5-16-12

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Shel Belle Scraps is having a birthday sale!

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Today is Shel's birthday and she's celebrating with a sale!

This is a one day only sale so don't miss it!

FlowerScraps has been busy!

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FlowerScraps has been busy getting her store at Digital Scrapbooking Studio open and now it's up and running with an awesome sale!



As an added bonus that beautiful Softly Spring kit that I showed you at the beginning of the month is in the store now.



I love this kit! I really love that it's 40% off!!

Remember when I posted the QP I made using this kit and then took it down? Well, it's available again! Just click on the preview below.



Check out FlowerScraps blog for some adorable cluster freebies!

The blonde moments just keep coming...

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I have a couple of "Ginger" stories to catch you up on, so pull up a chair and get ready to laugh at me!

First of all, I should tell you that we had a couple of seriously stormy days this past week. Days where it rained so hard at times you couldn't see two feet in front of you.

Guess who got stuck in traffic during one of these downpours? ME!

I stopped at the store on my way home from work Wednesday and apparently half of Miami Beach decided to do the same thing. I tried to keep my cool while waiting in a very slow moving line because I was fresh from my "just be nice" conversation with Sebastian and wanted to be the prettiest girl in Publix.

As I was checking out the rain and wind started up again. It even caused the doors of the store to blow open and several people screamed. I just smiled and thanked my cashier then nicely made my way through the crowd of people waiting by the door for a break in the storm.

I'm telling you that I was so nice to those annoying people who were standing in my way and blocking the exit that not only was I the prettiest girl in Publix ~ I was the prettiest girl in all of Florida!

I get out of the store, into my car and out of the parking garage just to wait in traffic on streets that are starting to flood. As I sat through the same light for the second time because of the traffic it started raining even harder. It rained harder and it was so loud.

I couldn't figure out why it was so loud! Then I took a good look at the car in front of me and noticed ice bouncing off of it. I couldn't believe that someone was throwing ice at that car! I started looking around for the idiot who was out in the rain throwing ice at cars and thinking that no one was going to think they were pretty.

It took several seconds for me to figure out that no one was throwing ice. It was hailing!

On Friday my cell phone froze up so I swung by an AT&T store after school to get some help figuring out what was going on. The guy asked me what my number was and I had to admit that I don't know my number. He asked if it was a new number and I had to admit that I've had it for about eight years or so. He gave me a very strange and confused look before heading off to talk about me with another employee.

I stood there smiling as I watched them talking. Even though I know that they were talking about me I still smiled. I was the prettiest girl in that store!

The guy came back to me and brought his other employee friend with him as a witness. They asked if I could call someone to get my number. I pointed out that my phone wasn't working. They said I could use one of their phones. I asked them how they expected me to know someone else's number when I didn't know my own. They said they couldn't help me and looked like they were ready to call the police so I decided to leave with my broken phone.

My neighbors weren't home and Orange Croc Guy wasn't around so I couldn't ask any of them what my phone number was. I did the only thing I could think of---I went on Facebook and asked for someone to please my number to me so that I could get my phone fixed.

Yes, I'm still getting teased for that one!

However, it worked! Several of my awesome friends sent my number to me and I called AT&T from my home phone. Whatever was wrong with my cell phone had to be fixed in person so I headed back to the store and the employees that seemed to think I was crazy. They didn't look to happy to see me walk back in, but curiosity got the better of them and they asked if I had remembered my number. I presented them with the sticky note paper that I had written it down on.

One of the guys took the paper and my phone and disappeared into the back for about twenty minutes. He finally returned my working phone to me and advised me to learn my number. I was completely over him and the whole broken phone thing and I just wanted to get back home, but I still smiled and thanked him so that he could see how pretty I was.

FYI.....I still don't know my number, but thanks to my friends I've got it written down.

5-12-12

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The Story of Me part 39

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March 30, 1997

Leo and Harmony were out of school for spring break and he had spent everyday with her at the Harrison’s house. Together they had dyed Easter eggs, watched TV, eaten ice cream and played outside until Leo had to return to the group home for the night. Today, Leo was going to church with the Harrison’s for Easter services.

Leo wasn’t sure how he felt about the whole church thing, but it was important to the Harrison’s and they were important to Harmony. That made it important to him. He had walked to the Harrison’s and sat on the porch until he heard them up and moving around in the house. As always, Leo had arrived early. Mary knew that he would be waiting outside for them so she opened the door and while offering him breakfst she let him into the house.

Leo rarely spent time at the group home. He was required to check in after school on week days, but other then being in house before dark at night his days were his to spend as he wanted. Many of the boys at the house used the free time to get into trouble. They hung out on the streets, stole things from stores and people that weren’t careful with their wallets or purses. Many of the boys even joined gangs and set themselves up for a life of crime, a prison sentence or even an early death.

Until the day Leo met Harmony, he had been heading down that path. He was following the example of the boys he had surrounding him, because it was the only example he had. Harmony, had shown him a different path and she didn’t even realize it. The beautiful but scared little girl had walked into class on the first day of school and Leo had fallen in love with her right away.

He saw her sad green eyes and wondered how and why anyone could ever hurt her. He watched her blonde hair as it fell across her shoulders and it looked so soft he wanted to touch it. Then he saw her tears as the other kids had teased her and more than he had ever wanted anything he wanted to protect her.

Leo decided that day he would become someone worthy of Harmony. He would stay
out of trouble, do his school work, protect her from the playground bullies and grow into the kind of man who would make someone like her proud.

On the ride home from churh Leo asked the Harrison’s one question after the other. He was fascinated by the sermon and wanted to know everything there was to know about church, God and Jesus and what Easter meant. He wasn’t able to make the connection between church and the colored eggs he and Harmony were heading home to hide. The Harrisons indulged Leo’s questions and gave the best answers they could give. They were pleased when they offered to take Leo to church again and he agreed to go before sitting back in his seat and smiling as he watched the world go by through his window.

You really do learn it all in Kindergarten!

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I know that at some point in your life you've read the Robert Fulghum essay Everything I Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten and I am here to tell you that it's true. It's really true! I just didn't realize that I would learn things after 800 years of teaching or that the lessons would be taught to me by a tiny little 5 year old boy.

Sebastian isn't shy and we have some very interesting conversations. The most interesting ones seem to take place in the bathroom. I'm not sure why, but the kid gets very talkative in the bathroom.

There are days when our bathroom conversations are the only reason I smile. There are also days, like today, when the conversation is just so awesome it makes me want to cry.

I could put together an entire very inspiring and hilarious book of our talks. You know, kind of like Tuesdays with Morrie but I would call mine Bathroom Conversations With a Five Year Old Super Hero. It would be a best seller too! Of course, his poor mom would be really embarrassed by some of the funnier conversations and she would probably need to change her name, dye her hair and move to another country. lol!

Sometimes, Sebastian sums up the conversation with a final statement. For some reason, he especially likes to do this after the more awkward talks. It's kind of like the final thoughts segment on the Jerry Springer show. lol!

On Tuesday, he ended the conversation by saying, "Now, if you ever have a little boy, you know why you need to buy him floaties."

On Wednesday I was wheeling Sebastian into the bathroom and he decided to start playing the copycat game. You know, the annoying game where you repeat everything someone says. Once I caught on to what he was doing I decided to try and get him to say things like "I want to give Ms. Brown all my money." Instead, he said, "I don't have any money." lol!

After he copied me a couple more times I threw out a quick, "Ms. Brown is the prettiest." Sebastian responded by asking, "Do you always want to be the prettiest?"

Now, I know that as a semi responsible adult I should have told him that beauty isn't important and that it's what is on the inside that counts. But, there is an unspoken honesty rule to our bathroom conversations and so while the grown up me knows that there are more important things than being pretty, the little girl inside of me that wants to be a pretty, pretty princess had to answer, "YES!"

Without skipping a beat Sebastian said, "Did you know that even if you weren't pretty people would still think that you are because you're nice to them."

I commented on what a sweet thing that was for him to say and Sebastian continued by saying, "It's true. All you have to do is be nice to people and they'll think you're the prettiest ever. They'll talk to you and they'll help you if you need something just because you were nice to them."

I started rolling his wheelchair out of the bathroom and he told me his final thought, "Remember, just be nice."

For me, it was one of those moments where you're smiling and fighting back tears at the same time. All I could think was how amazing it was that this little boy who will never "look" like every one else knows that it doesn't really matter when there are adults still struggling to learn that lesson.

A tiny little boy who knows that there are magical powers in kindness.

Forget about Spiderman! This kid is a true Super Hero!

So, what do you guys think? Should we all try our best to be nice today and channel our inner beauty queens?