A Fabulously Flawed Life

So I've been reading up on how to promote Tip Junkie. Ok , that's an understatement. I'll come clean and admit that I've been completely obsessed with learning how to market Tip Junkie. Why? Because I have this unceasing drive. I don't understand it, either. Sometimes I feel like I'm selfish and I just want to have something that's successful that I can call my own. My kiddos are hard and I need another outlet that's my own and something I can be proud of. That could totally be it. However, I really do feel like this is one of my purposes in life. I've done a lot of soul searching and I really feel like this is what I am supposed to do. Which explains this crazy drive to keep pushing myself. I've been told my entire life that I have "unusual talents". Well - here you go - I've found a place to put them to good use. Anyway, one of the ways to market your blog, in case you're interested, is participating in social netw...

I'm so behind on my blog. What happened to the good ol' days when I could blog for hours? {{reminiscing}} I have a lot going on right now: Dylan's birthday party is Friday, I'm hosting a baby shower for my neighbor and friend next Wednesday, and then Dylan is getting baptised the following Saturday. Jason just announced he has work stuff next week and my mother-in-law called and wanted to know if they could come stay with us if the hurricanes take a turn for the worst. {{hurricanes - panic!}} To top it all off - Drake wants to potty train. What?!? Are you kidding me? I tried to get Davis to potty train for a year and Drake doesn't it without my consent. {{Drat!}} I keep telling him that "pull ups are big boy pants" but he's not buying it. He's constantly taking off his pull up to go potty. This is followed by a mandatory congratulatory high five and hugs. We get him dressed again to repeat a couple minutes later. Geeze! You've probably already ...

I couldn't be happier with how things turned out this year for the boys. Davis & Dylan got great teachers and all their close friends are in their class. I even lucked out and Laurie M. & Wendy's kids are in each of my boys classes. Whoohoo ! Now I'll be able to call them to get updates on activities, homework, projects, and friendship updates. My boys don't tell me a thing, so it's nice to have an extra pear of ears in the room. {{evil laugh}} Davis' Teacher Dylan's Teacher Davis is going into the 4 th grade. Dylan's going into 2 nd grade. Drake is really upset about it. Me? Not so much.

There's a lot to catch up on since I was out an entire week. So these are a few of the things we were up to our last week before school. Our last excursion with Rebecca was to the National Scouting Museum . Considering we have 5 boys between the 2 of us, it was a good choice. They all had a blast! Me? Not so much. Drake was a wild child and became immediately attached to this mechanical mannequin . He kept calling it grandpa and wanting to touch it. Which, of course, is not allowed. His attachment to men is now starting to creep me out. ;) I chased Drake all through the museum a couple times while the older 2 were checking out the shooting range, pinewood derby track, all the computers, and games. Davis & Dylan absolutely loved it. Davis filled out their quiz and got a huge ribbon at the end. Considering his love language is "gifts" the boy was grinning ear to ear when he received it. Dylan didn't want to do the quiz so he was naturally bummed when he saw Davis...

Last Monday was my 13th year wedding anniversary. I'm not sure it was a coincidence that our Internet went down, my iPhone stopped working, and since we have Vonage we didn't have a working home phone either. (If the Internet is down - my home phone transfers to my cell phone. Oops.) Unlucky #13 - maybe that explains my run of bad luck this year. Um - probably not. I'm a terribly unlucky person. However, there is one area of my life where I've been extremely lucky! And it started the day Jason convinced me to marry him. Yes, Ladies it took a lot of prayer, fasting, and even a father's blessing for me to calm my freaking out head and listen to my heart. Jason chose me, worked hard to keep me, and we've been grateful for those early struggles ever since we got engaged. I saw him at his worst and he saw me at mine. There hasn't been any surprises since. I wouldn't get engaged until Jason moved back home, enrolled in school, and pick...

I've been without Internet since Sunday! {{screaming out of frustration}} So I'm just now getting around to posting about book club I hosted last Saturday. Hopefully you'll find a fun idea that you can use for your next shindig. The book I picked was The Host by Stephanie Meyer. I really hesitated picking the book because we already read the Twilight series. Also, I was still mad at her for book #3 which, in my opinion, was a complete re-write of book #1 and should have started at page 520. However, I really like Sci- Fi and couldn't resist making my Jane Austen fan club branch out and read something I really enjoy. {{evil laugh}} I was hooked on the first page. It reminded me so much of Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card. Fabulous!! With a new coat of paint , I gussied up the dining room in flowers and fun vases. Wendy and I have been discount shopping during our Girls Camp days to find all the fun finishing touches. Here's a closer look. I found this blog f...

Thursday I was invited to help out with a 'feed the children' project organized by another church and a friend. I was asked to bring cookies and a craft. I choose to do face painting. It's easy, cheap, and can accomodate the amount of children we were told to expect without running out of supplies. We kept the options down to only 6 due to my lack of skills and to keep the decisions for the kids short. Davis decided he wanted to help with the face painting and did an excellent job. Dylan was in charge of the bubbles. It was such a wonderful experience for the boys and I to serve these children. Davis took to it immediately and really understood our purpose in giving these kiddos a fun afternoon. However, Dylan was a little shell-shocked. Being my overly sensitive and compassionate child, he better understood the situation these kids are in and was a little overwhelmed. Once we got him a name tag and a job, he felt a lot better and was able to get into the swing of things an...