Maysville E.H. Club News

By Gwen Singleton

Maysville Extension Homemakers Club members met at the Community Building for their February meeting. Orpha Wardlaw was hostess for the lunch. Fifteen ladies were present and the meeting which was called to order by Orpha Wardlaw. Melinda Crawley led the group in singing "Let the Sun Shine In." Bert Ballman led the Pledge to the flag.

Inspirational thoughts were given by Dianna Afuvai, entitled, "The Taste of Wild Onions." Melinda Crawley offered a reading entitled, "Believe in Magic."

We had several eye openers. Grate brown sugar if it has become hard, and also grate cold or frozen butter to soften quickly. Never immerse mushrooms in a pan of water to clean; rather, place them in a colander and run water over them.

Cultural arts were given by Carol Loux and Jewel Crawley, who showed beautiful homemade quilts.

Gwen Singleton gave the lesson entitled, "Getting Our Hearts Right -- Three keys to better relationships." We all want to have good relationships, but the fact is we all have conflicts from time to time with family, neighbors, at work, church, etc. Irving Becker observed, "If we don't like someone, the way he holds his fork when he eats will make us furious. But if we like someone, he can turn his plate over in our lap and we won't mind!"

Even when we try to adopt new relationship skills, we usually fall right back into our old pattern of behavior. Probably one of the greatest hindrances is we expect the other person to change. The only person we can change is ourselves. We must get our own hearts right.

Three keys to getting our hearts right are: humility, compassion and positivity. Humility is the recognition that, while our needs matter, so do the needs of other people. It is being open to other people's opinion and a willingness to admit that we make mistakes. Compassion connects our hearts. Compassion is being sensitive to the struggling and suffering of others. Sometimes we are selective in our offering of compassion. We think people must deserve it before we can offer it. Compassion should be given because it is needed, not just because we deem someone worthy of it. The last key, positivity, inspires our hearts. It is the practice of seeing good in people. We can decide to focus on what is irritating and disappointing in our relationships or we can choose to appreciate the good, even in conflict. People who look for the good in relationships are far more likely to have strong relationships. Cultivate humility, compassion and positivity and watch your relationships grow.

Our spring fundraiser will be a spaghetti dinner on April 5 at 5:30 p.m. Curtain call will be April 11, and County Counsel May 2.

Community on 03/05/2014