Tonight's Dinner

Made a stir fry with Chinese noodles and added some pork and vegetable pot stickers.  This is what we will be eating for dinner.

Too Funny

One of the things I want to do more of this year is write down the funny things the kids say.  I always hear them say something funny and I tell myself not to forget what they said (which I always do) instead of making a note or writing it down right away.  I had to jot this one down today......

This morning Q asks for a cutie to eat.  I began peeling it and I don't know if I was peeling the cutie too slowly or what but Q looked at me and said, "Mom you know what would be great, if cuties had a zipper." :-)

So Proud of You

So Proud of You Q-man

I know this picture is not such a happy shot of our youngest.  I am so proud of our little guy, Q-man.  Yes, he was still sent to his room to sit on his bed for a bit, but the lesson has been learned and I think the light bulb has gone on for him.  Woo-hoo!!  Two rules (of many) that we have in our house is #1 Do NOT lie.  We tell our kids that there is no need to lie, we know you might be scared to admit to wrongdoing but if you tell the truth your punishment will not be as severe as it would be if we catch you lying to your parents or any adult for that matter.  #2 You must eat all you dinner before you can get dessert.  I have had to work at clearing up this rule to include the word dinner.  Q was under the impression that he could get dessert after EVERY meal including breakfast(it was hilarious seeing his face one day after he finished his cereal and ran to me asking for a cookie - what do ya mean, no cookie I ate everything?!?).  He keeps us on our toes, this one.   Continuing on, I was upstairs scrapping after fixing the kids' dinner plates and getting them situated to eat.  Q came upstairs and told me he'd finished his dinner and asked for a brownie.  I asked him twice if he was certain that he'd cleaned his plate and he assured me that he had.  In the past, I would have gone downstairs and checked his plate but this time I did not.  I gave him the ok to get his brownie and he was off.  A couple of minutes later, he came back to me and he had tears in his eyes and he said "Mom, are you gonna be mad at me?"  I knew immediately that he had lied about dinner and was about to get angry but instead I just answered "No Q, why?  Should I be mad?"  He told me that he had not eaten all his dinner.  I was still trying not to get angry because I thought he was coming to tell me all this AFTER he had eaten the brownie.  So glad I didn't.  He told me he DID NOT eat the brownie!!!  Happy Happy Joy Joy!!  I looked at his little face and gave him a big hug and kiss and told him I was so proud of him for telling me the truth.  I lifted him into my lap and let him cry for a little bit then had a nice long chat about lying.  I told him that I was still proud of him but he still had to go sit in his room for a while for lying in the first place, hence the shot above.  After I told him his time was up, he gave me a big hug and kiss looked up at me and asked, "Mom, are you gonna tell Dad?"  :-)

Choices

Two shows that I have programmed to record on our DVR are Super Soul Sunday and Oprah's Lifeclass series on OWN.  I think these are such inspirational shows.  Thought provoking and uplifting, these shows always make me feel better for having watched them.  They make me cry, laugh, smile, and leave me humble and quiet (usually because there was something said that rings true in my life, something that I have to improve/work on, change, etc.). 



I just finished watching one of Oprah's lifeclass programs with guest Pastor Rick Warren.  Topic of the show was dealing with the cards you were dealt in life.  Again, I cried and laughed and admit that I have some work to do.  Choices, choices, choices.  It all comes down to that one word in the end, doesn't it?  There are a lot of things we as humans on this planet cannot control - our DNA(and everything those three letters entail), our family, upbringing, etc., but we can control how we let those things affect us.  I admit to not always making the best choices, making choices out of fear, pain, anger, feelings of not being enough, the list can go on and on.  I know after watching this program that I am where I am meant to be in my life.  I want to make better choices in my life in regards to my health both physical, spiritual, and mental (that DNA stuff ) and in regards to my relationships.  I know I am a good person at heart, I just know that I have some work to do.

Did not write this post today to throw a pity party or anything, I know that I am blessed.  Just trying to keep it real.

Some favorite Project Life pages 2012

I am still in the process of catching up on my 2012 album.  This involves printing and editing A LOT of photos.  While my photos are being processed, I wanted to share some of my favorite layouts from 2012:

While I still have a ways to go to complete 2012, these layouts give me ideas on how I can keep it simple by using the same colors, elements, and products while still satisfying my need to be scrappy.  I apologize for the quality of the pics, working on this picture posting to my blog thing - bear with me.  So grateful for this project - LOVE IT!!  Project Life (created by Becky Higgins) has given me a place to scrap all the many pictures that I have on my computer and camera.  I am only limited by my own imagination, this system is so easy to use.  Words cannot describe the feelings I have at seeing my family flipping through our albums -  just PRICELESS.



Supplies used:  American Craft Thickers, Ormolu labels, Elles Studio labels, washi tape(from Cute Tape), My Mind's Eye labels, Ali Edwards Life Is Good brushes, Project Life Clementine Edition, Creative Imaginations epoxy stickers, Cathy Zielske Day of the week 3x4 cards (I believe they were a free download on her blog.).

Hello 2013!

Happy New Year!!  I spent New Year's Eve with family and friend laughing, joking, playing games, eating good food and having a great time.  Even though winter is not my favorite time of the year, I do love looking forward to a new year, starting fresh, the whole clean slate thing.  I spent yesterday afternoon going through my closet just getting rid of things that have been there too long, straightening things up, putting things where they should be.  It felt good.

As I begin 2013, the word resolutions come to mind.  I have set resolutions in the past only to get overwhelmed and discouraged.  Instead of thinking in terms of resolutions, I am going to use the word CHOOSE to set some goals and clear up my outlook.  I choose....
      -to get current on Project Life for 2012.  I am not stressing about this at all(this is my 3rd year of doing PL), I am up to date on my journaling and picture taking, I just have not printed pictures for the last three months.  It's just a matter of printing the pictures, and putting everything in the photo pockets and adding my journaling and whatever embellishments I want to include.  I have been behind in the past, so for me this is very doable.  Just need to GET IT DONE.
     -to complete my December Daily album.  Again, this is a doable project.  This is my 2nd year doing this album.  I LOVE my album from last year.  Again, I know what pictures I want to include and have journaled through the month.  I just need to sit down and put everything together.  The creative side of this is where I get stuck because I over think things.  Once I get going it is not quite a problem, it's just getting out of first gear.
     -to stop being a cyber peeker in creative galleries and get more involved whether it is just opening up and communicating in various member galleries to also maybe actually submitting/posting some of my own work!  For me, this is a big one.
     -to be more open and to just get out of my own way.  I want to stop hemming and hawing in my own personal life.  I have been sitting on the sidelines too long.  Not in terms of taking care of my family, my home and that sort of thing but in terms of my own life and goals I want to achieve.  

So, as the first day of 2013 cruises along I am looking forward to this year and everything it has in store.  I want to step out of my comfort zone and choose to be pleasantly surprised at the outcome no matter what.  I heard Paula Deen state this(someone else might have said this too but I'm quoting Paula :-)) and it has stuck with me:  "The sin is not in failing, the sin is in not trying."