Monthly Archives: December 2011

A Whirlwind of Cleaning!

Good evening!

In preparation of New Years, and my goal to have the house spotless before the big sparkly ball drops at midnight – oh, wait…that didn’t sound right! Anyway, I told Jason about my clean house/New Years ideas, and surprisingly, he jumped right on the bandwagon and has been helping me clean ALL DAY!! Matter of fact, we have been cleaning like crazy fools!!! We have purged miscellaneous belongings, sorted, stacked, fluffed, buffed, fixed broken furniture, glued things back together that should have been glued back together eons ago, scrubbed bathroom mildew, swept and vacuumed floors, made beds, etc. etc. etc.

I would love to tell you that we are done and ready for the new year, but in all honesty that was only the upstairs! WHEW!!! When I think about it too much, I just get really overwhelmed and I want to throw my hands up and quit, but no! Baby steps, baby steps!! I just have to remember how much we have gotten accomplished just today!! WHOO! HOO!! 😉 Just our bedroom alone looks like it has almost doubled in size! WHO KNEW????

Anyway, I am very happy about the progress we have made today, and am not going to dwell on how much more needs to get done, but most of all I am SO THANKFUL that I do not have to do it all on my own!!! I am also hopeful that Jason and I will get done early enough tomorrow that we will be able to spend time out having fun, and ready to ring in the New Year!!!

I will make sure to keep you posted!! 😉

Have a FABULOUS evening! :-)

My Kindle Touch Review!

Kindle Touch

Good evening!

I am soooo excited to be on the eve of a FOUR-DAY WEEKEND!!! Seriously, I really am needing a break! 😉 Jason and I just got back from a big grocery shopping trip, and as fun as it is to shop together – it is, it is not so fun to put it all away – it isn’t, but it is such a HUGE weight off my shoulders not having to worry about what are we having for lunches, or dinners all week – it is!! 😉 Anyway, God bless my sweetie, he is in the kitchen right now putting the rest of the food away so I can spend some quiet time in my living room blogging away!! I really do LOVE that man!!

With that said, I think that is a GREAT segue for what I was really wanting to talk about this evening! My new Kindle Touch!

But first, let me back up a bit…

All season I have been telling Santa that “I want a Kindle Touch, 3G, with no ads”.

He would say to me, “Wouldn’t you like one of these?”, and I would respond, “I want a Kindle Touch, 3G, with no ads”.

“Or how about one of these things?” he would say, and I would reply, “I want a Kindle Touch, 3G, with no ads”

It has been said so many times, “I want a Kindle Touch, 3G, with no ads”, since October that I might have saved myself quite a bit of talk time if I would have just been able to push a button to let it say, “I want a Kindle Touch, 3G, with no ads”.

Now, my hubby, being the great man that he is, ordered my special gift from Amazon and there it sat wrapped under our lovely Christmas tree, weeks before Christmas. I was soooo excited, I was soooo dazzled that I was sure that Jason had not only gotten me exactly what I wanted, he even got it early!!! YEAH!!! WHATTA-MAN!!! 😉

Oh, did I mention I bought Jason the EXACT same thing that I wanted???? I was thinking we could replace both of our old, first-generation Kindles in one fell swoop.

Well, Christmas came and I was just ITCHING to get to that package – you know me I LOVE TO READ!!! Anyway, I remained patient and when I finally got to this package, I opened it and realized that Jason had gotten me the wrong thing.

Wahw-waaaahw!!

EEEEK!! I was devestated, he had ordered a Kindle Fire, which I am sure ANYONE else would have LOVED, but I want to read, and the Kindle Fire is great for watching NetFlix, and Hulu, and playing games, but I WANTED TO READ!!!!

What happened to my audio recording of  “I want a Kindle Touch, 3G, with no ads”???

Am I invisible???

Kindle Fire

After taking a chill-pill, thanking my sweetie, while continuing to smile. I gave my new Kindle Fire a tryout. I played games, (FYI: Angry Birds really is fun – REALLY!), I watched television on Hulu, and watched a couple of shows from my Netflix queue, I ordered a magazine subscription, and spent some time going through an entire Marie Claire magazine from cover to cover, and when I did get around to trying to read an actual book on the Kindle Fire, I realized where my problem was. You see, it was the day after Christmas, and I was in the car going home. I was trying to read a book, but the glare from the overcast sky was so harsh that it made it nearly impossible to read my page. By the time I got home, I had decided it was time to fess up…

“Honey, I really love you, and I LOVE that you got me such an AWESOME gift, but I want a Kindle Touch, 3G, with no ads. Can we trade gifts!?!? Well, he was very sweet, and laid back, which of course is TOTALLY him, and said sure Baby, whatever you want!

Well, since then I have been reading up a storm, and Jason is now soooo addicted to his new Kindle Fire that we may have to enroll him in a 12-step program!! I swear, I am dreaming about the Angry Birds game, I can hear him playing it so much!! 😉

We are such a perfect couple!! Thank you, Baby, I love you!! 😉

Now on to my Kindle Touch review!

Hmmm…how should I put this??

IT’S AWESOME!!!

It is small, sleek, extremely light, and easily fits into any of my bags! The pages turn so quickly, faster than if I were reading one of my paper books. There is almost ZERO glare from the lights, the sky, sunshine, etc! The e-ink is just soooo gentle on my eyes, which is such a positive thing because I am on a computer for more than 8 hours a day for my day job, and my eyes get REALLY tired!!

Anyway, the Kindle was a little tricky to figure out how to maneuver at first since there really aren’t any directions to speak of, and it is not as intuitive to use as our original first-Generation Kindle was to use, but there are great tutorials on the Amazon website! I also find that Amazon really does have a great book selection, but some of my favorite books are just not available in Kindle’s bookstore. However, probably my biggest complaint, is that I have hardback library, that I LOVE growing, and a new Kindle book, oftentimes cost just a few dollars less than a brand new hardback copy, so a lot of times, if it is a series, or an author that I happily familiar with, I have a tendency to purchase the hardback instead of purchasing an electronic copy for my Kindle.

Even with those minor downsides, the positives definitely outweigh the negatives! and this new Kindle really makes my old Kindle seem archaic, which I guess it kind of is, but seeing that it is only a few years old, that is a little odd.

I LOVE my new Kindle Touch!!

Hmmmm…now if only I can find a cute cover for it…well, I guess that will have to be a different post!! 😉

Have a FABULOUS evening! :-)

PS. Just for those who might be curious, I don’t receive any kind of compensation from Kindle for saying any of this! 😉

Thinking About New Years!

Good evening!

I have been doing a lot of thinking about the New Year. You know, a clean slate, a fresh new start, new beginnings. One of the things that I have been mulling over is the Chinese New Year tradition of thoroughly cleaning the house from top to bottom to sweep out any ill fortune and make way for any blessings that are going to be coming our way! Doesn’t that just sound amazing?? We can really use some good fortune right now. So, what does all this mean? Well, it means that I am going to have some serious cleaning to do over the next couple of days! I am seriously determined to get this place ready for the n New Year!!!

What about you? Do you have anything you want to do to get ready for the New Year? I would love to hear your thoughts in the comments section.

Have a FABULOUS evening! :-)

 

 

Be It Ever So Humble!

Good evening!

Jason and I are happy to report that we have made it home from our visit with our family, safe and sound!! We were a little unsure that that would happen because on our return home, when we stopped on our way out of town to get gas, our car decided not to start! EEK!! Thankfully we have AAA and they were able to send assistance to us, and we were only delayed 45 minutes in total!! So, I say, I am soooo thankful that we have made it home safe and sound!!

I would love to tell you that since our return home, we have been productive, and unpacked everything and put it all away into it’s proper places, but that would be so untrue!! We got home at about 3:30, and then by 4 we were so zonked, that we decided to go take a nap, and have only just awoken within the past 15 minutes. So, our day is pretty much gone!! 🙂

Jason is in the kitchen cleaning up all of his baking evidence, as I sit in the living room, chatting with you, while at the same time, I have a virtual fireplace crackling on my television. It is strangely soothing. LOL! Does anyone else know what I am talking about?? Or is it just me who is loving this little “program”!?!? 😉

Anyway, I don’t actually return to work until Wednesday, which means I will have some active thinking and planning to do tomorrow. I have realized that my health life is spiraling out of control, nutrition and fitness-wise. I am not sure that I have actually taken the time to plan a healthy meal in almost 3 weeks, and the good Lord Himself knows when I have purposefully done any kind of exercise. That is soooo unlike me, and soooooo very UNACCEPTABLE!!! It is causing me to sit on the sidelines and watching my life go by because I am either too sore or too tired to do anything else.  SO, this has caused me to want to take a good hard look at what is working and not working in all areas of my life, so that Jason and I can have the life we want, and not the life that we accidentally stumble into!! I will keep you posted!!

Tomorrow may just turn into a vision board day! I will have to get creative on how in the world I am going to share pics with you because my camera is still on the fritz, which by the way, is very discombobulating!! (Ooh!! I love that I got to use that word, that may just have to be my word of the day!!!) 😉 Ok, so I digress!

“Either you live the life you create for yourself, or you live the life that someone else creates for you. You choose!” ~Me

Have a FABULOUS evening! :-)

Merry Christmas!

Good evening!

Merry Christmas!!

After being on sabbatical from being on the internet for the past few days,I am happy to be back, and wanted to with all of you VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS!!! 😉 I have been spending quality time with my family. We have gone antiquing, shared meals, laughed, had an insane Nurf fire fight over all of the opened Christmas gifts, gone to church services, and spent time with each other just having a GREAT time!!

Unfortunately, I am not going to have any pics to share. I am very sad to announce that my camera has gone kaput, for some unknown reason! So, I will either have to have a Christmas miracle to have it fix itself, I am going to have to find a way to get it fixed, or I am going to have to purchase a new camera! I am praying for that miracle!!! 😉 I will keep you posted! 🙂

Jason and I are heading home tomorrow morning, and as sad as I am that we will be leaving our family behind, I will be very happy to sleep in our bed again!! Air mattress living can wreak havoc on our poor backs, something that I am sure we will get over rather quickly!! 😉

As I make spend the rest of the evening trying to squeak some more time with my family, I want to wish you and all of your families a VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS!!

Have a FABULOUS evening! :-)

Last Minute Prep!

Good evening!

Whew! I am taking a break from listening to Christmas cartoons while wrapping about 1,000 little stocking stuffers for my family. Ok, maybe 1,000 might be a SLIGHT exaggeration, but I am sure that it is only by an exaggeration by a tiny bit!! 😉

After I get all of those done, I then have to get last minute packing done, finish straightening the house (I have a rule about making sure the house is spotless before I go out of town, so that when I get home, I just get to unpack my suitcase, and NOTHING ELSE!). I then have to make sure the dogs get bathed so they are clean and comfortable while we are away (thankfully our friend, Don will be watching the girls while we are out, as always!!)! After all of that, I have the task of making sure that we all get into bed and get some sleep before we get up in the morning, pack the car, and then I get to work, hopefully on time!!! Mamma is gonna need some serious caffeine to make it through the day!! 😉

I have been working long days this week, so that Jason and I can leave for Roseburg for the Christmas weekend tomorrow at 1:30, and I am hoping to be on the road straight away!! I SERIOUSLY can’t wait!! 😉

I always have such a fun time hanging out with my family, I just can NOT wait to get there!! We have a full weekend planned of Christmas light seeing, church services, breakfasts, dinners, present opening, manicures, antiquing, and just all around hanging out with the family!! I am planning on taking a ton of pics all weekend, and I will do my best to share them all with you!! 😉

WHEW!! Now, that I have said all of that, I realize I am just SOOOO BEAT!!! As I zip off to get more of my to-do list done this evening…

Have a FABULOUS evening! :-)

 

Ta-Dat-Dat-Daaah!!

Good evening!

Tonight is my 365th post in a row!! YEAH!!!! I had set a goal for myself that I would blog every day for one year, and I am very happy to announce that I HAVE MET THIS GOAL!!! 😉

You know, I have learned a lot about myself and of life while blogging this past year, and I thought I would share some of those things that I have learned with you!

  1. If you don’t live your life, you don’t have a life!
  2. Experiences are waaaay more important than material things!
  3. It is ok to ask for help!
  4. Even when you think you are all alone, there is someone out there who is willing to lend you some encouragement!
  5. Even the scariest goals can be accomplished if you are determined enough to make the needed sacrifices!
  6. Sometimes it doesn’t matter if you want to do something you should, just doing it feels great!
  7. There is a whole world of people, ideas, and places right outside the door of my little world!
  8. I only know what I know, and I still have a LOT left to learn!
  9. There is a whole community of creative people who are willing to cheer you on!
  10. No matter what you are going through, there is always someone who is going through the same thing themselves!
  11. Kindness and sincerity is always a fan pleaser!
  12. Taking a leap of faith may be scary, but landing further than you expected is always worth it!
  13. You can always do one more thing!
  14. Taking time to do nothing is medicine for the soul!
  15. So is laughter!
  16. You attract to you what you send out!
  17. Even after 17 years my sweetie can still dazzle me!
  18. It is ok to pick and choose your family!
  19. You can’t please everyone at all times!
  20. Learning to say no is so difficult, but once you say it once, it becomes a lifesaver!
  21. Children grow so quickly, but are great at keeping you feeling young!
  22. There isn’t such a thing as being too sparkly!
  23. Sexy doesn’t just come in one size!
  24. You are never too old to begin again!
  25. You really only do get one life!
  26. Just because the corporation owns your job doesn’t mean you don’t still own your career!
  27. It is therapeutic to often let your inner child out to play!
  28. It is ok to have a bad day every once in a while, you are human after all!
  29. People are more precious than gold!
  30. It is ok to listen to my intuition, she knows what she is talking about!!

I hope you have enjoyed following my blog for the past year!! By no means do I plan on stopping now, but I may not be quite so hard on myself if I don’t blog EVERY SINGLE DAY!! I will continue to share my stories with you to hopefully provide encouragement to someone to try something new, or to let someone else know that they are not alone, or to even just share something inspiring!!  Thank you so much to those of you who stop by every day to see what is going on, those who comments and offer words of encouragement! I hope that I have given to you even a small slice of what you have given to me, I appreciate you!! 😉

In the next coming weeks I have some ideas to give my blog a fresh new take that I have been toying with, and I hope that as I start to implement some of these ideas that you will continue to give me your honest feedback, and encouragement! I always look forward to hearing from you! 🙂 I am so very excited to see what this next year brings!!

Have a FABULOUS evening! :-)

Loooong Day!

Good evening!

This is going to be a short post for a very looooong day!!! 😉 I am working extra hours at work for the next 3 days so that I am able to work only 1/2 a day on Thursday and get on the road to my spend the weekend with my family in Roseburg!! YEAH!!!

I can not even wait!!! 😉

I have been doing a lot of searching on Pinterest this evening, and the thing that I am mainly looking at is hair and makeup styles!! I know, kind of superficial, but for someone visual like me, I really can use some inspiration!!! 😉 I thought I would share some of my finds with you this evening!!!

Ok, so I might be a little obsessed, but it easy to see how that can happen, right???

Have a FABULOUS evening! :-)

A Lazy Sunday Evening!

Good evening!

I have so much that my sweetie and I have to get done before we can leave for our Christmas break this week, and in all honesty I just don’t wanna do any of it!! How sad is that??? We leave for Christmas break on Thursday afternoon, straight from picking me up from the office. I really can’t wait, which is why I think I am not motivated to any of the things I know I ought to be doing, but that is because I just want to get out of here and see my peeps!!! 😉

OH, I have just discovered that I have gotten my first pen-pal letter in the mail the other day!!! I was so excited when my sweetie handed it to me and said, “Oopsie, I may have forgotten to give you something important.” So, dear pen-pal, you know who you are, I will be getting my letter out to you ASAP!! 😉

What else? Well, my sweetie has two venous stasis ulcers on his leg (I think that is how you spell that). He has been dealing with them for quite a few months, and even though the are doing better then they were, Jason just showed me the bigger of the two and all I can say is “EW!!” I am not sure why he insists on showing me all of his boo-boos and injuries; I am sure it has to be some kind of a guy thing!!! 😉

Changing the subject, but some of you know that I am currently working on a goal to blog every single day for 365 days straight, and I am very happy to announce that I am only 2 DAYS away from meeting that goal!! YEAH!!! Blogging has been such a fun and rewarding experience for me. I have met so many new and interesting people, and I have been introduced, slowly and surely to a whole community of creative people in the blog world!! I feel like I have grown as an individual and blogging has helped me see my life from a different perspective; giving me the ability to see what has not been working, and continue to do what has been working!!

So there you have it!! 😉

I am ready to get this week started, I am so excited to see my family!! I am staying at my sister, Jennifer’s place,  but then all of us sisters are going to go slumber party-style-it  at our other sister, Alice’s house for Christmas even so Santa only has to stop at one place, and we can all open stockings and have a fun Christmas day at one place!! 🙂 Doesn’t that sound fun!! Yes, it will be a blast!! I will make sure to take a ton of pics, and share with you!!! 😉

In the meantime, I am going to spend some time with my sweetie, now that he has officially stopped working for the evening!! 🙂

Have a FABULOUS evening! :-)

Hangin’ at the Manse!

Good evening!

I have had a pretty good day today!!

  • Had a yummy brunch with my sweetie!
  • Got all of the laundry done in the house – which if you would have seen our massive pile of dirty clothes, you would have realized what an AMAZING accomplishment that was!! 😉
  • Helped my sweetie pain on a Victorian doll house for a little while! (He has been contracted to refinish one for one of his clients!)
  • I have read a little in a romance novel I have been reading!
  • I have watched one too many episodes of tele off of our Netflix!
  • Had a GIANORMOUS, but extremely delicious dinner with my sweetie!
  • and am now sitting in my living room enjoying my family, while the Christmas lights are on, my sweetie is writing, and I am getting ready to spend a little too much time on Pinterest!! 😉

Talking of Pinterest, is anyone else as completely addicted as I am???? Oh-em-gee!!! I can open it up and start rifling through pics, and before I realize it 2 hours have passed!! I am sooooo ENAMORED!!! It’s all good though! I have always loved collecting photographs of all things inspiring – I have about 15,000 different pics on my computer – I know, a little obsessive, right?? But I have been collecting photographs online for about 5 years, so n average of 3000 pics a year – I can handle that!! Maybe I just need to be a photographer so that I can start collecting some of my own inspiring shots!!! 😉

Talking about photography, I am getting ready to sign up for an online photography class. It is not your typical, technical type class, but more about how to take more artistic and expressive pics using whatever kind of camera you may have available. Right now I have a normal point and click, but someday soon I hope to have a real big-girl-camera, with lenses and everything.  WOULDN’T THAT BE AWESOME????? Oh man, that idea just jazzes me SO MUCH!!! 😉 I can’t wait!!! Anyway, the class is given by Darrah Parker, and if you click on her name it will take you to a page telling about her class. I can’t wait!!

Anyway, I just noticed the time, and realized it is later than I thought it was (it is about 8:45 her, and I am an early to bed kinda gal!!), so I am going to skee-daddle to get ready for bed!!

Have a FABULOUS evening! :-)