52 Blessings: A Coke and a Smile

Wow, I only seem to blog on '52 Blessings' days! It's been a busy two weeks since I last blogged. Been too busy, but in a good way, I suppose.

Today's blessing is also possibly my worst vice! I am thankful for my first sip of Coca-Cola each day (usually morning.) Yes, my daily Coke is a blessing! It helps jump-start my day if I have one in the morning, or revive my flagging energies if I have it in the afternoon. It's a craving that coffee can't fix; I need that sugar rush.



I love Coke so much that I recently taught my Girl Scouts the Coke 'I'd Like to Teach the World to Sing' song for World Thinking Day! All we were missing were the candles and Coke bottles!

I've been obsessed with Coke since I was a very small child and they came in family-sized glass bottles. I would beg for Coke for breakfast! Drinking it makes me feel happy, just like it did when I was three years old. I travel with my own Coke if I know I won't be able to get to a convenience store anytime soon. Good friends have a six-pack waiting for me in the fridge when I visit.

Although I prefer an actual Coke, I'm not such a cola snob that I won't drink other brands when they're on sale or put in front of me. I recently had a Boylan's Natural Cane Cola with a shot of Black Cherry--not bad at all. But I'll take my high fructose corn syrup-infused Coke any day. It's a blessing to be able to buy and drink a Coke pretty much whenever I want one.

Pic from Coca Cola website; video from YouTube.

52 Blessings: Libraries

Today I'm grateful for the blessing of Libraries, specifically libraries that are freely available to the public. The first time I remember going to a library was when I was a young child in the suburbs of Chicago and there was a bookmobile parked near the grocery store parking lot. It was amazing. I checked out a Barbie chapter book.

My favorite library ever will always be the Carrollton Public Library that was located on Jackson Road and Josey Lane. The library opened the same month our family moved to Carrollton, Texas, in March 1981. It was brand-new and filled with books! Whenever I think of the library, the Carrollton Public Library pops into my head. It's no longer there, relocated to much larger location after we moved away and Carrollton's population exploded along with all the other North Dallas communities. But it lives forever in my memories. For six years, I frequented the library with my Mom and my brother, or browsed by myself for hours, or met my friends there for study groups, or walked there with my high school pals after school to hang out (yeah, geeks do that). Being at the Carrollton Library was like being at home--comfy, cozy and I knew where everything was.

Ever since we decided to proactively trim our family budget in October 2008 in the face of the still-to-get-worse recession, the public library has been a treasure trove of entertainment in all forms of media.

I've successfully resisted the urge (usually) to buy new books since our "money diet" and yet haven't suffered things to read thanks to the San Antonio Public Library! I can browse the stacks, if I have time, but usually I just put books (and CDs and DVDs) on hold and pick them up a few days later. It's like my own personal media concierge service!

A few weeks ago I submitted library purchase suggestions for two non-fiction books that I wanted to read but were not in the library catalog. The library has already ordered both books and I'm first in line to check them out! Cool.

I also love that my kids are getting to know the ins and outs of the library as well. I want them to understand that it's a privilege to have such a great library system available to us. Not every city invests equally in their public library system. Our library is not perfect, of course, but it's ours, paid for with our tax dollars. And more than ever, it's a blessing.

52 Blessings: Normal

Aack! The whole week's gone by and no blogging since Monday. I've been caught up in everyday life, which I am now officially back to and can no longer use the excuse of my 'recuperation' to avoid doing stuff. And we started our taxes this week. *Sigh.* One of the two things we all want to avoid (the other being death), and I do my best to avoid doing them until my husband starts nagging continually. We are due a refund, you see, but that still doesn't make me want to do my share of the taxes (Schedule C for my business). On a brighter note, I've been writing up wedding invitation orders, working on cake designs and once again participating fully in my kids' school and after-school lives!

Anyway, I have a myriad of choices for blogging this week, as I've not blogged anything on schedule. A recipe? Some retail love? No, today I'm writing about another of my 52 (and more) Blessings.

I am very thankful this week that my children are "normal." Your typical, average kids living in Suburbia, USA. When I say normal, I mean that they are on track as far as their physical and mental growth and development. (Otherwise, they've got their little quirks and oddities about them in spades!) Neither has ever been diagnosed with anything that requires complicated medications, therapies, special assistance or additional help at home or school. They've walked on time. Learned to tie shoes on time. Talked (way too much sometimes) with the appropriate number of vocabulary words at the right times. Expressed emotions at every age.

I thought of all this in the past week after talking to my Mom about a distant cousin of mine whom everyone in the family has known to be "slow" for practically his entire life, but whose parents did not seek additional help or resources to help him become more independent or cope with every day life. His condition seems fairly mild and he could probably, with the right kind of help, do much more for and by himself. He is a young adult now, but still lives at home and requires his parents to help navigate life each day. I wonder what will happen to him when his parents are no longer able to do so. It scares me to think about it.

A dear friend's son was identified as autistic last year. He is a great kid, but of course requires a different kind of education and more resources now than they had ever planned on. I could feel my friend's stress through the phone lines last year, as she related the decisions they had to make about who would care for their child while they both worked, or if they could even find a place willing to care for a child with special needs. This school year, he started elementary school, introducing another kink into the big picture. I wondered how I could ever cope if I were in her same shoes.

It is a blessing to have kids that are so normal that they're basically like everyone else's in matters of health and development. We take it for granted too often, especially when the situation can change in a heartbeat. Only God knows what He has planned for my children. I pray for their continued "normalcy" and count it as one of my many blessings.

Creative Writing 101: High School Days

Freshman - Sophomore Years

Churchill High School: Junior - Senior Years

I was out of town Friday to Sunday, so Creative Writing 101 is a bit late, but here it is! FoodieLicious is off this week (still can't decide if I liked the brownie recipe I made up last night enough to share with others.)

Describe a typical day during your high school years:

For the first three years of high school, my typical day consisted of classes, classes, classes and then after-school varied, depending on whether or not I had any after school activities. I played no sports, so my activities were related to various clubs and councils. such as Future Teachers of America, Key Club, Anchor Club and National Honor Society. I was an officer of several organizations.

My senior year was more frenetic than the previous years due to the added burden of working on college admissions applications, an after-school job as child care provider for a local Jazzercise instructor and being a member of the Academic Decathlon team. This was in addition to my other school clubs and activities.

I was on the self-chosen honors graduation track, requiring certain honors courses and more science and math than the regular degree. So my schedule typically consisted of: English, History, Math, Science, PE or other elective, and Art or other elective. Academic Decathlon was also a class. Lunch was somewhere around 4th period. Not enough passing period time to even go to my far-away locker after each class, so shared lockers with friends who had advantageously-located lockers.

Now that I'm "old and gray", I am amazed by how much we packed into a typical high school day. So much learning and activity in 7 hours. And then more activities and homework well, well into the night. My typical bedtime became later and later each year, so that by senior year, I was up all the way through the David Letterman Show, which ended past midnight, and went to bed halfway through Sally Jessie Raphael!