Wordless Wednesday

I stumbled across His Honey and Her Mommy blog and Love.Bug I'm linking up with Bree and Amy for Wordless Wednesday!  This is my granddaughter, Adyson.  

 She didn't like getting her hair done at first....

Then when we gawked at her, she realized how pretty she it!

My beautiful granddaughter!

Now it's your turn!  Check out her blog and link up with a fabulous picture of yours!

So What! Wednesday

SO it's Wednesday again!  THese posts are so much fun to write about that sometimes my week flies by before I have a cHance to figure out what I"m saying So WHat! to!  So again this week, I'm linking up with Shannon at Life After I DO! 

This is what I"m saying So What! to:

• I'm leaving all my typos in this post.  I'm tired of backspacing to fix them.  
•  
• I stayed up until 2am working on two interviews I did for Don Most and Victor Alfieri!!!!  I got to talk to both of them over the phone a while back.  Don is the sweetest man and so easy to talk to.  Victor is a hunk and has a sexy italian accent.  It was hard for me to understand him but it was fun hearing about what these guys are doing in the movie world.  i can't wait until they get published!!!!
•  
• We drove all thew ay down to Lancaster for our dog's group training.  There were over 20 dogs there this time and Koda was so dang distracted, it was pretty much useless in going.  So we threw her favorite ball around while she played with 20 other dogs.  it was fun though!
•  
• I just paid $100 to move my old piano from my mom's house to Columbus (and hour away) and found out that it can't even be fixed.  I have to buy a new piano now.
•  
• I had the hwole afternoont o myself yesterday.  NO kids, no huband, not even a ringing [hone.  I wrote, I read and the TV never went on!  Utopia! 
•  
• I quit making dinner when my husband is working.  The kids don't care and neither do I.  

What are you saying "So What!" to?

Make Them Thirsty

It seems to me lately that there are millions of blogs out there now.  It seems to be the "in" thing to do.  Blogging is actually a very cool idea.  Many blogs are very creative, some are highly sought out for with high numbers of followers, and some are plain and simple, and some with just a few followers.  The main point of blogging is to tell someone something you want to say; however, it's up to the author of the blog to catch someone's attention and keep it.

Whether an author has one follower or one million, whether they blog, write a book, a journal or a simple email or Facebook status; to be an author means to have an incredible opportunity to make a difference in someone's life.  So once you have someone's attention, be sure to make it count.

A young Salesperson was disappointed. He had lost an important sale. In discussing the matter with the Sales Manager, the young man shrugged.

"I guess it just proves you can lead a horse to water, but you can not make him drink," he said.

"Son," said the Sales Manager, "let me give you a piece of advice: your job is not to make him drink. It's to make him thirsty."

"The two most important days in your life are the day you were born, and the day you find out why." -Mark Twain

Don't Ever Give Up

Matt Woodrum is a 11-year-old 5th grader at Colonial Hills Elementary School in Worthington, Ohio.  He has spastic cerebral palsy. On May 16, 2012 his school was having a field day.  The school allowed Matt to opt out of the 400 meter race despite the incredible challenge of his disability, but Matt refused to sit out and chose to race.  Some of his classmates didn't want to run in the race, stating it was too hard.  An article by USA Today stated that Matt admitted there were a few times during the race that he was ready to give up, but his friends and favorite gym teacher wouldn't let him.  In a Youtube video, you can see how all the kids stopped what they were doing to run alongside Matt and encourage him to finish the race.  This video is highly inspiring!  It has reached over 900,000 views!

We can all learn a lesson from this special 5th grader.  Despite his physical disability, he saw a challenge and went for it.  He didn't give up, he wasn't worried about winning the race, coming in first or perhaps not even to prove a point.  He did it for himself.  I think of the many times in my life when I felt like giving up.  Having a bad day, can't seem to ever get ahead... when it rains it pours...  Many times I have wished the day away and couldn't wait until it was time to go to bed and sleep my troubles away.  But people like Matt inspires us all.  The things we take for granted:  brushing our teeth, getting dressed, driving a car, typing on a computer, riding a bike or even taking an evening stroll are all challenges Matt faces on a daily basis.  So when I'm having a bad day and can't seem to do anything right, there's always someone else out there who won't give up, despite any disability and they take nothing for granted.  They live life everyday and seize all that it has to offer.

Maybe Matt wouldn't have finished the race if it wasn't for his friends running alongside him and encouraging him.  Sometimes, we all need an earthly Jesus to cheer us on in challenging moments.  We all face bad days where nothing seems to go right, but if we pay attention, there will be an earthly Jesus right next to us encouraging us to keep going and not to ever give up!

... And sometimes we need to be an earthly Jesus for someone else....

Still here!

It's been a crazy week and it took me this long to realize that I haven't posted anything since So What! Wednesday.  I am a one-track minded kind of gal.  I can only focus on one motivating thing at a time.  Some days I get down on myself about that.  I used to be a great multitasker.... a great one! But in the last several years, my multitasking skills have plummeted.  My dear sweet friend once told me that I can no longer multitask because I'm already multitasking a million other things.  God bless her heart! 

So while this week has been crazy, I've been focusing on my new button you may have noticed on my blog.  I have Leah over at Lovely Life of Leah to thank.  Leah created my new button and now I have an image.  Leah is also sponsoring my blog for the month of June so I'm super excited about that.  If you have a blog, go check her out to get sponsored too.  If you don't have a button, she'll create one for you, too.  Leah is full of life and her blog is fun to read.  Go check her out!

In the meantime, I've been trying to motivate myself to write some poetry.  I haven't written any poems in a long time and all of a sudden, I'm getting motivated again.  I hope to come up with some new stuff soon so while I'm getting my creative vibes a vibrating, check out some of these poems I've made in the past:

A Father's Day Poem
Praise Poem
How Dreams Begin
Mystical Poem
The Tree
God's Shining on You
Christ in Mother
The God Sonnet
A Mother's Love
Ocean

So What! Wednesday

So it's another week of So What! Wednesday and I'm linking up with Shannon over at Life After I Dew.

Here's what I'm saying So What! to:

• I spent another whole day goofing around with my blog layout.  Nothing else gets done when I choose to blog.  I can never seem to settle on a layout and stick with it.  Too many choices, I guess.

• My kids ate ice cream at 8:30 last night (on a school night) and they didn't get a bath either.

• I decided I was going to take a break from writing for Yahoo! and today I found myself researching a topic to write about.  I guess if I have a great topic idea, I might as well run with it and get paid, too. 

• It's so nice outside and my neighbor is playing with my daughter outside and I'm inside playing on the computer.  There's something so wrong with that!

• So what!  I'm going to screw the "hurry-and-get-something-done-before-the-kids-get-home-from-school" bit and I'm going outside to play.  I don't care if anything gets done today... including the laundry!
• I'm still in my pajamas and it's 4:00

What are you saying "So what!" to?

1-2-3 Pause

You've heard it before, "Don't forget to stop and smell the roses...."  We are so busy these days most of us don't even have time to breathe.  Fast food restaurants are at an all-time high, eating on the run, making phone calls on the run, checking e-mails on the run....  Does that even sound appealing?  Who wants to live life like that?

Have you looked around our world?

I mean really looked? Our world's sunrises and sunsets are gorgeous, mountains of trees that look like broccoli, beaches with seashells, array of brilliance in flower gardens, stars in the night sky, even bugs that sit on a window for a rest can bring some kind of interest, even for a non-bug person like me.  As long as I'm on the other side of the glass, I can't help but to stop and look at a bug chillin' on a window. 

it's looking at me!

Have you ever wondered....

If you had the opportunity to create your own world, something completely different than what you know the world to be, how would you do it?  Perhaps you could come up with some interesting creatures and 'things' but have you ever thought about how you would create it in the very beginning?  It's almost too much to wrap around my brain.  I'm a creative person, but not THAT creative!

When I see something beautiful or interesting in this world, I can't help but give God credit for creating something like that.  I've learned to "stop and smell the roses" and ponder just how little I am in this universe.

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.... And God said, "let there be light," and there was light.  God saw the light was good.  Then God created the sky and there was evening, and there was morning - the second day and God saw that it was good. 

morguefile.com demondimum

He also made the stars to give light on earth and separate light from darkness and God saw that it was good. 

morguefile.com/PatriciaEGreen

God said let the water teem with living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth and so God created the great creatures of the sea and every living thing and God saw it was good. 

morguefile.comluisrock62

So God created man (and female) and God blessed them.  And God saw it was good....  Taken from Genesis 1

morguefile.com/phaewilk

It's so important to "stop and smell the roses" from time to time and give thanks to God for giving us such wonderful gifts.  God gives us light to see, flowers to smell and most importantly love that we all can never have too much of!

"Shout for joy to the Lord, all the earth.  Worship the Lord with gladness; come before him with joyful songs.  Know that the Lord is God.  It is he who made us, and we are his; we are his people, the sheep of his pasture."  ~ Psalm 100: 1-3

What have you stopped to ponder and wonder today?

The Mustard Seed

"He told them another parable:  'The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed, which a man took and planted in his field.  Though it is the smallest of all your seeds, yet when it grows, it is the largest of garden plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and perch in its branches.'"  ~ Matthew 13:31

Mustard seeds

 This parable reminds me of a song we used to sing in the children's choir at church.

Pass It On (It Only Takes a Spark)

It only takes a spark, to get a fire going.
And soon all those around, can warm up it it's glowing.

Chorus:
That's how it is with God's love, once you've experienced it, it's fresh like spring, you want to sing, you want to pass it on.

I wish for you my friend
This happiness that I've found
You can depend on him
It matters not where your bound.

Chorus

I'll shout it from the mountain tops
I want the world to know
The Lord of Life has come to me
I want to pass it on.

Chorus

This song chokes me up every time I hear it.  It brings back memories but it also reminds me of a very important message:

Just as the smallest mustard seed can grow into a huge tree, only a tiny spark in your heart of God's love is all someone needs to experience the love of God.  Once a spark happens, it doesn't take much for the fire to get going.  Once that love grows, it doesn't stop, then soon the glow of the fire will come out of you and affect everyone and everything around you.  God's love will make you want to shout it out and pass it on to everyone.

A mustard tree

Happy Friday, everyone!  Enjoy the glorious (and hot) weekend!

Health Kick Kickstart - Avocado Smoothie

As I gobbled down my late-night kale salad, I'm eager to write about my new smoothie recipe. This smoothie, you've got to try! I'm not a fan of avocado on its own but blend it up in a sweet smoothie, I'm there!  This one was WITHOUT the plastic chunks.

Healthy Avocado Smoothie

One avocado
One apple, peeled and sliced
1 packet of Sweet Leaf Stevia (or 1 TB sugar)
1 c. unsweetened almond milk (or regular milk)
handful of ice

Blend well.  Enjoy.

I've tried this smoothie with regular milk and sugar and no apple and it's good.  I've even tried it with honey instead of sugar.  It just doesn't quite cut it without Stevia and almond milk.  Not only is the smoothie much better for you, it tastes much smoother (like a milkshake) and with just the right amount of sweetness.

I'd love to hear what you think of this smoothie!

Health Kick Kickstart - Part 2

Still on my health kick.  It's such a love-hate relationship.  I love feeling good with lots of energy but I hate that I 'choose' not to eat the bad crap of food, like Oreos.  I do eat the Oreos, but with fear in my heart because I know that I can't eat just one.  So I try to come up with new recipes and fun ways to eat healthy food and then my sugar cravings actually go down.  Yay me!

I've written before about kale and how good it is for you in my first Health Kick post.  It's the healthiest green you can eat.  I tested a smoothie recipe in that post with kale in it.  It's surprisingly good so you'll have to check it out if you haven't already.  Here's my next recipe from Amy Marzluff at Advanced Wellness Center in Columbus.

Massaged Kale and Currant Salad

1 bunch of kale
pinch of sea salt
1/4 c. olive oil
1/3 c. currants (or apples)
1/3 c. sunflowers seeds, cashews, almonds, etc.
1/2 c. avocado, chopped
Lemon juice

De-stem the kale and place in ziploc bag.  Add a pinch of salt and seal.  Massage the leaves for two minutes.  Add remaining ingredients, shake well and enjoy!

Here's what I learned: 

Tear the kale in very very very (very) small pieces.  It's easier to chew.

The first time I had this salad, I didn't massage the leaves long enough.  You don't want to massage too long or the kale will get mushy.  Two minutes is just about right.

I don't think I used a full 1/4 cup of olive oil.  I eyeballed it and ended up adding a tiny bit more once I dumped it in a bowl.

I didn't have currants so I chopped up tiny pieces of apples.

I'm not crazy about avocado alone so I used a quarter of one avocado.  Perfection!

I loved this salad more when I added the apples and sunflower seeds instead of using cashews and currants.  The sunflower seeds gave that bit-of-salty/nutty flavor and the apples toned it down with a touch of sweetness.

If you're not sure about eating kale as a salad, I remember my mom always saying (and I now say to my children) "Don't knock it 'til you try it.  You just might like it."

Let me know how YOU liked this salad!  You might be surprised!