tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-74429532024-03-07T18:38:54.142-05:00Who Said Anything About Common Sense?My travels, my trials, my triumphs, and what I've learned and am learning through them.Melissahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02489283205673390348noreply@blogger.comBlogger521125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7442953.post-64628340333034770922011-10-19T15:09:00.002-05:002011-10-21T19:59:16.635-05:00MommyBee DesignsEver since I was pregnant with AJ, I've been horrified quite frequently as I perused the offerings in many children's clothing stores. Bibs that said "Brat," shirts that said "Diva," items that proclaimed loud and proud how the CHILD was the one in charge! This glorification of poor and disrespectful behavior in children is something that has long troubled (and at times sickened) me.&Melissahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02489283205673390348noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7442953.post-12852285429136475632011-08-18T15:32:00.000-05:002011-08-18T15:32:21.302-05:00Addressing AssumptionsSo I recently emailed a question to "SimpleMom" Tsh Oxenreider which has generated a lot of awesome discussion on her site. You're welcome to chime in with your thoughts here, but it'd be more useful to more people over there. The gist of the question is "do I give a food pantry items that I wouldn't feed to my own family?"
In reading through the comments though, it amused me the Melissahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02489283205673390348noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7442953.post-42145760724762878002011-07-18T13:52:00.000-05:002011-07-18T13:52:33.257-05:00Pulling WeedsSo I often have "mommy guilt" over the fact that it seems like all I ever do is correct my children. When I'm not correcting, I'm mostly moralizing (as in, someone (on TV, in a book, in real life, etc.) does something and so we discuss how that action was foolish or unkind or whatever...or the flip side - what they did was very kind, generous, wise, etc.). Sometimes it's little thingsMelissahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02489283205673390348noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7442953.post-43491426437607079122011-07-13T15:59:00.000-05:002011-07-13T15:59:45.086-05:00Mother Knows BestSo my mom was visiting the other day when the kids and I found this HUGE dead beetle in the driveway (insert inappropriate John Lennon joke here).
Annnnyway.....it only seemed natural to me to run over to my mom and ask what kind of beetle it was (not "do you know..." but simply "what kind..."). Her deadpan response was, "There are more species of beetle on the Earth than all other Melissahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02489283205673390348noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7442953.post-47536532763239335792011-07-12T15:31:00.000-05:002011-07-12T15:31:13.700-05:00Testing, testing, one, two, three... Is this thing on?So my last post was in November of 2010. It's now July of 2011. Been awhile. Might be awhile again before another post comes up. There's just too much of life to live.
But I did want to point out one thing. From the inception of this blog until now (really my most recent birthday which was three weeks ago, I just didn't get around to fixing things here until today Melissahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02489283205673390348noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7442953.post-76807890149735676392010-11-18T15:12:00.001-05:002010-11-18T15:15:03.046-05:00Shoeboxes!So it's National Collection Week for Operation Christmas Child. Our church's official "turn in your box" day was Sunday, so I gave it a few days to let the last of the stragglers come in, then I picked them up today (all 109 of them!) after our MOPS steering team meeting. I dropped Joanna off at home with the babysitter before taking AJ with me to the collection site. Prior to Melissahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02489283205673390348noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7442953.post-8775703692820655062010-11-11T14:51:00.000-05:002010-11-11T14:51:00.608-05:00SurprisesSo the other day, AJ announced, "Look, Mommy! I drew my name!"
So I looked on the paper and, sure enough, there were the letters "A" and "J," clear as a bell.
And knowing that I have done no such instruction, I asked (several times) if his babysitter had been practicing with him. "Nope" (each time I asked).
And to make sure it wasn't a fluke (or that maybe the babysitter had Melissahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02489283205673390348noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7442953.post-35943251568367674092010-11-04T08:09:00.000-05:002010-11-04T08:09:14.304-05:00Whoops....So I thought about posting several times yesterday. But then I forgot. So I made it two whole days this year.
Oh well. I'll keep going, but I'm not gonna be too upset if I miss more days since I've already blown it (NaBlowPoMo?). Haha. Sorry...still sleepy....Melissahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02489283205673390348noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7442953.post-30434962335985958682010-11-02T14:17:00.000-05:002010-11-02T14:17:07.295-05:00Day 2I voted. I feel like that's an obligatory statement today. But I did.
I also just had the best Greek salad I've ever had for lunch. It was a pre-packaged one I bought at the cafeteria. I've bought them before and have no idea what was so spectacular about this one, but it was G-O-O-D, GOOD!
Now you know (and knowing is half the battle).
(The other half probably includesMelissahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02489283205673390348noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7442953.post-52613932490375302022010-11-01T09:37:00.000-05:002010-11-01T09:37:58.548-05:00NaBloPoMoThat's right....it's my kids' grandparents' favorite time of year - National Blog Posting Month, where I'm supposed to post every day for a month.. I made it last year. I'm not feeling terribly inspired, but we'll give it a go again this year.
For our first post, the cutest pirates in the world:
Melissahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02489283205673390348noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7442953.post-27920819737233666752010-10-01T10:24:00.000-05:002010-10-01T10:24:39.809-05:00Feeling Obligated to PostSo I haven't posted much in a while. It wasn't intentional, life's just happened. A lot. And I haven't felt like talking about it necessarily. Nothing bad, just too busy to ponder deep ponderings or come up with witty things to say.
But something prompted me to look at my blog stats today, which made me notice that there are actually real people looking at my blog Melissahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02489283205673390348noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7442953.post-53803590555850203752010-08-19T13:54:00.000-05:002010-08-19T13:54:05.921-05:00Famous! That's me!So I think I've talked about our love for Phil Vischer's new venture JellyTelly.com and its spin-off "What's in the Bible? With Buck Denver."
We love them. A lot. We haven't _quite_ camped out at the local bookstore to make sure we get ours on its release date, but we're really not far from it.
Well, a few weeks ago, they were asking for people to guest post on their blog. I Melissahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02489283205673390348noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7442953.post-19106174101906437652010-06-19T14:39:00.000-05:002010-06-19T14:39:20.763-05:00Date NightSo VNB's been working long, crazy hours for what seems like forever. It doesn't help that in between weeks of long, crazy hours, he's had opportunities to go backpacking with friends, either leaving me and the kids at home, or leaving us back at the campground with other friends and kids. But his location changed computer systems a few weeks ago and he needed to prep for that, then Melissahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02489283205673390348noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7442953.post-51834501547399868682010-06-18T11:07:00.000-05:002010-06-18T11:07:08.729-05:00Review: Out of the Spin CycleSo really, this hasn't become an "all review all the time" kind of blog, I've just had a couple of reviews that were due at certain times (like this one) and haven't posted much in between. I'm getting back to where I think I'll start posting again soon, really.
But back to the book. This is this year's MOPS devotional book (which is included as part of the mentor mom membership!) - Melissahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02489283205673390348noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7442953.post-48492102242372704412010-06-14T12:45:00.000-05:002010-06-14T12:45:03.435-05:00Hello! And a Little Tidbit...So, a crazy thing has been happening lately. People have been reading my blog. I don't get it. I've hardly posted in like two months and yet random people that I don't know keep following my blog. It's not even halfway through the year and I've already surpassed my page-load stats from last year. Granted, I think I forgot to add in the counter code back in for a Melissahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02489283205673390348noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7442953.post-41813077168979218532010-06-11T11:09:00.000-05:002010-06-11T11:09:00.347-05:00Review - Momology: A Mom's Guide to Shaping Great KidsSo this year MOPS sent me their "theme" book again to review (for free!! LOVE IT!). And like last year, it was well worth the read. This year's theme is "Momology: The Art and Science of Mothering," so it makes very good sense for the theme book to be called "Momology: A Mom's Guide to Shaping Great Kids." It was written by Shelly Radic, the Chief of Staff for MOPS, Melissahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02489283205673390348noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7442953.post-84330608338802995802010-04-26T10:23:00.000-05:002010-04-26T10:23:06.818-05:00Fooled You!So there for a while, I was posting almost _regularly_! Bet you though I was gonna keep it up, didn't you?
Fooled you!
Just kidding....it's been super busy these past few weeks. Really, I'll get back to posting here shortly. I've got at least one book review that's overdue, another one due soon, one more "deep pondering" that's been percolating for a while (having to do, Melissahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02489283205673390348noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7442953.post-77877859117789989052010-04-06T08:07:00.001-05:002010-04-06T14:10:28.252-05:00Guest PostToday we're part of something big here at "Common Sense." Jon Acuff of StuffChristiansLike.net is doing one of his (in)famous "scorecard" posts, but is letting lots of us, his readers, participate by posting individual scorecard items on our sites. Click through to SCL to see the whole scorecard. The key will be posted tomorrow on his site.
So, without further ado...
The “Is Melissahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02489283205673390348noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7442953.post-33005764557274905462010-03-31T21:51:00.000-05:002010-03-31T21:51:04.108-05:00Laurel Pregnancy Center: Race/Walk For Life!On Saturday, April 24th, I'll be getting up earlier than normal. Leaving the kids and their daddy in their beds, putting on some running shoes, and making a valiant attempt at running an entire 5k. Theoretically, I'll be training for it too, but if it goes anything like last year, that won't actually happen. But it's only 5k. I can "run" most of that. And walk the Melissahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02489283205673390348noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7442953.post-909730899135052952010-03-26T14:28:00.002-05:002010-03-26T15:21:56.025-05:00Church "Friends"Because of may factors all coming together recently, I've come to a realization: most "church friends" are really a lot more like co-workers than they actually are friends.Now, before I get to far into this, I want whatever non-church-going friends I have (that actually read this) to understand that I'm not so much downing the church as I am just pointing out the nature of the beast (if you will)Melissahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02489283205673390348noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7442953.post-37761905362444068412010-03-19T10:30:00.000-05:002010-03-20T10:02:22.068-05:00Winston Churchill (Christian Encounter Series) by John PerrySo recently I signed up with "BookSneeze" which is Thomas Nelson Publishers' way of using social media to get the word out about their new books. You get to pick a book, they send it to you (for free!), you read it, then you review it on your blog and on a consumer blog (like Amazon).I just finished reading it, so here's my review of Winston Churchill: Christian Encounter Series by John Perry:Melissahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02489283205673390348noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7442953.post-29618826321256430852010-03-11T14:41:00.003-05:002010-03-11T14:51:55.744-05:00Seeing the MiraculousSo today, our MOPS group packed our buckets. Each discussion group filled their own as I read aloud a prayer I'd written, calling out each food item as it was to be packed. In one of the sections of the prayer, I asked that the food in the buckets would be multiplied (thinking that, like the widow, it would last the Haitian family until they could provide for themselves).I'd brought a fifth Melissahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02489283205673390348noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7442953.post-80207428893330939352010-03-09T21:22:00.002-05:002010-03-09T22:23:10.580-05:00Buckets of HopeA few days ago, I mentioned that I'd been busy with something called "Buckets of Hope," but I've failed to mention what it is exactly and since time is quickly running out, I wanted to give you the scoop.Basically, the "Buckets of Hope" campaign is a way for people to give food to Haitian families through the Southern Baptist Convention's North American Mission Board. They've got more info here,Melissahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02489283205673390348noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7442953.post-57921851081685559702010-03-08T16:14:00.002-05:002010-03-08T16:21:31.733-05:00RichesRight now, several bloggers are in Kenya checking out Compassion, International's work there. I think I already posted about it. Yep. Hopefully you've been reading along on their posts.If you haven't, here are two recent ones telling the story of meeting Eliud.Brad Ruggles: A Father to the FatherlessShaun Groves: Sight for the BlindAre you rich?I know that I am.Melissahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02489283205673390348noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7442953.post-23349071437536573052010-03-05T10:48:00.003-05:002010-03-05T11:51:19.924-05:00Freedom(Hey Company Girls! Our virtual coffee time these last few weeks has been taken over by info about the Help Haiti Live concert. I hope that didn't offend you, but I couldn't think of a better way to get the info out to a lot of people than to bring you, my Company Girls along! Now that the concert's over, I'll remind you of the auctions that are still on-going here and mention the group of Melissahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02489283205673390348noreply@blogger.com5