Turning over a new leaf

For everyone who reads my blog on a regular basis I would like to THANK YOU! I have checked my stats and I cannot believe that every month it gets on average 700+ views. The response has been more than I could ever imagined and hoped for. 

So with that being said I am "turning over a new leaf". 

I know a lot of my fellow military wive friends are entrepreneurs and I am definitely planning on taking that route after our big move as well. So I had this idea to partner up with many of these ladies for a monthly giveaway. One that would promote their business and my blog. A little old fashioned marketing if you will. So if you have a business and would like to partner with me in promoting it with a giveaway, let me know :)

So here is how it's gonna work:
-Every month on the 2nd Wednesday I will be posting a new blog promoting a fellow Military Wives business and doing a giveaway. 
-The first 40 people to comment on the blog and like the businesses page on Facebook (if one is provided) will be entered into a random drawing using http://www.random.org/integers/.
-The winner will be announced on Friday via Facebook! (and/or email)
-The winner must notify me via Facebook or email-agrisham2183@gmail.com with all shipping info. 

Now lets get to the fun part............let me introduce you to Sarah Alvarado-Owner of Dreaming of Dandelions
Go to her Facebook page here and "like" it Facebook.com/dreamingofdandelions
and visit her store on Etsy www.dreamingofdandelions.etsy.com

Sarah and I went to high school and played soccer together. Her husband Anthony played baseball. Anthony enlisted in the Marine Corps...here is her story :)

 "Looking back, the history of Dreaming of Dandelions is based largely around our experiences as a Marine Corps Family. While I was attending The Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising, my husband was deployed to Iraq twice. I finished my classes two weeks before he returned from his second deployment. At this time I was also 9 months pregnant. I spent the next few years enjoying being a mom and wife. My husband spent his last year in the Marine Corps stationed in Okinawa, unaccompanied. Major bummer. However, while he was gone it gave me lots of free time to explore my creativity again. I began to sew again and completed lots of projects around the house. I always wanted to start my own handmade business but couldn't quite pinpoint what I wanted to focus on. Well, the time approached for my husband to finally come home. Of course, I needed the perfect outfit. I had the dress but I gave up on finding the perfect clutch to go with it...so I made one myself. That was the beginning of Dreaming of Dandelions. The perfect combination of my love for fashion and handmade."

What an awesome and inspiring story! Her stuff is super cute too :)

So here's what we have for you! The give away will be this handmade zipper pouch. Isn't it cute? Well get your "like" on and comment below for your chance to win it :)

Oh Pinterest! I love and hate you :P

 I was on Pinterest this morning, and I came across a blog where a woman talked about how homemaking was her job, and she took it seriously.  She gets up early, cooks, cleans, prepares delicious meals, blah, blah, blah.

I wanted to choke her. 

The next blog in my reader, was describing how to create HANDMADE love notes for your child's lunch box.  Seriously?  Write on a napkin or buy the ones premade, never mind that.

Don't get me wrong, I love Pinterest. I get lots of recipes and craft ideas from it.  You can find me here: http://pinterest.com/amg2183/

I was joking with a friend about my "findings" and she just laughed at me. I asked her why she was laughing and she said I was a "Pinterest" Mom. Reminding me of all the things I do and how envious she was that I seemed to have it together and still make time to volunteer and keep a pretty busy schedule. I was utterly flattered by her perception of me, but also thought, "hey I must be putting on quite the show!" lol

I thoroughly enjoy my busy schedule and all the things I am involved in. But I am not the "Pinterest" Mom. I'll give you a few examples:

We had Hamburger Helper one night for dinner.

The laundry isn't done, the floors aren't spotless, and I don't get up early to make my kids a hot breakfast every morning.

I think it's okay if my kids wear the same pajamas more than one night.  (I don't think they should wear the same clothes every day, but luckily that's not an issue here!)

I don't hand make my husband cards.  

I don't water my lawn.

I don't save everything I am getting rid of for a garage sale.  

I do love my kids, take care of my kids, workout, keep the house reasonably clean, and make sure there is always toilet paper.  The dog gets walked, fed, and watered.

I don't spend my free minutes scrubbing, cleaning corners with q-tips, or making sure the underside of my chairs have no spots on them.

I did take my children to story time, to the park, on a walk, had a movie night, and took them to  Wendys because I didn't want to cook. 

Life is good, and if my baseboards are a little dusty, at least I know it's for a good reason--Alanna and Brycen