"THE DISAPPEARING THANK YOU NOTES"

“THE DISAPPEARING THANK YOU NOTES”

If you have received a handwritten thank you note lately, consider yourself lucky for it is now a lost art. And that is so sad. I was raised to acknowledge gifts by writing a thank you note—still do. Today’s generation is oblivious to doing this simple task: Granted it takes a few minutes to actually write something and then mail it but they prefer to either ignore receiving a gift or choose to send an email thanking someone.

I wonder if those who don’t write thank you notes realize how much it means to receive one—it’s not that the giver expects it but more it means that the gift was appreciated. And this fact leaves the giver wondering if that person even received the gift for things do get lost in the mail. Limbo is not where the giver prefers to be.

To those of you who take time to write a handwritten thank you note, I applaud you! To those who don’t and are of this now generation, take heed:  There will come a time when you will wish you had received one. It’s such a small thing to do and yet the impact has so much credence. And besides, it makes you lt will make you feel like a better person. Remember that cereal commercial with “Mikey?” The tag line was “Try it. You’ll like it!

Thank you notes are not costly to buy and neither is a pen. I double dog dare you to write a thank you note if you haven’t. You might just brighten up someone’s day with such a small thing to do.

Sherry Hill

"A COMPUTER PROBLEM"

As we all know, sometimes we have trouble with our computers.

I had a problem yesterday, so I called Eric, the 11 year old next door, whose bedroom looks like  Mission Control and asked him to come over.  Eric clicked a couple of buttons and, presto, he solved the problem.

As he was walking away, I called after him, 'So, what was wrong?

He replied, 'It was an ID ten T error.'

I didn't want to appear stupid, but nonetheless inquired,
'An, ID ten T error? What's that? In case I need to fix it again.'

Eric grinned. 'Haven't you ever heard of an ID ten T error before?

'No,' I replied.

'Write it down,' he said, 'and I think you'll figure it out.'

So I wrote down:  ID10T

I used to like Eric

*I got this in an email; wanted to share it with you. Have no idea who wrote it.

Sherry Hill

"THINK IT WAS A CURSE?"

“THINK IT WAS A CURSE?”

About thirty years ago, I was downtown shopping with two of my best friends. Both of them had blonde hair and mine was so dark brown that it looked black. We were in a big department store browsing around when I felt someone grab me by my left shoulder. Turned around to see a foreign looking woman who then proceeded to scream at me in a language I have never heard before! It wasn’t Spanish or French [I know those two pretty well] but not identifiable—but her tone was! She had dark hair and dark  eyes like me but we looked nothing alike at all.

She was in a rage. And then she grabbed my arm and wouldn’t let go of me. I shoved her arm down and my two friends were standing there in utter shock as to what to do. One looked at me and I got the drift: We were going to run out of the store and all three of us did! Bad thing was that that woman was running right behind us and chased us all the way down the opposite end of the street. And again, she grabbed me! I screamed at her and my friends and I took refuge in a store; luckily  she didn’t find me or them.

Two days later at home, I was walking my huge collie up my street. Had on three inch macramé wedge heels and of course my dog would pull me into a huge pothole! It was summer and I thought that my foot was fine; managed to haul my dog and myself up the street to a friend’s house and looked down at my foot. It was huge and the pain was intense. Thankfully, my friend walked my dog home for me and helped me home. That evening I wound up in the emergency room and after an x-ray, found out I had a fractured right foot. Swell not.  That was curse one.

After my foot healed, the cast was off I was doing fine: My two sons young and helpful. Decided to go to a yard sale [I was hooked on antiques and into country at that time] and found a huge wooden box for three dollars. Loved it. Dragged it inside that afternoon and set it in the kitchen thinking I would take it down to the basement later that day. But this and that happened and my family avoided the box. Wish I had for I ran into it barefooted and broke three toes on my left foot. Back to the emergency room again but nothing could be done—except to live in pain for weeks. Curse two.

Toes were healed, fractured foot had returned to normal and all was right with the world—that is until I picked up an antique cast iron doorstop in my house and it fell on my left foot! Couldn’t walk and was taken back to the emergency room again:  Foot was x-rayed and turned out to be a bad sprain. I hobbled around for a couple of weeks with a black and blue foot. Curse three.

More and more things happened to me accident-wise that were really unbelievable and it went on and on. In fact, in 2000 I tripped on something in the carpet in a store and fractured my right knee! I’m not saying that the woman put a curse on me but it sure did seem so. She was desperate to grab me for some reason. I had never seen her before or afterwards. Sometimes you just never know who will grab you and start something! If someone does that to you and speaks in an unknown language, run for your life! Who wants a curse?

Sherry Hill

"THESE ARE ACTUAL STORIES AND ADS--WHEW!"

Sherry Hill

"THREE JUVIES RESPONSE"

“THREE JUVIES RESPONSE”

To you who have watched us patiently

And saw us grow in our nest in the tree

And sent such warm wishes to all three

Know that there must be something reasonably

It has to be for we can sense you truly.

We have taken each step for it is natures’ call

We’ve stumbled, walked and had to fall.

But our feathers are big and so ready to spread

That we no longer want this nest for our bed.

So when we fledge and then truly fly

It’s what we were meant to be doing so please don’t cry.

Be happy for us to take our flight

We were born to do it with all our might.

And when we are gone know this

That if you see us make a big wish.

Wish us long lives that are trouble free

And that we live out our destiny.

We were born to spread our wings and fly

And soar up above you in the huge sky.

We may see some of you perfectly

And if we do, remember us three.

And don’t forget our mom and dad

Who taught us so well with all they had

Check in on them to make sure all is right

For we will love them with all our might.

This is our response from us to you

And Bob and you made our dreams come true.

Sherry Hill

*Google Decorah Iowa eagle web cam: runs 24/7

Whose addicted to this? Me?
Juvies are eaglets. Won't have white heads, gold beaks or golden eyes till they are four or five years old.http://www.ustream.tv/decoraheagles

"WORRY"

“WORRY”

I just to worry all of the time! Worried if someone left an umbrella and felt as if I had to find the owner. Worried if I had everything finished I said I was going to finish and add about a gazillion more things and that would have summed up me in a nutshell.

Eleven years ago, I got blindsided by a series of events that numbed me with worry for four straight years. Started going through a divorce, broke my knee and my mother died—all that happened in one year. One would have been bad enough but the latter was extremely hard for me to take as I am an only child. Took almost a year to be able to walk again without a brace and my knee is all right—but it sure has become a good rain indicator. As for the divorce, that took four years!

I worried so much, wrote out my life on legal pads for the never ending divorce and wondered if I would survive it all but I did. So many twists and turns during that four year period that I’m not sure I could live through a repeat –nor would I ever want to. It was going through all of this when I got a revelation from a cousin of mine: She told me to stay away from negativity in any form—tv news, people or anything that would drag me down.

I trusted her one hundred percent for she had had cancer and it was also in about eighteen lymph nodes. Her doctor gave her about five years to live. That was over twenty years ago and she is cancer free. Her way of thinking led me to quit worrying [it didn’t happen over night trust me!] about what I couldn’t control and what I could control. And she was and is so right: If you watch negative things, you become that way and start worrying. If you are among people who are negative in their every way of thinking, you will be as they are and dragged down even farther.

Remove yourself from negativity on tv, online and from those who relish in it—miraculous things happen to you once you strive to do such. Yes, I still worry but not like I used to at all: I have come to take one day at a time and see what transpires. If it looks like an overload, I relegate certain things to the back burner. It’s amazing the things I worried about that had no importance whatsover. And no doubt you have discovered the same.

Aside from what I’ve written re worry and negativity, just remember what Scarlett said in the movie, “Gone With the Wind:” “After all, tomorrow is another day!” Worry will always hang over our shoulders but try doing the great advice my cousin gave me—such great wisdom and aside from that, it works. And Scarlett wasn't wrong either.

Sherry Hill

"GOT MULCH?"

“GOT MULCH?”

The other day I realized that I hadn’t bought any mulch for outside for several years. Guess my biggest reasons for not getting it are three-fold: When it rains heavily, the mulch disappears. Those bags are hard to lug around. And it can get expensive.

How did we all become mulch obsessed? When I was little, I never heard of it; no doubt no one else did either. No one used it around plants or trees. No one. Everyone had either trees or shrubs in their yards but flowers were always out in the back yard.  It was a given.  Considered tacky to have flowers out in the front yard!

This went on for years—the plain yard that was easy to take care of except for trimming shrubbery and grass mowing. Then in the seventies came the advent of hanging plants for outside and the macramé phase. Everyone jumped on the bandwagon on macramé hangers for flowers or plants. Either some people learned to macramé or they bought these hangers for plants.  In my case, I bought them.

After this phase, came the doing of clustering potted plants or flowers together on a front porch or sidewalk. Took off like a bang! And then people started using window boxes for flowers—everyone did it if their window ledges were big enough.

I’m not really sure when the mulch phase started but am guessing about fifteen years ago or maybe a little more. If a person didn’t have mulch around all shrubbery or plants, he or she was outnumbered. And the craze only got worse.

Face it:  Some people are just plain mulch addicts. And so are people who own businesses: They hire people to put down tons of mulch around shrubbery and trees.  It’s expensive and has to be added to for mulch fades and/or disappears over a period of time. Granted it looks nice but who started this mulch craze? Have no idea.

As for me got mulch? That would be a no. I am worn out with it. Real nature doesn’t have mulch around plants or trees—never have seen it in the woods ever. But if anyone sees it there, then know that a mulch addict has been there perpetuating the craze.

Sherry Hill