It wasn’t me…

Go ahead and say it… 
I know. 
It’s been about a week. It seems as though, as of late, I sort of more than suck as a blogger. 
Blame lesson plans. 
Blame the smoke we had here, in the valley, from the fires. 
Blame the blue sky that emerged. (woo hoo!) 
Blame the party I threw this weekend, or the barbecue we had last night. 
Blame anyone but me, because I am going to be the one to play the “*Whine* It’s not my fault!*Whine*” card, this time… 
So there ya go… It’s not my fault. 
But today Season two of The Walking Dead released. And Episode one is calling my name, (again, not my fault) so I have to go… but i promise I will be better, grow up and start taking responsibility for my blog. (With pics!) 
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Eight…

Me-
– Designing the cover for my novel. :)
– editing… it never ends. (and I have not opened the manuscript in a month.)
– Rejoining my old craft club. Super excited about that.
– sessions for my really exciting photography project.
– working on my autobiography for our adoption home study. 
Reading-
– The new Emily Giffen book
The Unfinished works of Elizabeth D.
Love Does by Bob Goff
Us-
– our adoption homestudy
– Amanda comes home! (!!!!!!!!!)
– celebrating the six months we’ve missed with her, and all they entailed.
– School supply shopping! *Swoon*
– Company!!!! Company this weekend, company in a few weeks.
– Chw heads to TX because our beautiful Amanda is graduating AIT!
– hosting a couple of barbecues.

Heart-
– Reading Love Does by Bob Goff
– a couple of volunteer projects lined up, that I’m excited about.
– working with the amazing women who are contributing to my photography project. They are so good for my heart.

Create-
–  Our family Christmas Cards
– Genny and I are sewing a skirt together.
– Chw and I are building a new shoe wrack together. 
Home-
– the above mentioned shoe wrack. :)
– a few reorganization projects. 
Health-
– walking
– water (drinking and swimming in.)
– massage
– stretching. 
Love-
– hoping to have a date night, amidst the busy.
– back on track with weekly devotions.
– daily, quality time to connect. Even if it’s just for five minutes…

What are you up to this month? 

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Foodie Penpal Reveal…

This month I participated (for the first time) in the Foodie Penpal Swap over and the Lean Green Bean.
I had so much fun, with this swap! If you haven’t heard of the swap before, in a nutshell it is a really well organized pen pal program, but instead of letters, you send food goodies! 
I will definitely be participating again! 
I received my package from Suzanne, over at Fit Minded Mom, and I have to tell you guys- it was seriously like a gift from the promised land. 
Anyone who knows me, knows I LOVE Trader Joe’s, and Suzanne really loaded me up on some Trader Joe’s goodies! Since our closest TJ’s is tragically six hours away- I was beyond excited… 

 As soon as I saw that Trader Joe’s bag peaking out, I knew I was one lucky, lucky girl!

It held: 
– An Odwalla bar
– Roasted Plantain chips 
– TJ’s 21 spice seasoning
– a sample of Dark Chocolate Dreams PB (which is actually my favorite) 
– couple of fiberful bars
– protein shake powder
– the BEST thing ever: TJ’s dark chocolate dipped PB wafers. Seriously- heaven in a Trader Joe’s package.
– and a sweet, handwritten note too!  
Thanks, Suzanne, SOOO much, for your thoughtfulness and fantastic package! 
If you would like to see what I mailed, you can head over to My Kaotic Kitchen. :)

Interested in joining? Here’s how:

-On the 5th of every month, you will receive your penpal pairing via email. It will be your responsibility to contact your penpal and get their mailing address and any other information you might need like allergies or dietary restrictions.
-You will have until the 15th of the month to put your box of goodies in the mail. On the last day of the month, you will post about the goodies you received from your penpal
-The boxes are to be filled with fun foodie things, local food items or even homemade treats! The spending limit is $15. The box must also include something written. This can be anything from a note explaining what’s in the box, to a fun recipe…use your imagination!
-You are responsible for figuring out the best way to ship your items depending on their size and how fragile they are. (Don’t forget about flat rate boxes!)
Foodie Penpals is open to blog readers as well as bloggers. If you’re a reader and you get paired with a blogger, you are to write a short guest post for your penpal to post on their blog about what you received. If two readers are paired together, neither needs to worry about writing a post for that month. 
Foodie Penplas is open to US & Canadian residents.  Please note, Canadian Residents will be paired with other Canadians only. We’ve determined things might get too slow and backed up if we’re trying to send foods through customs across the border from US to Canada and vice versa. 
If you’re interested in participating for August, please CLICK HERE to fill out the participation form and read the terms and conditions. 
You must submit your information by August 4th as pairings will be emailed on August 5th!

*If you’re from somewhere besides the US, Canada or Europe and want to participate, send me an email and I’ll see if we get enough interest this month!
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Na na na, hey hey hey…

This could be me. 
Seriously. 
These days, stress is my first, middle, last and maiden names- or at least it feels that way. 
Hi. My name is Misty and I am stressed out. 
Hi Misty..
You guys, I do not handle stress well. I think my model either has a malfunctioning “throw it from your mind” button, or I just have serious operator error issues… 
You see, there is this little novel I wrote, which I couldn’t STOP editing… I became like an obsessed machine. And then, I did stop, and took a few days off. Yay me… BUT- now I can’t seem to get back to it… And I REALLY need to, by friday. 
And then, there is the matter of this other situation. Potentially HUGE situation… And I should just cast it to the side, trust that it will all workout and go about my days and my monotonous editing… BUT I CAN’T… It is like a virus, eating away my brain. 
STRESS… 
So yeah… I just had to tell someone that I am STRESSING OUT… 
And if I you are a prayer, I/we could use some… 
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Take it, annie…

Tomorrow, tomorrow… Can’t wait til tomorrow… 
It’s only a day away… 
Tomorrow my amazing Katie is coming and this may make the entire MONTH for us Wagners… I love house guests, but even more than that- i LOVE her! We will laugh, and it will be wonderful and so soul cathartic… 
The end… 
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