My Photos: A Reminder of What It's Really All About

I have been in a real rut lately.  The fact is that I have been burnt out for months.  When I work, I seem to be going at half the pace I used to, so it feels like I am just working all the time when I am not tending to my children.  On those days when I'm feeling especially run-down and under-appreciated (and counting the days until summer vacation is over), I wonder why I am able to plug along day after day.

I took the photo below at dinner last night.  Those aren't fake smile-for-the-camera smiles.  My family is genuinely happy and having fun.  After I took this photo, I realized that they are why I keep going.  I'm going to put this photo on my desktop so, if I ever begin to forget again (maybe while I'm up until 1am working because I couldn't get enough done during the day), I'll have an instant reminder.

Taken with the Nokia Lumia 920

Click here to view all my past favorite photos.

20 Thoughtful and Romantic Gift Ideas to Surprise Your Spouse With

I recently read an article about how to be romantic all year round and how you should not wait until Valentine's Day to show your love for your spouse.  There were some great ideas in this article, many of which did not require a lot of time and money.  One idea that really inspired me is the one about a monthly gift.  I think picking up a little something for your spouse once a month just to say that you were thinking of him or her would be fun, romantic, and would add some anticipation to a marriage.  This should be a low pressure gift, perhaps something little that you saw while you were out that made you think of your spouse.

For those months that you do not just happen to see something you think your spouse would like, I enlisted my husband to help me make the lists below.  These are lists you can turn to if you need a back-up gift idea.


Monthly Gift Ideas for Your Husband . . . 

1.  A favorite cake, pie, or other dessert that needs to be specially ordered from a restaurant or bakery
2.  A 6-pack of one of his favorite beers that he rarely gets to have
3.  A movie he had mentioned once that he wanted to see a long time ago, but never did
4.  9-holes of golf
5.  A tie (if he has to wear them often)
6.  A clever novelty t-shirt
7.  The latest book by his favorite author
8.  The latest issues of a few of his favorite magazines that he does not subscribe to
9.  A video game he would like that you can play together
10. A container of munchies or treats to keep at work


Monthly Gift Ideas for Your Wife . . .

1.  A jar candle in a scent you think she'll love
2.  A charm to add to an existing charm bracelet or necklace
3.  A favorite cake, pie, or other dessert that needs to be specially ordered from a restaurant or bakery
4.  A mixed bouquet of flowers
5.  A movie she had mentioned once that she wanted to see a long time ago, but never did
6.  The latest book by her favorite author
7.  The latest issues of a few of her favorite magazines that she does not subscribe to
8.  A new scarf (if she likes to wear them)
9.  A pair or two of fun novelty socks that fit her personality
10. A few shades of nail polish or lipstick you would love to see on her


If you have any ideas about small thoughtful gifts to give to a spouse, I would love to hear them.  My husband and I are going to try this, so I will certainly need more ideas for the future.

Go here for more great ideas about how to show your love all year long.

My Photos (W/E 8-20-11)

So, I may have gotten a little carried away with the photo-taking this week.  I suppose it's a good thing.  For every photo I take, that means I don't have myself planted in front of my laptop writing, right?  I hope there are one or two that appeal to you this week.

(Click any photo to enlarge)

"I Spy a 2nd Grader"

"A Creative Process"

"A Tattooed Artist"

"Silly Business"

"Gone For a Ride"

"Serious Business"

"Do Not Disturb"

"A Love Story"

Thank you for taking the time to view my photos this week! If you'd like to play along or see more great photos, stop by to see Lotus a.k.a. Sarcastic Mom.

New 3G2S Series: Letters To Karen

Recently, my stress level had hit a new high.  Although I have known that I had needed to make some changes for a long time, I just cannot seem to get there.  Where is there?  Well, I need to get to a place where I am not exhausted all the time, where I have more time to spend with my husband and children, and where I can feel more serene (even if it's just for an hour a day).


Right now, I stay up until 1 or 2am almost every night trying to fit in all my responsibilities, which are:

• Caring for our family of 5
• PR work
• Blogging on 3 Garnets & 2 Sapphires
• Blogging on A Blog of Goodies
• Writing my style column
• Being a moderator on the MomDot Forums

Notice there is no "me time" listed in there?  I have thought long and hard, but I could not bring myself to give up any of the responsibilities listed above, so I am going to try to make some changes.  Some of these changes are ones I have attempted to make in the past, but have failed.  Maybe it will help me to hold myself to it if I put them in writing?

1. Taking on less product reviews
2. Telling myself that it is okay to skip a day of blogging now and then
3. Getting ahead to where I can schedule posts in advance for Saturday and Sunday, so that I can take weekends off
4. Focusing more time on the educational series I had previously begun . . . Play To Learn Diner and Kindergartner-in-Training
5. Keeping reviews mostly focused on the two things I enjoy reviewing the most, which are educational/developmental toys and fashion.

The last change I am trying to make is adding this new series to this blog called Letters To Karen.  I have a series about my children called Silly Monkey Stories and one about my husband called For Better or For Worse, but I do not really write about myself directly.  In this series, I will write letters to myself about things I need to tell or remind myself about as far as being being a mother, wife, business owner, and blogger goes.

Hopefully, these changes will help me achieve the balance in my life that I so desperately need.

This is my favorite 1st grade art project brought home by our oldest son this past school year.  It was done during a unit they did on Japan shortly after the tsunamis of 2011.  I just love looking at it and wish we had a scene like this outside our back door.

Join Me on February 9th at 1pm EST to Chat About How to Have a Romantic Evening at Home

My husband and I have been married for over ten years and we are about to have our 16th Valentine's Day together.  As you may have guessed, the Valentine's Days with elaborate romantic plans are long gone, especially with having 3 young children.  My husband actually has to work on Valentine's Day this year and will get home right in time to put the children to bed.  So, what can we do to spend some quality time together for the last few hours of Valentine's Day?  Have any ideas?

Well, I thought maybe we could have a late dinner together.  I actually cannot remember the last time we ate dinner together alone at home.  It could very well have been at least 7 years ago.  One thing that is always more romantic is eating food that we both like and can share.  That is why Dr. Oetker Ristorante Pizza is the perfect sponsor for a live chat about Valentine's Day and quality Time with your loved one.  You are officially invited to join in on the text-based discussion!

What:  "Valentine's Day and Quality Time" Chat

Where:  TheMotherhood.com

When:  Wednesday, February 9th, 2011

Time:  1:00pm EST

Prizes:  4 Pizza-Themed Prize Packs (Including cooler bag, pizza cutter, apron, and product coupons) will be given out throughout the chat.

Hope to see you there!

This post is part of a paid campaign brought to you by TheMotherhood.com on behalf of Dr. Oetker.

For Better or For Worse: Car Games

It is rare that my husband and I actually find ourselves alone in the car together. This morning was one of those rare times. I had it in my head to finish as much of our Christmas shopping as we could before Halloween because, after that, the traffic around here nearly triples because we live in such a highly populated retail area.

The reason why I am writing this is to warn other adults out there about something. If you ever find yourself alone in the car with my husband and there are no children around, the game "Punch Buggy" apparently changes to "Pinch Booby Buggy"!

Review: K-Y Yours+Mine Kissable Sensations

We all need a little spice in our lives, right? At K-Y, they are trying to do just that with their new K-Y Kissable Sensations. Included are chocolate for her and strawberry for him. These are perfect additions to your intimate cuddling before the main course.

These are NOT lubricants, but to be enjoyed orally only. Both are sugar-free, water-based, not sticky at all, and taste great. Each bottle is 1.5 oz, which would be enough for many uses. We’ve used them a handful of times and haven’t even used a quarter of the bottle yet.

Even my husband enjoys using these, though I think he prefers the taste of the chocolate to the strawberry. These have improved our intimacy greatly and have added a little much-needed excitement to our relationship.

The K-Y Brand Yours+Mine Kissable Sensations for Body retails for $16.99 and can be purchased on K-Y ShopDirect and most places where K-Y Brand products are sold.

Thank you to K-Y for sending us a sample product free of charge to base this review upon.

Silly Monkey Stories: MumMum, I'm Engaged!

One of the things our 6yr old son Jake does to earn his allowance is to help me fold the laundry. Last week, while we were finishing up folding two large baskets, Jake said to me out of the blue . . .

JAKE: I think I'm just going to marry ~A~. (We'll just call her ~A~ to protect her identity.)

ME: You are?

JAKE: Yup. And I'm going to buy a Ford Explorer . . . a blue one. ~A~ is going to get a Toyota minivan. She wants a yellow one.

ME: So, did you two talk about this already?

JAKE: Yeah, on the bus. She says she picks me.

ME: She picked you? Do you pick her? Both people have to want to get married.

JAKE: Yeah, I want to too.

That's it! My son is engaged at 6yrs old. They grow up so fast . . . *sniffle* *sniffle*

Click here to learn how to participate in Silly Monkey Stories.

Click here to read all my Silly Monkey Stories!

If you have a Silly Monkey Story to share, sign Mr. Linky below with the link to your blog post (not the link to your main blog page). Please do not forget to visit the other participants and leave them comments to let them know you stopped by!

For Better or For Worse: The Honey-I-Love-You-But Disclaimer

Tonight my husband caught a glimpse of the former model, published food journalist, and current Bravo TV Top Chef Masters host Kelly Choi on television. He was overwhelmed by her beauty and felt the need to tell me so. He did remember to insert a disclaimer before he began. It went something like this . . .



"Honey, you know I love you more than any woman in the whole world and I think you're beautiful and we will be together always, but . . . "




Well, I guess I should be happy that he cared enough to insert that disclaimer. ;)

For Better or For Worse: Bugging My Husband

Okay, so here I sit and it isn't even 6am yet on a Saturday morning. I didn't even go to bed until 3am and still I could not sleep. Here's why . . .

I have a deep phobia of bugs. It doesn't matter what kind they are . . . big, small, crawling, flying, buzzing, even spiders. It took my husband many years to realize how bad my phobia was. I think the point of realization occurred when we were traveling South by car and I realized there were little tiny bugs crawling all over the duffle bag that was at my feet on the passenger's side. We must have picked them up when we put the bag on the ground at the last pit stop. Being trapped in a small place with lots of bugs and not being able to remove myself from the situation is not ideal for me at all. So I started to get itchy. Then my stomach started to hurt and I started to have trouble breathing. I was having a panic attack for the very first time in my life. So that was when my husband first realized that I wasn't just being over-dramatic when I reacted to insects like I did.

Fast forward to last night . . .

Here I was sitting on our bed exactly where I am now (except my husband was not sleeping soundly next to me as he is now) typing away minding my own business. All of a sudden, I felt something nudge me on my behind. I turn to look and there was a huge brown bug on my boy shorts. So I tried to desperately shake the fabric to get it off of me. After what seemed like forever, it fell off onto the bed and I shot off the bed like I was on fire. So then I look and the bug isn't on the bed anymore. Instead I felt something land on the back of my should. That was when I let out a scream. This thing was after me! So I picked up the phone and called my husband on the intercom to get upstairs to catch it.

Well, it turned out that the big brown bug was nowhere to be found. So I sat back on the bed and tried to get some more work done while I waited impatiently for my husband to finish what he was doing on World of Warcraft so he could come to bed. It was tough to concentrate since my skin was itching all over and I was rocking back and forth hoping the bug wouldn't come back to land on me if I was in constant motion. I was also constantly looking around the bed, on myself, and around the room. I even tried to coax one of our cats to stay on the bed with me to be my guard cat, but he refused to cooperate. Nope, not much work got done.

So I tried to go to sleep when my husband came to bed, but I was still extremely itchy and paranoid. It didn't help that it was stifling and humid in our room either. I think I fell asleep at about 3:30am and woke up around 4:30am. I couldn't take just lying there being paranoid and itchy anymore, so I got up at 5am to take a shower. I figured that I could scream loud enough to wake up my husband if there was another attempt to attack me by the big bad brown bug.

You all must think I sound like a nutcase. The amazing thing is that my husband didn't call me one last night. He was sympathetic and tried to help and never made me feel ridiculous once. How wonderful is that?

For Better or For Worse: Shower Power

This is a new series I am starting. Since I have Silly Monkey Stories for our children, I figured I should have something for sharing stories about my husband.

I was feeling pretty not-so-good today. Yesterday I had felt like I was coming down with something and this morning I woke up with zero energy. It was just one of those days when it took twice as long to do everything and there were a million things to do. Plus I had product being delivered to the house for reviews that were the wrong thing and another thing was broken. You know . . . just one of those days.

So I decided that maybe a quick shower would help make me feel renewed and ready to conquer the rest of my list of things to do. I get in the shower just like always. And like always I reached up to tip the shower head down a little because my husband, who is quite a bit taller than me, had used the shower last. Well, what do you think happened next? That darn shower head broke off right in my hand. No, a part didn't just fall off. It BROKE.

Needless to say, I was upset. All I wanted to do was take a shower and to feel better. Lots of self-pity going on at that moment. So I call my husband to come look the shower head. It very obviously could not be fixed. Luckily we still had the original shower head that came with the house. My husband quickly replaced the the broken one and proceeded to make sure it was functioning properly. So he turned the water on, while forgetting to aim the head away from himself. That's right. The water sprayed right on him and gave him quite a startle.

I have to tell you that I let out such a laugh. I guess a little comic relief was just what I needed to feel better. Who else can I count on other than my dear husband to make me smile when I need it the most?

A Little Extra Excitement Between Husband & Wife

No, I'm not talking about in the bedroom. LOL!! I'm talking about paintball!

You see, ever since my sister talked about playing paintball with her co-workers, I have wondered what it would be like. She did say that you definitely know when you get hit, but other than that, I only have my imagination and what I have seen on television to base my fantasy on. I think I have pretty good aim when it comes to shooting, but would my reflexes be quick enough?

Back to the fantasy. I expect I would be dressed in gear from head to toe similar to what's shown at BT Paintball, as would my husband. I have a theory that it would do our marriage a world of good if we were locked in a room together and were allowed to let loose on each other. Um . . . I meant with paintball! I mean, imagine being able to let out all and any built up resentment and frustration? I wonder if any relationship counselors ever thought about having two people do this. I think it would be lots of fun and very therapeutic.

Thank you to BT Paintball for sponsoring this post.