Easy Shutterfly Gift Idea

I’ve mentioned a million or two times how much I love Shutterfly.  While they offer gorgeous greeting cards and beautifully designed any-occasion cards, sometimes a plain photo card just speaks for itself.

Love it.

More Birthdays

When I was thirteen years old, my Grandmother died of cancer.  Although towards the end of her life she’d gotten thinner, lost her hair, had scars she didn’t used to, that’s not how I remember her.  I remember her as the strong, beautiful woman who felt like my best friend when I was little.

The woman who would tape tv shows for me and label them in her intricate handwriting on VHS tapes.  The woman who put a cot in her and my Grandfather’s room on Christmas Eve so I could sleep in there.  The woman who dressed up as a clown for my first birthday.  The woman who always had a different color matching sweatsuit on.  The woman seemed so old to me at the that, but who should have had so many more birthdays.

As I’ve gotten older and had children of my own, I realize just how young she really was.  And how I just can’t bear even thinking about losing my own mother, my children losing their Grandmother, so soon.

That’s what I’m sharing this video with you.  Because the American Cancer Society does amazing work.  Because they need our help.  And, because there should always be more birthdays.

“This post is sponsored by American Cancer Society.“

Shutterfly Holiday Cards

I have quite the love affair with Shutterfly.  Cards, calendars, photo books.  I love them all.  And all those lovely items feed into my photography addiction nicely.

One of the biggest reasons I love Shutterfly, besides their excellent quality, is the amount of awesome design layouts to choose from.  Creating a Christmas card is so easy when all I need to do is pick out a picture, choose a pretty layout, and customize some text.  That’s about as easy as it gets for a custom photo card.

In case you need a little help designing your perfect holiday card, here are a few of my favorite choices from this year’s Shutterfly collection:

I obviously love contemporary looking cards with bright colors.  But Shutterfly has designs for EVERYONE.  Traditional looks.  Monograms.  One picture or tons of pictures.

I look forward to the little orange box showing up on my doorstep.  It arrives quickly and the cards are always perfect.  Plus, cards are 40% off right now (check out the website for details) and there are lots of other amazing photo gifts (like adorable photo mugs) that are just as easy to make.

Take a peek at Shutterfly and tell me what your favorite designs are!

Talking to Tweens

Having a toddler and a tween in the house at the same time is, at its best…exhausting.  These two particular age groups are biologically designed to be pushing the limits, asserting their independence, and driving their parents crazy.

Things with K, at almost 12, are bumpy most days.  She’s a walking bundle of puberty hormones, caught in this delicate balance between being a kid and being a teen.  She’s interested in make up…and baby dolls.  She wants cool clothes…but I can’t get her to brush her hair.  Frankly, I don’t know what to do with her most days.

I’d been blaming that, somehow, on being her StepMom.  That if I were her biological Mom, then this would in some way be easier.  Or make more sense.  Or drive me less crazy.

Still, when I was asked if I wanted to review a copy of What Do You Expect? She’s a Teenager!, I wasn’t sure a book was going to help me figure K out any better.  The book’s subtitle–A Hope and Happiness Guide for Moms with Daughters Ages 11 – 19–drew me in a little more.  I could sure use some hope and happiness when dealing with K.  But it was a quote on the back of the book that really sold me on the idea “If your little girl has suddenly turned into one big eye roll, then this is for you.” (by Jen Singer).  I can’t even count the eye rolls Hubby and I get on a daily basis now.

I bounced around the book, focusing on chapters like “Family Dynamics”, “Independence”, “School” and (my favorite) “Why Is She Like That?”.  Each chapter is divided up into smaller focused topics based around questions for the author, Arden Greenspan-Goldberg.  The format made it easy to skim for topics that are important to our family now and mentally bookmark topics to come back to–like the chapters on “Sex” and “Alcohol and Drugs”.

The biggest piece of take-away knowledge I got from this book is that I was approaching my conversations with K wrong.  I was talking to her like she was still a younger child–not a tween, heading swiftly towards her teen years.  For example, in the past Hubby or I assigned K chores to do each day.  I had never really asked her which chores she preferred, figuring she probably dislikes them all.  After the 400th fight this week over her either not doing a chore well or simply not doing it at all, we sat her down for a talk.  Instead of lecturing, which I sorely wanted to do, I asked her to tell me which chores she prefers over other ones.

We talked for a few minutes to nail down what expectations are reasonable (She likes dusting, which is great, but not a daily chore).  Then we made a deal.

She wanted to be in charge of the dishwasher.  So if she does the dishwasher well, then I won’t ask her to take on other tasks.  That’s her sole responsibility, so it is hers to do well.  If she isn’t doing it well, then we’ll sit down again and renegotiate.

While she probably still doesn’t love loading and unloading the dishwasher, involving her in the choice of chores made her feel important.  Having the opportunity to share her opinion and frustrations about chores she doesn’t care for (like switching laundry) made her “buy into” the work she was doing–the dishwasher.

So far, so good.  Is my dishwasher perfectly loaded and sink spotless?  No.  It probably wouldn’t be even if I was the one doing the loading.  But, talking with K about her chores has gotten much easier.  I no longer feel the need to nag or remind her to do her job.  K seems to be stepping up and taking her job a little more seriously because I’m giving her a little more room to do.

I enjoyed What Do You Expect? She’s a Teenager!.  It provided some interesting insights, gave me some situations to fear in the future (see above: Sex, Alcohol and Drugs), but most importantly, made me realize I’m not alone.

While a few of my friends do have children, most of those children are toddlers.  I don’t have a lot of resources outside of my Mom (who I call constantly on this topic) on how to deal with tweens and teens.  It’s nice to know that other parents struggle in these areas, that a lot of the pain-in-the-ass behavior that K is pulling is “normal”, and that I’m not the only Mom to be driven nearly crazy her daughter.

Disclosure:  I was provided with a complimentary copy of What Do You Expect? She’s a Teenager! to review.  All opinions are my own.

Top 10 Holiday Planning Tips

It’s starting get a little colder here, pumpkin spice lattes have returned, and the leaves are changing.  And while I love Halloween and Thanksgiving, my brain starts to immediately fast forward to Christmas.

I tend to be a bit of a planner for Christmas and already have a bin of gifts tucked away in our basement.  I’m also already daydreaming about the photo shoot for our holiday cards.  I know I can’t be the only person already thinking about the holidays, so I put together my 10 best tips for holiday planning.

1. Start early–whatever that means to you.  For me, that means right about now.  Even if I’m not making firm plans just yet, it is on my mind and I’m starting to brainstorm ideas.
2. Create a shopping list or Amazon gift idea list.  I’ve tried this in a variety of different methods–notebooks in my purse, lists on my phone, creating private Amazon lists for my family so I can remember great things I saw online.  The best method for me, nerdy as it is, has been a computer spreadsheet.  It includes who I need to buy for, what I have set aside for each person, ideas for gifts, and what I’ve already purchased.  Try a few methods and decide what works for you.
3. Set a budget.  Hubby and I have this talk every year to make sure we don’t overspend.  I tend to do Christmas a little “bigger” than what Hubby was used to, so it helps to really know what you can manage.
4. Get your holiday cards out of the way.  Last year, I ordered my Christmas cards through Storkie.  I had them in my hands in September (so apparently, I’m already behind this year).  I loved having them early because I could write a few at a time, address them, and set them aside to mail after Thanksgiving.
5. While we are talking about holiday cards, don’t stress over getting the perfect picture.  I don’t know that I even own a picture of the four of us since Bink’s newborn portraits.  It is just too hard with a toddler to get a “perfect” family shot.  Instead, I picked a few of my favorites from the year and used them all.  The effect is the same–adorable family photos–without the pressure of getting everyone in coordinating colors and making sure they are all looking at the camera at the same time.
6. Make address labels!  I can’t tell you how much time this has saved me over the past few years.  I’d already put all of my family and friends addresses into the computer years ago for our wedding.  So now, when I’m doing a big mailing, like holiday cards, I can just mail-merge them into address labels.  It takes about two minutes and then I can just stick ‘em and go.
7. Create a few (easy, low stress) traditions.  In our family, we try to do one “Christmas-y” thing every day during December.  That might sound overwhelming, but they aren’t normally big things.  One day we read a holiday book together, another we drink hot chocolate, then another day we’ll go look at Christmas lights in the neighborhood.  On weekends, I might plan more involved activities, like decorating the tree, going to see a local lights display, or baking cookies.  We’ve never actually managed to follow through every day, but we do most days.  And we stock up on the ones we missed for later, more low-key days.
8. Do something nice for someone else.  Two years ago, we decided to adopt an Angel from our local Angel Tree .  It was one of our favorite things that year.  I’d like to do it again this year.  We picked a girl around K’s age, figuring K could tell us what was cool.  All the little girl wanted was an MP3 player and a few CD’s, which was easy enough.  It broke my heart to think that there were children in our area who might not have presents on Christmas.
9. Subscribe to a coupon blog or two (or a bunch like I do).  Just Google “Coupon Blogs” and you’ll find a TON of them.  They post deals throughout the day.  I get them in my Google Reader, but you can also get them via email.  I found so many great gift deals this way in the past few years.  Coupon codes, printable coupons, price-matching.  And as you get closer to the holidays, the focus really shifts towards gifts and what stores/sites have the best prices for different items.
10. Get an Amazon prime membership (or find other ways to get free shipping).  At Christmas time my local mall becomes so over-run I can’t even park in the furthest lots.  So before I venture out into the cold, especially with a toddler, I check online.  If I can get the item for the same or (hopefully) lower price, I have it shipped right to my door.  Sometimes it is even worth an extra dollar or two (although I normally won’t go over that) to not have to leave the house.  Amazon offers a few free prime memberships, like Amazon Mom or Amazon Student, or you can bundle your orders to get over $25.  Totally worth not having to get out of my PJ’s.

What are your best holiday tips?

Disclosure:  I wrote this blog post while participating in the Storkie holiday blogging program. I received compensation for my participation. All opinions are 100% mine.”

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