The View From Here: A Love Affair in My Kitchen

This week's View comes from someone who is sweet, kind, goofy, funny and older than me.

She is Kristi, aka the robot mommy.

(No, not all of these posts will be written by women named Kristi.)

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A Love Affair In My Kitchen

You are more to me than just a breakfast. You are what makes a day worth being a part of.

I'm very blessed. My days get to be filled with something that truly gets me.

Your crunch muffles the sound of my kids fighting or the latest episode of Dora The Explorer. All I hear is rainbows forming and birds tweeting in their nests.

You hold up my ego as you hold up my spoon. If I'm not devouring your joyfulness fast enough, sometimes you let me down. Yet I can't seem to quit you. I just try again with more of you.

You're not jealous of my coffee. You get that I can only enjoy a mug or two during the day. But with you, I can spend some time in the middle of the night. It may be sneaking around but I don't care. You make me into a bran-loving whore.

You don't seem to care about how my hair looks or if I'm wearing makeup when I hold you. It feels like love when I hear the dink dink as you hit the bottom of my bowl.

Each spoonful fills my soul with kinship. I don't worry about my family or the stressors that come with living out of suitcase. Or that we need to keep our son on top of his curriculum so he doesn't fall behind.

You don't care that my son's outfit is mismatched or that my toddler is eating her nose candy. You just concentrate on me and my needs. The pains and woes of my everyday disappear when I open my mouth and let you in.

You are so inviting....

so flavorful....

....and when we sit alone and I masticate you, I am complete. I am whole.

Oh cereal.... You are amazing.

Your puffs filled with peanut butter and understanding make me feel like I can do anything.

Like I can finish this blog post. Like I'm the princess and you and all your raisins are my princes.

Thank you for being a dollar off with coupon.

t.r.m.

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See why I can call her goofy? And funny.

Kristi's view is all about finding the humor in the mundane.

The humor in motherhood and raising kids.

Her perspective is to find FUN wherever she can.

If you like Kristi's sense of humor as much as I do, follow along via

her Blog, Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest.

But not before you leave her some comment love here!

Therapy Shmerapy

That would have been my response just one short year ago to the suggestion that perhaps I should seek professional help because I have some tough shit to deal with.

"Oh, therapy shmerapy! I don't need no stinking therapy! I'm fiiiiine!"

Uh hu.

There is this stigma attached to asking for help. To admitting when you need help.

There is also our own pride to contend with.

I never thought I was a particularly prideful person. I have bad eyes, so I have had to get quite used to asking for help from those around me. Sometimes I can't read something. Sometimes I need a ride somewhere....

But if I'm being perfectly honest, it's still hard at times for me to admit when I can't see something.

Am I more prideful than I thought because I didn't want to see a counselor (and asking for help because of my eyes is still hard)?

Or does it have to do with vulnerability?

When I make it known that I'm struggling to see something, I open myself up to questions, and possibly even judgment.

Getting therapy could encompass so much more. My past, present, future. My flippin' inner child.

I'll admit, the stubborn side of me did indeed feel like I should just be able to handle my life issues all on my own. That I should just be strong enough.

Finally, last year around this time, I decided to give it a try.

I AM SO GLAD I DID. Dragging my stubborn ass to therapy is one of the best things I've ever done for myself.

You know the joke that goes something like a patient has spilled their guts about something and the therapist asks, "And how do you feel about that?" and the patient is like *facepalm, "Aren't you supposed to tell me what YOU think about that?"

It's kind of true. Therapists don't have all the answers. What they have is an ability to be on the outside looking in at your life. They know just the right questions to ask you in order for you to find the perspective you need to process whatever it is you're dealing with. They get the human condition and they help you understand YOURSELF and others better. All of this contributes to a healthier heart, mind and spirit.

That may sound kind of froo-froo but, whatever. How it sounds doesn't matter. What matters is that I cannot believe the different place I am in now than one year ago. I know myself better. I am more confident.

Confidence? Me?? I have struggled with insecurities as long as I can remember. To be able to say that so much of that crap has fallen away is huge. HUGE.

Having a better sense of who I am, with more confidence, effects how I feel about the tough stuff my husband and I have to deal with as regards his chronic health problems, which is why I sought out a counselor to begin with. I'm not sure exactly how, but it does. I just feel it.

I have seen the light. Anyone who would like to say, 'I told you so", can feel free. :-)

Change is Good

Ch-ch-ch-changes.....

Changes always throw us off a bit, don't they? Even if they're good changes. Like back-to-school or a new baby. We all need a little time to adjust or re-acclimate.

In the spirit of giving time to adjust, I wanted to announce as soon as possible that I am changing my blog's name, the URL and the design just a bit.

I have flip-flopped on whether I really wanted to do this for some time now. I couldn't think of any other good name. But then, I wasn't really trying very hard either.

Last night, the thought occurred to me again, but this time it wouldn't go away. So I thought, brought the idea up to Mark and we brainstormed back and forth. I hopped on the computer to look at my labels to see if any of the words I use to categorize my posts might trigger a name. A couple did and I checked GoDaddy to see if a matching URL was available. A couple URLs were available and couple weren't.

I still wasn't having an AHA, that's it! feeling. Then I thought about how much I like quotes, which led to thinking about my favorite quotes, then one stood out....

And it made so much sense in more than one way. I searched for matching URLs, found one and snatched it up!

Then I attempted sleep. After lying there thinking of exactly how to go about making the change and picking up my phone to write myself a note, I finally relaxed and drifted off.

But it was the first thing I thought of upon waking. You know when an idea won't leave you alone and makes you all antsy? That. I think it means I need to go ahead and make this change.

WHY do I want to change my blog name? Well, because I'm getting tired of my NAME being part of what I call my blog. Yes, this blog is all about me and my life, my perspective and experiences, and I don't plan to change what I write about. It's just that, while catchy, I don't think "just JENNIFER" is very descriptive of what this blog actually encompasses.

Also, whenever someone refers to me as "Jennifer from just JENNIFER", it sorta bugs me because it sounds very redundant. The name Jennifer itself is redundant!

So yeah. I feel that my blog has grown into so much more than I ever thought possible, so I think it needs a real name. I simply threw "just JENNIFER" up there in order to set the darn thing set up. I didn't really put much thought into it. But now I have and I think the change needs to be made. My blog has grown, and I've grown along with it. Neither my blog nor myself are really "just".

I have no funds to pay someone to help me with the changes so it will be all DIY (which is how everything on this blog has been thus far). So if you have any advice for me, BRING IT!

Just to reiterate: I am changing the name and URL of this blog soon. Gone will be the roller coaster metaphor. Staying will be ME, my writing and the colors (or lack thereof). I'm really excited about this and I hope you guys will be too!

The View From Here: The Shifting Importance

It's the inaugural View From Here post!

I am pleased to have Kristi Campbell of Finding Ninee here to kick things off.

Her Our Land series is beautiful and inspiring. In fact, it may have helped inspire this series.

Here is Kristi's View.

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When Jennifer asked me to launch her amazing new series about The View From Here, I have to say that I was above and beyond honored and excited. I mean, come on. She’s not only completely excellent, but is a card-carrying member of Our Land with her lovely contribution. I think her idea for this new series is brilliant and perfect. With that said, I will gladly tell you about my view. From here. And how it’s changed throughout the years.

The Shifting Importance

I think, like all of us, that my view has changed a lot over the years. It’s changed drastically in some ways, and stayed the same in others. I remember being eight years old and looking out the window, unbeknownst to the babysitter, waiting for my parents to come home safely. Or, for the cop car to pull up our long driveway and tell me otherwise. Thankfully, it was always my parents. I suppose that that image provides a glimpse into my worried and anxious self, at the age of eight.

While I’ve grown more trusting and confident over the years, the worried and anxious part – when it comes to those I love - hasn’t changed that much. And yet, it has.

I have years and years that are smiled upon with fondness and memories of fearlessness, daring, and adrenaline. Sky diving. Scuba diving. Testing. Pushing. Pressing the universe for answers about why I’m here, and who I am. I have many blessed years that remind me of the importance of friendship. The kinds of friendships that are almost impossible to maintain once a woman is married, and becomes a mother. Those friendships require time. Time that I – and they - no longer have. But those friendships changed me. They made me me. I have moments with those friends that are so powerful and amazing from 20 years ago that I still cherish them in my heart, nightly.

Those friends are still here, in my view, mostly. That particular view hasn’t changed much. But the view of our moments has. While at one time, our views were focused on fun, drinking, boys, and the carefree ability to not worry about whether we showed up to work with less than three hours of sleep under our eyes, and more than three bottles of wine under our bellies, it’s now become different.

I’d like to say that becoming a wife changed my view. And it did, in the ways of no longer worrying about the one that I’d hopefully share the rest of forever with. But there’s nothing and no one who has shifted my view – given me glasses to focus on what’s important in life – than my son. Oh, how becoming a mother shifted my view. Shifted my importance.

While once, I was barely aware of the gift of life, and, in fact had the disrespect to feel like it was mine to test, I was, in an instant, right-here aware of it. From one hour to the next, I became hyper-aware of the value of my new son’s life, and of mine.

When I became a mother, my life, and my view, shifted. I became Important. Most Important. More Important than Anybody. Than anybody but my baby. What a shift, people. What a shift. I will never skydive again. Why risk it? I’ve had the adrenaline. Now, I have the adrenaline of raising my little boy. And there’s nothing. Nothing that compares to that.

I’d always thought that I’d return to work once my son turned four months old. I loved my job. I traveled the world. I was important. Except. Again, a shift. I quit my job about four minutes after my son was born.

I took him to swim classes. I took him to soccer. I took him to art, and on walks and on play dates. We were fine. Happy.

And then, my view shifted again. We started to notice that our son wasn’t speaking at the same level as other kids. We started to become more worried about him running laps at bedtime, while uttering a foreign, and weird, “eeeaaaahhhhheeeeaahhhhh” noise. We asked his doctor about it.

We were sent for evaluations and to Early Intervention. Our view shifted again.

We heard the words “speech and language delays.”  We heard “autism.” We heard that our baby wasn’t typical and our view shifted. Our importance shifted.

Our shifting importance came to include speech therapy, and preschool autism class. Our views shifted to include needing to explain to friends and family that our son is going to have some issues. Likely forever. Our views, they shifted.

But you know what? The love never shifted. The point of life, and being here, it never shifted. All of my views led to this one.

We had our baby boy. I was 40 years old when I gave birth to my perfectly imperfect perfect little boy. My days now are spent with speech therapy, and Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA). With explaining our new view to our old friends. To family. Sometimes, to ourselves.

I wouldn’t trade this view for anything. Ever. Because it’s really the view that all of the views were leading up to, all along.

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So, I'm holding my breath over here. Not only was this a perfect post to kick off this series, but yeah, your child(ren) change your View more than anything else ever could.

Please leave Kristi some comment love here, and then you can stalk her

on her Blog, Facebook, Twitter and Google+.

*For more info on The View From Here, <-- please click!

Wordless: Instagram Hearts September

Sharing five of my photos Instagrammers hearted the most in September 2013.

9-4

9-12

9-18

9-25

9-30

30 Day Plank Challenge

For two months now I have been doing some sort of fitness challenge.

August was crunches and September was push-ups.

Push-ups didn't go as well as crunches, but I still did them! Mostly.

For October I will be attempting planks!

Or planking. Or however you want to say it.

I will be following this chart:

I couldn't track down the original source of this image. If someone claims it, they can let me know.

Or there's this one from 30dayfitnesschallenges.com:

So now my workout ingredients look like this;

Walk

50 crunches

20 push-ups

+

daily planking

Whenever I post about this challenge, I'll use the hashtag #30dayplank.

It's October 1st! Join me?