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pachyderm - Word of the Day from Dictionary.com

Sat, 18 Feb 2012 23:00:00 -0500

pachyderm - Word of the Day from Dictionary.com:

Yup, this describes me. Just call me Rhinoceros! Although, I’ve always pictured myself more like a snapping turtle.

I just bought a Kindle Fire and I have to say I am loving my new toy..er…study tool. I bought...

Mon, 13 Feb 2012 22:37:44 -0500

I just bought a Kindle Fire and I have to say I am loving my new toy..er…study tool. I bought it mainly to help me stay on top of my homework, but it has some fun features too ;)

Stop Your Search Engines

Fri, 03 Feb 2012 12:30:43 -0500

Stop Your Search Engines:

Forcing ourselves offline may be the path to true knowledge.

I hear you, Lord. Peace shall come.

Wed, 25 Jan 2012 11:53:32 -0500

I hear you, Lord. Peace shall come.:

I will lean against your throne and find my peace.

"Hire the attitude and teach the skills"

Sat, 21 Jan 2012 15:08:36 -0500

““Hire the attitude and teach the skills””

I don't wanna!

Mon, 16 Jan 2012 20:19:07 -0500

I’m being a stupid stubborn kid. I’m so slacking on taking my shots and I know I’ll probably pay for it in 17 years but I don’t wanna do it!! It’s gonna hurt! Ugh.

There. I’m going now.

I must have miscalculated the hours in a day

Sat, 14 Jan 2012 21:11:40 -0500

As I learned from Empire Records (thanks for the reminder Kari!), there are 24 usable hours in a day. I figured that with giving up television and computer games I would find myself with all kinds of time for getting everything done.

Not.

It turns out it did free up time to stay current with my homework, and I do feel a little less relaxed, but I STILL do not have time to fold the laundry. Ugh. It’s in there somewhere, I am sure of it. Do I really need to schedule my days down to the half hour? We like to do that at work sometimes; we view and plan our days in 30 minute increments and it seems to make us more productive and help the day go by faster. An hour would be too much, 15 minutes not enough; most small tasks can be complete in 30 minutes. I suppose I could try it at home. Or I could just leave the laundry where it is. It looks comfortable, just laying there.

I guess I’ll keep working on the homework. Hmph. I am 30% done with one assignment, 38% with another, and 1% with the other, but that one isn’t due until Wednesday. Is it time for bed yet?

Feeling a little bit consumed lately...

Fri, 13 Jan 2012 23:21:57 -0500

Lamentations 3:22-23 “Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.”

No TV? No computer games? Whatever shall I do with my time?

Sat, 07 Jan 2012 11:17:04 -0500

The answer is: whatever I want! I have allowed television and stupid computer games to monopolize far too much of my time. We are heading in to tax season, so the months ahead are going to be more - dare I say it? what the heck - taxing for me than usual. I had been feeling overwhelmed just thinking about it, and the aftermath of the holidays didn’t help.

I called my sister yesterday while on my way to work because she is always great at offering me some encouragement and happy thoughts. One of her suggestions was to take just 5 minutes a day to chip away at the clutter in my house.

My first reaction was to make excuses - how on earth could I find 5 minutes? I’m so busy and exhausted by the end of the day! But saying that out loud helped me to realize how ridiculous I sounded. To sum up our conversation, we came to the conclusion that I spend too much time watching television and playing computer games. It doesn’t start out that way, but once I start I just have a really hard time stopping.

So it’s cold turkey for me. No TV, video or computer games until April 15. It’s been 24 hours and so far I am loving it! Last night we took the Christmas tree down (finally), I played with the kids, balanced the checkbook, and snuggled with my son while he watched Curious George. It was tough to resist the urge to turn on the TV after the kids were in bed or get on Facebook and play stupid Zuma, but I was successful at resisting. It was just after 9:00 pm when I realized I was feeling sleepy. What to do? Could it really be bedtime for Momma already? Yes, in fact it was. I headed to bed and was fast asleep as soon as my head hit the pillow.

I did explain to my son that I was giving up TV for awhile and today he has not asked me once to watch TV with him. Instead, we have been finding other activities. This morning I got up with the kids and we made oatmeal for breakfast. After breakfast we played a game of Chutes & Ladders and then played Power Rangers for awhile. Without the distraction of the television, we are able to spend real quality time with each other. It is wonderful.

My sister made the same commitment to cut out television, and I am excited to see the effects it has on each of our lives. I think we are going to have some good stories to tell!

My kids are a hoot. Goofy as all get-out. I have no idea where...

Mon, 02 Jan 2012 21:58:09 -0500

My kids are a hoot. Goofy as all get-out. I have no idea where they get it from ;)

Christmas Cheer, sort of

Sun, 25 Dec 2011 11:46:50 -0500

I am thankful. I am thankful for my Jesus, and for all the blessings I have been given.

This Christmas day is a little bittersweet for me. This morning we had a delicious french toast breakfast and had a fabulous time opening presents with the kids. Now they are off to visit the grandparents and I am home alone, sick with the flu. It was unbelievably hard to say goodbye, knowing how much fun the kids were going to be having and knowing that I wasn’t going to be there to be a part of it.

However, I have a quiet house all to myself, a warm blanket, hot coffee, and my sister’s homemade chocolate pecan toffee. I suppose things could be a lot worse.

Merry Christmas and all of God’s richest blessings to you!

Ideas for riding in the car with kids

Thu, 22 Dec 2011 19:48:00 -0500

Ideas for riding in the car with kids:

We have a family reunion coming up and I am so excited I can’t stand it! The only part of the trip I am apprehensive about is the 5 hour drive there and back. I need to be prepared to keep my 2 and 4 year old children entertained in case they do not sleep. My daughter will probably sleep but if history is an indicator, my son will be awake for most of the way.

This website has some great ideas for traveling with toddlers and preschoolers. These are my favorites:

Drawing boards - I will have to be sure to bring the Magnadoodle my daughter received for her birthday
Make a mini car racetrack - you can make this with an old shoebox and markers or crayons, easy as pie (which is actually a flawed comparison, cuz I suck at making pie)
Sewing cards - this looks fun and easy; you cut thin cardboard into shapes and punch holes all around the edges, and let them thread yarn through the holes
Teach your kids to like YOUR music - I have a playlist on my iPod with all of Luke’s favorite songs just for playing in the car; it includes R.E.M., The Rolling Stones, Foster the People, etc.
Cookie sheet magnet board - I could totally use my old cookie pans for this, and just use the magnets off the fridge
The Animal Game (like 20 questions)
Name the clouds
Silly Sound Game
Tell jokes

I will definitely be keeping all of these ideas handy for our trip next week!

Loving this holiday music!

Thu, 22 Dec 2011 11:32:16 -0500

Loving this holiday music!

Sinking feeling

Mon, 19 Dec 2011 20:25:16 -0500

I am always so saddened when I realize I have reached the last bite of my cookies ‘n’ cream ice cream.

Sometimes there’s just never enough.

These recipes are right up my alley!

Sun, 18 Dec 2011 12:56:20 -0500

These recipes are right up my alley!:

Slow cooker lasagna, Alfredo spaghetti, Chili Frito pie, Josiah’s cheese biscuits…

These all look good and super easy to make (i.e. less than 5 ingredients each)!

I'm still trying to keep it all together...

Fri, 16 Dec 2011 14:51:05 -0500

I’ll let you know how it goes.