Kathleen Smith's Blog, page 15

Downsizing: From SUV – Coupe

For a little over twenty years now I’ve either been driving a mini van, an expedition or an explorer. Those would be the family cars. I would use these cars to help out with school field trips and activities. We would also use these cars for big family trips. We had so much fun in these cars.

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Before all this I drove a Pontiac 6000. That was my car. The car I paid for. After My husband and I got married I decided to give my Pontiac to my parents because I knew they needed a car and since my husband had one for us to use, it seemed like a good idea.

Now that my kids are older there is no need for me to be driving a six passenger vehicle. My oldest will be getting married soon. My middle child doesn’t like going anywhere with mom and dad and my youngest is at the age where she doesn’t find it fun hanging out with mom and dad that much anymore either.

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All this got my husband and I thinking it was time for a smaller car. A car that would be for me. A car I could have fun driving to town or wherever else I want to go. So the search began. I looked at the Ford Escape. I didn’t like it. I test drove a KIA Soul and I did like that. We looked at some other cars and then my husband asked me to look at the Fiat 500. I wasn’t sure about that car, but decided to be open minded. As soon as I sat in the drivers seat I fell in love. I test drove it and wanted to take off with that Fiat. Hearing my husband tell me how cute I look behind that wheel was kind of a deal breaker (hahaha).

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We agreed to wait until after our trip to Italy to make sure that was the car I really wanted. Well after a couple of taxis rides in Fiat’s my mind was made up. I couldn’t stop thinking about that little two door car. That was the one I wanted! So when we got back home we bought the Fiat 500.

I love this little car. It’s so easy to use. It fits me like a glove. My husband says it fits my personality and style.

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A Week in Italy

I’ve wanted to visit Italy since I was about twelve years old. A dream I never thought would happen and yet here I am. I’ve been trying all week to figure out how to describe Italy for this blog and I can honestly tell you I’m having trouble finding the right words. So how about I start with Naples.

NAPLES/NAPOLI

Before I got to Naples I was warned to hold on tight to my pocketbook and to watch out for pick pockets. So I did just that. It didn’t take long for me to realize that Naples was a lot like Brooklyn and NYC. Since I was born and raised in Brooklyn I quickly figured out how to go about walking around the city. Yes, hold my pocketbook, but not always for dear life. Be on your guard without people knowing you are and all will be good.

I was told there would be graffiti in this city, but I figured I’ve seen that in Brooklyn so no big deal. Yeah, BIG deal! I’ve never seen so much graffiti before. Naples has Brooklyn beat by a landslide. I don’t get why this city doesn’t clean it up. I’ve also never seen so many concrete apartment buildings in my life. Everywhere you go there are plain concrete apartment buildings that are five or six stories high. There is nothing pretty about this city, but the old streets and markets are charming. However, I will tell you though the food is good and Naples has the best gelato I’ve ever had.
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Vesuvius

My family and I took a tour bus up to Mount Vesuvius. It looked to me as if that bus company is ran by the Italian mafia, but I can’t prove that. The drive up was pretty and a bit on the scary side. We were dropped off so we could walk the rest of the way up to the top which took about twenty-five minutes, on lava sand. It wasn’t an easy walk, but we did it. Once we got to the top of Vesuvius, what a view! The volcano wasn’t what I was expecting. In all honesty I’m not sure what I was expecting, but not a huge whole. Well not like that any way.

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Amalfi Coast

[image error] We had a guide recommended by Rick Steves– Raphael Monetti— drive us along the Amalfi Coast. It rained on and off all day. The rain didn’t matter, that part of Italy is beautiful and breathtaking whether it’s a sunny day or raining. Seeing all the little towns built into the side of the mountains was quite the sight to say the least. Raphael was nice to chat with. He knows his history and he’s a good driver. I would highly recommend him for that tour. We went in February when it’s chilly to cold and raining, so most of the tourists places were closed. If you like the hot weather though and beaches I would suggest you go in July and August. Over all the Amalfi Coast was amazing and beautiful.

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Pompeii

We had our own personal guide for the ancient city of Pompeii and I can tell you it was well worth it. Getting to see an ancient city that up until this point I had only seen movies of was unbelievable! Pompeii is so much bigger then I realized. It was amazing to walk around only a small portion of Pompeii. To walk along the streets, getting to use the big stone steps in order to cross the street, seeing the indentations from the wagon wheels so many centuries ago, standing right in the middle of the town square! The list goes on and on. We could have easily spent all day there and we still wouldn’t have seen everything. The fact that this city still exists to this extent is completely unbelievable and so worth the trip.

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San Fele/Castelgrande

We rented a car to drive to San Fele so we could get official birth certificate of my great grandma Graziano. On the way there was a snowstorm that we managed to get stuck in. A Good Samaritan came to our rescue and helped put chains on our tires. By the time we got to San Fele we were tired and hungry and everything was pretty much closed. We stayed in a cute little house over night. The next morning we got the paperwork we needed and then drove through Castelgrande where my great grandpa Christiano was born. Both of these mountain towns were breathtaking in their own way. Getting to see and stay where my family is from was special to me. Something I never in a million years thought I would do.

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Rome/Roma

Rome was a nice place to visit. Getting to see the Coliseum and walk through it was pretty cool. The fact that, that place is still standing is amazing in and of itself. We got to see that famous fountain that is in so many movies and what a sight it was. We had the chance to see some other ancient ruins in that city as well which was pretty cool.

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Vatican City

I have to say to my pleasant surprise the Vatican City was absolutely nothing like what I was expecting. I for some reason thought I would see priests and bishops all over the place which–I wasn’t looking forward to. When I didn’t see any I was relieved! And I have to say the Vatican is something to see.Like so many other sights it wowed me and I truly wasn’t expecting that. The Sistine chapel was simply WOW. I went to Vatican City upon my husbands request for this trip and I am glad I agreed.

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Good Things to Know



Even though the temperature is around 55 degrees in Italy, in February wearing a winter jacket is a good idea. It rains A LOT which makes it feel colder then what it really is.
Italy has the absolute best gelato I’ve ever had. You can easily find one or two different gelato shops on every block if not every other block. I found my favorite was this place in Naples called Fantasia and my favorite flavor was dark chocolate.
Italy has these caffe/coffee bars. They are pretty cool actually. You go in and you order an espresso or a Cafe Americana. You pay and then you drink it right there at the bar. Some places have a seating area with tables and chairs. You can sit for a while there while they serve you. It does cost more to sit, but after hours of walking around Italy it is well worth the price.
The public rest rooms in Italy are something else and not in a good way. In Naples we quickly learned to bring our own toilet tissue with us from the place we were staying in. For some reason most of the public rest rooms, including the cafes, restaurants and museums did not have toilet seats. Why? I couldn’t tell you, but they don’t. Sometimes they have toilet tissue. Sometimes they don’t. As for being clean, a clean one is hard to come by as well. There were a couple of places that had everything BUT a toilet seat and they were clean. Thankfully the house we stayed in DID have a toilet seat.

An Answered Prayer

Hear my prayer, O Lord, give ear to my supplications: in thy faithfulness answer me, and in they righteousness. Psalms 143:1

Having a specific prayer request isn’t unusual. Countless numbers of people have them every day. That one prayer that they are looking for an answer to from God. Sometimes it can take days, weeks, months or even years before that one request is answered. Then there are times when a prayer request is answered as fast as it was asked. Strange how that works. Sometimes God makes people wait for what feels like forever and other time He answers in an instant. Well you know that old saying don’t you – everything in God’s perfect timing – It’s true. Not always easy but true.

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A couple of months back in November this happened to me. I was taking a shower and I started talking to God. This isn’t unusual for me. I happen to like talking with God when I’m taking a shower. It’s kind of like my alone time with him. Anyway, I was feeling down about not getting any book sales. I hadn’t had one in a while with any of my books. It was making me feel bad about myself. With all the promoting I was doing I was getting nowhere.

Give ear, O Lord, unto my prayer; and attend to the voice of my supplications. Psalms 86:6

That’s when I decided to ask God for a book sale. I told him I didn’t care which book it was. Whether it be my Miscarriages book, my Brooklyn/Upstate book or my HeyYou book. I really didn’t care. All I asked him for was one book sale.

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Later that same morning I was checking my email. As I scrolled through my messages I noticed a familiar name from about two years ago. I was curious at what this lady wanted so I opened up the message. She wanted to know if I remembered her from the first time she emailed me about wanting to purchase seventy-five paperback copies of my Miscarriages book for use in her ministry. Of course I remembered her! She also let me know she was almost out of them and wanted to know if she could purchase another seventy-five copies. I was in complete surprise! I knew that was an answer to my prayer earlier that morning. In fact I looked up and as I cried I said “I know that was YOU God”. He answered my specific prayer so fast I couldn’t believe it.

“But truly God has listened; he has attended to the voice of my prayer.” Psalm 66:19

Let me explain a little about this lady. She works with a number of different hospitals. She hands out gift baskets to women who have had miscarriages and she wanted to be able to put a copy of my Miscarriage book in the gift package. She also asked if it would be possible to purchase the paperbacks at a discount. Of course I was more then happy to agree to that! I am always willing to give discounts to people like that when they want to order large amounts of my book for a good cause.

I couldn’t get over how fast God answered that specific prayer request I had. It was like He was saying to me “I hear you and I will give you more then what you asked for”. That was a huge blessing to me.

DNA Test Results

I think it’s safe to say that most people are curious about where their families came from. What Country did their ancestors live in way back when? How did they go from one Country to the next? When did they decided to move to America? Or any other Country for that matter? The list goes on and on.

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I’m no different. I’ve always been curious when it came to my families history. So growing up I always asked questions. I would always start with my parents. What they didn’t know I asked my aunts, uncles, great aunts and great uncles. And of course I asked my grandparents too. For the most part when people look at me it’s pretty easy to tell I’m Italian. What they never guess is that I’m also Irish with a hint of English.  It was always pretty obvious to me that I come from an Italian and Irish background. The Italian being obvious with all the yelling, talking with the hands and the Italian food. They even spoke Italian here and there. The Irish was the beer drinking along with meat and potatoes and lack of hand gestures. Watching and listening  to both sides of my family made that pretty obvious. It wasn’t until I asked about my great great grandma on my mother’s dad’s side of my family that I found out she came from England.

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Okay I’m getting ahead of myself. So growing up I wanted to know what part of Italy and Ireland my family was from. For the longest time I was only able to get bits and pieces of information . I knew my dad’s family came from Naples and Sicily. I knew my mom’s dad’s family came from Ireland.

My husband and I thought it would be cool to give Ancentry.com a try. We found all sorts of different documents like birth certificates and death certificates. It has done us well over the years. With it we were able to find out more about my family. Like where exactly in Naples my ancestors lived, and what part of Northern Ireland my Irish ancestors started in. We were able to find more about when my relatives were born and died. The list goes on and on.

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For Christmas my husband bought me one of those Ancestry.com DNA tests. We thought it would be fun to see what they come up with for my family. It was an easy process collecting my DNA for the test. Getting my results back took a couple of weeks. I would say it was worth the wait.

They pretty much told me what I already knew with a few more details. It was pretty cool to see how they gathered all the information. Is this test 100% accurate? I couldn’t tell you that. What I can tell you is Ancestry was spot on for me. They confirmed what I already knew. I am hoping this will some how allow me to better further my search for distant relatives. And who knows maybe find relatives who still live in Italy and Ireland.

 

HAIR: Curly, Straight, Natural or Colored

Have you ever noticed how girls with curly hair want straight hair? Or how girls with straight hair want curly hair? You never hear a girl say “I love my straight hair” or “ I love my curls”.

What you do see though are girls either buying hair straighteners or curling irons. Or they go to the beauty parlor and pay tons of money to get one or the other done. Girls seem to never be satisfied with the hair they are given.

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I admit for years I was the same way. I have naturally curly hair. But for the longest time it annoyed me. I thought straight hair was nicer. So I too bought a hair straightener. It would take me an hour to get my hair straight and then I had to make sure I did it on a day that wasn’t raining. You see with my hair one drop of rain would undo that hour it took for me to straighten my hair. After a while I gave up and decided to go with my natural curls. In fact I decided to embrace it.

One morning after washing my hair I decided to see how my hair would air dry without putting it in a ponytail. It turned out my hair completely and slowly curled all on its own. It looked great and I received more comments on my curly hair then I ever did on my straight hair. Go figure!

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If that’s not enough you also have girls who either like their natural hair color or girls who like to dye their hair. So often you will see brunettes with blonde roots or blondes with dark roots. This I don’t get. Why when you have one hair color would you want to be the other? Then you have highlights which I will admit I had done to my own hair twice. After that I decided that was enough.

Of course you also have women who refuse to let their gray hairs show, so they cover them up. That can get expensive! When it comes to gray hairs, for me, I say go natural. I always tell people if it was good enough for my mom, it’s good enough for me!

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I know there are women who refuse to let their gray hairs show. They think it looks awful or they think it makes them look old. But, you know I’ve seen women with gray hair and they look beautiful. I’ve even been told it looks nice on me.

These are all only my opinions. Personally I think women should be happy with what they have, whether that be curly or straight hair. Brunette, blonde or gray. Enjoy it and embrace it. After all it is apart of who YOU are!

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Book Review: Murder at an Irish Wedding

I recently finished reading the book Murder at an Irish Wedding by Carlene O’Connor. Before that I read and finished Murder in an Irish Village. I meant to write a review on the first book, but I managed to forget. So today’s blog will be two fold.

[image error]Before I tell you what I think of the second book, let me say Murder in an Irish Village was a good book. I started listening to it on audio with my husband and ended up never finishing it that way. I wanted to read it instead. This book was worth the read. Carlene has a way of making her books rather vivid. I enjoyed the mystery and a bit of romance that she added with the two main characters Siobhan O’Sullivan and the Garda (police man) Macdara. I loved reading about the small towns in Ireland. This author had me guessing until the very end on who the murderer was. Murder in an Irish Village was an overall good book. The characters, the scenes in the little Irish towns and the love story that begins with the two main characters makes for a nice read.


Now lets talk about Murder at an Irish Wedding shall we!

[image error]This book was just as good as the first! I love how the romance continues between Siobhan and Garda Macdara. I love how they try to figure out who did it together. I enjoyed reading about the ancient ruins in this book as well as the first. I love how Siobhan’s brother’s and sister’s help her try to solve a murder. As I read the book I kept trying to figure out who the murderer was and ever time I was wrong. It wasn’t until the end once again that I figured it out and was I surprised!

Just to let you know there is a Pronunciations and Glossary in the front of the first book Murder in an Irish Village. I highly suggested you use it as you read these books. It will help you as it did me. One of the nice things about reading these two books for me was the fact that I have been to Ireland twice now. So I had a clear picture in my head of what these little towns and ruins looked like. That made reading these books even more enjoyable for me. I even had a laugh or two at some of the things that were written in these books. Things I remember seeing and hearing first hand while in Ireland.

These books were good and I thoroughly enjoyed them. I would recommend them to anyone. I am also looking forward to reading the next Irish murder mystery by Carlene O’Connor.

Above All Else, LOVE

“Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends…”

‭1 Corinthians‬ ‭13:4-8‬ ‭ESV

This week I was reminded twice to show love towards others. Both of those times 1 Corinthians 13 was mentioned.

The first time was during my devotions.

I wasn’t having a good week this week. Things were bothering me that I shouldn’t let bother me. I was butting heads with my son. And other things were happening, on Facebook of all places. Then I read 1 Corinthians 13:4-8. It was talking about love. I had to read it a second time. It was then that it hit me I haven’t been showing love towards my son or others.

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Instead I was trying to get things done in a certain way. My way. Which may work for me, but that doesn’t mean it will necessarily work for them. While my son was sick this week I forgot what we were butting heads about and I showed him love. Instead of telling him what to do I lovingly suggested he do certain things. To my surprise he did everything I suggested. He responded to my love.

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The second time this week was while I was watching Victoria with my husband. At the end of the episode Queen Victoria was talking about the Irish Famine and how she wouldn’t let those people suffer. She quoted 1 Corinthians 13:4 and I was completely shocked. I turned to my husband and said “that was my devotions today “! My husband was quick to respond by saying “maybe God is trying to tell you something “.  I was like ya think!

It was a reminder to me to show love towards people. Above all be kind, be gentle, love. Do my best not to be rude or annoying. To remember people respond much better to love above any other feeling you can show towards them.

I want to do better at loving people. Whether it be my son. My husband. Friends or family. Facebook pages I’m involved with. Twitter or people I see in the stores. I want to remember and show love.

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2017 You Were Amazing! – 2018 Are You Up to the Challenge?

Happy New Year everyone! So I haven’t written a blog in about two weeks. Between the holidays, Christmas parties, family gatherings and everything in between I was super busy. With all that was going on I decided it was best to wait until after the holidays to start my blog again. So here I am trying to get back into the swing of things. At the moment I don’t think I am doing so well.

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I was thinking about writing what I did each month on this blog–like I did for the end of 2016, but I decided that was long and boring. Instead I will give you all the highlights of my 2017. Isn’t that nice of me?

2017 started with me anxiously waiting for my first trip to England and France. March finally came around and my husband, our youngest daughter and I went to England and France. We had a great time in both places! Getting to finally see Big Ben in person was most definitely a wow moment for us. I can’t tell you how many times my husband and I looked at each other and said “I can’t believe we are actually here!” It was quite the site.

We also had the opportunity to tour Westminster Abby. I had no idea there was so much to look at in that place. I mean, seriously, that place is amazing. The history inside the building alone was mind blowing. I did my best to take it all in.

While in England we did so much walking it was unbelievable. We certainly didn’t have to worry about getting our exercises in while there. We went to museums. We went to afternoon tea. We got to see Buckingham Palace. At least the outside of it anyway. We had our own personal tour guide in one of those cool looking cabs for two days. On one of those days, Craig our cab driver took us to see Stone Henge and to the little English village where movies like Harry Potter were filmed a little. Oh, we also went to the Tower Bridge. What a cool bridge! And the tour was nice as well. We were able to go to Liverpool, England one day to see the Church my great grandpa was baptized in as a baby. It was nice to see the Church some of my ancestors were a part of. The cab driver that took us there thought that was a strange request. He also thought it was even stranger that we didn’t care to see anything about the Beatles.

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France was our next and last stop on our vacation in March. That was another amazing trip all on its own. We stayed in a cute house out in the Country. That house was a short walk from Château de Pierrefonds which is also know as Camelot in the BBC show Merlin. Visiting that castle was a dream come true for me since I am a big Merlin fan. It was cool to be able to recognize different rooms from the show and see the stairs that they so often went up and down on in Merlin.

We were able to walk around that little town while we were there. We ate the local food which was really good. We did go to another little town and walked around that. It was cute as well and I bought a nice top there.

Of course we went to Notre Dame, the Eiffel Towel, the Arc de Triomphe and other places. But I would have to say the most amazing part of France was getting to see Versailles. That places was more then amazing. That was jaw dropping wow! Oh yeah, I bought lipstick in Paris! I know that sounds silly, but I was determined to buy lipstick in Paris and I did.

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My second highlight for 2017 was spending five weeks of my Summer in Ireland. Those five weeks were beyond wonderful. We went to as many different parts of Ireland as we could while we were there. For four of those weeks we stayed in a house in Trim across from Trim Castle. This is the Castle used in filming the movie Braveheart. While in Trim we got to know the locals better and had the chance to try their food. You can read more about Trim in my blog — My Stay in Trim Ireland.

We went to Dublin often. We went to Belfast I think twice. One of those times we spent a day with my friend Samantha and her family. We went to the Giants Causeway, the Dark Hedges, Slane Castle and the list goes on and on. We went to as many ancient ruins as we could. I have this thing for ancient ruins, especially castles. We spent a week in Dingle and had a great time there. Overall Ireland was truly amazing. And we didn’t get to see everything. We made friends over there that I know will last a lifetime. I miss Ireland more then I can say.

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There is one other major event that did happen in 2017. It didn’t happen to me, but I’m still excited about it. My oldest daughter got engaged around Thanksgiving time to a very nice guy. I think that made for a nice end to 2017. As for this new year 2018 we have more trips ahead of us that we are excited about. And we have a wedding to plan and eventually attend. Here’s looking at you 2018!

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Being a Mom Isn’t Easy

Being a mom isn’t easy. In fact I think it has to be one of the hardest jobs there is. From the day our children were born until they are married, as a mom I am always worrying about them. I imagine even after the kids are grown and married I will worry.


When I think about it I think there have been stages of being a mom and worrying about my children that I have gone through.
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First I had a newborn. For me, as a first time mom everything was a guessing game. Why is the baby crying? Does the baby need a diaper change? Is the baby hungry? Is the baby sick? Maybe the baby just wants to be held? Is the baby teething? So many questions! And all the while I was worrying if I was doing a good job being a mom. For the first couple of weeks though all my baby really wanted or needed was to eat, sleep, pee and poop. Everything else falls into place.
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Then I had the toddler stage. This is where I had a better idea of what my kids wanted and needed. The foods they like and don’t like. Whether they prefer juice or milk. When they need to use the bathroom. When they aren’t feeling good. With all this I still worried. I still want to be the best mom I can be. I wanted to make sure I had everything I needed when my toddler didn’t feel good. Even if that meant sitting in front of the TV, watching a movie, under the blanket. All this while I held my “baby”.
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The next stage is the kid stage. I think this was when my kids were of school age.  At least that’s what I’m calling it. This is when I could tell my child was getting a cold or the flu or something. This is when I only had to look at something in a store and knew my child would like that toy or snack. This is the stage where I had to say good-bye to my little one on their first day of Kindergarten. I don’t know about other mom’s, but I cried with all three of my children on the first day of Kindergarten. I worried about them the entire time they were in school on that first day. And then between Kindergarten and twelfth grade I worried about everything in between. Their first sleepover at another house. Their first time going away for a week WITH OUT me. Their first field trip. The list goes on and on.
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The last stage is before my kids get married. This is the stage where my kids are the ages from eighteen on up. This is where I am  worried about my kids driving. I pray constantly for their safety while my kids are out and about. This is when I can’t get to sleep until I know my kids are back home safe. This is when I want to give them advice, but I know they need to learn on their own. Even when I can see they are about to learn the hard way and there isn’t anything I can do to stop it.  This is also the time when I know my kids are pushing themselves to far physical and I warn them they will get sick if they don’t slow down and get some rest. Whether my children listen to me or not is another story.

So you see being a mom really isn’t easy. From the day my children were born to that day my child drove away from the house for the first time, it wasn’t easy. I am always worrying about something. Wanting to know my kids are safe and healthy. I want to love them and nurture them always. I want to hold them when they hurt. I want to hug them. I want to snuggle with them under a blanket and watch TV on cold winter days. I want to always be their mommy no matter what age they are.

I’m Not Luck to Have My Husband

“You’re a lucky woman”. “You’re lucky to have a husband like that”. “You’re so luck to have a husband who takes you to Europe”. “You’re lucky to have a husband who tells you to get out of the house and shop”. “You’re lucky your husband is willing to pay for your dad’s train ticket”. “You’re lucky”.

You have no idea how often I hear people tell me how lucky I am to have my husband. They think I’m lucky because of all of the above that I wrote and more. Normally I smile and say “I know” or I say “I’m not lucky I’m blessed.”  Only yesterday I was on the phone with a good friend of mine and she said “You really lucked out with a guy like your husband treating you so well.”

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Here’s the thing. I’m not lucky. I truly am blessed to have my husband as my husband. He does love me and he loves to give me everything and anything. He loves to treat me like a queen every chance he gets. He loves to give me stuff just cause. I mean the man brings me home chocolate and Starbuck’s when he knows I’m having a bad day.

This might sound strange to some people, but I believe the reason why I am blessed to have a husband who loves me as much as my husband does, is because before I met him I prayed. I asked God to bring that one special man into my life for me to marry. I promised God in that prayer that I wouldn’t date any guys until he brought that one special man into my life. I didn’t care how long it took. I was willing to wait. It did take a bit, but the Lord heard my prayers and He answered them.

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Now you might be thinking how in all the world would I know when I met the right guy. The guy God chose for me instead of dating a bunch of guys to try to figure out which one was the right one. Easy I trust my God. I knew He had that special person for me. And my husband was well worth the wait. He is my perfect match in every way possible.

I waited. God saw my faith and trust in Him. He blessed me with my husband. I’ve been blessed above and beyond with my marriage as well. My husband and I have been married for almost twenty four years now so I would definitely say I have truly been blessed by God. I pray that my love for my husband continues to grow with each year. And I will continue to be thankful for the blessing I’ve been giving with my husband.

So, I’m not lucky to have my husband I’m blessed!