wADmM5mNLtOv064mhMCS_CYE3Bc Just Dorothy

Giveaway!

Looking for some great jewelry?  You're in luck!  Kim from Daydreaming Designs is giving away one lucky winner a $25 credit to her Etsy shop!

Peach Floral Pendant and Chain                                  Seafoam Green Starfish Bracelet

Double Strand Red Glass Beaded Necklace                                  Pale Pink Link Earrings

Here's how you can enter to win:       *Just leave a separate comment on this blog for each entry*
1) Be a public follower of Just Dorothy and leave a comment telling me you are.
2) Like my Facebook page and leave a comment telling me you did.
3) Check out Daydreaming Designs etsy shop and tell me what's catching your eye.
4) Blog, Tweet or share this giveaway on Facebook and come back here and tell me you did.

The more you enter the more chances you have to win!

The giveaway will end at noon on May 31st and the winner will be drawn by Random.org.  Please respond within 48 hours or a new winner will be selected.

Kim has also graciously offered a 20% discount to my followers towards a purchase at her etsy shop.  Just use code DOROTHYBLOG.

Good luck!

Oh, Blogger, it's good to have you back to normal!

I was seriously jonesing for some alone time with Blogger.  I'm glad it's back.  I've started a new blog with the help of my fabulous Zeen Bean.  You can find it here.  Just a little extra service we provide :)  Just kidding!  It's just another outlet for me to blab on and on about nothing and everything all at the same time.  He will also guest post on it.  Rybaby wants to start a blog.  He's still sleeping, otherwise his would probably be up and running now.  We'll see if he can get up soon and start.  Doubtful.

So, here's what's been going on lately:  My baby boy is now a driver.  We're both nervous.  Watch out world ~ here comes Ryan.  No, really.  Watch out!  He will leave for his CWF trip in a few weeks.  We're nervous and excited about that, too!
Work has ended for me for the summer and I'm super excited about that ~ beyond words actually.  But money will suck.  That's part of what Leafy Greenz will cover. 
Zach is not playing any sports this summer and for that I am eternally grateful. 
I'm going to contact Mama's Monologues right now and work on that giveaway I've been talking/thinking about. 
I've got a guest post in the works for another blog, more info coming soon!
And, I've got some affiliations that might help make the summer a bit profitable for me.  You can check that out here.  That's my week in a nutshell.  Now I have to go rattle some cages to wake up the "beast".  And make the Bean something to eat.  He's withering away to practically nothing!

Have a blessed weekend!

Is this what we've become?

Watching TV with Ryan and what commercial comes on?  Uhhh, cougarlife.com? Really?  And we also have reality shows such as The Judds, Shania Twain's Why Not and tons of pawn store shows.  You can watch 2 dorky guys searching for vintage/antique stuff all around the US and you can watch really large people with bad hair and bad taste repossess vehicles.  And just for our viewing pleasure we can watch teens get Scared Straight and wacky relationships on Prison Wives and what is that one....Four Wives and Counting?  I mean, Sister Wives.  People overpopulating the earth is a popular topic and one that seems to ruin said families. 

In all reality I have not watched most of these shows.  One of the pawn ones and the dorky picker guys a few times is all.  I'll skip the rest, I'm just not interested in, ummm, cougars, huge repo people or huge pawn shop workers or human baby factories or former entertainers that have nothing going on except for this.   I'm seriously thinking of not renewing my dish subscription.  I don't like dish anyway.  Moving on in June!  It's sad to think this is what our children have to look forward to.

The name game...

taking suggestions on names for 2 possible new blogs...one about budgeting/money and one about food/weight loss and the highs and lows of both.  thanks in advance!

Wordless Wednesday

Anticipation....Anticipay-ay-tion

So I'm anxious for the school year to be done, I've mentioned that, right?  I'm anticipating my next step though.  That's right, always thinking one step ahead.  Chances are though, 5 minutes from now I won't remember what I was thinking before that one step.  Yes, it's an issue.  Yes, it's a blog.

 Anyway, I'm anticipating having all this time on my hands and considering starting 2 different blogs.  Ambitious?  Crazy?  Yes to both.  For now I gotta get this tooshie moving and get my face on.  The magic doesn't just happen ya know!! lol

Decide to be happy today!

I swear it's just my family that does this weird crap...

Ok, so one of my kids, I won't say which one to avoid humiliation, is infatuated with one of our dogs.  He loves, loves, loves Jerry the Springer Spaniel.  So just a second ago he asked me this:

Him: so do you think they know when you are kissing them?
Me:  Uhhh...what? (insert one raised eyebrow here)
Him: the dog.  you know, when they lick you it's like they are giving you kisses.  So should I kiss him or lick him?
Me:............................................................well, ......................I wouldn't do either but.....you know. whatever.
Him: Ok, then I'll just kiss him.

And just to clarify, he kisses him on his snout so it's not like some kind of weirdo fetish thing.  Well...you know.  Whatever. 

Yeehaw, Woohoo and Hells Yeah!

Those three words can only mean one thing.  It's the last week of school with kids!!!  We have four more days with kids in the class and then the teacher and I have to stay one more week for closing up the classroom.  Can't even begin to say how excited I am to start the summer.  Ok, well, aside from that whole no pay thing.  Now that we've been through a summer like this I feel like maybe we can actually survive it with no pay if we play our cards right.  Now I'll have time to make sure we do.  I'll also have time to organize my house and maybe make our family more money minded. 

For example, right now we have 2 computers going and 2 tv's going.  There are 4 of us in the house.  What is up with that?  I call it multi-tasking for me since I'm one with a computer AND a tv on.  Hey, in my defense I'm blogging and watching the Lakers get smacked by the Mav's (hopefully) to take the semis.  I hate the Lakers, but that's an entirely different blog. 

Steve suggested we live in the basement so we don't have to keep the upstairs as cool.  It's all cozy and cave-like down there so why not?  Take the laptop, maybe a microwave and a small fridge....seriously, we could make it happen! :)

We definitely need to change some of our lifestyle and "live like no one else so we can live like no one else", right Dave Ramsey? 

I can also take time during the summer to plant a garden and educate myself in couponing so I can be one of those crazy coupon chicks.  I'll have time to create my plan of attack.  I feel good about this!  See why I'm excited to just be done, especially with the kids ~ of course I'll miss some of them over the summer ~ but without them being in class we can just hit the cleaning hard and be done.  There's some stuff we can't move until the kids are gone so....bye-bye kids, have a great summer!  I will! lol (I sound mean, but really....)

I'm back and I'm in the club!!

It's been a long time since I've been able to sit down for more than a few minutes and catch up on my blog and all the wonderful blogs I follow.  But, here I am ~ and I'm glad to be back.  I've missed this.  The "end of the year" is always super busy for us trying to get out classrooms and paperwork organized and finalized and then my boys have their end of school year stuff like band performances and what not.  Busy, busy.  So anyway....

I joined a club when I was in AZ a week ago.  And it's a club with very good company.  I have one brother that is in this club.  Several cousins are in too.  Many of my high school classmates have joined the club already.  My husband is in this club.  He's been a member for 2 1/2 years already.  Sucka!  (Just kidding honey! Not really).  We're in the 40's club!!  Wooohoooo!

I guess when I was younger I never really pictured me being here.  I mean, when I was 20 I didn't picture myself being 40, married almost 17 years, 2 kids, 3 dogs, a house in the midwest with lush trees and green, green grass in the front AND the back yards.  Didn't really picture anything, really.  Just didn't think that far ahead. 

I panicked when I turned 30.  It actually depressed me.  I seriously cried and felt sad that my "life" wasn't where I wanted it to be.  And most of you will know what I mean by that.  It has nothing to do with your husband and kids.  It's all about YOU.  It just felt like once I reached 30 I should have had the dream career thing going on and should have had all of life's answers.  But once I reached 30 I didn't have any answers to life just more questions.  By then I had 2 small children and things had changed.  Not that anything was bad in that regard, it was just....I don't even know how to explain it, it just was a personal feeling that I had some unknown, imaginary goal that I never reached. 

So....I actually formed goals.  Just small personal ones that fit well within that 10 year span between 30 and 40.  So far, I've reached a few.  I wanted to go to school and get my associates degree.  I started college right after high school but never finished.  I promised myself that if I was able to get grants and not loans I would take online courses and get that damn AA.  I started at 35 and finished while working a full time job and a part time job, raising kids and even moving half way across the country.  I also wanted to raise really great kids.  Did that too!  Ryan is an amazing, kind, compassionate, articulate, funny teenager who isn't a "jerk" as my sister in law would say.  Zach is just as funny and random, but also fiercely determined (stubborn!) and has a bit of a serious side when necessary.  Of course I couldn't have done it without Steve.  He really picked up the slack while I was doing school work.  He'd do laundry and dishes, clean the kitchen.  It just made it easier on all of us and it seemed to work out that way.  And as a bonus, I got spoiled and he still does most of that stuff most of the time still.  Way to go Steve! :) 

Anyway, I guess my point is this:  At 30, I didn't know what I wanted but was upset because I didn't have it.  At 40, I know who I am, I know who we are and I know what our priorities are and should be.  This has nothing to do with fame or fortune (neither of which I have) it just has to do with how well we've done with what we have.  Simply put, "What I want is what I've not got.  But what I need is all around me."  (Dave Matthews)

Ok, it's a long winded post about me turning 40 but my mind is all jumbled from work and travel and aging and stuff, thanks for sticking with me! lol

Did you miss it?

This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of ogilvy for SocialSpark. All opinions are 100% mine.

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