March 31st~ Red Envelope Day

If you go to the orginal website for the Red Envelope Project you can learn more about this little grass roots protest. The project sends the envelopes empty, but I couldn't help but tuck inside my three little guys. The red envelope represents the blood of an unborn infant killed in abortion.


Armpit shot with my youngest boys at the Golden Gate Bridge on our little vacay.
I love my children, and I believe all babies have a right to life.

Life is Good.

What works for you?

Aside from the fact that I need to 'catch up' from my little sabbatical from my home life, I am well aware of the spring cleaning bug that has worked it's way into my system.

There is so much dusting, de-junking, and spiffing up that needs to be done (and I want to do what I can while I have the desire)that I am just hardly even sure where to start.

Things are slightly out of control right now. Windows and laundry and beds and wall marks and handprints and crammed cupboards and closets (My heart is racing just writing this!)
Sure, we fake it enough to get by, but how long can I keep up this facade?

I am looking for any tips, pointers, or any type of inspiration that helps you turn off the TV (or computer) and get up and get a few EXTRA things done. What are your spring jobs that make you feel like you have been productive? (I need that feeling!) Any books or ideas? (I get Flylady e-mails already, but I get so many I kind of skip them all. Huh.)


And of course, if you boycott this sort of thing, well those comments are always welcome, too. They always make me feel better.

Should be.....

I should be home. I could be working, catching up on Primary stuff. Doing some scrapbooking. Doing some....well, lots..... of laundry. Helping my kids with their homework. Running a lot more. Doing spring cleaning. Counting my calories. Thinking about Easter...

ugh so much to do...

Instead I am taking advantage of a little work trip with my husband. I am eating way too much Ghiradelli Chocolate and Jelly Belly's (toured the Jelly Belly factory and went to Ghiradelli Square), sitting in a hot tub, trying to sleep in until the last chance for free breakfast, downloading stuff to my Kindle (loving it) and even (DON'T TELL) drinking a few Diet Cokes.

In other words, I am being a total unrighteous slacker.
It feels nice.

Is This a Total Sign, or what?

Who opens there Vanilla Ice Cream lid to find this secret message on the inside;



I am officially taking this as a sign that happiness is mine for the taking.

All because one person left a post

It started the day I sent my photo in to Glenn Beck. The "We Surround Them" energy took over...

I left a post on Facebook on his page, which went unanswered for a few days...and then...messages, and friendships, and notes, and posts made me realize this was something big.

What was going to be a gathering of 10 families or so, is now a sponsered event at Noah's tonight, with 1000 (yes....a THOUSAND) people expected to come, including a congressman and radio DJ to take over announcements.

I can not even post right now. My emotions are high, it has been a long week, and I will have to get back to you all later.

let it be known, however.....I do believe that just a few people can make a difference. I know it.

I want this silly gadget

I want, I want , I want....

just like a toddler I am stomping my feet and whining for the Kindle 2 from Amazon.

As you may (or may not)know, we live on a budget. A semi-intense, kind of gazelle, Dave Ramsey budget. Our current success, (I have to put this in so you understand where I am coming from) for living on a budget the last 2 years, has been over $52,000 paid off in debt. We just throw any extra cash towards it, and have quit buying on impulse and credit. NO more car payments, no RC Willey, no credit cards of any kind, just lights and shelter are left as bills.

NOW...that means 2 years ago I would have just bought this little book gadget when I felt like it, but nowadays I don't work that way. I am currently saving my tips from my clients, toward my Kindle, and it is accumulating nicely- however I want it now!!!

I was putting my cash in it's 'KINDLE' envelope and I said to my 10 year old..."Man! This is taking a while! I want this so bad!!!"

He stared at me (the victim of my 'save your money if you want that' lectures) in disbelief.
"See mom!" He said, very firmly,"it's not as easy as you think!!!" He of course, is mad I don't dish out the cash for his purchases. He is probably very satisfied seeing me suffer. But we have a policy;

No lending in our family. PERIOD.

Anyway...I just had to let you know I am itching for this thing, and at the rate I am going I should be able to order it in 2 weeks or so. But dang it, it sure takes discipline to not just get on there and get it now. I have also resisted the urge to order my Snuggie (living by proxy in Kristina's, however) and stopped buying books since the saving has begun.

Instant gratification is very tempting.....

I must be a true blooded American!

Why I love these pics

I got my disk today- a gift of the universe- and have spent way too much staring at each picture. I am so deliriously happy to have this little moment of my life captured with a touch of coolness. Yeah, a few of the pictures I may look dorky (I really don't love seeing myself in most photos, and I didn't smile very much for some reason ) but Carrie at DC Photobooth got pictures for me that I will cry over for years to come.

I love so many, I am only sharing a few at a time, with why I love them. A little peek inside my wacked brain and what makes it happy.

This was one of my preview shots, but I really love this one because it is a little nod to one of my first tastes of reading outside of the box. Richard Bach has a book called The Bridge Across Forever that once had a couple holding hands like this in the cover. I used to read his books and ponder the concept of soulmates and families.... now here I am on my own bridge.... and this shot kind of completes it in a weird sappy and mystical way.

Now all you mommies out there know,any picture of your child is precious, but when you get all of them together, and no one is pinching or punching the other one, and they all seem so serene and of course, beautiful, well....let's just say it kind of makes the rest of it all worth it. So this picture makes the mom in me happy.

Last is a little fun shot of me and my hubby. I love it because it just looks like US- and it has been a long time since we had interesting photos of the two of us together....my new attempt at adding more journaling and art to my scrapbooking also made me crave some cool pictures of us together. I am so happy to have this:


One little surprise is that the disk had each photo in a straight shot, diffused shot, and black and white (lay man terms here, I don't know what they are called in the photo world) so you can see the different feeling in each type.
And this is how sick I really am....

I HAVE MY CHRISTMAS CARD PLANNED OUT ALREADY!!!

that makes me very very giddy

Let's Trap Eachother....

Here was the game. One lucky person would lay on the bed or couch. All other siblings would then cover the lucky one with blankets and pillows, for cushioning. After the safe layer the fun began. Then came on the books, boxes, chairs, fisher-price hospital and anything else you could find. After careful placement, all backed up and yelled.."Okay! You can try to get out!" At which point, lucky duck would break out of the massive pile of junk.

We all stood back and laughed at the pile shifting and person groaning, if it was hard to break free then we succeeded. Then a new lucky duck climbed on the bed for the next pile. This continued until it was time to eat, or Family Ties started.

This morning I heard rustling in my boy's bedroom. There was laughter and noise, and then a clear call..."Okay....try to get out!" I peeked in the room. One son was clearly in the closet, while the door was barricaded with a pile of chairs, pillows, clothes, and other random junk. Suddenly the door burst open and the lucky one impressed the trapper.

In spite of my laughter to myself, my childhood flashback, and all the fun I had getting untrapped back in the day, all I could think about was the messy closet and thrashed room. I am a kill joy. "Clean it up....If you want to trap eachother do it outside somewhere!" (how is this a good idea? what am I thinking?) but all I know is somebody has to clean up that pile of stuff...and I certainly don't remember doing a lot of that when I was young! So while I was happy to see them enjoying the simple things in life, like barricading a sibling, I have to draw the line somewhere, and so for now, trapping is out until they can do it somewhere where I don't have to clean. If there is such a place!

The word of the day is......

FASCISM- any movement, tendency, or idealogy that favors dictatorial government, centralized control of private enterprise, repression of opposition, and extreme nationalism.

I don't know about you, but I when I looked this up to read what exactly the word meant, I was afraid.

My life is complete

I can die happy

I have met with the most amazing girl who took the most amazing photos of my family.

I don't have my own CD yet, so for now you will just have to go on over and click to see a few previews from our photo shoot for yourself...

Dc Photo Booth

And yes...I totally am aware that my kids STOLE THE SHOW...isn't that the way it should be?

Maybe if you hurry you can book a photo session with Carrie before she gets so busy you can't get in any more.

I LOVE THEM!

Why I boycotted the Science Fair

I understand that kids want to make volcanoes and see steamy things spew in the gym, but my loathing of the science fair began years ago. My oldest son is somewhat of a perfectionist, so just agreeing on a display and how we would do it was a fight.

We have done bean sprouts, DNA strands, and phases of the moon......but see that is where the hate began. I am not even going to get into the hours and hours of searching, painting, typing, gluing loss of sleep that goes into each one of these.....

Oh no.....what bothers me is that my child can pick a topic, like the above mentioned, and if his board doesn't ask a question a certain way and have a certain type of guess, then show the calculated answer, then all of his work and research just earns him a bad score.

See , it isn't about learning..it is about how you present the scientific method, which is usually the same display year after year done by different kids. My son wanted to learn how a GPS works. He studied it, he used his dad's GPS, he created a Travel Bug and logged all the places it went on the earth, for 2 years, then made an awesome display board with measuring tapes and maps and let kids figure out how coordinates are tallied.... it was a hit, but not with the judges.

(my boys geocaching in Williams Arizona, a few years ago on vacation)

While he had parents and kids alike figuring out map locations and measuring them with 3 separate tapes, the judges did not approve of his display...there was no obvious layout of the scientific method.

SO now when my kids bring home a science fair memo I toss it aside and say, "If you want to do it, go ahead..." but I am done with the searching and preparing just to present something within the confines of the district judges. Maybe I am mean, but to me thinking outside of the box is great for kids.....

Our elementary school science fair is today. Guess whose kids do NOT have a display there. My poor, deprived children.

How to Have a Great Valentine's Day

Here are the instructions for a fabulous Valentine's Day.

1- Plan for Book Club to meet at your house. Once you get past the panic that you must host it on a special day, the ideas and excitement begin to flow. Reading Jane Eyre give you a valid excuse to break out the china and enjoy the moment. Great conversation about Jane Eyre (the covered book) and Atlas Shrugged makes you feel excited to be alive and free and have friends. Hubby is shopping with kids and going to Basketball....relax and relish in the adult conversation..

NEXT-
2- Have your husband and kids walk in at the end of book club carrying a balloon, roses, chocolate cake, a giant kiss, (I always wanted one of those!) and the new David Cook CD. These all score major points in the Valentine's Day score book, especially when we 'celebrated' the night before and went to dinner. Bonus. I felt like Phyllis, on The Office.


3- Declare you are exhausted from all the excitement of the day and plop on the couch with a quilt, by your Valentine's side where you both fall into a long winters nap. Naps. What a gift.

4- Be woken from your nap by a phone call from your cool cop little sister that is visiting from out of town and decide to join her and her husband for dinner. Yum. (plus this means you don't have to cook and clean!) Double Bonus!

5- Hang out, kick back, send kids to bed, and head up to your bed with your Valentine for a night of proving your love......well, you get the idea.

Valentine's Day. Awesome.

I hear you

I may not be fighting the foreclosure of my home, but I can relate to the frustration of feeling like nobody hears me. Please don't even get me started about the hidden agenda of the "Stimulus/Spending/In debt our Children Forever Bill".

I am typing the 9 principles of Glenn Becks "We Surround Them" unity group. There are MORE of us then the people pushing the laws and spending the money that they don't have... if you believe these too snap a photo of yourself and send it to ;

wesurroundthem@gmail.com

9 Principles
1. America is good.
2. I believe in God and he is the center of my life
3. I must always be a more honest person today than I was yesterday.
4. The family is sacred. My spouse and I are the ultimate authority, not the government.
5. If you break the law you pay the penalty. Justice is blind and no one is above it.
6. I have a right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, but there is no guarantee of equal results.
7. I work hard for what I have and I will share it with who I want to. Government cannot force me to be charitable.
8. It is not un-American for me to disagree with authority or to share my personal opinion.
9. The government works for ME.....I do not answer to them.....they answer to me.

The first time I read these, I was moved by the simplicity and integrity of each statement, but as I have re-read them over the last couple of days and typed them today I am moved by the profound nature of each principle. I am moved and comforted by these words. I feel strength in knowing hundreds of thousands of other people are standing, even 'raising there arm in a square of promise' - as said by Glenn, and committing to living these principles. I would love to explain more of my passion behind these principles, but for now I just want you-anyone-someone to add these ideals to what you think about in the next few days, and act on them.

That is more in line with the kind of CHANGE I was looking for.