New Blog Design

What do you think about the new blog design? I think Daphne at Parasol Designs did a great job. It is me to a T. I hope the women who aren't girly girls can still read my posts through all the pinky frou-frou (definition-Fussy, Ostentatious ornamentation) I am writing this blog as a way for others to get to know me and at the same time get to know myself.
I am in the business of coaching women to be their best. I feel that the more we get to know our true selves and live into it, the happier we can become.
Years ago I read a book, Daring to Be Yourself by Alexandra Stoddard. My eyes were opened to the choices we make everyday. What kind of pen do I write with? If someone were to see it, would they say, "Oh that must be Carla's pen it looks just like her?" When someone comes into my home does it show my personality or is it just what is in style right now? If you are someone like me that loves certain colors do you have them splashed here and there throughout your home or are you letting trends dictate the colors? After reading her book I decided that I would look inside myself and ask what is my style? What colors do I like? What kind of furniture, cars, food, designs, flowers etc. do I like? When I have to buy something like a pen, which one is the perfect "me" pen, not just any pen. When we start appreciating our unique likes and dislikes and start having things around us that reflect our uniqueness, we start feeling happier. When we can love ourselves for who we are, life becomes more full.
Too many women are chameleons. They wear what others wear, do their hair the same, decorate the same. No wonder so many women loose themselves and start wondering who they are. They are loosing themselves to the groups likes and dislikes. It is riskier to do your own thing, but by doing it, it helps you find and appreciate yourself more.
I know my blog is not very business like. If I were to go to other coaches blogs they would look VERY different than mine. My motto for myself is I've gotta be me. I have found joy in finding myself. I could look like other coaches with a business looking blog but then I wouldn't be practicing what I preach. I believe there is only one me and only one you. If I am not going to be me then who will?

John Gray's "A Women's Work is Never Done"

John Gray, the author of Men are from Mars Women are from Venus, is such a relationship genius. I love to watch his free classes on the internet. I have seen him speak in person and have watched many of his classes. My very favorite one is called “A Woman’s Work is Never Done” you can learn soo much from this one hour. You can put it on and listen to it while you are doing something else so it won’t take any extra time. I highly recommend listening to this class!!
It gave me new perspective into why women work and work and have an endless to do list and men can relax in the middle of chaos. If you get frustrated with your husband because you work 24/7 and he only works from 9-5 you need to watch it. It will change your life. It completely changed my attitude. It seems like an issue that plagues relationships and he answers it with ease.
On the right side of the page are his video's on demand. Scroll half way down to

"A Woman’s Work Is Never Done, or Is It? 05/30/06"

Copy and paste this in your address bar.
http://www.modavox.com/modaview/10265/player.html

Sometimes I wake up grumpy...............Other times I just let him sleep:)

I saw this in a gift shop and thought it was worth a blog post.

Window Display

Click on this picture to enlarge it. These are laminated pieces of scrapbook paper hooked together with rings hung on a rod. This is soo cute. It might be a cute idea hung behind a bed. Hmm

Organizing Papers

My husband is not one of those naturally organized people. I have helped him organize things and helped him create systems for his papers. We start businesses and sell them. That means we are buying properties, fixing them up, hiring, and running one business while we are, selling and finishing up another business. Long story short HE had piles and piles of papers. I say he because a few years ago I started working on my own career instead of being a partner with him. His papers had become soo overwhelming he wasn’t able to touch them. I offered for months to do them together but he wouldn’t do it. Finally because we needed to get things to the accountant, I began.
As I was putting like items together, and labeling file folders, I started handing him little stacks of papers that only he knew about. I worked on the rest for 12 hours straight. The problem was he had active papers and inactive papers together. This actually made him think all the stacks were things he needed to do, when in reality some of the items were old and just needed to be stored away. I put all the items that he rarely needs in a filing cabinet, (travel, keepsakes, cycling, laptop phone, properties, church, titles). And boxed all the items dated before 2006 and put them in the basement. We whittled the stacks down to one plastic container with files in it. I cannot tell you the difference in his demeanor from morning till the evening. The quantity of papers he was shuffling through was really weighing him down. I feel guilty that I didn’t help him sooner. I felt like if he wanted to do it with me I would, BUT if he wanted me to sit there and do 12 hours of paperwork while he went on a bike ride NO way! Looking back I can see it was just too big of a job for a person that hates paperwork and organization. What a difference in his stress level!!!!
What is great about men and women is that they compliment each other. What I am good at he isn't and what I'm not good at he is.
He did leave me a little note this morning it said, “Thanks for all the paperwork you did today! You did great! LOVE YOU!”

Freezing Tomatoes

The tomatoes in our garden got a little out of control last week,

We put them in boiling water for a minute to loosen the skin.

Here are all the tomatoes with the skin ready to peel off.

This is what they look like up close.



Here are the peeled tomatoes. I just stuffed them in jars and poured there own juice over them and put them in the freezer.

Whenever I make a dish that calls for canned tomatoes I will get out a jar. They will be a little mushy so I will probably blend them before I put them in things.

Westin in Scottsdale

My husband and I own LOTS of timeshares. We use them and we rent them. Last weekend someone only rented part of the week, so we took the kids to Scottsdale and hung out at the Westin. In my opinion timeshare renting is the only way to go when you are traveling with the family. In general the timeshares we rent have 3 rooms. One king bedroom, one queen bed and hideabed bedroom, and a large family room with hideabed, dining, kitchen and washer and dryer. We mainly deal in Marriotts. They are very clean, upscale 5* resorts with all the fitness rooms, pools etc. with activities for the kids. By renting timeshares you can stay at nicer places, with more room, for less money. The best part is a private bedroom without kids in it.

Enjoying a hammack under the trees by the pool. I LOVE hammocks.

Here is one of the bedrooms

Bath with separate tub and shower.

Family room

Kitchen and dining area.
Check back later because the prices right now are the highest of the year.
lastminuteluxuryresorts.blogspot.com

It is NOT Selfish to Take Care of Yourself!!

"If you are not taking care of yourself, body, mind, and spirit, the people in your life don't get the best you, they get what's left of you" Lorraine Cohen

When I coach women I find lots of them that do too much for everyone else and forget themselves. I hope something in this post can help you to know, YOU ARE IMPORTANT AND YOU ARE WORTH IT!!

I have learned that when I am a person that can do everything myself, people will let me do EVERYTHING, even when I'm exhausted.

When I don't have an opinion on the restaurants, vacations, and movies I go to, guess what? Other people pick where they want to go. It is my own fault when I end up at a sushi restaurant when I hate sushi.

Women don't have any problem buying new clothes, classes and camps for their kids but some don't save any money for clothes, classes and girl trips for themselves. If you don't think you are worth it, your children will begin to think you aren't worth it either.

Have you known women who think they are worth a manicure or a new outfit? Everyone else knows they deserve it too.
Don't you want your husband and children to have one of those mom's and wives that think highly of themselves, have opinions and think they deserve a nice life too?

People get treated, how they treat themselves.

You can only love others as much as you love yourself.

Think you are worth it and others will think you are worth it.

Have an opinion and others will admire you for having one.

Jewel has a song called Stronger Woman
My favorite line in the song is
Well tonight, I’m going to be
The kind of woman I’d want my daughter to be

We have to model the kind of person we want our children to be. We want them to know that women and mother's are important. We want our daughters to treat themselves as an important valuable person, not grow up to be martyrs or doormats. When we are respected by our husbands and children when they grow up they will expect respect as well.

Here is the chorus of Jewel's song.
I’m gonna love myself more than anyone else
Believe in me, even if someone can’t see
There’s a stronger woman in me
I’m gonna be my own best friend
Stick with me till the end
I won’t lose myself again, never, no
Cause there’s a stronger woman
A stronger woman in me.

Hawaiian Baked Beans for the 4th of July

I put rings of green peppers, onions and pineapples in. It gives the beans a great flavor and people can pick out which things they don't like.

Hawaiian Baked Beans
4 large cans pork-n-beans
1 lb. bacon cooked and crumbled
1 large onion sliced
1 large bell pepper sliced
6 T. worcestershire sauce
14 oz. ketchup
1 c. brown sugar
1 large can pineapple

Cook 3 to 4 hours. First half with lid on, 2nd half open at 350 degrees.
People WILL want this recipe it's one of my favorites!!!!

The first time I had this was 20 years ago at a family reunion. I got the recipe from my Aunt Pat. She has 11 children so the recipe makes a lot. It easy enough to half if you aren't feeding a crowd.
Let me know if you try it:)

Facebook and Linkedin

I am trying to grow my coaching and women's retreat business. I decided to do the blog so I could connect with more people. I have met many people through the blogasphere so far, and I've found it to be a valuable and fun tool. I was listening to a teleclass on line and they mentioned getting a Facebook and Linkedin presence also. I have been working on those two for the last 3 days. Facebook is like Myspace. My daughter said that Facebook doesn't have soo much smutty stuff on it. She did wonder why her mother needed a Facebook page when it was more for kids. I learned at my class that Facebook started out for highschool and college students but today business is using it in a big way including huge corporations. What is great about Facebook is that you can stream your blog onto it automatically.
Linkedin is more business oriented but is also a social networking site. It was explained to me that what country clubs and golf courses were in the past to connect and introduce people, are now being replaced with online networking like Facebook, Linkedin and Twitter.

Kids and Candy

Last Oct. a cousin came to stay with one of my kid's friends. This girl hadn't eaten candy for 10 months. She made a deal with her dad to not eat candy for a year for a cash reward. My girls were really impressed with this idea. On Jan. 1st my girls came to me and asked if I would do a similar deal. My son hadn't drank any pop for 3 years since his track coach told him how bad it was for runners. So all 3 decided to do the deal. No pop and no candy for 1 year for a cash reward from mom. I knew I couldn't do it, so I figured I wouldn't go broke doing the deal. I thought the kids might learn some valuable lessons, even if they could only do it for a month or two. They would learn that it was ok to try something different, to not do things when everyone else was doing it, how to conquer peer pressure when their friends were trying to get them to eat candy, how to put off immediate gratification (pleasure of candy), how to have a very long term goal. It seemed like a great idea to support. 2 of my kids are still in the contest. Whenever they go to a birthday party, school or church activity they give all their candy to me. I am shocked at how much candy is given out to kids!

How to NOT Gain Weight

DO NOT try Haggen-Dazs Vanilla Honey Bee Ice cream!

DO NOT find your closest Krispy Creme donut shop.


DO NOT have 2 children that decided not to eat candy for a year and gives me all of theirs. (Next post I will tell you about this)
DO NOT have a very nice sister in law that sends you homemade truffles.
I got on the scale today and I'm up 4 pounds. DANG!!! I thought I was getting away with these indulgences.
Do you have a food that I should definitely NOT try?

Just for Fun

This blog suneday.blogspot.com is my daughters friend Rachel and her sisters. They show lots of products and fashion. Both of these pictures came from their site.
Gorgeous!!!!!


This originally came from domino magazine.

Closet Purge

Do you have a messy closet that's cluttering your mind and getting you down? Sometimes the women I coach can’t move onto bigger things until a little spring cleaning gets done.
When I first started coaching I asked a client what she wanted to be coached on. She told me the first thing she needed to do, before anything else, was to get her pantry and boys closet cleaned. I was speechless. I was ready to help her with life changing issues and she gives me closets?! Since then I have had several women want the same thing.
I feel like we carry our huge, never ending to do lists, with us everywhere we go. Then to top it off we carry around every messy drawer and closet in our heads weighing us down. Sometimes it gets to be too much.
Do you have one of those closets? Do you need a little motivation?
I love missussmartypants.com. She has an article that shows some closet makeovers and the steps to take.
http://missussmartypants.com/CDA5240F87574D8387EBDE8FEC733210/page/page.asp?id=17624

Frozen Grapes-The Perfect Summer Snack

These grapes came out of my garden. I am getting this much everyday for a little while. I have been force feeding the family and trying to keep up. I remember how much my kids like frozen grapes so I pulled off the grapes and put them in individual servings bags and froze them in a tupperware container. I will probably do this with all that we can't eat. I hate to waste food and I didn't want to ruin these beautiful grapes by juicing them.

Zig Ziglar

Zig Ziglar is my favorite motivation speaker. He wrote a great book called See You at the Top when he was an unknown. He put the principles of his book to work and became an international success. He has written many books since and has spoken all over the world. My very favorite is his book A View from the Top. The first book was about how he was going to make it big. Years later in A View from the Top, he lets you know how he got there.
He is an expert on goal setting and achievement. He has a free download on the computer of a step by step goal setting process.
http://www.ziglar.com/downloads/pplanner_3-6.pdf

Artsy People Make the World Beautiful!

Check out the wrapping and the homemade gift tag. Sometimes I forget that the presentation is so worth the effort.


This is from Melinda at http://melindasfabricfancies.blogspot.com/
If you want to be inspired to be more creative, check out her site. She is a beautiful artist. I think she can turn anything into a treasure.

Happy Father's Day!

Team Hoyt
WOW! What a story. This video is truly inspirational. It's about a VERY loving and dedicated father. Get out the Kleenex:)

Enjoy

How fun would it be to see beautiful words painted around town like this one? What a happy surprise. I'm wondering where I can paint some hidden words at my own house.


I got this off of this blog http://desertphotography.blogspot.com
The french song Le Vie En Rose--Madeleine Peyroux that plays on her blog is fun to listen to as you stroll around her site.

Making a Difference in the World

I was assisting at The Adler School of Professional Coaching all last week. The coaching world has the most wonderful, caring, big hearted people that you could ever meet. In general, each coach I meet has the same goal. It is to make a difference in world. I have heard it so many times it is almost a cliché. They really think they can change the world...and I am right there with them:)
When people get coached, they are able to make shifts and changes that they might not be able to make on their own. I'm happy when I can be part of that change.

Mom Song Anita Renfroe

Anita is incredibly creative and fun and I did enjoy the video, but I started thinking about how this is a very real parenting style. I have been around moms like this. It is exhausting for the mom, and the kids totally tune out. It is true that a mom's work never ends, but do our mouths really need to run like this all day? Picture having to watch this video everyday. How long would it take for you to start ignoring her? How capable is a child that has to be told everything to do and micro managed on every aspect of his life? It actually cripples him.

I remember a friend of my daughter commenting on the fact that my two little girls could make toast and a peanut butter sandwich at age 3 and her 13 year old brother still couldn't make a sandwich. My style of parenting is a more hands off approach(except for lots and lots of hugs). The concept is....anything the child can do for themselves, I let them do. Some of the things this includes are: keeping track of their own appointments and carpools, reminding me about their activities (not the other way around), making their own appointments, doing their homework and reports by themselves, waking up and getting themselves ready for school, learn cooking and start doing their own laundry at age 8.

Do you know children whose parents were depressed or disinterested and the child had to become the adult? I don't carry it THAT far. But the principle is still there. The kids will rise to the occasion. If we give them responsibility they will become responsible.

My theory is that I am raising a child to be completely independent by age 18, with every skill necessary when they are thrown into the real world. This means they need to have self management, be able to cook, clean, shop, manage money, earn money, manage time, be a hard worker, know life skills. If I do everything for them, I get tired and they learn very little. If I am always doing everything for them, when they move out and don't have me around to help them, they won't know what to do or even how to think. I know it might sound selfish to have your children do so much but I have seen the results. I would rather have them doing too much for themselves now and find the real world easy than the other way around. I think my older kids can tell you that there wasn't much of an adjustment period when they moved out. They felt like competent adults at age 12. This method develops confident, competent human beings. Instead of me being a worn out micro managing mother who nobody listens to, I have more time and my kids become independent. Which method do you prefer?
Authors note:
I don't want to come off looking like I'm the perfect mother. I do think there are many styles of parenting. The comments from my grown kids were this. Mindy said "I agree that I was very independent, but I also wished growing up that I had a mom that took care of me more. But, maybe that's just me, and I definitely wouldn't not be who I am today if you were any different." And Jade said that she didn't like going to the grocery store as much as I made her go. Maybe the real point of this post is to remember to have moderation in all things:)

J.K. Rowling Delivers Commencement Address

Author of the best-selling Harry Potter book series, delivers her Commencement Address, “The Fringe Benefits of Failure, and the Importance of Imagination,” at the Harvard Alumni Association June 5, 2008.

I found her sincere, humble and funny. I enjoyed listening to the path she followed. She continued to follow her passion no matter what. It was her failure that gave her courage. She said "I was set free, because my greatest fear had already been realized, and I was still alive..."

http://harvardmagazine.com/go/jkrowling.html
The video is 24 minutes. The words are below.

I'm Proud of You Jacob

I haven't put very much about my kids on the blog but I feel like I wouldn't be a good mother if I didn't acknowledge my son and his big year. He is such an example and teaches me how to be a better person. I really look up to him. He aims his goals high and achieves them one by one. What a blessing it is to be able to associate with a person like him.
Here he is with a friend at high school graduation. He had a 4.1 GPA. It was cold, rained on us the whole time and was held outside. (NOT fun!)
This was after getting his Eagle Scout Award. If you aren't familiar with scouting it takes years and years of work and service to get this award. I was amazed at what it takes to get this award. Here he is standing next to my mother after graduating seminary. This is 4 years of religious study. He also just got his Duty to God award.
Jacob ran track and cross country. This was as hard on me as it was for him. I could hardly handle watching him in such pain. We live in Arizona and it wasn't unusual for them to be running in 110 degree weather. Ouch!He finally quit playing in his band. Besides him blowing the roof off of our house, I enjoyed hearing the boys writing, singing, laughing and performing their songs.
I can go on and on but I won't. I can't take any credit for his accomplishments because he just came this way.
Your nickname "Jakey my Joy" is so fitting, because you were truly a joy to raise. I'm going to miss you when you go off to ASU. I LOVE YOU SOOO MUCH!!!!!!!!

Treating Children as you Would a Stranger

A friend of my daughters sent this poem to her. I'm not sure who wrote it.
F A M I L Y
I ran into a stranger as he passed by, 'Oh excuse me please' was my reply. He said, 'Please excuse me too;
I wasn't watching for you. We were very polite, this stranger and I. We went on our way and we said goodbye.
But at home a different story is told, How we treat our loved ones, young and old. Later that day, cooking the
evening meal, My son stood beside me very still. When I turned, I nearly knocked him down. 'Move out of the
way,' I said with a frown. He walked away, his little heart broken. I didn't realize how harshly I'd spoken.
While I lay awake in bed, God's still small voice came to me and said, 'While dealing with a stranger, common
courtesy you use, but the family you love, you seem to abuse...
Go and look on the kitchen floor, You'll find some flowers there by the door. Those are the flowers he brought
for you. He picked them himself: pink, yellow and blue. He stood very quietly not to spoil the surprise,you
never saw the tears that filled his little eyes. 'By this time, I felt very small, And now my tears began to fall...
I quietly went and knelt by his bed; 'Wake up, little one, wake up,' I said. 'Are these the flowers you picked for
me?' He smiled, 'I found 'em, out by the tree. I picked 'em because they're pretty like I knew you'd like 'em,
especially the blue.' I said, 'Son, I'm very sorry for the way I acted today; I shouldn't have yelled at you that way.'
He said, 'Oh, Mom, that's okay. I love you anyway.' I said, 'Son, I love you too, and I do like the flowers, especially
the blue.'
I know we have all been there. We all can get impatient. I hope we remember how much our children love us, and treat them as we would a friend. In a few years we are going to want that kind of relationship with them. I have two married daughters and I know how fast kids grow.
My youngest daughter left this outside my bedroom door as she left on a trip this morning. Children are so sweet!!!!!

Thanks Cutie Pie! I'm going to miss you too!!!!!

My Favorite Benefit Products

Jiffy tan-Love this because this makes your legs look tan without the smell and waiting time of self tanning bronzers. When you have to put on shorts or a skirt last minute your legs can still look great. I hate going to church and smelling the self tanner the whole time. (The least smelly self tanner I have found is Clarins self tanning instant gel.)


Dandelion is great for blondes and I love thrrrob for brunettes. It smells good and feels good when you put it on.


Cupid's Bow is a really cute lip pencil. Here is a beauty lesson to show you how to use it.
http://www.benefitcosmetics.com/gp/node/n/491353011/ref=beautylessons_cupidsbow

This is my very favorite product the Benefit sells. It is an eye shadow base. It will keep your eye shadow in place all day. Buy this and your eye shadow will never crease again. I have tried many others and this one is the best.

This is brow zing. It is a tinted wax and powder. It makes your brows look perfect.

http://www.benefitcosmetics.com

Trace Adkins "You're Gonna Miss This"

How many times have you said when I get this done then I'll be happy?.... when I am married, ...when we are making more money....when my kids are older, ...when I get a bigger house....when, when, when. Do you know that "when" never comes? When you get close to it, it magically changes and it is still ahead in the future? I have lived this way most of life. I was always waiting for this or that to happen. I am now trying my best to enjoy the journey, and not wait to be happy when I get to the destination.
If I am not happy and fulfilled today, with what is,...... then I won't be happy and fulfilled tomorrow. People can be happy in dire circumstances and be miserable in the best. Happiness is a state of mind. It is not determined by the things we achieve or where we are in life. We can really just choose to be happy. I heard it growing up but never believed it. But I have put it to the test and can tell you it is absolutely true.
"You're Gonna Miss This" reminds me of me. I couldn't wait to get out of school, get married and start a family. While I was wishing ahead I was actually cheating myself out of enjoying the present.

Summer Homework

On Mother’s Day I asked my kids to tell me 2 things I do good and 1 thing I can improve on. My 18 year old son thanked me for teaching him how to read when he was 4 and thanked me for giving him the support to try anything he wanted try.
Sometimes you do so many things for your kids and don’t know if they care. This was nice to hear. Before I go on, you are probably wondering what I could improve on right? OK….he said I can get too up tight. (He’s probably right.)
My kids get pretty good grades. The only thing I have done to help, is to teach them to read before they went to school and do homework packets every summer. I thought some of you might be interested. (It takes all of one day and they are done for the whole summer)

Here are the packets I have been putting together today. I make a packet for each of my kids that take them about 15 minutes to complete. I make 1 packet per day, per kid, for the summer.
The day after school gets out I give them math facts tests and spelling tests. I do the math orally and whatever they hesitate on goes on the sheets. Then I type it up, make copies, and staple each day. The math facts worksheets and spelling lists are made for each child so they only work on the things they don’t know.
Here are the things I put in the packets.
Preschool
Tracing things so they are able to control their pencil
Simple dot to dots so they learn to count and write
Writing numbers 1-10
Then 1-100
Trace abc’s
Simple words dog, cat, dad, mom
Elementary
Writing numbers 1-1000 they are able to understand how numbers progress
Name piano notes
States and Capitols
Spelling words
Cursive (tracing)
Multiplication tables
Math facts (add, subtract, multiply, divide)
Junior High
Spanish words
Prime numbers
Memorize adverbs
Memorize prepositions
Memorize scriptures
Square roots
Spelling words (20 per week that they write 5 times each per day)
I also get those big curriculum books at Costco that is grade appropriate and tear some of those pages out.
When school starts my daughter is taking Spanish. I found some great links that have the words, plus the audio. I am going to have her do one link per day. Here is a sample:

Listen to each day 5 times
Day 1 http://www.spanicity.com/Spanish-Vocabulary/House/House.htm
Day 2 http://www.spanicity.com/Spanish-Vocabulary/Food-vegetables/Vegetable.htm
Day 3 http://www.spanicity.com/Spanish-Alphabet/spanish-alphabet.htm
Day 4 http://www.spanicity.com/numbers/cardinal-numbers-01.htm
Day 5 http://www.spanicity.com/Phrases/Courtesy/Courtesy.htm
Day 6 http://www.spanicity.com/Phrases/Greetings/Greetings.htm
Day 7 http://www.spanicity.com/Phrases/Meeting_People/Meeting_People.htm

If you have any questions about this don’t hesitate to leave me a comment and I will give you more details. I have done it for years and I think it has really paid off.

Sunshine Acres Children's Home

There is an orphanage close to my home. I had heard about it but had never gone to visit. Yesterday my mother took me there to meet her high school friend Priscilla. Her parents are the ones who started this children’s home called Sunshine Acres. All these years I had pictured these children having a really sad life with a bleak future. What a surprise to find out the opposite was true. It was one of the most special places I have ever visited!
It was not hopeless at all. These 70 children have a pool, church, library, doctors office, mechanic shop, wood working shop, computers, horses, pool tables, and big screen TV’s. More importantly the people taking care of them are loving dedicated people. There are about 15 kids per home which have permanent house parents in each one. The kids each share a room that is model home perfect and they keep the entire place spotless! I couldn’t believe it. Each room in each home was neat, clean, smelled good and felt good.
This part really blew me away. There was nothing on the counters in bathrooms, nothing out and not a bed unmade. She said that a design team had come in and decorated the houses for a total cost of $374.000. I’m talking, these home were NICE! The furniture was donated by model homes. It was humbling to think that a children’s home was nicer, and cleaner than my own.
What also blew me away was the fact that nobody knew we were coming and we went in home after home and looked in the bedrooms, bathrooms and living areas and there was not a thing out of place. The only way I could tell that any people lived there was a graduation gown out with an honors award by it.
When I am cleaning to make my home look this perfect, my kids always ask who’s coming over? Hmm

She told us story after story of the miracles that have happened there. Including a story when there was a huge drop in temperature and the children were cold. A lady dropped off 30 blankets in the middle of a storm and disappeared. (The exact number they needed) She was their angel. It felt so good in the houses I wanted to move in myself. They call it their miracle in the desert. Priscilla said in all the years of running Sunshine Acres, they have never once sent out a letter asking for money. She said everything is always provided. In the early years, the State put kids in and out of the home on a whim. She said that one 13 year old girl made her home there and the State came in and made her move to Phoenix. She cried and screamed when they took her away and later attempted suicide. After hearing this, Pricilla’s dad said he will never take State money again and they will never take anymore of their kids away. Children can come to Sunshine Acres for any reason and stay as long as they want, including when they go to college. The people working there are good, good people doing an amazing service. She said they have had more than 1500 children live there through the years. Pricilla’s sister said she came to help out as a house parent for six weeks and she has stayed for the past 48 years. These people are as good as gold.
The couple that started Sunshine Acres had a dream of helping kids. They didn’t know how it would turn out, but they had passion and hope. Priscilla’s mother was called Aunt Vera by all the kids and was the best storyteller around. They have a picture of her 4 months before she died with all the kids gathered around listening to her tell stories. Next to it are her words, “Don’t worry about anything but pray for everything”.
I came away wanting to do more. What a wonderful life it must be to work around good people, working for a good cause. The people there were the real deal. I met many of them and they were all like family. I could see why. One lady I met at their Thrift shop had been a house mom for 19 years.
Priscilla was proud to tell me of the accomplishments the children made and who they had become today. She said when some of them show up they had never slept in a bed. They were given a beautiful room and bed, and would still find them curled up on the floor. They even have a school on the premises to help the children catch up so they can go to public school. I guess you can see what an impact this all had on me. I am inspired to do more.
We and our children are so blessed. Thank goodness there are special people in the world that rise to the call, and help children. These people are the angels. This place is truly a miracle in the desert. Thanks to all the Aunt Vera’s, for leaving the world a better place than they found it. I hope we can too!
There website is http://sunshineacres.org/index.php

I Love Flowers!!!!

I have all of these flowers in the window behind my couch. If you look close half are real and half are fake. It's funny because people just assume they are all real. I put a silk bunch of real looking flowers in real green plants. They are always in bloom and always look great!

"Way to Be!"

This is the cabinet next to my refrigerator. When kids are filling up their water glasses this is what they get to look at. The Be's are taken from the book "Way to Be! Nine Ways to Be happy and Make Something of Your Life" by Gordon B. Hinckley.