Baby, it's hot outside!

Is it hot where you live? It's hot here. Not as hot as it has been, but it's still pretty toasty.

Add to the fact that we live in GA and we have humidity on top of it all.

People say humidity makes it hotter.

Does anyone really believe that?

 Sauna or over, hot is hot!


Being that it has been so hot, I haven't been keeping up with my walking like I should. But, I've decided that hot or not, I need to walk. During the winter and fall times, I don't walk with water. During the summer, I cannot walk without my water. So, I've been drinking quite a bit  more than I usually drink. And because I'm drinking more, I'm noticing how much my family is drinking. Which isn't a lot.

The Man Beast was really starting to notice that Baby Girl hasn't been drinking hardly any. He wanted to create a chart to help her chart her water.

Today, after coming home from my walk, I did a quick search for some charts that I could print out to get her started while TMB solidified his idea of a water chart.

And I found this one:

photo credit: Kids Food Fest

 It's absolutely perfect! Here's how I made it my own:

• I added The Boy and Baby Girl's names to the chart
• I labeled each glass of water for the days of the week
• For the last glass of water, I labeled it "weekly total". The person who drinks the most for the week gets bragging rights
• I added an over-all goal of 8 glasses of water a day/56 glasses of water for the week

Here is my personalized version:

But I've already altered it - even after putting it on my fridge!

It dawned on me that the cup TMB uses to drink his tea (now water, because tea doesn't count) is different than the cup I use to drink my tea (now water, because tea doesn't count) is different from the cup the kids use to drink their milk at dinner.

So...

We're sticking with ounces. We are all going to try to get as close to 64 ounces a day (eight 8 ounce cups) with our own cups. That means that the kids technically only have to drink four of their cups a day. The Man Beast and I have to drink a little over three. If we go over - great!

Why the game/competative aspect? Shouldn't water have it's own rewards? Why would a non-competative family choose to do something so...competative?

Motivation.

Baby Girl gets a kick out of bragging rights. She's not a braggart, but she does enjoy winning.

As a family, we all need to drink more water. But as a family, we're supporting Baby Girl who isn't drinking hardly any water at all.

I can tell right now that The Boy and I are just along for the ride. We're going to settle for our four and three cups a day, respectively, and call it a day.

But it's on with the other two.

Until next time...

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The Day I Cleaned Up My Friends List

Today, I went through my friends list and cleaned it up a bit.

 I unfriended a few - but not many (at least, not yet).

 I also played with a few Facebook settings. 

 You see, you can not only categorize your friends (so you can post content specific to that group - useful if you're sharing information with co-workers or family that is not pertinent to everyone on your friends list) and you can also choose to follow and/or get notificatoins when your friends post something.

 This is useful if you have a friend who is a heavy Facebook user who might flood your page with pictures and videos, preventing you from really seeing any other content from your other friends unless you scroll aaaaaalllll the way down on your page.

 And since it's a general consensus that Facebook can be a huge time suck, this feature is very beneficial.

 But I went through my friends list for a different reason. It dawned on me, that while I have over 350 friends, I rarely interact with any of them outside of Facebook. I can count on one hand the number of people who text me or call me. You might wonder why I would keep 300+ friends on my friends list if I only get contacted by five.

 There's a very real purpose.

 This is the breakdown of my friends list:

• Family
• Church Family
• Co-Workers (Past and Present)
• Friends (elementary, high school, and college)
• Scouts

 It would appear that Facebook has become more of a bulletin board of happenings. Birthdays. Weddings. Prayer meetings. Yard sales. 

 

 It is not for social interaction. In fact, I get more social interaction from the groups I belong to than actual interaction from human beings I actually know. It's networking.

 

 That's not to say that I don't have anyone interacting with me on Facebook. I do. Especially when I post about hot button topics or ask hot button questions. Which is good. I have a wide range of friends - liberal, conservative, believers, non-believers. It's good to get discussions going.

 

 But it is not the platform to hold a conversation that could easily be held via text, over the phone, or (even better!) in person.

 

 So, while it's true that I have 300+ "friends", I don't *really* have 300+ friends - and that's okay.

 Family and friends are there when you need them. And some connections are stronger than others. If I had a flat tire, I know who I would call. If I needed help for other things, I knew I would call. Different friends serve different purposes and I think that's okay.

 

 So, I will keep my Facebook active because it's a great way to stay in touch with people (especially those who live far away). It's a great way to share pictures, recipes, and cute/funny/sad/emotional stories.

 

 I'm not dissing Facebook.

 

 I just need to be a better friend.

 

 Until next time, 

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