Make me merry Monday

Its that time of week again! Make me merry Monday! Help me spread merriment throughout Blogland, won't you? All you have to do is blog about something that makes you happy. That's it! Easy as pie! Then head back to this post and leave a link in my Mister Linky so that we can all visit you and see what makes you merry.

Oh, and here's the code to add my nifty little badge to your post...

<a href="http://mycollectivelife.blogspot.com/" title="Make me merry Monday"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2079/1696849312_a051cb8dfb_m.jpg" alt="Make me merry Monday badge" height="200" width="150" /></a>

Now... what makes ME merry? Well, this week my income tax refund is making me merry. I am enjoying having a little extra to play with. Some "fun money", if you will. This is something we don't usually have. And this is something we won't have for long. So we are enjoying it.

My income tax refund makes me merry. How about you?

Randomness

Hey! I know. I know. I did it again. I went awol on y'all. I'm sorry! Please forgive me! Ok? Thanks! You're the best. :)

So... what's new...

Do any of you suffer from depression this time of year? I am having a really hard time lately. I'm broke. I have no friends. My family is 1000 miles away. I've been sick with a cold for weeks. Someone stole the stereo out of my van last week. I could go on and on... and being cooped up due to sub-zero temps does not help matters. My kids are just as bored as I am. And it shows. We're going crazy over here! I only hope warmer weather comes soon... and my tax refund would be nice too. Then we can get out of this house and do something. Yay!

On to the randomness...

I re-discovered Twitter. Its kinda fun. I added it to my side bar over there <-- You can even "follow me". Fun times, people!

I also re-discovered Sk*rt. Great way to see what's going on in Blogland and beyond.

I discovered Paperback Swap... thanks to Kim over at Life in a Shoe. Great way to recycle your used books and get some new ones in the process! You list your books and, when someone requests one, you mail it to them... then you get a credit to use to request a book of your own from someone! I added a link in my side bar over there --> If you click it and join I will get a free book credit when you post 10 books. Thank you very much. :) Oh they are giving new members 2 free credits when they list their first 10 books.

I have been having a ton of fun with YouTube too. I discovered vlogs. Who knew! You can even view YouTube videos from your phone!
Funny, I even have Emily loving YouTube and Google. She likes to search for babies and puppies to watch. hehe

Have you heard this little girl sing? She was on the news here last week. Pretty talented!

I redecorated my little ole blog the other day. I used digital scrapbooking elements from the girls over at Digital Scrap Garden. Oh, and check out my little signature at the end of each of my posts. Pretty cool, huh? You can make one of your very own here. Thanks for that link, Kyra!

What else have we been up to... Hmmm...

Tyler is into U.B Funkeys. They're fun little guys. He has a little collection going that he bought with Christmas and birthday money. I'm actually impressed with the originallness (Is that a word? Maybe I should have said originality. Oh well.) of them. We tried the Rescue Pets E-Pets route and it got boring for him. After a few days. Not good. These funky little Funkeys hold promise though.

Dave and Tyler are rocking on their new hobby. Woodworking! Dave has slowly built up a few power tools for them and Tyler really likes spending time out there building things with Daddy. He even has his own work bench. Too cute! Dave came across his old Hand Andy Tool Kit the other day... he was so excited to hand it down to Tyler. They have built a birdhouse, a bird feeder, and a squirrel feeder so far.

What else....

OH! Oh my gosh! Its Make Me Merry Monday! I almost forgot again. Bad me. What makes me merry... this is a hard week for this. Well, this may seen superficial to some, but right now my Nintendo DS is making me merry alot of the time. I got the new Zelda game for Christmas, which is a cool game... and Dave and I have been playing True Swing Golf together in the evenings. Kinda fun. Helps pass the time.

So... My Nintendo DS makes me merry!

I know its late, but if you want to participate in Make Me Merry Monday the code to add my button to your post is in the post below this one (Because its been a week since I last posted. Nice.) I will add a Mister Linky here on this post so you can add your blog's link... then we can all come visit you and see what makes you merry! See how nicely that works? Ok... go on then. Blog and be merry!!

Make me merry Monday

Hello, Blogland! I know. I know. I have been slacking on this. Its just been a busy time of year what with the holidays and 2 birthdays within weeks of each other. Forgive me, will you?

So today is Make me merry Monday! This is the day each week when we all share what makes us happy. It might be a material thing, or a place you like to go, or a person in your life, a time of day, anything that makes you merry. So share, please. All you have to do is blog about what makes you happy and then pop back over here and leave your link in my Mister Linky at the bottom of this post so that we can all come and visit you and see what makes you happy.

Here is the code to add my cute little badge to your post (like above).
<a href="http://mycollectivelife.blogspot.com/" title="Make me merry Monday"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2079/1696849312_a051cb8dfb_m.jpg" alt="Make me merry Monday badge" height="200" width="150" /></a>

Help me spread merriment throughout Blogland, won't you? :)

So, what makes me merry you ask? Well, over these past few weeks, I have had the privilege of being a part of two very special celebrations. My baby girl, Emily, turned 1 year old on December 21st... and my son, Tyler, turned 7 years old on January 13th (yesterday). Watching them enjoy their special days made me very happy and proud to be their Mom. We didn't do anything fancy, just lots of friends and family and fun. But the glow on their faces told me I did a good thing.

So, being a Mom makes me merry.
How about you?

Its Make Me Merry Monday again!

Its that time of week again! Its Make Me Merry Monday! Help me spread some merriment throughout Blogland, won't you? Just blog about something that makes you merry and then come back here and leave your link in the Mister Linky at the bottom of this post. That's all there is to it! Then we can all come visit you and see what makes you merry. So, lets do it!

This week crafting and decorating with my family is making me merry. If you read yesterday's post here you will see some of what we've been up to. Its so simple yet so fun! We all sat together and traced our feet and hands and made reindeer. How silly is that!? But, you know what? It was fun! It was fun to see how creative we could get with them. It was fun to see Daddy get involved, as he usually misses out on our crafty times. It was fun to see Tyler thinking of how to make his deer look cool. Then Tyler and I made a tree with cut out hands from each of us... and we went on to make decorations for the tree. We finished up our "mural" with some old fashioned paper snowflakes. Tyler and I enjoy making them online, but it was fun to see his amazement as I unfolded each one. He said "Wow. You never know what its going to look like until you unfold it!" :)

Crafting with my family makes me merry.
How about you?

Make me merry Monday

Happy Monday, Blogland! Its time for Make me merry Monday! If you'd like to play along just blog about something that makes you merry... then come back here and leave your link in the Mister Linky at the bottom of this post so we can all visit you and see what makes you merry. You can find the code to add the above badge to your post HERE.

So... what is making me merry this week...

Family time. We have been blessed this past week or so with being able to do some family things together. We've ate out at some awesome restaurants. We've gone bowling. We've played pool and darts. We've had Thanksgiving dinner. Sometimes we get so caught up in our own lives that we forget to do things as a family unit. I have enjoyed doing just that lately.

Family time makes me merry. How about you?

OopS! Its Tuesday!

Its Tuesday. That means yesterday was Monday. You know... Make Me Merry Monday. Oops. I totally forgot. So sorry! Anyways.... I found this little graphic just now and it fits me.



I often wonder how we survived before we had computers and the internet. Its the first place I go in the morning. Its the last place I am at night. I read the newspaper here... I pay my bills here... I talk to my family and friends here... I get directions and maps to places here... I shop here... I plan our days here... I check the weather here... I school Tyler here... I scrapbook here... I work here... Pretty much everything I do at least starts here. And now I can do alot of those things with my cellphone too. Does that make me a bad person. No. A nerd maybe, but not bad. :o)

My computer makes me merry...
on Tuesday and every other day of the week.


Edited to add: If you want to post a Make Me Merry Tuesday post, go for it!! Just leave us a link in the comments for this post so we can come visit you. I promise to be on time next week.

Make me merry Monday

Its that time of week again!

Play along! Please? Let's make Blogland a merry place today! Blog about what makes you merry... it could be a person, a place, a food, a thing, an event, anything! Then leave your link in my Mr. Linky here so we can all visit you and see what makes you merry! Oh, the code to add my badge to your site can be found here. Send all of your friends and family over to play along too! The more the MERRIER!

So, what makes me merry? Lets see...

I think I am leaning in the material object direction this week.
My cell phone makes me merry. I have a Treo 700p. I love my phone. It is my life. It contains my life. It holds my calendar, my address book, my checkbook, my photos... I nad GoogleMap an address with it and get driving directions... I can surf the internet with it.... I can get my email with it.... I can play really fun games with it. Its my alarm clock. Oh, and its also my telephone too!! :o)
The reason I am so into my phone this week is because it isn't working properly! Grr. It freezes and turns itself off without notice on occasion. Very frustrating. My phone and I will be visiting the Sprint store today to have it fixed or replaced. Then I will be merry again.

When my phone works properly it makes me merry.
How about you?

Make me merry Monday

Its Monday, Blogland! A time to think about what makes us happy. Its time for....

Play along! Blog about what makes you merry... it could be a place, a food, a thing, an event, anything! Then leave your link in my Mr. Linky here so we can all visit you and see what makes you merry! Oh, the code to add my badge to your site can be found here. Send all of your friends and family! The more the MERRIER!

So, what makes me merry? Lets see...

Given the weekend I have just endured, I have to revert to the old standby. My kids. My kids are my life. And as much as I'm supposed to enjoy a little break from them, I just can't. I miss them too much. I miss tucking them into bed. I miss waking up to the crawling into bed with me for our morning snuggle time. I miss watching them play together. I miss watching the baby eat... her little fingers shoveling it in. I miss hearing my big guy's stories and seeing the "art" he creates for me daily. I miss listening to them make each other giggle. I just plain ole miss them, darnit!

My kids make me merry. How about you?

Make me merry Monday!!

Its that time of week again. A time to think about what makes us happy. Its time for....

Play along! Blog about what makes you merry... it could be a place, a food, a thing, an event, anything! Then leave your link in my Mr. Linky here so we can all visit you and see what makes you merry! Oh, the code to add my badge to your site can be found here.

So, what makes me merry? Lets see...
One of my favorite parts of the day happens around 10pm. The kids are in bed. Its peaceful. I can watch what I want to watch on TV... I can do things on the computer without interruption... when I go to bed I can lay there and relax or play games on my phone. Its quiet. Yes, I love the "me time" I get each night. It makes me merry.

What makes you merry?

A new blog and new weekly FUN!

I would like to welcome you to my new blog! My Collective Life... this blog, much like my life, will be composed of many topics. Pretty much anything that is happening or comes to my mind! I hope you will enjoy it here. I have lots of fun things planned for us! One of which is....

{drum roll}

And guess what? Today is Monday! I know its a bit late in the day, but work with me, will ya? It took me awhile to come up with the idea. So anyways, each Monday I will start a post here telling you all something that I like. It might be something I like to do, or something I like to eat... or it maybe some place or something we enjoy as a family. You get the picture. Something that Makes me MERRY, hence the name. Then it will be your turn. Go blog about something that makes YOU merry! Oh, and you can put my nifty little badge (see above) in your post using this code...

<a href="http://mycollectivelife.blogspot.com/" title="Make me merry Monday"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2079/1696849312_a051cb8dfb_m.jpg" alt="Make me merry Monday badge" height="200" width="150" /></a>

Then head on back here and leave your link in my Mr. Linky so we can all come visit and see what makes you merry... spreading merriment through all of blogdom!! Everyone can play, if you don't have a blog just leave your merriment in the comments!
See? Sounds fun huh? So lets get started, shall we?

I love to take the kids to the park. We have a local park that we call "our park". Its a nice small park. There are always nice people there... and respectful kids. Alot of stay-at-home moms and dads frequent the park. I have met fellow homeschoolers there as well. We recently joined a homeschool group that is going to be meeting at another local park every Monday, so we may change "our park" as we get to know the people in this group, but for now it is this park that we call our own.
One thing that amazes me about the park is how Tyler always makes a "friend" while we're there. Always. It makes me think about how nice this world would be if everyone made friends so easily, ya know? But anyways...
I love to watch Tyler play and pretend with the other kids at the park. I love to put Emily in the baby swing and watch her giggle as she swings toward me and away from me. I love to watch her face light up as the kids run past her. I love to bounce on the springy-teeter totter-thing with Emily and Tyler on the other end.

Playing at the park with my kids Makes me merry.
How about you?