Sometimes when I sit down to write, I have no clue about what I'm going to say. Other times, I sit down to write so that I can write. Those are usually the good ones. But since I'm writing every day this year, those instances are not every day occurrences.

Sometimes I get inspired by what I see other bloggers write when I log into blogger. Tonight's post was definitely inspired by my friend Megan over at Tales of the Trees. I love that she is one of the few people that I actually know who has a blog. All the other blogs I read are from people who I don't really know, but then I feel like I know them because I read their blogs.

Anyway, tonight is going to happen to be whatever pops into my mind that is halfway interesting over the next ten minutes or so. Since it's Thanksgiving eve, Brian and I have plans to go to bed early tonight, so we're well rested for all our company tomorrow.

So here you have it - Tonight's Random Thoughts:

1. I've been reading a book called What Women Fear: Walking in Faith that Transforms by Angie Smith, and I love it! Angie's first book, I Will Carry You changed the way I looked at and believed in God. It made me mad and happy and angry and full of joy from the beginning to the end. I have never sobbed so hard reading a book. I highly recommend both books.

2. Confession: I have never cleaned my house until today. Honestly. We've lived here for over two years and I have never cleaned it from top to bottom like I did today. When we first moved in, my sister-in-law convinced me that we needed a house cleaner, and we've had one ever since. I know that makes me sound like a spoiled brat (and I feel like one in that regard), but it's some of the best money I spend. I actually LOVE to clean. Really LOVE is the right word. Before we had kids, I would spend all day on Saturdays cleaning our house. I loved it. And I still do. It's hard work that has instant gratification, and it just feels good.

3. I am possibly over excited about Christmas this year. My kids are the perfect ages for Christmas. They are going to be so much fun. They already love the decorations and we've been talking so much about the birth of Jesus at our house. I am on the hunt for great activities and/or stories to keep Christ at the center of Christmas for our family this year. Please share if you have any great ideas.

4. Sometimes change is good. My Monday night Bible study went through a weird funk over the past few months. Last Monday we met at my house and sort of laid it all on the table. I think we're all on the same page now, and it feels so much better. God's Word is at the center of our study again, and there is nothing better than that.

5. We are taking the kids to the Gaylord Texan this year to see all the decorations and hang out with the characters from DreamWorks' Shrek, Madagascar, and Kung Fu Panda. I absolutely love this hotel and I'm so excited to spend a few days there with my family in December. It's going to be a great getaway for our family.

6. I'm on Week 3 of Weight Watchers, and I LOVE it! Seriously. I only had about ten pounds to lose. I know I was not fat, but I was not in the best shape. I was eating whenever I wanted and as much as I wanted pretty much. Weight Watchers has made me feel so much better about myself and my nutrition. I highly recommend it to anyone looking to lose any amount of weight. It's great. I am only five pounds away from my pre-baby weight, and I have never been that close before.

7. Friends is my all-time favorite TV show. I never watched it when it was actually on TV. But, we now own all 10 seasons on DVD, and it is absolutely crazy that it's on Nick at Nite now. Brian and I ran across it when we were in Salt Lake City and it made me feel so old. Best show of all time. It really is.

8. And lastly, I am so incredibly grateful tonight for my Scentsy business. Sometime in the past couple of days (I think it was probably Monday) we hit 10,000 consultants in our group. It doesn't even sound real to me. It brings me to tears to think of how much I have been changed and challenged by this company. It is a journey that I never expected to be on, and I am so incredibly grateful that I am.

Happy Turkey Eve everyone!

.....day 103 of a year of writing.....

Sleeping with Two Men

That sounds bad, doesn't it?!

It is. I swear.

Most nights I have the pleasure of sleeping with two men (both my husband and my handsome two year old).

Ideal sleeping conditions? Not exactly.

See, we've never been the best about getting our kids to sleep through the night. We're actually really bad at that as parents.

Luke never slept in our bed until he started climbing out of his crib to join us in our bed in the middle of the night. Let me assure you, that although handsome, he was not invited to our bedroom.

Our first mistake was letting him stay snuggled between us at 2:00 a.m. because we were both too tired to return him all the way up the stairs.

Now that he's in a big boy bed, he finds his way down the stairs and into our room nightly, and every night we're too tired to take him back upstairs.

In all reality though, it probably needs to stop soon. Right now the bed in his room is just a mattress on the floor. His crib turns into a bed, but we had to order the rails (and wait six weeks) to go from baby bed to big boy bed.

Tomorrow we're picking up the rails, and he'll officially have a big boy bed. I think that should be the day that we finally lay down the law and kick him out of our bed. It'll be worth it in the long run even though I'm sure there will be a few tears shed in the process.

Any suggestions? What did you do if your kiddos ended up in your bed? We'll take any help that we can get.

.....day 102 of a year of writing.....

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Online Shopping?

Here's the question of the month.....are you an online shopper and do you prefer online shopping over shopping in a store?

Last year I did a ton of online shopping, and while I enjoy being at the mall on occasion, the reality is, shopping at the mall is extremely time consuming. Plus, I will do everything in my power to not take a two year old and a four year old to the mall. It's not my idea of fun.

With today's technology, online shopping has become a breeze. With free shipping and sites that have teamed up with other sites to offer one time shipping, you're really not losing much because of a shipping charge anymore.

Plus, with online shopping, it's easy to find clothes in the right size and color without having to dig through store shelves or racks.

I have a new favorite online shopping experience after tonight though, and I have to share!

www.zulily.com is a daily deals site with items for home, baby, women, and children. It has great toys, fun personalized gifts, and cheap shipping! I love zulily! You never know exactly what you'll find—the brands they offer change every day. It's like finding a treasure chest full of cute stuff. Membership is free and I know you'll love it, too.

My friend, Ashley, sent me an invitation today because she knows I love Melissa and Doug toys, and there are Melissa and Doug toys on www.zulily.com today. Thanks to Ashley and Zulily, I officially started my Christmas shopping today. Yeah!

I picked up a couple of these fun Chocolate Sundae sets from Melissa and Doug for only $19.99 (regularly $40).

I also found these great personalized plates for $24 (normally $40). Perfect for family friends or those "hard to buy for" co-workers. (I don't have any "hard to buy for" co-workers.....I'm just saying....).

You've got to check it out! I really am curious about your overall opinion of online shopping...good, bad? What do you think?

.....day 101 of a year of writing.....

When the Word "Shower" Gets Added to the To Do List....

You know things can't be good when the word "shower" gets added to the To Do list. Usually things that happen on a daily basis don't need to be added to a To Do list, but somehow the word "shower" got added to my list today. I'm pretty sure it has to do with the three days I've spent overhauling my house in an attempt to make it Christmas ready far before Christmas. I do realize that I skipped an entire holiday, but I don't care.

I will have you know that my front porch is complete with both garland and lights and pumpkins. Yup, that's how I roll. : )

With the holiday season upon us, I think there is no better time than now to get our priorities in order. That means it's time for the Sunday 7. (And yes, you're taking advice about time management from a girl who put shower on her list of to dos.....don't worry about that.)

The Sunday 7 originally stemmed from a Franklin Covey time management concept that says if you want to make everything fit into your life, you have to tend to the most important things first. There is a great illustration called Big Rocks that basically says if you want to fit a bunch of rocks and sand into a jar, you have to put the bigs rocks in first and then let the sand fill in around the rocks.

The same is true for our lives. Whatever is important to us, has to come first.

Today at church, our senior pastor, Craig Groeschel, reminded me that our values determine how we spend our time.

The Sunday 7 is a way to put the things you value first on your priority list every week. It's a way to get all those big rocks into the jar so you can fill your life to the top with all the little things that will fall into place once you've taken care of the big things.

Here's how it works:

1. You come up with the 7 most important ares of your life. It can be more than 7 if it needs to be. I have a dear friend who has started what she calls The Faithful Eight. You make it work for you. My areas are the things that I value. You'll have to determine what you value the most. 
2. Once you have your core values listed, you start listing out the most important things that need to happen in the coming week in each of the areas of your life that you value. 
3. Lastly, you determine when each of those things will happen each week. Put a date and a time to it. 

And, off you go! After that, you're on your way to a more balanced and peace filled life. 

So what does your Sunday 7 look like? As always, feel free to post yours below to keep you accountable. 

Here's what mine looks like this week:

The Sunday 7: (8 this week)

1. Faith: Daily Scripture study. Prayers written in my prayer journal. Re-focus our Monday night Bible study group.

2. Family: Caroling with Addison and the kids at Keystone. Read daily to both Addy and Luke. Find a fun Thanksgiving craft for the kiddos to do on Thanksgiving day. Movie night on the couch with my hubby

3. Holiday Prep: This week the plan is to get all the food planned and ready for both Thanksgiving dinners we're attending; grocery shop; and finish the Christmas List and budget. Also, I need to order our family pics online for Christmas Cards. Finish Christmas decorations!

4.  Scentsy (aka work): Trim through my emails and Facebook messages. Send out communication to all my frontline consultants via email. 

5. Health and Fitness: Keep on track with my Weight Watchers' points (which I am loving by the way!). Cook dinner Monday and Tuesday night this week. Run 3x this week. 

6. Finances: Keep on track with our cash budget. Balance business and personal accounts. Send over final documents for tax prep. 

7. Foster Care Prep: Have guest bedroom painted. Clean out closet in guest bedroom. 

8. Down time: Read! Simple as that. Read for pleasure, and stay off Facebook (it sucks me in sometimes!). Oh, and keep the word "shower" off my To Do list this week! : ) 

What does your week look like? I'd love to hear about it.

.....day 100 of a year of writing..... 

On a Plane to Somewhere

It's like I'm sitting on an airplane with no idea where I'm headed.

I'm excited, but nervous with anticipation to say the least.

Will it be warm? Will I like the view? Where will we stay? How will we get where we're going?

It's like all those questions are running through my head right now, but they're more related to having another child in our home....

Can I do this? Will he or she like us? How will my kids react? Is my business going to suffer?

All valid questions.

I saw a white lady in Target with the most beautiful black baby I've ever seen, and I did a double take. Which is stupid. But I did. I had to look twice. She was obviously white and this baby was obviously black.

I really did a double take out of envy. I told Brian that I wanted a black baby when we started dating, and he assured me that he could not help me with that. I still want one. They're just so pretty! Maybe that's what will happen through all of this.

Please don't take any of that the wrong way. This is just exactly what I would tell my best friend. She knows it already. She wants a black baby, too, but her hubby can't do anything to help her with that either.

Anyway....my mind is just running in a million places.

We've done everything we needed to do to become foster parents, and now we're just waiting.

For the past two days my house has looked like the North Pole threw up all over it. Seriously there is no nice way to put it.

Part of me feels like I'm jumping the gun with all the Christmas cheer. I realize that it's not even officially Thanksgiving yet, but I think a lot of my early decorating is stemmed from fear. I love Christmas, and I love decorating for Christmas, and I don't want to miss any of it.

Brian will say that I'm extreme, but I have the best memories of our home during Christmas time, and I want that for my kids. Give me some garland and twinkle lights, and I'm a happy girl. I have a tree in every room of my house and even two in some. It's possibly a problem.

I'm sure you'll be enlightened with my over the top decorating pictures soon. Then you can judge for yourself.

And maybe it was too early, but I honestly don't know what the next week holds. What if we have a baby before Thanksgiving? (I do think that's unlikely, but who knows?!)

There's a very good chance we'll have one before Christmas. And I'm worried about the transition from a family of four to a family of five.

I just wanted to make sure that no matter what our family looks like at Christmas, it's as magical as I always remember it being. I know full well that my kids could care less about the garland I've placed above the kitchen cabinets and the wreaths all over the house, but for some reason, it's all important to me. I want to be done with as much as possible before the Dalkes become +1.

I honestly don't know what else. I guess my rambling mind is finding its resting place for the night.

Sorry to bore you to death with my honest and raw thoughts. Sometimes I write to all of you like you're my best friend. And sometimes that's exactly what I need. Just to know that she hears me.

It's funny because our relationship is exactly the same as it was in high school. So much of it is communicated through words on a page (it was notes passed through a high school classroom then and now it's words on a screen), but it's words all the same.

It's amazing the power our words have. Words on a screen have been extremely therapeutic for me during this entire process of taking the steps to become foster parents. Thanks for being a listening ear through it all. I'm sure the plot will only thicken as the days pass. Stay tuned.

.....day 99 of a year of writing.....

Photo Dump from Salt Lake City

Well, I didn't take a ton of pictures in Salt Lake City, but I took a few. In case you were curious....here is our re-cap of our three day get away.

We flew out to Salt Lake City last Saturday and came home on Tuesday. It was a very nice and needed getaway for the two of us.

It was snowing when we got there. 

A view of the snow capped mountains from downtown Salt Lake City.

Old buildings......so cool. 

The trees were beautiful. 

A shot of our hotel, the Grand American....it was great!

Mountains everywhere!

Our hotel...it was a little fancy, but fun.

Yes, there was a lady playing a harp in the lobby. I told you it was kind of fancy. The first day we got there women were in the main sitting lounge having high tea in their dresses and hats. A little too stuffy for my blood, but it was fun. 

Yes! I took a bath every night. Nice. 

And they had robes. Love that about a fancy hotel.


Oh, it's fun to reminisce.


.....day 98 of a year of writing.....

Now We Wait

On Tuesday when we got home from Salt Lake City, we headed over to the Social Security Administration building to get Brian a new copy of his Social Security card. He (possibly me) lost his original, and we needed a new one to complete our home study with DHS.

When we left, they told us it would be 7-10 days before it came in the mail. I thought that meant it would be 7-10 days until we could complete our home study, but today our home study specialist emailed me to say that the confirmation would work.

I guess that means that we're officially done. We completely finished with the pre-foster care process. Now we wait to see if we're approved as foster parents.

And then, if all goes well, we'll wait to have another baby in our house.

Being the planner that I am, this entire experience is throwing me through a loop. Not knowing who or when or why is about to make me close to crazy.

But, I guess now we're just waiting. It's truly the most bizarre feeling I've ever felt, but I'm not worried. I have no doubt that it's going to be hard, but I know that God will carry us. He brought us to this place for a reason, and whatever it is, I know His plan is good.

So now we wait.

In the meantime, I think I'm going to be crazy and lock myself in my house for a good three days and make my house look like the North Pole. Yep, here comes Christmas at the Dalkes.

Waiting tonight....

.....day 97 of a year of writing.....