Heads UP!

Posted on June 18, 2012 by stuffitellmysister

Have you ever had something on you mind so much so, that you have to ponder on it for weeks trying to figure out how to even begin to express it?  I have been in that place for a while now.  And then over the weekend, I saw two different posts about how disrespectful teenagers are because they are always texting……It is NOT just teenagers, people!  But it is disrespectful.

Our first cell phone was a GINOURMOUS bag phone.  We were traveling often and wanted it for emergency purposes.  Boy have we come a  L O N G  way!  (who else had one of these?)

Cell phones are tiny in comparison now.  MUCH cheaper and so convenient.  Just about everyone has one.  You even see younger children with cell phones.  But we seem to have no cell phone etiquette.  Who is teaching cell phone etiquette?!?!  I think we know the answer to that question.

As I drive down the road, I see people cross center line repeatedly…..yep they are either texting or on their cell phone.  When I take a walk through my neighborhood I see mommies pushing their sweet babies in strollers.  No head nod or eye contact is made, they are texting.  I sit in a waiting room filled with people and no one is acknowledging the other and that’s not always a bad thing, their heads are bowed as if to pray,  yet I seriously doubt that they are speaking to the Lord.

Texting, surfing the net.  Yes, it is convenient in its proper place.  What bothers me more than anything, is that the people doing it have no idea that they are missing out on the good “life” stuff!  Teaching opportunities and heart-felt talks with their children; meeting a new acquaintance; helping someone in need; taking a moment just to relax and breathe and take it all in.  You are missing it people!  Your head is buried (!)  and you don’t even know it……sigh ~

If you want respect.  Teach respect.  Set an example.  Set boundaries, even for yourself. If you ignore your babies now, you are setting the standard for them.  You are skipping “real” life by having your head down.

Technology is not the one to blame.  Neither are the teenagers….

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(and please, please…..Don’t text and drive……I have a bum knee because someone did…Head’s UP, people!)  To be nice to people, ya gotta see em!  😉  HaPPy Monday ~ thanks for letting me vent….♥

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HaPPy Father’s Day ~

Posted on June 17, 2012 by stuffitellmysister

My dad & mom and both sets of grandparents ~

I have shared before about my dad.  ( see Happy Birthday Dad ) He is awesome and wise and stubborn.  He loves watermelon and fresh tomatoes and peaches. (all with salt…so that’s where I got it!)  He has served his country. He has provided and cared for his family.  He flies his American flag every day. He makes us laugh. He is my dad.  Thanks, dad ~Happy Father’s Day to my dad~ ♥  And to my Hubby & Steve & John G. & all the other great dads out there! Keep setting an example.  You make a difference every day.  Enjoy your special day!

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Hubby Moments ~

Posted on June 16, 2012 by stuffitellmysister

Hubby bought me a camera a while back so that I could photograph more of our journey together.  I still have to mostly use it on automatic settings and I’m embarrassed to admit that.  But I will continue at learning.  And in the meantime, I have captured some fun life moments:

Like hubby surprising me with the sun.  Twice.  He says I am his sunshine. (awwwww)He had already “hung the moon” for me.He pushes the envelope with me. 😉  (please don’t tell me “don’t!)We get caught up in our adventures, until we hear a little bell.He loves our boys ~ ~He is awesome at his job.  Even though I know he is not appreciated for all he really does.  Not by them.  Probably not enough by me, either.  His tired feet will walk in tonight after a fifteen hour day.  He will kiss me, rub the dogs’ heads (or maybe the other way around if he’s EXTRA tired!), and then he will sit down at his laptop.  He will read this.  He always does.  And he will say, “I like your blog today, Sunshine.”And I am hoping that my response will be, “Honey, we won the lottery!”

Thanks for being a wonderful daddy to our boys, dear. I love you ♥ Happy Father’s Day. ♥

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Replacing the Squirrel ~

Posted on June 15, 2012 by stuffitellmysister

Well, the day finally arrived.  It was past time to replace the Flying Squirrel Chuckit for the “girls”.  We believe in getting our money’s worth.  Mission accomplished ~“I don’t know, sister.  What do yo think”?“Look!  New corners for me to chew off!”“Let’s pretend to like it.”Game-on~

Be nice to people.  And don’t forget to share~ 😉

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Flag Day !

Posted on June 14, 2012 by stuffitellmysister

Oh! say, does that star-spangled banner yet wave, O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave. ~Francis Scott Key, The Star-Spangled Banner

Franklin K. Lane, Secretary of the Interior, delivered a 1914 Flag Day address in which he repeated words he said the flag had spoken to him that morning: “I am what you make me; nothing more. I swing before your eyes as a bright gleam of color, a symbol of yourself.”

Flag Day history

Be good to each other ♥

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Here’s to the Farmer~

Posted on June 13, 2012 by stuffitellmysister

Some thoughts and pics from driving through western Oklahoma over the weekend. We depend on the farmer, then we fuss when we get stuck behind his slow-moving tractor or a load of cattle. It is feast or famine for him.  His livelihood is a gamble, his life a sacrifice.  He is not appreciated as he should be.  So here’s to the farmer and their families.  My Grandpa Warren, my Uncle Billy, Aunt Joyce and their boys, my friend’s dad ~ George, and so many more. Thank you.  Thank you.  What else can be said?

“He gets up before the dawn

Packs a lunch and a thermos full of coffee

It’s another day in the dusty haze

Those burnin’ rays are wearing down his body

And diesel’s worth the price of gold

And it’s the cheapest grain he’s ever sold

But he’s still holding on.

He just takes the tractor another round

And pulls the plow across the ground

And sends up another prayer

He says, Lord I never complain I never ask why

But please don’t let my dream run dry

Underneath, Underneath this Amarillo sky

That hail storm back in ’83

Sure did take a toll on his family

But he stayed strong and carried on

Just like his dad and granddad did before him

On his knees every night he prays

Please let my crops and children grow

Cause that’s all he’s ever known.” (Performed by Jason Aldean)

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Thursdays with Julie ~

Posted on June 12, 2012 by stuffitellmysister

I’m guessing many of you have probably read “Tuesdays with Morrie”?  Well, it is summertime, so I am blessed to enjoy “Thursdays with Julie“.  Have you read that one yet?  Um.  Probably not.  It is my own. Mine and Julie’s.  It is still being written.

Julie in grade school ~

The story has been shared before.  Our family moved to Tuttle, Oklahoma in 1966. I was a timid six years old walking into an unknown world.  My new teacher seated me next to another little girl “who just moved to town” two weeks prior.  We shared a desk.  Her name was Julie.

We grew up together in this town.  Bike riding, swimming, sunburns, school, sleepovers, Girl Scout Camp, band, football games, glee club, secret dances, boys, family, siblings, friends, church, draggin’ main, heartaches, despair, math difficulties, music lessons, Trixie Beldon, the drugstore.  This was our life together.  Sometimes I thought Julie knew me better than I knew myself.                                 Down time at an Amarillo, Texas Band Contest ~                                                                At Julie’s house ~

 Fast forward forty-something years.  Yep ~ a lot has happened between then and now.  Julie is a music teacher and extra busy during the school year.  So during the summer….we have our Thursdays.  No, we don’t go to lunch or meet for dinner.  We live several hundred miles apart.  Our “date” is on the phone each Thursday during the summer.  We catch up on life and our boys (Julie has three, me – two) and hubbys and hopes and dreams and disappointments and favorite places we like to eat and pinterest and how we’d like to go back to Colorado.                             Paula, Lauri and Julie ~ on Julie’s Wedding Day

 Sometimes, while we are talking, my mind drifts back to those days in Tuttle. Two little girls on the phone, our mothers telling us that we’ve been talking long enough.  What could we possibly have to chat about when we’d been with each other at school all day? This memory makes me smile.  I hope Julie can hear that in my voice.

The summers fly by quickly now….as do the “Thursdays with Julie.”  But I cherish every conversation.  Julie is blond and dingy and funny.  She is full of energy and quite the inspiration.  And did I mention how much she makes me laugh. Yes, well. This cannot be overstated!  We don’t agree on everything, but learned long ago to skip “those” topics. Julie is as stubborn as I am.  Maybe that’s why I love her so much?  Or could it be her salsa recipe?                 Paula, Julie and Lauri and our Tuttle class 50th birthday party~

HappY, HappY Birthday to you today, Julie.  I know you won’t see this for a couple of days since you are out “playing”, but I’ll tell ya about it ~ on Thursday.  I love you, friend ♥

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Ribbons and Prayers for Rosalie ♥

Posted on June 11, 2012 by stuffitellmysister

Hubby and I have been planning for several months to attend a wedding of some dear young friends in Arkansas.  They married this past Saturday and I spent the latter part of the week preparing for us to leave town.  Mid-week, I was in the garage looking for bug spray when I first heard the siren.  The big one.  The tornado warning siren.  Many Oklahoma neighborhoods have these.  I quickly came to the conclusion that they were just testing the system, as the clouds were not tornado producing ones.  That’s the other thing.  Everyone in Oklahoma is a tornado expert.  A requirement to live in this Bible Belt state.  Back outside, I began to hear many more sirens, police and fire, in our little neighborhood.  My mind went where it always goes when I hear emergency signals , “Lord, please intercede for this person in trouble and put your hands on the rescuers.”  Then I went on to trim the yard. with my bug spray

Little did I know, that just a few steps away, at our neighborhood pool, a little two-year old was fighting the fight of her life.  In a pool full of children, it only takes a moment for one to get lost in the crowd.  Regardless of how many adults are present.  Rosalie was pulled from the bottom and rushed to a nearby children’s hospital.  The last update I saw was last night.  She was squeezing people’s fingers.  She had 10% blood flow to her brain.  She is struggling, but still fighting.

Look at this sweet little face.  And if you feel so inclined, please pray for Rosalie.  Pray for her parents and family.  You can follow their journey and updates, if you like, through their Facebook page, Please Pray for Rosalie. (the above photo is from their Facebook page)

Rosalie has no idea the impact she has made on our community.  There are probably three hundred (I’m not so great at estimates!) homes in our neighborhood.  Most every one has a pink ribbon on their mail box in support of Rosalie and her family.  This is now extending outside to other neighborhoods and businesses.  You might want to place a pink ribbon on your mailbox or light pole where you live? (and if you do…send me a pic & I will forward it to their “album”.)Oh ~ and as for the wedding this past weekend.  Well, C.J. and Hannah are “hitched”.  They looked very happy in the photos we viewed on-line.  We regrettably did not get to attend.  Our own 24 year old son had an emergency surgery and our vehicle took us the opposite direction to check on him.  He seems good now. But we needed to see that for ourselves.  Rosalie has reminded us that life can change in a moment.

If you are a praying person, please pray for little Rosalie (Rosie) and her family. ♥

And be nice to each other….you really never know what they may be facing today ….

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What a Wonderful World~

Posted on June 8, 2012 by stuffitellmysister

What a Wonderful World
I see trees of green, red roses too

I see them bloom, for me and you

And I think to myself

What a wonderful world.


I see skies of blue, and clouds of white

The bright blessed day, dark sacred night

And I think to myself

What a wonderful world.

The colors of the rainbow, so pretty in the sky

Are also on the faces, of people going by.

I see friends shaking hands, sayin’, “How do you do?”

They’re really sayin’, “I love you”.

I hear babies cryin’, I watch them grow

They’ll learn much more, than I’ll ever know

And I think to myself What a wonderful world
Yes, I think to myself What a wonderful world…….. Oh yeah

Songwriters: Thiele, Robert; Weiss, George David

Can’t you just hear him singing it…….  There is so much bad stuff going on…..I needed to remind myself today, that there IS still good.  There IS still hope.  We may just have to look a  little harder to find it. 

Here’s hoping you win the lottery this weekend.  And if you do….here’s hoping you remember me! 😉  Have a great weekend and be nice to people! ♥

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And We Did It! Over 10,000 Views!

Posted on June 7, 2012 by stuffitellmysister

Last night, there was an awesome occurrence on my little blog.  The views crept over the 10,000 mark. (We are almost five months old.)  There is excitement and gratitude in my heart to know that old friends and strangers, new friends, and people that don’t even like me, (!) have allowed my words, photos, & silliness ~their time.  Time is our most precious commodity.

A heartfelt THANK YOU to each of you who have blessed Stuff I Tell My Sister with your visits! It’s a new day everyday in my head, so you (I) never know what you’re gonna get.  You guys are the best and your encouragement means so much to me.  A special shout-out to my sister, Renae, who has been a really great sport about having her age batted around. a lot!

Have a great day, friends!  And keep being nice to people! 😉 You are doing an awesome job! ♥Friends share their favorite toys ~

“What sunshine is to flowers, smiles are to humanity. They are but trifles, to be sure but, scattered along life’s pathway, the good they do is inconceivable.”

“No soul is desolate as long as there is a human being for whom it can feel trust and reverence.” – George Eliot Friends leave SuRpRiSe photos on your camera ~ (that you know you didn’t take!)

“There is magic in the memory of schoolboy friendships; it softens the heart, and even affects the nervous system of those who have no heart.” – Bejamin Disraeli

Friends are the flowers that last a lifetime ~

“I no doubt deserved my enemies, but I don’t believe I deserved my friends.”
– Walt Whitman

“Do not save your loving speeches For your friends till they are dead; Do not write them on their tombstones, Speak them rather now instead. – Anna Cummins

“True friendship’s laws are by this rule express’d, Welcome the coming, speed the parting guest.” – Alexander Pope 😉

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