Category Love

Experimental Birthday Gift

Intentergy 11 Comments

For my birthday I received an experimental gift… an iRobot Roomba vacuum cleaner.

I have wanted one of these robot vacuum cleaners for a few years, but hubby isn’t too certain we need one. While I am feeling spoiled by Uncle Glen’s loaner vacuum, I am also aware that there are terrific lessons to be learned from his generosity.

Uncle Glen gifted the vacuum to me so that I might have the opportunity to see if I even liked it. The vacuums are costly and hubby is afraid it will damage things in our home so I haven’t pushed too hard for the purchase.

After a week and a half of utilizing my borrowed gift, I have compiled as list of lessons taught by my iRobot:

png 1 The iRobot really helps in picking up hair and dust. It is not so great with bigger crumbs and sawdust from the farm. Just like life, you can’t get rid of all the yucky stuff; some of it takes manual labor to remove.

png 1 The iRobot takes away from my time sweeping and vacuuming, but runs for a long time and is kind of noisy on the hardwoods. Progress can be noisy.

png 1 The iRobot has made my kids very aware of how dusty the floors can get and therefore they are more eager to have them cleaned. (Hubby is afraid of what the robot vacuum will break; I am more afraid of how soon the kids will break the robot.) Continue reading “Experimental Birthday Gift” →

Passion isn’t Part Time

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LeBeautique Passion

Owning your dream business is never a part time endeavor (no matter how often it is open). Christina (LeBeau) Rogers and Kylie (LeBeau) Dickneite are the owners of LeBeautique in Westphalia, Missouri. While the shop is only open a few days a week, their passion for the boutique and their clients is anything but part time.

Recently, Kylie told me she had her dream job, “even if it’s only part time.” Anyone who speaks to these ladies knows their passion for the boutique is definitely full time. The sisters are always thinking about which customer would be perfect for the newest romper or what accessories they can find to go with the cute boots coming in this fall. Constantly on the search for items that will bring joy to their customers, Christina and Kylie make their shopping all about the future.

LeBeautique 3In March of 2016 the LeBeau sisters opened LeBeautique after their friend Carrie asked, “Why don’t you LeBeau girls do something with that space up there?” Carrie is the owner/operator of The Stone House Salon. The front two rooms of the Stone House had sat empty for some time. That space would soon become LeBeautique. Kylie and Christina has always enjoyed the sport of shopping and frequently aspired to open their own shop. Carrie’s prompt was their jumping off point. Continue reading “Passion isn’t Part Time” →

Stop Watering Those Weeds – July Positivity Challenge

Intentergy 12 Comments

“Stop watering the weeds in your life and start watering the flowers.”

Weeding 2

 

Here is the metaphor for this Intentergy Positivity Challenge:

Flowers = good stuff in your life

Weeds = bad, ugly, life-sucking stuff in your life

This month we need to stop watering the weeds and provide for the flowers in our lives.

Pull out, remove, mow down, stomp out, and destroy the elements of your life that are stopping you from smelling the metaphorical roses and skipping through those figurative daisies.

Debt, negativity, self-doubt, waste, bad habits, tardiness, or lack of attention are all weedy subjects and have the ability to be lessened in our lives.

 png 1 To make your weeding worthwhile, you need to establish a measuring system.

png 1 Set goals.

If you plan to weed out excess spending, make a list of the items or services you don’t need. Establish a budget and determine what you will do to water your success. For example, if you save X amount of dollars, treat yourself to a milk shake or a ticket to the summer box office bargain movie.

When working up the roots of negativity and self-doubt, get ready to dig deep. Eliminating the source of depressing or downbeat influences can be harder than removing the tangible “weeds” in your life.

png 1 Need some tools for weeding out the negative? Try some of these positive practices.

  • Weeding 3Surround yourself with positive people. When you knowingly spend time with individuals who are negative, you allow their negativity to pop up in your thinking too. Go for the happy-go-lucky friends and positive energy will abound.
  • Rest up. Exhaustion is fertilizer for negativity. Take a cat nap here and there. Do what you can to get those 8 hours of healthy sleep a night. Having a happy sleeping space leads to happier mornings and healthier days.
  • Water your body and your positivity. Our bodies work better when they are hydrated. A hydrated body leads to healthier complexion, better digestion, and more efficient absorption of nutrients. Hydration aids in metabolism and provides necessary fluids for muscle function. If your muscles ain’t happy, ain’t no”body” happy.
  • Let the sun shine! Getting plenty of sunshine is integral to a sunny disposition. Vitamin D from the sun does so much for our body, including reducing depression and negative energy. (Don’t forget the sunscreen though. Nothing dims your shine like a sunburn.) 
  • Play DJ Positive. Roll the windows down and blast your favorite tunes. Dance in your kitchen to your favorite songs. Swing your kiddos around the livingroom jamming out to a fast and fun beat. Science has proven that music improves mood and heart rate. Create a positivity playlist and weed out those sad songs. Flowers aren’t the only ones who grow better when music plays.
  • Positive AttirePut on your positive pants. Wear gear that makes you feel good. When you are confident or comfortable in your appearance, there is less room for self-doubt to sprout. Look good and know it. In the words of the late, great Audrey Hepburn, “Happy girls are the prettiest.” (This goes for guys too but it makes you more handsome.)
  • Say “NO” to drama. Turn off the reality TV. Walk away from the ho-hum timeline posts and tweets. Weeding 1Nip the gossip root in the bud. Quit breaking your back to make someone happy who is never going to be happy. Drama is another negative nutrient that we don’t need.

Continue reading “Stop Watering Those Weeds – July Positivity Challenge” →

They Are Called Bygones For a Reason

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Bygones

They Are Called Bygones For a Reason

png 1 Bye + Gone = Bygone

png 1 Good + Bye = Goodbye

Just as “bygone” is a compound word, worry and guilt compound when we fail to leave them behind.

Two years ago we had one of the wettest springs I can recall. There were terrible storms. During one of the storms, lightening struck one of our cows. She happened to be the one my hubby told our kiddos was his “favorite.” After torrential rains fell for a few days, the creek got out of its banks and washed away the “favorite” cow. We know it washed her away because multiple people called to say they saw here swiftly floating down the creek. It was not a happy situation.

My kids still remember that “favorite” cow every time the creek runs high. They say, “Daddy, do you remember when your favorite cow died?” and he always responds with, “Yes, I remember when my favorite cow died.”

They just can’t let go of that poor cow.

Bygones are like that cow. Continue reading “They Are Called Bygones For a Reason” →

Vacation Food is…better

Intentergy 21 Comments

 

Sunny Salmon and Aspargus Salad

Sunny Salmon and Asparagus Salad from Bahama Bistro in Osage Beach, Missouri

I LOVE food. My BFF loves food. We always love food, but on vacation…food is just better.

The beauty of vacation eating is that it is usually:

a. fresh

b. made by someone else

c. free of dish washing duty

d. something you don’t usually get to eat

As we embarked on our annual girls retreat, my BFF and I savored the menu planning portion. (Did I mention we love food?)

Our dining plans included two new recipes (guacamole and brushetta), picking up fresh eats from the local deli, and taking in the tastes of local restaurants.

Most of our snack and meal choices were healthy, but we made sure to pick up the necessary sweets to add to the vacation’s taste value. Continue reading “Vacation Food is…better” →

Don’t Keep All Summer in a Day

Intentergy 9 Comments

All Summer in a Day.jpg

Ray Bradbury’s short story “All Summer in a Day” takes place on Venus and at a school where the children eagerly await the one day that summer will occur. On Venus summer comes once every seven years for just a matter of hours. The rest of the time the weather is stormy, windy, and overcast. This day is especially important to young Margot. Margot’s family moved from Earth and are considering the costly and arduous process of returning to the third planet from the sun for fear of losing their daughter to heartbreak. Margot is small, pale, and all too lonely. ‘She was an old photograph dusted from an album, whitenedaway, and if she spoke at all her voice would be a ghost.” The school children tease and ostracize her for her homesickness and taunt her about the only artwork she creates, pictures of life back on Earth. (The other children have no memories of what life is like on Earth.)

As the time nears to go outside and enjoy the rare sunshine, plants, and warmth, the children think it funny to lock Margot in the closet. They do not intend to leave her there but forget the grief-stricken girl as soon as the first rays of sun appear. Continue reading “Don’t Keep All Summer in a Day” →

Humor Wins Every Time – Wise Words Wednesday

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Humor Wins Every Time

The ability to laugh is so simple yet so powerful. “Every time you are able to find humor in a difficult situation, you win.”

Sunday I found myself battling a terrible stomach ache at the end of a fun day at the parish picnic. As we drove home, I advised my husband to take the county road home; I was not feeling well. Per my prediction, we did not make it home before I got sick. We had to stop twice in a very short stretch of the road so I could get out to puke.

Upon entering the car the second time, my youngest son was crying. “Does your tummy hurt?” my husband asked him.

“No, I didn’t get to see mommy throw up.” was his angry and pitiful reply.

All I could do was laugh.

My laughter seemed to calm him and led to giggles from my husband and other two kiddos. We rode silently home the rest of the way, except when my husband checked to see if I was okay.

My tummy definitely didn’t win that day, but humor did. In being able to laugh, I showed my kiddos I would be okay and that we don’t need to get upset about little things (like mommy puking). 🙂

While I don’t encourage laughing at sick people, I do encourage you to find the humor in the rough spots of your day. Who knows the laughter you bring to a tough situation may be the catalyst for change. Your joy may be the one thing that was needed to get past a sticky situation or a downward slide. Humor wins every time.

By: Melanie A. Peters

P.S. The picnic didn’t make me sick. It was just a virus.

 

 

For Love of the Game (and yourself), Turn Off the Volume

Intentergy 6 Comments

turn off the volume 1via Daily Prompt: Volume

When my dad watches baseball, basketball, or football, he turns off the volume. It drives my mom crazy. My husband finds it odd. My kids make up for the lack of noise.

Dad really enjoys watching sports. Other than John Wayne and Clint Eastwood movies, sports (and the weather) are all he watches. People will often ask him why there is no sound on the game. Dad’s usual reply has to do with the absurdity of the commentary announcers, but I know that Dad really just doesn’t need the volume to understand the game.

turn off the volume 2He loves the game for the strategy and the athleticism. He just wants to see how the players solve defensive problems or convert teamwork into points. He doesn’t want to hear about how the guy on defense bought his girlfriend a dog and it ate his playbook or who the announcers think is a better prospect for a trade. Dad simply wants to watch the game.

I think there is escape in turning off the volume too. When there are no play-by-play commentaries coming at the viewer, it is necessary to really pay attention to what is happening in the game and everything else is turned off. The focus is solely on the field or court and not on the craziness outside the game.

Continue reading “For Love of the Game (and yourself), Turn Off the Volume” →

goodreads.com – My Newest Obsession

Intentergy 4 Comments

Goodreads.com is a home for book reviews, book recommendations, book lists, book clubs, and author bios and I am now obsessed with it.

If you already enjoy Goodreads, you might find humor in my newness or appreciation for the joy the site has brought to me. Please comment about any features you like or dislike on Goodreads. I had read about Goodreads from a number of other bloggers’ sites, but until our local librarian recommended it to me recently, I had not given it much consideration.

I checked out the site on Thursday and Friday created my account. Now I can’t stop reading reviews, searching for books that I have read or want to read, and am so enthralled by the give-aways, book clubs, and Goodreads blog that I am having trouble concentrating on what I wanted to type here.

goodreads addiction 6There are  many features to this site that I find beneficial. I love how the genres are organized. The search options are everywhere. I can even automatically search for the books I get from Amazon.

Good Read Addiction 2One of the best features for me is the ability to make a “Book Shelf.” I created a Book Shelf for the book club I sponsor at my kids’ school. I was able to find all of the book on the Mark Twain Reading list and add them. This will allow me to rate and review the books as soon as I read them. I can refer students and parents to this list and the sharing grows from there. Now I just have to get my hands on all those books. 🙂

I had the local library’s website open in split screen yesterday so I could start requesting some of the books that intrigued me from the Goodreads site. There is a way to find your local libraries and their catalogs through Goodreads and request your books. (I may wear out that Request button.) I still have to set the library request feature up on my account; searching for books and authors has prevented me from dedicating enough time to it. 

Goodreads is on Twitter (of course) and I have really enjoyed the prompt posts they have published and found some very positive reviewers and followers in the Goodreads’ throngs. Continue reading “goodreads.com – My Newest Obsession” →

Slimy Sensation

Intentergy 9 Comments

Slimey Sensation 1

All the cool kids are making slime (this according to my kids). Why do the “cool” things have to be disgusting?

So as to avoid social disgrace for my children, I decided we would make slime this summer. When searching my go-to source Pinterest, I found like 10,000 results (this may be an exaggeration) for “make slime.” That’s A LOT of slime.

After a failed attempt at purchasing the right contact solution, I purchased the correct

Slimey Sensation 2

These are the ingredients for the solution that worked.

solution and we were off to the slimy races.

Because I refused to put much more money into slime creation, Dollar Tree was my source for white glue. They have two bottles for $1.00. (I bought 4 bottles.)

For fear of failing again, I memorized the four-ingredient recipe and laid out our slime supplies. It took my kids longer to fight over what color slime each would make than it did to create the concoction. Slimey Sensation 4

Step 1: I let each child pour 1/2 bottle of glue into a bowl. (recipe called for a full bottle)

Step 2: Mix 1/4 teaspoon of baking soda into the glue. (My kids love leveling off the baking soda under the lid of the box.)

Step 3: Add and mix in desired food coloring (If you are me, this is where you add food coloring to your grocery list.) Continue reading “Slimy Sensation” →