My Mom and my MIL and my nephew are all here. They have been here since Saturday and we have been oh so busy....
I hope all of you have a wonderful Thanksgiving and I will be back on Friday or Saturday!!!!
Wednesday, November 24, 2010
Thursday, November 18, 2010
Dreaming of a Debt Free Christmas
Late today. It has been a crazy crazy day today. I guess that means it was a normal day! As of right now, Jenna is at the Harry Potter Premier, hanging out outside the theater with some friends, waiting to get it. Hopefully she has fun waiting in the cold, in costume, for 4 hours (she got there at 8).... I have no doubt that she will! (I am sooooooo jealous that she is there and I am here with little kids and no babysitter!!!)
Anyway.
My thing this year is that I want to have a stress free and debt free Christmas. We do not use credit cards, but we usually end up borrowing money from one of our Mothers just to make sure we have everything covered. I really want this year to be more low key. I want to concentrate on time with each other, gifts from the heart and giving back a little bit. In addition, Braeden gets so overwhelmed with all of the chaos and confusion on Christmas morning that I want to make it a little easier for him. Less presents to open, more time to play with each present before tearing in to the next. Less pressure for him. My Mother and MIL will be here for Christmas as well.... for the first time ON CHRISTMAS MORNING since Braeden was born. That will be enough excitement in and of itself!
We are cutting back on the number of presents we purchase for the kids. And I will be making several items for each of them. I want lots of activities and experiences in the days leading up to the holidays, less importance placed on the actual gifts.
So, do any of you fabulous people have any suggestions on new traditions, new activities, frugal gift ideas, crafty fun or any other Christmas stuff? Leave me some links and I will love you forever! And I promise to link to the items I will be making and give a full run down of our plans sometime soon.
Right now I have to go see why it sounds like elephants on parade in the boys' bedroom.....
Anyway.
My thing this year is that I want to have a stress free and debt free Christmas. We do not use credit cards, but we usually end up borrowing money from one of our Mothers just to make sure we have everything covered. I really want this year to be more low key. I want to concentrate on time with each other, gifts from the heart and giving back a little bit. In addition, Braeden gets so overwhelmed with all of the chaos and confusion on Christmas morning that I want to make it a little easier for him. Less presents to open, more time to play with each present before tearing in to the next. Less pressure for him. My Mother and MIL will be here for Christmas as well.... for the first time ON CHRISTMAS MORNING since Braeden was born. That will be enough excitement in and of itself!
We are cutting back on the number of presents we purchase for the kids. And I will be making several items for each of them. I want lots of activities and experiences in the days leading up to the holidays, less importance placed on the actual gifts.
So, do any of you fabulous people have any suggestions on new traditions, new activities, frugal gift ideas, crafty fun or any other Christmas stuff? Leave me some links and I will love you forever! And I promise to link to the items I will be making and give a full run down of our plans sometime soon.
Right now I have to go see why it sounds like elephants on parade in the boys' bedroom.....
Wednesday, November 17, 2010
Obligatory Mommy Bragging
All of my regular readers have probably been introduced to my daughter through guest posts or links. But new friends.... I am going to introduce you today! AND I have some major Mommy bragging to do! So hold on to your hats.... and meet the Faerie Girl!
My daughter, Jenna, is 16 going on 30. Well, some days she is more like 16 going on 5, but that's just fun! LOL She is a Senior this year because she skipped most of the 7th grade. She is a goof and a dork. She is bright and beautiful. She is pretty damn awesome and really impressive if I do say so myself! She lives out loud and doesn't care what anyone says. She respects herself and expects others to respect her as well. She cares deeply about many different social issues and tries her damndest to change the world. She is a talented and ambitious writer who awes me daily. Even while she irritates the crap out of me with the teenage drama!
She has... ummm..... well, three blogs that are openly public, but one of those is linked to a forum. Her personal blog is The Delusional and her writing blog is As The Plot Thickens. She also owns and moderates a writing forum called Quill and Ink. She owns and runs a website for a project she is doing called The Juniper Project which is all about Guerrilla Art. She writes for the Yahoo! Contributors Network (used to be Associated Content) for free until she turns 18 and can earn money there! Her personal web site is HERE. You can click on any of the links to get to know her.OR, you can click on any of the following links to read some of my favorite posts from her blog:
Love is in the Air, I'm Wearing a Gas Mask
Babyface
I've Got a Sword, Fool
Politics, Religion and all that Other Good Stuff
Don't Eat the Red Snow
The Journey
Kicking Down The Door
The Snotpocalypse
Now for the REAL bragging! If you follow me on Facebook then you have probably heard all of this already, if you don't follow me on FB then why not?!? LOL (Click on the Stalk me here tab up top for a link to my FB page!)
Jenna was accepted to The University of Tampa and will be studying for a Bachelor of Arts in Writing. That was exciting enough! Then we found out that she was accepted as an Honors student and was awarded an $11,000 (renewable!) Presidential Scholarship from the school! That's my girl!
So, while that scholarship will not come close to paying for her education, it will be a major help. She should qualify for full financial aid (we are poor) and is applying for numerous other scholarships. We are fully confident in her ability to fund her college education through her academic achievements and her writing ability. Those scholarship essays should be a breeze! So, while she is stressing out to some degree, she is also pretty proud of herself. And so am I.
In addition to that, she also participated in NaNoWriMo again this year. For those who do nto know, that is National Novel Writing Month where you are challenged to write a novel of 50,000 words or more int he space of a month. This is her 3rd year. I think. She succeeded in writing her 50,000 words in the space of 4 days. Yes. FOUR DAYS. Granted, it is an extremely rough first draft. But, damn.Then she proceeded to get sick with walking pneumonia. Told her she was working too hard.....
I would love it if any of you should feel like leaving a comment for her! While she can be an irritating teenager, she is also pretty awesome.
Tomorrow I am writing about Christmas and my dreams of it being a debt free holiday this year so make sure you wander by and check in!
My daughter, Jenna, is 16 going on 30. Well, some days she is more like 16 going on 5, but that's just fun! LOL She is a Senior this year because she skipped most of the 7th grade. She is a goof and a dork. She is bright and beautiful. She is pretty damn awesome and really impressive if I do say so myself! She lives out loud and doesn't care what anyone says. She respects herself and expects others to respect her as well. She cares deeply about many different social issues and tries her damndest to change the world. She is a talented and ambitious writer who awes me daily. Even while she irritates the crap out of me with the teenage drama!
She has... ummm..... well, three blogs that are openly public, but one of those is linked to a forum. Her personal blog is The Delusional and her writing blog is As The Plot Thickens. She also owns and moderates a writing forum called Quill and Ink. She owns and runs a website for a project she is doing called The Juniper Project which is all about Guerrilla Art. She writes for the Yahoo! Contributors Network (used to be Associated Content) for free until she turns 18 and can earn money there! Her personal web site is HERE. You can click on any of the links to get to know her.OR, you can click on any of the following links to read some of my favorite posts from her blog:
Love is in the Air, I'm Wearing a Gas Mask
Babyface
I've Got a Sword, Fool
Politics, Religion and all that Other Good Stuff
Don't Eat the Red Snow
The Journey
Kicking Down The Door
The Snotpocalypse
Now for the REAL bragging! If you follow me on Facebook then you have probably heard all of this already, if you don't follow me on FB then why not?!? LOL (Click on the Stalk me here tab up top for a link to my FB page!)
Jenna was accepted to The University of Tampa and will be studying for a Bachelor of Arts in Writing. That was exciting enough! Then we found out that she was accepted as an Honors student and was awarded an $11,000 (renewable!) Presidential Scholarship from the school! That's my girl!
So, while that scholarship will not come close to paying for her education, it will be a major help. She should qualify for full financial aid (we are poor) and is applying for numerous other scholarships. We are fully confident in her ability to fund her college education through her academic achievements and her writing ability. Those scholarship essays should be a breeze! So, while she is stressing out to some degree, she is also pretty proud of herself. And so am I.
In addition to that, she also participated in NaNoWriMo again this year. For those who do nto know, that is National Novel Writing Month where you are challenged to write a novel of 50,000 words or more int he space of a month. This is her 3rd year. I think. She succeeded in writing her 50,000 words in the space of 4 days. Yes. FOUR DAYS. Granted, it is an extremely rough first draft. But, damn.Then she proceeded to get sick with walking pneumonia. Told her she was working too hard.....
I would love it if any of you should feel like leaving a comment for her! While she can be an irritating teenager, she is also pretty awesome.
Tomorrow I am writing about Christmas and my dreams of it being a debt free holiday this year so make sure you wander by and check in!
Saturday, November 13, 2010
The Maiden Within
Hiding in plain sight
camouflaged beneath layers of responsibilities
and mundane daily life
Parent teacher conferences
steam cleaning carpets
potty training
searching for meaning
underneath couch cushions
and mountains of dirty laundry
The dancing Maiden of my youth
has given way to the Mother of today
hiding within and awaiting
bending but never breaking
hiding but never forgotten
camouflaged beneath layers of responsibilities
and mundane daily life
Parent teacher conferences
steam cleaning carpets
potty training
searching for meaning
underneath couch cushions
and mountains of dirty laundry
The dancing Maiden of my youth
has given way to the Mother of today
hiding within and awaiting
bending but never breaking
hiding but never forgotten
Blog Revamp
I have been struggling to get the blog all prettiefied and organized over the past weeks. With all of the sickness in the house it has taken some time! And, obviously, my month of thanksgiving has suffered due to the illness in the house as well. It's all good.
I am about to take the blog to the next level. I am ready to get back to blogging on a regular basis. I plan to start doing reviews of the books I am reading, menu planning and recipes, some videos of the kids should migrate here soon and I really want to host some giveaways. I also plan to post some of my poetry again. Maybe some crafty posts to show y'all what I have been up to with my sewing? Who knows what will show up over the next few months!
I have redone my links to the blogs I follow. I have them separated into different categories and hope to keep them that way. Maybe that will help me visit each of you more regularly! There is no guarantee, however, that i did not accidentally delete someone in the process. If you visit and your blog is NOT listed in one of my blog rolls, please let me know! I will rectify that.
Please comment and let me know what you think of the new design. If you have a blog button that I am not sporting here then let me know that as well!
I should be visiting everyone on my blog rolls over the next few days to play catch up and visit!
I am also looking for awesome blogs to read. Whether they are frugal blogs, mommy blogs, giveaway sites, blogs about autism or just funny..... please share links with me! Please? I am in need of new reading material! LOL
I will leave you with this picture of Braeden from Halloween. You can't see it to well, but he got a hair cut. No more long curly hair. Which makes me cry. But he's pretty damn cute anyway!!
I am about to take the blog to the next level. I am ready to get back to blogging on a regular basis. I plan to start doing reviews of the books I am reading, menu planning and recipes, some videos of the kids should migrate here soon and I really want to host some giveaways. I also plan to post some of my poetry again. Maybe some crafty posts to show y'all what I have been up to with my sewing? Who knows what will show up over the next few months!
I have redone my links to the blogs I follow. I have them separated into different categories and hope to keep them that way. Maybe that will help me visit each of you more regularly! There is no guarantee, however, that i did not accidentally delete someone in the process. If you visit and your blog is NOT listed in one of my blog rolls, please let me know! I will rectify that.
Please comment and let me know what you think of the new design. If you have a blog button that I am not sporting here then let me know that as well!
I should be visiting everyone on my blog rolls over the next few days to play catch up and visit!
I am also looking for awesome blogs to read. Whether they are frugal blogs, mommy blogs, giveaway sites, blogs about autism or just funny..... please share links with me! Please? I am in need of new reading material! LOL
I will leave you with this picture of Braeden from Halloween. You can't see it to well, but he got a hair cut. No more long curly hair. Which makes me cry. But he's pretty damn cute anyway!!
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