Lindsay's List Blogging - Lindsay's List

by lindsaymwright

four facts friday

January 30, 2015 in 24 Day Challenge, Blog, Blogging, Fivethings Friday, Lists, Meh by lindsaymwright

I gotta be real here for a second.

I opened up LiveWriter (during the 10 minutes of free “ME-time” I had today) and I just stared at the darn screen for like…ever. Nothing. I have nothing to say that will add to the world. No tips that will make you a better person. No recipe. No workout.

So I’m not going to push it.

Actually, I DO have all of those posts in my head. I have lots to say about all sorts of things. I create workouts that would be perfect to share with you – you could pin them to your fitness Pinterest board (you have one of those I assume). Ideas. I have tons. They just can’t seem to find their way down to my fingertips and out onto the screen. Like it’s a struggle to find the energy to sit down in this online space.

So for today, I have four (short) things to share.

FOUR FACTS FRIDAY

1) I’m going to bake something today and I’m (oddly) excited. Travis is finally done with his 24 Day Advocare Challenge and we’re going to LIVE IT UP! We both started together a few weeks ago (I did the the 10 Day Nursing Mom and he did the regular 24 Day Challenge) but since I wanted to be a supportive wife, I haven’t bought ice cream or cake or candies (actually I do have some candy stashed away). Travis lost like 13 pounds by the way – he’s a super hero when it comes to sticking to the rules. Anyway, the challenge is over and the brownie game is on! Now to decide which ice cream to get (probably whatever’s on sale).

2) I need a pedicure. Or I need to at least sit down and take these last few wisps of polish off my toes. I’d take a picture but nobody needs to see it.

3) Yesterday was a rest day. I gladly took it. With Trackstars in the morning and MoveMore groups in the afternoon, there are days when I get two workouts in. I never (ever) want to fall back into the habit of overexercising so I’m very purposeful with TRUE rest days. I don’t do much of anything. Here’s a good post on rest and why it’s SO important. I try to take two days a week.

4) Short story. We never buy bread. We just don’t eat bread. Anytime I have a loaf it gets moldy halfway through so I just stopped buying it. Well when we were at the store last week, Henry INSISTED that his new favorite snack is toast with butter and honey. He’s never had this snack at my house so I’m not sure where he got the idea but we bought bread nonetheless (because toast and butter and honey sounds awesome…and it IS. It IS awesome). For the past week, he comes to me at EXACTLY 2:45pm (he has a wrist watch – analog, so we’re not coddling him) and reminds me that it’s snack time and he wants his toast. I get the supplies out, make the toast, and then sit the plate down in front of him. He takes his time eating it (which never happens) and yesterday he looked up at me and said (and I quote), “Mom, you are the BEST chef we’ve had in this family.” You guys!! I’m the best chef.

———–

That’s all I got. Have the best weekend. Live it up. Eat some brownies. Sleep. Get your toes done.

And come back refreshed on Monday.

———–

QUESTION: Tell me something, anything.

splendid…lindsay

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by lindsaymwright

a day in the life {1/23}

January 23, 2015 in Blog, Blogging, DayInTheLife by lindsaymwright

FRYYYY-day!!

This week seemed to snail-crawled for some reason so I’m happy to see that it’s over. We have SNOW on the forecast for tomorrow (I’m not getting my hopes up) so that’s something fun to look forward to. We’ve had ZERO snow days so far here in WNC. I’ll take a few. Brownies, chili, movies and sledding. Yep.

I looked and it’s been a while since I did a “Day In The Life” post and they’re one of my favorite types of posts to read so I’m sharing. This is what our Wednesday looked like – nothing too spectacular – just our little life. It’s far and away my favorite.

A Day In The Life

4:30am: Porter wakes to nurse.

7:10am: I wake up in a panic – Porter is my alarm clock and usually wakes around 6:30 to nurse again but decided to sleep in today I guess. He’s babbling so Travis scoops him up and lets me sleep for another 20 minutes.

7:30am: I yell at Travis and he brings me the babe. We nurse in bed (he’s pretty quick – we’re done in 10 minutes). I get up and get ready for Trackstars.

7:45am: Take my Spark and Catalyst pills with 1/2 a banana and a few almonds. Corral the kids out the door and head for the gym.

8:00am-9:10am: Trackstars – we do a fun team workout and finish with some glute and core work.

EX: One person “travels” (suicide, bear crawl, etc) down the court and back while the rest of the team does the stationary move (knee drivers, plank push-up, etc). A fun way to break monotony and spread people out.

9:30am: Drive home. Nurse Porter again. Put him down for his morning nap.

10am-11:30pm: Shower, breakfast, coffee, homeschool H & C. They’re working out of a few Kumon workbooks at the moment. Group text with Janetha & Lauren about Blend stuff.

11:30am: Porter wakes. I nurse him.

12:00pm: Throw coats on everyone and we walk down to see Travis at work and to check in at the coffee/yogurt shop. Pick up free books at the sharing library. Sample the peanut butter (solely for quality control purposes ).

12:30pm: We walk around main street and then make our way back home (with Travis in tow). Practice throwing the frisbee (I’m getting a little better – one level up from “you don’t want her on your team/she’s the worst.”). Travis walks back to work.

1:00pm: Lunch with kiddos (big salad with chicken, avocado and Good Beans) + a couple of finger swipes in the almond butter jar.

(so stinking good! Did you see that the Vanilla
almond butter is on Amazon again?!?!)

2:00pm: Put Clara and Porter down for their naps. Start Henry on some math (double digit addition). I work on this post a little along with some prep work for our Grand Opening/Ribbon Cutting at the shop (LOCALS! TODAY from 1-2pm everything is 50% off!!). I make a graphic for the sale and post to FB.

3:00pm: Porter wakes up. I nurse him.

3:20pm: Door bell rings – it’s the salesman from the local radio station. We’re placing an ad for the grand opening and he needs payment. I write him a check and then quickly go put on PJ pants for the rest of the day.

3:30pm-5:30pm: Work with Henry on school, fold laundry, Blend conference call with a potential sponsor (it went WELL!!), play with Porter, drink some Throat Coat tea (little tickle in my throat that won’t go away) and eat a Kind bar. Put Porter down for a quick nap.

6:00pm: Travis arrives home from work. Hallelujah. Four hands are way better than two. Porter wakes/nurses.

6:30pm: Dinnertime. Mac n’ cheese for the kids, spaghetti squash/ground turkey concoction for adults.

7:00pm-8:00pm: Clean up, bathe the baby, let Travis entertain the big kids.

8:00pm: Put the kids to bed!

8:15pm-10:00pm: Work on this post, talk to Travis about our days, eat CEREAL (tonight it’s a combo of Honeycomb and TJ Fiber Twigs), watch two episodes of Friends, & nurse Porter one last time.

10:15pm: BED!

Phew.

All in a day’s work.

QUESTION: What’s the highlight of your FRIDAY??? Any plans for the weekend?

splendid…lindsay

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by lindsaymwright

currently: december

December 22, 2014 in Advocare, Blog, Blogging, currently, Loving Lately by lindsaymwright

Happy Monday!

And almost Merry Christmas! I know I say this every year but I fully believe it this year – Christmas snuck right up on us. Like tiptoed through the house and poked me on the right shoulder and I look over my right shoulder but Christmas is on the left. That trickster. Between my papaw’s sickness (he’s got a few days – please pray), the coffee shop and last week’s Christmas show (yes, we did a Christmas show…I can’t say no), the 25th is way closer than I’d care to admit. The end of the year is way closer too. Anyway, I saw Ashley’s post last week and remembered its been forever since I’ve done a “Currently” post so here goes….

Currently: I’m currently sitting in my pajamas at the kitchen table, sipping an almost-too-cold cup of coffee (My third of the day) and eating a new 4% milkfat Chobani yogurt! Have you tried these yet? I mixed in some homemade strawberry jam and crushed flaxseed. SO good.

Current Inspiration: My mama. She’s been a trooper over the last few weeks with my papaw’s illness. She’s either been by his side or with my mamaw (who has dementia) and get this…she calls me every day to see how I’M doing. I love her. She inspires me.

Current Book: It pains me to say this (because I really DO love reading) but I still haven’t finished the book that I was reading like two months ago. The Best Yes by Lysa Terkeurst.

Current Product Find: (I’m copying Ashley on this as we’re both Advocare affiliates!) This isn’t really a “find” BUT AdvoCare announced the first ever national 24 Day Challenge and I’m really excited about it!

Not only will there be thousands of people nationwide doing the challenge together, but Advocare has created some perks if you order quickly! If you order before December 31st, you can complete the “All In Challenge” and start with others on January 7th. Travis is planning to do it! I’m breastfeeding so I can’t personally participate (but still plan to do the “Nursing Mother” challenge). If you’re interested in learning more, please email me at lindsayslist@gmail.com!

Current Tune: Bop me over the head but I’m in love with Taylor Swift’s Shake It Off. We dance to this song as a warm-up for Trackstars quite often. I’ve almost gotten the group used to making fools of themselves. Almost.

Current Drink: Too much coffee….

Current Foods: Cereal. Ice cream. Salads. Pancakes. And a whole lotta these PB2 crackers – so good!

Current Holy Moly: We have an OFFICIAL SPONSOR for Blend 2015!!!!! I can’t tell you who it is yet but this company is SPECIAL!! Like I’m freakishly excited that they’ll be our main sponsor. FYI – Blend tickets will go on sale MID-JANUARY! I’ll have more information to come!

Current Show(s): Gilmore Girls, Scandal, Arrested Development

Current Outfit: THIS sweatshirt! I wear it almost every day. It’s just cozy, ya know?!

If you buy one , get a size UP. They run kinda small.

Current Indulgence: Too many…

Current Want: A little down time. I’m carving out time this week for just that!

Current Confession: I have great fun tweezing the gray hairs out of my hair. Sometimes I just stand in front of the mirror and go to town. I should probably start coloring it but I’m just not ready to bite that bullet.

Current Love: Henry’s homemade Certificate of Achievement. He even spelled achievement correctly. Love that kid.

QUESTION: Pick a “currently” and answer it!

splendid…lindsay

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by lindsaymwright

flashback friday: the body i’m meant to have

December 19, 2014 in Blog, Blogging, Body, ED, Faith, Flashback Friday, Inspiration by lindsaymwright

(I wrote this post two years ago. Timehop reminded me of it and I thought today would be a good time to share it again. I’m not quite ready to blog yet. My papaw is still hanging in there (hospice – acute leukemia) and I’m thankful (so thankful) for your prayers and kind words!)

Reader emails.

If I were vain, I’d call them “fan mail”. (But luckily, I’m too pretty to be vain.)

Instead, I take them for what they are – people reaching out.

Anytime I see one in my inbox, my mind fills with worry about what I’ll say, whether the words will be anointed, even before I click open. The major theme among the emails:

DISCONTENTMENT and A DESIRE TO CHANGE.

Although I feel uneasy about these emails, it’s pretty easy for me to respond. Because I’ve been there. Heck, at moments, I’m still there. The only difference between now and 5 years ago is that I’ve learned how to overpower any negative, self-hate thoughts that come in my mind. I simply say, “I’m fearfully and wonderfully made.”

I can’t refute that. And neither can the voices. This particular reader email that I’m about to share encompasses the very things I said I love writing about: GOD and BODY IMAGE. I’m sure there are other (correct and helpful) ways that this topic could have been approached, but, after some prayer and reflection, I responded the best I knew how. I’d love to hear YOUR thoughts on the matter in the comments!

Here we go.

SUBJECT: Help and Encouragement needed! Please.

Dear Lindsay, I know you probably hear this a lot, but I think you should hear it again- What an awesome blog! Truly a blessing to come across!! I have followed many blogs in the past, but I was especially drawn to yours because of your spirituality. I’ve shared many of your struggles in the past (restrictive eating/laxative abuse) and am happy to say that God pulled me out of all of that last year. The mental and emotional healing is still in progress. That’s where I have a question for you. I still struggle with weighing myself multiple times a day and counting calories excessively, only to be disappointed with any progress, or lack there of. I’ve finally come to a place where I want the body God intended me to have. I want it. Regardless of what the scale says, or how many calories I eat a day, I want what God intended for me to have. And I don’t think I’m that far off! (In my mind, probably 10-12lbs). I DO believe that the buck doesn’t stop here- that God has an even better body in store for me. My question is this- how? How do you trust God with something that you have always been in control of? And not just that, but something that you have been FIERCELY in control of? I know that my efforts will only lead to frustration and not being successful (doing it in my own strength, that is). But trusting God, letting Him direct me in this area, is probably the hardest obstacle I’ve come to in my journey. Your thoughts?

Whoa.

The first thing I wrote back was, “Before I answer your question, tell me what you mean by you’re 10-12 pounds from the body God wants you to have. Are you 10 pounds over that goal or under that goal? Knowing that will help me answer you!” The reader answered back that she was 10-12 pounds ABOVE that weight. With that knowledge in mind (and again, some prayer time), I was able to respond.

Dear Reader, It’s so hard when a person who has struggled with disordered eating wants to lose weight. Because all of the tips and things that I could tell you to do, often backlash and our past comes back to haunt us. I’d like to ask – Why do you think that the body that God wants you to have is 10 pounds lighter?? Honestly, God doesn’t really care about your body size, but rather, your heart. That being said, I don’t think He necessarily wants you to be fat or overweight or uncomfortable. He wants your HEART to be in a good place. For you to love yourself. For you to treat your body with respect. He made the body you’re in right at this moment. 10 pounds “overweight.” And I don’t think He cares what the number is. I threw my scale in the garbage because it was controlling me. I don’t count calories anymore because they were controlling me. I’m working right now to cut back on an exercise addiction that is controlling me. I know that, for me, I had to stop cold turkey and really GIVE IT OVER to God. In the end, it’s your heart that matters. What are you putting before Him? These things become idols in our lives and what God so desperately wants is for HIM to be an idol. I can guarantee you, if you give these things up and ask God to guide you, He will honor that sacrifice! The body, your weight, how you look in clothes – all trivial and NOT eternal. You are definitely in my prayers – I hope what I said doesn’t come across as the wrong answer – it’s just my heart.

Lindsay

The message that I can’t stop repeating, the whole idea behind “Tearing Down Idols”, is this:

Put your time and effort into THE HEART. Into others. Into your marriage/family/community. When those aspects of your life are fulfilled, the number on the scale won’t matter. It just won’t. It will pale in the light of the sense of peace and contentment that comes from focusing on the things that TRULY MATTER. I promise.

Does this mean you should stop working out and eating healthfully? Absolutely not. I KNOW that God made our bodies to MOVE. I also know that He wants us to respect our bodies by nourishing them with foods that fuel, rather than harm.

It’s the obsession with all things BODY that I disagree with.

Will the number on the scale matter when you die? Will your perfect body give you eternal life? No.

The body – no.

The heart – YES!

QUESTION: What are your thoughts on using the phrase, “The body God intended me to have?”

splendid…lindsay

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by lindsaymwright

these kids….they’re learning

December 12, 2014 in Blog, Family, Homeschooling, Intentional Living, Kids, Motherhood by lindsaymwright

There are a million little pieces of white paper on my kitchen floor.

This gives me goosebumps.

If you know me, you know that floors are my thing. My crazy comes out. They must be clean. I think every woman (person) has their own kind of crazy. Maybe yours is that you can’t stand having dirty laundry or you can’t seem to filter the things that come out of your mouth or you have to sleep in a certain position or your whole day is off. I don’t know. I just know that floors are my thing and having a million teeny-tiny pieces of white paper on my kitchen floor gives me anxiety like no other.

Food pieces (or wet, mushy poop pieces) would be worse. So today I’m thankful that it’s just paper.

Clara is learning how to cut.

With big people scissors.

(That’s not a commentary on dwarfism. Just adult scissors versus small child scissors.)

I drew some shapes on a piece of computer paper and I let her have at it, cutting them out. The circle I drew came out looking more like a rectangle when she cut it but she’s only four and I don’t think they have any type of scissor-skill competitions at her age so we’re good. ….For now. I really should have given her the smaller scissors but I can’t seem to find them in our junk drawer right now. There’s just too much junk in there (seriously I found a roll of pennies! Who keeps rolls of coins in their house?? Me.). I looked in the backup junk drawer and the scissors are lost. This means I’ll put them on my grocery list, spend $6 picking out the pink pair of kid scissors (because Clara will insist – if they had a glitter pair, I’m sure we’d pick that one), then arrive home and the old $3 pair that I already had will pop out at me and scream, “Here I am!! You ninny! Now you own two pair of ridiculously small scissors!! Ha!”

Story of my life….

Anyway, Clara is trying and she’s getting the hang of it. I haven’t told you the story of our trip down to Cabbage Patch General Hospital (yes, there is such a place) or about how I tried my hardest to talk her into getting a doll that I’D actually like looking at or about how she quickly slapped that idea right out the window and picked one of the uglier babies at the hospital (when a mama knows, a mama knows) and named her, “Ayizabeth.” The doll is laying on our living room floor right now, “playing” and “being SOOOOO good.” “She doesn’t even cry, Mama! She’s SOOOOO good.”

I smile.

Porter has learned to clap.

And it’s the most precious thing in the world. And he KNOWS he’s doing something monumental. He just lights up with the biggest grin. The way that children learn is just fascinating. One day they just DO IT. They just learn. He’s also found his “pincher fingers.” I’ve been waiting. For a few weeks, it seemed like he might go his entire life just batting and swatting at the Cheerios in front of him (people would call him baseball-mitt hands – this is what I was envisioning) but luckily he just started pinching at things this week. I think Henry gave him a lesson while I had my back turned (searching for the scissors). Henry gets a star on his chart for that one.

Speaking of…

Henry is learning to how to put stickers on his chart.

He has a reading chart. One sticker for every book he reads. He’s getting super sly about what he defines as a “book.” It’s really funny to watch. He’ll get a book and mentally cut it into chapters (even if there aren’t chapters) then call the individual chapters “books”. I think I was distracted one day (yes, really) and said that he could put a sticker on for reading only a couple of pages of a book and since then he’s tried to pull one over on me every.single.time. Like I said, it’s fun to watch. And oh man, I get the proudest-mom smile when he chooses to read his Bible. All by himself. Like my heart just bursts and I want to go shower him in kisses and say “YES! This is the BEST book! And don’t you just love Psalms?!?! Aren’t the poems just beautiful?!?! And isn’t the story about Moses just the COOLEST!?!” But I don’t. Because I want him to want to read the Bible for himself and not because it pleases his mother so I sit back and watch and pray over the time he reads, praying that God will turn him into a sponge and he’ll soak up all the goodness that’s in that book.

So those are the things my kids are learning at the moment.

And those are the things that I am learning. The mess, the sticker trickery, the joy of clapping. I get to take a front seat to all of that.

And it’s good.

So, so good.

splendid…lindsay

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by lindsaymwright

on being present and blogging

November 24, 2014 in Blog, Blogging, Goals, Inspiration, Intentional Living, Meh, Rambles by lindsaymwright

It’s currently Sunday night.

I just sat down on the couch.

I’ve got Travis’ cuddly blue robe on and I’m about to head into the kitchen for my nightly bowl of cereal (on a frosted mini-wheats streak right not that I don’t forsee ending anytime soon). My hands smell of lavender – a reminder of the bath I just gave Porter. We laughed and laughed as I dribbled water onto his belly and he tried to catch hold of it. The most rudimentary of science projects – learning that you can’t really “catch” water.

Anyway, I’m sat down to crank out a quick “Weekend Scenes” post. I’m shocked that there are a total of four pictures that I’ve taken over the weekend.

I made banana bread. It was a little dry.

Except deep down, I’m not surprised at all. Four pictures seems like four too many right now.

I’ve felt this shift in myself for quite sometime now.

This internal struggle that I’ll try to get out of my head and out onto “paper” and even doing that feels like it’s taking too much time away from the things that matter most.

Point blank: I kinda over blogging.

And taking pictures.

And sharing moments. My moments. OUR moments.

This feeling…it’s not something that’s new. I remember a year into this gig (I’m in my fourth year now) thinking, “Blogging is ….well….selfish.”

Thinking that your life is so important that someone else would think it’s worth reading about is, inherently, selfish.

Taking selfies. Self centered.

Taking pictures of your food. A little ridiculous.

Saying, “Hold up! Let me document this on Instagram,” and then completely missing the moment. That’s selfish.

Even when you go in with the right motives (which are?!?), most of what goes into writing a post, taking the pictures for a post and then promoting that post is somewhat self serving. You can KNOW this and still do it…but it won’t fulfill you. Not nearly as much as actually being IN those moments that you’re scrambling to share. Sometimes there’ll be this purely magical moment of my children playing together or my husband smiling in this certain way and the blogger-me wants to immediately break that special moment, grab my phone, snap a picture and then post it so everyone else can see how magical it was/is. Except that doing so takes me and that person OUT of the magic, interrupting something that might never take place again. And all so I can show other people.

Don’t get me wrong – my motive behind sharing is pure. I just want for others to see. Not to think that I’m magical….but that these moments are magical. That my GOD is wonderful enough to bless me with these moments. So in that sense, I don’t think the sharing is necessarily wrong or selfish. In fact, there is bound to be some “sharing of the gospel”-good in social media. Right?!

But still.

I find myself not blogging as much. Not posting to Instagram or Facebook as much. I find myself retreating to my house, this little corner, and not wanting to give any of the pieces away. Our pieces. Because doing so DOES take me out of the moment. It takes me away from being present.

I’m not sure what the end result will be or what will come. I just wanted to share a snippet of my heart and how I’m feeling these days. Maybe you can relate.

Relate.

That word. I love it so.

And again I’m reminded why I blog.

Full circle.

QUESTION: How can we still do this (social media, blogging) and also remain PRESENT??

splendid…lindsay

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