If and When

IF and when I allow my children to use a phone of their own I will definitely take from this mother's rules:

Greg Hoffman is a kid who just got an iPhone from his parents. His mom, Janell Hoffman, wrote these [slightly edited] rules for its use:

1. It is my phone. I b...ought it. I pay for it. I am loaning it to you. Aren't I the greatest?
2. I will always know the password.
3. If it rings, answer it. It is a phone. Say hello, use your manners. Do not ever ignore a phone call if the screen reads "Mom" or "Dad". Not ever.
4. Hand the phone to one of your parents promptly at 7:30pm every school night & every weekend night at 9:00pm. It will be shut off for the night and turned on again at 7:30am. If you would not make a call to someone's land line, wherein their parents may answer first, then do not call or text. Listen to those instincts and respect other families like we would like to be respected.
5. It does not go to school with you. Have a conversation with the people you text in person. It's a life skill.
6. If it falls into the toilet, smashes on the ground, or vanishes into thin air, you are responsible for the replacement costs or repairs.
7. Do not use this technology to lie, fool, or deceive another human being. Do not involve yourself in conversations that are hurtful to others. Be a good friend first or stay the hell out of the crossfire.
8-9. Do not text, email, or say anything through this device you would not say in person.
10. No porn.
11. Turn it off, silence it, put it away in public. Especially in a restaurant, at the movies, or while speaking with another human being. You are not a rude person; do not allow the iPhone to change that.
12. Do not send or receive pictures of your private parts or anyone else's private parts. Don't laugh. Someday you will be tempted to do this despite your high intelligence. It is risky and could ruin your teenage/college/adult life. It is always a bad idea. Cyberspace is vast and more powerful than you. And it is hard to make anything of this magnitude disappear -- including a bad reputation.
13. Don't take a zillion pictures and videos. There is no need to document everything. Live your experiences. They will be stored in your memory for eternity.
14. Leave your phone home sometimes and feel safe and secure in that decision. It is not alive or an extension of you. Learn to live without it. Be bigger and more powerful than FOMO -- fear of missing out.
15. Download music that is new or classic or different than the millions of your peers that listen to the same exact stuff. Your generation has access to music like never before in history. Take advantage of that gift. Expand your horizons.
16. Play a game with words or puzzles or brain teasers every now and then.
17. Keep your eyes up. See the world happening around you. Stare out a window. Listen to the birds. Take a walk. Talk to a stranger. Wonder without googling.
18. You will mess up. I will take away your phone. We will sit down and talk about it. We will start over again. You & I, we are always learning. I am on your team. We are in this together.

Cecelia's 9th Birthday

She's got the biggest, softest heart of anyone I know. Even her voice is soft and sweet. Her eyes look like the ocean - blue and a hint of green with love shining through them.
She's so nice to everyone - including her sisters. They torture her and she just asks 'why are they mean to me?'
She's polite and knows how to act like a lady. She never complains. She's a top student at school, but more importantly, knows how to be brave and kind. She got voted Role Model in her classroom recently, and didn't even tell us - the teacher did. That's just the kind of kid she is.
Cecelia Jane I love you more than you will ever, ever be able to understand. Happy Birthday!!!

One Solitary Life

He was born in an obscure village, the child of a peasant woman. He grew up in another obscure village, where He worked in a carpenter shop until He was thirty. Then for three years He was an itinerant preacher. He never had a family or owned a home. He never set foot inside a big city. He never traveled two hundred miles from the place He was born. He never wrote a book, or held an office. He did none of the things that usually accompany greatness. While He was still a young man, the tide of popular opinion turned against Him. His friends deserted Him. He was turned over to His enemies, and went through the mockery of a trial. He was nailed to a cross between two thieves. While He was dying, His executioners gambled for the only piece of property He had - His coat. When He was dead, He was taken down and laid in a borrowed grave. Two thousand years have come and gone, and today He is the central figure for much of the human race. All the armies that ever marched and all the navies that ever sailed and all the parliaments that ever sat and all the kings that ever reigned, put together, have not affected the life of man upon this earth as powerfully as the "One Solitary Life."

My Cleveland Visit - Christmas 2012

I just had a wonderful whirlwind trip to see my Mom in Cleveland for our annual Mother/Daughter Christmas-do-something-together-somewhere time. I was in the middle of finals so could only do a 3 day weekend so we decided to spend time in Cleveland this year.
I flew in early Friday so we had the whole day to bomb around. Mom's got a new little black jeep that I wanted to see anyway :)
She took me to her flight school (yes, she is taking flight lessons) and I met some of the people that work there and see the little planes they learn to fly in. They had a Women in Flight museum and, as you can see, a NASA exhibit.
We then went to the Cleveland Museum of Art which is newly remodeled and a very cool museum. It's a FREE museum, which is really rare. We went across the street to the Botanical Garden and it was all lit up for Christmas. It was gorgeous.
We grabbed a little dinner at a restuarant that was built into an old bank building. I've never seen anything like it. After that we went to a one man show (the name of which escapes me right now) but was the true tellings of a mall elf. It was cute.
Saturday we shopped and shopped and shopped and shopped. We didn't buy much, but we rarely ever do.
We did a little more noshing and drinking and talking until we both fell into our beds.
We had a little time on Sunday so she took me up to her new office so I can see where she spends her days. It's always nice to be able to picture someone sitting at home or at work when you live far away.
At any rate, it was a really fun weekend and I miss her already.

Our Christmas Tree

I had to spend $2.50 in order to upload more pictures, but whatever.

Here is our REAL tree that my hubs chopped down like a real lumberjack. We put it in the porch this year and it looks so pretty and smells so good.

Every year one of the girls gets to put the angel on top. This year my brown eyed girl got to do it.

I am getting super excited for Christmas!!!

Darn It

Google won't let me post pictures today because I used my 1 GB of storage? Anyone else ever experience this? I can buy more GB but do I really need to do that?

Help!

Thankfulness - Wayne Dyer

"Stay in a state of gratitude, and let the awesome yet unexplainable Tao proceed to do nothing and yet leave nothing undone. Rather than asking for more—which implies shortages and, therefore, creates a vibrational match to more shortages—focus on what you have and how thankful you are for everything that has shown up in your life.
To that end, keep in mind a “happiness index” that was recently taken for different countries around the world. It turns out that Nigeria, which is one of the poorest of nations, with the least modern of conveniences, came in at number one for reports of happiness among the people there. The U.S. ranked 46 out of 50, despite having one of the highest standards of living in the world. Apparently, the emphasis in Nigeria isn’t on the mantra of the ego, which demands more, more, more. Emphasizing needing more has built within it the idea of shortage, lack, and I don’t have enough. Consequently, when you think more, you become a vibrational match to experiencing more shortage in your life . . . like it or not!
Affirm: I am aligned with my Source in all of my thoughts, and with God, all things are possible."