Tag!

A little bit of fun stuff today.  I'm playing a little catch up for the last month - can you believe it's the end of March already?! Seriously, where did this month go??

First of all, I want to send out a big thank you to Amanda from School House Scraps for giving me the Liebster award. 

Now, what is the Liebster Blog Award?

Liebster is German and means 'dearest' or 'beloved',

but it can also mean 'favorite'.

I also want to thank Cameron from Homemade for giving me The Versatile Blogger award.  It's always nice to be noticed and appreciated.

 

 

The Versatile Blogger Award is a great way to introduce different bloggers to each other and to promote quality blogs that awardees and their readers may not have discovered otherwise.

So thank you so much, both of you, I'm honored, really.

 

 

Then I got tagged, twice.  I guess that really makes me It. :)  Amy from One Artsy Mama and Kadie from Seven Alive both tagged me blogger style.  Since I've always loved these kind of little "get-to-know-you" quizzes I'm playing along.  However, since they both tagged me and you'll all probably be bored reading this anyway, I'm picking and choosing which 11 questions I want to answer.  Some of them are hard questions. lol

Here's how it works:

RULES
**You must post the rules {?!}
**Answer the 11 questions that the tagger posted for you & then create 11 questions to ask the people you’ve tagged
**Tag 11 people and link them in your post
**Let them know you have tagged them

1. If you could have coffee with any one person, living or not, who would it be?

Well, I don't drink coffee, but I'd love to have a Coke with either of my grandpa's.  They both died just before I was born and I'd love to be able to sit and chat with them.  My Grandpa C. worked for the Coke company for years, so it'd have to be a Coke.

This is my Grandpa and Grandma C.  Aren't they just so cute!

2. What is one quality you'd like to develop in yourself?

It would have to be patience.  I think that's why I was blessed with triplets, on top of the 3 kids we already had, because I really need to learn patience.  I'm working on it daily - some days they test it more than others. :)  Also the ability to NOT procrastinate, again a daily struggle.

My 6 plus my niece, Ashtyn.

3.What is the last book you read, or are currently reading?

I'm reading a diet book (Perfect 10 - very interesting, but I don't like these kind of books very much so it's slow going),  an organizing your kids book - can't even remember what it's called right now,  read Hunger Games last week for the second time before we went to the movie, reading the next two books this week because I forgot how good they were, and then reading Divergent by Veronica Roth (so good!) again before the next one in the series comes out in May.  That's why I added it to my "recommend" list on the right side of the page.

4.  What is your favorite book?

I love to read, so I had to answer both these questions.  My favorite book would have to be These is My Words by Nancy Turner.  I really like historical fiction (as well as YA fiction), and I have a thing for pioneers, Little House on the Prairie, that time period. 

4.  If time, money, and kids were not a factor and you could go anywhere in the world, where would it be?

Anywhere - traveling would be nice. lol  Bill is not much of a traveler.  I'm really kicking myself that I didn't visit my parents while they were in St. Petersburg, Russia.  So I'd like to go there, but I'd also really like to go to Australia someday.

5.   If you could only eat one dessert for the rest of your life, what would it be?

Brownies!  Love 'em!  For a little variety, I'd add a scoop of vanilla ice cream and some carmel drizzled on top.

6.  You are on a beautiful beach, warm sun and sand. Are you most likely to build a sand castle, or swim in the ocean?

I'm building sandcastles, the ocean scares me. lol  Okay, I've only been to the ocean twice, and I can't even remember the first time, but the pull of the tide was scary.  I'm not a good swimmer at all.  However, back in the day, I could build an awesome town of rivers and lakes in the sandbox.

7.  How much time do you spend on the computer a day?

Umm, too much, don't tell Bill!  Some days are better than others, though, and I am doing a lot better at prioritizing and getting my things done and getting off the computer.

8.   If you could relive one moment or day in your life, what would it be and why?

My wedding day, there are so many things I'd do different and would enjoy more and the day went WAY, too fast.

9.  What is your favorite season and why?

I love Fall, when we have a good fall, the colors are fabulous, the temperatures are cooling off, gardening is done, the excitement of a new year of school is there, fun things to do, and I can start making my favorite comfort foods again, things like meatloaf and baked potatoes, and chili.
However, I love Winter, too.  I love the landscape covered in a blanket of white.  Love a good blizzard (not if I'm out in it though), the possibility and crossing fingers hoping for a snow day, the dread of hearing the snowplow go by at 6 a.m. knowing we aren't getting out of school.  The hush that a new snow leaves over everything, it really is quieter.  Playing in the snow, sledding behind my dad's pickup - when I was little and now, showing my kids how to do it and watching my kids have a blast!  

The view out my back door.

10. Which sense would be the hardest for you to lose: sight, hearing, taste, or smell? Why? 
Sight - I would miss seeing my children grow up, the joy on their faces at new things, the excitement on their faces, seeing the looks that only I know what they mean, just seeing how much they will grow and change in the coming years.

They've already grown so fast in these past 7 years, I can't imagine the next 7.

11.  Which superpower would you choose: the ability to fly, the ability to read minds, or x-ray vision, and why?
This would be a double-edged sword, but I would choose the ability to read minds.  I would FINALLY be able to figure Bill out. :)  I'd also love to know what people are really thinking about me or the situation, but there in lies the bad part, too. 


And now I'm tagging (and I call no tag-backs!) . . .

Rachel at Adventures of a DIY Mom

Brianna at Babblings and More actually all 4 of you can do it if you want. :)

Kara at Happy Go Lucky

Kendra at Key Lime Digital

Korrie at Red Hen Home

Kim at Too Much Time on My Hands

Christina at The Tattered Tag

Christine at The DIY Dreamer

Holly at Vintage Farm Furniture

Becky at Clean Mama

Danielle at Blissful and Domestic

Here are my 11 questions:
1. If you could go back in time, when would you go back to, or what time period would you visit?
2. What position are you in your family growing up and do feel you have the characteristics of that position (oldest, youngest, middle child, only child, etc.)?
3. What is your best feature and why do you like it?
4. You rub a lamp and find a genie. What are your three wishes? (and no wishing for more wishes!)
5. What's your favorite thing to do on a rainy day?
6. What music are you listening to right now on your computer, ipod, in the car, where ever?
7. What talent do you wish you had?
8. Share a nickname you had/have and how you got it.
9. If given the chance, would you go back in time and go through high school again? Why or why not? Apparently time travel is on my mind today. lol
10. What's your idea of a perfect vacation - money's no object.
11. Name one thing you'd do or have in your dream home.

To those I've tagged, if you don't feel like participating, no big deal.  It's all fun!  If anyone reading wants to play along, you can leave the answers in the comments or if you blog, answer these questions on your blog and leave a link in the comments.  Thanks Amy and Kadie, this was fun! 


 

A New Look

  So what do you think?  Notice anything . . . different?  I got a makeover!! Yeah!  Last week on Type A Decorating, I won a giveaway of a new blog design by Shabby Creations.  I've been wanting a new design for quite a while.  I feel like I'm a "real" blogger now that I have a "real" design instead of just a copy and pasted one.  Oh, and I also have a signature, how cool is that!  Anyway, Michelle was great to work with.  She has some fantastic pre-designed stuff or she can do custom work, too.  So I got to pick from her premade designs, what a dilemma.  They were all so cute.  I picked some of my favorites, asked my girls for their opinions, not surprisingly we all liked the same ones.  I even emailed my sister, Leslie, and asked what she liked.  What's funny, is only one of the ones she liked best was one Cheyenne and I liked.  Anyway, when I saw the name of this design, Kimmy, I HAD to pick this one.  See, that's been my nickname forever.  When I was little, my family all called my Kimmy, I didn't really like it.  But eventually I grew out of the name, except for my Grandma C. she always called me Kimmy.  Then I became an aunt and I was back to Kimmy, although this time I liked it a lot more.  Sadly, all those cute little nephews and two nieces (yes, we're very short on the girls in this family, but I did my part. :) ) have grown up and only Leslie's little boys still call me Aunt Kimmy.  So there's some random information for ya! lol  I'm loving my new design, it makes me happy!  And it was a great birthday present.

Jon's present.

Speaking of my birthday, that's why I've been a little absent this week.  I'm just taking it easy this week, life's been a little stressful/busy lately.  So I had a great birthday!  It started with this awesome, surprise post from Leslie.  Wow, we've had a lot of fun together over the years.  I can honestly say she is one of my best friends, both my sisters are.  I'm very lucky that way!  And then more awesomeness, my parents took me out to lunch.  They are so cool!  I love so close to them.  I can visit them any time, they come support my kids' activities, we have birthday parties together (along with my brother who lives close, too), it's great!  I'm really going to miss them when they leave on another mission for our church in April.  Luckily it's not very far this time, so we'll still be able to visit them.  Back to my birthday, Natalie asked her dad to bring home pizza for dinner and Cheyenne made me a cake.  The boys made me some presents they had hiding under their bed so I couldn't peak. :)  Jon gave me a picture of a whale he drew (apparently a new skill he's quite proud of), a bookmark, and a new pencil.  Both boys gave me two jaw breakers and a gift certificate to make me some brownies - my favorite treat.  Cheyenne said the gift certificate originally said I could make THEM some brownies.  She told them that wasn't a birthday present and they said, "Well, Uncle Thomas gave YOU stuff to make HIM cookies for your birthday."  (See the whole story here.)  She convinced them it would be nicer this way and that she would help them.  What a good sister.  :)  Then a total surprise when Bill gave me a video camera!  This thing is so tiny!  Seriously, it's the size of my small, point-and-shoot camera.  I'm so excited to test it out on Saturday at Billy's basketball game.  My kids better watch out, we'll be videoing everything for posterity now. lol  All in all, it was a great day!  I got lots of birthday wishes, some great friends brought me presents, my kids were angels all day (no fighting!), what more could a person ask for.  Thank you all for a wonderful day!

P.S. I forgot to add that I added the new Linky follower on the right side.  Google is discontinuing Google Friends Connect for anyone who's not on Blogger on March 1.  There is also a rumor that they will discontinue it altogether at a later date.  (Pushing everyone to use Google+.)   What does this mean?  It means all those favorite blogs that you enjoy and read often will not show up in your reader anymore.  Solution - Linky Followers.  It's free to set up an account and it's very similar to GFC with one big plus - I love the fact that you can categorize the blogs you follow: blogs to check daily, family, friends, cooking, craft, etc., whatever you want.  So go sign up before you loose all those favorite blogs you're following.  I'd love it if you follow me, too.

Weight-loss Accountability

Well, it's been a month now since I started working on my goals, especially my weight-loss goal (see here.)  Time to fess up, be accountable, and resolve to do better. 

So how have I done, well, good and not so good.  I'm happy to report that I'm back in the habit of drinking water every day and it's getting easier.  Which also means I'm doing pretty good (I slipped a couple times) at limiting my pop intake to only once a week.  I've found it's really hard to get all my water in when I nurse a pop all afternoon.  Plus if you remember this post here, I have to drink an extra glass of water for every pop I drink.  I'm actually not craving it so much either, and I really savor it and enjoy the taste so much more when I do have a pop.

I've also started exercising again and it is fun-ish. lol I haven't made it a solid habit again, but I have really tried to incorporate more strength training into every day.  Just little bits here and there, but it's something.  This is really going to be my focus for the next couple of weeks.  I have got to make myself (not really a morning person) get up at 6 and get moving!!

It's also time to really start taking notice of what I'm eating.  I'm reading a really good book,The Perfect 10 Diet, but it's taking FOREVER to get to the part of what I should and shouldn't be eating.  Yah, that's been my excuse for the past 3 weeks, but no more!  This book is making perfect sense and my doctor has been telling me I should be eating this way for several years now.  But I'm not a lover of "self-help" books and so I don't read them really fast and this one, while giving me a wealth of knowledge in the "why" category, I haven't gotten to the "how" part yet. :)  I know excuses, excuses.  If anyone is interested, the Kindle version is only $1.99 (if you have an ipad or iphone, download the kindle app, it's great!)

So anyway, I've only lost 2 lbs. so far.  However, my first week drinking that much water, it must have flushed (ha, ha pun intended) my system and my fingers got skinnier.  How lame is it that my fingers and my wrists are the first place I lose weight.  But I actually wore my wedding ring the other day (have only wore it sporadically for the last 6 years) and my watch is much looser on my wrist.  It's a start. 

Here we are to a new month and my resolve, with a slight change in focus, begins again.  I've gained some ground, and that's the most important part.  I found this great visual reminder on Pinterest.  I'm making this and putting it on the shelves next to my desk.  Next month, the "pounds to go" jar will be lower!

How are your goals/resolutions coming along?  Are you still sticking with them?  Do you need to reevaluate and maybe make some changes or tweeks to your goal? 

Sharing the accountability with:

What's Your Design Style?

As I was searching for family room pictures to include in yesterday's post here, I noticed that all the rooms I really liked were all starting to look the same.  Hmm, maybe I do have a style. lol Then I came across a great post from Compulsive in Texas in which she linked to a fun decorating quiz and talked about her decorating style.  So I took this quiz, from BHG.com, and as I sort of expected got the result of "Country".  This is what it said:
"You like to surround yourself with things that make you comfortable, so Country style is the way to go. This look connects with nature and days gone by while remaining fresh and original. An easy place to start your Country decor is with a blue-and-white color scheme and weather-worn wooden tables or benches. Accessorize with collections of anything you love. Antique furnishings—often creatively repurposed for today's lifestyle—are casual and rustic."
This is some what true, although I don't really like EVERYTHING rustic or antique, not a huge fan of blue-and-white color scheme, and I strongly dislike ruffles and flowery stuff - so not me!

So I decided to find some more quizzes to see if they all agreed.  I found this quiz at RealSimple.  My result here, "Cozy Casual":
"You’re about comfort and warmth, favoring warm, traditional rooms made for relaxing with family and friends. Your ideal decor draws on English and early-American furniture designs, as well as laid-back country, cottage, and farmhouse styles. Weathered, low-maintenance furnishings are easy, inviting, and built for daily life. Think golden retrievers, fuzzy slippers, and just about any movie by Nancy Meyers. To see more about Cozy Casual style, including a sample room, click here."
I like this description, it is pretty good.  Farmhouse style, yes, my house is a farmhouse style; golden retriever, I'd love one; fuzzy slippers, yes, I'm wearing mine right now. I had to look up who Nancy Meyers is and while I do like most of her movies, they're not my favorites.

Traditional living room design by other metros architect Paddle Creek Design

I love this room, except the flowery chairs.  I'd like them in red.  And that couch, the one in the center of the picture, love it.  In fact, I have a couch very similar to that.  This quiz also gave some features of each design style.  Cozy casual likes rolled arm couches with ball feet or skirts - that's totally what I'm always drawn to.

So now I was really having fun and found one more quiz to take, TheHomeStylist.  This was more of a personality test along with being home styles.  Very interesting to see how my personality totally nailed my design style, too. My results:
"Your style is Classic Traditional.

You like things matching and well placed. You prefer classic colors such as navy, burgundy, forest green, and beige. You buy furniture that stands the test of time. You don’t like trendy fads nor clutter. You keep a clean house. There are only a few knick-knacks but plenty of family photos. Traditions and family are important to you. When you entertain you invite close friends and family. You don’t like new things and are hesitant to try new colors or furniture placements. You grew up in a very traditionally decorated home and that is what you are most comfortable with. Your decorating challenge is for you home to not be too predictable or boring."

Umm, this is a little embarrassing, but that description is spot on!  I'm sure my family is all laughing now.  Up until a year ago, my family room was navy and burgundy, my living room is burgundy and forest green, my bedroom was navy and burgundy.  Now I've really updated and my family room is brown and barn red (see here), and my bedroom is beige. lol  Yes, my house is predictable and boring which was exactly why I was looking at all these sites. :)

This is my bedroom (see a little more here) , although now there is a window above the bed, so that wall is not quite so plain.  But yeah, beige, classic traditional, cozy casual, a little bit country, and a little boring.  I guess it's me. lol

So what do you do when you want to spruce things up a little.  I start dreaming.  Pinterest is great, I have my "For the Home" board there where I collect all my inspirations usually from other places on the web.  However, It's amazing what others have posted as well.  Search for whatever you're looking to update, kitchen, bathroom, etc. and you'll find all kinds of things.  All three of the above posted sites had great home style tips and articles, also, but my favorite new place to visit is Houzz.com.  Wow, talk about an amazing collection of home ideas!!  They have everything from exteriors to interiors, pools to porches, even closets to wine cellars. lol  You can even save everything you like to your own "idea book."  It's fun!

So what's your design style?  Does your house reflect who you are, your personality?  If you take any of these quizzes, I'd love to hear what your design style is and if you agree with it.



P.S. My sister and frequent guest poster, Leslie, took the quiz and shared her fabulous style here.

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iPad Apps

It's been one of those days.  It's now 3:30 and I'm finally eating lunch and getting around to getting a post up today.  I had my nice little day all planned and NOTHING went according to plan. :)  We have a several dvd machines (like red box) around the area, and I always load the new movies in the two in town.  This usually takes maybe 5 min. at each store.  Today it took almost an hour between the two!  I should have just bought the heart wreath form I found yesterday, although it was smaller than I wanted. Instead, I spent a great deal of time trying to configure in my mind how to make my own while staring at styrofoam and wandering around my local craft store when they didn't have any heart wreaths at all.  I spent an insane amount of time standing in a return line at Walmart, just to return a hanger (okay, it was a $5 hanger and I really had no use for it. I'm not sure it was worth it.)  I bought a box.  Exciting, I know.  I always feel pretty lame when I have to pay money for a box, but just I didn't have one the right size.  I did get 32 certificates ready and delivered to my youngest childrens' school as part of the student achievement awards I'm in charge of.  Even those didn't go as quickly as I wanted either.  I've had 1 glass of water today, I think, and I broke down and bought a pop while I was in town starving and trying to ward off a headache.  :(  At least I got to come home to these cuties:

Pictures from 2010

They make me smile.  They're pretty goofy.  I sure love them all!

Anyhoo, the real reason for the post today, my sister, Leslie, and I both got iPads for Christmas.  So we want to know your favorite apps.  Leslie wondered if anyone had any recommendations for good educational (kids) apps.  I just want to know anything fun, helpful, whatever, that you use.  I'm pretty much a novice to all apps.  I don't even have a smart phone! Gasp!! I know, heck, I barely started texting a few months ago.  So any recommendations would be awesome.  What apps can you not live without?  Which ones do you use daily?  Which ones do your kids play/use when they steal your iPad?  Leave a comment and let us know your favorites.

Word of the Year and Accountability

Here goes, I'm going more personal here today.  I need your help.  I need YOU to keep me accountable.  Yes, I'm talking weight-loss.  I'm 175 pounds (yikes! and I just shared that with the world!!) and I don't want to be.  My kids wanted to go swimming last Friday and I seriously was not going to go/take them because I didn't want to put a swimming suit on.  Now that is just lame, limiting my activities because of my weight.  It's time to do something,more than just my usual wishful thinking resolution this time.  So I'm changing things up a little this year.  First of all, I've written my goal down (see my post here).

I'm also working on one mini-goal each week, and then I'll add on.  This week, I'm focusing on my water intake.  Good grief, I think I spent half the day in the bathroom yesterday, however, on the up side, I wasn't ever hungry.

As I was reading through my blog reader on Sunday, I came across a couple other blogs talking about having a "word of the year".  Interesting idea, I thought, but what would my word be.  "Simplify" - but that's nothing new, it's been my focus for a couple years now, and I've done more to un-simplify my life so that wouldn't work.  So as I was surfing the net/watching tv/reading a magazine (I'm a multi-tasker) a commercial caught my eye - the new Weight Watchers commercial.  Well, what I really noticed was the "Believe" popping up all over.  I like it!  Then the next day as I was reading a magazine on weight-loss goals/resolutions, part of it that jumped off the page at me was believing in yourself.  I found myself reading more about the same thing some place else and finally decided maybe it's something I need to work on.  Believing in myself.  Hmm, I guess it's been a while since I really thought about it, but yah, I don't really have a lot of confidence in myself anymore.  I'm not sure when that happened.  I remember being confident in high school, college even.  Is it something that oozes away along with memory and body shape with each new child we bring into this world? lol  I'm not sure, but I'm resolving to believe in myself this year, that's going to be my focus.  If I can believe in myself, then anything is possible.  I just found this quote recently on Pinterest:

Quote from imgspark.com

AWESOME!! This is my new motto.  I will acheive my goals this year and become the person I know I can be.  So I will be reporting my progress here throughout the year.  If I know I have to be accountable to you, maybe that'll make it a little easier to get up in the morning and get exercising.  And if anyone else wants to report their progress here, too, we'll all keep each other on the right track.

So what about you?  Have you ever thought of having a word for the year, what's your motto, what motivates you?  How do you build your self-confidence?  I'd love to hear what works for you.