Monthly Archives: January 2011

Just a Motivating Monday ~ Forgiveness

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I LOVE inspiring things to motivate me and I thought what better of a day to read inspiration than on dreadful Mondays. If you would like to write something you think will inspire or motivate others PLEASE grab the button and link up!! I’d love to read your words and I’m sure that others would as well!

This week I’m stealing from myself. This post has a portion of an old post that was originally posted for Just a Motivating Monday back on November 16, 2009. I stole the main jist of it and am going to add a different, updated final thought at the end. With that said……..

Everybody has been hurt by someone they love. Or maybe you hurt someone you love. The point is… we have to be able to forgive in our heart.

President Hinckley of the LDS Church once said in an article:

“Somehow forgiveness, with love and tolerance, accomplishes miracles that can happen in no other way.”

I know it is so hard at times to forgive people, but are you perfect? Have you gone through your whole life not doing a thing wrong to someone? Have you been forgiven? Forgiving somebody, especially yourself can be one of the hardest things in this world to do. But if you are virtuous and want to be forgiven, you yourself MUST do this.


Tips to Forgive~


  • Pray to Heavenly Father and ask Him for His help. He can soften your heart and help you to forgive.
  • Get rid of the bitterness. If you’re still plotting out ways to get even the forgiving process is no where near.
  • Once you have forgiven, let it go. Don’t hold on to it, because that’s holding a grudge… which does not mean you have forgiven.
  • Don’t focus so much on the negative things that have happened to you. If you are focusing on the positive things in your life, and the positive things people have done for you, you will be able to forgive the negative things easier. There’s no point in holding on to negativity when there’s so much positivity to welcome into your heart.
  • You need to remember that when you are forgiving, it’s for you. It’s not for the person that did you wrong, but it is for you and your exaltation. It’s a process you must go through, and you will be forgiving others for you.

A very good friend of mine… you can find her on twitter @jenhoehne contributed to this post by saying:

“I think that forgiveness is one of those words like “love” that people use loosley. To truly forgive someone means you have let go of any ill will and no longer harbor feelings of anger or angst toward another person.


Forgiving ourselves goes hand in hand with forgiving others. We are often times harder on ourselves than the person or people we have wronged. Forgiving others means letting go of hurt they have caused you and forgiving yourself is learning to love yourself after you have caused another person pain. Both are crutial in the eternal realm of this life and critical to our salvation and prosperity hereafter.”

My Final Thoughts ~

I have people, very close people, do me wrong.  They’ve said things to me that stabbed me in the heart and at one point I thought I’d never want them back in my life again.  Reading my final thoughts from this post back in 2009 made me smile at who I’ve become and grown into.  I have a lot of forgiveness in my heart, because I know that I’m not perfect.  I know that horrible things can be said and done ~ but today can also be the first day of the rest of your life.  Today can be a fresh start with a clear heart.  None of us are perfect.  You are not perfect.  I am not perfect.  We can grow from our mistakes, and we can start fresh today.

That is the beauty of forgiveness.

I’m traveling down a road of forgiveness and it feels so good.  I’m even letting go of hurt feelings that I’ve clung onto for many years towards my dad.  I’m forgiving and growing my relationship with him with a fresh slate.  It feels amazingly wonderful.

I hope that this post in some way will inspire you to start on the road of forgiveness ~ most importantly for yourself.




2 Months

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Today my precious grouchy pants is 2 months old.

It’s so amazing to see differences in your children’s personalities even at a VERY early age.

Aliyah is definitely my grouchiest baby yet.

Don’t get me wrong, she’s an absolute joy to be around…. but she’s grouchy! She’d rather put on her angry face than smile.

We even call her Rumple Grumpy Pants at times…….

OH but let me tell you…. her smile will warm you to the very core!

IMG_9404

Digitally Organize Your Life with AboutOne {GIVEAWAY!!}

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One of my weird guilty pleasures is watching the show Hoarders.  I cringe when it’s over and rush to whatever things I’m hoarding and start throwing it all away.  Well, that is until it

comes to all the paper stuff.  You know, the kids’ artwork, the awards my son received from school, the papers the pediatrician gives me after each doctor’s appointment informing me about where my children are on the charts.  These types of things I hoard.  I’m here to come out and admit… I’m a hoarder.

I know I’m not the only one, because YOU…. yes, YOU reading this right now… I know you have artwork of your kid that you’re clinging onto because it’s JUST TOO CUTE to toss.  You, my friend, are also a hoarder.

Can you believe that there’s hope for us?  I came across About One a few days ago and I’m not over exaggerating when I say MY LIFE HAS CHANGED.  I have been scanning, and uploading and TOSSING.  I’m scanning things like my son’s awards he received when he was in public school, artwork that I just can’t part with, our birth certificates so that they are ALWAYS accessible.  That’s just the beginning.  I’m uploading these things in the most organized way I think I’ve ever seen.

AboutOne.com is a secure online service that makes it easier for moms to manage family life by providing one convenient location to quickly and easily store and manage family memories (text, photos and videos) and household information (health, possession, and education records, contacts and more) and providing the ability to access this data, at home or away, with a computer, cell phone, or other web-enabled device.

AboutOne is much more than just a digital filing cabinet. It also makes your information useful on a daily basis with time saving features like automatically created family newsletters (including text, video, and artwork) and caregiver instructions, paper greeting cards that mail themselves, and more.

It was designed to save time through fast and easy data entry with your phone, a scanner, or computer. There’s no need to enter history. You just open your account and, in seconds, enter info as life happens – document your baby’s first steps, scan a household receipt, record an idea in your gift log. Plus, AboutOne serves as your organizational GPS, guiding you along the path to organization with advice and suggestions.

With AboutOne, you’ll also have the information you need, right at your fingertips, to make informed decisions and respond quickly to a medical or other emergency.

This short video shows why moms love AboutOne.com: VIDEO

My Favorite Features:

You can create files for all of your friends and contacts and upload documents to them.  You can also create a gift log for them, and keep track of gift ideas you have for them throughout the year.  Major bonus in this is you can create files for all of your stores you go to, and then scan your receipts into the documents section and TOSS THAT RECEIPT!!!!  Tossing makes this hoarder HAPPY!

With one click of the mouse a monthly newsletter can be created to send or email to your friends and family.  This newsletter compiles all the information you fed into your profile for the month including pictures, milestones, memories, basically whatever you choose to share and sends it off to your friends and family to keep them in the loop of your life.

Aboutone can automatically make a hardcover memory book including pictures, memories, and milestones.  This is my DREAM! I love the idea of doing a yearly scrapbook, but I’m busy and it just doesn’t happen.  And Christmas cards?  Um… woops didn’t send any out this year.  Yup, you can have Aboutone take care of that for you.  You just pay for the stamp and the card.

My daughter has a heart condition and in order for us to leave her with anybody I have to write out this long spill about what to look for, her cardiologists information, her pediatrician’s information, oh and all the information about the medication that she has to take every 8 hours.  Aboutone has a printables section that will print all of that information out for the babysitter.  Actually, Aboutone gives even more information than I ever would have thought about.

SECURITY

At first I was a little hesitant about putting so much of my information online, but then I read on their site:  We use the same technologies and practices that banks and other financial institutions use to protect customer information.

That is just the beginning.  I highly suggest going and reading about all of the amazing steps Aboutone has gone to secure your information.  It honestly has me feel secure enough to upload copies of my social security cards, birth certificates, and other highly confidential documents.  You can read all about it {HERE}

When I read all about Aboutone I instantly thought it was going to be at least $100/year… honestly.  I think it’s a dream come true.  So when I read that it’s only $5.00/month or $30.00/year I called my husband at work stumbling over my words with excitement.  Aboutone will even give you a 17 day FREE passport to try it out.  People…. this is a STEAL!

Even better than that…… I have an annual subscription to giveaway to one of my readers!!

TO ENTER GIVEAWAY:

All you have to simply do is leave a comment

EXTRA ENTRIES {Make sure you leave an extra comment for each extra entry}:

Become a fan of Aboutone on {facebook}

Follow Aboutone on {twitter}

Follow Enchanting Havoc blog

Become a fan of Enchanting Havoc on {Facebook}

Follow Enchanting Havoc on {twitter}

You can tweet about this giveaway once a day

Enter to win a year subscription to @Aboutone from @Enchantinghavoc. http://tinyurl.com/4l83deh Digitally organize your life!!

THIS GIVEAWAY ENDS AT 11:59PM PST ON SUNDAY, JANUARY 30, 2011.  I WILL DRAW A WINNER ON JANUARY 31, 2011.

** This is what is working for me ** Linked up for {Works for Me Wednesday}

I hate….

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It’s no secret that I’m not a fan of my in-laws.

I hate the drama that comes along with them.

I hate how they are always assuming I’m thinking one way, when they have no idea how I think or feel.

I hate how there’s always tension when they’re around.

I hate how I will never have the respect for them that I should have.

I hate how we will never be this happy, close family. Because even when I open my heart up, they find a way to get me to slam it shut towards them.

And I hate how my husband’s father just found out he has cancer.

What do you do when someone who no matter what doesn’t like you? My entire 10 years with my husband his family has had this attitude towards me like I think I’m too good for them. I don’t think this. My only issues are that they don’t put my children as a priority in their lives, and now look…. my kids’ grandpa could possibly be dying. My children love my in-laws…. LOVE THEM. I’ve never ONCE intended to EVER keep my children from them, but they think I always have this motive. They are the ones that put them on the back burner.

I hate having conditional family. I hate that if I speak up for myself I’m hated.

But even more so, I hate that my husband’s father is sick.

Just a Motivating Monday ~ Martin Luther King Jr.

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I LOVE inspiring things to motivate me and I thought what better of a day to read inspiration than on dreadful Mondays. If you would like to write something you think will inspire or motivate others PLEASE link up!! I’d love to read your words and I’m sure that others would as well!

Sorry I’m late here, but last night and today were so difficult with little Aliyah so I’m just now getting to posting something inspiring for your Monday.  Aliyah’s doing okay, she just decided to boycott eating throughout the night and a majority of the morning.  It was unenjoyable for the both of us.

My cousin Angel has been posting some great quotes from Martin Luther King Jr. and I thought I’d steal them and use them today.

“Faith is taking the first step even when you don’t see the whole staircase.” ~ Martin Luther King Jr.~

Trust me, faith is a hard one.  It’s not something that’s an easy thing to pick up, but it’s something that is an absolute blessing to have in your life.

“Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.” ~ Martin Luther King Jr.

“Love is the only force capable of transforming an enemy into friend.” ~ Martin Luther King Jr.

I hope these quotes inspire you in some wonderful way.  Martin Luther King Jr. was an amazing man and his words are so powerful.

Don’t forget that if you have written an inspiring post, PLEASE grab button, spread the word that Motivating Monday does go on and link up!!

6 Weeks of Bliss

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Dear Aliyah,

You’re 6 weeks today. It’s happening, you know… when I blink and you start growing.  You’re not even looking “new born” in your face anymore.  Your little body says something differently though.  Your little body is the one thing I still can say is like a newborn.

3 days ago you were weighed and you were only 8.1lbs.  That’s itty bitty still!

You’re spoiled…. already.  You know when you’re not being held and how to spit your pacifier out and make yourself cry in ways I didn’t know a little 8lber knew how.  The SECOND that you are picked up, you compose yourself and are completely fine.  Oh, and did I mention that we fall for it EVERY. SINGLE. TIME.

You have a love for your dad already that is mind blowing.  You actually coo at him and give him more smiles than me.  Speaking of first smiles, yours was on January 2nd.  For some reason you’re my little scowler though; you’d rather scowl at us then smile.  You actually rarely smile.  BUT your face makes us all smile!

I realized it was your 6 week birthday and grabbed the camera to snap a couple pictures

Have I mentioned that this little face has a way of melting me to the very core?

And in this picture I can actually see a resemblance to my family ~ can you believe it?!

I still don’t even mind when you wake me up in the middle of the night

BUT when trying to take pictures of a little baby girl, you can be sure that the older sister is going to have to get in on this action!

The two of you together = PURE, RAW, AMAZING BEAUTY!

She has to hold you literally ALL THE TIME. I’m happy you’re not so floppy and fragile {well, you still are just not as much as in the beginning} because I feel a bit better about putting you into her oh so loving hands.

When she hugs you like this, with her eyes closed, it’s like she’s soaking you up into her heart.

And when she kisses you on your cheek, it makes me want to just grab you both and hug you tight and close eyes and soak you both in.

And when I attempt to take you from your big sister, this is the look I get.

Just a Motivating Monday ~ Attitude

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I LOVE inspiring things to motivate me and I thought what better of a day to read inspiration than on dreadful Mondays. If you would like to write something you think will inspire or motivate others PLEASE link up!! I’d love to read your words and I’m sure that others would as well!

Attitude determines how much of the future we are allowed to see. It decides the size of our dreams and influences our determination when we are faced with new challenges. No other person on earth has dominion over our attitude. People can affect our attitude by teaching us poor thinking habits or unintentionally misinforming us, or providing us with negative sources of influence, but no one can control our attitude unless we voluntarily surrender that control. ~ Jim Rohn

I think my favorite part of the about quote is No other person on earth has dominion over our attitude. Our attitudes are the one thing that we have COMPLETE control over. When our attitudes turn sour, there is no one to blame but ourselves. We are so fortunate to be able to rise above the norm and compose ourselves with an good attitude even towards the crappiest things, because it’s our choice….. that’s it!  We can choose to have a good attitude or a bad attitude.  Choosing bad only hurts us, so why not choose a good attitude and thrive?

Last week was not a good week for me. Actually, I think the past few weeks have been rather difficult. Saturday I woke up and here’s a snippet from my personal facebook page:

Amanda Reese Garibay
Raspberry hot chocolate, a better attitude than I had yesterday {by choice 😉 or maybe an effect of the hot chocolate} Today IS going to be a good day.
Yesterday at 10:27 · · Like · Comment

I made the conscious decision that my attitude was going to change and my day was going to be much better than the prior days were, and you know what ~ it worked. Saturday was a fantastic day! The main thing that I focused on all day was how I was feeling, the minute I started feeling annoyed or upset or anything along those line I checked my attitude. Our feelings are an amazing hint to our attitude.

With the right attitude we can conquer just about anything.

And as Andy Andrews said:

A positive attitude will make you feel better. And it will annoy enough people to really make it worth the effort!

even miss positivity has her moments

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I sat down last night and typed out a very heartfelt post.  If you’ve ever read my Pour Your Heart Out posts before this was the topper of pouring it all out.  I hit publish, closed the computer and went to bed.  And it’s not here.  It’s not in my drafts…. it’s just GONE.

I’ve been going through different emotions lately and I’m starting to realize that these feelings are more than likely due to postpartum.  I get this rush of emotions and I can’t decipher if it’s a good thing or a bad thing.  At times I really think that the emotions I’m feeling are happiness, and other times I think it’s anxiety.  I despise anxiety and really hope that I’m not getting anxiety issues again.

I’m starting to come to the realization that I might possibly have ADHD.  I am constantly noticing symptoms of this and one of the biggest ones is changing subjects mid sentence.  I am notorious for this.  I have other symptoms as well, actually a lot, but the changing subjects mid sentence is highly annoying.  I don’t even know how to go about getting tested for this and really don’t even want to.  But I’m noticing, and that’s a start to a solution, right?

I miss my sister.

I miss her so much that it hurts.  But I miss the girl that was my sister unconditionally and believed me over girls that scream drama.  I miss the girl that I would spend hours throughout my day on the phone with.  I miss the girl that would call me for advice on parenting among other things.  I miss my sister, and I’m sad that my sister is probably not even the same girl as she was before.  It’s been over a year since we’ve talked.  While my heart has hurt through the whole thing, I know her’s hasn’t even been phased.  I will never understand how you could ever put anybody over your own sister…. never.  Sisters are supposed to be forever.

Today I went back to church.  It’s been about year since I was consistently going and today was the beginning of me getting back into that.  I have to be there not only for me, not only for my family, but for my children.  They need this in their lives.  The need the gospel to be a constant thing that is always there and always in their lives.  With how much dysfunction we have in our family, there’s no stability there. Especially with the crap that my inlaws recently pulled and then cut us and our children out of their lives forever because they have no sense of respect for space or family ~ perfect example of DYSFUNCTION All our kids have is us and the gospel and we have to be as constant as we possibly can.  I wish that my children had the blessing of this big, happy family, but they don’t.  It’s something we will eventually build together, but until then it’s just us and our happiness.  At least they have a happy home, right?

I know that I really push positivity on my blog, and every once in a while I put a little peek into my dysfunctional world on here ~ it’s the havoc in my enchanting life.  If I didn’t strive so hard and focus on positive things I would probably be in a very dark place all because of family.  I would stoop to other’s levels, and the end result would be me not being happy.  That is why I am so positive here, that is why I am constantly showing others that YES, YOUR LIFE MIGHT NOT BE THE BEST LIFE EVER, BUT YOU CAN CREATE HAPPINESS. I’m a prime example of pure havoc turn happy.  My family is so here, there and everywhere with hardly anyone talking to each other, but I wake up and I smile and I put one foot in front of the other and put my focus where it needs to be…. with my husband, my children and myself, and as of today back into the gospel.  Where it matters most.

Just a Motivating Monday

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I LOVE inspiring things to motivate me and I thought what better of a day to read inspiration than on dreadful Mondays. If you would like to write something you think will inspire or motivate others PLEASE link up!! I’d love to read your words and I’m sure that others would as well!

Your future is not determined by the conditions around you.  It is determined by your faith, your choices, and your efforts. ~ Elder Paul V. Johnson

The turn of a new year is so fresh, so flawless and it’s the PERFECT opportunity to start working on the power of your choices.  You’re choosing to have a fresh start New Years, right?  So why not choose to start living your life the way you dream to?  Why not choose to happiness?  Why not choose to be the person that you want to be.

These things are so easily in our grasp, but we fail to choose them.  We spend most of our lives choosing to be everything that we don’t want to be.  Don’t forget, when you’re living your life the way that you don’t want to be living it – it’s a choice.

Living our dream life takes effort, you can’t expect different results by doing the same thing you’re doing now…… right?  I believe that would be the definition of insanity.

You have to have faith in yourself. You have to believe that you can achieve whatever it is that you are setting your mind out to accomplish.  Having faith is so important in the realm of life.  Whether you believe in God or not, without faith you aren’t believing in anything ~ including yourself.  You have to have faith in order to choose happiness, you have to have faith in order to choose your dream life.

Don’t let the negativity that surrounds you shape you.  Don’t let the mess of our government affect you.  Make your life YOUR life and CHOOSE to live it to its fullest potential.

The bad news is the past was in your hands, but the good news is that the future, my friend, is also in your hands.. ~ Andy Andrews



Reflection ~ Personal Development

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As I was walking into a building I caught a glimpse of myself.  My reflection showed me what other people see.  A girl toting around 2 children with a baby strapped to her chest.

I saw myself as a mother.  Something I know I am, but don’t literally “see” very often.

I liked what I saw.  I felt this over powering feeling of peace in my soul.

I loved what I saw.

It prompted me to reflect on where I am now and where I expected myself to be.

I was supposed to be the executive girl.  I was supposed to work and NEVER be a stay at home mom.  I was supposed to have two kids tops.  And here I am…..

A full time college student at the age of 28, a stay at home mom of 3 and happier than I think I’ve ever been in my entire life.

When I saw my reflection I saw a person I am proud to be.  And it made me reflect on my post I wrote a year ago today on {Personal Development}.  I think that I could have definitely done more on my personal development, but I am proud to say that I have grown leaps and bounds this past year.  I’m becoming much more happier with who I am and who I am growing into.

With this being said, I would like to continue on this journey that I started last year. I am dedicating this year to another beautiful year of personal development. Below is the same blueprint I mapped out for myself last year. Why fix something that isn’t broken, right?

SELF:

~ Read at least 10 pages of motivational reading EVERY DAY
~ Plan out my days…. do not wing it!
~ Spend 20 minutes every day silencing my mind
~ Scripture reading every day
~ Avoid any and all negativity! Gossip, downers, complainers… you get the point.

FAMILY:

~ Ensure that my family goes to church EVERY SUNDAY
~ Preplan and have Family Home Evening EVERY MONDAY
~ Make sure that I set time aside that is ONLY for the kids
~ Make sure that I set time aside that is ONLY for my husband
~ Make sure that I set time aside that is ONLY for us as a family

The above is simple, little things that will help with my Personal Growth. There’s a reason for each item I listed. They’re not resolutions… they’re a blueprint for me to reflect throughout the year how I can continue on my personal growth.

I hope that I can inspire my readers to embark on focusing a little more on themselves. We all have room to grow, and through focusing on personal development we can do just that. On Mondays I will be focusing my Motivating Monday on sharing things that will inspire you in regards to personal development.

Happy New Years to my readers, I appreciate every visit you make to my blog…. whether you comment or not. I hope that in some way this past year I have inspired you in some way. I hope that the positivity I try to convey here has brightened your days. I hope to see you back throughout this next year and I hope that 2011 is everything you wish for.