Owner: The Secret Life of Kat URL:http://www.thesecretlifeofkat.com Join Date: Sun, 17 Feb 2008 20:04:45 -0600 Rating:0 Site Description: Your typical Southern, Christian soccer mom...or maybe not. Site statistics:Click here
Yesterday, I Awoke to Screaming Children 2008-03-08 21:47:00
As you may imagine, it doesn’t know often in Texas. As a result, my children were yelling “It’s snowing! It’s snowing!” as soon as they looked out the window.
We all proceeded to freak out and get dressed as fast as we could.
My Weird Kids
And can you guess what my kids favorite thing to do is when it snows?
Throwing snowballs? Nope.
Making snowmen? Nope.
Eating snow? You guessed it.
These are also the kids who ask for frozen pieces of broccoli as I prepare dinner.
Like I said. Weird.
So, does it snow often where you are and/or do you eat frozen broccoli?
Read more:Children
, Yesterday
Mommy Steroids 2008-03-07 07:50:00
These are Godiva mint dark chocolate pearls.
Jimmy bought these for me yesterday.
I love Jimmy.
I keep these in my pocket and when it looks like the children are about to overpower me, I turn my back (after all, they can’t know I have chocolate...) pop one of these in my mouth and…
Voila!
Super Mommy
.
Ah, the power of chocolate.
So, dear friends, what keeps you going during the day?
Read more:Steroids
Parents University: Eating Healthy 2008-03-06 00:49:00 Hi and welcome to another installment of Parent’s University
!
This Week’s Topic Is: EATING HEALTHY
How It Works
1. Write a post with a tip on how to teach children to eat healthy.
It’s a pretty open topic - it can be a simple tip or a detailed recipe - anything other parents might find useful.
2. Then submit the link to your post in the box below.
3. Come back to check out all the other entries for this week’s topic.
*Please link to the specific post and not just your blog main page. We want people to be able to easily access your post in the comings days and weeks.
Read more:Parents
Geek 101: What are HTML and CSS? 2008-03-05 11:24:00 This is the first of a series of posts in which I’ll answer your geek questions. If you have a question, just ask it in the comments and I’ll do my best to answer it (or find the answer).
What Are HTML and CSS?
Essentially, HTML and CSS are computer programming languages used for presenting information via the web. HTML handles the content and structure while CSS controls the design.
So, if a website was a house, HTML would be the wood and nails and CSS would be the paint, furniture and decor.
HTML
HTML stands for Hyper Text Markup Language. HTML is the code that tells your web browser (IE, Firefox, Safari) how to present and structure the information on the web site you are visiting.
If you know HTML, you can build web sites and even a basic familiarity with HTML will al Read more:Geek
Parent’s University: Tomorrow’s Topic 2008-03-05 08:32:25 FYI:
Tomorrow’s topic for Parent
’s University
is:
Healthy Eating
Please share your tips, recipes, snack ideas or any other wisdom about how to help our families eat healthy.
See you tomorrow!
In the Wake of the Uganda Trip 2008-03-05 00:22:54
I just wanted to recognize a few very important people.
Kristen, Amy, Euphrony and Laura have done a great job over at Inspired to Action.
They’ve done interviews with rock stars and world changers.
They have been dedicated and faithful.
They are full of vision for the site and have done some fun stuff like book clubs and 21 day challenges.
They are helping us improve ourselves and the world.
Here are some of my favorite posts:
Interview with Addison Road: Talking about Mocha
The Inspired to Action Book Club
Interview with Shaun Groves: Part I – “once every three days”
32 Ways to Save $32 Dollars a Month
They are inspiring people to take action on behalf of others.
Well done.
So, now that the Uganda
trip is over, if you need a place to find daily enc
The Amazing Small Person 2008-03-03 22:26:00 The other day Jimmy and I were sitting at the table talking and we noticed that The Small
Person had been standing at the refrigerator, writing on the whiteboard for a long time.
She’s in Kindergarten now and is very excited about reading and writing. She enjoys making lists and such on the whiteboard.
We looked at what she was writing and were quite amazed:
In case you have trouble deciphering 5 year old spelling, here is what it says:
“All the days of my life I will praise you God.
You are my Lord.”
May it be. May it be…
Read more:Amazing
Parents University: How I Practice Patience 2008-02-29 22:15:00 Patience is a virtue that seem to possess in very small quantities.
Well, maybe I am more patient than I give myself credit for, but my three small children seem to squeeze every last ounce of patience from me...occasionally before I even get out of bed.
It’s something that I’ve been working on, though, and I definitely have seen some improvement. Here are a few things I do to help me practice patience.
1. I ask my girls to pray for me when I start feeling frustrated. Not only do I benefit from some really sweet prayers, but this also helps my kids to recognize that Mommy needs them to really try to obey quickly, completely and cheerfully.
2. I take time out. If I feel like I’m not responding well, I’ll give the girls coloring pages or books to read and I Read more:Parents
, Practice
, University
Parents University: Practicing Patience 2008-02-29 09:25:00 Welcome to Parent’s University
!
This Week’s Topic: PRACTICING PATIENCE
Your Advice In Action...
I’d like to say that I planned to post this a day late because it’s about patience...but the truth is, I just really liked Jimmy’s post and couldn’t bear pushing it down the page.
So, here it is - Friday - and we’re celebrating Parents
University today. Thank you for being...um...patient.
I look forward to reading all of your advice.
This evening, I’ll post my entry as well as the winner of the giveaway (so if you haven’t participated, you still have a couple hours.)
How It Works
1. Write a post with a tip on how to be a more patient parent.
2. Then submit a link to that post (not your main blog page) in the box below.
Soon w
A Surprise Guest Post From Jimmy 2008-02-28 00:18:01
Hi Dear. Happy Anniversary.
Surprise
d?
I hope you don’t mind this guest post. My hope is that you will see this when you wake up tomorrow morning and be just a little bit embarrassed for all of the right reasons.
Everyone likes to be embarrassed a little bit right?
What better way for me to pay tribute to a terrific wife than to make her face a little red by sharing these anniversary thoughts with you and your cyber friends at the same time?
As you know, I am not that good at pulling off big events. Need I remind you of last Mother’s Day?
I am working on it.
However, what I lack by not making a big splash during the big events, I try to make up for by being a super-hero for you every day.
So there will be no ponies Read more:Guest
Kat and Jimmy: The Continuing Saga 2008-02-27 22:29:00 (Click here to read Part 1: How We Met.)
Jimmy: She told me that after her recent breakup, she had made a commitment to God to not date for ONE YEAR!
I was heartbroken, but didn’t show it. I had tried to do everything the right way and liked my chances….and then she dropped the ONE YEAR bomb.
Kat: As if this situation weren’t awkward enough, several of my roommates happened to be standing right outside our apartment chatting with our neighbors. One of our neighbors who was a like a little brother too us (he was a mere sophomore) thought he’d be helpful so he yelled, “Just kiss her!!”
Sophomores…
Jimmy: The next weekend was Thanksgiving. I was in San Antonio visiting my grandmother and remember being upset about the whole deal
Parent’s University: Having Fun with Traditions!! 2008-03-12 23:54:00 (This is my entry for this week’s Parent
’s University
series. Click here to read the other entries.)
One of the ways that I really like to have fun with my kids is to have family traditions.
My oldest two are only 3 and 5 and just about everything they encounter each day is new and different. I think they enjoy these little traditions we have because it allows them to feel like they are in control. They know exactly what is going to happen and how it’s going to play out.
Our Traditions
Gogurt and the Bible
Our most enduring tradition is that the first thing my girls do in the morning is put gloves on, got to the freezer and eat a gogurt (a frozen yogurt).
Before my other two children were born, my oldest daughter and I would get our gogurts and then go sit Read more:Having
, Having Fun
Parent’s University: Having Fun 2008-03-12 23:51:00 Hi and welcome to another installment of Parent
’s University
!
This Week’s Topic Is: HAVING FUN
How It Works
1. Write a post with a tip on how to have fun as a family.
It’s a pretty open topic - it can be a simple tip or a detailed post - anything other parents might find useful.
2. Then submit the link to your post in the box below.
3. Come back to check out all the other entries for this week’s topic.
*Please link to the specific post and not just your blog main page. We want people to be able to easily access your post in the comings days and weeks.
Read more:Having
, Having Fun
My #1 Piece of Tech Advice and Pictures of My Offspring 2008-03-12 11:27:01 I just spent an hour helping a client recover email after a hard drive crash. Here is a lesson you can learn.
Buy An External Hard Drive...Now
If the information on your computer is something you would miss if your computer stopped working today, then go - right now - and buy an external hard drive.
I’ll make it easy - here’s one:
"Western Digital 500GB My Book Essential 2.0 - USB 2.0 External Hard Drive WDH1U5000N" (Western Digital)
Back up your entire harddrive. Then, if your computer crashes you can simply take your external drive to another computer, plug it in and you’re right where you left off.
If you have a Mac I recommend a program called Super Duper to simplify and speedup the backup process. Could one of you PC folks recommend a backup softwa Read more:Offspring
, Pictures
My 5 Favorite Blogging Tools 2008-03-11 00:07:00 Ecto
(There is also a Windows version of Ecto.)
I use Ecto to write all my blog posts. I like it because:
1. I don’t have to be online to work on an entry.
2. It’s super simple for me to insert and upload my images from iPhoto.
3. I can see a working preview of my post as I write it.
4. I can write and manage all my blog posts on all my blogs from one interface.
Ecto Website
ImageWell
This is a very handy app that allows me to quickly resize and image and upload it to my server using Imagewell’s built in FTP.
ImageWell Website
Transmit
Transmit, in my opinion, is the best FTP program for Macs. It’s stable, intuitive and pretty. I love it’s compatibility with Quicksilver as well as the upload droplets that allow you to drag a file to the droplet Read more:Blogging
, Favorite
, Tools
Will She Make It? 2008-03-15 10:39:50 I’m about to embark on a 10 mile run.
I’ll let you know if I survive.
Running, Turkeys and Bad Pictures of Me 2008-03-13 23:22:00 My Half Marathon Training
...is not going so well.
Allergies have been making me feel pretty lousy since January and I was particularly sick last week, so I didn’t run at all for about 10 days. I’ve finally gotten back into it, but I don’t have much time left.
The race is in two weeks and the farthest I’ve run is 7.5 miles. Y-I-K-E-S.
If it was a flat course, I’d feel pretty good about it, but the hills are going to be really tough. I can’t decide if I’ll allow myself to wun (walk up the hills and run the rest) so that I can shoot for a better time (read - beat the ambulance), or slowly run the whole thing.
Crawling is an option as well.
The Smallest Person Joins ASCAP
The Smallest Person has a new hobby (you know, in addition to transcri Read more:Pictures
Awwww….Shucks….. 2008-03-21 06:32:00
While I’ve been embarrassing myself all week, my dear friend Milk in the Closet (No, that’s not her real name...sheesh.) decided to participate in Brody’s series called Positive Post Tuesday.
And she wrote her post about silly old me.
Now, I don’t necessarily expect you to want to read a whole post about the “real” me, I thought I’d post this link for my husband, parents and Amy Grant (You know...in case she ever wants to have lunch - she’ll know I’m not creepy.)
Anyway, here is the post:
Positive Post Tuesday - Kat
And A Meme Too
MC also memed me awhile back. I’m utterly horrible at memes (I don’t know why, but I can never think of things - or I over think them.)
The following responses are in no particular o
Songs That Make Me Look Like A Blubbering Idiot 2008-03-20 00:02:00 (Parent’s University is on Spring Break this week. Classes will resume next week with some really fun stuff.)
I am a woman. I’ve been pregnant three times. I have three small kids. I don’t watch much on tv besides sports, so my drama-o-meter can be set off pretty easily.
Bottom line? I cry easy.
Hallmark commercials. March Madness. A great song…
I have been known to drive through Waco sobbing and talking to my radio. I cry at any song remotely family related.
Here are a few songs that have sent me on a tissue hunt lately.
Steven Curtis Chapman
Thanks to Los, earlier this evening, I sat on my couch with tears streaming down my face. He posted a video with a song by Steven Curtis Chapman called Cinderella. For some reason, I hadn’t heard it before a
Simplify 2008-03-19 00:18:00
Simplify.
This is something I’ve been trying to do for about a year now. It hasn’t been easy.
I don’t want to simplify. I want my stuff. I want my hobbies. I want it all.
But I’m Desperate
I’m desperate to follow Jesus better. I’m desperate to love Jimmy well. I’m desperate to be the best mother I can be.
But all my “stuff” gets in the way.
So, I’m simplifying. I don’t play soccer anymore. I just resigned from my very last web design client. No has become my default answer.
I want to do a few things and do them exceedingly well. Everything I do either moves me closer to my goals or pushes me farther away. I don’t think there’s really a middle ground, even though I like to think there is.
Thorea
A Little Challenge: Fashion Faux Pas 2008-03-18 00:07:00 I can blame no one but myself.
I have no fashion sense.
Sadly, yesterday’s picture is not the worst of it. No, my friends, it was just the tip of the iceberg.
The things I wore in Jr. High and High School are truly frightening.
It’s not that the things that were in fashion back then were bad, it’s that *I* wasn’t in fashion back then and I just came up with these weird little personal trends.
A Sample
Purple fedora hat. Lime green pants. Pink, black and white rugby shirt. Army gas mask bag for a purse.
Those aren’t highlights, folks. That was ONE outfit.
Here is a photo. You will laugh. Or perhaps cry.
It’s On
So, what were you’re worst fashion faux pas?
Read more:Challenge
, Fashion