Housekeeping

Part of staying at home with Scarlette is learning to balance. I am awesome at balance. On, like, a beam. Have I ever talked about that time I was in gymnastics? Would it surprise you to know I fell in love with the sport at gymnastics camp?

Seriously, you should see me on the uneven bars. Or, well, you should have seen me when I was twelve. I’m not sure if I still have an amazing back hip circle or not anymore because Jeff won’t let me try it on the bars at the park. He says they are for doing chin-ups or something. Lame.

But balance in life? Suck at it. If you’ve sent me an email in the last month, you are aware of this. The holidays totally set my inbox back a bit. I’m sorry.

Here’s a cute picture of my baby to make up for it. (She’s trying to sign “juice.”)

Does that only work on my dad?

Anyhow, it’s overwhelming, finding the balance in being a work-at-home mom. Wife. Mother. Writer. Me.

So this week is about housekeeping.

Specifically at my house, noting my absence here. Because I have a tendency to be a bit messy. You could say I might be a slob. You could even say it’s possible you might one day see me on an episode of hoarders. Not really. Maybe. Just kidding. Who else loves Kristin Wigg as much as I do?

I really want to create a calm environment for Scarlette. She spends all day with… me. That’s not calm. She spent yesterday driving her cozy coupe over to our wedding portrait and yelling at it. So I feel a need to make this space calm, organized and more efficient. I read some organizing books but they didn’t magically change me into a non-messy person so I need to take some time to actually tackle that.

But also here on my blog. I’m wanting to change up my advertising a bit. To be honest, I tried a secondary advertising network and the response was awesome. Except I kept denying the ads which was not so awesome. It’s important to me that even my ads are in line with my morals. It’s also important to me to find a good balance in selling advertising because I don’t want my blog overwhelmed with ads. On the other hand, go google Elecare. My baby is expensive. I can’t tell you how grateful I am that I am able to live out my passion of writing as a means of helping contribute to our family.

Instead of repeatedly denying ads because they want to sell something that isn’t in line with my beliefs, I’d really rather use the space to support indie businesses and other bloggers/crafters.

So if you’re interested in a sponsor space, please click here and I’ll make all your dreams come true. Like I mentioned, I don’t want the blog to be cluttered with ads so space is limited. I’ve already emailed the people who have contacted me about advertising here so I only have a couple of spots left for February and March.

And that’s the story Morning Glory. It’s housekeeping time around here.

I’m on my third cup of coffee and the closet under the stairs looks AMAZING. The floor in front of the closet under the stairs is covered with all of the crap that was previously in said closet. This where everything unravels for me.

Project Life 2012 | Week Three

project life 2012 week three two page spread
It’s tough to get a good picture through the page protectors! This week I made the title card and the journaling cards with the labels on them because nothing in my stash was exactly what I wanted. Then I decided to save them as a pdf so I can use them again and figured I’d link them up here as a free printable. You can click here to download them.

project life 2012 week one
project life 2012 week three
For the second page I used a Jenni Bowlin butterfly rub-on in the top left pocket. It wouldn’t rub on to the page protector so I just cut around it, removed the backing and slipped it in. I like that it is transparent, so that you can see it from either side.

I used a lot of photos from my cell phone this week. Also, I ran out of photo paper and so half the photos were printed at Walgreens and now it’s driving me crazy that my black and whites don’t match. Out of all of the photos my favorites are the the ones in the photostrip of Scarlette cuddling in bed with me for her morning bottle. I love that baby. Oh, and some people were asking about making a photostrip. I just use this 4×6 template + tutorial from Stacey Bishop. HTH!

Project Life In Progress: Title Page, Week 1, Week 2, Week 3

I’m linking up with Jess over at The Mom Creative today b/c I love seeing everyone’s pages. If you did week three, link me up, I love to get ideas to pin!

supplies: project life clementine kit, design c page protectors, american crafts precision pen, studio calico stickers, smash date stamp, jenni bowlin studio vintage number set, jenni bowlin studio butterfly rub on, jenni bowlin studio butterfly stickers, jenni bowlin studio mini bingo cards. Everything else is old. Oh and I bought the doilies at publix! *some affiliate links included
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I was going to write a blog post today but instead I’m chasing after this charmingly cute and crazy little girl. And also cleaning up that huge mess you see in the background of these pictures. This is why I don’t post camera phone photos. Because I don’t want y’all to be jealous of all my mad housekeeping skills. You’re welcome.

52 Reads | Divergent and Variant

I’m about ten books behind on my book review posts and about a million things behind on my things-I-should-be-doing-instead-of-posting-book-reviews list. But if you’re like me and there is currently a countdown to The Hunger Games movie on your refrigerator (don’t lie) then you are probably feeling desperate for a good read to tide you over . And so posting these reviews is much more important than, say, doing those dishes I left in the sink last night. I’m just doing my civil duty here. Or at least, that’s what I’m going to tell Jeff when he asks why there are no clean towels.

Remember how when I read The Hunger Games, I was all “I don’t read this genre?” And then how after I read The Hunger Games, I was all “I LOVED THEM GIVE ME MORE TO READ IN THIS GENRE!” That’s when I read these two books:

Book Review Divergent by Veronica RothDivergent by Veronica Roth. Several people recommended this one and I think it is almost as good as The Hunger Games. In Divergent, society is divided into factions based on virtues and each person is required to choose the faction in which they will spend their lives. They have to make the choice on their sixteenth birthday. I thought this sounded like a terribly boring premise for a book but the story was excellent. I ended up finding it incredibly compelling. It moved forward quickly and I liked the subtle love story and the mystery playing out in the background. I loved Beatrice and the realness of her character, she’s both immensely strong and intensely vulnerable without being stereotypical. It’s well written, creative and sometimes a bit hold-your-breath-while-you-flip-the-page.  And the best part is that the sequel is coming out in May, so you don’t have to wait forever and three days for it.

Book Review Variant by Robison WellsVariant by Robison Wells. The book focuses on Benson Fisher, who thinks he is going to a private prep school called Maxfield Academy. He’s pretty stoked about this until he gets there and discovers that no one ever actually leaves. And also that if you break the rules, you die. Which would make anyone a bit uneasy about boarding school I think. Obviously there is a secret at the school and Benson attempts to uncover it.  But the intrigue and relationships between the characters keep the story flowing well. And the ENDING. Oh my gosh, I’ve never hated and loved an ending so much. Thankfully the sequel to this one is coming in the fall. Because it’s definitely a cliffhanger, one that made me go back and reread the entire book to see if I somehow missed THAT coming.

If  I had to pick one, I’d recommend Divergent. Both are first time authors but Veronica Roth’s writing is a little more polished and little bit more realistic. Plus, the ends wraps up well so that it could serve as more of a stand alone book, so while I am eagerly anticipating the sequel I do feel as though the first part of Beatrice’s story has been told. Whereas with Variant I’m all “WHAT?! WAIT WHAT?! I NEED TO KNOW MORE RIGHT THIS INSTANT!” and it’s driving me crazy.

Any other recommendations? I’ve put my love of Amish Fiction on hold for some YA dystopian thrillers. They are really similar genres. No they’re not. Also, thanks to Swagbucks for funding my kindle e-book habit, I lasted exactly three days on the wait list at my library before I gave in and bought Divergent. I have no patience. See above paragraph.

*affiliate links included if you’re feeling inclined to use them, in which case thanks!

Five For Friday | Like It


SCARLETTE: The good: Scarlette taught herself how to pump lotion out of the bottle. She’s a genius! The bad: I wasn’t supervising this learning session and now we have some incredibly moisturized carpet.

BE MINE: There are Cadbury eggs on sale. Correction. There were Cadbury eggs on sale. Until I bought them. ALL OF THEM.

BE MINE TAKE TWO: If you like Tiny Prints on facebook today, you’ll get a code for a free personalized valentine’s day card. I like to take advantage of these deals because a) I like free stuff and b) my baby looks super cute on the front of a greeting card.

MAKEOVER: I tried Loreal’s True Match foundation and it is the best foundation I have ever used. My skin is all sensitive and blotchy and after twelve odd years of foundation frustration, I am in love. If they ever discontinue this stuff there will be much weeping and gnashing of teeth. The only sad part of this story is that I am SO pale, I had to buy the shade called “ALABASTER.” Alabaster, y’all. Alabaster. That is so sad. Also, Loreal didn’t ask me to endorse this foundation but I would appreciate it if they would because I’m out of coupons.

LINK LOVE: If you’ve ever worked retail, notalwaysright.com will crack you up. If you’ve ever been pregnant or liked pictures of Ryan Gosling, this post will make you snort your drink up your nose. Ask me how I know that. And in serious-but-excellent things I’ve read this week, Don’t Carpe Diem is one of the best asides I’ve read on parenting.

Happy Friday everyone! SOMEONE was all “I don’t WANT to take pictures, I want to watch my video” this morning. So then Jeff was like “Fine, whatever” and left me alone with my Sesame Street DVD.  Just kidding. Although I do have a cranky baby cutting teeth today and if I had any idea what a “wit” was, I’m pretty sure I’d be at the end of it.