my maos

Resolutions and challenges…. fooey!

~ gracelessnessover40 ~ 1 Comment

It’s 4 days after Christmas and we only have 2 days left of this year.

Yeah, I am still finishing up one of my Christmas projects and I recently read we should make New Year Challenges instead of New Year Resolutions. Really? Like every day there isn’t some sort of challenge daily? That now someone is going to post/publish/write up their New Year Challenges and the rest of us are supposed to get on board for that fast-track-psycho train? No thank you! Please feel free to list, publish, write, post you “Challenges” for the New Year! I commend you. I respect you. But please don’t judge me for Not participating!

So me being me I went and looked up the definitions. Very interesting.

Resolution: Noun. 1. a formal expression of opinion or intention made, usually after voting, by a formal organization, a legislature, a club or other group. 2. the act of resolving or determining upon an action, course of action, method, procedure, etc.

Challenge: Noun. 1. a call to summons to engage in any contest, as of skill, strength, etc. 2. something that by its nature or character serves as a call to battle, contest, special effort, etc.

Remember when New Year’s Resolutions we more along the lines of “be a better person” “work harder” “get a new job” “lose a few pounds and get healthy”?  Now they’ve become some contest of who has the “best” resolutions, or excuse me, challenges.

Personally I kind of stick to the: be a better parent, friend and person, do better in my job, save some money – I try to not get to many on there because I don’t want to feel like I am overburdening myself. I also feel like being better and doing the right things are things I should be doing anyways.

Right now I feel like I just want to get by day to day. Of course it could also be the seasonal/unseasonal crud that has taken over my body. I feel alien like and I have to keep tissues and am sure I sound like I am under water. I generally feel like caca and I have to pretend it is all good. I seem to be pulling it off but I get caught just staring into space. I have no idea what I am staring at. Thus is the way of my mind when I get the crud. Or lack thereof! I know I can make it through today. Hope is with me! And lots of meds so I don’t seems so craptastic!

Anyway I hope you all have a fabulous day!

Think about if you want to make New Year’s resolutions or challenges. Or if you just want to try to be a better person each and every day. To me it seems more doable.

Always, always Keep Hope Alive!

Beautiful Sunday, time for sharing and SEC Champs

~ gracelessnessover40 ~ 1 Comment

Oh what a beautiful mornin’, oh what a beautiful day. I got a beautiful feelin’, everything’s going my way.

How I wish that was true! Sadly, I haven’t cloned myself yet nor received new body parts, but I woke up breathing and still free to as my good friend says, it’s a great day to be alive!

The other day I wrote about my love, and lack, of sleep. I am hoping to get some rest today, however, I will also be running around getting things done.

let her sleep she move mtns

I did have a fantastic day yesterday though. I set my alarm to get up and we went and volunteered for a local Christmas charity for kids. I was in “Santa’s shop” in the back helping the kids “shop” for their parents. Once they picked a gift I sent them on to the next station where their gifts were wrapped up and they went back out to the party. I can’t tell you how much fun it was to see those kids so happy to be able to get things for their mom and/or dad. Some of them were so funny and so serious. I made sure to ask, “Who are we shopping for?” because not all of them have both parents or even a parent. Being part of such a fabulous group of volunteers and being able to help so many is, to me, a huge joy and blessing!

sharing christmas

After the party, we went to a friend’s house and watched the SEC Championship game and in case you weren’t aware the Alabama Crimson Tide rocked it out and Won! Roll Tide Roll! The food was fabulous and the company was pretty good too! I found another female who was nuttier than I was about cheering, and after a few adult beverages, we were hollering and screaming and jumping up and down. My throat is sore but man did we have fun!

au al football

So today as I run my errands to pick up for a few more kids, I love playing Santa’s elf, and do all of the things that need to be done, I say a prayer of thanks. I am so thankful for my friends, family, loved ones and also be able to help others along the way.

I hope you all have a fabulous day!

Keep Hope Alive!

Fabulous, challenged & sleep deprived but that’s life! Totally rockin’ it oh yeah!

~ gracelessnessover40 ~ 1 Comment

challenges life interesting

Sometimes just trying to get onto the dang computer can be a challenge.

I mean really, I don’t download stuff. Well a few photos but nothing else. No games, no thank you. They spread germs and viruses and such. Don’t nobody got time for that! Yet it gets a cold and its 20 minutes for me to just get into my basics. I got someone on it tomorrow because fabulous gracelessness can’t handle this and the rest of the maos in life at the moment.

sell crazy elsewhere

I’m out here trying to make life work and go with the flow and the flow sometimes gets me… the current becomes more like a rip tide! The waters may be a little choppy at time but for the most part, I can deal with those swells. Other times the rip tides turn into hurricanes and away life goes in a totally different direction than what I was “thinking” it would go, even including those crazy variables.

This week has been like that and it seems to keep going with some wacked out zingers thrown in for the “extra enhanced” fun life experience!

calm storm

Last week at this time I was with my family at the beach. We went to the zoo, I got pooped on by a lemur, I ate too much, we went on the sand (the Gulf waters were a bit cool so we chose to not go past knee deep & I only did ankle deep*sorry I digress on bouts of relaxation sigh…), watched football and drove a lot. It was fabulous! It was pretty stress free and was filled with family, fun and love and a good deal more relaxation and sleep.

Sleep, oh blessed sleep, how I miss you!

i heart sleep

I have now rejoined the land of the day workers and though I love it I am still getting re-acclimated. Sleep is one of those things I am lacking!

Of course it is also the giving season and it seems like it’s amped up on one of those energy drinks times ten so “days off” aren’t truly off. And by “off” I mean no alarm of any kind and sleep and vegetation in the PJ’s with random wanderings to the kitchen to forage for food… but that’s me. I volunteer and I love it but did I mention I started a new job and I need sleep?! I guess I will sleep when I am dead or probably sleep through another alarm clock and be late but hey, I will be there!

sleeping is my drug

I will get to sleep in a little later, keep hope alive, but have tasks/challenges/responsibilities I must keep. However, I will go about them with a good amount of joy and of course I must reserve a bit of sarcasm and a pocket of get ‘er done mah way, and life will move along. The beauty of all of it is life keeps moving along. No matter what. Sometimes I wish it would move faster and other times I need it to slow the hell down. This crazy mama needs a break before the body just says ‘Nope”. And it will. So I will take it easy but be fabulous and always graceless while doing it!

With that lack-of-sleep ramble and maybe some hidden wisdom (psst! Sleep rocks and our bodies need that and a bit of rest to function!), I will make it through the day!

After all, it’s a fabulous Saturday here in Alabama!

For my football fans Roll Tide baby!

ua for au 2

And War Eagle too!

au

Keep hope alive!

Brand new Friday

~ gracelessnessover40 ~ Leave a comment

gm beautiful its friday

Today is a brand new day!

Hopefully it will go smoothly and pleasant for us all. I know it can’t be perfect, but close to perfect would be nice!

This week I started a new chapter in my life doing one of the things I love so much. Helping in the planning and taking care of others. I have been doing this at the basic level but now I get to step it up a notch. It gets me out of the field, which I love, but physically is draining on my body. I will get to still work with clients, families and caregivers making sure the clients are cared for by top notch caregivers. Thus far after a week I love it and my boss is a fabulous human.

The week after a holiday weekend seems to always be a bit of a challenge but we made it!

Plus, the fact we are diving right on into the Christmas season and I feel I am behind on my responsibilities doesn’t make things easier.

That’s when I have to remember to step back and take a breath.

I am blessed with wonderful people who care about me and help me get through this crazy life. I know I am far from perfect, I have dropped more than I want to admit but I am working to pick it all up.

I don’t think I have been this happy to see Friday for a while!

I realized it has been a bit over a year since I worked a 40-hour work week outside of the home. I think I am still in shock getting up early each day and not only making it to work, but being happy and working all day. I actually enjoy my job. Yes, it is new and I know I haven’t even touched on everything I have to learn and do. However, I am all up in my element of doing what I love. Being able to help place caregivers with families isn’t always easy. I love helping to find that perfect fit for families. I love my job!

I hope you all have a fabulous Friday and a wonderful weekend!

Keep Hope Alive!!!

friday end or beginning

 

Happy Friday! There is HOPE!

~ gracelessnessover40 ~ 1 Comment

motivational friday

Don’t you love it when you have fabulous things happening but you can’t share it yet because there are still variables and you don’t want to jinx it?! Yeah, that is my life at the moment!

My Keep Hope Alive is working and on a faster scale than I expected in some areas. Things that have had no movement in months are starting to move quickly and I am scrambling to try and get myself as ready as possible to jump when the time comes!

Ahhh life with all of its joy and challenges! And of course in my life, the infamous Murphy of Murphy’s law always reminding me to keep on my toes!

I also realize that my attitude changed drastically a few months ago and I know that has attributed to my way of living and thinking. It was like I was going through the motions, but letting the challenges of life and some people get in the way of my happiness, hope and health. Once I realized and actually took action to change those things, I felt burdens lift and more positives whisper in my ear than the negatives. I admit I didn’t shut out all of those negative whispers, but I have put them in a special spot so that I can look at them and find the positive and then banish them from my life.

I got so caught up in what I needed to do and the semantics of it that I couldn’t get past it to actually finish the task completely or I would find myself forgetting things entirely. There are several factors that played into this and once I began seeing the knots in my lines, I was able to stop, reflect, write out a plan and move forward to untie the knots and move on with life. I had forgotten the simple tasks of writing down and reflecting on how to handle things. For me those are huge and a part of who I am. It shows how “off” I had been in my head and how far I have come.

another_breathes_last

I have felt somewhat adrift at times for a while now. I know that I have an amazing boy, a fabulous support system, a place to live and other wonderful things. But I was letting the negatives feed on the things in me that I wasn’t happy with, and while on the outside you would see the happy me, on the inside I wasn’t happy completely. I wasn’t at peace with myself and my world. I am so much closer. I know it takes time and patience.

Lord what a challenge patience can be for me. I have gotten better, but when you have others constantly questioning things when you yourself are waiting and trying to be patient is can be hard! Then my anxiety kicks in and I forget that peaceful spot in my soul. However, I am now getting better at redirecting myself. I talked about how I do it in caregiving, yet I wasn’t always practicing in my own life and with myself. Once I snagged that piece of the knotted line and untangled it I have found it easier to breathe. Moving forward is much easier now. I am still scared at times. We never know what the next moment holds. I do know that I am not as fearful or lost as I have been.

I know that there is HOPE for me and my life. I hope that by sharing you can also know that it takes time but dreams, hopes and miracles do happen. Trust me. I am proof!

As soon as I am able I will share the good things happening.

Right now I am sharing my hope that you all have a fabulously wonderful Friday!

Never forget to Keep Hope Alive!

You are worth it to invest in yourself and find your inner peace.

You are not alone.

love heals love is all there is

 

Happy November, All Saints Day and Day of the Innocents/Day of the Dead

~ gracelessnessover40 ~ 1 Comment

1 day of the dead

Welcome to the first day of November, All Saints Day and the Day of the Innocents, the first day of Day of the Dead.

1 all saints day

I hope everyone has recovered from their Halloween shenanigans and that you are thus far having a fabulous day.

We also did the changing of the clock and fell back an hour. I am not sure how I feel about it yet but will keep you posted!

Here in sweet home Alabama we are getting some much needed rain and our temperatures are getting more fall like. Of course this is Alabama so it could be rainy and cold today and get warm again this week! I personally hope we get to keep the cool weather around for a bit. I love the fall weather. Our trees are still changing and beautiful. Daily it seems there is a colorful carpet in the yard yet our trees still have beautiful colors and leaves left to fall. It’s that in-between phase where they have changed colors but not yet completely and although some trees are a bit more barren than others, we still have a good amount of leaves on the trees. The contrast is amazingly beautiful.

1 fall leaves

It is also Sunday, what some consider a day of rest. I am hoping to get some things done to ready for the upcoming week and also rest! I am hoping that the boy will be down for a low key day today. After all of the running we did yesterday, he needs a day of rest before jumping back into a “regular” week! After all, he got to dress up for the past 3 days! Today we all may be in a bit of a sugar coma. We don’t eat a lot of sugar so the past few days have been like a free for all in the candy department!

1 halloween candy

I wish you all a fabulously, beautiful Sunday!

Always remember to keep hope alive!

Stay Fabulous!

Lady Maos

 

 

 

MONDAY…. We can do this!

~ gracelessnessover40 ~ 2 Comments

have a wonderful monday

Well it has arrived full steam ahead… MONDAY!

Whether you are ready for it or not it is here! You may have hidden for a while thinking you could hide from it but it is going to happen whether you are ready for it or not. It can be dreadful or fabulous. I guess it could even be fabulously dreadful but I am all about the hope and I hope it is fabulous!

Coming off a weekend into Monday can be hard no matter if your weekend was good or bad.

A good friend of mine said Monday is like getting to start with a clean slate. I like that thought. Not that everything else is forgotten, but it is a brand new day and why not make it a good Monday? For the person who spoke those words to me, I can only hope your day is better than the weekend.

monday isnt bad

I am ready for my boy to come home! He was with his dad and family for a week, and even though I got to talk to him and see him once, I miss him terribly when he is gone. Plus, it is our favorite week, Halloween week! We are hoping to do a few different things this week in celebration, but as life teaches us, things can change any second. I am hoping we get to do everything we have planned! Of course it involves dressing up! Which in my household, we do on a regular basis anyway. That is a sign of being creative. Or maybe a little bit crazy, does it really matter?!

So go out and find the good in this Fabulous Monday!

Remember it’s only 5 more wake ups ‘til Halloween!!!!!

halloween

Have a fantastic Monday my Graceless Friends!

Keep Hope Alive