Frantic Friday Fragments

Frantic isn't the best word. But it's been a busy week, I haven't been able to get my blog posts done and auto-psoted the night before, and my time at work has been packed with meetings so it takes a couple of hours of popping in and out to get a post done. Supposed to run a 10K tomorrow. The forecast? From my favorite weatherman, Paul Poteet: Saturday: Morning rain, possibly heavy and with a few thunderstorms. Showers continue through the afternoon. High around 52 in the morning, falling to around 42 by late afternoon. Guess I need to get a big, black trash bag. Or invest in a poncho of some sort. Not sure how I feel about running in downpours and falling temps. I have a confession. I was not completely honest yesterday. I ate food that I didn't snap a pic of and share. I wasn't trying to keep it a secret. It was just... bedtime. I was hungry, I ate (too much) and went to bed. I started out healthy, finishing my colors with raspberries and blackberries. Then I saw the leftovers from the dinner Jeff and the kids had and decided it would be fine to finish of the fried rice- with peas and carrot and pork. Then 6 Junior Mints. And a good amount of water. I need to break my eating-at-night habit and I'm not sure the best way to go about accomplishing that goal. Advice is welcome! This morning, I got a great start on eating my colors with a fruit salad. Tangelo, kiwi, raspberries, blackberries. Orange, green, red, purple. I have to stick with that lovely light breakfast because Christy and I are carb loading at lunch with Noodles and Co's new grown up mac n cheese - the truffle mac with baby portabellas, specifically. Is it lunch time yet?? I had made mention in a comment about how I eat M&M's. Instead of sharing that as a fragment... well, it really deserves its own post. Look for that one next week. It's one of the few areas where I'm really OCD and if my way of eating M&M's was the only thing you knew about me... you'd have a long list of judgements that aren't me at all. I love it when my kids love each other. Which really is most of the time. They are friends and they really enjoy each other and I'm very blessed for that. Most of all, and for a lot of reasons, I love them when they are asleep. Partially because it means things are quiet. Mostly because it means I can kiss and snuggle them without getting pushed away.

Last, but not least, I just have to share my excitement over having business cards for my blog! Blocked out my last name just because you never know who's happening upon a website- I think most people that read me might know my full name- it just feels like a level of safety I should still embrace for some reason. Anyway. Now I'm set to attend marketing events, conferences, or just hand them out on the street corner!

Back:

Front:

HAPPY FRIDAY! Any fun weekend plans ahead for you??

Insert Fun Title Here

I'm drained today. I'm going with fragments because it suits my brain at the moment.

I was heading to church last night for a group meet up. My church does this thing called "Face Out Groups." It's like Bible Study but not sitting around a table reading the Bible or getting preached at. Different groups are formed by anyone interested in leading one and the focus of study or purpose is unique to each group. I'm leading one (mt first time ever) that I've named Walk By Faith. We met at 8:00, read some Bible verses I'd selected, shared some questions for possible discussion, and then we walked for 30 minutes. There was some confusion on start date and time so there were only 3 of us last night. But it went well and I'm looking forward to this weekly group meeting. I've got 7 weeks planned out and will have more soon! ***** My period decided to be 2 days late this month. I was mildly panicked about it. Guess it's time to visit the OB and check out the more permanent solutions since we feel our family is full. Anyone have that Essure thing done? ***** On my way to church, I totally rocked out to Violent Femmes "Blister In The Sun." It came on the radio and I had my minivan windows down and was drumming all over the steering wheel. I'm sure I looked uber-cool, too. But it inspired me to get back in touch with my younger days music and today, I'm surviving work thanks to the Femmes and The Pogues and Indigo Girls. ***** I have to travel for work next week. Is anyone interested in guest blogging for me? You don't have to have a blog to guest post!! In fact, it would be a great way to just do a little writing with no pressure to do more... e-mail me if you'd like to post. You can e-mail your post to me by Monday night and I'll set up auto posting. I'd like at least 3 guest posts but would be thrilled to have more than that!! If you are one of my regular commenters or if you think guest posting here could help cross promote your blog or if you have read something I've written and want to write something inspired by or refuting it... you get the idea! ***** Birthday party season is upon us. Teagan has a party to attend this weekend and next weekend. One thing I like about birthday parties is helping Teagan pick out a gift for her friend. At first, it felt overwhelming and frustrating to try and pick a gift when I don't know these kids. Then it dawned on me- ask Teagan! But with an open question like "What do you want to get so-and-so?" she was overwhelmed, too. So I figured out how to help her choose a good gift. I ask her "What center does so-and-so most like to play in?" (They do "centers" in the classrooms- home living, math, science, reading, etc.) That gets her thinking about times she has had a center with that child or what center they get most excited about going to. From there, we can easily figure out what section of the toy or book department to visit. ***** I'm thinking a lot about Hallie and her family today. Today is World Suicide Prevention Day. I know too many people who have either attempted suicide, thought about suicide, or lost someone to suicide. I'm taking time throughout the day to pray for those impacted by suicide. If you would like to be added to my prayer list, please let me know. ***** Is anyone connected to children's choir? I lead our children's choir at church and am so not hugely experienced. I enjoy it and we have fun but I really want to grow the program and am looking for resources to help me. ***** Alright- wow me with your weekend plans!!

Friday Frags and Tryin' to Feel Good

Mrs4444 has been getting her vacation on as she preps for school to start back. The Girl has continued her Blogcation another week- but found a lovely hostess in 29 and Holding for this week's Feel Good Friday! I have to admit that I am kinda struggling with the Feel Good aspect for this week. It's been a stressful week so bear with me.

First, my Frustrating Fragments:

- Had a work situation that got raised to crazy higher up corporate levels and had to explain processes and defend a supplier and then it turend out that I ended up finding the solution on my own with the help of Google. I saved the day, tried to save face since I'd been defending my supplier, and there is still going to be fallout because people aren't happy with how it was handled by the manufacturer our supplier works with. But having my boss and her boss and his boss and other bosses sending snarky and strongly worded e-mails around was NOT a fun way to spend my week.

- My kitchen is a mess. Our lives are so busy and one thing I really hate about cooking is that it means I have to clean it up, too. Worst of all, we did pasta night the other night and didn't clean up immediately so the kitchen stinks of tomato sauce and garlic. Plus the trash needs to go out. I'm betting it takes 2 loads in the dishwasher to get everything done, too. I can handle a messy house but a messy kitchen hurts me and I truly haven't had the time to take care of it myself.

- Jeff is going to be gone next week. He's just going downtown but he will be pretty much unavailable to us unless there is a true emergency. There is a huge gaming convention that comes to Indy every summer- GenCon. Jeff works with a company that runs a game called True Dungeon. He's a Dungeon Director. I'm not making it up- stop laughing. I'm serious! Anyway, the game is like a real life Dungeons and Dragons. Teams go room to room in a timed sequence and have to "fight battles" and solve puzzles and so on. The Con opens Thurs. Jeff has to go down Monday with the behind the scenes crew and start the dungeon building and setting up special effects and all that jazz. It's a really cool thing he does and he's passionate about it and he spends a week with his friends doing their version of guy stuff- but I do miss him while he's gone.

- Teagan's behavior is getting better. But we aren't out of this yet. I'm concerned about upcoming changes and the impact they will have- could go positive, could go negative. First change is that Zach starts going to Little Explorers next week. Second change is Kindergarten starting 2 weeks later. It seems like at least once each day- either at school or at home- there has to be at least one big meltdown or confrontation. And the later in the day it happens, the worse it is.

- Zach is starting to act out more. I don't know if this is his natural path or if he's modeling his big sister. It isn't anywhere near what she's doing. But I don't want my sweet, laid back boy to think he is supposed to act like Teagan when he doesn't get his way. We're trying to give him tons of positive attention and affirmation when he's making good choices.

- I wasn't sure I was going to admit this but... I've gained 4 pounds in the last month. I knew it was going to happen. I knew I wasn't making my best choices. I think my running plan (meaning that I've only been running once a week and not with the same amount of calorie burn as a month ago) is part of it. I know my food choices is part of it. I need to get refocused, recommited. I do some things exceptionally well but I am identifying some serious weaknesses that need work.

Now, let's take those Frustrating Fragments, drain them out and fill up with some Feel Good Friday, shall we?

- Tomorrow is date day for Jeff and I. We wanted to find a time for a date prior to his being gone for GenCon. However, Christy was booked up pretty solid. By chance, his parents mentioned that they now have more flexibility on Saturdays that they didn't have before. So we jumped on it! Saturday date day! Jeff will take the kids over just before lunch and then he and I are heading to the art museum for lunch and then some hand holding and quiet chatting and art gazing. I'm soooo ready for it.

- I get to go to a Zumba class tomorrow morning! It's free at the Lifestyle Family Fitness Center. They are celebrating National Dance Day by offering free group dance fitness classes all day!

- That situation with my supplier... while stressful... I get a little bit of a high as the frustration leaves and the fix that I FOUND settles in. I won't feel fully confident until the product has arrived and been used in our production and proven to be valuable- but I do feel good that I was able to "fix" the crisis.

- My friend Christy is an awesome person and deserves some support. She's been my running buddy and workout buddy since the word go when we joined the gym together. She's been my friend for a decade. She commits herself to her passions- theatre being a big one. She donates blood (platelettes) regularly. She cares about her circle of friends in a very real and genuine way. She's funny- and she laughs at y jokes (especially my stupid ones). Plus, she not only shares my love of wine, chocolate, sushi and cheese but she helps me expand the field and try new things. She's going to Paris, France for 2 weeks in September and, while part of my is jealous, I'm going to really miss her.

- I love my mom. I'm glad she's my friend.

- I love my church family. It's mind boggling to me how much my faith has expanded by locking in to this family. My faith in God hasn't ever waivered but I've been unsure about the church thing. In the past few years, I've really plugged in to my church and it's simply amazing.

Alright- I'm feeling better now. How about you- any frustrations that need to be replaced with feel goods?

Feel Good Fragments: Fun Edition!

After a week filled with parenting stress, I think I need to have some serious fun today! Head over and visit our lovely hosts by clicking the buttons above. *** Driving home from church last night, the kids and I were listening to one of my Glee soundtracks. They love the remix of the Olivia Newton John classic "Physical." They sing along and dance and have a great time. As we're singing along, Zach starts yelling, "Look at me, Mommy!" I look in the mirror and he's wiggling away in his carseat. He gleefully tells me, "I make my body talk!" *** We had our weekly Ab Blast class at the gym on Wednesday at noon. This week, there were a total of 3 of us in the small class (we usually only have 3-4). We all work together or at least for the same company. We are nearing the end of the workout and our trainer has us doing this exercise. Legs out straight, lay on your back with arms extended over your head. Sit up straight and reach for your toes. Then sit up to sitting and curl back to laying down. About the 3rd time through the exercise- which requires quite a bit of core control and strength- I do the one thing that most everyone is afraid of doing in a group fitness class. Yup. You know it. I farted. Loudly. Good thing belly laughs are good for your abs! *** I've been very touched by the messages I get and see where someone gives me any ounce of credit for them making healthier choices. It started an idea. Then my friend Lety posted about an evening walk she took with her family and my little idea came to full on "must do!" Step One - Become a "fan" on my Facebook page. Step Two- Sunday evening, go for a walk. Go by yourself, with friends, with your family. Go to a park or in your neighborhood. Step Three- Take a camera or camera phone with you. Step Four- Take random pics on your walk of the things that capture your attention. Step Five- Come share your pictures on the Facebook page by posting the pics or by blogging about it and sharing the link. We'll all be taking an evening walk together! As a reminder, I'm going to post an event on my Facebook page and I invite you to join in. Let's all go for a walk, a run, a stroll, a bike ride. Get out with the family and then share it! *** In case you missed it, I blogged at Fit City yesterday about ways that my Healthier Me choices are starting to influence my family and the ways I am seeing evidence of those influences in their choices. I'd love it if you'd pop over, read, and leave a comment! *** New Feature will be starting this Sunday on Eternal Lizdom... Mothers Who Move Me. Don't miss it!! *** What are your weekend plans? We are headed to our first ever Indiana Fever game tonight! This is our WNBA team and my family is going as a guest of the Fever thanks to One2One Network. Best of all- this means a discount ticket offer for you! Details coming soon! Saturday, Jeff is out of town all day. I plan to get up early and head to the park for another 30 minutes of running form work with the Couch to 5K Week 1 workout to guide me. The kids and I plan to meet up with Jeff's parents and some out of town family for lunch. Then we have a swimming, bounce house and general fun playdate with a mom friend and her family. Other than that, we'll just be avoiding the heat as best we can for the weekend! *** Oh? Have I not talked about my new running plan? Silly me... well, it will just have to wait until I can dedicate a blog post to it now!! HAPPY FRIDAY!!!!

TGIF

Click the buttons to go and visit our lovely hosts and maybe you'll even join in on the Friday fun!! ***** The week after vacation is a strange week. Mine was made more difficult when I picked Teagan up on Wednesday and found out she was sick. 101 fever sick. I stayed home with her yesterday, Jeff is home with her today. She's pretty miserable unless she has motrin in her system. Her appetite is good (except dairy products- those taste funny to her right now). She says her throat hurts but swallowing hasn't been an issue. The fever hung on overnight. I'll know around 10 how she's really doing (when the motrin wears off again). ***** When I brush my hair, I raise my eyebrows before pulling th ebrush down my hair. Isn't that weird? ***** When I pull up to the drive thru at the bank, I get nervous if the teller isn't at the window. I worry that there is a bank robbery and I start watching the window to try and see any sign of a problem. I grab my cell phone, ready to dial 911. I've never been needed for such a crisis... but hopefully the tellers take comfort in my readiness. ***** I got a blog award!! Today maybe isn't the best example of substance on my blog but... Peaceful Divas chose me to receive this lovely blog award and I'm rather touched by it! I've just recently been getting to know Katina and she's a pretty awesome woman. I really recommend going and checking her out. Rules of the award- thank the person who gave it to you (done), sum up my blogging philosophy, motivation and experience in 5 words, and give it to some other bloggers. 5 words, eh? That's quite a challenge! Honest, Positive, Journal, Mission, Satisfying. Passing this along to... Momza's House ... Life with Kaishon ... Away We Go ... Clean Shavings ... DesignHER Momma ... just eat it ... Mellodee musings ... see kori rant ... but I'm not going to go and tell them that I've given them an award. I'm going to hope they come and see for themselves OR what I really hope is that someone who reads this will go visit onef those blogs and tell them!! ***** I'm very excited about the rest of June. Here's why: My first 5K, a weekend alone with my husband, a family dinner that includes my grandparents, my boss and her boss are in Europe for 2 weeks, Farmer's Markets! ***** Tomorrow is the last soccer meet up through the program we've been attending through the YMCA. It's been a good experience in terms of soccer but I am unimpressed with the communication from YMCA to coach and parents. Original end date was June 26. Then June 5. We all show up last week and find out that the end is really this week. It's weird. ***** I have a ton of work to do to catch up from yesterday. I'm keeping this post positive and feel good so I won't get into my work rant right now. But I am going to sign off and get back to work! I have a 52 page fax to deal with! ***** Don't forget to share your weekend plans with me! I wanna know if you are doing something fun, special, or even mundane!

Friday Fragments 2.26.10

Friday! Fragments! Fours (as in Mrs)! Fun!

Click the FriFrag button to join in on the fun!

Click the Feel Good Friday button to learn more about it- then visit her home page and join in!

*****

I'm still not back to full health. It's been 1 week. I'm not feeling a need to go to the doctor just yet- no drainage from the ear, no pain, no fever. Just that fullness. So I feel like waiting a bit longer isn't a bad thing.

I'm using my neti pot regularly. And I'm exercising, eating better, sleeping well. And taking Airborne. I know that can be controversial. There were lawsuits about it not being effective. That's when the creator bought the company back- she felt her product was being misrepresented. Here's what I know- I just plain old like the stuff and even if it's a placebo effect, I like the drink, I like the energy boost I feel after. So I'm going to keep taking it.

But the pink grapefruit- while my favorite flavor so far- does this weird bubbly thing that the citrus flavor hasn't done! Check it out!

*****

For my Feel Good Friday Fragment, I'm sharing my Facebook affirmation for the week!

YOU INSPIRE

Don't we all need to hear that sometimes?

*****

We went to Jeff's nephew's basketball game last night. A bunch of 9 year olds running around, dribbling and shooting and working hard. Corbin's team is undefeated and if they won this game, they play a championship game on Sunday- at the High School! Corbin's team won! Yay! But my heart went out to a boy on the opposing team... he played so hard. This was so important to him. He cried. His coach pulled him aside and said some pep talk stuff to him- it looked supportive from where I was. As we were leaving, he and his family passed us. I reached out to him and said "You really played a great game and worked so hard." He said thanks, but was still put out, of course. His mom gave me a very grateful thank you- looked me in the eyes and there was this cool mom to mom moment where we both just understood.

I love moments like that.

*****

We have our plan all set for Teagan's birthday party! She helped me with the guest list- and has asked to include Zach's 2 little friends from daycare (she knew them back when she went there, too). And she was very concerned to make certain that Mommy, Daddy, and Zach would be there. But what I loved most was her absolute certainty that her school friend be invited. We will be inviting several school friends but there is one little boy that she seems to have a special connection with. I've met him and his parents once before and liked them very much. He is high functioning on the autism scale- and Teagan is kind to him, helps him, encourages him. She really, really likes him and I love that she's found a friend who is unique and can teach her so much. I think we need to arrange a playdate.

*****

OK- I'm watching Survivor as I watch this. THAT IMMUNITY / REWARD COMPETITION WAS RIDICULOUS! Jeff and I were bouncing around and cracking up- hooting and hollering at the TV! I've been waiting for the Heroes to get their act together and this was AWESOME!

*****

OK- my biggest fragment for last. Prepare to hear a lot more about this one over the next 50 days.

I made a choice and a commitment yesterday. I joined the Indy MomsLikeMe Team for the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure. This is my first ever 5k. I'm not going in the competitive group but instead with the larger group of walking moms. I have 50 days to get myself geared up for this. I'd love to actually run some of it. I'm hearing a lot of good things about the Couch to 5K program. I'm definitely feeling inspired to stay on my health and fitness track with this as a goal!!

I'll add this to my sidebar as well. The button takes you to my personal race page. And if you happen to have a couple of spare bucks or just feel like this is a cause worth supporting, I would be very grateful and proud to run for your donations. In fact, I think the more donations are made, the more I run instead of walk!

*****

Our weekend includes an easy Saturday and a jam packed Sunday. Church (sing at both services), I have a meeting after church (a cool initiative to do ministry with our sister church in the same town), Teagan has a birthday party to attend at one of those bounce places (Monkey Joe's). What's going on with you this weekend?

TGI Fragments!

I gotta admit... it isn't so much that I actually have all these loose ends to put into a post... it isn't even how much I like that it's Friday... there is just something about Mrs.4444's Friday Fragments that pulls the week to a close. It's something to look forward to! ***** I've been really lucky seeing funny trucks and such lately. I've got a couple more. They aren't as good as the last couple of weeks but... well, you'll see. This one- you might need to click to bigify it. The van signage says "Pepper Heating &" I know these are hard economic times. But if you've changed your business to stop doing cooling... why did you leave the "&" on the truck? What on earth is going to replace "Cooling" that you felt the need to leave the "&?" Heating & Tacos?? Heating & Dry Cleaning? Heating & Lawn Service? On our drive back to the office from a lunch hour visit to Costco... Christy and I ended up behind this minivan. I get the message and it's great. Jesus is our friend and He died for us. I get it. But "Amigo" written in a ninja font? And Jesus looking like a horse head with a long flowing mane? That's just kinda... weird. I just have to wonder what inspires someone to decorate a minivan like that? ***** My family is sick. Teagan has her cough and is on antibiotics. Zach woke up Thursday with a fever. As I type this, my ears are feeling full, my lymph nodes are swollen and sore, my sinuses are full. I'll be hitting the neti pot before bed and I've been taking Airborne for the first time in my life. I'm fighting this one as hard as I can. ***** Zach is right on the verge of being potty trained! In all honesty, it's just a matter of Jeff and I taking a few days to really hunker down and put him in underwear and deal with accidents. He's pooping on the pooty 95% of the time. He's peeing more frequently in the potty. We have pull ups that he is wearing sometimes- but they are basically a diaper and they feel like a diaper to him. It's really a matter of Jeff and I finding the time to dedicate. The time and energy to dedicate to putting him in underwear full time. ***** I am so happy James is on Survivor. He's just nice to look at. ***** I've been totally opening bananas upside down. Do you know this trick? It totally works and my life is 1000 times easier because I can now open a banana with no problem. Jeff can tell you- bananas and I have long had a battle when it comes to peeling... no longer! I have won the war! ***** I've got a new post up over at FitCity Indy! Please go check it out and I'd love it if you leave me a comment. Much thanks to Garret and Mami for supporting me in my intro post on FitCity! Also... I'd love for you to "fan" me on Facebook! Click the button in the right sidebar to visit my fan page. I haven't decided what all I will do with my fan page- but my intention is to have Facebook be a connection to the blog and also a bonus spot. Like when your kids go to morning Kindgergarten and then stay for the afternoon enrichment session. And if you swing by there- you'll see the picture affirmation I did this week. It got lots of good responses- just like last week's affirmations did! ***** I was given the Happy 101 Award from The Practical Mom Guide!

I'm supposed to list 10 things that make me happy and pass this on to 10 other bloggers... hmmm...

1. Friday Fragments make me happy! 2. James on Survivor makes me happy! 3. Healthy kids make me happy! 4. A long hug from my husband make me happy! 5. Swallowing without pain makes me happy! 6. Zach's feet are still fat baby feet just enough to make me happy! 7. Life in general just makes me happy!!

Guess I'll stop with 7... so 7 blogs to gift this one... ummmm...

Blogs that make me happy:

Stepping On Cheerios

The Fourth Frog

Momza's House

My Mind Leaks

Cheap Therapy

A Peek At Karen's World

Whacked Daddy *****

I am very, very glad that it's Friday. Teagan has a birthday party to attend tomorrow evening. Other than that, our weekend should be very low key and laid back. We need to hunker down and fight off these germs! Are you doing something fun this weekend?

Facing Feel Good Friday Fragments

Alrighty... I've been a Friday Fragmenter for a bit now. And I've seen a couple of other Friday memes that I've been wanting to participate in. So I'm throwing them all into one big Friday Fondue!

Feel Good Fragment

Teagan's school's Valentine's celebrations are today. She's been very excited and I have just LOVED watching her sit and fill out her cards. She writes her name on each card and she writes the name of her friend or teacher. She's been very careful and so very focused.

Face It Friday Fragment

Face It Fridays, over at A Peek At Karen's World (click the button above), is all about a weekly check in to see how you are doing with goals or resolutions set for 2010. Now, I didn't really do resolutions or set goals- just ain't my thang. But I have recently been recommitting myself to getting fit. Making physical activity part of my routine.

This week was tough because of Zach's procedure on Tuesday. But I did manage to get a little extra activity in. I went to Boot Camp on Thursday. I shoveled snow on Wednesday. During a conference call, I had my door shut and was alone so I stood up and marched, lunged, squatted for about 10 minutes. I marched in place at Music Team at church. I'm just trying to move more.

Friday Fragment

I've got a giveaway going on. It's for folks in the Indianapolis area. It's for anyone who is the parent of or is somehow connected to a tween age girl (8-14 years old). Please go check it out. I would go myself but Teagan isn't old enough just yet. But Girl World Tour 2013 or 2014... I'll be all over it!!

Feel Good Fragment

Yesterday was "Tell Her She's Beautiful" Day... or something like that. I have no clue if it was something official or not. But a young lady friend of mine from church invited me to the event via Facebook. So yesterday, I posted this pic on Facebook and tagged 50 women from my friend list (would have tagged a lot more but FB limits you to 50). The reaction was remarkably favorable!! It seemed to really be meaningful and to really brighten spirits and make the day better for some of my friends. Makes me wonder how life would be if we took time to affirm each other more often.

Final Friday Fragments

I am so excited about this new season of Survivor: Heroes vs Villains. Did you watch it last night? I love it!! I have to admit to rooting for the Heroes, overall. I have a couple of players I like on the Villains side but most of my faves - like Indy's own Rupert- are on the Heroes side.

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In case you missed it... I've got a fan page on Facebook! I use Facebook throughout the day and love to stay connected. So I'd love it if you'd click on the link over in the sidebar and become a fan if you are a Facebook user! And if you have your own Facebook Fan Page for your blog, add me to your "Favorite Pages," drop me a wall comment, and I'll add you to mine!

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Happy Friday!! I'd love to hear about your plans for the weekend... ours is wide open at this point (which is a great feeling)!

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BONUS FRAGMENTS!

I felt so good about my "You Are Beautiful" picture on Facebook yesterday that I did a new affirmation today!

***

Also, a Final Funny Fragment... last week, I shared the "coffee semi." This week... an important lesson. This semi is NOT edible. However, the next one you pass probably is so feel free to bite off a chunk for dinner.

AND ONE MORE! Don't overlook THIS POST by my blog friend Momza. It's wonderful. We should all be writing these letters to ourselves.

Friday Fragments 2.5.10

Mrs4444. You know her, you love her. Go visit her blog- click the button above. Go fragment and add your link. Go visit other fraggers. Do it. It'll make you cool. ****** I enjoy a good cup of coffee every morning. Some mornings, I really want and need and look forward to that cup of coffee. Driving home the other day, I saw a sight that I found a bit unbelievable. Does anyone really need THIS MUCH coffee?? ****** I am now a blogger for Fit City Indy! There's a link to the site in my sidebar. I'll be blogging monthly. My bloggy buddy Amy @ The Fourth Frog recommended me- she's also one of their mom bloggers. I hope you'll check it out. My introduction post just went up! Pop over and leave some nice comments for me, ok? ****** We went to the library last weekend. I'm a little embarassed to admit that it's been a looooong time since we'd been. We used to go every other week. Back in the children's area, there is a little play corner- a couple of "comfy" chairs and loveseats (they aren't comfy at all but they aren't just hard wood or anything) and a lego table, foam blocks, and some bead thingees. My kids totally had a blast with the lego table this time. Couldn't tear them away... and check out the pic. I just sat back and let them play while I glanced over the books they had picked out. I look over at them and had to snap this pic. Do you see what they are doing? Sorting the legos into the colors on the table! I was so impressed! ****** I'm quite honored to have had a blog entry of mine selected and shared on another website. A comment was left on my post- On Death and Dying. Liz, this blog entry is included in the February 2010 edition of Palliative Care Grand Rounds, hosted this month by the Alive Hospice Blog. PCGR is a monthly round-up of compelling blog entries about hospice and palliative care and grief matters.

I am really touched by this. I hope my words could possibly reach out and touch someone who is in a different place than I am... I hope you'll go check out the Palliative Care Grand Rounds at Alive Hospice.

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I'm good at asking for help. I struggle to find it when it involves work before the crack of dawn. We were trying to figure out the logistics of our upcoming Tuesday- Zach's surgery. We have to leave home at 5:30 a.m. to be at the hospital by 6, surgery is at 7. We are normally getting Teagan to school by 7-7:30. Ruh-roh. My mom can't. Christy can but it's tech week of the show she's stage managing so she'd get to our house late Monday night and getting up and going would be a challenge (anyone who has gone through tech week knows what I mean). Jeff's dad is having surgery on Monday... so we hesitated asking his folks for help. But it came down to really having to, you know? Our plan right now is to have Teagan spend the night there Monday night and Mimi will take her to school Tuesday morning. I just hate asking since Pop-pop will be in the hospital, having just had surgery the day before... and she has so much on her plate already (personal stuff on her end).

Anyone looking for something to do really early on Tuesday morning?

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We've been family dining most of the week. Sunday evening we had a movie night so we did eat in the living room. Thursday we ate at Subway because I had music team practice at church and, logistically, it just worked out better to meet at Subway. We are struggling a bit with getting Zach adjusted to this idea of sitting at the table and eating- he wants to get up and play and climb under the table. But we are having a great time with Teagan. I love getting details about her day and love it even more when she asks about my day at work. Thank you to my wonderful hubby for getting that task done!

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I'd love to hear what you are doing this weekend!! Grown ups have a busy Saturday but we've got it covered. Some friends and I are supporting another friend by singing with him at a memorial service for his ex. Very sad situation all the way around- but I am glad I can do something to support my friend. Jeff has a Dungeon meeting on Saturday- and he will miss part of it so I can go to this memorial service and lunch. But I know he's looking forward to seeing those guys and start talking Dungeon for this year's GenCon. Other than that, it's housework, errands, church on Sunday... no big fun plans this time around!

HAPPY FRIDAY!!

Friday Fragments: 1.29.10

It's Friday! Time for Fragments- all those random little pieces of the week that fill in the last day oh so nicely! Swing by and see Mrs4444 (she's been sick this week- send her get well wishes) and join in!!

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BIG NEWS!! After a year of nagging, reminding, encouraging, and threatening... I have my dining room back! Jeff totally surprised me. I came home last night, went into the kitchen and there.... through the doorway... my dining room table, set with plates, a clean floor. There is still a lot of stuff in the area- and I'm ok with that. I just want us to be able to sit at the table and eat a meal together. And now we can!!

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This week on my Zen... I've been watching Showtime's Weeds. It's definitely addicting and funny and I am enjoying it. I'm just a few episodes into the second season right now. I do totally LOVE the music and am already eyeballing the soundtracks. I'd love to watch United States of Tara, season 4 of Dexter, season 4 of Big Love, season 2 of True Blood (and season 3 comes this summer)...

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And the hits just keep on comin'... Zach has pink eye. Jeff and I covered the day home with him yesterday. I took a vacation day to be home with him today. Can this boy please get healthy and stay healthy? He is, at least, happy and having fun!

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I totally wrote a fan e-mail to a couple of missionaries yesterday. Ha! There's a first time for everything! I spent some time on the Livesay's Haiti blog- and what touched me so deeply was to go and read the birthday stories of each of their kids. Click over, scroll down until you find the pictures of the kids, click on the pictures to go to the stories and then tell me you didn't cry at least once!

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Jeff has been in super-duper husband mode this week. He's been stepping up to help more often, he made dinner one night this week, he got the dining room done, he's been doing laundry and washing dishes. It might seem like he's "after something," but he really isn't (he gets plenty of "something" without touching a dish or laundry basket).

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Has anyone done a Walk to Emmaus before? I'm considering doing it this April...

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Weekend ahead... a pancake breakfast Saturday morning (fundraiser for our local food pantry), Sassy gets groomed (our groomer comes to our house- it's awesome), church... menu planning, grocery list, shopping.

HAPPY FRIDAY!!!

Friday Fragments: Jan 22

It's FRIDAY!! Wahoo!! Head over to Mrs4444's place to participate and visit the other Fragmented Folks! Click the button above to be whisked away to her magical land!

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I am now a Regular Contributor for Today On The Interwebs. I discovered TOTI through Blogs of Note early in my blogging career. When a call for help went out, I threw in my hat and, after 2 test posts, have been asked to contribute regularly! Yahoo! So now I scour the internet for interesting tidbits, links, pics, jokes, fun stuff, silly stuff. Feel free to e-mail me ideas!

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We attended an informational meeting at Teagan's school about Kindergarten as offered through Little Explorers. We have briefly looked at our public school option... and Little Explorers is a hands down winner for so many reasons. We were 95% certain we would keep Teagan at LEP- it's been our plan since we chose it. But I'm all for exploring all my options. So we looked at what our local district offers and attended this meeting at LEP. To be honest, there are 2 factors to choosing LEP for Teagan's first year of "real" school. 1. Our experience has been beyond our high expectations. 2. Teagan deserves to have Miss Sally as a teacher for this first foundational year of learning. Miss Sally is a treasure- a rare find, in fact. She's been teaching almost 34 years. She's been married for 37 years, has 5 kids, 7 grandkids. She's a genuinely happy, perky, passionate, kind, compassionate woman. She is so excited about teaching- and about learning. She is a huge part of why we chose LEP- she made a big impact on us when we visited the school a year ago. So while tuition will strain the budget for another year... I really think it will be worthwhile because I think Teagan will continue to thrive in the LEP environment.

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I've been using my little Creative Zen player at work for the last 2 weeks. Here's something crazy... I am uber-productive when I have a series that I am working through. Right now, it's the new Doctor Who series. Previously, I've gotten caught up on seasons of Dexter, True Blood, Chuck. And during those weeks, I always get work done at a crazy pace. These past 2 weeks... I've cleaned my desk, my e-mail inbox is actually completely read and in motion (compared to having an average of 100-200 unread messages, I'm maintaining at 3-5 unread but that are only unread because I need to follow up or take further action), I've kept up with phone calls and voice mail, I've gotten reports done and orders done and projects updated. I haven't been this productive in a long time and it feels really good. The bad news? I'm almost done with the last season of Doctor Who and the next season doesn't start until the spring. I'll have to find something new to get loaded up!

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Garret recently suggested that I need to do another silly, fun post. I've done a few goofy things here and there and he's right- it's been a while. So I'm open to suggestions! Got something you want me to try? Something for me to explore? Give me a topic and I'll find something fun for it!

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I was successful in my task for last weekend- we took down the tree and put away indoor decorations! We started out with the kids helping but it was soon obvious that their help wasn't helping. Jeff called his dad and we got an afternoon without kids to get some stuff done around the house! Even better, my kids got an afternoon with Pop-pop and Aunt Lindsay and had a GREAT time!

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Because my blog needs more pie... if someone would like to make me this beautiful Pioneer Woman pie... Mocha Silk Pie... I would be in heaven!! Coffee... Kahlua... Chocolate... Does it get any better??

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I have been totally lacking on picture taking and sharing lately. Need to do better on that.

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I've been visiting those Haiti blog links daily- and making sure to leave a supportive comment, letting them know I'm praying for them. I hope it lifts spirits.

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I have a fun project in the works with a Kiwi blogger and an Aussie blogger... I'm eager for it to happen so I can share it with you guys!

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Happy Friday- have a great weekend!