Hi, my name is Jessica…..Nice to meet you.

It’s been crazy around here….and I’m not even sure why. I know I had a few guest posts that went up last week, but they only happened, because they were written weeks ago. If you missed them, here they are: Meal Planning at the PurposefulWife.blogspot.com and Infertility Changed Me at NatashaMetzler.com .

This week isn’t shaping up to be much better. I feel like I go-go-go all day long, night comes and I look around and it seems like NOTHING was accomplished. Sunday, the kids stayed a few hours at my in-laws, which was great, for Matt. He managed to get a lot of outside work done: Apple trees trimmed, seeds planted in the garden, things done with the bees, and some other stuff. I’m not even sure what I accomplished, because there seemed to be just as much stuff before as after.

I have decided one thing though; the reason for my having to have projects, whether quilting or DIY, is because I need to have SOMETHING that has an absolute start and finish, otherwise I would go out of my mind. Laundry never gets “finished”, dishes never get “finished”, cleaning the house never gets “finished”: It’s entirely never ending. Sewing projects and other things at least give me a sense of accomplishment, once they’re done.

On top of the household to-dos, this weekend is Matt’s sister’s wedding, which means I’ve been doing whatever wedding stuff I can to help her out. Throw in a bit of kids not sleeping at night or during the day, and mommy is not having much time to blog, which stinks, because I so miss being here!

A brief run down of other things that I haven’t blogged about:

*Ellie is officially walking
*I started a Moms’ Night Out group, and we had our first get-together
*Went to (in)RL
*Started a project for the back yard
*Been busy planting veggies
*Finished a couple of books
*Got a haircut and color {realized how easy it is to straighten my hair with a curling iron}
*Bought some new fabric
*Finished a few more of my quilt blocks
*Have 50 chicks that we’re raising for meat, with another 50 coming today, and  more in the future {we’re doing 300 total}

I’m hoping that things slow down, at least a little bit, because we haven’t even gotten to the summer yet and I’m ready for Fall.

  If you’re missing me here, I am pretty active on instagram if you want to follow me there :-) or on Facebook

Don’t forget about the Ultimate Homemaking eBook Bundle sale going on right now!

Stop the world - I want to get off!

It’s been a bit crazy, still, around here. The kids all struggled with Hand, Foot and Mouth, this past week. I had a couple of nights of not getting to bed until 5am, then being up for the day at 7am. Fortunately, my mother in law came and spent Friday night so that I could get some sleep.

Last night the kids seemed to be back on schedule. This afternoon I got home from a baby shower and Matt was on the couch, sore throat and a fever. Now I have a sore throat. I’m just praying I don’t get sick and that Matt gets over it REALLY fast.

I have about 5 or 6 posts, some already written, that I keep meaning to finish and get up here, but I just haven’t had time. I had a whole bunch of stuff I was going to say in this post, but now I seriously can’t remember them.

I did declare google-reader bankruptcy and cleared it out. I had over 250 unread posts. No way was I going to get to them and I didn’t really think that brow-beating myself was going to be productive. SO….tell me what’s been up with you, especially if I’ve missed something major (i.e. I didn’t comment on a post).

Also, since I can’t seem to remember what all I had planned on saying, what are your questions for me? Anything goes. Even if it’s something like what kind of PJs do I wear. What are some things you would like to see me do around here: Vlogging? Recipes? Tutorials? House or sewing projects? If you don’t want to leave a comment then feel free to email me jess.white05 at gmail dot come

Let me know :-)

Oh, and I’m not going to be doing the Creating Community through Comments Blog Hop in September. Just too many other things making demands on my time.  BUT I do still, encourage you to seek out new blogs and leave’em some comment love. Feel free to take down the graphic on your blogs.

Hi! My name is….

Jessica, Jess, Jesse, Mommy, Osica, Pumpkin, Fezzik (my sister calls me that – I didn’t know what it was from until last year, when I watched Princess Bride for the first time), Jessica Margaret Mackelaney Millpro Beckmann (what my dad called me as a kid). Lots of different names for one person, huh?

* While in the blogging world I am know as “Jess”, the only people in real life who call me that are my friends and family (which I guess is what I was thinking when I decided on that), and only a select few call me “Jesse” (or as I always preferred “Jesse like a boy” – which is what my best friend calls me).
  
But don’t be surprised if I introduce myself as Jessica, in person.
You guys can call me any of those.

* In school all of my best friends (at various times) were named Jessica. I guess that is what happens when you were born in 1982 and the most popular name was Jessica (there were 5 in our class of 87 people, plus 3 “Jesse”s).

* My parents were originally going to name me Nicolette….which I liked growing up because NO ONE was Nicolette, but now I really am glad that isn’t my name.

* I insisted that my name be changed, when I was around 10 or 11, much like my favorite literary red-head {Anne of Green Gables…I think I declared my name change before I had actually read the books though}.
The name I wanted “Victoria Anne”….so elegant isn’t it  :-P

* Since no one in my family would call me Victoria, I amended my name to be Jessica Victoria Anne Margaret.

Names are funny things. It's pretty much guaranteed that SOMEONE else in the world will have the same name, but we’re still entirely different and despite that God still knows OUR name…not the name our parents gave us, but a name only He has for us, each of us our own, His own. <----CLICK TO TWEET How cool is that?!

“Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have summoned you by name; you are mine…” Isaiah 43:1

Do you like your name? Did you ever want to change your name? To what?

All the world's a stage…

And all the men and women merely players; They have their exits and their entrances, And one man in his time plays many parts, His acts being seven ages. ~ As You Like It {Shakespeare}

I have loved the theater for as long as I remember, whether it was in school or out. For most of my adolescents and teens I was on a stage, dreaming of the day Hollywood would come knocking.

Obviously, Hollywood never came knocking, but the fun I had! Whether it was a musical, a play, or a variety show, it is there that I come alive. There isn’t much that can be compared to the thrill and terror of waiting in the wings for your cue….praying you don’t miss it, remembering that “I can do all things through Him who strengthens me”.

But it is a sad day, the theater that I have performed at most in the past 20 years is in threat of being closed. For many years they have been slowly raising funds to restore the beautiful theater, where Teddy Roosevelt once spoke. {Read more about its history here}

No longer will restoring the building be enough. Due to the digital age our theater will be closing it’s doors, permanently, as of January 1, unless $70,000 can be raised to update the projectors.

While on the Historical Register that is not enough to save the theater. Without the income from movie viewings the theater will be unable to stay open, meaning that before too long it may be razed or converted into something else.


One little girl is doing an incredible amount of work to save the theater!

I’m not one to jump on different bandwagons and be asking for donations, but for this I will. One of my biggest dreams is for the day that I can see my kids perform on the stage where I did, and hope to again. Unless money can be raised, that won’t be happening.

Please, if you have it in you to donate something, even just $7.00 (the cost of an evening ticket at our theater), it would mean so incredibly much to our community. Our theater is the only one for 40 miles around and the only Arts facility in our county.

You can donate directly through the theater’s website. Or if it’s easier, send a paypal donation to my email address and I will see that the theater receives your donation, along with your name/address, as it is tax deductible.

Help Save the Walton Theater! A Truly Historic Place! @jess_LITWH http://tinyurl.com/d69kcc9 or http://tinyurl.com/c3cfmgy <------Click to Tweet!

August Sign Ups Now Open!

Hi Everyone!
Just opened up the sign ups for the August Creating Community through Comments blog hop...head on over to the page to link up your blog if you're interested or if you just want more information :-)

Food for Thought

As you know I'm always redoing and tweaking things around here. I want to know...what is your first thought when you visit this site? What things do you not like or would like to see changed? Is it difficult to navigate? Do you feel overwhelmed by too much stuff? I want this place to be just as comfy for you as it is for me. So let me know, what would invite you in to stay for a bit?

On Approaching the Big 3-0!

This month something crazy happens {my mom will attest to the fact that she is not old enough for this to happen}: I turn 30. That’s right! A new decade! I’m completely ok with turning 30, but why is it that the numbers always sound so much older than the actual age. I don’t think people who are 60 are old, but that numbers sounds really old.
This month I’m going to {try} to do some fun things around here, not sure what yet, but maybe a giveaway and some fun posts. I think I can manage that. BUT if you have some ideas for giveaways or posts, or things that you think would make for an awesome celebration (your questions for me)…by all means email me! :-)

But first off, let’s kick off the month with Creating Community through Comments! If you signed up, let the commenting begin!

Who Doesn't Love Comments Part 2

So there has been quite a bit of interest in doing a commenting-blog-hop kind of thing once a month, on a month by month basis, which is awesome! I'm so excited about that.

What do we want to call it? What kind of graphic do we want? I have something in mind, but I want to know what all of you think. Now I'm going to open it up to all of you.

Over the next few days I would LOVE if you left your ideas in the comments and emailed me (jess.white05 at gmail.com) whatever graphic designs you've come up with {I know there are at least a few of you graphic-designer people who read!}

By the beginning of next week I'm going to be posting all the ideas (and graphics) and we'll have a big vote.

I'm hoping to have this up and running for July 2-8th, so if we haul-heinie and get the word out there ASAP I think we can do this! Have a name/graphic by June 8th and start Tweeting/FBing/Blogging/etc to get people to join us in this new venture!

I'm excited! Are you?

Who doesn’t love comments!

Commenting has always been super-duper important to me. Not just the receiving them (which I LOVE), but giving them as well. I love finding new blogs or commenting on blogs/posts that don’t have a lot of traffic. I know everyone else loves the comments too.

Would anyone be interested in participating in a commenting blog hop once a month?

What it would mean is that once a month, for a {probably} week those who linked up would be committing to comment on a certain number of  blogs a day during that week, particularly the other blogs that signed up, but any blog really. Being sure to leave them some comment love and telling them how/why you're there.

I used to do ICLW with stirrup-queens.com, but since my blog isn't primarily about infertility anymore, I'm thinking of hosting one that would be open to anyone (I know that ICLW is, but it is primarily infertility).

Anyone? Any input? Beginning of month, middle or end of month better? Name? Graphics?

I’m really serious about doing this and would love for any insight you may have.