I fixed up the sidebars, can you see them?  You have to come away from the feedreader.  C’mon.  You can do it.  One itty bitty little click!

Are you here yet?  Aren’t I just clever?  Too fun, this bloggie business!

By the way, I have another of my designs on the real web - online - like on the internet - where someone can see - really.  I promise, I’m not lying!  I think I’m hooked on this web designing thing.  Oh yeah.  Definitely hooked.  Not with money or anything.  But still!

Oh - and the most horrible thing happened to my favorite digi-scrap artist - she was targeted with a virus that knocked her right out of business.  Killed her WHOLE hard-drive.  With a virus.  Aimed at HER, in particular.  How mean!  Go leave her some love here.  She is only a week or two away from opening her online store!  Mike and I are doing everything we can to help her out.  Of course, your comments make everything a tad better! 

And I have a question for anyone reading - which name do you like better for my design site?

Cathy’s Playground

or

Healing Designs

I love them both.  And, er, um, they are a tad different. :)  Healing Designs.com is NOT available.  But Cathys Playground.com IS.  So that one is currently calling my name.  Haha.  Literally.  See?  Clever, I tell you.

My bloggie readers - I am contributing regularly at Desperately Seeking Wordpress.  I am writing to beginning bloggie/techy types, and I’m hi.lar.i.ous.  ;-)  So far we’ve covered how to back up your blog, how to upgrade it, and gravatars.  Heather has covered some must-have plugins too.  All good stuff if you are into that kind of thing.

Take care of yourselves,

I wish I knew these things when I was starting on my own:

• Use a layer of paper towel on top of the cupboards in the kitchen to catch greasy grime. (they don’t last FOREVER, but close)
• use tin foil on the bottom of the oven to catch drips.
• oven doors come off
• razor blades do not work for scratching things off the floor(for scratching the floor, yes)
• don’t defrost the freezer using a screwdriver to jab at the ice - it will break the freezer. For good.
• square storage containers use less space
• clear caulking keeps the tops of the toe boards clean.
• salt & lemon juice clean a coffee carafe the best
• For the love of Pete, do NOT freeze coffee grounds.
• keep the knives sharp, it’s safer. That, and don’t put your fingers under the blades.
• the food processor is overkill for a clove of garlic
• a cup of water in the microwave for 2 minutes, and 5 minutes to sit, will loosen all the grime.
• Things that pour, spill, or jab, should not be stored above your head.

What else would you tell your younger selves about cooking/ kitchen?

Do you get those emails in your inbox from parenting sites with “useful” information on the ages and stages of your kids?  I do.  In fact I get several.

When I had one child, I signed up for them all.  I found every. single. parenting site and signed up for timely little information packets.  Now?  Those little “packages” drive me around the bend!

So Here’s the real mommy’s “Your Toddler”:

The key to understanding a toddler are tranquilizers.  After the 582nd “why?” and just before your head pops off your shoulders in frustration, take a breath.  or tranquilizer.  Both are effective.

Potty training:  #1 excuse in my house:  “My bumbum doesn’t want to cooperate”.  I suggest waiting until all bums are cooperative before trying the potty training method of choice.

Discipline should ideally occur before the child is sobbing to avoid these kinds of answers:“But Mommy, I can’t talk, I am crying.”

Ah, the classic: distraction.  Never works on a 3 year old.  So I suggest using distraction on yourself.  Sitting here, reading my blog?  Excellent choice.

Keep the child active.  While you too, could run around like a luney-tune on a playground,  I suggest staying home and playing Mommy’s Treasure Hunt.  You find yourself a comfy chair in the middle of the house.  Pillows, nail polish, and tea.  And begin the game.  Be sure to request objects the furthest away from you.  Have the child bring one shoe of daddy’s from the porch.  Then the other one.  And 5 q-tips from the master bath, One. At. A. Time.  Get it?  Love it.

There really is so much to learn. 

Beth Moore writes in her book, Get out of that Pitt,

…Maybe you’re the noble type trying to make the best of your pit.  You keep wondering why you can’t get satisfied there.  Why you aren’t mature enough to be content where you are.  After all, didn’t the apostle Paul tell us that we should learn to be content in any circumstance?

Oh my!  I could totally relate to this.  If you’ve had the conservative Christian upbringing that I’ve had, you’ll understand what she’s talking about.  We each have pits (whether caused by someone else, something else, or ourselves).  And when we’ve lived in them so long, we start to feel like it is just “who we are”.

And what happens when you graduate top of the class, go to Post Secondary Bible College, Get Married, purchase a white-picket fence, and you’re still not happy?  Then, as would be a very common answer, You’re not trusting God for your contentment. The common refrain is “Circumstances don’t make you happy, God does.”

But what if, just maybe, you’re not supposed to be happy where you are.  What if God has more for you/ me?

First - there is ALWAYS more for us.  We were meant to be in a complete, safe, and fulfilling communion with our Creator.  We will be lacking that completeness until we reach the end of our earthly time.

Second - I truly believe that it isn’t just non-Christians who feel that something is missing.  We miss it too, when we are discontent and living without the fullness of Christ.  As people, we have tried many different things to get the “fullness of Christ”.  Some try 2 baptisms, one physical, one spiritual.  Some try supernatural gifts of tongues, prophesy, and healing.  Some try battling the devil consciously and earnestly.  Some serve harder and faster.  Some remove themselves from society all together.  I don’t know what I think of all those things, but I know that sometimes we are just left lacking.

As Christians we are not supposed to be lacking. We don’t even talk about that.  We believe it is our job, as Christians to proclaim that we have the answer to fill the unsaved’s hole in the heart. But what if we, me, a Christian, feels lacking?

Christians would say that God is there waiting, it is up to ME to make it happen.  He is waiting I need to go to Him to meet my needs.   And thus the struggle for perfection in faithful practices, rule-following, and service comes into play.  So if we work harder at filling the hole with God, we get happier?

Beth Moore takes this passage:

I waited patiently for the Lord;

he turned to me and heard my cry.

He lifted me out of the slimy pit,

out of the mud and mire;

he set my feet on a rock

and gave me a firm place to stand.

He put a new song in my mouth,

a hymn of praise to our God.

Many will see and fear

and put their trust in the Lord.

-Psalm 40:1-3

And her own experience and speaks to some of us honestly and openly about our pit-dwelling experience.

And all that from the first couple pages!  lol

Check back with me as I continue to post my thoughts on Beth Moore’s “Get out of that Pit”.

And if anyone else has this book, and wants to chat about it through email, let me know. I’d be up for that.

Me either!!!