tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-44015580054356939652024-02-06T20:45:46.300-07:00Lady of Perpetual ChaosLady of Perpetual Chaoshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01434516025772250275noreply@blogger.comBlogger638125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4401558005435693965.post-1903541146592308292016-03-15T22:36:00.000-06:002016-05-03T22:42:23.726-06:00Wait....you're a homeschooler?!?It's a question I hear a lot. Some people are very surprised that we homeschool. Other people aren't surprised at all. I actually had people assume that we homeschooled on several occasions before we made the big leap. Honestly, some days I fall on the surprised side of us homeschooling. It was never something I planned on, that's for sure.<br />
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But let me go back a few years......<br />
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Imagine me, a cute little third grader back in 1980-something. I knew of only one family that had taken their children out of public school so they could homeschool. And I'm not gonna lie....they were weird. Like, super weird. That was my only personal experience with homeschoolers.<br />
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Fast forward ten years....I'm a freshman in college and my best friend had been homeschooled. She was (and still is) far from weird. People often question the social skills and experiences of homeschooled children. She was the least socially awkward person I knew. Quite the opposite really. She was a social butterfly and pretty much knew everyone. And still remembers most of them. I barely even remember college. It's rather annoying. Anyway, at the time I thought that her (and her family) must be an exception to the "homeschoolers are weird" rule. Because, homeschoolers are weird, right?<br />
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Fast forward a few more years. Let's say.....fifteen more years. (I know! It's hard to believe I'm that old! That math was upsetting.) My sweet Lolly girl was a cute little first grader and I had just found out that the older kids at her elementary school were snorting over the counter drugs during recess. In elementary school! I was appalled. <br />
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I happened to go to dinner with another friend who was a teacher and school administrator. We were discussing my frustration and going over my options. I was just at a loss. I told her that I would love to homeschool my kids but I didn't want them to end up being weird! She looked at me, laughed a little and said, "of course they wouldn't be weird because you're not weird!". <br />
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It was a total Oprah Ah Ha Moment. <br />
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Those homeschool kids I had known when I was a kid were weird because they were weird. It had nothing to do with homeschooling. They were weird when they were in public school too. Now, I'm sure they've grown up to be functional adults, even if they're still weird. Let's call it quirky. As an adult, I'm a lot more accepting of weird/quirky. I've grown up to be a functional adult as well. Most days. And my friend from college was socially successful because she was raised by socially successful people. <br />
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This Ah Ha Moment has gone on to help me in a variety of ways. Not only in my journey toward transitioning to homeschool (which didn't happen for three more years) but also in my interactions since making the decision. The socialization card is frequently played by those that don't agree with homeschooling and it's an easy way to make a new homeschool parent second guess themselves. Or if they're like me, 472nd guess themselves. It's a passive aggressive way of saying "you're totally messing up your kids by homeschooling them" since a child couldn't possibly have any social skills if they're not in public school. But here's another little nugget of wisdom that has also helped me.<br />
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<b>Forced association is not the same as socialization.</b><br />
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That's right.....association is just not the same as socialization. And if you're planning on the public school system teaching your children all their social skills then you need to rethink that plan. Teachers have more to do than they have time to do it all. They are trying to work miracles in their classrooms where there just isn't enough money, time, teachers, resources to go around in order to teach all the core subjects. They shouldn't have to worry about teaching social skills. That's a parents job. <br />
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Well, that was a little more ranty than I had planned on. I guess it's no surprise that I feel strongly about the parents role in parenting. Mainly, I feel like parents should, ya know....parent.<br />
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So, here we are now....just a couple months left of our first year of homeschooling. I have learned a lot. I hope my girls have learned a lot. It's so easy to get caught up in all the little details of school that's it's easy to forget the why. But the why is the most important part.<br />
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Why did I decide to homeschool anyway? Sometimes I feel like it chose me more than I chose it. It was just something always hanging out in the back of my mind, nagging me with the potential. Last winter as I went back and forth trying to decide what was best for our family I often thought I had either lost my mind or was becoming so much more enlightened. Was it possible that we could be happier not doing what everyone else was doing? Could we really live a more fulfilling life if we ventured off the beaten path? And maybe, just maybe.....not everyone is meant to go through life in the same way. Maybe homeschooling could be amazing for us just like public schooling is amazing for some families and charter schooling is amazing for other families and private schooling is amazing for other families. Maybe....there isn't only one right way to do everything. And maybe that's okay.<br />
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<span style="color: purple;">Here's to the crazy ones, the misfits, the rebels, the troublemakers,
the round pegs in the square holes... the ones who see things
differently -- they're not fond of rules... You can quote them, disagree
with them, glorify or vilify them, but the only thing you can't do is
ignore them because they change things... they push the human race
forward, and while some may see them as the crazy ones, we see genius,
because the ones who are crazy enough to think that they can change the
world, are the ones who do. ~Steve Jobs </span></div>
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Lady of Perpetual Chaoshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01434516025772250275noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4401558005435693965.post-71199990729186360632016-02-17T16:11:00.000-07:002016-02-20T16:14:26.294-07:00Tap, tap, tap....Hello? How are you?2015 has a new name at our house. 2015 will now and forever more be known as The Year of Epic Change. Epic change, I tell you. Good change, but it was a level of change that cannot be simply summed up in one post. I'll give you a little bullet point list for now, but I'll be going into more detail later on. Way more detail. Possibly too much detail. <br />
<br />
Presenting, my bullet point list!<br />
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<ul>
<li>Deciding to homeschool! (yes, really)</li>
<li>Deciding to move! (yes, really)</li>
<li>Building a new house</li>
<li>Selling our old house (quite the adventure)</li>
<li>Living in my inlaws basement while our house was completed</li>
<li>Getting a part time job</li>
<li>Homeschooling</li>
<li>Getting another part time job</li>
<li>Quitting both jobs </li>
<li>The Holidays! (oh my gosh...)</li>
</ul>
<div>
And now here we are. I have realized a lot of things over the course of the last year, but one thing is for sure. I've missed blogging. I got caught in the trap of thinking I needed to be making money from my blog in order to spend time on it. But I was wrong. I just like writing. I love documenting the crazy journey that is my life. It gives me perspective. And I love looking at old posts of things I had forgotten about. </div>
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So, here I am. Here's to a boring 2016! A year with a lot more blogging and a lot less crazy. (maybe) </div>
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Lady of Perpetual Chaoshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01434516025772250275noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4401558005435693965.post-61314334032410376312015-02-11T23:08:00.000-07:002015-02-17T16:28:47.773-07:00Recipe Swap Wednesday-Cherry Chocolate PopcornThis originated with a yummy holiday treat that I found on <a href="http://ourbestbites.com/2008/12/peppermint-bark-popcorn/" target="_blank">Our Best Bites for Peppermint Bark Popcorn</a>. My family loves it and I wanted to try a variation that was less holiday specific. But since we have a holiday coming up that this would be perfect for I figured this was a perfect time to share.<br />
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<u><b><span style="font-size: large;">Cherry Chocolate Popcorn</span></b></u><br />
<br />
<b>Ingredients</b><br />
16 cups popped popcorn<br />
16 ounces almond bark<br />
1/4 teaspoon cherry flavoring oil (or 2 tsp cherry extract) <br />
3/4 cup chocolate chips (I prefer semi-sweet but you can use whatever you want)<br />
<br />
<b>Instructions</b> <br />
Measure out the popcorn into a large bowl.<br />
Melt the almond bark in the microwave on 50% heat until smooth.<br />
Add the cherry flavoring and then pour over popcorn.<br />
Mix well until all popcorn is covered.<br />
Spread out on cookie sheets or wax paper.<br />
Melt chocolate chips and drizzle over the popcorn mixture.<br />
Allow to cool and harden completely (I would give it at least an hour) and then break into small pieces and store in an air tight container.<br />
<br />
This is a pretty simple treat that goes together quickly and is great for parties. And if you're feeling really festive you can always add a little food coloring. Because everyone loves pink chocolate popcorn for Valentines Day. <br />
<br />Lady of Perpetual Chaoshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01434516025772250275noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4401558005435693965.post-20551261997004443582015-02-08T23:30:00.000-07:002015-02-11T13:28:01.098-07:00Book Of The Week! My Year With Eleanor by Noelle HancockThis was one of those books that I just picked up on a whim. I liked the cover and I'm a big fan of picking a book by it's cover.<br />
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<iframe frameborder="0" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no" src="//ws-na.amazon-adsystem.com/widgets/q?ServiceVersion=20070822&OneJS=1&Operation=GetAdHtml&MarketPlace=US&source=ac&ref=tf_til&ad_type=product_link&tracking_id=ladofpercha05-20&marketplace=amazon&region=US&placement=0061875015&asins=0061875015&linkId=PXOE2EX234KYAVI4&show_border=true&link_opens_in_new_window=true" style="height: 240px; width: 120px;">
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This is a non-fiction book that read like fiction. It's a popular style of book right now.....writers take on a new project or lifestyle change for a year and then write a book about their experiences. This particular book was about a writer who had just lost her professional celebrity gossip blogging job and wanted to get her life back on track. It was fun to read about her experiences, but I also really enjoyed all information she shared about Eleanor Roosevelt. I've always respected Eleanor Roosevelt but learned so much from this book. It honestly made me want to read some of the books that Eleanor herself wrote. Especially this one....<br />
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<iframe frameborder="0" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no" src="//ws-na.amazon-adsystem.com/widgets/q?ServiceVersion=20070822&OneJS=1&Operation=GetAdHtml&MarketPlace=US&source=ac&ref=tf_til&ad_type=product_link&tracking_id=ladofpercha05-20&marketplace=amazon&region=US&placement=0062061577&asins=0062061577&linkId=QCZIH4UWRKDGJM5N&show_border=true&link_opens_in_new_window=true" style="height: 240px; width: 120px;"> </iframe></div>
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So...have you read any good books lately?
Lady of Perpetual Chaoshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01434516025772250275noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4401558005435693965.post-83068253554665338372015-01-29T09:45:00.000-07:002015-01-29T09:54:01.468-07:00What Are Your Superpowers?Just last week I had the AMAZING opportunity to attend the Alt Summit Conference in downtown Salt Lake. I won a ticket through Instagram last month and it was a crazy mad dash to get ready in time. Or kind of ready. It's really hard to prepare for something that you've never been to before and can't image the extent of the experiences that you will have. None the less, the time came to attend the conference and I was half excited and half terrified. Mostly, the excited half won out.<br />
<br />
On the first day, I attended an early bird session hosted by Karen Walrond of <a href="http://www.chookooloonks.com/" target="_blank">Chookooloonks</a>. The session was a vision exercise to help you determine what your business/blog is about and what direction you want to go. She went over techniques on building your about page, mission statement and elevator pitch which is great for any small business, online or not.<br />
<br />
We started out defining what we are about and she asked some great questions. We jotted down quick answers but they were questions that really could benefit from some deeper examination. The first two questions were as follows:<br />
<ul>
<li>Who Are You?</li>
<li>What Are You Passionate About?</li>
</ul>
The answers were many and varied. Knowing me like you do, you know my answers ranged from "Mommy" to "Talker" and everything in between. But the last question was the one that really got me. <br />
<ul>
<li>What Are Your Superpowers? </li>
</ul>
Not "what superpowers do you want?" but what superpowers do you have. I looked around at the rest of the room and saw everyone scrawling things quickly into their notebooks. And I just sat there. I could not think of a single superpower. Not one. After a few minutes, people began sharing their superpowers. Hearing each one made me so happy. I was sitting in a room FULL of amazing, talented people and I loved hearing about their unique ways of contributing to the world around them. But it still didn't spark any ideas for me. <br />
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As the conference progressed, that question just sat with me. Nagged me. Occasionally taunted me with my lack of superpower or even the imagination to think of one. On the one hand, we all know people who are so arrogant and obnoxious with telling everyone how fabulous they are and I certainly don't want to be like that. But still....not being able to think of a single superpower? Lame.<br />
<br />
This weekend I took that question home with me and decided to do a little research. Generally speaking, my research usually starts with subjecting my children to whatever experiment I have pinging around in my head. They're still young enough to enjoy it so I need to enjoy it while it lasts. I asked my girls what their superpowers were and they gave me some awesome answers. Here are a few snippets from our conversation.<br />
<br />
Lolly's Superpowers: "I'm really good at naming things...like stuffed animals and stuff like that. I may not use it much now but it's definitely going to come in handy when I'm a grown up. And I'm really good at finding the word someone needs. Ya know, like adjectives. And I'm good at helping people"<br />
<br />
Babs' Superpowers: "Math!! I make a really good sidekick. And I'm good at helping my friends and family." <br />
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They asked me why I was asking and I told them about the class and how I was interested in hearing their answers. And then they asked me the inevitable awkward question....what were your answers Mommy? I'm not a great liar so I confessed....I couldn't think of any. Not a single one. <br />
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My girls, being the awesome girls that they are, started spouted off all the superpowers they thought I had. Starting with making yummy food and going from there. They are the sweetest girls ever. <br />
<br />
Lolly shared one that has stuck with me ever since. She said, "Mommy, you're really good at seeing when someone needs something and then helping them out." <br />
<br />
Oh, my sweet girl. She always says the things that just make my cry from the beautifulness of it all. <br />
<br />
I don't know if that's true, but gosh I hope so. That's the kind of person I want to be. The kind of person who sees a need and steps up to help. To keep trying to make a difference, even if it's just a tiny difference. I may not have a lot of superpowers, but I'm the luckiest mom I know and that, my friends, is the best superpower of all. <br />
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Lady of Perpetual Chaoshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01434516025772250275noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4401558005435693965.post-87051651134528073312015-01-05T22:21:00.000-07:002015-01-05T22:27:49.501-07:00Highlights of 2014The last two months have just flown by at lightening speed. FLOWN BY, I tell you. It has been a whirlwind of dancing, homework, baking, wrapping, delivering and getting sick. But I guess that's the holidays for you. At least, that's what they've become for me.<br />
<br />
I've seen a lot of Top Ten posts on blog floating around the internet. I'm not totally sure I actually have ten blog posts that people have read, let alone a top ten list. So, in my slacker way, I'm going to highlight some of my Top Ten Experiences of 2014. Although there probably won't be ten. There will be.....some. Instead of most popular down to least popular, I will go chronologically because it's easier for me to find pictures that way. Assuming I even took any pictures........sigh......<br />
<br />
Without further ado, I present to you 2014 Chaos Style!<br />
<br />
Dexter grew a mustache. This poor dog. He is so loved. I promise.<br />
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Babs turned 7! And also got her first hair cut shortly after. <br />
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June was a big month for our family. First we had dance recitals. This was not your average dance recital. It was a full show. It was so amazing I'm not really sure why they call it a dance recital. <br />
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And then we met Martha Stewart. No, really. We met Martha Stewart and she loved my girls. There was also an extremely unflattering picture of me in the newspaper. Yay for that. </div>
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Then we took an EPIC vacation to Orlando, Florida which is going to get a post all on its' own.<br />
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Started school, much to this mama's sadness. Fourth and Second grades this year.<br />
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And Lolly turned 10! TEN! Double Digits. I can't believe my baby is ten. <br />
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Our fall was busy with Christmasy stuff. Both girls were in the school choir (which started learning Christmas songs in September) and danced in a local production of the Nutcracker which started rehearsals in October.<br />
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And had some awesome (easy) Christmas hair!<br />
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It was quite the year and we loved it. Our New Year's celebration included thinking back on everything that we learned and did last year and making goals for the coming year. But that's another post for another day.......<br />
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<br />Lady of Perpetual Chaoshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01434516025772250275noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4401558005435693965.post-12198337674417790842014-11-03T20:30:00.000-07:002014-11-04T13:35:47.067-07:00I'm Not That Great, Really A few weeks ago I was invited to a small ladies lunch. I was surprised by the invitation because....well, I'm generally surprised by any social invitation. I'm not exactly drowning in friends and social invites in my neighborhood. But I was excited to go. Nervous, but excited. The problem is that when I get nervous I tend to talk too much. Mostly about nothing. And it's annoying. But that's another problem for another day. <br />
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My RSVP was a solid maybe since I had been sick. Oh my gosh, I had been sick for so long. Bronchitis, then pneumonia.....it was really just ridiculous. I am feeling better now, thanks for asking. Since my attendance wouldn't be concrete, I didn't end up bringing any food contribution to the luncheon. But every other member of the group brought something....soup, rolls, dessert, etc. It was really a lovely afternoon and I quite enjoyed myself. Except for the nervous talking. That was lame. <br />
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While we were eating lunch something happened that really stood out to me. Something that has probably happened at just about every lunch or dinner party I've ever been to, but for some reason this really stood out to me. And it made me sad. <br />
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When the meal began, our lovely hostess apologized for not having a large enough matching set of dishes for everyone. There were enough dishes for everyone to use, but they didn't all match. Here she had graciously invited us all to her home, but felt the need to apologize for a super hero cup. As each of the items were tasted and complimented, a similar thing happened. <br />
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"Oh, it's just soup from a mix. Nothing special."<br />
"If I can make this, anyone can."<br />
"It's just the three ingredient cookies. It wasn't that hard."<br />
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These kind, talented, funny, dedicated, amazing women felt the need to essentially put themselves down when given a genuine compliment. To explain how their efforts were nothing special. There was only one woman there who simply smiled and replied that the soup she had brought was a family favorite and she hoped everyone would like it. I can't help but think that the fact that she was not raised in the United States was a contributing factor to her being able to accept a compliment without letting you know how much she doesn't deserve it.<br />
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I'm certainly not pointing fingers here. There is not a doubt in my mind that I would have done the exact same thing.....had I actually brought something to contribute. (Other than my awkward over-talking) I can't even begin to count the number of times that I've made some sort of excuse as to why someone shouldn't be complimenting me. I'm not sure why we do it. Is it so we don't appear prideful and arrogant? Is it because we feel that we are too flawed in other ways to accept any kind of compliment? Or is it because, as a society, we have trained our girls to not feel like anything they do is enough? <br />
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I just don't know. What I do know is that I'm going to do everything in my power to make sure my girls know that they can graciously accept compliments and not feel like they have to let the one giving the compliment know how they don't measure up. I'm going to do my best to teach my girls that doing their best is good enough. And I'm going to start by reminding myself (probably every. single. day.) that doing my best is good enough too.<br />
Lady of Perpetual Chaoshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01434516025772250275noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4401558005435693965.post-92086207117936837782014-10-14T21:35:00.001-06:002014-10-14T21:35:34.288-06:00Tip Tuesday--Another Use For Your Jar LifterI know I'm not the only one out there that still home cans food for storage. And if you are a canner, then you have a jar lifter. (If not....you totally should...they're awesome.) <br />
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Life has taken a turn from crazy to so crazy I can't remember what day it is. In order to curb the crazy, I've been making and using freezer meals so that I have one less thing to wake me up in the middle of the night. But sometimes those plastic bags full of raw meat and less than solid ingredients are all over the place. Sometimes things get spilled. And I want to avoid those sometimes. <br />
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That's where the jar lifter came in! Just yesterday I was making <a href="http://www.ladyofperpetualchaos.com/2013/01/recipe-swap-wednesday-chicken-enchilada.html" target="_blank">this recipe for Chicken Enchilada Rice </a>(freeze the chicken, green chilies and melted butter and add the cream cheese and milk according to recipe directions) and needed to get the ingredients into a quart size plastic bag. So I turned over the zip closure top and put it around the non-rubbery end and was able to put everything in the bag and close it up with nary a drip to be found. <br />
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It probably won't work with anything bigger than the quart size bag but it works for that so it's all good.<br />
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Happy Canning Season! <br />
Lady of Perpetual Chaoshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01434516025772250275noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4401558005435693965.post-30086421993600928482014-09-19T22:09:00.002-06:002014-09-19T22:09:41.610-06:00Friday Favorite--Simply Eden Lip BalmA few months ago my cute little family headed to Ogden for the Earth Day Celebration at Ogden Nature Center....which I highly recommend you attend if you live anywhere within driving distance. We had a great time! <br />
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Along with the animals (alpacas are my favorite) and other exhibits, there were some local businesses. One that caught our attention was called <a href="http://www.simply-eden.com/" target="_blank">Simply Eden</a>. She sells various bath products made from goats milk. From her own goats! Plus, her name is Athena and to my Greek mythology obsessed children, it was amazing. Of course I had to smell and test pretty much every single thing she was selling. I wanted one of everything, but ended up purchasing a lip balm. <a href="http://www.simply-eden.com/collections/balms/products/lip-balm-cucumber-melon" target="_blank">This lip balm</a>. The lip balm that is now known as "the best chap stick ever" or "my favorite chap stick". <br />
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I may have almost cried when I realized that I lost it on our recent vacation. Well, that's a little dramatic. But I was pretty bummed. I haven't replaced it yet, but I hope I will soon. Plus with a flat shipping rate of $5.75 I should probably buy a few other things so I'm not buying a $10 chap stick. The bar soaps and creams were seriously amazing so it wouldn't exactly be painful. And if I buy six items (half of which will probably be chap stick....I have very dry lips) that means it's only $1 shipping per item. That's just good math. In theory, these would make great gifts, but then you have to give them away. Maybe a "one for them, one for me" approach would work. <br />
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And the best part about these items is they're all made of organic, natural ingredients. Plus, her <a href="http://www.simply-eden.com/collections/soap-cakes-cupcakes/products/soap-cake-serves-12" target="_blank">soap cake</a> is adorable. It literally looks good enough to eat. I would probably just put it in my pretty glass cake saver and look at it everyday. But I don't have the room for that so I'll have to admire it from the Internet. <br />
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<i><span style="font-size: x-small;">**Disclosure: I was not compensated in any way for this post. I just really love that lip balm and because I'm missing it, I've been thinking about it lately. I like sharing the things I love.**</span></i> <br />
<br />Lady of Perpetual Chaoshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01434516025772250275noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4401558005435693965.post-78234905205803449972014-08-31T14:01:00.000-06:002015-01-05T13:42:37.762-07:00Book of the Week!--Where'd You Go Bernadette? by Maria Semple This weeks edition of Book of the Week is brought to us by my fabulous book club. My friend chose this book and it was such a fun read! It was quirky and engaging. I just loved it.<br />
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To be honest, I didn't love the ending. It all seemed to wrap up into a neat little bow a little too easily. It was kind of like one person wrote the entire book except the last couple of chapters and then someone else stepped in to finish it but was trying to sound like the original author. It just lost it's flow. That being said.....it's still a fun read and I would totally read it again.<br />
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Warning....there are some swears so if you don't like swears you might want to skip this book. Or ignore the swears because it's a really fun book.<br />
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<br />Lady of Perpetual Chaoshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01434516025772250275noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4401558005435693965.post-33067023053784214022014-08-20T20:56:00.000-06:002014-08-22T01:01:51.743-06:00It's The Little Moments That Make The DifferencePicture It......<br />
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The girls first time flying on an airplane.<br />
Take off. Land. Take off. Land.<br />
Are we there yet?<br />
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Yes! Finally we are! We have landed in Orlando, a dream vacation that we had been planning and talking about for months.<br />
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We step off the airport tram...almost there! Thank goodness since we've been up since 3 AM. <br />
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Lolly: (raising her arms in the air) Ahhh! What is that? Can you feel it? The air feels wet! <i>What is that?!</i><br />
Me: (giggling) Sweetie that's humidity. It's moisture in the air.<br />
Lolly: I don't like this humility. I don't like it at all.<br />
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A few days later....<br />
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Lolly: This humility isn't so bad. I'm getting used to the humility. I think I'm even starting to like this humility.<br />
Me: (can't stop smiling....)<br />
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It may seem like such a small thing. A desert girl's first experience with humidity. But I have told that story countless times. It's one of my favorites. A story our family will enjoy for years.<br />
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As we count down the hours until we head to the <a href="http://momitforward.com/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Mom It Forward</a> retreat at the <a href="http://www.loewshotels.com/Portofino-Bay-Hotel" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Loews Portofino Bay Hotel</a>, I'm looking forward to all these little moments that make our life so very full.<br />
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<br />Lady of Perpetual Chaoshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01434516025772250275noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4401558005435693965.post-70558651387622757192014-08-04T16:13:00.000-06:002014-08-04T16:13:00.577-06:00It's the Ugly Sink Contest from Mountainland Supply Company!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Last week I got to go to a fun event at Mountainland Supply Company in Orem, Utah. They have a beautiful show room full of all the bathroom and kitchen plumbing fixtures you could possibly think of. Like this beautiful tub that was asking to come live in my home.<br />
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<img src="https://snt145.mail.live.com/Handlers/ImageProxy.mvc?bicild=&canary=oBaHvsalBNZ1SGXlavzVqwcTzycYrCCmUjC6NVJBsSI%3d0&url=http%3a%2f%2fphotos-b.ak.instagram.com%2fhphotos-ak-xfa1%2f10546948_715741131814073_229247270_s.jpg" /><br />
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And they are having an Ugly Sink Contest! All you have to do is like Mountainland Supply Company on Facebook, share a picture of your ugly sink on Facebook and let them know why you should win! Then go <a href="http://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/f78c824d1/" target="_blank">here</a> to enter in the rafflecopter giveaway!<br />
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They are also having a fun event this Thursday, August 7th. Here are all the details:<br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><i><span style="font-family: sans-serif;">Join us for an evening of fun and discovery.
See our newly re-designed showroom, meet our friendly staff, and learn
from factory representatives in our industry about the latest products
and design ideas. Brand favorites like: Moen, Delta, Danze, Elkay, Insinkerator,
Gerber, TOTO, Aquatic, American Standard, and more.</span>
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<br /><span style="font-family: sans-serif;">Plus, join in our Social Media fun and
post a picture of your sink on our Facebook page under the “Ugly Sink
Contest” banner and you could win everything including the kitchen sink!
How does a FREE Danze Faucet, Elkay Sink, ProSeries Disposal from Insinkerator
and professional install from Mike Healey Plumbing sound?</span>
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<br /><span style="font-family: sans-serif;">We will be having catered food from
Apple Spice, great raffle prizes and networking opportunities with customers,
plumbers, contractors, designers and builders from all over the community.</span>
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<br /><span style="font-family: sans-serif;">When: Thursday, August 7th from 5:30pm
to 7:30pm</span>
<br /><span style="font-family: sans-serif;">Where: Mountainland Supply Showroom,
1505 West 130 South · Orem, UT 84058</span>
<br /><span style="font-family: sans-serif;">RSVP: Jen Henry <a href="tel:801.224.6050" target="_blank" value="+18012246050">801.224.6050</a> or <a href="mailto:jhenry@mtncom.net" target="_blank">jhenry@mtncom.net</a></span>
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<br /><span style="font-family: sans-serif;">Link for the Ugly Sink Contest is: </span><a href="http://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/f78c824d1/" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue; font-family: sans-serif;">http://www.rafflecopter.com/<wbr></wbr>rafl/display/f78c824d1/</span></a>
<br /><span style="font-family: sans-serif;">Facebook Page is: </span><a href="https://www.facebook.com/MountainlandSupply" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue; font-family: sans-serif;">https://www.facebook.com/<wbr></wbr>MountainlandSupply</span></a>
<br /><span style="font-family: sans-serif;">Pinterest Page is: </span><a href="http://www.pinterest.com/mountainland/" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue; font-family: sans-serif;">http://www.pinterest.com/<wbr></wbr>mountainland/</span></a>
<br /><span style="font-family: sans-serif;">Instagram Link is: </span><a href="http://instagram.com/mountainland_supply" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue; font-family: sans-serif;">http://instagram.com/<wbr></wbr>mountainland_supply</span></a>
<br /><span style="font-family: sans-serif;">Twitter Link is: @MountainLandInc</span>
<br /><span style="font-family: sans-serif;">Hashtag: #mountainlandsupplyshowroom</span></i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: sans-serif; font-size: small;">Wouldn't it be fun if one of you win! Let me know if you do!</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><i><span style="font-family: sans-serif;">**Disclosure--Although I did attend a blogger event at Mountainland Supply Company, I did not receive any compensation for sharing this contest. I just really want one of my friends to win.**</span></i></span><br />
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Lady of Perpetual Chaoshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01434516025772250275noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4401558005435693965.post-781509579182052892014-07-30T13:50:00.000-06:002014-07-31T14:02:12.092-06:00Recipe Swap Wednesday-Butterbeer for Harry Potter's Birthday!This is a fun recipe that I've put together from various different recipes and is family approved! We even served this at our family Halloween party last year and everyone loved it! And since tomorrow is Harry Potter's birthday, it's the perfect time to whip up this easy butterbeer recipe.<br />
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<u><b>Butterbeer</b></u><br />
2 liter cream soda<br />
2 tablespoons butter extract<br />
2 teaspoons rum extract<br />
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Add the butter and rum extracts to the bottle of cream soda and gently mix. Put back in the fridge until ready to serve.<br />
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<b><u>Cream Topping</u></b><br />
1 7-oz container of marshmallow cream<br />
1 cup whipping cream<br />
1 teaspoon of rum extract<br />
1 teaspoon of butter extract<br />
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Mix in blender or electric mixer until smooth. Poor over prepared butterbeer and enjoy!<br />
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<br />Lady of Perpetual Chaoshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01434516025772250275noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4401558005435693965.post-73746997249421422472014-07-22T10:42:00.000-06:002014-07-22T10:42:00.151-06:00Tip Tuesday--How To Get Chlorine Out of Hair and Swimsuits Naturally!IT'S SUMMER!!!! And summer means swimming. Lots and lots of swimming. And swimming lessons that seem to take over your life. At least that's how it feels for me. <div>
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This weeks tip is for dealing the all the chlorine in your life. Both my girls have really long hair and if I wash it every single day it totally dries it out. And we all get kind of cranky. But I can't just leave all the nasty chlorine chemicals hanging out in their hair. This is what we do and it works like a charm!</div>
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After swimming lessons we head home and the girls jump in the shower. Depending on how tired and/or hungry they are there might be less jumping and more dragging. Anyway.....I take their swimsuits (usually from off the bathroom floor) and soak them in the bathroom sink with warm water and a splash of vinegar. Leave them to soak for a few minutes (no rinsing) and then hang them up to dry. I learned the hard way to never ever wash swimsuits in the washing machine, even on the delicate cycle. This pretty much gets the vinegar out. I've found that after a few times, the vinegar alone doesn't seem to cut it so about once a week I add a tiny bit of our laundry detergent to the water, soak, rinse and good as new! </div>
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While the swimsuits are soaking in the sink, I spray vinegar on my girls hair and they rinse it out at the end of their shower. By the end of the week, their hair needs a regular washing but this works great for the everyday chlorine detox. Plus it makes their hair soft and shiny. Bonus!</div>
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If you have any awesome summer tips, please leave them in the comments!</div>
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Lady of Perpetual Chaoshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01434516025772250275noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4401558005435693965.post-28025521761247745872014-07-20T22:31:00.000-06:002014-07-20T22:44:05.179-06:00Ironic ChaosThat's the only term I can come up with to even attempt to accurately describe the last eight weeks at our house. Before you get all worried (I know you care deeply), you should know that it has all pretty much been First World Problems. Problems, for sure. But of the First World variety so I'm able to cope pretty well and still be grateful because in spite of the ironic chaos, we are a happy, healthy family. Yes, a broken bone is involved but I hear buckle fractures aren't as bad.<br />
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Let me begin in late spring of 2014......when our trusty computer refused to turn on. Ever again. It was done and would not negotiate. That's a big reason for my Internet silence. Well, probably not the biggest reason (we eventually borrowed my mother in law's seldom used laptop) but definitely a contributing factor. We are no longer using that laptop since my father in law's computer died. And then his printer. Apparently what we have is catching.<br />
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Now, on to the bigger, more fascinating things. We had decided a while back to go back to renting out the basement. About four years ago we had had enough of renting out our basement and were ready to expand! And we were thrilled. <a href="http://www.ladyofperpetualchaos.com/2010/07/friday-favorite-freedom-to.html" target="_blank">See here</a>. But here was the reality of it all.....we rarely used the space for family time and activities. It mostly just stored stuff. And boy does that excess stuff accumulate fast! Don't know what to do with something? Just put it in the basement. We'll deal with it "later". So we decided that we were going to rent it out again and use that money to do some extras that we wouldn't normally be able to afford, like fun vacations and buying CG the truck he's always wanted. The key to our reasoning was to "get ahead" financially. Remember that part....it will be funny later on. <br />
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So we commenced with the emptying of our basement. Phrases like "where did all this @#$% come from" and "are we done yet?" were heard frequently. The basement required very little work (or so we thought) to get it ready to rent again so it was mostly just sorting through all the stuff that had accumulated for "later". Later is a nasty, vengeful word. It holds a grudge. Big time. <br />
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We decided that since we would be putting up (semi) permanent walls in order to make the separate entrance for the basement apartment, we should probably re-do the kitchen floor beforehand so that it would all match, should we ever choose to take the walls back down. Honestly, the kitchen floor has needed intervention for the last several years and there's no time like the present! And it seemed so logical and responsible to have that taken care of before renting out again. Given our time restraints and the accepting of our lack of DIY love, we decided to have the entire thing done by a flooring company. Again, responsible and mature. <br />
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The flooring is selected, ordered and the deposit makes it all official. But there were some issues with the ordering and the delivering. And then the floor was finally installed two days before the walls were going up. Mild panic. But it was fine. I watched the installer work (occasional glimpses....I didn't want to be weird) and it seemed a little....not like I was expecting. But I'm not a flooring professional so I didn't bug him. And it's not like he wasn't working hard, because he was. I was just told that 3-4 layers of flooring should come off (he removed one) and there was a strong possibility of needing a new underlayment (he used mud) and it just didn't seem right. But it was done in time and we rejoiced! Until.....<br />
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Our brand new "luxury vinyl tile" was scratched to oblivion within the first week. We did not rejoice. We were mad. And when I say "we", I mean "me". I was ticked. We just spent a significant amount of money and it was wearing worse than the cheap vinyl tiles we put in seven years ago! So I called the flooring company and it seemed there were two separate problems.....the tile itself (which they are thankfully replacing even though they said the warranty says you have to have felt feet on chairs....psh) and the floor preparation which can be fixed once the floor is being replaced. <br />
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But what about those walls we put up for the basement entrance?!? Yes.....exactly. I'll come back to this later though. I'm trying to keep it sequential so no one gets confused.<br />
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Also during this time, the van decided that the air conditioning no longer wanted to work. Like at all. And I have two girls who can't handle intense heat and a van that doesn't have back windows that go down. It was a non-negotiable fix. A $1600 non-negotiable fix. Ahem.<br />
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As for the basement apartment, we replaced the disposal the last renters broke, replaced a bath fixture, cleaned things out (thanks to my saintly sister in law) and did some painting. And it was ready. Until they tried to plug in their dryer.<br />
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Turns out the "dryer plug" actually had a wooden stud in front of it, impeding access. But it didn't matter anyway since it was the wrong plug AND didn't have any power running to it anyhow. So we had to have a new dryer plug run to that room. But in order to do that, we had to have the entire electrical panel replaced. And then replace all the breakers because they didn't fit into the new panel. All very common and yet very bad timing. <br />
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Of course, this was all taking place during the last week of school, which everyone knows is a very calm and not at all crazy time. But wait! It gets better! Or worse, depending on how you look at it. During all of the electrical hullabaloo in the basement our upstairs oven locked. As in, locked itself shut (like for a self cleaning cycle) and refused to open. No matter what we did. No Open. We consulted the Google and learned many things. First of all, NEVER use your self cleaning cycle because it causes problems like this pretty frequently. Also? Our warranty expired in April. This was June. The most helpful information was that there is a fuse at the back of the oven that may (or may not....didn't read any true success stories) undo this problem if you change it. Just pull the oven out and take a look. The thing is, we have a wall oven. Wall ovens are super heavy and so they make sure that they are securely screwed into the wall so that it doesn't fall out. All you have to do to get the oven out of the wall, is to open the door and take out the screws on each side. Unless you can't open the door. And then you're screwed. <br />
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We've heard different tips and purchased/returned tools that are supposed to help us, but 6+ weeks later I am still without an oven. Yes, you read that right. I don't have a working oven. The girl who makes almost everything from scratch and bakes/cooks all the time doesn't have an oven. Well, an oven that opens and is usable. Still looks like new though! I frequently point out to CG how well I'm coping with this and often request that he fully appreciates the lack of crying, yelling, nagging or complete melting down that has resulted in this lack of oven. He looks at me like I'm crazy. Six weeks and counting.......<br />
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In other news, Dexter has had this weird (kind of gross) growth that has been growing on his leg for a couple years now. It never seemed to bother him so we didn't worry too much about it. But then he got a growth by his eye that really seemed to bother him. We took him to the vet and everyone was shocked at his age because he still acts like a puppy. Which is both good and bad. We opted to do the surgery and he's doing much better now. But I really thought this was going to be what truly pushed me over the edge.<br />
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<span style="color: #cc0000; font-size: large;">The Cone of Shame</span></div>
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Some dogs hate it, some hide when wearing it, some dogs probably do other things. I don't really know. What I do know is that Dexter opted to use it like a bulldozer. You got in his way? He would just push you with the big plastic cone until you got out of his way. He used it in any way he could. I'm not totally convinced he hated it. By the way, having a cone of shame rammed into the back of your legs is surprisingly painful. And he's a pretty strong dog. He almost pushed CG down the back stairs. The rest of us didn't have a chance, really. <br />
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Then this cute girl got glasses.<br />
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And then she broke her arm. Dodge ball is a mean, mean game when you're half the size of everyone else. <br />
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Thankfully we have insurance and even though we have a fun deductible to pay before insurance will pay anything (so we pretty much will pay for it all), we still have it if we needed it. Perspective. <br />
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Other than all that, we've been having a great summer! Time is flying by way too fast and I have so many posts to catch up on....the end of the school year, dance recitals, swimming, glasses and all the other fun things we've been up to. Even hiking! We are the hiking family this year! <br />
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Also? I cut off about a foot of hair. I should probably post pictures of that. <br />
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But for now.....I'm going to bed.<br />
Lady of Perpetual Chaoshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01434516025772250275noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4401558005435693965.post-1386474963848893522014-05-08T23:23:00.000-06:002014-05-09T09:29:09.900-06:00What Superhero Mom Are You?I admit it. I'm a sucker for a good personality quiz. I like know what my colors are. And my letters. I also like knowing what kind of girl friend I am and even what kind of roommate. I love them. So when I saw this little quiz about what kind of Superhero Mom you might be I HAD to find out. I had to. <br />
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If you want to know what kind of #<a href="http://www.coupons.com/promos/superhero-mom" target="_blank">SuperheroMom you are then head on over here to find out</a>. And enter to win a Vitamix while you're at it. And if you win it, but don't want it, then you can give it to me. <br />
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Back to the quiz.....here are my results! <br />
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Drum roll, please......<br />
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Although many of the Elastigirl traits do apply to me, one that certainly does not is the elasticity. Trust me....one look at my post baby stomach will prove it. As a matter of fact, this movie came out at the end of my pregnancy with Lolly and I surprised CG with tickets to see it. As we were watching the movie and Elastigirl was doing her stretching thing, I leaned over to CG and told him that I bet she didn't have stretch marks like I did. They're epic. No really....they bled. But anyway....<br />
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I love the description and it really does describe me a lot. I do wonder about my superpower though. In my quest for simplifying my life I think my super power (multi-tasking) may actually be my kryptonite. <br />
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I loved this quiz! If you take the quiz, come back and tell me what #SuperheroMom you got! Maybe we can make our own X-Men team. I mean, X-Women team. <br />
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">**Disclosure.....I was compensated for this post but it did not in any way lessen the enjoyment of the quiz. It also didn't do a thing for my stretch marks.</span><br />
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Lady of Perpetual Chaoshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01434516025772250275noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4401558005435693965.post-18772477353156744372014-04-18T12:29:00.000-06:002014-04-18T12:41:09.217-06:00Friday Favorite-Ogden Nature Center's Earth Day CelebrationA couple years ago was our very first time going to the <a href="http://www.ogdennaturecenter.org/news-and-special-events/item/176-earth-day-celebration-2014" target="_blank">Ogden Nature Center's Earth Day Celebration</a> and we had the best time! My girls didn't stop talking about it for months and have started talking about it again the last few weeks since it's coming up soon! Tomorrow in fact! <br />
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We have the best time and at only $2 per person its affordable AND the money goes to a great cause! <br />
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<span style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><i>Saturday, April 19, 12 noon - 4 pm</i></span></div>
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<i>The Nature Center's outdoor glen will be filled with tons of earth-friendly ideas, a native plant sale, product booths, workshops and fun activities! All of Utah's green gurus will be on hand with topics ranging from bee keeping, composting, and invastive weeds, to Llama cart rides and a climbing wall for kiddos! Children always love the US Forest Service water trailer while adults enjoy taking home green ideas for their homes and gardens. Read more for all the details.</i></div>
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<i>Cost: $2 per person</i></div>
The are so many activities.....face painting, wreath making, bubbles, workshops and presentations. My particular favorites are the wool spinning and getting to feed the alpacas. I'm not sure if the alpacas will be there this year but I sure hope so! <br />
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Side note.....you may or may not know that one day I want to live on an alpaca ranch and have chickens and spin wool and do all sorts of things like that. Surprising, I know.<br />
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So! If you're wondering what you and/or your family can do tomorrow that doesn't involve a gigantic bunny costume or bringing home tons of candy you don't need (trust me...you don't need it) now you have a fun day planned for you and all you have to do is show up! <br />
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For more details on the activities go<a href="http://www.ogdennaturecenter.org/news-and-special-events/item/176-earth-day-celebration-2014" target="_blank"> here</a>. And then I will see you there!<br />
<br />Lady of Perpetual Chaoshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01434516025772250275noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4401558005435693965.post-11365818903309591932014-04-15T23:29:00.000-06:002014-04-17T22:30:39.216-06:00Tip Tuesday-Easter Egg Decorating Tips for the LazyLast year was the first year that we decorated our Easter eggs with Sharpie markers and I'm pretty sure we may never go back. <br />
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The girls get full access to all my colored Sharpie markers (which is a dream come true for them) and I don't have to worry about egg dye getting on everything but the eggs. <br />
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Plus they get to create the exact designs they won't without the frustration of the limits of egg dye. I'm not a fan of the egg dye. Just say no.<br />
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And then pull those Sharpies out and actually enjoy decorating eggs with your kids!<br />
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<span><span data-reactid=".r[0].[0].[1].[0].[0].[0].[0].[0].[0]"></span></span>Lady of Perpetual Chaoshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01434516025772250275noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4401558005435693965.post-26487833118713870712014-04-09T23:02:00.000-06:002014-04-10T21:41:04.466-06:00Recipe Swap Wednesday-Gluten Free GranolaThis is one of our favorite things for breakfast. Everyone loves it so much I haven't even been able to get a picture of it. It's great on its' own, with milk, sprinkled over yogurt, or any other granola ideas you might have. I just recently started making again and it has not lasted longer than 48 hours. It's that good.<br />
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<b><u><span style="font-size: large;">Gluten Free Granola</span></u></b><br />
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<u>Ingredients</u><br />
3 cups gluten free oats<br />
1 cup shredded, unsweetened coconut<br />
1 cup (or more) coarsely chopped nuts and/or dried fruit<br />
1 cup brown sugar<br />
1 stick butter<br />
1/3 cup water<br />
1/2 teaspoon salt<br />
1 teaspoon vanilla<br />
1 teaspoon cinnamon<br />
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<u>Directions</u><br />
Preheat oven to 300 degrees. You can use a tradition oven setting or a convection oven setting to make the cooking time shorter. <br />
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In a large mixing bowl combine the oats, coconut and nuts/fruit. In a saucepan combine brown sugar, butter, water, salt, vanilla and cinnamon over a medium heat until the mixture is melted and bubbly. Pour this over the oat mixture and stir well. Let stand for 10 minutes.<br />
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Spread granola mixture evenly on a large baking sheet with space to allow for air circulation. Place on the center rack in the oven. The cooking time will vary depending on oven and setting.<br />
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For traditional oven baking setting:<br />
Bake for 15 minutes. Remove from oven and stir. Place the baking sheet back in the oven to bake for another 15 minutes. Continue this cycle until the granola is golden brown and completely dry. It usually takes about three cycles.<br />
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For convection setting:<br />
Bake for 10 minutes. Remove from oven and stir. Place the baking sheet back in the oven to bake for another 10 minutes. Remove from oven and stir. Place the baking sheet back in oven for just five more minutes (more if needed), until the granola is golden brown and completely dry. <br />
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And then enjoy for the next 48 hours because it disappears fast!<br />
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<u>Helpful Hints</u><br />
You can also add 1/4 flax seed to improve the nutritional quality<br />
If you add dried fruit it gets pretty dried out during the baking progress. I tend to use only nuts in the recipe and then add fresh or dried fruit when serving. <br />
It's tempting to leave the granola in a great big clump for the first round of baking in order to make little granola clumps. It's doesn't work. Don't do it. <br />
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<br />Lady of Perpetual Chaoshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01434516025772250275noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4401558005435693965.post-63579097852985153932014-03-14T15:10:00.002-06:002014-03-14T15:10:47.320-06:00St. Patrick's Day....To Celebrate or Not To CelebrateThis. This is something that has been on my mind for the last....oh, year or so. <br />
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It all started with another judgemental blog post...like how many things start these days. I'm not going to post the link because, frankly, I don't think it deserves the click. The basic gist of the blog post was bashing all the mom's who choose to celebrate St. Patrick's Day with their kids. Now, you might be asking why someone would be so irrationally against how total strangers choose to spend their day. And the answer makes perfect sense.....because it makes her look bad. Yep. That's it. All St. Patrick's Day celebrations should be stopped because she chooses not to celebrate and therefore feels that strangers celebrations make her look bad. <br />
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Using this logic I should probably stop feeding my family healthy meals because I'm making the people who don't feed their families healthy meals look bad. And I should probably have my kids wear dirty clothing so the mom's who are behind on the laundry this week don't feel bad. And maybe I should park my kids in front of the television so that the mom's who are having a rough week and needed a little assistance from the TV to make it through don't feel bad. <br />
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Or maybe I should just do what's best for my family right now and not be so obsessed with what everyone else is doing. As a matter of fact, my girls are playing on the iPad right now and I don't feel bad about it at all.<br />
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Back to the blog post..... <br />
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This is not a small, unknown blog it was posted on but a big, popular blog. So many people read it and many people shared it on Facebook, sometimes even accompanied with snarky remarks about how "those moms" need to get off Pinterest and get a life. <br />
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This made me sad. It made a lot of mom's sad. Personally, I started celebrating St. Patrick's Day with my little family long before Pinterest came along and this blog post didn't change my family tradition in any way. But I know of quite a few mom's who felt really bad. It stole the joy they felt out of celebrating with their kids. It stole the joy out of the leprechaun trap making and rainbow cupcake baking and green milk drinking. It made these women, who were just trying to make fun memories with their kids, feel dumb.<span style="color: #38761d;"> It Stole The Joy!</span><br />
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I can see how, in some negative condescending way, it may have been empowering to the women who don't like celebrating St. Patrick's Day or any other small holiday. I can understand how Pinterest, Instagram, Facebook and all the other social media platforms can make you feel like you are somehow not measuring up as a mother. It makes all of us feel that way, whether it's holiday celebrations or perfectly clean homes or any of the other things where we feel we don't measure up. But holiday celebrations are not what makes a good mother. Crafts and treats and Instagram moments don't make a good mother. It's the every day moments that don't make it to Facebook that decides our fate of Good Mother or Bad Mother. <br />
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<br />
BUT. A very big but....If you make yourself feel better about your parenting choices by putting other women down it does reflect on who you are as a person. As a woman. And ultimately, that WILL influence who you are as a mother. <br />
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<br />
Honestly, I didn't see a single post from a Pro-Holiday mom proclaiming their superiority in motherhood for choosing to celebrate. Some may argue that it is implied. My personal theory is that a lot of those feelings (on both sides) come from insecurities. Approximately 99.9% of mom's feel insecure about their parenting choices at some point in their lives. It can be about holidays, school, chores, discipline, after school activities, clothes, screen time, hair styles, meals, snacks, pets, ANYTHING. We've all been there. But making ourselves feel better by criticizing another moms choices doesn't make us any better. It just steals the joy.<br />
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So to all you moms out there who are celebrating St. Patrick's Day with wild Irish abandon I say, Great! Have a great time! You are a good mom! <br />
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And to all you moms out there who are not celebrating St. Patrick's Day I say, Great! Have a great time! You are a good mom! <br />
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Lady of Perpetual Chaoshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01434516025772250275noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4401558005435693965.post-27863265047150258442014-02-19T14:18:00.002-07:002014-02-19T14:18:23.301-07:00Sugar Free....Dear Diary,<br />
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Today is day three of our no sugar month. The first day wasn't so bad because Lolly, Babs and CG were all home so we were in it together and I was constantly supervised. When everyone is gone and I only have my unending list of chores to keep me company it gets a little harder. <br />
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I'm happy to report I haven't screamed incoherently at anyone due to my sugar detoxing. So far. And I have gained .8 pounds so things are going as expected. <br />
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I might be feeling a tad cranky. And a little snarky. Because, as good as a pear is, it's just got nothing on the chocolate that I really need right now. <br />
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It's going to get better, right? <br />
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Sigh......<br />
<br />
Yours Truly,<br />
Lady of Perpetual Sugar Detox <br />
<br />Lady of Perpetual Chaoshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01434516025772250275noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4401558005435693965.post-13583283366516144072014-02-14T06:00:00.000-07:002014-02-14T06:00:01.348-07:00Happy Valentine's Day!<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: #cc0000;">May The Force Be With You </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: #cc0000;">This Valentine's Day</span></span></div>
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Lady of Perpetual Chaoshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01434516025772250275noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4401558005435693965.post-13590964849048721132014-02-12T06:00:00.000-07:002014-02-12T06:00:18.183-07:00Recipe Swap Wednesday-Sugar CookiesI'm about to share with you the recipe for the best sugar cookies you will ever eat. They are amazing. And slightly addicting. They're perfect for Valentine's Day or any other holiday requiring sugar cookies. I usually make them for Earth Day. Because I am a hippie that celebrates Earth Day! But whatever reason you have for making these cookies, you will be happy you did. <br />
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<u><b><span style="font-size: large;">Sugar Cookies</span></b></u><br />
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<u><b>Ingredients</b></u><br />
3 eggs<br />
1 cup sour cream<br />
1 teaspoon baking soda<br />
1 teaspoon vanilla<br />
2 cups sugar<br />
1 cup butter, softened<br />
4 teaspoons baking powder<br />
1 teaspoon salt<br />
6 cups flour, plus flour for rolling<br />
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<b><u>Directions</u></b><br />
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.<br />
Cream eggs, sour cream, baking soda and vanilla together. Mix in sugar and butter. Then add baking powder, salt and flour.<br />
Roll out dough to 1/4" thickness and put those rarely used cookie cutters to good use.<br />
Bake for 7-10 minutes, depending on cookie size. <br />
Once they are cooled, frost and enjoy! And consider giving some away (this recipe makes A LOT!) so you don't enjoy them too much. They also freeze well (un-frosted) for later use.<br />
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<i>Not the best picture, but definitely the best sugar cookies!</i></div>
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Lady of Perpetual Chaoshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01434516025772250275noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4401558005435693965.post-6305918738101373202014-02-10T11:22:00.000-07:002014-02-10T11:28:37.950-07:00Confessions of a Sugar AddictGrowing up I was one of those kids....ya know, the weird kids who didn't really have much of a sweet tooth. I would give my leftover Halloween candy away just before Christmas, my Christmas candy away around Valentine's Day, my Valentine's Day candy at Easter, and so on and so forth. A neighbor friend greatly benefited from my lack of sweet tooth. Don't get me wrong....I did like some kinds of candy, but I was a little picky about it. I liked chocolate. And I liked it dark. I would eat milk chocolate, but my life long love is for dark chocolate. Don't even talk to me about white chocolate. It's not chocolate.<br />
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I maintained this habit (and coincidentally my weight....couldn't possibly be connected, right?!) all through college. After I was married I did notice that I tended to eat more sugar than I used to but it wasn't that bad. It was something I could totally give up easily. All those articles about sugar being addictive were for people who were really addicted sugar. Which was totally not me. <br />
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Oh how the sugar buzzed have fallen.<br />
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A couple months ago, I decided I was going to go sugar free to see if it would help me feel better. I didn't have a certain time frame in mind but I figured it would help me transition to sugar just being an occasional treat instead of a frequent "need". My sugar fast lasted two and a half days. And those two and a half days were hard. Very hard. I noticed that after a meal I would just crave something sweet. I was shocked....had I really gotten into the habit of having sugar after every meal?! Probably not, but I had gotten into the habit of having sugar entirely too often. <br />
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I know people who eat A LOT of sugar. I don't eat a large amount, just small amounts throughout the day. Which end up equally way too much. It's funny how these bad habit creep up on you when you don't notice. And how easily we use those bad habits to cope with the stress of life. We all have our way of not-coping with life and sugar had become my best frenemy. <br />
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My original sugar free time was just before the holidays and I figured that I would be doomed to try to go sugar free again during the holidays. The good news was that just a couple of days worth of sugar free did help decrease my cravings so my sugar dependency did go down somewhat. After the holidays I wanted to do it again but was a little...hesitant. It's a big challenge to tackle alone. Especially with a house full of candy! It's everywhere. And I don't buy 99%. It just manages to come to our house by the best of intentions of others. <br />
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After school started again in January, Babs started talking about some kids in her class that were doing a sugar free challenge. I must admit that I found it a little surprising since she is only in first grade. But I figure it was a healthy challenge and would be great for the kids. And the $100 reward for completing it wouldn't hurt either. Turns out there were six or seven kids doing it. She talked about it almost every day. And then I did it.....<br />
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I said, "Why don't we do a sugar free challenge as a family?". <br />
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Lolly (my nine year old) was all for it! She's never had much of a sweet tooth so it's an easier commitment for her to make. Babs (my six and three quarter year old) was a little less enthusiastic. She's my "eat my weight in sugar" child and this would be more of a sacrifice. But we talked and negotiated and discussed and we all decided to go for it and picked a start date, time frame, reward and everything. <br />
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Start Date: February 17, 2014<br />
End Date: March 16, 2014<br />
Reward: Going to a restaurant for dinner AND ordering dessert (oh, the irony)<br />
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And then we told CG. <br />
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And he is humoring us and going along with it. And let me tell you....he is thrilled!!! (typed in sarcasm font) I think it's safe to say that this sugar free challenge is going to be hardest for the grown ups. With the kids I just put away their candy and treats and keep them distracted. Unfortunately, since I'm putting away the treats that also means I can sneak back into the treats. <br />
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This is going to take epic will power. Too bad I won't have chocolate to get me through it. <br />
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<br />Lady of Perpetual Chaoshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01434516025772250275noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4401558005435693965.post-64614807930542961932014-02-07T16:35:00.000-07:002014-02-07T16:35:47.807-07:00An Afternoon in the Flower PatchLast spring my Lolly girl and I got to have a girls day together at the Flower Patch. We got to see where all the magic happens and take a tour of the facility. The freezers are cold but the flowers are beautiful.<br />
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<span style="text-align: left;">After the tour, we got to try our hands at making our own beautiful wrist corsages. Lolly really got into it and even made one for her little sister.</span></div>
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At the end of this awesome event, the lovely people of the Flower Patch gave each of the bloggers a plant (I killed mine, somehow...I was so bummed) and two gift cards....one to keep and one to share. And I thought to myself, "Self, I need to find the perfect moment to share this gift card". </div>
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That perfect moment....is now. </div>
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It's almost Valentine's Day and now is the perfect time for beautiful custom flowers from the Flower Patch. And a $25 gift card is going to make it so much sweeter. And to make sure you get your gift card in time, we're going to make this giveaway super fast! A flash giveaway, if you will. </div>
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The giveaway starts...NOW. And goes until Saturday February 8, 2014 at Midnight. I'll choose a winner and they have 24 hours to respond to my email before I choose another winner. If you're feeling particularly confident, then go ahead and email me your address. Sending it out into the Universe and all....</div>
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Just fill out the Rafflecopter form below and cross your fingers! </div>
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<br />Lady of Perpetual Chaoshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01434516025772250275noreply@blogger.com11