.Five question Friday!

1. What movie could you watch over and over again and not get tired of?

• Legally Blonde
• Rudy
• Uncle Buck
• South Pacific
• I am sure there are more, but I will spare you!!

2. What’s your biggest pet peeve right now? 

People who refuse to listen to my instruction.  Goodness gracious.  When I give direction, it’s not for my health, people!!  There is a reason behind it and for God’s sake, just do your job.  Major lack of trust on the part of some unnamed people.

3. If you had to describe your best friend in five words or less, what would you say?

Sweetheart, loving, kind, fun.

4. If you did not have to worry about money or go to school what would you do for a living?

Singer, recording artist.

5. What is your one “splurge” item that you will always buy, no matter the cost?

Sneakers or a coat.  You need them to protect your joints, keep warm and look good.

Like I'm the only girl in the world

Twenty years have passed since I made one of the best decisions in my life. I decided to make the choice to commit my life to one man for as long "as we both shall live"

The trees were covered in a blanket of glistening snow;

it was a beautiful sight.

 All my friends and family came to the big event; Daddy walked me down the aisle...

and Daniel waited patiently with Fr. Joe at the end of altar.

That was the beginning of our 20 years together!

20 years and 7 kids later,

He still makes me feel like I am the only girl in world.

I am one lucky girl to be so loved.

Happy Anniversary to my one true love!

Loudly yours,

Alicia

Choices, choices

America....land of the free, home of the brave.  Freedom.  We are free to choose.  We are lucky to live in a Country that gives most of us that privilege.....but there are smaller, day to day choices that we must make in our lives.  Most of us have the freedom to choose to be positive or negative, loving or unkind; all day long we are presented with these decisions, every single day.  

Yesterday, I went with my daughter to a retreat at church to prepare for the sacrament of reconciliation; at the retreat, the kids were divided into groups and given four different presentations.  One of the presentations asked the kids to make some choices; whether or not to: kick an opponent on a soccer team to make a goal, tell Mom that they caused a small crack the china cabinet while playing ball in the house or not, or taking lunch money and buying ice cream instead of pizza, etc. Different scenarios were given and, of course the kids (in their parent's presence) chose the right answer, but caved at the pizza question, when asked if the pizza looked gross. Many of them chose to use their money to skip the pizza, like Mom wanted them to, and buy the ice cream anyway.  It was nice to see the kids choosing the "right" answer, but I couldn't help but think about how many kids would have to put "lying" on their list of sins when they went to confession. :-)

The 3rd presentation was a game: Sanits vs. Angels, where they split the kids up and asked them questions.  When it came time for the question: "Name of one of the 10 commandments" my daughter very proudly said: "Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's wife?"  Which prompted the Director of the program to ask, "Is that what they are teaching you at your Catholic School?"  Ugh.  Although I was proud that she was one of the only kids who knew a commandment, why couldn't she pick a nice one, like "Thou shalt not steal?"  Either way, good for her....she chose a right answer.

It is always heart warming to know that there are many more today making right decisions, vs wrong ones.  I wish the news would report on more of those, that is probably why I make the choice not to even watch the news most of the time. It's a choice I choose to make. 

Loudly yours,

Alicia

Thriving....

Thriving, according to Dictionary.com is defined as:

1. to prosper; be fortunate or successful.

2. to grow or develop vigorously; flourish: The children thrived in the country.

The question is, does it take money to thrive?  Look at children; especially babies; do they need a lot of money to thrive?  No, not really.  There are some that believe that by relaxing often and breathing deeply you will find the thriving feeling you may have lost as a child.  I think kids in most everyday, minimally dysfunctional families thrive naturally.  Most kids provided with the essentials do very well for themselves and thrive.  Take, for instance, the kids pictured here from one of my last trips to Ecuador. 

This is the their school bus.  They were so happy, chatting along, squished together, on their way to school.  It was drizzly that day and my heart went out to them.  "Poor kids," I thought as they drove away to their destination....but were they really poor?  It puzzled me when I first saw these kids (granted, that was about 20 yrs ago) how these kids were able to thrive in such underprivileged conditions, but thrive they did (or it least it seemed that way to me.)  

Sometimes, the nature to thrive seen in children is contagious if we are conscious enought to notice.  Boy, do I need to slow down sometimes...but then again, maybe my inability to sit still is just a derivative of a strong will to thrive! (Yeah....that's the ticket!)

Loudly yours,

Alicia

Hello All!

Here are the five questions for today's Five Question Friday! Brought to us from http://www.friday5.org/

1. Where have you been that could best be described as a winter wonderland?    

The most beautiful winter wonderland was right here in my town on my Wedding Day.  It had been snowing the night before and on the big day, the whole place was covered in glistening snow; it was breathtaking.  The trees sparkled and everything was covered with snow, all things made pure by Mother Nature's perfect blanket of snow.

2. In what way might you describe this as the winter of your discontent?    

The only way I could think it would be a winter of discontent is that I really don't like being cold and the snow makes things uncertain in business....sometimes things get postponed, etc.

3. What was the last wintergreen-flavored thing you tasted?    

The last wintergreen thing I tasted was a life saver.  Not my favorite, but I must have wanted something sweet and that was the only thing around.

4. Is there anyone in your life who could be nicknamed Old Man Winter?    

No one I know intimately, but there is a neighbor close to me who would personify that nickname. (Don't worry neighbor friends, if you are reading this, I am sure its not you!)
 

5. Now that the holidays have passed, is there anything good about the winter that remains?

Oh yeah! My Anniversary!!  We celebrate 20 years together this year. Boy, did it go by fast!!  I also love to take the kids sledding whenever I get the chance, so I am looking forward to that again.

All the best,

Loudly yours,

Alicia

Mullings over Pastina...

 

Mullings over pastina

This morning as I was preparing the kids’ lunch, pastina; I was mulling over some things.  I put the pot on the stove and began to boil the water under the highest heat setting so it would boil fast.  Now, I have put this setting on before, only to be burned with burnt Pastina, doing no one any good.  This time, I stayed there stirring the pot as much as I possibly could; watching it, stirring as needed, adding the ingredients; whatever it needed.  It then dawned on me that maybe my kids were crazy fast kind of people like the flame beneath the pot and if they were left alone for too much time, there would be some burnt people….for instnace;  We were almost burnt out of our home the other day when our five year old went upstairs to do my older son a favor and get him one of his Ds games.  He found a lighter, lit an incense, dropped it a couple of times on the rug, burning it, then finally threw it in the garbage can, where it smoldered until I smelled its smoke during dinner.  Ahrg!!  Thank God I found it before it caused more than burnt items in a can and smoke!  I guess it is in my best interest to keep on the pot that is my family so that no one else gets burned.  They are all so crazy active and run so fast, sometimes it's hard for me to catch up with them and have a life of my own. Thank God I do know how to juggle pretty well.  If I could only duplicate myself!  Life would be so much easier....but I have to teach myself to love their perfect imperfections. Lord knows I am far from perfect.

Loudly yours,

Alicia

New beginnings....

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

There is nothing like a new beginning, especially the New Year.  This year, it is also the beginning of a new decade. Twice as nice.  This is the time of year that most take a moment to decide where the rest of their life will head.  For it has been proven that a person with goals is more on task to complete those goals than those who have no goals at all.  I have, over the years, kept "goal posters" and sometimes, to my complete surprise, the things I post on my goal poster come to fruition, maybe not the same exact color, but it does come to pass.  I choose to keep going in that very path. 

Recently, within the past year, I got my dream desk, almost to the letter of my goal poster picture.  I still have the picture around the office to remind me that dreams can come true.

( I am still expectantly waiting for my Mercedes) :0)

 

Here are some more pictures from my goal poster, which I changed from an actual poster to a virtual one, in my original blog.  There are way to many to post, but here are some shots from my virtual goal poster. ( Which I am hoping works as well as the physical one!)

  My RV:

My NJ Summer Home:













I will no longer bore you with my "wild" expectations, but will leave you with some quotes from one of my favorite authors; Napoleon Hill:

Whatever the mind of man can conceive and believe, it can achieve.

Cherish your visions and your dreams as they are the children of your soul, the blueprints of your ultimate achievements.

The greatest achievements of men, were at first, nothing but dreams of the minds of men who knew that dreams are the seedlings of all achievements. A burning desire, to be and to do, is the starting point, from which the dreamer must take off.

http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Napoleon_Hill   

Loudly yours,
 and Happy New Year!

Alicia