One of my goals it to make my blog better so I have taken on a few challenges and hope to add a few more things over the year to really make my blog my own, not that it isn't already, but I want it to be something people want to come back to, reading it because, well they feel like they are apart of our family.
I am a part of "The Blog Dare", which is a dare to blog everyday for year by using prompts they give us, which can be twisted and turned into all sorts of interesting tid bits of pure blogging joy, OK maybe not all job, I am sure some might make you think, cry, or even angry, either way they are all to get bloggers tobe able to write about almost anything even if it is out of the area of our blogging niche.
I have up to day three done and if you would like you could scan through what I have written and give them a read as well as entering some great giveaways I have posted. Good luck if you enter and here is to meeting my Dare Challenge each day this year.
Happy Reading Everyone!
Saturday, January 4, 2014
Friday, January 3, 2014
Just don't do it!
I know most of you know of a brand that has used the logo "Just do it" for a very long time and might still, but there are times when you "Just don't do it". For instance doing drugs. Just don't do it, if a Dr. has not prescribed it you shouldn't be doing it, if they do, question it anyways and try to get away with not taking any for as long as you can, or at least look into alternatives.
I know in the Bible it says something about wine, but frankly I have tasted quite a few and haven't got past the first or second sip. Yuck. Grape juice or Sparkling Cider for me please. I really don't know how people can stomach it. I can take the strawberry daiquiri and Pina colada with or without the alcohol it really doesn't matter, and yes when I was underage I did drink several times until I had a hangover and I told myself I would never have one again, which I have held true to. I can still count on my hands how many full drinks I have had while married to my husband and we have been together for 23 & 24 years.
Just don't do it when your friends want you to try smoking. It isn't worth cancer, bad breath, stained teeth, stinky clothes, and nicotine fingers, not to mention ash trays. Yucky. When you see someone else making a mistake don't repeat it yourself, and if you are warned, take the warning to heart it just might save you heartache in the end.
I know we all want to be independent but when someone else has been through it before and they warn you of the problems...Just don't do it. There are so many more things we can learn lessons from on our own that no one around has had to endure and then we ourselves can tell others...Just don't do it.
I know in the Bible it says something about wine, but frankly I have tasted quite a few and haven't got past the first or second sip. Yuck. Grape juice or Sparkling Cider for me please. I really don't know how people can stomach it. I can take the strawberry daiquiri and Pina colada with or without the alcohol it really doesn't matter, and yes when I was underage I did drink several times until I had a hangover and I told myself I would never have one again, which I have held true to. I can still count on my hands how many full drinks I have had while married to my husband and we have been together for 23 & 24 years.
Just don't do it when your friends want you to try smoking. It isn't worth cancer, bad breath, stained teeth, stinky clothes, and nicotine fingers, not to mention ash trays. Yucky. When you see someone else making a mistake don't repeat it yourself, and if you are warned, take the warning to heart it just might save you heartache in the end.
I know we all want to be independent but when someone else has been through it before and they warn you of the problems...Just don't do it. There are so many more things we can learn lessons from on our own that no one around has had to endure and then we ourselves can tell others...Just don't do it.
Thursday, January 2, 2014
Almost there
Almost there is how I feel most of the time.
Having been sick most of my life, due to a low immune system sure didn't make things easy for me. I wanted to be the one to do it all, and I accomplished a lot in between my times of being sick. I did a good job of keeping up and almost getting it all done, then enter the diagnosis of Fibromyalgia in my 40's and it all started to make sense to me. The pain, the tiredness, not feeling well when everything else seemed fine, it brought all of my illnesses together and for the first time they all linked together. It just all took a toll on me. When I was feeling well I pushed my body till it couldn't fight off the smallest virus. I still tend to push myself when I am feeling good, which my Dr. says I have to stop doing, and has been telling me for years, I just was not listening to him. I keep telling him I am almost there.
Now to what am I almost there for is the question. I am almost there to raising all 6 of my children. I am almost there to writing my book, getting the house decorated, cleaned, to having life well perfect. I am a perfectionist at heart and want everything perfect although I know deep down nothing can be perfect, but I suppose wanting things to be perfect came from being sick so often. It was something I could control or so I thought. I would always want things but wouldn't use them because I wanted things to be perfect before I used them, as time went by and children came into my life those things continued to just sit there.
It wasn't until the last few months that I have started using the very things that I have always wanted to, so that I could enjoy them. I find that the more you try and make things perfect the more they seem to go backwards, but it doesn't stop me one bit from trying to better the world around me.
Having been sick most of my life, due to a low immune system sure didn't make things easy for me. I wanted to be the one to do it all, and I accomplished a lot in between my times of being sick. I did a good job of keeping up and almost getting it all done, then enter the diagnosis of Fibromyalgia in my 40's and it all started to make sense to me. The pain, the tiredness, not feeling well when everything else seemed fine, it brought all of my illnesses together and for the first time they all linked together. It just all took a toll on me. When I was feeling well I pushed my body till it couldn't fight off the smallest virus. I still tend to push myself when I am feeling good, which my Dr. says I have to stop doing, and has been telling me for years, I just was not listening to him. I keep telling him I am almost there.
Now to what am I almost there for is the question. I am almost there to raising all 6 of my children. I am almost there to writing my book, getting the house decorated, cleaned, to having life well perfect. I am a perfectionist at heart and want everything perfect although I know deep down nothing can be perfect, but I suppose wanting things to be perfect came from being sick so often. It was something I could control or so I thought. I would always want things but wouldn't use them because I wanted things to be perfect before I used them, as time went by and children came into my life those things continued to just sit there.
It wasn't until the last few months that I have started using the very things that I have always wanted to, so that I could enjoy them. I find that the more you try and make things perfect the more they seem to go backwards, but it doesn't stop me one bit from trying to better the world around me.
MarksvilleandMe takes on the 52 Week Savings Challenge
I was saying I would like to save a little something this year and while scanning Pinterest I found a great way to save that I think even our family can accomplish. It is the 52 week savings challenge and MarksvilleandMe is ready to take it on.
Here is a look at what it looks like. I am sure several sites have the charts available to print but I chose the site below. You can click on the picture to reach the page or go to Easily Save Almost $1400 in 2014 – 52 Week Savings Challenge.
Here is a look at what it looks like. I am sure several sites have the charts available to print but I chose the site below. You can click on the picture to reach the page or go to Easily Save Almost $1400 in 2014 – 52 Week Savings Challenge.
I know I have heard family, friends, and have seen other bloggers wishing they could just save more this year so if anyone else wants to take on this challenge, why not give it a try, if all works out we will all be $1378 richer by the end of 2014.
Wednesday, January 1, 2014
Goals for 2014
As usual I thought I would put my goals to pen and paper or in this day and age computer and internet. We start this year with our bank account at 83.11 and our savings 0.00. Would love to work on the savings a bit more this year, but first and fore most is paying down our debt which isn't much at all. We have been credit card free for about 7 years now and have paid most of them off. We have a few more bills we owe and would like to see them all paid up before the end of 2014 putting us completely debt free for the first time in a long time. We have done it before and we are close to doing it again. This time we are not going back unless we buy a home of our own. It just is not worth it to have anything hanging over your head when hard times roll in, which is hard for us because we are spenders rather then savers.
I was able to hit my goal of making $1000.00 last year online topping out at $1545.41 so I will set this years Goal at $1,500.00 and see where it goes. You may ask how do you make money online? Well for me it is a few sites I do here and there on top of surveys which I have been doing way before I had a computer and they use to come in the mail. I haven't made a dime blogging yet, but others say you can so I would like to see if I can make that happen too, but for those keeping tabs my goal is for online sites not blogging. If I make money blogging I will fill you in at years end. I will also post over the year about sites where I make my online money which in our house is used for birthday and Christmas presents, and really helped out with our budget, in case anyone would like information and would like to do the same.
For me personally I would like to shed some more pounds the numbers on the scale have been up and down all year. Mainly from being on and off of the medication that makes me able to do things I normally don't have the energy for or because I am in too much pain to get much done. Such is the life of living with Fibromyalgia. Always a surprise to find out where you have pain from day to day and the days there is none while both having energy is even further in between. This is why when I am feeling well I use it while I have it, like yesterday I used it all up and today I am hurting all over, but I was able to get a lot done and the family had a blast ringing in the New Year, well worth the pain I am in now. You can follow my weight loss over at the above tab Pam's Fight to Lose Weight.
As a family we thought we would like to start a once a month family dinner night where everyone is invited in our family. Those who come can enjoy time together with us and those who don't can always come the next month. The door will be open either way. I have to iron out the day and it has to be soon so I can let those who would like to be a apart of our dinner nights know so they can plan accordingly. We sit down almost every night as a family for those who are in our household but having extended family and our children who have grown and flown the nest would really be nice.
As a blogger I am going to work on game reviews with our family over the year, and also branching off to do a blog about places in the area where we live which is called the Tri-State area. New York, Massachusetts, and Connecticut. I will base it in the nearby towns near where we live and if all works out well branch out even further as time goes by. Not sure if I should open a new tab for that or list it right here under a Heading stating something like MarksvilleandMe visits ________.
Of course I have tons more planned like my daughter Dennise's Sensational Seventeenth Birthday in April, Dorothy and Deanna's combined half Birthday's Candyland style between May and June. Working on getting a new vehicle, purchasing new living and computer room furniture, painting our bedroom, the bookshelf in the hall upstairs, and the neat rolling doll house bookcases we picked up for free a few winters back. Growing a bigger garden this year, painting and making our enclosed porch a nice retreat to entertain guests during the warmer months, maybe even add a fire pit outside if our landlord ever fixes the railings on our front porch. A trip down south to see my sister and the colleges Dennise would like to attend, which will also double as a much needed vacation we haven't had in about 8 years. I might even be able to visit the ocean for the first time ever in my life which would be awesome.
The biggest thing this year for me is that I am here, alive, and ready for God to lead me, which I know may be on a totally different path then what I would plan, but something I am willing to do for him, even if I do kick and scream a bit along the way. Here is to a New Year and all of the possibilities it holds for my family and yours. Let's make it the best year we can.
I was able to hit my goal of making $1000.00 last year online topping out at $1545.41 so I will set this years Goal at $1,500.00 and see where it goes. You may ask how do you make money online? Well for me it is a few sites I do here and there on top of surveys which I have been doing way before I had a computer and they use to come in the mail. I haven't made a dime blogging yet, but others say you can so I would like to see if I can make that happen too, but for those keeping tabs my goal is for online sites not blogging. If I make money blogging I will fill you in at years end. I will also post over the year about sites where I make my online money which in our house is used for birthday and Christmas presents, and really helped out with our budget, in case anyone would like information and would like to do the same.
For me personally I would like to shed some more pounds the numbers on the scale have been up and down all year. Mainly from being on and off of the medication that makes me able to do things I normally don't have the energy for or because I am in too much pain to get much done. Such is the life of living with Fibromyalgia. Always a surprise to find out where you have pain from day to day and the days there is none while both having energy is even further in between. This is why when I am feeling well I use it while I have it, like yesterday I used it all up and today I am hurting all over, but I was able to get a lot done and the family had a blast ringing in the New Year, well worth the pain I am in now. You can follow my weight loss over at the above tab Pam's Fight to Lose Weight.
As a family we thought we would like to start a once a month family dinner night where everyone is invited in our family. Those who come can enjoy time together with us and those who don't can always come the next month. The door will be open either way. I have to iron out the day and it has to be soon so I can let those who would like to be a apart of our dinner nights know so they can plan accordingly. We sit down almost every night as a family for those who are in our household but having extended family and our children who have grown and flown the nest would really be nice.
As a blogger I am going to work on game reviews with our family over the year, and also branching off to do a blog about places in the area where we live which is called the Tri-State area. New York, Massachusetts, and Connecticut. I will base it in the nearby towns near where we live and if all works out well branch out even further as time goes by. Not sure if I should open a new tab for that or list it right here under a Heading stating something like MarksvilleandMe visits ________.
Of course I have tons more planned like my daughter Dennise's Sensational Seventeenth Birthday in April, Dorothy and Deanna's combined half Birthday's Candyland style between May and June. Working on getting a new vehicle, purchasing new living and computer room furniture, painting our bedroom, the bookshelf in the hall upstairs, and the neat rolling doll house bookcases we picked up for free a few winters back. Growing a bigger garden this year, painting and making our enclosed porch a nice retreat to entertain guests during the warmer months, maybe even add a fire pit outside if our landlord ever fixes the railings on our front porch. A trip down south to see my sister and the colleges Dennise would like to attend, which will also double as a much needed vacation we haven't had in about 8 years. I might even be able to visit the ocean for the first time ever in my life which would be awesome.
The biggest thing this year for me is that I am here, alive, and ready for God to lead me, which I know may be on a totally different path then what I would plan, but something I am willing to do for him, even if I do kick and scream a bit along the way. Here is to a New Year and all of the possibilities it holds for my family and yours. Let's make it the best year we can.
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