Our family is looking forward to seeing snow for the first time in 35 years!

In our area, that is.

The last time the Bay Area had snow, it was 1976.  Can you believe it?  The news anchors are really excited about it as it’ll be a big story.

Our little Buddy is excited as he’s been asking to have a snow ball fight with us.  The funny thing is, we never made it up to the snow this year…

…so it’s neat that the snow is coming to us!

Can’t wait to see the smiles and giggles from Buddy and Sweetie.  I hope and pray we’ll be well enough to go play.  I got the flu yesterday, Buddy caught a cough, Sweetie’s recovering from her cough, and Hubby’s on the verge of catching something from all these germs.

If you think of us, please say a prayer for our health – we don’t want to miss the snow!

After all, it’s only been 35 years

Hope you all have a great weekend!

Today I get the privilege to announce the winner of the Coffee or Brownies January giveaway!

Are you ready?

Drumroll, please…

Out of 59 qualified entries, random.org chooses #26…

Andrea G. – congratulations!  Watch for an email from me

To help you get to know Andrea a little bit better, here’s an introduction:

“Hello! My name is Andrea, have 3 kids with one last one on the way! Four is it! I’m a full time work at home mom who is trying to go to part time after the birth of our fourth. No blog, just a blog reader, giveaway contestant and quite possibly a neurotic mom! LOL! Oh, and peanut butter cup ice-cream is my absolute favorite!”

Hope you had fun with this giveaway, have a GREAT weekend!

Now that Back To School is in full swing, I thought it’d be fun to summarize what you all shared about what you like and dislike during this time.  So here goes…

Like:

1. the kids are out of the house and I get my home office work time back
2. getting new school supplies and new books
3. it gave me time to get things done around the house or go shopping
4. more time to myself
5. to see them studying and learning
6. back to school shopping
7. the routine we restart
8. school shopping and getting all of the supplies ready
9. Love the kids going back to school
10. the back-to-school discounts!
11. the fact that the house is quiet
12. that I don’t have any children in school yet!
13. meeting new people for back to school
14. kids are out of my hair for a bit, lol
15. how excited my kids get about learning new things
16. the excitement that the kids feel
17. getting back into a schedule

Dislike:

1. Homework and activities…schedule and less free to do whatever time
2. the amount of money I have to spend on supplies, clothes, etc.
3. miss the sound of their voices playing outside
4. that summer is over
5. waking up to a clock!
6. waking up early
7. getting up early in the morning :0
8. all the stress that it entails
9. the fact that the house is quiet
10. the way a few of the bus drivers speed in our plat. It makes me nervous.
11. that my commute to work is busier now that school is back in session…more traffic and buses
12. the annoying projects you have to do
13. back to school night, fund raising, PT conferences, lol….
14. getting up so early
15. the mad rush that sometimes happens
16. early mornings!

Thank you all for your comments!  It was really fun reading your answers about back to school.  And now…out of 51 valid entries, here’s the winner of the Back To School Brownies!

Christiana Szymanski

who said

Congratulations, Christiana!!  If you like chocolate, you’ll love these   Be sure to keep an eye out for an email from me.

Hope you all have a wonderful weekend!  I’ll be catching some fun in the sun at my girl friend’s bridal shower!  Come back Monday for a mind twisting question

Hey there, my friend!  I want to appreciate you with a box of brownies to celebrate the joys and relieve the stresses of back-to-school.

Back To School Brownies Giveaway Rules

Required Entry: Leave a comment sharing one thing you like and one thing you dislike about back-to-school.

Optional extra entries: (Once you’ve done the required entry, you may do as many of these extra entry options as you’d like!)  Leave a separate comment for each entry.

~Follow me publicly on Google Friend Connect – 1 entry (leave me a comment saying you now follow or already do)

~Subscribe by email (must activate) – 2 entries (leave me 2 separate comments saying you have subscribed or already do)

~Follow my blog on Networked Blogs – 1 entry (leave me a comment saying you now follow or already do)

~Like my Facebook fan page – 1 entry

~Follow me on twitter @jinnialow – 1 entry (leave username)

~Tweet the giveaway – may be done once daily, include @jinnialow – 1 entry (leave direct url to tweet)

~Introduce yourself right here, then come back here and leave 2 separate comments – 2 entries

Giveaway Ends on 9/23/10

Winner will be chosen using random.org and announced next Friday, 9/24/10.  Be sure to leave me your email so I can contact you if you win!  You’ll have 48 hours to claim your prize after I email you or another random winner will be chosen using the same method.  Good luck!

Here are two thought-provoking questions I want to answer from my friend TV’s post, Can You Change After…

“Have you identified a quality you’d like to change in yourself particularly around/after 30?  If so, were you able to change it and how did you do it?”

Since I turned 30, several qualities in myself had to change.  1)  Be more consistent.  2)  Be more observant.  3)  Become a morning person.

My husband and I were just talking about this on our 8th Anniversary celebration.  I attribute many of the changes to our marriage and having children.

1)  Be more consistent.  Prior to getting married, I wasn’t consistent in many areas of life.  I have many interests and got fairly good at all of them, but was not consistent to excel at any one of them.  Talent does not equate to long-term success.  By necessity as a stay at home mom, I trained myself to follow a regular routine.

2)  Be more observant.  I used to assume more than I observed.  Part of a mom’s job is to be observant and listen well, if I want fewer headaches   Hubby was the one who pointed out to me that I wasn’t observing others’ needs very well at the time.  It was humbling and I’m so glad he did, cuz I didn’t have a clue!  Now, I do my best to be more conscious of others’ needs and listen to them first before assuming I know what they need!

3)  Become a morning person.  I was a night owl all the way up to college graduation.  My health suffered a little, then a lot more after giving birth to children.  Eventually I just got tired of being tired all the time, so I began to eat better, wake up earlier, give thanks in the morning, and do my exercises.  Now I prefer the morning air, it’s crisper and more rejuvenating.

So there you have it.  A quick look at things I changed after 30.  I don’t always succeed at being 1, 2, 3 – but I give it my best shot everyday!

Here’s another one.  My kids started school this week with my youngest beginning kindergarten.  I’m feeling bittersweet as many parents do.  I’ll be adjusting to my smiles & giggles being elsewhere for half the day.

At the same time, as business is taking off, this blog will see some changes too.  Starting next week, I’ll be posting 2 (maybe 3) times a week instead of 4.  It’ll be an adjustment period as I gain some sense of balance among all the things I juggle.  I hope you’ll continue to drop by.  I read all my comments and will do my best to get back to you.  I appreciate you so much!  Have yourself a wonderful weekend!

Wouldn’t you say having fun is supposed to be intuitive?

Meaning, you don’t need to be taught how to have fun, you just do!

Especially for children.

For some people though, it’s not that easy to have fun…

That being said, I must make a disclaimer.  By no means am I an expert on fun, in fact I really could use more fun in my life!

Seriously though, the question remains at the end of the day…

What do you and I do for fun?

What do you enjoy doing?  Do you get to do it?

Or have the responsibilities of life taken up most of your time (and mine) so that all we’re doing is running to do the next thing on our list?

It’s easy to let life become a series of to-do’s, after all we have many many things to take care of.  If I’m not careful, I can become a slave to my to-do list instead of the master.  I prefer to be the master

I prefer to have my priorities in order so I can enjoy regular guilt-free fun!

Wouldn’t you?

Here’s a time management principle I learned that seems counter-intuitive:

1. Ask yourself if lack of time or money were not an issue, what would you do?

2.  Let yourself be in touch with what you enjoy doing.

3.  Schedule an hour (or more) of time to do what you enjoy – even when you don’t think you have the time to fit “fun” in, or you feel guilty for doing so.

The counter-intuitiveness of this is that after you’ve forced allowed yourself to have fun doing something you truly enjoy, you’ll feel so rejuvenated that you’ll have more energy & motivation to work.  And you’ll get more done in less time

Back to what I enjoy (and I’ll need to let myself make time for these)…scrapbooking, making crafts, playing guitar, singing, all things artsy craftsy expressive-sy!  And last week, I started doing something to tone down my tummy and it ended up being really fun – Pilates for Dummies!  Sweetie did it with me too, it was so cute with her on the couch following along.

There’s more to explore, I’m not done yet…what about you?

What do you do for fun?  Does anything stop you from doing it?

Happy Friday!

My fun for today is to announce the winner of the Coffee or Brownies!

Congratulations to…

Shari G!

Who said:

Congrats, Shari!

You’ll get the $5 Starbucks gift card!

And an email from me!  Enjoy meeting daddy for lunch

Hey there, my friend!  If you had a busy week, you deserve some time to relax…

So I’m giving away a $5 Starbucks gift card or a box of delicious gourmet brownies to one of you!

Coffee or Brownies Giveaway Rules

Required Entry: Leave a comment sharing what you’d like to receive – a $5 Starbucks gift card or a box of gourmet brownies.  And tell me what’s your favorite dessert or Starbucks beverage?

Optional extra entries: (Once you’ve done the required entry, you may do as many of these extra entry options as you’d like!)  Leave a separate comment for each entry.

~Follow me publicly on Google Friend Connect – 1 entry (leave me a comment saying you now follow or already do)

~Subscribe by email (must activate) – 2 entries (leave me 2 separate comments saying you have subscribed or already do)

~Follow my blog on Networked Blogs – 1 entry (leave me a comment saying you now follow or already do)

~Follow me on twitter @jinnialow – 1 entry (leave username)

~Tweet the giveaway – may be done once daily, include @jinnialow – 1 entry (leave direct url to tweet)

~Introduce yourself right here, then come back here and leave 2 separate comments – 2 entries

~Ask me how you can give unexpected kindness that’ll brighten someone’s day – 1 entry

~Give that unexpected kindness after I email you how – 2 entries

Giveaway Ends on 8/19/10

Winner will be chosen using random.org and announced next Friday, 8/20/10.  Be sure to leave me your email so I can contact you if you win!  You’ll have 48 hours to claim your prize after I email you or another random winner will be chosen using the same method.  Good luck!

When a week goes by and you wonder what you’ve done, then it’s clear a time of reflection is in order.  It’s a sign that busyness has taken over, that solitude and peace are knocking on my door wanting to enter, that I’ve been too distracted to let them in.

Sure, I can still be thankful for what I have!  But I want to order my life, my priorities – to allow the best of what my God has intended for me here.  That is the way in which I can fully write engaged, from my heart to yours.

You may notice the style of this post on a fun Friday is somewhat subdued.  I’ve been caught up in the blogosphere – making new friends, having fun, being social.  All great things! Inside, I’m actually an introvert who loves time to herself to recharge.  I love to read, write, play music and let my soul catch up to my body.

I love the slow-paced lifestyle.  It’s fun to me. But somehow I’d allowed myself to go too fast.  I’d better slow down more.  Wanna join me?

Ever since our beach house vacation, I’ve been itching to slow down. How about this for starters? On our vacation, my hubby was plucking out the fruit from this – can you guess what fruit it is?

Have a great weekend, my friends! See you all Monday!

I’m enjoying getting to know some of the most amazing, thought-provoking, inspiring, talented, hard-working mommy bloggers out there!  They’re among the most encouraging, supportive bunch and I count it a privilege to be running in their circle.

They presented me with 3 blog awards!  Thank you so much, ladies!

TV at TV’s Take and Mama Hen at Mama’s Little Chick gave me the Blogger Buddy Award!  They are truly the blogger buddies who first reached out and befriended this new blogger.  Thank you, Mama Hen and TV!  You gals are super!

I’m excited to pass the Blogger Buddy Award on to:  Casey at One Day At A Time, Kimberly at The Stinker Pinkers, Gina at The Journaling Gina, Cassiopeia Chats, Ashley at Beyond Passing Time

Mama Hen continues on to shower me with the Foxy Mama Award!  This one surprised me!  Especially since I’d gained a few pounds during the summer.  I’m thankful because what Mama Hen wrote when she gave me this award was the perfect little nudge for me to pull out that Pilates exercise tape and just do it!  Sweetie ended up doing Pilates with me too, and it was so much fun!  Thank you, Mama Hen!

And the Foxy Mama Award goes to:  TV at TV’s Take, Beth at Create Your Traditions, Queenie at The Planet Pink, Casey at One Day At a Time, Kelly at The Simple Life

Beth at Create Your Traditions gave me the Versatile Blogger Award!  In order to receive the award fully, I must thank the person who awarded me, share 7 things about myself, and nominate 15 newly discovered blogs (and let them know about the award).

Thank you, Beth!  What a cool award.

Seven Things You May Or May Not Know About Me

1.  I used to be afraid of little kids.  Seriously!  When they looked at me, I didn’t know what to do.

2.  My brother and I used to play baseball, basketball & we took karate together.  I miss doing those things with him.

3.  Before marriage, I struggled in the dating scene for many years.  Finally I prayed and asked my God to give me a husband that is understanding, loving, and can do housework.  Hubby is all those things and more!

4.  One of my earliest marital spats with Hubby was over how to properly make Won Ton noodles.

5.  Crafts always finds a place into my heart.  I used to make cards and scrapbook and find those activities therapeutic & fun!

6.  I crocheted little baby booties, a hat, and sweater for my daughter before she was born.  She wore them maybe once or twice.

7.  My hubby and I served for a number of years as field staff people for a Christian parachurch organization called the Navigators.  Awesome experience!

Now onto the most important part!  Here are some of the newest blogs I discovered, and I look forward to reading more inspiring, thought-provoking and fun posts from them!

1. http://blog.cassiopeiachats.com
2. http://bethszimmerman.com
3. http://thesmiplelife.blogspot.com
4. http://mformommy.blogspot.com
5. http://eastlynandcompany.blogspot.com
6. http://thecakeathomemom.com
7. http://loveablehomebody.blogspot.com
8. http://choosegourmetcandles.blogspot.com
9. http://happyhomemakerme.blogspot.com
10. http://inspirationsbyd.blogspot.com
11. http://longwaitforisabella.blogspot.com
12. http://positivekismet.blogspot.com
13. http://samsstuff-samsstuff.blogspot.com
14. http://strawberryseeds.net
15. http://mayheminthemotherhood.blogspot.com

Congratulations, ladies!  Each one of you inspire me and I look forward to getting to know you more!