Multitasking

I am a multitasker. 

It's my character, my personality, it's who I am.

Multitasking can get me into trouble. 

I admit, I multitask while driving. Not always on my phone, a numerous amount of things. But I'm trying really hard to correct that.

I multitask while brushing my teeth. Now with an electric toothbrush it is not pretty. I get toothpaste on the mirror, on my clothes and running down my chin.

I multitask while filling my water bottle from the fridge dispenser. I am standing there holding the bottle to fill up.... that takes a long time.... I don't want to wait. So my other hand is trying to screw the lid on a bottle I just filled, or trying to get a straw off the counter for my shake. Now that has caused me to spill my water, repeatedly. 

I pull up several websites,  looking at different topics, normally so I don't forget what I want to look up.

There is one time that I cannot multitask. (well there's probably more...but anyway) Recently I started walking around the room with my 2 year old when it's time to go to sleep. I get a blanket, put over my shoulder and walk around with her. She normally calms down. If she's still antsy I sing "O How I Love Jesus" (my six year old told me I sing like an angel :) ) If I try to type on my phone, even if I move one arm to scratch my head it messes her up. 

So..... in that moment..... I realized - it's ok if I don't multitask all the time. It's ok if I just stop, take in the little moments and enjoy the quiet time.

May Photo Challenge - Days 15 - 27

So I missed a week blogging my photos. These last 2 weeks have been harder than the first 2 and I could seriously put my kids for half of these!!! But I didn't :) I thought outside of the box. So here it is.

Day 15 - Love. I couldn't help but use my kids for this! But I also love warm weather & sitting out in the sun.

Day 16 - What you're reading. I could have added 1 more book.

Day 17 - Snack. There is just something about grapes & cheese! yum!

Day 18 - Something you made. I didn't make it on this day, I was sick in bed on this day :(

Day 19 - A favorite place. Food places are probably more my favorite... but this is one of my favs. It's the path where I run. I see lots of wild life (saw 2 deer on Saturday) and the running water is such a pretty sound.

Day 20 - Something you can't live without. Not exactly something. But I could not live with my Mom & sisters!!! They keep me grounded, in style and carefree.

Day 21 - Where you stand. I have strong, very strong Biblical beliefs. So here are just a few Scriptures to show where I stand.

Day 22 - Pink. I want this bag so bad!

Day 23 - Technology. My kids' iPhones & our iPad. Just a few of our iThings.

Day 24 - Something new. My front tooth! After 20 years of having the same bonding on my front chipped tooth, I got a 'new' one :)

Day 25 - Unusual. There is a lady locally that makes jewelry called On The Wire. She custom made me a Mother ring. Three different colors of wire that represents my three children.

Day 26 - 12 o'clock.... really? no picture for that one.

Day 27 - Something sweet. Mmmmmm Chocolate Devotion from Cold Stone!

Next week is the last 4 days. Enjoy!

May Photo Challenge - Days 8 - 14

Day 8 - A smell you adore. Coffee is a smell I adore. My parents drink their coffee black. I don't have many smells that I can say "oh, that reminds me of my childhood" but coffee is the one. When my parents would open a new package of coffee, my sisters & I would smell it. It smelled so good when it was first opened.

Day 9 - Something you do everyday. DRIVE! I feel like I am always in the car, therefore I make excuses for how messy my car is. 

Day 10 - A favorite word. This one was really really hard! I thought about the word chocolate ..... nah.... oooo - I know what would be a fun photo op! so the word is LOVE, as modeled by me & my children.

Day 11 - Kitchen. Since I was a teen I wanted a Coca-Cola kitchen. I would cut things out of magazines and put in my hope chest. I still have not had the dream kitchen I envisioned.... maybe that's why I continue with the theme, even though it is so outdated :) The items I'm most "proud" of are my bottles. I have several that I got from my Grandparents basement.... which are very, very special to me. 

Day 12 - Something that makes you happy. Well, you guessed it, my kids make me happy :) And my husband putting things together without me asking makes me happy. So on this day he put together the new patio set for the kids and they loved it. We sat on the back porch and enjoyed the pretty weather.

Day 13 - Mum. Although I call her Mom it would be fun if I called her Mum, like the British do :) I love my Mum with all my heart!!!

Day 14 - Grass. It was raining and dreary this day, I asked my 6 year old to draw me a picture with grass in it. Here is her picture with a birds nest in a tree, with the Mama bird feeding her baby.

We're halfway through the challenge! :) tune in next week to see the next seven days.

Conscious Effort

Last night as I couldn't sleep I was browsing. A friend on FaceBook posted a link to How to Miss a Childhood. I read it and kept reading blog after blog of hers. No I was not 100% guilty of being glued to my iPhone. I had my boundaries. I wasn't on it during school, dinner, bed time tuck-in, family nights..... but I did check my iPhone every time it dinged throughout the day.

So today I decided to make a conscious effort to not check my FaceBook. I logged out of it on my iPhone so I didn't get notifications. This morning while the kids were still asleep, I updated my status, uploaded a few pictures then logged out. This afternoon while my youngest was taking a nap I updated my status, uploaded a few pictures then logged out. I did not have my phone with me when I was at a playground playing with the kids. I did not check my notifications at red lights. And tonight when we watch America's Funniest Videos I will not be checking my phone.

Tonight at dinner I asked my 6 year old a loaded question (that was mentioned in the blog I referenced). "What do I do too much of?" she thought & thought and thought...... she thought for a good 10 minutes. I told her we would come back to that. I asked her "What do I not do enough of?" She thought a couple minutes and said "School! some days we don't do school!" yesterday was her brother's birthday & we don't do school on birthdays around here, so it was probably fresh on her mind. So yay, she wants more school - good, because First Grade is coming up!

Back to "What do I do too much of?" she thought again and again.... then finally said "Cook too much! You should let us help you out. And you do too much laundry! We can help you, you need to let us do some things for you! And you do the dishes too much" In her word cook she meant just being in the kitchen, making their foods, cleaning their dishes, getting their drinks. I do feel like I spend a lot of time in the kitchen!

This really made me happy.... she did not say that I am on my phone too much..... she did not say that I exercise too much...... she did not say that I yell too much...... Now on another day, when nothing is going right, I'm sure she'll say "You're doing too much of _______" :) But today is good.

Make a conscious effort to put your phones down at the playground, at the dinner table, if you take your kids to school - at drop off & pick up (as mentioned in the above blog).

I pray that I do not miss a childhood of any of my children

May Photo Challenge - Days 1-7

So I decided to do a Photo a Day May.

Although I take more than one photo a day, I just wanted to give it a try. So here are my first 7 days.

May 1 - PEACE. Watching my children sleep is so peaceful to me. Sleeping with them is even more peaceful.

May 2 - SKYLINE. This is a piece of "country" to me, right beside our playground that we go to daily.

May 3 - SOMETHING YOU WORE TODAY. These are croc flip flops. I absolutely love them! And I already have a flip flop tan line from them. 

May 4 - FUN! I decided to take this picture. Then it went crazy after that. My oldest wanted to do a different pose. And started crying saying that this wasn't fun. That was after my second was kicked in the face by my third because she wanted to lay beside Mommy.

poor little guy...he was smiling, never saw it coming!

May 5 - BIRD. No picture there. I was having too much fun at my little guys' birthday party.

May 6 - YOU. The only picture I got of me that day was with my group of friends.

May 7 - SOMEONE THAT INSPIRES YOU. My husband. He is hard working. He is a wonderful Daddy. He is so easy going, sometimes I think too much :) And he doesn't let life's circumstances determine his character.

Next blog weeks 8 - 14.

My Running Mix

So I said the next blog would be about my running mix so here it is.


I searched and searched for good up beat music, with no curse words.... that is HARD to find! :( So I knew the only way I could go was all Christian music. So I'm going to give you the song (some are old school) and I'll talk a little bit about why I love it for running.


I Am Free - Newsboys
This is perfect for starting out a run - first line "I am free to run!!" :) what better way to start a great run.


Name-Droppin' -  T-Bone
This is a fun one, mentions all the Christian artists names. Two lines I like in this song "she stayed in shape cause it was her temple and God's property" and in the chorus it says "we don't quit, we don't stop" even though it's talking about singing, it's nice to remind myself to keep going.

Take it All - Hillsong

This one has a great beat to help me keep up my tempo.

Our God - (As made famous by Chris Tomlin) Christian Remixed 2011 Hits

It is such a good worship song, "Our God is greater, our God is stronger" and this has a beat too since it's the remix version.

Tonight - tobyMac

Great beat!

No Way - Tye Tribbett & G.A.

Fun lyrics say "there's no way I can make it without You". Which is so true to every aspect of my life, there's no way I would be where I was without God's grace & blessings.

Welcome to the Show - Britt Nicole

A good beat to remind me to make my feet hit the pavement with every beat.

4321 - Manafest

A little more "rap" than my other ones, and not exactly to God, but it's a good clean song. My favorite line "I'm in my zone right now, I'm in the groove right now."

God of Wonders - Rebecca St. James

A good worship song. And when you're running outside you can just take in all of God's magnificent work.

I Want it All Back - G.A. & Tye Tribbett

This song has been my motto for myself, friends and family for the past couple of years.

I'm Letting Go - Francesca Battistelli

A little slower, still has a runnable beat. A good reminder to myself to put my life in God's hands....every day!

Irene - tobyMac

Another rap one, my husband put it in my mix.

Give Me Your Eyes - Brandon Heath

A slow one, but a great prayer to pray. So when I pass people on the trail I run I pray for them and pray that I can see others the way God sees them.

Made to Love - tobyMac

Another good prayer to God and a good reminder to myself why I was created - to Love and worship Him!

So I'm sure there's a gazillion other songs that are great running ones... but here's my mix. Hope you enjoy and can use some for your own mix :)

Mindless Running

Sorry it's been so long since my last post. My "thoughts" are never more than a paragraph. So I don't blog them, I just update my FaceBook status :)

Jogging is very beneficial.  It's good for your legs and your feet.  It's also very good for the ground.  It makes it feel needed.  ~Charles Schulz, Peanuts

I am not a runner. September 2011 I ran my first race. It was a local Women's Four Miler. I trained for it with a training program. I ran about 12 minute miles. I am not a runner. I finished the race with running the whole time and under an hour, my two personal goals. 

I am not a runner.

Then my crazy Fitness Instructor, Kira Sullivan from Baby Boot Camp decided to tell me about all these other races coming up. So October 2011, I ran a 6K and a 5K. November 2011, I ran a 5K. December 2011 another 5K. February 2012 a 5K again. March 2012, an 8K and a 10K!!! 

I am starting to be a runner!

My 10K time was quite close to my 4 Miler time. I ran 9 1/2 minute miles!!! Starting out at 12 minute miles I am quite proud of myself!

Most every Saturday, my wonderful husband takes care of the kids so I can go running. There are very few Saturdays when I miss. It's my alone time. I realized, my mind is completely blank when I'm running. I'm not thinking about grocery lists, laundry, paying bills..... it is blank! (although I do talk to myself, "don't stop running!") It is quite an amazing feeling. I really think every person, every MOM needs a blank mind sometimes! So I may not be a super speedy runner, but I enjoy it! and I am always looking forward to my next race. I am a runner!

Runners just do it - they run for the finish line even if someone else has reached it first.  ~Author Unknown

Next blog I'll talk about my Running Mix on my iPod.