Showing posts with label life
Happy Monday! This is the first “full” day of school for my daughters. The new school year usually runs smoothly here at Casa Kinsman (feel free to chat with my long about March to see if I’m eating those words), and while I do miss my girls today, I am glad summer has ended and we are getting back to a regular routine.

But, I know some of you Moms have a few days (or weeks) left before school begins and along with the hot August days, your kiddos may be dancing on your nerves right about now. It’s okay, you are among friends you can admit it and nod at the screen… kids dance on nerves, it’s what they do. 


That’s why I’ve chosen The Odd life of Timothy Green as my first movie review. 


About The Odd Life of Timothy Green:

Disney
Courtesy: Disney Films
Released: August 15, 2012

“Disney brings enchantment home with The Odd Life of Timothy Green, an inspiring, magical story for the whole family starring Jennifer Garner.
Cindy (Garner) and Jim Green are a happily married couple who can't wait to start a family but can only dream about what their child would be like. When young Timothy shows up on their doorstep one stormy night, Cindy and Jim - and their small town of Stanleyville - learn that sometimes the unexpected can bring some of life's greatest gifts.
 From Academy Award® -nominated director/writer Peter Hedges (About A Boy, Best Adapted Screenplay, 2002; Dan In Real Life; What's Eating Gilbert Grape) - and complete with engaging bonus features - it's a heartwarming celebration of family as only Disney can deliver.” 

Director: Peter Hedges

Cast:
Jennifer Garner
Joel Edgerton
CJ Adams
Ron Livingston
Dianne Wiest
Odeya Rush
Rosemarie DeWitt
Lin-Manuel Miranda
M. Emmet Walsh
Lois Smith
David Morse and Common



My Review:


 Recently we chose this movie as our Friday family movie night and were not disappointed. What we as parents liked were the gentle reminders that being parents is a gift. Having kids is a gift. Trust me; this is the movie to watch as a family if you are short on patience with your kids right now.

What the kids liked was Timothy’s unflappable personality. He just didn’t let things bother him, even when things didn’t go well.

Yes, this is a sappy, feel good movie and yes Jennifer Gardner (Cindy) and Joel Edgerton (Jim) have zero on screen chemistry and may have been a bit miss-cast. However, these fine actors superbly portray their rather dull, childless life and later, their total lack of parental experience.

Timothy (C.J. Adams) shows up like a breath of fresh air and the movie awakens with him. Watching him interact with his parents and extended family and then the towns-folk is joyful in his innocence.
Timothy touches everyone he meets; sort of shining the light on those parts of ourselves we think we have well hidden.

You may even notice some of the characters from the movie bear a striking resemblance to family and friends within your own community. Jim’s Dad didn’t have a good relationship with his son so when he shows up there is concern and tension. Cindy’s sister, Miss Perfect Mom, PTO leader, Soccer Mom (you know the kind) was played so perfectly by RoseMarie DeWitt that I swear I have met her somewhere! Then there’s the angst filled teen, mid-drift baring girl who befriends Timothy, much to the dismay of Cindy.

This truly is a heartwarming family movie that may have you hugging your kids and your spouse just a little tighter after watching.

To learn more about The Odd Life of Timothy Green, you can watch the movie trailer or visit Disney.

I hope you’ve enjoyed reading my first movie review. Stay tuned for our thoughts on Percy Jackson and the sea of Monsters!


Disclosure: This is not a sponsored post and is in no way associated with Disney. I just wanted to share our family night movie experiences. All opinions are 100 % my own and may differ from yours.

A Day in the Life of a WAHM

in , , , , , , , by Linda A Kinsman, Monday, July 11, 2011
In reviewing my stats, I noticed that several searches were done for WAHM schedules, so I thought it would be fun ( and hopefully) helpful to share one of my days with you.
 Please note,  this is our summer schedule where kiddies reign supreme, but I think I've found a healthy family/work balance. It's worked for us so far.


6:00 AM
6:30 AM
Good Morning!
6:30 AM
7:00 AM
Coffee, please!
7:00 AM
7:30 AM
Get hubby out the door with all necessary items for his day : coffee, lunch, water, paperwork/invoices/designs etc. reminders of appointments. Love & smiles!
7:30 AM
8:00 AM
Work out, assist girls with breakfast, clothes, reminders of appointments for the day.
8:00 AM
8:30 AM
Check emails respond as needed : His business, Family, My business. Call hubby with updates as needed. Do billing, proposals, updates as needed or weekly on Friday morning.
8:30 AM
9:00 AM
Start a load of laundry. Shower, get ready for day.
9:00 AM
9:30 AM
Work on current project(s),His business 1st, then my business/blog if time allows. Clean up kitchen, plan dinner, plan day with girls.
9:30 AM
10:00 AM
Visit shared links, respond to blog comments, research offers, update all Web 2.0 sites, blogs, forums, groups as time allows.
10:00 AM
10:30 AM
Family/errand Time.
10:30 AM
11:00 AM
Family/errand time.
11:00 AM
11:30 AM
Return & make phone calls: Family, Businesses.
11:30 AM
12:00 PM
Free time with girls. Play outside, read, color, puzzles, dancing, singing, T.V. etc. girls choice.
12:00 PM
12:30 PM
Lunch.
12:30 PM
1:00 PM
Lunch and clean up.
1:00 PM
1:30 PM
Chat with hubby. Reconfirm appointments as needed.
1:30 PM
2:00 PM
Tackle at least 2 household chores/projects.
2:00 PM
2:30 PM
Tackle at least 2 household chores/projects and have girls check their chore charts and follow through as needed.
2:30 PM
3:00 PM
Find and/or implement boredom buster for the girls!
3:00 PM
3:30 PM
Find and/or implement boredom buster for the girls!
3:30 PM
4:00 PM
Plan a new boredom buster with girls input for the next day. :-)
4:00 PM
4:30 PM
Snack time!
4:30 PM
5:00 PM
Work. Girls get T.V./WII time. No seriously girls, I'm working here! :-)
5:00 PM
5:30 PM
Prep/start dinner.
5:30 PM
6:00 PM
Cooking, answering phone calls, herding kiddies, texting friends, etc.
6:00 PM
6:30 PM
Dinner time. We like long family style dinners most every night of the week. Family time rocks!
6:30 PM
7:00 PM
Dinner time. We like long family style dinners most every night of the week. Family time rocks!
7:00 PM
7:30 PM
Dinner clean up. Movie/Swim/Play/Walk/Garden time, or attending family/social functions.
7:30 PM
8:00 PM
Dinner clean up. Movie/Swim/Play/Walk/Garden time, or attending family/social functions.
8:00 PM
8:30 PM
Shower, storytime, one-on-one chat time with the girls.
8:30 PM
9:00 PM
Shower, storytime, one-on-one chat time with the girls.
9:00 PM
9:30 PM
Ah, another fine day in the books. Reconnect with hubby.
9:30 PM
10:00 PM
Watch T.V. Read a book/magazine, return calls/texts.
10:00 PM
10:30 PM
Plan next day. Sync schedule with hubby.
10:30 PM
11:00 PM
Try to be in bed by now. No late night T.V. or finishing up just one more thing.
11:00 PM
11:30 PM
Yep, I'm still awake, working through it all in my mind, formulating, reliving the day, praying, dreaming, counting my blessings, smiling,... zzzz

Four Words That Make Life Worthwhile by Jim Rohn

in , , , , , , , by Linda A Kinsman, Tuesday, May 10, 2011
I wanted to share this article by Jim Rohn today because it has such a powerful message.
 It helped validate my efforts to date and put me back on course.
 My Plan has always been to earn a part time living from home while balancing the work/family dynamic.
Over the last few months I've been trying out additional income streams along with my direct sales business.
While I won't call them failures, I will say I didn't get a good return on my investment. For the most part, I felt I wasn't working at optimum levels on any project.
 I found this saying, recently used by the Co-Founder of Willow House to be very fitting:
"You can't ride two horses at the same time".
So what's a WAHM to do? Live, learn, laugh, and pick one horse to ride! My choice?  Willow House! Afterall, I did receive a commission check from them this week!  Lesson learned.

I hope this article inspires you as much as it did me. 

Four Words That Make Life Worthwhile by Jim Rohn
Over the years, as I've sought out ideas, principles and strategies to life's challenges, I've come across four simple words that can make living worthwhile.

First, life is worthwhile if you LEARN. What you don't know will hurt you. You have to have learning to exist, let alone succeed. Life is worthwhile if you learn from your own experiences-negative or positive.
We learn to do it right by first sometimes doing it wrong. We call that a positive negative. We also learn from other people's experiences, both positive and negative. I've always said that it is too bad failures don't give seminars. Obviously, we don't want to pay them, so they aren't usually touring around giving seminars. But that information would be very valuable. We would learn how someone who had it all, messed it up. Learning from other people's experiences and mistakes is valuable information because we can learn what not to do without the pain of having tried and failed ourselves.
We learn by what we see, so pay attention. We learn by what we hear, so be a good listener. Now, I do suggest that you should be a selective listener. Don't just let anybody dump into your mental factory. We learn from what we read, so learn from every source. Learn from lectures. Learn from songs. Learn from sermons. Learn from conversations with people who care. Always keep learning.

Second, life is worthwhile if you TRY. You can't just learn. Now you have to try something to see if you can do it. Try to make a difference. Try to make some progress. Try to learn a new skill. Try to learn a new sport. It doesn't mean you can do everything, but there are a lot of things you can do if you just try. Try your best. Give it every effort. Why not go all out?

Third, life is worthwhile if you STAY. You have to stay from spring until harvest. If you have signed up for the day or for the game or for the project, see it through. Sometimes calamity comes; then it is worth wrapping it up and that's the end. But just don't end in the middle. Maybe on the next project you pass, but on this one, if you signed up, see it through.

And lastly, life is worthwhile if you CARE. If you care at all, you will get some results. If you care enough, you can get incredible results. Care enough to make a difference. Care enough to turn somebody around. Care enough to start a new enterprise. Care enough to change it all. Care enough to be the highest producer. Care enough to set some records. Care enough to win.
Four powerful little words: learn, try, stay and care. What difference can you make in your life today by putting these words to work?

Read more from Mr. Rohn here



Which of these four simple words resonated most with you?
My choice? Care.

Integrity

in , , , , by Linda A Kinsman, Tuesday, February 22, 2011

As I got ready to place the Blog with Integrity Badge here; it occurred to me that somebody should make a Life with Integrity Badge for those of us who seek to live it.  Now, let me say right from the start: I do not think I am better than you! I am not here to judge, I’m here to be the best me I can be and if something I say jangles a nerve, well, maybe you ought to take a little time to explore your reaction. 

What is Integrity?
I  grab my Webster’s Dictionary from the bookcase (yes, I am old school and still rely on books that aren't attached to an electronic device). There are 3 definitions for integrity.  I am referring to # 3 which states integrity is:
The quality or state of being of sound moral principle; uprightness, honesty and sincerity.

I have tried to live my life by these guiding principles. I have been praised and loved by those who find these qualities admirable. I've also had my fair share of names tossed my way whenever I  called attention to a person's lack of integrity in their dealings with me and those I love.
In my teens and early 20's,  I was called “volatile" and "hostile" and a female dog because I dared to stand up against the liars, backstabbers and chameleon like game players that were prevalent in my neighborhood and high school. 
Later in my 20’s and 30's I was labeled "unfriendly" because I would not stand around gossiping about my co-workers, nor would I stand for being flirted with. I was and am a very happily married woman and didn't find it harmless or amusing.
When I had my first child and became a stay at home Mom, I was labeled "mean" by the other Moms because I would not listen to or participate in idle gossip about whatever Mom wasn't in ear shot, or my husband, or my child, or my mother in law. 
FYI:   Mean girls grow up to be mean moms who then raise mean girls and the feeding frenzy continues. As a Mom it is my job to raise my girls not to fall prey to this and to warn them that yes, leading with Integrity will put you on some lonely roads. But all will be well if you can look yourself in the eye and not flinch at what you see.

Now that I'm in my 40's, I've come to realize that these types of people will never, ever change.  I no longer “fight the good fight" with them, I keep my own council and I just quietly dis-engage.  Their opinion of me does not matter.
Take last week for instance. I was asked to do a favor for somebody that at first blush looked like a good deal.  Just add some items to an order and I would get Free stuff and they would get points towards their trip.  This person was very assertive: using lots of if I were yous and what I need you to do for me  and blah, blah , blah ... I stopped listening when my gut said “Wow, if this is how she got to be a team leader in her business;  I want no part of it."
 I could have told her what she was asking was unethical, but I've learned there is no point in wasting my breath, so I dismissed her with " Thanks, but No thanks”!  and hung up on her before she could point out my lack of "team spirit" because I wasn't allowing myself to be used by her. 
No, I am not a perfect pillar of society, but I sure do sleep well at night and I'm not a frazzled mess trying to keep track of all the lies and schemes I've got going on.  I like my simple, uncomplicated life with Integrity. 
 I also like the blogging community and will blog with Integrity.

The Richest Man In Town

in , , , , , , , by Linda A Kinsman, Wednesday, February 09, 2011
Wow! I just had to share this. As always, Motivation in a Minute has produced a thought provoking message in under 3 minutes.  If you are feeling a little hurried and harried on this Wednesday, I invite you to read on and click the link below to watch this video.

From my friends at Motivation in a Minute


It's not your position in life that matters...

His talents have been analyzed by Fortune 500 companies. He was named a hero by the largest company in the world.
College students study his life. Ministers give sermons on his virtue. Children write poems and songs about him. People stood in line to feel his touch.





The Richest Man in Town Movie The Richest Man In Town

After watching this mini movie, please come on back here and share your thoughts!
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