Just around the corner...

Its almost 2015! Just around the corner! Like, not even a month away. Wow! Where did time go? My Facebook feed is filling up with new years resolutions and what resolutions you should or shouldn't make. It's not even Christmas yet! One article that caught my eye was an article from the 'Elite Daily'. 10 Toxic People You Shouldnt Bring With You Into The New Year . I chose to read this. Pure curiosity. Mainly because I have been struggling with having to deal with some very two faced people recently. This article really opened my eyes. Why am I making space for these people in my life to begin with?

I really like to give people the benefit of the doubt. By nature, I always try to see the good in everyone. I usually can find some sort of goodness. (I am not talking about people I read about or see on television or word of mouth.) But I am starting to see more and more people who end up with more negative qualities than good. Sometimes the bad does outweigh the good. And yet I continue to try and see the good. Focus on the good. What do I get in return? Stabbed in the back. Lied to. Used.

I am finally (at the age of 27) starting to realize that I don't have to see the good. I don't even have to look.  I don't need to waste my time or energy. I don't need to try. I can be kind to these people with out letting them take up space in my life. I can be cordial and leave it at that. I don't need to make small talk with these people. I don't need to try and fix what is broken. I don't need to try and make things more comfortable for them. I don't need to try and change my ways so these people may like me, want to be my friend, stop backstabbing me. Whatever it is, I don't have to do. I can still be a kind person and still not hand someone the knife to stab me with when I walk away.

I have always struggled with this. I felt like I needed to still be friendly with people who were not friendly people. I thought I was treating others the way I want them to treat me. But really, if we aren't going to be friends, I just want you to treat me cordial. And if you aren't going to, I am not going to give you the knife to stab me with anymore.

I don't have to be friends with you on facebook because we went to school together, or you are dating my friend or you are friends with my friend or we work together or you are friends with my husband/sister/mother/cousin/boss/aunt/coworker. I don't need to have drinks with you after work. I don't have to go to your childs birthday party. I don't have to "press 1" to write "Happy Birthday" on your facebook page when I get that annoying text. I don't have to get that text! I don't have to invite you to dinner because I invited a mutual friend and they are really good friends with you and we used to be friends. Just because you're my relative doesn't mean I have to invite you to my husbands birthday party.

I don't have to bring you into 2015! Heck, I don't have to bring you into tomorrow. You wont take up anymore space in my head, in my newsfeed, in my friendly conversations or in my life. I will smile, say hi, and by kind though. Why? Because that's who I am. I am a kind person. I wont take your dislike for me/two faced attitude/ unkindness personal anymore... and I wont take it into the new year either.

I hope everyone has a Merry Christmas and a Wonderful New Years!




*This is not about one specific person. However, if you are reading this and think this is about you, then chances are it may be. If you feel that way, then chances are you have been unkind/twofaced/mean/rude/hateful to me whether I know it or not.

3 Day Refresh

I have never been someone to try fad diets. Even after my first child, second child, and not even after my third. (Hes almost 2...if I were going to try a diet it would have been sooner.) I had the freshman 15 through out my two years of college (even after the freshman stage). In high school, the diet I did go on was due to braces and an expander... There is only so much food you can eat when theres a big gap at the top of your mouth. So needless to say, when I hear someone mention these shakes, and feeling healthy, the word diet never came to mind. I didnt think, oh my, I need to go on that diet. I thought "Oh my, I need to try this magical shake". It wasnt until the person who origionally mentioned this so called magic shake, walked into the room, 2 months since I last saw her. Wow. She glowed. Yes, she was skinnier. But she also seemed to have this energy. Her skin looked good too! (NOT THAT IT DIDNT BEFORE.) This was just different. What has this woman done? How can my skin glow? Where do I find this energy? (sure I wouldnt mind losing a couple pounds but ...) Whats in that cup? Shake what? Shakeology? I must google this. That is what went through my mind. As I googled I kept getting this www.beachbody.com website that kept popping up. Excersise? I dont want that. I want this magic tasty shake that gives energy and good skin. What does this have to do with www.beachbody.com? While searching the website, I found what I was looking for. The shake. I decided to give it a try. So what better way to try this magic plan than with a 3 day refresh. I can stick it out for three days right? Right?! Well today this magic plan/shake/stuff came. YAY! I am so excited to try this. I will address the promises of this "3 Day Refresh" in my next post. I will post before and after pictures.

Monopoly Jr.

Monopoly is one of my favorite games. why I have not tried Monopoly JR. before is beyond me. my children rarely actually finish games beeause they are young and their attention span is quite Short. After receiving this game (Free) courtesy of Bzzz Agent and Hasbro I finally found a new family favorite for game time with my soon to be 5 and now 6 year old, They truly loved the game. The awesomeness of the joy on their face and the opportunity for them to learn counting, money Value and following game rules is priceless. I reccomend this game to anyone with young children! I give this a 5 star rating !

* Although I received this game free, all opinions are my own.

Influenster

Influenster is a product testing site where you fill out surveys to earn specific badges depending on your interests and hobbies.The awesome part about these surveys is that you may be chosen to receive what is called a “Vox Box”.  A Vox Box is a box (obviously!) that has a handful of different items from different brands all relating to some sort of theme. It comes in the mail. I have been very lucky to receive a Voxbox. Or maybe two. I really really enjoy getting to try new products, and most of all, when you are chosen to receive and review these products, they are FREE! I feel very passionate about giving my honest opinion about products, and some other sites I have tried want you to just write something good about the product. Influenster has been a very honest website that asks me if I love it or hate it when it comes to the products they send me to try. I am always asked for my honest opinion. I am also asked to let everyone know that I received these products free of charge from influenster in return for my honest and unbiased opinion. It has been an awesome opportunity and I hope to receive more VoxBox items to review in the future! I love that a website takes the time to give people products they are interested in to try out and give their honest opinion to all those who will listen. If you have not signed up for this website, I highly recommend you do.

Game Night

I am so excited to try some new games for our family game night. Usually the game night consists of my husband, stepdaughter and myself. Finding games that are younger child friendly and fun for all is somewhat of a challenge. I am excites that I was asked by bzzagent to try out these awesome games and give my honest feedback. As soon as we play, you will get to hear what my family and I thought of these games!

The Confusing Art of step Parenting ...

I have yet to figure out how to be a step parent. It is actually more difficult than even the movies Make it out to be. There is this extremely thin line You can't cross. Sometimes it's so thin I'm not sure if I have crossed it or not. Throw in The Other Parent ... You know, the one You "replaced.."

   As a soon to be stepmom, I am fully aware I am not the Step kids Mother. I am very well aware ( plus get the occasional reminder.) It is difficult because often I have the responsibilities of a mother but not the authority. There's a thin line and sometimes it's invisible.  I struggle daily with this. Arrrrrgh

My Phablet!

Guess what?! I really Am excited to Announce I have the new Samsung Galaxy Note 3 ! Do we Know what that means? BLOGGING ! I love the pen! l can write my blog instead of Typing . Which means I Can blog ANY time ... Any Where! ya! yay! Expect more! Expect awesome!

New Year Resolutions

I usually don’t make them. Because I usually don't keep them. I usually make ridiculous ones. Here are some examples of previous years resolutions:

*Stop drinking soda

*Only eat healthy foods

*Eat Organic foods

*Stop looking for a man

*Get rid of Face book

*Exercise Weekly

 

The only one I really acknowledged was the stop looking for a man one. Mainly because I found one, but that is besides the point. I suck at these new years resolutions. But this year I will give it an honest try. Here is my new list:

1.Spend less time on my phone and the internet.

2.Spend more time with my kids, family, fiance, and friends…

3. Eat healthier than I did last year (SO NOT HARD!)

4. Drink less soda than I did last year

5. Try to budget in organic and healthy foods

6. Exercise more than I did last year

7. Stop spending so much money on stupid unhealthy snacks

8. USE MORE COUPONS

9. Try to smile, even when I don't feel like it….

 

There they are folks…my 2014 New Years Resolutions. Yay! Woooooooooo. Yippeeeee…

Now…Time to go to sleep. I have a lot to do tomorrow. Hope everyone had an amazing new years. Do you have any New Years Resolutions? What are they?

DR. Who?

Me, and my big mouth… I get frustrated about my Fiance’s soon to be ex, and vent to Dr. Phil’s producers. What happens when you vent to Dr. Phil’s producers? Usually, I would say nothing. Notta. Not a Thing…but today, I am saying…. THEY EMAIL YOU BACK AND CALL YOU!

 

 

Yeah. That happened. And while this is not actually a big huge deal… it still is exciting. The thought of Dr. Phil giving advice to me, or HER or us, makes me giddy. I don't know why. Now, there is no offer of TV show appearance or anything (As of yet) but I have not returned their call. I don't know if I should. I didn't expect them to contact me. I really didn't. Maybe our situation is really crazy enough that they would love us to hash it out on national television. Lets just say, I think it WOULD make great TV….and we wouldn't even have to exaggerate!

On that note…what exciting things have happened to you this new years?!

Quaker Oats

I received these (Free!) from www.bzzagent.com . I received them to give an honest review of the product. I must say. I LOVE LOVE LOVE the new Quaker Oat Real Medleys. They were DELISH. If you like peach, you will absolutely love this flavor! They were bursting with peachyness. (I made that word up just to show you that I was not compensated to say that I LOVE these ! ) By far my most FAV oatmeal anything.

The other products were the same as Quaker oatmeal. Good. Yummy. But somewhat all the same. I would definitely purchase these items for myself and my family. I would definitely purchase those peach bars for me. Hidden. In my room. So no one else could find them. They are that good!

Nerf Rebelle

This was the first picture I was able to take. Do you know why?! Because Annika, my soon to be step daughter, was SUPER excited! I received What? Free? Courtesy of Whom?

I recieved this my dear reader(s)! The new Nerf Rebelle. BEFORE it was out in stores. I know. Exciting. Bzzagent.com sent me this, because they thought Annika might enjoy it and that I would give my honest opinion of this. She did enjoy it. As much as any girl would enjoy a toy bow. She loved it. Girly colors!

With Girly Ammo.

Amazing. While it doesnt shoot as far as it says it should, that could be our error (although, I did get it to shoot farther than her. so. yeah… :-P ). It works great. It shoots great. It entertains her and empowered her. I think this is going to be a great line for girls! I would recommend this to anyone with girls who enjoy being girly, but also enjoy a good nerf fight <3<3<3

and

Back from hiding!

Im BACK! Wow being a mom has kicked my butt. I dont have time for anything anymore now that I am living the Brady Bunch life. Do you REALIZE how much clothing 8 people create? GOODNESS GRACIOUS. I have been lucky enough to be reviewing some products lately, and I can not wait to share my thoughts. :) Please check back soon!

Stupid phone!

I just realized all my blogs I've posted (from my phone) are not posting. I will be sticking to my laptop for awhile!

Laundry...

This explosion has taken over an entire living room. This is only a quarter of the clothing! 10 people, 1 week...goodness gracious do I hate laundry.

Pre-k or Straight to Kindergarten?

Kaileb took his "test" today to see if he is eligible to start kindergarten early or not. His birthday is October 25 2008 so he falls in that category. From what I heard, I dont know if he is ready. He gets super nervous. He is so smart though!

I grabbed a pre-k form though...just in case. Anyone else wondering if they ahould send thier child to kindergarten early?

Bryce Edwin Gunder

Ahhh. This is my last baby. My 7 lb 2 oz baby boy is not 12 lb 1 oz. I am trying to enjoy EVERY minute of his babyhood… He is the happiest baby I have ever met. And he is the spitting image of his daddy.(Not fair! I did all the work and he gets all the credit!) Today I realized that he is growing up way to fast. He is already 2 months 2 weeks (6 days, 3 hours, 4 minutes…)… But really. He is almost 3 months old!I just had him. I was just screaming for the epidural. I just held him in my arms for the first time. My boyfriend does not find it funny when I say I miss him being inside me. He reminds me of my crying about how I just wanted him here in my arms and I would be so happy. (And I am… I am absolutely smitten…)But he needs to slow down. He is living the life.

He nurses like 20 hours a day (it seems like). He gets everything done for him. He coos and melts my heart. I’m not ready for crawling or walking or talking or yelling. I honestly wish I could video tape these first couple years. So I could go and watch them when I am at my wits end with him. I wish I had done that with my last two.

I have realized that I took my last two boys “babyhood” for granted. I didn’t think it would go by so fast. I didn’t realize I would be wishing for those days back so soon.

My other two were more difficult. Every thing about my pregnancy and birth just seemed more difficult. I think a lot of it was my unhappiness in my marriage. I had a alcoholic husband that was not nice and treated me like crap. He told me on multiple occasions how much he resented me, my pregnancy, my health issues, and “our kids”. It broke my heart. When your relationship is not that great, you don’t enjoy anything. I wish I could have that time back. I wish I could have been as happy as I am now with Jeff. But, you live and you learn.

On that note, I have been up for too long and I am starting to ramble…(or maybe I am finishing my ramble?)

I have 3 handsome little boys and I am so proud of them…I Can not wait to see what is to come <3

 

How did you feel during your children's “babyhood?”

The Blog Workshop

I have never attended a blog “workshop” before. I have read a lot about them, but due to being new at blogging, I have never attended.
I have the opportunity, though, to attend The Blog Workshop’s 2013 conference via the Internet! I am excited since I have no idea what to expect since I will be attending via internet.
There are some pretty obvious benefits to joining The Blog Workshop. They have an entire community for bloggers! It is a learning community for bloggers (and vloggers!). Their catch phrase on their about page is “Where Blogging Meets Business”.
They offer learning/training, networking, conferences, The Blog Workshop University, and more! Please make sure you at least check out "Blogging Laws You SHOULD Know."

Please feel free to join me this year on the following links:
Homepage- http://theblogworkshop.com
Workshops - http://theblogworkshop.com/workshops
TBW University: http://theblogworkshop.com/university


                                                        Please Click Here!
                                   

TBW 2013 Workshop Schedule
Date	Topic	Speaker
06/26/13	Surviving SEO	Dan R. Morris
07/24/13	Blogging Laws You SHOULD Know	Sara Hawkins
08/21/13	TBA	TBA
09/18/13	TBA	TBA
10/16/13	TBA	TBA
11/13/13	TBA	TBA
12/11/13	TBA	TBA

Blessings when you need them most...

The entire situation with my bfs ex had me really upset. The bitterness and drama got to me. If it weren't for some of the people who let me vent, I would still be fuming. If you know me, you know it takes a lot for me to get so upset I start plotting revenge. She sent us bible verses, I had my responses picked out. She was not going to get away with talking about my kids the way she was... But, I am not that girl. I can't stoop to her level. I don't want to continue the drama. I truly believe in karma.
I have Heather, Tracey, Kim, and Ruth to thank for listening to me vent and helping me realize what it is really about.
So, this muggy and cloudy Sunday morning, I am at peace...

Minus my snoring baby boy ;-)

Sparkling Wine and Pretty Wicked Moms…

         Tonight, I am watching Pretty Wicked Moms and drinking some Sparkling Wine. It makes for a great ending to a somewhat stressful day. I say stressful because I have had a lot on my mind. My boyfriends ex had the nerve to call mine and my boyfriends son is a mistake. Considering she has no idea what really happened, she has NO right, BUT, everyone has their opinion I guess. Which leads me to the truth about my MARRIED bf and I.

          We met on www.match.com. He is a police officer and an amazing man. He has accepted my boys as his own (while respecting that they have a “dad” ) He treats me better than anyone I have EVER been with. He honestly is amazing. His (soon to be ex) wife decided to move out/split up and after multiple affairs, he decided not to fight anymore. (Who can blame him…he had already went through marriage counseling once) I don't know if his kids know this or not, but she had been unfaithful a couple of times. She told her youngest daughter that before they were going to get a divorce they decided to “work things out” and have another child… and now they are getting a divorce. His daughter cried to me thinking she didn't “make things better.” As a mother, former nanny, and human, it broke my heart. This poor little girl thinks she should have made things better, and didn’t. Which is not true! My bfs Ex does not like me I guess. She does not want my kids going to her kids school, and she does not want her kids to really like my kids.

       I dont know how much longer I can keep my mouth shut when I am around her. I have done nothing to her. I have done everything I can for their kids, treated them like they are my own, and yet, she still has issues with me. She.Left. Him.         

    On that note… I will have to watch Pretty wicked moms another time…BUT I enjoyed the Wine. 

Snuggly Baby Stuff Review

My boyfriend is a HUGE Steelers fan. I could care less about football. (Sorry!) But he loves it. So when I was pregnant, everything that I found Steelers wise was for older kids or ugly! So I had this brilliant idea to as my friend who makes amazing baby things (aka: Snuggly Baby Stuff ) to make our soon to be baby a taggie and some shoulder burp cloths. I requested (and am EXTREMELY HAPPY with) the following:

I requested a Steelers taggie, so Bryce could be comforted by his daddy’s favorite team, and some Steelers and Safari themed Shoulder Burp Cloths. Now daddy can burp Bryce in style…
…Except for the fact that some people who are not Steelers fans are quite happy at the thought of someone spitting or throwing up on something Steelers. NOT my intention.
Either way, I am extremely happy with my order. She makes all sorts of cute things! Check out her Facebook Page or her Etsy Page. She has tons of cute things to choose from and can also custom make anything you see. Just ask!
On that note…I have a baby to burp.