Every Monday, Kasey at All That Is Good has a post called Friend Making Monday. The idea for today’s post is to list the best advice you have ever received.
I don’t know that I’ve ever had an “ah-ha” moment where someone dispensed advice and I took it. You know, the kind of advice where the rain stopped, the clouds parted, and the scales fell from my eyes.
Trust me, I am a giant pain in the ass, and I certainly have had loved ones try to help me by passing on their words of wisdom. I think that advice regarding the big, important stuff was like drops of water on a stone… eventually it left a mark, it just took a long time. (I am half Italian, half Good ‘Ole Texan…. oh the stubbornness!)
That being said, I can’t point to one particular moment, one specific pearl of wisdom, but I have been given many little bits of advice that make a difference. And that is advice I give to my kids: that the little things add up and they are important. God is in the details.
1. Please and thank you go furthest within your own household.
2. When packing a lunch with a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, put a thin smear of peanut butter down first on the jelly “side” of the bread. It keeps the jelly from seeping through and making the sandwich soggy.
3. It is never too early to speak to your kids as if they have adult conversation skills. They’re little sponges who can absorb absolutely not just as easily as no! They will have better vocabularies as adults.
4. A sense of humor and faith in God will get you through anything.
5. If you make your bed right away, you get more done throughout the day.
6. You can love your kids and have days (or weeks) when you don’t like them, but eventually you will like them again. (This primarily applies to those of us with teenagers…)
7. Always keep your gas-tank filled and emergency supplies and a good pair of walking shoes in your car.
8. Never, ever get so low on toilet paper that you run out. Oh, and the paper needs to come forward over the top of the roll… not down the back, against the wall. (Not advice I received, but simply the right way to do it. I just know.) (And I now have my OCD tendencies under control enough that I don’t “fix” the rolls that are wrong at other people’s houses…)
9. Know how to cook at least one thing really well.
10. Don’t lie and don’t suffer people who lie to you.
These little things have made life more enjoyable and less hectic.
It is also comforting to know that if for some crazy reason I did run out of TP in the middle of the night, I could drive to the store with a full tank of gas and laugh while doing it.
Oh what great bits of wisdom shared. A lot of truth in them all.
Happy Twirls
Great advice!! My mom always told me I will always love you, I just don’t always have to like you!! I never understood that until I had a kid of my own.
The advice about the TP made me laugh!! I just had that situation happen to me, then I had to make a quick trip to the store and realized I had no gas in the car. CRAP!! 40 minutes later we had TP & gas. Nothing is ever easy!!
Thanks for visiting my blog. Have a wonderful day!!
Great advice! I’ve heard my dad say #7 to me so many times I’ve lost count…even as he was on his way to fill up my empty tank. I think #3 is the best piece of advice. I’m lovin’ your OCD tendencies coming through on #8. LOL.
Hope you have a happy Monday!
I fully, FULLY agree with number 3. My parents always talked to me as if I was an adult and baby-talk, to me, is like hearing fingernails on a chalkboard.
And number 4 is beyond awesome. If you can’t laugh, what do you have? 🙂
Haha my mom tells me the same thing that Maridith said in the above comment, I will always love you but that doesnt mean I always have to like you. This was some great advice.
Love it!!! Thanks for sharing all these! I am sooo about making beds first thing in the morning! It really does make the day go so much better!
Have a great day!
Tanielle
All great pieces of advice…I need to implement them in my life better!
Great advice, every thing you said is so true.
The please and thank you is a big thing for me. and the since of humor and faith in God, are two great things as well.
I hope you are having a great day!!!
You sound like a woman who knows what she’s talking about! Great advice and I am 100% on the bedmaking thing. If I don’t make my bed that is a fore-telling of my day (meaning it’s gonna be a messy one!)
Today is a day where I am NOT liking my kids. Thank you for putting this on your list and making me feel “normal”.
I too can’t stand the TP coming around form the back and WILL change it at other people’s houses.
And I thought I was the only weird one……
Thanks for the laugh!
Becca
Well I have to say that #2 has completely cleared up my “WTF, why is the bread always nasty?” question. I had no clue and I do consider myself a Domestic Goddess!
#4 is so the truth!
#6 ~ Preach it Sistah!
#8 I DO NOT have my OCD under control, I totally change the roll at someone else’s house if they have done it wrong!
You make me laugh!
Ok, I love your blog and have just spent way to much of my “I should be doing our taxes” time reading and laughing! Call me a follower, I will be back.
Lots of great advice — you should write a book!
Wow – those are all great things! I love the one about teenagers – so true! Thanks for all of the advice!
XOOX
Jen
Oh #6 is right up my alley. Having gone through the teenagers already, they are now my absolute best friends! Great advice all around. I have never made a PBJ that way but I’m sure that’s why they always came back uneaten and totally soggy..duh!?!?