The Spookiest Day of the Year!!

I love Halloween! It is so fun to dress up and be silly, scarey, pretty, or whatever you choose on this fun day!! I love the smiles on my girls faces when my husband and I dress up and join in all the fun.
I have wonderful childhood memories of Trick or Treating in a small town where everyone wanted to come to my house because my Dad put on a Halloween Show every year!! I was so proud of him that day!! His costume was always kept a secret until he came out of his room in character. I loved the band Kiss as a tween, and my Dad came out dressed like Gene Simmons one year! He looked exactly like him!! That was a great Halloween!!
When I put on my costume each year, I hope I am creating memories for my children that they will have with them forever.
Happpy Halloween!!

I survived

Okay, so my Birthday came and went. It was a great Birthday. My daughters are so sweet, they made me a graham cracker beach house complete with ocean, sand, beach umbrella chairs, as well as a snack shack. They know me all too well.
The hubby was great too, made breakfast and we all went to dinner!! An all around fantastic day.
Unfortunately for me, my new normal is that at least part of the day is spent wishing my Mom and Dad would call me and sing Happy Birthday. They always did that every year. Deep down inside I am waiting for the phone to ring to hear the voices I haven't heard in so long. It is amazing how often I think of my parents now that they aren't here.
I wonder if they know I think of them? I hope they do. I hope they know I realize now that they did the best they could as parents, even though we didn't always agree. That is all any of us can do is our best. If we leave earth knowing we did our best, hopefully the afterlife is spent with no regrets!! I, however, don't want to have any regrets in this life either. Maybe if I live my life on earth with no regrets, when I go, my children will be happy I lead such an amazing life with them!

Giving back

There is something about the rain and the chilly weather that makes me remember to donate to people less fortunate than me. I like to go through my warm clothes and donate what myself and my family never wear.
Today while shopping at the Giant I was reminded out in front of the store that our local food bank was collecting non-parishable items. I gave some canned goods and the group was so thankful! I was saddened when I saw 4 or 5 people walk right by not even looking up and smiling when these people spoke directly to them. This really upset me! They could just smile even if they couldn't give anything. Remember to not be too busy this season to look up and see who is speaking to you. This is going to be a tough holiday season for a lot of your neighbors! We need to pull together and help each other out! Remember that your Dragonfly may be around watching you!

Birthday Blues

I have been on cloud nine since my New Orleans trip.  I had such a great time with my sister, in an awesome City.  I love the fact that she was there with me for such an important event.  We also celebrated my Birthday together for the first time in at least 20 years. I really enjoyed August, the restaurant we went to.  I feel very blessed having her in my life.
Although, my week was fantastic in New Orleans, I hit an emotional wall today that I wasn't expecting.  I really wanted to tell my Mom and Dad about my interview.  I also miss having them be a part of my Birthday.  My Dad and I almost shared the same Birthday, so we always celebrated together, and when I was not living at home, I always spoke to both my Mother and Father a lot during my Birthday week.  I guess this week is hard because I feel that something is missing,  I didn't realize this until today when I had the urge to talk to them both. 
My mother always made Birthday's so fun.  Every year I asked for a chocolate cake with chocolate frosting.  The funny thing is that now as an adult, I prefer spice cake with vanilla frosting, and I remember my Dad loving that kind of cake.  Is it possible that we change in order to keep memories alive in our life?  Do I like spice cake now because of my memory of my father?
Anyway, This will be an interesting week.  I will be looking for a Dragonfly for sure!

My interview on Good Morning New Orleans!

What an amazing trip I had!  My interview went very well!  Click here to see it.  I will blog more tomorrow about my trip, now I need some rest!! 

http://www.abc26.com/news/goodmorningneworleans/

Good Morning New Orleans

Of course I can't sleep, even if my flight leaves in the 6:50 am.  I have a combination of nerves and excitement!  I am really happy that my sister Cindy is going to be in New Orleans with me to share this great experience with me.  Unfortunately, Beth, my other sister, couldn't make the trip.  It would have been great having both of them there with me as I speak about my book and our parents.  I again have been needing the phone number to heaven because I desperately want to tell my parents about my TV interview.  I already know that they read my book in heaven, otherwise I wouldn't see Dragonflies around me all the time.  Who knows, maybe I will see a Dragonfly at the TV Station. 

Making people smile

I love mornings like today when I get to start my day making hundreds of people smile and giggle!  My children's school mascot is Chirp the Eagle and we have a fantastic mascot costume to wear for spirit days or events at the school.  My all time favorite volunteer position is dressing up like Chirp.  It is wonderful being able to dance around and act silly and nobody knows that it is me!! 
My girls and I arrive early at the school and sneak into the room wear the costume is.  They both help me put it on with huge smiles on their faces all the while telling me I am the coolest Mom ever!  When the costume is on we start walking around the school together.  It is still pretty early, so we go to say hello to their teachers and get ready for the buses to arrive.  That is when I take my spot in front of the school as the buses start to pull up.  I dance and wave at the smiling children in the windows of the buses.  As they enter the school they all give me hugs and high fives.  The smiles are priceless!!
Today is family fun day and in a few hours I get to do this awesome job all over again!  I need to work on my moves, so wish me luck.  Remember making people smile is one of the best things to do on any given day.  It is very contagious!!

Special Time

As I take out my fall/Halloween decorations this week, I am reminded of decoration day at my house as a child.  Halloween was a big deal in my house, it was my father's favorite holiday!  My Mom made it her job to make the house look awesome!!  I remember her putting all the decorations on the dining room table and when we got home from school we were allowed to help put them all over the house!  This was a special treat!  I never realized until today how special that time was with my Mom.  We didn't go anywhere, or spend any money, we just made our house so cool together.  Her needing mine and my sister's help with this task made me feel so special!  She always had little stories to tell about each decoration, so after many years, we knew the history of all the decorations we had!!   My all time favorite was the ceramic pumpkin that sat in the middle of our kitchen table, always stocked with candy corn.  My father had a weakness for candy corn.  Every time he walked by the table you would hear the pumpkin open and him take a handful.  A sound that is embedded in my memory bank.
So today, as I take out my fall/Halloween decorations, I am putting them on my dining room table for my girls and I to do together when they get home from school.  I am going to tell them a story about each decoration, and play some spooky music. I definatley need to go to the store before then to get some candy corn for my pumpkin!!