The Gratitude Project

My one word for this year is Gratitude, being thankful to God for all he has given me.  Join me in the Gratitude Project every Thursday.  I list what I'm thankful for and you tell me what you're thankful for.

After taking a few Thursdays off during March, I'm back with the Gratitude Project.  Those last 2 weeks in March were super busy and I have to admit, I completely forgot about this.  But I'm back now.  I can be grateful for renewed memories (wink!).

I'm also excited and grateful to announce that this is my 500th post!  I've been blogging since Sept 2009 and the frequency of my posts has varied greatly over the years.  But I'm proud of this blog project of mine and of it's longevity.  I've got great plans in the near future for Stay in the Car Mom and I can't wait to reveal it all to you.

I'd like to take a moment and thank all of you, my readers.  I'm always amazed when someone tells me they read my blog.  I write because I enjoy it and because I want to document our lives, but it's extra special to me when people are interested in the things I write and when they faithfully read my posts.  For that I want to say that I'm truly grateful to you.

Now it's your turn.  I'd love for you to leave me a comment with your name and one thing you are grateful for.  It's quick and easy, I promise!

Spring Cleaning: Join in the Challenge

I read a lot of blogs and I get a feel for what's going down in the blogsphere (at least the little section of it that I read).  And right now the trend is Spring Cleaning.  It's no wonder though.  The long, cold winter is almost done and people want to wipe it away and start the warm months with bright, clean houses.  I understand.  I want a clean house too.

What's the best way to Spring clean a house?
I sure don't know the answer to that.  You could say that I'm a little bit challenged in the housekeeping department.  I mean, I want my house to be clean, but I don't want to have to be the one to clean it.  (That's what I had kids for, right? Um, I mean, no, of course that's not why.)

But...my house really does need some help.  After a rough Fall and Winter physically, I feel like I'm finally in a position to spend a few minutes on Spring cleaning each day.  Now, I can't go wild or anything, but a few minutes will be OK for me and will be great for my house.

After looking around at several blogs that I frequent, I decided to join up with Money Saving Mom's 30 Day House Cleaning Challenge.  Each day in April, she posts a new cleaning challenge.  She'll tell us at 9 AM what to clean and then post a followup post at 6 PM to show how it went in her house.  The party continues all day on Facebook (Money Saving Mom's page), Twitter (#cleanin30) and Instagram (#cleanin30).

I'm going to be posting before and after pictures all day on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook.  Be sure to follow me to see all the great cleaning success (and maybe some failures) that I have this month.  I'll also do a once a week summary post so all you non-social-media folks can join in the fun too.

Leave me a comment if you plan to do Spring cleaning this month!!  What part of your house needs cleaning the most?

March Books

These are the books that I've read in March, my "other" books.  Feel free to read the list of 12 books that I'm planning to read in 2013.  You can also see all the books I've read this year and find links to their reviews on my Pinterest page.

March was a much slower reading month than January or February, but that's OK.  The books I read this month were a little longer and I needed to "simmer" over them for a while.  In total, I only read 3 books in March.  I've reviewed Dirty God here.

Remember this picture?  Those were the books I planned to read this month.  (Don't know what I'm talking about?  Join me on Instagram to be kept in the loop.)  Yeah, I only read one of those books.  Oh well, they are still on my list for April.

So here are the other 2 books that I've read this month.

Problogger: Secrets for Blogging Your Way to a Six-Figure Income by Darren Rowse and Chris Garrett

Update: Oops, I forgot to tell where I got these great books.  I found this one in a bookstore as we were killing time before dinner one night (those bookstores with train tables are great!).  My wonderful husband bought it for me.

Synopsis:  Two of the world's most successful bloggers walk you through how to start and run a money-making blog.  From choosing a blog, choosing the platform on which to host it, promoting it and learning how to earn revenue, the authors give you detailed instructions for every step of the way.

My Thoughts:  This is an absolute must-read for everyone who wants to blog for income.  I learned things such as how to build a "sticky" blog community and how to effectively use social media to promote my blog.  The fact that the authors run a successful, very lucrative blog at problogger.net is just icing on the top.  After reading the book, I visited the site and it's like I get an encore of the book every day.  That in itself is incredibly useful to me.

Although I wish the book had gone more in depth about some things like SEO (search engine optimization), it did give me a great deal of information about many things in relation to my blog that I had never thought about before.  It will take me a while to process it all.  I'm sure Problogger will be a resource that I refer back to quite often in the future.

All Things New by Lynn Austin

Update:  Since I'm a huge Lynn Austin fan and this was her new book, my mom bought it for me and gave it to me as a Christmas gift.  I just wish I hadn't waited 2 months to read it.

Synopsis: The Civil War has just ended and the Weatherly family is trying to figure out how to live this new life they find themselves in.  In Antebellum times, they had owned a prosperous cotton plantation in Virginia complete with dinner parties, carriage rides and the most valuable asset of all...slaves.  Now, Phillip, the owner of the plantation, as well as the head of the Weatherly family, is dead and their slaves have been freed by their former enemy, the dreaded Yankees.  Can young Josephine, her mother Eugenia and their former slave, Lizzy, all figure out how to survive?

My Thoughts:  Lynn Austin is one of my favorite authors and once again, she does not disappoint.  Every character in this book is so well-rounded and complex.  Each chapter is told from the point of view of one of the three women: Josephine, Eugenia and Lizzy.  You get one view of a character from outside of them and a completely different view of that character when you gets to live in her shoes for a chapter or two.  What might look like one motive to one person becomes a completely different motive when viewed from the other side.  Lynn Austin does a great job with that.

I also love that this story looks at an aspect of the Civil War not often talked about in books - the Reconstruction. It's great that the North won and that slavery was abolished but when Southerners were sent home to figure out how to survive in a new normal that they knew nothing about, then you start to feel for them and empathize with their plight.  You get new insight into why the Civil War was fought in the first place and why the South felt like it couldn't survive without slavery.

But the best part of the book?  The hope that is present throughout it all.  Hope just emanates from the lives of all three women, hope that the future will be better than the present. If you love historical fiction, than you will love this book.

I've read 3 books in March.  That brings my total up to 16 books for the year.  I'm well on my way to reaching my 40 book goal.  See all the books I've read on my Pinterest page.

Happy Easter!

It was a rainy Easter around here but we managed to have some fun anyway.

Somehow the Easter bunny forgot to come by our house Saturday night. I can't imagine how that could have happened!  Luckily, I talked to the him early Sunday morning and he assured me that if I asked the kids to stay in their rooms, he would make a special delivery to their Easter baskets right away.

Then it was church time.  Celebrating Resurrection Sunday at church is one of the highlights of my year.  We also love getting new clothes and looking our best to celebrate the Resurrection of our Lord.

 

And one of my favorites of the day...Julie's awesome hair.  I took ideas from several different blog posts.  This is a combination of neverending braids and a rosette flower bun.  What do you think?

After church, it was off to my parent's house for lunch and an egg hunt.

Last stop of the day was Tim's parents' house.  We had a turkey dinner and even more Easter basket treats. Growing up I didn't live close to my extended family.  I am so glad my children get to live close to lots of their family and that we get to celebrate with everyone on holidays.

How was your Easter?  Did you get to celebrate with family?

Good Friday

© Photographer: Ximagination | Agency: Dreamstime.com

The cross was two pieces of dead wood; and a helpless, unresisting Man was nailed to it; yet it was mightier than the world, and triumphed, and will ever triumph over it.
 - Augustus William Hare -

As you celebrate this Easter weekend, enjoy the egg hunts and the Easter baskets.  But do remember the man who is God who sacrificed for us all on this day so many years ago.  Have a wonderful Good Friday.

Sick Day

Remember back in the good ole days when being sick meant your mommy stayed home and took care of you all day.  You got to watch cartoons and sip on Gatorade while lounging on the couch.

The good old days are today for David.

Poor guy.  He's got this weird stomach virus that makes him sick for about 24 hours, then he's OK for 12 hours, then sick, then OK and on and on.  It has lasted 5 days so far.  And on top of that he has a sinus infection.  He's a sick little guy.

But despite all that... Looney Tunes still make him laugh.  Even ones that were made in 1949 (yes, we looked it up on Wikipedia).  Guess I can endure Cartoon Network for a few more days until he feels better.

Let's just hope he feels better soon because Spring Break starts tomorrow and no one likes to be sick over Spring Break.

Disney fever is just beginning

Well guys, it's back.

We have started planning a Disney trip for Oct and Disney fever is setting in.  Our school system is (finally) giving us a week long Fall break next year and we are going to put it to good use by going to Disney World. Wahoo!

I couldn't help but reminiscence about our last Disney trip by reading back through all the blog posts I wrote before.  To make it easier for myself and others to flip through the posts, I also created a new Disney World! Pinterest board.

Last time we went, the kids were 5 and 7.  This time they will be 8 and 10.  I wonder what differences we'll see.

Before David's favorite ride was Pirates of the Caribbean and Julie's favorite was Splash Mountain.  Will different rides be their favorites this time?

Lego Star Wars and Disney themed earrings took up most of their spending money in 2011.  Will their choice of souvenirs change significantly this time?

I guess in we'll find out in 6 months.

What do you think their favorite rides will be this time?  What would you spend your souvenir money on at Disney World?