Speech lessons

The goal I selected (or rather choose out of slight desperation) for my January habit is excellent speech. When I first wrote about my new habit, I had grand ideas of studying excellence in speech - what did that mean? how did it look in real life? what was I going to do to establish this habit? how was I going to teach it to my kids and encourage us all in the development of this habit? Well, my grand ideas and expectations were drowned in the busyness and ideas that I allowed to crowd my days over the last few weeks.

Easy Tomato Soup

I am always on the look out for easy, good tasting meals; and this was so tasty, I just had to share.  

Meal Planning

I am following Melanie as she works through her Real Food Experiment for this coming year.  Since I have been wanting to change some of my eating habits and the overall food habits of our family, I am looking forward to using her experiments as a starting point for me to take some steps of change for myself.  

The first experiment Melanie is doing is meal planning.  I had initially thought that I might not do anything with this particular experiment, after all I meal plan our suppers and have for quite a while. It works well for me, and I do not see a need to change the way I am doing meal plans.  

However . . . .

Excellent Speech

The words we say have such great impact . . . on us and those around us. I have been impressed by the importance of the things we say and the way we say them.  Both are so vital and reflect our heart attitudes.  

As I have been contemplating a new habit for this month, the list of possibilities was rather long.  In reviewing the possibilities, nothing seemed to be quite right.  Then in the midst of yet another talk with God about the attitudes in our home, and how they are being reflected in not such good ways in our speech . . .

My Food Journey

One of the many things that are on my list for this year is developing better eating and snacking habits for our family as well as eating some foods new to our dinner table.  This will entail some food learning for me.  And I know I will need to work with foods that to date I have left on the shelves of the grocery store.

I have a lot of trepidation about this goal.

When I came across Melanie from Only A Breath's The Real Food Experiment, I was very excited to be able to watch over her shoulder as she also journeyed in the area of real food and healthy eating.  

As Melanie shares her experiments in real food, I hope to follow with her and share with you all my own food journey: what I am doing, learning, etc.  I am not a food expert!  I have no official training in food prep or nutrition.  All I have learned has come from the people in my life, reading (reading, reading, and more reading), and experimenting (some successful and some not!).  I am terrified of being overwhelmed by the amount I have to learn, the changes I feel we need to make in our family, and the resistance I may face from the others in our home.  Yet, this terror while not stop me from proceeding!!

How about you?

Do you have eating or food habits you would like to see change?  Consider joining me as I make baby steps along the way.  I plan to post a couple of times a month, specifically about my food journey. I will make baby steps as I grow in my food knowledge and practices this year.  At the end of the year, I am determined to be in a different, hopefully better, place then I am today! 

Focus

Wow!  It seems as if I was just setting about to find and define my One Word for 2012, now it is 2013 and I am being prompted to think of my One Word for the new year.  Yikes! The ideas and possible word options are overwhelming. My brain is starting to short-circuit just thinking about all that I could choose: joy, praise, simplify, refine, patience, enjoy, etc.  Do you get the sense I am a bit scattered . . . 

The last month or two of 2012 have been a weird blur of Holiday activities, sickness in our home, moments of family time, and just trying to juggle the normal routines of life in the midst of it all.  I am starting the new year with  projects calling to be tackled, work for my boss that needs to be completed, areas of my home that need some cleaning and pick up, a child who is sick and needing some extra loving, a body that is worn from activity and illness -- Ahhh!

I wish it would all be quiet for minute so I can focus . . . and there, in the midst of it all, my One Word is born. 

FOCUS

All the things demanding attention!  All the projects and activities I want to work on or complete!  All the people I desire to bless and help!  In the crazyness of it all, my One Word: Focus takes its first breathes of life and slowly begins to grow. With the ever growing list of things I want to or need to accomplish in the coming week and month, not to mention the whole year of 2013, "focus" will be one my greatest allies and hopefully help keep me from being overwhelmed and overrun by it all.  

What about you?  Is there one word that you can use to describe the past year?  What about the coming year?  Is there a word you would like to represent what you hope this coming year will be for you or your family?  Check out the One Word Community, read what they are about and consider joining us as we seek to have One Word for all the days of this year that will describe what we hope to be and do.