Words of Wisdom - Achieving Goals - Inspirational video

YouTube Video Credit: l3ianaSerrano

Muffins with Mom – Whispered words – when a teen speaks



A mother and son moment

It was the morning of our annual youth Christmas program at church. I sat on the front pew with the other Sunday school teachers to assist the kids if they needed prompting. My teen son arrived at church after I did, since I had to be there early.

When my son arrived, he came and sat next to me on the front pew. As I watched the kids recite their lines, my son leaned in and whispered something to me. In a muffled tone what I heard was, mumble, mumble, “Mustache is long.”

In a hushed tone, I repeated what I thought my son said. “Did you say your mustache is long?”

He smiled at me and said, “No yours is long.”

I lovingly elbowed my son in his arm as I clapped for the little girl who had just finished reciting her lines.

As we left church, walking side by side, I leaned over and whispered to my son. “When you decide to marry, may your wife’s mustache be as long as mine.”

My son just looked at me and said, “Wow.”

Has your child ever said something awkward in public? How did you respond?

Feel Good Friday - Merry Chrismas

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Wishing you a Christmas filled with family, friends, and fun. As you enjoy your festivities, remember Jesus is the reason for the season. Take time to give thanks as you spend time with loved ones.

Here's a peek into my family Holiday...

 

 

 

Mummy Wrap Contest (winner)

 

 

Unwrap the gift of thankfulness.

 

Wordless Wednesday - Gold Wrapping Paper - An Inspirational Christmas Story

YouTube Video Credit: DareToDoYourBest

Muffins with Mom – Dashing through the house

 

Dashing through the house, ready for visitors on the way,

Planning a meal for them to eat and games for them to play.

Before my son arrived home from college for the holiday season, I told him everything was the same as it was when he left…a mess. He arrived just in time to help prepare for the family, pre-Christmas dinner.

I waited for help with game ideas for our dinner, but instead, my teen boys were busy dashing through the house playing. From another room I heard the bumping, thumping sounds of WWE Wrestle Mania in my living room. My help had go astray.

I was left on my own to hurry and scurry,

To hang stockings with care and not worry.

In just a couple of days my home will be filled with the laughter and sharing of family that make the hustle and bustle of the holiday worthwhile. There is always at least one story that is etched in our memory from the previous year.

Creating memories is the best part of this time of year. There seems to be a lot of dashing off somewhere. At our house, it’s dashing off to church, dashing to the store and of course, dashing through the house in preparation for family.

What are your plans for the Holiday season? Will you dash around hurriedly with last minute preparations or relax and enjoy a slower pace?

Wishing you a happy holiday season!

Fun Friday –Bloopers on the job

Have ever had anything funny happen to you while at work? It happened to me recently and it wasn’t the first time.

Before I begin the story, allow me to give you a little backstory. I have always encouraged my teen boys to take speech classes and to accept speaking roles. “It’s a good way to become comfortable speaking at gatherings,” I told them.

My words of speaking advice for the boys has been threefold…

·         Speak slowly

·         Speak clearly

·         Project your voice

As I made an attempt to follow my own advice, I fell flat. It happened when I was called upon to say a few words at a luncheon. Here’s my story.

Holiday Luncheon

It was our annual Holiday Luncheon for one of our programs at work. There were over 150 people present. Just before lunch was served, my coordinator asked our public officials to greet the crowd. Each person gave a few remarks, then returned to the back of the room, where I also stood.

I had already circulated throughout the room greeting regular members and welcoming new faces. It was not my plan to speak at the mic. However, as soon as I popped a peppermint in my mouth, my coordinator said, “Angie, would you like to say a few words?”

I quickly crunched my peppermint as I walked around the maze of tables to the front of the room. My comments started out with correct grammar, I projected my voice, and then at some point, my tongue got twisted and did a thing of its own.

When trying to say Merry Christmas, it came out Murray Crit Mas. And when I tried to correct myself, I said it the same way again. I explained to the audience that I really did know how to talk, but my tongue was not cooperating at the moment. I wished them a Happy Holiday as they laughed with me.

I had mastered the art of speaking fluent gibberish.

When I told my son about my fumbled speaking moment, he shared an embarrassing moment on his job.

An escalator ride

Going up the down escalator

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My teen son, Donovan, is working at a department store for the holiday season. He told me about an episode that happened the other day. He was given the task of returning a few clothing items from one department to another. This required taking an escalator ride.

My son stepped onto the down escalator with his arms loaded with several pair of pants. About four steps down, he looked back and realized that he’d dropped a pair of pants at the top of the escalator.

Donovan turned and attempted to run up the moving steps while they were still moving downward. He said he felt like he was on an elliptical machine just moving, but not going anywhere.

A customer noticed Donovan’s signs of struggle, grabbed the pants from the floor and tossed them to him. He caught the pants, chuckled and said, “thanks.”

What bloopers have you experienced recently?

Wordless Wednesday - Bake Cookies Day

December 18th is celebrated as Bake Cookies Day. Do you have a favorite cookie recipe? I haven't tried these, but they look good.

No Bake Cookies and Cream Bar

oatmeal cookies

shortbread cookies

chocolate chip cookies

Muffins with Mom – Reflections-A Letter to God

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If you wrote a letter to God, what would it include? During my teen years, my brother and I attended a special “Watch Night” church service with my mom on New Year’s Eve. We attended a non-denominational church and the service was different than what I was used to at other churches.

The singing was quiet, no menagerie of instruments or cymbals, just peaceful songs. The New Year’s Eve service consisted of singing Let there be peace on earth, a message from the pastor, then writing a letter to God.

In writing our letter to God, we were to list affirmations, positive things we wanted to see happen in our lives in the coming year. In a way, it was like praying on paper. You could let your emotions flow as you expressed things you may not have been ready to verbalize.

We addressed our letters to ourselves and left them at the church. Six months later the letter was mailed to us. It was an opportunity to reflect on the direction life had taken us and see if we had accomplished what we wanted.

When my teens were younger, I had them write a letter to God. I let them treat it as a private conversation between them and God. I tucked away their completed letter for six months then returned it to them.

The boys were amazed at the things they had included in their letter. Some things had actually happened others, they still needed to work on. They included things like-improved grades, better attitude in school, etc.

More than anything, for my boys, the process of writing down their thoughts helped put things in perspective. For me, the letter writing process was a way to express gratitude as well a symbolic representation of my faith.

As this year comes to a close will you take the time to reflect? What good things have occurred in your life? What are you looking forward to in the New Year? Put it in a letter to God.

Don't Worry Be Happy - Six Silly Situations

What do you do to release a little silly after a stressful day? Try laughing. Experts say endorphins from laughter promote a sense of well being and can temporarily relieve pain. Find something that will help you get your giggle on.

Here are my six silly situations where giggles filled the atmosphere.

 

 

 

 

 

 

What have you done to create a little silly? Your challenge for the upcoming week is to create six silly situations or situations that make you giggle.

 

Words of Wisdom - Faith

YouTube Video Credit: Life Inspirational Message

Muffins with Mom – In time for Christmas – Holiday Traditions

It’s the most wonderful time of the year-Christmas. During this time, my family celebrates the birth of Jesus and we engage in fun, friendship and fellowship. It’s all a part of our Holiday tradition. What are your Holiday traditions?

Our top three Holiday traditions are:

1.      Decorate the Christmas tree

2.      Family dinner at our house

3.      Participate in the Sunday school Christmas program at church

In case you’re wondering what this looks like at our house, the story begins the day after Thanksgiving.

Once upon a Holiday, on a brisk November morning, I asked my teen son to help decorate our pre-lit Christmas tree. Yes, the tree is one with lights already attached, so decorating should be pretty simple, right? Wrong, it’s a matter of perspective.

The day after Thanksgiving is when I like to put up the Christmas tree. This gives me plenty of time to enjoy the multi-color lights as they illuminate our living room. When I asked my son to help hang the bulbs and garland, he was less than excited. He said, “Can we celebrate Kwanzaa instead?”

I kept hanging bulbs as I replied to my son, “You know, celebrating Kwanzaa is not a replacement for Christmas. And you still have to help decorate.”

“Oh, never mind,” he said.

While decorating the tree was completed in a timely manner, getting my son to hang the Christmas lights outside was another hurdle. After several days of prodding, I arrived home to dangling lights hung with care, well almost.

I’m not sure whether my son carefully hung the lights or just tossed them in the air and hoped they landed in the right places. However, he managed to complete the job in time to go to a basketball game at school. It was mission accomplished according to his teen priorities.

Once upon a Holiday, on a cozy December night, I received a text from my other son who is away at school.  He said he is scheduled to work the day of our family Christmas dinner. Hmph. So my options are to have the dinner without him or reschedule it for a different date. I’m working on changing the date.

Our final Christmas tradition, the Sunday school program, is in the planning stage-lines for the kids to learn, rehearsals to schedule and shopping for goodie bags. And this will conclude the scheduled traditions-just in time for Christmas. The only thing left to do after this is to curl up with a good book and do nothing more.

What are your family Holiday traditions?

Fun Friday – The lighter side of parenthood

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As a parent, there is never a dull moment. Some days are more challenging than others. I encourage you to make an effort to uncover the lighter side of challenging situations. Here are a few stories from my tool belt of life situations.

Kids and grades

When you ask your kids about their grades or upcoming tests do they willingly tell you? Mine don’t. The best way to get information from them is to threaten to show up at their school, looking like you just got out of bed. And I sleep with a purple doo rag on my head, tied in the front, looking like Aunt Jemima.

On the drive to school one morning, when my son was in middle school, I asked him what class he was going to have a test in next day. He said, “I don’t know.” So I asked, “Well, what’s going to be on the test?” His response once again was an exasperated, “I don’t know Ma, energy or something.” I said that’s ok I’ll go inside when we get to the school and ask your teacher.

He said, “Nooooo, energy = mass times the weight of….?” So Jr. Einstein did know a little something.

Aging

I had to renew my drivers’ license at the Secretary of State office. The clerk had me read an eye chart. She could clearly see that I was wearing glasses, so why put me through the torture of squinting and trying to read those little letters? But she did.

I pressed my forehead against the desk top machine and tried to adjust my eyes in the appropriate lenses (glasses on). The letters were fading in an out and looked like they were floating. I read them aloud very slowly, A….E…no, B. She stopped me and said, “thank you.”

She took out her industrial sized stamper and stamped my paper work. When I looked at the paper, the large red words read, CORRECTIVE LENSES. I could have just told her that I need my glasses to drive.

Weight Challenges

My forty something year old brother maintains a workout regimen in an effort to hold onto his youthful muscular body (hehe-good luck with that one). On his way to the gym one morning, he grabbed his workout shirt from the closet and headed out.

Once at the gym, my brother changed into his workout shirt, a compression shirt. I would consider a compression shirt along the same lines as Spanx for women. He hadn’t worn the shirt in a while and forgot how it fit.

My brother described the scene to me. He popped his head through the neck of the shirt like a turtle, then struggled to push his arms through each hole. He wrestled to pull the rest of the shirt over his chest and stomach.

Finally, the compression shirt was in place and was doing its job…compressing his overflowing areas. Success was achieved, my brother had on his man girdle. I welcomed him to the world trying to camouflage your weight.

What funny situations have you experienced lately?

Words of Wisdom – Two Traveling Angels

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Below is a story I came across while surfing the web…be inspired.

Two traveling angels stopped to spend the night in the home of a wealthy family. 
The family was rude and refused to let the angels stay in the mansion’s guest room.
Instead, the angels were given a small space in the cold basement.
As they made their bed on the hard floor, the older angel saw a hole in the wall and repaired it.
When the younger angel asked why, the older angel replied, “Things aren’t always what they seem.”
The next night, the pair came to rest at the house of a very poor, but very hospitable farmer and his wife.
After sharing what little food they had, the couple let the angels sleep in their bed where they could have a good night’s rest.
When the sun came up the next morning, the angels found the farmer and his wife in tears.
Their only cow, whose milk had been their sole source of income, lay dead in the field.
The younger angel was infuriated and asked the older angel,
“How could you have let this happen? The first man had everything, yet you helped him!” She accused, “The second family had little, but was willing to share everything…and you let the cow die!”
“Things aren’t always what they seem,” the older angel replied.
“When I stayed in the basement of that mansion, I noticed there was gold stored in that hole in the wall. Since the owner was so obsessed with greed and was unwilling to share his good fortune, I sealed the wall so he wouldn’t find it.
Then last night, as we slept in the farmer’s bed, the angel of death came for his wife. I gave him the cow instead. Like I said, things aren’t always what they seem.”

The moral of the story: If you have faith, you just need to trust that every outcome is always to your advantage. You just might not know it until sometime later!

Author Unknown