Annual Family Portrait

Good Wednesday morning!

The Gallery Pics are from our Krispy Kreme visit Tuesday night after the McAdory volleyball game. It has become a tradition. If we play McAdory (at McAdory), we go to Krispy Kreme after the game. If we lose, we go to Krispy Kreme to lift our spirits. If we win, we go to Krispy Kreme to celebrate. On this particular evening, we were celebrating!

RANDOMNESS #1 - I received my Martha Stewart Living magazine yesterday, and, as is my custom, I went straight to Martha's Calendar. It's an amazing calendar. Although I did the same thing last month, I want to do a little comparison. Bear with me, please.

MARTHA - October 1

Morning workout
Plant garlic
Apply compost to vegetable gardens

BELINDA - October 1

Eat breakfast
Walk two miles
Eat second breakfast
Water dead fern
Pretend "brown" is the desired color of all outside plants

MARTHA - October 2

Schedule a mammogram
Remind female friends to do so, too
Take down outdoor clothesline

BELINDA - October 2

Take a moment to be thankful mammogram isn't until January
Wash three loads of clothes
If dryer is broken, throw wet clothes over neighbor's fence

MARTHA - October 3

Put away stable fans
Replenish supply of vitamins and fish oil
Set up humidifiers throughout house

BELINDA - October 3

MARTHA TAKES FISH OIL, TOO. COOL!
Host Josh's 17th birthday celebration

MARTHA - October 4

Morning workout
Have house boilers serviced
Horseback ride

BELINDA - October 4

Eat a piece of Josh's birthday cake
Walk two miles
Eat second piece of Josh's birthday cake
Find out what a "house boiler" is

See. We are so similar it is uncanny. (By the way, the October 2010 magazine is amazing!)

RANDOMNESS #2 - Below you will find goals 11 through 15 from my To Do List. I get nervous just looking at the growing list... but I have a plan... I think. No! I do! I do have a plan!

11. I would like to have a scrapbook page featured in a magazine. That would be SO cool! I have about 4,500 to choose from, so I'm going to start sending those in very soon.

12. I would like to start and/or participate in an OCD support group. I have quite a bit of research to do regarding this goal, but I think it is time. Of course, one of the BIG obstacles regarding OCD is the secrecy surrounding the illness. Meeting people who want to come out in the open and talk about it freely will not be an easy task.

13. I want to eat at two more restaurants featured on Diners, Drive-ins and Dives. I've eaten at six, and they've all be great. If there is a GIANT picture of Guy Fieri hanging above the cash register, you know you're going to have a great meal!

14. I DON'T want to take a digital photography class... but I NEED to. I want to go ahead and get this one over with this year. It is hanging over my head like a cloud. If you've known me two minutes, you know I do NOT like to attend meetings... and at this point in my life, a digital photography class sounds like and feels like a long, boring, technical meeting. Yuck! (But I will be happy if and when I accomplish this goal. I know I will!)

15. I want to spend an entire day and ride a tube down a real river with family and friends. My friend, Karman, suggested this a few weeks ago, and I am all over this one. It requires sitting... in a tube... in cool water... for several hours. I don't know about you, but this has "Olympic Sport for 49 Year-Old Women" written ALL over it!

I'll list the last five tomorrow, and then it will be time to get busy!

Wednesday Wisdom - "Kindness" is the word for the day. Below, I think you will see why!

"A kind and compassionate act is often its own reward." William John Bennett

"How far you go in life depends on you being tender with the young, compassionate with the aged, sympathetic with the striving and tolerant of the weak and the strong. Because someday in life, you will have been all of these." George Washington Carver

"Kindness is more than deeds. It is an attitude, an expression, a look, a touch. It is anything that lifts another person." C. Neil Strait

"Kindness is the language which the deaf can hear and the blind can see." Mark Twain

I hope we all will show someone kindness and compassion this Wednesday, September 15, 2010. We'll be the better for doing so.

Annual Family Portrait

While many of us are vigilant about taking annual family portraits when the kids are small, it is just as important as your children become teenagers. If possible, it would be a wonderful tradition to continue as the family gets older and grows with the addition of sons-in-law, daughters-in-law and grandchildren.

Now, it won't necessarily be easy. It isn't EASY when the kids are little! But with the holidays fast approaching, pick a time when everyone (or almost everyone) will be together. If Thanksgiving or Christmas is not the perfect time, it may be a family reunion, a different holiday, a grandparent's birthday, etc.

Whatever time you pick, try your best to ANNUALLY take the family portrait. It doesn't have to be a professional picture (although there are affordable professional photographers out there).

Everyone's clothes do not have to match (although just asking the participants to wear solid color shirts and jeans can help make a beautiful photo).

It is one of those traditions you will appreciate more and more and more as the years go by. If it has been a while since you've done this with your family, plan a time during this upcoming fall season and start a new tradition.

Have a spectacular Wednesday. It's going to be a hot one... again. But I can bear it because I know there's a cool breeze just around the corner. But not today. Thursday I'll be sharing Blog Linkage, Dates and the last of my 20 goals!

Take care, and I'll talk to you tomorrow.

Sincerely,

The Enchanting Belinda