#19 Play out in the snow with the kids, just to play

So it is February...and snowing....probably one of the last times this year.

Oh...#19! So we put on our snow bibs and hit the backyard. It was a beautiful day. The clouds were sitting so close and the world was beautiful.

My dad came over on Sunday and asked why we had all of the blankets in the backyard getting snowed on....those are the kids house's. They play "neighbors" and they go back and forth visiting each others houses and taking each other gifts...TOO cute!

We had snow smoothies, and pomegranite seeds, and snow dipped strawberries...let me tell you it was a delicious meal. I even had to eat some just to humor my neighbor Mr. Chipper

It was beautiful snow that melted away by dinner time. Good thing we went out and enjoyed the day.

Motivations

Can you tell that I am going threw my scattered papers today? A few weeks ago I went to a body language class. Some of it was interesting...some I really didn't like it was a bit "mystical" for me but the instructor talked about motivations..your own and your loved ones. It is a bit like the 5 love languages, except there are many more motiviations than just five. So I thought it would be fun to find out the kids motivations as well...I printed some pictures off the internet and asked them by the pictures (for the younger ones) which ones they liked the best. Suprisingly I think they are pretty accurate:

Hub
Fairness
Knowledge
Commitment
Simplicity
Fun

Moo
Creativity
Hurry
Religion
Accountability
Courage

Dude
Creativity
Structure
Invention
Fun
Money

Chipper
Courage
Wisdom
Invention
Change
Creativity


Chip
Religion
Honesty....he is the most honest person I know
Wisdom
Money
Trust

Me
Religion
Change
Integrity
Perfection
Growth

I found it interesting that both of my boys would have money in their motivations...it is important for men to have the desire to provide for their families. I have to admit that I was really surprised by hub's...his are really different from mine, and different from what I would have suspected...although he did want to take the test again now that he understands what I was showing him random pictures for :) I also found in interesting that my older two really are into creativity...they always want to draw or act or create something new...and I always knew Dude would invent something someday...he just has that kind of mind that likes to work on a problem...so different from my sluggish one.

Here is the list so if you want to take the test yourself you can....pick which ones describe you and which dont...then narrow the ones that describe you down to 10 and then 8 and then 5 and then order them in importance to you.

Urgency
Fitness
Wisdom
Innovation
Commitment
Team Work
Knowledge
Diversity
Achievement
Fun
Structure
Quality
Change
Balance
Passion
Money
Volunteer
Simplicity
Religion
Fairness
Customer Service
Loyalty
Creativity
Growth
Legacy
Trust
Family
Status
Courage
Effectiveness
Accountable
Independence
Integrity
Perfection
Honesty
Recognition
Authority

...I should mention that I took family out of the options when I asked my children...mostly because I think they all would have picked it and secondly...I don't really want to know if family isn't on their list :)

If you want to know more about the body language guy his name is Kirk Duncan and his email is office@3keyelements.com

Other notes:
Judgement is when you stop trying to learn about someone or something...we should always be learning.

Practice being still (I am so a leg shaker) Notice why you are moving

Recommended reading...the JackRabbit factor by Householder

Triangle means God (top) Self and Others
Circle means give and receive...in a round
Square means to design it...to give something shape...the corners are your first 30 minutes and your last 30 minutes

He talked about eye eye movements
up is accessing your higher power...record it
down is looking within yourself...usually an emotion with it
looking at ears...listening to the voices in their head...not the crazy ones...other peoples opinions...let them listen
up to left...accessing data, past, history, facts
up to right...creative, hopes, wants, future

He also talked about vision boards..but that is for another post after I actually get around to making my own then I can blog about it

# 33 Family History, 5 Generations

So I don't sleep at night. It is a rare occurance when I sleep without waking up for hours at a time. I know...I know.. everyone has an idea on how to fix that problem but I've tried them all and so now I've resorted to waiting for the Lord to heal me or having the patience to live with this affliction.

Anywhoo, I digress (hub's favorite word), the other night I was not sleeping. I usually just lay there or pray or think but I have been teaching the children about geneology during our school time lately and so I thought I would do a bit myself. You see, I've always had this question in my mind...hub and my mother share the same maiden name so we've always joked about how we are probably long lost cousins. So I decided to get on to familysearch.org and see what I could find. Well (drum roll please) we are but it is definately long and lost. We are actually both related to a reverend in England during the 1400's. He actually had two wives and Hub is from one wife and I'm from the other. It was really cool I was so excited I found it that I woke Hub up to tell him...he was not so excited, but hey how exciting is geneology at 3 am?

I also learned that Hub's grandma and my grandma share a maiden name as well so I've got some more searching to do :) Don't look now, but I might become a geneology nut....just what I need one more hobby to keep me up late at night :)

Chickens

Did you ever want to own chickens? If not I'd suggest it...atleast once. Chickens are quite hilarious little creatures...they are mischievious and diabolical as well as loyal and hard working. Recently my chickens have been hard working eating the worms out of my garden and turning up the soil in the process....who needs a roto-tiller?

It recently became legal to have chickens where I live....hooray...now if I could only have goats :)

There is a down side to this story though. Some members of the city council...in an effort to appease the people and to be "seen" as doing something limited who could have chickens and who could not. So only people with 1400 sq ft yards (over .3 acre) can have chickens on their property...even though chickens smell better than dogs, make less noise that dogs, cause less problems than dogs, etc.

So being the outspoken person that I rarely ever am I decided that I should say something in behalf of all those people who had worked so hard to get chickens approved without now being about to have chickens. So with shaky-knees I shared with them my appreciation for being allowed to have chickens and my sorrow for those who would not be able to. I shared with them my thoughts about government and my lack of faith in those who represent the people but forget that they are to serve the people. I mentioned that when we take away freedom from one person really we take away freedom from everyone. When we say that a person does not have the right to do something on their own property (which does not take away from anyone elses rights) freedom is the looser. I also mentioned that we sure need a little more public virtue. If I have a problem with my neighbor or my neighbor's animals I should talk to my neighbor not to the government. I can either get over my issue, bring it up with my neighbor and find a solution or I can move but I DO NOT want the government to tell me how I can or cannot act toward my neighbor or what I can or cannot do in my backyard.....the governments only job is to protect my property from my neighbor.
...so I should mention here something I learned from a friend the other day about Chinese. Chinese is a language with different levels....pictoral, phonetical, numberical, etc so the Chinese picture for country was a man with a box around him. A man who owns property is a country...and he has the freedom to protect himself and whatever lies within his box...I believe that the US Constitution would also support this view of what a country is...a man, or a group of men, who band together to protect each other and their property. Well, we all know the end to this story, the communist party took over China, and they lost all their freedoms and slowly the character for country was changed...it is now a king in a box...interesting! When we give our government power to control our "box" we loose our freedoms.

So get a few chickens, or goats, or an extra dog...or how about look at the laws your officials are proposing or passing and ask yourself if your loosing your freedom, if someone else is telling you what you can or cannot do in your box...I think you'll be surprised by what you find...I was.


oh, and by the way, if you live in Layton never, ever, ever vote for Joyce Brown...she is a freedom, prosperity, happiness leech blech....okay that was a little harsh she still is a child of God but that doesn't mean I have to vote for her

#64 Stainless Steel Bowls

A while ago I got rid of all the plastics in our house....I know a bit extreme, but hey, it your going to try to be healthy might as well be healthy right :)

So in my overzealousness I found I didn't possess many bowls or utensils that were either glass or stainless steel....thus #64....I thought these bowls were pretty fancy and I really love that them.

If you'd like to learn more about why plastics are bad for you...here is a great link http://www.mindfully.org/Plastic/Plasticizers/Out-Of-Diet-PG5nov03.htm

I'm not quite as serious as this guy is...mabey someday. In the meantime I will enjoy my stainless steel bowls