It Rocked My Socks.....

So I get excited over the little things, like getting unexpected packages in the mail. How exciting it was to get this clean white heavy box in the mail. When I opened it up, to my surprise there were three, yes three, full size bottles of new Palmolive Fresh Infusions dish soap to try! How cool is that? I was totally expecting sample size.

Now I don't usually get giddy over dish soap, but I was impressed by these scents. The three scents I received were: Lemon Thyme, Lime Basil, and Ginger White Tea. Oh my goodness. It was tough to decide which one I wanted to "gift" to a friend as instructed. But in the end, I mailed the Ginger White Tea to my Mama to try.

When it came to scent, the Lime Basil was a clear winner with me. It just smells clean. I don't know any other way to describe it.

I was very impressed with the consistency of the soap too. Does that seem weird? Well, I don't know about you, but I get really annoyed when liquid dish soap is too much liquid and not enough soap? Just seems watered down and like it's not going to get the job done. No problem with that here! This stuff rocks. Well, as much as dish soap can rock. ;)

I thought for sure this was going to come with a premium price tag, but around $3.00 for a 16 ounce bottle, I feel it's an incredible value.

Have you tried any new household items lately that have just rocked your socks off? I'd love to hear!!

Disclaimer: I received this product complimentary for testing purposes from Influenster.

Blog Burnout

It's official. I have a case of "blog burnout."

I'm not sure if it's my recent desire to keep my personal life off the internet. (There is scary stuff going on every day in this wicked world!)

Or maybe it's the fact that life is just so busy, but to say I'm feeling uninspired is an understatement.

I pull up Blogger and tell myself, you need to come up with a post. But why?

Life has a way of taking priority. Sometimes I have a great idea for a good post and that is when I enjoy blogging. I don't like when it feels like a chore. I hate that "I haven't posted something in a week, or I'll be forgotten soon" feeling.

I think I've come to grips, I'm not going to ever be a professional blogger. You will not see new content from me every day. What you will see is yummy recipes, fun tutorials, and some occasional humourous personal posts. Am I a dork that my favorite posts are those that make me laugh when I read them back to myself? Yeah, probably so. #don'tcare #dork4life

For a little while now I've been living full on vegetarian / nearly vegan (I have had yogurt). When I say a little while, I mean the past 9 days. It was rough at first, but I'm getting the hang of it. So you may be seeing some vegetarian recipes coming up! And if you have any you'd like to suggest, I'd love to hear!

P.S. I totally lost 6 lbs in 8 days!! Which has me pretty stoked. =)

The Last Year of My 20's.....

So tomorrow I turn 29. Awhile back I posted a 29 in 29 post.

Since then I'm pretty sure I've knocked a few things off the list thought maybe I'd make some changes....

1.) Take our daughter to the zoo. Probably Oregon Zoo, or the one in Seattle.

2.) Run in a 5k. Maybe even a half marathon.. we'll see.

3.) Hit 250 followers on the blog. Well, here we are at 226 already, so I'm bumping this goal. By this time next year, my goal is 500! Dream big!

4.) Expand "The Rogue Baby" shop beyond Etsy. Almost there! theroguebaby.com is nearly up and running.

5.) Payoff debt. 3 year plan to be debt free baby! Gonna stick to it! Yeah, the new $3000 TV probably didn't help with this huh? Still a goal, and a good one, it's gonna stay!

6.) Finish our remodel on our house. Cannot wait for the master bedroom redo.

7.) Go to an IMAX movie.

8.) Go to an Oregon Ducks game.

9.) Reach my goal weight! This one is a toughie and a constant struggle. I hope to be 125 lbs by my 30th birthday. I know it's going to take a lot of work, but I feel like it's something I absolutely must do for myself.

10.) Learn to make eggs benedict.

11.) Go kayaking more often.

12.) Re-learn to sew! So many pinterest projects await my regaining this ability.

13.) Focus on family time. My daughter will only be this young once.

14.) Read my bible daily.

15.) Put together an emergency preparedness kit. Seriously, been meaning to do that forever and keep procrastinating.

16.) Organize my filing cabinet, ha ha, yeah, this is the least likely to happen of all.

17.) Get my crafting / shop space more functional. Crafting room makeover / overhaul.

18.) Celebrate our 10 year wedding anniversary somewhere special (Sept. 2013)

19.) Buy more shoes! A girl can never have too many.

20.) Try brussel sprouts. Weird, right? I've just never tried them. Hear they are awful, but how I can possibly turn 30 not knowing the taste of brussel sprouts!?!?

21.) Read a book from cover to cover. No biggie you say? Well, it is. Since my daughter was born, I have yet to accomplish this.. says the girl who once read all 4 Twilight books in a row in under 72 hours....

22.) Take our daughter to see airplanes. She loves "Pair-Planes". I would love to take her to an aviation museum!

23.) Grow a garden. Zucchini, tomatoes, strawberries, etc. Next summer!

24.) Finally get the windows tinted on my car. Owned it for 3 1/2 years, and each summer I say I will, and I never do.

25.) Take our daughter to see snow this winter. It's something I took for granted growing up in the Northwest, but here, we don't see much of it. Will be a blast to take her to the snow to play.

26.) Spend my first night ever away from our daughter. I know, I know, it's gotta happen someday. Cut the cord Mama!!! I think it will be tougher on her than me at this point.

27.) Do something drastic with my hair. Warning: this may occur sooner... I am getting very anxious for some change.

28.) Have movie marathon weekends! Star Wars, Back to the Future, The Lord of the Rings, etc. How fun would that be?

29.) Go camping more often!

Really, I think these are all pretty good... and all worth reaching. I hope to post progress every other month or so. =) I am going to embrace my final year of being in my 20's and enter my 30's feeling happy, accomplished, and not even remotely "old."

Here's to 366 more days of being a twenty-something.

I spoke too soon... and the winners are....

Congratulations to:

Chelsea T. - Winner of the $5 shop credit.

Lori M. - Winner of the Rogue Baby headband.

Jenn K. - Winner of the Hair Clippies.

Lena B. - Winner of the Ad Space.

Emails have gone out! Thank you all for entering and helping to celebrate my one year shop anniversary. There is still time to visit our Facebook page and get additional entries into Friday's raffle.

Winner Winner Chicken Dinner!

So, this post should be announcing our lovely winners for the giveaway. But Rafflecopter apparently has other plans. I've been trying for a couple hours now to get the "results" but I assure you, they will be announced ASAP. Keep an eye out in your inbox though, as winners will be contacted via email. =)

So since I can't announce the winners yet, how about some shameless self promotion ideas of what to buy if you win The Rogue Baby shop credit. New to the shop this week:

It's ok.....

Do you ever have to repeat this to yourself? It's ok. Everything is going to be ok. It WILL be ok.

I am just having a heck of a week, and felt like it's time to remind myself, it's all ok.

It's ok.... that I would rather be at home with my little girl today than at work.

It's ok.... that I feel like a terrible Mama when dropping her off at school and she cries and cries and doesn't want me to go. Let me be sad, ok. Don't tell me it's part of being a working Mama. I will never not be sad about this.

It's ok.... that I still don't know if my full time job will be here next week or next month. Everyone else I work with is in the same boat. It sucks. It's part of being part of the corporate world mid-merger. Not a darn thing I can do about it.

It's ok.... that I let my daughter have dino bites (chicken nuggets basically) for dinner two nights in a row. She wanted them, and requested to have brocolli with them. Really not that bad...

It's ok.... that I haven't worked on the new shop website at all this week. It will come in time.

It's ok.... that I haven't had a sale on Etsy in 3 days. I need to quit obsessing and realize, it may never be my day job. #facereality

It's ok....to just whine and complain sometimes!

And It's also ok.... to listen. Like you just have my friends. =)

Laughter is the best medicine

You know what sucks?

When your Tuesday is also your Monday.

Don't get me wrong, I love the 3 day weekend a Federal holiday brings me. Not that I feel we really need to acknowledge Columbus and his, hmm... accomplishments?

But the Tuesday that follows, is always the Montueday from H-E-L-L!

So what better way to shrug it off than with some humor.

Want more? Head on over to Lena B, Actually and check out some more fabulous ecards.

Giveaway: Happy Shop-iversary to Me!

Today marks the one year annivesary of my shop. The Rogue Baby. I'm proud of that. It started as a hobby, but over the past 6 months, I've really focused on making it more than that. Working full time outside the home, being Mama to a 2 year old, playing housewife, honestly doesn't leave much time for me. But it's worth it! Totally worth it!

It's my dream.

Someday, I hope to make it my "job."

It's silly, on Sept. 1st, I set out to hit 100 orders before my one year anniversary, meaning 100 total orders in the 1 year. The task seemed out of reach, since I started September with around 60 orders, but on Oct. 3 we hit our 100 order mark and have since surpassed it. I feel so blessed and hope it continues!

As things have began to pick up, I've been more aware of things like profit margin. And how much Etsy is eating into that profit margin. So I did research and decided on something.

I have something real exciting to announce!

I'm thrilled to say, theroguebaby.com is opening soon for business!!! I will still have some items on Etsy, but the bulk of my products will be on the new web page. And with that, I will be adding many fun new items as well.

I'm also happy to say we will be introducing a new line called "The Rogue Mama." I am so excited to be offering some fabulous accessory choices for Mama's now too. So many changes in the upcoming months.

I am so excited for what this will bring in the future, and it's one step closer to realizing my dream.

Also, in honor of this happy occassion, how about a giveaway?

Dear Daughter,

Dear Daughter,

This past weekend, we sold your crib. And as the excited Mom-to-be drove away, I couldn't help but feel a little sad. Our baby days are over. No more for us. One and done.

You're growing up. Way too fast.

Please slow it down, a little bit. Just for me?

Two years ago this month, we had your 6 month photo shoot, and it feels like yesterday.

I decided to take some advice from Barney Stinson though.

"When I feel sad, I stop being sad, and start being awesome."

So here goes...

I love that you have your own little personality and we can now have real conversations with each other.

I love your imagination. Sure, that's a robot sleeping in a tree. I see it too.

I love that when asked what you want to do today, you will 99% of the time say "Go Shopping." Shopping buddies for life baby!

I love that you can make me laugh when I am most frustrated, sad, disappointed... You're so silly and sweet.

I love your popsicle dance.

I love that you say the color white as "wipe."

I love that you still need "Mama" when you wake up in the middle of the night.

I love that you are so cuddly. Please don't grow out of that any time soon.

Most of all, Ella Bella Boo Boo Bear, I hope you know how much Mama loves you. And how proud I am to be your Mama!

Hello, I'm Ricki and I'm a geek...

I don't think I hide it very well.

I'm pretty sure my "geekery" is right there on my sleeve.

Yeah, I still climb trees...

Two words. The Hobbit. Can't wait for December.

I'd rather watch my husband play Assassins Creed, Skyrim, or some other game with a story line than any movie resembling Sex and the City or the likes.

I've seen every Star Wars movie more times than I can count.

I was a straight A student and still love to be academically challenged. Pop geology quiz, sweeeeet, I'm there! I am full of useless knowledge.

The only marathon I've ever participated in is the movie type. All 3 extended edition Lord of the Rings movies in one day? That's what I call 14 hours of fantastic!

I would totally go to the "Magical world of Harry Potter" theme park if given the chance.

I have stayed up reading a new book until 4am on more than one occassion, and feel "sad" when a beloved series ends.

I've used Yoda speak on more than one occassion in daily life. Talk this way at work I have.

I would totally rock a decepticon or autobot sticker on my car.

I renamed our shop vac "R2-D-tard." We seriously bought one of the cheapest and most worthless ones.

I would totally name my dog after a fictional character. Here Dobby! Yeah, I'm feeling that.

Wanna find out who else is a geek?? Be sure to go check out the Tuesday 10 tomorrow morning at Mom2MemphisandRuby.