Family Musings

When I was in college, one of my favorite cheap meals was white rice with a can of vegetables (usually corn) mixed in. Even now, when I recreate that college standby I get a little nostalgic for my roommates. That wasn't a very healthy meal though, for lots of reasons. Now that I am an adult though, our family has been eating whole grain bread for at least a few years. I stopped buying white bread about the time Charlotte was born. It was an easy transition and now I find white bread sandwiches pretty boring because of the lack of texture and flavor. I tried to make the switch to brown rice in our quest to be healthier, but it has been a less smooth transition. Brown rice just doesn't have the same mouth feel as white rice. Fortunately, Uncle Ben's has a solution coming in July that pairs the fiber of brown rice with the taste and texture of white rice. This makes me happy, especially since I am back on Weight Watchers again and need to make sure I get lots of fiber in...

At the risk of reducing my own chances of winning, I am going to share one of my favorite blogs with you - Domestic Debacle . Currently, she is hosting a giveaway for a new Oreck XL Platinum Pilot Cleaning System. You can check out her post for details about why she loves this vacuum and how to win.

Charlotte has long enjoyed coloring, even if her attention span for it is shorter than I'd like. Recently, she has been wanting to draw people and I thought it would be a good idea to capture her pictures for posterity. I labeled the drawings in case you need any help identifying the important parts. And this is the one I colored. :)

Earlier this year, I discovered an easy to make teacher gift. These gifts can be highly personalized and fashionable. I helped teach a room full of 60+ woman how to do it and I've made several on my own. As a matter of fact, I made six of these easy teacher gifts earlier this week for Charlotte and Mary's  MOPs teachers. They are decorative clipboards. Here is your supply list: 1 plain clipboard (not the plastic kind) 1 bottle of modge podge 1 foam paint brush scissors cardstock of your choice  nail file clear acrylic spray sealer old newspaper to cover your table Step 1 - Design your layout. You can keep it simple and just use 1 or 2 sheets of paper. But they look more fashionable and designer-ish if you get creative. Think about interesting ways to cut the paper. Consider that a design might be best near the bottom so the thick paper does not mess up writing. Step 2 - Cut out the space at the top for the actual clip part of the clipboard. If I am making more ...

I am a junior in high school (16 years old) which makes my brother a freshman (14 or 15 in this picture). This is when we lived in Deltona and he sang in the show choir (yes, he was a gleek!). The wrist brace was from an injury with the rifle on the Reflections color guard . And I would be remiss if I didn't call your attention to my purse, sitting on the swing. Awesome, isn't it?!

We love going to Flying Tigers games here in Lakeland. They are our very own minor league team and our family always has a good time when we go. Recently, we invited my father-in-law to join us and we think he enjoyed it as much as we do. I have been playing around in Photoshop elements recently, and here are some of the pictures he took, with some help from PSE. One thing I like to do is make sure Charlotte has plenty to keep her occupied. While she loves the game, it does move kind of slow for a 2 year old. I found these neat sports drinks at Walmart that are round and come with a baseball shrink wrap. They are only 15 calories and she gets to have a special "baseball drink," each time we go. You can kind of see her holding one in this picture. A happy family picture. Each Friday night at the home games, our team gives something away. Two weeks ago it was the green Flying Tigers shirt Bruce is wearing. On the evening of this game, we all got a pink Flying Tigers shirt ...

After thinking about it for a long, long time, I decided to make Family Musings a Do-Follow blog. If you do not have a website or blog, than this really won't matter to you. For those of you who read and do have a blog or website of your own, this now means that whenever you leave a comment, Google, and other search engines, will give you link credit. This improves your websites ranking on Google. Consider this my small part to help the community. That being said, if you came to this blog because you want some Do Follow action, please make sure you leave a comment that is relevant to the post. Don't just say, "great blog," or "thanks for sharing." If your comment does not contribute to the "family musings," then I will delete it. And I am the ultimate decision maker on whether or not a link stays. (You link, I follow icon courtesy of Design Mivox .)

Charlotte has pretty much always been a ham for the cameras. Now though, she has developed this cheesy grin. What do you think?

I think I might be crazy, but I've decided to take up running again. You may not know it, but in 2006, when I was 8 weeks pregnant with Charlotte, I ran the Disney half-marathon with my friends Angela and Kelly. She is a runner. I am not. But I did it. Well, I jogged the first 8 miles and split the last 5.1 miles between walking and jogging. As soon as I got to the end (3 hours and 5 minutes later) I swore I would never do it again. Then, one day a couple of months ago, Charlotte grabbed my hand and said, "run with me Mommy." And I did. And for some reason, it kind of felt good. So I started thinking about running again. Then I realized, I can't run and wear a baby at the same time (I'm not as awesome as my friend Kelly who wore her 2 year old during the Disney half!) So I set out to find a jogging stroller. After a lot of research, I decided the BOB Revolution Duallie was the one that fit my list of needs best - high quality, turning or locking front wheel, f...

My brother, Nick, and I at Easter in 1980 something, maybe 1983. It was the same year my Uncle Joe got married and this is what we wore for the wedding . My mom made my flower girl dress. Pretty awesome isn't it?!

I wasn't at this event. My mom and husband took Charlotte to the annual Junior League World of Reading Festival. So all you get is pictures. Bruce can chime in later with stories if he wants to. (Oh, I was in Miami that day for a funeral. Maybe I'll share more about that later, when my brain is done looking at pictures.) Boogying on stage Giving G-ma lots and lots of love! Climbing to the top of the slide. Apparently the lady operating this game didn't think Charlotte could do it. She proved her wrong. And didn't get any help. You go girl! Running through the obstacle course with the bigger kids... And how could it not have been a good day if it ended with eating ice cream in a swing?!

Last night, Charlotte probably didn't even realize it, but she gave me one of the best Mother's Days gifts I could imagine. As we were praying together at the end of the day, I asked her if there was anything else she wanted to pray for. She replied, "that I would be better at obeying you." I nearly cried right there! And you know I prayed for that too! Charlotte was so sweet and sincere when she asked. And remember a year ago, when I shared how Charlotte uttered her first 3-word phrase on Mother's Day 2009? (Don't feel bad if you don't remember, Bruce reminded me.) Well, she has come a long way since then. To hear her utter sentences with 8 or more words is pretty normal around here. And she can sure string a bunch of them together! Charlotte has the gift of gab from her momma!