What Was I Thinking?!?!

I gave up chocolate for Lent.

Please, someone, tell me what I was thinking.

Ever notice that when you decide to give something up, it almost never fails, you see it everywhere?

I sat down to watch T.V. tonight and YEP, YOU guessed it! A Lindt chocolate commercial. 

And so my teenage daughter came in from the kitchen when she heard the commercial and told me that I just couldn’t seem to get away from it. (She did this with a cruel and pitying chuckle; easy for her-she isn’t participating in Lent…Grrrrrr.) 

She’s right though, it's everywhere I go.

Even a quick trip into CVS requires a strategic plan and an enormous amount of willpower. I went there yesterday and  had to be sure to  avoid certain isles since the Easter candy is out in full force.

Then when I had a sore throat this week, my guy scooped me a nice bowl of ice-cream….but since it was a mixed ice-cream container of chocolate and vanilla, he had to separate the vanilla from the chocolate….

I am not sure who had it worse, me or him…..he gave up ice-cream for Lent…

All I can say is this: It’s going to be a loooooong  40 days. (Maybe not as long for me as for my little kids’ will be without Wii and the computer;)

I realize now that giving up chocolate will mean no chocolate syrup on my ice-cream (or IN my ice-cream), no chocolate chips in my pancakes, no chocolate chip cookies (which happen to be my favorite) and no chocolate candy.

Chocolate is in so many things.  It’s in ice-cream, hot cocoa, candies, and even in some specialty coffees.

Well, this is what I chose. 

I chose to make a sacrifice, to honor and appreciate.

I know what I am honoring…but I also know what I will appreciate- a nice big chocolate Cadbury Egg at Easter and then finally the freedom to eat as much chocolate as I like!!!..…;)

Through this, I've realized that when I can’t have something, I want it even more!

Something else I've realized is how much I depend on chocolate as a crutch.

If I’m grumpy I grab a piece of chocolate. If I am hungry and don’t want to wait till dinner I will grab a piece of chocolate. If I am feeling happy, I will grab a piece of chocolate. If I am tired of the chilly, wet weather, I will make hot cocoa and chocolate chip cookies....

Chocolate is my friend.

Oi.

I will miss you Chocolate… 

See you in April…..

Truly,

Amber

My Mad Lib Answers

Today I got up at  ____noon_____ and put on some ______designer clothes____________  for a change. I went out into the ____library_____________ and grabbed a _______________book___________________ and sat down in the _____garden_______________.

_____Ryan___________  came in while I was ____reading_________ and offered me a  __crepe__________________.

It had been  __5____ years since I’d had that for breakfast.  After I had the maid _____cook breakfast_________ AND _____take out trash_______________  I decided  to go to __the book store ____________ .  I saw _________Taylor________________  and asked her to go with me.  On the way we decided to grab some lunch at ______sushi restaurant______________________.

We hopped into my ______Lexus________ . And on the way we talked about ______books_______________ _______and _________movies______________.  We stopped at ______shoe store_______________ and bought _10_  _____shoes_______________________ ___ ‘s  then we were on our way.

While at the restaurant  _________Oprah________________ joined us for lunch and afterwards she/he invited us onto the set of the show __________Oprah Winfrey Show ____________________.

_____Wow______________! That was fun! 
It was about time for us to be going because I had to pack for ______Hawaii_________________! 

I dropped ______Taylor_____________ off at her house and went home to get my  _____feet___________massaged.

I couldn’t wait to leave; it was going to take ___10__ hours to get there by ____plane_________________ .

Since I would be away for__10___  weeks, I left a list of things to be done while I was gone;

1.       ____clean cat boxes________

2.       ____laundry_______________

3.       ____sort socks_____________

4.       ____clutter clean____________

5.       ____wash slip covers_________

6.       ____clean furniture__________

7.       ____grocery shop___________

When I arrived at my destination the temperature was ­­­­_75____degrees and I was thrilled to finally be there.

I could smell the               roses______ and the _______ocean__________. The time flew by so quickly. 

While I was there  I enjoyed ___horseback riding_____,  __spa ____,

____massage________________, ______shopping______________, and  learning      ________golf_______________.

For dinner every night I ate __pasta & seafood_______________,  sipped  _____champagne___________________ by the ________sunset_______ and had ____teri me su___ for dessert .

 As I crawled into my bed at the hotel on my last night, I dreamt that every day could be like this one.

The next morning, when I woke up to the sound of ____ocean on the shore_____ I thought, ‘I will miss  ______Hawaii____________________  but I really miss ________Taylor, Tatum, Justice, Ryan _______________ and ________________my own pillow and my pets____________________________ more….

Life swap was nice, but I can’t wait to go back home.

'Joy is the feeling of Grinning inside.' - Melba Colgrove, Phsychologist
                 
     Happy Friday!
If you are interested in doing this Madlib, refer to last Fun Friday's post: Life Swap (3/5/11) and use the list to compile your words...then  use Saturday 3/6/11- Life Swap Cont'd post to fill in the blanks! Have Fun!

 

Truly,

Amber

Sacrifice

Today is Ash Wednesday A.K.A. Lent

What does Lent mean to you? Do you celebrate it?

I’ve listed some links that briefly (and not-so-briefly) describe Lent.

Practices during lent can be summed up into one word: sacrifice. And regardless of what faith you are or where you're at in your spiritual journey, we can all relate to sacrifice and the need for it.

Without giving something up we would never be able to fully appreciate what we have or what has been sacrificed for us. 

This About.com article describes what Lent is and who is most likely to celebrate it (the link has Christianity in its title, but lists several different faiths. (And if you are uninterested in learning about Lent, feel free to skip to the bottom of the blog.)

http://christianity.about.com/od/holidaytips/qt/whatisashwednes.htm

Other sites of interest regarding descriptions of Lent:

http://www.crivoice.org/cylent.html

http://www.americancatholic.org/Messenger/Feb2002/Family.asp

This next link is an great visual of the symbols used, or that can be used, during Lent to signify certain things:

http://onlineministries.creighton.edu/CollaborativeMinistry/Lent/symbols.html

If you aren’t into Lent, and prefer not to give anything up, I urge you to at least take a few moments to appreciate the simple things that you experience every day, like:

• Clean water

• Clean air

• Freedom

• Love

......Because it's so easy to take for granted things we do (and have) everyday....when not everyone is so lucky.

Sacrifice, which is the passion of great souls, has never been the law of societies.”

Henri Frederic Amiel quotes (Swiss writer known for his masterpiece Journal intime, 1821-1881)

 

Truly,

Amber

I’m an addict

I love to solve problems.  

I don’t like Crossword puzzles or Sudoku very much, but I do enjoy the challenge of figuring things out. I will take anything apart and attempt to put it back together again. I thoroughly enjoy fixing things.

I get so excited to improve anything and everything.

From finances to customer service; writing to parenting; relationships to faith, I think I can always make it better.

That’s right, I’m an addict.

I’m addicted to self-help material; like how-to books, videos and articles. I spend hours in the non-fiction-self-help section of libraries and bookstores. I write about it, dream about and l annoy my friends and family with it.

But with that being said…

Even I am starting to get sick of the influx of media trying to sell me answers to my problems.

I have a Twitter account, Facebook page and a couple of different email addresses and there is not a day (ssshhheeeshh…a minute) that goes by where my phone and/or computer are not blowing up with quick-fixes for my life.

“I’m fine.  Thank you very much.” is all I want to say sometimes.

On magazine covers, on sidebars advertisements of websites, and in the pages of the newspaper…

If it’s not a better food, it’s a better drink. If it’s not a better body, it’s better clothes. It it’s not better thinking, it’s better medicine. The list goes on and on.

Since when did being ourselves become such a problem? Don’t we like ourselves at ALL?

What is the world coming to? I mean if this is what the media is selling; doesn’t that mean this is what we’re buying?

What happened with being content? What happened to acceptance?

 And what the heck happened to ‘This is Me’.  Like ‘Me or not’.

I admit it (and like I’ve said previously), you don’t have to twist my arm to work hard at fixing something in my life; I am all for advancement, but man, is it just me or is the world on ‘fix-it-overload’?

Everybody knows something that they want to teach you. And as wonderful as it is to want to help others and share our experiences, (I feel like I am one of those people) I wonder if others are sick of hearing it.

Are we asking for the advice or is it unsolicited? And can we even tell the difference?

I’m usually the one who says, ‘Yes, bring it on; let’s do this!’ and lately I feel more like, ‘Shut up already.’

I have to wonder…. when even I am sick of this stuff, what are other people are thinking?

Not one of us on this planet is perfect. Not one of us is pristinely healthy, or perfectly well versed or wonderfully well-behaved  24/flipping/7.  And if someone pretends to be perfect, they are full of it.

How many celebrities have we seen, including presidents of the United States, go down??? Hmmm?

If we were perfect, there would not be these things called faux pas, accidents, my bads, oopsies or #@$! And no one would ever regret a thing and we would never have to say ‘I’m sorry’.

To err is human.

And, it doesn’t matter what type of degree you hold, what your background is, or even how much money you have, you will not be perfect.

So, that leads me to this question; Self-help, I think, is a necessity. Isn’t it? I mean, what would we do without the option of getting better at something, or having the ability and freedom to improve a weakness or downfall? After all, that is our second chance.

This leads me to another question: where is the balance between self-improvement and self-acceptance?

I do not know the answer, but I am determined to find out.

                  (To be Continued…)

A couple of quotes that seemed fitting:

Self-acceptance comes from meeting life's challenges vigorously. Don't numb yourself to your trials and difficulties, nor build mental walls to exclude pain from your life. You will find peace not by trying to escape your problems, but by confronting them courageously. You will find peace not in denial, but in victory.-J. Donald Walters Author, Lecturer

Loving Yourself is Healing the World!-Jaymie Gerard

Truly,

Amber

Life Swap (Cont'd)

LIFE SWAP-Mad-Lib Time!

I hope you’ve got your word list handy that you created from the last post! –Ready? Fill-in-the-blanks!

Today I got up at __ _________ and put on a____ ______________ for a change. I went out into the _________________ and grabbed a ___________ _______________________.

Then I went into the   ________________ .

 ______________ came in while I was _____________ and offered me ______ ______________.

It had been ______ years since I’d had that for breakfast.  After I had the maid do _________ AND ____________________   I decided to go to __________________.

On the way there I saw _________________________ and asked him/her to go with me.  On the way we decided to grab some lunch at ____________________________.

We hopped into my ________________ and headed there. On the ride we talked about ______________and ______________________________.  We stopped at _____________________and bought ____________________________ ___‘s..

At the restaurant _________________________ joined us for lunch, and afterwards invited us to the set of  _________________________________.

______!That was fun!

It was about time for us to be going because I had to pack for _______________________.

I dropped _______________ off at his/her house and went home to get my ________________ massaged.

I couldn’t wait to leave; it was going to take _____ hours to get there by _____________________ .Since I would be away for_____ weeks I left a list of things to be done while I was gone;

1.  ________________________

2.  ________________________

3.  ________________________

4.  ________________________

5.  ________________________

6.  ________________________

7.  ________________________

When I arrived at my destination the temperature was ­­­­_____degrees and I was thrilled to finally be there.

I could smell the________________________________________________ and the _________________________________________.

While I was there I enjoyed ______________, ________________, ____________________, ____________________, and I even learned   how to _______________________.

For dinner every night I ate _________________, and sipped ________________________ by the _________________________________________ and had _______________________ for dessert.

The time flew by so quickly. And as I crawled into my bed at the hotel on my last night, I dreamt that every day could be like this one.

The next morning when I woke up to the sound of ______________________ I thought, ‘I will definitely miss _____________ but I really miss _________,_________,_________ , _________, ______________________ and ____________________________________________ more.

Life Swap was nice, but I can’t wait to go back home!

   Because real life can sometimes be mundane, I thank you for daydreaming with me!                  

        I hope you had as much fun with this as I did!  (I will post mine later:)

But in the end, I trust you felt like Dorothy, Toto and the people who chose to Wife Swap…..

        ‘There’s no place like home.’

Truly, Amber

Life Swap

Remember the show Wife Swap?

It was a reality T.V. show which took a wife out of the country and put her in the city, a home school mom went to live with a family who had public schooled children, and a wife who had old fashioned values  was replaced with the bread winning suburban one. It might even still be on T.V. for all I know.

That show probably started with just a few men and women who truly wished they were living other lives, and who longed for the days where they could be someone else, somewhere else.

Where they pictured the grass to be greener and the flowers would smell much better than their own.

Today is Fun Friday and I would like to give you a task; a FUN one of course! You must like to play. If you think that you can hack a little bit of silliness and you feel you’re mature enough to participate, put your answers in the blanks below. Otherwise stop reading and go back to work.

Treat this like the Mad Libs we had as kid’s.

You know, the ones where you had to fill in nouns, verbs, adjectives, etc., and then when you read the story back it’d be the most hilarious thing you, and your friends, had ever heard!!

This time fill in the blanks today with dreams and things you love and then on Saturday morning (or any time after midnight) return to Yellow Inspiration and use your words to fill in the story!

Sit back, Relax, Have Fun and use your imagination!

A specific time on the clock–

An item of clothing you’d love to wear –

Room in your home you wish you had-

Another room (or area in or around your home) in which you wish you had-

 Something you like to have first thing in the a.m.-

Something you wish you could have for breakfast more often-

A person in your family-

A leisurely activity-

Something you love to eat-

#-

2 something’s you hate to do-

1.

2.

Somewhere you love to go-

Your best friend-

Favorite restaurant-

Dream car-

Something you love to talk about-

Something else you love to talk about-

A place you love to shop-

#-

Something you never have enough of -

 Celebrity you wish you knew-

A TV show you don’t want to live without-

Exclamation!-

A dream vacation destination- 

Your best friend-

A part of your body-

#-

Favorite way of traveling-

#-

List 7 things you hate to do-

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

A # above 70-

Something you love to smell-

Something else you love to smell-

#-

A sport-

A luxury activity-

A relaxing activity-

An expensive activity–

A sport you would like to learn-

Your favorite food (s)-

Your favorite drink-

Aspect of nature you love to see-.

 Your favorite dessert-

A  relaxing sound (s)-

The same dream vacation destination-

People you love-

1.       ________

2.       ________

3.       ________

4.       ________

2 things you can’t live without-

1.       _________

2.       _________

 Come back to Yellow Inspiration on Saturday (anytime after midnight tonight) and read your Life Swap Mad Lib with your answers!

Truly,
Amber

21 Encouraging Thoughts
 By Leah Davies, M.Ed.


This list is by Leah Davies and was meant for counselors, teachers and parents for use with children.

 Leah Davies states that adults 'often use this as a way to cope with their problems' and that 'helpful thoughts are called positive self-talk'.

•   I am a good person no matter what anyone does or says.
•   It is okay to make mistakes because everyone does.
•   I do not give up; I keep trying.
•   I think about what is good in my life.
•   Everyone feels good and bad, now and then.
•   I can do it!
•   Money cannot buy happiness.
•   How I act is more important than how I look.
•   I am lovable.
•   When I smile, I feel better.
•   I can do many things well.
•   I cannot control what grown-ups (substitute  with 'others') do.
•   I am unique, one of a kind.
•   When I feel sad, I think of things I like about myself.
•   Each new day brings a chance to do better.
•   I think about my choices and then choose what is best for me.
•   I will change what I can and accept what I cannot change. (Remember the Serenity   Prayer)
•   I treat others the way I want to be treated.
•   I cannot change my family; I can only change myself.
•  What I learn today will help me in the future.
•  Believe in yourself! ( I added that one myself. )

Used by permission of the author, Leah Davies, and selected from the Kelly Bear website [http://www.kellybear.com/]. 2/02

 

How many times do weactually say these to ourselves every day?

No matter what the answer, we could stand say them some more...

Truly,

Amber

I Love Donald

Okay, so maybe I don’t love another man besides my fiancée.

But I do admire three other men very much.

The first is Sheldon on The Big Bang Theory…I just love ahem…like him. He is so funny.

 The second (my other Honey as my REAL Honey calls him) is Peyton Hillis.

Who doesn’t like Peyton? And by the way, it has nothing to do with his looks or his arms; I just get a kick out of how Peyton jumps over people on the field! He’s got stamina and gutts!

The third man I admire is Donald Trump.

As soon as I say the word, ‘Trump’, I know that many people are probably cringing…

The man went bankrupt in …..several different years.

Has been divorced  …several different times.

And has terrible hair.

So, why would I like him?

How could I like him?

Because I can respect him. And I find him to be very inspiring.

As Donald realized, he could have it all, and then lose it all, but then get it all back again…

….Again and Again.

                     Success isn’t permanent, and failure isn’t fatal.

                                        MIKE DITKA-Professional football coach

See Donald live

See Donald take risks

See Donald make mistakes

See Donald learn from his mistakes

See Donald get smart from his mistakes

See Donald learn lessons learned from his mistakes

See Donald teach others from lessons learned from his mistakesJ

I read my first Donald Trump book when I was 24. It blew me away. And, if you have ever picked up one of Donald’s books, you’d find that it is full of life education as well as business education.

Donald’s reality show, ‘The Apprentice’ was the first reality show I ever watched.

Like many, I don’t think Donald’s hair is the greatest, but I’ve always admired his choice to keep it the way it is. His hair is a part of him and I respect him for not changing it because others tell him he should.

I can also respect someone who can be honest with themselves when they screw up, then tell people about it; then persevere and succeed once again!

He’s got  @%#! .

A man should never be ashamed to own that he has been in the wrong, which is but saying... that he is wiser today than yesterday. -Jonathan Swift

Go Donald!......Peyton and Sheldon…

I love you too, Honey;)

Truly,

Amber