for you ladies that are justin beiber fans

(Val, don't you hide your head. I've seen you rock out like the best of them to the beibster ;)

another reason i'm proud to be dutch...

i don't know if you'll be able to handle all 3 1/2 minutes of this dutch couple singing, but i did learn some pretty sweet moves from the sexy woman ;) 

ps.  Ma, do you want to translate for us?

okay guys, I'm having serious anti-exercising issues. Help.

I promised Mom I'd post this: Thai Chicken with Peanut sauce

4 chicken breasts: slice thin
2 t oil
1 T minced garlic
1 T minced ginger

Put the oil in a skillet. Add the other ingredients and cook until chicken is done. About 5-7 min.

Add and stir
3/4 c. sliced green onions
1/4 c. chopped peanuts

Add and stir well:
1 T soy sauce
1 T sherry/chicken broth/ or water if you don't have chicken broth
1 t. sugar

Add Peanut Sauce:
3 T creamy peanut butter (I have even used crunchy peanut butter when I didn't have chopped peanuts)
2 Veg oil
4 T soy sauce
4 T sugar
4 t rice wine vinegar
1 t seasame seed oil
1/8-1/4 t cayenne pepper (or to taste)

Stir till mixed well. Serve over rice. I usually do less meat and throw in vegetables, like zucchini. I usually make more of the peanut sauce because I love sauce. You will seriously be licking the bowl afterwards. Trust me. Everybody does.

BEST Tomato Sauce Ever!

I found this recipe in my parenting magazine from the chef on the reality tv show "Food Revolution", Jamie Oliver. I have never seen the show but I have heard of him before and the recipe looked very healthy. So, after 4 trips to the store to get all the ingredients I decided to do it. I am so glad I did. It is really good an really good for you. Plus, it makes a ton so you can freeze some for later. It was so good I thought I would share it with yall since we are all on a health kick, even if we aren't all in the competition-lol!

Makes 13 cups
Prep time: 15 min.
Cooking time: 1 hour

Prep your veggies: Peel 2 small onions, trim 1 small leek (thoroughly washed of sand)and 2 stalks celery, halve and dessed 2 red bell peppers, then roughly chop everything. Use the coarse side of a box grater to grate 2 zucchinis and 2 carrots. Heat a large saucepan (big enough to hold all the ingredients) over medium heat. Add a tablespoon of olive oil to the pan, followed by all your chopped and grated veggies. Add a large pinch of dried oregano (I found out a large pinch means about a tablespoon :0)-) and 2 bay leaves, then cook slowly, stirring occasionally, for about 20 minutes with the lid on, or until the vegetables are soft but not starting to brown. Meanwhile, peel 1 small butternut squash, then carefully cut it int half, scoop out and discard the seeds, and coarsely grate the flesh. Add it to the pan of vegetales. Add 4 (14.5 oz) cans of plum tomatoes with juice, 2 cups water, a pinch of sea salt and fresh black pepper. Bring to a boil, then simmer for about 30 minutes, or until the squash is soft. Take the pan off the heat, spoon out the bay leaves, and let the sauce cool slightly before blitzing with a stick blender until smooth (or use a bleder or food processor in batches, but make sure the lid is secure).

Spring Pasta - serves 6

Cook 1 lb. dried fettuccine in a large pot of salted boiling water according to package directions. Meanwhile, reheat 4 cups of homemade tomato sauce in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Snap the woody ends off a bunch (about 8 oz.) of asparagus stalks and discard. Slice the stalks finely with a kinife, leaving the tips whole. Add the sliced asparagus and the tips to the sauce and simmer for about 1 minute. then remove from heat and stir in a few fresh basil leaves, if handy. By now your pasta should be cooked. Save a cup of cooking water before draining the pasta. Quickly add the fettuccine to your sauce and toss, adding splashes of pasta water as needed to loosen the sauce. Serve with a drizzle of extra-virgin olive oil and a grating of fresh parmesan cheese.

1/2 cup sauce contains 2-3 servings of veggies

Wellness competition.

Why don't we report our points for each week on the blog? That way we can keep tabs and encourage one another.

Just for the record, this "wellness plan" almost killed me tonight. I just drank 3 glasses of water and now feel like I'm going to puke. People die this way.

game on!

hey everyone....it's day 1 of our wellness challenge. hopefully everyone is excited to make their life even better than it is. i'm really looking forward to making some good life long changes (more veggies in my life, and maybe a little more sleep) but whatever it is that you are seeking, i know we can do it together. we are a powerful group of women who can achieve great things! i'm so glad we're on the same team.

Gratitude

I still can see their faces and hear their squeals of laughter. This was Cedar Hills Farm.

Josh took off a day of vacation on his birthday and we packed a picnic and took off for a 45 min. drive to our first farm in TN. It was such a perfect day that I had to share my memories with all of you to show you just how grateful I am for life and ALL that is in it. The boys wanted to hold these chicks over and over and we practically had to drag them away from it so others could have a turn...they still talk about holding the green and blue chicks. We saw rabbits, hogs, cows, a turkey, a peacock,hens, ponies, ducks, and just about any other kind of farm animal you can think of. We took a small train ride where we got to see a birds nest with eggs in it and a hay ride out to a field where the kids could pick out some Easter eggs. We ate lunch and played at their playground and we left tired, dirty, and full of smiles and wonderful memories. It was the perfect day.

Purity

Years ago, in church, someone told a story that I have not forgotten. The woman said that she asked her mom what she thought about as she was doing the dishes and laundry, and all of those other mind-numbing chores we do all day. Her mother said that she liked to just think about the things of God.

Woah. What do I think about?
Kyle has a soccer game Saturday and he has been wearing his soccer shirt two days already this week. How dirty is it? Do I need to bring treats? I really need to cut his hair. What am I going to make for dinner? Will the kids ever learn to shut the door? I've gotta get the laundry done. What am I going to make for dinner? I wonder what the weather's going to be like tomorrow. I need to water the garden. I sure hope the plants grow. I love listening to those two laugh. I really really hope the baby sleeps well tonight. What do I feel like cooking tonight? Rob's gone, maybe omelets again etc. etc. etc.

How do we purify our souls? I like this idea so much because it isn't just happening during moments of quietness or prayer. Heavens knows there are not a lot of those moments for a stay-at-home mom. It is while kids were running in and out. While work is getting done. Although those moments of meditation and prayer are essential, just as important are the snapshots into our mind throughout the day. Hindu Prince Gautama Siddharta, the founder of Buddhism, said, "What we think, we become."

If spend my time thinking of stuff I need to do, naturally, I become busy. If I spend my time... even the washing dishes and laundry time... thinking of purity and love, I become purity and love.

Just a quote I came across

"For to teach, encourage, cheer up, console, amuse, stimulate or advise a husband or children or friends, you have to be something yourself. And how to be something yourself? Only by working hard and with gumption at something you love and care for and think is important.

So if you want your children to be musicians, then work at music yourself, seriously and with all your intelligence. If you want them to be scholars, study hard yourself. If you want them to be honest, be honest yourself. And so it goes.

And that is why I would say to the worn and hectored mothers who longed to write and could find not a minute for it: If you would shut your door against the children for an hour a day and say: "Mother is working on her five-act tragedy in blank verse!" you would be surprised how they would respect you. They would probably all become playwrights."

from Brenda Uelands book If You Want to Write: A book about Art, Independence, and Spirit, in the chapter called, "Why women who do too much housework should neglect it for their writing."

This is applicable for more than just mothers. I remember learning about a study that showed that one person's decision to lose weight impacted people's weight loss 2 levels away... in other words, friends of the friend of the person who lost weight. So as we "become" something ourselves... we will affect not only us, but each other. Val's efforts to BECOME will increase my efforts. And vice versa.

Betchya Didn't Know..

How cool the accordion is!

I love this song--makes me want to get up and dance. And go to Zumba!

The Power of Vulnerability

Ok, so I stole this from Shawn! He posted it on Facebook and I loved it and thought I would pass it on again in case you guys didn't see his post.

pineapple cookies

i was going to send this recipe to val but thought the rest of you might enjoy this recipe too!

Pineapple Cookies
Mix: 1 c shortening
1 1/2 c sugar
1 egg
Stir in: 1 c crushed pineapple with juice
Sift and stir in:
3 1/2 c flour
1 tsp soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1 c nuts (optional)

Bake at 400 for 8-10 minutes. Makes about 4 dozen.

This was him sleeping... he really was smiling in his sleep. Okay, I'm loving this new camera! (and him!)

What time is it?

Yes, this IS a toilet seat shaped clock. And it flushes every hour, too. Wow. Just how much money does one have to have before you start buying things like toilet seat shaped clocks?

Oh, and for Savaring za plezure... I spent 3 hours playing soccer and catch with my kids outside today. That's savaring!

year's motto

we decided on these four lines to help us focus this year. i thought i'd put it together to help us remember them. just an idea. i made it a 5X7 just because it's easier to frame. but we can change it in anyway...anyone have any opinions?

How I'd Hack Your Passwords......

Our IT expert from work sent this out to us and although it's a bit long for a blog, SUPER IMPORTANT AND HELPFUL.  Identities are being stolen more and more and there are simple ways we can keep ourselves from being victims--

How I'd hack your passwords

An Internet security expert explains just how vulnerable your online accounts are. He also provides tips on making passwords more secure.

If you invited me to try and crack your password -- you know, the one that you use over and over for like every Web page you visit -- how many guesses would it take before I got it?

Let's see . . . here is my top-10 list. I can obtain most of this information much easier than you think. Then I might just be able to get into your e-mail, computer or online banking. After all, if I get into one, I'll probably get into all of them.

·         Your partner, child or pet's name, possibly followed by a 0 or 1 (because they're always making you use a number, aren't they?).

·         The last four digits of your Social Security number.

·         123 or 1234 or 123456.

·         "password."

·         Your city, or college, football team name.

·         Date of birth -- yours, your partner's or your child's.

·         "god."

·         "letmein."

·         "money."

·         "love."

Statistically speaking, that should probably cover about 20% of you. But don't worry: If I didn't get it yet, it will probably only take a few more minutes before I do.

Hackers, and I'm not talking about the ethical kind, have developed a range of tools to get at your personal data. And the main impediment standing between your information remaining safe, or leaking out, is the password you choose. (Ironically, the best protection people have is usually the one they take least seriously.)

One of the simplest ways to gain access to your information is through the use of a brute-force attack. This is accomplished when a hacker uses a specially written piece of software to attempt to log into a site using your credentials. A few years ago, Insecure.org published a top-10 list of password crackers.

So, how would one use this process to actually breach your personal security? Simple. Follow my logic:

·         You probably use the same password for lots of stuff, right?

·         Some sites you access, such as your bank or work VPN, probably have pretty decent security, so I'm not going to attack them.

·         However, other sites, such as an e-mail greeting-card site, an online forum you frequent or an e-commerce site you've shopped at, might not be as well-prepared. So those are the ones I'd work on.

·         So, all we have to do now is unleash a password cracker such as THC Hydra on their server with instructions to try, say, 10,000 different user names and passwords (or 100,000 -- whatever makes you happy) as fast as possible.

·         Once we've got several login-plus-password pairings, we can then go back and test them on targeted sites.

·         But wait: How do I know which bank you use and what your login ID is for the sites you frequent? All those cookies are simply stored, unencrypted and nicely named, in your Web browser's cache. (Read this post to remedy that problem.)

And how fast could this be done? Well, that depends on three main things: the length and complexity of your password, the speed of the hacker's computer and the speed of the hacker's Internet connection.

Assuming the hacker has a reasonably fast connection and PC, below is an estimate of the amount of time it would take to generate every possible combination of passwords for a given number of characters. After generating the list, it's just a matter of time before the computer runs through all the possibilities -- or gets shut down trying.

Password length	All characters	Only lowercase characters
3 characters	0.86 second	0.02 second
4 characters	1.36 minutes	0.046 second
5 characters	2.15 hours	11.9 seconds
6 characters	8.51 days	5.15 minutes
7 characters	2.21 years	2.23 hours
8 characters	2.10 centuries	2.42 days
9 characters	20 millenniums	2.07 months
10 characters	1,899 millenniums	4.48 years
11 characters	180,365 millenniums	1.16 centuries
12 characters	17,184,705 millenniums	3.03 millenniums
13 characters	1,627,797,068 millenniums	78.7 millenniums
14 characters	154,640,721,434 millenniums	2,046 millenniums

Pay particular attention to the difference between using only lowercase characters and using all possible characters (uppercase, lowercase and special characters like @#$%^&*). Adding just one capital letter and one asterisk would change the processing time for an eight-character password from 2.4 days to 2.1 centuries.

Remember, these are just for an average computer, and these assume you aren't using any word in the dictionary. If Google put its computers to work on it, it'd finish about 1,000 times faster.

Now, I could go on for hours and hours more about all sorts of ways to compromise your security and generally make your life miserable, but 95% of those methods begin with compromising your weak password. So, why not just protect yourself from the start and sleep better at night?

Believe me, I understand the need to choose passwords that are memorable. But, if you're going to do that, how about using something that no one is ever going to guess and doesn't contain any common word or phrase in it.

Here are some password tips:

·         Randomly substitute numbers for letters that look similar. The letter "o" becomes the number 0 -- or, even better, an "@" or "*" (for example, m0d3ltf@rd instead of modelTford) .

·         Randomly throw in capital letters (Mod3lTF0rD).

·         Think of something you were attached to when you were younger, but don't choose a person's name. Every name plus every word in the dictionary will fail under a simple brute-force attack.

·         Maybe a place you loved, a specific car, an attraction from a vacation or a favorite restaurant?

·         You really need to have different user name and password combinations for everything. Remember, the technique is to break into anything you access just to figure out your standard password, then compromise everything else. This doesn't work if you don't use the same password everywhere.

·         Since it can be difficult to remember a ton of passwords, I recommend using RoboForm for Windows. It will store all of your passwords in an encrypted format and allow you to use just one master password to access all of them. It will also automatically fill in forms on Web pages, and you can even get versions that allow you to take your password list with you on your PDA, phone or a USB key. To download it without having to navigate RoboForm's website, try this direct download link.

·         For Mac users I recommend 1Password (though RoboForm does also offer a Mac version). And I should also note that both of these applications have companion versions for iPhones and Android devices, so you can sync your passwords and take them everywhere you go.

·         Once you've thought of a password, try Microsoft's password strength tester to find out how secure it is.

Another thing to keep in mind is that some of the passwords you think matter least actually matter most. For example, some people think that the password to their e-mail box isn't important because "I don't get anything sensitive there." Well, that e-mail box is probably connected to your online banking account. If I can compromise it, then I can log on to the bank's website and tell it I've forgotten my password and have it e-mailed to me. Now, what were you saying about it not being important?

Oftentimes, people also reason that all of their passwords and logins are stored on their computer at home, which is safe behind a router or firewall device. Of course, they've never bothered to change the default password on that device, so someone could drive up and park near the house, use a laptop to breach the wireless network and then try passwords from this list until they gain control of your network -- after which time they will own you.

I realize that every day we encounter people who exaggerate points in order to move us to action, but, trust me, this is not one of those times. There are 50 other ways you can be compromised and punished for using weak passwords that I haven't even mentioned.

I also realize that most people just don't care about all this until it's too late and they've learned a very hard lesson. But why don't you do me, and yourself, a favor and take a little action to strengthen your passwords and let me know that all the time I spent on this article wasn't completely in vain.

Please, be safe. It's a jungle out there.

John Pozadzides is the CEO of Woopra, one of the world's leading real-time Web analytics companies, and an expert in Internet architecture, infrastructure and security systems.

Gratitude

Thank You!!!

So grateful at this wonderful time for the Miller women in my life.

Thank you for your calls, visits, meals, and words of encouragement!

I really do rejoice in the love and unity we all share.

Laughter...the BEST Medicine?

Yes...yes it is.  and you can't argue that either. 
Shared this on the TOFW--because really, it IS all about attitude and one of our presenters, Kris Belcher, has an incredible one!

This is less than 3 minutes long and will leave you laughing--

Contentment

Lately I have been trying to focus on finding joy in motherhood. I was reading a book called... Contentment in Motherhood (or something like that). I was actually getting ticked reading the book. For example, she talked about her awesome stay-at-home-mom, who did all these amazing things like be the youngest member on the mo-tab choir, a mission-mom at 29, in charge or all these activities all over Ireland, etc. etc. Anyway, as I read I thought, yeah, of course her mom never had issues with being a stay-at-home-mom. She wasn't one! She may not have been paid, but...

Anyway, I was in the middle of all this complaining and discontentment, which was getting me exactly opposite where I wanted. Then it struck me, maybe it was me. Does the word "Stiff-neckedness" come to mind?

So I have done some softening. I started reading the book without criticism... and more importantly, The Good Book. And it's getting TONS better. I am finding contentment. I am really enjoying mothering. I love being home with my kids. And while it is in no way perfect, I'm feeling what I have been praying for.

Josh Wright

Seriously?  Seriously...love this!

He came and played at our yearly appreciation luncheon at the Lion House today.   Reminds me of the growing up years listening to Chris on the piano or falling asleep to piano music.  Ohhh...happy memories.

let's start!!

hey i'm so excited that mary has got this blog up and running!! thanks meres!! i think this will be a great venue for all of us to share great tips, great ideas, recipes, successes and support and love. so i hope everyone will get on board, check this blog often and share...we'll all become better women.

aren't we blessed to have each other!!