Category Archives: Family

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! ๐Ÿ˜‰ 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!! ๐Ÿ˜‰ 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,ย “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!!! ๐Ÿ˜‰

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 ofย  “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!! ๐Ÿ˜‰

We are such a perfect couple!! Thank you, Baby, I love you!! ๐Ÿ˜‰

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!! ๐Ÿ˜‰

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! ๐Ÿ˜‰

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!!! ๐Ÿ˜‰ 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!!! ๐Ÿ˜‰ I will keep you posted! ๐Ÿ™‚

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!! ๐Ÿ˜‰

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!! ๐Ÿ˜‰

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!! ๐Ÿ˜‰

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!! ๐Ÿ˜‰

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!! ๐Ÿ˜‰

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! :-)

 

All Done!

Good evening!

I am very happy to report that we are all done with the Douglas County Christmas Craft Fair! We ended up doing much better than we did last year, but it was still a really hard weekend, with a lot of work, and it is up in the air whether or not we are going to do this again next year! In all honesty, we can’t decide right now because we are absolutely pooped!! ๐Ÿ˜‰

We got back to Jennifer’s place, ate a healthy dinner, and then had some fun playing Wii! Trina totally kicked our booties, but we still had fun! ๐Ÿ™‚

Then we spent some time, while trying not to gall asleep, watching some new Christmas cartoons, The Gift of the Night Fury, which is the new How to Train Your Dragon Christmas cartoon, and then we watched Ice Age, a Mammoth Christmas Special. FUN! FUN! FUN!! ๐Ÿ˜‰

Now, it is time to call it a night, and get some sleep. Tomorrow, we will be up around 5 am, to help unload the van, and start heading back to Salem. I know that is early, but Jennifer has to get to work rather early tomorrow, so we need to get a very early start!

Until tomorrow…

Have a FABULOUS evening!! ๐Ÿ˜‰

End of Day 2 Christmas Fair!

Good evening!

Well, it has been another exciting day at this year’s Douglas County Christmas Fair! We have seen all sorts of sights today, a little girl passing by in the sweetest baby pink cowboy boots, a little spider-man asleep on his daddy’s shoulder, alittle girl in colorful striped tights and a tu-tu, a little batman in a stroller yelling out for his daddy because he was missing, and more recently a little girl who couldn’t have been more than e who was wearing an orange boa!!! Seriously, I never realized Roseburg, Oregon was such a happening town!

I know that it is the kiddos that I am focusing on today, but a lot of our sales have been to the kiddos today, our Christmas ornaments, grab bags, elves with candy overflowing from their heads are really a big hit in our booth!! We have also sold out of our glycerin soaps, and I am thinking I will be out of earrings by the end of the day tomorrow!! Not that I am complaining by any means! Yeah!!! ๐Ÿ˜‰

We have one more day to go, but tomorrow only goes until 4 and then we are all heading back to my sisters’ place, getting into our PJ’s putting our sore feet up and hanging out visiting together! Whew!! That will be fun!

You know every year we do this fair, we get to December and tell each other that we will never do this again, until we actually got through the show. Well, this year I am already pre-planning next year!! It is easy to see which booths have done well, and which ones not so much! I want to be one of the ones who do well, so I am thinking some more pre-planning and organizing is going to be necessary to make that happen!! ๐Ÿ˜‰ We will see if I can convince the sisters that it will be worth it – we will see!!!

Anyways, something else that we did that was a lot of fun – we all got airbrush tattoos!!! We giggled the entire time and even got the airbrush artist laughing too! What a HOOT! ๐Ÿ˜‰

Jennifer got a pretty design that she chose because she really liked it!

Trina got 2: a blue penguin, because she LOVES blue penguins, and a rose, because she was feeling in a Phantom of the Opera mood!!!! ๐Ÿ˜‰

I got a Hawaiian floral design, which I thought was kind of cool!! ๐Ÿ˜‰


Anyway, it has been another long day so I am going to call it a night!

Have a FABULOUS evening!!! ๐Ÿ˜‰

Our First Day at the Market!

Good evening!
We just got home from the Douglas County Christmas Craft Fair, and we are all exhausted!! Matter of fact, I may have just dozed off twice in the past 1/2 an hour. Anyway, we had a pretty good day! Our sales are doing better than we did last year, and having a double booth seems to really have made a difference in how customer are able to move around our booth and interact with all of us girls!!

Instead of spending a lot of time writing, I am going to share with you pictures of our booth!

We have all sorts of gift baskets!

Assorted crocheted hats!

and scarves!

Nativity sets!

Neck warmers and hand warmers!

Glycerin soaps!

various ornaments, and gift bags, which is a favorite with the kiddos!!

I have SOOOO MANY more pictures that I am excited to share with you, but I can barely keep my eyes open!!

As I slink off to bed…

Have a FABULOUS evening!!! ๐Ÿ˜‰

Setting Up Shop!

Good evening!

So, my sweetie and I made it to Roseburg! WHEW!!! We headed straight to my sister’s house, picked her up, and long story short, Jennifer, Trina, Sweetie, and myself all ended up at the Douglas County fairgrounds so we could set up our booth! Of course I forgot my camera, so I will be taking pics of our booth first thing in the morning, but I have to admit that we were all pleasantly surprised that we were able to make it look so nice, PLUS fill up a double booth!!! My sisters have been hard at work creating handicrafts all year to make this weekend possible!

I had the opportunity to pull all of my old jewelry out to sell in the booth too, which really made me nostalgic for creating jewelry again! I will make sure to take pics of those too!

I wanted to especially share one thing that happened this evening that has really made this trip worthwhile already and that is, after we had finished setting up the booth, Austin met us at Denny’s and we all sat down for dinner. As we all held hand so my sweetie could pray over our dinner, in that moment, as I was holding Jennifer and Trina’s hand, I had great feeling of being blessed that I was able to be in that moment with my family. It was a priceless feeling that I have really been missing lately! God is good!! ๐Ÿ˜‰

With that, it has been a long day, and we have got to get up very early tomorrow to go finish any last minute preparations, so I am going to call it a night and get some much needed sleep!

Have a FABULOUS evening! ๐Ÿ˜‰

A Flurry of Activity!

Good evening!

This evening has been a FLURRY of activity!! My sweetie and I are frantically getting everything ready to go down to Roseburg for the weekend. My sisters and I have rented two booths down at the Douglas County Christmas Fair, and we are going to be selling all sorts of hand made goodies! I will make sure to take plenty of pictures all weekend of everything and anything! Our good friend, Don is going to be coming over and babysitting our two little girls – thanks, Don!!! So, I know they will be in good hands!

We still have some more housekeeping to do before we go, and I need to make sure we get EVERYTHING packed into the minivan, because I am leaving work at 1:30 tomorrow afternoon to head out, and we are leaving straight from there.

I am not exactly sure what to expect from this Christmas bazaar, but I am excited to be getting to spend some time with my sissies, and to be able to sell some of my hand made bead and wire jewelry. It has been sitting in the house, some of it for up to five years, I have got to sell it, and make room for new creativity!

Back in 2007, I had opened my own jewelry business, and I did pretty well at making a nice selection of treasures, but because of some health problems that my sweetie was having, I decided that I needed to focus my attention on getting him better, so I put all of my jewelry-making supplies away. I get a little sad whenever I see them now, because I really do enjoy making jewelry, but really haven’t given myself permission to get back into making my little baubles! I think that after this weekend, that is going to really change! I would love to see myself start making jewelry again, with a focus on soldering, mini collages, ephemera, personalized memorabilia, and inspirational and sassy thoughts! ๐Ÿ™‚ That sounds like SO MUCH FUN!!! ๐Ÿ˜‰

Anyway, as much as I am enjoying my view of our lovely Christmas tree, and part of my book collection (see picture above), I have got to get going and get the rest of my to-do done for the evening, so I can go to bed before midnight!!

Have a FABULOUS evening!!! ๐Ÿ˜‰

Shopping! Shopping!

Good evening!

This is going to be a short post, I am tired, and wanting to call it a night!!

My sweetie and I got up this morning, had a lovely breakfast together, and headed out for a day of shopping. and I don’t mean run to the corner market to pick up a few things, I mean marathon shopping with a HUGE list!! I have to tell you that we really did have such a fun day!! Jason doesn’t usually like shopping, but he was such a trooper today, helping with making choices, and being extremely patient as I worked on trying to figure out who got what! I would love to tell you that I got all of my Christmas shopping done, but no, I still have a couple of people to get for, and THEN I will be done! WHEW!! ๐Ÿ˜‰

OK, that is enough for tonight! I promise I will take more time to write tomorrow!

Have a a FABULOUS evening!!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Good evening!

I am posting much later than I usually do, but that is because I have just finished having a lovely Thanksgiving day with our friends Dawn and Errin! We had a large Thanksgiving dinner, played a few rounds of Taboo, fun game, hadn’t played that in a VERY long time!! Then we watched a Christmas movie, Scrooged, had some pie – YUM!! and finally ended the evening with laughter with some Jeff Dunham. I am so thankful for so many things this Thanksgiving, that I thought I would share a list of things that I am thankful for…

  1. I am uniquely and wonderfully made, by a God who loves me even more than I could ever imagine
  2. God has provided everything that my husband and I have ever needed and more.
  3. My husband is extremely supportive, and is one of the funniest people – I am so thankful to have him in my life
  4. I have an amazing family that loves me
  5. I have close friends that I can share my hopes and dreams with and that I know have my back
  6. I have a job that most people would dream of that has great pay and amazing bennies
  7. I have a roof over my head, one that I am allowed to paint, and remodel, and decorate to my hearts content
  8. I have a safe, comfortable vehicle that has done an amazing job at getting us from point a to point b
  9. I live in a free country where I am allowed to speak my mind, and live the life that I want to live
  10. Life is just so precious, and I am so thankful that I get to live my day every single day, just to see what happens next

Have a a FABULOUS evening!!