CREAMY CHEESY POTATOES

CREAMY CHEESY POTATOES

Going to try my hand at making the above recipe! Yummy! ;-)

Christmas Crazy Days, Coupon Codes & More!

Christmas Season is here!!!

I've been away for a bit being a busy mom of an even busier 4 year old! 

Homeschooling is AWESOME, but trying to balance teaching, crafting, photo taking, online business stuff, volunteering & looking into "real" Christian homeschooling curriculums for next year when I have to teach my little one...it's insane. 

Oh, I forgot to mention a huge thing...I'm dieting. 

Not really dieting in the sense that I'm depriving myself from the Holiday treats that come with Life-team potlucks, Holiday feasts, and free samples at Sam's Club (yummy!). 

I'm hoping that this will be a life-changing way of eating, for me. I've lost a little over 70 pounds (whoo-hoo!) since I've started this fat-smashing journey 4 years ago, but I'm ready to hop back on the wagon & lose about 70 more. My motivation? Valentines Day. Hehe...

Oh to fit my sexy black dress from when I was 17 years old and had a figure like Jane Russell. But I digress.

So how have everyone's Holiday madness been? Thanksgiving for my family was super awesome, as usual. I made my huge Turkey dinner from scratch, like I have all 6.5 years of my marriage. My husband doesn't give me nearly as many props as I'd like, so I'm taking a second (or two) to shower myself with accolades. :-D

My food is "da bomb" (for lack of a better adjective), and this year we got to share our holiday with Kim, our  Life-team's babysitter and my good friend. She made the day extra special and I had a buddy to pig out with after my hubby left for work that evening. =)

Nope, this is NOT my actual dinner table. Dont' feel like uploading pics now. :-)

So now I'm listing more Christmas hair-bows & tutus on my Etsy site and have been Blessed to gift some of my hair treats out at last week's Life-team meeting gift swap! It was so much fun to see the ladies fuss over who would get the hair bows. *sigh* I cannot wait to have a little girl... from my heart to God's ears.

   Christmas shopping is almost over...NOT. I have so many more family members and friends to get things or make things for. But the great thing about this season is the real reason we celebrate it. St. Nick was a great guy and all and he has his place in our home as the "sweet man who gave gifts to kids". We, as Christians, tells our kiddo that Santa is God's helper. He gives out gifts to kids to celebrate the birth of Jesus, since we can't physically give Jesus a gift. My son LOVES this idea! He even asked me if Santa was a Christian! What could I say, but a man that goes about Blessing people with kindness must believe in God. ;-)

This Holiday season, as we run from store to store chasing sales & clearance items, listening to Christmas carols on repeat until you'd like to throw the DJ over a (short) cliff, hurriedly wrapping your family's gifts before they burst through the door and spoil the surprise, remember the true meaning of Christmas. 

We are celebrating the birth of the one who lived and died for us. And we are reminded by our families smiling faces, the Blessing of having loved ones...and being loved.

Happy Holidays & Merry Christmas from our home to yours,

-`☆´- *´¨)

…… ¸.•´¸.•*´¨) ¸.•*¨)

… … (¸.•´… (¸.•` -`☆´-

.¸.•´•☆*¨★..~Chel

P.S. If your looking to save big bucks this Christmas on great quality gifts, check out my online store at:

http://www.etsy.com/shop/RufflesRibbonsNBows

♥♥♥ Use coupon code: CHRISTMAS to get FREE Shipping on your order! ♥♥♥

Business Mommies & Their Tazmanian Devils

So I decided not to promote my newest Fall items today. Because if I was going to do that I would TOTALLY tell you guys to check out the tutus, bow holders, crib shoes sets, and hair frosting that I've recently made. That's not what this blog post is all about...although if you'd LIKE to see those cool things, you can catch them at: 

www.RufflesRibbonsNBows.com

Since I'm not focusing on that right now, I'll go on to what I do want to speak about: our hectic lives.

Since seeing the film "I Don't Know How She Does It", I've been re-evaluating my life, my schedule, my mommy-son time, my mommy-cats time, my crafting time, taking photos of my crafts time, exercising time, laundry time, household cleaning time, time with my hubby, time for myself...*sigh*...see what I mean???

We moms are just way too busy! It doesn't matter if we are full-time homemakers, small or large business owners, working moms, single moms, homeschooling moms, couponing moms, blogging moms (uh-huh), we just have too many things to do and we tend to wear WAY too many hats to get the jobs done. But if we don't start really and truly taking care of ourselves, then we will quickly make the dive from SuperMom to PsychoMom. At that point you head to the nearest mental health therapist and down Zanax like they are MnMs. I personally don't take any stimulants or mental health meds, but I'm also not against it either. Whatever helps, do it. I, personally, pray and read my Bible for encouragement & guidance. I also, however, have an awesome understanding therapist who does wonders helping me to find "my way back to myself". 

Speaking of SELF...who are we? Most of us cannot answer that question because our identity is tied into what we have become and women, being the beautiful nurturers that Christ has made us, are always putting our needs on the back burner. I think that what ends up happening is that while we do lose sight in what our initial goals and ambitions had been pre-kiddos & responsibility, we have also lost ourselves. 

I can tell you that I have always loved to sew and that I am elated that I own an Etsy shop that is dedicated to spreading the "pretty" around and help gals of all ages feel like a princess. But recently that late-night crafting sessions and Etsy listing has me wired at 4 a.m. and sleepy at 10 a.m. My day is filled with household chores, play-dates  homeschooling, crafting, picture-taking, reading, writing, preparing to go back to college... Unbelievably exasperating, no matter how much of a Blessing it is. Some days I long for that time in my life when I was aimless, had a pre-baby body, and wanted to model for Ford or Wilhemina. I smile remembering the fact that I changed my hair-color more times than I did boyfriends, and I just knew that my writings were going to be as well known as the Nancy Drew book series. *sigh again*

HOKU - Perfect Day From My FAVE movie Legally Blonde!

Fast-forward to the present day. Although all I ever really wanted to be was a wife and mom, truth is, I miss the "old me" sometimes. That carefree me seemed to be able to do it all (even though I rarely did). So my new obsession is getting back to that place and space of realizing who Michelle is. Figuring out who I am in the midst of my hectic life, and strutting my stuff once I re-define that old diva deep down inside. Yes, I can be a SuperMom. I can even be a Super-Psycho-Mom and relish in it. But at the end of the day, I just want to be 'me'. So I'm eager to CREATE who that will be...

>>> Doing my John Travolta "Stayin' Alive" strut. <<<

♥The Strut :)♥

♥♥My Beautiful Little Blessing, Arden♥♥

XOXO

God Bless,

-`☆´- *´¨)
…… ¸.•´¸.•*´¨) ¸.•*¨)
… … (¸.•´… (¸.•` -`☆´-
.¸.•´•☆*¨★..~Chel

Fall Festival At Ruffles Ribbons N' Bows Boutique!!!

Ruffles Ribbons N' Bows has NEW LISTINGS for the Fall that will knock your socks off!

Go to www.RufflesRibbonsNBows.com to shop & use coupon code: FALL15 to get 15% off of your ENTIRE order! 

God Bless & Stay Fabulous,


-`☆´- *´¨)
…… ¸.•´¸.•*´¨) ¸.•*¨)
… … (¸.•´… (¸.•` -`☆´-
.¸.•´•☆*¨★..~Chel

EtsyMom Street Team -

EtsyMom Street Team -

"Mommy, I'll Crack The House!"

Hello all! 

I'm just writing a small note (we hope) about my crazy day today. First off, I have been down for the past 14 days with migraines, dizziness and other more gross symptoms that won't be mentioned here. I do have somewhat of a (rather non-existent) rep to maintain! Anywho, my much needed trip to the ER unearthed the truth behind my pain: Sinus Infection of the bacterial kind. So the great doctors of Centennial Medical Center sent me home (reeling from my whirlwind in & out, drive-thru-esque-visit), with Vicodin, Flonase, and anti-biotics. Well, after seeing the would-be bill for all of those name brand meds (well into the 200s the pharmacist giddily informed me), I decided to do the right thing and go generic. Perfect move! Brought the total of the meds way down. I decided not to get the Faux Flonase until a couple of days later, much to my own chagrin now. What was I thinking??? First off, today is my first official day keeping anything down. The Faux Vicodin decided to play footsie with my tummy everytime I took it (with food, mind you) and had my tummy both growling & lurching all day. AND since my unforgiving migraines kept me bed-ridden, and stuck with my sweet four-year-old watching Looney Tunes DVDS and Goosebumps episodes, I was ready to throw in the towel. 

But this morning, I found a new BFF called Flonase's Awesome Cousin, and have been almost pain free ever since. I dropped the Fake Vicodin and started taking my other new BFF, Faux Excedrin. Oh yes, meds can quickly become your true-blue-buds. Coupled with lots of prayer, they are the key to your speedy recovery.

Now I am back on the domestic job, I homeschooled for the first time in 14 days (whoo-hoo!) and pre-school lessons never sounded so sweet to my ears. Just to show you how cooped up Arden, my four-year-old had been because of my sickness, he was HAPPY to learn scripture and ABCs today! He actually ran up to me and said "Mommy, I want to do my lessons now, please!" Hallelujiah & Amen! 

So in conclusion what have we learned today?

1. Prescriptions are way too EXSPENSIVE!

2. Generic meds are just as effective at curing your ailments.

3. Medicine is my new BFF.

4. After 2 weeks of being cooped up in the house with a cranky momma, homeschooling is FUN!

5. The cats like to mimic their owners when they vomit, and do the same all over the house...

<TMI? Sorry, I had to say it ;-D>

Well...back to being an ordinary, juggling homemaker...

Really? C'mon!

OK, THIS is reality! ;-P

Night y'll!


Happy Napping...


XOXOXO


~ M

Ummm...We're On YOUTUBE! =)

Okay so Heck Yes, I'm super excited that we have several commercial s out there on YouTube!! But here's the skinny on the deals for September...Free Shipping! Yep, I said it! Everything you order is TOTALLY FREE to ship! So what does that mean for you?  You SAVE - SAVE- SAVE! ;-)

Yes...I'm a bit dramatic. But isn't every Fashion-Lovin' Gal?

Check out the video and get the coupon code to get FREE SHIPPING today!

http://youtu.be/bOuwss2hkZY

XOXO

;-)

~ Michelle
Owner: Ruffles Ribbons N' Bows Boutique
www.RufflesRibbonsNBows.com

NEW ITEMS FOR THE FALL!!!

So if you've been keeping up with us on Etsy, FB, or Twitter, you already know this. If not, here's some news:

Ruffles Ribbons N' Bows Boutique is now offering initial bow-holders, Tutu Sets, Crib Shoe Sets & Leg-Warmers!!! I am super-excited about this new chapter, and anxious to see what God has in store for this boutique. I've already sold my first tutu! And just so everyone knows, it took me a LONG stinkin' time to create and there is lots of TLC in it! LOL! I've been burning the candle at both ends making the bow holders too (4 a.m. is not a suitable bedtime). But, as my hubby James pointed out last night, I love what I do. It's that simple. And since I enjoy each and every item that I make, you can bet your sweet life that they will show in how pretty each item is!

I do need to get some shut-eye, though. Tomorrow is Labor Day and we're cleaning the entire house in the morning so that we can comfortably lay around it in the afternoon. Hopefully by 6 pm we'll be outside watching our four-year-old splash around in his kiddie pool (from Grandma, of course), and my hubby will be grilling up some turkey franks & turkey burgers! Yummy! 

Happy Holiday everyone!

Remember to be kind to others, especially on Labor Day. 

1 Timothy 5:8 For the scripture saith, Thou shalt not muzzle the ox that treadeth out the corn. And, The laborer is worthy of his reward.

xoxo

~ Chel :)