I just had to share this that my mother forwarded to me by email. I just thought it was so true.
Things aren't what they appear to be. A young couple moves into a new neighborhood. The next morning, while they are eating breakfast, the young woman sees she neighbor hang up the wash outside. 'That laundry is not very clean, she said, she doesn't know how to wash correctly. Perhaps she needs another laundry soap. The husband looked on, but remained silent. Every time her neighbor would hang out the wash, the young woman would make the same comment. About on month later, the woman was surprised to see a nice clean wash on the line and said to her husband, 'Look! she has learned how to wash correctly. I wonder who taught her this? Her husband said, 'I got up early this morning and washed the windows.
And so it is with life: What we see while watching others, depends on the purity of the window through which we look through.
10/03/2008
Yard Sale Time
Looks like we are having a yard sale tomorrow at Dad’s place. His house gets alot of traffic being across from the park. I have spent 2 evenings going up and down the attic stairs hauling stuff down and loading it onto the trailer. Needless to say my rear end and legs are killing me this morning. All the more reason I’ve decided to move the treadmill back out and put it next to my new stand up washer and drier downstairs. I spend so much time down there doing laundry and everything is cleared out now so I’ve got plenty of room. With the satellite TV I can listen to all of my favorite Sirus stations as loud as I want while I'm working out and I love it. Brian has finished painting the walls and is very happy with the end result. The walls as you go downstairs were painted this hideous blue color and were dirty looking. It always looked like you were walking into a dungeon or something. Now it is bright and clean. I guess we will paint the stairs and the basement floor next. Anyway…it’s really looking up.
He is still working on the old laundry room area. So far the interior ceiling is out, and it is gutted. We removed the old window and covered it with plywood…I guess next we will be cutting the wall for a door from our bedroom into that area. I’m not really sure though…I am letting Brian handle all the details…this is his project. I will be so happy to get another bathroom though.
Anyway…I have tons and tons of stuff to sale tomorrow so I should have a really big wad of money by the time it’s all said and done. I have everything from clothes, to baby stuff, to microwaves, household items, pictures, dishes, weed eaters, Halloween decorations and costumes. I think I may even have a kitchen sink. So if you need any of that junk come on by.
10/02/2008
The Secret is Safe With Me
What is a secret? I think a secret is just a hidden truth. So why do we share our secrets? In my opinion the act of sharing secrets helps people in their lives, to free their minds. Frank Warren once said, "We think we're keeping secrets, but the secrets are actually keeping us.” I believe that having someone to tell it to is one of the fundamental needs of humans.
In my life, the sharing of secrets has always taken place within relationships. Most secrets are part of a larger tangle of truths about our own lives and the lives of others. Sometimes we are afraid of our secrets so much that we fill our lives with distractions in an effort to avoid being alone with our thoughts. The more our mouths are able to speak the hidden truth, the closer we can draw to others.
According to the Twelve Step programs, we are as sick as our secrets. But if we can find a safe place to share our secrets we can begin to work toward healing.
I have shared secrets before and had that person run right to another and tell them…even after they were specifically asked not to do so. This is something that is hard for me to swallow maybe because I take pride in the fact that I am the type of person who takes confidential information to the grave. Secrets or confessions should be shared between friends, but a word of caution from my personal experience, if a friend becomes uneasy around your honesty they have not yet begun to be honest with themselves. I think you are a more admirable person and friend if others can trust you, tell you secrets, and be comfortable knowing that it is safe with you.
A trusted friend shared a secret with me just yesterday. I was honored that this person felt he could entrust me with this information that he had kept hidden away and I can assure him that his secret is safe with me. I hope it helped him ease his mind as well. Frederick Buechner is quoted as saying, "I am my secrets. And you are your secrets ... our trusting each other enough to share them with each other has much to do with the secret of what it is to be human."
9/30/2008
Mean Moms
Someday when my children are old enough to understand the logic that motivates a parent, I will tell them, as my Mean Mom told me: I loved you enough . . To ask where you were going, with whom, and what time you would be home. I loved you enough to be silent and let you discover that your new best friend was a creep. I loved you enough to make you go pay for the bubble gum you had taken and tell the clerk, "I stole this yesterday and want to pay for it." I loved you enough to stand over you for two hours while you cleaned your room, a job that should have taken 15 minutes.
I loved you enough to let you see anger, disappointment, and tears in my eyes! Children must learn that their parents aren't perfect. I loved you enough to let you assume the responsibility for your actions even when the penalties were so harsh they almost broke my heart. But most of all, I loved you enough to say NO when I knew you would hate me for it. Those were the most difficult battles of all. I'm glad I won them, because in the end you won, too. And someday when your children are old enough to understand the logic that motivates parents, you will tell them.
Was your Mom mean? I know mine was. We had the meanest mother in the whole world! While other kids ate candy for breakfast, we had to have cereal, eggs, and toast. When others had a Pepsi and a Twinkie for! Lunch, we had to eat sandwiches. And
you can guess our mother fixed us a dinner that was different from what other kids had, too.
Mother insisted on knowing where we were at all times. You'd think we were convicts in a prison. She had to know who our friends were, and what we were doing with them. She insisted that if we said we would be gone for an hour, we would be gone for an hour or less. We were ashamed to admit it, but she had the nerve to break the Child Labor Laws by making us work. We had to wash the dishes, make the beds, learn to cook, vacuum the floor, do laundry, empty the trash while she lay awake at night thinking of more things for us to do. She always insisted on us telling the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. By the time we were teenagers, she could read our minds and had eyes in the back of her head. Then, life was really tough! Mother wouldn't let our friends just honk the horn when they drove up. They had to come up to the door so she could meet them.. While everyone else could date when they were 12 or 13, we had to wait until we were 16.
Because of our mother we missed out on lots of things other kids experienced. None of us have ever been caught shoplifting, vandalizing other's property or ever arrested for any crime. It was all her fault. Now that we have left home, we are all educated, honest adults. We are doing our best to be mean parents just like Mom was. I think that is what's wrong with the world today. It just doesn't have enough mean moms!
I loved you enough to let you see anger, disappointment, and tears in my eyes! Children must learn that their parents aren't perfect. I loved you enough to let you assume the responsibility for your actions even when the penalties were so harsh they almost broke my heart. But most of all, I loved you enough to say NO when I knew you would hate me for it. Those were the most difficult battles of all. I'm glad I won them, because in the end you won, too. And someday when your children are old enough to understand the logic that motivates parents, you will tell them.
Was your Mom mean? I know mine was. We had the meanest mother in the whole world! While other kids ate candy for breakfast, we had to have cereal, eggs, and toast. When others had a Pepsi and a Twinkie for! Lunch, we had to eat sandwiches. And
you can guess our mother fixed us a dinner that was different from what other kids had, too.
Mother insisted on knowing where we were at all times. You'd think we were convicts in a prison. She had to know who our friends were, and what we were doing with them. She insisted that if we said we would be gone for an hour, we would be gone for an hour or less. We were ashamed to admit it, but she had the nerve to break the Child Labor Laws by making us work. We had to wash the dishes, make the beds, learn to cook, vacuum the floor, do laundry, empty the trash while she lay awake at night thinking of more things for us to do. She always insisted on us telling the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. By the time we were teenagers, she could read our minds and had eyes in the back of her head. Then, life was really tough! Mother wouldn't let our friends just honk the horn when they drove up. They had to come up to the door so she could meet them.. While everyone else could date when they were 12 or 13, we had to wait until we were 16.
Because of our mother we missed out on lots of things other kids experienced. None of us have ever been caught shoplifting, vandalizing other's property or ever arrested for any crime. It was all her fault. Now that we have left home, we are all educated, honest adults. We are doing our best to be mean parents just like Mom was. I think that is what's wrong with the world today. It just doesn't have enough mean moms!
9/28/2008
Voila!!!
Viola! My Halloween decorations are now complete. Even got a real cat in the scene! We are ready for the ghosts and goblins!
Gettin' Ready for Halloween
We are all getting ready for Halloween this year...are you ready? All of my decorations are out of the attic and ready to be put up. We all have our costumes ready...looks like Daniel and Ryan found part of mine...It should be fun this year. The fall festival will be held here at our farm on Oct 11th I think...that's always a blast. And Halloween falls on Friday this year so I'm sure we will get into all sorts of mischief and mayhem so you better watch out!
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