Blogger Template Giveaway- Pick Me, Pick Me

Per the instructions at "the r house" blog, I am entering a free giveaway contest for a blog template.  You can check out the details at: http://therhouse.blogspot.com/2010/03/giveaway-premades-for-purpose-blog.html

The free blog templates created by "Jenna" can be found at her website:  http://www.premades4purpose.com/index.htmland

And ladies and gents, if you don't win a free template consider purchasing any of her great blogger templates that are at really great prices; $5.00 for premade or $10.00 + for customized templates.  These are fun and beautiful templates and you will be supporting a great family that wants to raise money for adoption. 

Check out Jenna's story at:  http://small-inspirations.blogspot.com/ or at http://www.premades4purpose.com/about.html


For all the parents out there, please support Ms. Jenna and her family
Hugs all, E

The Stuff that Life is Made of...

My youngest boy told me this painting was "Really good Mom".  He is so sweet at 12 years old.  I got a big, lingering hug at bedtime and an "I love you".  That's the stuff that life is made of...  

New Art - This painting was started over Spring Break and finally finished tonight.

Red Flowers

New Art-Pink Flowers

New Art - Done a few weeks ago but I've been ill with an upper respiratory virus that I can't seem to kick.  This is something spring-like and pretty and makes me feel slightly better just to look at it.

Pink Flowers

Art - One Happy Snowman

This piece was painted in January 2010 when tempuratures here in Iowa were below Zero and miserable.  I wanted to paint something happy so here is my Happy Snowman with his little singing redbird on a cold and snowy day.

One Happy Snowman by Erin

Art - Blue Bird on Blue Tree

This was inspired by another artist from RedBubble....this is one of my favorite paintings as it turned out much better than I expected.  This was created a few months ago.

Blue Bird on Blue Tree

My first acrylic painting

This was my first attempt at acrylic painting.  I started painting in August 2009.

No title for this one.

Beautiful Blogger Award...Woo Hoo!!

Blogger World:  I am pleased to ANNOUNCE my very first Blogger recognition...the Beautiful Blogger Award.  I am shocked, amazed and truly stunned. 

A HUGE Thank You to Spirit Phoenix at http://thefiredeepwithin.blogspot.com/ for reading and recognizing my blog. Check her out as I love her blog as well.

A big "Squeal" of girly excitement escaped by lips this morning when I read this. 

Rules:
1. Thank the person who gave you this award.
2. Share 7 things about yourself.
3. Pass the award along to 15 bloggers who you have recently discovered and who you think are fantastic!
4. Contact the bloggers you've picked and let them know about the award.

Seven things about myself (This was hard for me, I have spent the last 3 hours trying to decide what to share so here goes.....):

1. I love jewelry and prefer silver.  I had very little jewelry 4 years ago (at the time of my divorce) and now I have enough to fill 3 jewelry cases.  I sold Lia Sophia jewelry for about a year and accumulated lots of sample pieces and still buy on a regular basis.

2. I have a creative soul.... so I paint, scrapbook, make hand-made cards, play piano.  Before I had children, I made stuffed toys and various crafts.  I also took classes in cake decorating and did some basic flower arranging.

3. I am afraid of the dark so have night lights all over my house.

4. I sleep in socks because my feet are always cold.

5. I LOVE to read: romance, mystery, self-help, decorating/organizing, blogs, parenting, technology. I am like a sponge for new information.

6. I have a serious weakness for chocolate:  Oreos, Snickers, Chocolate Cake, Brownies meet a quick death at my house.  Mmmmm......the guilty pleasure.

7.  I am hypoglycemic which makes my weakness with chocolate (or any sweets) off-limits except for very small and limited amounts.

To my 15 favorite bloggers below, I am sure many of you have already received this award so don't worry about reposting (unless you want to).

1.  Katy @ http://mommymishmash.com/

2.  Susan @ http://suenglennnkids.blogspot.com/

3.  Danon @ http://insatiablehost.blogspot.com/

4.  Jennifer @ http://madebygirl.blogspot.com/

5.  Scissor Girl @ http://www.irunwithscissors.ca/index.html

6.  WannabeVirginia W. @http://bacardiandbotox.blogspot.com/

7.  Tracy @ http://sugarcrafter.net/

8.  Kit @ http://www.thatunreliablegirl.com/

9.  Wendy @ http://shabbynest.blogspot.com/

10.  Christie @ http://stiesthoughts.blogspot.com/

11.  Sara @ http://strandupdate.blogspot.com/

12.  Marilee @ http://missmarilee.blogspot.com/

13.  Danielle @ http://itsnoteasybeingperfect.blogspot.com/

14.  Carrie @ http://thevintagewren.blogspot.com/

15.  Stephanie @ http://crockpot365.blogspot.com/
You brighten my days and inspire me to write about my life. 

Hugs, E

Sucky Friday - Part 2

I have decided writing about the remaining parts of my "Sucky Friday" last week will be counter-productive to my current happiness. I am not going to write Part 2,  instead I will share another art piece painted by me a few months ago.

Yellow Lilies by Erin

New Art- Poppies

New Art by Erin:  Poppies

Sucky Friday (Part I)

What a lousy Friday yesterday was.....geez.  I seriously wished someone would put me out of my misery or that LEMON would fall over dead. (Yah I know I'm part crazy....) I offer anyone to live a week in my life and see how you feel.  I could make this a gloriously happy post and lie my arse off, i.e. "OMG girls, I had such a FABulous day I wish you could have shared it with me!!"  But no, I CAN NOT TELL A LIE........this day sucked from the moment my feet hit the floor at 6:50 am. 

Sucky #1 - Someone (probably T2) used all of MY the color-safe shampoo without telling me so when I realized the bottle was empty I am already wet and soapy.  DAMN, dripping wet I walk to my closet to grab another bottle.  GUESS WHAT?  You guessed it folks no more of my shampoo in the closet.  Grrrrrrrrrr.........!  I reluctantly settled for a travel size shampoo/conditioner combination which will make my hair look stringy by the end of the day but what's a cold, soapy, naked woman to do.  She promptly got her cold arse back in the warm shower.

Sucky #2 - I proceed to dry my hair but the dryer was blowing at half speed and evidently in the process of dying.  IRRITATING!!  I have long hair so I usually shower at night so I can skip the 15-20 minutes drying wet hair in the morning.  I was seriously wishing I had dragged my lazy butt to the shower on Thursday night.

Sucky #3 -  I had attempted to rouse T2 at least 5 times by 7:20 am and he made no attempt to move from the bed. IRRITATING!!!

Sucky #4 - While finishing my hair/make-up I hear a door slam and lock.  T2 refuses to open the door or move his arse to the shower.  IRRITATING!!!!

Sucky #5 - I can not find the "metal thing" to unlock his door so I precede to "flip out".  Excerpts include:  "You are going to be late for school!", "You are making your brother late for school!", "Unlock this door, NOW!", "I AM GOING TO BE LATE FOR WORK!", "I will leave you here and not call you in to school.  I will tell them you locked yourself in your room and refuse to come out".  Sigh.....it was truly a banner morning.  So proud of my ability NOT to freak out.  Such a memorable "Mom" moment.  Grrrrrrrrr............!!!!! 

This girl is tired so Part 2 will have to come tomorrow.

Hugs, E

I am Woman! I am Invincible!................!

I am woman hear me roar.......I am invincible.....

and remember that "God will never give you more than you can handle"

Some days I'm not so sure about this, yet.......I made it through another day of emotional roller coaster riding. 

I accept that I am emotional......I am WOMAN!
I accept that I cry.....................I am WOMAN!
I accept my mood swings... .......I am WOMAN!

Listen to the song by Helen Reddy:

http://popup.lala.com/popup/576742231816076681

So does "I am WOMAN!" give me permission to slap people up side their stupid heads????!!!

I sure hope so 'cuz someone is gonna get it folks.......look out, you might be next!

Hugs (or maybe hate, not sure at the moment), E

PITA (not the Pet activist thing!!)....something else

PITA in my world = Pain In The Ass

For those that see me or talk to me on a daily basis KNOW who is my #1 PITA is.  That person will be known as LEMON in my blog to ensure I save my own ass and keep the Nasty PITA from finding out I sooooo....despise them and hope they drop dead (today preferrably!).

Today has been a typical day in my world of HELL.......LEMON has been in the typical anal retentive-controlling-micromanaging-persnickety world of being a PITA so just thought I would share with my blogger friends that most days I REALLY, REALLY HATE this PITA.

I could write a blog just on the Adventures of LEMON and what a PITA this person is.  For now......I'm planning revenge.

Hugs, E

The ABC's of Me

I stole this from another blogger so definitely giving her credit for the idea. 

You can check our her great blog at http://agalandherdog.blogspot.com/. 

So here are a few bits about me:

A - Age: 41

B - Bed size: Queen but wish I had replaced my old King mattress with another King....it is so much nicer when you have an overnight guest (mmmm)

C - Chore you hate: Cleaning the bathroom (yuk)

D - Divorced and Ditsy: Yes (had to change this from the orginal heading of Dogs)

E - Essential start your day item:  Milk (I'm weird, I love coffee but it doesn't like me as much these days)

F - Favorite color:  Purple or Lavendar

G - Gold or Silver or Platinum:  Silver

H - Height: 5' 0" (I am not short, I am under-tall)

I - Instruments you play: Piano and flute

J - Juice: I like them all, grape, orange, apple, cranberry, etc.

K - Kid(s): Two boys, 12 and 15 yrs

L - Living arrangements: I live in a townhouse with my 2 teenagers (and their friends), we have no pets

M - Mom's name: Rita

N- Nicknames: "Frenchie" in high school and my Dad has a pet name for me that only my family knows (and I'm not sharing it)

O - Overnight hospital stay other than birth: Yes, 4 times. 1) tonsils removed at 4 yrs, 2) ear drum repair at 10 yrs, 3) birth of 1st son, 4) birth of 2nd son

P - Pet Peeve: Stupid people, controlling people, people that have no ability to filter their thoughts from pouring out of their mouth, people who have an inability to control their anger

Q - Quote: 1) "Work like you don't need the money, love like you've never been hurt, and dance like you do when nobody's watching."
2) "You learn something new every day. Usually, how dumb yet another person is." - Maxine

R - Right handed or left handed: Right X - X-rays you've had: I am a klutz so I've had pretty much had everything x-ray'd (2 broken ankles/legs, broken toe, sprained wrist, chipped elbow, back and abdomen for various other issues not related to being a klutz.)

S - Siblings: 2 sisters- Jacqueline (Jackie) and DarlaNell (Darla); 1 brother- John

T - Time you wake up: Workdays at 6:45 am, Weekends at 9 am or later

U- Underwear: I wear them and should buy some new ones.

V - Vegetable you dislike: Dislike is far too mild....I despise Brussel Sprouts and Lima Beans (disgusting things!!!)

W - Ways you run late: sleep through the alarm, don't allow enough driving time to my destination, think of things to do prior to leaving the house. I am slightly ADD/OCD so focus is a challenge for me, I've probably used every excuse in the book.

X - X-rays you've had: I am a Klutz so I’ve had most of my body x-ray’d. Both legs and ankles, one elbow, both wrists, one foot, abdomen, back and breasts.

Y - Yummy food you make: I am a great baker of cake, pies, cookies, sweet treats.  I can cook about anything if I have a recipe.  My kids two favorites:  Chocolate fudge chocolate chip cake with chocolate fudge frosting and spaghetti 

Z - Zoo favorite: Hard to pick just one fav, probably a toss up between the Koala and the Sea Lion

(Aren't these sweet photos?)

Hugs, E

Managing my Money

Anyone need help managing their money? I do.......I'm open to suggestions that work for you. I am an avid reader of new topics that interest me so I should find a book to help me.  However corny it sounds, I find the "XXX for Dummies" books good for any new topic.  I hope a "Budgeting for Dummies" book exists.  Anyone have the additional challenge of being paid once a month and then managing to have money left at the end of the month?   

So bloggers, I'm looking for some help.  Do you have a budget?  Do you balance your checkbook in the paper register, like when we used to write checks for everything?  I use my Debit card for everything but don't write anything down.  I've tried but gave up. I keep my receipts stuffed in my wallet and if I'm really good, periodically look at my online account to see what my balance is (especially before a purchase over $100).  Anyone out there successful at tracking what they spend?  Do you have a template, some tool, some software?  It's been 17 years since I starting getting paid monthly (which stinks) and I still don't have a solution for managing my money. 

Feel free to share your tips in the comment section below or send me an e-mail at erinhummingbird19 at gmail dot com.  I will post any tips I receive next week.

Hugs all, E

Be Thankful for your Life

Be thankful for the life you have.  Most of us do not have a perfect life and would have a hard time defining what a perfect life would be, if we could have one. My life is far from perfect and I have had many serious challenges in my life (maybe I'll write about them one of these days) but it seems that some people are especially challenged.  I hope some day I understand why some people are so fortunate and others are so unfortunate.  One of my best friends was diagnosed with Breast Cancer recently, after just returning to work from bilateral knee replacement surgery.  This woman has had so many challenges in her life and now tomorrow she starts chemotherapy.  I can't even imagine what she is going through and it makes my cry every time I t think about it. She will have 6 months of chemo to shrink the tumor and then hopefully they can remove a portion of her breast.

My problems seem really pathetic today ........

I think I'll do my monthly self-breast examination tonight.  Sigh.......

Hugs, E

Teenager Blessings (that may kill me!)

For the purposes of keeping the names of the guilty confidential, children will be known as T1 (the 15 yr introvert) and T2 (the 12 yr extrovert). We also have a Nanny for after school transportation, homework tutoring and outdoor activities so T1 and T2 don't kill each other. She is a 20-ish college student and will be known as "Nanny K".

What can I say? Life with teenagers in a continual emotional roller coaster and exhausting journey of blessings (aka...hell). My two teens are male, 12 and 15 years old. One is an extrovert and one an introvert. I love them both dearly but honestly, they exhaust me. One of things I have yet to become accustomed to, the constant physical energy and noise from jumping, running, kicking, stomping, punching (yes we have a 125 lb punching bag), wrestling, etc. Sigh…it makes me tired.


Over the last two weeks these are the Teenager blessing I have been gifted with:



T1: On two separate occasions he snuck into the lower level after midnight to play Xbox 360. After the first sneaky event I removed the power cords and hid them in my bedroom. The second occurrence happened as T1 searched my bedroom (against the rules), located the cord and proceeded to play until caught in the act. This sneaky behavior caused him to lose Xbox for one month. Sigh....I do not approve of sneaky, dishonest behavior.


T2: He lost the following school supplies but didn't inform me until he was over a week behind in homework (grrrrr…); 1 spelling text book, spiral math journal, spiral chat journal and spiral spelling journal were lost. Unfortunately all the homework assignments for each class were contained in the missing journals. I was prepared to buy a new text book for $50 and replace the lost journals so homework could be made up. One the day I was determined to send check for payment, these items were found in his classroom behind some cabinet.  Of course he has NO CLUE how they ended up there. Sigh.....I’m tired.


THEN THE BIG BLESSED HAPPENED...


T1 and T2: On a Thursday afternoon all hell broke loose when T1 and T2 argued over T2 entering T1's room without permission. T2 happened to have a friend over which escalated the issue. T1 was already seriously ticked off and T2 proceeded to divulge a secret that should have remained secret. This sent T1 into a tailspin of angry physical teenage emotion. This ultimately resulted in BB gun pellet holes in 2 bedroom doors (NOT COOL!!). Bloggers should be aware that this occurred with "Nanny K" in the home. The rapid decline of the situation and escalating irritation between T1 and T2 could have happened in my presence so I don’t blame Nanny K at all. Upon my arrival home from work, I had a family chat with T2, T2's friend and Nanny K. T2 and T2's friend admitted to irritating T1. After much discussion T2 agreed that provoking T1 with the "secret" was inappropriate and prompted T1's angry outburst. T2 was too angry to even discuss the situation until late in the evening when T2 was at hockey practice. T1 admitted that he lost his temper and shooting BB guns in the house was against the rules but was so angry about T2 sharing the secret, he just lost it. (Note that we have been working on appropriate actions when emotions are at a peak...obviously we need some more focus in this area.) As a result of these destructive and inappropriate behaviors, T1 lost coveted technology privileges of Xbox 360 (extended from previous grounding above), Facebook and computer gaming, iPod Touch, friend activities and cell phone with the exception of calls/texts to Mom, Dad or Nanny K for 2 weeks. T2 lost coveted privileges of Facebook gaming and IM, friend activities, ice skating, ice hockey outside of regular practices and cell phone calls/texts except to Mom, Dad or Nanny K for 2 weeks. Sigh…it has been a long damn day, I’m exhausted.

Following the Thursday event and just when I think I have things under control (what the heck was I thinking), THE BOTTOM DROPS OUT…


While gathering up laundry on Saturday in T1's room and shutting off the TV, I noticed a washcloth covering something on the dresser. Upon removing the washcloth I found a half empty bottle of "Mike's Hard Lemonade", which is not lemonade. I was shocked and immediately summoned T1 for explanation. He was honest and reported that he, T2 and T2's friend had all sampled the Lemonade on Thursday (bloggers should note this was the same Thursday as the BB gun incident). T1 confirmed they were aware this was not basic lemonade and contained alcohol. I was not expecting honesty although I had no idea what lie T1 would conjure up. I do give him credit for telling the truth and owning up to the mistake. T2 was subsequently questioned and honest. He stated "We just wanted to try it Mom". Sigh... I’m beyond exhausted!
As a result of the alcohol incident, an additional month of grounding was added to the Thursday restrictions. T2 was given an additional restriction of the friend in attendance at both incidents being banned from our house for the remainder of the month.

 As of this posting, March 1, 2010, all grounding has expired. We embark on a new month of blessings with teenagers...I’ll let you know how it goes, after I take a damn nap!!!


Hugs,  Erin