Kids will be kids....and what does that mean exactly?

Do you ever wonder if you are too hard on your kids? I mean, they ARE kids, right? So, my boys are ages 5, 3.5 & 2. I don't have a lot of expectation out of my 2 year old yet. However, I have implimented the time-out chair for him and only use it when he's having a meltdown. I will put him in there (it's a cute little bench that's located in the laundry room, which is right beside our kitchen) so he calms down and it works like a charm - he comes out happy....or at least, he's done with his fit. I use the whole age = time frame, so each child stays the minutes he is in years.

The other 3 do fairly well at what I feel are the basics:

1. To use their manners - please, thank you & excuse me.
2. Acknowledge when they are spoken to (ok, we're working on this one).
3. Use kinds words and treat others the way they want to be treated.

Now, the other things that are been bothering me lately are more of the "gratitude" thing. Like taking care of their toys. I don't mean just picking them up, but more of, not BREAKING them. Not throwing them around and treating them as though they didn't care. How do you teach respect of things? At this point, I just get upset and take it away from them.

I don't want to be over-the-top, I know that they will NOT be perfect. But when their desires become demands and their actions become thoughtless......it sends so many emotions through me and most are no good.

Do you think it's true that the less a child has, the more he/she appreciates "things?"

One word - SPANX!

Seriously. If you haven't heard this word and are a female - you have GOT to check it out. Of course, unless you are blessed with a perfect hard body that has no bumps at all and therefore, don't need the assitance of said word, then skip those whole post. For everyone else - read on my sistahs!

What is it? Well, it's amazing, that's what it is. O.k., really? Well, it's a slimmer/shaper that you wear under your clothing and sometimes, AS your undergarment. I know, you have this thought of your grandmother's girdle and granted, it's not the most eye-catching attire (and we'll get to how one looks putting it on!) but girls, it makes the clothes glide on and look much more.....appealing.

Now, there are other brands and I have tried a few others but the two that are my favorites are SPANX and LIPO-IN-A-BOX. What's my favorite thing about them? You'll laugh. You will. Are you ready for why? No really, are you? Well, the secret ingredient for Stacy's love of your shapewear is *drum roll*........a hole in the crotch area. I know, sounds nasty, right? Well, if you've ever attempted to wear a shapewear that has snaps or hook closure - you'll know my bliss in having a hole. It does take a little getting used to in not only the feel of being a bit "open" but also in going to the restroom. NOT a good thing to mistake where the "hole" is and pee ON your shapewear. Yeah, that's a bad thing. *sniff, sniff*

The biggest obstacle in buying either of my 2 favorites are that they are a bit pricey. HOWEVER, I will tell you that it's worth every stinkin' penny! I wait until there is a special sale or I wait until I can get a deal on QVC. You can buy other brands out there - I haven't tried too many so there may be another out there that works well but I ask. Does it have a hole? *lol*

Yup, I just did a whole post on shapewear and I know I may have opened someone's eyes to the beauty of it!! *grin* So if you want to have your clothes look smoother - check it out and see what you think. My guess is you'll find the love for it that I have! Spanx for stopping by! ;)

I'm NOT perfect, not even close!

I woke up this morning feeling so blessed. I looked around (from the couch since I'm still not sleeping on that hard bed) and said a prayer of thanks. I have a beautiful home, a loving husband, 4 healthy and beautiful children, I have a kitchen full of food, running water, electricity. I have clothes in abundance, shoes for my feet. I have the basics and much more. I have a husband with a job that provides well for our family and I have my own business where I get to have fun getting dressed up in jewelry and bless others with free jewelry! I get to stay home with my children - to nurture them, to teach them, to play with them.....to enjoy them.

Now, all is not perfect in our world all the time but we ARE blessed to be a blessing. God provides abundently for us and we are thankful. People think because I rarely talk about negative things in my home or life that I'm putting on a pretense of perfection or that I think I'm ALL that. But what it is, is this. I CHOOSE joy. I don't think people are fully aware of the power of their words - both negatively & positively. Your words HAVE power!!!! Now, I believe it all comes from God and am so thankful for that safe place to fall and have fath in.

So back to the power of my (and your) words. Could I gripe about what my husband DOESN'T do? Sure. However, what positive, edifying thing will come from that? Nadda. It wouldn't even make me FEEL better. Could I tell you and the world on the internet (Facebook, blogs, message boards) how my kids are bringing me to the brink of tears some days? Sure, but again, what good would come of that? Could I share, with anyone that will listen, how I feel overwhelmed with the chores in this house? Oh yeah baby, I could tell tales. But for me, what will that do for me? Will it bring me some satisfaction or joy?

So no, I'm NOT perfect and won't be on this earth. But with God's unconditional love & grace, I will enjoy life and the blessings I receive here, and will also be a blessing to those around me. It's a choice really. We all have it. Sometimes it's harder to choose the positive over the negative - but for me it becomes increasingly easier with God's help because for me, ultimately, I can only do all things through Christ who strengthens me.

I challenge everyone to be slow to speak and choose your words carefully because they are a double-edged sword - you can use it for good or evil. What do you choose today? Me? I choose good and we're off to the beach where I'm sure, I'll be challenged!

The king trumps the queen - now what?

Remember the days when couples had separate rooms or beds? I never thought I'd be one of "those" couples but I'm afraid it may be in my immediate future. Let me explain.

I love my husband. I love "private" time with him but when it comes time to sleep - neither of us are touchy, cuddly people. That's for awake time. This is why we bought a king size bed when we bought our home. We wanted room for each to be comfortable and also room for our, at that time, child to be in bed too. Great. However, upon getting the bed home and after sleeping on it we found it to be quite hard. Like, seriously firm. I couldn't sleep in the bed during my pregnancies as it just killed my back & hips.

So about 3 months ago I asked if we could bring up our old, but comfy queen bed and take the king down. I pleaded with hubby that it was killing my back and that I'd rather sleep on the couch than in bed. He agreed to move it and ah.....the comfy queen was back in our room. I enjoyed sleeping more and found I didn't wake with such pains in my lower back as I had previously.

Come to find out, hubby really disliked the queen. He couldn't seem to notice a difference in comfiness (OK, this is amazing in itself!) and he really disliked the size. Apparently I get pretty cozy when I sleep and thus, take up however much room I feel like taking up and therefore, don't give him as much room. And the other thing is that we now 4 boys climbing up in bed with us and the queen did leave a lot to be desired in room for us all.

So, this week I agreed to change the beds BACK. We painstakingly set the queen up in the basement and brought the king back to our room. It's a beautiful bed. Rich dark cherry wood in a sleigh bed style. It sits so high off the ground I almost need a step stool to get in it. It's gorgeous. And it's still hard as a wood plank. Argh! It's only been 2 nights and I woke this morning in excruciating pain in my lower back. The kind when you move just so it catches your breath and you exhale an audible grunt. Yup, it's back and my back is suffering. What to do??? We are not in a position to pay for a brand new king mattress.

I've purchased MANY items hoping it would help but goodness, it's just SUPER firm. I've tried a feather bed on it, eggshells, memory foam, mattress pad and ALL of them together and it really doesn't help. How IS that possible? I think it's the 9th wonder of the world as how this bed can look so beautiful and be so uncomfortable.

So what's a girl to do? I can't function at 100% with a back that makes it hard to bend over or even shift my weight without causing me to make noise of pain. So my options are: a) endure & suffer; b) sleep in the basement on my queen bed; c) sleep on the couch; or d) sleep on the bottom bunk of my son's bunk beds.

Is a marriage in trouble if you don't share the same bed???? Will hubby agree to buy a new mattress if wife isn't in bed anymore???? Didn't those old shows like Leave It To Beaver have Ward & June in separate beds? Maybe we can make "dates" for "those" times and let me have my own bedroom in the basement for sleeping. Oy, who knew that a bed could cause so much distress!!!!!!

Cheese Nips, granola bars, frozen pancakes- OH MY!

I've had a few things that I continue to plague me regarding my life!

1. Become healthier by eating well & daily exercise.
2. Stop feeding my family processed foods.

I just HAVE to make exercising a daily part of my life. A priority! Like - doing laundry or making dinner. It's so easy to let that be the one thing that gets pushed to the side. I need to stop also stop eating my kids' leftovers or eating easy junk (goes with #2).

Let's see - I have a very nice treadmill & elliptical machine. My husband mounted a TV above them so we could watch it while working out. We have free weights, jump ropes, exercise balls and yoga mats. I have a Wii Fit, Jillian Michaels & the new Wii Active. I have a beautiful neighborhood and a bike. I have MANY different options!

I really hate the way I look, hate the way my clothes don't fit well and that I have to shop in the "plus" size all the time and that they just DON'T make the same cute styles - not even in workout clothes! Argh! And let's talk about the more serious aspect of it - my health! I have a family history of diabetes, heart disease and now cancer. I'm 35 and some days my body feels much older.

What's it going to take? I WANT to be one of those people that LOVE to exercise. I WANT to be one of those people that would choose a healthful dinner over a big cheeseburger & fries. Argh?!?!!? I'm always a bit envious of those people you see running - EVERY day.

O.K., so that's mostly about me. Now onto #2. It's sick when I go to the store and see all the processed foods that are being run across the beeper thing. Peanut butter crackers-beep. Trix cereal-beep. Frozen pancakes-beep. Cheese Nips-beep. Granola bars-beep. Diet soda-beep (this ones mine!). I could go on! It hit me last night as I was watching the checker and the items I had put up there, that 20 years ago people didn't have this many options for convenience foods and thus, MADE their own. It makes me quit ill to think of all the things that my kids are ingesting that they wouldn't if I made these things.

So - today is a new day. God's mercies are new every morning and I praise and thank Him for that. For me, today is a new day to make better choices and to THINK about my choices and the result of those choices. I want to treat my body as a temple, to love it and give it only good things and move it. I want to make better choices for my boys' little bodies by making not giving them so much processed/colored foods. THEY are worth it and so am I!

Here's to a day of good, healthy choices for my family!

One hand on her bump the other holding a ciggy

So, I went through the drive-thru to get an ice cream cone for the boys after our park play and had to pull over to wait. *go figure!* A nice looking young woman, I'm guessing her age to be about 21 or so, came outside and lit up a cigarette. When she sat down on the bench right in front of me, it was hard to ignore the fact that she was pregnant. Not like - wow, I'm a month along and don't know it yet and am doing things to endanger my unborn baby because I don't know anything yet. No -- a BIG, round, beautiful basketball of a belly just staring back at me.


It made me sick to my stomach, literally. I know that there are woman who do smoke during their pregnancies and birth healthy children with no concerns. I'm the product of one of those woman. I was a lucky one that didn't have smoke effect my breathing by being born predisposed to asthma or have allergies. Now, back in the 70's it wasn't really a concern and I think a lot of people were unaware of the effects of smoking or drinking during pregnancy could cause. But come on people. There are SO many warnings about someone smoking and ESPECIALLY during pregnancy.


I know I'm not supposed to judge. It's hard not too when you see someone having been blessed beyond measure with having a life grow inside of them....a heart, a brain, lungs, organs, tastebuds, eyelids, ears, etc. forming to become a new life and here this woman (and I'm sure, many others) who are choosing to play roulette with their choices. Well, it just really broke my heart. I didn't say anything and just smiled when she looked up at me. No matter the sin or the wrongdoing, love the person not the act. Though I have to admit, this was harder when it comes to someone (the mom) hurting someone else (the baby).

Reformed gypsy painting her teepee!

I'm doing it! I'm REALLY doing it. No, REALLY! I have lived in this house for 4.5 years and it's STARK white. I have wanted to add color but could never commit to what color. I mean, isn't it tough to take a 2x2 piece of cardboard with a color on it and imagine it all over the walls? OK, maybe not hard for someone with a degree in interior designs, or even someone with some skills in that area. Me? I change my mind with the wind - can't even begin to tell you how many times I've rearranged my furniture, etc.



A Freudian moment here. I think it goes back to my mom. Doesn't it always? In the first 18 years of my life, I lived in over 20 places. Apartments, homes, friends, etc. Not because we were a military family but because my mom was a single mother raising 2 girls on limited income and we rented. We were like gypsies in our small town, though not sure how many noticed or realized it. We never stayed in one place very long and I never got attached, maybe because we always stayed in the vicinity of our small town.



So, I think why I don't become attached to inanimate objects or homes is because of this. I also think it's why I change my mind all the time and have the ability to change without problem. Some people like my husband (or most people, maybe I'm really in the minority on this), who lived in the same house his whole life (and his parents still do after 50 years of marriage) and whose home looks the same with only minimal changes to it in that timeframe.



Ok, went off on a rabbit trail there......sorry! However, why I think I'm finally able to "commit" to color is that I am starting to feel like this is MY home. That I don't have to worry about moving next month or by the end of the year. I can put "roots" down here and color if I want. We own our home. We've been here over 4 years and this is the LONGEST I've lived in any ONE place my whole life!!!!! I praise God for my blessings!!!!



I went to Lowe's and looked through color swatches and picked a few. I think I just KNEW in my heart what I wanted because I brought them home and sure enough, they are perfect. I'm going to go get a small can to paint a poster board to get a feel for a bigger piece of it on the wall but I think it is what we're going with. Now is the hard part - when & doing it. Jim likes the colors, or at least, didn't balk at them. I think he's just thinking of the work to paint it (we have pretty tall ceilings and weird angles) but I can't wait!!!