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Posts Tagged ‘Grandparenting’

Happy Work

Posted in Books, Journaling, Wedding, Country, tagged , , , , , on December 20, 2012| 5 Comments »

Here I am, inbetween the Love Bug’s morning nap and her Mama coming home from a night shift at the hospital. It’s raining so I guess there will be no trip in the Big Bob stroller to the bagel store for lunch. The diapers were all washed (yes, she wears real cloth diapers) and put away with care, in hopes that St Nick will visit the Music City and find this new, wee one. It’s stranger still that I wrote about holiday stress right before the unthinkable shooting in CT, and now it feels like happiness may be harder to come by this holiday season for the whole country. Why did I turn on CNN this morning to hear that some savvy business is selling bullet-proof backpacks? And others are talking about teaching teachers to handle a gun. So along with learning how to administer an EpiPen shot for the occasional peanut allergy, who thinks we should require teachers to attend a shooting range?

Let’s give ourselves a break – a news break and a happiness boost. This is a short and sweet article about the 5 things you can do to increase your happiness. Or rather, the five mistakes people make; the lies we tell ourselves in order to achieve some sort peace. So by inverse reasoning, you should be able to just stop doing these things and smile. I was intrigued to find there is just one lie I tell myself:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/12/19/how-to-be-happy-in-life-happiness_n_2287903.html?1355931524&ncid=edlinkusaolp00000009#slide=1875204

#3 “It shouldn’t be work!”

I’m not happy because it’s just too darn hard to be happy. The author, Amy Shearn talks about her friend who is very Eeyore-like, “…terrible things befall her constantly, confirming her belief that the world is a grim place. Her Eeyore-ish, “Oh bother”-ness is so much a part of her that she seems to think happiness is simply not for her, as if some people were just Eeyores and some were just Pooh Bears (happy, simple, kind of dumb).”
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So it’s good to remember that happiness actually takes some work, keeping up with our friends – and not just texting them. Taking time to help those in need – like the therapy dogs that walked into Newton and stole their hearts. Just getting out of our own heads for a time will improve any old rainy day!

The Bride has returned and when I told her I was writing about happiness, she smiled at me and said, “Like being a Grandmother?” So true baby girl!! photo

Here are the other 4 lies:
1) Happiness will come after my big success
2) My happiness comes in a box from Amazon
3) Happy people never quit
4) There’s no point in asking the universe for what I want

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Wait, What?

Posted in Books, Journaling, Wedding, Country, tagged , , , on December 18, 2012| 4 Comments »

It’s that time of year. Flu season. The Love Bug’s nanny doesn’t believe in vaccinations – or flu shots – I know. So I’m starting my Christmas love fest with the Grand Baby a little early. I packed the car, finished up an audio book, and rolled into the Music City just in time to see her waking up from a nap! Image

And this old reporter is taking a news sabbatical. I’m happy to hear that the President and Congress may be revisiting that assault weapon ban. That Morning Joe has had a change of heart. That Dick’s Sporting Goods are pulling some of their guns off the shelves. Sixteen year olds at Columbine, twenty-somethings in Blacksburg; but the tipping point had to be 6 year olds in Newtown. My Tangerine Tango editor, Lisa Winkler, was a beat reporter in Danbury, CT. Her blog post hit home for me. http://cyclingrandma.wordpress.com/2012/12/16/newtown-ct-my-town-your-town-our-town/

On my way across TN, I stopped at a Drive-Thru of Christmas Lights extraordinaire, and of course took an Instagram picture for my family followers.Image

Still reading some news today (sworn off TV news), I read this:http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-20767537

“Facebook’s photo-sharing site Instagram has updated its privacy policy giving it the right to sell users’ photos to advertisers without notification. Unless users delete their Instagram accounts by a deadline of 16 January, they cannot opt out.”

Seems more and more like we are living in an Orwellian world. 

 

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“Charity Begins at Home”

Posted in Books, Journaling, Wedding, Country, tagged , , , , , , , , , on November 27, 2012| Leave a Comment »

This was another phrase the Flapper used regularly. As a young child, I wasn’t quite sure what she meant. She was living “hand to mouth” for many years; widowed, crippled by a drunk driver, small children at home. She was radically frugal, as many Depression era people could be, mending clothes and never throwing out food, always finding creative ways to serve leftovers, if we had any. Too proud to take help from the Salvation Army, I thought she meant we take care of our own – save money for my brothers so they could go to college. If there was some left, maybe I’d be able to go, the last of 6. When you grow up poor, having new shoes on your feet and good food on the table was enough. After all, we had each other. Charity was something you tried to avoid, there was little or nothing left to give at the end of the year.

I tend to think of it differently now. Today is “Giving Tuesday” http://givingtuesday.org: “We have a day for giving thanks. We have two for getting deals. This year help create #GivingTuesday™, the giving season’s opening day.”

Bob and I tend to give to those causes we are passionate about, like the Salvation Army. Not only do they have a history with my family, they seem to be the first to show up after a natural disaster. I am also deeply committed to women’s reproductive health and saving Roe vs Wade. It is not counter-intuitive to think that abortion rates would fall in this country with increased access to contraception. So Planned Parenthood is on my list: http://news.yahoo.com/us-abortions-fall-5-pct-biggest-drop-decade-171356037.html And I’m not thinking twice about it. Donating to our colleges will also be on the list.

But if we take my Mother’s advice further, charitable giving also includes delivering bags of food to the local Food Bank. Buying the clothes and toys listed on a giving tree for a disadvantaged child in our community. Volunteering at the Charlottesville Free Clinic. And when our children were young, we would help to serve Christmas dinner at a local church through our synagogue. I can’t stress how important modeling this kind of service is for your children. Time or money, if you can donate to a cause that resonates with you, all the better. Here is a quick read to help you navigate websites for different charities, It’s important to do the research.
http://www.forbes.com/sites/nextavenue/2012/11/26/6-mistakes-to-avoid-when-giving-to-charity/

Hurricane Sandy relief efforts will be foremost in my thoughts this year. The Parlor Mob’s music was set to this surfer’s American Red Cross appeal: http://www.surfermag.com/videos/jersey-love/ “There’s nothin’ like Jersey when it’s good.” But if you really want to help our area, there is always Woody’s in Sea Bright, or what is left standing in Sea Bright. “Like” this Facebook page to see what our old neighbors need: https://www.facebook.com/SeaBrightRising?fref=ts

And as my editor reminded me, our little stocking stuffer book, “Tangerine Tango” (just click on the book in the margin) is donating its profits to fight Huntington’s Disease http://www.hdsa.org If you’re not familiar with her blog, I can highly recommend Lisa’s slice of NJ life! http://cyclingrandma.wordpress.com. Happy Giving everyone.

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Words Will Never Hurt?

Posted in Books, Journaling, Wedding, Country, tagged , , , , , , , , on November 8, 2012| 4 Comments »

I’ve been on the road. Listening to Maeve Binchy and avoiding trucks in the Smoky Mountains that for some reason like to pull into the left lane to pass other trucks, very slowly. And so I missed alot of the Monday Wednesday morning political quarterbacking. And since I was driving, I couldn’t just whip out my camera, or phone, to take a picture of a very disturbing billboard. It was red, white and blue, very tasteful looking, and in big letters it said, “Obama and America.” So at first I was drawn in, it made me look to the left and take my eyes off the road for a second or two between Nashville and Knoxville. In slightly smaller letters it said something like, “Cannot exist together.”

When I was telling Bob about it, I got more and more agitated. It felt traitorous to me. When Bush was President, did that thought ever even occur to you? That it’s either one or the other? I know we have free speech in this country, but inciting a riot, or worse – is illegal – it’s a misdemeanor or even a felony. It’s not just speech, but urging others to do so is sufficient. “Nor is it necessary that the “incitement” actually cause these other people to riot, commit violence or burn or destroy. All that’s necessary is that the accused was trying to instigate these things.” Which is why the hate speech of the Republican Right in the aftermath of this election is so frightening.
http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2012/09/omg-in-charlotte-an-anti-obama-billboard/261963/

So thanks Nate Silver for your predictions, thanks for nailing it! http://www.salon.com/2012/11/07/nate_silver_nails_it/ Since I am still on baby time mixed with daylight savings, I stayed up late to watch him on Jon Stewart. I needed that comic relief from road buzz. Now can we please get back to governing? The people have spoken. Keep your paws off women’s bodies; keep your religious ideology to yourself. Math and science win in the modern world. http://fivethirtyeight.blogs.nytimes.com

This is what the Dalai Lama had to say on his Facebook page today: “When we have inner peace, we can be at peace with those around us. When our community is in a state of peace, it can share that peace with neighbouring communities and so on. When we feel love and kindness toward others, it not only makes others feel loved and cared for, but it helps us also to de­velop inner happiness and peace.” So scale back your language GOP, America is evolving and your party will be left in the dust if you can’t adapt. We will never be Denmark.

Good Morning Mountains. Good Morning Ms Bean. Good Morning Home. I miss you Love Bug.

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