Category Archives: Life

“Resting” Day….

Here I sit in my quiet Sunday morning house.  Not a sound except my typing on the laptop.  Bliss.  As rare as the supermoon.  OK, more than that, but pretty scarce.  Yesterday was a seriously full day, ironic since, on Friday, my girlfriend and I were both basking in the fact that neither of us had a single plan for the entire weekend.  And we didn’t have a plan..but here’s how it shook out anyway:

  • Power walk in a.m.
  • Grocery run
  • Laundry and start house chores
  • Hubby started installing ceiling fans in all three bedrooms–he is so persistent and refused to give up until they were all in and in correctly–QUITE the task!!
  • Son had his French horn lesson
  • @the same time, my oldest son’s friend came by to fix my cracked screen on my phone (for FAR less $$$ than the mall or apple store)
  • Grandparents came by with fresh homemade bread and short visit
  • Finished helping Hubby hang fans in bedrooms
  • Picked up youngest and her friend and we all took a break to the beach with neighbors for an hour or so
  • Rejuvenated, home to finish fans, make dinner and pick up oldest son from skatepark
  • Bring home daughter’s friend
  • Shower, dessert
  • Finish the LAST episode of Downton Abbey–<boo hoo!>  (Glad it wasn’t a total cliffhanger though…still looking forward to Season 3)
  • Checked out the moon with very little luck on pics…my “good” camera just not good enough. Looked like a giant lightbulb in the sky.  But very cool with the human eye!!  No meteors sighted…
  • Bed–under the awesome breeze of the ceiling fans!  LOVE my handy Hubby!!

Then,  unfortunately, I woke @ 4:30 a.m. with the beginnings of a migraine.  took an aspirin and went back to bed.  Made it through the morning and coffee helped but still needed another aspirin and am waiting for the last of it to kick off!!  Blessedly, they don’t come often!!

And so, Hubby wanted to try out surfing and left with a neighbor about 6:30 a.m.  The girls have Religious Ed this morning between Masses.  So…..Hubby and the boys went to 11 a.m. Mass and I’ll take the girls tonight to Youth Mass.  And that’s left me with some nice quiet time to let this headache finish up.  A silver lining, huh?  🙂

Therefore, today will be “restful”.  As it should be.  At least one day a week.  Happy Sunday!!

SUPER-Moonin’

In our neck of the woods we have a supermoon to see tonight and apparently it is going to be so big and bright and awesome that it will prevent us from seeing the meteor shower at its peak.  (Check it out HERE for the astronomy side of the of the deal).  Last night, the moon was pretty bright, even hidden behind those clouds above.  Cool for moon gazing but a little disruptive to the sleep pattern (it’s like your neighbors have their motion detector lights stuck in the “on” position and aimed at your windows all night).  I’ll have to get up a little early and see about the meteors; I’ve seen several when I used to walk in the early morning hours–it made it completely worthwhile to be up that early!!  Either way, the tides will be higher than usual at the beach this weekend and Hubby is excited about learning to surf on Sunday when the “surf is up”.  Dude.  Happy weekend!

And we have a few more players for our “blog-every-day-in-May” challenge.  Check ’em out!  (Comment your blog if you want to join in)

Laura

Lynnell

Apurva 

MB

Brite  

Amanda 

Lea 

First Friday and Quick Takes!

— 1 —

So.  Glad.  It’s.  Friday.  It’s been a busy couple of days for some reason and I am looking forward to some downtime this weekend.  I texted a friend today who’s been on my heart and asked her if there was anything I could pray for her.  She was fine and caught me up on the busy happenings in their family and just asked for prayers to be who God wants her to be in spite of and in the middle of all the busy.  And as tonight came to a (grateful) close, I realized I am so NOT who God wants me to be when I am tired and stretched too far.  And I really need to work on that.  really.

— 2 —

This week brought the beginning of the “Blog-Every-Day-In-May” challenge.  My friend Lea started it five years ago.  Ironic that she started it in May because it has to be THE busiest month of the year (next to December) with all the end-0f-the-school year activities and bustle and why wouldn’t you want to add to the craziness with blogging daily???  My other friend, Brite, calls it the challenge you love to hate–especially by the end!  I did get some interesting insight that apparently May is INTERNATIONALLY busy with the end of the year/semester as Ellie (in Ireland) is doing the calendar juggle as well.

— 3 —

It’s not too late to join our challenge.  Really you can join in at any time.  I’m not too serious and hard-core.  And if you don’t  post EVERY day, no biggie.  You can use words, pictures or both.  It’s all good!  Just comment and include your blog and I’ll add you to the roster below:

Apurva 

MB

Brite  

Amanda 

Lea 

— 4 —

My girlfriend sent me my birthday present yesterday.  She’s way early and I opened it.  I can’t WAIT to shower this morning!!!  It’s a new shower scrub and bath gel called AWAKEN.  You can get it from Amanda HERE.  (Teacher gifts, hint, hint)  Shameless plug, but I really love Arbonne.  It is the bomb-diggety!!!  (to steal a phrase….)  I started using their skin care line when my face was SO dry when my oldest was a baby—14 years ago!!!!  Anyway, I love their makeup and skin care, but I don’t treat myself to the luxury of the scrubs and gels….so she treated ME!  I’ll just have to hide it from my girls…..

— 5 —

I am up WAY too early, but one hour from now and my workout will be over!  Woo hoo!  We were so busy yesterday at work, I didn’t get to the gym at lunch–worked straight through–but I did manage to squeeze in a walk when I got home to save my sanity.  somewhat.  That may be a lost cause!

— 6 —

Hubby’s tomato plants are growing like crazy and we even have little tomatoes already.  It’s only been about 4 weeks.  maybe 5.  Last week he planted cucumbers and they are sprouting, too!  Our first foray into gardening.  Very exciting.  He gets all the props though, I’m just standing back watching and he’s doing a great job!!  I’ll get some herbs to add to the mix this weekend and I foresee SALSA in our summer future!!

— 7 —

As another week comes to a close, may your weekend be blessed, whatever it brings.  Hug your babies, because tomorrow they’ll be 6 inches taller than you and one foot out the door.  Enjoy each day because it truly is a PRESENT.

Now, go grab a cuppa somethin’ and join Jen and everyone else for the Friday recap!  Blessings!!

For more Quick Takes, visit Conversion Diary!

I really didn’t want to but….

I’m glad I did.  Go to the gym yesterday that is.  That’s the good thing about having accountability partners, you do NOT want to be the only one who didn’t work out–(not without a good reason anyway).  I was feeling lazy yesterday by lunch time and really just wanted to go nap somewhere, but the other girls had already gone and were giving me the “eye” and asking me what my plan at the gym was going to be, soooooooo.  I went.  Mostly because I do better when I have someone to account to.  I am a little competitive.  I remembered we are having a luncheon today to celebrate May birthdays (mine included) and I’ll surely be partaking of some delicious fare.  And I’ll be going again today at lunch.  Mostly because of the luncheon.  But also because I’ll have to do legs.  Since my arms and upper body are sore, I can’t ignore my legs!!!  Friday I am meeting a friend in the wee hours of the morning (urgh!) and that will wrap the week up for strength training.  Here’s the deal though:

  • I can complain all I want, but the truth is I’ll get out of it ONLY what I put into it
  • After 4 months of consistent exercise, I HAVE SHOULDER DEFINITION!! Yup.  It’s not crazy muscle magazine fitness, but I clearly have muscle peeking through and confirmed by Hubby, daughter and son.
  • I may not WANT to work out, however, when it’s done…..I never regret having worked out
  • Nike has it right.  Just do it.  Lace up the shoes and go around the block. 20 minutes is gone before you know it.
  • I do have more energy.  I do sleep better.  My clothes fit better.
  • It’s the one thing I do for ME and it benefits my entire family!
  • God gave me this body, this temple, it’s MY job to take care of it and glorify Him through it.
So find some time today to give your body what it needs.  Excuses are abundant.  What do you have to lose?
1 Corinthians 6:19  

Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own?
Here’s our growing list to May’s challenge.  Check ’em out and join in!  Comment and I’ll add you in!
Have a blessed day!!

Apurva  (new to blogging…hope we don’t scare off forever!!)

MB

Brite  

Amanda 

Lea 

And so it begins…..

In the beginning…..everything seems so exciting, shiny, full of promise and hope.  New school clothes.  Unopened packets of pens, paper, folders, dividers.  Unscathed backpacks.  Unscuffed tennis shoes.  And then you settle into a routine and as you near the end, ripped shorts, crumpled paper, graffiti’ed backpacks, holey shoes and you plug on with your eye on the prize because the end is just. around. the. corner.

Ah.  And so it realistically be with the blog challenge.  Every day in May.  Seems fun.  Exciting. All these ideas floating in my brain.  And then finding the time to put them down.  Struggling between what I want to say and how it’s coming out of my brain.  Often not even on the same hemisphere!!

The reality is, I LOVE a challenge.  I always work better under pressure with a specific goal in mind. Whether it was when I used to run and was training for a race or with my girlfriends at the beginning of the year when we decided we could do ANYTHing for 12 weeks!!  (here it is into our 4th month and still plugging along in our new routines!)  I’m a structured person.  I wish I was more relaxed sometimes, but it’s not where my comfort zone is…a first-born, goal-oriented, nurturer.

HOWEVER, you may be more free.  Less inclined to stay inside the lines.  YAY! for you.  I’ll live vicariously through you and maybe gain some courage to step outside the box once in a while.  So, join me in our blogging “challenge” for May.  Blog each day.  Blog some days.  Use words.  Use pictures.  Use both.   Send your blog name in the comment section, I’ll add you in.  So far, we are FOUR.  I look forward to sliding into the end of May, tattered, blogged and having “met” other bloggers and styles to steal learn from throughout the 31 days!

Have a wonderful day!!

Brite  (this awesome Mama is the sweetest and gentlest!  with 4 little ones–including a newborn, she homeschools, farms, sews, cooks and sometimes includes great pictures of life’s ups and downs)

Amanda (I just met her yesterday through her blog, and Brite, and I enjoyed her pictures and her theme for May–pictures and Scriptures–FABULOUS combination!)

Lea (her 5th year of this challenge, I stole it from her, she’s crazy busy, the MOST creative person EVER, a God’s girl through and through and after all these years of knowing her I finally figured out how she gets it all done.  She doesn’t sleep.  Which is why I’ll never capture her cape!  I love sleep too much.)