Showing posts with label Miscellaneous. Show all posts

I'm Back!

Posted by Anonymous on Friday, June 28, 2013. Filed under:
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Well, maybe not badder than ever, since at the heart of it all I really am your classic good Midwestern small-town girl, but I am back!

I follow some really amazing blogs.  Jen from IHeart Organizing, Abbey from The Cards We Drew, Whitney and Ashley from Shanty 2 Chic, Kate from Centsational Girl, Ruth from Living Well Spending Less - just to name a few!  As of right now, I have over 30 blogs in my Feedly feed.  (Feedly feed?  Is it just me or does that sound redundant?)  And every. single. one. of the ladies (and couple of gentlemen) that I follow is above and beyond extraordinary.  They inspire me, guide me, give me great ideas, and terrify me.

Yup.  They terrify me.  I'm a perfectionist.  If I'm not great at what I'm doing, amazing, fantabulous, awesomesauce - well then, what's the point in doing it?  So, as of the time of my last post, I was feeling inferior.  None of my ideas felt creative, and nothing I did compared to the amazing skills these other bloggers had.  How could I compete?!

In addition to feeling "bested", I felt overwhelmed.  I was seeing all of these amazing ideas posted all over the internet and blogosphere, and I wanted to try them ALL!  Ooh, essential oils and making your own face washes and body lotions?  I'm down.  Hey, look, canning and making your own spaghetti sauce and pickles and taco sauce and jams and jelly and dilly beans?  Sign me up!  Organizing and decorating and Project Life-ing and re-decorating and building and card making and crafts for kids and volunteering and sewing and crafts for pets and crafts for husbands and digital design?  Sounds GREAT!  And let's not forget cleaning and making my own cleaners and constantly searching for ways to be more efficient and try new recipes and be an amazing friend and daughter and be the best person ever because everyone has to love me, right??

Whoa.  Hold the phone.

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I like instant gratification, so I'd be in the middle of one project, but then I would see something else (be it on Pinterest or another amazing blog) so I would drop what I was in the middle of and scamper off like a little raccoon (they're the ones attracted to shiny objects, right?) to go play with my newest project.  I'm pretty sure that I have things for projects that I don't even remember.  

I couldn't keep up with my own expectations for myself, and I burned myself out.  And then, an amazing thing happened.  I was spending some quality time on the couch with my iPad yesterday, and I was going through Jen's blog over at iHeart Organizing.  And by going through, I mean I started alllll the way from the very beginning of her blog.  And reading her early posts made me remember why I started my blog.  For me.  So I have somewhere to record all of the projects I work on, so I can remember them later down the road.  Do I hope that others read what I write and get something out of it  - and even like me?  Of course!  But I get that my blog isn't for everyone, and I can't make everyone happy, and that's okay.  I can work on projects inspired by other bloggers, and that's okay, too.  Don't they say that imitation is the most sincere form of flattery?!

And then, for an even clearer sign that I was supposed to come back to the blog, I got this comment last night:

"I found this tutorial in google after searching for a cork board without a wooden frame. My original plan was to just paint a chevron pattern on my board, but I love this idea so much more! "

Oh my Gosh - I got Googled!!!  And the comment was left just as I was wondering if I should come back to the blog.  I'd say that's some pretty awesome blog karma, wouldn't you??

So my bloggy commitments going forward:

  1. Limit my Pinterest exposure - I think I may even remove the app from my phone.  GASP!
  2. Have fun, and remember I don't have to be the best or have 30,000 page views a day - this is something I do because I enjoy it, not something to stress over
  3. FINISH PROJECTS!  No more starting a new project until the previous one is completed.
  4. Share the love <3
  5. Take breaks if I need them - enjoy the sunshine!
Anyone else ever struggle with meeting their own expectations for themselves?  Do you having any coping/calming mechanisms you'd like to share?

Until next time!


2013 Goals

Posted by Anonymous on Wednesday, February 27, 2013. Filed under:
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Now that we're a good two months in to 2013, I'm finally ready to commit to my goals for the year.  I've got a few this year, and I'm really hoping I can stick to them all.  I've got big plans.  Big plans.

None of my goals are fitness or health related.  I've got enough health problems going on that I didn't think it was fair to myself to say "Oh, I want to lose 25 pounds" and then get my medication switched back to one of the evil medications that made me puff out like the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man.

Attractive, is he not?

I wanted to set myself on a path towards actually being able to achieve my goals so that I feel accomplished at the end of the year, rather than feeling like a big fat failure.  So, my goals for this wonderful year.

Source


  1. I want to send greeting cards to friends and immediate family for occasions like birthdays and anniversaries.  We spend so much time wishing people happy birthday through Facebook, Tweets, and other electronic formats that it's routine now.  Getting a card in the mail is so much more fun!
  2. I want to stay more organized.  I used to be super-hyper-crazy organized and felt on top of everything.  Once my life became a swarm of doctor visits and days on the couch, everything started slipping.  I want to work back towards being as organized as I once was.  I'm well on my way towards this with the consistent use of my fabulous planner, which I will blog about one of these days.
  3. I'm only going to work on one big project at a time.  (Insert gasp here!)  I read so many amazing blogs and spend so much time on Pinterest that I get all of these amazing ideas and great inspiration, so I start ideas, end up partway though, then I get inspired by something else and move on before I finish the original craft or project.  No more.  I need to finish what I start.  For example, I'm in the middle of redecorating two rooms right now and have about five different craft projects in progress.  I feel so overwhelmed by what I have going that I'm not sure where to start to finish everything.  So in the end, nothing is getting done at all which is completely unproductive.
  4. I love to read.  Most of what I read is romance, mystery, or my absolute favorite, romantic mysteries. I'm addicted to authors like J.D. Robb, Lisa Gardner, Lisa Scottoline, Kay Hooper, Janet Evanovich, Harlan Coben, and Nora Roberts.  I'm also totally guilty of judging a book by its cover.  I've gotten several books by Laura Lippman because the covers look interesting (that's also how I "discovered" Lisa Scottoline).  In order to broaden my horizons, I've committed to read a "Top 100" book and/or a classic (think Little Women, To Kill a Mockingbird, Pride and Prejudice, Anne of Greene Gables, Great Gatsby, Anna Karenina).  I read many of these books when I was younger, but I think it would be a good experience to re-read them as an adult.  I learned that I need to give Top 100 books a chance as well, because I learned I loved books like the Steig Larsson trilogy and The Hunger Games trilogy, which I thought I would hate. Yes, apparently I'm a slave to pop culture.  And I'm okay with that.
  5. Restart scrapbooking using the Project Life method.  I blogged about this the other day.  I'm really excited about it.  I've found dozens of adorable printables online, and the Recollections brand sold at Michael's has a new line they call Creative Chaos that's very similar to SMASHbooks and Project Life, and they had some really cute cards that I picked up as well.  

So them's my goals for 2013.  Anyone have any goals they want to share?



My 2nd Wedding Anniversary

Posted by Anonymous on Tuesday, December 11, 2012. Filed under:
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This is a slightly random post, but today is my second wedding anniversary.  Last year, I thought about the really random things I remembered from that day, so I want to list the things I remember this year.


Notice the really, really tall curtain rod.
I swear this thing weighed like 13213654651.2 pounds.  But I loved it!
  1. Going to Subway after getting my hair and makeup done with my wedding party.  The guy thought we were part of a Bachelorette Party. Cute.
  2. Almost falling off of the chair I was standing on to get my dress down from the curtain rod I had it hanging off of.  Oops.
  3. Sitting in the limo waiting to go in to the church.  We were desperately trying to hook my sister-in-law up with the limo driver.  I think mostly because we wanted access to a limo driver.
  4. My mom yelling at me halfway down the aisle to slow down.
  5. Having to whisper-yell at Jon to step down from the alter to come get me.
  6. Wanting desperately to hand my bouquet off to my maid of honor during the ceremony.  I loved it, but man was that thing heavy!!
  7. Screaming Huzzah! and having Jon jump a la our engagement photos in the church basement after the ceremony.
  8. Jon spinning us around a lot during our first dance and making me dizzy.
  9. There was a blizzard.
    10. Huzzah!!
  10. I got to marry the most wonderful, terrific, loving man I have ever met in my life and I am grateful for every day that he is my husband and I am his wife.
He forgot to come get me.
Jump!!  Jump!!

...and we lived happily ever after.


***All photos are courtesy of Sarah Immel Photography.  If you're in Southeast WI and need an amazing photographer, I'd definitely recommend giving her a call.  She was amazing for us.***

The Case of the Missing Christmas Spirit

Posted by Anonymous on Sunday, December 9, 2012. Filed under: ,
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I'm normally a huge fan of Christmas.  I'm the girl who starts planning for Christmas in July.  By October, I have my Black Friday plan of attack laid out.  The weekend after Thanksgiving, I've got the house decorated and the tree up, and decorated gifts start appearing under the tree not long after. 

This year, I'm not really feeling Christmas.  I did Black Friday shopping with Mom, but I didn't really have the fun that I normally do.  The weekend after Thanksgiving, Husband and I had intentions of decorating the tree.  (I should say, I had intentions of decorating the tree, which I informed him of.)  Instead, we rocked the couch potato thing and kind of bummed out the whole weekend.  A week and a half after Thanksgiving, I finally re-arranged the living room to make room for the Christmas tree, but the spot sat empty.  

Finally, I found a tiny little bit of my Christmas spirit.  And I do mean tiny.  Like, this much:


I wrapped gifts.  And did my Christmas cards.  Technically, this was the last bunch of my cards.  I did the first 24, but then I ran out.  I stuck that batch in the mail and then did these, which are sitting in the mailbox as I type this to go out on Monday.  I was so proud to get all of these gifts wrapped, but I didn't get to finish all of my wrapping because I ran out of paper.  So I dug deep and found a little more Christmas spirit and went to the Hallmark store yesterday and got some more paper to finish the wrapping.  Why Hallmark, you ask?  I love that they have the cutting lines on the back of their paper.  I hate buying paper that doesn't have those lines.  Plus, they had a sale going on for all of their holiday paper, buy one roll, get a 2nd roll for $1.  So, I finished the wrapping, and ended up with a stack of gifts that look like this:


I absolutely love wrapping gifts (as long as they're in perfectly shaped boxes) but I despise decorating them, so rather than deal with decorating them right away I stuck Post-Its with the recipient's name on each box.  I'm wondering if I can get away with just giving gifts with the Post-Its still attached.

Among all of the wrapping, I found the motivation to decorate the tree, so that's done as well...but other than that, the house is totally bare.  Has anyone else ever had serious issues getting in to the Christmas spirit?

My Review: Swagbucks

Posted by Anonymous on Monday, November 19, 2012. Filed under:
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It's the holiday time of year again, where everyone (I should say almost everyone, with some people you just never know) likes so save as much as they can while still giving meaningful and thoughtful gifts to the friends and family that they love.  I fall in to this group, and since I've been out of work money is a little tight this year.  This situation led me to the blog series over at Money Saving Mom called 31 Ways to Earn Extra Cash Before Christmas.  **Quick note about Money Saving Mom - her blog is fantabulous!  I don't know how she keeps up with it.  She has so many different great ideas and tips.  Major kudos to her.  I read her book, The Money Saving Mom's Budget and it inspired me to attempt to use cash only in March - June of 2013 and see what happens to my budget.  You can buy the book here if you're interested.  She also just came out with a new e-book called 21 Days to a More Disciplined Life that is available for Kindle apps here.  I haven't read it yet; it's going to be my non-fiction read for the month of December, for when finals are over and I have a little time to focus on reading.  Anyway, Crystal's blog and books are an inspiration to me.  So, thanks Crystal!!

Aaaanyway, on Day 2 of Money Saving Mom's Christmas Cash series, she posted about this site I'd not head of before called Swagbucks.  Basically, if you complete special offers and activities located on Swagbucks's site, you're awarded points which can add up to things like free merchandise or free gift cards. Hey, I'm all about free, and Husband's Christmas list almost always includes a video game for his PS3 on it, and Swagbucks has Amazon gift cards, so I thought, "Why not?  I'll give it a try!"

The homepage, before you're a Swagbucks member
Signup is fairly simple and easy; I actually just signed up using the join with Facebook button you see located near the top of the screen there.  My Facebook account is associated with an old e-mail address that I only use for junk and/or spam e-mails now, so I don't mind using it to sign up, especially if it means that I get to skip filling in a few blanks here and there.  I hate filling out forms.
This is what you see when you come to Swagbucks after you've signed up
After signing up, I started wanting to earn points right away.  After all, that's what I was there for, wasn't it?  I wanted to see those points by my name climb, and climb fast!  The gift cards right now are 2,500 points for a $25 gift card, and 5,000 for a $50 gift card, so I needed points, and quick.  Some of the ways to earn points are directly from Swagbucks themselves.  You can take a Daily Poll for 1 point, complete the NOSOs each day for 2 points, and watch Swagbucks TV.  Every 10 videos earns you 3 points, and you can earn a maximum of 15 points a day from watching Swagbucks TV.  Some of the videos are super short (Hollyscoop averages less than a minute and a half) and there's a Martha Stewart channel that I actually enjoyed watching to get some ideas for crafts my niece and I could do together. 

The SwagBucks meter in the upper right shows your progress towards your next 3 points
The biggest point earners on Swagbucks are the Special Offers.  These are trials, downloads, and/or surveys you complete for SwagBucks.  Many of them are free; some do require a purchase.  These are through outside companies who validate if you have completed the offer, then award your points.

Some of the Special Offers available
It was these companies through which I had the biggest problem.  I have many offers that according to them I only viewed, when I in fact completed them.  Some of them I was able to contact the company's customer support and offer proof that I had completed the offer, which resulted in them manually crediting my account, but from many of these companies I have no way of proving that I completed it because it was just a Congratulations! screen on a website, and I don't take screenshots of every website I visit.  This has added up to dozens of lost points, which would have put me over my 2,500 point goal by this point in time.  (See in the upper right?  I have 2,459 points)
  
Three of the offers that say "viewed" I completed, two I had to look at again to make sure I completed everything correctly before contacting customer support.  One was no longer valid, and the top one did not work properly.
The nice part is that SwagBucks does offer a ledger of points that have been credited to your account, both from them and from the outside providers so you know what points you have, and if you can't remember what offers you've completed or how many points you've earned from watching SwagBucks TV you can just quickly glance at your ledger.  


I'm only touching on a few of the ways you can earn points through SwagBucks here, for other ways I would definitely recommend that you check out the website if you're interested.  For me, it's too much work monitoring the companies that I completed the offers for and making sure they credit me the points.  I'm going to work to complete my goal of the 2,500 points to get Stepdad an iTunes gift card for Christmas (because wouldn't you know it, this is the one year Husband decided NOT to put any video games on his Christmas list after all) and then that will be the end of my adventure with Swagbucks.  I like to order online for many things, so I'll probably just stick with ebates.com.

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