Wanted: Happy people (shiny not a necessity)

I'm throwing this out there for everyone to see and while I'm not at all proud of it, it's true and I'm going to own it - I'm a negative person by nature.

There. I said it.

I was raised in an incredibly negative household. No one took responsibility for their actions, apologized if they did something wrong or said something wrong or upset someone in any way, or just admitted if they were cranky or in a bad mood. "It" (whatever the issue was) was always someone else's fault. I grew up thinking that was just how it was. I married into a family just like my own. Oh! the negativity! Again, thought it was normal.

I divorced in 2001 and almost immediately met my husband Brian. His family was and still is a breath of fresh, POSITIVE, HAPPY air for me. Unfortunately, while it was and still is refreshing to be around that kind of happy attitude, it didn't really envelope me until recently. I spent the first 6+ years of our marriage as a VERY negative and cranky person - we've only been married 7 1/2 years. How sad is that?! It's sad for my husband, my children, my friends, my husband's family and God most importantly - my family didn't notice a difference. I'm not at all surprised.

I believe God laid it on my heart that I was making the lives of my husband, my children, my friends and myself miserable. I had SO! MANY! BLESSINGS! to be thankful for and I took every one of them for granted.

Recently, I've started to pay close attention to how my body feels around negativity. I'm actually uncomfortable. I feel heavy (and I need NO help with that!). It starts to take over all of my thoughts and feelings and just makes me downright miserable. I can only imagine what it does to the people around me.

I'm learning every day how to deal with negativity and the crankies. I know crankiness is inevitable - I'm sure I'll come down with a bit of it myself from time to time - I'm not that naive. But, I'll own up to it and deal with it.

As far as others are concerned, I've decided to remove as much of the negativity as possible from my life. I know there are people close to me that I can't and won't remove - BUT, I can choose to ignore the attitude and comments that come out of their mouths. I can remove myself from situations that involve negativity. I'll just turn it off :)

From this point on, I'm surrounding myself with happy (shiny is not a necessity!) people - people who are positive about life, people who know they are blessed, people who don't take the true good things in life for granted. I want them all around me - in bloggy world, in Twitter land, in real life.

So, if you are happy and you know it (sorry, I couldn't help myself), let's be friends :) Please leave me a comment and introduce yourself - talk to me. Tell me about yourself. Find me on twitter, I'm Tina aka Mommy23boys.

I'd love to be a positive, happy person for you, too!

Just livin' my life.

I'm here, just living my life. I've spent my days lovin' up on, taking care of and playing with 2 little boys, while the big boy is in school. I've spent afternoons playing the Wii with the big boys, while trying to keep the mini one from pulling the dog's hair, ears, tail....you get the picture. I spent my late afternoons and evenings making dinner for my family - dinners where we sit at the table together, talking about our day and enjoying each other.

I'm here - watching God continue to close some doors AND open some new ones for me. I'm here - mentally trying to build this blog and I'm here - paying close attention to the things that matter most in my life - my relationship with Him, my family, my blessings.

I'm livin' my GOOD life!

Wordless Wednesday

This is what Will and I did when I was bored - I'd put wigs and hats on him and take his picture. I probably peed myself laughing more times than I care to remember.

For more wordless wednesday shananigans, head on over to 5 Minutes for Mom

Down and out.

My laptop isn't even 6 months old - the power cord has 2 small holes in it (read - wires sticking out). The cord no longer charges the laptop. The laptop is dead. I am lost without my laptop.

I ordered a new cord for my laptop - I have no idea how long it will take to get here. Overnight shipping was $45.00 - I couldn't bring myself to do it (even though I REALLY, REALLY wanted to do it). So, I am using B's computer. It's fine in a pinch, but I lurve my laptop. It has my Twitter on it. B doesn't want Twitter on his - what's wrong with him!?!? Anyway.....

I'll be here and there until my beloved cord gets here. Maybe this will be good for me. Nah. I miss Twitter already.

If you guys can spare some, we could use a couple prayers. There's lots going on at B's place of employment - too much for my silly, little brain to comprehend. Just please pray that we get out of this with few bruises and scrapes, please.

thanks.

To celebrate or not to celebrate...

that is the question.

Valentine's Day - that's a tough one in our house. B's birthday is the 13th. He's not a big celebrator of the birthday thing. He'd rather it just go on like any other day, where I'm the one who wants to shout it from the rooftops. He believes Valentine's day is a "Hallmark Holiday". While part of me agrees with him, the other part wants to be girly and celebrate it with flowers, candy, nice dinner....you get the picture.

I don't think I'm going to get him to budge (I asked if he wanted to celebrate it this year and his response was, "If you want to" - not exactly what I was looking for...). So, I think I'm going to just have fun at home and we can celebrate as a family! If B flakes on me, at least I'll have the big boys here to hang with me :)

I think I'll make a nice dinner - Jake (my 5 year old sous chef who even has his very own apron!) and I will plan a fabulous menu that will even include a yummy dessert. I'll even grab some sparkling cider for the boys and a bottle o' wine for me or maybe even a chocolate hazelnut martini. One word - YUMMY!

Then, the boys will go to bed without arguing with me (wishful thinking here) and B and I will spend some good, quality time together.

Do YOU celebrate Valentine's Day or do you have a fuddy dud (is that a word?) in your house like I do?

There's an awesome giveaway going on over at Mom Generations. Go check it out!

Wordless Wednesday

The BIG 5 year old



The big 10 month old who is growing far too fast for his mama.

Head over to 5minutesformom to see more Wordless Wednesday posts.