A Few Words

Ergh...

Wait, that's not a FEW words is it? Okay... well... ERGH ERGH ERGH

How's that?

Sigh.. I know... I'm an absent blogger. It happens all the time, doesn't it? I suppose I should just warn everyone off then that it does here. I've always thought that in order to blog well you have to live life. So now I've just taken to living life and not blogging. Haha! Not as much fun as living life and blogging, but it's what is happening. And really though, living life has not been all peaches and roses either.

I have lots of draft posts coming up to post about Granola, Cupcake making, Candy making... hmm... I'm noticing a food trend here, aren't you? OH I have some gardening drafts ready and I am working on my Advance Coupon Class for posting too. I need to get some funny kid stories drafted here too. Those are the most important to remember, aren't they?

Really what has kept me so busy is the fact that I have thrown myself into our homeschool schedule. THROWN! We are homeschooling like never before. It's really neat and very tiring. I'm looking at joining a Co-Op and since I quit my job we've done a lot of field trips. Oh yah... you didn't know that bit of info did you? I quit my job. I wrote an awesome post about balancing homeschool, life and all that with a job and then I couldn't stand the heat. Sigh...

Another thing keeping me busy is our second little love bug. I have no words to describe. I've been through Febrile Seizures. We are hoping that our little one with the Complex Febrile Seizures has outgrown it and moved on to bigger things... like... reading! But Cyclic Vomiting Syndrome, blood draw after blood draw, ultra sounds, MRI's and other disgusting medical labs that I just don't like to discuss have my head spinning. If I sit around to focus on it too much, I get in a funk. So keeping busy is my answer and boy have I been keeping busy. So busy in fact that there's no time to blog. Funny thing is, I'm not feeling guilty about it anymore. I do have some great stories and posts to get up here someday, but the guilt of not blogging is refreshingly gone.

So... without further ado, I will get back to my not blogging stint... er... get back to trying to blog again. Hehe... I like recording things on my blog for me to remember and it does help me vent. I feel a bit more grounded and able to focus on the positive with each blog post. Am I weird that way? I dunno... but blogging isn't a bad thing.

Take care everyone!
Hope you all have a great St Patrick's Day!

Follow me on Twitter: @WishfulMe

Valentine’s Day is NOT V-Day

Party! Party on my blog! It’s Friday! And ummm… that’s the day that seems to always lead into an ever more and more busy weekend with no end in sight. So why am I excited? I dunno… Just thought I’d try to shake things up a bit.

Have fun with some 5QFriday! 

Rules for Five Question Friday: Copy and paste the questions to your blog post, answer them, then link your answers to My Little Life!

Questions for Friday, February 17th
1. What do you do when you are really upset to calm yourself down?
I’m still working on that one, can I get back with you on that? Sigh! Getting upset is what I like NOT to do but it does seem to come around every now and again. I will sometimes bury myself in a book to avoid everything for a bit, if I need to.

2. Do you go all out for Valentine’s day or is it just another day?
First off, I had to change this question. It originally said, “V-day” and I’m sorry… when you say V-Day I think of Veteran’s day. I guess I’m little bit of a stick in the mud about that? What’s so odd is that Valentine’s day is usually  just another day for me. So why am I worried about how it’s spelled? I dunno. I do help the kids do some fun celebrations and gift making. This year Hubby went all out! You can see more in Valentine’s Day 2012 post. He earned serious brownie points!!

3. Are you more or less productive when Hubs is away?
Usually more productive. I kinda have to be more productive to keep up with everything though. This actually would tie into a future post I am working on about this very topic. Not easy when Hubby is away.

4. What is your favorite time of day and why?
Nap time! I get a little bit of downtime and can attack some of the more difficult school subjects with the older kids. Plus there’s usually no rush to our next task. It’s just mid-day. Just sitting there. So much possibility!

5. What is your go to karaoke song?
Here’s a deep, dark secret: I have never done karaoke. So there you have it! I have no idea what song I would sing if I did do karaoke. Doubt any of us will ever figure that one out either. Hehehe…

When you leave a comment, leave a link to your 5QFriday
post so I can read it, please!

Follow me on Twitter: @WishfulMe

Photo Editor Instead of Picnik

I have seen in the twitter streams that Picnik, a favorite online photo editor, will be moving/closing very soon. It looks like this was a really neat service too! Personally, I never got into using it much because I like to be mobile with all my blogging, editing, photo, software tools. Meaning, I might not always have an internet connection but want to work on something. All my stuff needs to be loaded on my computer so that I can work whenever and wherever I would like.

So, are you finding yourself in need of a handy little photo editing tool? Maybe something that doesn't cost too much? Yes, it's something that would need to be installed on your computer but it's REALLY handy, fast and pretty small for all that it can do. It's called PhotoScape! And it's FREE!

You can download it here:
PhotoScape

Be warned! The download does try to install Google Chrome. I am not a fan of that so just look for the checkbox and uncheck it to not install the Google Chrome add on.

Enjoy editing your photos again!

Oh and no, I am not affiliated with them. I am not getting anything for this post. I just really like this little software package and wanted to share it with you.

Follow me on Twitter: @WishfulMe

Valentine’s Day 2012

What a nice surprise for the day!
I received breakfast in bed,



found beautiful flowers on our table,



and finished a valentine day craft with the kids.



(Something I learned on Pinterest!
Making crayon hearts turned out to be messier than
expected, but SO much fun!!)

How was your Valentine’s day?

I am linking this SOMEWHAT Wordless Wednesday post to:
5 Minutes for Mom
Dagmar's Momsense

Follow me on Twitter: @WishfulMe

Meals on the Go

Meal planning is not going so well this year. Actually, when I started back up with a job working outside the home meal plan basically stopped. It wasn’t a good combination of being so busy and not having a plan. Not good at all!

At any rate, meals need to be fast around here. I have not had a really good time planning but I’m getting back to it. My list for meal planning looks more like this:


But it’s a start, right? And the most important thing is that the meals need to be able to do this:


This meal here was meatloaf, tater tots and cheesy broccoli. Not the usual meatloaf side dishes, but they are FAST!

See, I’m on my own and with practices, piano lessons and other kid activities on the “wrong” side of town I have to take meals with us ad camp out at my parents house to eat. Just planning a meal that can be prepped like this is a challenge in itself! I’m getting there though!

So looking forward to getting my little spinning-out-of-control world back in order. That will happen someday again right?

While I wait though, do you have any great meals
that can travel like this?

Super FAST Meatloaf:
1 lb ground beef
1/4 c ketchup
1/2 c oatmeal (or maybe a little more depending on your desire of texture)
1 egg

Mix everything together in a large bowl (I used my hands... UGH!) and place in greased 8x8 baking dish. Bake at 375 degrees for 25-40 min depending on your oven and thickness of your loaf.

The kids love this kind because it's basically a big hamburger without the bread. Hahaha!

Check out MORE great Meal Plan ideas at: I'm an Organizing Junkie - orgjunkie.com.

Follow me on Twitter: @WishfulMe

Freedom in Blogging

I have a stack of dishes, piles of laundry, vacuuming and so much more that needs to be done. But I laid the little ones down for a nap and am just too emotionally and physically tired to bring myself to do any of those things. So what's a tired Momma to do? I immediately thought to grab my netbook and BLOG. Isn’t it nice to be able to do such things? First I cleaned out my inboxes and then I rewarded myself with THIS blog post.

What did I decide to talk about? Nothing. Absolutely nothing.

Normally this would freak me out but after a few weeks of non-stop go, go, go the thought of thinking about anything I wanted or nothing at all free’s me. Can you feel that? It’s like a weight lifted. For the first time in weeks I am thinking about nothing more than the words that are coming across my screen right now.

Freedom. Blogging is so nice!

Follow me on Twitter: @WishfulMe