The Shack

I just read a really cool book on my really cool Kindle. Have you seen this thing? It shows pages just like a book, but you can simply download books on within seconds. It stores like 10,000 books and it has little gadgets on it that you can do stuff with like write notes, etc... It's fun. It makes it super easy to read a book while on the treadmill and you can listen to audio books too.





Anyway, the first book I downloaded was The Shack. I loved it. I highly recommend it. It has shifted the way I view God. I don't want to give any of the plot away because there are some really juicy surprises in it. Let's just say, the end justifies the means.

So if you are looking for a good read that makes you think about how you relate to God- read it.

Happy New Year!

A Motley Gift, Indeed

Ladies, I have been so happy to be a part of Motley Moms this year. What great fun it has been. In honor of you, I have decided that you each need handmade slippers to pamper your tootsies. But, since times are tough, I have gone the frugal route and decided that a craft day was in order.

Before you proceed, please note that these are slippers for the discrete woman. They are soft and hygienic. They include non-slip grip strips on the soles with built in deodorant feature to keep feet smelling fresh. As a bonus remember that you will no longer need to bend over to mop up spills. They are disposable, biodegradable, and environmentally safe. They come in 3 convenient sizes: Regular, Light day, and Get Out the Sandbags.































Let me know if we actually need a craft night to create more of these fine slippers. I laughed so hard, I cried. Seriously.

Gluttony

Here is a jar of the beautiful Christmas cookies I got at the MOPS cookie swap. If you look closely, you will see that my son and I emptied the jar as soon as we got home and took just one bite out of several cookies. How delicious!

I hope your holiday was filled with everything you needed and wanted!

Resolutions, Shmesolutions...

It's dangerous for a perfectionist to make New Year's Resolutions--we're the ones who go to the gym on January 2nd decked out in brand-new workout gear but are never to be seen again by the end of the month. We go into it with good intentions, we just get overwhelmed trying to maintain these lifestyle changes, well, perfectly.

On that note, a few years ago I decided to stop making resolutions. It worked for a while, but it's very un-perfectionist-like to not do something that everyone else is doing, so I took a different approach to the resolution issue. My new list of resolutions each year is made up of intentions that I should have no trouble keeping. It goes a little something like this:

1. This year I will not eat escargot.
2. This year I will not go bungee jumping or cliff diving.
3. This year I will not join an ice hockey team.
4. This year I will not run for president.

I should probably add "voluntarily" to the end of each of those, but I think you get the picture.

There you go--it's a no-fail list, and at the end of the year I can look back with pride and say, indeed, I kept all of my resolutions!

What about you? What's on your list this year?

Re-Solutions

It's funny how we get to the end of the year and decide there must be a better way. A better way to look, a better way to live, a better way to parent our children. Maybe it's time to go green for the planet, or take a college class you never took, or volunteer more, or volunteer less, or lose weight, or learn to knit, or...or...or....

As parents of very young children, I feel like we try hard every day to make our family the best it can be. I'm sure you feel the same. Just keeping status quo around here is a big accomplishment. I'm always looking for a better solution for keeping up with the laundry, storing more stuff than we have room for, keeping the house clean, and making nutritious meals and snacks (affordably) without spending my whole day in the kitchen...I know. Sounds like dreamland.

This is why I love blogging. Not just the writing, but also reading other blogs. I get some great ideas, often I get a good laugh, and I get to share any tips and tricks I've learned along the way as well.

So if you have a New Year's Re-Solution for your life that you would like to share (writing it down might help keep you accountable!) feel free to tell us your plan. Maybe it will help someone like me who doesn't know where to begin!

We are thankful for all our Motley readers and for all of our Motley writers...you ladies rock! Happy New Year!

Donna

Merry Christmas, Y'all!

Last night my husband and I did something really cool, something I hope we'll continue to do each year. (Don't worry - I'm not about to get inappropriate.) After we got all the kids' stuff set up, we opened our presents from each other. We knew that today we'd be focused on the kids and that they're too young to notice if we open gifts ourselves, so we took some time to just be together. We turned off the TV and I even put away my computer and iPhone (big deal for me, as I'm obsessed with both). We sat on the couch and took turns giving each other gifts. It doesn't sound like a big deal, but it was lovely. The only problem was that I was so keyed up over getting a new set of kitchen knives (sharp German knives!!!) that I could barely sleep. I seriously wanted to go chop up some vegetables. I will probably blog soon about losing a finger, but I'm still excited about them. 

I have thoroughly enjoyed blogging with you all this year and getting to know each one of you a little better. I hope we can continue to share our mothering and other experiences together. God bless you, every one!

Mother Christmas

I found this while surfing. I liked it so I thought I'd share it with you! Merry Christmas, everyone!

Mother Christmas
by Paul Curtis

The birth of Christ
Is the reason for the day
Santa Claus does his part
In his magical way
Rudolf and the other reindeer
Pull the loaded sleigh
Decorations and lights
Put Christmas on display
And festive songs and carols
Have a part to play
But it takes a mother
To make it a very special day