Another reason I think I love Monday's so much is becuase they follow Sunday which is by far my most favorite day of the week. I love the Sabbath and the the opportunity I have each Sunday to recommitt myself . I love having my cup filled and be inspired to do good. I love Monday's becuase I love having a fresh start to my week every Monday morning. My week starts Sunday nights at 9pm, when I arrive at Marge and Tom's. Last night my friend Marge was a little crabby. She is so cute, she tries really hard to be a grouchy old lady with Alzheimers, but then I look at her and she just laughs. She is darling. I have learned so much these past 6 months while caring for her. I absolutely love her to peices. I know I can't work 7 nights a week. But I truly miss her the two nights I am off each week. What am I going to do when I leave for CHA on Friday night ? I am going to miss her for 6 nights.
Speaking of CHA - yep it is that time of year again and the annual Winter CHA show is in Anaheim. Janna and I pack up the car and leave on Friday. We don't return home until Wednesday Night. I am hoping the next two weeks really boost the business in the scrapbook/papercrafting industry. More to come on that later (maybe) But I always love CHA and rubbing shoulders with such talented people. I love seeing my friends that I usually only get to see twice a year and catching up with them. The wonderful thing about this industry is that it is filled with such good, good people that truly are all so much alike. I love it and I love my friends and I am excited to see them all and excited to see what their creative minds have created.
When I return from CHA we will be running a MEMORY MIXER booth at the Quilt, Craft & Sewing Expo. Just another three days of crafting inspiration. I went last year and I LOVED it. So if you are a local be sure to come. Click here http://www.rustybarn.com/festival-dates.html to get a 1.00 off admission. I was simply amazed at how well Memory Mixer did there. The response was unbelievable. So I am excited for this year and Janna and Karen are going to be helping me out.
The kids are out of school today. We always love a day off. It was raining this morning (love the rain) And now I have a house full of neighborhood boys. I am just going through all of my .99 Savers finds from this monring. It is really bad when you get up at 5am to work and just so by 9am you can take a break to go to the Savers sale. I am finding lot's and lot's of cute baby clothes.
Well gotta run got lot's to do today . . . . . . .
Monday, January 18, 2010
Tuesday, January 12, 2010
I LOVE Books . . .
Guess what - I LOVE books. And I LOVE reading to little people. But sometimes the trick is to get the little people to sit and listen. We all know how important it is to read to our children. I guess I am really excited about this becuase even though my life is really busy - I look forward to reading to our new grandbaby when she arrives.
Ok - now I need to back track here for a moment. Since the news of our soon to be "grandparent hood" I have been excited to help Morgan and Trent prepare for this new little life. I have always dreamed of what kind of grandma I wanted to be and guess what ? The time is NOW !!! Needless to say the economy has really hit our home and my business in the Scrapbooking Industry (but I have all the faith that 2010 is going to be a good year and it will build back up - but as for now there is very little moola which makes for challenging times) So we have been a bit challenegd financially - but those who know me know that I LOVE a challenge. So I have become the queen of thrift shops, second hand stores and clearance racks. Finding these bargains has almost become an obsession. Becuase now I won't buy anything baby girl for more than $1. You probably cringe at the thought of what I must be buying for .50 - $1 - but I promise you that you would be amazed at what I have found and never in a million years would you beleive what I have paid for it. I may have to start taking pictures of some of my incredible finds.
So with that said. I have been searching for the perfect childrens books - but refuse to buy them new (unless of course they are on a blow out clearance rack) Becuase you know all childrens books are only .69 at SAVERS. As I researched the "perfect books for baby" in order to develop language and inspire a love of reading I came across this list.
MUST HAVES FOR EVERY FAMILY :
The Rainbow Fish by Marcus Pfister
The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle
Good Night Moon by Margaret Wise Brown
Pat the Bunny by Dorothy Kunhardt
Ten Little Ladybugs by Melanie Gerth
Now having six kids I know some more of the "all time favorites" that we had to read over and over. I know that when choosing baby books to read to infants and toddlers you should look for bold, interesting pictures, rhyming text and simple words that are easy for babies to follow.
One thing that I always knew but I can honestly say that I didn't take much time to do was reading to baby during your pregnancy. Recent studies have shown that babies may even remember the rhyme and rhythm of the books you read while they were in utero! So needless to say I won't be reading to baby Mallory while she is in Morgan's tummy. (That might be crossing the line of CRAZY OBSESSED GRANDMA TO BE - which I am already teetering on) But I surely will be on the hunt to find some good books for Morgan and Trent to read to my precious grandbaby. These are the ones recommended for optimum brain development -
Ok - now I need to back track here for a moment. Since the news of our soon to be "grandparent hood" I have been excited to help Morgan and Trent prepare for this new little life. I have always dreamed of what kind of grandma I wanted to be and guess what ? The time is NOW !!! Needless to say the economy has really hit our home and my business in the Scrapbooking Industry (but I have all the faith that 2010 is going to be a good year and it will build back up - but as for now there is very little moola which makes for challenging times) So we have been a bit challenegd financially - but those who know me know that I LOVE a challenge. So I have become the queen of thrift shops, second hand stores and clearance racks. Finding these bargains has almost become an obsession. Becuase now I won't buy anything baby girl for more than $1. You probably cringe at the thought of what I must be buying for .50 - $1 - but I promise you that you would be amazed at what I have found and never in a million years would you beleive what I have paid for it. I may have to start taking pictures of some of my incredible finds.
So with that said. I have been searching for the perfect childrens books - but refuse to buy them new (unless of course they are on a blow out clearance rack) Becuase you know all childrens books are only .69 at SAVERS. As I researched the "perfect books for baby" in order to develop language and inspire a love of reading I came across this list.
MUST HAVES FOR EVERY FAMILY :
The Rainbow Fish by Marcus Pfister
The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle
Good Night Moon by Margaret Wise Brown
Pat the Bunny by Dorothy Kunhardt
Ten Little Ladybugs by Melanie Gerth
Now having six kids I know some more of the "all time favorites" that we had to read over and over. I know that when choosing baby books to read to infants and toddlers you should look for bold, interesting pictures, rhyming text and simple words that are easy for babies to follow.
One thing that I always knew but I can honestly say that I didn't take much time to do was reading to baby during your pregnancy. Recent studies have shown that babies may even remember the rhyme and rhythm of the books you read while they were in utero! So needless to say I won't be reading to baby Mallory while she is in Morgan's tummy. (That might be crossing the line of CRAZY OBSESSED GRANDMA TO BE - which I am already teetering on) But I surely will be on the hunt to find some good books for Morgan and Trent to read to my precious grandbaby. These are the ones recommended for optimum brain development -
- Oh Baby! The Places You'll Go
- Pat the Bunny
- Where the Wild Things Are
- The Cat in the Hat
- Where the Sidewalk Ends
- Hop on Pop
- Love You Forever
- Goodnight Moon
- Mama, do you love me?
- Brown Bear, Brown Bear
- Guess How Much
- Time For Bed
- Chicka Chicka Boom Boom
Now remember - I won't be paying full price for any - let me see what I can find - working on a basket of books from grandma. I will return and report.
So if you have any of these that your children have out grown and you would like to get them off your hands just let me know. I think I might be able to hook you up with some cool scrapbook stuff in return.
Saturday, January 9, 2010
Recommitted to documenting my life . . . .
I haven't been the best blogger. You know life sometimes seems to get in the way. I have had many freinds share with me that they had their blogs printed and bound for Christmas and the absolutely cherish them. They were good bloggers. And for 2010 I want to be a good blogger. I want to focus more on recording the moments of our life so that I can have a treasure to share with my family and generations to come. Why do I blog ? Becuase I want to treasure the moments of this life I have been given. We all have moments we want to treasure. We want to use our later years to look back on our days and bring back all the good "stuff". Our blogs can help us do that.
As a work at home mom, my days are busy - really busy. Just my average day (before work and now school) is filled with laundry, meals, running errands, sports practices, more laundry, carpooling, cleaning, kids homework, and more laundry. You get the idea...
Then I add work appointments, phone calls, emails, scrapbooking, my church calling, and now some college classes etc . . . . and the mix becomes very, very interesting. but none the less - "this is my life, it might be a bit crazy at times - but I love it"
Since my children were younger i have been told to ENJOY all this. I even know that I should be taking pictures of all of it. What? Pictures of my over-flowing laundry hampers? Yes - Take a picture.
Once the mom of babies, toddlers and little children, soon to be the mom of all teenagers and adult children Just around that corner is Grandma! (approximately 139 days according to the baby widget on Morgan's blog) I also know I will miss this chaos and craziness of this busy life one day. One day I will look back on this busy season and be a little sad. One day.
But as for today, I need to start taking pictures of my over-flowing laundry hampers. And my sink with the breakfast dishes crusting over. And my boys video games stuff everywhere. And my children playing Madden together or Karleigh sitting on facebook. Because one day, I will not have this anymore. But as for today, I still do and I am happy to be right where I am. (I need a camera becuase mine is broke - probably from being old and over used - but I have a nice blackberry that will do the job for now)
So my challenge to not only myself but also to you my friends, is to really begin to focus on documenting what your days are like. What a treasure it will be. I wish I had a blog back when I was a first time mom so I could share with Morgan what my days were like, what my apartment looked like, etc. So pick an average day in your life and begin to document every hour - what you are doing, where you are, or how you feel about it. One day we will all look back and smile. I Promise. ENJOY where you are at - wherever it may be.
As a work at home mom, my days are busy - really busy. Just my average day (before work and now school) is filled with laundry, meals, running errands, sports practices, more laundry, carpooling, cleaning, kids homework, and more laundry. You get the idea...
Then I add work appointments, phone calls, emails, scrapbooking, my church calling, and now some college classes etc . . . . and the mix becomes very, very interesting. but none the less - "this is my life, it might be a bit crazy at times - but I love it"
Since my children were younger i have been told to ENJOY all this. I even know that I should be taking pictures of all of it. What? Pictures of my over-flowing laundry hampers? Yes - Take a picture.
Once the mom of babies, toddlers and little children, soon to be the mom of all teenagers and adult children Just around that corner is Grandma! (approximately 139 days according to the baby widget on Morgan's blog) I also know I will miss this chaos and craziness of this busy life one day. One day I will look back on this busy season and be a little sad. One day.
But as for today, I need to start taking pictures of my over-flowing laundry hampers. And my sink with the breakfast dishes crusting over. And my boys video games stuff everywhere. And my children playing Madden together or Karleigh sitting on facebook. Because one day, I will not have this anymore. But as for today, I still do and I am happy to be right where I am. (I need a camera becuase mine is broke - probably from being old and over used - but I have a nice blackberry that will do the job for now)
So my challenge to not only myself but also to you my friends, is to really begin to focus on documenting what your days are like. What a treasure it will be. I wish I had a blog back when I was a first time mom so I could share with Morgan what my days were like, what my apartment looked like, etc. So pick an average day in your life and begin to document every hour - what you are doing, where you are, or how you feel about it. One day we will all look back and smile. I Promise. ENJOY where you are at - wherever it may be.
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