One Massive Update Post

By Lisa B on Tuesday, August 5th, 2008

As my accountability partner, Amanda, has just commented here — I’ve been missing from blogging for a bit. So here’s my massive update all in one post :)

Good Timing

This past Saturday, Amanda invited Doodle and I to go to the pool with her and her family. Doodle and Jessica have known each other since Kindergarten through school and dance for a year or so. We all had a wonderful time. I didn’t even have to get into the pool — and that my friends, is a good time for me :) I hung out with Amanda and Caleb in the baby pool area, while Doodle, Jessica, and Alex (Amanda’s oldest) went to swim, slide and go off the diving board.

Yep. Doodle went off the high dive. Nope, I don’t know how high it was and I don’t know how deep the water is right there — Amanda, when you read this, could you let me know? I seem to have fallen down on my duties as mother in not checking those details. Of course no one asks me how many lifeguards were on duty or anything like that. We did have a great time — thanks Amanda for inviting us :) Doodle is still wiped out!

Softball and Fitness

I have been working out 3 times a week with my trainer for the past month in anticipation of softball season starting. Next Monday, August 11th is our first game as the Ball Hogs. I did the design for the shirts that’s going to be pretty cool, if I do say so myself. It’s the Harley-Davidson Bar and Shield with Ball Hogs across the bar part. I’ll take pictures next week to share. The shirts are orange with black ink. I managed to find a partial shirt sponsor at the gym. One of the guys that works out with my trainer after me owns a huge construction company. I didn’t think it would hurt to ask and I was right!

With all this working out, I’ve seen a lot of changes in my body since March. Good changes — excellent changes. My core (which is more than just abs in case you are like me and didn’t know that) is a lot stronger which is going to assist me in hitting harder. I’ve lost a little bit of weight, and yeah, don’t hate me. I know I didn’t have a lot to lose to begin with. I’m feeling better every day and I’m thankful that I have the chance to workout as much as I do.

It’s funny to hear guys at the gym trying to compliment me without offending me. I think one guy was trying to say he could tell how much weight I’ve lost and that I have a nice shape now, but all he really got out was that he could tell I’m walking taller — evidently that’s a result too of having a strong core.

Churches

We’re on the lookout. We visited a church last Sunday we hadn’t been to in a year or so. Still don’t feel like that’s the church for us. We’ve been praying God will lead us to the church He wants us to serve in. It’s difficult to visit churches and try to make judgements on their well-being in one visit. To me the pastor is the most important part — if he’s a biblical leader, the rest of the church will be good. We’re still visiting.

Duck’s Job

Duck’s job is still up in the air. Please pray for him — that he’ll make the right decisions, find the job God would have him be in, and to deal with the change. No matter what, there’s change coming. No one really likes change though. He’s being presented with an opportunity to become a full-time employee vs a contractor at this huge company. The only problem is that the job is second shift. This will pretty much rob him of any time with Doodle or doing other things such as playing softball. Because I work at home (cough, cough), he and I could spend time together during the day. Spending time with Doodle though is really important too.

Doodle’s School

This is the start of the 4th week of school. It’s been a little rough. She’s had trouble on her math and vocabulary tests, but frankly, I can’t blame her. I saw the vocabulary test yesterday. She’s in 4th grade and hasn’t had anything like this before. I thought it was going to be some kind of matching definitions to words test. I was wrong. It was a long, multiple choice test where the spelling word was used in a sentence, then you picked the closest meaning — and these weren’t just testing on the primary definition of the words. It was secondary definitions as well. D’oh. We didn’t study that.

Lisa’s World

I’m doing well. I’ve found that between all the workouts, I don’t have much time for anything else. It seems I’m always gone to the gym. That will change next week as I won’t be working out as much during the season. I’ve picked up a few blog jobs here and there that have been fun to do. Stressful (I HATE IE!) but fun. I’m in the process of budgeting our money just in case something happens to Duck’s job. I know he’ll always be employed. He’s a hard worker, and God’s blessed him with each job move. I know God will bless him again. But there are things that we need to do — our part — and that’s what I’m trying to do.

Other Tidbits

My niece, Tiffany and her baby are doing well. Jennifer’s husband has a rare form of eye cancer. They are doing surgery and some other things next week. Please keep them in your prayers. My buddy Heather is off traveling with her kids again — at least I don’t think she’s back home yet. Keep her and her family in your prayers for safe travels.

Oh, and I won! I won some Stampin’ Up Cards during the big Bloggy Giveaways last week at my buddy Robin’s — check out her blog when you can and leave some comments. She’s inspiring me to take pictures. She’s funny and witty. I really enjoyed hanging out with her during She Speaks in June. I hope to meet up with her again soon!

Thank you!

For hanging in there with me :) I know, most of you are family anyway and don’t really have a choice, but I’m thankful for ones like Amanda who remind me to post — that my ramblings here do help us all keep in touch.

Posted in Blessings, Bloggin', Personal | Comments (3)

And the Winner is …

By Lisa B on Saturday, July 26th, 2008

my local buddy, Amanda :) It’s really fitting that she was giving me the most grief — and the most cheers during my entire fashion makeover. Amanda, I’ll figure out a way to get a copy of Shari’s book to you when I get them in.

Y’all will be happy to note, Duck has helped me get rid of most all of my old clothes. I still have a few drawers left to go through, but right now I’m wearing mostly new stuff. I do still play softball however, so I do have one or two shirts to wear to practice ;)

We’re calling our team Ball Hogs (kinda after Wild Hogs since Duck and I ride Harleys). I’ve got a neat design for the front of the shirt. Maybe when the season starts I’ll get a picture of Duck in his … I’m not entirely sure Shari would let me wear orange :D

Posted in Blessings, Books, Giveaways | Comments (2)

Thankful Thursday Round-up

By Lisa B on Thursday, July 24th, 2008

It’s been way too long since I’ve done a Thankful Thursday post. I had a few little things to update y’all on, and decided to make them all into a Thankful post!

  • My niece Tiffany was in the hospital last week. Thank God it was just a virus that went away and she and her baby are doing just fine.
  • My buddy Heather survived flying out to San Francisco for BlogHer. She had a wonderful time and made it home safely.
  • Duck’s work is still going through changes, I think, but he’s not freaking out about them right now. That’s a good thang!
  • We had softball practice last Sunday and I’m thankful to say, everyone seemed to be really laid back. I don’t think we’ll have any up-tight, over-competitive people — although over half the team is family. It’s entirely possible the family was on their best behavior Sunday, and that the attitudes could show up later!
  • I’ve been having some quiet time this week. I missed a day or two and can really tell it when I do that, but overall it’s helping me get a grip. I’ve been working on being more organized (yes, again).
  • I’m trying really hard to be thankful for this, but Duck and I went through all my old clothes. You see, even with my new wardrobe, I was pulling out some old faithfuls to wear occasionally — old ball shirts and such. Ok, so they were like a security blanket for me. Yes, I let go of the majority of my clothes and it felt good to free up the space. Two huge garbage bags full, ready to go to Good Will. Duck was way too giddy helping me with this stuff.

I’m sure there’s more that I’m thankful for this week but I need to shower :) Check out Iris’ for more Thankful Thursdays and participate yourself!

Posted in Blessings, Thankful Thursdays | Comments (4)

BlogHop ‘08 Fashionably Late

By Lisa B on Saturday, July 19th, 2008

You’re invited!

My crazy friend from She Speaks, Robin @ Pensieve thought of a wonderful idea. There were more than a few of us wishing we were at BlogHer. So, she decided to throw a virtual party. They had a chat last night and of course I should have been there, but I had a bad sinus headache and went to bed early. Yeah, I know. I’m too young for this!

Click on this cute graphic made by Karen @ Simply Amusing (who is a new friend) to get to the party. Sign up on Mr. Linky to your own party post.

Welcome to the party!

If you’re already partying, take a look around. You are sure to find many different kinds of posts. Recently I went on a fashion makeover that rivels “What Not to Wear” — but was so much better! You can leave a comment on any of those posts (Shoes, bottoms, tops, dresses, busted) for a chance to win Shari’s book “If Clothes Could Talk.”

Robin suggested keeping this short, so I’ll leave you with a few bullet points about me — the ultimate image breaker:

  • addicted to Coke in a red-and-white can
  • having an affair with my laptop
  • a Christian (12 years)
  • ride a Harley-Davidson
  • love slow-pitch softball
  • am blessed with a wonderful hubby, Duck (yes, a nickname)
  • am cursed with one 9-year-old daughter, Doodle (just kidding! I’m blessed with her too!)
  • have a very southern drawl although I don’t type it like BooMama :)

Y’all will just have to poke around to learn the rest. Those are really the basics. Thanks for stopping by.

Oh yeah, Robin mentioned something about food. Y’all would definitely enjoy a fresh supply of Coke at my party, but we’d have to order out pizza or something like that. I’m not much of a cook — at all!

Update to Prayer Requests

Thanks y’all for praying for my prayer requests. My niece got out of the hospital yesterday. It turns out she had a virus that just had to run its course. If you have anything you need prayer for, please email me at lisab (at) simplyhis (dot) org.

Posted in Bloggin' | Comments (13)

What do you want to be when you grow up?

By Lisa B on Friday, July 18th, 2008

I honestly couldn’t tell you what my answer to that question was when I was little. I lived in the country — mountain country at that. Yes, there’s a difference. If you don’t know it, you aren’t very familiar with country. Anyway, since Doodle started school this past week, she was asked what she wanted to be — a video game designer.

The other night we had our first homework fight.

“Go do your homework.”

“Not without you in there with me.”

“If you have a question, you can come ask me for help.”

“I’m not doing it unless you are in there with me.”

Ok, so I did give into this one. I know we have kind of spoiled her when it comes to homework in that we sit down with her and walk her through it. We’re trying to break that habit. I was trying to break it. Really. I was trying.

She pulls out a math sheet and a piece of paper that she had starting writing on in class. They were to write out the numbers in words and then give the place value of the number circled. Her writing was really bad. She writes from the left to the edge of the paper on the right. She writes rather large and she misspelled a couple of the words. I informed her that her handwriting was bad and she’d need to rewrite it.

Trouble began.

Through her tears and fussing, this is roughly the conversation we had:

“Rewrite your homework.”

“I can’t. I’m stupid.”

“No, you are not stupid. I don’t ever want you to say that again.”

“Well, it’s true.”

“No, it’s not. You have the work done correctly. You just need to do your best writing.”

“I don’t have best writing. I can’t write any better than that.”

“Yes, you can. Calm down and I’ll help you with the spelling. You just need to take your time.”

Now, I had decided that since this was math homework, that I could in fact, help her with spelling hundred and thousand correctly without impeding her learning too much. She went back to the table and proceeded to crumple the sheet she’d started in class.

“Why did you do that? I said your work was right. If you throw it away, you’ll have to do all that work again instead of just copying it neater.”

“Well, if my mother doesn’t appreciate the hard work I put into this in class, then it’s no good!”

Yikes.

We sit and have some more meaningful conversation about how she’s not stupid — she just needs to take her time and not write so fast. Then she starts on the “I hate homework” train.

“You have to do homework. You have no choice.”

“Why? I don’t want to go to school any more. I hate homework. I want to throw all homework in the trash.”

“You have to do homework to learn in school so when you graduate you can get a good job.”

“I don’t want a job.”

“You have to have a job to get money to pay for things like a house, food, and games you like to play.”

“I’ll just get married.” So now she’s implying that I don’t work.

“Um, nobody’s going to want just marry you and take care of you — even I work.” Here’s where I kind of want to say that I don’t have the best reasoning in the world. I never thought I’d be trying to reason with a 9-year-old about this stuff. I am blessed in that I don’t have to work, but I was failing at justifying school at this moment.

“You work?” She looked totally amazed.

“Yes, I work. I work from home on websites.”

“Well, I just want to be able to play whenever I want and take naps — like Grandma.” Mind you the girl does NOT take naps!

“Ok. Grandma is 65. She graduated high school and worked at a job for well over 40 years before she retired. When you get to be 65, maybe then you can quit work and do whatever you want. But you still have to go to school and do homework.”

Like I said, I know I didn’t handle that very well at all. I think she even told me that she would live here for the rest of her life — that she didn’t need to work when she was older. Should I start to threaten to kick her out now? Nope. Then she’d tell me she’ll go live with Grandma and Grandpa.

This was much longer than I thought it would be, but it’ll be great reading for her when she graduates high school. Any tips for motivating a child? Beat her more? Bribe her with money? Games?

Posted in Family, School | Comments (3)

Many Prayer Requests Today

By Lisa B on Friday, July 18th, 2008

In the light of all the new fashion around here, I have several prayer requests that have come up.

My niece, Tiffany, is in the hospital. She’s due in October and I can’t do the math right now to figure out how far along she is — but she’s running a high fever and dehydrated. Please pray for her and her baby to be ok and for the Drs to figure out why she’s feeling cruddy.

A friend, Jennifer, told me yesterday her husband just found out he has cancer. They are not sure what kind, etc. but will be going back to the Dr. on Tuesday. He is in his mid-thirties (I think) and fairly young. They have 2 beautiful little girls, the youngest of which just started school this week.

Heather is in San Fransico at BlogHer. Pray for her to stay focused on Jesus which can be difficult during a secular event of this magnitude. I pray God uses her to reach out to women there who need some good news in their lives. Also pray for the flight back. Heather’s not good at sitting still for so long.

Duck’s work is going through some changes. They may not necessarily be bad changes, but change itself is hard for people to deal with — especially since they’ve been comfortable doing things a certain way.

Doodle is finishing her first complete week of fourth grade. I tried to help her with her homework last night, but it was a struggle. She doesn’t understand why she has to go to school — why she has to learn this stuff — and why she has to do homework. She’s not very motivated to learn. Duck and I need God’s guidance on the right ways to motivate her.

Thank you for praying for these needs. If you have anything I can pray for you about, please feel free to leave a comment here or you can email me at lisab (at) simplyhis (dot) org if it’s a personal matter.

Posted in Prayer Requests | Comments (1)

I’m so not Bu-uh-uh-uh-sted today!

By Lisa B on Wednesday, July 16th, 2008

Today I went to workout, ate lunch, then to pick Fletcher up from the groomers. I told Heather we were all getting spiffy for her stay with us tonight. It was getting close to time to pick Doodle up from school and I still needed a shower. I contemplated showering and then throwing on some of my “old” clothes, but I sincerely didn’t want to be busted again. So, quick eye makeup, hair products, new outfit and new shoes … I was off to school in style …

I had Duck take this picture of me tonight so you can see the full effect. Nope, don’t have before pictures yet. If Duck has his way, he may be burning all my old clothes :D

As I walked up to the front of the school, about 6 of my mom friends started whoopin’ and hollerin’ — which so totally embarrassed me. I tried to embrace it with a twhirl and pretend like I was a runaway model or something. Yes, I meant to type runaway :)

Many nice comments about the clothes, the hair, the overall look. Made me kinda think I must have really looked like crud before, but hey, this is the new me. I talked with some of the moms for a little while then I noticed that Amanda had decided to come with Leslie to pick up her daughter. I flaunted on over to show her the goods. Amanda let out a big ol’ “Giirrrlll! I didn’t know you have boobs too! Boobs and a waist! Congratulations on the boobs!” I swear I almost fainted. She is a trip! But it was like I’d gotten a boob job or something. Nah, I just like to keep these puppies as my secret weapons (ROFL!)

My secret is out. I have a waist and I have boobs. Oh, and my hair product smells great too! I even got complements on that :D Amanda already posted a comment on my other post — Thanks Amanda for the compliments. You are a very sweet lady — and so is Leslie, even if she thinks blogs are wierd :)

Posted in Blessings, Personal, She Speaks | Comments (5)

Bu-uh-uh-uh-sted

By Lisa B on Tuesday, July 15th, 2008

Y’all, I have been Busted (with a capital B!). Shari, if you are reading this, stop. If you continue to read, just know you did the best you could with what you had to work with and none of this is your fault.

Yesterday was the first day of fourth grade for Doodle. I actually got to do the car line which means no one saw me in my workout clothes — as I was to be at the gym at 11 am. After my workout, eating lunch and taking my shower, I pondered what to put on. I mean, here I have been detailing my recent fashion-related purchases, I should wear something new or look put together when I go to the school to pick up Doodle.

Laziness won out. I decided that there’s only one person who I know in real life that reads my blog — Amanda — and her daughter doesn’t go to school here any more. I honestly thought I’d be ok with my “old” clothes. No one would know. Nobody I see there knows about my new wardrobe or hair cut or makeup.

The first person I talk to is Leslie. She is one of the sweetest ladies I’ve ever had the privilege to talk to — she’s always put together and a great mother to 3 great kids. She’s also Amanda’s best friend. I remained calm as I reasoned that surely Leslie and Amanda have never discussed my blog much less Leslie reading it to know about my new wardrobe. But then this morning I get this email:

I bragged on how you got your hair done…. you started wearing light make up…. you got all these new clothes… sent Leslie to your blog to see some of the stuff (she NEVER reads blogs and has this weird thing against them… I know, weird)… then she says, “I saw Lisa.. she was wearing shorts, a oversize tshirt and I do not think she had on make up… She looked like our normal, sweet Lisa… not the “new, hot Lisa”…
Alright… I WANT TO SEE THE HOT LISA SOON - so we will have to meet for lunch (somewhere I can take kids if it is in the next 5 weeks) so I can see the HOT Lisa.
hee hee hee hee

Amanda was sweet enough to email me instead of rag me on my blog, but I’m nothing if not honest — I was busted. Yep, I was wearing an oversized ball tshirt and jean shorts — no makeup and if I remember correctly, my hair was pulled in a scrunchy.

Ok, there’s no getting around it now :) Mom and Dad even asked me where my new outfits were Friday when I went to dinner with them. Lazy. That’s my excuse. At least Friday I had the excuse that we’d just driven home from vacation so I’d been in the car practically all day long. Yesterday though, I did have time and I should have dressed a little more put together.

Maybe today — after I deliver a computer to a friend’s auto shop. I’m so not wearing heels there!

Posted in Blessings, Bloggin', Personal, School | Comments (4)

Dressin’ Up

By Lisa B on Monday, July 14th, 2008

I know y’all have just been dying to see me actually in some of my new outfits :) Here’s a new outfit I wore to church yesterday. Duck snapped several pictures and we’re still trying to figure out how my camera works and all — it’s got to be me, because this is a really nice camera (Canon Rebel XTI)!

This is me on our front stoop area. You can’t tell a lot about my makeup, but Duck says it looks good — of course, he better say that! The new shoes, bracelets and necklace add to the dress. This was one I had to put a tank under. If I didn’t, I was showing a little more than I was comfortable with!

I got a couple of skirts that go with some of the tops I shared the other day. The great thing about all of this is it mixes and matches wonderfully — although I’m still worried about putting something with something else that it should never go with :)

Good luck keeping this one clean :) AND Shari told me I wasn’t allowed to dry any of these clothes. She really doesn’t know how low maintenance I am. I am the queen of shrink afterall! But she made me promise to wash and hang dry or dry clean only.

This is a pretty patterned skirt.

For those extra special occasions where I need it, Shari also picked up a 3-piece suit for me. This jacket can go with either a skirt or pants below.

And then there is this jacket:

Shari said something about this being a really cool thing to have so I’ve got it :)

A few of you have asked where we were shopping — Dillard’s is where all of this came from. Shari said to pick one store and not to get so overwhelmed with all the different choices out there. This may just be her advice to me — being a non-shopper. The ladies that work at this Dillard’s were awesome! Angela, the shoe lady, carried boxes and boxes of shoes up and down the stairs for me to try. I can’t tell you how many shoes I tried on to bring home the 9 that I did.

One or two of you who read this blog and know me in real life may be wondering when you are going to see me in this. Well, you’ll see it eventually :) Today was the first day of school for Doodle and when I took her to school, I was in my workout clothes because that’s where I’m going next. Not too impressive — but functional.

Leave me some more comments on any of these fashion inspired posts, I’ll do a drawing few days after I finish posting for a copy of Shari’s book “If Clothes Could Talk.”

Posted in Blessings, She Speaks | Comments (7)

Toppin’ Off

By Lisa B on Saturday, July 12th, 2008

Before I went on vacation this week, I had taken pictures of all my clothes. I edited the pictures so I could easily post them here while I was on vacation. Of course, I copied the wrong files to my laptop so I didn’t have access to some of the pictures I wanted to share. And then I thought I had set up a post to post on Tuesday, only to find it still stuck in my drafts today. So y’all are getting 3 new posts from me today. Unusual for sure!

I got two basic tanks to go under some other tops and dresses. This one in black and one in ivory.

This is an unusual shirt — one that I probably never would’ve picked for me, but it’s one of my favorite shirts I got. I wear the black tank above under this shirt as it’s kinda lacey and see-through.

This is another kinda of funky shirt that I would’ve passed by thinking it wasn’t me. Of course you’ll have to check back later for the pictures of these clothes actually on me :)

Shari says this is the kind of tshirt I should be wearing. It is a little fancier than the tshirts I normally wear!

I got two of these style vnecks in this bright blue and the other in bright red. Evidently the colors I’d been choosing for me before were kind of muted — browns, pastels, etc. I think I can wear some of those colors, but Shari says it helps my coloring to have some of these bright colors near my face.

A pretty, white tank with a flowery pattern.

This funky shirt grew on me as I was trying it on with different bottoms and such.

This funky shirt has still got to grow on me! Shari and Duck really liked it with my jeans and oh, I can’t remember which shoes! But these silver, reflective circles dangling on the front caused me to pause.

There were a couple of other basic shirts, but I don’t want this post to take forever to load in your browser :) I realized as I was trying on these different outfits, my confidence started to grow. Not that I should have too much confidence in myself, but God made me who I am and I should have confidence in Him, that He knows what He’s doing.

Leave me a comment on any of these fashion inspired posts, I’ll do a drawing few days after I finish posting for a copy of Shari’s book “If Clothes Could Talk.”

Posted in Blessings, She Speaks | Comments (5)