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THE LAWS OF LIFE
Law of Mechanical Repair
After your hands become coated with grease, your nose will begin to itch or you’ll have to pee.

Law of the Workshop
Any tool, when dropped, will roll to the least accessible corner.

Law of Probability
The probability of being watched is directly proportional to the stupidity of your act.

Law of the Telephone
If you dial a wrong number, you never get a busy signal.

Law of the Alibi
If you tell the boss you were late for work because you had a flat tire, the very next morning you will have a flat tire.

Variation Law
If you change lines (or traffic lanes), the one you were in will start to move faster than the one you are in now (works every time).

Law of the Bath
When the body is fully immersed in water, the telephone rings

Law of Close Encounters
The probability of meeting someone you know increases dramatically when you are with someone you don’t want to be seen with.

Law of the Result
When you try to prove to someone that a machine won’t work, it will.

Law of Biomechanics
The severity of the itch is inversely proportional to the reach.

Law of the Theater
At any event, the people whose seats are furthest from the aisle arrive last.

Law of Coffee
As soon as you sit down to a cup of hot coffee, your boss will ask you to do something which will last until the coffee is cold.

Murphy’s Law of Lockers
If there are only two people in a locker room, they will have adjacent lockers.

Law of Rugs/Carpets
The chances of an open-faced jelly sandwich landing face down on a floor covering are directly correlated to the newness and cost of the carpet/rug.

Law of Location
No matter where you go, there you are.

Law of Logical Argument
Anything is possible if you don’t know what you are talking about.

Brown’s Law
If the shoe fits, it’s ugly.

Oliver’s Law
A closed mouth gathers no feet.

Wilson’s Law
As soon as you find a product that you really like, they will stop making it. (This one is true every time!)

Doctors’ Law
If you don’t feel well, make an appointment to go to the doctor, by the time you get there you’ll be fine.

Author unknown ~~~

Respectfully submitted by Mary Herbert of the Philadelphia Chapter of the Wilson Lake Herbert Family Reunion Circle

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(This has been our weather off and on for the past few weeks- especially today, it’s really beautiful but,

looking forward to Spring!)

6 Things Happy People Never Do, by Marc Chernoff

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Happiness is not something you postpone for the future;
it is something you design into the present.

Happy people do a lot of things. They spend time expressing gratitude, cultivating optimism, practicing kindness, nurturing loving relationships, committing to meaningful goals, savoring life’s little pleasures, and so on and so forth.

But they NEVER…
1. Mind other people’s business.

Forget about what others are doing. Stop looking at where they are and what they have. Nobody is doing better than you because nobody can do better than you. YOU are walking your own path. Sometimes the reason we struggle with insecurity is because we compare our behind-the-scenes circumstances with everyone else’s public highlight reel. We listen to the noise of the world, instead of ourselves. So stop the comparisons! Ignore the distractions. Listen to your own inner voice. Mind your own business.

Keep your best wishes and your biggest goals close to your heart and dedicate time to them every day. Don’t be scared to walk alone, and don’t be scared to enjoy it. Don’t let anyone’s ignorance, drama, or negativity stop you from being the best you can be. Keep doing what you know in your heart is right, for YOU. Because when you are focused on meaningful work and at peace within yourself, almost nothing can shake you. (Angel and I discuss this in more detail in the “Passion and Growth” chapter of 1,000 Little Things Happy, Successful People Do Differently.)
2. Seek validation of self-worth from others.

When you are content to simply be yourself, without comparing and competing to impress others, everyone worthwhile will respect you. And even more importantly, you will respect yourself.

How are you letting others define you? What would you do differently if you knew nobody would judge you?

Truth be told, no one has the right to judge you. People may have heard your stories, and they may think they know you, but they can’t feel what you are going through; they aren’t living YOUR life. So forget what they think and say about you. Focus on how you feel about yourself, and keep walking the path that feels best under your feet.

Those who accept you are your friends. Those who don’t are your teachers. If someone calls you something and it’s true, it’s not your problem because it’s true. If someone calls you something and it’s not true, it’s not your problem because it’s not true. Either way, whatever they call you is not your problem. What other people call you is their problem…

What you call yourself, and who you decide to become, is your problem.
3. Rely on other people and external events for happiness.

Unhappiness lies in that gap between what we have now and what we think we need. But the truth is, we don’t need to acquire anything more to be content with what we already have. We don’t need anyone else’s permission to be happy. Your life is magnificent not because someone says it is, or because you have acquired something new, but because you choose to see it as such. Don’t let your happiness be held hostage. It is always yours to choose, to live and experience.

As soon as you stop making everyone and everything else responsible for your happiness, the happier you’ll be. If you’re unhappy now, it’s not someone else’s fault. Take full responsibility for your own unhappiness, and you will instantly gain the ability to be happier. Stop seeking in vain to arrange conditions that will make you happy. Simply choose to appreciate the greatness that is yours in this moment, and the right conditions will start to line up around the contentment you seek.

The greater part of your happiness or unhappiness depends upon your outlook, and not upon our situation. Even if things aren’t perfect right now, think of all the beauty still left around you. A good reason to smile is always one thought away; choose to tap into it any time you like. (Read The Gifts of Imperfection.)
4. Hold on to resentment.

Let today be the day you stop being haunted by the ghosts from your past. What happened in the past is just one chapter in your story; don’t close the book, just turn the page.

We’ve all been hurt by our own decisions and by others, and while the pain of these experiences is normal, sometimes it lingers for too long. Feelings of resentment urge us to relive the same pain over and over, and we have a hard time letting go.

Forgiveness is the remedy. It allows you to focus on the future without combating the past. To understand the infinite potential of everything going forward is to forgive everything already behind you. Without forgiveness, wounds can never be healed and personal growth can never be achieved. It doesn’t mean you’re erasing the past, or forgetting what happened. It means you’re letting go of the resentment and pain, and instead choosing to learn from the incident and move on with your life.
5. Spend prolonged periods of time in negative environments.

You can’t make positive choices for the rest of your life without an environment that makes those choices easy, natural, and enjoyable. So protect your spirit and potential from contamination by limiting your time with negative people and the environments they inhabit.

When other people invite you to act like victims, when they whine and moan about the unfairness of life, for example, and ask you to agree, to offer condolences, and to participate in their grievances, WALK AWAY. When you join in that game of negativity you always lose.

Even when you’re alone, create a positive mental space for yourself. Make it a point to give up all the thoughts that make you feel bad, or even just a few of them that have been troubling you, and see how doing that changes your life. You don’t need negative thoughts. They are all lies. They solve nothing. All they have ever given you is a false self that suffers for no reason. (Read Buddha’s Brain.)
6. Resist the truth.

It is a certain deathtrap when we spend our lives learning how to lie, because eventually these lies grow so strong in our minds that we become bad at seeing, telling and living our own truth. Lives come apart so easily when they have been held together with lies. If you resist the truth, you will live a lie every day as the truth haunts your thoughts every night. You simply can’t get away from your truth by moving dishonestly from one place to the next.

So don’t bend; don’t water it down; don’t try to hide the truth with deception; don’t edit your own soul according to the fashion of what’s popular. It is better to offer no explanation or excuse than a false one. It takes courage and strength to admit the truth, but it is the only way to truly live. Accept what is, embrace it fully, and live for the possibilities that lie ahead.

Respectfully Submitted by Mary Herbert, Philadelphia Chapter of the Wilson Lake Herbert Family Reunion Circle

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(Images of Radio Console and Bumper Jack for changing tires are shown also.)

12 inch Television

OLDER THAN DIRT

‘Someone asked the other day, ‘What was your favorite fast food when
you were growing up?’
‘We didn’t have fast food when I was growing up,’ I informed him.
‘All the food was slow.’
‘C’mon, seriously. Where did you eat?’

‘It was a place called ‘at home,” I explained!
‘Mom cooked every day and when Dad got home from work, we sat down
together at the dining room table, and if I didn’t like what she put
on my plate I was allowed to sit there until I did like it.’

By this time, the kid was laughing so hard I was afraid he was going
to suffer serious internal damage, so I didn’t tell him the part about
how I had to have permission to leave the table. But here are some
other things I would have told him about my childhood if I figured his
system could have handled it :

Some parents NEVER owned their own house, never wore Levis , never set
foot on a golf course, never traveled out of the country or had a
credit card. In their later years they had something called a
revolving charge card. The card was good only at Sears & Robuck. Or
maybe it was Sears & Roebuck. Either way, there is no Roebuck anymore.
Maybe he died.

My parents never drove me to soccer practice. This was mostly because
we never had heard of soccer. I had a bicycle that weighed probably 50
pounds, and only had one speed, (slow)
We didn’t have a television in our house until I was 10. It was, of
course, black and white, and the station went off the air at midnight,
after playing the national anthem and a poem about God; it came back
on the air at about 6 a.m. And there was usually a locally produced
news and farm show on, featuring local people.

I was 15 before I tasted my first pizza, it was called ‘pizza pie.’
When I bit into it, I burned the roof of my mouth and the cheese slid
off, swung down, plastered itself against my chin and burned that,
too. It’s still the best pizza I ever had..
I never had a telephone in my room. The only phone in the house was in
the living room and it was on a party line. Before you could dial, you
had to listen and make sure some people you didn’t know weren’t
already using the line.

All newspapers were delivered by boys and all boys delivered
newspapers — my brother delivered a newspaper, 7 days a week. It cost
5 cents a paper, of which he got to keep 2 cents. He had to get up at
6AM every morning. On Saturday, he had to collect from his customers.
His favorite customers were the ones who gave him 50 cents and told
him to keep the change. His least favorite customers were the ones who
seemed to never be home on collection day.

Movie stars kissed with their mouths shut. At least, they did in the
movies. There were no movie ratings because all movies were
responsibly produced for everyone to enjoy viewing, without profanity
or violence or most anything offensive.

If you grew up in a generation before there was fast food, you may
want to share some of these memories with your children or
grandchildren. Just don’t blame me if they bust a gut laughing.

Growing up isn’t what it used to be, is it?
MEMORIES from a friend :
My Dad is cleaning out my grandmother’s house (she died in December)
and he brought me an old Royal Crown Cola bottle. In the bottle top
was a stopper with a bunch of holes in it.. I knew immediately what it
was, but my daughter had no idea.. She thought they had tried to make
it a salt shaker or something I knew it as the bottle that sat on the
end of the ironing board to ‘sprinkle’ clothes with because we didn’t
have steam irons. Man, I am old.

How many do you remember?
Head lights dimmer switches on the floor.
Ignition switches on the dashboard.
Heaters mounted on the inside of the fire wall.
Real ice boxes.
Pant leg clips for bicycles without chain guards.
Soldering irons (hair curling rods too) you heat on a gas burner.
Using hand signals for cars without turn signals.

Older Than Dirt Quiz:

Count all the ones that you remember not the ones you were told about.
Ratings at the bottom:
1 Blackjack chewing gum
2.Wax Coke-shaped bottles with colored sugar water
3. Candy cigarettes
4. Soda pop machines that dispensed glass bottles
5. Coffee shops or diners with tableside juke boxes
6. Home milk delivery in glass bottles with cardboard stoppers
7. Party lines on the telephone
8. Newsreels before the movie
9. P.F. Flyers
10. Butch wax
11. TV test patterns that came on at night after the last show and
were there until TV shows started again in the morning. (there were
only 3 channels [if you were<fortunate])
12. Pea shooters
13. Howdy Doody
14. 45 RPM records
15. S &H green stamps
16. Hi-fi’s
17. Metal ice trays with lever
18. Mimeograph paper
19. Blue flashbulb
20. Packard’s
21. Roller skate keys
22. Cork popguns
23. Drive-ins
24. Studebakers
25. Wash tub wringers

If you remembered 0-5, You’re still young
If you remembered 6-10, You’re getting older
If you remembered 11-15, Don’t tell your age,
If you remembered 16-25, You’ re older than dirt!
I might be older than dirt but those memories are some of the best
parts of my life.

Don’t forget to pass this along!!
Especially to all your really OLD friends ….

Respectfully Submitted by Mary Herbert of the Philadelphia Chapter of the Wilson Lake Herbert Family Reunion Circle

Remington Rand Typewriter

Maytag Washer with wringer