The Wisdom In Hot Chocolate...
A group of graduates, well established in their careers, were discussing their lives at a class reunion. They decided to go visit their old university professor, now retired, who was always an inspiration to them. During their visit, the conversation turned to complaints about stress in their work, lives and relationships. Offering his guests hot chocolate, the professor went into the kitchen and returned with a large pot of hot chocolate and an assortment of cups. Some cups were porcelain, glass, crystal, some plain looking, some expensive, and some exquisite. He invited each to help themselves to the hot chocolate.
When they all had a cup of hot chocolate in hand, the professor shared his thoughts.“Notice that all the nice looking, expensive cups were taken, leaving behind the plain and cheap ones ? While it is normal for you to want only the best for yourselves, that is the source of your problems and stress. The cup that you are drinking from adds nothing to the quality of the hot chocolate. In most cases it is just more expensive and in some cases even hides what we drink. What each of you really wanted was hot chocolate. You did not want the cup . . . but you consciously went for the best cups.”
“And soon, you began to eye one another’s cups. Now friends, please consider this . . .Life is the hot chocolate,your job, money and position in society are the cups. They are just tools to hold and contain life. The cup you have does not define, nor does it change, the quality of life you are living. Sometimes, by concentrating only on the cup, we fail to enjoy the 'hot chocolate' life has provided us.”
Enjoy your hot chocolate!!
Always remember this . . . . . . . . . . The happiest people don't have the best of everything. They just make the best of everything that they have!! The richest person is not the one who has the most, but the one who needs the least.
Live simply . . .
Love generously . . .
Care deeply . . .
And Speak kindly . . .
Tuesday, January 26, 2010
Wednesday, January 13, 2010
A brewing disaster ?
Oh boy. I married a coffee drinker, a coffee drinker who can not function unless he gets to the office on at least 4 cups of the heavy leaded stuff. Last night as I was preparing the coffee maker for today I made a mental note "Pick up more coffee" Guess what ? Didn't happen *EEK* What did happen is that the wonderful people from Gevalia sent me a sample pouch in the mail today, when I mentioned to DH tonight at 9pm.. "Uh oh, forgot coffee" he said brightly "No worries you can top it off with this ?" Really ? I truly thought we were all out, so my load was lightened for a while, I just went to load up the coffee maker for tomorrow and I was right there were maybe 5 granules left of the other stuff ... oh boy. In a frenzy I went around opening up freezers (we have 3) , nope, no extra coffee, I opened up the cupboard on my microwave cart where I store all of my tea, thinking (hoping) that there was some coffee in there, for a split second I found some relief in a gold shiny package that soon dissipated when I read 'Mulling Spices' so not the same thing and he would totally know. I then scoured the shelves in the pantry and lo and behold I found 2 little packages of coffee, admittedly they are Jack Daniels flavored and DH hates flavored coffee but with a bit of luck come morning his mind will be so foggy and his taste buds so deadened by the dry air in our house at present that he won't be able to taste the added stuff that he so dislikes. One can only hope, right ?
Tuesday, January 5, 2010
It's been a while
I've had so much running through my brain as to what to post but well, it never got posted everything seemed a little insignificant in all that was going on in our small community.
On Dec 22nd a little girl was kidnapped from her home 15 minutes from here. Victoria received a text message early Wednesday that one of her friends little sisters was kidnapped, for the next 3 days all we heard were helicopters hovering overhead, everywhere we went we saw the helicopters, we saw police searching fields, we heard reports on the TV, we heard and read that it was a registered repeat sex offender who had kidnapped her. I remember sitting here Christmas Eve and thinking we should be listening to Christmas songs not the drone of helicoters overhead.
Christmas morning 3,000 - 4,000 volunteers from our community went out searching for her, the sheriff asked everyone to search their properties, instead of opening gifts right away Marc and Victoria were out searching our property and the woods next to us. At 4pm Christmas day Sarah's body was found on a dirt road on the Maryland/ Delaware border.
I truly think the whole community went into mourning for this little girl and her family.
What happened to her was truly horrific and evil, no person let alone a child should ever go through what she went through and no sex offender should ever be let out of prison to roam the streets seeking out his next innocent victim.
I urge each and every one of you to go here and sign this petition
Find out who the registered sex offenders are in your community and educate your children, the friendliest looking person could be some evil person lurking within the kindly exterior.
Sarah, you truly touched this community, you will never be forgotten. R.I.P sweet girl
On Dec 22nd a little girl was kidnapped from her home 15 minutes from here. Victoria received a text message early Wednesday that one of her friends little sisters was kidnapped, for the next 3 days all we heard were helicopters hovering overhead, everywhere we went we saw the helicopters, we saw police searching fields, we heard reports on the TV, we heard and read that it was a registered repeat sex offender who had kidnapped her. I remember sitting here Christmas Eve and thinking we should be listening to Christmas songs not the drone of helicoters overhead.
Christmas morning 3,000 - 4,000 volunteers from our community went out searching for her, the sheriff asked everyone to search their properties, instead of opening gifts right away Marc and Victoria were out searching our property and the woods next to us. At 4pm Christmas day Sarah's body was found on a dirt road on the Maryland/ Delaware border.
I truly think the whole community went into mourning for this little girl and her family.
What happened to her was truly horrific and evil, no person let alone a child should ever go through what she went through and no sex offender should ever be let out of prison to roam the streets seeking out his next innocent victim.
I urge each and every one of you to go here and sign this petition
Find out who the registered sex offenders are in your community and educate your children, the friendliest looking person could be some evil person lurking within the kindly exterior.
Sarah, you truly touched this community, you will never be forgotten. R.I.P sweet girl
Friday, December 11, 2009
Dear Dad
I miss you, nothing more, nothing less. I just freaking miss you so much now it hurts. I'm trying to get into the spirit of Christmas for your Grandchildren but this year it's harder and I'm not sure why. I don't want to wrap their stocking stuffers, I don't want to remember what I was doing Christmas Eve 2003 when Chris called me to tell me you'd "gone". This year I hate stocking stuffers, I think Marc needs to take over the job of wrapping them up, wrapping them brings back memories of that phone call and I don't want to remember it. I want to remember Christmas Eves of years past when Chris and I were younger and you and Mum would take us to the sweet shop next to where you worked and we would go into that back room and just walk up and down the aisles looking at all the sweets, the chocolate Father Christmas's and chocolate baubles that you would buy us to hang on the tree, the mini Christmas crackers that we would put on the boughs and the sugar mice that we were always allowed to eat when we got home. I want to remember walking home, you pushing your bike, Mum pulling her trolley filled with all the goodies and then we would get to Harris's where we would choose our perfect tree, once we'd picked one out you'd load it up onto your bike and we'd take it home and get it decorated just in time for Father Christmas's visit in the night. Thank you for always letting me put the fairy on top. I want to remember the times of just you and I together taking the holly wreathes around to the cemetery to put on your parents grave, that time we spent just the 2 of us meant so much to me, I guess I never really thought about or wondered why that became our tradition. How come Mum and Chris never came too ?
I want to remember the letters that Father Christmas would write to us, always via a type writer and how his signature always looked so much like your handwriting.
How about when you played Father Christmas for Mum's Mother's group Christmas party ? Remember me sitting on your lap, looking down at your feet and exclaiming for the whole world to hear "You're wearing my Daddy's shoes" ? I always wondered why Mum would get a smooch from Father Christmas under the mistletoe at all the Christmas parties, it wasn't until years later that I found out it was you, damn you played the part well, Clement C Moore could have been talking about you in his book "Twas The Night Before Christmas" Your eyes twinkled, you had the dimples and rosy cheeks, the little round belly, you were chubby and plump, you were perfect for the part, thanks for being that Dad that all the other kids wanted,I was the lucky one, you were mine.
Well, after that little trip down memory lane I don't hurt quite so much you left a lot of good memories,you may not be with me physically but you are still very much alive in my memories, it's just working through what I want to house and what I want to discard, I'll keep Christmas, that was the best. From now on Marc gets to do the stocking stuffers and I'll write the Santa letters just like you used to.
I love you Dad, Merry Christmas !!!
I want to remember the letters that Father Christmas would write to us, always via a type writer and how his signature always looked so much like your handwriting.
How about when you played Father Christmas for Mum's Mother's group Christmas party ? Remember me sitting on your lap, looking down at your feet and exclaiming for the whole world to hear "You're wearing my Daddy's shoes" ? I always wondered why Mum would get a smooch from Father Christmas under the mistletoe at all the Christmas parties, it wasn't until years later that I found out it was you, damn you played the part well, Clement C Moore could have been talking about you in his book "Twas The Night Before Christmas" Your eyes twinkled, you had the dimples and rosy cheeks, the little round belly, you were chubby and plump, you were perfect for the part, thanks for being that Dad that all the other kids wanted,I was the lucky one, you were mine.
Well, after that little trip down memory lane I don't hurt quite so much you left a lot of good memories,you may not be with me physically but you are still very much alive in my memories, it's just working through what I want to house and what I want to discard, I'll keep Christmas, that was the best. From now on Marc gets to do the stocking stuffers and I'll write the Santa letters just like you used to.
I love you Dad, Merry Christmas !!!
Tuesday, December 8, 2009
The Starfish Story
Reading through the list of comments left below on my Giveaway post I learnt a lot about fellow bloggers and casual readers alike and just what this time of year means to so many and how everyone has some kind of tradition, it got me thinking about our traditions and boy, do we have a lot ?
One that I started a couple of years ago was to give Christmas ornaments to friends, I really enjoy making something special and symbolic. One year I started painting starfish in Santa designs, snow flake designs and snowmen (Didn't like the snowmen so much) I would wrap each one up and put in with it a copy of the Starfish story telling them what a difference they have made in my life. It's still a favorite for teachers and this year a very special neighbor will be receiving one.
Making these ornaments especially the star ones are so easy a little one can make them. Simply go to you craft supply store and pick up a starfish, white acrylic paint, sparkle glaze and some red ribbon.
Paint your starfish white, wait for it to dry and then glaze it, the more glaze the more sparkles. Wait for that to dry and then using a hot glue gun or white Elmer's glue attach the ribbon and voila a very pretty sentimental ornament.
Note: Some starfish may smell a little fishy still, if you have a cat keep it away from your ornaments or it may decide to eat it, see what happened to poor Santa's arm ?
Here's a copy of the story for you to print out and add, I generally make it a lot smaller and add it to the ribbon hanger
The Starfish Story
adapted from The Star Thrower
by Loren Eiseley (1907 - 1977)
Once upon a time, there was a wise man who used to go to the ocean to do his writing. He had a habit of walking on the beach before he began his work.
One day, as he was walking along the shore, he looked down the beach and saw a human figure moving like a dancer. He smiled to himself at the thought of someone who would dance to the day, and so, he walked faster to catch up.
As he got closer, he noticed that the figure was that of a young man, and that what he was doing was not dancing at all. The young man was reaching down to the shore, picking up small objects, and throwing them into the ocean.
He came closer still and called out "Good morning! May I ask what it is that you are doing?"
The young man paused, looked up, and replied "Throwing starfish into the ocean."
"I must ask, then, why are you throwing starfish into the ocean?" asked the somewhat startled wise man.
To this, the young man replied, "The sun is up and the tide is going out. If I don't throw them in, they'll die."
Upon hearing this, the wise man commented, "But, young man, do you not realize that there are miles and miles of beach and there are starfish all along every mile? You can't possibly make a difference!"
At this, the young man bent down, picked up yet another starfish, and threw it into the ocean. As it met the water, he said, "It made a difference for that one."
One that I started a couple of years ago was to give Christmas ornaments to friends, I really enjoy making something special and symbolic. One year I started painting starfish in Santa designs, snow flake designs and snowmen (Didn't like the snowmen so much) I would wrap each one up and put in with it a copy of the Starfish story telling them what a difference they have made in my life. It's still a favorite for teachers and this year a very special neighbor will be receiving one.
Making these ornaments especially the star ones are so easy a little one can make them. Simply go to you craft supply store and pick up a starfish, white acrylic paint, sparkle glaze and some red ribbon.
Paint your starfish white, wait for it to dry and then glaze it, the more glaze the more sparkles. Wait for that to dry and then using a hot glue gun or white Elmer's glue attach the ribbon and voila a very pretty sentimental ornament.
Note: Some starfish may smell a little fishy still, if you have a cat keep it away from your ornaments or it may decide to eat it, see what happened to poor Santa's arm ?
Here's a copy of the story for you to print out and add, I generally make it a lot smaller and add it to the ribbon hanger
The Starfish Story
adapted from The Star Thrower
by Loren Eiseley (1907 - 1977)
Once upon a time, there was a wise man who used to go to the ocean to do his writing. He had a habit of walking on the beach before he began his work.
One day, as he was walking along the shore, he looked down the beach and saw a human figure moving like a dancer. He smiled to himself at the thought of someone who would dance to the day, and so, he walked faster to catch up.
As he got closer, he noticed that the figure was that of a young man, and that what he was doing was not dancing at all. The young man was reaching down to the shore, picking up small objects, and throwing them into the ocean.
He came closer still and called out "Good morning! May I ask what it is that you are doing?"
The young man paused, looked up, and replied "Throwing starfish into the ocean."
"I must ask, then, why are you throwing starfish into the ocean?" asked the somewhat startled wise man.
To this, the young man replied, "The sun is up and the tide is going out. If I don't throw them in, they'll die."
Upon hearing this, the wise man commented, "But, young man, do you not realize that there are miles and miles of beach and there are starfish all along every mile? You can't possibly make a difference!"
At this, the young man bent down, picked up yet another starfish, and threw it into the ocean. As it met the water, he said, "It made a difference for that one."
Monday, December 7, 2009
Grandma's Cookies
AKA Swedish Cookies.
These cookies have become a new Christmas tradition around here. The kids love them, Marc gets all sentimental when he talks about them and I get all warm and fuzzy when he tells me "These are good, they taste just like Grandma's" Is there any better compliment ?
Unlike my Grandma, Marc's 'Mammoo' was not stingy with her recipes, she loved to share them with everyone, so I thought I'd share with you.
One little hint, unless you like to feel/taste bits of nut in your cookies throw the nuts into a blender and make them super fine, BUT, don't do what I did and walk away, you may end up w/ Walnut butter (gaggle)
SWEDISH COOKIES
----------------
1/2 Lb butter
1/2 Cup powdered sugar
1 3/4 Cup Cake flour
1 Cup chopped nuts, chopped very fine (I use walnuts or pecans,use what you like)
1 tsp Vanilla
Dash of salt
Mix together and put in a roll (wax paper). Chill overnight in fridge. (I was in a hurry one day and put the roll in the freezer until it got hard and that worked just fine)
Slice thin. Bake 12 mins at 350 degrees (I find 12 mins to be a bit too long, start off at 10 and see how they look)
Cool cookies, when completely cooled roll in powdered sugar.
ENJOY !!!
The lighting was horrible today and I could not get them to look right for love nor money, but here's a glimpse
These cookies have become a new Christmas tradition around here. The kids love them, Marc gets all sentimental when he talks about them and I get all warm and fuzzy when he tells me "These are good, they taste just like Grandma's" Is there any better compliment ?
Unlike my Grandma, Marc's 'Mammoo' was not stingy with her recipes, she loved to share them with everyone, so I thought I'd share with you.
One little hint, unless you like to feel/taste bits of nut in your cookies throw the nuts into a blender and make them super fine, BUT, don't do what I did and walk away, you may end up w/ Walnut butter (gaggle)
SWEDISH COOKIES
----------------
1/2 Lb butter
1/2 Cup powdered sugar
1 3/4 Cup Cake flour
1 Cup chopped nuts, chopped very fine (I use walnuts or pecans,use what you like)
1 tsp Vanilla
Dash of salt
Mix together and put in a roll (wax paper). Chill overnight in fridge. (I was in a hurry one day and put the roll in the freezer until it got hard and that worked just fine)
Slice thin. Bake 12 mins at 350 degrees (I find 12 mins to be a bit too long, start off at 10 and see how they look)
Cool cookies, when completely cooled roll in powdered sugar.
ENJOY !!!
The lighting was horrible today and I could not get them to look right for love nor money, but here's a glimpse
Thursday, December 3, 2009
Time to start on those ornaments
If you haven't started making your Christmas ornaments yet you might want to start now before it gets too late.
This ornament has become one of my favorites and a favorite of my 6 y/o, in fact last year she gave one to each of her classmates, and guess what ? Her new classmates are getting one this year along with a coloring book of the Gingerbread Man.
I made one change from the tutorial and that was to add wiggly eyes instead of sewing or gluing on little felt eyes.
Thank you Elsie Marley for posting that tutorial and giving my 6 y/o her first little Christmas giving tradition.
Don't forget the Giveaway is open until Sunday, so if you haven't left a comment yet go on over and do so.
This ornament has become one of my favorites and a favorite of my 6 y/o, in fact last year she gave one to each of her classmates, and guess what ? Her new classmates are getting one this year along with a coloring book of the Gingerbread Man.
I made one change from the tutorial and that was to add wiggly eyes instead of sewing or gluing on little felt eyes.
Thank you Elsie Marley for posting that tutorial and giving my 6 y/o her first little Christmas giving tradition.
Don't forget the Giveaway is open until Sunday, so if you haven't left a comment yet go on over and do so.
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