Fairy Dust

Am I the only one who thought that our parents had it all figured out when I was a child? Sure, I saw my mom struggle from time to time, but that’s not what I mean. I thought that adults knew everything… Like, everything!

There I was, ten years old in the back seat of my mom’s red Thunderchicken (more commonly known as a Ford Thunderbird) asking my mom how old she was. Thirty six was SO OLD.  We had talked about what we wanted to be when we grew up in school that day. I asked her what she wanted to be when she grew up, and then I started giggling. Silly me, she already knew! She was a nurse. I would always ask her off the wall questions trying to trick her, but somehow she always knew the answer. Now I realize the questions weren’t so hard.

I remember being at my dad’s house trying to trick him, too. I had written some math problems on a piece of paper for him. I’m pretty sure I was like eight years old. Bwahahahhahahahaa! I was shocked that he had gotten them right. He was a good sport about it. Thanks, Dad! I love you!

~~~~FAST FORWARD JUST A few YEARS~~~~

The other day my son asked me about why the grass is green. We had a conversation about chlorophyll and all that goodness, again 🙂  He has asks me some crazzzyyyy questions though, which begs the question HOW IN THE HELL DID OUR PARENTS DO IT WITHOUT GOOGLE?  Oh, I’ll tell you how. They made up stories. I was convinced that the grass was green because gnomes came out every night and painted it green. Hey, Mom, You got that one WrOnG!  Thanks, mom! Just kidding, I love you!

Now that we got that out of the way I can get back to my point of this post. I guess I’m just now figuring out that there is no magical ‘genius fairy’ that sprinkles smarty pants dust on us when we become parents! There is no fairy…. We have to figure this parenting and adulting thing out ourselves, folks. Sorry I have to be the one to burst that bubble for you! Don’t fret, though. With that bad news comes some good news. Great news! We get to figure things out for ourselves. We get to read books (or the internet) and learn a few bizarre facts to impress our five-year old kids. haha! Not only that, we get to decide how to raise our kids. There are lots of subjects I could go in to here, given our current events, but I won’t…. I just won’t.

We teach our kids to share, say Sir and Ma’am/Please and Thank you, and all that good stuff. My one wish is that we could, as a society, focus on the ‘Golden rule.’

~Treat others the way you want to be treated~

I really don’t understand what’s so hard about that. I guess you can teach general manners, but you can’t teach a heart to care. Maybe that’s not even our problem!  As adults so many have had to develop thick skin so a hard heart is developed along with it. How do we teach our kids to develop that thick skin and keep a soft and open heart? I suppose that we should teach them about the armor of God instead of that thick skin!

 

Ephesians 6:11-18(NIV)
11 Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. 12 For our struggle is not against flesh and blood,but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.13 Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. 14 Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, 15 and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. 16 In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. 17 Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.18 And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people.

I didn’t know exactly where I was going with this post when I started, but I think I got what I needed from my writing tonight. I hope you did too! Drop a comment, and let me know what you think 🙂

But…. God, if you’re reading this could I have just a TINY sprinkle of that smarty pants dust?

Getting out of my comfort zone

Until three days ago I hadn’t stepped foot in a gym since 2012 when I got out of the military. I have been working out at home.

With my husband deployed my workouts have suffered…badly. My energy has gone in to making sure I keep busy getting out of the house. The kids are doing gymnastics. We go bowling and do other activities weekly. I think all of my energy has gone in to that stuff. I’ve been drained. Now I’m realizing I’m drained because I have NOT been working out. Funny how that works, huh? Last week I did a couple of workouts at home. The kids aren’t sleeping as late in the mornings so they come barreling in to the living room demanding breakfast halfway through my workout. No Bueno. Soooooo I decided to check out a few gyms. I found one that I like! Super clean, friendly staff and a nice kids’ area. I joined within ten minutes of walking in the door.

I decided since I was there I may as well knock out my first workout. I live in workout clothes so that wasn’t even an issue 🙂 Then I realized I feel like a complete fitness newb in a gym! Soooo many machines! I’ll be honest; I’m a bit intimidated. On the other hand I’m really excited! I’ll get back in to the swing of making my own routines.

Here’s to hoping no videos end up on youtube of me using a machine in a completely stupid manner!! Cheers! JK, I’m not that much of a dumb dumb. Close, but not quite 😉

Please comment with your favorite workout songs!!

A Little bit about myself!

First post for my new blog… No pressure right? I better make this a good one!

I wasn’t raised to put much thought in to how healthy my food was. We ate a lot of fast food and hamburger helper.  My mom was a single mom of three kids. She put herself through nursing school and worked full time. As long as we had food in our bellies, all was well!!

Fast forward a to after high school. I worked as a dispatcher for a small police department. I did a lot of sitting at my job, and my eating habits were not that great. I ate a lot of takeout from chili’s and places like that. I ate way too many carbs. (bad carbs) along with way too much fatty food.

Fast forward again. When I was 21 I joined the United States Navy. I was in an aviation squadron. We never really got a ‘lunch break.’ We just ate when we had a few spare minutes. I remember eating pizza rolls almost daily…for breakfast! lol. No Bueno! I didn’t mind at the time. I did a lot of work so I didn’t really gain any weight eating like that.

I was never really ‘fat.’ I was just out of shape. I didn’t even become interested in fitness until AFTER I got out of the military. I got married and had two kids. After giving birth to my second child the weight didn’t come off quite as easy.  I decided to get in shape when my daughter was about 4 months old. I signed up for an online weightloss program. I did that for about three days before I realized that was NOT for me. Don’t get me wrong, the program works! I just didn’t feel like it would teach me how to eat healthy foods for a long term lifestyle change. I felt like it would just teach me to be dependent on them…..  I completely cut out fast food. I quit drinking cokes. I ate a lot of tuna! It took me about 6 weeks to get to where I was comfortable with my weight. The main problem I had was  felt like being healthy and fit was 100% all or nothing. It took me a long time to realize it’s a never ending journey!!

Last summer I was in the absolute best shape of my life! Over the winter I have backslidden. I was stressed about my husband’s upcoming deployment. I did a lot of emotional eating, and I have a son of a b***h of a sweet tooth!!

My husband deployed last month so the way I see it, now is the time to find my way back to being fit. I have about 15 pounds to lose! I would love to use my knowledge from my journey over the last few years to help others get healthier as well!! I hope you will follow my blog, and let me know what you think!!