Family First

I absolutely loved this past weekend.  My sister and her family came to stay with us for a couple of days.  They stayed at my house which made it so my sister and I could cook together and prepare Thanksgiving dinner together.  Everything was delicious too.

I spent some much needed time with my husband and kids too.  We shopped on Saturday with the kids.  Then the hubs and I went bowling for date night.  On Sunday, my daughter was sick so we stayed home and did some housework together.  I got an extra day off on Monday since my daughter was still sick.  She went back to school today feeling much better but still has a raw nose.

I am missing more derby practice these days in favor of family time and while my attendance percentage may go down, my mom guilt is going down as well.  I want to continue to play derby, but my family needs me more than my team does so I have to learn to balance family life and derby life better so I don't have to shut one out completely.  I love derby and it can seem a little more fun than family life sometimes, but it doesn't love me back and my family always will.

I Am So Hungry

Just thinking about tomorrow has already made me ravenous today.  And it's only 11!!!  On the menu for tomorrow's main course will be a juicy 22-pound turkey, mashed potatoes and gravy, cranberry-glazed carrots, green bean casserole, deviled eggs, and maybe a couple other dishes brought by my mom or sister.  For dessert we will have a choice of spiced pumpkin souffles, brownies, and apple crisp.

I have my turkey soaking in brine and the brownies are made.  Tonight I will make soup for the green bean casserole and the gravy and maybe boil the eggs for the deviled eggs.

In the morning I will get up about 6 a.m. to put the turkey in the oven and then probably go back to bed for a little while.  After I get up the second time the kitchen will be a-buzzing!  The house will be filled with smells of deliciousness!  I am HUNGRY!!!  Okay, it's lunch time.

Happy Thanksgiving all!  Be full, safe and happy.

Giving Thanks

Thanksgiving is a time to celebrate being thankful.  Really though, we should be thankful everyday.  Even if it's just for something small like a cup of coffee when you wake up.  Finding something to be thankful for practices positive thinking.  The more you practice, the better you'll get at it.  You could even start a list of the things you're thankful for and it may surprise you if you do it for a year.  You would have 365 things to be thankful for.  That's quite a lot considering all the unfortunate people in this world who have much less than we do here in the United States.

I myself am thankful for God, my husband, my 14-year-old son Zachary, my 6-year old daughter Shyanna, my mom, my dad, a home to live in, my job, roller derby, the motivation to exercise, my strengths, my weaknesses that teach me lessons, sunshine, chocolate and other sweet things, my sister and brother, my sister's family, all my extended family, and it doesn't end there.  When you look for something to be thankful for, it really is very easy to find.

I hope everyone has a Happy Thanksgiving!

Hate is Horror

"Hate is too great a burden to bear.  It injures the hater more than the hated."  -Coretta Scott King

Hatred is a DIFFICULT feeling.  It's difficult because it is such a strong feeling.  Many times people behave irrationally when they feel hate.  Hate is toxic if you give into it or behave irrationally.  Hate destroys one's own happiness and love of life.  Hate makes one focus on the negative aspects of situations or life in general.

"You cannot hate other people without hating yourself."  -Oprah Winfrey

Hate is a choice.  BOTTOM LINE.  This choice is made when someone feels powerless or weak.  Hate gives us that feeling of power we so desperately want, but only temporarily.  It's like a drug and if you keep giving into it, it will have power over you and you will be powerless once again.  If you choose to hate, the only one you end up hurting is yourself and not those you hate.  The hated person probably knows nothing about the hater's feelings or they do not let it bother them so the very thing people hope to accomplish by hating someone doesn't affect the hated person in the least. 

"Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that.  Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that."  -Martin Luther King, Jr.

Hate brings people to do horrible things to each other when expressed irrationally.  Hate destroys relationships.  Sometimes it even destroys the relationships you wish to keep.  Hate just creates more hate.

"Hating people is like burning down your own house to get rid of a rat."  -Henry Emerson Fosdick

Hatred stems from feelings of fear, hurt, irresponsibility, and ignorance.  A hater tends to focus on other people's actions making their life miserable.  They are oblivious to the fact that their beliefs and actions create their reality.  The reality is that they work so much harder to hate than to love, and hate only hurts the hater.  Why waste all that energy on something so negative?

"Hatred is a quality that's always destructive, never helpful or constructive, and always unpleasant."  -unknown

Please first and foremost, learn to love yourself.  If you can't love yourself, you can't love others and the hate will continue to dominate your life.  Take time to reflect and see the uselessness of letting negative feelings control how you behave toward others.  Life is too short to let hate fill so much of it. 

“I imagine one of the reasons people cling to their hates so stubbornly is because they sense, once hate is gone, they will be forced to deal with pain.”  -James Baldwin

C is for Cookie!!!

I got invited to my first cookie exchange party.  What a great idea!  Everyone bakes 6 dozen cookies and makes a copy of the recipe(s).  Then you bring a container to take cookies home in and exchange all your cookies at the host's house.  This is a wonderful idea for the holidays when you like to give baked goods.  Instead of spending your time making lots of different cookies, you only have to make 1 or 2 kinds and you can come back with 10 different kinds!  Cookie heaven!

I love to give baked goods for Christmas.  Who has recipes for the yummiest cookies???  Send them my way.  I have until December 1st to decide what kinds to make.  NOM NOM NOM.  :)

Does Your Stomach Bother You?

Do you know what causes your stomach to bother you?  If not, maybe you should be checked for celiac disease.

Content from Mayo Clinic: 

"Celiac disease is a digestive condition triggered by consumption of the protein gluten, which is found in bread, pasta, cookies, pizza crust and many other foods containing wheat, barley or rye. If you have celiac disease and eat foods containing gluten, an immune reaction occurs in your small intestine, causing damage to the surface of your small intestine and an inability to absorb certain nutrients.

Eventually, the decreased absorption of nutrients (malabsorption) that occurs with celiac disease can cause vitamin deficiencies that deprive your brain, peripheral nervous system, bones, liver and other organs of vital nourishment. This can lead to other illnesses and stunted growth in children.

No treatment can cure celiac disease. However, you can effectively manage celiac disease through changing your diet and completely eliminating gluten from your diet.

Symptoms:

There are no typical signs and symptoms of celiac disease. Most people with the disease have general complaints, such as:

Intermittent diarrhea

Abdominal pain

Bloating

Sometimes people with celiac disease may have no gastrointestinal symptoms at all. Celiac disease symptoms can also mimic those of other conditions, such as irritable bowel syndrome, gastric ulcers, Crohn's disease, parasite infections, anemia, skin disorders or a nervous condition.

Celiac disease may also present itself in less obvious ways, including:

Irritability or depression

Anemia

Stomach upset

Joint pain

Muscle cramps

Skin rash

Mouth sores

Dental and bone disorders (such as osteoporosis)

Tingling in the legs and feet (neuropathy)

Some indications of malabsorption that may result from celiac disease include:

Weight loss

Diarrhea

Abdominal cramps, gas and bloating

General weakness and fatigue

Foul-smelling or grayish stools that may be fatty or oily

Stunted growth (in children)

Osteoporosis

Anemia"

If you have lots of stomach problems and you haven't been tested for this disease, please ask your doctor to test you for it.  It goes under diagnosed and there may be millions of people who are unaware that they have this disease.  My mother and brother have this disease and while it is sometimes a pain to stick to a gluten-free diet, they feel much better than they used to before they found out they have it.

Carnival Fun

Come to the ORG's carnival night tomorrow night (November 13th).  We will have beer pong, shot checkers, bottle toss, 7-11 doubles, and full contact musical chairs!  Musical chairs will only be played by rollergirls.  This will take place at Stroker's 7812 F Street in Omaha, NE starting at 8:30 p.m.  Bring a non-perishable food item or pay $1 per game.  This food drive will benefit Food Not Bombs.  Hope to see you there!

What a Weekend!!!

It was such a good weekend, I haven't had time to write a blog until today.  I got back from Chicago on Monday to return to a mountain of work on Tuesday.  Now that I finally got over the mountain, I am able to blog.

Chicago is a really neat city.  I had so much fun venturing out on the streets, taking the train and buses everywhere and getting there in 20 minutes or less.  That doesn't happen here on public transportation.  A lot of homeless people were begging but other than that, all my experiences were good and I got to watch some AWESOME derby.

Rocky Mountain skated away with the Hydra trophy by 1 point in the most exciting bout of the entire weekend.  Congrats to them!  All the other teams that participated were amazing to watch.  I sure know I need to learn some more skills!

I had a great time giggling with girls and partying with the people of Chicago and the people who were visiting from other areas.  I can't wait until next year's championships!  Hopefully ORG will make it there!

Ever Hear Of...

A giant coconut crab?  Or a glass frog (yes you can see through it)?  Or a Mexican walking fish?  These animals are strange and exotic, yet endangered species.  There are many endangered species we have never heard of.  Seems strange. 

Whether it's humans or global warming that are endangering these species, they are being discovered during this endangerment which is not a good thing.  People are more concerned about other things, however, and not worried about different endangered species.

If you would like to know more about endangered species, go to http://www.endangeredspecie.com/ and find information about ways to help or get informed.

Playing Hooky

I am going to let my kids play hooky for a couple of hours on Thursday.  I leave town on Thursday, having to be at the airport by 4 p.m.  My kids usually get out of school at 3:30 but since I get off work at 1 p.m., I am going to pick them up early so we can have some time together before I have to leave.  I think for this one time, it is okay to break the rules.  I will be gone for 4 days and I always miss them terribly when I am away.  This will give us a chance to have some quality time together before I leave instead of a hurried pick them up from school and straight to the airport type of goodbye.

I think it is okay to let kids play hooky every great once in a while for something special.  After all, we take off work sometimes, why shouldn't they be allowed to take some time off school?

I can't wait until Thursday!

Halloween Costumes= Success

My husband and I won Most Creative Couple Costumes at our friends' annual Halloween party.  I was a garden hoe (hoe with garden tools and gloves) and my husband was an easy lay (Staples easy button with a Hawaiian lei).  I will add pictures as soon as I get some (I forgot my camera so others took them for us).

Our son's costume was the big hit.  He got so many compliments.  He was Not a Happy Camper.  We took an old Boy Scout camp shirt and ripped a bear claw into the front with blood on it.  We stuck roasted marshmallows all over it.  He had a scarred, bloody face with a black eye.  He carried his hiking backpack.  The only thing we missed was a broken flashlight.  He felt so proud of his costume.

Shyanna loved her costume as well.  She was a fairy princess and I did her eye makeup in rainbow colors and we put green, purple, and pink hair extensions in her hair.  So we made her a punk rock rainbow fairy princess.

I hope everyone's Halloween was safe and fun.  I can't wait until next year!