Going To Be Away For A Bit

Hi
I am going to be away for awhile.

I wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

Be good to you!

Silvia Fleming Love For Christmas WINNER ~ Jennifer/KnittingMomof3

 

CONGRATULATIONS JENNIFER/KNITTINGMOMOF3!

Look for your email from me - you have 48 hours to claim your prize.

Merry Christmas to One and All 

Thank you to all who entered.

'Tis The Season at 5MinutesForMom 2009

It's that time of the year, and what fun is to be had during the "Christmas Giveaway". Be sure to check in often to see what goodies are in store! While entering be sure to wish them all a Merry Christmas!!


AND MORE IMPORTANTLY

  

How you can help?

If you know a family who will not be able to provide presents for their children this Christmas, please nominate them in the comments below or send a private email to us at info(at)5minutesformom(dot)com. You can also nominate your own family.
Please leave personal information, such as last names, out of your nomination, but do include the number and ages of the children.
It’s going to be very tough narrowing the nominees down to just a few families. But due to the fact that we only have a limited number of gifts, we will have to make those hard decisions.
Since we do not want to disappoint anyone, please do not let the families know that you are nominating them. If we choose them, we will contact you to verify the details and then determine if the families want to accept the gifts.
Please note that we will also not post personal information about the families that we select. We’d like to keep it as private as possible.
We will do our best to match presents to children according to their age and gender, therefore the families we choose may be determined by the suitability of the gifts we have.
We will keep the nominations open until November 20th, 2009.

There was a Christmas I was uncertain of how we were going to make it through. I had just been released from the hospital, having to learn to walk and do others things again, with 3 small children, no income and unsure how I was possibly going to do anything, let alone do anything for them for the holidays.  It was a very scary emotional time for my children and I.

If not for the kindness of strangers, strangers with such heart, there would have been no Christmas for my children.  From the manager at our local grocery store hearing of what we were going through, and in the wee hours of the night, filling my car with food enough to feed not only them but a small army, to the unknown (then) neighbor who came and picked up my prescriptions to take and pick up from the pharmacy and delivered them with a lunch and a Christmas Tree complete with decorations! To the local United Way and a local church, also having heard about our story, who arrived, also in the wee hours of the morning, to drop off presents, wrapped glorious presents for the children at my doorstep. It was the most humbling and moving of holidays I had ever had.  The greatest gift, was the gift of all these hearts that reached out to us, especially my children in our time of need.  We were and have never been the same since that Christmas in 1999. 

Each year, throughout the year, we try and do what we can in whatever capacity we can, to make a difference in the lives of those around us, especially those facing such hardships and hurdles that life so often can throw at us.

I applaud this initiative. It has great heart! It is in fact, what the spirit of Christmas is all about. So, I encourage you to check this out.  Do you know someone who is facing untold obstacles this year?  A family in great need? While it is not a guarantee, it is however, a possibility, a chance, a hope.
In the meantime, take a look around your own community, your town, your village, your neighborhood.  I know finances and times are tough, for all of us, but if you could brighten the heart and bring the smiles that only a child at Christmas can bring ~ I hope you will do so.

To each of you ~ may you know the promise of Christmas.  May you experience it through the eyes of a child, with great excitement, anticipation and magic.  I believe no matter how old we are, in each of us, exists that childlike awe and wonder at the true meaning of Christmas.

My Blog Disaster & Judi To The Rescue!

Again, I apologize for the appearance of my blog currently.  There was a glitch last week and in my attempt to put a bandaid on it, I screwed up the fabulous design by Judi at Doodlebug Designs. I mean I royally screwed it up - and I cried a lot, cause there were some elements that were made by Judi just for me that meant a great deal to me. They were personal touches that went beyond the aesthetics of my blog.

Sadly, she is no longer designing, however, she has been so kind as to offer to come in here and set things right. (Judi, I swear never to screw it up again!!).  I spoke highly of her then, when we unveiled my new look some time ago, and I am here yelling from rooftops, at what a marvelous and kind woman she is to take the time to make this place beautiful once again. If I could I'd hug her and probably cry some more (it's how I roll).

So please bear with me, as inept as I am with html code, designs and what not, I am forever again grateful for the magic Judi will work once again here at Live Laugh Love and Bloggings.  Watch for it!

Email Subscribers to Live Laugh Love and Bloggings

To those of you who receive my RSS Feed via email (Live Laugh Love and Bloggings):

Each time new content is added to my blog - for those of you who are email subscribers, you receive a copy of the updated content to your email boxes.  The last Live Laugh Love and Blogging subscriber email simply showed the new content - the announcement of the Winner of the ShimmerMeBlue earrings. The new post at that time shows the Random.Org  picture of the winning entry and the copy of the winning post which was AIK.

As shown in my earlier post - the WINNER was number 16 - AIK.  She had been directly notified by me and has confirmed her win.

I am so sorry for the confusion this may have caused some of you. I only wish I could make you ALL winners of this fabulous giveaway, but sadly only 1 winner allowed.  I thank you for taking the time to visit with me on my blog and for entering.


Happy Thanksgiving

ShimmerMeBlue Earrings Winner

 

CONGRATULATIONS! You have won 1 pair of earrings of your choice from ShimmerMeBlue.  I've emailed you.  You have 48 hours to respond.

Thank you to all those that entered.

Holiday Music For Your Listening Pleasure

I would like to introduce you to Silvia Fleming, a remarkable artist with a voice that is full of passion, artistry and beauty.

When I received Silvia's "Love for Christmas" CD  "A beautiful collection of 11 traditional, contemporary, standard and original Christmas songs, in the vocal stylings of jazz, bossa nova, pop, sacred."  I was excited.  I love this time of the year, I love the music, the soundtrack of the holidays, be it new or old it always finds a way to move me.
Of course, I plopped her CD into my computer and sat back ready to listen...... "oh my" was my first response, "oh my goodness".   Her voice so rich, so melodic, so captivating had me rooted in my chair for the entire CD.   I was transported! Her voice reached out and touched my soul.

Such a captivating artist with a story to tell. Calming, soothing, touching, her voice, her magic will transport you too.  I really cannot say enough about Silvia and her gift. She is just remarkable.

I encourage you to find out for yourself the magic of the season, the melody of the heart, this gift in the vocal styling of Silvia Fleming.

Silvia has generously offered one of my readers the opportunity to WIN a "Love For Christmas" CD.

TO ENTER: Please be sure to leave your email address in your comment if it is not publicly available through blogger.

Please visit "Love For Christmas" and listen to the samples there, come back and tell me your favorite - 1 Entry

EXTRA ENTRIES:

Tell me your favorite all time Christmas Song - 1 Entry


Tell me about a favorite Christmas goodie (cookie, cake, treat etc.) - 1 Entry
If you share the recipe - 2 Entries

You may Tweet this "WIN a Silvia Fleming "Love For Christmas" CD @LiveLaughLoveCj http://tinyurl.com/yjoa5ju Ends 12/1 #silviafleming" - 1 Entry (this may be retweeted daily for 1 entry)

Contest is open to the US only.  Contest will end on December 1st at 12noon EST.

Merry Christmas!!

Life Is Better

Today I can see my ankle, the bones in my foot, my lower leg - for the first time in 5 or 6 weeks I can finally see my what my lower leg, my ankle and foot should look like. YAY!!! I still have pain, but I am dealing with it. But today, there is hope! Real hope, that we've turned a corner.

Part of me is tempted to get back to it, you know, life, living, doing things, but I won't.  Dr.'s orders says I'm not allowed to be on my leg.  But it sure is nice to see and feel that I might have turned a corner, so I am hopeful for Monday's surgeons visit.  Maybe, just maybe all this time I've been up and off of it, has allowed it to heal!! That and the prayers and good thoughts that have been surrounding me, I have no doubt have helped me too.


The best news of all is that for the first time since the surgery the removal of my thyroid and it's cancer, internally, physically I feel better than I have in years.  I never thought that day would come, where I could function again.  I feel like I am ready to take on the world once again and that is a feeling I am reveling in.  Gotta tell you, I thought maybe I was going to be stuck in that awful, dark and ugly place, physically and emotionally and mentally ..... so good to come out on the other side.  We still have to tweak the meds a little bit here and there, will have to for the rest of my life, but I can do that.  I am closer to "normal" where those levels are concerned for the first time in 25 years!! 25 years I've been battling this. The last several years have been rough. And yes, the last 4 months were the worst, the hardest of them all, but we are here, now, on the other side of it and I for one am ready to celebrate!  Give me LIFE, Give me LOVE, Give me some LAUGHTER - I'm ready for it!!  It's almost like I was living in a nightmare that I couldn't wake up from. Now it feels more like a dream, a glorious wonderful dream.  I've got a lot of living to do, things to see, goals to accomplish, dreams to dream - the possibilities are endless and that is remarkable all by itself.  I have possibilities!  Who knew!?!

This may sound strange, but as my friends, family and husband can attest.. . .  I've spent the better part of the last year in a chair, in the living room.  That is where I slept, where I crashed, where I recovered from my illness, surgery, cancer, the bugs, this injury.  Last night, I actually was able to sleep in a bed, my bed, with my husband for the first time in a year. It was WONDERFUL!  I was able to breathe, not feel like I was choking, that thing, that enormous thyroid that had me ill for so long, and the aftermath of the surgery, didn't have a hold on me last night. AMAZING! Even with my leg still propped up to the sky, I slept the sleep of dreams, next to my husband, in OUR bed.  So simple I know, but still so major for me.

The toll has been harsh for both my family and I. Financially, emotionally, mentally.  As hard as it was for me to walk through this past dark season, it was equally hard for my family to watch. To be unable to do much to change the course I was on, except to love me, support me and somehow believe there were better days ahead.  It wasn't easy, and we all bear some battle scars, yet we are a scrappy family, the difficulties that lie ahead we'll manage and we'll do it with heart.  Of that I am sure.

My friends, IRL and here amongst the blogosphere, have stood by me. They've lifted my spirts, they've stepped in and helped (whether they knew it or not), they encouraged me, supported me, lifted me up.  Sometimes when all I wanted to do was pull the covers over my head and not come out, they came in and made me laugh and smile, they helped me to dig deep and believe.
Simple gestures of their friendship have come when I least expected it and moved me.  They stepped in and did for my family and I when I could not. They loved me inspite of myself or my circumstances. That is such an amazing gift. One I will treasure for always.

I am hopeful that Monday will bring good news, that it puts me just one step closer to resuming my life, unhindered.  That I can contribute once again to the well being of my family, that I can help lessen the load my husband has bore for so long.  That I will be more than a bystander in this life of ours.


I've had enough of lemonade, lemon pie, lemon custard, lemon ice tea - all the things you make when life throws you lemons.  Heck, I can juggle em now pretty good too!   I'm putting my lemonade stand up for sale, or to the first person who wants it (laughing) cause I'm done with it.

Love conquers all. Faith moves mountains. Friendship sustains us. Hope does float.  Cheesy sounding I know, but I know it all to be true. Life is on it's way to being better, better than I dared hoped it would be.