A Little Early

It's Wordless Wednesday!

(I already put up the tree. Whee!)

I hope you and yours have a happy Thanksgiving.

Until next time, may you be blessed - and inspired to pass it on!

Queen of Halloween

My mother-in-law is the Queen of Halloween around here. She decorates like mad and her collection of Halloween-themed stuff just keeps growing and growing. This year she asked me if I could take some pictures of her decorations. Taking pictures makes me happy. I was glad to help her out. These are my favorite shots from yesterday (notice the yellow in those cute flowers):

What made you happy this week?

Until next time, may you be blessed - and inspired to pass it on!

Look and Listen You Will

This Wordless Wednesday is brought to you by Origami Yoda and Darth Paper. Don't worry, "The Imperial March" (Darth Vader's theme) is wordless.

And so it is with my wannabe Jedi mind trickery (and these adorable butt-kicking finger puppets my son and his friend made) that I bid you good day.

Blessed may you be - and pass the inspiration on you will!

Oh, Hail!

It's Wordless Wednesday!

(And it's hailing like CRAZY outside! 

Hubby caught some!)

 

Until next time, may you be blessed - and inspired to pass it on!

Fall, Fabulous Fall!

Fall's almost here! You have no idea how happy that makes me. If you could see my happy, it would be terrifyingly large, like one of those big T-Rex statues at a natural history museum. That's right, I'm so happy today it's kinda scary. Here's what's making me happy this week:

I may live in a podunk town where not much happens, but I feel so blessed to live on property where I can take my kids out to see their granddaddy's garden full of pretty pumpkins and fodder shocks, or where I can open up my door and look across the road to see heavenly sunlight beaming through the trees. 

What's making you happy today?

Until next time, may you be blessed - and inspired to pass it on!

Wacky Wrap-Up Revisited

Whew! Last week was a whirlwind and I'm happy to say that both emotionally and physically things are looking up. Something fun happened to me and I want to share it with you and revisit the blog post it all stemmed from.

I subscribe to Redbook Magazine and I also follow them on facebook and Twitter. Several months ago they asked (via facebook status update) what kind of quirky coping mechanisms we readers use when we need some calm in our lives. I shared my "Wacky Wednesday Wrap-Up" blog post with them in the comments section of that status update. One of their senior editors emailed me not long ago and asked if she could quote me in their October issue. Of course I said yes! I got my magazine in the mail today and sure enough I saw my little quote. While it's not as amazing as having an article published, it's still lots of fun to see my own name in print in one of my favorite magazines. (And it's a great excuse to remind you to go wrap up in a warm blanket - right now if possible!)

I hope right now, somewhere in this world there is a woman who is discovering (or re-discovering) the "aaaaaaah calm joy" moment of wrapping herself in a blanket fresh from the dryer thanks to this little quote.

What "aaaaaaah calm joy" moments have you experienced lately?  

(Please share in the comments section.)

Until next time, may you be blessed - and inspired to pass it on!

Family Reading Night

It's Wordless Wednesday! 

(Current reads. From the top: 

the six-year-old's, 

the nine-year-old's, 

mine, 

and the husband's.)

Until next time, may you be blessed - and inspired to pass it on!

Let's Play!

Games!

I hated them when I was a kid.

I love them now. 

My kids and I enjoy board games, card games, DVD games, etc.

We played together today, which brought us much happiness!

We keep our games organized

- front and center in the living room -
so fun is always at our fingertips!

Are you finding happiness today?

Until next time, may you be blessed - and inspired to pass it on!

Nature Nurtures

It's Wordless Wednesday!
(Welcome to the surroundings of my humble abode.
This is why I love living in a holler - that's a hollow
to all you city folk out there.)

 

 

Until next time, may you be blessed - and inspired to pass it on!

Where I'm From

 

I am from turntables, from Sylvania and white record sleeves. From album art covered in dust that when blown about glistened and danced in sunlight streaming through dining room windows.

I am from the pale yellow house on Second Avenue, from the porch piled high with stacks of old newspapers. From the big concrete steps with their pits and pockmarks and cracks that filled with water when the rains came.

I am from the Gravel Pit with its green trees, grey rocks and brown water. From hidden trails and secret coves and the sweet smell of honeysuckle in the breeze. From fishing with Daddy and bluegill and bait and tackle and bobbers and bamboo poles and pet worms and crawdads.

I am from road trips and Blevins hips, from Henry Edsel and Dawn Elaine. From a telephone technician and a seamstress. From tinkerers and talkers, mail clerks and military men, secretaries and songbirds.

I am from the keeping of secrets and the struggle to survive. From walls that couldn't talk but could tell you stories most people wouldn't want to hear.

From "but you have such a pretty face" and "hold your horses" and "get home when the street lights come on".

I am from the school of John 3:16. From prayer and thanksgiving and parables, and grace and mercy... and masks I am still learning how to remove.

I'm from Appalachia and Wales, from hills and hollers and preachers and poets. I am from bourbon balls in Aunt Bonnie's refrigerator and pot roast from Mom's old clickety-clackety pressure cooker, from wedding cakes and Nilla Wafers and saltines and 7-Up.

From the grandmother who made perfect potato candy and baked the softest peanut butter cookies, the paper beads and the button box she always always kept at the ready, and the grandfather in the big brown chair, silent and stoic and loved and adored more than he could ever imagine.

I am from the ashes of the pictures and the journals and the bridges I have burned, from the passionate soul songs no one will ever hear. I am from the snapshots saved and the inked up pages of ratty old notebooks, from the special sounds of the music I share with the world.

__________________________________________

I was introduced to Fred First Floyd's "Where I'm From" template by Tracie Nall.

If you decide to try this and share it, you can link it up here: Schmutzie

___________________________________________

Until next time, may you be blessed - and inspired to pass it on!

Three Things (Giveaway!)

I have this nice Vera Bradley* mini hipster (6" x 8" x ½" - 59¼" strap) in the "Viva la Vera" pattern. (It's very gently used - VERY gently - meaning it looks like new because it was barely touched and there are no tags on it. That's it in the picture up there.) I received it as a gift yesterday from someone who asked me to pass it along if I wasn't able to use it. Well, my youngest son has asthma and I pretty much always have to carry with us his rescue inhaler and chamber (which is huge) so it's just not practical for me to hang on to this gorgeous little bag... so I was showing it to my sister today and asking her if she would be able to use it and she said, "You should use it to do a giveaway on your blog!" So guess what? I'm doing a giveaway on my blog! FUN!

To enter this giveaway, leave a comment on this blog post telling me three things you ALWAYS carry in your purse. If you're a fella or you just carry a wallet, leave a comment with three things you always have in your wallet. If you don't carry a purse or a wallet, just leave a comment with three reasons you want to win this giveaway. Limit one entry per person. Duplicate comments will not be counted as valid entries. The winner will be chosen using the True Random Number Generator at Random.org. This giveaway is open to US residents ages 18 and over. The giveaway will close at 6:00pm Eastern Standard Time on July 15th, 2011. The winner will be notified via email and will have 48 hours to respond to the notification email with their shipping address. If your email address is not accessible through your blogger profile or I do not know you personally, you must leave your email address in your comment for your entry to be valid. Thank you for participating!

The three things I always carry in my purse are:

My Vera Bradley checkbook cover and change purse. They're very YELLOW, and I insist that every purse I carry coordinate with them in some way. You all know about me and my yellow joy. I can't leave the house without it!

My Burt's Bees lip balm (with the label removed - I know that's kinda strange, but it's so much more YELLOW that way).

A list that my wonderful friend Joanne passed on to me - 10 forms of twisted thinking. It helps me remember how to stay grounded and not get caught up in worry or fear! I transfer it from wallet to wallet and I read it on average once a week (anytime my thoughts start spiraling I reach for it).

Until next time, may you be blessed - and inspired to pass it on!


*Vera Bradley is NOT sponsoring this post. I am not affiliated with Vera Bradley in any way. (But I do love me some Vera Bradley!)

Self Care Makes Me Happy!

Today I'm jumping in on Leigh vs. Laundry's Happiness Project.
(Better late than never, eh?)

 

Wearing my favorite PJs and 

curling up with a good 

magazine makes me happy. 

 

Doing my own nails 

relaxes me and makes me happy. 

Listening to my MP3 player, 

be it music 

or relaxing self-care 

visualizations, makes me happy.

I'd like to thank my friend Tracie 

(From Tracie is her fabulous blog) 

for sharing the Happiness Project with me.

(The Happiness Project 

is a lot like
the Yellow Joy Machine,
which also makes me happy!)

What makes you happy?  

Please share in the comments 

section - or join the Happiness Project 

and blog about it. 

If you do, please leave a link to your blog 

in the comments here.

Until next time, may you be blessed - and inspired to pass it on!

Happy Sick Day!

The past couple of weeks here at home have been full of illness and busy-ness and craziness... and FUN!

My healing journey has brought me so far from where I was just a few short years ago. I'm now able to have fun in the midst of sickness.

What?

I've found absolute JOY in spending sick days on the couch with my family. There was a full week this month when we were all too sick to move, so we just cuddled and watched movies and read books and let the dishes pile up to the ceiling. And you know what? Some of those dishes are still there on the counter, waiting to be washed with yellow Joy. I remember the last time things got this bad. I ended up blogging about it back then too.

Today, my nine-year-old is home sick with an ear infection. No school for him. Just antibiotics and lots of rest. He and I don't get too much one-on-one time these days because he's usually too busy being an active kid while I'm busy trying to catch up with him (and his little brother!), so we're both actually happy about sitting here at the coffee table working together. He's doing make-up work from school and I'm blogging. When we're ready for a break, Ghostbusters 1 and 2 are waiting by the DVD player. Good times all around. Time together. That's what counts.

Those dishes? The ones that have been sitting there for over a week? They've been rinsed and stacked and they can wait. They're inanimate objects taking up space on my counter. Whoop-de-doo. My son? The one who's next to me right here, right now? He's growing more and more each day... and I won't always have the chance to bond with him like this, in stillness and contentment. In this moment I have an opportunity to connect with him. That connection can't wait.

How is your day? Your week? Are you giving up something priceless for something temporary? I used to do that almost every single day. I thought cleaning constantly was more important than creating bonds with my children. I gave up a lot of good memories in order to be able to say "all my dishes are clean." It's difficult to find the joy when you're busy keeping up with the Joneses. Keep up with yourself, your family, your joy. Do your personal best. Be the best family member you can be. Be your own version of joyful. You won't be sorry.

Until next time, may you be blessed - and inspired to pass it on!

Alyssa Bentley Makes it Happen - Do You?

Recording Artist Alyssa Bentley
at LA Fashion Week
Photo by Thomas Connors*

I went to school with a girl named Alyssa who had the voice of an angel. She was beautiful and she could sing. We choir kids talked about how Alyssa would be famous one day. I didn't get the chance to hang out with Alyssa when we were in school together (she was several years younger than me) but I do remember her as a sweet and talented girl who smiled often and sang her heart out when given the chance.

Look at her now!

All these years later, Alyssa's still singing her heart out. She's been on the road to making her dreams come true for a while now. Recently I listened to an interview she did with WSJU Radio. I was so impressed by her willingness to talk about how she had to work hard to get to where she is today. She talked about coming from a family full of musical talent and being raised by a daddy who taught her the value of hard work. She spoke of being very aware of the kind of people she surrounds herself with. She does her best to be sure that she's working with people who share her vision, people she can trust. Alyssa has a goal, and she's not just sitting around waiting for her goal to realize itself. She's definitely dreaming big, but she doesn't stop at the dream. She's working. She's reaching. She's getting out there and singing, doing shows, writing songs, getting studio time in, promoting her tunes, surrounding herself with people who support her (a BIG key to realizing your dreams)... and she just released her first music video! That's right. Today is the world premiere of Alyssa Bentley's video "Brand New Girl" at www.AlyssaBentley.com! Go, Alyssa, go!




Alyssa Bentley makes it happen. Her secret (besides the fact that there's an abundance of my favorite magical color in this video - which my regular readers will recognize as as a must for any successful joy-filled dream fulfillment) is hard work and a love for what she does. I've had a few dreams in the last year or so. I've made them happen. You can read a little about that by clicking here. Alyssa Bentley can do it. I can do it. You can do it too.

So I have a couple of questions for you:

What is your dream? 

Are you working to realize it?

I'd love to see some discussion in the comments section about your dreams. Until next time... may you be blessed - and inspired to pass it on!

*Used with permission. See more of Thomas Connors' photography at www.waveguider.com

Yellow Joy - It's Not Just for Dishes Anymore

I'm one of "those people" who normally keeps her house pretty clean. I usually enjoy doing my housework because thanks to FLYlady.com and the awesome housecleaning and management tips available on that site, I can (9 times out of 10) have my house TOTALLY ready for company in 15 minutes or less. We're talking toilets scrubbed, mirrors cleaned and all. If family or friends show up at my house unexpectedly, I don't have a bit of a problem letting them in for a visit because I'm usually on top of my house cleaning routine.

BUT

Last week, I had one of those days. You know, one of those days when you wake up and you realize that you haven't touched your house for about a week because things got busy and crazy and you had no time to clean. One of those days when you fix supper and you go to set the table and since almost every dish in your house is dirty and you just don't have the energy to wash anything, you start debating on whether or not you can get away with serving the beautiful healthy gourmet meal you just whipped up Hamburger Helper on the lids to your pots and pans. You wonder if you can convince your family eat with those tiny little three-pronged shrimp forks that are always lurking in the shadows of your silverware drawer.

Ah, those days. Those days make me want to pull my hair out and surrender to the dust bunnies and the creepy-looking goo that's congealed on my kitchen counters. Those days make me want to whine, whine, whine. They make me wanna crawl up under the covers and hire someone to come and scrub my house from top to bottom. They make me wanna cry.

Last week when I woke up to the disgusting out-of-control mess that was sure to send me into one of those days  (after I got past the wanting to cry part of things) I reminded myself that (just like FLYlady says) I can do ANYTHING for 15 minutes. If I could focus for just 15 minutes on one part of the ick, I could get things back in check pretty quickly. I've done this before. I know it works. So I shuffled over to the kitchen to set my timer, turned on some upbeat music, and reluctantly focused on the pile of dishes all over my stove and my counter. I was not in the best of moods. I was thoroughly aggravated because I had let things get so piled up. (Here comes another "BUT"!)
 
BUT

Here's what I spotted when I got ready to run the dish water:

 Yellow Joy!

(If you don't know why yellow Joy is such a big deal to me, click here for an explanation.)

The funniest thing about this yellow Joy dishwashing liquid is that it's not my usual brand. My husband picked it up the last time he ran to the store for me. He says it was the cheapest thing on the shelf. I like to think what really happened is that he saw the yellow Joy and chose it because it made him think of his beautiful wife since she's all the time talkin' about yellow joy. 

Needless to say, there was a very quick shift in my thinking and my attitude and I got those dishes done pretty quickly.

I then moved on to running my YELLOW sweeper. Yup. YELLOW! (I don't know why, as much time as I spend running the sweeper after my kiddos and singing the praises of yellow, it had never dawned on me until last week that - YAY - my sweeper is yellow!)

 

While I was running the sweeper I noticed that the bookshelf was pretty dusty so I grabbed my yellow dust rag and tackled the bookshelf too.

By the time I finished cleaning I had shifted from thinking about all of the energy it was going to take to get this place in order to thoughts of what a JOY it is to actually have all of these chores to do. The dirt and grime are evidence of the full lives being lived in our home. The mess is proof that we have enough. It's proof that my God supplies all my needs. What a blessing!

I'm pretty sure that yellow Joy is going to be my dishwashing liquid of choice from now on. I'm pretty sure that I'm gonna hold on to my yellow sweeper until it falls apart. And although I have several perfectly good dust rags to choose from, I'm pretty sure the yellow rag will be my duster of choice until it's no longer able to do its job.

I'm definitely living in a Yellow Joy Machine! Are you?

Happy Birthiversary to Us!

This is what I had for breakfast. I'm celebrating today!

Today is a very special day. Today is the birthiversary (I can't decide if it's a birthday or an anniversary or both) of the support group known as "The Mack Group" - We Support Mackenzie Phillips & ALL Survivors Speaking Out Against Abuse. If you're not familiar with the support group click here to read a little blog about it. If you're already a member of the group, be sure to stop by today to see what's happening on the Wall and the Discussions. Some of us are having our own personal mini-parties to celebrate our journey together and may be posting thoughts and photos as we go. If you're interested in becoming a member of our support group you may visit the link on Facebook and request to become a member. (There are some group guidelines, so be sure to read them carefully before joining.) In celebration of our birthiversary, I want to share with you my personal top ten list of things I've learned by being a part of the group:

10. Sharing my story of survival is empowering.

9. Resources for survivors are everywhere and sharing the great resources I've found is an encouraging way to help others find what they need to heal.

8. Moving on and letting go of the past is scary but I can do it.

7. I am not the only person in the world who's struggled with horrendous coping mechanisms.

6. I am definitely not alone.

5. Setbacks suck, but they don't suck nearly as bad when you have somebody cheering you on as you struggle to get back up again.

4. Blood may be thicker than water, but it's not thicker than the tears you've shed with your fellow survivors. I can choose my family.

3. Grace and forgiveness are beautiful things.

2. Thanksgiving is not a holiday, it's a state of mind.

1. I am loved.

Our Support Group's Logo

 

Are you already a part of our group? What have you learned in the last year? In the comments section of this blog, share your own top ten... or your own number one... or just your thoughts. How has "The Mack Group" changed you?

Chutes & Ladders (and The Blame Game)

The last time I sat down with my boys to play a game of Chutes and Ladders I came to a conclusion. I decided that I'm going to blame my late-in-life grasp of "choices equal consequences" (cause-and-effect) on the fact that nobody ever played Chutes and Ladders with me when I was a kid.

I'm the baby in my family. My siblings are much older than me so they never had much interest in childish board games, and the kids in my neighborhood hated board games. We used our imaginations too much to slow down for board games. Our favorite pastimes included playing Barbies, playing with She-Ra: Princess of Power action figures, and challenging each others' choreographical genius by making up outrageous dance routines to songs like "Eye of the Tiger" and "Walk Like an Egyptian." We were a creative bunch, and we just didn't have time to sit still. Board games? More like bored games! Not a chance!

As a child, I had time to literally beg my mother to make me an "Annie" dress 

so I could (as authentically as possible) sing "Tomorrow" at the top of my lungs 

and drive everyone in my neighborhood absolutely crazy until I outgrew said dress, 

but I simply did not have time for board games. I was too busy for those.

The object of  "Chutes and Ladders" is to get your pawn to the "WINNER" square by spinning a spinner and moving across a series of squares which are numbered 1 to 100. Some of the squares have cartoon-y pictures of kids on them. If your pawn lands on a picture square at the base of a ladder, you get to immediately climb up the ladder. Once you get to the top of the ladder there's another picture. If you look closely at the pictures you can see that the kids at the bases of all these ladders are doing nice things: good deeds, making wise decisions, helping others. For example, the kid who's eating a balanced meal at the base of the ladder on square 36 moves up the ladder to square 44 and is rewarded with growing taller. The little boy who's taking out the trash on square 71 climbs to square 91 and is handsomely rewarded with an ice cream sundae. If you check out the pictures on the chutes, you see the same kind of thing going on in reverse. When you land on a picture square at the top of a chute, you slide down and have to start your pursuit of the WINNER square from your landing point. The kids at the tops of the chutes are doing things like drawing on the walls and riding their bikes with no hands, and their descents end with those kids cleaning up their messes and sitting in wheelchairs with broken bones and black eyes. I'm sure this game was developed to teach preschoolers all kinds of things. One purpose is to reinforce the cause-and-effect rule to the kids who are playing the game. Good choices result in wonderful things, and bad choices lead to a load of cleanup work and pain. (What a concept!)

So the next time my therapist asks me why I think I made a particular decision that resulted in catastrophe, I'm just going to look at her and say, "Well, don't blame me! I never played Chutes and Ladders!" This will, by way of diversion and deception, place the blame on my parents, who bought me things like Easy Bake Ovens, Rock Star Barbies and Pogo Balls instead of silly old boring educational board games. Ah, The Blame Game. Now that's a fun one!

In all seriousness, the "blame game" often becomes a coping mechanism that allows us to shift focus (from ourselves and the consequences of our actions) on to someone else. Since I've been on this healing journey one of the things I've learned to do (almost reflexively at this point) is to check myself when I start playing the blame game and ask myself what it is that I need to change about a situation in order to move on. When I notice that my rants about a situation become more about "the other guy" and what he's done to me and less about myself and how I can fix it (or let go of it when I truly can't change it), that's a red flag. That's my "wake-up call" to shut up and stop whining. Anyway, 9 times out of 10 I've landed in the muck I'm in because of a decision that I've made... and the sooner I take responsibility for it, the sooner I can climb up life's ladder and move toward that winner's square. Do you sometimes find yourself playing the blame game? How do you recognize that that's what you're doing? How do you stop it? Share your tips and tools in the comments section.

Until next time... May you be blessed - and inspired to pass it on!

(We All Live in a) Yellow Joy Machine

You may or may not have noticed my blog's recent redesign. You also may or may not have noticed that over on the right-hand side bar there's now a button labeled The Yellow Joy Machine.

How do I define the yellow joy machine? I tried to sort through "tweets" from my Twitter account to get back to the inception of this "Yellow Joy Machine" project so I'd be able to adequately explain to you what in the whole wide world it is. One hour and 2,879 tweets later, I realized that this project was born before my Twitter trauma (but we really don't need to dwell on that now, do we?) and so I'm left trying to explain it without the aid of the tweets that caused the whole "yellow joy movement" in the first place.

Let's just say that two very special Twitter friends and I happen to pride ourselves on our dork factor. We've shared many "dorky mom" stories throughout the last several months. In March of this year, the three of us talked a lot about a conference that we were planning to attend. I had grand plans to travel to the conference in style. I was busy working on a way to decorate my vehicle with big yellow smiley face magnets and window paint. We spent a lot of time talking about how we'd need a "joy machine" to ride around in. Somehow the color yellow got thrown in there (I think it was because of the yellow smiley faces) and we decided that we'd start living in a Yellow Joy Machine.

The three of us started collecting pictures of yellow things from our everyday lives. Yellow things reminded us of each other, made us feel happy, and helped us remember that we're sisters on a mission... a mission to find joy everywhere! It doesn't matter what kind of mood I'm in, when I see yellow it is impossible for me to feel alone because that yellow reminds me that there is always joy to be found. Six months later, we're still collecting yellow and finding joy in everyday moments.

This past Saturday my family and I had planned to visit a local church for their youth group's chili supper and fireside praise and worship service. Saturday was a very strange day for me. It started off great and got really weird somewhere around 1pm. I almost backed out of attending the event. My kids were so excited about what we had planned, and - brutal honesty - I seriously contemplated letting them down because I'd ended up having a rotten experience that day. When I realized that staying home and sitting around in the "funk" would do me absolutely zero good and disappoint my kids, I purposefully dressed my kids in yellow and sort of forced myself to go. I'm so glad I did! We had many joyfully yellow moments that evening and I ended up having a really great time.

What color brings you joy? Wanna join up with us and contribute your own joyful pictures? Visit the group at Flickr and hop on into the Yellow Joy Machine!

The two other (awesomely dorky) ladies who are equally responsible for this yellow joy movement also have blogs. Check them out here:

From Tracie 

http://www.fromtracie.com

Modern B*a*g* Ladies 

http://www.modernbagladies.com

Follow us on Twitter:

@fromtracie - http://twitter.com/fromtracie

@believeactgo - http://twitter.com/believeactgo
@MzMeggs - http://www.twitter.com/MizzMeggs

Ice Cream and Cake (and Cake!)

When my kids got home from school today I wasn't feeling all that great (just a headache, nothing major) so I let them decide what to do to occupy themselves for the afternoon. I had decided that if they wanted to run around the living room giving each other wedgies until bedtime I'd survive. I didn't have enough energy to be Super-Mom or referee. During their usual 30 minutes of 'winding down' time, they decided that baking a cake sounded like a good idea. As a family, we have mastered the art of baking cakes without creating drama or disaster, so this seemed like a great idea to me. Minimal mess. Easy clean-up. Good deal. Besides, I love CAKE!

Now I'm not big on keeping a major stash of junk food around the house. I'm one of those moms who places limits on the sugar intake of myself and my children. I try to make the healthiest choices I can 99% of the time. But I will confess that I do usually have an off-brand cake mix or two in the cabinet for emergency baking purposes. Today was definitely a 'break out the emergency cake mix' kind of day.

We hardly ever use oil and eggs in our cake mixes. we usually use applesauce as a substitute for the oil, and egg whites instead of whole eggs. Sometimes we do the magic cake mix and diet soda Weight Watchers trick. Today we had no applesauce and no diet soda, but we did have two bottles of my husband's favorite carbonated beverages in the fridge. Our 9-year-old, decided that we should use a variant of the Weight Watchers recipe (remember, Mommy has a headache and Mommy's feeling generous today so Mommy says why not) so he opted for 6 ounces of Mountain Dew and 6 ounces of A&W Cream Soda and a yellow cake mix. (Yes, Mountain Dew. I know. Go ahead and lecture me in the comments section. LOL)

We buttered and floured the cake pan and baked his experiment according to the box directions. 35 minutes later we had a cake that tasted like something from a restaurant menu. Rich and moist and simply delicious, especially when served with a little vanilla ice cream. Speaking of ice cream and cake... DANCE BREAK!


We'll be making a very special "Mountain Dream Cake" recipe card to keep in the family recipe box. This will be his first official contribution. Pretty exciting stuff for him. He's so proud of himself.

Today's cake recipe is one we will most likely be trying a few times a year. I know it probably sounds horrific, but if you're feeling adventurous you might want to give it a shot. We were all so pleasantly surprised by the results that we couldn't wait for the cake to cool down to eat it! (Kinda reminds me of how we work so hard to keep from trying something NEW on our healing journeys, only to find that when we break down and do it we end up realizing that it's something beautiful that works really well for us. Remember my Inner Child adventure?)

We've often joked that my husband delivers some delicious culinary creations when we just let him go in the kitchen and play. Looks like our oldest son is definitely taking after his dad. (That's a good thing on many levels. He's a great husband and father!)

Do you have any accidentally amazing recipes to share?

Until next time... May you be blessed - and inspired to pass it on!

Wacky Wednesday Wrap-Up

In keeping with my "seeking joy in every moment" theme here at the bloggy-blog, I thought I'd be a little silly today and share a secret joy of mine with you. Every now and then I get the urge to be surrounded in warmth. Most of the time this happens in the dead of winter, so I can't just trot outside and find a sunny spot on the lawn which is what I usually do on hot summer days. But sometimes even on those hot summer days, the sunshine doesn't quite do the trick. Here's what does:

(I dare you to follow along with my most sophisticated photo-illustrated instructions and do this NOW. You deserve how awesome this feels, trust me.)

Step one - Go to your blanky pile (or your kids' blanky pile - which is what I always do) and choose a favorite. YAY, Spongebob!



Step two - Stick the thing in the dryer and set the heat on high. Turn on the dryer.



Step three - Grab a watch or set a timer and wait five minutes. (I have learned over the years that five minutes just happens to be the perfectly precise amount of time it takes to heat my blankets to the desired temperature. Times may be adjusted to suit your particular preference.)



Step four - Remove the blanket from the dryer REAL quick-like, make a beeline for your favorite spot on the couch and enJOY until the warmth wears off!




My "inner child" loves this warm wrap-up. What's a silly calming and comforting ritual or coping mechanism you secretly enjoy? Dare you to share!