Time flies when you're not blogging

I have been flattered lately that a few people have mentioned that they have missed my blog....  I have been taking a break from blogging to "refocus".  During my initial brief blogging effort I learned a tremendous amount about the art and business of blogging but I wasn't finding any satisfaction from writing about the subject matter of crafting and home decorating. 

The last three months I have spent some time (since it was summer - a.k.a. the hardest working time of the year for a mom - I would be lying if I said I spent a LOT of time) thinking of what I might be able to blog about of more significance that could lead me to a future of business, speaking, commentating, writing or some other non-mom specific thing.   I love politics, conservative women's issues, campaigning for family values and pondering the question of how SAHMoms can be productive yet faithful to the goal of being a wife and mom first.  I love business, sales, customer service and industrial psychology.  I also love endeavoring to be a better person, Christian, wife, friend and mom every day.  So - how can I blog about all of that? 

I have not come up with an answer to that question yet but have been overwhelmed with a more pointed question - what are all these other stay at home mom bloggers doing that I'm not doing which allows them the time to do the stuff they are blogging about???!!!!!

Yesterday here was my schedule:
     6:00 to 7:00 up, coffee email, organize for day
     7:00 to 8:30 - get kids ready for school, make breakfast for four, make lunch for three
     8:30 to 11:30 - Trader Joes, Costco, Albertsons runs - at home I cleaned and unpacked groceries
     11:30 to 1:00  Work the hot lunch program at our school
     1:00 to 3:00  - two more errands (bank and to make a return) home, laundry, prep dinner
     3:00 to 6:00 - homework, kids after school classes (a.k.a. mommy taxi time)
     6:00 to 8:30 - dinner, kids to bed, clean, try to fold laundry
     8:30 to  10:00 - review email again, review homework, pay bills, plan for tomorrow.

SO - where was the couple of hours I needed to shop the thrift stores, buy old furniture and refinish it for my furniture blog?  Or how was I to have time to organize the pantry for my big pantry reveal? Much less time to visit the dollar store and craft up some fall wreaths?    Even if I DID want to make a lift blogging about crafting and DIY when in the world would I have the time? 

After an equally busy day today I took twenty minutes to write this post which will undoubtedly have spelling and grammatical errors.  Not to mention how much more efficient a read it would be if I had time to proofread and edit.  But today - that's not gonna happen.  I'm just throwing this out there - spelling errors and all because today - it's the best I can do and today - that is going to have to be enough for me. 

Believe and practice uprightness

This is the obituary from the death of my Great Great Grandfather.  Oh, how impressed am I by this summary of his life.  When I die I hope that the same can be said of me - that I believed and practiced honesty and uprightness.  How I wish life today was this simple and that we valued a comfortable living and raising a large family of responsible citizens. 

 

One of Paulding's most respected citizens passed Away 

1903

On Sunday morning at 8 o'clock Mr. Wyatt Lee passed quietly away at his home about seven miles north of Dallas. Mr. Lee has been sick for some time with dropsy; he was  very low in the summer, but improved in the fall and it was hoped and believed that he would regain his health. A few days ago he again grew worse, and on Sunday morning he breathed his last.

Mr. Lee early enlisted in the Confederate States army and, it is said of him by his associates that he was one of the bravest and truest of Confederate soldiers. He was a lieutenant at the close of the war; and since that time he has lived where the beautiful Raccoon valley joins the Raccoon hills on the Acworth and Rockmart road, and there surrounded by the quietude of his country home, he and his good wife have made a comfortable living and raised a large family of children, among whom are our townsmen, Messrs. R. M. , Jesse, Willie Lee and Mrs. Free Hay.

Mr. Lee was a man who believed and practiced honesty and uprightness with his fellow man, and our county could boast of no better citizen.  He will be not a little missed by his many friends, and especially those who lived nearest to him.  We mingle our sympathy with his loved ones.  May the God of Peace comfort and bless them.  The interment took place at High Shoals cemetery Monday afternoon.

10 Best Tutorial Blogs for Beginner (and advanced) Bloggers

When I started blogging it took me about two months just to learn how to find a blog that would teach me about blogging.

Something about learning to type the word tutorial, blog, wordpress, blogger and HTML that made it all click for me.  Since that time I have found some sites that have helped me immensely.

Blogging with Amy.  I want Amy to be my new best friend.  Of course she doesn't know it yet.  
Her articles about how to start a blog are perfect for a beginner blogger.    When I wanted to make my own blog button her tutorial helped me immensely. 

The best tutorial I have found online has to, hands down, go to Tentblogger on how to maximize your Feedburner settings.  It would have taken me hours to figure out the information he shared in his post. 

Copyblogger.   There are still some posts on Copy blogger that are over my head but I aspire to learn enough to understand everything listed there.  Most recently I enjoyed their blog on 3 Myths of guest writing on Big Blogs. 

The Girl Creative offers blogging tips from a great perspective.  Her crafting tips are pretty darn great also. 

Crafterminds has a long list of articles and great blog resources.  Photography tips, pinterest tips,  technical and design tips and more!

I'm also a big fan of Brent Riggs - founder of Linky Followers and Linky Tools.  He has a lot of blogs including a great personal blog.  His Blog tutorial site is definitely worth reviewing. 

Others:
 Problogger
 Blogger Buster
 Daily Blog Tips
 Blog Tutorials 
 Blogging Basics 101 
 Tips for New Bloggers

If all those fail - Google is your best friend.  Search using the words "tutorial" and you will often find what you are looking for!  Good luck and please post any other sites you have found that are good resources!  

Inspired Decoupage Table

I have a confession.

I am not a true crafter.

I am a copy crafter. 

I can do crafts that I see other people do but am not so good at coming up with things on my own.  Don't judge.

Yesterday I read Today's Creative Blog and knew instantly that I had to copy her craft idea.  I knew because, I too, had a table with a big ugly spot in the middle that I wanted to hide.

I planned to research a cute pattern and find the perfect paper but I made a fatal mistake.  I told my 8 year old what I wanted to do and she had the table downstairs, cleaned and sanded before I could say decoupage.  She picked out the paper and the butterflies and went to town.

Needless to say, I have no before pictures because I was trying to make dinner and she was trying to make new furniture.  We got this far in the project before my dear sweet husband said, "take pictures"!  We tore small pieces of sky paper.... 

Then we painted Modge Podge on the tabletop  and on the back of the paper and laid them down hap-haphazardly.

No rhyme or reason - just all over.

I left a little overhang over the side of the table because I wanted a rough look...  I went back after it dried and sanded the paper down around the edges.  It's uneven and fun.   

Then I printed out a 800 font size "S" - this happens to be Times New Roman and used it as a stencil for this pretty butterfly paper.  We modge podged on the S and the butterfly's and left it to dry for the night.  

After she went to sleep I added a little more paper to the drawer - just for fun.  She woke up to a nice surprise!!!

Now my 6 year old wants to do her table....  I'm not sure what  have started in my house but it is super fun! 

Why I didn't post more this past week.

Why didn't I post more this past week?  

Believe it or not, I can tell you in one word why my week was not what I expected it to be.

Why the schedule I thought I was going to have wasn't the one I had.

Why my free time was not free.

Why when I had free time, I was too exhausted to blog.

You ready?

Puppy.

Yep, I was puppy sitting.  This is Bane.  Four month old french bulldog.  And those are my kids who are ecstatically happy about dog sitting.

Next, I should post a picture of me happy when I got to give him back.  I like OPP - Other People's Pets.  Especially Bane.  So when I miss a few days of posting again now you'll know why.  

Baby Shower Gift Printable

My first printable!!!!!

I attended a baby shower for a friend today and made a printable for her of my favorite poem for kids.  I used Picnik and am bummed it is being discontinued...  What a great fun site!

Here is the printable:

Feel free to copy and use in any way you wish.

And here is how I framed it for her.

I wrote on the back in a pretty silver sharpie and gifted it with some home made "It's a Girl" cards.

I hope she loves this prayer as much as I do.  It has become a mantra of sorts for me.  Every night I head upstairs and check on my girls before I go to sleep.  It's my favorite time kneeling by their bed, brushing their hair off their cheeks, breathing deeply of their sweetness and kissing their soft face.  Then I say this little prayer and head off to bed.  More soothing than any cup of warm milk! 

Pinspired - Beaded Napkin Rings Tutorial

I have a collection of beads leftover from some previous projects and wanted to find something fun to do with them.  I'm not a big Pinterest user but found these beautiful beaded napkin rings looking for leftover beading projects on the site.

source

Pretty, huh?  I thought I might be able to make something like this with my leftover (and definitely less glamorous) beads. 

 

I took the below supplies - 20 gauge bendable wire, handcrafted beads from mexico and some leftover beads from an old project to make my own version of these napkin rings. 

Using a small glass I bent the wire around the glass twice to get the shape I wanted for the napkin rings.

I'm sure there is a more professional but likely much more time consuming way to do this - but I bent the ends of my wire using square pliers to make a cute little doodle on the end.    

  

 I beaded the wire using a pattern of five little beads and one big bead - five little beads - one big  bead.  Then I continued beading until the wire was full. 






 So - here you go - my version of the beaded napkin rings.  I was really pleased with the way it turned out.  Pretty in person and would definitely dress up the table! 

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