On Turning 38.

Last month, on December 17th I turned 38, and last week I got the invitation to my 20th High School Reunion. Not my 10 year y'all ...(please forgive the southern accent I have been reading Sweet Potato Queens book again and I just can't help myself) And To Clarify... I am not 38 going on 18, and 40's are not the new 20's. Sorry if I just bursted your little age defying bubble there. But These are all just things that we tell ourselves so that we don't have to hear or even think of THE word. You know the word I'm talking about... Don't act like you don't know THE word...

OLD!! I could say I feel 38 years young, but you know what? That simply isn't true. Now, that's not to say that I feel so Old all the time, and I have everything all figured out, oh no, no, no... I have A LOT of learning left to do! And I feel quite young and naive still to many ways of this world. But I will say, I'm grateful for the years I have underneath my lifetime belt. Each one has taught me something different. And as that number keeps going up one thing I have learned that I didn't know as well when I was only 18 is that LIFE is PRECIOUS. In fact IT IS A  GIFT. Now, granted I am not yet in the 40's club but believe you me, beloved when I get there in two years, Lord willing, I am going to shout it from the roof tops!! I'm 40 and I don't care who knows it!! (Picture Buddy the Elf coming into his dad's office at a very important meeting and shouting, "I'm in Love and I don't care who knows it!" Yep that will be me.)  This is what I would like to say; To the Whole Wide World or at least the World Wide Web Being or Getting Old is really OK. It's better than ok, it's a gift. And no I don't say that first thing in the morning when my body is achey and still tired after a full 8 hours of sleep, but once I have woken up and become aware of my surroundings that is exactly what I say. I thank God for each new day. Not to be cliche or a total cheese ball...  (okay well maybe a lil chedda is in this next statement) The present really is a gift. And for as long as I'm living I hope I will always have this heart of gratitude.
As I have gotten older I have realized the true gifts in this life are not ones that you can put a price tag on. They are not a certain brand name something or other. They are not a place you get to go. They are not a big fancy sparkling something.  They are YOU. They are ME. And they are This Moment.

 There were of course material gifts given for my birthday this year, but none, no not even one is more valuable to me than this. The realization that my life is but a breath, and my story thus far has been a good one, and as long as I have air left in my lungs I can make it a GREAT one!

Don't you know it's true beloved reader?

That as long as we have air left in our lungs we can make our story a GREAT one!

That would be my favorite gift this year, but don't cha know I am gonna share some of my other favorites with you because well... I'm a blogger. I blog. It's kinda what I like to do with my free time, have you noticed?

  Not only did I receive that dress up there from My Momma Nash, that dress that is so spectacular it needs it's own event to wear it IN  it's honor, but I was with some of the people I love and certainly with all of the people I love in Spirit or FB, or on Skype, maybe even by IG, or Twitter,  and certainly by phone. 

Thank God for technology. 

That is a Gift.

I received countless reminders of God's goodness and grace on my life by way of old friends notes and phone calls. I shared a glass of wine with My Mom, sister Gina, and brother Jeremy via Skype. I drank from the cup that is 

This Beautiful Life and I was filled to overflowing.

That is a Gift.

I had 4 healthy children in my house.

One of the things I miss most about having lils in my house, (by lils I mean ages 2-6) is the constant barrage of funny things that lils say, but every now and then one of my kids who are still young but on the tail end of childhood, they will say something really funny. 

So when

my boys set out to make a Gingerbread man they finished and Isaiah my youngest looked up at Solomon and said, "I'm going to eat this WHOLE thing so Don't Judge Me." 

Bah ha ha ... quotes from my 8 year old boy like 

THAT is a Gift.

Around my birthday I might not have had my own birthday party but in a sense this Elf party that we have been having the past two years has become my very own birthday party. Who else gets to have Olive Penguins at their birthday party I ask you? And not only that but my friend Tasha was here for a visit to help me make those cute little treats. And my friend Emily brought me salted caramel chocolate cookies that I'm telling you make my mouth water every time I think about them.

That is A Gift.

Oh and this. 

This is A Gift.

Oh my, my, my is this ever a gift. 

Wanna know why?

Well in the words of My Giants grandmother Louis, who used to call him a Shit Ass when he was naughty... this lil dog right here... she can be quite the little  Shit Ass sometimes. 

Sorry for the cuss but...

Truly, y'all  have no idea!

But when I bought this outfit I bought it for the express purpose of payback in good Doggy Owner fashion. Bella hates wearing clothes. Girlfriend,(there goes that accent again) just doesn't even know how cute she looks in clothes I guess?! So when she is put in any type of clothing she refuses to move. Seriously, she stands there frozen or will sit in any position I put her in. I can prop her up real nice for pictures and of course, this therefore frees me up from having to worry about if she is in the trash, toilet, kids backpacks, etc... 

Are you tracking what I'm laying down?

That picture and countless others are payback to me for all the things Bella girl puts me through all year long.

That is A Gift.

And then of course

Sushi

Comfy Slippers

Bowls that make my heart skip a beat

This and so much more evokes only one response

38 is Great and  This  Life Is  Beautiful. Thanks for sharing a part of it here with me.

Say Cheese!!

Hello There Beloved Reader 

and

Happy Friday!!

I'm still going thru last years photos to find all my favs so if you are here for the Flash Back Friday link up I want you to know I haven't given up on that link-up, or my other ones Love/Hate and Letters To Pets, I just need another week off from them okay? 

I realize it's been a while and normally

I don't make promises so I won't promise you that they will be back next week but there is a really, really, good chance, I  mean really good, that they will be live next week and I do SO hope you can join me cause those link ups are like a party, and parties are only fun if there are people :) attending them. 

So please check back in next Friday. 

You're a good boss beloved reader.

Thanks for that extra week off.

That's why I still work for you.

You know what else I would work for?  

Cheese.

I'm gonna attempt to carry on two conversations with you beloved reader so stay with me.

One will be about what I would work for, and the other one will be about a variety of cheeses with the occasional olive thrown in for good measure. 

I will have this conversation with you while posting  S'more favorite pics. Oh wait. I just put a s'more in there and that was the topic from my last post .... so let's scratch that out shall we?

Focus Noël Focus!

CHEESE is my favorite food besides olives.

Cheese and olives, olives and cheese, yes please. 

I would work really, really, hard so that the rest of my days here on planet earth I could eat cheese and olives every day!

Fer Realz!

I would go so far as to say that IF I didn't have a job and had to stand on the side of the road holding up a sign in hopes of the kindness and generosity of strangers, my sign would read;

WILL WORK FOR CHEESE!!

But, thankfully I do have a job.

My job here as CEO of the MoNoSco house pays in hugs, kisses, "Thank you's and this kind of Cheese.

Cheesy GRINS!!

Cheesy Grins are a good paycheck as far as I'm concerned, what do you think?

( My Niece Last Minute Biscuit  aka  Sophia Adelle April 2012.

Now technically I wouldn't consider this smile a cheesy grin but I just love this biscuit so much that sometimes I will randomly just insert her picture on my blog so I can make it bigger and look at her cute lil cute face all day. So if I would rate this cheese it would be a mild chedda... say that with an East Coast accent)

What do you work for?

Olives? Cheese? Money, Money, Monay?

WHAT WOULD YOU WORK FOR?

(Moses Birthday January of 2012. Now in this picture My Giant is exhibiting what I would consider a kind of Swiss Cheese. Let me explain. It's got some holes in it because it's a forced cheese grin, ya know what I'm saying? None the less, I love me some Swiss cheese and I love my Giant. Can't believe he'll be 40 in a few weeks.)

I would work for High Fives and thumbs up too.

(Valentines Day 2012 Isaiah 7 years old. Now this cheese is a perfect Sharp Chedda with an olive on top even. He gets extra points in the cheese department because... well.... because he's Isaiah)

I would work for hearts on cheeks

or

Cheesy grins Cheek to cheek like the ones above and below.

(Andre and I, last year in February. Okay, now it's hard to rate your own cheese but I'm gonna try. I think Andre and I have kind of a mellow cheesy grin going on here, so I'm gonna go with an Altemburger Cheese which was described as being a mellow soft goat's cheese. Not sure where the goat comes in but I think we look kind of mellow and soft here, what do you think?)

I would work for trips to see the people you love.

( Emma, Chloe, Promise, Solomon, Niki, Isaiah and Samantha. Now this Cheese right here is like a Colby Jack cause it's all kinds of cheese mixed together and it makes me SO happy, So so so happy!)

I would work for kids having fun,

and 

Grown Ups playing hard!

(Me and my friend Andre again. This picture has got to be one of my all time favs from last year because this was Joy that came after much sorrow. It reminds me of the scripture Psalm 30:5 , "There may be weeping for the night but JOY comes in the morning." There's no cheese here. Just pure JOY!!)

I would work for time with a beloved friend.

I would work for family.

(Isaiah and Solomon down at Pike's Market in Seattle. This picture was taken in April when my folks came for a visit around Easter. Grandma Ellen bought the boys those very special hats. They are the creation of this guy Dan Gregory. Don't know if you have noticed but I live in a family of artists. They appreciate art and artists more than most, and art is the what I would consider the spice in life so I'm gonna go with a really good  

Jalapeno Cheese on this one)

 I would work for Art.

Mom, The Month of MAY, and My new Theme for this Month

I almost lost it in the card isle in the grocery store the other day. I was looking for Mother's day cards and this year I decided to send them to not only the 3 mothers I have; Mom Ellen, Momma Nash, and Mom B., but also to some other mother's in my life.


So, basically I went nutts, and spent way too much money on cards, but .... shhh please don't tell on me for this. I am keeping with my LOVE theme that I set out to do in the month of February. I don't know if you caught that blog but I said that I wanted to write one person a day in the month of February to tell them how much I love them and well, there are just more people than that calendar month provided for me to tell how much I love so I decided in February to make the month of May be a special theme month for me as well.



I know I am a dork who LOVES words probably wayyy too much.

I know to most of you it might just be a silly thing, but for me it has been therapeutic to tell the people I love, that I LOVE them.

I know there should be an award for cheese-ball of the year that could be given to people for things such as this.

BUT

It is the John Mayer song "Say What you NEED to Say" kind of thing for me that is happening here.



So May is the "May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight Oh Lord" month! WOW! Sheesh, that was a long one. I thought of this though the other day when I read this in THE BOOK. I thought, I am pretty sure those words, the words that The Lord would accept, would be those of sincere and genuine heart felt LOVE.


You can now award me with the Cheese-Ball of the year award, but go right ahead! Won't even bug me a bit, because you know what? Chances are if you are reading this blog I probably love you too! SO THERE.






The pictures are of just SOME of the amazing mother's in my life. Enjoy.