Mindless Monday

Good Monday morning!

The 1,000th Post Contest is going very well. I have new people entering every day, AND many of you have entered your name multiple times.

Keep up the good work.

CONTEST! CONTEST! CONTEST! - This is my 986th post for A Simple Life. The countdown continues!

The Contest will be simple. The rules are as follows:

Beginning today, leave your NAME followed by the word "CONTEST" in the Comment Section of A Simple Life, e-mail me (mfaulkner1306@charter.net) or go to my Facebook page.

You can enter the Contest ONCE A DAY (each and every day including Saturdays AND Sundays) until Thursday, August 30 at midnight. (Your name could be put into the drawing bowl a total of 18 times between now and Thursday, August 30!)

I will write my 1,000th post Friday morning, August 31.

I will draw from a HUGE BOWL of names, and a winner will be announced the morning of Friday, August 31.

The winner will receive a $15 Gift Certificate to one of the following restaurants:

1. Another Broken Egg
2. Original Pancake House
3. Olexa's
4. Lucia's Italian Restaurant in Helena

It will be Winner's Choice!

If you win and you live somewhere other than Alabama, you will win a $15 VISA Gift Card!

"May the odds be ever in your favor!"

(I'm going to be saying that for the next 13 POSTS!)

NEW THING! NEW THING! NEW THING! - Since the fate of A Simple Life is still undecided (totally gone after August 31 OR once or twice a week updates instead of five consecutive days), I'm going to post one of my favorite posts each day from the past four years until the decision is finalized.

January 5, 2009 - Hats, Hats, Hats

I wanted to talk a minute about the roles we play in our lives (or the hats we wear.) At this time, I wear the hats of wife, mother, daughter, sister, granddaughter, sister-in-law, aunt, daughter-in-law, niece and most recently, great-aunt. Personally, I'm liking the great-aunt label. For one thing, I've already been declared a success. (For some reason, I'm "great," and the baby's only one. He doesn't even know how "great" I am yet!)

If we look at all our roles as women, it's a little overwhelming. I would like to be known as a "great" wife, a "great" mother, a "great" daughter, etc., but earning the titles to those roles takes a great deal of work, time and commitment. I don't mind though. If I think something is important enough, I definitely will try to do the work, take the time and make the commitment... the commitment to try to be "great" in all my roles... not just my role as Matthew's great-aunt.

My nephew, Zac, is ten years old and is a great lover of all pies made of pumpkin. It's his favorite. It is the one dessert we have at any family gathering simply because Zac loves pumpkin pies. I baked the pumpkin pie on the sophistimom blog a few weeks back, and took one to Zac. He wasn't home at the time, so when I handed it to my sister I said, "Tell Zac I made this for him."

She laughed and said, "Oh, you want the credit, right?"

"Yes, I want the credit. I want him to know I made it just for him, and I took the time to bring it to his house." You see I want to be Zac's "great" aunt, too.

Beverly, my sister, thinks I just want to be his favorite aunt. In actuality, I am his only aunt. There is no competition. I'm it! However, I want to do the work, take the time and make the commitment because he's worth it. (If Katie and Brad are reading this, you know you're worth it, too!)

Talking about our roles (especially as women) always reminds me of the Proverbs 31 woman. I have to be honest and say she hasn't always been my favorite sermon topic. She's very intimidating... and her energy level is... well, let's just say when I was 12 I didn't have her energy level. But I admire her greatly, too. My Bible has a description of the Proverbs 31 woman I'd like to share with you.

"A wife of noble character wears many faces and fills many roles... roles that can change with the seasons of her life. In essence, she draws her strength from the Lord to lay down her life for those she loves. Her children adore her. Her husband cherishes her company, trusts her judgment and brags about her to all his friends. She will be remembered -- long after she is gone -- not as a woman who beautifully knit a sweater or successfully balanced a budget, but as a woman who sought the Lord first of all."

It's hard being "great" in all the roles we have. I'm going to fail time and time again, but my family is worth the work, time and commitment... and the key is in the above paragraph. It calls the Proverbs 31 woman "a woman who sought the Lord first of all." God, family, others.

This is a little something an elderly woman at our church shared with me many years ago. She asked me what day my birthday fell on (which is the 26th). She told me to look up Proverbs 31:26 and that would be "my" verse. My verse is, "She speaks with wisdom, and faithful instruction is on her tongue." WOW! I like my verse. Roxie's birthday falls on the 25th. Her verse is, "She is clothed with strength and dignity; she can laugh at the days to come." WOW! I like her verse, too.

I asked the woman about the people whose birthdays fall on days 1 through 9. (The Proverbs 31 woman verses begin with verse 10.) She just shrugged. "My birthday is on the 30th, so it never has bothered me."

I thought that was funny, but all the same, my sympathy goes out to all those women with birthdays on days 1 through 9.

RANDOMNESS #1 - School starts back next Monday for Roxie and Josh. Roxie will be a Sophomore and Josh will be attending Wallace State Community College for a semester or two to check it out.

Josh's decision to attend Wallace came quickly a couple of weeks ago, but he is meeting with his adivsor tomorrow and we are attending orientation this Friday.

He is excited, and thus, so am I.

Austin will be beginning his Senior year at JSU the end of next week, and he's on track to graduate next May with a degree in Communications and a Minor in History.

Exciting stuff.

RANDOMNESS #2 - There has been a mass exodus from Facebook. Roxie's age group has become enamored with twittering... or tweeting... or twits. Whatever!

You know what that means, don't you?

I have to learn how to twit... or twitter... or tweet.

(I am TOO OLD for this stuff!)

But I decided to practice my tweets while texting Roxie two weeks ago.

"Hey, Chick. When you wake up, you'll notice Dad and I have gone on a breakfast date to the Original Pancake House. HASHTAG #momiseatingcrepes #youcanthaveany #nextwearegoingtowholefoods."

Okay. Let's get something straight. I did know what hashtags were, but since I was texting and NOT tweeting, I wanted to make sure she knew what I was doing... PRETENDING to tweet... in a text... which is SO lame.

However, I did NOT know you didn't have to type the actual word "HASHTAG." The "#" is a symbol for hashtag.

Live and learn.

Roxie replied, "Who is this? Why have you got my Mom's phone?"

"This is Mom. I'll be back before lunch, but not before you roll out of bed. HASHTAG #iamhavingfunandyouarenot #howdoyoulikemytweeting #amithecoolestmomontheplanetorwhat."

Roxie replied, "I don't know who you are, or what you've done with my Mom, but stop texting me!"

And this is when I sent her completely over the edge.

"Okay, Chickie! HASHTAG #overandout #seeyoulateralligator #therearepoptartsinthepantry."

I have to admit, I think I like "hashtagging" more than tweeting. (It showcases my unique sense of humor!)

RANDOMNESS #3 - I only have one picture for today's post. JUST ONE! That is unheard of for a Mindless Monday, I know.

I started looking for things to photograph yesterday, and noticed Josh and I had worn the same color blue to church.

Poor Josh. Poor, poor Josh.

That's all it takes for me to want a photo shoot.

But he was very obliging, and even though his face doesn't show his enthusiasm (or the blue in my shirt), I still like the picture.

See. Not bad.

Then I noticed a little button labeled "Pop Color."

And to my shock and dismay, I discovered you don't have to match your clothes for pictures ever again!

I can actually wear my poopy green clothes and be photographed beside other humans... because I can change the color of my poopy green clothes to luscious lavender, pretty peach or gorgeous yellow with just a touch of a button.

This is a life-changer, People! (And sadly, I'm not kidding.)

Have a great Monday. I'll be back tomorrow with another oldie (post), the 1,000th Post Contest, a Recipe and pics of something!

Take care, and I'll talk to you in the morning.

Sincerely,

The Enchanting Belinda