How to Give Yourself a Pedicure

"How beautiful your sandaled feet, O prince's daughter."
Song of Solomon 7:1

"How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of those who bring good news."
Isaiah 52:7

"He {Jesus} poured water into a basin and began to wash his disciples' feet, drying them with the towel that was wrapped around him."

John 13:5

Warning: Do NOT try this at home if you are 33 weeks pregnant or further along.

I went on a date with Princess this past weekend, and because I really wanted a pedicure, I decided one of the things we would do together was paint nails. We went to dinner, and then we went to buy some nail polish, because we didn't really have any at home. For some reason I forgot how pregnant I was and that I could not really reach my toes and bought some supplies to give myself a pedicure. I don't really have a budget for pedicures, but I on a good year, I might get one about twice a year - at the beginning of spring and in the middle of the summer. Otherwise, the polish lasts me long enough not to worry any more about it, although a pedicure is a nice treat.

Though I'm not sure anyone will be running out to do this, if you want to give yourself a home pedicure, this is what you do:

1. First you need supplies. I bought an at home pedicure kit by Ms. Pedicure, which included nail clippers, nail brush, cuticle push, emory board, callous file and toe separators. I also bought some Sally Hansen Sugar Scrub for cleaning, softening, and aiding in removal of callouses. I also made sure I had some nail polish, and you can choose whatever brand you like - spending more or less, whatever your preference may be.
2. Once you have everything you need gathered, you need to run some warm or hot water in your bathtub, or if you have one of those little foot baths, just use that. Then place your feet in the water to soak. Make sure all of your tools are handy first.
3. Then trim your toenails.
4. Use emory board to shape nails.
5. Use sugar scrub and nail brush to wash your feet and nails.
6. Use callous file and sugar scrub to make your feet soft and smooth.
7. Then use the cuticle push to remove excess cuticles and to push them back.
8. Dry your feet.
9. Now you are ready to paint your nails. Use the toe separators. Depending on how fancy you want to be, apply a base coat, then color. Give it a second coat if needed, then apply top coat. Or if you don't want to be fancy, just apply color.
10. Now sit back, relax, and let your feet dry.
    

Every since I read Robin's post about Teal Toes for Ovarian Cancer, I wanted to paint my toes teal, so this is my finished toes, with an attempt to be teal.

So they are not perfect, but my feet felt nice and fresh afterwords, and I've never been able to paint my toes really well, so I thought it looked pretty good, but I will NOT be doing this again until after the baby comes. Now that I've done it, I would really like to be able to do it for those who might need some pampering but cannot really afford to even buy the kit. I know women's homeless shelters occasionally have pampering parties, maybe I'll help out sometime.

Smells

I have a heightened sense of, well, of all of my senses during pregnancy. I have especially sensitive hearing even when I am not pregnant, but when I am pregnant, certain smells are overpowering. There have been times during this pregnancy when certain smells that I usually enjoy seem so strong that they are no longer pleasant.

As I was thinking of this, I thought about how scents can so easily evoke strong memories, often better than anything else. For example, any time I smell Juicy Fruit gum, various memories of my granny come to mind. And when I smell Eternity for Men, happy memories of my dad come to mind.

I was reminded that as Christians we are to be the fragrance of God to the world. My scent should be one that leads others to the saving aroma of Christ. I wonder if the world can smell the sweetness or the stench (depending on their view) and if it is strong enough for them to notice or if it is too strong for them to stand being around me? I think there is probably a delicate balance. However, when I am following and listening to His voice, my fragrance will be the perfect blend of Him. I hope my fragrance evokes sweet memories of Him.

But thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumphal procession in Christ and through us spreads everywhere the fragrance of the knowledge of him. For we are to God the aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing. To the one we are the smell of death; to the other, the fragrance of life.
2 Corinthians 2:14-16

What are some of your favorite scents and what memories do they evoke for you?

My Own Toddler Fit

Yesterday, I had my own toddler fit. I wanted to go out for breakfast. The kids however had other plans, which included eating cereal for breakfast. My favorite. (in case you didn't know that was written with loads of sarcasm). Getting me to eat cereal is like getting me to eat dirt or something similar. Lately, I have been eating it. But I didn't get "my way," nor did I feel like making the kids do it my way. Instead, I just felt like making everyone miserable. I mean, I was miserable, so surely my 4 year old and 2 year old should be miserable too. *sigh* Yes, I would not have won the mother of the year award, but I did not care.

So my toddler fit did not include throwing myself on the floor and flailing my arms and legs around. Instead, it included angrily putting dishes away and whining, "wah, wah, wah, poor, poor mommy, she didn't get to eat breakfast" only in different words that I don't really remember. So yeah, I was on a breakfast strike, meaning I refused to eat anything we had in the house. (And I wonder where my children get their stubbornness from). Everybody was unhappy, and words where even said like, "I thought this was going to be a good day. This is the worst morning ever!" And they were not only said by me. Yikes!

At some point, I decided to attempt to turn this day around and make things right by my children. I looked in my trusty coupon book and found a coupon for Pump It Up, which we had never done, so I decided to take the kids there, and off we went.

On the way, I thought I'll get a drink at Dunkin Donuts and maybe a bagel or muffin or something small, because I'm 33 weeks pregnant, it's 10 am, and I haven't drunk or eaten anything yet. I went through the drive-thru, and they were out of tea! I said, "Great! This is a great day! No tea!" as we drove away. (which by the way, this was the second time I attempted to order something from Dunkin Donuts that they happened to be out of - not impressed) Princess said, "You can get over it, mommy!" Yes, sweetie I can. Out of the mouths of babes, right? The rest of the day was as good as gold.

Last night's Lost - the Lighthouse

I really liked this episode, and unlike a lot of people, I felt like I was getting some answers, albeit only a few. Wow - it was full of spiritual symbolism. Shepherd is #23, as in Psalm 23 - "the Lord is my shepherd, I shall not be in want", and David was his son. David was the biblical character who wrote Psalm 23 in the bible, and he was musically inclined - writing psalms, songs, and playing the harp, similar to the David in the show. Interesting. And a lighthouse - lighthouses always have a spiritual connotation.

Christian Shepherd seems to have gone the way of Smokey, Flocke, which seems to be the evil way. I am wondering if their is some spiritual statement meant to be here about legalism versus freedom in Christ, and also how the Great Deceiver lies often look like the truth. Flocke seems to be telling some truths, but maybe he is slightly distorting it, so that it is a lie that looks like truth - making him a deceiver like the devil. I don't think that it is a coincidence that a man named Christian began to be used by Smokey.

I don't know where the writers will go with Lost, whether they are Christian believers or not, but my favorite line from last night was when Jacob said to Hurley, "Jack is here because he has to do something. He can't be told what to do, he has to find it himself. Sometimes you can just hop in the cab and tell them what to do. Other times you have to let them look out at the ocean for a while." It seemed like such a loving, God-like thing to say. These people are chosen, yet they also have free will, which is why there are so many candidates and why Jacob can try to guide, but he cannot truly manipulate them into doing whatever he wants them to do.

Well, that's my theory, but I have no idea where this show is really going, especially on the spiritual front. Jack seems to be the key to the sideways storyline though, as he keeps almost remembering things from the island, while the other characters just seem to be existing off-Island with no almost-memories.

Lost watchers - thoughts?

And My Sheep Hear my Voice

At church on Sunday I was reminded of a blog post that I wanted to write a couple of weeks ago, so here it is.

A couple of weeks ago, the kids and I went for a walk around our neighborhood. It just happened to be one of those nice weather days, and we wanted to get outside to enjoy it. As we got to our turnaround point, I kept having to call to Speed Racer to keep him from running into the road. He would hear my voice, but he was not really listening or following my guidance. Often, I would have to touch him and remind him to look at my face and then repeat what I had said to get him to listen. God brought these words to my mind:

"I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me."
John 10:14
"My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me."
John 10:27

I wondered to myself, "Why is it that he knows my voice, but he still does not listen and he still does not follow, even when he knows I will keep him safe."

With the Holy Spirit's prompting, I was reminded that so often we do the same thing to Him, even though we know His voice. We recognize it, but we fail to be still to see what He wants to say to us.

At church on Sunday, Pastor Calvin shared with us the story and video of the Joshua Bell experiment, which reiterated this same point. Oftentimes, we miss out on something God wants to say because we are too busy. The point Pastor Calvin made was that of the 1000+ people who heard this awesome violinist that morning for free, only 7 stopped to listen, and only one was really engaged in his performance, because she recognized him. One thing I noticed from the video is that after she stopped, more people also stopped and took note of the violinist. Granted, only 7 in all stopped at all, but when one really stopped, others wanted to listen too. I suspect the same could be said of us, when we stop and are still before the Lord. Our purpose will not be to draw people to Him, it will be to worship and to obey and be in relationship with Him, but in doing so, we will draw others to notice Him as well.

So be still and listen to the Good Shepherd's voice today.

And the Winner is...

Now I know that not all women like Beth Moore, and I know that some women idolize Beth Moore. I fall into neither of those categories, but I am truly grateful for Beth Moore. I do not have a "real life" mentor - an older, wiser woman I can seek in times of spiritual need, so I very much consider her my Titus 2:4-5 mentor. She is funny, she is real, she is transparent, and she is a woman who seeks God, and He has lead her to write and teach numerous bible studies that have helped redirect many women's lives to walk closer to Him. She is not perfect and she has been insecure, just like a lot of us, yet she and her daughters still share their lives with us on her blog, Living Proof Ministries. So when I chose her book, "So Long Insecurity" to give away it's because I wanted to give you a good gift that you would appreciate as much as I do.

I am pleased to announce the winner is..... Tammy Wisdom! Congratulations, Tammy! And you can visit her humorous take on single life on her blog: The Single Girl Diaries.

Kootchie

My children have awesome imaginations. On Saturday, my daughter invented Kootchie, who was her daughter. I had been cleaning out clothes to consign or give away, and Princess picked up an old hat. In the bathroom, she was inspired to place the hat on our toilet paper holder. Then she insisted that Kootchie wear her gown, and that's how Kootchie was born. Kootchie went on a picnic and many other things with her mommy. She was even babysat while her mommy went outside to "work." At the end of the day yesterday, Princess placed the toilet paper holder back in the bathroom, and when I asked her where Kootchie was, she said, "She disappeared."

Jesus

Please scroll down and press stop on my playlist to listen and watch these videos. Hope you enjoy!

I heard this song today, and it had been a while since I had heard it. It really spoke to my heart.

This song is on my playlist, but my daughter was singing it word for word today, and her singing these words really touched my heart again. She expressed how much she loved this song. It is similar to the first.

Pregnancy Woes

I would have to say that this pregnancy has been definitely the most difficult of all the pregnancies, though with every pregnancy, I have been a little more loony than I am usually. The truth is, however, that I am more loony than I would like to be or would at times like others to know about me. So many people depend on me to hold it together that I don't often feel like I get to be loony, but in pregnancy, the loon just comes out anyway.

Most of the difficulty has been emotionally. For example, I really hate having the kids spend the night away from home when I am pregnant. I guess it's because I know life will change soon, and I am jealous of every moment I have with them as it is now, even if I don't always take advantage of every opportunity as I should. Today, my mom took my daughter home with her, which in one minute I was fine with and in the next minute I was sad and jealous of this - jealous because I rarely have time alone with my daughter. There is no rhyme or reason to what might set me off emotionally. But luckily, I worked through this fairly quickly.

Lately, pregnancy has become more physically challenging. Though from a physical standpoint, I do not like to complain because I always imagine somebody has had it worse. I do probably suffer from most of the normal pregnancy complaints, though I don't really want to list them out for you here. I have one physical ailment that is very painful, and I am getting tired and sluggish, while at the same time finding more and more that needs to be organized. I am nesting and trying to get everything ready, which also shows my emotional nutty side because when I get an idea in my mind, I want it done like today, asap. The truth is, with small children, the house is not going to have everything perfectly organized. I have made great progress with decluttering and minimalizing our house, but if I get emotional, all I can see is what else needs to be done, not what has been done.

I delivered Princess via c-section and Speed Racer via vbac (vaginal birth after cesarean), so please pray that God will guide us clearly in the delivery of sweet baby #3, who has a name now, by the way, just not a blog nickname.

Romance with Kids?

My friend Sarah has been asking me several questions about blogging, and she asked why most mommies blog about kids and parenting instead of marriage. I don't think I have a great answer to that question, but this post is dedicated to her question. I can say that it is not just because my kids have no idea what I am writing about them while my husband does. {In case you are wondering, I only had to edit one sentence before I posted this, and it was not something about Daniel, though he wishes I had more flattering words to say of him. *sigh*}

Neither Daniel nor I are very romantic. I used to be a little romantic, but once I had kids, time and finances have made it more difficult to be very romantic. Most birthdays, anniversaries, and holidays pass with little to no gift for my hubby. Sometimes, not even a card. Honestly, his love language is not gifts, so he probably does not care very much anyhow.

My husband is not a planner. But we are very fortunate to have parents who live close by and for the most part like being with our children, so we get to have a date night every now and then. We've never had a babysitter in our home, though if we could fit this in our budget somewhere, it would do us well. Our parents are not planners either, so we usually have to be flexible and say yes whenever they offer to keep the kids. Usually date nights consist of occasionally taking in a movie or getting dinner or chores at home that are easier to do without children underfoot or some combination of the three. When our kids are at home, most of our date nights consist of just sitting on the couch watching our favorite show, "Lost."

Most of the time, I am comfortable with the arrangement we have. I don't usually notice the lack of effort in the romance department and am content most of the time. Sometimes, however, I do have expectations and they occasionally get dashed like any other person with expectations that are not conveyed well. I am more of a planner myself, but I don't want to be the one making the plans for a romantic getaway. I want hubby to have put some time and thought into our romantic plans because my love language is quality time. As a young mom, this is one reason why I struggle with relationships so much. I don't often have much time for anyone other than my children and making time for others HAS to be purposeful or it will be forgotten. I struggle with this since my family members are less planning oriented. (I'm not a great organized planned person, just slightly more than family are.)

Anyhow, I had suggested to Daniel that we use some free travel points to get away sometime in the month of January before the baby comes. (I was thinking to myself MLK weekend would be good since Daniel has an extra day off). January came and went and no plans were made. So now I find that it is Valentine's weekend. Already I am too far into my third trimester and too pregnant for any sort of romantic getaway, so a romantic getaway is no longer on my radar, but I do want something, some flowers, a card, a date, anything thoughtful really. Heck, a phone call in the middle of the work day or an email might do the trick. {A few weeks ago my Princess gave it away at church that she has never seen her daddy bring her mommy flowers. It's just not really his style.} And I know hubby has no plan. Secretly this frustrates me. He wants me to tell him what I want. The nerve! Shouldn't he just know by now what I want? Haven't I told him numerous times what I like? The truth is I cannot really train a non-planner to plan something and thus give me love through quality time spent planning romance. He'll have to choose this on his own, and I know I need not hold my breath.

So I get up on this Valentine's Eve with him asking me if he should ask his parents to keep our kids. He decides that he will call them, and if they suggest keeping the kids, then we will have a date. This is no surprise to me. No suggestion is made by the grandparents, and so, we plan not to celebrate the big Valentine's Day at this house. No big deal really. I've come to roll with the lack of romantic punches.

However, Grandmaw, Daniel's mom, calls and asks to keep the kids for the day, picking them up for lunch and says she'll keep them for a while and bring them back in the evening, so we can go on a date. So we got to go on a date afterall, which was nice and greatly appreciated. It was our Valentine's/6 year anniversary date. This will probably be our last date before baby girl comes between now and my due date in 8 weeks. We went out to a fairly nice restaurant (nice means we did not have to use a coupon), had a nice meal, including an appetizer and dessert, with a secluded table, so we had some quiet conversation as well. I appreciate this kind of date more than I could ever begin to express.

Although semi-important I guess, our marriage was not founded in romance on the first place. It is only when I think about what I do not have in this department that I become unhappy and wishful, but if romance had been important to me in the beginning, I suppose we would not be married. Our marriage is founded on God, and it was He who brought us together and through Him alone, our love can last.

This means I have to purposefully focus on how Daniel does show me love: handwashing the dishes, cooking dinner from time to time, keeping the cars running, taking the trash out, taking care of outdoor chores, and many more things that I may not always appreciate at the time. And I have to purposefully forget that it sometimes takes him longer to do the things I ask him to do instead of on my time frame. Sometimes (okay maybe more often than sometimes) I am rude because I want to insist on my way, but when I let these situations, they teach me patience, kindness, quiet submissiveness, and how to really love - the kind of love that perseveres. Quiet and gentle submissiveness is not exactly easy when you like a plan and your mate is happy go lucky, so I have to choose to love, choose to respect, choose to submit.

Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends.
1 Corinthians 13:4-8 (English Standard Version)

Snow Day

Unbelievably, it actually snowed here, and although Princess and Speed Racer have seen snow, they really have not gotten to play in it before now. Princess got out of school early. We picked up some pizza since her Valentine's party was canceled. Then we waited on the snow to pile up so we could play in it.

The snow never really piled up so much at our house, so when Daniel got home, it was Speed Racer's naptime, but due to his great suggestion, we went to the park to play in the snow instead. I'm so glad we did. The children's faces and joy were priceless. Speed Racer was overjoyed and loved making snow balls and throwing them on his sister. Princess loved making a snowman. Speed Racer loved destroying it, and Princess loved eating the snow. I personally didn't really care for the snow (none of us have great snow attire), but the kids and my sweet hubby made it worth it, and it was great family fun.

Visiting Great Grandparents

The kids and I went to Walker County to visit my PaPa (mom's dad) and Grandmother and Pa (dad's parents). We went to mom's house, then to PaPa's house, where the kids got to eat moon pies with PaPa. Then we ate lunch and spent the remainder of our time at Grandmother and Pa's house. I usually forget to take pictures of PaPa with them, and this time I forgot to take pictures of them with Grandmother and Pa. Hopefully next time.

A Giveaway - So Long Insecurity!

Today, I decided to be totally crazy and go get Beth Moore to autograph my copy of her latest book, "So Long Insecurity, You've Been a Bad Friend to Us." I have read the first 4 chapters already, and so far it is really good, but I'm have yet to get to the meat of it yet. :) Anyhow, most of us suffer from insecurity in one way or another, whether we are willing to admit it or not. Hey, you might be insecure and not even realize it. Unfortunately, I am painfully aware of my insecurities as I've blogged about here, here, and here, and you can probably find it in almost every post if you look for little clues.

Anyhow, I have always wanted to giveaway something on my blog, so now I have something to give away: an autographed copy of Beth Moore's latest book, "So Long Insecurity," which I am very excited to give away!!

If you would like to enter the giveaway, please leave a comment in the comments section with name, email, and what excites you about this book. Not that I have a big following or readership, but you may receive an additional entry by posting about my giveaway on facebook or twitter, and then leaving an additional comment letting me know about your facebook and twitter posts. And if you are a blogger, you can receive yet another entry if you post about it on your blog - just leave a link in the comments section. I will announce the winner on February 23rd. I hope you are as excited about this giveaway as I am!

What is God Like?

A couple of weeks ago, I went to visit a friend so that she could give me a course in cloth diapering. I took the kiddos and they played with her 4 year old son while we talked diapers and mommyhood in general. It was a fun time.

Getting ready to go however was not a fun time. Speed Racer really loves other boys' "boy toys." I would say that he is quite envious of them and wants to keep them as his own every time he comes in contact with such fascinating boy toys. He is all boy, and he readily lives up to his middle name, which means, "warrior." He really did not want to say good bye to the new toy friends he had in his hand. I have not seen this type of temper tantrum from him in a very long time.

It just so happens that we were leaving at lunch time, and I did not bring any food, so being hungry probably did not help matters any. We stopped asap at Chick-Fil-A, and the kids were fairly good, but I was slightly frazzled, and although I was trying to remain calm, I just wanted to hurry and go home, which added to my frazzlement. To top it off, one of the CFA ladies mentioned ice cream, which I did not want to get at the moment, so that set off another fit from Speed Racer.

Needless to say, I was overly frazzled when I got on the interstate to head home. So much so that I thought to set the cruise control so that I would not speed. The problem is that I set it and forgot it and got lost in my frazzled thoughts, so when the speed did change, I WAS speeding, and an officer pulled me over. Very few words were exchanged. I handed him my license, and he came back with a ticket.

Internally, I was thinking if only you knew what I had been through, perhaps you would have mercy on me. But it got me to thinking, questioning, so I thought I would pose my question to you. Ultimately, a patrolman gave me a ticket, but anything could have happened to prevent that, to prevent him from choosing me, etc, but that's not what happened. This was God's plan for me for that day. I really wanted God's mercy.

As a child I was taught not to argue - to humbly accept the punishment you are to receive. However, I wonder if God prefers humility or an attempt at begging for mercy. In retrospect, I wanted to ask the officer for mercy, but I did not. What do you think? Does God prefer humility or does He prefer us to bring our requests (even for mercy) to Him, like the persistent widow? or some combination of both? What do you think and why?

Risking it

At the risk of causing chaos, I've decided to open up my posts about fear again. I, along with some women at church, am studying, "No Other Gods" by Kelly Minter, which is a great study so far. An interesting point is made on the last day of the second week about how fear drives us to our "gods." She says, "Fear itself is not the god; the object of our fear is the god."

I think this is why I am so brutally honest with you about my god, "relationships/friendships." If my fear is being alone or not being accepted by others, then this drives me to others to fulfill what only God can do. I know that God occasionally withholds good gifts of relationships from me because I am tempted to use them wrongly. I am tempted not to glorify Him but to depend upon friends instead of Him. In this same token, I feel free to tell you this because I sense that I am letting go of these gods and beginning to use them in the way that is acceptable to God and He is blessing me in this area again in a way that seems to be both beneficial to me and to my friends. Friends reading this, you know who you are, and you can tell me if this is not the case. I've also had to cast off friendships that caused nothing but heartache, which is painful, because the lack of growth in these friendships may have been caused mainly by me, but very much worthy to do as those relationships caused me to stumble and sin.

"Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past.
See, I am doing a new thing!
Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?
I am making a way in the desert
and streams in the wasteland.
The wild animals honor me,
the jackals and the owls,
because I provide water in the desert
and streams in the wasteland,
to give drink to my people, my chosen,
the people I formed for myself
that they may proclaim my praise."
Isaiah 43:18-21

Thank you, God, for being My God - the one who sticks closer than a brother!

Running the Race

You were running a good race. Who cut in on you and kept you from obeying the truth?
That kind of persuasion does not come from the one who calls you.
Galatians 5:7-8

When all of the blog drama happened, I was running a good race, but the enemy came along and tripped me. I know I give the image of a cool, calm, level headed person, but it's not always true. Sometimes, I actually run on emotion. I was very upset at all of the different reactions to my blog, most of which were from people who intended to say something encouraging or at the very least reassuring or empathetic. God made it clear to me in 2 ways that I should not take a long break from blogging - through the message at church last week and through all of your encouraging words. So I am back and running again. I tripped, I fell, and now I'm back up again, hoping to win the race, trying to stay focused on the prize.

Coming Soon

So last week was a dramatic week for the blog. I just wanted anyone still looking for a read from me to know that I'll be back soon.