TIME TO RESTRUCTURE

 

QUESTION SEVENTEEN

Question: 

List the last few times that you felt extremely happy.

Answer:

Holding my sleeping grandbaby in my arms.

Driving through the backroads of southeastern Kentucky looking at the amazing landscape. 

Having an in-depth conversation with someone I love. 

Putting time in my studio, just for me. 

Planning my next adventure. 

WORDS TO LIVE BY

“Learn from yesterday, live for today, look to tomorrow, rest this afternoon.”

– CHARLES M. SCHULZ

QUESTION SIXTEEN

 Question: 

What do you look forward to most in your week?

Answer:

I look forward to Fridays! Silly I know, but it’s still that teenage feeling…all great things happen Friday night into the weekend!

QUESTION FIFTEEN

Question: 

What did yo love most about your parental figure in your life? 

Answer:

I can’t really find any good qualities in my parents. I have very few good memories. They taught me what I never wanted to be. 

My maternal grandmother was a wonderful woman. I miss her very much.

My Foster Parents were truly wonderful people. They gave me the opportunity to have a normal teenage experience and to see what a healthy family looks like. I will be eternally grateful to them. 

QUESTION FOURTEEN

Question: 

What is it about your significant other that made you want to be with them?

What attracted you to them in the first place?

Answer: 

I think the thing I liked the most was that he learned and cared for my love languages and the things that make me happy. 

He understands that I need things to look forward to, that I need adventure and travel. That I need Friday night dates and dancing in the kitchen. 

He makes me feel safe and seen. He makes me a priority. That is something I never had before him. ♥️

NEW LEASE ON LIFE

Twenty years ago I sustained an injury to my knee. I saw a doctor, but life was happening and I was not the priority at the time. So I have lived with knee pain ever since. 

The last several years have become a true challenge. Stairs are a true issue. Walking, not too bad. But just standing up from my desk took a moment for my knee to get with the program. 

Last week I went to the orthopedic office and had some X-rays taken. To my surprise, my old injury is no longer my problem. My pain is being caused by some pretty lovely arthritis and best yet… bone on bone friction. 

Well, the doctor was great and told me the options and steps in the process. 

Then he came in with the largest needle I have ever seen. I was brave and did not cry, but ouch for sure. 

The dr said, I may get relief right away or in a couple weeks, or never. But I was to see him again in four weeks. 

I saw results immediately. Not just pain relief, but a total range of motion I hadn’t experienced in a very long time.

I no longer wake up with knee pain, I can climb stairs with no problems and I can even get down on the floor and back up again. Getting in and out of John’s tall truck isn’t an ordeal any more.

I don’t know what the next steps will be, but I am delighted to have the use of my knees again!

Hello new adventures!!!

LITTLE LUXURIES

 I’m not a very Bougie Girl…but I do like a few luxuries. And good bed linen is one of my must haves.

The latest in my collection are an Egyptian Cotton Hotelier set in white stripes. 

It’s been a lifetime since I bought white sheets. But my oh my… these sheets are so nice!

I’m a happy girl!

QUESTION THIRTEEN

Question:

What kind of people do you like to hang out with?

Describe them.

Answer: 

I love positive, happy people. 

People who can carry on a conversation. 

People who share information and knowledge. 

People that add happy to my life. 

SEPTEMBER 2026

https://actionforhappiness.org/

NEVER SAY NO

"Never say no to adventures. Always say yes, otherwise you'll lead a very dull life." 

I.F.

QUESTION TWELVE

Question: 

What activities make you come alive?

Answer:

Sewing, walking in the woods, traveling to places I have never been before. Cooking. 

QUESTION ELEVEN

Question:

Who do you want to be now?

Use your imagination and think of all the things you want to accomplish.

Write them all down.

Answer:

I’m am happy with who I am currently. But these are the things I would love to do in my lifetime.

To create a home decor brand.

To open a cozy tea chat shop.

To be a reflexologist.

To publish a book.

To blog on travel. 

To creat a nightgown collection. 

To start a Dinner Club. 

To open a speak easy. 

These are a few!

QUESTION TEN

 Question: 

Go back to your twenties. What were you doing? What were you the skills and talents that you were developing. Were you starting to do what you truly wanted to be doing? What were your dreams at the time?

Answer:

I had my first baby at 20. I was for the first time truly in love with someone. My second darling girl was born when I was 21. My whole world was those little girls. 

I started cooking and sewing, out of need (money was beyond tight). I made pink scalloped dressed for my baby girls out of a sheet. I got creative with food so the girls would eat healthy food. 

Baby three came along at the end of my twenties and baby 4 came in my early thirties. 

Being a mom was everything I wanted. I loved being a mom, my children were so wonderful. They were my world. 

QUESTION NINE

Question:

What difficult things have you overcome in your life?

Make a list.

Answer:

Abuse at the hands of my parents and grandfather. 

I moved out at 16, two years after I told my mother to never hit me again. 

I married the wrong man, his mother even begged me not to. 

I stayed in that relationship for 24 years too long. 

I lost two daughters in the divorce tragedy. 

I have grandchildren I have not met. (My blog is for them, so when they look for me. I will be right here.)

QUESTION EIGHT

Question: 

What was the point of your life that was a turning point?

Answer: 

I had taken three of my kids on a day trip. At the end of the day, we stopped at the grocery to pick up ice cream. The kids all chose their favorite kinds. And one of them asked what I was getting. I said I would have a taste theirs. But they asked what flavor was my favorite…and I dint know. 

I had put everyone first for so many years (more than 25). And along the way I lost me. 

All the things I planed for my life, the dreams and plans… were replaced by real life. And I feel like I did a fair job of the new life I was handed. But I didn’t know who I was. 

I had trauma from childhood, trauma from my marriage. I was struggling. 

I saw a counselor. Who took me through my entire life- the good the bad and the ugly. The counselor, who I will be eternally grateful for, wanted to go over the work book I had filled in with my life. But prior to give him the book, I sat in his parking lot sobbing. 

A dear friend called at just the right moment. He asked what was wrong, so I vomited up my life. I told him about the book. 

And he said “Close your eyes…walk to the end of the hall and through that book in the closet. Now burn that mother fucker to the ground.” 

So I did. 

I can tell you, my world turned at that moment. I sat there and let all the hurt go. 

I learned so much from that book. But I also learned I didn’t have to hold onto the crap anyone. 

Finding me, was a process that literally took years. It was painful and stressful and hard. But I have put all my pieces together. I found the girl I was, and the woman I have become. 

I have truly learned to like myself. And that led to self love. 

I am the only person I have to wake up with every day of my life. I am the only person who can truly make me happy. And I am the only person who can give me the magic in my life. 

And I love good ice cream with lots of nuts! Equal parts nuts to ice cream. That’s perfect for me! 

QUESTION SEVEN

Question:

Do you know what your name means?

Answer:

My First Name: Angel, Messenger of God

My Middle Name: Beloved

(Ironic that in Hebrew it is Miriam)

I was named for my Grandmother and Great Aunt. 

QUESTION SIX

 Questions:

What did you love or love to do as a child?

What about your teen years? 

Did you have any ideas what you might like to be when you grew up? 

Answers:

I remember making mud pies with my friend Nikki.

I was a sick little kid, and that is when my Grandmother taught me how to crochet. I am still at it. (Working on my fourth afghan this year.)

I remember walking to Encanto Park without a grownup. It was an awesome!

I remember building a community out of tiles and caulking. It was so creative and fun. (Architectural nut)

I sewed a top when I was in 5th or 6th grade. I did it all by hand. It didn’t turn out the way I thought it would, but it was so fun and creative. 

In middle school I drew. Pastels mostly. I tried to capture the mountain range I could see from my backyard. I wasn’t great at it, but it made me happy. 

In my teens, I fell in love with being social. Home life was hard, so fell in love with church and socializing. 

I spent the majority of my teen years living for the Saturday Night Dances! They were the most wonderful thing ever! I will forever be thankful for church dances and late night ice cream at Farrells. 

I was blessed to have really great girl friends. Still have them today. (Just long distance) 

I was also very blessed to have some really great boy friends. They definitely set the bar. (If only I would have stuck with that bar when I married at 19)

I was forced to learn to sew. And I’ll always be so grateful for that. 

I took architecture and culinary in school. I loved them both. I was sure I would go into one of the two fields. 

I did not. 

SMILE

 What a great person she always was!

GRANDBABY TIME