Coughing and Crowns, not to be confused with Crown Royale!

Yes, sickness has hit me.  I can't believe it....even with some major chronic illness issues, I really never get sick.  But today was my lucky day (hey, maybe I should buy a lotto ticket???) After much harassment from my son, I broke down and went to the doctor.  I love my doctor and he is a super guy but he has generally dealt with major illness with me and when he looked at my records he realized he had never had to treat me for like a "regular illness."  I was diagnosed with severe bronchitis bordering on pneumonia and if I don't improve in the next 24 hours I have to do chest x-rays because he feels sure I have developed full blown pneumonia. I don't know about all that but I do know I don't have time for this.  This is a super busy and pressure filled week at work and I need to be on top my game.  ARGH!!!

When I came home with my very large dose of steroids, antibiotics, cough meds, and an inhaler, I washed it all down with a chocolate Frosty AFTER I put on my crown because I have just determined life is just better with a crown.  I love my crown.  I wish it were bigger and sparklier but I am working on that!  I feel like after what I have been through over the last 2+ years I have earned lots of pretty sparkly things, especially a crown!  Oh, and not to mention it holds my hair back just as perfectly as the standard "Mom" headband called sunglasses!

Of course, this is a pre-sick crown day!  But see how it just makes everything look happier!  By the way did I mention I have found a new hobby....being eccentric in the most Southern of ways.  Tomorrow maybe we will talk about my Spring purse that is waiting patiently in the closet for Easter so that it can make it's debut (oh, and I think I found my Easter dress today as well!)

2016 and being the Mother of the Bride

Can it be that I have not blogged in over a month?  For shame!!!!  I suppose work has been busy (actually work seems to keep busy 24/7!)  Then I have home and Mommy duties to take care of and a couple of volunteer organizations I belong to...so I think blogging lost out to everything else.  But I have missed it.  The last couple of weeks so many times I planned to blog but then I didn't for what ever reason. 

I am getting more organized and adjusted to my life and what being a single Mom and working full time means lately.  I am getting my house organized a little at a time, even though that feels like an uphill battle.  I am starting to force myself into areas that I used to love and I have gotten away from in the last couple of years like cooking and gardening.  If I can find time to read for pleasure I will feel pretty accomplished!

One thing I don't think I have mentioned is 2016 makes me a Mother of the Bride!  Yes, my beautiful daughter is getting married in April.  She is so excited and wedding invitations have gone out and plans finalized.  It is a strange season for me personally...my baby girl is getting married.  How can that be real?  My daughter actually gave me the super cute tote bag in the picture for Christmas so I carry it every chance I get because lets be real, how often do I get to be a Mother of the Bride....just once!

So, here's to blogging again and learning write and sharing my life! 

The House...

Just because I need a little pink in my life!

Happy 2016!!! Let your Sparkle Shine!

Happy New Year.  After blogging for 10 years on my other blog I am apparently having trouble truly getting started again and immersing myself in the blogging culture that provides so much inspiration and motivation to write and share.  Maybe it is due in part to the very fact that I am learning who I am again, slowly...and finally, bit by bit, remembering what I loved when I started to journal online.  This rediscovery is not painless and is not a quick process in the least, but I am accepting it with as much grace as possible and find myself sometimes surprised and what I have loved and forgotten.  There are things that brought me complete and total happiness that I just stopped remembering as I stumbled through painful and stormy days in the last couple of years.  It is hard to imagine how much of your heart and soul you can let go of and never realize it. 

 Of course, maybe it is because I don't have the many friends and family who used to read my blog to help keep me involved that I don't turn here as much; but I suppose that is part of a new start as well.  I am able to come here, and rediscover my muse (or what little of it is left.)  I have no idea if anyone reads this blog or not so in some ways there is no pressure to produce or be the face that had be painted by my earlier blog.  I am able to completely transparent...a rare thing in life. 

I have done a lot of thinking over the last few weeks and I do know I want to be the lady I once was, through and through.  I want to be able to see beauty in weeds and good in people.  I want to give of myself without fear and unselfishly.  I want to see my children and sometimes feel the love that overwhelms you and brings you to tears for no reason other than pure love.  I want a clear mind and heart that is open to new adventures, old and new friends. I want to the strength and motivation to pour into others.  Most of all, though, I want prayer and God in the center of my life regardless of the circumstances.  I want God's best in my life in all ways.  That is probably as close to a "resolution for the New Year" as you will get from me this year.  This year is about living, truly living through the dark and the light and I don't have a resolution... just a determination. 

Happy New Year, blogland!

Sparkle has not left the house!

 

Yes, I disappeared!  It has been a crazy couple of months filled with football, fun with friends & work. We have had so much dreary weather I have been in kind of a funk so I have focused a lot of work.Work is good in that way.  I can dive in and hide behind it while my mind doesn't have time to dwell. . 

  

Oh, and if you are wondering...it is STILL raining in South Carolina....STILL.  That has not helped my funk one single bit.  There are areas where people have still not be able to return to their homes from the flooding weeks ago.  I think it is the general consensus in SC that WE ARE SICK OF RAIN!

 

But, I am not loosing my sparkle again....just spending some time polishing it up.

Hurricane Season...

Photo credit: (Photo: Paul Zoeller, AP)
 

I don't know if you have heard or not but we, here in the South, have gotten a drop or two of rain as of late.

One thing you learn when you live this close to the coast is to watch the storms as they form in the Atlantic.  I grew up very far inland and really never paid much attention to Hurricanes but I have learned and seen first hand the destruction one of these monsters can bring, even if you don't take a direct hit. 

We were fortunate this time, we only got the rain.  So far, though, no wind or tornadoes which makes me feel more at ease.  Many roads are washed out, and Charleston is closed...yes, closed.  The peninsula is inaccessible at this point...no going in or out.  Tomorrow is supposed to bring more rains like the several inches we got yesterday and last night. I suppose today was our reprieve.  Ahh....Hurricane Season, we respect you!


War Room

Tonight I went to see this movie.  It made me sad in so many ways but also called out to my heart that the prayer I have been running from needs to be back in my life.  Not only have I not been talking to God, I haven't been listening for Him either.  So even though the plot made me sad the belief that prayer is a weapon in this world was not missed by this lady sitting alone in that theater.  If you haven't seen it, go.  It isn't a bang you over the head kind of Christian movie, but rather one that will make you laugh and gently reminded you that His Word is true no matter the circumstances.  Yes, I came home tonight determined to learn to pray again because unlike riding a bike, for me, it has been a skill I have forgotten how to do.