Enjoy Life Now

Saw this the other day and just loved it.....

When I was about eight or nine, my mom liked to cook food and every now and then I remember she used to cook for us.

One night that stood out in my mind is when she had made dinner for us after a very long and rough day at work, She placed a plate of jam and extremely burned toast in front of my dad. Not slightly burnt but completely blackened toast.
I was just waiting to see if anyone noticed the burnt toast and say anything. But Dad just ate his toast and asked me if I did my homework and how my day was. I don’t remember what I told him that night, but I do remember I hearing my mom apologizing to dad for burning the toast. And I’ll never forget what he said:
“Sweetie, I love burned toast.”

Later that night, I went to tell my dad good night and ask him if he really liked his toast burned. He put his arm on my shoulder and said,

“Your momma put in a very long day at work today and she was very tired. And besides, A burnt toast never hurts anyone but you know what does? Harsh words!”


The he continued to say “You know, life is full of imperfect things and imperfect people I’m not the best at hardly anything, and I forget birthdays and anniversaries just like every other human. What I've learned over the years, is that learning to accept each others faults and choosing to celebrate each other’s differences, is one of the most important keys for creating a healthy, growing, and lasting relationship.
Life is too short to wake up with regrets.
Love the people who treat you right and have compassion for the ones who don’t.”

ENJOY LIFE NOW.

The Rose

My mother sent this on email to me and I just had to share it, just perfect

The first day of school our professor introduced himself and challenged us to get to know someone we didn't already know. I stood up to look around when a gentle hand touched my shoulder.

I turned around to find a wrinkled, little old lady beaming up at me with a smile that lit up her entire being..

She said, 'Hi handsome. My name is Rose. I'm eighty-seven years old. Can I give you a hug?'

I laughed and enthusiastically responded, 'Of course you may!' and she gave me a giant squeeze..

'Why are you in college at such a young, innocent age?' I asked.

She jokingly replied, 'I'm here to meet a rich husband, get married, and have a couple of kids...'

'No seriously,' I asked. I was curious what may have motivated her to be taking on this challenge at her age.

'I always dreamed of having a college education and now I'm getting one!' she told me.

After class we walked to the student union building and shared a chocolate milkshake.

We became instant friends. Every day for the next three months we would leave class together and talk nonstop. I was always mesmerized listening to this 'time machine' as she shared her wisdom and experience with me..

Over the course of the year, Rose became a campus icon and she easily made friends wherever she went. She loved to dress up and she reveled in the attention bestowed upon her from the other students. She was living it up.

At the end of the semester we invited Rose to speak at our football banquet. I'll never forget what she taught us. She was introduced and stepped up to the podium.. As she began to deliver her prepared speech, she dropped her three by five cards on the floor.  

 Frustrated and a little embarrassed she leaned into the microphone and simply said, 'I'm sorry I'm so jittery. I gave up beer for Lent and this whiskey is killing me! I'll never get my speech back in order so let me just tell you what I know.'

As we laughed she cleared her throat and began, ' We do not stop playing because we are old; we grow old because we stop playing.

There are only four secrets to staying young, being happy, and achieving success. You have to laugh and find humor every day. You've got to have a dream. When you lose your dreams, you die.

We have so many people walking around who are dead and don't even know it!

There is a huge difference between growing older and growing up.

If you are nineteen years old and lie in bed for one full year and don't do one productive thing, you will turn twenty years old. If I am eighty-seven years old and stay in bed for a year and never do anything I will turn eighty-eight.

Anybody! Can grow older. That doesn't take any talent or ability. The idea is to grow up by always finding opportunity in change. Have no regrets.

The elderly usually don't have regrets for what we did, but rather for things we did not do. The only people who fear death are those with regrets..'

She concluded her speech by courageously singing 'The Rose.'

She challenged each of us to study the lyrics and live them out in our daily lives. At the year's end Rose finished the college degree she had begun all those months ago.

One week after graduation Rose died peacefully in her sleep.

Over two thousand college students attended her funeral in tribute to the wonderful woman who taught by example that it's never too late to be all you can possibly be.

When you finish reading this, please send this peaceful word of advice to your friends and family, they'll really enjoy it!

These words have been passed along in loving memory of ROSE.

REMEMBER, GROWING OLDER IS MANDATORY. GROWING UP IS OPTIONAL. We make a Living by what we get. We make a Life by what we give..

God promises a safe landing, not a calm passage. If God brings you to it, He will bring you through it.
Good friends are like stars..... .....You don't always see them, but you know they are always there

If your want to see the lyrics to "The Rose" by Bette Midler then just Google them

I'm Loving

Today I am loving the weekend we have just had.
On Saturday we had our annual family BBQ. We invited anyone and everyone and we had an awesome day. The sun was out, the food was good, the company was awesome and the family & friends were flowing.
People came for an hour, they came for 6. We had people in the house, in the garden and hanging round the kitchen. People got to meet new people and mums from school finally got to know mums they had seen but never spoken too.
It was an awesome day and I am already looking forward to next years BBQ

Sunday was one of those classical Sundays. Lots of sunshine and chilling at home. We had a late breakfast followed by doing nothing.
We caught up on computer stuff, we caught up on books.
The boys and I spent an hour in the park playing cricket, just hitting the ball and bowling. Actually I was well impressed with the abilities of the boys. Ben had some awesome throwing techniques and when he hit could actually get great distance.
Alex was wonderful at bowling and did some great catches. We had a wonderful time in the sun playing ball.

Then last night we went to the Hamilton Gardens to see the Sunset Symphony.
Dinner in the park followed by some amazing music. The Trust Waikato Symphony Orchestra were amazing as ever and it was a wonderful way to end a glorious summer weekend.
As always the fireworks at the end of the evening were breath taking. I am always in awe of the spectacular quality of fireworks. At one stage last night all you could see was gold sparks filling the sky. It was an amazing feel good moment.

However that feel good moment didn't last this morning when we had 2 very grouchy tired munchkins, with 1 feeling sick and looking rather green around the gills.
So 2 munchkins at home for a day of rest and re-pinking in colour!

Have a great week all x x

Valentines Day

Happy Love Day to you all.

If you have someone special in your life, then I hope, if you follow this day, that they have made you feel special.

Valentines Day is not something my husband and I do. I told him in no uncertain words years ago that I did not want flowers on Valentines Day! Because how much it would cost to buy them I would rather he spent that money and bought me flowers at other times of the year. It would still cost the same and I would get flowers more often instead of once
(Sadly don't get flowers at other times either, so that plan went wrong somewhere!)

However this day is special to me for other reasons.

Firstly, Happy Birthday to my Sister In Law Karen. We may not see you often but we still think of you all the time.

Secondly, today is my anniversary, no I did not get married on Valentines Day, I arrived in New Zealand on this day instead. Not intentionally I might add, just how it happened.
I arrived to start the rest of my life on this day in 1998, so today is my 14th anniversary.

Red

18 months ago I discovered the colour red.

Yes I know it has been around for ever but I always found it a very striking colour and very strong.

Not sure if because I turned 40 (18 months ago) I wanted to become striking and strong but suddenly I am in love with red.

No I haven't gone out and changed my whole wardrobe nor when I think about it do I actually own any red clothes! But I do own red accessories.

Since my first son was born I had a little pair of red slip on shoes and I always got compliments about them.
When I turned 40 I had highlights put in my hair, the hairdresser and I had put red ones in before but they always faded so quickly, so we tried a different colour and brand and holy smoke, I had bright red highlights for several weeks, it made for a fabulous 40th birthday as I got compliments from strangers in the street for nearly 5 weeks!

Highlights are 5 weeks old at this stage

My aunty brought me a lovely big red bag for my 40th birthday, I purchased myself a lovely little red bag a few months ago.
I even found a nice little pair of court shoes for work too.

However my greatest buy has to be my new red shoes.
I found them at the Warehouse the other day and decided I could afford the $30 for them, happy for them to only last this summer.
Imagine my surprise when at the checkout they scanned to be only $15! It was so meant to be.

So for the last 2 days they are all I have worn and I love them
They also remind me of the shoes I use to get as a treat when I was younger and we visited the Greek Islands.

My youngest son thinks they are my ballet shoes, which is so cute.

Works For Me Wednesday

Over at Rocks In My Dryer, it is again WFMW where she posts what works for her and we post back with what works for us.

It has been a while since I last posted anything.

This week what works for me is LOVE & FAMILY

With my wedding coming up on Saturday, then having all my family around helping us and all working towards making Saturday a wonderful day for us, then that works for me.

Tomorrow all the grandparents will be staying here and the boys are going to have a ball with them all here. They talk about them constantly.

So love and family works for me as I am sure it does for everyone out there.

Important Day

Happy Valentines Day

This is not really a day I celebrate, not that I don't believe in it, but I still can't understand paying double the amount for flowers that I could buy in 2 days time for half the price!

But, I do celebrate this day because it is the day I arrived in New Zealand on my huge mission to live in another country.

And would you believe that today I have been in New Zealand for 10 years! It felt so nice at 11am to realise I had been here exactly 10 years.

And when I look at what I have achieved in those last 10 years.....I have a wonderful man by my side, 2 gorgeous little boys and a lovely new house. Who could want more.

Love

The love story of Ralph and Edna.

Just because someone doesn't love you the way you want them to, doesn't mean they don't love you with all they have.
Ralph and Edna were both patients in a mental hospital.
One day while they were walking past the hospital swimming pool. Ralph suddenly jumped into the deep end. He sank to the bottom of the pool and stayed there.
Edna promptly jumped in to save him. She swam to the bottom and pulled him out.
When the Head Nurse Director became aware of Edna's heroic act she immediately ordered her to be discharged from the hospital, as she now considered her to be mentally stable.
When she went to tell Edna the news she said, "Edna, I have good news and bad news.
The good news is you're being discharged, since you were able to rationally respond to a crisis by jumping in and saving the life of the person you love. I have concluded that your act displays sound mindedness.
The bad news is, Ralph hung himself in the bathroom with his bathrobe belt right after you saved him. I am so sorry, but he's dead."
Edna replied, "He didn't hang himself, I put him there to dry. How soon can I go home?"