egg cooker that she had. I’ve looked all over for this and yes, I finally found one and I bought it.

It’s electric and will poach 4 eggs or hard or soft boil 7 eggs. And it does it perfectly every time. Now it will be much easier to make all those ‘deviled eggs’ I get called up to do when ever we have a family dinner.

When I got home from work, I promptly made 7 hard boiled eggs. It worked beautifully. I ate one for my supper and will have the rest for lunch during the week.

Little things in life do make me happy. Good thing I’ve got a job to go to this morning to pay for all those little gadgets that I don’t really need, but make life more fun.

I owe, I owe , it’s off to work I go.

THOUGHT FOR TODAY

Hope is not the closing of your eyes

to the difficulty, the risk, or the failure.

It is a trust that ... If I fail now...

I shall not fail forever;

and if I am hurt, I shall be healed.

It is a trust that life is good,

love is powerful,

and the future is full of promise.

Anonymous

May your day be blessed with a few SMILES and lots of SUNSHINE to warm your heart !

MA

 

 

 

graphics by: www.hshpgraphics.com

 

CHAPTER 3, PAGE 19

SWALLOWS OF CAPISTRANO

The miracle of the swallows of Capistrano takes place each year at the Mission San Juan Capistrano, on March 19th, St. Joseph's Day.

As the little birds wing their way back to the most famous Mission in California, the village of San Juan Capistrano takes on a fiesta air and the visitors from all parts of the world, and all walks of life, gather in great numbers to witness the "miracle" of the return of the swallows.

Each year the "scout swallows" precede the main flock by a few days and it seems to be their chief duty to clear the way for the main flock to arrive at the "Old Mission" of Capistrano.

With the arrival of early dawn on March 19, St. Joseph's Day, the little birds begin to arrive and begin rebuilding their mud nests, which are clinging to the ruins of the old stone church of San Juan Capistrano.

The arches of the two story, high vaulted Chapel were left bare and exposed, as the roof collapsed during the earthquake of 1812. This Chapel, said to be the largest and most ornate in any of the missions, now has a more humble destiny -- that of housing the birds that St. Francis loved so well.

After the summer spent within the sheltered walls of the Old Mission in San Juan Capistrano, the swallows take flight again, and on the Day of San Juan, October 23, they leave after circling the Mission bidding farewell to the "Jewel of all Missions" -- San Juan Capistrano, California.

If a bird is flying for pleasure, it flies with the wind, but if it meets danger it turns and faces the wind, in order that it may rise higher.

Corrie Ten Boom

Good Morning !

Just a little trivia for you all this morning. Isn’t nature awesome. Everytime I think of these little birds flying all that distance, I’m encouraged.

They focus on the job they have to do and are not sidetracked. Somehow they know the right time and the right place and just do it. If we all try to just focus on what is important and forget about all the other ‘stuff’ maybe we could get more done . I know that I would. It’s often easy for me to get sidetracked.

I’m back to work again this morning. It looks as though it will be a quiet day.

THOUGHT FOR TODAY

Obstacles are what you see if you take your eyes off the goal.

Author Unknown

May your day be blessed with a few SMILES and lots of SUNSHINE to warm your heart!

MA

 

 

graphics by:  www.heartwarmingholidays.com

 

CHAPTER 3, PAGE 18

Whenever there is happiness

Hope you'll be there too,

Wherever there are friendly smiles

Hope they'll smile on you,

Whenever there is sunshine,

Hope it shines especially for you

to make each day for you

as bright as it can be.

Irish Blessing

With the first light of sun....Bless you!

When the long day is done...Bless you!

In your smiles and your tears....Bless you!

Through each day of your years....Bless you!

GOOD MORNING !

Just a few more blessings for you all today. The Irish certainly have a lot of them to share.

R and R day has come once again and I need it badly. Hopefully I’ll be refreshed and renewed for another work week. I’ll be praying as always for all of you.

We are supposed to be warming uphere with temps in the 50’s by the end of the week, but you know Spring always bring us those showers and it looks like we’ll be getting a few of those too.

Thankfully they won’t be snow showers.

***BIG SMILE***

THOUGHT FOR TODAY

A best friend is like a four leaf clover, hard to find and lucky to have.

May your day be blessed with a few SMILES and lots of SUNSHINE to warm your heart !

MA

 

 

 

graphics by: www.cutecolors.com

 

Tags: Blessings, smiles, sunshine, friends