My New Year Wish For You

One of my biggest boards on Pinterest is my “To Live By” board.  I like to pin quotes, pictures, and scriptures to help remind me to live a life of gratitude and intention.  These past several months I’ve been earmarking those that I love the best for my new year, and I want to share them with you!

Here is to a new year filled with blessings and love, health and wisdom and more fun and adventure than you can take pictures of; here is to living in the moment and letting go of past hurts, and letting go of all of the yesterdays and seeing each other for who and what we are today.

Happy New Year!

Christmas Eve Gift!!

Christmas Eve Gift!!

Ha! I got you first! You owe me a gift!

And for those that are lost, I’ll explain!

The goal of this game is to be the first to yell “Christmas Eve Gift” to the other person.  Then, the person that lost and didn’t yell out “Christmas Eve Gift” owes the person that did yell it a gift.  And who doesn’t want an extra gift?!?

Technically, you probably don’t have to yell.  I’m sure a normal speaking voice would be fine.  In our family, we are so obsessed with winning the game that we tend to yell.

Growing up, our Christmas Eve always started well before the sun came up with mom coming in the room and yelling “Christmas Eve gift!!” and then running out before we could respond.  (Which, bonus points).

As we moved out, the phone would ring at about 6 am.

Now this is tricky – you have to time it just right and you have to get that phone up to your mouth super fast because the caller has the advantage here!  They can hear when you pick up the phone and they can start yelling as you are bringing the phone up to your mouth.  And, at 6 am, I’m really not at my best – I tend to answer “Hello, crap, Christmas Eve Gift” and at that point the caller has usually won the game!

Wait, I’m not done.

If it was dad that called you at 6 am, you aren’t done!

During the drive over to their house, I keep repeating “Christmas Eve Gift, Christmas Eve Gift” and then I walk in the door and get distracted and mom jumps out of the dark bathroom yelling “Christmas Eve Gift!!!”

And that is why my Christmas gifts are always in a bag and never carried in by hand!

This gets repeated over and over until you and every other person you encounter has gone through this!

And some years, you get to be the one making the 6 am phone call!

Not all of your relatives will appreciate this gesture of good will.

Just a heads up there!

This year our family hit a new low record.

6:15 am Dad sent out a group text.

Which I promptly ignored.

Cause there was no way he could prove I had seen it or read it.  (And this is the exact reason why I don’t have a “read receipt” on my text messages!)

Then my sister got in the action – but added Mr. T and her Twins to the group!

By now, it’s an hour later and so I figure it’s safe to respond!

And the best part?

We don’t actually get each other gifts.

Winning the competition is the only gift we need!

I’ve never actually met anyone outside of our family that plays this game, so you’ll have to let me know if your family plays this game – but in the meantime…

Christmas Eve Gift!

These Are a Few of my Favorite Things

In case you missed this last year, it’s a few of my favorite things!

Did That Just Happen Blog

My dog in my lap and the lights on the tree,

The stockings hung up and presents just for me;

A single Dean Winchester tied up with string

These are a few of my favorite things

When the police come, when the taser stings, when I’m feeling sad,

I simply remember my favorite things and then I don’t feel so bad!

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Wordless Wednesday 12/17/14 – Cheerleader Competition

Mr. T’s first cheerleader competition! Sitting there watching all of the teams perform, it really was just like you see on TV!  Yes, we had a flyer fall, but Mr. T was a great base and caught her! And, since almost every team had a flyer fall, I wasn’t upset – I just think they did a great job!!

Mr. Chisholm Trail

I blinked and all of the sudden my little bit of nothing that I used to dress up every year for Christmas pictures was now voluntarily putting on a suit.  Not just any suit, but a real tuxedo, for our first (and only?!?) beauty pageant.

After the tuxedo fittings (yes, there was more than one), I was on the search for props!

Then the magical day was here!  Naturally, I snuck backstage!

Then it was time to begin!

Oh the opening number!

Then it came time for the talent portion. I never thought I’d enjoying seeing Mr. T in a cheer uniform; however, he did showcase his skills nicely!

Then it was time for my props to be put to use, in the swimsuit competition!

But don’t get me started on the formal wear!

He’s sexy and he knows it!

He was the winner in the swimsuit competition!

He was awarded Mr. Entertainer! And he was first runner up for Mr. Chisholm Trail!! 

I’ve Left the Busy Life Behind

I’ve been working very hard at not comparing myself to others.  In fact, it was just over a year ago that I shared this journey of growth with you, and it’s not easy, but I’ve worked hard, and while I still slip up, I am happy to admit that I am much better about not judging myself!

Like most things, you don’t always notice what a difference is being made when you make it in small steps.  Because I have just been taking baby steps in my self improvement, and because I’ve been so focused on becoming a better Me, I hadn’t realized how far I have actually come…

…until the other day.  All of the sudden, every where I went I was hearing people talking to each other.

“Wow, that sounds like a lot”

“You look tired.”

“You look stressed”

“That sounds really busy.”

I even said some of those same things to others.

And the answers got me thinking.

Why doesn’t anyone say that to me? Why don’t I look tired?  Basically, from what I heard, they weren’t any busier than I was. It was all different things, but basically the same. Everyone I talked to, who told me how busy they were, I just smiled and nodded and walked away a bit perplexed.

If we are doing basically the same things, why don’t I look tired? Why aren’t people telling me ‘oh you poor soul, how do you keep up?’

As a side note – here is a prime example of my struggle not to compare.  I was walking a fine line between judging activities and wondering what was different in my life!  It’s not easy, but I really was trying to reflect on what was different!

I tried talking to Mr. T about it.

Then I remembered that he was a 16 year old boy.

That was about as helpful as windshield wipers on a goats butt.

(Is that too crass? I’ve been trying to find a way to work that into a conversation for about 3 years now!!)

Needless to say, as much as I love him, he wasn’t helpful!

So I called up a friend of mine and regurgitated all of these thoughts and feelings and not-that-I’m-comparing-but-what-is-wrong-with-me statements.

And she summed it up in one sentence.

I’ve left the busy behind.

In my efforts to not compare myself to others, I realized that I didn’t have to compete with how I spent my time. And if it’s not a competition, then I can do what I want.

I have been able to fill my life doing things I love, things I want to do, things that bring me joy! Yes, I still have crap that fills my everyday life, but I get to balance that with fun.  When I stopped comparing what I was doing to what others were doing, I was able to take the “busy” out of my being busy.

I still have times that I go non-stop, but the difference is, I have given myself permission to have fun.  I have given myself permission to do what brings me joy and bliss and peace.

So, I’m happy to report that there is a massive unexpected side effect happening in my life, not only am I better at not comparing myself to others, I’ve discovered a new joy and unexpected balance in my life.

Wordless Wednesday 12-10-14

On another note, tomorrow is the Mr. Chisholm Trail pageant – and I’m quite excited for Mr. T!  Hopefully I’ll have lots of pictures and videos to share with you! Wish us luck!  Well, Mr T at least, wish him luck, all I have to do is show up!

Starbucks Gift Card Giveaway!

At some point in the last couple of days, I hit a new milestone with Did That Just Happen Blog, there are 500 of you reading, or pretending to read, and wow, that’s an amazing number!

For a lot of people out in the blog-o-sphere, that’s not a big number, I’m not even a blip on the radar comparatively speaking, but I love my little blip, this little blip allows me to share my joys, discoveries, neurosis and more with you! Plus, I’m working on this whole not-comparing-myself-to-others thing, so I do have actual joy bubbling inside me right now!

Now I want to share the bubbles of joy and thank you for all you’ve given to me!

I went through my wallet and low and behold, I have a $5 Starbucks gift card.

Ta-Da!

It’s not much, so in order to be entered you don’t have to do much, either! Just post a comment below and sometime this weekend I will force Mr. T to look and pick a comment.

There are no restrictions – if you live in the Continental United States, then I will mail you this EXACT card! If you don’t, then I’ll email you an electronic card – because otherwise mailing it to you will cost more than the card is worth!

So, thank you all so very much for being on this journey with me!  And good luck!

Disclaimer: Word Press and Starbucks have nothing to do with this… they probably won’t even know I’m hosting a giveaway! And, the official cut off time is sometime between Saturday morning 8:00 am and Sunday midnight.  Also, you can comment as many times as you want, but you only get counted once!

Wordless Wednesday Beauty Pageant

Sometimes I get random texts from Mr. T.

It shows he loves me and thinks about me.

Sometimes they are witty, sometimes funny, sarcastic or serious.

Sometimes when I read them I don’t know if they are supposed to be witty, funny, sarcastic or serious.

Sometimes I end up in a formal shop waiting while my son gets fitted for a tuxedo because what I assume is a joke turns out to be real.

Yup, that just happened! I’ll keep you updated, the pageant is next week 🙂

Family Picture Time

This Thanksgiving, whilst we had the family gathered, my sister and I thought it would be a great time to get some family pictures.  We would all be fairly dressed up, most of us had combed our hair and makeup was applied.  Plus, my grandmother would actually be there.

This was imperative because, as I’ve mentioned before, it is super hard to buy for her.  She’s 84 now, or so, and don’t get me started on how picky she is.  Now, I will admit, I am particular.  I like what I like, and as such, if you ask what I want or need, I’m liable to send you a link or a picture. But my grandmother takes the cake when it comes to picky.

Which, is okay, I don’t mind picky.  Like I mentioned, I am too, so I understand it.

Here is the difference.  If you ask me what I want for Christmas, or my Birthday, or just because you love me, I can give you a list of half a dozen things that I’d LOVE to have! I keep a running list on my phone.

I’m not even kidding.

But, if you ask my grandmother, she has no clue what she wants.  In fact, she hates that we start shopping for Christmas so early because she can’t even think what she might want before December 1st.

I’m getting off track.

She’s picky and hard to buy for.

But my sister came up with a brilliant idea.

A few years ago my sister bought a beautiful picture frame collage thing.  She didn’t use it for what she wanted, so we are going to use it and fill it with pictures of her grand kids and great-grand kids.

We pulled pictures off my computer to use, but as long as everyone was at the house, and sort-of cleaned up, after dinner we grabbed her for some “family pictures”.

I was going to just use my iPhone camera.

It works fine.

But, my mom recently got a DSLR camera thing.  So, we grabbed that.  I was told to turn it on and press the button.  So, I did.  Several times.

Then I got in the picture and had mom take some shots.

It was awesome!

Here is how my favorite one turned out:

And here is how my second favorite one turned out:

Because you guessed it… the camera didn’t capture any of the pictures.

Something about the SD card or whatever.

So, after she left we discovered that none of the pictures took.

I wore makeup for no reason.

But, the food was good!