Meet Me On Monday

"Blogging is a funny thing...we tell our most intimate thoughts for all to read and yet most of the time I find myself sitting and wondering, "who is this person!?" I know them...but yet I don't know them! I want to know who the person is behind all those words so I thought of a great way for all of us to "meet" each other!"
"Every Sunday Never Growing Old will post five get to know you questions that you can copy and paste into your own Monday post and we can all learn a little more about each and every one of us!!"


"Java will add a linky so we can follow who participates and get to know them better!! Be sure to link the POST and not just your whole blog!"

Questions:


1. What do you put on your hot dog?
2. Do you play Sudoku?
3. What is your favorite vegetable?
4. Do you color your hair?
5. What is your favorite brand of clothing?

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1. What do you put on your hot dog?
 
Ketchup only!!
 
2. Do you play Sudoku?
 
I LOVE LOVE LOVE Sudoku.  My husband thinks I am nuts because I like putting numbers in boxes but I love that it challenges my brain.  Just last night I was going through old magazines and ripping out the sudoku pages so I could do the puzzles later.
 
3. What is your favorite vegetable?
 
Potatos! I kow that it's not really a healthy vegetable but I'm not a fan of things green.  I could eat potatos any way ... mashed, fried, baked, boiled, etc etc. I feel like Bubba from Forrest Gump HAHA!
 
4. Do you color your hair?
 
Nope.  I used to but I just can't justify to myself spending over $100 on something that goes away.  After I stopped highlighting my hair and let it grow out I found out that I really love my natural color.  People ask me all the time if I highlight because it has so many differernt shades of brown in it.
 
5. What is your favorite brand of clothing?
 
I really love my St. Johns Bay jeans and Worthington shirts.  They are just JcPenny brands but I still love them.  I don't shop by brands but these are the two that I always end up buying without realizing it.

The Rabbit Hole

I had every intention of putting up a post yesterday and had it all planned out in my head.  Today it is gone.  I have no idea what I was going to write about. (sad!)

So let me tell you what I did with my spare time yesterday.  I have been reading a book called Organized Simplicity by Tsh Oxenreider.  I found this book via a book club that I joined and this is the next book to be read.  It looked really good so I went ahead and ordered it.  This is where this journey began.

I loved the book and the ideas so I decided to visit Tsh's blog (SimpleMom.net).  I loved her site and decided to check out who the contributors are.  From there I found Corey Allen's site (SimpleMarriage.net), Mandi Ehman's site (OrganizingYourWay.net) & (Life.YourWay.net), & then Charlie Park's site (PearBudget.com) where I enrolled in the 30 day free trial and set up my budget.

From one of those sites I found another called AboutOne and have considered signing up for their service. 


There were a few other sites I ended up on via these but I didn't save them because they just weren't of interest to me at this time.
It was one of those rabbit hole things that just kept going until finally I said to myself "I MUST WORK TODAY".  So I flipped back and forth to these sites and got some really great info and some plans on things I will be working on in my home within the next month.
 
Today I visited PersonalDividends.com, DaveRamsey.com, & OnlineOrganizing.com to get advice on what paper documents need to be kept for how long.  Each one has a different spin on this but I'm going with Dave Ramsey just because I trust what he has to say.  Anybody have any advice on this topic?

New Jewelry Finds

This past weekend I finally remembered to hit up this new store in town.  It's called $1 Jewelry.  When I first saw the sign I thought to myself "Yea Right!".  I figured it was going to be like the Dollar Store, not much for just $1. Boy was I wrong.  I walked in and the lady greeting me quickly let me know that every piece of Jewelry hanging on the 3 walls were just $1.  One display in the middle was $5.  This is officially my new favorite place!  Here is what I picked up:

Crystal Beaded necklace with earrings - $1.

Three pairs of earrings - $3

 Beautiful diamond looking circle necklace - $1.

The picture here of the circle necklace makes it look very cheap because it makes the metal look really dark but in real life it's very pretty.  I also put the circle on a different chain that I had.  (check out the new pic of me on the side bar and you can see a better pic of this necklace) I spent a total of $5 and love these pieces!  The lady in front of me said that the last time she was there she spent $40 and she was spending about that much then (HOLY COW!).

When I got home from town that day I had changed into a t-shirt. Later I wanted to try all these pieces on so I put on a dressy type shirt and was trying on each piece and giving myself a little review on how I liked each one (out loud).  I turned around after taking off the last one to find my husband leaning against our bed laughing.  I asked him how long he was there and he said something like "Two necklaces ago".  Plus he made fun of me for "dressing up" to try on jewelry.  I hate it when he catches me doing something totally ridiculous! HAHA!

Cake Picture

I don't normally post twice in one day but I wanted to post a picture of the cake I did for the shower on Saturday.  The cake and the shower both turned out really awesome.  I had a lot of fun and really shouldn't have been worried about anything, but that's just what I do.  I worry and get so nervous I can't eat anything but then everything always turns out fine. The only thing I would change is that I wish the cake wasn't as brown as it was, but it's still really pretty and wasn't chewy at all. 

I'm so glad I went with three layers rather than two.  It just made more of a statment on the table.  It was probably the most moist cake I've ever made (thank you God) and tasted amazing.  I want more just looking at it haha!

Meet Me On Monday

I came across something really cool last week called "Meet Me On Monday".  This is a blog hop hosted by Java at Never Growing Old.  There are 5 questions that I answer to help my readers get to know me a little better each week.  I LOVE meme's so this is right up my alley. 

Questions:


1. What is your favorite kind of fudge?
2. Is there snow outside your window?
3. What is your favorite meal of the day?
4. Do you text on your cell phone?
5. Waffles or pancakes?

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1. What is your favorite kind of fudge?
 
I ADORE fudge. Fudge is the most awesome creamy goodness that there ever was.  My favorite is just the plain old fashioned kind.  No nuts, no marshmellow, etc.  Just good creamy chocolate. YUM.  We have a candy store in town and I've tried their red velvet, cheesecake, and white chocolate which are all so good but my fav is still the original.
 
2. Is there snow outside your window?
 
I wish, but no there is no snow here in East Texas.  But we did get snow two years in a row which I don't THINK has happened in a long time.
 
3. What is your favorite meal of the day?
 
Breakfast.  I don't usually eat normal breakfast food during the week because it's just not that quick to make.  During the week I have a lean pocket of some kind.  On the weekends though it's all about eggs, bacon, toast, waffles, pancakes, french toast, etc etc etc! (not all in the same day of course!)
 
4. Do you text on your cell phone?
 
Of course! I text way more than I talk. Texting is usually how Adam & I talk during the day because he's not really supposed to have a phone at work and I'm usually on the phone with clients.  I'm not one of those people though that is constantly texting.  When Adam & I are together we usually turn our phones on vibrate and check them later.
 
5. Waffles or pancakes?
 
Ohhhh hard one because I love both!  My favorite is waffles though because they are so light and fluffy.  Now I'm hungry for breakfast food!
 
** I don't have any cute pictures to go with my questions.  Limited time and fear of getting a virus searching google **
 

Cakes, Showers, and Hunger Games

Tomorrow I'll be helping to host a bridal shower for my boss' daughter.  I'm nervous about that because the other hostesses are friends of my boss and I will be the youngest.  I know all of them so I'm not nervous about meeting them but just worried that I will embarrass myself in some way.  The party is going to be kinda fancy with a brunch, dessert, and gifts. For some reason I volunteered to bring the cake. As in make the cake from scratch and bring it.  I'm crazy!

I had made this particular cake last summer and my boss said it was so pretty and she asked if I would consider making it for the shower and I said sure.  The cake is a white chocolate strawberry shortcake. So I bought all my ingredients this morning and will be praying for the next 24 or so hours that it turns out better than perfect.  What if it's a total disaster? What if it's way too brown? What if my cream is too runny?  Too many what ifs!  I'm going to bake the cakes in the morning and then assemble everything at the house where the party is.  I'm going to make it a 3 layer so I don't want to risk having it fall over on the way.

(Total topic change)

I finished the Hunger Games series Wednesday.  This has made it to the top of my favorite books of all time list.  I told my mom and people on facebook that it has surpassed Twilight & Harry Potter for me.  But as my mom pointed out this series is completely different from those two, just as Twilight is completely different than Harry Potter.  This series does have the romantic undercurrent to it but it's primarily about family and the lead character fighting with everything she has in her being to save the lives of the ones that she loves.  It's a beautiful story that at times can be very violent, tragic, and sweet all at the same time.  One review on the author's site said that it was "Gladiator" meets "Project Runway". So true!

I would definitely recommend that everyone read this book pronto!  I'm predicting that it's the next "IT" series. The first movie is scheduled to release in 2013!

Never Too Late

I stated in my post about my goals for this month that I wanted to live in the moment.  As a part of that I have eliminated two phrases from my vocabulary ... "I'll do it later" and "I don't have time".  I've always used these two phrases SEVERAL times a day.  I'm a horrible procrastinator! Something that Adam said to me a couple of weeks ago has really stuck with me.  He said "It's never too late to start".  How true!

So when I find myself wanting to use these phrases I immediately either do what I'm trying to put off right then or make sure I do it before I go to bed if it's something at home.  I still haven't gotten this in check at work.  I always feel like I'm running behind at work and never truly caught up.

At home my biggest thing that I put off is the laundry.  Oh how I hate laundry! I've always taken the clothes out of the dryer and put all the towels, socks, underwear, and misc stuff in a basket.  Then I take all the stuff that needs to be hung up and fold it in half and lay it across the basket.  This usually piles up for about a week and I'll finally put them all away when Adam starts throwing stuff on the floor looking for socks or the pile gets to high.  I've always told myself the clothes don't get wrinkly since they aren't wadded up and I just don't have time to do it each day.

This week I'm trying very very hard to not let my clothes sit in a basket more than 24 hours.  I've started hanging up my clothes right out of the dryer in my laundry room.  I've discovered this is actually saving me time.  I only have to touch each thing that's getting hung up once rather than twice and then it's put away.  I hope this lasts, but it is frustrating because my laundry room is SO tiny.  I don't have any flat surface other than the washer and dryer so I'm trying to keep them cleared off, clean, and lint free so that I can use them to fold on.  I do have a basket of whites that I need to get folded when I get home tonight.

I'm trying to take a look at things that I do in my life that I can improve in some way.  I don't want to read a book that tells me how to be better at organizing, cooking, or cleaning, because I've BEEN THERE & DONE THAT!  I'm trying to figure things out in my own brain that work for me and my situation.  So not only do I want to live each day in the present but I also want to live each day as my own.  Not as what someone else thinks it should be.

New Look

Well if you are here on my blog you can see that I have a new look!  Isn't it GORGEOUS?!  Well maybe not 100% yet but I'm working on it.  This morning I decided I was done with the pink and just needed something new.  I stumbled across this background on the first site I came across and went from there.  Instead of finding a whole layout and just plugging it in I decided to do it myself.  I created the header and customized all of the colors, fonts, etc to the way you see them now!  I love the design thingy with blogger! So much easier than before!

I feel that this is much simpler and way more me.  I LOVE black & white prints (especially this one).  I also love adding red to black and white.  So this me for now.  I'm going to try to do something fancy with my header but this is all I could come up with now since I only have paint.  Maybe my mom can fix me up with one of her paint shop programs :).

Random

I really have nothing post worthy but gonna post anyways just to keep in the habit.  Probably gonna be pretty random today!

Sunday we gathered up things around our house that needed returning to the store for some reason.  There were the two mirrors I randomly bought to see what they looked like in the guest bathroom, a set of faucet handles that were the wrong size, a rug that we got in two different colors to see which we liked best, a laminate flooring trimmer Adam never used, a dog harness we bought when we first got Lexi 3 years ago, a curtain that I lost the receipt for 2 years ago, and a few other odds and ends.  We ended up with $90 back on two diff credit cards, $15 cash from Lowe's, $40 in a Wal-Mart gift card for things I didn't have receipts for and $75 cash back at Wal-mart for things I did have receipts for.  Not a bad day!  PLUS I ended up randomly finding a mirror that we agreed would look really good in the bathroom for $30.

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Work seems to be going really great lately.  Finally getting caught up from the huge storms and being gone for the holidays.  I can see the color of my desk again.

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I'm so sick of my cell phone.  It randomly shuts itself off, tells me I cannot access the Internet, and today it has started telling me I cannot delete text messages.  Who does this little plastic thing think it is? Seriously! I really want a new phone but I'm not eligible for an upgrade yet.  I'm really considering getting the iPhone but know that once I get it I will probably be hooked the the iworld and everything it has to offer.  Still deciding.

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I'm totally hooked with the Hunger Games series.  I'm currently in the middle of the third book and I just can't read it fast enough.  Yesterday when I was reading I completely forgot where I was and when something started I was amazed to see I was in my house rather than in the middle of a jungle. Crazy!  This series has definitely made it to the top of my list as far as my favorite series.  I think it's even surpassed Twilight & the Harry Potter series. It all depends on how it ends though.  It could be tragic, but I'm hoping not.

Another Post About Books

It's no secret here that I love books.  Very rarely do I pick up a book that I don't end up liking or find something in it that is of interest to me.  I'm not sure if I blogged about it or not but when I was doing my Christmas shopping I scored a great deal at Hastings and got 5 used books for $20.  All were huge hard back books.  You can't beat $4 a book!

Two of the books were part of a trilogy called the King Raven Trilogy by Stephen Lawhead.  I immediately started these first because I love Robin Hood and couldn't wait to see a new twist on the story.  Well I made it through the first one after 3 weeks and then started the second last week.  Yesterday I gave up.  I mean I just don't honestly care.  There is no suspense, no love story, no sense of I need to hurry and see what happens.  I'm very disappointed.  I've only ever abandoned a book in the middle once and only because I didn't agree with the things the author was teaching.  It's a sad sad day.

So I moved on and shelved those books ... I may even sell them back to the store ... I've NEVER done that before.  Yesterday I started The Hunger Games.  I'm already 1/3 in to the book and LOVE it!  This is how it should be!  I can't wait to see what happens and get my hands on the next two books.

I requested another book from Booksneeze now that I'm caught up on my reviews, so my to be read pile is really growing!  I love having a stack of good books to choose from.

January Goals

I have a post in the works right now that I just can't finish and hit publish on it.  It's a post about fear.  How fitting huh?  I'm still working on it and praying about it.

Today though I'm setting a few goals.  Ya I know ... 12 days late on the resolutions.  But this is not the same.  I usually set goals and then just forget about them.  Last year I vowed to lose 50lbs.  Well I think I gained 3lbs. My goal for this year is to live each day for today.  To stay in the moment and not be overwhelmed by yesterday or tomorrow.  I would also like to implement something that a fellow blogger did last year and that's to set monthly goals (or to-dos).  This will be a working list of things that I need to physically accomplish or do during the month.

Here is what I have on the agenda for this month so far:

1. Clean out all 3 of my inboxes.  Yes I have 3!  I have my regular day to day friend type email account, my junk mail account for things I sign up for (coupons, membership, bill reminders, newsletters, etc), and then my work email.  Combined I have 2789 messages in these inboxes.  Most in my work acct have been checked and replied to but not sorted or deleted.  My junk mail box alone has 1616.  I need a system people!

2.  Start putting papers in my filing cabinet as they come in and not worry about sorting the past two years worth of stuff before I set up my filing cabinet.

3.  Make the cake and help host a friends bridal shower on the 22nd. 

4.  Attend a gig for my brother-in-law's band (Also the 22nd I think).

5.  Order my calendar for this year from Flylady.net!

6.  Work out as much as possible before the 31st as this is my last month of membership at the gym.  Look into another month or set of months.

7.  Think about journaling my food.  (Don't want to overwhelm myself here! LOL)

Snowy Weekend

We had our first snow of the winter/year this weekend.  It was only about 2 inches or so but considering that I have only seen real snow now 3 times in my entire life this is pretty big.  I still can't believe it snowed two years in a row!  There is still a lot of snow on the trees but it's starting to melt now that it's about 35 degrees today.  I sure wish it would snow some more but it's gonna be in the 50s by this weekend.

I'm feeling a little better today.  I stayed home from work yesterday because I only had a few hours of sleep Sunday night.  Being this congested I just couldn't breathe!

I'm trying to get back in the DINNER swing.  Over the holidays I didn't cook dinner because Adam didn't need lunch for the next day.  So we either snacked or ate out.  Well now that we are back to our normal work/home routines I haven't clicked back in to chef mode.  I REALLY need to get back to planning at least the whole week ... preferably two weeks out.  When I do this my life is so much less complicated and I have more time but for some reason it's just so dang hard to figure out what I want to eat for the next two weeks.  Today I'm trying to put together a menu at least for the rest of this week so I won't have to go back to the grocery store until the weekend.

Cast of Characters by Max Lucado

“Some of the most powerful stories from the Bible will come alive for today's readers through these inspiring selections from the writings of Max Lucado. Max provides a compelling look at the most high-impact moments in the biblical narrative, drawn from his previous 20+ years of writing. At the end of each chapter will be study guide questions so the reader can go deeper into this scripture. Extraordinary stories are told about the following characters: Mary, Peter, Matthew, Joseph, Nicodemus, Woman at the Well, David, Esther, Job, The Samaritan Woman, John, Rich Young Man. And more” ~ From the back of the book.
I love this book and to be honest I haven’t totally completed it yet. It’s on that has really great short chapters that I can pick up and read between busy times and get the full effect because each chapter is about a new character. Max explores each story and tells it like it happened but also about what the character might have been thinking. He wonders at the thoughts of Joseph when Mary was giving birth to Jesus. What was the Woman at the Well thinking when Jesus showed up. As someone who hasn’t read and doesn’t know all the stories of the bible this is a great introduction to them. If you already know the stories then it would be a great other way of looking at them.

(Totally dropped the ball on this one too.... sorry booksneeze!)
Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher through the BookSneeze.com book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

Outlive Your Life by Max Lucado

"Are you more dinghy than cruise ship? More stand-in than movie star? More blue jeans than blue blood? Congratulations. God changes the world with folks like you.”
This book primarly covers the first 12 chapters of Acts. Max takes the chapters and breaks them down to share stories of what happened and how the same things happens today. The main concept of this book is that “We were made to make a difference”. Of course the main goal is to make a difference in the world but we forget sometimes that it all starts with one person. Through one small gesture of kindness we could change somebody’s life. Imagine the ripple effect of that! Max shares a story of a homeless man he saw at a red light. He took the man for a burger and they talked. A year later at the same red light the same guy was there and approached his car saying “Hey Max, remember me? Thanks for that burger”.
God still uses individual people to make a difference just like he did in acts with the apostles.
My favorite part of this book is that it doesn’t just have some vague ideas about how you should help your community, donate to charity, or just go out and change the world. It has specific examples and thoughts that you can do each day to help out. It’s not a call to open your wallet but to open up your heart and eyes to the world around you.
I know that sometimes I get so overwhelmed by the NEED of so many who are in poverty or the children who do not have families. I don’t do anything because I think ‘How do I chose?’. This book explains that even doing just a little could make a difference.
The book touches on some very basic concepts that sometimes are so simple we overlook them. Just having people over to your home and showing them a warm welcome can make a difference. Also REALLY looking at someone and seeing the need there. What do they need you to see to really help.

There is always one page that I mark in book that really stands out to me. In this one it’s page 106. The whole chapter is awesome but this is what stands out to me:

“Poverty IS rocket science (said by Rich Stearns) … Simple solutions don’t exist … Most of us don’t know what to do but someone does … Get ticked off ... Poverty is not the lack of charity but the lack of justice … No one can do everything, but everyone can do something … Get out of your comfort zone for Christ’s sake!”

(I read and wrote this review back in September but totally forgot to post it... Oops!)

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher through the BookSneeze.com book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

The Bug

Yesterday I woke up feeling like crap, so I figured the bug has finally gotten me.  Everyone I know is or has been sick in December.  I've had a sore throat since Monday and have had the feeling it would be getting worse soon.  Well after going to bed really late (10pm!) I didn't get enough sleep so I woke up exhausted and the bug just crept on in while my defences were down.  I immediately scheduled a Dr. appt because I have way too much going on to get sick (Who doesn't though?).

The doc gave me some anti-biotics and steroids.  At home I used some nose spray and some throat spray and promptly went to bed at 8:30pm (my normal time ... sad I know).  This morning I'm feeling tons better!  After hacking up some not so pleasant junk at least I can taste food again today.  Please Lord let me have conquered this bug before it had a chance to latch on good!

Adam is working tomorrow but then we are going to a wedding that we just found out about Wednesday.  I'm not offended that we weren't invited.  I actually don't know who the bride and groom are ... not even their names!  The girl getting married is the daughter of one of the band members in my brother-in-law's band so Adam was asked to help out with the sound system and play music.  Therefore, we are going to a wedding.  I love weddings!  I have nothing to wear and no money to buy something but hopefully my closet will spit something suitable out by tomorrow (Fingers crossed).

"New" House

Over the holidays Adam split up his two weeks vacation to combine with holidays he was getting paid for so that he could be off for two weeks!  He was a busy man in those two weeks.  It's not totally done yet but I wanted to share a few pictures.

First let me start off by saying we started a remodel on our guest bath last year (finished Nov this year) and put wood laminate flooring in that bath and hall.  Well we intended to put the same flooring in the living room, kitchen, dining room and laundry room but couldn't do it all at once.  Our plan was to do one room at a time as we could.  Well shortly after we decided this they discontinued our flooring.  Adam bought every box he could find since it was also really cheap and this was our last chance but we ended up really short.  We only had enough to do our kitchen and dining room so we left the carpet in the living room and did vinyl tile in the laundry room.

Ignore the wood at the top of this picture for a moment.  I forgot to take before photos until we got to the laundry room.  This tile (vinyl) was what I had in my laundry room and kitchen.  My dining room had carpet (weird I know) that matched the living room.

This is my new laundry room (minus the shoe rack that goes where the swiffer is). Adam still has molding to do at the bottom but that will have to wait until a weekend now that he's back to work.

Another view.  GORGEOUS!!

This is a quick picture (bad quality) of my kitchen flooring. LOVE IT!

Now along with all this flooring newness we had some other drama going on.  The weekend before Christmas our hot water heater went out.  Lovely ($350).  Then, Christmas weekend my stove went out. Awesome ($650).  So here is my new, totally awesome, glass top stove with a convection oven.  I do love it!  We could have gotten something cheaper but there was only $100 or so difference so I went with what I wanted rather than saving the money.

Lastly, here is my darling baby girl on my new bedding that Adam got me for Christmas. All this work really wore her out! I don't have a full shot of the bed yet because my room is a mess!  I'm working on that room now.

To us our house seems like a completely different house.  It's so much fresher and pleasant.  I need to take pictures of our guest bath because I've never posted those and I'm so proud of it too.  Now I just need to tackle our bedroom.   The bedding set Adam got me is a 24 piece set, so it also came with window sheers, valances, and tie backs in addition to all the bedding and pillows.  I need to get those changed out and buy more rods for the valances.  We went from a plain white comforter and pillow cases to all this red and gold.  It's like walking into a hotel every day.  Well the bed at least ... the rest of the room needs some help.  And don't get me started on the closet!

Knock Knock .... Hello?

Anybody home? Or rather ... anybody there?

Hello again blog world.  I'm not sure that anyone actually follows my blog anymore ... even though my followers vary between 29 and 30 randomly every once in a while. 

I took a break from public blogging and went private sometime back in November.  Not on this blog obviously but on a seperate one.  It was actually really great.  Several posts were thousands of words and extremely long but that's just how I roll.  You see, I jabber on and on and on until I realize I could have stated a simple thought with a few short sentences.  I got so wrapped around what I should write, what I shouldn't, and how it was written that I just stopped writting.  It was great to clear the cobwebs so to speak and I think I'll keep that private space for me to rant or jabber as needed.

But I'm back here with a HELLO 2011.  Now I'm wondering ... Do I actually have any active followers?  My counter may say I have 30 followers (or 29 depending upon the day) but I have never had more than a couple of commenters.  So is there anyone still out there?  If so please give a quick HELLO just to let me know you're still hanging with me.  I'm not a big commenter myself but I try to pipe up every once in a while on my favorite blogs just to let them know I'm still loving them.

I have no big news to share really.  No babies on the way or new animals to talk about.  It's still just us living our normal but toally awesome lives.  We had a great Christmas and the best New Years.  I'm looking forward to a new year full of hope and promise of great things.  I feel the need to learn more this year.  I want to learn more about God, myself, my husband, and a slew of other things!! Definately going to be an exciting year!!