Mayhem vs Super Woman

You wake up Monday morning to find the roof leaked while you slept. It leaked SO much that living room rug is RUINED! You start moving furniture, still in your pajama’s, to see the extent of the damage. And suddenly you hear the whimpering sounds of your child in her room. You start to move your trinkets and knickknacks when the sounds of a child vomiting spring you into action. The smell of sour slaps you in the face as you enter her room and there it is, all over her freshly washed Hello Kitty sheets! You quickly forget about the, still dripping roof and the sopping wet rug, to clean the chunks that are SCREAMING for your attention!! You gently pick up Miss Pukie Face and put her in the tub. As the warm bath is filling up you quickly dart into her room to strip down her bed, tossing those stinky sheets outside. Grabbing your cell phone you walk back into the bathroom to find that she has thrown up again inside the tub that is quickly filling up with NOW, tricolored PUKE water! Without even thinking you swoop her out of the tub and race her to your shower and rinse her off. You caringly dry her off as you speed dial the Pediatrician. You are relieved to find that their next patient cancelled and they’ll see your child ASAP! You quickly change out of your polka dotted flannel pajama bottoms and the worn “New Kids on the Block” t-shirt (don’t judge) and swipe your blush brush over your cheeks quickly. You walk into the hallway with your little one still wrapped in her towel and find that the hallway floor is VERY WET! YOU FORGOT TO TURN OFF THE BATH WATER!! You rush in turn it off and INSTANTLY start to cry!

Have any of you ever been here before? I have! Maybe not to this degree but boy I’ve been close! What do you do?

I have, in these circumstances, just let it go! Called the doctor back asking for a later appointment, mop up the wet hallway and bathroom floor, bring out the fans, pinesol’ed the bath tub, put the sheets into the wash, called SOMEONE to check the roof and another guy to help with the floors/rug. All while having an internal argument with my husband who not even home as if he were here to defend himself.

BREATH…….INHALE THEN EXHALE!!!

Remember that under those worn pajama’s is a SUPER WOMAN! Your cape might be torn and wrinkled. Your hair might be uncombed and the gray might need some TLC! But in the end you come out with flying colors! When all is said and done, you’ve CONQUERED yet ANOTHER obstacle! So lift your head YOU MIGHT WOMAN and CELEBRATE YOUR BRAVERY, YOUR ABILITY TO HANDLE IT ALL! You should be PROUD of YOURSELF! You are AMAZING! You have SAVED THE DAY YET AGAIN!!!


Stephanie Lainez
www.mystoryhousebook.com
www.hephzicreations.blogspot.com

Hard Work

Growing up I saw my parents WORK REALLY HARD! Being the child of migrant farm workers you can only imagine the stories! As soon as they were old enough to work they were in the field alongside an older sibling or parent, helping. They would work before and after school, tired and still complete their homework! My Dad, newly married would seasonally work in the field, worked a night shift and went to school to earn a degree! He spent countless summers helping pick on his brothers’ ranch! I remember feeling the callouses on the palms of his hands! And remember him saying, “Mija, this is what HARD WORK feels like”! I can recall thinking to myself, “IF THAT’S WHAT HARD WORK FEELS LIKE THEN I NEVER WANT TO WORK HARD”!

I remembering going through junior college and holding down 4 jobs! I remember waking up early to clean my elderly neighbors’ house, coming home to shower to hurry off to school, attend 2 classes sometimes 3. I would then head to another neighbor’s house, clean that house and then rushing home to quickly eat before heading to the restaurant to waitress an evening shift. On the days I didn’t have school I’d pick up a shift at the mall!

Now years later I end up marrying a man who WORKS HARDER than anyone I’ve ever known! I don’t think that’s a coincidence! I’m attracted to HARD WORKERS; my Dad was a fabulous role model for that!

Looking back at those days I wonder how I ever managed to do it all! But I will say this . . . HARD WORK is WORK but your attitude is what shifts the WORK into a WORTHWILD VENTURE!! I was born into a family culture of WORTHWILD VENTURERS! HARD WORK is our middle name!!

Are you a WORTHWILD VENTURER? ;O) Or does your attitude keep you working hard? (that line even gave me chills?)



Stephanie Lainez
Children's Book Author
www.mystoryhousebooks.com
www.hephzicreations.blogspot.com

Adventure

The dictionary says that the word ADVENTURE means a risky undertaking of unknown outcome, an exciting or unexpected event or course of events, the encountering of risk, or an enterprise involving financial risk.

I have been on QUITE a few adventures in my life! Some stem from relationships, marriage, child birth, starting a business, to traveling to other countries all alone! Some of my adventures have led to pain and heartache and some have become my most favorite experiences yielding unforgettable memories.

Risk is a scary thing for many! The unknown variables can make one rethink the risk or adventure. Sometimes too many bad adventures leave callouses and scars. And those scars at times stop us from taking new adventures and risks.

For some of us this is the YEAR of ADVENTURE and RISK! So what are you going to do? Will you take the RISK? Will you say YES to the ADVENTURE? Only you can answer that question. But if you don’t jump then you’ll never know the adventure that awaits you!

Stephanie Lainez

Children's Book Author

www.mystoryhousebooks.com

www.hephzicreations.blogspot.com

Do you Dream?

Do you DREAM?
Do you ever just sit, gaze out the window and day dream? Do you ever waste the day away dreaming? I’m not taking about those types of DREAMS! I’m not even talking about airy fair types of dreams where suddenly you have wings and Peter Pan is accompanying you on an amazing adventure. Or the ones where you dream you’re SUDDENLY naked in class. I’m talking about DREAMS, GOALS for the future! HOPES, DESIRES, ENVISIONING GRAND
ACCOMPLISHMENTS, SEEING YOURSELF WITH UNLEASHED POTENTIAL THAT LEAVES EVEN THE BIGGEST SCKEPTIC AWESTRUCK. . . DREAMS!!

Do you take time to DREAM? Do you take time to write those DREAMS down on paper? Do you ever take those DREAMS and whittle them down into bite size goals? So that one
day that BIG DREAM can have WINGS and become a REALITY? Or are you the type of person that says, “I’m too busy to dream”!

I was that person! I said, “I am TOO busy to dream! Dreaming is for people who aren’t focused on the task at hand! They have TOO much idle time to waste”! Boy was I lying to myself! I’ve ALWAYS BEEN A SECRET CLOSET DREAMER!! I had ALWAYS had a SECRET dream of writing Children’s books. And one day my ENTIRE BUSY WORLD came crashing in and I lost my job along with thousands of others. So many hours spent working and never allowing myself to stop long enough to dream! It took me a few months of freaking out before I allowed myself to REALLY dream again! And literally 3 months later my 1st Children’s book “Rachel and the Lion”
was sent to PRINT!

What DREAMS are you sitting on that are silently becoming DORMANT? What DREAM do you NOT ALLOW yourself to DREAM cuz it’s JUST TOO BIG for you? DREAM! DREAM!
DREAM, because without them NEW SEASONS can’t begin!! Dream for that NEW HOUSE! Dream for that next DEGREE! Dream for a SPOUSE! Dream for CHILDREN!! Dream to be debt free! Dream for funds to buy a NEW CAR! Dream! Dreams, give us that hope and expectation for tomorrow! Dreaming gets us excited about our potential. So DREAM, because it’s good for you! Just DREAM!

Stephanie Lainez
Children’s Book Author
http://www.mystoryhousebooks.com/
http://hephzicreations.blogspot.com

Inspiration?

Inspiration is EVERYWHERE! Inspiration CAN be FOUND anyplace! The “WHERE” isn’t important. What’s important is your SIGHT!

I experience WRITERS BLOCK quite often!! But is it REALLY writers block as must as
it’s my bad attitude towards the task? I’ll be even more transparent: when I get out of my own way and allow my mind to quiet down, MAGIC happens!!

So I beg to ask you this question, when INSPIRATION is in short supply what eyes are you searching with? Are you searching with eyes of frustration? Are you searching with eyes of judgment? Are you searching with eyes of lack, worry, anger, desperation etc?

I so often look for my INSPIRATION through clogged eyes. My eyes are clogged with life. My husband is requesting my time, my toddler is throwing a fit, the sink is FULL of dirty
dishes, the couch has 3 loads of clean, unfolded laundry on it, and I have writing deadlines that are SCREAMING for my time! INSPIRATION WHERE ARE YOU? ???

INSPIRATION needs all of me! It needs a clear mind. It needs a willing heart. It needs ME!
If INSPIRATION is hard to come by these days, STOP for a moment. Declutter and unclog your
sight. My guess is, once all that is removed the rest will be magical!!


Stephanie Lainez
www.mystoryhousebooks.com

Loneliness

Thinking of this word, “loneliness”, puts a bit of sadness in the core of my belly. I have LOTS of
friends and TONS of acquaintances in my life. I have a LARGE, close knit family. I have a hand selected group of SUPER CLOSE girlfriends that I TREASURE and could go to at ANY HOUR regarding ANY SUBJECT and know I would NEVER be judged YET. . . I too have seasons of loneliness!

Being married for just over 5 years I find myself hitting little snags and when I do hit those
snags LONELINESS is there with WELCOMING ARMS! Sounds sick doesn’t it? But my
guess is that lots of us hang out there from time to time!

When I find myself lying in LONELINESSES arms I find that my “self-talk” is full of self-doubt, low self-esteem and insecurity. My stay with LONELINESS is short lived. Once out of its grasps I wonder to myself, “What in the WORLD WAS I THINKING to have ALLOWED myself to go there”!

I really believe that I’m NOT ALONE here, no pun intended! I believe MILLIONS of us visit with
LONELINESS more often than we’d like to admit! I don’t PREACH anti-loneliness; fore I too have over stayed my visit sitting in its company! I fare on the side of the “CAUTION” of LONELINESS. When choosing LONELINESS look at the CORE, the WHY, the CATALYIST of
what got you there. Once you can figure that out the rest is a whole different journey and awakening!

So in your journey remember that you are TRULY not alone! You are LOVED, WANTED and
ENJOYED!

Stephanie Lainez
Children’s Book Author
www.mystoryhousebooks.com

Random Acts Of Kindness

This morning while still half asleep I decided to open my email. I received an email from my
elderly neighbor. He said that the other day he fell in the middle of the night and broke his foot in multiple places. Since the fall his wife has had her hands full regarding house work and caring for him. I was beside myself that he waited almost a week to tell me. I popped up out of bed
and started cooking pancakes, eggs, sausage and brewing coffee. My husband and I quickly got dressed, platted the food and walked over with a piping hot breakfast for two. His wife opened the door and was so surprised.

How many times do we purposely do ‘Random Acts of Kindness’? Are our lives so busy and jam packed with work, meetings, doctor’s appointments, errands, ballet classes, t-ball games,
bible studies, church, etc… that we have lost sight of KINDNESS? I am notorious for getting bothered with the driver who cuts me off or the lady in the 10 items or less line with a cart
full of groceries. Yet how much more energy do we expend when we CHOOSE KINDNESS over frustration, my guess is, not much more… if any.

When was the last time someone extended ‘Random Acts of Kindness’ to you? How did it make you feel? Maybe it’s time for more of us to extend KINDNESS. What will you do next?