Tag Archives: Minnesota

Oatmeal, Olive Oil and Honey, Scrub A Dub Dub!

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Be Good To YourselfI will admit, I am lazy today. I spent the weekend writing  chapters for my new book, The Penderghast Puzzle Protectors, which is a new series I am working on to add to my Fuchsia Minnesota Series. I took the time to have fun with friends, do a little social media, pray and eat, eat and eat some more. As a result I woke up  this morning feeling as if I was hit by a ten ton truck. On top of it all it is raining. Don’t get me wrong, I am thankful it is raining and not snowing. I have loved the weathers continuing  warmth in what is usually a cold climate in November,  but the cloudy rainy day makes me want to go back to bed when I am moving slowly.

When tired I think of strange things and today I was contemplating skin, namely the wrinkly skin on my face. I have never had good skin. In my pre-teen and teenage years and as a young adult I had acne, very bad acne. In those days they didn’t know what to do with it and gave us all kind of bogus information at the time, thought to be good information, but now would be very bad information which is probably why my acne never improved until I was in my 40’s. As a young adult I visited dermatologists and had skin scrubs, but the scars still persist and now I have to add the wrinkles.

I must say I don’t dwell on this too much because it is what it is and it has never bothered my social life when I was in school or as an adult. The only time I remember it bothering me when I was younger, ninth grade younger, and you remember what they say about remembering unkind words and not all the kind words you hear, well I remember one person’s words that stuck with me. His name was Bill and he was a year older in my school. He told me one time I was so ugly he didn’t know why I existed. I remember this because it has probably been the cruelest words I heard in all of my high school years directed at me. However, it didn’t make me hide my head in shame, it made me realize the guy was a jerk. And looking back I should have told him that. My pitted face and now my wrinkles are a part of who I am.

But on this lazy morning I decided to pamper myself. On Pinterest I have all these spa recipes saved and instead of going straight to work I decided to treat myself to a facial. I pulled up my Pinterest and my Spa Recipes and the first article I had saved was one from Woman’s Day titled Do It Yourself Home Face Masks. I decided to try the one that said exfoliate. It consisted of honey, olive oil and oatmeal. Instead of combining the olive oil, and honey, separately from the oatmeal while it cooked for a few minutes, I added them together at once and put them in the microwave for 30 seconds. I slathered the warm concoction on my face and it was heavenly. I left it sit for a few minutes while I read something inspirational and then I rinsed it off with warm water.

Were my wrinkles better, were my acne scars smaller — probably not, but my skin felt as if I had visited an upscale spa and got a treatment. I finished it off with something I do every morning and that is  rubbing on my face a mixture of Frankincense Oil and grapeseed oil as a moisturizer for my skin.

We all need days to chill out and be good to ourselves. As a writer I tend to get caught up in my projects, forget to eat, forget to take the time to relax and I forget to take care of myself with good eating and daily exercise. As a result when I remember food I eat things that overload my system and make me feel sluggish. I get so used to being on a fast schedule I forget that pampering yourself is good for your health. When I feel sluggish outreach to other people is very sluggish too.

I have so many things pinned on Pinterest. I save them to use in the future and I might never look at them again. As far as my saved facials are concerned, it felt so good this morning to be slathery that I am going to continue experimenting with the ones I have saved. I’ll let you know when I find the one I love the best.

Be good to yourself today. If you take care of you, you will be able to take care of others.

 

 

 

 

Funeral Directors and Pastors Need Hugs Too.

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Something About Nothing by Julie Seedorf

Published in the Albert Lea Tribune and Courier Sentinel week of Oct. 19.

Living in a small community, everyone knows what you are doing, sometimes before you know what you are doing yourself. That is not necessarily a bad problem to have. It also means in times of crisis the people of the community bond together to support each other.

Recently our community has experienced many deaths in a short span of time. Some were expected and others have knocked us to our knees. We grieve, we share memories and we attend funerals to show respect for those who died and to support their families.

We turn to the same places for help during this difficult time: our pastors and our funeral directors. We forgot our loved ones are also their friends. The pastors and the funeral directors are burying their friends too.

Time after time when we walk into the funeral home we are greeted by the funeral directors kind faces as they reach out with a kind word or a hug to make us feel better. In my community we have been blessed to first have the Heitner’s, then the Brusses and now the Nasinecs taking care of us when we experience the death of a family member or a loved one.

We have had other funeral homes in my community, but the ones mentioned above are those I have had personal experience with.

Maynard Heitner helped my children understand what happens during a funeral and to a loved one when they die. My 4-year-old daughter made the comment after meeting with Maynard, “My grandpa’s going to have a new body when he’s up in heaven.” I asked her how she knew that and she said, “Because he’s with God.” She learned this from Maynard. During his years as funeral director, he lost his best friends, and he buried all of them. And yet as he grieved, he made others feel better.

The Brusses, Stan and Kathy, were no exception. They too handled everything for a family to make our time of mourning easier. They grieved right along with us as they carried out the service they provided while hiding what they might be feeling for the sake of the families,  adding touches that made the families’ experience easier.

These past weeks in my small community we have experienced many funerals. The Nasinec family handles funerals in the same caring tradition and service as the former owners. In a quiet moment I caught the funeral director trying to hide the tears. Yes, funeral directors grieve too, and in the midst of all the care for the families we forget that funeral directors need hugs and encouragement and care so they don’t burn out and fall into the abyss of sadness. All funeral directors need to be remembered for the heart they have and the dedication they have putting their feelings aside for all of us.

Pastors too, bury their friends. They listen to our problems, they help us find solutions and they keep their feelings under wrap to help us. But they, too, grieve right along with us but like funeral directors they put their feelings aside for us.

I dedicate this column to funeral directors and pastors who help us through a difficult time in our life. Consider this my hug and my thank you. You make our lives better, you make our lives easier and we are thankful for all of you  past and present in our lives.

Give your funeral director and pastor a hug today. You never can have too many hugs to keep you going.

 

Church? Sports? Priorities Have Changed.

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Something About Nothing by Julie Seedorf published in the Albert Lea Tribune week of September 28, 2015

Times have changed since I was young. Religion has taken a backseat to other worldly things in our priorities.IMG_3385

After attending church one Wednesday evening I pondered all the changes that have taken place in the way people worship since I grew up.

In the “olden days” it wasn’t an option to not go to church on Sundays. As kids we didn’t miss anything because the community I grew up in did not schedule sports or other activities during church time. It didn’t matter what religion you were, respect was shown to the religious community.

During my high school days we had what was called “release time,” which was time during the week we were allowed out of school for an hour  to go to our respective churches to learn more about God and our religion. We also had the option of staying in school and having a study hall. Most opted for the religion and I admit sometimes it was just to get out of school, and occasionally we headed for a different church than ours because they were doing something more interesting such as addressing the “sex” topic which wasn’t discussed much in those days — and our parents expected us to attend release time. In fact, I think you had to have a signed note to stay in school and in study hall, but I’m not sure about that because occasionally the memory is weak.

Wednesday evenings were set aside for churches, and there were no activities scheduled in school during these evenings so as to not interfere with the churches. This was called respect.

While raising my kids, church came first and activities came second on the days we had church plans. At that time the conflict was setting in with other activities, but most parents made the choice for their kids that church attendance came first.

I realized when reading a blog by a friend how easy we had it as parents in my day when deciding what was happening for our children on Sunday mornings. Did they always want to attend church or church activities, absolutely not, but they went because as parents that was our priority. Now there is so much pressure put on parents on what to prioritize in their life.

I share with permission this blog post by Kristin Lotthammer, CFM coordinator at Zion Lutheran Church in Buffalo, Minnesota. She shares her personal story of the pull of other activities on her church and family life.

 

I would like to share my personal story with you.

Last fall, I had registered my son to play fall lacrosse. When I received the game schedule, I was crushed. Almost all the game times fell right during Sunday morning worship times. At that moment, I had to step back and think … priorities. What really matters to my family, my child? He loves playing lacrosse. How could I tell him he couldn’t play on the team because I was going to prioritize church first? Values, morals, values, morals … kept running through my mind and heart. So, I had a talk with my husband and son. We were all in agreement, God comes first!

I emailed the coach and the lacrosse organization and told them I needed to pull my son from the team. I gave the simple reason that church is still No. 1 in our home, and game times on Sunday mornings were not going to work for us. Guess what, I wasn’t the only parent out there with the concern that sports are creeping into our Sunday mornings way too often! Not long after my email was sent, there was a change. A lot of the game times had been changed to Sunday afternoons. Wow, I thought! What a great organization! They listened and cared!

All we have to do is kindly speak up and sometimes that will help.

I challenge you and your family this year to think about priorities and what really matters in your home. Our children are watching and learning from what we do.

 

Kirsten’s column moved me by her courage to stand up for what she believed in. I am not sure I would have been able to do that in today’s world. If kids miss a game or practice for church they are penalized, so of course parents don’t want their kids to feel the pressure of their choices.

We live in a diverse world, and I feel we should respect each other’s values and religious beliefs. I would imagine all religions have this problem when it comes to choices for their children.

Churches have changed the way they are teaching the younger generation because the priorities of parents have changed. Many churches now offer alternative times for worship to accommodate sports and school activities. I still wonder why it still shouldn’t be the other way around. And let’s be honest, extracurricular sports and activities are important, but how many kids actually will be the next famous athlete or star?

I don’t know the right answer. All I know is that things have changed and I am thankful I didn’t have to make the choices parents have to make today. I do know I am grateful my parents made the choices they did when it came to my faith, because when I struggle or am joyful it is where I turn through thick or thin. I don’t know where I would be if that would not have been my parents priority.