tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-50712038976000402562024-02-19T07:33:04.337-05:00Bread and HoneyBarbara.http://www.blogger.com/profile/17138473567768141129noreply@blogger.comBlogger94125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5071203897600040256.post-1456726776011747382013-05-07T10:38:00.001-04:002013-05-07T13:36:26.752-04:00Fifty-two Ways to Relieve Stress
... that do not involve food.
Someday, I am going to write about my journey to healthy eating, because, people, on the eve of my 52nd birthday, I feel like I have finally arrived. That is a long story, but part of it is that when I am trying to change habits, it helps to have new actions to grab when the old habit beckons. One of the things I figured out once I got my head out of the sand with Barbara.http://www.blogger.com/profile/17138473567768141129noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5071203897600040256.post-64569879024235876242013-04-29T16:20:00.002-04:002013-04-29T16:22:38.731-04:00basket weaving by the seat of my trousers
“There were no sex classes. No friendship classes. No classes on how to navigate a bureaucracy, build an organization, raise money, create a database, buy a house, love a child, spot a scam, talk someone out of suicide, or figure out what was important to me. Not knowing how to do these things is what messes people up in life, not whether they know algebra or can analyze literature.” -William Barbara.http://www.blogger.com/profile/17138473567768141129noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5071203897600040256.post-29013897347488684432013-04-23T15:30:00.002-04:002013-04-23T15:35:45.895-04:00What We DeserveI was cleaning out my inbox and came across an email called "what McVeigh deserved" which contained a copy of the letter to the editor of the local paper I wrote a few days after Timothy McVeigh was executed for setting off the bomb in Oklahoma City in 1995. It was June 2001, and I was responding to the onslaught of letters and comments rejoicing in the death of McVeigh as "justice" or "what he Barbara.http://www.blogger.com/profile/17138473567768141129noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5071203897600040256.post-31025852084889778862013-02-15T08:06:00.000-05:002013-02-15T08:17:47.696-05:00More UnlimitedI just found this post in my draft folder. Not sure why I didn't post it when I wrote it in 2009, about a month after our trip to Ethiopia to pick up the kids. Makes me want to go back to Addis.
_______________________________________________________________
My friend, Liz, writes a great blog about her quest for fitness. She loves the theater. She has taken her frustration about her Barbara.http://www.blogger.com/profile/17138473567768141129noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5071203897600040256.post-37070456655365763292013-02-14T09:14:00.002-05:002013-02-14T09:15:52.300-05:00Dance, RiseThis morning, in my bed, I felt completely safe and loved. I thought: this is the ultimate privilege, to be safe and adored and deeply connected to someone who loves me, someone I love.
Last night, inspired by a friend's invitation to today's One Billion Rising event in my town, I watched some of the videos, and listened to the anthem, Break the Chain. I watched the short film that Barbara.http://www.blogger.com/profile/17138473567768141129noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5071203897600040256.post-47550437721324322492013-02-03T18:42:00.001-05:002013-02-03T19:15:42.194-05:00The Secret of the Five-day Vacation
I have discovered a low-investment/high-yield activity that could change your life.
Say you have ten precious days of vacation to spend in a year. (I have three weeks of Personal Leave Time annually after working for my company for almost 13 years, but that includes sick time and family leave type time off.) You might save it all up to take a two-week vacation in the summertime with your Barbara.http://www.blogger.com/profile/17138473567768141129noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5071203897600040256.post-27895294429105359932012-12-16T19:50:00.001-05:002012-12-16T19:51:01.486-05:00prayer for a community at a loss for words<!--[if gte mso 9]>
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Barbara.http://www.blogger.com/profile/17138473567768141129noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5071203897600040256.post-25746112259151199362012-11-10T12:58:00.000-05:002012-11-10T12:58:01.249-05:00Letting God Out of the Box If I were a preacher, this is the sermon I would give tomorrow.
How did you learn about homosexuality? Where did you get your ideas about it? What is your first memory of knowing someone who identified as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, or queer?
Here is how I learned about it. When I was a teenager, I went to fanatical evangelical
churches (Barbara.http://www.blogger.com/profile/17138473567768141129noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5071203897600040256.post-85473038860127019752012-10-12T15:37:00.000-04:002012-10-12T15:38:07.509-04:00My friend, Karen, is cancer-free. Read her journey here.
What if we all loved and supported each other this way all the time? The world would be cancer-free, literally and figuratively.
Barbara.http://www.blogger.com/profile/17138473567768141129noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5071203897600040256.post-55226875869284688152012-10-02T07:35:00.000-04:002012-10-02T07:35:42.638-04:00a prayer answeredBig losses can lead to big freedom, if you
open your eyes to possibility and let go of your many assumptions that
have kept you safe and secure (at some level). When you find yourself
grieving, before you try to "get back to normal," consider sitting in
the discomfort of abnormal. From this vantage point, you can see a lot
of different paths forward from your current state of life which Barbara.http://www.blogger.com/profile/17138473567768141129noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5071203897600040256.post-20792047707751081602012-04-03T13:31:00.000-04:002012-04-03T13:31:09.327-04:00Creating instead of ConsumingShort story: I lost our Fitness Improvement Competition at work. It was just for fun with a little money on the line, so no big deal. Except that for three months I really tried to lost some weight and I didn't. Not that weight matters that much, but it is one easily measurable indicator of fitness. It's the trend I was not liking... gaining five pounds a year Barbara.http://www.blogger.com/profile/17138473567768141129noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5071203897600040256.post-50457383278621941922012-03-30T15:22:00.000-04:002012-03-31T09:09:49.591-04:00I parent teens. What's your superpower?Came across this question... Privileges for Teens from Hard Places
How do you find the balance of allowing older children and teens from “hard places” to have freedoms/privileges when they haven’t shown the same level of respect that you would expect from your other children?
My response was too long for the comment box. LOL. So here it is.
We struggle with this a lot. We Barbara.http://www.blogger.com/profile/17138473567768141129noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5071203897600040256.post-40528248560865768412012-01-25T10:28:00.001-05:002012-01-25T10:28:19.072-05:00Celebrations as Triggers
One of the things I wish I had known when I brought my children home from Ethiopia is that speical events would be a major trigger for our kids for the first year they were home. A special event is something out of routine: any holiday or event or celebration that people get excited about or put time into preparing for or talk about ahead of time.
IBarbara.http://www.blogger.com/profile/17138473567768141129noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5071203897600040256.post-47105951569671136962012-01-18T18:13:00.000-05:002012-01-18T18:13:34.549-05:00My dad is gone
Patrick Henry Walker, Sr. died peacefully at home with his
loved ones early Wednesday morning, January 18, 2012. He went to join his
beloved granddaughter Anna Walker, great-niece Lona Nadal, and daughter-in-law
Sue Walker who have been busy getting a party in Heaven ready for him. Pat was
an excellent and gentle husband, and a good father.
Pat was born on April 14, 1931 in Hazelton, Barbara.http://www.blogger.com/profile/17138473567768141129noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5071203897600040256.post-35264044518435194532012-01-14T11:48:00.001-05:002012-01-14T11:48:33.770-05:00How to Change the WorldIt's easier to be overcome with compassion fatigue if you're paying any attention at all to world news. Or rather, 'misery-at-realizing-the-ineffectiveness-of-our-range-of-responses fatigue.' (Seriously, if you ever feel overwhelmed with the state of the world, take some time to read the article at the other end of that link.) Even if you limit your intake to national news, thereBarbara.http://www.blogger.com/profile/17138473567768141129noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5071203897600040256.post-5766245385243083522012-01-13T08:21:00.001-05:002012-01-13T08:27:48.514-05:00Your Work ≠ Your Job DescriptionThis morning as I drove my daughter to school, we were talking about her work schedule. She is working at Panera for some teenage cash flow. She often works until close, which means she gets to clean the bathrooms at the end of the day. I said, "You're going to get really good at cleaning bathrooms." She shrugged.
I told her about my days working on a nuclear Barbara.http://www.blogger.com/profile/17138473567768141129noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5071203897600040256.post-91017222258435524772012-01-06T08:56:00.003-05:002012-01-06T08:56:17.293-05:00My new theory: the natural conservation of FineNote: I created a song on the way home from dropping Jordan at school, then I got in the shower and this stream was unleashed. I'm too shy to share the raw song, so you get this. Hot off the brainwaves, people.
Let’s say
that about 50 percent of my life is Fine, and about 50 percent of it is Not So
Fine. Because I grew up in this American
culture built on a strange combination of Barbara.http://www.blogger.com/profile/17138473567768141129noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5071203897600040256.post-66857084822839363762012-01-05T10:55:00.003-05:002012-01-05T11:03:55.561-05:00Stop Trying So Hard
I'm 50 years old and just beginning to see a few things clearly.
I tried to hard to give my first three children a better life than mine, or at least, a better childhood than my childhood... less rules, more fun, good food, good books, many songs, hugs and words of love. My childhood wasn't so bad, but I grew up with a lot of loneliness. I so wanted my kids to know they were not Barbara.http://www.blogger.com/profile/17138473567768141129noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5071203897600040256.post-53495800965542138352011-11-30T07:24:00.001-05:002011-11-30T08:12:57.116-05:00My Plan to Occupy Christmas
Here's my question: people complain about commercialized Christmas and how crazy Christmas shopping is, but do they Step Away from the Cash Register? Over the years, I have learned that family members and friends care more about expressions of love and gifts of time than anything you could possibly buy for them in a store. If you ask my five siblings Barbara.http://www.blogger.com/profile/17138473567768141129noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5071203897600040256.post-11836922219486596832011-11-16T13:26:00.001-05:002011-11-16T13:27:34.322-05:00more greens, more water, more walks, and thisBarbara.http://www.blogger.com/profile/17138473567768141129noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5071203897600040256.post-59425015443450838822011-10-04T11:01:00.002-04:002011-10-04T11:03:29.719-04:00Simple Meals for the Busy Familyaka Grab-n-Go or the
Four Bin Food System
A healthy, eco-friendly alternative to depending on fast
food restaurants in the age of travel soccer
I have four athletic kids. Three of them are on travel soccer teams. Three different teams. And one is a senior in high school who plays varsity volleyball and lacrosse. We have practices and/or games almost every day of the weekBarbara.http://www.blogger.com/profile/17138473567768141129noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5071203897600040256.post-80869670285859078882011-10-02T13:12:00.000-04:002011-10-02T18:25:30.301-04:00Instead of painting a room while Laird is away......I have updated my blog. Ms. Reality Check (I visit her in the mirror) said to me, "Face it, Ms. Soccer-x3-Volleyball-Scientist Mom, you do not have the time-energy-discipline to Write That Book. Good ideas, yeah, but writing a book and getting it published is a Huge Project, huger than a PhD, Sweetie, so until your kids # 4, 5 and 6 are in college, you need to Barbara.http://www.blogger.com/profile/17138473567768141129noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5071203897600040256.post-17735501513123288872011-09-30T12:56:00.002-04:002011-10-02T10:53:23.145-04:00For Struggling ParentsThis letter is an expression of my grief.
This letter is written with love and hope
for parents who are having a hard time
loving (and/or liking) the child(ren) in their family.
Dear Parents who are struggling with children who don't behave as you expected,
Please do not use food as reward or punishment.
Please do not lock your child in isolation.
Please do not withhold attention for long Barbara.http://www.blogger.com/profile/17138473567768141129noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5071203897600040256.post-46950439350375213182011-04-03T20:05:00.005-04:002011-04-03T21:55:00.099-04:00This little illumination of mine, I'm gonna let it shineIt's taken me thirty years to formulate a succint answer for why I refuse to believe there is "only one right way" to G-d. I believed for most of my teen years that a certain brand of Christianity was the only right way to G-d, and that it was my duty to tell others that, and especially to point out to them when their choices were bad and sinful and not part of that one right way. When I was 20,Barbara.http://www.blogger.com/profile/17138473567768141129noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5071203897600040256.post-69253866814419390292011-04-01T11:10:00.003-04:002011-04-01T11:25:57.542-04:00emotions are your internal weatherHere are a few things I know about weather.1. There is no bad weather, only lack of appropriate clothing.2. Whatever is happening right now will not go on happening forever. It probably won't even be happening for the rest of the day.3. Unpredictable! 4. Weather can really mess up your plans, unless you make a plan for what to do in case of certain kind of weather.5. Sometimes, the weather is a Barbara.http://www.blogger.com/profile/17138473567768141129noreply@blogger.com0