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2011 in Review … Thanks

Posted in The Hubby, WONDER, tagged annual report, blog, blog stats, dream, Mom, readers, report, stats, therapy, Wonder, Writing on January 3, 2012| Leave a Comment »

The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2011 annual report for this blog.

I received this on New Years Day, and was awed.

I was awed that, since March, when I started posting, there have been over 16,000 views!

I was awed that my posts have been read all over the world!

I was awed that so many people who I know (and many who I do not) have read my words.

As you may already know, I am a nominee for the blogger with the worst grammar ever (and for Queen of the run on sentence). But it was a dream of mine to ‘get published’ and this has been my venue to accomplish that dream. To think that people have actually ready what I wrote is icing on the cake (I was convinced it would only my mother who would read my words … and she is a regular viewer … thanks mom).

It has been wonderful for me to have something that is mine (narcissism creeping out of my pores). This is something I do for myself (and hubby is thrilled that I have chosen writing and not shopping … much better on the finances 😉 ), and I feel that by doing it, I can do all the other things in my life better (I would equate it to the airline instruction to “put your own oxygen mask on before helping others with theirs”).

As I have sat at my computer each day writing away, I have felt as though I was having a therapy session. I have dealt with frustrations and shared my heart in a way that could not have been done better with a counselor, bar tender or hairdresser (sadly though I do not have great hair to show for it).

I just wanted to take the time, right now, to say thanks for visiting my blog. Make sure you click on the “complete report” if you would like to see who you have been reading with.

Blessings,

Carole

Here’s an excerpt:

The concert hall at the Syndey Opera House holds 2,700 people. This blog was viewed about 16,000 times in 2011. If it were a concert at Sydney Opera House, it would take about 6 sold-out performances for that many people to see it.

Click here to see the complete report.

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iResolve

Posted in life, WONDER, tagged 2012, apps, cell phones, find iphone app, iresolve, myfitnesspal app, new years resolutions, P.D. app, Resolutions, Television, texting, texting while driving, the weathernetwork app on January 2, 2012| 1 Comment »

Since it is still the first week of January, I figure it is not too late to talk New Years resolutions.

To be honest I am not a big resolutions maker, but I felt motivated yesterday to make a couple. So, one resolution turned into another and so on (and so on, and so on … remember those VO5 shampoo commercials of the 80’s?), and now I have a list:

iResolve …

-to not use my phone while driving (don’t you get all pious on me … you know you do it too. Your phone rings and you put it on speaker, or you hear that delightful sound of a text coming in, and you pick it up … just ‘in case’ it’s important …). Lets face it, it is dangerous, and stupid! No call or text or Twitter update is that important (how much do you want to bet this will be the ONE post my kids actually read? And they badger me to keep it! That could be a good thing).

-to not turn my phone on (except at lunch break) at work (not that I have ever used it at work … now I’ll have my co-workers badgering me to keep this one … and that could be a good thing too).

-to use myfitnesspal app … every day (sigh, the end to this merry season of gluttony).

-to not look at my weathernetwork app for the sole purpose of ‘guessing’ when there might be the right conditions for a ‘storm day’ at school (no, Mom, I will never grow up).

-to not try to convince my daughters that the P.D. app is fun (the horror on their innocent faces when I tell them that I find my period diary fun must come to an end).

-to finish programing my Find iPhone app on my phone … I downloaded the app over a year ago, and I still could not utilize it’s benefits if I were to misplace my phone (and by now you know just how vital it is to me).

-to stop using my iPhone apps while watching a movie with my kids or hubby … I sense withdrawal symptoms.

-to more frequently (like twice instead of once a year) load my iPhone photos to my computer, and off of my phone (I fear a cataclysmic event happening and losing a year of memories … this must end).

Well that is enough for one year! I am feeling a little drained, so I think I will go to my phone and pre-order my favorite beverage on my Starbucks app, so that it will be waiting for me when I get there.

Cheers!

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New Years Day 2012

Posted in life, WONDER, tagged 2012, Choice, Happy New Year, January 1, Love, New Year, New Years Day, New Years Eve, Resolutions on January 1, 2012| Leave a Comment »

Many of us awake today, January 1, 2012, on the same day that we went to sleep. Whether we were at a rousing house party, a midnight mass, dancing with friends, drinking a warm cup of milk alone in the quiet of the night, or watching the ball drop in New York City (live, or, more likely, on the tube) we saw the new year in.

Now, like that empty notebook paper on the first day of school, we start afresh. We arise to a new day, a new month and a new year.

So, what are we going to write on this fresh page of 2012?

Last week I went to a movie with my girls. We saw the movie New Years Eve, and I have to say I loved it. In the words of the character played by Katherine Heigl, “there’s gonna be more celebrities here than rehab,” and that is certainly the case with the cast line up for this movie.

I was nervously expecting there to be awkward scenes causing regret on my part for taking my daughters (especially the fourteen year old). Not only was it relatively UN-awkward for me as a mom, but it also left me with a something to ponder.

The following is the final narration in the movie,”it’s OK to listen to your heart. I know it’s risky. Go ahead and take that leap. There are so many things you can’t control: earthquakes, war, famine. It’s important to remember the things we can control, things like love and forgiveness. … Love in every one of its forms. Loves gives us hope. Hope for the New Year.”

It IS important to remember the things we can control … and most of those things that we can control have to do with our choices. So, for 2012, lets choose to love. It is only one resolution, and yet I think it could change our whole year.

Happy New Year!

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Christmas Break Day 5

Posted in life, WONDER, tagged Because you believe it, Change, Christmas Break, lies, Transformation, Truth on December 30, 2011| Leave a Comment »

It is Christmas Break and I am taking this week as a break from blogging (my family is doubtful that I can do it).

So, if you are looking for something to read from me this week, I would suggest one of my favorite blog posts:

Because you Believe It

See you in the New Year!

Carole

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Christmas Break Day 4

Posted in GOD, WONDER, tagged Books, Christmas Break, nature, Reading, Redemption, Stories on December 29, 2011| Leave a Comment »

It is Christmas Break and I am taking this week as a break from blogging (my family is doubtful that I can do it).

So, if you are looking for something to read from me this week, I would suggest one of my favorite blog posts:

The Theme of the Best Stories is Always

See you in the New Year!

Carole

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Christmas Break Day 3

Posted in FAMILY, GOD, WONDER, tagged Christmas Break, Do You Love Me?, Greater Love, John 21, Love, Sacrifice on December 28, 2011| Leave a Comment »

It is Christmas Break and I am taking this week as a break from blogging (my family is doubtful that I can do it).

So, if you are looking for something to read from me this week, I would suggest one of my favorite blog posts:

Do You Love Me?

See you in the New Year!

Carole

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Christmas Break Day 2

Posted in women, WONDER, tagged Beauty, Christmas Break, Inner Beauty, Women on December 27, 2011| 1 Comment »

It is Christmas Break and I am taking this week as a break from blogging (my family is doubtful that I can do it).

So, if you are looking for something to read from me this week, I would suggest one of my favorite blog posts:

Beauty is in the Eye of the Beholder

See you in the New Year!

Carole

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Christmas Break Day 1

Posted in christmas, Nature/Creation, WONDER, tagged Believe, Chrstmas Break, Creation, Crhistmas on December 26, 2011| Leave a Comment »

It is Christmas Break and I am taking this week as a break from blogging (my family is doubtful that I can do it).

So, if you are looking for something to read from me this week, I would suggest one of my favorite blog posts:

Creation Calls Me to Believe

See you in the New Year!

Carole

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Happy Merry Birthday Hubby

Posted in The Hubby, WONDER, tagged Birthday, Good Father, Good Husband, Happy Birthday, My Husband, The Beast on December 22, 2011| 2 Comments »

For those whose birthdays are near December 25th a common experience is shared. That of receiving one gift with a ‘Merry Christmas / Happy Birthday’ message. That has been the experience of my hubby. So, for today, I will digress from my December of Christmas themed posts just for him.

Today hubby will awaken to his fortieth birthday (with a significant number of years of experience … just sayin’).

I will spend the day trekking across the country from east to west with our son. Hubby will, no doubt, be spoiled by his two daughters (aka they will suggest that they take him to THEIR favorite restaurant, and he will pay for the meals), and I am sure our beast will be his constant shadow from morning to night (of course, the gift he wants most from her is that she drop dead or run away). It really sounds like a sequel to “It’s a Wonderful Life!”

You, hubby, are a person who is always doing something for others. You empty your cup daily with little hope of it ever being re-filled. You give and give and give, with little thanks for all that you do.

To our kids you are the one they can count on. When they have a need, you have a solution. They have grown up knowing that they are deeply loved by their dad.

To me, you are my best friend (and best enemy … it depends on the day … I’ll never get a job with Hallmark!). You are the one who I want to tell my best and worst experiences to. It is you who I know will always be there (no matter what I might do to get you off my trail 😉 ). It is with you that I have shared the majority of my life with, and it is with me that you will continue to share the rest of yours with (that is true, right?).

To our beast … well, you haven’t evicted her (yet).

So, to my hubby, on his significantly special day I hope for you:

A good nights rest.

A good morning coffee time.

A day of receiving love.

A day of positive words from others.

A day of being thankful for the day.

A day of no barking by the beast.

A day of no crises.

A day of feeling valued in all that you do.

See you in the early morning hours.

Your bride.

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The Star in the East

Posted in christmas, WONDER, tagged christmas, The Star, The Star in the East, The Story, The Wise Men on December 21, 2011| Leave a Comment »

Being in the East, where the cities and towns are smaller and less inhabited, I have the opportunity to see the stars in the night sky so much more clearly. The sky here does not have enormous trees, sky scraper buildings and gargantuan mountains to shrink the size of the sky.

My family here gets fatigued of hearing me say, “the sky here is so big … it goes on forever.”

The Bible speaks of the star in the east, leading the way to Bethleham, where Jesus, the Messiah, was born. This star was an astronomical wonder, and it was the unexpected messenger of the so very expected message for the Jews, of their Messiah.

The ‘wise guys’, the Bible tells us, were so captivated by the changes in the sky that they took the most excellent adventure in the Middle East. They were men of science, they were men of books, they were highly ‘crainial’ guys who saw something in their study and measurements of the sky that was so unique, they had to leave their observatory to see what this was about for themselves.

They were not content to wait for the journalists, or market researchers, or social media types to tell them about it, second hand. No, they were knowledgable and wise enough to know that they needed to see it for themselves. They sought out the truth for themselves.

As Christmas is in our thinking, why not research for ourselves? Why not investigate the story of Christmas? Why not see for ourselves the story that is still being taught, more than two thousand years later?

Follow that star … it might lead you to the most beautiful place of wonder, this Christmas season.

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