The Good Life

If anyone out there has had a senior in high school that is involved in, basically, anything at all, you know what our next week or two looks like. Layer on the standard end-of-the-school year events for 3 additional children and the fact that we’re super social people that, apparently, want to be the frat house for our multiple circles of friends, and you can imagine where we land on the ‘busyness scale’.  Because on…

I was talking with Ben last night about how I’m sort of in this place right now where I can’t imagine being a competitive athlete again anytime soon. This last year or so has been such a different experience for me than the 10 or so leading up to now when competing was one of my top priorities on a daily basis.  Being a wife and mom were definitely still the most important things to…

  I never really dug into quite how cool Jonah’s solar car race the other day, but it was super-duper cool.  And, I’m not just saying that because I’m a 100% biased proud mother having gotten to witness him and his partner win the entire thing…but, I suppose that is a piece of the puzzle that I should include to maintain at least a bottom level of reader trust. What was so cool about the…

  I listened to a great podcast on Impact Theory with Tom Bilyeu when he interviewed a Christian pastor, Judah Smith. There were SO many great takeaways for me from this one, but the one that I’ve been thinking about the most had to do with something he said was so unique and special about the way his father impacted him. He said that his father was the sort of person that, upon entering a…

I think we’ve all had times in our lives when people close to us have made decisions or did something that, in our opinion, set a bad example either for us or other people.  Whether it’s the way they argue in public with their partner or the way they raise their kids, we subconsciously watch and make mental notes on how we don’t want to do things that way. But, there’s also the dangerous alternate…

Recently, I’ve taken over the CFNE apparel department, mostly because I know what I want to wear and this is a way to make that happen…and, get everyone else to wear it with me.  It’s brilliant.  Or, at least I think it is. The first shirt I designed was our “humble. hungry. happy.” shirt.  I’ve wanted to make this shirt for years: it has a sun on it, a cool font that I love, and…

  Here’s the situation. Remember about a month ago Ben talked me into getting a $250 King sized gravity/weighted blanket to help improve our sleep?  He was all gung ho (is that even how you spell that?) about getting the heaviest option at 25 lbs. because he said, and may I quote, “If it gets you one extra hour of sleep, it’s worth it.” We’re talking he insisted we get one. So, we did. And,…

 I woke up and immediately wasn’t feeling good about myself.  Do you know how you just have one of those days sometimes, and there’s no good explanation for it.  Well, other than the fact that my inner thighs were touching when I checked after my morning pee run which means that the scale is 100% off-limits today. And, if there’s anything that can lay a bad foundation for the day’s self-confidence levels, it’s the ole’…

Mary Kay Ash, the founder of the hugely successful Mary Kay Cosmetics, had it right. “Pretend that every single person you meet has a sign around his or her neck that says, “Make me feel important.” “ Imagine how incredible our relationships with people would be if we actually did this?  All of the time?  Not just with our immediate family members, but also with our parents, siblings, neighbors, co-workers, close friends, the person standing…