Tag Archives: hope

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The Grinch That Didn’t Steal My Christmas

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Often the Christmas Classics have an unscrupulous or “misfit”character that is central in the story. As the Christmas story unfolds, that unruly character evolves and begins to change over time, reaching a new level of understanding and empathy. The Grinch is no stranger to this scenario. The Grinch has a unique meaning for me this 2025 holiday season.

The Grinch… the neighbor North of Whoville who hated the entire Christmas season.

The Grinch…hated the thought of the people of Whoville experiencing joy on Christmas Day. He stole all of the Christmas presents, stockings, Christmas trees, feasting food and even the firewood logs!!!

The Grinch…hoped the joy of Christmas would be spoiled, every home had been emptied by him as he taken all of their possessions. But, it didn’t happen. The people of Whoville celebrated Christmas anyway.

The Grinch… eventually realized that Christmas had come without all the excitement of Christmas presents, toys, wrapping paper, and all the other components of how we often celebrate Christmas Day. Christmas was about something so much more.

The Grinch… Experiencing Cancer, sickness OR even the loss of a loved one during the holiday season. These life altering events can definitely steal the Joy of the Holiday Season and leave you feeling sad, stressed or “Grinchy”.

The Grinch…personally present for me this holiday season, but NOT stealing the hope for healing, or the joy of celebrating the holiday season with family and friends. Will the holiday look potentially different? Yes. But, so will the next few months. Meeting my care team, Surgery, radiation, and ❤️‍🩹 begin the process of healing and recovery.

The Grinch… learned that the Whoville community gathered together to celebrate what was wonderfully good about Christmas, ultimately making his heart grow bigger.

The Grinch… has nothing our own hardware community….We are blessed. I always look forward to your smiles, laughter, and conversations as you have continued to shop with us for the last 10 years. You have become a part of our family.

The Grinch… The arrival of Cancer within my own life has made me very thankful and grateful for my community of family and friends who are supporting me daily as I embark upon a journey to find wellness once again. My heart is full of strength, hope, and courage as I continue to live ONE day at a time.

The Grinch… Unable to steal Christmas away, because Christmas is so much more than the day itself. Christmas is more about tiny acts of kindness, compassion, community spirit, and finding Grace in second chance opportunities.

The Grinch… Often when sickness or grief comes, we don’t allow ourselves the opportunity to live in full grace. The daily mantra should be for us all, not just cancer patients to live ONE DAY AT A TIME. When experiencing grief, anxiety, sickness, or cancer, every single day can be challenge with ever changing health conditions, or emotions. Through God’s grace, tomorrow is a uniquely different day. Celebrate the positive days and allow ourselves to rest when we need to.

Foot Note: Earlier this month, I was officially diagnosed with Invasive Ductal Breast Cancer, my Grinch. This cancer was found after my regularly scheduled mammogram. I strongly encourage everyone to keep all medical screening appointments. It’s so easy to get “busy” in the moment and forget about or delay them months down the line.

My initial prognosis is good and surgery will be scheduled soon. I have two appointments this week in Winston Salem. Please keep us in your thoughts and prayers over the next few months. I covet your prayers.

I know many of you that might be reading this today, have faced similar health challenges whether it was long term sickness, loss of a dear loved one, or a personal battle with cancer and can empathize with my personal situation.

Moving forward, we may find it necessary to alter our store hours to accommodate my appointments. Please be patient with us as we try to navigate this new “un-normal” phase of life for us.

Please also consider that if you reach out to our social media pages that a response might be delayed due to this new phase “unwellness” I am experiencing. That being said, If you need an immediate response to a specific product question, please call the hardware store for further assistance. We thank you for your support and understanding.

Wishing y’all a very Merry Christmas season! 🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄

blogging, clover, family, finding inspiration, gardening, Hardware Store Life, Home, luck, March, memories, Natural World, photography favorites, Spring, Spring photography, St. Patrick’s Day

Finding Clover

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Many people consider clover as an invasive weed in their lawn. I believe it is now a LUCKY task for the finder… no matter if you find a 🍀 four leaf clover, all are lucky!

Why do you suggest it is a lucky task???? Clover spreads and often can take over in your grass. Is that lucky??? Well maybe not if you love a perfectly manicured lawn. But for those who continue to read this story maybe you find a bit of inspiration in finding clover today.

I found this green patch of clover flourishing several years ago in my grandparents yard. It was a thick patch of clover that was overtaking an area in their lawn near the driveway.

It was a beautiful capture for me as a photographer, and I cherish it as a sweet memory of my grandparents yard and flower garden.

Time has passed and I recently found this quote concerning clover that is too good not to share today as we are celebrating St. Patrick’s Day and it provided me a bit confirmation of what I already knew.

Legend says that each leaf of the clover has a meaning: the first is for hope, the second for faith, the third for love and, if you can find a 4-leaf clover, the fourth leaf represents luck.” —Jean LeGrand

I never found a four-leaf clover 🍀 in that small patch of clover at my grandparents house, but I was definitely LUCKY. My grandparents gave and showed me all three of those characteristics…hope, faith and love. So I consider myself to be the luckiest person alive. Here’s to you finding a beautiful patch of clover today.

Happy St. Patrick’s Day!

flowers, Hardware Store Life, Home, memories, Mother’s Day, Natural World, southern living, Spring, Summer

Flower Power

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“The Earth Laughs in Flowers”

The garden centers in May see a frenzy of activity. The Spring season has brought enough warmth and heat to keep those blooms beautiful. Do you find yourself buying the same annuals or planting the same flower seeds each year??? At the hardware store, our flower seeds are selling quickly as well as potting soil.

WCH Recommends: Using a composting soil builder along with a great potting soil mix creates a fantastic base for growing plants and flowers.
WCH Recommends: Zinnias bloomed all summer long with butterflies abounding! Stop by to pick up some seeds now for blooms later this summer.

I began to think about this the other day, my personal connections to flowers and what I plant is deeply rooted… linked to my personal life experiences and memories of those who I love and those who are no longer with us.

Hydrangeas are a favorite flower memory. I have a large snowball hydrangea that I planted several years ago based around my childhood home. These beautiful blooms here are from my granny’s garden.

I have a few favorites that I love to plant each year. The striking colors, the scents, the aesthetics, and durability(long lasting nature) of the plant definitely impacts my purchasing decisions. But, many of the reasons why I pick the same type of flowers each year is due to my associated memories with these flowers.. past celebrations, or memories of strolling through family gardens.

Aunt Mary and Pat always had their window boxes full of red geraniums every year. I always try to have a couple of red geraniums each year.

If you and I did a walk through in my garden areas at my home, it would be a definite literal story of sharing plants.. who gave them to me to transplant, or maybe the why I chose the blooming beauty for my garden and the personal connection to each flower. My question to you today, do you relate and link flowers that you plant to your cherished loved ones too?

My mom always had beautiful roses at home. I love this ketchup/mustard variety in my front garden area. Many of the varieties I have chosen are as a result of our conversations about the care of rose, heartiness of the variety.
WCH Recommends: If you have roses, this is a great product to use!

My final thought to share with you today, flowers hold power… not only the outward beauty for your home, hope, resilience to bloom even in difficult circumstances.., and cherished memories of those you love. Let’s get planting!

Hardware Store Life

Hope

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The Spring season & Easter holiday always brings a sense of hope.

Spring is beginning to emerge in all of its glory, with the grand rebirth of nature. The first flowers bloom, trees are sprouting the first tiny green leaves, & the grass awakens from its winter slumber. Birds are busy nesting, and their chirping can be heard from early mornings to late in the evening.

Easter for many people is a significant religious experience… the love of God and his Grace forever changed the world… bringing HOPE to all.

Spring of 2021 just “feels” very different from Spring 2020, which was fully immersed in the Covid pandemic.

As I recall, this time last year, our reality was very different. As a nation, we were focused on Covid, shutdowns, & finding new ways of doing business. Many businesses closed. 2020 was also spent on how to control the spread of the virus, & let’s not forget the shortages of key products. I think the list is lengthy, so I’ll not continue.

Clorox wipes, toilet paper, N95 masks, and so much more…

Our focus as business owners at Wilkes County Hardware last spring was on “essential business operations”.

When many states across the US shutdown spring of 2020, our state did also. Hardware stores were considered to be essential.

For a few months, curbside service was offered in order to keep our customers & employees safe. We are still offering call ahead curbside for anyone who wants it even still now.

Last spring we dealt with consistent shortages of all types of items. This was a new problem that we had never encountered as a business owners.

Store stock merchandise had always been always readily available prior to Covid. Trying to find alternatives or other venders was difficult at times AND still continues into 2021 spring season.

I will say that finding solutions to living during a pandemic did prove to be a challenge and how to manage a business during it all, felt at times, all encompassing.

HOPE kept us going.

I’ll conclude with one of my favorite quotes concerning hope. “May all your choices reflect your hopes not your fears”. Well done Nelson Mandela…