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Sunday, January 10, 2010

Aww, thanks :)

My sweet friend Nancy down in Arizona passed on this Beautiful Blogger award to me!

Now it's my turn to share seven things about myself, and pass the award on to seven beautiful blog friends. So, here goes:

#1
I forgot to share this at Christmas, but better late than never - our neighborhood had its first Christmas light contest this year, and we WON! Woohoo! Made all that work for the past nine years worth it...haha. It was definitely good timing for us, as we were going through a lot of heavy stuff over the holidays. The night before my operation, some nice ladies from our association showed up at the door bearing the great news, plus a basket of awesome goodies. Here is a photo of the award-winning light display. For Christmas 2010, I highly recommend you add Sterling Park to your list of Christmas-light-viewings! We had a lot more participation this year due to the contest, so it makes for a good show. Of course, our household is already planning additions for next year...not that we expect to win the award again, but it will be fun to try!


Note that the blow-up bear we added this year is collapsed under the snow in this photo...haha! Also, we leave up the lights on our front window (the cross) through Easter every single year.

#2
I am not a total greenfreak, but I do love cloth diapers and recommend them to everyone I know. Cloth rules! I even have a friend who is presently knitting a new wool nighttime cover for me to try out on Brett...can't wait to see how that looks and works! It will look like this:


#3
I have been a stay-at-home-mom for two years now...and since then I never wear makeup or "do" my hair except for church or special events. I love my yoga pants, ponytails, and puffy down vests, but sometimes I think I'm totally copping out in the grooming department. Hmm.

#4
If my house isn't clean, my brain doesn't function right. I can get in a serious funk if the floors stay dirty for more than a day. I am always picking up stray lint balls and such from the floor. If I step barefoot on some crumbs in the kitchen, it really grosses me out. And wiping my hand over a sticky counter really irks me. This house has definitely taught me a lot about choices I'm going to make next time, if the Lord blesses us with the opportunity to build another house. Darker colored carpet will be the first thing on my list!

#5
On the cleaning theme, I LOVE LOVE LOVE my Bissell Spot Bot. It is a mommy's (and a pet-mommy's) best friend. Westley, our male kitty, has been eating and barfing Christmas tree all season long, and I had to Bissell several times a week to keep my carpets from being totally destroyed. Thank goodness for my Spot Bot. And it's fun these days, because Brett is in love with it too. He calls it "Vacuum Beep."

#6
I love, love, love to organize! Give me an all-expense-paid trip to The Container Store and I'd be one happy lady. I have actually designed two whole custom Elfa systems (one for the laundry room, one for the pantry), which I never bought...but at least they are there in case we ever have a sudden surge in our budget. Right now my organizational juices are flowing in the direction of toy and craft storage - Brett has a few new toys from B'day and Christmas, which need a more defined home (rather than just thrown under the coffee table), and he is also getting more into arts and crafts, which means my pantry has random crafty stuff shoved in the top. Here is what I'm thinking about buying as a solution to each of those:


We already have open canvas totes that match these boxes...the boxes would function better in a high-visibility part of the family room. The rolling craft cart would store away neatly in our coat closet, and roll out anytime Brett is feeling crafty.

#7
I am so excited to start Brett's new 2-year-old home preschool curriculum! I ordered it last week from this site. I can't wait to get started...he really seems ready. Last week we were about to start reading a book together, and Brett opened to the title page (which I always skip), and spontaneously started identifying letters on the page! I was floored! This kid needs a new challenge, fo sho!
Sorry, no recent pictures or videos of him showing off his intellectual prowess...but this one of him eating blueberries really tickles me.


Okay, now my seven friends to whom I'm passing this Beautiful Blogger Award:
Bethany - a quadruple-blogging diva!
Mindy - her blog always has the most gorgeous pictures
Jacki - she keeps up so well, she almost posts every day!
Karly - another blog with simply gorgeous photos of her two cuties
Natalie - always positive and encouraging!
Hannah - love just bursts from her blog :)
Kelly - eagerly blogging about their upcoming adoption...SO exciting!

4 comments:

Tauna said...

How fun! Thanks for sharing all these things. I definitely like the organization junkie in you. ;-) Plus the fact that my own t-shirt and yoga pant uniform is acceptable for any and all of our get togethers. BTW - It's very cool that you keep the cross up until Easter.

Mommy said...

CONGRATS on your house winning!! I LOVE lights and it's so fun! I wish my husband was more into it. He is no fun that way :( We are so much alike is so funny! I love to organize as well. I was bummed that the container store closed down here. Thanks for participating. I know you a little more now :)

Natalie said...

Hey so fun! I'll have to do this on my next post! I enjoyed reading yours!

Jacki R. said...

That's so cool about winning the lights contest! Will have to drive through next year. I need to see the bear inflated!!

Oh, love the new picture atop the blog too. Did you create it? If so, what did you use? I have Photoshop Elements and am still trying to figure out how to create something like that for a header.