Muffins with Mom – Love and Laughter

 

Photo Credit: Esty

“Deck the hall with love and laughter,” that was the message on the inside wrapper my bite sized Dove chocolate. The message was designed for me, even though I devoured 4 pieces of chocolate to get to it. I believe love and laughter is a good combination, how about you what do you think?

Here’s how it looks in my family…

I love to laugh with my sons (sometimes at their expense).

We’re in need of new blinds for some of the windows at my house. My son and I went to the store where he used to work, I was counting on his expertise.

There was a high-low machine in the aisle, he started touching the gadgets, “This is new, they didn’t have this when I was here.”

“Can we stay focused? Stop touching things.” He was acting like a kid in a candy store.

There were so many options, I held up two styles and asked my son, “What’s the difference in these?”

“$80, and one comes with a remote control.”

“Oh, I don’t need another electronic that I don’t know how work.”

I selected the less expensive blinds. I didn’t need a remote control for my blinds, walking over to do it myself counts towards my exercise.

 

An Apple a Day

Apples are a favorite fruit at my house, especially Honeycrisp. In fact, the Honeycrisp has been center of family disagreements. I’ve heard statements such as:

“Who took the last apple, I didn’t get any?”

“Why are you hiding apples in the china cabinet?”

“You already had three apples today.”

And those were just my comments.

Have you heard the saying, out of sight out of mind? My son provides numerous examples of this when I ask him to grab something from the cabinet.

He says, “I don’t see it.” I knew all he did was hold the cabinet door open and look at eye level. He didn’t move anything around.

I beat my son at his own game. I bought a bag of shiny, crunchy, juice spurting Honeycrisp apples. I put and few in the fruit bowl and place the rest of the bag in a corner of the kitchen counter. Then I covered the bag with a paper towel. Far be it for him to move anything around without being asked.

A fresh bag of apples were all mine for several days before they were discovered.

Deck your halls with love and laughter, a perfect combination; How would you combine these two words?

 

 

Fun Friday – Humor Corner – Virtual Gatherings

 

Photo Credit: iStock

Zoom, GoToMeeting, Google Meet, everything around us is virtual. It was no surprise when an annual conference I attend for work, decided to go virtual. After receiving the notification, I immediately contacted my Human Resource manager and indicated that I still wanted to participate. She said, “send me the details.”

The next email I sent the HR manager said, “will I still receive a meal allowance?”

She ignored me...for a while. I guess asking for mileage was out of the question.

I appreciate the opportunities I’ve had to continue to explore and navigate the waters of virtual, but I’m still learning, and so is my family. We’ve scheduled out Christmas gathering to meet by Zoom. Since the party is usually at my house, I’ve taken the lead on instructing everyone on how to use Zoom. We’re in trouble.

It was at mom’s house on Thanksgiving that we decided do a trial run on Zoom. My brother and I were the only ones scheduled to be in-person; It was our attempt to be safe in this time of COVID-19. After being there a little while, the doorbell rang. We all looked at each other. I said, “whomever it is, don’t let them in, we’re at capacity.”

It was my uncle at the door, and he was wearing a mask, so he joined our small gathering. As he settled in I announced, “hey, let’s practice using Zoom.” I sent the link. We sat spaced around the living room, and this is what I heard.”

“I don’t see the link. Did you send it to me?”

“I got an error message.”

“I saw the link, then it disappeared.”

Then there was me, “all I know how to do is send it to you. I can’t troubleshoot. Maybe we should have invited the kids.”

We eventually got everyone connected. There were squeals of, “I can see Angie. There’s Norm on the couch.”

Then came echoes and loud background noises. “Um, I think some of you need to leave the room. We can’t all be in the same location, it causes feedback.”

My family is almost ready for the Christmas gathering.

How are you coping in the virtual world? Have you had any funny experiences?

Words of Wisdom – The Donkey in the Well

 

Photo Credit: rablininsingh.wordpress

“It's not what happens to you that determines how far you will go in life; it is how you handle what happens to you.”

—Zig Ziglar

Below is a story I’ve seen around the internet many times, may it serve as an inspiration to you.

The Donkey in the Well

One day a farmer's donkey fell down into a well. The animal cried piteously for hours as the farmer tried to figure out a way to get him out. Finally, he decided it was probably impossible and the animal was old, and the well was dry anyway, so it just wasn't worth it to try and retrieve the donkey. So, the farmer asked his neighbors to come over and help him cover up the well. They all grabbed shovels and began to shovel dirt into the well.

At first, when the donkey realized what was happening he cried horribly. Then, to everyone's amazement, he quieted down and let out some happy brays. A few shovel loads later, the farmer looked down the well to see what was happening and was astonished at what he saw. With every shovel of dirt that hit his back, the donkey was shaking it off and taking a step up. (Shifting)

As the farmer's neighbors continued to shovel dirt on top of the animal, he continued to shake it off and take a step up. Pretty soon, to everyone's amazement, the donkey stepped up over the edge of the well and trotted off!

Moral: Life is going to shovel dirt on you. The trick to getting out of the well is to shake it off and take a step up. Every adversity can be turned into a stepping stone. The way to get out of the deepest well is by never giving up but by shaking yourself off and taking a step up.

What happens to you isn't nearly as important as how you react to it.

Author Unknown

If you feel stuck, don’t stay there, keep climbing, you will make it through.