Even in this "supersize it" culture, there's something magically childlike about seeing the world's largest pumpkin. Steve Connolly turned his hobby into a passion, setting a personal goal of growing the biggest pumpkin in the world! How childlike is this?! Apparently the conditions were "just right" this year in Sharon, Massachusetts, which helped to bring his record setting pumpkin to a whopping 1,878 lbs... and its still growing about 11 lbs. per day! Yikes! The coolest thing to think about, though, is that this very same pumpkin started from a seed just five months ago. Whew... I'm …
Tip of the Week: Hero For a Day
This week’s Escape Plan challenge (aka our Tip of the Week) is #35: Hero For a Day: Do something to make the day of a child. In almost all of Jason's speaking programs he talks about a problem that many adults have, which is that they live by rules that don't exist. One example he gives is how I accomplished Challenge # 11 during our original undertaking of The Escape Plan. I decided to eat dessert first. Why? Because there's no rule saying I can't! It was glorious! In yesterdays intergenerational program (ages 5-105) Jason asked the kids "How many kids here would like to have dessert …
Tip of the Week: Dress Up Day
This week’s Escape Plan challenge (aka our Tip of the Week) is #36: Dress Up Day: Accessorize your wardrobe today with a touch of childhood. Jason has always joked that I have never had a problem with this challenge. In fact, sometimes I go a bit too far. (Read about what I was wearing the night Jason and I first met.) Who knew, however, that expecting a baby would end up helping me accomplish this challenge everyday. As Jason mentioned in a recent post, this baby bump is quite the conversation starter. Last week we were in four states in five days, so we were exposed to a number of …
Meet Fr. Phil Ackerman
Our featured fan is Fr. Phil Ackerman. We met Fr. Phil a few weeks ago while speaking at his church in Grand Forks, North Dakota. Fr. Phil shared, Thanks for allowing me to be in your club! Here's a picture of me during my recent trip to Tucson, Arizona. • My hometown is... Reynolds, North Dakota • My biggest dream... is to get to Heaven and being an instrument to help others on the journey there. • My inspiration... the saints who died for us so that our faith and the Good News would be passed on for generations. • When I was a kid, I... wanted to travel the world; I had only been …
Making Chores Fun
September has been filled with ideas to make your work more fun. But, what about those (often overlooked) folks who work at home? I'm talking about the moms and dads who choose to forgo careers to raise their rugrats- the hardest jobs of all. It's hard to imagine making diaper changing and high chair tray cleaning fun! If you don't, though, Adultitis is sure to set in... big time! I found this cool article written by a mom who was getting frustrated with the busyness of the chores of life, which were keeping her from playing and spending quality time with her toddler... until, she …
Tip of the Week: Tastes Like Childhood
This week’s Escape Plan challenge (aka our Tip of the Week) is #37: Tastes Like Childhood: Eat or drink something today that brings back childhood memories. It's ironic that today is the first day of fall (my favorite season!) This time of year elicits a plethora of childhood memories associated with food... candy corn, apple cider, pumpkin bars, and my ultimate favorite fall treat- homemade caramel apples. Mmm! As a yearly tradition, my mom would pick up a bag of caramels and some apples from the store. My sisters and I would spend what seemed like hours unwrapping each individual …
Meet Rachelle Wester
Our featured fan is Rachelle Wester. Rachelle shared, The first photo is of me riding in one of the mechanical rides at a mall. The second one is me picking the nose of a native at "Hell's Gate" in British Columbia. - I'm not sure why but I tend to pick inanimate people and animals noses (I picked a huge gorilla's nose at the Calgary International Airport). • My hometown is... Tilley, Alberta, Canada - small village of 400 people; born a short 15 minute drive away at the nearest town's hospital. • My biggest dream... is to own my own small business, preferably with my sister as my …
Quality of Life
I'm reading an excellent book, "The Mystery of Children: What Our Kids Teach Us About Childlike Faith," by Mike Mason. One line just jumped off of the page today... "Is the quality of your life such that your children come to you to find out what your secret is?" Hmm. That's truly something to contemplate. You can easily replace the word "children" with coworker, spouse, neighbor, sibling, etc. Notice the word "quality." That word can mean so many different things for each person. I guess the common denominator is happiness. Are you living life with a level of happiness that makes others ask …
Tip of the Week: Paste Is Not A Food Group
This week’s Escape Plan challenge (aka our Tip of the Week) is #38: Paste is Not a Food Group: Make someone a homemade gift to show how much you care about him/her or to thank him/her for a job well done. Kids are experts at this! Any kindergarten teacher will tell you that there simply aren't enough bulletin boards available to post all of the "gifts" that they receive in a school year. Jason, being the creative/artistic (and childlike!) type has always been one to show his appreciation and affection through homemade gifts. His family home is filled with gifts he made for his parents …
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Disconnect
In August Jason and I went to the National Speakers Association Convention. While settling in for a session, I found a familiar face in the second row and we started chitchatting. There was a guy in front of us typing away on his Blackberry, looking concerned. He soon turned to us and said, "I think I'm going to have to move to the back, in case I get a phone call. I don't want to have to walk out if I'm sitting in the front row." My new friend and I were on the same wavelength. I replied, "Why don't you just turn your cell phone off and let your voicemail catch your calls for the next hour?" …