Black Friday! :) or :(

Around here, we are very thankful for Black Friday! I just wanted to pass on one of my favorite sites for making a decision about where to shop during those early hours the day after Thanksgiving! blackfriday.info This site offers a search tool in the upper right hand corner, so that, say you are wanting a 32" flat panel for Christmas... you just search for 32" and it brings them all up so it is easy to compare! Try it out! You can also click on a specific store, look at their scanned ad, or they have a compiled list of what is in the ad.

What's your "Secret"?

I don't know if you have noticed the new additions to my side bar. If you need some random inspiration of your own, take a look at them! Lots of great sites popping up these days. Creative people out in this world!

Our ward is doing the temple pictures from poppyseedprojects.com for our super saturday next month. I am soooo thrilled! They look exactly like the ones at Tai Pan and Costco that I loved the instant I saw them! I used the "secret" to not have to pay $200-$500 to get one of my own :)

In case you don't know about the "secret" or the law of attraction, you get what you think about, want, and feel in life, good or bad. Happiness and wellness be with you!

Trick or Treat, witches feet! CUTE!

My creative sis-in-law sent me this great idea for this month's visiting teaching message. I did it, and all the sisters LOVED them! My snLaw said she made some a little smaller and scalloped the lining inside. I bet that was super cute!

Template Link

Link for Messages "Witch" way will you choose to help the rising generation? Click here for a cute message to include.

Done with Coupons!

Using coupons is just not for me. Saving money is wonderful, getting free items rocks, but I'm done with the empty shelves after all the time consuming work of it. A few people have told me about DealstoMeals.com and it is turning out to be exactly the simplicity I need. It is about $1 a week, and it is free to try for the first 2 weeks. I think the best thing about it is that it is oriented to food storage and gives suggestions on how much to buy for a year supply AND it tells you the shelf/freezer life of the items! Awesome.

Wait, wait, no... the best part is the fact that it provides weekly menus (that look tasty and realistic)AND a complete shopping list. These people READ my mind.

My FAT problem

The picture of me on this blog is after I had my second child, and AFTER I had been working out and eating right for a few months. Now, I have 3 kids. I don't look like that. Making time to work out seems infinitely annoying. Sleep is one of the number one factors for that. Besides, when I'm stressed or lonely, I eat sweets. I start HUNTING for them without even thinking about it! I believe addiction might be a correct term. So, with no desire to spend money on a gym pass, as I won't likely find time to go, and with a need for sleep that out-weighs the scale, I was left with one option: walk with kids in the stroller. I've been doing it for 2 weeks now for about an hour in all, as I take DD to school and when I pick her up. I enjoy it, the kids enjoy it. It is working out! I believe I have lost 7 lbs already! So, what does that translate too? Well, when I have success, I don't want to ruin it, so I start eating better. I start feeling motivated to do more and more! Hooray! I can already see myself fitting into my clothes again!

So, in the name of mom's helping mom's, women helping women, I encourage you to find something active you enjoy doing very regularly, and just do it. Don't make weight loss goals right off. Just make the goal to be active, and do it for and with your kids or hubby or neighbor or sister or whomever. I'm not trying to be an expert on this after just 2 weeks of trying it, but I do remember being told this so many times and I guess now I'm just a believer.

Scarf Season! & an awesome organizational tip!!

I love scarfs, jackets, hats, gloves. Fall isn't long enough for me here in Utah! The problem is, with lots of little ones, all of those accessories seem hard to keep track of and end up a mess. At a recent church enrichment someone suggested this tip, and I've been trying it and LOVE it!

I'm sure these over the door shoe organizers have many uses. I've been thinking of more things to buy them for. They really do work great for gloves, hats and scarfs! I got this mesh one at Wal-mart, but I was looking for the cheaper plastic ones. Anyone know where to find them?

I like that this mesh one will help air out any damp accessories! It has two pockets on top of eachother-- good for keeping track of sets. Also, a great place for keys, or binkis, or anything small that has a hard time finding a place. One sister said she uses one on her pantry door for spices and odds and ends. Awesome idea! (But my pantry door is extremely small) I've seen them for hair bows and accessories, and I'm thinking of putting one on my daughter's closet door for socks, shoes, and all of the above.

*Sigh* I love organization! I get so excited about it! And I think us mom's, wives, and women need all the help at home we can get!

What is really going on with H1N1 (swine flu)?

I'm not sure anyone really knows for sure. I talk to some people who think that we were all in a panic over nothing-- that it is just a normal flu. The normal flu kills people too. Very few are dying. The media was just using it as hype.

There are others who predict there could be a second wave this fall-- which will be stronger because this virus will have mutated to be stronger against our immunities. If you read up on the Spanish Influenze Pandemic of 1918, this is strongly supported as a similar past event. The media isn't reporting this; perhaps they won't report anything about it until enough people die so they won't be accused of hype.

Some people are beginning to panic because they are seeing the illness closer to home. A missionary friend of our family recently wrote home that there are now over 50 cases of H1N1 in the MTC. I've heard MANY people have pnemonia right now-- most people know of friends at work that have it, and even my sister has it. Why the pnemonia out-break?

I don't know what is going to happen. I'm not sure anyone does. I do think it is wise to follow the Lord's Prophet and be prepared with a 3 month's supply in the case of many things, including quarantine. A mandated quarantine would prevent people from doing many things-- including shopping, buying gas, etc. The workers would be home too! It is never dumb to be prepared-- no matter how dumb someone tries to make you feel for buying a bunch of masks.

I've made a couple handouts on basic emergency preparedness for my stake-- feel free to use them.