Every parent wants the best for their children in all aspects of their lives, including the safest and healthiest products for them. So many items on the shelves are believed to be good, safe products for our children but in reality many times that is not the case. All parents have to decide what they will do about that situation, for some it could be homemade baby food, organic food, cloth diapers, all natural soaps etc. Just last week I stumbled across a new company founded by Jessica Alba (who is also the spokes person for the Safer Chemicals, Healthy Families organization). The company is The Honest Company. Their products are natural, safe, eco-friendly and affordable! The bonus is that they are delivered right to your door! I haven’t tried the products yet, but intend to, I just want to make sure to pass on any new information I get about affordable natural products to other parents who might be interested, because if your like me I didn’t even know about this new company until someone told me. Check out Green Oklahoma‘s page for an article I have written about The Honest Company and be sure to check out the company’s website for a free trial pack and please comment any time you come across new products, let’s share the new information with each other so we can all be aware of our choices!
Archives For Accountability
“Your word is a lamp for my feet, a light on my path.” Psalm 119:105 (NIV) 
With this year coming to an end and the new year right around the corner a lot of people are thinking about new year resolutions. I myself don’t have any this year. The reason for that is a few months ago I made a 30 before 30 list and a lot of the things that are on there would have been things that I would have used as a new year’s resolution. Instead I will just continue to work on my list and cross things off one by one. The item on my list that comes to mind for a new year’s resolution is reading the Bible all the way through. I have heard many resolutions to spend more time in the Bible and more time with God daily. I agree with those resolutions, in fact those are great ones for every Christian to have each year. I have been finishing up a devotional plan from Youversion and come January 1st I plan to open up to Genesis and start my journey reading through the Bible. I don’t know how long it will take me, I don’t have a certain timeline in place for when I want to be done. I plan to just enjoy God’s word and see what He has to show me as I read His word all the way through. I look forward to my “resolution.” Do you have one?
Photo Credit: Ian Bailey-Mortimer
”Mark a life of discipline and live wisely; don’t squander your precious life.” Proverbs 8:32 (MSG) 
“In reading the lives of great men, I found that the first victory they won was over themselves? Self-discipline with all of them came first.” Harry S. Truman
This past weekend at a Halloween party I was talking with a friend about crocheting. It then brought me to talking about my knitting projects. I taught myself how to knit a few years ago. I get started and then eventually after a while I stop and never finish the project. I don’t know why I do this because I honestly do enjoy doing it, although I have wondered at times if I am still doing it right! I turned 25 earlier this month and with that I made a 30 before 30 list. One of the items on there was for me to start and FINISH a knitting project. I gave myself five years, I would think that I could accomplish this goal in that time. I did get inspired today on Pinterest when I saw a knitted coffee cup sleeve. It’s eco-friendly, small and would work for my completed project. I guess only time will tell!
My husband was reading this book called Quitter. While he was reading it he mentioned one of the points in it and it has really stuck with me, discipline begets discipline. Wow! I hadn’t really thought of that. You are always taught growing up to be disciplined, hard-working and so on. But, did it ever occur to you or were you ever told that the way to do this is practice? Think about it… if I want to be disciplined in a certain area of my life, say working out regularly. It won’t happen just because I want it to. It will happen when I start to make discipline a part of my everyday life… getting up on time, a schedule for the day, a budget for our home and so on. People do not make changes over night because it’s a good idea, the changes that they make are because they were already disciplined enough to make those changes and they stuck! Think about all the times people go on “diets” but only last so long before breaking it. Its easier and more successful to make a lifestyle change with how you eat than to diet.
This idea of discipline brought me back to my silly little knitting project. In general I feel that I am a pretty disciplined person, we have a budget, I am a vegetarian (as a way of life, not diet), I work out and my son and I have a great routine daily. But for some reason I can’t seem to find the discipline to sit down and do something I actually enjoy long enough to complete the project. Perhaps I need to make a more conscious effort. Go ahead and ask me in a few days if I have done any knitting. I’ll be honest, and I hope the answer will be yes!
Photo Credit: Steven Depolo
Todays post is from a guest blogger, Michelle Clark. She has her own blog you should also check out, Miss Banana Pants. She’s a great writer with an awesome sense of humor and tells the truth exactly how it is. For example, I read the other day on facebook a status update talking about rolling a fitted sheet into a ball after failing to fold it. I laughed out loud because I SO do that and never even thought about whether other people would call that normal! So with that, I will give you her post…
Ever had one of those days when your child decides to pick their nose in public, then offers his “finds” to the person behind you in the Wal-Mart check-out line? Or how about one of those days when your toddler asks why it’s okay for you to spank him, but it’s not okay for him to spank his friends? How about one of those days when you try to change a “questionable” diaper in the car, only to realize at the wrong moment that your toddler wasn’t finished with said “questionable business” and thus, proceeds to “finish” all over the front seat and your new Miss Me jeans? As crazy (and disgusting) as all those scenarios sound, I had them ALL 3 this morning. That’s right…..it’s Wednesday, but REALLY, it might as well have been another Monday for me. Usually things like this only happen on that one dreaded day of the week. I just want to shower, to go back to bed, and start over….
But I press on. I AM supermom, you know! I do have it all together and all is under control. At least I like to pretend so. Because even after mornings like the one I just had, that’s what you do. You run into a fellow mom at the mall or supermarket who asks you how things are going. You respond, “Fantastic!” ……..LIE. “Pretending” sounds much more innocent, but that’s not what’s going on here. Cause we’re ALL liars. Every last over-achieving one of us. ALL MOMS ARE LIARS.
We would all like you to think we are the best of the best at all things “parenting”, when, in reality we are just giving you our own opinions and experiences. Those “experiences” are foggy though, but we force our two-cents on other moms so that they won’t know that we have had gruesome, normal, Mommy-mornings like the one I just had. Let me give you an example of our good intentions gone bad:
You: “Oh, your daughter isn’t sleeping through the night? That must be awful. My son has always been a good sleeper. He sleeps like, 12 hours now. It’s kind of crazy.”
Your intention: I want this person to know that sleep IS possible. That one day it’s all going to work out and she’ll have a fantastic night’s sleep. We’re all in this together!
How she’s taking it: I’m a failure. I’m never going to sleep again. My life is over. I hate myself. My roots are growing in and my footwear is horrendous.
See how easily your good intentions have been misunderstood? But here’s the thing you’re forgetting:
You’re LYING. Again.
You don’t mean to. And yes, we do believe that your child is sort of sleeping but it took you a heck of a long time to make that happen and you forgot to mention that. You crossed out that little tidbit of info in your maternal memory bank because you don’t want to remember how you lost clumps of your hair and consistently told your husband that he was a douche face. You were stressed! Not sleeping is a form a torture. Look what happened to Lady Macbeth! Who wants to remember how hard it was when you can focus your energy on how awesome you feel that you only wake up once or twice now (which technically isn’t sleeping through the night, but never mind.)
So here’s the up side: Anytime another mother gives you information about her life that in turn makes you feel like you are FAILING MISERABLY as a parent just whisper under your breath: “she’s lying”. Because it’s true. She is lying. But not just to you, also to herself. And she doesn’t even know it. (And even if she’s not – who cares – you’ll feel better) So forgive her for not remembering what really happened and find comfort in the fact that there is a chemical in our brains that eliminates pain memory.
Because one day it WILL all work out. You will go to sleep and you will leave the house without Cheerios in your hair. You will once again find the matching socks to wear instead of matching a pair that just look kinda sorta similar. And, yes, you will one day wear a bra without flaps on the front – a bra that keeps your boobs pointing UP and not DOWN.
But at this point you should probably just offer to buy her a coffee because, seriously, you both deserve it. Just think how different life would have been for Lady Macbeth had someone just given her a hug and offered to buy her a mocha latte. A lot less drama that’s for sure.
Why aren’t we honest? Why can’t we say, “Well, I’m doing alright, minus getting pooped on, spit all over, and overcoming the constant public humiliation that my toddler puts me through on a daily basis. Thank you for asking.” We don’t have to be supermoms. We also don’t have to have better kids than every other mom out there. The more honest we are with each other, the more we can learn to survive this crazy journey of motherhood. Let’s hold our tongues and hold each other up more often. We’re all in this together, clothes stained with poop and all. You know it’s true.
“Then he said to them all: ”Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross
daily and follow me.” Luke 9:23 (NIV)
“But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.” Matthew 6:33 (NIV)
I have been doing a readying plan from Youversion for my daily devotional time. The plan I have started is the Essential 100, it’s a plan where you read 50 passages from the Old Testament and 50 from the New Testament. It’s a way to get an overview of the Bible in 100 days. Here’s the thing… when I originally started this plan I was supposed to finish it in October. Now I’m supposed to finish it in November. I love that Youversion has the option to “catch up” on missed readings, adjusting your end date so you can pick up where you left off. But, I feel bad. I should never have to use the catch up option. I should be able to follow the reading plan as it is laid out as long as I am taking time to read the Bible every day. But I am just like everyone else, we get busy and manage to allow that time of our day to be pushed to tomorrows “to-do list.” Why do I let myself do that? Of course the answer is that I am human and far from perfect. I have to make the choice daily to spend time with God no matter how busy I am. What is amazing is that He is always there waiting on me, even if I have allowed the business of life to keep me from spending that much-needed time with Him. He never stops waiting on us. He never gets up and walks out. He waits, patiently, for us to realize we need Him! I know I will never have it all perfectly figured out. I will have days when I forget to spend time in the Bible, but I just can’t stop trying, I must always do the best I can to make it a priority. God will always be there waiting to show me more each time I open His word!
