Life changing true stories told to encourage, empower and inspire us!

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"Fill your mind with light, happiness, hope, feelings of security and strength, and soon your life will reflect these qualities." ~Unknown

Email me anytime: coreen.velvetoversteel@gmail.com

"The Greatest gift that you can give to others is the gift of unconditional love and acceptance!" ~Brian Tracy

All post and stories are the sole property of Velvet Over Steel aka Coreen Trost. I write and create post in order to help others, so share as you want. I just ask that you link back or give VOS credit. Some of the stories are going into a book in progress. Thank You ALL.. for your support and help!!
"If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader." ~ John Quincy Adams

Friday, May 27, 2011

Half Full and Aloha Friday Question of the Week

 “The art of living does not consist in preserving and clinging to a particular mode of happiness, but in allowing happiness to change its form without being disappointed by the change; happiness, like a child, must be allowed to grow up." ~Charles L. Morgan
Half Full Friday is a series of weekly posts that Eye Girl originally started in June 2009.  Now the it is hosted by Sprinkles at Wyldechylde.  We believe that a lot of our happiness is determined by our attitude about the things that happen to us. So by participating, we are deciding to see the glass as half full, instead of half empty. We are choosing to concentrate on the positives, instead of dwelling on the negatives. Our Half Full Friday posts are a way to do just that. They are a list of the things in our life that have brought us happiness over the past week. We are determined to find the something good in every day. Are you?
"Happiness is a direction, not a place." ~Sydney J. Harris
For the next week, we challenge you to keep a list of at least one thing that brought you happiness each day.

I'm Happy and Thankful for many things every day... especially this week:
  • For my youngest son's Culinary trip to Chicago this week!  He had a great time!
  • For finalizing the deal on my house and getting a 'closing date' and just as exciting was getting a 'move in' date at the new place!  I'm very happy, but so busy that I'm totally exhausted at this moment!  
  • For some vacation days to get even more done this week and maybe even a nap today if I can find the time!! ;-)
"There are two things to aim at in life: first, to get what you want; and after that, to enjoy it. Only the wisest of mankind achieve the second." ~Logan Pearsall Smith, Afterthoughts, 1931

It's also "ALOHA FRIDAY" Everyone!!  If you want to join in the fun? Post your own question on your blog and leave your link at the Aloha Friday post at An Island Life. Then you can visit the other participants if you wish...It’s a great way to make new bloggy friends or see what people are thinking about this week and join in a conversation or two if you like.
"Pleasure is spread through the earth In stray gifts to be claimed by whoever shall find." ~William Wordsworth, 1806
My question:  Where is your favorite place to take a nap?

My answer:   Outside on a nice day; either in a hammock or on a warm beach... with sunscreen of course! ;-)  
"Every now and then, when the world sits just right, a gentle breath of heaven fills my soul with delight..." ~Hazelmarie ‘Mattie’ Elliott, A Breath of Heaven
Have a Wonderful Weekend my Friends!
Hugs and Much Love to you All,
~ Coreen XO
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Tuesday, May 24, 2011

Life is Moving and Changing

"Change has a bad reputation in our society. But it isn't all bad — not by any means. In fact, change is necessary in life — to keep us moving ... to keep us growing ... to keep us interested . ... Imagine life without change. It would be static ... boring ... dull." ~Dr. Dennis O'Grady


Life is Moving and Changing

Life means constant change,
movements and heart beats range.
Face what comes, be flexible,
Live in peace and happiness if possible.

When you gripe and oppose,
Life still forces you down the road.
Relax; know that all works are for good,
Be wise, calm and watch your mood.

Realize that you cannot force others
to love or help you in your travels.
When you find true contentment
you'll be truly happy and independent.

Learn from the past, but have high hope
for a better tomorrow to develop.
Always be thankful, face what comes,
and your life will become adventuresome.

The real success in life is when you know
you are the one who attracts happiness or sorrow.
Learn to relax and know all works are for good,
When you believe, you'll never be misunderstood.

When you learn and accept the lessons,
life moves you forward.
With more wisdom,
Life will be joyful and complete.
When you know who you are... 
you will be fearless!

~ Author Unkown/Edited by Me

Friday, May 20, 2011

Half Full Friday and Aloha Question!

 “Let us be grateful to people who make us happy; they are the charming gardeners who make our souls blossom.” ~Marcel Proust
Half Full Friday is a series of weekly posts that Eye Girl originally started in June 2009.  Now the it is hosted by Sprinkles at Wyldechylde.  We believe that a lot of our happiness is determined by our attitude about the things that happen to us. So by participating, we are deciding to see the glass as half full, instead of half empty. We are choosing to concentrate on the positives, instead of dwelling on the negatives. Our Half Full Friday posts are a way to do just that. They are a list of the things in our life that have brought us happiness over the past week. We are determined to find the something good in every day. Are you?
"Happiness pulses with every beat of my heart." ~Emily Logan Decens


For the next week, we challenge you to keep a list of at least one thing that brought you happiness each day.

I'm Happy and Thankful for many things every day... especially this week:
  • For my oldest son's Hooding ceremony for his professional degree last Friday and for his grad school graduation on Saturday!  Both were awesome and we're all so proud of our first and only Physical Therapist in the family, Dr. Michael!
  • For the family gatherings and dinners last weekend!!  It was wonderful seeing and visiting with everyone who was able to attend!!
  • For selling my house!!!!  And finding an Amazing place to move to soon!!  I'm very Happy with my choices and decisions this week!!
"In the path of our happiness shall we find the learning for which we have chosen in this lifetime." ~Richard Bach (Illusions)
It's also "ALOHA FRIDAY" Everyone!!  If you want to join in the fun? Post your own question on your blog and leave your link at the Aloha Friday post at An Island Life. Then you can visit the other participants if you wish...It’s a great way to make new bloggy friends or see what people are thinking about this week and join in a conversation or two if you like.
"Happiness is seeing your children achieve their dreams." ~Me
My question:  What dream did you have in middle or high school?   Did you fulfill it?
My answer:   I wanted to be an Architect.   I loved drawing, especially house designs at one time.  However I didn't follow that dream.  I wished I'd had the encouragement and support growing up, that I gave my own children.  
"Education is the ability to think clearly, act well in the world of work and to appreciate life." ~Brigham Young
Have a Wonderful Weekend my Friends!
Hugs and Much Love to you All,
~ Coreen XO
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Sunday, May 15, 2011

A Very Happy Weekend!!



Hello everyone!  I tried to finish and post my Half Full Friday post last week, however the Blogger feature was down on both Thursday evening and Friday morning.   I was unable to try again until 'literally' just now.


My 3 Men!

Last week was the end of our current semester at the college where I work, so I was very busy with student grades, attendance and lots of paperwork.  My youngest son, who attends there, had finals, meetings and interviews to keep us extra busy in addition to our jobs.

On Friday I took a vacation day to get ready for my oldest son's Hooding ceremony that evening; his big graduation on Saturday; all three of my boys being home; company, dinners, cookouts, etc.  All of that went wonderfully, but way too fast of course!  Events like this always seem like a 'blurr' when they are over with, at least to me.  Relatives and my middle son just headed back to Chicago earlier today.  We are all tired, but what a great visit and weekend we had!!

I will be writing about all of the events, feelings and celebration this week.  For now; I wanted to you all know that I am not only doing better... even great at the moment.   I also want to present my oldest son, Doctor Michael!!!!!!  So Proud!!

Again, I will be writing much more later this week.  Right now I have some important things to take care of, Because, in the middle of writing this post... I had a very nice family look at my house.  They LIKED it a lot!!  We are meeting again tomorrow to work out the details.  Please keep praying everyone!  I have a Good feeling from my heart about this family and selling my house soon!!

Thank you all for your understanding in my time of many, many changes!  I love and appreciate all of the comments, emails and phone calls of support and encouragement that I have received!!  XOXO

Monday, May 9, 2011

God Give Me Strength

"I know God will not give me anything I can't handle. I just wish that He didn't trust me so much." ~Mother Teresa
hubpages.com
Hello Everyone!  I thought I should explain to my followers and friends why I haven't been blogging, writing or visiting more as of late.   I apologize to you all!  I've had a lot going on in my life recently; with school, work, trying to sell my house; getting ready for two very special graduations this week; and being 'hacked' last week.... well my days have been very full. 

Along with everything else, I've been helping my son who's graduating, pack all of his stuff.  He will be moving far away soon... for a new job and a brand new life.  I am so proud and happy for him; but can you hear the tear drops falling?!! ...'sigh'...

Through all of this I have also been thinking about my own life and what I want.  I'm even pondering some 'life changing' decisions.  This is why I'm praying for God to give me strength and direction.

Mother's day was filled with a mix of emotions including: happiness for my 3 sons; pride for their accomplishments; sadness for another one leaving; laughter from the times we have together; and unconditional love from understanding and accepting each other just the way we are.   There were even 'tears'... because... well I'm a woman and a Mom, with so many thoughts and feelings spinning around inside of me right now.  So I ran the whole gamut yesterday and I have a feeling that was only the beginning for this coming week... ;-) 

Except for my Friday Post, I may be absent from blogging for a while longer.  I will fill everyone in as soon as I can... with pictures of course.  Thank you all for your continued friendship, support and 'virtual' Hugs!!  I love you all more than you know!!   XOXO
God give me the strength and direction to do the right things and make the best decisions. Help me to consider others and not harm or offend anyone in any way. Help me to consult with others before I take any actions that would cause me to be sorry. Help me to not make decisions from fear or guilt. Show me the way of Patience, Tolerance, Kindliness, and Love and help me live the spiritual life of faith, peace and love. AMEN

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Thursday, May 5, 2011

Half Full Friday & Aloha Question of the Week

 “Dance as though no one is watching you. Love as though you have never been hurt before. Sing as though no one can hear you. Live as though heaven is on earth.” ~Author Unkown
Half Full Friday is a series of weekly posts that Eye Girl originally started in June 2009.  Now the it is hosted by Sprinkles at Wyldechylde.  We believe that a lot of our happiness is determined by our attitude about the things that happen to us. So by participating, we are deciding to see the glass as half full, instead of half empty. We are choosing to concentrate on the positives, instead of dwelling on the negatives. Our Half Full Friday posts are a way to do just that. They are a list of the things in our life that have brought us happiness over the past week. We are determined to find the something good in every day. Are you?
"Happiness:  Its all about Music, Love and Passion." ~Author Unknown
For the next week, we challenge you to keep a list of at least one thing that brought you happiness each day.

I'm Happy and Thankful for many things every day... especially this week:
  • For all of the people that checked on me this week.  Making sure I was OK, and NOT stuck in Scotland... (big smile and head shake) and for reminding me it wasn't my fault about the hacker.  Thank you!  I love you all very much!!!! 
  • For my son's job interviews and for the encouragement he received from so many wonderful people in his life!!!
  • For all kinds and types of MUSIC in the World! 
"I enjoy being happy every day, and hopefully you can hear my happiness in my music. Life is beautiful." ~Christina Milian, US Singer
It's also "ALOHA FRIDAY" Everyone!!  If you want to join in the fun? Post your own question on your blog and leave your link at the Aloha Friday post at An Island Life. Then you can visit the other participants if you wish...It’s a great way to make new bloggy friends or see what people are thinking about this week and join in a conversation or two if you like.
"Music is well said to be the speech of angels; in fact, nothing among the utterances allowed to man is felt to be so divine. It brings us near to the infinite." ~Thomas Carlyle
My question:  What song makes you appreciate life and love even more when you hear it?
"Music washes away from the soul the dust of everyday life." ~Red Auerbach
My answer:   A recent one for me is:  "If Heaven Wasn't So Far Away" by Justin Moore  It gives me goosebumps every time I hear it and makes me want to go HUG everyone I Love right now!!

"I think music in itself is healing. It's an explosive expression of humanity. It's something we are all touched by. No matter what culture we're from, everyone loves music." ~Billy Joel
Have a Fantastic Friday and Wonderful Weekend my Friends!
Hugs and Much Love to you All,
~ Coreen XO
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Tuesday, May 3, 2011

I Apologize!! My email and google account got Hacked!!

I am working on the security features with Google.  Again I apologize to anyone who got an email from my account!!  Below is the information I have already found on Google.

Someone is sending from my address
If you receive bounce messages for mail that appears to originate from your account, you find messages in Spam from 'me,' or you receive a reply to a message you never sent, you may be the victim of a 'spoofing' attack. Spoofing means faking the return address on outgoing mail to hide the true origin of the message.

When you send a letter through the post, you generally write a return address on the envelope so the recipient can identify the sender, and so the post office can return the mail to the sender in the event of a problem. But nothing prevents you from writing a different return address than your own; in fact, someone else could send a letter and put your return address on the envelope. Email works the same way. When a server sends an email message, it specifies the sender, but this sender field can be forged. If there is a problem with delivery and someone forged your address on the message, then the message will be returned to you, even if you weren't the actual sender.

If you've received a reply to a message that wasn't sent from your address, there are two possibilities:

1.The message was spoofed, forging your address as the sender.

2.The original sender used your address as a reply-to address so that responses would be sent to you.

Neither of these possibilities indicates that your account was compromised, but if you're concerned that your account may have been compromised, you can check recent access to your account. Just scroll to the very bottom of your inbox and click the Details link next to 'Last account activity.'

For further information, please select the description that matches your situation below.

You're receiving bounces for messages you never sent
Many spammers use software applications to generate random lists of email addresses at common domains, based on words in the dictionary. Spammers then use these lists to send illegal mass mailings. This practice is called 'dictionary spamming.' Many of the addresses randomly generated by dictionary spammers are invalid. If a spammer spoofs your Gmail address to send dictionary spam, you will likely receive reports of delivery failures, which appear to be replies to message sent from your address.

Because these messages originate outside of Gmail, we aren't able to stop spammers from spoofing your address. However, Google helps protect your Gmail address's reputation by designing our systems to authenticate all the mail that really comes from you. When another domain receives an unauthenticated message from Gmail, it can tell that you didn't really send the mail, and it is unlikely that your email address will be blocked. For our part, we are concerned about spoofing and bouncebacks. We ask you to report these messages by checking the box next to the unwanted message and clicking Report Spam at the top of your inbox, or by opening the message and clicking Report Spam at the top of the message.

You can help stop spammers by also sending the full headers of these unlawful messages to the Federal Trade Commission at spam@uce.gov.

If you feel that you may be a victim of identity theft, we suggest contacting your local authorities.

There are messages in Spam from 'me.'
One common tactic used by spammers is to send a message to a recipient, and fake the 'From:' field to contain the same address. Spammers hope that because the mail is sent 'from' your address, it will slip past our spam filters. But not so fast! Gmail authenticates all of our mail, so we know when a message wasn't actually sent by you. We do our best to place these forged messages in your Spam folder.

Because Gmail replaces your email address with 'me' when you look at lists of messages, you may see spam mail from 'me' in your Spam folder. All this indicates is that someone forged the return address on your messages to be your own email address.

If we miss any messages, we ask you to report them by checking the box next to the unwanted message and clicking Report Spam at the top of your inbox, or by opening the message and clicking Report Spam at the top of the message.

You can help stop spammers by also sending the full headers of these unlawful messages to the Federal Trade Commission at spam@uce.gov.  If you feel that you may be a victim of identity theft, we suggest contacting your local authorities.

My Contacts say I sent spam to them, or I found suspicious access to my account.
If your Contacts received spam from you, or if you find access activity that you can't account for, we suggest taking the following steps as soon as possible.

1.Make sure your operating system is up-to-date. Be sure you've downloaded and installed any critical Windows updates from Microsoft, or Mac OS updates from Apple. We recommend enabling automatic updates.

2.Check for viruses and malware. Run a scan on your computer with a trusted anti-virus software. If the scan detects any suspicious programs or applications, get rid of them immediately. Note: We have no connection with these companies and can't comment on their effectiveness. We can tell you, though, that trying all of these programs often makes a difference, as does having the latest versions.

Google Pack - Norton Security Scan, Spyware Doctor
Kaspersky Free Virus Scan
Spybot Search and Destroy
Lavasoft Ad-Aware
MacScan

3.Change your password. Make sure you choose a password that contains a combination of numbers, characters, and case-sensitive letters. Never reuse your Gmail password on any other website. These steps will help strengthen the security of your account.

4.Update your recovery email address and your security question. Should you ever lose access to your account, these two items will be vital to recovering your account. Make sure that you have access to the email address listed as your recovery, and the answer to your security question should be easy for you to remember, but hard for others to guess.

5.Check your Settings. Click Settings at the top of any Gmail page and verify that the following items have not been changed:

■On the General tab: Your Signature, Vacation Responder and Browser Connection.

■On the Accounts and Import tab: Send mail as.

■On the Filters tab: Look for any filters you did not create, especially filters that forward your mail.

■On the Forwarding and POP/IMAP tab: Look for any changes you did not make.

6.Use a secure connection when signing in to Gmail. In your Gmail settings, select 'Always use HTTPS.' This setting helps protect your information from being stolen when you are signing in to Gmail on a public wireless network, like at a cafe or hotel.

Also, to make sure that no one gains unauthorized access to your account:

◦Never tell anyone your password or security question and answer, and don't write them down.

◦Never send this information by email.

◦Never give out your gmail password after following a link sent to you in an email. Access gmail directly by typing mail.google.com in your browser's address bar.

◦Don't reuse your Gmail password on other websites.

◦Periodically change your password and security question.

◦Keep your recovery address up to date.

We are very concerned about this activity. Please obtain the full headers of the spam message from Sent Mail or from one of your Contacts, and report it to our team. We'll investigate your report, but we're unable to respond to individual cases. In particular, please note that we aren't able to provide you with information about attempted logins to your account including, but not limited to, the IP address from which the attempted login was made, and the time and date attempted logins occurred.

Monday, May 2, 2011

Life is a Process of Change


"One of my most important realizations was that all life is a process, NOT an event. We often play devil's advocate to our greater good when we become impatient with the natural and gradual blossoming of our own consciousness." ~Chelle Thompson, Editor of Inspiration Line
canstockphoto.com

Time or fate may separate friends, lovers,
But friendship or love that's true will ever
Thenceforth continue to live forever,
True love conquers the odd with its power.
As time passes by, things change with the time,
Every moment, hour, day, month, and year,
All things have their turn to change with the time,
Life, time, and events change with the years.
Everyone, everything, have a time and day,
A time to change, end, begin a new day,
Change is life, the course of life everyday,
All things change, and we change with them all days.
Only the Eternal one is constant,
All things in the universe, inconstant,
But despite it all, love is important,
The world may change, but true love is constant.
~by Merlin Archivilla
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