a Reason to Smile :)

My week started out a little bit crummy. I suppose that's the consequence of a wonderful weekend in the mountains; reality sits waiting at your doorstep and then slaps you in the face as you open the door.

Crummy #1- I lost my phone in Idaho. I stupidly left it in a bathroom and someone took it. I just laughed and shrugged it off. That's all you can do, right? It really wasn't the worst thing in the world, but it was rather inconvenient (and foolish to have forgotten. What if I forget my child in a public restroom someday, and when I come back, she too is missing???)

Crummy #2- Bills, bills, school books, tuition, rent, food, bills. Blah. I feel like our paychecks are gone before we ever even see them. That and Uncle Sam takes so much money out of my hard earned paychecks every dang week, it hurts my heart a little.

Crummy #3- Work = Stressssssful. Big guys breathing down my neck, projects and un-met deadlines out of my control. Nobody listens to me because I'm a woman. True or not, that's how I feel sometimes.

Crummy #4- Cops. I received my very first speeding ticket TODAY. Normally, I've gotten off with a warning, but not today. Of course not this week. I broke the law so I must pay. And have a ticket on my record for 3 years now. Yay!

Crummy #5- 3 Large loads of clean laundry waiting to be folded up and put away. I HATE folding clothes. Even more so, I hate hanging them up, or trying to get them to all fit into our much too small, unorganized filing cabinet turned dresser.


long pause.........deep breathes



Positive #1- Vance sees that I am upset, so what does he do? Takes me to my favorite restaurant, of course! My husband always gives me a reason to smile.

Maria Bonitas. A delicious hole in the rock place in Orem that I absolutely love. Where the sweet little Mexican lady ALWAYS greets you at the door with a big hug and kiss and calls you a princess or a champion (depending on your gender).

The chips and salsa are homemade and fresh, they bring you out a brothy soup with rice in it before your delicious entrée arrives, it only costs 35 cents more to have three enchiladas opposed to 2, and there are always dramatic Spanish soap operas playing on TV in the background to set the mood. I love it there.

This breath of fresh air was just what I needed to turn my perspective around.

So let's turn this week's crap into something positive, shall we?

Negative #1 turns positive!- I lost my phone.

BUT, luckily I have insurance, so I can get a brand new phone free of cost. I'm currently using one of Vance's old phones and I actually kinda like it. Thanks to a little thing I like to call a sim card, none of my numbers or contacts were lost. All is well.

Negative #2 turns positive!- Money. 

We'll have one heck of a tax return come next April, just like we did this year. Plus, someday we'll be filthy rich and swimming in our own money, so this is just laughable now! Ha Ha Ha (evil laugh) 

Negative #3 turns positive!- Work. 

I get to design stuffed animals and play around on Photoshop and Illustrator for a living. I get plush animals at a great discounted rate, and people love me for it.

Negative #4 turns positive!- Speeding Tickets. 

There is no positive to this one. Sorry, I tried, and there just isn't.

Negative #5 turns positive!- Laundry. 

This means we have lots of clothes. YAY! And least it's clean, right? That's 1/2 the battle :)

I just started reading Happy Like Jesus, by D. Kelly Ogden, and it is a large dose of just what I need. I want to learn more about my Savior, so that I too can be happy like him and not let the tiring little things drag me down. I want to become more positive and willing to make the time to study the scriptures and teachings of Christ and the prophets (living and dead) so that I too can help others out rather than being so self absorbed all of the time. I want to become a patient and loving wife to my husband. Not a nagging, overwhelmed, grouchy one. 

Gordon B. Hinkley once said, "Be believing. Be happy. Don't get discouraged. Things will work out." 

I am just now learning to trust that quotes and scriptures like these are true, and do indeed apply to me as well. And this gives me a reason to smile. Things WILL work out. Life truly is good.

I love this cover.
It is so warm,  happy, and full of light, it melts my heart.
I'm sure this is how the scene really looked too.
I'd love to hang this picture up in my home.