Begging for Bliss

I am not a beggar by nature but after my news, all of my blog conference plans of attending any other conferences in 2010 got nixed. So now I am putting my self all out there and begging for sponsor to help be attend Blissdom '10 in Nashville. It would be my first blogging conference ever and something that I have been looking forward to for over a year. The timing of my news means that Blissdom '10 would be the only conference I would be able to attend in 2010. So please help a very friendly overwhelmed soon to me mama of 2 get her Bliss on for the first time with her bloggy sisters. For more information on helping Bobbi Janay get to Blissdom '10 contact her here. 

Time after Time

Time after Time
Originally uploaded by BobbiJanay @When did I go from a kid to a grown up

Dreams Come True!

I was dreaming of a White Christmas which is unheard of in Texas. Somehow that dream came true. While we were in Tyler it started to flurry just as we finished unwrapping gifts.





So we bundled up and ventured out and experienced what some might consider a Christmas miracle. Ian was unimpressed with the snow, he was more interested in having having his Uncle Scott take him back in and feed him some more meatballs. With the weather turning bad fast we packed up and headed home. So that we could celebrate Christmas Morning at home. It was nice though to be surrounded by family as we celebrated the reason for the season.



Can you guess who they all belong to?

What is Bliss?

The lovely Kimberly of Mom In The City is hosting a contest to win a pass to Blissdom '10. The theme of Blissdom this year is follow your bliss. Well at first I was stumped what is Bliss? Is it the first bite of chocolate on a bad day, that first snuggly hug in the morning from your child or a long deserved pedicure. As you can see there are so many different types of Bliss.


How do you follow all of the things I mentioned above plus the unknown amount I didn't. You can't, Bliss finds you.  Like the feeling that comes when your friends rally around you in your greatest times of need or when they rally around you to celebrate your most joyous occasions. Bliss is the little surprises that life throws at you just when you need it most.






So whether I win a pass to Blissdom '10 or not is not the point of this post. The point is to cherish all those little moments of Bliss that life throws at you, cause you never know when it might happen next. 











If you would like to contact me about possible helping me attend Blissdom '10 please email me.

Seventh Generation- Review/Giveaway

When it comes to cleaning products, I was the girl who loved for things to smell good and clean. Then I had Ian and realized that those fumes where probably not the best thing to have in the air in my house. That the chemicals in the products I love might not be safe for my little man. So the hunt began to find things that cleaned as well as the products I loved, yet weren't full of possibly harmful chemicals.













I was lucky enough to get to try Seventh Generation Free and Clear starter pack. I loved the idea that the products are free of any dyes or artificial fragrances. The question is how did they  stand up to the test, lets break it down for you:

Laundry Soap: It worked well clothes came clean. I even used it on a few loads of my cloth diapers and it got them really clean. I would only give it 4 stars because clothes seem to come out with more  static clean with it then othe soaps.

All Purpose Cleaner: Love Love Love it, it smells like oranges and gets the job done very well with minimal effort always a good thing around here.

Dishwasher Pacs: I was unimpressed by theses over all. even after pretty much washing my dish before putting them in the dishwasher my dish came out spotty and unclean (we have a new dishwasher too, so I know that isn't the problem).

Liquid Dish Soap: Overall this product did it job with just a little more elbow grease at getting the tough stuff off.

Glass Cleaner: I think this works better then what I was using previously.

I would also like to add that I was genuinely surprised  when it came that all the products were full sized, I figured be a starter kit they would be smaller.

Now you can win a Free and Clear Starter Kit of your own, go to Seventh Generation and tell me a Free and Clear product I didn't mention or another product that catches your eye (Mandatory Entry). This giveaway will run from 12/25/09-1/4/10 closing around 5 pm cst. best of luck.

Extra Entries:

• Follow/subscriber to my Blog
• Follow Seventh Generation on Twitter 
• Follow me on Twitter 
• Comment on any regular post. 
  
• Add My Button to your site
• Support the Million Baby Crawl  by join in and then show your support by adding the button to your site 

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Discloser: I was sent a Free and clear starter kit in exchange for this review, all opinions are my own and in no way influenced by Seventh Generation.  

A Blogger's Worth

This is a hot topic within the blogging community, many people have many different points of view. The view that I have always had about blogging is that you should blog for you first and everyone else second. If someone doesn't care for what you have to say they don't to read it. I have been blogging for five years total just a year on "When did I go from a kid to a grown up?", but never once have I strayed from my motto of blogging for me. I blog about life (uncensored), I do an occasionally review, I figure I have stepped on a few toes but in the end I was true to me. Which is my goal in life to always be true to myself.





Attending Blissdom '10 would help me stay true to these goals on many levels. The first would be letting me finally meeting a large number of my Blogging Sisters (Blissdom '10 would be my first blog conference). Learning new techniques to incorporate within my blog.  To lift up my blogging sisters and their future blog goals and to help them in the ways that I am able to achieve them.  A blog is only successful when the author is true to themselves and by being true their self they are then true to their readers. 






If you would like to help me attend Blissdom '10 please feel free to contact me.

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5 Years

I have been blogging just a little over 5 years this past September. It hasn't always been on Blogger, I have blogged a little bit almost everywhere. I thought about link to some of those post but have decided against it because most of them when I went back through them they annoyed me, most of them are either meme's are me whining about who knows what. Man how ones perspective changes with age and becoming a parent. I am glad that I decided to start "When did I go from a kid to a grown up?" Through this blog I have met so many wonderful people both in real life and through the tubes. I am grateful for you my readers and the life journey that brought me to you.










Photo from Sweet Lollipop Shops Flickr

So this is Love.

About a month ago (yes) I am that behind. Casey, Ian and I headed to my hometown for Ian's Godfather's wedding. We had a blast catching up with old friends, I wish that I could say that that I heard their vow's but Ian decided the second that the wedding was starting that it was time to talk. I love going to events like these where you catch up with  people you have been missing. For the rest of the pictures from that day Click Here.

Christmas Parties

Photo from: Flickr(nushuz)


Tonight Casey and I will go forth and be merry at his companies annual Christmas party. I understand the concept of Christmas parties but company ones are beyond my grasp,I don't understand the point of making someone take a weekend night to party with coworkers? It might me different if this party had an open bar but it is a cash bar, so it isn't like someone is going to get drunk and dance with a lampshade on their head.

Hmm

Image from Amazon.com

I know that Dooce is the gold stanard of Mommy-Blogging but I am at a loss as to why, she once was a great blogger but now we get mostly pictures and a few well written post now and again. She closes comments on most posts, it is no longer about interacting with us. I know that it a business to her but the reason she got to where she is today is because of her readers. Yes I subscribe to her blog but for the life of me can't remember why, I do find her pictures funny but where is the thought provoking content of the past? Does anybody else feel this way about some of the big name bloggers?

When the Phone Rings

Some of the things you never want to hear are, are you sitting down, now don't panic: cause you know news that you are about to recieve is news you don't want to hear. That is what happened to me tonight, my step mom called me to tell me that my Daddy had been in a car accident and they were taking him to hospital via ambulance and she was 15 minutes behind him. That was all she really knew and that the guy that had hit him had drove off but had lost a lincense plate and they were trying to track him down. So I raced to find shoes, socks and get out the door leaving Casey in the middle of fixing dinner and Ian in the middle of a meltdown (I think he coudl feel that I was upset). So after what felt like forever but was record time I made it to down town Ft. Worth from Dallas (there was very little traffic suprisingly). To find my dad awake, talking, and about to have some test done. So I went out to the waiting room to sit with my family (my daddy is the oldest of 5 and the only son) while out there my Aunts lovingly picked at me, I got to catch up with a couple of cousins. Once all the test were done they said he was very lucky and could go home, just take it easy and rest. After hearing from my one of my Aunts who drove past it(not realizing it was my Daddy's Car, he had already been take from the scene) and My stepmom my Daddy is very lucky. If there would have been a passenger they would be dead. Also I would like to thank one of my former classmates mom who was one of the first on the scene, for trying to help my Daddy and in the process breakign her own ankle. To the ASS that hit my Daddy and drove off, I understand accidents happen that I am not upset about (heck I have been in my fair share). It is the driving off that pisses me off, you are one lucky SOB to be in jail because if I had my way I would string you up and let the county see you for the ball less coward that you are. You better be glad my Daddy's ok, otherwise the wrath of my family would have been painful. Also would it have killed you to at least called for help before you abandoned him alone and out of it in his car?

*To my readers this post is a release of my feelings, so please forgive me for mispellings and such.

Christmas Cards

We here at the Gregory Household would love to send out some Christmas card so if you want one drop me a line, with your address and who to send it to and we will get them out next week.

Casey

Explaining to FootFoot that Ian is her new brother

I don't talk about him much and when I do, mostly likely I am probably complaining about something but that isn't really the case. We have highs and lows like ever married couple, I heard growing up that marriage takes work. He is worth all of that work even if he can be stubborn as a mule and stuck in his ways. He makes up for his quirks by being loyal to all he cares about, putting up with all my quirks (trust me I have plenty), and being an amazing father. Now if I could only get him to pick up his socks. It amazes me that the night I met him I thought this guy is a drunken ass (he swears he wasn't drunk when we met yet doesn't deny the ass part). That story is its own post, but a little over a year later we ran in to each other and something just clicked. After a rough start to our life (most of which was all my fault) here we are 4 almost 5 years later on a life long journey, we have had many adventures together and I can't wait to see what life will throw at us. 





The Turtle is made out of Recycled bumpers. Shortly after we were married.






Casey's 24 Birthday





I snorted while laughing on our exit out of the church, he just shook his head




Father and Son naps




Teachign Ian don't drive angry

Check out the rest of the Characters in my life.

My Parents

I love them but sometimes they act like high schoolers (they were married 27 years). I am an only child ( I have 4 step siblings from my Daddy's second marriage that I think of as siblings) so when they separated when I was in high school, they would vent to me about each other at the time I thought it was cool. Now I wish that they would have found other sources, I know things about my parents that no child should ever know. Today's rant is brought to you because of Christmas, my mom wants to talk to my Daddy about what he is doing for Ian for Christmas, but instead of calling each other they want me to be their go between (also I don't want to know what you are getting  Ian, I want to be surprised also). I am NOT their go between, I have told them multiply times that I am not their go between but they keep trying. They are both equal guilty of this, I am tired of it though. I am in my twenties, married and a parent myself, I no longer have time to deal with their issues with each other. I need to be the best parent and wife I can be and dealing with the drama that the two of them cause me because of the insecurities, anger, and other feelings they feel about the other is not my responsibility. The jealously that they feel towards the other is in their damn minds I am tired of justifying every little thing I do with one parent with out the other parent reacting. I love them but it is time for them to stop using me as a sounding board about the other, I want to live my life in the here and now, not constantly rehashing the past or defending my actions. 

To-Do Tuesday 4

I have taken a few weeks off from posting my to-do list and the reasons are numerous. I am back and I have a list that it is getting smaller in someways and larger in others.

• Tackle my growing pile of laundry(ignoring it does not make it smaller)
• Find My Dad's Christmas Present 
• Finish the final touches on the house so I can finally post pictures here and show off our new home. 

My list is getting smaller, so I am excited. So how is your list coming along?