Seagrove Potters Open House this Saturday!

NO MORE Negative Nellies !

I have agreed to write every Wednesday for Forsyth Woman Magazine Blog and I plan to embrace this as a challenge to begin living more fully, more thankfully, more wisely, more healthy and just MORE, MORE! I invite you to walk with me and live your life MORE, MORE. I invite you to share ways you are living life fully, healthy and wisely and I invite you to encourage other women to join us.

Here is my plan. On Wednesdays, you will find a word to consider for the day, a hint to reduce stress in your life or improve the quality of life, a recipe that tastes great and helps you reduce your caloric intake or some other positive reinforcement for life.

Today, Wednesday’s Hint: Simply count your calories. I am beginning this today and plan to do this for four weeks and see how this simple little change in my life might help me lose weight. A skinny little friend of mine told me she did this and I thought, “Well isn’t that wonderful.” By counting calories, she is probably able to stay a size negative two! All kidding aside, it is good advice and I plan to try it.

How can you count calories and keep it simple? Have you discovered a simple calorie counting method?  Join me, let’s be intentional about living life – MORE, MORE!

“Feel Good!” Boxes

Have you ever heard of a Feel Good Box? Do you have a Feel Good Box? Perhaps you have another name for this special place of tranquility. A Feel Good Box is a box where you keep things, papers, selected pictures, a gratitude journal or other items that bring a smile to your face and/or remembrance of good times. It is a nesting place for thankfulness, gratitude, appreciation and good memories. It is not just for past, but for present and future. (More on memory boxes in a future blog)

A Feel Good Box is similar to a treasure chest. It is not so much the things that are in the box, as what the things represent. Feel Good Boxes are great for children as well as adults. A child’s Feel Good Box might have a few selected school drawings, a special book, a card from a grandparent or notes from parents, siblings or a special teacher. A child’s Feel Good Box might be a shoebox that they have decorated. An adult’s Feel Good Box might have a note from their child or parent; it might have a little “sit around” from an early time in their life or a variety of other things.

Hatboxes and Decorative boxes are great examples of Feel Good Boxes because you can display them in your home and even the sight of the closed box brings about a warm feeling, treasured memory, and a sense of well being or simply a smile. Do you have a Feel Good Box? What would you put in your Feel Good Box?

Loosen the “inner poet” in you!

April is National Poetry Month – who knew? Next to poets, I would guess the only people who know this, is librarians, teachers, students and now YOU!

Limericks are a form of poetry that has often been given a bad name. There are those who think limericks are not “real poetry.” Well to all those I would say, relax and have some fun!

Limericks consist of five lines. Lines 1, 2, and 5 generally have seven to ten syllables and rhyme with one another. Lines 3 and 4 have five to seven syllables and rhyme with each other.

In honor of National Poetry Month, below is my original limerick:

This has taken me a lot of time
Trying to write this little ‘ole rhyme
So I’ll give it a try
It’s making me cry
This is a crime and not worth a dime!

Perhaps you could free the “inner poet” in you and write your own original limerick.  Do you have a favorite limerick?  What will you do, in honor and celebration of the “inner poet” in you?

Finding my waist – What happens in maniac class staying in maniac class..

Before I sent the family off to work and school I did a quick jig in the kitchen to their astonished faces.
“What are you doing?” My youngest asked.
“I’m showing you that I can actually move normally.”
“Nice moves….” My husband adds.
“Well look now because I’ve got my maniac class this morning so it’s going away.” They laugh, but I am serious.

This class starts with our sweet instructor saying, “This is gonna be fun!” Everyone groans and looks at each other, we know this translates to, “This is gonna be fun, cause I’m gonna kick your ass and have fun watching it.” As she goes through the moves, the translation proves true. How in the world do you go from squat to plank to jump to slide? “Doesn’t this look like fun?” She asks but no one answers!

We have to slide on paper towels and all I can think about is how clean the floors around me will be once the class was done. My sweat wets the floor, the paper towels then “wipe on” and “wipe off” on and on and on and on and on. It’s super clean because I don’t glow, I don’t perspire, I SWEAT! There’s nothing ladylike about my prespiration. I thought I was cleaning the floor pretty well until the prison guard comes to tell me, “MOOOVVVVVEEEE!” “Yes master.” (Note to self: Don’t go out to that nice RICH dinner the night before maniac class.)

I steal a look around and everyone’s face is as red as mine, there’s no southern belle glowing in this class, we’re all sweating pigs! We’re letting it all hang out because we believe that’s what separates us maniacs from other. All the grunts, farts, sweat, and moans stay a secret between us maniacs. What happens in Maniac Class stays in Maniac class!

SNOW DAY!

What are you doing this snow day? Schools are closed so now your children have a free day. With snow and ice still on the ground, think winter things to do!
1. Snow Cream – take a bowl of snow, add vanilla, sugar and either sweetened condensed milk or any type of cream-voila! A treat for the family that only comes when the white stuff hits the ground!
2. Sledding – find any hill, walk outside of your house and listen for screaming, that usually means there’s a sledding hill near, follow the laughter and yelling and you’ll find it. Don’t have a sled, we used to use a cookie sheet sprayed with Pam—think Christmas Vacation.
3. Can drive – then hit the slopes! All the ski slopes are open with all the trails open! There’s terrain parks for those adventurous on the snowboards and lessons and bunny trails for those just trying out. Wanna keep the children occupied? There’s ski camp with the ski schools to let the children learn and play with their peers while you hit the slopes with your peers! Only a 2 hour drive away is a winter playground. Check out www.skinc.com for slope reports!
4. Not like the cold? All the movie theaters are open! Take in a movie with the family that’s been on your to-do list! From Alvin and Chipmunks Squeakual to Sherlock Holmes there’s something playing for everyone.
If none of this sounds interesting, then enjoy a quiet day with the family-make that fire, heat up the cocoa and let the Winter Wonderland set your pace! Happy Snow Day!!

Taking One For The Family

This past week, my two boys and I worked on the SS Spongebob, our entry into a cardboard box derby at Ski Beech Resort as part of their Winterfest. A cardboard box derby is different type of race for this athlete, rather than using athletic ability, pilots ride down a ski slope in acardboard box, they are only as good as the push from behind. We worked hard on Spongebob, we painted the box, duct taped it for stability and both boys got excited about winning the derby.

Race day we went to register the SS Spongebob and the resort informed us that pilots had to be 18 years or older. Both boys looked crestfallen, after all that work on Spongebob. Of course, then everyone turned and looked at me! Why me? Why not ask Daddy, why is it always Mommy they turn to? Because like a good Mom after a few minutes of pleading (to make me feel good) I gave in and said, “OK, I’ll ride the box.” Daddy stood silently to the side laughing reading the video camera saying, “Oh this is gonna be a good one.”

We carried Spongebob to the top of the ski slope and waited with 11 other entries. Ours was the only entry that actually looked like a cardboard box! There was an alligator, the SS Enterprise, golf cart, sleds, Ninja Turtle all made out of cardboard and duct tape!

Ski Patrol explained that we had to make it to the bottom of the slope, where the patrollers were standing with nets to “stop us”. “Please bail out of your box before the nets, because it is hard to stop 150 (did he just look my way?) pounds in a box coming at us! They took a picture joking it may be our last and let us get in the box. Our box was made for little kids, so I had to step higher than I wanted to get in, and my big butt didn’t fit in it so well, but my family was smiling at me or maybe laughing at how silly I looked in Spongebob with a helmet on!

The hubby gave the camera to a friend saying, “Don’t miss this one” and him and my son gave me a big push down the slope. I rode surprisingly fast and did a few swimming type moves because it was Spongebob after all and made it down to the patrollers with a pretty pathetic bailout at the end.

The family came up to me cheering, my husband shocked I made it to the bottom of the slope! He started to mention that my extra weight in the ahem probably made the sled go faster, my two boys beamed at me like a was the winner of the 2010 Winter Olympics. What started as taking one for the family turned into a lot of fun and the pride in their face as they told everyone, “My Mom rode in Spongebob” made it worth it. Have you ever taken one for the family?

Yes you can go skiing in North Carolina!

2 hours West of Winston Salem are 3 area ski resorts that just received around 2 feet of snow from our “epic” snowstorm. As a result new terrain is open for the beginning to expert skier! Don’t know how to ski? There are plenty of instructors waiting to show you how to take a few turns. All the ski resorts have great skicamps for children, a fun way to learn how to ski with children their age. These camps take the children out in small groups for lessons and play on the snow. They then take them in a ski center to play as well as lunch before more time on the snow. While they play with their friends you can play on the slopes. All the ski resorts have beginner to expert (Black Diamond) slopes, not all the terrain is open yet but with these continued cold temperatures it won’t be long! If you’ve never skiied before this is the perfect time to try out the slopes, with the snow storm over the weekend all resorts are reporting POWDER! All resorts rent everything from skis to boots to snow bibs and coats! Today with the sun coming out, we plan on hitting Beech Mountain early and enjoying family time in the snow. As the snow melts in town, freezing temperatures in the High Country will keep this Winter Wonderland through the Winter break! See ya on the slopes!

November is National Novel Writer’s Month

I’m sitting and staring at a blinking cursor on my screen. I joined the National Novel Writers Month challenge to write a novel of 50,000 words in the month of November. November 1 rolls around and as everyone on the nanowrimo.org website kick off their novels with flair, I’m still staring at the blinking cursor.

I have the story floating around in my head. I can see the entire movie version of it, I can see me explaining to Oprah how this phenomenon of Kelly Melang started with a simple novel that was part of the National Novel Writing Month. The hardest part of this idea is starting. By starting, I’m comitting and that’s what’s scaring me as I make up a song in my head to go with the beat of the blinking cursor. 50,000 words in one month, if I do 2,000 words a day then I can take a day off here and there during this.

The cursor is still blinking, I swear it’s cursing at me. Do you have that dream? That thing that sits in your mind waiting for you to have the courage to start, then the guts to finish? The hardest part about reaching a goal is starting. Every doubt you’ve ever thought of in your life now plays through your mind as you pull deep inside your soul for the courage to start. Go ahead, listen to all those voices that tell you that there’s no way you’re going to reach that dream. Then tell them to shut up and get started.

Hey, is that my fingers moving across the keyboard?

Wanna track my writing project and that of others during National Novel Writing Month? http://www.nanowrimo.org/ It’s only November 2nd, you still have plenty of time, wanna join us?

What’s your passion…..

I’m three weeks out to my half Ironman in Wilmington, NC. I’m a little scared even mentioning the race here because now I’ve got to do it! I have my full body wetsuit and am monitoring the ocean temperature, hovering at 65 degrees. All I have to do is get out of the water and I can do the rest of the race, heck, all I have to do is get in the water-that’s the hardest part, once you’re in then you have to swim! Sink or swim.

My friends tell me that I am crazy, why do I do this? I do it because it’s a passion of mine. I love working out (ok, so maybe I am crazy) and pushing my body to the limits, love it so much to squeeze myself into a sausage casing and look like a total dork, to popping blood blisters between my toes during a marathon.

I have a friend that goes away on scrapbooking retreats! SCRAPBOOKING RETREAT! They go to a monastary and scrapbook for the weekend. I hear this and go back to highschool inclinations – I’d be jumping out the windows of the convent in the middle of the night to get away! But that’s her passion, she may not understand my blood blisters, I don’t understand going away for a weekend with the girls and scrapbooking, I mean, especially when there are bars and spas within driving distance!

So, what’s your passion? Is there something that your friends will call “crazy?”