The Sun Will Come Out Tomorrow

If you have never suffered the Winter Blues or been clinically depressed you just would not understand how hard this is to believe sometimes. When the days turn into weeks and you have not seen the sun's bright shiny light you start to feel helpless and hopeless. Every single little problem gets blown up and seems insurmountable. Really. It's hard to explain and even harder to think that a rational person who otherwise seems perfectly happy and content, would feel absolute despair because of the weather, but it's true. It's called Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) and although it can be treated (Change all your light bulbs, buy a sunlamp!), it cannot be cured.

I read a story yesterday about a young girl who committed suicide and no one knows why. "She seemed happy, she was a happy girl" ,stuck with me all day and I thought of her and how no one will ever know what happened, and how every Winter for as long as I can remember I think and have to consciously remind myself that "The sun will come out tomorrow"... and how God knows when you have had enough and if only you hang in there, just one more day, just one more dawn...it does. My heart breaks for those parents and for that girl who was too young to know you just have to hang in there ... the sun WILL come out, and you WILL survive this (whatever this is!)

Today it's sunny in NH, the calm before the storm. If you are feeling tired and blue, sit outside in the sun for a little while. I will be stepping out into the cold to recharge my soul with hope and will count my blessings that someone told me, a long time ago, that "the sun will come out tomorrow", and it was true. I look out my window and it's there, proof that there is a God and he knows when I've had enough. I feel blessed. =)

Hope your day is filled with sunshine, but if it's not, remember... the sun will come out tomorrow.

Who is Martin Luther King Jr?

That is the question I ask GP every single year before declaring Martin Luther King Jr a No Home school day. The way I see it, if you don't know who he was you have no business getting the day off. Yep, my house, my rules.

Last year my Prince declared, "I can't remember" when asked this question and I quickly replied, "Well, let's find out!" and we went on to a two hour MLK Jr tutorial. Last night when I asked the same question, my son did not skip a beat and he gave me the

condensed version, the cliff notes of all answers. "He says, "No violence!"", he replied and for the first time ever my son has the day off without a MLK Jr refresher course. Gotta love that!

Yes, Martin Luther King Jr did many things for our country and said many things worth noting but if my son remembers one single thing about this great civil rights leader and it's that he stood for "No violence!" well, that's good enough for me.

My job here is done. I feel so accomplished, it's the little things that make me happy.

Image is a print available here.

We Have A Winner!

Congratulaions to Tanya Grimm for being the lucky winner of the Winter Wonderland flannel Sweet Sixteen Bundle. I know you will love it!

Thank you ladies for joining in the fun and sharing your love of the snow with those of us who are burried in it. Hope you all have a wonderful weekend that does not include shoveling .

Brenda=)

It's a Winter Wonderland in NH!

So why not have a Winter Wonderland Giveaway? Hello!

Yes, we've been hit hard with TONS of snow in my little state but I'm thinking, "it's all good". We're home, we have food, we have electricity, we have cable TV! Woo-HOO! Doesn't take much to make me happy these days and I'm sharing my Winter joy with all those who choose to see their cups as half full, and giving away a Sweet Sixteen bundle of Winter Wonderland Flannels. Twenty-two pieces in all, prints and plaids of yummy Maywood flannels that will surely chase your Winter Blues away and remind you of the beauty of this magical season.

To enter all you have to do is tell me why you love SNOW... If you hate the snow or have nothing nice to say about it well, just don't enter the giveaway. We'll have no party poopers!

Anonymous entries will be deleted. Ladies, if you don't want me to know who you are then why do you want me to send you a prize? I don't get that! If you have a no-reply, just be sure to leave an email in your comment.

To all FB followers, you can enter this giveaway even if you entered the FB giveaway, yes...there are two bundles one on FB and one here... I'm good like that.

I'll draw the winners on Friday night, after we are all shoveled out.

If we reach 100 comments on this post I'll throw in a third Sweet Sixteen Bundle of Winter Wonderland Flannels...because I think everyone secretly loves the white stuff, they just don't want to admit it!
Come out of the closet you snow lovin' folks, I know you're out there!!! Let's celebrate this Winter Wonderland! Happy Noreaster!

If you do not have an email on your blogger profile or you have a not enabled your profile and you have not left an email in your post your comment will be deleted! I wont "hunt you down" to give you a prize... sorry, not gonna happen!

Multiple posts will also be deleted.

A Table for Two, Now in Stock!

Remember this cutie? No, not me...the awesome runner!

It's called A Table for Two! It was one of my favorite Fall Market finds and they just arrived. I'm thrilled to have them in stock. You can order your copy HERE!

I love this one, and I know you will too!!

Birds of a Feather

We flock together!
Last night I met my friend Lynn at Gibbit Hill for our post holiday dinner. With the craziness of the holidays we decided we'd get together after things had settled down and we could enjoy each other's company without having to rush because we had something to do.
Lynn and I met online, blogging. She paints and loves primitives, and although we live in different states we're only an hour's drive from each other. You gotta love that.
I'm working on my commitments folks, making time for myself, check!
Hope your weekend is going well and that you too are making time to celebrate your life. Have fun!

Time to Pay the Piper!

According to freedictionary.com this means:

to accept the unpleasant results of something you have done, pay the price.

According to me it simply means: OWN IT!

Yep, I went to TX where my Mom waited for me frying pan in hand and pork in the oven... If you've ever had Puertorrican food you know exactly what I'm talking about and you are just grinning. If you have never had Puertorrican food, well, I don't know why on earth you would be fat, LOL! Yeah, it's bad for you. HAHAHA.

After only one week in TX, and shortly before Christmas my subconscious was already screaming and saying, "STOP! STOP!" but my Mom continued to pull out favorites from her recipe bank and well, you know what they say, "You don't eat this every day..." Or is it just my Mom that says that? HMMM. I hope not, LOL! Well, let's just say that when I had the first nightmare, that I had gained TEN pounds, I started to think maybe it was time to start eating out. You know it's bad when Wendy's is the low cal option... but being the good daughter that I am, I ate all of my Mom's food, and then some of my Sister's Lasagna, (are you seeing a pattern here? Do I have a crappy support system or what? LOL!) and pretended I was not being BAD, really BAD!

As soon as I got home, knowing that the day of atonement was fast approaching (Ahem, can you say personal trainer?), I dusted off the Nutrasystem boxes and and thawed out the frozen veggies, I hooked up the H2O I.V. and prayed for a miracle.

God, knowing I am good, granted me a reprieve and just five days after arriving home I am happy to report that I held steady. Weight loss zero, weight gain ZERO! Hello! (No, I am not telling her how I paid the piper, I did my time and I am now back on track. Hooray!

Have you paid the piper yet?

Resolutions

I love New Year's day. I feel as if I have been given a new opportunity to set my life back on the path that I strayed from somewhere along the way. I find myself cutting myself some slack, giving myself a break so to speak. And once again trying to commit to doing right, by and to myself.I have to admit that every year I make a list of things I want to accomplish. Not unlike half the people in the USA, I too make Resolutions. A resolutions is no different from a commitment but we don't call it a commitment because then it would imply that we MUST accomplish this goal and not that we "intend" on accomplishing this goal. A Resolution is an intent, a Commitment is a commitment, no way around it. Intend and commit?

Not the same thing.

So this year I will not resolve but I will Commit to doing right by Me, and for Me. I will Commit to cutting myself some slack, I will commit to being a Mom AND a woman, I will commit to setting aside time for Myself, regardless of the chaos in my life. I will commit to starting my journey back to Myself. I will commit to help myself as much as I help others.

There, I said it. I wrote it, I own it! For some reason I am thinking that Resolving to lose 100 pounds sounded easier than my short list but hey, this year I'm going all out. At 45 it's time to step it up and Go Big.

Now if I could only find my Big Girl undies I might feel more confident... wish me luck and tell me what you are ready to commit to. Happy New Year!