September 26, 2011

Week 1 – No Coffee

A photo of a cup of coffee.

Image via Wikipedia

If you know me or follow me on twitter or read this blog, you know that I love coffee!!!!  I mean L-O-V-E coffee.  I love the taste of it, the smell of it, I just love coffee.  When I was a little girl, I used to finish off the bottom of my Pop-Pop’s cup and of course at the time, I was really drinking sugar with coffee added but hey he was the apple of my little eyes and I wanted whatever was a part of him.

As I grew up, I stopped having coffee made *light and sweet* as he had, and went to just a splash of cream but still heavy on the sugar.  That evolved into no cream but still heavy on the sugar.  For the last several years, I have finally decreased the amount of sugar because you know that much of any good thing isn’t good for you!  Plus, I figured, I was sweet enough!  ;-)

So you are probably wondering then why does the title say no coffee……because for the last week, I have given up coffee.  I have not had not one single solitary cup of java in a week.

Guess what?

I haven’t gone insane, my hair has not been pulled out nor is it standing on end, I have been fine.

You see, my tummy was going through some issues and I couldn’t put my finger on the root cause of the problem.  When it first happened about a month ago, I chalked it up to something I ate that didn’t agree with me.  That episode lasted about a week.  This latest episode was heading towards a week when after much prayer, I was led to stop drinking coffee.  Now, if I wasn’t having tummy issues, my brain would have ignored that message.  But when I sat and looked back over what liquids I took in during the course of a day, I drank more coffee than anything else.  It was my go-to drink.  A few cups in the morning and if I felt like I needed a late afternoon pick-me-up it was nothing to brew some more or make a beeline to Wawa.

I have been drinking tea in the morning now and I am sure that has helped with any caffeine withdrawal symptoms.  My tummy is feeling much better and believe it or not, I feel better.  I feel like I was using coffee as my crutch to wake-up, perk up and just plain exist but now I don’t need it.

I am not sure if this is a forever thing but I know it is the best thing for me right now.

2 Comments

Filed under Musings and Thoughts

Tagged as

September 20, 2011

Priorities

The other night as I sat through mandatory AWANA parent orientation, I was intrigued by something the commander mentioned about priorities.  My kids are not new to AWANA, but making the parents sit through parent orientation is a way of reminding parents that they are a necessary and key component to their child’s *success* in AWANA.  Back to the commander, he was discussing the importance of attendance and scripture memorization.  He started giving examples of how often we put off our spiritual activities in favor of physical activities.  We might stay home from church over a slight tickle in our throats but even though we have sick leave, we won’t use it but will drag ourselves to work.  If injured, we encourage our children to play through it because the win is needed.  We are not likely to tell the teacher or the coach that our child missed practice or didn’t study because they were studying scripture verses.

He wasn’t advocating our children not studying but sometimes it takes a ridiculous example to drive home the point.  Where does our children’s spiritual condition rank on our priority lists?  Are we taking check-ups frequently or is it a once a year wellness visit?  Are we conducting our own self-assessments or are we being negligent with our own spiritual condition?  Whatever the case, we need to make every effort to re-examine our priorities and make sure they line up with God’s.

The odd thing is his comments continued to resonate with me for a few days.  Have I started misplacing my priorities?  Were there areas of my life that were out of whack?   One thing that really jumped out at me was the television.  Yeah, I know it is always the easy scapegoat isn’t it?  I do not watch a lot of tv at all but I have found myself spending waaaay too much time watching Dance Moms.  My husband will walk by and just shake his head because he can’t believe I am watching it.  I try to explain justify that I am watching because I can’t believe these moms allow this woman that they are paying to treat them and their children in this manner.  I don’t think he buys my logic.  :)   Do I watch it for that reason or is their a sneaking bit of self-pride that I am a better mom because I would* never* allow such treatment of myself or daughter.  (that was said in my best southern drawl)

If I am honest with myself, it is more of the self-pride.  You see, my priorities were misplaced.  I am not too judge or gauge how good a mom I am being by some edited reality tv show designed to show the extremes of human behavior.  I am to use God’s Word as that measuring stick and when I measure up to that – well, the self-pride is no longer there.  You see, I still have work to do and maybe, just maybe, if I took that hour of time to focus on what God would have me to focus on, I would have at least one priority area back in check.

I am now making more conscience decisions about how I spend my time and what I spend it on so that I can keep my priorities in check.  Trust me, I have a few other areas where I need to work on this.  ;-)

Hoping your priorities are right where they need to be!

Comments Off

Filed under Christianity, God, Musings and Thoughts

Tagged as , ,

August 31, 2011

Political Drama

United States Capitol in daylight

Image via Wikipedia

Honestly, I do my best to keep many of my political thoughts to myself. I’m a bit of a weird breed called Independent. We don’t vote via party lines but on things a bit deeper like facts. Before some get their boxers in a bunch, I am not saying that voting via party lines is not based on facts but if we are honest with one another, the political rhetoric is amped up so high in our country that soundbites often replace facts and reality.

Most political news shows should come with a R rating because the language used and the things implied and insinuated are worse than some of the mild language and violence in movies. It amazes me that at sporting events and in most areas of our lives, we look as if we all get along but in reality politics is leading to a larger separation along socioeconomic lines than the 11 o’clock hour on Sundays.

So, we all know that the economy has tanked and is showing very few signs of regaining a strong momentum anytime soon. I don’t need the news to tell me that in that I see it everyday in that gas costs more, food costs more and paychecks are the same or have shrunk during the same time period that these other items saw increases. If we are factual, there are many things that have led to our current state of the economy and I hate to be the one to point out the obvious, but our current President did not single-handedly get us there. You can take a minute and re-read that if you like as I am not backing down from it. If you live off of soundbites, I know that you are in total shock right now, but it’s okay.

How we got here is and isn’t important, to me the most important aspect of all of this is what in the world do we do now? Also, how do we do it with civility? As adults, I wonder if we realize the example we are putting out there for our children when we act as though we cannot possibly find a happy medium? What are we telling them when we act as though we can’t work out our problems with decency and basic human respect? What are we showing them when we are quick to make personal attacks over non-personal issues? We are not being good role models!!!

Today, we have yet another round of foolishness. We have the President and Congress trying to work out a date for yet another speech about the economy. There are some that feel that the President should not have to be at the beck and call of those running to take his job. Others feel that the date is taken in terms of another political event already taking place. Either way, I am sure that those that that are seeking employment are not interested in speeches or debates but in finding a job to put food on the table and regain a measure of self-esteem and respect.

Do we need another speech about how jobs will be created? Not really…..

Will there be those that are going to tear any plan to pieces? Definitely……

In the end, have we changed the life of anyone who is looking for work? Nope……

I wish all of us but especially our leaders in Washington would take a lesson from Nike – Just do it!!!

Comments Off

Filed under Musings and Thoughts

Tagged as , , , , , ,

August 28, 2011

Having Jesus in my storm

Last night as Hurricane Irene raged outside of my home, I was reminded of the words that Sheila Walsh shared at the Women of Faith conference on Friday – “I’d rather be in a storm with Jesus, than anywhere else without Him.”  Yes, most of the time, we want Jesus to be with us in the metaphorical storms that occur in our lives – loss of child, illness, sick marriage, etc.  But sometimes, when the winds are whipping ferociously and the rain is pounding and it is completely dark outside, we need Jesus to be with us in the midst of an actual storm.

You see, we have a lot of trees around our house.  Tall trees that are on 3 sides of our home.  Here’s a pic of some of them during the fall:

fall leaves #3

Earlier in the day, we had already had several large branches fall and we had a tree fall that hubby had to go out and cut up because it was blocking our neighbor’s access to their homes.   So combine that with our bedroom skylights that are above our bed and the scary shadows that tall dancing trees make, I needed Jesus in the midst of my storm.  The kids were in our room sleeping and my hubby is the type that can just fall asleep but you see I’m not that type.  I was still full from the 2 day glorious conference and a bit preoccupied with the power flickers that kept occurring.  The battery back-up on the alarm system kept making noise and there were those scary shadows.  I tossed and turned like my brothers the disciples in Mark before Jesus calmed the raging sea.  I just couldn’t fall asleep!

That’s when I started remembering Sheila’s words and I started saying them to myself in the form of a prayer.  As I continued to say it, peace came to my heart and I started to drift off to sleep.  You see, when Jesus is in the midst of our storms (actual and metaphorical), we can be at peace.  If you have storms in your life right now, let Him give you peace!

1 Comment

Filed under Musings and Thoughts

Tagged as , ,

August 18, 2011

One Week Later

So, I have been 40 for 1 week now and the brain couldn’t think of a catchier blog title.   My birthday started with hubby and the kids singing to me at 5:30 a.m. and as I groggily listened they gave me my present.  I had to fumble for my glasses as my husband is parsimonious and that is actually one of the reasons I love him dearly so needless to say, I was more than a little surprised.  The kids and I set it up and stayed in my bed and in our pj’s until about 8ish.  We have downloaded lots of fun apps and would love to hear which ones you like for educational purposes for a 4th and 3rd grader.  They absolutely love Stack the States!!

The rest of my day was spent with the kids and my parents as we did a little shopping and eating.  The rest of the week was fun and I must admit that I was more than a bit lazy by taking full advantage of birthday week perks.  A friend treated me to a pedi/mani on Saturday and it was relaxing and enjoyable to just sit back but I kept thinking that the lady was extremely s-l-o-w.  Every time, I thought of how s-l-o-w she was, I kept having this nagging thought that hubby was trying to plan me a party.  But, you see, he is not big on parties and every time I pressed him about it, he had very logical explanations.  You see, about 2 months ago, my cell phone had a childhood friend’s number on the screen as if someone went through my contacts but didn’t exit completely.  I found the email address of this same friend on a piece of mail.  His explanation for contacting her wasn’t that plausible but passable enough.  My girlfriend had to return shoes after the pedi/mani and she was very slow in doing that and then we had to pick up a friend of hers that was in the opposite direction from my house.  I called my parents and they weren’t home during this time which also led me to be suspicious.  Long story short, he did throw me a surprise party on Saturday and while I had my suspicions none were ever confirmed so I was surprised.  Good thing, I went to the nail salon in a cute dress.  ;-)

It was a very nice affair with lots of family and friends.  If you knew my husband, you would know that this isn’t in his make-up but I am so thankful that he pushed beyond to as he put it “show me how much he loves me.”  God, I love that man!!!!

We started our new homeschooling year yesterday.  Things went well and looking forward to some new things – new piano teacher and new speech/debate club.  The kids were excited as well.  They had laid out their clothes the night before and packed their backbags.  They walked out the back door and spent some time outside before coming back in – they wanted to feel like they walked to school.  Too funny!  :-)

On paper, the schedule looks good but I know that there will be days when I feel like,

Party Up

I think that is sooooo cute!

Learning is a lifetime adventure, so we will keep learning and laughing and sometimes crying along the way.

Our July was miserably hot and August has been so full of rain, I thought I was going to have to pull out Noah’s ark building instructions.  As a result, my garden looks a hot mess!!!!  Corn and sunflowers easily 7 feet tall and growing and the weeds are not that far behind them.  I need to tackle that as well and sprinkle a few fall crop seeds as my planting window is closing quickly.  I have been putting up food but I have not canned as much this year as in year’s past.  Not sure of why – lack of time, long string of 100 degree days – may have something to do with it but hey, who knows?

Need to gather up library books and get ready for lunch.  Don’t forget to share your fave apps for the kids and some for mommy. :-)

1 Comment

Filed under Homeschooling, Musings and Thoughts

Tagged as , , , , ,

August 10, 2011

Today I am 40!!

Happy Birthday Shaftora

Image via Wikipedia

 

 

 

 

 

In honor of turning 40 and being incredibly thankful to have lived on this earth for 40 years, I wanted to offer thanks on this day.

I’m thankful for:

God, loving me and continuously extending His love, grace, and mercy.
My husband – I could not have chosen a better man to enjoy this journey called life.
My children – they are true blessings and every moment with them opens my eyes to the life that I would miss.
My parents – they laid an awesome foundation and I love how that as grandparents they have forgotten all parenting rules and regulations.
Friends – old and new, they each add something of value.
Extended family – never knew I would have so many wonderful nieces/nephews and cousins – each special and committed to family.
Technology – it continues to enhance our lives and how we live them.
Homeschooling – the ability to learn alongside my children and to be there when they have their AHA moments is awesome.
Sun – for allowing me to see the vibrant colors of the day.
Moon – for allowing me to see the beauty that is night.
Rain – for falling from the sky and nourishing the earth and my garden.
Seeds – those that germinate into plants but also those that germinate and give birth to a new season/chapter of life.
Love – it truly does make the world go aroun and I’m convinced we all need more of it.
Time – even when we feel as we have wasted it, it gives us more to hopefully manage better.
My chickens – those girls give me eggs and laughter everyday.  Never knew they would attach themselves to us as they have.
The library – holds a world of learning all we have to do is take advantage of it.
Books – we find them in the library or online but we must open them to gather the treasure inside.
Our home – it is our haven, a place where we live, love, laugh, disagree, make-up, mess up and always feel protected.
Food – it nourishes us and keeps our bodies running and we need to make sure no one is without any – no matter where they live.
Water – not my favorite thing to drink but I am getting better – we need it for our survival.
Coffee – my favorite drink of choice and I prefer it hot but will enjoy it cold.
My hands – they pray, write, mold, shape, form, manipulate, make food, sew cloths, knit, crochet, heal boo-boos, do hair, organize, caress and so much more.
My mind – it is able of continuously learning new things and has the capacity to hold more than I know.
Birds – I love their songs, their ability to fly and their constant reminder that God takes care of His own.
Thrift stores – love the hunt and thrill of the chase for just that right bargain.
Pinterest – love being able to catalog all of the yumminess that I find on the internet. (This had me laughing.)
The trap my son built out of an old laundry basket that sits in the backyard.  He’s trying to catch a bunny.
The calendar event my daughter set on my phone to let me know that all day today is my birthday.
The trees for growing so tall and reminding me of how small I am in this world.
Music – the same set of instruments can convey so many emotions.

There is so much more to be thankful for and as I enter this new year of life, my focus will be on expressing my thanks and developing a more thankful attitude in all things.

Hope your day is going well!!!

9 Comments

Filed under Musings and Thoughts

Tagged as ,

August 4, 2011

Odds & Ends

It’s Thursday!  Yes, that means there is only 1 more day until F-R-I-D-A-Y!!!!  That also translates into there is only 1 more day of chauffeuring the kids to engineering camp.  They are having a great time and I have been able to get a few things done in their absence but there always seems to be a lot more to be done than their time away allows.  Yes, it could be that I over-planned but I am not admitting to that notion. ;-)

Yesterday was relatively cooler than it has been and I am thankful.  The constant temps above 90 degrees is not good for my tomato and pepper plants.  Those kinds of temps pretty much shut down their pollination machine and no new flowers emerge which means no new fruit.  Thankfully, we have been able to enjoy these Cherokee Purple heirloom tomatoes.  I think my family is blt’d out but I’m not!  They are so juicy and meaty and with bacon – oh yeah!!

Cherokee Purple Tomatoes

While the kids were away on Tuesday, I got started on a quilt.  I did a patchwork blanket before but I have been having a hankering to make a quilt.  Yes, I am that girl at thrift and antique stores upset that some family member has decided to discard their grandma or great-grandma’s hard handiwork.  I am not good at following directions patterns, so I am winging it.  I picked up one of those pre-cut packages at Joann’s when they were on sale.  I did learn that I won’t do that again as the squares are not all the same size.  :-(   Here are some of the squares/blocks.

quilt beginnings

Unfortunately, today and tomorrow involve me staying with the kids so I will have to carve out some time to finish this up.  It’s not going to be huge, think more lap blanket size.    Either way, I am excited!

Are you on pinterest?  My eyes are often glazed over with all of the eye candy that I see there.  I added a new little button to the sidebar so you can follow me there and get some of your own eye candy.

Hope your Thursday is terrific!

3 Comments

Filed under Musings and Thoughts

Tagged as , , , , ,