Friday, April 30, 2010

Finish It Friday

4:54 PM 0 Comments
Whew! What a busy day. I worked at the Habitat for Humanity ReStore from 9-2pm. I was only supposed to work until 1 but they were busy and the usual 1-5 guy couldn't be there so I said I'd stay over. I really enjoy working there. I'm hoping that I can still work sometimes over the summer. It would really be nice if I could find a job like that where I got paid.

After I picked them up, I did a quick scramble through the grocery store and then, it was time to get the boys. Yay! I love our time together. I know that life hasn't been very fair to them in some areas but they've done so well with the changes and they really are such good kids.

One bonus to me going to Canada was the short shopping trip for groceries. It made unloading the van tons and tons easier and it sure as heck cut down on the fighting about getting it unloaded. The boys and I had chili dogs as a special treat and just enjoyed the evening together until bedtime. Then, it was a couple of chapters of Percy Jackson and bedtime for the boys.

So, what did I finish? Well, the week, I guess. There wasn't really any time to finish off anything else. That's ok, though. I know that there's always plenty of finishing to be done but sometimes you just have to enjoy what you have.

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Thursday, April 29, 2010

Time for Me Thursday

9:38 AM 0 Comments
I did the best Time For Me in a long time. Today, I went over to the boys' school and watched them both receive Student of the Month. This is a big deal in their school and for the both of them. I was and am so proud of them. After they got out of school, I took them both to Dairy Queen as a treat and we had an hour or so of just hanging out and enjoying being a family before I took them back to their dad's.

Then, I spent the evening relaxing and crafting while I enjoyed some music on TrainREK radio. Days like this come too few and too far between.



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Wednesday, April 28, 2010

Tuesday, April 27, 2010

Tackle It Tuesday

2:55 PM 1 Comments
Woo! It's Tuesday and it started early for me. I had to go into Grand Rapids to meet up with Peter, Donna, Ben and Roger. Ben had a doctor's appointment with Dr. Reinhart, the orthopedic surgeon. Peter brought him in and had me meet them there. Everyone else came along because they're working on getting Donna's last name changed. I'm not sure what was going on, but it felt like I was getting the cold shoulder from Peter/Donna. I hope it isn't the sign that what has been fairly amicable is going to start getting troublesome.

So, now I'm back home and trying to figure out the best way to spend my time today. Sadly, I think it's going to be trying to knock out a couple of hours of kgb work. This month has been crazy and I still have to put in 8 hours before Friday. Ick! I'm seriously considering quitting. It just don't bring in enough money to make it worth it, plus they keep changing their policies. It's something to really give thought to.

Let's see...so what am I tackling today? Ok, here's my list. I want to get the towels put away that I washed and folded. I want to try to do 2 hours of kgb. I also have a custom order for a flip album. I may do that today or I may wait until tomorrow. I need to get it into the mail on Friday when I'm in Hastings.

Oooooh...that reminds me! I haven't told you all! I opened my Etsy shop! Up until now, I'd only used it to contact Etsy sellers, but recently I decided to actually make things and sell them! I would love it if I could sell enough each month to cover one of my household bills (one of the smaller ones...hehe). So, if you're looking for an Etsy shop to support, please consider checking out mine. You can find it at Katie's Craft Corner.

Now, I'm off to take care of some towels before getting down to kgb work.

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Monday, April 26, 2010

Menu Plan Monday

3:47 PM 0 Comments
Whew! It's Monday! I got up early today and got some stuff done before my radio show which was a good feeling. The show went really well except for some technical issues right in the middle. The bonus was that the difficulties didn't have much of an effect on the show that people heard. Whew!

I have tons to get done this week and things seem to keep getting thrown in my path. I got a call, right after the show started, from Peter saying that I couldn't ride with them to Ben's doctor's appointment tomorrow because they had to go get Donna's last name changed and stuff after the appointment. That really messes with my day tomorrow but that's how life goes, right? It just means trying to cram more into today.

So, this week's menu is going to be full of quick and easy and what I have around the house. Let's see:

Monday- Poor Man's Tuna Noodle Casserole
Tuesday- Chicken & Rice
Wednesday- Soup
Thursday- Chili Dogs
Friday- Spaghetti Tacos
Saturday- Taco Pasta
Sunday- Leftovers

Whew! There we go! Now, I'm off to get more work done! See y'all tomorrow with more postings!

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Sunday, April 25, 2010

Recession & Grocery Shopping

3:22 PM 0 Comments

This is a Sponsored Post written by me on behalf of PBM Products. All opinions are 100% mine.

As a mom, I do the grocery shopping for my family. Ok, I also do it because I'm the only adult who lives in this house, but still, even when I was married, grocery shopping was my job. So, when money started getting tighter and tighter around here, I started switching to cheaper brands and in some cases, even store brands. Those who know me know that I don't tend to go towards what I've dubbed "generics." But, when money is tight, you do what you have to do.

According to a report I just read, I'm not alone in that way of thinking. Eight out of ten supermarket shoppers see no improvement in the economy, and 40% say things have actually gotten worse in recent months. That's a bit scary, isn't it? I mean, I live in Michigan so I know the economy sucks. I know people who have been trying to get a job here for over a year and are just now getting a few leads. So, I'd have to say that maybe it's improving, but it sure is improving slowly.

It turns out that I'm not alone in buying more store brand than I used to be either. The same report said that 62% of consumers plan to buy more store brands as they deal with the tough economy. It seems that 57% of the shoppers that were surveyed actually say they're frequent buyers of store brands. I don't think I would put myself in that category, but I can understand people who are!

This next group is probably the category that I'm in. The survey showed that 43% of shoppers are trying store brands for the first time where they used to buy only national brands. Plus, 97% of the folks who are now trying out the store brands are happy with them. I've been a bit hit and miss in that area but I was surprised that some of the store brands are quite good.

Now, if you want to check out the report, you can find it at Recession, Recovery & Store Brands. Also, if you're at Walmart and need diapers, formula or other baby needs, you can check out their store brand: Parent's Choice.

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Visit my sponsor: Recession, Recovery & Store Brands

Saturday, April 24, 2010

Save the Planet Saturday

8:04 PM 0 Comments
Happy Saturday, everyone. I hope it's gorgeous for all of you. The rain held off here which allowed me to attempt to mow my front yard. I say attempt because I think my new lawn mower is afraid of grass. That's right, afraid of grass. A couple of weeks ago, I gave our gas mower back to my ex-husband. I couldn't get it to work and figured he had a much better chance at it than I had. Then, I went to the Hastings Habitat for Humanity ReStore and bought a "new" lawnmower. You'll never believe this, but it's electric. It runs off of a rechargeable battery. How awesome is that?

Well, not super awesome when you can't figure out how to start it and then once you master that, it acts grass phobic. The darned thing starts right up but as soon as you go to put it on grass, it stalls out. This is not helpful in my desire to get the lawn mowed before the village fines me for not doing it.

Don't worry, I'm not giving up on this poor lawnmower. I'm charging the second battery right now and on Monday, I'll try this process again. I love the idea of an electric lawnmower. It's so much more environmentally friendly. How do you all save the Earth when you're doing yardwork?

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Finish It Friday

7:38 PM 0 Comments
Oh how I would love to tell you that I was so busy finishing things yesterday that I just didn't get a chance to post. Actually, it's not so far off from the truth. Yesterday, I finished off my week with a Friday broadcast of my show, Musically Sunshine. Once I was done with that, I did a bit of work around the house and got on with my big item for the day.

I made a wedding gift for my ex-husband and his now new wife. That's right. I did. Their wedding was today (Saturday) but I wasn't invited. I'm not sure what that's all about, but I can respect that she probably found it a bit uncomfortable to have his ex there. I'm hoping that eventually all of that will end. I honestly like her and don't want him back so there's no reason for the weirdness. Maybe I'm just weird like that. Once a relationship is over, I honestly just want everyone to be happy.

Anyway, enough babbling about that. So, I decided that even though I wasn't invited to the wedding, I still wanted to give them something to show that I'm happy for them. It took a while, but this is what I made:

Flip AlbumFlip Album


In other news, Dell finally came through for me. I got a phone call on Thursday night letting me know that after reviewing what happened to me, they're going to fix my laptop free of charge. That's right, it's not costing me a penny! I have to say that it was worth 3 months of total frustration and aggravation to get that news. They're sending me out a box to ship him to Texas in. They're going to replace the motherboard and run tests on everything else to make sure that there's nothing else wrong with it. I'm so excited about this! Once I have that laptop back, I can start doing stuff I've had to put off because I just didn't have the computing power! Yay! Did I mention Yay? Yay!

Ok, it's dinner time so I need to scoot but I just wanted to mention....Yay!
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Thursday, April 22, 2010

Time for Me Thursday

1:49 PM 2 Comments
I confess. I did my special time for me yesterday, but that's ok. It doesn't have to be on Thursday, it just has to be done. In this case, I went outside and I laid in my backyard. I closed my eyes and enjoyed the gentle breeze and the scent of Spring in the air. Honestly, I don't think there's anything better. Since someone, at some point planted some gorgeous flowers around the yard, I also snapped some pictures. Ok, the truth is that I laid on the ground, got all dirty and took these photos. Want to know the best part? I had a ball doing it!


Dandelion 2

Red Tulips

Yellow Tulip Inside

Red/Orange Tulip Opening


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(almost) Wordless Wednesday

1:38 PM 2 Comments
I'm running a bit late but that's because I felt totally icky yesterday and totally motivated today. I've already gotten a ton of stuff done and I'm not slowing down. I'm just pausing to write two glorious blog entries for the joy of blogging.

This week's theme over at Sunday Shutterbugs is horse and I have the best photo for you! I swear, it's wonderful. It was taken as part of our Baa & Friends collection and I just love it! Are you ready? If so, just scroll down and give a big warm welcome to Ben Monkey & His Horse! Ben Monkey decided to go for a gallop across the plains and was nice enough to let me photograph him while he did it. He's such a total sweetheart!


Hold on tight, Ben Monkey!

This is just one photo in a whole series that we took yesterday. If you'd like to see more, head on over to Baa & Friends to check them out.
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Tuesday, April 20, 2010

Tackle It Tuesday

1:31 PM 0 Comments
It's Tuesday and thank goodness, the weather has changed for the better! I've already moved all of the planters off of my kitchen table and out to the back porch. Thank goodness for that! Trying to keep the cats out of them was becoming more of a challenge then I wanted to deal with. They're usually good critters but those planters were more than they could resist!

Speaking of things you can't resist (nice segue, eh?), I heard of an opportunity to write a Going Green guest post on another fabulous blogger's blog and I jumped at it! It went live yesterday and I can't believe that I forgot to tell you about it. If y'all want to check it out, and I totally encourage you to do so, head on over to Parenting By Dummies and check out the blog post written by yours truly!

There, I think I've caught all of you up on everything. I told you about my radio show yesterday and about my guest blog post today. I don't think much of anything else is really going on so that just leaves me writing about today's tackle.

Laundry. The never ending mountain of laundry that is always waiting for me to get it washed, dried, folded, hung up and put away. Well, today I'm going to try to get through the large basketful that is living in my bathroom. This will open up the rest of my bathroom to being cleaned and I can finally get in there and scrub it down properly. It always amuses me that even if the rest of my house is a total disaster, my bathroom will be clean. Having this basket of laundry in there has been driving me nuts!

Now, since it's a gorgeous day outside, I won't be at all surprised if I tackle a few other areas. There's just something about warm (not hot) sunny days that seem to fill me with energy and motivation. I won't complain, I'll just take advantage of that!

I'm off to take some tylenol (woke up with a blinding headache that I'm stubbornly ignoring) and toss in a load of laundry!
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Monday, April 19, 2010

Menu Plan Monday

6:13 PM 0 Comments
I'm running behind with this post but I have a very good reason! I was on the radio! I did a practice run of my radio show this afternoon from 2-5pm. I'm sorry for not posting about it here, but it came together rather quickly. The exciting news is that I will be officially on air starting this Wednesday. The show will run from noon-3pm est and I hope that all of you will tune in! I need all the support that I can get. If you want more information, check out my website at MusicallySunshine.com. It has all of the information you need to be able to tune in.

Now, on to the menu for this week:

Monday- Crab Cakes
Tuesday- Pesto Chicken Pockets
Wednesday- Taco Chicken Pockets
Thursday- Shrimp Pasta
Friday- Poor Man's Tuna Noodle "Casserole"
Saturday- Leftover Night
Sunday- Orange Glazed Chicken w/ rice 'salad'

Now, I'm off to work on some scrapbook pages that need to get finished and out in the mail. Don't worry, I'll take some photos and post them here before I post those pages in the mail!
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yougottaseethisnow.com

5:49 PM 0 Comments

This is a Sponsored Post written by me on behalf of Incendia Health. All opinions are 100% mine.

Abbott Medical Optics Inc. (AMO) has announced the winners of the “You Gotta See This” Video Contest and they've asked me to share them with you. The folks who entered had to create videos that showed the impact of improved vision on their lives. There were a lot of entrants, but today I'm only going to share the links to the top winners in the three different categories and the big grand prize winner. The lucky winner won $5,000! Imagine what you could do with that much money. I know that I am.

Now, if you don't watch any other videos, you have to watch the one done by the winner. It's less than 2 minutes long and is fantastic! It's a music video and I have to say the guys in it are cute and I love the lead singer's hair! Maybe I ought to do something like that with mine....

iLASIK Video Contest Grand Prize Winner:
You Gotta See This Music Video” by Alex

See? Wasn't that great? What do you think about the hair thing? Would it look good on me? Ok, so now that you've watched that one, I bet you want to see the other winners, right? Well, here you go. The top winner in each of the three categories are....

Category 1: My Contacts Are Getting In The Way Of My Good Time
You Gotta Be Kidding Me! A True Story” by Robbo

Category 2: My Favorite Sport Or Activity Would Be So Much Cooler With Better Vision
iLASIK Would Make Surfing More Enjoyable” by jhbmw007

Category 3: You Should See Life After The iLASIK® Procedure
“Orbs Of Perfection” by Danny V

The iLASIK Video Contest winners and entrants can all be seen at www.GottaSeeThisNow.com. While there, you can also register to receive valuable eye care products. Who doesn't need valuable products? I know I could certainly use them!


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Visit my sponsor:

Saturday, April 17, 2010

Save the Planet Saturday

12:43 AM 1 Comments
Can you believe this insane weather? Yesterday, it was 81 and tonight I had to scramble to bring in all of my planters because we have a freeze warning! For tonight and tomorrow night! What the heck?

Well, in honor of cold weather, how about a tip for de-icing your windshield?

Instead of shivering out in the cold, while your car idles and adds more and more pollution to our air, mix up a bottle of vinegar and water. Then, when the weather calls for ice, head on out and spray it over your windshield. In fact, you can even replace your wiper fluid with this for during the winter months. You want it to be 3 parts vinegar to 1 part water.

Now, let's say you forget to go out the night before to spray your windshield. Then, you wake up and go outside to find an icy windshield! Nooo! Ok, that may just be what I yell out when I see it. No worries, just take spray bottle 2, the one you've filled with pure vinegar, and spray down that windshield. It will melt the ice and there's no need for you to freeze your fingers and toes off!

Want a great way to get those gross splatted bugs off your windshield in the Summer? Put 3 cups of vinegar in your wiper fluid reservoir for a sparkling windshield every time you spray it!

Do you have any great going green tips? Post them and then link back here!
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Friday, April 16, 2010

Finish It Friday

12:00 AM 0 Comments
Yesterday was such a great day. The sun was out. It was a balmy, gorgeous 81 outside and it just energized me. I got so much done! I finished sweeping the boys room. I got the stuffed toys that are going to Haiti all bagged up and had them outside for pick up. I tidied and swept the landing. I planted something like 9 different containers of veggies. I uploaded, labeled and grouped a whole bunch of photos on Flickr. I even went out and got my composter started.

What does that mean for today? It means I'm headed into Hastings to go grocery shopping and to get the boys. My Finish It Friday is that I'm stopping by the vets again. Hemi had ear mites and I strongly suspect that the other kitties to too. I'm taking in ear swabs of the two older kitties and taking Sadie in with me because she needs to be weighed. If nobody has guessed, our kitties are spoiled rotten and loved to death. We want them happy and healthy. They're happy so now I'm working on making sure that they're all healthy.

How about all of you, my loyal and loving readers? What are you going to Finish Up so that your weekend has more freedom to it?
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Thursday, April 15, 2010

Time for Me Thursday

12:21 AM 1 Comments
Happy Thursday, world. Today is going to be a fairly busy day. I need to bag up some items that are being picked up to go to kids in Haiti. Those will be picked up sometime this afternoon. I also want to run the sweeper on the landing and in the boys room.

None of this sounds like anything for me, right? Well, that's pretty accurate. I do promise I'm going to take some time for me, though. I'm thinking that I'm going to go out and get a bit of a start on the garden and maybe even plant a few seeds to get them going. Oooh, I know! I'll get our strawberries going. Yummy!

What are all of you going to do for you today? Are you going to find some time to pamper yourself?

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(almost) Wordless Wednesday

12:10 AM 1 Comments
Today was a good day. I had a lovely lady from freecycle come out and pick up some wire fencing. She also offered me some of her tomato plants once they get a bit bigger which I thought was really nice. Hemi is back to himself which made me happy. Let's see, what else did I do? Oh! I spent most of the day working on my new website for my radio show! I hope that all of you will go over and check out Musically Sunshine. I have to say that I'm pretty proud of it.

Now, I wanted to put up a great picture for this week's theme. The theme is Heaven and I had planned on taking a great shot inside of the library yesterday, but time just got away from me. It was like being mesmerized by so many books in one place. Someday I'm going to have a house that has a dedicated library room. Until then, I'm going to show you another idea of heaven. Ready?

My Bed in Winter Mode


This is my bed. It's all decked out for winter. Honestly, it had another flannel sheet and blanket over top of this, but they weren't on when I took the picture. Why so many blankets? Well, our upstairs only has one heat vent and it's on the landing. So, our beds get nice and bundled. Why is this heaven? It's cozy, it's comfy, it's warm and it has some of my favorite things on it. There's tons of comfy pillows. There is Miss Mittens, one of our kitties. It has a good book and my paper journal. Yes, I admit it. I blog and I paper journal. Also, there are some of my favorite stuffed animals. Oh, and did you notice? My laptop..hehe.

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Wednesday, April 14, 2010

Tackle It Tuesday

11:41 PM 1 Comments
Whew! I was just too tired to write this post yesterday. I tackled something pretty important yesterday. I drove into Hastings and took Hemi(ngway) to the vet. The poor guy had to be fixed. His sister went into heat and we just don't need/want kittens. Since it's about a 30-40 minute drive into Hastings, I decided to spend the day there.

I went out to the Goodwill store and to Walmart. I've been trying to find yard/gardening tools for a good price. No such luck but I did find some good deals on items we do need. I also picked up some more seeds and 9 little baby broccoli plants. I'm hoping that the weather is nice this weekend so we can start working on our garden.

I also went and checked out the new library in Hastings. Oh my goodness, it is so nice! It's so much bigger than their old one. I so wish that I still had my library card from there. They do have free wifi there, though which is super nice for if I need to waste some time in town again. Plus, they have a used bookstore inside! I love used books!

After all of that fun, I picked up my Hemi boy and brought his poor drugged, drunken sailor looking self home. For those of you who knew he was going to the vet, he's just fine. The drugs wore off and he was back to himself today.
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Monday, April 12, 2010

Menu Plan Monday

3:51 PM 0 Comments
Ahhh Monday! The day of the week when I always have the best of intentions. Today is turning out pretty good though. I had a lovely lady from down the street pick up the fence posts and another gentleman pick up and load of stuff that I had found in the garage. In just a few minutes, I'm going to head upstairs to do some cleaning and organizing. Yesterday, the boys and I went through all of their toys and put together a garbage bag full. Sometime towards the end of the week, those will be picked up and be transported with a church youth group to Haiti. The boys and I feel blessed that we have things that we can give to help others.

On a less happy note, I'm in full pout that Klo can't use me for Novi this year. I know she would but the company has put a bit of a crunch on the budget used for shows. So, disappointing but totally nothing person.

Now, on a food note, I need a menu! I'm feeling a bit uninspired but have no fear, I'm going to work my way through the week and see what I can come up with.

Monday - Swedish Meatballs
Tuesday - Poor Man's Tuna Noodle "Casserole"
Wednesday - Taco Chicken
Thursday - Chicken Pesto pockets
Friday - Chili
Saturday - Spaghetti Tacos
Sunday - Leftovers

Whew! That took longer than expected. I'm off to grab some lunch and then to get to work!
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Saturday, April 10, 2010

Save the Planet Saturday

12:00 AM 0 Comments
It's been a few weeks, but don't worry, I haven't forgotten this post topic. Life just got ahold of me and refused to let me go. I do have to warn you that it might do that again over the next month or so. It's going to hit a very busy time of the year for me and I'm not sure if it's going to interfere with this lovely blog.

Now, for this week's tip:

Do you ever wonder what to do with your old laptops, printers and cell phones after you've gotten something new and just don't need them anymore? Well, I have a few suggestions that will stop them from turning into clutter in your home and maybe even help out someone else.

Cell Phones - Drop them off at a recycling center or mail them into Virgin Mobile. They'll either restore your phone and pass it on to someone who can't afford one or they'll recycle the parts in an environmentally friendly way. Also, check out and find out if any business in your area is collecting them either for soldiers or for battered women. I've donated cell phones to both of these causes.

Laptops - Donate them to an organization like Computers With Causes. Also, check around to your local boys and girls groups. It's very possible that they would happily take your older computer off of your hands.

HP Products - Check with HP's online tool to find out where you can take their older machines.

Of course, there's always freecyle. It's how I've disposed of quite a few of my older items that just don't have a home here anymore.

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