"Why do you hate the ipad?"

My new fancy iphone 5 decided to just die last night. I've had it a week....So, with that being noted, I have a minute to post on here b/c I'm not instgramming, snap chatting, facebooking or texting. I've already cleaned the bathroom and I'm on my 2nd load of laundry...Dishwasher has been unloaded and reloaded. I've cut out ornaments for orders and I've helped Kate with a sorority project. But I'm really thinking about the ipad the kids have gotten at the high school. The ipad is great. It really is. It is a wonderful tool for the kids and it's really great they don't have to carry 100lbs of books around anymore. There are all kinds of fancy things they can do on it with in regards to school work. I've been talking to other parents recently about their experience with the ipad in their house with their children. The question that has come up more than once is, "so why do you hate the ipad?" It's not that I hate the ipad but I do find it hard to see what my child is studying. I know I'm old school because I didn't have an ipad growing up so I really like to sit down with a book. It doesn't even have to be a big text book but I think it would be great if there were work books to go along with the online material. I would love to be able to look at printed material and go over it with my child. My friend said she doesn't like ipad b/c now her child has a device that she didn't personally purchase albeit through tax dollars she did but it's required for school and so she must have it. Along with the school work on the ipad there is the internet and tv shows and movies and music and games and a lot of ways for a high schooler to become easily distracted from studying let's say their history. Is technology good? Of course it is. It is really good and there's really no going back now as this is the way the world is headed but I'd love to see tangible tools used as well, index cards, real bright yellow highlighters, printed pages. Just a little. Keep the ipad but add the others too.

Making the team

Jack making the HHS golf team for the 2nd year has got me thinking. Rick and I are not golfers. Rick hates playing golf. He likes watching Jack play but one time when he was working in Peoria, he was golfing with a Dr. and the Dr. said in his cute Asian accent, "Rick, you know, if someone ask you if you play golf, you really should say no." haha, 15 years later we still laugh at Dr. Chang's advice to Rick. So, Jack finding golf is really sort of a fluke. Let's go back a few years. He played baseball, just rec ball but that's okay. And, he played football. Every boy usually plays a few years of baseball and football around here. Remember we live in SEC country where football in king and we live in Hoover where football is king. We love football, all of us. It's a huge part of our fall. But Jack learned early on that he was not going to be a Hoover football player. Rick and I thought, maybe we should have moved to a district that had a smaller high school so our kids would have an opportunity to play the sport they wanted to. But then we thought, maybe it's better to go to a school that doesn't just let everyone play. They have to make cuts and if you're not good enough to be on the team, well then, you're cut. Trust me, I know what that feels like. It's not fun and it hurts but you know what it does do. It makes you either work harder for the next try out or it makes  you evolve. Jack wasn't going to make the HHS baseball team, he knew that in 7th grade, he wasn't going to see the field on the football team. So, he decided to start golfing.  He tried out when he was a freshman but he was cut. So, he kept on trying and learning and practicing and he made it the next year and then again this year. I always tease him and say, you may not be on fancy tours when you're older but you'll know how to handle business on the golf course and a lot of business deals go down out there. It's tough being cut from a team but life's tough and maybe it's better to learn how to adapt and evolve when you're young so you'll know how to roll with the punhces when you're older and no one's giving you a free pass just because you're you.

***Side note about HHS... Competition is always fierce. There are a lot of kids vying for a few spots. I don't care if it's math team, cheerleading, baseball, soccer or peer helping. They're all good, they're all prepared and they want to make the team. It's always hard. Kudos to the kids who keep on trying and evolving and practicing! Go Bucs!

Listen

Be still and listen. Ahh, for me it is so hard. Should be easy right? The min. I sit an try to listen and just be still, my mind goes racing with a million things, I should be doing, I should have done, I should worry about and on and on. I obviously need to work on this. So, as I'm trying to be all meditative and such, I suddenly go into Becky Bloomwood mode. I need a fun new mat to "listen" on, and maybe a new zen cd to have in the back ground to help me get in listening mode. Oh and should I set up a cute listening spot in my room? But then I start thinking about what's under the bed and I should dust the blinds and the bathroom is nearby and I'm certain it needs cleaning too. Or maybe I should drive to the park and set up a cute spot but it's kind of hot out and ugh, there are bugs and of course other people that might be in my listening space. Ahhh haha, I know in my heart it really shouldn't be so darn complicated. I should just stop drop and listen. I've read that when we truly open our hearts and mind to the Holy Spirit, it's amazing what we'll hear. I love that, I love knowing there is always hope for so much more than our crazy busy lives. But then my human ego sets in sometimes and I think, what if I hear something that I'm not so sure about? What if it's a message that wants me to change? I know I know, that's where my prayer comes in. I know that. But change is scary and that's a whole different topic. For now, I'm just going to be still and listen. Or at least I'm going to try to.

School

We made it through the first week of school. Boys did great, Jack got his Ipad so he is Ipad official. this time of year makes me want to revamp and redo . I think it's because we moved here late July and when this time of year rolls around, I am brought back to that time. That time of painting and decorating. I worked in the yard on Friday. The lillys out there were over grown and just out of control. I took all of them out. I'm sort of liking the emptiness of the area. We are redoing teh basement.. I'm on a tight budget but I think it's going to be really cozy down there. Im ordering the furniture today. Everyone is excited for football to start this coming weekend! I'm praying for a fun safe drama free season! Please Lord!

How I've Forgotten!

I'm writing this quick post before I forget about it. Loved Fr. McDade's homily today. The Gospel today was from Luke and as he was reading it, I was thinking, wow God, you're really not being fair to these people. So and so wanted to bury his father before he could go on with Jesus and another wanted to take care of business before he went on. Fr. Mcdade is so eloquent with his words and he really breaks it down for people like me who need it broken down. When Jesus said, let the dead bury the dead, he was saying, let's go, move on stop making excuses. Ahh, yes. Okay, I get that! Love it! So I'm thinking as he's reading the verse in Luke, wow, I'm not so sure I could do all of that. I loved that Fr. expressed his concern that he wasn't so sure he could do all that either. Just drop all of it and go! But that was the vocation and calling for the disciples. Fr. continued to talk about vocations and he mentioned marriage. Ahh, yes, it is a vocation and I quickly remembered the TEC talks, and the marriage talk was one of them. I was reminded today, since choosing this vocation of marriage and family that everything I do for my husband and my family & myself is pleasing to God. So often I get wrapped up in the blah blah blah of every day life. It's a lot raising children and going to work, and paying bills and not losing yourself in the midst. I truly loved hearing this today!

Donut Day!

Today is national donut day! Oh my goodness I love me some donuts. I really do love them. I love them enough to take time out of my morning and blog about them. Some of my favorite childhood memories include donuts. Growing up in Peoria Heights, IL we didn't have Dunkin Donuts down the road.Nope,we had Lester's Tasty Donuts! There were many Saturdays that my dad would leave the house early and head down Prospect to Lesters and come home with a box filled with 12 yummy donuts. You had to be up early to get the one with sprinkles because he'd usually pick out a chocoloate with sprinkles, a white frosting with sprinkles, a couple of jelly, (not my favorite) and a couple of floats with maple,white,& chocolate frosting and then the rest were just plain ole' glazed. Lester boxes were popular at Saturday morning St. Thomas soccer games too. They were fancied at birthday parties and slumber parties! I'd dunk my sprinkle donut in mom's coffee. I'm sure there were never any donuts left over in our house. We laugh now when we're all together on our beach trip when mom and dad come back to the house with a box of donuts from Winn Dixie. I mean, we're on vacation so its perfectly fine to indulge! When I pick up donuts for my kids, Jack always says, "mom don't get the ghetto donuts, get the good ones." He means Krispy Kreme because thats what we have here. The bagged donuts from the store just don't cut it. So today, enjoy a donut! What's your favorite? Sprinkles, cake, frosted, glazed, jelly, cream filled, all of the above! What a treat!

Imagine

I saw this today and thought wow! As I've gotten older, I've definitely been more accepting of me. Don't get me wrong, I believe there is always room for improvement inside and out. This doesn't mean I can eat 7 pieces of cake every single day and whatever happens happens. I just mean, I don't beat myself up over my legs being bigger than I would have chosen! One time I told my friend and trainer, Tatum, "ugh, I wish I could just get rid of this part of my leg." She said, oh no, that is your muscle... So I realized that I just have bigger leg muscles. I can work on toning my muscles and being the best I can be but I don't get upset anymore over my legs. It's okay. I always appreciate a long lean leg, because that's what I would have picked for me but God didn't so it's okay.

Being a mom, I can understand where God is coming from when He get's sad that we're not happy with ourselves. When I hear my kids say, I don't like this or that, I think oh no, you're beautiful. I made you and you are perfect!



Preparation!

A week from today I will be at the beach with the whole family minus one brother in law. Very sad he won't be able to make it this year. :( But, with that being said, this week begins the preparation for the big beach trip. I've made my list to take to the grocery for the four casseroles I'm making. I was thinking that it'll be good to have these frozen and we can just pull them out and reheat. I'm not one to slave in the kitchen but I think it'll be worth it. Along with all of that, I need get my booty to the gym and keep up the work outs. I'm not in the office this week so hopefully I can make the morning classes that I usually have to miss b/c of work. Cleaning Kate's room will probably keep me most busy. We have tons of clothes to go through. Ugh! Always so many clothes. But it'll be worth it in the end and soon, we'll have our toes in the sand!

The Art Bar! Studio 11:11

I'm so excited to be a part of Studio 11:11! Karen has worked so hard on her studio and she's shifted gears from photography to teaching art. She is truly so talented. I have always loved painting although, I remember being the kid in school that was scared to death of Sister Clarris and her art class. I would literally ask the person sitting next to me to do my project because I didn't think mine would be good enough. Why would an 8 year old think like that? I have no idea and I'm sad that I did. I finally started dabbling around with painting when Kate was a baby. I'd try it and then stop and try again. I always wanted to take art lessons but never signed up. I met Karen a couple of years ago through Kate. She is so talented with her photography and she is so talented with painting, and drawing. So, this winter, I was chatting with her about getting the girls together to paint one evening and we got to talking about how she offers a membership to the studio. All paints, canvases ,brushes, and her expertise are included. I said, yep, sign me up. I've met such fun artistic people these past few months. I've learned that it's important to do the discipline in order to have a good painting. I've learned that I will probably never paint super realistic as I'm always drawn to more bubbly, abstract pieces. Not that I don't love realistic, I just think for me to paint them would be too much. But you never know. Maybe someday I will paint them.

Last night was the grand opening and what fun it was to see all of our pieces displayed! What an asset Studio 11:11 is to the Hoover area. It was very fancy and fun and I am excited to get back in there and paint more cakes!!!

Hoover Trading, Resale 205....

So, on facebook, there are these groups that have posts of things people are selling. There are some really fun things are there, there are some really ridiculous things on there. I peek at them through out the day. So far, I've bought pallets, a sofa and a chair. I'm planning on making a bar for the basement with the pallets. The chair is perfect for Rick's office and the sofa is in the basement. Everything is in good condition, it's a little hodge podge but I think eventually, I can have everything recovered and they'll be perfect. But I really need to stop peeking at the posts b/c I I do not need to buy anything else! Sheesh!!!

To Helicopter or not to Helicopter

So, this has been bugging me for some time. You've heard the term helicopter mom right? I'm not one of them. I never have been and helicopter moms really drive me crazy. I think it's important as a mom to be there for your kids, help them, guide them, and definitely be a major part of their life. But, to helicopter them through every single thing they do is just way too much. How will kids learn to manage things if we're constantly planning things for them and scheduling them? Maybe I'm just getting old. But I never did this with Kate. Kate's group from middle school through high school ebbed and flowed. It never got smaller, just bigger and those kids pretty much managed themselves. Parents were there, they were involved in their kids lives but parents weren't at every single function taking pictures. Yes, we were at the big ones, homecoming, prom, other big events but we were not at every party taking pictures and uploading to facebook or instagram. Did that group of kids find trouble, I'm sure they did from time to time but they're kids. Kids are gonna find trouble at some point. It's about making mistakes, learning, doing better, learning how to manage and making decisons. Some will be good, some will not be good. I know as parents we want to be there for when our kids fall and they're gonna fall, all of them will at some point but we cannot. We simply cannot be there for everything. You can't go back and do youth again and living vicariously through your children cannot be a good thing... My thoughts on helicoptering, my opinion...That's all.

Paint colors!

Maritime Blue!

Seriously. I have issues when it comes to paint and colors. I love so many! I've been waiting to paint the toilet room in my bathroom for two years because I simply couldn't decide on a color. I finally picked one last weekened. Maritime blue by Benny Moore. I love it but.....Wait for it....I'm not sure I love it in that room. I think it's just too bright and when I look at it in there I think of the little Mexican Indian statue thing I bought from home interiors in 1990....Sigh.... So. I am just finishing with this color as its almost done and I will continue my search. Here are some colors I love. And then I love the white room too. Honestly!

tml designs!

Here are some pictures of my own designs.

Fancy Free Friday!

I've named Fridays Fancy Free. Friday is always my free day as far as food goes and I really just love Fridays. Today, I'm going to be very fancy and buy some Aveda products for myself! I've bought the girls their Valentines gifts. Kate is getting Hunter rain boots and Lauren is getting a box of fun things, her expensive gift is a sports bra from the Bikram studio. I know that doesn't sound very fancy or fun but when you're a hot yoga person, a new clean, cute bra is very fancy and they're not cheap! I also put a bunch of fun items in her box. Wrapsody had some really cute things on their Valentine table. Not sure what I'm getting the boys yet. Jack will be easy as I'll get him a new golf shirt and golfing accessories but Joe is a little harder.

Another Hadley designs I love!

Clean Eating

It's been over a month since football was over at least for me. I don't do NFL so I really don't care about the Superbowl. I do however enjoy college football, SEC and Hoover football. And, I'm gonna tell ya that I don't always eat clean during this time. So after Christmas and the new year and January 7th, I went back to clean eating and I've even played around with some Paleo recipes. I'm not a huge Paleo person but I get it. I like good dark chocolate basically because I'v acquried a taste for it. I love coconut oil, unrefined organic coconut oil, I like almond butter and I like all those things mixed together! I've even introduced the "peanut butter cup " treat to the boys and Rick and they loved it! I think I mentioned in an earlier post that I received a juicer for Christmas. I love it!!! My favorite cocktail is cucumber (unwaxed), lemon and strawberries. Its so good and hydrating. And I've seen blurbs about allkaline and such which is good for our bodies and inflammation. I haven't had time to research that. Here is one of my most favorite breakfasts ever! Even Joe loved it and that child won't eat much beyond chicken fingers and pizza....

This was originally a Zone diet recipe but I've changed it over the years.
.25c low fat cottage cheese
.25c organic oat flour
1 organic egg (whole egg) you need the goods that are in the yolk!
a dash of honey or stevia

Mix it up, put a tsp or 2 of coconut oil on your grilled and dish out the mix. Make them just like pancakes! They're so good. Maybe I've just made myself love them over the years but I prefer these to regular panny cakes. I like to top mine off with a little bit of brown sugar, crushed almonds, a little butter and a couple tsps of maple syrup. You can do whatever you want.

My guess is this breakfast is about 17 grams of fat, and 300 calories 21 carbs and 4 g of fiber.

Hadley Pic

This is a MA Hadley pottery piece! I wasn't able to upload pictures the last time I posted. I've loved Hadley pottery for over 20 years.

MA Hadley Pottery

I found MA Hadley pottery in the fall of 1993. I was preggers with Kate and I worked at a super cute fun table top store called Webster Dexter & McGee. The owner was so great and fun and I loved working there. The name meant nothing. People used to speculate that it was her grandparents names and such but nope, notta, just names she loved. She had a fabulous display of MA Hadley pottery. I loved it. I was really in awe of the primitive simplistic designs. What is it about this pottery that I love so much, I would ask myself. It was very expensive. People would come in and buy place settings for friends and brides. I loved all of it! It's crazy but I only own a very small dish. The colors are all the same throughout the designs. Fast forward twenty years. I own a kiln, I love painting and creating. I'd love to have the success that MA Hadley has had. Hadley pottery has been one of my inspirations to continue finding my niche and my own designs. I'd love to someday have tml designs place settings on someone's table!

13 yo boys

It's a beautiful day today and I will have a couple of 13 YO boys at my house all day. What will I do with them? I think I'm going to give them a list to pick from. Movie, ice skating, bowling, hiking in the preserve with Owen (the puggle). It's January, but its nice out so I think they should be outside. Definitely not my favorite age for boys!

Random Thoughts!

Word of the week is idiot!

T'eo's an idiot

Obama adminstration are idiots

Lance Armstrong's an idiot! Every last one of them

Propaganda! I'm over it!

Hate it when leaders us kids in their photo ops! Blech!

Snow in Bama is ridiculous

Love losing 7lbs in 2.5 weeks!

Cut carbs and you'll cut hunger!

Brown hair is beautiful on my Kate and Lauren but

I'm old. I need some frost and glo!

never end a 4mile run up hill.

I hate slow drivers. I think that is a random thought I have every day which might mean it isn't so random!

Why are all these people i know adopting kids from all over the world?

Being a mom is hard and tiring!

I love Fridays!



Sleepy!!! Yay Bama, Hello diet & kids update

Sooo very sleepy this week! We partied  like it was Saturday when in reality and in the world of non roll tiders it was Monday. But it was totally fun and totally worth it. I knew all along that Notre Dame wouldn't match up to Alabama but the media sure put a lot out there to put some doubt in my mind. I was really hoping for a Bama win first because I'm a Bama fan second b/c I posted a lot of smack talking pictures on my fb! Yikes! We are finished with football. Have to say I'm glad. It is so darn much fun but I always gain a few pounds especially b/c the Hoover season and the college season over lap Christmas. Now its time to focus on health and exercise and organization!

Jack has been working out with the Hoover golf team. We are so excited for his season to start. Tonight is the parent meeting. I'm jazzed to see what swag he will get in his spirit pack. Its kind of like going shopping but I don't have to pick everything out. I'm encouraging Jack to interview for peer helping. Kate was so much more aware of building her resume for college. He would love to have some kind of scholorship for golf and I think its important to have a variety of activities throughout hs. Plus I think he would be a great peer helper!

Kate's back to school. She is loving her new classes and she is taking 3 more hours than last semester. She texted me the other night saying she went to the grocery store and bought lots of healthy protein and she is doing more cooking. Of course this will result in us going shopping to buy new pots and pans! I'm happy she is learning how to cook healthy. These habits will take her into her adult life and its so important to know how to eat right. Pop tarts and doughnuts will only make you fat if you eat that throughout your life! If she knows that now,  think she'll be okay.

Joe is just doing his thing. Indoor track is keeping him busy and he's plugging along. I'm hoping he'll run the 5k superhero run in Feb. He is really growing so much right now. He was complaining of his ankles hurting the other day. I didn't like 7th grade for Kate or Jack and I have to say so far it's my least favorite grade.

Yoga & Spin today and just hanging out! Always love my Thursdays!

2013

Random Thoughts from the weekend

Can't stand pokey drivers

13 is not my favorite age for kids

I love having help with cleaning my house

There are at least 10 things I want to do to this house

and they are

keeping room, new decor in basement, new laundry room, new pantry, new carpet upstairs, new landscaping under the deck, new furniture. We've been here 10 years and it's high time we do it!

I love my juicer

cucumber, strawberry and lemon juiced together is my favorite so far

I've lost 2lbs since the new year. Thank God! I have jeans that don't fit.

I'm excited for Jack's golf season. I'm excited for Kate's semester and I'm excited for Joe's track season.

I wish Rick's company was paying out bonuses now b/c right now it's a lot....It will go down. Unfortunately...

I love my job!

I'm excited about participating in the Mercedes 5k superhero run!

I hate gray hair, I hate gray eyebrows even more!

I wish Rick would go to the gym with me!

I need to get back to Bikram, pronto!

I miss Lauren!

It's all random!