Setting up my Daily Schedule

This week's daily schedule is easy: 6am - 7am - Up, shower, make breakfast 7am - 5:30 pm - Babysitting for Mr. B 5:30 - 6:30 - Recovering from babysitting for Mr. B 6:30 - 7:30 - Dinner, clean-up 7:30 - 9:30 - Recovering the house from Mr. B 9:30 - 10:30 - Try to stay awake 11:00 pm - Go to bed See? Easy-peasy. Mr. B's "other" babysitter is taking the week off to have Spring Break free with her family. I can't blame her. It's difficult to spend time with your kids when you have six other kids under 5 years old clamoring for your attention. Unfortunately, our weather is not going to cooperate. Snow(!) on Monday and cold (40's and 50's) for the rest of the week...sigh sigh sigh. It's so much easier to babysit when Mr. B can spend his time outside riding his tricycle or playing in the sandbox! But... I can do this :) And I'm fortunate to have the opportunity to do this! Let's not forget where the priorities are here!

Don't enter this GiveAway....

Because *I* want to win! But I need to post about it for a second entry, so I guess the chances are, you'll enter too -- because it's an incredible giveaway!. Chris at Just Beachy is giving away two one-room design plans. Here's how she describes it:

This includes an evaluation of one room through photo's and emails as well as a series of questions , I will give you a detailed list of suggestions and to do's for you , including inspirational photos and paint colours , floor plan as well as a detailed list of resources , drawings may also be included. From wall colors to window treatments I can help you make the room of your dreams a reality .

Oh me, please pick me, please please please! I mentioned at the beginning of the year that 2009 was going to be the year of working on my home. Well, thanks to Mr. Bush and now Mr. Obama, 2009 is going to be the year of watching every penny and not spending any money on non-essentials. There will be no new furniture, there will be no hiring a designer to help with furniture lay-out, there will be no new window treatments. My darling husband had planned to retire in the next five years, and that is now extended to at least ten, and possibly fifteen, more years - depending on the ability of the stock market to bounce back. Yes, we lost a LOT of our retirement funding in the stock market. We were THIS close to living our dream life in five more years -- moving back to New England, buying a home, living amongst our friends and family. But there are still things I can do (and have done) around my home to make it a more welcome, friendly, pretty place! Re-arranging furniture, hanging quilts, putting out collections on display, painting, etc. So this giveaway is made for ME! -- but I guess you can enter too, if you must!

All the Words I Couldn't Say on Wordless Wednesday Thursday

Yesterday was "Wordless Wednesday" and boy, that's a killer for me. But my friend, Dixie, from the French Lique, TX blog makes fun of me for including words in my Wordless Wednesday posts, so yesterday I tried harder! I always want to write about the photos I'm posting! But today is THURSDAY and WORDs WORDs WORDs WORDs WORDs! So scroll down a bit and see yesterday's photos, and come back up here so I can tell you about them.... I'll wait... la di da di dummm... OK, you're back! So, how cute is that little chair?!? It's a little wooden chair about six inches tall that I found at the flea market last week - for $1! I think it may have originally contained coasters, but I love it just the way it is. I'm thinking this may be the start of a new collection. Perhaps a wall full of miniature chairs? Oh yeah - one wall of miniature chairs and one of miniature quilts... Oh, sorry, am I drooling? The daffodils and forsythia branches are from my yard. Mr. B and I went out and picked two bouquets of flowers and I gave him a fine, fine life lesson. "If you want to make Mama smile, just give her some flowers and a hug and a kiss." Now if he can hold onto that thought through adulthood... The second photo is a side table in my family room. My "collection" of smokers is up to a whopping THREE now! These things are pricey on Ebay, but I'm patiently seeking them out at the flea market and pay just $1. My theory - it's not a true collection if you can find new items easily! But look behind the smokers -- see that beautiful needlework on the wall? My friend Karen sent me that a few weeks ago. Isn't it wonderful?! I absolutely love it. Today I'm doing laundry and trying to get caught up on blog business / busyness. My QOB blog is moving right along with new sponsors for giveaways lined up. (Stop by - there's two giveaways going on now!) I'm not writing about it to advertise it, I'm writing about it because I am learning something new -- to actually create a blog (or web site) that actually gets in a steady stream of readers is HARD WORK! It's taking up a lot of my time! It is taxing every organizational skill I thought I possessed - as in "OK, I know that publisher asked if I wanted to review that book -- but where is that email?". I'm not 100% sure why I'm doing it, but I have always had an entrepreneurial streak in me, and feel lost when I'm not doing something that really stimulates that side of my brain. I don't miss working but I do miss the mental challenge of the business world. But boy, do I need to get on some kind of schedule. I can easily let myself spend eight to ten hours a day on the computer -- asking permission for this, writing about that, finding new ideas, etc. For someone who spent eight to ten hours keeping an orderly and organized house -- well, you know something had to give! Considering I never made it back upstairs to make the bed for the past two days.... ahemmm... you can figure out what "gave". But the same as all the women who work outside the home -- it's all about scheduling and balance. That's my goal for the next week -- to come up with a workable schedule that balances between babysitting, blog writing, housework/home and life in general. I'll let you know how it goes. But now, I'm off to hang sheets out on the line. Yay! Spring is here and it's finally warm enough to hang out the laundry. Mmmm... how good does laundry hung outside smell?!?

Wordless Wednesday

Participate in "Wordless Wednesday" at French Lique, TX blog.

I need a vacation!

Our planned vacation at the lake house didn’t work out last weekend, and it’s re-scheduled for the last weekend of April. But I need a vacation N-O-W! Away from housework, away from blogging (you’d think by looking at this blog that I haven’t any right to say that, but my other blog has been VERY busy lately!), away from cooking, and most of all – away from cold weather!

Although Spring sprang (sprung?) two weeks ago, it’s also seen fit to disappear. Yesterday’s high was 44. I’m ready for at least 25 degrees warmer than that. I swear, my body is craving the warmth of sunshine these days.

Jeff and Mr. B spent all day Saturday doing “man stuff” – going to the hardware store (geesh, you think my trips to the fabric stores and flea markets take a long time? They were gone TWO HOURS and the store is just 5 minutes away!), and then doing maintenance work on the weed wacker and lawnmower to prepare them for the upcoming months. Mr. B always wears his “mowing hat” when he’s out on the riding lawnmower with Umpa – but the child has grown so much his special hat no longer fits! So, we found a new “special” hat for him – and boy, does he look like a little boy now and no longer a baby.

Awwww…what a cutie! And yes – ANOTHER male with eyelashes females would kill for!

Mr. B brought his dog, Jack, over for a visit. Jack was banned from our house two years ago because every time he walked in, he peed on something – usually my couch. Nooo, thank you. So unknown to me, my daughter brought Jack with her on Saturday to drop Mr. B off. And what did Jack do? Peed on the floor length curtains in the family room that I had JUST washed. It will be at least another two years before Jack comes back to my house. Mr. B thought it was SO funny!

This week is Jeff’s “Hell Week” at work – he will work at least 16 hours a day for the next seven to ten days. He has to do this five times a year – it’s an accountant thang. For me? It’s a mini-vacation. The best kind of vacation, in fact. I don’t have to cook, no one is in the house to mess it up, and a nice warm body climbs in bed with me for at least a few hours every night. Life is good.

Today I’ve decided to give myself a “stay-cation” and am headed up to my quilt room to do some sewing. I swear. It’s too cold to work outside today and I cleaned house over the weekend, so it’s still clean – and no dinner to fix. I am grabbing my Mp3 player and a quick pattern for a table runner and off I go. I swear. In fact, I’m going to challenge myself to finish this today and show you photos tomorrow.

I love my horoscope for today: A relaxing weekend quickly fades into the distant past on this busy day. It may be challenging to keep up with all that's going on now, but you'll just have to grit your teeth and do what you must. Although you may resist at first, you could actually be inspired once you find a creative voice that's in touch with your hopes and dreams.

Amen to that.