Not really. But the family decided to commit to a seven day fruit and veggie detox starting today. After discussing and giggling about it over dinner last night, EVERYBODY jumped on board my detox plan. I seriously doubt the children will last the seven days. Nor do I really think they should. I snuck some carbs into their lunch today in case either one wanted to bail by lunchtime.
The plan is not as strict as some I found where you are strictly reduced to fruits and veggies only. This plan allows for rice cakes, plain yogurt (handy for fruit smoothies), brown rice, non-sweetened muesli, fish and tofu. Being the non-fish eating soul that I am, tuna in a can was the only fish in my grocery cart yesterday. Oh yeah, tofu didn’t make the cut either.
The part that we need the most benefit from is what is not allowed. Caffeine, sugar, dairy, butter, cheese, chocolate, sweets, meat, alcohol, etc. It will be interesting to cut these things out of our daily meal plan for a week to see if we can reduce these cravings in our body. That is the point, right?
Wish us luck on this detox effort…we voted last night on “most likely” awards. I was voted “most likely to be cranky all week.” Bottoms up!
Every time hubby and I go to our children’s parent teacher conferences, hubby reminds me that it is like a performance review at work. How good are you doing at your job? That is, your parenting job.
Of course, if this were true, then I certainly could argue for a raise after Friday’s conferences. My oldest daughter’s teacher is particularly open with her compliments on what a wonderful job we, as parents, are doing with our child. And youngest daughter’s teacher is so proud of how hard working our child is. And she gives a lot of work so it is definitely hard for fourth grade.
Of course, it would only be fair to credit the children at least as much as the parents, right? I mean, I used to be that child. The teacher’s pet. I lived for it in elementary school.
Either way, it was a fantastic way to start off the weekend. Despite the wet, cold, rainy weather that I had to trudge through yesterday to attend the conferences. I was all smiles under my umbrella.
I could go on and on about how busy we have been. But we all have the same problems, don’t we?
Anyhow, there are few things of interest to note.
Yesterday, my hubby and I went to the Mac store to attend our first One to One training on how to use the Mac. We became familiar with Time Capsule, Spaces, Shortcuts, Expose, Finder and more. And these are just some basics. So much to learn, so little time. I hope to be an expert when I grow up. Yeah, right.
Another small preoccupation going on here are all the debates over summer/fall plans. Who wants to go to Camp Glisson this summer? Are we going to try out for the All Star Experience to clog in Branson, MO this summer? Are we going to stick with guitar lessons? Are we going to sign up next month to cheer in the fall? Are we going to be able to keep up? How am I going to get out of my volunteer over commitments to swim team now that my children just “swim for fun”? It is becoming a bit overwhelming to even think about anymore.
Of course, day to day is so jam packed with stuff right now, I am barely meeting my daily commitments. Oldest daughter now has four different morning commitments to go to before school even starts. Chorus on Monday. Musical rehearsal on Wednesday. Eco Force on Thursday. Book Club on Friday. Yesterday, the kids came home, ate a snack, dressed for Clogging Performance at Texas Roadhouse (hair, makeup and costume), went to youngest daughter’s piano practice, straight to Clogging Performance, returned to home to do homework and then to bed. Today, oldest daughter will stay after school for Reader’s Rally, straight to Clogging and back home for homework. Meanwhile, I will have to leave to go a Church meeting as soon as I return home from Clogging carpool. Wednesday holds piano and guitar for oldest daughter and Swim Team Board Meeting for me. Thursday is Clogging and Irish and thankfully, we just cancelled the PTA Board Meeting originally scheduled.
And you wonder why I love summer so much?
I am exhausted just thinking about it all.
Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won’t feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It is not just in some of us; it is in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others. ~Marianne Williamson, A Return to Love: Reflections on the Principles of “A Course in Miracles,” 1992
This would be one of many fears that I hold near and dear to me.
It took me a long time not to judge myself through other people’s eyes. - Sally Field
And then there is the ever so present fear of what other people think.
What other irrational fear am I holding onto for no apparent reason? And what is that fear doing to my health, my psyche, my being? After reading bits of The Biology of Belief, I assure you, nothing good comes from it.
Remember my one little word for the year? BELIEVE. Here it is as defined by Webster.
intransitive verb1 a : to have a firm religious faith b : to accept as true, genuine, or real <ideals we believe in> <believes in ghosts>
2 : to have a firm conviction as to the goodness, efficacy, or ability of something <believe in exercise>
3 : to hold an opinion : think <I believe so>
transitive verb1 a : to consider to be true or honest <believe the reports> <you wouldn’t believe how long it took> b : to accept the word or evidence of <I believe you> <couldn’t believe my ears>
2 : to hold as an opinion :
BELIEVE.
Youngest daughter decided to lecture me today on the fact that I, as a parent, spoiled her and her sister too much. And that she wanted me to know that it made her uncomfortable. She informed me that she didn’t think she was old enough to have a laptop or an ipod. Okay. Here was my daughter complaining to me that she has too much. Isn’t that just a wee bit backward?
(Insert – we had just come home from a church community meeting.)
So now she had me thinking, ‘This is a good thing. She is internalizing the teaching and really learning something here.’
Yet, there was this other part of me that was questioning her motives and if this was what it appeared to be.
Knowing that her best friend has neither a laptop or an ipod but has a lake house, I asked, “Sweetheart, if we had a lake house, would you feel like we had too much?”
Little one answered immediately, “Oh no, that wouldn’t be having too much, that would be great. Then I could be with my BFF at the lake all the time.”
I am thinking she lost a little bit in translation here.
With that whine wine?
This morning was a classic example of ‘what not to do as a mom.’ And yet I seem to fall into the same trap every time. I know what needs to happen. But I am only human and I am imperfect. And so I fail…again and again.
First of all, waking up and getting my kids out of bed in the morning is about as fun as a root canal. And not being a morning person myself, well, that makes it super fun. After they have finally dragged themselves out of their bed and onto the floor, the ‘what to wear’ discussion begins. Which never seems to go well no matter how hard I try. Of course, this morning was no different. But eventually both girls were dressed and brushing their hair and teeth. Success, right?
Not quite. Suddenly, oldest remembers that today is ‘Hat Day’. Bring $1 donation for Haiti and you can wear a hat. Great idea. Except now they need a hat to match their outfit. Which leads them to try to find the hats. . . and of course, sadly, they have no clue where all but one hat is. So now, we fight over who gets to wear this ONE hat.
Needless to say, before too long, I was yelling and daughter was crying. Not good.
But I have come to the conclusion that I need to avoid such situations by shifting the responsibility back to my children. They need to set their own alarm clock to wake up. They need to get ready in the morning without me.
Who says ‘avoidance’ is not good for you?
Frost Bites
As the wind blew over my face
I felt a small cold bite
Pulled my scarf tighter just in case
Looked, but saw nothing in the light
Stepping out upon my deck
I felt the same kind of feeling
This time up and down my neck
With what am I dealing?
A second later,
I felt it all over
Looked to the ground to see the sights,
And then I knew………
It’s winter and Frost Bites
My youngest daughter wrote this poem and her teacher asked permission to enter it into the state writing competition. I am speechless.
For the right words. And it will have to wait until tomorrow. Because it all seems so trivial in comparison to the big picture right now.
I encourage you to take a moment to pray right now. And to thank God for all that we have and all that we are.
The very first blog I ever read was Ali Edward’s blog a few years back. She is quite talented and very well known in the scrapbook world. And while I have not been inspired to scrapbook much lately, I usually participate in her one little word challenge every year. I typically come up with a word in my head that becomes my theme word for the year. I even asked my kids to come up with a word this year and they both chose peace. Of course I searched my memory for past words to share with you. But all I could come up with was the word REAL and that was a few years back. And I remembered this one only because I did a scrapbook page on it.
But they do carry meaning during the year and that is what really counts, right? So my word this year is BELIEVE. And I will share more on this later. The house has awakened and I need peace and quiet to express my thoughts clearly on this.
