Valentines Day, 2016
This blog is brought to you by EVVY award-winning author Sue Batton Leonard.
Click here for information on her publications. This e-book can be delivered within a few minutes for the cost of less than a Valentine’s Day card. And you can learn more about the character that I sent this Valentines to Heaven to through the memoir Gift of a Lifetime: Finding Fulfilling Things in the Unexpected.
From my heart to yours, Happy Valentines Day from
http://www.allthingsfulfilling.com.
“Red is the first color of spring. It’s the real color of rebirth. Of beginning.” ~ Annie Condie
Are you planning on wearing red tomorrow? The American Heart Association has declared February 5th National Wear Red Day. This day is dedicated to raising awareness that “heart disease and stroke kill 1 in 3 women, yet 80% of it is preventable.”
On the Go Red for Women website there are educational articles and resources to educate the public about the importance of children and fitness, and factors which increase chances of heart disease such as high blood pressure, smoking, inactivity and high cholesterol. The useful and free information is there for each and every one of us.
As Conway Twitty once said “listen to advice, but follow your heart.” Always listen to your body, and if it is telling you something is not right, don’t wait – go see a doctor. It could be the difference between death or life.
You can help the fight against heart disease by posting #GoRed on your Facebook page or through other social media. Remember to #gored tomorrow, donate to the cause or fill a shopping cart at the GoRed on-line store.
Thanks for listening and tomorrow is a good a day as any to begin improving your heart health.
My award-winning memoir Gift of a Lifetime: Finding Fulfilling Things in the Unexpected speaks to this issue which is close to my heart.
The aging process has you firmly in its grasp if you never get the urge to throw a snowball. ~Doug Larson
Guess what I got last week? A Save the Date notification of my 45th high school reunion. When I first read it, I thought, “Oh, there is a typo,” until I made some mental calculations. How could it be that so many years have passed? After all, wasn’t it just last week I was a teen?
In all those years since I was a student I have only attended one college reunion. I guess it’s because I am more interested in living in the present.
I’ve maintained some friendships in my home town as well as my college town over the years so I haven’t let go of my schoolmates completely.
About a year and a half ago, I had a book signing for my award-winning memoir at Ukazoo Books in Towson, Maryland, the town where I grew up. It’s the setting where most of my memoir takes place. It warmed my heart to see some faces I hadn’t seen in decades.
Life has been kind to me despite very tentative beginnings and I am extremely grateful for that. I feel very young at heart and try to do all in my power to stay healthy. There are lots of theories of how to achieve that, but moderation in all things is the key, in my opinion.
An exception to the rule is allowing oneself to do kid-like things frequently. What’s good for the heart and soul is guaranteed to be good for our health, including residing since 1975 in the snowy mountains.
This article explains the benefits of getting out and enjoying some wintertime activities!
This blog is brought to you by award-winning author Sue Batton Leonard.
“October is the fallen leaf, but it is also a wider horizon more clearly seen.” ~ Hal Borland
I’m posting this image today because October is Applejack Month.
One of my favorite craft projects from Girl Scouts was making dried apple people. If it looks like a fun project to do in October with your children or grandchildren, here is how.
Another of my favorite craft projects was making bookmarks by pressing colorful autumn leaves between two pieces of waxed paper and ironing it.
A few years ago, when I was helping in a children’s Sunday School class, I learned that the bookmark project can be modified but putting shavings and tiny pieces of left over crayons between two pieces of waxed paper and ironing it to create a stained glass window effect. A beautiful, quick weekend craft project!
In honor of Applejack Month, I’d like to share this recipe for Hot Spiced Apple Cider with you. Perhaps you can make the concoction over the weekend to sip as you decorate your home for Halloween.
What are you doing this weekend? I am going on a one day road trip so I can have a change of scenery before the snow flies. Perhaps I will find something fulfilling to write about! See you back here on Monday!
If you enjoy reading the blogs posted on this site, don’t forget to bookmark All Things Fulfilling on your computer or on the right hand side of the page you can subscribe and have each posting delivered directly to your mailbox – free of charge!
This blog is brought to you by the author of the award-winning memoir Gift of a Lifetime: Finding Fulfilling Things in the Unexpected and short stories Lessons of Heart & Soul.
Greetings! It is a fabulous fall morning. I’d like to send out an invitation for you to come to my house! Enter through the doors of my childhood through my publication Gift of a Lifetime: Finding Fulfilling Things in the Unexpected.
In my youth I was kept in stitches by a beautiful character named Fanny and my heart was sewn together too. Both were gifts that led me to live a fulfilling life. Through my memoir, I share a harvest of life lessons taught to me by my strong family.
The teapot is filled in anticipation of your coming, there are homemade ginger snaps on the table and I hope you will enjoy the inspiring words of my beloved Fanny during this fine fall season. The real treasure lies in the voice in the EVVY award-winning audio book. But if you prefer the paperback or a digital download of an e-book, those are available too!
Happy Harvest Everybody! Do return tomorrow and on Friday I want to tell you about an event that I just received an invitation to that will take me back to my childhood days. I am very excited.
My first duty is to write a gripping yarn. Second is to convey credible characters who make you feel what they feel. Only third comes the idea. ~ David Brin
Did you read Friday’s post on All Things Fulfilling about stitching yarns together? Today we are going to continue the conversation from a slightly different angle.
In my first publication, the award-winning memoir called Gift of a Lifetime: Finding Fulfilling Things in the Unexpected, I wrote a first hand account of my memories.The facts were all there as best as I could remember from my childhood.
For years I have been told some interesting stories about a character of interest on my mother’s side of the family tree that I did not write about previously. The tales could be full of baloney because they are a bit sketchy. I need to determine if they are fact or fiction.
In order to find out the truth of the matter I recently joined in with a genealogy group at the Bud Werner Memorial Library in Steamboat Springs, Colorado to see if I can stitch together the vague pieces of information that I have been given my mother. If there is some truth to the matter, this figure from my heritage could prove to be a fascinating fellow.
Great resources are available at my finger tips! The Bud Werner Memorial Library (BWML) is an affiliate of the Family History Library in Salt Lake City, Utah.
Some people find great fascination in tracing their family back many generations, I am not sure if I am up for the task. “But how will I know whether I’ll find that kind of research fulfilling or not if I don’t begin somewhere?” I ask myself.
I’ll keep you posted….
This blog is brought to you by Sue Batton Leonard, EVVY award-winning author of the memoir Gift of a Lifetime: Finding Fulfilling Things in the Unexpected and short stories Lessons of Heart & Soul.
My thoughts are free to go anywhere, but it’s surprising how often they head in your direction. ~Author Unknown
A few days before Christmas I filled the teapot with water, set it on the stove to heat, picked up the phone and dialed my sister’s phone number. I turned the burner up to HI just as my sister picked up the receiver on the other end and immediately said “Hello! Hold on a minute will ya, Sue, I want to put my tea kettle on.”
“Yep,” I thought as I waited, “we’ve still got it – that twin telepathy thing.”
When she returned to the phone I said, “What a coincidence. Just this minute I put water on to heat for a cuppa, too.”
Mind you, I am in Colorado and she is in Maryland. Although in two different time zones, we were both ready for a cup of tea at the same exact time.
It often turns out that we call each other simultaneously, both feeling like we need to have a good long visit.
“I wanted to speak with you before real the holiday confusion sets in. I have been in touch with some blasts from the past.”
“Like who? Who have you been in touch with?” Jan asked, sounding very curious, and as if she had missed out on something.
“Oh some people we knew in high school. I’ve connected through social media.”
I began to name them off. We had a great time recalling the good old days and people neither of us have been in touch with for nearly four decades!
Do you have people you would like to be back in touch with? Did you know reconnecting with old friends is good for your health? Here’s an article that will be of interest. http://www.goodhousekeeping.com/health/wellness/staying-connected-to-the-past
What better New Year’s gift could you give a long lost friend or relative than the gift of your voice? I’ve tried to do that through a different kind of medium – in my memoir writing!
Reconnect to a long-lost friend or acquaintence before another year goes by and you delay it. Wishing you a fulfilling year ahead with good health and lots of renewed friendships! Happy 2015!
This blog is brought to you by Sue Batton Leonard, author of Short Stories: Lessons of Heart & Soul and the award-winning memoir Gift of a Lifetime: Finding Fulfilling Things in the Unexpected. For more information, go to http://www.allthingsfulfilling.com/about-the-book/.
If you hear a voice within you say “you cannot paint,” then by all means paint, and that voice will be silenced. ~Vincent Van Gogh
New Year, New Opportunities!
If you are in the Steamboat Springs, Colorado area join me on Saturday January 3rd, 2015 at Come & See Christian Books & Gifts, 675 S. Lincoln Avenue (near the Hampden Inn) for a meet the author/book signing event from 11am to 2pm.
Are you interested in writing and publishing a book? The author will share what helped her to write and publish her award-winning book Gift of a Lifetime: Finding Fulfilling Things in the Unexpected.
There will be refreshments and treats and learn what’s in store for 2015.
“Christmas, my child, is love in action. Every time we love, every time we give, it’s Christmas.” ~ Dale Evans
I’m more proud than ever to attend a church whose motto is “Open Hearts, Open Minds and Open Doors.” The Steamboat United Methodist Church reached out, extended their welcome and showed that they practice what they preach to the Jewish congregation here in Steamboat. The menorah issue was put to rest and it was lit on Tuesday December 16th on the front lawn of the United Methodist Church. The Menorah is symbolic of “light, wisdom, and Divine inspiration” but it was also designed as creative art for our community.
This story was broadcast on CBS and in newspapers in other cities. To watch the video about what ended up being a story about love in action, please follow this link.
http://denver.cbslocal.com/2014/12/11/menorah-blocked-from-courthouse-lawn-in-steamboat-springs/
One of the best things you can teach children when they are old enough to grasp the concepts is about multi-cultural understanding. Author Sue Batton Leonard recounts her personal experience with multi-cultural love in her memoir, an anthology of stories in her book Gift of a Lifetime: Finding Fulfilling Things in the Unexpected. It has won several awards, one in the young adult category. The book is perfect for giving to “tweens’ and teens and an entire family.
The memoir, an award-winning anthology of short stories is available in audio book (narrated by the author), paperback and e-book. Here is how to order:
Audio Book http://amzn.to/1trrTl9
Paperback http://amzn.to/1qmcEHI
e-Book http://amzn.to/1lx7oRh
As a thank you to our readers, today I am going to share an audio chapter of Gift of a Lifetime:Finding Fulfilling Things in the Unexpected.
One of the most valuable lessons in my lifetime was learning as a child that the spirit of Christmas should be extended to others. In fact, being grateful and thinking of others rather than ourselves is one of the best cures for whatever ails us.
A week ago, I volunteered a few hours helping with a United Way project here in Steamboat. I was awestruck by the charitable hearts of the people in our community. Corporations, retail establishments, individuals and churches all came together to make sure no one who needs assistance will go hungry and without a gift for Christmas.
A holiday shopping market of toys and clothing and other necessities that makes Christmas feel special was set up for families in the auditorium at Colorado Mountain College. Hundreds of volunteers helped with the effort.
Kate Nowak, Executive Director of Routt County United Way is to be commended for her efforts in leading the way in pulling it all together.
Being neighborly and remembering to give of ourselves through volunteering and other thoughtful gestures means much to those who need to be lifted up. For the giver, it can also lead to a few symptoms of the advent virus – “contented feelings of connectedness with others and nature and frequent attacks of smiling.”
In chapter 29 titled “The Gift of Life” in the award-winning memoir by yours truly there’s a poignant holiday story that families can share together about being grateful every day of your life. Listen in here.
All Things Fulfilling 