This is nice – finding positive out of every negative – which we don’t always manage to do.

I am thankful…

1. For the husband who snores all night, because he is at home asleep with me and not with someone else.

2. For my teenage daughter who is complaining about doing dishes, because that means she is at home & not on the streets.

3. For the taxes that I pay because it means that I am employed.

4. For the mess to clean after a party because it means that I have been surrounded by friends.

5. For the clothes that fit a little too snug because it means I have enough to eat.

6. For my shadow that watches me work because it means I am out in the sunshine.

7. For a floor that needs mopping, and windows that need cleaning because it means I have a home.

8. For all the complaining I hear about the government because it means that we have freedom of speech.

9. For the parking spot I find at the far end of the parking lot because it means I am capable of walking and that I have been blessed with transportation.

10. For the noise I have to bear from my neighbors because it means that I can hear.

11. For the pile of laundry and ironing because it means I have clothes to wear.

12. For weariness and aching muscles at the end of the day because it means I have been capable of working hard.

13. For the alarm that goes off in the early morning hours because it means that I am still alive.

# More of our fantasies are about money… than sex.

# If we could have any luxury in the world (and money didn’t matter) more of us would choose to spend money on a butler and a maid than anything else.

# 90% of Americans who own pets buy them Christmas gifts.

# Money is the leading cause of disagreements in marriages.

# 65% of Americans would live on a deserted island all by themselves for an entire year for $1,000,000.

# For $10,000,000 most of us would do almost ANYTHING! Including abandoning our family and friends and our church. A very high percentage of us would, for that same amount of money, change our race or sex. And, 1 in every 14, would even murder someone for ten million bucks.

What’s really strange about this is, the statistics remain the same whether it’s ten million dollars all the way down to three million. For three million bucks, most of us would do the same horrible things we would do for ten million. But, guess what? Few of us would do these things for a “measly” two million.

# 92% of us would rather be rich than find the love of our lives.

# Here’s a weighty one: Money (or the lack thereof) is the biggest stress inducer in the lives of Americans. We worry more about money than our marriages, our health, or even who’s going to win the Superbowl Game or come out on top in the latest Survivor TV show.

# If you get your money out of a Hitachi ATM machine in Japan, it will be laundered. The way they do it is, they briefly press the bills between rollers at high enough temperatures to kill most bacteria.

# Women have very fixed ideas on how much they are willing to spend on a bra. 38.3% of women won’t spend $30 for a bra. 28.4% won’t spend $50. 10% would pay as much as $75. And, only 3.5% would shell out $100. But, you know what? Almost 20% of women say they would pay almost anything for a bra. This is because they consider (and I guess so do a few men) that the contents of what those bras are encasing is of extremely high-value.

# Nearly half of the people who sell their houses with furniture included will take all the light bulbs out of all the lamps when they vacate the premises.

# Most people won’t bend over to pick up money lying on the sidewalk unless it’s at least a dollar.

# Most Americans think pennies are a pain in the ass and the U.S. Mint should stop making them.

# There is about 405 billion dollars in circulation. Only 32 million of that amount is counterfeit. That means, the percentage of counterfeit money in America is .0079%. And, $20 bills are more often counterfeited than $100 bills.

# Do people care if their bills are crisp? Indeed, they do. Fresh, crisp, clean bills are considered much more valuable than those which are old, wrinkled and dirty.

I once sent a ‘dollar bill thank you’ letter to a guy who sent a sincere letter back to me ~censored~ the free $1 bill I sent him was wrinkled instead of crisp as I had described in the letter.

# Let’s flip a coin and try to guess whether it will come up heads or tails. Three times as many people guess ‘heads’ than ‘tails’.

# Here’s one I personally think really sucks: One out of every four Americans believe their best chance of getting rich is by playing the lottery.

# How about this one for a shocking fact: 5% of lottery ticket buyers buy 51% of all tickets sold. (Trust me, none of these people belong to the “Einsteins of America Society”.)

# A staggering 74% of us are influenced by how much we can win in a lottery as opposed to the odds of us winning.

# That’s a good thing for the Government because the odds of winning a lottery jackpot are about 10 million to 1.

# A person who drives 10 miles to buy a lottery ticket is 3 times more likely to be killed in a car accident while driving to buy the ticket… than… he is to win the jackpot.

# Sunday newspaper coupon inserts are the second-most read section of the paper, after the front page.

# Few people know it but, you can buy single-disease insurance.

# Only 6% of people in America regularly buy clothes tailor made just for them.

# Here’s one that’s really important: 63% of us decide NOT to buy a product advertised on the Internet… because… we think the shipping and handling charges add too much to the order.

# Eight times as many Americans would rather use an ATM than deal with a real live teller.

# This one’s going to blow your mind: 83% of Americans still pay with checks instead of credit cards!

# Almost 30% of us say we would need 3 million smackaroos to feel rich. This ties in with the fact most of us would do anything for as little as $3 million… but… not nearly as many of us would do those identical things for a measly $2 million. (Hey, here’s your chance to take advantage of that situation. If you only want to pay $2 million to have something done, ask me if I’ll do it. The chances are, believe it or not, I WILL DO IT.)
Read the rest of this entry »

1.    Never feel guilty about not able to cook.
But do worry about not leading a healthy life style.

2.    Never feel guilty about earning more than him.
But do worry about not having time for each other.

3.    Never feel guilty about not having children
But do worry about not making an informed decision.

4.    Never feel guilty about not converting to his religion.
But do worry about biasing the children.

5.    Never feel guilty about keeping your surname.
But do worry about not understanding the implications of being couple.

6.    Never feel guilty about walking out of your marriage or partnership.
But do worry about making snap judgments about your partner.

7.    Never feel guilty about saying no to sex
But do worry about allowing days to turn into months and month to turn into problem.

One day I hopped into a taxi and we took off  for the airport. We were driving in the right lane when suddenly a black car jumped out of a parking space right in front of us. My taxi driver slammed on his breaks, skidded, and missed the other car by just inches! The driver of the other car whipped his  head around and started yelling at us. My taxi driver just smiled and waved at the guy.  And I mean, he was really friendly. So I asked,  ‘Why did you just do that? This guy almost ruined your car and sent us to the  hospital!’

This is when my taxi driver taught me what I now call, ‘The Law of the Garbage Truck.’
He explained that many people are like  garbage trucks. They run around full of garbage, full of frustration, full of anger, and full of disappointment. As their garbage piles up, they need a place to dump it and  sometimes they’ll dump it on you. Don’t  take it personally. Just smile, wave, wish them well, and move on. Don’t take their  garbage  and spread it to other people at work, at  home, or on the streets.

The bottom line is that successful people do not let garbage trucks take over their day. Life’s too short to wake up in the morning with regrets, so…..

‘Love the people who treat you right. Pray for the ones who don’t.’

1. Speak to people; there is nothing as nice as cheerful greetings
2. Smile it takes 72 muscles to frown 14 to smile
3. Call people by name everyone is pleased when you remember the name
4. Be friendly and helpful others will respond in like manner
5. Speck and act; as if everything you do were a genuine pleasure
6. Be genuinely interested in people
7. Be generous in the praise cautious with criticism
8. Be considerate with feeling of others it will be appreciated
9. Be thoughtful of opinions of others
10. Be willing to give service

OBAMA
=======================
O- Originally
B – Born in
A – Africa to
M – Manage
A – America

– 
Always make your absence felt in such a way that somebody misses you, but don’t let your absence be so long that somebody starts learning to live without you.

Life is a one way journey, not a destination. Travel it with a smile and never regret anything.

Treat the earth well…..it was not given to you by your parents, it was loaned to you by your children. We do not inherit the earth from our ANCESTORS, we borrow it from our children.

Ability is what you’re capable of. Motivation determines what you do.
Attitude determines how well you do it.

Always try to help a friend in need

Believe in yourself

Be brave…but it’s ok to be afraid sometimes

Study hard

Give lots of kisses

Laugh often

Don’t be overly concerned with your weight, it’s just a number

Always try to see the glass half full

Meet new people, even if they look different to you

Remain calm, even when it seems hopeless

Take lots of naps..

Be weird whenever you have the chance

Love your friends, no matter who they are

Don’t waste food

RELAX

Take an occasional risk

Try to have a little fun each day.
…it’s important

Work together as a team

Share a joke with friends

Fall in love with someone..

…and say ‘I love you’ often

Express yourself creatively

Be conscious of your appearance

Always be up for surprises

Love someone with all of your heart

Share with friends

Watch your step

It will get better

There is always someone who loves you more than you know

Exercise to keep fit

Live up to your name

Seize the Moment

Hold on to good friends; they are few and far between

Indulge in the things you truly love

Cherish every Sunday

At the end of the day… PRAY

……. and close your eyes
And smile at least once a day!

I am a wild woman
I know, inspite of myself
and in spite of what I’ve been told
that there’s beauty in every age
no matter how oldI am a wild woman
I’ve learned what it means to be a life bearer
to bear children
to create art
to plant seeds of love

I am a wild woman
from the depths of the dirt underneath my fingernails
to the height of my very soul
I am one with the Earth
the winds from the four directions whisper through my skin

I am a wild woman
and the spirit of every wild woman coalesces in me
for we are each wild women
and we are all the spirit of the wild woman
I will follow the voice in my heart

I am a wild woman
I sing from my heart
I dance with the stars
I howl at the moon
I love uncontrollably

I am a wild woman
from the deepest, darkest, most sacred part of me
I am fearless
I cry in strength
I open my arms to the sky and welcome the rain

I am a wild woman
I nurture, love and protect
I stand, strongly, silently, sweetly for my brothers
I walk dutifully, prayerfully, joyfully upon the mother
and I will not be stopped

I am a wild woman.

A long time ago, there was a huge apple tree.

A little boy loved to come and play around it every day.

He climbed to the treetop, ate the apples, took a nap under the shadow…

He loved the tree and the tree loved to play with him.

Time went by…the little boy had grown up,

And he no longer played around the tree every day.

One day, the boy came back to the tree and he looked sad.

‘Come and play with me,’ the tree asked the boy.

‘I am no longer a kid, I do not play around trees anymore’
The boy replied.

‘I want toys. I need money to buy them.’

‘Sorry, but I do not have money..

But you can pick all my apples and sell them. So, you will have money.

The boy was so excited.

He grabbed all the apples on the tree and left happily.

The boy never came back after he picked the apples.

The tree was sad.

One day, the boy who now turned into a man returned

And the tree was excited ‘Come and play with me’ the tree said.

‘I do not have time to play. I have to work for my family.

We need a house for shelter.

Can you help me?

‘ Sorry’,

I do not have any house. But you can chop off my branches
To build your house.

So the man cut all the branches of the tree and left happily

The tree was glad to see him happy but the man never came back since then.

The tree was again lonely and sad.

One hot summer day,

The man returned and the tree was delighted.

‘Come and play with me!’ the tree said.

I am getting old. I want to go sailing to relax myself.

‘Can you give me a boat?’ ‘Said the man’.

‘Use my trunk to build your boat. You can sail far away and be happy.

‘ So the man cut the tree trunk to make a boat.

He went sailing and never showed up for a long time.

Finally, the man returned after many years.

‘Sorry, my boy. But I do not have anything for you anymore

‘ No more apples for you… ‘, The tree said.

‘No problem, I do not have any teeth to bite ‘, The man replied.

‘No more trunk for you to climb on’

‘I am too old for that now’ the man said.

‘I really cannot give you anything..

The only thing left is my dying root’, The tree said with tears.

‘I do not need much now, just a place to rest.

I am tired after all these years’ the man replied.

Good! Old tree roots are the best place to lean on and rest,

Come, come sit down with me and rest.

‘ The man sat down and the tree was glad and smiled with tears…

The BOY is you and the tree is

your parent. !!!!!

‘Love your Parents’