Wife, Then Mama

Today I received a package in the mail from The Disney Store .  I had ordered some Christmas presents and was happy they arrived without delay.  Of course as soon as the kids left (some of the presents are for the kids I baby-sit) I dug into my package.  I had ordered two play sets, one for each of the girls, but when I started pulling things out, they had sent me two of EACH of the sets I had ordered. Of course part of me wanted to just keep them, or worse return them to a brick and mortar Disney Store and buy some more Christmas presents with store credit.  But my mother raised me to be honest and not steal, even if people don't know about it, and I try to emulate that.  I always (except once at Costco - I had toilet paper on the bottom of my cart, and I told the guy unloading the cart about it.  But when we got out of the store, somehow the cart unloader, the cashier, and the receipt checker had all missed the toilet paper.  It was pouring down...

Feminine Adventures is hosting a giveaway! You can enter to win this Book and DVD set by clicking this link and following the instructions.  It is a $110 value, and looks really interesting! If you don't end up winning, or if you just want to get what sounds like an awesome set, The Bulk Herb Store is offering 30% off the Making Babies series through the end of November if you use the code  NOVMBS.

When I was little my mom did Christmas Around the World.  Which is basically like the Tupperware of Christmas.  You hosted parties and earned discounted and/or free products.  I LOVED looking at the catalogs and the stuff my mom got.  Which was a lot, because my mom LOVES Christmas (something she passed on to me).  Imagine my surprise when I tried to look it up so I could host my own Christmas Around the World parties and found out that as of 2002 the company no longer exists.  That was sad news.  Well, until I remembered that I only have like two friends and they are as poor as I am, so my parties would have been pathetic. Here are pictures of some of the stuff I remember.  Because I am NOTHING if not nostalgic. If I remember correctly this wreath makes music and is really heavy. This teapot most definitely makes music.  Also if you see on the spout where there is a little nub, that is where a sign used to hang.  I know this b...

Monday, December 17th is Free Shipping Day!  That is the last day you can order online with guaranteed delivery by Christmas Eve. On that day, over 1000 online merchants will ship your order for free, with no minimum order (as far as I know, I have not tried all the retailers so I can't say that for sure).  If you want to order from a few different places this could save you quite a bit of money. Some of my favorite merchants (ones that I have actually purchased from, but not all of them online) participating are:

This year the girls I baby-sit are three.  I feel like they are old enough to appreciate Christmas activities this year.  So since I have lots of kids Christmas books and movies, I am going to schedule our days.  Usually I like to have a schedule but I have been slacking on it lately.  But in order to get through all of my Christmas media with the girls I will have to be on top of things! There are 20 days that I will have the kids at my house before Christmas.  In that time there are 26 episodes of The Cinnamon Bear, 23 Christmas movies, 20 kid's Christmas books, and 6 chapter books (or 75 chapters) to enjoy.  Plus the Christmas specials on television. 8:00 - breakfast 8:30 - get dressed and ready 9:00 - watch a Christmas episode/special, feed the baby 9:30 - baby naps, girls play, Rachel cleans, then plays (Christmas activities on Mondays           and Fridays) 11:00- read a kid's Christmas book, and T...

I have been having trouble sleeping for awhile now.  Not like hardcore insomnia, just having a hard time shutting off and going to sleep.  And staying asleep past 8:30.  Stupid internal clock. A few days ago I found out that I will receive a free sample of something to review on my blog (I am not going to tell what it is yet).  I also somehow qualified to do a giveaway of the product.   Those two facts together gave me a thought.   Or rather the second fact gave me a thought, the first fact gave me lots of time to dwell on it.  I should grow my blog.  Giveaways are great at building recognition for a blog.  But "Bubbles" was very non-descript.  I can't build a following without a premise.  So last night I thought up some names. Some that I thought of were: Joyful Mothering/Joyfully Mothering - based on the post about mothering not necessarily having to be done by mothers.  But I thought that was a little mi...

So in an effort to actually gain followers and such I am trying to make my blog more appealing.  I changed the name, but all the old posts are still here, and it is still my blog.  I changed the look for the season, which I tend to do every few months anyways.  I am going to start a facebook page, I have a pretty awesome giveaway coming up, and I am going to start blogging more consistently.  Please let me know what you think of the page! Like Me On Facebook!

Ugh.  I am SOOO messy!  Its not like the room is destroyed, its just that I leave everything exactly where it lands.  Now wouldn't you rather hang out in this tidy room?  I actually had time to vacuum, and move some furniture.  Hadlee helped me with the table, she wiped it off for me. 

Messy, messy, messy!  I hate making beds.  Seriously, wait until you see the before and after in my bedroom.  Its appalling.  I like to have the girls clean up after themselves, but sometimes I don't notice the mess until I am tucking them in for nap, so I end up cleaning it myself later.  Or leaving it until I remember to have them do it. Much better!  *side note - notice the missing curtains?  I took them down to wash them (as I have with all the curtains in the house) and when I got them out of the washer (I used cold water) they were melted into a big ball.  So now there are no curtains* I <3 these quilts!  Michael's mom got them for me for my birthday, and I adore them!  Hadlee was playing while I cleaned.  But doesn't it look so much more tidy and pleasant now?  I didn't finish in 15 minutes.  I still had to vacuum and put a box in the closet.  But this is after 15 minutes.

This was actually just supposed to be a joke.  I mean look at the disaster this room is.  It is the one room we have completely ignored since we moved in.  My husband needs to build me a shelf before I can actually USE it as a craft room, I really tend to just shut the door and pretend its not there. This is after literally 15 minutes.  I had some garbage in the hallway I had to take outside, but I was pretty impressed with the results in 15 minutes!  When my husband got home and saw it he said "Wow you worked really hard in your craft room today!".  Which was awesome, especially seeing as how I didn't work really hard at all!

We don't currently do a lot of eating at our dining room table.  I have a little table for the girls to eat at, and Michael and I tend to eat in front of the TV...  So the table is kind of a dumping ground. One way to avoid having to sweep as much is to get a dog.  Dogs love eating yucky old food off the floor. 13 minutes later (I didn't need the whole 15) and it looks great!  I even got to the sweeping!  But wait, um, Rachel, there are still dishes all over the table.  Yeah.  I know.  But my husband keeps making me take them out of the cabinet so he can work on them, so I am leaving them there for the time being.

Oh, just so you know, this is a REALLY inefficient way to clean.  I could have made huge dents in my kitchen, dining room, and family room if I had not been staying in the room I was working on.  For these purposes I am staying in one room for 15 minutes.  In reality it is much more sensible to start in one room and clean as you go.  For instance if there is something on your counter that goes in the living room, you take it to living room and on the way back you collect garbage to put in the kitchen trash.  But I want to show what you can do in one room in 15 minutes. This is the kitchen before I spent 15 minutes cleaning it.  Admittedly I did already do the dishes today.  But obviously, it was still a mess.  (Oh my husband is painting my cabinets, which is why they are missing some doors) Actually it was pretty much a disaster area.  I should have more shame than to post these on the internet for everyone to see what an epic failur...

So last Saturday I started my period again.  Which is only 20 days after I last thought I started my period.  But I have no idea about that one.  Usually I figure people (girls anyways) know if they are or are not on their period.  But there were two times during my absurdly long cycle (or perhaps my not that long cycles depending on what was really going on...) that I didn't know.  It seemed like more than spotting, but less than a period.  This time I am abundantly aware.  Sadly, so was everyone walking into Target behind me Saturday morning when I leaked out of my pad onto my khaki pants and had to wear my shirt around my butt the rest of the day and wear my big puffy coat and sweat to death. In interest of being amusing, instead of JUST disgusting, I have collected up some euphemisms for being on your period.  Surfing the crimson wave - Cher said this one in Clueless I'm hemorrhaging - Vada in My Girl A Dishonorable Discharge from the...

I'm sure you are well aware of this by now, but I am quite lazy.  But I really try not to make excuses for myself though.  Lots of housewives will say things along the lines of "Oh I am just so busy!" or "The kids are so messy that I can't keep the house clean."  My favorite is "I don't stay home to clean, I stay home to be with my kids!" I'm not trying to cause problems, but I don't believe you.  Now admittedly I have evenings off, which most housewives (because they are also mothers) don't.  But I don't clean in the evenings.  I clean during the day so I can relax in the evenings.  My mom had four kids.  Well she still does, but they don't all live with her anymore.  Her house was always pretty clean.  So I know it can be done. "Oh I am just so busy!" - I am willing to bet that for most of you (Michelle Duggar with her 19 kids being a possible exception) busy includes a fair amount of time on some sort of int...

The other day Michael said "I love you" to which I replied "I love you too".  Apparently he thought I said it to emotionlessly (I think I made up another word!) and said I should mean it when I say it.  I admitted that it IS pretty much a reflex, but since I ALWAYS love him its always true.  He said love shouldn't be a reflex. Why is "I love you too" a reflex?  Because I spend my day with not one, but two three year olds.  Who tell me all day long that they love me.  If one of them says it, the other one will 9 times out of 10 say it too.  No one wants to be left out of the love.  These girls are wonderful, and I DO love them.  But I would guess that I literally get told I love you 20 times a day, not counting when Michael says it!  Which is wonderful, you can't have to much love!  Since you can't ignore it when a cute little kid says I love you, I tend to say "I love you too" at least 20 times a day, and sometimes it is just a re...

Mother has many meanings.  Obviously for the most part I don't fit these meanings.  But I do think that I fit numbers 6 and 14.  And sometimes I wish that was good enough for me.  And I wonder if it is supposed to be.  The Bible has some verses that deal with fertility or the lack thereof. One of these I came across recently was Psalm 113:9 which says : This verse makes me think.  Does this verse literally mean that God will make infertile women the mother of many children?  Or is it more figurative?  Is God going to give barren women the opportunity to mother children?  For instance I baby-sit for my job.  Now I am by no means their mother as defined by the first definition, but I do nurture and protect (or mother) them while they are at my house during the weekdays.  I'm not saying I am like a mother to them, only that I am mothering them while they are in my care.  Is this a fulfillment of Psalm 113:9?  I am keep...

I have a great life.  I really do.  I have a wonderful husband that loves me.  We just bought an awesome house (okay it has its not the most aesthetically pleasing house, but its big and cozy and has all the room we will ever need on a huge lot).  I have what I consider to be literally the best job in the world.  I don't have any chronic health issues or pain.  I have a wonderful family that I talk to on a regular basis and I know really cares about me.  Seriously I should be loving my life! I am only missing one thing.  A baby.  And for some reason missing this one thing overshadows all the good things I have been blessed with.  I hate how ungrateful I am when I have so many things that so many people don't have. 

Since the last time I blogged I have found out two AMAZING things! 1) Disney bought LucasArts!  Which could be considered a bad thing I guess, since Disney is kinda getting out of control big, but Disney also owns Marvel and The Avengers is an AWESOME movie.  With the announcement of Disney's acquisition was the 10000x better announcement that they are going to make A STAR WARS SEQUEL!  Okay I know, the prequels suck, the sequels probably will too.  But I am still super excited!  I actually read (ironically in a Disney Adventures magazine) about 15 years ago that after the 3 prequels they were going to do 3 sequels, but then never heard anything else about it.  Until NOW!  I don't know any details (other than a possible release date of 2015), and I probably won't keep you posted, because I am a slacker.  I guess it was 16 years between Return of the Jedi and The Phantom Menace so 10 years between Revenge of the Sith and whatever the new movie wi...