Tote/Purse Talk

I was tagged by beautiful Jamie for this meme.




So, this is me with my Purse. Yesterday was a normal day around here, so you can see what my mommy style is...simple, but comfortable. Yesterday it was jeans and a sweatshirt. That was mostly because nothing was feeling 'right' when I got dressed. I literally had on 2 other shirts before sticking with the sweatshirt. I'd blame it on 'winter weight', but that hasn't changed lately. I guess it was just me and the mood I was in. Any way, this sweatshirt I bought when we were up visiting the North Shore/Duluth over a year ago. I found it on clearance for $10. Seriously, I'm wishing I had bought another one. Which is saying a lot for me since I'm not really a 'sweatshirt person'. This one, I do like. Otherwise, most days I am a plain, simple shirt type of gal. And yes, Jamie, I'm with you. If I find one I like, I buy a couple in different colors! Mostly, I gravitate toward the least expensive/generic t-shirts and spend $5-$8. My thought is then if I get tired of them or if they shrink (or if I should get bigger!), it isn't a major loss of money. I don't mind my Walmart/Target/Christopher & Banks style.

Ok, my purse. This is my newest/current purse for the winter. I just bought this one a couple weeks ago at Kohl's. I wanted something that could go with either my every day or my dress coat. The common black or brown didn't seem to work with either, so I opted for this one. I also thought the color and style was kind of fun and would liven up those winter blues! I bought it on clearance for around $16. Not bad. I mostly seek out a fun, yet practical purse. These days I don't need one that I can fit diapers into, but I think this one will work well when I should need to again.


Alright, I tag Lerin & Stacey! What do you have ladies??

Look What I've Been Up To

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

7 Quick Takes

1. I am so glad today is FINALLY Friday. My week has really been mixed up. I've been one day ahead all week. I think it has to do with the fact that Reed was home from work on Monday for the MLK holiday. On Monday I decided to run into town (ie. the closest 'big' city to us, which is 17 miles away)to do just a couple of errands. I found that Monday morning, before 9:00 is a great time to shop. I had run of the stores! While at Super Walmart, I decided that although we usually buy items such as ice cream only when they are on sale, that we could afford the splurge and the treat. I called Reed and told him to ask the kids what kind of ice cream they'd like: vanilla, strawberry swirl or chocolate swirl. They were able to agree and Jonah shouted 'chocolate squirrel'!! I thought I had misheard, but when I arrived home, he was looking for the chocolate squirrel ice cream!

2. Speaking of squirrels...or more like deer and rabbits. Both of which we seem to have an abundance of in our yard. It seems that the rabbit population is at an all time high in our neck of the woods. This became apparent a few weeks ago when I realized while looking out my window that half of the barberry bushes in our backyard were missing. After further inspection, hubby concluded that it had in fact been rabbits. Well, since then, the evidence is clear. Our yard is being ran by rabbits!! They are attempting to eat just about every bush in our landscaping around our home and there are droppings EVERYWHERE. No, literally, EVERYWHERE!! Trust me, as I type, I am repulsed. I can't even mention when I go out in the yard. *Ugh* To add to our rabbit population, the deer have also returned. For us, visits by the deer are normal and tend to go in cycles. Yes, there are those of you who think these are beautiful, graceful creatures. I may agree, however, there's a line they cross when they start 'roughing up' our pine trees, eating the bushes and in the summer, eating MY flowers! And, just like the rabbits, leaving droppings in the yard. Since we've had all of this snow, I've noticed that there have been no tracks or evidence that they've visited. Until the other night. I woke up yesterday to find tracks ALL OVER our yard that were not there the day before and obviously were from deer. I mentioned to Lily that the deer had been out dancing in our yard by the looks of it. Later yesterday, while the kids were out playing, Lily found some type of animal leavings and declared "the deer where here. It looks like one of them must have gotten sick from all of their dancing!" Funny, but oh so icky too. God's creatures they are. My friends they are not.

3. All kids go through stages. This I know. Lately, Jonah is in the stage where things matter. It is wearing on me a bit. What color his cup is at mealtime, who brushes his teeth at night, who washes his hands....the list goes on. I have also noticed though that he is seeking counsel from his sister when a choice is given to both of them. He'll ask Lily which one she wants and he'll side with her. Which, is a good thing I guess. He could be asking her and then choosing the opposite, just do be difficult.

4. I am looking forward to a baby shower tomorrow for my nephew's wife. Yes, next month I will become Great Aunt for the second time!! Somehow that's amazing to me since I am just 30 and still hoping to have more children myself. A friend of mine had a little boy this week, Lawrence Mark. I can't help but celebrate with these women as they are blessed with little ones. Even in my lack of fertility, I cannot help but be hopeful that our home will soon be blessed with a new little one too.

5. I am considering taking a digital scrapbooking course through community education in February. They are teaching using the Adobe Photoshop program. I figured before I sign up for the class that I'd check how much the program is. After all, it's pointless to take the course and then find out that the program is way more than I'd be spending. Well, that kind of seems to be the case. Unless I am completely confused (and I very well could be), that program is hundreds of dollars. More than I will be spending. I did find other programs though, but I am unsure if they include digital scrapbooking or not. I also found tutorials available online that may be helpful. However, now I am even more confused. I thought this was something I'd enjoy doing, so that was why I considered the course. I guess I've got to do a lot more searching and see if anyone I know uses any of these programs. Anyone??

6. While reading this book , I have become very inspired to do more in our local Catholic homeschool group. We're a small group, but I see room for a little growth especially in the age group that my kids are in. I have found a ton of ideas for little things to do to start little clubs for the kids. I am seriously considering starting a Little Flowers Club within our group. I need to check out The Little Flowers Girls' Club Manual by Rachel Watkins to learn more. I also need to prayerfully consider this venture as well.

7. Inauguration Day has come and gone. I did watch tidbits here and there during the day, but not really any amount of time longer than a few minutes. I did, however, see plenty of recaps all about it. Mostly, I saw the portion during the Oath where there was a transference of words and some confusion. I was interested to find out yesterday that a 're-do' of the Oath was done the following evening. It was done with all words correctly stated in the proper order. As I was reading the news story on the 're-do', I did find it interesting that the Bible was not used. For some reason it was decided that the Lincoln Bible was not needed in the second instance. Hmm...I'm not sure, but if we're doing something a second time just to be extra sure that it is done properly, shouldn't we include all parts that the original carried?? Also, I just saw a story this morning on President Obama and he was in his office writing. I didn't realize he was left handed. Not that it means anything. For some reason, I just happened to notice. You know you're a woman/mom when you notice stuff like that I guess.


For more Quick Takes, check out Jennifer at Conversion Diary!

For The Beauty Of The Earth

Just some picture thoughts today. We were blessed with a warm day yesterday, 30 degrees, so we were able to get out and enjoy the beauty of God's earth. I took these while we were out on our evening walk, enjoying the sunset.

Lily & Jonah on top of a snow drift:


Overlooking the lake:


Out on the ice:




A Glorious Winter Day in Minnesota!

Jewelry Box & Haircut

Just pictures today of Lily with her completed jewelry box she was working on last week. She is thrilled by her accomplishment and I think she did a beautiful job. She spent a lot of time patiently painting and waiting for it to dry before adding more paint and embellishments. In these photos she's also showing off her new haircut. She'd been asking for a haircut for a couple weeks and I had resolved not to cut it this time, but make it special and take her in somewhere and let a professional do it. Well, by Saturday Lily could wait no longer and insisted that I just do it. So, the scissor came out and soon it was short. I must confess, a bit shorter than I had anticipated. But cute! I don't mind cutting Lily's hair (although I have a long way to go on getting it all completely 'even' afterward), because she has super straight hair. I think if she had any wave in it like mine, I would not attempt it. Nonetheless, she's LOVING her new hair to pieces! We even joke with her that she looks like Lucy from the first Chronicles of Narnia movie. She smiles when we say that because she really likes Lucy! And of course with a new haircut for my little ones, I am always caught off-guard on how much they grow up with just a few snips of the scissor. Growing up too fast for mommy. But for everything there is a season...for now I will try to enjoy this one that Lily is in. Not long and another one will roll in unexpectedly.

What will we be doing tomorrow??

Last November, when my husband and I woke up the morning after Election Day, we braced ourselves for the results of the Presidential Election. I literally turned away from the computer screen as it powered up my news source on the web and I squinted as I slowly faced the computer...and reality. The results were tough to see and immediately I went into 'flight' mode, desiring to be far away (and even siting Canada as an alternative)from the media that day. Reed even tried going to work that day, but got down the road and came back home. We decided that we'd whisk our little family away, even if just for the day. We chose to drive 1 1/2 hours away and hit some outlets and mini malls (therapy for me) and find an activity that would be fun for the kids and something we could do as a fun family outing. It turned out that in that same area there was a Chuck E. Cheese and it served as a great place to get away and let the kids have fun for a few hours. I know, all of it, unrealistic. I knew then that one day I'd have to come face to face with the outcome of the election. One day in January, Inauguration Day would come and I'd have to face this historical moment.

Tomorrow is the Big Day. I've already pleaded with Reed to stay home and we can just run away again. Away from media. Away from reality. Please don't think that this is a common occurrence in our home. That's not how we deal with things. It's just that this election and all that hinged on it left me with a little less hope in my heart. I know that God can change hearts and minds and I believe that He will do that. I do fear though mostly for the little innocent ones who may be affected the most by this historical election.

I am still deciding what we will do tomorrow. I will be home with the kids tomorrow, but I don't know that the tv will be turned on in my home. Right now, I just don't think I can sit through the speech, the parade and all of the media coverage. The biased media coverage. I am torn. I know that this will be a historical moment that my children should witness and will serve as a good lesson on Presidency and citizenship. I'm just not sure that I can handle listening to it all, without sadness, without judgement, without anger.

For now, the plan for tomorrow will be the same as any other school day. We will follow our normal routine and go about our day. We will, however, also light a candle and pray for our great nation and its leadership. That may be all I can do. We'll see what tomorrow brings.

What will you be doing tomorrow?

7 Quick Takes Friday

1. This week has been a bit long in our house. We've been confined indoors all week, mostly due to the snow and frigid temps. We've come up with plenty of things to do, but it just seems that this week has kind of been never ending. One of the projects Lily is working on this week is her jewelry box kit she received as a Christmas gift. It's become quite the little artistic box and she can't wait to put her few pieces of jewelry inside when it's finished.

2. This weekend is one of our few long weekends at our house. We look forward to weekends like these because it means daddy is home for 3 days instead of 2! Due to MLK Jr. Day on Monday, daddy will be home with us. It is one of the things I am grateful for, due to Reed being a city government employee. No big plans, but that's good too.

3. I've been thankful this week that I've made a better effort (and succeeded) at creating a better/workable time each day for my personal and family prayer time. So far, it's been a good schedule and I hope we can keep it up!

4. I've been in kind of a rut when it comes to our evening/supper meal. Nothing has really been sound that enticing, for whatever reason, and even less appealing to prepare and put on the table. I finally sat down again this week and put together some menu ideas and prepared a couple of meals to put in the freezer for another day. Maybe that will help me get out of my rut and enjoy making supper again!

5. For Christmas, I put together a gift for Lily I thought she'd enjoy. I cut blocks of fleece for her to make a tie blanket. At the time I was thinking of the fun we'd have working on it together this winter. It turned out to be 48 blocks total. Well, I don't know WHAT I WAS THINKING!! Lily is struggling with the tieing and easily gets frustrated/bored with the project. So, guess who's been working on the tie blanket?? Yes, me. Not that I wouldn't enjoy it, but after awhile it gets tedious. Now I'm thinking that we can leave it half completed and hope my nephew's wife has a baby girl next month and give to her! Guess how well that idea was received when I brought it up yesterday! So, I will continue to plow on with the blanket and not consider a project this large for my 6 year old anytime again soon! I think we'll stick with painting animals and jewelry boxes!!

6. Yesterday I ordered two books for myself and can't wait to get them started. They are: Grace Cafe & The Domestic Church: Room by Room . Both are by author Donna-Marie Cooper O'Boyle. All things mommy hood and domestic church seem to draw me in these days, so these books are looking enticing.

7. Although this week has had some rough spots and the winter is overwhelming me, I have had my heart warmed and my head filled as I've been inspired. I have slowly been adding to my 'Blogs I Read' list and surrounded myself with some amazing women. I enjoy daily peeking in the windows of their homes and hearts as they share their lives as mothers. Check them out in my list of 'Blogs I Read' in my sidebar and I'm sure you will agree! Thanks Ladies!


For more Quick Takes Friday, check out Jennifer at Conversion Diary!