A New And Exciting Prospect For All My Readers!

In the spirit of all good things, I'm sharing a profound and amazing deal that I've selfishly absentmindedly been keeping all to myself. It's called: Swagbucks.

I don't just sign up for random web things and I definitely don't promote anything unless I know it to be true or have used it long enough to understand the ropes. Swagbucks is one of those tried-and-true things I've done. And not only am I doing it, but all my friends are too. Well, most of them anyway... obviously, since YOU don't have it, then not all my friends are doing it. Yet. So it comes well recommended by me and most-of-my friends.

Did you know that by just doing what you normally do on the Internet, you could be earning free Amazon gift cards? Yeah, I'm serious. This is not a gimmick.

Did you know that you don't have to give Swagbucks a lot of personal information? They just need your name, email address, country and date of birth. Seriously. Blogger requires more than that, even.

Did you know that it's free? The service is paid for by the competitors who post ads on the Swagbucks site. You will not be spammed or become inflicted by a virus on your computer either. It's 100% safe. And you don't have to agree to anything unless you absolutely want it.

If you don't believe me or still need a little bit more info before signing up, don't feel back: click on the following promotion to learn more. (You can look at it before you sign up.) Believe me, I was very cautious before I took the plunge but after I did it, I couldn't figure out why I hadn't been doing it sooner.



Oh, and one more thing... anyone who may sign up under you on Swagbucks will benefit you as well: you get credits every time they do. Not to put any pressure on you or anything but the same goes for me: everyone who signs up on Swagbucks from my blog, will reward me with credits as well. So we both win!

And if for some reason you never want to cash in your credits, it's not a big deal. The thrill of seeing a random box pop up while you're on the Internet telling you that you won "x-amount of Swagbucks" gives you an adrenaline rush. Seriously. To think people pay MONEY to have so much fun but with Swagbucks, YOU get paid to have the fun yourself. It's like a computer game only you don't have to feel bad for wasting time. Swagbucks makes all your time on the Internet fun. Even if you are simply researching diapers. Or Recipes. Or checking the weather.

Just go to Swagbucks now and see what you think!

Polk-a-dot Painting Project

I love painting. I love polk-a-dots. And I love my kids. Not in that order (most days) but you know what I mean.

So one day I decided to combine all three.

And my kids were thrilled.

We laid newspaper on the floor to make it look like we were taking cautionary preventative measures and actually serious about only getting paint on the walls.

Then we put on paint clothes, selected some brushes and began to splash colorful and bright dots on our family room wall.

Amazingly, the paint only went from their little red cups, to their brushes, to the walls. I was very pleased with their "carefullness" and it made me realize that little projects like this, not only showed me what my kids were capable of being responsible for but also showed my kids what they could be trusted with when they can prove their responsibility.

Everyone had their designated circles. And I had the honors of cleaning up edges and reaching the high polk-a-dots.

The results were better than I expected, which was a good thing since I had my "I'm Blogging This" shirt on. It inspired me to make a blog post out of our project. And even more so since I love our polk-a-dot wall. But, my favorite part about it is that someday when my kids are old and they have kids of their own, they'll be able to say, "When I was a kid, my mom let me paint polk-a-dots on a wall in our house... what was she thinking?!"

It makes me smile every time I walk through our family room.

And not only does it look fun and happy, it was a fun and happy project to do. With my kids.

Yeah, I could've gotten it done twice as fast by myself without their "help." And maybe wouldn't have had to touch up so many spots.

But I wouldn't have the sweet memory of it had I crammed them off to their rooms and told them to not touch mommy's paint.

Polk-a-dots are supposed to be fun, right?! And these definitely were.

When I see the fun polk-a-dots dancing on our family room wall, I don't even think about the fact that I let my kindergartners get in close range to our new couch and brand new carpet with wet, live paint. Instead, the memories of our fun polk-a-dot project, are timeless. And sweet.

That's the way polk-a-dots are supposed to be. And raising kids is supposed to be that way too.

They're Only Kids Once

Sometimes I look at my kids and wonder.... how did you become mine? Who are you? What will you become someday? Is your childhood going to be one filled with good memories or will it be a passing phrase in time that you were glad to see go?

I wonder: am I cherishing each day? Living it to the fullest? Are my priorities righted? Do I have a vision of the future? Of hope? Of my children's lives?

Often I think about the fact that I wanted to grow up, get married and have kids. I did all that. And now that I'm in the "have kids" era, it's no longer about me. Now my kids have their own goals. Their own lives. Their own thoughts and desires. Their own "when-I-grow-up-I-want..." dreams and plans. This is IT for them. This is the real thing. It's not all about me living the life I always wanted anymore; it's about them being shaped for adulthood.

It's not possible to push a "record" button when we go to the zoo or park or have a birthday party and know that only what's played out during that time will be recorded as a keepsake childhood memory. The "record" button is not optional: it's down all the time. I can't "stop" the tape. The days I'm tired or distracted or preoccupied with my own things, are days their childhood memories are being made.

Each day is another chance for adventure. Another page in their life story. Another captured time in memory that they'll pull their childhood recollections from. What happens TODAY will hopefully cause nostalgia for them in twenty years.

I hope and pray their quickly-fleeting-childhoods will be but a bright spot in their lives, filled with direction, hope, bliss and love that shaped their perspective for the promising future.

Because nothing is quite as good as it was when you were a kid. And I'm making that count, today.