Tattler's Studio Celebration Edition-Felicia's Red Door Life

Hi again Snappers! Today I have another guest blogger for you, to celebrate 40,000 page views! Thank you my loyal and faithful fans! So here are a few questions to let you get to know Miss Felicia from Felicia's Red Door Life! Enjoy!

Why did you start a blog?

I started blogging many years ago as a creative outlet for the jumbled thoughts that run rampant in my head. I've gone through many name changes over the past seven years trying to find the perfect fit for what I have envisioned and now I blog not only for the outlet and my love of writing but because I've grown to love the community that is blogging. 

 

Who is your blogging inspiration?

Oh, I have so many but the one that sticks out the most is Sandra from Diary of a Stay at Home Mom (familycorner.blogspot.com). I admire her style, her openness and the fact that she hasn't bought into the whole drive my numbers up, drive my followers up. She blogs simply because like me she loves it. It's nice to see that in this day in age of the blog-o-sphere. 

 

What or who inspires you?

In life on a grand scheme level, my faith and love in God are my driving inspiration. He has blessed me with so much that it's impossible to not be inspired by Him. 

On a daily basis I gather inspiration from every aspect of life: family,friends, the wind rustling through the leaves, clouds floating (a favorite past time of mine, cloud watching), art, books.....anything that strikes my fancy at the moment. I'm a soak it all in and fling it back out kind of gal. 

 

When you have a creative writing block, how do you get past it?

Do blog interviews like this one. ;) No seriously I've had a major case of writing block the past week due to the crazy life happenings and just couldn't get words to come out. This interview has been a huge blessing. 

Other things I do involve grabbing my camera and heading off to take pictures, art journaling, reading books other blogs, listening to my children (always plenty of blog fodder there) and recently I've learned to start praying about it. This is new for me and I almost didn't say anything because I'm not all that good at the praying bit of being a Christian but I like to keep it real so yeah.  So this last go round I talked to God about it and low and behold the next day I run across Ginger's call out for guest bloggers and this ends up in my inbox.  

I have written this much in ages! 

 

Tell us a bit about yourself...

I suck at this part, it took me forever to get my about page done . 

Basics...I'm 31, a wife of 7 1/2 years, mother of two girls ages 11 (12 in 19 days) and 6 (7 in October). 

I'm a child of God whose constantly battling her desire for worldly things and trying to focus on God more. 

I met Mike, [the husband] in September of 2006. I give every bit of the credit for our relationship to God. He put Mike in my path at the exact right moment, like as in the day before I met him I told a close girl friend of mine that if I was going to get married God was going to have to send the man to the book store I worked at because I was a single mom who worked 45 hours a week and didn't do the bar scene at all. Never challenge God...He will win. I met Mike the next day, first time he'd ever been to Books-A-Million, there only because a friend made him come to see me, we went to the fair that night. Six weeks later we officially started dating and we married January 9th. 

I tend ramble a lot....if you haven't noticed that yet you will soon. Bit of a chatter box ya know. 

I am in love with Doctor Whoand would have to run away with the Doctor if he asked me to go traveling but we'd only be mates cause ya know married. 

I read a lot and makeimpossible reading challenges to myself. 

I love to art journal but don't get a lot of time to do it. 

 

Favorite vacation location is.....

I almost don't want to tell so no one goes to it, lol. My favorite place to go is a park in Arkansas called Lake DeGray Resort State Park. It's the most amazing, relaxing and fun place I've ever been. It's within 45 minutes of Hot Springs so you can leave the park and have fun in town or you can stay and take advantage of all the fun in the park. There's bike rentals, boat/patoon rentals, a lake beach, trails for hiking, horse back riding, golfing, activities for the kids and family ....it's amazing!! And if you go during the week on an off holiday there's normally very few people there. 

 

Favorite vice....

I'm not sure if I'd call it a favorite vice so much as what trips me up the most in life that I should control better. :) For me that would be my love of food. 

 

Favorite holiday...

Thanksgiving. I love it when the families gather around to share stories and enjoy each others company. 

 

How long have you been blogging?

Off and on for seven years. I've done a lot of growing and soul searching in that time, even stepped back to see if it was something I truly wanted to do no matter what. This go around (and hopefully the last go round) I've been at it for alittle over a three years. Wow, can you believe I didn't know it had been that long. 

 

When do you have/make time to blog?

Now that the children are all in school I try and get any blogging and it's companion networking done during school hours. My goal is to be present when they are home. Summer is a bit more sporadic, but the girls are great at giving me time to focus on the blog. I also reserve weekends for just family things, so you'll only see me Monday's throughFriday's.  

 

What do you say to all the naysayers who make rude comments about spending so much time on something you do not get paid to do?

Honestly, I don't say anything. Two reasons, the main one being I've never really had anyone make a rude comment about it. My family and friends who get what blogging is are all very supportive. The other reasons is I just don't care what others think as far as if they want  to say I'm wasting time. 

The only two I have to answer to about my actions are God and my family. I know it sounds cheesy or like a cope out but for me those are the only opinions that matter.

 

What bloggy dreams do you have?

My dreams have changed so much over the years as far as blogging goes. I've dreamed of just having people read to being the Bloggess (uh hello she's amazing!) but as I mentioned earlier I've done a lot of soul searching in the past and now my dreams are more grounded in what is important to me as a person. 

With that, currently my dreams are as follows: 1.) That God will use me through my blog to bring glory to Him. 2.) That I stay true to myself and not give in to the pressure to be the next best thing or make it big because everyone else is 3.) That I make someone smile at least once a day because of my words.

 

 

Felicia E.

 

Things I've Learned This Week

When Ginger asked me to write a post go along with the interview feature I was at a loss on how to show you more of who I am without feeling like a drawn out about me page. Then it hit me, I could an old favorite post subject of mine and take you through some of the things that have been going on in my crazy life. There are certain things in life that never change no matter how much you try. Things like death, taxes, homework in middle school and that you are always learning new things, even when you don't realize it. Every once in awhile I like to take a look back at my week and see what all I've learned.

1. My 51 year old mother is not the wisest choice when looking for a last minute babysitter for a three year old. She called me in a near panic because she didn't know what to do with the cutest little boy of one of her class mates. Needless to say I got a good chuckle out of teaching my mom, who's had two children, what to do with a toddler.
2. Having my very own land shark is the best thing in the world. While I feel a small bit of guilt for Foxie I can't get over how cute she looks.
   
3. My oldest daughter, Kyla, is way to grown up but not grown up enough to get over slow dancing with her boyfriend at her first school dance.
4. Hobby Lobby carries the cutest stuff owl in their Fall 2014 collection.
   
5. My husband willing supports my crazy owl obsession, case in point he bought me said stuff owl just because I squealed in delight over it.
6. Having school teachers who are willing to work with you and your IEP child is a unbelievable blessing.
7. Watching 2 seasons of Criminal Minds in one week leaves you a little unbalanced and can have you 'profiling' the scary moms in car pick up line.
8. After watching Listen, the latest Doctor Who episode I am a firm believer that Peter Capaldi is going to be the greatest Doctor ever!
9. Rubbing alcohol will remove smoke soot off of cabinets and ceiling fans, making a gray/black mess nice and white again!
10. Coming home to dinner cooked by your husband and seeing him loading the dishwasher is one of the sexiest things in this world!

Check Felicia out! Go give her some lovin's and tell her I sent ya! Muah~

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Tattler"s Studio-Celebration Edition-Chronically Sick and Sometimes Manic Mother

Hiya Snappers! Guess what? We hit 40,000 page views! This is a big deal to me! So in honor and celebration of my 40,000 views, I decided to share the love! We will all be getting to know two lovely ladies this week, and their blogs.  They will each be answering some "get to know me questions" for you, and then writing for you! I do hope you all enjoy this little celebration treat with me!

First up is Chronically Sick and Sometimes Manic Mother. You can find her at http://chronicallysickmanicmother.wordpress.com/ .  She is also on the following social media outlets as well;

https://www.facebook.com/ChronicallySickAndSometimesManicMother?ref=hl
https://twitter.com/CSMMother
http://instagram.com/chronicallysickmanicmother
http://www.pinterest.com/CSMMother/

Check her out!

Why did you start a blog?

I needed an outlet to relieve stress. Writing has always done that for me. I also had a friend who continually told me I needed to write, and still does. 

 

Who is your blogging inspiration?

I have always been an avid reader. I don't think I could pick one source. I read to relief stress, boredom,to satisfy curiosity and just to expand my knowledge.

 

What or who inspires you?

Basically life does. It is one of the reasons I don't write just about one subject. 

 

When you have a creative writing block, how do you get past it?

Typically I resort to reading. If I can I will go for aimless drives with my phone on talk to text and email myself my thoughts. Sometimes I go for a long walk in the woods.

 

Tell us a bit about yourself...

I always hate this question. I don't know. I am me. A wife, a mother and a friend. I have worked in a variety of places. My education is in Early Childhood Education. You would think that would help in parenting. I am just as clueless. My education was early childhood education, so my daughter at nine is way out of my depths. I have been married for fourteen years. Our relationship went from just dating to really serious when my husband was in a car accident. He was on life support and in a coma for four days. I am not really able to work, so I have been trying to find myself again the last three years.

 

Favorite vacation location is.....

This is hard. I would say some cabin in the Mountains but we have not been able to travel outside of Florida in the last like seven years. I think I am falling back in love with Florida because I am gonna say camping at Disney World. The last two years we have gone camping at Fort Wilderness and picked one park to visit. Its three or four days of just wonderful family time. Camping with my chronic pain and illness is not the same as when I was growing up. However it is still camping and it just does so much to re-center me. 

 

Favorite vice....

Coffee, and Mountain Dew.  I can't stop. I have tried. Resistance is futile. 

 

Favorite holiday...

I would have to say......Well as trite as it may be...I live for the ones my daughter enjoys so much. Thanksgiving, Christmas, Easter and even Fourth of July. 

 

How long have you been blogging?

I think it is coming up on two years.

 

When do you have/make time to blog?

For the most part, I write while my daughter is in school. However, it is not unusual for me to write because I can't sleep. It is also not unusual to find me up in the middle of the night when I have woken up and can't get back to sleep. I try to respond to comments on my blog very quickly, so I have alerts come to my phone. I try and set aside at least one day while the kid is in school to write and one to read other blogs. 

 

What do you say to all the naysayers who make rude comments about spending so much time on something you do not get paid to do?

Money isn't everything. Yes, we could do so much more if I earned steady income. However, to me it is more important to encourage other parents dealing with chronic illnesses to re-embrace life.  They are not alone in their struggle and sometimes that is a life or death difference for someone. 

 

What bloggy dreams do you have?

The fact that one person has contacted me saying what I wrote helped them, means my bloggy dreams are already realized. 

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                 And now for the guest post you have all been waiting for!

                 Technology Does Not Always Mean Social Media

Recently my phone died. It literally just died while sitting next to my laptop. To be truthful, technology mostly baffles me. It died almost a week ago. I don't see it as all bad. It is nice to unplug once in a while. The only down side is our landline phone isn't working. This makes it impossible for my daughter's school to get ahold of me, if they need to. I let them know via email that I was not reachable by phone. I keep in contact with my friend who is also my emergency contact for the school. Mostly I have been staying home. 

Today as I was driving back from the bank I had a million things going through my head. I didn't even think. I just reached where my phone normally is. I like to voice text myself emails. Reminders to do things, thoughts that I want to include in blog posts. I started thinking about all the ways I use my phone that has nothing to do with social media.

1. Alarms- I set many alarms. So many many alarms. Medication alarms. Time to stop reading and get the kid alarms. Time to get up and get the kid to school alarms. 

2. Calendar- I have tried to keep a calendar that is not just on my phone. I have failed to do that. It is just such a habit to put it in my phone calendar. This is something I will need to fix when I get my new phone. I can't tell you how many times an event has popped up on my phone, that I have completely forgotten about. It has saved me many times. 

3. Pedometer- I walk. It is a good form of exercise. It is about the only form of exercise I have been sucessful at regularly doing. For someone with chronic illness and chronic pain that is a big freaking deal. The ocd part of my brain needs to know how far I walk. I have gotten around this so far this week by walking familiar paths. Paths I have walked previously and know how far I have walked. I have an overwhelming need to monitor my progress. If not progress than that I am at least maintaining. It is so easy to let the pain dictate my walks. I can manually add the walks I have been doing while my phone is down. It is just not the same as being able to look at it. Truthfully knowing my pace and how far I have walked helps my confidence. 

4. Goodreads- Now I know I can use goodreads on the laptop. However I try to make me time for reading while sitting in carline to pick up my daughter. Most of the time it is fifteen minutes. Sometimes I feel the need for more time so I go earlier. I log in where I stop before getting my daughter. It's part of my routine. Routine is a very important part of someone who has Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. 

5. You-tube- I know this is also available on the laptop. I use Self Hypnosis and Guided Meditation for anxiety, depression and sometimes to listen to rituals. I can use the laptop. I have been. But I really find it best to use headphones and use my phone. 

6. Weatherbug- All I can say is Barometric pressure. Weatherbug lets me know when its fluctuating and when storms are moving in. This can be invaluable information when I am out and about. I can either medicate ahead of time or head home. It also lets me know when there is lightening in the area. Living in Florida, in one of the lightening capitals of the world,its a necessary precaution. There can be not a cloud in the sky and we will have lightening. As a parent this is a great tool for me to know when it is safe for my daughter to be outside. 

7. Calculator- I am not going to lie. I use it when my daughter is doing her homework. When I want to stay on budget with grocery shopping. I don't math very well so I use the calculator a lot.

8. Camera- I do love me some instagram. However, there are so many pictures I do not post on social media. I love taking photos. Some times I take them and later I use a photo editing app(also not social media) and play around with them. Sometimes I will post the results but not always.

9. Google- If you have a kid you love google. Why do ants bite? How long do bees live? When will we see baby hawks again? What does " insert some obscure word" mean? I could go on and on and on. I am getting really tired of saying, " I don't know" or "we will look it up later."

10. Texting- I have two friends that are not on social media. The only way we talk is texting, as long distance is not fun to pay for. Sure there is email but its not as quick. 

So there it is. The invaluableness of a cell phone that has nothing to do with Social media. Well not too much anyway.

Hope you enjoyed Chronically Sick and Sometimes Manic Mother! You can visit her at her blog site by clicking the link below!
http://chronicallysickmanicmother.wordpress.com/

Mommy's Little Budding Blue Eyed Sociopath

Do you ever feel like you have the sweetest kid in the entire universe? The kind who only got her card turned twice in her first year of school? The pleaser? The one with the biggest heart, who puts others before herself? The one who is the sweetest child on the planet? The one who everybody brags on and compliments for her good behavior? Right.  That is my child.  My little good girl.  My little performer. I am so proud to be her mommy.

Her father and I have always been very proud of her and her behavior.  She generally behaves in public, and lets her hair down at home. She sings, makes up her own songs, and loves to dance. We have family dance-a-thons, and boogie and sing on a regular basis in our home.  If she gets a little out of sorts, as they all do, she is sent to her room to "find her sweet girl" and calm herself down. 

Don't get me wrong she is a one in a million child, but she still has moods, and grumpiness like any grown up. She has also been through all the stages children go through, and all the emotions.  She has her mothers temper. She has dealt with death and loss of her beloved Granny at the tender age of three, but otherwise  has led a rather good life.  Her existence is primarily a happy and joyful one at age six.  That being said, the following happened right before bedtime last night.

As I mentioned previously, she loves to sing.  And based on the last twelve months of Disney Princess movies, guess what is her current favorite song ? That's right, 'Let It Go'.  So a half hour before bed she is serenading me with the aforementioned song.  She got to a part where she forgot the words, so I sang them to  her.  And then it happened.  This blue eyed little monster emerged. The one where her eyes slowly began to glow, and her smile turned into a frown, and she started shrieking and yelling! She flipped out!  How dare I help her, she has told me not to ever interrupt her when she is singing her favorite song, and how she wishes Daddy were putting her to bed, because he never interrupted her! So she got put to bed a half hour early. Obviously she was tired and frazzled.

                                 (Anna clad, Minnie mouse ear wearing, fashionista rock star!)

As a parent, I have two older kids, with whom I have been well trained on mood swings, anger, and the like, however nothing prepared me for what happened next.

6yo-"Mommy, I shouldn't tell you this, but I feel like I just have to get it out of me!"
Mommy-"What is it baby?"
6yo-"When you interrupt me, I just want to pin your mouth shut. So you can't interrupt me or sing with me.  I just want to pin your mouth shut and tie your hands behind your back so that you can't unpin your mouth!"
Mommy-". . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ....Okay, I am sorry for interrupting you.  (and I give a small one minute lecture on how everybody likes to sing, and like in the Sound of Music(which we just watched together for the first time), frequently join in....you must let us know it is requested for us not to sing, that you are giving a performance...because it makes us happy, and we want to sing too...and everybody is allowed to sing in this house, and how pinning someone's mouth shut and bondage is totally not acceptable, even if you're angry. Ever.) Okay so I didn't use the word bondage...but you get the jest of it.

My first reaction was to pin my own mouth shut so as not to bust out laughing.  My second reaction was just wooooooooow.  My husband used to worry that one of our big kids would turn out to be a sociopath, but they turned out fine.  Just like I said they would.  Now our littlest spawn, may just surprise us yet! Where the heck did she get "pin your mouth shut", and "tie your hands behind your back"? I guess like Bette Midler's character, in my favorite movie of all time, Beaches, she "feels deeply"!


Meanwhile....I love my little budding blue eyed sociopath, Baby Hannibal, to the moon and back and a million trambillion! Even on her worst days.

Calling All Guest Bloggers!

Hiya Snappers! It has been a crazy 2014 here in the wild and wonderful! I blinked, and summer was over and we are knocking on the door of 40,000 page views! That is huge! Monumental! It calls for a treat or five.  I am putting out a call for guest bloggers to write guest posts for my readers for a week! Time to celebrate!

Who is interested? If you are interested, send me a private message on my facebook fan page at http://www.facebook.com/wildwonderfulgingerssnaps or email me at gingerssnaps32@gmail.com.

 I cannot wait to see who will be writing for you! Anything goes! No hot button issues, but that is all I ask you stay away from! So free exposure for you, cross posting on my three blogs, and I will be doing a featured guest blogger button bar on the right side of my page! Cannot wait to hear from you!