Homeschooling in Oklahoma, Homeschool Mom, Stay at Home Mom
For those of you who have followed me for awhile, I just wanted to let you know I’m alive and kicking – just really busy living life and getting other things done. Obviously blogging hasn’t made my to do list in awhile. 
Hopefully I’ll have time again in the near future! Hope everyone is doing well!
…and by interesting I mean it made me frustrated, angry, upset, and a little freaked out to be quite honest. I’m not sure why I’m even sharing this here other than to get it off my chest and vent a little.
I had to drop my husband and son off at soccer practice and on the way home I figured I’d run in to Walmart and pick up a few things. Well, I turned on the side street that goes to the Walmart parking lot and this guy came flying around the corner at the back of the lot by the tire area and wasn’t looking. He started coming out into the street and was about to hit me so I slammed on my brakes and the horn. Scared me to death! So then I’m sitting there getting ready to start going again and HE slams on HIS horn at ME!!! I hadn’t done anything wrong!!! I sat there looking at him for a second saying, “REALLY, DUDE?!” and then I proceeded to drive down to the entrance. Well he pulled out his phone and held it up like he was recording me and started following me! He followed me all the way back into the parking lot with his phone up the whole time! I was so angry!!
What I did next was probably pretty stupid but I let my anger get the best of me. He was still following me as I pulled up in front of the store so I pulled to the curb and got out and went back to confront him. I asked him to roll down his window so I could talk to him but he just kept sitting there with his phone in my face and ignored me. I said, “I don’t know if you realize this but I had the right of way back there!!” He wouldn’t respond or roll his window down and I started back to my van. As I turned to walk back he laid on his horn again and kept it going until I was back in my van. I started going again and he still followed me. I turned down a row to park and try to figure out what to do but he didn’t follow me down the row and kept going straight.
At this point I totally freaked out as I realized what had just happened (and as I realized it was really stupid of me to get out of the car and walk back to his!!) I called my sweet, amazing, awesome hubby and he consoled me. He also told me I should’ve called the police but I never was behind the guy so I didn’t know a plate number or anything. He also told me to go in and tell the manager what had happened since they have security cameras, that way someone would know what happened if anything else went wrong.
So, I traipsed over to the customer service desk and asked for a manager. A really nice female manager came over and I told her what happened. (After bursting into tears I might add! UGH! I was so embarrassed! But I cry when I’m mad and add to that being freaked out and there was no hope!) Anyway, she was awesome and we talked about options for a minute and then she called another guy over and I explained it to him again. (This time without crying thankfully!) He was super nice as well and then another guy came up and it was explained to him as well. Both of them men offered to walk me to my car when I was through and the lady even said someone could walk through the store with me if I wanted. I was really impressed with how kind they were and how well they treated me.
Thankfully, I never saw the guy again – not that I thought he was a threat to me at all but you never know – so I did my shopping and walked to my van all without incident.
Our pastor said something this weekend as he was telling us a story and I’m going to steal what he said – I am 87% sure that I did not say or do anything that I shouldn’t have…But I am 100% sure that I thought it!! I’m actually 100% sure that I didn’t say anything I shouldn’t have but I will admit that confronting the guy was dumb. I won’t tell you the things I thought but I behaved myself and went about my business and made it home safely.
Can I just say how sick I am of arrogant, selfish, idiotic drivers though?? Since when is it acceptable to honk at someone and follow them in a harrassing manner when YOU almost hit THEM and they did NOTHING wrong!?! I can’t tell you how many times each day that I see stupid stuff on the road and I just wonder where everybody’s manners and common sense went!!
Okay, I’m through venting and feel a little better. Thanks for listening.
In our society beauty seems to have come to mean one very specific kind of look – very thin, flawless skin, perfectly white and straight teeth, curves in the right places…you get the idea. But the average woman does not look like this. In fact, take a look at this video if you haven’t seen it…
Astounding, isn’t it!? And this is what we measure beauty against – the finished product that isn’t even real!!!
I saw something online the other day (I tried to find it but can’t. :/ ) that had a picture of a woman who is what society calls beautiful and then a picture of a woman who was the average size of American women. The two did not look the same at all. It’s frustrating!
I, like most other women I think, struggle with not feeling beautiful and not feeling like I look “good” to the world around me sometimes. When I was growing up I was very thin and never had to worry about weight, now that I’m older and have had children I have a weight problem. It’s not like my weight is out of control or anything but I’m not happy with it. I also have a thyroid problem which probably doesn’t help matters much. I haven’t tried to deal with the problem as much as I should have for the last few years but for a long time I did – I ate right, exercised daily, and did things like I was supposed to… and I never lost the weight. I just kind of gave up and figured why bother! I don’t really know how much of it is mental and how much of it is physical. I WANT to work at it, I WANT to eat right, I WANT to exercise, I WANT to lose weight but life has just gotten in the way.
I also have issues with feeling insecure about my skin – mine sure doesn’t look like the women who are in magazines and on TV! But after watching that video, the women who look flawless don’t even have flawless skin!! And then throw in the hair and the teeth and I just can’t compete! Not that mine are bad – I got a pretty good haircut a couple of months ago and have actually received a lot of compliments so I think I’m doing better in that department! haha! I had braces when I was a teen so my teeth are good too. But I can still look at other women and wish I had their hair or their smile.
Why do we do this to ourselves?
Beauty shouldn’t be what SOCIETY says it should be. True beauty is what GOD says is beautiful. Treating others well is beautiful, taking care of our family is beautiful, showing others the love of Jesus is beautiful, and living our lives in a way that is pleasing to God is beautiful. Those are the things that matter more. But we, as women, really struggle with that I think. Our society places so much emphasis on what a woman looks like and has such a strict definition of what beauty is that we fall into that trap of believing that that’s all that matters, of believing that the models and actresses reflect reality for the average woman. It’s simply not true!
We will be much better off if we can shed that image we have created for ourselves – the one that, for me, says we have to be pencil thin with gorgeous skin and gorgeous hair. I need to trust in God and know that if I am pleasing to Him then I am doing well.
This is something I’ve been working on for awhile. I joined a gym last fall and I’ve been working out, trying to get in better shape, but I’m also trying to be content with who I am. I’m trying to love myself and be proud of who I am, no matter what I look like. My husband tells me I’m beautiful – he’s the only one I’m worried about impressing with my outward appearance so if he’s happy with the way I look then I should be too. 
What I’m trying to remember, though, is what God expects of me – am I representing Christ well? Am I showing God’s love to others? Am I living a life pleasing to God? That’s the stuff that really matters. If I fear the Lord then I am to be praised (Proverbs 31:30). That’s good enough for me!
Linking up with Michelle today at Changed by the Maker for Making Life Meaningful.
My husband and I have been trying to be intentional in our relationship recently. We are definitely one of those couples whose relationship looks like a roller coaster – we have periods where we’re soaring high and happy as can be but then we seem to nose dive into the depths of…well, you know. heehee! Most of the time we’re just moving along on the track in a nice way though. And that’s not a bad thing. What we are trying to make fewer and far between are the bad times. Thankfully they are much fewer and far between than they were many years ago but ugliness does sometimes rear its ugly head and makes our marriage a little rocky.
We have always been of the frame of mind that anything worth having is worth fighting for though and that most definitely includes our marriage. We will do whatever work is necessary to make sure that we have an awesome marriage. And I’m proud to say we’ve done a good job! We will have been married for twenty-one years this coming May and I’m proud of every one of ‘em! Not all of them were great, mind you, but I’m proud of ‘em none the less!
So, what things do we do to make sure our marriage stays strong? Here are some things we’ve been working on – some recently and some for years:
by Gary Chapman. It will change your marriage.
This obviously isn’t everything you need to do for a good marriage but it’s a few things that can help.
This weekend we had a fabulous date “day” instead of night – Saturday morning we got up and got dressed as soon as we woke up and left the house to go have breakfast together (shhh…. we didn’t tell the kids we were doing that!). While we were there we each made a list of three things that the other could do to show love. I’ll give you one of mine as an example – I put down that I’d love for my husband to devote an evening once a week to playing some type of game with me – board game, card game, dominoes, Wii, or whatever. I love to play games…him – not so much…so if he does this for me it’s completely out of love for me. That’s pretty huge! AND we get to have fun! (Because I know that he will once he gives it a try. ) Anyway, after breakfast we went to an early movie (because it’s CHEAP at that time you know!), then we had a birthday lunch to go to so we went out to eat for that, then we went to Lowe’s and walked around and looked at things and talked about things we wanted to do around the house, dreamed about projects we wanted to complete, and just had a good time talking about that kind of thing. After that we went to the store for some Super Bowl party supplies (this is HUGE you guys – my husband does not do Walmart!! lol!) and then we came home and relaxed for the evening. It was awesome!
Why did I give you a play-by-play of our day? To show you how simple a date can be but how meaningful it can be. We both ended up thinking that it was an amazing day but there wasn’t anything amazing about what we did – it’s that we did it together and had so much fun with each other.
Key thought here – if you’re married, your marriage is something that always needs to be worked on – you can’t grow lazy and ignore it or it will suffer. I heard this quote once and I love it – “If the grass looks greener on the other side, it’s time to water your lawn.”
Linking up with Michelle at Changed by the Maker!
In my life this week…
I feel like I’m new at this – it’s been so long since I’ve been able to sit down and do it! haha! Let’s see, I’ve been working hard on my Scentsy business. We had a conference last Saturday and I learned so much! I’ve been trying to put some of that into practice this week in order to grow my business! I can’t tell you how pumped I am about it right now – almost everything is on sale this month because we are transitioning into our spring/summer catalog AND we are coming out with our new products really soon! I can’t wait! Be sure to visit my site if you’d like to get some fabulous Scentsy products on sale! Some are being discontinued too so you’ll want to get those before they’re gone!
In our homeschool this week…
My son has been doing quite a bit of independent work this week. It’s nice that he can do that but I always feel guilty when we get all the way to Friday and I realize I’ve been so busy running here and there and taking care of so many things that we haven’t sat down together to do much! :/ I’m sure thankful he’s such a great student!!
Helpful homeschooling tips or advice to share…
I hope this doesn’t come across the wrong way but here it is…don’t let homeschooling totally consume your life. Obviously it’s a big part of life for a homeschooling mom but if everything you do revolves around homeschooling you’re missing out on some other important aspects of life. Have a hobby that’s just for you – not homeschooling related at all, have some friends that you hang out with and do something fun together – not just homeschool talk…I guess I’m just trying to say that it is definitely important to spend the time necessary to be a good homeschooling mom but don’t be afraid to do other things and to get out and enjoy life for yourself a little too!
Places we’re going and people we’re seeing…
Soccer practice has started up back up so we’re working that into the schedule. Then, of course, there is work, church, Bible study, Scentsy meetings, life group, and time with friends.
My favorite thing this week was…
The Scentsy conference last Saturday. It was so much fun and I learned so much! It was a great day with some really fun ladies.
Things I’m working on…
The message series that our pastor has been preaching about this last month is called “Better.” He’s been teaching us how we should be making choices based on what is best for us and what God’s best for us is. There are a lot of things that we can do that are good things – but that doesn’t make them “better” things. I’ve felt the Holy Spirit nudging me toward letting some things go and focusing my attention a little closer on some other things. I’m slacking off in areas that are pretty important and focusing attention on areas that are good but aren’t as important. So, I’m working on focusing and letting go. One of the things that I let go of this week was being a contributing author at The Homeschool Post. As honored as I was to be a part of that and as much as I enjoyed participating in that, I felt like that was one area that God was telling me to step back from. It was a great thing but it was taking time from things that I need to focus on more in my life. I’m thankful for God’s nudgings to help me become a better person – hopefully I’ll succeed in getting closer to where He wants me to be.
I’m reading…
The Litigators
I’m cooking…
I haven’t been cooking as much as I should lately. I’ve had to be out of the house right at the time I usually make dinner a few times recently and that’s kind of messed things up. You’d think I’d be smart enough to prepare ahead of time and put something in the crockpot! I actually was smart enough to do that one day, but the others…nope! ugh. I did make barbeque chicken sandwiches and meatloaf this week. Those were both good!
I’m grateful for…
I’ve said this before but I’m grateful for my husband. He’s been working his tail off to get lots of work in and get us into a good financial position. It kind of stinks when he’s putting in so many hours and I don’t get to spend as much time with him but I know the reason he’s doing it and I appreciate him so much for it.
A photo, video, link, or quote to share…
Two fun grammar quotes.
Source: Uploaded by user via Donetta on Pinterest
Source: craftysisters-nc.blogspot.com via Donetta on Pinteres
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I know I’m breaking the rules by even writing this, considering the title says wordless, but I’ve never participated in this before and so I felt it needed an introduction on my blog. I’ve seen this all over the place and always enjoy looking at other people’s photos so I thought, “why not?” I’ve been unable to spend the time to sit down and blog much lately but I love photography so I can always put a picture up pretty quickly and easily! So, even though this isn’t wordless this time, introducing my first wordless Wednesday!
I sat down to write a post today about something that is meaningful to me because I wanted to link up with Michelle at Changed by the Maker for her Make Life Meaningful Monday link-up. I sat and thought about it for a few minutes, trying to decide what I wanted to write about, and the thing that kept popping into my head was Scentsy.
I became a Scentsy consultant in September and it is something that has become very meaningful to me – it’s something I’ve enjoyed very much. Not only have I enjoyed using the products and getting to know more about them, but I’ve enjoyed the relationships I’ve built and the new people I’ve met. It’s not just about a product and it’s not just about selling something for some extra money – it’s about relationships.
I think we all know that most women are all about relationships and want that social time with each other. We crave the time together so that we can talk and laugh and just hang out. Scentsy has allowed me to do that with some really great women and I’m very thankful for that.
One of the things I’m SUPER excited about is the fact that we are about to come out with some new products – some products that I think are brilliant and simply amazing! Some aren’t necessarily something extremely different and new but they are made with Scentsy scents and quality – which is outstanding!! (The quality and care put into the products in this company is one of the things I’ve been MOST impressed with!) But some are new concepts that nobody else is doing – and for that I’m pumped!!
Take a look at the new things we have coming out very soon!
Sincerely Scent – a new way to send greeting cards to people you love! You can purchase, design, and send a card all from the comfort of your own home with these. You pick from a huge array of templates, you can upload a digital photo if you wish, and you create a card for any occasion to be sent to whomever you choose. Scentsy creates the card you have designed, addresses the envelope, and mails it to the person you’ve chosen. And you can schedule these 364 days in advance!! So you can get all of your birthday cards, anniversary cards, Christmas cards, or any other kind of cards taken care of in one sitting if you choose!
Next is Layers – a new line of personal care products including body spray, body lotion, solid perfume, hand cream, shower gel, body butter, and shower gel. These will be available in several different beautiful scents and will help you “layer” yourself with amazing products!
And last, but definitely not least, is Velata! This stuff is phenomenal!! They have taken the same concept as the Scentsy warmer and turned it into a fondue warmer for chocolate! There will be a variety of different warmers to choose from and four different flavors of amazing Belgian chocolate. Since it hasn’t been released yet I have not been able to taste the chocolate but those who have been able to taste it have said it is simply amazing. So delicious!! Personally I can’t wait to try it!!
So all that to say, this new “job” I have and the new products I’ve found and more than anything the new relationships I’ve found, have become very meaningful to me and I’m so thankful for them!
If you’re interested in any of these products or have any questions I’d love to help you with that!!
My website is blessedwithscents.com and you can see all of our current products. During the month of February almost everything is marked down too because we’ll soon be switching over to our spring/summer product line so see if there’s something you need and get it on sale!
There have been several things lately that have had me thinking about the busyness of our society - some things that our pastor said during a sermon, some situations in my own life, some conversations that I’ve had recently, and some things I’ve heard people say – in person and online. All of these things have led me to a a couple of different conclusions:
Honestly, sometimes I wonder if we don’t use “I’m so busy!” as an excuse to avoid doing things that we are just too lazy or too uninterested in?? It’s such a common thing to hear and people expect everyone else to be busy so it’s become a natural response to questions about how your life is going or whether or not you have time to do this or that.
I also think people can have an inflated self-image when they are busy – not everyone by any means, but some. They feel important and feel like they matter if things are hectic and they have lots of emails piling up in their inbox or lots of things to do and places to be. Busyness isn’t what defines you though – you matter whether you are completely laid back with a wide-open schedule or you’re so busy that you can’t think straight.
But Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made. She came to him and asked, “Lord, don’t you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me!” “Martha, Martha,” the Lord answered, “you are worried and upset about many things, but only one thing is needed. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.” Luke 10:40-42
I definitely have lots of things going on in my life and my days can definitely be pretty busy BUT, if I were to take a step back and make an honest evaluation of all that is going on in my life, I really do have time to do things. This is something I’ve been working on for quite some time now – making time for the things that really matter in life and not worrying about keeping up with everyone else and trying to achieve something that isn’t really important in the whole scheme of things.
Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is–his good, pleasing and perfect will. Romans 12:2
Yes, it’s important to get the laundry done, to keep the house cleaned up to keep the family fed, to pay bills, to grade papers, and all of those other things that we do each day – but when all is said and done and you get to the end of your life or even when you get to the end of having children living in your home because they’re all grown up and ready to move out on their own, will you look back and be thankful that you always finished the laundry and kept the house clean? Or will you look back and be thankful that you spent time building relationships – relationships with your spouse, with your children, and with friends.
It’s amazing how quickly life goes by – every once in awhile I’ll think of some situation and then realize it’s been two years or four years since it’s happened. And then I wonder how it’s possible that the time went so quickly!!
Man is like a breath; his days are like a fleeting shadow. Psalm 144:4
So today, as you’re reading this, make a list of the things that really matter and then make sure you’re spending time on those things. Don’t just say you’ll get to it when things slow down or when you’re not as busy – because if you don’t make the time and make it happen it will always be in that far off land of “someday when I’m not busy.”
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