grammy’s and “the big game”

My mother in law filled me in on what happened during the Grammy’s the other night. I don’t watch music awards or videos – I really don’t watch much television at all, so I miss these big events. I can’t say I’m sorry that I do.

In case you’re like me and live under a rock, 30 some couples were married on the Grammy’s the other night, many of which were homosexual. I can’t agree with that as a Bible believing Christian.

Then, my mom in law tells me there will be more of this during half time of the big game this Sunday. I looked it up and found an article that states there will be at least one same sex couple getting married during half time. So, this gal won’t be watching ANY of the game. My husband is even contemplating not watching the game at all, and that’s a big deal. He said he definitely won’t watch the half time show, but maybe none of the game at all. I pray that his conviction holds true (he’s a big football fan).

Now, before you label me as a hater of homosexuals, let me assure that is not the case. I am just very convicted by the action. I don’t hate anyone, but I can’t agree with the action or support it in any way. Part of our Sunday school lesson even mentions homosexuality as being wrong in the Bible. Is that a coincidence? I think not.

Christian friends, please consider spreading the word about what’s going to happen and not watching this silly game on TV. If we don’t stand for something, we’ll fall for anything.

blue skies and white snow

I wish I had a picture to share with you this morning of how pretty it is here. I don’t have a smart phone and my little dinky camera phone wouldn’t do it justice, so I’ll just have to let you imagine what it must be like.

We ended up getting about 2 inches of snow yesterday and through the night. Normally, I teach a 6:15 AM class on Wednesdays, but I knew no one would be here this morning, so I cancelled and slept in. That felt really good and I didn’t want to get out in the dark cold first thing this morning. At 8 am, it was only 1 degree! My son and I came out and he wanted to play in the snow. I kept coaxing him toward the car and finally about 3 minutes of being outside he realized it was cold! He’s so cute when he says “I cold.” and “Freeze” and “Burr!” We got into the car and I took him to his great granny’s for the morning.

When we got to her house, he started asking for his monkey (his favorite lovey soft thing). I told him I didn’t have it and he demanded “Get.” Then, I realized I didn’t have my phone, so I must have dropped it outside at the house. So, I had to backtrack and go back to the house to get a monkey and a phone. By the time I was finally headed to work, I was a bit agitated, but then I looked up and saw that brilliant blue sky and the bright sun against the newly fallen snow. I had to stop and thank God for the beautiful, blessed day.

Tomorrow is my son’s second birthday. Two years ago today, we were at church and I requested prayer for the baby to come because they were threatening to induce me if he didn’t hurry up and arrive. That night, I had some strange stomach cramp feelings, then that next morning at 4:30 am, I went into labor. God knows what he’s doing, huh? I hope to have time tomorrow to post some of my favorite pictures of my boy and recap the things I’ve learned over the past two years.

stylin’

My aunt Jewel snapped this photo of me Sunday a week ago while we were visiting my grandma. I was all dressed and ready to leave and I thought the picture would turn out horribly, but it’s actually kinda cute. I had my gloves in my coat pockets so it makes my belly look a bit bigger than what it really is. And, don’t you love my “matching” flip flop diaper bag? Too funny.

Over my right (your left) shoulder, is a photo of my grandpa  (dad’s side) who died when daddy was about 8 years old. I never got to know him. The two folks in the picture over my left shoulder are my grandma’s parents, maybe? I should know this but I’m terrible at genealogy.

 

This next photo was taken the same day. I look stoned for some reason, but I assure you that’s not the case. Beside me is my cousin Jennifer who I’ve grown very close to over the years. She’s been a big role model to me. My grandma  was very happy that day, but I think the serious face came from the fruit cake she was enjoying. 🙂 I didn’t realize I was that much taller than Jennifer until I saw this picture. I always feel shorter than I really am.

 

relaxing monday musings

Ah, Monday. I love to start the week off with a day at home! I’m so glad my schedule has worked out so I have Mondays off each week. I got to have breakfast with my husband and son this morning before the husband headed off to work for the day. My son and I watched some cartoons, played outside for about an hour, and then at leftover spaghetti for lunch. He’s been down for a nap for about an hour which has given me time to plan out the menu for his birthday party this Saturday.

My little fellow is turning 2 on Thursday, so I think we’re going to go for breakfast before I have to go to work. Then, I will have him some cupcakes or something that evening. We are having our immediate family out for a small party on Saturday afternoon. The theme is monkeys since he loves his little monkey lovey blanket so much. I think I’m going to make crock pot chicken and dumplings with some sides. My mom is making his cake and she does a really great job.

I let my son finger paint for the first time this weekend. I know, I’m way behind on this! My sister in law is so good at letting her kiddos do all this creative stuff and I think her eldest son has been finger painting since he was about 6 months old. Either way, I had bought finger paints to give him for his birthday, but we were stir crazy one evening and I broke them out. He had a blast and I did too watching him. I’m going to send his paintings out as thank you notes for his birthday presents. 🙂 We ended up giving him a much needed hair trim while he was painting so that worked out well.

My dad came out yesterday to look at the refrigerator. Less than 2 weeks ago, this local company came out and charged us $260 to defrost the freezer. He said it must be a drain problem. He was a grouch and I don’t know how this man has managed to stay in business this long! Either way, it worked for a week until Thursday when we realized the freezer and fridge were too warm again. Friday night, I took the freezer apart (I’m mechanically minded, I think) and there was frost built up again. I called my dad and he figured it was something to do with the defrost element on the fridge. He came out and determined it’s most likely the defrost timer with his little electricity gadget. Thank goodness for the internet where I found the parts I needed, which should be here by Wednesday. This fridge is an old brand called “Admiral” which I’d never heard of. If this fixes it, I’m sending a letter to the old jack leg fellow and asking for a refund. Oh, and when the freezer defrosted Friday night, the water was in the drain pan under the fridge like it was supposed to be (thus, not a drain problem like old dude diagnosed). Arf! I’m just glad I’m blessed with a dad who can figure these things out. He amazes me because he never even finished high school, but he knows more about building and fixing things than I could ever dream of.

My dad checking out the fridge

On a happier note, I went to a women’s conference with my mom on Saturday where she was demonstrating her pottery skills. It was a great event with good food, singing, and wonderful messages. I plan to go next year.

Last week, I blogged about what I had purchased for our house. After I posted that, I ended up buying one more thing, but it was on clearance. 🙂 It was too cute and I thought it would be neat to hang on our front porch this spring in our NEW HOUSE!!! I wanted to post a picture, but they must be all sold out because it won’t show up on their website. I’ll send a picture of it in action soon.

I hope to go to yoga this evening with one of my friends. It’s been a couple months since I attended a yoga class, so it will be nice to get back into that rhythm. My husband was sweet and snapped this pregnancy photo of me last week. It’s not the most flattering, but you can see that I now have a gut. Thankfully, it’s not from beer!

That belly’s gonna be big at 40 weeks!

I heard this story on NPR this morning and it struck a cord with me because I’m 14 weeks pregnant. It’s about a woman who was found unconscious in her home at 14 weeks pregnant and she’s been on life support ever since. She’s now 22 weeks pregnant and the family wants to take her off life support, which would terminate the life of the unborn child as well. The hospital is saying they can’t do it since there are two lives involved. What a terrible situation to be in as the husband and father. Supposedly, the child is terribly deformed and will not have a good chance of survival, but still… I would hate to be faced with this situation or be the woman in the hospital. Even though she’s not here to have her say, I’m sure it would be agonizing.

Read the full story on their website. All we can do is pray for everyone to make the right decision.

fitness milestones

Swimming is an important life skill!

I just wrapped up a set of swimming lessons with a lady that’s probably close to 70 years old. When we began, she could do a basic freestyle with her head above water, but her goal was to learn to swim the freestyle correctly. She’s doing very well! We had a total of 11 lessons and she’s getting the hang of freestyle with her face in the water. She still has some work on the rhythm and breathing, but her kick is strong and she keeps her face toward the bottom of the pool. We’ve also worked on a modified breaststroke where she keeps her head above water. Breaststroke can be trick because of the timing. I’m so proud of her and we’ll probably do round 2 of lessons in the near future.

My other swimming students has improved as well. A couple of weeks ago, I timed her swimming a length of the pool and this week, she was 5-8 seconds faster! She hasn’t been practicing swimming as much, but she’s been running more and I think that’s helped her as well. This gal is only 22, but when she began our lessons, she couldn’t swim. At all. We had to strap on a float belt to get her comfortable the first lesson or two, but now she could easily save herself if needed.

I’m not tooting my own horn here. I have no formal training in teaching swimming lessons, but I was taught how to swim nearly 10 years ago so I’ve applied those lessons. Several years ago, I was part of a small masters swimming team here where I work and I learned a lot there as well. I’m just glad I’m able to teach something that I can do. Sometimes, you can DO something, but not teach it at all.

I’m really wanting to focus on muscle strength during this pregnancy and I think I’m going to focus on the Body for Life weight training for at least the month of February. I did this years ago and lost 30 pounds with a changed diet. I’m not trying to lose weight, but I want to gain muscle tone throughout this pregnancy. I don’t want to push for 3 hours this go round! I did the upper body session today and I really like it. I can tell I’m going to be sore tomorrow. During my first pregnancy, I mostly walked and swam and didn’t too much weight lifting, so I’m going a different route this time.

One thing I’d like to throw in there is always stretch when you’re done working out. I learned that lesson at Curves for Women when I worked there years and years ago. They have a great flexibility chart that stretches your entire body and I have them memorized. They are my go-to, no-thinking stretches.

my first (bigger) new house purchase!

I’ve had my eye on this entryway bench at Target for a while now and it went on sale, so I bought it! We’re still a few weeks to a month away from move in (I hope no longer than that), but this thing was $35 off and I had a little extra money, so I got it. If I go with that furniture I blogged about, I think it will be a great match. Even if I go with solid brown furniture, it should still work well.

Entryway bench from Target in Teal – http://www.target.com/p/threshold-windham-entryway-bench/-/A-14500213

I started to buy it yesterday, but the shipping was going to be about $35, when I saw something about Target’s RedCard. I checked it out and signed up for their debit card. Call me crazy with their recent security breach, but I just feel like it’s not any more risky than anything else you do online. There’s no fees or anything for their card and you get 5% off plus free shipping. Why not do it? It’s not a credit card, but they have that option.

I did buy a little something for our new house back in December. I told myself I wasn’t going to do anything owl, but I saw these and loved them, so I got them at Pier 1.

Salt and pepper shakers

Anyhoo, I’m all stoked because I got my bench and got it cheaper than I thought possible. Good thing I like assembling stuff, because I will have to put this bad boy together when it comes.

AN ATHEIST’S VIEW VS. A CHRISTIAN’S VIEW OF LIFE

I follow this guy’s blog and I’ve never seen this before. I thought it was amazing that someone came up with it and how true it is. Remember to keep those who don’t have a personal relationship with Christ in your prayers.

i just felt like running

We all remember the line from Forrest Gump where he said he just felt like running. Well, all of a sudden, I do too! I haven’t ran any distance really since September, but I feel like trying to run a 5k in February.

Now, when I say “run”, that is really a “jog” in most people’s standards. I’m a slow 5k gal. I think my fastest time was 27:30 and my slowest was probably 32 minutes, so I’m not that quick. The messed up part is that I can run a 5k during a triathlon (keep in mind that’s the LAST part of the race) just as fast as I can run a 5k all by itself. I think I’m stuck on one speed.

Anyway, here lately, I’ve been throwing some jogging in my workouts here and there and it feels pretty good. I actually have a baby bump now (photo coming soon!) and I know it’s going to grow pretty quickly, so I don’t want to plan too far out. I’m hoping I can find a local race in February on a pretty day. I can jog/walk it, but I just feel like being part of a competitive event. I guess I know that I won’t be doing any triathlons this year and by the time I recover from having this second baby, most racing seasons are over. However, I could look toward some cyclocross if I recover quickly. But, then you throw in another child and when is a mama gonna have time?

Who knows what I will be doing in the fall, but for now, I’m feeling ambitious and think I’ll see what I can find close by on a warm, February day (ha ha).

the living room furniture

The sweet lady from the furniture store emailed me a picture of the couch and chair I really liked yesterday. What do you think? I think I would paint one wall in my living room that pretty blue in the pillow…