NEW YEAR'S EVE

God bless all of you...our family and friends. Hope your year of 2009 was a peaceful one for you. Tomorrow brings not only a new day, but a new year...a new beginning. Have you decided what you are going to "aim" for? My blog entry on procrastination was more of a letter for me. My cousin's wife Paule shared with me her success of being organized, on time and definitely not a procrastinator. Here are a few of her thoughts"

"I pay my bills the day they come in. I address my Christmas cards in September.
I buy my Christmas decorations and cards the day after Christmas for the following
year while they are on sale. I Christmas shop all year at any and all sales I can find."

I dearly admire Paule. She is something else. Always on the ball.

We can all learn from one another. What have you learned from a family member or friend that you have taken upon yourself and made life less stressful, fun and that you don't have to label yourself as a PROCRASTINATOR????

More January 1, 2010...the new beginning.

Mimi's Thought for the Day: Tomorrow never comes....be smart, do it today.

MERRY CHRISTMAS

Just had to say Merry Christmas to all our friends. I hope you have had a wonderful day with celebrating the season of love and giving and sharing.

Our family celebrated on Christmas Eve and it was fantastic. What a joy to hear laughter and see shining faces and huge smiles. We have a great time together.

Brent and Carolyn flew home to Moses Lake and Mark brought his sweet and beautiful friend Jeanette. She just fits right into our family. Seems like we have known her forever. What a doll!

Ned and I gave our traditional presentation of gifts, but this year we honored each adult individually. Everyone had to guess who I was describing. Such as: "This person loves to make fudge when they are not dropping turkeys." Immediately everyone guessed Bruce. Cute story behind his "turkey dropping". We then gave to every family a large bag of chocolate chips from Costco and some miniature marshmallows and a big spoon to stir it all. Another "honoring" was: "This person loves our flag" and before I could get any more out...like the words Thousand Island dressing and caffeine free Coke...they guessed our son in law Don who is in Afghanistan. Every family got a small flag, bottle of Thousand Island and a liter of caffeine free diet Coke. So went the evening for each of our children and their spouses. For the grandchildren, I did them all together with the words, "This person used to come over every Friday and have lunch at my house. The lunch was macaroni and cheese and tuna sandwiches cut into fourths". All hands of our grandchildren went up. They remember those traditional Fridays and so do I!!!!

We played many group games and we were laughing so hard that I don't think there was a dry eye in the room. Much fun. Choice memories for our future.

A gift that I received from all of my children was a calendar with each page showing lots of family pictures on it....but that is not the only thing...on the calendar pages was marked birthdays and anniversaries...AND...every Sunday was marked with my children's names and that meant that for that entire week that son or daughter of ours, along with their wife or husband and their children would do something to help Ned and I out...whatever our needs were OR they would have us over for dinner one of the days of "their" week. I cried. What a beautiful precious gift. I have to thank my beautiful daughter in law Tina for making this gift....she knows the computer well and does such an outstanding job.

At this moment I have a turkey in the oven and so we will have turkey dinner for our daughter Julie and her children (they always have us over every Christmas) and our son Brad who is visiting with us a few days.

Things are good....good day...good times ....good friends....good to celebrate the man and His exemplar life. I love our Savior with all my heart and soul.

Mimi's Thought for the Day: If you are hurting right at this moment, find something to replace that hurt for a time with what you do have. Think of having a warm bed, a roof over your head, one pair of shoes to wear, water in your faucet, crackers in your cupboard. Now put a smile on your face. The majority of the people of this world do not have any of the things you do. Next picture our Savior Jesus Christ sitting beside you, holding you tightly, and telling you to lean on Him...to cast your burdens His way. He loves you and so do I!!!!

MOTORMOUTH IS AT IT AGAIN!

I know I talk too much...evident by my long postings. Soon as I get pictures up...you will see less words. (I hope!!!) lol

Mimi's Thought for the Day: The most beautiful thing in the world is a tongue. The ugliest thing in the world is a tongue. I hope my "motormouth" tongue is never an ugly tongue. Guard your words as a representation of who you are.

ARE YOU READY? GET ON YOUR MARK.........

Procrastinators abound. Every morning when I get up, I see one looking at me in the mirror. Do you know one or more in your life?

Ask yourself the following questions:
1. Do I have my gift shopping done?
2. Do I have the presents wrapped?
3. Have I done my Christmas cards?
4. Is my Christmas tree up?
5. Have I mailed the Christmas cards?
6. Have I bought the food for Christmas dinner?
7. Do I have the house "company ready"?
8. Have I mailed the packages that go out of town?

If you answered no to most or all of the above questions, then CONGRATULATIONS!!!! You qualify to become a member of my organization called "The Worthy Procrastinators". A wonderful group of women. Notice I said WOMEN. I have yet seen or heard of a man qualified to be a member. Never heard of a man doing all the shopping, wrapping, decorating, doing Christmas cards, buying food and doing all the baking and cooking, getting the house ready for guests. They are stress free and enjoying the season of giving and sharing. Who has more grey in their hair? Who has more wrinkles? Who has tears?

Have you ever been in a store on Christmas Eve? You will find many procrastinators walking around with a panic look on their faces. Shelves are empty, no choices to be had, long lines, you can see and hear the impatience of some people. Oh what we do to ourselves.

I remember well the time I found out I was a procrastinator and that was when I was about 14 or 15 years old. I lived in Medford, Oregon and on Christmas Eve I headed to Mann's Department store to buy my mother a gift. The store closed at 6:00. I was so panicky. I looked at blouses, sweaters, skirts...my amount of money was minimal. I looked at slips...full slips and half slips. I went back to the pajamas, slippers. Then I heard it, "the store will be closing in five minutes." I felt so alone. I had to get my mother something. I grabbed a half slip, ran to the checkout stand and paid for the item, left the store wondering if it was "enough" of a gift that my mother would be happy. I then started to doubt my choice, but it was too late.

Half slips don't make a very big package, but I folded it neatly, wrapped it in pretty Christmas paper, used special ribbon and then a tag that said, "To Mom. Love, Dee"....Dee being my nickname. On Christmas day my mother opened her gift. She smiled, she oohed and touched it to her cheek feeling the softness of the slip. You would have thought I have given her an expensive gift. I was so relieved. I was happy that she was happy.
I put myself through so much stress though. Did it help me in my future? No! In high school I was in charge of getting the live band for the upcoming Junior/Senior prom. I waited too long and we had to get the same band we had the year before. Again I procrastinated.
What else do we put off "doing" in our lives? How about family history? Oh, I will do it when I have more time. How about food storage? I don't think we will ever need it. How about homework? Aha, you children feel the stress of that one. How about service to others, getting a better education, going on a diet....I could go on and on. Some of us have a nature to put off and we are going to be the ones "caught" time and time again.
Come join my club. I have had lots of members come and go...they finally get the message and go back into the world determined to do better in all walks of life...religion, family, work, education, health and yes get do their Christmas shopping throughout the year instead of the last week of Christmas or even the day before.
This is suppose to be a season of joy, of love and not a season of stress and tears. I would love to disband my procrastinators club.

Mimi's Thought for the Day: You have heard the saying that goes something like this: " Never put off till tomorrow what you can do today." It reminds me of my kitchen. I love to get up to a clean kitchen and not a sink full or counter full of dinner dishes and pan. Often when I am tired or don't feel good I hear the words in my head: "Don't leave today's work for tomorrow". My husband will often say, "The maid will get them in the morning." Guess who the maid is? When I arise in the morning I do not want to walk out, see yesterdays work sitting there...that is procrastination. Teach your children or yourself the value of doing today and not putting off until tomorrow. You will be so proud that you strengthened yourself with resolve to do it now and not put it off.
Mimi's Happy Thought: A very Merry Christmas and a wonderful 2010 to all my family and friends. God bless you today and always and hold you close to Him.

MY "LITTLE BOYS"

I am one of the most blessed grandmothers on the face of the earth. What incredible grandchildren I have. I may be bias...but I say "not"....they are the most beautiful children...physically and spiritually. They love life and they love me. They are the ones who remind me that heaven is close by; that God loves me and gave me these joyous grandchildren; that when the storms gather in my life, these children brings me the rainbows and sunshine that brightens me.

I love them all. Words cannot describe what is in my heart. I thank my children for bringing these grandchildren into my life. I am always overwhelmed by their choice spirits. First grandchild was Brent who is married to Carolyn Jackson, going to BYU Provo and was the first boy born into our family. After that came eleven girls. Brent was my little man. I also felt bad that he did not have any boy cousins to play with, but he was happy to be the center of attention with all the men in the family and he got to go with the men on the tractors, combines and such. After the eleven girls, came six boys in a row and these six comprise my "little boys".

They are Joshua 13, Matthew 12, Landon 11, Derek 11, Ryan 9 and Kyle 9. Just putting down their names brings tears to my eyes and a swelling of love in my heart. They all love sports and yesterday that was very much evident. I have not been able to go to any of their basketball games because of some health issues, but I finally made it to Ryan and Kyle's games. Next week will be the other's games and I hope to attend. These little men....a couple of them already taller than I....treat me like a queen.

Today I will focus on the littlest of the "little boys"...I would like to tell you about the youngest two..Kyle and Ryan.

I like everything about them. Example: both are exceptional students in school, but also glowing reports of their maturity and behavior at school is outstanding. On a personal level I like what gentlemen they are. They open doors for me; say thank you, please; I love their giggles, their innocence, their hugs, their compliments. They want to help me up and down steps, carry my purse, just anything to make my life easier.

I wish you could see their sweet smiles that just light up my heart. No description can do it justice. I could go on and on. I never have to discipline them. They are models of greatness already. I have often said that everyone needs to have a Ryan or a Kyle in their family because of the purity of their souls and the light of Christ that is always on their faces.

What did I do to deserve such angels in my life? Thank you Father for these precious, wonderful, caring grandsons.

Mimi's Thought for the Day: God's proof of His love for us is that he has entrusted us with His wonderful children to love and teach while they are here upon the earth. Our proof of our love for God is to show in action, word and deed to do everything we can to help them walk uprightly and to be able to return to their Father in Heaven. We who are parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, teachers, friends, neighbors, etc....we all are responsible for His "little" ones.