Inspiration.

Inspiration. Noun. \ˌin(t)-spə-ˈrā-shən

1. a) a divine influence or action on a person believed to qualify him or her to receive and communicate sacred revelation; b) the action or power of moving the intellect or emotions; c) the act of influencing or suggesting opinions

2. a) the quality or state of being inspired; b) something that is inspired

3) an inspiring agent or influence

Lately, I have been MIA from my blog. But, that doesn't mean I've been lacking inspiration. Sure, my list of creative projects has been ignored a bit. In fact, painting, sewing, scrapbooking, and home decor haven't really been on my radar.

However, I've been busy. I've been inspired. And I've been loving it.

What's got me so inspired? It's not really a what....but rather, WHO.

Let's start with this lady. Y'all may know her from her days on Taxi. But, I know her as the most energetic, naturally beautiful, and exciting red head on the planet! Yes, it's Marilu Henner.

I had the pleasure of meeting her several years ago, and...hold onto your shorts with this one...was in an infomercial she did. That's right - I'm a late night celebrity. About 5 years ago, had you awoken in the night and been bored to tears because you couldn't fall back to sleep, I'm guessing you caught a glimpse of me talking about how amazing Marilu is and what a health genius she is. Yup, I said genius. And I still think so highly of her that if you wake up tonight in the middle of the night, I'd tell you just to call me and I'd go on and on about how awesome she is.

Marilu has written several books about her healthy lifestyle, and gosh darnit, they rock. SHE rocks! Have I said that?!?! She's one of the sweetest ladies I've ever met! She has a great website, full of great info and there are even online classes that happen there. I feel like I've learned SO MUCH about health, food, and just striving to be my best.

One of my online friends from Marilu.com kept referencing a blog where she was finding super recipes. What she failed to mention was that not only are the recipes downright fabulous, but the blog in general ROCKS!!! I'm talking about peasandthankyou.com. Haven't been there?? GO. NOW! You'll thank me later.

Mama Pea is funny, creative, and a whiz in the kitchen. I have become nearly obsessed with her blog (not like, stalker obsessed, but more like inspired obsessed). She is a mom of two young kids and I feel a kinship with her. She's HILARIOUS. She understands being in jammies all day and not knowing what 'good hair days' are anymore. She finds her kids wearing costumes...bathing suits...tutus...whatever they can find. And, she's working hard to feed her family healthy meals and teach her young girls how to make good food choices. LOVE her!

And if we're gonna talk food....or photography...or being a cowboy's wife (wha??? I'm married to a computer guy)...we can't forget Ree - The Pioneer Woman. I think the kitchen is her mothership. She works a camera like no other. She's just....awesome.

I've got some serious plans to healthify her cinnamon rolls a bit and make them around the holidays for all my special peeps. I'm drooling just thinking about it!

Then, there are the 3 crazy, fun, silly, happy, wild, giving, and supportive people in my life who inspire me the MOST. The fam. :) I love the smiles I get, the requests for food or art projects, the laughs we share, and feeling of being together.

I really am one lucky lady. I feel so blessed to be at this point in my life, with the family I've got, my faith, great friends, fantastic food, and tons of inspiration.

anything goes.

First off, let's try to ignore the fact that it's been awhile since I last blogged. It's certainly not because I hadn't thought about. And it certainly wasn't because I didn't have anything cool to blog about....

...oh, who am I kidding. This place does not exemplify coolness. We are the house of randomness. A house of chaos and crazy. We've got toys everywhere, Legos falling out of the kids pants when out in public (no lie, that just happened Saturday), and the reality of my husband's multiple careers is beginning to take over our kitchen counter. I love being creative, but sometimes, I just have to keep everyone fed and alive. Anything goes around here.

So this morning, after a night of non-stopping coughing, Lydia woke up looking and feeling not-so-good. When I went up to get her this morning, she insisted that I crawl into her germ-infested bed to snuggle her. Then she proceeded to tell me that she wished she had a TV in her room.

“Mom, I wish I had a TV in here. We could just put it up there (pointed to the ceiling) and stick it up there with some tape. You know, mom…we can just go to that store where Daddy and I went. The TV store. The one where Daddy and I were and he forgot his wallet (it was in mommy’s purse 7 stores away). That one. They have TV’s there, mom.”

I had to call the pedi, since she not only had a cough and runny nose, but she complained that her ear hurt. A first for her. Darn you, swimming lessons! I’m thinking taking my kids swimming in the fall/winter months is a bad idea. I mean, we’re either going to miss ALL of the classes because they're sick…or, the few classes that we DO make it to are going to cause them to get sick. *sigh* I’m seeing this as a lose-lose here. I mean, water safety doesn’t really come into play here between September and May. I may need to rethink this. Perhaps we’ll just teach the kids to swim in the safety of our own home. “Hon, the kids are ready for their swim lessons!” (in the bathtub)

This was the scene when I brought Sicky McSickerson downstairs.

On a positive note, she did promptly ask for breakfast after she finished her juice. She was beyond indecisive with her choices, and went from having pancakes (I vetoed that one), to cinnamon toast, to cereal, and finally landed on a smoothie.

"The banana-berry one, mom."

Out came the frozen strawberries, banana, strawberry jam, and rice milk. After a quick blend in my not-so-Vitamix-blender (I'm still sulking over the way QVC taunted me with their Today's Special Value yesterday), she was happy.

Max sucked down a cereal bar and a banana, and was as content as anything. The little guy is free from torment and torture when he's in high chair! No wonder he loves being in it so much.

We wrapped up our morning with some playing, singing with Elmo, and several sneezes and coughs onto mommy's laptop. Yay me. Anyone know how to disinfect a laptop keyboard?? Yeah, didn't think so.

I did take Lydia to the pedi, where they confirmed that while she didn't have a full-blown ear infection, she was well on her way. So we scooped up her antibiotics and some Gatorade at the drug store and came home to enjoy some yummy vegetable soup and garlic bread.

I topped off the evening with some Dancing with the Stars. I'm considering a little kettlecorn to make this day complete. Hopefully I can keep away the side of germs that'll inevitably try to sneak into my snack. We'll see how successful I've been in 3-4 days. ;)