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Jul

Today is finals, so there is no post. I have a paper to write, a discussion board to complete, a quiz and an exam.

It’s been an interesting week. This may be my last week of school for several month – more on that later – and I’m looking forward to a break, let me tell ya. As much as I LOVE the content, my school schedule – along with my other responsibilities – keeps me on the ropes far more than I can say I enjoy. I could use a breather and want to get my head on straight and then come back to finish it up refreshed!

It’s been SCORCHING hot here this week – and Tuesday night we lost power. About 12 houses on our street lost power – and it was 11:00 pm before the power came back on. Thankfully we didn’t suffer too much from the heat, and the girls had extra time to catch fireflies outside…

Hope you have a terrific weekend!

Category: Uncategorized One Comment

Jun

Time for a Change

queenmommy

Do you remember the Brady Bunch episode where the Brady kids were making a record recording, and Peter’s voice kept cracking because he has started experiencing CHANGES during puberty? And instead of embarrassing him by continuing to sing the song they wanted to sing, and not even considering singing without him – Greg wrote a new song for them all to sing that celebrated Peter’s CHANGES?

You don’t? Really???

It just so happens to be one of my favorite episodes because it was SO. CHEESY…

Anyway – I feel like I’m entering puberty in the blogging world. LOTS of changes going on in my personal life – Curly is going to be in Kindergarten in the Fall, and Georgie may be going to Mommys Day Out! My blogging is being refined – maybe you haven’t noticed it or felt it – but changes are coming.

I love writing, and I’ve been writing a lot of “off the top of my head” stuff here for awhile – things I needed to process and work through – stuff I’m learning and so forth. And while I will continue to do that here, I’m going to make this more PERSONAL. I’ve had a hard time differentiating between my blog here and Mommies Coffee Break. And I have to change my attitude about the way I’m writing at both places.

Not just cuz I want to – but because I really feel the Lord whispering to my heart to do so.

I need to journal more intimately about the stuff that is going on with me – and not just occasionally. He is doing some serious work – and I need to share it. I need to share what’s going on in my family – in marriage – in motherhood – in school – and so forth and quit skimming over everything. I will be sharing my journey to GOOD HEALTH and weight loss and eating and food addiction here, as well – and will have an entire PAGE devoted to those posts (won’t that be fun???)

On the other hand, Mommies Coffee Break is my mission – my ministry – my calling. It’s coming up for a NEW design (Yay!!!) and as it takes on a new look, it’ll take on a new attitude. MCB is where God is speaking to me about reaching out to others – sharing His lessons in a bigger way – sharing life with others. You are absolutely invited to journey with me there, and you can sign up for email updates – or follow in a variety of other ways.

I need to GO DEEPER here. Remember that? My theme for 2010!!! It’s still my theme, and God has been bringing clarity to my life about WHY that’s my theme.

So, for starters – this is MIDTERMS Week. I have a MAJOR paper due Sunday, we have a wedding reception Friday night, and Roy & I are helping at a Chili cookoff on Saturday – so my time is SCRUNCHED big time! I may not post again for the rest of the week – I don’t know. You’ll just have to stick around to find out. LOL.

photo credit: flashbacks.com

Category: Life, Uncategorized, blogging Tags: blogging, change, Life One Comment

Nov

Freaky Friday – Decaffeinated!

queenmommy

So I’m adjusting to the decaf coffee this week – and not feeling the lack of caffeine too much. Fatigue is just part of my pregnancies, so I’m happy with 1 cup of good decaf in the morning. =)

My girls & I watched the movie, Freaky Friday, last week. Although Curly is only 4, she totally understood the concept and we have been pretending to switch bodies sometimes. It’s been pretty funny. She likes to be bossy (can’t figure out where she gets that), and I’ve been imitating some of her behaviors, too. We’ve had fun.

Curly got her ears pierced middle of last week, and it seems like she’s grown up all of a sudden. She decided to go for it after talking about it – backing out of it at the last second before – and seeing her friends at school with earrings. Georgie already has pierced ears, so she decided to go for it and did GREAT! She picked out her purple heart earrings and sat on my lap while the 2 ladies explained what they were doing. She jumped a little and said, “Ow” but then she kinda sat up and said, “Oh Cool!” before she even saw them. After that we rode an escalator – which was another big “Fear Factor” for her and since then, she’s just been more confident and less fearful.

She still climbed into bed with us in the middle of the night last night – she mumbled something about “trees” and hid her face, so we cuddled for a bit before I tucked her back into bed.

Sometimes I wonder what it would be like to switch bodies with someone and live their experiences for 24 hours. And have them live mine. Like walking a mile in someone else’s shoes, it’s a good practice that I need to consider more often.

So today – Friday the 13th – that is my goal: To think about how OTHERS might be feeling and what they might be experiencing before I get upset or bent out of shape. I’m going to practice walking a mile in their shoes.

After I finish my coffee. =)

Category: Family, Favorites, Uncategorized Tags: consideration, Freaky Friday, Friday the 13th, Relationships 14 Comments

Nov

Thanksgiving Traditions

queenmommy

Thanksgiving is actually my favorite holiday. Don’t get me wrong – I LOVE Christmas and celebrating the birth of Christ.

While both holidays have been commercialized somewhat, there is something about Thanksgiving that seems a little less “hyped.”

Our thanksgiving traditions – while I was growing up – were pretty simple and straightforward. Mom always made a turkey and all the trimmings – YUM! But we spent the day together. We might watch a parade or football game, but we did it together.

Before we ate our meal, my dad would ask each of us to go around and name one thing we were thankful for. It was always interesting to hear what each family member – and sometimes friends – had to share. And it made the day special.

This is something we still do with my family – as we stand around holding hands – my brothers and their wives and children – with my husband and girls – we each name something we are grateful for and it is really special.

One particular Thanksgiving, while I was a single adult, I had a good friend who was the night innkeeper at a Bed & Breakfast. The owners of the B&B were gracious enough to offer her the opportunity to invite 3 friends to stay – each in their own room – at the B&B, as long as we cleaned up after ourselves.

OH. MY. WORD.

The carriage house was perfect for us, because it had 4 suites, so we each chose our suite and spent a couple nights. My room was this lovely warm ivory, peach and sage green concoction that included a 4 post-canopied bed with a fireplace and jetted tub in the main room. I felt like royalty. It also had a fainting couch – which I’ve always dreamed of owning – and I spent several hours watching (for the first time) A&E’s presentation of Pride & Prejudice. It was unbelievably wonderful.

And, as a bonus – we had the privilege of using the B&Bs kitchen to make our Thanksgiving dinner, and serve it on the beautiful china from the kitchen. We used stemmed goblets and all the linens and beautiful dishes we could find. It was almost like Alice in Wonderland must have felt. The four of us had such a great time spending time together – away from our families – and it’s one of my favorite Thanksgiving memories. I was so thankful for my family – but at that time in my life, I was ever grateful for friends who loved me, who laughed with me (and at me when needed), and who shared a special time together.

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Nov

How do you Celebrate?

queenmommy

With the holiday season right around the corner (and by “Holiday Season” – I do mean Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Years) – how are you planning to celebrate?

Are any of these holidays YOUR favorite holiday of the year?

What is your favorite family tradition for any or all of these holidays?

What is your favorite food item of the holidays – that you just can’t do without or the day just doesn’t seem “right?” Do you make it or does someone else make it?

Do you celebrate any traditions or rituals differently as an adult now than you did as a child?

What traditions did you keep from childhood and incorporate into your family now?

Honestly – I’m interested in getting your input. Please feel free to share as much or as little as you’d like.

Category: Uncategorized Tags: Celebrations, family traditions, Holidays Leave a Comment

Nov

I have a confession…

queenmommy

I made one of those rookie – just came from wordpress.com to self-hosting wordpress – mistakes and changed my theme without backing up my site.

Which means my posts are here, but the really cute theme I had, and some sidebar content got lost.

ACK!

I’m trying to recover and get back to posting. I spent hours looking for that theme – no luck.

So I’m going to find something temporary and have a custom design done early next year…

Live and learn…

In the meantime – if you or someone you know are fighting the flu – check out this recipe for

Flu Fighting Muffins

They sound DELICIOUS! Flu or not.

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Nov

Hello Girls Friday!

queenmommy

Can I just say that Sunday was the longest day ever! Even my husband commented on it. We only set the clocks back one hour but it felt like the whole day just went on and on and on.

Maybe because we were all a bit under the weather and housebound – but it felt odd!

Maybe I should be grateful since it IS November and there are only a few days until Thanksgiving – my FA-VO-RITE holiday. I love Christmas – don’t get me wrong – but Thanksgiving inspires me in ways I just can’t even put into words.

Maybe it’s the lack of gift exchanges that keeps things in perspective – I don’t know. It just seems that this time together with family or friends is focused differently and I love it.

Speaking of gifts – I’m pointing you to the Lotion Bar recipe today. It’s posted on my recipe blog at MommysCook.com. I reworked my first batch because they seemed a bit greasy – and they turned out MUCH better after. My mom couldn’t BELIEVE how “creamy” the lotion bars felt. (In my first batch, my measuring system for the beeswax was off and I needed to add some more. After that, the bars held their solid shape better and they do feel much creamier!)

Oh and I wanted to share this homemade pretreatment spray recipe I found over at Organized Everyday. I’m going to try this one soon, too. I’ve been debating about using ammonia around the house – some jobs just require a superhero cleaner and ammonia does the trick. So I think it’ll work great – but I’ll let you know! The Dawn still works great for grease stains.

I went ahead and made up another batch of laundry detergent last week. It wasn’t necessary to make it already – I still have a lot left from my first batch – I was just in the mood to get some things done and it’s something I could manage easily. I used a bar of Fels-Naptha and preferred it in scent and consistency to my first batch (using a generic white soap from the health food store). I’ve seen Fels-Naptha at Meijers, Walmart and Kroger – so you should be able to find it. The finished product was much smoother and gelled more like the recipe said it might. I even like the scent.

I’m going to end this with a note to ask you to pray for the families of the soldiers killed and wounded in the attacks at Fort Hood. Information is still coming out as I write this – but for all the soldiers involved – this is a really devastating incident. With family members who served in the military – I can tell you it’s difficult enough to let your loved one “go” into battle facing danger. It’s another thing to find that your loved one has been killed by a fellow soldier. And the shooter’s families need your prayers, too.

Category: Uncategorized 10 Comments