Conquer The Lonely

What a wild and crazy world we live in!  Things are not easy.  There are natural and man made disasters every where we look.  We are on the verge of war everywhere.  It is crazy!   These are some difficult times. 

At church yesterday, I was listening to the Sunday School lesson, in which the teacher, a surgeon, said that with all the different kinds of plagues out there, the studies are showing that the biggest plague the world is facing right now is loneliness!  I can see that.  I see it in school kids.  I see it in teenagers.  I see it in adults both young and old.  I see it all around me.  It is a very real thing.  Difficult times?  You bet. 

Loneliness.  I think of all of the things that can cause loneliness, because you see, I don't think it comes from just not having a friend, or being actually "alone".  You can be in a crowded room, and still feel extreme loneliness.  One of my little guys in my school classroom of kindergarden kiddos said a while back, he has no friends.  So even though he is in a class full of kids and teachers, he feels loneliness.  I think there are people who are alone, that are not lonely, because they keep themselves so busy involved in things.  But then, on the other hand, they can be extremely busy during the day and when they go home at the end of the day, they are probably lonely. 

I wish I had an answer, to help solve the problem of loneliness, but I don't.  There are just too many people I personally know, who are lonely, reaching out, and looking to fill the void of loneliness in their lives, and it hurts to watch.  Yet, I know I can't be the one to fill that void.  It must come from them.  You bet life is difficult, and lonely.  But I believe these things can be conquered if we really want.  Yuppers it sucks!  I see it.  I understand it.  I get it.  I choose not to embrace it, but to conquer it.  Conquer the lonely.  I don't have the answer, or the how, for you.  It will be different for everyone, yet I believe it can be done.  I believe it should be done.  And know that you are not alone in your loneliness.  Reach out and be that person to help someone else, and you just might find your answer.

On Life...

You know life is just soooo busy!  Walk The Creek, I miss you!  Whoever said life was supposed to slow down as your kids got older and moved out, well let me tell you "They were lying!"  There is no such thing as slowing down!

Don't get me wrong, I am happy with life, at least for the most part.  There are things I wish I could have done in this life, but yes, I have settled for the fact that they will never happen, and I am okay with that.  But, dang!  I do wish in some ways at least, that it would slow down a little and give me a few minutes to do some of the things I really would like to.

Alas, it is what it is, and I will be okay.  I really do miss writing on a couple of my old time favorite blogs.  Now I write, but mostly on my blog about preparedness, and honestly it is mostly out of duty, instead of love.  Love is a strange thing, in many different ways, and my writing isn't for love right now.  SAD! 

Why don't I just make the time to write, for love?  I know you are saying that, right?  You see in my mind, I should have at least 3 hours a day, where I should be able to sit down and write whatever I want.  There is a key word in there that says:  SHOULD!  Should - means dreaming!  It never really happens!  There is ALWAYS someone else who thinks my time needs to revolve around them!  And yes, my family is important, and yes, my church responsibilities are important, and yes I love my job, but - dang!!  I just want to do some things.

Okay my rant is over for the day.  It is a full moon and off to school I go!  It is going to be a wild and crazy day, I can just feel it!  Dang!

Virtual Fieldtrip of Paris

Date night to France!  Okay, so for part of Logan's Christmas gift, it included date nights around the world, one each month.  This month we are visiting Paris / France.  Join in our virtual fieldtrip with us, and then create your own date night ideas to go along with it!  Here goes....

This one is kind of a historical one, and is interesting - Virtual fieldtrip to Paris  


Another link to a video of the ten top attractions in Paris









There now we have visited Paris for the year!  Keep watch for more travels around the world as we visit one or two places each month for our date night!

Healing Comes From Nature

Sometimes I find a quote that just speaks to me.  I love herbal healing and learning everything about it.  Sometimes, I get so busy in life that I forget what my true passions are, or they get pushed to the side because life gets in the way.  Why is it that we need to get physically sick, before we remember what we know?  Did that make sense?

I was looking for some answers yesterday, due to some health problems, and the answer came to me, "remember what you have learned and put it to use!"  Healing comes from nature!

Got it!  Why is it?  So now I am committed to again get back to the beauty of natural and herbal healing.  I need to learn more, and I need to re-adjust my schedule, my life, to get back to what it is that is important to me.  Done!

I love all things herbal healing and essential oils! I love all things preparedness and helping people!  And I love all things about making memories and being happy!  Priorities - focus on these things!

Thus,  I have almost finished my Emergency Preparedness E-course, and I will turn your focus to that soon.

I am working on my Basic Herbal Healing E-course and it will be finished soon as well.

I am excited for both of these, and so much more!

In the mean time - remember all things started with nature - God put it here for our use!  Let's use it to heal our bodies and souls.

Love Davilyn

Habits of Happy People

February has been a tough month for me.  Lots of doctor appointments, lots of stress, really busy, and at school, the kiddos have been a little bit crazy!   I have been trying really hard to keep remembering that camping, spring, creeks, greenery, outdoors - it's all right around the corner!  Next week we get a break from work and the kiddos for a week and it is much needed for sure.  However, it doesn't mean a break from "work" so to speak, because that will be when a really good spring cleaning and de-cluttering comes into play here.  Ah the joys!

But all in all, life is great!  What would it be without a little stress now and then right?  We all have our happy places that we can go, when stress gets to us, when life hits us hard in the face, when we just feel like we want to cry a little.  Sometimes it is really hard though, to remember that happy place when you don't feel like being happy.  Here are some of the habits that happy people try to implement in their lives, and I promise, they likely don't do all of these, but perhaps next time you are feeling like you just got slapped in the face again, or you want to cry, perhaps you could try one or more of these things and see how it makes you feel.  Even better, work on one or two each month and make it a habit in your life, and before you know it, you will find - voila!  You are a Happy Person!

This post is filled with Og Mandino quotes.  They make me happy.  They help me to ground myself in what is good for me.  They offer incredible insight, so please take time to read,  ponder and apply them in your life, and you may find meaning and understanding on happiness and who you are meant to be!  All of the quotes in big colorful letters are from Og Mandino!  What a brillant, happy, grounded man.

Realize that true happiness lies within you. Waste no time and effort searching for peace and contentment and joy in the world outside. Remember that there is no happiness in having or in getting, but only in giving. Reach out. Share. Smile. Hug. Happiness is a perfume you cannot pour on others without getting a few drops on yourself.  Og Mandino

• First off, happiness is a choice, just like being angry, sad, or excited.  You can choose to be happy.

Take the attitude of a student, never be too big to ask questions, never know too much to learn something new.

• Learn to be grateful for things.  Happy people recognize blessings in their lives and are grateful people
• Learn to forgive others.  Let's face it, people are never as smart as we think they should be, and as a general rule, we do stupid stuff.  Learn to forgive stupid, mean, things, because guess what?  They, more often than not, don't know they are even being stupid.  Perhaps they need this list.  Regardless, forgive them, and you will find a burden lifted off your heart.

The only certain means of success is to render more and better service than is expected of you, no matter what the task may be. This is a habit followed by all successful people since the beginning of time. Therefore I saith the surest way to doom yourself to mediocrity is to perform only the work for which you are paid.

• Be a positive thinker.  Take care of your thoughts - do a little spring cleaning of your own and get rid of the negative thoughts that keep you going in that circle of woe.  Negative feeds off negative, and nobody likes a negative person, so train yourself to look for the positive in people, in life, and soon that is what you will see.   You will be able to look beyond the negative and see happy, positive.
• Money isn't the end all, be all, and it really can't buy your happiness.  Ya, I will be the first one to admit that I would like a little more money in my life too, but I have learned through years and years of trials of money, that it doesn't buy happiness, in fact it usually does the opposite.  But..... learn to deal with your station in life, no matter what it is, you can be happy if you control it properly and accept it for what it is.  You can be happy with lots of money or with very little money, either way, you choose how you will be.  Learn to spend money on experiences and not things.  It is the things that will leave no lasting happiness, but experiences with family and friends, creating those happy memories, that is what will bring the lasting happiness.  Og Mandino said my all time favorite quote: 
  

  “I am convinced that the greatest legacy we can leave our children are happy memories: those precious moments so much like pebbles on the beach that are plucked from the white sand and placed in tiny boxes that lay undisturbed on tall shelves until one day they spill out and time repeats itself, with joy and sweet sadness, in the child now an adult.”

• Create some good friendships that you can trust and fall back on time and time again.  One good friend is better than a hundred that drag you down into their pit of misery and negativity.  Good friendships will encourage you.  You can laugh when you feel like crying.  You can cry when you are laughing.  A good friend, a really true good friend, is worth more than anything.

Sooner or later all mankind will realize that the greatest cure for all the ills and wrongs, the cares, the sorrow and crimes of humanity rests solely in acts of love. Love is the greatest gift from God. It is the divine spark that everywhere produces and restores life. To each and every one of us, love gives us the power to work miracles with your own life and those we touch.

• Make family your best friends.  Family will always be there when everyone else moves on, so fostering good family relationships, is a great habit happy people make.  Loving to be around your family, there really is nothing more satisfying, and joyful - real joy - than laughing and spending time with those you love.
• Get outside more - so true.  When you are feeling down, go for a walk.  Sit in your back yard and soak in some sun, reading a good book, or better yet pulling a weed, or planting a seed or two.  When I need a good therapy session, I get my hands dirty in my garden and, without a doubt, it helps me be happy.  The sun offers us all that great vitamin D, our happy pills from nature, and fresh air, always helps to clear the brain fog leaving us with clarity and understanding of what is truly important in life
• Serving others, doing things for others, always - always,  allows us to take our eyes off ourselves and see that others have problems too, and they are most often problems that make ours seem pretty insignificant in the grand scheme of things.  Service, will make you happy, it will allow your heart to heal, and you may in the process, find a good friend.    

Beginning today, treat everyone you meet as if they were going to be dead by midnight. Extend to them all the care, kindness and understanding you can muster, and do it with no thought of any reward. Your life will never be the same again.

• Smile even if you feel like crap.  There is enough research out there to scientifically support this, but I promise if you try it yourself, you will be able to emotionally feel the difference in your own happiness.  If you don't feel like smiling, that is when you need to straighten your shoulders and put a smile on your face the most.  It will make others smile, and in turn make you much happier.  Kind of the fake it till you make it theory, but you are faking it - while you make it happen.  Count your blessings. Once you realize how valuable you are and how much you have going for you, the smiles will return, the sun will break out, the music will play, and you will finally be able to move forward the life that God intended for you with grace, strength, courage, and confidence.  Og Mandino
• Meditation can go a long way to helping you find that inner peace.  Regardless of what faith you have, everyone needs a happy place, a peace within their soul, and meditation can help you find it there.  There are many, many free apps, and videos on you tube, etc that will help you with any meditation that suits your feelings, and even your beliefs.  It will help your brain calm down, and center you in life, with more clarity and purpose, more compassion, and understand.  Give it a whirl, slow down and meditate.

How do I change? If I feel depressed I will sing. If I feel sad I will laugh. If I feel ill I will double my labor. If I feel fear I will plunge ahead. If I feel inferior I will wear new garments. If I feel uncertain I will raise my voice. If I feel poverty I will think of wealth to come. If I feel incompetent I will think of past success. If I feel insignificant I will remember my goals. Today I will be the master of my emotions.

I will greet this day with love in my heart. And how will I do this? Henceforth will I look on all things with love and be born again. I will love the sun for it warms my bones; yet I will love the rain for it cleanses my spirit. I will love the light for it shows me the way; yet I will love the darkness for it shows me the stars. I will welcome happiness as it enlarges my heart; yet I will endure sadness for it opens my soul. I will acknowledge rewards for they are my due; yet I will welcome obstacles for they are my challenge.

Meaningful Moments

Grandma’s Meaningful Moments

Jax eating berries on the bench

I am sure that all Grandma’s have meaningful moment’s with their grandchildren.  If for some reason, you don’t, then I strongly encourage you to make them happen.  Make ever moment count with them.  I want to share with you some of my meaningful moments with my grandson’s.

On the bridge in Paradise Creek

I can’t even tell you how much I love the moments when they wrap their little arms around my neck and give me a great big hug.  There is a very little time in their life, when they feel like this is okay to do.  You need to take advantage of every one of these little hugs when you can.  They love to snuggle up until they turn about two, and then if you are lucky you can catch one once in awhile.  Then a couple of years later, they will hug again, but only because they know they should, not because they really want to.  I am not sure yet when the time will come again when they will love to hug their Grandma, but I will take what I can get until that time.

Target Practise at the farm

I love when they love to have sleep overs.  I know that I probably spoil them a bit, and perhaps even bribe them to have sleep overs, but that’s okay, I am allowed to do that.  I figured I earned that right because I raised their parents. Those times when we stay up late watching movies, eat popcorn or other goodies, and sleep in, are lots of fun.  I look forward to more of these.  These are meaningful moments that hopefully they will remember as they grow up as good times.  I can't wait until I can take them camping with us.  You know the Grandma and Grandpa camping trips.  I look forward to that special time together, just us and nature, exploring and experiencing new things.  Creating special memories.

And yes, we zombify sometimes

When we all get together and the house is rockin’ and kids are playing, we are making memories.  Small moments in the grand scheme of things, but many meaningful moments make up the plethora of memories we keep with us.

More meaningful moments: d is for ddddrrrama (grandma) haha Xander you are so funny, bonfires with Wyatt, sleep overs with Wyatt, Jax building line ups of cars, smiles and coo’s from Logan, ,

Reading books

playing at the park, walks in Kin Coulee, wiener roasts at Kin Coulee, dressing up as super heroes, birthday parties, kisses on the cheek (my cheek), falling asleep with the little guys, reading stories and telling it wrong so they correct me, eating strawberries at Grandpa’s farm and stuffing our pockets, playing in my creek, playing in my sandbox, playing with the rocks, eating raspberries, swinging in the big tree, oh we have fun!

For all you Grandma’s out there, make as many of these little meaningful moments count as you can.  It will hopefully create bonds that will last forever.  Wyatt asked once, if one of my grandkids was 18 and being a problem, would I still let them come in my home any time?  I said absolutely, my door will never be closed to my grandkids,

Snuggles

and has never been closed to my own kids.  There will always be an open door policy for all of my kids and grandchildren.  There always has been. Nothing can change that.  Just because they might make some dumb choices, doesn’t mean we still can’t love each other and make more meaningful moments count.  We all make dumb choices sometimes, we get through it, and move on.
 
Make those moments count.

Only in Alberta!

Only in Alberta can it go from 30 below zero to 11 degrees above in less than a week!   Snow is almost completely gone, and there is hope for spring in the air.  However, it is far too early for that.  At least six more weeks before we should be warming up.  I guess "Groundhog Day" is only a couple of weeks away, and then we can know for sure if we will have an early spring.  Not that I believe in that theory, but hey, it is always fun to see what "they" say.  Whoever "they" are.

I am really looking forward to this new year of 2017.  Hubby and I have made a great list of ideas of things we want to do this year!  We called it our 2017 Bucket List!  I decided that each year just seems to pass us by so quickly, and we don't really plan things, we just kind of go with it, and next thing you know, it's gone.  So this year we have planned things.  I have 24 date nights planned.  Well some are date nights and some are date weekends.  I got many of the ideas from this site:  The Dating Divas  Love their site, their ideas and it actually made me look forward to many dates of strengthening my own marriage.  Yes we have been married for almost 29 years now, but who says we can't still have fun.  In fact, it is probably more fun now, and less stress because we don't have little kiddos and we have a little more money and time.  I totally would recommend their site and I purchased several of their products already. 

Reesor Ranch

I also have found this place and am totally stoked to head there for the May long weekend, and our 29th Anniversary!  Reesor Ranch.  I wish I could say this was only in Alberta, but it is in fact in Saskatchewan, in Cypress Hills.  The most beautiful scenery within an hour of where we live.  We have one of the cabins booked, and just being here, we will be able to knock off a few of the things on our bucket list.  We kind of have a realistic bucket list, and yes we even created a more personal, private bucket list as well.  Those

This is the cabin we have rented

ones, well we don't share!  Haha if you get my meaning?  We are not quite dead yet!

Of course our bucket list includes creating a small camper in the back of our truck so we can take off any time we want and it will always be ready for us.  I am totally stoked for that.  A topper on the truck, a bed, and some supplies and we can make camp pretty much anywhere!  I do love camping. 

I will keep posting more on our bucket lists as the year goes on.  In the mean time check out the dating divas site, and the Reesor Ranch.  Pretty sweet. 

Winter Blues

I can do anything, knowing camping is around the corner

Why do I get the winter blues?  And who named them that anyway?  I learned two days ago, that it is actually called Blue Monday, the day after Christmas and New Years when reality sets back in again.  The day when people have to pay bills and they realize they have over spent at Christmas, again.  The day when everyone who has had time off has to go back to work, back to school.  It is cold outside, and reality isn't so nice.  I never knew that was called Blue Monday.  I learned something new this week.  LOL. I can see why they call it that though. 

For me, it wasn't a Blue Monday.  It was just hard to get up early again after sleeping in for two weeks.  Otherwise, I enjoyed it.  Ya, money is a little tight after Christmas, but there is always hope at the end of that

Pick me!

tunnel, if you are willing to work for it.  I also am looking forward to 2017.  I have some great goals and plans already in the works.  I was able to finish quite a few of my renos over the holidays so I can worry less about my house being torn apart, and I am really looking forward to Spring, which is about six short weeks away! 

Winter blues, go away!  I really don't have them, other than I can't seem to warm up completely, and just when I feel like perhaps I am there, I have to go back outside again for something.  Man, it has been cold here for a month or so.  I don't know that we have ever had so many extreme cold warnings, and this much snow!  Where do I live?  Alberta.  So I shouldn't be surprised, I know, but I still am.  Chinook next week and I am a happy camper. Camping season is right around the corner! 

Winter blues, go away!  You really don't have to come another day!

Raising Adults

Why is it?  A question that I ask myself so many times a day.  Why?  Why this?  Why that?

Why is it that raising adults is so much more difficult than raising children?

I used to think raising little children was difficult, and it was, when I was going through it.  It was physically demanding, and exhausting.  There was very little time to do much but deal with children. I raised six of my own, and babysat for 17 years in my home.  Yes, I get it!  I get it that it is difficult, it is exhausting, it is down right emotionally draining.  At least as little children, we have some sort of control over their actions and decisions.  We can give them choices and consequences, and at the end of the day we may feel like we did some good.

Raising adult children, now that's a completely different ball game.  It isn't so much physically draining, but it

Choices, choices

is an emotional drain and exhaustion that never seems to end, and they don't get it.  We still "usually" know what is best for them, but we can't make them do it, and we can't enforce consequences.  They have to make their own choices, and reap their own consequences and we have to sit back and help pick up the pieces.  We can offer advice, but carefully, because if we are not very careful, we cause more hurt than necessary.  There are always consequences, and that sucks, but as parents we can no longer choose those consequences.  We can see from an outside looking in, when they are struggling with depression, anxiety, choices, girl or boy friends, or just friends.  We can see when there are financial struggles, school struggles, marital struggles, and all we can do is hug them and offer to be there for them if they need us.

All we can do is offer, and pray.  Pray they will be smart.  Pray they will listen.  Pray they will follow good examples and see those examples.

I wonder how our parents felt about the decisions we made.  I look back and see that we were pretty bull headed too.  We knew what was best for us, and we didn't really want to listen to them either.  I am sure they were frustrated with us at times.  But I also see that no matter what dumb choices we made, and there were many of them, they always stood by us and helped us pick up the pieces when we fell, and they always celebrated with us when we came out the victor.  I appreciate that!  They showed me how to do it right.

Now I watch, and pray, and hold my breath sometimes, because I see the learning curves certain kids / and / or spouses are going to have to go through, and realize that there isn't much I can do but to love them through it - and it is hard.  Far harder ever than raising little children.  Far harder at the end of the day, when all I can do is pray for them, and leave it in God's hands that the right thing will happen to teach them, and hope that it isn't a really difficult trial to learn.  Yes, it is far harder at the end of the day, with adult children, than it ever was with little children.

Yes, I remember well the physical and emotional exhaustion of raising six children and probably five times that many that were in my home at some point or other, and I feel for you.  All I can give you for advice, if you are reading this, is teach them right when they are little, and I promise it will make raising adult children much less painful.  Teach them to make good choices.  Teach them to be able to tell what are the good choices and the not so good ones.  Teach them to understand.  Teach them to be smart.  Teach them what it means to be a good person.  Just teach them when they are little.  It may seem tough, but so very worth it.  I don't see enough teaching going on in homes today.  Parents are shirking their duty of teaching, leaving it to the world, the school, the daycare, or whoever watches their children, and when these children turn adults, it is going to be so much harder to teach life lessons.

I feel like we taught our children well, and yet it is still difficult to sit back and watch their decisions as adults.  How much worse would it be, if we didn't teach them?  I shudder to think about it.

Looking Back to Look Ahead

2016!  A year that came and went so very fast, it seriously seems like kind of a blur............ and yet it brought many things learned, and many memories made.   All in all, what a good year!  And as I came to the close of the year, I put together a few things on my bucket list, that I want to accomplish for sure in 2017. 

I also did a search on my friend google and found some good articles and lists of bucket list ideas - here is one:

Bucket List 2017 - a great article with some sweet ideas!

Here goes mine - looking ahead!

I want to do some camping for sure.  I want to sleep under the stars.  I want to do some hiking and some nature trails, and I want to spend a weekend or two in a cabin.  I know that is a bunch of things all piled into one, but really one category encompasses them all - getting out in nature more.  Spending as much time as possible outside when the weather is warm, and the sun is shining.

I want to take a couple of weekend retreats for myself, to do some power writing.  Create my own writer's

retreats.  I just can't seem to get ahead and get accomplished what I want to with my writing, so I am planning a couple of times at least where I can just escape by myself and really focus. 

I want to go somewhere new.  Explore somewhere I have never been before.  Perhaps it might just be somewhere in Saskatchewan, or up North somewhere.  It doesn't have to be far from home, but I want to do it.  I need to start doing something adventurous once in awhile.

Create a vision board of my year and what I want to accomplish - create a vision board of my life and where I see it going.  I am a visual person, so I like this challenge, something I can look at and always be reminded of my goals.

 I need to get my daytimer planned for the year and remember to follow it carefully.

Plan my blog posts for the year, writing on each blog once a week, at least, make the check list and check it off as I schedule each post.  This is my form of journaling that I love to do, and just maybe - some day - I could do it full time.  It is in the goals and plans.....

Create my family memories packages I want to make for Noodles and Breadcrumbs blog


Wake up 1/2 hour earlier than I "need" to each day, and when that becomes easy enough, then do it 1/2 hour more.  Or stay up 1/2 hour later to work.  Either way, I need to create one more hour in my day to write.

Write and upload at least 6 eBooks

Write an eCourse and upload it and actually sell it to someone!

Finish Paradise Creek - gotta get it done.  It will soon be uploaded toParadise Creek if you want to check it out.

Read 6 new novels

Take a course or two - something to do with herbs or writing.  I love learning something new.  Always!

I did give dh a package for Christmas which includes 24 dates for this year.  I am pretty stoked about some of them.  I will share some of them as we go along, for we will be "traveling the world" for twelve of the dates.  I have always wanted to travel.  It is a dream of mine to actually get to go somewhere, and even though that may never happen, (for real), we can pretend right? 

Looking forward to our Houseman family reunion this year!  It always proves to be so much fun.  I am grateful I have a family who loves to have fun doing things together.  I want to make memories at this reunion.

Well that is enough of my bucket list to get me started on a great year!  If you have no idea what to put on your bucket list to get your year going, just give google a little search of 2017 bucket list ideas and you are sure to find something that will inspire you.

Good luck and best wishes for a great 2017!!!

Making Memories

Making Memories

What a wonderful thought it is, that some of the best days of our lives haven't happened yet.

Throughout life, one of my favorite things to do is make memories. No matter how big or small, whether good or bad, we make memories each day as we push through. I used to think the best thing about memories was making them. It was so definitely true as we were young and having crazy family times. Now, as I am more seasoned, ahem,  I see the wisdom and value in those memories that were made. As we sit around and visit as a family, many memories are often brought up, “remember this or that...”, which always leads to much laughing, and more stories. It is one of our favorite things to do....relive those memories.

Often, a memory rolls out of my eye and down my cheek in the form of a memory!

I will forever be grateful for those memories, but also am excited about the prospect that some of the best days of our lives haven't happened yet! That means to me there are many more memories to be made.

Fast forwarding my life .... 20 years from now.... what do I want those memories to be? This has made me take a hard look at life, where I am now, and not so much as where I want to be in 20 years, but what I want to have accomplished. More importantly what memories I want to have made in my own life and in the lives of my family and loved ones. What memories of me would I like to leave with each of them?

If I have learned anything in life, it is that any event can easily become a treasured memory, by our attitudes and what we make of it.  I have to be honest, lately I just haven't always had the best attitude about certain things, but I always try to put a smile on my face so nobody knows about it.  Trust me it gets easier as you do it more often.  Plus, I work in a kindergarten class room, which is packed full of memory making moments every day!  I do love it!  

 With family, we have this tradition where each year, a month before Christmas, we travel to Calgary to do some shopping.  Honestly we don't do a ton of shopping, but we have a lot of fun.  We really didn't intend it to become a tradition that first trip, many years ago now, but it has become one that we all look forward to.  This year we had three cars full head up there, we met at various locations and had food and good fun.  We even threw in a little bit of a twist last

minute to see who could find the craziest thing for under $10.  You didn't have to buy it, unless you wanted it, you could just take a picture on your phone!  When we met for lunch a couple of hours later, we compared items.  Of course there wasn't really a winner, because we each thought our own prize was the best!  But secretly I think I won, I mean come on who doesn't think this is the craziest thing they have seen............. Spontaneous Combustion Ghost Pepper Popcorn!  Sadly, not everyone else thought it was as great as I did.  I am already thinking of how we can twist up our shopping trip for next year to make it a bit more exciting!  We are making memories out of little things!

Memory making moments are all around us every day.  I am always looking for memory making moments, or opportunities to turn the small little things into a memory moment.  Little things can make as memorable of a moment as the big things, and often more so.  

I don't know where the past 50+ years of my life went,  because it went so incredibly fast, but I do know where I want the next ones to go, and that is in making memories, because truly in the end, all we can take with us, is what is in our brains.  Yes knowledge is valuable, and I love learning things, it is an ongoing pursuit in my life, but the memories of loved ones and the things we did together..... now that is valuable!

So go make some memories!  I am already working on my 2017 bucket list of memories I want to make, and it has some good ones on it!  Even little things like "walking up a creek for an afternoon!"  Simple, but oh so memorable!

Don't wait for the perfect moment, take the moment and make it perfect.

 

 Sometimes you will never know the value of a moment until it becomes a memory.

 

The Business of Life is the acquisition of Memories. In the end that's all there is. 

 

Die with memories, not dreams.

And in the end the most important piece of advice that my past has given me, is to enjoy life while you're living it. You can never know which moments will be the ones that you'll remember and when happiness will hit you. So be open for anything at any time do not fret over the past but learn from it, and make new memories every day. For there is only one life and one chance. a.p.