You know, I’ve had the Ultimate Blog Party button on my sidebar for a few weeks, I think, but I’d forgotten it starts tomorrow! Or at midnight tonight, actually, Eastern time.

First of all, thanks to Janice and Susan for this great idea, for hosting this, and for assembling the prizes!

If you’ve not yet heard about this party, the details are here. It’s an open invitation. From the main page it says: “Everyone is invited, regardless of parental status, gender, religious affiliations, etc. This party is about having fun with friends and meeting new people.” So join right in!

Since we are all also hosting each other, I guess this is something like a progressive dinner, huh? Well, come on in, have some munchies and something to drink, and have a seat. I’m glad to have you visit. 🙂

Let me tell you a little bit about myself. This is the last year I’ll be able to say I’m 40-something. 😯 I’ve been married for 27 years to my husband, Jim, and we have 3 boys, ages 22, 19, and 13. None has left the nest yet though my oldest is perched on the edge. I don’t even want to think about it yet. Here are my guys:

That was the first picture I took with the digital camera they got me for my birthday last summer.

I have been able to be a stay-at-home mom since I was expecting my oldest, for which I am very thankful. I enjoy working with the ladies’ group at church, reading (I often talk about what I’m reading and I try to keep a reading list on my sidebar), writing, decorating, and I’ve just been getting back into crafting in the last few months, inspired by some of the beautiful craft blogs I’ve discovered. I made a separate craft blogroll over on the side.

My little corner of the Internet is kind of a hodgepodge eclectic. Though I am a mom and love to chat with other moms, I didn’t want this to be exclusively a mom blog. I like to talk about a little bit about many things, thus the title “Stray Thoughts.” I’m first of all a Christian, and my relationship with Christ is the center, the hub that connects everything else. I just wrote 5 reasons I blog recently, but the main one is that I hope I can be an encouragement to others, other women in particular. I don’t really consider myself an expert in anything, but hopefully I can share what I have learned along the way as well as learn from others. And I like to have fun, too. 🙂

I participate regularly in the weekly Psalms Sundays, Tackle-It-Tuesday,  Works-For-Me Wednesday, and the Saturday Photo Scavenger Hunt. From time to time I also do a Thursday Thirteen and a Wordless Wednesday. Other than those, my posts are made up of my “stray thoughts.” 😀

I hope you’ll come back to visit again, and I am looking forward to visiting you as well! Please do leave a comment to let me know you stopped by. 🙂

Saw this at Erica’s and tried it out:

What Donut Are You?

I don’t know about the tough exterior, but everything else sounds about right. 🙂

I saw this at Blest with sons — a quiz to determine which race of Middle Earth you belong to. The results gave me a chuckle.

To which race of Middle Earth do you belong?

Entish Take this quiz!

Sorry this is so fuzzy! It was floating around in an e-mail between my husband’s colleagues as they were trying to decide what to do about opening the plant in our slushy weather.

Janice at 5 Minutes for Mom is having a contest! She is giving away a cute little heart necklace or gift certificate from Alli’s Originals. There is some really cute stuff there. Click here for contest details.

My husband and I had intended to buy our kids a Wii gaming system for Christmas, but there were none to be had. He had been checking stores ever since Christmas, unbeknownst to our kids, and surprised us all by coming home with one Saturday. He got it from a place in town that gave coupons for one free game or video rental a month for a year with the purchase of a Wii, so that’s helpful. It’s nice to be able to try out games before shelling out the big bucks for them.

The Wii, if you don’t know, has sensors that are somehow able to translate your movements to the screen. So instead of just pushing buttons, you have to actually make the moves with your arms. The one game we got (or maybe it was included, I don’t know) was Wii Sports, which had tennis, bowling, baseball, etc., and so you had to actually make a swinging motion with your arms, holding the controller like a bat. It definitely gets players off the couch!

Normally I don’t play video games at all. There is something about the colors or lights and movement or something that really bothers my eyes. Then there’s the annoying music. But I was able to play Wii bowling and enjoy it — I even made the highest score so far for the family. 🙂 My kids seemed to be tickled that I was actually playing a video game.

Something else that’s fun is that you can make up the little character that you play, called a Mii — choose eye color, hair style, etc. You can make it look like yourself or like someone totally different. I was amazed at how much Jeremy’s looked like him — it was so funny. I want to try to get a picture of him and his Mii later. (At the kids’ urging, I named my character Mommii. 🙂 )

So — I guess I know what everyone’s spare moments will be occupied with over the next few days!