Wednesday, June 23, 2010

Getting Back on Track

I feel like I keep writing about the same thing; getting back on track with my belief system.  I really decided that I need to stop eating out, start making my own food, and after having a play date with another twins mom, I need to start eating healthier.  I also need to start doing more creative things.  I have been doing some things, but never on an ongoing basis.  The 3 kids are now sleeping through the night, and I am catching up on my sleep.  Once that happens, I plan to attempt to do something creative often as well as exercise and lose weight.

I will stop buying pre-made things that I can  make myself.

I will stop buying processed foods.

I will start making things that my family needs vs buying it already made.

I will start getting organized so that I can find the things that I need to create.

I will start cooking more often and creating food from scratch vs buying processed foods or foods from restaurants.

I will get more creative with my cooking and find new recipe.

I will continue to try to eat less meat and more veggies and beans.

I will continue to take care of my garden and enjoy watching the flowers and the plants grow!

I will maintain bot my blogs and my handwritten journals.

I will work on making a scrapbook of all 3 kids and our lives.



Maybe if I keep writing about the things that I want to do, I will be able to follow through with my beliefs.  Thanks for putting up with all my ramblings and my constant writing about things that I want to do.  It really helps to concretely put in words my beliefs and goals!

Amy

Saturday, June 19, 2010

Latest Creations

My sister graduated from high school this week.  We had her party here at my house and I decided that I would make her a couple of handmade things for her gifts.  Me and one of my sisters pitched in and got her a bunch of things she needed for college, but I wanted to do a little more.  Me and one of my friends have been playing around with cake decorating, so I decided to make her some cupcakes for her party.  I also love to make jewelry and decided to make her a bracelet with her school colors and also an initial charm of her school.

Cupcakes for my sister


Bracelet for my sister with her school colors and charm initial of her school


This week was my 3rd anniversary.  My husband and I have been together for almost 17 years, but have only been married for 3.  For our anniversary, I had hoped to make dinner and also a handmade gift.  I wasn't able to get it together and make dinner, but I did make his gift.  I looked up what the gift for the 3rd year is and found that it is leather.  I racked my brain trying to figure out what I wanted to give him.  I decided to go to Michael's and walk around for inspiration.  Luckily I found it.  I found a faux leather scrapbook and decided that since we had so much happen in the 3.5 years since we got engaged, I would make a scrapbook of our time together since our engagement.  I started with a title page and went through with giving each page a spot for a significant time since our engagement.  I added a picture of my engagement ring, my graduation from grad school, our wedding, my first pregnancy test, our honeymoon, the picture of our 1st son's ultrasound, a picture of me at Christmas pregnant with our first son, our first son's birth, my pregnancy tests (yes tests) of the twins before we knew we were having twins, the ultrasound when we found out we were having twins, Halloween with our first son, Christmas pregnant with the twins, my daughter birth picture, my son birth picture, a picture of our 3 children, Halloween with our 3 children, Christmas with our 3 kids, The 3 kids this June, and finally a page with the bible verse from our wedding and a little sentiment from me.  I won't post all the pictures, that would be way too much, but I will post the latest picture of the kids, since it is always good to have current pictures on the blog!


One of the pictures I also used for father's day

Amy

Wednesday, June 9, 2010

Wishcasting Wednesday

I love Wednesdays!  Once again I am joining Jamie at jamieridlerstudios.ca in Wishcasting Wednesday!

Jamie asks


"What leap do you wish to take?"


This is a very timely question for me.  I wrote about the possibility of me going back to work and how torn I am about it.  I know there is something else I wish to be doing with my life vs working as a traditional social worker.  I think my biggest question is do I want to take the leap in starting my own business?  I love making jewelry (but haven't done so in a while).  Do I want to sell my jewelry, teach a class on how to make jewelry,  teach  class on scrapbooking, card making, journaling, or other creative outlets?  Do I like these things because they are my hobbies vs my job.  Do I want to go back to school for more holistic health?  Nutrition (not that I follow my own advice, but this was a thought I had in the past)?  I know what I enjoy, but will I still enjoy it as a career?  One thing I know is I don't necessarily want a job through the summer with specific hours, but if it works out the best for my family then that is what I will have to do.  I would love to help bring in some money to my family but would love it to be more on my terms vs someone else's.

So what leap do I wish to take?  I wish to take the leap of leaving my career/professional path that I have been following for the last 13 years and trying a new path with bringing my past career/professional experiences and knowledge with me!

What leap do you wish to take?

Amy

BTW-For everyone who leaves comments, I try to leave comments for everyone, but with 3 little ones, I don't always have the time.  I love reading all your blogs and get very inspired by all that I read!

Wednesday, June 2, 2010

Wishcasting Wednesday

Jamie Ridler at jamieridlerstudios.ca once again asks a great question.

 "WHAT DO YOU WISH TO KNOW"

I wish to know what direction my life should be heading and am I moving in the right direction.  I have a great life right now.  I am married to the man of my dreams, I have 3 beautiful children, I get to stay at home and raise them myself rather than put them in daycare (daycare is great, but my goal was to be able to raise my children), I have my MSW.  

I have been interviewing for a part time position that I had applied for back in January.  It's a great fit time wise, but I so wish I wasn't interviewing right before summer was to start.  It would be so nice to have extra money coming in, but I so don't want my summer to be affected.  At least if I had started back in the winter, I would already have been in the routine by now, not starting a new routine that limits what we can do as a family during the summer.

Should I take this job and continue my career as a social worker or should I be at home and raise my children and learn a new skill so that when it is time to return to the work force, I  will be able to enter a new career?  Part of me says I don't want this job, bet then another part of me says take it for the money and deal with not having the summer that I had planned.  Maybe take the job and still think about pursuing something else?  Do I want a career that is more creative in nature or do I want to keep that as a hobby separate from my career life?  Do I want to remain a social worker?  Do I want to work while my children are young?  Is there something else I can do to make money that won't impact my family life this summer?  I should just be happy that I have the opportunity to interview and wait to see if I even get a job offer and if it is worth accepting the position.

What do you wish to know?

Amy

Tuesday, June 1, 2010

Cupcakes

My friend Tammi and I have recently started learning cake decorating (on our own).  We had been practicing on practice strips, but then life happened and we stopped getting together.  The next time we got together, Tammi made cupcakes to decorate.  Oh my, was it so much more fun to decorate actual cakes vs practice sheets.

My new thought is, when I go somewhere, I plan to bring cupcakes as my contribution to whatever party is going on.  Currently, I have 2 graduation parties coming up.  my husband's cousin's son and my little sister.  I was looking at hoosierhomemade.com  cupcake tuesday history and got an idea for the actual cupcake.  I am thinking that I will make a two toned cupcake.  The school colors that my husband's cousin's son (what a mouthful) are blue, red and white, so I am thinking that a white and red velvet cake with a blue layer somehow, may be the way to go for the tri-toned cupcakes.  I probably should practice them before I actually have to make them.  I'm not sure how I will decorate them, but it will most likely be something simple with the blue, red and white theme.  For my sister's party, I will definitely be more adventurous in my decorating.  I am really looking forward to making them and decorating.  This is definitely going to be my creative moment for the week.  I'll be sure to post pictures!

Here are the pictures of our gardens that I promised to post.

Our veggie garden


Our first strawberry


The butterfly garden

Garden in the left front of the house

Garden in the right front of the house (spinning pinwheels from the holiday weekend)

I'll be practicing cupcakes this week for Sunday's party!

Amy