Wednesday, January 28, 2009

Sweet Hubby

Okay, I had posted in my blog last week that I was still waiting on a present that Scott had ordered and was excited about. Well, I got it on Monday!

And before I tell you what it is, let me make it perfectly clear, I am in no way a present-grubbing-gimme-gotta have it-girl. No, I was perfectly happy spending the day with my family. And I didn't mind shopping for the apron Scott searched so hard for and couldn't find.

But he did have this gift planned out, worked on, and ordered way before my birthday. It just wasn't shipped in time to arrive on my day. But that's cool. I got to celebrate again on Monday. And what a lucky wife and mommy I am!

So, here it is:
I am the very proud recipient of an Apple iPhoto created personalized calendar for 2009!!


From January all the way through December (yeah, smartie pants, I know most calendars work that way) I get to look at my beautiful family and have important dates highlighted for me. What a great gift and what a wonderful hubby to have thought this through so much and planned this out for me.

Wednesday, January 21, 2009

Apron

Today, I am 41. Yes, according to a friend who had this birthday in July, I am officially IN my forties. I am not just 40, I am IN my forties. Cool.

For my birthday, I requested two things of my family. One, a new battery for my watch, and two, I wanted an apron. Yes, I did request this. I cook a lot in my home and I seem to get EVERYTHING on my clothing while cooking. Oh, my children do tend to help with this mess, but yeah, I get dirty. So, to deter my laundry stress, I asked for an apron.

Scott told me last night that apparently no one in Suburban Texas cooks anymore. Well, duh. From the number of thriving food joints around, no, I don't think hardly anyone does either. Kohl's, the people who have everything, do not carry aprons "off season". Oh yeah, did you know that the only time people cook is around the holidays? Wal-Mart, the people who really have everything, don't carry them AT ALL. Grocery stores - where one would find food for people who do cook - do not carry them. And to top that, he did get a battery for my watch, but couldn't get the back off of it to put it in. So he was bummed that I wasn't going to have anything to open on my day. I suggested that he could give Hunter some cash and then he could "take" me to World Market to see if they have any.

So, today, before my trip to the pizza place/bounce house for MY birthday, Hunter, Hadyn and I ran to World Market. Yes, Virginia, there is a place in Suburbia that people still buy things in which with to cook. I found my apron!!

And Scott did get the battery put into my watch. Good day, good day.

(Scott does have another surprise coming for my via mail. He is excited for it to arrive. I'm curious to know what has HIM excited??)

Tuesday, January 13, 2009

Are We All REALLY That Busy?

Balance. Yeah, life is all about balance. But there can be too much that you have to balance, too. Have you ever just played with a set of balancing scales? When you put something on one side, that side goes down, then you can balance it out by putting something on the other side and all is good. But like our lives, when you keep stacking stuff on the scale plates, it may balance, but inevitably, something will spill off and then you are unbalanced. And like most good Americans, we don't say, "oh, hey, maybe I've got too much on my plate," no, we just keep re-stacking and pretending to balance our lives out with too much until it all falls off. By then, the damage has been done.

You with me?

My Dad called me lazy once (maybe more than once), and I disagreed. I will work. I will do whatever I need to and I will try to do it to the best of my ability. I will even see what needs to be done beyond my assigned task. But I see no need to take on more than I absolutely need to. Does that make me lazy?

Let me go further in explanation. I had an aunt and cousin killed in a horrible car accident several years ago. My cousin Jan was mother to three young children. Her sister would come to her house once a week to help her clean because Jan didn't keep up with it all the time. I was told that Jan would be doing something in the house and when one of her kids asked her to play, she would stop and sit down to play. So one could argue that Jan didn't balance her scale, but she did have help come in every week to balance that scale. In Jan's story, my opinion is her scale was balanced because now those children do not have their mother but they do have the memory of her spending time with them.

Close to three years ago I backed out of a lot of "things" I was involved with. My pregnancy with Hadyn was hard and then after having her, I just wanted to spend time with my kids. I didn't have the devoted time with Hunter when he was little that I have with Hadyn since I was working full time then. But now I have both kids at home and as trying as it may be at times (lots of times HA!), I wouldn't trade it for anything right now.

I clean my house, do laundry, grocery shop, cook, home-school, but I try to make time for play. Most of the time, our play is just silly fun, not organized game play, but man, we have fun. Sometimes we just sit and relax watching some tube. I realized one day that one thing I don't do is call up girlfriends and chit chat - I'd love to hear some Mommy voices regularly - but when I really thought about it, mostly it's because all I hear from other moms are how busy they are. Kids are involved in every thing possible, and the moms are rushing from one appointment to another every day and just don't have time to sit and visit.

Now my question is, are you really that busy or do you feel like you have to say that because if you're not, then you, too, must be lazy? Both things are unbalancing the scale. If you are that busy, you're scales are either so unbalanced or so overloaded that it's unhealthy. If you aren't that busy, but feel that you must say so, that's not healthy either.

So, I'm not that busy. Obviously, I have time to blog and Facebook. I play with my kids most of the day. I challenge the rest of you to stop and sit for a little while and not feel guilty about it.

Can you do it?

Monday, January 12, 2009

I Heart Faces - Week 1 Entry


So, I decided to go ahead a submit a photo to the new photography blog i heart faces.
I am by no means a good photographer, but when I have such a cute subject, it's hard to go wrong! This is from our summer vacation to New Mexico. Hadyn is giving me her "cheeeeese" smile. Gotta love it!!

Be sure and go to i heart faces and submit your faces!!

Saturday, January 10, 2009

Menu Planning - Go Ahead, Try It!

I'm really good at having ideas but not that great at making them come to fruition. I've had the idea for a really long time to start doing menu planning for our meals to ease up on our grocery budget, but just never had actually sat down to plan. Or when I would plan, I would come up with the same thing, over and over and over again. With the surge in online social things like Facebook and blogs, I see more and more people doing menu planning in one form or another.

So, I've been getting a weekly free menu from Menus 4 Moms for a few months. I've read through the menu, thought about it for a few seconds and then went on about my day. But I guess due to the whole new year thing, I decided to take action on this one. I downloaded the recipes and plan and also the grocery list, went off to the store and spent a stupid amount of money on groceries.

My immediate thought was there was no way this could be any better than the fly by the seat of my pants shopping and cooking I have always done. But now, I see the light. A lot of my spent money was restocking my pantry with things that will last a while. Also, some of the meals I will make will also create extra or left overs to go into the freezer for another meal on another week.

Then it hit me: ca-ching! Aha! THAT'S why people do menu planning. It really can save on the grocery budget because I won't be running to the store every other day to spend more money on a meal since I have it in my freezer already or all the ingredients already picked up for the week and in the pantry and 'fridge. Now my groceries may tend to run just a bit higher than the published grocery lists estimated costs because we buy organic and natural foods. But still...

So, to help out anyone interested in trying this, I have added a gadget to the side of my blogger page to show each week's menu along with the link to the website for the recipes and grocery list. Again, this is the free list they offer. Not a bad deal at all.

Tuesday, January 6, 2009

I've Got Proof!

Now I have proof!

My children DO know how to wash dishes, so when they get older and tell me they don't know how to do it, I can whip out these pictures!

Hunter has always been really good at putting his dishes in the sink and helping clear the table, and now Hadyn will put things in the sink when we ask her to.

Since he is always the last one eating at the table, I decided that he could learn how to wash his own dishes. Of course for a while, the washing will be monitored for cleanliness sake.

But I just couldn't resist snapping these pics this evening.

Yup, I've got proof!

Thursday, January 1, 2009

Something to Help Your New Year's Resolutions!

HAPPY NEW YEAR 2009!!!

It’s the New Year and most every one makes resolutions of some sort. Most of those resolutions made (and broken) tend to fall around the health category. You know, the “I’m going to lose weight,” “I’m going to eat more healthy,” or “I’m going to exercise regularly,” type of resolution.

Well, I am willing to offer some help for you to get healthy and feel better to be able to maybe do something about improving your health and well-being.

And this New Year week is the one and only time (in a few different forms for better coverage) that I am going to put this info out here for you. The reason for the one time – I don’t want anyone to “avoid” me because they might think I am “selling” something and after them to “sign up”.

NOPE. NADA. NYET. NO.

Did you understand that? I am not out to SELL you something. This is NOT my "business".

I am, however, putting this out here in the wide open because for 9 months, at the recommendation of my most trusted, non-pill pushing doctor, Scott and I have been using renewal products from Univera. (www.univera.com)

Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know, you’ve just tuned out. Well, tune back in and pay attention for just a sec. Contrary to what you might think, I am not the "jump on every-passing-band wagon" type of gal. No sir, I like to do a little research on things first before I go hawking them to anyone else. I’ve tried some of the other “use this and have energy” type of things and maybe they work for a short (very short) period of time and maybe they don’t do anything for me at all. But this stuff not only caught my attention, but Scott started using it and he is now a believer. And this is a very skeptical man about any “products”.

As well as researching the products, I also experimented from time to time by stopping them and experiencing the difference in how I was feeling. What I noticed is that when I take the Ageless Xtra and the Prime product, I certainly don’t bounce off the walls, but I feel more motivated to get things done. I have clarity of thought to actually plan and think. I am not nearly as stressed out as usual and with the motivation (energy) I have to actually work out, my muscles and joints don’t ache like they had before. All of this while having previously been diagnosed as anemic. BUT when I stopped taking the products, I could most certainly tell the difference. Everything went back to “normal”. Stress, swirling thoughts, aches and pains, and no energy to do anything came back. My mother takes the products and when she is regular with them, she has the same experiences. But taking them regularly is the key.

Since we are in our 40’s and aren’t dragging around like “old people”, there must be something working in the Univera products. Also, we are not rich, weathly, well-off, or anything on that level and most of you know that. But since we are convinced of the usefulness of these products, we make it work. I signed up as an Associate to get the products at a wholesale price (I think it was like $40 to sign up or something). With my mom, sister, and mother-in-law also getting some products every month, the residual makes the products very affordable for us.

Lastly, In reading different books and articles, it seems that we have been trained to believe that all the things that go wrong in our bodies are a natural result of getting older. But that doesn’t necessarily have to be the way it is. I have copied some information about the company and the Ageless Xtra product below. If after reading this, you are interested in getting some product for yourself, either contact me for more info or go to the website (http://www.univera.com) and read more. If you’d like to order some of the product to try, from the SHOP screen you can view and select products then register as a customer. You’ll need my associate number to order, so leave a comment or email me and I'll get that number to you.

If you’re not interested, not a prob, but I chose not to keep this to myself and my family. I hope that for your health and well-being you are willing to give it a try. It’s not for me, it’s for you. And again, please don't assume that I'm trying to build a business and using you as my sales quota. I'm just trying to share some good stuff with you.
Take care!!


MORE INFO FROM THE UNIVERA WEBSITE:

Genomics (the ability to read information encoded in DNA) has been hailed as the most important scientific advancement since the microscope. With full-scale genomics research capability, Univera is a world leader in this important technology, enabling us to develop AgelessXtra®.

Sixty-five percent of how your body performs and ages is up to you. Only 35 percent of performance and aging is genetically predetermined. You have the power every day to help build a healthy body and to feel, look, and perform better than you ever imagined.

AgelessXtra® is a scientifically-formulated nutritional and active-botanical supplement that promotes vital energy, supports mental clarity and focus, helps manage stress, and promotes joint comfort and flexibility. While taking Xtra™, you will feel an increased sense of energy and vitality.*

Xtra was formulated through extensive DNA genomics-level research and tested using a double-blind, placebo-controlled study on active ingredients. These combined effects harnessed the unparalleled scientific firepower of the ECONET. Univera created a true cell renewal formula – a powerful blend of ingredients to help you look and feel better every day.

Xtra is a proprietary formulation of powerful ingredients that dramatically improves repair and reduces damage on your personal seesaw: on one side is repair; on the other, damage. With the stresses of everyday life compounded by aging, your body's ability to repair itself declines. When damage accelerates, it pushes up on the damage side of the seesaw. The opportunity you have with Univera products is to conversely push down on the damage side and push up on the repair side, which increases energy and tips the seesaw in your favor.

Ageless Xtra Promotes Vital Energy*
A chain is only as strong as its weakest link. Within every cell of your body is an energy "assembly line," and when you don't provide your cells with the essential building blocks to produce energy, you become fatigued. AgelessXtra® includes a proprietary all-natural formulation of vitamin B3, Pyridoxal-5-phosphate (P5P or the active form of vitamin B6), Ornithine alpha-ketoglutarate, green tea extract, and Cordyceps sinensis — all critical energy cofactors to optimize cellular energy production.

Ageless Xtra Supports Mental Clarity and Focus*
Life is short — be in the moment. Every second of every day, your cells are under attack by oxidizing agents called free radicals. Antioxidants stop free radicals from damaging and destroying cells. With the antioxidant protection of up to 10 servings of fruits and vegetables in every ounce, Xtra™ contains a highly potent, concentrated blend of blueberries, cranberries, grapes, and dark cherries for maximum protection to positively impact your overall brain function and sharpness.

Ageless Xtra Helps Manage Stress*
Relief for everyday life. Struggling with work deadlines, family needs, traffic jams, or just too much coming at you all once? Xtra includes world renowned herbs – Rhodiola crenulata and Ginkgo biloba – that synergistically work to relax and empower the body and brain to face the constant demands of everyday life.

Ageless Xtra Promotes Joint Comfort and Flexibility*
Freedom to move. Stiff muscles and joints cause discomfort, which ultimately compromises your active lifestyle. Xtra contains the award winning ingredient Protectin™, which has been shown in double-blind, placebo-controlled, human clinical trials to dramatically improve joint comfort and mobility to unleash your body’s potential.


The Damage Reducing Power of Antioxidants

Antioxidants have been in the news a lot in the last few years, and for good reason. Antioxidants help stop free radicals from damaging and destroying cells.

Industry Leading Results

AgelessXtra® provides a nutritious fruit blend containing grape, cranberry, cherry, and blueberry juices known for their rich colors, high ORAC potential, and flavonoid content. Xtra™ delivers antioxidants to your body at far greater levels than a typical diet can provide. In fact, independent scientific studies have shown that one serving of Xtra provides the antioxidant protection of up to 10 servings of fruits and vegetables!






Univera and our global support structure, ECONET, work on a very simple, but carefully integrated model of discover, develop, and deliver:
• We discover the secrets of nature and study natural compounds and their effect on the human body.
• We develop unique nutritional formulations based on scientific research.
• We deliver these products and their renewing power directly to you.
In simple terms, renewal is the body’s ability to regenerate and replenish cells giving you the opportunity for daily improvement in how you look, feel, and perform. Univera, in conjunction with ECONET® resources, has spent decades exploring the secrets of natural products to support this process. That work has led to more than 160 patents and patents pending that have been developed in our state-of-the-art research facilities, the only such labs in the world dedicated to this specific research.