Wish I was going.......

Tomorrow my daughter and grandson are off to Kenya on a work trip.

I would to be going with them, but I have been to Africa and I remember that long airplane ride and at my age I just don't think I'm up to it any more. The saddest part is, I longed to go on a safari which they are getting in while there. I went down the east side of Africa and loved the adventure. Ghana, Namibia, Cape Town and Johannesburg. She is going with the Koins for Kenya group and they will be working. Brayden will be building desks for a new school that will be dedicated. It will finish off his Eagle Scout requirements. What a lucky little boy, (almost 15).

They can take two suit cases each, one with their clothes and one with things for the villagers. The big request was for receiving blankets for the new mothers. If they come to the medical unit they get a blanket. If they have the baby in their village they wrap the baby in a banana leaf! With the help of nice people she is taking 26 new blankets. She said her suitcases are bulging with contributions. She is excited, as I am for her. Dad will play Mr Mom to the other two boys and the farm. Aren't Kids wonderful?

GRATIFICATION MANAGEMENT?

S.O.S. to all you ladies out there. They are now giving classes on gratification management. Now that has been around for many years, but in my family we call it "Retail Therapy." Yes, I do feel better when I buy something pretty to wear or something fun for the house, whether I need it or not. If I am having one of those "World Against Betty" days, a trip to one of my favorite stores to pick up some little something really makes my day better. I am not a big spender, you know if it's over $19.99 you don't buy it, well maybe sometimes? I just love to shop and I have worked hard at teaching my three daughters and three grand-daughters to love shopping. After all that's a female thing.......especially when it comes to SHOES.

Yes, in these hard times, with money and jobs short we need to learn to be more thrifty. And there is such a thing as delaying gratification and feel good about it. The good part comes when you go into the store the next week and that favorite shirt is half price ..........then you buy it, or not! This can boost your self esteem when you save money on something, anything. Lets you know you are still in control of your finances and life. There are many ways to get that good feeling with using coupons, using stores loyalty cards or even going to garage sales. I just thought I better warn all of what this "Gratification Management" out there is, don't let anyone take your retail therapy away......it's what keeps us sane sometimes. Just stop at the 7-11 for a slush, that even helps!

Write it in the Sand........

Last night I went to the viewing of a dear and old friend. He died suddenly after a hip replacement, a blood clot caused a stroke they felt. Duane Ridd and his wife Janet have been dear friends since I was first married in 1956. He was our banker at the time of my divorce and talked me through my fiances. He and Janet helped me move into the condo after my divorce. As you know, you really find out who your real friends are after a divorce......many just disappeared. It is hard to mingle in that old group any more when so many old friends treat you like you are invisible, but after 24 years I have tried to forgive them and just remember our 30 years of good times. I was inspired by the following little story:

Two friends were walking along a beach. One friend slapped the other one. His friend stopped and wrote in the sand. "Today my best friend slapped me in the face." Further on down the beach, he got stuck in mud and this time the friend pulled him out and saved him. On down the beach he stopped and carved on a stone. "Today my best friend saved my life." Later his friend ask him, "When I slapped you, you wrote in the sand, when I saved you, you carved it in the stone. Why the difference?"

The friend replied, "when someone hurts you, you should write it in the sand, where the winds of forgiveness can erase it away. But, when someone does something good for you, you must engrave it in stone where no wind can ever erase it." I think that is such a wonderful thought, and will try and always do it. All that hurt is behind me , written in the sand. The good memories are carved in the stone of my mind!

Something To Think About

I pray every night for some solution to our "America's Problems"...

You know like a new president and leaders and large companies that don't seem to care about anything but making a profit. Banks that are trying to squeeze every cent out of their customers. I want our soldiers back from being killed and more money put back into everyone having a job.

I ran into the following sentences which are so true:

1. You cannot legislate the poor into prosperity, by legislating the wealth out of prosperity.

2. What one person receives without working for, another person must work for without receiving.

3. The government cannot give to anybody anything that the government does not first take from somebody else.

4. You cannot multiply wealth by dividing it.

5. When half of the people get the idea that they do not have to work because the other half is going to take care of them, and when the other half gets the idea that it does no good to work, because somebody else is going to get what they work for, that my dear friends, is the beginning of the end of any nation.

Aren't all these things in play in the good old USA?

Save your pennies because...................

When I saw this picture......which I love, it became a metaphore to me that yes it took a lot of pennies to build a bridge this size all over the world. With our tax pennies we build many beautiful bridges in our country. Now I realize also when we save our pennies they are the key to our building our own bridges to a home, a car, an education or a wonderful vacation! When we think about it we realize we become rich, one penny at a time, some rich people even get the label of being "A Penny Pincher". They are the lucky ones that see the big picture. From childhood days we have had a fascination with money, especially coins. When my children were small and had a choice, they always chose the five pennies over the nickle, because it looked like more. Then as they got older they learned there were five pennies in a nickle and ten pennies in the dime, even though it was smaller. I pick up every penny I see partly from a superstition learned young. "See a penny and pick it up, all through the day you'll have good luck. See a penny and let it lay, bad luck will be yours through out the day." Who has room for bad luck in their day? Also, before my sister died, she said she would leave me pennies to remind me of her, I find pennies in the strangest places and at the strangest times.......You judge why, I know.

Diet Time......again!

Well, for the umptine time I have started another diet! Why? Really been thinking about it for several reasons, bad knees, high cholesterol, high blood pressure and I look awful in my clothes. Well, my oldest granddaughter is getting married in less than three months. I finally got brave enough to try on a pretty dress that might be appropriate for this special occasion........well, one look at my stomach and hips convinced me if I didn't want to look like "grandmother blob" I had to do something and NOW. One of my daughters was with me and recommended we stop by the book store and buy a book that had helped her and her friends. It is "The Fat Flush Plan." It makes sense that if you don't over work your liver and let it clean out your system then you will just lose inches and weight. It seems I am to be eating or drinking something constantly which is not my routine. I have to keep my blood sugar up..........well, anyway I am into day three and haven't noticed I've lost an inch. But each morning I just get up and pray, just let me do this one more day, and I will keep doing that until that new dress I bought looks yummy on me. There is nothing like a wedding, a class reunion or family reunion to put you in the diet mode. Wish me luck!

TO MY THREE GIRLS

How many times have I thought..."I'm the luckiest mother in the world".....I have three beautiful, talented, caring, wonderful daughters. The big question? Have I made them who they are OR have they made me who I am? I guess the answer is both. So I say to them the following poem about sums it up.

TO MY THREE GIRLS

If I could catch a rainbow, I would do it just for you,

And share with you it's beauty, on the days your feeling blue.

If I could build a mountain, you could call it your very own,

A place to find serenity, A place to be alone.

If I could take your troubles, I would toss them in the sea,

But all these things I'm finding, are impossible for me.

I cannot build a mountain or catch a rainbow fair.

But let me be what I know best, Your Mom whose always there.

Remember: Worry looks around, Sorry looks back, Faith looks up!

Good Therapy

One of my favorite things to do is meet a good friend for coffee or lunch. Just the two of us. When there is a group no one really gets to talk, usually one person dominates the conversation. But with two people and if it is a trusted friend who has known you for a very long time you can really pour out your heart. Patty is that kind of friend and we try to have our little get togethers at least once a month. After an hour------or two--- we both leave feeling lots better about our lives and the people we have interacted with the past month or so. I know and come to realize and practice what psychologist Harriet Learner says: "When someone says or does something unkind to me, I think: "They must be a very unhappy person." Not an excuse---but a calm observation. I try not to take anything personally. Unhappiness or insecurity can make nice people act like jerks, it is all about them----not me. I now can be less reactive, pass on less intensity than you receive and be curious why people act like they do. I feel sorry for their unhappiness. It is best to just smile and go on. Thank you Patty for the many hours you have been there for me...........

THINK POSITIVE

Such beautiful rainbow colors only make you happy and feel positive about your life. In other words, the "somewhere over the rainbow" feeling.......My favorite one minute mantra whenever I feel a paralyzing stress response kicking in, is to take a deep breath and say to myself "Betty you can do this".....as you brace in the dentist office or force yourself to do one more set of leg exercises in physical therapy. This psychologist-approved strategy pulls your body away from animal response to stress ( you know that shallow breathing and muscle tension feeling) and toward the human one ......using your intellect! 'To get something you never had, you have to do something you never did.' When God takes something from your grasp, He is not punishing you, but merely opening your hands to receive something better. "The will of God will never take you where the Grace of God will not protect you" Believe something good will happen to you, something that you have been waiting to hear. This is where the practicing positive thinking can come in hardy.

I like the follow: There comes point in your life when you realize........Who matters......Who never did......Who won't anymore........And who always will. So, don't worry about people from your past, there's a reason why they didn't make it to your future. If you can just get up every morning with positive thoughts it can make each day great......well, maybe better......or, not as bad as it would have been if your jumped into negative every morning! Try it..........

Happy 4th of July

Wow, another Holiday to enjoy. It brings back so many happy memories of growing up in a little town in Colorado where people went all out to celebrate the freedom of our country. My best friend and I got to be majorettes in the parade and thought we were "hot stuff". We spent hours getting ready, (our first try at shaving our legs was a disaster----blood and bandages everywhere). Good food, rodeo, fireworks and then the big dance topped it off. Now many years later I still have those wonderful memories, but things are more quiet. The Panniers are in Park City for the weekend, The Christensons at their cabin in Park City. Tiff off to Portland to a wedding of an old college friend. The Cooks and I are left holding down the fort and they have invited me to a Bar-b-Q this afternoon. Of course, Utah still has another big holiday the 24th of July coming up.My hope for the grandchildren is that they will learn and know the real reason we celebrate the 4th, and how many wonderful people died so we could enjoy our freedom. Need to go out and put up my flag!

July is Here

• Where is our summer going? Today as I made out this month's bills I try to remember where June went. One third of my summer is gone and I am just getting into the summer clothes. June started out cold and rainy, but we are definitely having Summer weather now! This is a wonderful month especially in Utah where we have two big celebrations. The Fourth of July is around the corner, with fireworks and Bar-b-Q's. A rodeo in Oakley that we look forward to, but the BIG celebration in Utah is the 24th of July, because that is when our Mormon religion celebrates the settlement that became Salt Lake City by the Mormons. Big parade, big rodeo, that lasts a week and fireworks. Corner entertainment, Children's parade, Horse parade. Utah loves this month. I grew up in Colorado and the 4th of July has many wonderful memories for me. A parade in which I was in many times, a rodeo, fireworks and a picnic in grandma and grandpa's yard with many relatives. Yes, welcome to July 2010!