We got this winter’s first snowfall today – just a bit, but we may have more to come tonight. It was more than this winter’s first snowfall for Bosco, our Bullmastiff. It was his first snowfall ever. Hoping he can experience more snow tomorrow, but we got a little video of him playing in the snow today. Very excited doggy indeed.

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Part of my New Year’s resolutions is to enjoy and appreciate the beauty on the beautiful days…to let less of them pass unappreciated.  Well it was a beautiful day in the pacific northwest yesterday, and I took 5 of my children with me to see some botanical gardens and play at a beautiful park.  Here’s our photo journal…

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Today, Bubba got his first lesson in proper hors d’oeuvre etiquette. Some of the lessons learned from big brothers and sisters just make mama so proud!

See Big Sister

Copy Big Sister

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Last night, our family decorated and lit up the family Christmas tree.  We put together a little film to share with everyone.  Yes, I picked on my husband just a little bit (I was peer pressured by the kids!).  I assure you that no husbands were husbands were hurt during the making of this film, AND my husband is a good sport!

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A big part of Christmas memories I cherish include making Christmas crafts.  I still have home made ornaments that adorn my tree, that I put my artistic signature on as a kid.  Even as a teen and young adult, my sister and I would get together to bake and get crafty.   It’s a fun way to spend quality time with the kids, while creating lasting memories.  So, gramma, the kids, and I all kicked it off this year over the Thanksgiving holiday weekend.  And we produced…our family, as snow-sock-people!  Basically the idea was to make snowmen out of socks.  As we moved along members of our family came to life from the cotton sock balls, not unlike frosty the snowman coming to life with the perfect placement of the perfect hat!   It’s our little sock-snow-people family holiday nativity scene!

The how-to’s:

Find a clean (cute) sock, and stuff it with stuffing (we didn’t have stuffing so we just cut up a bunch of inexpensive yarn to use as stuffing).

Tie off your “body balls”.

Adorn with eyeballs, fuzzy balls, sequins, added socks for beanies, yarn for hair, twigs for arms, etc… Voila!  Sock Snowmen!  Or Sock-Snow-People!

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This morning, I was getting ready to go downstairs to do my exercise, but first quickly scanned my environment.  I was standing among clutter, lots of it.  So, I quickly gave my kids the rundown…a list of to-do’s, some quick instructions.  I said, “Kids, your grandma will be here soon, because we are supposed to some Christmas crafts together today, but first we need to do some clean up.  So, I want you to clear the table off, put everything away, wipe it down – and Kayla I want you to take all the laundry downstairs.  We just don’t want everything to snowball on us. Plus we are supposed to make some pies tonight – remember, we are making a turkey and doing our Thanksgiving tomorrow.”

Then, I said, “Do you guys understand?”

My 8-yr-old replied, obviously both excited and confused, “WAIT! WHAT?  It’s going to snow?”  My daughter and I exchanged looks and started laughing, then I turned to him, “Is that what you got out of what I just said?”

His reply was, “Well you said something about snow…”

Yes I did.  I said we didn’t want all of our chores to “snowball on us”….

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This morning we woke up to…SNOW! OK, not really…not really at all. BUT my 4-year-old daughter was excited! I can not understand why she doesn’t get that there is just not enough snow to “play in the snow”!

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What’s the sky reveal to you? Are you a star gazer? Are you awestruck by the magic that surrounds us? I am. I have been a lover of stars and all things magical and unseen for as long as I can remember. Early on, I found entertainment in astrology, often diving into detail Piscean readings. The horoscopes I read varied so greatly from one astrologer to another, that it was difficult to see their value beyond entertainment. All that changed over the summer of 2002, when I went through a particularly difficult time in my life. I stumbled across astrologer, Jonathan Cainer. The accuracy of those horoscopes in relation to my life was astonishing. In them, I found inspiration and guidance.  I’ve been a fan and a follower ever since. While the horoscopes might not “astonish” me any longer, on most days, I still find him to be a real, true, and committed astrologer.
What do the stars have in store for you? See what Cainer has to say about that.

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So it’s the day after Halloween. I am at the computer with my back to the kids, who are happily playing in the front room together. I get up and on the approach, announce, “OK time for a bath!” which turned out to be a very good thing! I am not sure whether the hair accessory belongs to her or to him!
Lil man says, “hey I’m a sucker for the sweets!”

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Some might say I have a “Lottery mentality”. I say I have a positive outlook and expect positive things in my life. Expectation is half the battle. This mom’s glass was always half full, even when others may have overlooked the few sips left in the glass. When I pick up my lottery tickets whether I’m playing the lottery, powerball or megamillions, I have heard others say, “I never play the lottery…cuz I’ll never win!” To me that sounds so backwards. It’s true that you’ll never win…because you NEVER PLAY!

It reminds me of a joke I once heard, here goes: There was once this woman who lost her job, so she prayed that she would win the lottery, “please let me win the lottery…I have lost my job and now I don’t know what to do…please help.” Another several weeks pass, and the woman can no longer afford her car, and ends up losing her car. In desperation, she turns to prayer again, “Please Please let me win the lottery….I have lost my job and my car, and I don’t know what I’m going to do.” More time passes, and the woman continues struggling, with her house the next to fall…Again the woman desperately seeks help from the heavens, “PLEASE PLEASE help me. I have lost my job, my house, and my car….Please let me win the lottery.” The woman struggles, and watches everything fall away as her prayers go unanswered. Then, one day, she is on her knees, praying…begging. Her prayer is cut short, interrupted by thunder cracking above head…all grows dark as the dark rolling sky opens with a flash of light. She hears a loud thunderous booming voice erupt…could it be? Could it be the voice of God? Speaking to her? The voice says…..(wait for it)…. “You must buy a ticket if you want to win the lottery child!”

So there ya go. No arguing with that. So just like the metaphor of the glass being either half empty or half full, one can look at the lottery as odds, “I have 1 in 195 million chance of winning” or I’m just as likely to win as the person who won last time…and all the others before them, actually.
Is the lottery a game of chance or a game of fate…or a game of attraction. Have you heard of attracting wealth and abundance? If I keep my mind in a state of appreciation, love, positive expectation…in other words keep my mindset “healthy and wealthy”, then wealth of all kinds surely must follow.

Ask and ye shall receive. I’ve asked in the past, with a trust and knowing, and I have received. I am already wealthy, my life abundant with riches that cannot be bought or sold. So I will not necessarily worry about all the details, but just keep my eyes, ears, and heart open.

So just like a message in bottle, I am sending a message to the Universe…off into cyberspace it goes, on the wire to the Big G.  So with that, I’m off to pick up my Powerball ticket for tonight’s jackpot of $173,000,000.

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