Choose to be Happy!

I want to begin by saying, “Choose to be Happy!” There is so much going on in our world, and as recently with the COVID-19 virus. I am speaking from my heart and soul, and our society does not look good in the way that it is going. I choose to focus on happiness, my well-being, my family, and friends. It will not happen overnight, and you must work at it like you would in training for the Olympics. That being said, the following are some of the ways I participate in creating my happy state of being.

Fun activity: Whether it is outdoors or indoors, from working in the garden to hosting a BBQ with family and friends, find an activity that will spark excitement for you or your family. Why not create an oasis of flowers or growing your ingredients directly from your backyard? The possibilities are endless.

Adult Coloring: I discovered this a couple of years back. It is impressive of the number of adult coloring books there are just waiting for you to explore, even adult coloring apps for your computer. I personally like coloring Mandalas, Exotic Animals, and Landscapes. It is whatever strikes your fancy.

Online Karaoke: If anyone would have told me that there was such a thing as online Karaoke. I would probably give them a weird look as though they are from Mars! It is real, and it does exist. I, for one, sing online, it is true! My favorite is Smule, check it out! Of course, there are others; SingSnap and YouTube, to name a few. I advise you to start exploring and find your singing voice and the best thing, it is for fun!

Crocheting: I learned to crochet when I was in junior high school in a home economics class. I acquired the basics at that time, but I did not pick it up again until years later. It was in 2016 I suffered a torn meniscus, the cushion between the knee and the joint, it popped, and the pain was excruciating, and I needed surgery. I was in the house after the procedure recovering, and I needed something to do. I remember watching the news when I saw a new movement, The Pussyhat Project, about woman’s rights. It was at that moment that I told my husband about it and I wanted to make the pink pooty hat. I could not find myself to say the word. Instead, I called it a “pooty hat.”

Reading books/ Audible books: When was the last time you read a book? Or listened to an audible book?  Or used your Kindle? If it has been a while, there are options to get you back to the swing of things. My best to date for me is listening to audible books if you are on the go and do not have time to sit and read. Why not listen to a book, it is very satisfying. There are many options available to research and find what is suitable for you.

There you have it, my happy activities and needless to say, I continue to explore. I hope you will too.

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Wear your Mask!

It is incredible how people continue not to take precautions. People! Wearing a mask has nothing to do with your rights and freedoms. It is about saving lives, yours and mine!

We are supposedly in Phase I, and to see those out and about, you would not think so. Last weekend was Memorial Day. My husband and I ventured out but in a small way. We are not able to visit my mother-in-law at the nursing home, so we improvised and visited her from the outside looking in through a glass door that views the activity room of the facility. We saw her, and because she has Alzheimer’s, she continued to ask over and over why we can not go inside and sit with her. It was heartbreaking, but I was able to wear my big girl draws and made the best out of our brief visit.

We, also stopped at CVS to pick up items and a prescription. I was pleased to see that CVS is following the guidelines, customers were wearing masks, but as I was waiting for my husband to finish at check out, a young lady was waiting on line. She was annoyed to see us wearing masks except for her, she was not wearing one. Interesting!

Our last stop was to pick up take out, our favorite place in Kissimmee, Florida, China Bell, delicious food! They are adhering to the guidelines, allowing only four at a time, wear masks, and the front counter covered in plastic, and it was well thought out.

Listen, I made a conscious decision to adhere to social distancing and wearing my mask. First and foremost, I value my life as well as my fellow humans, and I will continue to do so. Help me to understand why? It is so foreign to me as to why some people are refusing.

I welcome you to leave a comment. Thank you!

A Funny Thing about Skipping Meals

Today was a challenge for me. I am the type of person that eats pretty much at the same time every day. On this day, it was so busy at work that the whole team did not eat lunch. At breakfast, I ate just a yogurt, a banana with some hot tea.

Due to the pandemic, in preparation, my organization is having the employees come back slowly until fully staffed.

By 2:30 pm, I began to feel light-headed, foggy, with a whopping headache. It felt like my eyeballs were going to pop out at any minute, and I was getting hangry!  It was like I was the hungry diva on that Snickers commercial, the one where the person is so hungry, they act like a famous personality but are everyday individuals that skipped a meal. I haven’t felt this way in a long time, it was horrible!

At 3:00 pm, it got worse. Don’t worry, I kept my composure, but it was tough. I think my boss took pity on us and she said we could go home since we did not have lunch. I took her up on it in a heartbeat!

By the time I left work, I was on a desperate to eat mode, so I stopped to buy food at a Spanish restaurant to take home, crazy!

Remember the Snickers commercial, I mentioned previously? Avoid turning into a diva!

Crazy Family Emotions

Have you ever been confused, conflicted about your life that you want to scream? My life is involved, I work I have a senior, my mother living with my husband and I. There are days where I feel that I am dancing on a balance beam trying to make sense of it all.

It is the little things that add up to great big ones, like not wiping the counter after use or being mindful, making sure nothing spills over when you are disposing of food in the trash. Having your parent living with you is most challenging!

During this pandemic, I have observed that my mother is not mindful or careful when she does things, and my husband gets frustrated when he sees the counter messy or the floor near the garbage spilled with coffee grounds. Imagine taking your lunch break, and you run into your husband, complaining about your mother. How would you handle that?

By the way, I, too, have noticed some of the same behaviors. One of the issues is that I don’t tell my mother when these incidents happen.

To give a little history of my mother. She is traditional at 88 years of age. She comes from the mindset that she has earned the right to say whatever she pleases and does not care about how others take it. Healthwise, she is mentally sharp, mind like tack, but physically she is hard of hearing and has refused to use hearing aids, her vision not so good. She is so stubborn full of pride, which gets in the way of seeing that the use of hearing aids would much improve her activities of daily living.

I love my mother very much, and there is nothing I would not do for her. It is chaotic the behaviors she exhibits. I want to tell her, “Mami, chill out!” “You live with us, not the other way around!”

To Mask or Not to Mask

To mask or not to mask, that is the question. I could not believe what I was witnessing this past Mother’s Day weekend. If I had to guess, I would say that over 50% of the people out in the street were not wearing masks. I only know this because my husband and I had to run to CVS Pharmacy and I have to say, they were very compliant with following the guidelines. Kudos to CVS! 

We are not over this Coronavirus pandemic, and for many who are thinking that it is over, it isn’t! I continue to comply with wearing my mask and social distancing. I am working from home, and my place of work is slowly transitioning until all employees are physically back at work. That is how we do it, strategically!

We are in Phase I reopening the economy, and we are going too fast. If we are not careful, we may be worse off in the long run.

I want to get your opinion right here on my page, leave a comment. How many of you are not wearing a mask? If you answered yes, tell me why?

The Moms in my Life

It is Mother’s Day on Sunday, May 10, 2020. I want to honor the moms in my life that I love with all of my heart.

First and foremost, to my Mami, although we have our challenges, we continue to battle it through with our hearts in motion. I accept the good with the bad no matter what! It took us a bit to reach this point, and I am blessed to have you in my life!

To my sweet, Ma, my mother-in-law, you are a loving person, and I adore you and living with Alzheimer’s, it is difficult. I am so glad that during this pandemic, Ma is in a state of lucidity. We were so worried that this situation was going to further her condition.

My loving aunt, what can I say! I love your wisdom, your heart, and your creativity. You are the bomb! I look forward to us scrapbooking together the next time you come to visit.

To my independent, courageous, and beautiful daughter, I always say to myself, when I grow up, I want to be just like you. I use to say you had an old soul. You raised my granddaughter, and she is an amazing kid, almost a high school graduate of 2020! We are so proud!

To my sister, we have grown and so glad we did. I can not imagine my life without you. You are funny, especially when you talk about your parakeets who are very active, wink! wink! They have produced a multitude of eggs that hatched recently. I always tease her about separating those birds!

My cousin, in a short time, I have gotten to know you more, you are a dedicated mom of two, and you don’t play! I love your spirit; you are fearless and committed to family.

I wish you all a most blessed Mother’s Day!

Happy Mother’s Day!

Happy Mother’s Day! My message to you is truthful and from the heart. I will not embellish, I will not paint a false picture of our mother, daughter relationship, but I hope you understand it is coming from my heart.

You are loving and challenging with a twinge of mystery! It bothers me that you don’t talk about your childhood in detail, just small puzzle pieces that often don’t connect. You come from a large family of nine, but yet I don’t see a close relationship between you and your siblings. You seek them out more than they seek you. It makes me wonder, why? You have shared how much you loved your mother and cared for her until her passing, but yet to hear stories of your childhood.

As a child, growing up, our relationship was not a positive one, and for that, I am sorry. I often felt very insecure, very unsure, and I was not a good student. My grades were crappy and now know why? I never felt supported. I never was told, “I am proud of you.”

I remember that in community college, I had an opportunity to do a music audition tape. I was taking a voice class at the time. I was approached by one of the students in the class who informed me of this opportunity to sing in a band, and I needed to do this audition tape. I remember I was so excited to tell you and Pop about it, but you both quickly talked me out of it. I will never forget that, and perhaps my future would have turned out differently. I guess I will never know!

My purpose is not to hurt you, but I want you to understand. I believe that for me, it has been a life full of lessons. I vowed at the time that my relationship with my future children will be different, so when I became a mom, my vow was in full swing! Every time my kids wanted to try out for something, I encouraged them, and I would say, “go for it!” It is so essential for a child to explore their talents and capabilities. I am proud to say my children turned to be well-rounded adults.

Over the years, I have tried to make that connection with you, and at present, our relationship has improved, but we still have room for improvement. You living with me has allowed me to get to know you. You are very sound in your faith and I am happy for you. Consider this my testimony. I love you very much!

Mood of the Day

“Sometimes you just have to toot your own horn. Otherwise, nobody will know you’re a-comin.”

~Dolly Parton

My mood of the day? I am conflicted as to how I feel. Work? I sometimes feel invisible; I don’t feel validated. Possibly my spirit is brought on by many emotions, and perhaps it has nothing to do with work.

Yesterday, at work and by the way, I been working from home. The team I belong to, we were brainstorming on a small project related to the COVID-19, and in preparation to reopen our workplace. I was tasked with the research portion of it, which I love to do. I went online, gathered the data, and submitted my findings. Long story short, I was not getting a “great job, ” just crickets. If I did not do a good job, feedback is welcome.

Anyway, I had to revise my submission. I did, and I submitted it this morning, I did receive a thank you. I felt better, not great, but better!

My lesson? What is important is how you feel and how you will handle the task given. You can choose to roll over or make your voice heard positively.

The Women in My Family

I wanted to repost, “The Women in my Family.” Enjoy!

Charity's Blog

” Reality leaves a lot to the imagination.”

~John Lennon

It is funny how generations of women within the same family do not communicate. As for me, I am working toward breaking the habit, and learning that communication is key! I am living proof that my daughter and I are better for it and also my mother. The day will come as we remember the good times as being a great experience. 

 I find myself in reflection…do I have a good relationship with my family? Truth be told, we are a work in progress. We talk things out, we don’t fluff and we are as real as can be!

The one thing that I find myself struggling with is having high expectations of others. I tend to want to see the greater good than the greater bad, so I get disappointed when things don’t work out.

These days, I except…

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Why Do I Blog?

” You don’t have to be big. You have to be remarkable.”

~Joe Pulizzi

Why do I blog? I have asked this question so many times. In short, I am passionate, and it makes me feel fulfilled to my core. Besides that, I love sharing my stories or what I have to say at that given moment. My granddaughter often says, “Grandma, you are funny!” I admit I can be slightly dorky, and somewhat goofy, but I would not change anything for anyone. Why? It makes me happy!

I have not blogged in a bit. My last blog post was a poem entitled ” Pulse Remembered,” and at that time, so many things happened, and for whatever reason, the words were not pouring onto the page. It was not happening for me.

I will share a funny story just the other day, and being that all of us are in the house these days. I was listening to the news about our current situation with the Coronavirus; something just sparked!

I went on my account in WordPress. I gave my page a little spruce up, swept some of the cobwebs off, made it pretty and presentable, and I began to write. It was the best feeling, and I have not felt this way in so long. I am happy to say my ideas are flowing like the lyrics of a song.

I look forward to sharing my creativity and ideas on my blogger’s journey.