Well…despite my continued goal of simple abundance…it seems we are being blessed with anything but simple abundance. We found out a couple of months ago that we are expecting another baby. This baby is definitely a surprise…but we are now embracing and happily anticipating the arrival of a new blessing.
Maybe this is an answer to my silly thoughts about vain things like age spot cream…this will make me continue to feel young…right? Or…maybe it will sap that last bit of energy out of me…I’m not sure yet…
Horse lovers out there? My oldest daughter went through a pretty big horse phase in her early adolescent years that was strong while it lasted but then she went on to other things eventually. I remember heaving a huge sigh of relief when the horse phase passed because…let’s face it…horses and just about everything connected with them are expensive! Not only the horse and its care and upkeep…but then there are the necessary extras such as equestrian apparel and all those fun things also. Yes…I really don’t know how she even feels about horses now because she is up to her eyeballs in babies right now…but horses were the biggest rage for a while there.
Recently, a US survey found that women are becoming more unhappy and that they want to spend less time at work and more time at home with their children. These are young women who remember what it was like with a frazzled mother trying to do it all…and they don’t want to make the same juggling mistakes as their own mothers did.
I know…we all have pressing concerns like who is going to carry the family’s North Carolina health insurance policy and I will not minimize or discount these concerns.
I will maintain, however, that women who feel a pull to be home should find a way to make it happen. There is nothing gained in the long run by living a life of dissatisfaction and yearning when there may be creative ways to stay home.
Simply…where there is a will there is a way. Talk to your husband and try to make it happen.
We are approaching our second-old child’s wedding some time over the next few months. Instead of the Cinderella affair we had when our oldest daughter got married four years ago, our son and his fiance are choosing to go a simple and informal route with only immediate family and a minister at home. I look forward to celebrating with them as they want and I can’t help but be pretty thankful that we get to skip all of the hoopla like finding the perfect wedding invitations and flowers this time. Although it makes for a beautiful day, the real meaning of the day somehow becomes lost and convoluted.
Have you given any thought lately to the sheer volume of “stuff” you have in your home? I have recently become acutely aware of this as I have been helping my oldest son prepare for and actually move out on his own. He is starting with NOTHING and building from there. This is an experience most of us only have once if we are fortunate. But what a learning opportunity! The ability to pare your possessions down to a few essentials and gradually add the most important things as you are able…the extras like tv stands and grandfather clocks and nicknacks…they come later when and if you are able.
Helping my son…while it has been quite bittersweet…has also been a useful opportunity for me to look at my own surroundings with a different eye. An eye that can see more clearly the things we could do without…
Daily family life can be so fleeting. This can be especially true when you are caught up in the midst of a fast-paced life. Before you know it, you turn around and your young children are approaching double digits. Then they are teenagers and life really gets interesting. One of the many things I appreciate about my husband is his faithful recording of our children over the years. We have countless memories recorded on tape that our children enjoy watching and we will treasure for years to come. I know digital camcorders are not cheap, but neither are these memories! They are priceless!
OK…yes, this can be messy. But sometimes you just have to give in to the mess and let them have a little bit of fun. And kids absolutely LOVE this finger paint! In fact, they love it about as much as I love the best wrinkle cream…and that’s a whole lot!
Recipe:
3 Tablespoons Sugar
1/2 Cup Cornstarch
2 Cups Water
1/4 Cup Dish Washing Soap
2 drops Vanilla
Paper Cups
Food Coloring
Combine the sugar and cornstarch in a saucepan. Add the water slowly and stir constantly. Cook over medium heat for five minutes until it turns clear and thick. Remove from heat and allow to cool completely. Add the dish washing soap and stir well. Add the vanilla. Divide the goo into the paper cups and add the food coloring.
Let them at it! I promise it’s worth the mess.
I am on an important hunt these days. What would you give a new high school graduate that has almost every gadget known to man? My son is graduating in a few days and is a techie at heart…so I really want to get him something that will both appeal and help him as he begins college this fall. I’m also looking to find the best buy that I possibly can, of course…because I’m just that way! Anyway…any suggestions? What does a techie who doesn’t really NEED anything want?
Americans are finally catching up in the kitchen.
The recession is pushing people to curb their eating-out habit. However…Americans have grown used to eating in style and are not willing to give that up when they eat at home. That means…cooking lessons! Interest in cooking has been growing due to the many reality cooking programs and celebrity chefs.
Grocery stores are reporting a sales increase because people are cooking more and eating out less.
Cooking courses can be very expensive, however this cost can be absorbed by the money saved by cooking and eating in.
Restaurant visits fell 3 percent in 2008 from 2007.
Have you changed your cooking and eating out habits yet? Do you plan to at some time? Is there a point financially where you will feel compelled to make some changes? My family has never been big in to eating out and I have focused myself on equipping a kitchen that is capable of creating all of the meals that we love to eat. When you have a well-equipped kitchen full of nice cookware and gadgets it becomes not only possible, but pleasant to cook.
Visit your library and look at their cooking section if you need cheap inspiration! You might be amazed at some of the newer cookbooks that are out there nowadays. The internet is also a great source for inspiration and information.
I would like to challenge you to cut your eating out/ordering out habit and begin to prepare more meals at home. Your family will not only benefit financially, but your health will improve because what you cook at home is almost always more nutritionally sound.
Technorati Tags: cooking lessons, eating in, recession
“Never again clutter your days or nights with so many menial and unimportant things that you have no time to accept a real challenge when it comes along. This applies to play as well as work. A day merely survived is no cause for celebration. You are not here to fritter away your precious hours when you have the ability to accomplish so much by making a slight change in your routine. No more busy work. No more hiding from success. Leave time, leave space, to grow. Now. Now! Not tomorrow!” ~Oq Mandino
This speaks to me…does it speak to you at all?
It makes me wonder and ask myself if I am allowing enough time each day for growth and renewal. Am I making sure that the menial does not choke out the meaningful? Am I making sure that my personal routine and the overall routine of my family is one that promotes accomplishments, yet not at the expense of creativity?
This is a fine line. Allow for growth with enough time and space…yet do not thwart growth by allowing boredom either. In short…provide adequate opportunities for growing and wondering and learning and changing.
If you watch children naturally go through a day, you will typically see them approach it with gusto. Children do not have a goal of simply “to survive” a day. I think the more we can model ourselves after a child’s approach to a new day, the better off we will be.
“Now. Now! Not tomorrow!”
Technorati Tags: growth, meaningful, menial, renewal
