Alert and Oriented (x4)

Ok....I'm WAY new at the bloggy thing....and way outclassed by Missy over at http://itsalmostnaptime.blogspot.com/ (sorry I can't figure out how to do the cool html link thingy)but she's doing a Kid Food Call Out. My kids are all older (ages 11-17), but it's still a challenge for me. I think the biggest thing right now is just having food around for them to all prepare on their own since we are so busy and they are, being teens, ravenous most of the time. I don't like it when they get hungry and get a bowl of cereal, mostly because cereal is about $3.50 a box and the bowl they usually use is about 2 1/2 gallon capacity and it runs me out of both milk AND cereal. They all eat fruit, but seem to crave protein, and I find it fills them up better when they can do a carb AND protein. My best tip is that I try to keep shredded chicken in the fridge most of the time. It's good for a meal starter (enchiladas, pot pie, dumplings), for chicken salad, and (since we live i...

Sibling relationships are complicated. My relationship with my sibling is strained on good days, downright contentious on others. But I've come to accept that. It doesn't pain me as it once did. Mostly, I think that I just stuff it down to a deep, dark place where mushrooms and fungus grow. But I no longer allow bitterness to grow or fester. I want to eliminate THAT root altogether. I'm hoping it just rots away and ends up decomposing until it's a nothingness to me. On the other hand, I think that my kids genuinely like each other. They sometimes fight like cats and dogs and say hateful, vengeful things that they don't mean. Or at least for the long run, they don't mean them. At that very moment in time, they mean them with every fiber of their being. And I think they do that because they feel safe in venting emotions with their siblings and knowing that they will be loved in spite of that. I rejoice in the thought they they take for granted that they will alwa...

until it SCREAMS!!!! So....I love love love love Seven brand jeans. Both for me and my daughter. They totally rock. My absolute favorites are some trouser jeans that I got for dirt cheap and every time I wear them, I get tons of compliments. So today when lovely daughter and her friend went with me to the mall, I hit the clearance racks where they were having...get this....$59.99 jeans marked down to $15. But that's not even the whole of it....they were buy one, get one FREE! And THAT'S not even the whole of it! I had a coupon from buying my last workout shoes that was worth $10 towards a $20 or more purchase. Tried a pair on (yes, they had my size)...and unfortunately I've reached the conclusion (or maybe fortunately for those who must look at me from behind) that once women have reached a certain age, they should NOT wear skinny jeans. Oh, well. Went on to meet Amy and Hannah at the food court. Amy wanted to see if she could find some. At 13, she definitely...

I recently returned from an overnight retreat with my gurlz from church, grades 6-12. The boyz were there, too, but I was responsible for the lesson for the ladies. It was my first full-fledged outing for a WHOLE lesson. I just wanted to share it, or at least part of it....just a warning, it's really L-O-N-G....remember it was written for teens/pre-teens. But lots of it applies to you and me. And Herbert, too..... Who’s Your Daddy? Genesis 1:26-27 Then God said, "Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, [ b ] and over all the creatures that move along the ground." 27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them (my emphasis). What do you think of when you think of the image of God? What does it mean to be made in His image? What would the face of God look like? In Exodus 3:6 we are told th...