Project 365 x 2

So, I've totally slacked on posting for my Project 365 x 2 that I started this year.  I've been quite successful in keeping up with both doing projects each day as well as taking photos every day.  I just haven't had a chance to get on the computer to post them, so I'm going to get caught up in this post.  (If it gets a bit long, I might break it up into a few posts.)

January 1st
I cleaned around the edges of the kitchen floor and the front of all the appliances.  The little nooks and crannies like the edges under the kitchen cabinets and the grate on the bottom of the fridge always seem to get ignored because they're just not up in your face and obvious.  But it's amazing how much cleaner the kitchen looks when they've been cleaned.  I mean, really scrubbed, not just swept up, but scrubbed good with disinfectant wipes.  With two little ones, it's so hard to find time to do these little details, but they're so important.

As for the photos, Sometimes I've been finding it hard to decide on ONE single photo to post.  Especially when I've taken pics of my little guys.  But I'm going to try to narrow it down to only one.

I just love the hilarious expression on Mr. Giggles

January 2nd
Sent out Visiting Teaching cards for this month.

Saw this strange bug outside the bank one day.  Don't know
what kind it is, but he looked really cool.  I think he was hurt,
though.  I think one of his wings was damaged.  He's really
pretty, though!

January 3rd
Large dusting project where the Elders came over to help out.  I hate dusting.  It aggravates my allergies so badly, that I can't stand it.  But then, the dust accumulates so much, that my allergies are affected anyway.  I swear, sometimes I think I just need to live in a bubble.  Anyway, we got a good section done this day.

Buggaboo holding our kitty, Jasmine

January 4th
Started on an ABC book for the kids.  I've been wanting to make one of these for forever, and I finally got it started.  This day I got the letter "A" done.  I'm going to print each of these on a 4x6 photo page (the letter on one and the words on another) and put them in a small photo album.  I think these will be great to keep them occupied, particularly in church or when we go out to dinner.

Photo of the Day:

Mr. Giggles in his Bumbo seat

January 5th
Worked on stuff for Primary and finished the letter "B" since I was on a roll with the letters.  I'm really excited about getting this particular project completed.

 

Photo of the Day:

All three boys, all watching the tube

Ok, the kids are getting too rambunctious and it's time for lunch, so I'll post more later.  I'm hoping to get caught up with all my days (which is my project for today, by the way *wink*)

52 Week Savings Plan Challenge

$ $ $ $

I came across an interesting, brilliant and great idea on how to save money.  (Unfortunately, I didn't bookmark the page and Googling the idea gives me a TON of different sites to chose from, but I can't find the one I had seen, so I apologize to the person whose blog I found this on.  If I ever find it again, I'll edit this post and give proper credit.)  But with my husband's paycheck every two weeks, I've decided to make my own pattern of how much to put into savings.  

The basic idea is that each week is numbered and there are 52 weeks in a year, so the first week of the year is week #1 and you would put aside $1, the second week would be week #2 and you would put aside $2 and so on until you get to the last week of the year, the fifty-second week where you would put aside $52.  But if you're like me, the end of the year is a bit tight with Christmas, particularly if you have kids.  So, you can always do it backwards, but I've decided to shift things around a bit.  This makes it easier on us, so that it's not so much put aside in one month.

The following shows the week # and the amount to put aside

1.      $1

2.      $52

3.      $2

4.      $51

5.      $3

6.      $50

7.      $4

8.      $49

9.      $5

10.  $48

11.  $6

12.  $47

13.  $7

14.  $46

15.  $8

16.  $45

17.  $9

18.  $44

19.  $10

20.  $43

21.  $11

22.  $42

23.  $12

24.  $41

25.  $13

26.  $40

27.  $14

28.  $39

29.  $15

30.  $38

31.  $16

32.  $37

33.  $17

34.  $36

35.  $18

36.  $35

37.  $19

38.  $34

39.  $20

40.  $33

41.  $21

42.  $32

43.  $22

44.  $31

45.  $23

46.  $30

47.  $24

48.  $29

49.  $25

50.  $28

51.  $26

52.  $27

  

 I then got my planner out and wrote down each amount on each Friday.  Speaking of which, I need to go transfer some money....

Project 365x2

So, this year has already started to fly by.  Here it is, the 10th already, and I have yet to follow up on here with my (two) Project 365(s).  It's not that I haven't been keeping up with it... surprisingly, I have been!  It's just that with my ambitions for the new year, I've been too busy to get onto the computer hardly at all.  I do plan to get on here and try to post each day (a very lofty goal) and stay updated with my goals.

On the subject of goals, at church the other week, we were all challenged in our goals.  We were asked to write down our top ten things we wanted to accomplish.  Then, from that list, we were to take the #1 item and list the steps it would take to accomplish that one goal.  Well, we did that for our Family Home Evening.

What I've come to realize is that in order to make any of my goals a reality, I need to accomplish one single goal and that is to GET ORGANIZED!  If I got organized (which was #4 on the first list) then ALL the other goals would fall into place.

Ironically, this fell right into my First Project 365 idea... do (at least) one project around the house every day.  It could be a big project that needs a few days, but most of them should only take one day (or less) to complete.  And some projects could be simple quiet tasks like sending out birthday cards for the month.

The Second Project 365 I wanted to do was take a photo every day.  This is something else that I've been able to do, with very little effort.  I'm a shutter-bug by nature, so I take pictures constantly.

The BIG issue that I've had with both of these endeavors has been to actually get on the computer to post about them.  Even as I type, my two year old is nagging/whining/crying about everything:

Buggaboo: "I wanna cookie."
Me: "We don't have any."
Buggaboo: "I wanna cookie."
Me: "They're all gone."
Buggaboo: "I wanna cookie."
Me: "We don't have any cookies, they're all gone, quit asking."
Buggaboo: "I wanna play a game."
Me: "No."
Buggaboo: "I wanna play outside."
Me: "In a minute."
Buggaboo: "I wanna play outside."
Daddy: "We'll go outside in a minute, please let your mother finish what she's doing first...."
Buggaboo then proceeded to occupy himself with something that belongs to the baby and now we're currently in tears, which started off real, but now are just fake because he's realizing no one's paying him any attention.

*Sigh*

Anyway... I'm planning on posting more on these two projects, but that task is turning out to be a major project in and of itself.

To Be Continued.............

Project 365

I know, I haven't posted anything in quite a while.  The holidays and NaNoWriMo did me in.  Where did the time go?!  It's already the second day of 2013 and the evening, no less, and I'm just now finally posting.

But I digress... The main topic of this post is:

I've come up with a terrific year of projects for myself.  Feel free to join along if you would like.  I'm actually going to try to do two different "Project 365"s, but the first one is the most important.... Project 365 = Clean House!  This is no little thing either.  Our house is a disaster.  There's too much stuff and not enough storage/shelf/closet space to put even half of it.  So, I have decided to start doing One Task Per Day for 365 days.

I know I didn't post yesterday, but I did do my task for the day.  I cleaned the edges of the kitchen floor and the front of all the big appliances (dishwasher, stove & fridge including the grate along the bottom front of the fridge.)  Let me just say that whoever designed that stupid grate deserves to be drawn and quartered... slowly.  How on earth are you supposed to clean in those little thin slits in that thing?!  UGH!  Well, I did it, but it took me forever.  And it's certainly not the best job, but the top, bottom, and front view-able sides are all good.  The back, unseen side is definitely way cleaner than it was, but there were some deep corners I couldn't get.  Ah well, c'est la vie.

Anyway, yesterday, January 1st, that was my project.  It actually wasn't the originally intended project.  I was going to do birthday cards for the month.  Well, then I just ended up doing the cleaning and decided to move the projects around.  That's one thing about this P365... it's flexible.  If I want, I can swap tasks around, just so long as I do one of them every day.  I've made a list and keep adding to it as I find things around the house that need to be done.

The goal is to do one task per day, each task should be able to be accomplished in one day (although I might allow for a few two-day projects, so long as quite a bit is done each day) and I need to post about it.  That's basically it.  Very simple, yet very daunting when I look around the house.  But that's the key to this project. One "little" task a day and by the end of the year, all the big stuff should have been taken care of in bits and pieces.  It's a way to take on the really big stuff without becoming too overwhelmed.  For example; our two car garage is overflowing with junk. There's barely room to walk to the washer and dryer and certainly no room at all for any vehicles.  But if I have a bunch of smaller tasks, one little one each day, I should be able to make quite a dent in the garage by the end of the year.  Same with the rest of the house.  I get so overwhelmed that it gets to be too much, so instead, I do nothing because it's just too emotionally draining to even think about "doing it all."

But now, instead, I'm just doing a little piece of the puzzle.  Much easier to deal with and still feel good about.

So, for today, January 2nd, I did Visiting Teaching cards.  I missed the mailman today, but I still got them prepared, so that counts in my book.  Tomorrow's task may change, but I'll be sure to post about it.  Whether or not I actually post every single day, well... that's another story.  I's a lofty goal and I'm going to try to post as often as I can and as close to every day as I can, but I'm more concerned about actually doing the tasks on my list than I am about logging it on the web.  I have my planner and that's keeping me on track so far.  And let's face it, posting every day for me?  Well, I already missed the first day of the year, so I don't think that's a good sign for that particular idea.

I'd love to also do a Photo A Day for 365 days and so far I've done that as well (gee, all two days of the year so far, big deal, let's see how I'm doing in a month!) and I plan on posting those pics weekly.

So, here goes nothin'!  I'm really looking forward to 2013 and the wonders that it will bring into my life and the lives of my family.

Happy New Year, Everyone!  What are your goals for 2013?

Celebrating the Yucky Things in Life

If you'd have asked me twenty years ago, what I would be excited about in my future, celebrating poop would not have been on that list... not even at the bottom.  But, here I am, at age forty-two, celebrating my two year old son's first and second successful attempts at going potty.  After lots of "high-fives" and a hug, I pondered on the direction that my life has taken.

I had many delusions of grandeur, but celebrating poo was not even a consideration.  But now, with two kids in diapers, getting one of them to poop in the potty is just one step closer to finding my sanity, which packed up and left a while ago.  I don't know when my sanity actually left, I was probably changing diapers and didn't notice (because when one needs a change, the other one has to have one too.)

I'm hoping that the celebrations will get considerably more interesting and desirable than poop, as my children get older.

But I'm not expecting anything too amazing anytime soon.  One thing that having children has taught me is patience (or the fact that I have none.)  But that's another story.

A Poem about the Holidays

Writing prompt by Mama Kat

The prompt I chose was to write a post in twelve lines, 

so I chose a poem and this is what came of it.

Holiday Overload

1. One, two, buckle my shoe
2. Three, four, there’s a knock at the door
3. Five, six, time for treats and tricks
4. Seven, eight, I've put on more weight
5. Nine, ten,  I see a ghost, a witch, and a Barbie and Ken
6. Eleven, twelve, too many decorations to put up and then shelve
7. Thirteen, fourteen, too many thoughts in my bean
8. Fifteen, sixteen, a whole house to clean
9. Seventeen, eighteen, where’s my caffeine?
10. Nineteen, twenty, next is Thanksgiving with food a-plenty
11. Twenty-one, twenty-two, then Christmas and Santa and reindeer too
12. Twenty-three, twenty-four, I can’t take any more

Creative Prompt

I've been looking at a lot of writing and photo prompts lately and have been inspired to make one of my own.  I'd like to say that I'm going to make this a regular thing, but I know myself better than that.  So, for now, here's a prompt that will hopefully inspire you.  If it does, please let me know.  I'd like to know if I've helped anyone with a creative block.  If I get enough kudos, who knows, it may actually get me inspired to make more.

Broken

Writing prompt by Mama Kat

What's Broken?

My Sanity, for one thing.  I don't know what I was thinking... potty training a two year old in the throws of Terrible-Two-Tantrums while also having a newborn.  I mean seriously... at my age?!  42, I'm 42 years old.  I loved my 30's, but my 40's aren't treating me so lovingly.  Although, it might be the little munchkins that I'm raising.  Of course, it was my hubby's bright idea to start potty training this early, but he's at work all the time, so it doesn't really affect him at all.  I, on the other hand, am worn thin... having to take Bugaboo to go "pee pee" every freakin' five minutes.  But I digress......

What else is broken?  Gee, around here, what isn't broken is the question.  It'd take a lot less time to list!

• The kitchen sink & counters need re-tiled (we have a new set, we just haven't had the time to install them yet.)
• The wood flooring in the living room was never finished, (thanks to a wonderful EX of mine... did ya catch the sarcasm?  I never should have let him tear up my carpeting, but that's another story) the edges were never evened out and it wasn't installed properly in the first place.  I wish I had my carpeting back!
• The fridge seems to be on the fritz, I don't know what it is, but we just can't seem to keep produce in there.  Everything else is fine, but veggies and fruit seem to go bad awfully quick in there.
• The dryer is on it's last legs.
• The roof is in a desperate state.
• The garbage disposal has a loose blade, so it makes a horrible sound when you turn it on.
• The pantry door fell off (it wasn't the right size for the pantry anyway, someone didn't know how to measure when they were building this house.)
• My patience.
• The camel's back.

The list goes on with numerous little things that, alone, aren't a big deal, but when all put together on a list like this, it makes me feel like the whole place is falling apart.  Don't get me wrong, I'm very blessed and I'm thankful for what I have, but when posed the question as Mama Kat has, I can't help but to reflect on just how much could really be improved upon.

As far as the house goes, it's mostly because whoever built this house took a lot of short-cuts and I honestly don't know how it passed code.  Add in the fact that it's a "starter home" and we're anything but "starters" since we've got a family of five, we've got too much stuff and not enough time to go through it all to weed out the crap, and we've got a two year old who gets into everything, and you've got a recipe for How to Wear Out a House.

No, this isn't actually my house & fridge. It's a
photo I took of an old run-down house a few
years ago, but it fit the post, so I thought I'd share.

What I Write

Tomorrow, October 20th, 2012 is 

National Day on Writing.  

Twitter hash tags:  #WhatIWrite & #dayonwriting

What do I write, you ask?  I write fiction... SciFi / Fantasy genre... I love Medieval stories, but I also love science fiction as well.  Star Wars, Camelot, Star Trek, Fairies, Dragons, Knights, Battlestar Gallactica, etc.  I also tinker with a little poetry once in a while when the mood strikes, such as my latest little bit of writing over here (I just realized that I hadn't actually done anything with my Tumblr account, so I wrote a poem.)

So, what do YOU write?

Five Minutes

My five minutes in between screaming/crying/tantrum-throwing children today was taken up by an interesting little flash game I came across from deviantART.com by eladrin-girl.

I probably should have used my five minutes for something constructive, but I don't get to do my own thing much anymore, especially since the second child was born, so I decided to enjoy something mindlessly fun and entertaining.

Try it out and share what you've created.

Welcome, Baby Ben!

For those of you who may wonder where I've been and why I hadn't replied to anyone's blogs or comments, I had my baby and then we had to go back into the hospital for his jaundice issues.  But we're back home and doing much better.  I'm still recovering from the surgery, so it's still slow-going... and with the new baby and a two year old running around like crazy, it's going to be interesting getting back into a routine of some sort.

Baby Ben - Day One

Fashion Faux pas

Writing prompt by Mama Kat

Today's Writing Prompt:  Share one of your biggest fashion mistakes.

My answer:  The 80's

Need I say more?!

Honestly, I was a teenager during the 80's and if you were anywhere around during that time, you should totally understand.  I wish I could find the picture... I kept the photo portion of my first driver's license... my hair took up the entire picture!  No exaggeration... it was that poofy!  I had a poodle perm and then I would take 45 minutes in the morning using a curling iron and practically a whole can of hairspray to "calm" the curls, yet make it even bigger somehow.

It was terrible.  How I didn't set myself on fire with all the hairspray, I don't know.  And how I actually made it to school on time with how long it took me in the mornings to fully get ready, I couldn't tell you that either.

These days, I'm all for comfort and ease... I wash my hair and comb it... that's it.  And just for the record, I still happen to like scrunchies and I'm not afraid to admit it.  I just use the simple soft ones, nothing huge and in-your-face with bold colors or anything, just the simple stuff.  (well, except during Halloween and Christmas, then it's no-holds barred!)  They're easier on my hair, and since I keep my hair in a ponytail most of the time, I'm sticking with them.  As for the clothes, if it's comfortable, I'll wear it.  If it looks good, that's a bonus!  But in the 80's?  Well, we couldn't afford all the really expensive brand names like many of the other girls, but I tried my best with the cheap knock-offs.  I never succeeded, but I tried my best.

So, that's my fashion faux pas from my past.  The entire decade was just a huge mistake fashion-wise, although at the time, it was fun... just ask Cyndi Lauper!

Art Journaling

So, I've started Art Journaling.  Something that I've been wanting to do for forever, yet never knew where or how to even start.  The other day, I cam across a blog that I have fallen in love with.

Art Journaling II

A wonderful blog that is a workshop to teach with a pay-as-you-can attitude.  The money was actually one of the things holding me back from art journaling sooner.  I've seen other workshops, but they all want a ton of money in order to take online classes.  Well, honestly, in this economy, that's just out of my league, especially with a teenage stepson, a two year old, and a baby on the way... all of whom are eating us out of house and home... not to mention my own prego appetite!

But now, with a workshop that I can take and then hopefully save up a few bucks to pass along to the blog owner later down the line, I can finally get started and enjoy myself without stressing out and being depressed (more than I already am) about money.

I've found a new passion and have been enjoying myself soooo much!  After not even being able to start, I'm now finding it hard to stop!  I carry my journal around like I do my cell phone, so that I can doodle away at a moment's notice when inspirations strikes.

If you're at all interested in art, drawing, painting, journaling, sketching, or even just plain doodling, I encourage you to check out her blog/workshop.  I am not being paid by her, nor even being asked to endorse her in anyway.  I'm just trying to pass along some love since she is the reason I have found my artistic passion, my muse, that had been hidden away from me for too long.

My sneaky little Muse, hiding away, but I finally found her.
Now, time to get back to work!

Now I just need to see about getting some color on some of my pages and maybe getting a few of them up here on my blog.   But I'm using my journal as an Art Journal as well as an actual diary/journal, with my daily dose of prego-hormonal-depression, antics of my toddler, frustration with my family, etc.  So, much of what I put in there will not be posted here on my blog, much of it is a little too personal to share with the world.  (not that I have a ton of readers, but still... the potential is out there.)  But there will be some, I'm sure, that will be less on a personal note and more on the artistic side of things that I'll be able to share on here.  I also need to get quite a few things scanned, printed, downloaded, etc.  But it'll all come in time.

Art enables us to find ourselves and lose ourselves at the same time.~~Thomas Merton

No great artist ever sees things as they really are. If he did, he would cease to be an artist.~~Oscar Wilde

Looking Forward to Baby

Writing prompt by Mama Kat

This week's prompt is:  

Share one good thing you're looking forward to.

Oh my gosh, this is so easy for me... I'm looking forward to having this baby!  Having the baby and recovering from the c-section, that is... kind of all rolled into one.

Because getting past that one period of time allows me to then be able to enjoy our new baby, play with him, learn how to juggle two small children, teach my first son how to help with the baby, hopefully I'll be able to breastfeed this time around, I want to start working on losing weight, getting rid of this really bad sciatica pain, enjoy not having to get up numerous times in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom, get back behind the wheel of the van and drive (I don't fit anymore with the baby belly all up in the way,) get back on my fibro medication (well, after the breastfeeding, that is, if that part happens,) and, in general, do a lot of the things that I can't physically do right now.

Because of all the pain I'm in, I can't get down on the floor and play with my son because I can't get back up without help.  The last time I got down on the floor to look for one of his toys, I almost wasn't able to get back up... and it took me a while and it was painful to do so.  I can't bend over very well anymore because of the big ol' baby belly that's taken over my mid-section.  I can barely reach the keyboard on the laptop!  I have the laptop on my lap right now and my belly keeps me from having it too close and my arms are barely long enough to reach... and certainly not comfortably.  (which is another reason why I haven't posted much lately, it's just not that easy anymore! LOL)

I don't get out of the house much anymore either, because I just hurt too much.  When going to Wally World, I need to use one of the electric carts, because my hips and back hurt too much to walk very far.  And that's totally embarrassing.  I hate having to use one of those things.  I don't know why.  I suppose I shouldn't let my pride get the best of me like that, but honestly, I was hoping to not ever need one of those.  My mother needed one and I just never wanted to get that bad, physically.  So, I suppose I should take better care of myself, right?!  But I don't and I guess that's one of the biggest reasons for me looking forward to having the baby and recovering from the surgery... Being able to get back into shape.

Well, getting into shape and becoming independent again.  It's tough having to depend so heavily on others for help.  Especially when I have always been such an independent person all throughout my life.  And I look at other pregnant women (most of whom are a lot younger than I am, which doesn't help) and I see them taking Zumba classes or some other such crazy activity, some of them, you wouldn't even know they were pregnant except for the cute little bump of a belly because they just fly around doing everything they usually do without any problem, and I'm jealous and amazed that they can move so well.

But, no need crying over spilled milk, I suppose.  It's done, I'm pregnant, and there's no going back, so the only thing I can do now is look forward to having the baby and recovering from the surgery.  Then I can move on and work on the many other things that I'm so looking forward to doing... with my babies in tow!

National Parent's Day

Today is the fourth Sunday of July 2012 and is National Parent's Day!

I just happened across a picture shared on Facebook today in honor of Parent's Day and decided to look up the holiday.  Here's the picture:

Photo credit

And that is so true, I'm finding, as my Little Man grows like a weed and teaches me more than I ever thought possible!

As it turns out, this holiday was signed into law back in 1994, but I'd never even heard of it.  I don't recall seeing it on the calendar either, but I wasn't exactly looking for it either.

The idea seems to be to have another holiday similar to Mother's Day and Father's Day, but in regards to a two-parent family, but even more so, honoring the children rather than the parents.  The focus seems to be more on the children as our most precious resource.

To quote the website for National Parent's Day, "The National Parents' Day Council does not envision Parents' Day to be yet "another" day to honor parents, but rather a day when parents honor their children and the God-centered family ideal by rededicating themselves to manifest the highest standard of unconditional true love."  Which I think is wonderful, however, I'm wondering about the families with single parents.  Can they not take part in this particular holiday?  Is that right or wrong?  Or is it neither, and is just a holiday set for a specific set of people?

Christmas is for Christians, Hanukkah is for Jewish people, Kwanza is for those celebrating African heritage, Grandparent's Day is just for grandparents, Pet Parent's Day is for those with pets, and many more, I'm sure, that I don't know of or can't think of off the top of my head.  So, I suppose there's no harm in having a holiday set aside for a two-parent family.

Basically, I'm just thinking outloud here and I don't want to get anyone angry or upset about anything, but I would like general opinions on how you feel about National Parent's Day.  Did you ever hear about it before?  Do you care?  Are you excited to go out and get a card for your wife/husband for Parent's Day?  Did you look at your calendar and did you find it there?  Are you a single parent and feel left out?  How about divorced/separated parents who are both still in their children's lives?  Any other thoughts/feelings on the subject?  Constructive comments only please, let's open a discussion about it, no arguing.  Thank you.

Photo credit

Find Me Friday

Ok, so last Friday, I posted a photo of a doorway.  Did you guess where this doorway was from?

It's located at Universal Studios in Orlando, Florida in The Wizarding World of Harry Potter section of Islands of Adventure.  It's not an actual door to anywhere, it's just for aesthetics, but it just adds a nice touch to the atmosphere of the Harry Potter world.

We had such a fun time!  It was actually our first real family vacation with all four of us.

Me and my family at Seuss Landing
From left to right:
Me, two Misc. Seuss Characters, my Hubby, Big Bubby
& Buggaboo in front

Have you ever been to Islands of Adventure?  Did you enjoy it?  What was your favorite part?

How Do You Do It?

Honestly, I would love to know how others do it... do "what" you ask?

"It"

"Everything"

How does anyone keep up with all the technology these days and still keep a house clean, go to work, raise a family, and still feed oneself while still finding time to do something fun once in a while?!

I was just surfing around and was looking at random about.me pages and I see where many people have many different places to find them, such as:

Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr, Linkedin, Instagram, email, personal blog, Flavors.me, About.me, Pinterest, Fitocracy, Dribble, Github, a personal website, YouTube, DeviantArt, Google+, flickr, Ravelry, etc.  (There are tons more, but honestly, I don't know how anyone could possibly keep up) Not to mention all the apps that are out there that constantly distract all of us.


So how do you do it?  How do you balance it all and still have a life without falling behind on the technology and the information highway?  


At times like these, I think about my life twenty years ago, before I even owned a cell phone.  Smartphones weren't even invented yet.  I didn't own a computer and there social media meant actually physically going to a coffee house or club of some sort and actually being social.


Although I really love computers and surfing around, I really miss the simpler days.  I enjoy my smartphone and love being able to keep schedules on it, but I remember the peace and quiet I had without it.  

And let me ask another question, does anyone play board games or card games anymore?  I mean the ones that aren't digital.  I see that they're still sold in stores, but does anyone actually play them with real people, face to face?  I try to get our family to play a board game once in a while on a Family Home Evening, but it's hard with Little Man and his desire for attention, along with the rest of the family who just want to stare at the boob tube and watch a movie.  I'm all for movies, but once in a while, I'd like to exercise my brain and have some actual social interaction with a real person across the table rather than on the other side of the world through a 15 inch screen.  


Not that I mind meeting new and interesting people from around the globe, but when I'm out and about and see nothing but people with their noses stuck in their phones/iPads/etc, not even watching where they're going, I have to wonder just how good all this technology really is.  And then I'm back to my question of BALANCE.  It all comes down to that once simple word that is nearly impossible to achieve successfully on any kind of regular basis.

Photo Credit

I have seen a few sites (such as HootSuite & SproutSocial) that offer a one-stop-shopping experience, per say, in the way of managing all of your social media sites.  A place where you can go and post once and be done with it and it magically posts to numerous other sites per your instructions, etc.  But from what I've seen, you need to actually pay for that service.  (At least I haven't found one that does the work for free)  


Then there's something I just happened to come across.  You may have already heard of it, you may even be already using it... WiseStamp which automatically adds different aspects of all of your social media into your signature in your email.  Your latest Tweet, your latest eBay listing, links to your Facebook and much more.  I don't know what the free account gets you, as I couldn't find that info without downloading it and I don't think I'm ready for that just yet.  You can buy premium services too, but that's not in my budget at the moment.


So, the question comes down to exactly how important is my time versus the management of all my crap?  Well, I don't really know... I've got a lot o'crap to deal with and social media is not the highest in the order of importance.  I've got a house that needs cleaned, a family that needs food, groceries to get, laundry to do, blah blah blah.... Show me a site that can manage all of that for me and we'll talk price... I won't be able to afford it, but we can still talk about it.  


In the meantime, as I look back over my post, I realize that I started this post a couple days ago and I'm just now finishing it up.  I have not posted something every single day this month like I did for June and was hoping to accomplish for this month of July as well.  I have started a new project in crocheting (pics and links coming soon.)  And I've found more social media sites that look very interesting and tempting, if I wasn't already bogged down with too many already.  

Time to do some weeding in my internet garden, I think.

Painful Pregnancy

Well, the pregnancy is getting rougher and rougher on me and my body.  Yesterday and today were miserable.  Church lasts for 3 hours, but the past couple Sundays felt like it was much longer.  Today, I was recovering and was not doing a very good job at it.  I was nauseous most of the day and my sciatica (on both sides) has been hurting a LOT lately and today was really rough.  Maybe it was the nausea that made it seem worse, or vice versa, I don't know, but I'm thankful today's almost over.  I'm hoping to wake up to a better day tomorrow.

Anyway, I'm upset that I missed posting yesterday.  I've been doing such a good job at keeping up with it, but yesterday was just too much for me.  Today's about shot as well and so am I, but I wanted to post something, so I'm posting my painful rant.

I've only got about 2 months to go before the baby comes.  Hopefully I'll be able to keep up with most everything and not get put on bed rest like I did when I was pregnant with Buggaboo.  But puffy feet have settled in and they don't seem to be going away anytime soon.  Putting my feet up doesn't seem to be working much either.

But it's the sciatica that's truly stopping me from doing much of anything.  It's hard to keep up with the house and meals and things of that nature when you can barely walk.  I couldn't even lift my right leg yesterday afternoon (which causes an issue when I'm trying to climb into bed and can't, or trying to step in and out of the tub and can't lift my leg high enough to do so) and today has been iffy at best with being able to get around.

Hubby's been great with giving massages when I need them and helping out more, so has Big Bubby.  He's been a great help with Buggaboo and with meals and such.  I just don't know what I'd do without them.

Anyway, I felt the need to vent my painful frustrations this evening.  I apologize for a less than happy post.  But I do have some projects coming up.  Some frugal living stuff, a few recipes, and a crochet project or two that are WIP's that I want to share as soon as I can take some photos.  Thanks for hanging in there with me. Good night, all.

My New Favorite Holiday

July 7th, 2012  Today is Chocolate Day!!  

Are you kidding me?!  Chocolate Day?!  I now have a new favorite holiday.  And I just found out something totally delightful... We now have an even better reason to eat chocolate.  Chocolate is actually a vegetable!  That's right!  Well, sort of... The Cacao tree that grows in the rainforest is where the cocoa for chocolate comes from and it is apparently a vegetable.  Which is probably why dark chocolate is said to be good for you in small quantities.  


Now, as for my Reese's cups and Snickers bars, I'm sure the sugar and all the other stuff they put in them outweighs the health factor from the rainforests.  But, it's an interesting, if not useless, fact to share with your friends the next time you are all indulging in a chocolate Wonderfall or some other heavenly chocolate treat.

I would say that these are my ultimate favorite chocolate treat of all time.
Little on the pricey side, but soooo worth it!

Now I want some chocolate in the worst way and we don't have any in the house anywhere!  UGH!

Find Me Friday

I took this photo a while back.  I thought it was a very interesting doorway and loved the feel of it... the way it was almost forgotten, hidden away, left unnoticed.

So, I thought I'd have a little fun and see if anyone can figure out where it is.  Take a guess, go on, do you know where this doorway is located?  I'll post the answer next Friday to give everyone a chance to try and guess.

Where am I?