It was great to see family and meet friends of those family members whom I had never met before. I love meeting new people, it is awesome to learn what other people do when they aren't hanging out at a campground with crazy people. :)
My husband is not a big joiner kind of person, so I have been pleasantly surprised he has agreed, not only once, but twice to go hang out with my nutty family in the middle of nowhere camping. Which by the way when I say camping it is more like summer camp, we have bunk beds to sleep on and we are in a building with a kitchen and bathrooms. No tents. But it is the closest to real camping I will ever get these days because I am not a camping type person.
Spent some quality time with my dad, which I haven't done in years. I realized he and I see things very much the same and it really surprised me. I have lived away from my family for many, many years. In some cases, I am glad I am some distance from them but at other, I miss being close enough to visit more regularly.
However, the weekend is not all good. Had a family member suffer a heart attack as I was ending my work day to start my weekend. Unfortunately, he does not live in the same state as I do or I wouldn't have left and gone on the trip. But the good news is he is recovering and at home. I am so grateful he is alive, now he just has to do what the doctor orders and go through a heart bypass surgery this summer. Please keep my family in your prayers.
Tuesday, May 30, 2017
Thursday, May 25, 2017
Eye Update
I had to hold off on writing this post. I had my hopes up a little too high this time and was crushed when the results were not what I had hoped for.
So here it is, the swelling is back and I will have to continue the injections. Time frame is unknown at this time. However the silver lining, if you want to call it that, is I can still have the cataract surgery this summer and will never have to worry about cataracts ever again. The reason I say this is because the injections I have been receiving are the reason I have the cataracts. They were a side affect to the steroids.
I have to say the doctor was just as disappointed as I was to see the swelling was back. He was kind enough to wipe my tears and not say anything or try to make me feel better. He was just as hopeful since the past two pictures sessions showed no swelling he was of the opinion this time would be the same and the previous laser procedures he had done were continuing to mend the areas of leakage.
To both our dismay the leakage has started again. The leakage of blood is what is causing the "swelling" in the eye. Just to explain that part a little better. If you were to look at my eye you would never know or see the bleeding in the eye.
From here the hope is just to get some vision back in my left eye, there will never be perfect vision in that eye ever again. The right eye is still 20/20 and is not showing any signs of distress or issues. I will continue to keep my chin up and be grateful I will not lose my sight completely in my left eye and accept the limitations I will have from here on out.
I thank you all for your positive thoughts. May you all stay safe!
So here it is, the swelling is back and I will have to continue the injections. Time frame is unknown at this time. However the silver lining, if you want to call it that, is I can still have the cataract surgery this summer and will never have to worry about cataracts ever again. The reason I say this is because the injections I have been receiving are the reason I have the cataracts. They were a side affect to the steroids.
I have to say the doctor was just as disappointed as I was to see the swelling was back. He was kind enough to wipe my tears and not say anything or try to make me feel better. He was just as hopeful since the past two pictures sessions showed no swelling he was of the opinion this time would be the same and the previous laser procedures he had done were continuing to mend the areas of leakage.
To both our dismay the leakage has started again. The leakage of blood is what is causing the "swelling" in the eye. Just to explain that part a little better. If you were to look at my eye you would never know or see the bleeding in the eye.
From here the hope is just to get some vision back in my left eye, there will never be perfect vision in that eye ever again. The right eye is still 20/20 and is not showing any signs of distress or issues. I will continue to keep my chin up and be grateful I will not lose my sight completely in my left eye and accept the limitations I will have from here on out.
I thank you all for your positive thoughts. May you all stay safe!
Saturday, May 20, 2017
YouTube take 1
Quiet on the set and 3, 2, 1 Action...
Today was a blast. I was so nervous, but everything turned out great. I went into the adventure of making a YouTube video about my books as a marketing tool and was not sure exactly how I was going to do it. I actually spent several hours writing a script for myself. I thought about me introducing the series and then making additional segments about each book. The one thing which kept creeping into my mind was, I can be animated when talking about my stories and characters, but can I do it on camera without feeling foolish. I am the person who will hang up rather than leave a voicemail because I don't like to talk to machines.
However, I can say it was suggested to me to intro the series and then do a book club discussion about each book in later segments. I liked the idea of the book club discussions so I ran with the idea and turned the intro into an author/reader discussion. I had two of my readers/editors join me in this adventure. I have to give it to them they were awesome sports about it since I kind of hit them with the idea right before we did the video.
We had a great time making the video together and before we knew it the camera man was telling us the camera was about to die because we had been talking for almost 20 minutes. Lucky for us the camera man will be doing some editing so there will be several segments between 3 to 5 minutes long each.
With this take 1 over I am so excited and ready to do the next take for the segments about the first book. I will announce when the first segment is uploaded and ready for viewing. Stay tuned sports fans!!!
Today was a blast. I was so nervous, but everything turned out great. I went into the adventure of making a YouTube video about my books as a marketing tool and was not sure exactly how I was going to do it. I actually spent several hours writing a script for myself. I thought about me introducing the series and then making additional segments about each book. The one thing which kept creeping into my mind was, I can be animated when talking about my stories and characters, but can I do it on camera without feeling foolish. I am the person who will hang up rather than leave a voicemail because I don't like to talk to machines.
However, I can say it was suggested to me to intro the series and then do a book club discussion about each book in later segments. I liked the idea of the book club discussions so I ran with the idea and turned the intro into an author/reader discussion. I had two of my readers/editors join me in this adventure. I have to give it to them they were awesome sports about it since I kind of hit them with the idea right before we did the video.
We had a great time making the video together and before we knew it the camera man was telling us the camera was about to die because we had been talking for almost 20 minutes. Lucky for us the camera man will be doing some editing so there will be several segments between 3 to 5 minutes long each.
With this take 1 over I am so excited and ready to do the next take for the segments about the first book. I will announce when the first segment is uploaded and ready for viewing. Stay tuned sports fans!!!
Saturday, May 13, 2017
Thankful
It is Mother's Day weekend. I am glad to say I am a very proud mother. Being a mother is not an easy job. It is also not always a thankful job. But those of us who do it to the best of our abilities reap the rewards which do come with the job of being a mom.
The late nights sitting by the bed when they are sick. Listening to the heart breaks. Wiping the tears away and kissing the pain away from the scrapes, bumps, and bruises. Jumping to the defense and becoming the lioness when feeling your child is being attacked. Protecting our children is our job as a mother and for this, we do not expect thanks.
When our children are grown and out in the world, we get to look on with pride as they make their marks in the world. We raise them and teach them in the hopes they will be better than we are, but we pray they will always be productive members of society.
Our jobs as mothers never end. Just because our children are grown and gone, we still worry and are always here for them should they need us. A mother's job is never finished. It is the one job which only ends when we are no longer alive.
So to all the mothers out there, love and cherish every moment you have with your children. Just a side note, your children aren't limited to just the ones you give birth to, they can be any child you care about or needs love.
The late nights sitting by the bed when they are sick. Listening to the heart breaks. Wiping the tears away and kissing the pain away from the scrapes, bumps, and bruises. Jumping to the defense and becoming the lioness when feeling your child is being attacked. Protecting our children is our job as a mother and for this, we do not expect thanks.
When our children are grown and out in the world, we get to look on with pride as they make their marks in the world. We raise them and teach them in the hopes they will be better than we are, but we pray they will always be productive members of society.
Our jobs as mothers never end. Just because our children are grown and gone, we still worry and are always here for them should they need us. A mother's job is never finished. It is the one job which only ends when we are no longer alive.
So to all the mothers out there, love and cherish every moment you have with your children. Just a side note, your children aren't limited to just the ones you give birth to, they can be any child you care about or needs love.
Wednesday, May 10, 2017
Respect and the lack of it...
We all have opinions and believe the way we each do, but when did it become common place to encourage disrespect?
I think people have blurred the line between the right to have your own opinion and speak it with respect to others. It appears to me the youth of today have forgotten how to respect others. I do believe respect is earned for the most part, but there are positions which respect is given because of the position not because of the person.
When you disrespect someone, you disrespect yourself as well. You are lowering yourself and showing those around you, you are no better than a child not getting their way. Just because you don't agree with someone or think highly of someone does not give you the right to be publicly disrespectful and think it shows you standing up for what you believe in. It shows how little you truly know about how to behave and send your message.
Disrespect is not how you send a message, it how you earn your own disrespect. Is it right to disrespect someone because you don't agree with their beliefs? Would you want someone to disrespect you because they don't agree with you?
People need to stop disrespecting each other. Not everyone is going to agree with everyone, but if we stop respecting the right to disagree or think differently we are headed for a lot worse future than we can imagine.
RESPECT - People, you can't let this disappear!!
I think people have blurred the line between the right to have your own opinion and speak it with respect to others. It appears to me the youth of today have forgotten how to respect others. I do believe respect is earned for the most part, but there are positions which respect is given because of the position not because of the person.
When you disrespect someone, you disrespect yourself as well. You are lowering yourself and showing those around you, you are no better than a child not getting their way. Just because you don't agree with someone or think highly of someone does not give you the right to be publicly disrespectful and think it shows you standing up for what you believe in. It shows how little you truly know about how to behave and send your message.
Disrespect is not how you send a message, it how you earn your own disrespect. Is it right to disrespect someone because you don't agree with their beliefs? Would you want someone to disrespect you because they don't agree with you?
People need to stop disrespecting each other. Not everyone is going to agree with everyone, but if we stop respecting the right to disagree or think differently we are headed for a lot worse future than we can imagine.
RESPECT - People, you can't let this disappear!!
Monday, May 8, 2017
Youth?
What is it about our youth these days? I would not say our youth are any crueler than the youths of a few generations back. But I do believe the youth of today are more thinned skinned.
I had a fair share of being bullied when I was in school, but with being bullied by family members made me tougher and able to handle the bullies outside the family. I didn't care what others thought of me, but I was raised to think for myself and believe what I thought about myself was more important and meant more than what anyone else thought of or about me.
Our youth today are so caught up in believing what others think is more important than their own thoughts. We as an older generation need to teach the youth to respect themselves and not give others the power to alter their own self-image. Do words hurt, yes and I am not saying the hurt will stop just because you stop worrying about what others think. The hurt is because you have feelings. However, there is a big difference between hurting and letting the words control how you think about yourself and others.
I still fall back on the words my grandmother use to say to me, "If you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all." and "Treat others the way you would want to be treated."
I get it, for some it is hard to get past the hurt feelings, but our society has created a youth of thin skinned youth. The real world as an adult, there is no ability to be thin skinned, you do what you have to do and you live your life. We need to teach our youth how to deal with the feelings and survive the realities of life. Teach them how to protect their feelings, stand strong and grow.
Just like a tree, until it is grown it has to bend with the wind or it will break until it is strong enough to stand against the wind. This is what our youth should be learning. Not allow them to use their hurt feelings to dictate their actions.
As parents, we strive to protect our children, but in our rush to protect have we stopped teaching them how to protect themselves? I think we have and we need to get back to the teaching as well as continuing to protect.
I had a fair share of being bullied when I was in school, but with being bullied by family members made me tougher and able to handle the bullies outside the family. I didn't care what others thought of me, but I was raised to think for myself and believe what I thought about myself was more important and meant more than what anyone else thought of or about me.
Our youth today are so caught up in believing what others think is more important than their own thoughts. We as an older generation need to teach the youth to respect themselves and not give others the power to alter their own self-image. Do words hurt, yes and I am not saying the hurt will stop just because you stop worrying about what others think. The hurt is because you have feelings. However, there is a big difference between hurting and letting the words control how you think about yourself and others.
I still fall back on the words my grandmother use to say to me, "If you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all." and "Treat others the way you would want to be treated."
I get it, for some it is hard to get past the hurt feelings, but our society has created a youth of thin skinned youth. The real world as an adult, there is no ability to be thin skinned, you do what you have to do and you live your life. We need to teach our youth how to deal with the feelings and survive the realities of life. Teach them how to protect their feelings, stand strong and grow.
Just like a tree, until it is grown it has to bend with the wind or it will break until it is strong enough to stand against the wind. This is what our youth should be learning. Not allow them to use their hurt feelings to dictate their actions.
As parents, we strive to protect our children, but in our rush to protect have we stopped teaching them how to protect themselves? I think we have and we need to get back to the teaching as well as continuing to protect.
Monday, May 1, 2017
Teacher appreciation week
Hello all, this is teacher appreciation week so reach out to the teachers you know and let them know you appreciate all their hard work and dedication to the children.
I would like to shot out to all my teacher friends and tell you, you all are AWESOME and I have been very blessed to work with you all. I have learned a lot and grateful for everything you have done.
To my baby sister, I want to say, you are not only an awesome sister but a great teacher/educator. I am so proud of you!!!
Take just a moment and email, call, or stop by their rooms and tell your teachers past or present you appreciate them. I know I stop in and see some of my previous teachers when I am home to say hello.
I would like to shot out to all my teacher friends and tell you, you all are AWESOME and I have been very blessed to work with you all. I have learned a lot and grateful for everything you have done.
To my baby sister, I want to say, you are not only an awesome sister but a great teacher/educator. I am so proud of you!!!
Take just a moment and email, call, or stop by their rooms and tell your teachers past or present you appreciate them. I know I stop in and see some of my previous teachers when I am home to say hello.
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