Two years ago I sat on Santa’s lap.
I only wanted one gift: hair. Chemo treatments stole my beauty markers. It ate my eyebrows, eyelashes, and hair (hungry little guy). The mirror check resulted in a search and rescue for any kind of roughage. My eyes would slip all over my face and head until it landed on my sole survivor eyelash. One eyelash on each eye.
It looked stupid. Continue reading
It’s the same ritual every night. My internal clock alarms me it’s time for bed- but straight to bed is not the route I want.
Not yet.
I take a detour to the boys’ room and flip on the hall light. I’m not worried about waking them up because once they are asleep nothing disrupts their wonderland. Really, I turn the light on because there’s no use blowing kisses into a dark room, my aim may be off and the kiss would be wasted. Continue reading
Tis the season for making spirits bright. The message is simple: Love, Laugh, Lift.
LOVE. See the non-obvious beauty in others. The things that we like about people are easy to see and love. Get to know someone’s true beauty. The best way to do that is to knock down our judgments of others by thinking good things. When I was in 4th grade we read a book about a boy who could read people’s thoughts. I was gullible enough to think that maybe someone really did have that special power.
And it had me on-guard every time I was around people (though I never cared if spiders could hear my thoughts, still don’t care). Continue reading
It’s a tradition to think about what we are thankful for this time of year. Often the things that we are thankful for are traced back to some reason that triggered our insight. We can rattle off the things that we are grateful for that have given us comfort in our lives. But what about those not so awesome moments. Here’s a few of my triggers for my gratitude. Check out these unlikely candidates: Continue reading
I love turkey day. I didn’t used to. Thanksgiving was a holiday that had a table full of delicious food and all I could think about was the stuffing. I hate stuffing. Someone would always try to get me to “just try it.”
I have tried it.
It’s exactly why I despise it. I don’t like marinated chicken broth bread. Ok, so I know that 99.967% of the population likes stuffing so this post is not coming on strong for anyone. In fact I probably dropped a few followers with the line “I hate stuffing.”
Forgive me. (Come on back now… if you eat it I’ll just avoid smelling your breath.) Continue reading
Everything we say or do is a choice. As a nutritionist I understand the toll of what we put into our mouths on our body.
During my chemo treatments I was amazed at the power of the food on my overall well being. Even though I couldn’t taste what I wiggled down the food tube, I felt better when I ate better- when I ate foods from all of the food groups.
It was a simple choice that affected me as a whole. And even now with fully acting taste buds, I am more keenly aware of how my food choices affect me.
(And, boy, have I been flubbing that up lately. Who eats lemon bars for breakfast? Well, who besides my kids and I? Yep, bad mom moment.) Continue reading
Don’t just look for a reason to be grateful, give someone the reason to be.
Typically the month of November is a time we focus on all of the things that we are grateful for. I love it. It’s so nice to evaluate the good things in our lives. To recognize all those things that have been squished against our noses but somehow failed to see.
So typically we find reasons to be grateful. We list them on construction paper turkey feathers, die cut leaves, or more permanently- in our journals, etc. We display them somewhere (well, maybe not the journal that could be… intrusive) so we can remember all the goodness that life offers. Regardless, it’s a snazzy little thing that softens our complaint list in the month of November.
It’s nice. It’s needed. Continue reading
So, I found this pumpkin at the pumpkin patch. He was smiling. No one got a hold of him and forced him to smile but by natures own undertaking he was sharing a genuine smile.
A real, unforced, uncarved smile.
I just had to bring him home with me so I bought the little guy and I let his attitude rub off on me. Yes, I understand it is just a pumpkin. Not a thing with actual feelings, or moments of frazzle, bad attitudes, or glorious moments of pizzaz. I get that. But there was something magical about him.
His smile was catchy. He smiled when we fought, when we had a bad day, when the house was a mess; when my piano music was off beat. He wasn’t mocking he was just seeing the good when maybe I couldn’t.
I’m a fan of this genuine little pumpkin man.
Last year, at this time, I was only about 6 months free of cancer treatments. The toll on my body was still in full effect. I was tired but happy (as anyone knows who has ever gone through chemo knows that true happiness is the ditching of chemo treatments).
I knew my energy levels so I was certain that I wasn’t going to run the “pink race”. It’s a 5k/1 mile walk to raise money for local breast cancer patients. One of my cancer friends is the 5k head hauncho. But, the alligator tears from my 3 year old who wanted to run for mommy had me at the line up. Continue reading
I feel a ray of sunshine splash in my life every time I watch General Conference. Messages of goodness and hope fill the dark corners of my soul. I am energized by listening to my inspired church leaders.
So thank you! (I’m sending that into the universe since I don’t really know their exact mail slot plot).
One talk specifically inspired me by Devin G. Durrant. He talked about the power gained when we “ponderize.” He suggested finding one scripture a week that you can write down and think about daily.
I invite you to do the same. No matter your religion, find a scripture and focus on it for a week. Place it where you can see it. Let it change, help, and guide you.