Tuesday Topics-Two Places You've Traveled

Okay, this one was kind of hard.  Between the ages of 16 and 21, I traveled a lot.  I went to Texas (twice), Germany (and many of the surrounding countries), England (twice), Kentucky, and Duluth, Minnesota (honeymoon).  And than I had kids and I haven't traveled since other than to visit relatives. 

I decided to go with two of my most documented trips so I could actually add a few pictures. 

When I was 16, I had a close friend who took a German language class in college.  The class was pretty small so when the instructor began planning a class trip to Germany, there weren't enough people to go.  My friend asked if my mom and I would like to come along.  Of course, I was broke, but my incredibly awesome mom lent me the money I needed (which I still owe her) so I could go.  Most of the 10 days were spent in Germany, but we also took day trips to France and Luxembourg and went through Switzerland.  We had a lot of fun and I would love to go back someday. 

On a train in France during the Germany trip.  I'm in the blue sweater looking down.

Our tour group on one of our first days in Germany.  I'm in the center of the back row, my best friend is on the far right of the back row and our moms are in the front row. 

After the 10 days in Germany were up, the four of us split up from the rest of the group.  Everyone else headed back to the US and we flew to England to meet up with my friend's mom's British friend.

About a year later, I was living with my friend and her family so she and I could more easily carpool to the local community college together.  Her mom was now engaged to the British friend we'd visited with during our last trip to England and was planning a wedding in there.  Because I was close to their family, she invited me to come to England for the wedding and even paid for my trip.  We found time for sightseeing in between wedding plans and festivities.  

My friend and I in English telephone booths.

My friend's mom and I at the Tower of London

The Tower Bridge

Where have you traveled to?

Tuesday Topics-Three Favorite Quotes

I have a book full of quotes I've collected since I was a teenager.  Luckily, I can't find it right now because that would mean that I'd be up all night trying to narrow it down to three.  I had a hard enough time as it was.

Without further ado, here are three of my favorite quotes:  

Source: skariann.blogspot.com via Hannah on Pinterest

Because let's face it, when a problem hits us, we reach for the phone first, right?

Source: ibibleverses.christianpost.com via Lewis on Pinterest

My favorite Bible verse.

Source: babygoodbuys.com via Hannah on Pinterest

I cannot stress this enough!!  I know too many people who are more interested in giving their children stuff instead of their time.

What's your favorite quote(s)? 

Tuesday Topics-4 Things I Have Learned Outside of School

This one is kind of tricky for me.  You see, I was homeschooled and so most of what I've learned in life, I was taught as part of my schooling.  When your mom is your teacher, and she's the one who taught you pretty much everything you know and believe as an adult, it can be hard to distinguish between what was learned "in" school and what wasn't. 

Somehow, I managed to come up with four things though.

1. Sew. 
My home-ec class one year involved me running the house (cooking, cleaning, laundry, shopping, etc) for one whole week.  Very educational for me and very smart of my mom who got a week off.  The one thing my home-ec class was missing was the sewing portion.  My mom can sew, but she doesn't like doing it so she didn't teach me.  I'm pretty much a self-taught sewist.  

Dress and shirt made by me and modeled by Princess and my nephew

2. How to drive.
My mom was too smart to get in a car with any of us kids while we were learning how to drive (unlike my dad who let my newly licensed brother practice driving a stick shift in downtown Minneapolis during rush hour).  Because we kids were required to pay our own way for the most part once we were old enough to have a job (this parenting technique not only saved my parents some money, but is a super way to teach kids responsibility and appreciation for things), I opted to wait until I was 18 before learning to drive so I didn't have to pay for the driving class.  At the age of 19ish, my then-boyfriend/now-husband and my dad taught me to drive so I could take the written test (twice) and get my license. 

3. Blog.
Okay, I don't know if I can actually count this one since I learned how to write in school, but blogging didn't exactly come up back then.  Was blogging even around in the 90's?  I don't know, but anyways, I didn't start my blog until 2009.  Of course, at the beginning, I assumed that blogging was just typing up a post and hitting the "publish" button.  Um, yeah.  If you want your blog to really go anywhere, you need to learn social media, html, networking and so much more.  Also things that weren't covered in school and that I have learned to utilize.

4. Choose Joy.
My mom will tell you that I've always been a definite a bit of a Negative Nellie.  In the past few years, I've learned that (just like my mom said!) I have the freedom to choose how I will respond to a situation.  I can choose to respond with worry, fear, anger, etc. or I can choose to respond with joy.  I'm not perfect yet, (although that's coming any day now!), but realizing that I have power over how a situation affects me is very freeing.     


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Tuesday Topics - Five Songs That Bring Back Memories

This week's Tuesday Topic is 5 songs that bring back memories.

1.  "If You Could See What I See" by Geoff Moore and the Distance
My husband's aunt played the guitar for and sang this at our wedding.

2. "Raindrops Keep Falling On My Head" by B.J. Thomas
My great-grandma had a little figurine that played this song and every time we'd visit her, she would play it for me.  I'm not sure who got the figurine after she passed away, but I managed to find another one just like it on Ebay.  It may not be the original, but it reminds me of her whenever I see it.

3. "His Cheeseburger" sung by Mr. Lunt
My best friend in high school and I had an addiction to cheeseburgers back then.  Therefore, this kind of became our theme song.  Ahhhh, good times!

4. "Mmmbop" by Hanson
My sister and I LOVED this song when we were younger :)

5. "Horse With No Name" by America
My dad plays just about every stringed instrument there is, but when I was a kid, it seemed that he played accoustic guitar the most often.  I loved it when he would play and I remember falling in love with this song because he played it quite a bit.

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Tuesday Topics-Six Favorite Products

This week's Tuesday Topic is 6 of my favorite products.

1.  My favorite lip balm is Burt's Bees.  I have super sensitive skin so there aren't many products I can use that work for me.  I literally have about 10 tubes of Burt's Bees laying around my house.  

Burt's Bees Beeswax Lip Balm Tube, .15-Ounce Tubes (Pack of 4)

2. Sticking with the sensitive skin theme...this is my all-time favorite lotion.  Most lotions I've tried felt greasy or left my skin feeling weird plus they didn't work with my dry skin very well.  This lotion is kind of expensive, but it's the only thing that works and feels great on my skin.  It's worth every penny.

Melaleuca Renew Intensive Skin Therapy 20oz (Single)

3. If you've been hanging out on my blog long enough, then you know I'm ridiculously slightly addicted to chai lattes.  We don't have a coffee shop in town so I had to find something that allowed me to make a chai latte at home.  I buy this Mystic Chai Tea Mix at Sam's Club to allow me to do just that.  It comes in two flavors; vanilla and spiced.  Because I'm somewhat of a chai snob, I prefer to mix 1 part spiced chai mix in with 2 parts vanilla chai mix to create my own perfect blend.

Mystic Chai Vanilla Tea Mix - 2lbs
  

4.  I have a large micro cooker from Pampered Chef that I use to for many things in my kitchen, but my favorite use for it is cooking hamburger in the microwave.  It's so much easier than doing it on the stovetop.  I just dump the frozen hamburger in the micro cooker, and microwave it for a few minutes.  I take it out, drain the grease with the super handy holes on the snap-on lid, and microwave it a little longer until it's browned.  The Pampered Chef Mix n' Chop is great for chopping up the hamburger too.   

Pampered Chef Large Micro Cooker for Microwave

5. Cheating a little as this one isn't technically a product, it's a brand name.  I LOVE the Carter's/OshKosh brands for kids' clothes.  If I could dress my kids in them all the time, I would, but alas, neither of them have a store even remotely close to me.  My sister-in-law lives across the road from a huge outlet mall that includes both Carter's and OshKosh outlets.  And yes, I'm insanely jealous.

6. Another cheat...I heart Riley Blake fabrics.  Super good quality and the cutest designs anywhere.  Go browse the website-you're gonna fall in love too.  

How about you? What are some of your favorite products?


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Tuesday Topics-7 Things About Your Job

Today's Tuesday Topic is 7 things about my job.  The question for me is what job?  Let me run down the list for you...

Job #1: Mommy to my 3 littles.

Job #2: Owner of Annalie's Baby Boutique where I sew kids' clothing.

Job #3: Owner of Little Owl Patterns where I design and write pdf sewing patterns for kids' clothes.

Job #4: Freelance writer for a local newspaper.

Job #5: Babysitter for a preschool teacher/friend during the school year.

Job #6: Substitute librarian assistant at the local library.

So yeah...one more job and I could count my jobs as my whole Tuesday Topics post.  Instead, I'll write one thing about each of my jobs and then a bonus fact to get me to seven.

1. (Job: Mommy) This is the hardest, most rewarding job ever.  Even when I'm miserable because the baby has refused to nap all day, the 3 year old is throwing his 19th screaming tantrum since getting up 7 hours ago, and the 5 year old has had an attitude that rivals the moodiest 15 year old, I'm still happy.

2. (Job: Annalie's Baby Boutique) I started the boutique in August 2010.  It's been the greatest outlet for my creative side and although it can be stressful sometimes, I have no regrets and no plans to ever shut it down.  If all goes as planned, I'll still be hanging out at my sewing machine when I'm 95!

3. (Job: Little Owl Patterns) I just started this one in January 2013 because I've been writing most of my own patterns for the clothing I sew for Annalie's Baby Boutique and decided to take the leap into turning them into pdf's and selling them.  It's WAAAAAAAY more work to write a pattern than I ever imagined, but I love it.

4. (Job: Freelance Writer) Writing for a newspaper has been my dream since I was in elementary school.  When I was a kid, I wrote and distributed my own newspaper up until I was 18 and thought I was too old for it.  I missed the writing outlet which is essentially why I started blogging.  I was ecstatic when I got a job writing for the local newspaper in April of this year!

5. (Job: Babysitter) I was working at a job I hated because I couldn't be with my kids, but needed to find something else before I could quit.  Someone I'd only met a few times called me out of the blue to ask if I'd be interested in babysitting her kids while she worked.  3 years later, I'm still babysitting for her and we're now good friends.  My babysitting job was literally an answer to prayer.

6. (Job: Substitute assistant librarian)  When I was a kid, I put cards in the front of our books and tried to convince my siblings to check them out when they wanted to read something.  So working at the actual library is a completely awesome job and I love it!

7. Because of all of my jobs, I'm insanely busy most of the time.  However, every single one of those jobs is my dream job.  Who else can say that they have 6 jobs and love every single one of them because they fulfill a dream?


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Tuesday Topics-8 Goals For the Month

I know I'm a little late (like always...) to the party, but I thought this Tuesday Topics blog series looked like fun and would encourage me to write about things I wouldn't normally think of.

Since I'm late, I missed the first two Tuesday Topics in the list.  This week's Tuesday Topic is "Eight Goals for This Month."

1. Stick to my weight loss goals.

2. Write 2 more patterns for Little Owl Patterns and get them sent out for testing.

3. Finish at least a couple of those poor lonely blog posts that have been sitting in draft form for too long.

4. Print off the preschool pack for the kiddos to do this summer and do at least 2 other things from our Summer Bucket list.

5. Stick with the Flylady cleaning routine to keep my house under control and get out of C.H.A.O.S. (Can't Have Anyone Over Syndrome)

6. Purge at least 5 areas on this list.

7. Make myself a skirt and another shirt.

8. Earn another five $5 Amazon gift cards on Swagbucks.  It would be really helpful to have an iPad for my business so I'm saving up my Amazon gift cards to buy one.

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