My 3 in 30

So here goes my first 3 in 30 link up:

1. Drink 8-8oz glasses of water and take vitamins
2. Menu planning, ( do this on sundays for the week, maybe post to blog?)
3. Walk or workout at least 15 mins. Gotta start small and 15 mins is at least a start :-)
I am creating a habit.....yah me!

Cheers to my first 3 in 30!!! So excited to be blogging again.

Happy 2012

So has it seriously been an entire year since I have blogged??? I have thought and missed blogging so much and am trying to move things around in my life to be able to upkeep my blogging.

Have you made your goals/resolutions for 2012?
I have and am still in the process of fine-tuning my details.
This is what I have so far:

My word for the year is ....."SIMPLIFY" I am off to a good start, I got rid of 18 trash bags of stuff/trash to burn, took 5 loads of stuff to the donation shop, one load to the consignment store and still have more to get rid of. I also donated 2 egg boxes of scrap/crafting stuff to the Hospice and the Awannas group. Oh what a feeling to let it all go.

A- Do the 3 in 30 challenge:
1. Participate in the challenge by blogging my 3 in 30's.
2. Read the 3 in 30 blog 2-3 times a week for reinforcement
3. Create your plan and work my plan!!!

Here is the link for you to participate with us :-)



B. Hello Mornings (To participate)
1. Participate in the group study starting Jan 11th
2. Update as part of the group on FB at least once a week.

(I am excited to participate in this as a group!! I don't have to leave my home and family to grow spiritually and with other ladies. What a gift!!!


C. 31 days to pray for your spouse,
1. Read daily scripture
2. Pray for Carl daily
3. Update on FB that I have prayed and participate in the discussions.

D. Health
1. Do a 2 day juice fast
2. Create a walking habit
3. Drink 8-8oz glasses of water a day
4. Take vitamins on schedule
5. Get off the sugar and cut down on the salt.
6. Plan our menus and eat at home!!
7.Keep up with my intake and calories burned on my fitness pal.



E. Get out of debt.
1. pay off medical bills- done today
2. pay off Garrett's Marine Biology Trip- done today
3. Figure check book every other day,
4. Use Cash
5. Biweekly budget meeting with DH.
6. Pay off Citi Bank Target Feb to mid march
7. Pay off Chase - next pay check
8. Pay off Jeep- Target mid May :-)
9. Buy paint and supplies to update the dining room.

Get back to scrap-booking, and let go of excess projects and commitments that are not adding to my life anymore.


I have more goals but they are still in the works process... will post more when I get them specific.

Please share and let me know your 2012 list!!!
Happy New Year,
Tracy :-)

Free Holiday photo cards!!!

I just could not wait to share the news: I have been selected by Shutterfly for their
50 Free Holiday Card Promotion! This is such a blessing and a great opportunity to create, view and
customize my family Christmas cards with Shutterfly’s amazing quality. Now on to the creative part
(my favorite), if you know me any at all you know that capturing memories through photography is very
important to me and close to my heart. First to choose my photo, (done) it was a family decision :0).
Next the hard part, to choose one of the amazing designs Shutter fly has to offer…. Here are my top
choices: Black Border, Classic w/o Edge, Starlight Joy, Bottom Caption, Rejoice King Lord and
Simple Memories. Please leave a vote in the comments section to which card you like best. It will be fun to see which one wins. :0)
So many options but I must choose  Some cards have the option of including two more photos inside
of the card, what a wonderful gift this will make for our family and friends. Step two: Upload photos,
choose my template add my text and order! I am more excited that I will get to send out my cards on
December 1, this year and not the week of Christmas! I also have been researching the gift options
Shutterfly has to offer for the memory keepers like me. Here are some of the options I am thinking of
giving. Calendars , see here for the many options http://www.shutterfly.com/calendars Photo cards for
my card ministry and AAEOP. Then I have always wanted to create a photo book for my coffee table
including all of my best photography! I would love to give each set of my parents a book as a Christmas
gift. Here is the best part, you don’t have to wait until Black Friday to get a great deal,
” Shutterfly if offering 20% off all holiday cards.” As soon as I get my card order I will post it to the blog,
Please check back and if you tried Shutterfly let me know about your experience.
Have a blessed day,
Tracy

Anonymous Encouragers is a Chritian Ministry, positive news from Klove

Here is another great story from a 16 year old girl that wanted to make a difference.

Here is the home page for AE and check out the facebook link at the bottom of the page.


Anonymous Encouragers is a Christian ministry designed to encourage individuals and communities. By writing simple cards to people found in phonebooks, anonymous encouragers spread God's love and faithfulness. Anonymous encouragers do not write these letters to receive personal recognition, but to serve others selflessly for God's glory.The process of becoming an anonymous encourager is easy.

Simply pick up your phonebook and choose a name and address. Your letter to this person may include a Bible verse and/or a few heartfelt words. By signing anonymously, you will ensure your security and privacy.

Five Easy Steps:1. Choose a name and address in your city's phonebook.
2. Write a letter in your own handwriting.(A handwritten letter will let the receiver know that a real personwrote to them, not a computer-generated scam.)
3. Sign your letter "A.E." for Anonymous Encourager.
4. Address the envelope, making sure to leave out your return address. (Leaving out your name and return address not onlyensures your security, but also guarantees no personal recognitionfor this act of kindness.)
5. Mail your letter.*If one anonymous encourager would set a goal to write one person every week, 52 people would be encouraged in the span of one year.If one anonymous encourager invites four friends to join the effort,260 people will be reached each year. Join Anonymous Encouragers in an effort to reach the world,one encouraging letter at a time.*Anonymous Encouragers is not responsible for expenses such asstamps, letters, and envelopes. These must be willing donationsgiven by each anonymous encourager.
Anonymous Encouragers

Have a blessed day,
Tracy :0)

Gary Smalley

I was jamming to my new tune station, Klove, check them out here http://www.klove.com/

They had Dr. Gary Smalley on air in an interview about his four day challenge. It was so great I had to share, both about how awesome it is to listen to positive words on the radio and it is FREE!!!!



Here is a 4 day challenge from Gary Smalley. I have had the opportunity to hear Dr. Smalley in person, I enjoyed his speaking and find him an inspiration of God's word.



http://www.klove.com/BLOG/post/2010/07/07/4-Day-Belief-Challenge-Dr-Gary-Smalley.aspx



On the blog you can also listen to his interview on mini podcasts!!



Have a blessed day,

Tracy

Kim Klassen and a stay-cation!!!! Bip Picture Scrapbooking and a free class!! Just Wow!

Kim now has her stay-cation site open. I am so excited about the inspiration that Kim shares that I could not keep it to myself.
Go check out her stay-cation web-site.
http://kimklassenstaycation.blogspot.com/

Here is a free clase from BPS!!! Can you just say WOW!!!! All of this inspiration and totally free!!! I hope you go check these sites out, I just can't tell you how excited I am.

http://www.bigpicturescrapbooking.com/summerfun10.php

I am also doing a class over at Jessicasprague.com !!! I wondered what I might do with my time now that baseball season has come to an end :0(....

Have a blessed night,
Tracy

I heart faces contest ~~~Bandit

Here is my entry for I heart faces contest this week, the theme is Pets...

http://iheartfaces.blogspot.com/





Meet my son's new pup "Bandit" he came to us from our little church down the road. The owner was tired of feeding the pups and the mama dog and just kicked them out of the house. Lucky for Bandit my son was determined to save him :0) He is a very spirited little pup and keeps our old dog Baby great company and makes her a great play mate. (We rescued Baby from a puppy miller so all she knows is to be around puppies.)

Have a blessed day,
Tracy :0)

Where have you (me) been......

Well the ball field of coarse!!! I photographed the team and submitted the photo orders to the lab last night. I can't wait to see the outcome. It was a bitter sweet end to our league games. We were tied, the other teams big hitter was up to bat, strike one, stride two, foul, foul, ball, ball, crack!!! and there it went and he run the bases and won the game by one point!!! We were tied until them and all we needed was to strike him out!!! It was a great game, the boys played hard and with heart, so proud of the little guys but you can't always take home the prize and it's a good life lesson to know that. So here are a few photos of the team

It's a celeblogation at JS

Just wanted to let everyone in on the festivities happening at Jessicasprague.com
Go to jessicasprgue.com and click on the image at 10PM EDT to take you to the first blog!

Happy Wednesday, it is going to be a scorcher..

Future project: The seasoning rack is now transformed into my embellishment turn about. I am going to paint it black, and use the Cricut to cut circles of background and texture paper to cover the tops. ( Someday soon I will have new floors down, but for now I can live with it to meet a higher goal :0) )

What are your projects, please share, I would love to see them and spotlight you on my blog,
Have a blessed day,
Tracy





























Here is my clean desk.

Today is suppose to be really crazzy hot, but keep in mind it is suppose to be in mid-June. That's when I go to the lake and hang out on the Pontoon all day. That I love. Anyway, we will be in the upper 90's today and I have to pre-pay for my propane today....lol...I am truly not thinking of how to keep warm this winter on a day like today. But if I don't think/pay ahead it will cost me a small fortune later.

So, I completed a couple of task, like taking my winter clothes out of the closet so I can find my summer clothes.

I cleaned off the scrap desk and finished cleaning out the hallway. I did more but it was just all of the general stuff. I have been on a great roll catching up the house but it is fixing to end...we have ball games the rest of the week, I have to shoot the team tomorrow and a tourney in Mt. Home this weekend. Sigh... I will miss my projects but I love my son playing ball more...(uh, remind me I said that when I am sitting in the hot sun at noon)

So, here are a few pics of my labor...

Happy Tuesday , Stacation and a Confession

Good morning to blog world, it is so great to be blogging again :0) I am suppose to be doing my 15 min a.m. project but I just could not wait to share the news! Kim at Kim Klassen Cafe is doing a free Inspiration Stay-Cation and you need to sign up here at kimklassen.blogspot.com to join in the fun.

Okay, here is the dreaded confession part, I have not been scrapping due to the condition of my desk and my unorganized house. Somehow, somewhere, sometime.....My scrap desk and house have gotten in a dis-aray a.k.a. MESS!!!! I think it was somewhere between shooting senior portraits, basketball and baseball...lol... anyway I am going to post my awful before shots and keep myself accountable on my projects... Check out my fridge though...huh... looks pretty organized (wink) that was my project for last night. I packaged our meat and cleaned out the fridge, I do the fly lady idea of 15 mins. You can do anything for 15 mins. Well off to do my 15 min in the scrap haven!!!

What have you been doing :0)
Have a blessed day,
Tracy

Free Card making class at JS!!!

Scored big today!!!

Little man wanted to go to yard sales today,so we started at 7 a.m. He was on the hunt for a weight bench, he wants to get "beefed" up before school starts :0) So off we went, he with his lawn mowing paycheck, his little buddy, "H" daddy and I. The first sale he mapped out to go to was like 15 miles away from the house.....hmmm. We drove up and all I could see was lots of pink!! I said to him, you picked a girl sale!!! Well they had an Xbox, Ipod and playstation he wanted to check out. But we missed the xbox, uggg, it was only 40.00 with games. So as I was thinking what a waste of time and heading to the jeep I spotted the prize!!! Yes, a brand new George Foreman Grill!!! Still had the sticker on it. It is a beautiful red and came with 3 sets of grills. I have priced them at the store and they were 100.00 when they first came out, I danced away with it for $10.00. So, I had to tell G he was not in trouble for going to the pink sale...lol...
Here are the specs on the grill:

Applica #GRP106QPGR RED GeoForeman360 Grill
$76and up (22 stores) cashback · 2 - 12%
User reviews (25)

106 square inch cooking surface with versatility of 5 round removable plates 2 grill Plates, 2 quesadilla plates and 1 deep dish pizza / bake plate Mechanical temperature control for perfect results Adjustable tilt to knock our fat and floating hinge.

So to back up a little, I have been on a replenish the kitchen kick! After almost 20 yrs of marriage I am ready to buy some new kitchen aids. Part of my reason is to help me to prepare yummy home cooked meals, save money(part of my debt free plan), eat healthier, and just to show my family love. So at the new store in town, Liquidation Outlet, I bought a GE toaster Covection Oven and a new 6 QT crockpot with a sealable lid. Both new, good working condition for 40.00!! They are black and stainless steel. They do not match my pretty new grill but they will soon live in harmony together.

The week before I purchased a Cricut expressions Machine from the outlet store for the mere price of 135.00 w/tax!!! What a steal, I have been wanting the big Cricut for a long time now. My sweet husband wanted to buy me one a few times and I would not let him because they were just to pricey. I feel God knew the desires of my heart and blesses me with my bargains!! So yes while I feel I have spent WAY to much money latley I really saved even more. Does that count? :0) So my love of scrapbooking and paper crafting has resurfaced and I created dad a card for his bday. Sorry, no pics I just did good to get it mailed.

We also picked blueberries, we almost blunered that!! Our friend told us they were 3.00 a bucket and when we went to check out it rang up 82.00!!!! Hmmm, she was wrong they were 3.00 per gallon!!! Yikes, she cut us a deal and we wrote her a 50.00 check, $10.00 more than she asked for. SO you can imagine I need some blueberrie recipes :0).

Have a blessed day,
Would love to hear your comments,
Tracy :0)

The Savvy Photographer....

Check here for the awesome give away! I am looking for a stylish smaller bag for my camera equipment, an on the go... drum roll pleaes.....

I think I found it :0)

The Savvy Photographer is giving away a fabulous Kelly Moore bag~ http://www.thesavvyphotographer.com

Happy shooting,
Tracy

Happy New Year!!!

I love this time of year, fresh start, fresh air and everyone is talking about goals and organization!!! Ahhh... I could live like this always....:0) I truly love to organize and set goals and I have been a busy beaver doing so. I have also made January my mission completion month. Yes, to finish the projects I started that are looming over my head..Yep, I am going to get it done. So I am proud to annouce I have just finished scanning the last of 300 photos into the ol' pc. They are old fammily photos I got from my mom a couple of years ago and I promised to scan them and get them back to her. ( I am so glad I did not say when) hehehe.

So onto my goal list, I am going to bare my list and let you hold me accountable.
***To increase my worship with my Savior and Father God!!!
1. 365/52 Take a photo a day and post once a week while mastering my camera.
(off to a slow start posting but the new laptop is on it's way :0))
2. Enter photography contest, (hopefully 1 a month at least)
3. Build my photography business, pricing, business cards, ect..
4. Be outside with my son more, at least 20 ,mins a day.
5. Loose my extra fat .... like 19 pounds extra!!! I have already lost 16 before we went to Disney, then gained 8, almost back down then to the next 19. and to get in physical shape. I got the WII fit active.
6. To schedule outings with frineds, at least once every 3 mos.
7. Scrap 365 pages...have not started yet but I am not scared!
8. Faith journal with Patter.
9. To love passionatly. In a sence to hug everyone I meet.
10. To love my family even more...


My motto is this, "TO LOVE PASSIONATLY AND LIVE SIMPLY"

I am loving life no matter what it throws at me and I am going to make my life the best it can be with Gods direction.

Loving Life,
Prophotomom!!!

Vacation or I mean a Staycation......

So I have been off work since friday at 3:30.... What have I done??? not sleep much... my son has been waiting for this week all month lonnnngggg. So friday night I walk in the door from work and see Garrett had done the spot of dishes, swept the floor and was in the process of mopping... boy, was I surprized!!! So I didn't make a big deal out of it because I didn't want him to think I was in shock (which I was...) so I sat down had a snack and checked email. After a little small talk with him I hear, boy I bet you are living the" SWEET LIFE" now...... arnt't you mom? I chuckled quitly to myself and said why do you say that son? Well me working and cleaning and you sitting doing nothing...lol.... I controlled myself and did not let the laughter get out of control. My reply: Yes son, I believe I am....thinking the whole time... and I am sure I said it out loud, it's usually and always me doing the cleaning and you sitting doing nothing.... Yes, it truly was a priceless moment. So anyway... his motive for cleaning is because I told him earlier in the week that no one is spending the night until the house was back in control. So he hurried and did some work so his little buddy Blake could spend the night... It worked Blake stayed for 24 hours and they had a great time.
Saturday morning I punished both of the boys by taking them yard saleing. My photog friend Chris and I went shopping for props and maybe even booked a few photo shoots. So anyway after the first 2-3 sales they boys were done!!! It was quite comical to listen to the excuses of why we needed to quit yard saleling. They did get me back though!!! I had to take them to Extreame Sports to let G wheel and deal a new bow with the owner Zeck. I don't think Zeck was in G's price range on the trade in... Garrett would not give in to the trade in price of 125.00 (rigged out) when we bought the bow (stripped) at 250.00 (new). Of coarse G is not looking at any bow, he is looking at a Mathew's Ignition. The demo sales for 350.00---stripped.... uggg..... boys and their toys... at 10 years old he really needs a job. lol....
Sunday, we attended church and had an awesome worship service and Brother Johnny delivered a very thought provoking message. I saw a couple of new faces at service and was surprized they were there. I knew they were members of a very well know large church. So I went on welcomed my new visiting friends, (so glad they came) and asked what's the 411 on being here? She said it was time for Church agian.. and that I had no idea of what they had been through. She even resigned from her paying position she held at the church. I personally know how hard it is to change your church home and it is such a hard thing to do that intertwines with all areas of your life. But change is good expecially if it is directed by God.... that's the best change of all. It just doesn't always feel good or is comfortable while doing so.
So, after my #1 DH finished working on the farm, messing with the cows and fixing fence we picked of E boy #2 of G's sleep overs...and went to the Cards game in Springfield MO. It is always a great day for a ball game and we had a great time. The cards were not on their game... lost like 14-4... They took a spankin and went home to cry about. Very sad.... that have lost 4 games in a row.
Monday, so we went to Branson Rec plex to swim and G had a bleeder after being there for 15 mins!!! So we spent 30 mins in the office trying to get it to stop. Well.... we got it to stop but he was told he could not swim for a couple of days until the spot scabbed over... (I have never seen that much blood come from a little tiny slit!!!) So we left there, looked at a few stores and headed to Cold Stone Creamery. The boys had a blast and the ice cream was out of this world awesome! G said he wanted it to be a tradition to go to CSC everytime we go to Branson.
So we are pulling out of the parking lot to go home... ( I had photog meeting last night) and it happened. They boys saw the water bumper boats and stated pleading and begging.... then saddness and guilt. I was going to let them do it but held out on telling them yes. I just wanted to see what guilt things they would use....sad eyes, puffy lips ect... lol... no it really was not as bad as it could have been. So I caved and we went to bumper boats, this was G's first time of doing it all by himself. I thought his face was going to crack from the constant smile. He and E ganged up on a girl .....she was not amused and was a bit fiesty about their repeated attacks of bumping her and making go to the cave. She did retaliate and also said a few ugly things.... shesss, they did not figure out why she got so huffy... they were just playin....
So we dropped E off with his dad and then we are going home....then the cell rings, it's DH. He said C called and wants G to call him. Well G called and now C is in the living room playing play station. Yes, boy #3 spent the night last night. I went to photog meeting, (i will post on that later, a cool meet coming up, stayed tuned for that) So daddy went and bought pizza and let the boys ride dirt bikes and four wheelers with the neighbor kids. I think G is having an awesome week so far, and if he doesn't think so I will remind him of all of the fun he has had with photos!!!!!
So I hope I havn't bored you all to pieces.... I am off to do the grocery shopping, pay bills and do some photo editing.
Okay, so blogger is giving me a hard time on uploading...so I will try to remember to do more later... also, I will be updating my photog blog this week, don't forget to check it out.
amomentintime.blogspot.com
Have a blessed week.
Loving life,
Tracy

What's on my mind today....

Well, I worked through my lunch helping another dept so I was off work and hour early, pretty cool. By the time I ran a few errons, came home and unloaded I was not home any earlier. So my list of things to accomplish is...
Get ready for a meeting with a photography client
Edit photos, uploade photos,
Make 2 storyboards
Work on Garrett's baseball photos, ( I did a special shoot of G in his All start uniform and I have intentions of doing a gallery wrap!!!) It will be beautiful.

Oh and then there is the house list,
I am decluttering and organizing and then I will be able to deep clean!!! I am still in the kitchen and have one big cabinet to do and a few drawers and I am done.

So, I can't finish this post without a photo and I am going to spare you a photo of my broke dishwasher and dirty dishes!!!

So I have decided to show you DH chasing the cows... they keep getting in the yard!!! So far they have gobbled up two bags of dog food and left a lot of POO around the yard and in the GARAGE!!!!

Happy Tuesday

I hope this finds everyone doing happy and healthy. Sorry I was out for the last two weeks, I have been taking an on-line photog class and it has kept me very busy learning and creating!!! I have a sneak peak to share, here is a storyboard I created of one of the recent weddings I photographed with my photog friend Chris. You can check us out on friendphotography.photoreflect.com. So I will stop the jabbering and let you see my latest masterpiece....drum roll please........

Feel free to leave comments....:0)

Bargains!!! and baby birds....???....

Look at my "bargains....for other great shopping tips check out Chris's site, she is such an inspiration!!!http://www.chrissgooddeals.blogspot.com/ She also has some great tips for success on bargain shopping, I love that she is also a local gal and we can see it and believe it. (Read the rest of the post below...silly blogger, I still can't finagle it very well.

Hi, I know it's a strange header, have to boost readers somehow...lol... So today is Wednesday and that means Hudson's Grocery has their banannas on sale for 19 cents a pound. Talk about a bargain!!! What do I do with so many??? I peel them and freeze them and make fruit sorbet, drinks, mix with yogart ect... or just eat plain or frozen. My dh loves them and they are great to keep away leg cramps. While I was picking up my fruit I checked some prices to use my new coupons but it was not as good as deal as I could get at Walmart comping so I held off. I did pick up a pack of meat that is marinading for dinner, we are doing k-bobs on the grill tonight. They also had washington red apples for 2.99 for the bag, Dole salad mix 2/$4.00 and vadalia onions .59. Not a bad savings, but wait till I go comping and couponing at the Walmart. Stay tuned for the bargains!!!

NOTE***** If you have any great money saving tips, couponing, websites ect.... please comment or send me an email. Golly, even if you don't have a tip, leave a comment anyway and let me know I have at least one reader???? :0) I lost most of them when I got so behind, now it will be hard to buid back up...

So are you curious how baby birds come into play? Well, I went outside to the freezer in the garage to get chicken for the k-bobs and I remembered the mama bird made a nest in a box of books. So I peeked and she was not in the nest. So I ran to get my best friend and took some photos to share.

Have a blessed week,

Until next time,

Have a great day,

Tracy

Look at the book I found.

I am not a reader for enjoyment, only knowledge!!! But this little book caught my eye and I could not resist buying it after I found out the setting of the story. It's called " A Page out of Life" A scrapbooking novel by Kathleen Reid. It is about a group of scrapbooker's and how scrapbooking is like thearpy for the group of ladies and the adventures that are happening in their lives!!! The back reads....When frazzled mother of four Ashley Gates lets her best friend drag her to a meeting of the lacal scrapbooking club, she's amazed at the way old photos and mementoes can bring vivid color to spepia-toned memories. Included in the story line is a college student searching for love, a semi retired teacher that has a son in a corporate scandal in a small town. Then there is Ashley who copes with her husbands love for her that fluctuates with her weight.

I have not started reading on it but can't wait!!!!!!

If anyone has read this please post about the book.

Have a great day,

Tracy