Tackle It Tuesday

Oh boy!! This is going to be a busy week!! But since I am only going to list what has to be done today it will be a little easier. I have learned to have more specific goals. For instance, I will not list "get caught up on laundry" any longer. 'Cause let's face it, as long as we continue to wear clothes everyday, I will never be done with it anyway!! same thougthts with dishes. I guess if we quit eating and ran around without clothes, I could hope for a spotless house. oh well. I would rather deal with reality!!

so without further adeau (sorry, I have NO idea how to spell it, I think it's French??)...

What I Have To Do Today, Tuesday July 31st

1. Take out trash for pick up day.
   
2. Take hubby to get his root canal finished.
3. Go by Circuit City and get a new car stereo/Cd player installed.
4. Go to the grocery store.
5. Fix rotisserie chicken for (late) lunch
6. Find a baby food grinder mill online to purchase.
7. Wash a load of jeans and a load of towels
8. Copy out our packing list to get ready for next week
9. Mail out prize for the giveaway.
10. Guess, first I oughta find a box for said prize.
11. oh, maybe rejoin stamps.com so I don't have to go to PO
12. Help daughter tape off room to paint it (has to be done by Friday!)
13. Do some more reading on Wordpress online!!
14. update my other blog
15. church tonite

whew!! Fifteen is plenty!!! guess I better get started....

OUCH!! I've gotten bitten again....

When I first started blogging some days there was just nothing much to post about. I had a lot of fun looking around at everyone else's blogs to see what was going on and getting ideas. Then it bit me...my first bite in Blogville. It was the Meme Bug. Although I haven't been real consistent with all of the ones I am interested in I am finally organizing them so I can remember what meme goes with what day. My, there sure are a lot of good ones for Thursday! Anyway, I do not want to talk about memes right now....that will be another blog later.

Now I want to talk about my second bite. This came from the Giveway Bug. Every once in awhile I would find some contest I just couldn't pass up and enter. But it was passionless. See, I had never actually ever won anything. Not any contest that was based on pure luck. But then it all changed. This week I have won three totally unrelated things. And I also participated in hosting a giveaway. What fun. The say it is more fun (or is it blessed?) to give than receive. ( I'll let you know once I receive my prizes, so really don't have qualifications yet to verify that statement.) But I do know that it is really fun to give away stuff. My kids also had a blast going watching the comments grow and then actually participating in the drawing of a winner. Although next time I might use the random thingy from somewhere online I saw others mention. Now we are going around the house thinking, "oh, we could give this away" and "I wonder how many people would want to win this?" Seeing that people would never make it to my house for a yard sale and my daughter has my digital camera every time I need it, I have a HUGE pile of stuff. I keep waiting to put it on Ebay and some of it might actually make it there one day. But I am thinking of hosting more giveaways. Maybe some themed ones. Since school is starting back soon, maybe some homeschool curriculum. Or a holiday decoration (Halloween, Thanksgiving and soon Christmas will all be here.)

But I haven't gotten my act together yet and figured the first step would be to research a little and actually see what the interest is. Do people really like to win free stuff? What kind of stuff? While looking around, I found some really cool giveaways going on and figured I would help spread the word and enter some of them. Who knows? maybe I will win something else!!

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Over at Ashwin’s blog, you will find one crazy blog owner!! You can win $2500!! To enter just copy this text and paste it in your blog!! But hurry, this competition will not last long! So get posting!

(now who couldn't use $2500??? I see finally getting my root canal done (oh yea! (dripping sarcasm)) and the algebra course I want.)

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Next, the wonderful ladies over at 5 Minutes for Mom is offering a contest where you can win an Insignia 37" Flat Panel LCD HDTV from Best Buy. What a generous offer...thanks Best Buy!! You can click on the link to read all about the cool features of this TV that is valued at $799.99!! My favorite part is it can double as a PC monitor and I need a new one real bad.

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Props & Pans is giveaway a shirt by SATees. If you haven't seen this line of clothes, you gotta go check it out. I have a hard time choosing what I want, either extemporaneous, or edacious, or dilatory. Too bad they don't come in adult sizes!!

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Lille Punkin' is having a drawing for American Idol All Star Challenge Dvd game!! Let me tell you, bntv (before no tv) I was addicted to American Idol. I admit it. Not really one for reality shows but by the third season I could critique right up there with the other judges. "Pitchy" "Absolutely Awful" you get the picture. I have a pretty good track record too. I pretty much voted for the ones that did win. My kids would laugh at me because I would sit at the end of the shoe with the house phone and all three (or four if I could get a hold of hubby's) cell phones and dial, vote, hang up, redial. So go on over and join in on the contest. While there be sure to look around. Lille Punkin' gives reviews on the things that matter most to us moms!! and unbiased too.

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"Back To School Giveaway With Gymboree"

Love Shak is hosting a contest with Gymboree in honor of kids going back to school. All you have to do is comment on what your kids' favorite thing about going back to school is. And you could win a $250 gift card.

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I guess I will consider this Part I because there's more to list but I really got to go to bed now.

I'll be dreamin' of shoppin'.

What a "Groovy" Baby!!

Today when I was shuffling thru Jeremiah's clothes trying to figure out what he was going to wear, I ran across a onesie that my sister had given me. She obviously had to have bought it at an art fair or something similar because I haven't seen tie-dye in stores in forever!

After I put it on him, I remembered a post that I wrote previously.

I just had to add a picture of my groovy little boy in his babysling.

And the Winner Is...(drumroll please...)

4:50 pm The giveaway was going to end in 10 minutes. Mom was writing out all the contestants while the judge was eagerly awaiting his debut.

5:05 pm Everyone is in their place as the entries are placed in the hat. We had a designated Shaker Of The Hat. (now, isn't that an honest face?)

5:10 pm The judge couldn't quite get a hand (no pun intended) on this job assignment. He really wanted more than one winner. Sorry dude, we only have one prize.

5:12 pm And then finally there was only one winner left in his little hand.

and the winner is Sara from 2 Crazy Kids. I think she started the blog just for the giveaway but hopefully she will catch the bug and keep it up!! I am sure with two crazy kids there are tales to be told. Congratulations, Sara!

Horizon Milk Giveaway

I know we all love giveaways and most of us also want what's best for our families. That should mean if you drink milk, you would opt for organic. The best organic milk I've had is from Horizon. And lucky for you they are doing a great giveaway too!!

This is a $300 value ya'll!!! (sorry 'bout that, my southern-ness comes out with the excitement)

You can go over to 5 Minutes for Mom to get all the details but hurry, it's almost over!

Doncha Just Love a Giveaway???

** This giveaway will end 5pm on Friday, winner will be notified and also listed here shortly after drawing is held. **

I am participating in the Dog Days of Summer blogging giveaway hosted by Rocks In My Dryer.

When I last checked, there were already over 300 participants!! Check them all out here. WOW!! You don't even have to be a blogger to win. All you have to do is leave a comment and then on Friday, July 27th, a random drawing will be held for one lucky winner. (Actually, one of my kiddos will draw a name out of a hat.)

I am giving away Bath and Body Works shower gel and body splash. The scent is Fresh Vanilla for both from the Pleasures line. The shower gel is 10 fl. oz and the body splash is 8 fl. oz. I just love Bath and Body Works but it seems the baby can't handle it yet so I have an abundance. My daughter has my digital camera at camp this week so the pictures below are **not** what you will receive - - this giveaway is for **Fresh Vanilla**, not the scent pictured. Good Luck!!

A New Meme for Me - - Random Act of Kindness

This meme is designed for Mondays and I know this is Tuesday. So what, I am a day late. But in my defense, I did just find this. And it is way too good to pass up!! While I was over at Shannon's site entering everyone's giveaway, I ran across Jenmomof4's site. And I am a sucker for memes.

The idea of this meme is to spread random acts of kindness. By posting and spreading the word, you encourage others to do the same and we can all make this world a little better.

Last week we had VBS at our church. We had a children's minister come in for it that is a professional clown but with an unbelievable testimony!! If I go into many details, this will quickly turn into a chapter book. There's a lady at my church that works as an after school activities director in the projects. She brought five kids with her the first night and by the end, we were sending out the passenger van/bus and I think she had fifteen or so. Long story short, this was an awesome VBS watching how God touched these kids' lives (as well as all the other kids that attended too from our church and surrounding neighborhood). The lady told me a little about some of these kids' stories and it is just heartbreaking. At the close of VBS the ministering clown (who gave his own testimony the last night - in a nutshell, he grew up in a very abusive family and both his mother and father tried to kill him more than once but he was saved at 25 yrs old) said that he was offering the CD of the skits and music. One of the kids from the bus asked if they were free, they are $5. You could see those poor little faces just fall as hope was lost for them getting one. God provided a way for me to financially help make sure these kids get a cd yesterday so when I go to church tonight, I am going to pay for some of those cd's for the kids. There were a total of twenty one people getting saved during this VBS - awesome!!

Let's all try to do a litte random act of kindness. Although this week, mine was monetary, most of the time it won't be. As a family, we try to do some of this anyway but participating in this meme will make us more accountable and more actively looking for ways to spread random acts of kindness.

Thursday Thirteen #3

Thirteen Things about cre82learn



Thirteen Things I Hate:

1. AMTRAK (sorry but I just lost two days of my life and about $50 in gas because of them, they are at least refunding the ticket)
2.slow drivers!!! (isn't 70 mph a suggestion??)
3. imcompetent employees
4. voice responsive answering systems (sorry bank, but you cannot pick up my voice without hearing 5 kids in the background)
5. slow drive thrus (isn't the purpose of fast food to be fast and drive thru faster?)
6. dial up isp (I thought these were none existent but where we moved it was all that was available for over a year)
7. any restaurant that closes prior to 11pm
8. all vacation packages and anything else geared to a family of four (HELLO!! some of us do have more than 2 kids)
9. phone calls after midnight or before 9:30 am
10. gas prices over $2 (I might be dreaming but I really think gas shouldn't ever cost over $2)
11. toll roads (intended to pay for a new road, but they never get paid off!!)
12. cold french fries
13. commercials

Can you tell that I am travelling an unexpected journey, having to travel toll roads, pay expensive gas prices, forced to eating fast food and all because of incompentency of a misinformed employee??) arrgghhh. thanks for letting me use this to sound off.



Links to other Thursday Thirteens!

1. (leave your link in comments, I’ll add you here!)


Get the Thursday Thirteen code here!


The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others comments. It’s easy, and fun! Be sure to update your Thirteen with links that are left for you, as well! I will link to everyone who participates and leaves a link to their 13 things. Trackbacks, pings, comment links accepted!

View More Thursday Thirteen Participants

A Very Merry Un-birthday Present

Yesterday was my baby's 1/2 year birthday. It makes me sad to even think how fast this first year for him is going. It seems he passed this milestone of being halfway to his first birthday and suddenly is growing up. He is very playful, reaching out and grabbing his toys and putting everything in his mouth. He is also rolling over from his stomach to his back now and pulls up on his knees when he is on his belly. I know he is wanting to crawl so bad but I am not ready for that!! To celebrate his "un-birthday" he grabbed his feet for the first time and also decided to not lean forward when someone else wanted to hold him. He actually pulled away and buried his face in my chest. It was so cute when he wanted to stay with me but not so cute when he decided he didn't want to come back to me.

For his very, merry un-birthday (for all you Alice in Wonderland fans) we decided it was time for a high chair. I had been using a Bebe Pod seat but now he likes to twist around and grab everything else on the table, especially trying to knock my drink over. After much research we headed off to the stores for some hands on research.

First stop was Wally World (aka Walmart). The high chairs were on a top shelf and twist tied to the rack so you couldn't get them down. Of course, no one could help. And I am not going to buy something this important with only being able to see the underside of the product. (Don't worry Walmart fans - I buy enough stuff there anyway that I am sure this one purchase will not effect them).

So we headed off to Toys R Us. Yeah!!!! Everything was parent friendly and not only did I actually practice putting him in every chair there and taking him out with one hand, we tried a few new strollers as well. (When he gets a little bigger and steadier I found a sturdy umbrella.) We (hubby, me and especially baby) decided on the Fisher Price Rainforest Healthy Care High Chair. It was easy to put together and was sturdy (hubby's qualifications), very easy to fasten baby in, remove the tray, tray can be cleaned in dishwasher, has a quick release for the straps (my concerns) and really cute interactive toys (baby's likes).

Wow! Upon proofreading I realize this sounds like a commercial. Maybe I ought to forward it to Fisher Price??!! Here's some pics of baby with his present. You can almost tell that he is blowing "raspberries" while playing.



Now, can you find him??

Adventures in Babyland from a Natural Mama

For those that don't know, I had a baby in January, 2007. He was a **big** surprise for our family. Our youngest (before baby) just turned 8 and our oldest just turned 18. Let me tell you, alot has changed in the last 8 years!! They have the coolest stuff for babies now.

I have to say that I have never really considered myself, well, for lack of a better word - a hippie. hmmm, that's brings visions of tie-dye, drugs and rock 'n roll. okay, not a hippie. a naturalist?? that reminds me of homepathic medicinal herbs, all cotton clothes and sandals. that does fit a little better. I guess that's one problem with stereotyping. I really hate it. I believe I have emerged as a combination of several types. I will tell you what I am. I am a mother. I will do what I believe is best for my children. I am now an older, more experienced mom who has already had four other children live through not only their infanthood but also the toddler and preschool years. That means I am accomplished. I am no longer afraid to speak out to doctors. And as a matter of fact, a lot of the times I do know what is better for my child than they do. I am no longer afraid to speak out to well-meaning other mothers about discipline, nutrition, extra curricular activities, education. I am very opinionated and out spoken, but also very well researched and informed. In fact, I research epinions.com before making any major purchase. Even alot of not-so-major purchases.

Okay, back to being a new mommy again. Sorry, a side effect of having five kids is rambling and being side tracked. This time around I am "wearing" my baby. I honestly don't know how I made out with my previous kids. This is much easier than toting around a car seat or stroller. But the place I wear it the most?? at home. Some days it is the only way I get housework done. I just strap him on and do laundry, dust, vacuum, whatever needs to be done. I am hooked. Not only me, but I have also managed to recruit other new mommies. When our pastor and his wife recently went on a Holy Land cruise, I sent her off borrowing my wrap. They have a one year old and you just can't push a stroller thru desert sands and up rocky mountainsides. It became a lifesaver and she ordered one for herself as soon as they came back home. Tonight, as I was browsing around, I found a beautiful new sling, you can see it at Mama Speaks. Very fashionable!! In fact, Nest Baby Slings come in several gorgeous fabrics!! You can even win one by entering at Mama Speaks. That is a great review blog for moms by moms that is definitely bookmarking!!

I am also online finding other "babywearers" as we call ourselves. I just found another one tonight. The blog is Adventures in Babywearing. Now that's to the point. Stephanie over there is hosting a giveaway - $50 for .Kangaroodle. Now, if you haven't ever visited that store, go ahead and do it now, I will wait. Be sure to check out the diaper bags. That is my weakness. I was never one to buy bunches of purses. Oh alright, I always did like to buy purses, I just never changed them out. I usually carry one of three favorites. But diaper bags, well, I really like the unusual ones. That is one thing that has changed since baby #4. The bags are actually pretty now. And more expensive!! But Kangaroodle has a great selection and very reasonable. There's also neat gadgets that I love.


This has gotten longer than I expected and it's time to feed the baby. Speaking of feeding him, this time around, I am also making my own baby food.

But that's another blog....

Thursday Thirteen #2

Thirteen Things about cre82learn 13 Favorite Movie Quotes (see if you know what movie they come from and leave a comment) "You're not Santa, you smell like beef and cheese" "I love him for the man he wants to be and I love him for the man he almost is" "It wasn't over for me" "Nobody puts Baby in a corner" "Come on Matty, it's Thriller!!" "But why is the rum gone?" "Didn't anyone ever tell you that you were a princess?" "Dear Little Baby Jesus..." "Are they made from real Girl Scouts?" (referring to a Girl Scout trying to sell cookies) "It's all fun and games 'til someone gets shot in the leg" "Everything in here is edible. I'm edible, but that my children is called cannibalism and it is frowned upon in most societies." "You know what happens to puppies, Melody? They turn into dogs and then they get old and die." "When you are a man, sometimes you wear stretchy pants in your room. It's for fun." Links to other Thursday Thirteens! 1. (leave your link in comments, I’ll add you here!)


Get the Thursday Thirteen code here!


The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others comments. It’s easy, and fun! Be sure to update your Thirteen with links that are left for you, as well! I will link to everyone who participates and leaves a link to their 13 things. Trackbacks, pings, comment links accepted!

View More Thursday Thirteen Participants



It a Gotta-Have Contest!!

I know I say over and over that I don't enter many contests, and I truly don't. But as I am in the blog world now, I keep running across contests mentioned in others' blog and get intrigued.

This one is for something that I really, really need. If I don't win, I might have to just buy it.

5 Minutes for Mom is doing a contest for Neat Receipts Scanilizer. This little gadget is a dream come true for me. It helps reduce paper clutter by organizing all your receipts, schoolwork, recipes, etc. on cds. Now for me, that means I could eliminate the seven totes of business receipts, the three totes of school papers, about three totes of personal receipts and tax papers, my two filing cabinets and my two boxes of recipes cutouts. Hey, I might could actually fit a car in my garage!!! That would be a first! Right now, there are two boxes of recipe books in the bottom of my pantry. I know I don't use every recipe and could easily copy the couple of dozen and get rid of the book. But then I would have index cards everywhere or pieces of loose leaf lying around, and you know how easy paper "walks" around my house?? I might could even store food *gasp* in the bottom of my pantry. Or better yet, paper towels and water bottles.

What's really neat is I recently took my oldest daughter to the doctor. They asked for photo id and then proceded to scan my id in this little scanner. We talked about that being the neatest little thing. I had no idea I could actually get one. Imagine all the business cards taking up the side of my frig in the off chance I might actually need one; they could also be scanned and put in my household binder (see, I am a little organized, not completely hopeless) under "Business Contacts."

I off to head back over to 5 Minutes for Mom .
Come join me and let's get organized, it's not too late to work on that New's Year Resolution!!

Marriage Monday

I just found this blog this morning and realized that I have spent too much time browsing other blogs. It's 10am and I haven't done my own blogging, not to mention eat breakfast yet.

I like the idea of this meme. I know that when you are in a rough spot in your marriage, that is the time to put into practice what you know to be true in your role as a wife. Not all marriages are perfect because there is no person that is perfect. The key is to communicate and compromise. I wish someone had told me this when I got married at nineteen!! After we both grew up, we had developed a wonderful marriage. It didn't just happen. We worked at it. Some days were hard and other days were absolute bliss.

I do have to add my opinion here a little. I am trying to teach my children about courtship. On another post, I will have to add some recommended books. I believe that dating numerous people before you marry sets you up for failure. For instance, you are dating this guy and he forgets to send you flowers on your two month anniversary, what do you do?? break up with the uncompassionate jerk, right?? We break up over every little meaningless thing. This is usually because we don't really love them anyway. But it does train you that when things do not go your way, call it quits and move on to greener pastures. Most teenagers are not mature enough to work out problems in relationships which is a good arguement that they shouldn't date yet either. But it does become habit of breaking up and moving on. So, fast forward several years, your now husband does something that hurts your feelings (**this can work the other way around too**) and next thing you know...divorce. I do have to add that there are valid reasons for divorce too (abuse most notably) so I am hopefully not misunderstood. I don't believe that you should divorce over every little thing and I also do not believe that you should live in a miserable marriage. But I do know that miserable marriages can be made better. With communication and lots of prayer.

Sorry to ramble, this is suppose to be a meme. So here it is:

• What is your definition of a traditional marriage? Do you consider yours to be traditional or contemporary?

I believe our marriage is definitely traditional. We were high school sweethearts, married young, have 5 beautiful children, he works hard to support us, I am a SAHM who homeschools (maybe that's a little untraditional??). We both love to spend time with our kids but need to spend some more time just to ourselves. We are also a Christian family and he is the spiritual head of the house (or herd, as I like to call it). We regularly attend church.

• What scriptures do you turn to (if any) when determining your role in your marriage?

of course, Proverbs 31 although that scripture is intimidating.

1 Corinthians 11:9 "Neither was the man created for the woman; but the woman for the man" (This has been revealed more to me as I am now reading Created To Be His Helpmeet by Debi Pearl.)

1 Peter 3:1-2 "Likewise, ye wives, be in subjection to your own husbands; that, if any obey not the word, they also may without the word be won, by the conversation of the wives; While they behold your chaste conversation coupled with fear."

Ecclesiastes 4: 9-10 "Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their labor. For if they fall, one will lift up his companion. But woe to him who is alone when he falls, for he has no one to help him up."

The baby is waking up so I have to hurry but I also love the one in Psalms about not let the sun go down upon your wrath and while we dated and wrote letters (while he was in Army), I signed Philipians 1:3 (this is your homework assignment - go look it up)

• In the sharing of duties in your home (childcare, work, house cleaning), are you and your husband satisfied with the way things get done? If not, how would you or he like it to change?

It works well because it is the only option. My husband is gone with work most of the time so it all rests with me. Where I do need to improve is delegating more to my kids!! I do have four kids capable so why am I heading off to reload the dishwasher now instead of reclining with a good book/movie and bonbons??!!

Where, Oh Where To Blog??

I started this blog in hopes of being able to do everything I want within a blog. I still might be able to do that after I learn more. Right now I am learning about Wordpress and CCS coding. So I am taking a break opening up blogs until I know what I am doing. I do get more traffic at my other blog, www.homeschoolblogger.com/cre82learn. I originally was going to leave there because I could never get signed on but that problem has been fixed with their new server. So for now, I will keep both blogs going, doing different posts on each. Just thought I would have each blog link to the other while I am in transition.
I would appreciate any comments on where you have your blog hosted and pros/cons.
Thanks for your patience during this time.