WARNING: it's Addicting

I'm sure it was meant to be for evil and created by the devil himself.  It's so yummy!
You should try spanish peanuts evenly mixed with candy corn!
It's addicting.
of course everything meant for evil can be turned!
As a sat in the morning at my In-laws home waiting to borrow a vehicle, I quickly devoured the bowl of goodies (peanuts and candy corn) my MIL made!
As I began to leave, she politely offered up another bowl of sweet goodness!!  I declined, knowing that I would just devour another bowlfull!
I'm quite sure there is no good use for candy corn, it's kinda nasty if you ask me.  The only time of year you can get fresh candy corn is around Halloween, only adding to the yumminess of the mixture!!
Anywho, all things work together for the greater good!!
I pulled up at midnight to return the vehicle I borrowed for the day and a sweet angel appeared, moseyin' down the drive way!  It was my FIL coming out to meet me to retrieve his keys and much to my surprise and delight he handed me a bagful of this addicting mixture, prepared by, another sweet angel, my MIL!!

After a long day and a sortof rough one, it was a welcomed delight and at midnight!!  Have I told you I'm blessed!!  Oh yea, I am!!

Sweetening the deal even more, without thinking about it and just knowing I wanted to save it for the next day, I transferred the baggy of sweet yumminess to the vehicle I would be using the next day!

Yesterday morning my friend and I continued to move her into her new place (whole good story in itself) and we chomped on the mixture my In-laws had worked together to createand deliver to me!  In the midst of our chatting and laughter, I giggled to myself and thought about the sweetness shared with me the day before and how it only sweetened my short time with my friend while getting stuff done!!!

See "all things work together for the greater good of those who love Him"!!

I'm quite sure my In-laws didn't have any idea how that sweet baggy and their thoughtfulness would continue to make me smile and feel blessed but it does!  And then to have it hand delivered at midnight and then to only be sweetened by sharing it with a friend!! 

I've got a sneaky suspicion it was a ploy to get the candy out of their house, nonetheless, they still had to put time into the task and it was for me!!!

That's the good stuff!!

Run out get your candy corn and spanish peanuts and make two baggies full and keep one for yourself and hand deliver one to a friend!  Then make sure you share your baggy with a friend while catching up!  It only takes 10 minutes to devour the baggy and it's enough time to have a cup of coffee, a few good laughs and a heartfelt moment with a friend!  The blessings are beautiful! 

But hurry and do it now, before the candy corn goes stale!!

There's a time and a season for everything!!

The Words Of A New Day

the worst words I ever heard:
YOU HAVE NO FRUIT!!!!!!!!
NO FRUIT?????
YEP NO FRUIT ON YOUR BRANCHES!!!!!!
A few other words were exchanged and I defended my choices and I knew my choices were in alignment!
Of course, as soon as I walked away, I questioned me, my choices and my life.
I couldn't believe I allowed someone to make me question me!
 I came home a sobbing mess!
Met hubby at the door and all he could say was:
Heather (my Just a Good Neighbor) was waiting!
I sobbed some more, stupid stuff and hubby shoved, literally shoved me out the door!
I DON'T NEED SHOVING!  I go out with a smile, it doesn't require movement from someone else.
I was settled in for the "no fruit and bed thingy" (I just wanted to run from everything) and Larbo said goodbye!
Even better was my friend who said "hello and we're leaving"!!!
Then  the words " does she know what your doing?  Does she know who you are?"
I couldn't even answer.......
all I could do was pick up my glass and take a swig
I took stock!  With the help of my friend I looked at me,
I looked at my life, I looked at my family and I looked at my friends
all was in CHECK!!!!!!
My life was in good alignment (mostly)
I backed off of myself
I repeated the scripture, that was NOT part of my daily scripture vocabulary:  He who does the will of my Father in Heaven will enter.  I was calming and finding peace again, in who I was and who I was becoming!
My friend, was allowed, even further into my heart and my life at this time, I really heard what she was saying.  I allowed her to see me hurting and NOT being positive and I was OK, I was better than ok, I was me, really me and she didn't run and she didn't leave, she stayed and she listened and she loved me for me!
The most hurtful words that had ever been spoken to me, threw me in a different direction and they turned out to be a beautiful blessing, I became me!
Best of all, those hurtful words showed me the friend I had that was there all along!
Making the judgment of fruit or no fruit is not for someone else to do, it's a very personal prayer between yourself and God!!
Believe half of what you see and  none of what you hear!!!

Date Night is Important!

I'm so thankful for being taught that "Date-night" is special and should be taken seriously.  I'm so thankful for being "pushed" to go hang with "the girls"! 
I had a last minute Friday night off! 
Adam had a mole removed  and since he has never even had a stitch and maybe one blood test his whole life (THANK GOD), I was a little nervous about how he would do, so I walked into work and took Friday off!!  When asked, if I had my shift covered, my answer was simply, "it just doesn't matter, I need to be with my guy tomorrow and I'm not going to be here!"  Of course, I NEVER do that, so it was covered!  My guy did extremely well, a few jitters, but a great/fantastic nurse went and found my big guy some gum and told him to focus on chewing the gum and blowing bubbles!! WORKED LIKE A CHARM!!  I'm so thankful for our nurse and the Doctor who was so down to earth and made Adam feel comfortable!
Anywhoo, hubby found out I wasn't going in Friday night and he said, "oh good, I'm coming home to take you to dinner"! 
I was so excited, but we both knew that it may or may not happen, depending on our patient! 
Honestly, it didn't matter, what mattered was that hubby made it a point to put me first, he made me the priority!  Of course, both of us had our oldest at a higher priority!
Patient was doing well!!  He had recovered fine and wasn't in any pain!
After talking to hubby a few times, I realized, work may not be able to let him get outta there!  None the less, I was going to get ready for date-night!
I was just about ready and wondering to myself how long I would stay "dolled up" before I put my pj's on and I heard the diesel pulling into the drive!!!!! 
It happened we really went on a date! 
I love date night!  What I love more, is knowing that I'm his priority #1!!  Cooler than that is knowing that our priorities line up together, so even though I'm his priority, our kiddos are our priority!  It all falls in line!
My  heart melted as he told me about telling his boss "I'll come in tomorrow, but tonight, I'm taking my wife to dinner"!
For two hours, we shared food and laughter, stories about both our jobs and our individual and together stories of our kiddos!  It was a perfect night!
I'm so thankful for being taught, by my in-laws, that date night is important, I'm even more thankful that hubby got that lesson too!!
BTW, I'm so glad that mole on Adam has been removed!!  After 15 years of constant watching, I'm so glad it's over and there wasn't anything of concern about it!!

Words/Lines That Made The Difference

Lines/Words that have made a difference in my life.  Either spoken by me to someone else or to me from someone else:

You look happy

hug

friend 

Your smile is beautiful

I'll cry with you

I'll pray for you

I'm here for you 

You're never alone

You are my priority

I love you

The last two are the two that have made the largest impact on my life, but the last two are encompassing of all the above statements.

Just a Good Neighbor

When we had neighbors, at the other house, there was a time when the house next door was up for sale!
I spent days and weeks praying for a good neighbor.  I asked for someone around my age with children, but I tried not to push, asking mostly for just a good neighbor!
Not that I didn't have good neighbors already, because we had great neighbors.  But they had lived in their houses for 20+ years!  They were in a different stage of life than I was.  I needed someone in the same stage of life as myself!
At the time, I just waited and prayed.  I had no idea what God had in store for me!
The kiddos and I, only the big one and Ya's at the time, pulled up after working out at the church and there were people moving in next door!
They looked young, like me!  I saw a couple of kiddos!! I couldn't wait to go up and introduce myself!  Answered prayer, I thought to myself!
I'm not sure if I took anything inside my house or if I ran right up their new drive and introduced myself and my kiddos!
I think I scared my new neighbors a bit.  I think they thought they were living next door to a crazy lady.  But they were polite and chatted with me a bit and then  I let them get back to work!
Before long, my neighbor and I were sitting outside, watching our kiddos play and having long conversations about EVERYTHING, helping each other move furniture or paint before the hubby's got home or even chatting on the telephone to each other for hours on end!!! She was pretty candid, very real!  She wasn't afraid to tell me about the good, the bad or the ugly!  I soooo  wasn't there yet!  But I shared good (ONLY)!  I think she knew there was bad and ugly, but she waited on me!
Our neighborly duties turned, almost immediately, into friendship!
Our kiddos became friends and our relationship continued to develop!
As she was able to laugh at life and talk about what wasn't pretty, I started to understand that it didn't change my view of her!  It didn't change who she was, what it did do is make her more REAL to me and I loved her even more because of that!  She was very real and the best part was she wasn't afraid of being real!  She was and is so good for me!  It's because of her, that I laugh more now, I'm ok with being really real, really into life!  Not living some painted picture because I was too afraid for anyone to see any different!  It is/was because of her that I started REALLY living all of life!
On started a new look at life for me! She taught me to be real, right from the moment we met!  She taught me not to take myself so seriously, that I could laugh at life a little and not pretend everything was ok, but to be REAL!
I'm so thankful for my friend that was only supposed to be a "good neighbor"! 

You know it's the start of a beautiful relationship when:  

furniture is being moved, walls are being painted and trees are coming down.....

all before the hubby's get home from work!

I'm A Faucet.....

Ya'll, it's gotta stop!!

I thought that even I, would have a point where my tears dried up.  

I guess I'm wrong, I'm a stinkin' faucet!  

I can't mak'em stop, 

so could y'all stop blessing me  

stop being so sweet 

just be mean to me for a minute

I've got to get my act together!

(there's no crying on the rr)!!

I don't think I've made one trip to work this week without tears 

I haven't worked one shift without tears streaming down my face at some point!

and it's not because I miss my sister..

it's because you all love her and me so much

It's because your memories are so beautiful

it's because I never once felt alone this week

It's because I have been blessed abundantly-------honestly, more than I could have ever imagined!! 

I need to put make-up on, I haven't worn any in over a week (so NOT like me to go to work without any)

COULD Y'ALL JUST BE MEAN TO ME FOR A MINUTE???

I'm just kidding!!

Thanks to everyone for your time and your prayers, thoughts, hugs, love and memories.  I never imagined ever feeling so blessed in my life! 

Thank you all SOOO much! 

The Planned Day

Some days, I just have to go through the motions.  I just have to do, what I am "supposed" to do and hope for tomorrow!

Some days, I am excited for what I need to do and I don't just go through the motions, I add a lil' extra, I take the extra step, I need to go the extra mile!

Some days, I just need to sit and not "do" any of the to-do list or the supposed to-do list!  I need to put on a certain shirt/sweatshirt, maybe a pair of workout pants and brew coffee all day long and just sit and watch the day go by and just ponder in my mind all the people and things I am thankful for!
A stop and smell the roses kinda day!!

Some days, I need to do all of the above!

But all days need to end the same way:  

a kiss/hug from the hubby that lets me know, I'm going to be ok, no matter what my day was like!  A peek in on the kiddos and see them sleeping snuggled in their beds, safe and sound! 

That's the part where I know my day went as planned 
and not by me!!