NatureGirl

I Heart Boobies (Unless you are offended by that word in which case I apologize..kinda)

2012-01-27T20:58:00.000-07:00

Sheesh! Why have I been so busy lately? Well, part of it is a big project that I have been working on that I might share one of these days when the time is right. And then, you know, just life stuff.

But I just have to make myself sit here for a few minutes and tell you a story. I went to see the often unapologetic, somewhat incorrigible, but always lovable Dr. V a couple of weeks ago for my semi-annual check up. If you missed some of last months posts, Dr. V is my endocrinologist. He oversees the care that I take of my Insulin Resistance. He pushes me to eat more carefully, to exercise more efficiently, and to just take good care of myself in general. He does this with considerable knowledge and unequalled intelligence all laced with a rather acerbic wit.

That being said, it is his sarcasm that is the catalyst for this story today. At the end of my visit this time, Doc looked at the ol' chart and asked me if I was current on my latest mammogram.

"Uh, um, like, mammogram, mammogram?"

"Yes. When was your last mammogram?" He doesn't find me nearly as funny as I find him.

"Well see, I know I am nearly 42 and I should have already had a couple of these, and since it is nearly my birthday again, I should have another one here real soon and so, like, um, I have never had a mammogram." Still not funny I guess.

He turns his little spinny stool around to face his computer again and records into his little microphone thingy, "Patient 0370 Nature Girl, N-a-t-u-r-e, G-i-r-l doing well, blah blah doctor stuff, blah blah. Is overdue for mammogram. I am writing her a prescription for the test, what she does with it is her business, but if she gets breast cancer, she has been warned, so it is on her head not mine." What did I tell you...Hilarious huh?

There may have been some sort of stern look or eye rolling, but I was laughing so hard, I couldn't see well through tears.

So there you have it. I am overdue for a mammogram. What do you think of this? Do you ladies go? Maybe you are all too young to worry about that yet? I know that this post begs for a very obvious followup post, but it may take more than a big push to get the girls in the smasher in the first place, so a followup seems lightyears away. Go ahead, inspire me, reprimand me, encourage me. All I know is that actually getting a mammogram sounds like some pretty golden writing material, so it seems that for the sake of my craft, I ought to go through with it. And yet... it sounds rather inconvenient on so many levels...

Quote of the Day: "If life gives you lemons, stick them down your shirt and make your boobs look bigger."--someone funny, I mean inappropriate

Come Back...One Year!

2012-01-10T13:13:00.000-07:00

So, it has been a few weeks since I posted my first confession about dealing with Insulin Resistance. It was hard to do, because I am a bit ashamed of the situation that I find myself in, but this is me, and I guess there is no shame in being who we are. If you want to know the story, I talked about it here, and here and...hang on...here. And also a couple of other places. But what I did not really attempt to explain was how Insulin Resistance works.

This is where my lovely and talented friend Denise comes in. She has been battling with the same issues, and, like me, is just figuring out how to eat right to keep IR from rearing its ugly, stinky little head. The Divine Miss D and I are making it a personal goal to kick the ever-lovin' crapola out of Insulin Resistance this year, and are doing our best to spread the word. She wrote and explained in the most simple and easy to understand terms just exactly HOW insulin resistance affects the body, and she is way funny, so even if you don't have blood sugar issues, you will laugh, which is the best medicine!

Read This (but shhhh...she doesn't know I am writing this and she likes to keep a low profile...you know...Paparazzi and all!)

Quote of The Day: "I eat merely to put food out of my mind." ~N.F. Simpson playwright

Simplicity Habit #4

2012-01-03T12:02:00.000-07:00

Happy New Year! As part of my attempt to right the wrongs of 2011, I intend to start finishing things that I start. You see, I am a great starter, but not so much a finisher. Lots of half done projects and half-baked ideas that I never seem to bring to fruition. So, for my first post of 2012, I am going to start finishing something I started but didn't finish. Got it? Let me explain...no it's too much...let me sum up. I had ideas for 10 simplicity habits that I was going to post about for 2011. I only got to three of them. So without further rambling...

Simplicity Habit #4--Move The Hangers

Maybe this is not a problem for anyone but me, but I did not like to put away clean clothes in the closet. That is, until I figured out a great system that works for me. It really is simple, and for some reason makes hanging the clean clothes way less taxing!

First-- I got matching hangers that do not get tangled. I HATE wire hangers. Everything falls off of them, and they get all tangled up and make me NUTS! No one needs that kind of frustration when they are trying to do chores.

Second--I always make sure to move the empty hanger to the side whenever I take an item of clothing out of the closet. This keeps all of the empty hangers accessible when it is time to hang up clean clothes. When clean laundry is ready to go into the closet, I grab the stack of empties and hang everything on a hanger first and then put them where they go in the closet. For some unknown reason, this easy, tiny, no-extra-time-at-all step simplified the entire hanging up process when laundry day comes around! Seriously. Try it. I guess not having to dig around for empty hangers and going back and forth to hang up makes it more bearable. Simple!

Quote of the Day: "Many years ago I resolved never to bother with New Year's resolutions, and I've stuck with it ever since." ~Dave Beard major league pitcher

Last Christmas I Gave You My Rant...

2011-12-13T09:15:00.000-07:00

Ok, so as last Christmas approached I was a little bit on the ~~crazy~~ reflective side. I knew it would be the last Christmas that our oldest daughter was still living at home and apparently I was a little nervous about the prospects of her leaving. Here is a glimpse...

"This Holiday season has contradictorily been the same as most years and entirely different. In actuality, nothing has changed. We have baked gingerbread, attended the Nutcracker, decorated the tree, made new ornaments, wrapped gifts, sang carols and enjoyed the lights and the general festiveness of the pre-holiday season. The difference is that in the back of my mind I know it will never be like this again. You see, this is the last year that our oldest will be living at home full time. Don't get me wrong. I look forward to this time of her exploration and finding her grown-up self. Going off to college, meeting new people, seeing new things. Independence. But as the mom? Nope. Not so much. As the mom I think maybe she should just stay home forever; singing to me and writing songs and stories in front of the fire until we both grow old. Sound good? Yeah, I know. I just thought I would have more time.

When she was born, 18 years seemed like such a long time. It was quite a long time before she learned to crawl and then walk and then talk. Potty training? Forget it! That took an eternity. The first day of kindergarten seemed as if it would never come. But it came. And went. In the blink of an eye. Then weeks started flying by. And then months and years and now here we are. I hope she is ready. That is really my job as a mother. To prepare each of them them to leave. What a sucky job! Feeding and clothing and guiding and nurturing. Pouring your whole heart and soul into this little person; acting excited on the first day of school when all you want to do is wrap them in a blanket and rock them in a chair. Resisting the urge to run away from home the first time they tell you they hate you. Smiling and taking pictures the first time they drive away in the car without you, even though you would rather take out your own appendix with a butter knife because it seems less risky. All that just to have them pack their bags and leave? What the heck!? I change my mind. No kids for me. Yeah, I know... That shipped has long sailed. I just know that those days and weeks and years that are flying by will soon turn into decades.

I truly do look forward to seeing what each of my children becomes. The photographer/musician, the astronaut, the architect and the ballerina/baker. They are amazing little people. I can only imagine that they will be even more amazing big people. Who will hopefully bring some new big people into our lives and then make some new little people. (Oh c'mon...all moms hope that is what will happen!) But the selfish part of me just wants to freeze time. To scream, "Wait, I am not ready!"

When our oldest was around 5 or 6, we visited a small amusement park. She reluctantly decided to ride The Dragon, a kiddy roller coaster. Wide-eyed and pale she made the first circle clearly holding back the urge to let out a terrified scream. Her horror was obvious even to the teenage ride operator who stopped the coaster to let her off. When she got off she told us that it was both the most horrendous and most thrilling thing that she had ever experienced. That is me. Right now. Holding back the scream and yet somehow thrilling at the ride. I am not one for roller coasters ya know and I am not sure how I was even talked into getting on. But I can say for sure...What a ride!" (December 2010 K is for Kids)

Well, a year has passed since that post, and Number One Daughter has been off to college for a few months now. We do miss her, and we are looking forward to having her home this next few weeks, but all in all, it has been a joy to witness her adventures. Yes, it is quiet as she is the only one of my children who ever really makes noise. We miss her noise. Her pounding of the piano and guitar. Her lovely voice belting out Bob Dylan. The way she can talk for 10 minutes without a breath. But this is her time to make her way in the world, and her absence really does make her return sweeter.

Quote of the Day: "It would seem that something which means poverty, disorder and violence every single day should be avoided entirely, but the desire to beget children is a natural urge." ~Phyllis Diller

Hey! What's the Solution?

2011-12-07T11:34:00.000-07:00

If you have not been reading the saga of posts prior to this one, no biggy. The gist of it is that I successfully broke myself of a sugar addiction and stayed clean for over a year. I guess I then decided that I missed the extra weight, the foggy brain, the bloating, irregularity and mood swings that accompany insulin resistance, because I went back to eating carbs.

Now, just to be clear. I do not advocate low carb or no carb diets. I think that carbohydrates are an important part of our diet. The problem (for me at least) is the amount of carbs that I have at any one time. Blah blah blah spike in blood sugar, blah blah blah crash an hour later. If you want details about how insulin resistance or hypoglycemia work, it is easy info to find on the internet.

But let's talk about real solutions. It really is easy. The solution is food. And like I said in a previous post, frequent small meals that include protein, fat and a small amount of carbs. Both protein and fat help slow the absorption of sugars into the bloodstream, keeping our insulin levels steady, and helping us to feel and stay satisfied until our next meal. But to immediately address those 5 things that we talked about last time, I have some helpful hints. Obviously each of us need to identify our own 5 triggers and address those. These are mine...

{Sweet Cravings} When I get too hungry or my blood sugar drops too low, I tend to binge on whatever I can get my hands on. Because of the low blood sugar the craving will be for carbs which are a quick pick me up. This becomes a vicious roller coaster of highs and lows. When I eat right I do not crave sweets or empty carbs. This means I have to make sure that I always have a healthy snack with me. Usually nuts. I love several brands of cocoa covered almonds for an extra special snack!

{Snacking between scheduled meals and snacks} With 5-6 doctor ordered meals, you think I could refrain from extra snacking, but sometimes emotional triggers kick in. My solution has been to find drinks that I love that can be sipped slowly but do not undo my good eating. For me this is club soda with sliced lime (my favorite drink in the world). Super yummy and keeps my mouth busy without any calories or carbs. When it is cold I go for a warm cup of Pero instead. This is a hot barley drink with almost no carbs and very low calories.

{Weekends} Going of my eating schedule on the weekends is a killer. It can undo a whole week in one day! The key to this is really just being mindful of sticking to a schedule even when the weekend schedule is a little more "relaxed" and "varied".

{Sunday treats} I am trying to be more diligent about making this evening treat something a little more healthy. The kids ask for cookies or brownies, but I am trying to steer that in another direction. We love homemade popcorn or whole wheat muffins with blueberries or bananas. We also love protein smoothies or cut apples with peanut butter. We need an evening tummy filler because of our Sunday schedule, but it can be a quick healthy snack.

{Family Night Treats} This is simple. If I am doing the right things all the rest of the week I can totally have any kind of junkie, sugary indulgent treat I want one night a week and not suffer any real side affects. I can try to keep the portion under control, but honestly, I don't want to. I just eat it and enjoy it and then go back on schedule the next morning.

There you have it. These are the things that I have found work for me. How about you guys? Any specific issues that you have found specific solutions for? So, as of yesterday I am back on schedule. I am going to blog about it a bit over the next two weeks, probably until everyone is sick of it, but accountability is a big part of it, so help keep me on track if you wouldn't mind...

Quote of the Day: "I generally avoid temptation, unless I can't resist it." --Mae West

Hey! What's The Problem?

2011-12-02T09:35:00.000-07:00

So, now that I have spilled my guts about the struggle. I am here to offer and ask for some solutions. I know what makes me feel healthy, but I am not always good at following through with it on a daily...no hourly, basis. I had my check up with Dr. V this summer and told him that I was struggling again. He asked me to write down 5 things that challenge me when it comes to eating and then come up with 5 solutions to those challenges. Here is what I noticed that I struggle with.

I love sweets. I do not seem to be able or willing to give up sweets when I am really craving them. Period. I deserve it. The problem is I feel like poop after I eat them, especially if I am indulging on a regular basis.
I know that I need to eat a regular intervals, about every 2-3 hours. This keeps my blood sugar level and ensures that I do not get too hungry which leads to some serious binging on anything and everything I can get my hands on...usually empty calories. But let's face it, snacking in between my SIX scheduled meals is probably not necessary!
Monday is our Family Home Evening night. This is a night for a gospel lesson, scripture reading, fun and games, and of course TREATS! I never pass up the Monday treat...duh.
Sunday we are in church from 11-2 which means that we eat dinner around 3pm. This means that by 7 o'clock everyone is in want of a little treaty treat which would not be such a problem if we did not follow the Sunday treat with the Monday treat.
The fifth problem is the weekends in general. Even after a week of mindful eating (more about this later) I sometimes am prone to a bit of mindless "grabbing and going" on the weekends. Dr. V kindly informed me that one day of poor eating takes two weeks to recover from. Ugh!

So, there you have it. My problem areas. Anyone else share these or have others they would like to share with us? Next step is the solutions. I have come up with my own, but I would like us to exchange ideas. If you are willing to do some posts on this subject as well, that would be great. Leave a comment with the link. If I can figure out how to do a link up maybe we will head there at some point. I have some more ideas and some hopeful things up my sleeve too. Stay tuned!

Quote of the Day: "Eating rice cakes is like chewing on a foam coffee cup, only less filling."--
--Dave Barry super funny guy

The Rest Of The Story...

2011-12-01T07:00:00.002-07:00

Weighty Matters Part I and II precede this post and tell the delightful story of a somewhat cranky broad and her search for answers in a seemingly uncaring and uninformed medical community...

Dr. V was amazing. He explained all of the issues that I was having and that I had likely been suffering from Insulin Resistance from before that first IR test, but that smaller framed people who are only slightly overweight usually test within the normal range, even when they are not. Five years! I could have had this diagnosis 5 years ago if I had known to ask the right questions or if the testers had known the right answers! I was a bit peeved. But whatever, let's just figure this out. Why would someone who eats a fairly heathy diet and exercises regularly deal with this issue? I mean, isn't this an obese issue? A sedentary issue? Turns out, not necessarily. According to Dr. V my active, healthier lifestyle had been both a blessing and a curse. If I hadn't been doing those things, I would have likely been 75-100 pounds overweight. But if I had been that heavy, I would have been diagnosed years ago. Again...What the crap!?

Over the next 6 weeks I had to watch everything that went into my mouth. I had to keep a journal of all of it. The goal here was to keep my insulin levels even through out the day, instead of this constant up and down that was killing me. Quite literally. He asked me to eat at least 5 times a day at two to three hour intervals. Three meals and 2-3 snacks. I could eat anything I wanted as long as I ate only 30 grams of carbs at each meal and no more than 15g for each snack. My initial appointment with Dr. V was the week before Christmas 2009. I did not eat any of the Christmas goodies that came to the door. Or that were baked in my kitchen. That I freaking LOVE. I was determined.

The first two weeks were H--E-- double hockey sticks. Detox is no picnic my friends. I used Dr. V's name as a swear word on multiple occasions. But after two weeks I found I did not even crave sweets or breads anymore. I found that I was actually eating MORE food than before, just different food. Mind you I had always been trying to eat healthy carbs. Whole wheat everything, not a ton of sugar. But this was different. If I ate empty calories, I knew I would be hungry and therefore sorry after just a short while. I would be miserable for the next 2 1/2 hours until I could eat again. So I learned to eat good fat and protein with each and every bite, so I would stay full and satisfied until the next meal. IR is a tricky game and balance takes diligence. I found balance though. I did not change my exercise habits one bit, but I lost 15 pounds in 6 weeks. I went from 147 at my first appointment to about 132 at the 6 week check up. I was a different person when I stepped back into that office. I lost another 5 after that for about a total of 20 pounds (down about 30 from my absolute highest). I am sure my body fat percentage went down too, but I did not even bother to have it checked. I felt good, I looked good and I bought myself some size 6 jeans for my 40th birthday a couple of weeks later. That summer I rode my first century bike ride. I really felt like a normal human and I was seriously back in the game of life! Don't read this wrong, because it was not all about the weight. Yes, it was nice to feel fit and trim again, but really the other symptoms of IR are far worse than a little extra weight. I found I could stay awake all day and feel good. I did not need naps. I could read a book and understand what I was reading. I could even have a conversation with a people and not feel confused about what was going on or like I was blacking out. Yes, my symptoms had been that bad.

I wish that I could say that the story ended there, but it doesn't. I know now that this story will not ever really end. This is something that I will deal with for the rest of my life. At my 6 month check up in the fall of 2010 I had successfully maintained a healthy weight for all that time and I was feeling good. Then came the holidays again. I indulged. Like nobody's business. I got cocky. "I am cured!" I told myself. "Go ahead just eat what you want." I gained 10 pounds by January. Some of the symptoms started creeping back but I just put it to the back of my mind. I should have nipped it in the bud and gone right back to being diligent, but quite frankly being indulgent is so much more fun. That is, until you are fighting headaches, constipation, bloating and cravings you can't control and they find you curled up on the couch in a sugar comma with the empty chocolate chip bag still clutched in your fist. You know...just as an example.

So that brings us to now. I do not want to have to hit rock bottom again before I regain control of this thing. I thought perhaps if I got this out in the open and started a dialogue that might get rid of the shame of this Insulin Resistance. I am ashamed. Ashamed that I did this to my body. I honestly believe that that low-fat/high-sugar craze of the 90's and 2000's sent many of us into this spiral. Am I alone in this? I know what I have to do to feel good and to live a long and healthy life, so I am going to start reporting to whomever is listening, even if only for me to have some accountability. I hope though that others will take this journey with me.

Thanks again for listening. Let's get going.

Weighty Matters Part II

2011-11-30T11:12:00.000-07:00

If you missed yesterday. Here is the long version. Now, a short recap and the rest of the story...

When we last saw our heroine, she was down and out. Too heavy and too tired. She was noticing that she had little concentration and was becoming forgetful and confused sometimes. Frustrated by the doctor's and nutritionist's lack of concern, but knowing deep down that something was wrong with her body, she took matters into her own hands... I am thinking that this was around 2006. The nutritionist implied that I was probably putting to much butter on my toast and too much sour cream on my potatoes. I knew I was eating healthier than most Americans, but there is always room for improvement, so I would start being even more careful with my diet. Perhaps I just needed more exercise. After all, I was getting older. So...I joined a gym. I found that I actually liked it. So for the next 9 months I got my behind out of bed and to the gym at 6am so that I could be home in time to get kids ready for school and not have to leave the preschooler with anyone during the day. When the youngest started kindergarten, I did the dance of joy because now I could go work out when normal people were awake and the sun was up! That year I lost 10 pounds. I worked out hard. Nearly everyday for at least an hour. Weight lifting. Cycling. Yoga. Walking. Running. 10 stinking pounds. But I had to admit that I felt better and my body fat percentage went from a medically obese 32%, down into the normal range around 28. And I ditched the tens for a snug size 8. Frustratingly, this is where I stayed for the next two years.

Somehow I kept myself motivated to keep working out even though I was not seeing any changes in my body and I knew my other symptoms were getting worse. During this time I certified to teach yoga and started teaching at my gym and loving it. I learned truly to accept my body where it was that day and to stop mentally beating myself up for not being where I wanted to be. Accepting myself just as I was made a huge difference in my mental state. My body was not different, but I was. And I could accept me, and be grateful for what I could do and could let go of expectations and judgements of myself. I learned to just be happy with what is here and now even while moving toward a goal of something different. So I carried on.

Everything hit rock bottom the summer of 2009. Up to this point I had been living my normal life. Tired and cranky often, but happy and up often too. But that summer was different. I couldn't move. I slept all the time. I napped 2 or 3 times a day. Sleep didn't feel restful or normal. It felt like a comma. I went back to my OBGyn. They ran a thyroid panel. This must be it! Finally, some answers! But it turned out I was in the low end of normal. The doctor prescribed a common thyroid medication anyway, since I was having symptoms. Does this seem sketchy to you? Yeah me too, but I was desperate. With a somewhat iffy hypothyroidism diagnosis in my pocket, I went to see an endocrinologist to get a better idea of treatment for this. I gave him the whole sob story. Five years worth. To his credit, he listened. He looked at the numbers and he looked at me and he said, "You don't have hypothyroidism, you have insulin resistance. If you were fat, a 1st year med student could have diagnosed this." What the crap!? Now, trust me this is not a diagnosis that any of us wants, but I finally had an answer AND he said I wasn't fat...so it was a win win in my book!
The next 6 weeks was life changing.

I thought I could get through this story and to where I am now with just two posts, but I guess not. I will continue tomorrow, and I have some exciting things that I want us to do together if you guys are up for it! Thanks again for letting me get this off my chest and for your supportive comments...The comfort of strangers and all...

Weighty Matters Part I

2011-11-29T20:52:00.002-07:00

This will likely be the least understandable, most jumbled post of my illustrious career, but if you can stick it out, I hope it will be worth it. I am going to spill the beans on a personal struggle of mine that I would rather not discuss but that is worth discussing. I do not know where to start, so I think I will just head for the beginning and see what happens.

I was not the kind of teenager girl who ever thought about my weight. In this day and age that seems nearly impossible, but it just was not an issue for me. I was a scrawny tom-boy climbing fences, jumping rope and rollerskating my way through childhood in the 70's. I stayed that way into my tween years. I had a brief period around 7th grade where I, um...bloomed...before I sprouted, but once the sprout hit, I was back to my usual size. I never thought about what I ate or what I weighed. The first time weight ever became an issue for me was after the birth of my second child, who is now 16.

I gained a lot of weight during the pregnancy. Happy weight. We finally have money for groceries weight. Eat every time the toddler eats and finish all of her leftovers weight. The good news is that I was 25 so with a bit of walking and nursing a gigantic baby, the weight came off fairly easily over about a 6 month period. The bad news is, I fell for the popular "low fat" thing that was going on at the time. The bad news is that in the 90's "low fat" was code for "unbelievably high in sugar." This wrecked my body. Yep, wrecked. But I fit back in my size 4 jeans, so I didn't really care. Then.

Over the next 10 years and two more pregnancies my weight kinda went up and down but only within about one pant size either way, so I ignored it. My mood also went up and down, and my temper was often out of control as well. When I hit 35, my weight peaked at around 150 something. I was a size 10. I was not feeling well at all. I starting asking my doctor about it. This lead me to a nutritionist and my first insulin resistance test. The test came back borderline hypoglycemia, and the chart said that I was on the top end of the normal weight range for my height. The nutritionist told me therefore that I was just fine and had probably been underweight my whole life and so now I was just evening out. I didn't feel even. I felt tired. And sick. But no one would listen. I took me the next 5 years to get someone to listen.

Obviously this is getting to long for one post, so I will continue tomorrow. Follow the journey if you are not completely bored out of your skull yet. I honestly hope that this will be one of the more important things that I write about, which shouldn't be too big of a stretch considering the drivel I usually pump out! Even if it is not meaningful to anyone but me... I need to get it off my chest. Thanks for listening. More tomorrow...

NatureGirl

Don't All Grannies Ride Harleys?

2011-11-20T17:05:00.000-07:00

One of the reasons I began keeping this blog was to force myself to write down a few family stories as keepsakes. I wish that my forebears had written more of just the little things that happened in their day to day lives. I imagine they would tell me that they were too busy sailing ships to the new world and revolting against the British to bother themselves with such mundaneness, but whatever. We seem to have an abundance of spareish time in this present age however, so it behooves us to do that which our ancestors had little time for. Journal keeping has been a huge part of my life and is a gigantic part of my religious culture. Let's just think of this as a little journaling...public style.

My parents were young when I was born. Really quite young. My adorable mother is only 18 years older than me. These vignettes are about her...and the issue of her age...or lack of it. I have some rather disturbing stories to tell about my dad being young as well, but I will save those for another day.
As a little girl, I do not remember even thinking that my mom's age was an issue. She just blended in with all of the other moms. They were all oldish. The first of more than a few instances that caught my attention was around the 6th grade. I must have had some sort of doctor's appointment and my mother came to the classroom door to get me. "Hey, NatureGirl, your sister is here!" Sister!? Who could possibly think that a woman in her late 20's would be my sister? Sheesh!

Things got worse as I headed to high school. I, of course, aged. My mother, however, did not. At 5 foot nothing and 100 and nothing pounds she still looked as if she were in her late 20's. She was repeatedly asked for a hall pass every time she stepped onto my high school campus. A doctor once asked me (in her presence) why I did not bring a parent to the appointment. When I pointed out that she was my mother, he asked why I was dressed more adult than she was...Picture a female Alex P. Keaton and her somewhat "laid back" hippie mom...

Oh, and guy friends with crushes on your mom is SO not cool when you are in jr. high! I think though that the most memorable incident happened when I was about 15. I filled in for a friend on a babysitting job for a family I did not know. My mother dropped me off and told me she would pick me up later that evening when the parents were expected home. I guess part of what made this so memorable was the horrible, rotten children. It was a nightmare of an evening and I had finally got the kids settled into bed when my mom got there. The parents were late coming home so we just watched TV for a while. The mother eventually came in and when she saw my mom with me in the living room, she started ranting and raving about how I was NOT to have my silly girlfriends over for who-knows-WHAT kind of shenanigans, and how DARE I, and no WAY was I getting paid. The look on her face when I explained the situation, would have been payment enough, but I believe I may have received something close to double the going babysitting rate that evening!

I still think it is funny how young she is when I am this old. We still get asked if we are sisters when we go places together. No one ever believes that she has grown grandchildren. And all of MY friends wish THIER mothers rode a Harley on the weekends.

Quote of the Day: "Getting old is a fascinating thing...The older you get...the older you want to get."--Ralph Waldo Emerson poet, writer and philosopher

Onions Have Layers

2011-11-07T13:16:00.000-07:00

Like ogres and onions, Miss NatureGirl does indeed have layers. Many of them. So many in fact, that we are not actually sure what she has on the inside. Probably just a creamy filling of some sort. Today's layer is being shed over at The Renegade Farmer with a little tutorial on drying onions. Yes, it IS as exciting as it sounds...

Quote of the Day: "You know, not everybody like onions. What about cake? Everybody loves cake!"
--Donkey

Farmhouse Festival Cooking With Apples

2011-11-04T11:55:00.000-06:00

It is Farmhouse Festival Friday over at The Renegade Farmer today and I would like to share a little farmhouse lovin' with a little farmhouse cookin'! Life around even the smallest of suburban homesteads can be a little unpredictable at times....especially if you are lucky enough to be a girl from the north country. It is of course apple season, and thankfully, my cup runneth over this year in the apple harvest. This is not always the case. Many a year the dreaded summer frosts kill off the blooms and I get absolutely No apples. I am happy to say though, that this Autumn I am challenged every day to come up with a new way to use up some apples!

This...Is what I mean by unpredictable. This is how the garden looked a few weeks ago. I thought I took a pic of the apples too, but I guess only the tomato picture survived. Unfortunately the tomatoes themselves were not as lucky. I braved the blizzard and rescued what I could. I left most of the green ones behind. I know they can be ripened after picking, but they were so small that it was hardly worth it. The lovelies that I rescued are now yummy tomato sauce waiting to bring a bit of summer to the dinner table during the dark winter.

So If you are as lucky as I am to have so many apples to use up, here is my go-to recipe for making quick use of a half a dozen of those beauties!

Apple Dump Cake

Mix in one large bowl:

1/2 cup butter

1/2 cup milk

1 tsp vanilla

1/4 tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

3/4 cup sugar

1 egg

1 1/2 cup whole wheat flour

2+ cups of chopped apples (peels on)

Dump into greased 9x13 pan and top with a sprinkle of brown sugar and cinnamon (or a full crumble topping if desired.)

Bake at 350 degrees for 25 minutes.

Quote of the Day: "Food is an important part of a balanced diet."

--Fran Lebowitz author

The Present Now Will Later Be Past...

2011-10-28T14:00:00.001-06:00

So. Here I sit. In my favorite room in the house. Starring out the big picture window. Straining to see through the streaks in the glass and the fake cobwebs. And the real cobwebs. Eating chocolate chips by the handful. Trying for the life of me to figure out why handful only has one L and wondering if I even knew that before. This is what procrastination looks like. And doubt. You may have noticed that I have been rather absent for the last few months. It is change. I don't like it. You have heard me rant about it a million times before. My oldest child left for college last month. Her 19th birthday is in a couple of days. I really am happy for her and she seems to be having a good time. I want her to have this time in her life of self discovery and adventure. But I do not want MY life to change. See how those two things don't really work together? Stupid growing up.

I am not sure I am ready to be the parent of a grown child. My MOM is a parent of grown children. But she is old, so it is ok. She is only 18 years older than me though, so it might just be a perspective thing. My grandmother passed away almost a year ago. On my daughter's 18th birthday. Shortly before she passed she said something very funny (not unusual for her.) Her health was failing and I asked her how she was feeling and she said, "Fine, except all these OLD people keep visiting me and calling me MOM!" Perspective. I still have 3 children at home, so I know my job of raising kids is not done. Nor do I expect that really it is ever done. It is just a different role now. I don't do different.

I have also given up a bit on writing. I have always had doubts about my own abilities. I know, we all do. Some people do not seem to let that fear hold them back however. I have a girlfriend who is having a children's book published. She knew the odds were against her without a name or an agent or any thing behind her but a manuscript and some illustrations. She told me, "I knew the chances were slim that it would even get read, but what did I have to lose?" Um, let's see. Dignity, self-esteem, pride, confidence, morale...
I am sure that every would-be writer dreams of being published, but most don't even have to go that far. Most people who write just want to be read. We just want to have someone think or feel something when they read what we have written. I am very sure many of you can relate. Somedays it just seems like a big waste of time. Why should anyone care about anything I have to say. Oh yeah. And my best friend is moving out of state. And...and...and. You know there are a lot of little things that make it easy to be in the dumps, but really...there are so many MORE things to be excited about...

So. Her I sit. I think I need to just get back into my life. It is changing. That should be ok. I am going to make that ok. There is advantage in life in being willing to be present in the here and now. Honoring the past for what it was, facing forward to the future without rushing to it. I want to look forward to change with anticipation and excitement while relishing the stage I am in now. I mean If nothing ever changed I would not be here now. No Hunky Hubby. No Kiddos. No Life. So this is it. My last whiny post. Back to PerkyNatureGirl. You know, the girl who takes life by the horns and who makes lemonade out of lemons! Yeah, I don't know that NatureGirl either, but maybe we are turning a corner here...Reaching for the stars and going for broke! Woohooo....

Quote of the Day: "There is only one time that is important – NOW! It is the most important time because it is the only time that we have any power.”--Leo Tolstoy

Haiku Wednesday

2011-09-21T10:10:00.000-06:00

Bare Limbs are Proffered

Drawing Heavenward "When shall

New Birth come to me?"

photo by Ting-Li Lin

I am participating in Haiku Wednesday today over at "You Know...That Blog" Just to shake things up a bit...cuz I am just crazy spontaneous like that!

Daydreamin'

2011-09-20T14:14:00.001-06:00

I'm still here. I have been a bit in the dumps since school started again. I did not write much this summer anyway. I don't think I have anything left to say. I have not been myself lately. I think I need something different to be happening in my life. I suppose that means Making something different happen. I am having the doldrums I guess. Just ready to mix it up and change things around a bit. Yes, this is really me. Yes, I am sure. No, no one hijacked my laptop. Yes, quite sure.

Anyone ever feel this way. Just...um...blah...you know? So I am open to suggestions. Mind you, nothing to adventurous. No jumping out of airplanes or SCUBA diving. I am bored, not crazy! Like maybe highlights or something? New curtains in the bedroom? I am open some ideas. Well, you know... not Open, open. Just mostly open...sort of...to the idea of changing things up a bit! My head is in the clouds, but I need my feet on the ground running. Toward what? I Dunno...I really do need some feedback on this one. Or maybe therapy.

The Metaphysical Nature Of Cutoffs...

2011-07-13T18:19:00.001-06:00

Once upon a time, in the not so distant past...the 70's, life was different. I know, I know, every generation says that, but I mean it. As I have mentioned, my oldest child is leaving for college this month and I therefore, more than usual I mean, have a sense of urgency to make this summer last. I have always loved summer vacation from school. I love having my kids home. I love the heat and even the stickiness of summer time. And dirty feet. Nothing gives me joy as much as seeing the absolute filth on the bottoms of my kids' feet. THAT is the measure of a good summer! I love the laziness of it. The carefree days spent doing almost nothing and virtually everything all at once. I feel more myself during the summer than any other time of year. And that my friends in a very round about way brings us to the 1970's, my childhood, and cutoff jean shorts.

Seriously. Isn't everything that is good and decent in the world epitomized in a pair of cutoff jeans? I am a little afraid that this once ubiquitous article of clothing has gone the way of the drive-in movie theatre and shoes with laces. But really, what cutoffs symbolize will forever be embedded in my soul and I for one intend to pass this legacy on to my children before it is too late.

Clothing was not as inexpensive in the 70's as it is now. There was no Target or Walmart or the like. There was the only mall...and Kmart. And boy howdy those of us forced to shop there were subject to great humiliation at the shopping for the clothes and even greater humiliation at the wearing of the clothes. Jeans so stiff and so reenforced at the knees as to render the wearer completely immobile for at least the first two weeks of school. After not a few washings and wearings the child could eventually produce movements something akin to that of a Stormtrooper. You may have guessed that I did not have clothes from the mall. Unless you count Sears. Mind you this is the 1975 Sears, not the Sears of today. I believe those jeans were actually made from recycled tires, but I am not sure.

Needless to say, by the time these jeans softened up it, it was the last week of school and they were high water, but only had holes in the first two layers of the knees! Of course nowadays, we would head to the store to go "summer clothes shopping" for shorts and T's and new sandals. But this was not invented yet when I was a kid. Summer clothes shopping consisted of, you guessed it...mom taking a pair of scissors to the jeans! Free at last...free at last...

Knees were now uncovered, free to be scraped and bruised and dirtied. Shins were free to be tanned and skinned; scratched and mosquito bitten. Boys ran around bare chested and girls donned swimsuits, but every last one of us in cutoffs and bare feet. It was summer.

So there you have it...The letter M inasmuch as it pertains to cutoff shorts. Too much of a stretch, Teach? Check out this link for AlphabeThursday if you would like some more appropriate interpretations of the assignment!

Quote of the Day: "Deep Summer is when laziness finds respectability."
--Sam Keen philosopher

Etiquette Is Your Best Bet

2011-07-07T19:11:00.000-06:00

It seems as if I have been rather absent from the blogging world as of late. With four kids home for the summer it is nearly impossible to get computer time. Half the time I cannot even find the thing, and when I do the battery is always dead. Oh well, such is life. And dishes...up to my eyeballs in dishes, but that really has nothing to do with this post. What does you ask? Well, bicycles, that's what.

Bicycles you say? Yes. Bicycles. I really love to ride my bike. For fun, for exercise, for transportation. Hunky Hubby rides his bike to work during the months that he can. (One of the ways he stays Hunky!) He has done this for about 18 years and has only been run over once! I have noticed that there is a general lack of knowledge of bicycle etiquette in this area. Really it is only reasonable to cycle here maybe five months of the year, so most folks are not used to bikes being on the roadways and pathways, so I understand. It would be nice though, if we could all learn to share the roads and paths in peace and harmony. Pedestrians, Cyclists, Motorists...united as one. "I'd like to teach the world to sing..."

I am pretty sure no one really cares about this but me, but it's my blog so here goes....

Laws for cyclists vary from state to state, so I am not going to go into actual laws of riding on the roadways but more...you know....good manners especially on non-motorized pathways. Using good manners makes it easier for all of us to enjoy common "ground", smoothing out bumps in the "road" and avoiding potentially "abrasive" situations.

Cyclists
In places where cycling for transportation is common there seems to be one general rule: Get where you need to go as fast as possible and try not to get killed while doing it. I think there should be more rules.

#1 Be courteous. When we give respect we get respect. No darting in front of cars or running over pedestrians. Riding with traffic when on the road is best and using hand signals helps motorists know what we are up to. Cyclists have the right to be there, but we need not be brutish thugs to get respect on the roadways.

#2 Vocalize. Bikes are quiet and pedestrians, more often than not, have headphones these days. A simple "On your left" is common courtesy. Remember also that the peds have the right of way so let's slow down and make sure they are safe before passing. No need to speed past the walkers and joggers. A little "Thank You" when passing never hurt anyone either!

#3 Right is right. When negotiating on-coming traffic on a shared pathway, whether bikers, bladers, boarders, or pedestrians, stay to the right (at least here in the US) and slow down a bit. Being predictable is always the safest bet. Try to make eye contact if possible. I had an on-coming pedestrian jump right in front of me on a path recently. I slammed on my brakes and nearly bit it in the grass when I swerved. I assumed he saw me. Apparently he did not.

#4 Be visible. Bright colored clothing, lights and reflectors make it easier for everyone to see a cyclist. Try hard to be seen, but always assume that NO ONE sees you!

Pedestrians
#1 Don't be afraid. Most cyclist are not out to get you. Stay to the right of the path and allow the bikers to go around on the left. If a cyclist is courteous enough to warn you that she is coming up behind (or if you see them coming toward you) do not jump or scream or turn around and stop in the middle of the path. Just keep walking and move a bit to the right. That is all.

#2 Keep a short leash. Nothing is more frightening to cyclists than dogs on a long leash or no leash at all. Dogs are even more unpredictable than humans and do not understand left from right. Getting up close and personal with the pavement is a real possibility for a cyclist who is caught in a leash. Fido won't be too happy either. Keeping the dog on YOUR right side is safer for pooch and pedaler. It allows the bike to pass on your left both coming from behind or toward without worry of leash entanglement.

Motorists
#1 Please do not run us over.

#2 A little space is nice. It makes cyclist more comfortable when motorist pass without hugging the bike lane, if there is one. If there is no bike lane this is even more important. A thrown rock is a nuisance to a windshield and a motorist. It is deadly to a cyclist. So is getting run over.

#3 Drop the superiority complex pretty please. Cyclist have the right to use the roadways including center turn lanes and crosswalks. We promise to obey the traffic laws, be predictable in our movements and use hand signals if you promise not to run us over.

#4 Please do not run us over.

If you are a cyclist, or share the road or pathways with cyclists, please add to my list. Comments are always welcome. I also added a bit to my story under the fiction tab. Let me know what you think if you have a second. Loving summer. Loving my bike. Share the road my friends...and happy riding!

Quote of the Day: "When I see an adult on a bicycle, I do not despair for the future of the human race." ~H.G. Wells

To Whom It May Concern...

2011-06-15T09:29:00.002-06:00

To Whom It May Concern:

Ok, so I posted a tiny piece of a bit of fiction I have been working on. And by "working on" I mean periodically thinking about but mostly just ignoring because I am kinda lazy and know I will never finish it anyway, so why work so hard? Also I am kind of a little tiny bit totally petrified to have anyone read my writing in the first place, but I am trying to be brave AND would like some Feedback. Criticism. Overtly exaggerated praise. You know...thoughts. It is under the tab marked fiction.

Also, I am completely computer illiterate and do not really know how to work those tab thingies so if anyone has a suggestion of how to help me keep the fiction separate from the non fiction in a simple way... I would appreciate the help. Perhaps I am beyond help...in that case, just ignore me and hop away...

Thanks for listening.

Sincerely,
NatureGirl

Note From A Springtime Garden

2011-06-07T18:10:00.000-06:00

Today...I am a Renegade!

Simplicity Habit #3: Know When To Say When

2011-06-04T11:50:00.000-06:00

Uncle...Uncle! I give! You know, sometimes, there are times, in life, when we have to know when to say When. Period. Lest we run ourselves ragged. I believe I am seeing the light at the end of the tunnel of such a time. In April and May, as the high school graduation of my oldest child approached, I believe I was single minded in this. No, there was not a ton of stuff that I actually had to do, but it was consuming my mind powers quite thoroughly. There are still more things to do as I believe she may have changed her mind about which university to attend in the Fall...if any. She may hop a freight train to Hibbing MN. Don't ask. But isn't she a cutie?

That's right...

Hmmm....

Point is this...Sometimes we have to be willing to let some things go, even if temporarily, for our own sanity. For me, it has been blogging, reading, some church and civic responsibilities and even my daily exercise routine. Don't even get me started on what I have been eating! I am not saying that giving up things we love or letting ourselves go to pot in the name of avoiding overload is a good idea. No, it was more of a gentle setting aside of things that I did not have time or mental energy to focus on, just for a while. School is now officially out for all four kids and I can take some time to regroup and refocus on the things that really matter to me and to my family.

It means sometimes admitting to ourselves and others that we are not capable of being everything to everyone all the time. It may mean that we have to give ourselves permission to let someone else hold the ball for us and being grateful for people in our lives who can and will do this (Thank you Brenda). Those pleasures and responsibilities will be waiting for us when we get back. In the name of simplifying our lives, sometimes we have to periodically take a moment to evaluate and prioritize what is necessary and what can be dropped, even temporarily. It is not weak to admit that we do not have the time or energy for everything that might be asked of us; to acknowledge that we have limits. When we know what we truly value and prioritize our lives around those things, it becomes easier to admit our limits and to say "no" when we need to. And while our core values likely do not change, sometimes what we are doing needs to. Life happens, and rather quickly I might add. It may be necessary from time to time for us to adjust our priorities around those values. The "to do" list shifts...but not the "to be" list.

For me this shift was a bump in the road, not a lifelong change. Things are more back to ehem...normal...so I can get back to some of those things that I had to momentarily let slide. Grateful for the break, for friends and family willing to pick up the slack and for knowing myself well enough to know When to say When.

Quote of the Day: "A Pint can't hold a quart-if it holds a pint it is doing all that can be expected of it."
--Margaret Deland novelist and poet

Luddites Unite!

2011-05-27T09:41:00.001-06:00

This was absolutely the last time she would do it. She would put her foot down this time. Tell her husband "No" and mean it. Yet here they were. On the threshold of yet another cellphone store. She hated this. Shopping for a new phone. Even before she entered the store, she knew what to expect. Through the window of the cellular store she could see the sales clerks that she knew were not yet thirteen years old. Seriously, why was she expected to conduct business with a junior high cheerleader? "I can't face it." She said to her husband. He took her by the hand and lead her into the store. The conversation in the car was still racing through her head.

"The sales chick is gonna tell me junk about the latest super-phone-with-buttons-and features-and-apps-up-the-wazoo, and then I'm gonna have to feign interest just long enough to say, 'really all I need is a phone...Texting would be nice.' Then she is gonna giggle, and rattle off some scripted, overly rehearsed, totally unconvincing sales speech about this super-camera-phone-with-buttons-and-features-and-apps-up-the-wazoo that I just have to have! Then I will have to try to convince Barbie that all I really need a simple phone...nothing fancy. She'll look at me like a I am some sort of elderly luddite and direct me to the display of 30 phones that come in 68 stupid colors. I cannot handle it, Honey. I just want a @#*!* PHONE! "

And yet here she was, yet again. Barbie quickly approached with the obligatory, painted on smile. "Hi!" she veritably shouted into the quiet of the store. "I totally bet I know exActly what you are looking for!" She was wrong.

This was for a writing prompt over at TheRedDressClub. This week we were asked to write a post starting with the words "This was absolutely the last time" and ending with "She was wrong".
FYI: the photo is of a phone exactly like my first cell phone...I still have the same number.

Quote of the Day: "If The Phone Doesn't Ring, It's Me." ~ Jimmy Buffet

Simplicity Habit #2: The Ten-Second Tidy Basket

2011-05-24T09:17:00.000-06:00

Well, I was hoping that Simplicity Habit #1 would be useful to someone...anyone, but it turns out that no, it was not needed. We all know that unloading the dishwasher first thing in the morning is ideal. I assumed that other folks, besides your's truly, were having trouble actually making this happen. Turns out that NatureGirl is in fact, the laziest person alive. I have suspected as much. Oh well, perhaps tip #2 will prove more valuable.

This is a tip that someone shared with me many years ago. And it really does work. The idea is that most of us waste a lot of time and a lot of steps when doing that little "tidy-up" time around the house. Not the deep cleaning of each room, but just the picking up of stuff that is not where it belongs.

[note: If all of the comments come back that everyone else's children put things away as soon as they are done with them so that nothing is ever out of place, I will take an overdose of chocolate and end this blog immediately]

Often, when we are tidying up, we see things out of place and grab the offending item and take it to where it belongs. In that room we then see the next item that needs relocated and grab it and walk to the next room to put it away. Think: If you give a Pig a Pancake! We are constantly running from room to room moving our stuff. So...to the tip!

Carry an empty laundry basket around the house with us as we do this little tidy. Everything that we see in the room that does not belong, goes in the basket. This first room then gets a quick tidy and we move to room #2. Everything from the basket that belongs in this room gets put away, and everything that does not belong in this room gets put in the basket. Quick tidy and then on to room #3...Get it? Eventually we are back to room number 1 with whatever may be in the basket that needs put away. We essentially save ourselves the running from room to room and backtracking that takes extra time and so many extra steps.

Confession time: This really does work. I have tried it. It saves time and energy, I promise. The problems? I am often to lazy to do this when things are just a little untidy and it does not really work when things are all the way untidy...if you know what I mean. I also would like the children to learn to do this for themselves instead of relying on Mom to pick up after them. The kids are 18, 16, 13 and 9. At what point do I give up on this fanciful notion? AND often the laundry baskets are full of clean/folded clothes that said children have not yet put away!

So, it is what it is people. If you actually happen to have an empty laundry basket, this really does simplify that morning and evening tidy up. AND if we can muster the motivation to do it everyday, it saves us from the larger clean ups that become necessary when we...um...let things go...a little longer.
I am going to work on this one.

P.S. Hunky Hubs read the blogo tip #1 and unloaded the dishwasher last night after I was already in bed. Told you he was a hunk!

Simplicity Habit #1: Wake Up To An Empty Dishwasher

2011-05-19T09:36:00.000-06:00

Let's talk about simplicity. Specifically a bit about what simplicity IS and what simplicity is NOT. First simplicity is not always easy. What?! That's right...not always easy. Simplifying our lives does not necessarily mean we will have less to do either. It does not mean giving up all of our worldly possessions and taking a vow of poverty. "Get thee to a nunnery!" Nor does it mean that we no longer have chores to do and can spend our lives in unoccupied idleness. "Get thee to a BarcaLounger!" No, we may actually have more to do, not less, when simplifying our lives.

Simplicity is living intentionally with our possessions. It is cutting clutter. Space clutter, time clutter, mind clutter, life clutter. It is paring our lives down to the things that we value most. It is creating habits that allow us the freedom to do the things that bring us real joy. The real focus, I believe, of the simplicity movement (which is in no way new) is mindfulness. When we know why we are doing the things we do, and we have good habits that help us to keep our lives and homes and minds clutter free, we make room for joy. For spontaneous play. For Friends. For Love. For Real Life.

So, I have been making note of some of the habits that have helped me simplify my life, and will be sharing these over the next couple of weeks. In the end, I hope to do a link up so that each of you can add to the list! I am by no means an expert, but from experience, I can tell you that when I follow good habits, my life is more simple, more relaxed, and much more peaceful, which in reality is what I am after.

Simplicity Habit #1--Always wake up to an empty dishwasher.
I have tried so many different systems for dishes. I have found the one that brings me the most peace throughout my day is this. I admit that I do not always follow it. When I do not. I am sorry. So, the habit can go a couple of ways depending on your preference or amount of dishes. Option #1 is to run the dishwasher in the afternoon and then unload the clean dishes while making dinner. Obviously, this chore could be done by anyone in the home, not just Mom or Dad. The dinner dishes are loaded after supper and the dirty dishes are added throughout the next day until we are ready to run it again in the afternoon.

If the thought of dinner dishes sitting overnight in the dishwasher makes you cringe, then you are a candidate for Option #2. Running the dishwasher after dinner and then unloading it before bed. This way we actually DO wake up to an empty dishwasher, but either way we are loading the dirties throughout the next day. I actually alternate between these to options depending on how many dinner dishes were created. And trust me, most evenings Hunky Hubs and I are tired. We just want to go to bed. We do not want to unload the dishwasher after the kiddies are tucked in. But the next day goes so much more smoothly if I take the time to do this.

Why it works: I am lazy. If the dishes in the dishwasher are clean when I get up in the morning, I will do whatever it takes to not unload those puppies until absolutely necessary, which means the dirty dishes pile up in the sink and on the counter all. day. long. Am I right? With an empty dishwasher however, I can blissfully pop in the offending cups and plates all day long one or two at a time and keep the kitchen relatively clean throughout the day. Nothing, and I mean nothing, creates peace as much as a clean kitchen. Admittedly, there is no less work involved in this habit, but by eliminating the stress of piles of dishes in the sink, life is simplified.

Happiness Project 30 Day Challenge

2011-05-18T11:06:00.002-06:00

I am about a week late with this link up, but better late than never is what I (ok, I hardly ever say that because I hate being late) But for what it is worth, I did the work, so I ought to at least get some of the glory...right? Here is the original post on the Happiness Project, based on the book of the same title by Gretchen Rubin...worth the read by the way.

Day 1 I am having a tough time finding the love today. I am in a bad mood after a late night argument with a curfew breaking teenager. The same argument we have had 2000 times. Neat kid...but punctuality is not in her vocabulary. Luckily lots of other things are. Loyalty. Creativity. Talent. Humor. Intelligence. Wit. Strength. Faith. To name a few. I am grateful for the many things she IS.
Day 2 Hair. Cut. need I say more?
Day 3 There is sunshine in my soul today AND outside.
Day 4 Grateful for the ease and comforts of life.
Day 5 Today is my mom's birthday...grateful to have such a young, generous, funny mom who taught us to love people and books and each other.
Day 6 I am stronger than I think. Lifted up into a headstand today and Hunky Hubby said I made it look easy. Quite a compliment considering he makes EVERything look easy!
Days 7-13 Totally Forgot to write anything, but I am sure I was danged grateful for something!
Day 14 & 15 I am SOOOO grateful for sunshine these past two days. And for a nice quiet Easter Sunday.
Day 16 Yep...forgot again.
Day 17 Grateful today that 26 years ago at age 15, I was baptized a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I know who I am, I know God's plan!
Day 18 Just finished the most aMAZing book: Poser My Life in Twenty-Three Yoga Poses by Claire Dederer...Ab.so.lutely LOVED it!!!
Day 19 Grateful to have Hunky Hubby home after a few days away on business. The answer is "Yes"...absence does make the heart grow fonder!
Day 20 Nice quiet day at home. Clean house. Good tunes.
Day 21 Hunky Hubby is so handy...he put in a gorgeous new front door for me!
Day 22 Really uplifting day at church today.
Day 23 Grateful that someone called me "strong" today.
Day 24 Glad that my 9 year old baby princess will still sit on my lap.
Day 25 Hump day. Feeling blue. Exercised anyway. I guess I should be grateful for that.
Day 26 An absolutely gorgeous morning!
Day 27 Starting a little bit of a remodel project in the kitchen...gonna be fun!
Day 28 Grateful today for a really cool little brother.
Day 29 Finished a really incredible book about a woman with face blindness. You Don't Look Like Anyone I know By Heather Sellers. Fascinating and captivating memoir.
Day 30 Grateful for a strong body today...Sometimes I surprise myself!

There you have it. I was not as good as I should have been about keeping it up everyday. I discovered that I am more apt to use a pen and paper than get on the computer. If I continue my gratitude journal for the rest of the year, I will have to jot it down in a notebook. Was nice though to focus on the things that we have rather than any little thing that might be missing. I am so blessed in so many ways. The little annoyances of life and even the BIG trials, need not make us unhappy. I saw a marquis yesterday that read "Happiness is recognizing it." I do believe that is half of the battle. Thanks to WonderWoman Naomi over at SevenCherubs for hosting this link up.

Quote of the Day: "I would maintain that thanks are the highest form of thought; and that gratitude is happiness doubled by wonder." ~G.K. Chesterton writer

More Highly Exaggerated Confessions of a Wannabe Farmgirl

2011-05-11T15:31:00.000-06:00

I am fortunate today to be doing my thang over at Renegade Farmer. Today's subject? My lack of famerness. Farmery? Farmocity? Anyway...you know...my lack of any actual skills in the farm department. Oh, and I threw in some totally random thoughts on simplicity too...just for good measure. If it is too much trouble to click over, by all means just stay here. But there is nothing more to read.

Manifesto Memoir

2011-05-03T10:01:00.002-06:00

This post is a compilation of several that I have written over the course of the last 2 years. But I decided to resurrect and revise the content to participate in this week's memoir prompt over at RedDress. The them this week is Pride. Not the like stuck up kinda pride...you know...the I can Do it! kinda pride. So here goes. In February of 2010 I wrote:

Have you ever had the feeling that the universe is trying to tell you something? Yeah. Me too. Usually I just ignore it. Ok, this is complicated so I will get to the point. Several things have happened over the last few months that have given me the determination to change my status quo and break out of my box. Ok, perhaps determination is too strong a word. What is the word for "I'm still chicken but I think perhaps it is about time I do change because I am turning 40 next week and so what better time to finally break out of my shell and do something really different, really hard and really unexpected even if I don't really want to?" Where the heck is my thesaurus...?

So, if you can, follow my train of thought through the last few months...

First, an old college roommate announced that she was training for her first triathlon. Something I have always thought I might like to do, but too afraid. Then a friend suggested that I consider doing a local century bike ride this summer. Yeah, right! But then I read a blog post entitled "what are you waiting for?" So I asked NatureGirl, "NatureGirl, what are you waiting for?" She had a whole list that I will not bore you with now, and then had the gall to remind me of my own recent post in which I was dumb enough to say that I was finally ready to take a step outside of my box.

So, long story short, in order to help force myself out of that box I decided to do something daring in honor of my 40th birthday (in 2010). Specifically, a century bike ride. I chose to do the 100km. Sixty five bum bustin', leg burnin', sweat breakin' miles. And...I DID IT. And except for the 20 mph winds for the last 30 miles it wasn't all that hard. This year (2011) Hunky Hubby says we are doing the 100 mile route. I say "Bring it on!" which, if you know me, is not something I say very often. You see...I am the queen of big buts.

You know...

I would try the ride... BUT.

I wish I could do this...BUT.

I would love to try that...BUT.

I could be all that and a bag of chips...BUT.

I dream of_______...BUT.

That is a lot of big buts. I was kinda tired of walking around dragging all those big buts behind me. Now, this is not to say that I do not love my life. I totally do. I have amazing kids and a Hunky Hubby that I cannot get enough of, and we live a great life full of love and books and movies and art and nature and fun, but I have always played it safe. Shortly before that ride I read something that I had written in a journal a year or so before. "Will I ever do something truly daring?" This ride for me was daring. It required believing that I could do something that I did not know whether or not I could do. I never, let me repeat, never do anything that I do not absolutely know I can do. Especially in public.

So many of my posts over the last 2+ years have been about my desire to get out and live, oh I don't know, to live...more, I guess. Live more, love more, pray more, try more, be more. Not worry so much about getting hurt, or looking stupid, or shhhhh....failing. In the end, I am proud of myself for doing this hard thing. Not so much that I accomplished it even, but that I even tried! That is a big step for this ScaredyCat! I am quickly realizing though, that life is too short to waste...

Quote of the Day: "Life loves to be taken by the lapel and told: "I am with you kid. Let's go." ~Maya Angelou

Barefooters Unite!

2011-04-28T09:59:00.001-06:00

It is AlphabeThursday again and today's letter is B. First off, I had no idea this was even a movement, but it turns out...it is. I am a barefoot kinda girl. Growing up in sunny California, there was little reason to wear shoes as a child. Our feet were tough as any shoe leather. 110 degrees is not uncommon in my hometown. A favorite childhood game (if you could call it that) was to see who could withstand the heat of the asphalt the longest before running...and I mean RUNning for the lawn. By the end of the summer the kids in my neighborhood could have walked a bed of hot coals without so much as a hint of a blister. We went everywhere barefooted, including the 7/11. That is, of course, until school started again and we were forced by society to shove our feet into those little torture devices called shoes. Mary Janes, saddle shoes, Keds or Chucks...it did not matter...shoes were torture.

For me, things have not changed...much. Except for the fact that I live in Idaho and it snows here 9 months out of 12, I still hate shoes, but wear them out of necessity. During the warm months, I go barefooted. A few neighbors have taken up a little friendly taunting as I walk passed them barefooted on the 1/2 mile walk to pick kids up from school. Turns out there is a term for it even. According to Wikipedia someone who prefers to not wear shoes in public is known as a "barefooter." Barefooted running and hiking are becoming quite popular. There are books on the subject and even whole "societies" dedicated to furthering the cause of the Barefooter. Who knew? Must be kids like me who grew up in the 70's and are having a difficult time converting to Shoers. Footwearers? Shod?

Hunky Hubby recently purchased a pair of Vibram Five Fingers for me. Those are the crazy shoes I am wearing in the pic. It is as close to going barefoot as one can imagine while wearing shoes. I feel quite liberated! The piggies are free in these shoes for one thing, not all bunched up in a little ball at the end of shoes. And I don't even own girly shoes! I cannot imagine what you ladies in heals are feeling. Don't tell me, I don't want to know. All I can say is...free the piggies, girls...free them!

There is something so natural and so visceral about going barefooted. Every texture of the earth is so available to us. There is a deep connectedness to the ground that we walk on without shoes. I know it sounds silly and most ladies would never even consider going out in public without the perfect footwear. I get it. I guess. But as a naturegirl, I get think I need the sensations of connecting to my surroundings even in this small way. Go ahead laugh, but it really is mindset. A life philosophy even, silly and frivolous as it sounds. Removing what we can from our external forms so that our internal senses can more freely connect to nature and our surroundings. Shoes is just an example. The idea I guess, is letting go of those THINGS that keep us from really experiencing those surroundings. Not just being IN nature but becoming PART of it. Getting dirty, sleeping under the stars, standing still a rainstorm, catching snowflakes on our tongues, eating what we grow, shutting down TV and radio to listen to the birds chirp outside the window or waking up early to watch the sunrise. I have two little birds making a nest outside my kitchen window. I stood for quite sometime just watching them. I could not take my eyes off of them. So naturally they went about their work. Instinctually. It was lovely. I will take the time to watch the birds, and I will go barefooted.

Quote of the Day: ""Going barefoot is the gentlest way of walking and can symbolise a way of living — being authentic, vulnerable, sensitive to our surroundings. It's the feeling of enjoying warm sand beneath our toes, or carefully making our way over sharp rocks in the darkness. It's a way of living that has the lightest impact, removing the barrier between us and nature."

— Adele Coombs, "Barefoot Dreaming"

Gabrielle's Toenails

2011-04-19T09:04:00.004-06:00

I am participating today in a writing prompt over at The Red Dress Club. This week's memoir prompt is to write a piece inspired by the color red - but we are not allowed to use the word "red" in the story. Here is mine...

Jamie remembered only odd bits of rather unimportant details of the day they had first met. It was the first day of third grade. Jamie had just moved to the small northern California town from and even smaller one. Earlier that week, Jamie’s mother had walked Jamie and her younger sister, Jeni, to the school, hoping that they would be able to navigate the mile or so on their own for the year. On the first day of class the sisters had walked alone, but upon their arrival, everything had looked so unfamiliar to Jamie that she had wanted to head back home thinking that she and Jeni had somehow stumbled upon a different elementary school. The wrong elementary school. Jeni convinced her sister that they were at the right school and the two girls took their places in line in front of the adjacent second and third grade classrooms. Jeni was more than a year Jamie’s junior, but infinitely more confident and self -assured.

Jamie, still nervous and not entirely convinced at her belonging there, stood awkwardly and silently against the windowed classroom wall, the cold metal siding chilling the backs of her legs. Gabby had walked confidently toward the timid girl and introduced herself. She was a good head taller than Jamie and wore a colorfully printed sundress that tied at the shoulders, and her hair in a bun. Her brightly painted toenails peeked out from the leather, braided high heeled sandals like little cherries. High heals and those toenails! It was the one color that Jamie's mother would not allow her to paint her nails. Gabby looked, not like a nine year old girl, but a sophisticated woman of the world. Like one of the teenagers that Jamie saw on TV shows. There was something unfamiliar about this uninhibited little girl and yet undeniably desirable, and her name was Gabrielle.

Even her name sounded exotic and veritably steeped in femininity. A harsh and direct opponent to her own name. Jamie. A name that gave no hint of gender. There was very little in appearance to betray Jamie’s femininity either, except her long blond hair. Yet, it too, somehow only said “tom-boy” as the stringy waves hung unflatteringly in her face, half obscuring her bright blue eyes and freckled nose. She had always believed it was the freckles that won her the nickname Snicklefritz, but she could never quite figure out the connection. Her little sister, the real beauty of the family, was affectionately called Sunshine. Jamie was pretty too, but she did not know it, so chances are that no one else did either. Gabrielle, in contrast, left no one wondering. From the pink barrettes that held the perfect coiffure of dark curls away from her face to the tips of her brightly painted toenails, Gabby looked the part. She was a girl.

Quote of the Day: "It's surprising how much of memory is built around things unnoticed at the time”-- Barbara Kingsolver

Alphabet Soup!

2011-04-14T09:14:00.005-06:00

Today is a special day at The Matlock School For Syllabary Obsessed Bloggers. Mrs Matlock, our lovely, albeit somewhat strict, anytime blogger and part time schoolmarm is wrapping up yet another semester of AlphabeThursday with a big pot of AlphabetSoup! Yummm...
Dig into some of my favorite letters from this batch. Ooh, I think I gotta piece of celery in my teeth.

A is for Autumnal Ruminations: I love autumn. The air smells crispy. It is clear and cool. Just as the summer flowers lose their color, the trees begin to change and a whole new pallette is arranged. I just love the way it feels, and the sunsets are spectacular! It is time to don cardigans, scarves and cute hats to crunch the leaves on the sidewalk during my afternoon walks. I relinquish the barbecue for the big soup pot. Fall is the time to enjoy a giant batch of chili with a big, crusty loaf of sourdough...Yummm! The pumpkins in the garden are getting plump and I know that trick-or-treating is just around the corner. I DO love to dress up!

B Is for Bikes and Big Buts: I am the queen of big buts.

You know...

I would try the ride... BUT.

I wish I could do this...BUT.

I would love to try that...BUT.

I could be all that and a bag of chips...BUT.

I dream of_______...BUT.

D is for Decorating: I am not good at decorating. I have good taste, don't get me wrong, of course I have good taste. I just do not know how to put it all together. Also, my taste is very...um...shall we say...eclectic. It is my mom's fault. Growing up we always had a strange assemblage of furnishings and decor. A mixture of family pieces, antiques and odds and ends. A combination my mom's diverse flair for decorating and a lack of financing. Bookshelves in every nook and cranny, including the hallway! Nothing matched. P.S. I turned out just like my mom...and I love it!

E Is For Evolution: I am Leslie. Wife. Daughter. Sister. Mother. Mormon. Recycler. Writer. Friend. Woman. Gardner. Lover. I am a loudmouthed, stubborn, opinionated know-it-all, but a passionate, empathetic, friendly naturegirl. I could go on, but for everyone's sake, I will not. I am above all, a work in progress. I am evolving. I have likewise evolved. I think most importantly I am becoming more ME. Everyday more comfortable with who I am. Letting go of pretenses; both externally and internally. Allowing myself to get to know the real me. It takes time and effort to let emerge the person we are at birth before life and hurt and fear gradually sneak in and temporarily rob us of our true selves. Temporarily. We are divine. Yet mortality has a funny way of snatching that knowledge right out from under us...oh around, you know...jr high. Pick, pick, pick, little pieces of our divine nature are plucked off and we have to patch and mend and cover up our perceived inadequacies for years until we are once again able to see our real selves. Once again able to BE ourselves.

F is for Flosculation: I really like words. Seriously, I use them all the time! Reading, writing, quotidian colloquy. But I have recently heard some disturbing news. I mean, I guess deep down inside I always knew, but until my worst fears were confirmed by an outside source, I held out hope that it wasn't true. There are words on the brink of expiration. The threshold of existence. Near their demise. Falling, quickly and abruptly, into obsolescence! Words that once served a purpose and held their places proudly and alphabetically in lexicons across the world, are now being tossed aside like relics of a bygone generation. Deemed antiquated, outdated, useless and ineffective they are being removed from dictionaries to make room for new words like woot, edamame and subprime. I think there is still time to Save The Words.

Q Is for Quixotic Quotidian Quirk: I am an an addict. At first, I only popped open a new one every couple of days, and only with friends. After a while I needed one everyday, and I started partaking even when I was alone. They say that is one of the first signs. Now I find myself indulging two or three times a day. I cannot stop. I even found myself using in the car the other day, in the elementary school parking lot while I was waiting for kids. I know it is wrong, but it just feels so good...Even when I am not using, I find myself thinking about it. Adding the point values of the day's newspaper headline. Word scores racing through my mind like greyhounds after the proverbial RABBIT. (Or HARE, on a double word score.) Anticipating the chance to use a beauty like QUIXOTIC or JUMBLE. Yeah...I gotta go.

Quote of the Day: "I like the word "indolence." It makes my laziness seem classy. ~Bern Williams author

C'mon Get Happy!

2011-04-11T09:11:00.000-06:00

At the beginning of the year I gave myself a tiny challenge. A challenge to make this a year of gratitude. I think it started with the negativity that I sometimes see on Facebook. I like the quick daily glance into the ordinary and even mundane lives of long lost friends and even close neighbors. It is nice to see how everyone is doing. But it seems sometimes that a lot of folks are complaining. I decided to "update my status" once a week with something that I am grateful for. I have fallen short of that goal this last month, of course.

Enter: The Happiness Project over at Seven Cherubs. That's right folks...Suheaven! The happiness project is fairly simple; find something to be grateful for each day for a month...then blog about it in one way or another! Ta Da! Even I can do that. I believe I will wait until the end of the period (May 10) to actually post the results, but I will work on it daily.

So there you have it. Finding joy and happiness in gratitude. Hit the link up there if you would like to join in. There is still time. Get creative...find the love...be grateful and Get Happy!

Quote of the Day: "There is no such thing as gratitude unexpressed. If it is unexpressed, it is plain, old-fashioned ingratitude." ~Robert Brault writer

Never Said I Was The Life Of The Party

2011-04-07T09:43:00.000-06:00

Welcome. I am Leslie. A self-proclaimed simple minded girl who is very happily married to the man of her dreams, hoping someday to become the woman of HIS dreams! We have four great kids whom we adore but take pleasure in sometimes embarrassing in front of their friends. I am a snob about books, movies and music and I sometimes post ~~ego-driven overtly opinionated rants~~ suggestions on what we should read, watch and listen to. I feel passionately about religion, simplicity, nature, yoga, food, politics, learning and (most of the time) life!

If you are looking for crafts or recipes or anything useful, you should probably go to the next link. There is absolutely nothing of use here. Really. I mean it. Move along if that is what you are after. But if you want to read the useless musings of a very simple mind...It is nice to meet you.

Quote of the Day: "You meet people who forget you. You forget people you meet. But sometimes you meet those people you can't forget. Those are your friends."--unknown

To Be Or Not To Be?

2011-04-05T10:04:00.003-06:00

I belong to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Twice a year we Saints gather all over the world in our separate meeting houses and homes and join as the body of the church to participate in what we call general conference. The speakers and many members gather in the Conference Center in Salt Lake City, the other 14 million of us watch or listen via internet, satellite or radio in every corner of the globe. This was the 181st consecutive year that this has been held. I find I am always edified and taught as we gather together as saints for we,"talk of Christ, we rejoice in Christ, we preach of Christ, we prophesy of Christ, and we write according to our prophecies, that our children may know to what source they may look for a remission of their sins. (2Ne 25:26)"

So, that being said. Anyone remember the little thought that I had a few weeks ago that went something like this: "BE" remarkable...as apposed to "ACTING" remarkable." It is something that I have been pondering for a while now. Turns out, I am not the only one. Elder Lynn G. Robbins gave a remarkable talk on this very subject during our conference. Whether you are of my faith or not, it is a profound and powerful sermon on the importance of BEING the kind of person we want to be as opposed to simply acting or doing in the manner. I am sorry that the text only version is not available yet, so the link is to the video, but it is not long and well worth it. He said it so much better than I could have.

"To be or not to be? That is actually a very good question." He begins.

In a spiritual sense, Christ posed this very question, "What manner of men ought ye to be?" For Christians the answer is that we want to become like Christ. In a more general sense even outside of Christianity, I believe that we desire to become the best possible version of ourselves. Elder Robbins goes on to say that Be and Do are inseparable. They are interdependent. Our faith for instance, inspires prayer, and prayer in turn leads to an increase of faith.

On a lighter note he jokes, "People often create a "to do" lists...but rarely have "to be" lists. Why?" Perhaps we should? He illustrates this point noting that he could take his wife out next weekend for a lovely date and check that off his "to do" list, but to BE a good husband is internal. Being a good spouse is part of one's character or nature, part of who we are. Or, I think, who we can become anyway, as most of us are still works in progress! Or for example, when do we check a child off our "to do" list as "DONE"? The answer, of course, is that we are never done BEING good parents.

Bottom line... "To be" lists are not seen, but hopefully they are the motivating force behind our "do's." As we teach our children and interact with our families, friends and even strangers, cultivating our "to be" list will lead us to more authentic actions. Hopefully more Christlike actions. Kindness, charity, mercy and love. These are things that I want to become part of my nature. Part of who I am. Do I fall short? Often. Do I try again? Always. Being, doing, being more, doing again. It is a process. I am still under construction. There are days when it feels like the rafters are sagging and I may have to start all over, but no. With a firm foundation we can simply regroup, reinforce and occasionally even add-on if necessary. I think Nike had it wrong...

Just BE it!

Quote of the Day: " We cannot become what we need to be, remaining what we are." --Max Depree author

WTpH?

2011-03-14T07:00:00.003-06:00

Hey boys and girls...I am teaching chemistry over at The Renegade Farmer today. Class starts...now! Hurry. Take your seats...

And if by some chance you missed my rant last fall about daylight savings. You can catch up on that with a little post I like to call...

Daylight Savings or The Devil Incarnate?

Ugh! (almost) Utterly Useless...

2011-03-04T09:43:00.000-07:00

"Uuuuuhhhmm...As usual, I am a day late and at least 2 or 3 dollars short. Yesterday was AlphabeThursday over at the Matlock School For Syllabary Obsessed Bloggers. But alas...I missed it, which means, likely no one will read this. Which is too bad for me, because I need help. And not just the kind of help that I usually need.

You see, I have this little notebook. I write little notes to myself because I am so ~~old~~ smart and have so much ~~useless~~ important information in my brain that I cannot possibly be expected to remember all of it, so...I write it down. Problem: I wrote a great tidbit of wisdom that I wanted to blog about and now cannot figure out what it means! It is profound and I am sure that at the moment that the idea struck me, thoughts were flowing, planets were aligning and the universe and I were one. But the lightbulb was a fast burning one and now the note is almost useless. Perhaps you can figure it out...

"BE" remarkable. Influence for good. There is not my truth/your truth--only one truth--manifest differently. Beethoven through his piano, Picasso through his brush, Blake through his ben. All one truth--truth is eternal/light/Spirit.

Ok. So there it is. Nice huh? It is not to say I do not know what it means precisely. I just do not know where I was going with it. I like the thought though. I want to expand it, and I will keep pondering it so that I can, but in the meantime...any ideas?

I like the idea of the "BE" remarkable...as apposed to "ACTING" remarkable. To me there is a huge difference between Being something and Acting in a certain way. AM I virtuous, honest, kind or loving? Or do I just Act that way? It is more an internal part of us rather than merely an outward expression of something we want to be. In my mind though, it is ok to behave a certain way until it becomes ingrained in us and part of our being. Fake it till you make it...ya know? Each of us is so remarkable in our own way. In our own right. We are children of God. Unique and individual. All that is good in the world comes from Him, through us. All Truth, all Light. But each of us expresses that in a different way. Through art, music, words, smiles, food, photographs, kindness, sympathy, science, crafts, decorating, raising children, farming, gardening or loving. Plus a million other talents and endeavors as unique and important as each of us.

So, any thoughts? Sorry for the disjointed jumble of ideas today. I wanted to get something down on "paper" today while I had the chance. Thanks for listening...

Quote of The Day: "Today you are You, that is truer than true. There is no one alive who is youer than You!" --Dr. Seuss (happy belated birthday to a great genius and philosopher)

Renegade Farmer At Large!

2011-02-28T12:49:00.001-07:00

Hey peeps...today I am over at Renegade Farmer talking about storing all those lovely fruits and veggies that come from the garden...

To celebrate and to perhaps get us started thinking, dreaming, hoping and longing for summer's bounty...I am reposting a little ditty from a bygone season of flowers and fruits; of sunshine and starlit nights. Ok, it has nothing to do with starlit nights, but I am a sucker for alliteration!

Garden of Eatin' Originally posted September 2008

So, Friday, I am making dinner, and I go out to the garden to dig up some potatoes, and voila! I had a little 'lightbulb moment' of gratitude. I was amazed at the beauty and miracle

of the earth. In May, I stuck some pieces of potato in the ground and in a few short months, the little spud chunks had each propagated a dozen or so little tater tots (this is Idaho, individual results may vary). Amazing! Miraculous! Perfect, beautiful, ovalish Yukon Golds. I had watered, tilled and weeded, but the little buggers really did this mostly on their own. What a marvelous creation is this world we are blessed with. I was so inspired by those little guys, I began to look around the yard and snapped some pix of the last of this year's bounty...

Pumpkins!

Still eating some of these from the freezer!

I miss you most of all Tomato...

Pies, applesauce and crisps...You will be mine!

Just Peachy!

Weren't they amazing!? The peaches are not from my garden...too cold here...I get those from Utah...so yummy. Can't wait! But for now as I wait for the snow to melt, I will read seed catalogs and plan the garden. I think I am even going to take out some bulbs to make room for more tomatoes. A friend gave me a great tip on starting tomatoes early.

Quote of the Day:

"There are plenty of people with loads of money who are anything but rich."
--Suze Orman
financial guru

All You Need Is Love

2011-02-14T13:19:00.000-07:00

Got Me Some Love

So this amazing chick (we will call her The Amazing Laurie) over at Little Blue Chairs has been spreading some Valentine love around in the form of some little blog awards. I cannot even express in words how much I love her blog. I really want to just move into her house, but you know, she is living there and all...

But go check her out, and my guess is you will want to move in to. She really is The Amazing Laurie. She can make a broom closet appear out of thin air! Seriously.

   True Love

One of the conditions of the award is to share 7 things about myself. Well, for a couple of reasons, I am going to bend the rules a bit. Reason one. I am not that interesting. Reason two. It is Valentine's Day and I am dedicated to furthering the cause of love in the universe. So, I am going to share 7 things about US. That is...NatureGirl et Hunky Hubby.

1. We met in college in a class for American Sign Language interpreters. The class was late in the evening and did not get out until after dark. Hunky Hubby (who was only known as Hunky Boy in the Class back then) offered to walk me home...you know, for safety reasons. He LIED and said he lived near me, but he actually lived on the opposite side of campus. I was cute back then too.

2. He walked me home nearly every Tuesday and Thursday for like 2 months (and even held my hand) but never asked me out on a date. I finally said, "Are you ever going to ask me out?!" To which he replied, "Did you want me to ask you out?" I am sure that needs no further comment.

3. Our first date was to a haunted house. This was actually a good move. (Although at this point, almost ANY move would have been good.) I buried my head in his chest and did not come out until I saw the light of day. Or, well, at least the streetlights, because it was dark outside.

4. Our first fight came when he ditched me over Christmas vacation to go skiing with "the guys." I found out a couple of weeks later that "the guys" consisted of Heather. (No, Dear, her brothers do not count.)

5. I asked Hunky Boyfriend to marry me at least a dozen times before he finally asked me. He said yes every time, but we were not "officially engaged" until he did the asking. Whatever.

6. When Hunky Fiance asked my dad for permission to marry me, my father said, "If you want her, Son, keep her." He did not get the hint.

7. I finally got to call him Hunky Hubby on June 21, 1991. And despite what most women say...it was not the happiest day of my life. Every day since then has been even better...
   And yes he is still quite hunky!

   Share The Love

I am also to share some of the blogs I read. It would be nearly impossible to share all of the great people I follow, so to make it fair, I am going to share a few of my most recent finds...

Sweet Scented Path
Austin Homestead
Beyond Vagabond
Cherish Today
Organic Body Care
Simple Moodlings

Happy Valentine's Day to all. And remember this...

Quote of the Day: "In the end.The love you take is equal to the love you make."
--Paul McCartney bard

A-run-run-run-run-Re-Runaway

2011-02-10T09:25:00.000-07:00

Good morning class. I am participating today in Mrs. Matlock's AlphabeThursday. I am afraid however that Teacher will accuse me of cheating as today will not actually be a new post. You see, this is a RE-RUN. You remember those, right? From back in the golden age of television when there were only 3 stations. The networks would show old episodes of their shows during the summer, you know, when people are outside and not watching TV 24/7... But you can think of this as an "Encore Presentation!" The general public obviously feels less cheated when we use even overtly transparent euphemisms. "Previously owned" is another personal favorite. Maybe you could think of it as a "Best of" or "Top 10". Maybe you don't even read this and move on to someone who actually has something to SAY! I am just giving you a choice is all.

This post originally aired February 2009, but it is nearly just as true today...

If you came here today looking for my usual brand of saccharine sentiment, positive postulation and life-affirming lessons, then you had better turn away now. I mean it! You won't find any of that here. Perhaps those of you living in "normal" habitats don't understand what it is like up here in the frozen tundra of the north. The high today is 18 degrees, and we are grateful for it I tell ya...grateful! A very dear friend called me about this time last year and asked if I was ready to have my breakdown yet. My what? Your annual pre-birthday "patience is wearing thin, going stir crazy, tired of being cooped up, why is there still snow, where are my flip-flops, where is the sun, where are the tulips, get me out now" breakdown. Oooh, you mean THAT breakdown. Isn't it funny how those near to us know us better sometimes than we know ourselves. Apparently this is normal behavior for me right before my birthday every year. (And yes, I am having a birthday soon even though I wrote this is 2009 and it is now 2011.)

I really do love the winter, but a person can only take so much! So in order to stave off the breakdown until the snow melts in April or May, I offer some blues bustin' helpful hints...

1. Break into that stack of books you have been meaning to get to. Park yourself in a south-facing window and soak up that vitamin D!

2. Spend way more time than you should blog-hopping and/or face-booking, maybe you will get a glimpse of the sunshine in someone else's life.

3. Keep plenty of chocolate on hand (this is also helpful for the rainy spring, hot summer and windy autumn seasons)

4. Give up something for Lent, maybe it will take your mind off the cold. (Ok, so I am not Catholic, but Mormons pretty much give up everything from the get-go anyway, so...)

5. Put on something comfy, climb into bed and watch the sappiest movie you have on hand *Caution* Studies have shown this behavior to be highly addictive, use sparingly only as needed for severe cases.

6. Do something creative--paint, sew, scrapbook, draw, write poetry, sing, play, dance!

7. Wear clothes that don't match and are borderline silly.

8. Have a sleep-over (I actually did this one year, and it was more fun than 5 grown women should probably have.)

9. Sit and pout and complain about the cold. This does not solve anything, but if you want you can still try. I see plenty of people doing it.

10. Take up a new winter activity. Ice Fishing, Cross Country Skiing or that one at the olympics with the heavy flat ball thingy and the brooms. You know, on the ice and they look really silly? What the fetch is up with that game anyway!?

Whew! Just writing about it makes me feel better. Now, I cannot guarantee no breakdown, but maybe just a mini one. There are beautiful silent mornings when the snow is gently falling that I almost (almost) love and appreciate the final wrap up of one more frosty, snowy, beautiful, winter season. I know at some point I will miss the snuggly warm bed, heavy with extra blankets and sitting by the fire, skiing, snowmen building, hot cocoa drinking and still, silent snowstorms. But today I sit staring out the window at Mr. Sun just peeking from behind a cloud and think, "You can do it big guy...You can do it!"

Quote of the Day: "Here comes the sun, and I say, it's all right."

George Harrison--musician

Quixotic Quotidian Quirk

2011-02-03T07:00:00.004-07:00

I am an an addict. At first, I only popped open a new one every couple of days, and only with friends. After a while I needed one everyday, and I started partaking even when I was alone. They say that is one of the first signs. Now I find myself indulging two or three times a day. I cannot stop. I even found myself using in the car the other day, in the elementary school parking lot while I was waiting for kids. I know it is wrong, but it just feels so good.

It started in December when Hunky Hubby got a new iPod for his birthday. I inherited his old one. This is, BTW how I get most of my gear and gadgets, but that is a post for another day. I now possess an iPod, or as I like to call it...portable Scrabble player, à la Morty Seinfeld's "tip calculator." My children have been relentless in their mocking sneers and jeers. "It does OTHER things, Mom." Why would I need it to do other things? I can play Scrabble anywhere. ANYwhere!

Well, I guess that is where the trouble started. Even when I am not using, I find myself thinking about it. Adding the point values of the day's newspaper headline. Word scores racing through my mind like greyhounds after the proverbial RABBIT. (Or HARE, on a double word score.) Anticipating the chance to use a beauty like QUIXOTIC or JUMBLE. Forming words from nothing but a rack of seemingly useless vowels; squeezing every point possible from those little 1point tiles with gems retrieved from the recesses of the mind like OOTID, EERIE or QUEUE. Adoring those little guys QI, JO and AX that pack such big punch with just a couple of tiles. Always chasing the next high. Thrilling at a single-play score like 96; triple word, all 7 tiles... It was a thing of beauty. A subtle mix of art and science. I do not remember the word, but I remember the high. Oh, the high.

There you have it. Hope this makes the grade Teach! This post is dedicated to my father, a recovering addict, whose one-step program consisted of everyone finally refusing to play with him. I am currently searching for a program or a support group myself. Preferably one where the patients sit around a large table with a dictionary and racks of little lettered tiles and a board with pretty pink, and blue, and red squares...I gotta go.

Quote of The Day: "One forgets words as one forgets names. One's vocabulary needs constant fertilizing or it will die." --Evelyn Waugh user of words

Speaking Words Of Wisdom...

2011-02-02T10:08:00.000-07:00

I am trying something new. And no, my computer was not hijacked. I really am going to try something new. Well, newish. Ok, something old, but that I haven't done in a while so that kinda makes it kinda new. Sort of. Ok, you were right.

I like to write. When I was in the 7th grade I started a journal. Her name was Jenny and we talked every day. Sometimes 2 or 3 times a day until I got married. I guess after Hunky Hubby moved in, I had a somewhat captive audience and no longer felt the need to write so often. I think I missed it. I know I did. I kept a journal still, but it was consigned to the unimaginative function of "keeping records." You know, marriages, births, deaths and the milestones of life that, while we want to remember them and pass the information on to posterity, is at best a dry catalog of cold hard facts. I gave up the imaginative part.

This blog has been an experiment in getting back to that part that I let slip away. A way of reclaiming that creative power that came so easily as a young, spirited girl with things to say and ideas to express...even if only to herself and her notebook named Jenny. Wondering where the "try something new" part is? Well, I find that while the blog has restored some of that creative space, it does not go far enough. I try too hard. Try to hard to find the right word. I often rearrange a sentence two or three times before I am satisfied with it. This is due to the ease of use of computer technology. There is no delete key with a pen and notepad. So back then, I just wrote. Freely. Uninhibited by the fact that someone might read it or that the grammar may not be "just so." Or spelling. Or punctuation. You get the idea.

I have been reading Brenda Ueland's If You Want To Write: A Book About Art, Independence and Spirit and becoming inspired again to write just for the sake of writing. Without spell check, without reservation and almost without purpose, except to write. Allowing imagination and inspiration to reign. It will never be read or published or remembered. But it will be created. Each of us is meant to be amazing in our own special way. To create, to wonder, to dream and to do. We all have creative power. It comes in so many forms that I could not begin to list them here. We have more talents than we probably even know. But it takes quiet and solitude and daydreaming to unleash them. We get so hurried and busy that we do not take time to just be.

There you have it. My something new is to just Let. It. Be. (Thank you Mr. McCartney). I will write or paint or draw. I will cook, walk, listen, read, sit, dream, create or just be, everyday without inhibition. Giving that most intimate part of ourselves over to the world to perhaps be criticized or ridiculed is scary beyond all scary. I know. That is why I spell check and rearrange sentences. But there comes a point when we must let go and just put ourselves out there. To say to the world and ourselves, "I created this. I made something out of nothing but imagination and the Spirit that is in me. And it is therefore real and true and beautiful."

My little man, Ethan. He is a pro at being.

Quote of the Day: "I learned... that inspiration does not come like a bolt, nor is it kinetic, energetic striving, but it comes into us slowly and quietly and all the time, though we must regularly and every day give it a little chance to start flowing, prime it with a little solitude and idleness.”--Brenda Ueland

The Jig Is Up...

2011-01-26T16:26:00.002-07:00

...the news is out...they finally found me.

ren·e·gade [ren-i-geyd]--noun person who deserts and betrays an organization, country, or set of principles or who behaves in a rebelliously unconventional manner. Who? Moi? No, certainly not. Really? Hmm. Well, whether yea or nay I am now carrying the renegade badge. On my blog anyway.

I have started a regular gig over at The Renegade Farmer. You know, writing stuff. That is until someone figures out that a) I can't write b) I am not actually a farmer or c) I am secretly a closet conformist.

Anyway you look at it, it is a cool gig though. I mean these are like super legit, real farm type people with cows and hay and other farmy stuff. And here's me with my one bedraggled garden, a library full of urban farming manuals, four crazy children, one mouser cat, one hunky hubby and two somewhat illegal chickens. I suppose the illegal chicken thing might earn me renegade status in the more civilized parts of town, but my neighbors already know I am a little off my rocker so chickens don't even get noticed. I would like to have bees too, but they are really illegal inside the city limits, so probably not going to happen. Although my little subdivision is surrounded by potato and alfalfa fields. If someone was willing to let me put them in a little corner then perhaps...

At any rate, I am pleased to announce my current renegade status. I am no Han Solo or Jack Sparrow...yet. But trust me, I am working on it. I am a rebel I tell ya...no good!

In the mean time. I got a little nod from Felicity over at Simple Elegance. A pretty amazing young person who for some reason doesn't wear pants. Renegades are blooming everywhere I guess. So being the obedient renegade that I am (yes, and funny), here are 7 things about me...

1. People stopped in the right hand lane when they are going straight, preventing me from turning right on a red light, makes me crazy.

2. I love to pour milk over my ice cream cuz it makes little crunchy pockets of frozen milk.

3. When I was a kid I put aluminum foil on my teeth to pretend I had braces. No, seriously, it looked super real.

4. Unloading the dishwasher is the worst chore ever!

5. I know all the words to old sit-com theme songs like, Brady Bunch, Gilligan's Island, Love Boat and The Addams Family...plus I actually think it might come in handy someday! Big bucks!

6. I paid for full service at the gas pump forever because I was afraid I wouldn't do it right. (I have never been bowling for the same reason).

7. I am a recovering cheapskate (I said recovering not CURED!).

Quote of the Day: "Not all those who wander are lost."

-J.R.R. Tolkien

Wanna Be A Balanced Mom? Me Too...

2011-01-17T06:37:00.001-07:00

I am so excited to be guest posting today and to introduce you to a pretty cool blogging chick!

Crystal is a wife & mother, a fantastic home decorator, a former missionary to Germany, a blogger & business woman, a home organizing, coupon clipping, marathon running, love-song singing, health and beauty guru. Wanna know how she juggles it all? The answer is...she doesn't! She balances it all. And thankfully blogs about it over at Wanna Be Balanced Mom.

Right now Crystal is also introducing something pretty cool. It is the Wanna Be Balanced Planner!

She has designed a weekly planner that includes short "to-do" lists (we are balancing and simplifying...remember?) weekly meal plans, grocery lists, activities for children, home projects and much more!

So, for today read what I have to rant about on the subject of balance in our lives over at Crystal's place, and get to know her while you are there.

When Daylight Savings Time Hurts

2011-01-12T16:50:00.001-07:00

Perhaps this is a post for a different time of year, but "Hey!" I am nothing if not flexible. Actually that is pretty far from the truth, but I am working on it.

I want to talk about Daylight Savings. Still Awake? Good, because I get really worked up about this topic. I hate Daylight Savings. Hate it. Coming and going. I think I always have, but I can't remember. The fact remains however...I hate it now. It fouls me up. Messes bad with my clearly delicate circadian rhythm. A circadian rhythm is a roughly 24-hour cycle in the biochemical, physiological, or behavioural processes of living entities on Earth, including plants, animals, fungi and cyanobacteria. I have no idea what cyanobacteria are and I do not think I am a fungus, so it must be my natural animal instincts kicking in.

I think I was supposed to be born before the advent of electric light (either that or my wolf parents gave me up to be raised by humans). Don't get me wrong, I appreciate the convenience, but I have found that I seem to operate better when my routine and schedule are dictated by natural forces rather than artificial. My mother used to tell me that I was a kid who hated schedules, but I think I just prefer the forces of nature over the forces of you know...moms and teachers and bosses. I like to rise with the sun and set with the sun. I admit that poses a challenge here in South East Idaho when, during the winter, the sun sets at 4:30 in the afternoon and we do not see it again until 8 the next morning. But I am willing to sleep for 15 hours if that's what it takes!

It just seems like we as humans often try to control nature instead of allowing our lives to ebb and flow naturally around nature. We ship food thousands of miles so we can eat it out of season. We change the clock twice a year so that the hours of Sunlight better fit into our schedules. We keep electric lights on well into what should be sleeping hours so that we can be "more productive" only to find that we are stressed out, worn out and out of balance. So, for what it is worth, this is my 'N' post for anyone participating in Mrs. Matlock's AlphabeThursday. Today, N is for Nature, Naps & Nighttime. Rebel that I am, perhaps when we spring forward here in a few months, I will just refuse to go. Just me, ebbing and flowing with the natural rhythm of nature. It shouldn't be too inconvenient and I will be right back on schedule when fall rolls around again. Yes, that is a good idea.

Quote of the Day: "Without enough sleep, we all become tall two-year-olds."
~JoJo Jensen, Dirt Farmer Wisdom, 2002

Here's The Story...

2011-01-07T12:42:00.001-07:00

Boob tube. That is what my dad called it when we were kids. You know, TV. I must admit that I spent my fair share of time in front of the big box as a child. I could probably still recall perfectly the after school rerun line up that included Gilligan's Island, The Brady Bunch and Partridge Family. Bewitched, and I Dream of Jeanie dotting the landscape as well. And for the more cerebral crowd there was always old episodes of Carol Burnett. Remember the one where she made the dress out of curtains and left the rod in? Good stuff I tell ya. I made my way through past episodes of M*A*S*H and Hogans Heros although I am pretty sure I did not understand half of the jokes! And don't even get me started on Saturday morning cartoons complete with School House Rock. Rock is right! Those little gems were the bomb! Yeah, I spent a lot of time flopped in a bean bag chair in front of that towering talking monolith. Probably the only thing that saved me from a childhood of complete vegetation and a really bad back was that I lived in California. You know that big state out west where the sun always shines. My afternoon TV time, luckily, was often suppressed by a neighborhood game of tag or a boys against girls dirt clod fight. And yes, that is as bad as it sounds.

Evenings too, in the 70's were spent with the family around the TV. Where do you think I learned the word "whoopee"? That's right...The Newlywed Game, cuz' Blair and Tootie never really delivered on that "Facts of Life" promise! Three's Company and the Love Boat were considered a bit racy but I am pretty sure they are on right after Barney now. Times have changed. We had 4 channels then, one of those being the childhood nemesis...PBS, and one channel that only came in clearly if my little brother stood next to the television holding on to that danged rabbit's ear at just the right angle. (If you do not understand that reference you are too young. Stop reading now so I can go renew my subscription to AARP.) Of course, he couldn't see the show, but whatever, I am the oldest.

My addiction lasted well into the 80's and one man is almost solely responsible for this. His name is Thomas Magnum. I do not even remember what came on before and after, but Thursday nights were spent waiting for that little wink at the end of the credits. When the Cosby Show took over the airwaves, I was forced to keep my loyalty to that hunky P.I. on a 13" black and white, alone in my room. Michael J. Fox, Bruce Willis, Kirk Cameron and Tony Danza kept me company through the rest of high school. Oooh, ooh and Simon & Simon! That's who followed Mr. Selleck. Boy, I wasted so much time.

So, the point of this whole tumble down Memory Road is that I think I have been watching too much TV lately. I was able to break the habit in college. There was only one television for the 250 girls in my dormitory, and I was too busy sewing my wild oats to watch it anyway. I never really picked the habit back up. When my kids were little, even after cable television was invented, we busied ourselves during the day and did not need the distraction. Hubby and I had a few evening favorites after the kids were down, but mostly other things took priority. After our only TV burst into flames one day, we did not replace it for a couple of years. We have two TV's now. With cable. It is the Premium Nerd Package, so it only includes network stations and the History and Science Channels, so not much to choose from and quite frankly there is nothing worth watching anyway. I have noticed though that since my youngest started school I spend too much of my down time back in front of that boob tube. Wasting it on worthless crud...yes that means you Judge Marilyn Milian! And yes, Tom and Padma too (even though I cannot stay up late enough to see the new ones.) Although the family will still share our Wednesday evenings with those lovable misfits the Hecks. I think we are gonna save a few bucks too and dump the cable. I am the only one who ever turns the thing on...

So there you have it my first New Year's resolution. Down with the Tube! Maybe I will even get more done. Unless of course, they bring back Magnum.

Quote of the Day: "Time is free, but it is precious."
--Harvey Mackay author & speaker

Oops! I Almost Tripped...

2010-12-30T15:08:00.007-07:00

Today it is time for another AlphabeThursday and the letter is M. As in Memories.

And in honor of the recent festivities and all around Holidayness I offer my little trip down the Memory Lane of Holidays passed...

Perhaps I have already used up my allowance for walks down memory lane, but I thought of a few truly memorable holidays. *Warning* These are stories that (yet again) make Hunky Hubby look pretty dang good...

It was our first Christmas together; a bygone era of compulsory frugality yet abundant affection, and a sweet young couple who, while they have since added a few kids, several pounds and a handful of wrinkles, are still madly in love and still quite prudent!

We had been married 6 months ,we were both in school, money was not tight...there just plain wasn't any. We would finish finals that semester and then head to my parents' home for the holidays. I really wanted our little basement apartment to have a Christmas tree, even if it were only for a few weeks, but Hunky Hubby reminded me that we scarce could afford to splurge when we would not even be there to enjoy it on Christmas morning, so we went without. We went about our routine; classes, work and homework as we neared the holiday and the end of the term. Gifts for each other were barely on the radar. We had some small handmade offerings for our parents that we hoped would be received in the spirit in which they were given. I knew what I wanted to buy for my sweet new husband, but I also knew we could not afford it. HH walked and biked to and from campus with only a frayed, patched and rather pathetic old backpack to lug his huge books back and forth. I nearly cried when I bought the new one. Thirty-eight dollars. More than a week's worth of groceries. I prayed he would not be upset by my extravagance . I did not expect anything from him. But then...my little Christmas miracle.

I arrived home from class one day, opened the door to our little flat and beheld what is still likely the most beautiful Christmas tree I have ever seen.

On his walk home from campus that afternoon, Hubby had seen a cub scout troop closing up there little tree lot. They offered him their last little sapling for free. He carried it home on foot. As he drug it in the front door, the neighbors saw him, lent him a string of lights and he decorated it with Christmas cards and ribbon tied into bows. When I walked in, there he sat, under the tree with little wrapped gifts in hand. The presents turned out to be a coloring book and crayons. Still my best Christmas gifts ever.

The second story is of a more recent Christmas. I have always wanted to learn to play the flute. Maybe not always, but a long time, for sure. About 9 years ago I mentioned this to HH, and he remembered. At Christmas, I was never more surprised to unwrap a gift in my entire life. I always ask for, and usually receive, very practical, useful and frugal gifts. Anything else has always seemed extravagant. This gift still makes me smile and was worth a little extravagance. Every time I pick it up to play, I think of that wonderful Christmas! Thanks babe.

Now, lest you think my life is all peaches and cream...a slightly less happy memory, that actually turned out to be a rather happy memory, or at least one that I can tell the kids when they get to whining about stuff that they don't have! I was away at college Thanksgiving 1990. Money was tight, so I stayed at school for the holiday break. (If my mom reads this ... I know you would have flown me home, but I didn't want to spend the money, ok!) My friend Pam was in the same boat (I know she is reading this!). We were the only 2 in our whole building who did not go home for the break (insert sniff). We were in dormitories with no kitchen, but our "House Mom" said that we could use her kitchen If we wanted. Only it never occurred to Pam or me to get any food to cook in this kitchen! We were fine the first day or two of the break, with the cafeteria and restaurants open. Then...Thanksgiving morning. We head to the kitchen to cook up a nice, even if perhaps untraditional, Turkey Day feast! I am sure you have figured out by now what we found! (Laughing yet Puma?) Ya, nothing much. The only thing in the kitchen was Rice-A-Roni, icecream cones, and some tremendously freezer burnt vanilla icecream. That was our feast. And believe you me, we were grateful to have it! We boo-hooed and felt sufficiently sorry for ourselves for most of the day. But...guess what else? The pizza places deliver after 5:00pm on Thanksgiving...who knew!? Probably still my best Thanksgiving ever.

Hope you all had a very Merry Christmas. Great things to come in 2011!

Quote of the Day: "God Bless Us Everyone!"--Tiny Tim

K Is For Kids and Are You Kidding Me!?

2010-12-09T08:26:00.004-07:00

After a bit of an hiatus from blogging, I am back. With, I might add, nothing to say. Between Thanksgiving, family visiting and our crazy couple of weeks preceding my daughter's ballet company's Nutcracker performance, I was pretty well booked. But today is the start of my downtime before Christmas. I love the quiet peace that CAN usher in the holiday if we let it. I suppose that is a post for another day. Today is AlpabeThursday, so I am here to talk about Kids. Specifically, my kids I guess. This Holiday season has contradictorily been the same as most years and entirely different.

In actuality, nothing has changed. We have baked gingerbread, attended the Nutcracker, decorated the tree, made new ornaments, wrapped gifts, sang carols and enjoyed the lights and the general festiveness of the pre-holiday season. The difference is that in the back of my mind I know it will never be like this again. You see, this is the last year that our oldest will be living at home full time. Don't get me wrong. I look forward (for her) to this time of exploration and finding her grown-up self. What an exciting time this was in my own life. Going off to college, meeting new people, seeing new things. Independence. I am excited to see her experience that and grow into the woman she is to become. But as the mom? Nope. Not so much. As the mom I think maybe she should just stay home forever; singing to me and writing songs and stories in front of the fire until we both grow old. Sound good? Yeah, I know. I just thought I would have more time.

When they were each born, 18 years seemed like such a long time. It was quite a long time before they each learned to crawl and then walk and then talk. Potty training? Forget it! That took an eternity. The first day of kindergarten seemed as if it would never come. But it came. And went. In the blink of an eye. Then weeks started flying by. And then months and years and now here we are. One is ready to fly from the nest. Ready? Hmmm....I hope she is. That is really my job as a mother. To prepare them to leave. What a sucky job! Feeding and clothing and guiding and nurturing. Pouring your whole heart and soul into this little person; acting excited on the first day of school when all you want to do is wrap them in a blanket and rock them in a chair. Resisting the urge to run away from home the first time they tell you they hate you. Smiling and taking pictures the first time they drive away in the car without you, even though you would rather take out your own appendix with a butter knife because it seems less risky. All that just to have them pack their bags and leave? What the heck! I change my mind. No kids for me. Yeah, I know. That shipped has long sailed. I just know that those days and weeks and years that are flying by will soon turn into decades.

I truly do look forward to seeing what each of my children becomes. The photographer/musician, the astronaut, the architect and the ballerina/baker. They are amazing little people. I can only imagine that they will be even more amazing big people. Who will hopefully bring some new big people into our lives and then make some new little people. (Oh c'mon...all moms hope that is what will happen!) But the selfish part of me just wants to freeze time. To scream, "Wait, I am not ready!"

When our oldest was around 5 or 6, we visited a small amusement park. She reluctantly decided to ride The Dragon, a kiddy roller coaster. Wide-eyed and pale she made the first circle clearly holding back the urge to let out a terrified scream. Her horror was obvious even to the teenage ride operator who stopped the coaster to let her off. When she got off she told us that it was both the most horrendous and most thrilling thing that she had ever experienced. That is me. Right now. Barely holding back the scream and yet somehow thrilling at the ride. I do not know where to even go with it. I am not one for roller coasters ya know and I am not sure how I was even talked into getting on. But I can say for sure...What a ride!

Quotes of the Day: "There are two lasting bequests we can give our children. One is roots. The other is wings." ~Hodding Carter, Jr.

"It would seem that something which means poverty, disorder and violence every single day should be avoided entirely, but the desire to beget children is a natural urge." ~Phyllis Diller

Ignominious And Icky Meet Ingenious And Innovative

2010-11-18T09:05:00.004-07:00

Ok. Another confession. I stink. I don't mean like..."Oh, man, I stink!" I mean like, stink, stink. You know...to high heaven. Especially after a workout. Which I actually manage to do on a regular basis. There has never been a deodorant that I have found to work. Ever. So, I just stink sometimes. I will not tell you everything I have tried, but let's just say there were several baby wipe and baking soda trials that got a little out of hand. So, if you are not already running for the next blog, let me tell you of the latest experiment. And a big thanks to those Rowdy Stroudy's for turning me on to this. So far it is working well. Homemade Deodorant. (Or pit-stick as Hunky Hubby likes to call it.) It even got rid of some stink that was starting to form. TMI? Now that I have thoroughly embarrassed myself...

We are all friends right? I mean I am only trying to help. And if I have to be brutally honest about my own bouquet to help a fellow man...then so be it! So for anyone else who might be aromatically challenged...give this a try!

Ingredients: 1/4 cup baking soda, 1/4 cup arrowroot powder (or cornstarch), 4 tablespoons coconut oil, Few drops essential oil (optional), A tin or jar with lid for storage.

I used a little jelly jar with a lid, but if you click on the links above they have more details and some storage ideas too. Homemade satisfies NatureGirl's need to be frugal and natural, but not too natural, if you know what I mean. Boy, I really hope this doesn't get me sent to the corner over at Mrs. Matlock's, but I gotta tell it like it is. Good luck with this. Thanks for listening, and may the fragrance be with you!

Quote of the Day: "Don't take life too seriously; you'll never get out of it alive."

--Elbert Hubbard writer, artist, philosopher

Ode To The Hunkiest Of Hubbies

2010-11-11T08:45:00.003-07:00

Ok, so this is not really going to be an ode. Sorry. If you would like to stop reading now and hop to another blog, I understand. Really. Go ahead, I'll wait. Now, for those of you who stuck around, this is a highly self-indulgent, totally random post about something that I want to talk about. Yeah, I know, "what's new?" My blog...my rules! But both Hunky and Hubby start with the letter H so Teacher won't get mad and I can gush all I want and not get sent to the office. So without further ado, NatureGirl proudly presents 42 things she loves about Hunky Hubby (not his actual name, but I have to protect his identity from the paparazzi.)

42. Knows that my favorite flower is "not roses"

41. Has great legs

40. Will eat almost anything

39. Is amazingly strong

38. Loves the outdoors

37. Helps with laundry and yucky chores

36. Always calls me by cutsie pet names

35. Whenever I see something I like he always says "buy it" even though I never do

34. Doesn't watch sports except BYU football (and that is with me)

33. Is ridiculously smart!

32. Works really hard

31. Is careful with money

30. Works at staying physically fit

29. Is sweet to kids

28. Mops the kitchen floor on his hands and knees

27. Keeps the yard looking nice

26. Always supports my quirky ideas

25. Has a terrific smile

24. Is a good athlete

23. Doesn't stink when he gets sweaty

22. Grows a nice beard and mustache, but shaves before I get tired of it

21. Tells me I am a good cook, even though I am not

20. Tells me I am good at other things, even though I am not

19. Probably actually believes I am good at those things

18. Is cuter now than when we met

17. Is incredibly good with babies

16. Cleans up poop and puke

15. Is not a work-aholic

14. Always does the driving on long trips

13. Takes us on long trips to cool places

12. Is quite brave

11. Likes to camp, hike and bike with me

10. Has a good sense of humor

9. Doesn't mind that I am ornery and sarcastic

8. Is an Eagle Scout (c'mon was there any doubt?)

7. Knows what good music is

6. Likes foreign movies

5. Laughs at the same stuff I do

4. Has awesome burns!

3. Has good taste in shoes

2. Is adventurous

1. Is mine!

Gee, Granola!

2010-11-04T13:52:00.005-06:00

Today we talk about the letter G. As in granola. Can you say, granola, class? Luckily, my mother is pretty thick skinned. She does not take life or herself too seriously. More importantly she does not take ME too seriously! Even when I make fun of her. Or my childhood. Or her, during my childhood. So when I say I do not want to grow up to be my mother, it is done with my tongue in my cheek. It is just that we try so hard to snip those apron strings, until we finally make peace with the notion that we have, indeed, become our parents.

The problem is that many of us grow up with misconceptions about our parents. Because we are looking at Mom and Dad through the eyes of a child or adolescent, our judgments of them are not always accurate. Sometimes when we look back on our childhood as adults however, we find that we are much more forgiving of our parents' mishaps and follies. This however, is NOT one of those times!

I was raised in the 1970's and 80's by comparatively young parents, they themselves products of the counterculture of the 1960's. Even at a young age, and certainly as a teen, I noticed that my parents were a bit different than my friends' parents. It was embarrassing and I did not like to admit it, but we were hippies.

We made our own all-natural soap and granola from scratch, often abstained from meat, instead making entire meals from lettuce. We were good stewards of the earth in composting our leftovers, and frequented the secondhand stores as to make good use of existing abundance. To top it off we basically lived in a commune. My family, my aunt and uncle (and two cousins), my uncle and aunt (and two cousins) and my grandfather all lived on one street with only Mr. Toy, the mailman, between our four houses. There were 7 cousins and we basically did everything together using all four houses as our own. At bedtime the grown ups would open the doors and as soon as the right number of children were in the house they tucked them in and kissed them goodnight. It didn't really matter if it was the correct children for that house! Now, with a family of my own, I was carrying on these time-honored hippie traditions. Happily haunting thrift stores, grinding my own wheat and keeping backyard chickens...Until...

During a family gathering last summer, I remarked at how funny it is that no matter how hard we try to not become our parents, the inevitable happens. At forty, I had to face the fact that I, like my mother before me, was a bit of a hippie. I had almost made peace with the idea when Mom said something that dispelled all my delusions about my Bohemian, free-spirited, nature-loving, do-no-harm upbringing and attitude, "We weren't hippies, Sweetheart, we were just poor". NOW she tells me. "Hey, someone turn down that Dead album...it's time for yoga."

Quote of the Day: "You're either on the bus or off the bus." ~ Ken Kesey

Pardon My Flosculation...Again

2010-10-28T08:19:00.002-06:00

I really like words. Seriously, I use them all the time! Reading, writing, quotidian colloquy. But I have recently heard some disturbing news. I mean, I guess deep down inside I always knew, but until my worst fears were confirmed by an outside source, I held out hope that it wasn't true. There are words on the brink of expiration. The threshold of existence. Near their demise. Falling, quickly and abruptly, into obsolescence!

Words that once served a purpose and held their places proudly and alphabetically in lexicons across the world, are now being tossed aside like relics of a bygone generation. Deemed antiquated, outdated, useless and ineffective they are being removed from dictionaries to make room for new words like woot, edamame and subprime. I get it. Really, I do. I understand the necessity of it. I mean, the only reason language exists is to serve the community that uses it. It allows us to freely exchange thoughts, feelings and ideas. If a word no longer performs this function, it will drop out of our vernacular naturally. It just seems so harsh, you know, to take them out of the dictionary after all they have done for us. Toiling away year after year until suddenly, when they are no longer needed, being torn from the very pages where they waited so faithfully for some amateur philologist to find them. And, as usual, I digress a bit.

The point is that someone even more passionate about words than I, has taken up the cause. Launched a formal protest even, and issued a call to action! For those of us so inclined, we can adopt one of these vanishing words and try to resuscitate it. How fun is that!? So, please help Savethewords.

I narrowed my choices to thural, coquinate, fallaciloquence, flosculation and ictuate, finally choosing to assimilate flosculation into my vocabulary. As part of my pledge to do so, I publicly take the oath of adoption: "I hereby promise to use this word, in conversation and correspondence, as frequently as possible, to the best of my ability." Ah...one down!

And A happy, happy AlphabeThursday to you...Mrs. Matlock just loves her some words...

Quote of the Day: "Language artfully used can make you happy to be alive."

--Ben Yagoda author (from If You Catch An Adjective, Kill It)

Coming Out Of The Closet...How Charming!

2010-10-22T13:06:00.010-06:00

I have been inspired, as have others, by Jen's willingness to come out of the closet. Yep, that is right. She totally did it. She exposed all of us for the frauds that we are. Sitting at our computers day after day, blogging about the good the bad and the ugly, but somehow skirting around the actual ugly stuff. Oh, sure, sometimes we discuss the hard things in life and even whine or complain now and again, but somehow we do it in a way that assures all of our readers that even in hardship there is never a dirty dish in the sink.

Well for a few brave souls that has ended. We are comin' clean. I must admit, I lead a pretty charmed life. I have a seriously Hunky Hubby who cleans up after himself (ahem, and me) and four pretty danged well behaved and intelligent kidlets who rarely give me trouble. I have a comfortable home and even some free time to do with as I please during most days. I like sharing that life with others, but I do nip and tuck! You know, a little face lift for my life. But today it is time for, dunt, dunt, dunt, duh...Reality Check!

So yesterday started pretty good. Got the kids fed and ready for school. Packed pretty danged healthy lunches and dropped them off ON TIME to there various destinations. I headed out to teach my yoga class. It was a nice class and I met a few new folks. I dashed home to take a shower, and then catch up on some chores while I let my hair dry in time for my visiting teache rs to come by for a visit. So far it is sounding pretty good huh? Except you may not know that I am a curly girl. My hair that is, and this actually is a real issue when dealing with time constraints (other curly girls, back me up here.) It is a whole process. Last month my visiting teachers saw me while it was still in the drying stage...humorous! Anyone unfortunate enough to ring my doorbell between 10 and noon on any given day will get a real laugh I tell ya. (Ok, see that was another little cover up. I should have said 10 and 2!) So, I wanted it to be done drying this time before they came for a visit. It was close enough and they did not have to hold their chuckles while visiting with this...

It was then time to pick up youngest kid from school. It was a lovely day, so I walked. She had invited a guest to come visit her ballet class that day and was very excited. At the last minute the friend could not go and the little one had a melt down. A little late for ballet, I left the 12 year old to fend for himself right as he walked in the door from school and called the two older kids to remind them to get themselves to the dentist straight from the high school. My good intention was to meet them at the dentist and then zip home to fix supper and visit with the one I had left behind. Never happened.

Ballerina did not want me to leave the building so I stayed for the 2 hour class and watched. This story is getting way too long, so I am going to cut to the chase. I never made it to the dentist to hear that one kid had a cavity and they BOTH need their wisdom teeth out. The fifteen year old had to make his own dinner and find a ride to his Civil Air Patrol meeting. The 17 year old had to make her own dinner and then get off to a school thing. 12 year old is still alone. I picked up Sonic (which is quite possibly the most disgusting thing I could imagine feeding my children) on the drive home and the three of us ate it at the kitchen counter. Did I mention Hunky Hubby was out of town on business? We finished up homework just in time for me to retrieve 15 year old from his meeting and returned home just minutes after HH pulled in from the airport. This would not be so bad if the day before had not been equally as odd. Other two kids at the dentist, HH gone, and microwavable macaroni and cheese for dinner. I was also going to show you the cleanest of my kids' rooms and couple of closets, but it seems pointless now. I think we all get the idea.

Our lives are not perfect. Which is ok. Mine is a still charmed life. Less than perfect and sometimes hectic, occasionally sprinkled with quick fixes and messes that take a while to get to. Most days run more smoothly than the past couple have. It was a crazy week. But my man is back home, the children will get a decent meal tonight and we will head back to the dentist next week to fix the cavity. Oh! and I know two teens who are getting wisdom teeth extraction for Christmas... Charming!

Quote of the Day: "It may be that your sole purpose in life is simply to serve as a warning to others."--Unknown

The Theory Of Evolution

2010-10-21T15:27:00.003-06:00

Oh oh oh I love me some Mrs. Matlock's homework assignments. (I always was a good student.)

I would like to discuss the theory of evolution today. No not that theory...if that theory were true mothers would have three hands by now and ACTUAL eyes in the backs of their noggins. No, this is the theory of the evolving...me. Little old me. I am Leslie. Wife. Daughter. Sister. Mother. Mormon. Recycler. Writer. Friend. Woman. Gardner. Lover. I am a loudmouthed, stubborn, opinionated know-it-all, but a passionate, empathetic, friendly naturegirl. I could go on, but for everyone's sake, I will not. I am above all, a work in progress. I am evolving. I have likewise evolved. I think most importantly I am becoming more ME. Everyday more comfortable with who I am. Letting go of pretenses; both externally and internally. Allowing myself to get to know the real me.

It takes time and effort to let emerge the person we are at birth before life and hurt and fear gradually sneak in and temporarily rob us of our true selves. Temporarily. We are divine. Yet mortality has a funny way of snatching that knowledge right out from under us...oh around, you know...jr high. Pick, pick, pick, little pieces of our divine nature are plucked off and we have to patch and mend and cover up our perceived inadequacies for years until we are once again able to see our real selves. Once again able to BE ourselves.

I am not perfect. There are things that I do not like about myself. But I do not feel as much need to cover them up anymore. Instead I try to work to change the things that I do not like. To soften my temper, to be more open to change, to be more forgiving and honest with myself and others. We often change and mold and bend ourselves to meet others' expectations or to conform to something or someone we think we ought to be. Mostly to someone we think others want us to be. But there comes a point in our lives, at least I feel it has come in my life, when we are ready. Ready to come back to the real us. Strip away the layers of cover up and be open and honest with the world. ever changing. Forming new relationships, evolving in our current relationships. Finding new passions, resurrecting old ones. Making ourselves over for the better. Putting our real face and our best foot forward. Moving into being who we were really meant to be. It is exciting. It is evolution!

Quote of the day: "Be yourself, everyone else is already taken."

--Oscar Wilde friggin' genius

Heeeelp! Seriously, SOS!

2010-10-18T15:07:00.004-06:00

Ok, so within the last month or so someone, some blogger, someone we all read, posted a recipe for chili. It looked really yummy and I wanted to try it. I remember that it had some odd sounding ingredients for chili...cocoa or cinnamon, or maybe both. Anyway, I did not write it down, and now I cannot find it! Someone help! If you remember whose blog it was, or if it was you... Fess up! I want that recipe before our chili cookoff this weekend. That is all.

Notes From A Bohemian Cottage

2010-10-14T08:31:00.010-06:00

Happy AlphabeThursday! Today my D is for Decorating. I am not good at decorating. I have good taste, don't get me wrong, of course I have good taste. I just do not know how to put it all together. Also, my taste is very...um...shall we say...eclectic. It is my mom's fault.

Growing up we always had a strange assemblage of furnishings and decor. A mixture of family pieces, antiques and odds and ends. A combination my mom's diverse flair for decorating and a lack of financing. Bookshelves in every nook and cranny, including the hallway! Nothing matched. I hated it. I just wanted everything to match. One year we bought a whole living room set, straight off the showroom floor. Overstuffed sectional sofa with matching (yes matching) end tables, coffee table and lamps. It was the one and only time I remember having a whole room in our house that...ya, you guessed it...matched. We moved shortly thereafter and that living room set was quickly pieced out, servicing new rooms and odd corners of the new house. We never matched again.

I knew that when I grew up and had a home of my own I would drive straight to the nearest furniture store, find my favorite grouping, wrap it up and take it home. Each room of my house would look just like a showroom. Sofas purposefully flanked by matching end tables. Headboards purposefully flanked by matching end tables, with matching dresser against the opposite wall. Everything. would. be. perfect. But as it turns out. I hate it. I hate matching furniture. Oh, do not get me wrong. It looks amazing at the store. It even looks amazing in my friends' homes. But it isn't me. Come on! Who was I kidding, my clothes never even match!

So here I sit, in my little bohemian cottage, full of hand-me-downs, thrift store finds and odds and ends. Bookshelves in every corner and a dining table in the middle of the living room.No real antiques because I am way cheaper than my mom. Nothing matches. Well except one sofa table and one end table that I bought together for our first home. They are in different rooms. I became my mother. Good thing. She lives in a wonderful space that really suits her. That is it I guess. Our space, our homes, our rooms must authentically reflect who we are. I was trying to make my outside into something that did not jive with my inside. I do not know why yet, perhaps just to rebel against my upbringing. I will have to explore that. But finally I have begun to make peace with my insides and am becoming more comfortable with showing that to the world. So, letting my inner bohemian shine through is a step toward living more authentically I guess. Well, that is all I have to say on the matter. For now anyway.

Quote of the Day: "I would be most content if my children grew up to be the kind of people who think decorating consists mostly of building enough bookshelves.

--Anna Quindlen author

Let's Go To The Hop, Oh Baby!

2010-10-06T09:25:00.005-06:00

I have actually blogged about blogging. On more than one occasion. Seems rather redundant, superfluous even. Haha...I crack myself up! Anywho, here is a little excerpt, extract, part, section, piece, portion, snippet, clip, bit, sample of one of those posts. But don't worry. There is a reason behind it.

I have seen some remarkable things over the year since my somewhat trepidatious entrance into the blogosphere. I have "met" some amazing people, reconnected with old friends and drawn closer to family. I have seen babies born, and couples wed (not necessarily in that order)...birthdays celebrated and anniversaries marked...rejoiced with some friends and cried with others. Am I alone in my sentiment, sickeningly saccharine as it may be? Do any of you have experiences with this medium that have touched, inspired, angered or fed you? I want answers I tell ya! So here is where the favor comes in. I want to know who you are. Am I getting to read all the bloggers' blogs who hit my blog? So, if you read this...leave a comment. If you have an experience, share it. If not, just say hi so I can go check out your blog! If I already know who you are...leave a comment anyway so I don't look like a big dork standing in the corner all by myself waiting for someone to ask me to dance."

I like the blogging medium. I have met even MORE cool people in the year since I wrote that little bit. I love the accidental blog hop that leads me to find people who enjoy the same quirky things that I do. Or people who look at things and do things and think things that are completely opposite of me!

I love the sneak peek into the daily (even if mundane) lives of friends and family. My friends and family are spread literally from border to border and from sea to shining sea. We have, however, this place to converge, to rally, to reunite, to associate, to mingle, to share, to connect and reconnect. So, while there may not always be a lot to say, keep saying it. Real people, real lives. Ordinary and humdrum at times. Remarkable and Amazing at others. Blogging is journalism, poetry, prose, expression, conversation, news and stories. It is whatever you want it to be. So, I say...Blog On! And today. I say also...Blog HOP! Let's meet some new folks, make new friends and hop, hop, hop...

B Is For: Bicycles And Big Buts

2010-09-30T08:00:00.001-06:00

I owe a big thanks to Mrs. Matlock of Off On My Tangent. Oh, you don't know her? Well you should. She is a lovely, albeit somewhat strict, anytime blogger and part time schoolmarm. If it were not for her weekly homework assignments I believe my blogging would be sporadic as of late. Today's assignment? The letter "B". And thank goodness because it gives me the chance to finally sit down and write about a recent experience.

If anyone read this post at the beginning of the year then perhaps, just perhaps, you have wondered how it turned out. If you did not read it and do not intend to, I spoke about the difficulty that I have with breaking out of my box. And in order to help force myself out of that box I decided to do something daring in honor of my 40th birthday. Specifically, a century bike ride. I chose to do the 100km. Sixty five bum bustin', leg burnin', sweat breakin' miles. And I did it. And except for the 20 mph winds for the last 30 miles it wasn't all that hard. Next year Hunky Hubby says we are doing the 100 miler route. I say "Bring it on!", which if you know me is not something I say very often. You see...I am the queen of big buts.

You know...

I would try the ride... BUT.

I wish I could do this...BUT.

I would love to try that...BUT.

I could be all that and a bag of chips...BUT.

I dream of_______...BUT.

That is a lot of big buts. I am kinda tired of walking around dragging all those big buts behind me. Now, this is not to say that I do not love my life. I totally do. I have amazing kids and a Hunky Hubby that I cannot get enough of, and we live a great life full of love and books and movies and art and nature and fun, but I have always played it safe. I read something recently that I wrote a year or so ago. A question to myself in my journal. "Will I ever do something truly daring?" This ride for me was daring. It required believing that I could do something that I did not know whether or not I could do. I never, let me repeat, never do anything that I do not absolutely know I can do. Especially in public. Safe.

So many of my posts over the last 2+ years have been about my desire to get out and live, oh I don't know, to live...more, I guess. Live more, love more, pray more, try more, be more. Not worry so much about getting hurt, or looking stupid, or shhhhh....failing. Firstborn syndrome I suppose, but that is a chat for another day. More. Yep that is it. Of course as a simplicity freak, I am going to have to learn to be more with less. Ah ha! Sounds like at least a couple more posts. Life is good.

Quote of the Day: "Life loves to be taken by the lapel and told: "I am with you kid. Let's go." ~Maya Angelou

A Is For: Autumnal Ruminations

2010-09-23T08:48:00.005-06:00

Today at AlphabeThursday the letter is A. Here in beautiful Idaho, the seasons they are a changin'. It is officially the first day of AUTUMN. I love autumn. It is likely my favorite season. I am a bit sad though to say goodbye to summer. Those lazy, hazy crazy days of summer. Sunshine, fresh fruits and veggies, picnics, parks, playing in the water, breezy skirts and flip flops. (I love my flip flops.) I go into the garden and pick fresh raspberries for breakfast. I lie on my back in the grass and stare up into that endless blue sky. I read in the shade of the patio while the kids run through the sprinkler and dash across the lawn headed for that iconic summer contraption, the "slip'n'slide" wishing that the season would last forever. (And secretly wishing that they would stay my little ones forever as well.) Yet as the kids finish their fourth week of school, and I see the leaves beginning to turn and the temperatures fall, I know that another summer has come and gone. Did I appreciate it while it was here? I sure tried to, yet it seems gone too soon still. I feel that way too as I watch my four kids grow up right before my eyes. Do I appreciate each stage for its own wonder and excitement? I am trying to, yet the years too, seem gone all to soon still.

Before I fall off my chair and roll up into a soggy mom-ball of tears, I had better move on to autumn. I do love autumn. The air smells crispy. It is clear and cool. Just as the summer flowers lose their color, the trees begin to change and a whole new pallette is arranged. I just love the way it feels, and the sunsets are spectacular! It is time to don cardigans, scarves and cute hats to crunch the leaves on the sidewalk during my afternoon walks. I relinquish the barbecue for the big soup pot. Fall is the time to enjoy a giant batch of chili with a big, crusty loaf of sourdough...Yummm! The pumpkins in the garden are getting plump and I know that trick-or-treating is just around the corner. (I DO love to dress up.) I used to rush the passing of the seasons and celebrate each milestone in the kids' lives with a mad desire to see how it was all going to play out in the end. Now, though I just wish it would all slow down. I don't want it to stop, of course. I love seeing my kids grow and learn and develop into their own little people. They really are cool. I don't really want summer to last forever, nor fall either. It just goes so dang fast! So, I say, let's slow down.

The changing of the seasons really gives us the opportunity to reconnect with the earth and with nature. Go to the farmers market and see what is fresh this week. Taste the difference in food that is really ripe. Take a drive, or even a walk, and see all of the changes in the trees and flowers. Smell the air. Take advantage of all of it. Perhaps in your area Autumn lasts a while longer, but I know that here, winter is just around the corner. I will relish that when it comes too (only through March though), but for now I am love love lovin' Autumn! Although, I'm not putting a way those flip flops just yet...

Quote of the Day: "Delicious autumn! My very soul is wedded to it, and if I were a bird I would fly about the earth seeking the successive autumns."

~George Eliot author

To Blog Or Not To Blog...What A Question?!

2010-09-17T08:54:00.005-06:00

Fifth and Final Day of The SITS Blogging Project. Ugh...I have always hated finals! So, today's final?

Challenge #5

(Write about what blogging means to you. Why do you blog? What purpose does it serve you and how have you benefited from sharing a piece of yourself online this way?)

What an odd phenomenon is the blog world. Who are we to think that we have anything to say that anyone would want to hear? Most of the time, I doubt that my own family (i.e. those obligated by blood or marriage to at least pretend to be interested) particularly cares what I have to rant or ramble about. Are we truly a narcissistic society, so caught up in our own opinions and postulations as to believe that others would want to read them, to the tune of thousands of bloggers, publishing thousands upon thousands of posts each week? Clearly, yes, we are. BUT truth be told...I love it! I have always loved discussing, debating, deliberating, conversing, examining, exploring, analyzing and connecting with people. This is a new medium that is all.

I am not so delusional as to think that I ever say anything earth-shattering or even compelling in any way. Most of the time poignant is even beyond my reach, but I do hope to share. Share a little piece of me. This is something that I am actually not particularly good at. Sharing I mean. Well, feelings that is. Toys? Sure. My Halloween candy (except Snickers)? Of course. Clothes, money, friends, recipes, time, talents...anything...but feelings? Uh, No.

I am, by nature, rather private. I am friendly and some would call me outgoing even, but I keep my deepest feelings exactly that...deep. Always have. But I love to write. Always have. I started a journal in the 7th grade. She became my best friend. I "talked" to her at least once a day for the next ten years until I got married. I do not know why I stopped writing everyday. I guess it seemed childish for a grown, married mother to write to an imaginary friend. Hmph! Even saying that makes me sad. Why did I think growing up meant letting go of my imagination?

Truth be told though. It was a piece of me that was important. The writing. I don't make any judgements about whether this is something I am good at or not. It does not really matter. It is a part of who I am. It is a part of what makes me, me. I write. I lost that for so many years. I missed it, but I let it go because...well, I don't know why. But I did.

This blog has, for the last couple of years, given that back to me. All my lovely imaginary friends. A place to share a thought, a feeling, an idea. I don't know who all reads. I usually cannot figure out why anyone does, but I appreciate the place to be me.

I also love the sneak peek into the daily (even if mundane) lives of friends and family. Do I think that it would be better for us to bind these ties face to face? Yes, but that is not the reality of the times we are living in. I live 100's of miles from my "hometown". Also true of my college home. My friends and family are spread literally from border to border and from sea to shining sea. We have, however, this place to converge, to rally, to reunite, to associate, to mingle, to share, to connect and reconnect. So, while there may not always be a lot to say, keep saying it. This is what we talk about around the water cooler now. Real people, real lives. Ordinary and humdrum at times. Remarkable and Amazing at others. Blogging is journalism, poetry, prose, expression, conversation, news and stories. It is whatever you want it to be. So, I say...Blog On!

Quote of the Day: "In everyone's life, at some time, our inner fire goes out. It is then burst into flame by an encounter with another human being. We should all be thankful for those people who rekindle the inner spirit."

~Albert Schweitzer physician and philosopher

Biography Of A Woman

2010-09-16T09:04:00.002-06:00

Four, day four....one, two, three, four...Day four. Still participating in the Event. Today's challenge...dun dunt dunt duh...

Challenge #4

(Write a new post about a woman who inspires you.)

I actually do not know where to start. There are dozens. Women in the scriptures, public figures, family and friends, fellow bloggers. Countless women who have inspired me in countless ways. But I narrowed it down to one.

This woman speaks to me. Inspires me to be the best I can be, even though most days I feel like I fall helplessly short of her expectations, somehow the next day, there she is, pushing me to be better and to try harder. Kicking me in the butt and urging me to pick myself up by my proverbial bootstraps and give it one more shot! She is kinda bossy. I can say that because I know she will not read this for quite a while. There are days when I feel her disapproval, but for the most part I think she thinks I can make more of my life than I think I can.

She dreams big. She has faith that somehow things will work out if we can just take the first step. She is nearly fearless when it comes to dreams and aspirations. Sometimes I think she is crazy when she tells me all of the things she hopes for and wants to try. and do. and be.

She is joyful almost terminally so. Her joy from the love of God and people and life is tangible. She lives every moment and loves every moment as if it is her last. She never wastes time, but is not afraid to sit and be still. To just be. She knows that this is Not a waste of time. She grows things. Plants love her. She has always talked to them, but they have begun to talk back. She travels. She loves experiencing new people and places and is not afraid to experience life out of the ordinary.

She is rarely without her beau. They are best friends, but support one another in their individual endeavors. The time occasionally apart makes the time together sweeter. They know that they must be whole and vital people alone if they are to be of benefit to one another and their family as a couple. They laugh together still. And she still thinks he is hunky. Even though she is no longer a young woman she is at peace with her body and every wrinkle and gray hair. They tell a story of a life lived and she will forever be young at heart.

She is the woman I want to be when I grow up. No really. She is. This woman does not yet exist. She is me. Or at least the me I want to be. Perhaps if I can envision her in such a real sense maybe I really can become her. Perhaps SHE can inspire ME to become HER! Crazy thought I know. But let's go with it. Let's write our own future autobiographies. In present tense. As if we are there. Let us let these future women inspire us now...to be them...then. Hmmm...Who's with me?! Read the quote below and then if you do this experiment please leave a comment so I can read yours.

Quote of the Day: "Far away there, in the sunshine are my highest aspirations. I may not reach them but I can look up and see their beauty, believe in them, and try to follow where they lead!"

--Louisa May Alcott

What's In A Name?!

2010-09-15T08:00:00.001-06:00

Here we are...Day Three! I think this challenge was just for me. I do pay special attention to my post titles. I do not really know why. Probably because I have a really bad sense of humor and love (a bit too much) a good pun or particularly absurd play on words. It was hard to pick my favorite, because I really do cherish all the little buggers for all their hard work and jocular dispositions. But this one was terribly funny to me because it was a story about jr. high english class, you know where they make you read Shakespeare and crap and then girls make fun of you if you don't have the right jeans, you know...

Challenge #3 What's In A Name?

(Re-upload a post with a title that you are particularly proud of and explain why.)

Too Bad The Merchant Of Venice Didn't Sell Calvins! originally posted December 2009

My youngest had a bit of a melt down the other day. Minor really, but made Mom think and smile and giggle and hug the little princess because, being at least thirty two steps ahead of the girl on the path of life, Mom knows it is only a foreshadowing of at least a few more such instances. She had had a substitute teacher that day in Mrs. G's normally efficiently run, well oiled, chaos free second grade class. The sub however was not so fastidious. Princess's table was noisy and disorderly and Miss R is one 7 year old who does not stand for such nonsense and told her friends as much. When she got home she flopped on the couch, stared out the window and with tears starting to run remarked softly, "I wish I could go back and start this day over."
Boy howdy girl...I hear ya! Day? I have whole years I wish I could take a mulligan on. 1984...Do over! 1996? Puhlease! 2007...Don't even ask!
If I could go back and redo most of jr. high I know exactly where I would start. Nikki Whatserface! I am pretty sure her primary goal of the 7th grade was to make my life miserable. You remember 7th grade right? Ya, her. Why did I let her do that to me? Destroy my self esteem, make me feel small and insignificant. I should not have given her the power. One of my big life regrets is not standing up to her the day I had a chance. Math class. She asked loudly, backed up by her little toady, Christine Somethingorother, "Are those the ONLY pants you own? You wear them everyday!" They were in fact my only pair and she made me feel ashamed of it. The next morning I dug through my mom's closet and found a pair of dress slacks that fit my frame but not my age and I wore those with some of mom's shoes because somehow I thought that wearing tennis shoes with a pair of women's dress slacks was the silly part. Of course the next day my only reprieve came in the mocking my shoes instead of my jeans.
Over the last 25 years, I have written and rewritten what could have been my triumphant soliloquy rebuking every adolescent tyrant and tormentor spewing vitriol and insult from behind the shield of perfectly pressed Calvins. "Nikki, what is it that makes you so insecure about yourself that you feel the need to break others down in order to build yourself up? What part of you is so passed feeling that you have no empathy for those around you who may be hurt or afraid. I may not have the right clothes or hair but I am a nice person! We all have something to offer! Everyone in this room! We have friends and families. We live and laugh and love. If you prick us do we not bleed? (By now I am standing on the desk for full effect) If you poison us do we not die? And if you wrong us, do we not seek revenge? I am NOT AN Animal!!!" Ok you get the point...I hope. Shoulda, coulda, woulda. Mr. Coleman's math class really missed out, eh?
In all reality once I started thinking about it, I decided to keep those years. This is my life. This is me. Warts and all. The good and the bad days, weeks or even years, have shaped me. Molded me into the fine upstanding lady you see today. Ya, I know, I have a tendency to exaggerate. But I guess the long and the short of it is we learn from our experiences. I will never make fun of anyone's clothes. I will always try to find something I like about people I meet. I am nice. Sarcastic, opinionated, stubborn and sometimes temperamental, but nice. And in the end mean people are just mean.
Quote of the Day: "All I can do is be me-whoever that is."
--Robert Zimmerman

Oh how pathetic are you NatureGirl? But you know what? I still cringe when I think of those girls...Just play nice people. Play.Nice.

Kissing Books Are My Favorite Kind Of Books!

2010-09-14T08:00:00.002-06:00

Day two of the Back to Blogging Event. It was fun to look back through the archives and re-read a few oldies. Some posts should just be deleted, never to be heard from again but there were perhaps one or two that could stand to be resurrected for this event.

Challenge #2 Here we go again...

(Re-upload a post you wish more people had read and explain why it was important to you.)

I would not say that this one was particularly important to me, but it was a funny thing that happened, and I remember being quite upset at the time, but it was just a couple of weeks after I started the blog and I had not told many people about it. Actually I still do not tell many people about it, but I am getting braver. So without further ado...

Is This A Kissing Book? Oh, Ya! originally posted September 2008

I don't know where to start. I like to keep things upbeat, and simply muse (or rant) about the things that are going on in my life. I like to think that in almost every situation, we can find some good. Some lesson to be learned. Something positive to focus on. I am going to try...
I recently saw an old episode of Everybody Loves Raymond in which the lead character, Ray, is speaking to a friend about marriage. He says, "Ya, we have been married eleven years, and there is no end in sight." Double entendre duly noted, that is quite poignant. When Hunky Hubby and I married, because of our religious beliefs, we ended the ceremony not with "until death do us part", but "for Time and all Eternity." So I can say, 17 years--with no end in sight! I am so thankful for this...most of the time! (it's a joke sweetheart)
So, HH and I love to get outdoors when we have our "mom and dad time". We often go backpacking, but the last couple of outings have been mountain biking. SOOO much fun. Usually.
Yesterday, we dropped the kids off at school and headed to some trails fairly close to home. The trail we take is difficult, but we know we have plenty of time to make the 15 or so mile loop back to the truck and get home before the young'ns do. Obviously this is not what happened or I wouldn't be blah blah bloggin' about it. The first 13 miles goes smoothly. Except for some parts of the trail that are not in good shape, we are having a good time. The leaves are starting to turn color, and the weather is perfect! Near the end though, we cannot find the last turn-off to get back to the truck. We try several different trails, including one that was a horrible downhill bushwhack, followed by an arduous UPhill bushwhack back out (this required carrying our bikes a good deal of the time). We are quickly loosing time and patience. We finally decide to just backtrack and go out the way we came in...another 13 or so miles! In the end our fun-time 15 mile jaunt turned into a 30+ mile fight-waiting-to-happen, who's-sleeping-on-the-couch-tonight major expedition! HH kept his cool the whole time. He is just level like that. I lost it pretty good once near the end. On a rather steep and rocky downhill, he got way ahead of me. When I came to a fork, I wasn't sure which turn to take so, I stopped and waited for him to realize I was not there. It took what I considered WAY too long for him to come and retrieve me, and I let him have it! Poor kid, he just took it and said how sorry he was and tried to soften my scowl by adding, "I will always come for you" in his best attempt at a Westly-like fake British accent. He is cute. I reminded him, however that he should have not lost me in the first place! He agreed. I will never doubt again. So, it is still 17 years with no end in sight...
AND
We both found a positive. Hubby said that from now on, every mountain bike trip we take will seem way more fun and pretty easy. I loved the new bike seat he bought me last month. It's way more comfy than my old one and I was sure to thank him for it.

Quote of the Day:"Pray for your marriage because God will fill the void and sweep in and muster feelings for your spouse you never thought you had."
--Patricia Heaton actress

I'm Still Here!

2010-09-13T12:40:00.007-06:00

Don't you love how certain things and certain people cross your path just when you need them? Yeah, me too. It just so happens that This blogger knew exactly what I needed...well at least in the blogosphere. Summer is inevitably both busy and lackadaisical at the same time and I love that I kind of disconnect from the regular routine and just sit back and enjoy the the slow rush of summer vacation. Needless to say, blogging kinda goes out the window. But thanks to this girl, I was turned onto the Back to Blogging Project. Today is day one, so, here goes...

Challenge #1 One, Uno, Un, Ein

(re-upload the first post you ever wrote on your blog)

Here I AM! Originally posted August 2008

Well, this is my first post. A bit about me...
I am very happily married to the man of my dreams, hoping someday to become the woman of HIS dreams! We have four great kids whom we adore but take pleasure in sometimes embarrassing in front of their friends (this is a privilege as parents we claim!). I am a snob (although I have no right to be) about books, movies and music and intend to post quite a few suggestions (i.e. ego-driven overtly opinionated rants) on what you should read, watch and listen to. I feel passionately about my religion, simplicity, nature, yoga, food, politics, learning and (most of the time) life! This blog is an experiment in reaching out to long lost friends, and perhaps making a few new ones. It is also an obvious attempt to keep my mind occupied as my youngest child goes off to school...without me! I hope you enjoy it now, and return often!
Quote of the day: "See school as something that goes on everywhere, all the time, not just in libraries, but in parking lots, in airports, in trees."
--Ann Prattchet author of What Now?

So there you have it. Not very exciting because it now serves as my "about me". But it gave me the blogging bug. The funniest part is I have not really written about any of the things that I intended to in the beginning. Blogging has created a kinder, gentler NatureGirl, I guess. I have met so many interesting people in the last 2+ years. Very cool. See you tomorrow. Let the Blogging BEGIN...again.

Man, This Fence Is Getting Uncomfortable!

2010-09-08T13:11:00.004-06:00

I got a homework assignment. From a friend. Karma I guess, because I gave one to a different friend a couple of weeks ago. That'll teach me to go shooting off my big mouth. Yeah, you are right...I will never learn!

So, MJ (that is the homework assigning friend) is an old pal. We share the same birthday. Year and all, which we both find really fun for some reason. Anyway, I went to her with a dilemma. I am wanting some new experiences in life. I have lots of interests and every so often I go off half-crazed wanting to learn some new thing and jumping in before I even know what I am doing. Hunky Hubby says that I actually rarely do this and anyone who knows me would agree with him, but I FEEL like I do it. Mostly the adventures are all in my head. I do not actually DO any of the crazy things I fantasize about. I am, as they say...boring. Except in my head. There I am Cool. Talented. Interesting and even Risky. Hey, I know! Why don't you all come join me there, then I would not have to actually move from my comfort zone. Whew! Glad we solved that problem.

Ha! You thought I forgot about the homework right? Nope. So, I told MJ that I am feeling kind of, oh I don't know, restless I guess. Summer vacation just ended and I am back to 6 hours a day of time that should be put to good use. Half of which is, leaving me with 3 hours a day. I guess I am just ready for a new challenge. Or outlet perhaps. I get all of these amazing ideas (you know, in my head) and I picture myself doing more and being more and living more. It all sounds so great so I approach Hunky Hubby about it and he says (as usual) "Go for it, Babe!" Mostly because he is crazy and actually DOES the things he feels passionately about and for reasons I have yet to figure out, loves me. Then to top it off MJ says I need to just write it out. Pray, meditate and then just let the feelings and words flow. What is the direction I am to go from here? Let God take the reins for a moment and go forth with faith...

Yeah right? Do I look crazy? I hope this does not sound disrespectful or sacrilegious, but sometime you gotta constrain the Big Guy or he will just let your life get so big and so grand that you do not know what to do with yourself. You know what I mean? So I have not decided yet whether to do the homework assignment. Or whether or not to Go for it, if/when I find out what "it" is. I know it is fear. Of the unknown. Of failure. Mostly of looking stupid. Ugh! I have spent so much of my life looking stupid. Feeling stupid. Feeling like I look like I feel stupid. But there is comfort in predictability. At least I know how to pretend like I am not feeling like I look like I am feeling stupid. You know? Man, this fence is getting uncomfortable!

Quote of the Day: "“It is in the compelling zest of high adventure and of victory, and in creative action, that man finds his supreme joys.”

- -Antoine De Saint-Exupery Author

Stream Of Consciousness From Planet Earth

2010-09-02T13:39:00.004-06:00

Today I am part of the earth. Ya, ya, I know...where do I spend the rest of my time? Ha ha you are all so clever. No I mean it is just one of those absolutely glorious days that makes you happy to be alive. So connected we are to the earth. (When did Yoda get here?) It is 75 degrees, clear blue skies and just a slight breeze to make one smile. Just lovely. I went into the yard to hang the laundry out to dry and I just marveled at the sounds, scents and feelings of the end of summer. I can tell it is drawing to a close. Autumn is in the air. That is ok. I love the fall. Will miss the laziness and sometimes craziness of summer break, but the harvest and abundance of the fall is beautiful. I know what is around the corner. Cold. Oh, and dark. Dark and Cold. This is the north country. But there is something deeply satisfying about the change of season. I hung the laundry and relished the touch of the cool, damp clothes against my warm skin. The cat winding in between my feet meowing for attention. I picked a giant handful of blackberries, bursting with juice and flavor, still warm from the sun. I gathered the eggs, thanked the chickens, Yolko and Hendrix, for their part in sustaining my family and left them with a good joke. Only thing better than a chiken's sense of hearing is their sense of humor. Old chicken joke. I am just feeling glad today. Grateful to be part of the creation, the planet, the birds and bees and even the laundry. I have purpose and direction and stewardship. Abundance and gratitude.

Thanks for listening...

Quote of the Day: "Let the mountains shout for joy, and all ye valleys cry aloud; and all ye seas and dry lands tell the wonders of your Eternal King! And ye rivers, and brooks, and rills, flow down with gladness. Let the woods and all the trees of the field praise the Lord; and ye solid rocks weep for joy! And let the sun, moon, and the morning stars sing together, and let all the sons of God shout for joy! And let the eternal creations declare his name forever and ever! And again I say, how glorious is the voice we hear from heaven, proclaiming in our ears, glory, and salvation, and honor, and immortality and eternal life; kingdoms, principalities, and powers!"

--Doctrine & Covenants 128:23

On The Somewhat Wretched Lives Of Mrs. Whatif And Mr. Ifonly

2010-08-31T12:43:00.007-06:00

So, I have decided that there are two kinds of people in the world. Well, not people...there are lots of those. But two kinds of worriers. Or really three...three kinds of worriers. And then the forth kind of people who do not worry at all. So that is 3 kinds of worriers making four kinds of people, some of which do not worry. Should I start over?

First kind of worrier. Those who fret about the future. I will call these good folks the "Worry Warts." Just as a side bar they also worry about the present whenever they are not in control of the situation. We could also call them the What-Ifers. "What if Sally gets hurt? What if I don't do well? What if he doesn't like me?"

Then there are the "Regreters." Our good friends who agonize over past mistakes, missteps and missed opportunities. We could call them the If-Onlys. "If only I hadn't done that. If only I had jumped sooner. If only I had not said that." You get the idea. Of course we can add the third group, those who do both, but what could we do for those poor fools but laugh at them!?

In case you are wondering...I attend the If Only School for Chronic Regreters. But I hope to graduate soon. It is funny how the Worry Warts are distressed by what they cannot control and Regreters by what they DID NOT control (eh hem...themselves). A good friend of mine recently told me about her visit to the dentist. They had to pull in a second dental assistant to help hold her tongue during the exam, because apparently she could not control it. Boy howdy if that is a job anyone out there is willing to do...you're hired! Cuz I could really use an assistant to help me hold my tongue.

As a budding yogi, I understand (and have even blahged about) the importance of living in the present and really relishing every moment of what IS. Live in the here and now. In some respects it is easy. I am not one who worries about the future. I make plans and have hopes and dreams, but I know that not everything is within my power to control and so why fret about it. Friends often ask me if I worry about my kids when they are on dates or Hunky Hubby when he is out climbing mountains or skiing down them. The answer is no. I am not in control of those situations and worrying about them will not change what happens one bit. It is out of my hands. I pray for their safety and make sure I know where they are and how to help if there is trouble, but that is all I can do. No, I do not worry too much about that which I cannot control. My burden is the big bag of "oopses" I carry over my shoulder. And it is a big bag. We all have mistakes and regrets. It is part of life. I believe in repentance and in plain old apologies, but it never seems to erase the memory. I keep a running list. Well, two lists I guess.

If Only I had... If Only I Had NOT...

Thinking of the things I wish I had not done or had not said actually evokes a physical response. My heartbeat quickens, my jaw tightens, my stomach turns. This is the stress response. I understand it is much the same bodily reaction that our Worry Warts experience. This is our body's sympathetic nervous system kicking into gear releasing all kinds of nasty hormones that one might need if there were real danger to run from. But this is only perceived danger and we are better off without the juice coursing through our veins unnecessarily. It all seems so silly. The worry I mean. What is real is now. We do not know the future. We cannot undo the past. We must live in the present. Find joy in the living of our lives. Learn from our mistakes. Do a bit better every day. Look forward with joy. But live today without the hauntings of yesterday or tomorrow.

So the question is...How do we do it? How do the Regreters let lie and the Worry Warts let go? I do not have the answer. I know we must do it. Worry never changes the past or the future only the joy we have in the present. I am ready to graduate from my school of worry. You?

Quote of the Day: "There are two days in the week about which and upon which I never worry... Yesterday and Tomorrow."

~Robert Jones Burdette humorist

Do These Training Wheels Make My Manifesto Look Big? Pt II

2010-08-14T11:04:00.002-06:00

Ok, since this ride is only one...ONE...week away I thought I would repost in case anyone wonders where I am next Saturday morning. Yeah, I know. No one wonders...

Have you ever had the feeling that the universe is trying to tell you something? Yeah. Me too. Usually I just ignore it. Ok, this is complicated so I will get to the point. Several things have happened over the last few months that have given me the determination to change my status quo and break out of my box. Ok, perhaps determination is too strong a word. What is the word for "I'm still chicken but I think perhaps it is about time I do change because I am turning 40 next week and so what better time to finally break out of my shell and do something really different, really hard and really unexpected even if I don't really want to?" Where the heck is my thesaurus...

So, if you can, follow my train of thought through the last few months...

First, an old college roommate announced that she was training for her first triathlon. Something I have always thought I might like to do, but too afraid.

Then a friend suggested that I consider doing a local century bike ride this summer. Yeah, right.

Then a beautiful young lady who is livin' the life and blogging about it *here*posted what I will call her "Fear Manifesto." She is doing it. She is busting out. Naming her fears, conquering her fears and telling the whole blogosphere about it. I was touched by her original post and a follow-up entitled "what are you waiting for?" So I asked NatureGirl, "NatureGirl, what are you waiting for?" She had a whole list that I will not bore you with now. But then she had the gall to remind me of my own recent post *here* in which I was dumb enough to say that I was finally ready to take a step outside of my box.

So....I asked Hunky Hubby if he would like to ride that Century with me. He would. One hundred miles. I was thinking of doing the 1/2 though. That sounded doable, and not too much of a challenge, and even kinda fun, and isn't that enough, and couldn't I call that my box-breakout!

But then (stay with me here I know it is confusing)...a girlfriend who is doing a different 100 miler this spring right before her 40th birthday, gave me a good talking to a la...

"What do you mean only half, you are fit, it is your 40th birthday for crying out loud, it's only an extra 50 miles, yeah it is long and hard and you could wind up with a bike seat permanently affixed to your posterior, embrace it, go big or go home!" And yes, those were her exact words.

So Now...I don't know. I think I may actually want to go through with this thing, crazy as it seems. Hmmmm....yeah....who knew? But how do you shed the fear? And what is it that I am really afraid of? I think perhaps...

Quote of the Day:

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?

You are a child of God.

Your playing small does not serve the world.

There's nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other

people won't feel insecure around you.

We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It's not just in some of us; it's in everyone.

And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, Our presence automatically liberates others.

--Marianne Williamson author

What Walt May Have Forgotten To Mention In THE END

2010-08-06T09:08:00.004-06:00

I have been known to get worked up about things from time to time. I can even be a bit uptight sometimes. My online persona is calm, cool, collected and well balanced. But that is because we can be anything we want to be in this world where there is time to think through each sentence and edit. In my real life I do not have this advantage and sometimes my passion, opinions and temper get the better of me. I must have done this at least once with a good friend of mine, because she suggested a topic for me to blah blah blahg about. I must be loosening up in my old age, because I just ended that sentence in a preposition and I am going to leave it. See, I am not uptight...anymore.

ANYway, as I was saying before I so rudely interrupted myself...The topic? Princesses. Specifically “How Walt and his Princesses Didn’t Do Us Any Favors” or “What the Heck!?” Ok, I know. That needs a little explanation.

First of all. Name a princess who has a mother. Anyone? Nope, that is a step mother and she is awful. Yep, that one too. Anyone else? Ok. So, no one has a mother. Why you ask? Well, first of all it is a cheap literary/film device used to create instant sympathy for our young female protagonists. You do not know her well enough to like her, but you feel sorry for her because she hasn’t got a Mum. Cheap trick, but effective. Plus, being motherless allows said protagonist to get into all kinds of trouble that would otherwise be avoided had someone been there at home to ground her till she came to her senses. And in case you are thinking of trying it, apparently locking her in a tower just creates more problems.

So, the real problem I have comes in the message that these headstrong teens are sending to the audience. For instance, the beautiful redheaded siren who utters the infamous “But, Daddy, I love him!” Love? Seriously? She had never even MET him. Yet, as you may recall, was willing to put life on the line and give up home, family and the ability to breath underwater for the strapping lad with nice hair. Sheesh, Navy guys! Or how about the well-read adventurous lass who dreams of leaving the provincial town that is holding her down in search of something more! Was the “more” really a man who constantly yells at her and then locks her in her room without food until she complies with his wishes? Hmmm? Message: “If I am just sweet enough and love him well enough he will turn from a beast into a handsome Prince.” Sorry to ruin it for you.

Don’t get me wrong. My girls watch(ed) these movies. One of them loves all things Princess, and I did illustrate the worst examples. The point is...the point is...well I don’t know really. I guess I want my girls to have a bit better role models when it comes to love and marriage. I certainly do not think they are ruined by watching these. Perhaps it even gives us something to talk about with our daughters. But those dang Princesses make it look too easy. Handsome? Check. Good Kisser? Check. Sign me up! Too easy.

Truth. It is hard work to have a good, happy and successful marriage. Fun work. Interesting work. Amazing work. But work, ya know, everyday, forever. By definition work is: “Activity involving mental or physical effort done in order to achieve a purpose or result.” I love that when we think of it in terms of relationships. Do we as mothers and fathers have a clear purpose or result in mind? Yes! We want to live happily ever after. I guess I just wish a few of those fairy tales would end “And they lived happily ever after, always putting considerable effort into their partners’ well-being and focusing their attention on service to God and one another, by being unselfish and considerate, praying together often and treating each other better than when they were dating, all while keeping the big picture in mind. The end.

Quote of the Day: "A successful marriage requires falling in love many times...always with the same person."

--Mignon McLaughlin author

Five Little Special Blogs...

2010-07-26T07:31:00.003-06:00

So, I was flattered to get a little mention on THIS totally cool mom's blog yesterday. Check her out. She says she is losing her mind...but she seems to have it pretty together if you ask me! I follow quite a few blogs and I know I need to get in a start organizing better so that you can see all of the amazing peeps I read (I happen to have superior taste.) In the meantime here are a few I have picked up recently...

chocolate chip waffle (creativity running amok)

words of me (luscious trip through the world of language)

whole foods kids (yummy stuff from scratch)

zen habits (relax...It's all good)

my kid (self proclaimed mess expert)

new old school (livin' large like it's 1844)

Um, Like, Didn't You Wear That, Like Yesterday?

2010-07-23T08:26:00.005-06:00

If anyone noticed or cared about my absence the last month...sorry. It is summer. Ok, so super fun(ish). I have been trying to de-clutter as of late. Ya, you're right, who am I kidding. It is never ending. As soon as you clean and organize the last closet in the house it is time to start back on the first one again. Nevertheless, I am at it again. I know. Know. KNOW, without a doubt, that I can do with less stuff. Most of the stuff creeps in from other people. I hate to shop. But things (plastic things especially) must have the ability to shape shift and slip in through the cracks in the doors and holes in the screens, because I find junk everywhere that I know I have not purchased. I do not buy a lot of clothes for myself either, but I do tend to hang on to them long after they have lost their appeal. Pretty sure those Calvin's and Duran Duran concert T are coming back in style soon. Where did I leave those jelly shoes anyway? Oh stink, why do my stories always carry on so?

Ok, so, last week, I went to Chicago on a brief get away with Hunky Hubby. Three days, one small backpack so I would not have to deal with luggage. I took 2 great no iron shirts and one skirt, which I wore on the plane too. Actually, I wore the same skirt the whole 3 days. Amazing, totally wrinkle proof, indestructible, little black skirt. Went from dressy to casual with the change of shirts. Voila! I hate picking out clothes and so I often wear the same outfit two or three days in a row anyway. Yes, I know, some of you may be offended by this from a hygiene standpoint, but really? Get over it.

Lately, I have been thinking that I ought to just pare down to the bare essentials clothing wise à la "Tim Gunn's 10 essentials" or the like. And after my little trip I knew it was totally doable. Then I ran across this lady...*Here*. Bingo! Six items or less. Choose six items from your wardrobe, and wear only those for a month. Don't worry, certain items, eh hem, can be changed everyday and do not count toward the six. So what do you think? Should we all try? Less laundry, less clutter, less trying to decide what to wear, less...moreness. And if we get bored perhaps we need more stuff to DO not more stuff to wear.

I streamlined breakfast like this about six months ago. I have two different breakfast menus that I alternate when the mood strikes. Whole greek yogurt with berries and nuts or a veggie omelet. Yep. Everyday. Nope. Have not got bored yet. And I wash it down with a big glass of water and a stupid bunch of stupid vitamins and stupid pills because apparently everything goes to heck on your 4oth birthday! Stupid 40.

Anyway, I am going to participate in the experiment. If you are willing to jump on board with me I wanna hear about it. It does not have to be 6. It could be 5. Or 10. The idea is to simplify. Perhaps clothes or food is not your area. Maybe there is some way to interpret this experiment in other areas. Give us some ideas. I think we as Americans have been valuing quantity over quality in so many areas of our lives for years. This experiment of quality over quantity could help us see the flip side for a while. Ok...our 30 days starts...Now!

Quote of the Day: "Simplicity and repose are the qualities that measure the true value of any work of art."-- Frank Lloyd Wright

Shakespeare Obviously Never Had Stinkweed In His Garden...

2010-06-22T08:28:00.004-06:00

Oi, the dumb things I think to write about! But alas, it has never stopped me before...

What's in a name? The legendary Bard was the first to pose this query through his young and "star-cross'd" Juliet. So...what IS in a name? Quick story. Recently my daughter's friend's sister had a baby. Did you follow that? Her parents named her Leslie. Now, for those of you who do not know, my name is Leslie. It has been my name for 40 years, but I rarely hear anyone say it. A few girlfriends, but that is about it. I am not complaining, just stating the facts. My daughter pointed out that she rarely thinks of me as a Leslie. Of course not. She is 17. She thinks of me as "the warden" (Or the ATM). You see, when I was a wee lassie, I could not pronounce the letter "S". Only a problem if your name is Leslie Sprague. Which mine was! Consequently I called myself Leli Peg. That's Leli as in jelly, like Leslie without any "S". Get it? It stuck. And stuck good. That is what I am still called by my family and old friends. Cute right? And then of course my kids all call me Mom and everyone at church calls me Sister Awesome (not my real last name, but I have to protect my secret identity somehow). And the teenagers call me Momma A (short for Awesome if you missed that). Then there is Hunky Hubby. The list of pet names from him is long, starting with Poopkins at the top and Babe and Schmoopie rounding out the bottom.

I like my name now, but when I was a kid I had some doubts. It was just coming into popularity for girls when I was little so it still seemed sorta like an old man name. But that is not the best part of this story. I was a bit of a tom-boy, in stark contrast to my lovely little sister, only a year my junior, and almost all girl! Leslie is from the gaelic and means "dweller of the grey fortress." My middle name is Cameron (until Ms. Diaz came along this was ONLY for boys) and it means "man with a bent nose." Are you getting the feeling my parents wanted a boy? Little Sister on the other hand was called two names that mean respectively "Womanly" and "Epitome of femininity." Hmmmm...

Times and names have changed over the years. I have an 8 year old. I cannot pronounce half of her classmates' names. And even if I can, I cannot spell them. What is up with Aschleigh, Whitknee & Gnoah anyway? That which we call a rose...

I am a bit disappointed in myself that I did not have the guts to name my kids anything too unusual. It would have been fun to tell people my kids were Harmony Sunshine and Hogarth Huckleberry. Yeah, I am sure they are better off. I chose my children's names carefully, as most parents do. They all have first names from the Old Testament and middle names after some family member. Their names seem to suit them, each winding up with a nickname or two. They seem to like the names they have been given AND I carefully checked to make sure none of the names had meanings even casually eluding to some deformed body part! You're welcome.

Quote of the Day: "Nicknames stick to people, and the most ridiculous are the most adhesive. ~Thomas C. Haliburton author