Tag Archives: parenting

Quick Takes, Mom Guilt, Exercise and MORE!

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Time again for the weekly wrap up, seems that’s my most consistent day to blog…probably because it’s a quick summary and I can knock it out before the household is up and roaring along and/or I can start it up before I go to bed…Work really gets in my way of blogging, however, since it allows for the basic necessities I suppose I’ll zip it.  So you can join in and be sure to check in on Jennifer Fulwiler, the new Catholic reality star….(now THAT is an untouched niche in reality TV!!) and her weekly buddies with 7 Quick Takes and see how their week is shaking down!  AH, but THIS week QT is hosted by the hilariously funny Grace @ Camp Patton…she is completely addictive, don’t say I didn’t warn YOU!!

1.  As I mentioned earlier this week, I’ve joined in with Clare et al. @ Peak313 for her 5 week challenge.  Basically a great accountability challenge with a Christian theme focused on spirit (see below for her super cute cutout reminder for memory verse #1), mind (wrapping mine around treating my body as the temple it IS instead of waiting for the fit-fairy to show up…she’s late apparently…), and body (exercise videos, workout suggestions and inspirational success stories)….the whole package.  She has mentioned prizes which has whetted my competitive spirit ( a little), but I really like the whole idea and she’s just so perky and encouraging…

Memory verse week 1 from Peak313 challenge! It’s not too late to join….

2.  Along those lines of building healthy minds AND bodies in this house, a friend recommended this documentary on Netflix (instant queue!!) America the Beautiful 2:  The Thin Commandments.  With 2 teenage boys in the house and one girl walking the line of puberty and the other totally immersed in the cheer life, it’s a message that can’t be touted enough.  In words.  Actions.  Example.  Man, this parenting stuff is tough!!

3.  For some inspiration, check out Lizzie Velasquez and her book, Be Beautiful, Be You.  What a strong message for my girls (and boys) both ways….on judging AND disregarding what others think of you.  Rise above???  She is soaring.

4.  The opposite of inspirational…..I won the “Loser Mom” award this week.  Despite having my daughter’s 5th grade teacher conference in my phone AND on my work calendar, I still managed to completely space it.  To make matters worse, it caused my DD to be late to her after school music practice and she didn’t get enough time and…..<sigh> won’t be playing the water drum this year, only the hand drum.  Which she played last year.  Ugh.  Dagger to the heart.  To ice the cake…..THIS is what I was doing when I could/should have been at the conference:

Yup. That’s me…resting in my car at lunch. Enjoying the 80 degree weather and breeze whilst reading a book. Niiiiiice.

**disclaimer, I usually do conferences in the a.m. because our work schedule is so hectic in the afternoons that it’s too crazy to leave.  Still.  I hang my head.  DD is over it, but this will live on in my Mom guilt “hall of shame”….

5.  This week our Saturday sports consist of 2 HOME games.  Let the angels sing!!!  We will be done by 1.  My feet are doing the happy dance.

Also on Saturday.  We will welcome a second TEENAGER into the house.  YIKES!!!  How is this happening?!?!?!?  I’m just not old enough for this.  Our nutty boy.  Our sensitive boy.  Our competitive boy.  Our smart boy.  Our driven boy.  Who is 5’8”!!  WHAT?!?!?  What happened to my fuzzy little hair boy with the infectious smile and laugh who made his entrance on the heels of a hurricane mid-evacuation of half the state?  He’s a big boy with an infectious smile and laugh.    someone slow this train down!!

Crazy boy bringing out my inner nut…

6.  In WWW. news this week, I’ve been venturing further into Twitter…mainly because I feel cut-off from the world during the day and it’s a great source for news, however, I’m also enjoying keeping up with various bloggers and podcasters and famous people I admire throughout the day as well.  I tweet a little, but nothing like some of the people on there…WHOA!  crazy, I tell you.  You can follow me if you want, maybe I’ll get over 24 followers….wooooooo…or follow me here and boost me out of the 70s….double woooooo.

I also had a Pinterest success this week with PB and Nutella Crescent rolls.  I blogged about it earlier this week.  It was enough of a hit that I may possibly feel inspired to tackle something bigger this weekend; perhaps that herb garden or the back porch project….hmmm.  Stay tuned…

7.  It’s Friday.  So that means.  I think I can, I think I can, I think I can make it through this day!  I usually take above mentioned boy to McDonald’s for a McCafé on Fridays before school (his teachers love me).  I’ll hit the gym at lunch.  And the weekend (for me) starts @ 5:30 p.m. If you are in Dubai…it started yesterday 😉

Time to get rockin’ people.  Have a great weekend!!

Saints, Ramblings and the F-word

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30 whole minutes!  Alone.  In my house.  Unheard of (unless I come home for lunch).  We split up for Masses today due to lawns/training/Faith Formation, etc, etc, etc and somehow I am alone.  AHHH.  You don’t even know.  or maybe you do.  It’s bliss.

I’ll take advantage of it and blog in peace.  My mind has been running all morning.  It’s going to be a patchwork quilt of my stream of consciousness…enjoy….

My friend sent me a link (to a blog I follow–hee hee, BUT hadn’t read yet) last week or so and the piece was on the F-word and the how our use of the English language has truly lowered the bar in regards to vulgarity.  It is a GREAT post and you can click below on the link and I will tell you I have been re-thinking before I speak more frequently lately as well as being glad that my blog hasn’t gone that road…even though it might get more hits if it did, but in the end, it’s just not me.  most of the time.  though sometimes….I’m sad to say, it is…the link to Tom’s post is here:  “Defusing the F-bomb” with Neal Obstat Theological Pining

I’ve also given a lot of thought to the amazing lessons we learn from the Saints and figured I’d join in with “Saints Sunday” with The Kennedy Adventures today.  Especially as during Mass I had to referee a disagreement between 2 girls for the first 1/4 of Mass…always a joy…you’d think with only 2 kids at Mass it would have been a breeze.  I should  have taken the other 2.  However, as I was praying “Dear, Jesus, Mary AND Joseph protect my children from the demon threatening to break free from my neck at any minute to silence these girls…help me to be graceful and love them even though they are getting on my last.  ever-loving.  nerve. right now.  Amen”  Right then I had a flash of Saint Monica and was shown how motherhood is a marathon.  Now, Lord Help these kids if it takes me 30 years, but…I was filled with a sense of peace and a guiding of “Continue on.  You’re on the right path.”, neck muscles relaxed, girls relaxed and the rest of Mass was good.  Talk about your instant gratification/affirmation.  Yes, please and thank you!!

The temptations of the saints were seen as opportunities for self­discovery. They allowed temptations to show them the breaches in the fortress of their souls, which needed to be fortified until they would become the strongest points. This explains the curious fact about many saintly people-that they often become the opposite of what they once seemed to be.      (Lift Up Y our Heart)  Venerable Fulton John Sheen 

Confirmation.  Our 9th grader is making his this year.  Parent meeting today and his first of 6 classes tonight with a dinner.  Praying for the right sponsor for him, he needs the right  person to talk to and spark that mustard seed.

Busy Saturday.  Football in the morning.  Hubby took our girl while I took the other girl grocery shopping and tackled the house.  Then, after lunch I took both girls to our oldest girl’s first soccer game while Hubby stayed with the boys and tackled the tree stump in the back yard so we can plant a new tree.  The weather was good, the drive was quick (for 1.5 hour to AND from the game–that says aLOT!), and best of all, we made it home in time for dinner on the table!  SCORE!!!

Chill Sunday.  It appears we are getting Isaac reincarnated today.  Not quite the storm he was his first pass before he let loose on the Gulf coast, Louisiana and Mississippi, but it’s a blustery and rainy day.  The library is in store for SURE!!!

And one last note on a Saint-to-be…today Bishop Fulton J. Sheen is decreed as “Venerable” by the Vatican and a celebration of his life and vocation is taking place in Peoria at Celebrate Sheen, a Mass of Thanksgiving for an amazing man and true blessing to the Church.

Game 1. A loss, but a GREAT game with lots of potential to the season!!

 

Someone has to be the base….

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Teamwork

In cheerleading stunts, I am learning the lingo.  The “base” is the support for the girl who is being lifted (aka, the flyer) and tossed in the air.  The base must be strong and sturdy and fully focused on her flyer.  The flyer seems more glamorous in their “elevated” status and exciting tricks while being lifted and then tossed, however, they also must be strong, flexible and focused, completely trusting and relying on their base.  It’s teamwork at its best.

In life, and in cheerleading, our best tricks and “AHHHHHH-inspiring” moments only come when we have a good sturdy foundation.  A base we can trust to hold us up and catch us when we fall.  A lesson I’m learning throughout this, our first cheer season, is to hold my tongue in regards to the gossip-monger cliques, for it is quickly becoming obvious how unreliable their own bases are in their own “mean-girl” actions.  A teachable season for both my daughter and I  to  discern people for who they are, pinpoint traits to emulate and moments to rise above.  There are many girls in this sport who are amazing and wonderful girls and I pray they can all rise above the few who are Divas-in-training to encourage and lift up their teammates; that they can be the “base” in their actions and words.  We all have the opportunity to be both base and flyer; its important to remember it all starts with the base.

How sturdy is your base?

1 Thessalonians 5:11 

Therefore encourage one another and build up one another, just as you also are doing.

 

Manic Monday

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After the whirlwind weekend comes crazy Monday….

Starting off innocently and with bright hopes for the day with a great boot camp, shower, some quiet time and then off to wake up the littlest (our older girl had a sleepover) and then…..at 7:22 a.m. as I was gently waking her and asking what she wanted for breakfast….I realized….I……was the early person.  Yes, the person who “opens up” at 7:30 a.m.  Oh.  crud.  Bless her heart,she opened those eyes and joined “Team Mom” and dressed and got ready in record time as I made lunches and got myself ready.  I made it to work @ 8:06 and FORTUNATELY had NO patients waiting…..phew!!!

Nothing like a little adrenaline to start the day.

The evening was apparently a bit of a peek into what the next few months have in store for us with dueling sports/practices/games going on.  We’ve done this before and I guess enough time must have passed that I forgot how psycho that time was….kind of like being pregnant/giving birth/babies.  So….here we go again.  Lord, have mercy on us.

We have a cheerleader for a Pop Warner football league and a soccer player entering the club bracket for the first time.  We will have NO.  LIFE.   for the next four months. So call me.  maybe.  or text.  or email.  or Facebook me.  or read my blog, it may get interesting as the seasons start (because we’re still in “practice” with no games until September)….on a plus side, I’ll be getting lots of cardio in during the practices, so there’s that.

I thought it went fairly well with Hubby on “deliver-the-girls to practice” duty and me on pick-up.  I had son #2 put dinner in the oven and Hubby would be home in time from his swim to dish it out and get the sides ready, except………somehow…..the oven didn’t actually get turned ON.   Therefore….pancakes, eggs and hash for dinner.  And it was ready.  My Hubby rocks.  and he makes great pancakes, too!  😉

So…..little speedbumps to smooth out…but that’s what practice runs are for, right?   Boys and girls we learned a few good lessons today:

1) Make sure you know WHEN you are supposed to be somewhere.

2) Make lunches the night before.  Time saver here.

3) Teach the boy to push the button PROPERLY…

4)  Always have  pancakes, eggs and hash on hand.  oh, and chocolate chips.  they go good in pancakes and in a REAL crisis you can just eat them by the handful.

Hypochondriacs, UNITE!!

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Sometimes it’s a problem working in the medical field.  For a lot of reasons.  First, let me assure you, I enjoy my job, taking care of patients (I’m a nurturer), hearing their stories and seeing what’s going on inside the body (I like to pretend I’m a doctor and figure out what’s the problem–makes the day more interesting).  Buuuuuuuut……sometimes I get a little over it and have to dig DEEP for some compassion, because after the 20th whine story I’d rather get a spinal needle in the eye.  Just sayin’….that’s when my friend and I encourage each other with these kind of things:

you are never too old for a “Gold Star”…

The bad thing is that when people get sick at home and I’ve been dealing with sick people all day, sometimes I have to dig even deeper.  Pathetic.  I know.  And this week I’ve had to pull out the big shovel and dig for flippin’ China because we’ve had round 2 of our youngest getting sick AGAIN with a visit to the After hours Ped clinic and diagnosed with a virus lasting 5-7 days. Nausea, fever and all the good stuff that goes with it (if you can read between the lines).  After recent strep throat and treatment for that, I was less than amused to deal with a virus.  Nor was she.  <sigh>  Then it gets good….

Hubby becomes violently ill the next night with our daughter’s symptoms.  Great. (here comes living out that “in sickness and in health” part…. So after a night of holding our daughter’s hair back a few times and about 3 hours of sleep next to the human furnace, I was thrilled to head to work, leaving our 14-year-old in charge of doling out Tylenol and water.  Both of them were basically out of commission the entire day.  I came home from work and went to work bleaching both bathrooms, kitchen and doling out more fluids and meds.  They were rallying, then….

Dearest daughter complained of peeling feet and achy joints.  I made the fatal mistake.  yes.  I web-surfed her symptoms.  I know better.  Let me STRONGLY encourage you.  DO.  NOT.  DO.  THIS.  EVER.  SERIOUSLY.  Every symptom has a bizarre and rare disease to match on the web (this is why you DON’T surf the web for medical advice, people!).  I found a disease for her, too.  I did what any mother would do.  I made her another doctor appointment.  Hubby took her (he is now recovering somewhat).  She did not have Kawasaki disease despite the matching symptoms…PHEW!…she DID (they are pretty sure after the swab)…have another round of Strep throat, so it’s another visit to Publix for free antibiotics and hopefully we are all on the upswing…… but…..

There are 4 other people in the house still, so we will see how it goes!

St. Raphael, the Archangel, patron saint of illness and healing, Pray for us!