Oh, Yeah. I Went There. 50 Shades of Grey

Yes, I finally dove into this gem, Fifty Shades of Grey. Can't resist a banned book, you know. Ordered the second and third books of the series for my mom today. I'm on page 68 right now and feel like I'm just about at the top of the roller coaster and then will be on quite the ride until the book is over. Do like my red devil eyes? If you've read this, let me know what you think.

Updated July 2: now I'm somewhere in the 200s and am still going strong. Interesting read and not for everyone, that's for sure, but it doesn't bug me.

Baby Falls Asleep on Floor Clutching Drumstick

Tackle-It Tuesday: Puzzles

Every Tuesday, I tackle a different project around my home that's been bugging all of us!

If your kids' puzzles are all organized perfectly, then this post is not for you because you will judge me harshly. You see, I used to have mine all organized. I would take them from their cardboard box and put them in a plastic sandwich baggie. I would cut out the small picture of the completed puzzle and include it in the baggie. I even used to write on the back of each puzzle piece so I knew which puzzles went together if they were ever, say, all tossed up in the air at once.

What a mess!

Fast forward a few years and a few kids and the puzzle pieces DID end up everywhere. And I finally just tossed every piece I could find into a box like you see below (used commonly for scrapbooking or holding fabric in my family). For Tackle-It Tuesday I decided to tackle this project and trash all the puzzles that were not complete. This was hard because I am a very nostalgic person and tossing incomplete Dora puzzles was like tossing one of my children into the trash. I got over it when my daughter reminded me they are only puzzles and we have a few left that are complete AND we can always get more if someone gets a puzzle hankering. Here's my progress:

Putting puzzles together with my kids.

This is the kind of box I use for such things.

This is how they look now. Only a few puzzles, but they have all the pieces at least. Kids 3, 4 and 5 weren't as into puzzles as my first two kids.

What are your household projects you want to tackle? I have lots to come during upcoming Tackle-It Tuesday posts ... painting a kitchen wall, tackling a junk drawer in my bathroom, tackling a file cabinet full of paper ideas for writing, my bedroom closet.

Moshi Monster Monday: Cards

At a recent staff meeting with my kids in the mommyvan, we brainstormed some Moshi Monster Monday ideas for the blog. Today we'll start you out simple with the cards. Other Mondays will find us talking about the figures, the other collectibles, the books, the online game, Moshi Monsters made out of food and/or Legos and more.

Rather than bore you to death with MY explanation of this fun new kid fad (like Pokemon only cuter and much faster to play), head to the Moshi Monsters Wikia for anything you ever wanted to know. It's an online game (we'll talk about that another time), but is also cards and more. Some of my faves are above: Groanas Brothers, Peppy, Honey, Liberty, Cali, Katsuma, Poppet and Hansel, but there are tons more. I also like Broccoli Spears and Dustbin Beaver (can you guess the celebrities?!). I like that Moshi Monsters make a play on all kinds of monster-ish words ... like how they have a Gross-ery Store in the game.

Summer Sizzle Giveaway Hop!!! (June 24-30)

This giveaway is over. Please check the left side of the blog for more!

Welcome to the Summer Sizzle Giveaway Hop hosted by Mom With a Dot Com! Over 65 bloggers have gotten together to give you a chance to win some amazing prizes to keep you entertained throughout your summer!

Summer Sizzle will begin on June 24 and end on June 30. As you are hopping around, I hope you will find some prizes that you love - maybe you will even win one! Each giveaway will have a prize valued at $25 or more!

Tip: I plan to enter 10 giveaways per day for 7 days, which will hit all 70 (minus one, which is my own!!!) Good luck! May the odds be ever in your favor!

I am giving away two books: "A House United: Changing Children's Hearts and Behaviors by Teaching Self-Government" by Nicholeen Peck and "Intimacy: A 100-Day Guide to Lasting Relationships" by Douglas Weiss, a total value of $33.94.

Please enter below and don't forget to check out my other bloggy peeps below that for some awesome giveaways from some awesome bloggers! Good luck! Oh, and please share this link with everyone you know as a favor to me, who became a mommy for the first time on this day in 2001!!!

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