Goodnight Fools.

Yet another night I’m up late (early?).  I know other mothers struggle with this.  ME TIME!  The house quiets and my productivity triples.  It feels so great to accomplish so much that I can not seem to say, “okay, it is time for you to stop and go to bed young lady.” 

Tomorrow, Owen has his school pictures first thing in the morning.  I will no doubt be walking in with Java and baggy under-eye.

I foolishly had a lot of caffeine tonight.  I normally don’t have it after 5pm either… and tonight I probably drank it until 8pm.  Add to that the Molten Chocolate Dessert I had.  Now I’m half alert (my mind) and heavy eyed (body).

All right.  I vented, NOW I’m headed to bed.

Purple Leaves Custom Style

click here to see larger

My Last 2 Custom Style Themes went so fast I could not resist doing another! I call this one Purple leaves and left it girly, yet still minimal. The flexibility of this theme makes it applicable for all sorts of female blogs. (No offense men! )

Contact Girly Blog Designz if you are interested in purchasing. Purple Leaves is listed for $45.00 and requires Wordpress 2.2. Installation of theme and Contact Page Plugin are included with purchase.

Thanks!

Owen’s First Day Of Preschool

Yesterday was Owen’s First day of Preschool. He had been so excited leading up to this day… until we started our drive. Suddenly he asked if I was going to be there. I answered no, not today, but you won’t be there long before I come back to get you. Then he decided he didn’t want to go. I reminded him of the toys and the kitchen set and that didn’t even matter to him.

When we got to his class of 10 3-year olds he clung to my leg like static! Poor thing. Ever one else including his brother was ready to play. It broke my heart to let go.

As soon as the teacher picked him up and I had walked about 3 feet away he finished his crying. THANK GOD!

When I picked him up he told me all about circle time and how he sat on a letter. He heard a story about a big dog named Clifford. He had M&M cookies and drank a big boy cup!

He can’t wait until Thursday.

This Owen and I (i just woke up folks)!

This is how Owen was acting.

This is Owen’s good friend Cameron from Bible Study. Cameron loved being dropped off Preschool.

Menu Plan Monday- August 27, 2007

YET ANOTHER BUSY WEEK! Simplicity is key!

Monday- Left-over Pizza
Tuesday- Swiss Chicken Casserole over rice.
Wednesday- JJ out. Left-overs.
Thursday- Out with the family for SIL’s birthday.
Friday- Steaks and Potatoes on the grill.
Saturday & Sunday- We’ll See!

Never Give up.

A few years back (okay maybe five,) JJ and I hiked the Grand Canyon with his family. 7 miles down and in, an overnight in the canyon, and 10 miles up and out. I learned more than I ever imagined I would on that hike.

On the way out, the very last mile and a half, we encountered a hail storm. I have never been in anything like it.

With little sign of its approach, it completely caught us off guard. Our weak, exhausted selves were doing our best to climb out the deep canyon and we had the end within sight. Weather did all it could to stop us. It tempted our limits and challenged us to quit. The goal was in reach but never seemed to get closer. It felt like a tease.

My sweet, soon-to-be husband (at the time), had already added to his load backpacks of 2 other people. Yet he still sheltered me behind him to confront the horizontal hail while keeping me from feeling its stinging impact. Every once and awhile we would find a little crevice in the rocks and take a break. The hail would not let up and we knew the end was nearing. We had to keep going. We knew an incredible feast awaited us on the top, so we moved on.

Read more

Selling Pre-made Custom Themes At GBD

I’m selling my first pre-mades at Girly Blog Designz! Thank you Heather!

The first Pre-Made I call Grunge Chic. This is a for a blogger that wants a girl vibe combined with clean lines and fonts. It’s 3 column so there is plenty of space for anything you could imagine putting up there. Purchasing this theme comes with free installation and 3 plugin installations:

1. The “if you liked that” plugin (like related posts),
2. Subscribe to comments plugin,
3. and Contact form plugin.

The cost for this pre-made exclusive + installation + 3 plugin installations is $42.50

————————————————–

For a low cost alternative Girly Blog designz has decided to begin selling “used” themes. These are themes that have been used before, but are no longer in use (unless otherwise indicated).

This theme I call Retro Housewife is available for $25.00

If you are interested in either of these themes Contact Girlie Blog Designz.
If you know anyone who might be interested, let them know!

Bringing Up Boys & Dealing With Their Pee.

Beware, what you are about to read is not intended for the light of stomach. I have avoided posting on this due to its grotesque nature, but alas, need help… so please if you have had children, especially if they are a little older than mine and preferably boys, READ ON!

My 1/2 bathroom in our main living area smells like a urinal! Not that I have smelled a ton of urinals in my 31 years… but my husband said so. I believe him because it smells like I would imagine a urinal smells.

Owen, newly potty-trained, actually uses the bathroom quite well. He has very recently decided to “stand up” to pee. That decision came with relief on my part because I hate sitting him on public commodes.

He rarely misses that I notice, but it still smells horrible. I don’t understand? I mop the floors, I clean the toilet… I have even wiped the wall down. I can not get rid of the smell. and if I do it returns in a day or so.

I have already learned that the boys have smelly smelly feet. Is this part of having boys too? Am I doomed to smelly bathroom? Should I just ban them from the bathroom most often used by our guests? Is there some solution no one talks about in public?

I have to know these things. I have never ever heard anyone talk about it. But nobody told me about the realities of labor either. I am thinking I have missed something.

Mother’s of older boys, please share your wisdom.

Thanks,

Can You Give Just One?

Mommy Zabs Readers,

Wow, what an honor to write for such an esteemed crowd! Mommy Zabs has given me the honor of sharing a need with you guys. I am in the process of adopting a little boy from Liberia, West Africa. It has been and continues to be an incredible journey! You can read more about that on My Blog, but I’m not actually here to talk about my adoption. I want to share with you some of Donna’s story. Donna is the US coordinator of Adoptions, for Acres of Hope (the adoption agency that we are working with). She is just WONDERFUL!! As a mom to 10 already (5 biological kids who are a bit older, and 5 African adoptive kids), her work with Acres of Hope is definitely a sacrificial act of service to the Lord and the adoptive families.

Well, they found out a couple of months ago that there was a little baby who was going to be placed for adoption when born and they were the requested adoptive parents. Why would they be requested? This little baby is to be the sibling of two of her African children!! Their mom lives in Liberia and has Cerebral Palsy. Liberia is a war torn country with a literacy and employment rate of 10% (yes, you read that right!). Most of the children placed for adoption (like my soon to be little guy) are given up b/c the mom simply can’t feed them. So, you can imagine how hard it would be for this mom to care for her new little one. So, Donna and her husband Brian have agreed to adopt this little one when he/she is born.

Here is where you come in! Yes, they can afford this child when they come home. Feeding an extra mouth isn’t the issue, the issue is raising the $20,000 for adoption expenses! So, they are going to have to raise this money. They’ll sell stuff, apply for grants they find, probably take more money out on their home and ask anyone who is interested in helping them. At the same time, Donna will be leaving Acres of Hope to start her own ministry, Global Orphan Outreach, to help adoptive families find grants, especially families adopting special needs kids who need to get to the US asap for treatment.

My proposal is this. . .let’s spread the word and help Donna raise this money for her little one so that she can focus on raising money for kids who desperately need to come home to “first world” treatment!

How? I have encouraged Donna to set up a “one dollar adoption site”. This is a site that you can go to (and email to all your friends!) that asks people to donate just one dollar. Everyone can give a dollar! What’s so wonderful about this site, is that if you can “up” your giving to $10 or $25 you feel great! It’s not like someone asking for $100 and you saying, “well, I can only give $10 right now” and feeling bummed! They’re asking for $1 so that will bless them and anything above is just bonus!

Please consider the opportunity to join them in this wonderful journey to help a little one and give them a Home, a Hope and a Future! Go to the site right now!!

Brandi
————————————-
Thank you Brandi for this great post. Brandi and I have been friends since I moved to Florida several years ago. She spends a lot of her time involved in the church, has 2 biological children, and an adopted child on the way. Her and her husband grew up with hearts toward missions. I hope that some of you will be able to bless this family who has so willingly taken in children that need help.

Feeling Pretty Sick About Recalls

I just finished Posting 5 different recalls due to lead on my site… 4 just released, 1 released yesterday.

I could rant forever, but that is what my other site is for, ranting about these issues with China.

Please go to Not China Made (dot) Net and check out the recent recalls to make sure your children don’t have any of the items. Here are links to each post:

Sponge Bob
Thomas & Friends, Curious George
Charm Bracelets
Toby & Me Jewelry Sets
Alphabet Train Sets

WFMW- Bringing Down the Noise Level

Recently I posted about the incredible volume of noise my 3 and 1 year old boys make.

Someone gave advise that if they come to you yelling and you respond in a really quite voice- almost a whisper they will naturally bring their volume down. I have tried it a few times now and each of those times it worked! It’s funny, my Greek heritage wants to respond with loud noise by adding LOUDER noise, but it seems doing the opposites does the trick. I’ll just have to be retrained

Submitted for Rocks in My Dryer- Works For Me Wednesday

Next Page »