Smart Habits Saturday

This week was not so good for my habits. : ( But today I am going to roll up my sleeves and jump right in again. As some of you have seen I am a part of Fly Lady and one of my favorite quotes is, "You are not behind. Jump in where you are."

There are only 2 weeks left until my due date and I keep seeing many things around the house that need to be finished before this baby gets here. So this week will stay busy with little projects going on around the house.

Good luck to everyone else involved with Smart Habits Saturday!

Win a Dyson

Would you like to win a Dyson Slim? Well, pop on over to the 5 Minutes for Mom site and put your name in! I couldn't believe it when I read the post. I've been wanting a Dyson Vacuum for awhile now but I've been putting off getting one. Now perhaps I'll win one! The contest continues until Wedsnesday, April 4th at 1:00pm Eastern so hurry on over and add your name to the list!

Thank you, Dyson, for this great opportunity.

Wonderful Family - Birthday Surprise!

I have been truly blessed! I have been having a hard time getting going today. I'm just in one of those "I don't want to do anything" moods. I have been trying to stay upbeat and positive for my husband because he had a rough start to the week and he doesn't need a moody wife to add to his problems. But I did let him know that I wasn't "up to par" today. So today he came home and sent me to my room to relax. Then he proceeded to decorate for a belated birthday party. It was in a Disney princess theme. He got crowns, stickers, and blowers for party favors as well.

He had bought an apple cream cheese pie and put candles on it and when they called me from the room they all sang Happy Birthday. We had such a fun time! My 1 year old really enjoyed her pie and she loved blowing on her blower.

My 3 year old loved her purple lip gloss. My husband also bought the princess necklace lip glosses for favors.

He then surprised me with my birthday gift. A trip to the spa! It includes a one hour massage, a body wrap (I've never had one of those before), a facial, a manicure and a pedicure. Wow! I couldn't believe it! I know that I have the bestest husband in the whole wide world. The Lord truly blessed me with my family.

Busy, Busy, Busy

Life never stops. Tuesday and Wednesday ended up being such on the go days that I feel like I haven't had time to stop and take a breath. Yesterday the girls and I were out almost the entire day. It started with my doctor's appointment. (By the way, he says he's expecting the phone call from me any day now.) Then we went with my husband to a local nursery to pick out some queen palms for the front of our church. Next, it was off to the store to pick up some essentials then we met my husband again for lunch. After lunch I took the girls to Walmart for some more needed essentials that the other store did not carry. And because they were doing so well with all of mommy's outings I made a quick playdate with one of their friends and we all met at the park near our house and the girls got to play in the sand for about an hour. We finally made it back home at 4:00 and I put them both down for a nap because church was at 7:00 and I did not want to have grumpy little girls to deal with. We did have a good day though.

I realized I only have about 3 weeks left until my due date and there are some things that still need to be attended to around the house. Hopefully, I'll be able to get everything done in time!

Tackle It Tuesday

Wow, this week sure went by very fast! Well, I am back from my trip. We got home at a little after 11 pm last night. And last nights sleep was the first good one I've had in the past three days. I just don't sleep well on trips anymore.

We had a great time though. We stayed at my parent's house and I was able to see many old friends that I only get to see once or twice a year. And since Monday was my birthday, my parents watched the girls for us and my husband and I just spent a nice relaxing day together. It was so nice! We haven't been able to do something like that for a while.

Anyway, now on to my Tackle, because of the trip I've decided to make my Tackle to empty out the suitcases from the trip. I am bad at putting this off for weeks sometimes months. Also, to get the house back in it's pre-trip state. I don't know what it is about taking a trip but the day you leave everything seems to come out of it's place and when I walked in the door last night I thought, "Did I really leave the house this way?". And lastly, I am going to go to the optometrist to get my eyes checked. They have been bugging me for awhile now and I just need to go and do it. There may be nothing wrong and that will be great. I keep telling my husband maybe it's just all in my head.

I'll get pics up later today at least of the suitcases and the messy house. And especially of the "empty" suitcases and "clean" house when I'm done. lol I wish everyone else good luck with their tackles today!

Smart Habits Saturday

Wow! I can hardly believe a week has already flown by. I only missed one day of last weeks habits. It was on Sunday. I was not able to keep up with the routines with my crazy day of the week. But for everything else I stayed on track. Because I will be going out of town for part of the week I will not be adding any new habits this week but I will be keeping up with the ones I have already made.


A refresher of my habits...

My Before Bed Routine
-Empty and shine my sink
-Lay out tomorrow's clothes
-Brush my teeth

My Morning Routine
-Get dressed to shoes
-Swish and Swipe my bathroom
-Make Bed
-Empty Dishwasher

My Afternoon Routine
-Make lunch
-Finish laundry
-Start dinner

Me Time Today and Family Time

My husband is such a blessing to me! He lets me have my "Me Time" and watches the girls for me without complaint. Right now my "Me Time" has been going and getting my nails done. I never did this as a teen and thought it was a waste of money but now I've found it's a nice relaxing pampering session. After my nails are done I browse around the store they have in their salon. They are adding new stuff all the time.


After I came home we went to the Verizon store to get our cell phone plan straightened out. And while there I got my first Bluetooth. My 3 year old wanted me to open my mouth and show her my "Blue tooth". LOL ! We had a good time as a family today.


The Lord just blesses us every single day with these precious times. He was very gracious to me as a mother this morning with an incident which I am waiting for a "Worst Parent Contest" to share it with. Maybe I'll post it later. I'm not sure yet. lol

Thank you, Lord, for your goodness to us each day.

"Cramping" My Style

Yesterday morning as dawn was breaking and the rooster crowing (ok, not that early) it was about 7:30 am or so and I was just waking up. I was still in that half asleep part of waking up. My right calf muscle proceeded to tighten causing a very painful "Charlie Horse". It took (what seemed forever) a good 30 to 45 seconds to get it to relax. I am still feeling the after-effects today. My right calf muscle is very sore and I am constantly trying to stretch it out.

Now, I have gotten muscle cramps before so this morning I decided to look up exactly what a muscle cramp is and what one can possibly do to prevent it. The following information I discovered on WebMD.

Muscle Cramps At A Glance
-A muscle cramp is an involuntarily and forcibly contracted muscle that does not relax.
-Almost everyone experiences a muscle cramp at some time in their life.
-There are a variety of types and causes of muscle cramps.
-Numerous medicines can cause muscle cramps.
-Most muscle cramps can be stopped if the muscle can be stretched.
-Muscle cramps can often be prevented.

It is not known exactly why muscle cramps develop. Insufficient stretching before exercise, exercising in the heat, and muscle fatigue may all play a role in their causation. Imbalances in the levels of electrolytes (sodium, potassium, chloride, calcium and phosphate) in the blood can also lead to muscle cramps.
"Copyright (c) 1996 - 2005, WebMD, Inc. All rights reserved"

Hmmmm, not much help. Pretty much it was the information I already knew. I learned this wisdom from my father. He is a runner. And in my pre-teen years I would run with him. "Bananas", he'd say, "eat bananas because a lack of potassium can cause cramps." He would also have me stretch properly to avoid cramps and stretch the cramp out if I ended up with one anyway and take in as much oxygen as possible. I did notice that imbalance in potassium was on the list of possible causes of cramps. I had always wondered if it were so.

So as I am writing this I am eating my breakfast banana to keep that "Charlie Horse" from visiting me again.

Excitement Comes in Cans

Tonight was fun. We had been invited to a church member's house to watch the UCLA/PITT game and have dinner. We took both of our girls with us. Even though this was not a "kid friendly" house they did very well.

The evening was very enjoyable with a total of 9 adults and the 2 children and it went along without any mishaps. Until... lol (of course there has to be an until) the very end of the evening when my 3 year old was playing with some soda cans at the breakfast bar. Now she was being supervised. One of the ladies there who is a grandma was playing with her. They were building a castle. That's what my daughter calls anything she stacks together. And sure enough, I could see it from where I was sitting, the castle fell down. One unfortunate soda can fell all the way to the floor effectively causing the pressure to punch a hole in the can. Then it continued to bounce and roll across the kitchen floor spraying Diet Sprite everywhere. (Thankfully it went into the kitchen and not the other way into the living room with the carpet.) I jumped from the table and as I was chasing after the erupting soda can I could feel my shoes slipping beneath me and all of my 9 months expectant self came landing down on my backside on the floor with the soda spraying all over me.


Not really. That would have been a hilarious ending but thankfully it didn't end that way. Let's go back to I jumped from the table grabbed the can in my hands to stop the spraying and took it to the sink where I let it's eruption subside. By that time we all were laughing and placing the blame on our host for the can being defective because it was old.

The moral...you can always count on your kids to bring excitement to any party.

Crochet Update

I've been enjoying my foray into the crochet world. My first project was really just for practice. I made two "blankets" for my daughter's dolls. Of course they are way out of proportion. I took a baby blanket pattern and just used one skein of yarn for each. Not nearly enough to finish the whole blanket but enough to get me some practice.

The pink one I did first for my oldest daughter and it's hard to tell in the picture but I was doing the double crochet stitch wrong for most of the blanket and then I corrected the problem. So there are two different patterns on the blanket.

The purple one I did for my younger daughter and it turned out rather well.

Now I am working on a poncho for my oldest daughter. I am looking forward to how it turns out.

Tackle It Tuesday *UPDATE*

This week for my "Tackle It Tuesday" hosted by 5 Minutes for Mom I decided to do 2 tackles.

1. My kitchen floors have been greatly neglected. They need a thorough clean up job.

2. My van needs a cleaning inside and out.

I don't have any pictures to post yet but I will have them later in the day. Good luck to all of you who are tackling a project this week!

*UPDATE*

Here is my kitchen floor. Sorry, no before picture only the after. It just looked way too gross to take a picture of. But now it looks lovely. This was something I have been needing to do for awhile now. I am so glad it is done.

I wasn't able to do all that I wanted to with my van. I wanted to get it washed and all vacuumed out but it started to rain today. So taking out the vacuum was not a good idea and getting it washed would defeat the purpose with the rain.

Birthday Surprise!

It was so sweet! Last night after service the ladies of my church presented me with a card (with some spending money!) and these lovely pink roses! Then they had a cake and ice cream reception after the service for my birthday. I was definitely not expecting it.

The Lord has just so greatly blessed me with bringing us to serve in the Church we are in. The ladies are so wonderful and gracious to me. I love being their PW.

Princess Skirt Contest

Ok, I know my daughter would be thrilled to have one of these! If you are interested in winning one the ladies at 5 Minutes for Mom are holding a contest. The skirt is from Katchy Kids Dancewear if you want to check out more of their stuff.

Photo Tag - Shoes

Ok, this week's photo tag over at Adventures in Baby Wearing is Show Us Your Shoes. I really wouldn't classify these as my "favorite" shoes but they are comfortable and they are the ones I wear around the house every day.

For those of you that know about Fly Lady, these are my "cheating" lace up shoes because as you can see there are no laces. I find these shoes at Ross on sale, these are my second pair.

Smart Habit Saturday

I came across this from my friend Tammy's blog and decided to join in.

I am already apart of something called Fly Lady which I am sure many of you have already heard about. But I had fallen off all of my routines. So this last week I wanted to get them reestablished. I made myself a chart to keep track of what I have been doing with my very own star stickers!

So here are the habits that I am currently working on:

My Before Bed Routine
-Empty and shine my sink
-Lay out tomorrow's clothes
-Brush my teeth

My Morning Routine
-Get dressed to shoes
-Swish and Swipe my bathroom
-Make Bed
-Empty Dishwasher

My Afternoon Routine
-Make lunch
-Finish laundry
-Start dinner

I've been doing good for 3 days now. And it really is surprising even with those basic things how smoothly everything runs. If you're interested in joining up with your own Smart Habit go visit

4 Things Meme

I've not participated in one of these yet but I got *tagged* at Chryll's Corner so I am now doing my first Meme.

A. Four jobs I have had in my life:
1. Receptionist
2. Waitress
3. *Janitor*
4. Mother (This one is the hardest)

B. Four movies I could watch over and over
Hmmm, I haven't watched an actual movie in a while because our DVD/VCR player is packed away. I can't really think of any I could watch over and over.

C. Four Places I have lived
1. San Jose, CA
2. Escondido, CA
3. Powell, TN
4. Santa Clara, CA

D. Four things I like to do.
1. Read
2. Bake
3. Sleep
4. Crafty things

E. Four places I have been on vacation
1. Washington D.C.
2. Grand Canyon
3. Walt Disney World
4. Madison, IN

F. Four websites I visit daily (or frequently)
1. Tammy's Times
2. Seasons of Life
3. Fly Lady
4. Saving Dinner

G. Four of my favorite foods
1. Pizza Hut Pan Crust Pizza
2. Chimichangas
3. Togo's
4. Chicken-Stuffed Dumplings

H. Four places I would like to be right now
1. Walking along the beach
2. On a cruise
3. Taking a nature walk
4. On a romantic date with my honey!

Four friends I think will respond
I have no idea. Probably no one. But if you're reading this - YOU'RE TAGGED!!!

Baking Time!

Yum! I just made my first scones! They are delicious despite the many interruptions during the process. While I was cutting the butter into the flour a visitor stopped by and I had to put it aside. Then right before I was ready to put the dough onto the parchment paper, my husband wanted to go out to Home Depot. So I covered the bowl and placed it into the fridge until we got back.

When these are gone, I am going to make them again with a slight revision. I am going to try and make them with cranberries instead of blueberries and lemon. I have a lot of cranberries still in my freezer that need to be used up.

Berry-Lemon Scones

Makes: 12 scones Prep: 10 minutes
Bake: at 400 degrees for 18 minutes

3 ¼ cups all-purpose flour
2/3 cup sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
¾ teaspoon salt
6 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, cut into small cubes
1 tablespoon lemon juice plus enough milk to equal 1 cup
1 cup fresh blueberries
1 teaspoon grated lemon peel
1 egg, lightly beaten
2 tablespoons granulated sugar

1. Heat oven to 400. Spread a large sheet of parchment paper on countertop.
2. Combine flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt in large bowl. Add butter; mix with pastry blender of fork until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Gently stir lemon-juice-milk mixture into dough, along with blueberries, lemon peel and egg, just until combined.
3. With floured hands, pat half of the dough into a 7-inch circle on one end of parchment paper. Repeat, with remaining dough, spacing 2 inches apart. Brush with egg white; sprinkle with sugar. Cut halfway down but not through each circle, 6 wedges for each round. Slide paper with dough onto baking sheet.
4. Bake at 400 for about 18 minutes or until golden brown. Remove to wire rack to cool slightly. Pull apart at cut lines. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Girls Night In

What fun! I just had a girls night in with two of my girlfriends. The husbands and kids all gathered at one house and we stayed at my house. We watched a DVD of a Ladies Conference I had just attended. My friends have not been to this conference yet but are planning to go next year.

We had strawberry shortcake and snacked on other goodies. Yum! It was nice to just relax and have a good time without worrying about the kids for one night.

Verse(s) of the Day

A merry heart maketh a cheerful countenance:
but by sorrow of the heart the spirit is broken.
Proverbs 15:13

All the days of the afflicted are evil:
but he that is of a merry heart hath a continual feast.
Proverbs 15:17

One Month Left!

Only one month left until my due date! Then I will have 3 little ones around the house. We are not sure if it is a boy or a girl so names are still up in the air.

Verse of the Day

"Every wise woman buildeth her house:
but the foolish plucketh it down with her hands."
Proverbs 14:1

Tackle It Tuesday *UPDATE*

For my Tackle it Tuesday I will be taking care of Mount Washmore. Putting away all of the clean clothes that have been piling up, washing some much needed things for my family, and culling out all of the clothes we no longer wear or use. I know I won't get the entire job done today because of other things I also need to do but it will definitely become Washmore Hill by the end of the day.

Pictures coming later.

Before:

Remember this is only a portion of my Tackle It Tuesday list for the laundry.

UPDATE:

Whew! The pile from the picture is now off of my couch and into the closets and drawers where it belongs. YAY! Some of it even made it to a giveaway bag.


I mended a dress shirt that my husband has been wanting me to fix. It doesn't look half bad. It took me 20 minutes though. I need to learn to be better at mending things.

I washed a load of sheets, towels, and blankets for my girls. Those have also been folded and put away. I still haven't figured out the correct way to fold a fitted sheet.

I have climbed and conquered my Mount Washmore (the one in my house that is, the garage is another story)! This Tackle It Tuesday has been very successful for me because it got me off of my Franny and I gave some much needed attention to the wash.

"Nothing says, 'I Love You' like clean underwear." -Fly Lady

Verse of the Day

Only by pride cometh contention:
but with the well advised is wisdom.
Proverbs 13:10

Dessert Anyone?

MMMMM! The wonders of Pillsbury are incredible. Instant mother/daughter time in a box! My 3 year old helped me make this cake today. She has been on a birthday kick for some reason just recently. She goes around singing, "Happy Birthday to me" and is always asking is it her birthday yet. So the other day at the store I picked up the Funfetti Cake Mix and the Rainbow Icing to have a family party just because.

Possessions

I found this photo tag about prized possessions at Adventures in Baby Wearing while browsing some blogs.
I'd have to say that mine would have to be my Bible and Prayer Journal.
This Bible is a fairly new one that my husband bought me not to long ago.

Without spending time every day in my relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ I would go crazy. The days that I do not take time to spend with my Savior really take their toll on me. I notice the difference. I learned this poem in high school but it describes it best.

"I Met God in the Morning"
I met God in the morning
when the day was at its best,
And His Presence came like sunrise,
Like a glory in my breast.
All day long the Presence lingered,
All day long He stayed with me,
And we sailed in perfect calmness
O'er a very troubled sea.
Other ships were blown and battered,
Other ships were sore distressed,
But the winds that seemed to drive them,
Brought to me a peace and rest.
Then I thought of other mornings,
With a keen remorse of mind,
When I too had loosed the moorings,
With the presence left behind.
So, I think I know the secret,
Learned from many a troubled way:
You must seek Him in the morning
If you want Him through the day!
By Bishop Ralph Cushman

Picnic

The gorgeous weather continues! My 3 year old has been begging me to have a picnic so today we made sandwiches and took a blanket out to the front yard and had our picnic.

Family Fun

It was such a beautiful day outside today. My husband finally fixed the training wheels on my 3 year olds bicycle so we had fun with her first bike ride.

She did very good! We went to the park across from our house but there were some very rowdy kids there so we knew of another park in the neighborhood and walked (she rode) there. That park ended up being quite farther than we realized so my husband walked back home to get our van to drive us back. Whew! With it being close to my due date I don't think I'd want to do that walk again.

FORE

Tonight we had a great time going out with the teens of our church to a family fun center. My honey and I played a round of miniature golf and I played my best game ever only 3 over par.

What do you call it? Putt putt or miniature golf.

My honey is from the mid-west and he calls it putt putt. I call it miniature golf and had never in my life heard the term putt putt until I met him. So how about you?

Learning Something New

I decided to teach myself how to crochet today. I've actually been thinking about it for awhile now but I finally took the plunge and got what I needed to start.

I used to crochet a very little bit when I was in Jr. High School. My mom wanted to learn so we did it together. We never actually made anything though.

So far I've learned the chain stitch and the slip stitch. It's nice to be able to have your hands doing something while your husband is glued to ESPN. Especially with March Madness coming up (GO UK WILDCATS!)

For those of you who know how to crochet feel free to give tips and make comments on any pieces of work that I post about.

Moving Forward!

Yay! It seems as if we are finally moving forward again on getting into a home of our own! The house we made an offer on is in need of many repairs and the lender didn't like it at all. But now after 3 weeks, the Lord opened up another door and we might be signing papers on a different type of loan today and it looks like an even better deal than the first one that got shut down! Isn't God good!

Party Time!

Welcome! There's not much to see yet here but I hope you have a good time anyway. Enjoy yourselves and don't forget to say hello!

Doctor's Appointment

Today I had a doctor's appointment. I almost missed it. The appointment was for 9:45am, however, I didn't wake up this morning until 9:30am! I was only 2 minutes late and no I didn't speed.

After the appointment my doctor wanted me to get my iron level checked so I had to get some blood taken. Yuck! Actually, I think I am getting used to it because I hardly felt anything. I still can't watch though. There was an older gentleman also getting blood taken and he watched his. I just can't do it. The worst part about the whole appointment was the 45 minute wait to get my blood taken! But it was a lot of fun watching all the comings and goings of the waiting room.

Why Do I Blog?

A blog is a user-generated website where entries are made in journal style and displayed in a reverse chronological order.

Definition courtesty of: Wikipedia

I have tried blogging once before and sort of stopped. I deleted that blog. I would like to start over again. I want this blog to be just what it is defined to be, "reflections and comments" about my journey through every day life "On the Path to Glory."

Some days and posts will be hum drum and typical but there will be other days where I have a "Jo Jo" moment. (Those will be defined in later posts.) Those posts should be interesting. And other days where I just want to share something that I have learned on my journeying.

I invite you to join me on my journey "On the Path to Glory."

Enjoy.