When in Doubt #2

Greetings...

When in doubt, give thanks. Happy Wednesday all! I don't know about you, but between last week and this week, my life has been fairly busy. Although I've had some not so good times, I always like to reflect on what's good in my life to put things into perspective. The added bonus is that you feel better after said reflection too. :) So, here we go:

1) This is gonna sound simple once you read it, but sometimes it makes all the difference. I went to Wal-mart a couple days ago to get a few things. I just have to tell you that, I probably live near the worst one in existence!  They aren't consistent with the items they stock, if they are stocked at all and customer service at the check out lines doesn't exist.. and I'm totally not exaggerating here. (Why I shop there is a story for another day) Anyway, I just popped in there for something quick and when I got to the register the woman actually greeted me with a hello, asked if I found everything okay, as well as asked how I was doing. I was floored. She was..... friendly!! That had never happened at this Wal-Mart before! It was great and it made me feel like she appreciated my business. Now while I know that more often than not 'friendly' customer service is fake, (trust me when I tell you I know about these things. I have many years of customer service training) despite that factor it made me smile and feel good and that's the important part. I totally appreciated that. Thank you friendly Wal-Mart cashier. That made my day. :)

 

2) Sometimes during the winter months when it's cold and cloudy all of the time, it effects my mood in a negative way. I am totally a person that needs to see and feel the sunlight otherwise I start to get sad. After a string of gloomy days it was nice to see the sun and not only was the sun out it shown it's beautiful sunrays! I was driving home marveling at the magnificence of it all when a memory flooded my mind and made me smile. When I was four or five I used to believe that the 'sunshine' belonged to me. I owned it. It rose in the sky because I was in existence! I believed this whole-heartedly. One day at my grandparent’s house I was standing at the screen door looking out at the sunshine and my Great Aunt Lucy asked what I was doing. So I proceeded to tell her that I was looking at the sunshine and it belonged it me. She tried to convince me that the sun wasn't just mine and that it was for everyone to enjoy. I shook my little head and begged to differ. Have you ever tried to argue with a 4-5 year old?? Once something is locked in their mind, it's not a conversation you're going to win! Of course I politely explained to her that the sunshine was mine, because I had claimed it, but still she tried to tell me differently. At some point she gave up on me and walked away and I basked in the glow of my sunshine knowing that I was right all along and had won against a grown-up. Now that I'm much older, I know that she was right and I still love the sunshine. :)

 

What's made you smile this week? Leave me a comment or email me at eclecticoasisart@aol.com.

Ciao!

A. Sparkle

When In Doubt #1

Greetings...

I've been feeling on the not so motivated side of things lately. I don't like to wallow in that for too long, because it doesn't feel good and well.... who wants to hear someone complaining! (I know I don't) A while ago I either read or watched something that said to write down things you're thankful for when you're feeling low and so I thought I'd make a list of things that made me smile and/or that I’m grateful for today!

For Smiles... 

*The song that I'm obsessed with right now was playing on the speakers in the bathroom at work, so I decided to have a dance party for one. Me and my dancing jubilation almost got caught by one of my co-workers. I smirked and pretended I was scratching my head and just walked into the nearest stall. :) 

*In the midst of this very cold and bleak winter, Monday's weather reached into the 60's. It was a beautiful glimmer of Spring that I wish would last. Oh how Spring is so fickle. :)

*I bought a new stainless steel (for lack of a better word) drink container that I have a love/hate relationship with at the moment. It holds 12 ounces of soul warming goodness and it will stay that way for eight whole hrs (according to the sticker). I prepared a kettle of boiling hot water that I poured into my new found friend at six am. I knew it would take some time to cool down so I let it be for oh um about two hrs. Two hrs later I went to take a swig and burned the crap out of my tongue and then had sandpaper tongue for the rest of the day!! Don't act like you don't know what sandpaper tongue is...... I could only laugh at myself for not testing the liquid first! We've found quite a happy medium now, where  I don't boil the water as long and I throw in a couple of ice cubes for good measure. :)

For Thanks...  

*If you didn’t know.. I've recently come to have a new badass car. For those of you who know me personally, you'll know that I gave it a name, because well..... I name everything! It's just fun. Maybe it's the fact that I'm an only child and my playmates (when my friends weren't with me) were inanimate objects. The world may never know! Anyhoo, I've named my car Siren Lotus Insert Last Name Here  and I am so very grateful for her. This is the first car I've had with power everything (i.e windows & locks), sunroof, remote start, and GPS! It's a total treat and can I just admit that I feel a little fancy? My car is totally sexy! :)

*Gloves!!!! More specifically fingerless gloves that turn into mittens. When working at such a place as I do (as well as many of you) where they don't like to turn the heat on for some reason, it is a wondrous and total gift from the heavens that there are fingerless gloves... My hands stay so cold and it gets hard to type, so thankfully my gloves/mitten (maybe glittens? or Mloves? ha ha) are here to save the day and save my fingers from frost bite! :)

My work is done here. Tell me what made you smile today? What are you grateful for? Let me know! I'll be here. :)

Ciao!

A .Sparkle