Perspective.

The following is an article I first wrote for my church newsletter for the December 2006 issue.


Over the last month I've been working my way through The Complete Works of Sherlock Holmes, I've finished Vol. I and I can now tell you the plot to every Sherlock Holmes story ever written. Here you go... Someone comes to good old 221-B Baker Street with a set of events/facts. These all add up to person A being guilty of something, ol’ Sherl sees the facts from some off the wall viewpoint and puts them together to show that in actuality person B is really the guilty party. He then employs various ways of proving himself right.



I'm not a big fan of Halloween, it's seemed to me that it just encourages greed and gluttony...things we try to teach our kids to avoid. However, wanting to allow my 3 year old some fun and not be known as "that mother" -- you know, the mean one who doesn't allow anything "unwholesome" (read enjoyable) in the house -- I tried to find some way to celebrate this non-holiday with a good message. So, instead of going out and collecting a bunch of candy (no I wouldn't let him eat it anyway) we stayed on our front porch and gave candy away. He had a blast!! He loved seeing all the costumes and got a big kick out of putting candy in the various containers....or throwing it at the folks when too excited. Since we had approx 100 folks come through our neighborhood in the 2 hours we were out there he saw many fun costumes and had many folks exclaim over him. He actually looked a LOT happier than the kids (and adults) that were busy filling up their pillowcases. As we sat there refilling our bowl to be sure we didn't run out of candy ("Need more candy for kids mom!!") It went through my head that it truly is better to give than to receive. Sonshine learned all about giving and I enjoyed a very nice greed and gluttony free Halloween.



OK, we've all heard the glass half full or half empty bit before. But, truly, something as simple as a change in the perspective you're viewing a set of facts/events from could change the way the whole picture looks. My Grandma used to say that we decide each morning if we're going to be happy that day. Also known as "You can get glad in the same shoes you got mad in." As we spend the end of this year reviewing the events that have passed, let's try to look at them from a different perspective. Maybe it isn't so much the event itself that is bothersome as much as how we are viewing it.

I challenge each of us to start the new year off deciding to be happy with whatever comes our way. And keep looking for just how to make lemonade out of that great big lemon you've been handed.



Love you

Sarah



"When someone gives you free fertilizer for your garden, you don't complain about the smell." Earlene Fowler

many days in one.

You ever get that feeling like your days are all running together?

Well, here's proof!

This is a Thesaurus Thursday, and Fitness Friday, post on Saturday.

Ready?



Welcome to this week's belated edition of Thesaurus Thursday!

If you're new to Thesaurus Thursday, the T-T scoop can be found here.
Please take a second or two to get the scoop before you leave comments entries!


Last week's words:
busticate - verb (used with object), ‐cat·ed, ‐cat·ing. to break into pieces.


attar - –noun
1. Also, atar, athar, ottar, otto. a perfume or essential oil obtained from flowers or petals.
2. Also called attar of roses. rose oil.


Winners:

No Smarty Pants Winner this week.
Our Silly Goose Winners are:

Stephanie, SherryTex, Jungle Mom, Abornepoppa, and Roger! Y'all all cracked me UP with the busticate definitions!!

Don't forget to pick up your award on my sidebar before you leave.


This week's words are:
attelet

zein


Now get out there and exercise your BRAIN and your FUNNY BONE at the same time!!

Speaking of exercise!
It's Fitness Friday!



I sat in the waiting room of the dealership Friday morning and voila! I have HEADLIGHTS!! Yippee!!!

So, to test them out I went to the gym! My plan was to try and bike 7 miles. Since it'd been a MONTH from my last trip to the gym I thought I might need to take it easy and work back up to my usual 10 miles.


However, I ended up catching the last 1/2 of the Bengal vs Eagles pre-season football game! Anyone out there watch this game??
what a fun game.
interceptions....fumbles....incomplete passes....terrific tackles....penalties.
Plenty of opportunities to yell at the guys on the screen! (fortunately the gym was almost deserted...)
it was great to watch, but I'd hate to be on EITHER of these teams Monday when it's time to review the game films!
Bengals won 22 to 9.

And by the time I looked down at the bike....I'd gone 10.3 miles!!!

My goal for next week is 20 miles.


In other news I've been feeling punky a lot the last few days. Wednesday -Thursday I stayed up for 30+ hours and I really haven't slept longer than about 5 hours at a stretch since, so it might be plain old sleep deprivation. But whatever it is I'm ready for it to be gone!

I've worn the easytone shoes for a week now, and have yet to feel sore at all. I'm thinking that when you have a 9 1/2 WIDE foot, it takes more than those little ovals to put you off balance enough to change how you walk!! As my Grandpa would say, My feet are so big "all Hell couldn't trip me up"!

Had the ARD for Gator-boy. I'm very very excited about this school year! Gator will have the same teacher that Sonshine had last year! Sonshine's 1st grade teacher is also the Gifted & Talented teacher, who has a son with ADHD!! And, Sonshine will get to keep the same aid from last year!! It's going to be a GREAT year!!

I asked Miss Ladybug the kindergarten teacher WHY 6 boxes of crayons. She told me that she rotates them out at the beginning of every 6 weeks. Seems many of the kids really like the pointy crayons. She then will send the used crayons home or keep them till the end of the year. This does explain the big bag of 1/2 used crayons that I got last day of school!! It's nice to know the reason for the supply list!! :-)

Here's to a good week! And don't forget to play with those words!