Pages

.

Thursday, February 23, 2012

Basking in the Silence....


I am sitting here in silence while my daughter takes her nap and it feels good.. The quiet is comforting.. My life is comforting. As I look around at all the pictures on my walls I know how lucky I am. How much love I have.

Some people dread the moment that their lives become comfortable... or as they would describe it.. mundane.. repetitive.. I however bask in these times. I like the feeling of knowing tomorrow isn't going to explode in my face. At least in the sense that my husband & kids will not stop loving me. I know that not everything is a guarantee.. I know that bad things can happen.. I do worry about those things from time to time... but in the moments like this.. when I feel safe.. I feel love and comfort... I am truly happy.

I love having friends and family around me. I love meeting new people and doing new things.. But I also love being alone.. standing on a beach just breathing the warm, windy air.. Walking down a road taking in the world around me.. Driving down the street and looking at the scenery.. beautiful trees and flowers. Alone time is when I get to reflect on myself.. to learn more about me and the things I like. To be me as a person and not be anything else for anyone else around me.

When I am alone I am not a mother, wife, daughter, friend, or anything....I am just Pamela.. I don't have to be any of those other things.. I have a moment to breath where no one depends on me to say the right thing or read them a story.. fix a problem or take a picture, give a present or help with homework, it is just me.. no expectations.. no rules, no work.. just me. ..

I find many people have trouble with alone time.. maybe they are not comfortable with themselves.. or the silence.. I have found that these moments can be the most beneficial.. They make you want to be a better, wife, mother, friend, daughter, sister, lover... everything..

Give yourself these moments.. Bask in the silence for a day.. enjoy time to yourself to just have you and your thoughts. Love yourself.. then you will be better able to love others.

Wednesday, February 22, 2012

School days & growing up fast.

As I sit here listening to my daughter play I think back to the time when she was too small to talk or play.... To a time when laying on my chest and looking up at me was all she wanted to do. I think back to the time when my middle son did the same things. Time has flown by and my middle son is now 6 and my daughter is 3.. those years have flown by too fast. I have tried my best to capture all of those sweet moments in my mind. Reading books, playing games, giving hugs and kisses...

Sadly I did not have all of those moments with my oldest son. .as a working mom then I did not have the time to watch him grow as I have had the privilege to do with my youngest two. I wish I could get those moments back.. but they are forever gone.. and now he is 12 years old.. taller than me.. and growing fast in height and attitude.. I do my best to keep him a grounded person .. but sometimes those preteen hormones get in the way. Time stands still for no one so hug them while you can and take many many pictures.. for when your memory fails you.. those pictures will not.

Now my little Tristan is in school.. spending much of his time away from home. I worry about him in this new school.. In this place that cares more about money than his education. I pray that I am doing enough for him. I ask him everyday how school is and if he learned anything.. most days I get the same "no" answer.. I pray that I can somehow keep him up to date on his learning in the 3 years we are here before we are able to find another duty station an hopefully better schools.

I have seriously been contemplating home schooling him because of how bad the schools are here. I know that I will be home schooling Alora when the time comes.. if for no other reason than to keep her from moving mid school year the way that Tristan has had to. He mentions frequently how much he misses his old school and how much he wants to go back. He had friends in his old school.. He loved his teacher.. I loved his teacher.. and now.. nothing.. the kids are mean.. the teacher is seriously lacking in ability.. and the school system doesn't care. sigh..

I know I won't be able to teach Mcleod.. he doesn't like to learn and I am not a very patient person so he will stay in school.. and I will do my best to help when he is home.. but that will mostly be his dads job.. since I don't do so well in math and that is usually where he needs the most help. Reading on the other hand.. I can help with that. :)

I know that I can help Tristan & Alora because they are still young and the things that they need to know I can do easily. I hope that I am able to give Alora the head start that she needs and have her reading and doing some math by the time she starts school.

So for everyone that teaches their kids.. I commend you.. For everyone that knows their limitations I commend you.. and for everyone who knows how quickly time can get away from us.. Hug your little one just one more time before bed.. they might not remember it.. but you will.

Tuesday, February 21, 2012

Good Deeds, Great Needs


There is a new movie coming out on Feb. 24th called "Good Deeds" it is by Tyler Perry.. and although I have not watched any of his previous movies I have heard that they tend to be humorous. The real reason why I find this particular movie so worthy of a blog is that it has joined up with Covenant House in efforts to help homeless youth. This program will also be partnering with a gift card company that collects unused gift cards and donating them to covenant house. How wonderful that people can give great things to the at risk youth of our country and give them a chance at a better life.

Covenant house does its best to provide hearty meals, warm beds, and safe shelter to homeless youth and in my opinion that is always a good cause. So I would like to share with you this video because lionsgate has offered to make donations each time this video is shared.

Good Deeds. Great Needs. | #GoodDeedsMovie

I hope you will take the time to just click on the movie, it will only take a few minutes of your time and it will help out a great cause.

Communication is the key...

In the past.. what seems like the very distant past now.. I knew some people.. people I no longer know.. people that I apparently never really knew. People that could walk away from me without so much as a word to say why.. People claiming I had done something horrible to them so they did not want me in their life but never mentioning what this horrible thing was.

I have taught my children an important trait and that is this.. If you have a problem with someone.. an issue with something they have done, said, or are doing, then tell them. Things cannot be fixed if they are ignored. Do not ignore the small things that bother you for one day they will become big things in your mind. Give others a chance to know what is bothering you. If you don't tell them then how would they know?

We always tend to assume that everyone else in the world knows what we are thinking and that they do things purposely against us. 98% of the time, that isn't true. Most people go about their daily lives just minding their own business.. living their own lives, not realizing that something they did or said upset someone else.

No one is perfect. It isn't possible. Not everyone is meant to be friends or even like each other. There are people that fit with our personalities and those that don't.. and that is ok.

I have met many many people in my short 32 years on this earth.. I am proud to have met them. I cannot say that I have enjoyed the company of all of them or that they have all enjoyed my company, but I can tell you that I enjoyed meeting them and having them in my life for whatever amount of time they were there.

Be the happiness that you want to see in the world. Treat your friends and acquaintances with respect by giving them a chance and letting them know when you are having issues. Break the silence. Be strong and be happy. Remember that if you come to someone with a problem in a mature manner without accusing you may find that what happened was a miscommunication.

Give people the chance that you would want to be given to explain themselves.

I pray that everyone in my life knows that I care about them and I try to tell them when I can. I hope that if any problems do arise that my friends would be good enough to come to me with the problem. Let us fix these things together rather than letting a world of confusion tear us apart.

Love to all..

Tuesday, February 14, 2012

DIY Activities: Occupying Your Time and Having Fun

DIY Activities: Occupying Your Time and Having Fun

A Guest Written Blog by: Kristin Wells

Military wives lead stressful lives. Their husbands are overseas doing a dangerous job and their loved ones constantly wonder about the well being of their men. While it's probably impossible not to worry, it's important to try and relieve the pressure as often as possible. Sitting around and fretting all the time is a good way to experience an emotional meltdown. This will be bad for the wife, and also for her husband who will become worried when he calls home and talks to a crying bride. Thankfully, there are fun and productive ways to take your mind off the stress. One of the easiest and most creative options is composing fiction.

Anyone can write, regardless of their talent level. All you need is a notebook of lined paper and a package of pens or in today’s time it may be more appropriate to say a computer. If you're going to write fiction, try to clear your mind and avoid making too big a deal out of it. After all, you don't want it to be something that adds to your stress. Tell a story the way you'd want to be told one. Think of a book you'd like to read that has not yet been written, then start writing it. Let your imagination flow and see where it leads!

Worrying too much about the technical quality of your work will stop you in your tracks. Write for yourself and put the possible opinions of others out of your head. The great thing about fiction is that it doesn't require any kind of research. Simply write down whatever comes to you. The more you write, the more you'll find your hurtful emotions spilling onto the page, which can be therapeutic. In fact, according to the Pennebaker paradigm, those who write about traumatic experiences show a strengthening of their immune system and significant increases in psychological well-being. It not only decreases depression as well, but helps when stricken with diseases like Mesothelioma.

Another good trick for writing fiction is to write the way that you'd tell the story if you were talking to someone. Grammar and punctuation should be the least of your concerns. Remember that first drafts are allowed to be messy and scattered. Writing a novel or a collection of short stories will help take your mind off the stress of not being near your husband, and will bring the joy of pure artistic creation.

The first and only rule of writing fiction is to have a good time. Let your mind say what it needs to say and document it on paper. I think that many people today never give it a try because they may think it can turn into an arduous task negating your initial goal in the first place. No matter how much time you have on your hands or how creative you may think you are, we’re all natural born writers!

Kristin Wells




I would like to thank Kristin for taking the time out of her busy schedule to share her ideas with us. I hope she is able to come back and guest write again.

Monday, February 13, 2012

Congrats Justine!!

The shared memories giveaway is now over and Justine is the winner! Contact me to receive your code to get your free software!

Keep an eye out for more giveaways in the future. Also please share my blog with your friends so that they have the opportunity to win things also!

Saturday, February 4, 2012

Broken??

I have been having intermittent leg pain for about 4 weeks now.. Never knew why but one day while I was playing one of my dance games the pain started to get really bad.. So I finally decided to go and try to have it looked at. Luckily my doctor actually listened to me and sent me in for an xray.

Ten days later I still hadn't heard from him so I called.. A different doctor returned my call and gave me my results.. he said he couldn't see anything there.. I said ok.. but it still hurts, so what now. He ordered a high contrast bone scan.. Which basically means they inject radioactive material into your blood stream then do another xray.. only this time it is on this giant machine and takes about 30 minutes cause they scanned my entire body... The machine looked a lot like this one.


After the scan I looked at the picture of my skeleton and noticed a white spot on my right leg (the one i was having pain in) .. I have no pictures of what it looked like because as soon as the tech saw me looking at it he took down the picture.. Techs aren't allowed to tell you anything.. So then I waited until the next day and called. The nurse called me back to inform me that I indeed have a stress fracture in my right leg and that I should rest for 8 weeks.. fat chance of that happening..haha.. So in 8 weeks I am to go back and get my leg re-scanned to make sure it has healed.

It is so weird that my leg is broken when I haven't really done anything to break it! Makes me wonder if I have the beginnings of osteoporosis.. ahh the thrills of getting older..lol.. Doc has me on calcium supplements now.. so hopefully that will help. Well.. that is pretty much it.. no running for me for awhile.

Friday, February 3, 2012

My Memories Software Giveaway!!!

I was contacted by My Memories and asked to review their scrap booking software.. As one that is not very good with doing scrap booking I was impressed. I found the software very easy to use. Adding pictures was just a simple click as well as adding any text I wanted. Not only do they have a slue of different styles to choose from in their package but they also offer other free add-ons to go along with it. Here are some of the pages that I created in only a few minutes.






This program is so easy to use that I am going to start scrap booking now! I know I have said that many times in the past but I am all about things being easy to do so that I can still have time for a life! lol..

So here is the deal.. My Memories suite wants to give one of my wonderful readers a copy of this software too! For FREE!

Ok, so here are the rules for the giveaway!

1.) Go check out http://www.mymemories.com/ .. Once you get there choose your favorite digital paper pack or layout.

2.) Post a comment on this blog with your choice from #1..

That's it! Easy enough! All you have to do is post a comment about your choice and you have a chance to win some free digital scrapbooking software!


If you would like to check out the My Memories Suite fb page you can go add them by clicking on this link. http://www.facebook.com/pages/MyMemories/140359372717593

As a little bonus for everyone, here is a code for anyone that wants to get a $10 coupon to use whenever you decide to make a purchase! STMMMS88775 Just type that code into the coupon code box at checkout and you are good to go!

You can also click below to use the code. :)
Photobucket