It Takes Attitude…

I was going to write about my favorite Christmas but ran across this photo and it changed my mind… because it made me smile and I wanted to share this story with you all.

This is my baby brother. Mom told Walter (Bro) to take Bennett to the barber shop and get him a haircut so he would look nice for his birthday.

Walter told the barber to give Ben a mohawk.  I don’t know if Ben told Bro he wanted one or if Bro just told the barber to give him a mohawk.   But this is how Bro and Ben walked home.  Mom about stroked out.  But, dang, he was so cute that she forgave Walter.

What’s not to love with a kid with a mohawk and a BIG teddy bear? Check out the boots, too.

Then I got in on the action… our sis, Sue, had a glorious array of neck scarves that were the rage in the early Fifties.  Ben and I decided that he had a mohawk so he ought to be dressed up like an Indian and who better to help him than moi? If you click the pic you can see our sister standing behind the chair.  She was so mad at us for getting in her stuff,  but she still had a bit of a smile trying to peek out.

Now you may ask, “What’s the deal with it taking attitude?”  Bro and I were talking about it when we were looking at these as he was scanning these photos and he’s the one that said, “You know it takes attitude to wear a mohawk.”  And this was the particular photo that brought about that comment:

The boy had the stuff to pull it off.  Check out the suit coat and the jive attitude. Ben, Bro and I still love this photo and as far as we are concerned even now with you being 61 you could still pull off a mohawk.  You still have what it takes.

Love you, Baby Bro, and I’ll see you and all your family  for Christmas.

Want To Get A Project Done?

Start it less than a week before Thanksgiving when a whole mess of family is coming to your home to share the blessings in their life and a lot of food. I took off last Wednesday and headed south for a visit and to get away from the stress of all that has been going on around here.

This is what the fireplace looked like when I got to Ft. Worth Wednesday evening. In less that 2 hours (we had to go stuff our faces first) Diane, my sis-in-law started doing this:

Give her a hammer and chisel and she is the demolition princess.

Hearth is done for…

I had to bust my hump to keep up with her. Of course I did have to stop and take photos along to record the process for posterity (and a break).

Round and round she goes… and the surround is down.

Cleaning up the excess mortar…

Blowing off the smoke after putting the hurt on the mortar.

Miss Molly is overseeing the job to be sure there is no corner cutting. This was the end of evening one except for the sweeping up and washing down.

Day 2: Sheetrock is cut and installed. This job fell to my brother and me.

The tiles are cut first so Ben and I can run right through mortaring them and getting them up, so we could sit in the floor and get the surround tiled without having to get up and down. He’s been down in his back and I’ve just been down.

Here it is… taped and spaced to make sure it stays in place while it sits up overnight. Thus ends Day two.

Ben had to work on Saturday so it fell to Diane and me to do the grouting and clean-up and I was so whipped out I forgot to take photos but I’ll get baby Bro to send me photos so you can see the finished project.

Molly giving it the critical eye and her blessing for a job well done.

Yeah, some work was involved but it was exactly what I needed to do to get myself leveled out. When I can lose myself in a project I don’t dwell on the things that are not right in my life and when I’m worked to ‘rode hard and put up wet’ I sleep great and everything looks better in the morning.

This is the way that I get my perspective back and start getting healed from a horribly inconsiderate fracas. Now I can start planning to start over next month.

I hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving and even with what all has gone down in my house I still have so much to be thankful for in my life. I’ve got my furbabies, I have wonderful sibs and I’m not afraid to start over again.

Anybody Thirsty?

Staci, over at The Bliss Of It All, gave me the Lemonade Award, for attitude and/or gratitude. I'd like to think I have all of it, although some folks around here would say that some days they don't appreciate my attitude...

However I do know that I have all my life tried to be grateful for everything that has come my way. I've basically had pretty good health, even with the fibro, I have great siblings and I have had and still have some pretty wonderful friends, even back to school days. I love to go outside and feel the wind on my face, the dirt under my fingernails, even the rain on my head. I might gripe at one point and the next turn around and say how wonderful the day, weather, dinner, movie, whatever is...

When I get hit with the joy of living, I just have to share it. Please don't get me wrong, I'm no PollyAnna, but dang, it's good to be alive! Especially now when the days are getting longer, more sunshine, and I'm taking a break from working out in the garden, cleaning up getting ready for the fellow that's coming tomorrow to turn up the garden for us. Can anyone tell that I'm seasonally effected?

Okay, here's the Lemonade Stand Instructions:

1. Put the logo on your blog or post. 2. Nominate at least 8 blogs which show great attitude and/or gratitude. 3. Link to your nominees within your post. 4. Let them know that they have received this award by commenting on their blog. 5. Share the love and link to this post and to the person from whom you received your award. So here goes...

My Random Insanities

My New Thing To Do

Adopting M.E.

Twisted Fencepost

From Here To Anxiety...My Lapband Journey

Life Just Keps Getting Weirder

Blind Pig And The Acorn

Gingerjar

All of these folks, for one reason or another exemplify the attitude/gratitude aspect of this award. I enjoy reading each and every one and I can say that I think all of you would find them fun to read.

So, Staci, thank you for feeling inclined to send this award my way. I'm very thankful for you and all my blogging friends out in this wonderful world.