Guilt

So, Camryn told me this week that my blog hasn't been updated since March.

Yeah, I've been a bit busy.

And now it's August 5th and I only have 10 days left until homeschooling starts again. I honestly don't know where the summer went. I had so many plans. And then we started remodeling the office.

All my office stuff was crammed into what we call the "Wii area" and the clutter just made me shut down. I hate clutter, and it's super hard for me to function when I'm surrounded by so much stuff. It's like my brain cannot make sense of anything unless it's organized. I don't own a lot of knick knacks because of this, and I'm constantly trying to find ways to better control the little stuff in my life. I just don't like to see stuff that's not in some sort of order.

So I worked on cleaning out and reorganizing. And that took up what seems like most of my summer. We painted the officea light key lime green. Manuel and the flooring people came and ripped up the carpet. Then they put down pretty blonde laminate "hardwood". Anthony and his assistant set up the custom cabinets that we'd designed. Everything looked awesome.

Then I tried to put things back into the cabinets and discovered that they were not 16" deep, but rather 12" deep. I literally sat down and cried. I was so ready to have my nice, organized living space back.

Anthony came back and put in the right size cabinets and I'm about an hour away from having all the stuff put back into the office. Then I can sit down and create something, which I have seriously missed. Oh, I've flirted with Mod Podge this summer, and I did manage to get away with some friends and scrapbook in early July, but I haven't been able to get crafty every day, and that's made me a little sad.

So, as soon as I wrap up this long overdue post, I'm going to take my glass of ice water and trudge back up the steps (which seriously need to be vacuumed!) and finish putting away those last few things that we never know what to do with (door stops, stray screws, light bulbs, etc.) Then I will begin to create pretty things that make me smile.

I Heart Google Reader

It took me awhile to start using Google Reader, but now that I have, I LOVE it. Not only does it give me a "one stop shopping" approach to reading all the blogs I love, but it's also loaded me up on more blogs to enjoy and learn from. Here's a sampling of what Google Reader has suggested (and therefore I have added):

Make and Takes

It's billed as "Ideas and Crafty Tidbits for Home, Family & Fun" and I'd say that pretty much sums up the blog. I've seen some CUTE stuff on there, things that the kids and I could easily make together (even a couple of things I could incorporate into my scrapbooks!)

Just yesterday this cute craft (with instructions) was posted. I am going to file it with my Halloween/fall scrapbooking ideas and try it with brads. Really cute!



I also found Tip Junkie, which is a lot like Make and Takes. Cute ideas. I saw this cool Halloween snack idea that I want to try:



(That idea came from Kraft Foods, according to the blog owner...there are more adorable Halloween ideas over there, too.)

I found a great site for Target lovers like me (I know you'll love this one, too, Mom...) If you're a Target endcap cruiser like me, then you have to check out Attention Target Shoppers. I found a great Jensen iPod docking station for $17 by checking this blog. It was originally over $70. The blog owner also matches up the weekly Target specials with current coupons and printable coupons. Lots of good deals to be found (as if I NEEDED another reason to be in Target once a week...)

I found a handful of other blogs that help you live a more frugal life. Lots of them do the store flyer/coupon matching so you know how to get the best deals (they especially like to do that for CVS and Walgreen's.) They can be redundant, offering up the same deals, but I added 'em all to the reader just in case. Don't want to miss a bargain! Some of those blogs are BeCentsAble, Coupon Cravings, Freebies 4 Mom, Money Saving Mom, The "Cent"sible Sawyer, Mommy Making Money, JANE4girls $800 Annual Budget For A Family of 4 and MoneySavingMethods.com.

I previously mentioned that I've become addicted to giveaways. Reader found me more of those kinds of sites, too. So far no wins for me, but one day maybe I'll hit the jackpot. I've found a lot of amazing wares for sale (mostly through Etsy) by entering these contests. In fact, I am now the proud owner of a couple of cute Scrabble tiles (and a necklace on which to hang them) that I purchased from Mark & Stefani at HomeStudio.etsy.com. I bought the Joy tile and the Black Cherry Blossoms tile. Cute, no? There are several others I have my eye on as well (and they'd make super teacher gifts, wouldn't they?!? Go check them out!)

I almost forgot! The giveaway sites I visit are: Mama Loves Giveaways, The Giveaway, Bloggy Giveaways, PRIZE - A - TRON, I Love Give-A-Ways!!, and my favorite, Prizey (with its companion site, PRIZEYWinners).

I think I've mentioned it here before (a few hundred times)... I love to scrapbook. I try to do a little scrapping everyday, and that can lead me to feel like I'm stuck in a rut. I like to get fresh inspiration, so in addition to reading a couple of scrapbooking magazines (Creating Keepsakes and Simple Scrapbooks) I've also found a few good blogs to help me stay fresh. I like PHutch Sketches, How Much is Too Much?, My Sketch World, 2 Sketches 4 You, Gettin Sketchy, Got Sketch?, kellicrowe, O' Scrappy Day, Scraps of Life and SketchThis. BONUS: Some of these talented ladies have giveaways, because they're given the supplies by scrapbooking companies and they want to get the products into consumers' hands. You know how I love FREE stuff, right?

I also cover the news through 3 sites that report on local goings-on. One is the local paper, another is the local NBC affiliate, and the third is Palmetto Scoop. I like the Scoop because he leans a little right like I do and has a dry wit. I like his scoops. They make me feel smart and up to date... kind of like having current events Cliff's Notes.

If you don't use Google Reader, I highly suggest it. I will offer this bit of advice: don't feel like you have to go back to the beginning of a blog and read it from its inception. What I do is scroll back a couple of posts, get the most up-to-date info, and then click "Mark All As Read" so I don't get overwhelmed when I add a new blog. Then I just follow each blog one post at a time. I added a button to my Google toolbar that tells me when there are new posts added, and there is also a widget you can add to your Google homepage that will give you all of the newest titles from the blogs you follow.

Here's another warning: be careful, because Reader is addictive. It's like Internet Nicotine or Lays Potato Chips.

You can't read just one.