Life – Page 7 – New England's Narrow Road

What Does Your Life Path Look Like?

rocky trail through the woods — rocky mountain path

Without getting too depressing here, this rocky trail photo resembles my life path. And notice it goes up a steep hill, with no end in sight.

So what does your life path look like? Do you ever stop and wonder if you had the chance to choose, way back when, would you have continued on, or not. Most people would say, yes. Life is hard, but it’s worth it (as the song goes).

Maybe your life is more like an easy-to-navigate, country road. Flat, straight and peaceful. We all have our ups and downs and normal sadness in life, but for many, those things are just temporary bumps, and then it’s back to the good stuff. Moving on, accomplishing goals, and doing well.

May your path be interesting and manageable at the least. And never give up. If you are breathing, you have a purpose, although it may be hidden from view. A cure for that disease may be just around the corner. A financial windfall could surprise the heck out of you. And there still may be love in your future. No one knows where their path leads, so keep walking. The journey will end one day, and today I am thankful for that.

Back to School – One More Time

Since 1982 I have been doing the “back to school” thing- yes, for 32 years. At first it was exciting. As a parent of young children, back then, it was fun and scary to see them go off to their first day. I used to take first day of school photos of the kids all dressed in their new clothes. I would bake them a special cake or surprise to celebrate. Each year we’d head to Target or Walmart to buy all those school year supplies.

As time went on, I began to dread school. My 3 boys were not the best students. Their grades did not reflect their abilities, and keeping track of what they needed to do, when they tried their best to hide it from me, was a full time job. Helping with homework was a daily nightmare as well. My husband worked shift work and was no help. While I made supper (after a day at my job), I juggled keeping the baby quiet while answering math questions.
I attended the teacher conferences, and ran the kids back and forth to all their extracurricular activities. I picked them up from the buss stop, and got up early to see them off each day. I lost time at work when they stayed home sick, and sat at all their practices for whatever sport they played.

My children are spaced out in age so when my first son was in elementary school, I had a baby. When those two were in school, I had a baby girl. And when my daughter was in 5th grade, one son was in middle school and the other one had already flunked out of high school. (He went on to get his GED and is now a very successful man). Guess what? I had another baby. This one was not at all planned, and so I began again. When I discovered that I was pregnant the most depressing thought was doing school all over again! In 2003 he had his first day of school, and boy was I over it.

Now my youngest son is starting his junior year of high school. Two years to go. I am not involved with the school. In fact I have as little as possible to do with any of it. I try to keep my son on track and spout the benefits of good grades to deaf ears. I’m used to it. I know that he can still do fine in life even with bad grades. There are more important things.

So here we go again. Yay.

As Christmas Day Begins

Merry Christmas to all my faithful readers and to those who may stumble across this blog today.
I am up early, before the sun is up, to check on my online stores and reply to some e-mail. I always enjoy the peace and quiet of early morning. But soon I will have to start the fire, make french toast and wait for the kiddos to get up.

Thank God they are not up at 4 AM any more! All of you parents who were up super early today, I can definitely relate. The days when Christmas was “over” by 5AM..! It always made for a very long day.
Now my kids are older so I’m sure they will wait until at least 7:00! Pretty sure anyway.

It is snowing, but won’t amount to much I’ve heard. Maybe just enough to give us that white Christmas. I plan to enjoy the fact that two of my four kids are with me. It’s a very good gift. I hope you have special gifts to enjoy too.

Life Overload – Making Kaleidoscope Images

design in pink and green — Fun with lilies

It’s all getting to me. The holidays – no tree up yet. The wedding plans – are called off. The lack of sales at my online stores – always happens this time of year. I need to get to the dentist. I need to find a good homeopath. Make a will. Find new health insurance. Write, blog, promote, bake, clean, walk, diet…. and on it goes. Until I just seem to shut down and do nothing.

So I began to play with my Paint program. Usually I will design something when everything else gets tiresome. I lose myself in playtime and usually discover new things while I’m at it.

Such was the case when I began to make kaleidoscope images from some of my photography. I spent all day Sunday doing this. I’d find an image with some good colors and mess with them until they looked good and then enlarge and save.

The round results are designs that I can add to products in my Zazzle stores such as the new wall clocks and dartboards. They may never sell, but it was fun to do. I am now considering some other uses for them as well. If I can get my act together.