And yet.

I layed around the girls’ room while Emma gave me fake tests. I scored a 100 on my spelling test. I wrote an entire essay on an article she made me read. Seriously. Three paragraphs. I turned it in and she didn’t even read it. Hmph! We ate all our meals together. I made all their snacks. We watched part of the Super Bowl together until they got bored. They watched the same movie at least twice. They danced with the music on loud. They played with their cousin. I introduced them to Little House on the Prairie. I referreed arguments. I pushed them on the swings.

It was nothing and everything.

A perfect weekend.

Do you need some reading for the weekend?  Perhaps something else to mull over while you do laundry?  Over the past few days I’ve gotten completely lost in cancertutor.com.  I found it on a Google search after our friend Joy, who is battling breast cancer now, was talking the other night about how much diet affects/causes cancer. 

The site’s purpose seems to claim many alternative cures to cancer, AIDS and other diseases for which I can make no claims.  They seem legit but it’s a tough call to make a leap of faith on the kind of processes they are suggesting.  Many are quick to label it quackery.  On the other hand, I think all of us could agree there are natural solutions for our bodies’ health issues.

A small part of the site which I’ve been fascinated with though are the articles on how to Prevent Cancer and The Cancer Diet, which isn’t required for me but I think includes some interesting facts about how food and cancer are related.  Most of the the stuff we know…lots of fruits, veggies (heavy on the green ones, including grass), nuts, beans and little to no meat are best.  But there are many other nuggets (no McDonald’s pun intended) that I’ve found like how bad peanuts are for you.  As I’ve heard before, sugar feeds cancer cells.  Food like margarine, french fries and aspartame cause cancer. 

I don’t know what to think of the site but I do know at minimum it was a good reminder to eat a healthy diet which I have STUNK at the last few months.  Ugh!  Why is it so hard?  Why can’t blackberries taste like a banana split??  And many apologies for posting this on Super Bowl weekend!  How about a side of guilt with those wings?

I’m very curious if anyone is familiar with any of these treatments or is pretty smart about a cancer prevention diet.  Would love any information, stories and particularly any healthy recipes you have!

Then came guitar lessons.  She was sure she wanted to play guitar like Taylor Swift.  And I really think she still wants to.  However, she realized it takes a whole lot of practice and dedication.  She quit lessons a few months in and then went back a few months later for another few weeks all to find out she still didn’t find enough interest in it to really practice like it required.

Well, for months as Lexi has continued with Taekwondo, Emma hasn’t been doing anything.  I’ve agreed to let her do nearly anything she wanted.  She just wasn’t interested.  In fact, one time the only thing she could come up with was giving ME painting lessons.  Finally, a place called the Painted Parrot opened in town.  On their site it seemed like they were more geared towards parties.  It’s actually pretty cool.  You get a group of people, show up and you all paint the same picture.  She supplies everything.  But I wasn’t sure if she did private lessons.  It was never opened when we went by but after a few weeks I finally made the call.  Sure enough, she does individual or small group lessons.  She supplies everything, the kids pick out what they want to paint and she helps them with their technique.

Emma went yesterday for her first lesson.  I actually had to talk her into going because her friend at school started gymnastics yesterday and she was sure she wanted to go with her.  I insisted she go to the lesson we had agreed to and then she could decide. 

When I went to pick her up, Emma was busy helping clean up.  She seemed assertive yet comfortable, responding to questions with confidence and clearly in a happy disposition. 

Walking out, she declared she was definitely going back and said, “You know how sometimes when I go new places I’m shy and don’t talk much?  Well, it wasn’t the same today.  I answered her questions and talked a lot. It was so much fun.”  I said, “So you’re comfortable there?” She said, “Yes!”  And there was something about her that seemed very mature.  There was no shy little girl walking out of that studio.  She talked the whole way home about how she had painted and the ways she had shaded the tree and what stars she had picked and on and on.

She was already picking out her painting for the next week over dinner, really mulling over what she wanted it to look like.  She had picked a palmetto tree this week since it’s our state tree but thinks she wants to do some mountains next week.  I was a little concerned Lexi was going to be upset she didn’t get a picture but she was super supportive of her, telling her what a great job she had done.

I’m not sure where this will go, but for now I think Emma’s place is in front of an easel, paintbrush in hand.

I’ve known Scott for 18 years and he’s only been a trooper for 9 of those. While it feels like he’s doing what he was always meant to do, there are times that it still feels new. Last night was one of those.

The girls and I stopped by the truck stop down by our house on the way home to fill up the gas in the van. As we were sitting there facing the gas station Lexi blurts out she sees a police car like Daddy’s. I look and sure enough there were two trooper cars parked in front of the attached Subway.

Before having a trooper as a husband I’d always scoff at a group of officers at a restaurant. It never failed someone would joke about being able to speed or rob a store since all the officers were busy eating donuts. I have to admit, my first reaction is still to joke. But after a closer look in the windows last night, I saw Scott eating a sub with two of his coworkers. And I have to say, it’s a weird feeling looking at this group and knowing one of those guys is the father of your children, the guy who vacuumed your van earlier that day, the guy that will crawl in bed with you when his shift is over.

We finished pumping gas and I pulled up to the building and let the girls run in to give their Daddy a hug. It fascinates me that all my kids will ever know is having a police officer as a father. That seeing a group of police cars at a restaurant will excite them, not so they can speed, but so they might have a chance to give their daddy a hug.

It’s different for me and status quo for the girls. All I know is there’s something about it that’s good.

Source: imgfave.com via Jennifer on Pinterest

We all have negative thoughts.  Many of them are untrue and lead to fear, anxiety, self-doubt, discouragement, even jealousy. 

Perhaps you’ve looked in the mirror and said, “Look at that – you’ve gotten so fat.  You’re so lazy.  And unhealthy.  Really, you’re just not worth much at all.” 

Or, you hear a sound at night and figure that it must be someone in the house.  How far down the hall are they?  What kind of weapon do they have?  Which door should I run for and what neighbor should I go to? How will I get the kids out?  By then, fear has taken over, your heart is racing, you’re sweating and trying to figure out how to dial 911.

Or perhaps your friend says something and it makes you think, “I don’t think she likes me.  I bet she doesn’t even want to be with me right now.  I am just so stupid.  Why do I have friends at all?” 

I would like to say all of these are exaggerated examples but they’re not.  I’ve had versions of all of them. But they’re not the truth and we shouldn’t dwell on lies.  2 Corinthians 10:5 says

We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.

We have to take our thoughts captive before they spiral us into fear, anxiety, self-doubt, discouragement, or jealousy.  If we are able to capture them at the start, we don’t have to go down these paths.

I recently learned a practical way to take these thoughts captive that I’d like to share.  Think about your mind like a computer.  Imagine that your thoughts are like surfing the Internet.  Sometimes when we are browsing, we come upon a site with pop-ups.  Do we ever look at these pop-ups?  No. We simply ignore them or close them.  We know they are garbage and they’re not worth our time to investigate. In fact, some of us go to extensive measures to make sure these pop-ups don’t show up in the first place. 

That’s what we have to do with our negative thoughts.  We don’t have to look at them, examine them, read them, click on them.  Don’t follow these paths that lead to destructive lies.  When a negative thought comes in our mind, we simply close that thought and move to something else.  As an alternative, speak the truth if it’s an outright lie or find the good in the situation, even if there is bad.  Listen, I know there is enough bad in the world to think all day on it, but we don’t have to.  We can choose to think on the good parts.

Philippians 4:8 says

Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.

If the thought that comes up isn’t true, noble, right, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent, or praiseworthy, close it!

• Both girls spent the night with Scott’s parents’ Friday night and we got to sleep in on Saturday.  Scott’s back has been hurting him lately so he didn’t do his normal mountain biking first thing Saturday.  I hate his back has been hurting but I loved sleeping in.
• I got to do a bit of shopping on my own Saturday morning.   I got a belt at Kohl’s for $5.  I wish you could have seen my old belt. I bought that old belt from NY & Company in the mid-90s.  Ridiculous!  I also stopped at Hobby Lobby where I got completely overwhelmed.  So many ideas and so little money.  I walked away with absolutely nothing.  That’s the kind of place I need a friend to filter through all the decisions with me.

• Saturday afternoon we went to the Melting Pot with our friends Jake and Jill.  The girls had a real! live! babysitter!  We usually have family watch them but they were psyched to have a “real” babysitter at the house.  The Melting Pot didn’t disappoint.  If nothing else, you should go and have the dessert and be sure to get The Original – a mix of chocolate and peanut butter.  Yum!

Right of picture: Lexi, Emma, Skyler and Scott in a tug of war at Discovery Place

• After church yesterday we went to the Mummies of the World exhibit in Charlotte.  I’m not certain I have formed a solid opinion of the mummies.  In some ways, it was like a bad wreck you couldn’t look away from.  At times, I wondered why in the world I just paid to walk around and look at dead people.  Other times, it was very cool to see the hieroglyphics on some of the mummies or see how much different people were years ago.  Very fascinating.  But yes, if you think about it too much it’s very weird.  The kids loved it though and were fascinated by how the people died and how old they were.  But at the end of the day, they still preferred all the amazing activities that Discovery Place has to offer.  At this age, they can’t seem to soak in enough facts about science.

The rest of the weekend was filled in with laundry and TV (Downton Abbey! Big Bang Theory!  Blue Bloods!) and shopping.  A great weekend for sure.

I’m curious, do the mummies gross you out or fascinate you?

The mirror

First up, my mom found this mirror from Celebrating Home. 

The mirror is a perfect fit with our new curtains and I love that it brings some green into the room.  The plan is to find a dresser of some sort to go under it but clearly this decorating the bedroom thing is going to be a drawn-out process.

The Rug

I peeked in HomeGoods the other day after I hit up Old Navy and no lie, I saw this rug for my bathroom and was taking off to the check-out counter in no less than 25 seconds.  If you know me and my indecisive nature, you know that’s a flat out miracle.

The Debunking

And finally, the other weekend Scott and I were bored and I said, “I feel like rearranging some furniture.” Well, that started 24 hours of drama with the girls’ room.  Lexi wanted to keep it and Emma wanted them separate.  I actually like the look of the bunk beds but they were serving absolutely no purpose.  Neither girl wanted to sleep on top and it was clearly being used as storage.

After a trial night, both girls decided they really like having separate beds.  Can you believe they happily spent 9 months sharing a twin bed?

Most of my northern family have basements.  In those basements, many of them have cabinets that hold all the shoes.  Shoes don’t go to the main level of the house.  There are also lots of hooks and cabinets for coats. 

And we?  Don’t. 

We don’t have room in our garage for this type of thing.  Our hall closet is small and packed.  So what happens during the winter months when we do need coats when we walk in the house (with our shoes) is lay them on the closest surface.  Some of my friends here have a coat closet and actually use it.  My mom has a coat rack near her garage they use.  But us?  Mine is usually hanging on a chair somewhere and the girls are usually on the floor in the playroom.

Well.

Here’s what we did to fix it.

We decided to use the outside of the hall closet.  When we were visiting an organizational store recently, I had the idea to get an over-the-door set of hooks, that I normally would have thought to use behind a door for towels or robes in a bathroom or closet, and put it on the outside of our hall closet door.  Now, it’s not that pretty but now we don’t have to try to squeeze our coats in and out of the closet, the kids can use it and it’s near the front door.  Best of all, we can take it down easily during our warmest months and stuff all the coats back in the closet for storage.

Here it is with the front door closed.

However, our front door is usually open and they’re mostly hidden.

Depending on your weather and house floor plan this may or may not work for you, but it works for me!

This post is linked to WeAreThatFamily.com

I love tax season.  I know, you don’t hear that very often.  But let me explain.

1. I love numbers.  For a few years there, I would do my taxes by hand but then still get them done so I could see how close I was to the right answer.  Why yes, I did give myself a test on taxes.  *sigh*  I know.  The geekness knows no bounds.
2. I love getting extra mail.  I know!  My life is boring.  But knowing I’m getting important! mail! and often! makes me happy during January.  I normally lo-uh-ove the mail but January has a special place in my heart.  I’ve been known to call companies on February 1st asking where in the world my 1099 was.
3. I love office supplies.  So organizing all the papers into categorized stacks and then putting one of those huge alligator clips on them makes me happy.  My kids love office supplies too but they get like 2 pieces of paper and try to use these huge clips when a paper clip would do.  But tax papers?  I NEED the big clip.
4. I get to make lists.  I love lists.  I make lists just so I can check things off.  I’m not even joking.  They say you get a little shot of adrenaline when you check something off.  Clearly I need as much excitement as I can in my day.
5. I get to print and highlight lists.  The geek in me loves running reports in mint.com, paypal.com and our bank so I can find deductions.  I like downloading the exports and formatting them in Excel and printing them and highlighting them.  How often do you really get to use a highlighter for a legit reason these days?
6. Finding deductions is like a scavenger hunt.  Once I have all these lists printed and highlighted I always go back to previous years and see what I’m missing. I search my email for other deductions I might have missed.  When I cull something up, it’s like I hit the jackpot.  YES!  Another deduction.  It’s like a game!  Try it!
7. I enjoy seeing if we met our giving challenge.  Our goal is always to give a higher percentage from the year before so I love that challenge to gather all the numbers and see if we met our goal.
8. Call my silly, but there’s a satisfaction I receive going to see our tax office.  It’s run by a local family in town that knows everyone else in town.  It’s in an office in a house.  The linoleum has to be from 1976.  The dad and daughter do the taxes and the wife answers the phone.  It’s just so homey and small town and I like the tradition of it.
9. But if I’m honest, the biggest reason I love tax season is since having kids, we usually get a hunk of change back.  Except for that one year I actually made money on the Internets and it physically hurt to write that tax check.  That year wasn’t fun.
10. And just to drive home the point, the very best part is having those returns randomly show up in my bank account.  It’s always so depressing to go into mint.com and see my bank account drain every single day but during tax season?  Surprise!  Random huge deposit in your account!

OK, now I promise I’m not just a money-hungry dork.  I’ll claim the dork part but that’s it.

Tell me, do you love tax season or hate it?

This post is linked to ohAmanda’s Top Ten Tuesday.