From Chaos Comes Happiness

I've sat down and written this post three or four times now. I guess if something doesn't come easily, then I should just give it up, huh? For some reason, though, I couldn't. Especially after reading so many blogs this week on "embracing imperfections". Please allow me to share my own "embracing" story . . . the good, the bad, and the ugly. When I started writing this post, I was heated and the blood was boiling. I was venting to the max and I wanted to tear it up with all my blogland friends. I think hanging around in blogland with my dear friend Nicole has got me liberated! ;)  But then I decided that I needed to approach it all a little differently. I want to stay true to the person I am, so I'm decided to put a positive spin on what made me so annoyed this week. Allow me, if you will, to share . . . A few days ago, I stumbled upon a couple of blogs that just made me stop in my tracks and wonder … What in the ...

Do you ever find yourself in a bit of a rut and wishing the hours away? I do . . . more often than I care to admit. I do this when I am at work. I work Mondays, Tuesday and Thursdays. And every single Monday and Tuesday, I wish for it to be Wednesday, when I can put my Mom hat on and be at home with my girls. On Thursdays, I wish for it to be Friday, when I can, again, put my Mom hat on and be at home with my girls. When the weekend arrives, that is probably the only time I don’t wish for the time to go faster, but I wish for the clock to stop (I’m so indecisive, aren’t I?) I wonder if I did something more creative in my job, then perhaps I wouldn’t wish for the time to fly by. I wonder if I painted or wrote or created in my job, then I would spend my off days wishing to be at work. Hmmmmm . . . Create. I remember that word. Do you? That word was supposed to be my Word of the Year for 2010 . Create. What happened? Where did you go? You came out a few times in t...

Just a quick little update, friends! Today I am being featured over at a lovely little place I like to hang out called, "Mama's Little Nestwork". Do you know Mama Hen? She (and her little chick) are just about the cutest people in blogland, and last week she contacted ME about being featured at her blog ... I was thrilled and am still feeling the happiness from her email!!! THANKS, Mama Hen!!! So, check it out! You can read more about me and Mama Hen here . . . (or, click on the button Now, if you happen to be visiting from the Nestwork for the very first time, please make yourself at home!! Pour yourself a lovely cup of coffee (or perhaps a glass of wine, if you like that sort of thing) and take a look around. There are some lovely little orange tabs at the top of this screen that will take you to all sorts of wonderful places where you can learn About Me , read some of my Best of Chaos posts, see who has received honorary "Get Out of Crankville Free...

I wonder what they will be like when they are older . . . Will they still be each others best friend? Will they still listen to each other as intently as they do today? Will they remember how much they make each other laugh right now? Will they be there in good times and bad? Of all the things in life I am blessed for, one of the tops has to be that God has given me TWO amazing daughters to grow together and be together in this crazy world. And if there is anything I can tell them about their relationship with each other, it would be to never forget the importance of their friendship.   If I could make a wish for my daughters, it would be . . . That when life is hard, they pick each other up and carry each other through the hard times.  That when life is good, that they enjoy it together. That when there are obstacles placed before them, they work through them together. That when they are grown and have families of their own...

It's been said that Walt Disney World is the happiest place on earth, and I think that much of that statement is true. Underneath the imagination and magic of Mickey and Cinderella, are simply some very happy people. Truly.  Pleasant, kind, smiling, happy people. And they are employees. It's kind of annoying. Well, not really . But, just a little. How can these people be so happy ? I've been think about that quite a lot since our trip . . . the whole idea of "happiness". When starting my blog I chose a title that ended in "happiness" because I truly do believe so much in living a happy life. I try. I'm not always bubbles and ponies, but I try to BE happy. I'm wondering what makes others  happy ? Not the "Oh, I just won a million dollars" happy. I'm talking about just day to day happiness. The feeling of complete contentment with the life we are living and the things we are doing in it. While wandering through Ma...

Happy Mickey Mouse and Bippity Boppity Boo to YOU, dear friends! We are back - alive and well - after one fun filled week of merriment and all things fabulous in Walt Disney World!!! And boy-oh-boy, I'm tired. I can't believe that the trip we saved and planned for well over a year has come and gone. This trip truly was all that I hoped it would be, and more. The fun started upon our arrival to Florida last Friday - and continued for 6 nights and 7 days, until we boarded the plane and came back to sweet home Chicago. Let me tell you - as a young 39 year old girl who has never been to Disney before, I was in awe of this empire that the great Mr. Walt himself built. I was moved to tears many many times through out the week, and I was thrilled to be able to bring my daughters here to enjoy it all. Instead of boring you all week with posts about our trip, I thought I'd share just a few photos and highlight some of the very best moments right now. First and foremost, p...

Last but most DEFINITELY NOT LEAST in our week of talented Guest Bloggers, is the brilliant and amazing Nicole, from Destination: Unknown . I can't remember if, in this land of Blog, I found Nicole first or she found me (of coure, I'd love to take full credit for it), but I do know that what has become a good read (her blog) has turned into a true friendship with someone who I admire and respect whole heartedly. Nicole's writing is full of passion, honesty, and humor, and I love that when I stop by her blog I never know what I will find. It could be a stroll down memory lane, or a heated post about a subject she believes strongly in. Whatever it is, I am grateful to call her my friend, and am happy to introduce you to her today. Introducing, Nicole, and her post titled . . . Growing up in Creative Chaos Some of my friends grew up in a good old fashioned southern home. Mom and Dad (which they more than likely referred to as Mama and Daddy) with a few brothers an...

What a fantastic week of Guest Bloggers!!! I am so enjoying each of their posts, and I hope you are too. By now, I am probably all Mickey Moused OUT and SO tired of singing "It's a Small World" or hearing "Some day my Prince will come!" that I am probably sneaking some time to visit your blogs, but not quite ready to return from the Magic of Disney. So, today, I have an amazing guest post that made me laugh and smile the whole way through it, written by my dear blog friend, Leslie, from {Words of Me Project} . Les (as her friends call her) and I stumbled upon each others blogs about a year ago, and I have a special place in my heart for this gifted and inspiring lady! She shares wonderful creative adventures and stories of inspiration and hope on her blog. If you don't know her yet, sit back and enjoy this wonderful post, titled . . . .  My First Date with Dave   Before I get to my post I just wanted to THANK my dear friend Leanne for asking me to guest ...

Our Guest Post today is brought to you by my dear friend, Cindi, from So, That's Why . Cindi and I go WAAAAAYYYYY back . . . to that old "Glee" life in High School. As a matter of fact, here is a photo of Cindi and I doing our 'thing' . . .  Oh, yeah! That's us. And we were IT!!! Cindi is a pretty awesome person who works two jobs (one is teaching!!!), is raising two amazing kids, is a major digital scrapbook guru, and just an amazing person all around. She brings out the very best in me, and I am so very grateful for her presence in my life. She wrote a great piece this week about procrastinating, which is think works hand in hand with a post I just last week on my own procrastinating tendencies. So, without further adieu, I give you Cindi and her post titled . . .  Life is too short to do it later I’ve got a huge problem. See, I procrastinated writing this blog post for my dear friend Leanne. Her blog is so cool,...

Our second Guest Blogger is one of my dearest friends on this earth, Peggy, from Small Steps to Giant Leaps . PK and I actually met through my sister years and years ago, and we developed a bond that can probably only be understood by the two of us. Peggy exudes a sense of balance and peace that I can only dream of having, and I am so very very grateful to call her my friend. I'm so glad to introduce you to a little bit of her wisdom and insite, so without further adieu I proudly present Peggy and her post titled . . .   May you always… We are fortunate to see my older grandson, “JAK”, every week. On Sunday, we pick him up from his mom’s and then his dad (my son) picks him up at our house a few hours later. During those weekly visits, we have played “restaurant”, planted a garden, built all sorts of contraptions out of the boxes in the recycling bin, walked to the park to climb the monkey bars, and taken Barney (our dog) on numerous ...

Starting off our week of amazing Guest Bloggers is Bossy Betty , an absolutely brilliant writer, story teller, and photographer whose blog I started following about 12 months ago, and who has enriched my life not only with the wonderful posts on her blog , but through her heart felt, supportive, and always humorous comments on my blog. I adore this woman. She is my idol . . . and I can only hope to some day reach the hearts and funny bones of my blog friends as she manages to do every day. Without further adieu, I present you with Guest Post #1, Bossy Betty, and her story titled . . . Bon Voyage Every Day When I leave for work in the morning, I run into school traffic--parents dropping off their kids at the local schools near our house. If I am early enough, I also see some parents dropping off their high schools students at the nearby bus stop. The traffic is slow, stop and go, and there's plenty of time to gaze into other cars and do some people-watching. Yesterday m...

Did I ever tell you that my Ella is a budding photographer? Yep, she sure is. I have my very own Annie Liebovitz on my hands, I do, I do. Her fascination with the camera started such a long time ago, and is probably a direct result of her father (PG) always putting a camera in her face to capture her dimples and smile. She'd smile for the photo, then beg for the camera and an opportunity to take her own pictures. So, we passed on Katie's little Fisher Price camera and let her go at it. . . . . . except, the Fisher Price camera was WAY TOO easy for Ella. There is no challenge in this camera - no zoom - no flash - nothing. Just click and go. Which is probably perfect for a number of children out there, but not for Ella. So, we found ourselves letting her use our "GROWN UP" camera. Probably not the best idea, but one that we felt we had no choice but to do. I mean, imagine what the world would be like if Monet  or Van Gogh 's mothers never handed them a p...

I work best under pressure. Some would say "extreme" pressure. I'm the worst kind of procrastinator, the kind that waits until the final minutes for most things in life. I've always been that way - and I'm not even sure how that started, because if you knew the rest of my family - you would know that they are nothing like that. I come from a family of planners. Organizers. People who prepare and execute in the most timeliness of timelines. Me? I wing it. All of the time. From preparing for Christmas or hosting a party, to creating art or packing for vacation, I find that I do my best work under the tick tock of the clock. I don't stress (usually ... until the very last minute ...) and I push myself up to the very end. Why? Well . . . it's just what works for me. And believe it or not, I am usually able to pull things off without much of a hitch. My sister laughs when she stops at my house the morning of a party, only to find PG sitting on the couch wat...

Hello Dear friends!!! Well, we made it! We survived our Garage Sale of the Century! And boy-oh-boy, I'm tired! After a few nights of gathering goodies, folding kids clothes, and pricing our treasures, we had a most successful sale this weekend! In the end, we sold lots of our old treasures and banked a whopping $262.00. Not bad for 2 days work, huh? Here are a few of the things I learned during this years sale: The items you really think will sell . . . don't The items you think will NOT sell . . . do The people who look like they have all the money in the world, will usually pay with pennies, and those who look like they don't have a penny to spend will end up pulling out a wad of cash from their pockets Long haired men with scruffy faces and tattoos covering their arms should not be judged by their rough appearance ... they end up being the most delightful customer who you wish would pull up a chair and sit with, just so you can hear their life story ...

Today, I remember. To those who didn't see it coming . . . whose lives were forced to end so suddenly . . .  you will forever be in my heart and in my prayers. I am eternally grateful for the sacrifice you were forced to make on that day, and I am forever changed by your absence from our world. Like so many of you, today I am thinking of all of those whose lives were lost, or drastically changed, 9 years ago. Image from Newseum in Washington D.C. of what was left of the antenna from one of the WTC buildings. May we all stop and think about what we felt on this day not so long ago. May we remember the feelings we had the days following and how we united as a nation and as a people. And someday, may we, our children and our childrens children, live in a world of peace. I am wishing you peace today, dear friend.

BUT . . . I think I'm loosing my coolness. I used to be cool (if you know me - don't laugh. This is my blog - you go ahead and just let me think that I used to be cool, ok?) I digress . . . I used to be cool. Kids on the block used to laugh at me, my neighbors son used to like to hang out and talk to me, my nephew used to think I was the coolest Aunt around. But every once in a while, something happens that puts me right into reality . . . and I realize that I'm not as cool as I think I am. Like a couple weeks ago, when I went to a high school football game to cheer on the son of a dear longtime friend of mine, Karen. There in the football stands, I felt like a kid again - it was SO MUCH FUN! I clapped, I cheered, I remembered days of High School Past when I had a crush on the quarterback. Ahhh . . . it was so fun. Except a few things were different from how they used to be back during my high school days. This time , I was there with my husband and my kids. This t...