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A gift giving guide for the bewildered gifter

Dear Friend/Spouse/Partner; Hey.  I love you.  I know you are struggling with what to get me. And I know you care and want to buy the perfect thing as a token of your love so I thought I would help you out a little. First, I’m not going to BUY MY OWN GIFTS. But here are a few questions for you to answer that should help you prepare a little: 1. What would make my life easier?   There is something I complain about ALL the time. True, there are MANY things I complain about. So go now to your dark place and think of those things…. Those nagging, constant, irritating things. And then fix it, buy it, get rid of it! Whatever complaints I have made over the past few months - Take care of it for me! Broken dish washer? Fix it! No dish washer? BINGO.  Not enough spoons/mugs/dish towels? Buy me a dozen! Always tripping over your shoes? Get rid of them! And by that I mean buy something to take care of the shoes-all-over-the-living-room problem.  Yes.  A shoe organizer. You’re catching o
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Sophisticated No-Bakes

I found this amazing  No Bake oatmeal bar recipe  just before Thanksgiving and my brain adapted it for me before I pulled a single ingredient from the shelf.  Fun how our brains do that.  ;) (Yeah.  I read the recipe wrong from the start. But what I ended up with was just as amazing and I personally feel like royalty when I eat them.)  So. .. Here's my adapted recipe. I like to call them  SOPHISTICATED NO-BAKES . GATHER Square baking dish Parchment paper 2 sauce pans Measuring cups Something to stir with Rubber Spatula Ingredients 1 cup salted butter 1/3 cup light brown sugar 1 tsp vanilla 3 cups quick-oats 1 cup semisweet chocolate chips 3/4 cup chunky peanut butter 1/2 cup dried cranberries 1/2 cup white chocolate chips Let the magic begin! Line square baking pan with wax or parchment paper, set aside. Melt butter on medium heat in large sauce pan. Stir in brown sugar and vanilla. Stir in oats. Turn heat to low and cook for another 5 minutes, stir
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Turn off the tv and DO something

A note to myself for 2013 (and beyond!): 
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Chores and Rewards

It's time for updated systems around here. What was once considered major accomplishments (brushing your teeth) has now become expected and normal. No more special attention for such mundane tasks. Our baby is now 5 years old and while chores have been a regular part of our lives I now see the need to "up the ante". I learned from my sister-in-law, Paige , and a wise woman of 9 children, Darlene , about the " five finger chores ". We've doing those for about a month now and it has helped us reign in my daughter's desire to instantly jump on the computer or turn on the tv in the morning. First she needs to finish her "first fives". Here's what our (well used!) Five Finger Chore Chart looks like: 1. Turn off your "water sounds" (white noise machine) 2. Turn off your radio 3. Get dressed 4. Drink water 5. Put your laundry in the basket Humbly drawn at the bottom is a picture of the computer. She can watch a show when sh
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Where my peeps at?

I just want to raise my hand and say "Here!" when the Broken Hearts club meets. I just want to say I'm here. What does it mean when no one reaches out? What does it mean when my outstretched hand is picked clean and there is no balm to cover the wounds? I don't want to feed the birds. I want to feed friends. Am I searching for something that doesn't exist? Am I crying about the loss of something that was never meant to be? You can't force the community to include you. Or can you? Is that how people succeed? They claim their place and stand firmly on confident ground? I don't think I have that kind of resolve. The wounded don't typically feel confident about where they stand. I certainly don't feel confident about anything right now. Perhaps this is a season. Endure. Get through. Hope. My club meets every other Tuesday. I'll see you there.
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Lucky Charms and Johnny Cash

Is it presumptuous to think that if Jesus were here, today, he might eat Lucky Charms and listen to Johnny Cash with you? I'd like to think that God is chill. That He'd give you permission to relax. Most of my upbringing I spent Sunday mornings and Wednesday nights listening to sermons about how we need to DO, GIVE, BE more. How we are called to be warriors. Even now, songs on the Christian charts blare about being courageous, stepping up to be better men. Better women. Yet there are just as many sermons that tell you to LET GO AND LET GOD. As a teenager this call to action was heavy in my heart - DO MORE. BE MORE. GIVE MORE. Even in the simple acts of worship - I wanted to know how high to raise my hands, how low to bend my knee ... how much was I to give? I wanted to see the figures, formulas, and rules. It's easy to follow rules. But letting go? "Letting God"? "Letting Go" is not part of my nature. I spend a lot of time wound up like a spool o
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Perfection isn't part of this journey.

Thoughts swirl with relentless reminders that I am not perfect.  Simple tasks, jumbled, become costly mistakes. I am unfocused and scattered. Appointments made for the wrong day. Miscommunicating. Forgetful. Interrupted. Unfinished. Last night after a day, full, I grumbled my exhaustion to the one who chooses to love me and my mistakes; 9 hours of work, 3 hours for a hair appointment, dinner at the diner, getting home just in time to watch Survivor. I have talked non stop since dawn and I have nothing more to give. I grumble more to the child I've only seen for 20 minutes. It's bedtime. She refuses to brush teeth and I respond in anger. I'm tired and angry. He said, "You're tired, but isn't it because you are living your dream?" Oh. Yes. He is right. Thank you, dear husband, for not letting me dive any deeper into my mistakes! With different perspective, exhaustion is beautiful. Something to feel and be happy for the feeling. Tired and happ
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