Fresh Starts & Locks of Love

 

Today we had our beautician (the awesome hair goddess Sharla) come to our home for hair cuts. She worked her magic on our whole family. These two look like young professionals ready to take on the world. I'm sure my daughter feels so much lighter because Sharla cut off 15 inches of hair.

Why save the hair? You guessed it! It's going to Locks of Love as a donation. How awesome is that? Here is to helping others and new beginnings!

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You Should Hire Me! - Teacher, Guardian, Connector

Lately I have been encountering many ways to discover my personality type. The results are supposed to help me understand how I interact with others, how I work and where I'm most comfortable in any given situation. Being a person that studies the human sciences these are fascinating tools to me.  
In our prayer group I took the first Kiersey test that came from the book Please Understand Me II and my results were ENFJ. Here is a snippet of what that code means: (taken from Wikipedia.com)
ENFJs focus on others, feeling a glow when those around them are happy, and troubled when something is amiss. They are natural cheerleaders, often expressing support, gratitude, and encouragement, and heaping praise onto those they appreciate. They take note of what is being done and what needs doing, offering their assistance wherever necessary.
ENFJs enjoy organizing group activities and tend to take their commitments seriously. In general, they are reliable and do not like to disappoint others. As team players and project leaders, they have a gift for rallying their players, focusing on what is being done right and each member's strengths. They are loyal and they expect loyalty. They carry conversations well, finding common ground with their speaker. They tend to find the correct and gracious way to respond in any given situation, no matter how tense or uncomfortable it is.
So far this is right on target! When I got home I was looking online for a friend of mine to take the test too and found an updated version of the test, The Kiersey Temperament Sorter . The site will give you a free report based on your answers. If you would like to pay extra you can get the report that tells you how your answers relate to a career and your learning styles too. The questions were similar but the results were not. Could it be that your answers change based on the environment that you are in when you take the test? Here is a brief summary of my results:

Guardians at Work
As a Guardian, you enjoy working as a valued member of a team, whether you are leading it or following a credible leader. You like to work with people who carry their weight. You appreciate having clear-cut responsibilities and being recognized for your dedication and achievements. Your natural traits are those that employers have traditionally valued - and that successful companies still respect. You are responsible and loyal to an organization once you've signed on.

In any environment, including your work place, you are usually focused on making people happy and facilitating harmonious relationships. You often lend "aid and comfort" by drawing on a combination of tradition, past experience, and the direction of established authority. In your ideal job, people would give of themselves and work toward the good of the group.

As a business owner I can clearly see why companies use personality tests during the hiring process. Have you ever wondered why? After tweeting about these tests I received an email from MyProfileTest.com. I was asked to take their test for a spin and give them constructive feed back. Here is a video clip and partial summary taken from their home page explaining more about the test.

What will you learn?

With My Profile Test, you not only receive your test results, you will gain access to our entire database of resources. By utilizing the wisdom of My Profile System, you will learn:

• Who the great models of your thinking profile are
• What makes you tick
• When you can best take advantage of your life's opportunities
• Where you belong in today's workforce
• How you think and operate in everyday life

These tests make complete sense! You might not be in the right career field for your personality. Employers would like you to excel in the position that you are most comfortable. If you have a personality that best fits an accounting position then you wouldn't be very happy as a sales person. It takes two different types of people for those two positions.
If you are a small business owner - Should you hire or work with your friend? Most would say this is dangerous territory for a friendship. However, if you both took these types of tests then you would have a better idea if your personalities would connect on an employment level. Take the test and find out! Guess which one I am?

Lenny the Connector

The Connector is all about the deal. Connectors are extroverted, high-octane individuals who are limitlessly resourceful. With their wit, energy, and intuition, Connectors act as the bridges in life, connecting us with people and opportunities that better our lives and relationships.

How cool is that? Do you think most bloggers are "Connectors?"  These tests not only tell you more about your own personality and where you fit into the work force but help you relate to your spouse and your children. In the F.A.Q. section you can read more of their short explanations. I'm really thinking about having my ten year old son take this test. He and I relate in different ways but I need some help figuring how he thinks. Maybe these tests will help me relate to him better. I invite you to take some of these tests and see where you fit in. After all, knowledge is power!

A Chain Reaction of Thanks Can Lead To...

A chain reaction of thanks has lead me to finally live out my dream of creating a nursery for one of my babies. It all started when I received a thank you gift card to Target from Twitter Moms creator Megan Calhoun. After I received it I had NO idea what I was going to do with it. I was thankful but set it aside.

Next if you have been reading my blog or tweets you know that Dave Ramsey has entered our home and we've made serious financial changes. I took back everything that I could back to Wal-Mart to get my money back. After all of my returns I had a total of  $85 on a Wal-Mart gift card.

For some reason last Thursday I decided to get this project started. I called my favorite online interior designer Karen A. Nelson and said, "ok I have $185.00, can we do it?" She said, "Yes! I can do it."

Here is her room when we first began.

It's pretty bland white with no art on the wall.

 

We have mix matched furniture too.

Then Karen A. Nelson brainstormed and came up with this plan for Silly's room.

First, let's get rid of the white! Off to Wal-Mart I go to buy paint.

We now have a color to work with and honestly I would not have ever chosen this color. I'm not a designer or decorator and don't really have a knack for this stuff. All I can say is, trust the designer!

Next we hit Target with Megan Calhoun's thank you gift card.

We purchased these supplies!

Next it's back to Wal-Mart for more paint.

Now to enlist my eldest daughter who has mad art skills! She even brought her own line of paints that she likes to use. We combined her paint with some paint we had in the garage from previous painting projects.

 I returned some items back to Lowe's and found a gift card with $10 on it and was able to purchase a curtain panel. I spent $5 out of pocket on this entire project.

We still needed a few more items. We found a Tinkerbell chair at Wal-Mart and still had $25 left over. We couldn't find any art work or round tables to make this work. I finally just switched out the money and went back to Target. Wal-Mart needs some serious improvement in their kids furniture. They don't have any!

Are you ready to see the finished room?

Here we go...

Behind the door is where I allowed her big brothers to leave her a painting of their own. They had to pitch in and help.

Next we have the vine around the closet door. It needs a little more work but my hubs has plans for it.

Moving right along and here you can see what happened to that table I was working on and look at her little stool as a chair. It's hard to see the curtains from Lowe's in this photo but the detail is beautiful! It is gathered at the top by butterfly wings.

The brown leather chair had to stay. My husband's father is the original owner and he used it as a reading chair. Now my husband uses it to read bed time stories to Silly. Those are her feet prints on the wall.

Now we are to the right of the room. These photos really don't do the room justice. When you are in her room you can't help but smile. I love it because she loves it. She looks adorable sitting at her table or bouncing in her crib. How can I possibly say thank you enough to all of those who have helped make this room possible? The words don't seem like they would be enough but they will have to do for now. Can you believe all the talent that went into this room? I'm just amazed. Thank you Megan, Dave, Karen & Family.

If you haven't been to Twitter Moms yet get over there and join!

If you're looking for financial intelligence listen to Dave. He makes sense.

Need a fresh gift idea? Gift Certificates are available through Karen A. Nelson's online interior design site Design With Your Dime In Mind.

Before you go, don't forget to link up! I'm sure we are in some of the same circles. Have a look around the side bars and don't forget to check the "Add Me" tab.

Dear Santa...via email?

I know what your thinking but I couldn't pass up this post. I am so curious to know what you parents think about this concept! I got this email about a free Christmas Gift Registry. Here is how this works, children tell Santa what they want for Christmas and why they should be on his "Nice List." When they do, the site sets up a secret gift registry that only their parents will know about. The registry is available for viewing by friends and family via a unique link only they have access to. Each gift registry lists all of the presents the adult or child wants to receive along with links to many online retailers, enabling quick and easy gift-giving and shipping options.
Premium options include: (This part gets me!)
Parents place children on Santa's online Naughty or Nice List for the year. Santa's Naughty and Nice List certificates commemorate a child's good or bad behavior, and are available for purchase for as little as $5.99.

(If you actually purchase something here is a code - save yourself some $)
When making a purchase, just enter the promo code "MOMSBLOG" to enjoy a 10% discount on all products sold on our partner site, http://www.yournameuniversity.com/, including the Santa Certificates and the Santa Yard Sign.

P.S. If you and your family don't celebrate Christmas, my apologies
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So what do you think about the Dear Santa via email? Here in our little town we have the Santa's Mailbox. We write Santa the old fashioned way, snail mail. Sure we are moving to higher technology and children in kindergarten are already using computers. Is this going too far? Are we preparing them for the future? That's just one thing.

What about this Naughty List? Can you really see yourself ordering a certificate for your kid? Maybe a teenager as a joke but not a little kid, at least that is my opinion. That seems like a pretty scaring certificate to receive. lol - Weigh in! Sorry for the long post but I had to give you the entire picture!

TBO Designs

While working on the 5 Minutes for Mom cyber baby shower I came across TBO Designs. Jenny Podusko offered her services as a graphic designer and wanted to know how she could participate. Seriously, I didn't think I would need her services until much later for some other projects but little did I know that I would need her today! Sunday, I went to Wal-Mart to get photos taken of my little (big) guy. He just turned one so I wanted something taken with a camera that was higher tech than a 35 mm. After working with the photographer and her trying to sell me this $300.00 package (no thank you) I asked to just get the basic package and let me buy the disk. I love to email out photos to friends and family. If I really like the pose then I will have it printed later on. The photographer tells me that there is very low light on her lens and if I would just purchase the photos then it will have perfect color. I think to myself, surely I can use photo shop and fix these myself. I bring the disk home and begin to play around. I'm not a graphic artist and I can't fix these photos. Then it occurred to me, "send them to Jenny at TBO Designs!" I emailed her all the photos and within 45 minutes and a very small fee (much smaller than the $300 picture package) these are the results! Thank you Jenny so much for fixing my photos. If anyone else out there needs graphic work done Jenny can help you. Click on the photo to be directly taken to her site. She's also getting my head of the class award!