Mid-Week Joy Report

Life is good! Enjoy the Ride! That's the theme of today's post.

First, it's my mid-week Joy Report and it's been a good week. We celebrated Brock's birthday on Saturday. He reminds me so often that life is good in SIMPLE ways. That's a lesson I need to be reminded of from time to time. As his birthday approaches each year, Brock begins to talk about what we'll do. It always - ALWAYS - includes eating at his choice of restaurants... and presents, of course. But the presents he wants are things like EL Fudge Cookies, Pringles, Fun Fruits, Butterfingers. His wants all seem to go straight to his stomach, don't they?

And he tears into those presents much like others of us would do if we thought there was an extravagant gift inside... with enthusiasm and excitement.

Thanks for the reminder, Brock. You enrich my life in many ways!

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I made twelve cards this week. One of them was the one I'm about to show you.

50 Truths Worth Knowing

Chapter 21

The Best Things to Own Are Those You Earn

As I do every week, I read a chapter/excerpt of the book 50 Truths Worth Knowing and used it for the inspiration for making a card.

This week Tony wrote about when he was 14-years-old in the early 1970's. He decided he was going to buy himself a ten-speed bicycle. Up until this time, his parents had given him every set of wheels he'd owned - first a Radio Flyer tricycle, then a two-wheeler (that he didn't describe), and finally the Sting-Ray bicycle with the banana seat and gooseneck handlebars that had been his "wheels" since he turned eleven.

Not only did Tony dream of the bike he would buy, he also dreamed of where it would take him - scenic backroads, and even a crosss-country ride. If nothing else, Tony was a dreamer.

But first, he had to earn some money. For nearly a year he mowed lawns, raked leaves, collected soda bottles, etc. And he deposited his earnings into his savings account and tallied the amount in his small green passbook.

Finally the day came. The tattered and curved passbook (it had been in his hip pocket a lot) revealed he had enough money to buy the ten-speed bicycle of his dreams. He rode his Sting-Ray bicycle to the bank and withdrew the entire balance of his savings account - a single $100 bill. And then, not long after that, he turned that green one hundred collar bill in for a yellow Schwann Continental bicycle.

Tony remembers riding that bike for a time, but soon its two wheels gave way to four -  after he "claimed the ultimate prize" - his driver's license. The bicycle might have only served him for two years - and he didn't make that cross-country trip on it - but he still recalls with a sense of accomplishment that it was the first thing he'd ever bought with money he'd earned himself, which he says makes it the best money he ever spent.

Thanks for stopping by my blog today!

Image/Sentiments: CTMH It's Your Day

Ink: Tim Holtz Distress (Black Soot and Salty Ocean)

Papers: Recollections CS and AMuse Studio DP

Embellishments: Oriental Trading Ribbon and Your Next Stamp Gum Drops