Still Around, Just Not Here

Check me out at my new blog. I am not really a "housewife" anymore, although I am STILL AT HOME! So..I've made a site based more on my business, but will still have plenty of "mommy" posts as well!

TAME THE FLAME

I'm BAAACCCKKK!!

Oh it's been so long..I'm horrified! But we have been BUSY here! My son started Kindergarten, our puppy got Parvo and we chose to do the treatment ourselves(he SURVIVED, YEY!!!), and last but not least..I STARTED MY OWN BUSINESS!! WOO HOO!!!

Its taking off at full force and all I am working every. single. day. to get all of my filing systems, and supplies organized and ready to go because I have entered this business in the BUSY SEASON!! I launched on the 4th. Since then, I have sold over $300 in product, booked a total of 5 bookings, the first one is underway right now as she is having a catalog party with her co-workers. I also have sold product to my Schwan's man, and to a woman at a garage sale I was shopping at! Seriously!

SO..what is it that I got involved in?? SCENTSY!! And for where I live..it is just started to spread into our state, I am 1 out of only 2 consultants in my town of almost 20,000 people..AND..I am the only one working the business full-time..so I see myself going up, Up, UP!! And very quickly!! But..I am committed to updating here much more often, and hope you won't mind that I document some of my successes with the business, because I want to be able to look back someday when I'm AT THE TOP and see my humble beginnings!!



To learn more about what me and my choice to join Scentsy, visit my website. And make sure when you're there to click on the "Interactive Catalog"..it's really neat and give you the best look at our products!

If you have any questions for me about the Scentsy business, or products, you can message here, or email me and I'll get back to you ASAP!


I will slowly be catching up with all of you..and I can't wait to see how you all are doing!! Thanks for being patient with me!!

A Day Off, SAHM Style

Everybody deserves a day off from time to time. Even a stay-at-home mom deserves one. The bad thing about it is, you can't just call off or play hooky. The kids are ALWAYS there. There's no such thing as weekends or sleeping in as a parent, stay-at-home or not. Am I right? But yesterday I got a half day off and I can tell you I needed it! I am rejuvenated, and re-energized this morning! Hallelujah!

It all came about in the daily morning email my husband sent me. He mentioned that he was not feeling like being at work. My husband works hard, let me tell you. He works 7 days a week, 10 hours through the week, and 6 hours on weekends. Rarely does he take a Sunday off, and I can't quite remember the last time he took both a Saturday AND a Sunday off. It had been about a month and a half since he had even taken off a Sunday. So I knew that he must really be burnt out to mention that he didn't feel like being at work at all. I emailed him back and suggested that he just take the day off after lunch. Being in a union he can miss 2 days every month with out any repercussions, so going into his boss's office and saying "Hey I'm not coming back after lunch." is perfectly acceptable, no questions asked. He did exactly that.

He got home, and stretched out on his recliner. Ducky was napping, Punk and Twinkletoes were each on separate computers playing computer games, a rare treat for them. I spent about 2 minutes talking with SB, and then said "I'm going to sit in the sun!" I took a book with me and didn't move for over 3 hours except to refill my ice water. It was heavenly! SB got to doze, I refreshed my tan, the kids felt spoiled, and all was calm!

Then Ducky woke up and our world turned upside down again, as she is officially into her "terrible two's", but for those few hours, SB and I were able to recharge and hit the ground running this morning. Again, Hallelujah!!

Our Family Has Grown

I had a wonderful birthday, despite my frustrations the days leading up to it. Everything worked out and I thoroughly enjoyed myself. My husband installed a cd player into my van, and got me both of the Taylor Swift cd's that Twinkletoes and I had been dying to have. We've been singing non-stop since then!! My mom got me new phones for my house, since the ones I had were crap and always went dead without warning after 15 minutes of conversation. And she also got me, The Sims 3 game..which totally explains my absence from this blog..I'm totally addicted!

We spent the 25th (the day after my bday) at my mom's to celebrate. We had good food, games, conversation, and family bonding. It was wonderful. The kids were getting tired, and I was itching to play my new game, so we headed home around 8pm. The kids wanted to go see if the neighbor girl was still outside, so as we were unloading everything from the van they ran to the backyard to check. Next thing we knew, Twinkletoes comes screaming and crying around the corning, shouting, "TAG GOT LOOSE!!!" (Tag is our shed-crazy, totally wild dog, who likes to run away any chance he gets, and kill small wildlife.")

*crap*

SB got the kids calmed down and took off on foot to look for him. First stop, the church camp across the yards. About 25 minutes later he came back and got his truck. About 45 minutes later he came back home because it was too dark. The dog never came back. He isn't at the pound. My theory is that he managed to make his way 3 miles up the road to the country and is living his dream life stalking and killing animals in the woods..but who knows. Probably some poor family found him and was suckered in by his sweet face and kept him, not realizing what they are getting into like we did when we adopted him from the pound.

The kids were surprising not upset at all after the initial shock. Twinkletoes proudly announced that "Now I can get my kitty since Tag won't kill it." And Punk just immediately started asking for a new dog. Ducky was not as understanding and for 3 days afterward kept taking his collar and pointing to his dog run asking "Where Tag?"

We really didn't waste any time replacing him. We knew for sure that Twinkletoes would be getting the kitten we promised her before we adopted Tag and then found out that he didn't like small animals. So I checked the paper and found inside litter-trained older kittens. Perfect!! The kids and I hit Big Lots for all the supplies we needed for our new addition and then picked up our new orange & white long-haired baby boy, Harry. (Punk and Twinkletoes named him..)

SB and I talked about the dog situation. "Ducky really needs a dog." we agreed, "she's such an animal lover, but because she is so young, she can't love on the cat, because she runs and screams after him like a little troll, and the poor thing runs scared every time! "

We decided not to do the pound rescue this time. Last time we thought it was the right fit for us, getting a 1 year old dog, and skipping the puppy training, but we ended up with a dog that was impossible to retrain to stay with us in the yard, and we were never able to enjoy when outside because he had to be tied at all times.

So we found black Lab/Walker (a hound) mix pups and scooped up our new 6 week old baby boy, Hunter. Named appropriate because the Walker breed dogs are used for hunting, but don't HAVE to be. My mom's beloved dog, Cosmo, who died last year was half Walker. She fell in love with Hunter and we took her out yesterday and she adopted his sister, Bella. (Named after Bella from Twilight!)

Here's some pics of Hunter the day we brought him home..

The Sun Will Shine

I'm feeling MUCH better today..because I know you all were SO concerned about me, right? I hate being down in the dumps and some days it feels like I can't seem to dig myself out of the hole I'm in. But today, I'm feeling like I'm out of it. Finally. (Before any of you try to give me advice about anti-depressants, don't worry, I got that covered! I've suffered from PPD since I had Twinkletoes, and almost 4 years later, I still feel like I'm battling it..oh the joys of motherhood, right?)

Anyway..enough about my medical history. Let me tell you about the "gorgeous" July weather we are having here. I tried to take a picture for you, but it just did NOT capture the dreary, dread that is covering our small Ohio town. So I Googled "dreary day" and found this image that TOTALLY captures what it looks like here:



The rain has been falling for over 24 hours now, the air is thick with humidity, even though it's just over 60 degrees, and my basement is mildly flooded. I went down there this morning to put in a load of laundry, and because i wasn't paying attention got my feet soaked in slimy water when I got back to the corner where our washing machine is and where water always leaks in at when it rains hard. I should have known better, but hey, it was only 6:15 and I hadn't had any coffee yet!

I'm not going to let the weather get to me. The rain is actually much needed. My grass was turning brown, plants were wilting, and my pumpkin patch seemed to be at a stand still. As of this morning, there is a newness to the grass, my plants look much happier, and the few pumpkins that I have on my plants tripled in size! Rain, is truly nature's renewal.

I intend to spend my day finishing catching up the laundry I started yesterday. Watching "Elf", again, with my kids (they're obsessed let me tell you!), and getting psyched up for my birthday tomorrow. A day all about me..I can handle that! So long as my husband sends me romantic emails and my kids tell me I'm the "bestest mommy around"! And I know they will..because THAT is one thing they are good at doing for my birthday, and really..why should I even want to ask for more??

Its My Birthday And I'll Be Pissed If I Want To!

So I mentioned yesterday that Friday is my birthday. One year closer to 30. Believe it or not, I am actually VERY EXCITED to turn 30. As of Friday I'll have 3 more years to wait. I'm not wanting my life to fly by or anything, but because I started my family at 21, I am not living the typical life of a 20-something. I have responsibilities, and on the infrequent occasions that I do get to go "party", I am always paying for it the next day because a hangover + 3 kids is NOT very much fun.

Plus, with 30, there seems to be more an acceptance from other mothers. Well older mothers, that is. Sure I have friends my age who have kids, but a lot of the mothers I encounter at my children's activities are in their 30's and honestly, they treat me as "less of a mother" because I am still in my 20's. They do. Have any of you other younger mother's experienced this snobbery? It's not fun. Nor is it fair. And THEN when they find out that my husband is 11 1/2 years older than I am..well that always brings a whole new level of interesting looks and comments directed at me.

So, back to "Friday is my birthday." You see, I am big on making sure everyone in my life has a great birthday. Last year I threw a surprise party for my husband, just family, but he had never had one before, and I thought it would be fun to surprise him. I put a TON of effort into it. All the way to hiding homemade pizzas in our basement freezer, and buying the beer and liquor and hiding it as well. This year for my mom's I planned a fantastic menu and proceeded to give her "the best gift she had ever received."

Since I put so much effort into the birthdays for the people I love, is it so much to ask that they do the same for me? I love my husband to death, but being handed a gift still in the bag from the store it came from and a steak dinner (when I'm not even a huge steak fan) is not exactly putting much effort into it for me. But I know my husband, and I know that he really does try. He just doesn't quite "get it". Its my mom that is letting me down this year.

She stopped by last night and in the midst of our conversation she says,

"So, what do you want to do for your birthday?"

"Um..I don't know. Whatever."

"Well, do you want to go out? Do you want me to make something for dinner? What do you want me to get you. Just tell me," she proceeded to say.

"Mom, I don't know. I really don't. To be honest I hadn't even thought much about it. I've had a stressful day today."

"Well, you'll have to let me know so I'll know what to do."

Okay, I know it's nice that she is wanting to do something for me. But why do I have to plan it? I didn't ask her what SHE wanted to do for her birthday. I just said, "You need to come over here at 1pm, we'll have some appetizers, play some games, and then eat an early dinner." I mean it was HER day..she shouldn't have had to be worried about planning anything.

So, I'm just a bit down this year over my birthday. I found it incredibly discouraging that I am in charge of planning my own birthday. Again. I don't get why the people I love can't take notes from the birthday's I give them and give me the same in return. All I really want for my birthday is to be with my family and NOT have to plan anything. But that doesn't seem to be flying with them this year.

"Happy Birthday to me.."

PRAISE THE LORD..a little quieter please!!

I woke up this morning and actually one of the first thoughts on my mind was "what should I blog about today". I didn't really have anything new to share. My kids are still in residing in "Crab-O" land. I'm still thinking about starting up a new home business. I'm still working on transferring home videos..nothing new really.

I thought, maybe I'd share that my husband is working 12 hour shifts this week, but really, that's boring. He's only working about 2-3 extra hours / day. Nothing blog-worthy about that.

I have no more poop updates other than Twinkletoes is more regular now.

Hmm..what to blog about?

I poured a cup of coffee and went to sit outside on our breezeway to get away from my loud children and their movie that they have insisted on watching non-stop since yesterday afternoon, Elf. Yeah, that's right, the CHRISTMAS movie. I have "Baby It's Cold Outside" stuck in my head, and the fact that it's chilly here at the end of July is making it seem colder since I keep singing that song. So I went outside to get away from all the "Christmas cheer" and drink my coffee in peace.

I had just sat down and started to take a deep relaxing breath when I was startled almost out of my seat! By what do you ask? LOUD LOUD LOUD church music being played on a piano over probably the loudest loud speaker I have ever heard. And it has been going on non-stop now for about 30 minutes. Not that I'm against church music. I mean I love the Lord, and music played for Him is fantastic, but I really don't want to hear it at 8:15 in the morning while sitting on my breezeway trying to enjoy a cup of coffee.

You see, if you walk across our street and through our neighbor's yard..their property adjoins with a large church camp. And this church camp is held this year from July 23 - Aug. 2nd. (I had to go look it up to see how long I'd be enduring morning disturbances.) Our neighbors have warned us about this week since this will be our first summer living in this house. They said it's loud, the kids that attend it sometimes wander up onto our street and into our yards, and to make sure we keep our vehicles locked, because there is usually some thefts around the surrounding neighborhoods when this camp is going on. Great, huh? I personally couldn't see myself going to church camp and then robbing the neighbors, but I guess not all "Christians" have learned the "Thou Shalt Not Steal" commandment!

So..it looks like I'm in for an interesting week. Probably won't be much peace and quiet around here. Oh and I turn 27 on Friday. I'll blog about THAT tomorrow!

Blah..Well Maybe This Monday Isn't So Bad After All

Today, again, has been "one of those days". It started out with stress, the stress grew bigger, to the point where Punk got himself all worked up..started hitting everyone, calling everyone names, slamming doors and just being down-right unenjoyable. Needless to say, he's now grounded from all video and computer games for the rest of the day and has been informed if he acts up ONE MORE TIME he will lose them for tomorrow as well.

Twinkletoes, has done nothing but cry and whine all day. She refused to listen to me only moments ago when I told her to stop jumping off of our end tables, and fell off of one of them and bit a hole right through her tongue. The screaming coming out of her was ear-piercing and got even worse when I made the stupid mistake of mentioning that she was bleeding.

Ducky, well she is napping now, but before that, she just learned the word, "Cookie", and screamed it at the top of her lungs over and over again when I told her she would not be getting a second one after lunch.

The only good thing today was that I may have found a home business company that I actually KNOW I could thrive at, and am seriously considering joining it. (IF I can convince SB to let me spend the $99 to buy the Consultant kit.) I'll share more about that if I can convince him, and if I can't, well I'll give you the link to the consultant's site. I'd give it to you now, but in case I do join, I want to save it so I get the chance to win your business! ;) Seriously, this company seems PERFECT for me. I still have my "coaching" business, but I just am not passionate about it anymore. Sure I still work out, but I think I jumped into that when I was feeling really "gung ho" about exercise. It was not something that I had always had a passion for. But this other business, is something that I truly LOVE and every single person in my life loves too. So..we'll see. CROSS YOUR FINGERS THAT SB SAYS "YES"!

Mondays truly stink, but at least there was a good thing in mine.

Silly, That's Us!

I have very weird kids. They are extremely goofy and silly. And I absolutely love that about them. They don't care what people think, they just let loose, and be their strange little selves. And its not an attention thing, its just how they are. (They get it from their dad!)

Who knows??

Ducky..with a newborn Halloween hat on..in July!

This is how Ducky spends most of her day.. talking to and brushing our dog with a Barbie brush!

Um..yeah, Punk LOVES to pull up his pants like this and laughs like a hyena when he does! (He learned this trick from his dad..no comment!)

Punk with his "I'm pretending I'm mad" face after losing a game of "Mexican Horseshoes".

Here's to being silly! I am trying to take a lesson from my kids and enjoy life as much as they do.. they are ALWAYS true to their self!

I Need A Recharge!

I have been under a lot of stress lately between money concerns, and Twinkletoes' poop..I am a tearful mess about 45% of the day.

Twinkletoes' got "backed up" again this past weekend, and this time, she just COULD NOT get it out. She would scream, cry and smack me whenever I made her sit on the potty and just TRY to go. She was traumatized, I was traumatized, and SB kept Saying to me, "it's okay baby, I know how you feel".

"Really? You know how I feel? Were you the one in there watching our 3 1/2 year old baby girl in PAIN? No, you weren't, so don't even think you can tell me you know how I feel! "

And yes, I really said that to him. I was very stressed out and sick with worry and I didn't care how my words, and the tone I said them in hurt him.

But yesterday, an old acquaintance of mine, and now new long-distance true-blue "mommy friend" gave me advice via Facebook messages on a plan of action to take. I had Twinkletoes on laxatives, I had given her glycerin suppositories, and had just bought a bottle of mineral oil. All good approaches, but she needed that blockage out NOW before the laxatives would really be of help. So this friend of mine..suggested using an enema, and using is RIGHT AWAY!

Off to Kroger we went. When we got home, I explained it all to T, and she was nervous, but she was willing for me to give it a try. She was tired of being in pain. And it worked! She was thrilled, I was thrilled. And my mom, Grammy, came and picked her up after work and bought her a Barbie for being so brave.

I spent the morning, emailing back and forth with SB about what was going on and that I was going to do this enema. I told him how stressed I have been and how sorry I was that I had been taking a lot of it out on him. I know it wasn't fair to him. He was just trying to be encouraging with his words over the weekend, but I was worried sick and tired of being the one traumatizing our baby, and I felt like a HORRIBLE MOTHER for not being able to know how to help her without casing her so much pain.

I got an email in response and here is a little tidbit:

Babe, you are not a failure. YOU ARE A GREAT MOTHER!!

I really do hope you have a good day, you deserve it. Once we are caught up again I would like you to take a day and go pamper yourself with a massage and whatever else you want to do to relax. I mean it, I really think you could use some me time for yourself.

He most certainly is right about THAT..and I am going to take him up on it. I haven't had a massage in years. I haven't taken a lot of "me" time..I mean what mother does, really? And so, once we get our finances back into some sort of order, I will be taking a "Jen Day" and will probably even see if a friend would like to tag along. Massage, lunch, shopping..something like that. I need to recharge, and this sounds just about right! And..I even told SB last night that this could be my birthday present from him to me. And what a great birthday present it will be!!

Well, At Least We're Not Homeless

I really dislike money. It taunts me. I swear to you it does. My husband has a decent paying job, decent enough for us to be able for me to stay home. But that does not mean that we have excess amounts of it. I don't get my nails done, I don't go tanning, I don't go shopping, we don't go on vacations or go on outings that cost more than a few dollars. Would I like for us to be able to do those things, sure I would! But we just can not afford them. We made the decision for me to stay home with our children when Punk was born. I didn't go to college, I had a decent enough job, but after looking into childcare while I was pregnant, and comparing it to my paycheck. I would have walked away at the end of the week with under $100 in my pocket. We made the decision that less than $400/month would not be enough of a help for our family to have me away from home and have our child and potentially future children spend 10 hours /day with someone who was not a family member. (At that time I had almost an hour commute.)

So, I became a stay-at-home mom. It started out great! When Punk was a baby I spent our days playing peek-a-boo on the living room floor, endless hours gazing into his eyes, and recording every new milestone in his baby book. After the initial adjustment to my life at home with this little person, I started to feel like I wasn't "pulling my share" of the work in our family. I started taking care of our home like it was a paying job (laundry not included in this, I still suck at laundry!), and I took up taking care of our bills.

Our bills are the thorn in my side. I absolutely hate doing them. I hate trying to figure out where our money needs to go, and all of that crap. I am not a "math person" to begin with so it's always been a challenge for me. My husband, on the other hand, is great at it, but for some reason leaves it all up to me. I do not want this job. Occasionally, he'll say, "Don't worry about the bills anymore, I'll take care of them." I'll hand him the bill binder that I put together, think he's finally ridding me of this horrid chore, only to find out that 2 weeks later he has yet to crack it open and I have to scramble to catch everything up.

But this is not the point of this post. I'm just ranting a bit. It seems like with money, we have our ups and down. We'll be going along just fine, everything paid up, a little extra for fun things, and then BOOM! We'll get hit with some big bill and we're stuck playing catch up. That's been us for the last 2 or 3 weeks. I hate catch up. It stresses us both out, and neither of us handle stress well. The idea of a savings account is a joke for us. We just don't have enough coming in to have that kind of safety net..yet. Bad, I know, but I don't think our situation is rare in this country.

So..we've been stressed out. We've been juggling bills. I've been having yard sales so we have a bit extra to pull us through this difficult time. Just one or two more weeks and it should be caught up, but that seems like an eternity to wait. Exhibit A being our phone/internet bill. It was due Friday. There's just not enough to cover it if we want to eat. So it'll probably have to be shut off until THIS Friday when SB's paycheck hits our bank account. Sucks, but there's just not much we can do about it. Feed our children, or be able to get online..hmm..that's a no brainer. We're not poor. We're just struggling. We'll be okay. We just have to get through this tough time.

I've cut us back a ton. We cut back our immense satellite package to a basic one. Funny thing about that is we only lost 4 channels that we actually watch. I'm looking into completely doing away with our home phone service and getting us a Magic Jack. Aldi's has become my favorite place to shop..although, I can't bring myself to buy their meat. I only turn on our central air on the days that the humidity is so bad it's suffocating. And I am regularly using coupons.

We believe that within the next 30-60 days we are going to have a major change (for the good) in the amount of money that is coming into our household, but that is not something I can give the specifics on publicly at this time..but when I can, I can not wait to share it with you all! But until then. I am hoping I don't go prematurely gray. I am hoping my husband doesn't have a stress-induced panic attack. And throughout it all, we're trying our darndest to keep our kids from realizing anything is amiss.

With 3 young children, and at the point we are at in our lives, I know that what we are going through is fairly common. It's just not any fun. And until things turn around, we'll just keep hanging in there. Holding on to our abundance of love. And praying so hard that things get better sooner rather than later.

Oh, I'm Rockin' It!

If you hadn't noticed my new profile picture. I got a hair cut. I decided to be a copy cat and have it cut exactly like Kate Gosselin. You know, the mother of 8 y/o twins and 5 y/o sextuplets. The soon-to-be ex wife of Jon. You know, from the show "Jon & Kate, Plus 8" on TLC. Are you following me yet?

Anyway..I knew in advance that it was not exactly a very "popular" cut as far as the media goes. I had read a comment recently that suggested maybe the kids had gotten loose with the scissors. Kathy Griffin dubbed it "just ridiculous". You know..regular run of the mill slamming of a mother. And in reality, that's what she is. A mother. Why people feel the need to pick her apart is really beyond me. Leave the poor woman alone..she's just trying to give her children a good life. I'll tell you, if TLC, or any network, came knocking on my door and wanted to film my family, and could pay me millions of dollars to allow them..you'd bet your booty you'd be watching us every Thursday at 8pm! ha!

Okay, so onto my own my own "Flock of Seagulls-humped-a-porcupine, reverse mullet weave" hair.

(let me just step down my my soap box)

I got my hair cut like her's last week. And I absolutely adore it. I already had my hair weaved blond so that was one step I didn't have to do. I went to Great Clips, of all places, with my $4.99 coupon in hand, said a little prayer, and hoped that it would turn out good. What I got, was pretty good. I still had to chop on it a little at home, but no biggie. I immediately updated my Facebook and Twitter status announcing my new hair. And then, ran to find my camera to post vanity pictures!

Here I am:


To be honest, it's even cuter now, because I looked at more of her pictures online, and realized I wasn't parting it far enough over on the one side to get more of the "flop" across my left eye. And I had to trim up the top some more to get more of the "spike". Yeah, I'm really loving this hair..did I mention that?

My husband, adores the haircut. Says its the best one I've ever had. "Very sexy." My friends and family all gave rave reviews as well. I was even told that "You put her (Kate) to shame." All the positive feedback relieved my worries that people would think it was stupid to copy someone who is so "in the spotlight" right now. You know, I didn't want it to be one of those "Rachel from Friends" things where EVERYONE was copying her, and no one really looked good in the cut except for Jen Aniston.

But yesterday, I found my first critic. I was sitting under my lovely shade tree in the front yard, messing around on Facebook, while holding a yard sale. A woman, got out of her vehicle and walked up. I glanced up and said "hello" and went back to what I was doing. She was dressed pretty shlumpy. Her hair was frizzy and pulled back in what I assume was supposed to be a pony tail, but had probably been slept on for 3 or 4 nights. I really don't judge people like that, but you just wait until you hear what she said and then you'll understand. She walked right up to me. Pointed at my head and said "Why in the hell would you do that to yourself? Or are you just a bitch like her (Kate)?"

What?? Seriously? Wow.

I didn't even respond to her. I mean how would YOU respond to that? I just looked back down at my laptop, and updated my Facebook status to, "is just WOW! Some lady (at my yard sale) just said to me, "Why in the hell would you do that to yourself? (pointing at my hair) Or are you just a bitch like her?" Really lady??? Little does she know while she's going back to her shopping that I'm calling her out on FB! mwah hahaha!!" It made me feel better. Not that she had hurt my feelings, but to be that blatantly rude to a perfect stranger. Bizarre.

Here were some of the comments that I received from friends:

Do people have brains anymore? Why would you say something like that to someone?

Little does she realize how ugly her arrogant and critical attitude make her. No hair style could make up for that.

I think you should blog about her too...Nasty!

I love your hair!!! She is just jealous!

It blows my mind how ignorant people are!

Obviously, I chose to take the advice to blog about her as well. So, Ms. I Haven't Combed My Hair In Days, So I Feel The Need To Make Myself Feel Better By Attempting To Humiliate Strangers, you did not humiliate me. You actually made me laugh. I know that I am rockin' this hairstyle. My husband thinks it's hot. My friends think it's cute. My mom even asked me for hairstyle advice since I apparently have "nailed the perfect hairstyle for my face". So by putting me down, in my own front yard, all you did was give me the fuel for a great blog post. SO THERE!!

A Time For Quiet

I love spending time with my husband. We usually sit outside together in the evenings after the kids are in bed, talking or playing Cribbage. It's good to sit together and unwind while enjoying each others company and conversation. We'll usually head inside around 10 or so and watch an hour of TV before snuggling down for the night and falling asleep. I truly love this time with SB, and couldn't imagine my life without him as my companion.

But then there are times when we're stressed and tired, and just not much fun to be around. Not that we're fighting or anything, just not really in the mood to talk. Last night was one of those nights. We put the kids to bed, I took a shower, and SB pulled out the laptop and started playing Texas Hold 'Em on Myspace. He never does stuff like that, and I know for him it was nice to just do his own thing. I had a book that I was trying to finish up ("Northern Lights" by Nora Roberts"), so I sat across from him at the table on the breezeway and fully immersed myself in the story.

We were comfortable. We were quiet. We were happy. Neither of us felt like we had to entertain the other. Neither of us felt like we had to sit and chat about the stresses in our life. We just enjoyed the peace and quiet, together, but separately. It was a great "re-charge". I looked at SB at one point and just felt this overwhelming rush of love. So I told him. He smiled, and I knew that he felt it too.

Sometimes when you've been with someone for so long, you just know what they need. Last night SB needed quiet. Last night he needed to do something indulgent, that as a father of 6 and sole provider for our family of 5, he rarely takes the time to do. And I was okay with that. More than okay really. It's nice to know that we can be together but still do our own thing without feeling left out.

Marriage is so awesome. You learn new things every single day. You go with the flow. Roll with the punches. And if the love is there, as well is should be since you decided to spend the REST OF YOUR LIFE with that person, you can be happy doing just any small thing as long as the love of your life is by your side!

Poop

What a fun weekend! I hope you all had a fun one too.

There was one part the weekend that was not so great. Twinkletoes' poop.

This poor child has constipation issues. And she is scared of the "poop that hurts" so she holds it in. That's what happened this weekend. Saturday she was practically lethargic the whole day. I gave her a child laxative in the morning to help, but all that did was let the poop that was already in her intestines to be smeared out around the blockage. After seeing her cry in pain. Take a nap to forget about the pain, and then proceed to spend the rest of the afternoon in the house on the couch while everyone else was outside laughing and playing. I had had enough. My poor little girl's fun weekend away from home was being ruined by poop! This was NOT going to happen ANYMORE!

So I did what I did not want to do. I did what she did not want me to make her do. I made her sit on the potty and scream through the pain until the poop came out. I felt like I was coaching her through childbirth. And what did eventually come out was SO HUGE that it CLOGGED UP THE TOILET!! I had to PLUNGE a 3 year old's poop!! Not cool!!

So now I am determined for this to never happen again. She has suffered with this issue long enough. I will no longer allow her to hold her poop in for days just to have this continue to happen.

Every morning, I vow to make her sit on the potty and get her poop out. She hates it. I hate having to make her do it. But, it's worth it for her not to have to continue to go through what she went through Saturday afternoon.

Have any of you had similar problems with their own child. Is there another way to help her through this fear of going poop? She has plenty of fiber in her diet. She just is scared to poop. And holds it in until it becomes a major blockage. Help a momma out, would ya??

Independence Day!

Just want to wish all of you lovely bloggers (and blog readers) a fantastic 4th of July weekend!

We are going to be busy with lots of family for the holiday so I will not be back until Monday!

Be safe. Enjoy good times. Good beverages! And hopefully FIREWORKS!!!

God bless our Country & our soldiers!!

Learning To Fly

Last week, Punk had to go to Kindergarten Camp all week from 12:30-3:30. I didn't blog about it at the time, just for privacy, but now that it's over, I wanted to share a bit about his experience.

Kindergarten Camp is something put on through the local schools to give the kids a run through of what Kindergarten will be like, get to know their teacher and some of their potential classmates (it is not decided yet what kids will be in AM or PM classes, so not all of the kids that he went to camp with will be in his class). They also incorporate Safety Town and a field trip into the week. I was VERY impressed with this program and I hope that local budget cuts do not affect this program by the time my girls get to Kindergarten age.

On the first day, Punk was very excited. He had been counting down the days for a week and when it finally got here, he could hardly control himself all morning waiting for lunch to be over so he could go to the school. But, when we got all loaded up in the van to take off, I looked at him and his eyes were filled with tears. When I asked him what was wrong he said, "I'm just a little nervous, and I am going to miss you guys so much!" I told him that we were going to miss him too, and I was sure that by the time I came back to pick him up, he'd probably be mad that it was time to go home already. That made him feel better and he never cried. Not even when we got to the school and his sisters and I had to leave him. I was a smart mom, and didn't try to give him a hug or kiss "goodbye". I gave him a high-five instead, and he seemed to really appreciate that!

When I went to pick him up, he was so excited telling me his stories for the day. He thought it was cool that he had gotten to have recess. And he even had a little homework assignment, which he took great pride in completing, with my help, after he had his after-school snack.

The whole week went by smoothly, and when it was all over he was upset that he'd have to wait a couple of months for "real school" to start. He's ready, and not scared at all, and to be honest, I am ready too! This week showed me that the 3 hours that he will be gone a day are really not THAT long, and although I will miss him around here all day everyday, the break will be good. He's ready to start learning and making friends. And I am ready to watch him grow and start to use his wings.

Now, I just have to fear 1st grade, when he'll be gone from me ALL day..THAT will be what gets me.

Captured Memories

Well my yard sale was a success. It added almost $300 to our pocket! Very nice indeed! In the spirit of making money, I decided it was time I figure out something that would be a bit more lucrative. I absolutely LOVED being able to contribute a large sum of money to our family. That's something that I don't like about being home with the kids. Not contributing money. It sorta stinks. I mean I have my fitness business..but I am starting to think that maybe it's not for me. I'm not really the "go out and sign people up" kinda gal, and that's the sort of person you need to be.

I'd love to own my own shop. Just sell all sorts of stuff. Kind of like a Five and Dime sorta place. That would be so cool. I could have the kids at the shop with me, I could close it down if I had to pick them up from school. It would be awesome. But alas, it is a wish and sometimes wishes don't come true. But I'm not letting go of it. It may just become a reality someday.

What I have decided to do, is start my own service business. That service being transferring peoples home videos that are on VHS to DVD. This is the ad that I've posted on our local message boards, Craigslist, my Facebook and my Myspace:

I have started a new local service, Captured Memories, for transferring VHS home videos to DVD.

Service Includes:

* Transfer of VHS home video to DVD.
* A computerized label identifying the contents of the video that you will specify what you want it to say. Example: Date, Events, Names, Ages, ect.
* Video to be completed within 1 week of drop off. Unless otherwise specified by me, due to demand of service.
* Return of original VHS tape.
* Gift wrapping and shipping service to a family member or friend also available for an additional charge.

Cost for each video transferred, $25.

Special Customer Appreciation Offer: Have 9 videos transferred and get the 10th transferred for FREE! You do not have to have all 9 transferred at the same time. I will keep a record of returning customers and will honor this offer no matter how much time has passed between transfers.

* Receipts will be given and must be provided at pick up so there is no mix up of videos.


* You may choose to drop off and pick up your videos OR a pick up and drop off service provided by me will be available for FREE in "the town I live in", only.


**Please Remember, the transfer of a low quality VHS will result in a low quality DVD. It is impossible to take a low quality VHS and make it high definition even when transferring to DVD. BUT, by transferring your VHS home videos NOW, the quality will no longer degrade once on DVD. Our family's memories are too precious to lose by risking leaving them in VHS form.**

NO REFUNDS! Unless, I am unable to transfer the video due to the video being too far degraded in quality.

NO transfer of videos containing adult nudity!

Please respond to this email so I can help you give you family a treasured gift by preserving all of those "Captured Memories"!!

What I started to think about after posting this locally, was why not offer this to my online friends? I am sure some of you may have a need for a service like this, am I right? So..I have decided to offer this up to you all as well. Everything in the above posting remains the same, EXCEPT, obviously you would have to ship your videos to me. Unless you feel like driving hundreds of miles for a drop off. So..here is what I am proposing to you as far as the shipping aspect goes:

If you contact me and place your order BEFORE JULY 31st I will offer FREE RETURN SHIPPING of your original VHS tapes and the new DVD's. (You will still be responsible for the initial shipping of the VHS tapes.) And instead of "The 10th video transfer being FREE", I will offer you "The 5th video transfer FREE"!!

Remember, this offer is only good until July 31st! So..think about it, talk it over with your spouse, siblings, parents, friends..anyone you know who may be interested in having their precious memories captured on DVD!

And as an added note..I transferred my family's home videos for my mom as her birthday gift, and her exact words were "This is the best gift I have EVER received!"

You may contact me through my email to talk about order placement.

It's Hot

It is hot.

I mean HOT.

Seriously, it's really really hot.

And you know what I am doing on this HOT HOT HOT day?

Rummaging through my basement digging out all of our junk so I can hold a garage sale tomorrow.

And then I am lugging all of my junk up the steep basement steps.

I then am dragging it all outside into the HOT air to wipe down and price.

If I don't make at least $150 tomorrow..

I swear I will throw myself down on the hot, itchy grass and throw a tantrum.

Did I mention that it's HOT?

Do you know what I'd much rather be doing today than this disgusting chore?

I'd much rather be spending it the way I spent last Friday when it hit 90 degrees.

I'd be with my children at my aunt & uncle's house swimming in their pool.

Yep. That's what I'm dreaming of.

Floating in the pool.

Watching my kids paddle around with their water wings on.

And drinking margaritas.

Just like I did last Friday.

But instead.

It's HOT.

I'm covered in basement filth.

And dreaming of the dollar signs I will be making tomorrow.

And dreaming, is probably the appropriate word for it.

Since it's HOT, and people are probably all going to be at their aunt's pool.

Or at the community pool that is just down the street from here.

And where will I be?

Sitting in my front yard.

Keeping my kids out of the junk.

That I will be begging people to buy.

Yep. Sounds like a fun day.

Wow..My Busy Life, In Pictures

Where oh where have I been? Let's see if this is any explanation...



We spent a rainy day at the Muirfield Golf Course for a practice round of the Memorial Tournament to celebrate my dad's 55th birthday. This is SB & me!



And here is the "birthday boy" my dad and my brother.



We got to watch Tiger & Jack Nicklaus play in the Double Skins Tournament. (Tiger was the winner!)



We had our driveway widened and re-gravelled.

BEFORE

AFTER

We've enjoyed many evenings on our breezeway playing with the kids..here we were letting them be photographers.




We've had water fights.



We've played in the sprinkler.



Twinkletoes had her dance recital.


And of course we have had many, MANY bonfires. (The man in the picture is my 20 year old stepson, J.)

So I have been trying to be online..but it hasn't been happening too much. I do promise a more "wordy" post tomorrow!

SUMMER ROCKS!!

Just Jen

I am excited to announce, that after YEARS of searching..I finally have a girlfriend again! I haven't had one since I was probably 18. I have other "mom friends" but we spend our time chatting about kids, and husbands, and household-running. I have just been needing a girlfriend that I could talk to about anything and everything ELSE! And I finally got one!

And the best part is..she's my neighbor! So we can pop in on each other, whenever. Well, when she's not at work.

Friday night after Will had gone to bed, I was invited over for drinks and girl talk with one of her co-workers. It was so much fun and I didn't make it back into my house until almost 2am! Then last night she stopped by for a chat, and this morning before she went to work she came over for advice on her guy problems, and I was SO happy to be there for her.

I've truly missed this! The kids love that she has a 10 year old daughter who likes to play with them. And we like that they can entertain each other and leave us time to talk.

She's single, so therefore it's not a "couple thing" when she comes over. That would be fine, but I really like that she's MY friend. And not just friends with me because her husband/boyfriend is friends with SB. And I like that she's MY friend and not just friends with me because our kids are the same age and we get together for playdates.

Yes, this is what I have been missing all these years. A girlfriend. And I'm so glad I've found her. I can not stress the number of times I've cried to SB that I have no friends. No real friends that I am completely comfortable to share things with and that is completely comfortable to share things with me. Things that have NOTHING to do with kids. Or cleaning tips. Just a chance for me to sit down and be JEN, not Punk's, Twinkletoes' and Ducky's mommy, or SB's wife. And she even likes SB and SB likes her, so we can still all get together and chat when the kids are playing and SB doesn't have to feel excluded if he's home and we are hanging out.

Yes indeed, this is great!!

TGI - "Date Night"

Can I just shout, at the top of my lungs...TGIF!!!

Seriously! I am SO SO SO excited it's Friday. SB and I succeeded in having a nice, calm week, and I think we all are finally feeling refreshed around here. The kids are not nearly as crabby. I am not nearly as bone-tired. And SB seems to be in a more sociable mood than he was at the beginning of the week. In fact, just last night he asked me if I'd like to sit outside with him on the breezeway, after the kids are in bed and play Cribbage tonight. You're probably thinking, "big deal, your husband wants to have a game night, so what?" But this really IS a big deal! I LOVE to play games. If I had my way we'd play Rummy, Cribbage or even Go Fish, every night of the week. And then on weekends have friends or family over for Euchre or Monopoly on the weekends. But my husband, well, although when he does play games, he enjoys himself, he usually opts not to play any of the games I suggest when I suggest them.

So for him to come out and ask me if I want to play a game and even make a "date" for it. Well I'm pumped!! It's a break from the normal, "put the kids in bed, get showers, then lay in bed and watch TV until bedtime" routine that we normally are in. I thought about pressing my luck and see if he wanted to invite another couple over and play Euchre instead, but the more I thought about it, the more I realized, after last week, a night playing a game and talking to each other, ALONE, sound much more fun! Maybe next month..

Our days of "date nights" are pretty non-existent these days. I have no desire to go out to a bar like we used to. And 9 times out of 10 when we do get a night alone without the kids, it turns into a quick dinner out and then a movie night in our house, sans the kids bedtime ritual, which to be honest, is the perfect date night for me now that I am a mother of 3. And a STAY AT HOME mother at that! Kids really wear you out and make you appreciate quiet moments at home, ALONE, with your husband.

What do you do for date nights? If you get any at all.

I'll try to post a bit tomorrow morning, but it's going to be a bit of a busy day. We've got Punk's LAST t-ball game, and then we have to get Punk and Twinkletoes ready for an overnight camping trip with my mom. So, if I have a spare moment, I'll pop in, if not..well I'll see you on Monday!

Have a GREAT weekend..and seriously..let me know your own date night ideas! I may have to put them to the test in upcoming weeks..and you never know..it may make the blog! :)

The Doctor Visit

We went to see our family doctor today about Twinkletoe's episodes where she stops breathing and zones out. He said it could be a form of seizure. Or it could be related to her fall.

She is being sent to a pediatric neurologist for an EEG and MRI.

I am trying to stay calm and not get to worried, but a pediatric neurologist, just sounds plain scary to me.

Please say prayers that everything is in working order and these test turn out to just be a precaution and will not lead to anything.

I am praying hard for my sweet baby girl.

Little Mommy

I love taking pictures of my kids. For me, the candid shots when they're just being themselves and not posing for the camera, are the best! It's hard to do because they hear the "do do do" sound when the camera turns on the they all start yelling "CHEESE!" Here's a couple of examples:

CANDID:


SUPER-CHEESE:



My daughter, Twinkletoes, cracks me up. She wants to be JUST like me. I find it very flattering, but it makes me concerned for the day when she decides she wants nothing to do with me. I try to think that that will never happen. But I know the day will come. Well the other day T, being T, decided that she wanted to take pictures like me and practically yanked the camera out of my hand. She started snapping away, and this is the result of that. Personally, I think she did a great job! I absolutely adore the picture she took of Ducky and me.


f

For Twinkletoes, it doesn't stop at picture taking. She wants her hair styled like mine. She wants to wear makeup like me (I don't let her, although sometimes I do put a little blush or lip gloss on her to appease her). She insists on sitting like me, saying things that I say all the time. She just is a little mommy and I love her for that!


I'm curious, in what ways do your own kids try to be like you.

What A Week!

Well, a day later than I had planned..but I'm back! I will try to make this post not go on and on, but that may be hard considering how much I have to share!

Last week was TREMENDOUSLY busy! Let me tell you all about it!

Monday: SB and I attending the calling ours of my dear friend's husband. He died too soon, and too unexpectedly. He was a 35 year old father of 2 young children ages 5 and 3. He had a massive heart attack brought on by an undiagnosed condition that he was born with. My friend and her children (along with the rest of his family and friends) are completely devastated by this loss. I pray for them daily. They need peace, understanding of why this happened, and comfort as they approach each new day on a journey to a new "normal". Please send prayers and good thoughts their way.

Tuesday: SB and I attended his funeral in the morning. SB called his son (my stepson!) to wish him a Happy 22nd Birthday! That evening Punk had a t-ball game. My dad and aunt who live 2 hours north of us, met us at the game to kick off the beginning of their 3 day visit to celebrate my dad's birthday. We then went back to our house where my mom and brother met us, and we cooked out and had a bonfire. It was a very happy and joyous end to a very sad day. My mom and aunt took the kids back to my mom's house for a sleepover and my dad, SB and I sat out by the fire until almost midnight sharing stories and catching up since we hadn't seen my dad since February.

Wednesday: We woke up around 6am and enjoyed warm coffee on the breezeway while waiting for my brother to meet us at 7am. This day was also my dad's 55th birthday! We then headed off for Dublin to attend the Double Skins Game at Muirfield Golf Course as part of the practice round for the Memorial Tournament. This was our gift to my dad. We stopped and had breakfast at a Cracker Barrel on the way. We had hoped for a hot, sunny day. Instead it barely reached 60 degrees and poured down rain on us the entire time!! But we did get to see Tiger Woods and Jack Nicklaus (along with many other PGA pros) up close and even got ourselves filmed on national television during the skins game! Luckily we had recorded it on our DVR and were able to watch it and see ourselves and laugh! SB called his daughter (my stepdaughter) to wish her a Happy 8th Birthday! We ended the day with a cookout at my mom's house, and stayed there until 1am drinking wine and enjoying good family time!

Thursday: The guys all went golfing. Us girls and the kids stayed at my mom's house and rested up from our busy day the day before. My mom wasn't feeling the best, and my aunt was exhausted from helping her with the kids the day before. I made my "famous" Garlic White Lasagna and everyone enjoyed it for dinner that evening. Twinkletoes had her dance rehearsal that evening and after we made it back to my mom's house, my mom, dad, aunt, SB and I all played Scrabble until almost 11pm when SB and I decided it was time for dad and us to take the kids back home since SB and my mom had to work the next day.

Friday: SB was at work before I was awake, but then Dad and I spent quiet time sitting on the breezeway, drinking coffee and chatting while we waited for my aunt to come and pick him up so they could head back to their houses. It was sad to see them go, but our visit was wonderful and we gave my dad a fantastic birthday. I spent the rest of the day working on my mom's birthday gift! We went to bed early that night trying to get some rest!

Saturday: We drove and hour north to pick up SB's mom so she could attend Twinkletoe's dance recital that evening. I called my mom to wish her a HAPPY BIRTHDAY since it was her 55th bday! We went to T's recital at 7 and got home around 10. She danced beautifully and was thrilled with the miniature rose bush her dad and I got for her and the tulips my mom got for her. Since this was her first time doing something like this she had NO IDEA that she would be getting flowers! The smile on her face was brighter than the sun.

Sunday: SB drove the hour to take his mom back home and I stayed home with the kids to make up the food for my mom's birthday celebration at our house. My mom and brother came over in the afternoon and we had artichoke dip as a snack. We broke out the beer and champagne and watched one of the home videos that I copied for my mom (which she said was the best present she had EVER received) and then spent the rest of the day outside playing Mexican Horseshoes (a game sorta like Cornhole, but 1000x better!) We then grilled shrimp skewers and had those over salad w/ garlic bread for dinner. Then we sat by the bonfire and chatted until it got to be almost dark and my mom headed home. Twinkletoes gave us a scare at bedtime. She stopped breathing for a minute or so. We almost had to call 911. We are starting to wonder if her going unconscious awhile back after her fall, was not due to the fall. My husband had a form of epilepsy as a child so we are going to have her checked out to see if she has been having seizures. Please say a little prayer for her.

So THAT was my week last week! Obviously the busiest of the year, thus far. Hopefully the busiest one we'll have for a long while. I had to spend the day recovering yesterday. I sat on the breezeway reading and just letting the kids run wild in the yard. They all even napped in the afternoon, and Punk NEVER naps!

It feels GOOD to be back to normal again!!

I Apologize

Just wanted to put out a little apology to my readers. I am sorry I've been MIA. Starting next week I will definitely be around more.

Memorial week was busy busy, as I am sure everyone else's was. And I thought I would be back after that.

I was wrong.

One of my dearest friend's husband died suddenly at age 35, leaving behind my friend and their 2 young children.

Needless to say, I had no desire to blog, nor time to do so either.

On top of that, this week, we've had family in town and will still have family around through the weekend.

So I will be back Monday. Please say prayers for my dear friend and her children.

Oh..and go to Mrs. M's awesome, fabulous blog today to see her featured blogger..ME!! Interview and all! :)

Sunshine!

We are encountering a beautiful weather week here in Ohio! Absolutely beautiful, let me tell ya! Yesterday was the coolest day we will have at 66. The rest of the week is mid-70's through low 80's! So exciting!

Yesterday the kids and I went to a local greenhouse and picked up some orange poppy plants to put on our "mountain"..the hill on the back of our yard that is covered in trees and other bushes. Everything is so green and we needed a nice burst of color and what better way to do that than with POPPIES!

Then I mowed the yard. I had intended to save it for my husband to do. But Monday's are our busy days with ball practice and dance class in the evening and I knew he wouldn't have time. With the rest of the week being much warmer I thought it would be nice to get it done for him so he wouldn't have to sweat like a crazy man getting it done.

Now our week is free of outdoor chores, and we can just enjoy the warmth and HAVE FUN!

Today the kids and I are going to plant some banana peppers, jalapenos and cucumbers along the side of our house. My attempt at learning to garden. And then, it's nothing but play!

I hope you all have a wonderful week and I will hopefully be full of funny stories to share as the days progress!

Rats!

Oh how I hate to write this. I just want to put out a notice that I have no problem AT ALL helping companies get the word out about their websites/products. But I need you to ask me first! My email link is right on the sidebar! Just shoot me an email so I can review your site/product and if I find it to be something that my readers would be interested in hearing about then we can talk about how best to get the word out. Be it a post like this one, or an advertisement on one of my sidebars. I will, however, not allow comments to be left on my posts with links to sites. They will be immediately deleted as soon as I see they have been posted. Thank you.


OKAY! Now that I got THAT off of my chest..let me tell you my sad story for today. I had a moment of "bad mommy" syndrome this morning. I was busy filling up the kids' juice cups when Punk came into the kitchen all teary-eyed and said. "I'm still really scared about what you said about those rats."

At first my mind went blank, "Huh? Rats? What is he talking about??" But then I remembered. I have been constantly getting on the kids to stop leaving crumb trails all over the family room carpet. I am constantly picking up sticky crumbs of Pop Tarts, or tramping on Cheerios that then get ground into the carpet. I had had enough of the the kids making such messes. And never getting it through their thick little skulls that they needed to be cleaning this stuff up or better yet, not being so darn messy to begin with!!

So yesterday, in a moment of "I've had enough!!" I said, "You guys, if you keep leaving messes like this all over the floor, rats will get in our house!" Then I laughed and said "Just pick it up!"

I seriously thought they knew I was joking. Apparently not.

Poor Punk was freaked out about it and once I told him that I had been joking and thought he KNEW that I had been joking, he just started crying and said "I didn't know, and I was SO SCARED in there this morning!!"

Oy. What a fantastic way to start the day.

Blessings & A Recipe

Oh how tired I am! I've been working out every morning for the past almost 2 weeks, and I forgot how exhausting that is! I think I need to add more calories to my diet..so I am sipping on a fantastic protein shake as I type this. Oh and I also just finished mowing my yard..hills in both front in back!

I just have to say..there is nothing, NOTHING better in my world than the feeling of sore muscles, knowing I'm trimming up again, drinking a healthy snack, enjoying a tall glass of ice water, listening to LOUD country music, all while sitting on my breezeway watching my kids play and BLOGGING! HELLO!! I love my life!!! Seriously. I DO!!

What are the things in your life that YOU love? The simple things, you know. We all know we love our husbands/significant others, children, God, all those big things are obvious ones. But what are the little things? Those are the things we tend to overlook. And then we get grumpy because our husband fell asleep on the couch instead of talking with us after a long day. Or we get grumpy because our kids refuse to listen to us and keep breaking the rules. Or we get grumpy because we prayed for a new toaster and God didn't follow though (no I have never done that, but you get the idea right?).

But you know, through all of the "let downs" in our lives we never should be grumpy because of those things. We should take that time to reflect on those little things that we are thankful for.

So, today, if you are mad about a squabble with husband, kids, God..whomever..take a moment to remember the little things that make you happy and I know that your state of mind will start to change and it will make it possible to forgive and move on from the other challenges.

Now, let me step of my soap box, and get back to that yummy protein shake! While I'm at it..let me share the recipe with you!

Chocolate Banana Smoothie
1 scoop Beachbody Vanilla Whey Protein Powder (hint: you can order from my website!)
1 cup skim or 1% milk
1T unsweetened cocoa
1T peanut butter
1 banana
1tsp honey
a little ice

**2 servings**

Blend in a blender until smooth! (EASY RIGHT??)

Calories/serving 205
Fat/serving 5g
Sat. Fat/serving 2g
Carbs 26g
Fiber 3g
Protein 17g WOO HOO!!

Slimmin' Up For Summer

The seasons are changing and I don't know about you, but I am in need of a little trimming before it's time to put those shorts back on! How am I going to get back to where I want to be? Well, the obvious choice for me is to use the program that got me fit in the first place! Slim in 6 by Beachbody! This program ROCKS! It helped me go from a size 12 to a size 6 in JUST 6 weeks last year! Exercising 6 days a week and eating within my caloric range got me slimmer and healthier than I had been since..well, I can't remember how long it had been since I looked that good!

THIS WAS ME BEFORE:



THIS WAS ME AFTER:




If YOU are serious about wanting to lose weight and look great! Then I highly suggest signing up to be a (free) Beachbody customer under ME! I will then be your coach, will help you choose which Beachbody videos and products are best for you and you can even join my new thread for daily discussion, venting, tips and MORE! The info for joining me is at the top of the left sidebar!

Now check out this video on Slim in 6..the program the helped me get fit and is going to help me tone up in time for shorts season!! JUST 6 WEEKS...

Hassle-Free Kids Bedroom Makeover Tips

My husband and I are in in the process of getting ready to redecorate our children's rooms. Last week I was asked by a company that sells children's furniture if I would let them write up a post for this blog that I could share with all of my readers! When I found out that one of the ideas was makeover tips for kids rooms I JUMPED at that chance. I really enjoyed the following article and I hope you do too! And don't forget to click on the link included in the post below to check out all the great furniture items they have to offer!


Hassle-Free Kids Bedroom Makeover Tips

As parents, we know all too well how fast a child can change his or her mind. Toys they love one week are discarded a week later, in favor of something newer and cooler. On the same token, a child can grow tired of his or her bedroom set up. This is why updating the look of your kids bedroom from time to time is a good idea.

From rearranging the position of your kids bed and updating the bedding to throwing up some wall decorations, here are some hassle-free bedroom makeover tips that are sure to keep your kids happy.

Beddy Good: If you're child has outgrown his or her bed, then investing in a new one isn't a bad idea. A car-shaped bed could be a fun addition to your kids' bedroom. Other good alternatives include a captain's bed or a bed with a bookcase headboard. These beds are both fun and functional, providing extra storage space that you likely didn't have before.

If you don't want to get a new bed, try rearranging the bed's position for a nice change of scene. Lofted bunk beds are great for kids and often come with optional desks and storage that can be added underneath the bed.

For a quick and easy change, consider updating your kids bedding. A new comforter or bed-in-a-bag set with your kids' favorite cartoon character is a great way to freshen things up. Throw on some matching accent pillows and stuffed animals for some additional fun.

Finishing Touches: If you don't want to bother with changing the furniture, by adding a fresh coat of paint, some wall art, a new rug, or maybe a new lamp - you have the ability to really transform the space without much incurring much cost.

• Change of Color: Freshen up the kids' space with a fresh coat of paint. Get your kids involved by having them help choose the paint color! Look for non-toxic low VOC or zero VOC paint to minimize harmful fumes in your kids bedroom.
  

  
  

• Extra Padding: Area rugs are great for a kids room. Whether you want to go the educational route with a rug showing the solar system or the fun route with a Princess-themed area rug - area rugs are a great way to add some color to the room. Placing an area rug beside the bed is also a good idea in case your child falls out during the night.
  

  
  

• Light Bright: Adding a fun lamp or night light to your kids bedroom is definitely a bright idea. Disney Lamps, Sports-themed lamps, or animal lamps all add a little bit of style and humor to your kids space. A fun night light will give your child an added sense of security, ensuring that he gets a good nightmare-free night's sleep.
  

Making over your kids bedroom doesn't have to be a big deal. A few small changes will keep your child happy while keeping costs down.

Helping Feed The Hungry

Teaching kids about people less fortunate than them is an important task that we as mothers must do. It teaches empathy, understanding and tolerance, not to mention responsibility!!

I know that I don't do this enough. We are a very typical middle-class family. My husband has a job where he makes enough money for me to stay home, but not enough money for us to provide a lot of luxuries. And to be honest, that is perfectly OKAY by me. To be completely honest, even if we did have lots and lots of money, my children still wouldn't get all of the stuff they think they need. I want them to grow up knowing the value of saving for items they want. I want them to understand that the money that their Daddy makes at work goes towards paying for our home, food, electric, water...nothing is free. And gifts are saved for special occasions. Very rarely do they get "treats" while out at the store. It's just a luxury that they don't need.

But on the other hand, when they do get these things, I want them to understand to be grateful that we are able to afford these things. Many families out there can't. Many families out there can't even afford housing or food.

This past winter a local shelter opened up. Our church bulletin put out a list of needs for this shelter. Number one, blankets. We had recently gotten a box of my mother in law's old blankets (why she thought we needed them, I couldn't tell ya) but I saw this as a perfect opportunity for the kids to learn about giving to others. So we spent an afternoon washing them up and putting them into a box for the woman who ran the shelter to pick up. I explained to the kids what we were doing and they seemed to get it.

But that was months ago, and I haven't done anything since to help people in our community. I really should try to do something weekly with the kids to give them more of an understanding. Yesterday, an opportunity arose for another learning experience with the kids, and I jumped on it! Of all things, the USPS is having a food drive called "Stamp Out Hunger Food Drive" where tomorrow, May 9th, you can put non-perishable food items in your mailbox for your mailman to pick up and deliver to local food pantries. Isn't this awesome!! And it's so EASY! No running out to deliver the items. I can spend time with the kids bagging up cans of soup, tuna, spaghetti sauce; things we have in our cupboards that we can afford to replace so that we can be responsible citizens for helping others in our community who can not afford even simple grocery store items.

The kids are very excited about the idea of putting the food in the mailbox. But they also are showing a huge amount of concern about it. I explained that the food goes to families that can't afford groceries. That there are many kids out there who have to go to bed hungry at night. This started an onslaught of questions:

"But if their bellies are growling because they're so hungry, I bet those kids can't sleep very well. Right, Mommy?" -Punk, 5

That's right baby, that's why it's so important that we take this opportunity to help these families.

"If we give all of our food to the mailman, then will we have to go to bed hungry?" -Twinkletoes, 3

No, we are helping them because we have enough money to buy more food for ourselves. You will not go hungry, and neither will the kids whose families we will be helping.

So, I highly encourage you to take some time with your kids today to pack up a bag of food, and talk about the responsibility we have in helping others. The way the economy is right now, who knows which one of us may be the family needing such food drives in the future, and I would hope that as our children grow they continue to give to those less fortunate, fulfilling the responsibility of a concerned citizen of our great country!