A Mother's Day Tale

I am writing this post so that hopefully I can inspire others to be more kind and giving to those less fortunate.  It doesn't take much to make someone's day be better and the feeling that you get from doing so will make a lasting impression.

Last year for around Mothers Day I had won a beautiful teak bench from Makobi Scribe.  It was rather unexpected as all of my winnings.  Just to let you know, I enter sweepstakes for fun and for me to fill my time.  Sometimes, I win something and keep it, but most of the time I give it away to family or people that would appreciate and use the items.  For non-believers, I encourage you to enter sweepstakes if you have the time.  I have won some very nice things, and they are always unexpected.

So as it turn out, I did not have a place to keep the bench.  I was living in a very small apartment, and thought maybe my mother might want it.  However, I felt that my mom already has too much stuff at her house, and this would be something else that she would store in the storage.  She hangs onto everything and it bothers me with the amount of things that is in her house, so that was out of the question.

Then, my boyfriend  had the idea to give it to this elderly lady who lived close to our shop.  She had nothing to sit on in the backyard, and the bench would be perfect for her. We did not know her very well, but I wanted to give it to someone who could use it and appreciate the beautiful bench.  My boyfriend brought it to her and got her grandson to stain and set it up.  From what I heard she loved it and was ecstatic that we gave her such a beautiful bench.  I wish that I could have met her and see her with the bench, and I hope that I had made her Mother's Day wonderful.

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My Biggest Pet Peeve #CHALLENGETOWRITE. Day 3

You all are going to laugh at me when you read what my biggest pet peeve is.  I have a lot but the biggest one for me is dirty fingernails.  I have four boys and the only one who keeps his tidy is my eighteen year old. The rest of them could care less about their hygiene let alone keeping their nails clean.  Therefore, I have to inspect their nails regularly and try to trim them weekly.  Oh yes, I usually get the "Oh Mom!  Not again..."

Also, I hate that they bite their nails, especially the baby.  He is two and bites his nails.  It is such a filthy habit that I can't break him of!  I think that you can agree with me that our hands and nails are the dirtiest parts of our body.  That is why I don't even like touching my face with my own hands.  I wash my hands constantly, and make my kids wash their hands too.  Their Dad laughs at me (He is a mechanic) for keeping up with them.  He tells me, "Well they are boys, and boys get dirty".  I have heard that so many times and I don't care.  I feel as if you should try to keep your nails clean regardless.  I don't have the money for manicures but I still keep my nails trimmed and clean.   So I will still trim my boys' nails, as long as they will let me, even waiting for them to sleep to do it.  Sounds neurotic or just a normal?  Tell me what bothers you the most and why.

To see what other bloggers say on today's topic click on the Challenge to Write button on the left, or click here.

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Driving while you are upset..

Just don't do it!!!!

Today's lesson for today is brought to you by a little Asian woman in a green Honda, Civic.  Mrs. Wu has been been rather distraught,  in regards to her husband's fender bender from earlier this week.  Mr.  Wu was coming home from driving his daughter to school on Monday.  It was a clear sunny day and he was jamming to his Vietnamese oldies while stopping at a red light.  All of the sudden, he was rear ended by the car behind him.  Calmly, he turned off his radio and got out of the car to inspect the damage.  Unfortunately for him, the offender could not produce a driver's license and car insurance, but still he felt bad for the driver and decided not to call the police.  Later that night, Mr. Wu went home to inform his wife of the fender bender.   Mrs. Wu was rather upset that he did not call the authorities and proceeded to 'light-into' her husband, to which his response was, "Well what do you want me to do?  I could not let him go to jail!"

Okay, let us go back to the original story of  Mrs. Wu.  She was driving this morning to go to work.  At that moment, all that she could think of was about her husband's fender bender.  She has a bad habit of not paying attention when driving upset.  Somehow,  Mrs. Wu was driving too close to one of the cars parked on the street, and so she accidentally swiped its rear with the side of her car.  She drove off in horror praying to God (literally) that no one had seen her and went back home.

Well, there are a couple of lessons about this story:
First, there is a very good reason for someone to not have a driver's license and insurance.   Either that person did not pay to keep their insurance, or more likely, he or she had such a bad driving history that they could not afford to keep insurance.  You are now taking chances if you believe that other person will pay as he or she claims.  Chances are good that you will not be able to get them to pay for your repairs.  If you do choose to let them pay out of pocket, make a demand on the spot to see if they are really good on their intentions.  At this point you have nothing to lose, so get them to sign an IOU and get it notarized.  Sounds formal?  Well, it is a legal document that you can take to small claims to help you recoup your repairs.  Make sure that you have pictures and written statements of everything.  You are now your own claims representative.

Second, you are more likely to get into a fender bender when you are upset.  Realize that you  are stressed out, and do whatever you need to do to unwind.  Here are my all time favorite ways to de-stress.

1.  Drink (coffee, tea, soda....____)  Use your imagination and fill in the blanks.
2.  Eat (chocolate, ice cream, what is your comfort food?)
3.  Read a book or watch a movie.
4.  Work on your car, or any other projects around the house.
5.  Spend some quality time with your significant other (hint..hint.)
6.  Blog about it

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