My friend Tiffani has this really neat thing she is doing on her blog, called "Finding Joy in the Journey". It's about doing things for yourself to become spiritually prepared... we always hear about "be prepared" and we think monetarily. This is something I need, and I'm grateful to her that she is doing it! I met her in a weight training class at BSU my freshman year. We were then reacquainted in the young married ward. She watched my baby Aaron for me so I could go to an institute class. She is one of the most kind people I know, and is such an example to me.
Go check it out and get signed up! You'll also want to be sure and read this.
The journey begins on Sunday February 22nd (what a great birthday gift for me!).
Thanks Tiff!
of 2009!
Welcome to the new year! I've been lazy. The kids have gone back to school, and I don't have preschool starting until next week, so I've been kickin back not doing much of anything. Plenty that I've THOUGHT about doing (like planning out the remainder of the preschool year, finishing my 2009 Calenders, writing letters, meal planning...). I've just been reading and relaxing and trying to stay warm. This wet snowy cold weather doesn't help me feel motivated!
My little sister had her 4th bambino on Monday (a little boy), named Joshua Brian. So cute! The sad and depressing thing is, they have the flu going around her family. Last I heard two of the kids have it, and she does as well! Can you imagine barfing right after giving birth?! And none of us can help with her barfing kids because we don't want to get our families in barfing mode either... I'm hoping to stay well so I can be a big help to her once she gets home. It's sad and I'm sure very discouraging for her and her hubby!
I really don't want to get sick. I commented about this today on Facebook, and not 1 hour later the school calls to tell me Meg has pink eye. Yay. Of course, here we are in a new deductible year, and I get to pay the $100 to take her in to get the $65 drugs to clear up her eye. At least I'll have enough medicine left for the next kid that gets it! Yikes... one week earlier and I wouldn't have had to pay a cent!
So, while I've been wasting time, and fighting off bugs, I have come across a few blogs/sites that I'm excited about!!
First one: Preparedness Matters - she's got anything from food storage recipes to financial preparedness... check out her label list! So much stuff! What a great resource this is!
Second (this was featured on Creative Homemaker today), is a new site called, Fun With Food Storage they are just launching this site (which is a combination of three others) and having a bunch of great giveaways! Check them out!
And lastly, just after I cleaned up the instant oatmeal dinner that we had (yup, I'm lacking motivation and inspiration), I come across this blog that was featured on Tip Junkie today! You're going to love Meal Planning Mommies! They post pictures of ingredients too! I don't know why, but this makes things seem less intimidating to me... to actually see it prepared makes me feel like I CAN DO THIS!!!
Now I've just got to sit down and make a plan....
Last night we had our annual Family Couples-only Dinner Date night. We went to PF Changs. Holy cow, have you been there? It was AMAZING! I was full, yet I wanted more. We had our waiter order for us, so we got 12 different dishes, and passed the platters around and had a little of nearly everything. It was so good, and not as expensive as I thought it would be! After that, some of us went back to my sister's house to watch BSU play in the Poinsettia Bowl. Although they lost by only one stinkin point, we had a good time. I must admit that I didn't sit and watch the game the whole time. My niece Allison gave me a french manicure. She's 13. She did an awesome job. It's nice to feel pretty.
Speaking of my most favorite 13 year old in the whole world, Allison commented to me last night that I haven't been posting. She's right. I'm not. I'm so overwhelmingly busy right now. In my last post, I told you I have a lot of balls to juggle. This blogging ball has totally fallen and I haven't had time to pick it up! But right now it is 6:30 in the morning, and for some reason I woke up around 5:45 and couldn't shut off my brain with all I had to do today. So I decided to get up and get going on the list. What is on that list you wonder? I'm sure it is very similar to yours. In fact, you are probably busy ACCOMPLISHING that list, and not reading my blog. But to ease your curious mind, I shall share:
- go to the store to get a few more groceries for Christmas day baking (I'm doing that next)
- wrap (of course)
- make Clam Chowder for tonight
- make Rocky Road for tomorrow
- finish some book work for OYF
- do my mom's books (I'll be taking over while they are on their mission)
- finish the last two loads of laundry that have been sitting in the washer and dryer since Monday
- make one more batch of Caramel Corn for the neighbors. Did friends, but completely spaced doing anything for the neighbors!
- Nap?????
- Find a used cell phone because the one we had for me isn't working today
- Get the house under control
- What I'd LOVE to do, but is a luxury, not a necessity, would be to make a family picture DVD of 2008 and post it on my blog. That will take a few hours, which I don't think I'm going to have!
I AM going to post about two things I HAVE accomplished. My Christmas Card (and if I didn't send one to you, and really should have, it only confirms the fact that I have a very jumbled forgetful brain) -
I tell ya, these little 4x6 photo cards are the way to go. The silly poem I just printed off at home, but the picture I sent to Costco 1 hour photo on Saturday. Aaron went with me. After we picked them up, we sat in the car and stuffed all the envelopes I had addressed and stamped. After licking them, we dropped them off at the post office. I got 95 of those cards printed (it's a long story, but I accidentally ended up with 95 cards... I didn't need 95 cards. I don't have 95 people that even want a card from me. But I have 95 cards. There are now stray cards floating around my house) for less than $15. How cool is that?
Also - one of my favorite things this year was the little gift I made for my preschoolers to give to their parents. I got the idea from Emily, whose blog post no longer exists because she's had some sicko post to her blog from a porn site, so she's going private and has moved all past blog entries to some unknown part of the world. It was so amazingly cute, and I modified the idea to make some of these (click to enlarge):
This was so easy and fun to do. I'd like to make some 8x10's of my kids and frame them. After Emily printed and cut the pictures out, she painted the back side black, let it dry, then mounted it on white card stock, and then framed it! It looked so awesome! And it's sooo easy and cheap!
Here is my cute little preschool class holding their ornaments (by the way, I spaced writing their names and the year on the back, so you may want to do this!):
And lastly, here is my little Zack at his Pre-kindergarten class Christmas program. They acted out the Nativity. He was a king. And a sweet one at that.
OK, I've been one here for an hour. I guess this is why I'm not blogging... what I think will take 15 minutes, ends up taking me an hour! Oh well. I really need to do this because of journaling purposes! I made my free 11x11 inkubook and copied a lot of it from my blog. I think it turned out pretty awesome! Although I'd love to have put more in there... only had 20 pages for free. Anyway, hope you have a Merry Christmas and make a point of relaxing. That is what I intend to do! {{hugs!}}
I love red, and I love snowflakes. Thus the scheme of my blog. I was excited to find this fund widget thanks to Blogger Buster. She is my top reference for when I want to make changes to the layout of my blog. You can find it right here!
I do have a question... my blog is supposed to look something like this:
Do you see the red and the snowflakes on the side? I was at my mom's house, and her monitor didn't show the sides. I was just curious how many could actually see it. I just LOVE snowflakes!
(WARNING: This is a jumbled paragraph that has no shape or form whatsoever... if you like to read things that make sense and flow nicely, just skip this paragraph and leave me a comment about my blog layout. It is merely a brain dump - everything that is floating in there, fell on this page).
It's been quite the week for me. We had Enrichment Night last night... I would have liked a better turn out, but it was a lot of fun. I love being able to visit with out my children interrupting me! Now that I've got that off my list, (and I also completed Christmas cards for my parents, a sister, and a sis-in-law, and I wrapped up the books for the football season), I'm feeling a little less claustrophobic! A few less "balls to juggle". I just have one more Christmas card to do, I have a Movie/Picture Sside show to do for my sister, and my Christmas card designed, ordered (thank goodness for 1 hour photo!), and mailed out. My children have done all the decorations this year. I have totally handed it over to them. The desire for perfection with my Christmas decorations is absolutely not here this year! And I love it! They assembled the tree by themselves (as high as they could reach), they even put the lights on. Meg, Haley, and Zack put all the ornaments on the tree last Saturday afternoon. Of course, there is nothing on the top, and one side is heavily ornamented, but it is there and it is beautiful and they are proud of their work! And I've had one less thing to worry about! Haley even moved furniture to accommodate the tree... she's the woman! I mean, Girl! Also, I will very well not do treats for neighbors and friends... so if you don't get anything, don't think we crossed you off the list. It's just that there was NO LIST this year! I think my shopping is done. I'm not sure. I've decided that it is done and I'll just make do with what I've got. I did do a fun thing for my parents this year. Obviously I'm not going to post it until after the 25th... but lets just say it is an idea that I got from another blog. Another reason I'm grateful I discovered blogging! Now, I really must get back to THE TO DO LIST. Piano recital tonight, final basketball games tomorrow, choir concert next week, and our 14th anniversary next week. Needless to say, I'm sooo looking forward to Christmas break and sleeping in!
I must say that I am so very thankful for my Photoshop Elements software! When I first got it I was overwhelmed and frustrated with it. Then I started searching and found so many wonderful free tutorials! One of my faves can be found here at Shabby Princess (they have free downloads too!).
PSE has opened up a beast inside of me. I have found a new passion. I love creating, and I absolutely LOVE doing it digitally! IT DOESN'T ADD AN OUNCE OF CLUTTER TO MY DESK! That was one thing I struggled with as far as stamping and card making and scrapbooking goes. So this is the wonderful alternative that I've found!
If you haven't already - go check out my design blog to see a few things I've created thus far. It's just so dang fun. You can see a slight progression in my abilities. My first few were pretty, whats the word, boring, off, unappealing? I don't know... anyway, I've been learning more and more techniques and tips, so it's been more rewarding to make beautiful things!
Here is the most recent creation. I do love this card, but I'm not sure if it will be the actual one I send out (just because I guess I want a little of the "surprise" factor). This one was pretty quick and easy to throw together. But I just love the colors and the stripes! I found this pretty awesome website with color palettes you can browse through and get the RGB codes. Here are two of my fave places in my reader that have great photoshop elements tips:
http://blissfullydomestic.com/
http://
I've also used PSE to create my blog headers and the background for this blog. When I have some time (when will I ever?) I'm going to make buttons for my frugal blog and my design blog. I wish I didn't have all of those other responsibilities so I could just have this kind of uninterrupted fun for one whole day!
By the way, you can go here to see how a bunch of other ladies are being their own version of "Blissfully Domestic"! I do so in a digital sort of way, does that count? :)
Thank you to Monica for giving me a quick post idea.
I am thankful for my cousin Spencer. He is amazing. He lives in Utah (Salt Lake Valley) and has the cutest little family. He has his own company and does "Professional Wedding & Event Videography". He is one of the foremost reasons I got into all this digital design stuff, he introduced me to this whole aspect of my life - something that I LOVE doing now! I think it all began when I attended his little sisters wedding reception. There was this beautiful video playing of the bride and groom. It had pictures of them growing up, dating, and then there was footage of earlier that day when they were sealed in the Salt Lake Temple. I remember just watching it and being in awe. That was like 7 or 8 years ago? I can't remember for sure! It was my first exposure to this kind of stuff. Shortly after when we in town, I watched a football film of his nephews football team and it was sooo awesome! The list goes on and on.
He is an award winning creative genius! He has such an artistic eye when filming events and weddings, and I love to watch his creations.
This is his blog. This is where he posts and I get inspired. He's got a slew of wedding films, bridal films, date films, sports films, you get it right? Go check it out and be inspired and jealous that you don't have something that captured your wedding day so beautifully! While you're there, you have got to watch one of my favorites... he posted this little personal film that he made of his 2nd born and I must say it is the most beautiful thing! It brings tears to my eyes every time I watch it. He captured that day in the most amazing way.
Be sure to check out the sports films as well. They are awesome to watch. He inspired me so much that I attempted to make one for Aaron's football team last year as well. I can't post the thing because it is 40 minutes long and a massive file size! Some day I will have to post my very first video I made. It is titled "The Snowman". Got to find the little thing first!
If you live in the Salt Lake Valley, you've got to have this guy create something for you! (By the way, if you're on Facebook, you can become a fan!)
My little cous is one person who inspires me in this digitally creative aspect of my life. Who inspires you?
ps - I'm going to attempt to do a daily GRATITUDE POST up until Thanksgiving. This will be an interesting challenge since I've barely been posting these past two months! I'll do the best I can!
So, as you can tell, my posting has slowed waaaay down the past few weeks. There are a lot of things I haven't been doing (ahem - menu planning), yet there is a whole load of new things I have been doing. But that is a whole different post for a different day.
I'm going to share just one of those things with you today. Recently I've been sharpening my photoshop skills and creating. Oh how fun it is to create in photoshop! I have been thinking about doing this for a long time, but couldn't use the digital scrapbooking supplies that I currently owned because they were for personal use only. THEN I found a website that offered some commercial licenses on templates (which means I still do a lot of creating)... which means I can create, and then sell what I create!
Have you ever heard of Etsy? It is a "venue" for women who create, to SELL! I recently discovered this when I purchased one of these for my wall (oh, I love it!). My brain started ticking and this little creative itch appeared. And before I knew it I was creating photo cards!
So I have two places for you to check out. My *Simply Happy Designs* blog, and my Etsy Shop! Please let me know what you think! The whole idea is that I do the designing, and you do the printing! I'm really excited about it.
Now, don't laugh at me... you're thinking to yourself "What is she thinking - she can't even cook dinner for her family, certainly she doesn't have time for this!". I know, I know... but I'm working on balancing it all out. Just wait until you hear about the other things I've recently become passionate about (again - a whole different post).
So, I did mention GIVEAWAY in my post title. Let me tell you what that is all about... You see, I need samples to post on my blog and shop. Don't get me wrong, I really think my kidlets are cute, and I've got some great Christmas shots of them, but I don't want to freak people out with ALL the pictures of my kids! So I need some OTHER photos to work with.
Here's the deal: I'm giving away three brand spankin new, fresh from my noggin, fully customized photo cards! This is kind of a you help me, I'll help you thing going on here.
YOU HAVE 3 Chances to win!
Some people think I'm Super Woman - just cuz I have six kids.
I think the six kids is the easiest part of it all.
I struggle with wanting to do one million and two things, and ending up running around like a chicken with it's head cut off, going from one thing to the next, trying to "multi-task", when all I'm really doing is being less productive and starting a slew of things, and never really finishing them (wow, that is a really long run on sentence).
There is always something more to do. I have so many great ideas of things I could do for preschool, that I don't have time to actually DO. There is always a project around the house (ahem - my kitchen, currently in hold mode), there is always bookwork to do for my at home job, there is always something that needs to be read, something that needs to be cleaned, someone that needs to be held and loved, someone that needs to be told to get back on task, my own book work to do, clutter piles to clean out... you know how it is, right?
The other day I was imagining what I would do if I didn't have these two part time jobs. Now, don't think that I don't appreciate my jobs. I do. They are a blessing, and I'm sooo grateful that I can work from home and be with my kids. But I do envy other moms who don't have to do something extra to help make ends meet. Oh, think of all the time I'd have on my hands. I would LOVE to work out for two hours a day, six days a week (that way I could just eat what I want, when I want - restrictive diets really don't work for me). I would have time to actually complete projects around the house. I would do more digital scrap booking and making videos of my kids. I would love, just for fun, to make and sell wedding/birth announcements or Christmas Cards and so on. I've thought about doing that to bring in some more income, but I seriously don't have time to sit and create (not to mention, find the stuff with a commercial license). I'd love to sit and watch an episode of Oprah even, or the new Bonnie Hunt show (I like her). There is no time for that! I still have 5 episodes of The Office from last season that I haven't watched yet. (I did indulge myself yesterday afternoon, and I sat at watched The Biggest Looser and ate some cookies... kind of an oxymoron I'd say... by the way, TBL makes me get a bit teary eyed).
This article was in my reader (if you haven't set up Google reader yet, you really should... you're wasting more precious time otherwise!). I loved it and was going to email it to a bunch of women in my life who probably feel the same way, and then decided just to put it here instead.
The author perfectly describes how I'm feeling. And I love her solution to the problem... I'm sure it will help!
So tell me - what would you do if you had two more hours in your day?
p.s. - Sorry about all the ramblings and long run on sentences... I'm just writing down my thoughts here, with out taking the time to make it sound all beautiful like!
Have you heard about Stephanie Nielson, a long time blogger with a huge fan base? This story is another reason why I think blogging and the blogging community is so awesome!
Here are a few things to check out:
The Nie Nie Dialogues
Her Sisters Blog
Most recent news story:
Would you like to donate? Go here:
Go check out simplemom.net - she is having a gift basket giveaway of seven different items! My favorites are the candles, personalized super hero cape (my boys would love this!), and the lifetime subscription to Pear Budget. Check it out and enter to win! simple mom is one of my most favorite blogs to read and she's getting me in the mindset of living frugally, which is not a strong point of mine!
As far as "stuff" goes, I'm pretty much ready. I think we've got most of Aaron's uniform shopping done, and the girls and I have found a few cute outfits for them to wear this fall (Roman and I took them out last Friday night on a date. After eating out, we did their back to school shopping). Zack is still waiting for me to take him out :( .
As far as "emotionally ready" - I'm not... I'm not ready for the added chaos of schedules and early mornings, and homework, and sports, and going from here to there... ahhh - don't get me started.
Back to getting the KIDS ready... last Sunday I sat down with them and we calculated how many hours they were sleeping each night. When they weren't on a schedule and just woke up when their bodies were ready to wake. Then we figured out what time they'd need to wake up when school starts so they can catch the bus. From this, we calculated what time they'd need to get to bed, and what time they'd need to start getting ready for bed.
The *plan* was to get to bed about 15 minutes earlier each night, so by the time we got to this week, they'd be at their normal bedtime and be in a routine by the time school started. Of course, that didn't happen, so now I've really got to be diligent this week!
I came across this great article called, 10 Ways to Transition from Summer Vacation to a New School Year. Check it out - it's got some great tips!
So, how are you doing? Are you ready for school to start? Are your kids ready?
I'll keep this short cuz i wanted to post a picture of a friend of mine, that i stumbled across while showing my kids pictures from my mission journal. It's actually a picture journal of different segments of my life. Long story short. i came across this picture and couldn't resist. especially after reading about Jodi's trip down memory lane with Tiffany (Rice) and Amy (Widdman).
enjoy!!
I'm taking a break today from my project. Catching up on all the rest of my little world that is starting to fall apart due to neglect! Anyway, perfect timing for me, is this blog series from Simple Mom titled "The 6 Keys to a Disorganized, Unproductive Day at Home". This is a 6 part series. The first key was posted just yesterday. It is titled: How to be Disorganized & Unproductive, # 6: Neglect Yourself. Gee, I think I've got that one down pat. EVERY mom should read this stuff!
Be sure to read the link she has about gradually changing habits. It is a great concept that I think I'll need to use for exercising!
So I'm going to hurry and finish making my bed, and get ready for the day (11:13 am, still in my PJ's, BUT the house is nearly tidied up!)...
My family should be happy about my new blog addiction. I've found so many great things while browsing from one blog to another (all while sitting in my rocker). I have "cooked" dinner 6 out of the past 8 days! One night was my date night, the other we fed the kids chicken nuggets and Roman made a Panda run. Here is what I did (I'm so proud of myself!):
Tuesday night I was at a good friend and associates house for a meeting and I was staring into her kitchen and LOVING her *black* bead board. Isn't it so beautiful! If you know me well, you know I LOVE BLACK! She was so kind to provide me with a picture. I just love the black with the beigey/tanny whatever walls (actually, she told me the paint color is Charro for the walls, and Oyster for the trim). So I was staring at it thinking how I was tired of my red (been that way for nearly 3 1/2 years) and I was ready for a fun change. Thank you Tracy for inspiring me! 
Then last night, at 4:00 am (I was feeding Logan, of course) I came across this blog (mom - click on where it says "this blog" after you read this post)- this mommy has been redoing her house... and I LOVE what she did in her kitchen! She painted her kitchen cabinets BLACK!!! MORE INSPIRATION! Currently, my cabinets are painted this almond color. Something needs to be done because there are a few cracked/peeling spots - plus all the spots where my kids have rubbed the bar stool arms on the paint (lovely scrapes of paint missing). Anyway, I wanted some opinions on this idea. I think it would be a pretty inexpensive way of changing my kitchen around. I'd love to do new counter tops and a sink... but we'll have to see on that. And don't even get me started on my floor again. Anyway - I'd love to hear your thoughts! No lurking allowed on this one! I want your opinion!
OK - so we've got the laptop set up in the nursery where I feed Logan. So I have a lot of time to read blogs. I just had to share this great idea for job jars! I think this is a great idea - especially for the younger ones.
What sort of summer routine have you had going? My kids get their jobs done usually by noon (sometimes way earlier, sometimes way later). Then they usually call friends, or just hang around the house playing. I try to limit the "electronics" time, but with it being so hot, and my lack of energy to find fun inside things to do, I will admit there has been more TV/movie watching, computer time, and game cube time, than I usually allow. It's just how things are when I have a very new newborn!
Share your ideas and what has been working for you!