HAPPY HAPPY NEWS!

Two posts in 1 day?!  After last weeks confessions post, I just wanted to update quickly, the Hubs just called me that he got the official phone call that he starts his new job April 4th!  I'm going to be so glad to be DONE with the crappy union he's in and no more lay-offs!!!  Thanks for all of your support over the past couple years when I wrote about our employment woes.

Music Helps Cure Everything

Lately, I feel like I've been stuck in my own spiral downward.  I see it happening and as much as I try and stay positive, when the girls' are asleep and the house is quiet it just takes over.  The Hubs new job didn't work out, so we are back to square zero, yes I meant zero and not one like the saying.  Honestly, I know that things need to change and something work out for once, it's just frustrating, tiring, and makes me feel crappy.

Our families have been amazing and supportive through it all.  I'm so glad our parents there for anything that we need mentally/physically.  As I get older I realize how lucky we are.

When we got home tonight from a family picnic I turned on the tv and flipped on a concert special by Jason Mraz.  And suddenly as I was listening to his lyrics, it came flooding back how music gives us hope even during some of the darkest times.  I had shut this part of me off without even realizing it and now I just want to rummage through to find the artists who speak to my soul and help uplift.

One of my favorites is Sara Bareilles and thought I'd share her latest single - super catchy!

A Good Reminder

My mom sent this in an email to me this morning. Made me think and it's a good reminder we all need now and then!

Too many people put off something that brings them joy just because they haven't thought about it, don't have it on their schedule, didn't know it was coming or are too rigid to depart from their routine.

I got to thinking one day about all those people on the Titanic who passed up dessert at dinner that fateful night in an effort to cut back. From then on, I've tried to be a little more flexible.

How many women out there will eat at home because their husband didn't suggest going out to dinner until after something had been thawed? Does the word 'refrigeration' mean nothing to you?

How often have your kids dropped in to talk and sat in silence while you watched 'Jeopardy' on television?

I cannot count the times I called my sister and said, 'How about going to lunch in a half hour?' She would gas up and stammer, 'I can't. I have clothes on the line. My hair is dirty. I wish I had known
yesterday. I had a late breakfast, It looks like rain.' And my personal favorite: 'It's Monday.' She died a few years ago. We never did have lunch together.

Because we cram so much into their lives, we tend to schedule our headaches. We live on a sparse diet of promises we make to ourselves when all the conditions are perfect!

We'll go back and visit the grandparents when we get Steve toilet-trained. We'll entertain when we replace the> living-room carpet.

We'll go on a second honeymoon when we get two more kids out of college.

Life has a way of accelerating as we get older. The days get shorter, and the list of promises to ourselves gets longer.

One morning, we awaken, and all we have to show for our lives is a litany of 'I'm going to,' 'I plan on,' and 'Someday, when things are settled down a bit.'

When anyone calls my 'seize the moment' friend, she is open to adventure and available for trips. She keeps an open mind on new ideas.

Her enthusiasm for life is contagious. You talk with her for five minutes, and you're ready to trade your bad feet for a pair of Roller blades and skip an elevator for a bungee cord.

My lips have not touched ice cream in 10 years. I love ice cream. It's just that I might as well apply it directly to my stomach with a spatula and eliminate the digestive process. The
other day, I stopped the car and bought a triple-decker. If my car had hit an iceberg on the way home, I would have died happy.

Now. go on and have a nice day. Do something you WANT to......not something on your SHOULD DO list. If you were going to die soon and had only one phone call you could make, who would
you call and what would you say? And why are you waiting?

Make sure you read this to the end; you will understand why I sent this to you.

Have you ever watched kids playing on a merry go round or listened to the rain lapping on the ground? Ever followed a butterfly's erratic flight or gazed at the sun into the fading night?

Do you run through each day on the fly? When you ask 'How are you?' Do you hear the reply?

When the day is done, do you lie in your bed with the next hundred chores running through your head? Ever told your child, 'We'll do it tomorrow.' And in your haste, not see his sorrow?

Ever lost touch? Let a good friendship die? Just call to say 'Hi'?

When you worry and hurry through your day, it is like an unopened gift....Thrown away.... Life is not a race. Take it slower. Hear the music before the song is over.

Send this to everyone you consider a FRIEND. If it comes back to you, then you'll know you h ave a circle of friends. To those I have sent this to.. I cherish our friendship
and appreciate all you do.

'Life may not be the party we hoped for... but while we are here we might as well dance!