We’re excited to announce that Carol from Carol’s Notebook won the necklace!

Carol left a comment on Freda Man’s blog!

Do you make New Year’s resolutions? I’ve tried lots and lots of methods, but I usually follow along with the statistics…two weeks or less! So who am I to give advice?

Let me share some of my great ideas for years past. One year, I made very concrete goals, as in, “I will eat only rice at least 3 times per week.” Nice, huh? I was 22 at the time. Another year I made several goals in each area of my life: physical (diet and exercise), parenting (smile more, scream less), marriage, housekeeping, Bible reading, etc. I think I had 20 resolutions. I believe I kept zero by the time February 1st rolled around.

This year, instead of setting up one to twenty goals for the year, I’m going to try to keep one or two resolutions for 3 months. Every quarter I’ll start a new resolution or two.

For January, I’m trying to narrow down lots of ideas. Help me choose:

1) Track our finances. We aren’t very careful about our spending/budgeting/investing. I think our first step is to see where our money goes, then determine the best way to trim our budget.

2) I need to drink more water. Plain and simple.

3) I need to eat healthier…eat more fruits and vegetables, more grains, smaller portions and fewer sweets.

4) I need to exercise.

5) I need to maintain my house at a very minimal level. Seriously.

6) I would like to blog on a more regular basis. Once or twice a week?

7) I really want to declutter our house. I want to be an organized person.

More family time would be great. Not more time, really, but more focused time. Instead of having my nose in my laptop, perhaps I could color with my girls.

I’m sure there are a billion more, but this should be a good start.

What are you planning to focus on in 2010? What should I focus on in 2010?

Christmas in a Barn
by Mary DeMuth

12 Pearls of Christmas Series and contest sponsored by Pearl Girls®. For more information, please visit www.pearlgirls.info

I am so behind. Seriously. I just learned to text a few months ago. I heard about this great sounding iPhone App. Now, I don’t know much about iPhone Apps, but I do know that I usually only find out about a concert a few days before it happens. I’ll be reading the paper to see what’s going on this weekend, then there’s a concert I wish I knew about!

Check this out and let me know what you think:

Concertimatic is now available through the Apple App Store® for iPhone® and iPod Touch® owners. Imagine never missing your favorite bands when they come through town again. With one tap, Concertimatic reads your iTunes® library for your list of artists and then combs through concert listings in your area through a variety of websites. This produces a chronological list of concerts, tailored specifically for you.

The application eliminates the labor and time of searching through sites like Pollstar, Jambase and others, automatically letting you know about shows you’re interested in.

You can buy concert tickets on the phone of course, but you can also email the concert information to yourself or friends to then complete the purchase on a computer. It also has links to the band’s page on iTunes® just to make sure you haven’t missed their latest release or are looking to fill out your library before the show. The app’s default is to know where you are, but allows you to change your location if you are planning a trip and want to see who is playing in that town. Some people are willing to travel great distances to see their band, so Concertimatic offers a range option from one mile up to 200.

“I’m very excited about this new app. After six months of developing and testing, this new tool will mean that you will never again say, ‘If I had known that they were coming through town, I’d have gone!’” said Duncan King, founder of Concertimatic. “This simple tool, made possible by the new 3.0 OS, allows you to worry about one less thing. Up until now, there hasn’t been an app like this that reads your playlist and tells you in a matter of seconds when those bands are coming — all for less than a dollar.”

Concertimatic was developed by the team at InfoBridge LLC (www.infobridge.net).  For further information, visit www.concertimatic.com or to purchase concertimatic from the apple app store, you can place the following URL in your browser: http://click.linksynergy.com/fs-bin/stat?id=v5XpkawvqJU&offerid=146261&type=3&subid=0&tmpid=1826&RD_PARM1=http%3A%2F%2Fitunes.apple.com%2FWebObjects%2FMZStore.woa%2Fwa%2FviewSoftware%3Fid%3D322556946

Wow! I just found out about this awesome wedding registry. You register once from all sorts of different stores. Your guests can price compare to get the best deal. I really wish this was around when I got married. Here’s the scoop:

In an era where time and money are precious, brides and grooms are working diligently to plan affordable weddings and get the gifts they desire without breaking their friends’ and family’s wallets.  The recently launched Weddgistry.com offers a modern, stress-free and cost-conscious solution to the wedding registry process.  The innovative website allows couples to choose from over 2 million products from their favorite merchants and provides their guests the most competitive prices on each item.

The free, one-stop, no-obligation site offers everything from blenders to chainsaws from nearly 300 retailers including Sears, Macy’s, Dillards, Kohls and Target, as well as specialty items from smaller luxury retailers like Lenox, Linens n’ Things, Chef Giant, Bobby Berk Home, BBQ Guys, Designer Linens and more. The couple that likes to exercise together can register for great gear and equipment at Power Systems, pet lovers will enjoy the many products available at Pet Mountain, and the young party couple may want a home fermenting system from Mr. Beer. Weddgistry.com truly offers something for everyone and eliminates the need to register at each department store individually.

Registration is simple and quick; giving couples their own unique profile with event details, bios, and a photo. There is no limit to the amount of products couples can register for, regardless of where the items are sold. Best of all, brides and grooms can browse items via keywords, categories, price or retailer.

A built-in email invitation tool allows couples to notify wedding guests about their registry.

Wedding guests will find the site equally appealing with the simple search tools available and the price comparison system, which seeks out the product from the registry and finds the best bargain available.

Weddgistry.com saves guests the hassle and time of going to the department store, where they have to purchase, wrap and send or deliver the gift.

Weddgistry.com is the brainchild of former NFL player, Dan O’Leary and his wife Kate, who got married in 2006.  “When we were planning our wedding, we felt limited in our choices and we didn’t like the fact that we physically had to go to each store, scan the product and then let our guests know where to go,” says O’Leary.  “Even more importantly, we weren’t happy that our guests weren’t getting the best prices available for the things we registered for.”

The result of the O’Leary’s experience during their own wedding planning process is a customized registry approach that is quickly becoming popular in the matrimonial world that they hope provides couples and guests an invaluable convenience.

For further information or to register, visit WWW.WEDDGISTRY.COM.

Preparing for Christmas

Happy October! Can you believe it? I look forward to each season. I’m usually tired of one seaons before it’s over. I’m tired of the hot weather and watering plants. So, welcome Fall!

This is going to seem crazy, but I propose we start planning our holidays. Yes. Seriously. Beginning of October means holiday planning. Christmas is always super busy and often people say things like, “Boy, Thanksgiving was sure late this year.” Does that somehow change the day Christmas falls? Nope. But somehow people start Christmas planning the day after Thanksgiving. Let’s make a new plan.

Did you know there are exactly 8 weeks between Christmas and Halloween? Let’s put those 8 weeks to good use and the time from Thanksgiving to Christmas can be smooth sailing, making memories with our families and actually finding the peace of the season.

So, why are we starting now, even before Halloween? There are a couple of big issues to get out of the way before we can make our plans.

First, if your Christmas plans are not set already, get them set! Will you travel? Will you spend time with your family? His family? Step families? Get this figured out now, because this drives the rest of your planning. We’ll be talking about Christmas travel planning a little later.

Next, consider your gift-giving traditions. Everyone knows times are tight. Many families are tightening their budgets. Have you thought about how this will impact your Christmas shopping? On my husband’s side of the family, each family gives a $20 gift to each adult. We don’t really have a limit for kids since there are only 4.

On my side of the family, we each buy a gift for each of the kids. For the adults, we each bring a $15 gift or gift card, then we role the dice so everyone takes something home.

There are pros and cons of each. We’ll also discuss those options a little later. I’m not trying to tease you, I just don’t like to read long posts…or write them!

Lastly, consider your budget. This year, make a commitment to a credit card-free holiday! You have 3 months to save some dough. Imagine a January without yucky credit card bills staring you in the face.

Hmmm…maybe a peaceful Christmas season IS possible.

We’re heading for the open road, and a lovely state park, later this week. I love to camp. My girls love to camp. Mr. Mouthy isn’t too excited about “our kind” of camping, but he’s game.

We have a tent trailer, similar to the one above. We typically camp with a large group, mostly my family. They all have big trailers and we have velcro holding our canvas wall up. I call it our crack-pot security system.

The best part of group camping is we each take one night to provide dinner. So, in one week, we’ll cook one dinner, usually chili dogs because our resources aren’t so much. One night of cooking and clean up,, for an entire week of eating. Sweet!

I’m curious to see how our girls will do this year. the youngest is almost three and the oldest is 4. I think they will giggle and pull hair for an hour before they go to sleep. We’ll see.

Camping is a great time for riding bikes, going for walks, checking out nature and enjoying time with one another.

Do you camp in any of its varieties? Details! Details!

Am I Judgemental?

So, I’m trying to post more often. We watched America’s Got Talent last night. Kevin Skinner was awesome, so I scratched out a quick post before bed. Then, you know, the going to bed thing took a while so I checked my email one last time before closing my eyes.

I had one mean comment from Sam, who

must be related to Kevin. He ranted about how judgmental I am, how I pre-judged Kevin based on his accent and appearance. I made some little joke like I would love it if he says “I’d like to thank Miss Mouthy.” Sam said I am so full of myself.

I deleted Sam’s comment. It hurt my feelings.

I am judgmental. Right  now that’s the biggest area of sin in my life. Believe me, I’m working on it. Is it better to judge people on tv? Nope.

I will say when I first saw Kevin Skinner, I thought here’s someone who’s not very serious about performing. If he would have had some nice jeans, boots, a white shirt, I may have guessed he’d be better. In reality, it doesn’t matter at all how he dressed. His performance was amazing!

My flippant joke about thanking Miss Mouthy? Just tryin’ to be funny. I’m almost sure my 5 regular readers found it amusing.

I couldn’t sleep last night because I was thinking about Sam’s comment.

So, as a blogger, how do you handle negative comments?

I’ll admit it. I watch America’s Got Talent and American Idol mostly to watch the losers not-so-great performers. My husband and I often try to guess if someone is horrible or awesome before they start performing.

Tonight was no different. When we saw Kevin Skinner, we thought he would be horrible. Every syllable out of his mouthy confirmed our opinion. Boy, were we wrong.

From the first note from his guitar, Kevin Skinner blew me out of the water. He was so authentic and real. I don’t often cry (a delightful side effect of antidepressants), but Kevin almost made me cry. That’s saying something!

I really hope Kevin Skinner makes it all the way. I hope he says, “I’d like to thank Miss Mouthy.” I hope his dreams come true.

Kevin Skinner on America’s Got Talent

I’m working on regular posting again, so this will be pretty short and sweet!

In February, I received a gardening catalog. It had pre-planned gardens that were half-off. I decided to try my hand at gardening!

When my order arrived it said to plant immediately. I put on my raincoat and planted right then!

I weeded, tended and watered. We even bought pricey compost to put on top. I was totally gung-ho.

Then we had some crummy weather and my interest waned. We have a large pile of pooh, I mean compost, in our driveway. It’s been there a month. It’s blocking our trailer in.

So, it’s come to this. I did a bunch of weeding today and I hop e to do a bunch of spreading tomorrow.

Then…camping!

Love it!

What are your summer dilemmas?