Pinterest is my new BFF

This is a public service announcement....

In case you have been living under a rock as I had been and have never heard of Pinterest, please mosey on over and check out the latest social networking site just for pyscho, obsessive folks like me {and maybe you}!!!

I love the site so much because it is like a huge bookmark folder for all of the things you find online but have nowhere to put {aka my desktop is full of little images, but then you can't find the websites they came from} or you don't want to bookmark it {aka my bookmark folders are busting at the seams and who knows what in the world I found at those random sites}.  Well, Pinterest has solved the dilemma for us all!!!

Head on over and search away...you will find what everyone else is pinning and then add it to your pin board that you can categorize {recipes, decorations, school inspiration, it just goes on and on} and then voila its all there for you...websites and all!!!  I couldn't be more tickled!!!

My username is kellyej, so search me and see what I am pinning!!!!  Then just be in love!!  Here are just a few things I found this morning...













And EVERY SINGLE ONE OF THEM is just linked right on over to the site it comes from!! AUTOMATICALLY!!!!!  Aaaaaaah!!!

Start pinning!!!!

Planted Bible Study

I cannot tell y'all how excited I am about this new blog and this new Bible study I stumbled upon.  I don't want to confuse you, but I am so excited I am probably talking in circles.  Please bear with me as I try to tell you about the not 1 but 2 amazing new blogs I found!!!

Okay, so in an effort to live more intentionally in 2011, I was searching the web this morning for some new spirit quenching blogs and found this amazing one.  MODSquad.com is a blog for Moms Of Daughters.  Just what my spirit needs.  I was so excited to be able sip my coffee and browse all of the wonderful posts about the calling of a mother.  One of their contributors is this amazing lady.  

This is Melissa and she blogs here.  Her blog is a breath of fresh air I tell you and one that I am so thankful I stumbled upon.  I am most excited about a new Bible study that she is kicking off in February {how bout that for perfect timing, huh}.  The study is entitled PLANTED and here is what it entails...

She describes the study here.

In February, through the online bible study series “PLANTED” 

we’ll discover the harvest yielded from being planted, rooted, pruned and cultivated in the Lord.

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 Oh boy!!!  Doesn't it just sound great!?!  I can't wait!!!  I hope you will join in, and I strongly suggest you go right on over to Madabella and meet Melissa, you will love her, I just know!!!

My Word of the Year

photo found here

I know that we are 10 days into the new year already, but I had to be sure this was going to be my word before I spilled the beans and had it looming over my head all year!!  I have prayed, stewed, and prayed some more and this morning while doing my daily blog reading the Lord really spoke to my heart about this "resolution" of sorts.

As far as resolutions go I LOVE TO MAKE THEM, but I BREAK THEM!!  I am a list maker and a list breaker, so I am no good at the lose 10 pounds, get kids to bed on time, eat only organic, typical resolutions.  That is why I figured I would be better off with a word than a list, so there.

Without further rambling, I give you my word of 2011...


intentional.


Such a huge word, wouldn't you say?

I think this is the best word in the entire dictionary that describes how I want to live this year.

I want to be intentional.  And I'm not.  So, I'm going to try real hard to change that this year.

Here is what I know...

I am a homeschool mom of 2 girls who are growing up faster than I can handle.  I remember my mom from when I was my girls age.  So guess what??  They will remember me.  Uh oh!!

What do I want them to remember about me?  How do I want them to think things are supposed to go in the world?  What legacy do I want to leave for them?

I must be intentional.

There is no more "getting away with it."  No, my girls have caught on.  I can no longer wing it like I did when they were 2 and 4 and just believed everything you said to be right and true.

So this year I want to be intentional about everything I do.

I want to be intentional about our homeschooling. {No more just doing something because its what I bought during the summer or its what everyone else is using.  What is most important for them to learn?}

I want to be intentional about how we live. {No more just doing something because it is what we have always done.  What is truly best for our family?  Even if its a hard decision.}

I want to be intentional about what we say. {No more just saying something because we want to say it.  What are my words doing?  Building up or tearing down?}

I want to be intentional about how we spend our time.  Who we spend time with.  What we eat.  Where we go.  How we communicate.

I believe that my mom was intentional in raising my sister and I.  It was the single most important job she had.  She weeded out all of the other distractions, and just focused on that one most important thing.  And she did it so well.  I want to be just like her and I have come to learn that it isn't going to just happen.

Here is a quote that I stumbled upon this morning while reading the blogs.  It is from Jamie at Simple Homeschool.

“I have come to the frightening conclusion that I am the decisive element. It is my personal approach that creates the climate. It is my daily mood that makes the weather.I possess tremendous power to make life miserable or joyous.

I can be a tool of torture or an instrument of inspiration, I can humiliate or humor, hurt or heal. In all situations, it is my response that decides whether a crisis is escalated or de-escalated, and a person is humanized or de-humanized.

If we treat people as they are, we make them worse. If we treat people as they ought to be, we help them become what they are capable of becoming.”

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Wow!!  I POSSESS THE TREMENDOUS POWER TO MAKE LIFE MISERABLE OR JOYOUS.  

I will be intentional.

Home Designing Goodness

If you know me at all you will know that I am a home design FREAKO.  We have built 4 houses and my husband and I have done all the design work in every one of them...sometimes that was a good thing, sometimes it wasn't!

But, let me just say that we have nothing on this blogger I found this morning!  They have renovated 6 houses while raising 3 kids, and she absolutely is an interior designing genius.  Go check out Autumn over at Design Dump...you will be in awe I promise.  And as a woman after my own heart, she tells you where everything comes from and how she did it all....I LOVE HER!!!

Happy Mother's Day

My children absolutely make my heart sing...but more times than I would like to admit, LIFE (aka things that we probably shouldn't even be worried about and that actually don't amount to a hill of beans) gets in the way.  Time goes by too fast, the sun sets too soon, the alarm clock goes off too early.  Today I am purposing my Mother's Day.  I will spend my Mother's Day intentionally remembering why I love to be these girls' mom.

I will slow down...time is never going to slow on its own...that is our job.  Today I will slow down.  I will enjoy the day that the Lord has made and I will make sure that every second of it adds to the legacy that I am leaving for my kids...one that will come to their minds when they are enjoying their own Mother's Days years down the road.  Just like my mom's legacy runs through my spirit today.

I will remember the rocking chairs, both the one that I rocked my babies in as well as the one in which my mom rocked me.  I can still smell the air as I remember those special moments with my mom.  I want my kids to remember those special times as well.

I will remember the picnics that I love so much, both as a little girl with my mom and as a mom myself with my own girls today.  There is just something about a crisp spring day that begs for a picnic blanket and a peanut butter and jelly.

I hope that today you can slow down and remember how blessed we truly are to live out our childhood dreams of being mothers.  I know that I will.  Lets celebrate that today.

I leave you with a excerpt from my latest read...its actually my moms Mother's Day present from me, but really, you know I buy "gift" books early so that I can get a sneak peak.  This one seems to be great.  It is former first lady, Mrs. Laura Bush's brand new book entitled Spoken From the Heart.

Our lives in those years (when their girls were young) in Midland were centered around 

family and friends.  Often, Mother and Daddy would come for dinner.  I would call Mother 

late in the afternoon to see what she was cooking and we would put our meals together 

around our little table.  I remember one summer evening, working in the flower beds 

in our yard after the girls had gone to sleep, while the sun still hung low in the sky.  

George was sitting on the steps with the newspaper, and I thought to myself, This is the life.  

And it was.

I just found my new favorite blog...

Maybe I just live under a rock but until this afternoon when my friend Cyndi and I were on the phone for way too long a few minutes and she brought up this blog that I had never heard of before.  Being the blog stalker that I am I was shocked that I had never even seen it, but it's called knock off wood and folks this is where planets align.  This is where I sing for joy.  This is where my cup overflows.  This stay at home mom who lives in Alaska teaches her readers to MAKE FURNITURE FROM POTTERY BARN AND WEST ELM and other way overpriced very nice stores.  Tables and storage and entertainment centers oh my.  You will be amazed...Can I just say that she has the plans right there for you FOR FREE to download at your convenience!!  There goes my new ink cartridge!  This girl is my new best friend and she will be yours too...Go check her out!!  And please let me know what you are building first!

Simple Mom...You Must Go There Now!!!

Isn't it the best feeling in the world when you come across a new blogger that could really be your BFF in real life??  I think so and believe me I tend to be a little bit "stalker-ish" when I find my new BFF's.  So, in advance please let me just say to Tsh and all of the contributors...I am your new BFF and please love me in spite of my stalker ways...I truly mean no harm...really you can ask Edie and Nester and Christy and Sally...Im truly harmless I promise!!

Aaaah...now that that is out of the way and I have confessed my celebrity stricken state, let me introduce you to a new network of writers that have teamed up with Simple Mom to inspire us in the world of kids, eating, homeschooling, and motherhood...It is Simple Living Media and they have launched this new site and it is chock full of goodies...like awesome giveaways this week that you won't even believe.  Now go forth and enjoy!!

Suze Orman on Oprah TODAY

Hey Ladies! I heard through the grapevine that Suze Orman will be on todays Oprah and will be featuring her BRAND NEW BOOK and offering it for FREE by download. I love Suze Orman and I can say that I have read her books and they are phenomenal. They put things into perspective for me. I know that we like to save money and pinch pennies and be frugal, but sometimes its difficult to not follow the crowd and just buy the dang $60 shirt. She really does a great job of showing us how UNimportant all that stuff really is. I will be tuning in and if you haven't missed it, you may want to as well. Also, I hear that you will be able to download it on either Oprah.com or Suzeorman.com, so if you have missed it in your area you may want to check out the websites. As soon as I see it or have it confirmed I will let you know. My Oprah is starting in about 15 minutes!!

Motivate Me Monday {The Proverbs 31 Woman}

Good Morning!! First let me say that I cannot even for one second believe that I am awake!! I will be the first to admit that I am not a morning person, and really not a night owl either, now that I think about it..ha ha! But as we all get back to our daily routines of getting the kids back to school, getting the house back in order from Christmas (which for me is double hard because we are living with my parents right now as we build our new house), and starting the new year, this is so needed for me because I need the Lord in the mornings just the same as I need Him throughout the day and in the evenings. What a great way to start the day!! As I am reflecting, like everyone else, on what the Lord wants to see from me this year, I go straight to the Proverbs 31 Woman (don't you just love her?). After reading about her years ago, I quickly learned that there are so many levels to the job Mom and Wife that you could work around the clock and never cover them all! She is such a great example to me and to what the Lord wants to see from His wives and mothers, so this year I resolve to work harder at prioritizing and time managing so that I am better able to serve my Savior and my family as she does. Here is just a glimpse at the Proverbs 31 Woman, who the Bible says is more precious than rubies!! She gets up before dawn preparing breakfast for her household. She works far into the night. She is an energetic and hard worker. She is thrifty and conservative. She isn't a gossiper, and when she speaks her words are wise, and kindness is the rule for everything she says. She watches carefully all that goes on in her home and is never lazy. Her husband can trust her, and she will richly satisfy his needs. She will not hinder him, but help him all her life. She generously gives to the needy. And she manages her time and prioritizes to take care of her family, so that none of them are ever in need. Yall, the biggest reward though of reading of this truly inspiring woman is the last verses.

Her children arise and bless her, so does her husband.

He praises her with these words: "There are many fine women

in the world, but you are the best of them all."

Proverbs 31:28-29

Isn't this what we all want? To make our families happy, to raise our children to one day grow up to know the difference between godly and worldly, to create a tone of security in our homes, to be the backbone of our family instead of being the anchor that drags it down, to be a help mate to our husbands just as God created us to be? For our children and husbands to bless us and know how much we love them? I think so.

So as I go out into 2009, I will continue to reflect on the Proverbs 31 woman, and I will keep telling myself over and over that nobody can do these things in our family except me. It is my job and it is what God has appointed me to do from the beginning of time!!!

If you want to know more about Motivate Me Mondays, visit www.likeawarmcupofcoffee.blogspot.com!!

Motivate Me Mondays!

I have just joined the 5AM Club at Like a Warm Cup of Coffee. This is so exciting as it will be a motivation to get up early and have some quiet time with the Lord. This is something that is so hard for me because I am neither a night owl or a morning bird! Im a mid-morning/early afternoon kind of gal. But for me, this challenge is one that is desparately needed. I have been really struggling because it is so difficult to wake up when the kids wake up and go to bed when the kids go to bed. I find that our moods are so much different when I am up earlier, even if just 15 minutes, than they are and have a little while to myself in the evenings. This will be an encouraging and very inspiring time to be awake in peace with the Lord and see how He is speaking to others and motivating them to begin their day with Him. Even though I have only been on the "blog scene" for a little over a week and have only had 2 comments (so sad I know) I am so excited about what friendships I will begin and where 2009 will lead me!! I can't wait for this new year and new routines!! Check out the details for the 5AM Club and Motivate Me Mondays at Like a Warm Cup of Coffee by clicking here!