Saturday Photohunt -- furry

Theme: Furry Become a Photo Hunter

The theme this week is Furry. I immediately thought of our puppy Midnight and how he adores Princess Magpie

Saturday 9

Saturday 9: Going to Pot

1. When was the last time you smoked pot? I have never smoked pot.

2. What do you think is your biggest weakness? I guess it is my need to be the best, fastest, hardest working. If I am not, then I feel like I failed. It made working outside the house very stressful. I feel like I do pretty good at this whole SAHM mommy thing.

3. What is your biggest fear? Anything happening to my kids. It would kill me. Other than that I am terrified of spiders.

4. Is there a particular goal that you’d like accomplish this year? Get Pregnant, get healthy.

5. What do you miss most from your youth? My carefree attitude.

6. What is your best physical feature? My eyes .

7. Are you very confident? I didn't used to be but I am getting better.

8. Tell us about the last time you were drunk. I haven't been drunk since I was a teenager. I passed out in my Uncles van.

9. Have you ever cheated on a lover? Nope.

Spin Cycle: Turning Dollars into SENSE!

This week the topic is all about money saving tips. There are a lot of things that we do in our house to save money.

1. I buy in bulk a lot, but only the things I use a lot of. I am not going to buy 500 gallons of mayonnaise if I never eat it. It makes no sense. And once I get the bulk buys home, I divide it up into meal sized portions and freeze things that way for ease of use.
   
2. I make a menu plan and a grocery list every time I go shopping. It helps to limit impulse buying. You know what else helps to limit impulse buying? Going alone. Not having anyone with me asking me, "Can we get that? What about that?" really helps to limit the extras.
3. I do shop sales but like budget shopping, I try to limit it to buying things I actually use.
   
4. I also buy store brands of a lot of products. Most of the time there is no difference in my point of view.
   
5. The biggest thing that we do to save money is buying what we need, not all the things we would like to have all the time. When we buy something that is an extra, we plan it out. We don't get it on impulse.
6. We also check the weekly flyers to see which store has the best deals and do our grocery shopping there.
7. Farmers Markets are a great place to get good deals on fresh vegetables.
   
8. I save the carcass from chicken and little bits of leftovers and freeze them to add to a soup later.
   

Thursday Thirteen #77- Honest Scrap

Thirteen Things about Twisted Cinderella I have been given an award by The Burkes The recipient of this award to list 10 honest things about themselves -- make it interesting, even if you have to dig deep. And since this is Thursday, maybe I will try to name 13! I have to say, I have been blogging for 5 years this month, I have shared most things so this is a challenge. I love to do anything creative. The computer is truly my biggest creative outlet. I use it to do things like scrapbooking, blogging, and creating layouts and such. I am reforming clean freak living in a messy house. I am married to a man who is the opposite of a clean freak, (we won't discuss what that makes him). My daughter is just like her father. I am fighting some sort of exhaustion (I am thinking diet related). So as a result I am trying to learn to let things go. I remind myself that if they are messy, they don't sit in judgment of me and how messy my house is. I have to learn to cut myself a break. I am the anti-feminist I have no issued with feminism and feminists, I just live my life in the way they are trying to get away from as far as I can tell. My biggest dream was always to be a housewife, being barefoot in the kitchen with kids tugging at my dress sounds like a dream to me. I have done the whole liberated working woman thing, but it left me feeling unfulfilled and stressed. This is so much better for me. I tend to change my look on the spur of the moment. It makes me feel good to have a change in my look. I have been known to leave the house with long blond hair and come home with short red hair. I am cutting Princess Belle's hair again sometime soon. She HATES having it done, she cries. Having it halfway long and halfway short means it gets in her face when she eats and is a disaster so I have warned her that it is getting short someday soon. I am a people pleaser. I hate to have people not like me, I feel bad when they don't. I am trying to learn to be more like Prince Charming and let it run like water off my back. I am learning, but it doesn't come naturally. I like to let things go a lot. If it is not a big deal, I don't want to make a big deal out of it. If someone is doing something in their yard that bugs me, I will just let it go. I don't care if you paint your house, mow your lawn, shovel your snow, park your car on the street, or put your garbage in the front of my house. If it doesn't effect me in some way, I am not going to hold it against you, I really do have more important things to do (like watching paint dry or listening to the grass grow). I just smile, and greet you and talk to you with no ill will at all. Life it too short to make problems where none exist. I have been watching my food intake and the way I feel when I eat them and I think I have issues with Gluten and Dairy. I have no idea what to do with that and how to eat that way. It feels a little like learning a foreign language. What do I do with this and how does it interplay with my trying to lose weight? I love to research things. I love the challenge of trying to find out all I can about a subject that interests me. I do it now and I remember doing it as a kid in our school library. The library had a filing system with folders filled with little bits of information about all sorts of subjects, I would take them out and go through the files. I would wander through the non-fiction aisles of the library looking at books and seeing what they had that interested me on that day. Now I wander the internet aisles and see what information I can find. Since I had the baby, I don't like how my body looks. Nothing fits me right and I refuse to buy clothes to fit this bigger body. It is only temporary and why waste money on a temporary situation. As a result I a very limited wardrobe and have been known to spend all day with my girls in my jammies. I am trying to get out of that habit though. I love music. Music is the backdrop to most of my life. I can remember "The Sesame Street and Elivis ablum years" and the "Bryan Adams and Bon Jovi" years (although truthfully the Bon Jovi years never ended). I can remember country music with my daddy and rock music with my friends and now it is once again in the Sesame street years. Just the first few notes of a song have the power to change my mood. I love all things historical but I have a great love for old books. I love the look of them, the feel of them and reading them. I love to know that 100 years ago someone else held this same book in their hand. I am completely unable to throw away an old magazine. But then I am also likely to drag old magazines up out of the basement and read them every once in a while when the mood strikes.

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I have been given an award by The Burkes The recipient of this award to list 10 honest things about themselves -- make it interesting, even if you have to dig deep. And since this is Thursday, maybe I will try to name 13! I have to say, I have been blogging for 5 years this month, I have shared most things so this is a challenge.

1. I love to do anything creative. The computer is truly my biggest creative outlet. I use it to do things like scrapbooking, blogging, and creating layouts and such.
   
2. I am reforming clean freak living in a messy house. I am married to a man who is the opposite of a clean freak, (we won't discuss what that makes him). My daughter is just like her father. I am fighting some sort of exhaustion (I am thinking diet related). So as a result I am trying to learn to let things go. I remind myself that if they are messy, they don't sit in judgment of me and how messy my house is. I have to learn to cut myself a break.
3. I am the anti-feminist I have no issued with feminism and feminists, I just live my life in the way they are trying to get away from as far as I can tell. My biggest dream was always to be a housewife, being barefoot in the kitchen with kids tugging at my dress sounds like a dream to me. I have done the whole liberated working woman thing, but it left me feeling unfulfilled and stressed. This is so much better for me.
4. I tend to change my look on the spur of the moment. It makes me feel good to have a change in my look. I have been known to leave the house with long blond hair and come home with short red hair.
   
5. I am cutting Princess Belle's hair again sometime soon. She HATES having it done, she cries. Having it halfway long and halfway short means it gets in her face when she eats and is a disaster so I have warned her that it is getting short someday soon.
6. I am a people pleaser. I hate to have people not like me, I feel bad when they don't. I am trying to learn to be more like Prince Charming and let it run like water off my back. I am learning, but it doesn't come naturally.
7. I like to let things go a lot. If it is not a big deal, I don't want to make a big deal out of it. If someone is doing something in their yard that bugs me, I will just let it go. I don't care if you paint your house, mow your lawn, shovel your snow, park your car on the street, or put your garbage in the front of my house. If it doesn't effect me in some way, I am not going to hold it against you, I really do have more important things to do (like watching paint dry or listening to the grass grow). I just smile, and greet you and talk to you with no ill will at all. Life it too short to make problems where none exist.
8. I have been watching my food intake and the way I feel when I eat them and I think I have issues with Gluten and Dairy. I have no idea what to do with that and how to eat that way. It feels a little like learning a foreign language. What do I do with this and how does it interplay with my trying to lose weight?
9. I love to research things. I love the challenge of trying to find out all I can about a subject that interests me. I do it now and I remember doing it as a kid in our school library. The library had a filing system with folders filled with little bits of information about all sorts of subjects, I would take them out and go through the files. I would wander through the non-fiction aisles of the library looking at books and seeing what they had that interested me on that day. Now I wander the internet aisles and see what information I can find.
10. Since I had the baby, I don't like how my body looks. Nothing fits me right and I refuse to buy clothes to fit this bigger body. It is only temporary and why waste money on a temporary situation. As a result I a very limited wardrobe and have been known to spend all day with my girls in my jammies. I am trying to get out of that habit though.
11. I love music. Music is the backdrop to most of my life. I can remember "The Sesame Street and Elivis ablum years" and the "Bryan Adams and Bon Jovi" years (although truthfully the Bon Jovi years never ended). I can remember country music with my daddy and rock music with my friends and now it is once again in the Sesame street years. Just the first few notes of a song have the power to change my mood.
12. I love all things historical but I have a great love for old books. I love the look of them, the feel of them and reading them. I love to know that 100 years ago someone else held this same book in their hand.
13. I am completely unable to throw away an old magazine. But then I am also likely to drag old magazines up out of the basement and read them every once in a while when the mood strikes.
    

Six Months Old

My baby girl turned a full half a year old this week. I am so amazed. My girls are growing and changing so much. Princess Magpie has three teeth already with another about to break through at any second. She is such a happy, joyful, baby and I am so lucky to have her.

Seven Years Old

My Beautiful Big Girl, Princess Belle is SEVEN YEARS OLD today. We are having her party on Sunday but today we had her favorite for dinner; chicken, stuffing, mashed potatoes, and gravy. And she helped me make a cake. It was fun and she enjoyed it and she gets her party, her presents, and her birthday cake on Sunday.

I am just so amazed at how fast time has gone by. She has truly been the joy in my life for all these years. She is the most sweet, loving, and caring child I could have ever wished for.

I decided to share some of the scrapbook layouts I have done about her over the years. There were a lot and it was hard to narrow down, so forgive me for the long long list of layouts about my beautiful girl.

Princess Magpie and Midnight

TRIBUTE TUESDAY

Welcome to TRIBUTE TUESDAY a chance to let that someone who has made a difference in your life feel special by paying them tribute.

I think my first tribute will be to my wonderful husband. He will never how many ways he has set me free.

I know when you look from the outside there are so many little things that a man can do as a matter of habit that can be picked up and horded as ammunition in some future battle. But if you start to tally up the things done wrong you have to remember to add the things done right to their column too.

The truth is when I met Prince Charming, I was shy, unsure of myself, felt unattractive and easily walked over. But then he came along and through his eyes, I saw myself as beautiful and sexy. As he stood strong for me so that I wouldn't be walked over anymore, he taught me to be strong for myself. He makes me laugh on a daily basis. Not just little giggles but big hearty belly laughs.

I love his sensitive side. I love he will actually cry at shows like Ghost Whisperer. I love how he cuddles our girls, takes joy in them and just loves on them. I love how he is so sweet with Midnight, our puppy. With one look of his big puppy dog eyes, Midnight has all the cuddles and treats he wants because Prince Charming can't resist.

I love to hear him tell me about his latest project or something that made him laugh and I love the way he gets so excited about some things. There are times he sounds like a ten year old boy so filled with excitement that he can hardly contain it. It is that childlike enthusiasm that drew me to him when we first met.

I love how his personality goes back to the chivalric days of old. He is the one who stands tall with sword held high to defend those who can't defend themselves. He is honorable and a White Knight in a day when those things are so hard to find.

In view of the person that he is and how much he has brought to my life and how lucky I feel to have him, how can I really care about a few socks on the floor or a little snow on the walkway.