Last Minute Paradigm Shift

Excuse my lack of posts and randomness, but I am going through a lot of changes.  Everyone seems to love Fall, but I don't enjoy shorter days; it really throws my beauty rest off.

Since I haven't been able to post regularly, I have a lot to say, so excuse my stream of consciousness writing style.

For our Light Night fun fair yesterday I was supposed to be Princess Peach, BUT I wasn't feeling very princessey, I didn't feel like wearing a dress, and I was pressed for time and unsure of how I was going to turn a pink maternity dress and pink tulle into a princess dress.  I felt more comfortable with being the....King of Pop; we kind of look more alike, I was in a playful mood, and I knew I had to be on my feet all evening running the Cake Walk and cleaning up.

Here's me and TrentMan as M.J. and Toad!!!!!  I glued his vest together myself....as you can tell!

My wardrobe change leads me to a revelation about my future writing career.  Several months ago, my little cousin wrote a post on her blog asking if you have to be able to relate to characters that you read about in books and does your life need to mirror the lives of the characters.  For me, the answer is a resounding NO, because I love learning about things outside of my own realm and there are some human conditions that transcend gender, race, country of origin, and many other things.  Conditions like love, hunger, war, raising a family, and much more are so much bigger than being a black female who lives in the Midwest.  I believe that is a universal story.  This thought process leads me to the next situation.

My son has the distinct pleasure of attending a school that goes from Preschool to Highschool, all on the same campus.  About a month ago, it was Homecoming, which they allow the younger kids to participate in the week of dressing up and the Coronation Ceremony.  One of the dress up days was to dress up as a book character.  TrentMan and I pondered over at least a dozen characters: Greg from Diary of a Wimpy Kid, Horrible Harry, Flat Stanley, Nate the Great, and some others too.  He finally settled on Phineas from Phineas and Ferb, which is not really a book character, but he was close enough.  We just put an orange and white striped shirt on him and some jeans and he was good to go.  We were both happy, he was able to portray one of his favorite characters and I didn't have to work too hard to make it happen.  Then it hit me....out of all the characters we thought about, none of them were African American.

Add caption

TrentMan designed this character himself

Let me set the record straight; I am not one of those "power to the people" has to be all black or I'm not down kind of people.  We embrace pretty much embrace everything and everybody that is in line with our Christian values.  However, I thought/think it is shameful that there was not one black book character that we could choose from.  Don't get me wrong, I LOVE Phineas and Ferb, and we love watching the show together; those boys are too creative and it gets TrentMan to thinking and inventing all kinds of craziness.  However, I think it does our society a huge disservice not to show people of other races and cultures in the same/similar situations.  Think about all the big name children's books: Harry Potter, Diary of a Wimpy Kid, Where the Wild Things Are, Jumanji, etc.  These books can have the same exact plot BUT with a main character that just happens to be African American or Latino or Asian American.  So this Ah-Ha moment led me to my next thought!

I should develop a book series that primarily appeals to young boys and has a main character who is an African American boy.  My thoughts haven't led me to what the series should be about, but I know I don't want it to be specific to African American culture; I just want a book about a family who just happens to be black.  I have to come up with the backstory, plot, and the thing that will draw people in.  I'll get to that part later though.

I know this post was all over the place, but hopefully you could keep up.  I am my mother's child; what can I say??!!??

So, what do you think...are we lacking every day stories with characters that just happen to be minorities or does it really matter?

Project Pink Princess Peach Style!

Hey ya'll!  I have the distinct pleasure of teaming up with Marilyn at the Artsy Girl Connection and 50+ other bloggers to promote breast cancer awareness.  As women it's so easy to get caught up into everything and everyone else that we lose us.

Let me tell you about the life of a princess:  This post should've been done first thing this morning, but I woke up at 6:30 this morning dog tired, rushed to get to church and get everything prepped, taught 2-year-olds about self-control (go figure), ate lunch, prepared dinner, went back to church to prepare for a fun event for the kids.

Ladies, let's remember that without us, typically nothing else goes down, including but not limited to all the stuff I just listed.  This means that if we're not around, then who can cook dinner, plan the parties, budget, menu plan, taxi kids to soccer, make costumes, and more.  Our breast health is very important in ensuring that we're around to do all the things that we do for our families.  Please remember to do your monthly self breast exams and remind the other ladies in your lives.  Also, with the new 3-D technology, mammograms are able to detect abnormalities even easier and with more success.

It's ironic that I was invited to promote breast cancer awareness, as I was becoming Princess Peach.  I'm not much of a pink kind of girl, but tomorrow I will be decked out in ALL pink.  I'll post pictures.  Last year, my pastor started a new tradition called Light Night, which goes down tomorrow!  As the hands and feet of Jesus, we just want to shed a light on everything good and that glorifies the Son.  In honor of Light Night, I will be Princess Peach, and TrentMan will be Toad from Mario Kart.  I'm not really a pink kind of girl, but anything for my baby.

Now, that I've taken you all around the world with my thoughts, the moral of the story is to pay attention to your health and your breasts in particular!!!

New Do

I pretty much have a set regimen for my hair....

Fridays- Wash, Deep Condition, Twist
Saturdays- Wear twists or wrap them up in a scarf or tam
Sundays- Twist Out
Mondays- 2nd day Twist Out
Tuesdays- Curly Afro on 3rd day Twist Out hair OR puff
Wednesdays- Co-Wash and wear a puff or wash and go
Thursdays- 2nd day puff or wash and go

If I'm wearing a twist out, I re-twist each night, and I do the baggy method every other night to keep my hair super moisturized.  To baggy, I very lightly spritz (2-3 sprays) my hair with my water, glycerin, leave in conditioner, and lavender oil mixture and then I place a plastic bag over my hair and I put my satin bonnet over the plastic bag.

This little routine works pretty well, except on the Fridays we host a small group at our home, I don't necessarily want people to see me looking like Aunt Jemima as I deep condition and dry wet twists.  I don't mind terrorizing the public at large, but I won't do that to people I know personally.  Also, my hair is getting longer and more of a chore to wear out.  I have to combat knots and very long detangling sessions...so not cool!  I'm also searching for more protective styles.

I don't really care to wear my hair in twists, and I don't know how my hair would look braided into a style.  I don't want to look like an oversized kid.  I really don't have enough hair for a pony tail, but for the second time, I've forced the little hair that I do have into one.  My hair in the front is much shorter than in the back, so at this point, I have to get really creative when trying to make a pony tail.  I find this quite funny, because I used to make lot's of laughs about people who would do such a thing.  It's funny how God brings things full circle.

Now the laughs on me!

Do you do anything different to prepare your hair for fall and winter?

Fall Projects

Hello, I'm back!  I know, I know.  I took an unplanned hiatus.  I've been dealing with extreme exhaustion, voices in my head, writers block, and self pity.  I'm typically not a ho-hum melancholy type person, but I look at other people's pictures on their blogs, and I covet their cameras.  I know it's a sin, but I want a nice camera!!!!  I also look at other people's blogs and all the exciting things going on.... I started to feel defeated, but I'm over it and I'm back.

Over the weekend, TrentMan and I had a good time making granola bars, candy corn bottles, and watching movies.  I love that little guy!  He is really growing up into a great young man.

I got the idea of making candy corn bottles from Marilyn over at the Artsy Girl Connection.  Marilyn is a very talented crafter, kind of how I used to be.  Her candy corn bottles turned out so beautifully, that I had to try it out.

As you can see, her's are way more beautiful than ours.  I don't know how I messed up such a simple project, but at least we had fun and it was definitely a bonding moment.  TrentMan is getting more confident doing things on his own and continuing even when he messes up or when I show him a better way to do something

Marilyn's Antique Candy Corn Bottles

My Antique Candy Corn Bottles

I'm still proud of us, eventhough, I wouldn't necessarily display these bottles in a prominent place.

What are some fun thing you enjoy with your child(ren)?

Hi, May I Help You?

If ya'll didn't know, I'm from that city called Kansas City (MISSOURI NOT KANSAS) a.k.a Barbeque Capital of the World!!!  Home to the not so world champion Royals and Chiefs, home to the jheri curl, and also home all the fountains you want.  As you can see, I'm proud of where I'm from.

Tuesday I made some yummy baked barbeque chicken in the oven and we had it for dinner again today, but I needed some more bbq sauce, but didn't have any on the shelves.

Since I'm an improviser by nature, I got to mixing!  What can I say?  I am my mother's child.  I think I've unlocked the world famous Gates BBQ recipe with this one!

I took some:  ketchup
                      Louisiana Hot Sauce
                      Colgin Liquid Smoke
                      honey
                      black pepper
                      Durkee Kansas City Style Seasoning Salt
                      Rendezvous Famous Seasoning

I'm not much of a measurer (I know that's not a word) but I just add the amount that I think should go in according to how much I want to taste that particular flavor.  For me, I added more liquid smoke and hot sauce and not a lot of seasoning salt.

Anyways, this little homemade bbq sauce was the business!  I'm telling you, it tasted just like Gates; I was back home in just one bite!


What recipes have you concocted on the fly to make up for what you didn't have?
                    

Facebook Fast

So, um, yeah....I'm fasting from Facebook for 40 days.  I can't remember when I started, but the fast will be complete on November 6.

Most people skip a meal to pray and focus on God during a fast, but I chose Facebook.  I realized that it was draining everything good from me and wasn't giving me enough back....so it had to go.  At least for a while.  Some people eat, shop, exercise, or pray when they're emotional or bored, but I would get on Facebook.  And spend hours a day looking at other people live life, put on fronts, display bad behaviors, and skip through pictures of half naked women trying to sell sneakers???!!??!  Ridiculous!  My time and mind are way too precious.  Don't get me wrong, Facebook has some amazing benefits, especially if you're trying to do any kind of business, which will be my focus when I return to Facebook.

So, I'm just going to break down my reasons for going on a 40 day fast away from Facebook.

1.  Time Drain-  Spending hours on end interacting with the pages of people who I see once a year or less.

2.  Jealousy- I've never been the jealous type, but a few times I've gotten a little snarky when learning of someone's beach vacation, business opportunity, or new baby.  I know that wasn't from God, and like I said, it's not really like me to be jealous of anyone.

3.  Putting a lot in, but not getting anything out- This goes back to the time factor.  For something that I was spending so much time doing, I really wasn't getting anything out of....so what's the point.

4.  No time for the Word- Another time issue!  I found myself complaining that I didn't have time to get in the Word and meditate on it and learn it.  Now, I've replaced the time spent on Facebook doing more important things.

5.  FB as a crutch-  I was using Facebook as my everything...to pass time, entertainment, encouragement, etc.  The only thing I want to need is Jesus.  Not to get all spiritual, but my obsession was getting just that deep.

6.  Negativity and Borderline Pornographic Photos- I grouped these two things together.  There's just some things I don't even want in my mind.  It's just something more the devil can use against me.  I've enjoyed getting away from the negative tirades and nasty pictures of women with barely any clothes.

I will return to Facebook, but prayerfully I've taken the time to develop myself and not put it above everything else.  I want to keep it in its rightful place which is about tenth on the list behind scrubbing toilets.  LOL!  JK!  But you get my drift.

If you've been looking for me on Facebook over the past few weeks....sorry!  You can find me here until November 6th.

How much time do you spend on Facebook?  What things have you given up for God in the past?

Hello Somebody!

I LOVE to dance and sing!  I'm the type of person that doesn't just walk across the street, I dance, prance, hop, and skip.  I typically don't just saunter down the grocery aisle, I boogie down and bop to the music, no matter what kind; classical or country makes no difference to me.  I figure if I have to do something as dreadful as shop, I may as well make it as fun as I possibly can.  Don't even get me on singing!

For years, I've begged God to give me a beautiful singing voice.  I don't have to be Mariah Carey, but I'd love to know how to carry a tune and sound decent doing it.  Since He hasn't granted that request quite yet, I sorta feel bad for the people to the left, right, and in front of me at the Hello Somebody concert last night. I'm sure they were not happy with my singing, but my Heavenly Father was so proud of His daughter.  It's amazing to know that my voice is so sweet on His ears.

Aaron Gillespie & The City Harmonic partnered with a wonderful organization called, Hello Somebody, and they were at our church in concert.  That's right; the guys behind, "We Were Made for You" and "Manifesto" were at my church in concert!  Me, the hubsters, and the kid kicked it hard.....actually Trenton was sleep for most of it, but he did enjoy the City Harmonic.

Aaron Gillespie ripped it up on the drums, and sung a lot of classic Christian worship songs, and the City Harmonic played the piano with such passion and intensity.  Not only are these two groups extremely talented, but throughout the entire evening they stressed the fact that they were there to make Jesus Christ famous; to do what they were created for, which is worship; and raise money to feed people all around the world.

Hello Somebody is an organization that feeds starving people all around the world and show them the love of Jesus Christ.  They started when the founder had the same dream 5 nights in a row!  The dream was of a boy naked and dirty with an empty bowl in his hand, asking, begging, "Hello, Somebody????" He had to answer; and they fed 1 million people in their first 10 months.

I answered the call too!  We purchased two of their super trendy watches and fed 200 kids!

I may never learn to sing...well, but I know Jesus loves me, and I'm so happy for the people who are able to praise Him publicly with their voices and musical talents.