Half-Pint House

Oh, this should be EASY

I discovered this little blog share project recently and realized this may very well be the ONE...the one I can participate in often because, well let's face it, I have a lot of #Fail stories in my life.

Last Saturday we decided to watch a movie. I was so smart. I looked up a free Redbox code to use. I went to Shop and Save and came home with a free movie. We watched Amelia. 

Fast forward 5 days...

Just now I was wondering what I should write about. I said as much out loud. Craig dropped the movie in my lap and said, "How about you write about Amelia?"

As in, the fact that we never returned it and here it is Thursday night. So much for that free code. I think it's going to cost $5-6 when I take it back tomorrow (if I remember to take it back tomorrow).

And thus concludes Friday Fails with Megan. Just keeping it real, y'all.

For other melonheaded activity, check out Myra's blog.

WFMW - Exercise (Don't Laugh. I'm Serious)

 

I could also title this, The Ann Taylor Weight Loss Plan and why I hope it works.

In yesterday's post I said something like "Blessed is the family who never stops starting being intentional with each other." That's because someone once told Craig, "Blessed is the man who never stops starting doing family devotions." Because all of us have good intentions. It's the follow through that gets sticky sometimes. 

So today I'm bringing the mantra back in: Blessed is the gal who never stops starting to attempt to develop some kind of exercise routine. 

I have a new walking buddy. Three times a week, we get up at the ungodly hour of 7am (are you laughing at me yet?) and meet each other at the local high school track. I walk there and it's one mile from my house. We proceed to walk together for two more miles and then she brings me home. I will not stand this friend up. She's my pastor's wife.

I have just enough leftover legalism in me that will forever prevent me from bailing on my pastor's wife. She knows I am weak and she knows that if she even suggests we skip it I'll be all over that so fast it'd make her head spin. So she never says that. Instead she says this: I'll be here. Even if you decide to sleep in, I'll still be here.

Who wants that on their conscience for the day? Not me.

So, making your exercise buddy someone you also feel some weird sense of spiritual obligation to? Totally works for me.

Now then, for my Ann Taylor Weight Loss Plan. I came up with this one all by myself and when I'm motivated it really works. The plan is this: I weigh myself once a week. If I've lost anything at all (and I do mean anything... I count negative .2 as progress, folks) I get to put $5 in my Ann Taylor jar. 

The rationale here is that by the time I finally have enough money to actually afford something from Ann Taylor I will have lost enough weight to justify the purchase. In my dream plan, once I get to the goal I would some day like to be, then I will continue to put $5 in my jar for every week I can maintain it.

The drawback from this plan showed itself to me last summer when I tried this. I lost 10 pounds last summer and had about $40 in my jar. Cash is like free money around here, though, and any time one of us needed a quick $5 we would rob my jar. Also, I fizzled out on the weigh loss thing by August and so never made it to the goal.

But...blessed is the gal who never stops starting to take her weight seriously. Right?

That's what's working for me. (for now)

Visit We Are That Family for more (and better) Works for Me Wednesday ideas.

Sometimes Silly Bears Repeating

And that's about all I have to say about that...

What Makes You Want to Live a Life With Passion?

Mabel's Labels is having a contest. I needed blog content. I decided to enter the contest.

Assignment:
Write a post on your blog in response to the following hypothetical situation: Electrical storms are going to wipe out the Internet (perhaps forever). You have one day left to write about your passions: what do you want to say to the blogosphere in 300 words or less?

My Response:
Did you get a chance to watch this trailer for the film Motherhood? There is a scene in this trailer in which the husband asks his wife what make her want to live a life with passion. She’s crying – she’s not sure she knows.

I feel like that woman sometimes. I have a whole list of potentials that I’m capable of, yet I'm sketchy on the follow through. And I see my husband and I see my kids and I see my house and I see this about myself: I’m tired of just seeing the potential.

Passion, when it’s lived out, means so many things to so many people - success, money, recognition, perfection. For me passion always seems to get stuck in the hope stage.

I’m passionate about my family, but I know I can never measure up to my own ideal image of the perfect Suzy Homemaker, so I stop way short of that. I’m passionate about writing, but I know I will never be what I’ve deemed to be a successful one, so I putter away with my little blog.

I hope, I hope, I hope. That’s what I’m passionate about. But I know that’s not enough. Yet sometimes it has to be enough.

When my kids grow up and they look back and remember all of this…that is the thing I want to be passionate about. I want their memories to be ones that make them laugh, ones that make them think, ones that make them thankful. And intentionality in creating those kinds of family memories is going to take a lot more out of me than my hopes. It’s going to take doing.

Blessed is the family who never stops starting to be intentional with each other. That’s what I’m passionate about.

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Tag: Mabel’s Labels BlogHer ‘10 Contest

Lookie! I Won a Book!

I just got a package at my door. TypePad for Dummies! By these two ladies here:

Seriously, how did you know? Okay, so I entered the drawing Shannon had a little bit ago and won. Yippee!

Thought I'd let you know. I just changed the whole template last night, but if the whole blog starts going wonky again you'll know I'm playing around with my new book.

Thanks, Shannon and Melanie!

PS: This is an old photo I took of them on one of my visits to see my parents. You never know when some unsuspecting blog buddy is going to pull out a 4-year-old photo and repost it...

WHAT? I have a BLOG?

How did this happen? Where did this come from? A blog? Me? Hardly seems right. I mean, aren't blogs supposed to be for people who, you know, write on them?

I, apparently, just like to post random pictures of things I'm making and then flee for a week at a time.

I'm not sure this post is much better than leaving the picture up. But I wanted to be consistent. You know, consistent with this pattern:

• Post a picture of something I'm making
• One week later, post a shocked, "What? I have a blog? entry
• Three days later, post another picture of something I'm making
• One week later, post a shocked, "What? I have a blog? entry
• Etc.

So stay tuned for some riveting photo of one of the 30+ dinner napkins I'm in the process of making. Or maybe some more zippy bags...

And the Winner of the Zippy Bag is...

The Gypsy Mama! Congrats! Come on over and choose your favorite color!

Didn't win? Never fear, I will be hosting another giveaway very soon!

That's Some Kind of Bible...

Thomas Nelson sent us a free book today. I knew they were sending me something, but didn't know exactly what. So when I pulled this out of the package, I kind of laughed - we don't really get into all all the 31 different flavors of Bibles around here, but the girls saw it and thought it looked neat. I told K8 and E6 they could share it. One of them was looking at it in the van on our way to ballet drop off today and K8 wanted a turn. She asked the sister who had it, "Can I please look at the God's Little Princess Delusional Bible?" And that's just about where I drove off the road laughing.

So many applications, so little time...

PS - Thomas Nelson, thanks for the free book! My girls are enjoying it today.

Relevant10 Zippy Bag Options

I thought I'd post some photos of the bags I'm making as I make them for two reasons: 1) to have a visual record of the goal as it is being completed and 2) to show fabric options to new potential buyers. So here they are! For more information on what I'm raising the money for, click here!

Zippy Bag Options A:

Zippy Bag Options B:

Zippy Bag Options C:

Zippy Bag Options D:

Zippy Bag Options E:

Zippy Bag Options F:

The following are newly acquired fabric combos. Once I get some of these made up into bags I will update the photos with actual bag pictures, but until then, you can also choose from these:

Zippy Bag Options G:

Zippy Bag Options H:

Zippy Bag Options I (eye):

Zippy Bag Options J:

Zippy Bag Options K:

Zippy Bag Options L:

Zippy Bag Options M (which really consists of two other options above only made into bags this time):

Almost Friendship Bread

You've probably received one. A starter for Amish friendship bread. And maybe you were excited because you've wanted to try it and it's kind of fun and the bread is super yummy. Maybe that's been you.

If you've been at all like me you've let your starter die several times. Maybe you forget to feed it. Maybe you forget to squish it. Maybe you just get tired of it. Done! In the trash.

And then you start to wonder - was this really a friendship bread or an almost friendship bread? Because what kind of friend, or potential friend, would inflict another friend with a ziplock bag full of liquid guilt?

It happened to us again a couple of weeks ago. And the funny thing is it happened on the sly. The friend in question had her kids handing out the bags of extra starter. One of the kids kind of ran up to me and tossed the bag in my lap and took off.

I had been starter-ed. My response? It was this: "No-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o!"

But my kids were exited about it, so we brought it home with us. The first round wasn't so bad - my kids took our starter to a friend's house and they made it there. But then my friend had some 9 new starter bags. This stuff multiplies faster than dust bunnies under my bed. That's some kind of fast.

For the second round, I was determined to feel no guilt about it. I measured out the extra starters...straight into the trash can. I kept one for myself and didn't inflict it on anyone else.

But that seems rather wasteful, you know?

Today I got a brainstorm (and yes, I'm sure I'm the last person on the planet to hatch this genius idea, but indulge me a minute here, okay?): I measured out one starter for me. I the poured the other three cups' worth into a mixing bowl. The portion that remains in the original bowl is what you are supposed to use to make your bread with that day. I discovered that bit of batter is exactly 1.5 cups...bingo! I had enough batter to make 3 batches of bread.

So we now have 6 loaves of Amish Friendship Bread cooling on the counter. And I have a feeling that if I share some of this with a friend, there will be no almost about it.