tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-77394780847400092772024-03-19T04:48:31.563-07:00all things goddessUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger30125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7739478084740009277.post-73360025216106036522009-10-23T17:24:00.000-07:002009-10-24T07:27:11.725-07:00scrumptious morsels of food for thought...<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">Today I did something that the 'old' me would NEVER have done for so many reasons. I painted. It started out like this:<br />
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</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">I had an old flower pot that one of my friends gave me. When she gave it to me there was a plant in it...a plant that I really loved, but I went out of town once this summer and forgot to ask Jeff to water it, so it's dead and gone. I'd considered throwing the pot out, but today decided to paint on it instead. This is how it turned out.<br />
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</div><div class="" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">{Around the rim, it says: I AM BRAVE SO I...}<br />
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</div><div class="" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">{defend myself<br />
</div></div><div class="" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">chase my dreams<br />
</div></div><div class="" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">try new things<br />
</div></div><div class="" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">defend my beliefs<br />
</div></div><div class="" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">and the last one -not pictured - says serve others}<br />
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</div></div><div class="" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">I didn't make it to impress anyone or for any reason except I felt like I had to put that out there. For some weird reason, I felt like I had to paint something, which is kind of a break through for me. I think that I have never been good at art or anything like that because I don't try and I don't try because I think that for it to look good it has to be perfect. And I needed to let it not be perfect and be okay with that. And it felt SO good! And I didn't think about the colors or what anyone would think about them, I just used the colors I wanted to because I wanted to. That felt good too. I don't know why I knew I needed to do that, but I did, and it feels good. :)<br />
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</div></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">I have had SO much on my mind this last week. I feel like there are so many things for me to do, but I can't focus on them, and maybe if I get everything that is swimming in my head written down, I will be able to push my energy toward other things. Although now that I've said that, I almost take it back because the things that have been on my mind have been profound and life-altering. Things I need to be thinking about and things that will propel me toward what I am really, truly after in this life.<br />
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</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">It all started at Brave Girls Camp (affectionately known as BGC) last week. I went to support my incredible mom and aunt in their crazy idea to start retreats for women. "Life changing fun" is what they called it. And I was truly expecting that for everyone else. I expected magic. I expected to meet phenomenal women who I knew would be attracted to the incredible spirit of BGC. I knew it would be a singular experience for them because I believe it is inspired and I knew about the love and work and faith that went into it. I did NOT expect to come home changed. I didn't expect to have the feelings I have had this week. I didn't expect to come home with so many answers and a thousand times more questions. I felt so uplifted by the energy there and what I was able to experience, but I feel so jumbled about what to do with it. I desperately need the clarity that I know would come (and did come for so many) from doing the introspective projects up there. I didn't get to do them because I was working the entire time, which is what I wanted to do there. But I can't go on without them...I need to clear my mind - make a clear place for my goals and find out for myself where my peace is, so I can make sure I stick close to it. I feel like I will be stuck unless I figure things out, so I am improvising and doing my own projects....like my little flower pot.<br />
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</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">So much of this for me is only a matter of going back to who I really am. And I know that's the whole point - to be true to ourselves and the things we know we need to do...things no one else can do because we are completely unique and have talents that no one else has. I used to do things like this. I used to feel so clear on where my life was going and what I wanted to do. I used to keep a journal where I'd glue things I'd found in magazines, and I'd track my progress on different things and write about whether this or that was working in my life or not. I used to put pictures in it of things I wanted. And pictures of things I just liked....for no other reason than that I liked them. And I feel like for the last few years I have let all of that go. I feel like I have been sleeping during that time...not really accomplishing a lot personally. Maybe I felt like my life should be 'given' to my new little family, or to the people around me. I know that wasn't an intentional decision because it's not what I believe in my heart, but maybe I let myself slip into that decision by not deciding to do anything else. BGC to me felt like waking up from that. Only it's not like waking up peacefully after sleeping in on a Sunday morning. It's like waking up at 8am on a Sunday morning and running to the bathroom, getting yourself all ready (forgetting deoderant), running out the door and turning back toward home only when you get to the office which is when you realize that it is in fact Sunday and not Monday. I feel kind of confused (for a lack of better words). I feel an incredible almost overpowering sense of potential. I feel a sense of urgency about getting to where I need to be SO THAT I can do what I'm supposed to do.<br />
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</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">It feels like swimming in mud. I can't see where I'm going, and it's hard to move my arms and legs because mud is thick and holding still for so long has made my muscles weak. BUT....BUT BUT BUT....I do believe in the power of change. I do believe that I can decide today who I want to be and then make choices all day long that lead to that decision. I don't believe that I have to be stuck in the mud and I plan to get out quickly. The only thing standing in my way is deciding what it is I want...what I REALLY want....where my peace is. Small questions - HUGE answers.<br />
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</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">Today {TODAY} I am going to take action on some of this. I am going to start by taking Jeanne's advice (my sweet, brave girl, Jeanne) and I am going to carve out a creative space in my house. A place for me to make things...a place that I don't have to clean up every day. It's going to be in my (unfinished) basement. But I think that finished or not, I can have a fun, happy space...I mean look at that old army tent they used at BGC! I'm going to get out the very few art supplies that I have and use them and invite other people to use them. I am going to leave my sewing machine out and use it whenever I want. And over the next week or two I am going to take my lovely blue and yellow journal and fill it with my dreams and goals and HUGE aspirations, and I'm going to believe in them again and believe in me again. I'll let you know how that goes.<br />
</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7739478084740009277.post-84744692805115562162009-10-19T16:18:00.000-07:002009-10-20T09:10:18.068-07:00I am a Brave GirlSo it's been a couple weeks since I last posted. You might think there's no such thing as a good excuse, but wrong-o...I have a good one. I spent the last 2 weeks preparing for and going to a <a href="http://www.bravegirlsclub.com/">Brave Girls Club</a> Retreat. And I can't stop thinking about it. Seriously. I've been putting this post off on purpose because there are a million things I could and should be doing to get caught up around the house. But I find myself doing a little chore, then coming back to the computer to check facebook and blogs and see what the other "Brave Girls" have written about their experiences there. I figure MAYBE if I get everything that's in my heart about this incredible REVOLUTION I might be able to focus on something else for 10 seconds. (m a y b e) :) <br />
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</div><div class="" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">{The Brave Girl Cabin}<br />
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Brave Girls Club is something my mom and aunt (two of my best friends). Their slogan, which describes everything they do is: "Life-changing FUN for women". There is so much I could say as an "insider" about the planning, preparation and most of all, the LOVE that has gone into creating this new community of women. The retreat we went to was no different. I went as staff, so I didn't get to participate in everything that was going on. I spent most of my time helping to make meals and snacks unforgettable, which I loved. But despite not being able to work on the projects and introspection that everyone else did, I feel like it was a life-changing experience. I can't imagine how much MORE incredible it was for the women who came and took full advantage of it.<br />
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</div><div class="" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">{This morning fog was beautiful!}<br />
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We arrived on Monday afternoon and spent the next day and a half getting the cabin all beautiful before everyone got there. Seriously no detail was overlooked....the decor was amazing, the dishes were stunning and eclectic, the food was outrageously good (which means no butter, no cream, no carbs...right? RIGHT?) :). We had an amazing time getting set up, and when the bus full of Brave Girls pulled up it was like Christmas! We were so excited for everything that awaited them...and if the other staff had expectations like mine, we had NO idea what was in store for any of us. <br />
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It was life-changing....all of it. I learned (again) that women need each other...we just do. We have a gift for nurturing and inspiring and comforting and we ought to share that not only with our husbands and our children but with each other. I learned that everyone struggles, and that it doesn't matter what our individual problems are, and if they're big or small to us, our struggles are the same. But the biggest lesson I learned is the lesson of CHOICE. That crap happens...life isn't perfect and if we're lucky it never will be, but no matter what happens, we have a choice about what to do with it.<br />
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</div><div style="text-align: center;">{My amazingly talented, fun-loving aunt and bestie Melody...<br />
</div><div style="text-align: center;">the one behind the art and life-changing projects.}<br />
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</div><div style="text-align: center;">{My beautiful, wonderful, also amazingly talented aunt Lynda and mom -Kathy- who provided good food and out-of-this-world live music.} <br />
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My dear friend, Tamara, who taught me piano when I was in high school, and whose family has been a big part of my life spoke on one of the nights about this. She talked about the hard things she's gone through in her life and how she's learned to make choices. Choices about not blaming others, choices about staying when she wanted to leave, choices about her attitude toward life and what happens in it.<br />
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What really drove this lesson home for me, and really catapulted me into changing and believing in choices was when I was talking to my friend Cami about something (of course I don't remember what...maybe her weight or something...she's back to her high school size now...ROCK. ON.) Anyway, she said something I will never never NEVER forget. "I woke up one day and decided I didn't want to be fat anymore." Does that hit you as profoundly as it did me? And like I said before...nothing I'd never heard before. I know I have choices, but I can't get that out of my head and every time something tries to get me off course I think about what she said, "I DECIDED..." <br />
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</div><div style="text-align: center;">{The art tent...such a lovely illustration of the power of change....something old and ugly and used for ugly, dark war...changed into something beautiful where lives are transformed and changed forever!} <br />
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I think sometimes we think we have to deal with whatever is handed to us. And it's true that a lot of crap comes our way, and life isn't perfect and our big plans sometimes bomb and WE sometimes BOMB, but the thing is who we are is NOT who we have to be. It is an accumulation of all the choices we've made (whether on purpose or by default) in the PAST. We have a choice about who we want to be in 5 years and in 10 years and TOMORROW! How empowering is that? We can decide what to do with what we have today. Like the golf rule says: Play it where it lies.<br />
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I can take my life and my body and my home and my marriage and my character TODAY, the way they are, just the same way I would take a piece of clay, and change them into whatever I want them to be. It doesn't matter how lumpy or drab or weak they seem to be from all they've been through in the yesterdays....I can start molding them now and making them into the masterpieces that a beautiful life should be full of. And I'm going to!<br />
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Along those same lines, there was a project about making promises to yourself. I haven't gotten mine to paper yet...it's something I plan to do this week in my lovely Brave Girls journal. How incredible to make promises to yourself on things you don't want to fudge on. Here are some of my promises - <br />
<ul><li>I promise to take care of my body...to get to my right weight and stay there both for myself and for my family and loved ones. </li>
<li>I promise to be true to the musician inside of me and to take the steps needed to develop my talents even further. I promise to use those talents to bless others.</li>
<li>I promise to be more forward, open and honest with myself and others about what I really want.</li>
<li>I promise to start breaking down the walls around my heart that prevent me from making deep and lasting friendships.</li>
</ul>I can't wait to dive further into this and maybe get a chance to make up for what I missed at this incredible retreat. YOU HAVE TO GO! The next one is in February, but they're happening 4 times per year. If you want to go in Feb, I suggest you get signed up ASAP, because I have an "in" with the lady in booking and the spots are going FAST. :)<br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">{Such a perfect picture -- It's All Good. This is what the dining room looked like every night. And this is what it felt like to be there...it's ALL good!! Don't you want to BE THERE??} <br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">This is an amazing, inspiring revolution - come be part of it...come be a BRAVE GIRL!!! </span></b><br />
</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7739478084740009277.post-64364786480071667042009-10-02T07:28:00.000-07:002009-10-02T07:29:19.043-07:00cleaning up a greasy mess: how to get grease out of clothes<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">So a few weeks ago the starter went out in our car, and my husband decided he'd fix it. He spent a good 4 hours on that project, and at one point his arms were c o v e r e d in grease up to his elbows. This is what his hands looked like after he'd wiped them off:<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjiTJhUCwmB0dfEwc4jUhB3LqDHiVIVfWzT3pEvoNWvdclcnzx3g-qoytYV5mTtE-th9Dfnr8F9m_TsiXZeqKq3hmRQ4KHJcaVLebmYnuEd1LQ68MiYnkJjTT0XWHkh8rou8xAqGNnB47g/s1600-h/IMG_4542.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjiTJhUCwmB0dfEwc4jUhB3LqDHiVIVfWzT3pEvoNWvdclcnzx3g-qoytYV5mTtE-th9Dfnr8F9m_TsiXZeqKq3hmRQ4KHJcaVLebmYnuEd1LQ68MiYnkJjTT0XWHkh8rou8xAqGNnB47g/s320/IMG_4542.JPG" /></a><br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">I guess he didn't think when he started that he'd get so messy because he didn't change out of his nice jeans and before he knew it, they were also covered in grease. I don't know if you can tell in the picture below (my husband is the one on the left...the one with the greasiest pants), but they are pretty bad. When I pointed it out, he was totally bummed and thought he'd have to throw them out for sure. Luckily for him (and his pants), my mother taught me the secret of getting grease out of anything....<br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi970sSQkNHmlH7J20UyeqBVVzC82uTQ04Z19MLB29rD4AIZOr61LCJCHsexyA3_zULNEAdIwCdTinx2DF3SYLWzt9_rlZvopEsTavsaJM3xtgeF-WqXxhVkbeZVRdhQogQIUs8Ns840Ww/s1600-h/IMG_4547.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi970sSQkNHmlH7J20UyeqBVVzC82uTQ04Z19MLB29rD4AIZOr61LCJCHsexyA3_zULNEAdIwCdTinx2DF3SYLWzt9_rlZvopEsTavsaJM3xtgeF-WqXxhVkbeZVRdhQogQIUs8Ns840Ww/s320/IMG_4547.JPG" /></a><br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"> The secret is dishwashing liquid. Now that you think about it, it makes perfect sense, right? No matter what brand, dishwashing liquids all boast 'grease-cutting power', right? So now that you know what to use to get the grease out of clothes, here's how I do it...<br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">1. Get your supplies - a bottle of dishwashing liquid (I use plain ol' Dawn), and a scrub brush if you have one. You're going to want to do this over the sink or tub, since it will get plenty wet and soapy. (Also, I never know about the dyes in the soap, BUT better safe than sorry....if there is grease in a white shirt, I try to use soap with little color, so I don't exchange one stain for another). <br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">2. Get the greasy area wet, and squeeze dishwashing liquid onto the wet spot generously. Scrub with the scrub brush (on something like jeans) or rub the clothes against themselves. You're going to want to use some elbow grease (as if you needed more). :)<br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">3. Keep adding soap and water, and scrub, scrub, scrub. Once you think the grease is gone, rinse the suds off (it's nearly impossible to rinse all the soap out - let the washing machine do that).<br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">4. When you're satisfied that you've done your best, throw the clothes into the wash. Make sure you check them again before you throw em in the dryer. If there is still grease left, it will be easier to get it out before it is set-in with all that heat.<br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Best wishes to you and here's to saving clothes from greasy blunders and oily misfortunes!<br />
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</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7739478084740009277.post-35320100437839277132009-09-28T07:33:00.000-07:002009-09-28T07:35:45.154-07:00Worth your time...I am currently reading a book called The Soul of Money by Lynne Twist. It's a book I just happened to come across when I was perusing the isles at the library, and I think we were meant to come together.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2RVdipEVspxxQZW_vN3tZczWNqx7hxYOiI-ihAjY-cXkgAODwQ2hovMYG_lLa6Goc4QOuVrey8upeschyphenhyphenSZnUYXsyyWF30e9vLzPqs0a4ZI_07ED0V5DJTiFoMVhJ1pAJ7vIF8FTdwmE/s1600-h/soul+of+mone.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2RVdipEVspxxQZW_vN3tZczWNqx7hxYOiI-ihAjY-cXkgAODwQ2hovMYG_lLa6Goc4QOuVrey8upeschyphenhyphenSZnUYXsyyWF30e9vLzPqs0a4ZI_07ED0V5DJTiFoMVhJ1pAJ7vIF8FTdwmE/s320/soul+of+mone.jpg" /></a><br />
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</div><div><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: 13px;">I don't know how good I am at book reviews, but I will tell you that if I don't like a book, I don't finish it. If I think it's poorly written or doesn't seem to share any useful and/or life-changing information, I don't waste my time. This book has been incredible, and I highly recommend it. For example, check out this excerpt (it took me FOR.EVER to pick just one paragraph :)</span></span><br />
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</div><div><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: 13px;">"What is enough? Each of us determines that for ourselves, but very rarely do we let ourselves have that experience. What is the point at which we're fulfilled, where we have everything we want and need, and nothing in excess? Very few of us can recall moments in life when we have felt that....we mostly breeze right past the point of enough as if it's not even there. There comes a point where having more than we need becomes a burden. We are overcompensated, overstuffed, swimming in the excess, looking for satisfaction in more or different ways. The experience we crave of being fulfilled in life cannot be found in the chase for fulfillment or the chase for more of anything..."</span></span><br />
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</div><div><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: 13px;">Lynne Twist talks about how the rich and the poor (for the most part) are in the same emotional boat. The poor fear that there is not enough for them in this world, and the rich fear that they will lose what they have. The poor want more, and the rich want more. Her point is that for some reason we think that we will be happy if we can get our hands on enough money, enough things, and that there's some kind of illusive point at which we think we will have enough to be happy. Thing is, that point never comes because no matter how much we make and how much we have, our tendency is to want more. This rings so true to me...I am living proof!</span></span><br />
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</span></span><br />
</div><div><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: 13px;">I think the meaning of a book can be different for each person who reads it, and that different lessons stick out to different people for a reason. The meaning and what I think the point is, is she wants us to find satisfaction and fulfillment and soul in life regardless of what we have or don't have. We can reach that place we've been looking for TODAY, by making the choice to be there. By believing that we do and will always have everything we need, by reaching out with our excesses and helping the people around us. As she puts it, using our money to express our "soulful commitments". </span></span><br />
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</div><div><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: 13px;">I think she's right, and I am enjoying the freedom and richness of life that comes by getting off the hamster wheel in the illusive search for more and being grateful and content with the incredible things I have already!</span></span><br />
</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7739478084740009277.post-46081739813269260362009-09-23T19:09:00.000-07:002009-09-23T19:15:34.655-07:00far greater and more important....<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">It's not an easy job...being a mom. I was reading some quotes by a great man named Spencer W Kimball who had some incredible a powerful things about motherhood. It seems that he understands what a lot of people in our day and age have forgotten...that motherhood is one of the most important jobs on earth. To women, he said, "...</span><span style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">you are to become a career woman in the greatest career on earth--that of homemaker, wife, and mother." He went on to talk about how the home is the best place for us, and when compared to working outside the home or for pay his response was, "They have a far greater and more important service to render".</span></span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRWDfuegk-mAz729qpDu_pJvtyl5jX_GjqWiSGlmnBA7kVu8jlmPogaxvoG9NKW_44-xf07E_aPPHRdiu9VOyVxFb3oCR7SNyIl9QatLRwJvsiV8L0AuMpcY70Sz9c5g30oKt_F9Y9p0s/s1600-h/heart.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRWDfuegk-mAz729qpDu_pJvtyl5jX_GjqWiSGlmnBA7kVu8jlmPogaxvoG9NKW_44-xf07E_aPPHRdiu9VOyVxFb3oCR7SNyIl9QatLRwJvsiV8L0AuMpcY70Sz9c5g30oKt_F9Y9p0s/s200/heart.jpg" /></span></a><br />
</div><span style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">I think that sometimes as full-time wives and mothers we feel like we have the "easy job". The one that doesn't contribute as much because we don't bring in a paycheck. I felt so encouraged and inspired by the words "they have far greater and more important service to render." When I really work at it, I feel the divinity of my job as wife and mother in my home. I feel like making my house a clean, organized, happy haven for my family, making sure everyone has wholesome food to eat and clean clothes to wear; and making sure my baby knows his mom will always be there with smiles and kisses...those are important things. But when you're knee deep in laundry, up to your elbows in dishes and behind on everything else it's hard remember that there's some divine role stuck in all of it. Hope this serves as a good reminder - I know that's what it did for me.</span></span><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjY3J1dHBjGtZ9xIICyafFGwWC50LBZHtyK3peJrx2MhhL-qcosdE9ZTA28ifPlFTdrihN6x8c0NWvETyoalsKXZPVXCsDqxcrSHF54qVZW2y2h04YMibjFC0SJawcKzw_l3ipoPLtUhew/s1600-h/mother.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjY3J1dHBjGtZ9xIICyafFGwWC50LBZHtyK3peJrx2MhhL-qcosdE9ZTA28ifPlFTdrihN6x8c0NWvETyoalsKXZPVXCsDqxcrSHF54qVZW2y2h04YMibjFC0SJawcKzw_l3ipoPLtUhew/s320/mother.jpg" /></span></a><br />
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</div><span style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">"</span></span><span style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Motherhood is the greatest potential influence either for good or ill in human life. The mother's image is the first that stamps itself on the unwritten page of the young child's mind. It is her caress that first awakens a sense of security; her kiss, the first realization of affection; her sympathy and tenderness, the first assurance that there is love in the world...<span style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">This ability and willingness properly to rear children, the gift to love, and eagerness, yes, longing to express it in soul development, make motherhood the noblest office or calling in the world. She who can paint a masterpiece or write a book that will influence millions deserves the admiration and the plaudits of mankind; but she who rears successfully a family of healthy, beautiful sons and daughters, whose influence will be felt through generations to come, . . . deserves the highest honor that man can give, and the choicest blessings of God...</span></span><span style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">" </span></span></span></span></span><br />
<div style="text-align: right;"><span style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">-David McKay</span></span><br />
</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7739478084740009277.post-22544596024561814282009-09-22T15:11:00.000-07:002009-09-22T15:12:15.551-07:00well....So my cousin has 2 little boys ages 4 and 7 months. She just went back to work, and I've been watching her kids while she figures out a permanent solution for them. They are both as sweet as sugar, but the 4-year-old has got enough personality to go around.<br />
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The other day he was eating his highly nutritious lunch of mac n cheese and carrots, and when I thought he was all done, he asked for more mac n cheese. My most responsible answer was, "I'll give you more carrots..." to which he replied in his sassiest voice, "Well I'm not hungry!" He sure told me. humph. ;)<br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXHeO-0J5XTx-GgHB6IEu0FhyuT7H8sdcZWNnLpG2mpkNLNC6Xm4Rwx76KwxpFv1BrVVEQL323dAQkrgta4JBtRPGgs8Kn5fCc4SN-IM8JbSg45NWxuV2DaqZP906DGkiq0hnSDlOXTyE/s1600-h/harry.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXHeO-0J5XTx-GgHB6IEu0FhyuT7H8sdcZWNnLpG2mpkNLNC6Xm4Rwx76KwxpFv1BrVVEQL323dAQkrgta4JBtRPGgs8Kn5fCc4SN-IM8JbSg45NWxuV2DaqZP906DGkiq0hnSDlOXTyE/s320/harry.jpg" /></a><br />
</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7739478084740009277.post-3017322338869794282009-09-22T14:55:00.000-07:002009-09-22T15:00:37.405-07:00easier to have control than to have faith...Don't you think it's easier to have control of a situation than to let someone else handle it and trust that they'll take care of it? I think that's the reason that we women are known for being maybe a little naggy. We 'nag' and give advice with the best of intentions. We want things to get done and we have ideas for doing them better, so we share them. I don't think we see anything wrong with it, since we welcome advice and suggestions with open arms - we even seek it out. But I don't think our husbands (and sons and brothers etc) take it with the same attitudes we do.<br />
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I recently read Men Are From Mars, Women Are From Venus...what an eye-opening book that was to the way men think and act. In books, I always enjoy the little stories that help drive a point home. Here's one of them that I really liked from this book:<br />
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<div style="text-align: center;">THE KNIGHT IN SHINING ARMOR<br />
<span style="font-size: xx-small;">(Men Are From Mars, Women Are From Venus by John Gray pages 138-140) </span><br />
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</div><div style="text-align: left;">Deep inside every man there is a hero or a knight in shining armor. More than anything, he wants to succeed in serving and protecting the woman he loves. <span style="font-size: large;"><b>When he feels trusted</b></span>, he is able to tap into this noble part of himself. He becomes more caring. When he doesn't feel trusted he loses some of his aliveness and energy, and after a while he can stop caring.<br />
</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: left;">Imagine a knight in shining armor traveling through the countryside. [And look how helpful I am...I even make the imagining easy with pictures....] :)<br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVMPKMOzFnIUqVJYRAy_N4su9XpwpsK-xul8bzyLRh_Y8B6NDxlVpO4Vk3ixdxcEog_3qsDa5qV_J4IPm1eq6okf8xUYBziemfb_nRaUvWiG5kHWkZwJ0sEbW6GZfgjAldMbiMZk16fLg/s1600-h/knight.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVMPKMOzFnIUqVJYRAy_N4su9XpwpsK-xul8bzyLRh_Y8B6NDxlVpO4Vk3ixdxcEog_3qsDa5qV_J4IPm1eq6okf8xUYBziemfb_nRaUvWiG5kHWkZwJ0sEbW6GZfgjAldMbiMZk16fLg/s320/knight.jpg" /></a><br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Suddenly he hears a woman crying out in distress. In an instant he comes alive. Urging his horse to a gallop, he races to her castle, where she is trapped by a dragon. The noble knight pulls out his swords and slays the dragon. As a result, he is lovingly received by the princess.<br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">As the gates open, he is welcomed and celebrated by the family of the princess and the townspeople. He is invited to live in the town and is acknowledged as a hero. He and the princess fall in love.<br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">A month later the noble knight goes off on another trip. On his way back, he hears his beloved princess crying out for help. Another dragon has attacked the castle. When the knight arrives he pulls out his sword to slay the dragon.<br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Before he swings, the princess cries out from the tower, "Don't use your sword, use this noose. It will work better."<br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">She throws him the noose and motions to him instructions about how to use it. He hesitantly follows her instructions. He wraps it around the dragon's neck and then pulls hard. The dragon dies and everyone rejoices.<br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">At the celebration dinner the knight feels he didn't really do anything. Somehow, because he used her noose and didn't use his sword, he doesn't quite feel worthy of the town's trust and admiration. After the event he is slightly depressed and forgets to shine his armor.<br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">A month later he goes on yet another trip. As he leaves with his sword, the princess reminds him to be careful and tells him to take the noose. On his way home, he sees yet another dragon attacking the castle. This time he rushes forward with his sword but hesitates, thinking maybe he should use the noose. In that moment of hesitation, the dragon breathes fire and burns his right arm. In confusion he looks up and sees his princess waving from the castle window.<br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">"Use the poison," she yells. "The noose doesn't work."<br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">She throws him the poison, which he pours own the dragon's mouth and the dragon dies. Everyone rejoices and celebrates, but the knight feels ashamed.<br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">A month later, he goes on another trip. As he leaves with his sword, the princess reminds him to be careful, and to bring the noose and the poison. He is annoyed by her suggestions but brings them just in case.<br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">This time on his journey he hears another woman in distress. As he rushes to her call, his depression is lifted and he feels confident and alive. But as he draws his sword to slay the dragon, he again hesitates. He wonders, Should I use my sword, the noose, or the poison. What would the princess say?<br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">For a moment he is confused. But then he remembers how he had felt before he knew the princess, back in the days when he only carried a sword. With a burst of renewed confidence he throws off the noose and poison and charges the dragon with his trusted sword. He slays the dragon and the townspeople rejoice.<br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">The knight in shining armor never returned to his princess. He stayed in this new village and lived happily ever after. He eventually married, but only after making sure his new partner knew nothing about nooses and poisons.<br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">The End<br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxksS_4gg-UjbtivDGNHt3YL4lLzzfLTaavlmSG04LUQ3DO4IpxZyybxfpJf1GUHn-SC8K5Zh1gZRlpqNAQ7oLi6CMhLC9DS6ngtkVy_W1AbhHU7xw-JEFnv3aS0HfJyNR9Q2hNDwhqd4/s1600-h/shield.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxksS_4gg-UjbtivDGNHt3YL4lLzzfLTaavlmSG04LUQ3DO4IpxZyybxfpJf1GUHn-SC8K5Zh1gZRlpqNAQ7oLi6CMhLC9DS6ngtkVy_W1AbhHU7xw-JEFnv3aS0HfJyNR9Q2hNDwhqd4/s320/shield.jpg" /></a><br />
</div><div style="text-align: left;">So obviously our husbands don't leave every day and face dragons head on, but they do face challenges that are very dragon-like -- providing for a family is a huge deal, and could be a dragon. In what ways do we tell our completely capable dragon-slaying knights in shining armor how to kill their dragons - what weapons to take and how to use them?<br />
</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: left;">Women give advice to everyone, because we like it. We love to receive it, so we assume everyone else loves to as well. It's one of the ways we show love. But maybe instead of giving advice to our husbands, a better thing to do is to ask, "How can I help you?" He will ask for help if he needs it or wants it. If not, I think we would be better off taking a walk and biting our tongues. What about saying encouraging things more often...things like, "I know you'll figure it out..." "You're doing such a good job..." "Thank you for working so hard to provide for our family..." "Thank you for....[insert the other million things he does]".<br />
</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: left;">We all yearn for the picturesque love story. Maybe not one with pricesses, knights and dragons, but we all want to be taken care of by the man we love and guess what - they want to take care of us to. BUT before they can they need to know we trust them to figure things out, take the lead and slay the 'dragons' of this world in their own way. If we let them, they will and we'll all be happier for it. <br />
</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7739478084740009277.post-11626177782366162092009-09-14T21:52:00.000-07:002009-09-14T21:58:53.435-07:00ya-got-ta-wanna...author unknown<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYmmjiqzo_mN4w9O7S27LUielKnAhamwBN5sE-XIHNg5vkNzCJI4nutcaH7bmPPSmScduZbBpjxTfDsDglLOK3sIxwz65j_J1U37EpTrXJDfeQP4zmiNh3rzWyrf1flYPicwfGCiaEziw/s1600-h/jump.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" mq="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYmmjiqzo_mN4w9O7S27LUielKnAhamwBN5sE-XIHNg5vkNzCJI4nutcaH7bmPPSmScduZbBpjxTfDsDglLOK3sIxwz65j_J1U37EpTrXJDfeQP4zmiNh3rzWyrf1flYPicwfGCiaEziw/s320/jump.jpg" /></a><br />
<br />
Found this sah-weet poem in an old journal of mine...I don't know who it's by, and the name I have on it is 'ya-got-ta-wanna'...I hope that's really what it's called. Enjoy!<br />
<br />
If you want a thing bad enough to go out and fight for it</div><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">Work day and night for it,</div></div><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">Give up your time and your peace and your sleep for it<br />
<br />
If only the desire of it</div></div><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">Makes you mad enough never to tire of it</div></div><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">Makes you hold all things tawdry and cheap for it</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">Life seems all empty and useless without it<br />
<br />
And all that you scheme</div></div><div style="text-align: center;">and dream</div><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">Is about it<br />
<br />
If gladly you'll sweat for it</div></div><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">fret for it</div></div><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">plan for it</div></div><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">Lose all your terror of devils and men for it<br />
<br />
If you'll simply go after the thing that you want </div></div><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">With all your capacity</div></div><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">strength and sagacity</div></div><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">Faith, hope and confidence, stern pertinacity<br />
<br />
If neither cold, poverty, famish or gaunt</div></div><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">Nor sickness nor pain</div></div><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">of body or brain</div></div><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">Can keep you away from the thing that you want<br />
<br />
If dogged and grim and beseech and beset</div></div><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">You'll get it. You'll get it. -Author Unknown</div></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7739478084740009277.post-42742021229941816272009-09-14T15:18:00.000-07:002009-09-14T15:48:34.964-07:00THE Cheerleader.All the best stuff I've read on marriage (and when I say "best" I mean the stuff that's hit me the hardest and felt the most right in my heart), has deemed the wife as the family "cheerleader". Thank goodness that doesn't mean I have to go around with pom-poms stuck to my hands, shouting things like "GEW...TEAM...GEW!" (gew....as in "go", only for some reason cheerleaders say it like "gew") and jumping around the house (though I'm sure my husband wouldn't mind the short skirt). <br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6AACM0JQolE7j8PolIiIp-zWo38bAiONkvlAePeKYHhJyBArXcXp0M17MZHhyphenhyphenUK66FDEvgBW4IsNZ0SwSgRsFsOlLkIs3hQdsIaL2cEWdMzlgWe9DeRnmRw1BXDJb8CJiIngzgSGOfsE/s1600-h/cheerleader.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" mq="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6AACM0JQolE7j8PolIiIp-zWo38bAiONkvlAePeKYHhJyBArXcXp0M17MZHhyphenhyphenUK66FDEvgBW4IsNZ0SwSgRsFsOlLkIs3hQdsIaL2cEWdMzlgWe9DeRnmRw1BXDJb8CJiIngzgSGOfsE/s320/cheerleader.jpg" /></a></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">Over the years, I've learned more and more what that means and what a difference it makes to cheer on the people around me, especially and most importantly my husband. The absolute best advice I've ever, and I mean EVER heard came from a dear friend of mine. She got it from her mom. And let me tell you about her mom...she is the most incredible, wise, soft, beautifully feminine person I have ever known, and I've loved her since the second I met her (or I'm pretty sure I have. I can't remember the first time I met her, but I'm sure I loved her). You'd love her too. <br />
<br />
Anyway, my dear sweet friend (we'll call her Kate) and her husband (we'll call him Jack). {So I've been catching up on Lost...those are the first names that came to mind - haha!} So Kate and Jack were really struggling financially. Jack's company had shut down and he'd been out of a job for a couple of months. Luckily they had some savings, but it was starting to dry up. Anyone who's ever been in a situation close to that knows that things can get more than a little tense.<br />
<br />
So one day, Kate was driving around and just lost it. I don't know that she ever got around to telling me exactly what she was feeling, but I'm sure she was feeling scared and frustrated and helpless at the situation. Oh - I forgot to mention they have a little boy that she stayed home to take care of. I guess the baby better be called Aaron. ;) Back to driving around - Kate called her wonderful and wise mom, and her first words went something like this, {bawling} "Mom, I don't know what we're going to do. We were doing okay, but now we're running out of money and Jack still doesn't have a job and ....." Now you'll find out why I think Kate's mom is so amazing. HER first words to her sweet daughter were, "Kate, stop crying. Is Jack there? You better not have cried in front of Jack because if you think this is hard for you, then you better believe it's hard for him."</div><br />
Talk about a reality check. Kate got a hold of herself and listened to the rest of her mom's advice. For the sake of making things as easy to understand as possible, I will put her advice in a list:<br />
<br />
1. Smile. Smile at him every chance you get. First thing when he walks into the house or into the room. Make sure he knows you're happy that he's around. If you're not, smile anyway.<br />
<br />
2. Trust him. He is a smart and loving man. Don't you go out and get a job, that will make him think you don't trust him and you'll end up an over-worked woman who is bitter that she's supporting her family. He's a smart guy - let him figure this out <em>and he will</em>. Do your job the best you can - make your home comfortable, be happy and make him a sandwich when he's at home during lunch time.<br />
<br />
3. Don't nag. Ever. If you feel like nagging or getting upset, go to him and give him a backrub and a kiss instead.<br />
<br />
4. Don't give him advice unless he asks for it. Bite. your. tongue. No "you shoulds" or "have you trieds". He's got it. Don't make him feel accoutable to you. Let him figure it out.<br />
<br />
<div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">5. Don't cry. If you can't help it, cry in the shower. Take a walk if you have to. Call me or your best friend or your sister and vent and cry all you want. But don't cry or pout to him. Show him that you have faith and trust in him by loving him, not by crying and making him feel worse. Just because he doesn't talk about it doesn't mean he doesn't feel like a failure for not being able to give you everything you want.<br />
<br />
6. Hug him. Go home and apologize. Put your arms around his neck and tell him you're sorry and that you were wrong. That you trust him to be able to take care of you.</div><br />
<div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">7. You need to be the one person he can go to for unconditional love, support and kindness. The world is a harsh place and if he hasn't found a job yet, that means he's getting rejected all day long. Don't be one more person he feels rejected by.<br />
<br />
Kate did what her mom told her to do. The first thing she did when she got home was put her arms around Jack's neck, kiss him, and apologize for nagging and not trusting him. His attitude changed over night. Things didn't get better financially, Jack took a couple more months to find a job, but they were happy and their marriage is stronger because of it. Kate felt good about doing the best she could at her job of taking care of Jack and Aaron and making them feel loved.<br />
<br />
I'm not a man, but I think that in the end, all a man wants is the wife he married. Weren't we all unconditionally supportive, smiley, lovey women when we were dating our husbands? I think we could all be a little more that way and a little less...well....not that way. :)<br />
<br />
My husband's only comment when I told him what Kate's mom said was, "I think she's right on." I think so too. So good luck to you in your cheerleading. Don't beat yourself up when you don't feel like you're doing it right. I think it's an art that Kate's mom has obviously spent years perfecting (though I'm sure she would disagree if she knew I called it or her perfect).<br />
<br />
Here's to you and your marriage and cheering your hubby to great things! {Back hand-spring, stick the cheer pose, hold it aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaand..........jump up, spirit hands, woooo! gew team!}</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7739478084740009277.post-12151770325128527602009-09-14T14:12:00.000-07:002009-09-14T14:14:11.503-07:00on problem-solving...<div style="text-align: center;">We've all got problems...what about solutions?<br />
<br />
"It is easy to let ourselves get wrapped up in the problem, rather than focusing on the solution. I've watched some people obsess with their problem so much, it's almost as if talking about it soothes them. I suspect that's because problems are concrete; we can identify them easily and that provides the illusion of control. The solution, on the other hand, is multi-faceted. <br />
It requires honesty, creativity, determination, patience and focus." - Eric Harr<br />
<br />
If God has allowed us to go through trials, that probably means that He believes we have the power to find the solutions. Let's spend today looking for the answers instead of focusing on the questions in our lives. Happy Hunting! :)</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7739478084740009277.post-1324681081143894132009-09-11T13:20:00.000-07:002009-09-11T13:24:40.564-07:00Zucchini Fritters<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">So I saw this recipe in a magazine at my cousin's house, and thought it sounded yum-a-licious. Plus, one more way to get rid of the oodles and oodles of zucchini in my garden. I haven't tried it out (this is the first recipe I've posted that I haven't a) tried and b) LOVED). Try it out and let me know what you think - I'll do the same this weekend.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3g6sVVwrJ-GFuMHb5jDQakI7Au_uBH2NkuzZqMbqEHtYPMzb18_uwEpevNoeAZ84Iz7-rk-WW1AI5HIe02MNJ_XGkjWsu79DlV3AkYiSL4FD_3LHvp_cvMlwAiaiS1-o2QEvc6L-rGQw/s1600-h/zucchini.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" mq="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3g6sVVwrJ-GFuMHb5jDQakI7Au_uBH2NkuzZqMbqEHtYPMzb18_uwEpevNoeAZ84Iz7-rk-WW1AI5HIe02MNJ_XGkjWsu79DlV3AkYiSL4FD_3LHvp_cvMlwAiaiS1-o2QEvc6L-rGQw/s200/zucchini.jpg" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">ZUCCHINI FRITTERS</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Ingredients:</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">1 large zucchini, finely chopped </div>1 small onion, chopped<br />
3 eggs, beaten<br />
1/2 cup freshly grated Romano cheese<br />
1 cup milk<br />
2 cups all-purpose flour<br />
salt and pepper to taste<br />
garlic powder to taste <br />
onion powder to taste <br />
dried parsley (optional) <br />
1/4 cup vegetable shortening <br />
<br />
Directions:<br />
In a large bowl, mix together the zucchini, onion, eggs, Romano cheese, milk, and flour. Season with salt, pepper, garlic powder, onion powder, and parsley. Heat about 1 tablespoon of shortening in a large skillet over medium heat. Drop 1/4 cupfuls of the batter into the skillet, and flatten slightly with the back of a spatula. Turn fritters over when the center appears dry. Cook on the other side until golden brown. Set aside and keep warm. Add more shortening to skillet as needed, and continue with remaining batter.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7739478084740009277.post-63460923163672482412009-09-11T12:57:00.000-07:002009-09-11T12:58:43.657-07:00Dear Self....<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Dear Self,<br />
<br />
Every day, we work our tushies off (figuratively speaking, of course...which is unfortunate) for the people around us. We make sure everyone gets breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks. We wash the clothes, we clean the bathroom and keep everything pretty and dust-free. I've lost track of how many times we've done the dishes this week or how many times we've put the pillows back on the couch and lovingly fluffed them up. And we always get dressed and dolled up right before Jeff walks in the door, so he has a pretty wife to look at (little does he know we spend the day doing chores and cleaning spit up - among other accidents - so we don't bother getting ready until then). We do a million things a day for the people we love, because well, we do love them. But it's time we did something just for us.<br />
<br />
Starting today, lets get ready first thing in the morning. This means shower AND hair AND make-up, so we don't spend the day feeling ugly and worn down. Jeff can take care of whatever might be going on that we would otherwise take care of for 30 minutes while we get ready. And second, lets start taking at least one 15-minute walk every day. I don't know how, but I know it will make life even more blissful.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Other than that, I have no complaints. Life is pretty good. Looking forward to that walk later today and a shower before anything else in the morning.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjeqcVdFYSzXlWJraDEqA3RX5-2f15xolnJPIrten2nkZmxmKQ28ZCmAN9F78EmtE0JHGsRoGpPpRMBRZtC7YuITaGPg5bBissacddfyUhyphenhyphen77CV_FFRTlHzTEeXelPT02hmCv9uhiinOoU/s1600-h/Bath.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" mq="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjeqcVdFYSzXlWJraDEqA3RX5-2f15xolnJPIrten2nkZmxmKQ28ZCmAN9F78EmtE0JHGsRoGpPpRMBRZtC7YuITaGPg5bBissacddfyUhyphenhyphen77CV_FFRTlHzTEeXelPT02hmCv9uhiinOoU/s320/Bath.jpg" /></a></div>Love,<br />
MeUnknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7739478084740009277.post-6243928392606635802009-09-08T12:21:00.000-07:002009-09-08T12:21:27.370-07:00Chocolatey Zucchini Cake<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div>This is my husband's favorite kind of cake. Well....it's a tie between this and rhubarb cake. Weird. Anyway, I think he got this recipe when he took a foods class in high school, which <i>you know</i> he took only because it was the only chance he'd get to eat in class. :) It's written in a little index card booklet in his best high-school-boy penmanship with about 30 other recipes. Pretty presh if you ask me. :)<br />
<div style="text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihfYT4Ve5UZRCZFVGnTxBdmVMuf10qjgT_fUkoWpSN8CiG5ij_pKT3GVkHUD5NnU7faoQ9mUMTDnX_AGon67EU8oTY-4mKzBs2oDvMJocNT35WT7VMsx6jsQhWnqTGVD_1irTQuyDkgW0/s1600-h/zucchini+cake.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihfYT4Ve5UZRCZFVGnTxBdmVMuf10qjgT_fUkoWpSN8CiG5ij_pKT3GVkHUD5NnU7faoQ9mUMTDnX_AGon67EU8oTY-4mKzBs2oDvMJocNT35WT7VMsx6jsQhWnqTGVD_1irTQuyDkgW0/s320/zucchini+cake.jpg" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"></div><div style="text-align: center;">ZUCCHINI CAKE </div>Ingredients:<br />
1/2 cup butter<br />
1/2 cup oil (substitute 1/2 cup applesauce for less fat)<br />
1 3/4 cups sugar<br />
2 eggs<br />
1 tsp vanilla<br />
2 1/2 cups flour<br />
1 teaspoon baking soda<br />
1 teaspoon cinnamon<br />
3 tablespoons cocoa powder<br />
1/2 teaspoon baking powder<br />
1/2 teaspoon salt<br />
1/2 cup sour milk (add 1/2 tbsp vinegar to milk and let stand 5 min)<br />
2 cups peeled/shredded zucchini<br />
1/2 cup chocolate chips<br />
1/2 cup brown sugar<br />
1/2 cup chopped nuts (optional - we've never added these before)<br />
<br />
Directions:<br />
Cream sugar, butter and oil, add eggs and vanilla. Mix well. Add dry ingredients and sour milk. Mix in zucchini. Pour into a 9x13 greased cake pan. Top with chocolate chips, brown sugar and nuts. Bake at 325 for 40-45 minutes. Let cool. Once cool drizzle with caramel and chocolate ice cream topping (that's what we use instead of frosting).Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7739478084740009277.post-75273053774102971472009-09-08T06:55:00.000-07:002009-09-08T06:56:45.144-07:00Zucchini Apple SlicesSo I heard that this recipe, made from zucchini, tastes just like apples in an apple pie. Of course I was skeptical, who wouldn't be?? The lady who gave it to me said that she's taken to it tons of potluck dinners over the years and has only had one person guess that it wasn't made from apples. Pretty good odds, huh? I decided to give it a whirl, and tricked my husband, his sister and her friend. Works for me - it's yummy!<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">ZUCCHINI APPLE SLICES</div><div style="text-align: left;">Ingredients:</div><div style="text-align: left;">Filling-</div><div style="text-align: left;">12 cup zucchini</div><div style="text-align: left;">1 teaspoon Cinnamon</div><div style="text-align: left;">1 cup lemon juice</div><div style="text-align: left;">1 1/4 cups sugar</div><div style="text-align: left;">1/2 cup apple juice </div><div style="text-align: left;">Crust-</div><div style="text-align: left;">4 cups flour</div><div style="text-align: left;">1/2 teaspoon salt</div><div style="text-align: left;">1 1/2 cups sugar</div><div style="text-align: left;">1 1/2 cups butter<br />
<br />
Directions:</div><div style="text-align: left;">Peel zucchini, remove seeds and cube. Cook all filling ingredients (except apple juice) for 1 hour or until tender {mine only took about 30 minutes on the stove}. Mix crust ingredients until crumbly. Use a cookie sheet 1 1/2" deep. Pat half of the crust into cookie pan. Pat it down smooth. Bake at 375 for 10 minutes. Crust will be light brown. Remove from oven. Add 1/2 cup of apple juice and a generous 1 cup of crust mixture into filling. Mix well - it will thicken up before your eyes! Pour filling onto baked crust and sprinkle with remaining crust on top. Bake at 375 for 30-35 minutes. Enjoy!<br />
<br />
Who knew you could use all that zucchini for a yummy dessert!?! :) </div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7739478084740009277.post-85643529974312121432009-09-05T12:33:00.000-07:002009-09-05T12:34:32.875-07:00Zucchini - it's everywhereDid you ever hear the one about the country cousin and the city cousin? They go visit each other, and each one has a hard time adjusting to the other one's door-locking habits. The city cousin wants to lock everything, the country cousin doesn't give locks a second thought. Then one Sunday the city cousin goes to church with the country cousin, and the country cousin is adamant about locking the car doors. Of course, the city cousin is confused - of all places, you lock your doors at church? The country cousin says, "You HAVE to lock your door at church...if you don't the whole car will be full of zucchini when you come out."<br />
<br />
Ya, ya...hardy har har, but really during this time of year, zucchini seems to be everywhere. My neighbors, friends, and in-laws have all tried to pawn theirs off on me, which I would have gladly taken if I didn't have a garden-full myself. You'd think that we'd all be smarter than that and just start planting less. Or maybe it's become some kind of tradition to pass zucchini around at the end of the summer. Either way, there's gotta be something we can do with it. :)<br />
<br />
In the next couple of days, watch for recipes that have gotten rave reviews around here. By the time we're through, you might even wish you had MORE zucchini! Actually probably not, but you're sure to enjoy what you have. Starting.....now.<br />
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My neighbor and friend brought Zucchini Bread over to us a couple of weeks ago. Nice huh? Not only was it nice, it was de-licious. I feel like I've had my fair share of zucchini bread over the years, but this one topped em all. I ate almost the entire mini-loaf. Not in one sitting, of course. I was standing, and only cut off one slice at a time, which I cut in half, took that half and always came back for the other half. I don't know why I feel okay about eating way more than I should if I take it with me in small pieces.<br />
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Back to more important things. Here is the recipe:<br />
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<div style="text-align: center;">ZUCCHINI BREAD </div><div style="text-align: center;"></div><div style="text-align: left;">Ingredients:</div><div style="text-align: left;">3 eggs</div><div style="text-align: left;">1 cup oil</div><div style="text-align: left;">2 cups sugar</div><div style="text-align: left;">2 teaspoons vanilla</div><div style="text-align: left;">1 teaspoon salt</div><div style="text-align: left;">1 teaspoon baking soda</div><div style="text-align: left;">1 teaspoon cinnamon</div><div style="text-align: left;">1 teaspoon baking powder</div><div style="text-align: left;">3 cups peeled & grated zucchini (roughly XL zucchini)</div><div style="text-align: left;">3 cups flour<br />
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Directions:</div><div style="text-align: left;">Mix together in order listed. Bake in 2 greased and floured (I just use Pam...I think it works better) bread pans for about 1 hour at 350. Or you can use the little loaf pans and bake for about 45 minutes.<br />
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****Notes: I used to be really bad at making banana/zucchini type bread. It always came out doughy in the middle. I think that's because it looks done before it IS done. Do yourself and your friends/neighbors a favor by testing the middle of your bread with a knife before you take it out. If it's doughy leave it in until it's not anymore, no matter how done the outside looks/smells. </div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7739478084740009277.post-79101884253742371582009-09-05T12:11:00.000-07:002009-09-05T12:11:50.303-07:00it outta be a four-letter wordYou know the one I'm talking about. You cringe when you hear it. You hate to think about it and all that it means. Housework.<br />
<br />
Ya, so maybe that was a little high on drama. And who wants more drama? Not I, so lets pretend I didn't say that. Why don't I just delete it, you ask? Well because if I deleted that paragraph, then this paragraph wouldn't make any sense. Neither would the title of my post. Besides, I do what I want. :)<br />
<br />
So at my house, I call housework "my chores". I didn't think that was weird until someone laughed at it, and I gave it another thought. I guess "chores" does sound like something I was assigned to do, that I don't want to do, by someone with authority to give me assignments, and I have to get it done before I can do anything I want. Huh...now that I put it that way, chores it is. I <i>am</i> smart!<br />
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Something I noticed a while back is that my chores weren't getting equal attention. I would vacuum the living room a few times a week, because I really don't mind vacuuming, but I would never make it to cleaning the kitchen floor - which - (hang on, I just threw up in my mouth a little) I H.A.T.E. And then by the time the week was over I had awesomely clean carpet (quite a feat with 2 pomeranians and a 6-month-old), and a dusty, dirty kitchen floor, among other things. It's just an example. What I really mean to say is that I was spending time doing obvious chores over and over, and missing some of the other ones.<br />
<br />
So...I made myself a schedule. I was inspired by my best friend's mom, whose philosophy on keeping a clean house is to become OCD. Hah! Just kidding, it's not funny. She is totally OCD, and makes herself a schedule for the exact OPPOSITE reason that I do. She makes a schedule to keep herself from over cleaning. I do it to keep things hygienic around here. But I see her point. Let's get on with it.<br />
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Here is the schedule I made for myself. This is not my final draft, which I'm not sure I will ever get to, since I always seem to be changing things up to make it work. <br />
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<div style="text-align: center;">Chore Schedule</div><br />
<div style="text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-size: small;">Monday: </span></b> </div><div style="text-align: center;">Laundry - washing/drying</div><div style="text-align: center;">Monthly Rotation **more on this below</div><div style="text-align: center;"></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b>Tuesday:</b></div><div style="text-align: center;">Laundry - folding/ironing</div><div style="text-align: center;">Vacuum </div><div style="text-align: center;"></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b>Wednesday:</b></div><div style="text-align: center;">Bathrooms</div><div style="text-align: center;">Give Jackson a bath</div><div style="text-align: center;"></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b>Thursday:</b></div><div style="text-align: center;">Kitchen Floor</div><div style="text-align: center;">Laundry Room Floor</div><div style="text-align: center;"></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b>Friday:</b></div><div style="text-align: center;">Dusting</div><div style="text-align: center;">Grocery Shopping</div><div style="text-align: center;">Vacuum</div><div style="text-align: center;"></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b>Saturday:</b></div><div style="text-align: center;">Weeding/Yard Work</div><div style="text-align: center;">Give Jackson a bath</div><br />
**Monthly Rotations are chores that need done only monthly. I rotate by 1st Mon, 2nd Mon, etc.<br />
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Monthly Rotation Schedule:<br />
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<div style="text-align: center;"><b>1st Week:</b></div><div style="text-align: center;">Bathe/Brush Dogs</div><div style="text-align: center;"></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b>2nd Week:</b></div><div style="text-align: center;">Clean Laundry Room</div><div style="text-align: center;"></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b>3rd Week:</b></div><div style="text-align: center;">Cut Jeff's hair</div><div style="text-align: center;"></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b>4th Week:</b></div><div style="text-align: center;">Filing/Organizing</div><br />
And then of course there are the daily items - dishes, straightening up, making my bed and everything else that comes up in a day. The nice thing is that I feel like I can handle doing a few chores every day, and I know that everything is going to get taken care of. It makes me feel more in control and gives me more time to do whatever I want because I don't feel like I have to clean the whole house every day. I can be okay with doing just a little, then moving on to my lists and lists of projects.<br />
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For example, if on Monday I see that the bathroom is especially messy, I can tell myself to let it go, because it's on the schedule for Wednesday. All I have to worry about on Monday is laundry. I mean, I'm not saying that if my dog harfs on the laundry room floor that I'm not going to clean it up unless it's a Thursday, or that my son isn't going to get a bath if he's especially stinky on a Monday. Buuut, if he's a little messier than usual on a Tuesday night, I might give myself some time off and wait a day, know what I mean?<br />
<br />
Anyway, I don't know if something like this will work for you, but give it a whirl. Oh - and a hint: If I miss something one day, I never make up for it the next day. It will get taken care of the next time around. See what you thinkUnknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7739478084740009277.post-9853531932597021722009-09-05T11:39:00.000-07:002009-09-05T11:42:30.751-07:00Oh how joy can come...from one. single. person.My cousin, Madi, is maybe the most loving, happy girl I've ever met. She is just barely starting her teen years, but has NO problem hanging out with adults, babies, little kids, kids her age, nice kids, mean kids, who.ever. which is pretty awesome. It seems to come naturally to her. It's like she doesn't think twice about it...she thinks that everyone should be her friend and that she should be a friend to everyone. Only it's not like this is some kind of philosophy she works hard to live - it honestly comes naturally to her. It would be just as natural for her to make friends with a girl twice her age as it would with a girl her age or half her age. She's just like that, and I think it totally rocks.<br />
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A few weeks ago, she found a picture of the two of us from a long time ago....well like 7 years...I guess depending on how long you've been around 7 years might not be a "long time ago". But anyway, she took it, and did some funky things to it, then posted it on facebook. <br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZgOKTVxKlllkIXqFRCpNAK-ae-u_VKZZhZqr2cVxs3idRv6Nz5A3H-kwtYj5znV1U0OQqEhrGOJ_M7uqgKiBEpqNWAbV8wX9dmWDof05DX_nMimNtpxDgiKfaLfXpGwlS5v8J9RIgik8/s1600-h/Be+yourself.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZgOKTVxKlllkIXqFRCpNAK-ae-u_VKZZhZqr2cVxs3idRv6Nz5A3H-kwtYj5znV1U0OQqEhrGOJ_M7uqgKiBEpqNWAbV8wX9dmWDof05DX_nMimNtpxDgiKfaLfXpGwlS5v8J9RIgik8/s320/Be+yourself.jpg" /></a></div><br />
There is no way that Madi could have known that I was struggling at that time, and that "Be Yourself" was exactly what I needed to hear. I don't think I'm the only one who does this, but a lot of times I forget that who I am is who I'm supposed to be. I forget that my husband fell in love with me the way I am, and that I don't have to be different to make him happy - I just have to be me. That God created me the way I am, and if he's happy with me the way that I am, I should be too.<br />
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About a week later, she was playing with the same picture again, and this is what she came up with:<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkITWjDQeQY6yqYhTvG6rCSW4WKhuG7YnGxCDxfyW8MuIBFXfoeGdRihq7QpeMPOhQe0G2M6_wtQu5Ya9M8eOpIV3RGoeQBCyZM6TCJqwRO6658jyNIK8vdBAskWFMeKR6eY-gdk3rMkE/s1600-h/Madi+and+Kallie.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkITWjDQeQY6yqYhTvG6rCSW4WKhuG7YnGxCDxfyW8MuIBFXfoeGdRihq7QpeMPOhQe0G2M6_wtQu5Ya9M8eOpIV3RGoeQBCyZM6TCJqwRO6658jyNIK8vdBAskWFMeKR6eY-gdk3rMkE/s320/Madi+and+Kallie.jpg" /></a> </div><div class="" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">If you can't read it, there is a little quote on the side that says, "Oh how joy can come to the world from one single person." Can you see why she melts my heart? She's just a little gem. I have thought a lot about these two pictures and what they mean. In fact, I printed both of them and they are on my fridge as little reminders. <b> </b><br />
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<b>First, to be myself.</b> I read a lot of self-help books, autobiographies and biographies, which I love...that's why I read them. :) Thing is once I'm done, I sometimes beat myself up for not being more this way or better at that thing. Which is totally not the point of reading a book like that. The point is to be inspired to be a little bit better, but not to change completely. I want to be the best ME, not the best Marjorie Hinckley or Abraham Lincoln or Anne Frank. What I am trying to convince myself to do now, is to take the best I can get from these books, which might sound like what I should have been doing in the first place, but for some reason that doesn't come naturally to me. So instead of becoming these people, I will let them inspire me to be better myself. I'll probably never send cards and gifts and notes of encouragement like Marjorie Hinckley did to her loved ones, but think I can do better at letting my kids be kids instead of giving them chores all day. I'll probably never be as publicly persistent as Abraham Lincoln, but I can be just as thoughtful and devoted as he was. And I hope I never go through what Anne Frank did, but I hope she's taught me to be just a little bit better at keeping a record of my personal history. A <span style="font-size: xx-small;">little</span> bit better. No leaps and bounds here...that's already hard for me to do. And who knows, maybe with a little practice it will get easier. But for now, I am satisfied if each book makes me just a little better.<b><br />
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And second, the joy that can come from one single person</b>...including me. It's easy for me to see that having Madi around, or my sister, or her kids, or my husband or my son can bring joy. It's harder to see that the same joy I feel when they are around, THEY feel when I am around. (That or they're really good at faking it.) :) I believe that there are certain things that ONLY you can do, or ONLY I can do. Whether that's something huge - and when I say huge, maybe a better word is visible, like winning a war or ending slavery or feeding kids in Africa OR that something seems small and insignificant, like being the only person in the world who can soothe your crying baby, which is small unless you're the crying baby (or someone within ear-shot) and then it's the only thing that matters in the world - war, slavery and hunger or not.<br />
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There is something unique, and incredible that only YOU can do that only I can do. Lets all be a little better at remembering that, and if you have trouble, call the Madi in your life and get a big fat reminder. :)</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7739478084740009277.post-2021544741305931232009-09-05T10:56:00.000-07:002009-09-05T10:56:50.410-07:00Good One, CharlieI watched a movie called "Out to Sea" last night...soooo funny. It's about 2 old men who go on a cruise to pick up chicks. Well, that's probably a bad synopsis, but that's about what happens. :) One of the characters, Charlie at one point is trying to convince the other guy to do something he doesn't want to do and says,<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;">"It's never too late, that's why they invented death!"</span></div><br />
I love love LOVE it! Wouldn't it be great if we all lived by that - it's never too late....til you're dead. Then maybe. :)Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7739478084740009277.post-77220292588791743932009-09-01T14:33:00.000-07:002009-09-08T12:22:23.945-07:00the.best.chocolate.cake...ever.I don't really like chocolate *gasp*! Ya, so sue me. :) BUT my best friend of who knows how many years (we met in 7th grade) made this cake once and it is oh so delicious - even I love it! :) I can't tell you how many times I've called her to get this recipe and written it down on some scrap piece of paper, then lost the paper only to have to call her again the next time I wanted to make it. You'll know what I'm talking about once you taste it. Whenever chocolate cake is served at a function where we both happen to be, the #1 question is always from me to her, "is this <i>your</i> chocolate cake?" or from her to me, "is this <i>my</i> recipe?" It's just really not worth eating unless the answer is "YES!"<br />
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Ingredients:<br />
1 cup water<br />
4 tablespoons cocoa powder<br />
1 cup butter<br />
2 cups flour<br />
2 cups sugar<br />
1 teaspoon cinnamon<br />
1 teaspoon salt<br />
1 teaspoon baking soda<br />
2 eggs<br />
1/2 cup buttermilk<br />
1 teaspoon vanilla<br />
<br />
Directions:<br />
In a saucepan, melt together water, cocoa and butter. Meanwhile in a mixing bowl, mix flour, sugar, cinnamon, salt and baking soda. Add ingredients from saucepan to mixing bowl. Add eggs, buttermilk and vanilla. Mix well. Pour into greased cake pan. Bake for 30-35 minutes at 350.<br />
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***Note: substitute for buttermilk (although the buttermilk is SO much better): 1/2 cup milk + 1 capful of white vinegar. Let it sit for a minute or two. It will get kinda chunky. Yum. :)Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7739478084740009277.post-89277818072922622692009-09-01T14:21:00.000-07:002009-09-01T14:21:37.252-07:00Laundry ShmaundryWhen I lived in Brazil, I remember doing my laundry several times by. hand. and thinking, "When I get back to the U.S., I'll never complain about doing laundry with a washer and dryer again." Then I got back, and I despite my declaration to never complain again. I do complain and hate...a lot. Laundry is by far my least favorite chore. I don't know what it is. In my mind it's not a hard chore, and once it's done, I feel like my own mother saying to myself, "see it wasn't that bad". But I still dread it every week.<br />
<br />
I have tried everything I can think of to make it a more painless chore. I tried doing 1 load per day. Again, you wouldn't think it would be that hard. But I felt like I was doing laundry all. the. time. So after a year, I quit that routine (and don't let me fool you into thinking I was perfect at it either...when I say I did a load a day, I use those terms loosely. Very loosely.)<br />
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The next thing I tried was getting it done in two days a week - I would do a couple loads on Monday and a couple loads on Thursday. Looks good on paper, right? Wrong. This was even worse. I only lasted a few weeks. I felt even more like I was doing laundry all the time.<br />
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You know what I think it is? It's the folding. That's what gets me every time. I am okay putting the dirty clothes in the washer, then changing them to the dryer. Heck I'm even good at getting them out of the dryer. And that's where I experience some kind of freakish paralysis. The clean, warm laundry goes onto my bed and that's where it stays until every last load is done. And sometimes it stays there until late at night when I'm too tired to fold it before I fall into my bed at night, so I throw the laundry on the floor. Then when I wake up I put it back on my bed. This would sometimes go on for days (how embarrassing....seriously I'm blushing a little). Now that I think of it, I should kiss my husband for never complaining about it. He's so good to me.<br />
<br />
Anyway, it's time I announced to the world that I have solved my laundry woes. Or, I've found a way to deal with them. I mean, it's not like I've gotten rid of laundry all together, which would be the only true solution. So here it is...the secret of laundry. I call it the Band-Aid method. Get it done as fast as you can, and then don't think about it. I still do my laundry 2 days a week, BUT (thanks to my sweet sissy, who taught me her tricks) now I do it on Monday and Tuesday. And ya, the {clean} laundry still sits for a day before I fold it all at once, but by Tuesday afternoon, my laundry is d-o-n-e for the week and I don't have to think about it again for 5 -count em FIVE- days.<br />
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I might even be able to do laundry for the rest of my life. Heck maybe I'll even learn to fold each load as it comes out of the dryer. Maybe.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7739478084740009277.post-21196788772718868182009-09-01T13:44:00.000-07:002009-09-01T13:44:55.926-07:00All Twisted Up in Oliver TwistOliver Twist is by far one of my favorite books of all time. It takes a good chapter or two to get into the rhythm of Charles Dickens' style, but it's worth the time it takes to get there. After I'd read it for the first time, I rented the movie thinking I would love it, since I loved the book so much. It was a good show, but you miss so much of the story by only watching the movie.<br />
<br />
What I love so much about Oliver Twist is him....Oliver. And the reason I prefer the book over the movie is that the book goes through all the emotions that Oliver feels. He is such an innocent character...good in the very deepest parts of his soul. One of my favorite parts is how torn and absolutely horrified he is when he learns that a game his friends had taught him was actually stealing. <br />
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That's my first book recommendation. It's not the easiest book to read, but like I said, it's worth it - enjoy!Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7739478084740009277.post-57549845728894736342009-09-01T13:12:00.000-07:002009-09-01T13:28:56.205-07:00Whole Wheat BreadMy sister invited me over one time to make this bread with her. She was trying it for the first time. Now, in my mind when someone says, "hey, you wanna come over and make homemade wheat bread?" It auto-translates in my mind to, "hey, you wanna come over and spend 4 hours making a crumbly brick that no one is even going to want to touch, let alone eat?" BUT I'd do about anything if it was with my sister, so I went. In all reality, she made the bread, and I was shocked that it took her about 15 minutes to get everything together and then it was in the oven. I was even more surprised when she took it out and it was soft and had about the same texture of white bread - NOT like the hard, heavy chunks of home made wheat bread I'd had before. Anyway, it takes about 1 hour - start to finish - and is YUMM-O! Definitely worth trying. Plus I feel good about making my own bread...makes me feel....well....domestic goddessy to be able to say, "here, try some of my homemade bread" and to know that it's better for us than anything we can buy.<br />
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Ingredients:<br />
3 cups whole wheat ground into flour (or 4-5 cups whole wheat flour)<br />
3 1/2 cups very warm water<br />
1 teaspoon salt<br />
1/2 cup gluten flour<br />
1/2 cup oil<br />
1/2 cup honey<br />
1 cup wheat bran<br />
2 Tablespoons SAF Instant Yeast (DO NOT substitute)<br />
1-2 cups white flour<br />
<br />
Directions <br />
Place 3 1/2 cups of very warm water in mixing bowl and add the salt, gluten flour, oil, honey, wheat bran and wheat flour. Mix together. Add 2 (level) Tbsp of SAF Instant Yeast, and enough white flour so the dough starts to pull away from the edge of the bowl. Then mix with dough hook for 5 minutes.<br />
<br />
Remove from bowl and place on lightly floured surface. Divide into 3 loaves with a knife. Rub shortening (or butter) onto hands and form into loaves. Don't handle too much.<br />
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Place in pans sprayed with Pam. Cover with a towel and let raise 8-10 minutes until dough reaches top of pan. Put in COLD oven. Turn oven on to 350 and bake for 31-33 minutes. Remover bread from pans immediately. Cool on rack.<br />
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***Hints:<br />
1) Since you're measuring 1/2 cup of each, measure the oil before you measure the honey. Makes it SO much easier to get the honey out of the measuring cup!<br />
2) I found that by grinding my own wheat, my bread came out much MUCH heavier than the light, soft bread I enjoyed at my sister's house. Maybe it's because I'm a beginner and didn't do it right, but I liked this bread much better with store-bought whole wheat flour. In fact I almost gave up after it didn't come out right the first two times. Wow...I can't believe I have an opinion about grinding my own wheat. HahaUnknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7739478084740009277.post-73512305108127048402009-09-01T12:15:00.000-07:002009-09-01T12:32:26.826-07:00Elphis - goddess of hopeIt's true that Elphis is the goddess of hope, but in my mind she has more to give than just hope. She gives us hope by teaching us to be brave when times are hard, to be patient when it's the last thing we think we can do, to love when we want to hate. And so in her lessons on hope she also teaches us courage, patience, charity and other virtues.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7739478084740009277.post-14240185551860604642009-09-01T11:48:00.000-07:002009-09-01T12:35:43.127-07:00Athena - goddess of wisdomI love the quote from Ratatouille (and yes, I had to check the movie box to make sure I spelled it right). The quote goes like this: "They could write books of all the things dad doesn't know....and they HAVE!"<br />
<br />
In the day-to-day living of a wife and mom, we sometimes forget to nourish our minds (sheesh - we're lucky if we get a shower in the morning). I am a big fan of the public library....all those books....for freeeeee? (In my mind that came out the way Adam Sandler says it on Bedtime Stories - one of my new favorite movies.) Anyway, the problem is though that it takes me for.ever. to find a book that I want to read and usually before I'm done looking, my 6-month-old alarm clock goes off and tells me it's time to get outta there.<br />
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Hopefully Athena can help us out with a book list and some reviews to help us get some good books in our hands.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7739478084740009277.post-91737249522574112272009-09-01T11:38:00.000-07:002009-09-01T12:33:28.697-07:00Hestia - goddess of hearth & homeI love that Hestia isn't the goddess of housekeeping or chores or something like that. She is the goddess of hearth & home. That sounds so much warmer and so much more like the kind of goddess I want to be. Since becoming the goddess of my own hearth and home, I have learned quite a few things. Number one: that an orderly, clean home with a good spirit inside doesn't happen by accident. For some reason I didn't get that growing up. Our house was always clean and orderly, and heck, I don't know what goes on in a kid's (or teenager's) mind to make em think that kind of stuff happens magically, but I did. Luckily, I've wised up, and now I realize that if the dishes are done, it's because someone did them (probably more than once that day), and that throw pillows don't stay fluffed - they don't even stay in the right place, and if your house is anything like mine, they're put back and fluffed more than once a day. Here's to Hestia and all of us who work so hard to make our homes retreats and havens for our families.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0