Can you help me out?  I recently had a booth at a mom’s convention, and I ended up with a surplus of aprons & some Kid Approved Meals Binders that I need to unload – quickly…  The aprons are made out of boutique high end materials.  They are beautiful!  They would be perfect for Easter, Mother’s Day or Birthday presents.  I am selling them at my cost – $17 for women’s & $15 for kids which includes shipping & tax.  (They retail for $30 plus shipping & tax, so you are getting them 1/2 off).  The patterns I have available are below.  I only have a few of each pattern, so it’s first come, first serve.  (Click on the apron pictures if you need to see them larger)

For Kid Approved Meals, this is the book I sell at www.KidApprovedMeals.com  I just revised it last week, so this is the new and improved version.  It includes 13 weeks of breakfast & lunch menus with grocery shopping lists, as well as 27 pages of snack ideas.  The fun part is that I had custom binders printed to hold the book.  These are a limited edition item, as I probably will not get any more binders printed.  The price is $20 which includes shipping & tax.  The ebook on the website is $14.95.  So for $5 more you get 117 pages printed (You can hardly print it at home for that price) plus you get the cute binder & it shipped to you!  It’s a great deal!  Once again, I am just recouping my cost, not making a profit. I just need these out of my house.     And once again it is first come, first serve until we run out. 

Shop Here

 
I am so thankful to be able to work at home.  Annika has been sick this week with ear infections in both ears, but since I work at home, I can hold her while she sleeps, and work at the same time.  I feel so blessed to be able to do both things. 

Wow, I am a mess tonight.  I often read blogs on the weekend – as a way to relax and catch up with my online friends (and some local friends) lives.  Tonight, I was reading one of my favorite my favorite blog, and I couldn’t help but be touched.  You see, Jennifer is currently in Kenya with Compassion International.  I have heard lots about Compassion, but friends, you need to go read this, to really put life in perspective.  I shared this with my kids tonight… They certainly don’t grasp the entirety of it, but it got their little minds thinking and hopefully will help them be grateful for what they have (for at least a day).  I think a Compassion Child may be joining our family soon.

Then, as if all that wasn’t enough to pull on my heart strings, one of my dear friends posted this video on Facebook.

That goes completely with my goal of being purposeful this year. 

With an extremely grateful heart…

C-

Wow, well, thank you all for your kind thoughts & emails.   Thankfully everything is pulling together for my conference next week.  I can’t wait to show you pictures and share how it went!  

My binders showed up yesterday!  I was sooo relieved.  They put a rush on my order for no extra charge and they got here in one day!  The colors aren’t exactly what I had in mind (particularly the yellow – it was supposed to be more of an orange…), but they are going to have to work!  It has been so fun to go from an idea in my mind, to getting the design on paper, to having the actual product in my hand. 

My aprons are supposed to get here Friday.  You know when you picture something in your mind, and just presume it is going to be that way?  I’m not sure how I got it in my mind, but somehow…. I pictured the aprons coming in a big box all individually wrapped in poly bags – so FLAT bags… WELL… the company called Tuesday and asked if I wanted them on a pallet and shipped freight or in boxes (plural) via UPS.  All the sudden it occurred to me… if they need to be on a pallet, they are taking up much more space that I was thinking… So I asked.. “just how are these packaged?”  (Yeah, I probably should have thought to ask this before… but like I said I had just pictured it in my mind and figured that’s how it as going to be.)  So how do they come?  In INDIVIDUAL boxes….   LOL  So I am getting four HUNDRED individual boxes with aprons on Friday.  LOL  LOL  I mean the individual boxes will come in larger boxes, but this is going to take up WAY more space than I was anticipating!  I’m not sure if we are going to make it in 1 trip (2 hours away) or not…  My husband might have to make a trip as well to help us get it all there!  We shall see!  This is all such a learning process! 

This morning I picked up my 37,312 copies from Staples.  They did all that in 1 day as well!  WOW… I felt really bad for the copy center lady. 

Tuesday I have super good amazing friends coming to help me assemble binders, write coupon codes on post cards etc. 

It’s an adventure for sure!  One that I am grateful to have the opportunity to experience. 

C-

Hello Monday!  I’m so grateful for a new week…  Last week was just Crazy!  So crazy, I hardly remember all of it, aside from the fact that it was just stressful (with some fun parts sprinkled in).  Let’s see, I’ll try to do at least a little recap.

- I have been working a crazy insane amount, trying to get ready for our Hearts at Home Conference we are having a booth at.  This is a pretty big deal, only a few companies get picked and it is a large conference (about 4000 moms!)  I am so excited, and yet it has been just complete chaos as well.  For example, I ordered custom printed binders to hold my Kid Approved Meals Book.  Well, I ordered them Feb. 15th, and saw it takes 19 days.  GREAT!  I need them by March 9th, I should have them!  Then, I get a call on Friday to inform me “GREAT NEWS!”  Your binders are scheduled to be shipped March 12th!  UMMMM  TERRIBLE NEWS!  The conference is over then!  I went back to read the contract, to discover that it is 19 WORKING days…  UGH  So of course they were closed on Friday by the time I got this news…  So I am anxiously awaiting a call today to hopefully put a rush on the order. 

Then, I decided I wanted to sell aprons in our booth.  They are so cute!  Well, the company I wanted to purchase them had a special through last Friday, but first I had to get it approved by Hearts at Home, and of course… The lady who approves things was out for surgery until mid-week.   UGH.  I finally was able  to get approval late Monday night from someone else there, and the company did honor their special for me.  PHEW!

Oh, and then there was my postcards – that came with the back printed upside down…

Everything just seems to be ending up last minute – which was not at all what I was planning… but so it goes!  I’m just hoping it can all pull together by next week!  EEK!  Nothing like a little stress!

- We did have some fun times last week too.  Tuesday I spent the day with a friend.  We did some shopping and we met with a doula, as my friend and I would both love to be doula’s some day, and chatted for a good two hours.  That was a lot of fun! 

- Friday the kids didn’t have school, so we went to 123 JUMP (a big place with lots of big bounce houses) with 4 other moms.  So there were 5 moms and 11 kids!  Fun times!  We even went out to lunch at Steak N’ Shake, and the kids were great!  Here’s 7 of them.  They had their own table – too cute! 

Saturday Matt and I went to the Focus on Marriage Conference.  It was excellent!  A day well spent. 

Last week My “The Menu Mom” Blog also got a HUGE Makeover!  I Love it!  Go take a look! 

Okay, I better get busy with homeschool.  It’s March!  We’re down to the final 3 months before summer vacation!  YEA!

C-

Do you ever take the time to dream?  Ever forget to take the time to dream?  Many of you are busy moms, and I’m willing to bet we often put everyone else in front of us, and forget to dream big for ourselves. 

I believe in dreams… I love dreams…  Sometimes future dreams keep me going day in and day out…  I dream of our children’s future, I dream of our future in each stage of our children’s life and beyond.  I dream of goals, and vacations, and broken hearts being mended. 

I think most of us have at least one dream in the back of our mind.  Maybe we don’t think about it too often.. but it’s there… albeit often set aside for the time being as we spend time nurturing our children, tending to the important relationships in our lives, running our homes, holding down job or volunteer opportunities, and staying on top of the complexity of running our everyday lives.  Still deep down – are those dreams, that just don’t feel obtainable right now. 

One of my dreams is to be a doula or midwife.  However, the season of life I am in right now, is not quite ready for that.  So I dream…

Today, I do have good news for your dreams though!  We have partnered up with Prilosec OTC to share with you something really exciting.

As a celebration of things that take us out of everyday stress, Prilosec OTC, a leading over-the-counter heartburn treatment, dreamed up the "Official Sponsor of Everything You Do Without Heartburn" program.

Prilosec OTC is going to help 100 people realize their dreams by providing sponsorships with an average value of  $1,000 and a maximum of $4,000. What most moves you and will enable you to take your hobby or passion to the next level? From a commercial oven to turn your baking into a business, to plane tickets and trip coverage to take pottery classes in Italy or to hike the Grand Canyon — the application criteria are simple: "Tell them who you are, what you love to do, and what you need to do it better. They also want to know, if sponsored, who you would tell about it." 

The fifteen entry categories: food and cuisine, arts and crafts, family, home and garden, entertainment and leisure, health and fitness, travel, sports, and professional pursuits. So much to choose from! And time’s moving fast — the deadline is February 22

Let me know if you enter, I’d love to read (and vote for) your entry!

C-

I wrote this post while participating in a blog campaign by Mom Central on behalf of Prilosec OTC. Mom Central sent me a gift card to thank me for taking the time to participate.

Hi, I need your opinion on something on my Facebook Page – RE: Aprons I am considering selling at a conference next month.  I will be highlighting Dine Without Whine and Kid Approved Meals at the conference, and I think these might fit in… But I’m curious what your opinion is….www.dinewithoutwhine.com/facebook 

THANKS so much!

C-

As I relax a bit this evening and read blogs and catch up with friends on Twitter, Facebook & E-mail, the thought comes to me…  Seriously… How do they have time for all of that?  Then I realize… Once again… that I am looking at MANY different people, in MANY different circumstances and trying to put them all into that cookie cutter mold of the “perfect” mom.  C’mon… don’t tell me you don’t do that sometimes too. 

I devour a post about a mom editing each photo she publishes because they just aren’t blog worthy until they have been “tweeked” in photoshop. I am taking in all the instructions, bookmarking the post, thinking this must be something I should be doing… and then it hits me…  Yeah… Don’t have time for that – you get what you get – straight out of the camera on my family blog that boasts a picture a day.  (I thought that was pretty good in and of itself! No way I have an extra 30 min. to make the photo look perfect!)

I chat with another homeschooling mom about the field trips they have planned this spring, what elaborate science experiment they should try next and I think… Wow, we’re lucky to just get through the bare bones each day. 

I chat with a friend about all the new business projects she has going and how great everything is going.  Meanwhile, I think.. I am still with the same ol’ projects and they are not moving forward fast at all… downright slow actually…

I read a very popular blog (we’re talking sometimes 2-3 posts a day) about a mommy expecting baby #5 (and her kids are all much closer in age than mine) and I think Wow, I wish I had time (& inspiration) to blog like that…

We do the best we can… and that is just going to have to be good enough.  The issue comes in trying to accept that we have done our best. 

C-

Happy Valentine’s Day!  I hope you had a great day.  We stayed home because little Annika had a fever.  She still dressed up cute for her daddy though! 

We’re sending you lots of LOVE!

I just found the best site – had to share!  If you ever have a friend in need and you would like to help by organizing meals, this is a really great FREE site!  You set up a calendar, notify friends/family, and it keeps everything organized. 

Being a part of a woman’s Bible Study Group, and a pastor’s wife, I find myself organizing meals for other families fairly often.  I can’t wait to use this service!  It will make it so much easier that emailing back and forth.  I hope you find it useful one day as well. 

http://www.takethemameal.com

C-