My dad is retired now, so with that extra time on his hands, he and my mom have been discussing the "stuff" that they claim is mine in their basement, and how I have my own basement now and I should take the stuff that is mine (allegedly) to my own basement.  The idea of "stuff" is a theme that has been coming up in my life several times over the past few months, or more specifically the idea of having "stuff" versus experiencing life.  I had talked to Shawn about it a few times and on my drive back from work in Indiana this week, I listened to a radio program that explored this very same topic.  I thought I would share some of the main points from the show......


1.  Everyone believes that the more money we have (or make), the happier we will be.  To some extent that is true, but there is a magic number.....$75,000.  People who make a million dollars are no more happy than people who make $75,000.  It's  a different perspective to think about it in terms of happiness....not financial well being, but what makes us happy in our lives.

2.  Researchers did an experiment where they gave half a group of people $5 to spend on themselves on something they thought would make them happy.  They gave the other half $5 to spend on someone else.  What they found was that the people who spent their $5 on someone else were happier in the long run.  It's the idea of experiencing giving and the happiness associated with doing something for someone else that gave people greater happiness in the long run.

3.  The best example from the show was the idea of planning a vacation.  From the moment you buy the ticket, part of your mind is imagining being in the place you are visiting, and as the trip gets closer, your happiness and excitement levels increase peaking the day before you actually go on the trip.  The trip itself can be good or bad, but as time passes, the memories of the trip grow and 10 years later it is a cherished experience.  The t-shirts and souveniers will be long gone, but the experience is there forever.  It's the same thing as buying a gigantic tv.  You buy this enormous tv and and the end of the day you are there in your house staring at the wall....all the while, there is a whole world outside your door, people who would love to visit with you, things to see and do, places to go....

Finally for me, it might be as I get older I realize I don't need anymore stuff....I need experiences...trips, dinners, performances, hikes or whatever life and the world has to offer.

So, as the holidays approach, think a minute about how much "stuff" you need or how much "stuff" you want to give....maybe some of your time is a better gift for both you AND the recipient.
xo
Greg

(Info from "Financially Fearless"...Sirius XM Radio)

I was thinking about what to write about this week and I realized we will be starting a new month this week.  We are hurling at break neck speed toward the holidays and another year in the books. I decided  that you didn't need to hear me yammering about anything, but what you needed was a little inspiration... a little kick in the pants.  I want you to think about the last time you invited someone to dinner.....I'm not talking about a birthday party, holiday dinner or some special occasion...I mean when did you have someone for dinner for no other reason then it was a Saturday night and you were all hungry?  In our society, everyone is so "busy"....(don't get me started) and I think we miss a lot of opportunities to connect with people, and what better way to do that than over a delicious meal.  So, it's that simple....invite someone for dinner.  It's a great time before you get yourself all stressed out over upcoming holiday meals, parties and plans.  If you really want to make it an interesting evening, then maybe you could invite someone you've never invited before, or someone you  haven't invited in a long time....maybe ask them to bring a friend you've never met.  Share an evening at the table with people you want to get to know better.  When you've done it, feel free to send pics, your menu or fun stories from your dinner to [email protected]!  I'll share some in future posts.   Cheers! 

Dear Summer,
I know that you have packed your bags and you are waiting patiently at the train station to hit the road, it's been a good run, until next year....
But shout "Hallelujah" because Fall is in the air. 
I guess the truth is, I'm just not really a summer kinda person.  I LOVE FALL, and dare I say WINTER as well?  Well it's true and I'm owning my truth dammit.
So as quick as the temperature outside fell, the oven kicked on, the stove was humming right along and I was filled with a rush of energy courtesy of the chill in the air.
I made a few things this weekend.....

Recently, my sister and I hosted a 50th Anniversary Party for our parents.  In case, you need to know how we did it...here is a quick rundown....

ONE:    You need 2 people who have been married for 50 years.....

Dear Diary,
You know how sometimes you have to do something and you're all "but I don't want to"?
Well this weekend I did something just for the sake of doing it.  I got lost in the kitchen.  Not literally lost, I know where the kitchen is and how to get out of it, but time and the world disappeared.   I made  Italian Buttercream, cupcakes, a small layer cake that I wrapped with a chocolate cage....and at the end of the day, I was reminded why I love baking.
It's one of those things that feeds my soul.  I wasn't making it for anybody, I'm not even sure what I'll do with them now that they are done, but when I finished up yesterday I felt very accomplished and just plain happy.  It's very important to do the things we love sometimes, for no other reason than for the sake of doing it.  It reminds you what you loved about it in the first place.
Now I guess I'll go eat some cupcakes.
xo
Greg

Here's a funny one I heard the other day.....It's Spring!....hahahahhahahahha....ugh.
Well, at least the calendar says so...so there is that.
Anyway, I was thinking about the upcoming season...you know what to plant, what to paint, the devil rabbits in the backyard, etc, etc  and it got me thinking about something I wrote um teen years ago.  (Um teen is a term for old people to use when they can't really remember when it was, they just know it was too long ago to recall).  I do however, have the mental retention to remember where I kept said writings (some of them ramblings) and I wanted to share it again, just in time for Spring.  For dramatic effect/affect (grammar nazis?)I will italicize my previous writing.....

"It's amazing how something so simple can create a moment of realization than can help to change your life, and the way you look at the world around you.  I was headed home one late, summer afternoon and as I rounded the corner of Ash Street, I was immediately taken by a glowing field of dandelions.  Almost instantly, I was a child again, picking those bright yellow flowers, stuffing them into carefully constructed paper "May Baskets", sneaking up on the neighbor's porch, hanging my "gift" on the door handle, ringing the bell and running for my life to try and not be seen.  As I recalled that May 1st tradition, I laughed to myself, and then a sudden realization came over me....something had changed.  It was as if I awoke one morning a grown up, and those bright, yellow flowers had become  pesky weeds, poking their heads up to ruin my perfectly green lawn.  How and when did this happen, and more importantly, how did I miss it?  The dandelions certainly hadn't changed.  It was an "ah ha" moment...."

What that day, and those dandelions taught me was that not everything is so black and white.  There are many (dare I say 50..wink, wink)shades of grey.  Everything isn't always what you see or what you think.  People aren't always what they seem.  There are usually 3 sides to a story.  What it really taught me was to stop for a minute and "consider", not to be quick to judge, to accept things and people who are different, to open my mind to any possibilities that life offers.  Something all of us should strive for.

So put away your weed killer (if the snow really ever melts and you actually see a weed) and enjoy a little dandelion or two......

Happy Spring
xo
Greg

Dear Everyone,
I was just wasting away this Sunday afternoon clogging my mind with endless, unimportant internet tom foolery, when I ran across some accounts of how Valentine's Day got it's beginnings.  Do you know that it started because someone said birds began mating on February 14, so some guy sent a love letter to his woman?  Really, all this because some birds were mating? 
Well, birds or no birds, it got me thinking about being a yound lad and spending hours, cuting, pasting, and  decorating my shoe box with hearts, doilies, tin foil, paper, stickers, valentines, and anything else I could think of (with some help from my mom) and proudly schleping it to school on the bus, where in the afternoon a procession of children would pass by each others desk and drop their declarations of love? into everyone else's box.    From time to time, you would get one that had a lollipop attached (those kids parents must have been rich!), and then you would eat sugar filled treats until the day ended and you schleped the filled "box of love" back onto the bus and home, where you could then, in the privacy of your own room examine each and every one and try to decide whose card was sending you the subliminal message of real, true love.  You know how you picked out the largest cards for the people you REALLY liked, and the non-descript one went to everyone else.   I wonder if kids still do this today?  Do they still get to decorate shoe boxes?  Do they still get to have parties in their classroom?  I'm sure they probably don't because someone's peanut allergy or someone feeling discriminated against because they got a pink valentine instead of a red one,someone who practies hate feels like a holiday devoted to love is completely against their religion,  or any number of ridiculous reasons that people dream up these days.  It makes me sad for the generations of today, they don't know the joy in simple, innocent things.    I remember my Grandma Cleer would send me a Valentine every year in the mail, and in it would be a small square of cardboard with a fifty cent piece taped to it.  I thought it was the coolest thing in the world.    I know, I know, times change....inflation....what's a fifty cent piece?  It's just a reminder that simple things really mean the most. 
So on this Valentine's Day, keep it simple.  Make dinner for someone special.  Send a note of admiration, tell the one's you love how much they mean.....simple as that.
Happy Valentine's Day Everyone!
xo
Greg

Dear Survivors of the Polar Vortex,
I am glad to see you all made it through this horrible ordeal.  I mean, below zero temperatures and wind chills in the middle of January surely must signify the end of something?
I will admit it was a long couple of days to stay inside.  I found myself wandering through the house wondering just how it was possible that "Mr. Torrence" lasted as long as he did in the Overlook Hotel....I mean I didn't even have whiny Shelly Duvall to keep me company.  At least if that kid was driving his Big Wheel through the house I would have known that I was not a lone survivor.
There are many things I could have done, I mean the toilets aren't going to clean themselves now, are they? I could have baked....and baked....and baked.  But because just like all the other Polar Vortex survivors out there who prayed that if God would just get them through that miserable cold, they would turn their lives around and embrace working out and living right.  I had resolved to shed a few pounds and baking was not a good idea.  (Read:  I knew I would demolish a cake in a matter of hours, and then lay on the couch watching movies, crying "Why God, Why?")
So I decided to give my website a much needed overhaul.  I cleaned it up, got rid of a bunch of stuff and made it super easy for both you and me.  I mean, let's face it....I usually blab on about something I made, something I ate or something I decorated.....or something I decorated and then ate, or the occasional rant about people wearing their pajamas in public or the farce known as the "balloon boy", or questioning why people just aren't as smart as me.
So that's what I did. Made it easy and simple.   Whatever I have to blab on about will be right there on the front page, no matter what it's about....then at some point (if everything works out the way I planned....unlikely)  the post will take up permanent residency on the page it belongs (life, design, food).  I did it for you...my loyal readers.  So, as you lay your head in bed at night and can't quite remember how that very funny, witty, smart post went....you can spring from bed, click on the page and there it will be.....rest at last.
No, no, I can't take all the credit for it...the polar vortex shares the accolades and well wishes.
Ok, that's all....for now.
xo
Greg

Well, if one of my resolutions was to blog more , I'm already failing miserably and the new year is about 20 hours old....so I guess I could share a few random thoughts about last year and what I'm thinking about the coming year.....yes, there could be resolutions involved (stop booing, sometimes they do work out)

Last year I decided I was over people who are famous for no reason.....I think I will puke if I have see one more thing about a Kardashian.....
Disclaimer:  I do LOVE to watch My Strange Addiction (but those people aren't famous so they don't count.  I wonder if I could be on My Strange Addiction because I'm addicted to My Strange Addiction?  Hmmmmmm
I just had a thought....what if I grew completely sick of tv and actually read a book or something......Hmmmmm

I hate the very idea of Justin Bieber

I woke up this morning and I was fat......I know, go figure.  I don't know how it happened either.
You know how those Real Housewives (are they really real?  I think not.) have those tag lines at the beginning of the show.....mine would be "I've been thin, I've been fat, I've been thin, I've been fat.....Fat is easier"
But I'm not getting any younger, so I guess I need to work on it..........blah, blah, blah 
I guess just like Fergie ,I'll be "up in the gym just workin on my fitness"

I'm in my 40's, which means somedays I act like a 21 year old and others feel like a 93 year old, but it's a good excuse for whatever might come out of my mouth or when I have yet another unusual ache or pain....."I'm in my 40's"  that's it.  that's my excuse.  ( I know this is a long standing right of passage...my friend Betsy used to say to me "wait til you get 40")

Well, I've rambled enough..I know it doesn't make any sense, it's just what came to me.  I'm resolving to be a better me in 2014.  Spreading Goodness, Getting (re)acquainted, living life, making mistakes, growing, (waging war on rabbits in the backyard)....Here's to everyone being the best person they can be in 2014.
Happy New Year!!!!!