I have an iphone 3G that is a couple of years old. When I first got it, I did not have a child and bought a simple clear snap-on case. The trouble was that I usually drive with my phone in my lap (so that if it rings I can answer it easily without having to dig in my purse while driving) and occasionally I would get out of my car and it would fall and hit the pavement, resulting in the case popping off and open. Once my child started getting bigger, I started thinking about stories I had heard friends tell of how their child had dropped their phone in the toilet or chewed on it until it had residual water damage. I decided maybe I needed a better case, so I got an Otterbox. These are pretty pricy at the apple store or the cell phone store. Even the kiosks in the mall that are probably knockoffs are pretty expensive. But I found it on amazon for somewhere near $25. (The one pictured is for the iPhone 4s so it is a little different than mine which is for the older phone.)

Pros:

-Cute color!

-Comes with a belt clip, which I don’t use, but I see how it could be beneficial.

-It has a screen protector.

-It is well protected when dropped.

Cons:

-It can’t fit on a dock without taking off the case, which is two parts.

-The screen occasionally has a little bit of smudge on it, due to the screen sticking to the cover. I read something online about baby powder to fix it, but I haven’t tried it.

My Otterbox has held up really well and I highly recommend them to people who have children or just think their phone gets a lot of wear and tear.

My rating: 5 out of 5 stars

1. I am starting my 1000 gifts list again. It feels like a lot when you are on 15. I have started at least twice before, but those lists are in other places. I would copy down my first few, but I just got a new journal to start them in and so that would be a pain.

2. An exerpt from utmost.org: “Jealously guard your relationship with God. Jesus prayed “that they may be one just as We are one”-with nothing in between (John 17:22). Keep your whole life continually open to Jesus Christ. Don’t pretend to be open with Him. Are you drawing your life from any source other than God Himself?” I need to work on guarding it and not letting it wane. It is easy to just say, oh I will do my quiet time later, but later never comes. Or feel like skipping one day will be okay. But for me that means it is hard to remember the next day. And where do I draw my life from? My husband? My child? Shopping? Eating a good meal? None of these are okay.

3. Matthew 13:58 says “⁵⁸ And he did not do many miracles there because of their lack of faith.” Sometimes people ask or talk about why we don’t see miracles nowadays like they did in Bible times. Maybe this is why. He doesn’t do them here because we don’t have faith that he will.

4. I am trying to pre-plan blogging topics on google calendar. Maybe this will help me actually write more! Comments will probably also make me write more, hint, hint!

5. Are you on goodreads? If so, tell me your username so I can see what you read.

6. Today I had the extremes. An awful meal from a fast food place and an excellent meal that I had made at home. It was a good reminder of the way it should be. I feel like it wasn’t that long ago that I used to really crave and always think fast food/restaurant food was better. That made it hard to cook at home, when I was thinking a certain thing would be really good. Today was a nice reminder that the things I can create easily at home, for less money, and with much greater health benefits, really does suit my tastebuds better anyway. (It was a chicken strip dinner from Sonic. They DO NOT HAVE my favorite thing there anymore, the crispy chicken sandwich. It is now a chicken STRIP sandwich. Yuck! What is the point of that, they will just fall off the sandwich?! And the tots were soggy and the gravy was not mixed well. Such a disappointment!) (The good meal was homemade beef stew, cornbread, and sweet tea!)

7. Pigtails are cute.

Find more “7 Quick Takes” here.

I don’t know if this happens to you or not, but several times through out the day I find myself thinking of something that would be great to blog about but I only remember it for like 2.1 seconds. So it never makes it. And as I was just perusing some blogs, it occurred to me that I usually read other people’s blogs before trying to write my own post, and then I just have their words in my head and it kind of blocks the creativity of me writing on my own. I think this is the general gist of some of my thoughts:

There have been several moments lately where I am SO glad to be E’s mommy and to have the privilege to stay home with her. When well rested and fed, she is such a happy girl! She loves to giggle and she is a clown. She does things to make you laugh. She wants you to tickle her so she will laugh. She has such a happy and expressive face. Her ringlets of blonde hair are beautiful. She is full of energy, walking and running and sitting and moving, emptying and filling and talking.

She likes to help me by putting clothes in or out of the dryer. The other day she was sitting in her high chair in the kitchen and she pointed to the laundry room and says “I Mommy”. Which I took to mean “I want to go in the laundry room and help mommy with the clothes.” So I asked her if she wanted to do that and she said vigorously while nodding “un-huh!”

She loves to be outside. Today we ate lunch outside. She had so much fun looking at the trees, spying a squirrel, hearing doggies bark, meowing at our kitty in the window, eating the topping off her pizza. Then she roamed around in the yard for a while. I bought her some black rubber boots this morning so that she could do whatever outside here or at her grandparents house and I wouldn’t worry that her cute sparkly pink tennis shoes would be getting too dirty. She loves them, as she loves all boots. She calls them “butts”. Like in the movie Nemo where the fish mispronounces boat as butt and says “I’m gonna go touch the butt!”

So, I know, yesterday’s post was random compared to the serious posts of the previous days! Let’s just say that it relates to the new year’s goal of eating better. And on that note…

Here are a few sites that have good resources for eating healthy:

$5 dinner mom’s index of recipes

100 days of real food blog

e-mealz

What tips do you have for eating healthier?

I came across these tips and thought they were super interesting and practical! Maybe they will work for you!

How to peel a potato without a knife or potato peeler

How to chop an onion without crying

Yesterday’s post was a little direct perhaps in sticking to your resolutions. I read this post over at incourage that I thought was interesting that talked about allowing yourself grace in accomplishing goals. (It is perhaps also a thinly veiled sales pitch, but still a good word.)

Last year, I read the book The Happiness Project, by Gretchen Rubin, and I really liked it. She talked about how judging from her status in life (married with two kids and a good job and good socio-economic status and good health, etc) she should be a pretty happy person, but she found herself often unhappy. So she set things that she was going to try to do throughout the year to improve her quality of life. Now, she leaves out the biggest factor of life, I think, in not talking about faith in Christ (I don’t remember what she said about faith and if anything at all), but I did like the book anyway. She sets out an overarching ideal for each month and then sets goals related to that ideal to accomplish each month. I think it is a wise idea to try to spread out change over a period of time instead of expecting to change every area of your life at the same time.

So I still didn’t get too many comments, what are you hoping to accomplish this year?