I have always thought negative thoughts about myself. Things like:
I can’t pinpoint WHY I thought those things…I’m sure some of it is because kids are just cruel and certain things stick with you. But sometimes things just get in your head.
It’s NOT humorous when you can’t poop.
It’s even more UNhumorous when your child can’t poop.
I remember thinking Eli had some kind of really incurable disease and I worried for days, finally taking him to the doctor and the ER – and guess what?
The poor boy just needed to poop.
With certain kids (or adults) it can be hard to get enough fiber into them for them to poop regularly – or maybe they DO eat enough fiber and still can’t poop.
[Read more…]All of us have something we’re passionate about. For you, it might be any one of the following:
And when you’re passionate about something, it’s hard to accept when other folks don’t share the same passion. You want to tell the world!!!!!!!!! But you feel like you’re talking to an empty room.
I think this is the place where bananas come to die. We LOVE them. But no matter how many I buy, at least 4 are always in a state of decay. I’m not talking: eh, those are a little gone. I’m taking: if you pick it up, it will smush in your hand. Banana pancakes are one of the solutions to use such “smushy” bananas. 😉
I recently took some training at my day job on giving and receiving feedback, the psychology of high performance, and some HR and hiring issues. Over the course of that training, a few major things really stuck out to me, but one of the biggest was how terrible we are at dealing with conflict. My ears perked up when the instructor gave a simple model of dealing with conflict that actually makes sense. More on that shortly.
A part of our challenge with conflict is because we are so terrible at listening. We all took training to learn to communicate our thoughts and ideas – reading, writing, math, speech, etc. all are focused on helping us learn to formulate and share our thoughts – but how many of us took any training on listening? I know I didn’t, except for some on-the-job training when I worked at a call center years ago. The point is, we haven’t been taught how to listen, and we generally are pretty awful at it because our main goal is to get our point(s) across instead of understanding someone else’s.
If you couple our difficulty in listening, and our desire to be heard, with the supposed anonymity of being able to do and say what we want on the internet without any real recourse, it is no surprise that the comments section of most blogs and millions of posts on social media are a communications disaster. Frankly, we just don’t want to listen – we want to talk. The result = conflict.
I need to give credit to George Wright, from Wright One Consulting, because he’s the one who shared what I’m about to. However, I know it isn’t original to him. It is just an idea that we all need to see repeatedly…
We usually approach conflict as a “you vs. me” situation. The reality of it is that it should be a “you and me vs. a problem we’re trying to solve”. But it’s so simple…if we would just embrace that simple strategy when in conflict with others! Dealing with conflict would simply be an exercise in good communication.
What’s the takeaway? Understand that the person with whom you’re in conflict is probably not a jerk who hates your guts and must be destroyed. He is probably just a normal person who is frustrated because you don’t understand his point, and you’re too busy trying to make him understand yours. How about trying to understand his perspective first?
Now, there are absolutely a few jerks who hate your guts and whose arguments you need to destroy. Your job is to become more in tune to how to respond to conflict by listening. I’ve been using this strategy for several weeks now and it is amazing how well it works. Give it a try!
Especially in today’s world, where everyone is supposed to be offended, no one can have an opinion different from mine, and we’re all unique and special (even though in many ways we’re not), becoming a better listener and recognizing that most of the time, conflict is not the same thing as a personal attack, will make a huge difference for us all.
I love to shop at Aldi. I remember my first trip there. It was with my friend, Erin, from The Humbled Homemaker. I was visiting her and she told me we HAD to go, because I didn’t yet have an Aldi at home…but now we DO!
My favorite thing about Aldi…okay that’s a lie. I have many favorite things about Aldi! We’ll get to that shortly, and we’ll talk about what I buy at Aldi that is whole foods friendly.
It’s really easy to make excuses for NOT going on a date night with your spouse. No one argues whether or not it is important, but there seem to be all these “reasons” to not make it happen:
If it’s important, you’ll find a way. If not, you’ll find an excuse.
–Ryan Blair
Barry and I probably went 6 years after we were first parents with NO DATES. None. Zero. After a while, we started to notice that things seemed more like we had become roommates with benefits than spouses.
You work so hard for a long time to woo each other and then all of a sudden you snag them and act like it no longer matters. I’ve got you, my pretty! And your lounge pants too! Barry and I decided to take matters into our own hands – because we had all the excuses. We decided date night needed to become a part of our marriage.
You guys, I understand date night is not easy when you have small kids. But I also understand not everyone is in that phase. Maybe your kids are older and you’re busy with sports. Maybe you don’t have kids but your schedule is PACKED. Maybe you live in a new place, away from family and friends.
I’m going to tell you what we’ve done for probably the last 10 years. It works for us. It’s something we look forward to each week for date night: Trashy Pizza Night.
No, this is not a night when we watch trashy movies and eat pizza. Trashy pizza is our bizarre way to say “not homemade” (I take Sundays off, ha ha).
Every Sunday night, EVERY SUNDAY NIGHT, after the kids go to bed, we eat pizza – usually from the frozen section of Aldi. 😉 And we watch a movie. We don’t do anything else. Our “date night” is a time where we talk, we eat, and we watch movies. That’s it.
And you guys, it’s legit. It doesn’t take any more planning than to make sure there is a frozen pizza on hand, a movie queued up, and the willingness to delay dinner until the kids go to bed. There really can’t be a much simpler date.
Make the effort – even dates at home are better than none at all.
Trying to do it all is gonna kill you. Literally. Stress kills. You can’t do it all. Stop trying.
Recently I’ve been pondering on the fact that society/social media, likes to point out when someone isn’t doing it all.
Eating healthy? Well, why don’t you filter your water too? Sleeping well Why the heck are you using a chemical cleaner? Taking your vitamins? Didn’t you know that you are killing yourself with EMFs? Kids in public school? Did you know they’re missing time at home with you? Kids in homeschool? Why aren’t you getting your kids some socialization and friends? So, let me remind you – you can’t do it all.
[Read more…]I shared this list as part of a Facebook Live “Top 10” series. I shared My Top 10 Favorite Online Stores – as well as my Top 10 Kitchen Gadgets – and I wanted to share this one with y’all too…my Top 10 Young Living products!
Because I just love Young Living and my love for these things changes based on my mood, y’all! I use so many Young Living products, choosing my favorite is like picking a favorite child… IMPOSSIBLE. But today, I’m going to share my top 10! In no particular order, my Top 10 Young Living Products are:
There ya have it! I hope that was helpful – whether you’re a Young Living member already and looking to branch out OR you are not a member and wondering what other options are available.
It’s not just oils ya’ll – it’s a lifestyle. If you want to see how we use oily products daily, I’ve got that up for ya too.
When we had Ruthie, our church delivered several meals to our house – because they’re holy like that. And we love them. Our pastor’s wife, Miss Sally, (I know, I know, it is technically “MRS. Sally”, but the name Miss stuck) is the most amazing woman of God you’ll ever meet. She’s gentle. She’s kind. She just casually dropped off a chocolate cake. Like it was no big thing. And friends, I had never had Miss Sally’s cake before. But I can tell you, I never want to be without it AGAIN.
