Mountain Girl Silver - Hand-Stamped Customized Silver Jewelry - Portland, Oregon

Sometimes I feel so totally blessed by my life…..  I’ve got a great husband, I’ve got healthy kids, I’ve got a nice car, I’ve got a nice house, I’ve got my own health, I created a business and honed a craft that has enabled me to stay home with my kids and make money…..  I’m spiritually blessed. I’m growing in my humility, and I’ve quit taking my great life for granted. Many times a person can seem all pretty and perfect on the outside, but on the  inside they are just a hot mess… Essentially what I used to be like up until my sobriety date almost 5 months ago…..  I don’t want to go into great detail about what sobriety can bring someone,,, otherwise this blog post would be a mile long, and then some. Anyone can quit drinking or using drugs, but until they SURRENDER, and accept and admit that they are powerless, life can’t be lived the way God intended. It saddens me to think of all the people in this world that think there is no higher power… a power greater than..    Look at a forest, look at a newborn baby, look at  an iris, or an orchid, watch the snow fall from the sky, listen to laughter……   So many things…

I feel like I’ve been sprinkled with pixie dust. As cheezy as that may sound. I surrendered. I stopped trying to be the director of the movie, I’m learning to live life on life’s terms. I’ve always been a control-freak. It’s exhausting. Totally and whole-heartedly EXHAUSTING. It’s depressing too, because half the time, no one listened to me anyways, and so that would, in turn, create anger and sadness and feelings of failure would overcome me. “Why isn’t life turning out the way I WANT it to?” “Howcome all these awful things are happening to me?” “Why won’t anyone listen to me?” “Am I speaking Chinese er’ something?”  ”My kids MUST never get in trouble, they MUST be respectful, my husband doesn’t treat me the way I feel I need to be treated.” I’d get off on head games. I’d play them,,, and I was good at it. But no more do I even have the capability or the desire to play head games. Honesty, Open-ness and Willingness are the three principles I live my life by today. Yah, sure, it gets me in trouble from time to time because I lose the ability to filter what comes out of my mouth. I never really understood that saying, “TO THY SELF BE TRUE”…  or however it goes.. to thy ownself be true… or whatever. But man, it’s genius. Be true to yourself, do what you believe, say whats on your mind, stand up for yourself, protect and care and nurture yourself, essentially doing the next right thing… all the time…. no matter the cost. Don’t pussy-foot, be REAL, be raw, be hardcore. Be YOU….   not what others think you need to be.

I’ll step off my pedestal now… ha ha…  Shouting from a mountaintop……   that’s how proud I am of my sobriety. When you find something that works, you want to pass it along to everyone you know. You want to pass it along to every stranger, friend, family-member….  but along with the things I’ve learned lately, I’ve also learned that everyone has to do these things on their own. Everyone has to WANT to live their best life. I can preach till I’m purple and it would do no good.  The bottom line is that I’m on this “live your best life” – kick…   The world would be such a happier place if everyone would stop trying to control it. Let everyone be who they want to be. Support people in their dreams……  help when you can help.

So last month I decided to donate 10% of all online orders for a week period  to a friend of mine down in California. Jen and Hector Sanchez are currently trying to raise money in order to adopt a baby overseas, Sofia, (we shall call her Sofia Sanchez). Little Sofia was born with Downs Syndrome. An unwanted child by her parents, she lives in an orphanage that doesn’t give her the love and the attention that she deserves. She stays in a crib all day, eats broth, and the picture in my mind is so very sad. I sat here and stared at my laughing kids, running through the house, making a mess. I thought about the big fat dinner I was going to eat that night……

Now… I’ve always always been a huge advocate for donations. In fact, I should have a special page on my website that you can click to request a donation for a school auction. I have the funds, I have the craft, so I donate. It’s what I do. I don’t have one teeny tiny hesitation about donating. Sometimes Eric just shakes his head at the amount of money I donate on a yearly basis. I don’t know why either….   I guess it goes back to that incessant fear I’ve always had of losing everything.. being homeless, eating mustard packets to survive. Heebie jeebies…  It makes me feel good to donate. But it’s also just the right thing to do. There’s always someone out there that has it worse off than you do. If you can, you should help them. This life thing is a team effort. We’re all trying to survive…. every single one of us is trying to make our way through life as happily and as flawlessly as we can. Taking hits, people dying, people getting cancer, car accidents, robbery, kidnapping… all those bad things happen everyday in this life. I have a vision in my head of all of us interlocked at the elbows, marching forth across the planet. ha ha…

So I’ve decided that since I sit in my life, finally, at a comfortable spot, financially, spiritually, emotionally, physically that I want to donate to a cause when I feel moved by a story. Because there are a million organizations out there. I donate to several of them already. LLS, Susan G Komen, The Dougy Center, Make-a-wish, etc…..   But what I want to do is to have you guys, my customers, who have a need, who have a cause, who have a mission, who have the need for financial help, to write me with their story. I want to hear from you. I want to feel moved. And a percentage of all online orders for a 7-day period is donated to that tax-deductible cause. For instance.. even tho’ the money for Jen and Hector Sanchez cause went directly to them, it went through an organization called “Reece’s Rainbow” which is an organization that aids families in the adoption process. There are so many out there..It’s all about people helping people. Donating. Donating is second nature to me… I love it. I love donating. I love sharing my stuff. I love generosity. So write to me. Tell me your story. Tell me why you need help and I’ll help. It’s what I do….  You can email me, you can call me. All my info is on the contact page here. Don’t be afraid to ask for help if you need help. Again, I’m learning that surrendering is the only way to be successful when you have a goal that is hard to accomplish. Ya can’t do it on your own. We’ve got to help each other.

Be well…

So, once again, our Disneyland trip came and went. I gotta admit, that traveling gets so much easier as your kids get older. My kids are still in that magic-age… you know… where Disneyland is still that place where dreams really do come true. I even found that to be true this time around. Sleeping in a hotel with hotel sheets, hotel water, hotel smell, nasty breakfast, nasty coffee can make anyone a grouchpot…  but the moment you walk inside that gate… all the grouchiness goes away and smiles prevail. That is until around 3pm hits and the whining begins. We didn’t stay very far from the park, so going back to the hotel for a break wasn’t a huge time-waster. Go back, take a swim, get a nasty coffee and rest for a bit, and then head back for the evening. I tell you what tho’,,, that California Screamin roller coaster in California Adventure Park is suuuuuuch a good ride. The California side of the park was sort of torn up as they are adding a whole new CARS part of the park and a crazy light show and an Ariel thingy…  oh… and the Matterhorn was under maintenance…  so that was a bummer. But overall… what a good time. The kids were pretty well behaved.  On the 4th day, we decided to head up to Hollywood to see if we could see anyone famous. All we saw was a bunch of paparazzi preparing for the Academy Awards ceremony on Hollywood Blvd. And it rained cats n’ dogs that day too. It was all worth it tho’, because to witness my husband stuck in traffic is entertainment in itself. He started singing a song entitled “Punch me in my Balls” everytime we got stuck in gridlock. To the point where I was crying laughing and the kids were even laughing. Good times… In fact, I can’t get “punch me in my balls” out of my head…..  it’s stuck there…. it’s catchy…

Then that Saturday evening, my little sis, Muggs and her family caught up with us at our hotel for a bit as they were headed to San Diego for Sea World. We went out for a fun dinner at a Pirate Show place….   food sucked, but the kids had a good time. And then yesterday we made it home safe and sound. I really love Oregon. From the marrow in my bones I just love love love it here. Flying down on the descent into PDX, you see the trees and the lush landscape and you can see the clean air just waiting to burst into your lungs. ahhhhhhhh  Good to be home.

Gotta head back below and start stamping again. Daneen kept control of things while I was gone, so I could relax. When you have a business, going on vacation is tough. You still have to answer the phone and answer the emails, otherwise you lose customers. Daneen picked up the slack and made it so that I could just let it all go for a few days. Heather no longer works for MGS. So a lot of loose ends need to be tied up this week. And this too shall pass…..  Everything happens for a reason in my world. I firmly believe that. God has my back, and has my best interests at heart, so all I really need to do is sit back and enjoy the ride. Sure makes life a lot easier when you know you’re not in control…  ;c)

I’ve gotta get back to work for now tho’…  I just had to blog about the trip. It was good. You know when you spend every waking moment with your family for 6 days straight? Yah sure, there is bound to be some tension… I think I only called Eric an ass a couple times. Had to put the kids in their places a hundred times, but we really bonded as a family. I miss my kids today…  they are at school. I miss em. I really do….   When you go somewhere where there is the potential for getting lost, you really stay close together and need each other. We worked as a good team. And now all of us are in our own directions today…. and I miss em….