My 1/2 Dozen Daily

So busy lately....

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I feel like I don't know which way is up! I have so many things that need done in every area of my life right now... household, budget, photography, reading for book reviews, sewing for me, sewing for others, sewing for orders, blog stuff, blog reviews, catching up on blog reading, projects with the kids, activities with the kids, stuff for others, etc... honestly, a "to do list" doesn't exist right now because I fear it will be neverending.

I guess it's coming down to the old adage, "how do you eat an elephant?" "One bite at a time."

So tonight I will start with little bites...

1. Laundry. Wash, fold & put away 2 loads.
2. Sort through wedding photos & delete any "throwaways".
3. Start mini tote bag order... (i'll see how much I can accomplish in 1 hr)
4. Read review book for a minimum of 30 minutes.
5. Bathe girls & read them Bible story before bed.
6. Order new day planner.
7. Sort through emails, delete what I can & reply to what needs my attention.
8. Clean kitchen & bathroom.

This will keep me busy tonight anyways. Hubby gets up at 11pm to start getting ready for work, which gives me a little over 4 1/2 hours to accomplish everything on my list. Ideally i'll be done all this before then, but we shall see. Well i'm off... no rest for the weary and all that... ;)

 

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What are you up to tonight?

 

There's always an upside!! It's all about your attitude...

On FB this morning a lovely friend of mine made a post about starting the day with paying her bills... most of us would be ugh! We'd have the same attitude most of the time. Correct? However, within 3 minutes Jessie had changed the entire outlook on her day with these 2 comments...

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What inspired me about this is that Jessie had decided that SHE was going to give herself an attitude adjustment and turn her entire day around with one simple thought. Having the *means* to pay for her bills this month, instead of HAVING to start her day paying bills. Just *one* thought, just *one* sentence, can turn your your entire day, your entire attitude!

How many times do we wake up and set the tone for our entire day by grumbling that the kids woke us up "too early" (guilty as charged!) or that we have to work, or have a dentist appointment, or our bodies ache in places that makes it hard to get through our day, or had a horrible nights sleep, and even yes, have bills to pay.

Instead of moaning & griping about what is "wrong" in your life, why not give ourselves an attitude adjustment?

Be grateful that we have little ones to wake us up in the morning.... as many do not have the blessings of little arms that hug, bright eyes that love and little lips that easily give out good morning kisses.

We need to be grateful that we have a job to go to... as many barely scrape by day to day, do not get paid fair wages, are treated unfairly and go to bed hungry.

We should be grateful that we can see a dentist or a doctor... as many go through life with pain & disease as they do not have access to health care & medicines to heal.

We need to be grateful that we have able & working bodies even if they may ache sometimes.

And finally, be grateful that we have the means to pay our bills and keep a roof overhead and warm our bodies as many, sleep on the cold & unforgiving streets with nothing more than the clothes on their back.

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Remember today that there is *always* an upside...

You just have to *choose* whether to see it or not.

 

I booked our summer zoo trip! :)

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This morning I went online to Great Canadian Holidays and booked our Toronto Zoo trip for the middle of August, with an extra seat for our Japanese homestay student who will be staying with us for the month of August! The girls are *very* excited to say the least and have already started to "count down" the days until we go to the zoo. This year the Giant Pandas are there so that's a bonus in my books!! Last year they had Eurasia closed off, but it's open for business this year!

The total cost for the trip was $360.00. This includes 6 seats on a luxury coach bus to & from Toronto (they are very nice & comfy with tvs, etc.. for the kids) and admission into the zoo. Expensive, but not bad overall for a 2+ hr trip each way.

However, upon seeing the new 2013/2014 Great Canadian Holidays magazine in the mail and noticed this in the magazine for the *same* trip, *same* booking... I wasn't a happy camper.

Hmmm...

I was charged $60/head and will be bringing 4 children, or perhaps 2 depending on how they classify a "child". Morgan is 15, our Japanese homestay girl is 14, Maria is 10, Mya is 6. So, I should have saved $20.00 - $40.00 overall, but paid the full amount. This is our BIG fun summer thing for the kids, so we need to save $$ wherever possible. Once we add in souvenirs and food/drinks, etc... it's a lot more than $360.00.

Needless to say, tomorrow when their office is open again i'll be calling to find out "what's up!?" and asking why I was charged $60.00 for the kids as well. With any luck i'll be receiving some $$ back. This month has been crazy expensive so far, so any 'extra' I can keep in our savings is a good thing! ;)

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Have you made any fun summer plans? Day trips or longer vacations?

 

Toddler Sized Minky Blanket!!

This blanket has been "on order" for the last month or so, but it took a long time for the iron-on patch to be delivered. Once I received it, I got to work and completed this order so I could pop it in the mail!

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"Big Brother" iron on patch in teal.. soo cute!

Backed with a super soft baby blue minky.. love it! The cat thinks she'll love it as well! ;)

Folded neat and small for sending...

It measures at approximately 40x60". Nice & BIG!!

I'm 5'9" and it's up to my neck anyways!

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And with this i'm off... busy day today and i'm slowly getting stuff crossed off of my 'to do' list but still have a ways to go! ;) Hope everyone is having a great day!

 

Wedding photos... !!

Not sure if this is going to work as my internet, which is supposed to be ultra high speed, is acting like it's dial up back in the 80's... no idea what's going on. I'm trying a different way of uploading but the quality isn't as nice, (*sigh*) so let's see if I can share a few wedding photos with you!

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This is my beautiful niece... I love her to bits!

I am so blessed to have been able to help her get ready for this special day, and shoot her wedding to give her memories to truly last a lifetime!!

This shot says it all... they are all about living life to the fullest! ALL the time!

The love & devotion in the grooms eyes is truly breathtaking...

Daddy giving up his youngest "little girl"...

Wow.

A fairytale shot....

Simple & understated... beautiful.

Wow... again. Wow.

Just before the walk down the "aisle"...

Since it was a backyard ceremony, the "aisle" wasn't really an "aisle"...

Can I just say that it should be illegal for anyone to be *THIS* gorgeous!!!

The entire wedding party and my other gorgeous niece beside the bride... amazing & incredible girls!!

*Ideally... his hand wouldn't have been in front of her flowers, but I still love this shot...

*LOVE* this "money shot"! haha!

And one last one....

One of the grooms relatives shared this well known verse from 1 Corinthians...

I used their ring ceremony shot and turned it into this reminder of what marriage is about... :)

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Thanks for looking... I have many more shots which i'll slowly be going through!

Here is the album which I bought today as part of their wedding gift...

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White leather embroidered photo album... it will hold 160 photos. So after i've edited 160 photos, i'll get them developed, fill the album, and present them with this wedding gift. I hope they like it!!

Thanks for looking! :)

 

Love is patient...

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And since I can't seem to get up any blog posts with my images in them... so is blogging. :/ I'm going to try to put this through then will try to put up my post with the wedding photo's i'd like to share with you! So here goes nothing!!

Testing...

Sorry for the test post... can't get any photos to post! Grr!!