Katy's Happenings....

    As we are getting ready for the holidays some of us have a harder time with Christmas than others do. I know for myself and James and my kids, Christmas isn't the same without Jessica! I found this on Alice Wisler's site and wanted to post it here on my blog. 11 Tips for Surviving the Holidays Written by Alice Wisler That holiday-pang hit my stomach the first October after Daniel died. Greeting me at an arts and craft shop were gold and silver stockings, a Christmas tree draped with turquoise balls and a wreath of pinecones and red berries. What was this? And was "Santa Claus Is Coming To Town" playing as well? It was only October. I had anticipated that Christmas and the holidays would be tough. In fact, I'd wake on those cold mornings after Daniel died in February and be grateful that it was still months until his August birthday and even more months until Christmas. I dreaded living both without him. I would have preferred to have been

 How to Find Happiness During the Holidays                                                When You Are Broke I found this blog on Pintrest and wanted to share it. November 18, 2015 by Christine T  (http://premeditatedleftovers.com/naturally-frugal-living/find-happiness-during-holidays-when-broke/) The holidays are a time where we feel joy, warmth and love and we give and get the warm fuzzies, too. But what if you are stressed about how to pay for the holiday fun or you are filled with anxiety about your financial situation even when it is not the holidays? It is possible to enjoy the holidays and be filled with the spirit of the season when you are broke financially! I have spent many years in a situation where I didn’t know where the gifts were going to come from for my loved ones or where I was going to get the money to even buy a tree. Here are my tips on How to Find Happiness During the Holidays When You Are Broke. 1) Start a gratefulness journal. A gratefulness jou

  I am excited about writing about Shirley Eads! She is married to my Dad for the past 2 years. She has been a successful English professor at Del Mar Jr. College in Corpus Christi, Texas and is now retired. She has also worked in the corporate world.. She has written a book about teaching called, "The Art of Mentoring: Lead, Follow, and Get Out of the Way. She wrote this book under the name Dr .Shirley Peddy. The Art of Mentoring: Lead, Follow, and Get Out of the Way was written in 2001. This is the blurb about the book: The Art of Mentoring is a universal guide to developing the talents of others. It teaches how to create learning partnerships in today's challenging work environments. This book covers some of the most contentious mentoring issues: helping the new employee learn the unspoken rules, improving interpersonal skills, dealing with job dissatisfaction, workaholism, cynicism, and lack of motivation which often comes at the end of a career. It also gives advice

Marla Cilley aka Flylady      In July of 2000 we went to see one of my internet friends, Daphne in Indiana. We went in between Jessica's radiation treatments and her getting Chemotherapy. Daphne introduced me to Marla Cilley aka Flylady. She had just started a yahoo email group. Thanks to Daphne, she bought me an organizer that helped me keep Jessica's doctor appointments straight.  When  Flylady first started the email group she only had maybe 150 people in the group. She wanted to close the group but we talked her into keeping the group open so others could join. The Flylady email group has over 800,000 members if not more.   There is also a "Fly shop" and there is a wonderful website about the Flylady system. Marla has been such a blessing with her website: http://www.flylady.net/      In her debut book, Cilley, a.k.a. "The FlyLady" to the thousands who log onto her FlyLady.net Web site, reaches into the everywoman's home to help make h

      When I first met Alice Wisler, we were at a Renaissance Mom's Retreat. She had lost her son Daniel in 1991. He was 4 years old. We had lost Jessica in August of 2001 when she was 10. The retreat was sponsored by Happy Days and Special Times and the director and founder Debbie "Flash" Stephenson. Alice had just gotten "Silce of Sunlight: A Cookbook of Memories" self- published. She was working on her second book called "Down the Cereal Aisle: A Basket of Recipes and Remembrances". She asked if i wanted to contribute to the book. At that time, my sorrow for Jessica was too fresh. It hurt to even think about what she used to eat much less write about it.          This is Alice's bio: "Alice was born in Osaka, Japan in the sixties. Her parents were Presbyterian career missionaries. As a young child, Alice loved to walk down to the local stationer's store to buy notebooks, pencils and scented erasers. In her room, she created stories.

    We go to Coastal Community Church in Charleston, SC  (www.coastalcommunittychurch.org)  and our Pastor is Chris Rollins. Something that Pastor Chris says is, "Leaders are Readers" Each summer he does two series that we really enjoy. One has to do with current movies. He uses a title of a movie as a hook to his sermon. The other series has to do with Summer Reading. He takes a title of a book and uses that book as a hook to what he is going to talk  about that Sunday. .     This made me think about all the people I know that are authors. So with the theme of "Leaders are Readers", I am going to introduce some of the authors that I know and their books. Also any other insights along the way when it comes to writing. So stay tuned.....

This is a story from James Moffitt that he wrote back in July to our friends about our stay at their house to watch their dogs. I wanted to share it because James is very creative with the written word. So I am going to use this as a guest post by James Moffitt! July 3, 2015 We arrived at our bed and breakfast around 10 am this morning.  The weather was partly cloudy and about 46% humidity.  The temperature was hovering around 79 F and the neighborhood was still quiet and sleepy. I did not see many people stirring about.   I had dejavu as I walked into the house we were staying at.  I felt as if I had been there several times before. Maybe it was in another life time, because the inhabitants that are usually there were gone.  We were greeted by two four legged friends who were excited to see us when we opened the back door.  Wait, were we supposed to be kept company by the pets of the inhabitants from years gone by?  Doctor DooLittle, my sweet wife, was ecstatic with joy