by kathilipp | Aug 29, 2010 | Me |
“Mom, don’t freak out…”
Yes. Those are the words that every mother longs to hear.
One of my kids, (who has asked to remain nameless,) had a little accident.
OK it was more than a little accident. I mean, just look that that license plate.
Thankfully, no one was hurt. No one, except for my car. (BTW, I have to give it up for my 11 year old Toyota Sienna. It has had rocks reign down on it, a tree fall on it, and taught teens to drive. That is the Energizer Bunny of Automobiles.)
All this occurred just hours before I am suppose to leave for a retreat. On peace.(Go ahead. Laugh ironically. I did before I cried.)
I have to tell you honestly. I wasn’t feeling it.
There have been work issues, family issues, and health issues. Plus, we have been moving rooms around. (Want to test a family’s peace level? Have them switch rooms around. I. Dare. You.)
I was jumpy, my heart kept racing, and I was on the verge of tears all the time.
But if there is one thing I have learned about peace it’s this: You don’t get to choose your circumstances, but you do get to choose who you let handle them.
When I respond with my oh-so-human response, I continue to be jumpy, my heart keeps racing and I am on the verge of tears all the time.
But when I finally, eventually, start praying and remembering what God has promised me, that is the only time that I can even begin to taste anything resembling peace.
The verse I go to in times like this is Isaiah 26:3
You keep him in perfect peace
whose mind is stayed on you,
because he trusts in you.
It is conditional. I get peace because:
- I keep my mind on Him
- I trust in Him
And when I do those things, I have peace.
So here is my question for you: What are the verse you rely on when you need to keep the peace? Because really, I am going to paste them up in my car. When it gets back from the shop.
by kathilipp | Aug 25, 2010 | Uncategorized |
Because if your trying to lose weight, you don’t need to know that you can make a chocolate cake in about the same time as a commercial break. (“You see kids, when I was growing up, you had six whole minutes right in the middle of TV shows where they showed commercials.” “No, you couldn’t fast-forward through them because THERE WAS NO TIVO.”)
With ingredients you probably already have.
It’s a dangerous thing.
But I, your fearless blogger, took a bullet for you and made this for all the boys at the house (I now live with all boys. Even the dog and cat are both boys. But they didn’t get cake.) We are moving rooms around upstairs so that Roger can have an office and I figured when boys clean their closet, the get chocolate.
5 MINUTE CHOCOLATE MUG CAKE
4 tablespoons flour
4 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons cocoa
1 egg
3 tablespoons milk
3 tablespoons oil
3 tablespoons chocolate chips (optional)
A small splash of vanilla extract
1 large coffee mug (Microwave Safe)
Add dry ingredients to mug, and mix well. Add the egg and mix thoroughly before pouring in the milk and oil in. Keep mixing. Add the chocolate chips next and vanilla extract, and mix again.
Put it in the microwave for 5 minutes.It will bubble up above the rim of the cut. Don’t panic! It will be all good. Remove with a hotpad.
This is what it looks like if you want to eat it all by yourself (after taking this picture, Roger and I put it in separate bowls. See how vitreous I am…)
by kathilipp | Aug 23, 2010 | Uncategorized |
Have you been in a slump?
Have you hit a brick wall?
This Saturday, Roger and I taught a conference on Marketing for speakers and writer. People traveled from all over the country to be there. They wanted to learn about the latest ideas about marketing and social media. They wanted to get inspired about what the next step is.
I would love to think that people wanted to come because of our brilliant teaching, but the reality was something much simpler: Sometimes you just need to get in a room.
You need to get in a room with other people who are trying to accomplish the same things you are.
You need to get in a room where there is energy and focus and the exchange of ideas and encouragement.
I love webinars, and recordings and phone conferences and online training. But there is something about being in a room you can’t replicate with a webinar.
So my question for you is this – where do your people hang. If you’re a writer, then it’s at a writers conference. If you are trying to learn to sculpt, it’s an art class?
What are you wanting to accomplish and where do you need to hang out to make it happen?
by kathilipp | Aug 22, 2010 | Because Sometime? I'm Just All Shallow - You Know?, The "What's for dinner?" Project |
If you ever have to bring flowers to a friend, consider the arrangement that Gerry Wakeland – the president of CLASSeminars – brought to me and Roger Sunday night.
We were having her, and best selling author (and basically the woman who founded Christian women speakers,) Florence Littauer, over for dinner.
While the conversation was sparkling, the chicken to die for, and the bread pudding out of this world., this bouquet just tickled me. Look at it closely. Those little cards there? Those are Starbucks Cards.
Those Starbucks cards are taped to Starbucks straws and all arranged in a Starbucks tumblers.
It’s a Starbuckspalooza.
And why, oh, why, has FTD not picked up on this? This right here? This would be their best seller.
(Oh, the chicken in the picture? That’s Doodle. He has a bigger brother named Cock A, and a little brother named Doo.)
Speaking of Chicken – here is the recipe for Grilled Rosemary Lemon Chicken that we served:
Grilled Rosemary Chicken
Ingredients
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup fresh rosemary
3 cloves garlic
1 lemon, zested
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
6 (6 ounce) skinless, boneless chicken breast halves
salt and pepper to taste
Directions
In a food processor, thoroughly blend together the butter, rosemary, garlic, lemon zest, and lemon juice. Pour 1/3 of blended mixture into a small bowl for marinade. Cover remaining mixture, and set aside.
Lightly season chicken breasts with salt and pepper. Rub chicken breasts with the marinade mixture. Place chicken breasts on a platter, cover, and refrigerate 3 hours.
Preheat an outdoor grill for high heat and lightly oil grate. Pour half of the reserved rosemary and lemon mixture into a bowl for basting. Cover remaining mixture, and set aside for topping cooked chicken.
Grill chicken breasts 4 minutes on each side, basting with rosemary and lemon basting mixture. Remove chicken breasts from grill, and top with small scoops of the remaining topping mixture.
by kathilipp | Aug 18, 2010 | tips and ideas, Updates |
Grilled Chicken over Marinaded Salad
This is a beautiful picture taken at our very yummy dinner at Treebones this weekend. Here is our recreation”
* 1 tbsp. lemon juice
* 2 tsp olive oil
* Coarse salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
* 2-3 cups of cherry tomatoes, sliced
* 1 cup of chopped cucumber and peeled
* ¼ cup crumbled feta cheese
* 2 tbsp of finely chopped green onions
* 1 tbsp finely chopped fresh oregano
* 1 bag mixed spring salad
* sliced olives (optional)
* sliced red onion (optional)
* boneless chicken breast with skin on
* 1/4 cup olive oil
* dried rosemary and salt to taste
Combine lemon juice, olive oil, salt and pepper.
Toss dressing with tomatoes, cucumber, feta, onions, olives, oregano and spring salad
Meanwhile, grill chicken with olive oil, salt and rosemary
Dribble plates with balsamic vinegar. Put salad/veggie mixture on plates and top with chicken. Serve with warm rosemary bread.
by kathilipp | Aug 16, 2010 | Uncategorized |
The Food? Fabulous.
The Bed? Super comfy.
The bathroom? A city block away from our yurt.
The number of times I needed said bathroom between 11 PM and 7AM? 3
The ROCKSTAR husband who wouldn’t let me walk alone because of the scary noises? Roger.
That’s true love girlfriend.
by kathilipp | Aug 15, 2010 | Travel |
I’m taking the day off blogging because Roger and I will be camping.
Well, at least my version of camping.
We are going to be in Bug Sur on the California coast on Monday staying in a yurt.
A yurt is a tent with a hardwood floor, a sink, and a queen-sized bed topped with a handmade velvet quilt.
For those of you who have heard my camping story, you know that this is about as rustic as I want to get…
Oh, and if you’re worried that I am telling the world that I will be gone overnight and you think this is an invitation to burglars to come and rob our house. said house will be filled with assorted adult children and guarded by our killer attack dog:
“I’s guard d puppy fuds.”
by kathilipp | Aug 10, 2010 | Because Sometime? I'm Just All Shallow - You Know?, Shameless Self-Promotion, The "What's for dinner?" Project, The Get Organized Project, Updates |
We’re both working for Nickelodeon.
OK – so he has a major kids show and I will be a food writer for their parenting magazine, but still, I’m pretty excited.
So, for those of you who read this blog, let me tell you, a lot of it is due to you.
Here’
s how it went down:
I have the world’s best agent, Rachelle Gardner. Every time I talk to her she assures me that I, in fact, am her only client and that she spends all of her waking hours working to make sure that I am completely happy. Well, I have evidence to the contrary.
Seems that she has another client, Erin MacPherson. I will excuse this little indiscretion on Rachelle’s part because Erin is super cool and real and funny. (And since you have amazing taste – I know this because you read this blog – you should absolutely check out her super-fun blog and new book here.)
Anywho.
Erin and I started chatting by e-mail and then she checked out my blog. That’s when she discovered me and my deep abiding love for all things tomato. After doing a little digging in the blog, she saw that roughly a quarter of all my post were food related.
Little did I know that for her day job, Erin is a writer/editor for Nickelodeon Family and Kids digital and edits their weekly food newsletter. Oh, and did I want to be a food writer for them.
Um, yeah.
So thanks to all of you and your love of all things yummy, I get to do a very cool job and work with a really cool woman.
Writing about food.
These are a few of my favorite things…
Oh – and if you want to subscribe to Parent Connect Food Newsletter sign up for it here. (My first issue – coming out next week – is all about how to use fresh tomatoes. Yum…)
by kathilipp | Aug 9, 2010 | Uncategorized |
I was having a conversation with an acquaintance recently who was convinced that she had a book that was going to change the world. It was a literary masterpiece and was going to turn the publishing industry on it’s ear.
The only problem? She hadn’t written it yet.
You see, she was a stay at home mom (although her kids are in school from 8 – 3 from September through May,) and she is just so busy.
- She volunteers as a room mom.
- She is on the PTA.
- She is on the steering team of her MOMs group.
- All three of her kids are involved in sports.
- Two of her kids are involved in a theater group.
- Her entire family is involved in various church activities.
So the life-changing book is going to have to wait until she has more time.
I hear this almost anytime someone asks me, “So, what do you do for a living?”
Everyone wants to write a book, but nobody has the time.
What I want to tell people who are convinced that they must write a book is that they are never going to see that happen unless they stop working for other people and start working for themselves.
- Don’t Answer Your E-mail (or at least some of them.) Just because someone sends you a piece of e-mail doesn’t mean you need to read it. When I subscribe to a newsletter or an email group, I don’t use my main e-mail address. I have a free yahoo account for all those things I am interested in reading, but, if the week is busy, I don’t feel bad if I just delete the whole list of e-mails. None of them are waiting for a personal response from me. This saves me time in sorting through my own e-mail box of things I have to respond to. (And hey, If you ever want to change the address of where you receive my e-mail newsletter, or even if you want to -gasp- stop receiving my emails, there is a link at the bottom of each one that tells you how to do that.
If you receive a lot of the same kind of e-mail, you may want to have a form letter. When people ask me how to become a speaker or author, I have a standard e-mail I send – not because I don’t care about the person, but because if I gave a personal answer to each and every one, I would never respond to anyone.
- Agree in Advance on What You Say Yes to My husband and I talk an awful lot about what we will say yes to when it comes to time spent outside of pursuing our own goals. Want to take me to coffee to talk about marketing your book? Meet me at Starbucks. Need me to bring you a meal because you broke your ankle? I’m your girl. Want me to help you move? Dude – I’m 43 years old. Be a grown up and hire a mover. Make sure you have someone to hold you accountable so you don’t say yes, when what you really mean is, “I don’t want to, but I don’t want to hurt you feelings by telling you no.” If you can say, “My husband (mom, friend, accountability partner, boss,) and I agreed I wouldn’t say yes to anything that wasn’t (part of my job description, related to photography, discussed in advance).
- When Your Kids Say Yes, that means You Say Yes You are not a bad parent if you kids are not signed up for every activity that the school, community center, church offers. Just say no.
Question for You: have you done anything recently to create time for yourself and your goals?
by kathilipp | Aug 8, 2010 | Me, The Husband Project, Uncategorized |
As you probably know from the kind of books I write, I am pretty crazy about my husband.
But, just like every other marriage, unless I am intetional about letting him know it, I can sometimes forget that little fact.
I have certain things that stress me out in our relationship:
- Traveling Together
- Directions while traveling
- Traveling with kids
(Do you see a pattern here?)
It can be hard to remember all the reasons that Roger rocks my world on a regular basis.
So instead of silently pouting and waiting until it all gets better, (because really? I was the one with the attitude this weekend…) it’s time for my campaign to let Roger know that I love him.
So here are three simple things I am going to do to improve my relationship with my man, today.
- Leaving a Post-it Y’all know I have a deep affection for my office supplies. When I can combine my love of all things form Office Depot with my love of my man, it’s a beautiful thing. So I’m going to let Roger know – via sticky note – one of the reasons I love him.
- Make Him a Treat Baked goods always make Roger feel loved. I have time today to make him something (OK – so it will probably involve a mix, but still…) but if I didn’t, there is no reason I can’t get him something from Safeway.
- Brag on Him It takes about two seconds to think of something great about Roger – but that does little good unless I share it. Sometimes, I need to share it with Rog, but it is way more effective to let someone he knows how much he rocks.
So today, I want you to join me in a love-a-thon. Will you do one thing to let your man know he rocks? tell us what you did (or are going to do) and I will enter you into a drawing for one of my favorite marriage-enhancing books:
Red-Hot Monogomy by Bill and Pam Farrel.
Make sure you let me know know what it is, here on the blog, by Wednesday, and I will enter you into the drawing.
“Mom, don’t freak out…”
