Treasure Every Moment That You Have!

We had a great lesson a couple weeks ago in our young women's combined meeting and the instructor talked about using our time wisely. It helped me ponder my life and what I'm doing each day. I thought I would pass on some of the info she shared.

You can never tell what type of impact you may have on another persons life by your actions or lack of actions.  Consider this fact in your venture through life.  Imagine there is a bank that carries your account each morning with $86,400.  It carries over no balance from day to day.  Every evening it deletes whatever part of the balance you failed to use during the day.  What would you do? Draw out every cent, of course!

Each of us has a bank.  It is called TIME.  Every morning it credits you with 86,400 seconds.  Every night it writes off, as lost, whatever of this you have failed to invest to good purpose.  It carries over no balance.  It allows no overdraft.  Each day it opens a new account for you.  Each night it burns the remains of the day.  If you fail to use the day's deposits, the loss is yours.  There is no going back.  You cannot draw against "tomorrow's deposit." You must live in the present of today's deposit.

The clock is running.  Make the most of today.  To realize the value of:
      ONE YEAR-ask a student who failed a grade
      ONE MONTH-ask a mother who gave birth to a premature baby.
      ONE WEEK-ask the editor of a weekly newspaper.
      ONE DAY-ask a daily wage laborer with kids to feed.
      ONE MINUTE-ask a person who missed the train.
      ONE SECOND-ask a person who just avoided an accident.
      ONE MILLIONTH OF A SECOND-ask the person who won the silver medal in the Olympics.

Treasure every moment that you have!  Treasure it more because you shared it with someone special, special enough to spend your time.  And remember that time waits for no one.  Yesterday is history.  Tomorrow a mystery.  Today is a gift....that is why it is called the PRESENT!

Halloween Weekend 2011

My Halloween weekend started with a Halloween piano recital for my students. It's honestly my favorite recital in that the kids get to play a spooky, mysterious, or ghostish kind of song for the audience as well as dress up in a costume. I always dress up and this year went as a sailor. Thanks Laurie for getting me this great costume for my birthday. She knows the challenge of finding a good costume that fits and is comfortable.

Later that evening, Mark and I were invited to a neighborhood, couples only, Halloween party with dinner and visiting.  Mark is not a fan of playing dress up and so we came up with a simple solution of taping "Smarties" on his pants.  He went as a Smarty Pants. It worked and people thought it was funny.

On Sunday we invited my mom and dad over to have dinner and carve pumpkins.  They couldn't remember the last time they carved a pumpkin and were really glad to get to do it again.  My mom had no clue about all the pattern options and little tools available to create such cool pumpkin faces.  She said all they had when they were little was huge awkward knives and all they did was a typical Jack-O-Lantern face.  She said no wonder we didn't enjoy it that much.  She definitely wants to do this again, and I agree it was a great evening to just be together and enjoy each other.

My mom made those cute rice-krispy-treat pumpkin faces in the corner.  I thought it was pretty creative and cute of her. 

Dinner was my traditional pumpkin dinner cooked right inside the pumpkin with hamburger, cream of chicken soup, rice, and other seasonings.  It's one of my favorites!  We also had salad with a myriad of toppings.

After we all got our pumpkins carved we put candles in them and lit them and put them outside.  Miles of course had to inspect everything and even tried to blow the candles out.  What a nut!

Happy Halloween 2011

Mondays with Mr. Miles #10

"A grandchild is a gift from above ... one to cherish and to love."

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"A grandchild fills a space in your heart that you never knew was empty."

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"Grandparents and grandchildren are God's gift to each other."

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"You Put the Grand in Grandpa."

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"Whenever I see you I have an uncontrollable urge to fling open my arms, excitedly shout your name and scoop you up."

Recent Running Reads

With the onset of colder weather I have become somewhat of a wimp in getting outside to run.  For some reason reading stories of other people's challenges in running with their triumphs and victories makes me WANT to get out there and run, but so far it hasn't happened.  I think I need to sign up for another race to motivate me again. I'm thinking a marathon may be in the thought process for next year?? We'll see.  I still get out there and hit the gym and also walk with my good buddy Laurie three times a week, but running has taken a back seat.  I know it's only temporary but for now I'm enjoying the break.

Speaking of Laurie, she's amazing.  She's a friend to the end! She knows everything about me yet still accepts me and all my flaws.  We have been walking partners for so many years I can't count them.  She also keeps a great pace which is challenging to keep up with yet good for me at the same time.  I think I have slowed down my walking pace since taking on running this year.  I'm not quite understanding that myself but I appreciate her patience in having to slow up a little bit for me.  Thanks Laurie, love you!