Garden Bloggers Bloom Day!

"How does the Meadow flower its bloom unfold? Because the lovely little flower is free down to its root, and in that freedom bold." ~ William Wordsworth

"Let a hundred flowers bloom, let a hundred schools of thought contend."
~Mao Tse-Tung

"Worry - a God, invisible but omnipotent. It steals the bloom from the cheek and lightness from the pulse; it takes away the appetite, and turns the hair gray."
~ Benjamin Disraeli

###################################

Today is Garden Bloggers Bloom day.. it is on the fifteenth of every month.. this is my first posting for bloom day.. I'm not sure if this is just for blogs about gardening or if anyone can join in.. I do garden and even though my blog isn't technically a garden blog..I'm going to say that my thoughts bloom.. and My ex used to say that I was a flower child.. you know.. a blooming idiot.. so I guess that I am close enough to take part..

I love plants and flowers.. Children and adults alike like my yard.. some say it is like being in a jungle.. I have containers of all kinds.. Big old tires... buckets.. barrels.. wooden boxes.. kiddie pools.. a couple of freezers.. washing machine tubs.. some old bath tubs.. and even a toilet.. They are filled first with leaves and then with dirt and my home grown chicken poo.. flowers and veggies both flourish in my rubber~barrel~bucket garden...

I like to plan ahead and was afraid that today would be one of those downpour rain days that we have had so many of lately.. I along with my niece Phoebe and her two little monsters decided to stroll around and see what we had blooming for this months special day.. I told them we would each find a bloom in our favorite color.. Hannah immediately decided that red was her very best favorite color and quickly chose a plant that grows in the chicken garden in an old

cast away mail box.. More interested in the chickens than in any boring old blog that Aunt Patsawee might write she was off to pull grass for the clucking hens and strutting roosters... every once in a while tossing a clump.. from a great distance.. with her nose held... to the fat pig.. called pork chop!

Danielle walked slowly around looking up and down before informing me that I didn't have anything her color blooming here.. Her color was blue.. well maybe it was yellow or green or wait a minute.. we could do a color her mother liked and she chose Pink..

Yea.. pink would do since I didn't have anything blue or green.. and this metal pink flamingo was her first choice for blooming whatever I said for my thing I did on the computer and anyway.. didn't I say we could do the search for game next time they were here?.. from there she helped me find everything pink there was.. from the azalea's

to the Columbine and from there to the clover.. she said it was pink even though I argued that it was purple.. I guess for a moment I.. in my old age.. forgot that you can not argue with a

child on a mission to find favorite colors.. even if they are not her very own favorite..

Finally it was my turn.. everyone knows that purple is my favorite color... I have lots of purple plants in my yard.. I love purple.. honestly I love anything that blooms.. so if it blooms and is purple I most likely have some of it... I would have to have a huge blog to show all of my favorite purple blooming things so I am only showing a few of my favorites..

this wisteria hangs like curtains around an arbor Dave and I built when we first brought home a scraggly little vine that we pulled up in a ditch.. I love the smell and when it blooms I will often pinch off bunches of it to bring inside.. It always reminds me of my favorite cousin Sheron who taught me to paint the velvety bean seed pods that come on wisteria after the blooms fade away.. dried and painted they make great Christmas ornaments..

Mama calls this thrift and I got this from her.. I have been told many times that it has another name.. Mama got hers from someone ( maybe her own Mother?) when she first married my Daddy and that was a very very long time ago..60 years ago.. in all of our old photo's from when we are children this plant is often blooming around our feet as we stand posing in our best Easter wear.. I brought this with me when I moved here.. it has bloomed every year for the last eighteen years here.. before that it had lived with me at a few other houses..

This deep purple water iris blooms proudly in it's

old outgrown kids pool.. we found this in a pond where we were fishing for large mouth Bass.. we brought home a mess of fish and two of these irises.. Now I have two kids pools full of the beauties blooming under the shade of a tree near the fish ponds.. tiny new goldfish and fat tadpoles were darting around the roots as I stooped in close for this shot..

This last plant doesn't actually grow in my yard but I wish it would.. it grows in the woods.. Daddy called it skunk cabbage...but I am almost sure it is from the lupine family.. and not skunk cabbage at all... I hadn't seen any blooming in years and years even though it used to be easy to find around here.. I stumbled across a patch of it today while I was in the woods looking for something else.. I would have liked to have brought a small plant home and tried to get it to live in my bucket rubber jungle but I was with others on a mission totally unrelated to blogging or blooms and decided not to disturb the plant or the group with my desire for one of these in my yard.. after all.. I now know where some lives and Dave is much better at digging than I am at pulling..

I have other things blooming now too.. daisies and tulips and a few wild things like the larkspur shown with the purple boots.. Banana shrubs.. strawberries.. and many many more things that are just coming up to bloom for another year.. I love my gardens.. I have many things that grow here.. animals and flowers and food and most of all people.. I hope that everyone who visits here enjoys their time with us.. I hope that the lives we touch are made better by our being a part of them.. visit when you can.. stroll down one of the little paths and be surprised by one of our angels or simply find a seat near a bird feeder or in a swing.. I hope you have enjoyed seeing what is blooming in my gardens... Thanks for stopping by!.. Have a wonderful night!

Patsy

Sepia Scenes..

"The virtue of the camera is not the power it has to transform the photographer into an artist, but the impulse it gives him to keep on looking."
~ Brooks Anderson

"Photography records the gamut of feelings written on the human face, the beauty of the earth and skies that man has inherited and the wealth and confusion man has created." ~ Edward Steichen

"Photography deals exquisitely with appearances, but nothing is what it appears to be." ~Duane Michals

***************************************

Dancing in the Streets! What fun we had clapping and stomping along as the children danced in the streets! This group even had batons that they waved around and did their level best to spin.. I love a Parade!

Have a great day!

Patsy

Happy Birthday my Sweet Emily!!

"If we were not all so interested in ourselves, life would be so uninteresting that none of us would be able to endure it." ~ Arthur Schopenhauer

"Because time itself is like a spiral, something special happens on your birthday each year: The same energy that God invested in you at birth is present once again."
~Menachem Mendel Schneerson

"Wisdom doesn't necessarily come with age. Sometimes age just shows up all by itself."
~Tom Wilson

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Twenty years ago..in a few more hours.. I rolled over in the hospital bed and coughed.. with just that cough Emily burst into the world.. the next few minutes were a blur.. she had managed to tangle her neck and one arm up in her cord.. she had decided to come into the world in a big way..I was surrounded by Doctors and Nurses and I think she and I were turned inside..outside and upside down before they were satisfied and she was safely delivered.. I heard a nurse call

6-11.. I hadn't a clue what that was.. I later found out it was her supposed weight.. I say supposed because when they weighed her in the nursery they said she only weighed 3 pounds and 11 ounces. They whisked her away to the incubator where she lay under the blue lights and sucked up their oxygen with her thumb tucked tightly into her tiny pursed lips..

Emily 6 weeks old... though you really can't tell from this picture she is still very tiny.. I stole her dress from a doll.. her hairband is actually a regular baby hair band cut in half.. If you look close at the bow on her head it appears to be giant for a baby hair bow.. She was a happy happy baby... sweet as sugar!!

Emily... 3 years old! She.. with Cooper's help... cut her own hair for the photo shoot.. can you tell? I was so mad with them both and she smiled and said.. But I will make a pretty picture.. I had a green Velvet dress picked out for her to wear too but she wasn't having that.. finally I decided that since the haircut was going to ruin the Pictures anyway I would just let them wear what they wanted.. she was right she made a great picture.. this is one of my favorite photo's of Emily..

Emily.. 5 years old.. one of the very few pictures of her by herself... she was proving she could stay clean for three hours.. what you don't see here is that as soon as we slid her ruffled dress back on she grabbed a cup of cool-aid and spilled it all over Cooper and Anthony./. but she did stay clean!

This is a recent picture of Emily along with her beloved.. Luke.. Happy Birthday Emily! I love You!

Emily brought a new chapter to my life.. one where we sat in hospitals and cancer clinics and drove for hours everyday for years and years... but one where I was in awe of her ability to smile even when she was in great pain.. The doctors would do a painful procedure to her and when they were done she would hug them tight.. She once told one of our very favorite doctor's.. Dr Red.. because he had red hair.. that she was "forgiving" him with a hug.. he and I both cried.. she was a good child if you over looked the hair cuts.. the painting of the walls .. the floors.. herself.. she always had a willing and ready partner for her mischief.. Cooper would do anything she said and then say it was all his idea... I am sure he had some idea's of his own and in those she was a willing accomplice....she loves to talk and has to have the last word.. were she here right now she would prove it by saying.." No I don't have to have the last word Mama..!"

smart.. and beautiful.. funny I always thought she was more like her Father but that last part sounds more like me!! Happy Birthday Emily Suzanne!! I love you!

I hope you enjoy my poem....Have a wonderful night!

Patsy

My Baby Girl!

Barrettes and ribbons
Baby dolls and lace.
Ah my baby girl
Such a sweet face.

Tea parties and Teddy bears
Tree climbing, Let's race.
She might be the smallest
But she demands her own space.

Schoolwork and Boyfriends
A Friday night date.
Hey mama don't worry
I just might be out late.

Ruffles on prom gowns
A mind of her own.
I'm not sure I like this
My baby girl is grown!

Written By: Patricia Sawyer

3-13-2008

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Merry Christmas!

"Christmas Eve I saw a stable, low and very bare, A little child in a manger. The oxen knew Him, had Him in their care, To men He was a stranger, The safety of the world was lying there, And the world's danger. " ~Mary Elizabeth Coleridge

"Christmas in Bethlehem. The ancient dream: a cold, clear night made brilliant by a glorious star, the smell of incense, shepherds and wise men falling to their knees in adoration of the sweet baby, the incarnation of perfect love. " ~Lucinda Franks

"Christmas is a holiday that persecutes the lonely, the frayed, and the rejected. "
~ Jimmy Cannon

"Christmas is a season for kindling the fire for hospitality in the hall, the genial flame of charity in the heart." ~ Washington Irving


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I would like to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas....

I used to love the holidays and from Thanksgiving till Christmas Eve I was busy buying little things and wrapping gifts for everyone.. I took the kids shopping so that each of them could buy gifts for their other family..allowing them to choose something for their real parent and for their step parent and any children or Grandparents that might also be a part of their other family... after that I had to take them to buy each other gifts... as well as gifts for Dave.. he would wait till the very last possible minute and have the children to show me things so that they could try and figure out what to buy me.. I never considered myself hard to buy for.. a notebook or a pen.. a book or even a book marker.. a live plant or a package of seeds.. and of course there was always the doll or tea set....

The last few years I simply haven't had the same Christmas spirit.. I wonder if it's because I am older or if it's because all the kids are grown? Honestly I don't know... Dave and I have discussed and re-discussed what we want to cook.. he said Turkey and I said ham.. I have one of each defrosting in the bottom of the fridge... I told Mama tonight maybe I should cook and slice both and put them on the table with all the fixings for sandwiches... make it easy on Dave and on me... some paper plates and a cooler of ice for the soft drinks and we can lay around and watch TV and wait to see who shows up... Let each one open their gifts as they come and have a snack with us.. before they have to move on to the next house... easy on the kids too since they won't have to try and eat a half dozen meals while traveling about..

The simple truth is that we don't know who will be here and at what time.. now that all the kids are grown and gone it is just as hard as it always was for us to plan anything.. we always hated the fact that as soon as they opened gifts here.. all of the children had to be carted off to the other parent's house for the rest of the day.. then at night they would come home to us tired and cranky and pouting because they had to leave something at the other parents' house... Christmas hasn't changed for Dave and I... we still feel as if we have to take whatever time is left when the other family is through... Christmas has been hard for us for a long time... Dave said he thought that when the kids grew up it would be easier... I knew it wouldn't.. though my own family was always together .. I learned from Gaylon's family what it was like to have two sets of family... and as hard as it is for us as adults... I know it is so much harder for the children..

I have all my gifts bought and wrapped.. I have mailed a small gift to both of the grown sons who live on the other side of the world.. the gift pile is slimmer this year.. the economy decided that for us as well as for almost all families I know.. Dave said that he had racked his brain trying to think what to buy... he said with no kids to take shopping he was having a hard time deciding what I might like.. it was as if he needed a kid to take along to help him pick out something.. plus he knows that I like anything at all the kids buy.... He did great with my computer... he managed to buy it and get it in the house without me seeing it and most likely could have left it sitting where he had it and I wouldn't have even noticed it but he couldn't wait... I have been enjoying it for a whole week now.. he never looks under the tree.. he has a few things under there.. Dave loves anything at all that someone gives him.. but he says he would rather have nothing and have all the kids to sit down for a meal together just once on Christmas day.... without having to hurry to get to another place... I am satisfied that that will never happen but I do agree that it's a very wonderful wish!

Dave and I will spend our Christmas day like we have so many before.. we will cook together and wait for which ever children come.. we will worry about those who live far away and we will worry about those who might be traveling not so far to see us.. we will enjoy the limited time with our kids and wish then well as they move on to spend the rest of the day with their other families..

I hope that each and every one of my readers has a wonderful Merry Christmas!!
Patsy

Somedays I just feel old!

“I don't feel old. I don't feel anything until noon. Then it's time for my nap.”~ Bob Hope"Every one desires to live long, but no one would be old." ~ Abraham Lincoln

"When your friends begin to flatter you on how young you look, it's a sure sign you're getting old.
~ Mark Twain

"Old friends pass away, new friends appear. It is just like the days. An old day passes,
a new day arrives. The important thing is to make it meaningful: a meaningful friend
-or a meaningful day. " ~ Dali Lama

Ten On Tuesday!

Ten things that make you feel Old!!
1~}~Emily getting married... she was just born yesterday when I was 28.. now she is planning a wedding.. I'm old as dirt! ( That's Em three days old getting a kiss from Cooper!)

2~}~Grown children.. I don't tell them they are grown.. I was hoping they wouldn't notice yet... but I think they know it..

3~}~Grand children... wow where did they come from?.... No!!!... In fact you can even make that a HELL NO!! I do not want details.. I get the idea.. See!! .. that's why I didn't tell them they were grown.. as soon as they figured it out they think they can scare old people.. wow! and now Grand kids too??... Grand-kids huh?... they grow up and do to the parents what mine did to me..make them feel old..?.. Yea? Hmmm.. Grand-kids.. COOL!

4~}~Wrinkles.. I looked at me in the mirror by accident the other night.. Phew!!! wrinkles...enough said..

5~}~Forgetting names.. what was your name again?? yea you.. If you're a guy I'm going to call you Reuben most likely.. and if you're a girl you'll be Martha.. and if all else fails I will point at you and say hey you.. so don't act like you can't tell who this wrinkled old lady is talking too..

6~}~ Joints... no dummy not the smoking kind.. that is way back long ago in the seventies stuff... creaking joints as in knees and elbows.. even a hip that creaks sometimes..

7~}~Gray hair.. I have lots of it.. Dave says I'm lucky to still have hair.. Thanks babe.. you're right!

8~}~ Eyesight.. well if I still had some..... we were at a thing up town a week or so ago and someone asked me.. "who is that over there".. I said "where"? ..they said.. "right there.. over there.. see them?" ...I saw a big blur of things over there.. I wasn't wearing my glasses and if I had been I could have only "read" those poor folks.. They would have been standing close to me for me to really see them.. finally I said.. "I give up who is it?!"yea.. I know we have an eye doctor in town.. but if I go get glasses I will be admitting that I'm old!!

9~}~ Death.. I think about death.. I have lost a lot of family members.. some of them old of course.. but on the other hand.. many of them very young.. some of them younger than me.. a few years ago about four friends of mine all died right along together.. I hadn't thought much about death until then.. any body can die.. even babies.. but four people in their fifties all right together.. It reminded me that we are not getting younger..

10~}~ FIFTY! Oh Man!! I said it out loud.. I guess that makes it true! I will be fifty this year.. half a hundred.. Older than dirt.. when I Toot out will come a cloud of dust!<~~ or so Cooper says... will I be too old to party? too old to dance? wrinkled and cranky old??? It is not nifty that I'll be fifty!!!

Now I really feel old.. next thing you know I'll be drinking that nasty fiber stuff and trying on canes.. Jeez.. I feel like putting on some support hose and creeping off to bed..but first I'm going to check my ears and nostrils for those crinkled gray hairs that old people sprout from the most ungodly places.... after all.. I am old!!
Have a great day!!
Patsy

How did it become Friday Already?

"Children are unpredictable. You never know what inconsistency they're going to catch you in next." ~Franklin P. Jones

"Children make you want to start life over." ~Muhammad Ali

"Boy, n.: a noise with dirt on it." ~Not Your Average Dictionary

Friday Greetings! ~I can barely believe that it is Friday already.. This week was gone in a blink.. Monday Dave had to work and was glad of the hours.. those will help..When he came home we rode to Martha's and ate over salted~ chocolate chip~ cookies.. .. I loved them and plan to change my recipe.. Tuesday we installed new vent pipes and doctored~ if not fixed~our septic tank troubles.. Thanks for the tip Reuben.. Wednesday we put Dave's huge box back together thus building a shed or storage building.. I mostly watched except for the advice I offered on how to raise the roof.. It looks great and will make Dave a good and sturdy storage shed when he finishes with it.. I offered him an old bed for out there in case he gets in the dog house but he just laughed at me...Thursday he added a door and decided that he will also add windows before covering the whole thing with some aluminum siding.. Today he fetched a broken Lawn mower home to work on.. then we paid bills and bought a truckload of groceries.. Our monthly big buying trip to the store.. Oh never fear I'll go back but not for a load like we had today.. not this month at least.. Plus as always.. we had animals to feed and eggs to gather.. gardening to tend and the regular everyday things that every one has to do.. Wow it sounds like we were busy.. No wonder I am tired..
~~~~

I am Frustrated! ~ Let me apologize for having to much stuff on my blog.. I received an e-mail that said I am putting too much on each posting.. I was advised to have a few blogs instead of just one.. It said that way I could put all the uninteresting stuff somewhere else.... I thought this blog was mine? I was under the impression that I could put what I wanted to on each post.. well with-in reason of course.. If you find that I have to much stuff please feel free to skip over what you aren't interested in... I am interested in many different things and will most likely continue to "litter" ( their word not mine!) this blog.. MY BLOG!.. with many different things! I know I could have a few different ones but I am simply trying new things..some of them I will do again.. some of them I won't.. Maybe I'll begin a rotation of sorts so that I don't have several things on any given day.. If you find my blog to busy I apologize..I will figure out how to rotate the different things that I have been trying.. Maybe I will decide to have another blog as well but It won't be for the un-interesting things.. In fact I don't recall ever putting an uninteresting thing on here.. also to the person who sent that e-mail.. I tried to send you one back.. it came back.. apparently you no longer exist... please don't change your name after you send me a nasty e-mail.. I had something to say in return..you spoke then hid so I couldn't respond.. Now I am frustrated!

and now on to my regular Friday for the Kids post!

1~) Don't try to change others... I know that it is in our nature to try to change others into what we want them to become.. we often think we know what will make them better people.. we fuss and nag and they might even change a little bit on the surface.. Learn to accept people for who they are.. learn to love them for who they are.. or learn to live without them.. a person has to feel that they need to make changes and act on those feelings for themselves before real change can begin... They can dye their hair purple and wear colored contacts and even pad their pants to have a better shaped butt.. But when all that comes off they are still the no butted ..gray haired.. blue eyed person you started out with.. and that's just surface changes.. you don't even want to get me started on inner change!! What gives us the right to decide what others should be? nothing gives me or you that right.. we only have the right to change ourselves.. Be the best that we can be.. maybe if others see a change in us they too will want to become all that they can be??

2~) This is not all there is. And that even when the world tries to convince you that you have to have it all to be anything--God says each of us were worth His life when we were nothing and had nothing... The Bible is not just a book. ..It is a letter written to mankind by God... I want my" Children" to know that it will change them and that just when they think they know what it means it will turn around and blow their minds with some new deeper meaning... But it does have to be read for this to happen.. I want you to know that there is nothing you can do or not do to make God love you more... or less.. He can not love you any more than He does at your very worst... God does not make ugly.... well except for me.. I accidentally saw myself in the mirror once.. I think he maybe made me beautiful on the inside though.. Maybe I am wrong side outwards??.. But Trust me that God does not make mistakes..

3~) You can not like everyone.. everyone can not like you.. if we loved everyone what would we complain about?? well there is of course the price of food and the price of gas and... just take my word for it.. people will dislike you for no reason.. you will dislike some of them for no reason.. I trust my gut.. If my gut doesn't like you.. you're most likely a looser.. I'll figure out why later..then I'll have something new to complain about!

4~)The grass isn't always greener on the other side of the fence...but if it is, chances are your neighbor is using padooky for fertilizer.. and I bet you a coke that he has more weeds in his yard.Weeds and sand spurs love Padooky! What do you mean you don't know what Padooky is?....Oh I forgot I'm a hick.. Padooky is what is dug out from under the outhouse when it gets full.. Now do you see why their grass is greener? You might want to hop back over here where you started.. on the good side of the fence!

5~) Please don't leave the toilet seat up..Close the toilet lid before flushing...otherwise, when you flush, the germs are tossed up and around the bathroom by the force of the water. And while you're thinking of how nasty and gross that thought is.. you may want to make sure your toothbrush is covered... Just in case me or Dave needs to flush.. or someone from the other side of the fence where the grass is so green..

6~) You are a beautiful and unique person. Even when it seems as though no one else cares, God does. Remember that I love you everyday.. where ever you are..(I bet you are over the fence again.. go ahead step in padooky but don't yell for me when you do!)

I hope all of my "kids" have had a tolerable week.. they can't all be bad.. even if it sometimes feels like they are..they can't all be good..even though we all wish they could and think they should.. Sometimes even tolerable is asking for a lot.. this was a pretty good week for me overall.. there have certainly been moments when I wanted to scream and even slap someone silly.. not someone in particular... anyone would do.. can I call YOU next time I feel that way??? But tonight is Friday and another week passes on it's way.. Have a wonderful weekend! Have a wonderful Night!
Patsy

Yay! Moody Monday!

“In a mood of faith and hope my work goes on. A ream of fresh paper lies on my desk waiting for the next book. I am a writer and I take up my pen to write.” ~ Pearl S. Buck

“Nothing helps a bad mood like spreading it around.” ~ Bill Watterson

"At first, I only laughed at myself. Then I noticed that life itself is amusing. I've been in a generally good mood ever since." ~ Marilyn vos Savant

Yay?

Moody Monday asks if Yay is a Mood...Yes!.. Yay! is definitely a mood..a Yay mood usually means you got something you wanted or desired.. Or maybe you are happy and excited!..I must say it's a mood I don't see very often.. my moods are usually cranky.. weird.. evil.. Need I go on? I find little children have the best Yay! moods ever.. Yay! a frog.. Yay! a star.. Yay! Mommy is home! Yay!... cookies!... or as in the case of my little nephew ~ Grayson~ in the Picture below.. YAY! a bubble!!!


Yes!~ Awesome! ~ Yahoo!! a Bubble!! YAY!!!

I hope you are having a YAY!!! day .. Happy Labor day.. please be safe..
Patsy

Thankfully it's Friday!~ Here I am with Advice for the "Kids"!

"A poet is, before anything else, a person who is passionately in love with language."
~ W. H. Auden

"The first principle is that you must not fool yourself - and you are the easiest person to fool."
~ Richard Feynman

"There comes a time in every rightly constructed boy's life when he has a raging urge to go somewhere and dig for hidden treasure."
~ Mark Twain


Oh what a week this has been.. the older I get the faster times flies.. I want to slow things down and sit in the shade and rest a minute... I heard someone recently say that they ~ "thought that big tsunami.. you know the one that wiped out half of everything but America?.. and killed a thousand people over there in Africa.. I think that thing rocked the world and throwed time out of whack.. that's why we are so hot all the time.. I think anyway!"
~ and sometimes in my very wildest imaginings.. I am almost inclined to agree with him.. Time seems to move faster and faster.. I have a lot to say still.. I have a lot of things to tell people.. I'm going to be 50 this year... I have children who are part of the group I was never going to trust.. you know who you are those of you who are over thirty!... My youngest child was born yesterday.. yesterday I tell you and now she is planning a wedding.. what's up with that?? She asked me what I was planning to wear as mother of the bride.. I wanted to say a straight jacket! It is crazy that time has moved so fast.. I tell people who have a new baby.. slow time down as much as you can.. they will spread their wings and fly long before you will be ready to set them free! Now on to some things for my "kids!"

1~) ~ Listening to your enemies is not a sign of weakness nor defeat... ~ actually I would say don't have enemies but sometimes you just do.. but even they are entitled to have their own opinion.. the fact that it is different from yours doesn't make it any less worthy.. you should at least hear what they have to say... and if you can't come to an agreement.. listen as they talk to others.. you might hear their plans for the next few days.. consider their route and plan a place to whop them with a brick! OK. OK.... Maybe not.. I know I shouldn't encourage violence.. and if you hit them just right there won't be any.. one whop and they fall.. I am very careful to never ever make plans out loud.. that's why I am the whopper and not the whoppee!

2~) Before you complain and whine.. take time to count your blessings. ~ I myself am guilty of over looking simple blessings like food and a roof over my head.. I have not always been so blessed.. some of my adult life was tough.. I try to remember so I will know how to survive should fate and circumstance cast me back there.. times are tough for everyone now.. statistics say that most people are one paycheck away from failure.. If you have a job.. be thankful.. if you have food in your cabinet or refrigerator.. feel blessed... and if you have friends and family to comfort you in the darkest hours.. be grateful.. Now quit that whining and complaining.. I just told you times are tough.. roll with the punches or stay on the ground.. but watch out for flying bricks.. tough times can create new enemies from old friends who were so busy watching your hard earned blessings that they forgot to count their own..

3~)" Life is pretty simple: You do some stuff. Most fails. Some works. You do more of what works. If it works big, others quickly copy it. Then you do something else. The trick is the doing something else." ~ this quote is from Leonardo Da Vinci ~ I like it.. I wonder what he ever failed at? What else could you do? Try to learn a second talent.. Maybe you can cook and clean?.. or sing and dance?
Can you do something else? can you make a living doing something else?.. what if you had too?.. I have held a huge variety of jobs.. factory worker.. baby sitter... grill cook.. hotel desk clerk.. laundress.. housekeeper.. old people sitter.. cashier... It sounds easy enough to say that you will never need a different job.. but it also never hurts to be prepared... Learn how to do something else.. it might be important some day..

4~) A 7 year old can sometimes teach a 49 year old profound things about life. ~ this past week-end Kirstin and Emily and Luke came by just as we were eating.. Kirstin (Luke's daughter) likes potato chips and cookies and hot-dogs and cheetos and stuff.. like all kids.. she rather have that than real food.. again like all kids.. she wanted some junk.. not pork steak or veggies like the rest of us were having.. Luke cut her up a Pork chop and said well we have to eat some real food too.. I watched her eating.. washing each bite down with good healthy water.. she loves water but not beans.. she talked to me while she ate and I watched.. I noticed that every once in a while she counted and naturally I counted to.. 15 tiny bites then 14 and on and on.. finally she got down to only five and asked me where her Daddy was... I told her he and Dave were outside.. she ran out and then came hurrying back and hopped back up to the kitchen table and pulled three bites off to one side.. I asked her where she had been and she said to ask her daddy how many was half.... apparently he had told her to eat half.. I laughed and told her she had ate half a while ago.. she said he told her eat three more bites.. I told her again she had already eaten more than half.. she smiled and said I guess he doesn't have to know.. I was all set to agree with her and take away the plate but she sighed and said.. " But, it would be wrong to tell my Daddy a lie!" ~ I was speechless.. I know a few adults "kids" who could learn something from Kirstin.. she quickly ate the three tiny bites.. not really a whole bite between the three pieces.. I gotta tell Y'all that I had her some tater chips already in her bowl before she could put her fork down.. do I think she will stay that honest??.. I hope so.. But I know the world might teach her to lie.. we should all take time to hear what our children say and to love the child in them.. maybe you don't have a child of your own but I'll bet you know one.. do what you can to teach them good things.. and try to remember that if they hear you ( adults) lie.. they will think it is OK to tell a tale of their own..

5-) ~ Paint velvet beans~ Do something simply because it is fun.. pull the seed pods from your grandma's wisteria vine and paint them... buy a coloring book.. a bedtime story book or something that is simple fun.. then do it when you need to relax and forget that you are grown.. be seven years old again..color.. climb that big tree in the woods behind your house.. dance in the rain.. stomp in a puddle.. let the child deep inside you run loose. Buy some sidewalk chalk and sneak outside and color the neighborhood sidewalks in the middle of the night.. be sure you go down the street from your own house though.. draw bright big flowers in red and purple.. and sneaking creeping snakes in lime green and blue... draw grinning happy faces.. then wake up early to watch the early morning joggers or pet owners as they discover your art.. That way you can have fun twice.. can you really imagine living in a big city and waking up to walk your dog and finding a mural of huge bright bold flowers around your neighborhood block.. and chalk washes right off with the hose.. in fact I have a bucket full.. you should see my patio sometimes..
I know I say over and over have simple fun.. I think that concept in life is one of the most important.. I hope I have instilled ways to have simple fun into the minds of all of my "kids"..
If I haven't I'll be glad to load a bunch of you up and go on a wild flower hunt.. I don't know though.. I might not be able to get thirteen of you into my car these days!

I loved my kids and everyone Else's kids.. I was the hot spot in the trailer park.. the trailer where "Miss Meany" lived but where all the kids came around the string fence to knock politely on the door.. Miss Meany would talk with you when things were wrong at home and listen to you when you wanted to complain about how wrong your folks were.. then she would send you home with good advice and a lightened heart.. Sometimes.. Many times.. almost all the times.. a kid just needs someone to listen with out judging them.. Today's kids are wild and getting wilder.. their own parents are sometimes little more than kids themselves.. The children are our future.. be a listening ear for your own and other children.. lay flat down.. belly flopped.. in the grass and let a small child tell you their thoughts.. you might really be surprised at how profound their little minds really are.. Did you think that because they are innocent that they were dumb? Their brain is clicking faster than even time can travel.. even if time was knocked outta whack by a tsunami.. fast is for spinning in circles.. roller coasters and running a foot race.. let slow be for living and laughing and loving! Have a Fun and fabulous Friday!
Patsy

Friday is Here and with it~ Some advice for the "Children!"

"Never advise any one to go to war or to marry." ~ Spanish Proverb

"You should not live one way in private, another in public." ~ Publius Syrus

"Write down the advice of him who loves you, though you like it not at present."
~ English Proverb

Hello "children"! I hope everyone has had a wonderful week. I have had a most amazing week this week for a change. It has rained a couple of times and that meant I didn't have to water everything.. I have a lot of thirsty stuff as all of "My children" know so I love rain..
I know most of you are here for the laughs so I'll get right on to the advice for this week!

1:) ~ Invest in Memories! ~ I guess it is fine if you have millions to spend to go out and buy expensive gifts.. I was never so lucky myself.. Instead of spending a lot of money on a night out.. try a night out, under the stars! .. spread a blanket on the ground and make some tasty picnic food.. something cold to drink.. a pillow for each person you invite... (this is great for both dating couples and for those of you who have children~) After a meal with the night time nature sounds for background music.. invite everyone to lay back and watch the stars.. Make a pinkie wish if you want too. Talk quietly to each other.. snuggle! Go to the park and people watch.. laugh at the antics of others.. vote on the most outrageous outfit you see there.. By a postcard of the places you visit instead of an expensive but cheaply made trinket.. write about what made the day special on the back... Memories will outlast all of the trinkets. And when it's all said and done and you have a yard sale... you will only get a quarter for that rubber snake you paid $5.99 for at the beach... But the cheap scrapbook full of post cards will still entertain the "kids" when their own kids send it with them to the Nursing home 60 years from now! :~)

2:) ~ It's always darkest before the dawn. ~No matter how dark and dreary things seem to be the sun will rise in the morning and things always look different after a few nights of being slept on.. Bad times have to pass.. They don't like you any more than you do them it's just that we each have to have a turn of them.. Yes it's always darkest before the dawn... so if you want to steal your neighbors newspaper or bury your treasure in the back yard.. Just before dawn is the time I would choose!! :~)

3:)~ Use common sense.~ If a sign says wet paint you don't need to touch it! Fire is hot! Try to remember the simple things.. If a man has ten million degrees from different colleges and doesn't know to come in from a rain shower before lightening strikes him... then he is still an idiot! I could have used the money spent educating him to buy my kids one of those rubber snakes at the beach... Or maybe I could have went out for a decent supper once in a while instead of laying on the ground in the back yard!! Book sense is great.. But common sense will feed you when times get tough! :~(

4:)Be Organized!~ “A place for everything and everything in its place” is every organizer’s favorite saying.. I do admit that when things are in their place a space is much less cluttered and looks better. You could spend a million dollars on fancy organizers and shelving units. Or you can wait til just before dawn.. (when it's darkest) and swipe some milk crates from behind your local store.. Better yet you can ask for them.. most places will share! or sell them to you for next to nothing.. You can stack them up like Lego blocks and use them for neat shelves... you can sit on them if you don't own a chair.. they make great laundry baskets.. Even if it's just an empty shoebox to toss clutter into.. Once the lid is in place no one sees what a mess the inside of the box is.. I even saw a bedside table made from shoe boxes filled with junk ; stacked and then an old mirror recycled from a medicine cabinet laid on top.. It was the perfect size for the alarm clock and candle that sat there.. ;~)

5:)~ It's okay to be wrong. I think everyone has been wrong sometimes.. I remember once that I was wrong.. At least once.. I hate to hear someone say.. "Why am I always wrong?" as if it's my fault they are wrong.. No one is ALWAYS wrong.. but sometimes you are wrong.. when you are and I am around I will most likely tell you that you are wrong.. Please don't ask me~ "why am I always wrong" .. Use your common sense..It's OK to be wrong.. it's not OK to make me feel like I a heel because you made a mistake.. When you are wrong just go ahead and say you're sorry.. then we can both move on to something else.. :~(

~ Bonus~ A riddle~

What has a foot on each side and one in the middle?

Please leave me a comment if you know the answer to the riddle or even if you just want to say you laughed.. Or maybe you have advice for me?? I hope you have enjoyed your advice for today. I hope you have laughed or maybe even just smiled while reading here. No matter what problems may be weighing heavy on your shoulders a little laughter will help to lift your spirits.. I have always heard that it's better to laugh than to cry.. Just remember... sometimes you are the statue!! .. sometimes you're the pigeon!!! I hope that you are most often the pigeon! Have a great day!
Patsy

Friday~ Yes Kids I'm back!

"Love your children with all your hearts, love them enough to discipline them before it is too late.... Praise them for important things, even if you have to stretch them a bit. Praise them a lot. They live on it like bread and butter and they need it more than bread and butter."
- Lavina Christensen Fugal

"Find the seed at the bottom of your heart and bring forth a flower."
- Shigenori Kameoka

"Give me the fruitful error any time, full of seeds, bursting with its own corrections. You can keep your sterile truth for yourself."
- Vilfredo Pareto

Did Y'all think I was gone? I bet at least one of my "kids" was hoping I was done with the Friday's advice for the kids... No such luck.. I love giving advice to those younger and even older than me.. Now on to today's advice!

1:) Hating everything and everyone around you doesn't help! I know because I have tried this myself.. some mornings I even wake up mad with the whole world.. You might even ask me.." for what?" and I would have to reply.. "just for!" Sometimes people do things that make you angry.. sometimes it just seems like absolutely nothing goes the way you want it too; or feel that it should.. that's the days that most of us hate the whole world and everyone in it.. I guess it's just the way things are.. I don't think fate has anything personal against any one of us.. then again he has been rather nasty to me.. I have never won any lottery.. I didn't have any rich uncles to leave me a pile of cash... I can get both ends to meet in the middle every once in a while but I have never had them tied.. Not even once... and yet My oldest son says that I always survive.. he said it like that was a bad thing.. Maybe I won't be mad with the whole world.. just those who inhabit my own personal world.. do I have any volunteers to be first on my list?

2:) Just because someone else stopped talking doesn't mean they agree with you and what you are saying! This happens to me a lot.. when I am fed up with trying to tell someone something and they are obviously not paying any attention to me.. I just shut up and move on... if someone shuts up and walks away you should not assume that you are right.. you should instead realize that you just made it on to someones "I hate the whole world and everyone in it" list! ...Wouldn't you like to see where you are on other people's Hate list? Sometimes I'm sure I am way up near the top of every one's list.. other times I wonder why any one could ever dislike a wonderful humble little old lady like me.. ( WOW!!! I even scared myself with that comment!) I guess it's a good thing we don't all write down our "lists" otherwise we might all see just where we stand in the eyes of others.. I think I'd rather be ignorant...

3:) Going on Reality TV is not cool!!! First of all ~I truly hope that Not a single one of my "children" have ever done anything that Jerry Springer or Dr. Phil.. or any of the other TV hosts would find interesting enough to put on their show.. If you have done anything that stupid and have it hidden away like a skeleton in your closet~ then please keep it right there in your closet for here ever after!! If you ever go on any TV show and parade 100 baby daddies across a stage looking for a father for your baby~ I will put my foot in your behind.. If you don't know who the daddy is then let that be just between you and God and the woman at the welfare office.. the rest of us would rather not know!! If you are one of the hundred baby daddies there for the same woman.. I will put my foot in your behind still....If you ever go on any of those shows for any reason~ I will put my foot in your behind.. If you have done something that stupid.. try to forget it.. Let the rest of the world forget it.. because every time you remind me of it~ I will put my foot in your behind!! I don't care how much they paid you.. if you went on their show now the whole world knows you are stupid and careless it wasn't enough money... I might even show up there and put my foot in your behind for the whole world to see.. Just thinking about it makes me want to put my foot in some one's behind!!!

4:) The main difference between a cat and a Lie is that a cat only has nine lives... Daddy used to say that if you are planning to lie you should also plan to have a good memory... That is because a lie will be repeated and told over and over.. you will need good memory to keep all your made up details straight for the million and one times you may have to tell the same story... Have you ever noticed that people will believe the most absurd things about others and will carry a rumor all over town and it will get more and more outlandish with each re-telling? A cat you can kill.. you might have to run it over and then drown it and shoot it.... electrocute it.... stab it.. throw it to the bull dogs.. hit it with a hammer and lay it out on the tracks for a train to hit..... But eventually a cat will finally die and be no more.. Not a lie... and the more flamboyant and outrageous a lie is.. the longer it circulates.. if you don't trust me on this.. make up a "secret" about yourself.. let it be something harmless... lets say.. You fell into a sink hole and had to climb out while wearing only purple underwear..... it took you all day.. now tell this lie to a couple of people.. with-in a few days someone will ask you about your adventures in the sink hole.. So be careful what you say.. never make up or add to stories about other people.. you can damage someone for the rest of their life with just a few words spoken untruthfully.. Honestly I think it's better not to say anything about someone at all, unless of course, you know something good to say about them... Somehow though people usually only re-tell the bad things... apparently the good things about others are boring...The old saying about sticks and stones is ~ is only half true.. sticks and stones will break your bones; but WORDS do have the power to hurt others too....

5:) Go fishing! ~ It sounds simple doesn't it.. it is hard to be mad at the world~ ( and everyone in it) while you are sitting on the soft grass beside moving water.. Even at a pond or the Lake the water will lap the shore and every once in a while you might spot a minnow rushing by going about his tiny little life doing his minnow things.. If you are lucky and the time of day is right you may catch a glimpse of an old gray heron or maybe just a noisy quacking duck.. But there will be something there to take your mind away from your own troubles even for just a little while.. Anthony and I have caught our supper on baby diaper pins in water so shallow I just knew we were wasting time... Cooper and Emily have caught bream on sticks with line that barely reached the water. There were happy and I was getting a wonderful break from the same old same old of everyday life... I don't actually fish... I love to watch others.. the kids or even Dave fight and struggle and talk a fish up onto the bank.. It is like the closer the fish gets to shore then the more excited they get.. when they hook a fish even if he's just a tiny bait stealer their adrenalin kicks into overdrive and the battle begins.. I can sit in the sun on the grass or on an upside down bucket and crochet until they hook one.. then I just watch and enjoy.. I also love to lie back and listen to the sounds of the water and look at the clouds.. Go fishing.. it will relax you and things won't look so bleak afterward .. who knows you might even catch enough for supper and even if you don't catch anything you will have had a good time.. you will have relaxed for a while.

That's all of my crazy advice for today.. I hope you all have a wonderful Friday!
Patsy

Tuesday's what in the world is this???

"If a window of opportunity appears, don't pull down the shade."
~Thomas Peters

"People are like stained glass windows: they sparkle and shine when the sun is out, but when the darkness sets in their true beauty is revealed only if there is a light within."
~ Elisabeth Kubler-Ross

"My mother and I could always look out the same window without ever seeing the same thing."
~ Gloria Swanson

Hello and welcome to Tuesday! I hope that some of you are here once again because you enjoy the guessing of my strange items on Tuesday?! The item for today has nothing to do with windows... I say that because all of the quotes have the word window in them. and Now on to today's strange thing.. I can't think of anyone who I know that reads my blog that will know what this is. Maybe you know what it is.. Maybe you own one or have even used one. Maybe you can make a good guess as to what today's pictures are and what they were actually used for? Have you ever seen one? what is this crazy looking thing? what would YOU do with it? What did the people who invented it use it for?

I actually do own one of these! I will tell you that neither of these is mine. These pictures are each of one that is in much better shape than mine. If I had known what mine was and what it might one day be worth I would have brought in inside and kept it polished and shined! I didn't know what it was myself until just a week ago! I was looking for something to use for my What is it and My beloved Dave suggested we try to find out what the "thing" on the patio was.. we looked it over and found a few words that we googled and this is what we now know we own.

When I moved here there was one of these rusting away under the window that looks out of a bedroom onto the patio. I thought it was most likely a pea sheller of some kind. I didn't have any peas to shell and I didn't know how to work it so I used it for other things. It made a great "time out" spot for Cooper and Emily. I could move the little "stools" so that they couldn't touch each other and sit one of them on each side.. They would sit there and swing their little feet until their five or so minutes were up. Sometimes they would just go and climb up on their seats and pretend they were shelling peas. Cooper would turn the hand crank and Emily would fill the top with sticks and twigs she picked up from the yard.

The children outgrew playing with it and eventually they outgrew sitting on it for time outs too. We talked about hauling it away but for some reason I liked it.. It makes a great plant stand and it has held ferns and flowers and all kinds of plants on it's stools. I have sat buckets of blooms up on top of it and even now it has a potted plant on each stool and one on top. We finally moved it over to the corner behind my pond so it is out of the weather and even though we don't use it for it's intended use, it is still very useful to us! It is even useful to the frogs that will climb from the pond and sit on it to call for rain or even for a mate..

Please offer a guess as to what this item is.. I am sure that maybe someone knows. Maybe someone out there besides me owns one of these. Though it would be odd I guess maybe someone could still be using theirs for it's intended use. please leave a comment with your guess and Tomorrow I will let everyone know what it really is! Have a wonderful day!

Happy Guessing!
Patsy

For the "Kids" Friday!

"Art is like baby shoes. When you coat them with gold, they can no longer be worn."
~ John Updike

"Truth, like gold, is to be obtained not by its growth, but by washing away from it all that is not gold." ~ Leo Nikolaevich Tolstoy

"Everything has its limit - iron ore cannot be educated into gold." ~ Mark Twain

"Gold that's put to use more gold begets."
~ William Shakespeare

Wow is it Friday already? This week has flown by. I would love to tell you of the adventures I have been on this week~ But I actually don't think I went on any. I spent last week end entertaining and that even carried over into this week some too.. I think I have had company every day this week.. Right now it is silent here except for the Thunder rolling across a distant sky. Silence is golden.

You will notice that all of the quotes today are about gold too. I chose them because first of all I liked them all.. secondly they each tie in with something wise I plan to share with the "children" today. Maybe some of my words will actually help someone someday. If not at least I can give a few people a pretty good reason to laugh on Friday! I hope you enjoy today's words of wisdom for the kids!

1:) Yes I know how much junk I have in my house! ~ I know how much it's worth too... Most of it is stuff that you or one of the other "children" left here... I am taking good care of it. I plan to leave it to you when I die instead of money! I will pull out your old report cards and share them with your babies when they get older... I will embarrass you when ever I like by showing everyone the naked picture of you brushing your teeth. I will Ooh and Aah over your gold plated baby shoes~ (that gold is fake so no need to try and pawn that after I'm gone! ) and your Graduation pictures. I will think of one you every time I dust this junk. I will plot ways to make you ashamed. I will search every time I think about it for something else that might just might be buried around here that you wouldn't want your friends or your wife to see.. Maybe I'll frame those pictures of the beautiful blue smocked dresses that my boys wore as infants. That should do the trick... and if Not then maybe we can sell all this junk on EBAY!

2:) A lie does not sound more convincing with an I love you Mom attached! ~ An I swear doesn't help either.... Don't you know that I watched as you struggled to tell me the first lie and I have learned how to tell them from the truth.. The best lies always have just a smidgen of truth in them but I hate lies.. Each of my "Children" know this. As bad as the truth can be I would rather hear it than some half cocked lie you made up on the way home from where ever it was that you did whatever you just lied about. Next time say.. "I love you Mom and I hope you don't kill me when I tell you the truth!" Another answer that works after you are eighteen is "Mom I'd really rather not say!" (or Aunt Patsy or Miss Patsy or whatever it is that you might call me!) I'm really easy to get along with.. I won't kill you but once.... If I asked you a question and you are planning to lie.. Don't I already knew the truth before I asked.. I'd be a great detective! Actually I might pinch you.. I used to hit kids but they say it's against the law to hit the little heathens now.. No body told my Daddy he couldn't spank us.. Man why did they wait till I was a parent to change that law?

3:) Don't make love by the garden gate~ Love is blind but the neighbors ain't! ~ Please do not be doing anything that the neighbors are going to tell on you for.... I will be really ticked if the crazy people I live by have a reason to complain about you! I promise that they are looking this way every time you do something stupid. I Know this because I have climbed on top of my house to see what all the racket was; coming from next door. I have crawled through the darkness to be sure no one was being killed by a crazy drunk neighbor man. Neighbors watch.. then they tell their half witted friends and everyone else that my kids are bad.. Do not make me......... You will not like it!

~By the way you can see quiet a long way from the top of my car port. I even saw one my own kids misbehaving once.. You did, of course, try to lie about it.. but at least you didn't hang the I love you on the end of your lie.. Instead you hung an "I would never ever ever do that!" on the end!

4:) Be all that YOU can be! Notice I said :"YOU"! You can't be what ever I might like for you to be.. I can't be the perfect Mom you wanted. I have done my best with what I was given. There were many times I wanted to give in and give up... I didn't. Now I think you should be the best that you can. Use your own talents to become what it is meant for you to be..That doesn't mean that each of you will reach the same heights.. You will not.. Each person is different... we can only accept each other for who we are... Even that is not easy to do. We as humans always think we know what is best for others. We do not... we each must march to the beat of the drums our own drummers play.. Mine plays a kinda jazzy; upbeat; half crazy: flowery; tune. With a few rooster crows tossed in for good measure. Even my shadow dances along with the wild beat sometimes!

5:) Dogs can smell meanness. ~ This is something that my Daddy always said and now I am sharing it with you. It is not simply an old wives tale. I have found it to be true. Over the years I have often had dogs that simply didn't like certain people. One example I can give you was Buddy and a kid we all called Little John.. every time Little John ever came here Buddy would growl at him. As kids go, I couldn't tell where John was any meaner than any other kid that came here. In fact compared to a lot of them he was a good kid. He never gave me any trouble.. never sassed back or did anything wrong that I could catch him at.. finally knowing that he was up to something no good because buddy growled at him all the time.. I made a new rule and began to tell all of them that they had to empty their pockets when they came here to spend the night.. The first night I lined them all up and Little John somehow made it to the back of the line... He was dragging his feet by the time it got his turn to empty his pockets... It didn't take me long to see why.. Man was that kid loaded.. he had three or four knives and a few other illegal things as well.. He said he didn't know who the drugs belonged to or how they got in his pocket... I smiled as he emptied his pockets and when Buddy lay down by his feet and quit growling I knew the kid was clean... I promised that I would return his weapons when he was leaving my house.. I told him since the other stuff wasn't his anyway, I'd just get rid of it for him.. I actually gave it to his uncle who called me and claimed it was his own.. He said the kid had stolen it... I felt sorry for any kid in that situation... He wasn't the only child I ever caught with things they shouldn't have had.. I just used him for an example... I also changed his name! (You didn't really think I would shame one of my "children" like that did you???) Over the years I have found many things in the pockets of kids who didn't need to have them.. from dip and cigarettes to switch blades and knives of all kinds.. I always returned to them what their parents allowed them to have and what was not illegal. If you are mean enough to bring contraband into my house I am mean enough to take it from you!!!! I keep dogs all the time.. If my dog doesn't like you.. I will watch you like a hawk... I will figure out why my dog doesn't trust you.. I won't trust you if my dog doesn't... And please don't kick or hit my dog when he is trying to tell on you.. You will not like the crazy me you see if you hit or kick one of my animals...I might even bite you and I have not had my rabies shots!

~ Tonight I have shared a few more bits of wisdom with the "kids". There are so many things I would like to tell my "children". My own and my step-kids and my nieces and nephews.. their little ones and the list goes on and on. I Have always had children around me from the very earliest days I can remember in my life. First was Reuben, (my baby brother) then Martha,
( My baby sister) and of course there were the foster siblings and the gazillion nursery children that Mama and later me and Trudy too kept in day care.. I will always love children... I will expect certain things from them. I will not hesitate to show them where time out is in my house even if they are just visiting.... Children must be kinda like dogs and have a sense that allows them to know that I am mean.. they behave here.. they don't dare me.... They almost always love coming to my house! Have a great Friday Night!!!

Patsy

Friday's Advice For the Kids!

"You know your children are growing up when they stop asking you where they came from and refuse to tell you where they're going. "~ P.J. O'Rourke

"Your children will see what you're all about by what you live rather than what you say." ~ Wayne Dyer

"We worry about what a child will become tomorrow, yet we forget that he is someone today."
~ Stacia Tauscher

I love my children! I love all children. I have decided that from now on every Friday I will share a few words of My infinite wisdom with the "children".

I should of course clarify the term "Children". Children shall be known from now on as any person who is younger than me! It includes my own children and step-children.. it includes Grandchildren .. it includes my daughters in law... it includes younger siblings.. it includes nieces and nephews and and their offspring. It includes all the children who lived in my home for even a short spell of Mothering from me... It includes all the friends ( and enemies) of my children who have visited in my home. It includes the girls who climbed in windows at my house.. and the boys who never made it that far.. I would dare to say that the term "children", as it relates to this blog, includes just about everyone.

Each Friday I will try to share at least five facts that all young people should know. If any of you out there have a question that you would like answered as part of Friday's wisdom for the children just send it right along to me. Now with out further fan fare I will move on to Friday's Five for the kids!

1:) Life is not Fair! It was never fair.. it wasn't fair for me and it won't be fair for you either.. stop sniveling about it and move on.... if you can think of a way to fix it you will become rich and a hero for all future generations.. I will expect my share of the riches... if you can't fix it the suck it up and stop whining! I hate whiners!

2:) Adults do have eyes in the back of our heads! They even have names. They are your neighbors.. they are our friends who just happened to see you going where we told you not to. They are strangers who saw you and told someone who told their cousin who eventually told my brother!Haven't you ever heard the saying "It takes a village to raise a child"? Well it takes a village to rat one out too.. we are adults.. we have learned to work together to make the lives of children miserable!

3:) Good does not ALWAYS triumph evil! Evil doesn't play by the rules. But if good hides behind a wall with a brick in her hand and throws it and breaks evils windshield.... then Good triumphs. ~ No wait!!!! That's not right! Ah shoot who am I kidding.. Good should win out but we all know that sometimes evil wins.. I'm sticking to the good old brick throwing myself.. I'm a real good shot with a red brick...

4:) It is more important to be beautiful on the inside! My Daddy used to say that Beauty was only skin deep but that ugly was to the bone! I am going to tell y'all that I have met some truly ugly people in my life time, but only a few. I have however known some who although they were attractive to look at I soon found them to be "ugly to the bone". But even less than beautiful people can brush their hair and put on clean clothes.. no need to appear uglier than you actually are. A toothbrush applied every day has been know to help those with ugly teeth too.. What I'm saying is that even though some of us will never win a beauty pageant... we can look our best with just a little effort.. so go brush your hair and your teeth and put on a clean shirt before you go to the Wal-mart! Stop by the library on your way back.. smart is very sexy!!!

5:) Play! Have fun when you can. Simple fun is best.. (unless of course you fixed the unfairness of life.. If you did that then I have some wonderful ideas for fun... I thought NOT!) Take walks in the woods. Stand in the edge on the ocean and try to out-run the incoming waves to a certain spot on the sand. ~ ( No one will bother you while doing this.. ignore the gathering crowd.. they too are having fun watching the crazy person who is racing waves!)~ go fishing with a child even the smallest minnow will appear to be a giant when seen through their eyes.
Buy a bag of marbles and try to teach yourself how to shoot them; it's a lost art and much harder than it looks! Buy a checkerboard and visit the nursing home.. someone there has a story to tell and no one to listen. They'll beat you at checkers but you will be wiser when you leave there.(remember smart is sexy!) Swing on a swing in the park. See how high you can go. (I wouldn't recommend the covered slide though.. the fire department has enough to do without coming to cut you out of the kiddy slide!) Hop, skip, play leap frog. Playing is good for you.. It's called exercise! You're going to need to know about that when you get old and fat!

I hope you enjoy this weeks Five for the Kids on Friday! Let me know what you think of the things I put on my blog. I do listen to what everyone says. Thanks for all of those who visit here and a special thanks to those of you who actually read the blog! Have a great Friday!
Patsy