Month: June 2007

Good News…I have a migraine!

Yes I have a bit of a migraine tonight and that is great news! I just spent 3 wonderful days camping at Agape Farm for Creation Northeast and never got any kind of migraine. So I am content to be at home, in my own bed, with my little heated herb pack on my head, and will soon fade off to sleep.  I am thankful this occured at home and not at Creation.  God is good!

I arrived home about 2am last night, after watching a high energy show by Toby Mac, and a worshipful show by Casting Crowns……it was a great experience for both of my kids, they both loved it…..yes both of them got to go….long story. I will post more on it all later.

Off to………Zzzzzzzzzzzz……..zzzzz..s….l…e………………………….e…………………………….ppppp!

Thanks for praying for us!

Off to the Creation Festival!

I won’t be around until Sat. sometime. My 12 year old son and I are heading off to the Creation Festival.

It will be just the two of us camping out for 3 days!

Camping in a hot tent, cold showers, smelly outhouses, humidity, perpetual bad hair days, no fresh brewed coffee, cheerios every morning for breakfast ( I found a good sale), no internet or laptop, sweat and perspiration are normal, grizzly unshaved legs, lack of sleep, dust everywhere……………………………………………………………………….
AND

Great christian music (like Switchfoot, Toby Mac, Casting Crowns, Third Day, Pillar etc..), inspirational speakers, endless time with my son, down time away from the rush of our often chaotic life, time with the Lord, some time to read a book, campfire cooking, ( I love the smell of a campfire), hiking up to the top of the moutain at the Agape Farm and looking down on the vast festival, X-treme sports, worship, new friends and special old friends………It should be a great time, and I am really looking forward to it!

If you think about us please pray for us, please pray that I do not get a dreaded migraine. I am prone to them,  and the heat and humidity often make them worst.  They tend to come monthly ( if you get my drift), so timing wise that would be this week. So I am praying for a migraine free week!

We leave bright and early tomorrow morning….coffee in hand and a cooler packed with a few dark chocolate treasures. 🙂 It should be a good time of Jesus and Dark Chocolate. LOL!

Be Prepared, Be Prepared this message must be shared…….”

I took dear daughter to an outdoor campfire cooking class on Sat. night at our local county park. I grabbed my cell phone (in case I needed to make important calls while in the wilderness) but I left my purse in the car, thinking who needs a purse for campfire cooking.

Shortly after arriving we learned about this very cute idea for cooking bacon and eggs over a campfire in a paper bag. ( place 3 THICK slices of bacon that have been cut in half in the bottom of a brown, lunch paper bag, cover the bottom completely with the bacon, then crack an egg over the bacon. Fold the bag over 3 x, cut a small hole through the folds, put a stick through it, and hold it over the fire. It takes about a 1/2 hour to cook and then you have bacon and eggs !)

When making our brown bag bacon and eggs, I realized I should have brought my purse so I could have used the pocket knife I keep in my purse to cut the hole in the paper bag. Another mom, a Girl Scout leader mind you, overhears my comment, and quickly whips out her fancy, pink, Swiss Army pocket knife. Now this lady was prepared! I also noticed she was the one with the flashlight leading the way up the path as we left in the dark!

So the pink pocket knife incident got me thinking, how many other moms out there have pocket knives in their purses?

What other items do you carry “just in case?”

Beside a pocketknife, I also carry a small flashlight, band-aids, and sunscreen. 🙂 Anyone else prepared constantly “just in case,” or is it just me?????

******** BONUS QUESTION ********

Who knows what movie the title of this post came from?? It’s one of our family favorites. Here’s a hint, an animated singing goat sings the words in the title. 🙂

Trading Baseball Cards

My son: “So do you want to trade your Ernie Banks signed?”

Friend: “Yeah……..mmmmm….well, ah what about your Barry Bonds rookie, man look how skinny Bonds looks on that card.”

Son: “No I want to keep Bonds” (Long pause)

Friend: “What about Jeter? Or McGwire?”

Son: “You want McGwire, he did steroids……………. didn’t he Mom?”

Friend: “Jeter rookie?”

Son: “Mmmmm..well…….yeah, ok, give me Banks then.”

Friend: “No I need another one” ” What else you got?”

This went on for 45 minutes, finally the end result

Son – 1 autographed Ernie Banks

Friend – Jeter rookie card, and Bonds card (not the coveted rookie card)

They finally get to the big trade after 45 minutes of going back and forth,  then there is a long silence, then…….

Friend says, “Let’s go check out your fort”

Son: “Yeah, do you like trail mix, let’s eat it back at the fort.”

Do you think cooperate CEO’s started this way?

Watch the International Space Station from your backyard

images1.jpegWe just went outside and watched the International Space Station and the latest space shuttle mission zoom over our house in the night sky. It is so fascinating to watch! First the ISS went by (it has a much brighter light), and then trailing it was the space shuttle, they both produce a bright, moving light and are hard to miss in the night sky. They appear to glide across the sky, it’s very different from a planes flight path.

To find out the EXACT time it will be flying over your house click here. Take the kids out and look for it, then check out the images of the space station online. It was great educational fun for us!

Fitness Tips for Busy Moms

2007-summer-exercise-challenge.jpg

Just this past Sunday before our adult Sunday school class, as I chatted with a friend, my normally sweet son walked into the class to ask me a question, right before he left, in front of my dear friend he started wiggling and giggling my arm, right under where a bicep muscle should be. He was amused at the way my arm wiggles compared to his “guns” ( male word for muscles). He kept saying in that taunting voice “Where are your guns mom, I can’t find them.” ( He actually is a nice kid, but at that moment I was pondering ways to damage his “guns.”). So just because I have mushy biceps does that mean I am a total fitness failure……absolutely not! When you become a mom, and get older, that standard for fitness changes…..and you do the best with what you have.

As you can see I am a typical mom with leftover baby baggage! But I also strive to be a fit mom, no I do not have 6 pack ripping abs ( ha ha ha ha ha, that is me laughing so hard at the thought of having a “six pack”), I have a mushy butt and mushy biceps, but I still work at being fit!

I ride my exercise bike, or walk several miles or when the weather is nice I ride my bike out in the country. I also stretch when I am done, and do a little work with free weights, just to keep the biceps mushy, not sagging. 🙂

I know that finding time for a work out is tough when you are a mom and have to deal with kids schedules, and exhaustion…but I am also a firm believer in fitness and thought I would offer several tips that have helped me through the years.

  • When the kids were younger and we would get together with neighbors for play dates, we always walked to their homes, we never drove.
  • I found a nearby park with a great walking trail, I would push one kiddo in the stroller and the other would ride his little bike with training wheels. Several times I had to carry the bike back with me on the stroller, and my son on my back as I pushed the stroller, but that was ok, it was a better workout! Attitude makes all the difference! 🙂
  • I run up and down the stairs in my house alot, even when I don’t have to retrieve things, my kids think I am crazy, but a little stair running never hurts. My goal is to stay on the move whenever possible.
  • Ok this is really looney, but I set a timer, and mop my floor and vacuum like a mom who drank way too much coffee! I try to set a new record each time, trust me I am often out of breath after finishing these chores!
  • I hike with the kids a lot, and this has also developed in them a great love for the outdoors.
  • I like to get outside to work out, and during those long walks or bike rides I often pray, listen to christian music or teachings I have downloaded to myiPod. It’s doing 2 very valuable things at one time. I have done spiritual battle many times as I am battling up a hill on my bike.
  • Often while playing a game on the floor with the kids, I will do leg lifts, or stretch out as I play. My kids are now 10 and 12 and no longer think I am crazy, they are just used to it now. I always say, “something is better than nothing!”
  • This is a small thing, but I usually take the stairs in office buildings I encounter, or park in a distant parking space and walk quickly to the entrance.
  • Our local library has tons of exercise/yoga/pilates videos and DVD’s, I have borrowed these several times and have learned a lot with out having to pay to join a gym.
  • I have never joined a gym, I just don’t want to pay the money. But if money is not an issue, gyms these days are a great way of holding you accountable, and encouraging you to stick to your routine.
  • Get a pedometer, it’s a fun way to challenge yourself and count your steps. Watch out, they can get addictive if you are the competitive type!

Having an active lifestyle makes a huge difference. I build workouts into my week, but when things are busy, being active helps until you can get back to your routine.

My son is currently clamoring for me to hurry up so we can ride our bikes into our town for lunch. Sure we could drive, but the adventure of riding the 3-4 miles into town, and then biking to the park with our lunch, and biking around together is worth much more then driving to our favorite pizza place for lunch.

I Corninthians 6:19-20…..remember our bodies are temples of God’s precious holy spirit, let’s keep our temples active and fit, even if we are a bit mushy! 🙂

I am going to be participating in mamma brights fitness challenge…won’t you join me? I plan to ride my bike 200 miles this summer….wow that’s a lot of gatorade I’ll be drinking! 🙂


Wow, my laundry room floor is white!

Yes I know this may be shocking for some of you, but it has been a busy month for us, and I have not seen the floor of my laundry room for sometime now! It’s been covered with dirty laundry, and a few other treasures I have found as I began to unearth the pile of once worn clothes.( why there was a baseball, a flip flop, a rock and  2 walnuts in the dirty laundry is beyond me???)  Anyway, today I am claiming victory over the laundry monster, and am finally at peace with my laundry pile. Please ladies, humor me, encourage me, are there others out there who struggle with staying on top of the laundry?

I can however proudly boast that my son played 6 baseball games in 4 days, and he did wear a clean uniform to each game…..so maybe there is hope for me.

For those of you who also have laundry struggles, and are laundry challenged, please visit my friend Kathy at Lessons from the Laundry, she is giving away laundry products to help lighten your load, and tips for being more efficient with your laundry woes. I have already seen several tips that may actually reform me!

Quotes by Oswald Chambers and Secret bathroom tips for moms!

I organized a ladies prayer group that is meeting in our local park tomorrow to pray for our community. I have been reflecting on the power of prayer and I thought I would share a few of my favorite quotes from Oswald Chambers. These chunks of wisdom come from his book, “Treasures from My Utmost for His Highest.” This gem of a book sits in a basket in my bathroom. And as I am sure many of you moms who know that infamous bathroom trick, this book is a great read when you have a few quiet moments in the bathroom. ( here is the old bathroom trick, in case you are a fairly new mom and haven’t gotten the word on this one…….teach the kids that they must leave you alone while you are in the bathroom and the door is shut. Then just stay in there after you have taken care of business, and read, relax or just enjoy the quiet! Heck, experienced moms even go into the bathroom and shut the door even when they don’t have to go!)

Prayer

~ The meaning of prayer is that we get hold of God, not the answer~

 

~If we think of prayer as the breath in our lungs and the blood from our hearts, we think rightly. The blood flows ceaselessly, and breathing continues ceaselessly; we are not conscious of it, but it is always going on.~

 

~It is not so true that “prayer changes things”, as prayer changes me, and I change things~

Kid’s don’t PLAY like they used too!

There was an article in our Sunday paper this weekend referencing the fact that kids do not have free play time these days. The article quoted college professors, teachers and other experts in the field of play ( now that sounds like a job I would want! How do you become an expert in playing???). The article also said that “educators, parents, child-development specialists are attending play conferences, and teaching courses on how to play, and starting leagues for the kinds of activities that didn’t used to need leagues.” It also noted that parents are now sending their children to seminars to learn how to play games like marbles, kick the can, and other typical childhood games. Seminars to learn to play, Conferences for child-development specialists, teaching courses on how to play…..does anyone else see anything wrong with this scenario?

Kid’s lives these days are so stressed, structured, and stifled. They are given few opportunities to catch lighting bugs outside until it’s way past their bedtime, play in the sprinkler, play spud, free-all, kick the can, sardines or other outdoor games, jump rope, play hopscotch, build forts, jump in the fall leaf pile, play flashlight tag at night……..my list could go on and on. Kids do need time to play, it should be unstructured, FREE time. Let them decide what to do, let them make decisions, use their creativity, and let them deal with the consequences of their decisions. When my kids were little I purposely did not put any toys, swingsets, slides etc back in our woods, I wanted them to learn to play with rocks, sticks, mud etc. And guess what, they did play with those things and had a blast, and I never heard one complaint about their lack of toys. They used their minds to build a dam in the creek, they used their problem solving skills to build a fort and decide the best place for a window and a door, they used their creativity to design pencil holders, vases, and dishes made from natural clay, and they played outside for hours!! Let me also be the first to confess we are the typical, busy, family with many activities, but I always build into our schedule time to PLAY! My kids have a whole life ahead of them filled with structure and stress, they only have one childhood, and time period in their life where they can PLAY.

Do we really need child development experts, seminars or “experts” in the field to tell our children how to play, isn’t that something parents should be making time for?

………Oh, yea, oops, ah sorry, I just realized I was standing on top of a soapbox, wow how did I get up here, I guess I’ll get off of it now. 🙂