Hope....

Such victories started to feel less satisfying. I started to appreciate his need to feel respected in his home. I realized that abiding by his rules would cost me little, but to him it would mean a lot. I recognized that sometimes he really did have a point & in insisting on getting my own way all the time without regards to his feelings or needs, I was in someway diminishing myself.

I'm listening to Obama's Audacity of Hope on my Ipod as I get some desk work done today. I also use it when I'm on the treadmill. I had one of those moments of revelation today as I'm in the middle of chapter two. He speaks of Values and how he learned them. He credits his mother mostly, but in the above quote he speaks of himself in High School and those typical rebellions we see many teenagers have. He speaks a few pages later that we, as a country, are experiencing an "empathy deficit". That principle of "how does that make you feel" that we teach our infants with, but somehow have lost touch with as we got older.

It's like when I was watching television last night. I'm hooked on a show called True Beauty. At first glance, its a real fluff show. A bunch of snobby "pretty" people thrown together and given challenges. But the underlying challenge that they don't know about until they are eliminated from the show is that their search is more for inner beauty than for outer. That those small things you say or do does make a difference. Do you still live by the GOLDEN RULE?

Stampin' Up interuppts this blog to bring you...

The new SU catalog! No I'm not a rep, which is why I'm only now seeing this. I also don't have shows or a regular customer/hostess. I buy when the whim strikes me but I'm always excited to see new. ;) I wonder if I have a shopping problem?


At any rate, stay tuned for my likes and dislikes. Oh yeah...no I'm not looking for a cns. I have a few friends in various states who are more than happy to help me with my order!

21:365

I've mentioned it a few times in previous posts. Had I been updating this on a daily basis like I should have been (LOL) you would have seen posts from earlier days that mention driving and starting to drive. I got my driver's license this past September on my Birthday. My 32nd birthday to be specific. It's been much harder to handle because we own a stick shift and Jack isn't a patient person. But we rented an Automatic Transmission car and did some driving around to get me situated and scheduled the drive. Once I had my license, I taught myself Stick shift on my husband's car. But his wisdom tooth extraction made it necessary that I go farther than the grocery store a mile away. I needed to know that I could handle the stick shift among other cars in case he needed to go to the doctor. I'm proud to say I did it, and the following work day after his surgery, he announced that I since I did so well, I would now be driving myself to work! I was properly shocked and panicked.

Luckily, it was also a floating holiday for me and he had originally intended to work from home. He discovered that he didn't have access to all the tools he needed and was going to go into work. Armed with the knowledge that I would be driving to work the next day, I opted to tag along for some "practice" time in that area. But I got distracted and instead went shopping. ;) I digress though. This picture was taken on my 2nd day of driving. As I was warming up the car to go drive to his work (we carpool...in the AM, he drives to work and I drive to my work from there)I realized that I didn't have a picture of me "driving". So I set the camera on Timer and took this picture while the car warmed up. Isn't it an exciting milestone?

20:365

Inauguration day was a big day for many people. Many people choose to commemorate the day by taking a picture of their local newspaper, advertisements from Obama's campaign, their family members watching the inauguration and some just the TV itself. I set up my camera remotely to capture me watching it on my computer at work and discovered the added benefit of having also captured a shot of Mr President himself in the middle of his oath. The smile on both are faces are because of the blunder the Chief Justice made in delivering the oath. OOPS! Just goes to show you that we're all human, prone to simple mistakes in moments of excitement.

19:365

When I chose my word for the year on Ali Edwards word for the year challenge I picked the word Hope. Emotionally, the last nine months have been difficult. When She issued the challenge, I originally that that HOPE was something I needed in my life. Hope for the peace we all wish for, hope for better outcomes in personal situations...HOPE. I wasn't sure how I would scrapbook it, but I wanted this word. Imagine my surprise when I found it all over the place!

18:365

LISTEN HERE MISSY! He looks so serious doesn't he. He was still sick and just now getting over his tooth extraction from the previous day. He actually texted me while I was gone and said "Vanilla & Chocolate Ice Cream Pops an puddings please" When I got the message I was weirded out. I didn't recall asking him anyting because I wasn't ready to head home yet. But I called him I discovered that he was being preemptive.

This is a picture of him just pointing the drumsticks at Katie during an evening of Rock Band. What a fun game! When you were a kid, do you recall playing that game with your siblings where you look at them and tell them that "I'm not touching you!"? That's what he was doing. Being his normal screwball self. Without the pain from his tooth, he's a much more jovial person.

17:365 In where I get the Fat Boy to cry.

Meet my nephew Aiden-Ikaika. He's a natural ham for the camera and the unfortunate part of that is that getting a picture like this is hard to get. You can literally get him to calm down by just pointing a camera at him. I love playing with my nephews and watching them grow. Watching Aiden grow hasn't been anyless gratifying than his older brother 9 years ago...

Did I mention I have no regrets in making him cry? ;) nothing serious, just teased him into it.