The last time Terry and I took a vacation all alone for an extended period of time was when Reia was 18 months old. Then we went to Hawaii for our 5th anniversary.
Fast forward 5 years and we are going to Napa Valley, California for our 10th anniversary. And staying here.
I can’t wait!
I have about 75% of the trip planned with 25% set aside for whatever comes up that sounds fun. So, if anyone has any must sees in the Napa Valley or surrounding areas, chime in!!
I was talking to my friend Richelle about my previous post and “the challenge”. We were discussing how God made our bodies to eat what He has provided. But the bottom line is, eating healthy is a) hard and b) expensive. I did just feed the girls and myself for less than $1.50 by using two packages of Ramen and two apples…and there is some leftover!
The bottom line is our entire lives are based on convenience. Especially when it comes to food.
Don’t get me wrong. I love to go out to eat; and, I love having handy things I can feed the girls quick so I don’t have to leave the comfort of my wicker chair in front of the computer. Frozen pizza rolls and Kudos bars are a mom’s best friend when it comes to after school snacking. It’s just easier. But what is the cost in the long run?
So, I have decided to call my 30 day challenge “An Inconvenient Challenge”. Nice homage to Mr. Gore don’t you think? =)
Details to follow! Get your brain ready. It begins July16th.
By the way, my friend Molly asked why I wasn’t doing 40 days. “Lots of things in the Bible were 40 days.” I promptly shoved a Krispy Kreme and Diet Coke in her hand and told her to just hush already.
This post is going to start out with a little TMI, but hang with me as I have a point I will eventually get to.
Last night after I showered, I didn’t bother putting on deodorant. After all, I was just going to bed and didn’t plan on doing much sweating. When I woke up this morning, I started cleaning and getting my niece and nephew ready to go home after their two week visit. Again, failed to put on deodorant. Needless to say, but I will, by the time 3 o’clock rolled around and I hopped in to get clean again, I was pretty ripe. (Please hang with me. I know it’s an unpleasant thought.)
While I was getting ready I started thinking about Jesus, and wondering if those in his day were stinky. They didn’t have deodorant and anti-persperant; and although scented oils were available, I’m guessing not everyone could afford them. Were they just used to the smell? Or maybe just maybe, they didn’t stink that badly.
Here is my thought, do we emit more odors because of all of the preservative laden, chemical filled, and over processed food we eat? What would happen to me if I only ate fruits and veggies for 30 days? As much as I wanted, but only fruits, veggies and lets throw in some nuts for good measure.
Here is my 30 day challenge to myself (and anyone interested in the experiment): from July 16th-Aug. 16th, I’m only eating fruits, nuts and veggies. I will add salt and pepper as spices or dressing of olive oil and vinegar…but I’ll get organic.
Don’t know what will happen, but I’ll keep a day by day post. The first week ought to be pretty ugly with caffeine headaches and all.
Any takers?
On Friday we are officially halfway through summer vacation. And up to now, I haven’t even begun to wipe down all the baseboards, or clean the blinds. Not even a fraction of my summer list has been accomplished. And in the next two weeks I will be getting ready for and going on vacation with Terry to Napa. Yay! I guess I’ll get to my list when I get back.
What I have accomplished this summer is visiting friends, some major sleeping in, and running. I am officially halfway through my 2008 running goal. And the crazy thing is, when I started running it was purely to get back in shape. And though being in better shape is a nice effect, I found myself running six miles the other day just because I WAS ITCHING TO. It was seriously like a drug took over my body. It felt great. And six Motrin later, it felt even better.
Right now I have a 10K planned in September at Lake Hefner, and I’m thinking, possibly, maybe, sometime in the future, about running a half marathon. I am not committing to anything just yet though. 13 miles just sounds like SO FAR. Because it is.
So, for all of my talk at the beginning of June, blogging has once again taken a back burner. I’m not quiting or anything, but I guess I’m not posting unless I have something (I deem) great to say.
Except this post. I didn’t have anything great to say; just thought I’d say “HI!” or “Come run with me! It’s fun! And I might be a lunatic!”
How are y’all?
Wow, it’s been a long time since I’ve done a real post. And right now, I’m trying desperately to cool off from my first 6 mile run, so I seem to have plenty of time to sit up in my desk chair and type. I am only using my fingers and not getting any furniture sweaty. And, I did not run the whole thing. Probably just 70%. Nonetheless, I feel pretty good about it. It took 1 hour and 10 min in case you were wondering.
I feel like I constantly have things to blog about, but lack the real time to sit and do so. Even now, laundry is waiting to be folded, dishes to be put away, and giggly little girls to be played with. But, I do have a few things I want to put here so the future me can go back and read it someday.
God has been changing my heart so much over the past year and a half I don’t even know really how to put it into words. We (God and I) talk about it a lot. Change that is. In me, in life. And the thing I seem to be getting most out of our conversations is “Be Where You Are”. Terry shared that line with me, and I would love to give props to it’s orignator, but I cannot remember for the life of me who it was.
For so much of my life, I have always looked forward to the next step. Graduation from high school, college, getting married, buying our first home, getting pregnant, then getting pregnant again…like little notches in the belt of life. When one goal was attained I began wondering what was next and when it would happen. I rarely just enjoyed where I was in that moment.
This was especially true when I didn’t like something about my life. Take the counter tops in the house in Corinth. (Ok, I know this seems petty, but it’s just one example.) HATED THEM. I couldn’t wait to move into a new house with better stuff. Granite was preferable really. And then God finally moved us. To downtown Dallas. I had granite alright, but my friends lived (what I considered at the time) crazy far away. And gas was like 2.75, so I didn’t have a dime to spare. Ha ha.
I had no idea how good I had it when every one of my best friends live within a mile radius. I had a tribe (as my friend Anne would call it) who I relied on when Terry was out of town or for anything that would pop up really. We all attended the same church and our kids were the same age. It was glorious, but I was too busy looking online at houses to really appreciate it.
So, here I sit in Oklahoma. I am much farther away from my friends and family than I thought I would be. I’ve gone back to work. And, still I have to keep myself from wondering what is next. Will we move again? Farther away? Will I get to stay home again some day if we do?
And quietly, God reminds me, “Be where you are. Enjoy the blessings of right now. Do not worry about tomorrow; it may not even exist.”
So, for now, I will enjoy the summer with the girls and Terry. Late evenings playing outside and having dinner with new friends. I will enjoy long daily conversations with my Dallas tribe, and trips to see them!
And God. I will enjoy Him and what he has to teach me while we are here for however long we get to stay.
No I’m not trying to be a pirate.
I’m mad. Really mad.
It seems as it my miles/running widget on my sidebar just disappeared!
Are you kidding me? I was at more than 100 miles! Actually more than 115, I think.
*&^%$#@!D And I just mashed down REALLY HARD on my keys to prove my point.
This is what I get for not keeping a hard copy.
First of all, this is a fun website for the kids in your life…BuiLD YouR WiLD SeLF. Check it out.
Secondly, it twitter doesn’t get it’s act together, I’m dropping it like a hot potato.
Summer is only 3 school days away!! I’ll be back on my blog, your blog, and all blogs in between. Yay!
Ok, this is a Paula Deen recipe. I originally downloaded it from her website, so I’m guessing posting it here won’t be breaking any laws.
Ingredients:
Line the bottome of a 13×9x2 dish with one bag of the cookies, and layer bananas on top.
In a bowl, combine milk and pudding mix and blend well using a hand-held electric mixer. In another bowl combine the condensed milk and cream cheese until smooth. Fold in cool whip and blend until smooth. Combine cream cheese mixture to pudding mixture until well blended. Pour mixture over the cookies/bananas and the cover with the remaining cookies. Refrigerate until ready to serve.
And that my friends, is the best banana pudding I know of. It is not traditional though. So, if your stuck on the way your mom makes it, this probably won’t float your boat.
Reia was the perfect toddler and preschooler. You could change her path of action with “the look”. She ill-prepared me for child #2 who stares down “the look” while contemplating if a spanking is worth what ever it is she wants to do.
The answer is almost always and emphatically…yes, yes it is.
So, when I came home last night from a party across the street, Terry informed me I needed to go look at my daughter. But, oh yeah, before that, look on the counter.
On the counter was a ziploc baggie about half full of hair. Reese’s long, naturally highlighted light brown tresses. My face turned white as I walked into view the damage.
There she sat in the bathtub. Most of the hair on the left side of her head was gone.
“I was in trouble, Mommy.”
I just sat there and thought, you have no idea. I tried to be so mad. The she smiled at me. And dang it all, I couldn’t help but laugh. I turned around of course, but she had already seen me cave. Too late.
The pictures I post on here don’t quite turn out big enough, so here are the pics Terry posted on his flickr. Enjoy! or Share my pain. Whatever.
Happy Monday, y’all!
PS Reia did the same thing when she was 3. I should have been waiting for it, right?
Well, we have three weeks of school left. I just can’t believe it. In the process of winding down the year, I finally got the nerve to go to the asst. superintendent of schools and ask if I could go back to working only four days a week. I have been a nervous wreck thinking about this meeting. After all, I already have a mommy friendly job and I did just last year beg for my full time job.
We have adjusted as a family and I have learned to let go of a perfectly clean house most of the time, but I still just wasn’t feeling like I couldn’t get done what I needed/wanted to without pulling my hair out. I am pretty social and like to have friends over a bunch, but at this point I could crawl in my bed and not come out for a few weeks. Ok, I’m digressing here. Back to the point….
The boss lady? Very supportive and complimentary of me (yay!) and she still has to take it to the board, but thinks it’s a go. So, whew. Next year, I’ll have a little less money, but a little more time for Terry and the girls. I’m perfectly happy with that.
On another note, I have hit the 100 miles walked/ran!!! Still training for a 10K on Sept. 14th. I’m looking forward to reaching that goal. The only problem I have with running is the cold. I cannot run in the cold. Hot weather I can handle all day long, but this 30 and 40 degree stuff in May is ridiculous. Of course, I’ll be complaining about the heat and ready for fall in a few months. What can I say, I’m an enigma. Or crazy. Whatever.
I’ll be back to regular blogging status in a few weeks. Until then, don’t delete me from your reader just yet!!
Happy Saturday.
