I learn things everyday….

My boys and I were talking the other day about learning new things.  My 6-year-old was pretty sure that even though his mom was old, that she still learned things everyday.

I agree, I soak up wisdom from lots of places, some of my favorites lately have been from my boys.  Some current examples follow:

1.  When you are a six and eight year old boys, climbing everything in sight can be thrilling yet dangerous.

2.  The worst part about Kindergarten are “the monkey bar blisters”.

3.  Sometimes when you are 8 and 6-year-old boys, it is a good idea to climb trees with the added security of your jump ropes.  There is only one catch.  When you have lost your footing and need the “jump rope security”, grab the rope that is actually tied down.

4.  When your “jump rope security fails” you (for whatever reason) while you are climbing a small tree, you will at the very least end up with scratches and a bruised hiney.  But that is only IF you have the luck of my 6-year-old.

5.  When you are 6 and your fall out of a small tree, your reaction looks a lot like someone started your bottom on fire (this information provided by my 8-year-old who had a front row seat).

6.  When you are six and 50 inches tall and you decide to scale a six-foot brick fence, it isn’t very scary til you get to the top.  On the top is when you aren’t sure you should have taken on this task.  However, you don’t call for you mom who is nearby, you just tell her about it later.

See what smart and wise little monkeys I have?

Enlightening.  I have learned that it did little good for me to outlaw the climbing of the largest tree in our yard since fences and small tree as just as tempting and dangerous.  So much to learn….even at my age…learning so much.

Life is just that way.

I love this quote.

The Lord works from the inside out. The world works from the outside in. The world would take people out of the slums. Christ takes the slums out of people, and then they take themselves out of the slums. The world would mold men by changing their environment. Christ changes men, who then change their environment. The world would shape human behavior, but Christ can change human nature.Ezra Taft Benson

So true.  God will not always lift you out of your circumstances but he will change you from the inside out.  Praise God for just that because only God could do that!

Glittery Goodness

I have been wanting to write a blog post   f o r e v e r.

If you are reading this…then it actually happened! :~)  Yah for me!

On the scrapbooking front, I have fallen in love with glittery things.  I am shocked…..cuz I am really not a glittery type of girl but I plan on rolling with it regardless!

I love Stickles.  I have mentioned this before but my love has grown for Stickles instead of faded.  I dot it on flower centers of flowery pattern paper or put it on each dot on polka dot paper.   Favorite colors are:

yellow (which takes on the color you put it on so becomes more than just yellow if you like)

orange peel ( I use a lot of orange in scrapbooking – mother of 2 boys and all)

Diamond (the prettiest IMHO of the “clear” ones)

I picked up a couple sheets of Doodlebug design glitter paper and used paper punches to cut out designs.   I think Doodlebug design calls it sugar coated paper, very cutesy.  After you use your punches, the results are so easy and eye-catching to use as embellishments.   I should post a pic but I am too lazy.  Doodlebug design also has pattern paper with glitter.  So cool.

Here is a pic of one of their glittery pattern papers.  I own this one and still haven’t used it.  Will have to do that soon.

Imagine this with glitter!  I don’t own that one and maybe should, could be very Valentine Dayish.  🙂

I have more to write but…this post is so glittery and perfect that I will close. 

PS. 

 Do check out my mom’s blog. www.barbaralukow.com .  She did an author interview of Christian author, Rhonda Gibson.  Rhonda is giving copy of her new book What’s in Your Closet? (release date-Feb 12) to a lucky commentator.  Your comment (on my momma’s blog) about the interview puts your name in the hat!

Here is pic of the book cover:

New every morning

One of my children has always had sleeping issues.  He has always been a really, really early riser.  It is imperative that as a general rule we get him to be early.  When he gets overly tired he has always come apart at the seams.  Poor kid.  It took my husband and I awhile to figure out the problem and how best to deal with it.  

A few days ago, our son turned 8.  He deals a little better with sleep deprivation now days then he did when he was 2 (praises to the good Lord!).  However, now days when I have to put him to bed later or his overly tired from his day, we have learned that everything looks dismal to him.  He is down on himself, the world and life in general.  At first when I noticed this, I would try to sit with him, chatting and praying.  With experience we learned to just tuck him in and tell him that Jesus and his parents love him and that is all that matters.  That followed by an all out sprint out of the room!  What was always amazing to me was that all was well in morning.  

At first, I thought of it as some sort of miracle.  Sleep and his parents fervent prayers to a God who hears us, had made it all better.  This past week, we had a couple late nights in a row (not terribly late but 8:30 or so) and I was reminded of a scripture as I telling him I loved him and sprinting for the hallway.  

The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases,

his mercies never come to an end;

they are new every morning;

great is your faithfulness.

Each morning, God is faithful.  My little sunbeam gets up with the sun and all is well.  He sometimes even laughs about the things he was worried over the night before.  There is hope yet again…a new day.

“The Lord is my portion,” says my soul, “therefore I will hope in him.”

Busy!

That pretty much sums up my life right now!  We have gone straight from soccer to basketball.  Both boys playn’ away…and me coachin’ away.  

I enjoy it but most days…. but the days are so busy.  

 I actually did get a break however.  

My sweet hubby planned me a break..one I wouldn’t have taken if it had been up to me but one I needed!  My wonderful momma took the kids to soccer and school….in that order….it  was a busy soccer weekend…and I ran away for a super long weekend.  Ahhhh….

And so during my long break….I went window shopping at a high end Atlanta mall.  Oh, so fun.

They had a Pottery Barn and a Crate and Barrel. 

So I am gunna share a few fun things I saw…

Crate and Barrel has this really cute wire pedestal.  I like.  Very much.  May have to order it.  I think it could be cool to fore putting food on and for decorating options.  

The Pottery Barn there was also super fun to browse through.  I enjoyed looking at all their Christmas decor ideas.  Like the pic above.  I have a couple vases like the ones above that my sweet mother in law gave me a couple years back (click here to see a post and a pic of them) that would work perfectly.  Very, very cute.

I have been very, very behind on any kind of blog surfing for about the 2 months but I made it a point to look in on a few of my fav blogs over the past couple days (Thanksgiving break I love thee!)  And I was so excited when I saw this post by Becky Higgins.  She is having a spray paint obsession and has great tips!

Wow….now I am looking at some things I own in new ways!  Also….I may be dropping in on my local antique and “junk” shops to see what I can see.  Makes a girl think in a different way…that is for sure.

A little family journaling to share

Tonight at dinner I had an eye opening moment of feeling blessed…blessed with the family God has given me to enjoy.  

The evening didn’t start out great.   It was  rushed evening.  I was feeling spent after being on the go all day long.   I know so many sweet kiddos that are sick with the flu and it is going around like mad in our little town so my heart was a little heavy.  

I made a “comfort” meal for us which was french toast and bacon.  We usually eat a lot less carbs and more fresh food but every once in awhile you just need a happy, comfortable meal.

So we sit down and pray.  And my 5 year old says, “Mom, I know what 3 + 3 is.”  

I say, “Oh good.  What is it?”

“6”

I smile.  “Good.  Ummm…what is 4 +4?”

He thinks for a few seconds and says,  “8?”

I say, “Good. Okay what is 2 + 2?”

My 7 year old blurts out, “4!”

“That wasn’t for you silly!”  I say to my oldest son.  “Dad has one for you.”

My husband, never handing a break to his boys, says, “Okay, what is 28 +28?”

“56” he spits out quickly.

My husband’s eyebrows rise a bit and he quickly asks, “Okay, what’s 36 + 28?”

“64” 

My husband and I look at each other with big eyes.  Wow.  

“Isn’t that right?” the little calculator brain asks but before I can answer my 5 year old is back in the conversation with his normal exuberance. 

“Okay!  So what’s 36 + bacon?”  

I laugh out loud.  That’s right dude…stump him.  

But I have to keep the kid honest so I say, “Well if you ask the question you have to know the answer.  What is 36 + bacon?”  

“18,000”

Can’t argue with that.

I am blessed no doubt and now I know…

36 + bacon = 18,000

And to think I went to school for years and never learned that very important fact.

14 day cleanse…..

My husband and I did a 14 day cleanse.   Basically we did one similar to the one here and we used the book Clean as a guideline.  We did snacks of more substance than herbal tea (raw pecans, carob chips, apples) but we stayed with the no dairy, no sugar, no preservatives, no wheat, no spelt, no caffeine (other than green tea).    Mostly just raw foods for breakfast and dinner by making smoothies and soups.   Lunch was cold water fish, chicken, turkey or wild game along with salad and/or brown rice.  The idea is to give your body good food that is easy to digest and basically what your body is made to digest.

We felt pretty good on the cleanse…a bit grumpy the first week.  :~P

A few things I took away:

1.  I had no idea how much I snack while I make food for my family.  A taste of this and that adds up.  I noticed this when I was making food for my boys in the evenings that I couldn’t eat.  That was a good habit to give up!

2.  I need no caffeine.  I did without for 14 days…I never even did green tea and learned to love this detox tea.  I think caffeine makes me feel worse…not better.  Although I think a latte a week might be a nice luxury….I might make it decaf though.

3.  I love this salad dressing.  It is just a raspberry balsamic vinegar in a spritzer bottle.   I will continue using it as my salad dressing of choice…thanks to my mother in law for finding this product!

4.  I like carob for my chocolate fix better than chocolate!  Now that is something I never thought I would say and carob is soooooo much better for me that it really isn’t a contest.

5.  I can’t eat much for my third meal.  During the cleanse we had a smoothie and I was always content and not hungry. Tonight  I had a small chicken breast with a small serving of pasta and fresh fruit.  Way, way too much food.   I felt stuffed.

5.  I am looking at food a little differently.  I don’t really want to feed myself or my family a lot of processed foods.  I am making spelt pizza dough with homemade pizza sauce for dinner tomorrow night.  Tonight we had garlic chicken with a small amount of pasta and fresh fruit.  And the boys and I  made homemade spelt/oatmeal chocolate chip cookies for a end of cleanse treat.  

6.  I feel better and stronger than I did 14 days ago.  I dropped some stubborn pounds.

7.  I made some new recipes…some that I will continue to make.

 

As an aside…a girlfriend of mine sent me a recipe for a natural deodorant as a response to my last post.   Thanks Michelle!   I plan on making it and trying it out, just haven’t had a chance yet.  If I like, I will share.

Things that are putting a smile on my face…

Lately, I have been really noticing the little things in life that make this girl happy.

While I am cleaning…

This multi-surface cleaner cleans my stainless appliances…I have been looking for a good, reasonably priced cleaner for my appliances for a year now. Yah!  It also cleans mirrors beautifully.  :0)

The Swiffer wet clothes are bit spendy but oh how I love them for a quick mop of the kitchen or bathroom.  To make it stay wet longer, I use a spray bottle of water to add moisture.  

 

These yummy frozen treats for my boys.  

We don’t buy popsicles due to the lack of nutrients in them…but the ingredients on these babies start with pear puree.   They do have sugar and dextrose in them but they don’t have any of those other nasty sweeteners.  A treat for the boys that I don’t feel bad about.

 

The idea of this online class makes me happy.   I am thinking about taking it…although the time of year is a bit tough.  I really need to get some creative juices flowing however so it may very well be worth the commitment.  The only other online class I took from Big Picture Scrapbooking was    w o n d e r f u l.

 

This bra from VS that comes with no under-wire.   

 

I must say I have rediscovered carob chips and love, love them….since I can’t have any chocolate (and a bunch of other things like sugar) for 3 weeks.  My hubby and I are doing a 3 week cleanse…so far so good but praise the good Lord for carob. :0) 

 

 

 Oh…and no one is paying me to talk about these things…I was just thinking about things that make my life a little easier and happier on this Monday.  :0)

 

Now if I could just find an aluminium free deodorant that I like…I have tried many and still am not happy with the results.  Have a favorite?

 

 

 

 

Giving thanks

I was looking through an old prayer/quiet time journal the other day.  I getting close to needing a new journal…my current one is almost full so I was enjoying looking through some of my old ones.   I love getting to decide on a new journal or seeing what comes my way in a timely manner.  I usually have spiral journals so that they are easy to write in…and am actually thinking of making my own this time around with my Bind it all.  

Anyway…my point is somewhere here…I must focus!  

I was looking through my old prayer journal…it was from 2007.  My boys were 5 and 3.  

I found that I used to write family praise reports…when I had stopped writing them I am not sure.  

I was delighted when I read the one for May 10, 2007.  

Our 3 year old is giving God credit for everything!  

“Mom!  God dried my hands for me!”

“Mom!  God is already healing it!”  (He was referring to a scratch on his hand).

1 Thessalonians 5:  16-18

Be joyful always; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.

Praise him for everything:

• sweet boys
• grumpy boys
• precious husband
• my temper
• my sweet life!
• my bumpy life
• people who make me stretch
• people who  bless my life

I loved it when I came across this…such a blessing…such a lesson.

When did I stop writing our family praise reports in my journal?  

“Give thanks to the LORD, call on his name; make known among that nations what he has done.”  

1 Chronicles 16:8

 

Scrapbooking freebie alert

And a journaling freebie too!  Love the journaling part of scrapbook…love the story.

This week I found this cute freebie…

Click here.   

Journaling tags are so much fun.  This freebie is good for this week from what I can tell.

Also feeling much better about school starting tomorrow.  The kids are ready and my heart has had an adjustment of sorts.  

 

 

 

 

 

Life…

Sometimes I find it hard to figure out what has taken so much of my time and energy lately…I suppose it comes down to one word….life.

Yes…life has been keeping me busy.  I am so grateful for that gift…the gift of life.  I am blessed by many things in my life. 

 Rambunctious boys, hard-working husband, precious family, green lush garden, sweet friends, this glorious world to explore and many more God given good things.

And so I will not complain about how all of a sudden my summer is gone. 

I won’t. 

I am thankful for…

I am just going to embrace the changes in season…embrace life.