Minivan Moments

I recently listened to a radio broadcast with an author speaking about raising boys. She spoke of so many issues our boys face, but she specifically directed her book and her research to the mothers of boys. I was riveted! It was such an amazing hour of information, i bought the book before i even got to listen to the second segment. ( you can listen to it here and link to Part 2 ) One of the things that really struck me is when she was explaining what researchers have discovered about boys and video games. Boys' brains are apparently hard-wired to enjoy task-oriented activities as well as the satisfaction of completing a goal or honing a skill. Within the video game framework, you have all of the above and the boy never has to get off the couch! His brain's needs to "hunt it, kill it, drag it home, and get better at it tomorrow" are all fulfilled with some flicks of his thumbs. Generally speaking, maybe this isn't a problem, but apparently, researchers are ...

As partial vegetarians who eat limited dairy products, i strive to stay creative with our meals. When autumn first arrived, the weekly-pot-of-soup began. We call it Soup Saturday. (We also have Spaghetti Sunday. But i digress.) Every Saturday, i put on a big pot of soup. Easy enough, right? Only.... Challenge #1: it has to be vegetarian. Challenge #2: it cannot contain dairy. Challenge #3: 3 out of 5 of us don't really like a lot of vegetables. Challenge #4: i have to change it up; it must not be the same soup week after week. Challenge #5: there has to be enough of it to feed us on Saturday AND for one meal during the week. So, after at least 4 weeks of doing a new creation in soup every weekend, i am back to our first favorite soup today. Ahh... the smells of onion and garlic fill the whole house this morning! I am so looking forward to digging in!

For some reason, our culture has become very competitive in a lot of areas of life that make no sense: my landscaping is better than yours, my SUV is newer, my kids are involved in more activities, and i'm a perfect wife, etc. But the area of competitiveness in adults that boggles my mind the most is in the arena of parenting. Parenthood is absolutely the most demanding job on the planet, and if you do this full-time, all the time, without daily all-by-yourself breaks and a 2-week vacation every year, you deserve (but will likely never get) a medal of honor. And rather than acknowledge that good parenting doesn't always come easily or naturally, we put on a mask for others as if to say: oh, this is fun and rewarding and i never feel overwhelmed! If you can TRULY say that - like, in the shower, all by yourself, between you and God - then go grab yourself a badge ( or a straight-jacket, 'cuz you're delusional! LOL) and come back tomorrow. You don't need to read a...

Okay, with lots of disappointments come lots of swirling thoughts. My morning devotion is about taking hold of the good thoughts and throwing out the bad ones so that i cannot be taken hostage by negativity. Aptly timed, in my opinion! So i was thinking: what if i ran for the office of President of the United States of America? Hmm.... First, i've never cared for politics in general, though i see them as a nearly-necessary evil. Second, i've never considered that i would be any better as a politician than anyone else. However, i now understand something: if the people who believe politicking is a problem in our country continue to sit on the sidelines, we will continue to get political figures who love to play the political system. Is that how we get better? I think not. So, my platform would be as follows: - you can have your abortion, but don't ask for help paying for it. There is a simple solution to an unwanted pregnancy: don't have sex if you can't aff...

Over the past few months, i have been working with my son on the concept of calories, specifically, calories and weight management. He has finally figured out that calories must be "burned" by the body or they will be "held onto" by the body as fat. He has also grasped the idea that it takes a lot more work to burn the calories than a person might initially think, going into weight management for the first time. Now, we are working on portion sizes. This concept was tougher. The cereal box says 120 calories per serving, but it can be tough to estimate how much a serving is, not to mention that every food we consume has a different portion size. So my friend gave us some Weight Watchers serving utensils and we were excited to try them! The next day, we served up what we discussed would be a good, healthful, balanced meal for lunch. My son helped me decide what that would be (mostly they were all his suggestions, believe it or not!) and we set to work getting it o...