Thanksgiving Day

Happy Thanksgiving dear readers (well those of you who celebrate Thanksgiving Day). What are you thankful for?

This has been quite a challenging yet interesting year. I have grown in so many ways and learned some tough lessons. Here is my incomplete list of things I am thankful for.

1. Life-Everyday you hear about people dying and yet here I am still alive to see another day...Life is short so I am thankful that I had another day to experience it.
2. Health-health is fragile, so the fact that I am not on any medications or need any medical attention is a blessing
3. My family-their love and support
4. My fiance-I can't begin to explain what a blessing he has been to me
5. My job-it is stressful, and i am overworked and underpaid. But I do love my job for the most part. I know there are many in this world that wish they had a job. So I am very blessed to have one.
6. My car
7. My cellphone
8. My friends
9. Just being able to walk, write, talk, listen, run, smell, eat, and think clearly
10. The hardships and challenges of this year
11. God continuing protection over my life. I know I should have been dead so many times. I have walked away from car accidents, etc.
12. The fact that though I have no idea how I am going to pay for my bills, I am not homeless and I seem to make my monthly payments each month.
13. Love
14. Smooth going wedding plans.
15. Just in general all the blessings God has blessed me with...

Well folks, this is all for now..I hope you can find something to be thankful for. Feel free to post what you are thankful for especially if it is not on the list.

The Veteran and a trip to McDonald's

Last week Friday was an interesting day on all levels of life. However, in this blog I am just going to tell you my experience with the Veteran and a trip to McDonald's.

Friday morning as I am driving to a workshop for work, I notice an old homeless man along the side of the street. My heart dropped because I just hate to see homeless people. It makes me so sad. I wish didn't have to hand people such a bad lemon where they end up in a situation like that. Anyway, he had on a cap that said army vet and a very worn out military shirt and a sign that said "homeless military vet, please help me". I have a soft spot in my heart for military personnel. So I grabbed the only dollar I could find in my car and gave it to him. He smiled and said "thank you, God bless you for your kindness". I said "God bless you too and I hope things get better for you". He replied, "thank you ma'am". The light changed and I drove off. For the next few moments I thought about that man and what his story could be, how did he end up on the side of the road like that. But whatever his story is, I was able to make him smile. I know there isn't much he can do with a dollar but every penny counts. Sigh....


Later that same evening I am on my way to a 6pm appointment. I am really hungry, but don't have time to get a decent meal or anything. So I decide to go through the drive-thru at McDonald's. Going to McDonald's is an extremely rare thing for me to do. One, I am a vegetarian and two I don't like anything on their menu. Yet here I find myself sitting at the window ordering an order of fries. When I get to the window the cashier told me that the lady in front of me paid for my fries because she has been blessed by God and this is one of her ways of thanking God for His blessings. The drivers message to me was that she wanted me to be blessed and to make sure I pay it forward by blessing someone else...

Given the week I had, it was seriously such a simple yet profound gift from God. I felt like He had heard all my cries from the week and was letting me know that even in the simple things in life He is going to take care of me and will be by my side. I drove away smiling and thanking God for a kind person and a huge blessing.

If not for Your grace

God has been blessing me and this is just one of the many songs that speaks volume of my experience with "The Great Almighty"....I love you Lord.  Hope this song touches your soul...

"Gerber Daisy" and her blackberry

My best friend/sister who I will call "Gerber Daisy" and her blackberry (the phone) makes me laugh and shake my head. Gerber Daisy has a bad habit of dropping her blackberry. She is forever dropping it on the ground, in water, etc. She even dropped it in orange juice. I still to this day don't understand how she did that. Anyway, I usually laugh at her and her cellphone. However, lately its been a bit ridiculous. Gerber Daisy has been dropping it all over the place and misplacing it everywhere she goes..Its amazing she finds it or that its even in one piece. Today she tells me she dropped it and it landed in her bust area...I laughed hard but decided that for Christmas I am going to try and find her a case and a chain for blackberry so that she can keep it near her and not on the floor, in liquid, or complain about how she doesn't know where it is..Hahaha...I love my Gerber Daisy.

The unwanted gift

So yesterday morning I was greeted by this deplorable creature. Something you should know about me is that I  truly abhor insects and bugs of any kind. It freaks me out, I get scared, and I either cry or scream if not both...Now back to my story. So as I was entering my cubicle at work I found this thing on my desk and immediately went into panic mode. I didn't know whether to cry, scream or pee my pants. All I knew was that I was about to die and no one would be there to help me or save me. Unfortunately for me, I went into work extremely early so no one was around to save me. So I call my father who lives in another state but of course he doesn't answer the phone..I tried my mother but her line was busy. I wanted to call my boyfriend who also lives in another state but I knew he wouldn't answer because he was in class. So I was left all by myself to decide whether to walk into my cubicle or just come back later when I think the stupid thing has left my area...I decided to try and be a "big girl" and face my fears...so I decided to bang the desk and see if it would make it go away..and lo and behold to my dismay it doesn't move...so after a few seconds it dawns on me that this deplorable stupid roach is FAKE!!!!! I breathe a sigh of relief walk into my cubicle and quickly get rid of my unwanted gift. When my coworkers arrive an hour or so later, I ask around who was trying to kill me...no one confused, but they did however, have quite the belly laugh. Looking back on the situation now, it is quite funny but let me tell you going through it I was outlandishly scared.

Gotta love my coworkers and my unwanted gift...

Contacts

I have been wearing glass for the past five years and recently decided I might need a change.  Last week I had my annual eye exam and decided to get contacts. It has definitely been a comical week. I am definitely a novice when it comes to getting these small clear objects into my eyes. The first time I put them in it took me about 25 minutes. Today, a week later it took me about 5 or 10 minutes....So I am slowly but surely getting better. I have learned a few things about life as I look through my contacts. So here are my life lessons from my teacher "the contacts"...

1. Everything in life takes time. Nothing is a quick fix or instant gratification. It all just takes time.....

2. There is something to the proverb "practice makes perfect". I can't say I will ever be perfect at utilizing contacts...but practice has proven to be effective in decreasing the amount of time it takes me to get my contacts in.

3. Patience....I have been learning another level of patience when it comes to inserting an object into my eyes. I realized the value of patience...Most things in life requires some amount of patience. However, because we are creatures of habit and want everything NOW we don't take the time to develop the patience. We miss out on so many things. Some forget to smell the roses, see the rainbow, or ignore the child that just wants to give you a hug and say "I love you".

4. How do you view life? I realized that there is drama, sadness, pain, etc all around..But do we have to focus on those events? Without my contacts and/or glasses, while I can still see I don't see clearly...But when I wear my contacts/glasses things become crisp and clear...so it is with life. In the midst of pain, suffering, etc there is always hope and something to smile about...Can you find those things to help you get through the hard times?
5. Contacts are flexible yest consistent. Sometimes in life we need to be flexible just go with the flow but at the same time stay true to ourselves, values, etc.
6. Contacts may be flexible but they are fragile. Life is short and we must not take it for granted. None of us are promised tomorrow. You could wake up tomorrow and try to put your contacts in just to realize there is a tear in it..So it is with life...Today you have your family member, friend, a loved one...just to find out that in the morning they are gone. Don't let life pass you by. Say "I love you" and mean it. Follow your dreams--achieve them, reach for the stars...Keep on keeping on...

Well those are the lessons I have learned this week....Anyone have any suggestions on inserting/removing contacts? If not, don't worry...in time with lots of patience and practice I will get better.