Have a Better Life

Image by talywil1 via Flickr

If you are looking for a quiet, close to nature, mountain vacation then you should consider going to Gatlinburg, Tennessee. Gatlinburg vacations are excellent to get away from the traffic, pollution and noise of the cities. The contact with nature and wildlife can be very relaxing, healthy and refreshing. The fresh air will clear your head, keep your problem away at least during the vacation days.

You can take advantage of the hiking trails and observe the wonderful scenarios of pure nature beauty as well as observe the wild life there is. The existing water park provides you with wet fun for you and your family.

I must confess that Valentine’s Day 2009 it’s not a day to remember. The day started with a box of chocolate and later with a destroyed garden. Let me explain.

We (the four of us) had decided that Saturday would be a gardening day. My husband was going to buy strawberry plants early in the morning and I would plant them. So he got up really early, went to the local market and bought the strawberry plants and a box of chocolates as a Valentine’s gift. I love chocolate and I loved the surprise.

He said he was going to clean the garden (remove old leaves and nasty plants) with my daughter while I went out with my son to buy soil and seeds. When we arrived home, besides the old leaves, old plants, etc. most of the garden was just…not there. My husband decided to remove everything I planted last year, that in fact was burned from the cold nights but that would flourish in Spring. I was in shock and really upset with his attitude.

As I’ve been really down lately I just couldn’t handle it and I burst in tears. I lost all my strength, my will to build the garden and I just spent a few minutes planting the strawberries and went to cook lunch.
After lunch my son asked to play with a few neighbors, my daughter wanted to stay in the garden with my husband so I just grabbed the car keys and drove without destiny.

I drove along the cost for about 45 minutes, always crying and crying, not only because of the garden situation but because of all that has been happening lately. 1,5 hours later my son called me asking where I was and 3 hours later my husband. Although he knew I was mad, he never said a word, this is something that bothers me a lot, he never asks anything, for him it was a normal thing to destroy everything without even telling me what he intended to do.

At 19.30 I was in bed because when I get stressed I get very tired and I can barely walk because everything aches, and I only woke up the next morning at 9. At 13.30 I was again in bed and only got up at 17.20 to go to my in laws for dinner, where the subject was brought up.

Of course it is “just” a garden but it’s our garden, I spend some time taking care of it so I guess I have the right to know if it’s going to disappear.

This whole situation affected me a lot as well as my kids because I just lost all my energy and couldn’t give them the attention they needed because I’m two tired.

Do you do everything as a couple or sometimes you also have this type of “surprises”?

Coming tomorrow a post about my physiotherapist appointment – back pain.

I must confess, I collect stamps since a very early age. It always fascinated me all those different stamps from all over the world. I used to spend hours preparing the stamps to put in albums, everything organized by country, by price, by collection. I have thousands at home but due to my busy life I don’t have the time to organize them, maybe when the kids are older or when I’m retired! Collecting stamps is my only passion but there are people that have two or three hobbies and they have some quality time doing them.

I compiled a list of hobbies that can be done by kids and grown ups together so that the family can have fun together. We can call them activities but doing them on a regular basis can be turned into a Hobby.

• Butterfly Collection: I’ve tried this one with my kids but we always give the butterflies back to freedom
• Collage Making: My daughter loves this one and when she thinks about a theme she cuts all the magazines she finds that have pictures matching the theme.
• Cooking: Both my kids love cooking with me but we only do it together once in a while because it can turn up very messy and delay the meal.
• Drawing: My daughter is an expert in drawing, she does it on a daily basis. She’s an artist. My son…well…it’s just like his mother…better not draw anything.
• Gardening: We all love gardening, I like to plant new plants and flowers, water them. My daughter loves to pick up the flowers to give to someone, so my garden is always a very “naked” garden.
• Scrapbooking: This is something I have done only once and that I would like to do it more.
• Writing: My daughter loves to make up stories and I just write them down. I’m going to turn this one into a hobby and maybe one day I can publish a book with her stories.
• Sleeping: What a hobby!! I know this is the favorite hobby of a lot of people but I have a special opinion. With so many interesting things to do in life why spend so much time sleeping?

Feel free to leave me more suggestions. They are welcome.

People talk about quiet time for kids. Some families have quiet time in the morning, in the afternoon or both. I have during the night. When my kids are sleeping is their quiet time. It’s difficult to have a quiet time during the day!!

Do you want to give your mother the perfect gift? You can find it at Kodak Gallery. You have Mother’s day cards, Keepsake boxes, Tote bags, Mini photo books, among several others interesting products.

Save 25% when you spend $25 at Kodak EasyShare Gallery for Mother’s Day with coupon code: DAISY.