Pet Series - Lotty the Kitten

***Disclosure there are affiliate links in this article. By clicking on them I do earn a commission, or you can just go to whatever website you want and I don't earn anything. Totally up to you!***

We have 13 pets! Crazy I know especially because my husband doesn't like animals and is allergic. But the things he does for us. My girls and I love animals so we might have gone a little overboard. I thought it would be fun to introduce you to a member of our pet family a week as well as some funny stories.

We got this kitten in October. My girls were doing a Halloween show at the local community theatre called Stage Fright. The kitten was found in the theatre one night after rehearsals.

She thinks of herself as a scary hunter but if any of the other animals come towards her most times she jumps back in fright. She's a bully, until confronted.

She has a ton of energy until you put her harness and leash on. Then she becomes dead weight and unmovable.

She tries to play with our older cat but the older cat wants nothing to do with her!

The dog on the other hand likes to play so that is Lotty's playmate. The dog will even go and intercept the two cats when Lotty is bugging the older cat too much.

Our older cat never cared for toys. But we need a lot of toys to keep her attention and for her to get out her energy. This is one of her favorites:



Just when you think that you've had enough of her, Lotty will do something so cute and precious that you forgive her all her craziness from before. Except for my hubby, he thinks she's pure evil! ;)

We Are Monsters - Stand Up And Fight

My daughters were in a play called "We Are Monsters." They had a great time and made lots of new friends.

Below is a video of one of the songs from the play. My oldest daughter, Miriam AKA Mia, is the one who starts the song with her solo, she is a Vampire. My youngest daughter, Emma,is a gargoyle, the tallest gargoyle.

The Vampires have red shirts and capes. The gargoyles have gray shirts, bow ties, and headbands with floppy balls on top. There are also humans, in the black shirts; werewolves, in brown shirts; and a monster named Oozy in a green shirt.

Book Video--Once Upon A Time, A Bit Earlier . . .

So my hubby made a video about his book that's coming out in a few months, "Once Upon A Time, A Bit Earlier." It is a middle grade fairy tale book, but it's not your normal fairy tales!

It has just over a week to go on it's kickstarter campaign.

Second Marriage Trap--The Tradition Trap

***Disclosure there are affiliate links in this article. By clicking on them I do earn a commission, or you can just go to whatever website you want and I don't earn anything. Totally up to you!***

The second marriage trap that Brent A Barlow talks about in his book, “Twelve Traps In Today's Marriage,” is the tradition trap.

The tradition trap can manifest in two ways. The first is in thinking that your marriage has to be that way because it has always been that way. The second is thinking that your marriage needs to be like your parents, grandparents, or how it's been in the past because it has worked for them for years.

First off the roles in today's marriage has changed from how it has been in the past. More households today have to have both spouses work to make ends meet in today's economy.

Fortunately since we have had kids I have been able to stay home and raise them while my husband goes to work to support us. I have done jobs from home, like direct marketing, babysitting, etsy, etc so even when I am home I am also working. I also homeschool our daughters which is a job all in itself. And as my girls get older and more involved in things the less of our school actually takes place at home!

In the past housework was primarily done by women but we see an increase of husbands stepping in and helping with the housework. Just this week while I was at a rehearsal for one of my daughters' play practices my husband was at home doing the dishes so I wouldn't have to worry about them later.

What changes can you make in your marriage to make it work for you without getting stuck in the same rut that isn't working for you.

Wishing and hoping for a better marriage is good because you realize that changes need to be made. But you can't just wish and hope you need to work to make those changes.

It is a huge myth that your marriage will like cheese or wine and get better with age! You will not suddenly wake up one day and find that it has improved with no effort form you and your spouse.

If you are sitting there going yeah my spouse needs to change so much but you don't know how to approach them about the changes that you feel need o be made let me help you out about how to approach them.

When you come to them and start the conversation about things that need to be changed don't have a huge list start with the things that are needing to be changed. Start with just a couple.

It might be a good idea to start with things that aren't huge so you as a couple will feel empowered that you can make these changes when you see these smaller changes being made.

When you have your list of things that you would like to see changed, make sure you have some stuff on there that you need to change as well and not just things that your spouse needs to change.

Lastly keep in mind when you are changing things things usually get worse before they get better. But if you can stick with it you can have the marriage you have always dreamed of!

Hubby's Newest Book--"Once Upon A Time, A Bit Earlier. . ."

***Disclosure there is a link in this article to the kickstarter campaign. By clicking on it my husband will get some of the money raised. Or don't pledge. Totally up to you!***

***Another disclosure a lot of these words are taken straight from hubby, Erik Peterson's own words.***

So my hubby, Erik, has a book that got picked up by a small publisher. The publisher is running a kickstarter campaign to get the ball rolling on getting it published. The illustrations are beautifully done by Meredith Moriarty.

If you don't know how a kickstarter campaign works read this paragraph. If you already know how it works you can skip this paragraph. Basically, someone makes something and they think it's really cool or in this case they find someone else who thinks it's really cool. But they don't have the funds to totally create this project, whether it's the person or in this case the small publisher. So they launch a kickstarter campaign to see if there are other people out there that think it sounds really cool and are willing to pitch in some money to help make the project get done.

I have a confession to make.

I don't love Kickstarter. And neither does my hubby. It asks people to buy a book they haven't read and that they can't even find reviews for since the book isn't out. It says, "Buy this thing right now that doesn't exist yet and just trust me that when you eventually get it, it will be good."

There's a chance you'll hate this book. Maybe you'll think it's too short and you got ripped off. Maybe you'll hate what he did with one character or another. Maybe something that he thought was charming, you'll think is cheesy. You all already know this.

Also, usually the cool thing about kickstarting something are is you get cool rewards like autographs of famous authors or dinner with a celebrity. We don't have any of that. We just have books. Though if you're local I can definitely get the author to sign your copy! ;)

But a bunch of you have already taken the plunge anyway. You've put hard earned dollars towards helping this book happen and getting a copy into your hands and homes.

That puts a knot in the pit of our stomachs and makes us want to do everything in our power to make this book live up to the faith you're putting in him. Granted I think that my hubby is more worried about this than I am as he is the one who wrote it.

It also makes us realize what an amazing, loving, supportive group of people you all are.

To all of you who have contributed so far, thank you so much. We appreciate your faith and generosity tremendously. I know Kickstarter is a weird way to do this. You're doing it anyway, which makes you the real heroes here.

So to those of you who aren't sure about Kickstarter, We completely understand. We don't like backing things on Kickstarter either. We're kindred spirits. ::Fist-bump::

We are doing everything in our power to make this Kickstarter different.

First, we've put a BUNCH of the art up already. You can see it in the video on the kickstarter page, and we'll post more. As you can see this blog post is sprinkled with some great art that actually comes from the book!

Second, we've put the whole opening of the book up already. You can get an idea of what it's like and what's going on. It's on the Kickstarter page.

And third, because Erik wants you to feel 100% confident that this book is right for you he am making this offer: comment here on the blog and he'll send you the first half of the book as a PDF.

Not the first three chapters, not the first 20 pages, but the whole first half of the book.

If you don't like it, no hard feelings, no obligation to buy the book. we're glad we saved you the money. Not every book is meant for everybody.

But if you do like it, and you want to read the rest, I hope you'll consider using weird Kickstarter to do it.

It won't have the pictures or the nice formatting (that all still has to be put together) but it will be the manuscript the way it looks in our word processor.

Again, to all of you who have or are planning to contribute to this Kickstarter, thank you. You are a part of this story.

Here is a little bit more about the book itself now that we have all that other stuff out of the way.

By turns charming, funny, exciting and thrilling, Once Upon A Time, A Bit Earlier . . . is meant for all ages. It's similar in size and length to something by Roald Dahl, Sid Fleischman, or Chris Grabenstein. It's a bit longer than The Mouse and The Motorcycle and a bit shorter than Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.

Our tale begins after the Snow White story we all know, as Snow White and her new husband discover the lair of the Dark Queen. When the Magic Mirror realizes the queen has been defeated, he is dismayed.

"I suppose I'll have to try again . . . earlier."

Suddenly, all the stories begin again! Only now, everyone is much younger. Snow White is a little girl. Rapunzel's hair is only long enough to reach the middle of her back. The three bears are still only two!

But that is not all that's changed.

When the Huntsman comes to take Snow White into the woods, we find it is because the Dark Queen has sent him to protect her!

As that change tumbles and collides into each of the other stories, Little Red Riding Hood, Cinderella, the Dark Witch, the Three Little Pigs--all of their stories are twisted and altered.

What's really going on here? What mysteries will be explained?

Perhaps we'll find out why there are so many versions of fairy tales . . .

And the ultimate question of why these evil sorceresses so desperately want all of these little girls dead.

Will they live happily ever after?

Help us Kickstart this book! Get a hardcover copy for $25 at the link below.

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/556816435/once-upon-a-time-a-bit-earlier?ref=nav_search

First Marriage Trap--The Time Trap

***Disclosure there are affiliate links in this article. By clicking on them I do earn a commission, or you can just go to whatever website you want and I don't earn anything. Totally up to you!***

I started reading the book Twelve Traps In Today's Marriage and How To Avoid Them by Brent A Barlow. I am going to once a week talk about a trap that he talks about in his book.

The first trap talked about is the time trap. How often do we complain about not having enough time to accomplish everything? Yet we all have the same amount of time in a day or week. We often can find time for the things we want to do the most, the things we value the most.

We worry about spending enough time with the kids. We talk about quality vs quantity. Which is more important? But do we worry about if we are spending enough time with our spouses?

Building a family is not the same as building a marriage. Both require different activities. We need to to strengthen our bond between ourselves and our spouse. We need to spend time together as a couple.

What counts as time together with our spouse? Does watching TV together count? Puttering around the house? Eating meals together? Sleeping at night? Any family outing? Or does it need to be more quality time?

I feel like we need to have time together just the two of us to talk without any distractions. No TV, kids, or cell phones allowed!

We need to spend time talking about more than just the mundane daily tasks and the kids. We need to be able to open up to each other and talk about our feelings, emotions, goals, dreams, and ideas. And we need to talk about each other and our relationship and how to make it stronger.

In the book he has a chart called the time test. Where basically you fill in how many hours a week you spend on various activities. 17 hours a week equates to about 10% of your week.

Most people spend 80% of their week in necessary activities like sleeping, job, household management, eating, child care, etc.

Most people will then spend 15% of the week on individual and recreational activities like sports/hobbies, exercise/healthcare, education/study, church/community, reading, TV, etc.

That leaves 5% to accomplish family activities and activities with our spouses. Granted some of the recreation time is being done with our families or spouses. But is it enough?

Most people will spend less than 2% of their week in marriage maintenance.

Are we as a married couple our own worst enemy? Much like delaying regular car maintenance can seriously ruin our cars, are we ruining our marriage by not doing the regular marriage maintenance necessary to keep it strong?

We demand and expect more of our marriage but the constant daily grind and routine wears us down. We end up losing patience as our expectations aren't met. We end up getting on each others nerves and tempers flare.

Weekly dates are good but what are we doing daily?

We need to take time each day to talk to each other without the kids, TV, or cell phones around as distractions.

We need to give occasional gifts, a weekend getaway, a vacation just the two of you to reconnect and show each other that we care. These things do take time and money but just like regular oil changes cost less than a new engine, these things cost less than a divorce does both financially and emotionally.

If you don't take enough time weekly as couple you will fall into the time trap. A time trap is 2% or less of your week spent as time as a couple. That's 2-3 hours a week or less!

If we can take 20 minutes a day talking we will already be at 2 hours and 3 minutes a week!

We need to use the 3 T's - Time, talk, and touch. When you are using your 20 minutes a day to talk hold hands or have your arms around each other or hug.

By doing the 3 T's everyday you will grow closer as a couple and your marriage will strengthen and your family life will be strengthened.

Twelve Traps in Today's Marriage and How to Avoid Them

Children's Theater

My daughter's LOVE acting! They love being part of something bigger to entertain others. Sometimes this will get us in trouble as they want to be in multiple things at the same. We are coming to the end of that season, in just a couple weeks we will have a break from 5 different theater things they are involved in down to zero! This is a break that we all need!

One of the projects they are involved in is a Childrens Theater that has been put together by one of the directors they had worked with previously. He always wanted to have a group that would go around perform at different schools in the area. Since we homeschool they are able to be a part of this group.

It is a play called The Fairytale Network. They both play a pig in "The Three Little Pigs" bit, my youngest plays Baby Bear in "Goldilocks And The Three Bears," and they also play the part of moving set pieces or even being set pieces like trees.

They are having a great time!

They have 24 different performances of this one show! At this point there are only three more to go!

And as mom I get to drive them to all performances and rehearsals. And I put together and sewed all of their costumes. As well as do their hair, make sure they are packed, make sure school gets done, that they eat, and stay hydrated. . .As moms behind the scenes there is so much that we do! (Did you catch my little pun there?)


What do your children do that they love that you sacrifice time and possibly money to help them be a part of and achieve their goals?