Stuff to make you go hmmm

I haven't posted for a while because I was traveling and life has gotten a little crazy.
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I found these ads from a website in Canada and I was blown away!

I am not sure what to think about them, they definitely make me go hmmmm:
The website is wondercafe.ca and it is a place where you can ask the tough questions about religion. It is pretty interesting!

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I wrote an article for my employee newsletter that will be published in December/January. I am posting it here just because I can :)

As the new year approaches, many people turn to thoughts of resolutions and how they are going to do things differently this year. But is January 1st the best time to make significant changes in your life? And are you making the right changes for the right reasons?

Many people resolve to lose weight or get in shape in January. 22% of all gym memberships are sold in January and February to those people who wake up and decide "this is the year" they are going to get in shape! If you wait until March, the parking lot of the gym will thin out, you can park right by the door and not have to wait in line for the Stairmaster.

Are we a community of quitters? No, we are members of a growing group of people who set unrealistic goals for the wrong reasons. If you want to lose weight or get in shape then why wait until January 1st? If you really want to quit smoking or eat healthier or get organized then start today!

Sometimes it is easier to set smaller, more realistic goals where you can celebrate your successes sooner. This will give you encouragement to continue on to your long term goals.

Here are some examples of smaller, more realistic resolutions:

1. Today I will not look for left over Halloween candy in the back of the pantry.
2. This week I will wash all my laundry, not just 5 of each item
3. I will not nag my spouse to do household chores (unless he is in front of the TV)
4. I will stop buying stuff online just so I can check out the UPS guy.
5. I will stop telling my teenaged daughterÂ’s friends about her personal habits.
6. I will limit the number of times each month I call the homeowners association on my neighbor about his weed covered lawn.
7. I will eat more food in its natural state; i.e.; chocolate without caramel, ice cream without marshmallow sauce, etc.
8. I will not dry my daughterÂ’s volleyball shorts by hanging them out the window on the way to practice.
9. I will leave the Sky Mall catalog on the plane, because there is nothing in there I actually need.

Resolutions are helpful, but make sure they are achievable. In the words of Mark Twain, "New Years Day: Now is the accepted time to make your regular annual good resolutions. Next week you can begin paving hell with them as usual."

Beauty... Who is the beholder?

I thought that at my age, I knew that what I saw in magazines and on billboards that portrayed "beautiful" women wasn't real. But it is so easy to get caught up in the thoughts of, "Why can't I look like that?"

Someone sent me this link and it is amazing to see what is done to a photograph digitally! Now I know when I ask, "Why can't I look like that?" it is because the model doesn't look like that either! She never did!

Check it out: www.campaignforrealbeauty.com

Carrot Cake - I missed you so

Today I felt like "Suzie Homemaker"! I baked a delicious gf carrot cake from a recipe I found on a great gf blog . Since becoming gf I have really missed cake and this one was terrific! I even made the frosting from scratch! I am so proud! And I made dinner in the crock-pot! My house smells wonderful!

Dinner is a french beef stew, yum!

I love these things!

Directions: Place an x by all the things you've done, or remove the x from the ones you have not, and send it to all of your friends (including me). Tell the truth!

(x) smoked a cigarette
( ) crashed a friend's car and/or motorcycle
( ) stolen a car
(x) been in love
(x) been dumped
( ) shoplifted
(x) been fired
( ) been in a fist fight
( ) snuck out of your parent's house
(x) had feelings for someone who didn't have them back
( ) gone on a blind date
( ) skipped school
( ) seen someone die
( ) been to Canada
(x ) been to Mexico
(x) been on a plane
( ) purposely set a part of yourself on fire
(x ) eaten sushi
(x) been skiing...snow only
( ) met someone from the internet
(x) been at a concert
(x) taken painkillers
(x) love someone or miss someone right now
(x) laid on your back and watched cloud shapes go by
(x) made a snow angel
(x) had a tea party
(x) flown a kite
(x) built a sand castle
(x) gone puddle jumping
(x) played dress up
( ) jumped into a pile of leaves
( ) gone sledding
(x) cheated while playing a game.
(x) been lonely
(x) fallen asleep at work/school
( ) used a fake ID.
(x) watched the sunset
(x ) felt an earthquake...twice!
(x) slept beneath the stars..
(x) been tickled
(x) been robbed
(x) been misunderstood
(x) petted a reindeer/goat/kangaroo... goat and kangaroo
(x ) won a contest
(x) run a red light/stop sign
( ) been suspended from school
( ) had braces
(x) felt like an outcast/third person
(x) eaten a whole pint of ice cream in one night
(x) had deja vu
( ) danced in the moonlight
(x) liked the way you looked
(x ) witnessed a crime
(x) questioned your heart
(x ) been obsessed with post-it notes
(x) squished mud through your bare feet.
(x) been lost
(x) been on the opposite side of the country
(x) swam in the ocean
(x) felt like dying
(x) cried yourself to sleep
(x) played cops and robbers
(x) recently colored with crayons
(x ) sang karaoke
(x ) paid for a meal with only coins
(x) done something you told yourself you wouldn't
(x) made prank phone calls
(x) laughed until some kind of beverage came out of your nose...grape soda on my friend's new yellow outfit!
(x) caught a snowflake on your tongue
(x) danced in the rain
(x) written a letter to Santa Claus.
( ) been kissed under the mistletoe
(x) watched the sun rise with someone you care about
(x) blown bubbles
( ) made a bonfire on the beach
( ) crashed a party
(x) gone roller-skating
(x ) had a wish come true
( ) jumped off a bridge

Wow! I was really a 'goody-goody'. I was too afraid to sneak out or cut class, I 'knew' I would get caught. This brought back a lot of memories tho...

Monday... it's getting better

Last week, one of the Michelles sent me flowers. Aren't they beautiful!

She is so sweet! And she remembered that daisys are my favorite! I guess that quiz I had my friends take at my birthday dinner paid off :)
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The weekend was quiet. The boys were at the Dodger game in LA and the girls spent the weekend at the mall and crocheting. It was nice. DD is crochetings scarves like they are going out of style! She has done two and is working on two more.

But I am wondering when the laundry and grocery fairy will show up, because those things didn't seem to get done this weekend. :)

I made it through the week! Thank goodness!

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Yesterday afternoon, after a very rainy day, we were blessed with a beautiful rainbow. I saw the whole rainbow and a smaller double rainbow on one side. It is things like this that make me wish I had the ability to take pictures. I am glad I got to see it...

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I am reading another good book called "The Price of Privledge". It is not an easy book to read, both the topic and the way it is written. It is hard to read how people are screwing up their kids because they don't allow them to solve problems on their own. I do that! It is hard not to. You think about how difficult your life was and you want to prevent that difficulty for your kids, but when you step back and look at the bigger picture, you realize that is what shaped your life. Your ability to make mistakes and learn from them. And by stepping in and solving things for them or making their choices for them, you are denying them of that education. Ouch!

Where do you draw the line? Do you tie their shoes? Do you let them lose something they want? (i.e. DS lost his Ipod) Do you let them fail a test? There was one example in the book where the power went out in a town and two students had a large report due the next morning. When the power came back on, one student grabbed his notes and started re-writing his report from scratch so he could turn it in the next morning. The other student handed his notes to his mother and told her to re-write the report and he went to bed! Sounds like someone needs "line drawing" lessons!

I didn't get the memo that parenting was going to be this difficult! It's bad enough my 8th grader has Algebra 1 and I can't help her! I am not looking forward to high school!

Bad things and good things

Wow, sometimes life can really kick you in the balls... there are days where the stuff I am struggling with is under control, and then one thing happens, and it all becomes overwhelming and now I am drowning in all this crap I thought I could deal with.

All I want to do is crawl back into bed a cry. I don't cry, almost ever (thanks to anti-depressants) and today that is all I want to do. But it is almost time to pick up my kids and I have to stay in control...

Today my boss, who is one of the most wonderful men I have ever worked for, got canned. They eliminated his job. No warning, no notice and then the entire department was re-organized and my job description was re-written. Now my supervisor is someone who has been a peer since we were all hired last summer. While she will be a good supervisor, it is hard to have someone who you confided in become your boss.

So on top off all the other stuff going on in my complicated life, I have to deal with this.

Well, I'll deal. Fortunately (or unfortunately depending on how you look at it) I love this job and I don't want to leave. I have passion for what I do and the organization I work for. I may not be happy with the decision, but I will keep moving forward.

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DH and DS are in heaven because the Dodgers are in the playoffs :)

We went to one of the last home games two weeks ago for DS birthday and had a great time, even though they lost. And when they won on Sunday with a grand slam in the bottom of the 9th with 2 outs, guess who got blamed for us not going to that game, but the one the night before? You guessed it! ME

Well on Sunday, DD and I were at the Orange County Swap Meet shopping for 5 hours. And in 5 hours I bought....................................................................................................
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......................................................................wait for it............................
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..........a pomegranate.

Yep, that's it! 5 hours and I bought one piece of fruit. And two weeks later I still haven't eaten the damn thing!

Oh well, we had fun :)

Little things that make me happy

Yesterday, I vented about things that annoyed me so I thought today I would share things that make me smile :)

1) Hearing my kids play music. Especially when they play together!

2) Being able to sit outside while I eat lunch.

3) Getting a pedicure with a friend

4) Getting my hair cut and styled when I am actually going somewhere afterwards

5) Eating a Buster Bar from Dairy Queen

6) Finishing a great book! (like The Red Tent)

7) Wandering around a great bookstore

8) Seeing the Dodgers win

9) Finishing a crochet project (this one doesn't happen too often, so I enjoy it when it does)

Little things that bug me

I don't know what it is lately, but I have been very annoyed by the smallest things. I thought if I got them off of my chest, I would feel better...

1) The tree at the corner where I turn is hanging down and scraping the top of my car every time I turn right. I know it's stupid, but it bugs me! We pay our homeowners fees, they could at least trim the damn tree!

2) The multitude of parents who illegally park in front of the school playground every single morning. Ohhh this really makes me mad! The street is quite narrow already and with cars parked on both sides of the street it almost becomes impassable. Drop off your damn kid and leave! If you have to go on the playground with them, leave your car at the park and walk your ass over there! I have been toying with the idea of calling parking enforcement and telling them they could really clean up if they showed up one morning and started writing tickets.

3) The lack of customer service at Michaels. The cashiers are so obviously bored with their jobs it is pathetic to see. They never acknowledge you, smile or , heaven forbid, say thank you. I know, I could go to Joann's, but if you read my friend Cheryl's observations on the topic, you would understand why I can't go there either.

4) Voice mail bugs me. With the beauty of caller id, I can see that you called me. If I want to talk to you, I will call you back. I don't have the time or patience to retrieve a message from voice mail to tell me that you called. I can see that from the caller id!

5) I love Halloween! But, I hate the people in my neighborhood that have already put out Halloween decorations! It is frickin September! Halloween does not occur for over a month!

Wow, this is great, I feel better already!

Life Lists

I keep hearing about people writing their "Life Lists". I have never been much into the idea of writing goals. I think I have a fear of success/failure and by writing things down, it is one more way to be held accountable.

I read this book called Write It Down, Make It Happen by Henriette Anne Klauser. It is fascinating! She shares examples of where people wrote what they wanted and how it came true. She also shares some exercises to help you get the thoughts out of your head and onto paper.

So, I wrote a few things and I was amazed because some of them are not things I ever consciously admitted I wanted.

In no specific order, these are somethings I want to do or have in my life...

to see fireflies
exercise weekly
be paid as a public speaker
see the Northern Lights
to find a way to be involved at Central
get a new, great family portrait
get my teeth fixed
have more friends
learn to knit

...to be continued

Monday

It's Monday. I don't mind Mondays, they are ok. But my motivation is really low today. I don't know why. I have tons to do, I just don't want to... do... anything. I want to crochet and read and, that's about it. But I need to work, clean my office, do a lot of laundry, go to the gym and about 50 thousand other things that I just don't feel like doing.

Maybe Tuesday I will be more motivated... or maybe not.

Saving the world, or at least my little corner of it...

I am a problem solver. Nothing makes me happier that figuring out how to help people. My friends and family all know this and take full advantage of it... I feel needed and they get what they need it is a win-win situation. "Where can I buy...?" April will know. "Who can tell me how to do...?" April will know. "Why doesn't this program exist in our community?" April can find out if it does and chances are, if it doesn't she will work to make it happen.

So what's the latest problem needing to be solved? Well, I have a friend who has kids around the same age as mine and we want our kids to volunteer in our community. None of them are in Scouts (mine were, we are done now, thank goodness!) and it isn't easy to find a way for them to see and appreciate what they have. I thought, "there must be a website that lists volunteer opportunities for kids in our area." Well, there is not. So I started thinking, do parents really have the time and energy to take their kids to 'one more thing' not that this thing isn't important, but after sports, music, homework, etc. it tends to become one more thing.

What about a way for simple hands on projects that non-profits need done that can be delivered to kids who are already in a group, like Safe Key? If the NP can deliver the project {books needing labels, bag stuffing, packet assembling, etc.} to the group site the kids could do the project, learn about the NP and maybe appreciate their lives a little more? This could even be done in a pre-school playgroup environment where the moms do the project while the kids are playing.

I don't know... it's just an idea that may or may not go anywhere.

Past ideas/Problems solved:

Safe Haven Law - this one was very successful! I worked on this with the Junior League of Las Vegas.

Building a fully accessible playground - this one hasn't happened, but I believe it will. I may not be the one to do it, but by sharing my vision with others I know the right person to make it happen will come along. The story behind this is that there is not a fully accessible playground in Nevada. One that can be used by children in wheelchairs and walkers as well as being used by able bodied children. A few parks have one or two items that are accessible, but not an entire playground. The dream is to eventually have one piece of accessible equipment on every elementary school playground also.

Coats: Many of the students at a local elementary school in a low income neighborhood would not go to school on cold days because they didn't own a coat and they knew they wouldn't get to go out for recess and lunch without a coat. The school would have upwards of 100 absences on cold days vs warmer ones. So we collected over 300 coats and delivered them to the school and let the kids pick out any coat they wanted. It was the best, the look on those kids faces when I told them they could keep the jacket, it was priceless!

I guess I just miss the feeling when I have a project do complete. And right now I don't have one.

I don't want to complain, but...

This morning I was at the doctor's office. It was an ob/gyn and it was very busy, of course! There was a woman there who was probably 7 or 8 months pregnant and she had her daughter with her, who appeared to be about 3 or 4 years old. This little girl was very intelligent and very well spoken. When there were no other children around, she enganged in very imaginative play. I was in the waiting room for about 40 minutes and I watched the mother completely ignore her daughter except to tell her to come eat some sandwich (this was 10am she called it her breakfast). This child was hovering near the door waiting to ambush a "new playmate" as soon as she came in the door. One child came in and played with her right away, another was intimidated by the little girl and ran to her mother. Then a woman brought a baby in a stroller (he was 6mos) and she ran over to him, kissed him and grabbed his hand. The mother of the baby had to ask her to stop. Meanwhile, the mother never looked up from her book! This child had full run of the small waiting room the entire time I was there. She had toys spread out throughout the room, throwing a ball up to the ceiling repeatedly, and talking very loudly.

Now, I don't dislike children, I do have two of my own. My children are not perfect, by any means, but, I do not let them be disruptive in a small area, bother others or basically ignore them in a public place.

This isn't an isolated incident. I have observed this attitude more and more often. Have parents gotten to the point that in order to not crush their child's ego, they won't discipline them at all? Or have we become so politically correct that we can't even correct our child's behavior?

I was disciplined excessively by a woman who was mentally ill. It is very hard to raise children when I didn't have a role model to mirror. At times I was afraid to discipline my children because I was afraid I would not be able to stop. As my children have gotten older, I have become more confident in my parenting skills. I am aware of the mistakes that were made with me and I can respond to my children without violence. Not without yelling, tho... I am human after all :)

But I digress... did I miss the memo that said that kids have full run of the world and we don't have to parent them anymore? If this is true, stop the planet because I want to get off!

An education about Celiac

My name is April and I have Celiac. (No there is no 12 step program for Celiac... Sometimes I wish there was!)

What is Celiac? It is an auto immune disease that 1 in every 133 people in the US have and most don't know it.

Basically, Celiac is an inability to tolerate gluten. What is gluten? Gluten is the main substance in almost every food on this planet. Gluten in found in wheat, barley and rye. If you start reading labels and do a little research, you will discover that it is harder to buy something without gluten than with it.

Some of the foods with gluten:
bread, cookies, cake, soy sauce, most commercially produced breakfast cereals, IHOP omelets (they put pancake batter in their omelets to make them fluffier), everything on the menu at Taco Bell (except Pintos and Cheese), pasta... Basically most of the food I have loved for the last 30 years.

What can you eat?
Vegetables, meat and fruit without restricted seasonings, flourless chocolate cake (it's awesome), rice pasta, corn pasta, rice, potatoes. And somedays it seems that is all I can eat!

What does it do?
Everyone is different. Some people get very sick, vomiting, diarrhea, etc. Some get a rash and others become very malnourished. I was lucky, if you can call it that. I became extremely anemic, but fortunately I was already being treated for anemia when my Celiac was discovered. Most people go from doctor to doctor for an average of 9 years before being diagnosed with Celiac.

Where can you learn more?
http://celiac.org/

Why Blog?

I have been reading my friend Cheryl's blog for quite a while now and when something happens that makes me really happy or really mad, I wish I had a blog! I love reading her take on life. I wasn't sure if I really wanted to write one for two reasons. One, will I really keep up with it? I don't know. Two, will anyone else read it? Probablly not, but I want to write one anyway :)

So, here it is...

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One of the things I wanted to blog;

Two weeks ago, I had a very strange experience. I was taking my son to drum lessons and I got it in my head that I "needed" to go to Hallmark. I told myself that I didn't need anything from Hallmark, but for some reason, I felt really strongly that I needed to go.

I dropped N off at drum lessons early, (something I have never done) and told him I was going to run to Hallmark and I would be back before his lesson was done. The whole time I am driving to the store, I am thinking to myself, "Why am I doing this? I don't need anything from Hallmark!". I pulled into a parking space right in front of the store and when I got out of the car, I looked over into the car next to me and I saw a little girl, probablly about 3 years old, sound asleep in the car! Now I live in the southwest and it was about 105 degrees at 6pm. I am looking around for an adult... someone... anyone and I see a woman in Hallmark looking at me, she is motioning to me as if to say, "it's ok". I walk into the store and walk up to her saying, "You cannot leave her out there!" The woman is about 25 years old and has an Indian accent. She tells me that the little girl was sleeping. I again told her she cannot leave a child in a car. I told her it was very hot outside and the child was sweating! She told me, no, she rolled the windown down and she was fine. I then raised my voice and told her, "You go outside, get into your car and leave, now... before I call the police!" She was stunned and quickly walked out and got into the car. The employees in the store had no idea what was going on. Then I walked around in the store, and I no longer had the feeling that I "needed" to go to Hallmark. I drove back to my son's lesson.

I was really blown away by the whole incident. I have been struggling with my faith recently and if this wasn't a "God Thing", I don't know what is.