Here comes my soap box

I went to the Habitat Humanity Restore because I'm a sucker for most all things second hand. It might be a slight obsession. I'd rather breathe new life into something than buy something new. No, really! Bella even says her favorite store is Goodwill :)

I'm going to get up on a soapbox now... Hold on tight! I was having a great day. I got a great workout in with plenty of sweat and worked my muscles to complete fatigue. I went an got a 20 minute chair massage at the mall, which was basically like 20 minutes of what I imagine heaven to be like. Then, I ran to the restore because our kitchen table has seen better days... like LOTS of better days. I walked in on cloud 27 from my massage. Then a man rolled a table by. As he rolled passed he said loud enough for me to hear "Nice tits". I stopped dead in my tracks, like I was stung and paralyzed.

Who says stuff like that? I'll tell you who, some douche bag that thinks women are a piece of meat. That views women by the size of their breasts and not the size of their brain, kindness or intelligence.

Why did this man think it was okay to say something like that? What would his parents, his children or maybe even his wife think? Those questions I can't answer.

What was I wearing? I took this picture when I was feeling defeated by this guy... that was my shirt. I took a look down at my attire. Cleavage was COMPLETELY covered. I was wearing a t-shirt, jean shorts and flip flops. Then I thought for a second, even if I was wearing my bikini or my cleavage was out, it's not his place to make rude, obscene comments like that. On a side note I thought, that would be like saying a woman deserves to be raped because of her attire. No woman deserves that!

How could I prevent my boys from saying things to women? I can tell you right now how we are doing in this area. The word stupid and hate are "naughty words" from our house. If someone says that, it's immediate time out. They hear their father compliment me. We talk about people being different, being beautiful and pretty. Things are beautiful and pretty, like butterflies. Luca consistently says "look at that beautiful butterfly mama!" When he sees one. I love that! Grayson is quick to tell me that I look pretty. He'll also tell me if I should wear something else... "Mom wear those shoes, they look really nice." Luca just started saying "that's ugly" and I've been working on correcting him. It might be ugly to him but saying that word doesn't make people feel good and can cause sadness. We talk about how things are ugly to some people and beautiful to others.

How could I prevent my Bella from having that said to her? I will remind her that her beauty isn't determined by her looks. Her beauty is determined by her inside, her kindness, the way she treats others, her strength and determination. The boys will get the same message. I will remind her that she should wear lipstick if it makes her feel good, not because it makes others think she's pretty. I will tell her to lift weights to be strong and push the limits of her body. So that she knows being strong is a feeling you can only get from yourself and being physically and mentally strong is something she should value. Am I as strong as others? No, but to me, I feel strong. That's what matters.

I will continue to remind her that men don't have control of her and how she feels... even though my mood completely changed when this man did that. Here's the thing, it caught me off guard and NOW I know how to react and what to say should this ever happen again... to which I pray, it doesn't.

Go off and teach your kids to be kind...

To the guy that stole my spark today, I've got it back and you, my friend, are a dick.

Finding Joy

Does anyone else follow Finding Joy on Facebook? On June 18th she wrote this:

I don't want to rush through life anymore.

I realized I was a rusher several months ago. It was when I was drying my hair and I had this moment where I saw that I was racing through it. Getting agitated it took too long. And I stepped back and thought about how I had nowhere to go that day and no deadlines and yet there I was rushing.

I have taught my rushing culture to my kids too.

Sometimes in the mornings I'll be in a frenzy racing around and thinking about what to do next and totally missing out in the now. I'll lose patience for shoe tying or missing bags or being late for a line that I would end up sitting in no matter what.

So several months ago I decided to become aware of my rushing. And to catch myself in those moments and to actually take a big breath and to remind myself that rushing changes nothing.

Rushing just made me anxious.

So now, now I try to slow my pace. Being aware of the time but also my pulse. 

If we race through life too fast or looking ahead too much we might just miss today.

And today, my friends, is worth not rushing through.

-Rachel

If you don't typically follow her or read her posts, do it. Do it now, run over there and follow and like her page. She inspires me every day to be a better me, to take care of me too, to not fall into the Pinterest trap, to settle down, to live and let love takeover. 

This post rang oh so true. I'm such a rusher, which makes me a stressor. My kids move at sloth's pace. 

I get agitated and anxious when things take too long. I'm a total Type A-er. Wait is that even a word? This summer I've been trying to take the kids to do fun stuff and it hit me. I'm yelling "HURRY UP, GET IN THE CAR!!!!" I'm pretty sure even the lady down the street got in the car at that point! :) No in all seriousness, I was rushing them to go have fun. In the process, crushing their fun and causing chaos and anger for all of us. How was this fun? Would even be fun? I mean why was I rushing them and causing all of this? I wanted to just hurry up and go. It's not the fun would suddenly stop if we were 10 minutes later. 

After reading Rachel's post, I'm more aware. Yes there are times we need to be in a rush, we have doctor appointments or someone waiting on us. Otherwise, rushing was causing me more problems. I'm working on it, like really working on it. There are things that need to done right.this.minute... but the other things, we'll get to, eventually, like most things in life. 

As for me, I'm feeling a little more relaxed about the whole thing. I'm really focusing on it more and trying to improve for them and mostly for me.

More words that hurt

Sometimes it's not what your child says that hurts you, it's what another adult says about your child.

I was talking to some other moms about the juggling at High Interest Day at our elementary school. It started out as a few moms having a conversation that lead to stinging and pain. I expressed the look on the jugglers face when "a child" walked in to juggling and I explained how the jugglers face couldn't hide his expression.

"Well you NEED two hands to juggle!"

My mind is blanking as to what my response was at this point. I mean, really I was kind of in shock. In shock that she didn't know that "the child" was MY daughter. In shock that she said that... in shock at her stupidity... you don't NEED two hands for anything actually. It would be nice to have two hands and as "that child said", it would be nice to have two hands like the rest of her family. It's for certain not a necessity.

"You CAN'T juggle with one hand"

Again, what I said, no clue. I can't remember for the life of me and it just happened today! I can tell you that ANYTHING is possible and saying I can't is not an option at our house... You MUST try. That doesn't mean that we, as the parents, won't help you. It does mean that you have to try, whether you have one hand or ten. Whether you are doing math or tying shoes, you WILL try. Failing will make you stronger and will help you to learn. Quitting is NOT an option.

My heart stung once again. The stupidity amazed me. Where on God's green earth is your filter lady? Do you not realize that I'm talking about MY daughter? And even if I wasn't, how dare you say that the child CAN'T... just because YOU couldn't doesn't mean he/she can't.

"Someone should have warned the juggler!"

I do recall saying something about me being pretty sure I never warned anyone. I mean do you "warn" people that you have blue eyes, do you warn them about your dark frizzy hair, what about the mole on your chin, or the sudden adult acne breakout? Maybe I should just put a warning label on her head... I mean Really??

My heart stung a bit, my tongue bled, my face showed disbelief, my smile tried to hide it all.

I will tell you that that the child I'm talking about is MY child, my first born, the one that made me a mother, the one that has the biggest heart, that wants to heal all pain, that wants to bring my dad back for me to see him again, the one that covers me up if I fall asleep on the couch, the one that has the sweetest smile, the most sincere thoughts, the best laugh, the snaggle tooth smile, the best green eyes I've ever seen, the one that showed me that you can love someone before you meet them, that you can worry before they even leave your body, the one that knows my heartbeat from the inside. She's mine. I CAN tell you that there's nothing she CAN'T do that's she's wanted.

She CAN: climb trees, tie shoes, do her own ponytail, braid my hair, button buttons, put on socks, go rock climbing, be a girl scout, carry things in both arms, climb, open jars, pour milk, hike, run, walk, bike, rope climb, cut steak, bull ride... the list is really endless. What I will tell you is don't EVER tell my child that she can't. That's why I'm her mom and YOU aren't.

I'll leave you with this one handed juggling on you-tube just as a reminder that ANYTHING is possible.

One handed juggling on You-tube

Can we all take a pledge?

Isn't momming hard enough? Wait is that even a word. Lately, I've been feeling a little judged about a lot of things. Earlier in the year it was about me working and not being at my kids school enough... another mama judged me for "working and missing out"... I went home and cried. I opted not to say anything because this mama is truly passionate about being a stay at home mom. I finally decided it wasn't worth saying anything because I was heated and that wasn't the right time for me to voice my opinion.

Why did I care that she stayed home? I didn't. She felt truly passionate about it and was expressing her passion which to me came out as more of a judgement. Whether or not that was her intention, it still hurt a bit and stung like salt in an open wound. Hey more power to ya lady! Were they days I wanted to be home more? Hell to the yes! Were there also days I wanted to gallop out the front door and say "see ya later suckers, I get to go to work!"? Um also a big hell yes. The night after my boys decided to be ultra quiet and proceed to color each other with permanent markers was one of those days... how could I survive being a stay at home mom?

There are pros and cons to each... as there are with many things while being a parent and in life. There's often no "right" or "wrong" way to do things. Wanna do a sticker chart? Awesome. You do allowance? Sounds good. Your whole family eats organic? Fantastic. You drink soy milk? Great. There's an on-going joke at our house, Ryan and I differ on a lot of things when it comes to food. He likes ribeye and lots of fat "It flavors the meat". I like leaner cuts of meat with NO fat. He likes crunchy peanut butter, I like creamy. He likes soft boiled eggs, I like any other kind of egg except soft boiled eggs. Somehow, we've still managed to make life work for the last almost 12 years.

I was judged again this week about my dietary choices. I'm pretty sure whatever I put into my body isn't seeping out of my pores and affecting them. What I do know is that I'm making choices that are leading to a healthier me and I've never felt better (well not including when I was 22 before kids and full on adulting, you know when I was able to sleep as much as I wanted... prior to insomnia). Overall, it's my choice and it's working for me! Ryan and the kids aren't eating everything I'm eating and they for sure aren't eating the portions that I'm eating. We've had great dinner conversations about how mommy is working on a healthier diet and eating less sugar and stuff that comes in a package. The kids know I feel better because I'm eating less of that.

At the end of the day, I'll do me and you do you. To me, that means lifting people up when they are doing something that challenges them. I have a friend that runs marathons, not my style but she loves it, so I support her. I have a friend that eats all organic, hey knock yourself out sister! Another friend eats pretty healthy but doesn't want to give up her one can of soda a day, it works for her. A couple of my friends do fitness competitions, to me I have enough judgment but for them it motivates them, kick some butt ladies! Can we just lift each other up instead of tearing each other down?

Healthy living

I’m 3 weeks into this healthy eating thing and I feel fantastic… no really I swear, I do. I’m sleeping like I haven’t slept in 8 years. Instead of getting up three or four times and night and tossing and turning, I get up once a night to use the bathroom (thank you kids for giving me “the mom bladder”) and then go right back to sleep. It’s incredible. I’m feeling better in my own body and I’m owning up to the mistakes I made with eating and exercise in the past.

What mistakes did I make exactly? I would workout like a boss then come home and eat a sleeve of girl scout cookies (hello, I live with a dealer!) What point was the workout when eating like that? Well the point was that it gave me about an hour and a half of kid free, me time. Was it worth it? Hell to the yes!  It was for my sanity but it also wasn’t helping my waistline or the way I felt overall. I was still sluggish and tired and sleeping like crap.

What am I doing differently at the gym? Well I’m still working out like a boss. I’m paying attention to how my body feels and listening more to those cues. You know when you work with a trainer to push you to lift heavier or they give you the motivation for just one more? I’m able to push myself a little harder and a little further now. I still work with a trainer about once every month or so to be sure I’m mixing up what I’m doing and that I’m targeting all of my muscle groups. She gives me a plan and then I follow that plan until we meet again to mix things up. When my knees start aching on the stairclimber, I switch up my cardio. If my feet are killing from my plantar fasciitis, I try the bike. Yes, when you pay attention, your body guides you in what’s best that day. I still push myself, I still get a good workout but I’m really listening to what my body needs in that moment.

How’s the eating thing? No I’m not eating sticks and twigs. I’m actually full almost all of the time. I’m eating on a schedule and set amounts with the help of a coach. She’s helping me kill my nutrition goals. I haven’t weighed or measured since I started three weeks ago so today’s the day. I allowed her to tell me when to weigh and measure, so instead of just following the scale, I can feel the difference in my body. I’m excited to see if the measurements or scale show a change… I feel like they both will! I’m figuring out how to prepare things in a healthy manner so that they taste good and make me feel satisfied. The unreal thing? I don’t really have a craving for the sweets that I so loved before.

My self-control has been really good too. Why? I think because I was truly ready for a change. I was sick and tired of feeling sick and tired. There were donuts in the conference room at work the other day and though I cursed under my breath (who doesn’t love donuts?!), I didn’t eat one. There were cookies at the meeting yesterday and I chose carrots. Why? Because again, the craving for that sweet stuff isn’t really there.

How has having a coach helped? Honestly, I needed that accountability. I knew I had to send her pictures of my food or a food journal. I didn’t want to disappoint her and I knew she was working hard to keep me on track. For me, having someone coach me with the nutrition piece has been essential. Even sending a quick text of “can I eat this?” has helped me understand reading labels better (though most of my food doesn’t have labels now!). She’s also helped me understand why my body needs certain foods and how they affect how I feel.

What keeps you motivated? Any specific foods that you love? Has someone been your motivation or inspiration? I’m curious what others are doing and what keeps you focused! Share away, remember we are all in this together, having support is key!