A Daily epiphany, a baby reminder..

I am going to try really really hard not to get on a soap box and rewrite this post and use my spell check 5oo times and get out a grammatical dictionary....

I CANT DO IT ALL!!! I know that. I don't expect anyone else to. Why do I keep thiking that I am "supposed" to. How does this thinking slowly creep in?

I came accross a wonderful blog today: Stay at Home Missionary

where she shared these quotes:

"There is a lie, even among the stay at homers, even in the church, and that lie is that just being home isn't good enough. This lie can be detrimental to embracing our High Calling.


"The season of young children is a time to refrain. Refrain from most outside activities, even church activities. Now is a time to be faithful in discipline...it's the springtime of mothering. Redeem the time, don't waste it."


by
Sono Harris,
(mother to 7 including Josh Harris and Alex and Brett Harris)

I knew this when I had 3 under 4. It may obvious, practical sense. But now..I have "older" chidlren and am a little more established and should be able to handle taking on being in 5 places at once, right?



I will miss some fun times with my friends but will enjoy them with my children. My sons may not indulge in every activity and may not expect their wives to either. As their free time is spent stuck here with me, I hope they will choose to be stuck home with their wives and children later in life.




You are welcome to join us, but we are going to be hanging out here for awhile:)

Swagbucks! and a giveaway

**REVISION:
this blog has been "down" for sometime until thee AMAZING Diana at The Girl Creative fixed it. She walked me through the solution and then when clueless me coudlnt do it, She did. From her cell phone, wile out of town for her sister's wedding. Wow.

Please visit her and say hello and see how talented and sweet she is!

I am extending the below giveaway through April 1st. WELCOME SPRING!!!

I have been using Swagbucks as my main search engine for a few months now and LOVE it...except for this guy, who keeps calling across the house from "my" office, "I GOT SWAGBUCKED"

I am getting "swagbucked" a lot and saving up Amazon money. Anytime I go on Facebook, check my email...I use the Swagbuck search engine and get bucks ( happens around three times a day.) I think just about everybody is using Swagbucks and earning stuff. Just in case, anyone reading my blog hasn't discovered Swagbucks yet, I thought I should share with you all:)

I am giving away a $5.00 Amazon e-certificate on april 1st. (I will take entries until then:)
to enter:
-tell me how long you have been using Swagbucks or what great prizes you have gotten

For bonus entries you can:
join Swagbucks here and let me know

-Follow this blog and let me know

Cleaning and Schedules and my new friends

I mentioned that we moved into an amazing dream home....

don't have pictures ready to share yet. Not sure if I should wait until we are all moved in and things are just right..will they EVER be "just right?"

I often encourage others about this lifestyle path. Having small children and homeschooling is like having two or three full time jobs. Then you throw in children of different age groups, husband's job loss and being underpaid, and night time working...I can see, in the abstract why I'm feeling behind in everything. Then there is being sick and all those around us are going to the Dr for bronchitis. We moved less than a month ago. I guess I can see cut myself a little slack. I KNOW that others can't "do it all" but sometimes I still thnk that I somehow should.

I kept telling my chidlren that I knew that we needed to find a more adequate home BUT would our lives *really* be that different in a new home. Uh yes. They are. This house is AMAZING and makes chores so much easier. The home we moved from had NO counter space and one electrical outlet in the kitchen with this shallow little sink and LOW hanging faucet. This kitchen is insane:



I used to go outside, and down my driveway to the garage to do laundry. I actually wrote about it HERE. This house has a laundry/mudroom INSIDE with amazing tile and a huge sink. It makes a HUGE difference.

My question for you all. Do you have a cleaning schedule?

My children are very helpful but right now my daughter is sweeping 3-4 times a day and the bathrooms aren't being cleaned at all. I know there will be some adjustment moving from 1000 square feet to 3,400. But can we REALLY keep it clean when we live here ALL day. The 7 of us. I figured out this week that there are 4 of us home who can make an impact and gave us each a major job and two rooms to tidy. We are trying and making conserted effort....

I keep telling myself that when much is given much is required. I have been given SOOOO much!!

This house really is fun to clean and I have found some new freinds along the way:)We have some very hard water. The house came with an amazing stainless steel dishwasher than barely worked because of water deopsits. We took apart the spraying arms and ran this miracle worker:

Lemi Shine, Dishwater Detergent Additive, Super Concentrated, 12 oz.

Through it a few times. It is shiny and beautiful now. and so are our dishes:)
I really should have taken before and afters. It worked that well.


I discovered this awesome stuff:
method granite cleaner
that doesnt leave my counters with a greasy slimy residue (and smells great with no chemicals or irritants for my sensitive son)

and this amazing stuff

Caldrea Basil Blue Sage Stainless Steel Spray

that takes away all grime and fingerprints on my stainless steel using Olive Oil (completely free of petroleum distillates)

I am slowly figuring things out...I saw a natural leave on shower cleaner that looks like it's worth looking into. Do you all ahve any more tips for someone drowning in house? Do you work on one room a day? One area a week? Is wanting it ALL clean at once a pipe dream?

I want this huge blessing to enrich our lies and NOT be an overwelming burden. I want my children to flourish here, not become unpaid help because we just can't keep up.

I'm linking up at

Wednesday-It Works For Me

New friend and Blog Blues

I want to show you all our new home and all the fun things Ive discovered and get all caught up.

I am STILL having trouble with this blog. I get error messages when I try to open the page and am getting comments that people can't comment:( Would you all do me a favor and see if you can comment or let me know if you can't. Does anyone know what my problem is or how to fix it. I have googled and googled and I still don't understand.

I found a new friend in bloggy land and she made me something WONDERFUL!! Please stop by and say hello to Janelle at Sodderbug and visit her blog at


Here are some terrible pictures of the beautiful necklace that I got in the mail:


My blog button




Our most recent famiy picture.

She did such an amazing job and I am soo exctied!!

Skin MD Naturals: Winner, apology and Valentine's Day Basket

January has been an odd month for my little blog. I couldn't access it for a while. I thought it was my old old E-machine desktop acting up. Then I started getting e-mails from people who couldn't enter my contest. Hmm...I contacted Blogger a few times who said they were working on it...now seems to be remedied. I thought about extending the giveaway. Trying to be fair to everyone.....

What to do? what to do?

We have lived in our small rental for 8 years and 10 months. Wanting to move but many many obstacles in the way. We saw God part the Red Seas for us in the past few weeks. It now looks like we will be moving into a 3,400 square foot, 5 bedroom home. Our rental now is falling apart and has NO extras. No dishwasher, no door to the garage...major plumbing problems, crack through the foundation....The rental we are moving into is only a few years old and was the model home in it's area (it has all the extras for show) We are going from no dishwasher or counter space to a marble island, built in stainless microwave/convection oven and a warming drawer. My head is spinning. I am so disorganized and cluttered. Pray for me as I move with no child care and a husband with no time off. God is sooo good!!

Kelly from I've Become My Mother is the winner of my Skin MD Natural giveaway!! Please email me Kelly!!



Skin Md Naturals is hosting their own Valentine's Day giveaway with:


- Bottle of Skin MD Natural shielding lotion
- Bottle of Skin MD Natural + SPF 15 shielding lotion
- One pound of See's dark assorted chocolates
- Pack of Starbucks VIA Ready brew coffee pouches
- Kiss Me coffee mug
- A Cuddly teddy bear
- Lollipop Bouquet
Enter away! HERE

GIVEAWAY- SkinMD Natural

I told you how excited I am about SkinMD Natural barrier lotion HERE.

Did you send for your free sample?HERE



SkinMD Naturals have given me a full size bottle to give away!!


To enter:
leave a comment (one entry)
follow my blog (one entry)
tweet about this giveaway (one entry)
Blog about this giveaway (one entry)
post my button on your blog (one entry)
Please leave a comment for each you choose to do:)


Contest will run through January 15th when a winner will be chosen at random.

SkinMD Natural-a Rave Review

>

I'm really excited about this lotion!! It works really well and does what it says it will. I respect that. But what I am most excited about is what it doesn't have and doesn't do!!

No animal products or testing
Dermatology tested
No Fragrance
No colorant
Hypoallergenic
No Paraben
Non-comedogenic




I have extremely dry skin and a son who is sensitive to fragrance, colorings and a lot of fruits. I have spent soo much money on lotions that burned my sensitive skin or didn't do as they promised. Parabens don't sound like a big deal but they are estrogen mimickers and throw my hormones for a huge loop. They come standard in most lotions. I have pretty much given up and live with dried, cracking and bleeding hands most of the year. Not fun and not pretty.

The whole concept of Skin Md Natural is described as "..an entirely new concept in skin care requiring a new classification: "Shielding Lotion". A shielding lotion keeps moisture-robbing irritants away from the skin while the proprietary "super" humectants hydrate the skin throughout the day." Doesn't that just make sense? The lotion goes on light and dries quickly leaving you feeling like you improved.

I suggest you try a sample!!HERE There are several options and all are very worth it.

Will you leave a comment and let me know that you ordered a sample and let me know what you think when it arrives?