Dewey stretched as  he woke up. At first he thought it was Tuesday and was glad, for that meant his curious mind would be put to rest about something. At least he hoped it was by Tuesday, possibly could be Wednesday, but no later! Yes, he had heard that saying, “Curiosity killed the Cat”, and he wasn’t real fond of it! What do they know, he thought. If it wasn’t going to be Tuesday  then a lazy Saturday was second best. Not that any day was a real hard day for Dewey. His tough decisions consisted of either laying  on the couch,  or stretching out  in his sunny spot on the patio. Whether he roamed out to the unknown for adventure, or stayed  home blessing  his servants with his  company. They did need reminded at times that he was the one in charge. With decisions like these he really couldn’t go wrong.

As those thoughts coursed through his mind, he glanced beside him at his treasure.  Dewey  loved what he had found, when he was out  on his adventure, about a week ago. He really wasn’t sure what it was at first.  He only knew it was so  SOFT and that is why he enjoyed laying next to it. He made sure to treat it with the UTMOST CARE , for he didn’t want anything to happen to it! Its face was so cute, and he could see in its eyes that all it needed was Tender, Loving,  Care. The eyes were a fiery  red;  a rare color for a rare animal. Yes, Dewey had  found out that he was the proud owner of a very rare treasure. He had  heard his man servant call it a Jackalope! His man servant had said that while waving his arms wildly around. Dewey wasn’t quite sure what made his servant’s hands move when his mouth opened. Something apparently unique to humans, and he might never understand it. He did see other humans move their hands while talking but their movements appeared to make more sense;  unlike his man servant, who only  waved his hands about in a nonsensical way. Oh well, whatever makes him happy.

Dewey had never heard of that before, but considering that he was an above average cat he soon recognized the special abilities this Jackalope had. When the servants weren’t watching,  Dewey and his new friend would race in the yard and Dewey always ended up losing. Probably from eating wayyyy too much lasagna! The Jackalope was skilled at climbing trees with Dewey as well. It was like there was nothing his new friend couldn’t accomplish!  This was why Dewey made it his goal to take care of him, for he found out that they can live to be 100 years old! He didn’t really know how old that was, but it sure sounded like a LONG time! He thought his servants, especially the man one, was pretty close to that age.

When the stars would come out at night and all was quiet at the house Dewey learned that his friend had another talent. The Jackalope could hum! See how amazing they are!  He didn’t do it when the servants were around, only for Dewey. He would hum, as Dewey would purr. When a  full moon was  shining bright, the humming could get a lot more intense.

Well enough thinking, it was time to wake up his new friend. They needed to get going. Would it be a day of adventure of new discoveries, or just the adventure from moving from Dewey’s bed to the couch?  If they did move to the couch, Dewey would remember one thing. He would be sure to take his Jackalope friend with him, when he went to eat some treats. The one time his Jackalope was stuffed full of all the popcorn he had eaten, (that is special jackalope food) that Dewey had let him stay on the couch. He came back just in time to see his man servant give the Jackalope a little toss out of his way! Well Dewey sprang into action and swatted the man with his paws as he hissed. That was the last time that happened. The man had learned to treat the Jackalope with the respect he deserved; but Dewey wasn’t taking any more chances.

With that thought the 2 friends raced out the back door to go lay in the sun and dream! They wondered  what the day would bring!

Last night I was going back through some of my Friday’s 6 word stories from a year ago. I found one that said, “What footprints are you leaving behind?” So what do your footprints look like? What will people say when you are gone about the path you left behind? Was it a path of cheer, encouragement and love towards others? A path of a giving heart, of valuing people more than things?

I read a quote that said something similar to , “No one ever stood up at a funeral and said, She had such a lovely couch!” It’s so true! When my brother died, he didn’t leave a lot of possessions behind, he wasn’t who he was because of what he owned. Lines and lines of people didn’t come to the funeral  because of all the great things he had. They came because of who he was! They came because of his footprints of kindness, love to so many. It didn’t matter if you were young, middle-aged or old, he related to all. We got letters from the young and the old at how he touched their lives with his compassion, humor and zest for life. I am sure I repeated this before in a post, but felt like it bared repeating again in this crazy rat race that we have today!

Life is not about climbing the ladder to success as far as your salary goes. It is about climbing the ladder to success of how you develop your spirit within you. Are you leaving footprints of a bitter, contentious spirit or of a loving, giving one? A strong, fighting spirit, no matter what comes your way, or do you give in to the curve balls that are thrown your way in this journey of life? Not saying you never fall down with the weight of circumstances, hard things do happen, but its how we handle those times that will leave a impression on those left behind.  Falling down is fine, as another quote says that I always have loved. “Our friends give us wings to fly when ours are too broken.” Thank goodness for friends and family who do that! That is another important part of the footprints you leave behind. How many wings have you given to others to help them fly?

No one is perfect, not even my brother; tho he did have a perfect little sister 🙂 Ha Ha! I am kidding!! No, we can’t be perfect, but it doesn’t mean we don’t strive to be the best we can. Strive to leave a smile on others hearts when they think of you;  for that my friends is what people are going to remember. How did you make their heart feel?

Thank you to the ones who have left a legacy behind that have inspired me, to the ones who inspire me as they tread through life today. The ones who have  definitely made  my heart smile! The size of your bank account means diddly squat if you have never left a smile on someone’s heart by touching someone else’s heart with the love from yours.

Another scorcher of a day here, only 10am and close to 90 degrees. It is pretty to look out at the bright sunshine tho. I was sitting here laughing about a incident that happened last night that my dear daughter of course had to share on Facebook. Just another typical incident in the life of me. I told her how she really needs to be appreciative that I keep life so exciting! Anyway that made me remember about another incident a few months back that I don’t think was ever shared on here and I needed a idea for today’s post so here you go. Enjoy the smile and the little lesson that comes with it.

I had stopped at Sheetz, which is a gas station/convenience store, that serves good food as well as slushies. We have one close enough to walk to and my daughters have made good use of it over time. Unfortunately this day I was not at the one that was within walking distance of us. I was only  planning on making a quick stop for a quick bite to eat and be on my way. The food was made quickly and I got in my van and started it up, sputter, sputter, cough, cough and it dies! This had not been the first time it had happened, we had been  having intermittent problems with it refusing to start. Was hard for the mechanic to find, for of course it was working well when we would take it there. Sometimes we could sit and wait and it would start again, but this time NOPE! My one friend said how I should have talked nicer to it and maybe it would have started, Ha Ha!

I popped the hood and grabbed the jumper cables and thought OK, do I need to go up to someone and ask or should they be able to tell that by me holding jumper cables in my hand with the hood open, may suggest I need help?? I was going with the latter, but no one was coming. Now there was a older teen sitting at a outside table munching away on his sandwich with his ear buds on watching me. I guess he was wondering if I really knew what I was doing, but he made no statements, just kept watching. I am not sure what exciting thing he expected to see happen. But he was a curious onlooker like the car right next to me. Yes, you heard right the car right next to me! Perfect position for me to hook my cables up to. He was busy eating as well with his windows rolled up and just watching. I was beginning to think there was a hidden camera around somewhere. Cars kept zooming out of the parking lot as I stood there and I decided that obviously people weren’t getting the message, so I would go inside and ask for help. I kept the jumper cables in my hand as I walked in. They were fairly new cables still in the plastic. Remember that fact.

I walk in the store and it was busy. Long line of people waiting at the register. I asked someone for help and…..a employee comes up to me and informs me that I cannot sell jumper cables there!! That they don’t sell jumper cables there and I can’t come in trying to sell some!! I was struck speechless as this whole line of people in front of the register are looking at me. I turned around shaking my head and just had to laugh, for as my friends say, “Only you….this kind of stuff only happens to you!” It is so true!

I exit the store thinking over my options. Earbud guy was still sitting at the table, I figured why not ask. I went up to him and he politely took out his ear buds and I asked for help with the cables. His response…”I walked here, don’t have a car.”  I thanked him and noticed that the sandwich eating guy in the car that had been next to me was gone, so he wasn’t an option. Then I spied it. A man sitting in his car smoking a cigarette with tattoos up and down his arm that he had resting on the window. Being that at this point my options were really limited, for I was NOT walking back into the store again, I walked up to the guy.

Not only did he get my van running again, he was so very polite and nice. Yes, Mr. Tattoo guy had come to my rescue. Remember your “hero” doesn’t always appear in shining armor riding a white horse!

Good Morning!! Yesterday my husband and I spent the day with close friends that we hadn’t seen in a while and had a great time! Friends are priceless for sure!

As we pulled into our garage last night when we got home a song on the radio came on and yes, we had to stay in the car and listen to it. You know you do that sometimes, right? You have the song on a CD, but you want to hear it at that moment and so you just stay in the car til its done. Well this was a Beach Boys song, we both have always enjoyed the Beach Boys. My husband owns every CD that came out of them. Yes, some of their songs were included on the Love Song tapes he made for me when we were dating. Our girls danced to the songs when they were little. So with my mind on the Beach Boys I thought I would start your Monday off right by sharing some of my favorites.

You can’t help but smile when you hear their happy music. May this keep you smiling all day! And I know we all have our different musical tastes, so this may not be your thing. You don’t know what your missing, but its OK , I guess you can smile once the songs are over and smile the rest of the day knowing you don’t have to listen to them. Have a great day and feel free to share below whether you are a fan or not. Who are your top 3 favorite artists?

Yes, when we were dating my first kiss was under the bright, shining stars as the song says 🙂

Can’t forget this song! Definitely a favorite and sometime we will get to Kokomo! Until then I can dream of it at least!

HI friends! Sorry this post is a lot later today, but hey its Saturday right?  Yes, Cherries on Top was meant as a Photo Challenge for this week and I don’t think they meant Pinterest photos, BUT…the theme inspired me. So hope you don’t mind that I bent the rules a little.

This made me think of a memory from many years ago, I was 19 years old. As you can tell from reading my blog posts I love to laugh and I  may have a history of playing a joke or 2 on people, or maybe more 🙂 I only had 1 problem, there were times when I would find someone that matched my wit especially well and trying to get 1 up on them was very hard! This was the one situation back when I was 19, I had been the victim more times than not with this one person and I decided that it was time to do something!

I found my opportunity. We were having a talent show, large group of people. Not a professional talent show, just something for fun. I had schemed and I had my yummy “supplies”. It was my turn and I walked up on stage with a chair and a bag holding my goodies. I announced that my dear friend would be helping to assist me. Of course he didn’t know that ahead of time, but he was a good sport and came up on stage and sat down in the chair. I proceeded to read a poem and made it come to life much to my friend’s surprise! I can’t quote the poem now, but it had to do with sundaes and it included all the toppings, as my friend’s head was the dish. I think you get the picture.The audience loved it!! And before you think I was too mean, believe me he deserved it! I knew he could handle it. He could take things as well as he dished them out!

My plan had worked and I topped it off with a Cherry!! All great things deserve a Cherry on Top. So even if you feel like instead of getting the Cherries you keep getting the pits, don’t give up!! Your day will come, when you can smile proudly!! You never know! You  know what they say about chocolates right?

   That chocolate with the WINNING CHERRY is waiting for you!! Go pick it! 🙂

Everyone got the memo, but me!

We all have days we feel like this, right? There was more than 1 thing that inspired today’s story, but I will share one thing. It was yesterday, at the daycare where I work. My co-workers and I were pretty sure that our 1 and 2 year olds got on their toy phones the night before and called their friends. They were  letting them all know to cry and scream as much as possible the next day! Yeah, us adults were totally left out of that phone call!

This picture reminded me of our Yorkie who been taking guard by our tree for the past couple days now. At one time there was a squirrel up in the very top of the tree and Lilly, our Yorkie was going nuts. Of course the squirrel refused to come down, and Lilly refused to leave, tho eventually she had to give in. When she did the squirrel came flying down. From the top of the tree straight to the ground, THUD! Was up and running in a flash. I think its heart must have been pumping wildly fast.

In spite of the squirrel leaving, Lilly has been convinced that it will come back and is persistent in remaining guard at the tree from Morning to Night. She will come in for breaks of water and food and then be begging to go out again. Open the door, she runs to the shade of the tree and sits and waits. So is it persistence, or vain hope?  I find it unlikely that a squirrel is going to come running right up to her to say “HI”, but the look on her face as she continually gazes up the tree does almost make you feel sorry for her. Persistence can be a very good thing, but thinking she will have to retreat eventually in this situation. Apparently that is not a option this morning tho, as she waited at the door once more for me and is now sitting once again at the foot of the tree looking up.

Keep looking up girl, you never know!  Maybe a blind flying squirrel will land next to you! Hey, you never know! Persistence can pay off at times 🙂

When I think of this word different images come to mind. I think of the wings of a butterfly, how delicate they are, and how you could easily hurt the wings if you held the butterfly the wrong way. BUT the butterfly isn’t delicate inside, this butterfly  found its way out of its cocoon! It struggled and struggled til it broke free, bursting forth in colorful array!

I think of the dear elderly woman, whose hands are worn and she walks bent over. Appearing frail on the outside, but this is a woman who raised 9 children through the Depression, working hard on a farm. Her inner strength was strong back then and still is!

Sometimes we look at physical features and think ,”Oh that person is frail and weak!”, but we can be very wrong. When I was a teen, my short stature gave the impression to my mischievous guy friends that I was weak and a easy target.That I could be thrown into  the pool, pond, ocean,etc. Basically any body of water attracted my body like a magnet. What they didn’t account for is my fighting spirit! The majority of the time they did accomplish the task, BUT…not every time. Wasn’t quite as simple as they had thought.

A few years back it was reported in Indiana about a elderly woman who had a robber break into her home. He wasn’t armed, he figured she was elderly;  weak and frail and that  it would be a easy task. I am sure he was red faced, when the cops came to pick him up as he was being beaten by this “frail” woman’s back scratcher!

We can’t look at the physical features of someone and determine the power of their spirit. And as strong as we want our hearts to be, we need to have a degree of fraility with them as well. Frailness isn’t always a bad thing.

As I shared in some past posts, this past year has been a hard one on our family. Our hearts have been broken, but it doesn’t mean that they are no longer strong. That fighting spirit is there and in ways my heart is stronger than ever before! But, there is still a frailty there as well.

When you face hard times and severe blows, there is a temptation to close up your heart with bars of steel. To lock it like Fort Knox so no one can get in and break it again! But my friends, this is the time when you need to let your heart still have some frailty  to it.Maybe tenderness is a better word. Keeping your heart tender and knowing that by allowing yourself to love and trust again, you are risking the chance of  being hurt again;  but that it is worth the risk. For closing the door and throwing away the key, saying,”I’ll never be hurt again”, is only hurting yourself in the long run. Keeping yourself from blessings that are waiting out there for you to discover!

The human spirit is a powerful thing! It can be strong amidst the hardest of times,  while still being  tender and fragile like a butterfly’s wings. Breaking out of a cocoon ready to soar to new heights and to where ever life takes them! Knowing that yes, there would most likely still be those times in life where they fall, and heart ache comes BUT as one of my favorite quotes say…Don’t miss that chance!

Yes, I agree with Albert Einstein on this one. This is me! And due to that, the quote below is true as well.

But hey it is what it is , right? 🙂 So how many others are like me? Does it drive you crazy being kept in suspense? Like a friend sending a email that leaves you hanging or a text that doesn’t answer your question, just gives you more questions?  Or are you like my husband who can casually say, well I will find out when I am supposed to, and he just goes on?  Do you think being curious is more common in females? Has your curiosity gotten you into trouble?

I didn’t get into trouble at my curiosity attempt while on vacation, but I did get a red face! I will give you the basic details. Before we left for vacation I had found out some news that intrigued me, but hadn’t got the whole story. For the person couldn’t give me the whole story. Their reply was , “I will let you know at a later time.” Well to me a few days into vacation was a later time, so I emailed them. But I thought I had done it in a innocent way, you know not coming right out and admitting to my curiosity. Now keep in mind that this person I emailed was of higher standing than me due to their occupation. He was very nice but his emails were usually short and direct just due to the nature of what we emailed about. Well I was pleased to see a reply from him the next morning when I awoke, wondering if my curiosity would be solved. If my innocent way of going about indirectly asking was answered. You can imagine my surprise and red face as I read the one line that answered my question! “I liked your polite way of prying for information,but…:)” I texted my sister right away and she texted back, “Hahaha, you got busted!”  Me, Prying?? No! It was 2 weeks after that email when I talked to him on the phone and I could still hear the silent laughter in his voice.

So yes, more times than not I have gotten busted, and the plans that I am just so curious to try often backfire, BUT….it hasn’t stopped me.

I will say that being curious at making meals sometimes has been rewarding. You wonder what would happen if I added some of this and a little of that and Voila, your husband really likes it! Only one problem!  You didn’t write down how much of this and what that was, as you were experimenting!

Curiosity can be a good thing. My youngest definitely has it as she loves to figure out how things work and why that is the way it is, etc. Her questions at a young age would boggle our minds! So don’t lose your curiosity! But be aware,  as I am sure you are, it can get you in trouble! And the next time someone leaves you hanging in suspense, tell them its fine and go do something to get your mind off of it. Like writing a blog post for example 🙂