A Smile for You

Today is World Smile Day. It was started in 1999 to honor Harvey Ball, the artist who created the smiley face. The theme is really simple...just "do an act of kindness, and help one person smile!" So, I'm sending you a smile today, and I'm hoping that you'll smile back. :)

Quote of the day - Every time you smile at someone, it is an action of love, a gift to that person, a beautiful thing. - Mother Teresa

I'm Protesting Perfect!

Sometimes good things happen, and the message that you were looking for falls right into your lap at just the right time. During a visit to my friend Corinne's blog this morning, I discovered The Perfect Protest! And I am all in!

Quote of the day - Congratulations! You're not perfect! It's ridiculous to want to be perfect anyway. But then, everybody's ridiculous sometimes, except perfect people. You know what perfect is? Perfect is not eating or drinking or talking or moving a muscle or making even the teensiest mistake. Perfect is never doing anything wrong - which means never doing anything at all. Perfect is boring! So you're not perfect! Wonderful! Have fun! Eat things that give you bad breath! Trip over your own shoelaces! Laugh! Let somebody else laugh at you! Perfect people never do any of those things. All they do is sit around and sip weak tea and think about how perfect they are. But they're really not one-hundred-percent perfect anyway. You should see them when they get the hiccups! Phooey! Who needs 'em? You can drink pickle juice and imitate gorillas and do silly dances and sing stupid songs and wear funny hats and be as imperfect as you please and still be a good person. Good people are hard to find nowadays. And they're a lot more fun than perfect people any day of the week. ~Stephen Manes, Be a Perfect Person in Just Three Days!

Doctor Heal Thyself

This is my third attempt at posting something today. It was one of those days where I felt like I was buried in the sand (again!), and things just keep going wrong, but finally tonight it hit me...literally.

First attempt...Last year, Macy came home one day after school, spread out a big piece of white fabric, and started writing on it with different colored markers. She didn't say a word. It was like she had been thinking about this thing all day, and needed to get right home and make it. When she finally showed it to me, I thought it was beautiful...and profound...for a seven year old. I hung it in the laundry room, and today I noticed that it was starting to fade. The 'peace' is almost gone. It reads, "A rug is not just a rug. It is a peace maker to a new world..."

I took some photos of it, and uploaded them. I thought they looked pretty crappy, so I moved on to something else.

Second attempt...I'm not a scrapbooker. Sometimes I wish I was, so that my kids had something special to hold all of their memories (besides boxes and bins), but it's just not my thing. One thing I did do, quite by accident, was start a holiday book for each of them. I didn't know what to do with Madison's first Santa picture so I put it into one of those 'lift the plastic, and slap the picture down on the sticky stuff' photo books. I've done it for all three of my kiddos with pictures of just the dress up holidays - christmas, easter, fourth of july, and halloween - each year, every year. It's simple, and a perfect way to see how much they've grown...sniff. Well, this year for some reason, I didn't take Griffin's fourth of july picture, so it has been on my 'to do' list since...um...july 4th. That's how behind I am! Anyway, today was a sunny day, so I thought I'd take him outside and give it a try, and this is what I got...
It is impossible for my son to stand still for one second. Ugh!

There were other things going on that just made it seem like one long, frustrating day. I felt like I was stuck in the mud, spinning my wheels, and getting nowhere. At one point I even shouted at the sky, "Really?! No, really I want to know. What did I do to deserve this?!" I tried to bring my thoughts back around to the story I posted yesterday, about paying attention to the things in life that are truly important...the golf balls, but I wasn't buying it. It's a terrible thing to offer up good advice, and then not take it yourself. "Doctor heal thyself," my mom is always telling me, but easier said than done, right?

This is my third and final attempt, and what changed all of that was...I was down on my hands and knees vacuuming the living room rug with my shop vac, grumbling about the fact that I have to vacuum with a shop vac, and cursing the sky some more, and asking why this was my life...when Griffin came up behind me, and very gently (not!) hit me in the head with this...

...and I just had to laugh, and say, "Okay, okay! I get it!" Thank goodness it wasn't a real one though, right?

Quote of the day - Sometimes you cannot believe what you see, you have to believe what you feel. - Morrie Schwartz

Virtual Coffee

Hi, Virtual Coffee friends! It's Tuesday again, and time for our coffee date with Amy. Unfortunately, I seem to be buried in a pile of sand over here, so today I'm just going to leave you with a little story. You may have heard it before, but if not, I'm happy to share it with you...

The Mayonnaise Jar and Two Cups of Coffee

When things in your life seem almost too much to handle, when 24 hours in a day are not enough, remember the mayonnaise jar and the two cups of coffee.

A professor stood before his philosophy class with some items in front of him. When the class began, he wordlessly picked up a very large and empty mayonnaise jar and proceeded to fill it with golf balls. He then asked his students if the jar was full…they all agreed that it was full.

The professor then picked up a box of pebbles and poured them into the jar. He shook the jar lightly and the pebbles rolled into the open areas between the golf balls. He then asked again if the jar was full. Again, they all agreed it was.

The professor next picked up a box of sand and poured it into the jar. Of course, the sand filled up everything else in the jar. He then asked once more if the jar was full to which the students responded with a resounding..YES!

The professor then produced two cups of coffee from under his table and poured the entire contents into the jar, effectively filling the empty space between the sand. The students started to laugh.

Now, said the professor as the laughter subsided, I want you to recognize that this jar represents your life. The golf balls are the important things…your family, your children, your health, your friends and your favourite passions…and if everything else was lost and only they remained, your life would still be full.

The pebbles are the other things that matter like your job, your house and your car.

The sand is everything else…the small stuff.

If you put the sand into the jar first, he continued, there is no room for the golf balls or the pebbles. The same goes for life. If you spend all your time and energy on the small stuff you will never have room for the things that are important to you.

Pay attention to the things that are critical to your happiness. Play with your children. Spend time with your parents, visit with your grandparents. Take time to get regular medical checkups. Take your parents out to dinner, play another round of 18 holes. There will always be time to clean the house or fix the disposal.

Take care of the golf balls first…the things that really matter. Set your priorities. The rest is just sand.

(my favorite photo of my grandpa)

One of the students raised her hand and asked what the coffee represented.

The professor smiled and said…I’m glad you asked.

The coffee shows you that no matter how full your life may seem, there’s always room for a couple of cups of coffee with a friend.

Quote of the day - Besides the noble art of getting things done, there is the noble art of leaving things undone. The wisdom of life consists in the elimination of nonessentials. - Lin Yu Tang

I (Heart) Music

Music is a big part of who I am. I love music...all kinds of music. One of my favorite things to do as a kids was sit in my room with my suitcase record player, some old 45s, and a tape recorder, and pretend that I was a DJ.

These are some of my musical moments:

My mom was a big music lover, and music was always playing in our house...mostly stuff from the 50s, and the bubblegum pop from the 60s.
Then there were the movie musicals...The King and I, Yankee Doodle Dandy, The Sound of Music...I think I was forced to watch every one...p.s. don't tell my mom, but I secretly loved them.
One set of my grandparents listened to big band music, while the other set listened to Elvis and country...guess at which house I had to use my manners.
I was raised during the heyday of the variety show...The Jacksons, Sonny and Cher, Donny and Marie, The Smothers Brothers, and Hee-Haw.
I loved the Partridge Family...they were on my lunch box...I wish I still had that thing.
I still remember everything that School House Rock taught me...and I really think they should have a whole school dedicated to learning through music.
The first album I bought with my own money was Kiss, Rock and Roll Over...I have it on CD now.
I was twelve when the movie Saturday Night Fever came out, so disco WAS cool to me...Attica!
Grease is the word...enough said.
The first concert I saw was Eric Clapton in 1980. I was 15, and I went with a van full of hippies...p.s. don't tell my mother, or my kids.
In high school, I listened to Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, the Doors (mmm...Jim Morrison), and Lynyrd Skynyrd.
After that...the Ramones, the Clash, the Violent Femmes, the Grateful Dead, the Eagles, U2, the Counting Crows, the Goo Goo Dolls, Green Day, etc, etc, and etc...
The last concert I saw was the Barenaked Ladies...they were awesome!
These days I just rock out to the music of Yo Gabba Gabba, Phineas and Ferb, and the Jonas Brothers.
See...all kinds of music. What are some of your musical moments?

I don't play DJ anymore, but I still like to mix up the music. I am always making soundtracks that represent the times or the things that are going on in my life. I made the CherryDoodles soundtrack with art, childhood, and just plain old happiness in mind. After it was finished, I put it on for the kids to listen to as they were painting in the backyard, and I loved what happened!

They seemed to get lost in the music, and painted until "their heart's content", or until they filled up the clothesline anyway, and I had no choice but to get lost in the moment right there with them. Art intertwined with music, somehow produces something really beautiful and almost tangible.

I know music is subjective, but I hope you enjoy the CherryDoodles soundtrack, and you get lost in the music too. I hope it inspires you, and fills your heart with moments that are light, and free, and easy.

I made the player on a separate page of this here blog, so that if you hang out for a while, (which I really hope you do!) the player won't keep kicking back to the beginning if you change pages.

Enjoy! And thanks for traveling with me ! :)

Quote of the day - Music expresses that which cannot be said and on which it is impossible to be silent. - Victor Hugo