Kroger Gift Card Winner

Congratulations to Lori S! Her entry was selected as the winner of the Kroger $25 Gift Card giveaway.

Thanks everyone for entering and be sure to check out the other current giveaways.

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Christmas Wish Lists

When I was little, I remember there being large store catalogs - Sears and JC Penney are the two companies that I remember sending out catalogs. I used those catalogs to help me generate a Christmas wish list.

Now, as a mom, I rely on the toy books that are sent out by Walmart, Target and Toys 'R Us to get input on what the kids would like for Christmas. Fortunately, we seem to wind up with two of each book, so I am able to give one of each to each child. They put their name on the front of the book and then start to explore.

When we first started this, they had a tendency to circle everything! This year, I made sure to tell them to only mark the things that they really want or they might wind up with the things that they only sort of want.

It took them a few weeks to fully identify and circle their wish list of toys and games, so it is good that the books come out in early November, giving them plenty of time to make their selections.

I usually have some level of idea of what they will get for Christmas, but want to make sure that those ideas are amongst the things that have been circled. For the most part, the things that they mark do not come as a surprise to me, but sometimes there are a few things that do surprise me.

Before I head out to shop, I reference their books to see what is on their wish list. This tool also works great because it allows me to more easily generate ideas to send out as lists to family members. Otherwise, I feel like the only ideas that I have are the things that I was planning to get or clothes.

Having the kids circle the items on their wish list works for me.

Mamavation Monday

I wanted to start with "I need some new motivation" but as I started to write it, I realized it wasn't about more or new motivation, it really is about time.

In retrospect, I question why I chose the week I did to try to get back into P90X. There is so much going on right now, that I feel like I don't have (am not making?) the time to fit in my workouts consistently. Some mornings I try, others I don't. Some mornings I fit in about half a workout, others none. I also am realizing that another thing I liked about running is that I could fit in a decent run in just over half an hour. With P90X (and most other DVD workouts), I need a full hour. It makes me feel so much more pressed for time when I have to fit in a full hour.

I am going to complete the 90-day workout that is P90X - I just think that I will focus on something that fits for the next couple of weeks. It is more important to me to remain active than to do a specific workout. I have Walk At Home DVDs that will help me stay active and I can do anywhere from 15 minutes to an hour, depending on my schedule. With the bands, I can even include a little bit of strength training with my walk. Once the time is right (yes, it will be right), I will return to the P90X program and do the 90 day schedule, but for now being active is my goal. (I'd like to check out the workouts from the new P90X 2, anyone tried them yet?)

This post shared at Mamavation Monday.