CrAzY Working Mom

Let's Play Ball!!!

2012-05-18T08:30:00.000-05:00

It's that time of the year again...baseball season! Our only son eats, sleeps, and breathes baseball. This is his second year in the sport. Last year, they played T-ball. This year he's moved up to the pitching machine and he loves it. He's a great ball player and really enjoys the sport. We spend at least two nights a week at the baseball fields watching him and my nephew play. They both share the same jersey number: lucky number 7!

Here are a few highlights from the season thus far:

He's outta there!

Lucky Sevens: Tyler and Dakota

Here batter batter, SWING!

Before the first game! Ready for ball.

Garden Update

2012-05-17T08:56:00.000-05:00

It's been over a month since I've posted here! WOW! There was a time when I would post two to three times a day and now I have trouble finding time to post more than once a month. Life in the fast lane...

I took a couple of pictures of the garden yesterday. The squash plants are doing awesome and so are the tomato plants! The kids eagerly get out of bed in the mornings to get ready for school in order to water the garden. Since tomorrow is their last day and then they are out for summer, I guess I will take on the watering chore myself when I get Brien off to work each morning.

The cucumber plant and watermelon plants are also doing well, but the okra and cantaloupe just did not take off. They are still alive and green, but not much bigger than when we planted them. They are on the end of the garden farthest away from the sun, so I just wonder if the house blocks out too much of the sun and they aren't getting enough sunlight for growth. Either way, I keep watering them daily hoping they'll start shooting up. We'll see.

The end view of the garden.

A good view of some beautiful yellow blossoms!

Our Garden

2012-04-13T08:39:00.000-05:00

Hubby decided that he wanted to plant a garden in a spot at the end of the house. There were some flowering bushes there when we moved in, but we cut them out and there has just been a void there for many years. We decided that this year we wanted to take advantage of this spot and plant a small vegetable garden.

The workers were plenty as the clearing began in the future garden. The kids were super excited to help cultivate the soil in preparation for the new spot. Tyler was saving some worms in case he talked Dad into going fishing afterward!

Even Shelby was excited to get a little dirt under her fingernails.

Emily was prepared with her rain boots on!

There you have it, the finished product. There are tomatoes, cucumbers, squash, okra, red bell pepper, and cantaloupe. We're excited to see how they all turn out. Brien got this soaker hose that you hook up to your water hose and it lets the water slowly seep out. I've never used one before. Tonight we just watered it normally, but that soaker hose will be nice when the weather gets toasty!

The Easter Egg Hunt

2012-04-12T08:30:00.000-05:00

The Race is on!

Emily is on the look out!

Shelby was piling them in her basket!

Tyler was excited about this find!

After the hunt the girls decided to egg themselves.

Someone pulled the ole switcharoo on Shelby!

The boys played baseball with the eggs...see the green one Tyler missed?
By his boot.

Emily found a prize egg!!!

Easter Recap in Pictures

2012-04-11T08:30:00.000-05:00

The view during sunrise service.

This year we celebrated Easter as we have in the past. We attended a sunrise service. The kiddos were super excited because we allowed them to go in their pajamas since it was outside and a bit cool Sunday morning. They took along their snuggies and wore their fleece pajamas. The service was beautiful and very touching. Afterward we headed to McDonald's for a quick breakfast before heading home to dawn our "Sunday best" Easter outfits. The rest of this post sums up the morning. Come back tomorrow for photos of the big Easter Egg Hunt of twenty twelve!

The loot!!

Even the Easter Bunny knows Emily loves elephants!

Tyler was happy to find a baseball themed basket!

Shelby gave her basket a thumbs up!

She just LOOKS sweet, I promise! ;)

Tyler is holding his "tough guy" pose!!

My three sweeties.

Brien and the kiddos Easter Morning.

My sweetie and I on Easter Morning.

Me and my sweeties.

Domain Name

2012-04-10T13:38:00.002-05:00

I have recently discovered that my domain name did not auto renew. So, "crazyworkingmom.com" was auctioned off. :( I no longer own the rights to publish under that name. I am very saddened by this fact and Go Daddy was no help when I called. They told me to go to who.godaddy.com and search for the new owner and try to buy it back. Well, I searched and had no luck. I have changed my blog back to tishblack.blogspot.com because I can no longer post to the other name. My info is still up at the other website, which I don't know if I can change or not. But, it is a very sad day for me. I'm not sure what I'll do. Since I don't do many reviews anymore, I may just keep the blogspot address for now. I just wanted to let my readers know why you can't find new posts at crazyworkingmom.com.

Coloring Easter Eggs

2012-04-10T08:30:00.000-05:00

The weather in Arkansas has been unseasonably warm, so we took advantage of the warm weather on "Good Friday" and colored our Easter Eggs. It was so nice to be able to do this messy task outdoors! The kids had a great time and there were no worries when spills occurred!

Who needs utensils...we just go knuckle deep!!

Blue Egg...blue fingers!

Thanks to Pintrest we tried dunking the eggs with an egg beater.
Results: EPIC FAIL! Getting it out was quite a task and resulted in messy fingers.

Shelby had fun dunkin'!

Tyler sports his tie dyed egg while Emily looks on.

Just a few of the 5.5 dozen eggs we colored.

Easter was a great time for our family. We are so very blessed. I will post more tomorrow on how we celebrated our Easter holiday. Did you enjoy yours?

Achoo!

2012-03-21T08:00:00.000-05:00

Spring has spring!!!

This is pollen lined on the sidewalk. That yellow stuff is everywhere. It's a nuisance. It has my family and I battling sore throats, swollen eyes, and snotty noses. I was glad to see rain today to sort of wash things down. We were under the threat of tornadoes last night. Today it's a flooding risk! I guess that pollen will all go somewhere rather than changing the color of my car, porch, and outdoor furniture. Buh-bye, dear pollen...see ya next year!!!

Going through the big D...

2012-03-20T17:30:00.002-05:00

It's been over a week now, I am ready to blog about the life changing event that occurred in our family on Friday, March 9, 2012.

First I should probably give you a little bit of background info. My husband has sleep apnea. He wears a CPAP machine at night when he sleeps due to the fact that he frequently quits breathing for short amounts of time as well as snoring LOUDLY. The "mask" as we call it in our family helps him to sleep, and as an added bonus, I sleep also...most nights. Sometimes he'll spring a leak in the seal between the mask and his face when he rolls around, causing an array of crazy noises that can sound anything like a squealing pig or an exploding geyser! Before he was diagnosed, he was constantly tired and felt like even after a full night's sleep he was still exhausted. Obviously this was due to the fact that his body was not sleeping because when he'd stop breathing, he would wake up, even he didn't remember it.

Once he was diagnosed and got this CPAP machine, he began to be less tired during the day and also got more sleep at night. He was diagnosed with this condition 7 years ago. Up until recently he has had no issues with exhaustion unless there were physical reasons such as being up late, getting up early, or just physical exhaustion from work. Recently, Brien has not only been overly exhausted, but also his vision has been blurry and he's been making frequent trips to the restroom, especially in the middle of the night...which obviously only add to his exhaustion.

It was bad enough that he decided on his own accord that he needed to to the doctor. For those of you reading this that don't know my husband, that's a big deal. I knew when he said that he needed to go to the doctor, it was serious.

Brien's father is a diabetic and he'd borrowed his glucose meter to test his sugar and the first time he tested his numbers were in the high 300s. He tested after eating a late breakfast which consisted of many high carb foods at IHOP. This time the meter just said "HI". This of course means that at this point his sugar was over 600! YOWZA!!! Against advise for him to go to the ER, he decided to just wait for the office visit scheduled for the next day due mostly to the fact that we have no health insurance.

As suspected, Brien was told by his doctor that not only is he type 1 diabetic but his cholesterol is also high, so now in addition to his once a day blood pressure pill, he's added a once a day cholesterol pill as well as a twice a day glucose pill. The doctor gave Brien a few valuable pieces of information as to how to get control of this. He told him to not eat anything white: flour, sugar, potatoes, rice, etc. This will make his life much easier. He also told him to walk three miles a day. With these two things, Brien could quite possibly get rid of the pills and take back control of his health.

At first I was upset with this news. Brien is only 34 years old, but there is a history of diabetes on both sides of his family. I guess, it is inevitable that he eventually has to deal with this health issue. At the age of 34, though I do not want my husband to be having to take 4 pills a day.

The more I have thought about this and prayed about it, I have realized what a blessing this has been for our family. My husband quit smoking two years ago (April 11, 2010). This was the first step toward a healthy lifestyle. I believe that God helped him accomplish this task in preparation for this journey that we are now facing. The day after Brien was diagnosed, he went to a nearby park with a walking trail and put in his first three miles! I can happily say that I did as well. He would have never been able to complete a three mile walk if he was still smoking two packs of cigarettes a day!

Since that day, I have not missed a walk. We've both decided that we want to get healthy and fit. We're changing our eating habits as well. I realized that although we received some very devastating news that day it could have been a lot worse. We are truly a blessed family and each and every day is a gift from God. Our bodies are a temple and we should always treat them as such. This was a wake up call to our family. I pray that our story can in some way do the same for you.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

2012-03-17T10:29:00.000-05:00

Today is St. Patrick's Day.

To celebrate we had a unique breakfast at home.

We had green leprechaun pee to drink.

The kids were a bit skeptical until they realized that it tasted a lot like milk.

Green eggs are a common thing around our house, so they were not surprised to see them this morning.

They did not believe me when I pulled the leprechaun poop business on them with the eggs!

So, do you do anything different or unique on St. Patty's Day? Are you wearing green today? What sort of celebrations do you have planned for your day?

Happy St. Patrick's Day from our family to yours!!

Stunning!

2012-03-09T18:55:00.002-06:00

Yesterday brought a day full of rain to most of the state. We have lots of standing water around our place. Fortunately, this posed a great opportunity to snap a few pics of nature this evening. There were 4 beautiful geese honking at a couple of dogs that were getting a bit too close to them across from my house. When I saw them I grabbed my zoom lens and headed out to see if I could get a good shot. Since it was dusk, I couldn't get a very good shot of them.


The Geese liked all of the rain!!

As I traipsed through the water and got the bottom of my pants legs wet as well as a new pair of my favorite Toms, I noticed a stunning sight in the horizon...

Stunning Sky!

It's Time Again For Rhea Lana's of Searcy

2012-03-01T10:12:00.003-06:00

It is getting close to my favorite time of the year. I LOVE spring! Although generally I suffer through the first few weeks when things begin to bloom, I love the thought of renewal of all things! Spring weather is beautiful, minus the tornadoes that often spring up around here during Springtime.

Another one of my favorite parts of Spring is Rhea Lana!! If you don't know about Rhea Lana and you spend ANYTHING on kids clothing, or will in the near future, you are going to want to read this post! Rhea Lana's as we know it today began modestly in 1997 with 11 consignors and 3 racks of clothes in the living room of Mrs. Rhea Lana Riner. She wrote all the tags by hand and even rewashed and ironed many of the clothes! In 2011, they had 47 locations in 16 states. Now being a consignor is so easy. Everything is computerized. As a consignor you choose your prices!!

We've all organized yard sales. They are a quick way to put our belongings out in the yard and let the neighbors pilfer through them and offer dirt cheap prices for name brand clothing that cost us a lot of hard earned money! In the end, we might make a dollar or two, but it is also a lot of work, and then if things don't sell we're left trying to bag it all up and take it to a local charity. If you've found yourself in this situation, then may I suggest Rhea Lana's as an alternative?

Now let me tell you first off, it is a bit of work getting all of your things on hangers and putting string tags on them. There will also be some items that you won't be able to consign. They won't take anything that is out of date, stained, torn, missing zippers, etc. But, those things you can feel okay about selling for a quarter in your yard sale, right? The name brand, like new clothes are consignor worthy. Those are the things that you want to get back a portion of what you paid for it in order to buy new clothes for your kiddos that have outgrown last spring's clothes!!!

Tyler's consignor worthy clothes.

When the seasons change, we have to go through our kiddos' closets and clear out all of the things that they can no longer wear, most of the time they are already going to be on hangers, so in this case all you have to do is add a string tag. Grouping things by size makes things a lot easier. You just go to the Rhea Lana website and get a consignor number and begin entering your items. YOU choose the price you want for the item! The items are guaranteed, so if something is lost, they will make good on the items. Having three kids means that I have a LOT of consignor worthy clothes. Last year, I used the money I made at Rhea Lana's to SPEND at Rhea Lana's restocking the kids' empty closets!!!

A closet full of consignable clothes!!

It is almost time for the sale here in my town, drop off begins on Saturday, and I am still entering items. I have over 200 items to enter between all three of my kiddos!! If you have the opportunity to consign with Rhea Lana's I would strongly encourage you to do so.

Here are a few things to remember if you are consigning or trying to decide if consigning is right for you:

- You make 70% of the price that YOU choose for your item. Keep this in mind when pricing. Also, remember that when you are pricing things, that other moms on a budget will be shopping this sale. My general rule of thumb is to price things for what I would be willing to give for it. Rhea Lana's suggest you set the price at 30% of the retail value. Baby Equipment, Furniture and Large Indoor/Outdoor Toys usually sell for more and are in high demand. There is generally an abundance of 0-6 month sizes, so they must be priced competitively in order to sell. Maternity and Junior clothing are not shopped as heavily, so price these competitively, also.

- You can work at the sale and have your (small) consignor fee waived, and even shop early BEFORE the general public and even other consignors. There are lots of options available for volunteering. You can check those out here for the Searcy sale.

- Moms to be can shop early as well. Click here to find out how.

- Following Rhea Lana's on Facebook can be beneficial to you. They often have giveaways where you can win early shopping passes or gift certificates. For my local readers, the SEARCY RHEA LANA'S FB page is here.

- You can choose to donate your clothes to charity at the end of the sale to save you from having to bring home your unsold items (but if you're like me, you won't have too many unsold items!!). All that is left is getting your check!!

There is still time to gather and enter items for the Searcy, Arkansas sale!! If you have any questions, feel free to message, comment, e-mail, text, or call me. If I can't answer them, I can get you to someone who can!! Now, I've gotta get busy entering the rest of my items!

The sale information for Searcy which will be located at the White County Fairgrounds (802 Davis Dr- Searcy, AR):
Drop Off Days:
Saturday, March 3rd 10:00 AM to 8:00 PM
Sunday, March 4th 11:00 AM to 2:30 PM
Last Day to Enter Items Online Saturday, March 3rd {11:59 PM}
Early Worker's Pre-Sale PASS REQUIRED! Monday, March 5th 3:00 PM to 10:00
PM Worker's Pre-Sale PASS REQUIRED! Monday, March 5th 4:00 PM to 10:00 PM
Consignor's Pre-Sale PASS REQUIRED! Monday, March 5th 5:00 PM to 10:00 PM
Moms-to-Be Pre-Sale PASS REQUIRED! Monday, March 5th 6:30 PM to 10:00 PM
Guest Pre-Sale PASS REQUIRED! Monday, March 5th 7:30 PM to 10:00 PM

SALE DAYS:
Tuesday: March 6th 10:00 AM to 7:00 PM
Wednesday: March 7th 10:00 AM to 6:00 PM
Thursday: March 8th 10:00 AM to 3:00

PM WORKER'S HALF PRICE SALE PASS REQUIRED! Thursday, March 8th 5:30 PM to 10:00 PM CONSIGNOR HALF PRICE SALE PASS REQUIRED! Thursday, March 8th 6:30 PM to 10:00 PM GUEST HALF PRICE SALE MOMS-TO-BE MAY ALSO ATTEND PASS REQUIRED! Thursday, March 8th 7:30 PM to 10:00
PM HALF PRICE SALE: Friday, March 9th 10:00 AM to 7:00 PM Saturday, March 10th 10:00 AM to 3:00 PM
Pick-up Day: Sunday, March 11th 4:00 PM to 7:00 PM

Valentine's Day Crafts

2012-02-28T21:03:00.001-06:00

I promised photos of the Valentine's Day crafts we did at the house of craziness...but as usual, things were so crazy I have yet to post them! I guess it's better late than never, though so here goes!

Shelby's box is a couple of posts down, but just in case you missed it I will post it here so they will all be in one spot for those of you who are exploring from other websites.

Zebra Print Valentine's Day Box with Pink Feather Boa Trim.

We got the idea of a "monster box" from Pintrest for Tyler (who is in Kindergarten). The blogger in this tutorial used yarn to cover the box. I knew that it would take me years to complete the task using yarn, so I opted for a much easier alternative, and since I had already covered Shelby's in fabric, I was a pro by this time! ;) We used some black faux fur fabric from our local fabric store to cover a shoe box with a removable lid. Keep in mind that you have to make these boxes where the children can retrieve their Valentine's Day cards after the party. There were many children in both classes who had to tear, rip, or otherwise disassemble their box in order to get to the goods! The great thing about both boxes is that they will be reusable! Shelby is actually housing hers in her room to hold her lip gloss, jewelry, and miscellaneous items.

Tyler's Monster Box was a HIT! He loved it and so did his classmates.

Since Little Emily is in daycare, she didn't make a box at home. They made bags at school to carry home their Valentine's Day treats. We made home made Valentines this year instead of opting for the pre-boxed kind we normally do. The kids were allowed to browse the options from Pintrest that I knew were doable for our family (mainly me!!!) and this is what they chose:

Shelby chose a Pop Rock Valentine Treat.

Tyler chose superhero suckers.

Emily opted for Pixy Stix

Teacher Gift

The photos were taken via my cell phone. I had every intention of taking blog worthy photos of each item, but I was just lucky that I got them all completed on time. What in the world was I thinking trying to tackle all of this!?! All three of the kiddos took their teachers the chocolate roses in the bottom photo. They were surrounded by Dove chocolate hearts and Hershey's Kisses and Hugs in a Valentine themed cup wrapped in one of those pink party gift bags tied with some of the ribbon used for Tyler's super hero capes for his suckers. We made heart shaped gift tags on them so we'd know which teacher they belonged to. It was a cute, inexpensive gift that we enjoyed making for each teacher.

Social Media Explained

2012-02-10T08:30:00.000-06:00

Heh...love this!!!

*photo source

Find me on these Social Networking Sites:
Twitter: http://twitter.com/crazyworkingmom
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/CrAzY-Working-Mom/116728100618
You Tube: http://www.youtube.com/crazyworkingmom
Pintrest: http://pinterest.com/crazyworkingmom

Valentine's Day Craft

2012-02-06T08:30:00.000-06:00

This week leading up to Valentine's Day I am going to show you how crafty my family has decided to be this week with our Valentine's Day projects for school! Today we are going to start with Shelby's Valentine's Day box. She is super excited about this one as it can be used in the future for jewelry, etc.

My 3rd grader had to create a collection box for her Valentines from her classmates. She was very excited to come up with a "design" she liked. We had a hard time finding a box that was appropriate for such a task! We have a lot of shoe boxes that don't have removable lids. I dug in the bottom of my closet and finally found one. While a bit large, it will serve it's purpose, and as mentioned above can be used after the party for whatever she chooses in her bedroom.

We started with a plain old shoe box...

Ready to bling this box out!!

After careful consideration, Shelby narrowed down her design to either owls, peace signs, or zebra print. We decided to visit the local fabric store in town and see what sort of fabrics they had that we could possibly cover the box with. This was in lieu of spray painting the box as we've done in the past.

She found some awesome fur like zebra print material that she fell in love with. So, we got enough to cover the box and lid separately so that she can remove the top to retrieve those Valentines from her classmates. She also found a pink feather boa to make it even more awesome!!

After covering the box with the fabric and trimming it with the pink feather boa, this is what we had. I also added her name since her classmates will need to be able to see that easily so they know who the box belongs to.

We had also bought some "bling" for the box when we were at the fabric store. I allowed Shelby to decide the placement of the rest of the decoration. The final product looked as follows:

Shelby is very proud of her design. It fits her personality to perfection.

View of the back.

View of the front.

*Note, clicking on the photos will make them larger.

Check back tomorrow where I will show you Shelby's home made Valentines. We decided to forgo the store bought boxed cards this year and make our own! We found some cute ideas on pintrest. The kids are super excited!!!

Are you a co-sleeping house?

2012-02-02T09:58:00.001-06:00

Here's another funny demonstration for all of you co-sleeping families out there.

Click photo to enlarge.

"Snow Angels" and "H is for Hell" are the two most popular when little Emily makes her way to our bed in the night. Although "Jazz Hands" is common, most of the time she'll sling her arm over your face giving you a good slap most of the time! All three of our kids start out in their own beds during the night, but every so often one (or more) of them will end up in our bed and I must say that more often than not, when they do I am just like the illustration in the photo, "The Dog House". The couch is usually the most comfortable place to be when the bed gets overcrowded!

Thanks to Andy from How to Be A Dad for allowing me to post this here at CrAzY Working Mom! Go check out his blog for a dose of "dadology", although he doesn't claim to be an expert, the posts I read are spot on from this Mommy's perspective!

Image Credit

Motherhood

2012-02-01T09:33:00.000-06:00

Wow, this is spot on!!!

Multiply this by three and you've got my life!

Prayer Board

2012-01-31T10:34:00.003-06:00

Last week I posted about adding a prayer board to our home decor.

I am happy to report that it has been a very big hit in our home with the entire family.

As you see here, 3 year old Emily Grace is adding someone to the board.
Of course since she can only write her name, that's who she was adding.
When I asked why she told me it was for her lips.

They are "bewy" chapped. ;)

From Clothes Hangers To Chip Clips

2012-01-30T13:15:00.000-06:00

If you're like me, you've probably got lots of these store hangers around your home,

the kind with the clips on the end for hanging pants.

I got a wonderful idea from Pintrest on how to turn those old clothes hangers into something useful!

You start out by taking some wire cutters and snapping off the "clip" ends of the plastic hanger.

Taking you from this:

to this:

Chip Clips!!! Inexpensive, multi-use, brilliant!!!

I ♥ Pintrest!

Slow Cookin' - Creamy Italian Chicken

2012-01-27T08:30:00.000-06:00

My family loves Italian Chicken. I love the fact that it's made in the slow cooker!! Prep time is a breeze and the outcome is amazing! It's a recipe we've used for a while now and it's a perfect meal for those nights where you're on the go, or a Sunday after church meal. Prep is easy, and you can serve it over just about ANYTHING. Rice, Bow-tie Pasta, Angel Hair Pasta...you get my drift here I'm sure. My family prefers the angel hair pasta version. But, you can use whatever you have in your cabinet. There are variations on the cooking method of this recipe, this is the way I make it.

Creamy Italian Chicken

Ingredients:

4 Large Chicken Breasts

1/2 Stick Butter - Melted

1 pkg dry Zezty Italian Dressing Mix

1 pkg Cream Cheese (softened)

1 can *cream of chicken soup

(*You can add more if you like a creamier consistency
or you can add a bit of chicken broth)

1. Add Chicken Breasts to slow cooker.

2. Cover with melted butter.

3. Sprinkle with Italian Dressing.

4. Cook on Low for 4 hours.

(cook time may vary depending on chicken size and whether or not you're using thawed or frozen breasts)

You can do these steps before you go to work, school, church, etc. When you return home in the afternoon, you can do the remaining:

5. Fold in cream of chicken with cream cheese in bowl, set aside.

6. Remove chicken from crock pot and shred/cut, to your liking.

7. Add liquid from crock pot to cream cheese mixture. Mix well.

8. Add liquid and chicken back to slow cooker.

9. Cook on High for 1 hour.

Serve over rice or your choice of pasta!
It is pictured here with angel hair pasta served with carrots and green beans.
ENJOY!!!

Etiquette in the school pick up/drop off line

2012-01-26T08:30:00.001-06:00

Before we even turn into the school driveway, I tell my kids to get jackets and backpacks on and have any lunches, snacks, extra things that they are carrying in hand. We drive a mini-van so loading and un-loading usually goes rather quickly. Occasionally someone will drop something, or forget something or stop to ask a question, but most of the time things go off without a hitch. I try to be prepared for a quick and easy drop off. I don't have to punch a time clock, so I don't necessarily have to be in a hurry to get in and get out, but I am considerate of the fact that most parents do. It's those hand full of people in society that think it's okay to inconvenience the rest of the world that drive me insane!! I know it's not only something we experience at the school pick up and drop off line, but right now I want to give a few pointers for those of you who may not realize that you are a big inconvenience, or for those of you who have small children and may not be dropping them off yet. BOOKMARK THIS PAGE, PLEASE!!!!

School Loading and Unloading Etiquette 101:

1. When you need to go inside to talk to a teacher, pay lunch bill, or otherwise take care of business inside the building, use a parking space. That is what they are designed for...TO PARK!! PLEASE, for the sake of courtesy to others, and COMMON SENSE do not use the loading and unloading zone to do this. There have been mornings when I get stuck behind a car because they have parked to go inside right in the middle of the curb where you drop off students. I can't back up because there are other cars behind me. Basically you leave us no choice but to sit and wait on you (holding up traffic!!!!) until you come out or we can otherwise put our back up lights on and slowly back up praying to God that we don't bump into anyone else coming into the line that doesn't realize that you are being a HUGE inconsideration to everyone else who is trying to do things the proper way!!!!

2. Use the time you are driving to school to have conversation with your children. Let's not play twenty questions while they stand at the curb with the car door open. C'mon!! Get out of the way for the love of Christ...or you could park and finish your conversation and then walk them over to the building!

3. Pull ALL THE WAY up so that as many people behind you (here we go with being considerate again!) can pull into the driveway as possible. Some people will stop in the middle of the curb leaving room for only one or two cars to unload behind them. This is very annoying and a big time waster. It's too dangerous for cars to pull around you to the curb!

4. I realize that some parents may see folks they know while waiting in the school parking lot. That's great. Why don't you guys meet for coffee and play catch up. Let's not do it in the driveway, K?!

5. In the afternoons things are hectic. It's a traffic nightmare at the school my children attend. We are all trying to get out of there as quickly as possible. Be sure to let your kids know that after school is not social hour. We can meet up with friends after school at the park for social time. They need to get to their car as quickly as possible so the line can start moving.

6. If you park in a parking spot and walk across to get your child, pay attention to the flow of traffic when taking your sweet, slow time to walk back across. If you're stopping the flow of traffic, you're grid locking the entire system!! I actually changed drop off locations for my kids because this became a MAJOR problem at our school. Many parents don't wait in the line of traffic, they just park and go across to get their kids. That's a fine solution until you have 30 parents and students stopping the flow of traffic in turn grid locking the entire system!

7. This one should be a no brainer, but I see it ALL OF THE TIME, put the cell phone DOWN while you are in the school zone. It's very dangerous to be trying to talk or text while there are children loading/unloading in the school zone. Make the call after the drop off.

I realize that many of these problems could be solved with someone who can help traffic. I am not sure why our school doesn't have this option, but we never have and I am assuming we never will. There are usually two duty teachers on each driveway and they have their hands full just keeping up with the students. There is not time for them to baby sit the parents who have no consideration for what is going on around them. Traffic is a nightmare at either drive way and I get a headache just thinking about it. Maybe if you're reading this you can stop and think about ways in which you can help flow traffic just a bit easier.

I am going to put away my little soap box for today. If you shook your head yes the entire time you read this post, why don't you share it on your FB page or pin it on Pintrest (you can use that little button right under the post). Spread the word...stop the insanity at the school pick up/drop off line! ;)

Now, in saying this please don't think I am one of those parents who get in a fit or rage when someone stops traffic! I do get angry sometimes when I feel like people are being inconsiderate of others. I want to get out and tell them such, but instead I just blog about it. :D

Prayer Board

2012-01-25T08:30:00.000-06:00

I saw this idea on Pintrest and thought it was a perfect fit for our family. Our Prayer Board is a visual reminder of those who have asked for prayer or we know could use prayer. This is a wonderful aid in teaching our children the importance of praying for those in need.

I went to our local super center where I purchased a 16x20 photo frame. Along with the frame, I purchased a poster board. You could use a colored poster board, or even fabric backing to go in your prayer board. I chose to keep it clean and simple. I also bought a post-it dispenser that can be hung on the wall, along with a sharpie so that the post-it notes are handy to write down prayer requests when we get that phone call so that we can hang our requests while they are fresh on our minds. You'll notice the dry erase marker. You can also use that idea, but since we have young kids, I like the idea better of them writing them on the post it and then putting them on the board. You can add a family photo, favorite memory verse, or whatever you choose as a backdrop to your prayer board. We used Philippians 4:6 as our verse: "Do not be anxious about anything. Instead, in every situation, through prayer and petition with thanksgiving, tell your request to God".

These are a few of the requests that we've accumulated from two youngest:

3 year old Emily added "Nannie" (my Mom)

6 year old Tyler added "Grandpa". (He spelled it phonetically)

Another one from Tyler - "Everyone" LOL So sweet.

We're Finally Out of The Closet!!

2012-01-24T08:30:00.000-06:00

Shelby's closet has been made over! I do not have any before photos and even if I did, I don't think I would have the guts to post them. It was horrible. Our house was built in the 1970s and her closet showed it! It was a couple of long bars with a piece of plywood on the top for a bit of storage. It was not practical, and impossible for her to reach her clothes!

Darling hubby went to the local home improvement store and got one of those quick kits, only AFTER he let Shelby pick out the color she wanted her closet. She chose this green color with a pink color for the trim. Eventually we her entire room will be this color and she's very excited about it. Shelby got to design her closet, how she wanted the bars, shelves, etc. She loved that idea. The shelf was in her closet prior but it held the baskets with her socks, and undergarments. This way, she has these things in the baskets on the shelves in the closet itself and this other shelf is for her purses, bags, art things, etc. She loves it and enjoys the fact that she can get her own clothes with ease. The things on the top bar she can reach with a step stool, so we chose to put the items that were out of season there. When summer comes, we'll just switch it around so she can reach those clothes and put the long sleeved ones on the bottom!

It's a win-win situation for me because now she can put her own clothes away!

Here's another shot of her room, another one of those inexpensive white shelves with baskets beside her bed. You can clearly see the need for paint in this shot!

Leftover Makeovers - From Pork Roast to Pork BBQ

2012-01-23T08:30:00.000-06:00

With three kids growing faster than weeds in a garden, the hubman and I, (well, mostly I) are constantly trying to come up with ways to be frugal, cut costs, and have a penny left at the end of the week.

Last Sunday we had Pork Roast for our lunch after church. I LOVE to cook roasts, because they are so easy. I throw them in the slow cooker and then it cooks and all I have to do is prepare a few sides when we get home from church. Sundays are hectic for us and by the time we all get in from church, we're starved, so there's not a lot of time for preparation.

There was left overs from the roast. This of course was planned. I bought a rather large one. So, I decided to make bbq pork sandwiches for Monday night's dinner. It's easy and delish and of course a hit with the entire family!

I started out with the left over pork roast.

Shredded it up into bite sized pieces.

Added some Barbecue Sauce and a Can of Diet Soda.

Simmer on Low Heat until the hungry family arrives home for dinner.

I served this Barbeque Pork on Hamburger Buns. Some members of the family like cole slaw on theirs while others don't. It's always optional around our house. You can serve it with a side of fries, veggies, or chips and voila, you've got a quick, easy way to re-use your Pork Roast. Note, you can use a Beef Roast, but we like the flavor of a pork roast better, and I don't think that it tastes as good when used for barbeque.

Arkansas Sunset

2012-01-20T08:00:00.000-06:00

Photos like this TOTALLY make me miss hosting the Looking at the Sky on Friday meme. I captured this last Wednesday night as we were headed out the door for church. When we opened the door, it was such a captivating sight!!! Capturing God's magnificence is often difficult. I was in a hurry, so it's not a great shot but I couldn't let the opportunity pass and not photograph such an exceptional sight!! The sky was a beautiful bright pink and purple. It was an amazing experience...and to watch it quickly fade as we drove away was exciting knowing that we were lucky enough to watch it.

Beautiful Arkansas Sunset!