HAPPY BIRTHDAY ALERT!

By the by . . . 

IT WAS TOTALLY RUSSO'S BIRTHDAY TODAY! YAY! I JUST GOT HOME OR THIS WOULD HAVE BEEN UP MUCH MUCH EARLIER!  BUT THERE'S NOTHING FROM STOPPING ALL Y'ALL FROM WISHING HER A HAPPY BIRTHDAY ALL WEEKEND LONG, YEAH?!!

Happy Birthday to one of the coolest, funkiest, stylin'est, big-hearted-est chicks we know.

Hearts!

Janiel and Maegan

Embarrassing moment alert

This weekend I made a fool of myself at a poker tournament with the guys. Have ya'll ever tried to focus on a task while a fly is buzzing around you? For some reason the task becomes impossible to accomplish. Usually, I let the fly buzz around with no problem but this day was different. I was on a roll with poker.

Instead of letting the fly buzz around, I decided to take that the bug out. Nothing was going to ruin my focus. I gripped the fly swatter and waited for him to land on a surface. Too bad my brain was hyped up on adrenaline because the minute the fly landed on the light bulb, I swung.

Yep, I forgot that the surface was a light bulb. Needless to say, you can imagine everyone's surprise when they heard the sound of breaking glass. I took that fly out as well as the light bulb.

I should have been focusing on my game but instead I let that fly get on my nerves. As a result, I got ribbed the whole entire night about the light bulb. Yep. lesson learned; do not focus on the small stuff.

What is luck?

Today is a reminder that life is short. You have to live every moment like it's your last. It's sounds cliche but it's true.

Today a friend lost her life. She went in for surgery and didn't wake up. She's young, not but 3 years older than me. All the while I sit here and think how lucky we all are to be alive.

We are lucky to see the sunset and feel the chill of night. We often think of luck in terms of money or status but luck doesn't work that way. Today is a day to hug your loved ones. We are all lucky, more so than we believe.

Embarrassing moment alert

It's no secret; I have an addiction to wigs. Be they pink or almost elven-like I love them. This weekend I lost one of my clip-on pony tail extensions at the grocery store. Usually I'd let the wig go but this was my most beloved wig. I had to find it.

Needless to say, I walked up and down the aisles asking every employee if they had seen my hair. I didn't think anything wrong with this because I had a goal. I needed to find my wig. All the while, my friend suppressed a smile.

It wasn't until he smacked me on the arm and said, "You do realize how this looks, right?"

I shrugged my shoulders and glanced down the cereal row. 

He couldn't stop giggling at my persistence. He choked out one sentence mid a flood of tears, "You’re asking people if they've seen your hair and your real hair is on your head."

His words stopped me in my tracks. For 20 minutes I had barreled around the grocery store asking people if they had seen my hair. Every single employee probably took one look at my frizzy hair and thought I had lost my mind.

Yep, there are 30 grocery store employees out there who think I am absolutely batty. I'm okay with that, because I found my wig.

Stop, Drop, and Listen

My littlest offspring says hilarious things. And I'm so used to it that most of the time it blows right past me. But lately, I've been stopping to listen more--like, dropping whatever I'm focusing on/worried about/trying to figure out/frustrated over/confused with, and just listening to the things coming out of my boy's head. And I will tell you, it's been a learning experience. 

Because I've always known this child was smart. And non-linear in the extreme. But I didn't really  see the gentle brilliance with which his mind works until I started to really listen to him. So, when my middle daughter was trying to tell him something and accidentally misspoke, his response was quick and clever, and I learned that he makes rapid-fire connections in a way that I think most 11 year-old boys don't. i.e.:

DaughterChild: Look at those mountains. Do you know why the rocks are all sideways like that?

Little Dude: Nope.

DaughterChild: It's because there was an earthcake---

Little Dude: Also known as a mud-pie---

Seriously? Whip-crack fast association going on there. That takes an interesting mind.

And then there was this the other day:

Dad: So. What did you kids learn in church today? (because we do that whole religion-thing at our house.)

Kids: There was that story about the girl who never gave up even though her life was hard. Like she was always cheerful. Yeah, and I loved when he talked about starting that fire when he was a kid, and his facial expressions were hilarious. Yeah, where he talked about obedience. And--

Little Dude: Chuck Norris can light fires with his farts.

Hahahaha! Kid knows his timing. He's always been like that.

My point--besides that my boy is a total bustup--is that I don't normally register this stuff from him unless I drop everything and just focus. Listen to him. Notice him. Think about him. And when I do the rest of the world gets quiet, and what he says and means and how his little heart feels are suddenly all-capped front and center of my attention. I see his little soul shining.

Which means: if we did this with everything in life, if we just stopped and let go of future worries, past worries, stress of the moment, schedules, plans, irritants, whatever---imagine what we'd hear from the world around us. What we'd notice. What we'd learn. And how much more peaceful it would all be. I think we'd see more of the good in our lives.

Just a thought. 
One I'm going to focus on now.

Day of Fools

I had grand plans of writing a clever, humorous, brilliant post full of irony and snappy lines in honor of this day.

But that didn't happen. So I'm posting these clips instead. They sure make me laugh. I hope they do the same for you. Happy Day of April Fools!

Momentum & congrats to Mr. Caleb Warnock

While chasing our dream we have to remember on simple rule- never underestimate the power of momentum. No matter where you are in the journey of pursuing your dream you need to trust in yourself.

You may be down for the count or ridiculously tired of the rejection but none of that matters in the end. Momentum has a way of propelling you to greatness. One moment you could be ready to quit your dream and the next you could be on the cusp of everything you ever wanted. 

You just have to keep going, keep fighting. Sooner or later, momentum will find you. 

PS-Major congrats to Mr. Caleb Warnock for signing a contract for six new books. This man has been our writing mentor (L.G.L.I for short) and dear friend. We're so happy for you!

http://calebwarnock.blogspot.com/2013/03/i-signed-contracts-for-six-new-books.html