Welcome to the Party! (Better Late than Never...)

OK, so the Ultimate Blog Party hosted by 5 Minutes for Mom started last Friday, but I'm just now sitting down to join in the fun. Can you indulge me for a moment to tell you why? Friday I was packing to head out for a weekend women's retreat at Forest Home, which was an awesome experience. Our speaker for the weekend, Jilane Hawkins, had some words of wisdom that I will desperately try to hold onto. As she talked about the difference between being hurried and being busy, I realized it's high time I read John Ortberg's The Life You've Always Wanted for a little help in committing to slowing down and loving my kids!

So that was last weekend-- what happened to Monday you say? A little side trip to Tijuana before coming back to MOPS meant not much time for blogging, much less family, on Monday.

And as for my family, they're wonderful! To put up with having Mama gone for essentially 4 days is just one more thing I love about them. To read a little bit about Other Half and our kids, Mugger and Bug, scroll on down to my "Let Me Introduce Myself" post or just click here. (By the way, I never use my family's real names in my posts to protect their privacy, so if you know them outside the blogging world, please don't either-- thanks!) And if you're curious about the blog title, keep scrolling on down to my very first post or take the shortcut here.

Take a look around if you'd like. I haven't been at this blogging thing very long, so I'm pretty sure you could read my entire blog in nothing flat! I stay busy as a part-time Spanish teacher, MOPS coordinator, wife and Mama, but for some reason I've decided to launch a little home business, too. (Like they say, if you want something done, just ask the busiest person you know...) Anyways, I've started making hairclips for my Bug and have decided to share-- if you'd like to win a pair, pop on over to Ladybug Limited and check out the scrolling photo album. To be eligible to win a pair of hairclips of your choosing, all you have to do is...

• Comment on this post
• Tell me which style you'd like to win
• Leave me a way to get in contact with you (e-mail address or your blogging profile)

I'll accept entries until the end of the Ultimate Blog Party and will draw a winner on Saturday. If I don't hear back from the winner in 3 days, I'll draw another one.

Thanks for stopping by-- and good luck!

And if I'm lucky enough to win over at the Ultimate Blog Party, my top 3 picks (in order) would be:

• The fused glass pendant from Lucky Girl Trading Co. (#90)
• The gift certificate to Mikarose from Liza's Eyeview (#54)
• The 2 Wrap-N-Mats and Chico bag from Nature Moms (#18)

If those 3 are already gone, I'd love any of the following (listed in order of preference): 7, 59, 60, 129, 140, 117, 67, 45, 123, or 24. Of course, anything I could use as a door prize at my MOPS group would be great!