new beginnings and other things

I've been stalking a "new" blog lately.  She's wonderful and I love to read the things that she writes.  If you haven't heard of her blog, 71 Toes, you've heard of it now.  What an amazing woman (I want to be like her when I grow up).  She's written a book and Blossom on the Vine is giving it away. 

I want to win.

Given, I never win give aways, except that one time when a whole box of gum ended up on my door step, but other than that I never win give aways.  This one is worth trying for. 

If I don't win I'll just have to buy the book on my own.  I love reading her that much. And her story is incredible.

Over the weekend I learned that I need to be a better budgeter.  I hate budgets.  Loathe them.  Mostly because I'm sporadic and spur of the moment, and when I want to do something nice for someone, or buy something cute for my circus or my man, or if I want to start a project, I want to do it now, and not when I have a minute to sit down and fit it in to my budget.

How do you survive budgeting?  I need to figure out a way that this can work for me.

I've decided I'm not going to survive my girls being in Young Women's.  I have watched all four of my girls go to kindergarten with out a single tear, but our first New Beginnings and it's all I can do to hold myself together during Casidee's spotlight.  And all they did was give her flowers and a YW pendant...

I'm so proud of my circus and the choices they make daily, and the people they are becoming. 

The theme for Young Women's this year is Arise and Shine Forth.  I love it.  It's so full of action.  Check out this music video.

Disco cupcakes for New Beginnings:

They literally shimmered, it was the neatest thing.  The young women loved them.

What SOPA and PIPA could mean for our blogs

There's a lot of hubbub about SOPA and PIPA today.  Being one who needs to find things out for myself, I started Googling.

 And while the intentions of the bills make sense, the overall ripple effect of these bills does not.
I don't run a business online, let alone run one that supports or distributes pirated material so why should I be worried about how this would affect me? If you blog, pay attention to what I've found here about the topics of how this will affect blogs in general. As of now, domains ending in .com or .org are not being targeted, but if these bills are passed it only opens up a door that could eventually lead to more censorship of the internet in whole.
Also, there's no due process involved.  If there is a complaint against a website it will be blocked.  No proof needed, right now, as the bill stands.  Did you do a book review or a movie review on your blog? What if somebody reported that as copyright infringement? You, my blogging friend, could be done. What if someone posts a link in a comment thread? Copyright infringement on your blog.
I'm still learning a lot about these bills.  Frankly, I love my blog and I don't want anything to happen to it simply because one of the videos I embedded from YouTube struck a copyright nerve with someone.
I do understand that piracy undermines hard work of a lot of people.  It supposedly threatens jobs, and sure, I'll give it that doing something to stop that wouldn't be a bad thing.  But these bills, in my still uneducated opinion, are not the way to do it.
A lot of websites are blacking out today (hmmmm, if I mention them I might be making a copyright infringement...) and you can check out the info on the SOPA blackout here.  The point of the black outs today is to contact Congress and let them know that even if we support a bill to stop piracy, this isn't the one.
There is too much censorship and no due process involved at this point.  I really don't think this is a direction we want to go in.  This article is a good one on how these bills can affect you.  Me.  Us.  The normal "every day" people.  And he has some good links in it, as well as pros and cons, groups for and against.  If you're interested.
I suppose we all need to make up our own minds on this, and I hope that we all take a few minutes to try and educate ourselves and not just get pulled into the frenzy of it.  But from what I've read so far this morning, I think more work needs to be done on this before it goes through.
Write Congress now. And while you're at it, sign this petition.

Dating Blog

I've fallen in love.
With a blog that is. I was searching around on pinterest.com for some fun ideas for both West's birthday and our anniversary (which both fall in December with Christmas, so I need A LOT of ideas for him through out the month)and I found a link to this sight.

A blog to give me fun ideas to spoil my man? Who spoils me all the time and I need a lot of help thinking of things to do for him in return. They're tag line says it all: "Strengthening Marraiges One Date at a Time". LOVE! Here's to being strong to your marraige. We all know it's the little things that add up over time.
I love my man, and am already stocking up on the ideas to surprise him.

Hair do blogs

This may be old to news to all of you, but I've just discovered hair do blogs. Having four girls who all still need me to do their hair in the mornings, I'm finding these blogs fascinating! I've posted a list on my side bar for anyone else who didn't know about these and wants to check them out. Since I'm just finding them, I may be tweaking the list here and there as I find the ones I like and the ones I don't really like. I'm so excited about this! (Thanks Jes, for mentioning one on your blog! I'm completely addicted now!)