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?

Happy Birthday, Tyler!

Today is my big guy's 7th Birthday. He had a full weekend of playing and fun!. His best friend, Jacob, came over yesterday and I took the two boys to Chuck E. Cheese's for the afternoon. Jacob spent the night and we had cake and ice cream this afternoon. He got some good presents too... toys and woodworking tools and even cash! I think he had a good Birthday!

Happy Birthday, Tyler!