Productive??

Don't you just love productive days?
Days when everything goes great.
You manage to get everything checked off of your to-do list.
When your family is full from the amazing supper you made.
The house is filled with the aroma of baking.
Floors are squeaky clean.
The dishes are all washed and put away.
Laundry is all done and tucked away in everyone's drawers.

Yep I love those days too.

They are not always frequent in my house.
But when they are. Ahhhh........

Today, well today was semi productive.
However after my week last week anything I did around the house would have been great!

I did manage to get 90% of the laundry done.
I did manage to roast a chicken. Just not in time for supper. We dined on leftovers tonight. The chicken is for the next few days when life is going to be crazy busy again. I managed to boil some eggs and peel them so I can make my daughter some egg salad sandwiches.
I did manage to get some baking done. Mostly for myself. Man that sounds so selfish. But I need GF snacks so I concentrated on those first. Tomorrow I will make some more for Sarah.
I did manage to get most of the dishes done. They are drying on the counter as we speak and one pot (the roast chicken pot) is in the sink soaking.
Floors were not even washed but I did find my bathroom.
I did manage to wash my sheets and remake my bed.

I still look around my house and see so much to do. However I am happy I am healthy enough to accomplish what I did today.

How was your day? Did you manage to have a great one?

Top 10

I thought I would catch you all up on what happened this past week but I also wanted to participate in Top 10 Tuesday so I decided I would combine them.
So typical me this is a bit different. :)

My top 10 memories of this past week.

1. Being sick.
Yep that's right I got sick on Easter Saturday and was sick pretty much all week long. When I say sick I mean SICK. I got a head and chest cold and it decided to go bronchial on me. So I spend a good chunk of the week fighting for breath and feeling like I was drowning.

2. Doing stage rehearsals.
Monday thru Thursday Sarah had stage rehearsals. They went really well I think. See above wasn't overly focused. :)

3. STEPS workers.
I was in charge of the STEPS (her festivals name) workers. I had to make sure everyone showed up for their shifts, did their duties and put out any fires that arose. This was a huge job and I am so thankful that I had for the most part amazing people working.

4. Doing set up and take down.
For set up I literally sat on the floor and just struggled to breath. I tried to organize the people but my mind was a big old fog machine.
Take down I was feeling way better but at that point pretty exhausted. I had walked the entire weekend so I had feet the size of watermelons. hahahahah

5. My hubby.
Without him our poor daughter would have starved. I had no appetite at all so never thought about food for her. Thank goodness he was around. He drove her to and from dance on the weekend and made sure she was fed. I did manage to make sure she drank lots of water. :)

6. Snow
It snowed/rained all weekend. Very normal for this time of year but so aggravating.

7. Some very wonderful people.
These ladies kept me sane!! I was so sick and so crazy by the weekend that they helped me out so much. Without them and without my hubby I would have sat down in the corner and cried.

8. Watching my daughter dance.
Sarah has 7 dances this year. One of them is her very first ever solo. She is doing a tap solo. Watching her on stage was most definitely the highlight of my entire weekend. She shone!! God is doing amazing things in her life. She is growing up so much and maturing. I am so lucky to be her momma.

9. Spending some rare but very important quality time moments with my hubby.
These were very rare but VERY treasured. He means so very much to me. He keeps me grounded and I love watching him interact with our children. He is an amazing father and a fantastic husband. We are lucky that he chose us. :)

10. This is probably my favorite moment of the entire week.
On Saturday I was stressed and I mean STRESSED!! There was some negative talk about me behind my back as well as some bickering going on about the job I was doing. The fact that I was there and working while my mind was not functionally and I was hardly breathing did not seem to weigh in. I was to say the very least upset.
I was hurt and mad and stressed and and and...
At one point while I was checking the bathrooms to make sure they were clean I just stood in front of the mirror and prayed. I asked God for strength. Strength to just get me through the rest of the weekend. Strength to not let this gossip effect me so much. Then I left the bathroom and went on about my job. I started to talk to another dance mom whom is a fellow Christian and she helped me. I went home in a much brighter mood. I was happy and managed to finish the weekend feeling better mentally and physically.
It wasn't until that evening that I realized that God had answered my prayer. He was there for me. He led me to my friend and gave us the opportunity to talk and let me release all my anxiety. I can tell you I mighty praised Him!!!

In short it was a crazy week. I never even turned on my blog all week. However I learned a very important lesson this past week. I knew that I could always count on my hubby and I found out I have some pretty great people that I know, however, I also learned that in my low of lows God is always there for me.

So Hi everyone I am back and I hope that even though things will still be crazy busy for me I can stop in and say hi much more frequently.

I am linking up today with Angie at Many Little Blessings.

I am alive!!

I am alive!!
I just wanted to pop by and let everyone know.
Or at least anyone that was concerned I am alive again!!
It has been an intense week but I actually have 4 seconds tonight to get on here and say HIIIIII!!!!!!

I will catch everyone up soon.
Take care everyone!!!

I AM SO HAPPY TO BE BACK!!!!

April is here and so it is new goal time

This month is my crazy busy month, ok ok so is next month as well. So when I was trying to figure out my goals for April, I was having a hard time. I like to usually make my goals something that enriches our lives for the better. However that usually means making a big change in how I do things. I knew that this month it would be harder for me to accomplish this.
So then I thought I could make my goals very simple, example: I could say I plan to get all of Sarah's dance stuff organized, ready, altered, and packed. But I would have already been 99% done that so it almost felt like cheating. So then I decided to make the goals realistic instead of easy. There is a difference. hahahaha
So without further babbling here they are:

1. Keep the house clean.
This might sound like an easy goal but I must let you know that every single day we will be out of the house doing something except for part of the last week of April and hubby will be home some of that, so I don't want to spend that week cleaning up from the rest of the month.
I tend to get a little lazy when I am busy and the first thing to fall by the wayside is my house.

2. Make snacks and healthy food choices.
I know also that when we are on the goal all the time I will pack or buy healthy for my daughter and I will grab junk. So my goal is to always have healthy food choices around for both of us. If I make the snacks then I know what goes into them as well. Win win.

3. Keep drinking the water.
Since Lent is almost over I am scared I am going to go back to simply grabbing a pop. It is my go to drink when I get stressed. It is also filling so I am not as hungry. Bad calories, bad!
So I need to also pack myself lots of water to have. I am picky about my water so I need to make sure I have lots of the kind I like. Weird? Yep that's me. Just ask my hubby. hahahahahaha

I hope everyone has a blessed Easter!!!!

I am linking up today with Michelle for Caffeinated Randomness and the 3 in 30 weekly linkup. Hop on over and see what others are up to.

Thankful Thursday

God has blessed me with a pretty amazing life. 

As I sit at the computer thinking about what exactly to write today I realized that is very hard to narrow it down.

So this might seem like a bit random but here are some things that are popping into my head.

I am thankful for a reliable vehicle. I spend a TON of time on the road and in Alberta you are never sure what the road conditions are going to be like from moment to moment so to have a reliable vehicle that I am comfortable driving is huge for me.

I am thankful that I was able to help out my parents today by driving a little over an hour away to pick up my Dad's golf cart that was getting serviced so that he can have it for Monday. (They are closed all weekend)

I am thankful that my children have all turned out just fine. There was many a days when I wondered if I was doing the right thing. In fact I am sure some of those times I wasn't at all. However they are healthy, happy individuals. 

I am thankful that my hubby loves me so much. He gets me. Not a ton of people do. He puts up with my silly sense of humor and my sometimes flip flop of emotions. :)

I am thankful that I get to spend Easter with my parents and some siblings. We try to get together as often as we can and I always enjoy it when we do. Making memories one minute at a time. :)

I am thankful that I have an amazing God that I serve. Where would I be without Him?? Lost and Broken. 

I turn to Him so much and He is always there. :)

Come check out more thankful Thursday posts at Red Oak Lane and at The Marathon Mom.

What a Wednesday

I must say today was interesting.
I have been freezing at night. Not sure what is happening but I lay in bed shivering trying to warm up for a good half hour. (This is even with my heated mattress pad on). Anyhooo... back to the original subject today.
So needless to say I did not have a great sleep last night.
However I was feeling fairly perky this morning and was up and about waking up Sarah and getting things ready a little ahead of schedule and then...
We hit a road block.
I am not sure exactly what.
Sarah had a hard time getting into school today.
She was taking her time was not focusing really well.
I was grumpy and lots of little things were annoying me.
I did manage to alter and label all but one of her dance costumes. The last one is still needing to be sewn. Oops. Thank goodness I see my Mom on Friday she will help me out. :)
Then off to dance we went.
Things perked up for a bit but I still found myself out of sorts. Quick to anger, slow to relax.
I did have to chuckle when Sarah was in the shower before we left for dance. I could here her splashing around in the water that was draining and I asked her what she was doing. She said dancing. Then she burst into song. "I feel like dancing, dancing, dance the night away. I feel like dancing, dancing dance the night away. Whooooo"
Then after dance she had a esthetician's appt. to be all beautified.
After that Sarah and I managed to hook up our sled/quad trailer to my truck. The only man we had assisting us was my hubby via long distance phone call. We did it!! Whoohoooo!!!
Then signed onto my blog and I spend part of the evening catching up. I was reading my blogging friend Jenilee's post when I saw she mentioned me. Awe it made my heart really happy. Thank you sooo much Jenilee!!!!


Still not feeling 100%. I am thinking early bedtime with some time spend in His Word. :)

Have a great night everyone.

Every Mom needs to be pampered occasionally

I am a very firm believer that if I do not take time out for myself I have less and less to give to my family.

When I take that time to recharge I am a better person, a better wife, a better Mom, a better daughter, a better...you get the picture.

So every so often I spoil myself.

When we were living on a much more limited income these times were a little different but I still managed to find me time.

1. Take time to get your hair done.

I try to go to the stylist about every 4 months or so. It depends sometimes more time passes sometimes less. If we have something that we are doing that I know I want my hair to look nice I will try and book my appt for around that time. 

When our income was significantly less my sister and I would buy boxed dye and dye our own hair. Then my trips were only needed for a trim. 

Now our resources are a bit better so I can afford to go and get the whole shubang done. (However even with that my stylist is my very good friend and I get a huge discount).

However I will admit it was fun getting together with my sister for that time. :)

2. Take time to get out alone.

I love my family. All of them, every single one. But I NEED some me time. I love to go grocery shopping alone. I could spend hours in a grocery store. 

Grocery shopping is something that you are not fond of??? Do something else. Maybe running to the bank or to get fuel or even to the store to get new (to them or brand new) clothes for the family. Whatever is your favorite try and do it every so often alone. Its a treat trust me. :)

3. What a movie all alone. 

This may seem a little crazy and trust me I know how hard it can be, but sometimes a good movie (for me it would be a great romance) alone, maybe with some tears involved is just what the doctor ordered. I totally know that sometimes this is next to impossible but even if it is only in pieces it is still worth it. :)

4. Take some time and get out with your girlfriends.

I have a great friend (whom also is my stylist) that we will about once a month if it all lines up go out and spend the day together. Now she is currently kid-less so she likes to shop and I mostly window shop. We will grab our Starbucks and browse through the stores. Then sometimes dinner and a movie. I am fortunate that my youngest is old enough to be alone for several hours however if you do not have that luxury find a way. Even if it means trading babysitting time with another mom. 

5. Spend date nights with hubby.

In a post soon I will give you some great date night ideas but for now I will simply say this is one of my favorite things to do.

We usually do not spend a lot of money and we tend to keep it pretty simple. (most of the time) but the important thing is we are spending time together sans our children. 

Keeping our relationship strong is very important to both of us.

6. Take time to smell the roses. 

I mean this figuratively. However sometimes when I just need that moment alone I step outside. I take time to surround myself in God's beauty and things slowly get set right again. I have been know to take that spare moment when they are watching tv or when they are napping just to enjoy God's paintbrush. 

7. Have a relaxing bath.

This is sometimes easier said than done. My youngest is currently 14 and if I bath when she is awake she will manage to find me and invariably need something. However I still believe that soaking your stresses away in a hot tub is very therapeutic. I have been know to take a cup of coffee and go have a soak even if it is only for 15 minutes. I always feel so much better.

8. Listen to your favorite de-stress song. One of my favorites is :

 It is always one that I know HE is always there for me in all my craziness. :)

9.Exercise.

Yea I know I went there. However when I am working out I am a way happier person. Not only healthier. 

All my stresses get taken out by a good old sweating. 

10. Spend time in His Word.

You didn't think I would leave this one out did you? What better thing to do to pamper yourself than to let Him pamper you.

If you are able to get up early then get up even .5 hour earlier and spend time reading and worshipping. I am soooooo not a morning person so I spend my time in the evening. Or even during the day even if it is only 5 minutes at a time. I am seeking help from the Lord all day every day. :)

There are so many great Top 10 here. Please go check them out.