speaking of silly things

My sister reminded me of my v. silly music videos. Those were the days: I had cute hair--[I think because I had got it cut that day--those are usually the only days my hair ever looks good. I was looking for a photo of me to put on my blog and all the ones of me are from years ago or are taken by Chickie...how sad. (This particular one was taken by chickie today and she told me how to pose. ) And from looking at all of the pics of me I realized something sad. My hair never looks good. I think it only looks good when I fix it. So in my mind I look great but as soon as I step out into the humidity it takes on a life of its own. I'm facing the fact that I may have to start wearing my hair curly again. I should take pics and do a poll. That would be funny.] oops that was a major side track.

OK so besides the hair, I had super cool clothes (those were the red leather pants days--ah to be young and living on student loans) and spontaneity. Chris got the video camera and my first thought was....what are we going to do with this thing...make music videos? So I did. And they were funny. I also had my guitar to use as a prop. (The only song Iactually knew how to play was Smelly Cat--if that even counts as a song.) I tried to make more but never with the same magic as the first round of videos. If I were really cool I could figure out how to put a clip of one on here.

So what is the funniest thing any of you ever made? I've seen other blogs where people give away prizes for the funniest answer. I could do that. OK. I thought of something funny. To the winner I will mail a funny care package of something yummy to make with yet another story of how I once made it terribly, terribly wrong (no it's not a gingerbread house).

Chickie Pics

Chickie got loose with the camera today. These are my favorites...the one of the dollar general add didn't make the cut! The one of bentley's toe really cracks me up.

If you look closely at this one you can see both a bit of foreign object and a small new tooth comming in at the top of his mouth.

Today I'm thankful for being surprised by people. It reminds me not to judge others. You never know what is really going on sometimes.

Fixing Things

We have colds! How sad is that in the summer! Yesterday I was determined not to let it get me down! I tried every cold remedy I could find. I took my vitamins as usual, but we also took zicam, a silver supplement, garlic, and I also read that drinking hot water kills the bacteria in your mouth so I tried that too. I also only ate fruit and drank lots of green drink (until dinner time....then I ate a nice garlicky dinner). We are all feeling much better today.

And I feel so empowered for the dumbest thing ever! Our Xbox started flashing red lights and that is what we watch movies and pilates on. So, I took it upon myself to figure out how to get it fixed instead of waiting for Chris to deal with it. I called 18004myxbox and talked to a guy who thought I was a complete idiot (when it comes to the xbox i definitely am!) but he helped me anyway. He couldn't understand what city I live in....because of the southern drawl, I guess. They are sending a box to fix it and I couldn't be happier!

Speaking of fixing things; I have a habit of rescuing good furniture from the trash. One of the chairs (pictured alone) we have carried around with us for about 6 years. I knew one day it would look beautiful. And while I'm at it I guess I'll throw in the before shot of this room, also (above). If you look closely you can see the wallpaper border they put on the ceiling. We like to call it the drawing room...very Jane Austin. The ottoman was from my purple faze in our first home. I like to say that room looked like it was decorated by preteens at a slumber party. I probably have a picture of that as well, but lets not go there.

So, what do any of you do to keep well? I once knew someone who only ate raw foods and they never got sick.

I almost forgot... Today I'm thankful for getting better, books on tape, a good nights sleep, naptime, pumpkin muffins, lasagna, fresh bread, water! Can you tell I'm getting hungry I guess it's lunchtime.

Jericho Road

The guys from Jericho Road spoke and sang at church today and it was perfectly lovely. They have such a great spirit about them. Bret talked about the way he feels about life, service, and his own questioning about why he has been given certain opportunities and blessings. It felt so nice for me to hear someone talk about the same things I have been pondering on in my own life. I felt very inspired today to be the best person I can be! That's what I'm grateful for today. Thanks guys!

Syncronicity

Wow! It has been a busy week. We went blackberry picking (does this mean I have to make jam now?), to the zoo, to a benefit concert, had our regular "Edie day", and went to the library. I also made yummy bread, tried three new recipes, finished two audio books, got a significant chunk of Great Expectations read, and watched my favorite smart cartoon, Beauty and the Beast, with the kids this morning. Chickie got pretty creative this week doing an edible book review (inspired by one at the library), making paper eggs to hunt, dancing on stage with Jericho Road, and she also invented a game called the nasty(the use of this particular word comes from watching the English cuties Charlie and Lola) witch and the beautiful princess. Is that a lot? Maybe not. But we did have fun. I was feeling a little funky mid-week which prevented me from blogging. I'm really trying to deal with the amount of uncertainty in my life right now. Today I feel Great! I feel optimistic about the future. And Women & Money makes me really want to take responsibility for what is going on in my life. I'm not sure exactly what will happen with us, but I do feel optimistic because of the little things. Julia Cameron and Martha Beck both talk about Synchronicity. They describe it as coincidences that aren't so coincidental...or answered prayers. Which makes me feel great because if God cares about the little things, making even just one day go well, then who's to say that He is not that much more concerned about the big picture. And He must be cooking up something really great for us, we just have to be patient. Here are some of our examples of synchronicity that have happened to us recently: obsessing over the Parable of the Pickle and Liz's really yummy pickle sandwich and then finding a massive jar of dill pickles on sale plus a coupon left by someone else, really wanting and needing a haircut and then getting offered to trade babysitting for a hair cut (which I need to cash in, by the way!), Chris giving me two zoo passes and then someone inviting us to the Zoo that same day, Chickie wanting to make jam and someone inviting us to go berry picking and then giving me a box of canning jars, me really worried about my face and then getting a box in the mail with a whole skin care line inside, Chris talking incessantly about wanting to live near or on the lake, "I just want to be by water!" coupled with my incessant prayers for any opportunity that will lead us in the right direction and then Chris' good friend offers him a part time business opportunity that involves installing equipment on docks, both problems solved. Just typing all of those things out reminds me how blessed I really am. And even though I may not have total control, I do have total trust in my Heavenly Father. And I am learning from my own stupidity in order to make smarter choices for my future. Today I am SO SO grateful for a multitude of abundance in my life!

SO, one of the books I listened to was Eats, Shoot & Leaves; I have since decided that I really like punctuation, even if this whole post is fraut with punctuation errors, or this sentance for that matter; I'm going to go for it with gusto! If anyone cares to edit my posts with a red pen...please feel free I'm sure I need the help!
Note: I tried to make a cute mosaic as others have done. I'm not sure why mine is teeny tiny so here it is at the bottom. If you click on a photo it will take you to a larger image. If anyone knows why mine is so tiny please share. Perhaps I shall figure it out through an act of synchronicity.
1. berry picking1, 2. berry picking3, 3. berries, 4. berry picking2, 5. witch&princess, 6. edible book review, 7. DSC02532, 8. DSC02500, 9. DSC02495, 10. DSC02496, 11. zooed out, 12. monkeys, 13. on stage with Jericho Road, 14. face paint, 15. silly butterfly, 16. ellie chickie and karson

It smells like caterpillars!

Or is it just my imagination? Either way I thought it smelled of caterpillars this morning as I was finishing up my morning run. Maybe it's those loud bugs outside right now.

One of my favorite things about summer is that it makes me want to read. I'll chalk it up to childhood conditioning. Every summer when we were visiting our dad we would get a big fat box of books from the used book store and go camping...for what seemed like an eternity. Oddly enough summer doesn't really make me want to go camping. Although I do get the occasional craving for Tang and instant oatmeal. And I can't just read one book. Right now I'm reading....Everything Bad is Good for You: How Today's Popular Culture is Actually Making Us Smarter a friend let me borrow this, I thought it sounded really interesting, I'll let you know; Great Expectations because I've never read it and I need to read more fiction; and Finding your Own North Star claiming the life you were meant to live I read this a couple of years ago. I love it. It is so fun to read. Martha Beck really cracks me up. Plus I'm also listening to a book on tape Women & Money , I need some serious help in this area. Anyone else doing some summer reading?

Today has been a lovely day. We finished sewing the hair and eyes on Chickie's mermaid. Chickie and Chris made "drawings taped onto straw" puppets and we had funny fishie sherbet cupcakes for our FHE snack. Chickie took this pic of Chris eating his sherbet fishie. Sometimes she takes some great ones! This one makes me laugh!

Today I'm grateful for smart people who right engaging books. I'm grateful to be able to learn new things. And I'm grateful that according to Publishers Clearing House I am in the running for $10 mil. I spent a good 15 minutes jumping around like I had something to be exited about. Some people practice their Oscar acceptance speeches, I practice my Publishers Clearing House win. One thing is for sure. I will make a fool out of my self. Chickie said (while rolling her eyes), "MOM, quit shaking your booty!" I said, " I'm not. It's my celebration dance." And then I continued to jump around. Two things did result, I got a really good workout and the whole silliness put me in a really good mood. Especially since I felt I would be smart with my winnings thanks to Suze Orman.

just another day

This weekend I am a mother of 4! Watch out! So far it's going well. Even after three crafts yesterday I still managed to get most of the house fairly clean. With four kids I felt that this was a pretty huge accomplishment. We made crazy crayons, and stuffed mermaids (chickie's idea). I also worked some more on my canvas rug to go under the dining room table.

Thanks for your comments on the last blog! I wrote two nauseatingly long blogs in reply. But I am an over thinker (you know, you've talked to me) and I was sick of hearing myself think. I do think the key to life happiness must be following your instincts, not being afraid to try new things and really just being very grateful for all of your blessings. Which is why we added that to our evening routine. I find I am a little too grateful for food most nights. Chris just rolls his eyes. :) I made some yummy bread this week and those magic bars. mmmm.

Today I'm thankful for Addison, age 5, who brought his own personal Porsche catalog to my house and told me the horse power and name of every car in there. It was very entertaining.

I'm also thankful for Heather Bailey's blog. I love seeing moms that get a lot of stuff done!

Please Pass the Magic Lamp

OK. Imagine that you have a promise that you will be successful in life...the only thing you have to do is and here's the catch...make a choice! That's right the only catch is that you have to choose. And not even that, it's not just one thing, it's pretty much whatever you do you are guaranteed to be successful at. So it's a nice little scenario right. Yeah, I met someone with this guarantee, seriously. I am not at liberty to divulge any details, although I will say it's definitely not at all anything from "the dark side." I have actually known this person for well over a decade. I just never knew about their little golden ticket until the other day. My first reaction, complete and total elation for them. Ok that's good right. My second reaction. Green with ENVY! I want a life like that. And then I thought do I know what I would if I was guaranteed success in no uncertain terms. Would I knit cupcakes and run a bakery of only knitted treats? Would be great for dieters and goats alike! Would I try to do something that is guaranteed large returns? Ooh, I could live on an island and make all my own everything! And order supplies online. What would fund this lifestyle you may ask... The stock market of course. I would be very successful at investing in stocks. I would also be very well read in this scenario and I would speak many languages because of my many travels with my private jet that I fly myself. So seriously, If I had this promise would I be riddled with indecision, frozen with the vastness of life choices? Turns out...I know EXACTLY what I would do. So why haven't I been doing what apparently I have always known back there in my subconscious would bring me true joy? FEAR, fear of failure. Weird that someone else's "golden ticket" would give me such clarity of thought.

Before this happened I had been thinking a lot about this quote and wanting to find it and read it again. I stumbled upon it on someone else's blog. Coincidence? I think not.
"Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate, our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, 'Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented and fabulous?' Actually, who are you not to be?" –Nelson Mandela
So we don't all lead charmed lives but what about this quote. There is still hope for the rest of us. Flawed though we may be. Success may not always come but I don't know, I feel grateful for the journey, even when it's a trial. And here's why... I have found that my most difficult life moments have given me more personal depth and a greater capacity for compassion than any type of personal growth I have been able to muster up otherwise. I would love to hear your thoughts on this!

Today I'm thankful for your comments!! It has made blogging so much more fun! Thanks guys. I would really love to hear what it is you would do if you were GUARANTEED success!

Quack, Quack, Quack

We spent some time Sunday afternoon at the farm with grandpa tom and grandma carol. They have an interesting little group of pets. They have two dogs and a bird and a growing flock of ducks. The first was Dollar the Duck who came to the family a few years ago and this year they have been going to another farm and getting eggs to hatch and raise. It works out well for chickie since for one she is completely obsessed with ducks and cheeps and weekies, as she likes to call them. And also she's not allergic to them. Finally a pet she can pet!
Today I'm thankful for rain and my sister for making me feel important! Love ya!

To Complain or Not to Complain

Monday night our FHE lesson was on not complaining. I gave the lesson and I thought this was a topic that we really needed to discuss in our family. I just really feel like sometimes we are so busy complaining that we don't notice the good all around us. I have been wanting to do this lesson for a long time and I had even ordered bracelets to help remind us not to complain. The lesson went really well. We decided that our family was a team and that we would help our teammates remember all the good things around us when we start to complain. When I start to complain Chickie is going to point out a beautiful plant for me to look at (her idea). And the game was a total hit! The CTR shield was to represent our positive thoughts and our beanbags were the evil complaints. I was so happy the evening couldn't have gone any better. And then we woke up Tuesday morning and the complaints came rolling in. But this time the normal complaining put me in a very sour mood. I was so dissapointed. And not only were they complaining--but it turns out the one thing we didn't discuss was what exactly was the definition of complain. OK, so that says to express grief, pain, or discontent. Well, Chris was commenting on the ugliness of some dude on TV. I felt that was complaining. He said, "That's not complaining that's just a fact!" Which is funny, but if we can't bring about any changes is there really any use in even bringing up the negative thought in the first place. Right? So, the week rolls on. I try REALLY hard to not complain. I keep it in until it ends up burping out in front of our friends, instead of at home where we should be discussing personal complaints. sorry chris! Needless to say there must be some sort of healthy line to draw with complaining. They do serve as a form of evaluating. And Anthony Robbins says, "The quality of your life is directly related to the quality of your evaluations." That may not be the exact wording, but the point is that if we don't properly evaluate our situation we can't change it for the better. Chris spent some time working with Brian Jolly last week. He is one of the most positive people I know! I love it! I love when he works with Chris because I hope some of Brian's perspective will rub off. But then we do have some friends that almost make a comedic act out of complaining.

So when is it better just to shut up and when is it better to voice a little whine? Any thoughts? Evaluations? Complaints? :)

Today I'm greatful for a new day!

An Ideal Day

Happy July 4th! We had a lovely fun filled day. Sadly, I misplaced my camera and don't have any good action photos. It would have been nice to have one of Chris doing his signature "run up the fence" move during softball that he used to impress the ladies with in his younger years. Or Chickie jumping off of the diving board again. Or me freaking out as a giant beetle landed on my face! Well we probably couldn't have taken that picture anyway. We could have taken one of me scarfing down some desserts. Oh, yeah! I guess this camera phone picture of my Hello Kitty calendar will suffice.

Somehow, I managed to get Mandee to bring dinner over to our house again. We grilled yummy surf n turf. :) We played a little wii, cracked some noise only "fireworks" in the dark. All in all it was a really great day. We are very blessed to have a lot of fun people in our lives. Today I'm thankful for our country, dessert, great friends, and of course (the family fruit) watermelon.

Pirate Fever!

This is the direct result of watching Pippi Longstocking!

Today I'm thankful for these funny pics. they make me laugh! Hardy Har Har!

Rockin the Docks!

We went to Rockin the Docks this weekend. We aren't really into live music. We just went for the snow cones. Seriously.

Today I'm thankful for Ratatouille. Very funny and inspirational.

And I'm thankful for baby laughter and the brave mother duck I saw at the park protecting her eggs and not flinching with all the people, dogs, and commotion in general all around her. I hope I can be that steadfast and immovable in my own way.