My Mom Is Getting Back Into Crafts

When I was a kid my mom always did crafts and sold them to local stores in the area to make money so that she could stay home with us. She was so talented and did such beautiful work no matter what she made. Well she has found a local store here in our area that is still selling the primitive work that she loves to do. I have set her up with a web designer to get a website going and a store to sell online as well. I will keep that information updated when it is done, but for now I thought I would share a doll that she just finished. I thought it was so cute I could not pass it up. She has listed all of her items on her Facebook page so you can see all the wonderful things she is selling. This cute doll sells for only $29.95. So please tell me what you think. You know how much I love comments.

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My First Giveaway-UPrinting Business Cards

Welcome to my first Giveaway. I am hoping to make this a success so that I c

an do more in the future. Business cards are such a great way to get your name out there and pass the word on. I have noticed that it is so much easier when you meet someone and you are telling them about your business that you can just hand them a business card with all of your information on it instead of searching for that s

cratch piece of paper and pen in your purse to write your number down. You can do so many things with a business card. Many restaurants have that bucket at the register that says win a free lunch drop your business card in. Or you can leave your business card with the tip at a restaurant. You can leave stacks of them at local business's that might have the type of clients you are looking for. The ideas are endless and

what a great way to advertise yourself. I will be receiving 250 Die Cut Business Cards myself and I am so excited to give them out and start spreading the word of my new business as well.

In adherence to the FTC rules, I disclosed that I did not receive any compensation to write this giveaway but I will receive a set of 250 Business Cards as a thank you for hosting the giveaway. All opinions expressed are my own. Check out UPrinting's cool business cards.

Giveaway 1 winner will receive

250 Die Cut Business Cards for One

2 x 3.5”, 2 x 2” (square card) or 1.75 x 3.5” (slim card)

Die cutting options available: Rounded Corners, Leaf, Rounded One-Corner, Half-Circle Side, Circle

Paper Type: 14pt Cardstock Gloss, Matte, or High Gloss; 13pt Cardstock Uncoated

Color: 4Color Front, Blank Back; 4Color Front, Black Back; 4Color Both Sides

Limited to US residents only 18 years old and above

To Enter:

★1.(MANDATORY) BE A FOLLOWER OF MY BLOG via google friend connect

Visit UPrinting and see what type of business card you would like and come back to This-n-That Boutique Blog and leave a comment on your favorite below!

Bonus Entries: Make sure you leave a co

mment for each entry, if it says 2 entries leave two comments.

★ 2. Follow T_N_TBoutique on TWITTER (2 EXTRA )
★ 4. Tweet about this giveaway, then comment link to your tweet (2 EXTRA)

★ 5.Post about this giveaway on your blog and comment on the link I can find it.
★ 6. Follow This-n-That Boutique on Face

book

Winner will be chosen on October 1st using Random.org

Giveaway closes on September 30th 12 midnight PST

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Potty training and its bad days

I have been potty training Princess Diva forever it seems. She is 3.5 years old and for the past year we have struggled to just finish it all up. I have tried everything but she just does not like to go on the potty. Instead she will hold it in for weeks and then get sick. I finally took her to the doctor and they said that it was normal for kids to do that, and to start all over. Start all over, are you kidding me, I have to change a 3 year olds diaper. I was very reluctant and started all over back to pulls ups. No panties for her and no potty... after a long couple of months her confidence grew and we were back on the potty and back to wearing big girl panties. Then there the past month, we are back to hiding in the closet, crying when I sit her on the potty, and changing her own panties so that I wont notice she has "dirtied" them. Even though I do notice. I am giving the poor girl milk of magnesia every other day to try and regulate her and its only getting worse. I dont know what to do and both her and I are at our wits end.. Any suggestions would be wonderful. Happy Friday to everyone. TGIF I may have made it through the first week of back to school, but I have not made it through my last child and potty training

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Keeping A Routine During the School Year

I have to stay on a good schedule and routine when the kids are in school in order for me to get all that I need to get done during the day done. I had the hardest time with time management and I am hoping that there is someone that can give me some tips. I work from home full time and do various freelance jobs throughout the day to work around the kids schedule with school and sports and find myself so tired at the end of the day, I get just enough sleep to get up and do it all over again. Maybe I need some tips in time management. If anyone has any tips I would love to hear them. Here was my schedule for today..
7AM Wake up make lunches, give kids breakfast, help Princess Sweetie Pie get ready for school.
745AM Wake up and dress Princess Diva
8AM double check Mr Bookworm and Mr Imagination to make sure they look good for school
805AM leave for school
9AM to 11AM work
11AM to 1PM clean house, vacuum, laundry, daily chores
1PM to 230PM run any errands that need to be ran, bank, post office, grocery store, craft store and 4 days a week work
230PM to 330PM pick up kids from school
4PM to 6PM work and or Baseball practice
6PM to 8PM Dinner and bath/shower time
8PM to 2AM work and do crafts at the same time
2AM Bed time



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Ouch My toe! Wednesday Blog Hop

I have to say that I have never sprained anything before or broke anything and I am not a spring chicken so I have had plenty of time to do those things. Now let me say that I have one router for 4 computers so I have wires running all over my house. I know that they are there, and I normally dont have issues. Its more the kids tripping over them. Well tonight I was putting kids to be and walked out of my boys room only to trip on one for the first time. I really jammed my toe into the carpet and it got all sore and swollen instantly. It is still throbbing hours later. I cant believe that I never have broken anything or sprained anything and it ends up being my big toe. Will have to see how it feels after I sleep on it. Hopefully much better. What is something that you have sprained or broke?





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Back To School

Today was the first day of school for 6 of the 7 kids. My step daughters recently over the summer moved to another city about 35 minutes away and so this year they will not be joining the others at the same school. They are excited to be in a new school but I am sad because they are separated. Another sad thing is that my husband and I used to share the drop off and pick up on his days off, but now we will have to do it separate because of the distance he has to travel to get the girls to school. My 3 older kids that started today were so excited that you would not even noticed that I was there. I always walk them to class and do a picture at their desk. HAHA notice my oldest son is outside. We got to the first class and it was my son Mr. Imagination (I still have to do intro's on the rest of the kids, just been hectic) and he walked in and sat down and I got my first picture. Was happy for that, turned around and my oldest Mr. Bookworm was gone. I asked my daughter where he went and off he was. I had to catch up to him and I am lucky I got the one picture I did. He is in 6th grade this year and just overly excited about being in the "big kids" building. So I didnt even see his classroom, he didnt care about mom he wanted to hang out with friends. Sad, but I didnt want to embarrass him. So off to my daughters class last, she is the youngest of my school age kids and was a big nervous. So I did get a picture of her in her desk, she is always happy to do anything I ask. She is my Princess Sweetie Pie. She has such a big heart and just loves brother's and sister's and if you look at her wrong she cries. Sort of like me when I was a kid.

So back to school went very smoothly, back to the routine, back to the school lunches, and hair pretty's and fighting with my boys about what they think they look good in when they clearly dont. I have to be on a strict schedule and routine during the school year with work, sports for the kids, my toddler is doing dance this year. Its going to be a busy one, but I look forward to the Fall and the Holidays. I hope everyone else had a good back to school day. So do you have a schedule or routine that you have to stick to? I love your comments.

So my Tuesday Three are all here... 1. I lost 3 pounds, 2. I made a great cake for the kids, and 3. It was the first day of school. Next week maybe they wont be so hectic lol...

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Make A Dessert Monday-A Day Late

I am going to try to make a dessert every Monday for the kids since that day is good for a few reasons. The first one is that all 7 kids are all back together after a few days away from each other. The Second I dont work on Monday's and can experiment with things. The third its Monday and well Monday's could always use a good dessert to end the day with. This past Monday I had promised the kids I would try a 3 layer cake. I have never tried that before so I decided to go with neapolitain. I did one chocolate layer, one strawberry and one vanilla. I wanted a simple vanilla frosting but I should have had more because I didnt have enough. And next time I think that I will go with a butter cream that is made from scratch, its thicker and holds up better. I made each cake one at a time. I cut the top of the strawberry since that was the center. I should have cut the vanilla too, but I will know better next time. I would also like to try make fillings for between the layers, I have never done that before. All in all I think that it turned out okay and the kids loved it. So I will be doing more of these and experimenting with new flavors and combo's to.

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Tone It Up Tuesday

I was really worried to get on the scale this week, I really didnt feel like I had a good week at all. It was a long holiday weekend and well I guess I just felt like I had gained 10 pounds. To my surprise I lost 3 pounds so that was a good shock this morning. With my crazy schedule and my kids going back to school and their sports schedule's I decided that I would not do a drastic change or work out or anything like that. It has to be something that works for me that fits into my lifestyle so I decided to change my eating habits and change the food I put in my mouth. This week I cut out diet soda down to almost nothing. I switched to Iced Tea and water. Looks like that is a good change to start with. My next week goal is to not eat past 7pm which is usually our dinner time because of sports we always eat sort of on the late side. I work late hours and find myself eating all throughout the night. This week I am going to not eat anything or if I snack I will choose carrot sticks or fruit of some sort instead of the junk food and sometimes a whole meal that I have been doing. Lets see how that goes. I am thinking of setting goals like 10 pounds lost get a pedicure, then 20 pounds lost another treat. Anyone do that and think that it works for them?

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Next Introduction and Friday Blog Hop

My next introduction of my family is my youngest. You would think that it would be easy to just throw these up there, but with these 7 kids its hard to get pictures of them, I think I need a new camera that is what will help. Anyways, this is my youngest, she is the ours of mine, his and ours. This has been harder then I thought because I have been trying to think of cute names to give them for my blog and I am having a hard time with everyone but her. She is easy, she is definitely being the youngest and the "ours" she is Princess Diva. Her brother's and sister's give her anything she wants. She was born on January 4th, 2007 and I quit my job June 1st 2007 after being on a 3 month maternity leave for C-section and having a little extra time. Basically she has been hooked to my hip from day one. She is as her father says a "Curly Sue Irish Baby". She has the worst temper, very stubborn, and the biggest heart. I always complain she has no hair, but its so curly that it just looks that way. She says the funniest things and she has a mind of her own. She loves Littlest Pet Shop and every time she gets a treat that is what she picks. She must have 100 of them by now and still plays with them every day. She didnt go to preschool this year because she is the last one and we wanted her to stay home with me one more year. She doesnt really need it since she has so many older siblings they teach her every day. As frustrated as I get with her stubborn attitude sometimes, just writing this post and looking over at her as she plays with her animals in the dogs water bowl, I get the biggest smile. She is my Princess Diva through and through. Happy Friday everyone, have a great weekend, and feel free to comment.

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Thursday Good Bye Thunder Thighs

I woke up this morning just uncomfortable in my own skin. I have not really mentioned much about myself yet in this blog, but I do want to share something today. I think that doing a weekly blog post will help me with my up and down Yo-Yo struggle with weight. I have always had issues with it, but it really got bad when I quit my job to stay at home with the kids and has gotten worse from there. I work different freelance customer service jobs from my computer to make the money to pay the bills. I sit at this computer about 15 hours a day. I work mainly at night late till about 4am when the kids are sleep and that causes me to snack for two reasons, one I am bored, and two I feel the food helps me stay awake as I start to drift off to sleep around 2am. I sleep about 5 hours a night and the rest of the time I am awake EATING. I use the many excuses that I cant afford the gym, weight watchers is a lot per week, I have tried every diet there is and even over the counter diet pills and nothing has really worked. I will drop 30 pounds or so and then put it right back on. I use the excuse that my husband does the grocery shopping lately and he buys "kid" friendly meals that are fast and easy and fattening. I use the excuse of time, I dont have enough when I have to work to pay the bills. I got on the scale this morning and I am SHOCKED. I am the heaviest that I have been since I was pregnant with my daughter 4 years ago and I am far from being pregnant. I can feel this becoming an issue with depression as well. I dont have a single thing I can fit into. I have a closet full of clothing that is too tight. I have a pair of cut off sweats that I am living in daily. Something has got to give. I am even too embarrassed to put a picture up of a before so here is a picture of my scale. Dont mind the fact that I need a pedicure. haha. I found an eHow article on how to calculate your points and I can have 27 weight watcher points a day. I subscribed to Hungrygirl.com . I have to say her recipes he sends out by email are so good and she already calculates the points for you. I am trying to get motivated here. Every season for the Biggest Loser I say I am going to do it this time with them, and this time I am! Any of my readers have the same issues please leave comments and give me some advice. I have lost his battle every time I fight it, and this time I want to win it. My starting weight is 231 my goal is 155 and my goal weight date is February 14th 2011. That is my 35th birthday and my anniversary. Wish me luck.
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Came across these today...

I think that I am addicted to blog surfing, get caught up in clicking on other people's blog love and then from there I just go and go. I am learning lots and finding some amazing blogs and those that write them that are so talented and just amaze me and inspire me. Today I came to Say it on the Wall . SayItOnTheWall specializes in vinyl. They can do any job, be it for your home, business, car, or anything else you can think of. Let your imagination work! I saw these and having smaller children that tend to be afraid of the dark, I want to order a few so that I can light up the bathrooms without leaving all the lights on. I even think I will get one for my daughters bedroom. Stop by and check out what they have to offer.You can have it say anything you want. I adore them and they save you money at the same time. Cant beat that in this economy especially with a large family like mine. Pin It