Happy Holidays

A while back, this wonderful friend sent me a gorgeous "Believe" garland, and I have been wanting to take a picture to show you all. But I suspect my camera's battery charger is stuck in the wall at the Nickelodeon hotel in Orlando.

Well, Mr. Jones and I had a deal that we wouldn't buy any gifts for each other this Christmas, but being the wonderful, sweet husband that he is, he bought me a new Nikon SLR camera. Yup, I was so shocked I actually gasped out loud. My husband is amazing that way ... it makes him completely happy to make sure everyone else gets what they want and he doesn't ask for a thing.

The garland looks just right on the white tree with the star fish. Appropriate since Lisa is so amazingly lucky that she lives right by the ocean. I have ocean envy. Anyway, thanks Lisa!

And here's a photo of the kiddos surveying their loot. Notice the Corgi butt in the middle of it all. Hope you all had a great Christmas!

Body for Life

This is what I've been doing with my free time lately:

I picked up this book at the book store last month. I was browsing the health section because I had finally become disgusted with my unhealthy eating and lack of working out, but couldn't get motivated. Here is the first version of the Body for Life book:


I am starting on my 6th week of Body for Life workout, and the results are amazing. It's simple and healthy, too. You commit to 12 weeks (although the idea is you continue with this lifestyle after the initial 12 week commitment), 4 hours of exercise per week, 6 small, balanced, and nutritious meals per day. 3 days a week I do 20 minutes of cardio, and 3 days a week I do weight lifting. I'm also never hungry because I eat a lot of food. I just have to eat the right kinds of food. Like this breakfast:

This is 4 egg whites, spinach, mushrooms and salsa. I eat it with a whole grain tortilla. Lots of protein, very little fat and calories. Yum!

Another thing I love about the BFL book is all the before and after pictures. I find them to be very inspiring. The transformations some of these people made are almost unbelievable. But I'm seeing some pretty phenominal changes in my own body. The weight lifting really revs up the metabolism and gives you great shape. So much better than the old days of doing tons and tons of cardio and being hungry all the time. I feel great. I did take a "before" picture of myself, but it is soooooo scary I can't bring myself to show it to you. Maybe after the 12 weeks is over I'll have the courage, but for now ...

Happy Holidays everyone!

The Nester's Show and Tell

Nester is hosting a Garland Show and Tell at her place today. I'm gonna have to make this one quick since my house is a wreck, we're hosting Mr. Jones' work party at our house this Friday, and I'm working this week. I'm also using last year's photos because I can't take pictures because I lost my camera battery charger!! I'm dying. Can't find it anywhere. Can't take pictures of ANYTHING. I will snap over this one thing, people.

So anyway, I think the banister garland is better this year because I found some beautiful ribbon, but the most important detail is the same ... pictures of my kiddos. Every year I add little frames with their pictures from the year. Take a look ...

Now, if I can find my battery charger, I'll show you some updated photos. Thanks for stopping by!

Tap, tap, tap. Phfft, phfft. Testing, 1, 2, 3. Is this thing on?

Heather here ... I do still exist, I am alive, no one kidnapped me and took me to Mars ...

(That's a great book, by the way.) We've been busy with a trip to Orlando, a trip to Indiana, mom working, house guests, sports, and most importantly, mom is doing this:

And it's working. And I feel absolutely GREAT! I eat 6 meals a day! I've dropped 1 dress size after 2 weeks. I found muscles I haven't seen in years. I'm talking serious dedication, people!! [Any diet queens out there who want to join me?] And I'm absolutely nuts about getting my workout in every day. Therefore, other things have fallen by the wayside. Have no fear, I have some housecleaning to do for a work party at Casa de Jones, so I will take time to blog instead.

Oh, I've been doing a lot of this, too:

And this ...

And this ....

This one's next. It should take me a week, or a few days, depending on whether I feed the children. Priorities.

Ah, a book series guaranteed to turn any mom into a 13 year old again. Does it get any better? Well, yes, actually ... let's just say I think movie casting for Edward was spot on. And I'll leave it at that.

So I just thought I would stop by the ole' blog and say "Hi" to my buddies and let you know you've been on my mind. [Hi Martha!! I owe you an answer to your tag. I love ya, girl! ...... Lisa!! I have a post about you on the way, too. Miss you!]

Nice politics for a change

I had a party last night ...

... and guess who my special guests were?
Yes, my little buggy friends who have been making me crazy this summer flying around my kitchen. I couldn't get rid of them, until I saw Kim's post on this. Apparently, she's been having buggy problems, too.

She said to get a bottle of apple cider vinegar, with about 1/4 or 1/3 of the vinegar left. Cover the top with cellophane (press n' seal works best), and poke a hole in it. Within 1/2 hour, there were 5 bugs sitting on the top, within 1 hour, they were all over it. Within 3 days, I had about 50 in the bottle. Where do they come from? I have no idea. But they ignored everything else in my kitchen, and went straight to this stuff. Yay!

Food for Thought for Christian Voters

I have seen a lot of hatefulness in politics lately, and it makes me sad. Disagreement is ok; hate is not. What good are our religious convictions if we break the greatest commandment? Why even bother voting based on moral beliefs, if we are being mean while we are doing it? How can we judge whether someone else is truly a Christian? We should be passionate, but not forget to be compassionate. After all, isn't the bottom line of Christianity, the true message of Jesus, the real meaning of the Law ... What is in my heart?

So instead of pleading my political views, I will give some food for thought straight from the Bible.

Have a blessed Sunday everyone!

Galations 5:14 "The entire law is summed up in a single command: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.'"

Romans 13:9 "The commandments, "Do not commit adultery," "Do not murder," "Do not steal," "Do not covet," and whatever other commandment there may be, are summed up in this one rule: "Love your neighbor as yourself."

Mark 12:33 "To love him with all your heart, with all your understanding and with all your strength, and to love your neighbor as yourself is more important than all burnt offerings and sacrifices."

Matthew 5:21 “You have heard that our ancestors were told, ‘You must not murder. If you commit murder, you are subject to judgment.’ 22 But I say, if you are even angry with someone, you are subject to judgment! If you call someone an idiot, you are in danger of being brought before the court. And if you curse someone, you are in danger of the fires of hell."

Matthew 5:9 "God blesses those who work for peace, for they will be called the children of God."

Matthew 5:43 “You have heard the law that says, ‘Love your neighbor’ and hate your enemy. 44 But I say, love your enemies! Pray for those who persecute you! 45 In that way, you will be acting as true children of your Father in heaven. For he gives his sunlight to both the evil and the good, and he sends rain on the just and the unjust alike. 46 If you love only those who love you, what reward is there for that? Even corrupt tax collectors do that much. 47 If you are kind only to your friends,[t] how are you different from anyone else? Even pagans do that. 48 But you are to be perfect, even as your Father in heaven is perfect."

Psalms 82:3 "Defend the cause of the weak and fatherless; maintain the rights of the poor and oppressed."

Proverbs 29:7 "The righteous care about justice for the poor, but the wicked have no such concern."

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(shirt from Rockthevote.com)

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Find little ways . . .

. . . to beautify everyday life.

I forgot something

I completely forgot to include these pictures in my post last week on painting the kids' closet. I found these baskets at Walgreens, and almost all of them were a natural color, but there was one that was a chocolate brown that I loved. I thought it would look better against the blue background, too. But I wasn't about to drive around to all the Walgreens in the area and see if they had the chocolate colored baskets. So I went shopping in the basement for some brown paint and this is how they turned out.

I paint baskets all the time. I have a big basket in the living room for all the little blankets the kids use. We just throw them in, because I'm not going to fold all the blankets every day. It was a tired, old natural basket that I refreshed with a couple coats of brown spray paint.

Do you paint closets?

I do. If I had the time, that is. Because I believe in decorating spaces that my family sees all the time, so we can be happy and enjoy our home. If I had time, I would paint all the closets. But I don't have time for that yet. I did find the time to paint this little closet, though. Instead of doing laundry. You might say I was just finding a distraction from doing boring housework. That would be true. But this is a tiny space that the kiddos and I see every day. And it is dirty and boring. I think looking at builder-white-dirty-scuffed-up walls is depressing.

Anyway, last year we converted this closet for the kids to use for their backpacks and school papers. I cheated on this "before" picture because the "before" was really filled with books, papers, junk, trash, dirty socks, soccer balls, etc. So I decided to do a quick update on this depressing little closet. I went shopping for paint in my basement (The one and only time I forked over $$ for Benjamin Moore paint, I picked the wrong color. So this is what I ended up using it for.)

And the finished product:
I just happened to find these cute, lined baskets at Walgreens for $5 each! Even Walmart wasn't that cheap. I did get the green shelf liner from Walmart. A tag for owner of each shelf.

Wall pockets for library books. I didn't have time to be perfect on this project. Exhibit "A": Sometimes I don't patch holes or nail pops.

The long strip on the door is a backpack holder, and then I put a towel rack halfway down for jackets. It's low so short people can reach it too.

No staging going on here, folks. I just left that laundry in the background, because I'm too lazy to move it for my pictures. Actually, this is considered clean for my house.

How do you organize school junk?

1st Day of School, and I Loves Me Some Wal-Mart

Here are some pictures of the kiddos' first day of school. I miss them when they are gone, but I do love to get back to our routine.

Do you see the look of pain on the little one's face? That is my-mom-is-torturing-me-with-her-camera-idous.
And I thought you would like a closeup of the most special shirt we bought for the first day of school. Have you heard that one before? Do children think it is a birthright to finish a level before they can do anything else? Will they be struck by lightning and die right on the spot if, *GASP*, they don't finish THE LEVEL? Is it the 11th Commandment ... Thou shalt finish thy level?

Sometimes I drop a tiny little gift off in the teachers' boxes just to say thanks for all the work they have already done, and get the year started off right. I found these notepads at Walmart. Cute, cute, cute.

How is your week?

What's a mom to do ...

when she has to teach this mumbo jumbo
to this Cutest Football Player in the World?

That paper means about as much to me as a sewing pattern means to Mr. Jones. I'm thinking the 6 year old was probably feeling about the same. So I looked and looked to find a game or something that might have some football guys that I could use to teach him the positions. Then I stopped by our neighborhood toy store, hoping they would have something, but thinking there was really no chance that they would. I went in, and I turned the corner on aisle 2, and there it was. Football Guys.

Just what we needed.

My kitchen table was transformed.

Football was played.

Positions learned.

Touchdown. (Sorry, I couldn't resist)