Why, Hello Summer

I've been encouraged/challenged by my good friend over at A Simply Enchanted Life to write a week in review post.  However a title about week in review just doesn't 'fit' for how I tend to write stuff.  I meant to sit down and write this last night but I was exhausted.  Summer has arrived here in Bolivar and I hope it sticks around while keeping the temperatures manageable.  Probably too much wishful thinking in that last sentence!

As most of you know I live in an apartment though not really a 'complex'.  There are a total of 8 apartments in two buildings.  The one I am in is actually the downstairs of the old house that was converted then added on to.  In the summer I am blessed with concrete walls which keeps my place cooler without having to run the air conditioning constantly.  In the winter I am cursed to have concrete walls as it takes so much to ever not be a block of ice.  I am blessed with amazing neighbors (except for the apartments next door as no one lives there currently but I have high hopes that whomever moves in will fit with the rest of our group.)  Yesterday the back neighbors and I met outside with all the neighborhood kids to play sidewalk chalk, ride bikes and scooters, and of course water balloons.  Summer can't arrive without some sort of water fight.

 The rules were simple...I thought.  Kids can only throw at kids.  Adults could only throw at kids.  In theory the adults were saved from getting wet.  Somehow it really didn't work that way.  The girl child and I made cupcakes and it was her first time using the mixer by herself - and she did amazing!  And then I made two of my special pizza's for everyone.  (Chicken Spinach (fresh only) Alfredo Pizza.  I realized once it was too late that I had some bacon in the freezer I could have added.  It was yummy anyway :D  I forgot to grab a picture at the time but I did get a picture of the aftermath. . .

All in all, a little bit of sunburn and total exhuastion later it was an amazing start to summer!  The week leading up to this was busy with late nights at The Day Job and some situations that will take time to figure out.  The normal running back and forth to Stockton and paperwork. . . the reason for my existence. And today I must add a shout out to my parents as they celebrate their 40th Wedding Anniversary.  Love ya Ma and Pa!

Happy New Year

I thought long and hard about the 2014 blog I wanted to write.  I've written many times through the years how I feel about the tradition of New Year's Resolutions.  Not a fan, in case you missed any of those.  It's not that I'm against making choices and proactively working toward improving yourself and your life.  I think when you stop working toward moving forward you stop...period.  However, I don't see the point in waiting for a magical turn of the calendar to start working at making those changes.  Birthday resolutions, Valentine's resolutions, Easter resolutions, Halloween resolutions could all carry just as much importance.  The most important thing is to set your goals for something and then make a plan to achieve them.  I feel like the majority of people don't fulfill their resolutions.  I believe the main reason they don't fulfill them is because they are vowed because of the calendar and not because of actual forethought and planning.  (That is the condensed version :S)

But as I thought all this through this year and the fact that I do love New Year's Day.  I really do!  The calendar kept coming back to me.  For years I have kept a planner.  An actual paper planner.  And I write everything down.  Mostly work stuff but the other important things too.  Today we get to open a new book.  A new planner.  Twelve months worth of events and memories to record.  And what we record on those calendars are our stories.  Our memories.  Things that help to shape the person we will become through the year.  The person we will be a year fom now as we begin another journey through the days.  I love calendars.  I love planners.  And today is a blank slate.  Well, ok I've already starting filling mine in with meetings and birthdays and appointments.  But it's a blank page.  Another set of stories to be written in the journey.  For her entire adult life my Grandma kept a diary.  She wrote every day even it was just the weather or who visited or what they did with the animals.  I tried the whole diary thing and kinda epic fail.  I couldn't find a way to be consistent.  I'd do ok for a while and then slack off for months.  And who wants to take the time to 'back track' life just in case someone reads it down the road.  A planner though, a calendar, easy to fill in the important things.

Today, really appreciate that blank slate.  Twelve months of empty days waiting to be filled with life, with living.  There are events to record, memories to be made, and stories to be written over that time.  Today is the day to reflect on who you became in 2013 and anticipate the potential of 2014.  Make it the best collection yet!

Grateful Traditions

Thanksgiving Day.  Today is the day that we, as American's, have set aside to take time to be with family, eat Turkey, and be thankful for all that we have.  It is a day to travel.  A day to eat.  A day to plan your major shopping plan of attack for the sales.  It is the least commercial (or has been traditionally at least) of American major holidays.  Thanksgiving has always been my favorite of holiday as well.  

Thanksgiving doesn't care what your budget is or how many presents you can bring to the party.  Though the ability to make something off the charts awesome in the kitchen is respected.  Thanksgiving doesn't care whether you are gathered with two people or twenty.  Thanksgiving doesn't care if you are eating a turkey sandwich by yourself watching movies.  Thanksgiving cares about what is in your heart.  Hope beats bitterness.  Love beats apathy.  Peace beats revenge.  Rich, poor, hopeful, apathetic, alone, or with many; Thanksgiving doesn't care.

Right now, to be perfectly honest, I'm suffering for something akin to ADHD on crack.  That really makes it hard to develop and type coherent thoughts.  My coffee limit is about 2 cups a day, preferably in the morning.  However, I had about 3 cups in 20ish minutes after lunch.  I have so many things I would like to convey to you but they are sorta jumbled in the attention deficit that is happening in my brain right now.   

Thanksgiving is my absolute favorite holiday.  Just the premise of a holiday that is, at the foundation, about gratitude and giving.  It's quite cliche to say this, however despite how bad we feel about our lives are they could always be worse.  Regardless of what we feel we don't have but want/need we could have even less than we do.  I told you it was cliche and possibly even trite.  There are times in all of our lives that we think it can't get any worse.  There are times in all of our lives where we feel like everything is falling into place.  Most of the time we live somewhere in the middle.  The key to contentment, in my opinion, is to be grateful right where you are.  We don't need a holiday to be grateful for what we have.  It helps.  Many have started participating in the 30 days of thankful on social media.  Gratefulness for 30 days is a step up from 1 day.  But that leaves 11 months for us to remember to stop periodically and just be.  Be in our moment, grateful for what we have, thankful we have the opportunities we have.  Even if they aren't what we want, where we want, they are still better than the other options out there.  

Eight years ago Ma and I made our first Thanksgiving Day trip to Backroads Pizza and Grill in Hawk Point Missouri (outside Troy...near St. Louis).  Just the two of us.  A cousin owns the restaurant and that side of the family all chose to meet there for the day.  That was the year that Grandma had passed away and it was Ma's first holiday as an orphan.  I don't think it matters your age, the first holiday's without a parent is a big deal.  I personally actually like this particular branch of the family.  I enjoy spending time with them listening to the chatter and just absorbing the ambiance.  Eight years ago Ma and I started a new holiday tradition.  Traditions become traditions because they just feel right.  I had no grandparents to spend the day with anymore.  And going to visit this branch of the family, specifically Great Aunt Gladys who feels more like another grandma than anything else.  Hawk Point and Thanksgiving go together like pumpkin pie and hotel rooms :D  (Remind me to tell you about hotel pie one day.)  Thanksgiving and Hawk Point is a tradition I hope continues for many more years.  It just feels right.

Today I am grateful for coffee.  Even if it helped to create a disjointed soup of a blog that I'm not even sure I can follow along.  I am grateful for my car which gets me where I need and want to go, most of the time.  I am grateful for my day job that I love.  I may not always be the best or even close to right but I enjoy my job and the people I get to spend time with every day.  I am grateful for the Fizzy Pop Collection.  The FPC gives me opportunities to engage in different social arenas and outlets that I might not otherwise engage in.  It allows me to be as creative as I want to be when I want to be creative.  I am ever so grateful for my family, ok most of it :D  My family, past, present, and future play a role in who I am in this moment and at any moment in my life.  I'm Granny, Grandma, Ma, and many others all wrapped into one.  All of that makes me who I am for better or worse.  I am grateful for my friends.  My chosen family.  Every person I have allowed in my life through the years has helped to shape who I am. I am thankful for those friends I can connect with randomly or consistently and always know where I am like it was moments since we last connected.  I am grateful that I can write about my gratefulness and share my gratefulness.  

And you know what, I'm grateful for coffee :D  If you actually made it this far and aren't really sure what the message was have some coffee and try again.  I swear it makes sense when you are on caffeine overload!  I am grateful for each person who has the opportunity to do anything they desire on the internet and they chose to read this. Whether you see this today or three months from now share with my your grateful.  What are YOU thankful for?

~~Jan~~

What was...and Will Be

2012 was an amazing year full of many ups and downs.  I’ve neglect to write my traditional Thanksgiving blog, lost time to write the hilarious Halloween blog and slept through writing a Christmas blog.  So, I’m going to make the New Year’s Blog happen!

Over the last year I took an amazing promotion with The Day Job (TDJ).  The first 6 weeks were kinda rough, driving about an hour away one way to work but getting to come back home to work after that has been such a blessing.  I don’t regret the decision to take this position one bit.  I also celebrated the first anniversary of The Fizzy Pop Collection this year, which has been more successful than I dreamed considering I took some considerable time off from actively promoting due to TDJ change.  The highlight, at times, is that Munchkin and MooMoo came back to live here.  And Goobie came along in September.    I’ve gathered some amazing memories this year, found new friends, grew a deeper appreciation for the friends I had (and still have!), reconnected with some old friends I hadn’t seen in ages, and started the road to some definite changes professionally and personally. 

I’m looking forward to 2013.  To continue to develop the changes and growth with TDJ and The Fizzy Pop Collection.  To spend more time with the wee ones and my amazing friends and family.  To read more.  To play more.  To blog more.  To love more.  And, and, and….so much more~

Happy Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving is my absolute favorite time of year.  Sandwiched between Halloween and Christmas it is the most commercially overlooked holiday of the ‘holiday season’.  It stands as a reminder once a year, to take time away from our hustle for more, to be thankful for what we have, be it big or small.  I am blessed daily to have a day job I love, a business that makes me happy, family that supports me and friends that love me.  I’m not limited by my community or my address as I have friends across the earth. 

As I write this I am sitting in my cousin’s restaurant listening to small groups chatter and catch up.  (Not that most of us didn’t just see each other at the family reunion the end of September.)  Having a restaurant kitchen to prepare a meal in is kinda awesome in its own right.  For me, the tradition to travel with Ma to Troy started just a few years ago.  The year my grandma passed away (in October) was the first year they had a family gathering here.  Ma and I decided to come up.  And we have continued to return every year, just us, as well as a summer trip about every other summer.  Since switching positions at my day job this year I really had to sweat out getting my vacation to come up here.  But here I am.

Thankful lists have become more and more prominent this year.  On Facebook, I have several friends doing a post a day of what they are thankful for.  While it is nice to see the heart of the season becoming more than just a ‘day to eat turkey and watch football, well after the parade of course’, I wish we as a culture (myself included) where more in-tune to be thankful for our blessings throughout the year.  Think how many little things we encounter each day throughout the year that we are too busy to notice. 

I’m thankful for the holidays.  I am thankful for a supportive family.  I am thankful for loving friends.  I am thankful for a job that I do love.  I am thankful for a business that brings me happiness.  I am thankful for Munchkin, MooMoo, and Goobie who bring me constant learning experiences.  And that is just a highlight of the big ones.  There is not enough space to list out everything I have to be thankful for. 

At this moment, I am thankful for You, the reader, who took time from your day to read about mine.  May your day be filled with love, laughter, memories, and gratitude for all of life’s moments big and small!