It's All Ours

Don't you find it interesting that people (me included) always say that we own our cars or we own our house. Have you ever thought about that? We don't own squat until the balance on our statements say $0.00. The bank owns everything. This last week we can say that we officially own our car! In fact, we now own outright both of our vehicles. They certainly are not the newest things on the block but I can say that I own them. I do not owe anymore money to anyone and I love it! It almost makes me not want to ever take out another car loan. I despise them.

I actually thought that I had paid the loan off in November. All was good until I received a statement from the credit union stating that we owed $.22. Can you believe that! It had me laughing so hard. And the dumb thing was that it also said that we owed our entire monthly payment still and that we missed a payment in December so that one was passed due. BUT the balance still said $.22. So I called and talked to this crazy guy. He informed me that we did in fact just owe change but he went on and on about how the credit union is like a force field and things get sucked into it and .... I really don't know what he was talking about and stopped listening to him half way through. Then I asked him where the closest branch would be. I really, really did not want to drive into Boise for that. He informed me that they just acquired a new branch at the beginning of the year and it was in Nampa. Awesome! He also told me that I could go eat lunch and use the extra change to pay off the loan. I told him that I could just look around the house and find the extra change. He then goes back to telling me I could go eat lunch and use the extra change. He was SO weird. So the next day I traveled over to the branch and had to wait for this one lady to get back from her lunch break. When she did, she informed me that it was true, they are now part of that credit union but did not have any of the systems until February. How annoying! She did tell me about the shared branch thing and how I could go into a number of local credit unions and with my account number, do whatever I needed to do. I had no idea. So she gave me the closest one. I realized that I did not bring my account number and had to head home for it anyway. On the way home and a couple of errands later, I looked on my phone for the location of that branch. It did not exist! BUT one literally just down the road from my house in Caldwell did. I went in and paid off that $.22 loan! I am so thrilled!

I made a post of Facebook about this and got the funniest responses. One friend said that I should get change from Gunnar's bank and pay it off. Then we can say Gunnar paid off the loan. One commented on how the stamp to send the statement was more than the loan total. And another asked if they accepted checks. Everyone had me laughing.

So the next day I was on the laptop in the morning. I got on but then it died. I tried again and it was dead, dead, DEAD! I knew the battery was slowly losing its efficiency but it was plugged into the wall. I would have assumed it still worked but it wasn't working at all. I started looking up batteries on my phone and options that we had. Finally I called Dell to make sure it really was the battery. The guy had me doing all sorts of things. I was taking the battery in and out. Trying over and over again. He finally asked me if the light on the charger was on. Maybe that was faulty. I looked and it wasn't but I also noticed a plug in laying on the floor. Now the charger was plugged in...so I thought. I started busting up laughing and told this man from India that this may have been the dumbest thing he heard all day. Jeff was ironing that morning and plugged in the iron and unplugged the computer. This entire time I had been feeling the ironing cord and not the computer cord. The man started laughing, I plugged in the computer charger and the computer started right up. Seriously!? Such a blonde moment. Jeff later informed me that he never unplugged the cord and he was wondering why the night before the computer was struggling to stay charged. I have a feeling a little toddler named Brecken came along and unplugged it. He loves to do that.

The night before the Dell problem, my poor sewing machine went stupid. I was working on Mindy's birthday present when it decided to be dumb and jam up. I was not happy at all and now he gets to go see the sewing machine doctor for a tune up. I was a little frustrated because I had other sewing projects I wanted to work on this week. I headed over to Michael's to get the last of Mindy's birthday present and they were still out of what I needed. They ran out before Christmas! So frustrating...so that gift is a little delayed. I'm excited about it though.

When things still go wrong, it is so important to remind myself that it is not the end of the world. Life for me right now is great. We are all healthy, Jeff has a job, I have my business that is doing well, Gunnar is enjoying school and Brecken is a happy toddler. I couldn't ask for more than that. I found the quote at the top of this post on Pinterest today and loved it. Thought I would share.

2012 Goals

I always have intentions of writing out my list of goals at the beginning of the year. It never happens until this year. I need to do it. I need to focus on a few things and really strive to achieve them. The longer I do them, the hopes is that it becomes habit right?

Today I was reading yesterdays paper and it had snippets from local people about new year's resolutions. One of the local, elected people said, "If I made a New Year's resolution, which I don't, I would not tell anyone due to the likely event of failure to follow through. I wish everyone a very happy new year and good luck with your resolution." Seriously!? That just rubbed me completely the wrong way for some reason. What a loser is what keeps going through my mind. His response was almost in a mocking way too. Does he realize that making goals is good. In fact our church leaders and most likely very successful people will say that making goals is key to progression and improvement with oneself. Plus, writing them down and/or making them known to someone increases the likelihood of actually achieving that goal. That other person or persons helps keep you accountable. It would also make me more aware of my goals. It would solidify what I really want to work on by writing them down. I like how he used the work "likely". Sounds like he never follows through on anything. Interesting to know when he is one of our elected officials in our town. And his last line is the best..."and good luck with your resolution". Totally making fun of everyone that has made goals for themselves. Anyway, it all just hit me completely wrong today.

So with that being said. I made goals! I made goals for myself and for my business. Last year I didn't really make any so I have no gauge for my progress. This year is a fresh start with a new perspective on where I want to be by the end. I broke them down by Daily Life Goals and Spiritual goals.

-I want to read my scriptures daily. It just needs to happen. My life moves more smoothly by doing so.

-I need to act on promptings sooner. You know when you get that prompting that you should just call someone up, or take them cookies, or go up and talk to them. Yep, I get those and usually don't do a darn thing. My life would be so much fuller and richer if I did it. I just know I will be blessed by doing so. You never know where those promptings lead or who they will in turn bless.

-I want to have someone new over for dinner or drop off treats to someone once per month. My awesome friend last month makes cinnamon rolls and gives them out to friends for Christmas gifts. She mentioned how she wished she could give them to everyone and had to whittle down the list. It got me thinking about giving. Why couldn't we make treats throughout the year and give them away for no reason really except we were thinking about that family. That is what I want to do.

-Go to bed by 10:30pm at night and wake up at 6am every morning. I have been going to bed way too late and waking up way late and then kicking myself every morning about my choices. It frustrates me that I don't eagerly wake up at 6am like I did before Gunnar started school.

-Continue to purge the stuff. We've been pretty good with this. Just one of those things we can always be better at. Gunnar heads back to school tomorrow which means I can get rid of those things that need to be gone when he is not around.

-Tidy up the house every night. Makes morning worth waking up to if it is clean and easier to do if I don't let it get out of control.

-Keep the kitchen table cleared every day. Do you know how hard that is? At least it is at our house. The table tends to be the dumping ground sometimes. Keeping it clear is freeing to the soul I think.

-Coupon more. I've fallen off the bandwagon and really need to jump back on. I know the potential to save and how nice it is to have food built up. Our stockpile is getting low and I am sick of paying too much for basic items I should have downstairs already.

-Pay off unnecessary credit card debt. This stuff has to go. I think we can all agree. And by couponing, I can shift my money saved towards paying off debt. That is the plan anyway.

So this is the 2012 plan. I am excited about these goals. I think they are attainable. They feel attainable anyway and that is what you want right? Why would you set a bunch of goals so far fetched that you end up failing.

I do have my Paparazzi goals too which I am excited about. I would hate to bore you with them but I am excited and the company is absolutely exploding with growth. 2012 is the year to join!

Here's to 2012. I'm feeling it will be a great year!

He Melts My Heart

These were taken November 7th not long after he learned to really walk. At this point in his walking career, he was working on standing up from where ever he happened to be. Before he would have to crawl over to something so he could pull himself up and then continue on.

This day was nice and my little guy needed to get a little fresh air. I am so in love with this little boy. He is so funny. He has the best, random personality quirks. He is similar to Gunnar in some ways but most definitely his own little individual. He loves to cuddle far more than Gunnar ever did. He is SO talkative. Can't understand a single thing he says but he will carry on a full blown conversation in "Brecken" with you as if you did. He is a jokester and works pretty hard at making you laugh. He LOVED music! Gunnar did too but it was not as strong as Brecken's love. This kid moves to the sound of the piano in church. We know we can keep him entertained when a hymn is being sung. During the speakers, forget it. He is way too busy. He loves beating on anything to hear the noise, he loves the radio and starts shaking his little body. His dance moves have even evolved. It went from normal baby/toddler movements to this move he makes with his arms and fingers that looks like he is a flamenco dancer. I told Jeff that if he doesn't sing, dance, or play a musical instrument somewhere down the road, something seriously happened. He has rhythm in his soul. This kid has Hawaiian blood running through him. He can tan pretty easily, he loves the music, the food and he is a stocky, thick little thing. Just tonight I was noticing that he is all torso and no legs as he was running around in a onesie. With a big head of course. Our friend April calls it the HPH. I asked her one day what that meant...the Hundred Pound Head. I found that pretty funny. Most recently he has been folding is chubby little arms and mumbling his own prayer as someone is giving it. Pretty darn cute. Within the last week as Gunnar finishes his night prayers, Brecken runs over to him, gives him a little hug (while patting his back) and then a kiss. He knows it is time for bed and has the routine down. The other night, he did that in the middle of the prayer. Gunnar had no idea what to do and managed to get through the prayer as he was being tackled with a hug and kiss. Brecken is also the most accident prone kid I know. He always has some sort of bruise or owie on his head. It is is mainly on his head and no where else. And the closer it gets to something important...wedding, holiday...the more hurt we know he will become. It just happens that way. He also bangs his head on the ground to get attention when he is super mad. Something we are not a fan of.

This guy melts my heart. I just love him so much. These little Robeez boots were something he was obsessed with. He wanted them on all of the time. They were warm and easy to walk in without the huge hard soles. We just wear them as indoor shoes now. They looked brand new when Gunnar wore them. He did not crawl as long as Brecken did, which we thought would be foever.

Halloween 2011

A few days before Halloween, I signed up to be a vendor at a Trunk or Treat So People Can Eat event. A big local coupon blogger in our area and a community college teamed up to collect canned food for the food bank as admission and provide lots of vendors handing out candy and information along with food vendors, emergency vehicles/personnel there and kids inflatables. While I manned my trunk, Jeff took the kids around. It was SO much fun and the weather wasn't too bad. A little cold but doable.
Gunnar wanted to be a mechanic. I found these super cute overalls at Savers with the half price colored tag on it in his size. He loves them and uses them a lot when he goes over to Grandpa's to help him work on things. Sadly they are getting too small and hard to find. Brecken was a frog. Same costume Gunnar wore at this age. They look quite different in the same costume.

Amazingly, I had several people call me for Paparazzi open houses from this event. It was free to be in and worth it. I had a great time and so did the boys. I will definitely be there next year.

We always head to the court house on Halloween to trick or treat. We go from department to department for candy. The areas are all decorated and we have a lot of fun. Plus Jeff knows several people over there so they love to see what the boys look like.I can't wait until one day Heidi doesn't have to work a lot or Cami is old enough to walk on her own with Brecken and I can take her with us. She would love it.

Jeff always dresses up every year and the last couple of years have been pretty extreme. The ladies hardly recognize him. This year he must have looked too normal because the reaction wasn't as big.
That night, we headed out with our friend's the Sartell's sans Jared. April and Paige joined us and we had a lot of fun. We went further than we thought we ever would. We went to so many houses and the kids kept going and going. Paige and Gunnar are super buddies. They are about a year and a half apart but adore each other. They are always talking about how each other is their best friend. If one day 20 years down the road, they decided to reconnect and get married. We would be thrilled. We love these guys. It's always awesome when you can find those friends that you connect with. It's doubly awesome that they literally live 3 minutes around the corner, we go to church together, our kids are close in age, Jeff and Jared work together and also serve the Young Men's in church together and we just plain love doing stuff with them all of the time. We are blessed to have them in our lives. Oh yes, and Gunnar's costume is different. He wanted to be a safari person...or bug collector or...whatever he wanted to be. Gone are the days that I get to pick out that perfect costume for him.

Hawaii: Part 3

September 19th was just a day of whatever. Mindy and Rillz had random stuff to do with family or for their wedding so we did our own thing. We packed a lunch and headed out. We wanted to head to North Shore and go to the beach. Along the way, we stopped at the Dole Plantation. I wanted to show Gunnar how pineapples grew. I remember when I went the first time with my family and was amazed at how they grew. I guess growing up I never really thought about it. I think they are cool. And to know that it takes about 2 years for one to mature is incredible.

As we made our way around the place, we knew we were in trouble. We had plans to spend like $0. When Gunnar heard the sound of the little train, we knew we were in big trouble. We ended up forking over $20 something dollars to go on that. We figured if that was Gunnar's big splurge, it would be worth it. It also rained while we were on it and cleared up some when we were walking around.

They have a huge pond with tons of koi fish. Gunnar and I had fun feeding them and watching them fight on top of each other for food. We also had fun taking pictures in those silly little displays.

After the plantation we made our way to the beach. The drive through the island this way is really pretty and rural. I enjoyed the drive. The weather was awesome again. We found a great spot to play. It was right next to these people running a board rental on the beach. It was really interesting watching people rent surf or paddle boards and give it a shot. This was also the day I rolled my capris up to my knees and didn't put a lot of thought into it...until later and I had burned legs from the knees down.

This little dude was not happy. He had sand in his mouth and all over so we would have to take him in the ocean and dunk him in the water and try to clean him off. He still hasn't learned on day 3. One of the problems is that he still crawled. He would crawl through the sand, then rub his eyes or get a little bit in his mouth, go to get it out but his hand was covered too. It was a never ending problem.

This guy and his wife were the ones that ran the rentals on the beach. He took his son way out there at one point to practice surfing. It was fun to watch and this little guy had great balance. This guy had crazy tattoos all over and was SO dark skinned. They also had a newborn. The baby looked to be a couple of months old. He also took the baby out in the shallow waters and laid him belly down on a board. It was so cute!

We had so much fun in the sand. Thanks to someone else the day before, we found sand toys unclaimed on the beach. They provided ours of fun for us. Gunnar also hit it off well with another little boy and loved playing with him. The interesting things was that their family including the little boy and girl did not speak any English. I love how language is not a barrier for little kids at all.

Our boys were so exhausted on the way home. I loved the picture of Brecken in the car seat. He was so relaxed making his face look so fat!

Hawaii: Part 2

So here we are at day 2. It was Sunday and we were so exhausted! The time change just killed us plus Brecken was not contained in a play pen or anything. He slept on a blanket with Gunnar. That was interesting in itself. Gunnar hated it because Brecken moves around way to much. I would randomly wake up and Brecken would be near the bottom of the blanket, then almost under the bed, then practically on top of Gunnar. It was pretty funny but drove Gunnar nuts.

Really we just wasted the day away. I believe this was the day we decided to walk down to Don Quiote's. It was way down this hill and made for a nice walk. All along the way, Rillz would tell us funny things about how he worked at the library for a short time because of a girl, the police station was right there too or stories about the school we walked by. We also walked by the backside of the house his parent's used to own. I can't quite remember but this may have been the day we searched out Walmart too because I didn't pack Brecken any jammies. Go figure. There had to be something forgotten.

We headed to Ala Moana beach for the first time that afternoon/evening. It was awesome! It was Brecken's first time seeing the ocean and both of their times playing on the beach/ocean. It was fun! The weather was absolutely beautiful and the sunset was incredible. We had a blast.

Is anyone surprised that this little stinker had to eat before he even checked out the sand or water. We aren't. This kid has a bottomless stomach. Eventually that piece of sandwich ended up being a nasty mush of sandwich and sand.

He had no idea what you should really be doing with sand. He'll learn. He was covered everywhere. We found it in every roll on his body including in his ears and mouth. It was bad.

Gunnar can make friends where ever he goes. He is not shy at all and thrives on friends.

Gunnar is my water boy but Brecken also loved the ocean. As Brecken was crawling everywhere, he went into this huge crater that someone dug and couldn't get back out. I found it funny and just sat on the edge as he toddled around. As I was sitting there, this girl from Nepal, India, somewhere around there came over and started playing with Brecken. She loved it. She was there as a student and lived right in the heart of downtown Honolulu. She was studying hospitality and tourism. Perfect place to be going to school. After graduation she wanted to remain living there. She was fun to talk to .

I just love this boy...

Oh Boy...

Where have I been. I feel like I am reuniting with a long lost friend. I looked at the date on my last post and couldn't believe it had been that long since I last posted. It makes me sad but then at the same time I know how busy I have been.

This is the all time busiest time of year for me with my Etsy advent calendars and Paparazzi Jewelry business. It is nuts. I always get a huge influx of calendar orders right before December 1st and then a few that trickle in after because people just flat out forgot or didn't think of them early. So at this very moment, I have 4 that I need to complete. It is a lot of fun to do and I love other's reactions to them. However, I received two wedding album orders at the beginning of the craziness. It really messed with my groove. It made things all off to start. Hopefully I get caught up with very few coming in this next week and things will mellow out.

However I don't anticipate life slowing down because of Paparazzi. It is also the busiest time of year right now. Things are insane. People are after Christmas gifts and stocking stuffers. This business has been so fun and so easy. Easy because I don't have to convince anyone to like it and buy it. It literally sells itself. This last week I had two open houses with me intentionally not scheduling anything on Saturday because of a family tradition at the Caldwell night parade. But next week, I have 6 open houses!! Two of them being on the same day. Craziness...and then next week I have 4 with two being on the same day. Then the week before Christmas it just dies. Nobody wants to venture into the full week before Christmas so far.

I have had tons of fun doing this and the compensation/commission plan is pretty great too. One of my favorite things is that I have 3 fantastic ladies signed up under me with a potential in the works! They are so fun to work with and I love bouncing ideas off of each other. One of my consultants had been one for 12 days when she had her first person sign up under her. That is insane! She was a little surprised herself. We have had a lot of fun and can't wait to see what the new year brings for us. Want to check out more of what I am talking about? Visit my Facebook page. Like it while you are there because I love to do giveaways!

My kids keep me busy too. Gunnar is in full day kindergarten but twice a week I watch Cami too. Since she is only 3.5 months younger than Brecken, they keep busy. One walks and and the other crawls. They can get into about anything but love to play together so they keep each other company. It's quite nice.

We are half way up for Christmas. The tree has been up for days but not decorated. The first night we ran out of time and Gunnar really needed to be in bed for school the next day. The next day we attempted it but Gunnar was wild and naughty so we called quits on it and sent him to bed early. The poor tree has been sitting there ever since. I don't know if it is me or what, but the older I get the more I really don't want to put up so many random decorations. Last year I really paired it down and stuck with the things that I love. Simple and easy. Right now I am on the hunt for a dog Christmas stocking holder in bronze. I am to the point that I will probably just get a random normal one to go with our others. We are done shopping. It's finished. Right down to the dog's Christmas. Now I just need to finish one more sibling gift and wrap, wrap, wrap. I'm happy about that.

We've experienced no snow yet. It has been lingering in the 40's which is rather warm here this time of year with really windy days but no snow. I am completely 100% fine with it until after all of these open houses. Then it can snow all it wants. So far next week looks clear. Yeah!

Wow! That is a lot of rambling and now I am done. :)