Thought for the Day

"Satisfaction does not come with achievement, but with effort. Full effort is full victory."

---Mahatma Ghandi---

Well It's Over

Well, the World Series is over and the wonderful Rays were not the losers, but they didn't win. How can you be a loser if you made it all the way to the World Series after the year before and the year before...and for how long I don't know, been the worst of the worst? There is no way that could happen.

I am so so proud of this team...and I don't think I am the only one. Just like Manager Maddon said, what they learned this year they are taking back into spring training next year and they will grow even more! This is a very very young team. I swear, some of those guys looked like they were in junior high!! At least from my point of shall we say advantage???

Watch out world...we are on our way!!! Whoa!!!!

But I do have to mention the fact that I would not make a good Philly fan. I can't be that nasty. Now I know they pride themselves for that, which I think in itself is sad, but that just isn't good sportsmanship. Not a good thing to teach anyone...let alone children.

My husband read an article off the Internet to me of an interview with a Phillie's fan and he said the fans here are just TOO nice. He said...people even wished us good luck!!! He said he couldn't believe that! Made me proud to be a Tampa Bayer!!

I believe sometimes we have taken winning just one step too far. I know it is so much about money, but still, sportsmanship should still prevail above all.

Tampa Bay Rays...you are the winners in our eyes!!! Great job!

Still cold in the mornings here but glad to say the afternoons are warming back up. It is 72 now at about 3 o'clock. Should be in the 80's this weekend. That is good news!!!

I hope all of you that stop by to read my blog would take time just to leave a short Hi that you were here. I have a counter that shows people are reading but I would love to know who you are and where you live...maybe even a little about yourself. So please, drop a note just to say hi. I would love to hear from you.

Pretty quiet day today, hope it stays that way.

Hope you all have a great night.

My thought for today.

Enjoy

Thought for the Day

"If you came and found a strange man...teaching your kids to punch each other, or trying to sell them all kinds of products, you'd kick him right out the house, but here you are; you come in and the TV's on, and you don't think twice about it."

---Jerome Singer---

How Much I Would Want That!!

The local news was just in wanting me to be on TV. Just how much I would want that! Mirrors are bad enough I sure don't feel the need to see how I look in high definition!!! It seems they are doing a story on how badly the road construction, that has been two years in completion if I remember correctly, has affected our business. Well, it hasn't us a whole lot because we are contract sales, but it has just about destroyed the little printing place next to us!

So they did a story on them. But don't you know it...one of our guys was just dying to get out there so he did...and told them there had been some effect but not too bad! Great. Made me look like I lied!! Duh. He said, "I'm gonna be on television!!" Well hip hip hooray!!! Glad it made his day. Now I hope he doesn't get edited out!!

It is a cold one here today. It is one in the afternoon and still only 59 big wonderful degrees! I even wore a jacket to work today. This is the first year when I have dug out a jacket. I said last year that I am getting old enough now that I don't see the humor in being cold. I would probably give in and start wearing a jacket!! I did give in last year and bought some tennies to wear instead of my flops. I just got toooo cold! So, I guess this year it is the jacket...well...hooded sweatshirt...don't know if I can really go all the way to a jacket yet!

Well, now I have a new dream. Ugh. I never thought I would say this...but..............I want a Mac!!! And it is truly a dream. There is no way I can ever afford one of those...but we all need a dream. I pushed my friend Terry of Terry's Tales over the edge. She had been doing the pros and cons of PC vs Mac and really wanted one...I've been told they just are better than PC's...so I gave her the shove she needed (along with my daughter's help) and she made the big plunge!!! OOO...can't wait till she gets it. I want to know all about it.

Well now, the Rays get to finish up that fifth World Series game tonight. Hope they win. I always feel badly in big games of any kind. I know there is always a winner and a loser and I wish they could both be winners. It is so sad for one of the teams. But geez...if someone has to lose let it be them!!!

This weekend the time changes. Don't forget to change your clocks! For those who like to sleep in you'll get your hour back that was stolen from you a few months ago. Personally, I hate the time change. I hate coming to and going home from work in the dark! And when I get home and it is dark, I feel like it is time to go to sleep! Terrible.

In closing, be sure to vote. I know that sometimes we feel like it doesn't mean much , but it is a real freedom that we should cherish. And remember....if you don't vote....you can't whine!!!

My thought for the day.

Enjoy!

Thought for the Day

"Coming together is a beginning. Keeping together is progress. Working together is success."

---Henry Ford---

I'd Never Come Back!!!

This is a beautiful place. St. Petersburg, Florida, where the World Series is being played. It is a wonderful vacation place. It is right on the water, great beaches everywhere. Beautiful pier. Close to all the attractions of Florida...Busch Gardens, Universal, Disney World....but I have to tell you, if I was a visitor to this area right now...I doubt that I would come back.

Everywhere you go right now you see people with Mohawk hair cuts, even blue Mohawks! I am talking men, children and women. Then...everywhere you look you see 9=8!!! It is on shirts...on posters...painted on store windows...people are walking around saying, "9=8!" This is crazy!!!

Now just how many people are going to return to a place where everyone has these crazy blue haircuts and can't do first grade math??? They are going to say, "I'm not going back there...they're crazy!!!"

Ahhh but you all have to realize what is going on. It's all part of the game. What game?? THE GAME!! The World Series of course.

You see...the Mohawks are not really Mohawks but are now called Ray Hawks. It all started when one of the team members got one after a winning game, I believe, and then another and another...and then it started to spread. Now it is all team spirit in the area. Many who are reluctant to get the real thing or can't because of jobs sometimes substitute over the weekend with blue hair spray where the long hair would be!!! Some tape fake funny blue fur on their heads! Dogs get them! They gel the hair of babies!!!

I have to chuckle. The Mohawk was usually thought of as a hair cut of a rebel. I wonder what they are using now since it has become the norm??? LOL LOL

Well, that leaves us with the 9=8. What could that possibly be? Well, Manager Joe Madden , who supposedly likes to use 'ill-formed' equations which he often dreams up while riding his bike to clear his head, dreamed it up to stir his team. It really meant "nine players going hard for nine innings equals one of eight playoff spots".

All in fun! Win or lose...this has been great for this area. Not only for the team and the towns but for the kids...all of us, really.

We have seen that the worst of losers can come from behind and be real winners. You are never too down to come back.

The team has taught us you can lose...and you learn from it, but don't dwell on it. You put it aside and go on with what you learned.

You can win...but you learn from it...and believe it or not, you put that aside, too, and go on.

Because if you dwell on either one...it it surely will destroy you. If you dwell on losing...you will convince yourself you are no good and a loser. You will continue to be a loser.

If you dwell on being a winner...it too will destroy you. You will become over-confidant and sure as the world you will fall, probably when you are least expecting it.

It has taught us what being a team really is and what teamwork can produce.This team has given this area more than just a winning baseball team. It has given us a great lesson of life. I hope they know that.

Thanks Rays.

My thought for today.

Enjoy.

Pictures from tampabays10.com. Take a look at the gallery!

Thought for the Day

"We don't stop playing because we grow old, we grow old because we stop playing."

---George Bernard Shaw---

Passing Thoughts

I don't get it. Just because I am getting...well, what should I say...mature...does that mean I can no longer have any fun? Since the Tampa Rays baseball team has been doing so well this year I have become a die hard Rays fan. The entire area is going bonkers over them. I mean...worst to first!

Yesterday being the first day of the World Series games everyone, including me, was pretty high with enthusiasm. You have to watch how you use that word high anymore! So I come into work really encouraging the Rays. I walked out into the warehouse where two of the guys were sitting and shout...GO RAYS! WOOO! I thought they would die laughing. Now if I had been in my 20's or 30's they would have just shouted the same thing back at me...or some other funky saying that is going on here now. But instead I have to pick them off the floor laughing at me!!!

All day long when they would walk by they would say, "Go ahead...give us the call." or some thing like that. Then the laughing would start all over. They had me tell everyone we saw. I felt like a freak.

Everyone else was doing it but because I am old in their eyes...I guess I am supposed to be subdued. Right. The same thing happens when I start to dance or keep rhythm with music that is playing. So I am big AND old. It doesn't mean I don't have any rhythm or like to shuffle around. They all need to get a life. I might be an old foggy in their eyes but I am still having the time of my life! Having fun, laughing and dancing is fun and keeps you young at heart. I intend to keep doing it. Perhaps they need to follow my example!!! LOL

As for those Rays...they lost last night. Put up a good show. It was 3 to 2. No one is discouraged. It is the best four so...play ball!!!

Still busy trying to learn how to digi scrap. There is so much stuff to learn. And you just can't do something once and have it...at least not for me. I have to do it several times. It is going to take a good long while before I know enough to really put out some good layouts. But what a hobby. There is always something to do and something to learn. I just need to keep snapping pictures so that I have something to scrap!!!

Oh Oh Oh. Need to tell you. For the other "old foggies" out there that used to drink hot chocolate made with the old fashioned Hershey's cocoa, Starbucks has a new hot chocolate...well several...but I have one in particular that is great and tastes like it was made the old fashioned way. A fellow we see there often said I had to try it, so I did and wowser!!! I doubt that if you are of the Nestles generation you would share my enthusiasm. Anyway...it is called Salted Caramel Hot Chocolate. Oh is it every dreamy! Gives you warm fuzzies as it brings back such great home memories. Give it a try and let me know what you think. Now I need to tell you...I don't think it is called cheap...but so worth it! What a treat!

So go the thoughts for this morning.

Take time to smell the roses...and the coffee! And above all...

Enjoy!

Thought for the Day

"What a wonderful life I've had! I only wish I'd realized it sooner."

---Colette---

The Ever-Changing World

I think I am in the wrong business. If I had any sense at all I would have gone into the orange barrel business. Just where do they store all these orange construction barrels? Silly girl...they don't store them...they keep them on the sides of the roads, in the middle of the roads and even in the middle of some of the lanes!!! There has to be literally millions of these things!!! I really missed the boat on this money maker!

This is some of the work going on as you go into Tampa. At night it is a beautiful picture with the buildings in downtown all lit. But...during the day I am afraid you see mainly the construction barriers!!

Tampa is a fairly large city and looks much bigger than St. Petersburg, but as I have heard lately, St. Petersburg is actually a little larger than Tampa.

We travel this way every time we go to Busch Gardens and it seems as if they will never be done with this. It is a big laugh around here that our great-great-grandchildren will be working on I-4!

Doesn't it seem strange that they make these multi-lane highways that hold so many cars and then all of a sudden you are in a traffic jam because it merges down into two small lanes...which is what you started with in the first place? So now instead of going slower for a long distance you are at a complete stand still for what seems like hours!!!

By the way, all this area is above the ground, built like bridges. You go completely through Tampa overhead of the houses and businesses. I never like to think about that while I am diving through there!! Just gives me a weird feeling!!! One thing I do love about this area is being around so many mobile home parks. We love watching them fancy up their places for the holidays. While we were riding around the other day, Jim took me to one he saw in a park where he had been working that day. This particular place changes the tree for every season. Here is their Halloween offering! Can you believe they leave the train out and running! The joys of being in a seniors park where you are able to do that!!

I love the simple life. It appeals to me and it is where I am comfortable. We each need to find our niche and I am so glad I found mine. I hope each of you are happy wherever you are. That is what life is all about.

My thought for the day.

Enjoy.

Thought for the Day

"Treat people as if they were what they ought to be and you help them to become what they are capable of being."

---Johann Wolfgang von Goethe---

Love Those Devil Rays!!!

Monday has indeed rolled around! What a beautiful day in the Tampa Bay area. Sunny and mild for here...82 degrees. Ummm, just right! Everyone is smiling today even though it is though sleepy eyes for most. The Tampa Rays baseball team won the league title last night at about midnight...then the celebrations that were going on!!!! and on.....and on......

We are so proud of that team. They have gone from the worst...I am meaning THE WORST team...bottom place last year...to going to the world series this year! They are tremendous!

But what I am impressed with are the manager and team members themselves. They are truly a team. No one seems to be out for their own glory. They are out to give the team glory. And so they have!!!

And the manager, Joe Madden, is quite a guy. His idea of working with people if fantastic. He doesn't yell and stomp and scream during the games. He calmly and patiently watches the game. Not that he doesn't get upset, but only when his team is mistreated. He can have his moment!!!

Once this year, and I forget when, I heard that the opposing team seemed to be purposely aiming to hit his players when they pitched. He marched on the field and told the umpire it would stop or he was pulling his team off the field. What a change it made in the players' attitudes. He stuck up for them. They were important.

Quite often when a pitcher is having problems, you would see him go to the mound, not to pull him off, but to calm him down and encourage him, taking the edge off the pitcher. He doesn't seem to like to pull the pitcher but likes to let them work through it if possible.

The height of it all was before the last game. The biggest game the team has ever had to face. Reports had it that there was no team meeting ahead of the game. He was said to have told a reporter...they know how important the game is and they know what they have to do. I think he thought there is nothing to be said.

He was not about to get everyone worked up. He believed in them. He believed they knew their job. We had heard he always told the team, what happened yesterday doesn't matter; what happens tomorrow doesn't matter. The only thing that matters is right now. Do your job.

What a wonderful message for life. What matters most is right now. Do what you are supposed to do. Do your job.

The way he seems to treat his players reminds me of one of my favorite Bible verses. The way I remember it is "He bids us build each other up". I don't know what version it is. Really doesn't matter. I guess if you want a version, the New Living Translation says it this way: "So encourage each other and build each other up, just as you are already doing" 1Thessalonians 5:10-12

Wouldn't there be a change in this world, if we could just build each other up, instead of constantly knocking each other down?

Just think of it. Marriages, relationships, your children, employees.............What a change could be made on this earth.

Could we ever do it?

My thought for the day.

Enjoy.

Thought for the Day

"A life isn't significant except for its impact on other lives."

---Jackie Robinson---

Smiling Sunday

It's Sunday. Taking time to just hang around and get revitalized for the week ahead. I am just sitting here smiling. Talked to our daughter and she has put some warm fuzzies in her parents' hearts. It is always so nice when you can sit back and see your children doing all those things that you hoped some day you would get to see.

The past few days...since Thursday if I am right...daughter Nancy has been watching over...actually, taking care of, an 82 year old male neighbor. His wife had been called away for a funeral of a very dear friend and asked her if she would watch over him and make sure he is OK. He manages by himself, but she would just like for her to stop in and check on him. No problem for her...she would be happy to help.

Well, it didn't sound like a biggy. He would get his own breakfast and lunch and she had dinners she could heat for evening for him. Relatives were going to call and church would take him to Bible study and Sunday service. All should be fine.

Well as all plans go...so did this one. As it has gone so far...she has cooked meals, shared lunch with him, lets the dog out, and taken in a hot meal or had him over each day for evening meals. She just felt he was lonely and also...he did not like what was left for him! LOL

The other day while she was there, his eye doctor called and needed to see him. Very bad infection. So off to the eye doctor (he needs a wheelchair to go a distance!). Couldn't get the prescription filled because of insurance etc. and what they gave her to use was not working. His eye was fire red and watering profusely (she had worked as an opthamology tech). Had to go get drops to flush eye often till wife could get prescription filled. Infection was also very contagious!!

Then she looks out and sees his garage door opening. She goes over and he is going to go for a walk. Not good. So she suggests he get in the wheelchair and they both will go for a walk! You need to know she lives at the top of a hill and you go nowhere without going up or down a hill!! I am in a wheelchair a lot because of my muscle disease and we get a call yesterday that she has a new-found respect for anyone that pushes a wheelchair!!! To add to all this, the church forgot to come get him for Bible study on Wednesday; she had to round them up!!

What a good sport! She is still smiling, yet exhausted. With all this, she works two full-time jobs from home, home schools two of her three children, runs the house and keeps the children and herself on an exercise program that would put my exercise crazy boss to shame!!! She says...oh...I just have a special place in my heart for him. He is so sweet!

Well, at last check...after dinner last night at her house she said to him..."You know...on Sunday we grill hamburgers and have homemade french fries...." and he stopped her there with..."I'm there!!!!" LOL How could you not love this guy??

This has not only been a very special time for her neighbor... he obviously is loving the time with her and her family, feeling the joy of feeling special and having people around, but it has given mom and dad joy, seeing what you hoped you instilled in your children come into fruition.

It has been a beautiful few days. I know she is exhausted...but it is the kind of exhaustion that is worth it.

The exhaustion will disappear in a few days...but the joy she has given to one human being will last for eternity.

Her friend is thrilled..her parents so pleased...she feels good doing what she is doing...God is smiling.

"Well done my good and faithful servant."

Thought for the Day

"A smile is a curve that sets everything straight."

---Phyllis Diller---

I know...It's Been a Long Time!

Hi everyone. I haven't posted in such a long time and I hope to get into a better schedule. As I often tell everyone...life has its way of getting in the way.

I have had a nice week. Things went smoothly at work, as it usually does. I hear it once in a while how I can sort of breeze through my job and others wish they had the same pleasure. While we are not as busy right now because of the economy like everyone else in the US...I do have a lot of work to do. I just have been blessed with the ability to organize, prioritize and multi-task. It really is my strong hold. This is my inbox on the top. It is empty every morning when I get to work. Very seldom do I leave work undone at the end of the day. I hate to come in behind the eight ball in the morning. Here is part of the work I had already done before noon. So goes a job you have done for eighteen years and you could pretty well do it blindfolded with one hand tied behind your back!!!While everyday is different...everyday is still the same. It is that way with most office jobs I believe.

We had a sales rep in that put up some new displays this week. Very nice. But the guys decided to do the cleaning that day also. I couldn't help snapping a few pics. Get a look at this! We had to start off with a crash course on Sweeper...excuse me...Vacuum 101...In Ohio we used the sweeper and swept the floors. I am told you use a vacuum and vacuum the floors!! Oh well, same thing gets accomplished!! This looks staged I know...but guess again! Poor guy knew there was a button...but where??? Then of course there was the dusting. These guys are so sweet! You notice the absence of me in these pictures. SOMEONE had to take the pictures!!! And somebody had to give the orders. I wanted them to feel at home! They all love me so much!! I won't go into their comments during my directions!

Oh...life makes me chuckle. If we but look around...there are so many things that can give a smile to our faces and make the day seem brighter. Hope you look around and see them!!

My thought for today.

Enjoy.

Thought for the Day

"Learn to...be what you are, and learn to resign with a good grace all that you are not."

---Henri Frederic Amiel---