MamaManagement

Welcome back to Top Ten Tuesday ! (It's funny how those Tuesdays just keep coming around, isn't it?) This week, in case you're in the market for your next good read, I thought I'd share with you a few of the books I have really enjoyed in years past. So I hopped on over to Goodreads and sorted the books on my "Read" list by rating. Then I just (pretty randomly) selected ten of the books I gave a 5-star rating. I read the books on the list below sometime in the last ten, maybe fifteen, years-- only one of them in the last year. Nevertheless, good reads. Hopefully you'll find something on this list that you haven't yet read and peaks your interest. Hopefully I'm about to give you your next good read. :-) So here they are, a random selection of ten of my 5-star-rated Goodreads books, in no particular order... Ten Top, Five-Star Books On My Goodreads List 10. The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho 9. When You Reach Me by Rebecca Stead 8. A Hear

I am grateful for wonderful books and cool bookstores and delicious cappuccino. The greatest part of our happiness depends on our dispositions, not our circumstances. -Martha Washington Last week's top ten list was all about gratitude. ( Top Ten Things I'm Grateful For Today ) I shared a list of things I was feeling grateful for that day and a few brief thoughts on gratitude. But, after that post, I got to thinking more about gratitude; about what it really means to feel grateful; to feel that opening of your heart to others, to yourself, to the universe. And the more I thought about it, the more I began to believe that gratitude may very well be a key ingredient in making The (big) World, and our (personal) worlds, a better place. If everyone could move through their day from a place of gratitude, I think just about everything would be better. Imagine how the small things would improve... It's hard to have road range when you're feeling grateful for the beauti

For this week's Top Ten Tuesday  I thought I'd share with you a few quotes I've read recently--in books and articles and blog posts-- that stuck with me...and got me thinking. You'll notice a common thread through most of these, which will give you a pretty good idea of the kinds of things that I'm reading these days and where my head is at the moment... Think: Re-prioritize. Think: Simplify. Think: Slow down. Think: Focus. Think: How Will You Spend This One Precious Life? Top Ten Things I've Read Recently That Got Me Thinking 10. At least three times every day take a moment and ask yourself what is really important. Have the wisdom and the courage to build your life around your answer. -Dr. Lee Jampolsky 9. The things that matter most must never be at the mercy of the things that matter least. -Goethe 8. The cause of most of man's unhappiness is sacrificing what he wants most for what he wants now. -Gordon B. Hinckley 7. If your children grow

Gratitude. It's a buzzword right now. The idea of gratitude is everywhere, it seems. And yet I'm not so sure there is actual gratitude everywhere, these days. Research says that grateful people live longer and happier lives. Spiritual teachers tell us that gratitude is essential to a fulfilling life. So, in the spirit of gratitude...this simple act of recognizing the things we are grateful for each day...today's Top Ten Tuesday list is... Top Ten Things I'm Grateful For Today 10. My morning workout. 9. The first warming sip of my morning coffee. (And, well, really, that whole darn cup of coffee. And the second one. And, um, the Keurig and coffeeshops that brew that coffee for me. :-) 8. Fresh baked cookies. (Because, even if you aren't currently eating one, you can close your eyes and call-up the memory of biting into that soft, warm cookie and savoring the taste on your tongue. And that is always something to be grateful for.) 7. My strong and soft b

Spring had finally sprung! Hurrah! Time to move more and eat lighter. Which means...it's SALAD TIME! Soooooo..... Here's a yummy salad recipe. It's my new Southwestern Chopped Salad with Cilantro-Yogurt Dressing. And it would be fantastic enjoyed as a nice, light dinner on a warm evening while relaxing on your back patio. It's pretty simple, maybe 15-20 minutes to prep. Feel free to tweak your salad ingredients with what you like-- though I really recommend the creaminess (and healthfulness) of the avocado, if you like them. You could certainly add chopped tomato, just get rid of the watery insides so it doesn't get soupy (or use grape tomatoes). Also, tweak the dressing as you like it. The way I've written the recipe, you'll end up with something slightly sweet (because of the honey) and with a little southwestern flair (because of the cumin and cilantro). If you like more bite to your dressing, decrease the honey and up the cumin and maybe throw in som

I have been, off and on for most of my adulthood, a pretty heavy workout video user. Though there have been times when I worked out at a gym or only ran or walked for exercise (or was a couch potato), much of the time at-home workout videos have been a mainstay in my workout diet. So I thought I'd share a few of my favorites from over the years…as well as this one little tip: if you have a great local library where you can check out dvd's (like I used to Ohio), the library is a fantastic place to tryout workout videos before you buy them…or just to mix up your workout routine--challenging yourself and your muscles and staving off boredom, with regular workout change-ups. I would simply research workout videos and create a list of ones I was interested in. Then I would put a couple on hold at my local library. I'd check them out and use them, then, as I needed to return them, I'd add others to my hold list or just randomly pull something off the shelves. It was great

Here's a great little summer dish. A perfect side for whatever you've thrown on the grill. A great dish to pass for that neighborhood BBQ. A lovely salad to just make up and leave in the fridge for easy lunches on a hot day. It's Ramen Noodle Salad. Now, I'm not sure this dish actually qualifies as clean eating, despite the word "salad" in it's name…what with the ramen noodles and the seasoning packet. But it is so seriously good that I could have eaten the ENTIRE giant bowl of it. Seriously. When I made it last week I could not stop eating it. It might actually be a little addictive. So, don't say I didn't warn you... Crunchy Ramen Noodle Salad 2 pkg uncooked ramen noodles 2.5 oz sliced almonds (or just a big handful) 3/4 c. sunflower seeds 1/2 c. finely chopped onion (whatever kind you have) 1 bag broccoli slaw 2 ramen noodle seasoning packets 3/4 c. oil (use what you like; I used canola oil) 1/2 c. white vinegar 1/3 c. sugar

Welcome back to Top Ten Tuesday! (actually on Tuesday…score!) Lately I've been thinking more and more about what I want my daily life to look like and the person I really want to be. I sometimes feel as if I get so caught up in just getting things done , that I'm not really living my life. It's so easy to do, you know. It's such a slippery slope. You're being a productive citizen. You're taking care of kids and a house and work. You're busy. Then you can wake up one day and wonder where the time went. And wonder who you are. As much as we don't know who we are yet as teenagers, I feel like so many of us are closer to our authentic selves then than we are in midlife. Maybe that's because most of us have the luxury as teenagers to be entirely self-focused. And we don't feel the heavy weight of responsibilities or have the laundry list of to do's. This then gets me to wondering if my life today (the life that has me rushing out the doo