Aaah! I'm so busy!

I'm currently working part time for camp again - scheduling high school leaders and going down to camp in Olympia once a week. I'm so busy! Once I get caught up from training weekend, I'll shoot for my usual goal of blogging regularly (ok, ok, once a week). If that doesn't happen, talk to you at the end of May.

:) Love,
Nichole

And may God bless you all this Holy Week!!

15 Days Later...

I just got another $5 gift card on Amazon through Swagbucks. It's only been 15 days since my last card. Hopefully I can keep this up! :) Want to join yet?



PS Friday is Mega Swagbucks days, which means they typically give out more swagbucks in larger amounts. :)

Random Quick Takes - Vol. 6 - The Just a Few Edition

1. I have mentioned it before and I'm writing it again, I love early mornings! The getting out of bed part can be hard and I'm really not all that great at it just yet, but I absolutely love the time. When I actually follow my morning routine, my whole morning feels like I prayer. (Note: some mornings I just shoot for a mini routine. Leaving the house at 6 AM for work either means you better get up REALLY early or you have to cut the routine. I choose to cut the routine.) My favorite things to do are:

1. Acknowledge Jesus and Mary and say a prayer as I struggle to get out of bed.
2. Make my bed.
3. Put a load of laundry in, start cooking up some beans that have been soaking , or some other small task that you have to get started and let the work load go while you move on. (The cooking beans is new. I saw bags of beans at Carrie's and thought, "Ok, I should cook my own beans too." It's cheaper and I would love spending money on cooler things than canned beans. It all adds up! Sometimes you just need a little encouragement/silent peer pressure from a friend's pantry.)
4. Make coffee or tea.
5. Prayer time! On longer mornings this includes my typical morning prayer and Scripture reflection. On the weekends, I also like to add in other reading or a Rosary if I have the time.
6. Work out
7. Start in on my to do list!

This is definitely not what I do EVERY morning, but the mornings I do are the ones I love best. They set the tone for my whole day and with all of this accomplished by 7:30 or even 9:30, I still have the whole day ahead of myself!

2. I put some more work in on the garden this weekend...with Marc's help of course. My favorite part was carpooling with my parents to Lowe's :) or it could have been jumping up, waving my arms, joyfully shouting "grow"! There was just such satisfaction in planting things! I realize my excitement is a little premature and I should wait for things to grow, but there was just a feeling of empowerment. It was probably exactly what Chuck (Tom Hanks) felt like in the movie Cast Away when he built the fire. Really, I'm sure it was totally the same! (PS I just got 20 swagbucks for googling "Tom Hanks Wilson" while trying to find the name of the movie and Tom Hank's character. Sweet!)

3. Last night I ran a youth night on abortion for the Life Teen group at my church. It was put on by the Respect Life committee I chair and it went soooo well! I can say that because I really did very little. We had testimonies from Silent No More Awareness members and the regional coordinator of Project Rachel present (Project Rachel is for women and men suffering from the abortion of their children). I added a very brief teaching on the Church's position, talked about available resources for pregnant women, and covered the 9 ways we participate in others' sins. After that, we broke into 3 small groups (guys, gals, and parents) and talked over some different scenarios they might encounter. The night started off with the question: "How many of you know someone who has had an abortion?" Sadly, almost every person (out of 50+ people) raised their hands. I wasn't surprised, but it did reinforce the importance of the night meant to show what abortion really is (the intentional killing of an innocent human life), the real affects of abortion on women AND men, and how we, as Christians, are called to support, love, and share truth with those around us. Please say a prayer for all that were there!

Random Quick Takes - Vol. 5

1. Where did all of the wii fits go!? They are no where to be found. Word on the web is that there were some problems with the boards. So the few that are available (online) are ridiculously priced. No thank you. I'll wait for you wii fit plus.

2. I'm tired. Daylight Savings time + babysitting = late night. When did I get so old?

3. One of my goals/tasks of the year is to print pictures. I'm trying to do this as different deals pop up on all of the photo sites. It's been really fun, but very time consuming to sort through pictures. In addition to printing lots of photos for albums, I have to frame at least one picture each month (some times it's best to start with small goals). This weekend I framed a picture from one of my best friend's wedding...back in 2007...with the frame she gave me as a gift for reading in her wedding. :) Thanks Jill!

4. I recently registered my Starbucks card when I found out I could get 2 hours of free wi-fi/day with it. I don't go there that often, but it sure just stepped on up. I also figured out that by becoming a green member (buying 5 drinks) you get free re-fills of hot or iced coffee while in the store. Score! You can also have a free shot of flavor in your drinks or customize your milk. If you haven't registered your card, I definitely recommend it, even if you don't go that often.

5. I've decided to try gardening...with Marc's help. :) Yesterday we spent about 6 hours clearing out the area on the side of the house by my door downstairs. My mom has always grown plants and flowers there, but because I want to try to grow some veggies too, I wanted to make sure I put in the prep work for the soil. 15 wheelbarrows of sifted soil (aka ROCKS) later, we planted some wild flowers from the Gloria's Angels Auction. :) Next weekend, we will finalize the plan for the rest of the area and plant! Big, big thank you to Marc!!

Step 1:

Step 2:

Step 3:

Step 4:

I'm also trying to grow a spider plant for the inside. :)

6. I owe a belated Happy Birthday to my brother-in-law Perry. Last Monday, Perry turned 31! Happy Birthday Perry! (March 8th was also the 2 year anniversary of when I first met Marc and was sure he did not like me. He would not let Britta and I borrow Top Gun and I was going to be late to Perry's birthday party. Britta had never seen it, so it was obviously a huge deal for her to finish watching it. It's Top Gun, people!)

7. On Tuesday I took three of the nanny kiddos on a field trip to my house. :) We had a play date with Jaden and Riley. It was very fun and gave my mom a little break from watching the kids too. They all played together very well and the girls were very excited to see my house, especially by bed (I have no idea why).

I'm Sold

I have seen a few blogs talking about Swagbucks lately. It's a website/search engine that gives you points when you search (apparently at random). Other than using their search engine, you don't do anything differently. When you have enough points, you can earn free gifts, including gift cards. I'm keeping my eye on the amazon gift cards because I like to buy books on there. There are some other good ones too that I would be interested in.

I was a bit skeptical, but figured if I didn't have to do anything differently, I had nothing to lose. Well after only a few weeks, I have enough points for a $5 gift card. I'm going to hold out for a larger one, but I'm still really excited. Yea for free money! :)

I did make Swagbucks my primary search engine and downloaded the swagbucks tool bar (it gives you random free codes to get more points). But other than those two things, I really haven't done much of anything except occasionally search for a website instead of typing in the address, just to see if I could get points. It's worked!

You should join. :) And if you click HERE to do so, I'll get some extra points. :)

Quick Takes - The don't hate because I did 8...or because I rhyme...version*

1. No, I did not give up blogging for Lent. I'm just busy, which is the worst excuse you can use in blogging because so is everyone else. If only I could learn to say no to extra commitments when I'm busy as well as I do to blogging, I'd be improving a whole lot!

2. I admit it. I'm turning green. I am shampoo-free and now am enjoying the new blog, Simple Organic, way too much. I know it's not a bad thing. I really appreciate conserving our natural resources and letting nature (including our own bodies) work as God intended them to, but the phrase "go green" just always rubs me the wrong way. I don't know why.

3. While I'm talking about Simple Organic, I really enjoyed the blog today on Simple Mom. I think it highlights the idea that we are called to serve our families and trust in God rather than try to control everything.

4. I went to the Gloria's Angel Dinner auction a couple of weeks ago and had a fantastic time with Marc, Aaron, Teresa, and Lara. I came away with some real steals on dance lessons, bake ware, and a teapot, sweet pitcher and mugs, teas, and coffees, etc galore! I also ended the night with a lovely cake stand courtesy of Marc and the mini cake treats he bought in the live auction for $75. He told me they were fudge and I raised my number. I didn't think much of it because other desserts were going for $200+. I was not so lucky on that raise of my number, but Marc, being the gentleman he is, insisted on buying them. :) It was a great night and a ton of money was raised. Teresa and Lara also got some sweet fish from our table centerpieces!

I thought it would be fun to get a picture with the cheerleaders. They weren't nearly as excited as I was. I'm pretty sure they thought I was really strange. They must have a good judge of character. :)

5. I'm looking forward to this weekend. I'm helping out with Junior High Rally, which I have never attended before and then heading out to Bremerton for the Anti-Choice Project kick-off. Marc and I will be staying at Tom & Carrie's for the night and protesting with them the next day after Mass. I always love our visits there. It feels like a weekend getaway.

6. After following the blog Homemade by Jill, my goal is to learn to sew next year. Who wants to teach me??

7. I bought another super cute apron. I better watch out before aprons turn into my new obsession! Look how cute it is though! And I got it for half off just for following Like a Warm Cup of Coffee.

8. Happy 57th Birthday, Dad!! I love you so very much!!


*This may also be known as the links to other blogs version.