Next week on J’s last day of Junior Kindergarten, I will be celebrating my third anniversary in blogging. I was first introduced to blogging by my friend Danigirl, who was a closet blogger (to those of us that knew her in real life) for a little while, then she let it out that she started her blog. Now, Dani is a writer. She should be writing books but, instead spends her days writing for our Government. What they ever did to deserve her talent is a wonder to me. All that aside, I started reading her blog. From there, I found Ann Douglas’s blog (which was a thrill for me because I had all of Ann’s books at the time and loved her even though I didn’t really know her. Now I know her and love her even more) and from Ann, I found Secret Agent Josephine. And I think most of you know that I just love SAJ for her cleverness, craftiness and all around able to pull one out of the hatness (I know that isn’t a word, but it’s my blog story so I can make up a word if I want to).

These three women kept me going through some of my earliest morning wakings with J. What to do at four o’clock in the morning with a two year old??? Answer, TV and a laptop. Then, they kept me going when I just needed to check out for a while. Through their blogs I found countless others and officially became an addict. After a while, I wanted to put something out there to offer back for all those who offered so much to me. But, what do I do? Although I always wanted to write, I never considered myself a writer. What would I write about? My life is so boring. Well, blogging has helped me in both of those areas. Being a Mom is wonderful, but it surely can let you get stale in your thoughts or writing abilities, so blogging has helped keep my mind fresh and skills up to date. It has also helped me find the fun things in our day or if there aren’t enough of them to start making time for some fun things. I have shared with you happy times and sad times and some pretty boring times. So, in light of all of it, I have decided to host my first ever Giveaway.

I have been trying to figure out what to offer. Something sewn, something knit, something to eat??? Then I realized, I should give away one of my photographs. It won’t take me too much time, I already have them printed and sitting on my piano (I wanted to see how they would turn out blown up to an 8×10 size) and I have always wanted to give the gift of photography so here it is. This is your chance.

All you have to do is leave a comment telling me which one of the four photographs you would like. That is it, that is all. Next Wednesday, June 25th on my actual Anniversary of starting this blog, I will put all entrants names into a bowl and draw a winner.

Thank you all for stopping by and spending a little time at the beach. And don’t forget… there is always a little sand in your happy place.

Please note: The photos were slightly cropped when I made the mosaic, you will see a little more of the flowers in the actual photograph.

Welcome everyone to the new site.  I love it already and I have hardly had the time to even play around as much as I would have loved to.

In time you will see a few changes and updates, hopefully all for the good.

Today was one of those bittersweet days.  Opa finally headed home after his two week visit.  It seemed much longer than that. Although I love him to death and enjoy having him here it is always nice to get back to your usual routine.

I find I don’t clean as much when he is here and with Christmas and New Years, I did not get my weekly cleanings in.  Tonight I did all three bathrooms in record time, and it felt wonderful.  Cleaning is wonderful you say?  Yes.  I love my house the most when it is clean.  I was also able to dust the upstairs so tomorrow all I have to do is run the vacuum.  Then I have to tackle the main level.  Once the two most used floors are finished I will head down to the basement which is almost complete.  Yes, you read that correctly.

While Opa was here and Hubby was off they worked on the last remaining room, the recroom.  It is very, very close to being finished.  I honestly cannot wait.  There will be a bathroom to finish but, I am hoping to stall on that one a bit as I just want to sort out the basement once the main rooms are done.   It is fantastic.  J loves to play down there already and he doesn’t mind if I go on the treadmill while he is playing so I am thrilled to bits.

And poor J, not only was he sad to see Opa go (as was I and Hubby, A too. Only Apple didn’t know exactly what was going on.) he came down with a fever this afternoon.  Poor thing he started his holiday with a fever and it looks like he is going to end it the same way.  I do hope it only lasts tonight as the tears with the Tylenol really suck.

Tomorrow, look for the update on my homemade Christmas.  It was fun, but not as homemade as I wanted so I am already planning next year.