100th Post Giveaway!

It's here! I've reached it! My 100th Post! I never thought I could be focused enough to keep on blogging through an entire year! My Blogiversary was February 2nd, but since I ADD'd my way right past it I am doing a 100th Post Celebration and Giveaway!

I just made this little set for one lucky reader...

If you like it and want to win it you can enter in 3 ways (yup, you get one entry for each)

1. Become a follower! Follow my blog publicly and 1 entry is yours!
2. Leave a comment! I love comments, they make me happy!
3. Link to this post in your blog somehow and let me know!

I will pick a winner on March 17th, St. Patrick's Day!

Here's a better up close shot of it :)

You may be asking, "What's with the Fairy?" I you'd like to know... Read on...

In High School I didn't really have a persona that I stuck with (aside for being a spaz)... I kind of went with the flow and hung out with whoever could handle me for more than 5 minutes at a time... When I was a Senior way back in 2002, it all kind of clicked one NyQuil hazed evening while watching Moulin Rouge... There was a scene, a very strange enchanted scene...



(Sorry bout the poor quality it was the only clip I could find)

When I saw this... I jumped off the couch (tossing snotty tissues all over the living room) and yelled "I am the Green Fairy!" and that was the end of it... I have had this little (inner) Green Fairy ever since... I know it's strange, but it's me...

If I haven't scared you off yet (if you are reading this, you probably are not faint of heart) enter to win my Fairy Necklace and earrings set in the next 20 days... I will pick a winner on St. Patty's Day, March 17th, my fave holiday, gee, I wonder why???

Okay I Admit It...

I am just trying to get to my 100th Post... (Pssst... It's next!) Because I want to do a fun Giveaway... And because I missed my Blogiversary on Feb 2nd... And because I am just soooo ADD that I know if I don't do it now I will forget all about it tomorrow and post something Random... Oh also, I am moving all these posts back to LenaLoo.com because this whole shindig didn't work out so well... I tried! :) Hang in there, a fun giveaway is coming up... Now what should it be...

More Things I Love...

Brandon Heath - Give Me Your Eyes

Rainbows, Goats, and Candy Mountain

This post has been bubbling around in my head for a couple of weeks now... It started when I was chasing this rainbow (well, I was trying to find its end while driving)... Leave it to an ADD kid to chase rainbows... Maybe I thought I would truely find my hearts desires at the rainbow's end... Who knows...

Be forewarned: I am about to divulge the daily inter-workings of my ADD brain...

If I could have anything I wanted out of life, it would be surprisingly simple...

A plot of land to raise my 4 kids (that I don't have yet), 4 sheep, 2 dairy goats, 2 cute pygmy goats, 2 horses, 4 golden retrievers, and infinite number of chickens on...

Oooo and Chinchillas! I would have about 4 of them too! I suppose I would have to take my dumb fat cats with me... But I am ready for some slightly less neurotic animals...

And I would have a green thumb... Like grow all my own seasonal veggies green... I would take care of all of these kids and animals and land while my dear husband goes into town to work everyday :D...

I think Nanny Goats in Panties is partially to blame for the want of goats... That and the State Fair... They always make me want pets I don't have room for! And goat cheese is good... I'd have to learn to make it...

I want sheep so I can sheer them and spin and dye my own wool (cuz yarn is expensive ya'll!)... Sometimes I think I was born in the wrong era... Either that or I have just read Little House on the Prairie far too many times...

I want dogs that will go out and do this with me...


And I have ALWAYS wanted horses... Ever since my Uncle Jack told me that I could "have" his old horse "KnotHead" as long as it stayed at his house in Paridise... I told all my friends at school that I had my very own tresured horse and got really excited the next time we went up to visit... When I got there I ran out to the corral... But my dear KnotHead wasn't there (I had changed his name to something more worthy of a horse of his stature, but I can't remember the name at present)... I heard my dad joking that he had been sent to the glue factory and I cried and cried until my Uncle told me the truth... Death was far less scary when it didn't invole becoming a part of my art kit... I swore off glue for months after that, just on principle... Had they told me what else had horse hoof in it, I probably would be a much healthier person today...

And the chickens, I know they stink but they are just so cute when they hatch and I love the idea of having fresh eggs every day... I told you, I am pretty simple at heart...

Of course if I actually had everything I desire, I would have no time to blog and look up amazing meaningless stuff like this on YouTube...

Anytime I go on a random tangent, my friend Jer starts chanting "Candy Moutain, Candy Mountain"... The song at the end is also my ringtone for him lol...

FireProof

Okay, so even though the acting was a little cheezy, this was an amazing movie... It really demonstrated what I want in our marriage (at the end, not the beginning that is)... I encourage anyone who is going through struggles in their marriage to watch it, even if you have to trick your spouse into watching it or just put it on when they are home (get past the bad acting, please it is worth it)... And then visit FireProofMyMarriage.com... Trust me, it is worth a little time... And for the record, everyone has marriage problems or things they can work on in their marriage, including us... But there is not anything beyond normal going on... I promise...

Letting Myself Off The Hook

Like many Christians, I struggle with the concept of forgiveness... Not necessarily forgiving, but being forgiven... I understand repentance and I know the difference between it and just confession... But what I have a hard time with is letting go of the guilt after I have repented... And the guilt tends to make me continue to think on the things I have already repented for and therefore still feel bad about them and hold onto them... Guilt weighs a lot, it's hard to carry it with me everywhere I go...

Last week, a friend told me that conviction comes from the Holy Spirit, and guilt is a tool of Satan's... At first I was confused, because guilt is a big part of the Catholic persona...

"And that guilt...
I don't know if you know about guilt."
~John Clasky
"Guilt, we know. We're Catholics.
We know."
~Cristina Moreno
from Spanglish (2004)

Not that I am Catholic, but my grandfather was, and somehow, it got ingrained in me early on that it was not enough to just say you are sorry, but you must feel bad about it too... I guess that just translated into my relationship with Jesus because that is what I grew up with... I went to see Clint Eastwood's Grand Torino shortly before this confusing conversation as well... If you want to know what physical absolution looks like, and can sit through 2 hours of racial slurs, go check it out...

I realize, that we as Christians don't need to go through these extremes because Jesus did it for us... The ultimate extreme... Died one of the most painful deaths imaginable willingly so we could have absolution through Him! So that we don't have to do it ourselves... Wow... Who am I to make that act be in vain... Why should I keep flogging myself mentally for things that are not in my control anymore... I need to let myself off the hook for the things I have been dragging around with me since High School!

You know, we learn a concept best when we share it with others... I guess I believed all of this, but I still wasn't ready to let go of my guilt... Even though it is heavy, I am comfortable with it... I know it, it's familiar... But when I was thinking about this today, I had the opportunity to share it with another friend who is struggling with guilt over things that are not in his control... That made me really "get it"...

I am working on letting go by telling people about the things I am guilty about... If I am not holding onto it, it can not hold onto me... So if I get into a brief moment of "TMI" with people, this is why... Even though I have confessed and repented to Jesus, I feel the need to get rid of my secrets... I am tired of them weighing me down...

Love you guys...

Facebook is a Vortex

And it sucked 9me in! Today I meant to do so many things... Instead, I spent the ENTIRE day loading pics onto FaceBook (because PhotoBucket was being ornery)... But just so ya'll don't feel left out, I give you:
The "Aunties" (I totally bought her that outfit!)






And the Mommy

Bag Tag

Megan @ INfertile Myrtle posted this tag and I thought it was fun so I tagged myself...


This is my Big Mama Kathy Van Zeeland bag... It was a Christmas present from my Mama and I think it was about $45 at Ross...


At any given time you can find all these electronics in my purse (unless I am using them at the moment)... Orange Camera Case (usually has my Camera inside, but I kinda needed it to take this pic), 8 GB iPod Touch, my Nintendo DS (at the moment has Mario Party DS and Brain Age 2 in the case, but I have GameFly so the first game changes out quite frequently), and my EnV2 phone and Bluetooth (stuff in the sheer bag is the portable charger for my Blutooth), I almost always keep this extra memory card and a flash drive in there too (the flash drive was in use at the moment)


The Essentials: Keys, Wallet, Sunglasses, Various writing utensils, and my gym pass


Random Crafty Stuff: Ribbons and Elastics to make bows for Bailey, A Felt Heart off of Bella's Diaper Cake, a Necklace and matching earrings that I made, and a hand stamped Bag of kisses from my friend Carol...


Lots of Girly Crap


Meds, Tissues, Gum and Candy


Reciepts, Ticket Stubs (2 for Twilight, 1 for Grand Torino), a Warrenty Check for my Ring, some notes that I wrote to figure out Toby's Vacation days this year, and A bunch of Gum Wrappers and some "Purse Gum" (as my brother Andrew calls it, the stuff that gets out of the pkg and rolls around the bottom collecting lint)


I promise it all fits in there (I threw out the junk though), sometimes I even cram my big ol' makeup bag in it too (doesn't zip then though)...

I won't tag anyone, but if you feel like doing it, feel free, it's fun!

Things I Love Right Now

Jack McBrayer


Clint Eastwood's Grand Turino

Such a Pretty Baby

This is my "niece" Bella... Not trying to cut Grace out of the pic there, but I think she will appreciate it this time, she was doing something unflattering and this is the only pic I have holding the baby....

Facebooks Redeeming Qualities

A long, long time ago, I posted this little Rant about how online social networking has become overrun with junk... And while I still feel some resentment about the vast amount of crap that Facebook and Myspace contain, I will admit that I could not see past the junk to the potential that Facebook still has... Today, thanks to my friend Xica, I discovered Notes (yes I know they have been a function of Facebook for a long time)... I also realized I could import my existing blogs to Facebook Notes! My only Complaint is that I can't only feed one blog at a time into Facebook, but I figured out a workaround for that... Any blogs you have already imported will remain in Facebook, so you just have to stop importing one, and import another instead... It is as simple as copying and pasting your URL... I love it because now my friends who are on Facebook can see that I have a blog that I keep (semi) updated and can read if they like! Yay! Now if I could only get my (almost) sis-in-law to come over from the MySpace darkside to Facebook all would be well :)

Updating So You Know I Have Not Slacked Off Completely

#42 Pictures here
#64 Got it done awhile ago
#20 Blogged about it here
#33 Starting slowly with OMAC (Once a Month Cooking) by making one type of casserole every other day, but made more than one (one to eat, one to freeze, and one to give to Grace to freeze)
So far made: Beef and Noodle Casserole, Dorito Pie (aka Carol's Mexican Casserole), Chicken Enchilada Casserole, Stuffed Shells, and Shepherd's Pie
#44 Make 4 cards a week


#62 Pics here
#94 Got Photoshop for my B-Day, Bought a book... Slowly learning how to use it...

What I Have Been Up To (Picture Heavy)

Since I haven't posted here in a while, I figured I would show ya'll what I've been up to... I have been working hard on getting this apartment of ours in a reasonably clean state and maintain it...

This is my functional Craft Area

Our new drawing/crafting desk

Enough Clean Sheets and Towels "To Run a Hotel"

Clean Kitchen

Dining Room

Mail and "To Return To People Area"

Pretty New Coat Rack and Shoe Rack (Covered in Stuff, but it is Functional)

Clean Living Room (Rock Band Came Back Home, So it Will be an Eyesore for Awhile)

More Living Area (Still Cluttered, Will Work on This Next), Cats Included

Hey There

Just an FYI, this blog is now just a feed site, if you are looking for my normal posts, you can click the tabs above to read my latest entries... If you want to see which blogs have updated entries just check the feeds below (note: if you want to leave a comment on one of the posts, you have to click out of the feed and into the real entry... does that make sense?) Sorry if I am confusing anyone, but I can't remember what I need to do to get this all back to normal (that and I am on a new kick, so I am being terribly lazy about my blog)...

Crafty Lady

So since I cannot seem to find a stable job in this economy that I am good at or will pay me what I am worth, I am launching my own business... I have been thinking about this for ages and now is finally the time... I am signing up to be a Stampin' Up demonstrator next week so this blog may have a new addition coming :)... I am also going to launch my Etsy site within the month so I will have link ups to it here as well... I will probably start a crafting wing of my blog and post what projects I am working on there... I just talked to my Aunt and she is giving me my Grandmother's sewing machine! I have to have it repaired, but hopefully my dad can figure out what is wrong with it (he has fixed this machine many a time for my Nana in the past) and make it work before I head down there in April for my mom's birthday... I am super excited... And to gain some start up revenue I have been cleaning my friends parent's houses :)... Not my favorite thing to do, but it's gotta get done and if I can get paid to d it then I am all for it (it also made me realizze how lazy I was being with my apartment, and now it is spic and span and being upkept well according to FLYlady procedures)...

Overboard

So as always, I went overboard... I have been prepping for my best friend Grace's new arrival, and I got a little outta control... The shower was great! Lots of people, and she got everything she could want or need... I helped her start to get the baby room organized and if she doesn't go into labor soon I will be painting her baby room with her hubby or her mom (we are way too overprotective to let her do it at this point, she was due last Friday)... But I have also been making A BUNCH of casseroles to freeze so that when her baby finally arrives they will not have to cook... Today, her younger sister was going to go over to her house, but instead I had her come to my house and took her to a movie (after she helped me do chores) so Grace and her husband could spend his day off alone before the baby comes... I say I have gone overboard because I should probably just let her and her hubby do their thing, but I think she is being sweet by letting me help... And it is really helping me to help, it is helping me cope with the fact that I was just late enough again to take a test, just for it to come up negative, as always... I know it will come in the right time, but it is hard to wait... Anyways, Grace's sister wanted to see Twilight, so I was all too happy to go see it again! It was better quality since it wasn't such a huge screen (last time was at the Drive-In)... I think I like it now, even though it is the Cliff Notes version... So That's why I haven't been writing, I haven't had much to write about and I've been super busy... Thanks for hanging in with me, hopefully I will have more to show and tell soon (when baby Bella finally decides to grace us with her presence)!