The Girly Girl In Me

It's been awhile, but y'all know how life gets. Let's play a lil catch up.

Recently I've figured out that as I have gotten older, the more "girlish" I have become. My tomboy tendencies aren't as prevalent anymore and I find that I'm okay with it for the most part. However, I have never been a fearful person (aside from dogs, but that was irrational and I am NOT ashamed). I didn't care for bugs and the whatnots, but there was no immediate issue of needing to get away unless it was a dog.

Things have changed especially over the past couple months. And last week, I actually did the whole girly girl "eewww" thing in my car after seeing a rodent of some sort crawl into our garage. You know what I'm talking about right? The fan the air irrational shaking of the head and actually saying "eeww, eeww, eewwww!" Yeah, THAT I am ashamed of; I began my exercise regime that day because I have got to do better. That day, I also realized that I hadn't been down in my basement since the whole bird in the basement incident. Ain't that sad?

Over the weekend, I did get down there, but still ... I have reservations. I'm on guard at every sound and I won't go down unawares anymore (i.e. listening to my audio books). I also will only go down when my comedic knight in shining armor is home. The basement is not sound proof so he'd at least be able to hear my distress and figure something out with me.

See ... even that. I've always been the "I am woman, hear my roar" & "I don't need a man to do anything for me" type. Yeah, I said it. You can hate me for it, but you don't know my life or the men that were present/absent so don't judge me. Either way, I now actually appreciate my husband and some other men for being there and being men. I now have the option (and actually sometime choose that option) to just let my man handle the "manly" things. Heck, I even ask him to open bottles & jars after my initial try doesn't work.

So maybe I am not a girly girl, but instead a grown woman who has finally come to grips with not having to take care of everything and actually being able trust in the man beside me. So I should rephrase the sentence up top to something like:

As I have gotten older, wiser, and stronger in my life, I have come to trust my husband more and more with my life. I have come to learn more about myself leading to actually accepting my fears and knowing that I have someone who's willing to set aside his fears all because I am his.

Hhhmmm ... this post just got real. The Lord ever teach you something through yourself and it take you a minute to see it? Well, that just happened to me. As I was rereading this to type my conclusion, I came across that awesome testimony. I've struggled with being a woman all of my life simply because I REFUSE to have a man "rule" over me and dog me out the way I've seen many of them do the women in my life. I've observed (and apparently internalized) the abuse, neglect, lies, and cheating that surrounded me and I had decided that that wouldn't be me. Nope. I wasn't her and I ain't gone be her. Not only that, I took it upon myself to put those jokers in their place when they were around me cause I wasn't having it! I embraced that to the point that I never really accepted the men who were loving, kind, and uplifting to women.

Now, don't get me wrong. I realized a LONG time ago what kind of man I wanted and I knew when the Lord provided. I also tried my best to love him back and not to give him slack because of the wrongs of other men. However, I'm not sure how great of a job I did with not giving him the bill for other men's wrongs.

So while he's been the Great Husband Ever, I haven't exactly been the Greatest Wife Ever. I need to do better. So here's to a refocusing mission. Time to up my wife game. And I think I know just the way to start this off.

I really don't think y'all got that like I did, but it's cool. I can praise Him for myself. I'm accepting this lesson and expectant of the blessings. Amen! Amen! Amen!

Are dinosaurs really strong?

Greetings peoples!

As I drove in today, I had the pleasure of driving my son to preschool today.  It's always an adventure when I get to take the boy with me, where ever I go.  Now I try to be the good, responsible father to him, but I also try to be the fun dad too.  And yes, I am still weird {and corny} so that makes for a very interesting conversation.  I've also learned that all little kids, especially mine is a little sponge that absorbs EVERYTHING that goes on and is said.

The funniest thing is that he doesn't need anyone to "co-sign" on his humor.  He cracks his own self up, and that, in turn, cracks us up.  This kid will come into the family room where me and Lady Wife are sitting, and say, "Mommy, Daddy, look!" and then proceed to jump "reeeaaaalllyyy high" and then fall on his bottom and start laughing sooooooo hard.  You can't help but to laugh at his silly-behind.

Today he asked me a very thought-provoking question: "Daddy, are dinosaurs really strong?"  Now he's also into the "why" stage of his life and if not careful, he can go on and on and on...  {It's gotten to the point where sometimes I tell him he has a 5 "why" maximum at a time.}  But back to the question.  So here's a snapshot of our conversation as we drove in:

The Boy: Daddy, are dinosaurs really strong?
Me: Yes, they are.
The Boy: Are you strong?
Me: I would like to think so.
The Boy: Is mommy strong?
Me: Yes, she is.
The Boy: Why are you strong?
Me: Well, there's all kinds of "strong"...
The Boy: Like sometimes, I have a lot in my backpack, and I carry it all by myself, that makes me strong, right?
Me: Yes. Yes it does.
The Boy: Daddy?
Me: Yes Jairus.
The Boy: Where do dinosaurs sit?
Me: Any where they want to... Why?
The Boy: Why are they strong?
Me: Because they have this thing called leverage
The Boy: Why do they have "leverage"?
Me: Well, they have it because they can use their weight and height to pick up and move anything they want.
The Boy: Well, then, they can help me clean up my toys tonight...
Me: -_-

The boy just laughs...

Like I said, this is a snapshot of our conversation, but whenever I talk to him, he always finds a way to part "his knowledge" on me...  One of these days I'm going to record our drive in...

Beak To The Cheek

Heeeyyyy y'all! I know it's been a minute from me and I was supposed to have done something as a countdown each day up to my birthday. Well, my birthday has come & gone. I've been extra busy preparing for my summer work season and haven't had the time to do what I need to do here. We still good right?

Hopefully so because I have a story for you!! Best story I've had in a long time. Y'all ready? Here we go.

I'd gotten home, put the lil man down for his nap, and eaten my lunch. It was time to get down to the business of preparing dinner and completing my current kitchen project [post to come]. I get out my Playaway, place my ear buds in my ear and get to getting. Well, I know there's no meat in the fridge so I needed to run downstairs real quick to get some out of the freezer. So off to the basement, I go. Flip the light switch, close the door, and proceed down the stairs. I got to the bottom of the stairs and heard fluttering and saw something fly past me. BOOM! I snatch my ear buds out and listen. Flutter! Flutter! Flutter! Quiet. What the??!! Flutter! Flutter! Quiet. Aaww man! Something is down here with me. The only weapon near me are lil man's plastic golf clubs and balls. I think maybe if I throw them to the other side, the thing will go towards the sound so I can get up the stairs and out the door. I throw 2 of them and nothing happens. I take the other and peek around the corner. I see this up on the light closest to the door out:

Bird in Basement Cousin

May not look menacing to you out in its element, but in my not so bright & open basement, it looked as though it would attack. I flipped the lights on & off and ran back over by the freezer. It didn't move. No flutter at all. I peered around the corner again and the thing fluttered, looked around, and stayed perched there on the light. Keep in mind this is a light on the wall, not the ceiling and it's right at the door leading out of the basement. I quickly proceeded into the storage area of my basement - it has a door - to think.

Cheap White Curtain Rods

My first thought was "I have so lost my I am woman, hear me roar" card being afraid of a doggone bird. Also, I had no phone or any kind of communication option down in that basement. I decided that noise was my only option because I couldn't let this thing get into the rest of my house. My baby was sleeping upstairs. So I armed myself with one of those cheap white curtain rods and thought some more. Flutter! Flutter! Flutter! Quiet.

I came up with a plan to make a bit of noise in the storage, get the bird down the doggone stairs, and run like **** out of there. I banged the storage room door a few times to lure him. I heard the fluttering and then bang into the vent above the door leading into the storage room. More fluttering and quiet. I gather my nerves and remember that I have got to get out of this doggone basement to my baby without being attacked my this menacing bird that somehow got into my basement. I peeked out of the storage room, see the bird perched on lil man's basketball hoop and immediately run like **** up the stairs and out of the basement closing the door as I hit the landing. Flutter! Flutter! Swoosh! Boom! Flutter! Flutter! Flutter! Quiet.

Heart pounding, feeling like it's gonna jump out of my chest, I head straight for the phone. Picking up my phone with hands shaking, I call my protector. He answers. I respond with, "We have a bird in our basement and we're not having meat for dinner." After explaining that I'll tell him the whole story later, but I'm okay, he laughs. If you know my husband, you know it was to be expected. Laughter is his cure-all. He promises to get it out with my help later and we hang up. I'm still shaking and can't concentrate on my kitchen project. I go print my birthday coupons so I can begin to organize my freebies.

So fast forward ahead. I finally stop shaking, finish up my prints, and wake lil man from his nap. We head down for snack and a lil TV time. While watching Cyberchase ... Boom! Flutter! Flutter! Boom! Flutter! Quiet. That doggone bird had heard the TV & prolly followed the lights to our living room vents. Oooohhh NO! Not while my baby is up here. I cover up all vents with dark heavy items and settle back down. No noise is heard anymore.

Through Hangouts, we devise a plan to get this bird out once Husband has arrived home from work. I researched a few sites about removing birds, but I wasn't feeling the whole towel & box options I found. Didn't want to have to control that fluttering bird. It seemed frustrated and I totally understood. I'd be frustrated stuck in a basement too. Anyway ... on to our plans.

We planned to lead the bird out with old sheets. So when he got in, we put up a sheet right by the door of the basement to prevent the bird from going towards the rest of the house. Then he covered the mud closet on the other side to prevent the bird from finding a nook to perch there. Husband had the garage door up and opened the door out to the garage. We were ready. The bird should fly out of the basement out into the garage and out into the world ... out of my basement.

1st try: Husband opens the basement door, turns on light, and hides behind door. No sound is heard. I make noise from my perch behind the sheet (on the side of the rest of the house). Nothing. He closes the door and we make more noise to see if we hear anything. Nothing. Okay, so we decide to try again. This time, husband peeks to see if he can see anything first. He saw it & completely understood my earlier issue. HEH HEH HEH! (My turn to laugh behind the safety of that sheet.)

2nd try: Husband prepares himself and opens the basement door again, turns on light, and hides behind door. Nothing happens again. We make noise back & forth to lure the bird. Nothing happens. He decides to head into the garage (for his safety goggles). He's looking for them. I'm waiting. Flutter! Flutter! I yell, "The bird is coming. This bird is coming." He apparently hits the garage floor like shots were being fired. Saw the black flash of bird go by, perch into a corner of the garage, look around, and then fly away. It's out.

Total relief! Laughter ensued for a LONG time!

We took the sheets down and went on about our day. We haven't checked the basement for where that bird got in just yet, but that's on deck for later today. I'm not ready to go down just yet, but it'll be fine. My comedic protector of a husband will be right by my side when it's time. {Ssshhh- he may not know that just yet. Heh heh heh!}

Oh yeah, we discussed the whole incident later and found out an interesting fact about myself. I can take a burn to the face, but not a beak to the cheek. LMBO!

And that folks is my story of yesterday's healthy dose of laughter.

Laugh on folks & close up any openings into your house.

Flutter! Flutter! Boom!

I don't condone it... But I am a mean sarcastic son of a ...

What up my friends?

Today, I had an opportunity to sit back and chill while Lady Wife drove.  It doesn't happen too often, but every now and again, she drives and I get a chance to sit back. Sleep, play on my phone, text, look at twitter, etc... Well while I was looking on twitter, I saw a tweet about something Ray Rice's lawyer said.  In case you don't know, Ray Rice was indicted for assault against his, then, fianceé.  Now this is no real surprise.  Not so much because he is a professional athlete or anything, but really, I see stories of domestic violence EVERY day via twitter, the news (and of course) TMZ.  What does surprise me is that Rice's Lawyer could go as far as to make a statement, or excuse as to what happened that night.

Before I continue with this post, allow me to fully disclose how I feel.  I do NOT condone the hitting of anyone, unless in the case of self defense - Especially one that you share a domestic relationship with.  That's childish, cowardly, and downright disrespectful, and I will not stand or allow it, ESPECIALLY if I'm near enough to stop or do something about the situation.

With that being said though, I had to stop and think, what possibly the lawyer could have been thinking to justify or rationalize the situation.  He made the comment that he could hypothesize what possibly took place the night of the incident.  But being the person that I am, I can only imagine (and trust me I did) what reasons the lawyer may have come up with to justify Ray Rice's knock out blow on his fianceé.  Here are just a few reasons that I could think of that he could have come up with for his defense:

10) She kept tickling him.
9) She didn't tell him that his zipper was down.
8) She kept hogging the mirror in the elevator.
7) She didn't think he could swing with his left hand.
6) He really meant to just give her a "love tap".
5) He wanted to make a quick get-away, and she was slowing him up.
4) She didn't straighten his tie "right".
3) She rubbed her feet on the carpet and gave him a static shock.
2) She's a Denver Bronco's fan.

And the top reason that he knocked her out in the hotel elevator:

1) She pressed all the buttons on the elevator, just to be funny.

Now once again, I do not condone domestic violence at all.  I just find humor in all things, and good, bad, or ugly, I believe that all things happen for a reason, and we all should learn from these experiences.  But in the mean time, I can always laugh at what has been thrown at me...

Even a broken watch is right twice a day...

Good day everyone!

Have you ever heard those expressions that make no sense, but make sense? I've always been around older people that used to voluntarily give out little pearls of wisdom like the title.  They would crack me up, but now that I'm older, I find myself actually "getting" their meaning.  Not just understanding or comprehending what they are saying, but really "getting it".  It doesn't help that I married a woman that, while she is 7 years younger than me, she has an "old soul" and a 3 year old little boy, that acts like a little old man most days. {This interaction between the 3 of us makes for a very interesting day by the way.}

But back to the post at hand.  Statements like, "even the sun shines on a dogs ass every now and again" or "a watched pot never boils" always throw me for a loop.  Yeah, I get them "literally" but their figuratively meanings - have me all types of confused. When I look back at what people are trying to say when using these phrases, I used to ask myself, "why not just say what you mean, without having to go all 'Confucius' on me?" But I realize that the point is not to simply state what you want, but make the other person think about why they should take that statement into account.

Dealing with the boy, I've learned that saying something, once, twice, five times, does not always yield the expected result.  But when he comes up with the answer himself, he is more likely to find a way to make what he is doing. On top of that, I find myself doing what I swore I would never do, saying them myself...

I'm always dishing out little nuggents of wisdom to those around me, i.e. the boy.  Even my wife looks at me sideways when I say things to him.  The other day I told him that he has an "inner ear listening deficiency" issue.  But I am not alone in this "journey" to random literary expressionism.  Lady Wife told my son, during one of his fits as we were leaving the house, that he better stop crying before his tears freeze on his face.  But in her defense it was hella cold this past winter.

I've even come to the point where I realize the necessarity of these statements.  While I would never want to be convicted of saying stuff "out the side of my neck" It's quite fun to get your point across.  Especially that little pause I get from my son when I do say things to him.  He stops and can't quite figure out if he should laugh or he's in trouble.  Most of the time when I say these things, he's not.  But every now and again, I have to admit, I still confuse myself...

Scarface

It's 6:30am and I'm getting ready for school. I wrapped my hair the night before, but my lil side curl needed a bit of a touch up. That meant breaking out the curling iron. So I heated it while I dressed knowing it would be the last thing I did before headed downstairs. It's quiet in my household as I ready myself. I begin to curl my hair, taken care because of the heat. Then a loud yell comes and startles me so much that I jerk the curling iron. It hits my face before I catch it and place it on the counter. I immediately grab a face rag, wet it with cold water and apply it to my face as I head down to catch my ride to school. I grab a couple ice cubes from the freezer and wrap the rag around them to go back on my face as I head out the door on my way out to the car. I enter the car and my mom immediately asks me about the rag. I explain and show her the burn. She cringed, but I tell her I'm okay. I walk around all day at school with this rag on my face replenishing my ice as needed. {Meanwhile (I found out later), my mom was at work fearful that she'd get a call from CPS or a visit from a colleague (she worked at the police station). It was funny when she told me later that day.}

After school, I headed over to Ebe's and discovered I had a 3rd degree burn. She doctored on it and handed me a piece of her aloe vera plant. I had to keep rubbing that plant on my face throughout the day after I cleaned the wound several times each day. As the weeks went by, a scar appeared. I received the nickname "Scarface" until the scar faded away over the next few months. I still have that scar today.

Yesterday, I received a few more. Same side of the face. Smaller than the previous, but still. This time I responded quicker and with more knowledge than the last so I'm not walking around with a rag on my face. However, I'm beginning to think that my face likes the burns. Oh well ... I still live to see another day.

Burn baby burn ... #11days

Hair Journey

Good Morning!

So I've been growing my hair for about 5 months now. See, it was cut real low & I loved it. I decided to grow it out this year to check out the natural scene. Well, my natural hair is NOT for the light of heart especially if you want to be stylish on a time budget. So I've been itching to chop it off again. However, I'm trying to keep up the growth so it's that time to do something to keep my head from looking all kinds of messy.

Because we're approaching upon Summer, I should be fine until the Fall, but I'm a planner. During the Summer I can easily do the whole wash & go thing which looks fairly nice when I get my curls activated {heh heh heh ...}. However, that gets old real quick for me so I'm already looking for that next thing to do.

Here's my current "style" I'm trying to perfect for the Spring. Kind of a wash & go twist.

And here are my current hairstyle choices that I'm debating for the Fall. I might even get them earlier if I make my decision sooner than later.

Texturize vs Twists

GHE has asked that I texturize it cause he'd like to see my curls loose. Well, I bought the kit before I did my research and found that may not be what we really want. It's a mild perm and I don't really want to perm my hair at the moment. Plus, my research says I shouldn't do it on my own the 1st time just like a perm so I'm a little fearful of messing up my hair if I was to do it. It'd mean another big chop is on deck and I just said I'm trying to keep up the growth. So we've moved on to thinking about the twists and other such styles.

Twist vs Locks

I love being able to change up my hair because it's pretty much how I differentiate between looks since I'm not big into makeup. I could learn to make myself up, but I'm not too inclined to keep up stuff like that {have you seen my eyebrows lately?} so I'll stick to the hair. Twists are really easy to get and take out, BUT I'd have to get them redone regularly. Locks are a bit more permanent after how ever long. I've been advised that maybe I should do twists for however long to really determine if I want locks or not. I get that, but then I don't know.

Locks: Sister vs Dread

Locks look great on certain people to me. They also seem like something I could handle given I used to braid up my hair all the time in high school and style them. However, they are so permanent. I thought I would have to chop my hair again once I wanted something different, but would I? I was told Sister Locks take time before the really lock up. I think dreads lock sooner. I'm still researching, but we'll see. I did see someone the other day with dreads and she had the highlights going on and I really liked it. I'm thinking if I do decided to lock, I'm going to definitely have to try out the red coloring cause I love that color on myself. Wait ... what would y'all think of a deep purple color? Purple is my favorite color. Why not try it eh?

Well y'all, that's it for now. #12days

Rainy Day Shoes

Hey folks! 

I missed my weekend posts didn't I? Yeah, well I suppose to make up for it - I'll have to do a 3 part-er here eh? Cool. I can do that. Here we go ...

Saturday God-Sister Day

So I rarely get a "free" day, a day in which I'm not working for somebody. Weekdays, I work for a certain University. Saturday & Sunday are spent working for my Jesus in some way. So this Saturday was no different. I love my Jesus and I love the chil'ren I work with on Saturdays. Anyway, some of these Saturdays I get the joy of experiencing life with more than 1 child. This Saturday was one such Saturday and it was a hilarious one. Kavi, our goddaughter spent the day with us. Her & Jairus act just like I imagine siblings do so our day was very eventful. They began the day fine "playing nice together" {they're words}. They finished the day fine with "quiet activities time" {my words} after not cleaning up nicely together. They still enjoyed their day though so it's all good. Here are a few pics from that day.

Mother's Day

So yesterday was my 3rd Mother's Day and it didn't disappoint at all. My men really know how to treat a lady! My lil man made this here lil charmer for me ...

and then we all got dressed with our hats cause mommy loves hats ...

We then headed out for Mother's Day brunch with the greatest in-laws EVER!

After brunch, we enjoyed the rest of the day. We even were able to hit up the park getting in a family bike ride and some play time. We had a great day! 

Rainy Day Shoes

Now to today. I did not want to get out of bed today, but my dear husband ensured that I did. We even left the house on time to all get to our respective places on time. I love when we do that. Anyway, I got up to check the weather only to find my phone completely dead. Sooo, I charged it. Forgot about the weather until I got to my office. Can you guess what happened? It has rained & poured. I had a meeting  and here's the breakdown as I related it to the mister over Hangouts.

"Forgot the umbrella in the car. It started pouring after my mtg. Visited until it calmed again. Bus was coming as I headed back to my office. Decided to go get the umbrella."

Going to get the umbrella was a GREAT idea because it of course began to pour again once I returned to my office.

Walking to & from today, I realized that I need some rainy day shoes. I do well in the Winter cause my winter boots are supposedly waterproof, but I'm not wearing those things during these awesome Spring Showers {Yes, I love Spring Showers} cause my feet would NOT be happy about that one bit. Nor would the boots go very well with my Spring outfits. So I was thinking I also don't necessarily want rain boots. I do, but those are the shoes I'm talking about here. Here, I speak of nice shoes that will definitely have their own "voice" and will also keep my feet nice & dry. Most of my shoes like that are NOT waterproof. Oh well, you have any ideas for nice rainy day shoes? 

Sunshine & KIT

So yesterday was so beautiful that I spent most of my day enjoying it. But also, I played catch-up with some old friends of mine. That means I didn't get around to positing here - I did my due diligence on IG though. Anyway, because of that today's post will consist of 2 sections to make up for yesterday.

Sunshine, Blue Skies

Yesterday was a lovely day. Dude it got to 80 ... here ... in Michigan! Can you believe it? Finally, the weather is coming to terms with the fact that it's Spring and time to warm up. I was sssooo excited. I LOVE it! Been waiting on it. So since it was here, I had to take a bike ride. It was a rather short one due to the lil person only wanting to go around the neighborhood perimeter one cause it was "hard work" ... SMH! It felt wonderful though.

Oh AND why this joker (the GHE) decided to ride his tail up to the library to get some books we had ready? I thought that was MY goal, but whatevs. He made it there & back in half an hour so I should be able to do it within an hour :D We'll see. I'll try another day. For now, I'll work on controlling my bike and whatnot. I did much better following my silly-behind son who likes to not look forward and run into the grass and get stuck. Yeah, but kids got bike riding down so it was all good. Maybe we'll see if he wants to elevate out of the tricycle mode by the end of the summer. He could clearly walk his bike across the street better without those extra wheels.

Anyway I hope my Midwest {Y'all do know this is not the middle of the west right?} ... I hope y'all enjoyed the warmth yesterday and I'm praying for many many more days of it. Woo hoo! Come on Spring & Summer!!

K.I.T.

I had the unction to get in touch with my sister and a few old friends yesterday. That unction comes often, but I actually did it yesterday and realized how much I miss those girls. See I've been beating myself up for some while about how terrible of a friend I am cause I just keep dropping "friends" left & right. To be truthful most of those "friends" were just associates, but they wanted more. I couldn't give them more for whatever reason and it made me question myself. That's a series of sidebar stories that I just don't want to share so moving right along. My unction yesterday got me to thinking. I have friends and I'm a pretty good friend to them. The difference is we don't have a need to speak to each other every day. We can not speak for months and not miss a beat with each other. My messages with them yesterday proved just that. These girls represent different periods in my life and I haven't spoken to one in years I believe, but it's like it was yesterday. Yeah, we play catch-up on family life & career, but our conversations are beyond what I have with many folks I see every week. {The ONLY people that I see/speak to everyday are my GHE and lil man.} But yeah, my heart was on a high yesterday from speaking with those ladies. Not sure if they'll ever read this, but I hope they know I love them dearly and would never wish for better girlfriends. I love those chicks!

Now I've been told in a past life that I should do better about keeping in touch with folks especially these girls. For awhile, I tried that, but realized that I just don't have that much to talk about. What do you guys think? i don't agree that I should change the type of relationship I have with folks if it works for us to appease someone else's view of what a friendship should be. I'm no longer in a space to really give that a lot of thought, but I'd love to know what folks think. Do you speak with your besties everyday? Is one no longer your friend once you've lost touch for awhile? How does one regain that status? I generally hold people close to my heart rather they are there for awhile or not. As long as nothing has severed that relationship, their spot is always there. That could just be me.

Well, I'm out. While today isn't as sunny as yesterday, it is still warm so I'm still on a high.

Positive Aura

You ever just love somebody just because? You can't explain it or anything, but you know that person makes you smile? Whenever you see them, your day is immediately brighter? Well, I have a hand full of folks like that in my life. And it amazes me just how I immediately feel better no matter what was just going on. You have anybody like that in your life? If not, let me explain.

So yes, you can guess that one of the persons in my life that brightens my day immediately (even when their the culprit of my anxiety) is my husband. He is the greatest husband ever & I'm a jerk of a wife cause I don't want it to go to his head. That means I won't show him ALL the time. Just every so often, but he does KNOW that he's the greatest husband in the world to me. My dark days are never as dark as they used to be because he is always there to illuminate my heart. SO yeah .... I love that dude for being that for me. But y'all know I love him & this post is not even about him.

This post is about my other few day brighteners, one of which I saw this morning. Every time I see her or talk to her, my day is just that much better. She's awesome at just being herself and making me feel awesome just being knowing her. I love it. Now, on the other hand ... I SUCK at keeping in touch with people. Seriously - I am THE worse! You would think I'd call these day brighteners all the time to keep my spirits up when GHE/GHitW needs some backup, but I don't. Actually, when I'm miserable, I prefer to be alone. I don't want company in that space cause I'm miserable enough for a crowd. Terrible huh? Yeah, well between the miserable days, the lazy days, and the where-the-heck-did-my-day-go days, I forget to keep in touch.

With that in mind, I realize that I haven't talked to several of my day brighteners in months. I'm not that busy, but I have very little social skills. I actually have to practice what I'm going to say before calling someone. Why? Because I just don't know what to say. I can write all day. I can actually talk all day too if you give me a topic I'm passionate about, but I SUCK at starting the conversation. I'd rather eat squash [I HATE squash!] than start a conversation. I can keep the conversation going to move it along, but those first few seconds following the "hey" is a little piece of Hell for me. I also usually don't want to infest others with my miserable life so sometimes I have nothing to say cause my positive flow has been plugged.

I must do better. The positive aura of my day brighteners is missed when so much time has elapsed that I feel like I'm on positive overload when I see/talk to them. So yeah, I'm gonna work on doing better at that ... too. {This self-discovery year has been murderous to my lil self-confidence, whew!}

Anyway, big thanks to all you positive day brighteners out there. It's a rainy day and all, but I have sunshine on this cloudy day because of 2 of mine.

Have a sunshiny day folks! #18days

The Amazing Spider-Man 2 Review

Good afternoon everyone,

Today, I'm going to be giving my 2 cents about the new Spidey flick... The Amazing Spider-Man 2 (I know, real original title).  We actually saw this movie on Friday night, but I have been hesitant to write a review for some odd reason, not to mention it was a kinda busy weekend (see Lady Wife's earlier posts).  But I finally decided to sit down and just do it.

First - "The good": The action was good, and the story line, as it goes for a super hero movie was good.  Jamie Foxx played his tail off (as usual).  I don't think there are too many roles that he gets that he doesn't do it justice.  I mean, Max Dillon/Electro was a GREAT character.  He wasn't a cheesy villain either, and he definitely had a story behind him and a better costume.  The plot was even remarkable.  This one was definitely better than the first attempt at this reboot starring Andrew Garfield.

"The Bad": As it always seems with Spider-Man movies of late, it is overstuffed with bad guys.  It just seems that if there is one good guy and one bad guy that is not enough.  I mean, really, doesn't Spidey go through enough on the regular where he should only have to deal with 1 maaaaaayyyybbbeee 2 villains at the most?!  There just also seems to be a need to use slow motion EVERY time Spidey does something big.  It's like the "Finish Him" move on mortal combat.  It's really cool the first 50 times, but honestly, after a while it takes away from the significance of the event.  I dunno, I'm just sayin...

"The Ugly": Fine, I'll admit it, I didn't like this movie.  I couldn't quite put my finger on why I wasn't really feeling it.  Maybe because it was more of a love story with some action, than an action/adventure film with some love scenes.  But that wasn't it.  Shoot, for the longest I could relate to Spider-Man.  The man could never really catch a break.  He would start off down on his luck and then just as things are getting a little less "bleak" something good happens, only to be interrupted again by more bad stuff... Sucks, but that's what made him such a great "tragic hero".  Then it hit me, I figured out what it was.  Andrew Garfield.  He's a GREAT Spider-Man.  The one-liners, the bravado, the smart-alec-ness. I think when he's the wall crawler, he's doing the thing.  But man! As Peter Parker, he just didn't do it for me.  He was too confident.  Too brash.  Too much.  That's not the Peter Parker I grew up knowing.  The kid was a geek in every sense of the word.  I couldn't buy it from Garfield.

Does this mean, if they come out with another Spider-Man, with Andrew Garfield in the lead, will I boycott it?  Absolutely not. I'll probably still go and see it on opening weekend.  I might even still complain about his Parker portrayal...  But when it boils down to it, the movie is called The Amazing "Spider-Man" not The Amazing "Peter Parker".

I'm out y'all!

Rock Meet Hard Place

So honestly, I'm not really into writing anything today, but I said I'd post everyday. So here we go ...

I woke up in the middle of my bed with stressful thoughts on my mind. Today my question is how to deal with caring when you really don't wanna care. This kind of questioning led me down a path that encourages the butt-hole side of my being. There were several things over the past week that were jumbled into this thought process. All of which for whatever reason really don't sit well with me. I really wish I could just say "to {hay} with it all" and proceed to being the biggest butt-hole to those involved. I can't do that though cause I do care about those persons.

Rock meet Hard Place. Mind if I squeeze in here?

Yeah, that's how I feel at the moment. What does one do? Well, I have a project of the week that has been keeping my mind occupied, but it's not enough. I want my mind to be at peace - I function best that way. Removing stressors is kind of a thing for me. I can't move all of my stressors though so what else can I do? There's only so many projects to be done. Maybe I have enough to keep me occupied until I forget about the stressors. It has worked in the past - not proud of that necessarily, but it worked.

Well, today shall not be lost. Let's make it a great one. Shall we?

#19days

Pinewood Derby 2014

Every year, the Ascension to Manhood Ministry at our church hosts a Pinewood Derby for our men (young & old). This year, they included us womenfolk and it has been so much fun. I've been pining to get in it so I'm glad I got the chance to really do it this year instead of "hiding" behind our son. Anyway, I just wanted to share a bit of the fun with you.

Here are our cars. I didn't think to take before pics so yeah ...

No winners this year, but we had a blast!

Smiley360: Sundown Naturals® Adult Multivitamin Gummies

Smiley360 Mission: Sundown Natural Multivitamin Gummies

Sundown Naturals® Adult Multivitamin Gummies: Take the Gummy Match quiz & try #SundownNaturalsGummies! http://bit.ly/1m6XOjH #freesamp

I look forward to receiving my samples in the next 2-3 weeks. Plus my doctor just informed me that I need to get more Vitamin D in my diet so this is Sundown's official tryout for my Vitamin needs. I guess I'd better have some factors in mind then.

When I think of vitamins, I think of medicine, and I generally frown upon medicine. I don't want the stuff. It's usually disgusting and sometimes causing unnecessary side effects. I get enough sleep, why must my allergy pills that are supposedly non-drowsy put me right to sleep. {Seriously, one day was forced into a nap because I couldn't keep my eyes open to save my life after taking one of my pills. I had a terrible dream to boot so yeah I haven't taken that pill sense, but still...} Back to the issue at hand. Vitamins are different than medicine so I must judge them differently.

Vitamins should taste good to me. Why? Because I love food. I love delicious food. I'd rather eat food than take a vitamin. Really, I sometimes decide what I'm eating based on what I haven't had and I think my body needs. For example, I began drinking more milk when my doctor said I needed more Vitamin D. Made plenty sense to me. However, I know that I probably need a supplement as I still don't drink a lot of milk. Milk & congestion don't mix very well. I just don't have the time nor do I want to spend the money on that much Kleenex. I found a multivitamin on sale and had a coupon so I bought it. I do NOT like the taste of it though so glad I didn't get the mega bottle of that stuff. I still take them from time to time, but it's usually a quick chew so I can chase it with something that tastes better. I'm hoping Sundown is better. These are gummies after all so in my book, they are liken unto candy, which should ALWAYS be delicious.

That's all I got so far. What else should these vitamins offer me?

I Just Joined Smiley360

Good Morning Everybody!

This is another one of those real quick posts I discussed earlier this week. I Just Joined Smiley360: I just became a Smiley360 member! Discover and review exciting brands for free, too! Sign-up at http://bit.ly/lTDqVw #smileymember I'm looking forward to beginning this journey with them. I'll be getting freebies to review so get ready y'all. This is my Welcome Mission & I'm already set for my next mission with them.

Golden Anniversary Well Wishes

Hey folks!

Today is a special day in the life of J.A.M.v1. Y'all today marks the 50th Anniversary (Golden, I've heard) of when the original J.A.M. said their I Do's. So today's post is simple. We just want to say: 

Happy 50th Anniversary to Mr. & Mrs. James & Annie Moore!

30.93 Years In Review

So I just reread my 30 Years In Review post and realized just how little I've done since then. Oh, wait. I've done quite a bit, but no where NEAR as much as I should have done. Did I get those letters out? Nope. Did I change my wardrobe? A bit. I've also done challenges, but that didn't last the entire year either. Well, I happened upon another challenge of sorts, that got me thinking AGAIN about those challenges. However I decided to just continue to strive to do & be better than I am instead of going hard on some challenge that I'm not ready to tackle. Anyway, back to that challenge.

She called it The Birthday Project. I think it's kind of a Pay-It-Forward type of deal and it very ambitious for me giving my past year in review. Anyway, I was going to try it this year, but then I reread that 30 Years In Review post and said I'm not gone set myself up for failure yet & again. Instead, I'll keep doing what I'm doing and getting better at sticking to my self-challenges. However, I do like the whole idea of doing something nice for other folks for my birthday. I don't know, but it's my thing lately. What should I do? No idea, but follow along as I figure it out.

The birthday countdown begins today because I like the number 25 ... Woo hoo!

Oh yeah, I'll also be posting something everyday of the month of May. Some of them will be my normal post length, but others (maybe most) will be short and sweet me. Heh heh heh! I may include more pictures as well so I can begin connecting TableTalkN to my instagram in a meaningful way, but not making any promises there. I probably should begin to flesh out posting to Facebook as well, but we'll see.

O.O.F.S

OOFS: Out Of F*ing Shape

Well, I started my lil stair exercises and found that I am all kinds of totally out of shape. Totally out of effing shape. Yeah, that bad. I have a lil 20 minute routine and can't make it past the 10 minute mark. Honestly, I'm barely making it there! However, I'm having fun cause the lil person seems to enjoy doing the different exercise with me. Well, really he's not doing anything but running up the stairs and sliding down them, but still. It's time we spend together in which he sees mommy run cause I don't do it much. While sometimes he's in the way, I really wouldn't have it any other way. His lil "Mom, come on" takes my mind off of the frustration of not being in shape.

So. So far I've only done the exercises twice and I KNOW I have a LONG way to go. It's both encouraging and frustrating. Encouraging because it gives me a goal to work towards and will challenge me as I strive to get there. Frustrating because I just didn't realize just how out of effing shape I am currently. I mean, I know I haven't been doing my due diligence working out, but whew! The good thing about it though is that I am determined to be able to complete this doggone exercise routine so I won't be giving up any time soon.

Oh yeah, I guess I didn't tell you the routine. Probably shouldn't until I can really finish it so you're not judging me, but whatevs - I didn't make it up on my own. I found the routine here. I made lil Reminder Cards for each step. The Steps are:

1. Walk up/down - 2 minutes
2. Jog up/down - 2 minutes
3. Walk up/down, Skip Step - 2 minutes
4. Jog up/down - 2 minutes
5. Jog up/down, Skip Step - 2 minutes
6. Push-ups - 1 minute
7. Walk/Jog up/down - 1 minute
8. Split Squats - 2 minutes
9. Plank Step Ups - 1 minute
10. Tricep Dips - 1 minute
11. Walk/Jog up/down, Skip Step - 2 minutes
12. Walk up/down - 2 minutes

As you can see, I haven't made it to the push-ups just yet. Push-ups have always been my kryptonite of sorts. Also, hated them. When I was younger I'd choose something else if I had a choice in the matter. My upper body is weak, but my legs are pretty strong - I'll choose kickboxing over regular boxing any day. I might be able to actually do some damage that way. Anyway, that's my OOFS Story of the moment. I'm sure I'll have plenty more as I travel on my #DoBetter&Exercise Journey. 

Any exercise startup stories out there? Extra motivation & encouragement is always welcome! Good luck getting/staying healthy & fit out there. 

Thomas & Friends Easter Basket 2014

So our lil man is a huge fan of Thomas & Friends and actually all things train. That means most gifts somehow include trains. It was Easter soooo ... you know it was a train-focused Easter Basket. Shall you join us on our journey to a Traintastic Easter? Chugga Chugga Choo Choo!!

Easter Basket

It couldn't just be any ol Easter Basket. We would have done a bucket, but we found this lovely thing at a train show months ago and I knew immediately what it was meant for in our household.

Learning Tools

Can't just be giving out gifts without some possible learning tools. What better way than to include a few books? Got these books at the same train show as the basket. Also, we found these leapfrog products on sale at a closing KMart. I had totally forgot about them until I went to take these pictures.  

Trains & Tracks

Trains, trains, and more trains ... The tracks wouldn't fit so we just save those for when we want to change up the tracks on his train table.

Eggs

There have to be eggs in an Easter Basket right? Well, his were candy eggs cause I had to give the child some candy.

So here's our basket for lil man. He was very pleased.

Trying to find a focus...

Greetings & Salutations,

Today I come to you in a "funk".  We've been at this "blogging" thing for quite some time now.  We (me and my lady wife) actually started out with separate blogs, and then we combined them as we expanded our family and added the boy - By the way, this is actually what I call them when we are just kickin it around the house or I'm telling stories about their latest adventures.  Now we are taking this blogging to a new level.  A more "focused" & defined level.  While the purpose of this blog is to cover topics that we, everyone, would talk about at the dinner table, over coffee/tea, at the water cooler, it still needs to have a purpose.

A few weeks ago, lady wife discussed how she was looking at the different "journey's" that she goes through: As a mother, a wife, person, etc.  It actually inspired me.  {She does this quite often, though I don't share that fact with her enough.}  I want to make sense.  I want to have a point.  Even if my point is "no point" I would like to have people have a sense of what they're getting when they read something I wrote.  I'm not so conceited that I would imagine that everything I put down was gold (I am conceited though...) but I would like for others to read my works and at least consider it.

With this thought in my mind, I wanted to focus on "entertainment", movies in particular.  But it has come to my attention that I don't see as many movies on opening weekend, as I would like to, especially to stay current.  You see, once you throw a little person in the mix, especially one you (a) like being around & (b) don't want to just drop off with anyone, it becomes difficult to just go see the latest thing out.  I then moved on to DVD's, I figured, maybe I could just review newly released movies on DVD's or even perhaps the latest in a specific genre of movies & DVD's.  Perhaps some other form of entertainment.  Concerts, venues, DJ's...  Do you see where I'm headed here.  Once again, lack of focus, lack of a commitment.

So here I am back at the drawing board, trying to figure out what is the one thing that I'm passionate about? What can I always "stay up on" & make sure the commentary is relevant?  Some would say, "why does it have to be one thing?"  It doesn't, but I would like to start somewhere and have a baseline of knowledge. So while I search and try to think of something that will continue to draw interest and continued support by others, I reach out to everyone who reads this-- What would you consider worthwhile and interesting?

Holla back...

Journey Journal

So as promised ... here are my thoughts surrounding my new Journey Journal concept. It's not new - I just Googled it and landed quite a few blogs about it - but it's a new concept to me. I didn't exactly know what I meant until I typed them out. I do that a LOT and I just happened to actually admit it this time. Anyway ... Journey Journal

My Thoughts

I We go through a lot of journeys throughout our lives. Most of the time we are referring to traveling such as road trips, vacations, and excursions. We also hear folks talk about their spiritual journeys to wherever they have decided to lay their faith. Then there are still others who talk about their physical journeys through health crisis and life changing ailments. And still others who speak on their healthy eating and living journeys. Lots of lots of journeys here. So I've decided to pick various facets of my journeys to be highlighted for my Journey Journal. I've even thought of some of them already - how on point (for the moment) am I?

Some of my current Journey Journal facets (more like topics eh?):

• Reaching JDM3: Raising An Engineer, Raising A Gentleman, This Kid
• JAM-N-Marriage: DateHour, "Free" Dates, Antics of the Best Husband Ever, Lady Wife Joys
• Moore Travels
• Struggle Bus Stops
• Health Check-ins: Yoga, Bike, Insanity, etc
• Foodie Observer

While these are the only ones so far, know that I'll most definitely add as I get more accustomed to this thing.

Well, let's go.

Purposeful Social Media

What do you use your social media accounts for? Just to socialize online? To express your creativity, political ambitions, etc? What? Do you use them at all?

Well, I'm one of those "who the heck knows?" kind of social media personalities. HA! I guess I'm that way for real now that I think of it. Eh, well. I'm about to change the social media personality because otherwise I should probably just disable all of my accounts. Seriously, they tell you very little about me. I generally like that, but I recently decided I'd like to share certain facets of myself with the people. I've been sharing through blogs for years now, but I very rarely provide visuals. I'd like to do better with that and be more purposeful at the same time.

How do I do that? No idea. Y'all know how many picture & video challenges I've done. None of them made it to the light of day. Shame on me. So beginning this weekend (today as a matter of fact), I will post with a purpose on my IG.

Our family train trip will be the highlight of the beginning of my journey to socializing with a purpose. I'm deeming it my Journey Journal. I'll start with IG and branch out from there. I do fairly well with twitter, but my FB sucks! I'm gonna do better. So here's another goal for me.

IG: I commit to post at least 3 times a week. I commit to post purposefully through the eyes of my Journeys (whatever they might be). Through the use of my IG, I plan to be more active on FB by the end of the summer. My ultimate goal is just to continue to build this TableTalkN crew as we get big things coming across the Table.

I guess my next post will be to explain this Journey Journal of mine. SMH! I'm so backwards. I probably should have done that first, but hey ... it is what it is.

Captain America: The Winter Soldier Review

Gooooooooddddddddd Mooorrrrrnnnning Everybody!

I hope this day finds you in good spirits and ready for whatever is coming up next for you!

The Table TalkN Review Board had the opportunity to go and see Captain America: The Winter Soldier last night. Let me start off by saying - It was GOOD! I think it was better than the first one that came out a few years back.  While I enjoyed that as well, this one was better.

The thing with the Captain America stories, is that you have a story about a person, with super powers that is still a good person and works for a secret agency.  It's hard to be a good person that works for a secret agency, so I've heard...  In reality, this story, to me, is about a man who is all alone in a world that is always moving forward, changing, and he must determine who to trust and who to "apprehend" with the included dilemma of having a moral compass that ALWAYS points North.

This movie happens right in line with the timing of all of the other Marvel projects; after The Avengers' (including the battle in New York) and after the Iron Man's - it is the next chapter in this big book of Marvel.  For those of you who watch Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. on television, every Tuesday (or via Hulu like I do) there are some "tie-ins" that will make sense of some of the things to come in the next few weeks as well.

When it comes down to it, I find it amazing that Captain America hasn't said "Screw it" and left out to be on his own yet, but he has a remarkable sense of responsibility and high personal accountability.  He keeps on fighting the good fight and will do what it takes to ensure the safety and preservation of life.

In addition to Captain America, this film showcases a few other Marvel characters, new and old.  Of course there's the Black Widow & Nick Furry, along with the primary antagonist, who is not the Winter Soldier as one would think, but the evil New World Order group - Hydra.  There's also the introduction to Sam Wilson, AKA The Falcon.  Marvel has done an amazing job of taking a comic book character that was over the top and making it believable to the average viewer.

I believe that Anthony Mackie truly makes a great addition to the cast.  I would even go as far as to say that without his addition, this movie would just be "ok".  His character helped keep the movie rolling without being "over the top" or more than "the Black friend".  He contributed and became a true supporting cast member/partner to Steve Rogers, Captain America.  I would hope that Marvel continues to utilize him in upcoming films.

I'm just really glad that more people are finally realizing that you need to stay to the end of the credits.  The post-movie scenes are almost as important as the movie itself now-a-days.  They give insight and help to build anticipation to the future.  And this time you were blessed with two.  So make sure that you stayed glued to your seat if you plan on seeing it.

Well, I'm done for right now.  Be on the look out for my DVD rental reviews coming soon...

Until then; Keep the lights low and the phones on vibrate!!!

Table TalkN Review Board Out...

Spring Bike Riding With A Purpose

Hey folks! I know I've been yapping quite a bit, but that's what the blog is for, right? Anyway, I'm not sure I've shared this on here or not yet, but I wanted to post about it after I posted about my Yoga Core Strengthening yesterday.

Soooo I decided I want to get into biking seriously. Lofty, but I am so serious. I'd love to be able to actually bike through town on a nice sunny day instead of gassing up the car some times. Now, we generally get out and bike ride several times a year. However, it's usually just to go over into the next neighborhood for the park. Not necessarily a short ride, but not as far as I want to be able to go. I think it's only half a mile or so. I want to get up to 20 miles or so.

I'm looking for one of those couch to bike type deals. Haven't found one just yet, but my goal is to find some kind of program by the time the weather pans to a consistent warmth here. It's getting there. So I figure I need a plan for those days where I can get a quick something in AND I need an ultimate goal. So my quick something is to ride around our area to get reacquainted with my bike because it was loaded down with an extra passenger since day 1.

*Flashback* We bought bikes to use for exercise. We decided to ride up to the library one day. It was just right around the corner from our house ... or so we thought. You know how things seem a LOT closer in the car. Yeah. Well, the library was actually about 3 miles or so from our house. These were new bikes and we hadn't rode bikes in years. AND I was about 3 months pregnant. Wasn't the best idea, but we made it there & back home. The ride home was easier (downhill), but still took a LONG time cause I was pregnant (needed lots of water & breaks from that uncomfortable seat). Did I mention I was pregnant? Well, apparently that was not okay for me to do based on the Grands opinions of what a pregnant lady should be doing. I got fussed at by several of them for it, but it's a good laugh to hear us tell about that doggone journey. *End Flashback*

So yeah ... fast forward to every ride since then. We got a bike seat for me to ride lil man around in. Great times! We'd talk and watch for all kinds of things as we rode along to the park or wherever it was we were going. Lil man slowed me down though and I'm pretty sure my bike has a permanent lean from that doggone bike seat. It's cool though - I wouldn't trade it for the world. That time with my extra person was priceless, but I'm looking forward to making my bike just for me.

We got lil man his own bike for Christmas so we're all set for those family bike rides using our own separate bikes. AND we're only about 2 miles from the library now. Not sure lil man can make it that far, but I'm sure he'll be ready before too long cause he's a pretty ambitious lil man.

My goals for biking are as follows (remember these begin once it's warmer to me):
I commit to riding at least 3 times a week so I can get more acquainted with my bike. I commit to learning the signals for street riding for safety. I commit to just keep trying. I would like to be able to ride up to the library and back with no breaks by the end of this summer. My ultimate goal is to ride up to 25 miles.

Any of you ever done one of those bike races or marathons? I'm not sure I want to do one, but it'd be nice knowing I could at least finish it if I ever did. Also, any biking tips & tricks?

Yoga Core Strengthening

I just got on Instagram because my sister kept posting pictures of my niece that she hadn't txt to me. I felt left out. Anyway, I finally decided to join. I have posted no pics or videos just yet, but I have a plan for that. I've decided my Instagram has a purpose. Soon my twitter & Facebook will as well. Ya know - aside from random social media outlets.

Anyway ... back to what I'm really here to post. One of my old friends has been posting all types of yoga poses that she's been mastering. Pretty sweet! I saw her do a headstand pose & BOOM! I decided I wanted to do that. Yeah, well I don't know how to do that. I'm afraid of gravity nowadays. Sssooo instead of going head first, I decided to work up to a headstand.

How does one work up to a headstand? I didn't know. I did some research. Well before I did research, I asked my husband. Had there been video cameras in our household that night, we'd be a bit richer. We have issues and LOTS of fun when mom lets loose. What'd we do? We did headstands against the couch. Well, not really. I couldn't get the hang of it because I'm afraid of gravity. My husband was able to do several of them, BUT he also works out so many times a week & is obsessed with his abs. I do not work out like that (I should, but I don't) and I am not obsessed with my abs (I just cover them up). And of course lil man had to get in on it. While he can't do a headstand, he thinks he's a pro at flipping so we flipped. Yup my grown behind was flipping around the living room. Lil man thought he was teaching me how to flip, but really I just needed his encouragement to get over my gravity issue. So we flipped. And bbbboooyyy - one of those times, my grown behind THOUGHT I broke my backside. I flipped and it certainly sounded worst than what it was. I stopped flipping for a bit cause it did hurt just a little bit. Good thing I'm quite curvy - those curves cushioned that fall. Gravity tried to take me out, but it's cool. I shall get this.

So I researched poses cause clearly my family is way too adventurous for me. I need calm, slow steps. All that "just flip" and "just do this" stuff didn't work for me. I researched and found that I'd better tighten up the core to be able to do that headstand. Bbbbboooo!! I'm not a fan of crunches, sit ups, and push ups. There has to be something else. Well, I kept somehow going back to the yoga poses and exercises. Yoga it was - something new for me, right? Nope. I had done yoga before so I found an old yoga DVD. I went through it and realized at the end why I had put it away. It was more about relaxing your body. I need no help with that. I'm darn good at relaxing and going to sleep, which is what I did for about 10 minutes at the end of that DVD. Not good & not what I wanted. So back to Google ...

I then found poses that were supposed to lead up to the headstand. Something about working up to holding them 5 minutes each. Hecks yeah! I wanna do that. I started with the shoulder-stand cause it looked like something that I could do. I did it. Somewhat. I even made it 5 minutes. I did it, but I know my posture was nothing like it needed to be. So back to my core focus again. Well, I found something that at least worked last night & I'm still feeling it this morning.

This Yoga Workout For Your Abs did wonders for the beginning of my journey: http://www.womenshealthmag.com/yoga/yoga-workout-for-your-abs. I'm actually looking forward to mastering these poses and strengthening my core. I wasn't bored with the workout nor did I feel overwhelmed by it. Perfect! So while this is just Day 2 of the workout, it's been a good week or so for the yoga obsession. This could possibly work. So here are my yoga goals.

Yoga: I commit to practice my yoga poses everyday. I commit to taking a picture of a pose once a week to start and increase it as my confidence increases. I aim to be able to do a headstand by the end of the summer. My ultimate goal (before I move to loftier ones) is to be able to do a headstand for 5 minutes.

What's your current workout obsession? Do you yoga? You hardcore gym-ing it? You pole dancing? Let me know. I always need inspiration to keep going and I'm all about sharing your story if you let me. Oh and feel free to lend some advice & tips here. Y'all know I get sidetracked easily.

Toddler Interlude: Hitting

Lil Man: Mom, [insert child's name] hits me some days.
Me: Huh? Did you tell the teacher?
Lil Man: Yeah.
Me: Okay. No one should be hitting you. That is not very kind or nice.
Lil Man: Well, mom & dad sometimes hit me.
Me: No, we spank you. There's a difference. It's a punishment. [Insert child's name] isn't allowed to spank you so you tell someone so they can address it.
Lil Man. Okay, but you & dad do hit me sometimes.
Me: Okay. That's true.

Conversation ended there as far as he was concerned, but for me it lingered. I realized that my child doesn't understand the difference AND that I really don't want him to understand it. I think it's okay to think that hitting is wrong - all the time. I just have to figure out more stern consequences for my boy that provide the same result as a spanking. Did you read my Weird, Huh? post? If not, check it out. This conversation happened the day before I wrote that. I haven't spanked him in some time, but it still bothered me to know that each time I have, he looked upon it as just a hit; not the result I wanted. Well, I fell off and now I'm hopping back on to my no hitting plan. When we're consistent and attentive, we get less push back anyway. So here's to sticking to the plan.

What is the plan? Aside from no hitting, we use rules, conversations, distractions, music, and breathing techniques to solve most problems. A rule is something that can't be questioned and are usually for ensuring the peacefulness and efficiency we like in our household. You know what a conversation is, and we use ours to teach & learn throughout the day. Distractions work when what he's doing is just rather annoying, but not necessarily dangerous. Music is our "let loose and just be free" thing. Breathing techniques are used to calm us. What are some things you use?

Whelp, that is all for now folks. Later ...

Noah - The Movie

Good morning my peoples!

Table TalkN Review Board coming atcha! Today, we're going to take a look at the movie Noah.
This movie had so many opportunities to tell the story of how God cleansed the earth via rain and gave man another shot at this whole Humanity thing.  I'm not going to lie, it missed the boat - No pun intended...

As anyone knows me, I am a Christian first, and a movie goer down the line.  But I enjoy good cinematic expression on a regular.  So when this movie was being produced, there was a lot of controversy and even a move that forced the studio to put a disclaimer on the movie.  Which was a good move, if you ask me. It {should of} helped movie viewers to have a better expectation of what they were paying their money to see.  I completely understand that the role of the studio is to make money when producing films. Anyone who claims differently is either not telling the truth or unaware.

Noah, to me, was a cross between Lord of the Rings & Gladiator.  I enjoyed some aspects of the movie. The special effects were definitely on point with movies made in the last few years.  Nothing less than what I would imagine.  There were even some expressions of creative adaptation that I could get on board with.  There are others that caused me to chuckle.  I would like to have seen a more in depth explanation of certain facets of the movie.  There were some slow points - but let's be honest, this story is based on a historical fact that was over 120 years in the making.

I also believe that this movie did do some good to the spread of Christianity, even though I don't believe that was the original intent (at least from what I have heard/read from random media outlets).  The one "controversy" in particular that I read was that the director of the film was an Atheist (a person who denies or disbelieves the existence of supreme being or beings).  But he still created a movie that is based off a story that he had to research - Christianity 1, Atheist - 0.  The story also opened up more room for dialogue between Christians regarding the story of Noah, and even caused some of them (present company included) to go back into the Word and read the story again.

Main point - Would I say that I was glad to see this film? Yes.  Will it be added to my DVD collection? Probably not.  I feel as if it was a good movie and I appreciate someone telling the story, even if there were certain "creative liberties" that kinda stretched what kids all over in Sunday School are learning about in the bible.  I can appreciate this film.  But like I always say about a movie based off of a book especially a historical fact/true story - The book is ALWAYS better!

Until next time my friends.
Table TalkN Review Board, out!

Remember, keep the lights low and the phones on vibrate...

Weird, Huh?

Sssooo I sometimes find myself enamored by a celebrity. It happens. However, I'm bad about actually keeping it up - kind of like my friendships (ouch!). Anyway, last night I found myself becoming enamored with Mayim Bialik (remember Blossom? Or do you watch Big Band Theory? She's Amy, Sheldon's girlfriend). Anyway, I researched her a bit last night and found that I can relate to her many quirks - weird, huh?

Well, it got me to thinking about my lifestyle and all that jazz. I've been on a very introspective journey since turning 30 - weird huh? Oh well. Now about the lifestyle of mine ... This morning I awakened feeling some kind of way. I wanted to be jazzy, but not really. I wanted to look like a grownup, but I lack the wardrobe on most cold weather days (we're supposedly getting freezing rain today). I wanted to not look like my high school wardrobe self - you know - the jeans & a t-shirt type wardrobe. I failed, but it works. I have on jeans & a sweater (nice sweater, but still).

Besides that, I also felt reinvigorated about my parenting style. Yeah, weird huh? Maybe, maybe not. See I'm not a fan of hitting of any kind - I think it's barbaric. However, I've found that I'm more inclined to spank my child these days. Now that he speaks very clearly and expertly says "no" in more than one way at a very high decibel and all, I find that hitting is a consideration these days. No bueno! I hate spankings so I'm always looking for other punishments. I try to keep spankings to dire situations, but it's hard. Why? It shouldn't be because I don't like it. I never liked receiving them and I've never liked dishing them out. I do often have thoughts that people NEED them, but I just wish NOT to be apart of it. That's weird, huh?

Well, I realize that it's hard because of peer pressure. I feel like every parent I know has something as a representative of a spanking. I've seen people threaten with belts, "whooping" spoons, etc. I'm pressured to fit in because my child is very much his own lil person. That means that he has no qualms about speaking his mind and saying what he does & does NOT agree with, what he will & will NOT do, who he will & will NOT speak to, etc. Sad thing is, it doesn't bother me as much as it bothers those around me. I like for my child to speak his mind even when he's disagreeing with me. [That does not mean he gets his way, but it does means that I know where he stands.] See, my child is my child. I'm rather bratty and contrary all at the same time now that I'm an adult. I don't remember being either as a small child, but I grew into being contrary around my pre-teen years and kept it up. Sssooo ... what does one do?

I have missed emotions when it comes to this because I love the Attachment Parenting style that we kind of just rolled with when he was a baby and into his toddler years. Now that he's moving into his preschool years, we've been spanking him more often, but it bothers me. We only spank him because he really won't listen or is being really out of order (flailing himself across the room, hitting us or things, etc). I've gotten out of the habit of reading up on Attachment Parenting since I've begun working on a more regular basis. Maybe that's the issue. I stopped preparing myself so that I could just respond to the boy versus reacting to his crazy. However, I also don't know how to get back to it. Problem. I see I might need to get back to being enamored with my parenting style instead of everything else. Weird huh?

Oh yeah, back to why I'm enamored with Mayim Bialik. Well, I read some of her blogs on kveller.com and realized that I can relate to some of her experiences as a mom, as a working mom, as a mom to a hypersensitive kid, and as a hypersensitive person myself. I've been known as the weird one a good portion of my lil 30 years of life so I'd grown to think that there were no others like me. HA! I've found someone and it's refreshing. Sometimes I just want to be like someone else. While I'm good being all by myself, it's sometimes nice to know that I'm at least not alone. So yeah, I'm a werido who prefers solitude, numbers, and puzzles to all things crowd related. So yeah, I'm a parent who cringes when I see a child getting a spanking not because I remember, but because it literally hurts me to see it. So yeah, I'm struggling with spanking my child just because I'm surrounded by those who believe in a beat down. So yeah, I do sometimes believe people need beat downs to come to their senses but it hurts to be near it. So yeah, I'm a walking contradiction eh? So yeah, I'm weird ... huh? Well, I'm okay with that. Weird, huh?

Now while this post clearly deviated quite a bit, I suppose this is what I was to post today. Enjoy!!

NCAA Tourney

What up
?!

Today marks the first day of spring and the 1st day of the "Big Dance".  If you're a sports fan or work with sports fans, you have probably heard about this... (I know my wife is sick of me already).  I have 5 brackets filled out, just so, in some scenario, I can say that I was right.  But let's be honest, it's a crap shoot, and I hardly get my picks right.  I usually end up balling up my brackets by the end of the first weekend.

I've made some pretty wild picks though, and I feel very confident that I'll do better than the average person... I think.  The real fun comes when it comes to talking junk, or as my dad would call it,  "Selling woof tickets", I know, right - Old School, but whatever.  I may have the worst picks EVA in the history of the NCAA tournament, but you would never know it, listening to me talk.  My job during this day, is to convince whoever is against me that they've already lost and they need not bother even filling out the brackets - The good news is, they're just a bad, or at least some of them.  It's the quiet ones, that get you in the end.  They're the ones with the near perfect brackets and they don't even like to watch sports.  They just picked because they had some spare time...

But it's all good - The time has come and tip off is in a few minutes... Here's my brackets (or at least one of them) how do yours compare?

No Stove Week

Not really able to focus on the tasks at hand at the moment so I decided to write type. So here goes my thoughts.

We're without a stove for a week more and it's been harder than I imagined. I figured it'd not be a problem because we have 5 slow cookers and I'm willing to cook almost anything in them. Well, I keep forgetting how quick sides are on the stove top. I usually cook my meats in the slow cooker cause it's convenient to place them in there in the morning for consumption that evening. An hour or so before dinner I usually begin my preparation of sides and cooking them so that everything is done around the same time. While i think it's just as convenient for sides to go in the slow cooker, I realize that I've just done general sides in the slow cooker (AND that's usually on a weekend). Also, it's real convenient to have our tea kettle heating up while we get ready in the morning versus having to warm water in the microwave. We LOVE tea so that's probably the biggest issue. Anyway, we'll do fine. Here are some of the things I'll be trying in the slow cooker this week:

• Cheddar & Bacon Stuffed Pork Chops
• Chicken
• Chicken Enchiladas
• Brussels Sprouts
• Rice
• Corn Bread
• Red Beans
• French Toast Casserole

So far the meats look delicious - I cooked those over the weekend. Today I'll tackle Brussels sprouts, rice, & corn bread. I may get to the french toast casserole too since I'd like that for breakfast. Red beans will be soaked tonight for cooking in the morning.

I just realized I should just try making me some tea concentrate to take care of this week. Then it's no biggie to warm up some water since it's no additional wait time for brewing. We shall see. We'll y'all I think that's it for now. I'm gonna go ahead and get to doing what I'm supposed to be doing.

Oh and before I forget - this week's slow cooker inspirations* came from the following websites:

• A Year of Slow Cooking
• Mom On Timeout
• Spoonful

*Inspirations = I don't follow directions well, but I used their recipes as a starting point.

Alright now ... type to y'all later!

Just Writing

So at the moment, I have so many things running through my head that I can't really focus. I decided to just write & see what happens. I may or may not share this, but we'll see ... If you're reading this, hheeyyy!!

Anyway, let's see where this takes us. On this morning, I've been feeling some kind of way. Matter of fact all year (and it's barely March), I've been feeling some kind of way. What kind of way? I don't know how to explain it ... sensitive may be the best description. That's disturbing in the sense that I despise being called or associated with sensitivity. You know the whole I-am-woman-hear-me-roar ... that's all my thing. However, there comes moments where I just don't have a roar in me AND I definitely wish not to be heard. Matter of fact, I could disappear. For those who've read my testimony, you know that thought has lead me into trouble in he past. Well, this isn't the same. I have WAY too much to live for these days to be going back down that road. Nowadays, my disappearance thoughts refer to me-time or resting without the guilt that falls upon me because in my life, there's never a resting moment. So I suppose that may be why I'm so "sensitive" these days. I'm tired and have no defenses at the moment. The great thing about it is that I know that that's okay. Why? Well, because I have somebody that has my back and is possibly craving to protect me in these instances. See, I'm usually all about taking care of myself cause it's just what I do. I take care of myself and anybody else that wishes for my protection. And although I have expectations that my husband be able to do so, I've been informed that I haven't really allowed for this experience. Well, I think I have no choice at the moment. I know he's up for the challenge, but I don't know how to let myself just relax in all of this. Ya ever feel like that? So used to taking care of business that you don't know how to let someone else take care of you? This is a definite weakness of mine and I suppose it's what I'm working on at the moment. Sista girl is tired over here y'all ... Pretty sure I'm coming down with one of these Winter illnesses too so I know that doesn't help either.

So that's that ... there's more, but I just said I was tired. I'll stop here before I get to rambling.

Why are you so excited? It's still winter!

Good morning peoples?!

It is once again that time where I stop and reflect as we approach (what we hope will be) the end of the winter season.  But as we do, I have heard some rather disturbing comments made - in particular about the weather.  Please do not get me wrong.  I am a winter baby.  I love snow and outdoor activities that deals with snow - to a point... I like to go sledding, I like to go skiing.  I enjoy building snowmen and making snow angels.  I even enjoy shoveling to a certain extent.  But for real - Enough is Enough!

This winter has been extremely harsh.  It seems that everywhere we look record low temperatures and blistering snow falls are becoming the norm.  Even in Atlanta, where some of my family stays & I went to undergraduate school - "Dear Ol' Morehouse", have been dumped on with snow.  And it's staying around longer than a few hours.  People were stuck on the highways for HOURS (I do blame this on the lack of driving skills of the majority of people in GA) and the kiddies... Oh the poor kiddies! Some even had to spend the night at their school because it was so bad outside.

But now that this "Polar Vortex" has seemed to pass, and winter is "winding down", we are starting to see "warmer temperatures".  {Please note - I’m am excessively using quotations on purpose, because these are things the public has heard a number of times in the last few weeks already.}  People are starting to lose their God given minds...  

A few obvious examples that I have seen thus far: More and more individuals are starting to go outside with little to no covering.  I’m not talking about the girls that wear open toe shoes and short short mini skirts and no coat while they run to get inside a club.  I do understand why they do it - still doesn’t excuse the fact or helps prevent them from getting “pneumonia in their behinds” as my wife would say, but I have become accustomed to seeing this. But not those going outside with no coats, hats, or gloves. I’ve seen others out running, braving the elements, but at least they have winter running gear.  My sister is a runner.  She’s dedicated to the cardiovascular workout - Rain, sleet, snow, ice.  Damned if it would ever be me (again) but more power to her. I have an issue with those people wearing flip flops like they're at the beach. Or shorts as a part of their attire. Not going to play a sport or workout, but purposely chose the outfit to go to class, or run errands when they KNOW they'll be outside for longer than a minute...

I’ve witnessed (no lie) a guy driving his freshly washed, new model corvette, top down, sun glasses on, gray hair just-a-flowin’ in the wind just the other day.  Um, sir - it’s still 14 degrees out.  Just because the sun decided to come out from behind the clouds for longer than 10 minutes, does not give you the excuse to try to act like, you are the dopest thing this side of Ann Arbor...

I mean, really people.  I’m glad that spring & warmer temperatures will be here sooner than later too, but honestly - it’s still cold.  Shoot it’s still below freezing temperatures!  My co-workers are all excited because we’re going to reach a balmy 35 degrees this weekend.  Why are we all extra excited about Cold temperatures?  It’s still cold!  It’s going to be cold for a while.  Sure you may not have to wear your long-johns in a couple of weeks, but you still need a coat, hat and gloves.  The thing that really gets me, that really makes me question the judgement of most of the people I’m talking about - they will be the FIRST to say something in August, when it’s 92 and humid.  Stating how they wish it would cool down and they can’t wait until winter gets here.  Oh how short our memory is...  

So as I come to an end of my little rant for the moment - my only word of advice is to enjoy today!  Tomorrow is not promised, and it’s still forecasted to be cold if you are here...