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The little goings on that impress me through the day. A few days ago, the hubby and I were talking in the kitchen, I don’t recall the subject, but I said I was too busy for it anymore and about that time MouthyBoy piped in and asked if I was doing work at home again. I said no, in fact, in the Spring I was going to go back to school and I didn’t want to fill my calendar with other things that would distract from studying.

To that he said, “That’s cool.”

So at 11 years of age, does, “That’s cool.” mean nothing like it does when an adult says it or does it mean he thinks it’s cool?

I like the idea of being thought cool….and the idea of doing my homework right alongside MouthyBoy to show him you’re never too old to learn something new. And to him, I’m sure I’m old. Ouch.

But the coolest thing about influencing him, is seeing the influence I’ve already had on him, I recognize his personality and I’m seeing his humor, I see in him a good guy.

He’s going to take care of things and really be a caring man, and though I have to keep after him to do his chores, I can see the care in his eyes when he pets our cats, when he comes to help me carry things he knows are heavy, other things I’ve taught him and hubby have taught him that are just the right thing to do.

The MouthyBoy is turning into quite a good boy. He showed me his averages in his classes, he has four major subjects and in all but one the grades are an A. I was impressed. He’s a smart boy, I’ve always known that and like I told him, those grades prove that. They prove that when he works at it, as with most of us, he gets it and does well with it. Knowledge is so priceless, and one day I hope he tells me that’s one of the things he understood from me was of the utmost importance, that education is so important to being successful in life. It’s not a myth, it’s not an old wives tale, or a belief.

It’s a fact.

I want him to do and be much better than me, and by instilling in him a work ethic, common decency, common sense and how to be a gentle person, I think any woman would be lucky to have him. Once he’s grown…like 25 and has had his college fun and lived through a lot of years and experience and college.

Til tomorrow friends!

If you have come across any hilarious emails that literally made you LOL, please forward said email to me for sharing in the weekly Wednesday Fwd. Tomorrow is another one, you could be the contributor!

Email me at MouthyGirl@Gmail.com

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My list consists of reasons I should have money. You’re thinking….oh the nerve! Gimme a chance. You see money doesn’t make the person…but money can certainly make the person more generous and benevolent.

So on with my list of reasons I should be rich.

1. Because I would be so good with lots of money; vs. so bad with so little.
2. Because I donate to worthy causes even if I don’t have a lot…so if I did have a lot, I would just donate that much more.
3. I would love to pay for the college educations of all my nieces and nephews and future grands so that I could take that worry from my siblings and my son.
4. I would go back to school full time and earn my doctorate. In something that will help the masses.
5. I could inspire other people to see why money doesn’t have to be something hoarded and how sharing your wealth invites it to come back.
6. I could lead by example and show that money doesn’t have to corrupt you.
7. I would run for President, and not care what anyone thought of me.
8. I would be like Oprah.
9. I would be like Oprah.
10. I would be like Oprah.

I mean, everyone loves Oprah right? I thought that should count for three. Because I really would be like her, I’d even do my own version of “The Big Give”. Seriously. I would let some cheesy “Dr.” use Euphemisms that are archaic to parlay himself into a career, off of my coattails. But I’d never say anything bad about beef.

Of course, I highly doubt I’ll achieve the riches I so desire, but I will dream.

Happy Monday! I invite you all to comment below and leave your list of reasons you should be rich. It doesn’t have to be ten reasons.

Hope you all have a great day today, see you here tomorrow!

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I don’t think I’m alone in this so I’m going to talk about it here. I hit these periods in my life where I spend a lot of time looking back over the past few years. Now sometimes when this happens I like what I see, what I’ve done, where I’ve been. Sometimes I am proud and pat myself on the back a little.

But sometimes I don’t like what I’ve seen and I’m disappointed in myself and my lack of progress. Don’t get me wrong…these are not regrets, just deficiencies I see in myself and in time that I spent idle when I could’ve been moving forward.

I’ve hit one of these periods recently and what triggers them I think is big changes in my life. Two years ago I did the same thing after my uncle passed, and now after my Great Aunt has passed, I suppose it shouldn’t surprise me this interest in my recent history and personal evaluation. To a certain degree I suppose I should be glad I’ve been affected profoundly enough to feel it’s time to alter the course of my life.

Several years ago, my son started having trouble in school and after thinking long and hard about it, I decided to take a break from going to school part time and be here for him in the evening to help with his homework. Though I can’t say either of us has benefited from the homework help because he’s a stubborn boy, I have enjoyed the time just being a mom that works and comes home. My house is cleaner than it used to be, most of the time.

I still feel that I’ve been idle and have left a piece of the puzzle out. I feel I’ve got unfinished business and I’m fortunate to know what it is. I have a degree to finish.

Funny thing though, what once was so clear regarding the direction I wanted to take has now become a hazy, gray area and I’m not sure what I want to do. I considered a writing/english type degree, but really what would that get me? I am a greedy one, if I’m spending the money on the education, it needs to make me some money in return.

However some of my real life experience in the working world has changed my opinion of what I desire to do with my time. I’m at an impasse.

You see I remember a time a long time ago, when I was hanging out with a friend of mine, near and dear to me now, that waxed prophetic to me one day and changed my life. She said that no matter what you do in life, Education is the one thing no one can take from you. No matter how low in life you get, if what you know got you to the top once, it can get you there again. I was in school already that’s where I met her, but I was just going to get a certificate and be on my way.

Oddly I can’t remember what certificate program I started after. It was months after we became friends that she said that to me, but it stuck with me and made me decide that a certificate program wasn’t going to cut it. I realized that it would never be enough and I was selling my son short.

And myself.

She didn’t know it then but she changed my life that day. That was the day that I began in a small way to believe in myself. And it was because she believed in me. I knew she must have or she wouldn’t have wasted her breath on me….she is not the kind of person that believes in lost causes, I knew that then and even more so now. Until that time, I didn’t know what that was like.

I re-evaluated my life shortly after that and decided major changes needed to be made that were hindering my forward movement in life. I became a single mom when my son was two and from that time on I had so much more to prove, to him and to me.

Lately I think I’ve become complacent and can’t believe for a while there I actually thought school had nothing more to teach me. I’m shocked at myself for adopting such a view. So now I’m motivated again to make something of myself, to prove that I can be somebody. I’m going to go back to school…once I figure out some sort of direction. I’m giving myself til December or January, whenever the enrollment period is for school, and I’m going back, in the Spring.

But I wondered…

Do you believe in you? Where do you see yourself in five years?

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I don’t know if I’ve mentioned this before or not, but hubby and I are going on a cruise on the 1st of November. We’re excited…sort of.

This isn’t really the kind of trip we would’ve planned for ourselves, but then again, if left to our own devices, who knows if we’d ever even take one, lol. We always talk about it but have yet to actually do it. You know how it is, life gets in the way.

My boss, in place of a Christmas bonus, has bought hubby and I tickets to go on a five day cruise. In and of itself that’s a helluva Christmas bonus, and I can understand his reasoning as well, he says if he gives me money I’ll probably spend it on bills and the government will tax it, this way he’s sure I’ve had fun with my bonus and the government doesn’t get a dime of it. I’m cool with that.

It’s the preparation for this cruise that puts us in the “sort of excited” mood. We don’t have a lot of extra money in our budget as we’ve had to make some car repairs recently, we both could really use a shopping trip to update our wardrobes and me, well I need to lose a few l-b’s first. We want to drink, because we’re drinkers, and we’ve been told the drinks are expensive and can really add up on the cruise, which really gives us pause because have I mentioned we’re drinkers?

Food is not the issue that will make either of us gain weight because neither of us are all that excited about food…it’s drinking that gets us. It’s drinking that has added weight to my small frame and not eating right. The quantity has never been a problem…it’s the quality.

What’s worse is that while yes we want to drink on the cruise, the other thing is that we’d like to take a shore excursion, but that’s expensive too. So you see we’re pretty limited as to what we can do when we go. That’s not to say this isn’t a great gift and the four days off from work won’t be much needed, but I’m wondering if when we return from said cruise we aren’t going to feel like just having the money would have been a better idea.

Time will tell I suppose. We set sail on November 1st out of Galveston (if there’s a port even) and will be at sea for a few days with a stop in Cozumel and in Progresso, Mexico. I hope there’s lots to do on the ship because we’ve chosen drinking over any shore excursions, lol. If any of you have taken a cruise and are drinkers and can tell me if I’m overestimating costs or not, that would be great, but as of now we’ve decided we’d like to take a couple hundred bucks but beyond that can’t afford to blow the piggy bank.

I would be interested to hear stories from other people that have gone on a similar cruise through Carnival, we’ll be on the ship Ecstasy by the way, to the Mexico area to be specific - so that if anyone shares information or was on this cruise, your information may help me be a little more accurate in my budget for this trip. You see my mother and father in law have been on this same cruise, on a different ship but they don’t drink. Nor would I feel comfortable asking them how much they spent on this thing or that thing, etc.

But if I could get an idea of what an average cocktail costs, and beer, I think that would set my mind at ease greatly. I know about how much we would drink, I just want to budget for it. Smart people are always budgeting and trying to stay within that budget…at least, that’s what I tell myself.

So spill fellow cruisers! With that, I leave you with a song…about cruising, of course!

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Flash to that scene in Kindergarten Cop where Arnold Schwarzenegger is asking all the children questions about themselves and their families…

“Who is your Daddy and what does he do?”

LOL!

Today’s post is brought to you by you. I’m turning the mic on you… Oh yes, to find out what drives you, all the different things that may motivate you…etc. So here are a few question to start off our friendship..

What do you do for a living?
Do you like or dislike it?
What do you like or dislike about it?
Do you like the people you work with?
Why?
How big is your family?
Are there plans to make it bigger?

There are several readers that I’ve never heard from…that I’d like to hear from today. You know who you are. And for those of you who’ve shared in the conversation before, please indulge me further, I do so love to interact with all of you.

Those are just a few questions to start off a new weekly feature called “Spotlight on YOU” where every Thursday I’ll ask a new question to my readers, that means you, and you’ll tell me more and more about you guys. This will help to build my family…my Mouthy family. You see I know you’re there reading this and I know you must have thoughts and opinions and all that good stuff, goals and dreams.

Won’t you share them with me?

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I got this yesterday by email and as is the new tradition on MouthyGirl I’m sharing a laugh from my Fwd category in my Inbox on Wednesdays.

This is how David looked when he left home for his tour of the US.

And now David when he returns home from his tour in the United States, do you think they’ll notice?

David’s tour of the United States was sponsored by the following:

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Every morning I wake up I feel different than the morning before. Sometimes I wake up tired, sometimes I wake up refreshed and sometimes and I just want to ignore the world and stay home all day, good mood or not.

But overall I would like to think I have a pretty positive outlook on life. I try to see the lighter side, enjoy life and think about my potential and work towards it. I set goals and typically within the time frame I accomplish them. Lately however, I have been lacking in goals. I’ve kind of been in a holding pattern. That’s not to say I’m bored with where I’m at, it just means that for me, it’s time to get back in gear and start planning more for the future.

Trying to get by is just not for me, I’m always trying to get better. Albeit I’ve not been in school completing my Bachelor’s or anything, I have been in a constant state of learning since I started school right after my son was born. Trust me, you have to be if you want to have any sort of edge in life.

With blogging here I’m always reading helpful blogs, various books and tutorials on writing, in an effort to hone those skills and of course, to not bore you to tears.. I’m all for self-improvement.

But that’s just how I am — not satisfied to just stand still, I crave forward motion. So because of this I’ve always kind of held the belief in the back of my mind that just getting by is not good enough for me, I’m always wanting to get better, so that my future holds brighter things.

I wonder though if others feel the way I do about life in that it’s an uphill climb most of the way? I mean I know there are people that don’t want to be rich, don’t care to be rich. That’s not really my goal, though if it happens that would certainly be great… Some of the greatest people I’ve ever known in my life didn’t aspire to be great, they did what was expected of them and that was their success. What’s your version of success?

Do you find yourself reaching for the stars regardless of your current status in life? Do you make short term and long term goals? Have you already accomplished all your dreams? Do you have more that you are working towards?

Tell me about your future.

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