Monday, January 31, 2011
Toes, sun, self tanner,a shower and your butt...all things to get out of winter blues!
The Holidays, aka "the most wonderful time of the year" are over, spring break is still months away, and the prospect of wearing something other than a jacket, boots and scarf feel like light years away. I feel like a caged lion pacing my floor peering out my windows, praying for a glimpse of sunlight, or a spot of color from a spring flower peaking its little head from beneath the snow (ok so that part is just a little bit of drama, but you get the point)....
Iv'e had to get creative recently to get my mind and body to a more summer kind of a feeling, and get out of this winter blues trap. So here it goes...none of this require much time, much money or much creativity, but doing any or all of them may just brighten all of our days!
1) Polish your toenails. During the winter, this part of me is severely neglected. Because of the fact that no one sees them unless they are in the shower with me...so that would limit it to my 2 year old. Although he could care less about the condition of my toenails, I am amazed at what a bright cheery color can do for me. Note: I did not say "get a pedicure". If you have the time and money for this, by all means go for it! If you don't, pick up some Sally Hansen quick dry in a bright color (no dark colors). It dries in minutes (for real!) and makes you feel like you should be on a beach in Hawaii!....um, I guess thats a good thing?
2) Get outside! I don't care if its crazy cold. Bundle yourself and the kids up and go run around for 15 minutes. If you are lucky enough to have glimpses of the sun, make up a picnic, sit in the backyard and pretend like its 80 degrees! My kids love this! And I have to admit that it brightens my day too. It makes me slow down, chill (sometimes literally) and just "be" with my kids. And just a side note, what is up with our crazy fear of the sun??? (stick with me here). I get it, wrinkles, cancer, burns. It's all scary! But do you know that sun is essential to our health???? Small amounts at a time (15 min a day) is very beneficial...if you don't believe me, do a bit of research! Save the sunscreen for a full day at the lake, but especially this time a year, it is completely necessary for us...why do you think so many are people are sick this time a year? Bring on the Vit. D!!! AKA...sunlight!3) Get off your butt and move! If you can, go for a walk, ride a bike, or just a stroll to the mailbox, you and your kids need to move around. A day stuck inside, watching tv, is enough to put anyone into a depression! The other night, I pulled up some dance music on the computer and we went crazy. I'm sure the neighbors thought that I was having some sort of a weird seizure, but we had a hilariously good time and got our heart-rates up in the process!! Movement and laughter...perfect "medicine"!!
4) I love to do a simple face mask once in a while that makes my skin feel so yummy, and takes away that dead dry feel...here it is, made from stuff from the pantry...
1T. Oatmeal (grind it up very fine)5 Aspirin (yep, the stuff for your heart) ground up totally
1T. Honey
I sometimes throw in a bit of avocado, blueberries, or yogurt...whatever I have around!
Put it on your clean skin for 20 min then "scrub" it off gently with a bit of water and your fingertips. Your face will feel like your babies butt! Minus the poop smell!
5) Take a shower. A real one. Minus the child. Lock the door. Shave. Condition.
Finish with coconut oil! The smell will make you feel like your in the tropics...maybe at this point you should just go to bed. Ya. Don't look out of the bedroom door. Just pretend like there is not a huge disaster waiting on the other side....
6) My last "tip"...don't be afraid of a little self tanner. The gradual stuff is fool proof, and even the hard core kind is hard to mess up. I like to do my neck, forehead, cheeks and arms at night, and in the morning, I wake up to a nice glow. Oh how it makes me feel sooooo much better. If you are too nervous for it, get a good bronzer and just put a little on the spots that the sun would normally hit! Your kids will wonder why you are walking around singing like Snow White!
I would love to know what you do to brighten up the dull days of winter..."comment" below and give us some more tips!
And as always, share us with those you love!!
Facebook Login Labels: attitude, encouragement, enjoying kids, working out
Saturday, January 29, 2011
SUPER STAR SATURDAY!!! ITS ALL ABOUT YOU!!
Its here once again...Super Star Saturday!!!
Post away!!!
Friday, January 28, 2011
I am the most beautiful woman in the world
Shauna... is a stay at home mom of two girls, she's the author of the "Waypoint" book series, and her personal blog "Breathe, Smile, Pray...Repeat." Her girls keep her on her toes, and have been the inspiration for many blog posts, here and on BSPR. She's just an ordinary mom trying to master the most natural job in the world.
I am the most beautiful woman in the world.Don’t believe me? Ask my kids, they’ll tell you.To them, their mommy is gorgeous. They don’t see my flaws, they don’t see my wrinkles or pimples (so not fair by the way) they just see the woman whom they adore.
I like to think that our children see us the way God does, I mean really He wouldn’t waste his time creating someone or something He didn’t see as beautiful, right? So why do I constantly question and criticize God’s work? Who am I to tell the man upstairs that his artwork needs a little help?
There is a story that I think about often, not sure what brilliant mind came up with it, but it goes something like this;
A little boy loses his mom at a shopping mall, he knows if he is ever lost to find a police officer to help him. He sees an officer and runs over to him,
“Help, I’ve lost my mom!” he wails.
“It’s okay, little buddy, we’ll find her” the officer scoops up the young boy and takes him to the security office. “Okay son, I’m gonna need you to tell me what your mom looks like” he requests.
“Oh that’s easy” says the boy. “She is the most beautifullest lady in the world.”
The boy then continues to tell the officer about how amazingly beautiful his mother is.
After hearing this description the officer imagines this gorgeous woman and radios all the other officers at the mall her description, of course they all believe she is some sort of cross between Angelina Jolie and Jennifer Aniston, and so this is the type of woman they look for, pretty much ignoring every other woman who cross their paths.
After a few minutes a woman approaches the security office. She is wearing jeans and a t-shirt, tennis shoes and has a baseball cap covering her frizzy hair, which is pulled back into a “mommy tail.”
“I can’t find my son!” she wails to the security officer at the front desk.
The officer who is still thinking about Angelina Jolie doesn’t even connect the dots that this woman, exhausted and sweaty, could possibly be the mother of the boy in the next room. And so he takes her information and has her wait. It isn’t until the door to the side room is opened that the boy screams with delight and runs over to the frazzled woman.
All of the officers are dumbfounded- this woman is not beautiful, sure with some makeup and the proper attire she’s okay, but in no way close to the most beautiful woman in the world.
But to her son, she is…
So when do our kids stop thinking we are beautiful? When we tell them to, that’s when.
Every time we look in the mirror and sigh with disappointment, we tell them just how ugly we are. Every time we complain about our wrinkles, or our weight we tell them. It happens over and over again until one day we just aren’t that pretty to them. For some kids this is highly confusing, here is a woman they find to be the most beautifullest in the whole wide world and then we tell them they are wrong over and over again. Pretty soon they start to believe us.
I remember this with my mom, she would look in the mirror and complain about how fat she was, and she weighed 120 pounds. I instantly decided I was fat, and have battled that instinct for decades now. I heard her tell me over and over how ugly she is, only to cringe now when people tell me how much I look like her. She never said I was ugly, she never said I was fat, but she said it about herself, and because she is my mom, I believed her.
As a grown up though, I now know how beautiful my mother is, and I tell her often. I still have to call her on it though, when she says mean things about my daughter’s grandmother. Which is why now I don’t allow two words in my house, the “U” word (ugly) and the “F” word, and by that I mean FAT, (the other F word isn’t allowed either, although I would be far more forgiving if one of my kids said that word than calling themselves fat).
So today and every day I vow to myself to not confuse my kids. I refuse to continue this trend of self hating woman in my family. It’s almost an addiction and I’m done with it. Think that it’s just moms with girls that need to worry? Think again! If you have boys you are raising the next generation of husbands who will judge their wives based on what YOU tell them. So proceed with caution.
I don’t look like I did when I was 18, I shouldn’t! I’ve had two kids and gone through some stress. I’m proud of my laugh lines, and I know I have seriously earned every single one of these gray hairs. I don’t have to like them, but I guess I’m to a point of appreciation, yes I appreciate the fact that gray hairs are some of my biggest concerns right now, and I appreciate that I live in a time when covering those gray hairs takes only 25 minutes!
So next time you look in the mirror and see something you don’t like, remember there are little people watching. They are taking notes on how to do life, so keep your judgments about how horrible you look to yourself; nobody wants to hear them anyways. If you feel better beating yourself up, write those hateful thoughts in a journal, one day when you’re 80 you’ll look at that journal and sigh about all the time you wasted hating yourself.
I’m not gonna be that 80 year old. I’m gonna be the great grandma, with my cellulite and chin hairs lounging on a beach with my great grandkids building sand castles. That’s how I am choosing to do life.
One other thing, my girls are constantly being told how much they look like their momma, and guess what…my girls are GORGEOUS!
I remember this with my mom, she would look in the mirror and complain about how fat she was, and she weighed 120 pounds. I instantly decided I was fat, and have battled that instinct for decades now. I heard her tell me over and over how ugly she is, only to cringe now when people tell me how much I look like her. She never said I was ugly, she never said I was fat, but she said it about herself, and because she is my mom, I believed her.
As a grown up though, I now know how beautiful my mother is, and I tell her often. I still have to call her on it though, when she says mean things about my daughter’s grandmother. Which is why now I don’t allow two words in my house, the “U” word (ugly) and the “F” word, and by that I mean FAT, (the other F word isn’t allowed either, although I would be far more forgiving if one of my kids said that word than calling themselves fat).
So today and every day I vow to myself to not confuse my kids. I refuse to continue this trend of self hating woman in my family. It’s almost an addiction and I’m done with it. Think that it’s just moms with girls that need to worry? Think again! If you have boys you are raising the next generation of husbands who will judge their wives based on what YOU tell them. So proceed with caution.
I don’t look like I did when I was 18, I shouldn’t! I’ve had two kids and gone through some stress. I’m proud of my laugh lines, and I know I have seriously earned every single one of these gray hairs. I don’t have to like them, but I guess I’m to a point of appreciation, yes I appreciate the fact that gray hairs are some of my biggest concerns right now, and I appreciate that I live in a time when covering those gray hairs takes only 25 minutes!
So next time you look in the mirror and see something you don’t like, remember there are little people watching. They are taking notes on how to do life, so keep your judgments about how horrible you look to yourself; nobody wants to hear them anyways. If you feel better beating yourself up, write those hateful thoughts in a journal, one day when you’re 80 you’ll look at that journal and sigh about all the time you wasted hating yourself.
I’m not gonna be that 80 year old. I’m gonna be the great grandma, with my cellulite and chin hairs lounging on a beach with my great grandkids building sand castles. That’s how I am choosing to do life.
One other thing, my girls are constantly being told how much they look like their momma, and guess what…my girls are GORGEOUS!
We are crazy excited and totally proud of Shauna that Barnes and Noble
is now caring her book, Cache Quest Oregon!!! You and your kids will love it!!!
Once again...share away! We appreciate it...oh and we loooove to hear from you!!
Facebook Login Labels: Beauty, kids, life, motherhood
Wednesday, January 26, 2011
Tater Tots in the Cupboard and 7 other red flags that your life needs less "Crazy"
My head just isn't in the game. I've talked to like four other moms in the last week who agree that balancing work, family, love and life is a HUGE challenge. So how do we balance it all??? How do we pursue our passions (wether it's work, volunteering or projects around the house) and not completely ignore entire sections of our lives??? It seems like someone or something is continually neglected. Husbands get whiney, kids start acting even crazier than normal and the laundry .... ohhh the laundry...
I don't know what the answer is, but I know that something has to be done to counteract the crazy around here... the saying that women can have it all (family, career, and a great marriage) seems like a big old fatty lie to me... While I don't have the answer, here are seven RED FLAGS that your life might be just as out of balance as mine...
2) When your three year old says everyday for a week, "Dis house id messy, when you gunna to cwean it?"
3) When your laundry pile is taller than your oldest child. Not exaggerating mine is pushing about 4' tall right now...
4) When your children have worn their pajamas for three days in a row. Don't judge me, like it's never happened to you!
5) When you've had to take off the lower quarter of your bathroom sink to remove the toothbrush, tweezers and giant wads of TP your children shoved down the drain while entertaining themselves for 5 minutes.
6) When you've worn the same make-up for two days and instead of washing your face you just wipe the raccoon eyes off with lotion and apply more where needed... Don't gasp at me! I can name at least 5 of you right now who have done the exact same thing... If I have to I'll name names:)
7) When one of your children colors the bottom half of your NEW fridge with a bright blue Sharpie... Still no words... at least none that I can share here.
I don't really know how I get myself into these completely overwhelming, stupid, crazy situations... All I know is that it's time to clean up the aftermath of hurricane "I bit off more than I can chew" and figure out how in the heck I'm going to work, cook, clean (bwahahaha), wipe butts, pay bills, be a mommy and "keep my husband happy"... So starting riiiiight nnnnnnow mama's jumping off the crazy train and and saying no to what doesn't actually have to be done in order for my family to survive.... that doesn't mean we'll be getting out of our jammies anytime soon though:)
Facebook Login Labels: balancing life, family, funny, life, motherhood, work
Monday, January 24, 2011
Mini vans, knee driving and sex appeal...HU??
I heard a statistic some time back that mini vans are the automobile most involved in accidents. Not the kid in the red sports car, or the mercedes driven by a business man talking on his phone...but a "mom" in a mini van. The part I like about this statistic, is that I will NEVER, I repeat NEVER be a mom caught dead in one of those...unless of course I die
while riding with Lindsay in hers as she races around texting and making the kids lunch while driving!!! (oh and thats not far from the truth!!) And just a side note; to everyone out there already planning what you are going to write in the comment box below about the benefits of a mini van...save your keyboard, I can't be convinced. I already know the doors close on their own...I don't care! ;) A friend of mine said it best...If you want to have any ounce of sex appeal left, you can never drive a mini van!!! Although I personally am not very concerned with "sex appeal" anymore (except to my man at home) I would like to have a little dignity in tact at the end of the day. Even if that does mean bruises on my forehead from trying to cram my kids into the side door of my super cool Subaru suv!!! (um ya) anyway...This post is not about mini vans, but it's about the fact that when I look in my rear view mirror, all I see are two heads. Albeit the two most adorable heads in the universe, that hardly justifies the fact that I can't see out of my rear window. As I was speeding down the freeway today, "knee driving", I unwrapped and handed each one of my kids their favorite "rice bars" and wondered if maybe, just maybe, I was working on broadening the category of "the car involved in the most accidents" to be "any car driven by a mother"! In my defense, I'm a pretty good knee driver! I suppose that holding the steering wheel in the 2 and 10 o'clock positions might be the smarter way to go, but really? I would then get to spend the entire drive explaining how far away we are from food, or water, or gum or blankets or things that they have dropped on the floor and can't possibly be lived without for 5 minutes!! And I begin to wonder what might be more dangerous... me loosing my grip with the steering wheel, or me loosing my entire grip on sanity??? For goodness sakes people...I am already listening to kids music and kids books on cd (Linz says this makes me the "nice mom") so I'm already half way to crazy land as it is! (these cd's are NOT made for mothers!!!) Oh and speaking of that...dancing, clapping, head nodding and fist pumps, might be best saved for home as well. I said their music is not made for moms, but I left out the part that as much as I hate it, I too get sucked into "clap, clap, clap your hands...."! My kids think I'm totally awesome that I dance and drive! And you with teenagers, know how important it is that I suck every ounce of admiration out of my kids now, because soon enough they will see me for the dork that I am and treat me as such!!
So to all of you mothers out there driving while handing back bottles and pacifiers, wiping snot, fixing meals, refereeing fights, dancing, yelling, picking up toys or simply staring at your angels in the rear view mirror...(the obvious thing to say here would be "stop it before you kill us all") do your best to survive...with your sanity, and your life!!!
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| Click here to check out Earth Monkey store!! |
(and just another side note...I am fully aware of the importance of driving safely and paying full attention to the road...this is just a little exaggerated fun...but no too far from reality!!!)
Facebook Login Labels: complaining, funny
Saturday, January 22, 2011
The coolest baby and toddler accessories are here and earthmonkeys.com is up and running!!! (and did we mention free shipping??)
THE WAIT IS OVER!!
After months of hard work, dedication,
and countless times yelling at our kids...
"can I Puuulleeezzz get just one more minute here!!!"
We finally get to say.....
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| "Princess" Bib |
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| "the Destroyer" Bib folded to be a "keychain" |
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| "Simeon" Paci-Pac |
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| "Dude" Bib |
where you can get the latest must have eco friendly baby and toddler accessories!!!!!!!
Don't wait to contain the kids...
The first 25 orders
The first 25 orders
receive FREE SHIPPING!!!
enter coupon code Monkey0121 at checkout...
enter coupon code Monkey0121 at checkout...
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| "Angel" Porta-Pad |
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| "Pumpkin" Porta-Pad folded to be a "key chain" |
Friday, January 21, 2011
In the land of Katie…I am queen (and you are too!!)
I am a queen. I rule a space. It’s a small space, but in it I am powerful. There are three others in my space. They are the three most wonderful people in my world. One of them is strong, one of the strongest men I have ever met. He is passionate for justice and defends the ones he loves. He woos me with his eyes, heals my heart with a touch. He is king of this space. The smaller ones are beautiful. They are impressionable, teachable, and admire me. Some days they get angry with me, but even in their anger they call my name. They will do great things. They are my little ones. And these three people, strong and powerful and beautiful and impressionable are under my control. My facial expressions and actions warn them of my attitude. And my attitude controls the day they will have. How they will interact with everyone else for the rest of the day.
My words are powerful. Whether in anger or in peace, I speak over them each day. I have the power to speak blessing, or to speak a curse. I have the power over how they see themselves. Over how they treat themselves. Over how they see yesterday, today, and tomorrow. I can make the king question himself, doubt himself, and lose hope. I can make the little ones angry, fearful, hopeless. Or I can give breath to their hopes and dreams and visions.
With one word. ONE. WORD. I can undo all I have built in them. Destruction can come at the slip of my tongue.
Or with many words I can breathe life into my space. I can heal the wounds inflicted by the outside word. I can mend the brokenness, chase away the fear, scare away the shadows and doubts. I can wield the weapon I have been given in defense of these ones, my family, my space. I can bless them when the world curses them. I can speak anointing over their todays and tomorrows, blessing even their futures, protecting what the world will try to steal from them. Hope.
For the king, I help him repair the breaks in his foundation. Pulling the arrows out of his back, binding his wounds, and blessing him again and again so he can go back out and do what God has called him to do. For these little ones, I am building their foundation, ever day, brick after brick, writing my words on each part. Speaking the blessing of our God over their minds and hearts so that those words, hidden away now, will come back later when needed most.
There are witnesses from afar of what I do, but only these three know my personal touch, the sound of my voice, the sweat and tears of my work. No one else really knows. Some days I work without being seen, some days I toil weaving the strands of eternity into all of their hearts when even they do not notice. My prayers ward off the enemy and cleanse the dirt from them when they come through my door. When I wipe away the little tears or soothe away the sickness in the middle of night, no one but God sees.
I am the queen of this space. Doing what no one else can do here. Fulfilling my destiny within these walls, actions going unseen by the world, but not by God, and not by these three. These three will touch hundreds of others. These three will and are doing great things for my God, the lover of my soul. I am grateful to God for mercy and grace and second chances. To start anew each day. For forgiveness. For time. For each second. My goal is hope, life, giving my best, learning to love, learning to forgive, lives testifying to the truth of Jesus. This is where I want them to look, and so that is where I
set my eyes on. Not on my imperfections and not
on my failings, but on hope and joy and the responsibility of this task I have been given. Love lived out every day. The love of the Father above manifested in my space.
We are the queens of our spaces. Our rules and decrees affect these wonderful people in our sphere of influence. Our tongues have the power of life and death. With our word and actions we bring blessing and curses. What are we putting into the hearts of the ones we love the most?
Please check out more of Katies inspiring and insightful words at: http://ristowswife.wordpress.com/
Please check out more of Katies inspiring and insightful words at: http://ristowswife.wordpress.com/
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