This cracked me right up.

"Without music, what is life?"--Author Unknown

Wow. I'm getting creative. If you call "creative" stealing good quotes from books. 

--as stolen from "Sing me home" by Jodi Picoult.

My Pride and Joy's....and the ones who test my patience.

I'm pretending I'm creative with Photobucket.

“If what you’re doing is not your passion, you have nothing to lose.”

‘I suppose the important thing is to make some sort of difference,’ she said. ‘You know, actually change something.’

‘What, like “Change the world”, you mean?’

‘Not the whole entire world. Just the little bit around you’. 

”One Day” by David Nicholls

“You know you've read a good book when you turn the last page and feel a little as if you have lost a friend.” --Paul Sweeny

• Sometimes I aint so sho who's got ere a right to say when a man is crazy and when he aint. Sometimes I think it aint none of us pure crazy and aint none of us pure sane until the balance of us talks him that-a-way. It's like it aint so much what a fellow does, but it's the way the majority of folks is looking at him when he does it."
  - William Faulkner, As I Lay Dying

I have to say, Faulkner is a genius. I do love his books.

“I felt something catch in my throat, a sudden surge of sadness that caught me unaware. It almost managed to take my breath away. That was the thing; you never got used to it. You never got used to the idea of someone being gone. Just when you think it’s okay, and you think you’ve accepted it, someone points it out to you, and it hits you all over again, and it’s just as shocking as the first time.”--Author Unknown

Today my mother-in-law would have been 51. I miss her dearly. I wish she could be here for my girls. For sister-in-law, who has become one of my closest friends. For my husband. For my nieces. So that my husband could have a father again. When Laurie died, he lost both his mother and father. Thankfully, he has become incredibly close with my parents, especially my father. I can't even imagine what Toni and Vinny feel, losing their mother at such a young age. I still feel an emptiness, and she wasn't even my biological mother. We spent a lot of time together, the last two years of her life. Esp. once she got diagnosed that the breast cancer had moved to the bones. I would take her to her chemo, or her blood transfusions, as would my mom when I was at school. Altho, honestly, up until the day she died, I was in denial the entire time. I figured she would beat it. She was to good of a person, to close to God, to selfless, to loving, to wonderful of a person to die. She had a whole family, 5 young granddaughters. Madalyn was just over a year old. I try to say that everything happens for a reason. Altho, I can find no reason on this earth why God would have taken her. I know she is in a better place, and I honestly don't think she was scared to die, she was so calm about it, even tho it seemed to happen so suddenly. None of us were prepared, we were all in denial, despite the fact that she had been battling cancer for 3 years. The last 4 days of her life, I will never forget. I think they are permanently engraved in all of our memories. She will forever be in our hearts. RIP. 01/05/1961-06/02/2009

Super bored on the ortho floor. I guess the best kind of OT is the kind where you don't have to do much.

The quickest way for a parent to get a child's attention is to sit down and look comfortable. -Lane Olinghouse

“Patience and fortitude conquer all things” -Ralph Waldo Emerson

I feel like I have become more patient with the girls. At least, I hope I have - that is my goal. Instead of getting irritated (ok, I still do- I just try not to show it), I just let them be. I let them fight their fight, and if it gets out of hand I separate them. I sit them on the couch if they are naughty, and I try not to yell at them as much, after all, it doesn't help anything either way. I find that when I actually get decent sleep, I am have more patience. 

When it is a stressful day at home with them, when they are being extra loud, or extra naughty, I try to focus on the beautiful things about my girls. This silliness, the funny/cute things they say. The way they interact. How I am starting to see Madalyn really look up to Gracelyn. How I see Gracelyn is becoming "protective" of Madalyn. These things make me smile. Make my heart full. Make me know just how blessed I am.

I was giving the girls a shower last night. I just get in with them. It's easier. Like an assembly line of washing up. I was washing Gracelyn's hair, while Madalyn was washing my leg. (who knows, but it was cute and thoughtful of her, I guess?), and then it was Madalyn's turn. She wanted a washcloth over her eyes, but I wasn't about to get out, drip water throughout the house to go get one. So, Gracelyn said "You can use my hand", and Madalyn held Gracelyn's hand over her eyes for the hair washing business. It made me smile. Gracelyn is surprisingly thoughtful in a random sisterly kind of way. <3

Madalyn also will call Gracelyn to come play with her, or watch her, or even stand next to her if she sees/does something remotely "interesting". Gracelyn is the same way, usually (altho, she does have times when she likes to play by herself, and I have Madalyn come entertain me). I love it.

I hate the snow. I hate being cold. So, why do I live in Upstate New York where I have witnessed 4 ft of snow drop in one weekend and record below zero temps? Sheesh.

One more to good not to share from Jami's Blog,

“Some people think love is the end of the road, and if you’re lucky enough to find it, you stay there. Other people say it just becomes a cliff you drive off, but most people who’ve been around awhile know it’s just a thing that changes day by day, and depending on how much you fight for it, you get it, or you hold on to it, or you lose it, but sometimes it’s never even there in the first place.” – Colum McCann

Happy New Years

“May your coming year be filled with magic and dreams and good madness. I hope you read some fine books and kiss someone who thinks you’re wonderful, and don’t forget to make some art — write or draw or build or sing or live as only you can. And I hope, somewhere in the next year, you surprise yourself.” – Neil Gaiman




as stolen from Jami's Blog.

I want to sleep. I know I'm exhausted. So why the heck can't I sleep. This whole thing is getting a little tiresome. Literally.