…my new ‘unsubscribed’ existence all week long (See the last two posts). Of course I kept my favorites, but they don’t bug me much – just for important things.

The week flew by with a family birthday dinner (to the left, see the birthday pants  Daddy picked them out and they were perfect!), a big school week and then another birthday celebration including friends this time. It was actually a double-party since two boys were aging at the same time His dear Dad ran all the competitive group play and is probably exhausted, with very sore muscles today after all the fun he had yesterday – ha!

Here is my leaping birthday-boy, and the group flag football fun and the basketball play-off. A daddy and a park surpasses any expensive ‘fun’ you can buy at formal party place!

Then after all the normal stuff like errands, meals, homework, chores, writing…before I knew what hit, it was Sunday all over again. It seems there hasn’t been a moment to blog because other, more important things, were calling my name all week long.

Sometimes we have to turn off the gadgets and be with the people we love, to serve them in a special way or just be completely available to them. I began to type tonight, but my boys called me into the living room to see the opening ceremony of the Winter Olympics in Vancouver, B.C.  We’ve been recording all of it on the DVR so we could watch it when we had the time. Tonight was the night.

Well, one thing led to another and we were laughing and talking as they commented on various aspects of the ceremony, fun facts about the athletes, etc., and I realized – TIME OUT –  we were really enjoying each other’s company. Blogging would have to wait.

Everywhere I go these days, I see moms and their little ones. Walking in the park, playing at the pool, shopping at the grocery store. One consistent pattern is this: Mom is on her cell phone chattering away and the children are doing whatever they find to do. They’re not interacting, or noticing the butterflies or choosing vegetables together. Mom is in her world and the kids are in theirs. I walked past this pair over and over again through the trails in our local park. Mom’s phone never left her ear. The little girl chugged along in her boots, all alone for miles it seemed, yet right next to mama.

I’m so glad cell phones weren’t common when I was raising my little ones. I could have missed so much while looking the other way. Our electronic tools are powerful distractions with a strong pull from what’s often most important. Let’s try to do better.

Make it a great week!

When I trumpeted my freedom to OPT OUT and UNSUBSCRIBE yesterday, I wasn’t aware of the ‘risks’ involved, but my good friend and computer tech guy gave me a few words of warning on these issues for those of you who may be motivated to slow the flow of all that junk email….see comments on yesterday’s post for details. This might apply to your situation. Thanks, Colby!

I’m feeling lighter already and it’s been just 48 hours. Yep. This is a pretty quick fix. I’ll give you one little clue:

UNSUBSCRIBE

I am so tired of hearing “ping” “ping” “ping” all through the day from either my phone or my computer – only to check email and find one more annoying marketing email, promising…

• “Last chance to save 20% on photos”
• “Latest techie gadget that we are offering that will change your whole wide world! (actually getting off your mailing list IS changing my whole wide world!)
• “Only TWO DAYS left to come and save at our giant wholesale store (while you spend hundreds of your hard -earned dollars on these coupon items!)
• “ONE MORE DAY” to advertise with us….
• “THE MAGAZINE” that will change your family forever…
• “Special deals to vacation in your dream spot this month!”

The continual message is “Hurry, hurry, hurry….last chance…spend, spend, spend….YOU ARE ABOUT TO MISS OUT ON THE OPPORTUNITY OF A LIFETIME!” When, in actual fact, an email message very much like the one you are reading at that very moment will be reformatted, re-colorized, re-named and re-sent TO YOU NEXT WEEK! AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!

RUDE INTERRUPTIONS.

Why don’t they actually wait to email me on the occasion when there is truly an unmistakeable bit of real news I need? Something that will indeed make a difference for me and my family? An honest SALE? I began to feel used and abused by this system of sensationalizing every single item to try to hook me in.

Yes, I am offended by and tired of these companies stressing me out. And it’s my fault. So I took a few minutes today to click on each link, dig out old passwords, re-set passwords, and unsubscribe to every marketing offer and breaking news update I could find that I happened to be subscribed to that seemed to be nagging me. Sigh. One company I have had to contact no less than 4 times to ‘OPT OUT.’ Talk about persistent!

One company had me on at least 4 different email alerts. As I count right now, I opted out of around 10 different companies, producing, some weeks, 4 times AND MORE that number of emails to clutter my life. The next day I couldn’t believe the lack of “pings”.

I decided that if I really needed to know something, update myself on a matter or find a vacation – I can go to their website at….my….own….convenience. I only left myself on one update list because I really do use their information – so depending on your lifestyle and needs, you decide.

GET FREE.

Today.

Opt Out.

Make it a great week!

I completely forgot that I was supposed to eat cake on my birthday! It didn’t even enter my mind. I’m sure I had some chocolate somewhere in the course of the day, but anyhoo…the next day we had leftovers for dinner and it was nearing 6 o’clock when I was hankerin’ for dessert. I was already in my pajamas and old lady robe (that’s what the family calls it because it is not very flattering, but it is very comfortable!) so I didn’t want to go out for frozen yogurt. Well, the two teen-agers left for band practice (Providence!) and suddenly the doorbell rang. Hmm? Dark outside, after 6 – who????

FedEx! Well hubby grabbed the box off the porch – addressed to ME! I took it to the kitchen and speedily unwrapped all the layers to find my birthday dessert:

The most beautiful, plump and chocolate-dipped fresh strawberries you’ve ever seen. I snapped a few photos and began to slice a few for hubby and I to share. I hid the last two for my private ‘party’ the next day but ended up sharing with my fifth born since he happened to be at home. Those babies were delicious! Impressive and elegant, too. Thank you to my dear friends from Washington who sent them

…even on her birthday! I haven’t had a chance to update you all since I proclaimed my day of celebration (and thank you, by the way, for all the birthday greetings that have rolled in all week long!)

After toiling all the day long on my to-do list, running errands with hubby, making dinner and chatting with my first and second-born sons long distance, I shot over to a nail salon, plugged in my earphones and proceeded to get a pedicure. I even had AN APPOINTMENT. Take note ya’ll, this is MY PARTY.

But, alas, it wasn’t perfect like a birthday pedicure should be. I should have known. Whenever our expectations are too high, it doesn’t take much to become disappointed. (Here’s a shot of me and my girls getting pampered over the holidays – yes, pedicures have become a tradition with us Mira girls!)

I was ready for the ultimate relaxation, but it wasn’t meant to be this time – ha!

First off, it was overpriced. I paid a little extra for an upgrade, but regretted my investment. There was no significant difference for the extra $10. The water I plunged my tired feet into was lukewarm and I couldn’t figure out the stupid chair massage remote control. I fought with that controller the entire time I was trying to relax! I am not exaggerating. The employees at these shops don’t ever seem to speak very good English, so I couldn’t find much help there.

The gal working on me kept requiring me to ‘work’ by adjusting my feet, which actually turned out to be quite stressful. (Am I spoiled, or what?!) But, alas, all was not lost as the ‘paint job’ was excellent, so that was a good thing  And, as you can see here – the bathroom is really pretty! (well, ya gotta’ look at the bright side – have you seen some of the scary pink bathrooms hidden in the back of some of these nail salons???)

Life is not perfect and I just had to chalk it up. Thank God I have toes, money to pay for such a frivolous outing and a home to come home to. My night ended joyfully with some fun interaction with my hubby and teen boys – I got a Starbucks card whoo-hoo! – and a humorous late-night phone call with our third born – again! Yes, you might recall back in November, when, on our anniversary evening he also got us laughing out loud.

Yesssss….I’m blessed. And another year begins!

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I’m making it a GREAT DAY! Rain or shine this girl is gonna plan some time for some fun! And, once again, it’s looking like rain:

Now I’m off to spend some time in the Word, pray about all the things upon my heart and attack all the tasks awaiting my attention. I have a lot of work to do before my play can begin. You make it a great day too!

…was nothing short of AMAZING!!! I just polished off the rest of my giant weekly salad bowl (see last post), along with a baked yukon gold potato (topped with a dollop of sour cream and Earth Balance – a healthy butter substitute) and freshly-steamed brussels sprouts, also with a spot of Earth Balance and of course all was sprinkled with freshly ground pepper. Oh how I enjoy my food! And, seeing that I’m needing to cut back a bit (according to my neighbor see January 12th post – Putting Things In Perspective), I went for an all-veggie feast, something the others in my house don’t get real excited about, as much as they enjoy their veggies. Guys do tend to be meat lovers.

I’ve spent no less than 3 days resting this week  - perhaps the most difficult of my tasks. RESTING is a job for me. I’m much more comfortable expending energy, actively engaged, producing something (or at least under the impression that I’m producing something - ha! – activity is not always productive, you know).

This isn’t necessarily a positive quality I possess. I thoroughly admire those who can shut the world out and chill. But, due to something – perhaps that roasted deli chicken I consumed over the weekend while hubby was away (he hates those things) or some bug I caught at the gym, or my stressful deadlines – I got sick.

I’m all better now and enjoyed winning my doubles tennis match this morning. I love to win as much as I love to eat! It was such fun to see the sun again today for a few minutes. Here in northern California we’ve been getting steady rain, clouds and in general, some pretty dismal weather. This forecast has been on repeat…

It feels like it’s been a good 6 weeks of this. I love rain, so that’s not a problem, and it did make my ‘imposed rest period’ much easier to endure. Rain = naps. But after living a decade in western Washington, I’ve had my share of grey and I’ve become a little intolerant of the stuff. They call it ‘fog’ here to make themselves feel better, but I call it what it is: clouds.

Since it’s been raining and I couldn’t play tennis or take very enjoyable power walks, I’ve been going to some classes at the local gym where we have a family membership. The first class I went to almost killed me. It’s called Weights In Motion and after 20 minutes of this motion, I’m sure my heart rate was at ‘dangerous’ (ok, well, sort of  ) and I thought I was in pretty good shape! I couldn’t be beat, however, so I persisted to the end of the hour-long endurance test and dragged myself home. Seeing that it wiped me out for the remainder of my day, I looked over the various offerings of the gym and decided on a lower intensity class called Ease-Into Health.

I showed up to the classroom, which was almost full – of elderly folks. They were playing Frank Sinatra and Elvis music in the background. (as opposed to the drrrrriving disco beat of the high-intensity class I tried!) On Love Me Tender I almost got the giggles. I must say the 80 year-old men in attendance were on track and their prowess on the ’stepper’ (portable block) was encouraging! I was afraid I’d turn my ankle on the ‘over the top’ part but all was well. The atmosphere was warm as these grandfathers cracked some fun jokes with the happy-hearted instructor and told stories about their kids.

I went back two days later and a good number of gals closer to my age showed up. For now, this is a good fit. As long as they don’t pull out the Bing Crosby and Andrews Sisters tunes…

Enjoy your weekend – hope you get some time to relax!

…in a BIG tossed salad! One of my favorite tricks to ensure our family gets its raw greens and things is a big, colorful, fresh salad filled with an assortment of delicious vegetables. Pretty much every week I stop and pull out every fresh item I have in the fridge that can possibly be added to a salad. (I do, however, leave out any type of raw onion and mushroom to accommodate my sons. I keep those separate because I figure if they’ll eat all the other stuff gladly, why have a war over mushrooms and onions?)

This ready-made salad is one key to good health, plenty of fiber in our diets and convenience. Although initially it costs me about an hour to wash, dry, dice and toss, plus all the clean-up involved, it’s well worth the effort all week long when we simply grab, serve and eat.

Here is the current salad we are enjoying – you can see it’s dwindling, so it will be time to prepare another one soon…

This time it contains romaine, mixed wild greens (purchased in a ready-made combination bag at the store), radishes, carrot, cucumber, fresh basil, shredded red cabbage, red and yellow sweet pepper, celery, cherry tomatoes and turnip. I’ve started slicing all the extra-firm veggies in a food processor to save time and get a much thinner end product. My kids remarked how much they’re enjoying the new texture of the sliced vegetables. Just a twist on the same ol’ veggie.

Branch out and add sugar snap peas, diced broccoli, snow peas and cauliflower, cilantro, and anything else that sounds fun. Today I added crumbled feta cheese, kalamata olives, green onions and freshly ground pepper to my portion. Then I tossed it with balsamic vinegar and flaxseed oil. So delicious I forget it’s healthful, too. Design your own version and dig in!

Papers and file boxes laying everywhere, feeling a little bit like the absent-minded professor for brief periods of time…

Computer screen numbing my eyeballs while I ‘chase rabbits’ at times, cutting and pasting and re-creating, clickety-clack, clickety-clack…

Necessary distractions to stay sane in the middle of my exhaustive word searches and tedious re-writes: late morning exercise, check the mail at 2:30, indulge in a self-made latte at 3 p.m. (yesterday was a mocha-lite, today an eggnog-lite ), throw in a load of laundry, organize a drawer…and when I can’t bear to read the words on the screen for one more minute, I walk to the sink, get a glass of water and look at my beautiful flowers.Hubby surprised me with them last week on a particularly difficult day, when I had been especially petulant (bad-tempered, cross, irritable, snappish, touchy, testy, disgruntled and cranky – aren’t words just so perfectly expressive?!) just before he left the house on errands.

He walked in the door later that day and handed me grace in a vase! I think that’s why they’re especially dear to my heart. I water them daily.

Anyhoo…back to my wearisome task…and I’m loving almost every minute of it!