The Gift Of Nothing

Good Day!
So here we are wrapping up October 2004 and I am nearly finished Christmas Shopping. The thing that is so cool about this is that I did not simply make a list of everyones names and head out on a quest to purchase "something." I have been thinking with Christmas for the last month and come across some really special things for the people I love. I am making it a point to be thoughtful and if I find myself just buying any old thing so that I have something, I am opting out and putting it back. Tell me what you think of this mindset: We are all old enough now that we do not want a gift just for a gifts sake. In fact, I would rather not have the obligatory gift. I am simplifying my life and surroundings and a gift from someone I love comes with a touch of guilt. This simply means that I feel like I can't part with it even if it is not something I can use or want out in my home. Isn't it nice to get to spend quality time with someone you care about ...or something that is a thoughtful note letting you know you are special and considered a good friend? If any of you read Mutts, you will appreciate making this holiday season one to give the gift of Nothing. http://muttscomics.com/art/dailyarchive.asp?month=12&date=21&year=2003 Check out what I am talking about and see if we can't start a new trend! Mason would love this, after all, he is far more interested in a pretty box with sassy paper and a shiny bow!

Dave and I have both installed web cams on our computers and it is cool to see each other. We are looking at each other looking down typing and then looking up to see if the other is looking. If we do look into the camera we are looking at each other and all the communication stops. Frankly, it is quite comical! I held Riley on my lap and when he realized he was looking at Dave on my monitor, he went berserk! He was barking and trying to back away and Dave was laughing and growling back at him. Way funny! Mason seemed to get it too, but only stayed interested in Dave's image without flesh and sound for about, oh, 10 seconds.

Dave is organizing a toy drive for his village in Iraq. Most of you get his e-mails so I just want you to know, if you want to do this but don't want to deal with the mailing and post office, let me know and I will do what I can to work with you so I can do the dirty work! Dolls and deflated soccer balls is what they are requesting. Of course, the DVD drive is still ongoing so that is an option if you want to do something for our soldiers. Thank you Marcella for the dolls you gave to me for the toy drive, you were first to get in the game!

Next week, I will be sure to send pictures of Mason in his costume. He is all set to be our happy crab. It should be a hoot! I hope this motivator is useful and that you can view the comic strip. Have a great week!

Kathy

Reasons To Be Thankful

The more you appreciate something, the more valuable it becomes. By being truly and actively thankful, you actually increase and expand the reasons you have for being thankful.

Sometimes it is difficult to find anything for which to be thankful. Yet it is precisely at such times that a genuine sense of thankfulness will do the most good.

When the world looks bleak, being thankful may seem to be naive, wishful thinking. The reality, though, is that thankfulness is a powerful, positive strategy that can immediately change things for the better.

When you can think of no reason to be thankful, it pays to look more closely until you do indeed find a reason. For even the smallest positive thing can begin to change your world in a big way.

If you focus on what is going wrong, on the problems, those problems will consume your energy and they will grow stronger. Instead, give some energy and grateful attention to what is right, no matter how small it may be, and it will surely grow.

Look for reasons to be thankful. And you will find a treasure of real, lasting value.
Ralph Marston from The Daily Motivator with permission www.thedailymotivator.com

Better Late Than Never!

In the nick of time! I know it is late and with all I had on my list of things to do today, I am impressing myself that it is going out before midnight.

It has been a busy couple of weeks. Mason had his first haircut, we got new carpet, I actually got a night out with the girls to see a movie and have some dinner, we had a birthday party for Mason yesterday and he will officially be 1 on Wednesday. It is amazing how much more grown up he looks with his hair cut. I guess this is just one of many, many big boy changes to come.

The birthday party was way fun, even with the rain. Actually, it reminded me of our wedding day. It was a day of energy and excitement with the rain just adding to the festivities. I saw a movie for the first time since last December when Dave and I went together and I was wearing Mason on my chest in his Bjorn. Shall we Dance with Richard Gere, J. Lo and Susan Sarandon was schmoopy and wonderful. It is exactly the chick flick you expect. So off to bed I go. Take care and only 68 days until Christmas!

Lots of love!
Kathy

Touch life

Touch life in all its detail. Don't be content to experience life secondhand or from afar.
Get out and get involved. Experience the texture and the substance of living.

Don't rush through so quickly that the scenery is reduced to a blur. You'll find beauty in every direction if you will let yourself be still enough to see it.

Base your actions not on what will impress others. Do the things that will make you more fully and more genuinely alive.

You have special gifts to give that no one else can match. Life hungers for all you have to offer.

Dive in fully to the authentic experience of living in every moment. You, the world, and everyone in it will be increasingly blessed. Ralph Marston
from The Daily Motivator with permission www.thedailymotivator.com

Back To Normal...If There Is A Normal!

Well, I started this last night and the phone rang. After a great conversation, I started it again and Heather came home. One final time I made the attempt and noticed the clock and ended up going to bed. So here I am and I don't have much time. Mason is very determined to feed himself so he is in his high chair with some pasta shells, steamed baby carrots and some fresh corn cut off the cob. The corn is what buys me the time to write.....one kernel at a time he goes! Laughing!

I finished up today at ATC and now can get back to spending my days with Mason. I will still have my mornings and intend to get my office caught up and the house clean in preparation for our holiday decorations. We will be celebrating Mason's birthday on Sunday in a small neighborhood gathering. I am making him an Elmo cake and I know it will tickle him. He loves Elmo!

Julie is on her way up and we will have a wonderful evening talking and hopefully scrap booking. I will talk to you all again next week! Lots of love and enjoy this motivator!

Love Kathy

Who You Can Become

What you truly desire is indeed possible. If it were not possible, you could not have the genuine desire for it.

Your true desire is not there to taunt you or to frustrate you. Its purpose is to point your attention, your efforts, and your energy in a clear, specific, worthwhile direction.

The desires that demand the most from you are the ones that end up being the most valuable. For those desires compel you to discover and fulfill who you truly are.

It is not easy to transform a desire into reality. And that is one reason you desire it, to encourage you to get it done.

It is not easy, yet it is possible. And in pursuing your most desired possibilities, you more fully become the unique and valuable person you are.

Listen to your highest desires, see them, feel them and bring them to life. In those desires you'll discover who you can become.
Ralph Marston from The Daily Motivator with permission www.thedailymotivator.com

We're Homeowners!

It is Sunday night and it amazes me that I know that. Have you ever had one of those times in your life where you have so much to get done that it seems like you are doing "something" constantly? Laundry, dishes, groceries, meals, diapers, pooper scooping, dog, cat, picking up toys (Masons and Riley's), work, Operation New Release, Stockings for Soldiers and on and on and on.....I know you are all answering yes as many of you are WAY busier than I can even imagine being.

Lets go to some really great news....Dave and I are officially home owners for the very first time! YEAHHHH!! The not so upside is that Dave had to return to Iraq just 12 hours after signing the final papers and is not home to enjoy the experience. We bought the house we live in here in Auburn and plan to be here for a while, build some equity and start shopping for a piece of property to eventually build our dream log home on. I have to send out big hugs and thanks to Lisa Anderson for making buying this house so calm and relatively painless. If you have any thoughts of buying or refinancing, you HAVE to give Lisa a call. You will never use anyone else again! (Lisa Anderson, Home Equity Link, 510-523-5300, www.home-equitylink.com). If she can get us in a house, she can get anyone in a house! Smiling!

Mason is walking more and more unless he really wants to get somewhere and then it is back to crawling at light speed. He is such a sweetheart. We went to a Kids Festival in Winters this weekend and he had such a great time playing the games at the various booths with Aunt Lauren....she is the best he told me on the way home. He said she plays the games he likes AND she makes a great hot dog bun! So now it is time to finish my Stockings for Soldiers paperwork (you'll be getting that very soon! wink!), make my lunch, fold the pile of clothes on my bed, set up my coffee and lay my clothes out for work tomorrow. Yes, I lay my clothes out. I have to, if Mason wakes up and I have to deal with him before I go and Heather isn't up and ready, I have to have everything ready or I will be late. Anyone know if they still make Garanimals and if they do, do they come in my size? Lots of love and have a productive week!

Kathy

Flowing joy

See the joy in this day, then give it away. And there will be much more.
Joy cannot be held or restrained, hidden away or saved for another time. Joy must freely flow in order to exist at all.

Get joy flowing from you and it will flow to you. With joy flowing to you, even more can flow out.

The process starts when you focus your attention on the positive possibilities, and on the value of what you have. An attitude of gratitude primes the pump to get joy flowing in your life and through your world.

See what is good, what is right, what is true. Let the joy begin to flow.

Then live that joy, spreading it far and wide. And it will flow with ever-increasing power.
Ralph Marston from The Daily Motivator with permission www.thedailymotivator.com