7 Things

Have any weird food 'phobias'?  I do...so I thought I'd share (:  

1)  I do not like the smell of pepper.
2)  I do not like my fingers to get dirty while eating, (it really bothers me), so I eat most things with a utensil of some sort, even with some chips.
3)  I hate celery...every.single.thing.about.it.
4)  I love all things lemon, except most lemonades and lemon chicken - lemon and chicken do not belong together. ever.
5)  I eat almost everything with some kind of condiment, and a lot of it.  I hate dry food (:
6)  I like dark chocolate and I love white chocolate, but I do not like milk chocolate unless it contains nuts.
7)  I eat slowly most of the time because eating quickly makes me feel sick.

What are your phobias?



Jenn

Nifty Finds and Tasks

I love finding odd things, cool things, weird things, and my favorite:  nifty things.   The other day on a trip to Target with my sister, I found a very nifty thing in the DOLLAR SPOT!  This one was $3.00, but it was totally worth it!  

A large cup that comes with a fork (the fork snaps on the side of the cup), and a small cup for condiments that fits in the top.  I haven't had a chance to use it yet, but I'm super excited about my quirky find!

One of my dreams is to be a graphic designer.  Not really as an occupation, just as a hobby.  So right now I'm working on getting a certification in Graphic Design.  The process has been extremely slow, but I'm holding to the hope that I can make some serious progress over the Christmas holiday.  This might include Mountain Dew and late nights! :D

A Definite Read!

5 Great Tips to to Stay On Task!!

I have the hardest time staying on task!!  I love to work on a LOT of things, unfortunately I get distracted by it all and don't usually accomplish much!  I found this pinned on Pinterest and found it to be a great read! She offers five amazingly easy and great tips to staying on task. Thanks Bev!!

http://www.linkouture.com/2013/09/5-ridiculously-simple-things-i-do-to.html

What do you think??

Jenn

5 Ways to Keep Christ in Christmas

Christmas Time is here again!  Some people will be saying YEA!!  And others will automatically sigh and think to themselves, "I can't wait 'til it's over!".  With all of it's "BUY ME!!" messages, tight budgets, late nights, grumpy lines and more, it can be hard to remember why Christmas even exists in the first place.

So, in case you need a little reminder - *It's CHRIST*  It's the day that we celebrate His birth and take a little extra time to remember why He came and how He changed the world; our worlds.

And what a reason!!

I've come up with a little collection of ways to keep Christ in Christmas that may help you this holiday season.

Here are 5 Ways to keep Christ in Christmas

1)  Instead of going overboard with the presents, why not come up with a new tradition for presents?  Three is a great number!  Buy three presents for each child and you can explain to them that they got three gifts just like Jesus.  You can buy 1. something they need.  2.  something they want.  and 3.  something to read or something to wear.   Another idea:  keep the gifts homemade!!  These are so much fun to make and mean so much more!

2)  Read the Christmas story throughout the month of December or maybe just on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day and talk about it.  Another fun activity would be to act it out!  Grab some bed sheets and blankets to make robes, dish towels to make head coverings and pillows to be the donkeys, sheep, cows, etc.  

3)  Christmas is about giving, not getting.  A great way to incorporate this is to make simple gifts for the special people in your lives.  You could also do "Random Acts of Kindness" every day in December, or you could make handmade gifts with your kids to give to the mailman, baker, waiter, etc.  Whether you do one or all of these, remind your kids about the gift Jesus gave to us and why it's important to give.

4)  "Jesus Letters"  Instead of writing letters to Santa, have your kids write letters to Jesus.  This could be a way to tell Him "Thank You" for things He has done, special requests for people who are sick, in need, etc. and not just a list of wants.

5)  Open gifts on Christmas Eve.  This gives you all day December 25th to celebrate Jesus, to focus on Him, and to give to others.  

What are some ways you keep Christ in Christmas??  I'd love to hear!

Merry Christmas!

Jenn

Healthy, Healthy, Healthy

So you know how there's always a diet fad going around??  Yea...most of them are expensive & way out of my budget.  But I would love to be healthier - but you read all this stuff and there's so many different things, so many different ways to diet...carb diet, calorie diet, vegan diet, vegetarian diet, Weight Watchers, Nutrisystem...on and on and on, yada yada yada.  Then there are some things that just tell you to eat healthy and excercise.  Well...most of those things are not specific enough (for me at least) or the stuff they come up with to eat is an..."I don't think so" (:

But, the past few days I have come across some things that are simply talking about eating natural, unprocessed foods.  I've been trying to read more about it and after reading some of the things they do to process foods - I feel yuck, and think that I can't believe I'm putting that in my body.  You should research it!!

Anyway, so...I've found two websites that I really like about the unprocessed foods...

tonetiki

&

100daysofrealfood

Tonetiki gives you four goals to strive for every day...

1) Drink a gallon of water every day
2) Remove all processed foods and fake sugars from your diet
3) Move your body more
4) Count your calories (take your goal weight, & add a Zero to the end, and that's how many calories to allow  yourself in a day).

I think it'd be hard to drink that much water a day, but doable - and I know that your body needs it!  She also gives you some recipes to naturally flavor your water (:  There's also recipes on this website - and some of that stuff looks GOOD!!

100 Days of Real Food

They challenge you to go 100 days eating only real food, no processed foods (:  They also give you the opportunity to take a 10 day challenge instead.  They also have a lot of recipes and great info!!


My thing with changing the way I eat/drink is that most of the time I don't know what I'm doing (:  Or even if you give me everything to know what I'm doing - I can't remember it all at once or I get overwhelmed trying to keep up with it all at once.  The thing I like about these two websites is:  Tonetiki gives you four goals to strive for each day.  And 100 Days of Real Food has a 100 day plan with 14 steps to take (new step every week) so that way (when you're like me) you can take it one step at a time. 

I don't know if I'll do this - but I'm thinking about it!  At least to start trying some of it....I'll keep you posted (:

"I'm Going On a Bear Hunt"

Yesterday was my preschoolers graduation!!  They did so good and I can't say how proud of them I am!!  It makes me sad because it's over, but I'm so happy for them!  I didn't have time to cry, otherwise I think I probably would have.  I also didn't have time to get any pictures ):  But everything was quick and busy, and then it was all over.  I hope that they have a great summer - they sure deserve one!  I also got the coolest gifts!!  My kids are awesome (as are the parents, they rock!!)



Have you ever heard of the children's book "We're Going On a Bear Hunt"??  Well...I kind of feel that way right now - except the title of my book would be "I'm Going On a Job Hunt!"...I've been looking and looking for jobs and filling out applications.......whew.....a job for summer, a job for the fall.  And....I still haven't heard anything...):  Sigh...but that's the way it goes sometimes, so in the meantime I'll keep job hunting, praying, and catching up on things that I haven't had time to do the past few months!!  I'm also going to try to start some new things - fun!! :D  We'll have to wait and see how it all works out.

Reflection...

So many things have happened this past year.  Some quite wonderful, and some quite hard.  Something  I have discovered this year - and am learning more every day, is that no matter what happens in life...God is always good.  When things are great and life is happy - God is good.  When things are rough and life is hard - God is good.  He is good in spite of...and I'm so very thankful for this amazing truth.  I don't know what I'd do without Him.  I hope that in this new year I can be a better light to the people around me, and to share the joy that He so freely gives. 

One of the main things that happened this year - is my first real teaching job :D  As a Pre-K teacher my head has kicked in to extra high gear and it hardly ever stops.  I took my first Grad class this Fall and I learned that teachers make around 900 decisions a DAY!!  Can you believe that??  No wonder I'm tired, lol.  I have discovered first hand that there is NO possible way to get everything done in the normal 8/9 hour day...or...at least there's not to get everything done that I want them to be able to do.  The past few weeks I've worked on rearranging my room - changing up centers, doing this, doing that, etc., in order for the kids to have a better learning experience.  I can honestly say that I love teaching, and I love teaching Pre-K, though it is definitely a challenge.  But I wouldn't trade this year or the kids I have for anything.  I'm so thankful to be able to be their teacher.

Another wonderful thing that happened this year was being able to go to Hrvatska (Croatia) for a second time!!  I was able to see all of my dear, dear friends once again :D We had such a blast at camp!! Again :D!  And walking around Varaždin with Ivana and looking at the castle...sigh...I miss them!!

 

Moving on - I have now started some classes on Graphic Design, which I'm super pumped about :D  It's been kind of a slow process because life's been so crazy, but I have enjoyed it thus far!

 

I'm so thankful to be able to end this year with all of my family and friends.  God's been good to me.  I have new projects to work on in the upcoming year, new things I want to do, things I want to try, things I want to accomplish.  But instead of calling them New Year's Resolutions, they're just going to be goals.  Things to strive for.  I may not be able to do all of them at once, but a little bit at a time can make all the difference in the world! 

I'd like to share a verse with you that I found the other day.  "In the fear of the LORD is strong confidence:  and his children shall have a place of refuge."  Proverbs 14:26  Isn't it wonderful that as long as we have the Lord we can have the confidence to face whatever comes against us?  And not just confidence, but STRONG confidence. :D For when has the Lord ever failed?  Never...and when the waves are crashing and the winds are howling - He is our place of refuge.  Comforting words to take with us into the New Year.

 

To end with, I'm thankful for all the things that've happened this year - good and bad.  For without the good, we wouldn't be able to cherish life quite so much, and without the bad, we would never grow and become the person we're meant to be.  I'm also thankful for this New Year.  Time to start fresh :D  No actions have yet been done, no words have yet been said, no mistakes have yet been made. 

 

Happy New Year, my dear friends. 

May you find the Lord real in this New Year.
I love you all.
Jenn