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Taking Life by the Reins
It was going to be a long week without my main squeeze. Hubs had JAG training at Fort Belvoir for a week and I knew for sure we would miss him. Truth is, it’s hard when your best friend leaves, even if only for a week. (And yes, I have done the year long deployment… but that’s not my point. Sometimes, I miss him when he is only sitting in the other room. Get it?) When he proposed that we tag along I admit I was a bit nervous at first. Tag along? Hang out in a hotel with the kids all week? Hit DC with just me and the kids, tackling…
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How to Paint Your World Yellow
How to Paint Your World Yellow Plan, Plant, Play! Plan: Picture a garden. Let the flow of colors move with the seasons! Continue Reading for Gardening Tips Spring seems to inspire the love of yellow… stronger and longer sunshine. New leaf green definitely has the yellow tone. Hallelujah for the emergence of tulip and daffodil bulbs and then forsythia. Plant: Place daffodil bulbs in clumps, not spread out individually. They grow and love the friendship of kissing cousin bulbs… They will pop though your garden turf and each year bring on new family members. Trim bushes after flowers have faded. The goal is to get the bush compact and not…
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40 Ways to Find Solace in a Storm
“I don’t want to be at the mercy of my emotions. I want to use them, to enjoy them, and to dominate them.” ― Oscar Wilde Call your dad Sip a hot cup of coffee Take 10 minutes to soak up some sun on a warm, sunny front porch Feet up & a good book Jump on your bike and take a ride Grab the music player, pop in the ear buds, play your favorite upbeat music and ask the vacuum to dance (Bonus you get some clean floors) Give a lingering hug with someone you love Look through old photos, create a collage of someone you love using Picasa or other photo editor…
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Walk in the Woods Wednesday
The warmth of the landscape is everywhere right now. Countryside woods, county lanes, and front yards are blanketed with orange, yellow, dark green and brown. The ground looks like it is hand stitched with irregular sized threads of maple, oak, elm and 17 other variety of trees leaves. Patterns form and then are whirled by south, east and north winds. Either the tree is on fire, or the artist is showing off the paint pallet!Zooming down the highwayThe stands of trees by the highway make me happy that I am the passenger in the car as my eyes zoom through the depths of the foliage. I love this time of…
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T-Shirt to Beach Bag
Over the years I have accumulated a few t-shirts. They are an easy souvenir, a great way to remember a great time. However, over the past 20 something years I have accumulated a drawer full of shirts I never wear. I hate the thought of parting with them. I refuse to throw them away. I know if I gave them away they would /never/ be appreciated like I appreciate them ;). So my interest was piqued when I saw this simple-idea on Pinterest, where by turning t shirts into shopping bags (great for the environment!). This is not hard and it a great re-use of shirts I never wear. I was really happy with the results and…
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For the Health of It
I just ran across a video that I had to share with you. It is about 9 minutes long but it is going to suck you in. Go ahead watch it. I’ll be right here waiting: Wow! Half an hour of walking a day has all that health-benefit?! This isn’t really rocket-science, folks. In fact, to make it personal I struggled with gestational diabetes while pregnant with my youngest son. The food didn’t impact my sugar-levels as much as the exercise. It was all about getting up and burning the sugar. If I didn’t get up and /move/ around every couple of hours (notice I didn’t say lace up my running shoes, put on…
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Hop On Off Bus
Tourists! Here I am! Yo buddy! Do you love seeing a new city, new sites? Bring on the best views to entice fellow tourists to spread the money: easy transportation. No parking, no subway stairs or questionable taxi rates, just pull out the ticket and hop on the bus! Las Vegas, NV is a total tourist town. The action is laid out on a long strip of land that, if you are wearing sensible shoes, you can walk and walk love the sunshine and keep on walking. However, to get the quick and dirty look of the town… the Hop On Hop Off bus is perfect. The double decker stops…
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Staying Healthy: Get those endorphins going
Health experts call endorphins “feel-good hormones.” Endorphins are natural chemicals released by the brain that improve your mood, relive pain, reduce stress, and produce an overall feeling of well being. They also help you sleep better. The easiest way to get your body to release endorphins is to exercise. Even a moderate workout eases tension and improves mental and physical health. More vigorous exercise really gets those endorphins going. The positive effect of endorphins can last for several hours, according to some endocrinologists. – Feeling Good – 100 ways to feel better every day Walking the Paul Henry TrailIt can’t be morning. The covers are still so comfy. Ohhh the…
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Mom Means Business
My boys are a hurricane. A tornado. A path of destruction. We are working hard at starting good habits, staying organized, picking up when they are done playing, not waiting till Mom blows her top tells them to. I have found if I help organize the toys in their room that it only gets me very frustrated and my ideas fall apart in less then a couple of days. So now they are left to their own vices. I sent them to clean their room the other day, and told them anything left on their floor when they were done was going into the garbage. Sure enough they came down 30 minutes later declaring they…
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Oxygen Mask
A quiet but BOOMING voice reminded me throughout this past week. “Leanne, put on your oxygen mask, then help those around you.” It has been a tough week. BabyBoy, diagnosed with an ear infection two weeks ago, was so incredibly crabby. Refusing to nurse, refusing to be put down, refusing to be happy. “Leanne, put on your oxygen mask.” BabyBoy and I headed to the pediatrician Monday afternoon. My happy go lucky boy had taken on a completely different personality and I was at wit’s end. His ears were beautiful according to the doctor. So she took a peek in his mouth. Then I saw it. Ulcers /every where/. Wow. I…
