The Power of One

Have you ever wondered what you could do, or how anything you could do could make an impact, after all you are just one person? Well I am here to share with you what I learned this last week!

First let me say Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! to all the sweet bloggers who posted sweet comments on my "Singing the Momma Blues" post!!! Let me give you a quick update, I threw a birthday party for my youngest - it was last minute, and only "1" girl was able to come. My middle daughter invited a friend over bringing the total to 4 girls. We played the games that were planned, we laughed and giggled, then my oldest daughter and her friend came in and set up a beauty shop and did every ones nails, makeup and hair. Needless to say a good time was had by all!!! However this story could have ended very differently if the "1" friend was not able to have come to the party!!! Little Liz was our lifesaver! Look at Gracie's smile below!!


I heard the story the other day regarding Jackie Robinson and Pee Wee Reese and the power of one, the story goes like this:
"One of the things Reese is most famous for was his ardent support for his teammate Jackie Robinson, the first modern African American player in the major leagues, especially in the rookie's difficult first years.

Reese refused to sign a petition that threatened a boycott if Robinson joined the team. When Robinson joined the Dodgers in 1947 and traveled with them during their first road trip, he was heckled by fans in Cincinnati, Ohio. During pre-game infield practice, Reese, the captain of the team, went over to Robinson, engaged him in conversation, and put
his arm around his shoulder in a gesture of support which silenced the crowd. This gesture is depicted in a bronze sculpture of Reese and Robinson, created by sculptor William Behrends, that was placed at KeySpan Park in Brooklyn, New York, and unveiled on November 1, 2005.

Throughout that difficult first year in the major leagues, Reese helped keep Robinson's morale up amid all the abuse. Their rapport soon led shortstop Reese and second baseman Robinson to become one of the most effective defensive pairs in the sport's history.

The friendship between Reese and Robinson is the subject of a popular 1990 children's book called Teammates, written by Peter Golenbock and with illustrations by Paul Bacon."

The above excerpt can be found at www.squido.com/peeweereese .
Who are you being the Power of One to???
Whose life can you impact by helping keep up their morale amid day to day activities? Who do you know who is being heckled by life?

flowers for me!

I love Flowers!!! They just make me happy as I go through out my day going room to room putting up laundry or vacuuming. Flowers are like rays of sunshine in the house. However flowers can be expensive. I try to budget some flower cost into my budget from Aldi's however this time of year, unless I am trying to coordinate a baby shower or birthday party around a certain color I can use any color of flowers.
Above is a collection of wild flowers that are currently growing on some open lots yet to be built on in a neighborhood next to mine. It took 15 Min's to pick them, and about 15 Min's of my time to clean them up and arrange them in vases. I am hoping that my hydrangeas bring a lot of pretty blooms in the upcoming week! So look around and see how you can treat yourself to some Free flowers and bring the sunshine inside!

Make up free bloggers

Wow! An amazing thing is happening across blog land. Women are going with out make up to show to show real beauty - I am willing to post a picture of myself with out make up -it really is not my comfort zone. However when I think of beauty several things come to mind. What is beauty? What is beautiful? I believe the following things are really beautiful:



Feet of those who care enough to show up!

Hands that hold your hand are beautiful!!

Ears that listen to you cry, or talk about what is important are beautiful!

Shoulders to lean on are beautiful
Eyes that watch over you and notice the small things are beautiful!

Knees that people fall on to pray are beautiful!

Those are the things that I feel are really beautiful! Those things are below the surface, they are not what we tend to think of as beauty. When it comes to the surface beauty of a lady I think the confidence, happiness and enjoyment she projects makes her really beautiful. One of my favorite quote sums it up best:
Taking joy in life is a woman's best cosmetic!" - Rosalind Russell

With all that said - please do not shoot me ladies! If you know what "real" beauty is, then I don't think it should make anyone crazy or to upset that I say: that I think, even an old barn looks better with a coat of paint!
So with that said I will not be giving up my make up after today- I know what real beauty is but I think a coat of paint would not hurt this old barn any either! Hope you girls all have a good weekend!

Singing the Momma Blues!!!

Tomorrow is my youngest daughters birthday. I remember it like it was yesterday! All through out my pregnancy every where I went people would ask me if I was hoping for a boy, (as they looked at my 2 older daughters - I always thought that was so rude!) and my reply was always the same "nope, just praying for a redhead" - you see I am a redhead and not one of my daughters had looked anything like me. I wanted a red head. Well you can imagine my obnoxious behavior, oh I mean my delight when Grace came out with her head covered in beautiful, glistening red hair!! It looked like eyelashes it was so thin, and the only way to know for sure it was red was to take her into the sunlight (yep, that baby was in the sun once a day!)

Well tomorrow is her birthday, and I was running behind in getting out her invitations to her party (I know BAD MOM trust me I am full of guilt) but we were trying to decide what to do - her birthday is falling this year right in between Mother's Day weekend, and the weekend we leave for vacation. So we planned this cute little luau, with cute games that included musical beach blankets, a beach relay race - and you know what I am going to say. Only 1 little girl is coming to her birthday. I learned that there is another party on Saturday for another little girl in her class (her mom was a good mom and got invites out early - and no, my little Grace was not invited) I am so blue, I want to cry. As a mom when our baby hurts, it makes us hurt. No one is perfect, life is not perfect and learning to live in the real world is an important lesson but I think it stinks to learn it at 7!!!!! Thank goodness that we have sisters!! So we will fill up the house a little bit, but even Grace said she was going to have the littlest party ever. (you now see why I am crying! and blubbering like an imbecile!!) I just do not know how to fix this - and I feel so frustrated, guilty, angry, upset, (I think that may cover the gamit of emotions that I am feeling right now)

Well I am done pouring out my heart, I do feel a little bit better to confess to everyone in Blog land that I am a crumby mom. Hope everyone has a good weekend - I will try to have a more uplifting attitude in my next post. Thanks for listening to me whine!!! Does anyone have any advice or a story to share that might make me feel better? please do not scold me I really could not handle anymore guilt at this point!

Charm Bracelet and Necklace

Check out these charms that I made using family photo's! I saw the idea from Stories by Me blog. She has a real cute tutorial on how to make these charms (If you have not been to her blog you should go spend some time over there checking out all her cute crafts how-to's) Let me go over how I made these charms and what I learned while making them.

1. You will need to purchase Shrinky Dink paper for the Ink Jet Printer
notice I "highlighted" the word Ink Jet printer. They make two types of Shrinky Dink paper, and you bet ya! The first trip to the store I came home with the wrong type of Shrinky Dink paper (Just FYI Michael's does not carry Shrink Dink for the Ink Jet Printer -at least mine does not. I found the correct type of paper at Hobby Lobby) and yes there really is a difference in the paper (on the wrong paper the ink beads up like water on fabric that has been scotch guarded - urrr!)

2. You will need to print your pictures out on the Shrinky Dink paper for the Ink Jet Printer approx. the size of a school picture your kids get every year. (I believe Stories by Me blog does list measurements)
**note: learn from my mistake do not get so carried away making the perfect grid to print out -that your forget that you will be cutting those suckers out and nobody, and I mean nobody will know how they looked when you printed them out. Also you will need to lighten your pics. to about 50% for printing or choose transparancy for print option.

3. You will need to cut them out individually, use a corner rounder (if you want to) and use the Hole punch to make a hole before baking them!!!

note: I did not use a small hole punch -the holes shrink to, I used just my standard size.

4. Trust me, only cook or "bake" around 3 at a time. Be Prepared to smoosh them flat as soon as those puppies come out of the oven while they are warm - if you wait they will crack!!!! I used a Metal tub that was flat on the bottom to smoosh mine done flat. (also use a brown paper bag to line your baking sheet when baking the shrinky dinks)

5. last but not least once dry spray with a sealer. I used a Matte sealer.

(also the other blog mentioned that you could modge podge paper to the back of the charms!! I did not want to "commit' the charms on the bracelet to paper coloring and design that I was unsure that my mom would like, but I am so modge podging mine!)

Hope everyone has a good week!

RHOK Linky Party-know me from A to Z

Hey girls hope everyone had a nice weekend. I am participating in the Linky party with the girls from the RHOK.
So here it is my info from A-Z (I know you are so excited that you forget to breathe)
A - Age: 40 and fabulous!


B - Bed size: King


C - Chore you hate: I so dislike putting up laundry! If I could pay someone to come put it up for me I would!


D - Dog(s') name: Roxie (or foxy Roxie as we often call her)


E - Essential start your day item: coffee or Coke Zero


F - Favorite color: pink


G - Gold or Silver or Platinum: love them all!


H - Height: 5'7" and a quarter


I - Instruments you play(ed): basic piano a long long time ago (sounds like the intro to Star Wars doesn't it)


J - Job title: the social director, chauffeur, cook, sex goddess, and everything in between


K - Kid(s): 3 - all girls (can you say we love drama!) 6th grade, 3rd grade, and 1st grade (for 2 more weeks that is)


L - Living arrangements: House


M - Mom's name: Debbie


N - Nicknames: mom, Hun, pumpkin head, and red rose


O - Overnight hospital stay other than birth: one night when I was very young with pneumonia


P - Pet Peeve: seeing other ladies thong straps, and people who do not wave "thanks" when you let them in during busy traffic - urr!!!!


Q - Quote from a movie/show: This is an occasion for genuinely tiny knickers. (Bridget Jones Diary)
Tara! Home. I'll go home. And I'll think of some way to get him back. After all... tomorrow is another day (Gone with the Wind)

R - Right handed or left handed: Right


S - Siblings: two brothers, and 1 sister (all younger)

T - Time you wake up: oh, I am up at 7am but I am not "really" awake until 9 am. Then on the weekend I am blessed to sleep until 9:30 and 10 (those are also my summer hours so please do not try to contact me by phone until after 10am)


U- Underwear: have to wear them even if that is all I have on.


V - Vegetable you dislike: beets (is that a veggie?)


W - Why you run late: need I repeat I am not a morning gal. (I only usually run late in the morning)


X - X-rays you've had: ankles, ankles, ankles, and ankles


Y - Yummy food you make: chocolate pie, cinnamon candy, potato soup, anything bad for you

Z - Zoo favorite: watching my kids reaction at seeing the different animals!

Happy Mother's Day!

Happy Mother's Day to all you out there in Blog world. I hope everyone had a wonderful day celebrating being a mother, or with their mother!!

Mothers are such wonderful creatures- they know us well (before we knew to chew with our mouths shut!), they trained us well (I can cook, clean, know how to pick paint color, as well as learned to be a wife), they listen to us (who else would listen to us brag about our kids, or hold our hands when we worry about our children when they have problems) Moms they are so great, wonderful and the name "mom" means so much!!! It is a precious thing to be called!!

I also know that my mom will sympathize with me, as I am going over that spelling list for the up tenth time with a child! or I am fearful about a new stage in my child's life -letting go is hard!! Who else can help us but a mom. I hope you told your mom you loved her today, or if you have been blessed with another lady in your life that does all of that -Tell them that you appreciate them! Appreciation cost so little but means so much!! Happy Mother's Day!

National Mom's Night Out!

Photo collage created with Smilebox

Last night I went "out" to the National Mom's Night out being sponsored by our local Mall -There were other "Mom's Night Out" being hosted across the US. I hope you were able to take advantage of the one in your area and attend. It was a lot of fun, and I got to connect up with some other Mom bloggers in my area: The RHOK ladies were in the house last night!!!! The Mall had vendors handing out samples of different products, and the Cheesecake Factory catered food for the event. Yum!

One of my favorite thing is that the sponsor had Lady Godiva Chocolates and Toll House Cookie vendors set up right across from Weight Watchers - now who thought that was fair?? I just had to turn my head and pretend I did not notice the Weight Watchers workers - who I was sure was trying to calculate the points of every ones food on their plates as we were eating. (OK, I am exaggerating a little). As luck would have it my good friend Jonni won the Big give away. All in All a nice time was had by all.

(Did you notice that I learned how to add music this time to the collage - I made that through using the website Smilebox - right now they are letting you have a 2 week free trial period to check them out. After that if you would like to continue on it is $5.99 a month. I love this site because it allows un photo shop minds like myself to make some cute collages, announcements, and invitation and give them the custom look with out all the frustration. You should check out this site if you have not already done so!)

Paige's 3rd grade field trip

Personalize a picture collage

We had so much fun at the ballgame yesterday!!!! It was a special time to spend with Paige, her friends, and their moms that are my friends!! A great day, perfect weather!!! (Just no blogging - so I am playing catch up for that today!!!) Hope everyone is enjoying the weather!

I thought he would never ask!!!!!!

Brent and I had dated about a year when the subject of marriage came up. We talked about all kinds of things, kids, (yes), how many (3, with an option for 4), I wanted to be a stay at home mom (he agreed but wasn't sure) and I only wanted to get married in December! Brent had a hard time with this, (not that he cared "when" we got married) but if we missed December and got engaged in say January - it would mean being engaged for almost an entire year. December was a non negotiable point for me!

So we had discussed all the things you should really talk about prior to marriage - (So I had thought at the age of 22). So I anxiously awaited to be asked the question! I mean I walked around inspecting my nails making sure they would be ready for the perfect picture!!!

Well did I mention that Christmas, and our 1 year anniversary are 2 weeks apart-and did I mention that they passed with no ring. Don't get me wrong I received pretty jewelry: an emerald ring, an emerald set of earrings but "no engagement ring"! Can't you just hear me sighing deeply, getting a little sad! Did I mention that my hubby's twin brother got engaged over Christmas? Yes, well my sweet hubby still did not realize that he was walking on thin ice. (foolish man!)

Well that was ok, Valentine's Day was approaching! How romantic would that be! I told myself -well... Valentine's day came and went, and yes no ring on my finger. Girls let me tell you- me and God were having some serious conversation about Brent Barnes and if he was the man for me! You guessed it, Valentine's Day came, beautiful Red Roses (his nick name for me) were sent, I was taken out on a lovely night out - but returned home with No Ring!!!!! Seriously! Seriously!!!!

So I was in deep prayer, wondering if I was wrong, that Brent was not the man for me. Well my birthday came, and yes no ring (we had dated about 15 months at this time) So April arrived, and we were going to fix dinner at his apartment, then dye Easter eggs. Brent mentioned that he had picked me up some "chocolate" it was on the counter with the Easter stuff. I picked up this container of M&M's -Easter tube package, and opened it up to have some and yes, there was my ring- and Brent asking me to marry him as I turned around.

Thank goodness that man realized that I was the best thing that could ever happen to him (actually he was the best thing that could ever happen to me!!!) I was so excited! We have now been married 15 years, and have 3 daughters (Notice that the fingernails were ready for the picture even if my hair was not!)