Trials of a Long Haired Girl

  This  picture is me from Easter last year.  I have been thinking a lot about Easter holidays and how important and special they were to me growing up.  The fact was that I almost always had a new dress and new shoes for the holiday growing up.  I knew that was not what the holiday was about, but it was always special.  Aside from the new outfit, someone always did something different with my hair.  I grew up with impossibly straight hair and it would get put in pink foam rollers for special occasions.  The other fond memory that pops up for me is going to church with my Nanny.  Afterwards, we would go to my Nanny's and have a special dinner and hunt for eggs.  I have fond memories of coloring eggs and going out in her big backyard to hunt for them.  Things were simple then...more so than now, it seems.  I am trying to bring back some of those traditions with my family.  All of my children were together in one house for...

I was feeling a little down last week.  Getting past the anniversary of my Mom's death and with Christmas approaching quickly, it has been difficult for me to get into the spirit.   I have been on an audiobook kick of late and happened to have finished my audiobook earlier in the day than expected.  I decided to take that time to listen to some Christmas music to try to help me get myself where I thought I should be.  I started out listening to the "pop" Christmas music.  I promptly decided that was NOT going to get myself in the Christmas spirit listening to that, so I switched to the Bing Crosby channel.  So many memories popped in my head.   One of the memories that came to mind was working on crafts such as pipe cleaner ornaments at our dining room table, while singing Christmas carols with my Mom.  We sang songs such as Silent Night, White Christmas and Silver Bells.  All this made me a bit melancholy, but I was reminded ...

Good evening friends!  At the end of last week, a young lady at the T-Mobile store asked me about my Mom and my memories of her.  I do indeed have some very fond memories of my Mom.  She asked me to share some with her...which I was happy to do.  There are truly so many and I shared only a few.  One of which is when we couldn't afford to pay attention, she would tell me to get dressed.  Once I would get dressed we would head south to the Dallas area and we would go window shopping.  There were nights when we would stay home and play Yahtzee or rummy.  Other nights we would create ornaments out of pipe cleaners and beads or make bracelets with leather and beads.  These are only a few, but were such fond memories for me. I was getting a little lax again and my friend Kate invited me to a FitBit challenge that I had not done before.  It really gave me a kick in the behind and I've managed to exceed my goals most days.  I am trying ...

Today proved to be a bit of a busy day, but it was a good day.  I didn't hit my steps and realized when I went to get my debit card out that I didn't have it. 😒  Thankful we had something I could snack on...unfortunately, it doesn't really count as lunch.  I had peanut butter filled pretzels.  We had planned for chili dogs for dinner, so while not entirely on plan, it was tasty.  I am glad that I made it through this day without pulling my hair out since it was the first day without my co-worker. Last night, I was a bit emotional.  I decided that I would go through pictures from my Mom's.  We had many pictures taken together and there are many of just me.  Mom had also put my "school memories" book in there.  I ran across some great things including a "ribbon" award from 5th grade along with a program or two from my starring role as "Tailstar" written by my teacher.  Honestly, before she talked me into it, I don't think I...