About Me and Our Family
Updated and Edited August 2015
Who is the Creative Madness Mama?
My profile bio since I started blogging has always said, Young, married, and fully in love. I love to read all sorts of things, but mostly religious fiction novels as well as L.M. Montgomery books etc. I grew up a lover of Anne of Green Gables books and films alike. My daddy and I are genealogists and my mama and I are sewing ladies (see MadebyMardi.com). I’ve been cross stitching for about ten years and two years into quilting. It is a definite love! Now, if you update that… still young, still happily blissfully married and definitely still fully in love. At this point (2015) I guess I’d say it’s been seventeen years of cross stitching and nine years since I first started quilting. Although my skill set has not increased equivalently with the years as I’ve added on a few moves here and there as well as two lovely daughters and a rascal son. Known here as my blossoms. AppleBlossom came to bloom in the summer of 2009, while her little Princess (aka OrangeBlossom) sister joined our garden just recently in the late summer of 2011. (Is this blossom thing going to my head?)
Tangent warning…
Blossom. Hmm.. now where did that come from? Long story short. When we were still living in Atlanta (uh… 2006, I think) I had a T-Mobile Razer phone that I desperately loved and owned for about two days. It was pink with cherry blossoms etched in it. I was signing myself up for some account or another online and needed a screen name. My mother was not crazy about my AIM login at the time (asnugglydarlin) so I went for CherryBlossomMJ (MJ is a nickname I’ve had for life). Then when AppleBlossom came along and needed an internet pseudenom it just worked. Then after polling with friends and blog readers we came up with OrangeBlossom for her little sister. Now in the future… hmm… PearBlossom? But as for a male version, I’m clueless. Always open to opinions on that one. How’s that for a tangent?
Obviously we went with Almond Blossom. But since I’ve typed that numerous times over the past year it just doesn’t fit, as Rascal is a much better fit for him. OrangeBlossom has also merged into being the Princess with the attention-span of a butterfly. Yet while AppleBlossom’s personality has changed and formed and she has formed a healthy addiction to reading and all things comic book super heroes… the name AppleBlossom still fits. She is an awesome kid, they all are.
My Enginerd husband and I are Georgia born and bred, but from an occupation related move we’ve ended up in a suburb of Memphis, Tennessee. He does his engineer things and I read books, lots of books, and quilt, and sometimes cross stitch. In my old biography sketch it ended there (with newer edits added here!), but now I also review and review and review. As well as chase a toddler, attempt to potty train on her desire, breastfeed an infant, teach the alphabet, sing about colors, change diapers, wash our cloth diapers, play games full of giggles, enforce naptime, deal with the drama of tag-teamed naptimes(!), nurse an amazingly starving baby, attempt to teach crawling (and state that crawling comes first even though walking is mastered), eat goldfish, drink chocolate milk made with NesQuik, wonder why I forgot lunch again and remember that I have a few hundred dozen books to read and review waiting… Now with the addition of the Rascal it’s a repeat of before, but with a quirked I-Know-I’m-adorable-grin as I do something I shouldn’t… Life hasn’t changed, much.
I have always been a book-a-holic and ever since entering the book review world have completely fallen in head-over-heels (original bio said hills, *snicker*) and hope to never leave my little library. As an attempt to show my mother and sisters what I am up to I created Creative Madness Mama where I post pictures of current quilt projects and many many book reviews. I thrive on Historical Fiction, but love many others as well. (See www.ChristianHistoricalFiction.com). In addition to everything as it was in years past, something else new is that we are full fledge on into homeschooling. AppleBlossom is starting material aimed at Second Grade, while the Princess is presenting her butterfly attention span leaving me clueless of what will happen in the next year as I attempt a preschool/Junior Kindergarten mix, and the Rascal baby is into distracting everyone, eating everything, squealing, giving baby kisses, announcing the arrival of the Enginerd after work, and more.
I have a background with a Bachelor of Arts in Religious Studies and an Associate of Science in pre-Nursing. As of August 2009, I am a SAHM (stay-at-home-mama) to a perfect baby girl with bloggy-love referred to as AppleBlossom (been over that already, remember the tangent?). We since added OrangeBlossom/Princess as well and now Almond/Rascal. We cloth diaper and plan to homeschool. My blog is open for guest reviews on various topic an in addition to book reviews, I am open to product reviews as well for various maternity/baby/family items that are completely worthwhile and need to be known and promoted! Most recently we’ve also started in on reviewing Movies, TV shows and even curriculum.
What is Creative Madness Mama?
Well… let’s see you’ve had a primer on who I am now, but what is the purpose of this site? I am passionate about my family and our daily life. Creative Madness Mama is an outlet to share with others what we’re up to, yet over the years it has become so much more. Now I am truly exhilarated to show and share what the latest information and book release are in Christian Historical Fiction, Children’s Books, and certain General Market releases. I am passionate about the Classics and thus Classical Christian Education. However, I am extremely excited to share what’s new to publication and what’s being republished. The world of Christian Fiction has changed radically in what was available when I first started reading the genre in the early 2000s. No matter your sub-genre, there is something for you.
Since we have started in on homeschooling I have learned by leaps and bounds of this whole thing known as home education and I’m glad to share my new knowledge to those who seek it. From the eccletic, to the classical, with a little Charlotte Mason and unit studies in between I’ve done the research and I have the enthusiasm and plenty to say. And even on top of it all, I am mother, house-wife, learning home maker, and from pregnancy, to delivery, baby wearing, cloth diapering, nursing, walking early, loving siblings and more I’m glad to discuss it and have plenty of advice to offer.
Creative Madness Mama is an out pouring of my heart to share with yours. This is a place to provide a spot to share a cup of tea, a conversation, and perhaps leave with a book recommendation and more. From my soul to yours.
(No spam, I promise. Just creative madness ramblings, reviews and life-stories, with quilting and cross stitch inspiration in between!)
6 Comments
Kate a.k.a. Gwenelle
Found your website through your “Christian Historical Fiction” group on Goodreads.com. I’ve just recently discovered the genre and your reviews are a great help in finding new series/authors! And I have to tell you … I happened to right-click somewhere on your site, and I absolutely love your pop-up message. Had to look up that verse right away — such a great idea 🙂 I’ll definitely be back to read more; visit me sometime when you have a chance too!
CherryBlossomMJ
Kate, you really have made my day. This is exactly the kind of comment that I need to hear to keep going. Sometimes I wonder if anyone ever reads my reviews.
As for the right click protection. Best thing I’ve ever done. I’m trying to protect pictures of my daughter more than my content, but it all works together. 😉 And I got the idea of the verse from my church’s website, although they use a different verse but along the same lines.
If you ever have any questions about some up coming CHF, just ask!! I’d be glad to help you find something to read. 🙂 Make sure to check out my CHF @ CMM blog for the latest in CHF. http://chf.creativemadnessmama.com Although all my reviews are here. 🙂
Kate a.k.a. Gwenelle
Oh dear. I mis-typed something in that HTML tag. Please feel free to fix it! Thanks.
CherryBlossomMJ
Fixed! 🙂
william sawyers
Nice blog, from a children author
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