Book Review: The Yellow Birds

I recently chose this book as my book club selection for January.  I heard about it on Morning Joe on MSNBC.  Now, if you know me, you're probably thinking, "What in the WORLD were you watching MSNBC for???"  I'm a Fox News girl through and through.  I took some friendly advice to give this show a try from a friend who watches it.  It was fine.  And I actually met Joe Scarborogh when I was working at a restaurant in Pensacola, FL and he was very friendly.  So I was watching and they had this author on and they were discussing the book and read a few excerpts.  I immediately added it to my TBR (to be read) list.  The author, Kevin Powers, is an Iraq War Vet and the book is a fiction novel that follows two soldiers through a war.  And wow, it was powerful.  Very brutal...we're talking about war here....so there were some hard parts to get through.  And it jumps around a bit, so I had to get used to that.  But what captivated me so much was the way that the author wrote it.  He's a very good writer.  The words he used and the way he wrote it was almost....poetic.  That's pretty talented when you're writing a book about a war situation. While this is a fiction novel, with the author being a vet and going through a tour in a hostile country, I'm assuming that some of these experiences are things that he actually experienced somehow.
I also wanted to choose this book because my book club is made up of military spouses in my husband's group.  I wanted to see how they reacted to it, being wives of soldiers.  I got some mixed reactions.  Some really like it, some found it hard to read.  Everyone appreciated it, and we all were affected by it somehow.  In our husband's career field, they are lucky to not be on the front-lines, the way the characters in this book are.  But they do deploy and it is a hostile environment and can be scary at times.  I do recommend it if you can read this type of topic.  It's powerful and really shows you what can happen in war-time situations.

Project Life, Week 4

Full view

Week 4...already?  Wow, where did January go?  This week was a good one.  Lots of stuff to fill my pockets up.  Dogs went to the vet, we spent a great morning at the park, got our new iMac, Caylan started reading an actual book...reading!...it rained in Tucson...I got some new jeans....Layla had her 18 month check up...yep, it was a good one.

Left side

Right side

 And yes, yes I did put my weight in my PL and also on my blog.  There it is.  All out there.  No excuses now!  Am I crazy or brave?  Maybe a little bit of both with an emphasis on crazy.

Project Life Week 3

Full view

And we're on to Week 3!  Trutting right along!  I absolutely am loving this process.  I've made my process a little easier this year by gathering some of my supplies that would be good for my album at some point and storing it on my Raskog cart with the rest of my PL supplies.  Mainly, alphabets!  I pulled some tiny prints and some colors that go well with my kit and keep them together.  I'm determined to make a dent in my 147 different fonts...yes, I said 147.

Left side

 This week, I documented a couple things from TV: the Golden Globe Awards (so so so happy Les Mis won great awards!).  I also documented the NFL playoffs...although I was bummed Atlanta didn't win....  And it was 31 in Tucson last week.  Say what?

Right side

My husband and I were able to get away for a date night to see Jack Reacher and have dinner at Bamboo Club.  Awesome. *Later I went back and added a yellow heart-shaped paper clip on the "date night" card.  I also wanted to include the fact that Layla is now sitting forward in the car....eeeeeek!  It was a great week.  I'm working on week 4 and will probably need to get week 4 and 5 done at the same time.  Trut, trut, trut!

What's for Dinner?

I'm taking a new approach to menu planning this year.  A neighbor of mine prompted me to start planning my meals on a monthly basis instead of a weekly basis.  This sounds little intimidating, but once I did January's, I was convinced.  Yes, sitting down initially to plan out a month's worth of meals, it does take some time and research to find recipes.  But on the weekly basis, it's so easy.  All I do is prep the month's list of meals and then each week I refer to that list and pick what I want to make that week and I can easily make my grocery lists based on that list.  So far, I've been planning out 25 meals a month.  This way, I can allow for unexpected dinner invitations, planned events and nights when I just don't feel like cooking.  In January, I tried quite a few new recipes...some I loved, some not so much...and we ate at home a lot more, which I love.

I'm also trying to work on prepping food in a smarter way.  My husband and I like to work out at the gym during the week and normally don't get home until around 6 or 6:30.  Because of this, dinner time can be super hectic and stressful.  I'm trying to plan out recipes that can be easily prepped early during the day, that way when we get home I can easily pull dinner together.  For example, I've deemed Tuesdays "Crock Pot Tuesdays."  Tuesdays are crazy.  My older daughter has school, then dance, then we hit the gym, so I'm not home a whole lot on Tuesdays.  Putting dinner in the crock pot that is ready for us when we get home is so nice!  I'm still trying to figure this aspect out, and it's something I want to focus on for February.  More prep!

How do you plan out your meals at home?  What works or doesn't work for you?

Project Life, Week 2

Full view

I finished Week 2 over the weekend and absolutely love the way it turned out!  I've decided to keep the date cards (always located on the upper left corner for me) simple this year.  One piece of washi tape along with the week number, and I'm done.  Since the date cards for the Seafoam kit are pretty graphic, I'm good with that. 

Left side

One thing I love including in my Project Life albums are actual pieces and papers from our everyday life.  My older daughter is working on writing her numbers and lower case letters, so I took the paper she was practicing on and cut out a piece to include.  This will be priceless years from now.
I caught a picture of my girls walking hand-in-hand through Target and had a Target marketing paper I kept randomly so I cut out the symbol and journaled on it.  

Right side

When documenting my daughter going back to dance class, I was looking for some ribbon and saw that had this ribbon from Dear Lizzy.  How perfect does that work with her dance picture?  The Scrapbook sticker is a new sticker Studio Calico is using on their packaging for their monthly kits.  I love it so much!  The @ symbol was cut with my Silhouette Cameo.

And that's Week 2!  I've already got my pictures printed and my notes for Week 3 that I am hoping to finish up this week.  I'm also working on a blog post for my new menu planning system that will go up this week.  Hope everyone had a great three day weekend (if you had one).

Project Life, Week 1

Cover page

Previously, I had decided not to add my Project Life spreads on my blog.  It got to be a little boring (at least to some of you, probably) and I didn't blog often enough to really share my album every week.  Upon further reflection, I decided I WILL share it weekly.  Since I am very good about keeping up with my album and I want to blog more often, I think it will be a good push to be sure I'm blogging more so that it's not just Project Life.  I'd like a good variety, so I think it will help.  With that...here is my first week of Project Life.

Full view

Left side

Right side

Insert which is in the album, although not pictured.  This is a Studio Calico Handbook page protector and is 6x8 in dimensions.  Front side.

Back side

I am using Becky Higgin's Seafoam Core Kit which was designed by Elise Blaha Cripe.  I just love Elise.  I've been following her blog for a while and purchased a few things from her shop, which is just awesome stuff.  The card with the Neil Armstrong quote is also available on Elise's blog.  I love the Seafoam kit because I LOVE the colors - hello beloved turquoise - mixed with black, white, some yellow, grey and kraft.  The cards are simple enough that they can be left as-is or dressed up.  The card on the right side that says, "That's what Layla said," was designed by Geralyn Sy (who's an AMAZING scrapbooker) and I just love it!  It's a digital card so I can print it as often as I like, which will come in handy when Layla starts saying more words.  I also ordered one for Caylan which I've used in the past. 

I really love the cover page and my first week.  The insert is in the album and sits just in between my first week spread.  It's a nice little addition to document my New Year's Resolutions.  I'm playing a little bit of catch up because I just got the kit this week, so I'll be working on week 2 tomorrow and will share this weekend.  I hope you enjoyed it and will come back and see my weekly updates on my Project Life album.  If you have any questions about the album or my process, please don't hesitate to ask!

Other supplies:  Design A Page Protectors, We R Memory Keepers 12x12 album in Orange Soda
For more information on Project Life, please visit Becky Higgin's blog for fun videos and tutorials.

Reading with Intention

This year, I've decided to embark on a journey to READ THE BIBLE IN ONE YEAR.  The entire thing.  Cover to cover.  Chronologically.  This is a big commitment and there are a few reasons I want to do it.  First, I've never read it.  Not even a full chapter in one sitting.  I basically heard versus repeated in church or on Facebook pages, but I've never really KNOWN what the Bible says.  I want to change that.  Second, I'm not 100% sure where I stand on my faith.  We've just this past year started really going to church regularly and we've both really enjoyed it.  It's giving Josh and I both the desire to understand the written word better.  This is something I've wanted to do for a while and I decided that 2013 is my year to finally do it.  Here's my process:

When I was thinking about how to go about this project, I had to decide when I was going to do it.  Doing it at the same time everyday is the best way to keep it routine and eventually I'll be doing it without even thinking about it.  I initially thought that getting up and doing it first thing in the morning would be the best thing to do.  It's a good way to start my morning.  However....I am NOT a morning person.  Not even a little bit.  And Josh had said he wants to do some reading along with me, so maybe we should do it at night when the girls are in bed.  But, once the girls are in bed, that's our freedom time.  We'll normally sit down together and watch tv shows or a movie....or we'll go our separate ways and do stuff on our own we want to do.  So we switched gears and decided on the mornings.  That means I have to get up before the girls do...normally around 6:30 or so.  This was going to be a challenge.  I didn't realize what a GREAT challenge it would be.  The first couple of days was hard to get up, but I reminded myself of my goal and how important it is to me.  I got up, made my coffee, did my reading and the girls still weren't up.  I did the dishes, got some stuff picked up around the house, started some laundry...I was amazed at how much I was able to get done when the girls were still asleep.  Normally, I would stay in bed until Caylan wondered in, then Layla would wake up screaming.  I was waking up to chaos.  Now, I'm convinced that getting up early is the key.  Not only am I now starting my days with Bible readings...I'm able to have some peace and get some things done which helps my days go much smoother and less stressful.  Not everyday is perfect, but it's better.  I wish I had started this a long time ago. 

The readings are going great.  I'm understanding everything (although the names are hard to get through.  They had some crazy names!).  I'm finishing up Genesis tomorrow and moving on to the next book.  I'll keep updated every so often on my progress.  If you've been interested in reading the Bible, or have been looking for a daily devotional Bible for women, this is the one my mother-in-law gave me last year for Christmas.  That's where I got my reading guide and it's a great book!

2013

Happy New Year everyone! 

2012 was a pretty amazing year and I'm so excited that 2013 is under way.  Now, let's talk Resolutions.  Most of us make them, right?  Most of us don't keep up with them either, right?  I'm definitely guilty of this one.  I'm a sucker for a "fresh start" each year and I love to make resolutions, so I will keep doing so.  I want to focus on making resolutions that I can stick to and that are achievable.

I Choose
Elise Blaha Cripe has a class up at Big Picture Classes called I Choose, which focuses on goal making and goal achieving.  I signed up immediately!  She has great videos talking about her successes and missteps in setting and reaching her goals.  So far, it's great and I'm excited to keep going with it.  If you need help in this area, I highly recommend the class.

My Resolutions
I took my time setting resolutions this year.  I wanted them to count.  I took time to reflect on what's important to me right now and what I want to really focus on in my life.  Here they are:

1.  Read the Bible in one year.
     My mother-in-law gave me a great women's devotional Bible last year for Christmas.  In it, is a reading guide to read the Bible in one year chronologically.  I love this idea!  I've never read the Bible with intention...only versus here and there in church.  I've always wanted to read it and this year, I'm doing it.  I want to understand what the Bible says, and I'm interested in knowing the message and how it will affect my life.  More thoughts on this and how it's going in another post later.

2.   BLOG MORE!  ;)
      I'm not a very good blogger - whew, there, I said it.  I have good intentions to blog and I wish I could be like the other bloggers that I stalk follow on a daily basis and have the coolest posts that I like to lose myself in.  I DO want to keep blogging, so I've set a goal to blog a MINIMUM of two times a week.  I already have a list of things I want to blog about, so hopefully I can keep up on this.

3.  Reach my goal weight.
     I know I can do this.  I've done it before.  I have 30 pounds to lose to reach my goal weight.  I just need to shut up and do it.  Or "Shut up and color," as my husband would say (Air Force term).  Interestingly, a Bible verse was quoted in church last week that touches on helping me reach this goal.  Again, more on that later.  Basically, I'd like to NOT make a weight-related resolution for 2014.

4.  Write in my journal more.
     I have a gorgeous journal that I write in sporadically.  I'd like to write in it more often and use it as a stress reliever when I need one.

5.  Be a better Key Spouse.
     This is an Air Force thing.  I'm a Key Spouse for my husband's squadron, which means I keep in touch with spouses and their needs.  I've let some of my responsibilities slide a little and I want to correct that.

6.  Meal plan better.
     I'm trying a new technique for meal planning to help take the stress out of it a bit.  So far, it's great and I'll share what I'm doing in another post soon.

7.  Read 40 books.
     I keep a running list of the books that I read each year.  In 2009 and 2010 I read close to 50 books each year.  For 2011 and 2012, it was 29 books exactly both years.  I want to get the number back up there.  The goal is 40!  Any suggestions?

So, there are my goals for 2013.  I'm excited to start on them and I'm very excited to see where 2013 is going to take us and what it has in store for our family.  Thanks for sticking with me and feel free to share any resolutions YOU have for 2013!

Adventures in Couponing: Target Gold Mine!

And I'm back at it!  Someone recently, and accurately, labeled me a "Yo-Yo Couponer."  I go through spurts of getting great deals and making time to scout them out and go get them.  Then there's weeks where I can't be bothered and I don't want to do anything.  My husband has noticed that when I don't make the time to coupon, our grocery bill is definitely higher.  I'm taking those two things as signs that I really need to focus on it again.  It really does make a difference!

This week, I headed to Target three...yes, three...days in a row for some deals.  I need to learn to be patient and wait for a lot of the deals to be announced before just running there so I don't have to make all these trips.  Although each trip was worth it.  I want to highlight two of these trips (the other wasn't coupon based, just stuff we needed last minute).

Trip one:

 (from left to right)

1.  2 Carefree Panty Liners - on sale for 89 cents

     used one $1.00/1 coupon for one and a 50 cents/1 coupon for the other which made one free  

     and the other 39 cents!

2.  1 Bottle liners - $2.99 - no deal, just needed them

3.  1 Mail envelope - $1.64 - no deal, just needed it

4.  2 Papermate 10pk Pens - on sale in Back-to-School bins for $1.00 each

     used two $1.00/1 off coupons from Target.com - made them FREE!

5.  4 Rose Art 24 pk Crayons - on sale in Back-to-School department for 25 cents each

     used $1.00/3 RoseArt products from RP 7/29 - made all 4 of them FREE!

6.  2 Suave Kid's Body Wash - on sale for $1.79

     used two 75 cents/1 coupon and I think another coupon (can't find the deal now and I didn't keep   

     good notes - sorry!)

7.  4 Gerber Puffs bags (from registers) - 99 cents each

     used two $1.00/2 coupons - made them 50 cents each

8.  1 Heinz Apple Cider Vinegar - on sale for $1.17

     used $1.00/1 coupon - made it 17 cents!

Total Spent: $9.06

Total Saved: $10.35!

*sorry about the stuff I couldn't find.  I'll keep better notes next time.  This was from the week of 7/29

Trip two (made today!)

(from left to right)

1.  1 Stayfree 18pk Ultra Thin Pads - on sale for $2.89

     used $2.00/1 coupon from SS 7/22 and $1.00/1 Target coupon from mailer envelope - made them 

     FREE!  *I also heard there was a Target coupon in the PG from 7/29, but I didn't have it

2.  2 Scotch Tapes - on sale for 49 cents in Back-to-School bins

     used two 50 cents/1 coupons from Target.com - made them FREE!

3.  Colgate Kid's Toothpaste - on clearance for $1.86

     used $1.00/1 any Colgate toothpaste from Target mailer coupon - made it 86 cents!

4.  3 Papermate 10pk Pens - on sale for $1.00 in Back-to-School bins

     used three $1.00/1 Papermate coupons from Target.com (same as in first trip) - made all of them 

     FREE!

5.  2 Garnier Fruicis (one shampoo & one conditioner) - on sale for $2.79 each

     used two $1.00/1 coupons from Coupons.com and two $1.00/1 coupons from Target.com - made 

     them 79 cents each!

Total Spent: $2.44

Total Saved: $13.40

This one is my favorite!!!

*Be sure to check out Target's new coupon policy - mainly that you can only use four of the same coupon in one trip.  And they no longer allow overages, so the coupon needs to be entered manually to be changed to the price.  For example, the 50 cent coupon for the tape needed to be entered manually by the cashier to make it 49 cents off.  Make sure you pay attention to that!

I'm excited to get back into couponing and really start saving some money.  I'll try to share here as often as I can and take better notes!

Letting Go

A lot of this going on around here...

I've gone into super-organize-and-go-through-everything mode.  It started with my house stuff.  Did some organizing/purging in my scrap room.  Got my kitchen pantry organized.  Need to go through Layla's toys/clothes and sell some stuff she's outgrown.  Then it moved onto moving forward with some projects and letting some go.

This has been on my mind for a while.  There are  few projects I've been doing that haven't really been amazingly fun to me.  They seem a little more daunting than exciting.  After some contemplation, I've decided to let some of them go so I can concentrate on what I really enjoy.

1. December Daily - I've done two December Daily's for the past two years.  If you haven't heard of this, it's a project that was created by Ali Edwards.  She does one each year and you can purchase kits and follow her process to help you create your own.  It's an album that chronicles each day in December to capture the holiday season.  Don't get me wrong, I do love the concept.  And I love my two albums I have.  Unfortunately, for me, it became more daunting.  I struggled to finish it and didn't enjoy the process based on what was going on in our lives.  So, I've decided to let it go.  Plus, with Project Life, I don't really think I need it.

2. One Little Word - this is another Ali Edwards project.  It's a year-long class at Big Picture Classes.  You choose a word for yourself that you want to focus on and incorporate into your life.  Then, you follow prompts each month to create pages that focus on the word and where you are with it.  The reason I'm letting this go is because it's not really speaking to me.  I chose a word: Strong.  And it's fine, but the project and the album isn't really speaking to me.  Seeing the message board for the class, it's really helping a lot of people and they're really enjoying it.  Me - not so much.  I guess it's just something that's not really for me.  I'm going to finish the album since I did start it, but not a ton of effort is going into it.  So I won't do it again.

3. Project Life - I AM NOT GIVING UP PROJECT LIFE!  I just wanted to emphasize where I am on it.  I LOVE this project!  I love collecting all the little things that would normally be forgotten soon after it's happened.  I love looking back at the past 6 months and realizing what we've done and where we've gone.  My husband flipped through my first album and loved looking back as well.  So, definitely moving forward with it.  However, as of right now, I'm not going to share my album.  It really became daunting to take the pictures every week and post them with the details.  Plus, my blog became nothing but PL and I didn't want to do that. Update on how it's going: beautifully!  I haven't gotten more than 3 weeks behind at a time.  I keep really good notes about what I want to include each week.  I save EVERYTHING!  I enjoy setting up in front of the TV on Sunday nights and working on the week.  I really love it and can't wait to dive in again next year.  Planning on getting the Clementine core kit next year when it's back in stock.  And for 2014, I plan to combine the leftovers of the Turquoise kit I'm using now and the Clementine kit I'm using next year to make my own kit-of-sorts. 

I feel less pressure by letting these projects go and refocusing on what I really want to create.  Now, to go through some baby stuff...