Giveaway news!

I just wanted to let you know about an awesome giveaway at Deals to Meals for a Bosch mixer! I have a Bosch mixer, but it is 35 years old. I would love a new one! Go to Deals to Meals to enter now!

Earth Day!

HAPPY EARTH DAY EVERYBODY!!!!

This is a day to pick up the earth! Conserve it! Educate the inhabitants! Recycle and reuse!

You know that I feel that the home environment is the one that needs saving, so here is my twist on Earth Day.

I know that my home environment is in need of a little TLC. How about yours? I need to dedicate a day with the whole family to clean up the yard and to de-clutter the inside. What a great time of year to get out the biodegradable trash bags and go to town!

Getting the whole family involved will make all the difference for me. That is my way of conserving energy. I really need to educate the inhabitants of our home environment(my kids) about keeping their rooms tidy and respecting our home in general.

It will be a time that we can go through old clothes, toys, books etc...and recycle them by donating to the Salvation Army. I'm sure that we have so many things that we just don't need or use that could be very useful to someone else. I can't wait to re-coup some endangered space in my small abode.

This is such an important step in saving the home environment. I'm sure you can't deny the peaceful feeling that is in a home that is clean and the opposite is true as well. I don't have time or energy to spend with the family if I always feel depleted by clutter. It is amazing how it can zap your energy.

So this Earth Day I pledge to spend a day to clean up my home and make it a more beautiful place to live.

Get Ready For the Floods (Part 2)

Before you read this, please read Part 1.

So, why is this important? Why do our homes need a firm foundation?

When hard times come, and they will, you will be able to hold fast to each other for strength. The love, trust and foundation will be there. If you have faith in God, together you can gain strength through prayer and fasting. You will not curse God, but seek to understand His plan and learn to depend upon Him.

When your children are teenagers and making decisions for themselves, if they have a strong foundation, you can hope that they will remember and stand strong for the things they believe and have been taught. They hopefully will look for a spouse who has the same values and will be able to raise their children in a family with a strong foundation. This could be the most important decision of their life.

How can this change the world?

Our country was built on a foundation of freedom. It was based on judeochristian principles. God blessed this country to thrive and prosper. No civilization has ever seen such amazing advances in such a short span of history. Over time, the family has weakened and the world has seeped in. Black and white are now gray. Right and wrong are "more complicated" now. Our foundation on God and morality has begun to falter. Do you see it crumbling? I do. Do you see the very definition of the family being bombarded? Do you see children, teenagers and young adults being tossed to and fro because they have no foundation on which to stand?

It is all connected.

It all starts with the family.

We cannot let the government become our children's parents or our god.

We need to be our children's parents. If we can strengthen the family and teach correct values and principles, we can cement this foundation. Family by family, home by home we can raise young people who love God and country, who are honest and upright. THE FAMILY is the foundation and backbone of this country.

So prepare now for the floods and just remember that strength can result from stress, if you don't let it break you. You know deep down that the only way to grow is to wade your way through trials.

Remember.....remember to build your family upon a rock.

Get Ready For the Floods (Part 1)

I'm not convinced that I am finally going to get that water front property that the environmentalists are promising, but I do know that floods and storms are coming!

Do you remember the story of the wise man and the foolish man? The foolish man built his house on the sand and the wise man built his on a rock. Well, the rains came down and the floods came up (the story didn't say anything about polar icecaps melting, but I guess that it could have been a possibility). What happened to the the two houses? One washed away and one STAYED STRONG! The difference: A FIRM FOUNDATION.

Are you prepared for the storms and floods of life? Can your family stay strong when things get tough?

What do I mean by storms and floods?

These floods are not going to rise up due to your refusal to drive a solar powered car. These storms come in the form of sickness, loss of jobs, financial troubles, a wayward child, debt, death, disappointment, or addiction. Sometimes the the storms are literal. Look at Hurricane Katrina and the major stress that it brought.

How do you build a strong foundation for your family? Here is a start:

1. Define or develop core beliefs and values in yourself: What do you believe? Do you believe in God? Do you want to? What is important to you? What characteristics do you want to develop? What is your rock? Is it strong and immovable? These questions may be hard to answer for some and for others it may be really easy. It is so important to have a firm foundation as a parent. Children look to you for answers. You are building the foundation for your family. Is it sand or rock?

2. Teach values to kids with love: This is pretty self explanatory, but takes effort and patience. If you are religious, teach them to pray, read scriptures and help them know that they are children of God. Talk to your kids about the consequences of lying, substance abuse, immorality, stealing, cheating, disrespecting you, others or property. Teach them the value of hard work, serving others, honesty, dressing and acting modestly and the importance of getting a good education. Let them know what you expect from them and why. They won't learn right from wrong unless you teach them. Don't let trends, teachers, celebrities, magazines, t.v. shows or friends set your child's values. Never a good idea!

3. Practice living values daily: Stay consistent in your family prayers, scriptures and family hour. Look for opportunities to teach and reinforce the values you have taught. If they need to be disciplined, do it with love and talk to them about why they were punished. Never give up or give in.

4. Be a good example of the values you represent: Your kids are watching you! Be honest, be prayerful, use good language, be respectful of others and respect yourself. Your true colors come out when you are stressed or surprised. Believe me. I know! I've never been more challenged in my life before becoming a parent. I'll give you lots of examples in the posts to come. :)

I'm getting a little long winded and I don't want to lose you, so I'm going to post the conclusion in a day or two.

So, be sure to check back, subscribe or follow this blog so you don't miss a post!

Earth Hour

So....did you all participate is in Earth Hour this year? You know... where you were supposed to turn off all the lights in your house for one hour to show global solidarity in the fight against climate change?

Me neither. I think that was the night I was throwing all my Styrofoam cups and plates into a bonfire in my back yard while listening to Rush Limbaugh.

I'm just kidding, but I think I was doing something that involved an SUV. I know. I'm evil.

Anyway, this Earth Hour thing got me thinking. What if, instead of turning off our lights for an hour to save the planet, we dedicated an hour a week to help save the family. We'll call it Family Hour.

Oddly enough, I grew up with Family Hour. I did! Every Sunday we gathered as a family and had a gospel lesson. Either my parents would give the lesson or assign one of us kids to do it. I always liked listening to Bible stories using the flannel board. Family hour also included a family scheduling time with the calendar so we all knew what we had going for the up coming week.

Now on Monday we had Family Night. That was more about doing an activity together, like playing sports, playing board games, going to the mall or to the park, going to a baseball game or walking to the ice cream shop. Every Monday we'd ask with excitement, "So what are we doing for family night tonight?" Sometimes we would even combine with another family in the neighborhood and do an activity together.

What if the whole world did this? What if we all dedicated one hour a week to spend together as a family or as neighbors. What would the effect be? How could relationships and lives be changed?

I notice how starved some children are for attention. They want to spend time with parents. They want structure and predictability.

We had our 7 year old daughter give us a family hour lesson on Sunday about baptism. She did such a great job and WE LET HER KNOW IT! She couldn't wipe that smile off her face if she tried. Her confidence grew and she felt special. That is what it is all about.

You know what impressed me about my parents? They kept this up, even during the ugly teenage years. They probably didn't think we were listening or that we were falling asleep, but my love for the gospel and for my Savior was formed during family hour. Week by week, hour by hour, relationships were strengthened. I have never doubted my parent's love.

Some weeks will be better than others, but your efforts and diligence will reap rewards.

Do you have one hour a week to save YOUR WORLD?

Environmentally Friendly

I first would like to start with a disclaimer.

I am not perfect. I'm not a good housekeeper. I'm not up for a Mother of the Year award.

But there is one thing that I am....I am an idealist.

That is one thing that the environmentalists and I have in common. We have an idea in our head of what our planet or our homes could be if we followed certain principles. We want to be perfect, but life happens.

It's kind of like when Al Gore chartered a greenhouse gas exuding private jet to accept his Nobel Peace Prize. He just happened to be getting the prize for his work in raising awareness about global warming. The irony is delicious. But, I get it.

Today I caught myself yelling at the kids for having a messy room. I then walked into the living room and kitchen to see dirty dishes in the sink and on the counters, granola all over the kitchen floor and general messiness everywhere. How can I expect cleanliness of my kids if I can't set the standard?

So, I just wanted to make it clear that I don't count myself as the supreme authority on this subject. I am a work in progress. Just think of it this way. I want to use my home as a laboratory for my environmental experiments.

I want to find out how to create an environmentally friendly home. I believe that these efforts will help produce strong, secure children that have values, compassion and integrity. I believe that we can improve relationships between husband and wife. I believe that our homes can be a refuge from the storm. I believe that a happy home can brighten our whole outlook on life. I believe that we could truly save the world, if we could first save the home environment.

It is time for us to clean out some of the toxins in our lives and in our homes to make it more environmentally friendly.

Here is some homework for you. Make a list of toxins in your home. What causes contention? What distractions plague you? What poisons have made their way into the house or into your life that take away from the peace?

Now can you do something for me? Will you leave some of your answers in the comments area? I would love to get a feel for what you would like to improve. Thanks!

I Hate March!

I love the front cover of a new magazine. It's like it can read my mind. It knows what I want to do and learn. It knows what I need and desire. I really do want to beat ab flab. I absolutely need to know what snacks won't pack on the pounds. And and I really, really, REALLY want to be STRONG, SEXY & SCULPTED IN 28 DAYS. So I open the magazine to soak in all the wisdom that it has to offer. And as I flip through the pages, I start to notice a theme:

Green and Gorgeous- Green your beauty routine to protect the environment and look fabulous

Eco-friendly gifts we love

A t-shirt that reads, "GREEN IS THE NEW BLACK"

An ad for an earth-friendly makeup brush that "has a conscience"

29 ways to salute mother earth

A celebrity's "green twist" on health and fitness and her eco-friendly home

Environmentally responsible clothing

Are you getting as annoyed as I am? If not, this blog is probably not for you. Maybe you should go Google Leonardo DiCaprio.

Bye, bye now. Go on.....up in the right hand corner...there.

Okay, now we can talk.

See, I hate March because we all get our April magazines in March. Poor April has been hijacked by the environmentalists. April is now Earth day, global warming hysteria and climate change awareness month. Well, not in so many words, but you get the point. I am getting so tired of being lectured about how I am destroying mother earth because my makeup brush doesn't have a conscience! My makeup brush is made of plastic and it is totally from Wal-Mart. I am just coming clean here people.

We can learn a lot from the environmental activists though. They have created so many buzz words that have culturized the crisis. Green used to be my favorite color. Now it is just annoying. Just 5 years ago, I would have thought that a carbon credit was that weird carbon paper cashiers would use to imprint your credit card. And I probably would have slapped you if you told me that my "footprint" was the size of Al Gore's. No offense Al. I'm just sensitive about certain things.

Let me tell you where I am coming from. I love the earth. I do. I don't want to destroy it. And I think Al Gore is probably a really nice guy. I just think that it is strange that so much time, effort, money, activism, advertising, and legislation is going into.....the weather. That changes. Like it has. For many years now. Weren't we going through a second ice age a couple of decades ago? I mean, I wish the globe would make up it's mind because, I could actually go for some warming right about now. That's another thing I hate about March.

There is an environment that I do believe is under attack. I feel that it is crucial to clean it up. I know that it is the key to saving the planet. Like the climate, it is global. It has no language or borders. It affects us all. It is something that we all have in common. It is the family. It is our home environment.

I am going to take a page from the environmentalist's handbook and use some of their buzz words to "raise awareness" about the real problem. I want to tackle the home environment and I hope you will join the cause.

But before we start, I really need to do some laundry. I don't have a single, environmentally responsible piece of clothing to wear tomorrow.