Easy Pigs in a Blanket Recipe: What I'm Makin' Monday
Don't laugh. I know this is like, prior to cooking 101 but this was still exciting to me, ok?
I had never made pigs in a blanket before until this last week. I have eaten them before and figured they couldn't be that hard. Possibly something even I couldn't mess up.
I found a little package of mini sausages and decided to give it a whirl.
Look, I'm not one of those people that can just pick up random seasonings and make things taste remarkably fabulous. Heck, I just recently learned what paprika and bay leaves were.
Don't worry, neither of those were used in this masterpiece.
All I used: One pack of mini sausages (I didn't use them all) A can of crescent rolls American cheese
Then I took one photo of three steps I took. 1. Cut the crescent rolls from their pre-sliced size down in half/ thirds so they're smaller. 2. Place the cheese and sausage on the dough. 3. Roll. 4. Bake according to crescent roll directions. Easy as pie! No... Easier!
Lil' J loved eating them while I was making them, so much so she was full of sausage and cheese before these were even out of the oven.
I packed some in her lunch the next day and she kept snatching on those things. As did my husband and I.
This may or may not have been the only thing I cooked myself all week. *sigh* I'll do better.
Hopefully this so-easy-a-dummy-could-do-it recipe can help another non-foodie like myself try something new.
Is your child a car seat talker or sleeper? - Radian RXT Car Seat Review and Giveaway
My Mom tells me stories of when I was a little girl. Apparently I talked her--and anyone else who came near's--ears off.
It's not too hard to believe. To this day I'll strike up conversations with complete strangers, and my poor husband constantly hears my most frequent question: "Are you listening to me?"
Of course this answer is always yes, and I always proceed to have him prove it by reciting the last thing I said. Most of the time is close enough.
My daughter is no different. Even in her near 19 months of age, she's always babbling and telling us what she thinks. She's not much of a loner. At all. She likes being around other people, and us, and getting out of the house.
When we walk into stores she'll wave to passerbys and give a resounding "HI!" People smile and say hi back.
A lesson of "stranger danger" will have to come much earlier than normal with my friendly child.
In some ways I wonder if she is going to love talking even more than I do.
My mom tells me when I was young, and wouldn't go to sleep, she'd put me in my car seat and drive around town until I did. To this day, I can still barely stay awake in a car. If Lil' J is quiet in the back (and I'm not driving) I'm out.
My daughter on the other hand, is not this way. She rarely falls asleep in the car unless it's really late, or she is just extra pooped from a really long day. Otherwise, she's up talking my ear off and begging for entertainment.
I don't know if this is normal for kids her age, but she can't just sit and ride in silence. I mean, she did have a few months in there somewhere where she seemed to, but now she either needs to have a snack, a toy, or me singing her favorite songs.
Depending how far our trip is, the snacks usually run out, the toys fall, and I'm belting "The Itsy Bitsy Spider" as we are pulling into our neighborhood while I watch her do the hand motions from my rear-view mirror.
The funny thing is, no matter how much she seems to be ticked at me for making her ride strapped down in coach, she never wants to get out right away when we get home.
"Come on baby, let's go inside" "No," This is her new favorite word. Though I don't totally hate it yet because the way she says it with her country twang accent and drawn out "O" it sounds more like a question. "No?"
I unsnap her buckle and try again.
"Don't you want to go see Daddy and Snoop? They are inside." She shakes her head and tells (or asks?) me again... "No?!" And she buckles herself back into her seat. Yes... She knows how to do this, but thankfully can't undo it.
She has a love/ hate relationship when riding in the car. The throne she sits in while we cruise around has varied since the day she was born. Being as tall as she is, she outgrew her infant seat fairly quickly, and the next seat up we had, didn't face backwards, so we got another. And finally, we have one more convertible seat for our second car. While a second seat isn't crucial, it's been a huge help to save us from days where one of us forgets to leave the seat for the other. And let me tell you, that's happened and it's not fun.
"Hey honey, how did picking her up from school go?" "Well, I got there and realized I forget the car seat."
GAH!
What seat are we using now? Which is our favorite? Well, we have three Gracos, one that isn't convertible so she hasn't tried it yet, and a RadianRXT Shadow. That last one sounds like a car right? Compared to the rest of them, it weighs about as much as one. And since we're on the topic of cars, I'm going to use this analogy to compare them.
I got one from Diono to review and was totally excited to get it in the car and see what she thinks of a fancy seat. If all of our car seats were cars, our Gracos would be like Toyotas. Not very expensive, but reliable. And our new RadianRXT Shadow would be like a Lexus or a Mercedes. It has the reliability plus all the bells and whistles, but it's going to cost you quite a bit more.
As I assembled it (which didn't take very long at all, but there were a few belts I had to move around and adjust) I geeked out and used the QR reader codes with my phone to watch video demonstrations to make sure I was doing it right. And they have helpful people manning their twitter and facebook pages too.
There's extra padding, a steel alloy frame, it's the highest rear facing car seat, NCAP tested, and they can ride in it starting at 5 pounds. It seems humongous to me and hard to picture my tiny infant in it, but there is an additional infant support attachment that came with it, that we can add. Kids can ride backwards in it up to 45 pounds, and it's narrow enough to fit three across. Based on reviews I've read with parents who have three kids and a sedan, this is a huge deal.
I'm pretty sure her favorite feature is the cup holder she can fit even her really wide sippy cups into. You can attach up to four(not sure why we'd need four but maybe one day I'll learn and buy more). That thing has come in handy when I've forgotten her cup and we go through a drive through to get an ice water. She kicks her feet with excitement and puts her drink in that thing. It's just a cup. Seriously. But it helps!
Now how much will this luxury car seat cost ya? About $339.99. Now some of you may be thinking "Oh that's nothing," and other like me are probably spitting out their morning energy drinks. But before you waste any more of that drink, I'll tell you that I just looked it up and they're only $289 at Walmart.
Still a bit more than the average car seat price, but so is a Mercedes compared to other cars. You can keep them rear-facing longer, which ultimately is declared safer. I'll let you decide if it's worth it and give you a chance to win one (below).
I suppose in a few years I'll be glad I have all of these car seats (which luckily don't expire for 5-10 years). I'll have enough thrones, for all my little talkative (and hopefully some sleepy) rug rats.
How do your kids roll in the car? Talk your ear off? Sleep? Comment and you'll be entered to win. Read the rest of the rules below for more entries.
My poor second child. His/her treatment is already far inferior to my first and they're not even conceived.
At this point the first time around... Less than a year out from hopefully, maybe, possibly, getting pregnant, I was exercising (sorta), eating right, had quit caffeine, was getting lots of rest, and daydreaming about this child in my future.
Now? Ha. Well now I down energy drinks every weekend to survive my morning shift at work. I get anywhere between 2-5 hours of sleep every odd night, and 8 hours on the evens. I am more focused on my career than a child that's not here, and my baby fever flairs up most when I see how sweet Lil' J is with babies and think how she needs a live-in friend.
Don't get me wrong, I'm excited to have another child but I'm not nearly as obsessed with the timing. I mean, I know sometime between nine months from now and next June would be great but I'm also terrified of the thought of being drowsy and nauseous and sleepy while also working, and playing (with #1), and sewing, and writing and photo-taking.
Lil' J has tens of thousands of photos, and a blog documenting her existence. I don't know how I'm gonna keep that up for the next one.
If this is any indication of how #2 will be treated the rest of their lives, I sorta worry for them.
Before becoming a mom, I thought I'd want my kids to be between a year and a half and two years apart. Well that window flew by! Now I'm thinking between two and a half and three years because to me--the closer in age the better. Especially if we're only having one more (I'd like two more, but we'll see how lucky I get) I'd like the two we have to be close in age. But the thought of paying for childcare for two kids gives me a headache.
I wish I could press pause on Lil' J. That way she could just stay the age she is now for another year or two and then I could press play again when we're ready for her to have a sibling. My husband seems to think four years apart would be a good gap but that seems like a Grand Canyon-sized gap to me. But if the next year and a half goes by as quickly as this first one, that may very well happen.
I'm getting into the groove of making dresses now. This was the first time I put a dress based on a pattern together without reading the directions on the pattern. Following the Playdate Peasant Dress pattern. I've used before. Ok, maybe I glanced at it a little. But the point is, I'm getting into a groove. A reader asked me if I'm sad that she'll only get to wear her seasonal dresses a time or two. I am a little sad looking at all of her Christmas dresses and outfits, and Halloween outfits I have piled to the side, but I made most of them big so she can wear them next year, or at least as a top next year.
The reason I've only been making holiday outfits so far is because I knew the only way I'd actually sew these things is if I have a deadline. And a holiday is a great sewing deadline. Seasonal fabric is usually on sale too... At least at Hancock it is. About 40-70% off. It's hit or miss at Hobby Lobby, which is where I got the fabric for this dress.
Now that I've made it through three, almost four holidays I'm getting the hang of this.
I bought a ruffler foot and a rolled-hem foot for my new machine and it's helping so much with these dresses. No more ironing and pinning the tiny hems. Yay! My ruffler is cool, and I've learned how to use it (thanks YouTube!) but I'm having a hard time gauging how ruffly to make the ruffles so they fit perfectly on the bottom of the dress. If anyone knows how to do this without guess and check let me know!
Oh, and I got the hang of shirring with this dress! It's gathered at the center of the sleeves and in the middle of the dress.
I didn't make the bows, she got these over the top Valentines pieces from Izzy Diane's Boutique and modeled them with the dress for us.
So now that I have this pattern down I want to experiment with other patterns I have, and learn how to follow a tissue paper pattern. They are much less expensive than the Etsy ones and there's much more variety. My friend Jennie is going to teach me (same friend who helped me with my first ever dress for her in October!). I know some people are good at following tutorials, and I prefer that if they're easy enough but if there's too much math involved (ie: take a third of your child's weight size, and measure to the knee, then divide that by 1.5...) I get lost. So I prefer to use actual numbers that have been figured out for the specific size I'm making (18 months, 2T... etc).
Many of you have written and said my craftiness is motivating you to give it a try. Let me tell you, if you're thinking about it... GO FOR IT! If I can do it, anyone can. Seriously. There's few things more exciting than having someone rave about the outfit your kid is wearing and complimenting your work. And I think there's something to be said for learning skills we can pass down to out children. Home economics has all from disappeared!
Not to brag or anything but I made the leg warmers too.
As I find easy tutorials and free patterns to attempt I'll try to keep bringing them to you. If you're looking for a dress pattern to try that's not to hard, the one I have linked above in this post (ok here it is again) is a great place to start, and the price was right for me. There are pattern pieces you print out, tape together, then cut around to make your dress pieces, and lots of step-by-step photo directions to follow until you get the hang of it and don't need the directions at all!
Oh, and side note, I made the leg warmers too... Super easy! I got a two pack of women's' Valentines knee-socks at Walmart for $3, cut off the feet, rolled the ends (didn't even sew them), and TADA! Takes seconds. See... You can do that!
So I hope this was a little bit of eye-candy for today, and a bit of a pep-talk for some sitting on the sidelines waiting for the push to jump into the Domestic Diva game.
She says: "Honey, I really REALLY want to buy a jogging stroller."
He says: "But you hate running."
She says: "Yes, but if I had a jogging stroller, I'd like it."
So, I want a jogging stroller. I've been wanting one for about a year, but I haven't been willing to shell out money for a really really nice one, and I get too overwhelmed with all of the different kinds on Craigslist, and I haven't had time to buy one, much less run with one.
Another reason I was reluctant was because I was worried about becoming an over-indulgent mom with too much baby stuff. We already have more car seats than I'm willing to admit, plus one stroller and a trike thing that has a handle to use as a stroller. Another on top of that feels a little greedy. So I'm trying to decide if I donate our other stroller and get a jogger (used, as to help with the over-consumption problem), or suck it up and have two, then donate them both when we're done.
Problem with used (specifically on Craistlist) though is people are asking like $20 less than the price for a brand new one. Who are these people?
I've had no luck at thrift stores so far.
We've loaned a bunch of our pregnancy/baby stuff to friends to take off our hands until we have another and I'm wishing I knew someone I could borrow it from--be a free storage person for them--while they wait to use it on their next kiddo. More than likely I'll buy one then find a friend this is the case for.
On top of this my husband reminded me I don't like to run. I get side aches and want to curl up and die. People who like to run tell me I'm not breathing right. I didn't realize there were so many ways to breathe.
There was a time when I ran something like five miles. Like once. I think I was 16, and trying to keep up with a friend (I never ran with her again after that). Ever since I have occasionally ran a mile in the time it takes to run three and pretend like I ran three cause it's all the same in my head.
But if I had a jogger... Everything would be different.
If any of you use a brand you like that you could recommend, let me know. Or am I just crazy with this whole stroller/running idea anyway? I seriously just want something with three wheels. Maybe an optional lock front wheel, and preferably one that won't fall apart while I'm running. Oh, and a speaker for Lil' J to listen to music would be cool too. I also would like another baby this year so I'm having that whole single vs double stroller dilemma. Decisions, decisions!
Her first pair of pants: What I'm Makin' Monday (a day late)
No, not her first pair of pants EVER. But the first pair of pants I've ever made her.
My friend Taylor, aka Alt Mama, and I have a deal. I'm going to help her learn to sew, and she's going to teach me how to cook. To be honest I'm sorta felt like a blind man leading the blind with the sewing part, but I at least know how to read toddler patterns now, and how to find videos on YouTube to get us along.
Taylor was a super fast learner. So while I was putting along at my grandma speed of sewing, she was putting the pedal to the metal and flying through the stitching. And on my old machine by the way! I got this new baby for Christmas and she took my old one off my hands.
I had never made Lil' J pants before, so when we found this pattern for toddler pants, I didn't realize how small the butt area was. I guess the creator's baby has a teeny booty and since my daughter not only has my fabulous booty jeans, but she also wears cloth diapers, so these ended up being a bit snug, and sort of hip-huggers for her... Er, where her hips would be if she had some.
Taylor wanted to make reversible pants and she had two of the cutest fabrics picked out for them. I decided I'd use some of my fabric stash to make Lil' J some too, so I grabbed some purple and pink polkadot and headed over to her place with our machines.
Now had she asked me to make a toddler dress I could have nailed the instructions no problem. But I had never even seen a pants pattern before, much less reversible. So this was a bit tricky for me at first. But after watching this youtube video about thirty times I realized what I needed to do to get the pants part down, then making them reversible was pretty much a sinch.
I love the purple side with the pink polkadots sticking out on the cuffs. I haven't been daring enough to try them facing the other way yet, although if anyone can pull off pink polkadot pants it's gotta be her.
Next time I want to add big ruffles to the bottom and make them bell bottoms. Pants aren't such a bad idea for winter time. My husband thinks this, and her Adidas run suit grandma and grandpa got her for Christmas are the best outfits ever. So I may need to start adding more pants patterns to my collection soon.
Wow, I've been away from here for a minute. Sorry about that ya'll. Things got busy this week. Saturday I celebrated my 26th birthday and I think it's the age I've decided to stay at forever. You now how women say they're forever 21, well I want to be forever 26.
25 and 26 don't seem much different except I just have a weird sense of "woah I'm closer to 30 than I am to 20 now" that's strange.
The past few years I've totally downplayed my birthday and it was one of those things that when it came up like "oh when's your birthday?" and I'd be like "last week." I just didn't really do anything for it or celebrate it much. Then a few days later I'd be like "man I shoulda milked that more huh?"
So this year I decided to milk it for all that I could. Starting the eve of my birthday when I requested pizza for dinner. Then stayed up until 4am watching romantic comedies like While You Were Sleeping and Ever After. In fact, I was awake when my alarm for work went off at 3:30am, but luckily I had taken the day off.
I spent the morning volunteering with friends from work to build a wheelchair ramp for a woman who needed one, but couldn't afford to have one built. There's a great nonprofit called The Texas Ramp Project that does these every weekend all over the state. It felt good to do something special on my special day. One of my friends even brought cupcakes for my birthday (Thanks Bonnie!). She's got the random act of kindness thing down pat!
After that, I spent the rest of the day with my two favorite people.
My husband and Lil' J surprised me with a gift card for an 80 minute massage. My husband said he requested the most relaxing package they had, and got that for me. He's such a sweetheart. Can't wait to cash in on that!
We went to the park and took Lil' J to play on the playground. I wanted to go canoeing but someone had the nerve to leave a body under one that morning so umm... They were closed for the day. So we just skipped rocks (a hidden talent I didn't know my husband was good at) and walked along the trail.
After that we went to dinner at Freddies, which is one of my favorite local restaurants cause they have a little playground outside, you can bring your pup and order them a doggy burger, and usually they'll have a band or movie going too. Lil' J played some more, and I gave the stink-eye to crazy kids that kept throwing rocks around. Yea, that's the day I learned I'm going to be one of those moms who totally says something to a kid when their mom doesn't, and that kid is acting a fool. That day I took the higher road (I think?) and walked away.
I didn't have cake but we made chocolate covered strawberries. My favorite dessert. And Lil' chowed down on those with me. And after both of them went to bed (they can't hang like I can). I watched Planet of the Apes while pigging out some more. (I know, weird movie choice, but I'd been wanting to see that movie forever.)
Sunday I worked and today I'm off again. I just put Lil' J down for a nap and I have a to-do list a mile long. Photo editing, cleaning, assembling her Power Wheels toy she got for Christmas (I know I'm bad, I can't believe I haven't finished this yet), and hopefully thrift shopping for a jogging stroller.
I'm hoping there are some more MLK activities going on this evening because I'd love to go out as a family and celebrate.
Another one of my goals this year is to get organized. I think it's got to be the number two resolution of all time after getting fit. I don't care about my health. But I do care about dying in a house that's decked out with cute homemade crafts.
I didn't used to be this way... Homes that are super clean and organized remind me of Stepford wives and I don't have time for that crap. Problem is, that was the number one thing my husband and I would argue about... Keeping our place clean.
I'll admit, he does more than his fair share of cleaning. All of the dishes, the laundry, the bathrooms, the vacuuming, the sweeping and mopping... Heck, writing that all out made me realize he does a lot. Ok, so maybe he has a reason to complain about having my crap everywhere.
Lil' J doesn't help either. Any progress I make with cleaning quickly gets destroyed by her tornado path. And after a long day of work, picking her up from school, then feeding, bathing, making lunches and organizing clothes for the next day, I'm beat and the last thing I feel like doing is clean. I want to sit on my butt and blog. Or edit photos. Or read a book. Or watch Teen Mom... Heck, anything but clean!
When I was pregnant and read the "nesting" chapter of my pregnancy book to my husband he laughed and said "you'll never do that!" Well, I proved him wrong. But that was pretty much the last time I wanted to clean. ...Until now.
I joined Pinterest last year and spent the first while re-pinning clothes I liked, and clothes I found for Lil' J. Photos I liked, hair styles... Stuff like that. I quickly scrolled past the home decor pins I saw in my feed because "those aren't me" I thought.
Then I began to craft more, sew more, and my crafting area quickly turned into a swamp mess. Disorder everywhere. I tried to shove things in the corner of the living room/ my craft area and warned my husband to stay away.
I blamed my disorder on our small living quarters. Two bedrooms just isn't enough for our family.
Then, one day while browsing Pinterest for sewing inspiration I can across a fabric organizer pin. It was genius. A glorious sight.
I read the tutorial and decided I needed to do this with my fabrics. I'm just getting started and have lots to go but this is already looking better than my heap of fabric stuffed in a picnic basket. I donated books from my bookshelf and created space for this!
But why stop there? If I'm organizing my fabric I might as well organize my ribbon, and my tulle, and why not my whole living room while I'm at it?
I was hungry for more suggestions for organization. I found pins for decorative mail holders you can hang in your kitchen, and keep your mail organized but hidden.
I created a board I decided to call "Order in the court!" because order is what my house needs, and my house is... like a court? ... I don't know. But it seemed cool at the time.
Anyway, it's my new favorite board in progress. I'm constantly looking for ways to organize my daughter's toys, old clothes, books, tutus, bows. Plus my crafts, kitchen items, clothes, EVERYTHING! Here's what I did for my patters... This idea I didn't even find on Pinterest, I should pin it actually!
I spent all day Monday sorting through toys and areas of our living room we haven't touched in dare I say it... A year? Ok, maybe it wasn't that bad, but I will say that my fireplace mantle had random crap on it for longer than I can remember. I mean, I can't remember seeing it clean. But it's clean now!
I sorted through Lil' J's downstairs toys and donated a heap of them. Then I went to her upstairs toybox, which was full of only tutus, pettipants, pettiskirts and things like that. I took those out and put them in an old comforter bag I found when I was cleaning out the hall closet. I made a label for it "Dress up time!" and squished it under our bed. Now her toybox has a few toys in it but it's nice and neat! And all of the random tutus we had strung around the house have a neat place to call home. Ah! It feels good to be getting organized. I never thought I'd enjoy it but Pinterest has seriously made it fun.
What does my husband think? Well at first he was like "uh huh, sure, I've heard this before..." as I told him about my goal to clean and get organized. I tried to give him a Pinterest tutorial and show him my organizational board but he was just like "Huh? is this like Twitter?" So I gave up and have just been showing him the ideas I stole as I accomplish them.
He's very impressed with my progress so far. He even complimented me on his favorite new addition... The basket I set aside for our TV remote controls, since we're constantly losing them.
"I used to think that mom stuff was kind of lame, but it's really cool" he told me. I wasn't sure what he meant by "mom stuff" so I asked him to clarify.
"Like the craft stuff. Like that mail holder thing you want to make, that's really cool." Ah, I get it. The organizational craft things. Not sure why he chose to classify that as a "mom thing" but I let it go. He's just excited to me married to a real life Martha Stewart, I would be too.
I'll document the little things I find and attempt throughout the year to hopefully keep me motivated and accountable. I also have some before/after pictures to show you but I'll wait until the "after" is where I want it to be. You can follow me on Pinterest to see what ideas and inspiration I have up my sleeve.
Has Pinterest changed you life too? PS: If you're not on it, let me know your email addy and I'll send you an invite to join!
The past couple months have flown by like you can't imagine. You are a year and a half now. How has a whole six months already flown by since your birthday? I don't understand it.
The biggest change I've seen in you when I look at your past photos is your hair. You can see it's growing and growing as you get older. It's so adorable too and I can't bare to cut it... Ever!
You are just learning so fast. You'll repeat almost anything we say to you, or at least try to. On your own you'll ask up "please" and say "thank you" you'll also say hi and bye... Milk, water, cracker, juice, banana, our names, baby, and other random little things you pick up here and there.
Speaking of babies, you LOVE them. You love your baby dolls, and when we pass one at the store you say "baby" and point. You love the babies at your school and your teachers say you're so kind and gentle--even protective-- of them. This makes me think you are going to be a fabulous big sister. Just like your mommy was of course *wink wink*.
You know almost all of your body parts and point to them when we call them out. Your favorite is belly button. When daddy would call out "toes" you'd point to your nose, so he taught you the difference within minutes and he was totally blown away at your new trick. I tell him all the time you are so smart.
For your year and a half birthday you and I went downtown to Hey Cupcake. We shared a giant strawberry cupcake, but I gave you first dibs. I'm hoping over the next month to experiment with your hair styles more. We've already been experimenting with homemade clothes and that's been so much fun. You are seriously like my little life-sized doll and I love it. You're a dream come true.
Seriously, I don't know how I got so lucky, and every day I love you more and more! I pick you up and give you hugs and never want to let go. When I ask for a hug you squeeze tightly around my next, and you'll kiss me quickly on my cheek. It feels great knowing you love me back, and seeing you show it. I know you think we are the two coolest people on earth and we appreciate that.
This year is going to be a year of many changes for us. We'll be moving and you'll be starting a new school. Your daddy and I will have new schedules, and we'll have to make you up in a brand new room (hopefully with a bigger closet). It'll be a lot to take in for all of us, but together, we'll make it through. I thank God every day for blessing us with you. You're so fantastic it's hard to believe you're real. That probably would sound silly to a lot of people but I have a feeling a lot of moms know what I'm talking about. Thank you for brightening my world.
Love,
Mommy
***
Enter to win a pair of Happy Crawlers of your choice, courtesy of yours truly as a thank you for following along on my journey! (Sorry, I don't think the widget was working last night but it should be now!)
Why is it that I can pick up a fiction novel and fly through it in a day but every time I touch my scriptures I'm satisfied with getting through a few versus? A few chapters and I feel like a champ.
This year one of my goals is to really FEAST on the words of Christ. I'm going pretty good so far. Well, sorta.
Good news is I made a deal with myself that I wouldn't read my leisure books until I read the scriptures. Bad news is I haven't been rewarded with my "fun book" yet. Which right now is the Percy Jackson and the Olympian series--Book three.
Good news is I've read The Good Book every night this week. Bad news is I haven't gotten through a full chapter before falling asleep.
My husband and I read all of the children's series with Lil' J last year and this year I'd like to start her on the real deal. Not sure where to begin but I guess it doesn't hurt to start with Genesis 1.I know she won't understand it but if we keep reading every night, eventually she'll start picking things up.
Family and personal study. Whew!! You know, I can't help but feel like if I had an iPad I'd be so much better at this. I could digitally highlight my favorite versus, read with the lights out, have them with me all the time... Hmmm.
It didn't used to be this hard for me. I think it's partly because now I have a billion things going on, it's harder for me to slow down and focus on something that's normally last on my to-do list.
Back when I was a good person, I would read the scriptures by searching for specific topics or stories in the index that I was interested in. I felt I learned more studying that way. Starting from the beginning can seem overwhelming. I'm not sure how specific I want to make this goal yet but I think if I'm reading something, anything, each night, I'll eventually get into a groove I like, so it doesn't feel like a chore.
Jeez Louise, this sounds horrible. But hey, at least I'm trying.
Do you have any kind of guides or helpful tips you follow to read the scriptures personally or with your family?
I've decided this year I want to be a nicer person.
Generally, I think I'm nice. Compassion is my passion, and I hate to think I could have hurt someone's feeling by being unkind. I even hurts me when I know someone has been hurt by another's unkindness. I don't understand why anyone would intentionally want to be mean to someone else. Call me extremely naive, but I truly feel deep down everyone has some good in them. I don't know what turns that good bad, but maybe kindness can help heal even a meanie's soul.
If everyone cared about each other more than we cared about ourselves the world would be such a better place.
I want to try to do my part this year by finding a random act of kindness to execute once a week.
When I set this goal the only random act I could think of was paying for some one's food behind me in the drive through (and pray they aren't ordering for a family of 10). I couldn't think of much else, so I had a chat with Mr. Google and came across HelpOthers.org where I found a plethora of ideas!
I'm already eyeballing a couple ideas for this week. I love the idea of doing things for strangers, but I think it's almost even better to do things for people I know too.
I'll let you know what I decide to do this week. Right now I'm leaning towards calling or writing a letter to a mentor.
Have you ever done anything like this? I don't think I've ever made such a conscious effort to try something like this.
My blog has been through so much over the past three years.
End of 2008-2009 Was a blast going on and on back and forth about becoming a mom, then finally getting pregnant about a year after starting my blog.
2010 Was full of pregnancy documentation, promotions, and exploring the world of reviews and giveaways. Toward the end of 2010 I realized that wasn't for me and pretty much went in the opposite direction in 2011 avoiding most at all costs.
Toward the end I think I found a happy medium, and I hope to continue that.
I sorta felt like I fell into a mid-blogging-life crisis for a little while. I didn't want my blog to ONLY be about my daughter, in fact I wanted it to be about ME and my experiences raising her. Not "she did this and she did that..." I also didn't want to be a blogger who writes sponsored posts all the time. I like to craft but I'm not a "craft blogger" and I'll never be a go-to site for the coolest crafts. Maybe cool crafts for dummies because my skill level is as such.
I like photography, and taking photos but I'm learning as I go. I'm no Pioneer Woman.
I actually don't really focus on anything. Which some blogging coaches would say is not good if you want to "grow your blog."
This made me take a step back and ask myself once again, why I'm blogging.
It sure as heck isn't to make money. Not on this here blog. That should take some pressure off, right?
I love keeping a journal and I'm going to be totally honest right now... I love knowing that people are actually reading it. People actually think my life is interesting/ crazy/ entertaining/a bad reality show they can't turn off. Either way, it's flattering.
Ok there I said it.
So now that I got that off my chest, I'm trying to find a balance between keeping fabulous people who like to read my blog, but not CARING if nobody is reading my blog. Let me explain...
I don't really pay attention to my blog stats anymore. I get a weekly email with how many people visited but other than glancing that over I don't pay attention to the analytics. I DO however, read each and ever comment and email I get and I get all happy and sappy when I get a big response to a post. The problem is the opposite is true when I get little to no response. I'm like "wait, where did everyone go?... They must hate me... Ok I shouldn't write about that anymore."
So one person may say that my no-sew tshirt dress tutorial helped them SO MUCH, but in my head I'm like "huh, one comment, people must think that's boring."
Then someone may email or facebook me saying they loved it, and I get excited again for them. It's an emotional roller coaster.
Ok, its not that bad. It's silly, but some of that it goes through my head. Especially cause I'm a hypocrite. Yea, I'll admit it. I don't comment on blogs I read as much as I should either. Actually last year was so busy it was an all-time low for visiting other blogs and commenting back.
Ok, I'm going on way too long about this. Anyway, point is, I may have thought up a solution to my problem.
If I'm going to be honest with myself, I'm not writing this blog JUST for myself. It's for myself, my daughter, my family, my friends, and all of the people who have written to me and said my experiences and words have helped them in some way. If more people discover my little corner of the Internet, its awesome. But I can't stress about it. This aint a job. In fact, it's more like free therapy.
SO... To find the balance between caring and not caring and going back to my frequent stream-consciousnesses posts I'm going to write as if I'm writing this blog for myself and my best friend.
Funny thing is, I don't think my best friend reads my blog.
You know who else doesn't read my blog? ... Aside from my husband. (He doesn't read it either (but he's not allowed to)). My mom. Jeez, now that I think about it no one reads my blog. Except you. Therefore you will be like the BFF I'm writing to from now on. I can be silly, share my secrets (but not the ones that could get me fired or divorced) introduce you to cool things I find, teach you how I made something new, tell you how much I love being a mom, and ask you what you think of my new outfit, or the photo I took this morning.
And I won't be sad if you don't respond right away because hey, we are busy people. And life gets in the way. I can totally relate. Even if you don't talk for a while, you know your BFF is still there whenever you need them, and you can pick back up right where you left off.
Another thing... Going through my blog rolls and old posts I noticed an extremely different crowd. It's like a class of Baby Making Machine readers graduated and I'm yapping to a new group of kids.
I feel bad having a blog roll when I can't add everyone. Especially when I'd most like to visit those who visit me and see what yall are all about because if you like me that means I'd probably like you too.
To solve this problem I got rid of my blog rolls on the sidebar and my friends link at the top. Now I can focus on getting to know visitors who want to be visited and make new blog friends. How will I know who you are, you ask? With my handy dandy stalker tracker of course. It'll email me your address and I can come visit your house and bring you cookies!
KIDDING OF COURSE!
My comments section will be like my daily blog roll. If you leave your link in your comment, or if it's attached to your name and you've updated within a month, I'll assume you don't mind me paying you a visit back. I've already been doing this since the start of the year and it's SO NICE visiting you back!
So there you have it! My blogging resolution to write as if this is for me and my BFF in a nutshell.
It was such an accomplishment to complete my 365 Love Letters project last year. Some of you have commented, written to me, or Facebooked me saying you wanted to do the same thing this year. This makes me SO HAPPY! (Find the linky at the end of this post).
When I pass other parents in the store and see them with their children, especially the small ones, I look and tell myself "I bet they love their baby as much as I love mine." At least I hope they do.
Seeing your letters come to life shows me that other moms love their babies as much as I do. No matter how big they get they'll always be our babies, and a mother's love is so beautiful
I wanted to create a space where other parents who are working on this project this year can share them, give support, and get inspired by one another.
Here are a few tips for doing them if you are just getting started:
1. Take a photo early if possible. I mean just up, still in PJs, hair crazy. That way if by the end of the day, when you get busy and forgetful, you'll already have one photo out of the way.
2. More than one child? I don't have experience with siblings but if I had two children when I started this, I would have done both at the same time and not tried to do a photo for each a day. But if you're ambitious go for it!
3. Look for inspiration. I tried to be aware of little life lessons I learned during the day and jot them down. If I thought of five ideas I had four extra ideas to use on days I was drawing a blank.
4. You don't have to be profound. Some days my letter was silly or just a statement about what she did that day. Don't feel pressured to think of something completely new, celebrate the simple things.
5. Always have a camera on you. Camera phones included. So many of my photos were snapped on my iPhone. It's ok if the picture isn't spectacular, your child will love it just the same.
6. Take pictures of details. Little hands and toes. Eyes. Them sleeping, and when you're out and about. It's fun to have a variety. Some days I didn't take photos of her at all, but there was still something to tell her.
7. Say organized! I made folders on my computer for my project. I should have made more, one for each month or each week. But I just had each general folder. I also made a file in Google Docs (so I could access and edit it from wherever) that had every day of the year under each week, so I could go through and write which photo I took which day and what advice I letter I wanted to use for it. This was helpful when I got behind on editing them because it's hard to remember which I took which day otherwise (camera save the date/time settings on the photo but it was still sometimes confusing, and better to be organized). I hope this helps!
8. On editing. I edited using Photoshop but you can also use programs like Paint to write the words on the photo, or an online program like Picnik or download Picasa. I also had an iPhone app I used sometimes in the beginning called Art Studio. It's like Photoshop on your phone (not so easy to navigate, but good when you're in a pickle)! I'm going to LOVE that app when I get an iPad!
Last but not least, HAVE FUN! And don't forget, it's leap year, so you'll have an extra one!
Here's a linky that will be active all year for those of you who will be sharing your letters online (I know others prefer to keep theirs private). All I ask is that you please include this link back to here so others can find it and join in. If you want, you can just grab the button below instead, let me know if you have any other questions!
I look forward to seeing and reading your love letters!
(highlight and push "CTL and C" to copy the button)
Every year on my blog I've written New Years goals. I love having this blog as a journal cause it's so easy to go back and see what I was thinking three years ago.
Holy cow I used to be funny. Not sure what happened there.
So, let's see my goals from way back when.
2010 I made it easy on myself and did an update post saying this:
This year (last year)[2008] I hope(d) to:
-Learn how to cookI learned a few recipes, but need to learn more!-Eat better... Until I got pregnant (Spawnie's fault!) -Give up caffeine -Read the good books daily - I SUCKED at this. But I did have a good streak in the middle/ toward the end of the year.-Go on more realvacations Trip out west, vacation on a lake, and Caribbean cruise, Chicago, Atlanta, not bad! -Enjoy one of the last years without spawnbest year of marriage so far! -Learn YogaStarted in August! -Exercise more (aka ever)- Still working on a daily routine. -Keep a good blogging streakIt's been fun! -Volunteer more- I can do better -BabysitAnd I did this A LOT more than I thought I would -Be a better wife- Can do better. -Get back into the habit of writing a daily journal- I did it on and off, but does blogging count? -Start a gratitude journal- Still need to work on. -Pray moreHappy to say I have! -Be brutally honest- I'm not sure what I meant by this, but I don't like this resolution... -*Get knocked upIt was a maybe but I did it!
*= maybe So I did a lot, but there's still a lot to work on! 2010 I hope to:
[Present me [2012] chiming in here. In 2011 I never did an update post with the cool colors and strikes, so I'm adding this now]
-Prepare to be a good mom - Totally did this. Way better than I have been for #2. -Learn how to cook more healthy meals for my family- I can't remember how I did in 2010. Pretty sure I sucked at it cause I still do now, though there was a non-sucking period at one point, I think it was in 2011. -Take a prenatal yoga class- Did this... One class. That counts right? -Create and stick with a fitness plan-The most popular resolution in the history of resolutions. 2010 I did better than 2011. I'll count that. -Take a birthing class with my husband-Check! We took Lamaze, it was fun times. -Have a healthy baby-A girl at that! Even better! -Save enough money to be able to take a full maternity leave-Thanks goodness! Though 12 weeks still wasn't long enough. -Not totally neglect Snoop because of Spawnie- Totally FAILED in 2010, but i'm happy to say 2011, particularly the month of December, was much better. -Visit New York City-We did this! I went with my daughter to BlogHer. -Write in my gratitude journal- What's that again? #Fail -Learn how to sew baby things- Not even close in 2010,but 2011 I started ROCKING my Domestic Diva Skills. -Finish all of the hairbows I owe people for donating to March of Dimes (by Jan/Feb)-Yay! My blood pressure goes up just remembering the anxiety that gave me. -Keep enjoying blogging, don't make it "work"- 2010 it was more work than it was any other year. 2011 was better but I want to get back to this 2009 attitude. -Visit the temple more- Ouch! This one was bad. Really really bad. Will need to re-goal this one. -Read my scriptures daily- We did good reading the children's versions in 2011. Need to get back into the real deal. -Prepare and execute weekly family home evenings- Technically, almost every evening is family home evening, but I should maybe try to make this more official. -Find ways to serve others- Who made these goals? I used to be a nice person! -Enjoy being a new mom-Oh yes I have. Never stopped.
Back to the present now. ... Are you following? It's 2012 again. Ok, so we're about to go back to the past but this time, to the beginning of 2011. Here were my goals, and how I'm analyzing them now:
More Photographs.-Umm. Yes. That's an understatement. More interaction.-Yea, if you count my Facebook page. I chat yalls ears off over there. Less comparing myself and my blog to others.- I did better than I did in 2010 but not where I want to be yet. Now I just compare myself to hot mama style bloggers. *sigh* More honesty-What, did I think I was a liar? Not sure what I meant but I think I meant less "sponsored" stuff, which I was good about. Less big company reviews.- Hardly did any. More supporting mom-owned shops- Did this for awhile, then just stopped giveaways almost completely. Less arguing.- Oh yea, hardly any heated debates in 2011. Those are so lame. More passion.- Yes. But need more. More returning the comment love.- Sucked at this, but I just got too busy. More giving back to charities (like we did for March of Dimes).- Did really bad at this too on my own blog, but I donated to other fundraisers people organized. I'll give it to you. I mean, me.
Sad I didn't make more personal goals. My goals for 2012 are going to be the best yet. Because this is going to be the best year ever. ... If the world doesn't end.
Here are my goals. I desperately want to elaborate on each one but I'll just save them for individual posts:
Write my blog like it's for just me and my best friend Get on the other side of the [still] camera more Do at least one random act of kindness a week Go to church, even if it kills me Shop (or make things) for myself Read the scriptures like it's Twilight Enter to win an award Complete my "to do before #2" list Make another baby (maybe) Laugh more Cook something for heaven's sakes! And keep cooking! Get organized! Print more photos Do the food storage thing Be nice to Snoop Be a totally awesome mom
I purposely put some hard ones on there and focused more on my life than my blog because my life is more important and if I'm doing these things I'll have plenty to blog about. I'm really excited to tackle these then look back and see how I've done in 2013 (if we all survive that long).
Did you make some goals this year? I'd love to hear! Feel free to leave a link if you've written a post like this too.
Looking back at 2011 and forward to what 2012 has in store
2011 was a pretty good year for us. I can't complain. I'm optimistic about this year. Actually, I'm not alone. Most people are. I blogged about it here.
I'm trying to remember the highlights from 2011 and here's what I've got:
-Transitioned from news reporting to lifestyle reporting -Went to EVO with Lil' J and my Piggies and Paws team. -Celebrated my husband starting his new job. -Lil' J started school, and is doing better than I ever dreamed. -Debuted as a correspondent for BYU-TV's Fresh Take. I was in this episode and this one. -Became a morning anchor (instead of evening. I thought I'd hate it but I LOVE it). -Finished blogging for Bravado's Breastfeeding Diaries and Started Blogging for BabyCenter. -Lil' J became an Etsy star, modeling for various boutiques. -I started sewing clothes for Lil' J! -Signed a new contract with my job -Completed my 365 Love Letters project for Lil' J. -Got infected with baby fever (currently trying to ward it off with small doses of toddler tantrums).
Oh, and let me add something you may not know about my 365s... I literally have THOUSANDS of outtakes. There were days I wanted to use three photos that day instead of one. Sometimes I barely remembered to snap one on my iphone, and other days, like yesterday, I could hardly narrow it down.
My husband wasn't too keen about posing for our photo yesterday but I told him he had to. It was the last day and it needed to be a family shot. The photo I shared yesterday obviously won, but this one was a close second.
Anyway, 2012... There are so many things I'm looking forward to, I can't help but be excited.
My husband will graduate his police academy in March, and we're planning to move out of the hood in April. That's also when I'll be involved in the launch of a very big campaign that I would tell you about but I'm too scared to jinx myself so I'll wait. But I'll give you a hint... It has to do with my photography and a company that celebrates life! You've definitely heard of them and probably bought their product several times last year. I'll tell you more very soon.
Luckily, I don't have to wait too long to be excited for other new things to start. This week... Tuesday actually, my new parenting segment premieres on the news station I work for. I've been pushing/begging/praying/hoping to start one for about a year and it's finally coming to fruition. Lil' J may even get to do some spots with me from time to time. I feel really blessed to get paid to do a job I love.
As always, I'm setting goals for the new year. Last year I took on SO many new hobbies. Photography, sewing, freelance writing, reading fiction again... All while continuing to blog here which of course, if my favorite hobby (shhh, don't tell the others).
I compared my past and present goals but my ramblings are so long that I'm going to share them in another post tomorrow.
