Guess who gets to "Expect More, Pay Less" (Nothing)?

She's 28, she's lot's of fun, she has cute kids and a wonderful blog: Mommy's Timeout

Yep, that's right, according to Random Generator.org

Samantha, you've won a $25 Target Gift Card!!

Samantha is a wonderful mom of 3, who recently coordinated her high school class reunion. She's awesome. She has a fun blog, too. She also has a peanut allergy kid. And, of all things, she lives right here in my town. If you get a chance, check out her blog: Mommy's Timeout.

Thank you so much for helping me celebrate my birthday! For those that wondered, I'm now 37.

I had a fantastic birthday!

It's My Party and I'll Buy If I Want To

I want to give you $25 to shop at Target.

Yes, that's right

to shop at




How to Party (I mean, win the Target Gift Card)~

Do any or all of the following (separate comments for each):

1. Comment: Tell me how old you are. (please, please be older than me)
2. Follow my blog (and tell me you do so)
3. Send someone to my blog and get them to mention your name. (You can tweet, facebook, email or blog about this- all you have to do is get the commenter to tell me that you sent them.)

I'm gonna celebrate my birthday all weekend (or at least try to convince my family to spoil me all weekend), so I will pick a winner on Sunday night and post the winner on Monday, August 9.

This Blog O' Mine (TTT137)

It's Thursday- the day I focus on gratitude. For 137 weeks now I have been posting my thankfulness each Thursday.

Today is also the kick-off of the 3rd Annual Blog Hop Carnival at Pensieve Me.

What is the BlogHop Carnival?
The blog hop was created as an at-home opportunity for bloggers to meet and greet during BlogHer's annual conference. Bloggers are invited to write a short introductory post about themselves and their blog to introduce themselves and broaden their online community. Intro posts are linked to the Blog Hop site and participants are encouraged to hop around and "meet" as many new friends as they're able to!

Gravity of Motion

Why Gravity of Motion? The reason for my blog title is that I find busyness heavy. When I am involved in too many activities (even great ones), I cannot excel at anything. Constant busyness weighs me down. I struggle with this constantly. My blog title reminds me that constant activity can be a burden. This post explains why I started my blog: The Weight of Constant Activity

Listening, Learning and Laughing

I write about what I hear and learn in every day situations. That includes a little bit of fun from my kids and lessons from Motherhood, recipes I enjoy, challenges and triumphs with food allergies and asthma, and musings about faith and life lessons. I share what I hear and what I learn. I share what makes me laugh.

I write for the fun of it. I write because it's therapeutic for me. I write because I love words.

I ramble. I speculate. I document life.

I'm Thankful

Thank you for stopping by. I am thankful for this little space of the internet. Blogging is what I am thankful for this Thursday. This is my Thursday Thanks Tank.

**Giveaway**

I'm celebrating my birthday by giving away a $25 Target Gift Card. If you want to enter (and you do), go here: It's My Party and I'll Buy If I Want To

It's Messy Here

I'm restless.

I am waiting for an answer.

I want out of the unknowing. I'd claw my way out if I could.

The difficult immobility baffles me.

I'm waiting. Nothing's happening.

I'd make something happen if I could.

I struggle with my attitude and my longings. I struggle to pray.

Instead of enjoying today, I'm waiting in the mud of impatience.



I pray.

I wait.

I know I have today.

Today is what matters right now.

I tell myself to cherish what I have but I stomp through my day. I go through the motions, with my boots on, stomping through my impatient mire.



I'm stomping around in the impatience puddles, trying to enjoy today.

. . .

I was thinking about all of this today, when I remembered the pictures in this post. I looked them up as a visual reminder to me:

When you are impatient, it's like standing in a big mud puddle, the more you stomp around in it, the messier you get.

And, after a while, everything is a blurry mess.



Somehow, the pictures and the knowledge, is allowing me to pray more. The prayers are an answer to my prayers.

Matthew 11:28
"Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.

Do you know what I'm going through? Are you messy with impatience, too? Pray. Even though you are struggling, pray.