Tuesday, March 9, 2010 at 2:19PM 
It's a beautiful day! The sun is shining, and it feels like spring is right around the corner. Good thing, too, 'cause I need to get out there and look for worms!!
Quote of the day - A bird doesn't sing because it has an answer, it sings because it has a song. - Maya Angelou
Monday, February 22, 2010 at 9:06AM 
Last night, after cleaning the kitchen, I wrote on the chalkboard "Start Today," to give myself inspiration this morning. For some reason I feel the need to have some kind of official start. So, BOOM! here I go. I tried to take a picture of the chalkboard to post here, but my camera didn't work. Ugh! So does that mean I should start tomorrow instead? I'm all about following the signs. Instead, I went through my computer to see if I could find another picture to post, and I found this one that Macy drew, which she named "Happy Day." Maybe, with the camera not working, my sign was not to be self-defeating, and to keep moving forward not matter what my pitfalls might be. I'm going with that. I am the master of my destiny, so "Happy Day" it is, and it starts today!
Quote of the day - To think too long about doing a thing often becomes its undoing. - Eva Young
Friday, February 19, 2010 at 8:48AM 
My friend Dagen once described my life as..."It's like you're out in the middle of the lake trying to hold three kids up," and I screamed, "That's EXACTLY what it feels like!" I don't know how this story will end. Will we make it? Will we drown? Will the sharks get us? Will a boat suddenly come out of the distance and rescue us? I'm scared and exhausted, but I can't give up. How could I? Stories, like waves, of success and failure crash over me with equal intensity, but I'm choosing to believe in a positive outcome. If anyone out there can hear me, would you say a prayer for us, or throw us a life jacket? Thank you!
Quote of the day - Just keep swimming, swimming, swimming. What do we do? We swim, swim. - Dory the Fish
Friday, February 12, 2010 at 6:34PM 
Well, actually it started with taffy, and the smile came later. Three years ago, I had a great idea for starting a small, homemade taffy business. It came to me one morning while I sat watching Good Morning America, and holding my new born son. I was still in "baby bliss", but the rest of my world was crashing down around me. My husband of nine years had recently, and suddenly decided to leave our happy, little family. So, there I was, alone, with a new baby, a four and a seven-year-old, a lot of bills, and a house about to go into foreclosure. The taffy idea came to me with a glow around it, like a message from above. It was a way out, and I desperately needed a way out. Most days I felt like I was walking through marshmallows, and my small business idea gave me hope. A lot has happened in the past three years, and I still have hope...it just has a different face. Griffin is three now, and is having trouble communicating. He is most likely somewhere on the Autism spectrum, but he hasn't been officially diagnosed. A few weeks ago, he drew a smiley-face with a crayon on his bedroom wall. I didn't get mad. I did a happy dance instead. It was like a little window had opened up, for him, and for me. Now I am on a new path; starting a new business venture, all because of that little smile. I still might do the taffy thing someday, but this idea has my heart. I saw the glow, but this time I heard the singing, too. :)
Quote of the day - If you're going through hell, keep going. - Winston Churchill
Sunday, February 7, 2010 at 2:55PM 
It's a beautiful day! The sun is shining brightly on the foot, or more, of snow we have on the ground today; giving the illusion of a million sparking diamonds. It makes me think of Snowflake Bentley. He is the person who discovered that no two snowflakes are alike. I love his story...For his 15th birthday he received a microscope, and began examining the "tiny miracles of beauty," as he called them. He was fascinated by their beauty, variety, and complexity. He tried to draw the snowflakes, but they always melted before he could finish. At 17, he begged his parents for a camera and a better microscope. Then in January of 1885, after 2 years of trial and error, he obtained the first photomicrographs ever taken of an ice crystal. Over his lifetime, he captured the images of more than 5000 different snowflakes. The people of Jericho, Vermont, the town were Wilson Bentley lived, thought he was odd because of his preoccupation with snowflakes, but I find a great irony in that. What he discovered in each flake of snow can be found in the man himself, it can be found in everyone and everything...beauty, complexity, and uniqueness! The snow outside looks beautiful today, but even more so now that I'm looking at it in a different way. Thank you, Snowflake Bentley!
Quote of the day - When a snowflake melted, that design was forever lost. Just that much beauty was gone, without leaving any record behind. - Wilson "Snowflake" Bentley