Blog Break?

I guess I'm taking an unintended blog break this week!

Randy is off work this entire week and he has me helping him with various projects around the house. No more tapping away at the computer for this girl... I'm working!

What are we doing? Well, after spending all of Sunday shopping with the family for various project items, here's what we have going on:

• Hanging our flat panel t.v. on the wall (Anyone want to buy a flat panel tv stand? CHEAP!)
• Installing a new toilet (um, yep, that's me)
• Putting up radiant barrier in the attic (brrrrr...)
• Working on the car (I'm hoping I can get out of this one!)
• Rearranging the office

And, I have my own projects too:

• Clear out Kyla's closet (that child is messy!)
• De-clutter (toss, keep & donate)
• Assemble Gingerbread house with the girls ($1.50 at HEB - couldn't pass it up!)

Oh, we had a wonderful Christmas! We were able to see our families in Orange, then rush back home to open presents on Saturday morning. The girls and Randy assembled the trampoline and it has been non-stop jumping for them since then! (It's raining now, so they are checking out their other toys today!)

Here's a Christmas morning recap:

Christmas Challenge! Day 25

Christmas Challenge! Day 24

Time to fess up... This has been the most difficult blogging challenge to date! I'm just not that interesting people!

Thank you to everyone who has participated in the Christmas Blogging Challenge! Even if you started and didn't finish... you are still my friend!

I hope everyone has a wonderful Christmas tomorrow. Despite all of the Christmas festivities, rushing around, spending money, eating too much, etc., etc., the message is still the same. Christmas is the celebration of CHRIST's birth. His arrival on earth, in flesh, as a baby to bring salvation to a dark and dying world. We need Him now just as much as the world needed Him over 2000 years ago.

Never has one baby caused so much of a stir (both positive and negative) in the history of man. Have you ever stopped to wonder that... to ponder that thought? Could it be, because Jesus Christ IS who HE says he is? The Son of the Living God? The Savior? The King of Kings, the Lord of Lords and the Prince of Peace? YES! He is! He most certainly is.

Christ is alive, He loves you AND He is coming again. Don't waste a single minute of your precious time here on earth pondering whether or not Christ is the Savior of the world. He was, He is and He will forever be!

Christmas Challenge! Day 23

Thank goodness Randy doesn't read my blog!

Our yearly tradition!

Christmas Challenge! Day 22

I'm done! I'm done with shopping, I'm done with wrapping, I'm done with packing and I'm done with baking. Done, done, done! Now, I can sit back and relax and enjoy the next few days.

I have a lot on my mind and could do a complete brain download dump that would take up a lot writing, editing, deleting, etc... so I'll refrain for my sanity's sake. I mean, why rock the sanity boat, right?

So, I leave you with this.... Here's Elisan and Kyla with their Happy Birthday Jesus cake.

Christmas Challenge! Day 21

Quick! Do you need a super fast last minute gift idea?

On Friday, one of the kids at school was wearing a scarf made out of fleece material. By taking one quick look at the scarf I decided that the girls would love a super soft fleece scarf to wear and that it would be our weekend craft project!

Off to the store we went! As you know, fleece blankets are very popular right now. Just look at the SNUGGIE rage... and the homemade Snuggie rage! So, as you can imagine there are bolts and bolts and bolts of fleece out there to choose from.
The fleece was around $7.50/yard at Walmart. I only needed 2 feet of fleece since I was only making two scarves. You can make them as fat or as skinny as you want. I would rather start off fat and then trim off as I deemed necessary.

I cut the fabric in half --lengthwise, then added "fringe". You could cut the fringes longer and tie off each individual fringy, but the girls didn't want their fringes tied.

I kinda like this idea! I'm thinking a funky houndstooth print for me! Maybe after Christmas I'll make one for myself!
Be sure to check out Goodwill Gal too! I'm posting for the 25 Days of Christmas Blogging Challenge there as well!

Christmas Challenge! Day 20

We took these pictures this morning before church.

We all took turns in front of the tree getting out picture taken, but the girls are the only pictures that made the cut!

Again, I edited these pictures with Picnik which is free photo editing website.

Christmas Challenge! Day 19

Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse!
(Well, Elisan and I were, but we were being really quiet!)

Christmas Challenge! Day 18

I've been wanting to blog about this since Thanksgiving. But, I've had so much other stuff to talk about... you know, like hairspray and karaoke machines that I put this one on the back burner, until today. It's not that I don't have millions of things to gab about, but I wanted to at least post these pictures while they were still relevant!

Here's my nephew, Brandon, who is 15 years old. He will be 16 in February. He is nearly 6'4" tall. He wears a size 15-16 shoe. Let me say this again... HE IS 15! And for the record, he has not stopped growing. In fact, you can very nearly see the boy growing, he is growing so fast.

And, as you can see... he's a cutie. And, he's hilarious. I mean... sooooo stinkin' funny. And, on top of all of that... he's a good kid. Just plain good. Minds his mama and his daddy (my brother). They raised him well.


Not to be outdone, I also have another nephew named Brady. He's adorable in his own right and he's an excellent athlete and so very smart. He was showing us card tricks that had Randy's jaw dropped to the floor. And, give the boy a Rubik's cube and he'll solve it in a matter of minutes. We sat and watched him do it TWICE!

My brother and sister-in-law have done an excellent job with both of them. I hope I will raise my girls in the same fashion. I'm proud to call them my sweet nephews and I love both of them!

Be sure to check out Goodwill Gal too! I found an item today that I'm so excited about!

Christmas Challenge! Day 17

Better late than never! (Updated with: Apparently, when I'm tired, I don't proofread either!!)

I'm pooped out today!

I started my day at the gym with Body Step, step class. Wow, that class is hard. I then raced home to shower, eat, get dinner on for tonight and rest up a bit. I had to finish some last minute Christmas shopping today, so I headed before noon to get that minute stuff done. I think in all, I hit four stores.

After I picked the girls up from school, we raced to the dentist for our bi-yearly cleaning. NOT my favorite thing to do, for sure!

So, I'm late getting today's entry out, but this is what I worked on last night. Turned out cute, don't ya think? I'm going to take it to KINKO'S (my favorite place to spend money these days...) and have them printed on cardstock. I'll pass them out to the grandparents when we visit at Christmastime.

GIVEAWAY ALERT!! IF YOU WANT YOUR OWN 2010 Calendar to hang on your fridge, send me a picture and I'll email it back to you with your photo. My email address is on the left side bar.

Be sure to check out Goodwill Gal too! I'm posting for the 25 Days of Christmas Blogging Challenge there as well!

Christmas Challenge! Day 16

I need some help, people!

For whatever reason, the HEB that I shop at stopped carrying my "tried and true" hairspray, VO5 Extreme Style Hair Spray, Max Hold. Who knows why, but there is an empty space on the shelf where my beloved hairspray used to sit... where ALL of the VO5 hair products used to sit.

I love this hairspray because it is just fabulous. I have never been a mousse or gel person... I've always been a hairspray person and this hairspray IS worth blogging about. In fact, I pondered doing a whole blog post on it last year, but I thought y'all would think I was nutso, so I refrained.

Well, now I'm blogging about it, but now it is through my tears... well, not really, but close! I need help in finding another brand that is fabulous, that doesn't cost over $10.00 and is YOUR tried and true brand.

So peeps... help a gal out!

P.S. - I don't want to buy it online... that's just silly! But, I may have to resort to it if I get desperate!

By the way, don't miss out on Goodwill Gal! The topic? Jeans!

Christmas Challenge! Day 15

Do yourself a favor and make this recipe! Oh so yummy!

I made a batch of spiced candied walnuts for a salad a few weeks ago. The salad called for mango-citrus dressing, bleu cheese, crumbled bacon and spiced candied walnuts over fresh spinach. It was delish!






Spiced Candied Walnuts
http://www.epicurious.com

Nonstick vegetable oil spray
1 cup walnuts (about 3 1/2 ounces)
2 tablespoons light corn syrup
1 tablespoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
Generous pinch of cayenne pepper

Preheat oven to 325°F. Spray baking sheet with nonstick spray. Combine walnuts and all remaining ingredients in medium bowl; toss to coat. Spread nut mixture on prepared baking sheet (some nuts may clump together). Bake until nuts are deep golden and sugar mixture is bubbling, stirring occasionally to break up clumps, about 15 minutes. Cool completely on wax paper.

Be sure to check out Goodwill Gal too! I'm posting for the 25 Days of Christmas Blogging Challenge there as well! I have a guest blogger today! My good friend Amanda whom I've known since we were in 3rd grade!

Christmas Challenge! Day 14

Each year the girls and I assemble goodie bags to give to their friends for Christmas. I typically buy the goodie bags found at the Dollar tree, throw in a few pieces a candy and their mini-photo Christmas card and we're done.

But, this year, I wanted to try something new. I have seen this idea other places, but was recently inspired by Amy at Living Locurto and her goodie bag label that she made - which, by the way, is a downloadable freebie... check it out!

Well, I thought to myself... I can do that for the girls and make it customized for them. So, I did. Here's my version:

The girls loved this idea and thought it looked like they bought it from a store! I created the design, put three to a page and had them printed at Kinko's on cardstock. I could have printed them on my home color printer, but the quality of using a laser printer far surpasses my inkjet printer. Since I put three labels to a page, each label tag came out to be about $.42/each. Since I needed 36 labels, I ended up spending a bit more than I would typically spend, but they turned out so cute, I could not resist!

Be sure to check out Goodwill Gal too! I'm posting for the 25 Days of Christmas Blogging Challenge there as well!

Christmas Challenge! Day 13

I took Kyla Mae to visit Santa yesterday. We're a no frills kind of Santa family. No need to visit the "real" Santa at the mall. I'm just not into that whole scene.

Don't get me wrong I know people who are and I don't fault them for it. I just can't see paying umpteen dollars for one photo... And, let's not forget... let's hope everyone is all smiles when the camera snaps!

So, we do the freebie Santa at our local HEB. It's not bad once I dressed up the photo with some cool edits. Speaking of edits... here's something worth a try... PICNIK... it's an online photo editing. Just get an account and you can really add some neat effect to your pictures! It's free and there is nothing to download!


Be sure to check out Goodwill Gal too! I'm posting for the 25 Days of Christmas Blogging Challenge there as well!

Christmas Challenge! Day 12

Not gonna happen today...
I'm exhausted from Christmas shopping merriment...

Christmas Challenge! Day 11

So, I decided on a karaoke machine for the girls. I was at a department store this week and low and behold... there was a karaoke machine.

I'll have to be honest here. It looked neat. It even had a video camera mounted on the top of the machine to transmit your dancing/singing image to the television screen. So, I promptly took it to the counter and bought it.

That evening, I looked up reviews for it online. That's just me. Admittedly, I'm not very savvy on making impulse purchases so I wanted to make sure my impulse buy was up to snuff. What did I find? I found a poorly reviewed product! Bah!

So, I began poking around the internet for highly reviewed karaoke machines and what do you think I found... nothing under $100.00 that was worth a hill of beans. Honestly, I didn't want to pay more than a $100 bucks so I felt I was wasting my time looking at overpriced OVERSIZED "stereos". Then, I began to rethink the whole karaoke machine idea.

Then, I came across this. It is two microphones that plug into your DVD and/or TV. It uses your sound system (in our case - surround sound system) and you pop the CD in your DVD player and the words appear on the screen. AND, this system was only $35.00 at Frys. HELLO!!! Did you hear that? No oversized stereo component and it was $65.00 cheaper and it comes with TWO microphones and 3 CD's. If you wanted to buy the single microphone version, it is only $20.00. Score!

The music on the CD's is kind of sub-par, but who cares. At this age, they will be just happy to have a microphone in hand.

Speaking of music... I bought them a karaoke cd to go along with the original $100 purchase and I thought I'd have to take it back because the CD was CD-G format and it stated on the case that it would not function on any other component except CD-G compatible machines - i.e. overpriced karaoke machines. Well, I'm here to say that yes, it does. Well, at least it does on ours. I did a little research on the CD-G format and apparently any DVD players manufactured after 2003 will play the CD-G format. Score again!

I'm so thrilled with this find! I hope that this helps some of y'all!

Be sure to check out Goodwill Gal too! I'm posting for the 25 Days of Christmas Blogging Challenge there as well!

Christmas Challenge! Day 10

So... I've almost missed my 10th day today because I got busy playing catch up around my house. Man, shopping for 3 days straight did not do me any favors in the household chores department.

I still have more Christmas shopping to do tomorrow. Don't get me wrong, I love to shop, but the added pressure of finding the PERFECT gift for everyone on the list is not making this fun. I've already returned a gift because I had buyer's remorse!

So, more tomorrow. Hopefully I'll have most of my shopping knocked out by then!

Be sure to check out Goodwill Gal too! I'm posting for the 25 Days of Christmas Blogging Challenge there as well!

Christmas Challenge! Day 9

Man, my kid is just like me!

Yesterday the 3rd grade class had a field trip to see the Nutcracker at the Bass Concert Hall in Austin. Afterwards, the plan was to have lunch at the Olive Garden.

Parents were invited to attend the lunch, but not the ballet due to limited seating in the auditorium. Elisan was excited that I was going to have lunch with her, but did indicate that she wanted to sit by her friends.

Well, as you can imagine, Olive Garden at lunch was packed. Olive Garden filled with 35 3rd graders was crazy. Olive Garden filled with mothers (and even some fathers) who wanted to have lunch with their adorable children was chaos.

Long story short, we didn't end up sitting by her friends. In fact, we sat by one of my mom friends whose daughter is in the other 3rd grade class and another family who's child is fairly new to our school.

Well, you would have thought I had publicly humiliated her. She was so angry with me that I had to take her into the bathroom so we could settle the dispute in private. After I explained to her the why's and how's of the situation, she understood, but she was still sulking. No longer glaring at me, but still sulking still the same. Man... what I thought was going to be a fun, festive day, turned sour in a second. I completely understood her pain and would have loved to have accommodated her, but it was just not possible.

I wonder if she gets that attitude from me. Well, in fact, I know she does... (Sigh...) I'm happy to report that by the end of the lunch, she was all smiles, playing and goofing off with the other two girls.

I'm the same way about that kind of stuff too. Once I vent and it's all out in the open, it's all good... Randy has come to accept that about me. Maybe I should wrap my brain around the fact that Elisan is cut from the same cloth as I am and needs to get angry, vent, sulk and get over it.

Be sure to check out Goodwill Gal too! I'm posting for the 25 Days of Christmas Blogging Challenge there as well! Today's posting: HATS!

Christmas Challenge! Day 8

Have I mentioned my husband is cheap? Oh yes, I have... many, many times before.

In effort to pare down our bills, he's been cutting back the fluff on some of our fun stuff like cable, internet and cell phones. His most recent attack is our cell phones!

About 2 months ago, he decided to try out Skype. Skype (if you don't know) is software that allows you to make phone calls over the internet. If you and the person you are calling has Skype on your computer, you can speak to one another for free. All you need is a microphone and speakers and/or headphones. Well, he went one step further... he bought a mobile Skype phone. It is a phone that strictly works off of wi-fi connectivity. But, he can use it at home, work, church and any place that has open wi-fi. In addition to purchasing the phone, he bought a Skype phone number for $30.00/year. He also purchased the capability to make calls to non-Skype users for another $30.00/year. So, for $60.00, plus the purchase of the phone ($150.00) he has a "mobile" phone. (Breaking that down, we're talking $17.50/month for phone this year. Next year, it will only be $5.00/month because the phone is paid for.) The bad thing about Skype is that you can't use it on the go. You have to have wi-fi to be able to use it. But, he has a work cell phone that he can use to phone me if he ever needed to contact me while he was out of wi-fi range.

Last weekend, he bought me a Skype phone, plus the additional $30 phone number and the $30 option to allow me to phone non-Skype users. My phone however plugs right into my USB port on my computer. My phone was only $40.00 at Fry's. So far, I don't have any complaints.

I still have my mobile phone because I need to be reached if the school calls me or if I have an emergency, etc. But, for home usuage, the Skype phone will be great!

Be sure to check out Goodwill Gal too! I'm posting for the 25 Days of Christmas Blogging Challenge there as well!

Christmas Challenge! Day 7

Oh my goodness! I need to get some Christmas shopping done and soon. This is my last non-crazy-busy week before the kids get out of school and if I don't get my shopping done this week, or I'll be forced to make poor gift choices late at night because I've waited until the very last possible minute.

My kids don't read my blog so I can freely discuss my gift options... comments/suggestions welcome please!

Karaoke machine: Um, why is this a seasonal item? Why are they on backorder? Why can't I run into Best Buy and pick up a Karaoke machine whenever I want? Where can I find decent non-stripper-hoochie mama music for my children to sing to? Why, why, why?

Karaoke machine is on my short list... that is, if I can secure one. I never would have thought buying a karaoke machine would require me to travel to the faraway Fry's store, but I will likely be FORCED to go there. That place is like Crack for a computer nerd... and I love it there. Does that make me a computer nerd?

Gaming System: If the karaoke machine doesn't pan out, I may be forced (there's that word again...) to buy them a Wii or PS3. But, I'm not sure which one is better. Which system has the most girl games? BLAH!!!!

Trampoline: I loved my trampoline as a kid. LOVED IT. I'm sure our kids would love it too. Randy is afraid they'll break their necks on it. But, I have to remind him that our girls will not be jumping off the roof of the house onto it... because, well... they are girls. I've seen my nephew do some crazy stunts on his trampoline - like jumping off the roof, fence, etc. But, I don't foresee our girls attempting that. But, the reality is... it's stinking hot here like 300 days out of the year and we have no backyard shade. So, will they even want to go outside and use it? I dunno...

Clothes: Yep, you always knew the boxes that had the clothes in them. 'Nuff said...

Toys: We have so many Barbies and Littlest Pet Shop toys here that I'm afraid of a mutiny. No toys of this kind will be given to my children for Christmas. A board game? Maybe. I was thinking "LIFE". Loved that game.

Okay, suggestions welcome. I need help in a big way!

Be sure to check out Goodwill Gal too! I'm posting for the 25 Days of Christmas Blogging Challenge there as well!

Christmas Challenge! Day 6

I had an awesome day with my family yesterday! I love birthdays and I make a big deal about them at our house. So, in return, the girls made a BIG DEAL about my birthday yesterday and I felt extra special!

All week long the girls have anxious for me to open up my presents they bought for me with their daddy. And all week long I've tried to get them to tell me what they bought me. Randy knowing my evil ways told them that I'd try to find out what they bought me by asking little questions here and there and finally putting the pieces together. So, he told them to answer all of my questions with, "I'm not telling you." Well, it worked... But, it almost failed and it was truly an honest question I posed to the girls.

I know how much Elisan loves to wrap presents. So, Friday night, I asked both girls if they needed to wrap the presents they bought for me and Kyla said, "It doesn't need to be wrapped because it already is wrapped." I could here Elisan say, "SHHHHHH, Kyla!!!" But, really, I didn't give it much thought.

The next morning, I awoke to a beautiful poinsetta delivered to the house at 8:00 a.m. So much for sleeping in. And after breakfast the girls gave me their presents, which was a set of gold hoop earrings and silver hoop earrings with matching necklace. It was very sweet of them (and Daddy).

Later that morning, the girls and I bundled up and headed out to the Christmas Stroll & Parade. It's the big event in Georgetown every year. It was lots of fun and a great way to spend my day with the girls.
That evening, Randy took us girls out to a fancy restaurant... well, at least fancy for us. We went to Z'Tejas grill at the Arboretum and it was very yummy! The girls were excited to be in a fancy restaurant and were on their best behavior! We had plans to go see the Macy's Christmas tree at the Domain, but the girls were complaining that they were cold and we headed back home and looked at Christmas lights in our neighborhood.

Followed up with an hour of "Star Wars: Return of the Jedi" and we tucked the girls into bed after an awesome family day!

Thank you my wonderful family for a great birthday!

Be sure to check out Goodwill Gal too! I'm posting for the 25 Days of Christmas Blogging Challenge there as well!

Christmas Challenge! Day 5

Today is my birthday! Whoohoo, 37!

I sure don't feel like I'm THAT old. Wow, time flies.

We've had a very busy day! So, here's a picture from the Christmas Stroll Parade in our hometown.

Christmas Challenge! Day 4

It must be confession week around here because here's another confession for y'all.

I'm a gadget girl. I love gadgets, namely electronic gadgets. And, I loathe reading instructions and directions on how to use said gadgets. It's who I am. I've grown to accept it. You would think after all this time Randy would grow to accept it too, but alas, he has not. He sometimes will read the instructions so he can know the answer to my gadget question and then refer me to the manual. Must be the engineer in him.

But, I'm not here to talk about Randy. I'm here to talk about my latest gadget. Okay, I'm well aware that I'm behind the times on the whole Apple iPhone thing. We have Sprint phones and we are happy with Sprint. (We'll soon be going Skype exclusively, but that's a whole nuther ball of wax I'll have to discuss in a later post...) So, there was and never will be an iPhone in my future, that is, unless someone wants to purchase one for me and pay the monthly service plan... then, I could so totally see an iPhone in my future.

Ahem...

So, for my birthday/anniversary (which by the way is tomorrow) Randy bought me an iPod Touch. (It is not an iTouch. Please do not refer to it as an iTouch...Elisan. Pet peeve much?)

I {heart} my iPod Touch. I am not a "gamer" and the purchase was not for gaming. It was because they are stinkin' neat and I wanted one. That is not to say I don't play games on it though. Randy and I have a pretty vicious battle of "Scramble" going on right now.

I love the Touch because I can access the internet and use it wirelessly anywhere there is wi-fi. There is open wi-fi at my gym, at my church, at the local shopping center - all of the places I frequent the most. I even downloaded an App that will tell me other wi-fi hot spots in the area. And, if you aren't needing internet you can still use various applications.

I listen to Pandora at the gym. I access the online Bible at church (with multiple versions at my fingertips). I even downloaded a version of the Bible onto my iPod Touch to use when I'm not in wi-fi range. I check email while I'm sitting around watching television with the family. I can update Twitter and Facebook on the "go". You can also call me via Skype. (Disclaimer about Skype: You will have to purchase a set of headphones with a microphone to use Skype for iPod Touch.) The list goes on and on... there's an application for TV Guide, My Daily Plate, Weather Channel, etc. And, for my kids, I've download free games for them to play as well.

Anyway... this may be "so lame and old" for some of you already iPhone and iPod Touch users, but if you are like me and never had an the use/need for one, then you probably didn't know all of this stuff.

So, are you thinking about what a great gift idea would be for Christmas? Think iPod Touch! It's great for moms on the go!

Be sure to check out Goodwill Gal too! I'm posting for the 25 Days of Christmas Blogging Challenge there as well!

Christmas Challenge! Day 3

Time to fess up! I'm addicted to "The Biggest Loser" television show. What I love about this show is that it is as "real" as reality television can get. Meaning... that of the 95% of reality shows on TV right now... only the Biggest Loser produces real results. There aren't many shows that can offer that.

I don't know about you, but when I watch "The Biggest Loser" I bust into tears EVERY episode. Not sure why... it's probably the music that sends me over the edge. You know what I'm talking about... the slow music during the poignant times and the upbeat music during the intense moments. Whatever it is, I end up in a heaping crying mess. And truly, the reason is because you just can't make this stuff up. You can't strip down to shorts and a bra and stand there for all of America to see how fat you've become without feeling for these contestants. And, then to see how hard they work and how far they've come in such a short time... Well, it's just amazing. (Regardless of you naysayers out there who preach... 'they have trainers', 'they don't have to work', 'they have their meals prepared for them'... blah, blah, blah... I'm not even going there because the reality is... it takes HARD work to lose weight!)

I have my own weight loss success story. I remember sitting on the couch with Randy one evening and I grabbed my overflowing tummy and I said, "I wish I could get rid of this." And he said, "Well, why don't you?" That was the first time I ever even realized that I was on the path to being overweight. But, even then I didn't do anything about it. Then, my good friend Cyndi joined a gym and asked me to join with her. But the reality was, I wasn't interested in working out and Randy wasn't going to pay for me a gym membership that wasn't going to get used.

Fast forward about a year and as summer approached I realized that we were going to be in a world of hurt if I didn't have some summertime activities planned for the girls. So, I joined the YMCA because I knew they would enjoy having a place to go to play indoors and meet kids their own age. And, the added bonus would be a gym membership for me!

The long of the short of it is, I began working out, seeing progress and by December I had lost 25 pounds. By July, I had lost a total of 30 pounds.



Don't get me wrong, it was HARD WORK. Don't think it wasn't. But, once I finally made the decision to make the most of my time spent in the gym, it was worth it. See, the thing is, the decision has to come from within. Even when I joined the gym in June 2007, my heart was not really into it. But, by sticking to it and persevering, I was able to see the progress that kept pushing me forward.

And finally, it still IS hard work. There are days I don't want to go to the gym, but go anyway. There are days that I don't go at all and there are days when I can't wait to get there. It's a daily CHOICE as to what you decide to do. And, you only get once chance at life.

Don't get frustrated with the details. Once you make the choice to DO something, the rest will fall into place. You will begin reading more about fitness, reading labels on food and being conscientious as to what choices you are making for you and your family. But, as I said before... the decision has to come from inside of YOU. No one else can do it for you.

So, that's my story. A new season of "The Biggest Loser" begins in January. I highly recommend it. It's amazing!

Be sure to check out Goodwill Gal too! I'm posting for the 25 Days of Christmas Blogging Challenge there as well!

Christmas Challenge! Day 2

The table's have turned in our house, and I kind of like it.

Back when the kids were really little, I'd literally daydream about what it would be like to go out on a date with my husband sans kids. We hardly ever used babysitters when our kids were little for various reasons. 1.) Couldn't find a babysitter; 2.) Babysitter was busy; 3.) Babysitters are expensive; 4.) Etc., etc.

I loved having a babysitter come and babysit the kids on the few times we've ever voluntarily hired a babysitter. Oh sure, we've had company parties that required we hire babysitters and that was fun too, but rarely did we ever say, "Hey, let's hire a babysitter tonight and hit the town!" Okay, we NEVER did that. Ever.

We would however, always hire for my/our birthday/anniversary. If you are new to my blog, my wedding anniversary is also my birth date. No particular reason, other than Randy is the gift that keeps on giving and giving and giving.

This year, my birthday is on Saturday. Hello! Date night! But, as the weeks passed by I realized the girls were getting really excited about my upcoming birthday. Talking about cake, presents, breakfast in bed, etc. So, I posed this question to them over the weekend... "Would you rather mommy invite a babysitter to come over to the house on Saturday for pizza and movie? Or, would you rather go to a fancy restaurant with mommy and daddy?" They both said, "Restaurant with mommy and daddy!" Mind you... we have family date night every Saturday night, so going out to dinner is not that BIG of a deal at our house. But, nonetheless, they said they would rather spend my birthday with me, rather than spending it with a fun babysitter.

We'll I'll be honest here... that just warms my heart. I LOVE the fact that my kids would rather spend time with us! There will be plenty of days ahead when Randy and I can celebrate our anniversary without our kids... In fact, as my kids get older, the days of them wanting to be seen in public with us will diminish. So, I'm relishing this time, cherishing every moment of specialness I can squeeze out of my family.

I am truly blessed!

Be sure to check out Goodwill Gal too! I'm posting for the 25 Days of Christmas Blogging Challenge there as well!

Christmas Challenge! Day 1

Today marks the beginning of my annual Christmas Blogging Challenge! There will be no prize at the end of the 25 days, but I can guarantee that you will be glad you are not pressured to post a blog entry once it is all over. Speaking of pressure... there is none, at least not from me. All that pressure you would feel from joining in on the blogging challenge would be self imposed. So... with that said, let the fun begin!

Today I have a story to tell that has a happy ending. It is not a Christmas story, only a story that has meaning and a teachable moment delivered by yours truly!

Around the end of September I lost one of my sets of keys. Yes, I have two sets of keys. I'm a bit anal like that. Anyway, unbeknownst to me, I lost a set at the soccer field. I know you are wondering how did that happen? Wouldn't I have needed my keys to drive home? Why, yes, I would, except for the fact I had BOTH sets with me and I simply fished out the set of keys in my purse (rather than the one laying on the ground) and was on my way. It wasn't until about a week later, I realized I couldn't find my other set of keys. Argh!

I searched high and low without any clue as to where they could be. I was very unhappy with the prospect of not ever finding my keys. Then, low and behold, about a month later, I get a call from an employee at my church and he said that a man called the office saying that he found a set of keys and on the key ring was a Celebration Church ID number and was there anyway that number could be looked up. To make a long story short... I got my keys back! Whoohoo! Thank God for people who take the time and effort to do something nice for someone else!

Teachable moment: I decided that I did not want to go through the stress of losing my keys again! That same evening that I got my keys back, I got an email from www.artscow.com for custom "dog tags" for $1.99/each with free shipping, so I decided right then and there to order two dog tags with my contact information on them. (See photo) So, now, if I lose my keys again, all anyone would have to do is email or call me! Hello! Lightbulb moment!

Sidenote: This really goes without saying, but if you ever wanted to get something similar for your keys, please do not put your home address! Duh... Erica...!

And secondly, sign up for Arts Cow's email specials. They have incredible deals all the time (and I'm really particular about that kind of thing...)

Now, see... that wasn't that hard. Get busy on your 25 days of blogging this December! It will be fun! And don't forget to check out my new blog GOODWILL GAL as I will be posting 25 Days of Blogging there as well!

Until tomorrow....