We all need help sometimes. My car has been in the shop more than two weeks, so my family of five, including two teenagers, had to get along with one vehicle. We were managing, but it was challenging. Over the weekend, a friend insisted that we borrow her car. Her family had a truck and a van they could use and she wouldn’t take no for an answer. So for the last couple of days, I’ve been driving a red…
Earlier today, I stopped by the school where my teaches and my three kids attend. When I saw my wife she asked me to take a fund-raising form to my son and tell him that he needed to find teachers to sponsor him if he wanted to participate in a jump-rope event. When I found my son, he initially said it was too late because today was the deadline. Then his teacher said he could still turn in the form…
I’ve been thinking today about how my busyness seems to get in the way of my business. Sometimes I just think I have so many things to do that I don’t get anything done. I was reminded of this watching a clip from one of the morning TV shows this morning. It focused on traffic and included a section comparing how efficiently ants got around to traffic jams on major highways. The ants it turned out, get around much better…
The other day, I was driving my wife’s van (my car’s in the shop but that’s another story) when an indicator light on the dash told me that a brake light was out. A day or two later I went to an auto parts store and got a replacement lamp. How hard can it be to change a brake light, I thought to myself. Wrong. When I finally got a chance to make the change, it was a freezing cold…
It snowed this week. The first significant snowfall for my area in about five years. It was also the first snow since we moved in our new house about 14 months ago. Once it got deep enough we headed to a nearby golf course for some sledding. It was the most fun I’d had in years. I’d forgotten how exciting zipping down a hill on a plastic disk can be. Of course, once you get to the bottom of the…
If you’re still searching for a gift for the person who has everything, here’s a great way to honor them and help people who have almost nothing. During this season of giving Tony Cartledge reminds us of those who are most in need. He suggests giving a living gift that will help them survive by going to Heifer International’s website, where you can check out a gift catalog and send a donation. The site even lets you print out a…
My last post focused on the book, “Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff … and It’s All Small Stuff by Richard Carlson. Here’s a few more of the book’s principles. “Smile at strangers, look them in the eye and say hello.” Carlson says there’s a parallel between our attitude toward strangers and our overall happiness. “In other words, it’s unusual to find a person who walks around with her head down, frowning and looking away from people, who is secretly a…
One of my favorite books is “Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff … and It’s All Small Stuff,” by Richard Carlson. I found it one day while I was browsing in a bookstore. It was one of those times when I knew I had to have it when I saw the title. The title came from an experience Carlson had with another author, Wayne Dyer. Seems Dyer had endorsed one of Carlson’s earlier books. Carlson had told a publisher he’s ask…
I recently bought a car. My old car got totaled in a wreck several weeks back. The car I bought is a smooth riding Oldsmobile Aurora. It’s got a number of bells and whistles my old car didn’t have. Among them is a gadget on the dashboard called an information center. The information center tells me all kinds of things about the car, including how much oil life is left and how the battery is doing. The thing that intrigues…
Earlier today a friend of mine was talking about her son’s decision about which college to attend. I paid close attention because my oldest daughter is about to go through the same process. Seems my friend and her son visited three schools. There were a number of reasons behind his choice, but one of the biggest was the visit to that school. During the visit the school representative went out of his way to make them feel welcome. The prospective…