Much O' Nothin' »

Maybe it’s being without photos.  Maybe it’s the hullabaloo of busy-ness that surrounds Christmas.  Maybe it’s just me.  But I’ve been thinking about going simple with the blog again.  So here she is.  Of course, a work in progress (always) - because I don’t even have all my old links over here and can’t figure out how to put y’all’s comments on the sidebar.  But I kinda like the white/minimalistic look.  I’ll eventually add all my usual bells and whistles - so stay tuned.  And be sure to tell me what you think.  I can take it.

Much O' Nothin' »

All I want for Christmas is a new computer.  A Mac maybe.  Or a laptop.  Crud, I’d settle for a new hard drive at this point.  I’ve tried for days to upload pics for all these posts I have on the ready, but to no avail.  I’ve filled up the 2 tiny hard drives we have on this computer already and I’ve single-handedly brought the whole thing to halt.  And my camera.  Argh.  It’s dying a slow death and it’s takin’ me with it.  Blurry smudged lens.  Dirty lens part that barely opens when turned on.  Hate.  Hate.  Hate.

I have so many things to share with you.  But you’ll have to wait.  Because I want the pictures to go with them.  And I’m stubborn and spoiled.  So I’m hoping you’ll get more from me when I either get the above listed things for Christmas or I go shopping after Christmas for one of those.

Until then, the (maybe) titles of upcoming posts:

Amy’s Pirates Arrived

The Dollies Got Gotten.  And Then Rescued.

How I Do What I Do: Toddler Tips

Look!  Amy’s cat is Frosty Cornflake’s twin!  All of y’all who left comments lettin’ me know that my four legged friends are not the only goofy ones made me feel so much better!

In January I’m starting a Homesteading Column over at Heart of the Matter.  In addition to the other stuff I’ll still be contributing, I’ll be documenting all the “living off our own land/cooking like our grandmothers” kind of stuff I’ve been trying out and I’m open for suggestions and questions now.  So be thinking of things you’d like to see me try - I’ll do the failing for you!

Other side notes, my Christmas shopping is DONE!  And this is likely to be the best Christmas we’ve had yet in my nearly 10 years of marriage.  Thank you, Father.

We do still have a little shopping left to do.  We’re gonna let each of the kids look with us individually online for each of the other children.  I’m excited about that.  I love seeing what they get for each other, their excitement picking out things, the difficulty, and usually failure of keeping the secret, and the wiggles they get waiting for their sibling to open “their” gift.  So good.

I’m officially on Facebook.  I caved.  My SIL and BIL moved off to Wisconsin recently and my husband’s brother talked him into signing up.  So, of course, my honey then pimped it on me.  And I got on there grumbling my “Real people have blogs” uppity-ness.  Whatd’ya know.  I’m all over it.  Lovin’ it.  So, go find me, if you haven’t already and add me as your friend.

Oh, I guess I do have one picture I can share.  When looking for the medical stuff and finding that last post’s pic, my kids saw this picture and said, “Look!  There’s Miss ‘elissa!”  So, Chickadee, revel in the fact that this is what my children imagine when they think of you!

(never mind, i realized that photo wasn’t free and i couldn’t find any comparable ones for free - imagine a not happy huge pregnant woman drawn all cartoony.  told you that you don’t get any pics.  feel my hate.)

Much O' Nothin' »

Okay - In case it’s been hard to decipher, I’ve moved some of my categories to different sections of the same blog, moved SystematicChaos over here, moved the kiddos’ blogs to here, made 2under2 it’s own blog, and created AccidentalDesign - a place to show off and hopefully start selling stuff soon (in process of creating my Etsy shop), oh, and a place to swap recipes.

Why?

Because I’m going to try to earn money from ads and selling stuff.  I’m going to try to increase my blog traffic in order to help mamas who are struggling like I was (and am still!).  And because if some of you only want to see the sewing, recipes, or the homeschooling stuff you can get a direct feed to each of those blogs.  If you, like the grandparents!, want to know when the kiddos blog, it’ll be obvious. 

And I’ve tied it all together with the front page navigation.  These will link to each of the sections and will feature a new picture and excerpt when I have something new on that particular blog.  So you won’t have to wonder where to go - I’m trying to make it a little easier to follow me! 

This has been a dream long in the making and almost as long in making it happen!  It’s been a long month at this screen.  And it’s still a skeleton of what I hope it to be.  There will be sidebars with ads, slideshows with “Confessions”, “Keepin’ It Real”, “CurrentReadAlouds”, “CompletedReadAlouds”, “Lapbooks”, “ProjectsInProgress”, “FailuresInTheKitchen”, and more!  I will link to all you wonderful people that I haven’t kept up with for a month, and I will fill in all those cool “links and resources” pages.  I’ll also be featuring one of y’all’s cool posts on the front page (where that annoying plain gray square is now), I’ll steal your picture and excerpt of your post and put it there for the whole world to see!  And buttons!  I’ll make buttons!  So stay tuned, spread the word, and come back often!

And keep on eye on that front screen - thejoyfulchaos.com - when you see a new picture in one of those squares - that’s a good sign that I have something to say there, as Christina said -follow that crumb!  It may just lead to some marvelous “cookies”!

Much O' Nothin' »

i’m pullin’ this here site down soon.  as in, deleting.  today it’s here - tomorrow it’s gone.

but before you readers all-out panic (both of you) know that i’m just movin’ ‘er over to a new home.  that i’ll be inviting you to, of course.  and i’ll expect a house-warming party.

but don’t go deletin’ your links to me.  i’m keepin’ my domain name, just movin’ the blog.  it’s complicated.  but it won’t be when it’s all up and running.

so, that’s clear as mud, right?  i’ll be here.  but i won’t.  i’ll be back.  to the same site. just without this content.  it’ll be in a new place.  but it’ll kinda be here.  see, it’s perfectly clear.  i’ll see ya soon.

Much O' Nothin' »

YAY!  YAY!  YAY!!

last year’s debacle of a winner that made me hate all that was american idol was made right in last night’s show.  and, yes, i’m well aware of my absolute passion about such an earth changing event such as AI.  and you know what?  if you don’t share my passion on such a deep subject… well, to you i say, “GET WITH THE PROGRAM!!”  i laughed, i cried, i shared the moment with my honey, and then i relived it this morning with my children who were almost as passionate as i was.  really.

YAY!  YAY!  YAY!!

Much O' Nothin' »

okay, people, branch out a little!

my children have each posted recently - go give ‘em some commentin’ love!  and a note about their blogs, that i need to include on their site:  they chose the headers themselves from pictures we already had.  they chose the names of their blogs.  when they post they sit in my lap looking through photos i’ve taken and pick one that suits their fancy.  i upload it and then ask them for a title of their post.  then i ask them if they want to say something about the picture.  then they hit publish.  it’s completely them.  and i’m continually amazed by what comes out of their sweet heads.  like my oldest the other day - jumped at the picture of his sister and said, “oh, oh, i know exactly what i want to say with that!  what is it that charlie says on every show about lola?”  he then went to our dvr, found the show, and played it until he heard it, paused it, and asked me to type it.  amazing.  my middlest - oh, it’s so him.  usually not too much to say, but, boy when he does it’s awfully sweet and poignant.  and that girl.  sweet girl.  i think she thought at the beginning of it that i was not saying blog, but God.  hence the prayers each post.  it took me a while to figure that out.  how sweet!

our homeschool blog is still up and running, albeit not quite as catchy or as alluring as the other blogs, but it does have some pretty cool ideas, resources, and links for learning.

the heart of the matter is blowin’ up!  so much so, that they have started a seperate site just for the magazine each month and is keeping the old site for the blog - daily inspiration and new stuff constantly.  the may issue has been published go check it out!

also - if you live in arkansas, have ever lived in arkansas, or just want to help out(!) please comment or email me for great arkansas ideas for entertainment, resources, and learning stuff - stuff like the museum of discovery in little rock has a free day once a month, there’re dollar movies at the tandy 10 in north little rock, if you get a group of 10 or more - tickets are much cheaper at the children’s theater in little rock, the greek food festival dates, the farmer’s market is open tuesdays and saturdays downtown, etc.  i want to pool our ideas and let others know what’s out there.  two heads are much better than one!  please participate!!

Much O' Nothin' »

melissa noticed that i had a birthday the other day.  i know, i know, i didn’t announce it.  having your thirty-first birthday ain’t nothin’ to shout from the rooftops.  i remember the “thirty-something” show from when i was a kid.  those people on there were old.  and boring.  yeah.  i’m feelin’ it.

however, noteworthy for the day was that my honey made me a surprise “mixed tape” off i-tunes.  he burned ‘em on pink and purple cds.  and he even endured the entire trip to my parents and back saturday listening, not only to the cds, but to my sometimes loud sing-along.  he’s so my john cusack.

and if you’re wondering - they’re all from the 90’s and mostly pop.  with a song from our wedding thrown in.  because i love me some sarah mclachlan, lisa loeb, matchbox 20, alanis, oasis, natalie merchant, gin blossoms, pearl jam, wall flowers, sixpence, sugar ray, a shawn colvin, no doubt, r.e.m., deep blue something, some weezer, and, of course there must be some they might be giants. 

a marvelous present, indeed. 

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actually, it was only a one box cake.  a funfetti cake.  i just squatted (i love that word) down and leaned in really close to the cake and it made it look gi-normous compared to babyhead.

and the icing, well, long story kinda shorter… it started out plain white whipped out of a container and then i needed extra so my honey made up a recipe to add to it.  but it was kinda crazy around here (big surprise) and he forgot and put the egg yolks in it, not just the whites.  since we’re a bit shy of salmonella, he then boiled it to kill off anything.  and we hoped it would gel again.  but not really.  so i just poured it over the top and called it volcano cake.  oh, and we always color our icing with food coloring.  and we don’t go easy with it, just like our pancakes.

k.t.:  the potatoes froze well, but i had baked them with all the stuff mixed in, wrapped them and then microwaved or rebaked them when we were ready to eat.  they did fine.  the onions - i chop them and stick ‘em in a ziplock.  i only use them in recipes, so they do fine also.  and i would love to do a recipe exchange blog.  if we do, would all the rest of y’all be interested in posting your own or at least linking some of your other posts with your recipes in them?

lisa:  yes, i think i’m still interested in the homeschool convention.  are you going to be around?

david and others:  yes, the doggy has a name.  he belonged to my mom and she had the very cool name meko yuma for him, calling him meko.  but because we’re goof balls we decided to rename him to fit into our ridiculous family.  i voted for mr. roboto.  i got voted out.  i think bilbo baggins it will be.  bilbo just kinda fits him.

yes, i am aware of the california homeschooling craziness.  are you?  get informed, if you’re not already.  i initially was pretty concerned, but after researching it, i’m a little calmer.  they’re handling it well and they’re in good hands.  we’ll just keep a close eye on it.

with the chicken broth, i poured it into ice trays and when it was frozen popped them out and stuck them in a big ziplock.  now i can grab just the amount i want in a recipe, it thaws quickly and i don’t have to chip off the big block.

mandy:  i know i already talked to you, but others may be wondering.  the shirts said “my parents are exhausted”, i got them at wal-mart for $4.95. 

jill:  first weekend in april’s great. 

megan:  first weekend in april?

did i miss any others?  you would think i could email or even call you people, but i fail at such friend things.  sorry. 

Much O' Nothin' »

i was just griping to my best friend in st. louis yesterday that it wasn’t fair that she would blanketed in beautifulness, but that we would be getting rain today.

this is what i get for complaining.

Much O' Nothin' »

i know, i know, we’ve been here before.  this time i’m taking a not-completely-non-money-related break.  i have realized that i’m spread too thin at this season.  i will focus more on looking at y’all’s sites and helping with the homeschooling sites.  i will sit and watch cinderella with my kids and celebrate, not just endure, this very busy season of everyone stuck inside and having a 2 year old and an almost 1 year old.  because right now, it’s kickin’ my boot-ay.  and i ‘ve prayed about it and need to refocus for just a while.  and my husband surprised me with an incredible valentine’s present - i will have my own domain name and will completely host my own site.  so i will be working behind the scenes to get that site up and going.  i will still blog as the inspiration hits and i will try to update on the kiddos when i can.  by all means, please don’t unlink me!!  and i’ll be sure to let you know when i’m back full time.  you know me, that could be 6 months or it could be tomorrow!  (and knowing me, it’ll probably be closer to tomorrow.)  i just need to take the pressure off.  it’s the equivalent of the weekly asking of my husband to tell me it’s perfectly okay to live in an absolutely funky disgusting house.  to which he always replies, “of course.”  and then he drives home to find the house in tip-top shape.  i just need to know that i have taken all the pressure away. 

so, i’ll be seein’ ya.  just on your sites more!