MENTAL – Page 2 – Whole Heartily

My AncestryDNA experience

Have you tried AncestryDNA or something similar? I finally treated myself to a basic AncestryDNA kit this Mother’s Day past, and it has been very enlightening, slightly surprising, and fun!

Unbeknownst to me, I am a whole lotta Scottish! I expected English and Irish, I’ve been told about relatives from those regions my whole life, but I suppose I missed the mention of any Scottish ancestors. I felt the need to create a family tree before, but now I am very enthusiastic about finding out more about our ancestors; where they came from, who they were!

So let me take you through the process…

Once purchased, they mail you a package. I strongly suggest activating your kit as soon as you open it and find the activation number. If you don’t activate your kit before sending it in, you may never get your results back!

Before you start collecting your saliva sample, make sure you don’t eat or drink anything at least 30 minutes before drooling into the test tube. Follow the instructions within the kit to submit your sample.

Once you mail it out, you can follow your progress on the AncestryDNA application or on the website, whichever is easier. They’ll send you notifications every step of the way until your results are in!

I’d love to hear about your experience with DNA testing! What were your results? How did the whole experience make you feel?

Please let me know if you have any questions!

Bob’s Burgers BUJO – May Spreads

I’ve been keeping my eyes open for a Bob’s Burgers planner, but I have yet to find one, I’ve decided to make my own!

I have been admiring bullet journals for the past year, and attempted my own, but hit a wall with how complex I was trying to make them. This is technically my first bullet journal so please bear with me as I learn what works and what doesn’t.

Each month will be themed for a different character or idea and this month is Tina themed! Check out my past month’s themes:

For May’s weekly spreads, I decided to start with Tina’s “Everything’s OK” face. Tina is (for the most part) a rule-follower like myself and has a really hard time lying and/or hiding her emotions when she knows something’s wrong.

I couldn’t do a Tina theme without any horses and one of the most memorable horses in the series is Tina’s imaginary horse Jericho (voiced by Paul Rudd) from the “The Horse Rider-er” episode.

Checking out all the butts!

And last but not least, one of my favorite moments is when Tina raises her literal (eye)glasses during a toast in “An Indecent Thanksgiving Proposal”.

Check back next month for a Teddy themed spread!

Bob’s Burgers BUJO – April Spreads

I’ve been keeping my eyes open for a Bob’s Burgers planner, but I have yet to find one, I’ve decided to make my own!

Each month will be themed for a different character or idea and this month is Gayle themed! Check out my past month’s themes:

For the April weekly spreads, I decided to start with Gayle’s cats. Poor Gayle is mostly a hot mess, but she has many redeeming moments and her cats mean the world to her. I started with Mr. Business, who definitely demands his own weekly spread, and followed him with Pinkeye and Jean Paw’d Van Damme.

One of Gayle’s most iconic moments I had to include is in the episode “Art Crawl” when she feels the universe is telling her create paintings of animal butts and display them in the restaurant during the local Art festival.

Check back next month for a Tina themed spread!

Bob’s Burgers BUJO – March Spreads

I’ve been keeping my eyes open for a Bob’s Burgers planner, but I have yet to find one, I’ve decided to make my own!

Each month will be themed for a different character or idea! I started with Bob for January, Valentine’s episodes for February and March is for Linda. I tried to hand draw some more pieces this month instead of using mostly stickers.

For the March weekly spreads, I decided to draw small snapshots that remind me of Linda. The first snapshot is what I would consider Linda’s catchphrase. I see her as such a positive force in the family that’s always willing to try new things and get out there! Alllllright!

The second snapshot is from the episode “Friends with Burger-fits”. Linda and the kids run a Thunderdome-inspired wrestling league and I love how Linda dresses up and gets so into playing with her kids.

The third snapshot is from the episode “Eat, Spray, Linda”. Linda gets stranded on her birthday and struggles to make it home. While the family is looking for her, Bob and the kids visit a bakery and the owner has a photo of Linda that says “Do Not Feed” on it. I think someone overdid it on the free samples!

Check back next month for a Gayle themed spread! I’ll have to get started on it right now so I’m not late again!

The Benefits of Reading to Children

Stack of Children's Books Zoey’s Bedtime Story is a nighttime ritual I started last year, and this year, the adventure continues! I made a New Year’s resolution to read to Zoey every night this year and we have yet to miss a day!

Reading has always been very special to me. I remember my mom reading to me as a child and I believe it had a profound impact on my love for reading and books, not to mention my performance in school. I want to continue that tradition with Zoey. I want her to hear my voice, hear the diction and the pronunciation, see the beautiful images and eventually enjoy the stories. I imagine her sitting in my lap or lying cozy in her bed while I sit next to her and read, her eyes on the book with rapt attention. In reality, she sits on my lap for about five to ten seconds then tootles all over the room while I keep reading and trying to pull her attention back. I keep going because I know tat the more we read, the more she’ll settle in and pay attention.

There are many benefits of reading to children, no matter their age!

Increased attention span
Bonding between parent/guardian and child
Cognitive and language development
Creativity
Expanded vocabulary
Life lessons
Listening skills
Social and emotional development

So if you haven’t started reading to your little one(s) it’s not too late to start today! And if you’ve started reading to your little one(s) and their attention is anywhere but on you and the book don’t give up! Consistency is the key!

Please come follow along on my Instagram where I post which book we’re reading each night in my story, and every book I’ve read to her has been saved to the highlights on my profile.

I’ve started a Pinterest Board of all the books I would like to read to Zoey or share with her someday. Check it out to get inspired and please let me know if there are any children books you would recommend; we love sharing stories!

A Dr. Seuss Children’s Book Bibliography

Another of my favorite children’s authors is Dr. Seuss!

See my Bill Peet bibliography here!

So many of this man’s books were read to me throughout my childhood and I’m sure you’ve had a similar experience! The artwork is uniquely appealing, his wordplay is masterful (have you read Fox in Socks?) and above all each story has a good moral that can teach all who read it!

I am starting to collect Dr. Seuss books to read to my daughter, so I’ve created this one-page handy dandy bibliography to keep track as I go! Please feel free to use it too if you need it!

POSTHUMOUSLY

Bob’s Burgers BUJO – February Valentine Spread

I’ve been keeping my eyes open for a Bob’s Burgers planner, but I have yet to find one, I’ve decided to make my own!

Each month will be themed for a different character or idea! I started with Bob for January and this month of February is a Valentine’s episode theme. I tried to hand draw some more pieces this month instead of using mostly stickers.

For the February weekly spreads, I decided to draw small snapshots from Valentine’s Day episodes that stood out to me. The first snapshot is Bob’s striptease for Linda in “Can’t Buy Me Math”.

The second snapshot for the second week of February is Dr. Love’s Love Testometer from “My Fuzzy Valentine”.

The last two snapshots are from the same episode “Bob Actually”. The first is Tina’s hilarious posture as she keeps rushing to the bathroom because of her “chili poops” and the second is a sweet moment when Louise kisses regular-sized Rudy.

Check back next month for a Linda themed spread!

Bob’s Burgers BUJO – Setup and January Spreads

I’ve been keeping my eyes open for a Bob’s Burgers planner, but I have yet to find one, so in celebration of the movie releasing this year I’ve decided to make my own!

There are some main tracker pages that are currently a work in progress, so let’s focus on what I’ve completed:

I began with the 2021 overview, followed by the year-at-a-glance which I will use to fill in important dates like birthdays, anniversaries and other important events.

I included a page for my resolutions, which is the iconic blackboard from the restaurant, but I am waiting for the right pen to transcribe my resolutions onto it.

The pages following will break down some of my resolutions. First a video game page, themed for the Burgerboss arcade game in the episode “Burgerboss”. This is followed by a reading page with a Tina quote from the episode “L’il Hard Dad”.

The last resolution page I’ve completed is for planning my kitchen garden, and features a very happy Bob gardening from the episode “Late Afternoon in the Garden of Bob and Louise”.

Each month will be themed for a different character or idea, starting with Bob for January! I realized I was biting off more than I could chew and didn’t leave much room for artwork. I have a collection of stickers from calendars and coloring books so I used them for the weekly spreads.

Check back next month for a Valentine’s Day episode themed spread!

Let’s try Oak – Meditation and Breathing Application

Let's Try Meditation with The Free Oak - Meditation and Breathing Application Let’s be real, this year has been rough; we’re all just trying to adjust and survive the best we can. Current events have really revealed that there are some pretty rude, self-entitled people out there and I for one am way too sensitive to people’s actions and emotions. I’ve found myself absorbing and/or responding to their vibes, which results in living day to day with too many negative thoughts and feelings.

In an effort to bring the tranquility and positivity back to my life, I have begun meditating and it feels good! If you’re feeling anything but tranquil, I highly recommend taking some time to meditate each day or, if every day isn’t for you, less frequently yet consistently; you will feel better!

Interested, but not sure where to start?

I am using the Oak – Meditation and Breathing application. It is simple and straightforward, with enough content to get you started without becoming overwhelming. It is also the only meditation app. I’ve found that is truly free. Other applications, like Calm and Headspace (both fantastic), are free to download and offer some free content and/or free trials, but if you want more you’ll have to pay for a monthly or yearly premium membership. After Oak, Insight Timer is probably the next application that has the most free classes, but does have a premium membership if you want to access certain practices. We’ll focus on Insight Timer at a later date.

So let’s take a look at Oak!

When opening the app., you are presented with three categories: Meditation, Breathing and Sleeping. Each category has two or three practice options.

Let's Try Meditation with The Free Oak - Meditation and Breathing Application

Once you’ve selected a category and practice, you can customize a few more details depending on the practice. For example, if you want to practice Mindful Meditation, you can select the duration, instructor’s voice, background noise and a warmup duration.

Let's Try Meditation with The Free Oak - Meditation and Breathing Application

The breathing practices do not give you customization options, but they will give you details about how long you will be inhaling, holding and exhaling.

Let's Try Meditation with The Free Oak - Meditation and Breathing Application

If you’re looking for something deeper, there is a Courses tab which (so far) offers one course on Mantra Meditation. You will be prompted to “Buy” the course for $0.00. I’ve “purchased” it (yes it is free) and I am very pleased with the quality and length. I hope there will be more free courses in the future.

Let's Try Meditation with The Free Oak - Meditation and Breathing Application

I will be testing out other options for meditation and let you know what I discover!

How do you meditate? Do you use an application, or something else? If you do use an application, what is your favorite and why? I’d love to know!

Increased attention span

Bonding between parent/guardian and child

Cognitive and language development

Creativity

Expanded vocabulary

Life lessons

Listening skills

Social and emotional development