My First Guest Post!

Me with my beautiful kids

I was thrilled when Angela (from Gracie's Mum: A story of a Mum with MS) asked if I would be her first guest post. You can check it out today on her blog!

A Gift From Shutterfly: Free Holiday Cards

My friend, Sheba, has made some wonderful cards for a few different occasions online at Shutterfly. When she posted on her blog about receiving 50 free Christmas Photo Cards from Shutterfly just by blogging, I had to join in! Thankfully, I haven't done my Christmas cards yet.


I've already started playing around with creating my own holiday cards. It's real easy, fast and fun! There are so many beautiful cards to choose from with tons of different layouts and options to add your own pictures and personal message. I'm having a hard time narrowing down my choice to just one! Shutterfly has some other great things you can make as well such as photo books and photo calendars -- both wonderful ideas for gifts for the grandparents!

If you're a fellow blogger and want to join in the fun of creating your own holiday greetings, sign up here to get 50 free cards for yourself! This offer is the perfect way to get started on sending out holiday cards to your all the wonderful people in your life!

I am...

frustrated that the colours on my blog look a lot different on my PC than on my Macbook. They looked better on the Mac. Back to the drawing board. Blog decorating is so much fun, and a lot cheaper than house decorating!

It's been awhile

April 8, 2009: the day this blog was born.

Almost two months ago, I watched Keep On S'myelin's first Blogiversary roll by...a silent woot! woot!

I keep popping in, starting a post and then pulling back. I didn't think I would like blogging. I didn't think I would have anything to say.

What would I write about? What would be the point?

Point is, I love blogging and I love reading all of your blogs too. Problem is, it was becoming time consuming. I loved blogging more than doing what needed to be done.

My garden is starting to bloom.

I bought a new end table for a steal at Pottery Barn.

I'm still as tired as ever but hanging in as always.

I've been battling Pokemon and Polly Pockets and trying to keep the ship afloat.

All stuff I want to blog about and hope that I can do again soon.

Hope everyone is doing well, if you're still reading!

Work in progess

The changes have started, starting with my blog. I got all inspirational yesterday after reading All Things G&D. My friend recently introduced me to the blog and I'm really enjoying it. Thanks G&D and Perpetual Bounce for giving me the little push I needed.

I started changing the colours of my blog and even made a new masthead. Not sure I'm lovin' the green but I'm not hating it so for now it stays. I can always change it later. It goes right along with a few of my other favourite colours I've been enjoying this season -- brown, pink, turquoise, and pale yellow. I think I'll keep the layout the same as it seems to be working for now.

I was trying to come up with a logo for Keep On S'myelin! When I put the first letters of each word together I realized it sounded like chaos -- K*OS! There's no real reason for the asterisk except to put more emphasis on the K to make it sound like chaos -- a bit catchier than just saying the letters K-O-S, I think anyway.

It's still a work in progress so please bare with me.

Happy blogging!

Time for a change

Happy Thursday, everyone!

It's been raining here all day....yuck! Actually, I'm not minding the rain too much today because it gives me a chance to veg for a bit -- something I desperately need to do.

I took Luke to his swimming lesson this morning. We didn't end up going to Tims because he ate four pieces of toast this morning -- yes, I said FOUR! The only thing that stopped him from eating five pieces was that we were in a rush to get to swimming on time.

I went out for lunch yesterday with one of my bestest friends for sushi to our favourite little restaurant. Mmmm, sushi! She moved back from New York a few weeks ago and I'm so happy she's back.

After lunch, I realized how much I really missed her. She left six years ago on her own when I was pregnant with Lucas and is now back with a wonderful husband, the sweetest little boy and a cute dog too. She also made me realize that I'm stuck in a rut and that I've been stuck like this for awhile.

I had to leave work almost four years ago (next month will be four years) because of my MS. I had all these plans to get our house organized, workout, do things with my family while I still can. I haven't really done any of that. I don't know if it's this feeling that's making me more tired (is that even possible?), if it's the MS progressing, having two kids, or all of it combined. I seem to do so much for others that by the time I get to doing something for myself, I'm exhausted.

All these memories of before kids started flooding back the other day -- how Steve and I used to go out for dinner to nice restaurants (we never were clubbers or people who bar hopped), our camping trips, trips to Cuba, Costa Rica, Vancouver, New York, hanging out on the couch watching tv or movies without being interrupted. We haven't done those things in ages and I miss it.

I love having kids and doing things with them but everyone needs some downtime, to do something for them every so often that doesn't involve changing diapers, watching kids shows, playing referee or trying to tame a meltdown because they can't find one of those damn little Bakugan balls. I say this to myself but have yet to listen. It's just easier to say than actually do.

So, for the next little while I'm going to figure out what I can do to give me the lift I need. I've been doing some organizing around the house which is helping declutter my mind a bit. There is so much more to do though. I'm not very good at finding a place for everything so I've been searching for ideas on how to better organize my life, house and everything in between. If you have any good tips, websites, books or suggestions please let me know. I'm on a mission to get my life in order!

I think I'll also work on this blog a bit since it's been helping me find myself. I'm trying to figure out how to design a new masthead/banner but I'm not very artsy. I'll keep plugging away at it though.

I've also enjoyed reading other peoples blogs as well. It's amazing how many blogs are out there and I seem to find a new one daily. It's like a whole new world to me!

Thanks everyone for sharing your stories. I'm really enjoying the reads.