Category Archives: WFMW

Twitter & Traveling… I’ll be doing twitter while traveling!

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Boy these days have been flying! I am leaving for vacation in 2 days and am completely unprepared… I know it will all come together! I’m looking forward to this week’s Works for Me Wednesday to scoop out travel tips w/kids. It’s summer… there has to be some! We are driving from Oregon to Colorado ~ I definitely will be needting tips – so in addition to giving some comment love on my Works for Me Tip below, I would love it if you’d leave some comment love with your best traveling w/kids tip ~ BECAUSE I’M GONNA NEED IT!!!

Lately I’ve found that something works for me that I’m sure works for a lot of people here in the bloggity world. That’s Twitter. I HEART twitter. Believe it or not, I actually kinda boycotted it for a while, because I did not get the point. Who cares if some random person’s kid is watching Elmo…. do you really think I care…. now, YES!

Ways that Twitter works for me:

It is the most AMAZING way to receive prayers ~ especially for your sick baby. When Ella drank her heart medicine I posted a quick tweet asking for prayers and was amazed at the response I got. TONS of people started following me and praying for Ella… and their prayers worked! I am now seeing it happen with baby {Stellan} ~ that baby boy is receiving SO MANY prayers ~ (((HUGS))) to his family. These tweetin’ mamas have always got your back.

It is a way to get people to come and read your blog. I have noticed that ever since I started using twitter I am clicking more on the links people are tweeting than actually reading the blogs in my google reader. I have many, many more readers just from them finding me on twitter. And I have found some of my favorite blogs on twitter as well, and made great bloggin’/twitter friends.

If you want to promote something, it’s a great way! Just tweet about it and ask others to retweet for you!

Besides my blog I use it with my family as well. If something is going on, like the birth of a baby, we can update the progress through twitter… that way everybody is getting to see it. Family gossip also goes well through twitter as well, just make sure the one you’re gossiping about isn’t reading it LOL

It is like your own virtual party. You can peek in and peek out whenever you see fit. I used to be huge on mommy forums, but am now finding I’m more happier hanging out with my tweeple. I don’t feel obligated to always respond or communicate (unless of course it is a direct message or an @anjyldream)

Twitter has become this virtual world, where everyone is joining in to be a part of the new “big” thing online. I can’t believe how much I actually really LOVE twitter…I love it so much that I’m constantly checking my Ubertwitter on my blackberry to stay in the loop ~ and my husband has even joined with me!

The support that you can receive from other’s is amazing. In so many situations I’ve tweeted a question and got a great reply from a complete stranger, and a reply that I actually really appreciated.

Twitter is the new thing that’s working for me. If you’re not a part of twitter I vote that you should be! And once you join you can find me {@anjyldream}

Huge thanks to {Kristen} for hosting Works for Me Wednesday ~ it’s one of the best carnivals out there! There’s nothing us mama’s love more than reading what works for other’s.

If inspiration is something that works for you be sure to follow me on {twitter} or subscribe to my {RSS Feed} so that you are in the {know} on Mondays for my inspirational carnival {Just a Motivating Monday}. It’s my new baby and I hope to see it blossom like Works for Me Wednesday has. Hope to see you back here on Monday!!

I tasted heaven… then had to bathe Ella

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It’s Wednesday!!!! {Kristen} is hosting the weekly Works for Me Wednesday… head over there for more great tips.

I normally try to share an actual “tip” that will help other mom/houswives out, but today I’m probably going to discourage a lot of people that are dieting…. and I’m SO sorry for that. I too should most definitely not be eating ANYTHING like this, but O.M.G! WOW! Tonight I found a little taste of heaven.

If you’ve never had Cold Stone ice cream ~ it’s DELICIOUS! I’ve always loved it, and love how I can create whatever, well…. they created something even more spectacular! Ice cream cupcakes. Oh, let me tell you…. THEY DEFINITELY work for this mama! They worked for me and my entire family….. and as you can see, especially for my daughter, Ella. Yes, I had to give her 2 baths! It’s okay…. she had a ball bathing herself in cake and ice cream.

So, let me tell you a little bit about this delish dish! They come in a six pack of assorted flavors and they all come in a chocolate hard shell (mmmmmm!!!!). The one I had went a lil’ like this….. a Belgian Chocolate Cup, then Red Velvet Cake, Cake Batter Ice Cream, Pink Frosting and Rainbow sprinkles….. here’s a picture for you mouth to water over.

So I’m in love. It’s going to be a dangerous thing for my figure, but I LOVE IT! And luckily my birthday is Friday and I get to eat them again!

Sorry if you’re grabbing your keys, ditching your diet and heading to Cold Stone right now, but I promise you’ll thank me once you sink your teeth into this HEAVEN!

OKAY!!! Now that I’ve shared what works for me, I want to share one more thing! If you’re like me you are missing out on one of the BIGGEST blogger events this week. I’m pretty bummed, especially since my birthday is on one of the Blogher Conference days. So, I’m hosting a {Happy BlogNerd BASH}! I hope you’ll join me. It’s being launched on 7/23/09 and going through 7/25/09. There will be giveaways and link ups and lots of fun!! So, either follow me on {Twitter}, or Subscribe to my {RSS Feed} so you don’t miss out! You can also grab the BlogNerd button on my sidebar to help spread the word!!

Welcoming Paxton – sharing the Easy Schedule

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Yesterday my nephew was born. He was 6lbs 15oz. and 19 inches long. Talk about 1 adorable, precious baby boy! His name is Paxton Richard ~ and here he is – isn’t he absolutely adorable?!?!?!?
So, my Works for Me Wednesday is a repeat, but I’m repeating for the new mom!

The EASY Schedule for your baby ~

I have done this with Jayden and Ella. I got the idea from Tracy Hogg’s book {The Baby Whisperer} My Grandma bought me this book when I was pregnant with Jayden and tried her tactics and THEY WORKED!! Here’s how the EASY Schedule works:

E stands for Eat
A stands for Activity Time
S stands for Sleep
Y stands for You Time

So, here’s why this schedule works WONDERS with me. Your baby wakes up from a nap and you instantly feed him/her. You do not let them fall asleep while eating. After they finish their bottle you give them activity time. For a newborn this can be a bath, staring into the wondrous world before them. Just time for them to be awake and not be sleeping. Then when they get fussy, guess what! They’re not hungry!!! You instantly know what the deal is. They’re tired. So you wrap them up, rock them and put them to sleep….then you get YOU TIME (time where you can sit and hear the peace, that is if you don’t have other children or the other children are in school!!) You can even schedule out what you’re going to do for each You Time!!! Ella’s at the age that during activity time she likes to get in her jumparoo and jump jump jump and that’s my internet time. My You Time is USUALLY spent working or doing my housework.

This schedule has not failed me through 2 kids now and I love it. I always know what’s next and so does Ella (she’s my current baby) I’m a WAHM and it’s nice to know that things are not out of control. It’s easy for us and I know that I can tell someone when I will be calling them back, because according to Ella’s schedule I know when she’s going to be tired.

OH! And w/this schedule, Jayden never relied on a bottle to fall asleep. Therefore, when he turned 1 – I threw all of his bottles away on her b/day and we had NO ISSUES!!! Straight to the sippy cup like a big boy!

And the exciting thing today – she’s sleeping right now, and when she wakes up she gets to eat baby food for the first time!!! Stay tuned for pictures!!!!

Hope this works for you like it’s worked for me!! I highly suggest reading her book 🙂

For other things that work for other’s head over to We Are THAT Family and enjoy yourself!

As for Brittany, the new mom of Paxton, I am buying you a copy of this book!!!! I hope you enjoy it as much as I did. You did a wonderful job yesterday and I LOVE my nephew!!!!!

Inspiration Works for Me!

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What works for me is something that I believe works for everybody. Inspiration. I thrive on it, and am constantly looking for good inspiring things to read and share with others. I’ve started noticing that a lot of the blogs I visit have a way of touching my soul a little more than the usual inspirational book. Maybe it’s because it’s mothers like me that are struggling with the same things, and talking about it in a way that completely reaches out to me.

So I have decided to start a weekly carnival on Mondays called Just to Motivate Your Monday ~ it’s a carnival where we as bloggers can come together and link up inspiring words that we have to share with one another. You can read more on the carnival {HERE}
In celebration of the launch of Just to Motivate Your Monday I am going to be giving away multiple prizes to multiple winners with multiple ways to enter!!! I am definitely completely stoked about this launch.

I hope you join me on Monday, July 13, 2009 to kick this off!

Earlier today I announced what one of the giveaways were, which is a bouquet of Cookie Pops ~ to see that announcement post click {HERE}
Now for another announcement for another thing I’ll be giving away!!! A copy of a book that has completely inspired me. It has helped me to look at the positive in life and not dwell on the negative. I hope that one lucky reader of mine will enjoy their own copy of one of my favorite books!!!


To make sure you don’t miss out on the opportunity to win one of my giveaways going on during the launch or that you don’t miss out on reading inspiring words, or inspire people with your’s, make sure you either

FOLLOW ME VIA {RSS FEED}
FOLLOW ME VIA {TWITTER}
SUBSCRIBE TO GARIBAY SOUP BY EMAIL LOCATED ON MY LEFT TOOLBAR TOWARDS THE TOP!!

I hope to see you on Monday!!!

Works For Me Wednesday…. Summer Recipes!!

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I love themed {Works For Me Wednesdays}…. because I have a basic guideline of what I’m supposed to be sharing, and I don’t have to sit and wonder which one of my wondrous ideas I should be sharing.

Summer time makes me think of watermelon, playing outside with the radio, life in the 60’s when kids stayed out ALL day long and just played played played and played.

Things now have changed, but one thing that doesn’t change is the fact that salads are DELICIOUS in the summertime. My favorite salad is a recipe that every girl in my family makes… and now I can make it! It took me a while to get this cooking thing down, but this recipe is definitely an easy one, and one that even I when cooking challenged could make. The first time I ever made I took it to a potluck and everybody was raving over it. They were even eating it as a dip – which was weird, but hey… whatever works for them 🙂

Ingredients:

  • Lettuce
  • Tomatoes
  • Avocados
  • Olives
  • Hamburger
  • Chili w/ Beans – I use canned, because I don’t know how to make my own yet
  • Fritos
  • Mayo and ketchup mixed together to form the thousand island dressing
  • Shredded Colby-Jack Cheese

Fry up hamburger and then mix chili in w/it.

Crush Fritos

Combine all cold ingredients together

Pour hamburger/chili mixture over to melt cheese, stir and ENJOY!!

ANOTHER OPTION ~ YOU CAN FRY UP THE HAMBURGER MEAT & ADD THIS {TACO SEASONING}

EASY, DELICIOUS….. I HOPE YOU ENJOY

Works for me Wednesday – Summer Learnin’

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Welcome to {Works for me Wednesday}!!

Summer time is a great time for kids to start to forget all of the things that they learned throughout the year. That way when school starts back up it takes them a while to get back into the swing of things, because let’s face it at the end of August Long Vowels and Short Vowels are pretty much the same thing in the mind of my 7 year old.

I found a way to see to it that this doesn’t happen to my main lil’ man!

Passing through my mall we have this awesome store where you can buy curriculum packets for homeschooling and a ton of other awesome educational things, and they had a stand right outside of their store with {Summer Bridge Activies} books. I stopped looked through one and was sold I bought one for my son going into 2nd grade and LOVE it!!!

It has a summer reading list, flash cards, a fitness program, things on feelings and every day there is a worksheet for them to do that keeps them brushed up on the little things. Plus there’s a TON more things packed in this nifty workbook. Every day’s worksheet is different, it takes them about 15-20 minutes for them to finish it up, and you don’t feel like the day was a complete waste of their minds!

So, this summer this is what’s working for this family, and my son even loves doing his worksheets! I highly recommend this program for the summer.

To read about what works for others head over to {We are THAT family}

I got my picky eater to eat asparagus

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It’s Works for me Wednesday over at Kristen’s blog. I LOVE going through all of the posts of things that work for other moms. I’m constantly changing the way I do things, because let’s face it…. I’m still learning. I think I’ll have things down a little bit more when Ella gets older since I’m using Jayden as my own personal guinea pig. Great mom… I know.

So, Jayden is EXTREMELY picky. Beyond picky. We’ve actually sought out the help of doctors and have come to the realization that there’s actually a pretty big problem here. We think he has a sensory problem, and he can’t handle certain textures, smells and all that. So, we don’t force food on him, because we like to enjoy our dinner without watching our 7 year old son throw up everything we’re eating on his plate.

I came up with a plan and all on my own this time. Well, it wasn’t rocket science, but it definitely is working, and nothing else in the past has.

I printed out a simple chart off of word. It has 25 squares, and every time he tries something new without throwing up he gets a sticker. If he actually eats it all he gets 2. Once he fills up that chart, he gets to pick out a Wii or Xbox game. That was all the motivation I’ve needed.

My kid ate asparagus, people! This is huge.

Putting shoes on first thing in the morning

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It’s Wednesday, so we’re all gathering over at Kristen’s blog to talk about what works for us. These days I don’t feel like things are working very well for me, but I’m trying. I’m trying to get organized, I’m trying to do little by little daily, and I’m starting to see some results.

One thing is that I am a Flylady fan, but I usually don’t do what Flylady tells me to do. So, this month’s habit is get up and get dressed to shoes that lace up. Well, I have busy mornings and sometimes don’t get in the shower til close to noon… still trying to stop this habbit, but I have listened to Flylady and I am putting on my lace up shoes, and strangely…. she’s right. The past week I’ve been making sure that if anything, my shoes are on, and I’m doing things. I’m being more productive that I usually have been, and if the trash needs to be taken out then my shoes are already on – and when I do dishes, I’m not stepping on the splashed water. I’m really liking the whole shoe thing…. try it, let me know if it works for you too.

Get out of a slump!

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Works for me Wednesday! It no longer is with Rocks in My Dryer, but is now being hosted by one of my favorites…. Kristen over at We are THAT family. She has a great blog and I highly suggest checking it out.

Sometimes I have days that I can’t think of one thing that works for me. Yesterday I had this overly productive day where I cleaned off the top of my fridge, which had been accumulating things well over a year, put together a cabinet thing to keep our DVDs and games in so that my toddler will stop throwing them everywhere and did laundry. It was a great day! Then I woke up today and don’t feel motivated to do a darn thing.

It is however a day that I need to share with everyone something that does work for me. So, I’ll share with you how I get out of a slump like this. First thing I do is shine my sink, because Flylady truly is on to something here, then I start a load of laundry, then I make my bed and then I go and wipe down all of my bathroom counters, then things start happening after that. I in a way start getting motivated and it works. Yes, I do have to FORCE myself to do these things, but if I don’t then the day is wasted with me and some cheesy movie and lots of sugar… not a good thing.

What do you do to get out of a slump like I’m in today?