Reuse Reduce Recycle!

I'm not against reusing, reducing or recycling... I've done it my whole life, I learned it from my mom and my grandparents. These are people who knew what it meant to conserve. They weren't wasteful and they taught me not to be wasteful. It makes sense for families to be mindful of every aspect of our lives, I always did it so that we could save money to buy school clothes and Christmas presents, or take a vacation.

Several years ago, Oprah had a "special" program to teach us all how to conserve energy and make our planet HAPPY! She had a family from Chicago on to share their words of wisdom on how to conserve within the home.
They let us know that it's really important to not wash a load of laundry unless you have a full load, don't run the dishwasher unless it's full and be sure to turn off the lights whenever you leave a room. Oh, and make sure you donate your unused clothes and belongings to charity...

My first thought was that these folks are all so seriously out of touch! This is not breaking news... unless you're super wealthy and have servants to take care of your every need... seriously, the proportion of folks that this applies to is almost not measurable, in fact I don't know anybody who doesn't already know how to conserve. I do know a lot of wealthy people who are probably more conservative in every area of their lives than we are. You don't get wealthy by spending every penny.

So, here's the real reason for this blog...

Like I said, I'm not against conserving, I raised my kids to understand the importance of conserving, but just to be clear, it wasn't so that we could safe the planet... it was because it's the right thing to do for our family. Oh, and I taught them to always buy on sale... if it's not on sale, we don't need it.

So, here's the reason for this blog today... I am so annoyed with the indoctrination of "safe our environment" to our children. My granddaughter has spent the night once a month or so since she was really little, she'll be 5 on June 2nd. Needless to say we've watched a lot of child programing since she was born. I started noticing early on that the cartoons she was watching were very different than when my kids were little. In the midst of teaching the ABC's and counting there always seems to be this seriously overt and obsessive focus on the "environment". My sweet little Layla was here a few weeks ago and she was watching some cartoon, the entire program was about reuse, reduce and recycle! I told her that we would find her a show that would actually teach her something that would help her when she goes to kindergarten this August, when she asked why, I told her that her mom would teach her everything this cartoon was teaching her. She was just fine with my answer and I changed the Chanel!

"Being frugal does not mean being cheap! It means being economical and avoiding waste." --Catherine Pulsifer

Say what you mean and mean what you say!

I know that a few members of my family read this silly little blog of mine, probably just to humor me...and I thank you for that:) And there are others who read and won't tell me who they are.... shame on you:) I just want to say that everybody needs a little feed back every once in awhile, so leave a comment... Thank you Jesse, Aunt Kimberly appreciates you:)

Here's my deal today, I have a man in my life that is very sick, he is terminally ill. It's the most difficult thing I've been through so far in my life, this man is my husbands father. I lost a father, and a grandmother... on the same day. But they both hated me!(sorry that sounds so harsh, but it's true) So, though it was hard, it wasn't like this. I'm so fortunate to be able to say that this man has loved me like I was a treasure that he found in the sand, or like a rare diamond that has just been discovered. He has always made me feel like I was worth a million dollars. And today I was honored to be able to sit with him today for a few hours. As I gave him his pain medication and asked him what I could do for him, he said to me, I love you, I love you, I love you, I love you.... 4 times times(i counted) he repeated that he loved me. Today he spoke a blessing over me that will last for eternity. So,... I'm crying and really can't think of how to end this blog, but just to say ..... Please, seize the moment, don't wait one second longer to express your love to those who deserved to hear it from you.

~Purpose to live without regret~
~Kimberly McCleskey~

Happiness

"Happiness is a moral virtue" Dennis Prager

So, I don't know why I listen to this guy on the radio but occasionally I come across him- mostly he irritates me with his pseudo morality. But a few days ago I heard him say that happiness is a moral virtue. I have to say that this is probably one of the most profound things I've ever heard.

Happiness is fleeting, really. It seems that we can never really lock it in on a consistent basis. We're good if something is pleasing us at the moment, but when something is uncomfortable we easily loose our happy state.

Happiness is a virtue that I need to work on daily!- My pattern is that I can easily loose my happiness when I get stressed, or as of recent- when I get lonely I suddenly feel very unhappy-

Guess I have a choice to make--- daily!

“Some cause happiness wherever they go; others whenever they go”
~Oscar Wilde~
Ha- that's hysterical!

Take Time To Show The Love

Today was an extremely emotional day. My husband is about to leave on a very extended trip... it's so extended that I really don't know when he'll be back, somewhere between 3 and 6 months! No, he's not in the military, he just loves God and wants to serve Him, on another continent!...and I'm good with that. But honestly, I'm struggling a bit, feeling protective with the last few day's we have together. I had the day off today and we planned to spend the day doing all the things we love to do. We were headed to take care of some needed errands, oil change, banking, lunch and a few shopping errands then off to see True Grit(with popcorn heavily coated with butter and M & M's, all of which we enjoy doing together, well, he doesn't eat the m& m's...). We had just left the mechanic's and were headed to pick up a few items from David's parents house when his dad called, saying that he thinks he needs to go to the emergency room. His mom had just flew out earlier this morning to celebrate her mothers 100th birthday in Texas. We spend the next 4 hours in the ER, sitting/waiting. I was so disappointed that we missed our day of "memories"... until I realized what a blessing it was to have been the ones he called to take him to the ER, and that every moment with him is precious, I have loved him so much, and he has loved me so well for 28 years now. He is one of two great men in my life(outside of my husband, that is), the other is my step father. Both of these men have had life threatening health issues that are game changers... Whatever I 'think' is important will always pale to their needs, I'd drop everything to make sure that I'm there for either one of them. My dear father in law will spend the next few day's in the hospital. He had some sort of heart failure and fluid on his lungs and they want to watch him (amen)! He is happy to be there, happy that if he stops breathing that they will be there for him.. Which makes us able to sleep tonight.

When you look at your life, the greatest happinesses are family happinesses. ~Joyce Brothers