I am so torn. Y’all know that my husband is a talented piano player. He plays beautifully by ear. Don’t believe me? Just click on “The Badge” up at the top of my page. I took lessons as a child and apparently I was not blessed with a musical gene. I can’t sing and playing an instrument does not come naturally to me. I CAN, however, memorize words to songs really quickly. lol I don’t know if that constitutes a musical “talent,” but I’ll take what I can get.

Anyway… in the past I’ve thrown around the idea of taking piano lessons. I probably won’t because I am competitive and I know I won’t like my husband being able to play a song just by hearing it while I’ve practiced months to perfect it. However, I do think Isabel would do wonderful taking lessons. She often sits down and plays, working on one song over and over. She’s more self-motivated than I am, I guess.

I found a cool site online started by the inspiring pianist, Yoke Wong- YokeWong.net. It offers online piano lessons as well piano sheet music and piano lessons on dvd. This sounds right up my alley. I would be able to learn and practice in private. It also offers a ton of flexibility! I can take lessons when it’s convenient for me. I think it would be great!

I have 5 children of my own, plus 2 step-daughters. So, needless to say I have been baby proofing my house for over 14 years. I remember at my baby shower when I was pregnant with my 1st born this one lady gave me a bunch of outlet covers and other safety things.  I was babysitting 2 children at the time and she said, “If you’re babysitting you need to have your house child proofed.” I was thinking, “Duh lady” but my mama taught me better than that so I said, “Thank you!” Anyway…  My oldest child is almost 15, but with a 4 year old in the house we still have door knob locks and outlet covers all over the place. And up until recently I was babysitting 2 kids under the age of 2. Thankfully there are cool sites like Kidsafeinc.com that can help me with all my child prooing needs. I can’t think of everything Livie will think of to get into, but Kidsafe seems to be one step ahead of even the spazziest kids, like Livie!! They offer child safety tips as well as the largest online selection of quality proofing products such as Baby Gates, Child Safety Locks, Corner Cushions, Outlet Covers, TV Guards, Door Locks, Appliance Locks, Window Guards and much more! You can also visit the KidSafe Blog and read about child safety issues. You can also follow KidSafe updates on Facebook, Twitter and You Tube.

How safe is your home?

For several years now I have earned money at home with my blog thru blog ads or earned free products by hosting giveaways, etc…  It has been nice to have that extra income that I do on my own time, in the privacy of my home. Extra cash is always nice to have and has really come in handy!! Another way I have found you can earn money is by answering paid surveys. Even with five kids I have found that I still have time to take surveys.

There are so many companies out there that want the opinions of the community on their products. GetPaidToTry.com helps these companies by finding consumers to test their products and them complete surveys with their true and honest opinions.   I have actually worked with Get Paid To Try and it is simply one of the easiest ways to make some extra money while at home. This can be ideal for stay at home moms or anyone who may have just a little extra time and the internet to answer the surveys with. The best part is you get to choose from free product trials, paid surveys, paid research panels, opinion surveys and so much more.! Get Paid To Try shows you the offers and then you choose the ones you want! If you have a little extra time and you would like to earn some extra cash Get Paid To Try is a perfect place to start. It is 100%  free to sign up and easy to get started.

Our family is so excited to take a trip to Utah this summer. It’s going to be a loooooong drive- at least 20 hours each way- but so worth it!! We will be driving our Yukon and were just discussing today about getting a complete tune up before our trip. I think the brakes are fine, but will take it in for an inspection just to make sure we don’t need a brake job. Thankfully it is easy to find a Dallas auto repair shop thanks to sites like repairpal.com.  It’s so important to make sure the car is in great “shape” before taking a long trip. We want to have the belts changed and spark plugs, etc… to make sure it’s ready to go. I love my Yukon and I am so thankful to have that much room for our big family. And it has so much power- kinda like an Chevrolet Silverado.  I LOOOOOVE having that power. I love to merge on the highway and leave slow cars in the dust. haha Driving 20+ hours doesn’t sound 1/2 bad with my car.

Please view my disclosure.

My outlook on life has changed dramatically in the last few months. 2009 really sucked eggs- BIG TIME.  Most of y’all know that my husband and I were served papers from both of our exes. And these were major court papers. The lame thing about this is that you can’t just ignore it. You are forced to answer by hiring a lawyer. If you don’t then the courts assume you agree with everything in the papers and file in the petitioner’s favor. We, obviously, couldn’t let that happen. So, 2009 was spent figuring out how to pay retainer fees and making payments with money we don’t have.

During this time we seriously talked about renting our home out. We even went as far as to look for apartments for rent in our area. We were going to move our family of 7 into a 3 bedroom apartment. How is that fair? Man, it put me in a bad mood for the entire year! Moving is such a pain anyway, with finding the right place, packing, changing schools, church schedules, moving away from friends. You have to check out neighborhoods, school districts, etc… There’s so much to think about. I know I always looked online to read reviews about different apartment complexes, areas of a city, etc… I hate moving with a passion. I don’t like living in apartments with children. I’ve lived in my fair share of apartments. I had one downstairs neighbor that would ram her ceiling with a broom everytime my 3 year old ran thru the living room. Really?? You live in an apartment, there’s gonna be some noise! Another time my husband and  I had just been married, so the family below us had newlyweds above them… Yeah… Sorry about that ~j.  Moving on… I don’t like moving. I am thankful for sites like Move.com to help make the moving experience easier…

The thought of renting out our home to a family and moving just so we could pay for lawyers was so frustrating to me. It’s still frustrating, but we decided we aren’t going to lose our home and let all this affect the lives of our children. I’ve decided to not let the choices and actions of selfish people affect ME. The last 10 years of my life I’ve been doing that. I’m done. I choose to be happy. I choose to see the silver lining. I mean, honestly, all this court crap has made my kiddos cling to me more. They know that I’m fighting for what THEY want. They love me more for that. Sei and I have grown closer too. We’ve been in and out of court with exes for our entire marriage. It’s draining emotionally and financially, but we have that awesome of a relationship where we absolutely DO NOT allow it to mess that up. Another thing that has surprisingly changed my attitude is Mary Kay. I am stoked to be a beauty consultant. Getting to go to weekly meetings with awesome women, dressing up (which I thought I’d hate!!), having parties getting to meet new people, etc… has changed me in so many ways in just a few short months. It’s been rad.

You know how people will say they are “so thankful” for their trials? Well, maybe one day I’ll be to that point, but right now I’m not. I’m not thankful for all this at all. It makes me mad. But these trials have made me stronger. They’ve helped me grab a hold of my attitude and adjust it. I still don’t know why Sei and I felt so strongly to move to Texas. I really don’t. But… we’re here. And I’m not going thru the nonsense of moving again, so we might as well make the best of it, right?

I heart my family.

Please view my disclosure.

Over the years we’ve had a few cars. Most of them started out as what we thought was “great” and ended up as “ghetto.” Thankfully we have 2 really reliable cars right now that we hope will be with us for years and years. One way we are helping make this a reality is by having a regular tune up on each car.  We’ll be making a very long trip this summer in our Yukon, so a tune up is essential!! Another thing we do is make sure we get an oil change when needed. This is such a simple thing to have done, but some people never do it. That can ruin the engine.

Finding the right auto repair shop can be hard. You don’t know their specialties or reviews. But now there’s Repairpal.com Let’s say you need Houston auto repair. You just go to Repairpal.com and type in your zip code.  You’ll be given a list of shops in your area with reviews as well. Not only that- if you are trying to find info about a particular car- like an Acura Integra- you can find reviews and  information from other owners right there on Repairpal.com. It’s an awesome site.

Please view my disclosure.

I remember in college walking the halls and there were tables and booths set up all over the place that were offering credit cards to the students.  I was pulled in by these booths- I mean, most offered some kind of a gift with each application. I finally applied for a card without taking the time to compare credit card offers. Luckily I didn’t use my new credit card very often and was so immature that I was just excited to pick what the front of the card looked like! Now that I am older I understand the importance of good credit scores, getting the best credit card, using credit wisely, etc… There are definitely better cards to have with better interest rates, etc… but they don’t tell you all that on the college campuses and they should. Parents need to be sure to educate their kids about credit so they make wise decisions when they are on their own.  Also, using sites like comparecards.com can help find the best card that meets your needs. Educating yourself first is so important!

I am lame. Here it is less than 10 days before Christmas and I haven’t finished my shopping. I didn’t do the whole Black Friday thing and now as I scramble around trying to find gifts I am thinking maybe I should have!! Did you go out shopping early after Thanksgiving? I went to Costco with my sister, for milk…

I while ago I made a photo book for a good friend for her wedding day, kind of like a pre- Wedding album. It was pretty freakin’ awesome if I do say so myself. I think photobooks are the easier way to go when it comes to keeping your photos. The photo albums I have all the pictures are falling out of and I’m definitely NOT a scrapbooker so that’s out.

One online photo book company is Photoproductions.com. They are the first (and still only) company in the UK to produce premium photobooks direct to the public, without them having to go through a photographer who will increase the cost. They also provide the easiest, most user friendly website of anyone producing these premium albums. And they provide full online proofing of the Photobook designs once completed.

You can do so much more that wedding albums. I keep telling myself I’m going to make a photo book every year… And I’m telling myself again because these things are awesome!!

We currently have cable thru our phone company. My parents, on the other hand, have DirectTV. I’ve never had Direct TV so in order to learn more I visit Blogtelevision.com.  You can learn more and order straight from their website.  You can check out current offers, learn more about HD tv, and things like the NFL Sunday Ticket- which I know my boys would LOVE. It’s a great explanatory site. I learned more about the DVR- which now I can’t imagine NOT having. I also was able to look thru the different programming packages to find the best fit.

If you have more questions about Directv you can also call their toll free number. It’s definitely a convenient site to have to answer questions and order the great service for your tv viewing.