Personality Tests

Have any of you ever done a personality test?  I've done them before, but it's been a long time ago.  I was reading a blog today that talked about it.  She recommended the site 16 Personalities, which has a free test you can take.  It was 60 questions and took me about 5-10 minutes to complete. 

I am someone who does lots of self-examining.  I'm very critical of myself and tend to think a lot about the things I've said and done, the way I've acted, the way something has affected someone else, the things I like and don't like about myself, or who I am and want to be.  I guess this is why I find personality tests interesting. 

Some of the results I like about myself and others, I wish I could change.  Anyhow, here are my results.

According to this test, I'm an ESFJ.  After reading what it all means, I would say it's pretty accurate.

Extraverted (E)
Expressive, outgoing, prefer group activities, eager to speak their minds, more comfortable when around other people than when alone, get energized by social interaction

Sensing (S)
Observant, rely on their senses, absorbed in practical matters, focus on what has happened

Feeling (F)
Sensitive, follow their hearts, keep feelings close to the surface, focus on harmony and cooperation

Judging (J)
Decisive, prefer clear rules and guidelines, eager to commit, see deadlines as sacred, seek closure

It lists some famous people with the same personality type - Bill Clinton, Sarah Palin, Harry Truman, and Monica from "Friends"

So, do you think this is accurate for me?  Travis thought it was!  I think I'll see if Travis will take the test.  I may just learn something about him!

What is your personality type? 

Running

If you know Travis, you know he loves to exercise.  Actually, he doesn't really love it at all, he just hates not doing anything and feels lazy if he doesn't do some sort of exercise every day. He's incredibly disciplined!

He's done a bunch of different work out routines from lifting weights and jogging to P90X and Insanity.  He rotates between them and tries to change it up from time to time so he doesn't get tired of them.

Up until this summer, the farthest he had ever run was about 3 miles.  He was getting bored with his workouts, so he decided he wanted to train to run a half marathon.  Basically, he just wanted to see if he could do it.

Well, yesterday he ran 12 miles!  And he says it's not even that bad!  The crazy thing is, he has no desire to run in an actual race.  He just wants to know that he can do it.

He's contemplating doing the full marathon training when he's done.  I think he should go for it!  And of course, I'm trying to talk him into running the OKC marathon in the spring.  I don't think it will happen though!

The Last Few Weeks in Pictures

Never mind a helmet, they both have on eye protection!  Glad he doesn't worry like I do!

 Playing around with daddy's stuff! 

My cute lunch date!

 

 Addison loves getting mail!

 

 She's taking piano lessons this year and so far she loves it.

 

 watching the homecoming parade together

 

 Travis bought these at an auction

 

 Found a tarantula in the driveway...she was thrilled to take it to school.

Mackenna also took it for show and tell.

I wasn't so thrilled...made them keep it in the garage overnight!

 Roller skating at school last week and I got to help Addison's class every day.

I only skated on the last day though - it's not as easy as it used to be!

Laundry Room

Our laundry room was too boring!
It's not a big room at all, but it needed some color.
We painted the cupboards several months ago.
I love how they turned out, but they just blended in with the off white walls.

Here's a before picture, although I forgot to take a picture before I started!

I finally finished today!
I finished everything except behind the washer/dryer last week.
Needed Travis' help with pulling them out and we finally had time to do that this morning!

The picture doesn't quite look it, but the color is actually turquoise.
Now I need to find some things to hang on the walls in there!
I have a few things in mind!

Home

It's always good to be home when you've been away for awhile!

The last few weeks have been busy.
Mission trip for a week.
Home for 3 days...just enough time to do laundry and pack again.
Leave for family vacation.
And home again!

The house is a mess.
Lots of laundry to do.
Not much food in the house.
Camping stuff that needs to be put away.

A busy week ahead, but I'm feeling refreshed after spending time in the mountains, relaxing and having fun with the ones I love!

What We Do During Bad Weather

During one of our recent storms, I took pictures of the clouds.  They were pretty amazing looking!

In light of all the recent tornadoes around here, I thought I would share about where we go during a tornado.  Many of you don't live in a place that has tornadoes, so here is what our storm shelter looks like.  Not very exciting, but I wouldn't want to live here without it!

This is our back room. It was added on to the house at some point, so they put in an underground storm shelter, under the stairs.  Normally the green couch is next to it, but we move it to get into the shelter.

There's even a light down there!

 Old chairs, perfect to keep in the shelter.

This bucket holds some supplies, but also can serve as a "toilet" if we're ever down there for a long period of time.

We've lived in our house for 4 years now and have been in our shelter 3 times.  One of those times, I had enough time to grab some important items to take down with us.  The other 2 times, the tornado siren sounded during the middle of the night and we had to wake up a toddler and a baby and get them down there pretty quickly.  I have a mental list in my head of things I would take with me if I have time! 

 

So, there's a glimpse of what our tornado shelter looks like!  



Snake!

This afternoon, the girls, along with two of their friends, were playing in the backyard. They had their swimsuits on and were all wet from the sprinklers when all of a sudden they came running in the front door, screaming.  I hollered at them to go back outside because they were all wet and that's when I heard....SNAKE!!!!  And then I heard more screaming and more hollering....SNAKE, SNAKE, come quick!! 

I go outside and ask them to show me where it is, but none of them will even step foot in the back yard to show me.  I immediately started calling Travis (who didn't answer all 3 times) and sent the girls across the street to see if Mark or Erland were home.  No luck. 

I stood there watching it for a little bit, trying to figure out what to do.  Thankfully, this was about the time Travis drove up on his moped, with all 4 girls running towards him screaming and talking all at once.  He came and looked at it and then went to get a shovel.  About that time, I walked to the side yard to talk to our neighbor.  When Travis got back, the snake was gone.  We looked everywhere and it had disappeared. And of course, not knowing where the snake was, the girls wouldn't even consider playing back there again!

Shortly before supper, Mackenna went out in the backyard to play again.  I went to the back door to peek out and check on her, and that's when I spotted the snake again, crawling up over my lawn chair sitting on my back patio.  Yuck!!

Thankfully Travis was home this time, and Mark across the street came over too, and they caught the snake and put it in this bucket.

Yesterday...

Yesterday was a long day.
A sick kid home from school, who I wished I had sent to school half way through the day.
Another kid so happy and wound up she was about to burst!
And me, a tired, impatient, anxious, trying to be sympathetic but failing, mom.

Today I am thankful for a new day.
Thankful that every day is not like yesterday.
Thankful that we are mostly all feeling better today.
And thankful that I can spend time with this little cutie every day!

Kevin the Owl

A few weeks ago, Mackenna came to me one morning and said "momma, there's an owl in the backyard."  I figured she must be pretending and had seen an owl on TV or something.  So I played along and went to look at her owl.  I was very surprised to see an owl sitting on the patio, right by our back door. 

It stayed in our backyard all day.  It moved back by our shed half way through the day and then later in the afternoon we went outside to look for it and it was sitting on the yard light on the side of our house.

The girls decided its name was Kevin!  Who knows why they chose Kevin, but they did!  We did a little research and called our local game warden, Frank, who told us it was a full-grown screech owl.  Then we googled screech owls and learned a lot about them. It was a good learning opportunity!

Break...

I took a blog break.  It wasn't on purpose, but just sort of happened. It's been since before Christmas that I've really looked at any blogs.  It's been a great break!  It's amazing how much time one can spend in a day looking at the computer screen.  Of course, I've found other things to waste my time with!  I finished a great book and am almost finished with another, so it wasn't completely wasted!  Now I need to get caught up and post some stuff from Christmas! 

No Shave November

Travis and several of his friends participated in "no shave November" last month. 

He thought it was itchy and it drove him crazy.

I thought he kind of looked like a lumber-jack and should've been wearing a plaid flannel shirt to go with the look!

At the end of the month, before he shaved it all off, he shaved his beard to look like his dad.

Yes, his dad really does have a beard like the picture on the right!

And it's amazing how much he looks just like him in that picture!

My Day

Mackenna was at preschool today, so here's what I did while I had time to myself!

 

Bought this.

Thought I would give it a try and see if I like it as well as the dryer sheets.

Almost done with Christmas cards!

Ordered this fun fabric to make curtains for upstairs.

Laundry....that reminds me, I need to go put sheets on my bed so I can go to sleep!

Took the doors off the cabinet in our bathroom.

Going to attempt to paint them!

Had to cut the shower curtain to fit the shower in our bathroom, so today I hemmed it.

Travis painted this for me and I got it hung up!

It was his grandparents and was a gold color.

I asked permission before painting it, just to make sure it wasn't some family heirloom that was really important!

It was a good day!

I'm always grateful for days when I feel I actually accomplished a few things.

None of it was of great importance, but I love checking things of my to do list!

35

Today I turned 35.
The girls were more excited about my birthday than I was!
It's funny how when you get older, it's just another day, not that exciting anymore.

(Yes, I know...I'm like a high school kid taking a picture of myself!! Keeping with the theme of 10 years, I thought it may be fun to look back in 10 years to see if I look any older!)

As I was pouring my cereal this morning, I started thinking about what my birthday was like 10 years ago.
I'm not sure why 10, but probably because it seems as if whenever talking about the future, people always say "what do you think you'll be doing in 10 years?"

And so, the list in my head began......
10 years ago, I was not eating bran cereal for breakfast!
I was living in Oregon.
We didn't have any kids, and I still felt so young and carefree.
I was teaching and coaching middle school kids every day.
I was thinner than I am now.
I was driving a car, not a mini van!
We were paying off school loans.
I could eat a piece of candy whenever I wanted and didn't have to hide it or share.

The list could go on, but it made me think about what a great time this is in my life.

I'm in good health.
I have two wonderful girls.
I have an amazing husband.
My kids are little and still hold my hand and let me give them kisses and tuck them into bed.
I can run and play with my kids and still keep up with them.
I am able to stay home with my children.
My kids still tell me everything.
I'm more confident than I was 10 years ago.
I have a great family who gets along and loves each other.
I have made so many wonderful, life-long friendships.
We love where we live and have a wonderful church family.

Yes, I may be older, but I've learned so much over the last 10 years and have grown and changed in so many ways.
And I wouldn't change it for the world!
And no matter where I am in life or how old I am, my Jesus still loves me, despite the stretch marks and bran flakes!!

I was talking with Travis today about where we see ourselves in 10 years.
It's fun to dream!
And imagine the next 10 years.

Since we're both 35 now, I thought it would be fun to make a list of 40 things we want to do before we're 40.
We'll see if I can talk him into doing it with me!

Maybe I'll post my list when I finish it!

But for now, I'm going to go eat another piece of my amazingly delicious peanut butter pie with chocolate crust and watch a movie!

Travis knows just what I love!

12 Weeks

12 weeks!
I did it!
I finished my exercise series without missing a day!

If you know me, you know I don't like to exercise.
I love to play sports.
Played volleyball and basketball in college, ran track through high school and played softball in the summers.
But, I hate exercising on my own!
It's so boring.
And it takes so much discipline....
another reason why it's hard for me!

Anyhow, I'm super proud of myself!

I think I'm going to start it over and do it again.
I need to work harder on the food plan part of it though.
That's the super hard part for me because I enjoy food!

If you're looking for a new exercise program, I really liked it.
And it's only 30 minutes a day!

(I just laughed as I looked at the title of this post.  Immediately made me think of pregnancy!  I wonder if anybody will see the title and think I'm pregnant?!!)

One Vehicle

Last May, we decided to sell Travis' truck and go to only having one vehicle.  Several of our friends thought we were crazy.  One friend even said "that's a stupid idea."  Now, anyone who knows me well, knows that when someone says I'm crazy for doing something, this is all the more reason for me to do it!

We had a few reasons for wanting to sell the truck, but the main reason was to pay off debt.  It allowed us to pay off our van which was the only debt we had besides our house.  And we've also been able to save money each month by not having insurance on two vehicles.

Another reason was because Travis wanted to see if he could get by only riding his moped or bike for the summer.  For the most part, he did this, but there were some days he took the van to work when I didn't have to go anywhere.

Another of our reasons was to simply have less.  It seems the world we are living in today is all about how much "stuff" we have and whose "stuff" is the best.  We always want more.  I fall into this trap all the time.  I see something I want and I think I have to have it! Or when I take Addison to the store and she really needs that plastic toy that is overpriced and will break after playing with it a few times!  It's hard to not want more.  It took awhile to get used to only having one vehicle and it has been inconvenient at times. But, it made us be much more purposeful in where we were going and plan ahead.

I was talking to my mom the other day and she was telling me how my family only had one vehicle when I was little.  She would walk halfway across town (a small town!) pulling me in a wagon, just to go to the grocery store.  It was much more normal back then.  I'm sure there were days when she would've loved having another car, but it was just the way it was and she was used to it.

Travis took the van today and drove to Kansas, which means I'm riding my bike 4 times today to take Mackenna to and from school.  When I first thought about it, I thought about how hot it was going to be outside and how unpleasant the ride would be.  But, as I was riding, I saw the smile on Mackenna's face and thought about the exercise I was getting.  It felt good!  And thankfully, I don't have to go very far!  It really is a ridiculous thing to complain about...riding 4-5 blocks to school, like it's going to kill me or something!

I don't think this has convinced us not to ever get another truck, but it has made me more aware of how lazy I am sometimes and how I really can get by with less, even if it is an inconvenience at times!

Dirty

Mackenna had a great time playing in the dirt last night during our softball tournament!

Oh My Goodness....

It's been such a long time since I've been on my blog! 
I don't even know where to start!

It has been a crazy summer.
Good, but crazy!
We were only home 11 days during July.
Our girls were with their cousins and grandparents a lot this summer, which was good and fun, but enough was enough and they were ready to be home.
I was too!

School starts next week and I am ready!
Ready for the routine that school brings.
Addison can't wait either!
Going to have a 1st grader and preschooler in the house!

My goal over the next few weeks is to get caught up on the blog.
I'll have to back post some of the highlights of our summer.

But for now, I'll leave you with a song that I'm loving right now.
We sang it at junior high church camp and it's on the radio all the time.

My soul will rest in you. 
You are my refuge and strength, ALWAYS!
My help comes from the Lord!

Thankful for God's promises!

Wheat Harvest

I've always thought the wheat fields are beautiful, especially to see them waving in the wind like a wave across the water.  Maybe it's because I've grown up in wheat country, but it's beautiful to look out at the horizon and see golden fields for as far as the eye can see.

Harvest started early here this year, May 18th.  In fact, it is the earliest they've ever started as far as anyone can remember.  I guess it's because we had such a warm winter and lots of rain (not sure if that's what the farmers would say, but that's my best non-farmer guess!)

The girls look forward to a combine ride every year with Cassie, so hopefully we'll be able to do that sometime this week!  We went for a ride in the country a few days ago and here are a few pictures I took.

 I just love the oil well out in the middle of the wheat field.  We live in oil country and wheat country, so this picture captures what we see a lot of around here!

World's Largest Rocking Chair

Stopped to see this in Missouri.

Travis just had to pull over to see it!

I have now been to the world's largest rocking chair and the world's largest ball of twine (which is in Kansas if any of you ever want to go see it!)

Have you ever been to anything that is the world's largest?