New Year Resolutions: A Review

Back in January I posted  a listed of things I wanted to get done this year, both personally and professionally.  Now, 8 months into the year, how have I done so far?

 

These photos are completely unrelated to the post- but they are cute!  

 

Personally I've tried to be a better mom- scheduling Chucky Sue's day better and spending more one on one time with her while being 100% focused on our activity. She's slowly starting to enjoy craft projects, and of course loves it when I play along with her toys. We've decided to wait another 6 months or so before attempting to potty train again. Chucky Sue's communication skills need to develop a bit more; She still spends some days just grunting and pointing instead of using the words we know she knows.

I've also started walking just about everyday (though I will admit that has stopped entirely during this crazy oppressive heat!) and being more aware of what I'm eating. I've almost entirely cut out caffeine and soda, I save it as a treat for when we go out to eat. With all those habit changes, I have lost about 15lbs since February. It's slow going but I'm happy with any loss!

Professionally I had set out to *someday* finish my college education in hopes to find a job with social media advertising. By complete lucky and random chance I found a job I qualified for on Craigslist and am now a freelance writer and graphic designer for Growing Up in The Valley- a new family magazine for all of Southwest Virginia! Our first issue is due out at the end of the this month and I am so excited to share it with all of you! I wrote three articles (about 4ish pages depending on the layout) and so far I've designed 3 ads for our sponsors. I will also be in the online video on the website! I would have never thought I could find a job like this and still be able to stay at home with Chucky Sue. Sometimes blessings are hard to see, sometimes they just smack you in the face. This is definitely a face-smacking blessing.

If you asked me a year ago where I thought I'd be, I would have never guessed that I'd have this much success and happiness. I was predicting that I'd be in a stalemate professionally- stuck between working out of the house and paying for daycare or staying home and not having a career at all. I've never held much stock in making resolutions for the New Year, but I think I'm changing my tune!

Little Girls and their...Trains?

Chucky Sue had a play date with her youngest cousin, Dorita, a little bit ago. She, her mom and dad, and her visiting aunt all joined us at our awesome perfectly toddler sized zoo to spend a fun Saturday together.

Dorita is a climbing expert, and has no fear about falling or animals gobbling her up in one bite. After visiting the big city zoo out in Oregon she was a pro at this.

And even though Chucky Sue is 10 months older, she prefers following instead of leading.

I love that the zoo is small enough that we can let the two toddlers drag us around and not have to worry at all about getting lost.

Chucky looks very grown up in this picture, I think it's her sassy attitude!

I love these pictures of Jake and Chucky Sue together, but to tell the truth I was taking photos more to prove to Jake how dangerous it was to have her up on that ledge!

 

The zoo has this cellphone text campaign, where you can win free rides on their dinky train (normally $2 a person so we've never ridden it!) Thankfully our large family got all the texting done for us and Chucky Sue and I got to ride for free! Chucky loved the ride once it started, but was a little sad that Jake had to stay with the strollers and diaper bags.

I had left the camera (D'oh!) in the stroller, so you can't quite see the anger and sadness she was expressing in the iphone photo.

 

I absoultely love watching Chucky Sue and Dorita play and interact with each other. They are going to keep us on our toes their whole lives the little scamps!

Angelina's Marker

My parents are simply amazing, you all should know that.

They saved up and purchased a site marker for Angelina's grave. We had been using the small plastic placeholder that the funeral home gave us two years ago and it was starting to look grungy. My parents were incredibly selfless and gave up a summer visit from Chucky Sue and me to pay for the marker. We went with butterflies for the design Really, that shouldn't be a shocker to regular readers. Angelina basically equals butterflies in this house. Even Chucky Sue points to them and says her name.

Every time I visit Angelina I have a strange whirlwind of emotions- sadness, love, confusion, and  usually after a prayer, peace.

Chucky Sue loved tracing the butterflies with her fingers and smelling the flowers Jake brought.

I never thought my family's life would include regular visits to a cemetery. It's important to both Jake and me that Chucky Sue know Angelina as much as she can, and visiting her grave is a big part of that.

So thank you Mom & Dad, you have no idea how much your generosity means to us.

The Original Dish Drying Mat

I haaaate doing dishes. I have ever since I was a kid. The scummy water, the gross half eaten food- icky sticky plates and bowls!? EW EW EW.

So since being married Jake has gratefully taken over that role. But I  still clean the kitchen and those plastic dish drainers can get just as nasty as the dirty dishes! Every one I've had develops this nasty slick film all over it. Water collects beneath it and gets moldy, icky and just plain gross.

So when Influenster sent me their Mom VoxBox full of products to test out, I was super crazy excited over The Original Dish Drying Mat included inside. I immediately threw out my plastic drainer and put this underneath. It fits my counter perfectly, even though our kitchen is cramped and tiny. It is a good couple of inches wider than the drying rack we use too, so we can place items around it for a even bigger dish "load". It holds enough water without bleeding through, so water doesn't EVER touch the counter! It also uses some freaky science magic to dry faster than any dish towel I used. If and when juice or food gets on it, it washes easily. I think you would have to work hard to get this mat to mold or get grody.

Also, it's crazy cheap- about $5 at Walmart, Target or Bed Bath and Beyond! I'm thinking of buying a few for a couple of baby showers coming up, these would be perfect under a bottle washing rack!

Come back later this week for more posts about all the other products from my VoxBox, Birchbox and samples from online!

Life: Getting in the Way

I am so upset with myself. I had a tiny inkling of an idea to blog every weekday this summer. As you can see, we're almost done with June and I've posted about 9 times.  Way to go Tracy!

Life just jumps out and blocks every creative and/or leisure plan I've made.  Everything I have going on right now is fun and worthwhile. It's not like I'm stuck doing something boring, but I was hoping it'd be a bit more balanced.

My articles for the first edition of Growing Up in the Valley are due soon, that is what has been eating up my time. I've been up late writing and editing the past week or so. I want to make sure that everything is as perfect as it can be for the first printing. Speaking of- make sure you go like our Facebook page for news about where to find our magazine and interesting links as well. If you like us before the first issue is out, you'll be entered into a drawing for an iPod  Touch (unless you're related to me. Sorry guys!).

Thankfully I keep my phone around and have been able to snap some shots of our busy busy lives:

   

(1: An apple print for my first craft article 2. Working hard at the library

3. Fancy Dinner for missionaries 4. Getting pretty with toddler makeup)

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Recycled Art: Jewelry on the Cheap!

I've written about this craft before-

  Paper Beads!

This was 1.5 pages of magazines worth of beads.

Normally I try to not write duplicate posts but the last post was back in 2009, so I hope you excuse me! I made the beads myself, but Chucky Sue helped me string them into some beautiful necklaces. It was great for her fine motor skills. She is really turning into a girly girl, so she loves anything with jewelry or makeup lately.

Don't let her serious face trick you, she was having a blast- it's just hard work to concentrate! (also the bad editing is for Jake, he didn't want to show up in his PJs on my blog!)

Our first completed masterpiece.

They are a perfect rainy day craft, all you need is paper, scissors, glue and string. 

1: a dowel or skewer to roll the paper on 2: glue to hold it all together 3: long skinny triangles of magazine paper works best! 4: any string you have laying around will work 5: Scissors to keep the edges neat, I've tried tearing it before and it never turned out well!

I really love that I can make fun old necklaces and bracelets and if Chucky Sue crushes it, or it gets ruined all it cost me was a few cents and an hour or two. Quite different from when she rips my chain necklaces to pieces and I'm out at least $10!

Fun, easy, and earth friendly jewelry!

A Present to Me: Shutterfly Photo Album

Back when we upgraded to Fancy Shmancy Camera Best Buy was running a deal that we would get a free Shutterfly Photo Album with the purchase. I was already in love with camera, but this little perk didn't hurt at all. I went back and forth about how I wanted to use the photo album, a vacation themed one? My own version of the cute ABC book floating around Pinterest? I decided to make it a book by me, for Chucky Sue as she grows up. Some of my favorite memories with my mom is when she was telling about me as a baby or even her own childhood.

The book is full of poems, tidbits, rhymes, and thoughts about my first two years with Chucky Sue. There are very simple pages that I know she'll enjoy now, and then more complex ones for her to grow up with. And then thanks to Fancy Shmancy Camera, I have lots of new photos to fill this book up!

Now there are lots of coupons and promotions going on for Shutterfly, here are a few that I searched out for you lovely readers:

Free Father's Day Card, use the code: CARD4U

10% off entire order, use the code: ENJOY

as always, notify me if you want an extra 50 free prints from Shutterfly by joining through my referral link!

Summer Lovin'

And we had a BLAST!

Our trip to Ocean City, MD was absolute perfection. We lounged on the beach, cruised the boardwalk, hung out at arcades and ate way too much bad for you food. 

Thankfully I was blessed with a kid who loves to travel. She instantly adjusts to whatever new routine we take on for vacation, with little whining. Believe me, I know how rare that is!

Our goal for the vacation was just to rest and be together- nothing big or huge, just away from the house and daily grind. I think we accomplished that and more.

My Green Thumb: + 2 shades!

My least favorite chore as a child was pulling weeds. We had a moderate sized garden, a few flower beds around the house and a brick walkway that my mom would  use to torture us. As  my teenage self recalls, my mother would wait until it was the hottest, muggiest day of the year to send me and my sister out to pull the prickly little buggers. Armed with nothing but a bucket and some sunblock we'd hunch over the dirt piles and sun bleached bricks, pulling with all our might to make sure we got the whole plant down to the blasted roots.

or something like that.

So you can imagine my shock when I felt the urge to start my own garden. Somehow I convinced myself that I could drastically limit the weeds by growing a simple tomato plant on my porch. Even stranger, that "simple tomato plant" turned into three plants, one flower pot and one potted herb once I left the store. I am now the proud "gardener" of my very own cherry tomato, green pepper, and strawberry plants, alongside a pot of zinna flowers and seedling basil. We spent just under $40 for all the supplies and plants and have harvested one strawberry- the most expensive strawberry known to man.

May the 4th be with You: A Mother's Birthday

My mom at 4 years old

Today in my mom's birthday!

She has her own awesome blog too you know. She writes about her chicken visitors, the kids that she watches, her adorable granddaughter and often really, really, REALLY yummy recipes.

These are my parents before they even thought about having me or my sister. 

 This is my mom now- older and wiser but still having a grand time tubing down hills!

I don't even know what it up with my dad's hair.

 My parents made birthdays pretty special. I got cool cookie monster cakes. (And some snazzy red overalls!) I don't remember ever being told I couldn't have a party, even though now I know they had to work really hard to be able to afford it. 

My mom was really good at that- keeping us kids in the dark when money was tight. Sure- I noticed that we didn't have many luxuries and we did have a few years in a crummy condo, but I still had toys, clothes, books and more importantly, a fun childhood. She never let on just how close we came to being in big trouble financially until I was older and out of the house. 

This shows how much Chucky Sue and I look alike!

My mom has always been good at having fun. She's a nanny now, so her talent is being used well! She can think of craft or cooking projects, silly games or songs faster than anyone I know. She also loves kids, and once she has fallen for a kid, oh boy! That kid will be in her heart forever. It may take a while, but once my mom loves you- it's for good.

I've always been a fashionista.

 My mom sacrificed a lot for me and my sister- she worked crummy jobs while we were in school, but still managed to find time to take us to have dance lessons, soccer practice, T-ball games, swimming lessons, shopping trips, church activities and play dates.  Now that I'm a parent, I know how much time, energy and money can go into ONE of those activities, let alone two kids doing all of them!

Even after I got married and had kids, I knew my mom was always there for me. It may earn me some guilt trips and lectures, but if we are in a bind- she has always come to help in any way she can. Most recently, she has paid for Angelina's headstone. The huge financial undertaking aside- she knew how important it was to me and Jake. She made it happen and we are so grateful.

My mom last summer, with Chucky Sue.

Chucky Sue loves her Nonie. Even though they are far away from each other they have a very close relationship. Chucky Sue knows how to use my phone to call Nonie. She loves watching Nonie's chickens, and seeing Nonie play with toys. One of these days I will have to record their Skype chats! When Chucky Sue colors she likes to tell stories about her scribbles, more often than not, one of them is a Nonie scribble.

All in all, my mom is an amazing woman. She is funny, smart, silly and caring. She is what I hope to be as a mother. 

Happy Birthday Mom!!

Where Did Tracy Go?

What a poor neglected blog.

We've been in a rut since Easter. We haven't done anything interesting, just lived our lives day to day. No one wants to see posts about me cleaning my toilet or Jake working an extra shift.  So I'm slapping up some photos from my Instagram.

Maybe I should let Chucky Sue write some posts for me...