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"We are one in the Spirit, we are one in the Lord; We are one int he Spirit, we are one in the Lord; And we pray that all unity will one day be restored. And they'll know we are Christians by our love, by our love, yes, they'll know we are Christians by our love." We sang my absolute favorite hymn this morning, They'll Know We Are Christians by Our Love. This hymn was written in 1966 by Peter Scholtes when he was a parish priest on the Southside of Chicago. He needed a hymn that would bridge racial and socioeconomic divides, and one that would help those fleeing the church because of hypocrisy remember why they were Christians.  "We will walk with each other, we will walk hand in hand; We will walk with each other, we will walk hand in hand; And together we'll spread the news that God is in our land. And they'll know we are Christians by our love, by our love, yes, they'll know we are Christians by our love." These words, for ...

As a new year begins we all seem to be making resolutions, or making anti-resolutions for some! I am not making resolutions as much as I am making continuations. When I say continuations I think everyone gets it. We, as humans, are (hopefully) always in a state of change. It is at big life changes that we seem to make proclamations of change and of intentions, resolutions as they are known. I am faced with a new year and a year that is the last in my 40's! As of mid-November 2018 I will be fifty years old. More on that as it comes closer, I'll bet. Continuations - the most obvious is that I plan on making this blog look better. I have always intended on sitting down and working on the aesthetics, but then the words get in the way. Well, and life also gets in the way and I choose something else to work on during that time. Another continuation is to take care of myself. That seems easy enough, but we all know that is easier said than done. True self-care means saying no whe...

Recently I have had a number of parents turn to me for advice on how to handle their middle/high schooler. I will admit that I was a bit shocked when the first asked me point blank how he could get rid of the yelling, disrespect, and arguing plaguing his house of  tweens. I was able to talk through coping strategies that I use when in the classroom, and even congratulated myself for pulling a few gems from my own home life. When the next set(s) of parents asked for advice I gave them my very best. I was able to speak to the behaviors I had seen in the classroom and offer them a different look at their child. A fresh set of eyes from someone who sees their child in a completely different context than any parent will ever be able to experience. I have a policy that if I am going to talk to you about a negative I am experiencing with your child, that I will follow it with at least two positives. I truly feel that if I am not able to name at least  two positive things about...

As Christians we are charged to be Easter People. There seems to be a romanticized view of these words during this Lenten season, a time that is to be one of the most holy times of the year. We use these words very easily, almost flippantly without looking to see what the words are, what they mean. Today the words 'We are Easter People' have been rattling around in my brain trying to make sense of something quite nonsensical. Recently the church I attend has been in upheaval. Many have said that they are going to leave the church. To be honest, I myself have said that very thing many times. I was/am angry, frustrated, sad, basically name an emotion and I have felt it towards certain people and situations in the church. Then today it hit me, I am Easter People. I have a an obligation to look above what man has done, been doing within and to my church. I have an obligation to look towards forgiveness and move forward. Boy, that was sure easy to say. Even easier to write! I ca...

Last Friday was the final day of Read Across America week,(aka Dr Suess's birthday week). That day's theme was 'Dress for your Future Career Day'. I'm still not 100% sure what I want to be when I grow up, so I looked to my left that morning and chose the tiara sitting there in my bathroom. Yea, don't judge I have a tiara!  I grabbed some pearls, straightened my tiara and was off to greet the day and some crazy elementary school kids. First stop was Starbucks because, well I was about to face elementary kids uncaffeinated, duh.  Since I am obviously used to wearing a tiara daily, I forgot and left it on when I ran into Starbucks. One lady looked up and got the biggest grin on her face. I realized and told her why I was wearing it. She told me that she assumed as she had just dropped her future surgeon and veterinarian at school herself!  The strangest, funniest, oddest...not sure what adjective should go here now is that no one else even noticed....

I have been undercover (ha!) at my child's old school these past few years and boy do I have an expose to write for you! First, the ha! was because I am probably the worst at being undercover. I didn't exactly have what you'd call a low profile at the school before I started my first long-term sub gig last year. I was PTA president then, so most teachers knew at least my name if not me personally. Plus, my child was then in 5th grade, so we had already worked out way through the grades and the teachers at that point. This year my child is no longer at the school, but our hearts and his mother still are there. I have the privilege to be a long-term sub again this year, and what I have learned on this new 'undercover assignment' has solidified everything I knew and thought I knew before. We all say and think that our teachers and staff members care for our children. I'm not sure though if I even knew how much. When I used to go to lunch when working in corpor...

Yesterday I told part of my story of my child's worst year of his life and I was reminded that I have always intended to write about it. So, here we go. When my child was in fourth grade he would come home and tell me he was being bullied. The things that he was initially telling me did not seem like bullying, but rather just kids being kids. Jerks yes, but still age appropriate kid crap. I told him that he needed to talk to his teacher and that I would also talk with the teacher. She assured me that there was nothing extraordinary going on, and that the kids were working it out amongst themselves. I left the conference feeling much better and resolving to not be "that mom" and to let my son work through some of these things himself. He started coming home from school in worse and worse moods. He constantly complained of stomach aches, headaches, and was throwing up almost every morning before school. I was still trusting an adult more than my own child and would give...

Being an adult can really suck sometimes. Bills, responsibilities, having to "act right", etc... Then you remember that you can eat ice cream for dinner if you want! Adulting is not so bad after all. Unless of course you have kids which means you ate said ice cream while hiding in the bathroom. <No I didn't, but I could have and that's what counts>

I've chosen my 2016 word of the year and it is Laughter. I have been lucky enough to have the past two nights full of laughter, the kind where you're wiping your eyes hoping there's no mascara running down your face. The type where your face literally hurts from smiling. The kind that comes from being with people who 'get you' and make you a better person just by being present in your life. So, Laughter is the 2016 word. May we share it, hear it, see it, seek it out, feel it throughout the year and years to come.

This weekend seemed like a wash to me. I had some sort of stomach bug and never seemed to feel 100%. I missed one the best Christmas parties with some great friends. I had dropped the kid off at my parents and should have had quite a good time with little responsibilities. I ended up staying home with Netflix and the dogs instead. Then Sunday happened and I had committed to working the Angel Tree with my Sunday School class. I rushed to grab the kid and we went to the mall where I locked my keys in the car. Furious with myself, I called a locksmith after exhausting all other avenues and being angry at myself for not having a hidden key or having the garage door keypad fixed. So forty dollars lighter and later I was in the car rushing the kid to a birthday party at the trampoline place. I was so looking forward to being home for that hour and a half before picking kid up and dropping him off for youth group. All weekend long I had an inner monologue of whining. Inner that sometimes w...

That damned Elf on a Shelf is back. I thought that last year was my last to worry about moving the elf and planning escapades for him...but then I heard the excitement in the boy's voice a few days before Thanksgiving, "Jakey-Poo will be here in less than a week!" I admit that for a brief moment I thought about outing that impish elf right then and there so that I wouldn't have to deal with him for the next month. I need to back up a bit and explain that I was one of  "those moms" with our elf. I had him doing adventurous things like parachute from the ceiling fan and make a snow angel in powdered sugar. I even took pictures of his adventures and for 2 years I had a Shutterfly books printed up with the pics and my editorialization of Jakey Poo's adventures. I wanted to keep the magic alive as long as I could, until I grew tired of it. I phoned it in the 3rd year, heck it wasn't even the same elf as I had lost the original and had to buy a replaceme...

In December a woman's thoughts are on the joys of the holidays, buying gifts, socializing, being with family. And then January happens and you suddenly realize that it's T-minus three months and counting until Spring Break. It doesn't help that all the "spas" in town start advertising various ways to remove hair from your body in December. <Just note here guys, no matter what these spas say, a woman DOES NOT want a hair removal system/plan for Christmas!! I don't care if your lady herself leaves gentle or not so gentle hints about wanting this for Christmas, don't fall for it. If you do please have a nice piece of jewelry as a buffer offering.> Now you have to think about hair removal and the inevitable bathing suit. So you begin the process of getting ready for a bathing suit. If you are one of those ladies who keeps it all together all winter you may want to quit reading. Or maybe keep reading as a warning to keep it up girl! Playboy has done a...

I was unlucky enough to have had the stomach flu this past week. Yesterday I was at a local drug store waiting for my phenergan (another word for love) prescription to be filled and I was afforded the opportunity to do some people watching. This particular drug store attracts most of the city so there's a great cross-section of people coming and going. My eyes fixed on one particular lady. She looked to be in her mid 80's and was perfectly turned out. She had a starched white shirt with a bright green cable-knit sweater pulled over it and all matched to her pressed khakis. Her makeup was subtle and defined her face rather than painted it. And the topper to her look was just that, a wig that you could tell had been styled just right. Again, subtle enough to allow her beauty to show through rather than let it wear her.  I watched her for awhile as she went up and down each aisle. Remember, I was bored and nauseous so fixating on her was helping me to pass the time. I noti...

I am a big believer in "signs". Not of the burning bush variety, but wouldn't those be nice when faced with a difficult choice? No, I look for and think I see soft, subtle signs. Are they really signs or are they something I manufactured to justify a choice, purchase, behavior? I don't really know the answer to that although I'd like to think it's a hybrid. A little of everything sprinkled in with a real and true sign. Lately I have been trying to not read or look for signs to see if they present themselves plainer to me. Think Vegas neon style in the middle of a desert. Hard to miss and pretty to look at! Recently I decided I must be a little calcium deficient because I am not the best at drinking my milk, sorry mom. I found out that antacids have a large quantity of calcium in them and there's a new chewable kind on the market I really, really like. So I start chewing the recommended amount. Flash forward a week or so and I began to get...uncomfortabl...

With the new year often also comes resolutions. I have never really subscribed to making absolute resolutions as I am a constant work in progress. So much more than a more than a list of resolutions could handle! So rather than a list of the usual resolution suspects, I try to choose one area of life to work on. This year that area is love. Telling and showing it as often as I can so that there is never a doubt where someone stands with me. Years ago I volunteered for a group called RAIN (Regional AIDsInterfaith Network). The care partner our group was assigned was an amazingly hilarious man in the end stages of the disease. He showed me pictures and told wonderful tales of living in Key West. In the pictures I saw a gorgeous 6ft and then some tanned man who had the world at his feet. The man holding the pictures was still attractive but was gaunt, pale, and a shadow of his former self. He lived in an apartment in a not so great part of town and one night after the movie was over I r...

If you have never been around peacocks at night the title of this post must be confusing, or intriguing perhaps? My favorite uncle and aunt lived on a large farm that covered an even larger hill (read mountainish) in Kentucky. I used to love to go,stay with them and explore the farm. I also loved tagging along with my older cousins. I had one I particular who fascinated me with her teenagerness. She had the most gorgeous long dark brown hair and was/is beautiful. I'm sure she hated having her little city-cousin following her all over the farm, but she never let me know if she felt this way. Even her name was exotic to me as it was her parent's names put together. This was before the days of it being a fashionable southern thing to do to give your kids a double name. My anut and uncle had all tgoes of animals on the farm. Everything from cows to chickens to...yiu guessed it, peacocks. I'm not 100% sure how they ended up with peacocks on a farm in northern Kentucky. Things ...

Before having a child in the house I had one of those "perfect trees". You know the kind with the perfectly matched ornaments and draped just so. I had so much extra time on my hands (and a heavy dose of OCD) I even made my own large ornaments! Oh to have that kind of time again.....sigh Now our tree looks different, I think better but the word different is a better descriptor as a nod to my former self. Now the tree has a mismash of ornaments, a lot of them homemade still. These are so much better than my old ones, these have things like 'Kindergarten 2009' and Merry Crissmass' on them. This year we even have a boat from a recent Cub Scout Raingutter Regata making an appearance. Our tree has become a visual journal of our lives together and apart. There are also ornaments from the annual ornament party to bring back great memories and ornaments from special friends. This year a friend made me an initial ornament that I am in love with! Not only is it personal...

I love Christmas. I know that's not a particularly bold statement to make, but it's the truth when it comes to me. I love shopping throughout the year, yes I'm one of those people, and finding the perfect gift for someone. I try to keep a lookout throughout the year and buy when I see an item. Thei helps not only on the December sticker shock, but also relieves some of that Christmas stress. Today I am thinking about decorating. How else can you change up a room and have it gone before you get tired of it? Yup, Christmas decorating! I usually start in the days following Thanksgiving. I am a purist when it comes to the timing of decorating. Not until after Thanksgiving and always comes down before Jan 5th or so. I also try to change things up every year. This year I finally got around to decorating the one area I have always wanted to, the light fixtures above the bar. I envisioned how the garland would look wrapped around the chains and the lights themselves. I threw in...

I love my crock pot, no maybe that's not a strong enough statement. What do you call the emotion you feel when you walk in the door after a long day away and you have food hot and ready just waiting for you? Oh yes, that emotion is indeed love! So into the crockpot you will need: 3 frozen chicken breasts 3 cans northern beans (drained) or white beans in chili sauce 1 medium can green Chilis 1 - 14oz diced tomatoes or 1 can mild rotel tomatoes 1/3 cup chili powder 1 tsp cumin 1 tsp oregano 2 cloves garlic, chopped 1/2 chopped white or yellow onion 32 oz chicken broth Throw everything in the crockpot and cook for 6 hrs on high or 8 hours on low. When you get home, or about 5 hrs into the cooking, pull the chicken out and chop into small chunks. Return them into the soup and cook for 1-3 hrs more depending on temperature chosen. If you don't have that extra time, no worries. Chop,the chicken and return it to the soup just prior to serving. Serve with crackers, a d...

I used to be a jar sauce kind of gal when it came to spaghetti, until I made my own sauce. Now having spoiled myself for...myself I find it hard to ever go back! Tonight's meal is a favorite in this house and so fabulously easy that it seems almost sinful. Need: 1 can (or jar) of either crushed or whole tomatoes Chopped red, yellow, and orange peppers 1/2 white or yellow onion 5-6 garlic cloves (or to taste, we LOVE garlic) Fresh or dried basil (my favorite in the colder months is in the tube*) 2 tsp oregano 1 tsp fennel (if you like it that is) 1 lb turkey Italian sausage - any veggies you have leftover be them tomatoes, carrots (not too many as it can sweeten the sauce), mushrooms, peppers...you name it and it can probably go in this sauce!) Cook the Italian sausage throughly and add the fennel and chopped garlic cloves. Add the onions and peppers and let them simmer with the meat. When the veggies have cooked down a bit add the tomatoes. If I am using whole t...