Happy Monday, world! Monday is probably one of my top two favorite days of the week. For me, it's the start of a new week. The chance to change the things from last week that just didn't work. It's the day of new possibilities in my world. My other favorite day is every other Saturday. That's the day I get to spend alllll day with my boys and nothing could be finer.

Now, last week, I was super sick and it sucked. I got absolutely zippo accomplished and ugh, nothing frustrates me more than feeling unorganized and nonproductive. So, since being sick plus being nonproductive = one very miserable and unhappy katie, that just has to go! My lung issues are mostly done. Yes, I'm still coughing but it's every now and then not pretty much the opposite of last week. That just means changing the productivity quotient for this week. Since I am now gone up to 5 hours a day, I need a big time kick in the pants to my schedule for getting things done around the house.

That being said, it's so much easier to say versus do, don't you think? Saying it takes so little effort while actually doing it means getting up off the couch, stepping away from Facebook and Twitter and *gasp* actually working! I know it will take me a while to get into this new routine, but I can do it. What am I going to do? Just look:

Monday - Bathroom Clean Up/1 load of laundry
Tuesday - Kitchen Clean Up/1 load of laundry/workout*
Wednesday - Living Room Clean Up/1 load of laundry
Thursday - Bedroom Clean Up/1 load of laundry/workout
Friday - Weekly task/1 load of laundry
Weekends - Complete Weekly task/laundry (if there's any left)/1 workout

That doesn't look too horrible, right? It's just a little bit each day and soon, this house will be back to normal. Don't you hate how houses mess themselves up when you're sick? Lazy old houses!


*If you're not sure why workouts are on this list, you'd better pop over here and find out why!

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It's Friday and what a week it's been! I've been sick all week. Heck, I've been sick for two weeks. I finally gave in and got some cough medicine and I think it's clearing up! My poor lungs just needed a chance to not cough so that they could start healing. Thank goodness! On top of that, the boys had Monday off (due to Mid-Winter break. I still want to know where that was when I was in school!) and then had 2 snowdays this week. Yes, 2. The first one I couldn't get out to go watch them but I was in sooo much pain from my earlier in the week workout, I got zippo accomplished. Then yesterday, I got up way early and went in and spent the day with them.

So, what does all of this mean? I got absolutely zero accomplished this week. My house still is a disaster zone (like call out the national guard level) and I still have a million and one things on my to do list. I bet you're wondering what this means for Finish It Friday, right?

Well, even if you're not, I'm going to tell you. You ought to know that about me by now. It means nothing more on my to do list will be accomplished today. You see, it's the every other Friday Friday. That means I go get the boys, we go grocery shopping, come home, drag it all into the house, make dinner, eat dinner, maybe watch a movie while eating dinner and then it's bedtime for them and because I'm still a little sick, I collapse on the couch with some water and tv. Holy cow, was that a long sentence or what?

I will be finishing something though. I'm going to finish my bad attitude. All week, I've been sick and once I gave into it, I also gave into the blah/meh feeling that comes along with it. I pretended like it didn't matter what I ate, didn't matter that I couldn't really workout and basically gave into really bad habits. So, enough of that. It ends today. I know it's not going to be easy because well if it were, wouldn't more of us be making huge changes in our lives? Sure we would! It needs to happen though. The mehness needs to go byebye and the back on track (because soon it will be back to the scale) needs to come through.

So that's what I'm doing. What about all of you? Be sure you leave a comment with a link to your Finish It Friday post. I know you won't regret it! Plus, it means I can come by and give you some comment love and support!



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Hey all! I'm so sorry for not getting on here and posting this sooner. I know all of you came by to check on this week's project and to post your links for last week and here I didn't even come on all day.

I'm sick. There, I finally admitted it outloud. I've been sick for 2 weeks now and it's not getting better. It's getting worse. I kept thinking if I kept going and pushed tons of water that it'd just flush itself out but it hasn't. It started out a sore throat and a bit of a stuffy head and it has settled itself fully in my chest. I'm not sleeping well at night because of the coughing. I'm propped up but still I cough. I've tried vics and it's not helping. Tomorrow, I'm giving in and getting some cough medicine. I know I should go to the doctor and I promise, if it's not better by the weekend, I'll call and make an appointment. I don't know how I'll get there (my doctor is an hour away & I have to pick the boys up at 3:25 every day which is 30 minutes in the opposite direction) but if I have to, I'll figure out a way.

For now though, I'm going to go curl up with my teddy bear and pray for one night's sleep. Enjoy your extra week to tackle that fridge. I expect to see you all back here next week with lots of links and photos!



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Wow, long time no see on that graphic, huh? I've been a total blog slacker and one of the things I've slacked on is this post. That's pretty crazy since it's a post that I feel so strongly about. Then again, I feel pretty strongly about all of my themes or I wouldn't write them, huh?

Ok, well now that we have that covered, I need to tell you something. Are you ready? Ok, well here it is. I'm sick. Yep, me. I've been battle this for about a week and it finally took me down. However, I may be down but I'm not out. I'm not letting it defeat me or the progress I've been making for my health.

With that in mind, my time for me today is going to last all day because I'm making it my goal today to drink 4-5 water bottles full of water. This is going to take care of me. The water will keep me hydrated and help flush all the ickiness out of my body. Hooray for byebye to ickiness!

So, tell me, how are you going to take care of yourself today? What are you going to do to pamper yourself? Make sure you let me know by blogging about it and then coming back here to leave me a link to come check out! Just like with our Tuesday challenges, if I get a few of you regularly doing these posts, I'll add a linky for you.

I'm off to fill up my water bottle for the first bottle of the day!


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Ok, I know that technically it's Thursday but I'm blaming the snot monster for making me forget to post this yesterday. I actually had the picture all ready to go and then bam! I woke up sick and just plum forgot.

February's theme over at Sunday Shutterbugs is Red. Interesting theme, I'd say being that February has Valentine's and Heart Health Awareness and all of that good stuff. I had this picture in mind that I wanted to take but the lighting is never right when I go past the area. I'm hoping to get it though before the month is out to share with all of you.  Until then...Here is this week's Red photograph:



I snapped this on Monday in Roger's 4th grade class. They had all of their Valentine bags lined up on the chalkboard ledge. I love how this photo makes them look like they're suspended in space. Ok, off to write the post that was supposed to go up today! See you all in just a few minutes. ;)



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Welcome to week 5, everyone! How are all of you doing on your weekly challenges? Are you keeping up? Don't worry if you've missed a couple. Every little bit helps.

This week was a tougher week for me and instead of being ahead of y'all, I'm right where you are. Lots of life changes happening around here and on top of that I've been battling some sort of cold for about a week now. It comes and goes but it always seems to come on the days when I need to get tons of stuff done!

I did get my laundry area done though.  Ok, I got the shelving done. There are still a bunch of boxes in there waiting for me to sort so that I can start packing up packed boxes in there. One project at a time though, right?  Here are my finished laundry shelves:



So much nicer. It doesn't stress me out to have to find something on them or to empty the lint trap anymore! The basket is a bit too big but it holds some odds and ends, like Mr Clean Magic Erasers and such. I ended up finding a bunch of change up there too so that was a bonus!

Now, for this week's challenge. Does your fridge look like mine? Is it an ongoing collecting area for future science experiments? When was the last time you cleared it out and wiped it down inside? I confess that it's been about ...umm...well, never since we moved in here. Ouch! Oh wait, let me add to that...Yuck! Let's get that space cleared out so that we don't stress out just opening up the door to find a snack.

My space:



I can't wait to see all of your shining refrigerators next week! If we start getting enough participants, I'll add an official linky here. For now, if I say link up, I just mean to make sure you leave a comment each week showing the previous week's challenge. :)



New to Tackle It Tuesday - Clean House, Clean Life Challenge? Don't worry! Just jump into this week's challenge. Be sure to come back and post your blog links to celebrate your progress and achievement!

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On this day, I am thankful beyond belief for some of the fantastic people that I have in my life. After posting my last post, I felt hesitant to share it with people. I was scared of how people would respond to my call for help. I was afraid that they would judge me. I was silly.

I had the most incredible outpouring of support from friends; some that I've known forever and some that I've known only a couple of weeks. In fact, I am super excited to let you all know that we have had a laptop donated! I cannot begin to thank the generous soul who is donating it enough.

On top of that, two of my Mamavation sistas are running a giveaway to help raise money for any other items that he will need. Any money raised about and beyond what we need will be donated to March of Dimes. As you may remember, Ben was a preemie (and heck, we induced Roger 2 weeks early!) so this is a charity that is close to my heart.

So, if you would like to get involved in helping our family out, please go through the giveaway. The girls are giving away a prize pack that includes:

• Blog transfer to a self-hosted WordPress site or WordPress installation if you don’t already have a blog
• Custom domain name registration for 1 yr if you don’t already have one
• Blog hosting for 1 yr if you don’t already have hosting
• Custom blog design or re-design including header and button (Greta is a kick-butt designer)
• Standard plugin set-up: Comment spam protection, tweet this, facebook like etc. – we’ll work with you to determine which plugins you need.

Entries are $5 each. All you have to do is make a donation through the paypal button here or on their blog and then leave a comment with your paypal confirmation number.

Thank you again to all of the generous souls who are helping out my family and my son. You cannot begin to understand what it does to a mother's heart to know that her son won't have to struggle on without these tools. I don't care what anyone says, generosity and big hearts are more than alive and out there.



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This is Ben. Isn't he a handsome fellow? This was a quick picture that I snapped on Christmas morning as he opened the package of books that Santa had left him. If only I could convince him to read them now!

Ben is my miracle baby. In all reality, he shouldn't be here today. Let me give you a little bit of history.  On January 17, 1999, I went into preterm labor with his brother, Austin. Sadly, we lost him but in May of that same year, I got pregnant with Ben. I like to think that his brother was watching out for him because that was the pregnancy from hell.

I found out that I was pregnant, literally one week before we moved from Virginia back to Michigan. Since I had miscarried my first pregnancy and we knew all future pregnancies were going to be high risk, I was told not to touch anything. I wasn't to do any lifting of any nature. We managed to do the move but the day after, I started having sharp pains in my lower abdominal region and was sure that I was miscarrying. After a frightening run around Grand Rapids, trying to find a hospital (and being turned away at an emergency clinic because I had out of state insurance), it was discovered that he was just fine. The doctor figured that I must have pulled a groin muscle somehow.

The one huge blessing in all of that was that when I called for a follow up appointment, the nurse in the clinic told me not to go there but to call a specialist. It turns out that it was the best decision we ever made and I am thankful, to this day, to that nurse for being honest with me and not just trying to get another patient for their office. Dr. Balaskas was an amazing doctor. I should know! I saw him every week for that entire pregnancy. I was also on full bedrest that entire pregnancy.

He's the one who caught it when I started preterm labor at 26 weeks. He's the one who treated me time and time again for bacterial vaginosis (think yeast infection symptoms for weeks, ladies!). He's also the one who realized, at 35 weeks, Ben was not as active as he should have been. The thing is, I never realize just how serious it was because he was so calm through out the whole thing. He tried everything to get Ben going and when it didn't happen, he just told me that the hospital had better equipment and that I needed to go be listened to there.

He's the same doctor who I joked around with about never losing your sense of humor during the scary stuff. I believe it had to do with me counting dots on the ceiling while a resident removed my cerclage. He's also the one that saved my baby's life when he determined that we needed to do an emergency c-section. You see, it turns out that my placenta had very few blood vessels actually in it and many of those that were there had clotted off. My baby wasn't getting the oxygen and nutrients that he needed to survive. We were told later that if we had waited just another week, Ben wouldn't have made it. He's my miracle baby.

Well, my miracle baby is now 11 years old. He has cerebral palsy due to the pregnancy (not due to medical malpractice!). He's smart and funny and loves music more than any kid I know. He can also tell you just about any football game he's ever seen, along with any WWE wrestling match he's ever seen. He's a great kid who never gives up. Sadly, he does have some physical problems. In fact, we're considering doing hamstring surgery this summer to help with his gait. His writing is nearly illegible and he uses a word processor at school to type up a lot of his assignments.

Here's where I break down, folks. The word processor won't work for him next year. He's going on to middle school and what he uses now just isn't big enough to handle middle school work. He needs a laptop. He really needs it now so that he can be working with it and getting used to it before it's something he does every day. My miracle baby who has brought so much joy and love to my life needs something and I can't provide it for him. Yes, the district would provide it but he wouldn't be allowed to use it over the summer or even bring it home unless it was 100% necessary for an assignment. We really need to provide one for him and we just can't.

So, I'm going to reach out to you, my readers. If you know of anyone who is getting rid of a laptop, please have them contact me. If you know of a company who might be willing to donate one, again, put our names down. Lastly, and this one is the hardest for me, if you might be willing to donate money towards us purchasing one for him, please get in contact with me. I swear to you that all monies collected will go towards helping my miracle baby. He needs this to be successful as a student.

Any help that anyone can give will be greatly appreciated. I don't have much that I can give back, but I will give back where I can. If you can't help, please don't be sad. I understand and know right where you are. The fact that you stopped by and read his story (or the part I wrote here) means more to me than you can ever imagine.



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Happy Tuesday, everyone! I hope that everyone had a good and productive week. I know that I actually did. I didn't get as much house type things done as I would have liked but every day, I did a little bit and I'm making good and healthy changes around here. Starting next week, there are going to be some major scheduling changes in my life but the challenges here will go on!

So, how did everyone do last week? Do you have clean and pretty entertainment center tops now? I won't even remind you how bad mine looked. Instead, let me show you how mine looks now:


Doesn't that look so much better? The pig is actually a new edition and I'm not sure that she's going to stay there. She was actually my February Design Team project over on CropChocolate.com. I also have to say that I love love love love love the Do It Afraid canvas. It was sent to be by the lovely Corinna. If you guys follow Sunday Shutterbugs, you'll be familiar with her. She saw all of the changes that were/are happening in my life and sent that to me. I put it up on top there because it's a view I see probably a million times a day and it keeps me going.

Now, for this week's challenge. I want you to go someplace that might be scary. It might be terrifying. It might even be well...disgusting, but I know that all of you can do it. I want you to go into your laundry area..*covers her ears against the screams of horror* ....Ok, deep breaths folks. You can do this. I want you to go in there and tackle your shelving. If you don't have shelving, tackle wherever it is that you keep your laundry soap, dryer sheets and that sort of thing. Remember, you're not alone in this. I'm doing it right along side you.




Yuck, right? Don't worry, it won't stay like this, I promise you! Make sure you pop in next week to link up your challenge posts and to find out where we head to next! I can't wait to read all of your posts and see your bright, shining areas! Remember, we're getting rid of what we don't love and simplifying our lives!



New to Tackle It Tuesday - Clean House, Clean Life Challenge? Don't worry! Just jump into this week's challenge. Be sure to come back and post your blog links to celebrate your progress and achievement!

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Oh my gosh, I have to tell you all about this book. It has to be one of the cutest kids books I have read in ages! It just arrived in the mail today and after seeing the cover, I couldn't wait for the boys to be here. I just curled up on the couch and read it. I swear it was just like listening in on a conversation with my two boys when they were just a little bit younger. There were times, when I was reading this, that I burst out laughing because I could have sworn I'd heard this conversation coming from their bedroom.

Not only that, but the illustrations fit the story so well that it's almost like watching a movie. You just keep flipping the pages and before you know it, the story is done and you're hoping they make a sequel!

In this book, Roger (the turtle) and Padraig (the dragon) decide to go on Safari. If they can stay out all night long, in the morning, they'll get to see all of the exciting animals. Through the night, they hear a giraffe, a rhino and save a baby leopard...or do they? I'm going to let you read the story and find out what happens on their adventure.

Seriously though, if you have kids this is one of those books you're going to want on your bookshelves. Plus, with a turtle named Roger (my youngest son's name) and a dragon named Padraig, you can't go wrong.



I received this book for free from WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group for this review.

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Sometimes it is so hard to be a mom. I don't often write these kinds of posts here but today, I just have to let some of this out of my head and out of my heart before I explode.

I'm going to say this here because it's a safe place to say it. Yes, some people might get upset that I put it out there, but it needs to be said. Sometimes it is hard to be a mom. It is even harder to be a single mom whose children live primarily with their father. There. I said it.

My ex-husband is divorcing his wife of 9 months. I'm not going to get into the reasons behind the divorce other than to say that the reasoning alone stresses me out and takes me back to some of the reasons behind our divorce, nearly 5 years ago. However, that is between them and doesn't really concern me. What does concern me is our children and how all of this is going to affect them.

You see, their stepmom is moving out of the house and going back to New York. No surprise there, right? The boys don't know yet. Surprise. She's leaving in less than 10 days. They haven't told the boys. I don't know when they intend on telling the boys. This has me just sick. Literally, sick. Those two boys adore that woman. She has been a big part of their lives for nearly 2 years and now she's leaving and they haven't told them. They haven't given them a single hint that something is wrong or that she's leaving.

The worst part? I can't protect them from this. I can't protect them from the pain that is going to come when she leaves. Will they understand that it wasn't their fault? That it had nothing to do with them? I don't know. Will they understand that she loves them and doesn't want to go? I don't know. What I do know is that I can't stop their hurting. I can't fix this. It isn't a scraped knee or a bumped elbow. I can't put a bandaid and a kiss on it and make it better.

I want to hold them close and tell that it will all be ok. I want to, as my grandmother would say, wrap their little hearts in bubble wrap so that things like this didn't have to hurt them. I know that parts of growing up hurt but this feels so unnecessary. They shouldn't have to experience this. I don't want them growing up thinking that this sort of thing is normal or right or how it always happens. How do I counteract this? How do I teach them that relationships can last? How do I be the best parent I can be when I only see them for 2 days out of every 14?

How do I explain to Ben's doctors why I don't know what's going on with him? Or why exercises aren't being done or braces aren't being worn? They always look at me first. I'm the mom. The mom should know the answers to these questions. The mom should be able to protect her babies and to take care of them. Sometimes, it's hard being a mom.



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Oh my gosh, I am tired today! I don't know if it's because I had at least one weird, disturbing dream last night that broke up my sleep or if it's because I was so dang active yesterday! For those who don't know, I'm on a weight loss journey (blogged at Welcoming Weight Loss) and I worked out for the first time yesterday.  All I know is that man, I am tired today! I have a dozen things open that I should be working on but as soon as I get them open, I forget what I'm doing with them! Sheesh!

I did, however, remember to get my last Shapes picture taken for the Sunday Shutterbugs challenge. Believe it or not, I actually opened up the top of my bedroom window yesterday and snapped this picture. If I can remember long enough, I'm going to do the same thing today to get an after the "blizzard" shot. Blizzard is in quotes because we got a lame 14" of snow, not the 2 feet they claimed we were going to get. Granted, it blew everywhere (including in my back door) but they were all dramatic about the amounts and I totally feel let down.


Oh, one last request before I hit post and try to remember the next thing on my list....I love comments. Oh my gosh, how I love comments but please tell me how you found the blog if you're a new reader. I had a lovely lady leave me a comment on a past post and she said she was from abc (random letters inserted here) and I felt horrible because I can't figure out where she found me or what group she's from!

Thanks all!


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It's Tuesday again! Can you believe it? I cannot believe how fast time seems to move these days! Another week is gone and it's already time for a new challenge! But, before we do that....How did everyone do last week? Are your nightstands all spiffy looking? I hope so because we're tackling our homes one little area at a time! I know it doesn't seem like much but think of it this way, if we get one section spot on clean each week and we maintain the others, before we know it, our houses will be making us smile instead of groaning in frustration!

So, let me show you my results from the nightstand challenge:


There it is. It makes me smile every time I walk into my room and see it. While I was working on it, I packed up some of those books so they're ready for the move and left only ones on my nightstand that I want to read before I pack them away. I still need to finish packing up the rest of that righthand stack but I need to get a box first. While I was at it, I completely "re-wired" that area and for the first time in months, my lamp actually got plugged in! Please ignore that cord going up the side of my bed. That's my cell phone charger cord which usually lays up on top of the night stand.

Now, this week's challenge.........Entertainment Cabinet! For the past 18 months, I have been staring at the top of my cabinet thinking, "You really need to clean that off. What a mess!" and you know what? For the past 18 months, I haven't done it. So, this week, that's what we're doing. We're clearing it off, wiping it down and only leaving what we love on top. If you don't have a tall cabinet like I do, how about a bookshelf? If not that, I challenge you to find any object that has a flat surface and get it cleaned off. Ready to see mine? 


Can you tell that I love candles and Scarborough Lane? And can you spot the Christmas item that I missed? Don't ask me why there are all of those bells up there. Those actually belong in my gifting box. We give one to my grandmother every year for Christmas and a couple of years ago, I found a good sale and stocked up. Clearly this is an area that I've ignored for way too long! I can guarantee it won't look like this next week!



New to Tackle It Tuesday - Clean House, Clean Life Challenge? Don't worry! Just jump into this week's challenge. Be sure to come back and post your blog links to celebrate your progress and achievement!

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