July, 2011…One HOT Month!!!!

Still Looking Good at 50!

The Birthday Men!

I can honestly say I am extremely grateful for air conditioning! This has been an extremely, fast paced, hot month! Let’s see…first of all aside from celebrating the birth of our wonderful country (despite our challenges as of late) on the 4^th of July, we celebrated my husband’s entrance into a new decade! Yep, his 50^th birthday! Now some people see that as old, but as I always say, we don’t have a clue what old is; Methuselah was old! Old is a state of mind and I can tell you my honey is young at heart…he definitely is NOT old! He got some great gifts, cards and heartfelt letters from several people that meant so much to him (ya’ll rock!)!  So we went to the Lake Wateree to one of our favorite spots to celebrate with friends. We had a great time laughing, eating, splashing in the lake, playing games and just hanging out with great friends. One of our friends came up from Florida, and we even had a few friends and family come up just for the afternoon Saturday to celebrate with cake and gifts for my hubby! Our friend that came up from Florida had celebrated a birthday the week before so I had bought each of them their very own inch thick ribeye to celebrate…yummo!

Our Fearless Pontoon Captain!

One of our friends has a boat and is always kind enough to let everyone enjoy a ride or two out on the lake. He wasn’t able to make it up until later in the afternoon Saturday, so a few of us had a hankering to go out earlier and we rented a pontoon boat for about 2 hours and had a blast! It didn’t quite start out that way though. First of all we had a little rough time getting it in reverse to get going. No fault of our Captain, but somehow we had gotten far enough away from the dock, but not able to turn the boat and go forward in the direction we needed to go. Now mind you it is, oh I don’t know…probably about 100+ degrees at noon, and there are about 8 or 9 of us (and 2 dogs) just sitting in the bright sun, not moving…it wasn’t too funny. Thank goodness one of the fellas that works there came over and helped us get going, apparently the button on the shifter was sticking! So we zoomed off towards the middle of the lake and stopped to jump in and swim…the water was wonderful! We were sorry to head back to the dock and even sorrier when we had the same trouble again with the boat getting going! Slowly we were drifting towards the shore, which got closer and closer very quickly! Finally, it worked and off we went! The next day we went out on our friends boat and had a good time speeding all over the lake, without incident! It was a very relaxing and fun retreat and we all look forward to the next get together! Thanks friends for such a great weekend!

Chillaxin!

A Bestie!

So here we are about to close the month and this weekend is my birthday! My darling husband has some wonderful plans, which I will disclose after the fact…so look for that blog next week sometime!

Here’s to July! 

Blessings, Until next time,

Amanda :)

Happiness...

Have you ever stopped to think of what little things you do that can make another person happy? Sometimes we try so hard to make someone else happy, and other times it seems we didn't do anything at all, yet somehow just one little thing makes a huge difference in somebody's life.

There are many things that initiate happiness in different forms, these are a few things that made me happy today;

• an unexpected, spontaneous phone call from a friend who has an upbeat, happy voice who calls to discuss plans to get together one weekend
• looking forward to meeting a new friend who I have only heard about but not met yet
• a simple text from a loved one saying you're missed
• knitting a hat, chatting with friends and laughing
• getting a wonderful welcome home kiss & hug ♥
• being greeted by the dog, who apparently missed me terribly today
• reading about the joys of VBS
• memories of a loved one that is no longer here
• memories of a fun filled weekend at the lake

I started thinking of this today because of my job. You see I am in customer service and my goal is to do what I can to help other people. Often times I find myself stepping above and beyond to help others, and I really enjoy it, especially when it works out well for the customer! They often thank me and tell me how great of a help I was to them. I'll admit I do enjoy hearing that as anyone would but I really don't do it for the praise, but it is nice to hear once in a while!

Today was like any other, except for one of my last few phone calls, when the customer wanted to speak to someone about the service I gave her, after she called me her new hero! I got my manager to take the call and the woman told her how pleased she was with my service and how I made a difference in her day. Now just to show you how just a little thing can make the biggest difference, let me just tell you I really didn't do anything that extraordinary. I merely described to her what the envelope would look like that held the thing she was missing. Once she searched through a pile of mail she had stacked, she found it within a few minutes. I really didn't do anything at all...she is the one who found it, but yet she took the time to give me some praise, just because she was happy!

Our church's VBS is just another demonstration of how one person can make such a difference! I was not able to participate in helping out this year, but I have kept up with reading the feedback on Facebook and I can tell just from that, many people found true happiness just because so many people came together to make a difference. I know that there are many things that took place this week in so many lives and some of them can't be seen yet and may not be for a while....but that's okay. Seeds were planted, watered and they are all growing at their own pace. Thanks to so many wonderful volunteers, God's work was done this week at Alice Drive Baptist Church www.adbc.org, not only in the lives of the children, but also for the volunteers! I praise each and every one of you for making a difference, whether it is seen or unseen and for that God is happy!!!

So as you go about your daily business, just know that the slightest little thing could make someone else or God happy! So watch what you say and what you do, and remember to look for the little things that make you happy!

Happy thoughts and blessings❣

Until next time...

Amanda ;)

What a Beautiful, but Sizzzzzling Hot Day!!!!

Okay, so as you can see in the picture here the yard looks just gorgeous and inviting! However, when you step outside you feel like you just entered an oven! The temp says it is 102, now that doesn't count the humidity. I would complain, but when I think of my friend serving our country over in Qatar where it is well over that temp not counting humidity, I realize that we are blessed to have this beautiful day and the freedom to enjoy it however we choose...even if it is inside the air conditioning! I am very grateful for my friends service to our country and look forward to his return in November!


By the way, the crazy dog there in the photo, Judy, didn't take long to realize that the idea of chasing and fetching a ball in this kind of weather wasn't such a great one! After just a few throws she was heading to the door to go into the cool A/C!

Now I am off to meet my wonderful, husband for dinner and some good conversation! As I leave I am leaving Judy in the A/C to relax and unwind after her long dog day of following me around....her's what she has chosen to do...
Until next time be blessed,
Amanda

Today's Blessings

1.    A day off from work

2.    Beautiful weather today

3.    My beautiful view of the pond out back and my yard

4.    Watching my wonderful husband sleeping when I woke up early this morning

5.    The birds chirping and dancing around the bird feeder

6.    Playing ball with my little dog in between chores

7.    The ability to do laundry in my own washer & dryer

8.    My sweet husband calling me midday just to say he loves me and missed me

9.    The thought of a good friend finding the happiness of love and companionship

10. Sweet cousins (mine & his), who think enough of my husband to go the extra mile for his birthday!

11. Clean drinking water

12. Toothbrush & toothpaste

13. Air conditioning

14. Cornbread

15. Listening to music on my iPad

16. Dancing & singing while doing chores (while the dog looks at me like I’m crazy!)

17. A clean kitchen

18. Memories of a great weekend at the lake with good friends! (more to come on that!)

19. Messaging via the internet with a friend abroad

20. The anticipation of seeing my husband this evening when he gets home from work!

Until next time, be blessed....
Amanda :)

One of Many Life Lessons (a blessing in disguise!)

One of my favorite quotes is “Lessons are repeated until they are learned.” Since the first time I heard that quote, I have tried not to have lessons repeated; however, I seem to have a little lapse in judgment lately that has caused me to have a lesson repeated!

Thank goodness for my wonderful husband and some “true friends” to remind me of what it was I forgot! The ironic part of it is that the key person who was instrumental in having this lesson crop up again does not even realize they gave me a repeat lesson! This person was considered a very good friend until Monday morning. Sometimes you just have to realize that you can get hurt even when you try to do the right thing. I am grateful for the wakeup call, but hate the way it happened! What sucks the most is the hurt and pain caused by the realization of the kind of person she really is and the fact that I was so naïve for so many years!

I also truly regret allowing this person to make so many of my other friends and family so uncomfortable and saying things to hurt them as well…for that my friends, I am truly sorry…I won’t let that happen again…I promise!

There are a few upsides to the whole situation, and as they say, always look for the silver lining, so here are my observations of the silver lining in this situation:

1} It has shown me what is acceptable from a friend and what is not;

2} It has made more aware of and more blessed to have the good friends I do have;

3} I got to have a good cry...those are needed once in a while to wash out your tear ducts;

4} I now realize the true level of our friendship;

5} Best of all, it is now behind me (other than possibly shedding a few more tears) and I can move on with a lesson learned...that I really don't want repeated!

Until next time, be blessed....

Amanda ;)