Intensity is so much more becoming in the young. — Joann Woodward

Dear Friends,

The Two Crazy Old Ladies are going on sabbatical. You’ve probably noticed that we left some time ago, but now we’re making it official.

We have stuff going on in our lives, as do all of you, and having already dropped the ball, we plan on letting it lie for now.

We have really enjoyed our time writing to you, but we’re taking a break.  We’ll be back just as soon as we can get on track.

We send you our best regards and hope you will check back once in a while, just in case.

Shannon and Janet

Only 10 more days until Christmas Eve, and I’ve been so busy making gifts that I haven’t had time to write to you. I wanted to tell you, however, about a great experience I had this past Monday.

I was invited to join my co-blogger at a monthly get-together of artists. They gather on the second Monday of every month to have a “Play Day.”  There’s no agenda. Everyone gathers when they can and stays as long as they can, bringing projects to work on and a giving spirit to share ideas and techniques with everyone else. They meet at the studio of artist Ann LaCava in Knoxville, Tennessee. Ann creates beautiful silver jewelry, and you might want to visit her website at www.puresilverstudio.com.

My point is that this casual gathering of friends and artisans made for a very special occasion for me. Janet and I were the first to arrive that day and stayed all day. I took away a new commitment to feed the creative side of my nature. Each person had her own special talent, but all were definitely exquisite artists, and I felt honored to among them.

During hectic times in our lives, such as during the winter holidays when we have so very much to do and feel so rushed, stressed, and over-committed, we should stop, relax, and take time for ourselves. Get together with friends with no agenda or set plans. Just visit, share, and enjoy each other. I was amazed how that one day reinvigorated my mental and physical energies.

So take time for yourself during the holidays. Reconnect with who you are. Reconnect with who you want to be for those you love as well as who you want to be for yourself.

Merry Christmas to everyone.

Shannon

Listed below are our first Holiday Rush Contest Entries.  Feel free to scroll through the list, but make sure you come back to see what’s added as more entries come in. We’ll be updating this specific post as a new entry arrives, and we’ll keep a link on our main page that will take you directly to this list. We’ll also announce through a post when the online voting can begin.

Send in your idea for a hand-crafted gift so we get your entered in our contest. To enter, the contest link on our home page will take you to the post where you can leave your entry as a comment.

Entry 1. Using beads and or stones, or whatever , little snap attachments for zippers on my coats. If you have lost one ear ring… like I have many times and can’t throw away the left over. Use it! Or, make them a little larger and longer to attach to light fixture pulls. (Ceiling fans) Simple and quick!

Entry 2. Shannon… check out Pinterest… my daughter makes all her gifts, and I hear they have some really marvelous ideas!

Entry 3. Do you knit? Knitted hats and scarves are great gifts and pretty quick to do.

Entry 4. I think homemade presents are great for adults. I like to bake cookies and breads and give those as presents during the Christmas season.

"UH-oh! Late again!"

Oh my goodness! It’s November already! Just a couple of weeks to Thanksgiving! Just SIX weeks to Christmas!

HOW DID THIS SLIP UP ON ME YET AGAIN?

Hummm…I have an idea, let’s turn this into a CONTEST! Write to me with your idea for gifts I can make at home, and we’ll have a reader’s poll for the best idea that comes in. The person who submits the idea that’s voted the best by our readers will win a prize.

For the sake of putting some structure around this, let’s say that all ideas (just one idea per comment, please) must be submitted through the comments section of this post by no later than Friday, December 23, 2011. (Don’t forget to give your name and email address so I can get in touch with you for more information, if needed. Also, don’t worry, we keep our email lists very confidential and don’t share them.) Just one other requirement to have your idea entered into the contest…your comment must not be spam (you spammers know who you are). This contest is only open to legitimate readers of 2CrazyOldLadies.com.

Online voting will begin on Tuesday, December 27, 2011, when I’ll post a consolidated list of all the ideas along with the deadline for you to enter your vote for the best gift idea. If there are duplicate gift ideas suggested, the first submission of a specific idea will be considered to be the official entry for that idea, so start sending those ideas right now so yours will be the first to arrive.

This now brings me back around to my original post for today…Here I am in that not so unusual predicament where I’ve let the year go by without thinking ahead and doing what I need to do to successfully meet my goals to host Thanksgiving and “create” the gifts I want to give to family and friends. I could just kick myself around the block about 10 times. What have I been doing all year?

Does this sound familiar to anyone? Surely, I’m not the only one.

Now I really need to get down to business and come up with a plan B because my plan A of creating a gift a month throughout the year went up in flames…no, a bonfire…of good intentions.

I think I still have time to shovel out the house and scrub it down in time for Thanksgiving. But I could use some ideas on that personally-made-gift-giving quagmire that I’ve gotten myself into.

I could always bake or cook, I suppose, but is that enough? Do you have any great recipes or other creative gift ideas that would help me out? Remember, I want to make my gifts this year if possible. I would love to hear your thoughts, so please write and tell me what you suggest I do to create some wonderful, thoughtful holiday gifts for the great, deserving men and women in my life.

I promise to share the wealth by posting them here so others can benefit as well.

So, as I pour myself a glass of wine and sit in my kitchen pouring over magazines in search of the perfect homemade gifts for Mom, Sis, my brother, and everyone else in my life, I’ll be hoping (make that “praying”) to hear from you.

Let the ideas begin to flow!

Shannon

This morning I heard some numbers that I’m hoping will help fuel the economy. The U.S. dollars expected to be spent on Halloween costumes for children total $2 Billion. The amount expected to be spent on Halloween costumes for adults amount to another $2.2 Billion. And this doesn’t even include decorations, dollars spent to throw Halloween parties, and the candy purchased for those goblins, princesses, and other creatures and beings that roam on Halloween night. By the way, did you know that one quarter of all candy sold annually is purchased for Halloween?

According to History.com, we can give credit to the ancient Celts for this October 31 celebration. The Celts lived 2,000 years ago in what is now Ireland, the United Kingdom, and northern France. What we now call Halloween was originally the ancient Celtic festival of Samhain (pronounced sow-in), which was their equivalent to New Year’s Eve. The Celtic new year began on November 1 and marked the end of summer and harvest and the beginning of the dark, cold winter, which was often associated with human death.

Celts believed that the boundary between the worlds of the living and the dead became blurred on the night before the new year and that ghosts of the dead returned to earth on that same night to cause trouble and damage crops. The Celts also believed  that the presence of the otherworldly spirits made it easier for the Druids (the Celtic priests) to make predictions and prophecies about the future, which provided comfort and direction during the long, dark winter for these people who were entirely dependent on the volatile natural world.

In celebration of Samhain, the Druids built huge sacred bonfires where the people gathered to burn crops and animals as sacrifices to the Celtic deities. During the ceremonies, the Celts wore costumes that usually were animal heads and skins, and they attempted to tell each other’s fortunes. After the celebrations each participant would take fire from the bonfires and use it to relight their home hearth fires, believing that would help protect them during the winter to come.

So, enjoy Halloween and hope that in celebrating the holiday, our economy will receive a boost that will be our bonfire from which we can rekindle our home fires and help protect us during the coming winter season.  

Shannon

Looking to become inspired, I thought about the definition of “inspiration,” so quite naturally I turned to the Web to find a definition…

• The process of being mentally stimulated to do or feel something, esp. to do something creative: “flashes of inspiration.”
• The quality of having been so stimulated, esp. when evident in something: “a moment of inspiration in an otherwise dull display.”

Using the first definition “being mentally stimulated to do or feel something,” I would dare say that almost without exception everyone experiences some inspiration on a daily basis. We just don’t recognize or notice it as an “inspiration.”  

Today, I was inspired to write this post. I was also inspired to think negatively about some things going on at my “day” job…which drove my inspiration to want to write a post on 2CrazyOldLadies so that I could end my workday on a positive note.

I think that too often many of us, me included, perceive “inspiration” to be something that is life-altering,  phenomenal, or earth-shaking or that is grand and beyond our personal scope of abilities or talents. However, the truth is that each of us are inspired by something every day…we just need to take note of those little inspirations and wonder how they can lead to more inspirations with a little thought and  imagination.

Robert Louis Stevenson said, “Keep your fears to yourself, but share your inspiration with others.”

I would like to challenge you to leave a comment about an inspiration that you experienced today. Who knows? You could be the one who inspires inspiration in someone else.

Shannon

Click to hear Frank Sinatra sing “High Hopes.” 

In searching for inspiration, I looked over some old posts here on 2CrazyOldLadies.com and found a post from Janet back in May. Her post was entitled “Anyone Knows an Ant Can’t…”  She said, “What if my perception of what I cannot change is skewed?  We all have our own worldview, shaped by both nature and nurture, and live life making assumptions about any and every situation or conversation.”

She went on to challenge herself and readers to check our inner assumptions when something comes up that we think “can’t be changed” and determine whether it truly can’t be changed or we just “think” it can’t be changed. She continued on to recommend the old song, “High Hopes.”

I’m following her advice and am having some high hopes lately. I’m going to be writing about some of them very soon, and one of those high hopes is that you will share your hopes and accomplishments with us and with our other readers as well.

Janet and I are remembering that little old ant and working on some new ideas that we hope will be of great interest to you, so stay tuned for more to come soon.

Shannon

One of our regular readers (thank you, Penny) recently emailed me this story, and I thought that I really wanted to share it with you. It’s one of those stories that’s being forwarded around the email, so you might have already seen it. But this one is special and quite a lesson. The author is unknown (by me at least). I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

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The Mayonnaise Jar

When things in your life seem, almost too much to handle…when 24 hours in a day is not enough…remember the mayonnaise jar and 2 cups of coffee.

A professor stood before his philosophy class and had some items in front of him. When the class began, wordlessly, he picked up a very large and empty mayonnaise jar and proceeded to fill it with golf balls.  He then asked the students, if the jar was full. They agreed that it was.

The professor then picked up a box of pebbles and poured them into the jar. He shook the jar lightly. The pebbles rolled into the open areas between the golf balls. He then asked the students again if the jar was full. They agreed it was.

The professor next picked up a box of sand and poured it into the jar. Of course, the sand filled up everything else. He asked once more if the jar was full. The students responded with a unanimous “Yes.” The professor then produced two cups of coffee from under the table and poured the entire contents into the jar, effectively filling the empty space between the sand. The students laughed.

“Now,” said the professor as the laughter subsided, “I want you to recognize that this jar represents your life. The golf balls are the important things—family, children, health, friends, and favorite passions—things that if everything else was lost and only they remained, your life would still be full.

“The pebbles are the other things that matter like your job, house, and car. The sand is everything else—the small stuff.

“If you put the sand into the jar first,” he continued, “there is no room for the pebbles or the golf balls.

“The same goes for life. If you spend all your time and energy on the small stuff, you will never have room for the things that are important to you. So…pay attention to the things that are critical to your happiness. Play with your children. Take time to get medical checkups. Take your partner out to dinner.

“There will always be time to clean the house and fix the disposal.

“Take care of the golf balls first—the things that really matter. Set your priorities. The rest is just sand.”

One of the students raised her hand and inquired what the coffee represented. The professor smiled, “I’m glad you asked. It just goes to show you that no matter how full your life may seem, there’s always room for a couple of cups of coffee with a friend.”

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So, readers, take care of those golf balls in your life and relax with some coffee or tea with a friend.

Shannon

Yesterday, I went to a large, nationally known discount store to pick up some things. On my way to check out, I passed a woman who was very nicely dressed, holding up a cell phone as if to talk into it but held it away from her face as if she had interrupted the call as she looked down at a little girl who appeared to be 8 or 9 years old. The little girl stood as if at attention, holding a tiny purse in her left hand and a one-dollar-bill. She looked at the woman, who I assume was her mother, not saying a word.

I don’t know what had happened, but the mother was ranting at the little girl…shouting, “If you get snatched, don’t come whining to me because it will serve you right! I won’t care! I told you that you’re not getting anything, now put that money away before somebody sees it and takes it…you’re not getting anything.” She continued to shout at the little girl who just stood there…no tears…just a blank expression on her little face, looking at her mother as if this were a normal occurrence. Perhaps it was.

My question is, “What lesson was that mother was teaching her child?”

Whether we’re speaking to our own children, our grandchildren, or any child, we must control our anger and teach them in a calm, rational manner. Children learn from the examples that are set for them, and what this little girl learned or took away from that encounter with her mother was that if something bad happens to her, she deserved it. She learned that if bad things happen to her, her own mother wouldn’t care…maybe her mother would even be happy that something had happened to her. She learned a little about how unvalued and unloved she is.

Now contrast this with another example from a recent trip I took to the grocery store. As I was leaving, a little boy about 6 years old came running in through the doors, his father quickly walking behind him. The father caught up with the little boy and said, “Son, come over here for a minute so we can talk.”  He took the boy out of the stream of traffic, knelt down in front of him, took the boy’s hands in his, and began to calmly talk to the little boy about why he shouldn’t go off on his own in public places. The little boy and his father exchanged conversation…his father listening to his son. When they finished, he hugged the little boy and gave him a kiss on the cheek.

Which child learned more positive lessons?

I know it’s easy to let our emotions get the better of us. But when children are involved, we must keep our heads. What we say and how we say it can be a life-changing influence on others, especially children, but not only on children. Pay attention to what you say and how you react to situations when you’re emotionally involved. Angry words generally tend to make situations worse, not better, and angry words usually only elicit angry thoughts and actions in reply.

Always be aware that whatever you say, whatever you do, children are watching, listening, and learning to discover who they are and how they should react to their world.

Shannon

The other day as I dressed for work, I watched Good Morning, America, and they told the story of  young soldier serving with the Air Force in Germany.  The soldier was gay and had never come out to his father, fearing that his homosexuality would change his relationship with his father and particularly that his father would not love him any more. Granted, there are situations where this might occur, but I believe there are many more instances where parents are accepting of their children’s choices.

Where do we get these fears that someone will not love us if they know who we really are or if we do something that they don’t want us to do? When we say something to someone, to us it can be the slightest, most insignificant phrase or even word. But to that other person–especially if that other person cares deeply about our opinion of them–what we say can have a significant and sometimes lifelong effect, particularly on children.

I heard a story yesterday about a child who was learning to play the piano. He loved playing and practiced many hours. Then one day his father was having a particularly difficult day, came into the room, and asked the little boy to stop playing the piano so much. His father didn’t think anything of this request, didn’t say it in anger or judgment, and his intent was only for the child stop playing just for that evening. The child, however, took the father’s words to heart and interpreted them as the father’s desire that the little boy not play the piano at all any more. The child stopped playing and didn’t play the piano again…opting to pass on something that he enjoyed, thinking that it would make his father happy with him.

We need to give some thought about what we say and how we say it. We have more influence on people that we realize most of the time, and we must take that responsibility very seriously. We don’t need to walk on eggs all the time, but perhaps we do need to explain ourselves when we offer feedback or criticize or even ask that someone not do what they’re doing at the time. Try to send positive messages along with the difficult messages that we have to deliver sometimes.

Just think about what you’re saying and what effect it can have before you allow it to come out of your mouth.

Thanks for reading.

Shannon