Wednesday, April 29, 2009

Wishful Wednesday

Here's a website that many of you may be interested in. http://www.allfreecrafts.com/ebooks/index.shtml Here is a listing of all kinds of Free E-books that are packed with information. Two books I have already checked out - Self care cards for Busy Moms and 64 bath and body recipes. Some you may need to buy a book for, but for the most part they have the recipes and they are very easy to follow from what I see.

As mothers we tend to forget to take care of ourselves. The self care cards have some good ideas on them and I hope you find them as useful as I think they will be helpful to me.

Go on, check it out, I think you may find something interesting if you are frugal about caring for yourself like I am.

Tina

Tuesday, April 28, 2009

Thoughtful Tuesday

I am not so sure if there is a such thing as a thoughtful Tuesday. We will try it out. I am taking my frustrations out on all of you.



10 things that verify teenagers are coming...


10. You find clothes spread from head to toe on every stitch of furniture and floor/carpet
9. It's been forever since you had to go searching for a training bra and your daughter is going to be needing one like last week.
8. They sit there and tell you "but mom! It's been three weeks since I took a shower and I really don't need one again! (Of course I am exaggerating, LOL!)
7. Your food bill has Quadrupled and your electric bill octopled(is this really a word?)
6. Your husband prefers to work extra shifts so he don't have to come home.
5. They come home and tell you about the boyfriend/girlfriend of the day.
4. Thoughts race through my head thinking that I can maintain the dog house, run electric out to it and live there until they move out of the house.
3. Everyone knows when the kids are home.... how can they drown out all of the yelling and screaming?
2. They start telling you that they want one specific item to wear... EVERY SINGLE DAY!
and

#1.....

You start checking out what kind of job you can work as a second job to afford the military schools you are inquiring about shipping the kid off to.

Ah okay, we are just in the beginning years of the teens. I know there has to be more better ones out there, lets hear them!

BTW... Fireman is applying for a corrections officer position. I think it will be good training with the kids, don't you? Gotta keep them inmates (AKA the lovely dear children) in line!!!

Tina

Sunday, April 19, 2009

a mindful way of life from the Brat factor

This list has been falsely credited to Andy Rooney. He is not the author, rather it is a compilation of many from age 5 to 95. (Snopes)
I've learned that~
~the best classroom in the world is at the feet of an elderly person.
~when you're in love, it shows.
~just one person saying to me, "You've made my day!" makes my day.
~having a child fall asleep in your arms is one of the most peaceful feelings in the world.
~being kind is more important than being right.
~you should never say no to a gift from a child.
~I can always pray for someone when I don't have the strength to help him in some other way.
~no matter how serious your life requires you to be, everyone needs a friend to act goofy with.
~sometimes all a person needs is a hand to hold and a heart to understand.
~simple walks with my father around the block on summer nights when I was a child did wonders for me as an adult.
~life is like a roll of toilet paper. The closer it gets to the end, the faster it goes.
~we should be glad God doesn't give us everything we ask for.
~money doesn't buy class.
~it's those small daily happenings that make life so spectacular.
~under everyone's hard shell is someone who wants to be appreciated and loved.
~to ignore the facts does not change the facts.
~when you plan to get even with someone, you are only letting that person continue to hurt you.
~love, not time, heals all wounds.
~the easiest way for me to grow as a person is to surround myself with people smarter than I am.
~everyone you meet deserves to be greeted with a smile.
~there's nothing sweeter than sleeping with your babies and feeling their breath on your cheeks.
~no one is perfect until you fall in love with them.
~life is tough, but I'm tougher.
~opportunities are never lost; someone will take the ones you miss.
~when you harbor bitterness, happiness will dock elsewhere.
~I wish I could have told my Dad that I love him one more time before he passed away.
~one should keep his words both soft and tender, because tomorrow he may have to eat them.
~a smile is an inexpensive way to improve your looks.
~when your newly born grandchild holds your little finger in his little fist, you're hooked for life.
~everyone wants to live on top of the mountain, but all the happiness and growth occurs while you're climbing it.
~the less time I have to work with, the more things I get done.


Saturday, April 18, 2009

Spring cleaning begins.

Oh, ok yeah it's been a while since I have REALLY done this. It is a pain in the neck! With working as much as I have been, chasing kids back and forth for school and all the fun things starting up with spring coming into season I have had the urge to do this. I have started in the living room of my house. Instead of having a bucket of water, I mixed up some spic n span in a spray bottle and I absolutely love the idea! I don't have to travel up and down the ladder to wet my cloth and I only have to go up wash the wall and come back down to move the ladder after hitting the bottom portion of the wall. I really want to declutter the living room too, one task that I would rather not do, but if I don't it's still going to be a mess. I think I am going to have to use a laundry basket to fill goodies that I no longer love and want to give away until I get over to the recycle center to get a giveaway box. I am going so far as to actually wash down everything in the process. After that I think it will be a good time to hit the carpet with the carpet cleaner. I am hoping to get all of the dust and allergins out of the house the best I can.

I'll update you on how well I am doing. I really don't have the energy to do this, but I can have the windows open and get the fresh air in as well. A local club is doing a spaghetti dinner, so I think I will treat them with the presence of my family as a gift to myself (I won't have to cook dinner!) The fireman works tonight, so hopefully I can work diligently into the night to get this done. yes, I have a lot of clutter in this room!

~Tina~

Saturday, April 4, 2009

Bribery will get you.......

A CLEAN HOUSE!!!!!!!


Yes, you did read this right! Okay, I have to explain... the kids got a boat load of candy from an Egg Hunt at the local community event. When I say a boat load, I am talking enough for three children to have a piece of candy every day for at least a year. it was fun watching them collect the eggs, and then return only to start popping the eggs apart to go through and see if they won a really cool prize (well, to them they were really cool, some may have possibly ended up being a parent's worse nightmare). Needless to say they had enough candy between all of them that they really did not care if they won the prize. Half way through opening eggs, they were excited to see all of the different candies that were inside the eggs, that they really weren't interested in the prizes by that time. (hmmm could this be because my kids have been deprived of candy???)

Mr. Firefighter/EMT ended up having to go to work tonight, so he stopped at another community happening, the local fish fry held by the Lyons Club. He picked up his dinner and the plan was that I was going to take the kids up for dinner later. I got a hold of one of the members and pre arranged to have a dinner done early so that he could pick it up on the way into work. too funny, I got the text message that his dinner was ready only 30 seconds after he left to stop up there! Anyhow, I with the 3 children went up for dinner at the local fish fry. This was cool. many people I saw there I knew and we stopped and talked for a while after dinner was completed for both parties. I feel that I am starting to know the community that we have only been in for the last 2 - almost 3 years. It is awful nice to have a smile from people who are nice, caring and honest. Good townspeople. Staples of the community.

Anyways, after the nice peaceful outing, I came up with the plan. THE ULTIMATE PLAN!!!!!
And you would never guess, but IT WORKED!!! I told my kids on the way home that I had a surprise for them. I would actually leave the huge bowl of candy out for them to eat IF they would help me tackle the house. They were so estatic that I believe if they were not sitting in the seat and actually buckled in that they would have fell out of the seat. As I pulled the van into the garage for the last time tonight, they were all laughing, giggling, and getting along with each other. As we are getting out of the van, they were hopping skipping and jumping all the way into the house and asking what they could start doing immediately. The catch? Yeah, us mom's have to have a catch ya know, but the catch is that they could not have any candy unless they were actually working on a task. :O)

All I can say is WOW!!! I stopped for a periodic sit down and had to post this because I am hoping an idea like this can help other moms. I still have to put everything off the couch, still have to get the laundry into the laundry room, but I will have the kids sort it into piles for wash tomorrow, and really the only room I have to do is the kitchen which I can get done in about 15 minutes with all of the new found help I am now receiving!

Yep, Bribery can get you a clean house!
It can also get a bunch of bouncing kids that I will now have to put a good movie on for and have them lay down and watch it to calm them down for bed. This may be ending up to be a wild task to do but it's way better than cleaning the house hours on end to get it completed.