Giving Up Isn't an Option

Mandisa has a song titled "Overcomer". I love this song, especially the chorus.

You're an overcomer
Stay in the fight ‘til the final round
You're not going under
‘Cause God is holding you right now
You might be down for a moment
Feeling like it's hopeless
That's when He reminds You
That you're an overcomer
You're an overcomer

I have had a lot of challenging circumstances in my life to overcome. My parents divorced and remarried multiple times and not amicably. One sister had a terrible car accident. Financial struggles. My husband had a severe head injury and we didn't know if he would recover, my dad died of cancer , then my mother died of cancer, and on and on and on.

 Events happened in my life that made me feel like giving up...but I just couldn't give up. I wouldn't give up. What is it about some people that tough times make them tougher and others crumble?

I became a Christian in 1988 but even before that I was not one to let troubles stop me in my tracks. So, is it in our DNA? Is it how we are raised? Is it just stubbornness?

Some of it has to be our innate personality. I just took an emotional intelligence quiz to learn more about what makes me tick. My result is below.

How Did You Score?
Your results indicate a high score on emotional intelligence.

What Does Your Score Mean?
People who score high on emotional intelligence tend to be skilled at interpreting, understanding, and acting upon emotions. They are adept at dealing with social or emotional conflicts, expressing their feelings, and dealing with emotional situations. 

It's important to remember that no matter how good your score is, there is always room to improve your emotional intelligence. Consider areas where you are not as strong and think of ways that you can learn and grow. Take stock of your strong points and find ways to continue to develop and apply these skills.

When troubles come my way, I often stop what I am doing and cry but I don't stay there. I take stock of my situation, formulate a plan, pick myself up, and move forward. I try to use my problems to improve myself.

So, what do you think? Why do some people rise above their challenges and others go to pieces?

Life, Interrupted

Hello! I have been away since April 1 from this blog, from my social life, and barely keeping my head above water because my 19 month-old grandson came to live with us unexpectedly.

Now, I raised five children so I have at least a few child rearing skills up my sleeve. And I had those five children in eight years so I got pretty adept at juggling my time. I haven't lost any of the knowledge I gained...

So, I find it quite interesting that I am not getting much done with Liam living at my house. First, the lack of sleep derailed me because he didn't sleep well when he first came to us. Thankfully, now he often sleeps an entire 8-9 hours at night. This means that I get to sleep at least 6-7 hours uninterrupted which has improved my productivity and clarity of mind immensely!

Rearranging the house to keep Liam safe from harm and from harming our things took a bit of work as did figuring out what he liked to eat, when his nap time should be, how to get him to sleep, and so on. Getting back into the swing of shopping with a small child was also a skill to reincorporate!

Coming up on a month of having him, we are all adjusting well and thriving. We are climbing out of survival mode into a daily routine. When I was raising my children I did not work like I do now. Coordinating child care with my husband for our grandson was another challenge to be resolved.

I had a lot of emotions to work through when my life changed 180 degrees upon the receipt of a phone call. It was April 1 but it was NO April Fool's prank that would be over before the end of the day.

I was angry, disappointed, and mourning the loss of my freedom. Don't get me wrong- I am glad to be in a position to be able to help my grandson and his parents but it is still not at all what I envisioned doing once my children had all reached adulthood.

Thankfully, my grandson will be returning at some point (sooner rather than later we hope)to live with his mother. Until then, hubby and I will continue the juggling act and find some suitable sitters so we can get out together once in a while!

New Year, New You?

Unless you have been under a rock, you have noticed that a few moments after 2014 began, the barrage of weight loss commercials for diets, diet aids, gyms, and the like took over the air waves.

We were encouraged to eat tons of treats during the holidays; every women's magazine and every morning news shows rushed to share recipes for all sorts of foods. Then, one minute into 2014, they pull the rug out from under the partiers and start hitting them in the stomach and wallet.

Well, my friends, if you over-indulged during the holiday season or the past 20 years, don't go crazy and do something drastic to fix your problem. Be kind to yourself and formulate a plan.

I suggest that you begin with walking...consistently. When I decided I wanted to lose weight and reclaim myself in February 2009 , I started walking at a gym. At first, I just walked a mile and I walked it kind of slowly. But I did it and I did it three times a week. I didn't change my eating at first. So, I didn't lose weight at first either. But that was okay, because I was working on building a habit.

After a few weeks, I decided that I needed to kick it up a notch, so I tried running. I nearly keeled over after just 30 seconds of running. Seriously. No, really! It was embarrassing to be that out of shape.

The next day, I walked a mile, and ran for 30 seconds of that time. I was still about to keel over but each day when I went to the gym, I made sure to run for a bit of the time I was on the treadmill. I upped my running by 30 second increments and I also began to alternate walking with running (this is called doing intervals and it burns lots of calories). Eventually (it didn't take all that long) I could run a 5K on the treadmill in about 45 minutes. I know that isn't super fast but I am very, very short and I was running as fast as my little legs could do.

Within two months of beginning to work out, I had lost 15 pounds. By late 2009 I had lost 40 pounds using the principles in Bob Greene's book, Total Body Makeover, and doing interval training.

I have lost about 60 pounds altogether since that cold February day when I nervously stepped into a gym with a friend and her mother. I didn't buy a costly program and I didn't have a lot of support at home. I did pray and ask God to help me to change. If I wanted to eat something I knew would not help me in my goals, I would ask God to help me not to eat it. I would tell myself that I could that food the next day if I wanted to eat it.

I am not going to lie to you and say it was easy because it wasn't. It was a lot more emotional than I had expected. I realized that a lot of my over-eating had its roots in not dealing with my feelings and emotions. If I was annoyed with someone, instead of getting the problem resolved, I would just go to the refrigerator.

As I started to realize what I had been doing, I began to change the way I dealt with anger, disappointment, loneliness, and other emotions and emotionally charged situations. During the time I was working on my weight loss and myself, my mother got very sick with terminal cancer, went into hospice, and died. I was very vulnerable at this time to fall backwards on my weight loss journey, but I leaned heavily on God, threw myself into my work, and kept going.

If you want a new you this new year, you can do it! You just need to decide that you are worth all the work you will have to do physically, emotionally, and spiritually to see the change you want. If I did it and at the age of 45, anyone can do it!

Let me hear about you and your plans. I want to help. And you can help me to reach my goal of losing 10 more pounds. Let's succeed together!

Tighten Your Spending, Not Your Living

People who know me and later find out that we live on a very low income are amazed to discover this information. Some think that given our low income, we get some kind of government assistance such as unemployment or food stamps to make it. However, that is not the case for our family. Our philosophy is that we will trust God to provide what we need, and we will do the very best with can with the resources available to us.

Some of the resources we have are ourselves and our abilities. I love to learn new skills and I love to shop for bargains everywhere I go. Recently, our living room furniture's well loved look started to get to me. I decided to go to the thrift store to see if I could find something to use to freshen up the look of the couch and two side chairs. I don't have any funds for replacing the furniture at this time.

I had a coupon in my possession for the thrift store that would allow me to save $5.00 off a purchase of $15.00 or more. I went looking for a large bedspread to use as a couch cover, a nice piece of fabric to use to recover the living room chairs, and a fitted sheet to use to cover the seat cushions on the couch.

My living room is decorated in the colors mauve, forest green, cranberry, and white. I found a large mauve bedspread, a forest green queen-size fitted sheet, and a drapery panel in forest green that has a nice pattern in it. I also found a new Christmas tablecloth at the same time that has mauve colored poinsettias on a cranberry colored background. I spent around $17.00 for these items. Let me show you the before and after on the chairs.

I can't believe I let the chairs
look like this as long as I did!

 We had originally bought these chairs as part of a lot of twenty chairs for $40.00 at an auction. So, the chairs cost $2.00 each and we have had them for around seven years. This is the third time I have recovered these chairs. Each time, I look for inexpensive fabric at a thrift store. The drapery panel I bought cost $2.99, so I recovered each chair for $1.50 plus the cost of the staples in the staple gun, and my time to recover the chairs. I spent around 1 1/2 hours removing the old fabric and putting on the new fabric. I kept the contrasting fabric from the previous recovering job because I liked that look but I still have enough fabric to change it if I decide to do so later.

All freshened up for the new year!

We have to keep a tight grip on our spending so that we have as much of our income available as possible to pay the non-negotiable bills such as the house payment or electric bill. However, tightening up our spending doesn't mean we don't enjoy our lives. We do everything everyone else does; we just do it differently.

Case in point- I have been wanting a pair of warm, snuggly boots for quite a while, but I was unwilling to spend the money that would be required to buy such boots at a retail store. Every time I went into my favorite thrift store I made sure to look at the boots they had in stock. A week ago, I finally found exactly what I wanted in my size. The boots were only $4.00! The only issue with them that I had to resolve was to buy new laces. I bought an inexpensive pair for $1.97 because if I had bought the suede laces, I would have spent as much for them as I did on my boots. I may upgrade to the suede laces but for now I am quite happy with my boots and laces.

I told my husband that these boots have changed my life. I get
very cold in the winter and once my feet are cold, I can't get warm
for a long time. These boots keep my feet nice and toasty. I can
stay outside longer and more comfortably. I am one happy gal! 

Would it have been easier to go to the store and buy a pair of boots when I needed them? Maybe for some people it would have. For me and my family, when we have a need we know we have to be a bit patient to get that need filled. Would it have been easier to get new chairs rather than to find the fabric and make the time to recover the chairs? Again, for some people that answer would be yes. 

In our family, due to our restrictions, we have developed many useful abilities and attitudes. We are generally content with what we have, we have learned to do many things so that we can live within our means (cooking, baking, making simple repairs, doing simple maintenance around the house), we are grateful and appreciative of whatever we receive, and we help each other as much as we can. 

My younger daughter and her boyfriend recently brought us a microwave and coffee maker that they did not need. A roommate had left the microwave and they had gotten a Keurig so they didn't need a full size coffee maker any longer. 

I cleaned the microwave and improvised a foot to replace the two back feet that were missing. We had been without a microwave for nearly a year but I didn't want to spend money on a cheap model microwave and then have to spend again when I finally had the funds to get the over the stove model I really want, so I just did without. My daughter knew we didn't have one and rather than selling her extra one, she blessed us with it. My coffee maker had also died and again, I want a certain model of coffee maker so rather than buy a cheap one I decided to learn to make coffee without a coffee maker until I could get what I want. Here are a couple sites that I found helpful:

http://www.articlesbase.com/coffee-articles/how-to-make-coffee-without-a-coffee-maker-1967702.html?utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=ab_paid_12&gclid=CPPr69eR47sCFUho7Aod7lIAEA

http://www.ehow.com/how_4505550_brew-coffee-coffee-maker.html

If it had bothered me to be without these items, I would likely have gone to the thrift store to get them while saving for the nicer ones I ultimately want. I find that the thrift store allows me to have just about anything I need or want and still stay within my budget. 

Letting others know of items you need is also a useful way to tighten your spending but still get what you need. Lots of people have no longer needed items cluttering up their homes and would be happy to pass them on to someone who can make good use of these household goods or clothes. I belong to my local Freecycle (https://www.freecycle.org/) and have gotten lots of needed items for free as well as decluttering my home by passing on no longer needed things to others who need them.

Anyway, I hope you are getting the idea that there are a lot of ways to manage when money is tight and still enjoy your life. There will be more posted on this topic throughout the year and I hope to hear from you so I can learn more!

Low-cost or No-cost Weight Loss Resources That Worked for Me

The old Holly around September 2000.

Four and a half years ago, I was a size 16 squeezing into size 14 clothes! Today, I wear size 4 and 6 clothes. At the start of my journey to lose weight and become healthy I wondered if getting to my current size was a realistic goal for me. Along the way I found some really helpful low-cost or no-cost resources that you may also find as helpful as I did.

Me with my grandson in Sept. 2012.

Bob Greene's book Total Body Makeover was a huge help to me. It gave me very concrete ideas of how to structure a workout program and also helped me to deal with the emotional part of my weight loss journey. This book came out in 2005 and I still go back periodically to read it and encourage myself to keep up my efforts in maintaining my weight loss. There are many personal stories in the book that gave me faith that I could do what the other people in the book did!

Planet Fitness was the gym I joined when I began my steps to fitness. It was a wonderful place to go for someone who hadn't been working out because it is billed as "the no judgment zone" and that is truly what it was for me. A variety of people of all shapes, sizes, and fitness levels go to Planet Fitness (www.planetfitness.com). It has a nice variety of exercise equipment there as well: regular and recumbent bicycles, treadmills, elliptical machines, stair-steppers, free weights, and weight machines, and a circuit training area. It is VERY affordable with no-commitment plans starting at $10/month!

If $10/month is not in your budget, I have great news for you! PBS stations have fitness shows on their line-up several times each week. In my area, I enjoy doing Classical Stretch workouts up to five days a week (http://www.classicalstretch.com) and Wai Lana yoga (http://www.wailana.com) from the comfort of my home. My husband bought me a pretty pink yoga mat, I found some really cute workout clothes at the thrift store, and I was ready to get fit! I started doing these exercise shows last year after I lost a job I had had for seven years and I could not afford a gym membership. I am still doing these workouts at home because I have gotten great results from them and enjoy them very much. 

Last October I realized that I needed a little help as I continued reaching towards my goal weight. I read in Fitness magazine of a lady who used a free app on her smartphone called Lose It! I began using it and have lost 7 pounds since then. ; )

Lose It! allows people to track calories of the foods they eat and calories they expend through exercise. I had tried to do this on my own but found it very difficult to do. Another feature of Lose It! that I enjoy are the various challenges in which I have participated. The challenges are very motivating. One such challenge to weigh in daily just ended after 278 days! I have established the habit of monitoring my weight every day which helps keep me from getting too far off track in my eating and exercising. 

One other fitness resource that I really enjoy using are the walking/running trails in neighborhood parks. Even in my small town, we have several of these trails. The hospital near my house installed walking trails all around it that are marked so people can track how much distance they cover. My husband and I enjoy walking on the trails at the hospital because it is

a safe place to walk, there are restrooms available, we can go inside to get a drink of water, and they have free Wifi to enjoy once we are done walking. 

What have you done in your journey to better health and fitness?

Five Ways to Get Money Fast!

Recently I have been sharing ways to keep more of the money you earn. Sometimes being able to manage the money coming in is all you need to improve your life. Making your meals from scratch instead of eating out is a big enough savings that it can help you to free up money to use elsewhere. Changes like that put money back into your budget pretty rapidly. 


But then there are those other times when what you really need is to get some more money into your hands and fast! Perhaps you or your spouse has just lost a job. Even if you applied for assistance until a new job is found, that takes time to get processed and you still need to eat and keep the the electricity on. So, what is a stressed out, worried person to do?


I speak from all too much experience on this topic, so I will tell you some things we have done during job losses.



1. Hold a yard sale.  Some folks reading this know they have stuff to sell because they have a shopping habit. Some of us just have things that have piled up and are not currently needed. I had some car parts in my trunk that my mechanic and I had intended for him to use in making a repair to my car. It was not a pressing need...I had the parts in my trunk for a year! When I had another car issue that was a pressing need, I took those car parts back, bought what I needed, had enough left over to pay my mechanic, and had additional money to put towards some bills. 

Many years ago when my husband lost a job we had a succession of yard sales that netted us nearly $1,000.00, which was enough to keep us afloat while he looked for and landed a new job. Of course it would be much better to have an emergency fund ready and waiting. Due to the economic events of the past few years, many of us have not been able to stock an emergency fund so we need to explore other options.

2. Find and fill a need. Perhaps you have noticed that yards in your neighborhood are looking shabby. You  can approach your neighbors with an affordable offer to mow their yards. My husband has one regular mowing job for a neighbor down the street and an occasional mowing job for the neighbor next door. He wants to get several more in our neighborhood to help beef up our bottom line. Or, you notice the neighbor kids are home alone after school because they are hanging out at your house every afternoon playing with your kids. Approach your neighbors with an affordable offer to watch their kids after school. There are some local rules and regulations on child care so check into it first, but it is right now money right where you are. These are just two examples we have done in our family. Your skill set will determine what you can do.

3. Redeem aluminum, metals, and glass. Depending on where you live, aluminum cans and glass may have deposits assessed on them and you can redeem them for right now money. I just read recently about a woman whose 9 year-old son wanted some expensive shoes. She lived in one of these areas where cans have a deposit. Her son contacted neighbors, friends, and relatives who were only too happy to donate to his cause. He earned $161.00 in one month. Even in locales where all you can do is to sell aluminum cans, you can earn money that can put gas in your car. Aluminum cans are everywhere. I grab them whenever I see them. Every store parking lot has at least two near where I park no matter when I go. Copper is another metal that is worth a nice chunk of change right now. If you have any copper tubing lying around, you can sell it to a recycler and make a tidy profit.

4. Teach lessons in an area where you are proficient. One summer, I taught a week long morning craft class for kids in my home. I had lots of crafts I wanted to do with my five children and had to purchase a lot of materials. I defrayed the cost of materials, gave some moms five mornings of time to themselves, and taught some kids some fun activities, while putting some cash into my wallet. Do you speak a foreign language fluently? Do you know how to knit, sew, or crochet? Are you a whiz at cooking a special cuisine? People will gladly pay you to learn what you know. You can create a flyer and post it at your local library, on your church's bulletin board, or on Craig's List and be teaching and earning within a week or two or even sooner!

5. Rent things you own to others for short-term use. Do you have some tools or other items that folks are always asking to use? Perhaps you can make some money by listing them for rental to local folks. Do you have room in your garage, basement, or attic you can rent out? Renting a storage room can be quite expensive so you could offer someone a storage space for less and still earn decent money for yourself.
Check out this company (RelayRides) that helps you to rent out your car to others to earn money-https://relayrides.com/earn?utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=ownernat. There are all kinds of websites set up to help folks rent their homes, vehicles, and more.

Will any of these ventures replace regular income? Not likely. What they will do is put cash in your wallet pretty rapidly and allow you a little breathing room while you regroup and get a plan of action in place.

Have you faced loss of income and needed money quickly? What did you do to meet this need? I love hearing from you, so please take a moment to leave a comment and let's help each other by sharing what we have learned.

More Ways to Earn by Not Spending

Yesterday I posted ten ways to earn money by not spending it. My savvy friend Melody also posted ten ways she earns money by not spending it. She and I are very similar in many ways and are constantly sharing ideas for saving and earning money with each other.

After publishing yesterday's post, some additional things I do to keep money in my budget came to mind so I thought I would share those before I get too busy.

My grandmother used to quote the following saying to me, "Use it up, wear it out, make it do, or do without." This has been a guiding philosophy for me pretty much my whole life.

7 More Ways to Earn by Not Spending

1. Don't replace anything before it is necessary. Don't be a compulsive up grader. If your computer, couch, shoes, etc. are still in good, usable condition then continue using them. Keeping up with the Joneses is expensive! They are most likely broke and living on credit cards anyway!

2. Give careful consideration to where you decide to live. My husband and I purchased 3/4 of an acre and set up a large mobile home on it outside of the city limits of our small town. Our property taxes are under $1,000.00 per year. Our utilities are much lower than those of my friends who live in the city limits of our town. My home isn't increasing in value but I also don't have the large house payment many folks I know do and I can improve my basic home to be whatever I would like it to be as time goes on.

3. Find a beauty school in your area and use its services. Beauty schools offer hair cuts, colors, permanents, highlights, facials, manicures, and other services for a fraction of regular beauty salons. The students are supervised by qualified instructors. I have been very satisfied by the services I have received at the beauty school nearest to me.

4. Learn to bake and decorate birthday cakes for your family. Many craft supply stores host cake decorating classes for a nominal fee which often includes cake decorating supplies and discounts for the purchase of additional cake decorating supplies. My children loved the theme cakes I made for them when they were young and I loved the savings over bakery purchased cakes.

5. Buy a haircut kit and learn to cut your family's hair. Developing hair cutting skills saved us hundreds of dollars over the years I was raising my five children.

6. Learn to groom your pets. We acquired a darling little Shih Tzu a year ago who requires regular trims. I didn't realize until we got him how expensive having a dog groomed can be so I am learning to groom him myself.

Watson taking a break from being groomed. You may notice his name tag doesn't say Watson. He needs a new name tag because the one he is wearing has his previous name on it. 

7. Get your pets vaccinated at local vaccination drives held by various organizations. Pet vaccines from your vet are much more expensive than those at these vaccine clinics. Our local grocery store hosts a pet vaccine clinic at least every other month.



I hadn't realized that these ideas and the ones I shared in yesterday's post are not commonly done until my youngest son relayed a conversation he had with someone awhile ago. In the conversation, my son shared how we exist on a very low income. The person with whom he was speaking was incredulous at hearing that our family lived on under $25,000/year for quite a while. People have lost the ability to do many things for themselves and don't even realize that they CAN do the things they pay others to do.

People have been conditioned by the media and the government to think that a certain income means a certain lifestyle. While it is true that the problem for some folks is that they have a low income, for many others the problem is that they need to learn to use their income more wisely. I would rather enjoy my life on a lower income than to work all the time to earn more money and not have time to enjoy my life.

I would love to hear your thoughts on this and related topics!

Stretching Everything!

Was chatting via text with a dear friend who lives far away from me so we have to catch up as we can. She shared that life is really stretching her as she has started several new businesses recently.

I also have been going through the stretching process. I have been working for quite a variety of people doing quite a variety of tasks through TaskRabbit (www.taskrabbit.com). I am never sure how much work I am going to be able to obtain so when jobs are available I take them. One day earlier this month found me working for over 8 hours cleaning two different places. I realized exactly how the phrase "I worked my a** off" originated! My booty felt like it was going to fall off from all that squatting down to scrub things.

I have had to stretch our income because in the summer I have less earnings and in the winter, my husband has less earnings. Hmm, that is two out of four seasons where we are earning less income! You are probably thinking that something should be done about that. I agree, which is why today I was stretching in a new area.

I applied to be an Amazon Associate so that I can earn additional income for me and my family. Now I have to figure out how to get the thing up and running on my blog, which is stretching my limited tech abilities. ; )

I have been doing Classical Stretch most weekday mornings (http://www.classicalstretch.com/) so I am stretching my body and making it stronger. Another division of this exercise is called Essentrics (http://www.essentrics.com/). I am contemplating becoming an instructor. Stay tuned!

So far being fifty is all about expanding and stretching in many areas of my life. What is stretching you these days? I so enjoy reader comments so please take time to share!

Avoid Making Yourself Crazy

Just this morning, in a conversation with my father-in-law, I encountered examples of things people do to make themselves crazy. For the record, this is not something I really understand or do myself. I follow the principles outlined in Philipians 4:8

 New International Version (NIV)

8 Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.

I am not a person who enjoys thinking and worrying about possible problems. I really can't focus my attention that way but on the rare occasions that I start getting caught up in such worries, I distract myself by reading the Bible, praying, or finding something positive to occupy my thoughts. 

My father-in-law is worried about the weather in the eastern part of the country because my mother-in-law is on a road trip with their oldest daughter. He is watching the weather almost constantly and calling her to tell her about possible bad weather along their route. He got worried and upset because she didn't call him this morning at the appointed time. In the end, everything was just fine; the reason she didn't call was because they left earlier than they expected and she lost track of time. 

He also shared that he was worried about crazy ants. He had watched a television program about these ants and is now freaked out about them. I admittedly don't know a lot about them but I do remember how the "killer" bees were going to kill us all about 20 years ago and how fire ants were going to decimate their way throughout the South. I live in the South and we are aggravated by fire ants and Africanized bees but we deal with it just fine and I suspect that someone will learn more about the crazy ants and we will be able to manage living with them too.

I also just read a story online about the 20 food items that should always be purchased organic. I actually don't disagree with the article but I think we have to be realistic in that some people don't have the budget to purchase organic meats or organic dairy products, or whatever. When I was raising five children, I didn't have the budget to purchase organic meats and dairy products so I did the next best thing and served limited amounts of the items that concerned me. I also didn't have a budget to slap down huge slabs of meat on each person's plate anyway. Meat has always been more of a condiment in our house-something that adds flavor to a meal but isn't the main part of the meal. I don't get nutty about the possibility that I have consumed a pesticide or two here and there. One reason my husband and I garden extensively is to provide ourselves the freshest and most organic food in a way that is most affordable to us. Not everyone is going to want to do that. So, perhaps not going overboard guzzling gallons of milk and eating pounds of steak is a prudent course of action. 

Another article I read was about the benefits of the sun vs avoiding the sun. This is yet another topic that causes fear and worry in many people. The author of the article takes a very sensible approach to sun exposure and it is one that I take myself; enjoy the sun unprotected in small doses and use sun protection for extended periods in the sun. This is an example of moderation and a principle I espouse in more than a few areas.

Here are some more of my laid back ideas for avoiding making yourself crazy: Have a glass of wine or two but don't drink the whole bottle. Don't drink too much caffeine and don't avoid it altogether. Don't use only artificial sweeteners but don't go nuts if a little saccharin makes it way into your iced tea. Don't get all spastic if the news media says that bird flu is going to kill us all and stay home in a bunker. ; )

Enjoy life as the gift God intended it to be and stop signing on for going crazy.

Climbing down off my soapbox for today!

On Education

Some of you know that I homeschool my children and some of you just learned that I homeschool my children by reading this sentence. This has been a great choice for my family. It may or may not be a fit for your children. We are all different and each family has its own needs and requirements.

Oftentimes, when my husband and  I meet people and they learn that we homeschool, they say, "Oh, I could never do that!" or "Well, you must be more patient than I am." Many seem to feel that because my husband and I chose to teach our kids at home that we don't think that their choice to send their children to public or private school is just as good a choice as the one we made for our children. That is not our viewpoint at all.

In my point of view, education is about helping someone to learn what they need to learn in the atmosphere where they can best learn. For some students, public school is where they learn best. Others learn better at home. Some need what a private school provides.

Where a child attends school should not become a competition between friends and family members. We should not compare the parameters of our own situations and decisions to those of others.

Let us focus instead on making sure that our children receive the education they need to prepare them for their future and being an encouragement to those around us.