S Club Mama

I am not always a good wife to Big A. I'm selfish - a lot. I like to win arguments, a lot of our schedule revolves around my schedule, dates revolve around my tastes. I don't like that. I want to be a servant to my husband - not like a maid (although those duties do fall under my territory - and I have grown to love that) - but someone who serves the man I love. The Husband Project by Kathi Lipp really grabbed my attention. The subtitle is "21 Days of loving Your Man - on Purpose and with a Plan." Perfect! I jumped on the bandwagon and started my Husband Project. I did stray from the outlined plan in that I didn't have even one accountability partner (they recommend two). I told a couple girlfriends about the book but didn't delve further. I did not do 21 days' worth of projects - I haven't had the book that long. And some of them were just not going to fit into our schedule - like the project where I'm supposed to work alongside him on some...

We don't eat a lot of frozen foods around here. It has been ingrained in my head that frozen foods are heavily processed and not fresh. Well, I'm here to tell you that is not always the case and that is not the case with ConAgra Foods like Healthy Choice and Marie Callender's (I hear the applause of many time-crunched mothers thanking me for this information). Great news just in time for National Frozen Food Month (March - hurry before it's over!). Healthy Choice and Marie Callender's meals are made with fresh ingredients - fresh vegetables and fresh meats. They give you access to foods year-round that you can't always find fresh in certain seasons. The vegetables are picked right at the peak of freshness and go from farm to freezer in 24 hours - allowing you to have fresh vegetables year-round. How great is that? So I tried the Healthy Choice 100% Natural Portabella Marsala Pasta. My mushrooms didn't taste frozen or old; they tasted peak, like what I w...

Of course it's not THE New Year; it's March. But it's a new year for me. My birthday is tomorrow so I will start my 27th year. Closing in on 3-0 but not there yet and while I'm still "young" (shout out to my older birthday buddy Sarah who is celebrating her last day of her twenties today!) hehe, I wanted a hip hairdo. So I bring you.... my mondo pile of hair! and my new pixie cut. I love it! What do you think?

This may seem like a silly prayer request - praying for my foot - but it's kind of a big deal to me. Never would I think to pray to be able to run before I started 3 years ago. I would have prayed to get sick or hurt or for a train to stop my run or weather. But if you could lift up my foot, I'd appreciate it. I started on a run yesterday and I was maybe a block from our house and my right foot on the outside started to hurt. I was wearing my older shoes so I thought maybe it was a muscle that was tight or the shoes had gone bad (magically), so I went home to stretch my foot and switch shoes. I started out in my newer shoes....didn't even make it half a block before turning around. Once I was off of my feet, my foot didn't hurt so I hope rest helps. Then I woke up this morning and it hurts, not as severely as when I run, but when I walk there's still a twinge of pain. Even as I'm sitting here, I can feel it - it doesn't hurt but I'm aware of it. No...

When I started running in 2010, I developed a dream of running a marathon. I didn't know how long a marathon was. Then I realized the training wasn't going to work out...and besides, my 30 minute runs (which I worked up to after several weeks of short runs starting at 4 minutes long) weren't very fun. What a drag. Running. I disliked it a lot. But I saw results. Pounds didn't fall off but they did come off. By October 2010, I had dropped 50 pounds and in September had completed a half marathon. What a rush! I found running to be imperative to my days - I was happier than I'd ever been. Not because I had lost weight (although that was icing on the cake) but because God was working in my heart to transform me into who He wanted me to be. Today, I have regained 10-15 of those pounds and dropped them again, along with 10 or so extra pounds. A large part, due to my joy of running. I find it amazing what God has made my body capable of. Today I ran 18 miles on a tread...

In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express. - Romans 8:26 I find great reassurance in this Scripture. This morning Squirt had a small surgical procedure to clean his ears and they ended up putting in new tubes. I know this is a common procedure - we've been through it twice already (3 now!) between the boys. And yet...it's a surgery. There are always risks. And I was reminded yesterday at a MOPS meeting about how the hospital is the germiest place ever (ugh - not something you want to hear when your little one is going under!).  So this morning I wanted to pray for him and I did, but I didn't feel my words were telling God about my fears, my desires. I knew, though, that the Holy Spirit was in prayer for me. He knows my heart. He knows what I need to say and says it for me.  And Squirt came out beautifully. Crying after waking up, just li...

Lately, I have been really hungry. Not normal hungry but eat-everything-in-sight hungry. Perhaps it has to do with my really long runs (17 miles yesterday!) in preparation for my marathon. Either way, I'm usually hungry about the time that school ends at 3, same as my kids. And I don't want crackers (well, I do but I know I should have something more substantial) and I don't want cold fruit - I want something warm. It's winter still and my stomach craves what every Kansas craves around this time of the year - heat.  Today I was in luck! My friend picked up my  Minute® Ready to Serve Rice  bowls this past week so I could try them out. She got me the brown rice version because (to quote her), I like to "eat healthy." Which is totally true - I'd rather serve brown rice over white any day. The problem is, I don't like plain rice much. I like to put stuff in it (butter) and that makes it generally unhealthy. However,  Minute® Ready to Serve Rice  ...