Wednesday, December 23, 2009

My Gift to You

This blog is a tribute to my dad who died December 26. I would like to share one of the most important life lessons that he taught me. I hope that you will find it as useful as I do and can incorporate it into your daily life.

The gift is called PMA or Positive Mental Attitude. I know that it does not sound like much of a gift, but let me explain why it is the best gift I can give to you. Yes I know that everyone has problems in their lives and everyone faces adversity sometime in their lives, sometimes on a daily basis. It is not the adversity in our lives that causes the problems but how we deal with the adversity.

Lets say that everyone starts the day with the same glass of water and it is only half full. We all know that a half full glass of water will not get us through the day and here is where the choices of the day start. We can take the easy way out and say that the day is going to be rotten because we only have a half full glass and have a rotten day.

Or we can use PMA to say that our glass is half full and we are off to a rotten day, then we affirm that we are going to have a rotten day. This is where the important part comes in, we decide to change that rotten day into a great day no matter what happens. We then tap into our positive energy and pull that day out of despair. Then with the positive energy manage to fill that glass so we have enough water for the day and if we are lucky enough we get more water than we need so that we can share with other people.

No matter what the situation is we all have the ability to make changes in out lives. Gd has given us free will. Your choice is weather you will make the most of your life or you will let everything fall by the wayside. With a Positive Mental Attitude you can make the most of your life and make the world better for not just yourself, but everyone around you.

So now that I have given you the gift of a Positive Mental Attitude, it's time to go play a few hands of Free cell which was dads favorite computer game and plan our day so "it is somewhere between great and fantastic" which was dad's favorite reply to how are you doing.

Have a great day and enjoy your families.

Tuesday, December 22, 2009

Sjogren's Syndrome Foundation

This blog is about something near and dear to me. As many of you know I do have Sjorgren's Syndrome and it effects my life in various ways. This is a letter sent out by Steven Taylor of the foundation. I ask that you please take a minute to read it. Please feel free to pass this on to anyone you know.

Every donation will help and no donation is to small.

Thank you and enjoy your families during this holiday season.

Dear Reader

We need your help to make sure the Sjögren's Syndrome Foundation can support vital Sjögren's research in 2010!

That is why we have launched our 12 by 12 campaign: Raise $12,000 in online research donations by midnight on New Year's Eve! This $12,000 will help us get closer to the $300,000 we will need for our research grants this coming April.

By making a year-end tax deductible gift to research before 11:59pm on December 31st, you will not only be receiving the tax benefits of making a donation in 2009, but most importantly, you will be supporting vital Sjögren's research that needs our support.

With potential breakthroughs on the horizon with B-Cell Depletion Therapies as well as the acceleration of research into how Sjögren's develops, your support is critical for 2010. As you can imagine, every gift matters to help us reach our goal.

So please consider making a gift before midnight on New Year's Eve and help us raise 12 by 12!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Sincerely,

Steven Taylor
Chief Executive Officer
Sjogren's Syndrome Foundation

Monday, December 21, 2009

Family

Well Teri has been home for a few days now. We have done the girl day of shopping and freebies on Saturday. It is nice to see how much she has grown over these last few months she was away, it is nice to have her back, if only for a few weeks.

Eric on the other hand is still giving us a run for the money. Last night he kept his father up till after 3, I could not manage to stay awake. I have had a hard time staying up late without my diet soda I find it hard to drink tea a midnight, where I had no problem downing a couple of diet sodas that late. On the other hand I have also noticed that my jaw is no longer in a state of permanent clenching. The weight loss has slowed down a little, but I am not eating all day either.

When thing settle down a bit I will try to write a review of the latest book that I finished The English American , Alison Larkin. I have included a link on my Amazon page and it is now in paperback. If you can't wait for the full review I will make this a must read book.

I am behind on my finishing work and when it is don I will get the last gifts out the door and add some new things to my Art Fire store.

Friday, December 18, 2009

Holiday Shopping

I know I prefer handmade gifts for the special occasions for those special people in my life. But lets face it some people are just plain hard to make things for. Either they don't like handmade, have everything you already know how to knit or have more than enough quilts for a small army.

Yes I do use gift cards for the special people in my life, like the nieces and nephews that I see once a year do to distance, I find it hard to shop for a growing child that I only see once a year.

Time is running out for shopping this week. Avoid the crowded malls and with just a few clicks. If all else fails get a gift card for that hard to buy for person.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00067L6TQ/?tag=hnadbysher-20

I have included a link to Amazon.com to solve that problem, that way they can get what ever their hearts desire is or you might just stumble on that perfect gift.

Happy shopping and enjoy your families

Thursday, December 17, 2009

It has been a while

I know it has been too long since I last blogged. We have had the usual ups and downs with Eric. I have finished 1 major and a number of smaller knitting projects, just 2 more x-mas gifts left to knit and I know that they will be late since I have to mail them.

The big news today is we now have a larger water heater 75 gallons and we can finally fill the new tub more than 1/4 the way up, yes the tub is big enough for a short person to swim in, well not really but it was made for a person much taller than myself. The plumber was gracious enough to install my new kitchen faucet, so now I only have water coming out of the spout instead of the spout and the base. I did not book an appoitment with him for the faucet but he installed it anyway, a very nice guy. We are still waiting for the new disposal to arrive, it was suppose to be here 2 days ago, I sure hope that the plumber has time to install it when it arrives, it looks like a nasty job.

Teri has finished here L1 first semester exams and will be here for the holidays. I hope that she has not over scheduled herself and has some time to spend with us. The house has been so quiet without her. I have spent the last week cleaning and have not finished, but at least Teri will have a freshly made bed.

I think I have come up with the worst combination for mood squashing in the history of motherhood. Tomorrow it will be 14 days with out any Diet Coke, or Aspartame, combine that with a week of house cleaning and I am ready to chop any one's head off. Although my Rhumatologist is happy I am off the Diet Coke and Aspartame, I wish I was not so tired. I may actually have to sleep when I am tired and not run around like a 20 year old all the time day and night.

I will do more cleaning tomorrow and also take pictures of 2 of my newly completed projects and blog about those. Well it is time to go back to work, so have a good evening and enjoy your families.

Wednesday, December 9, 2009

Playing Catch Up or As We Know it My Life.

OK so it has been quite a while since I blogged. So what has been going on in my life? Well here goes.

Since I blogged last Eric has been sick twice with two near all nighters, He is doing better today and I really slept last night. I have been playing catchup with the laundry. Did I mention that Eric can make 2 loads over night when he is sick. I want to thank all my laundry folders. In weeks like this I abide by my motto:
"Laundry is like fine wine, no laundry shall be folded before it's time."

I have agreed to teach knitting to Eric's friends at school, they will be making a wash cloth and a scarf. My inclination is to go for a square wash cloth and a thin rectangular scarf. I want the things to be useful for them. So today I went through my stash and picked out 10 skeins of cotton for wash cloths and 10 skeins of wool and rayon for the scarfs. I have 7 of the 10 set of needles that I will need, the knitting guild has not come through for me so I will take my coupons and buy the last 3 pairs. I will be using size 7 and 8 straight needles and am using metal needles so we don't have breakage to deal with.

I have gone to 2 white elephant holiday parties and have manage to get the white elephants I received out of the house. For the 1st white elephant I gave away 10 skeins of yarn and a knitting bag that I did not like, but the recipient was very happy with them. For the second one I gave away red mobius scarf that John did not like on me and I could not sell. For the Guild holiday party I might just do the same thing and fill another bag with yarn ( but don't tell anyone).

I gave up Diet Coke and aspartame cold turkey last Saturday and have had a few headaches and feel really weird, but so far this has been the only change in my diet and I have lost 3 pounds since Saturday. This is all due to my friend Kay sending me an article on the effects of aspartame/diet coke on auto immune diseases. It too soon to tell if it is making a difference, but I will keep you updated.

I finished the shawl pattern and got it to the beta testers and I still need John to take a picture of it on me, it does not look good flat, but on it's wonderful.

We have a new 96 Gallon recycling bin on wheels and it is very easy to fill so the house is a little less cluttered. Monday night we put out twice as much recycling than we did for trash. Yeah us!!!

So I think even thought it has been hectic I have made headway in de-stashing yarn(30 skeins by my count), and getting rid of clutter. Not much knitting has been done, oh, well there is always later.

Have a great evening and enjoy your families.

Sunday, December 6, 2009

A Busy Weekend

Sorry I have not blogged for a few days its been a busy weekend. I hope to find more time to write on Monday.