Do you Blog Stalk?

This question came to my mind after a parent at my children's school said she noticed my blog updates on Facebook and "poked around the blog a little. But not in a bad, creepy way!"  It made me smile to think that someone actually took the time to check this ol'rag out ... let alone tell me about it! And honestly, isn't that why one blogs in the first place. For the READERS! Who cares if the only reader is your cousin from Wisconsin or your best friend (because she has to!) ... we want our thoughts heard, and comments aren't bad either. So, that brings us back to the question at hand, do you blog stalk?

So do ya?.... Com'on... We're all friends here.... You can tell us me!

Are there any sites you stalk...er, read regularly? Like every day

Twice a day?

Twice PLUS stalk the Facebook updates?!

Yeah.... me neither. HA!

What? You don't believe me.... well, shucks, I'm guilty. I love good blogs! Here are a few of my favorites and a little bit about why I like them.

I'm A Lazy Mom...
HELLOOO! The name says it all, doesn't it! Stacey is a riot! In fact, to use a Junie B. Jones term, "that lady cracks me right up!" I love her light hearted approach to parenting, laundry, and life in general. As the wife of a pastor, mother of three (super cute) kiddos, and a well-known review blogger, she is ripe with commentary designed to keep your funny-bone in action and your outlook on life a lot less serious. I get all giddy when those emails pop up and tell me that she has posted another Lazy Recipe (MUST contain 5 ingredients or less... genius!) or a great Lazy Mom Confession. That's right, we tell all of our dirty little secrets and jubilate as we realize, we aren't so weird and slacker-like as we thought! If you need a moment to get back to reality and want permission to say, "I don't have to be perfect to be a wonderful Wife, Mother, Neighbor, Friend, and Sister!" Come on by I'm a Lazy Mom and see what all the noise is about {I promise it's not my kids this time!}

71 Toes
I saw Shawni and her mother, Linda Eyre from Values Parenting, at a women's conference a few years ago and was immediately impressed with their relationship and parenting styles. I saw a story I could relate to, a daughter who looked up to her mother, and wanted desperately to raise her children with all of the love, strength, faith, and stability she had experienced in her parents' home. Shawni is down to earth and honest about her shortcomings (read her "disclaimer" here). Her writing style is very sincere and well put together, I really admire people who can post almost daily - with pictures even! I can't hardly post once a week month! One of my favorite things on 71 Toes are the posts about what she calls Deliberate Mothering. It is a conscious effort to parent children in a way that brings them joy, self-awareness, safety, and cultivates their loves of learning, faith, and family. On my other blog, I wrote that I want to be a mother who teaches her children on purpose, meaning that I want to deliberately have a focus and goal in mind all through the year that I will teach my children about and help them to cultivate in their own lives. This is important to me and I appreciate Shawni for her insight and example of real mothering.

NieNie Dialogues
Stephanie (Nie) Nielson is one of the most inspiring, faithful, intellegent, compassionate, and beautiful women I have ever heard or read about. Noted by several sources as a "well-known and admired Mormon mommy-blogger", Nie began keeping an online journal about the devastating plane crash in 2008 (involving she, her husband (Christian), and their close friend and flight instructor) which left her deeply scarred over 80% of her body. I first heard Stephanie and "Mr. Nielson" talk about the accident in an interview on the Mormon Radio program Conversations, however, she and her blog have been profiled on numerous television shows such as: 20/20, Oprah, TODAY, and Glenn Beck. She has a new book Heaven is Here: a memoir will be available this April; available for pre-order here.

I had not been very blog-savvy pre-2008, so I did not have the pleasure of reading her insightful musings before the accident. Hearing her speak about the miraculous occurrences in her life, her struggles, her faith, her love of family gave me a huge desire to "get to know" this amazing woman. The blog is full of the same things, each post radiates love and gratitude. Some are simple with only a single picture and a few lines of text, many others are unique glimpses into the joys and struggles she faces. As a mother of four, and expecting a new baby in Spring 2012, Stephanie has many day to day posts that strike a chord with me and inspire me to be a better mother. A more involved, more faith oriented, more (yes, deliberate) mother, as well as a better sister and daughter. She says that the honest reason she is still blogging, is that she knows people feel the Spirit when they read her posts and her purpose is to bring people to Christ. She will send a Book of Mormon to any reader who asks, she has sent close to 1000 copies to readers all over the world since 2009. This is amazing to me! It took me nearly two years and several pleadings from my sweet little boy to pluck up the courage to give a copy to my neighbors this Christmas! I love the words inside the Book of Mormon: the special witness of Jesus Christ, the affirmation of the presence of a loving Heavenly Father, and especially the promise of eternal families that it contains. I hope one day, to be able to have the ability to be not only open about my faith, but to have a missionary heart! Stephanie's story is one of faith and hope, if you are in need of inspiration or diversion, please join her journey.

Thanks for reading through my obsessions *grin*. I hope that you will enjoy these blogs and share with me the ones that bring you joy. *Please note, the opinions stated within this post are strictly my own. I was not solicited or paid to write positive reviews for any of these bloggers, they had no knowledge before hand in fact, I truly admire these women and said what I felt needed saying. Thank you.*

Return to blogging...

I am such a terrible blogger! I have no consistency.... I have lots of ideas and oodles of "good intentions", but I never follow through with them. Sigh.

Here I am, trying again.

I am setting a new goal.... two posts a week.

Thats it. It's totally do-able, I'm online plenty during the day to justify this goal...

And, honestly, they don't have to be earth-shattering, profound or incredibly crafty.

Right?

Right.

Thanks for the pep talk!  Ha!

Every NEEDFUL Thing (or 10 anyway)

Ohhh. Kay... So, today we are going to try a new McLinky Monday party called:

10 Things You ABSOLUTELY Can't (or at least wouldn't want to) Live Without

hosted by The Real Housewives of Oklahoma



The rule is these are THINGS... not people...

Ok, so careful thought here and this is what I have come up with :

1: My iPhone... seriously, I killed it a few weeks ago and couldn't do ANYTHING right! It holds my brain. Who are we kidding - it IS my brain. I use it for pic/vids, date timing, scripture/lesson reading, meal planning, project management, FB/web surfing, bratty kid incentive/punishment, ebook reading... I'm trying to learn to blog from it, but that is going slowly. It is for sure my #1 top needful thing.

2: My laptop. It frustrates me, angers me, baffles me... but I would be so disconnected without it. I love Blogger, and FB, and all my fun bloggy buddies! Our family's entire Christmas gift making/giving came from this silly little device.

3: Evidently, the "/" key on my keyboard. Wow. Do you realize I used it FIVE (5) times in the last two items above?! Dang! LOL

4: Our new Sony BluRay/DVD player with Netflix, YouTube, and Hulu. I have yet to get our new HD box from Comcast, so this little diddy has saved me from those dreaded "Mmmoooomm, I'm booorrreeeddd..." outbreaks. On most nights, I turn on an episode of America's Funniest Animals, or Search Funny Cats and Kids after the masses have finished reading for the night. We giggle, we *Gasp*, we all whine when it's bedtime. Yup, I wouldn't have it any other way!

5: My iPhone holder+car charger+FM transmitter. I ♥ this puppy because it does everything I can't do! It is illegal to hold a cell phone while driving in my state and, while it is not as wonderful as my mom's Parrot hands-free, with this little diddy I can use my speaker feature and still be legal. It transmits my favorite songs/audiobooks/conference talks through my stereo and gives me a little ambient noise...to drown out the fighting in the backseats!

6: Our FREEZER! It seriously saves the life of my family on a daily basis!!! We have five hungry bodies in this house.... and sometimes that number nearly doubles on weekends. I couldn't afford to keep my kitchen on the mostly unprocessed and healthy side of things if I didn't have a freezer to keep all of my fabulous, natural, fresh (at purchase) local chicken breasts in. Or the tasty enchiladas and casseroles that we love to make... Mmm!

7: ZAYCON FOODS CHICKEN! *read above* They are a great company, dedicated to honest business and healthy, high-quality foods for cost conscious families. They sell cases of local, fresh chicken for a GREAT price (currently approx. $1.48/lb) and I tell. you. what! These chicken breasts are HUGE... and so super tasty!!! Check them out and see if they have a delivery location near you!

8: Scrapbook MAX! Digital scrap booking software. It is SO easy, so fast, and so fun! Did I mention it's also a fraction of the cost of other commercial editing programs out there? I learned about this great product from My Computer is My Canvas who uses it exclusively to do all of her digital designing. I use it for gift labels, recipe cards, scrap books, crafting.... basically all things paper. I can use practically any digi-file I have purchased both from Scrapbook Max! and from other sites. It is a very easy - my kids use it! I love it!

9: My piano! As a singer, I NEED music! I love to hear my Ladies playing their practice songs, I especially love to hear them play Primary songs and Hymns. I love that they can play... because I cant. Oh, I can plunk out my part - almost in time- if I have to. But that is a sad, sad day... when I have to! Still, I have thought of getting rid of the bulky upright and replacing it with a smaller digital version, but there is something so peaceful about the resonance of the plucked strings. I know why Beethoven was so in love with his music... my daughter is playing Für Elise this month! *sigh*

10: JET DRY dishwasher additive! We are going through a time right now, as the different detergent companies are trying to formulate better cleaning detergents without the use of phosphates in them.... supposedly the phosphates do something to the environment.... but really, what's a few dead fish, compared to clean dishes in my home - really?! Ok... I'm not a total jerk, I don't litter. I try not to waste water. I try to conserve energy. I am actually an advocate for natural, plant-based products with fewer chemicals. But I am SO SICK of grey film and white powder all over my dishes. That is where Jet-Dry comes in! Four washes after filling my reservoir and my glasses and pots are SO SHINY! No nasty film... no teeth clenching etching. We even put a baked on nasty casserole dish in and WOWZAS! It's like new again! I'm so pleased! Click here for a coupon offer from FINISH®

So there you have it.... Today's "Gotta Have" list. Some things change ... lots of things don't... but that's why this is so fun! 

So, come on and post your own list!

It’s done

I started a craft blog for my plan to make Christmas fantastic by not purchasing any gifts!

I tell the story here and share some beautiful and frugal inspirations with you. I will be including photos and videos as the projects get under way.

I have decided to keep this a family/life blog. I will continue to post oddities about my home, family, and interests. This way, I can keep a journal of our lives AND enjoy the selfish desires of frugal creativity! ;-)

Here's a taste of what I'm talking about ---

These adorable Hammock pillows (using old cloth placemats) are featured @ The Red Chair Blog. Who doesn't love a little POP! of color in the backyard?

How about a stack of these 3-D cards for your Pixie family to enjoy? Check 'em out @ Skip to my Lou!

I love these tile coasters from Little Birdie Secrets. A stack of these tied with a ribbon would be a beautiful teacher gift from your child.

I hope you enjoy these great ideas, snag a couple and craft yourself a Frugal Christmas (in April)!

Undecided...

It's clear as I return to this site and re-read the most "recent" posts that my life is certainly not on the path that it was heading six months ago... I'm dealing well with the changes (I think.) but how have to face this new conundrum. Do I delete these frustratingly obsolete stories from my blog-life? Or, do I treat them as what they are - stories that make me who I am - and continue to blog the way I planned to originally? I am thoroughly undecided.

I spend a few minutes - OK, a lot of minutes - each day getting inspired by FANTASTIC mommy blogs and desperately feel the pull to join the throng. I love the creativity these women share with me and want to give back, inspire others, and give credit where credit is due. I've toyed with the idea that I could begin another blog... strictly craft-hair-food-review oriented. One that would not be linked with this "Journal" blog. I wonder though, if in time, that the new blog would become what this one lacks. *shrug* THen again, does it matter? I could change one or the other if that time comes. Right? Hmmm.

Still, I am undecided.

Been awhile!

Like the rest of you, we've been SO busy these last two months just trying to dig out from under all of this INSANE snow!!!! We have 4 foot high piles of it all over near the road and behind the house where we had it shoveled off the roof. The back yard is still under 15inches as well.



Anyway, I have some great things to show you, first of all.... my new background, THANKS SO MUCH LEELOU AND COLEY for all of your help with my new template!!! It's wonderful! Please check out the great templates (even free ones) from LeelouBlogs. They are so trendy and really very easy to use on your own blog.... even if you are html-challenged like me! LOL Follow the link at the bottom of my page. Thanks also for the FAB buttons on my side-bars.



Also, down at the bottom, there is a super cute button for Super Capes for the Latter-day Hero, you don't have to be LDS to L-O-V-E these super-hero capes for your little ones. They have Bible characters, Monograms, and many other designs! What a perfect idea for your little Superman or Pretty Princess!!!! I'm in love with the little applique t-shirts too... the scrappy owl and Tie are my FAVES!!!!

Also, I have a super fun bit of news to report, my friend Stacy (from highschool) is starting a CUTE hairwear business, right here in my little neck of the woods!!!! The hats are so precious... it almost makes me wish I had a little baby girl again! LOL No. Not really... But I think Itty-Bitty will look SUPER-duper cute in one of those BIG flowers!!!!! Also, they are holding a Grand-Opening Giveaway for a Flower Hat or Headband of your choice. The rules are simple, you get one entry for each of the following: Posting a comment, following, and reffering a friend (have them leave your name) .... so go check it out and leave my name along with your comment.... then we'll both get an entry!!!

ONE LAST THING:
I have a few new family pics.... I hope you like them!!!! Sister got her hair cut after these pics... I'm so glad we got them done before hand! Please comment and follow my blog!