Etsy!

I have officially opened an etsy shop! My first item up for sale is ... of all things ... Birdseed Toss Wedding Roses. They are fabric roses with birdeseed (or whatever you chose) stuffed inside to toss at the bride and groom as they leave the wedding. Pretty cool I thought! They were ones that were made with the intention of being used at a friends wedding but there was a discrepancy about the lace that we used. I guess the bride didnt want lace to be anywhere near her wedding.

Personally, I dont blame her! Im not much for lace either. Something about lace reminds me of the 80's. Maybe it was the gloves that Madonna wore ... who knows. But these are pretty none the less. I might have more too. Some that dont have lace on them. They would be the extras from the actual bunch that made it to the friends wedding. I like these ones. Especially the red ones. There were five colors for these roses. Red, blue, green, yellow, and brown. The ones with the lace were just flat colors with the lace over them. (see pic) Not bad, the red ones were I think the best. They were really bright. But I like the ones without the lace better because they arent flat colors. There are patterns on the fabric and like I said before, I really like the red ones. They had a rose pattern on them. Really bright and very pretty. But I guess that's one woman's opinion. :)

Goals vs. Resolutions

I've seen this statement all too often this year. "I prefer to set goals, not resolutions, for the new year." So I wanted to delve into that thought just a little. What is a goal and what is a resolution?

Goal - according to Merriam-Websters Dictionary a goal is "the end toward which effort is directed".

Resolution - the word resolution is a form of the word resolve. Resolve means "fixity of purpose" and "an official determination" according to Merriam-Webster.

People have the belief that a goal is better than a resolution. I beg to differ. A goal is the effect of a resolution. If you believe what the dictionary says about what the two words mean, then you have to believe that in order to set a goal, you have to make a resolution. Lets take an example: "I resolve to lose weight this year". (isn't that everyones new years resolution?) Now lets break that down. This person has a fixed purpose and has officially determined that they will lose weight during the year ahead. The next step would be to make a goal of how much by when they want to lose the weight. This is the end in which the effort of their resolution is going. Its cause and effect here people! The resolution causes the goal.

So I guess I just wanted to say that people need to pay more attention to what it means to make their resolutions. I honestly think that most people dont make a resolution because they are so tired of making them and failing. The problem is that they confuse what it is and take for granted that you have to work to make those things happen. I did make resolutions this year. I intend to keep them by making goals that help me fulfill what I wanted to do this year.

Resolutions

This year I'm hoping that I can actually accomplish some of my goals. Ive been pretty bad about it in the past and have at times not even made goals because I knew that they would be forgotten just as soon as they were made. But with a bit of work I think that I can actually accomplish a few this year. I'm keeping them somewhat small, yet worth working on.

Goals for 2009

1. Cook more from scratch. The simple truth is that I'm fat. The reason for that is the fact that I have not been the best at cooking home made meals. This year I pledge to learn more simple recipes that are healthy and actually make them on a regular basis. I want to lose weight, but I'm not going to succeed at that unless I learn how to cook healthy meals. Plus I want my family to be healthy as well. We have never really been the type of people to be consistently sick but this fall was a bad fall for us. I think that we were sick the majority of the last three months. Also, it will definitely cut down on expenses if I can get my act together and put a pantry together. Less eating out, more eating in equals a happy family.

2. Get outside more. The other half to the first goal. There's nothing better than getting outside a lot to help with the weight issue. Plus I have three growing boys that really need to get outside and play a whole lot more. They love playing outside and our yard isn't the greatest for small children to play in. The solution, going to the park on a regular basis. There's places around here that we can go on nature walks as well. I want to go camping a bunch this summer too. Its been years since we've been camping. We gave it a good go this last summer but the lake was so high that there was practically no where to camp. I hope that the lake is a lot lower by summer this year. We have a tent set that we haven't even been able to open because we haven't had a chance to go camping.

3. Start sewing. I have a new sewing machine that has barely been used. I am going to set up a desk or table that I can sew at and start a bunch of projects. I have a few dresses that I want to work on this year. Hopefully I will have them done by this time next year. Sew much to do and sew little time. (hehe couldn't help myself!)

4. Work harder on school with A1. He's been doing really well the first half of the school year. He knows how to read really well. Its only on the larger words that he has troubles. We've worked on some of the history things that kids his age are supposed to know as well. I think that the biggest thing that we have to work on is his math. He's doing well in it but we need to work a little more with it.

So, now you know what my goals are. What are yours? What resolutions are you making for the new year?

A Wonder To Behold!

My husband and I and our four month old son moved to Arkansas WAY (okay not so way) back in 2003. We moved out here from California in the spring with a friend of ours. When we moved, the price of gas in California was about $1.60 - $1.70 per gallon and the price when we got to Arkansas was $1.45. I loved it. It was so much cheeper! Then things started to get expensive and we had a steady climb in prices for the next 5 years. We saw the price of regular unleaded gas jump to the extreme price of $4.00 a gallon and in some places it went so high as $5.00 a gallon for a short time. We saw the price of not only gas go up but everything else went up as well. Price of houses shot up to unbelievable prices. California, Florida, and many other places around the nation saw the price of small single family houses rise to more than $300,000.

Then at the height of it all when fuel prices, housing prices, food prices, and everything else skyrocketed, the bubble burst. At the very height of it all, in the middle of the summer this year, price of a single barrel of crude oil was $147 (yes that is one hundred and fourty seven dollars), and people just couldnt do it anymore. Humpty dumpty came tumbling down. Those who bought into the super high house prices couldnt afford it anymore. Their intrest rates adjusted and they could no longer pay the mortgage. They lost their houses.

Now, because of this bubble bursting, we have seen one of the fastest declines in prices since practically the great depression. The actual numbers are still pretty high but the percent of decline is steep. Percents that the experts are saying that we havent seen since that depression. Stock prices are dropping, house prices are dropping, and best of all gas prices are dropping. Today when I went to the store I saw the price at the gas station there and was absolutely amazed at the prices. Thinking about it, prices were in the $2.00 range only two weeks ago. Today the price was $1.45. The same as when we moved to Arkansas almost 6 years ago. In just about five months time we have seen the price of gas drop from the high of almost $5.00 in some places to less than $1.50 and its still dropping. WOW!! What a time we live in!! I wonder how low it will go? Will we see it drop to less than $1.20? Or will it stay where it is? I cant wait to find out!

As for me, Im just excited that it's less than $1.50 since Im going to Colorado to visit a friend for the holiday. This is going to be one CHEAP driving trip!

What are your thoughts on the recent economic developments?

Life just got a whole lot easier!

Have you ever noticed that when the little guys cant walk, life seems to be so much harder to deal with. Its harder to go out of the house, getting in and out of the car is difficult, managing play time. Not to mention the fact that there's not much to do outside the home when the little one is non mobile. Its not like they can play at the park or really enjoy what you are doing because they cant get involved with it.

My littlest one is 18 months old now and has been walking for a few months but only just recently got the hang of the whole thing. He doesnt wobble so much when he takes a few steps and he runs quite well. So now that the weather has cooled off sufficiently enough that we can do things outside for more than, oh say about ten minutes, we've been going to the park. He absolutely loves it! We have found a park that is toddler friendly for the most part and he loves to just get up there and play. There's one particular slide that he loves and he gets on that thing time and again. I think its because there's a slowdown after the turn in it. The playground has another slide but its a straight one and he goes too fast and bumps his head on the way down.

We went today after his well child checkup and had lunch. He was just so content to sit with me on the grass and eat his lunch while his brothers were off playing on the playground. It was so nice to be able to relax in the grass and not have to worry about him because I didnt have to constantly be chasing after him and holding his hand. I had to worry more about his big brother pushing him down the slide because the baby was taking too long.

I think that this right now is one of my favorite seasons with my kids. All of them are old enough to understand commands and follow through with it (doesnt mean that they WILL but they can), and they are all big enough to handle themselfs without needing to be hand held the whole time. It's nice and a very sweet change of pace.

Coupons

I have been trying to figure out the whole meal planning and grocery shopping thing for a while now. It got so bad that I just didn't know what to cook for about three months. I think, however, that I am finally out of my slump. I have a list of our regular dinner meals on hand to choose from and I am working on a staple list so that I am not running out of the regulars when I need them the most. But there is something else that I have been trying out lately and it is something that has stumped me for years. You guessed it .. Coupons.

There's been a lot of talk around the blogosphere about the drugstore game and couponing (like that? ... it has become a verb, its not just a noun anymore!). However its still something that eludes me a bit. Organizing them in order to be able to use them without fumbling around trying to find the right one or forgetting to use them at all has been the hardest part. Then there's the whole thing about finding the stuff that you actually use. Wow there's a ton to it. I did have some success on a recent shopping trip. I was able to save about $10 on a bill that should have read $110, so I only spent about $100. I even got things I needed! Milestones right?? I'm working on it tho. Slowly. Just getting to that point where I understand their uses and can get some good stuff is a wonderful feeling.

How about you? Are you using coupons or doing the drugstore game? How successful have you been? Tell me your story.

What is Rich anyway?

To be perfectly honest .. someone who is wealthy monetarily could be anyone who has more than 50k income per year. I find it really funny that the politicians that vie for our votes in the upcoming election think that wealthy people are only those who are in the top 5%. If that's the case then I must be Dirt poor. For a long time we have lived well under the 30k bracket and are alive and well to tell about it. We even have a house to show for it. Now granted our house might not be the biggest, best, and brightest house in the world, but it has 3 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms, a functional kitchen, a place to watch TV if we chose and it even has a laundry room (small as it all may be). The Lord is my provider!

However I think that those politicians would be hard pressed to try to live in a place like mine. Its not shabby but it isn't perfect. I wonder how any politician would be able to survive with less than 30k per year income. Would they be able to manage the groceries? or how about making sure that the bills were paid on time? Would they be able to keep the bills low enough that they could pay them every month? Could they live in a small house like mine? I would be interested to see what they would do if they were in my shoes.

Healthy living and Diets

I have been seriously in need of a change in my regular diet for some time now. (It shows in my midsection LOL) I have read several times about people going to Raw food or even partially raw. I really need to read up on this some more, but does anyone know anything about this from experience? Or is it something that I just have to try (or not) to find out?

Cleaning the cabinets

I went to put dishes away this morning and had a heck of a time. There were a lot of mixed items in my cabinets that I had not used and some were even chewed up (small teething children). I still have to go to the thrift store either today or tomorrow to rid myself of much clutter and so I think when I go, I will box up a few of those dishes that I dont use anymore and send it off to be someone else's blessing.

Minimizing

I guess Im not the only one in blog world that has had the inclination to go minimal lately. The Lovely Lady at Handprints on the Wall has decided with her sister that they are going to start living a minimal lifestyle and are going to blog about their journey. They have also started a carnival about it starting on Monday. It is called Minimizing Monday. I hope that you join her for this carnival. I think that everyone has some stuff that they can let go of and who doesnt like the feeling of less to clean up? Hope to see you there!

Wow .. just .. wow!

Well, things have been interesting here lately. For anyone who knows me, I have had some family move to town last month. I guess this month they decided that it just wasnt going to work for them and they split town. No notice, no goodbye, nothing. Alright ... so what now. There's not much to do about that. The thing that bugs me is that they left a boat in my yard when they left. What in the world am I supposed to do with that? I guess I will find out on monday after my sister talks to them. The wierd things people do .. ya know? Oh well. On with life.

Updates

I told you that I would give an update as to how things are going for the clean up. As of today I have the boys clothes folded and put away. Now I need to do the same for mine. Did I mention the fact that I hate folding laundry? It always takes forever and then you have to put it away. I want to get rid of some of my clothes. Then I would have less to clean and fold. However, it would probably prompt me to get some new stuff. Most of what I have is years old and really worn out. I still have a dress that I got when I turned 15 if you can believe that. I like that dress, but its a tad small for my plus sized body right now. That's a story for another day tho.

Living light

Do you ever get the feeling that you are about to suffocate from too much stuff in your house? I feel like that all the time lately. Its ridiculous the amount of stuff we have yet don't use. Now granted there are some things that you may not need right now and have to hold until they are needed (ex. seasonal items, hand-me-downs, yard maintenance tools, tools in general, you get the point), but there are a ton of things that we hold on to for no really good reason at all. Those things would be sentimental or possibly items that you think you will use but probably never will. I have a lot of that stuff.

My house is fairly small (not quite 1200 sq ft) and so I don't have a lot of room to hold all the things that most people have hidden away in closets they never use. I have a storage shed outside that has mostly household repair and yard maintenance items and one wall dedicated to those things that we need to hold on to for seasonal whatever, and I have one closet stuffed full of the things that just don't fit anywhere else. It also has a bunch of things that I probably will never use.

Because of all this I think that it is time to purge the unwanted junk and live light for a while. I have always liked living without a bunch of stuff. When I moved out on my own for the first time, I had one box of stuff that I kept in a closet that I wasn't sure what to do with. The rest of the things I had were very basic. I had my dishes (way to many of them since I got a set of 8 from my aunt and already had a set of 4) and silverware, clothes, bed, dresser, radio, computer and a couch set that I bought for $50. I didn't need a TV because I hate the feeling of being sucked in to it and not being able to do what I wanted. I had books to entertain me and my radio for the noise. It was a one bedroom apartment and it was really nice.

So now that I have a small 3 bedroom house I think its time to get back to the basics. We've been in here for a year and its been very cramped. So here's how I think I am going to tackle this issue:

1. The Shed - Clean it up. Get out the rest of the thrift store items and garbage so that we can make room for the things that matter.
2. The Living room - Put things in their place. Once the stuff is where it belongs then we can deal with each room appropriately.
3. The Bedrooms - Purge! Each room has a lot of things that no one wants or uses. There's a lot of excess clothing that still needs to be removed and a lot of toys that the kids just toss around and don't really care about. Its time to make them choose their faves and stick with that.
4. The Bathrooms - Remove the unwanted. Who can honestly say that they don't have unwanted junk in their bathroom cabinets? I know that I have a couple of boxes worth of stuff I don't use and haven't really put thought to since we moved in.
5. The Kitchen - Trash the container lids! Okay ... how many lids do we need for five containers? I think its time to toss the box-o-lids and possibly the containers that go with them and find a small durable set that will fit easily in my small cabinet space. Also, How many glasses do we need? I have way too many and really want to get rid of all the excess.


I think that will do for now. I wonder how long that will take me. At least I will have help with the Shed. My hubby wants to do that one because that's his space. I get to go thru the rubbermaid tubs but the rest is his. MUAHAHAHAHA!!! *evil grin* I will try to keep a rolling update as to how Im doing with this. I might even try to have a yard sale with some of the stuff. I have already taken a van load full of clothes and stuff to the thrift store and so much more to go. Weeeeeee!

Proverbs Woman

She carefully watches everything in her household and suffers nothing from laziness. (Proverbs 31:27) This is what I want for myself. I want my husband to look at me and say that I am not lazy. I want him to come home and not be upset because there is no dinner on the table. I want him to be happy. But currently I am too lazy to even do that much. Its not a lot to make dinner before he gets home in the evening. Its not that much to do a load of laundry every now and then and its not that much to do the dishes. But sadly for me I have made it so much in my head that I dread the thought of doing these things anymore. I feel like I've been in a rut recently and haven't been able to get out. Especially with making dinner in the evening. It seems like I've had the same things for so long now that I'm just flat tired of it all. Back to the basics I guess. Dishes, laundry, dinner and maybe a bit of vacuuming in the meantime.