Start with Green…then Black & Gold

“Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your bodies.”

1 Corinthians 6:19-20

Gooooodddd Saturday Morning to ya!  (or afternoon if you’re so lucky!)

I’m sitting here post-workout [I did a Burn N Firm Pilates DVD and it kicked my booty] having a big ol’ green smoothie…YUM!

Green lurrvvveee…(as Gina puts it)

Sorry I’ve not posted for a couple of days.  Been a little busy.  

Same song,

second verse,

not any better,

not any worse…

Things are great here, just another busy week of kids, school, practices, and games – and that’s all just the outside-of-the-house stuff!  This doesn’t include any cooking, cleaning, laundry, and/or chauffeuring that goes on around here.  But I wouldn’t have it any other way, friends.

We are up and at ‘em on this Saturday to get after another day of basketball.  Big Springs Conference Tournament Finals are today.  Our Varsity Boys play for 3rd and Varsity Girls play for FIRST!! 

Let’s go Bulldogs and Lady Dawgs!

Have a fabulous day, everybody!

xoxo

Crazy Sexy

Wondering about the title of this post?

Haha, I bet!

I was BEYOND excited to check my mailbox today to see that my new book “CRAZY SEXY DIET”  had arrived [and don’t freak out about the word “diet,” in this case it means “nutrition”]!!  Kris Carr’s new book was released last week and I could not WAIT to read it.  Why?

Let me back up.

Kris Carr was a 31-year old actress and photographer living in New York City when she got a devastating diagnosis of epithelioid hemangio-endothelioma (EHE), an extremely rare cancer affecting only 0.01 percent of cancer patients.  Worse, it was inoperable, with numerous tumors in her liver and lungs.  It was also determined that there were no treatments such as chemotherapy or radiation that would benefit her.  But rather than take her poor prognosis and wait to die, Kris took her life into her own hands.  She read, and researched, and traveled, until she found an oncologist who would work with her as she learned to live and LOVE her new normal. 

The whole basis of Kris’ “treatment” was lifestyle changes, mostly related to nutrition.  You have heard the phrase, “Eat the colors of the rainbow”?  Well Kris takes that to the extreme!  In a sexy way.  Her book, which is already been sold out on Amazon and in stores, encourages a mostly vegetarian or vegan diet full of delicious fruits, vegetables, and other whole foods while limiting meat, dairy, and processed foods.    Her nutrition plan has been extremely successful for her: her cancer has been stable since her diagnosis.  SCORE!

Now regardless of your own health status, the Crazy Sexy view of nutrition could benefit us all; you don’t have to be a cancer patient to benefit.  But obviously that is why it grabbed my attention at first.  It goes without saying that the Crazy Sexy way of eating is just, well, better.  I have been eating a vegetarian diet for over a year now, and was already following most of Kris’ plan.  She is a big proponent of green juices…and you KNOW how I love me a green smoothie!  Since November ‘09 I have noticed a increase in energy, my skin glows, and my blood work has been fantastic.  I’ll take it.   

Here is MY Crazy Sexy collection:

 

And yes, the “Survivor” book has a pencil in it because it is a workbook of sorts…and you can bet I’m working in it.   I love the way Kris took control of her life and is not only living, but THRIVING!  She has definitely helped me embrace my inner “CANCER BABE.”  (Thanks, Mags, for the introduction.)  The only criticism I can write about the Crazy Sexy books is the occasional “ugly word,” as we call them in our house.  But I am willing to overlook them to get the JUICE-y content!

So I am off to take a small break from laundry and basketball to get a run in at my mom and dad’s then start my day!

Have a wonderful Wednesday, friends!

xoxo

Only Moments

“Don’t think about dying…thing about LIVING!!” – Jack LaLanne, fitness guru

I have, like, 5 minutes to post today.  So here’s how the past few days have went, really quickly:

1. Made an speedy trip to the ER on Friday night with the hubby who passed out cold at a fish fry.  Bottom line, he’s fine all scans and tests good, but may be developing a fish allergy.  Whattt?! 
2. Spent all day Saturday in our pjs since we didn’t get back home from the ER til 5am.
3. Went to church yesterday morning.
4. Had Upward practice for boys basketball (Jack) and my cheerleaders.  They learned a whole cheer yesterday (the cheerleaders, not the ball players)!!  Oh my goodness, they are sooooo cute!!
5. Ran 12 miles on my parents’ treadmill after practice while listening to XM radio on my iPhone…had it tuned to The Message, awesome.
6. Got home and started getting things together for the new week.  Took nearly an act of congress to get the kids to bed since they are in a pattern of staying up late enjoying their snow days.
7. Slept terribly.
8. DRRRUUUGGG kids out of bed this morning (see #6) to be at school on time.
9. Cleaned house early to prepare for a meeting the hubby had this morning.
10. Ran 8 miles at the parents’…lovin their treadmill but missing outside.
11. At Tyler’s request, I cooked lunch for Tyler’s basketball team because they are leaving too early to eat dinner before the game.  So I took them spaghetti and garlic bread for lunch.  Yep, I’m THAT mom…and I LOVE it.
12. Came back home and cleaned up all the cooking mess as the hubby wrapped his meeting.
13. Folded 3 loads of laundry.  Currently they are all stacked on the kitchen table, not to be ignored.  We’ll see how many times the kids walk by them before I have to remind them to take their clothes upstairs.
14. Leaving now for Tyler’s game.  Picking up Katie early from school because the game is an hour away and they play at 4. 
15. Home later to collapse and hopefully sleep well.

Hope you are doing well!

xoxo

Leave Your Mark

It is not the size of the footprints, but rather the impression they leave…

After going for a run on my parents’ treadmill this morning, I walked outside on the porch to cool off.  I was about to walk around the side of the porch when I glanced down and stopped mid-step.  As I looked closer, I saw the most tiny and beautiful thing.  A bird’s footprints.

I don’t know why it caught my eye, nor why it touched my heart…but indeed it did.  One of God’s smallest creatures had left his or her mark.

It serves as an important life lesson, I think.  We can all make our mark.  No matter how small we may be, or how small the mark may be…someone will stop and notice, and appreciate it.

How will you leave your mark today?

xoxo

The Hunter and The Vegetarian

My man is a number one, grade A, full out man.  He likes hunting, fishing, building things, and being outdoors.  And he always eats what he kills…aka lots of meat.

 

I, on the other hand, am a sporty girly-girl.  I like to shop, exercise, cook, talk, read, and write.  And I eat (and drink) plants.

[please excuse the post-run hair mess, thank ya]

I am thinking we could have a reality show.

THE HUNTER AND THE VEGETARIAN

What do ya think?!  We will see if it ends up in the fall TV lineup.

On other fronts, this is what I saw when I looked out our front door this morning,

Yep, lots of snow.  Well, lots for us this year anyway.  We awoke to about 2-3” on the ground and it is still falling.  My hubby so lovingly took me out to my mom and dad’s early so I could run on their treadmill [see, I told you he is so sah-weeeettt!].  Honestly, though, I think the idea of being cooped up in the house with me all day without me getting my run in was his motivation.  It’s true, I can get a little cranky.  My 7-miler will help that though.  I did 8.0mph sprints for speed work today.  So I should be good. 

The kids are home, enjoying today and tomorrow off of school.  They actually cancelled school for Thursday and Friday anyway because of the high amount of students absent with the flu; the snow ended up just being a bonus.  Oh, and by the way, I have one of those students…Tyler tested positive for Type A flu on Tuesday, Jack has it too.  Boo.    We need stock in Tamiflu and ibuprofen.  Oh, and definitely Lysol and Clorox wipes.  Here’s hoping none of the rest of the house gets it.

I am going to go enjoy the rest of the day with my family.  I hope you enjoy your day, too!

xoxo

On My Mind

“And my God will meet all your needs according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus.” Philippians 4:19

If you are on Facebook you no doubt are familiar with the status update box at the top of the screen:

Well I have two things on my mind today [ok well maybe a hundred, but two that stand out that I want to let you know about].

The first is the Siesta Scripture Memory Team from Beth Moore’s LPM Blog.  If you have been reading for awhile, you may remember when I participated in the SSMT in 2009.  And yes, IT’S BACK!  By popular demand, I am sure.

For those of you who don’t know what in the world I’m talking about, Beth Moore is a highly respected and amazing woman of God.  Her books and Bible studies have a way of working in my mind and then reaching down to touch my heart like nothing else I’ve ever read.  If I am ever so blessed as to meet her, I will probably, no I will, fall all to pieces while I hug her neck and tell her how her Believing God study got me through breast cancer and all my treatments.  How, with her guidance, I walked back up to God and tugged on His beautiful robe, longing to be closer to Him; and He in turn, picked me up and dusted me off and pulled me onto His lap.  Are you getting this?  I think this woman is pure awesome.  And you put a sweet southern accent and big hair in the picture and you have an amazing woman with an amazing gift for teaching women about our Lord Jesus Christ.  As Beth would say, “I’m just crazy about her!”

How the Siesta Scripture Memory Team (SSMT) works is this: 

On the 1st and the 15th of each month, choose a Bible verse to memorize, focus on, pray over, etc.

Go to the LPM Blog and post your verse as a comment on the post that calls for it, and then write it in a little spiral notebook for yourself. 

That’s it!

Well, that’s not IT, but that is all the hard work.  Just let God do the rest.  Let your verse speak to your heart as you meditate on it, and read it over and over.  I got such a blessing the last time I participated, and when I looked back over my spiral at the end of the year I could almost recount what was going on at any particular time by reading the verses.  Like my verse from January 15, 2009 was:

“Moreover the Lord your God will send the hornet among them until even the survivors who hide from you have perished.”  Deuteronomy 7:20

This was during chemotherapy and in my mind, God was sending the “hornet” [the chemotherapy] to search and kill cancer cells who were hiding somewhere in my body.  Cool right?!  I received such a blessing and a comfort by joining in the SSMT last time, and I am expecting nothing less this time around.

So…if you are interested, go get you a spiral and join us!  I promise you will be blessed, sisters.

 

Ok, so the second thing is a prayer request that I have come across by way of the Living Proof Ministries Blog.  A fellow Siesta, Joanne, needs as many prayers as we can send up. 

She is a 38 year old wife and mother, who had a massive stroke last week at her home.  She is currently in ICU in a deep coma while they try to keep the pressure in her brain low.  Her blog is called The Simple Wife and you can get updates there from her husband, Toben, and other friends and family.  You can also use the links provided there to further help out the Heim family if you are so led.  But the most important thing they need right now is much prayer for strength and healing.  Thanks.

I am off to study some more for my 2nd UPWARD cheer practice which is tonight!  Golly I just love these little girls! 

Have a great day, my lovelies.

xoxo

Rollercoaster Week

I feel like last week was a rollercoaster…  Or maybe a road that looks kind of like this:

Ups, downs, highs, and lows, and it went on forever…that was our week.

After our big win last Monday night, the rest of the basketball week didn’t go so well.  We finished the tournament with 4th place, which is GREAT considering we were a #8 seed, but we finished the week 1-4.  Our Varsity didn’t fare any better at Homecoming on Friday night, losing to a team they probably should have beaten.  It really stinks to lose your Homecoming game.  But what stinks even more is to lose one of your top three scorers and best inside big-man to a knee injury.  So yeah, it wasn’t the best week for basketball.  But the boys will persevere, and be better for it I’m sure.

The rest of week looked like this:

 

Katie had her TWIRLERS performance, and ROCKED it, of course.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

All the ballplayers who were escorting the Homecoming candidates dressed up as girls for the Pep Rally.  Tyler did great, and was hilarious!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ahh, here’s a MUCH better looking picture of my little [big] man!  Such a handsome guy!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Zachary manages that ball team like a pro!  And he had a LOT of work last week.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Annnnndddd, my mom figured out how to check her Facebook on her iPhone.  Dear heavens, what is the world coming to?!  Haha!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

So that was pretty much our week!  Now that I’ve managed to get all sort of caught up, it’s time to start again!  Hang on! 

Happy MLK Day!

xoxo

“The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.” ~ML KING

A Cheerful Post

“Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.” Psalm 139:7-8

Ummmm, let’s see… 

Do I need to get off of cute athletic apparel websites? YES! 

Somehow this morning I found myself perusing the pages of the online catalogs of retailers such as Athleta, lululemon, and Under Armour.  Not a good idea when you realllllllyyy do not need to be spending any dough on cutsie running clothes.  And I believe God sent me a sign because as I sat here looking at everything I would love to have, I felt a presence walk up behind me.  No, not God…the hubby.  Moment over.  LOL~

He really doesn’t care if I buy stuff, but even I have a hard time shelling out the moolah for something that is just going to get stinky and sweaty.  But sometimes there IS a flaw in that system and something fabulous will end up in my “cart” and be on it’s way to me before I can stop myself from clicking “Confirm.”  Obviously today is not that day.  Phew, good.

I try to save my special running purchases for my races.  I suppose I can start looking around for something for my next marathon, which by the way, is in 88 DAYS!!!!!!  Eeeeeee!!!  I am so excited to run the GO! St. Louis Marathon on April 10!  I simply cannot wait.

I have plenty to keep me busy until then, though, and many other things I need to focus on.  Like my first UPWARD practice, which was last night!!  It went so great!

I have 9 girls on my squad, but due to sicknesses going around, only 5 of them were there.  We did some warm-ups, some cheers, had some giggles and shared our devotion time.  I had the most precious little girls share their prayer requests with me, and one little girl who prayed for “a great season with her new Upward sisters.”  Oh, thank you, Jesus for each and every child who is participating.  I feel blessed to be their coach and to be a part of this program…I am believing God for amazing things to come from this season!  I appreciate every prayer that has gone up for our kids and our program…please keep it up!

School was back in session today, after yesterday’s snow day.  Want to hear something interesting I heard on the news this morning??  That right now 49 of the 50 states have snow on the ground. Isn’t that wild?!  Every state except Florida has snow on the ground right now.  Our little dusting is quickly melting, and I am so thankful that I don’t live in the New England states that are getting dumped on yet again.  It is brutally cold here, though…5* this morning when I got up.  Yikes!

Alrighty, I’m off to look through some cookbooks and find something to make for dinner.  It’s my last one this week because we have ballgames every night for the rest of the week…better make it good!

HAPPY FIRST BIRTHDAY TO MY NEWPHEW, BRAYDEN!!!!  I can’t believe it has been one year since I saw this precious little guy be born.  We are so blessed to have him as part of our family.

Have a great Wednesday, my lovelies.

xoxo

Pardon The Interruption

“a man plans his course, but the LORD determines his steps.” Proverbs 16:9

Heyyyyy  Sorry for the interruption, folks!  I haven’t been on the blog-world since Friday, eeek!

I knew that I probably would not get a post out over the weekend because we were in the Lou hanging out with friends, but yesterday’s lack of post was not anticipated.  Let’s back up to the weekend, shall we?

Friday night was another Bulldog basketball game, and at the end of the night we chalked up a loss for the JV and another win for the Varsity.  The crowd was electric!  And by “electric,” I mean IT WAS ROWDY FRIDAY NIGHT BASKETBALL!  Nothing out of the ordinary, mind you…just good ol’ VB fans who like to give the referees heck at every call.  I’m tellin you, you could not PAY me enough to be a referee in southeast Missouri!  But it’s nothing new, and it’s all good.

Saturday morning we headed to STL to spend time with friends Tim and Heather and their family.  The guys had St. Louis Blues tickets, and the gals had a date for manicures and dinner.  We have never been to a hockey game, and the boys had a GREAT first experience!  Zachary even got a PUCK!!  He took it to school yesterday to show everybody…very cool indeed.  Us ladies went and had manicures, it was Katie’s first.  She loved every.single.minute. of it!  Getting pampered and having her fingernails painted is right up this princess’s alley.  Although I fear I may have created a monster…before we left she was wanting her toes done as well.

Is there anything cuter than little ladies getting their nails done??  I think not.

Sunday morning we drove back home and were greeted by a horrible smell upon entering the house.  “Oh my gosh, what IS that?!” were my first words to Jack.  It smelled like something was burning, but there was no smoke, no hot spots anywhere, everything was working…a mystery?  But as we made another pass through the kitchen, Jack pulled open the dishwasher and smoke and stench just boiled out of it.  Found it!  Of course the smoke alarms went off and everything. 

I guess what happened was the heating element in the bottom of the dishwasher came on by itself and had melted/burned everything inside.  The horrible smell was from the mostly plastic things that were in it, which were now a scorched and melted puddle in the bottom.  The water spinner-thing in the bottom was also melted.  It was a mess.  And so scary!!  It wouldn’t turn off, so we had to shut the breaker off to get it to shut down.  The counter above the dishwasher was so hot you could barely touch it.  We are so thankful that God was watching over us and this was not any worse than it could have been.  Jack says that if the inside and the outside of the dishwasher had not been stainless steel, we probably would have had a very different outcome.  Thank you, Lord, for taking care of us and protecting our home.

After cleaning up the mess, I headed to my mom and dad’s to get away from the smell – and run 11 miles on their treadmill, of course.  Oh, and to get smiles from two of my precious nephews, Mason and Brayden, too.  Baby smiles and good run sweat cure all!

So moving on to yesterday which was New Dishwasher Day and also another GAME DAY!!  This week is busy because it is the JV Tournament AND Homecoming!  Tyler and the JV Bulldogs opened up with their first game of the tourney last night.  They are a #8 seed, facing the #1 seed.  It doesn’t look good on paper.  But boy, did it look good IN PERSON!!!

WE WON!!!!!!! 

They played great and it was so exciting to see such a big win!  GO DAWGS!!!  The crowd was so into the game, too, and even the Varsity Bulldogs were there to support the boys:

When “SUPPORT” = high school boys acting like cheerleaders, you KNOW it has GOT to be good!

YAYYYY!!!!  So now we move on to the next game in the tourney, which is Thursday night.  So exciting!

This morning we woke up to a light blanket of snow.  The kids were ecstatic…me, not so much.  Just about any snow around here closes school because of all the back and side roads in the area.  So after sleeping in for a little while, Katie is headed out to play in the snow and the boys have set up camp downstairs on the Wii.  It’s going to be a good day.

I hope y’all have a good one, as well.

xoxo