A Fabulously Flawed Life

{Our Before Picture} Over the weekend Lisa {my sister} threw her man a mystery baseball birthday party.  When we were brainstorming themes I quickly remembered the Holi Powder party  I featured from Jordan's blog in 2007.  I've been dying to do it since the day I read about her outrageous party! {We warned each guest in the invite to wear grubby clothes and old shoes.} After discovering that we wouldn't be able to buy the Holi Powder in bulk, we decided to use it to play baseball.  This way it would last a little longer and we would all be engaged in a fun game. Where did we get the holi powder?   Lisa purchased twenty four 7oz packages from Bombay Bazzaar in Arlington . She negotiated the price of $2 a package. In your area, Google "india store" and then call around asking if they sell "holi powder".   It was perfect since all our men have been on the same softball team for years and the season just started.    How did we play?  Lis...

Boy do I have a silly treat for you today. {{snicker}} A fabulous friend of mine {and someone who I greatly admire) guilt-tweated me into posting a Mom Casting video submission for the new blogger reality show that's in the works.  {{bwaahaa!}} I'm only doing this for YOU my dear Ciaran. Only for you! and Yes "guilt-tweeted" is a word. {Watch Laurie's Mom Casting Video submission on YouTube} In all honesty, there's no way that I'll be chosen so I'm not worried about it. The blogosphere is filled to the brim with successful mormon-mommy-bloggers to be the resident LDS reality show contestant.  Most of whom are way more talented than little ol' me. Why did I finally cave and do the video?  Well... a while ago, I realized that I was sabotaging myself and not accepting offers because I was scared that I wouldn't be able to pull it off, or that I would be so nervious I'd be a sweaty mess. So I decided to stop that behavior immediate...

More often than I'd like to admit, I get into these moods to throw things away.  It stems from the attitude of "the more you have ~ the more you have to take care of".  {{giggle}} It usually happens when I'm feeling overwhelmed or majorly stressed out.  It just feels good to get rid of all the things we are no longer using in my home.  This time I tackled one of the attics:  The Toy Attic. Now that my baby is no longer a baby {and refuses to play with anything that's not Batman} I felt like the time had come to donate all the toys we don't plan on keeping for the grandkids. {{um yes, I'm praying for grandkids already!}}   That means that almost everything got donated to Goodwill.  We had to stuff both of our cars to the ceiling in order to make it in one trip.   It was a milestone in our lives for sure; getting rid of 12 years of birthdays, christmases, and behavior chart rewards.  Anyone who knows me, knows that I adore toys and...

 Hallmark Recordable Book ~ Drake's Reaction {Video} As a speaker at BlissDom , you get mailed a box of fabulous swag from the sponsors. This year Hallmark sent a recordable book with a note saying that they know how hard it is to leave your little ones and so here is something to help make the time apart a little easier. Isn't that so thoughtful!  I know, I know.  The guys over at Hallmark are marketing geniuses.  But it really meant a lot to me since it is really hard getting away. Here is Drake {and the boys} reactions to the book when I gave it to him.   {{giggle}}  <-- that's a link to our YouTube video.  xoxo, Laurie

I found this picture today of Drake at 19 months.  {{bwaahaa!}} I needed the laugh as I had a parent/teacher conference with Drake's preschool teacher today.  It looks like he's not ready to advance to Kindergarten.  {{huge sigh}}  The good news is that his preschool has a kindergarten program.  The classes are a lot smaller and he would get the one-on-one attention he needs.   So he could attend there and then if he wasn't ready to advance to 1st grade, we'd put him in a public school Kindergarten.  It might make the "hold back" a little less obvious or traumatic. The problem isn't that Drake's not smart, it's that he's not maturing at the same pace as the other boys in his class.  Yes, it's obvious that Drake isn't at the same stage - but I guess I just thought that he would step it up in Kindergarten.  His teacher is amazing and I can tell she has his best interests at heart.  So most likely we'll put him in Kindergarten pr...

Honestly, I'm not one that likes change.  {{gasp!}}  I know, I know.  You wouldn't think so considering how often I change my hair, how often I redesign Tip Junkie, and the fact that I'm in social media {which changes weekly}. So when Oprah announced that she was starting her OWN network {{bwaahaa on the pun}}  I was happy for her but bummed for change. Yes, I am a HUGE Oprah fan!  Why?  Well, there are many reasons but the biggest is that she empowers women.  I was a new mommy when she was doing her "self-help" series of shows and I really needed it during that time in my life.  Quite frankly, she was the only one there day in and day out - telling me that I can be my best self!  I just adore her for that. She has many new shows but the one that I'm really excited about is " Master Class ".  It's a biography series that shares hard-won insight from extraordinary achievers whose paths have inspired Oprah—and countless others. ...

    You may remember a while back when I made a few broken jewelry projects for Charming Charlie .  Well now that things have settled down, I wanted to use the rest of the jewelry they sent me to make a jeweled wood letter for one of my readers! On a whim, I uploaded a giveaway onto Tip Junkie a week later, I picked a random winner.  Of course, her letter was "E" one of the biggest letters in the alphabet.  {{giggle}}  That thing used SO much jewelry and was HEAVY!  Poor thing - I don't envy her trying to mount that bad boy on a frame.  {{snicker}} I think it turned out gorgeous!  It took me 6 hours to make as my jewelry supply was quickly diminishing and I was having to make cute pieces out of random pieces by hot gluing them together.  It was quite the project - but a stunning end result.  The picture doesn't do it justice - it's breathtaking. Afterwards, I was so bummed that I didn't make one for ME!  {{d'oh!}}  Dud...