Yesterday...fun day!

I know you probably won't believe me when I say I don't get out much because those of you who know me well, know in my younger days, I was never home - out and about all the time. But now I really don't get out too much. Between work and other obligations, I seem to not have much spare time. Anyway, yesterday was a fun day out. A couple of my friends and I went to a drum circle at the Guitar Center in Peoria. Then we had to eat (of course!), then we needed to run by Walmart (for a "couple" things), then into Hob Lob (since we were right there!), then to Big Lots (because they closed the one in Bloomington). By then we were worn out and needed a rest and a snack at Culver's. All in all, a great, fun day. Nice to be out and about, nice to catch up with and visit with friends, and nice to just be out of the house for the day. The drum circle was fun, and, of course, I found a drum I'd love to have.........

I had intended to do some photo documentation, but sometimes life is happening too fast to document. Here's the only picture I took all day. Two friends trying on sunglasses! Oh well, you'll just have to close your eyes and imagine the drumming, the shopping, and the eating! lol!

Summer is here!

Today is the summer solstice - the longest day of sunlight for us here in the northern hemisphere. But could it signify more? Take a little deeper look with me (you know how I love to analyze and re-analyze and then analyze some more!), and maybe you'll find a thought that relates to your personal life. Many different peoples and places celebrate the summer solstice in different ways - one I found interesting was the dancing around a maypole. Whole communities doing this. Interesting, traditional, and I think, kinda fun. Anyway, this day is giving way to warmth, sunshine, a  new season of crops and plants growing - we flourish in the growing season. We pull the weeds out and encourage our plants to grow and produce. So today might be a good day to evaluate other things in your life. Are there "weeds" in your life - things that no longer serve you and the goals of where you are headed? Today would be a good day to let go of those things. It's a day of new beginnings - start that diet, start that exercise program, set that goal, stop that habit - whatever it is you'd like to change, today might be a good day to start it. If you think all my ramblings are just that - ramblings of an over-analytical woo woo woman, so be it, but at least get out and enjoy the sunshine - it's here for the longest time today, waiting for you to come out, enjoy it, dance in it, swim in it's warmth and brightness! Enjoy this nice, looooooong, sunshiney day!

Beautiful night for a ride!

Last night I got off work around 7:00. As I walked out to my car, I decided it was a beautiful night for a ride. So, I got in my car, drove through and got a sandwich, of course, and headed on down the road. I rolled down all four of my windows, blasted my Syrius radio (whatever the heck that is - it came with the car!), and  away I went. It was so fun! I drove on back roads, smelling newly cut grass, trees in bloom, manure from the pig farm (yuk)! On the way home it was dark and the moon (almost full now) was out and very bright. There were a few clouds, but not many. I just found myself amazed at all the beauty around me that I miss everyday by being constantly inside. I made myself a promise to go for drives a little more often and see what I've been missing out there! The prize for driving all the way to Bloomington? Pictured below!

View From The Corner

Last weekend was the annual Tremont Turkey Festival. As most of you know, I was born and raised in Tremont, raised my children there, and currently a portion of my grandchildren live there. I love small town life. The festival was always a huge deal when I was growing up and holds many fond memories for me. Aside from all the benefits to the community financially, it's just a very nice, family friendly weekend. These days I participate in the festival by renting a booth in the handmade crafts section to sell the stone jewelry I make as a hobby. My cousin, Karen, is gracious enough to help me on this endeavor and we really do have alot of  fun and laughs. This year the weather was fabulous, and since our spot is under a tree (I don't have a tent), we weren't really even in the sun that much. We're actually almost exactly on the corner of all the happenings! I don't have time to snap many pictures during the weekend, but here's a few to let you in on some of the fun. Of course, it would be indiscreet to take pictures of all the things seen (and now not able to be "unseen" by our eyes) that a festival seems to naturally bring out. Suffice it to say there were old people, young people, scantily clad people, people dressed in all (and I do mean all) types of clothing, etc., etc. Of course, we can also see the bed races, the end of the 5k, and hear the music from our vantage point. Several of our friends and family came by to visit us and that always adds to the fun and excitement of the yearly festival - seeing people from our high school who come back in town for the festival, as well as others we rarely get to see. Do I make much money? Ahhh - a little; but net profit after the rental fee, the new displays I bought (since the show at Derby Days was so windy some of mine fell off the table and broke), the tie dye clothing I purchased for my grandkids from another craft vendor, the purchase and consumption of several turkey sandwiches, strawberry shortcakes, beans, chips, etc.....well you get the idea. Any money made is just a sideline plus, but it helps maintain my weekend. In a nutshell, I would say our view from the corner was priceless.

Here's Karen with the "Wolf" from 104.9 fm radio.

Here's my niece, Emma, with her turkey facepaint.

Here's my niece, Maria, with her rainbow/heart facepaint. When I asked her about her brothers, she reminded me that there really isn't anything boys would want painted on their faces. 

Here's Regina and Karen wearing the beautiful halo type headpieces I bought and made them wear. They were really happy about that - lol! And just for the record, I bought one for myself and wore it too - in fact, I wore it until I was driving home and almost got whiplash when I turned to look out my side window!

Grandma Debbie's 2013 Summer Camp!

Here it is! Photo documentation of some (not all, of course) of the fun we had this past weekend at the

2nd Annual Grandma Debbie's 2013 Summer Camp! 

There were snacks!

There was a visit from Great Grandma Nola!

There was catnapping!

There was playing!

There were singing penguins, so, of course, there was dancing!

There were blueberries!

There was banana "ice cream" Disney Jr style! "That's fresh!"

There was building!

There was a surprise visitor (who ended up sleeping some!)

There was tv watching!

There was drumming!

There was more tv watching - Sophia the First, I'm sure!

There was running (and trying to run!)

There was head patting!

There was sharing!

There was walking around!

There was a visit from Mom (Aunti B)!

There was tv fixing!

Spencer hit something on the cable box and

it took Aunti B, Mom, and Uncle TT on the phone to correct it!

There was a visit from Daddy (Uncle B)!

 There was more drumming!

There was a visit from Marilea!

There was an effort by grandma to keep her stone penguins safe!

There was bathing!

There was a visit from Tracey!

There were treatments1

There was eating!

There was a visit from cousin Karen!

A wonderful time was had by all! Can't wait til the next one!

You shall know the truth....

I would like to combat an unspoken lie that so many of us believe - not that you'll change your thinking just because I say so, but hopefully, the more we hear the truth, the more it will sink in, the more it becomes a part of who we are, and the more our behavior changes. How do I know we all believe this lie you ask? Because of the way we behave. Our behavior, as with our speech, is a direct product of how we think and what we truly believe. The lie we all behave as if we believe as truth is that we are worth more when we are so busy we can't see straight. When we are multi-tasking, when our calendars are written on in every square, when we work, work, work and stay up late to finish our dishes and do our laundry, etc., etc. - why, we must be successful, acceptable people, right? Afterall, we're soooooooo busy! Now I'm not saying you shouldn't do your dishes or take care of your children or your house or any of those things. But when you are eating dinner real quick at your kitchen counter, starting to forget (or do ridiculously idiotic things), adding "take a shower" to your to do list - then you might be toooooo busy! Well, that's just how our society is, you might say - and I would have to agree - we are all rushing around like chickens with our heads cut off (on a side note, Grandma Gardner explained that saying to me once - not a pretty picture!) all the time. However, my concern here is with the underlying thought process that is happening to us in the meantime. Here's how to test my theory - sit down. Just sit on your couch for 15 minutes. I dare you. Don't have your ipad, your nook, your kindle or your phone in your hand. No knitting, crocheting or writing of lists. Turn your tv off. Don't make a mental list - just relax. Can you do it without feeling guilty or pressed that you're "wasting time" and should be "doing something"? In my opinion, many of us have unknowingly substituted quantity for quality of life - we all have quantity, that's for sure! But what are we sacrificing? Do you see your family? Do you spend time just with yourself? Do you even like to spend time with yourself? Do you realize you're worth rest, relaxation, and enjoying some time alone? I am firm believer and have said many times that I cannot pass on or give out (to my children in particular) that which I don't possess myself - if I don't exhibit peace of mind, they won't learn to achieve it; if I don't let them see me relaxing or valuing some alone time, they won't realize how important that is for our mental state of mind. I hear it all the time from people on my massage table - there's not enough time, I wish I could've gotten in here sooner, but there's so much to do. We've kinda become "human doings" not "human beings". 

So today, I encourage you - don't shirk your responsibilities, but take a few moments for yourself and realize in those moments where you're just pondering thoughts or relaxing, you are just as valuable a person as when you're sweeping the floor while the dishwasher and washing machine are running while you're wearing your bluetooth so you can also schedule your appointments at the same time. Multi-tasking is ok, but don't feel guilty if every single moment your eyeballs are open isn't chocked full of activity. 

In my own little world....

Isn't it interesting, how we (I would speak just for myself, but I believe I am not alone in this scenario) are only knowledgeable in the areas of things that affect us personally? I like to think I am open minded, well versed, decently read and informed, yet I realize now that I really only am knowledgeable about the things that I've experienced personally or that interest me - I have rarely taken the initiative to find out about other things if they don't effect me. (Remember I don't know whether to say "effect" or "affect", so notice I've used both spellings so far to be fair - lol!) Case in point (and the point of this posting, of course) is cystic fibrosis. I want to be completely honest and tell you that I was so uninformed about this disease that I seriously thought it belonged in the family of diseases I call the "Jerry Lewis diseases". I knew nothing of its causes, nothing of its symptoms, until my grandson was born with it. Now, I wouldn't say I'm anywhere near an expert on the subject currently (partly because that would be too hard on me), but I can say with confidence that I know much more about cystic fibrosis now than I did 15 months ago. Wouldn't it be wonderful if we all expanded our borders of thinking to include more information? I'm not just encouraging you to gain more knowledge so your head gets bigger - quite the contrary. I believe the more informed we are, the more compassion we will feel for those afflicted with diseases such as cf, the more we will feel gratitude that we are NOT afflicted with said diseases, and the more compelled we will be to reach out and help others. I am encouraging each and every one you - especially those of you who have been blessed with healthy children - donate - donate your time, your money, participate in fundraisers, help raise awareness - buy one of those rubbery bracelets and wear, just so people ask you about it - whatever it takes! Not just for cf (although, at the end of this post, you KNOW I'm going to tell you how you can help there specifically - lol!), but for those afflicted with diseases, poverty, depression, sicknesses. It's up to us, I believe, to help one another out.

Our 2nd annual Spencer Thies Cystic Fibrosis Fundraiser will be held this year on June 29th at the Meadows Tap in East Peoria. It is a day long event featuring tons of musicians from the area. There will be a bake sale, a silent auction, and at alternate times, a 5k run and a fundraising dinner. This is, of course, a cause right next to and on top of my heart because of my beloved Spencer. Any of you who would like to donate baked goods for the bake sale or any items for the silent auction, please let me know. Here's a recent picture of Spencer eating a donut for breakfast.

Here's What's Up!

Here's a hodge podge of pictures just to let you know what I've been doing (among other things) in my blogging absence. Enjoy!

Glow in the dark Easter egg! 

Glow in the dark Easter egg hunt at Grandma Nola's house! 

Maria, Terrance, Apollo, and Emma with their eggs!

Apollo beating Uncle Jim at arm wrestling!

Spencer putting his pajama pants under my kitchen sink???

Tanner and Amanda all spiffed up!

Tanner and Spencer!

"Ok - let's get this over with!"

Spencer trying to get rid of his Easter clothes!

Spencer eating a doughnut with me for breakfast!

Enjoying that doughnut!

Love that doughnut!

Reca Elaine!

Reca starting to smile and coo!

Reca laying out of Spencer's reach!

Spencer's first trim!

Ellie playing the piano!

Ellie playing the piano and dancing!

Ellie doing that lip thing!

Ellie doing a concert!

Ellie thinking about moving her piano!

Ellie singing into the microphone!

Ellie deciding to just chew on the microphone!