interesting video

Watch this movie

it is about food shortages and points out some unique points of view about the supposed ending of the world in december 2012. The point that hit home the most is even if the world doesn't implode, the food will still be gone.

what then?

i thought it was a compelling question. 

New Skin Care Regimen

I went to an essential oil class a couple of weeks ago. It was fabulous! one thing briefly mentioned was using oil to clean your face. I was totally skeptical as when my friend melissa mentioned the same thing. But after hearing the idea from these two sources i decided to look into it more.

Here is what i found: http://simplemom.net/oil-cleansing-method/

So i mixed myself up a bottle using  2 parts almond oil (sunflower market) and 1 part castor oil (walgreens) and 2 drops of lavender (truessence).

I. am. in. love.

my skin is clearer. I have scars fading much faster than normal. My skin looks dewey. The pores on my nose are getting cleaner and perceptibly smaller. and every night washing my face is relaxing!

Let me just say i have been on acne medications starting when i was 14. Topical medicine as well as the heavy hitter, acutane. I still break out and have issues so if my skin loves it so much....something has to be going right.  :)

Phone Dilema

i am having a dilema.
I am eligable for a new phone with verizon and all the phones i want (namely iphone) cost too much and i refuse to pay for data. I already feel like i am getting ripped off.  i can't decide what to do.
It seems as time goes on their are less and less basic phone options for those of us who aren't interested in spending our hard earned cash on phones & data.
what phone do you have? Do you like it?

A not so good day

Are you ever embarassed by how you handle hard moments?

today i was.

lets just say i barely held on to sanity. I hate those moments--i always feel so ashamed.

Thank God Himself they are few and far between but my poor children...I am so glad they are so loving and forgiving. I will work to be more like them.

This song brought peace to a troubled soul today.
love to all

Welcome back to my world!

 

Hellooooo yogurt!

I have missed your creaminess desperately. Thankfully baby colt is just fine with me eating you and all your delicious dairy cousins. In fact, he is doing even better in the pooping department thanks to you (i think).

I have missed all things dairy desperately but  It was totally worth every bit of sacrifice and longing. And now i can appreciate it with a whole new perspective. To anyone who is going without dairy for whatever reason, if you need someone to empathize, i am here for you!! I also have extra soy milk i can't drink--it grosses me out now. Hopefully in time i will get over it. 

Instead

I feel ornery and whiney so instead of bogging you down with my "woes" enjoy this video:

Balance.....

In my current study of life i am often struck by the importance of balance...in. everything. !

I don't know about you, but it doesn't come easy to me. I have tried all kinds of ways of finding balance:

Working out daily (got addicted and it turned out not so good).
No sugar (got easy, i got lazy and started eating sugar ALL the time).
No dairy (gotten used to it; i am worried how this will turn out).
Not working out (fat legs was the result).
Praying daily (good relationship with God. Got lazy (again?!) and had a not so good relationship).
Reading spiritual materials daily (got lazy (again?!) missed out on knowledge and God's influence in my life).
Cooking dinner daily (got too many leftovers so i stopped, ran out of momentum).
Baking regularly to expand my repertoire (got a bigger butt).
Cleaning regularly (hated it, so i got lazy, had a dirty house, uck)

notice a pattern...i get lazy. It takes so. much. effort. to stay on top of being balanced. Just when i think i am doing pretty good, something falls apart.

So i am a bit mystified how to find and hold onto balance. And beat the "i dooon't waaaaaant toooooo" voice in my head.

Only One

This is me 38 weeks pregnant with caleb. I feel like i look this way right now, but i'd need outside verification for authenticity. We are our own worst critics...are we not?

let me give you a preface to what you are about to read. These thoughts originated sunday. it was a day of children--i teach sunbeams (~10 kids, 3 yrs old) and the 4-5 yr olds. My partner and i are filling in for the sunbeams. Caleb is 2 1/2, rambunctious and adorable. I am 33 weeks pregnant. These facts do not add up to a particularly spiritual sunday.

I taught a lesson about how our bodies are special and essential to our progression in this life. Last night as i sat in my bath, staring at my bulging belly watching it shift and move around from colton doing whatever it is babies do in-utero i had a thought:
Only One Body
we only get one body...and i am making coltons, well my body is making it.
Pregnancy is Sacred!
Sure, its difficult! It hurts in weird ways. My sides frequently feel like they might split open, i have contractions that take my breath away (literally), my feet hurt-ache and the tingling sensation in my hands from swelling sorta freaks me out.

Despite all this, how many times do we give life...like this? All we, as women, ever discuss is the negative and discomforts and difficulty-perhaps because they are so all-consuming and seemingly everlasting...

but

it is special. Once-in-a-lifetime (or however many kids you have) special. I mean look at your kids. Watch them breathe--you did that. You, me, our mothers...we made that. Sure, it isn't a conscious making, but the two years of giving up ourselves to share our bodies with a beautiful and miraculous little parasite (think science people!)...we are amazing. Our bodies are amazing. How anyone can think we evolved from an ameoba clearly has no sense of the wonder in the mirror.

1 corinthians 3:16
Know ye not that ye are the ^atemple of God, and that the ^bSpirit of God dwelleth ^cin you?

I struggle to breathe. I can't be active because i get contractions so bad. My legs look like cottage cheese-something i don't think i have ever seen to this extent on my own body. I am planning on a c-section and for the pros it offers, i dont love the major surgery part. I envy women who get to walk around and pick up their babies right after the birth. I also have a very hard time getting pregnant and both of these boys are miracles in my book.

yet i think of the scripture above and i wonder how many more times do i get to do this: create another life, truly blossom as a woman, relish (okay okay and fear) the prospect of the future life inside me?

I am well aware of the cliche nature of this post. I know we all hear "seize the day" and "appreciate who you are" and whatever else that makes us all feel better about ourselves. But i tell you what: sitting their, watching my gargantuan belly and poking-out-belly-button shift around to the rhythm of my unborn son, grunting when he has an overly-well-placed kick; this epiphany hit hard and hit home. What i am doing matters. It isn't just some negative experience meant to bring misery to women-kind. We have the agency, the opportunity to choose how to deal with these struggles.

Do my legs still gross me out? yes. Am i petrified that i will never have flat abs ever again? oh, yes. Do i fear what the intense and overwhelming first year will bring emotionally? Oh, hell yes!

but i watch caleb run around and discover new things and smile and none of it matters. I'd die for that little one and i'd die for this unborn son. My vanity, ego and pride need to be shelved anyway.
This challenge and honor is an opportunity to rise above the base human and search for the divine within.

Quirks

1. rob notified me that when i get excited i wiggle my toes. it is true, my excitement frequently bubbles over into jumping, squealing, stomping...much to the amusement of my beloved.

2. i frequently make up my own words. i can't remember any of the words right now but when it happens, rob will ask "is that a word?" and i always say yes. this usually happens when i am talking about something particularly intense.

3. i always have music running in the house...even when i am not home. i have done this since i got my first radio in my bedroom when i was in the 3rd grade.

4. Every time we get pizza, i eat leftover cold pizza for breakfast the next day. Rob doesn't like to kiss me after this...he thinks it is disgusting.

5. i always read the instruction manual. Bottles, window blinds, flat irons, vacuums, filing cabinets, knives, kitchen gadgets.

Thank you marcie for the tag. i tag...anyone who is interested. (i know...lame....)