Stepping Up & Stepping Back

I am sure you have heard someone say - step up in some form or another. Step up to the plate... Step up to the task... whatever... but until this weekend, I never heard anyone use the term step up with the term step back. Meaning... if you want someone to step up then maybe you need to step back. WOW. I thought that was absolutely the smartest thing I have ever heard. But then... I mentally get the concept - but how do you do that? how do you step back? I wonder...... pausing to think a bit. But then again - maybe working hard at stepping back will get you what you want in the end... Maybe learning how to step back will be worth it...

So today, I am going to think about this concept... stepping back... and then seeing who can step up... maybe we can all grow... I wonder if my family and my co-workers will notice...

Chestnut Trees and Mums!

Today is usually my least favorite day of the year. You see we have 3 chestnut trees in our yard - and they are plentiful! As are the badgers as we like to call them. Every year for this one day, my hubby and I contemplate cutting the trees down - because, frankly, cleaning up badgers stinks. And we never benefit from the chestnuts - because we can never beat the deer to them.

But today, my dad and my hubby - best. guys. ever. did chestnut tree duty without me. ~dancing~ ~dancing~ ~dancing~!!! So now I get to go to the store and purchase my mums and fall up my yard! I get all the fun work. I could not be happier!

Happy weekend!

Almost Heaven

So this is my first real post. I have a few blogs I love to read and was so inspired I wanted to create my own. So this is it. I have been putting off writing because in my mind I was trying to create the prefect blog - but today I thought I am just going to do it. Write Tracie write!

I am a Mom - my best job ever! I have three little ones, six and under. They are fantastic kids. I try to raise them and teach them things that I think Aunt Bee and Andy would approve of. (Andy Griffith - all time. best. show. ever.) So this summer, my neighbor's granddaughter sang and signed for me the song Country Roads. My middle daughter was blown away by it - asking me to sing it for her after we left my neighbors. Now I can sing - but it is the kind of singing that is best done when no one is around - but for my kids - I am constantly belting out a tune. So I sang a few times and that was that.

Switch now to about two weeks ago. The song kept popping into my head - so I bought it and downloaded it. I surprised the kids by popping the song into my CD player in the car. And since then we have played it.... hmmmm.... at least a thousand times. But you know what? - my kids almost know all the words. My two year old can even sing the refrain (and it adorable by the way!).

So why is this important? This song has great memories for me and I want my kids to have songs that take them back... For me, WV is home. Also, I remember fondly playing this song on an 8 track at our cabin growing up. (I was born at the tail end of the 8 track era - oh my.) You could hear Country Roads and Burning Ring of Fire playing all the time at the camp. My sister and I loved those songs. Great memories of playing cards, singing along with my family - sitting on carpet squares that didn't match. How abut spinning on the great green chair! Remember that Aimee? Great days for sure! Third, I am a WV Alumni. So I can hear the marching band playing this song at football games. Flooded with memories of sitting in the rain watching football at Mountaineer Field...

I wonder if my kids will remember singing this song in the van... loud and laughing? I wonder if we will remember our faces when we heard my 2 year old start belting it out in tune? I sure hope so... because it was and is awesome everytime it happens.