Last month my kids were involved in a pedometer challenge in their school. My son’s grade 3 class one the challenge for his grade level and was treated to a sledding party. Well this past weekend it was time for the some of the parents of some of the students to take up the challenge. My son volunteered my husband and I to take part in this. As the parents who had the most steps during this challenge had a chance to win some Sea Dog hockey tickets. And my son really wanted those tickets.

Well today he took back the pedometer. We should know by the end of the day which family one. I don’t think it was us as my husband is not that active. LOL On Saturday I wore it to work and logged in over 10,000 steps. I was really busy that day. But on Sunday my husband wore it and only logged in about 1500. But it was a fun experience for my son. And who knows, maybe I walked enough for the entire family. My feet sure felt like I did by the time my shift was over on Saturday.

Growing old gracefully?? What does that even mean?? Well, whatever it means, I really don’t think it’s happening with me.

I started going gray around the time I turned 16 and over the years, I have spent countless of dollars on having my hair dyed. Now this may not seem like a huge deal to you all. But as I’m only 40, most days (because of my hair) I look like I’m 50. Well, that doesn’t impress me one little bit. But on the down side, I am getting so tired of having to dye my hair every couple of months. So…I have a tendency not to dye it for long periods of time and then yes, I look ten years older.

Well yesterday it was time for another dye job. My gray has gotten so bad now, that I have way…more gray then I do natural color (whatever that may be. lol). But for the next couple of months I will look my age again. After that, who knows. Maybe I will then start to grow old gracefully.

Well my last post in here got my motivation back for crafting and getting my home crafting business up and running. Yesterday after work I started to go through all my crafting magazines to see what I could create to try to sell. Well I came across an old unicorn cross stitch pattern and thought I may like to make this pattern. Years ago (probably 10-12 years ago) I made a couple of these and actually had someone buy both. I made a pretty good profit off my efforts so I have decided that I’m going to try to do this again. So instead of making jewelry I’m going to get back into cross stitching again. This is a perfect craft to do while I’m watching TV in the evenings as it doesn’t take a lot of “brain” work to do something like this.

When I get one of these patterns finished, I’ll be sure to pop back in and show you a picture of the finished product.

Well I’ve been listening to the news lately and have been hearing all about the US and how they are dealing with their recession period. Well here in Canada we are not doing much better. The economy has slowed considerably right now and if your anything like I am, you are just trying to find different ways to survive.

Well one of the ways that I have been using to try to survive in these very trying economic times, is by resurrecting my home crafting business. About a year ago I tried to get this little business up and running. But after a couple of months of not having any significant sales, I got a little discouraged and put this idea on the back burner. Well, I have decided that if I want to make any income at home, I’m going to have to give my idea of creating a small business a little more thought.

One area where I have been concentrating on is how I have been accepting payments for all my crafts in the past. In the past I hadn’t utilized any services such as Credit Card Factoring and I really do think that I probably lost some sales due to this. As most people use credit cards these days, I have decided that if I want to get real serious about this business, I am going to have to implement this option. I would be able to do this by using the services of onlinecheck.com. They have a very fast approval system in place with less stringent requirements to getting a loan. And with no closing costs or fees, I could potentially save some cash in the long run.

So, this is definitely something I’m going to need to give more thought to. I’ll let you all know how I make out with my little home crafting business.

Well it’s finally Friday so you all know what that means. It means that the weekend is right around the corner. This weekend is actually a pretty special time in my house. Not only is it Valentine’s day tomorrow, but it also my husband’s 42nd birthday as well. So we have a pretty special day planned. Even though I have to work a few hours tomorrow, I will be off at 2:00 pm so that will give us plenty of time to do some celebrating and partying. After I get home from work tomorrow the kids and I will take out my husband for his Valentine’s and birthday dinner. Then when we come home it’s time for presents and cake.

So if I don’t see you all again during the weekend….then I hope you all have a wonderful weekend and a very happy Valentine’s day goes out to all you as well.

With spring right around the corner, so comes spring cleaning and the spring renovations as well. I just love this time of year. It gives me an excuse to go shopping! This year we have decided to re-do the bathroom and our bedroom. It’s only two rooms out of the house, but it will be two rooms that we don’t have to worry about any more. I would love to purchase some new bedroom furniture and if I have any money left over after the renovations, that’s exactly what I am going to do.

I have searching online for different stores that carry bedroom furniture as well as bathroom vanities and other bathroom fixtures. The site I found is over at maxfurniture.com. This store carries a wide selection of furniture and their prices are extremely competitive to other stores that sell similar products.

There are several great features that I discovered that this site offers. Right now they have a huge sale on and are offering free shipping on their orders. Their selection of inventory is quite extensive and includes bathroom vanity sets , bedroom sets as well as clearance items. Their prices are really reasonable and I am quite confident that I would be able to purchase everything I need and still have a little left over.

So…if you are being a spring renovation project yourself and are looking for some great deals on furniture, then I highly suggest that you check out this site.

The best tip I can give you for going back to school at an older age is not to listen to well intentioned family members and friends when they tell you not to or your too old to be going back to school. There are many reasons why an older person may choose to take this route in life and I don’t think it is anyones concern why they are choosing to do this except for their own. If they feel that they are able to accomplish this, then I say go for it and good luck!

There are a few obstacles that may get in the way, but life is a challenge and this experience should be looked on as another challenge that needs to be faced. Most of the time when people decide to go back to school, this decision was not made lightly and the person has weighed all the pros and cons. So, friends and family should support them in any way they can.

Be prepared for some long nights, be prepared to having to jump a few hurdles, don’t be afraid to ask for help, but most importantly believe in yourself. If you feel you can achieve this goal, then go for it!

I have to say that Friday is probably my favorite day of the week. Yes, I know that I have to go to work tomorrow and Sunday so I shouldn’t be so pleased when Friday arrives, but since I absolutely love my job, this does not bother me.

The reason why I love Fridays so much is because it marks the end of a very long week. Especially this time of year. When I have to get up every day and go out in the cold first thing in the morning to take the kids to the bus stop. At least I get a break from that on the weekend.

So…happy Friday to you all and I’ll see you all again the first of next week.

Two snow days in less than a week. This is getting a little insane. This morning we woke up to more of the white stuff and all the schools were closed once again. Although it’s only 10:00 am here, it’s been such a long day already. The kids have pretty much been squabbling all morning. And because it’s still snowing and nasty outside, it looks like they will be inside for the remainder of the day which means more fighting! I really don’t know if I am going to make it. Hopefully this snow stops soon and they get all the roads plowed. These two kids really need to be in school.