Stress Free Living

I had an Aha moment when I found this. The following are ten things we can do to take back the control and reduce the stress in our lives.

1. You shall not be perfect, or even try to be.
2. You shall not try to be all things to all people.
3. You shall sometimes leave things undone.
4. You shall not spread yourself too thin.
5. You shall learn to say “no”.
6. You shall schedule time for yourself.
7. You shall switch yourself off, and do nothing regularly.
8. You shall not even feel guilty for doing nothing or, saying no.
9. You shall be boring, untidy, inelegant, and unattractive at times.
10. You shall not be your own worst enemy. But, be your own best friend.

For more detail on steps 1 through 10 (and who wouldn't want more detail) go here.

Also...the BEST product I have found to date to help with stress free living...it works like a charm!

Lots of love

Nicholas adores his baby sister. I found them this way the other day. Nicholas always says to Gianna, "Do you love your big brodda"?

Oh where oh where could it be?

I lost a diamond earring. At first I felt physically sick and then I just put it into perspective. I just told myself that it is only an earring...choke...and not like I lost one of my kids.

You see Danny bought me a beautiful necklace for Mother's Day, however, he forgot that he bought me a similar necklace last year for Mother's Day. It was the thought and effort that counts, right? Anyway, I found the receipt and almost fell over when I saw how much he spent for it. Since he bought it at an outlet store it could not be returned but it could be exchanged. I decided to do something nice for myself this one time and went to that jewelry store to exchange it for something I love...earrings. As I was looking in the cases the diamond studs kept drawing me in. I found a very pretty pair which were very reasonably priced. Turns out with the refund I would only have to pay a bit more out of pocket for them. I felt so good finally buying something for me which I swear I never do. I put them on and oh did it perk me right up! I was so happy!!!

Cut to today. I never lose jewelry. I have the same earrings and rings from ten, even twenty years ago. But wouldn't you know, I wear the darn diamond earrings for less than one stupid week and now I lost one.

It's only jewelry I keep telling myself.

I will never, ever buy expensive jewelry again. Lesson learned!

Mother's Day weekend recap

Mother's Day started on Friday with a special program at Nicholas and Julia's school. Both classes sang a song for us and gave us handmade gifts. Then we went upstairs to the hall and had a wonderful brunch made by the children. All the children served their moms while we sat there and were waited on. So nice!

Saturday Nicholas had a T-ball game. They all look so cute in their uniforms. They also have attention spans of a fly. Very cute though.




Later on Saturday we went to a fundraiser at someones house that I didn't know for the Relay for Life. We were there no more than ten minutes when Gianna was bugging me to go out to the backyard to go on the swings. I really didn't want to because there were no baby swing but I took her anyway. Thank goodness I did because as I walked around the corner to the backyard there was a young boy (who I have never seen before) probably around 8 or so holding a bat above his head with both hands ready to attack someone. He was shaking violently in anger and growling. I've never seen a child so angry and aggressive. I immediately put Gianna behind my back to protect her and tried to get the boy to calm down. When I looked behind me to see who he was about to attack...it was Nicholas! I almost lost it right there. I tried to stay calm. I asked the boy why he was so angry. He said Nicholas had hit him with a hockey stick. I looked at Nicholas (who is just 5) holding this tiny, plastic, toddler hockey stick. I asked him if he hit the boy and he said, "No, Mom...we were just playing!". Now I know my boy...he is NOT aggressive like that. He may have bumped the boy with the stick while playing or maybe it was someone else. Whatever happened that child had no right to explode like that in anger and be so violent and aggressive. My poor boy broke down in tears and put his sweatshirt over his head in fear. The kid, still crazed, ran across the yard to the house and his father came outside. I had nothing to say to this man. What do you say? Your kid is a lunatic??? Every parent is fiercely protective of their children so I just told him Nicholas apologized for whatever happened and left it at that. I immediately took Nicholas to the car and waited for Danny to gather the other two kids. I have not been able to shake that horrible scene from my mind and don't even want to imagine what could have happened had I not walked around the corner. No other adults were out there...just me. Divine intervention I think.

Sunday was a much better day as we spent the day with my wonderful Mom and sister, Kim. We had a yummy lunch and strawberry shortcake and the kids had lots of popcylces. The weather could not have been more perfect. The kids played in the woods and on the swing set. Just lots of fun in the sun.






And to you, Mom. You are the most beautiful person I know...inside and out. I love you!


Does she look 72? Not one wrinkle. I can only hope that I inherit her genes!