12.31.09
New Years Meme
1. What did you do in 2009 that you’d never done before?
I fasted from the internet for three whole weeks! You can read about that here.
2. Did you keep your new year’s resolutions, and will you make more for next year?
Can’t really say- I can’t remember what my resolutions were. I know that I did want to learn Spanish and that didn’t happen.
3. Did anyone close to you give birth?
I had several friends give birth this year.
4. Did anyone close to you die?
My uncle died in February. Since my dad died three years ago I knew what my aunt and cousins were going through and my heart still aches for them.
5. What countries did you visit?
None- that would involve a real vacation.
6. What would you like to have in 2010 that you lacked in 2009?
More patience with my kids. And more self-control in all areas.
7. What dates from 2009 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?
The two weeks before my birthday were great- thanks to my wonderful husband. I’m sure that there are dates that should be etched upon my memory, but my memory is terrible so I can’t remember them.
8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?
Getting through another year with a happy, healthy family. I know that’s lame, but that’s all I got.
9. What was your biggest failure?
Not being consistent with my kids.
10. Did you suffer illness or injury?
No- praise the Lord we were pretty healthy this year. We didn’t even get the flu!
11. What was the best thing you bought?
New clothes! Since I lost 30 pounds in June I had fun shopping for clothes for the first time in a really long time.
12. Whose behavior merited celebration?
Baby #1 had excellent behavior through the whole first semester of school.
13. Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed?
Obama- I’m sure that I really don’t need to elaborate.
14. Where did most of your money go?
Gas and food. I like to go and we have to eat.
15. What did you get really, really, really excited about?
The new iPod Nano I got for my birthday.
16. What song will always remind you of 2009? Can’t think of one now.
17. Compared to this time last year, are you:
a) happier or sadder? Happier – last winter was a really hard time- still dealing with my dad’s death.
b) thinner or fatter? THINNER!
c) richer or poorer? Hubs got a raise (and in this economy that just tells you what an awesome worker he is!) so I’d have to say richer.
18. What do you wish you’d done more of?
More time in prayer and bible study- and excercise.
19. What do you wish you’d done less of?
Internet
20. How did you spend Christmas?
Awesome, low key Christmas with my family at home and our dear neighbors came over that night to help us finish left overs.
21. Did you fall in love in 2009? I fell more in love with Jesus and Hubs- so yes.
22. What was your favorite TV program?
Lost- I LOVE Lost. I also like Flashforward, Glee, Big Brother, but Lost is my favorite.
23. Do you hate anyone now that you didn’t hate this time last year?
I don’t hate people. There are people I don’t like, but I don’t hate anyone- too strong of a word.
24. What was the best book you read?
I’m going to have to say the last book I read- Art and Fear. I would not in any way shape or form consider myself an artist, but I really liked this book- gave me a lot of insight on how artists think.
25. What was your greatest musical discovery?
I really like Matt Maher’s newest CD.
26. What did you want and get?
A new iPod
27. What did you want and not get?
There are some books on my want list that I still want to read.
28. What was your favorite film of this year?
I’ll probably have to go with the last one we saw- Julie and Julia. It was something Hubs and I both enjoyed.
29. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?
I had a wonderful birthday. Hubs brought home Chinese and a cake and I celebrated with my favorite people- my kids and Hubs. I turned 33 this year.
30. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?Wow- that’s a thinker.
31. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2009?
I’m not sure if yoga pants can be described as a “fashion concept”, but since I had 3 pairs I pretty much lived in those. Unfortunately the 3 pair are the exact same ones ($2.49 at Old Navy- HOLLA!) so it looks like I never do laundry.
32. What kept you sane? Prayer, an awesome husband and great friends.
33. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?
Although I do like pop-culture stuff (I know it’s terrible) I wouldn’t say that I necessarily “fancy” anyone.
34. What political issue stirred you the most?
The bailout
35. Who did you miss? Annette- she moved this summer and although we still keep in touch I miss seeing her every week.
36. Who was the best new person you met? The moms in at Baby #1’s school have been great. I’ve enjoyed getting to know them better.
37. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2009.
I’m getting better at living on a budget. I’m learning that just because something’s on sale I don’t necessarily need to buy it if I already have a bunch of it at home. Stockpiling is a great thing, but it can go too far.
38. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year.
“I am a friend of God.” Not necessarily my favorite Christian song, but I’m doing an in-depth study of Genesis and it blows my mind that Abraham was a “friend of God.” I want to be a friend of God too.
12.28.09
Win a Sony Reader
If you want to win a Sony Reader head over to Fiddledee’s review blog for a chance to win!
12.16.09
Birthday Recap
Yesterday was my 33 birthday. I can honestly say that it was on of my best birthdays ever. Hubs was so sweet and brought me a gift every other day for the two weeks leading up to my birthday. Some were big (iPod Nano!!! Which I LOVE), some were small- my favorite ice cream. They were all really thoughtful and not just something he picked up at the store on his way home from work. He really took his time and put thought and effort into all of the gifts which really blessed my heart so much.
Last night we stayed in and had dinner. He brought McDonalds for the kids and Chinese for us and we had a nice family dinner at home. Just how I like it. He even surprised me with a birthday cake:
After we ate I decided that I wanted to go to Bass Pro to have the kids have their picture taken with Santa. I know- not exactly a fun relaxing evening, but I knew that this might be one of the only nights we could do it before Christmas. My kids really wanted to see him and even though we really don’t confirm or deny Santa (when asked we just say “what do you think”) I knew that they really wanted to see him so I figured we’d just go then.
The wait was pretty long even though it was a weeknight so we set up to explore the store while we waited for our time slot to open up. First we did the carousel:
Next we saw Jaws:
Since we are in Texas we did what any good Texan does- shoot guns. Start ‘em young I say:
After all the fun we went to wait in line. My kids took a picture with Frosty:
Next we had our photo session with Santa. I have to give props to Bass Pro. They are so nice- we were at the end of their Santa time and everyone, including Santa, was super nice and helpful. They even let us take multiple pictures- and it was all free (you have the option of buying packages, but we just took our freebie because we’re cheap).
Initially Baby #2 wanted Baby #1 to go first, but once the clearing opened and she saw Santa she ran up there full steam ahead:
Baby #3 normally won’t go within 10 feet of Santa, but today she agreed to take a picture- only if I would hold her:
Even though Bass Pro was a bit of a beatdown we got our annual pictures in and it’s one thing I can check off the list. Overall I had a wonderful birthday.
12.14.09
Giveaway Time
Head over to Money Saving Mom for a chance to enter a giveaway for a $100 gift card to the store of your choice.
12.13.09
My Christmas Home Tour
I’m so excited to join The Nester’s Christmas Tour of Homes this year. I skipped last year, but did it the year before and it was a lot of fun. So let the tour begin! I’ll give you a general overview of my living room where most of the decorating happened.
Here’s our Christmas tree. I’m so glad that I took a picture right after we put it up (right before Thanksgiving) because it does not look this pretty now. Three kids- ages 6, 4, and 3 who love to take ornaments off the tree do a number on the tree a few weeks in.
If I had to name our style this Christmas it would be arts and crafts. My kids are in school and preschool and they come home with some really cute things that I want to showcase. They’ll only be young once so I might as well show it off while I can.
Here’s our mantle. I’m so happy with my Sticks and Stones picture that I just put some of the kids crafts up next to it and called it good.
Next up is our entertainment center which we have named The Beast because it’s so huge. As much as I complain about it throughout the year- it does come in handy come Christmas because it’s where all the Christmas gifts go. Did I mention my kids ages???
I took our Santa pictures from last year and framed them to add to the Christmas feel. Baby #3 was not into Santa at all last year so that’s why there are no pictures of her.
To dress up our clock a little bit I just tied a bow on top and it magically looks Christmas-y.
Over our couch I used some ribbon that I bought at Target at the end of last season to make a frame to frame some more art that the kids made last year. Just ignore the splotchy paint job. That’s what happens when you do touch-ups with paint that’s the wrong finish. It doesn’t look nearly as bad in person.
Last up is my favorite decoration. I made this shadow box several years ago when Baby #1 first started pre-school. This year I bought shadow boxes for my girls and as soon as all of their Christmas crafts come home from school this week I’ll put theirs up to display. I also have the Christmas card from last year and this year displayed.
On to the other side of the room. We normally put the stockings on either The Beast or the mantle, but this year I decided to change things up and bring some Christmas to this side of the room. The kids were really concerned that Santa wouldn’t be able to get to the stockings, but we assured him that he could. I also threw a red table-cloth over my table just to bring some more red to this side of the room.
Well that wraps up my tour. Thanks for stopping by and I hope that you have a Merry Christmas. To join in on the fun head over to The Nesting Place and check it out.
12.09.09
Want to Win a Computer???
Check out Boomama’s giveaway. This is one of the best giveaways I’ve ever seen so head on over and check it out.
12.04.09
Let’s Go Wassailing
Last night we bundled up the kids and went to the 21st annual Denton Holiday Lighting Festival. I normally don’t do cold, but I decided to suck it up, bundle up and check it out. First I had to load up all of the coats, scarves, hats, and gloves that we would need to stay warm. This is what my front seat looked like when we headed out:
Hubs works one block off of the square in Denton so we met him there to put all of our coats and gear on and headed out to sample wassail. We stopped at a store and tried their wassail and treats:
Our next stop was the reigning champs of Wassailfest:
After sampling several different wassail which actually tasted pretty much the same we thought it would be fun to take a carriage ride:
The big moment- lighting the Christmas tree and then the surrounding trees. It was beautiful!
Next we decided to let the kids do some of the kids activities that were there. This was a great event for kids they had all kinds of things they could do- here’s what we did:
My kids were fascinated by the live nativity scene.
Hubs decided to warm up with some fresh tamales:
Next we really needed to warm up so we went to the Hydrant Cafe:
Baby #1 is obviously way too cool to sit with his family:
They actually have a hydrant mascot which Baby #2 really wanted to pose with:
We went home shortly after our pit stop and it was all worth it because 2 out of 3 kids was asleep by the time we reached home:
We may be adding Denton Holiday Lighting Festival to our list of Christmas traditions.
10.20.09
Procrastinator’s Party- After!
This is my first time to participate in The Inspired Room’s Procrastinators Party and I’m so glad that Melissa is hosting this. I know that if she didn’t my dresser would still be sitting at the top of our stairs holding a bunch of junk. Remember this:
I managed to find a home for all of that stuff (and the reason I have a huge box of fruit snacks and a huge bag of Chex Mix at the top of my stars is because it’s for my son’s school- which I don’t have to take until mid-Nov!! I managed to find a home for it in the kitchen where it should be).
I took the dresser downstairs to my workshop- also known as our garage and got to work. First step was to prime the dresser:
I decided to take the easy/lazy way out and spray paint the dresser. It doesn’t look awesome, but it looks good enough and this is a temporary solution until we get some real bedroom furniture. Right after we replace our 12 year old tv, buy new couches, new flooring throughout the house……
This (below) is the overall look I was going for and by pulling in my son’s dresser I think that I got pretty close. I do need to change the knobs on the smaller dresser- which is on my to-do list.
Overall I’m happy with the look and once I get some accessories to make it look pretty it will look a whole lot better.
I even managed to paint my sad nightstand! It also needs to be accessorized better- and it needs a knob, but at least the hard part if over.
Head over to The Inspired Room to join in on the fun!
10.15.09
Things I Love Thursday: Softsoap Nutri Serums
When I was asked by Bzz Agent if I wanted to participate in the Softsoap Nutri Serums campaign I was excited to try out a new body wash. I was fascinated by the fact that it contains softening serum pearls. I’ve used serum on my face, but never on my body. Wow- what a difference serum makes! My skin feels so soft and moisturized and it I love the way it smells.
I was able to try both kinds- the restoring with vitamin E and the moistures with omeagas 3 and 6. I really don’t have a favorite they’re both fabulous.
The best thing about Softsoap’s new body wash is the fact that it’s inexpensive (especially for the quality of the product) and you can get it at any major grocery store.
To check out more things that people love head over to The Diaper Diaries.
09.28.09
Happy Birthday Annalise
Annalise, Annie, Lisey, Baby Ace, and Baby. You are a girl with many names and yesterday you turned three. I cannot believe how quickly you are growing up. It seems like you went from baby to little girl over night. It seems like just yesterday when I had to protect you from your, sometimes, over zealous brother and sister and now I have to, sometimes, protect them from you! You have learned to hold your own.
You are such a girly girl. You wear dress up dresses about 90% of the time. You love playing with Barbies- and actaully insist that your name is Barbie sometimes. It’s been so much fun watching you and your sister grow into friends.
I love you so much Baby Girl and can’t wait to see all of the wonderful things God has in store for you. You are so precious to your daddy and me!
Happy third birthday Annalise!
