Remember When...Laugh 'Til You Cry!

Below my blog is the information on who won an ebook of Moselle's Insurance by commenting on LoRee Peery's guest blog about the Sisterhood of Romance Writers.

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Yesterday family gathered at our home to share food, conversation and fun. Our home is not large, nor do we have room for a lot of people in any one room. Since the weather was nice, we turned off the air conditioning and opened windows and the sliding doors from the kitchen to the deck. The food covered the table in the kitchen. The men congregated on the deck to eat and watch football, while the kids carried their plates down to the family room to watch television, and the women congregated in the living room to talk. Eventually, the kids moved outdoors to play. We, the women, listened to the kids laughing and having a good time and began to reminisce about things the kids had done when they were younger. One story led to another, and soon we were laughing so hard tears were rolling down our faces. My cheeks and my sides ached from laughing so hard. Occasionally, one of the men would wander in just to see what they were missing.

And that's what I love most about getting together with family. Sharing memories made over the years and laughing together. Family is one of the greatest blessings God has given me. I'm looking forward to Christmas because more of the family will be able to join us. The house will be overflowing with people and love.

I pray all of my friends who are in the US and celebrated Labor Day this past weekend had a fun and relaxing time. Thanks for stopping by!

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And the winner is....Donna B.

So, Donna, if you would, please email me through the contact page of my website http://www.carolannerhardt.com/ and give me your email addy to receive your book. Thanks to everyone who commented.

Also, Donna and everyone who left a comment now have their names entered twice in my monthly drawing for a Bath & Body Gift Certificate. There is no limit to how many times your name can be entered. Every comment on one of my blogs gets one entry each and every comment on a guest blog or interview gets two entries each.

The winner of Mended Heart will be announced here on my blog on Friday! Be sure to stop back and see if you are a winner!

Make a Face to Chase Away the Blahs

What's on My Mind: Lunch today with my very best friend

What I'm Reading: Teacher's Plans by JoAnn Carter

Picture of the Day: Making faces with the grandkids

Don't you just love having fun with children? I love my grandkids, especially when they are young enough to want to act silly with me. On Mother's Day, I had so much fun playing with the kids. They can tire me out, especially the boys who want to wrestle with me like they do their dad. My poor body doesn't do well with rolling on the floor any longer.

I absolutely love being creatively silly. I remember having so much fun with my girls when they were growing up. And even after they were grown. A few years ago, my daughter (who has kids of her own) wanted to have a Build-a-Bear birthday. So, her friend, her sisters and I all went to Build-a-Bear after work. We had sooooo much fun and laughed so hard. I really thought we were going to be asked to leave and never come back.

My girls reminded me not long ago about the song I made up when they were complaining about an English teacher whose last name was Twynam. It went something like this:

Oh, twine 'em round your fingers, and twine 'em round your toes. Twine 'em round your shoulders and twine 'em up your nose!

Once when my youngest daughter was having a grumpy fit, I started singing the Star Spangled Banner and running around the kitchen opening and slamming the cabinet doors in time with the beats. Needless to say, she had to laugh.

Laughter is so good for the soul. It can chase away the blues, energize the system, and make the complexion glow. I don't plan to ever get to be a serious, frumpy old lady. I want to laugh and be silly and have fun until the day God calls me home.

I hope you take the chance to laugh whenever you can! Thanks for stopping by.

Right-Left Challenged, But What Does This Mean?

I admit I am "right-left" challenged. If someone tells me to turn left or look left, I will turn right or look right...and vice versa. I don't know why. I DO know which is my left side and which is my right side. There's just a disconnect in my brain when it hears these words.

I've taken various tests and I have what they call a balanced brain, meaning I'm not left brained, or right brained, but smack dab in the middle. Could this have something to do with my problem? Maybe, maybe not. I prefer to think that when this happens, I'm usually driving and busy having a conversation with whomever is in the passenger seat...thus I'm distracted.

BUT, what does this mean?

My friend bought these fabulous footies. They are lace with pretty elastic and come in nude, black, and various colors. I loved them when I saw them and just had to buy a pair, because she said they stay on your feet without sliding down! The first day I wore mine, the heels slipped into my shoes. Annoying. No matter how high I stretched them above the heel of my shoes, they kept riding down until I was walking on them. Ugh!

I tried a different pair the next day. One stayed on my right foot, the other slipped down. Hmmm. So I switched the footies on my feet. Guess what? Now the one on my left foot slipped down. What??

I looked them over very carefully. Hmm. Seems I had put the one footie on backwards...or what I thought was backwards. See, one side seemed to allow more room for the toes. Wrong. That end was for the heels. Now I wear my footies with great joy. No longer do they slip down.

So, what is this disconnect in my brain?

Thanks for stopping by!

Cables, Phones, Thumbs, and Alarms...Oh, My!

Chaotic day, for sure. Started last night when I reached into my sock drawer to get a pair of socks for work. Excruciating pain shot through my thumb. I do have arthritis in both thumbs and tendonitis which flares occasionally. But this time it did not go away, not even overnight. So, I called off work...can't drive when the thumb won't work. Have you ever tried to do anything without your thumbs? I mean, how humiliating that my hubby had to dress me for bed! And try wiping your rear! Oh, this is my right thumb and I just happen to be right-handed. Sigh. I debated whether to go to Urgent Care or the doctor. Doctor won. They have an exray machine and the copay is less expensive. Yeah. First wrong decision of the day. Exray machines down in doctor's office. Diagnosis--keep thumb immobilized, rest, if it doesn't get better, take prescription for exray to hospital. Cha-ching. If I do that I will have to pay for the exray myself. Bought a thumb immobilizer brace at Walgreen's and I'm learning how to type slowly and use my left thumb only for the space key.

But...when we walked in the door the trouble light was sounding on our alarm system. Sigh. Now what. Called the alarm company. Went through the testing and the blaring of the alarm for a minute to see if they would receive a signal. My eardrums hurt as much as my thumb by then. My hubby was looking at me with his finger poised over the alarm pad and kept saying, "Can I shut it off now?" The cats were leaping in acrobatic stunts beyond description, and their eyes? Bulging and frightening! Finally, we were allowed to stop the noise. ADT says, no signal. She asked if we had a phone change recently. Bingo! We moved my office from the upstairs bedroom to the lower level last Saturday. I have an extra light blinking on the modem, although everything seems to be working all right. She says we need to check the phone to see if there is a problem. I say, "Well, if you can hear me, then it's working!" Sigh.

So, I call our cable company. Problem is the phone jack upstairs is where the cable company had wired the alarm system through. Now we have everything hooked up to the phone jack downstairs! Sigh.

The trouble alarm went off again. I silenced it, but it is going to sound off again. Hubby is on his way to the store to buy 50 foot phone cord. We'll drill a hole through the floor to drop the cord from that jack and attach it to the modem. If it works, I can cancel the scheduled appt with the cable company tomorrow afternoon. I sure hope it does. If not, I'll be up all night shutting of the blasted alarm. Sigh.

I have to laugh at the entire sad situation. If my thumb hadn't gone out, my hubby wouldn't have known what to do about the alarm and he would have called me at work where I would have been trapped in a senior management meeting all day. There is always a bright side to everything. **grin**

And Then I Laughed....

Last night, tired and bleary-eyed, I mailed out my newsletter. When my copy came through I cringed...all those dreaded symbols that replace hyphens and quotes were beautifully placed throughout the newsletter. Ack! So, then I sent out an apology to my email list and gave them the link to read on a hidden page of my website. This morning I looked at the newsletter again because I wanted to make sure and update my blog with the upcoming author interview dates--and then I laughed. Here's what my newsletter said: "For the upcoming months, I will be hosting interviews as follows:"
To my utter humiliation, I had left off the names and dates...

For the schedule, look at the sidebar of my blog.

Did you know that laughter is good for you? It lifts your spirits and chases away depression. So, I always step back and laugh at myself whenever I can. I'm not perfect and I'm the first to admit it. So, beginning this coming week, I'll be sharing the "amusing" side of my life.

Stop in and you can start your day off with a laugh...at my expense.

An interesting article on how laughter can help your heart. Click here.

Thanks for stopping by!