Feeling Frantic?

Who couldn't benefit from shopping lists, recipes and tips for every dinner of the year?

Whether you are a working mom or a stay at home mom- there are some days that stopping at the nearest drive-thru window or ordering a pizza makes life just so much easier... but deep down we know that it is not necessarily the best for our family.

I'd love for my children to have fond memories of Mom baking and cooking deliciously healthy homemade meals- not memories of their favorite Happy Meal toy.

But, seriously- these days, when do we find time to bake and cook deliciously healthy homemade meals on a regular basis? Mary Jo Rulnick's new book has great ways to reasonably make it happen.

I encourage you to check out her website and book- unless of course you have it all under control and then please, by all means let us know your secret in the comments below!

Too Cool For School

I have no idea what that title has to do with this post but I just like to say it!

Yay! I am a winner! Look what will be coming soon to yours truly- Far Out- I can't wait! I'll be sure to post a pic when I receive it. You all know how much I like Urban Baby Runway! Watch for their next contest at the Urban Baby Runway Blog!

AND Ashlee just let me know that she was a big winner, too, for the Shape Up Your Bake Sale contest! Awesome! Woo Hoo. We are too cool for school.

Fearfully And Wonderfully

Psalm 139:14

I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made;

Marvelous are Your works,

And that my soul knows very well.

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Today it has been over 2 years since Noah's last seizure. You can read the long version of his story here, or a little bit about it here. This marks an awesome milestone. He is made fearfully- full of awe or reverence and wonderfully- excellent, great, amazing; extremely well.

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I am not sure when I will stop counting the years and months since his last seizure. I know this two year mark is one I have been looking forward to for a long time now. I also know that it's somewhat of a battle scar: our sweet reminder of the blessings and healing we have seen and experienced with our very own eyes and hearts.

Taking Back My Laundry Room, Ninja Style

Ok, I'll try to make this the last post about the laundry room saga.

I wanted to announce to everyone that I went in there finally and actually have a load of laundry washing as I type.

I am sure that it was quite a sight- with my hoody over my head, long sleeves over my arms, long jeans on my legs, socks and shoes. Fly swatter (or as Carter says it, fly patter) in one gloved hand, long vacuum cleaner hose in the other gloved hand. For a brief moment I considered putting on one of the boys' Spider-Man masks- but then thought it might make it harder for me to see. Listen, I just wanted to be prepared!

I felt confident. A lot in part due to a great friend of mine and her encouraging words. She told me to "claim your power, girl!" and So. I. Did.

I wish she kept a blog (hint hint)- you'd all get a kick out of her stories. Her hubby keeps one here that is definitely worth more than a peek.

Anyway, she gently reminded me of the power that I do have over those home invaders:

Gen. 1:26 says, Then God said, "Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth."

"The Bible says I have dominion over you, so In the Name of Jesus, I command you to come out of your hiding place!"

I was armed with more than protective clothing today as I stepped inside that laundry room.

Amen.

All In Perspective

While shopping for a baby shower gift this week I toted Carter & Gray with me to a couple boutiques. Carter asked, "Was I a gift when I was a baby?" and I thought he meant did he get gifts when he was a baby. I answered, "Yes, you got lots of gifts when you were a baby." He corrected me in his booming tone, "No- I am a gift. I am a gift from God!" I've told him that before, but long ago. Maybe he is actually listening in Sunday School? Whatever the case, I love that child!

These are cute- of the email "fwd" sort:

This first one I've thought about doing...
On the first day of school, a first grader handed his teacher a note from his mother. The note read, "The opinions expressed by this child are not necessarily those of his parents."

It was the end of the day when I parked my police van in front of the station. As I gathered my equipment, my K-9 partner, Jake, was barking, and I saw a little boy staring in at me. "Is that a dog you got back there?" he asked. "It sure is," I replied. Puzzled, the boy looked at me and then towards the back of the van. Finally he said, "What'd he do?"

A little boy opened the big family bible. He was fascinated as he fingered through the old pages. Suddenly, something fell out of the Bible. He picked up the object and looked at it. What he saw was an old leaf that had been pressed in between the pages. "Mama, look what I found", the boy called out. "What have you got there, dear?" With astonishment in the young boy's voice, he answered, "I think it's Adam's underwear...."

What Are You Into This Month?

This Month...

The Book I Am Really Into (or one you want to get into!): Mothering Your Nursing Toddler- I am so loving this book right now!

Magazine I Really Liked: Hmm- it’s hard for me to get through any magazine, but I probably read most of the current Mothering. O Magazine this month was probably the prettiest to look at!

TV Show Worth Watching: Sad to see Project Runway end. Now we’re mostly into Heroes- it’s pretty good so far!

Movie I’ve Seen (In or Out of a theater): The Prestige- a good one!

The CD I Can’t Stop Listening To: This one, of course! And Ray Lamontagne’s Trouble

The Candle I'm Loving: Beanpod Chai Latte

Blog I Am Always Visiting: I think you should check out everyone on my blogroll, and I am really into Total Mom Haircut. I love reading Beth's posts and what people comment. Good thoughts and views there!

What I'm Most Looking Forward To Next Month: Putting up the Christmas tree and decorations the day after Thanksgiving!

I'd love to hear what you are into this month- especially my real life friends Ashlee, Lori, Robin, & Staci!

If you want to play along, let me know in your comments!

Wordless Wednesday: Baby It's Cold Outside!

The Old School Way Is Looking Good Right About Now

Deep breath. Open door. Tall laundry basket in front of me. Large fly swatter in hand.

Another deep breath.

I am not kidding that it took me several minutes just standing there looking into the basement, door open, lights on… breathing.

I actually spoke outloud, “This is silly! Lord, I am scared!”

It’s been days since I’ve stepped foot in here, meaning it’s been days since any laundry has been done. I don’t think hubby will appreciate drying off with a hand towel in the morning.

Deep breath again. By now (since minutes have passed!) I would have seen one buzzing by the light or something. It should be safe.

Fly swatter still in hand, I make my way through with the laundry basket and begin sorting. What’s that sound? Oh, nothing.

Breathe.

The only way I get through the rest of my hurried sorting and toss a load in the washer is by singing over & over Proverbs 18:10 “The name of the Lord is a strong and mighty tower. The righteous run in and are safe.”

Fear literally paralyzes you. At least it did me- my silly fear of yellow jackets in the basement. I am bigger than them. They are probably more afraid of me. But that couldn't move my legs or stop my heart from beating so very fast!

Faith cancels fear- I know this. Faith and fear are mutually exclusive, they cannot live together in the same heart.

I am not afraid, and will do my laundry with courage and faith- AMEN!

Pep Rally

I went out (read: Starbuck’s) last night with two very close sister-friends. We didn’t spend our time griping and commiserating about being moms or wives, but rather how good we have it, and how we desire to be better moms & wives.

I couldn’t wait to get home and give hubby kisses, and check on my older boys as they were tucked in bed.

And I feel so ready to greet this week, a refreshed me.

The Sweetest Day- Stuck In A Mall!

We had a very eventful first Sweetest Day.

Jeff and I had officially been dating about 1 week. I was a manager for Express and was running the store for the night in a different mall for a manager that was on vacation. I was excited that this mall closed early on Saturdays and was hoping to see my new beau for Sweetest Day! This mall was about an hour from home and I was eager to get out of there.

As I locked the gate to the store with another sales associate, the gate got stuck. I tried to get it back up or down, and it was jammed about a foot off the ground.

What to do, what to do? The mall was barren by now- no one to be found. Not even mall security! I couldn’t leave the gate like that, and needed to call for help.

A repairman would be on the way within a few hours. Great. Now the sales associate is upset because she was planning on a date with her man, too.

While we were waiting for the repair person to show up, we went to the entrance closest to our store. This is when we realized that the doors were locked from the inside!! How were we to get out? How was our repairman going to get in?

And suddenly I see someone familiar through the glass doors. Jeff? My new boyfriend? What in the world is he doing here? And oh how happy I was to see him!

He had to run around the entire outside of the mall to find a way inside. Finally he made it to me, and had brought me dinner of all things! I was just so glad to see him and have him there with me. I got permission to send the poor sales girl home since Jeff could just stay with me while we waited to fix the gate.

It’s funny because I don’t remember a lot of the other details. We hung out quite a while in the empty mall. The gate got fixed, and we finally were able to find mall security by intentionally setting off a door alarm to get their attention. Jeff followed me home (his original plan for coming out there in the first place- to make sure I got home safe!)

Can you see why I said yes?

Yellow Coats On The Driveway

The yellow jackets are gone, or are on their way. Just wanted to give an update! I am still not ready to venture into the laundry area. Wonder how long I can keep up that excuse?

Oh, and Noah heard me on the phone this morning talking about the exterminator coming for the yellow jackets and he says wide eyed, "Someone left their yellow coats on the driveway?"

The Bees Won't Let Me Do My Laundry

We have a yellow jacket problem. It started as a few hanging around our front door and turned into "please come to the back door because of all the bees," and "don't mind all the piled up newspapers on the front step because I am too afraid to go out there."

We foolishly thought that when the cold weather came that they would go away or something. Well, turns out that they would like to come inside.

It started out as just one in the basement. Then another. Each day we find at least one new yellow jacket buzzing about around my laundry. I can't go in there! I've never been stung before and I'm not going to start now!

Today the exterminator is coming- they've already done an estimate. I guess we need to get rid of them ASAP or they start eating through the house- wood & paint & all... and it looks like we have a mighty colony taking up residence here.

Then I can go back to doing laundry like a normal person (without fly swatter in hand and running out of the basement dropping everything if I hear a buzz.)

Normally I Was A Well-Dressed Child

My mom had a good laugh about yesterday's post, and in her defense she said:

1) That shirt really fit you but just needed to be pulled down.
2) Your brother never really did like to wear pants.














I thought I should share proof that normally my brother and I were well-dressed children.

Hair styles... now that's a different story.

Wordless Wednesday: Fall Back In Time

Of course I can't leave this one wordless (do I ever?)

This is my cousin, brother, & me (on the right.) Where are my brother's pants? Were half-shirts for toddlers "in" back then? And why is my fly open?

Here's more of my Wordless Wednesdays... let me know if you have one, too!

And I Can So Relate

This should win Post Of The Year...

A mother understands what a child does not say.

-Jewish Proverb

The Domestic Goddess Strikes Again

I get in the mood to actually want to be slaving away in the kitchen every now & then. This weekend was it- I found myself preparing spaghetti sauce at 11 PM Saturday night for Sunday's lunch after church. I also have a huge pot of white chili to finish making sometime today...

Yesterday I got to have some baking fun with the boys.



So, the awesome people over at Reynolds sent me a very nice package to promote a fun contest they have going on. A big box full of goodies came and I promised the boys we'd bake some cupcakes.





Baking cupcakes at our house isn't as easy as just tearing open
a box of Duncan Hines anymore (like I prefer!)

I have to accomodate Gray's egg & milk allergy, and that can be challenging while baking and is also why I don't do it very often, and also why Gray blew out his birthday candle atop a bowl of apple crisp instead of cake.

So, I was in the mood and ready to make some fun things. Reynolds is doing this cool contest and I wanted to get creative. They sent shapes of hearts, stars, & ghosts (for Halloween.) We don't celebrate Halloween, so I wanted to think of something we could still use the ghost shapes for. I think our furry polar bear paws are way better... don't you think?



The boys loved decorating the cupcakes when they weren't trying to shake the sprinkles into their mouths... boys!




Want to get in on the baking fun?
Consumers can enter here and explain why their bake sale needs “shaping up” for a chance to win a FunShapes “Shape Up Your Bake Sale” kit. Reynolds will be giving away sixty of these kits each week for six weeks starting September 22, 2006. Each kit includes a variety of FunShapes samples, a CD-rom with tips, recipes and signage for hosting a successful bake sale, a FunShapes tablecloth and a FunShapes calculator for quick tallies of customers’ bills. In addition, the “Shape Up Your Bake Sale” kits will include a disposable camera and entry information for an exclusive photo contest, with a chance to win a $500 donation to their organization from Reynolds FunShapes Baking Cups.

If you win, please be sure to let me know!!

Are You Sure You Need That Flu Shot?

Thought it was a good time to bring this one up again...

And also a good time to put baby on the scale- does he weigh 500 lbs?

I always have plenty to say on the issue, so go here for more if you wish!

Did you know?
In July 1999 the Public Health Service agencies, the American Academy of Pediatrics, and vaccine manufacturers agreed that thimerosal (49% ethylmercury) should be reduced or eliminated in vaccines as a precautionary measure.

But, vaccines that were already manufactured with thimerosal were not removed from doctors' shelves, and are still being used today.

AND Today, of all routinely recommended licensed pediatric vaccines that are currently being manufactured for the U.S. market, only some influenza (flu) vaccines and tetanus-diphtheria (Td) vaccine (given to children age 7 and older) contain thimerosal as a preservative- CDC

Now if you haven't watched the video, watch it now!!

Angels can fly because they take themselves lightly.