A Mommy Project

Challenge Day: 17 Today I woke up to what I find to be one the scariest things, a Tornado Warning. Being at home alone with the kids and waking up to rumbling thunder, lighting, heavy rain, and no power is quite frightening. I'm not one to be afraid of storms, but tornados freak me out. When I opened my eyes my first thought was, "let me check the weather." I got on my iPhone and our WiFi wasn't kicking on, I thought that was strange and then realized we had no power. I proceeded to check the local weather on my phone and went on the meteorologist blog, it read URGENT! possible tornado spotted, pretty close to my house. We live a in residential area where there are a lot of houses, but small tornados have been known to hit. The warning was issued at 4:24am and when I saw the post it was 4:38am, a little late, and the kicker, the tornado sirens didn't even go off. I was able to get on the computer once the power came back and continued to track the storm. I

Challenge Day: 16 I wrote in an earlier post about my love for cooking and how I enjoyed everything that went into making food. I am so excited because this weekend my best friend, who I think is one the best cooks I have ever met, taught me how to make Sushi. Not only is exciting to learn new recipes, but both my husband I like Sushi. We all know Sushi can get pretty expensive if you eat out, so now I can make it at home. Here is a quick tutorial of what to do. Cook a cup of Sushi Rice, once it was ready add sushi rice vinegar. On a bamboo mat place seaweed, press a layer of rice on the seaweed, then on the end begin to add your filling layer by layer one on top of the other. Our veggie Sushi rolls had thinly sliced cucumber, avocado, carrot, and veggie meat. Next, roll bamboo over to create a roll and firmly press. Continue rolling and firmly pressing, once your roll is ready, slice and serve with soy sauce, we used a low sodium soy sauce. As Rachel Ray would say Yummo!

Challenge Day: 15 This afternoon I arrived in Nashville, TN to visit my best friend. I hadn't seen her since August, so we had a lot to catch up on. She told me an amazing true story about Christmas. I asked her if I could write about it on my blog, I thought it was such a wonderful and inspiring story that wanted others to hear it too. This past Christmas a family decided to do something different, instead of buying themselves unnecessary gifts they decided to adopt a family in need from their church. Along with her husband's extended family they bought hundreds of dollars in gifts and gift cards for the family in need. This was an anonymous gesture as they didn't want praise or recognition, they just wanted the family to know that they were loved, cared for and thought of. They have no idea who the kind strangers were that did this, but I'm sure the family felt extremely thankful and blessed that Christmas day, I think both families were blessed that day. Helping

Challenge Day: 14 Every year Forbes magazine puts out their issue of the wealthiest people. A value is placed on these people based on their net worth and then they are ranked. Why does money have to be the factor in how people are perceived, respected and upheld in society? So I did some investigating, if a stay at home mom got paid for the work she did, how much would she earn? In a report by ABC back in 2007, Salary.com revealed that the annual income of a stay-at-home-mom, for they work they did, out in the business world would be... $138,646, that sounds about right. Obviously we are never going to get paid that kind of money for the work we do, but it feels good to know that we are worth six figures. There is greater value in being a stay at home mom though, we are the CEO's of our families. By making the choice to stay home it benefits our families in so many ways. Our children get the best care they could have, our husbands get the first hand attention they need, and

Challenge Day: 13 Have you ever felt like everything is fine one minute and the next, stress is weighing you down? That's how I feel tonight after a conversation I had. I feel like just crawling into a ball and going to sleep for days. I think about one of my favorite poems, Don't Quit, in times like these because you feel like giving up, not on life but the situations that come your way. You know that feeling of, "When are things going to turn around for me?" There is a phrase in the poem that reads... When cares are pressing you down a bit, rest if you must, but don't you quit. I have some friends that when I tell them I'm stress they automatically assume it's because I've been home all day everyday with my kids. To be quite honest, my kids aren't my stress, in fact they are great. It's the other facts of life, like money and so on, that lead to feeling helpless and feeling stuck. I get stressed when others take their stress out on me.

Challenge Day: 12 Today I went on my very first ski trip, well it was actually my son's school ski trip, but I went along as a chaperon. We went to Paoli Peaks, IN, the closest ski "resort" to our home in Louisville. At first I was a bit nervous because my 6 year old son was going out to the slopes to take lessons and then he would be set free to ski all on his own. I was able to attend the class with him and watch. I actually called my husband, at one point, to tell him that I thought our son was a bit uncoordinated and I didn't think he was going to get it. My husband just said, encourage him! So after, what seem to be an eternity, he was finally done with his class and was progressing more and more. Just as I was beginning to be comfortable with the fact that my son was skiing, the instructor said they had to learn how to go on the ski lift. What? My baby is going to go on that unsafe contraption all by himself? What if he falls off? What then? The instru

Challenge Day: 11 My husband came up for Presidents day weekend and today I had to drive him to Lexington to fly back to Florida. As I left the airport to head home it began to get dark and rainy. It rained and rained all the way home, but it wasn't just rain, it was windy and the highway was pack with cars and trucks driving far beyond the speed limit in rain. I have never been so scared to drive before, it was the longest most terrible drive home I have ever experienced . I had to asked God to send his angles to protect us on this dark rainy journey home. The drive normally takes 1hr. and 10 minutes, but it took me almost 2 hours to get home. I finally arrived safely, I thanked God for keeping safe on the road and thought about our pastor sermon this past weekend. At one point he talked about how we take our lives for granted. We go day by day without the knowledge that life is a gift from God. He asked us to consider the fact of driving and how anything can happen to us

Challenge Day: 10 Feeling loved and acceptance, that is the latest chapter from The Power of the Praying Parent . This chapter hit home with me because for a major part of my life I longed to feel loved and accepted. It is human nature to feel the need to be significant and wanted by those around us. We want to be the prettiest, smartest, most talented, and so on. Many years of feeling like an outcast negatively affected me and lowered my self esteem. As I got older I realized that I needed to stop trying to be excepted and liked by everyone. So, instead I put up a wall so that no one could hurt me, and I became a not so nice person. It wasn't until the day I had children that I felt important, I now had these little beings that relied on me for everything and I was their hero. My boys changed my outlook on life and myself. It's important that we show our children that they are loved and accepted just as they are. No, not everyone they come across will accept them o

Challenge Day: 9 I didn't do much today, my oldest has been sick and stayed home today from school so I could start nursing his cold. The one other thing I did was think a lot about owning my own bakery. I have been thinking about this for a few months now. I worked yesterday again at my at my friend's office and while I sat at the desk, I thought about how impressive it was that she has her own business. The idea of a bakery came to me when my friend suggested that I open up a cafe because I'm a good cook. I thought a cafe would be a lot of pressure and time consuming. I want to have my own business but I don't want to neglect my family in the process. I love to bake and the idea of having a bakery seemed exciting. I love going to a small bakery on Sunday morning and getting some pasties for breakfast. There is something special about baking and creating beautiful and tasty sweets that brighten peoples day. Cooking and baking are things that I am passionate ab

Challenge Day: 8 How do you feel when you wake up every morning? I think it's essential to feel good about yourself, especially when you are a stay at home mom. If you are anything like me, you may spend the day in your pj's or some comfortable unflattering house clothes that you wouldn't mind getting dirty. My guess is that most of you aren't like the Desperate Housewives who always look stylish and polished. I do take some time to make myself look nice by doing my hair, giving myself a manicure, etc. I was thinking today about the fitness challenge I began last year. I haven't written anything about it in a while. It's amazing how things can change from one year to another. Yesterday was Valentine's Day, this time last year I weighed 172 pounds. I distinctly remember because my husband and I were going to a banquet at the Chattanooga Aquarium. I got the brilliant idea to wear a dress, that I fit into very nicely at 150 pounds, so needless to say it r

Challenge Day: 7 Today was the first time I worked outside the home since I before I had my first son. A friend needed some help at her business doing front desk duties and I was happy to take on the task. Even though I was happy to be working and making some money, I spent the night worried and stressed about leaving my 3 year old somewhere else for part of the day. I was still nervous in the morning, but I got up, made breakfast, packed lunches, and dropped my kids off at school and my friend's house. What made me feel better was how encouraging my boys were, they told me they were so happy that I was going to work and wished me well. As I sat in the office, I thought about what it would be like to go back to work full time. It would have to be something that I was really passionate about and have someone who I trusted to watch my youngest. Though I missed my son, I felt good today because I was able to get dressed, put on make up, and work outside the home for a few hours

Challenge Day: 6 Have you ever sat back and thought about the many roles we have as moms? This Winter I have been called to be a Nurse much more often than ever before. The only time they weren't sick was during the three weeks of our Christmas vacation that we spent in Orlando, Florida. Since we got back they have been sick what seems to be the entire month of January and now into February. I managed to keep both my boys in good health in the past years, so much so that our Pediatrician was amazed that she only saw the boys for their annual checkups. This year however, has been a different story, my oldest began school and as you know they catch anything and everything at school. Then my oldest passes it onto my younger one. It's time to fight against that cold that will not go away. As a child and even now as an adult, I remember the special care that my mom gave my brother's and I when we were sick. There is nothing like the personal care that a mom gives. She was

Challenge Day: 5 The book that I am reading, The Power of the Praying Parent , has really opened my eyes to a lot of things. One of them being the importance of living the example for our children. It's common sense that we should live by example, but we don't do it. We want our kids to grow to be outstanding citizens yet they see their parents behaving in a manner that is contrary to that.It doesn't matter how much we tell our children how to be, ultimately they emulate what they see. Kids are like sponges they absorb everything they are surrounded by. I am raising my boys to have good morals and characters, to be kind and loving, but if they don't see those qualities being practiced by their mom they won't pick it up. My husband uses the expression, "we are the sums of our experiences."Let's stop and think what are the experiences that our kids are taking in. Lets break the cycle from repeating itself. Just because we were raised a certain way

Challenge Day: 4 A group of stay at home mom from our church just recently began getting together for a small group bible study. We are reading The Power of the Praying Parent, by Stormie Omartian. Our praying moms group gets together every Thursday morning to fellowship, discuss the book, and the power of prayer. Through this book we are learning to understanding the true meaning of prayer. We have experienced first hand the power of prayer. In my case it hasn't been the immediate answer to having a big problem, but instead the little things like peace and patience. The book is teaching us to pray for every aspect of our children's lives no matter what age. I have learned not only to pray for my children but also to pray for myself to be a good mom, the mom that God wants me to be. One example of the power of prayer that I have seen is that of my change in attitude. I decided every morning to entrust my daily attitude to God. I didn't want to yell or lash out at m

Challenge Day: 3 I feel at times that my work as a mom goes very much unnoticed. My friend sent me an email just at the right time. It was an email about a mom who was telling her story about how she felt invisible. She was there for everything her kids needed and no one said thank you or acknowledge what she did everyday. One day she met up with a friend who had been on a fancy European trip. She felt a little out of place because she was just a stay at home mom and her friend was a well traveled person. The friend gave her a gift that she had brought back from her travels, it was a book about European Cathedrals. Her first thought was, "why would she give me this?", that was until she opened it and read the inscription. It read, "With admiration for the greatness of what you are building when no one sees." I was having one of those invisible days today, the ones where certain events and comments make you feel like no one sees or understands all the hard

Challenge Day: 2 Every Tuesday night the guys from our church get together for basketball. In November I had an epiphany, the guys go out to play, why can't I do something with my friends. I called my friend up to see what she did on Tuesday nights while our husbands were playing basketball, she said nothing. I suggested that we should get together and scrapbook, it's a hobby we both share. So, we did and ever since then we have been getting together to scrapbook and talk. We were later joined by another fellow wife who loses her husband to basketball too. Tuesday scrapbook night has become my mommy's night out, I get to hang out with my girl friends and have adult conversations. The kids all play together and pretty much stay out of our way. Now that we get together, I've realized just how much moms need some time to do something we like and spend time with friends.