Unexpected Weather...oh boy!

So on Saturday, I heard on the weather forecast that we would be expecting a big snow storm here in Southwest Virginia on Monday and at first, I thought that was unbelievable because I thought winter would be over for us considering we have been having warm weather. But Monday came along and I looked outside my bedroom window and guess what I saw? You guessed it...I saw snow coming down. So I went outside to enjoy our first snow of the year and to take some photos to post on Instagram. As 10 minutes passed by while I was outside, the snow came down harder and the ground was practically covered in snow. I'll have to show you guys the photos of our backyard before it snowed that day and after. Though I do hate winter, I must say it looked like winter wonderland in our backyard.

The bad thing was our electricity went out in our neighborhood due to the heavy snow weighing down on our electric lines, so we were freezing and hungry. We used candles as lights in our house and to help us get somewhat warm.

Since our Internet was off, we listened to our old fashioned radio. I actually love listening to the radio! I would have enjoyed living in the 1940's with radios as a source of entertainment! :) Wouldn't you? Then I went to work on replying to my penpals. It was pretty cool to be writing penpal letters near candle light. So far, I have written and sent 5 penpal letters and will be writing more this weekend (hopefully).

We didn't get our electricity back on until noon time on Tuesday, which was a long time in my opinion. But I'm happy to have electricity now!

Now it's Friday (of course) and the weather is warm (66 degrees Farenheit) and it's raining like crazy. Virginia weather can be crazy at times and unexpected. Though I hope this means the end to winter...at least I really hope so. Did any of you get any big snow storms this year (or last year)? Any plans this weekend?

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Blogger @ Work

So as you might have noticed it's been way too long since I haven't been blogging. Currently, I'm fixing up this blog to give it a new look. After all, it needs a change, right?

Reasons for my absence:

1.) Busy

2.) Busy

3.) Busy...what else is there to say, ha-ha! I've just been busy catching up with my penpals, doing school work (I have to prepare for college this fall), spending time with my family, relaxing, reading, baking. It might not seem like a lot, but mostly I'm busy with school work and reading. I have to think about where I want to go in life because adulthood is just around the corner...eek! 

P.S. My dearest pen-pals, I have NOT forgotten you. I still have everyone's letters and I'm just now writing letters to you all about what's been keeping me busy besides the reasons I have posted above. It's just taking time as I like to write my letters long and they will be long as I have SO much to say! I actually don't have too many penpals, considering some never wrote back and some I just didn't bond with. So far, I'm writing letters to Michelle, Alexa, Marlea, Dyah, Rin, Zoe, and my other pen-pals (you all know who you are). I miss you all so much and will try to get my letters out to you all soon! I really appreciate all your patience! :)

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Today, I wanted to show all of you some of my photos I've taken and edited using photo apps on my Ipod Touch. I've gotten these from my Instagram and wanted to show all of you what kind of photos can be found there on my Instagram. There are lots more, but I just wanted to share with you a couple. If you want to see more of my photos, be sure to check them out on my Instagram and feel free to like/comment there too. Another site I found which is better than Webstagram is Statigram. Statigram is where you will be able to see my photos and like (or comment on them) without needing the Instagram app. Statigram is a just a website viewer for Instagram; therefore, you will still need to sign into Statigram with your Instagram account. Click here to go see all the photos from my Instagram, see all my followers, and the stats on my photos. You can also view my photos and everything else like Statigram does (except without the stats) here. It's my profle from Followgram.

                                      

These photos that I took includes rement/mini toys for dolls, my sister's Blythe doll, and mini Lalaloopsy dolls. Hope you all enjoy my photos! Let me know what you think of them! :')

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Oh where, oh where, oh where could she be?

I've been trying to update my blog as much as I can. Lately, I have been so busy with homeschooling, preparing for college, working on swaps, and writing to my snail mail pals! Of course, I just need to have some free time to get to relax and I try mostly to spend my free time with my blogs. Speaking of blogs, I now have an Instagram--for those of you who want an Instagram, you can get the app on your Ipod Touch/Iphone for free on your Apple Store app--and a Tumblr. I signed up for Instagram 6 weeks ago(?) and I now have 92 followers (maybe even more as the number of followers keeps increasing)....yay! I love doing Instagram so much! It's quite easy and simple!  It's like having a Flickr or Picasa, where I can just post my pictures and add tags/captions, except Instagram is way better and makes my photos look a bit realistic, I guess you could say. Plus, Instagram is way popular (even celebrities have an Instagram). Also on Instagram, people can like and even comment on my photos. What I've been really is to have at least one of my photos be on the popular page, but as long as people love my pictures and leave comments/likes, that's what makes my day :) As I mentioned earlier, I also have a Tumblr, which I signed up for way before I got an Instagram account. I hardly work on my Tumblr though, but now with my Instagram account, I can easily put up my pictures on Tumblr too with just a click of a button. I have gotten so SO many likes, comments, and followers on both...it's amazing! I feel like a professional photgrapher, lol. Though I do very much love taking photos! It's pretty fun for me to do during my free time! I know I have been neglecting my other blogs (like this one), which I should be ashamed of because I have left my lovely followers and viewers with no new posts :( I guess I just have been lazy to even type...eek! But I'm hoping to squeeze blogging into my schedule, so hopefully you all can look forward to new posts and a better blog. 

Feel free to visit...

...my Instagram under the username yas1994 or my name, Yasmeen A.

... my Tumblr J'adore Blanche:

...oh and if you don't happen to have an Instagram account, you can view my Instagram through my Webstagram here. You can still like and comment my photos there too just as you could on my Instagram:

You will find that most of my photos are of my new Pullip doll, Blanche; my mom and little sister's Blythe dolls, quotes, snail mail, swaps, cute and kawaii stuff, and lots more! Just whatever comes to my mind (or my eyes for that matter), I just simply take a picture of it and share it with all my viewers who are free to see them! :)

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Long time, no see!

Ahh...I miss blogging on here! I totally forgot about this blog, sorry! I have mostly been working on my other 2 blogs, but I really need to work more on here too! Therefore, I gave this blog a new look. You like it? :) Even though, I have been working mainly on my other blogs, I still haven't been posting as much as I would like. Sometimes I'm just busy with snail mail, catching up with swaps, doing school-work (I'm homeschooled, remember!), spending time with my family, having some me time, and preparing for the big  ACT exam to get into a good university. Yesterday, I got my ACT scores in the mail! I must admit I didn't do too bad as I thought I would. Heads up for those taking the ACT exam, it's really not that hard as everybody and teachers say...sheshh, you didn't hear that from me! Then again, that's just my opinion. It just was basic stuff you learn in school. The only problem I had with the ACT exam was I wasn't very quick, so I felt as if it was an exam on quickness rather than knowledge. Then again, iI should have been quick if I knew the information well. So God-willing, I'll be taking it again in December hoping to at least score better! Please pray for me to do well, hehe! ;)

P.S. I'm just so happy that I'm not and didn't have to take the SAT exam! I hear it's much tougher...ouch! ><

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Homework Help through video clips:

(Above) Here is an example clip that I picked out. I watched it to help me with learning about "Chemical Reactions". Now it's so easy, I feel that I could have known this lesson right away.

http://www.brightstorm.com/


Here I have found some homework helping clips, kind of like the clips of Khan Academy. This site provides you with free video “classes” . You can get help on any Math (algebra, geometry, calclulus, etc) and Science (biology, pshsics, and chemistry) for free. They provide you with clips and if you aren’t a very good listener, below the clips they give you a transcript of everything that was said in the clip. There’s also a section where if you don’t understand something, you can ask questions. I found this really helpful as they help you step by step. They also can help you with the big exams (PSAT, SAT, ACT) and AP classes. The catch is that for these subjects you will have to pay to watch them. But you can check out the trailers for these subjects and see if you would like to pay to watch all the clips. I definitely think from seeing the SAT trailer, that the SAT clip is very, very helpful and useful. They give very good tips and are just great teachers! ☺
I hope you will enjoy these clips too and I hope that they will help you in school! I wish you all the best in school! Now go on and be that smarter kid in the class…I know you can do it.

For more on educational links and books, please check out my "Homeschooling" page  :)

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BBC | Chemistry: A Volatile History | Ep1 Discovering the Elements (1 of 6)

Did you ever think Chemistry could be so interesting? I didn’t think that at all until I watched this BBC clip about Chemistry. Watching this clip, amazed me and got me thinking about all the Chemistry that’s around us. You must be thinking I’m a nerd, huh? Ha ha :D I really recommend that you watch this clip! It’s not boring at all and the information you will learn is mind-blowing. You’ll be taken on a ride through Chemistry lane and get to know the Chemists behind it all. So what are you waiting for, put on your seatbelt and get ready for a wild ride.

For more espiodes in this series, check them out on YouTube.

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I've got another new blog...check it out!

Hello all! I'm sorry that I hardly post on this blog, while I see how many followers I have, I feel that I should work a lot on this blog whenever I get a chance :) 


As you probably already know (or you will be knowing) I now have three blogs, including this one ("Random Happy Thoughts"). You can see all my blogs on my blog list on the left side down my blog. My third NEW blog is my mail blog called Carried Away by Mail ! It's a blog where I post all the mail that I get or have gotten. If you love looking at mail, I reccomend you check it out and feel free to comment! I love getting mail SO much! Mail means the world to me and I just love posting all my mail I have received. 


I hope you all enjoy all three of my blogs, or at least one of my blogs, ha ha! I'm thankful for all the followers and comments I've gotten on all my blogs so thank you all very much! Keep on following and commenting as it makes me want to blog on more! :P Keep an eye out on all my blogs...I'll try my best to post whenever I can!

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Our 2011 Letter Project

2011 Letter Project Blog

Help my goal of 2,011 letters for the 2011 Year come true! :)

My name is Yasmeen. I'm 16 years old and live in the USA. I love snailmail/penpaling and learning about different cultures/countries/languages.

For 2011, my goal is to collect 2,011 letters by the end of 2011 & I need your help to accomplish this goal. Who's willing to help me accomplish my goal for the BIG 2011? It's going to be exciting!

For the letter, I would like a nice, pretty, neat letter with information about yourself, your life, your travels, your country, etc.

If you want to write about your country, here's what you can write about :

- Capital

- President or Prime Minister

- School System

- Government

- Interesting Facts

- If possible, I would this part of this letter to be decorative/pretty/cute. Attach pictures, stickers, glitter or use scrapbook/pretty/cute stationary paper.

If you wish to write about yourself, maybe you can write:

- Name

- Age

- Birthday

- About Me

- My Favorite Hobbies

- My Favorite Tv shows/Movies

- My Favorite Stores

- My Collections

- My Travels/Vacations

- My Room or House

- My School

- My Friends

- If possible, I would love to see photos of everything listed about you that I listed above, and written on nice or cute stationary. Feel free to make this page also decorative!

Feel free to send postcards, bus/airline/movie/museum tickets, candy, brochures, books in different language, little flag of your country, or just anything that tells me about your country and your native language along with your written letters.

I hope maybe I can be penpals with some people that I meet! 

Let's make 2,011 letters happen for 2011! Will you help me? Then you've come to the right post...come on right ahead and send me an email 

(j-adore94@hotmail.com). I'll be so glad to hear from you!

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Happy 2011 New Year's Everybody! :)

Boy what a year 2010 was and now...well now it's the BIG 2011! I would like to wish everybody a Happy New Year's and I hope everybody has the best for this new year! I hope 2011 will be the best year ever! Just remember to keep those goals of yours. It's pointless to make goals and to never follow them, like me for example. Except this year, I have to accomplish my goals because they are going to be everywhere in my room to where I can see them.  Write the goals on your hand if you have to. Write them somewhere you will see them. I'm going to make 2011 the best and you can to! Feel free to share your goals on my blog under comments and feel free to send me pictures of how you spent your New Year's to where I can put them on my blog for everyone to see! Let's celebrate and live life to the fullest!  

Here are my goals:

- Visit the orphanage 

- Do volunteer work at the nursing homes

- Exercise on the wii fit everyday for an hour

Read a book everyday for an hour

- Write in my journal or Art Journal everyday

- Do Calcdoku for 10-30 minutes everyday

- Keep working on my blog 

- Write a story of my own

- Goal: 2,011 letters/postcards by the end of 2011

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Watch out Khan Academy is coming in!

For those of you that find elementary school, middle school, high school, and even college to be difficult. Think again. Sal Khan is the creator of Khan Academy, which he is composed of video clips of school subjects that kids/teens/adults have difficulties on. This is such a great tool! Not to be a nerd or anything but I really really love Khan Academy. I wish Mr. Khan was my teacher becaue he would be such a great one!

I have been having problems with my Chemistry class. I have read my Chemistry book and it's so confusing and just brain aching, for me anyways...ha ha. I even tried re-reading the chapter over and over again...it gets me no where. Until Khan Academy videos  came and saved my life, literally! I had found a Khan Academy video clip on the exact subject I needed help on in Chemistry-- Molecular & Empirical Formulas and Formula from Mass Composition  It was just awesome! Mr. Khan made it so easy and I mean so easy. He discusses a particular subject on his video and he provides lots of examples. It's like having a teacher right by you but instead you are able to press play, pause, rewind, fast forward, etc. I would also definitely recommend it to those students who are quite shy and nervous to ask questions in class.

Mr. Sal Khan teaches anywhere from Basic Addition to Algebra II to World History to just about anything you need help on in school.

You can also view more Khan Academy videos here, where he has thousands of videos to choose from. I also talked about Khan Academy under my "Homeschooling" tab at the top of my blog. I really recommend it for everyone out there who needs help in school or just wants to learn something new. So what are you waiting for? Watch some Khan Academy and tell me how you like it!

I give my so many thanks to Sal Khan for helping me in my school subjects! He is such a great video "school teacher". He's so smart that he got a perfect score on the SAT test, even graduated from Havard, and got his degree in the hands of Bill Clinton (former President of the U.S.). Now tell me this man is a genius because he is definitely a great one! :)

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Busy...busy! Busy as can be!

Hi Everybody! =) I'm so sorry for not having posted any new posts. I've been super busy and just so tired. Whew! Last month was just hectic...our over caught on fire, we had our bathroom remodeled, etc. So it's been pretty busy around here. But everything is starting to calm down a little, thank God! :)

 I have also been getting a lot of mail from my awesome pen pals and I just love it! It can get tiring trying to write letters back as soon as possible but I still love it as silly as this may sound. I do love writing way more than typing but I think love doing both. I love making friends through mail! It's just so fun and exciting! It's like everyday I get something in the mail (cute postcards/letters), it's so fun! :)

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I love snail mail!

To me, penpalling/snail mail is great! I love getting something for me in the mail! Just opening the mailbox and seeing something that says "To: Yasmeen" is like the best gift ever. It's like SURPRISE! Yea, I know I must be lame since there's emailing, texting, iming, Facebook, Twitter, and the list goes on and on. But mail, in my opinion, is much more special to me because you know somebody took time on it and all (although, of course I do email and blog). Writing isn't lame...well ok in my opinion it isn't. Wrtiting expresses who you are and that's what I love about it.  You can also learn about different countries (culture, food, language, etc.) and get to make friends through penpalling. I also love getting packages and letters that have cute stationary! I started penpalling when I was let's see...around 9 or 10 years old and I stopped when I was 12 years old. I stopped because I thought that there were no more pen pals and technology came in more- like emailing and texting. It was like the post office was extinct and who knows, it probably will be in the future. Who knows? But I started back on to penpalling as a hobby of mine and I realized that there are still so many teenage penpals out there believe it or not. I've gotten some great letters with some great penpals! A lot of penpalling sites aren't real but there is a forum that's on Postcrossing (located on the right side of my blog) where you can find penpals. Postcrossing is a site where you exchange postcards but on the Postcrossing Forum, there are different topics like Pen-Friendships. I also love the blog called "PenPal Junkie". On "PenPal Junkie", the owner sells stationary, letter sets, stickers, and you can find penpals here.

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Look at my beautiful necklace...

This is what my 14 year old sister, Fatima . She made this necklace just for me! I love it! On the charm it says "be yourself".  Isn't that sweet of her?

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Cute Craft Book!

This is the picture I took of a cute crochet book that my mom gave me on Friday (November 5)! It's so cute! It's written in Japanese but some things you can figure out. I think it's even cuter in Japanese, anyways! :)

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Oh my so cute...stuffies! :)

http://www.ohmysocute.com/category/plushies/

I found these little crochet stuffies on "Oh My So Cute" Blog! Aren't they just so cute? Aww...it makes me want to make one or at least buy one from her! :)

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Here's our backyard:

In our backyard, we have a huge hill, which is great for sledding in the winter time, an apple tree, a pear tree, lots of grape vines,  a little garden section, and a shed (as you can see in this picture).

I just mowed a little of the lawn for the first time ever in my life. Most people start mowing the lawn when they are like 10 or 11 years old but I started just yesterday as a 16 year old.  It was cool for me, ha ha! It wasn't too hard. It was good exercise! :)

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What did Yasmeen do today?

Fridays are considered fun days in my world! Let's see today, my mom, my sisters, and I went to McDonalds and got a free ice cream cone (there were some free ice cream coupons at our Headquarters Library in Roanoke, Virginia for Halloween), I went shopping with my mom and sisters, I started writing some pen pal letters and postcards, I sat on our family couch and watched I love Lucy shows from Netflix,  I worked a lot on my blogs,  I spent a lot of time on Postcrossing (which you can find on the side of my blog),  I ate some Buck Eye's- what we call peanut butter balls dipped in melted chocolate (my mom had made them), and I will be reading The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (a classic from Barnes and Noble). Whew, talk about a busy day! Ha ha! 

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If you won a free trip to go anywhere in the world, where would you go?

...I would love to go to Hong Kong, China! =] But really I would like to travel the world someday, if only the airplane tickets weren't so expensive which is sad to think about. 


Your Turn: Type your answer under comments or write it on paper/a journal.

http://brandstrategy.files.wordpress.com/2008/09/world-in-black-and-white-hands-1.jpg

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Yasmeen will never see 15 again...

Yep, I'm the Sweet 16! I just turned 16 years old today (November 3)! Whoopie! :) I just don't feel any different. Well actually my mom said it looks like I'm getting old, especially since I forgot about my birthday. Ha, ha, very funny mom! Although, it was sad to forget my birthday but at least I remembered it. I'm glad to be 16! I mean it's a pretty sweet number to be! :) It's sad because I'm growing up so fast...wahh! But I hope to live life to the fullest and enjoy every minute of it while I can! I've had lots of memories as I've grown up and they will never fade away. It's fall season now and I love it because every fall when I see leaves fall down, it's like every leaf is a memory and then when you pile up the leaves, you just feel like you're jumping in a pile of memories. Then when spring comes, it'll be like new memories are forming with everything growing back (flowers and tree leaves). That's how I think of it as!

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My Fave Historical Film: The Rabbit Proof Fence

The Rabbit- Proof Fence

Summary: These young girls known as Aborigines are taken away from their mother due to their racial background and are put behind a long "rabbit-proof" fence that divides the Australian outback so they can't escape. Australians don't obviously want to be mixed in with such race. But these girls find a way to escape. How you say? Well let's just say they find one alright and walk thousands of miles just to go meet their family and get away from such cruel acts. This movie will take you through the girls' experiences and back in time.


Opinion: This historical movie will make you cry your eyes out. It's a great and interesting movie! It makes history interesting, instead of boring. It brings you back in time and it makes you wonder how people survived back then and how life was like. There's also a book "The Rabbit-Proof Fence" by Doris Pilkington but I haven't read it yet. Although, I hope to someday.

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Book Review

The Boy in the Striped Pajamas

By: John Boyne

          

Summary: Bruno, a nine year old boy, is facing challenges when he has to move to Germany because of his dad's job. He has to go make new friends, go to a new school, and face a new place. A new place where he happens to find a big fence close to their home. Why is there a big fence? What is it doing there? And why is there a young boy who's wearing blue striped pajamas on the other side of the fence? It's all about to start with the explaining of World War II. 

Opinion: I give this book 5 stars out of 5. I loved it! It was a fast-going book (216 pages) and it was interesting to read! There were some sad parts here and there, but besides that it was a great read. It makes you feel like you were actually there watching World War II take place in front of your own eyes. I not only recommend the book but the movie "The Boy in the Stripped Pajamas" also. But I recommend you read the book first and then watch the movie. It's more fun that way. John Boyne did a great job writing this book!

Give me feedback (comments) on the book/movie:

- Do you plan to read it or watch the movie?

- What was your favorite part?

- How many stars do you give it? Was it a great book or not really?

- Would you recommend this book/movie?

- What feelings did you go through while reading this book?

- Anything you would like to share about reading this book or watching the movie, would be     

  highly appreciated.

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Book Review

Rock What You've Got 

       By: Katherine Schwarzenegger

                  

             http://www.tonic.com/image/88224-595-rock-what-youve-got-book-jacketjpg.jpg

Summary: This is a book to help girls stand strong and be confident about who they are inside and out. Katherine Schwarzenegger goes through her lives growing up as teenage girl as having parent celebrities. In her book, she provides girls with facts, stories, and advice from experience. She really makes girls feel beautiful and proud to be a woman.


My Opinion: I give this book 5 stars. I absolutely loved it and I couldn't stop reading it! Reading this made me feel better about myself. Katherine's book took my words out of my mouth. You go, Katherine! :) Katherine really makes you rock with this book! Trust me girls, you'll just love this book!

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What do you look for in a friendship?...

I look for honesty, kindness, compassionate, friendliness, respectful, caring, understanding, funny, nice, and somebody who's helpful, in a friendship. Somebody who uses me, acts like we are best friends, makes fun or humiliates me, ignores me, lies to me, gossips/rumors, does bad acts (crime and inappropriate things) is one who isn't a friend of mine. I don't judge a book by its cover until I see what the book is like for myself. Another words, I don't go by what a person looks like or what I hear about a person, instead I judge them by their acts and how they treat others.


friendship: noun. The state of being a friend; association as friends: to value a 
                                    person's friendship.

"A friend's eye is a good mirror."

Irish Proverb

"The only way to have a friend is to be one."

Ralph Waldo Emerson  (1803-1882)

**I want your feedback (comment) on this topic. You can answer this question (what do you look for in a friendship?)  under comments or write it on paper/a journal.**

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What would you like to change about yourself? Or what kind of person do you want to see in you?

I would like to see myself as a positive, confident, strong believer, and mature woman. I know I am all of these qualities but I know I can do much better! :)


Your Turn: Please feel free to answer this question under comments or on paper/a journal!:)

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What does happiness mean to you? Elaborate...

Happiness to me means my family and friends, my home, helping out others, living life to the fullest and enjoying every minute of it!


Your Turn: Please feel free to answer this question under comments or on paper/a journal!

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Gratitude is the new attitude!

Make a list everyday of something you are thankful for on that day!


Your Turn: What are you thankful for? Answer this question under comments or on paper/a 
 journal.

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If you had three wishes, what would you wish for?...

I would wish for:


1.) A big house where all the poor people could live in and I could take care of them!
2.) To move back to my home in Michigan.
3.) A successful life for my family, my friends, and I.


Your Turn: What would your three wishes be? Answer this question under comments or on 
 paper/a journal! :) 

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