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Tuesday, January 31, 2012

A day at the Sea.











Well we are back after visiting some creatures at Sea Life in Mall of America.  It sure does pay to be an educator (literally!) because I got a free year membership just by showing my school badge!  Now we can go for free whenever we want--score!  And I don't care how old you are, walking through a tunnel with creatures from the deep sea floating all around you is always cool!
Hope everyone is having a nice Tuesday!

Blog Party! and my new friend :)

I follow this amazing blog Casey Leigh and she and her friends hosted a blog party for hundreds of bloggers! Woo hoo!  The deal was that we'd be paired up with a random blogger and then get to know that person enough to send them a fun present--just to make their day!  I love it---reminds me of having a pen pal in school.

So, over the past couple of weeks I have been getting to know a wonderful woman named Hannah, from North Carolina.  She is so cool, let me tell you!  She is also a mom--of a very sweet little 6 month old named, Lucy. How cute is that name!  She loves to cook, speaks Spanish, loves Jesus, plays violin, enjoys photography and so many other fun things!  She definitely has an earthy flare and I love that!  She also has a fun blog that she posts pictures on and tells of her fun adventures with her sweet family.  You should look at it HERE!

It was so fun to share some of our hopes and dreams and goals for this year--she has some great ones, that is for sure--definitely a neat person!  We have a lot in common too, which is all the more fun.  Overall, this whole experience has been really cool and inspiring!

So, I sent her a fun package of things I thought would be fitting to her and I got one in return.  Wanna know what I got?  Of course you do! :)  Here are some pictures:

Look at all those goodies!  Books, HOMEMADE biscotti, vintage textiles and thrift store scores!  Love it all!

Look at all those books! :) I have to say I am pretty excited to browse through my "fun with mommy and me" book to see all of the fun things I can do with Everett!

Friends, that biscotti is DELICIOUS! You should be jealous!  And look at those fun textiles!
 






I am so happy to have gotten to know a new friend and look forward to chit chatting with her more and seeing where life takes her on her blog! 


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Sunday, January 29, 2012

The power of positive thinking--and speaking!

So, there is this dude from Japan named Dr. Masaru Emoto and he is somewhat of a water guru.  He has become famous for his experiments with water crystals which demonstrate how thoughts, words and pictures can alter the physical state of the molecular structure of water. He illustrates how positive thinking and words towards ourselves and others create a physical difference in the water molecules within our bodies---mind you that we are over 60% water.  He has tested water crystals that have been exposed to positive words vs. negative words, beautiful music vs. distasteful music, city water vs. spring water, and a variety of pictures to which the water crystals appear to imitate.   It all seems quite fascinating.

To see some of these experiments with water crystals and read it in a way that is easy to understand---here is a link to a children's book that explains his work complete with pictures!  Go HERE!

Now, being a school counselor of course I eat this stuff up because one of my main goals is to teach kids about the power of their works and thinking.

However, I am also a bit of a sceptic.

So I did what any inquiring mind would do and I performed my own experiment.  You see, Dr. Emoto has also tested his theory with rice because it holds so much water. He conducts his experiment by cooking rice and then putting it in two sterile containers.  One one he writes a negative phrase or word, on the other a positive phrase or word.  Over the course of a couple months the water molecules in the rice will be "reading" these words and their molecular structure will be reacting in a way that is beautiful vs. not beautiful with the end result being one jar of rotted rice and one jar not.  I have also seen this done where you can talk to the rice.  Yes, I did just say that.  Talk to the rice---tell the positive jar positive things and the negative jar, negative things.  Do this for 30---60---90 days and see the transformation.

Now, I watched a lot of videos on YouTube to watch others' experiments and like I said before, I was skeptical so I thought I'd give it a go myself.  I started the experiment about two months ago and I have to say, I am pretty blown away.  I definitely should have taken before pictures and some every ten days or so, but I didn't, so the pictures you will see are about 60 days out.

 So, after whispering sweet nothings to one jar daily, and verbally abusing the other---this is what I got.



The "You Fool!" jar after 60 days:





The "I Love You!" jar after 60 days:



Can you see the difference?!  Pretty crazy.

Now, I know being in an unsterile environment, there is always the chance that some bacteria got in one and not the other, but I tried really hard to make it as sterile and consistent as I could by boiling the jars, scooping the cooked rice in the jars without touching it and having them switch locations every ten days (I had them on my dresser about a foot apart from each other, so take into account light, heat, etc, I rotated them every ten days---and yes, I still talked to them :) )

I am definitely going to keep this going and see what happens in the next 60 days.  I'm still not 100% sold on the whole theory, but I'll give Dr. Emoto the benefit of the doubt, because I want it to be true.  If for nothing else, it is a fun visual to show my students when I come in to talk about positive self-talk, being kind to others, etc.

So there it is my friends, use kind words toward yourself and others---or you may end up with sad and yucky water molecules, and we don't want that!

Saturday, January 28, 2012

Funny Stuff--Interview with a 1-year old. Must watch!

Ok, I saw this video on my new friend's blog (more on her later this week!) and now Curt and I are obsessed with this guy's YouTube channel.  I promise you will be laughing if you watch this!  Enjoy!


Thursday, January 26, 2012

Ask Mom: Stretch Marks

Ok, ok, so this, I feel is one of those topics that no one talks about too much, but well it's my blog and I'm going to, dag-nabbit!  Since having Everett--my first and only child right now--my body has been painted with stretch marks--gross.  Sorry if TMI. I feel like I am supposed to look at them as sweet little reminders of my babes birth and count them all as little marks of his blessing us here on earth.  Well, I get that, and if you have that mindset more power to you, but really---I am not to that point yet.   I understood when pregnant and still understand that my body will never be the same and I am still getting used to that and would totally do it ten---ok maybe nine (baby boy hurt like a muthah!) times over again for Everett.  But really, God---why did you have to involve stretch marks in this process!  I didn't do a whole lot to fight them during my pregnancy because I did not really start to get them bad until the last month.  And since then I just have experimented with a few potions here and there.   Even though this kind of sounds like a rant, I really don't dwell on it too much because I know more likely than not, it will not change.  It's just a change in appearance that every so often I catch a glimpse of and still have a hard time seeing them as something beautiful.  You feel me?  Am I awful to think this?  I wanna know the honest truth, moms:


How do YOU feel about your stretch marks and do you know of any secret potion that can cure us all?  :)

Sunday, January 22, 2012

DIY Silhouette picture

There are a number of ways to do this and this is just what worked for me and what I had on hand!

What you need:

Camera
Computer
Printer
Cardstock paper
Black Paint
Foam brush/paint brush
Spray adhesive
Scissors
Background paper (mine was the red)
Frame

1.  Depending on who you are doing a silhouette picture of, it may or may not be easy to get a side profile picture. My 'subject', well, he's just always moving so I took about 12 pictures and narrowed it down to the best one!


2. Next, choose your best picture and then upload it to your computer.  

3. I opened up a blank word document and inserted my chosen picture onto the blank page.

4. Enlarge and crop the picture to the size you would like.  I wanted it to be pretty big, so I enlarged the picture so only his head and shoulders covered as much as the 8.5 X 11 page as possible.

5. Insert your cardstock paper into the printer.

6. Print!

7. After that bad boy comes out and takes a couple minutes to dry, get your best scissors--the thinner, the better.  Cut away, paying attention to every detail, crevasse, hair and bump. 

8.Lay the picture out on newspaper or paper towels and paint whichever side you wish black---or really any color you'd like and let it dry.

9. Decide what size frame you are going to put it in--this will help you decide what size background paper and if you need to cut it.  I had a 12 X 12 frame on hand, so it was pretty easy for me to go to the craft store and get a 12 X 12 sheet of scrap-booking paper.

10.Spray the adhesive to the back of the silhouette picture and then press it centered, firmly on your background paper.  I put a book on mine for about 15 minutes.  Once adhered and dry, pop it in the frame and enjoy!


Thursday, January 19, 2012

Ask Mom: Entertaining the littles.

I have been trying to make the most of my Tuesdays off with Everett as well as weekends, but have found it more and more difficult as money runs dry and the weather gets frigid here in MN. I'm a bit of a homebody anyways, so I don't mind just hanging out at home most days playing and reading books---but I really want to be purposeful in making my time with Everett fun and entertaining, and heck even educational!  He is becoming so much more aware of his surroundings and really taking things in around him. I'm running out of ideas and I just don't want to break our bank going out all of the time to places like underwater world and chuck e. cheese, etc. So my question is:

Whether you live in MN or not, what do you do to entertain your little one/s (or what would you recommend doing with a one year old) that is cheap/free, but also fun!

Tuesday, January 17, 2012

Thursday, January 12, 2012

"Ask Mom" Question: Toddlers and eating.

If facing the fact that my sweet baby is now a toddler was not hard enough, now I am faced with the challenge of getting him to eat. Like real food.  Besides milk, yogurt and applesauce.  The kid is solid, so I know he is not starving, but he's gotta be lacking major vitamins and nutrients, and some days we can hardly get him to eat anything!  He flings it, spits it and feeds it all to the dog.  We have him on a vitamin supplement, but my question is:

How do you get a stubborn and picky toddler to eat?


Wednesday, January 11, 2012

Ask Mom!

Anyone notice my new icon on the sidebar?  It's a little sneaky, so scroll down a bit and check it out.  It looks like this:


I'm gonna go out on a limb and start something new. 

"Ask Mom" is going to be a place where I weekly post a question related to babies, kids, motherhood, family, health, etc.  While I may act like a know-it-all around my house, Lawd knows I ain't!  I'm just all 'googled' out and I need good advice from those in it, or the "been there, done that" mamas--and I think we all could benefit from such advice.  It's like when you're little (or not so little) and you have that funny mark on your arm, or a weird feeling in your belly and you are not sure what it is, well, I'd say 99% of us ask our mom's or get told to ask mom.  Am I right?  Now, I'm not discrediting any well-experienced and wise dad's out there, but I find as a newish mother, sharing advice with other women is comforting because of the female perspective--we're knit from the same thread, or however that saying goes.  But dads, if there are any that read Mommy Monologue :) --don't hesitate to chime in if you go two cents to share!

So, here's the deal.  Tomorrow I will post a question and those who feel led can leave their advice and tips in the comments section.  By clicking on the icon on the sidebar, you will be directed to an archive of the question posts with the comments.

Lastly, if anyone has a question that they'd like to seek advice on for next week's "Ask Mom" post, email me!

Lets help each other out and share what we can!

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