My Live Simply T-Shirt Idea.... This'll Be Fun!!!

Cody participated in a youth retreat this weekend with our church. They met at the church for dinner before breaking into their gender groups and heading to their host home for a night of...well...not sleeping, that's a given!

Our Friday small group meets at the church at seven, so naturally I had to head back and check in on my little Cody Wody, kiss him goodnight one last time. Ethan, our youth pastor gave me the shirt all the kids at the retreat were wearing. It said "Live Simply So Others Can Simply Live". And I like that.

I've been thinking about it often in the two weeks since I was walking out of the room and Ethan hollered "catch this!" and I turn to see a ball of white missiling through the air straight for my good hair day. Heck no, do NOT mess with the good hair. I twisted and contorted my body, jumped high into the air, leaning to the right, arms over my head as the shirt landed in one hand before I hit the ground and rolled into standing position again, not spilling a drop of the coffee I had in my left hand. You don't know. It might have been like that. Here she is, my new t-shirt--she hangs right next to "Do Not Remove Before Flight".

I'm thinking I'd like to do something fun with this one. If you've been hanging with me long, you might remember the Pilot John shirt. If you read the post, clicked over to Pilot John's blog, you remember. I know I personally had to click over there because it was business. I don't even remember if he had a profile pic or not. Did he?

Ahemmm....okay...that said, this time I want to do something different. I want to simplify my life so I can do more for others who need me. That could be the friend who has cancer and needs a meal. It could be my friends in the nursing home who need new sweatshirts. Maybe the animal shelter is running low on pet toys. It might free me to give a few extra dollars to the children we sponsor through Compassion. Or perhaps I could give it to our church so they can decide how best to allocate the money. Whatever.

I checked it out online and have found to some people this means living green. I'm not green. I don't have anything against tree huggers, in fact I think some tree huggers are right up there with Tab soda (where the HECK can I get Tab, btw?!!!!!). For me, this means I must not be so quick to put it in my cart. I can be more discerning in my habits and have the money to do those things. I'm on a mission to learn as much as I can about saving money, about simplifying, about not being a slave to my possessions. I'm going to devote time to this and I'm going to share some of the better ideas I find.

I joke around a lot because God has shown me through the chapters of my life that I need to take myself less seriously. And I take a lot of silly face photos for my blog, but truth is it's not all about me. Nothing I do or say should take my focus off of something we were just talking about last night in small group. The Great Commission. Jesus' directive to his disciples, clear and filled with hope. And I can look at this and I can put my faith to action because I know He is with me and I know there's no choice to make.

With that, I want to do something. I want to send this t-shirt along to the first reader who says they'd like to wear it once, sign the back of it with the enclosed Sharpie, write a great simple living tip for me, then mail it onto another reader. And so on until it's reached 20 bloggers. After 20 bloggers have worn it, send her back to Kansas City! I'll share your tips, link your blogs (hopefully y'all blog silly photos--doesn't everyone???!) and we'll be off to a great start.

I know the little girl who designed this version of the shirt is giving the money to help others. I'll link a way to order one (only $10 plus s/h) if you want to. I'm going to order some for Christmas gifts. Let me know what you think--do you wanna wear the shirt (which I wore ONE time only and washed)?

Do Not Remove The Shirt Ladies.....

You've waited longggg enough! Here is the tee I won in the drawing Pilot John had (of course many different viewpoints here, I couldn't decide which to use).

Now...there's danger in this tee, I worried a bit before showing it off. I think I need to clarify to all the women who wear one of these that there's a story behind the saying. Go to Pilot John's and ask him about it, it's not mine to tell. I will give you a hint because I worry--this doesn't mean remove your SHIRT before flight. No, no no. Don't do that! Well, if it'll get you a an upgrade and/or a warm chocolate chip cookie, and for sure if it'll get you free margaritas, maybe you could--but only for a scant minute.

Thanks to my new favorite pilot, Pilot John. If ever I board a plane you're piloting, you KNOW I will be wearing this...actually my daughter wants one too, so I'm going to have to order another. I'll be the brunette! And P/J, she's been all over your site looking at your pictures, lol, I think you're gonna have a lot of 17-18 year old fans in Lee's Summit, MO! (sorry bout that)

Throwback Thursday Time..............

Pinks & Blues Throwback Thursday:

Somewhere about 1983. Jamee, my big sister, was the captain of our basketball cheerleading team (and football; she was like that!). That's her, second from the front. Go down one, two and ta dah! That's me--turned around, doing the family (and team) proud! It's one of my favorite cheer pics because it clearly illustrates my cheerleading routine ability. Jamee was amazing...she could do anything gymnastic, she remembered the cheers, never forgot a routine, even made up a lot of ours. She was excited we were together cheering, and I'm sure frustrated from time to time with my lack of cheer-ability! Me? Excited, heck yes! I think I've shared with y'all that I was on the team the first time because one of the girls broke her leg. I was the next alternate. Didn't have a THING to do with that leg! Geesh, why does everyone ask? I did want the outfits, how cute were they?--that and the pom poms (those are the real Mccoys in the VBS pics--the black and gold ones!). And...the boy I liked was on the basketball team, (remember the lunch pictures from March?) so there was my no better way to keep an eye on him. Or so I thought--didn't have a lot of time to look for him. It took most of my concentration to keep from accidentally hurting one of my cheermates!

Now before I sleep tonight--you're in for a treat. That's right, the Pilot John tee has arrived! So...from cheerleading uniforms to my new contest-entering top. Works for me (oh that's Wednesday, right Gigi?)

Dog Days & Cat

Edit:
Going to be in and out for a few days--have some church & family obligations, but that doesn't mean I can't post--I can! (just might be slowwww, idk)

Today....I slept in, sort of. Well it was another late work night, but such a nice thing to know I can sleep in. Most of our summer I've been up at the usual 'school year time', but with swim team over for the summer, I get to do this for a few weeks.

I'm only stopping in for a sec, I'm taking Alex to piano lessons then housework. If there's time to blog before typing, not gonna lie, I'll be over entering the contests in the Dog Days Of Summer contest-a-looza. I've probably entered eight already, yet with sooo many to choose from and more added, I have more work to do! Ooooh! Maybe my lucky tee from Pilot John will arrive today and for sure I'll win something if I'm entering contests wearing that! I need the extra help, my friend GiGi is probably entering herself in all of them even a I type this! Cat, we can't let this happen! We have to for an alliance and enter all of them too! Can you IMAGINE the taunting posts GiGi will torture us with if she wins? Yeah. Me, too; and I don't know if I want to chance it. I figure if we show a united front, we can uppp our chances, fine tune our vibe, win win WIN! (And then...we share with our good friend Gigi.)

Need a nice red tee? Well, then head over to Pilot John's and enter this contest, because not only is he giving away this red tee, but he's also willing to trade out for a white one if you'd rather (I do look better in white!). (He's a cutie, Cat, you might want to enter this one too!)The shirt reads 'remove before flight' because you strap your airplanes down with these little red straps while it's not in flight...keeps it on the ground I'm sure. I hate when I forget to remove the straps from my airplane, so the shirt will be a handy reminder for when I'm headin out on the fly! But ladies, remove the straps, NOT the shirt, although I personally think this is a mixed message here.

I'm supposed to review his site, so here it is: Pilot John has a nice pilot person site and if nothing else, girlfriend, maybe peek at his photo, idk. (That's kinda creepy, in a 39ish mommy kind of way, isn't it?)

Hey Gigi--you say uncle yet? I have to talk politics and bathing suits next week, but I can do this all weekend long.