Crystal's Ramblings

Weekly Goals - Week of 1/30

2012-01-29T22:48:00.002-05:00

Last Week's Goals

Things went well last week. I got a lot done but I am still struggling with finding a balance. This upcoming week will prove challenging as well since I have MOPs and I grade from home on Monday. I am continuing to add more and more new ideas to the Red Poppy etsy site and facebook page. So be sure to check it out!

Spiritual - ~~Go do the trial run of Sunday School with the children's director. Prayer journal nightly~~.

Sunday school was great! I am looking forward to starting this soon. I have also been writing in my prayer journal nightly and I am working on reading the Bible as well.

Kids - ~~More Structured "lessons" for Ty~~ and work on 1st grade core word activities for Reba. I keep meaning to print up some things for Reba and just haven't done it. Hopefully it will get done soon. As for Ty, he can now sing "ABCD" and it is adorable. We also did fingerpainting this week.

Financial - ~~Continue to meal plan. Have a Friday meeting with my husband to discuss our spending habits for the week. Continue marketing The Red Poppy and add new products!~~ Create a separate account just for The Red Poppy.
Household - ~~Weekly Challenge #4 and my normal chores.~~You can see my Weekly Challenge #4 results.

Personal - Scrapbook at least once (for myself) and blog about it. ~~Work out once~~. My husband and I went on a nice, long walk around the lake the other day. I am counting that as my workout!

This Week's Goals

Spiritual - Continue my prayer journal nightly, attend MOPS, and finish reading Psalms.

Kids - More structured lessons for TY and work on 1st grade core word activities for Reba.

Financial - Meeting with husby on Friday to discuss money spent. Create a separate account for the Red Poppy. Meal Plan for 2 Weeks (as suggested by Moneysavingmom.com's book).

Household - Weekly Challenge #5 (Recipes/cookbooks) and my normal chores.

Personal - Scrapbook at least once for myself and blog about it. Work out at least once.

The Red Poppy (New Goal Category) - Create 5 new items and post either to etsy or to The Red Poppy!

2012 Goal Update for January

2012-01-28T07:40:00.002-05:00

I feel like since the new year started so much has happened. I am definitely staying being even if I am "just a stay-at-home mom." Here are the updates:

Spiritual Goals - I start training to teach Sunday school tomorrow! I have continued my prayer journal and try to write in it on a nightly basis. I have also decided to try to start reading the Bible more and have been enjoying it!
Mommy Goals - I have really not gotten anywhere with making Reba be more accountable for helping more around the house, but this is an ongoing thing, right? We have been playing outside and doing learning activities and will continue to do more!

Wifey Goals - We went on a date night and had so much fun! We went to Bonefish Grill and enjoyed sitting together. We are already working on the plans for date night in February!

Financial Goals- We have been having weekly meetings for the past 2 weeks to discuss finances and this is helping soooooo much! I tell my husband every dime we have spent for the week. He is very laidback and doesn't care, but I do. So having to say, "I spent $10 at Target because I was bored" works for me. Also, if you haven't already checked out the Red Poppy - Cards and Crafts please do so! I decided to start selling my cards and crafts. I have an event lined up for next month and I am so excited. I also have an etsy shop as well, and will take custom orders.

Household Goals - I have continued to stay on top of things with the 52 Week Challenge. This has been a huge motivator for me!

Personal Goals - Well, I haven't been doing pilates, but I have walked some and that's better than nothing! Also, I have been doing so much crafting that I haven't updated my scrapbooking blog! I guess that's a good thing too, right?

Week 4: The 52 Week Organized House Challenge

2012-01-26T21:31:00.002-05:00

This week's challenge was to organize and clean your refrigerator. I saved this one until trash day (tomorrow). We had several different things that needed to be thrown out. Anyway, here are the before pictures with a couple of little wet heads after bathtime.

And after I cleaned it out it looked like I needed to go to the store! I did organize all the dressings together, jellies/jams, etc. All of the veggies are in one drawer, meats in another, etc.

Do You Let Them Just Create? Letting Kids Imaginations Run Wild!

2012-01-26T09:02:00.000-05:00

Do you ever just let your kids create? Without any rules?

I plan many activities for my kids and we do a lot of fun things together. However, I would encourage you to just let your kids create.

I really wanted to scrapbook, but I knew Reba (age 5) wouldn't want to just play on her own. So, I invited her to go to my little corner of the world. You can see her creations above. I was doing my own thing so I never even looked at what she was creating. She would say, "Mommy can I have a glue dot? Can I have scissors? Can I have..." You get the idea.

I was amazed when we finished up and she had created a princess (on the left) and a ladybug (on the right). If you don't already have craft supplies that your children can get to easily, go get some! It is amazing what they can do and it is so important to foster their imaginations during the early years. I feel too many kids are having their imaginations stifled by t.v., iPads, eReaders, etc. These things all have a place, but so do glue, scissors, and paper!

Being anxious...

2012-01-26T00:08:00.001-05:00

One of my weekly goals this week was to begin reading the Bible more. I've tried this before with little success in getting beyond Genesis. There is just something about all the begetting that gets to me.

Anyway, I decided to start in Psalms because quite frankly, I like Psalms. I decided maybe I would have more success this way. Then I noticed that my bookmark was in a weird spot, so I flipped over to Proverbs to try to figure out what I marked before (Adult ADD anyone?).

Well, I didn't figure out why my bookmark was on that page, but I did find this:

"An anxious heart weighs a man down, but a kind word cheers him up." Proverbs 12:25

What a great reminder on so many levels. First of all, an anxious heart does weigh you down. I try to turn everything over to God and trust that everything is going to be okay but quite frankly....that is HARD!

Then I think about the second part of this scripture and how our actions can impact others. My sister commented about how people at her work don't smile at each other in the hall, etc. Last year, I worked at a school where there were several people who would walk right past you in an empty hallway as if you didn't exist.

We never know what is going on with someone else or how our actions will impact that person. There was a girl working at Wal-Mart today who talked my ear off. I just listened and thought it was kind of funny. Who knows...maybe she is anxious. Maybe she was having a bad day. Maybe she needed someone to just listen to her. Just being kind to someone else by smiling or listening to their story about their kids can have more impact than we think it does.

And with those rambling thoughts......I am off to bed. :)

A Larger Lunch?

2012-01-25T13:37:00.001-05:00

Well, Reba complained that she has been able to eat all of her lunch very fast lately. So, I decided to give her a bit more than normal. She has some leftover broccoli and sausage calzone from last night. She also has goldfish, gummies, and peaches. I included a couple of graham crackers with marshmallow fluff between them as well.

If you've read my blog for a while now you know that my daughter eats very SLOWWWWWW. Apparently the bento style of eating has made her pick up her pace! It's so funny to me that the same child who was required to do "food therapy" at 18 months and was almost labeled "failure to thrive" is now complaining that she needs MORE for lunch!

Anyway, I am just thankful that she is eating it all!

I've Been BUSY!

2012-01-25T09:35:00.004-05:00

I kind of feel like I haven't been blogging as much lately, but as you all know I have been trying to figure out how to make The Red Poppy - Cards & Craft a reality. I started a FB page and I appreciate ALL of you who have joined!

My kitchen counter is a mess and has been since I started! I am receiving many custom orders and I am so excited. I will be adding more and more to my collection of things that I make so keep watching. Here are a few recent things I have made. Thank you to everyone who is helping to support this dream!

A Pretty Boring Lunch

2012-01-24T08:00:00.000-05:00

I feel like I am lacking some creativity lately or something. I gotta get motivated again! Today's lunch includes Nutella and strawberry jam pinwheels, veggie sticks, celery with cream cheese, and blueberries with grapes. There is also a small container of lime jello!

And the Winner is............

2012-01-23T08:32:00.002-05:00

The winner of the Valentine Sign giveaway is................

Keeley McGuire!

Keely please contact me with your information so I can get it mailed out to you!

Meal Plan Monday

2012-01-22T23:41:00.000-05:00

Our new Taste of Home magazine came today. I am not sponsored by Taste of Home at all, but let me just say....WOW! I got halfway through the magazine and I had our menu done for the week!

Monday - Breakfast for dinner
Tuesday - Sausage and Broccoli Calzone (Taste of Home - New Issue page 37)
Wednesday - Ham and Zucchini Italiano (Taste of Home - New Issue page 52)
Thursday - Hearty Sausage and Beans (Taste of Home - New Issue page 48)
Friday - Italian Sausage and Bean Soup (Taste of Home - New Issue)
Saturday - Fish sticks and tator tots (Aren't I fancy?!)

Go check out some more meal plans over at Orgjunkie.com

Weekly Goals - Week of 1/23/12

2012-01-22T08:12:00.001-05:00

Last Week's Progress

So if you just look at it on paper it doesn't look like I did so great last week, but in reality I did. I have been reading the Money Saving Mom's New Book and doing so inspired me to really find a way to make my dream of selling my cards and crafts a reality. So, that's how The Red Poppy - Cards and Crafts. A HUGE thank you to all of my friends and family who have helped me as I brainstormed names, product ideas, and have spread the word!

Spiritual - MOPs (finish making calendars ~~and attend meeting)~~ and prayer journal nightly (missed two nights. I still prayed but just didn't write anything down).
Kids - ~~Create more structured "lessons" for Ty and work on 1st grade core word activities for Reba~~ Ty and I actually had some friends over for a crafty playdate last week. Check it out!

Financial - Have a Friday meeting with my husband to discuss our spending habits for the past week, ~~Continue adding to my Etsy Shop and check into renting a space locally, and read my new book from Money Saving Mom!~~ Our meeting got delayed because my husband was working. As far as the Etsy Shop and finding a spot locally go this goal has exploded. See the explanation above.

Household - ~~Weekly Challenge #3~~ and my normal chores. Poor chores. They just didn't all happen. My house is still fairly neat, but I want to get back on track with my schedule! You can check out my 52 Weeks to an Organized Home Week 3 Challenge here!

Personal - Scrapbook at least once and blog about it. Work out once

This Week's Goals:

Spiritual - Go do the trial run of Sunday School with the children's director. Prayer journal nightly.
Kids - More Structured "lessons" for Ty and work on 1st grade core word activities for Reba.
Financial - Continue to meal plan. Have a Friday meeting with my husband to discuss our spending habits for the week. Continue marketing The Red Poppy and add new products! Create a separate account just for The Red Poppy.
Household - Weekly Challenge #4 and my normal chores.
Personal - Scrapbook at least once (for myself) and blog about it. Work out once.

52 Week Organized Home Challenge - Week 3

2012-01-22T08:06:00.002-05:00

I am STILL finding motivation to do the 52 Week Organized House Challenge. I was dreading this part, but honestly it wasn't that bad. It only took about half an hour and a really big trash bag! Below you will find my before pictures. You will notice that there isn't much organization at all and that a lot of things are sitting on the bottom. Well, that's because we were out of room! I actually found several things that I forgot I bought while couponing and they aren't expired yet!

As for our canned goods, they live in another location. Thank goodness for our lazy susan!

And so after throwing away some items and decided that the basket I had in the closet wasn't working, I ended up with a MUCH neater version. Now we can actually see what we have in there. Plus we have room to grow!

If you haven't checked out the 52 Weeks to an Organized Home Challenge, you have to go do it now! The "directions" are short and sweet. The challenges are manageable and it just may give you that extra nudge that you need to get it done!

Custom Name Signs

2012-01-20T11:00:00.000-05:00

A friend of mine that went to high school with me asked if I would make name signs for her twin boys. This was a lot of fun. She requested pastels, trains, and/or polka dots. I combined them all! You can check out my other items that I have made on my blog, my etsy store, or my fb page.

Soft Tacos on a Stick

2012-01-20T08:00:00.000-05:00

For today's lunch Reba has "tacos on a stick." Basically I put it on a stick in this order: piece of tortilla, a piece of chicken, a slice of cheese, a piece of lettuce, and then a piece of tortilla. She also has goldfish and yogurt covered raisins! Yum!

A Crafty Playdate

2012-01-19T20:40:00.001-05:00

The other day at MOPs steering my friend, Allison mentioned that she was trying to do more crafts with her kids. So I decided to invite her and my other friend, Amanda over (they are neighbors). Anyway, we had five little ones in all which makes for an interesting crafty playdate. In order to do crafts with little ones (all under 3) you need lots of diapers, snacks, and patience. Luckily, I had made muffins and "baby trail mix" (cheerios, yogurt melts, and goldfish). Also with 3 mommies it is way easier to do handprints/footprints than it is on your own.

Both baby girls made butterflies. We decided to make them more depth by adding pipe cleaners. Amanda decided to add eyes to hers.

Then Amanda's little boy did a footprint and we decided to turn his into a bug!

And lastly, the other little guys made fish. Ty's is on the right. He squished his fingers together. Oh, well! This is going to look great in his bedroom because he has a sea theme!

The Lunch I Almost Forgot...Ironic...It's an Elephant!

2012-01-19T20:06:00.001-05:00

This lunch was pretty simple. Today Reba had an elephant ham & cheese with a candy eye. She also had a mixture of grapes and blueberries. And last night her daddy came home with cherry doughnut holes from Fresh Market. YUM! She enjoyed them so I popped one in her lunchbox and I am not sure what happened to the others! ;)

Create Your Own Comic Books

2012-01-19T13:22:00.000-05:00

When Reba started school we decided that when she has "Pink Days" she can get a reward. Her teacher has this six level reward/consequence system with various colors and pink is the highest. Well, she loves to go get ice cream as one of her rewards, but she also loves to get comic books with her daddy!

When my husband first decided to start getting her comic books, I was excited because one of my friends helped write this book called Connecting Comics to Curriculum.

Comic books are a great way to get kids reading and did you know there are all kinds of girly comic books? She recently got Strawberry Shortcake! She also enjoys Scooby Doo.

One day she decided that she was going to create her OWN comic book. This was really cool because she can write some, but not a lot on her own. She was able to draw the pictures, write a few words, but could still tell her own story! Check it out!

If you and your child decide to write your own comic book, please share it in the comments section. We would love to see!

The Red Poppy - Cards and Gifts Giveaway!

2012-01-18T21:06:00.001-05:00

Well, it is official! I have decided to launch "The Red Poppy - Cards and Gifts." I will offer handmade greeting cards, invitations, and other crafts. I have been making cards, scrapbook pages, etc. as gifts for others for over 13 years! I have decided it is now time to share my creations with others.

Have you ever wished you could have a customized card with a name or an age? Well, I can do that! If you can dream it, I will try to create it!

You can click on crafts to see some of my other creations,you can visit my scrapbooking blog, or my etsy shop. I will also be listing items on The Red Poppy Facebook Page.

Now, on to the giveaway! There are 4 ways to enter to win a Valentine Sign like the one seen here:

1. Follow my blog and leave a comment here telling me you did.
2. Join The Red Poppy Facebook Page.
3. Share The Red Poppy Facebook Page giveaway on your blog (leave me a comment that you did this)
4. Share The Red Poppy Facebook Page giveaway on your Facebook Wall (let me know you did this).

I will randomly select a winner on Monday (1/23/12). All entries must be submitted by midnight on Sunday (1/22/12).

Oops. I am behind on my postings!

2012-01-17T22:45:00.003-05:00

How did I go from being a stay-at-home mommy to being the treasurer for the Daisy trooper, the Newsletter Person for MOPs, being on the MOPs steering committee, etc. etc.???? Anyway, life is nutty aruond here but in a good way so I won't complain.

The request for today's lunch was that it have lots of Hello Kitty picks. So, I sliced up some leftover pizza from the night before and stuck picks in them. Then on the right side she has Hello Kitty picks with pineapple and some random veggie sticks. She seemed to like it. I am lucky she likes her food cold!

Tomorrow's lunch is leftovers again. Mommy's not being very creative this week. Haha. On the left we have mini bacon cheese burgers, which I cooked for dinner. I just took my circle cutter and cut out the buns. Then I stacked hamburger, bacon, and cheese in between. On the right she has some blue berries and some grapes. She loves the Hello Kitty picks she got for Christmas so we might as well use them!

What's For Bedtime?

2012-01-16T23:12:00.004-05:00

Well, we have moved right along to another book. I love reading to Reba at night. We used to read 3 books a night but have recently moved to reading chapter books together which allows us to work on reading comprehension skills. She has to recall what happened the last time we read, I ask her to make predictions as we read, etc. It must be WONDERFUL to have a language arts teacher for a mom.

Anyway, we were at the library (GASP...The horrors. I should save this for another post, but libraries really creep me out. All I can think about are the germs) when I noticed that they had a copy of Charlotte's Web. The kids have the movie and have watched it numerous times, so why not read the book? Reba is already enjoying it! I loved this book when I was a little girl so that part is fun too.

Ty is still in that fun stage where we are reading for fun and I don't ask him as many questions. Oh, I might ask what color something is or what noise an animal makes, but for the most part we just read and have fun. He LOVES for me to read I Know An Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly. When we get to the part that says she swallowed a spider "that wiggled and tickled and jiggled inside her," I tickle both of the kids. This is a fun book to sing with your kids and the illustrations are adorable.

Menu Plan Monday

2012-01-16T22:47:00.000-05:00

It's 10:30 and Menu Plan Monday is JUST now getting typed up. Things have been a bit nutty around here. However, here is this week's menu:

Monday - Leftovers (sorry...nothing exciting)
Tuesday - Hamburgers with mushrooms and onions
Wednesday - Make Poppy Seed Pasta Salad for MOPs and Bourbon Tenderloin for dinner (my husband's favorite - I substitute pork though)
Thursday - Tacos
Friday - Dinner with Mom

Check out other menu plans over at Orgjunkie.com http://www.orgjunkie.com/

Poppy Seed Pasta Salad

2012-01-16T22:44:00.004-05:00

Picture Coming Soon!

Ingredients:
2 cups cooked maccaroni

2 cups chicken (cubed) - I buy Perdue Shortcuts

4 cups seedless grapes (halved red)

2 cups celery (thin sliced)

Poppy seed dressing (to taste)

Chopped pecans (optional)
Directions

1. Mix cooked noodles, chicken, grapes, celery, nuts, and dressing.
2. Chill if desired.
3. Add additional dressing if desired.

Easy enough, right?

A huge thanks to my friend, Elizabeth who made this a family favorite a LONG time ago...

Weekly Goals - Week of January 16th

2012-01-16T00:00:00.001-05:00

Well, I can't believe that it is time for another week's goals! I just looked and I have been doing this for 17 weeks! I can't tell you enough how much this has helped me. I am a huge Money Saving Mom fan and this idea can from her. I just got her book too and I have only read one chapter so far, but I am already feeling inspired.

This week has turned into a crazy one, but I am so proud to be able to mark off almost all of my goals as completed. If you read some of my other posts on my blog you will see that I have taken a couple of custom orders for children's time out stools. I am also working on some custom name plaques as well. I am really thinking about having a facebook "store" in addition to my etsy shop. I would love to hear feedback from some of you if you have done this before.

Last Week's Goals:

Spiritual - ~~MOPs steering, Prayer Journal nightly, and prayerfully consider teaching Sunday School.~~ I was able to attend MOPs and we started working on our Mommy Challenge calendars. I am so excited about these. I have also continued my pray journal and plan to do so next week. Also, I informed the children's director that I am willing to help with Sunday School so we will see what happens next...

Kids - ~~Continue Pebble Jar and Learning Activities~~ Ty learned to sing "Old MacDonald" this week and Reba has moved on to 1st grade core words!

Financial - ~~Reevaluate cash budget and meal plan~~ I have made a change to how we do our cash budget. My husband has very, very little to do with our finances. He isn't interested at all. However, I did convince him to start having weekly meetings with me to discuss what our money was spent on each week. I hope this will help give me some accountability and open his eyes a bit too!

Marriage - ~~Date night is scheduled for Friday night!~~ We did this and I am SOOOOOO glad we did. We have to start making more time for going out without kids. We went to Bonefish Grill and I dressed up (I had just gotten my hair cut). I wore an outfit that my husband bought for me (dress, tights, and boots). It felt like going out on a real date. I can't wait to determine when the next one will be.

Household - ~~Weekly Challenge and normal chores.~~ Work for 10 minutes each night on creating a plan for our bedroom. It is the only room in the house not "done." I was doing so well with our bedroom at the beginning of the week! Then I slacked off. Oops. You can see my Weekly Challenge 2 here though.

Personal - ~~Scrapbook once and blog about it. Work out at least once.~~ I have been a crafty mama! You can see my creations by going to my blog or etsy store.

This Week's Goals
Spiritual - MOPs (finish making calendars and attend meeting) and prayer journal nightly.
Kids - Create more structured "lessons" for Ty and work on 1st grade core word activities for Reba
Financial - Have a Friday meeting with my husband to discuss our spending habits for the past week, Continue adding to my Etsy Shop and check into renting a space locally, and read my new book from Money Saving Mom!
Household - Weekly Challenge #3 and my normal chores.
Personal - Scrapbook at least once and blog about it. Work out once.

Custom Order for a Stool and a Baby Napping Sign

2012-01-15T07:50:00.001-05:00

I am really considering making a FB site for my "business" and doing a little less in my Etsy Shop. I posted some pictures of my dinosaur time out stool that I made the other day, which looked like this:

Well, I posted it on Facebook and then I had a couple of people I know locally asking for custom time out stools, which was really cool! I have started on the first one and it has been a work in progress. It has been fun though!

Version 1 had a hat but it was a bit on the girly side.

Version 2 didn't have a hat at all!

This is the final version. Keep in mind that nothing is permenantly attached yet.

And just because I was having too much fun with sock monkeys...

The 52 Week Organized House Challenge: Week 2

2012-01-14T23:00:00.000-05:00

This week's challenge over at the 52 Week Organized House Challenge was to tackle your cabinets!

We have the world's worst cabinets. Okay. That's probably not true, but they are so shallow that they drive me nuts. You can barely put a plate in and close the door. Since we just moved here in August, my cabinets are in pretty good shape.

Here are a couple of examples:

Now, I am not perfect by any stretch of the imagination so insert the "DUN...DUN...DUN...DUN..." music here. I couldn't even open this drawer to take a picture.

And the after shot! I was quite pleased with this project (even if it was small)! I put all of the pencils in the basket where they belonged. We have a random assortment of knives on the top left in a basket that won't fit anywhere else. To the right of that is a basket of crafty stuff (paint brushes, hole punches, etc.), we need to keep the crayons in the drawer for homework but now they are easier to find, etc.