Speaking of tried and true games and activities for kids….. how much fun is it to have them  bake and decorate cookies….  I’ve actually done all sorts of  holiday cookies  and even have some cookie cutters that are in the shape of the letters of the alphabet……so the children get to spell their names…. but my favorite …can you guess?…. yes of course.. gingerbread man cookies….HA!  Some of the children are so cute… will decorate them as their family members… or what they want to be when they grow up.. even a few children have given me their decorated  gingerbread men…. as hopeful future dates HA!

The best and most fun activity… a treasure hunt…..  if you get a chance get  a  real treasure box I bought one called the wooden pirate chest… by Melissa and Doug ( 1800284-3948)  Its wonderful… i have added to the original contents…and create these elaborate clues and activities for the children to  participate in…. I usually give them some treats ( like a chocolate…. doubloon ) or a real gold dollar…..and this shiny marble/stone that grants wishes…  then of course the homemade eye patch..or flag…. and you really can get as elaborate as you want… i often times will throw in a few of the activities…like brushing teeth… and getting into pajamas… and potty time…. between the activities… they often times  don’t even realize they are  headed right to bed HA!

Another crowd pleaser…. actually not too large of a crowd..HA!! but a great and fun game/activity  is this little electronic game of 20 questions…i often get the children to huddle around… and when picking their object  …. i tell them to whisper what they want  the machine to guess….  but we had to be careful not to let the machine hear…. HA! thy get a kick out of it when after 20 questions the game picks the object… or doesn’t … most times they will want to play again HA! I was told just  recently in fact that one boy liked it so much that his parents went and bought him one for his flight back  to England!

I could go on and on… about the love for band aids… with their favorite princess.. or superhero… or the numbered 15 puzzle…. remember those.. it is a square with a bunch of movable square that will slide into position… on each of these s1quares is a number from 1-15 and the object is to put them in some sort of order….. great activity when waiting for dinner to arrive…HA!

.  got

This year it was a bit different… last year my cousin Greg was in town and my mother and Greg and I went to the Ritz  Carlton, Tiburon (the golf resort in Naples… ) on for  our Thanksgiving meal!  both my mom and Greg were almost an hour late.. i think they may have gone to the main hotel since they were walking from that general area when i first spotted them..

well, this year no Ritz Carlton for me… i mentioned in Facebook that i almost was going  to spend the holiday alone eating at my house…. until thanksgiving ….  i had  quite a few bullies on my phone…..  a few mean and harmful emails and since i had checked my mail i received that anonymous bully card …postmarked from October 25th 2010….. i just wasn’t feeling very festive… pretty rotten since I  honesty do really LOVE   THANKSGIVING ... i had been watching shows on making turkeys… on all the best stuffing recipes… before the bullies get involved i am usually a pretty positive and upbeat person…. WOW… you should have met me before 2003…. talk about nice… and sweet… did i mention that my sisters used to introduce me as “the nice one”….   

so luckily, i got a last minute invitation to spend thanksgiving with my mom and Ron.  I brought over a pumpkin pie ( never come to a dinner empty handed right?)
and i must admit it was the most unique diner i have ever attended for thanksgiving… i got the impression that my mom might not have been in the mood for Thanksgiving this year as well…. we have never had a meal or thanksgiving like this one ever before in my entire life…..  we had tabouli… and chicken… with sides of carrots and spinach….(don’t tell her.. but those are my least favorite side dishes)…but she did make some traditional  stuffing…and for desert… pumpkin pie and apple pie…. and having those were great!  

i just love a real thanksgiving dinner .. the turkey… the dressing.. the gravy… the cranberries… the sides of veggies… and all the trimmings….YUMMMMMMM…..it just makes my mouth water just thinking of all of the delicious  treats…. 

it was even nice visiting and helping  to make sure she didn’t have a ton to clean up after the meal…. and it was nice not having to be alone…. and to be thankful…

especially for the pumpkin pie left overs…. HA! I was  eating them all weekend!  YUMMMMMM………

 it had a big heart scribbled on the date and i immediately began to laugh and a huge smile went across my face…

when asked if i had a husband …. or a boyfriend…. i of course had to answer….. no…. and immediately i received the best  offer of a “date i have had…..in forever….

this 5 year old boy…. decided he would be my “knight in shining armor”.. and take me on a date…

 i can still remember his face as i told him  he could take me on a date…( when he was older… oh course…… ) so we got out my date book…. and figured out  a date….  he continued to watch my date book( so intently) until i  actually put the “date”   in my date book… i don’t  think he actually believed me…until i had written on the pages….  HA!  He made sure to remind me that we would meet on the top of i think it was the Hancock building…( is that  Chicago right?) i think that is  what he said i can’t remember now… but….. as i recalled the day….  babysitting…. kids are really pretty wonderful…    i must admit i
don’t know if he saw  sleepless in Seattle or an affair to remember…
but it was  one of the sweetest gestures… i hope when he grows up he
will still be as thoughtful and think of such romantic plans for his
real girlfriends….  
  
 I’m sure he forgot immediately after the date was scribbled down…   but that simple heart …. seeing it today… made me smile… he’s going to make some girl very happy one day if he can be just as nice and polite and earnest in making a girl happy….  what a  wonderful gesture of asking  this  “dateless” babysitter  on a date…. HA! isn’t that just the sweetest thing?  

 So seriously,  what happens to boys when they grow up?…. do some of them completely lose their romantic  gene?…. or their care and consideration for women gene?… of course not all guys  mind you… i have met some amazing people/men who are compassionate, caring and considerate…  but….  they just haven’t asked me out on a real date… HA!

Do you remember when The Secret came out?… i had everyone and their brother wanting me to read it .. i was given tapes.. books and even cd’s….  its basically a guide to thinking and believing for the very best right? 

I had honestly thought  and  planned on having a business and life that was amazing..
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Lots more to say on the matter.. but will just for now put in a blog entry and finish later.. one note… i had wanted to travel to Europe with my baby sister this past summer… for a few reasons…
1.   she had not as yet had the opportunity to backpack through Europe like my  other sister and i had the chance to do..or get to have the opportunity to go to school in Europe…
2.  we share a birthday… she was born on my 4th birthday and my mom leaving my party to go and have her is one of my earliest  memories…
3.  she became on of my best friends and i couldn’t think of a more wonderful person to share a wonderful summer…
4. plus it was to be her 40th birthday… my 44th birthday… neither of us had any children.. or any serious boyfriend commitments or even job commitments… so it was a perfect time… or would have been a perfect time..
5.  its always more fun to go and travel with someone ….. traveling with a friend  and sister… who has traveled a large portion of her life … ( is an experienced traveler / thinks somewhat like you… would want to stop at the same sites.. interested in similar experiences…) well.. it would have been a blast! 

Alas (does anyone ever say that anymore?.. i think when you say alas. a deep sigh must also accompany it don’t you?… so here goes…. ALAS….AHHHH  we didn’t go … i actually mentioned the fact my mother for the past 5 years had actually been promising a trip back to Europe… to France mostly.. i wanted to go back to school there ……wanted to refresh my french, look up old friends all over Europe…… and see the sights from a more adult perspective…. my mother had these miles rom her Nieman Marcus card.. think they are called world perk miles… or something similar…… (with enough miles you get plane tickets….. is my understanding).. so each an every year i would  have a conversation with her  about going back to  Europe…. especially France…..  one year my aunt Fran and my mother both wanted to go along.. and they planned to  go to Lourdes..  the miracle site….. one year i even got as far as calling and speaking with all my friends in Europe telling them of my plans and finding out if they would be available so i could see them again….  another year we even called to see if the school was still there… and checked on classes and made plans…. but each and every time…. something happened and i never got to go…… now a days.. i often wonder   if anyone got to go in my place… HA!  

This was my idea… that we( my youngest sister and I ) and would get to go to Europe for the entire summer and blog about it … from  different ages and perspectives… write about everything….  the people we could meet .. the sites to see… restaurants…. everything… trains planes and automobiles…  maybe even a romance or two… gosh…. i think it would have been great fun… or if not a blog for ourselves… maybe we could write for a magazine…  or a guidebook…. or even start an adult version of the LET’S GO series…. I absolutely loved those books…. when i was backpacking with an old roommate.. we had tons of fun going through the book… i can remember one time jumping on a train… not exactly sure where we were going… but once we found out… we looked up the town /the city… and a hostel… place to eat… what the town was noted for and had a wonderful time…

so if we didnt get to devise a bit more mature LET”S GO book… the perhaps i thought my sister and i could eventually sell our adventure as a story… or if we had enough events and experiences.. we could make it into a book….  HA!… yes i always have a pretty well thought out plan..not that i had the entire trip all mapped out or anything … but generally the purpose…with a side benefit of taking a great trip with my friend and sister … make the memories pretty permanent  and to me this would be a great way to finance the trip as well… sell the stories…

 Also, i might get to see many of my old friends that i haven’t had the chance to see is ages.. and  along the way there would be an amazing adventure… wonderful memories and tons of pictures…. then as a side note perhaps we could sell some of our stories.. or if any videos of ours were great… maybe we could use them as a type of documentary… or at the very least a terrific home movie…HA!

“Begin with the End in mind is to begin today with the image, picture, or paradigm of the end of your life as your frame of reference by which everything else is examined. 

Most effective way i know to begin with the end in mind is to develop a personal mission statement or philosophy or creed.  It focuses won what you want to be
(character) and to do (contributions and achievements) and on the values upon which being and doing are based.

Habit #4:  Think ( win -Win)

Some of the funny things i put in there… like…. when i cut my own bangs in college… the moment when i stood in front of the mirror… and went Opps….. right there and then i  decided i should have learned to cut hair the proper way…HA!… of course i never did take any lessons… and my bangs today are fairly easy to trim… they are straight…HA! 

 whenever i would see any thing that i thought looked fun or interesting or would be great to learn to do i would  put it  on my list…  ( I more or less called my list the list of things i still had to do or still wanted to accomplish)….