“Cape Kennedy” -“AMERICA’s SPACE STATION”

“Cape Kennedy”  – “AMERICA’s SPACE STATION”

L – R…..Donald…..Al and Lee, Jr. Aldrich

“How’s the  “AIR”  up there?”  The name was changed  from… Cape Canaveral, Florida  32953 –   after President Kennedy was assassinated – – so we AMERICANS would have a remembrance of what he stood for – – and  so… as AMERICANS – – we just had to see and visit…    on our way to  Merrit Island  to visit cousin,   Jimmie Brady Shilling.

I remember  – as if … it was just yesterday  –  driving up the  Florida Highway  coast and  far enough away from home…  and   stopping for breakfast. We  started our day nice and early, just so we could stop at a restaurant  other than our own.

We were planning on staying a week and enjoying the  swimming at  Jimmy’s  place on  Merrit Island.  They had spent sometime  at our home in Fort Lauderdale  – and said to come up to their place and plan on sight-seeing.

That is Al Aldrich   – sitting at the top of the base for the   AIR CRAFT – – just above his head –  Al is  near or just 2 years of age.  Al  had  already made a solo trip from Fort Lauderdale, Florida   to St.Louis, MO   via Eastern Air Lines…  at the age of eighteen months.   He is  now a licensed pilot today   –   Helicopters his favorite  way to fly – – and I often wonder – – did he like sitting up there – – did that trip to Merrit Island inspire him to learn to fly?


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“BE A MORE ENERGETIC LEADER”

HOW TO BE A MORE ENERGETIC LEADER

5 Things You Can Do Today to Regain Stamina and Enthusiasm

On more than one occasion, I’ve heard Andy Stanley say, “The best thing a leader can bring to his team is his energy.” I agree. This has certainly been my experience.

As a leader, everything you do is contagious. If you are discouraged, pessimistic, or lacking in energy, people will feel it. The organization will reflect it. It will spread faster than an oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

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Conversely, when you are upbeat, energetic, and optimistic, people also feel it. It will have a positive effect on your team and the outcomes you hope to create.

The best leaders don’t leave their energy level to chance. They are intentional about creating it. Here are some ways I have found to be a more energetic leader:

Get a Good Night’s Sleep

I have found that I need about seven hours of sleep to feel rested. Others may need more; some will need less. Determine what you need and make sure you get it. One of the best ways to do this is to get to bed on time. Avoid the temptation to stay up and squeeze in more work or play. You’re only cheating yourself. You will pay for it the next day.

Eat Smart

Your diet affects your energy level more than you realize. Don’t just eat what you enjoy at the moment. Instead, eat for the effect it will have later. This is one reason why I generally avoid pasta for lunch. It makes me sleepy and lethargic in the afternoon. Before you consume something, ask yourself, “How will this make me feel later?”

Exercise Regularly

If you are not already working out consistently, you might think that regular exercise will deplete your energy. Not so. It will actually give you more energy during the day. It doesn’t drain your energy, it replenishes it. And it will also make you sleep better at night.

Avoid Negative People

Those who are negative—or worse, cynical—will drag you down. I used to think I could bring them up. But I soon discovered that there are some people who just enjoy being miserable. They are energy vampires. They siphon the life out of you. The best antidote is to avoid them, and surround yourself with positive people.

Decide to Be Energetic

This is huge. Unless you are ill, you can be more energetic by simply acting more energetic. I am always surprised at how my emotions follow my body. If I walk faster, sit on the edge of my seat, and smile, I will eventually feel more energetic.

Your energy level has a bigger effect on your team than you may realize. The good news is that you can be a more energetic leader by becoming more aware and intentional about developing it.

If you want to go deeper, here are a few more ideas on How to Boost Your Energy Level.

The best leaders don’t leave their energy level to chance. They are intentional about creating it.  MICHAEL HYATT


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“Dear Easter Bunny, “

“I know what I want for Easter and it’s  these Chocolate Peanut Butter Eggs piled really, really, really high!”  

Chocolate Peanut Butter Eggs

Home-Made Chocolate Peanut Butter Eggs

Chocolate Peanut Butter Eggs

Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup copy-cat recipe!  Yum!!!

This is the 2nd time I ever made copy-cat Reese’s Peanut Butter Eggs and they turned out pretty good both times. 

I personally think rolling the peanut butter dough out makes the eggs look better, but you might prefer a more rounded one that you can mold with your hands.  I have done them both ways, and using a cookie cutter is easier

Chocolate Peanut Butter Eggs

 These are over the top amazing and full of peanut butter and chocolate yumminess!  Want more Easter Eggs incorporated in your Easter Holiday, here’s this M&M® Easter Egg Chocolate Bark and M&M Easter Egg Marshmallow Fudge Brownies that are wayyyy cool!

Happy Easter to all my chicklets and peeps!  Love you all!

Servings: 18
Author: Kim Lange
Ingredients
  • 1 cup creamy peanut butter
  • ¼ cup unsalted butter
  • ¼ cup light brown sugar
  • 2 cups powdered sugar
  • dash salt, optional
Chocolate Shell
  • 1 cup milk chocolate chips
  • 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
  • 2 tablespoons vegetable shortening
Instructions
  1. Line a baking sheet with wax paper and set aside.
  2. In a medium saucepan over medium heat, combine the peanut butter, butter, and brown sugar and heat until melted stirring constantly. Mixture will bubble, so make sure you keep stirring. Remove from the heat.
  3. Add the powdered sugar a little at a time, stirring until completely combined with the peanut butter mixture.  

  4. 2 Options:  Using a tablespoon ice cream scoop or a heaping tablespoon, scoop out peanut butter mixture and shape into eggs or you can roll out your peanut butter dough about 1/2 inch thick and use an egg or round cookie cutter and cut out your eggs.  If using a round cookie cutter, just smush the top and bottom of the circle together to resemble an egg.

  5. Place eggs on the baking sheet and refrigerate the peanut butter eggs to allow them to set for about 30 minutes.  If you’re in a hurry, you could place them in the freeze for 5 – 10 minutes.  

  6. Once the eggs are set, melt the chocolate chips and shortening together in the microwave in 30-second increments, stirring after each, until completely melted, approximately 2 minutes or so.

  7. Use a long-tined fork to flip each peanut butter egg when dipping it in melted chocolate to cover, letting excess chocolate drip off and place on waxed paper.   Add an extra spoonful of chocolate to the top to give it some extra chocolate on top, but don’t go overboard.  Decorate the eggs however you like. Sprinkles are always good!

  8. Return the chocolate-covered peanut butter eggs to the refrigerator to allow the chocolate to set, about 30 minutes.
  9. Store in the refrigerator in an airtight container until ready to serve.

 

“Sit back and enjoy”


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“5 Tips to Be More Positive”

5 Tips to Be More Positive

By filling up on the good stuff, there’s less room for the negative.

by Edie Melson — Posted in Positive Living on Mar 7, 2017

working mom cup of tea

I don’t consider myself a germ freak, but I try to do what I can to cut down on the chances of getting sick. I’m diligent about washing my hands, and I try to minimize my exposure to those who are already infected with a bug.

But there’s one virus that escaped my diligence back during my son’s time in the military and swept through our home, leaving devastation in its wake–the negativity virus. That nasty little bug showed up first—carried into our home by me—during our son’s time in the military. Like most viruses, it didn’t hit full force, but the symptoms showed up one after another.

The first one was my change in focus. I only noticed the difficult things happening around me. And the more I complained, the more they began to dominate my thinking. The next symptom that showed up was frustration, followed closely by impatience. The more frustrated I got, the more impatient I became. This was inevitably followed by loss of temper.

Read More: A Gold Medal in Positive Thinking

By that time the negativity virus had taken over my life and began to infect those around me. It wasn’t long before we found ourselves living in a disease-ridden environment. I knew I had to take steps to fight this bug and here’s what I did:

1)  I put a guard on my tongue and did my best to only speak things that were uplifting and positive. I worked hard to quit complaining about whatever bugged me.

2)  I listened to joyful music. Sometimes I played my favorites, at other times I played music that my two sons who were still at home enjoyed. But the idea was to lift our spirits.

3)  I posted sticky notes with encouraging quotes and Bible verses throughout the house. I put them on bathroom mirrors, kitchen cabinets—even on the microwave door. Wherever a family member might go in the house, there was a note!

4)  I did my best to turn any obstacle into a challenge for success. When I was unhappy about how infrequently I heard from our military son, I used that to spur me into writing more letters and sending more boxes his way. 

5)  Finally, I increased the time I spent in prayer and Bible reading. This was the “chicken soup” for my soul. By filling up on the good stuff, I had less room for the negative.

It took a few weeks, but finally our house was free of the negativity virus. Now that I know what to look for, I can prevent this epidemic from visiting us again. How do you make your home a positive environment?


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“a little girl named Wilma Rudolph”

A Gold Medal in Positive Thinking

How Olympic Champion runner Wilma Rudolph used faith and positive thinking to win the race

by Norman Vincent Peale — Posted on Jul 1, 200

Norman Vincent Peale

Let me tell you about a little girl named Wilma Rudolph. Wilma was born in the back woods of Tennessee in a shack to very poor people. She was a premature baby born at four and a half months and very frail. It was doubtful as to her longevity. 

When she was four years old, she had double pneumonia and scarlet fever, a combination that left her with a paralyzed and useless left leg. As a result, she had to wear an iron brace and was told by a doctor that she would never walk normally. 

Fortunately for little Wilma, she had a mother who instilled in her that despite her leg, she could do whatever she wanted to do with her life. And, she told her that all she needed to do was to have faith, persistence, courage and an indomitable spirit. 

So, at nine years of age, Wilma took away the brace and took a step that the doctor told her she never could take. In four years time, she had developed a rhythmic stride, which was a wonder medically. 

Then, Wilma got the notion—the incredible notion—that she would like to be the world’s greatest woman runner. Seems like an impossibility for a person who once had a paralyzed leg, but Wilma was determined. So, at 13, in high school, she entered a race. She came in last—way, way last. 

She entered every race they had, and every race she came in last. And, they begged her in the name of pity to quit it. But, one day, she came in next to last. And there came a day when she won the race, and from then on, she won every race that she ran. 

Then she went to Tennessee State University, where she met a coach named Ed Temple. And, Ed Temple saw the indomitable spirit of this girl—that she was a believer and that she had great natural talent. And he trained her so well that she went to the Olympic Games along with Mr. Temple. 

And, there, she was pitted against the greatest woman runner of those times, a German girl named Yetta Heine. Nobody had ever beat Yetta Heine. But, in the 100 meter, little Wilma beat her; and again in the 200 meter. Now she had two gold medals. 

But, when they handed the baton to Wilma, in her excitement, she dropped it, to see Yetta taking off down the track. It was impossible that anybody could catch this fleet and nimble girl, but Wilma did. And, she had now three gold medals.

How did she do it? She wanted to. And you will never become what you want to be, unless you want to. And, second, she knew what she wanted to become, and you’ll never in the world become what you want to be unless you know what you want to be. And, in the third place, she was a reader of the Bible and a follower of the one who said, “Nothing is impossible, if you have faith.”


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“Biggest Mistake I Made”

The Biggest Mistake I Made In My Life

There are many mistakes I have made in my life.  I hope that as I have learned from them, the lessons I’ve shared so far will help you avoid the pain and regret that follows from them.

Today I want to share the biggest mistake I made with you.

The Importance Of Situational Understanding

Before I tell you, let me share with you how I got here.  Without understanding this, you may read it and not fully absorb how important it is.

See, that’s the thing about some of the most profound lessons in our lives: it takes more than just being told a lesson, to really understand the lesson.

We have to learn them at just the right time, in just the right context, or it doesn’t actually sink in and make any difference.

Your mentors may tell you this lesson in passing, but without a proper frame of mind to accept it, you won’t realize just how powerful it is and brush it off.

The SECOND Biggest Mistake…

And in fact, that may be the second biggest mistake I have ever made in my life:

Ignoring good advice, believing it didn’t apply to me, because I was not yet ready to receive it – and wasting years of my life until I finally came around and understood how valuable that information was.

How I Realized My Mistake

We all have subconscious assumptions we make every day. We don’t even realize we have them until we are suddenly challenged on something that is “obviously” true to us, or that we take for granted every day.

One of those “obvious” assumptions I used to make was, “it’s ok I can get a second chance.” Now I know logically that’s not true, but emotionally that’s often how I treated chances in my life.

However, the truth is, I learnethere are opportunities where we never, ever get a second chance.

What we may get, if we are lucky, is a new opportunity to start over.

Or a new opportunity to try to make amends.

Or something that in our own minds allows us to “make up” for a lost opportunity.

But that friend you hurt, the birthdays, anniversaries and other special occasions we miss – there is really no going back.

And that is why….

The Biggest Mistake I Made In My Life Is This

I didn’t truly value my time or the opportunities it afforded me: I pretended I would get another chance, and so instead spent time on things that didn’t matter in the long run and that I did not have to do – missing out on the single chance I had.

Now yes – that sounds vague, but let me give you some more details of why it matters, concrete examples and action steps.

Because understanding time famine, and how valuable each day is is what led me to this realization.

Why Fixing This Mistake Cannot Wait

There are a two subconscious issues in particular that drive this mistake.  And the problem is, these subconscious issues make you feel like this mistake isn’t urgent – even though in reality, it is an emergency

Issue 1:  Pretending Letting One Thing Go Doesn’t Matter

When my days were passing me by, I never thought to myself “well, I’m letting my life slip away.”

Because in that moment, it feels like “It’s just one day” or “It’s just this one time” and “I can always see my friends tomorrow.”

You feel like there will always be another day, there will always be another chance.

But think about this:  depending on the study, up to 95% of people’s actions are habitual.  That is, we do the same thing over and over again.  Every time, and every day, we take an action that’s not truly valuing our time and making the most of it, that’s another step  towards building that habit.

And once you start letting one day or week go by without seeing your friends, or calling your family – it’s easy to let another and then another.  And then your new life, your new habit – is one where that experience no longer happens.

Why this matters: If we don’t treat this as an emergency today, we will build habits that reinforce not valuing our time – and it will be even harder to break those habits later.

Issue 2:  Not Realizing Our Mortality

While related to the first, this is a little more subtle.

And what changed it for me was when friends and family started passing away.

I remember one, she was full of life and still in college.  I was busy with classes as well.  We messaged each other, planning to get together but kept putting it off – even though we were literally at the same university.

However almost two years went by without us getting together once when she suddenly passed away.

Now what I want to emphasize is:  I didn’t have just one chance to see her. There were hundreds of days, and dozens of times we had kept in touch. But not once did we follow through on those plans because we were too busy.

For months, that experience really shook me.  I’ve forgiven myself and allowed myself to move on, but it’s a mistake that I made that cannot be undone. There is no second chance.

Why this matters: If you don’t appreciate your own mortality, you feel no urgency to change. There is “tomorrow” to change – and tomorrow turns into never.

 What Can You Do About It?

There are a few action steps you can take right now:

  1. Start calculating “costs” and “benefits” in terms of time. Often we look at something and weigh the monetary, currency costs because those are easy – the price of the item is right there. But try to get in the habit of thinking of time as your most important currency.  Is “express shipping” really too expensive at $20 (even if it looks like a total rip-off) if the benefit is 3 more days of using a product that will save you 2 hours a day?
  2. Try to be more aware of falling into habits and default behavior.  I talk about this at length in my article about taking control of your life, the short version is this: when you’re doing something, really ask yourself – is this what I should be doing? Or do I just do this because I’ve always done it? Example: Do I always walk in the house, sit down and turn on the TV? Or do I always check my phone for social updates as soon as I wake up, and before I go to sleep? 
  3. Start the day by paying yourself first. As the day goes on it gets more hectic, and you may have more external things to respond to.  If you can start the day fresh by focusing on yourself and your long term goals, even in just a small way for a few minutes, it will help you build that awareness of your time so you can value it throughout the day.

This is part 2 in the How to Control Your Time series.  Get the full series via email along. I’ll also be releasing a white paper special report soon titled: How To Control Your Time and Your Life.  Sign up and I’ll send that to you as well.

 

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