45 Lessons

Written By Regina Brett, 90 years old, of The Plain Dealer, Cleveland , Ohio

"To celebrate growing older, I once wrote the 45 lessons life taught me.. It is the most-requested column I've ever written.


1. Life isn't fair, but it's still good.

2. When in doubt, just take the next small step.

3. Life is too short to waste time hating anyone...

4. Your job won't take care of you when you are sick. Your friends and parents will. Stay in touch

5. Pay off your credit cards every month.

6. You don't have to win every argument. Agree to disagree.

7. Cry with someone. It's more healing than crying alone.

8. It's OK to get angry with God. He can take it.

9. Save for retirement starting with your first paycheck.

10. When it comes to chocolate, resistance is futile.

11. Make peace with your past so it won't screw up the present.

12. It's OK to let your children see you cry.

13. Don't compare your life to others. You have no idea what their journey is all about.

14. If a relationship has to be a secret,you shouldn't be in it.

15. Everything can change in the blink of an eye. But don't worry; God never blinks.

16. Take a deep breath. It calms the mind.

17. Get rid of anything that isn't useful, beautiful or joyful.

18. Whatever doesn't kill you really does make you stronger.

19.. It's never too late to have a happy childhood. But the second one is up to you and no one else.

20. When it comes to going after what you love in life, don't take no for an answer.

21. Burn the candles, use the nice sheets, wear the fancy lingerie. Don't save it for a special occasion. Today is special.

22. Over prepare, then go with the flow.

23. Be eccentric now. Don't wait for old age to wear purple.

24. The most important sex organ is the brain.

25. No one is in charge of your happiness but you.

26. Frame every so-called disaster with these words 'In five years, will this matter?'

27. Always choose life.

28. Forgive everyone everything.

29. What other people think of you is none of your business.

30. Time heals almost everything. Give time time.

31. However good or bad a situation is, it will change.

32. Don't take yourself so seriously. No one else does.

33. Believe in miracles.

34. God loves you because of who God is, not because of anything you did or didn't do.

35. Don't audit life. Show up and make the most of it now.

36. Growing old beats the alternative -- dying young.

37. Your children get only one childhood.

38. All that truly matters in the end is that you loved.

39. Get outside every day. Miracles are waiting everywhere.

40. If we all threw our problems in a pile and saw everyone else's,we'd grab ours back.

41. Envy is a waste of time. You already have all you need.

42. The best is yet to come.

43. No matter how you feel, get up, dress up and show up.

44. Yield.

45. Life isn't tied with a bow, but it's still a gift."

Quotes

“If you are irritated by every rub, how will your mirror be polished?” Rumi (1207–1273) Persian poet and philosopher

Most of our faults are more pardonable than the means we use to conceal them. ~François, Duc de La Rochefoucauld, Maxims, 1665

Common sense is genius dressed in its working clothes.―Ralph Waldo Emerson

"There are three ingredients to the good life: learning, earning, and yearning."—Christopher Morley

“The sleeping fox catches no poultry.” Benjamin Franklin (1706–1790) American statesman, scientist, writer

"One is responsible for one's own life. Passivity provides no protection." Madeleine Kunin (1933 – ) Swiss-American diplomat and politician

An athlete may run ten thousand miles in order to prepare for one hundred yards. Quantity gives experience." Ray Bradbury (1920 – )American writer

No one can make you feel inferior without your consent." Eleanor Roosevelt (1884–1962) American first lady, humanitarian, and UN diplomat

“When one door of happiness closes, another opens; but often we look so long at the closed door that we do not see the one which has been opened for us.” Helen Keller (1880-1968) American humanitarian,advocate for the deaf and blind

“Even if you're on the right track, you'll get run over if you just sit there.” Will Rogers (1879–1935) American comedian and actor

“The future will depend on what we do in the present.” Mahatma Gandhi (1869–1948) Indian activist

Homestead Happenings, Take 2

This is my farmhand. As you can see he earns his keep around this here place. Puuuusssssh. lol This is my Boy Child. He is the coolest thing on 2 legs. A true gift from God Himself. I don't work him. Here, he is pushing his wagon and the wheels are not corporating. Oh the drama!

See, Happy Camper!

In the green tub is spring onion. I have a yellow tub just like it I will replant onions in in a few weeks. I have a few yellow and green tubs in 3 different sizes to play with in a couple of weeks. I think it will look nice when finished and rearranged.

Last year I knew the world was not right and started reading some prep sites and everyone suggested getting buckets from the grocer to plant in so I did. It worked out great because I had a hard time growing weeds in ground garden last year. Not true, I had a boatload of squash and I grew some wonderful corn. No corn this year. To much room for to little product. But I will do it again. Good stuff that was.

Going straight up... onion in the green tub, a tomato in the 5 gal bucket that I will add more dirt to as it grows taller, a pepper in the little bucket, cucumber seeds in the white bucket on the left and carrots in the big container, my FLOWERING tomato in the corner up there, another pepper and then another tomato next to that. The underbed storage container with the lettuce is next to the tomato but you can't see that. If you can imagine I have a rather small deck. It's getting kind of crowded right now because I have been working on getting things in pots or in the ground and not busying myself with neatness yet.

I also have 2 small bukets of pea seeds and a small bucket of bush bean seeds. I have 2 planters (like with the carrots) of head lettuce that I purchased from the Chinese Embassy (WM) last month. I put 4 plants in each planter and we have harvested from it twice already and we will have a nice salad this weekend also. This lettuce is so good. There is a phrase I thought I'd never write. Really how good can lettuce be? But I'm tellin' ya it rocks. I can't wait to see if the other lettuces I planted take and grow.

I purchased this in a single plant form for Hubby for Father's Day 2 years ago and planted it on the side of house. It was neglected and all over the place this year so I dug up the bulbs, dug a hole in front of the evergreens and plopped them in. Aren't they pretty? I don't know what they are but I have a lot more in a planter on the deck and they are not happy there so I need to get them back on the side of the house this weekend. These will not be living here either. What was I thinking? Get em' in the ground somewhere-anywhere, right now. That's what I was thinking.

Ok, I think that's all. If you have any suggestions or ideas for me please feel to leave a comment. I could use all the help I can get. The biggest problem I have with gardening is patience. I have little. Well, patience and the cost of dirt, pots, seeds/plants, fertilizer and the watering. Oh the watering. You do a lot more watering with container gardening. I'll be busy in a month or so watering the plants spread out among the yard-I mean homestead-I mean farm. Oh pleaze...a garden is a lot of work. It's good exercise as well. I get sore in places I didn't even know I had muscles but I'm not complaining becasue I could a good toning and it's sooooo worth it. I'll deny that statement if you ask me in July.

I have some pics from last years garden I may put up here. It will help get me through the long hot days if I can post results from harvests past. It'll be cool to see the whole thing come along through the years.

Homestead Happenings

Ok, so here are some pics of my garden. We have rocky clay soil and it will be a number of years before it is wonderful dirt but I'm not letting that stop me. I know I could do raised beds but I'm really not sure how big I want the finished beds to be, so, no biggie. It will be fun to see it evolve (OR NOT) over the summer. Please keep in mind I really don't have a clue what in the world I'm doing. If you have a thought or 2 you can share, please do. I will post more when I get a chance. My LG dishwasher (which has never worked right) started leaking and the repairman is here for the second time this week fixing it. The Boy Child was down for his nap until...you know how this goes...child goes down for nap, doorbell rings, phones ring, Boy Child up with little rest and ready to go. I'll be back later with more pictures.
Nasty looking ey? We tilled this up this year and I was going to let it rest this year but...I couldn't. I've been putting compost stuff in there and it was just yelling for some life so I plopped in some squash and cucumber seeds. At the bootom ar the nastrsomething flower that is supposedly good for the land. I planted them here and there throughout the gardens. The little plant(s) in the center of the photo are squash that I started indoors. Can you make out the black dirt where I planted squash seeds this week? Oh come on-try again. Seeee. That stuff that looks like weeds and whatnot is actually compost material (grass clipping and kitchen scraps and some newspaper) that has not broken down completely yet. It doesn't look this bad in person. Stop by if your neighborhood and see for yourself.

Can you see that? Look harder. It's my tomato plant FLOWERING!

I think these are peas. I was so anxious to get stuff in the ground I didn't write down what a lot of it was. Hey-Don't judge me! lol I put a tomato cage in there for them to grow up. I know a lot of people have special contraptions for beans and peas but honestly, I find gardening to be very expensive and time consuming so I'm doing the best I can with what I have.

A blueberry bush that has been flowering a lot, in the middle. All of the breey plants are new this year. I hope to harvest from them next year? I felt I had to get the plants on either side in the ground a week or so ago so I plopped them here. I THINK they are eggplant.

Those 2 little black spots are blackberry bushes. They have grown about a quarter inch in a month. I don't think that's good but I'll let them go and see what happens next year. I put them next to the shed because I read they will grow huge. I think they will be happy here if they live.

Strawberry plant I got this year. I hope to find a spot in the ground for it sometime soon.

Carrots I started indoors in this pot around St. Patricks Day. Pittiful, they are just pittiful. They are short carrots so they should grow but the I expect the tops to stand straight up and be pretty. Are they suppose to stand up or droop like a drunkin fool?

I put my pepper plants in terra cotta pots this year. Well, I didn't grow them last year because we are not big pepper people but the little ones that I babysit (10 & 8) LOVE peppers so I have about 5 growing. This pot has 2 plants but the others are 1 per pot. It feels like murder to pull such a pretty plant up and I'm gonna run out of room to put them all.

I purchased this pot last year for 5 bucks at the Chinese Embasy (WalMart). I'm pretty sure it is $9.99 this year. Glad I was able to get 5, they have been nice for container gardening. Anyway this is one piece of a store bought & washed & sprouted potato. I put about an inch of potting soil in the bottom, then the little sprout and covered it good with more dirt and have been adding potting soil like crazy, sometimes daily. This thing is lovin' life.

Here is the watermellon plant that survived. Originally I planted 3.

This is an under the bed storage container that I have planted 3 kinds of lettuce in.

Quotes

To tend, unfailingly, unflinchingly, towards a goal, is the secret of success. Anna Pavlova (1881–1931) Russian ballerina

There is nothing like staying at home for real comfort. — Jane Austen

Do not think a man has done his full duty when he has performed the work assigned him. A man will never rise if he does only this. Promotion comes from exceptional work. Andrew Carnegie (1835–1919) Scottish industrialist & philanthropist

There are risks and costs to a program of action. But they are far less than the long-range risks and costs of comfortable inaction. John F. Kennedy (1917–1963) 35th president of the United States

No one would allow garbage at his table, but many allow it served into their minds. Fulton John Sheen

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled. - Matthew 5:6

If you don't know where you are going, you will probably end up somewhere else. ~ Lawrence J. Peter

Every day may not be good, but there's something good in every day. ~Anonymous

"A society grows great when old men plant trees whose shade they know they shall never sit in." ~Greek proverb

"The great thing about getting older is that you don't lose all the other ages you've been."~ Madeleine L'Engle

"Let us not look back in anger or forward in fear, but around in awareness." ~James Thurber

"I'm not following anybody's tracks, I'm making my own baby." Picabo Street (1971 - ) Skier, Olympic gold medalist

All you have to do is look straight and see the road, and when you see it, don't sit looking at it - walk. Ayn Rand (1905–1982) Russian-born writer and philosopher