Just a day in the life

If you have kids who love to color and write thank you notes, I have found the contest for you!

Tiffany over at Naturemoms is doing a contest for a free art kit from Stubby Pencil Studio! What do you need to do to win? Well, head over before Tuesday, June 16th and leave a comment on her blog. Yep, it’s really that easy.

This is a blog that I love to read - she reviews products that are good for the environment, and passes on the info to her readers. She also began homeschooling her son this Summer, and is sharing those joys as well.

I hope you enjoy reading as much as I do!

Oy!  I think that making a list was the nail in the coffin of getting ANYTHING done!  the past month and a half since then has brought one thing after another to our home…

M had strep throat - the 6th confirmed case in her class - and we of course didn’t figure out what it was until she had been sick from it for a while (yes, bad Mommy award here!) so she was home off & on again for a couple of weeks - finally spending the last week of it on my lap on the couch (yes, that means I didn’t get any work done!)

Tight in the middle of that the laptop crashed.  The hard drive was fried… toasted… gone - and everything I had on there with it!   A year-and-a-half worth of pictures (a drawback of digital!) all of the financial stuff, websites… EVERYTHING.  ugh.  With M sick, I didn’t get right down to find all of the software (yet) so I still don’t have anything loaded on here.

Just as M was feeling better & back to school, the 4-runner started acting up.  Totally fix-able (as usual) but getting old.  I decided to stop by the subby dealer on the way home to see if they ever get turbo outbacks in, and the beast DIED ON THE LOT.  Nope, not starting.  We jumped it, but it still wouldn’t go into gear.  Not moving.  Did I mention that E was getting ready to head out of town for a week?  Ugh.

Well, the good news is that I got a new car for Mother’s Day!  And it runs fabulously!  No worries of when it will die again for a good long while.  The heated leather seats are a bonus - as is the ginormous sunroof!

Well, that took the extra $ we had been saving to put stairs on the deck… and replace the carpet… and, well, you get the idea.

SO… many parts of my list have been put on hold for a bit (unfortunately) and I can’t seem to get the energy to get the others done.

Did I mention the migraine?  Started the day after Mother’s Day… and hasn’t gone away yet.  Is 4 weeks long enough to get something checked out?  I’m almost there!  I just need to find a Dr. up here.  ugh.

I’m exhausted from the ache in my head, and I have so much work to do that I can’t get the gumption to go down and get started… I just want to sleep.  

Oh, and the sunflower house… well, I planted the sunflower starts, and the slugs promptly ate them.  So I planted some more… and they ate them too.  I hate slugs.  Why can’t they eat the dandelions and clover?  No, they have to eat the GOOD stuff.  grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.

On a happier note, I got rid of the rhody bush (thanks Lisa!) and relocated the peony to it’s new home where it has lots of room to grow and be beautiful.  I planted LOTS of new lilies and we have been harvesting lettuce like crazy - Spring has finally arrived & you can practically watch everything grow!  Hooray!  The peas are blossoming, and the yard is becoming a mass of color.  It is nice to see the results of your labor come forth.  Very nice indeed.

So, I sit here trying to convince myself to go sew something (I’m so far behind!) but all I really want to do is take a nap.  We went to the zoo yesterday with A’s class, and one of the girls in our group takes life at a run… we actually saw 95% of the Woodland Park Zoo in under 3 hours.  I didn’t think it was possible!  Did I mention that we had a 20 minute lunch break & spent about 15 minutes at ZooMazium?  Those were the only times we got a chance to not run.  BUT we did get to see the Red Panda sleeping in the trees, so A was thrilled about that.  And she got a stuffed animal red panda to bring home to help her remember her first report.

Want to know more about the Red Panda - aka firefox?  A just did a report on them, and you to can learn about them & become a Red Panda Ranger by visiting redpandanetwork.org/ 

They are just so cute!  It’s sad that they are so endangered.  But hey, anything that can eat 200,000 bamboo leaves each day & still look that good merits learning more about!

Well, I’d better head down & get to work… I hope you have better luck with your 101 in 1001!

I was visiting a blog that I read occasionally this morning, and I noticed that she had a list of 101 things to finish or do in the next 1001 days. This piqued my interest and I wanted to know more about it. Basically, it is a list of goals with a definite end date - to keep you motivated - that you want to complete.

Here is my 101 in 1001 list…

house & yard maintenance
1. get stairs on the deck
2. clean and plant flower bed in backyard
3. build a sunflower house for the girls
4. clean and maintain the flowerbed outside the office
5. finish planting the pathway to garden
6. finish making/setting stepping stones for path
7. terrace back hillside for the garden
8. find a new home for the evergreen trees before they get too large to move
9. paint the outside of the house
10. finish M’s mural
11. finish A’s mural
12. get laundry room remodeled
13. finish bathroom remodel
14. put down hardwood floors
15. re-carpet the downstairs
16. tile the stairs
17. clean out the garage
   - 17a. to actually be able to park in it is the idea here… BOTH cars!
18. fix the garage door 
19. fix the side fence & gate

office
20. get all the fabric organized and PUT AWAY
20a. organize , put away & sort 1x per month (0/12)
21. get filing done
22. KEEP filing done - do all filing 1x per month (0/12)

23. get all buttons, clasps & hooks organized (90%)
24. make and hang a ribbon organizer
- 24a. put all ribbon spools on it
25. hang pictures/whiteboards up
26. get rid of the extra boxes
- 26a. this means empty them or get rid of the contents!
27. post unwanted fabrics to sell every 6 weeks
28. unpack & put away office supplies from move
29. donate/pass on patterns that are too small for the girls

work
30. get rid of excess flowers
31. remove flowers from website
32. find a new home for Carole’s table runners
33. finish moving TC products over
34. Clean up website - delete old product pages
35. sell/donate purchased bags
36. build wholesale site
37. send out newsletter to wholesale companies every 6 weeks
38. make swatch books
39. hire a bookeeper
40. get all patterns copywritten
41. review 2 products each month
42. update/catalog orders & donations 1x per month
43. send out newsletter 2x per month
44. post new blog 1x per week for Mimsi (0/7) (0/52)
45. post 6 blogs per month for gift guides family (recipes, reviews, etc) (1/6) (0/12)
46. find wholesale supplier for fabric
47. make 1 RTS/art bag each week
48. do inventory
49. meet with mastermind group each week (1/??)

Health/cooking
50. cook 3 vegeterian/vegan meals per week
51. learn to use 1 new ingredient per month
52. post 2 new recipes per month
53. exercise 3x per week (0/3) (0/52)
54. drop 4 dress sizes (0/4)
55. learn to use the dutch oven well
56. bake bread once per week (0/52)
57. clean out the fridge 2x per month
58. use/freeze leftovers
59. grow corn
60. go on a walk with the girls & eric at least 1x per week
61. climb the stairs at the end of the road 2x per week
62. make healthy snacks for the girls
63. use up the CSA produce each week (while we are getting them)
64. learn to bake WELL with flours other than wheat
65. make 1 entire meal from a different country 2x per month (0/24)
66. get a bike
67. get up by 7 every day
68. go to bed on time
69. eat 1 raw meal per week (1/52)

personal
70. read psalms each morning (0/356)
71. make Eric’s pants
72. make Mom H’s piano bench cushion
73. keep the granite cleaned off
74. have a clean, empty sink each night before going to bed
75. make at least 1 trip to goodwill each month (1/12)
- 75a. OR Freecycle unneeded goodies
76. save up for a new car
77. build up an emergency fund
78. post cd’s to swap or take to sell/trade in
79. get last summer’s camping trips scrapbooked
80. teach the girls to sew
81. teach the girls to garden
82. memorize 1 scripture per week (0/52)
83. memorize with the girls!
84. find the cord the the keyboard (fairly crucial to #85)
85. practice the piano again
86. teach the girls the basics of playing the piano
87. get M into violin lessons
88. go on a date with Eric 1x per month (0/12)
89. find a good babysitter
90. have QUALITY 1-on-1 with M each week (1/52)
91. have QUALITY 1-on-1 with A each week (1/52)
92. have QUALITY 1-on-1 with Eric each week (0/52
93. finish A’s curtains
94. have “girlfriend time” 1x per month (0/12)
95. send a handwritten letter 1x per month (0/12)
96. send a letter to Norma 1x per month (0/12)
97. pray more
98. read the bible through
99. read 1 book every 6 weeks (but don’t ignore everything else while doing it!)
100. be a better mom
101. be a better wife

This is far from complete! There are other things that I have thought of as I was going through this, but these are the ones that I have pledged (if only to myself) to complete by January 12, 2011. I’m sure that some will be added as others are completed!  In all honesty, most of these would be things that I want to complete within 12 months.  Due to that, I’m sure that many will be crossed off & ultimately replaced with newer goals to achieve.  Others are, of course, lifelong goals that I want to make into habits (many of the personal ones fall into this category!)

If you are interested in this, head over to triplux.com to get more info.

What is on your list?

Yes, I live near the coffee capital of Seattle, and there are drive thru coffee stands everywhere… one could argue that there are too many drive thru coffee stands in fact.

I suspect that is the reason for the newest trend in coffee - the bikini barista. It seems that this trend is spreading like a noxious weed through these parts. Everywhere you turn there is a coffee stand advertising “Bikini Barista Friday!” or “Now Hiring Bikini Baristas”

Now, I like a good cop of joe as much as the next gal, but I don’t really see a need to make our young women strip down to nearly nothing in order to serve it! I’m personally surprised that there hasn’t been a sexual harassment suit filed, or a poor girl getting part of her body burnt from steam or coffee spilling on delicate skin.

Seriously people… does your coffee need to be delivered by someone wearing next to nothing? Does it really make it taste better? And quite honestly… some people have no business wearing a bikini, not if they are supposed to make something look more appetizing!

So our society has come to the next step in making *women* into objects for men to lust after, nothing more. Yes, I highlighted women, as most of these baristas are in high school, or just out of it. Do we really need to teach our young women that in order to make a buck they have to take their clothes off?

That is the rant for today. My area is now filled with coffee stands that I WILL NOT be going to any longer. Instead of bringing in my business, they have forced me to seek my occasional 24 oz. iced breve with 1 packet of raw sugar elsewhere…

I guess it is true that sex sells, unfortunately.

Please excuse this short rant, but after 2 weeks of fighting with sites that are NOT Mac/Safari friendly, I’m just getting fed up!

Obviously, I have a Mac - which I absolutely LOVE, thank you very much! HOWEVER… as less than 10% of computer users are using a computer worth buying, the rest of the world seems to think that their websites and programs don’t need to make sure that this small number of computer users can use the products that they are offering!

THIS IS SO VERY FRUSTRATING!!!!!

Just because I don’t want to deal with all of the virus crap and the *issues* that windows has is not a reason to be left out!

All this to make a small plea - software designers, website designers, anyone having anything to do with designing products available over the web, please, please, PLEASE learn that the number of Mac users is growing daily! Just because our computers work better than yours is not a reason to exclude us!

Thank you, I feel better now ;~)

Have a fabulous day! The rain has stopped, and the sun is shining for a brief moment, so I need to go plant my sweet peas!  Oh, nevermind, the sun is gone. 

I guess I need to go sew instead!

Later…

I know, I’ve been bad - I haven’t blogged in 2 months! Life has gotten a bit hectic.

We went to Florida to visit with our family in January, and life hasn’t slowed down since them - even during the week that we had the flu (HORRID flu going around this year!)

Work has been hectic as well - I feel as though I will never get caught up with orders, updates, blogging (yes, over there too!), and newsletters! I need to find a way to duplicate myself a few times (or just break down and stop being such a control freak and hire someone!) Any bookeepers want to work for bags? Ha ha… oh yeah, I have to get my taxes done yet too. Oy!

If ever there was a time to cry out to God for a moments peace, I am in the midst of it! Busy-ness can so easily take our eyes off of that which is truly important, and distract us from finding that time to *wait* on the Lord.We recently started a bible study on the Bad Girls of the Bible (on chapter 2!) and I am hopeful that having that accountability will help me stay on track with finding that oh so precious time with God. I am open to any tips on ways to keep that appointment!

In other news, A turned 6 last week, and E turned 38 today! Happy birthdays to all! With all of the birthdays that fall during this month, we are getting caked OUT! I swear that I have gained 8 lbs, and a pants size (UGH!) so now I have to get back to work… and I was doing so well! Well, kinda!

Speaking of healthy eating, we joined a new local CSA this week - the veggies start coming in May - YAY!!!!!!! I can’t wait! It makes eating healthy SO MUCH EASIER when you HAVE to get through the box of veggies each week, ’cause you will be getting another one soon!

For those who don’t know what a CSA is, it’s Community Supported Agriculture. Basically, you purchase a Summer worth of veggies (and fruits usually) in advance - some do it in December, some in the Spring - and pray for good growing weather! It benefits the small farms, as they have the money to pay their bills, and it benefits the share-croppers by delivering fresh, organic fruits & veggies each week. It’s a win-win situation! And at $475 for a box that feeds a family of 4 each week from May through November, it is a HUGE savings over the produce you will find at the supermarket!

There are so many things that are heralding the arrival of Spring - we have purple, white and yellow crocuses poking their heads out of the ground, and the trees are all budding out. The raspberries are budding too - and I haven’t gotten the wires replaced yet! We planted our snow peas already, but we have to wait a few more weeks to plant the rest of the seeds - carrots, sunflowers, long beans, etc. I can’t wait! I’ll post some pictures soon - I promise!

The birds have been out too. They have been singing in the trees for almost a month around here, and they clean out our feeder in around 24 hours now - I guess this is a good time of year to make sure they have enough to eat - after all we need to make sure those babies get fed (and I don’t want them eating all of my compost worms!)

I can’t believe that it’s already halfway through March! Life seems to be rushing by at an alarming rate, making it ever more important to find time to nurture your relationships. I have started taking M out to lunch on Wednesdays - a new thing for us - so that we can get the one-on-one time that we haven’t really had much since her sister was born. She is the one who truly craves that, and I think that this will ultimately be a good thing as she grows up. Hopefully we are laying the groundwork for a relationship that will let her know that she can come to us with ANYTHING that comes her way. Honestly, I’m terrified of High School. The way this world is heading, who knows what will be the norm by the time the girls get there! Now is the time to built a firm foundation!

Well, we have an informance tonight (informative performance) so I’d better go feed the family and get everyone ready, but I wanted to take a moment to let you know I am still alive!

Have a FABULOUS Spring! Happy Easter! He is Risen - Hallelujah!

You Are Midnight

You are more than a little eccentric, and you’re apt to keep very unusual habits. Whether you’re a nightowl, living in a commune, or taking a vow of silence - you like to experiment with your lifestyle. Expressing your individuality is important to you, and you often lie awake in bed thinking about the world and your place in it. You enjoy staying home, but that doesn’t mean you’re a hermit. You also appreciate quality time with family and close friends.

Gee, how did they know?

I recently discovered a site that allows you to opt out of all of those catalogs that seem to dreed in your mailbox. It’s called Catalog Choice, and it’s so easy to do!

You just sign up with your email and physical address, and go through their list of catalogs & decline the ones you don’t want to receive any longer.

Not only does it help the environment, but it cuts down on the garbage in your mailbox - which translates to clutter in your house!

Go check it out!
https://www.catalogchoice.org/

well, I couldn’t title it Happy New Year - that’s too much like everyone else!

2008 is officially here - everywhere now.  2007 has past, taking with it it’s own set of high’s & low’s - here’s hoping ‘08 will be filled with a few more high’s!  

The start of a new year is a harbinger of a chance to start over - a fresh slate, if you will.  People look at the past & decide what they need to change to bring about a better future - and once in a while they actually stick! 

What are my resolutions? 

1 - get over this cold - grrrrr it arrived at 2:00 am - the time that some form of disease seems to descend upon our house each Jan 1.  This is one that I can keep! ha ha

2 - clean  house  - take down all of the Christmas decor, fold the mountain of clean laundry, find a sparkling, clean sink somewhere in the kitchen, and de-clutter the house.  This will make the Mr. MUCH happier.  Well, once he gets over HIS cold it will…  

3 - Keep the clutter at bay - tough -I’m a pack rat, and admittedly, I’m just lazy.  Add 2 young girls into the mix, and you have a recipe for disaster - hurricanes & tornadoes look to have blown through with regularity, and they start with A & M  

4 - find a place to donate all of this excess STUFF - when we moved, goodwill knew me by car.  We donated soooooooooo much junk (complete set of James Bond anyone?) BUT - most unfortunately - we still have half of a garage full of boxes.  ugh.  I haven’t found goodwill up here 30 minutes from anywhere, however I think there is a kids clothing place.  That will help!  

5 - become active in PaperBackSwap again - this requires going through the extensive library - again - and finding new homes for many dear friends - and a few mere acquaintances.  Haven’t heard about it yet?  Well… check it out below!

6 -  Continue with the healthier diet that we have begun.  We eat mostly vegetables with some chicken.  I just need to find a local CSA farm.  The drop for our old one is over 30 miles away - not quite eating local is it!

7 - cut down on the amount of STUFF that we bring in the house.

8 - reduce - reuse - recycle - reduce waste, reuse things as much as possible, and recycle everything that we can.  We already have the smallest trash can that WM NW offers, and we recycle 3 times as much as goes into it.  I also want to get the compost pile REALLY going.

9 - plant the vegetable garden.  we already have raspberries & red currants, but we need to add in the other veggies - carrots, long beans, sunflowers, garlic, potatoes, etc.  I have a ingenious thought on the potatoes - I’ll share more about that later.  It requires some straw…

10 - do what I can to help others realize just how much they consume and throw away.  We are a nation of consumers - wasteful, over-spent,  greedy, and blind to the world around us.  We don’t want to do anything that changes our cushy existence, or makes us stop for even a second to think about the effects of our actions.  

We need to wake up and look at the world.  We are destroying it.  

We are cutting down trees at an alarming rate, cutting down mountains to get the fuels that are located inside.  We pollute our water sources with toxins and poisons, throw away plastics at an alarming rate - plastics that float around in the waterways and oceans, and are consumed by animals that don’t know better.  

We fill the products that we bring into our homes with toxins - and wonder why we are a nation of people that are always sick.  Cancer is rising - and those diagnosed are getting younger & younger.  We inject our children with metals disguised as immunizations and cause more diseases.  

Why is it that the USA thinks that we need to alter the food that God created for us?  If farmers would husband the land rather than destroy it with chemicals, they wouldn’t have the problems with too many pests.  

How is it that humanity survived for millennia without altering the chemical make-up of food and filling everything with corn, yet we are told that if we don’t do these things humanity can’t survive?  There is a difference in taste between fresh, natural, organic food that the mass-produced junk that fills our grocery store shelves.  And don’t get me started on the HFCS and hydrogenated oils and MSG that food factories fill everything with.  Gee, I wonder why our kids are so obese.  We fill them with sugar & fat & corn and sit them down in front of a TV or video games or computers for hours on end.

Get outside and enjoy nature.  Once you have an experience in nature - away from technology and cities - and truly look at the world around you, how can you NOT want to save it?

We are stewards - we need to take care of the planet that God created and told us to take care of.  At this rate, we will have to start colonizing other planets just to support humanity - or allow a massive war to kill half of the population.  Oh, and wipe out technology so we have to re-learn how to exist at a simpler level.

All of this is done in the name of progress.  Are we really progressing?  Or are we causing a huge problem that we cannot fix? 

Just remember, today is the first day of the rest of your life - make the most of it!