Shalai CLUB FAR Sisters 4 LifeFamily Me...'s blog: "Blessings"

Hi everyone! I hope you all are doing well. I'm missing my girl tonight. She has been in MO with her grandma for almost two weeks! It's killing momma. She calls us about twice a week to say hi and see how her little brother and the dog are doing. How cute is that? Fortunately I get to pick her up Tuesday, hopefully. Looking forward to having my baby back home. That's for sure! Took a couple of big steps for me the last couple of weeks. Demanding my me time and my girlfriend time. I've been needing both for months and months. Hubby doesn't like it when I do that much because that means he has to be hands on with the kids. So I am going to remedy that situation. We're not going to be married much longer. Last Saturday I went in to work for a couple of hours twice. Some in the morning and some in the afternoon. Of course Hubby didn't like that because he had to take care of the boy alone. I love my job and the team needed me so I really enjoyed going in to do what I could to help out. My job is going so well. I haven't been this happy at work in a very, very long time. I like the team I'm on. We are like one big 35-40 member family. Love it!!!! I love my supervisor. She is the bomb. She is really pretty easy to get along with. She tries to let me know how much she appreciates my efforts multiple times a week. Monday I brought her to tears twice. About two weeks ago the other supervisor on the team sent out an email about an appreciation day for the supervisor. We all said yes, lets do it. A couple of days after we started planning it she made a comment "don't ever tell me you don't appreciate me" the whole team burst out laughing because we were planning this party for her. I got elected/volunteered to collect money for the cake and order it. I cannot say how much I enjoyed that! I was surfing online the friday before the monday party and saw some flower arrangements that had both supervisor's name written all over them. So I ordered them from a local florist shop. When my supervisor came in that morning she saw all these balloons at her desk and asked the other supervisor who she was supposed to give them too. He laughed and said no one. They are for you. She was so surprised. The whole team told me I did an excellent job on the cake for her. He took her over to the cake shortly after she saw the balloons and that was the first time she cried that day. Then she came over and gave me a big hug because I am the one who ordered it. Later in the afternoon the flowers arrived. She looked at the other sup and he threw his hands up in the air and said " I knew nothing about those." which was true only myself and a couple of other teammates that I trust knew the flowers were coming. That is the second time she cried that day. I was glad I was able to make her cry. However when I got over there I had to make sure the other supervisor got his plant. When I got over there and told her that one of those belonged to him she started to "pout" because I made her give some of her flowers to him. It was a wonderful day. Last night I asked hubby if he had plans for this weekend. He asked me what I wanted to do. I told him I wanted to go see my mom's play tonight and had been invited to go see "Mamma Mia " with some of the girls I work with. Those were part of the big steps I took. Demanding my me time and my girlfriend time. I am so excited. The play tonight was so funny my stomach is still hurting from laughter! I am very excited about tomorrow. That movie just seems like such a "girlfriends" movie I can't wait. Well, it is getting late here and I need to think about going to bed. I hope you all have a wonderful weekend! Blessings, Shalai

I AM THANKFUL: FOR THE WIFE WHO SAYS IT'S HOT DOGS TONIGHT, BECAUSE SHE IS HOME WITH ME, AND NOT OUT WITH SOMEONE ELSE. FOR THE HUSBAND WHO IS ON THE SOFA BEING A COUCH POTATO, BECAUSE HE IS HOME WITH ME AND NOT OUT AT THE BARS. FOR THE TEENAGER WHO IS COMPLAINING ABOUT DOING DISHES BECAUSE IT MEANS SHE IS AT HOME, NOT ON THE STREETS. FOR THE TAXES I PAY BECAUSE IT MEANS I AM EMPLOYED . FOR THE MESS TO CLEAN AFTER A PARTY BECAUSE IT MEANS I HAVE BEEN SURROUNDED BY FRIENDS. FOR THE CLOTHES THAT FIT A LITTLE TOO SNUG BECAUSE IT MEANS I HAVE ENOUGH TO EAT. FOR MY SHADOW THAT WATCHES ME WORK BECAUSE IT MEANS I AM OUT IN THE SUNSHINE FOR A LAWN THAT NEEDS MOWING, WINDOWS THAT NEED CLEANING, AND GUTTERS THAT NEED FIXING BECAUSE IT MEANS I HAVE A HOME. FOR ALL THE COMPLAINING I HEAR ABOUT THE GOVERNMENT BECAUSE IT MEANS WE HAVE FREEDOM OF SPEECH. FOR THE PARKING SPOT I FIND AT THE FAR END OF THE PARKING LOT BECAUSE IT MEANS I AM CAPABLE OF WALKING AND I HAVE BEEN BLESSED WITH TRANSPORTATION. FOR MY HUGE HEATING BILL BECAUSE IT MEANS I AM WARM. FOR THE LADY BEHIND ME IN CHURCH WHO SINGS OFF KEY BECAUSE IT MEANS I CAN HEAR. FOR THE PILE OF LAUNDRY AND IRONING BECAUSE IT MEANS I HAVE CLOTHES TO WEAR. FOR WEARINESS AND ACHING MUSCLES AT THE END OF THE DAY BECAUSE IT MEANS I HAVE BEEN CAPABLE OF WORKING HARD. FOR THE ALARM THAT GOES OFF IN THE EARLY MORNING HOURS BECAUSE IT MEANS I AM ALIVE. AND FINALLY, FOR TOO MUCH E-MAIL BECAUSE IT MEANS I HAVE FRIENDS WHO ARE THINKING OF ME. Live well, Laugh often, & Love with all of your heart!

For a family friend Brian, who lost his mother, Sylvia. Sylvia, You were a teacher, mom, wife, sister, friend. You gave your all to your students, family and friends. You were truly an angel walking on earth. Even when you got sick you just kept on going. You kept on trying to keep life fun for those around you. What me and my family remember most about you are: Your smile, Your love of children. It didn't matter if they were your children and grandchildren. Or if they were someone else's children and grandchildren You were "mom" and "grandma" to all. We love you and we will miss you. But we know you are happier where you are now. This way you can truly look down upon us And watch over us with the rest of God's Angels. Rest In Peace Dear Lady. Shalai

I am stressing out again today!. My finances are a little shorter than I want and I don't know if my huuby will remember to give me the money I asked for. I talked to my best friend last night about a lot of things. One of the things she asked me was how were things with $$$. I said we have barely enought to keep the bills paid and I get frustrated because we need a little more and I know I can do what needs to be done to get the little more. What happens is I just get so frustrated with the lack of that I get stuck and don't go out and do what needs to be done to bring in the 50 or 100 or 200 dollars more that we need. While I was talking to my best friend about this she told me two things, 1) I'm too hard on myself and I need to stop that, 2) Try and focus on the positive and the good things I do have. Then today while I was visiting with the other ladies that I work out with I brought up the conversation I had with Allison and this other lady said the same thing. Focus on the positive. Here I am now working on this blog. Ever since the conversation I had with Allison I've been thinking about coming up here and focusing on the positive. What are my positives? I'll just start listing them here and we'll see what pops in to my head. 1)I have a roof over my head. 2) I have a car that runs well most of the time. 3) I have two healthy children, my 7 yr old daughter and my 3 yr old soon. 4)I have unconditional love from them. 5)I have a husband who works hard 6 days a week so I can be home with the kids and not have to work. 6) I do have two types of jobs that I enjoy when I do want to work. 1. My MaryKay business, which I know can make my dreams come true and can help with that extra 200 or so a week/month whatever we need. 2. I substitute teach for our district during the school year. 7)I have my own health. I plan on living a long time. 8) My husband is also healthy. 9) I've got a best friend who is always there for me. No matter what. She lifts me up when I am at my lowest and she rejoices with me when I have my successes. 10) The seasons are starting to change. We are moving in to Spring in my part of the world. And Spring is my favorite season of the year. 11)I have other local friends that I can call on in my times of sadness and joy. 12) I have met lots of people on the internet here at CherryTAP and MySpace. Some of you I know I can count on in both times of sadness and times of joy. 13)I have a good friend that I also met on the internet that I can call or email at anytime and she will also always be there. 14) I have family around both from my family of origin and my husband's family of origin. Some here in my local area some in other parts of the country but they are here. And I can count on them. We have had our differences and we don't agree on things like god and spirituality but we're still family. 15) Along with having a roof over my head we also have plenty of food. So I don't have to worry about going hungry or anyone in my family going hungry. 16) We have a fireplace and wood to burn in it so even though the seasons are changing we still get cold at night and I get to stay warm. 17) As far as my MaryKay business I have lots of wonderful people that I can surround myself with when I get discouraged. And they can help me get over the hump and hang in there a little longer. 18) I have mother nature around me. I have a small fruit orchard in my yard, a cattle farmer next door, and a hayer down the road. I have a river just a short walk away. 19) My town has a little movie theater where both movies and plays go on. 20) My daughter is excelling in both academics and athletics. 21) My son is learning the alphabet and has already started memorizing Mother Goose. Wow! That kind of does change your perspective a bit. I didn't know how many I was going to be able to come up with tonight but as I saw the #'s in the teens I thought lets see if we can get 20. Sure enough I came up with 21. I'm sure if I thought more about it I could probably come up with 20 more but I'm starting to feel the effects of the purge. This is another blessing (or curse) I have. I love to write/journal. I hope that you all have a good night. And maybe my "purge" can help you out. Blessed Be, Shalai