Meta tags:

Headings (most frequently used words):

2009, thursday, sunday, february, wednesday, december, 2008, blog, archive, blogs, enjoy, april, 16, march, 22, 26, 18, january, 11, 24, friday, 19, about, me, puncture, day, wrestling, with, our, social, consciences, the, mark, of, my, faith, adventures, in, sleep, training, just, because, happy, christmas, busy, but, benign,

Text of the page (most frequently used words):
the (162), and (140), that (87), her (50), was (45), this (44), have (41), with (38), she (38), for (36), our (36), what (30), all (29), you (24), miss (23), years (23), but (22), night (22), are (22), not (21), ago (20), about (19), from (17), can (16), sleep (15), like (14), get (13), know (13), more (13), these (13), bed (13), had (12), his (12), way (12), faith (12), them (11), off (11), could (11), has (11), enough (11), little (10), back (10), own (10), than (10), don (10), catholic (10), now (9), two (9), kids (9), will (9), family (9), did (9), through (9), just (9), time (9), much (9), where (9), part (9), how (9), doing (8), any (8), annie (8), jay (8), comments (8), said (8), nothing (8), wednesday (8), who (8), bad (8), after (8), one (8), park (8), many (8), child (8), your (8), better (7), posted (7), were (7), they (7), got (7), sure (7), good (7), people (7), when (7), while (7), things (7), day (7), felt (7), out (7), their (7), few (7), some (7), over (7), husband (7), food (7), labels (6), told (6), phone (6), which (6), really (6), old (6), then (6), him (6), been (6), there (6), every (6), year (6), 2009 (6), should (6), started (6), going (6), pretty (6), make (6), months (6), four (6), ashes (6), conscience (6), home (5), mother (5), help (5), also (5), take (5), please (5), here (5), say (5), happy (5), other (5), taking (5), january (5), might (5), right (5), less (5), each (5), into (5), great (5), sleeping (5), ash (5), feel (5), work (5), life (5), may (5), grocery (5), social (5), only (4), well (4), fear (4), surgeon (4), call (4), show (4), tell (4), too (4), again (4), need (4), very (4), think (4), december (4), christmas (4), same (4), took (4), along (4), because (4), those (4), thinking (4), maybe (4), still (4), comes (4), knew (4), deal (4), next (4), local (4), kid (4), come (4), fact (4), first (4), didn (4), since (4), girl (4), having (4), myself (4), does (4), february (4), mass (4), christ (4), days (4), aware (4), christian (4), hear (4), give (4), week (4), families (4), car (4), deli (4), april (4), born (3), stay (3), blog (3), keep (3), yesterday (3), benign (3), biopsy (3), another (3), times (3), wouldn (3), went (3), quite (3), nice (3), mind (3), bill (3), today (3), point (3), let (3), 2008 (3), most (3), always (3), thing (3), whom (3), sunday (3), parenting (3), share (3), knows (3), success (3), post (3), baby (3), why (3), least (3), straight (3), being (3), put (3), worked (3), absolutely (3), ever (3), experience (3), find (3), before (3), use (3), plan (3), explain (3), habit (3), later (3), minutes (3), would (3), friends (3), needed (3), big (3), shouldn (3), steps (3), someone (3), discuss (3), wrong (3), opportunity (3), feeling (3), financial (3), terms (3), job (3), huh (3), measures (3), small (3), banks (3), store (3), feed (3), shake (3), away (3), march (3), punctured (3), dump (3), tire (3), lady (3), try (2), mum (2), either (2), posts (2), older (2), breast (2), worry (2), huge (2), obvious (2), radiologist (2), information (2), different (2), area (2), disorganized (2), cells (2), something (2), ahead (2), report (2), clear (2), telling (2), albeit (2), under (2), excisional (2), kind (2), 100 (2), diagnosis (2), man (2), weeks (2), poor (2), croup (2), pneumonia (2), busy (2), friday (2), household (2), particularly (2), photos (2), sister (2), age (2), last (2), thankfully (2), moms (2), enjoying (2), sharing (2), play (2), reading (2), toddler (2), horns (2), done (2), agree (2), longer (2), parents (2), learn (2), hard (2), middle (2), once (2), room (2), continue (2), accepted (2), marks (2), carrot (2), opened (2), new (2), real (2), mothers (2), dream (2), needs (2), areas (2), seen (2), designed (2), true (2), training (2), long (2), queen (2), dark (2), else (2), known (2), eyes (2), open (2), settle (2), lousy (2), battle (2), strict (2), bedtime (2), trip (2), ireland (2), around (2), seemed (2), manage (2), within (2), knowing (2), meanwhile (2), brother (2), exclusively (2), breastfed (2), excuses (2), discomfort (2), bring (2), face (2), leaving (2), beautiful (2), several (2), woke (2), frequently (2), fed (2), reason (2), none (2), babies (2), isn (2), self (2), catholics (2), receive (2), forehead (2), words (2), dust (2), lent (2), lives (2), followed (2), received (2), school (2), collect (2), came (2), grease (2), dirty (2), mom (2), yeah (2), question (2), mark (2), experiences (2), questions (2), population (2), non (2), though (2), uncomfortable (2), wonder (2), confident (2), god (2), means (2), see (2), church (2), politics (2), general (2), personal (2), news (2), answer (2), yet (2), mean (2), running (2), however (2), lenten (2), thursday (2), assume (2), tangible (2), reduced (2), income (2), finances (2), recently (2), learning (2), coupon (2), seem (2), savings (2), considering (2), pay (2), cut (2), down (2), lucky (2), stories (2), desperate (2), others (2), low (2), etc (2), money (2), donate (2), without (2), wrestling (2), sale (2), coupons (2), meals (2), items (2), ask (2), consider (2), start (2), solid (2), involve (2), enjoy (2), giving (2), conversation (2), children (2), contribute (2), event (2), woman (2), response (2), ego (2), suggestions (2), plus (2), sandwich (2), exactly (2), smiling (2), such (2), dad (2), miles (2), tyre (2), trundled (2), ford (2), spare (2), hubs (2), puncture (2), free (2), place (2), playgroups (2), july (2), august (2), september (2), october (2), november (2), view, complete, profile, africa, raised, europe, living, united, states, habitable, continents, left, married, fab, planning, various, roles, wife, friend, eternally, subscribe, atom, cancer, disease, pathology, findings, consistent, condition, calcification, removed, idea, relief, aside, procedure, slightly, found, becomes, mammogram, until, recommendation, imagine, stress, meter, appointment, waiting, simply, read, discussed, evidence, healthy, lumpy, tissue, circumstances, irritated, otherwise, nonsense, guy, trust, happily, weight, clean, health, doc, fifth, due, parking, space, mite, three, congestion, cough, paranoid, relapse, ear, infection, end, atypia, calc, fibrocystic, merry, sticking, norm, slack, photo, department, confess, fewer, excuse, heading, somewhere, sadly, camera, pack, organized, met, pictures, cupcake, pals, played, slides, resolution, prepared, inundated, handsomeness, date, successfully, trained, tips, story, exhausted, parent, doubt, helping, lift, mood, lately, preschooler, habits, grab, bull, train, duh, avoid, patently, sometimes, takes, bit, masochists, touch, wood, wakes, escorts, tucks, wake, during, protest, expected, access, cool, completely, dependent, staying, shockingly, immediately, seven, ticks, check, calendar, charm, short, visit, dying, struck, city, fabulous, testament, power, realization, special, able, bodied, physically, challenged, alongside, equipment, layout, perfectly, weren, motivator, reward, heck, bribe, probably, stick, approach, figure, potty, inches, 42lbs, sized, arms, legs, flung, landing, square, guts, motivate, whether, liked, second, victim, procrastination, laziness, wants, fight, literally, stings, handle, disgruntled, apt, burst, flailing, tempest, indignation, attempt, connected, actually, tackle, wakings, wanderings, nine, enforced, routine, nights, prolonged, screaming, dealing, settling, herself, minimal, fuss, blips, following, regress, normal, stalling, tactics, pulls, supernanny, easier, break, junior, hours, blew, original, water, kicked, lashed, harder, anything, resembling, decent, bigger, regularly, tired, wills, dead, allowed, reassurance, harm, nightlights, background, noise, door, tried, single, landed, enticing, scaling, crib, managed, successful, fraught, danger, escape, attempts, shortly, afterwards, transferred, develop, preschool, stage, looking, drink, wanting, claiming, early, demanding, sleeper, infant, instinctively, settled, asking, offered, nursed, formula, blissful, slumber, lassie, milk, shenanigans, consequence, choice, breastfeed, assuming, eventually, wasn, claim, advances, close, quality, improved, reached, milestone, daughter, accomplishment, peers, hey, major, adventures, improvement, attend, applied, sign, cross, remember, unto, shall, return, period, meant, echo, forty, desert, called, sacrifices, sharpen, focus, sacrifice, live, light, basic, simplified, understanding, varying, degrees, failure, mostly, latter, ashamed, morning, turned, gate, stares, instantly, trying, case, incredibly, awkward, penny, dropped, quickly, aren, supposed, wash, briefly, answered, wear, happened, rude, multitude, clearly, ritual, strikes, odd, initially, large, rarely, elicits, deeper, raise, makes, defend, explaining, correctly, lifelong, reticence, evangelical, catholicism, baptised, person, loves, whole, embody, refuses, both, followers, difference, choose, religion, taboo, topics, trend, brush, carpet, private, contra, message, spread, somewhat, discussing, particular, strength, thought, fall, pattern, attending, holidays, spent, truly, absorbing, word, applying, passing, parish, number, programs, parishioners, inquire, exist, reassures, alone, expect, cricket, chirping, helps, holy, beginning, safe, everyone, effects, ongoing, crisis, lost, foreclosure, intangible, anxiety, lie, spend, angst, state, world, unknown, factors, directly, indirectly, affect, powerless, control, heightened, awareness, rocky, seems, prudent, stock, pull, wise, choices, improve, foundation, holder, purse, strings, falls, taken, reduce, spending, biggest, far, reducing, expenditure, couponing, adopted, mentors, impressive, process, switched, service, traditional, company, voice, internet, protocol, voip, provider, saving, transatlantic, calls, main, finish, paying, crank, plans, set, announcement, employer, employees, subject, entirely, unforeseen, business, figuring, overall, assessment, secure, grateful, frugal, stand, counting, blessings, acutely, brings, homeless, drastic, devastating, results, pricked, written, encouragement, especially, course, focusing, initial, flurry, determination, beyond, contributions, efforts, donations, thrift, stores, seeing, increased, numbers, customers, simultaneously, receiving, donated, merchandise, struggle, protect, selfish, effectively, leave, guilty, happening, homes, across, country, causing, shortages, clipping, late, save, products, multiple, prepackaged, soups, mac, cheese, canned, combine, pennies, dollar, oftentimes, scratch, cook, palm, struggling, snob, hungry, becoming, increasingly, inquisitive, fits, grand, scheme, sees, box, rice, bowls, kitchen, understands, fortunate, gets, position, shaping, encourage, sorting, outgrown, clothes, toys, persuasion, willingly, bags, wagon, outside, expressed, concern, simple, extra, mommy, bought, eat, ended, worrying, loading, rather, active, imagination, cause, balancing, fine, line, appreciation, enjoys, scaring, rocking, securities, chats, arises, reinforce, concept, care, ourselves, community, issues, act, understand, best, example, meaningful, participated, involved, painting, exterior, house, elderly, town, wish, paint, certainly, encouraged, starting, form, olds, centric, collective, remains, progress, ears, actively, talk, jen, buzz, wonderful, sites, consciences, insanity, driving, quick, picked, fresh, sub, treat, appetizing, lunch, chatting, employee, referencing, love, red, hair, often, statement, thanks, adorable, thank, wow, must, look, headed, deliver, road, tale, accompanied, loud, bang, quibble, brought, knight, shining, armour, galloping, trusty, steed, okay, ten, ranger, whatever, rescued, damsel, distress, men, jack, heft, expedition, ground, change, jiffy, even, sufficient, modern, pleased, stellar, proud, super, status, goodbye, respective, vehicles, ahem, mine, operate, witnessed, petulance, search, jump, leads, smart, carry, nor, apparently, wing, prayers, clunker, inspection, evening, battery, fixed, wallet, knights, absence, heap, junk, attempted, gorgeous, bananas, bushel, peck, slacker, com, poot, cubby, broad, abroad, moving, gluten, casein, mama, someplace, crowbar, baseball, bat, plain, jane, flowers, window, laundry, overrated, schmitty, selundupkan, ton, ganja, dalam, batu, giok, jual, sprei, anti, air, harga, murah, jakarta, mommyvents, american, arrives, sainsbury, review, giveaway, adored, mozi, esmé, dialog, poem, doodaddy, tree, pose, joys, essentials, revisited, twas, brillig, mary, poppins, julie, pippert, using, everything, masks, learned, pandemic, moosh, indy, coloring, pages, development, moved, deleted, soon, update, subscription, velveteen, montessori, led, hands, activities, individualized, pace, top, copywriting, strategies, brisbane, startups, increase, sales, fussypants, blogs, june, 2007, archive, blooming, marvelous,

Text of the page (random words):
ed 8 years ago not wrong just different american food arrives in local sainsbury s 9 years ago mommyvents jual sprei anti air harga murah di jakarta 10 years ago up in the night selundupkan 1 5 ton ganja dalam batu giok 11 years ago it s a schmitty life sleep is so overrated 13 years ago dirty laundry flowers in the window 13 years ago plain jane mom blog no you may not use a crowbar as a baseball bat 15 years ago one plus two no place like home is someplace too 15 years ago gluten free casein free mama moving along 17 years ago a broad abroad mother of two 17 years ago poot and cubby life as i know it slacker moms r us com a bushel and a peck absolutely bananas show 10 show all thursday april 16 2009 puncture day on a quick trip to the grocery store today i picked up a nice fresh sub sandwich as a treat for my husband since we d had nothing appetizing for him to make for lunch the night before we got chatting with the deli employee and our conversation went exactly like this deli lady referencing the kids i just love their red hair smiling as i often do in response to the same statement from many people i say thanks deli lady your kids really are adorable so beautiful they have such gorgeous eyes me smiling again thank you deli lady wow they must look like their dad huh o u c h my punctured ego after leaving the grocery store we headed straight for my husband s work to deliver his sandwich a few miles down the road i hear the tell tale f dump f dump f dump accompanied by a loud bang oh my punctured tire it s really a tyre you know but we ll not quibble about it now a call to my husband brought out the knight in shining armour in him and in minutes he came galloping on his trusty steed okay he trundled along in his ten year old ford ranger whatever and he rescued this damsel in distress how is it that men know exactly where the jack is how to get the spare out and can heft a ford expedition off the ground to change a tyre tire in a jiffy i didn t even know where the spare was oh yeah i m such a self sufficient modern woman huh pleased with his stellar job and proud of his super dad status hubs said goodbye to the kids and i and we started up our respective vehicles ahem i attempted to start up mine but the heap of junk car wouldn t co operate thankfully hubs witnessed the car in all it s petulance and trundled off in search of jump leads because you know i m not smart enough to carry my own right nor him apparently he got us started a few minutes later and we were on our way home on a wing and not a few prayers my car is 5 years old and has very low miles it s not a clunker by any means but it sure felt like it today diagnosis on inspection this evening is i needed a new battery and the tire can t be fixed no my punctured wallet please let this be it for now my husband is going to ireland next week for a week i don t know any more knights to call in his absence posted by annie at 8 02 pm 11 comments labels driving insanity sunday march 22 2009 wrestling with our social consciences at this point i d say it s safe to assume that everyone is feeling the effects of the ongoing financial crisis if not in tangible terms through a reduced income lost job or home foreclosure then in the intangible terms of fear and anxiety over what may lie ahead i don t spend every day in angst over the state of the world s finances and about unknown factors that could directly or indirectly affect our family i can t worry about things that i am powerless to control took me a while to get here huh i do however have a heightened awareness as most of you do that things are rocky and it seems prudent to take stock pull our horns in and make wise choices that will improve our personal financial foundation as the holder of the purse strings it falls to me to manage our household finances and i have recently taken steps to reduce our spending my biggest success so far has been in reducing our grocery expenditure and our phone bill i am couponing and learning from these wonderful sites and from local friends whom i ve adopted as coupon mentors they don t seem to mind i am enjoying pretty impressive savings and get a real buzz in the process we have also switched our phone service from a traditional phone company to a voice over internet protocol voip provider and are saving around 75 on our phone bill which is great considering the transatlantic phone calls we make my main reason for doing this was so that we can finish paying off my car and crank up our savings in january our plans took a set back with the announcement from my husband s employer that all employees were subject to a pay cut this was not entirely unforeseen since it s been clear that business is way down these days but hard to take all the same after a day or so of figuring out what this pay cut would mean and an overall assessment that we are lucky that my husband s job is secure for now we are grateful for what we have and for the fact that our frugal measures would stand to us with a reduced income while counting our blessings we are acutely aware that so many people are not so lucky as each day brings more stories of homeless families desperate people taking drastic and desperate measures some with devastating results my conscience is pricked ever more what should i be doing what can i do i have written about this kind of thing before and have received great encouragement from others especially from jen at one plus two but of course excuses come up busy life with my two kids and focusing on what we need first after an initial flurry of determination beyond small financial contributions my efforts to help are not what they could be i hear news stories about food banks running low on donations about thrift stores seeing increased numbers of customers and simultaneously receiving less in terms of donated merchandise and i struggle i feel like we re doing what we can to protect our family and yet knowing that we have so much more than other families i feel selfish for taking measures that effectively leave me less to give i feel guilty that this is what is happening in many homes across the country and is what is causing the shortages in the food banks etc my coupon clipping of late has opened up an opportunity for me to continue to save money and still donate to the food banks and this is great but is not without some conscience wrestling on my part the thing is many of the products that go on sale at the grocery store and for which there are multiple coupons each week are for prepackaged soups mac n cheese canned meals etc if i combine these coupons with what s on sale i can get these items for pennies on the dollar oftentimes and can donate them i wouldn t feed these items to my family and so i ask myself if i consider them not as good as the from scratch meals i cook myself why do i palm them off as good enough for a struggling family i don t have the answer to this i feel like a food snob but i have to assume that some food is better than none for a hungry family i can t shake the feeling though maybe i m over thinking it meanwhile i have a four year old whom is becoming increasingly inquisitive about life and how she fits in the grand scheme of things at mass she sees the poor box and the little lenten rice bowls like the one we have in our kitchen and she understands that these are there to collect money for those less fortunate as much as a four year old can she gets it that she s in a better position than some aware that she s of an age where i can start shaping in her a solid social conscience i try to encourage her to think of others and i involve her in sorting through her outgrown clothes and toys and with a little persuasion she will willingly give them away so another little girl can enjoy them as much as she did on sunday miss e put the grocery bags in the wagon outside our church and expressed concern that we were giving away our food what followed was a conversation that started off simple enough these are extra things that mommy bought so i could give them away for families that don t have enough to eat and ended up with me worrying that i was loading her up with too much information that might feed her rather active imagination and cause her fear so i work on balancing that fine line of giving my child an appreciation of all the good things she enjoys that some don t without scaring her or rocking her securities we have little chats now and then as the opportunity arises where i can reinforce the concept that we need to take care of ourselves and those in our community then i wonder when i seem to think and talk about these issues way more than i act i have to ask how solid is my own social conscience what more could i be doing i understand that children learn best from what they see i know that my husband and i need to be the example for miss e and her brother once again i find myself taking small steps to contribute in a more tangible and meaningful way recently i participated in a small way in a local event that involved painting the exterior of a house for an elderly woman in town while i didn t have miss e with me i did tell her all about it and her response was i wish i could come and paint and help someone she knows that i felt good having done it and i ll certainly consider taking her to the next event i m encouraged that she s starting to form her social conscience which is great considering that most four year olds are still pretty ego centric our collective social conscience remains a work in progress and i am all ears to any suggestions on how to more actively contribute with my time particularly any suggestions that involve the kids posted by annie at 11 13 am 4 comments labels family jay miss e parenting thursday february 26 2009 the mark of my faith yesterday was ash wednesday when catholics attend mass and receive ashes on their forehead these ashes are applied in the sign of the cross with the words remember you are dust and unto dust you shall return ash wednesday marks the beginning of lent a period that is meant to echo christ s forty days in the desert a time when we are called to make sacrifices designed to sharpen our focus on christ s sacrifice for us and on how we should live our lives in his light at least this is my basic or simplified understanding of lent and it is one that i ve followed with varying degrees of success or failure mostly the latter i m ashamed to say over the years jay and i received our ashes at mass yesterday morning while miss e was at school we turned up to collect her a little while later and a few steps in the gate of the school i felt the stares and one mother came right up to me and said i have to tell you you have grease all over your forehead did you know i instantly felt bad i felt bad for her that she was trying to be nice and was telling me in case i didn t know that my face was dirty but i also felt incredibly awkward in having to explain that it was not grease the penny dropped quickly for this mom and she said oh yeah it s ash wednesday then her next question aren t you supposed to wash that off and i briefly answered no part of the point of having the ashes is to wear them all day as a mark of faith this happened me last year also albeit that it was with someone a little more rude these experiences bring a multitude of questions for me clearly many people are not aware that ashes are part of the ash wednesday ritual for some and this strikes me as odd initially since i come from an area where the population is pretty much 50 catholic and 50 non catholic but the non catholic population by and large is aware that catholics receive ashes on ash wednesday and so it s not that big of a deal and rarely elicits comments at least in my experience deeper than this though are the questions these experiences raise about my catholic faith and how uncomfortable it makes me to have to defend it or explain it and then i wonder if my discomfort comes from the fact that i don t feel 100 confident in explaining it correctly and at 36 and a lifelong catholic shouldn t i be confident part of my reticence to discuss my faith comes i m sure from a bad experience after miss e was born from an evangelical christian who pretty much told me catholicism was wrong that it was not a true christian faith and that i was wrong to have miss e baptised a catholic this is a person who loves god and does on the whole embody what it means to be a christian but she refuses to see that we agree on so so many areas we are both followers of christ the only difference is that i choose to be so within the family of the catholic church maybe it s because religion is one of those taboo topics like politics many people don t like to discuss their faith or hear of someone else s and so the general trend is to keep mum and brush it all under the carpet as something personal and private but isn t this absolutely contra to the message that christ give us to spread the good news i know the answer to this question yet i am somewhat uncomfortable in discussing my christian faith in general or my catholic faith in particular with people so does this mean i don t have the strength of faith i thought i had maybe and i m pretty sure this needs a little work on my part part of what comes as being a life long catholic is that you fall into a pattern of attending mass each week on holidays and holy days because that s what you do but how much of that time is spent truly absorbing the word of god and applying that to our lives families passing it on to our kids like i said i have work to do my parish has a number of lenten programs running where parishioners have the opportunity to discuss and inquire about our catholic faith the fact that these exist reassures me that i may not be alone in feeling this way i expect this post will go the same way as my only post on politics i ll hear cricket s chirping for days however please do share what helps you share your faith if you re happy to do so posted by annie at 9 37 am 9 comments labels faith family self improvement wednesday february 18 2009 adventures in sleep training we have reached a major milestone miss e my first born my daughter of four years and four months is sleeping through the night quite an accomplishment it only took her just about four years longer than her peers to do but hey that s my miss e all over does things her own way and in her own time i shouldn t really claim that she s sleeping all the way through the night she isn t quite but the advances we ve seen at night are close enough and the quality of my sleep has improved so much she might as well be sleeping all the way through miss e has always been a lousy sleeper she woke frequently at night as an infant and i like every mother instinctively got up fed her and settled her back to sleep as she got older she still woke frequently and i did find myself asking shouldn t this baby be sleeping through the night by now being a breastfed b...