Really isn’t so much an “olympic” moment as it is a commercial that’s been playing during the Olympics. I saw it last night and have watched it online 4-5 times already today! I cannot wait until September 25th! Watch the video to find out…
Menu Plan Monday - August 11th… August 11, 2008
First of all - HOW is it the 11th of August already? How did that happen? Insane!’
Second - I’m *done* with my grocery shopping *before* making my list. Kind of weird. Chip and Elijah are going golfing with friends this afternoon and then Elijah has football tonight. And since I didn’t want to get up at 7:45 to go grocery shopping since it’s our last week off before school starts next week, we went yesterday.
Monday - Baked Ravioli
Tuesday - Hamburgers & French fries
Wednesday - Orange Chicken over Rice
Thursday - Loaded Nachos
Friday - Pork steak with sweet potatoes
Saturday - Ribs with corn on the cob and baked potates
Sunday - Fellowship Dinner (I’m bring taco salad and some sort of dessert).
Sunday bulletin… August 10, 2008
- Chip preached a great sermon on how love conquers fear this morning.
- My kids are *really* into the Olympics this year. Right now they are watching water polo. GO USA!!!
- My house is *really* loud with 6 people cheering in it. Even louder since we tore out the carpet to expose the hardwood floors.
- This is the first Sunday that I’ve gotten a proper afternoon nap in almost 6 weeks. I’ve missed it!
- Starting with school next week, each person in our family will be responsible for picking and helping me prepare one meal a week. It’ll be like having my own person sous chef.
- ALL of my kids can now you chopsticks without the rubberband on them. Including Seth - who’s only 3!
- I’m fairly grossed out by myself right now since I’ve started peeling. ICK!
- I’m just surprised at how surprised people were over the fireworks at the Olympics. Maybe it’s because I know that most US fireworks display companies get their fireworks (at least the really good ones) from China.
- Elijah is suddenly too long to lay comfortably on the loveseat.
- One of my greatest pleasures in life is saying something completely off the wall just so my kids will say, “Mo-om!” complete with eye roll.
Remember that concert… August 8, 2008
Way back in May that I stayed up to watch Phil Wickham live from Portland on streaming video? Well, it’s now been turned into a live cd! And he’s making it available for FREE on his blog starting today 08.08.08. It’s the perfect CD to gear up for the Olympics to! Ok, so maybe not exactly, but it’s definitely worth your time (which I understand is way more valuable than your money so I won’t sell you short) to download and give a listen. Phil’s song “You’re Beautiful” is definitely one of my current favorites!
Perspective… August 7, 2008
My friend, Setsu, is traveling a hard road. This past Tuesday, her husband died from a rather short battle with cancer. She’s in Japan and making plans to move home to Canada and my heart just aches that I can’t be there for her. It makes all of the things that I’ve whined about lately seem very, very meaningless.
It’s been 2 years since a doctor walked into Chip’s hospital room and said, “You have a mass in your chest and we think it’s probably cancer.” I can still remember my heart slamming up into my throat and then bottoming out just as quickly in the pit of my stomach. The reality that I *might* lose my husband was enough to send my world spinning. And even with that glimpse, I still can’t imagine what Sue must be going through. My heart aches for my friend.
There are things in this world that I just don’t get. Hideki was a great man. A doctor of dentistry who worked to help other people. A loving father. A devoted husband. A man who loved his family and loved life. And he’s gone at way too young an age. It just doesn’t make sense to me and leaves me asking God, “WHY?!”
But I know that God is loving and good. That even when things seem dark, He still loves. And I know that God is with my friend when I can’t be because He loves her even more than I possibly can. I’m praying for my friend, Sue and her three kiddos tonight. And holding my own husband and kids just a little bit tighter.
A couple things… August 6, 2008
My internet is out. The internet gurus say they are working on it, but it could be Monday before things are reliable. And all with no warning. It’s like someone switching me to decaf without telling me. I’m starting to get the shakes.
And Brett Favre going to the NY Jets??? WHAT THE HECK? I think I just threw up in my mouth a little bit. I simply cannot cheer for a NY team. Period.
It’s nice to be home from vacation. It was great to go on vacation. We stayed in a friends home and my 3 year old Seth tried to convince us to pull out there Christmas decorations and decorate their house. If they had been easily accessible, I totally would have done it! Would have been a great surprise for them to come home too. He even wanted to buy them presents to put underneath. Can you imagine coming home from vacation in August to find your home decorated for Christmas? PRICELESS!
Ok, time for bed. Lots of work to get done tomorrow - and it might actually happen if I’m sans internet. Only so much I can do on my phone.
OUCH! OWIE!!! OW! OW! OW!!! August 5, 2008
I am *sunburned* and that only begins to describe it! I have burns on every part of my body that was exposed to the sun - including the bottoms of my feet from walking across hot concrete!
And before any of y’all go to lecturing about sunscreen, I’m this burned WITH sunscreen. That was reapplied! With an SPF of 50. I guess that’s what happens when you’re so pale that people can almost see through you. Chip is a bit red, but the kids are fine. Noah’s eyes are completely bloodshot from swimming underwater with his eyes open. We have *got* to get that boy some goggles before our next water park adventure!
We’re still not sure what we’ll go do today. All I know is that it *will* be somewhere indoors!
On vacation… August 1, 2008
After facing the summer thinking we wouldn’t get a vacation, SURPRISE! We packed up and left home tonight and ran away to the booming populous of East Alton, IL. Friends of ours are out of town this week and told us to come stay at their house and spend the week hopping the river over into St. Louis! AND WE ARE!!!
So, I might be scarce around the blog, but you’ll still be able to follow me on Twitter and most likely see some pictures on Facebook or Flickr (over there —–> ) as I upload them for Elijah, who is back at home with the grands (HUGE thanks to them!!!!) because of football.
But for now, I’m going to kick my feet up and curl up on what I’m pretty sure is the world’s most comfortable couch for a bit before going to bed. Not sure what adventure tomorrow is going to bring, but I hear it will involve ribs!
Well, I did it… July 31, 2008
I’d say we, but really Chip had little to do with it. I needed Chip’s mom to stop at Target and pick up some cranberry juice, so I had her pick up a TracFone for Elijah. He’s 11. And I just bought him his first cell phone. I think I was 30 before I got mine!
There has been much discussion in the circles we “run” in over the cell phone thing. One by one, we’ve watched as our kids friends have gotten cell phones in the past year. We live in a small enough town that kids are able to go and ride their bikes around town to friends houses (although I’m suddenly wondering if maybe some of the problems we’ve had in town haven’t come from parents trusting their kids a little too much because “they have phones”) and it’s an easy way to keep track of them.
Anyway, we had been contemplating it for a while. We were seriously thinking we’d get him one once football started since he would be mostly responsible for getting himself to and from practices from time to time. Like last night for example. Chip was at church (yes, I know he’s supposed to have the week off) and Elijah was at practice. I was at home with the rest of the kids. Chip’s mom was here but I didn’t know if Elijah needed a ride or not. He didn’t, but if he had a phone I could have called and asked.
And tomorrow we’re leaving for St. Louis. Without Elijah. He has football practice on Friday, pictures on Saturday and then practice on Monday & Tuesday. We’re leaving him with Chip’s parents. All will be fine until Tuesday when Chip’s dad will drop him off on his way to work at 2:30pm. And then he’ll have to get himself to practice. And he’ll be here alone. It’s good for him to have the responsibility. It’s good for him to have a phone too!
So, that’s the story of how my 11yo got his first phone. Nothing monumental, but still needed to be jotted down somewhere.
How old were your kids when they got their first phone? How old were you?
Walk with me… July 30, 2008
I’m going to take 1,000,000 steps in the next three months! That’s right, one MILLION steps! In THREE months! That’s about 11,000 steps a day. About 1500 LESS than I need to meet the “walk to lose weight” goal of 12,500 steps a day.
Oh my word - I’m throwing a lot of numbers at y’all there, aren’t I?
I finally found a pedometer that I’m not only happy to have, but THRILLED to have. I’ve gone through 4 or 5 before now. Most of them would register steps that I didn’t take. Every time I went over a bump while sitting in the car, every time I stood up or sat down, and have mercy if I actually dropped it. Which I’ve been known to do. And NONE of them was designed to be carried in my pocket.
Until I found the one I have now. It’s the Omron HJ-112 and it’s WONDERFUL! I only logs actual steps that I take. I know this because I dropped it today and it didn’t register ANY of the bumping around as it skipped across the kitchen floor. I can wear it on a lanyard around my neck, put in my purse or my pocket, or clip it on my belt. But since I don’t wear a belt, ever, and I don’t carry my purse everywhere I go every second of every day, and I’m not known to wear a lanyard, I just stick it in my pocket.
Before breakfast, I’d already registered 2,000 steps! I’m trying my hand at keeping track of all my steps on WalkerTracker.com so that I can actually know when I’m meeting my goal and when I’m not. I think 10,000 steps averages out to about 5 miles a day. I always KNEW that I got a bunch of exercise chasing 4 kiddos around all day. Now I’ll know exactly how much I walk in an average day.
