December 2018 ~ #whole30 #ihike2019 #lifetimemeds #readthebooksihave

Before the Christmas rush was really on, I had already decided some things would change-- this year. Of course, folks have thought I was crazy to start a #whole30 diet in December. Who does some thing like this?? This is the season of indulgence and all good things. But just like the book says, no time like the present. And then there's this constant reminder: 

A Year from Now, 

You'll Wish You Started Today

So I started. I've documented everything. Every. Thing. 

I even had to visit my GP, and was able to brag. I told her I was actually looking forward to seeing her in March to see my bloodwork. 

I don't  (but that's for another post..) know exactly what pushed me, but I know hearing about someone's medical cost for things that could be prevented with early(ier) life changes in diet and lifestyle made a huge impact. 
I just don't want to live like that. I want to live. Fully. In a way that honors God and supports my family, not weighs it down. 
I've been watching Heidi Scovel hike this year, and have decided I'll set a real goal. #ihike2019 is the code for my present count of 0/52. Why should I wait for a doctor to prescribe what we already know? 
I talk to my BFF almost everyday and for some years she's been talking about Whole 30. She recommended reading 
'It Starts with Food,'  
I read it. And jumped in. All the way.
 I've been successful, with my weaknesses right at the forefront of my plan. No compromises. It's been almost perfect. And I can say, I'll keep up most of it after I'm done. I've never felt better in my life. I don't want to go back. I have 48.5 more years to go to get to 100, and after reading this article today, I think I can make it. Why shouldn't I? The gardening I plan to do to support this diet should surely work! Not to mention fresh eggs! 

One of my 5 chickens as of December 2018.

 Gardens including an asparagus bed ready for winter. 

My chicken's egg on the left. Store bought on the right. 

Over the last year, (and continuing into the next,) I have been reading many books in preparation for teaching Advanced American History IEW Writing in the fall 2019. And I believe I have all I need for that endeavor, so I made another decision. 
This year: I will buy no new books. None. (This is where to lay bets folks.)
I will #readthebooksihave 
I gathered up some reeeally good ones in the last year. One in particular is a great place to start for the upcoming new year. 

Shannan Martin holds nothing back. Should any of us, when it comes to loving our fellow man? loving God? 

2019 will be an interesting year for sure. I will certainly begin counting my #lifetimemeds again, and enjoying hobbies that feed my soul. 

What are your goals for 2019? 

Remember~A year from now, you'll wish you started today! 

November 2018 ~ #Project50 and Being a Boy Mom

On Monday the week of Thanksgiving, we planned to go to Six Flags theme park. Boys were encouraged to find a friend, preferably one that has a reputation of getting along with their sibling. The turn-out could not have been better. It's not an easy gig to plan. I don't pretend to be the master-mind or great-appreciator of Six Flags-that would be my husband, Festivus. But I have embraced the chaos of boys and all  most things my husband plans for us. But this was on me. Festivus was still at the UGA salt-mine, so if it was to be, it was up to me. Load 'em up, move 'em out.
While on the ride, my older 'tech enabled' son quietly announces a shooting has occurred in Chicago, at 'a hospital.' So as not to bombard him in un-cool mom fashion, I think quickly to ascertain which hospital. 'The big one,' he replies and returns inward like a preying mantis after it gobbles its food, but the reverse, to 'the source.' My first thoughts go to what at one time was a reflex response- crime-ridden Chicago, a city I will likely never visit, as I never made it to the Oprah show, nor do relatives live close by. I'll never see the 'Bean' up close. But for a time, about 25 years ago, I tuned in every week, to the 'Windy-City' like numerous other Americans. I watched faithfully, 'ER,' and became like everyone else, either a fan of George Clooney, or the actress Ms.Marguellis, known to me and my kids now as 'The Good Wife.' I watched as single people, like myself at the time, navigated the waters of internships and relationships. I cried when characters fell in love with co-workers, mothers and fathers came to live with their adult children and declined with disease. When the doors flew open with an emergency, I was peaked and waiting to know what would happen. And then I waited until the next week, all the week working with kids-in-care, going to church, and Friday-night-dinnering with friends my age and in my same situation. I had no cell phone, I barely watched the news. I had a camera and took photo film to Eckerd's for their amazing printing booth. I envied the people printing Christmas card family pictures. 
But I had George Clooney. (wink)
All those thoughts happened in about 30 seconds when I was brought back to how this newest information impacted our car ride. Snap-chats didn't stop, dirt-bike videos didn't quit, the tunes from the 'Fish' didn't cease. There was no pause.
I rode the Cyclone yesterday. The ride that replaced the old wooden roller coaster. Being afraid(horrified) of heights, this is no small thing. I have crawled and clung to the ropes of Talullah Gorge, trying to avoid permanent residency on that bridge when I underestimated the impact of the height and succumbed to child-pressure (not peer pressure) to cross. But I digress. I. Can't. Even. The speed, the turns, the drops. G's. That's all I could think. I felt like I'd been in a space ship simulation for a trip to Mars. While I had gained a little street-cred with my gang of ear-budded urban hoodlums, I felt the need to go back and retrieve my face from where it may have landed in Alabama after it flew from my body by sheer wind force. I had just enough time to gather my remaining wits and gumption before I headed to the next contraption of out-of-body experience. I recognized 'The Mind-Bender.' Yes, I could do this. It's reminiscent of 'The Beast,' my childhood-first roller-coaster. At the time, it was the highest and fastest on record and located just at my backdoor in Mason, Ohio. I had a seasons pass. Mom would drop. us. off. (who does this anymore?-- well, now I would, but only with 'the bigs' not 'the littles.') Anyway, just enough time to catch my breath, I ride, I survive, and I disembark. Remember, I am often now mistaken for my children's grandmother, gray hair and all. My present riding partners (the littles) stay seated as the park is low on revelers at this early point in the holiday season. They ask to ride again, the drivers say 'yes!' They go. I almost collapse, almost drop my phone, almost drop the drinks I'm holding. I am thinking it's time to go home.  It's time for a pause.  They go, I pause. But experience to which I've paid greater attention as of late has taught me, this day has only begun. And I'm in. All in. #project50 and all that. But without a word or conscious acknowledgement, they see me pause. (just like everything else they see me do-- or not do.) 
While I can. not. Can. Not. connect entirely with my kids, I *must* stay connected. While we are generations apart, and even more so by the lateness of our entry into parenthood, I must make the effort to tether where I can and bind where I am able our fleeting moments of connectedness. Their mental health depends upon it. I don't say that lightly. Locals know the proximity, but dear friends, I know you all have experienced loss of *that* unspoken nightmare. I believe more than ever, or at least in the history of our young country, there is a sense of being overwhelmed and over-stimulated that gravely impacts our hearts, especially the young. And while there are some, myself included for so long, say just withhold enabling the young, this is harder to do than one might think. We do not live in isolation; it's everywhere, and even the young ear-budded urban hoodlums crave companionship. One just cannot stand against a rail in broad day-light scrolling one's phone--all *alone*. Nor can one experience the heights and free-fall of  'Goliath' with out a ride from mom in the min-van. My lesson I take from this day is not that we should avoid Six Flags (although I hear a chorus of angels above my head when I consider that thought)-- it is that we should be there when they need $4 more for a healthy water, when they've made a poor choice before riding, neglecting a pause in the sugar fest. Because if they are like mine, and Pandora's Box is already open, they are going to make poor choices. I'm going with being present. I'm going with the 'strengthening the tethers' plan, with love and honesty. When the questions about a more important 'Goliath' come up, I'll be there with a proverbial sling and a (silent)song (in my heart) about 'only a little boy David.' Their lions are real. And Bathsheba is everywhere. Perhaps a pause will surface, and they'll be looking past Reddit, to me. 
God help me be ready and not posting my FB status. 

'He's Not Lazy: Empowering Your Son to Believe in Himself'

Each year our family seems to evolve in ways I never anticipated. Being a parent and a mother takes on a nuance I didn't expect. I devour audio books while scribbling notes on any loose page. Podcast networks are my new best friend. While a face to face friend is always welcome fellowship, sometimes it takes someone to cut through to the details that are wrecking your home-life.
Lazy is a 'charged' word. So you can imagine when I saw this book title across one of my most trusted Podcaster's playlist: 'He's Not Lazy: Empowering Your Son to Believe In Himself.' 
Run. Don't walk. If this made you stop and pause, and consider the son you've struggled with in any regard, grab this book. I listened on Audible, but it is available at most retailers such as Amazon.
The layers of challenges that are on our sons in todays modern world are astounding. And they just can't 'run away' the same way our grandfather's did at 14 or 15. They are stuck in a world of technology that may be important to them in one way, but it also monitors their every movement. This leaves them with little freedom to become the man they are trying to become-- on their own.
The monitoring is the challenge- the www is not helpful, so parents (this parent) again are 'schooled' in language that will communicate to our sons we believe in them, without a false approach to the over-indulged 'self-esteem' movement.
I'm going to include the link to the Podcast from 'The Art of Manliness,' which first introduced me to the book. It's a quick synopsis that left me ready for more. I haven't felt this empowered about empowering my son in a long while. I hope you will find it equally as encouraging.

September 2018

Books. Books seem to multiply in my house.  But as I've recently been following the 30 day challenge from Edie Wadsworth at LifeinGrace, I am reminded that I've been decluttering and discarding all along. This year when I went to the library book sale, I had a list, and stuck to it. My discards were already gone and shelf space was ready. 

This summer I read The Great Gatsby which, I must say, was wonderful. It met and surpassed my expectations. It inspired me to consider other great books and begin to branch out more in classic literature.*edit: A Podcast at Circe Institute- Closereads - has included 'The Great Gatsby' in its list of books! Fantastic! They invited Adam Andrews to participate and it was illuminating!

The summer came on the heels of a trip to Louisville, KY to the Circe Regional Conference. It too was amazing. Hearing Adam Andrews share a reading from Flannery O'Connor was spectacular. 

I was finishing the Wendell Berry selection, Hannah Coulter  with Close Reader's abroad while trekking right up I-65 through Kentucky. It was glorious. Martin Cothran was a particularly interesting presenter as I was very unfamiliar with him and his work. It was all so good. 

Upon returning home, I began to truly delve into Norms and Nobility.