My Friend's Kids

There is something spectacular about our own children.  I love them.  I love how I can't live without them and they drive me insane almost simaltaniously. They complete me.

But the strange phenomona that I am thinking about today is how much I love other people's kids.  More specifically, my friend's kids.  You know the ones.... you are the emergency contact at school... your friend is out of pocket and you get the call to pick up her kid who is barfing in the nurses office.  You drop what you are doing, grab a trash can and head to the school to take home the little vomit machine....who of course, throws up in your car on the way to your house completly missing most of the stratigically placed trash can.  Funny thing is, you don't care.  You just get them to your house, grab the fuzzy blankie, a pillow, a bigger trash can,  sprite, saltine crackers and put on their favorite movie and offer soft kiss to their forhead.  It is the darnest thing.  It is like they are your own kid.

Through the years I have had my fair share of "extra" children.  Some come and go, and some could eat Thanksgiving Dinner with us and no one would actually remember they are not birth members of the family.   I guess it is my turn to return the favor for all the homes that took me in as a stray, and for all the "Mommies" who were in my life, and who still are. 

As the "extra kids" get older, (and mostly stopped barfing at my house) they still hang around.  I get fun text messages from them,  I watch their ball games and dance recitals, I go to concerts and plays, and I know what they are up to.  They know I love them.  I have watched them graduate, go to college, get a job, get married and start having their own little familes.  It is the most wonderful circle of life to see the kid who you wondered if he would make it past 12 years old as a wonderful, loving Daddy.  And it is even more amazing to have his cute children call me "Grandma Carrie." 

So today I am grateful for every friend who has allowed her children to be a part of my life....And to my kids' friends who are turning into amazing adults.  Today I hope each one of you stops and thinks about that kid of your friend who you love and consider one of your own.  Let them know they are awesome.  Let them know they have you always there for them.  Let them know how much they have blessed your life....Funny how we really all do make a difference, one random woman at a time.

Welcome 2010..... I have been waiting for you!

Frankly, 2009, you have worn out your welcome! Maybe the years are like your children during their senior year in high school.  They drive you crazy so that you won't miss them so much when they go off to college.


2009 has been an interesting year.  Some good, some not so good, and some downright crap.

So ta-ta to 2009 and welcome 2010!  You are the shiny new crayons on the first day of school!  You are a new pair of shoes! You are the car filled with gas, vacuumed and washed.  You are clean, fresh sheets.  You are new, crunchy snow on a perfect cold morning.  I am going to do my best to treat you with love, kindness and respect, and enjoy you for all you are worth.  I will look for the positive you bring and appreciate you.  I will work a little harder in 2010 to make a difference, one random woman at a time!

Welcome!

Women Who Rock Part 3

This week in honor of the General Relief Society Meeting that spoke about our heritage as women in relief society- I am remembering the women who rock in my life- and encourage you to do the same. 

Today I thank the women who influence my life right now.  Today I thank my friends. Today I thank the women who don't even know that they have impacted me.  The women who teach my children, the women who show me daily how to live a little bit better, and the women who somehow, someway, help me smile. 

Today I am grateful for Sister Beck leading the way for the entire Relief Society.  I would love to have lunch with her.  She could function as a CEO, shows us how to follow inspiration, and can do it all in high heels and pearls.  She rocks. 


Today I am grateful for Longmont Stake Relief Society President Janet Jones.  She is grace under pressure.  The spirit flows from her like water from a rocky mountain glacier.  She is funny, articulate, and a pretty dang good golfer.  


Today I am thankful for one of my best friends, who busted out her VISA card and bought items for my daughter's baby, and who smiled all the while.  I am thankful to have friends who truly love my kids like they were theirs.  Not many people can say that.



Today I am thankful for Sherri Schumann, who holds the fort down at my boy's high school.  She is a smart, talented woman who is a principal at a great high school.   She is a classy lady who would not hesitate to jump into hand to hand combat for any one of the students. 


Today I am grateful for the young mommies who are rocking their babies, who are reading to them, who are teaching them that the stove is hot, grass is green and if they pick their nose their heads will cave in.  I am grateful for these mommies living in little houses, apartments, and basements at their parent's house who know the value of what they are doing- and are not afraid to be a "stay at home mom."  Thank you to these women who truly hold the future in their hands.  I am grateful for someone teaching love and compassion to the generation that will chose my nursing home, and will be the compassionate service leaders who will bring rolls and funeral potatoes and ham to my funeral services. 


Thank you to the nice clerk at the grocery store,  the super smiling lady who takes my money at the Wendy's drive-thru window when I get my 2nd (or 3rd) diet coke of the day.   Thank you to the nice lady who actually smiled and waved when I let her cut in front of me in traffic.  


You are the women who rock.  You go out and do little tiny things every day that make a difference in some one's world.  Sometimes, you have no idea who you are touching with your kindness.  Sometimes you make enormous efforts to make a difference and it seems to fall on deaf ears.  Never give up.   Keep fighting the fight.  
Keep being kind, loving and slap that smile on your face every day.....because we can all make a difference, one random woman at a time.

Women Who Rock Part 2

As I continue remembering the "women who rock" in my world- today I think of those who made a difference when I was a goof-ball, self absorbed teenager.  We all have these "mentors" in our lives who are able to make a difference and get through to us when our parents wanted to ship us to Switzerland to raise goats with Heidi far on a mountain top away from all civilization.

These women were typically people like teachers, coaches, church leaders and your friends parents.   These people were far cooler than your own parents (who, you were sure, were actually part of some other culture from outer space.) 

For me, most of these women were members of the Boulder 2nd Ward.  As I am now older and wiser, I am pretty sure I am personally responsible for a lot of gray hair, extra pounds, lost sleep, and tears that many of these women spent in my behalf.  In fact, I may actually in some way have kept the chocolate industry a float, as many of these women chose chocolate over alcohol to as a way of coping with me.

The following Sunday after my mom passed away I am pretty sure sacrament meeting went something like this: 

Bishop- "We would like to release with a vote of thanks, Dorothee Werner, for years of being Carrie's Mom. She did an outstanding job with little or no thanks. Those of you who would like to thank her at this time can please show your appreciation for her tireless efforts with a raise of the right hand." (pause for hand raising.) Bishop continues.... " We would like to call the entire Boulder 2nd ward population of adult women to take on this responsibility of trying to raise Carrie and keep her out of Prison as we now believe it is far to difficult of a task for one human to handle. All those in favor..."

Well, you get it...  These gals had their hands full. Today I thank them for all they have done to help me become a pretty decent human being.  Thank you to Joan, Shanna, Teri, Helga, Karen, Doris, Kathy, Madeline, Pat, Jackie, Marilyn, Bonnie, Anita, Marlene, Bitsy, and so many more that I am forgetting along the way.  You have offered the ultimate service, you never gave up.


Today I am grateful for dynamic women of God who rolled up their sleeves and went to work.  You hung in there with a rotten teenager and taught me how to be a woman.  Who knew you were such amazing pioneers, and that your trek of teaching me might surpass the efforts of the Willie and Martin handcart company.   

Who are the dynamic women of God who have touched your life, and help mold you into who you are today?  Do they have a clue how much they touched your life, how grateful you are for them or the difference they made? Maybe it is time to take a second and thank those "women who rock" and who have hand-prints across your heart....and never forget that we truly do make a difference, one random woman at a time. 

Women Who Rock..........

This past weekend was the General Relief Society Meeting.  This is an awesome meeting where the women of the LDS church are taught, inspired and challenged by the general RS presidency and a member of the first presidency.  This meeting spoke of the "great heritage" Relief Society gives women.  I am grateful for the dynamic women in my life- this week, my blogs are dedicated to these awesome women.....women who rock....

Today the woman who rocks is my mom.  She has been gone for 30 years.  She died on my 17th birthday ruining my trip to Elitches with friends and leaving a hole in my heart that will never be replaced. 

She was 5'1" and as wide and she was tall.  I was 5'9" in 7th grade and she could kick my butt with her church shoes on.  You did not mess with Dot.  Her German upbringing made her tough as nails.   She also had the biggest heart in the world.  

Dot died of Cancer.  She fought the battle for years, and it finally won.  But along the way she taught me lessons I tried to forget- but as I get older, these memories become sharper.    

Dot made the best pound cake in Colorado.....  Perhaps this side of the Mississippi....Perhaps in the United States.  She would make this pound cake when someone had a baby, someone had surgery, someone died, or  someone needed cheering up. I believe if she would have felt better she would have baked a few pound cakes for her own funeral.  Often I would come home from school to the smell of pound cake in the kitchen and be thrilled only to find out that they were all going out to "other people who need them."  I tried to explain that I "needed one" too..but often that was met with a little chuckle as she loaded them into our green station wagon to deliver them.  

My mother crocheted, knitted and quilted.  These also wound up in the hands of other people, but sometimes I was the recipient.   I recall an orange, brown and white crocheted vest that I sported with a white button up shirt for one of my school pictures... I thought I looked pretty cool- it was definably very 70's.  She tried to teach me these skills... to which I cried, whined, pouted and screwed things up enough that she sent me outside to jump on the tramp and ride my bike at high rates of speed down big hills with no bike helmet.  

 Mom, if you are listening right now, I would really like to learn how do to that stuff.  

My mom taught me service.  She made dinner for people who were sick when she got home from Chemo.  

My mom taught me respect.  She sewed the curtains at the Table Mesa Chapel because kids swung on them and tore them. You could often find her sitting on the stage with a needle and thread, mending the curtains.  

Mom, I promise, I never swung on the curtains. ( well, if I did, I am pretty sure they didn't rip while I was doing it!) 

My mom knew the Savior.  She would belt out the song, "I know that my Redeemer lives" and would sing off key from a previous throat surgery... I was so embarrassed.  I would ask her to sing more quietly.  She would cry during the song too... Shesh, Mom...it is just a song.


Mom, I would love to sit next to you and sing that song. Sing as loud as you want....Cry all you want.  That song makes me cry too now...Because I get it.  

I know when you left I was 17, selfish and pretty stupid.  You may not even recognize me.... But you molded me into who I am today.  


Thank you......

I love you..... 

Everything I need to know I learned from Basketball......

I did a fireside a couple of weeks ago- and shared some of the things I learned while spending years in the gym as a high school girls basketball coach- thought  I would pass that along today-

·       It’s amazing what gets accomplished when no one cares who gets the credit

·       Friendship is more important than winning

·       The Wizard of Oz had all the answers:

o     Have courage

o     Have a heart

o     Use your brain

·       Ants have the right idea- if you can’t get there the way you planned and there are obstacles in your way, go around, over, through, whatever…...but get to your goal.

·       Love is more important than winning

·       There is no substitute for hard work

·       Problems are opportunities in work clothes

·       It’s hard to fight an enemy who has outposts in your head. – Sally Kempton

·       You grow up the day you have your first real laugh at yourself- Ethel Barrymore

·       You are not here merely to make a living.  You are here in order to enable the world to live more amply., with greater vision, with a finer spirit of hope and achievement. You are here to enrich the world- and you impoverish the world if you forget the errand.- Woodrow Wilson

·       TEAM-  Together Everyone Achieves More

·       I believe in myself…… I believe in my team

·       Hot tamales and Diet Coke are good for what ails ya

 ·       Hugs….duh

·       A friend is a possession we earn- not a gift- Marvin J Ashton

·       We must let the things we can’t do keep us from doing the things we can do- Richard  L Evans

·       To ensure that people will be there for you in the tough times,  be there for them first

·       If I were a radio- would people turn me on , or off?

·       It’s the daily courtesies more than the occasional grand gestures that show how much you care

·       Don’t talk about someone until you walk a mile in their shoes, that way, when you do talk about them you are a mile away from them and have their shoes

·       Spandex is a privilege- not a right

·       Listen to your parents, talk to your parents.  They love you and are your biggest fans.  Besides, they will get smarter as you get older

·       Remember who you are and who you represent, and every time you come back to our locker room, RETURN WITH HONOR

·       If your cell phone was ringing at the other end of the court, I bet you’d sprint down the court- Gail Hook

·       Love the game.  When you are old and watching it on TV, see the beauty in it, See the Defense, see the screens, see the boxouts, then remember how much you LOVE the game!

·       Pick up after yourself- there is no maid

·       Sprinting down and backs make everything so much clearer

·       Hanging a banner on the gym wall is a great goal.  Hanging a banner in your heart because you are a champion is a greater goal

·       Know your teammates are always there for you. There is a magic that transcends everything when you walk in the gym- they are your best friends- regardless of anything that happens in the halls at school the court creates a bond that can not be broken.  They understand you

·       I hope you dance

Be happy, make a difference- just one random woman at a time! 

one Light blub at a time

One light bulb at a time ...
 A physics teacher in high school, once told the students that while one grasshopper on the railroad tracks wouldn't slow a train very much, a billion of them would . With that thought in mind, read the following, obviously written by a good American.

Good idea . . . One light bulb at a time . . . .

Check this out. I can verify this because I was in Lowe's the other day for some reason and just for the heck of it I was looking at the hose attachments . They were all made in China. The next day I was in Ace Hardware and just for the heck of it I checked the hose attachments there . They were made in USA.

Start looking .
 In our current economic situation, every little thing we buy or do affectssomeone else - even their job. So, after reading this email, I think this lady is on the right track. Let's get behind her!

 My grandson likes Hershey's candy. I noticed, though, that it is marked made in Mexico now. I do not buy it any more. My favorite toothpaste Colgate is made in Mexico now. I have switched to Crest .. You have to read the labels on everything.

 This past weekend I was at Kroger. I needed 60W light bulbs and Bounce dryer sheets. I was in the light bulb aisle, and right next to the GE brand I normally buy was an off brand labeled, "Everyday Value." I picked up both types of bulbs and compared the stats - they were the same except for the price. The GE bulbs were more money than the Everyday Value brand but the thing that surprised me the most was the fact that GE was made in MEXICO and the Everyday Value brand was made in - get ready for this - the USA in a company in Cleveland, Ohio.

 So throw out the myth that you cannot find products you use every day that are made right here. So on to another aisle - Bounce Dryer Sheets . . . Yep, you guessed it, Bounce cost more money and is made in Canada. The Everyday Value brand was less money and MADE IN THE USA! I did laundry yesterday and the dryer sheets performed just like the Bounce Free I have been using for years and at almost half the price!


 My challenge to you is to start reading the labels when you shop foreveryday things and see what you can find that is made in the USA - the job you save may be your own or your neighbors!

This is how we make a difference- one random woman at a time!