You Can't Talk To Me That Way

"You are so fat!"

"That outfit looks terrible on you!

"Your hair looks awful!  You can't do anything with it."

"You are such a loser."

"You are a total mess."

"Nobody notices anything you do.  Why even bother?"

"You can't do anything right!"

I  going to guess that if you had a "friend" who spoke to you that way, you wouldn't be friends for very long.  In fact, you probably wouldn't want that person around at all!

Photo Credit (click here)

Now, how often do you say one or more of these things to yourself?  (Be honest!)  

Why is it OK to talk to yourself that way?  What makes us feel that it's alright to say hurtful things about ourselves?  Things we would never dream of saying to another person.

Being humble doesn't mean speaking in a demeaning way about yourself.  It means knowing Who and Where your value comes from.

Sweet sister, you are a daughter of the King.  You were created in His image. You are fearfully and wonderfully made. (Psalm 139:14)  You have value. (Luke 12:6-7)  You are precious, chosen, and loved.

Treat yourself as the beloved, worthy, precious woman you are!

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Sleepless In North Carolina

One of my presents this past Christmas was a new FitBit.  One of those fancy-fangled ones that tracks not only your daily steps and activity, but also your sleep.  After wearing this gizmo for almost 2 months, I have come to one obvious conclusion:

I stink at sleeping.

It's true.  The numbers don't lie.  Just take a peek at this example of my sleep stats.

The dark blue thin lines are my "sleep" periods for each night.  The light blue is restless sleep.  Red is wakefulness.  All that light blue is just crazy! !  You can even see nights when my sleep is divided into two sets of stats. Apparently because I was awake long enough for it to be considered two separate sleep periods.

YIKES!!

Sooo...  I am now on a mission for better, more restful sleep.  Reading up on good sleep habits.  Pinning lots of things to my new "Sleepytime" Pinterest board .  Soon, I hope to have a post for you all about some of the best hints I have found for getting a good night's sleep.

In the meanwhile, what are some of your tips for getting better sleep? Let us know in the comments.

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The Morning of the Naked Trees

One morning last week, as I drove back from taking the male offspring to the bus stop, I was struck by the outline of the winter bare trees against the deep blue of the just-before-sunrise sky.

I have written before about my infatuation with the simple beauty of "naked" trees.  On that particular morning it was almost strong enough to make me want to dig out a long neglected sketchpad, some pastels, and an artist's pen to see if I could recreate something which might come somewhat close to resembling the view I was enjoying.

Almost...

It did cause me to stop my car in the middle of our road to snap a few photos with my phone.

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Wonderfully Made

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A Slow Thaw

There is one word for how the weather has been around these parts for the past week or so:  Brrrrr!

Yesterday we had sleet and freezing rain to deal with.  Which is no fun!  I personally would rather have several inches of snow than a glaze of ice any day.

Fortunately, through the grace of God, the ice wasn't enough to cause a power outage, and didn't stick around very long.

Today the temperatures are actually above freezing.  And we are expecting 60s (Fahrenheit) for the weekend.  A chance to thaw out and warm up!

Don't count old man winter down and out just yet though.  Around here a snow or ice storm can happen well into April.  And the biggest blizzard in memory took place in the middle of March.

At this point in my life I've learned to just go with it.  It's the weather.  Whatever is gonna happen, is gonna happen.

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happy valentine's day

Wishing you a day filled with joy and love. 

And hopefully a little chocolate...

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The Week That Was

Here we are at Friday.  And to be completely honest with you - I have no idea how that happened.  No wait...  I mean, of course I know how that happened in a logical sense.  First it was Sunday evening,  then Monday and one day follows another, then...  BAM!  It's Friday.  Just like that.  But HOW did all that happen so fast?  That's what I don't get.

Sunday was, of course, Super Bowl Sunday.  And after what can only be described as an Ah-Ma-Zing  season, the Carolina Panthers were one game away from the big trophy.  Sadly, it was not to be.  And that's all I have to say about that.  The pain is still too fresh.

It seemed as if everyone around us was getting snowed upon this week; but all we saw was a bunch of flurries.  It's still at it this morning.  Or, it was...

The grand baby had a bout of the stomach flu mid-week.  I've never seen the little guy so sick.  But fortunately it was a brief 24 hour thing.  And no one else in the family has fallen ill.

Other than that, it was a quiet week.  No blizzards, hot water incidents, or flooding to deal with.  Thank goodness!

The Man of the House and I have plans tomorrow for an early Valentine's treat.  We plan to take advantage of our annual passes and visit the Biltmore Estate.  However, seeing that weather forecast has the high temperature as 26 degrees tomorrow, we are questioning the wisdom of that right now.  If we stick with the plan we might have the whole place to ourselves!

Hope you all have a wonderful weekend!

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What Made Me Laugh

I am easily amused by little things.  I especially love it when I find something in the seemingly ordinary which takes me by surprise and makes me smile or laugh.

For example:  when your husband goes through the drive-thru at Krispy Kreme  and gets you a coffee.  Which, let's just admit it, is pretty awesome all by itself!  But when you discover that the lid of that coffee looks like a little gorilla face... Bonus!!

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Water, Water... Everywhere!

What is with me and water this week?

It began late yesterday morning.  I went downstairs to the laundry room, and heard the sound of running water coming from the garage.  I opened the door expecting to perhaps see a leaking pipe.  Nope.  Instead there was water pouring from the bottom of the hot water heater!  Not so slowly creating a small lake on the garage floor.  I managed to quickly shut off the valve and slow the fountain which used to be a water tank.  And the Man of the House came home at lunch to assess the situation.

Long story short, we need a new water heater.  No surprise there if you saw what was happening.

Bad news - the warranty expired (I kid you not) 2 months ago.  Seriously!  Two months!

Good news - at least it leaked onto a concrete floor, so there's not a lot that can be damaged there.

More bad news - that means we now we have no hot water for a few days until the new unit can be installed.

BUT, more good news - because when our house was built the downstairs was set up as a separate "mother in law suite" type thing, it has its own water heater.  So we can at least use the shower down there to keep ourselves clean.

However, as quaintly charming as I find it to heat water on the stove for washing dishes (ahem...)  - it is not something I want to do a whole, whole lot of. Desperate times call for disposable products.

Which meant I had to make a run to the store this morning during this:

More pouring water!!

Yep.  I'm about ready for an ark right now!

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