Product Review: Revlon ColorSilk

I've just got to brag for a minute about the coolest and cheapest hair color I recently discovered: Revlon ColorSilk. I thought I was seeing things when I first noticed it, because the price was only about $3!!

"Surely this is a temp color or only highlights or something, this CAN'T be permanent hair color!" I thought to myself...but, it was!! I even found a shade like what I wanted: Burgundy. It's just awesome!

Coverage was good, even had a good smell to it. Didn't have problems rinsing it out or washing it. Absolutely no complaints...(and that's very rare for me.) I'm thinking about stocking up on several colors so that when I get ready for a new color, I'll already have it! But, you know, I REALLY like this color, so it may be a while before I change. Although, I'm thinking a shade with some purple would be pretty neat too! :)

Are they for real???

Okay, so I've spent a fair amount of time researching available recipes suggested for "picky eaters" and I've come to a conclusion: the people who posted these recipes have not tested them on kids who truly are picky. If your child eats tuna, different types of veggies, all types of meats, and possibly all together - they are NOT picky. If they eat meals without regard to color, presentation, smell, texture or appearance - they are NOT picky. If they willingly try a new food just because you tell them it's for picky eaters - they are NOT picky.
So, I am on a mission now. I am going to sit down and create recipes that I know my picky eaters - I have three and all are picky about different things - will eat. If they approve them, then I know that other picky eaters will too. I will share my experiences via a new blog on here and would appreciate all support I can get.
For all you moms out there who have the same predicament as I do - pay attention, because I am determined to find some recipes that will work for picky eaters. Not just those who have two or three veggies they don't like. I'm talking about the kids who won't look at tuna, have a limited number of veggies they'll eat, judge a dish by it's smell and appearance, and won't touch it at all if the texture is not what they want.
In my new blog, which I will be posting on shortly, I will introduce my kids and how each of them rate each recipe that I post. As I discussed already, each of them has a different area they are picky about. But even my least picky child doesn't go near tuna. I honestly don't see why everyone thinks all kids like tuna. I myself didn't start liking it until I was a teen. So the fact that tuna made the picky list is really beyond me.
If you or someone you know is dealing with picky eaters, send them to my blog and I will hopefully have a recipe or two that will work for them.

Next up on Thank Goodness blog: product reviews and how to share a mommy.

All I have is Yours!

James 4:10
Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up.

I think that everyone needs to have a little splash of water to wake us up sometimes. Normal day-to-day stuff becomes so predictable and expected that we usually take these things for granted. I do a lot of that. It is then that God splashes a bit of water on my face for a wake-up call. All that I have is not what I have earned by my works. I don't deserve any of this. What I have is what God has done for me by His grace. So, when I start getting frustrated because the kids don't want to cooperate or because I can't get the house cleaned or even because I never seem to get to spend enough time with my husband, that's when I need to be humbled...again.
My kids - though they bicker and complain amongst each other and with me - are gifts from God. What if HE took them back??? My house is messy because my family is well clothed and fed and they have fun. What if we were broke and had to live in a box??? My husband works very hard to support all of us and I love and respect that man more than anyone else in this world. What if HE took him home (heaven)??? No one is perfect except for God, so no one deserves what they have.

Even little things like being able to use your senses shouldn't be taken for granted. But when I start thinking about these questions, it gives me a reality check real quick. We are not in control. God is. And HE can see fit to give us just exactly what we don't realize we're asking for: peace and quiet. The thought terrifies me. But it helps me to appreciate every day just like it is. Kids giving me a particularly hard time today? Smile, because if they weren't here, I would miss those moments terribly. Can't seem to get anything done in the house? Smile, because if all my attention was always on the house, my kids would be miserable. Not get to snuggle up next to my hubby? Smile, because he works hard to provide for our children's and our needs, and I should be glad to just be next to that wonderful man.

I am human and need to be reminded often that what I have is not what I have earned, but rather what God has blessed me with by His grace. I pray for all who read this that you can all have a splash of water too. It is humbling to realize that we can't control what happens in our lives and that the people and things in our lives were not put there by our means. Please take a few minutes and just pray. Thank God first of all for all you have, and then let God talk to you. Starting this morning, a little more than an hour ago, I am not taking my life for granted any more. This is something that I have been working on for a while, but God spoke to me so clearly this morning. No more excuses. That's almost too cliche to say, but it's true. I'm not going to make any more excuses about how everything is so bad. It can be bad. My life is good. Sweet, wonderful kids that don't like to do chores or take baths. A house that never seems to be clean. A wonderful, loving husband who does all he can for us even though sometimes it means a little less time with him. I am blessed. We all are.

In MY honest opinion...

For a while now, I have wanted to post some product and site reviews to help get the word out about awesome products/sites. Here are a few of my must-haves:

First off, I want to give some big thumbs up to my fav free stuff sites: Sweet Free Stuff, My Free Product Samples, Freeflys, and Vocalpoint! I have been using sweetfreesuff.com and myfreeproductsamples.com for a few months now and they are awesome! Both sites send out a daily email that lists all free offers available for that day. Some are in-store offers and some are print-a-coupon deals, but most are free samples through snail mail. Simply click-thru and follow instructions and ta-da, you'll land some seriously cool free stuff too! A lot of companies use Facebook for promos and special offers, so having a fb account can be useful in targeting free samples. Freeflys also sends out a daily email, but on top of that, they send out a weekly recap email for offers still available at the end of the week, in case you missed them. Vocalpoint is a social networking site where you can not only receive free samples and coupons, but you can also find recipes, crafts and just about everything about keeping the house clean and the kids taken care of.

Aside from free stuff sites, there are also sites geared towards providing some type of reward for using their site. Of the many that are out there, and the few that I have tried, Mypoints is my favorite. I have used them for 12 years and counting. The best part about this site is that you can get rewarded without having to make purchases. If you simply read and click-thru emails they send out, you can earn points. Everything you do with their site earns you points, varying from 5 to 5,000. You then redeem the accumulated points for gift cards, with a wide array of vendors to choose from. Love it!!

In my honest opinion, I believe all moms (or anyone who loves free samples!!) should sign up for these sites and start getting free stuff!! And then, they should recommend it to all their friends and families! So what're you waiting for? First, get a facebook account, then sign up at sweetfreestuff.com, myfreeproductsamples.com, freeflys.com, vocalpoint.com and mypoints.com. See you there!

Sleep is a Many Wondrous Thing!!

<3And, yes, love is too.<3 But you are a lot nicer and kinder if you have enough sleep!
My baby girl went through almost a week of waking up at 3am, staying up until 5:30 or 6am. I.....WAS..... E X H A U S T E D!!! I really just didn't understand exactly how I was going to be able to function with as little sleep as I was getting. I was frantically searching for some magical cure to help Sarah be able to stay asleep through the night - asking family and my facebook friends. Something - I think it was God- told me to start her on gummy vitamins. It has worked wonders and ever since she started them, she hasn't woke up at 3am any more. YAY FOR SLEEP!!! WHOo...hoo *snore*
When she was - gosh I hope it's over - waking up in the middle of the night, I wasn't even getting to shower due to the fact that no one was available to watch her while she was awake and when she was asleep, I was in no way awake. So, it's nice now that she's sleeping better again. Sleep AND showers...life is good. :)
I think my body is very high-maintenance though. I mean, really....there are lots of people who only get 5 hours of sleep and they're fine with it. My dad might get that much sleep in a night, usually less. My husband gets 5-6 hours of sleep and he's always full of energy. Me on the other hand, if I don't get 6-7 hours (or even the elusive 8 hours) of sleep, I'm walking around like a grumpy zombie. Hm. Maybe women need more sleep??? Maybe mommas need more sleep?? Or maybe I'm just so darn tired all the time from running around here like a chicken with - no, I'm not going to say it, that's disgusting - that I'm desperate for sleep. Or maybe I just need to stop whining and be grateful when I get to sleep, whether it's 3 hours or 9 hours!
Speaking of the whole "whining" thing, I really need to stop yelling to control bad behavior or any sort. I've resorted to this because most of the time I'm too lazy to get up and really deal with the issue. Pitiful excuse for lousy parenting, I know. So last night, I stopped being a lazy I-don't-want-to-deal-with-this-right-now momma and I actually went to my son when there was a problem. That worked so well, he kept making me little notes and putting them on our door for me. It was really sweet, but I did have to go tell him to stop because he woke his little sister up and was keeping his daddy up. So, from now on - no more lazy parenting...and hopefully that will help me to not yell or have to use what I call my Commander Mommy voice. No excuses this time either, not even if I'm sleep deprived!
Kimberly, Aaron, Sarah, momma loves you so much!! Thank You, God for my wondrous blessings!!

Attitude is Everything!

While doing our bi-monthly shopping the other day, I had a discovery. Thanks to the woman that was in the next aisle, I learned an important lesson about attitude. No matter how badly things are going, we shouldn't take that out on our kids. It's not their fault that life isn't going our way and nothing is turning out the way we planned. It is our fault if their life is miserable though. We as parents are responsible for raising our children - even if we don't get our way. I stood there with my family, listening to this woman go on and on about how much of a pain her kid was and how she needed help because he was so horrible. I was hoping that she was at least talking to another adult, but no - it was her son!!! I don't know how old he was - I never saw him - but he evidently walked on and did his own thing because that woman walked to our aisle to shop. I felt badly for the boy, but also for my own kids. Mainly for the fact that they had to listen to her, but also because it made me realize that even though I do not degrade my children the way she was, I do not always watch my tone of voice when talking to them. So, even though I really wish that she had have been nicer to her son, I am grateful for the lesson -

 (1) don't take frustration out on your children, it's not their fault if things don't go your way.

I feel like it is important to learn from mistakes. Our own mistakes...and those that we observe others making. It is probably easier for us to learn from our own mistakes because we know firsthand what the consequence will be. But when we see others making some bad choices, we need to use that as a lesson as well. Being aware of the outcome of whatever situation is a good way to make better decisions. When we as parents make bad decisions for our children, then they are not getting the care and the love they need. When we as people make bad decisions then we are setting ourselves up to get hurt.
My whole mommy life, I have not always taken situations and turned them into something to learn from. In fact, the thought didn't dawn on me that I could learn from other parents' mistakes and help with my own parenting until one day in the doctor's office. It was last year and I was there with my two younger children. My mother and brother went with us that day, and the waiting area was packed. I became aware of an older mom who had a son that was close to the same age as my oldest child. He had found a book and was reading it to her. At first, I thought the moment was nice - until I realized she was making him read. Every time that poor child pronounced a word wrong or had a hard time sounding it out, she made him sit there and read it over and over again maybe twenty times. He would be begging to stop but she would say "Can you tell me what this word is now?" and make him keep reading until they called him back. I felt so bad for him but it helped me to see I need to be more patient with Kim when she reads. I never punished her for getting a word wrong, but sometimes I did have a tendency to sigh and try to hurry her up. At that moment, I was grateful for the lesson that mom taught me -

(2) be more patient with your child, even when they are reading.

As I have mentioned in other posts, I am not by no means perfect. So I hope that I have helped others on those days when I have had the kids out by myself and they all wanted to act up at the same time. I am not a very patient person by nature, so yes I do have a tendency to get frustrated when the kids have fits or don't cooperate. It's not something I am proud of, but it is something I am working on. I am learning from my own mistakes - even those from my early mommy years. My main focus is constantly on these lessons I pointed out : not taking frustration out on your children, and be more patient with your children.

If not for God, I would not be improving on my short-comings. He is the only way that I have been able to learn from mistakes and help me to strive to always be a better wife and mother. There is always room for improvement, because NO ONE is perfect except for GOD.

What a Difference a Day Makes...With Prayer

Clear Skies

That is the best title for today. It was like it wasn't even a school day. And, I think the biggest change wasn't that Kimberly didn't give me any troubles...it was that I didn't make any. "What?" you ask, "You mean that tantrums can be a direct result from the parent's attitude?" In my opinion and experience - Yes. Maybe this isn't the case with every child's tantrums...but it sure seems to be the cause of my sweet Kimberly's behavior. "What made you finally learn this?" One word: facebook. Two of my dear friends have also been having mommy issues and their experiences made a huge light bulb come on. The best way to get my kids to be nicer is to are you ready for this one...be nicer to them. Genius. Hm...why couldn't I have come up with that one several years ago??? Here's the best news about this new theory: IT WORKS!! Without even losing my cool one little bit, I got Kimberly up and ready (after getting up early enough to make blueberry pancakes - her favorite). No problems of any kind. There was even laughter!! Let's hope that proves successful with Aaron and Sarah. It's going to be kind of tricky with Aaron I think because he has such anger issues, but calming down and responding in a soothing tone certainly wouldn't hurt!
Thank You, God...and thank you to my friends (I hope the two of you continue to have parental breakthroughs as well!) God bless, and good luck!

Here We Go Again...Praise God!

I awoke to the sound of my alarm clock buzzing at what seemed like a good time to wake up. After hitting the "snooze" button twice, I finally peeled myself out of bed, ready to start another Monday morning. Having a few spare minutes before time for the routine, I threw some laundry in real quick. Hm, maybe today isn't going to be so bad after all. And then it was time to wake Kimberly. She can be quite difficult to wake up and I was really dreading it. As expected, she was impossible to get up and ready without having a fit or three. (Something you should know about me: I don't handle fits or tantrums well. They send my brain into crazy mode.) Right before I totally lost it, I made a better choice to pray instead. What a difference that made! The next fuss that came along, I didn't lose my cool or even get upset. So Kimberly went off to school mad at me, but I was happy and thankful that not only did all of us wake up with no real problems, but also that God has blessed me with another day with my sweet kids - fits and all.