The Kids Are Eating Well, but What About You?

Backpacks..check…new school clothes..check…getting up early…ughh. So the new school year has begun and we are all struggling to get back into a routine. We are making sure our kids are well prepared and ready to start the year off right, but are we as moms taking care of ourselves? I can think of a number of days where I run around doing all sorts of things for everybody but myself. One thing I always seem to skip is lunch and most of the time it is because I want something good for me and something fast. So this year I decided to make sure I am eating well for myself or at least. So here is a list of easy things to make and think of when you are running around crazy like me. After all, moms deserve good lunches, even if we have to make them ourselves!!

• Salads…you can add anything you like to salads. The more the merrier. Meat, cheese, nuts, fruit, and of course veggies! All you really need is lettuce and your imagination.
• Wraps. Get a package of tortilla wraps and add turkey, cheese, lettuce, and your favorite condiments, like sour cream or salsa or guacamole. Wrap them up and go!
• Veggies and dip. I love hummus and guacamole. They are great with carrots, celery, and broccoli. Pico is also a good companion with corn chips.
• Sandwiches. Turkey and Cheese, BLT’s or when all else fails, PB & J can’t be beat. You can make it with banana instead of jelly and try to use whole wheat bread and a pure fruit spread.
• Protein and Granola bars. They are better for you and usually have fewer calories than anything you will find on a value menu! They also fit in your purse!!
Another tip, make your lunch while making your kids and then it will be there waiting for you when you need it!!
So now that I have a list of choices, I don’t have any excuses. And neither do you!! So here’s to good lunches to ALL this school year!

Wednesday’s Word: Priorities

The key is not to prioritize your schedule
but to schedule your priorities.
(Stephen R Covey)

It’s that time of the year, the time when fall schedules are being planned – WARNING, WARNING, WARNING! For many people and especially families, it is a time of the year that you can schedule every moment of every day. So how do you choose what is best for yourself, your family and your household?

It is very difficult for most people to state what their highest priority is for themselves and their household. Many parents have never considered what their highest priority is for their small children. What if spouses could agree on a mutual “highest priority?” We have all said, “Yes” to many good things and have been far too busy to embrace the best.

You have to decide what your highest priorities are and have
the courage—pleasantly, smilingly, nonapologetically,
to say “no” to other things. And the way you do that is
by having a bigger “yes” burning inside.
The enemy of the “best” is often the “good.”
(Stephen R Covey)

What is worthy of being a “highest priority?” How will your actions, planning and schedules reflect your highest priorities this year?

Special thanks: Thank you to Bob Thomson for today’s photo.  Please email me if you have photos that I can post.  I am looking for photos that make our spirits say thank you for the beautiful world we live in.

Previous Wednesday’s Words

Gratitude ( August 18, 2010)

Devotion (August 11, 2010)
Neighbor (August 4, 2010)
Service (July 21, 2010)
Peace (July 21, 2010)
Rest (July 14, 2010)
Veggies – Twisted Salsa Recipe (July 7, 2010)
Counting Calories (June 30, 2010)
B R E A T H E (March 17, 2010)

Who Knew?

I was sitting in the hair salon watching my daughter get her hair cut today and I picked up the O magazine. I didn’t have a lot of time but I found many interesting things in the magazine. I thought I should just buy the magazine. Then I thought, “WHY, you will never read it. You think you will, but too many things will get in the way.” So I let that thought go out of my head and went about my busy day. Later this afternoon, as I was getting on my computer, I decided to look up the O magazine. GUESS WHAT? Most of it is online!!! I found the interesting things I was looking for and I was able to bookmark them. I was so excited to find this shortcut. I found the shirt I saw in the magazine that was oh, so cute and also the tidbit on how to EAT, PRAY, LOVE and not have to travel out of the country to do it!
Now many of you might have already known this, but I thought it was an interesting tidbit of info, so here is the link. I hope you will enjoy it!!

http://www.oprah.com/spirit/How-to-Eat-Pray-and-Love-at-Home

Another thing I didn’t know…..We have a SEPHORA in JC Penny. Who knew? I purchased some fabulous foundation, blush, lip gloss and lotion for $30.00. What a deal!!
Do you have any shortcuts or secrets to share? Please do!

Ramblin Rose+Team Forsyth Woman=One Fantastic Day

Today was a great day to be a woman in a very tight fitting swim suit, with a swim cap and goggles!  Team Forsyth Woman gathered at the Gateway YWCA for some0their FIRST Ramblin Rose.  This is the only women only triathlon in the Winston Salem area, the only place where I hear, “You look so cute in that outfit,” in the transition area.

Our girls were trained, they’d ridden the bike course several times, we were proud to stand at the pool with them as the first triathlete went into the pool!  The faster swimmers go first, so there were a few of us in the back of the pack as we are pretty pokey swimmers!  Swim cap on, goggles in place these women tucked their ego into their sleeve and attempted something they’d never done before.

The course was hard even for the seasoned triathlete but as you rode your bike or ran the course, there was more encouragement from other women along the way than any other race I’ve competed in.  These women were all on a journey, and as a team they knew that helping others along the way was not only the spirit of the sport but the spirit of the women gathered.

Our team finished strong.  There’s nothing better than being a team captain and watching others cross the finish line, their joy in knowing that something they never thought they could do is done!  Some kicked some serious asphalt and made personal records for themselves and in the race, others did their best knowing that they gave it their all, Team Forsyth woman expected nothing less.   Still a few said at the end, “This is a great experience, I can’t wait to do it again!”

So our team is scheduled to meet at Ten O One for darts at 7p on Thursday for a Ramblin Rose Rapup party, come out and celebrate the women, the race and all the TRIATHLETES!  Congratulations Team Forsyth Woman on a strong showing and a strong finish!

Here’s a secret about the heat!

Shhh, I’ll let you in on a little secret!  I hate the heat!  I’m approaching that over 40 something phase where I’m in perpetual heat so add the summer heat and I’m not a happy person.  I was sitting outside feeling sweat run down my back and wondered, what’s so great about this?  So I asked the Forsyth Woman/Forsyth Family bloggers to give me reasons to enjoy the heat.  Boy, they did.  I have a new appreciation from our blogger sand our fans about the heat.

I wouldn’t have the colorful dishes filled with fresh vegetables on my table without the heat.  I learned about the cooling rains that follow a hot and muggy day.  I learned to appreciate the seasons and accept and feel gratitude for each change.  Then I left and went to the mountains.  You see, while I read about the heat, it’s a blistering 72 degrees here and everyone on the mountain is complaining about the heat.  It’s all in how you look at it isn’t it?  I’m relishing in the cooler temps others are complaining about just like others are relishing in the heat at home most are complaining about.

I guess the bottom line is you can find beautiful and gratitude in any temperature if you just check your attitude, maybe you can see the heat for what it is, a chance to slow down without any excuses.  Now wipe that sweat off your brow and get out there!

Wednesday’s Word: Gratitude

Help me! Am I grateful for the heat and humidity? Kelly at Forsyth Woman Magazine issued a special assignment – “Write about what you are thankful for, regarding the high temperatures.” Is she kidding me? Am I grateful for frizzy hair, dry and dying grass, wilted plants, high electric bills, sun damaged skin and so much more? I’ll be honest, summer is not my favorite time of the year, but I can rise to the challenge.

Gratitude is a like a cool breeze – once you notice it, you begin to feel it. What am I grateful for this summer? What are you grateful for this summer? Perhaps you could pause for three minutes and begin writing everything you are thankful for — Just Do It!

Then… share your list! Gratitude has a way of cooling everyone off — even on warm summer days. Below is my list (you don’t have to use an acronym; maybe you could use the entire alphabet!).

You can never appreciate the shade of a tree unless you sweat in the sun.
(Author Unknown)

S     Sunsets after a storm, Sunscreen, Swings, Sitting in the Shade
U    Umbrellas (for shade)
M   Mother’s cancer free biopsy results
M   Meta & Miriam (I have wonderful sisters!)
E    Electricity (so I can stay inside and watch a movie)
R    Rain (summer rain is much better than winter rain – unless it is frozen!)

H    Hair Products (especially those for frizzy hair)
E    Elastic hair bands
A    Air Conditioning
T    Tomatoes

&    & let’s not forget fans!

H    Heat & Humidity – I’m trying!
U    Under the shade trees
M   Mountains with Meandering streams
I      Ice Cream, Ice, Iced-Tea
D    Dawn (the coolness, the sound, the beauty)
I     Impatiens (the flower)
T    Toe showing shoes
Y    Your list!

Previous Wednesday’s Words

Devotion (August 11, 2010)
Neighbor (August 4, 2010)
Service (July 21, 2010)
Peace (July 21, 2010)
Rest (July 14, 2010)
Veggies – Twisted Salsa Recipe (July 7, 2010)
Counting Calories (June 30, 2010)
B R E A T H E (March 17, 2010)

Color Me Happy!

So I always seem to be behind when it comes to the latest fashions, but this year, I have decided to follow that Home Improvement commercial and put this year’s colors on the wall, this year. And by wall, I mean me! I decided to look into what colors are “IT” for fall and then give you the info, so we can all be on the cusp of fashion this fall!
These are what I have found to be the new color trends by the Pantone fashion Color Report.
1. Purple Orchid
2. Chocolate truffle
3. Woodbine, earthy green
4. Oyster Gray
5. Lagoon, turquoise
6. Rose Dust, a beige with pink undertones
7. Lipstick Red
8. Golden Glow, muted yellow with a little glint of metal
9. Living Coral
10. Endive, a yellow green
To find these exact colors you can go to the Pantone Color Report for Fall and click on full report.

http://www.pantone.com/pages/pantone/Pantone.aspx?pg=20710&ca=4

So know that we know what colors to be wearing, this fall, I hope to see all of you out there flashing your fashion sense!

Marilyn’s FULL How I Became a Wolf Essay!

 HOW I BECAME A WOLF

by Marilyn Wolf

Part 1: 223 words

Not everyone gets to name themselves, but I did.  In fact, I had to.  I came into this world with what we might call a socially inappropriate last name.  Horney.  It’s English in origin, and to my understanding, in Great Britain today, it doesn’t mean what we Americans use it to mean.  Still, it was quite a burden for me, especially in adolescence, but not one I had to carry alone.  I, along with my two sisters and three female cousins were known in our little hometown of High Point as “those Horney girls.” I don’t know about them, but every time I heard it, I’d wince and shake my head.  You know, it truly is a wonder that all six of us “Horney girls” didn’t run off and get married at fourteen, just to get a new name. 

            I can’t tell you how many times I used to wonder why my father and his two brothers never changed the name or at least shortened it.  Horne would have been a perfectly fine last name.  I knew a Max Horne in junior high, a Coach Horne in high school.  There is the opera singer, Marilyn Horne.  It worked for them.  I bet anything their name was Horney at one time, and someone in their family tree had the good sense to change it.

Part 2: 246 words

            When I went off to college, things only got worse.  At least in High Point, the name was familiar.  But this was sheer torture.  How could eighteen and nineteen year old boys not react to such an invitation?  I assure you, there is no clever remark I haven’t heard. 

            “Really?  I’m horny too.” 

            “I’ve been dying to meet a horny girl all my life.”

            “Oh, man, this is my lucky day.”

            “Will you marry me?”

            Eventually, all us Horney girls did marry, some of us including me, more than once, perhaps to find just the right last name.  My first married last name, Morris, I liked just fine.  Marilyn Morris flows nicely off the tongue.  When that brief marriage ended, I kept my ex-husband’s name, which was about all he had to leave me, and continued on happily as a Morris for a few more years.  My second married last name, Williams, I actually found downright boring.  But after having been a Horney, it felt pretty easy to be a good sport about it.  So from Marilyn Horney Morris to Marilyn Horney Williams I went and was to remain for 10 years. 

            My name change dilemma struck when my second marriage ended.  I didn’t want to stay a Williams, having no children from that union.  But I was not going to be a Horney again, and that was that.  Williams I remained, and it stood between me and humiliation, serving me well for a few years.

            Part 3: 250 words

            However, I eventually became restless about this issue and began talking to friends about changing my name.  I wanted to name myself but didn’t know how to go about it.  Despite my efforts to get friends to name me, nobody would.  I was on my own.  I considered choosing a name from the phonebook, but it felt too much like stealing.  I considered getting married again, but not for long.  I even considered using just my first name like Madonna and Cher, but again, not for long.  Even they have last names.  Most of just don’t know what they are.  So around and around I wallowed in this no-name limbo until I attended a women’s workshop in October 1993, a day I am willing to say, changed my life.

            I was lamenting my name dilemma over lunch on that fateful day when friend and fellow writer, Alice Johnson, eager to help, asked me, “What is something you love?”

            I replied without hesitation. “Animals.”

            “Marilyn Animal?  You don’t want to be called Marilyn Animal.”

            “Well, it doesn’t have that special ring I’m looking for,” I said, trusting that she was kidding.

            Chewing on a piece of bread, Alice continued.  “Which animal do you have a connection with?”

            “Well, I do have a special kinship with dogs,” I said.  The first hint of hope started to spread through my limbs.

            “Marilyn Poodle?  I don’t think so.  Marilyn Spaniel?  Husky?  Chihuahua?”

            Everyone at our table laughed, but not me.  This was serious stuff. 

            Part 4:  245 words

I began to sink again.  Then Alice asked, “What else do you love?”

            I pondered a moment or two, really wanting this answer to take us somewhere.  “Literature,” I exclaimed.  “I was an English major!”

             There had to be something here.  What richer vessel of names than the world of literature?  I sat up on the edge of my chair.  Alice stopped chewing.  The table got quiet.  Her nimble literature-rich mind began spinning.  She stared deeply into my brown eyes with her blue ones.  A few seconds passed, and then with her trademark calm authority said, “Virginia Woolf!  Woolf!  How about…… Marilyn Woolf?  Dogs, literature…..Woolf!”  Alice clapped her hands. She had hit her mark.

            All the women at the table smiled and nodded, turning to one another, and looking at me.            “Yes.  That’s a good name.  Marilyn Woolf.  How creative.  Yes, that’s a fine name.  Isn’t Alice clever?”  The approval of my friends rumbled in my ears as I stared at Alice.

            Where less creative but equally generous spirits wanting to help may have come up with Hemingway or Shakespeare, Alice found Woolf in the library of her heart and gave me a beautifully simple gift.  My name dilemma had ended.  I loved the name immediately, but not for the reasons Alice thought.  In my dog-loving heart, I instantly knew I could be Marilyn Wolf, with only one “o.”  Now all I had to do was conjure up the courage to actually make the change.

Part 5: 246 words

You see, I’ve always been fascinated with wolves.  As a child, I roamed the woods and creek near our house in High Point, dreaming of having a wolf for a companion.  I’d read about wolves for years, and long before this name change issue, I had been making donations to organizations devoted to saving this magnificent creature.  So, after pondering, doodling, and test driving the name “Marilyn Wolf” with my friends for about six months, I called my lawyer to begin the process of name changing.  So on June 16, 1994, a judge in Greensboro slammed down his gavel, declaring my name to be legally changed from Marilyn Horney Morris Williams to simply Marilyn Wolf.

            Oddly enough, or perhaps not odd at all for those who see the world as I do, on the last Christmas I would spend with him, my then Williams husband gave me a framed print of

wildlife photographer Jim Brandenburg’s “Gray Wolf.”   It hangs over my fireplace to this day, the majestic wolf peering out from behind a tree with his golden eyes, sometimes protective, sometimes just curious, but always present. 

            Overall, the transition to Wolf was a smooth one.  Not a single person called it “another one of Marilyn’s whims,” although some surely thought it.  My father is dead so that’s a hurdle I didn’t have to jump, and to be perfectly honest, I’m not so sure I would have had the nerve to do it were he still alive. 

            Part 6:  252 words

            When I told my mother about my plans to change my name to Wolf, she didn’t miss a beat.

“Wolf Williams is an odd name,” she said, “especially for a woman, but if that’s what you want to do, it’s perfectly fine with me.”   

My sisters and I exchanged looks, fairly certain she was joking, but we will never know for sure.  She did call me by my self-proclaimed name for the remainder of her life and seemed comfortable with it.  Having been saddled herself with the name at marriage, perhaps deep down, she thought what I did was actually pretty cool. I like to think so.

            Many people called what I did gutsy.  I simply saw it as necessary, something I had to do.  I’m grateful for those who supported me, and I owe a special debt to Alice Johnson for her genius in bridging the gap between dogs and literature.  But perhaps it’s my father to whom the real thanks must go.  He provided the lineage from whence that esteemed yet much maligned name comes.  And he chose not to change it despite what I imagine were years of very bad and worn out jokes.  Yet for all the anguish his name caused me, maybe it gave me the spirit I needed

to re-name myself at the age of 40.  Perhaps, the simple truth of the matter is that had I never been Marilyn Horney, I might not be Marilyn Wolf today.  And Marilyn Wolf is truly who I am.

PART 6 – How I Became A Wolf!

When I told my mother about my plans to change my name to Wolf, she didn’t miss a beat.

“Wolf Williams is an odd name,” she said, “especially for a woman, but if that’s what you want to do, it’s perfectly fine with me.”   

My sisters and I exchanged looks, fairly certain she was joking, but we will never know for sure.  She did call me by my self-proclaimed name for the remainder of her life and seemed comfortable with it.  Having been saddled herself with the name at marriage, perhaps deep down, she thought what I did was actually pretty cool. I like to think so.

            Many people called what I did gutsy.  I simply saw it as necessary, something I had to do.  I’m grateful for those who supported me, and I owe a special debt to Alice Johnson for her genius in bridging the gap between dogs and literature.  But perhaps it’s my father to whom the real thanks must go.  He provided the lineage from whence that esteemed yet much maligned name comes.  And he chose not to change it despite what I imagine were years of very bad and worn out jokes.  Yet for all the anguish his name caused me, maybe it gave me the spirit I needed

to re-name myself at the age of 40.  Perhaps, the simple truth of the matter is that had I never been Marilyn Horney, I might not be Marilyn Wolf today.  And Marilyn Wolf is truly who I am.

Wednesday’s Word: Devotion

He is your friend, your partner, your defender, your dog. You are his life, his love, his leader. He will be yours, faithful and true, to the last beat of his heart. You owe it to him to be worthy of such devotion. (Author unknown)

What is the difference between devotion and duty? Devotion is defined as passionate, enthusiastic, eager and often selfless love and dedication, as to a person or principle. Duty is defined as something you have to do, an obligation, a responsibility and even includes taxes, payments and dues.

Recently I was asked this question and I began to look at who I am and what I do through the lens of “devotion versus duty.” First I looked at primary relationships, which for me included God, my spouse, children, other family members and even close friends. Then I considered some of the things I do.

When I honestly evaluated myself, I realized that I was sometimes loving and doing from a sense of duty, and it was precisely there that unsettledness, frustration and other unsavory emotions dwelled.

When is it acceptable to do something from the perspective of duty? Could there be areas in your life where a shift from duty to devotion could lead to a more fulfilling and successful life or mission? What if parenting rose up from devotion to the family and the children? Are there times when you can be devoted to something and it is harmful to those that you love the most? Is it possible that we can learn to be better human beings from our dogs?

Previous Wednesday’s Words

Devotion (August 11, 2010)
Neighbor (August 4, 2010)
Service (July 21, 2010)
Peace (July 21, 2010)
Rest (July 14, 2010)
Veggies – Twisted Salsa Recipe (July 7, 2010)
Counting Calories (June 30, 2010)
B R E A T H E (March 17, 2010)