Far Far Away…How to Stay “CONNECTED”!

AND I’M BACK!!!  December and January were CRAZY!!!!  Moving has been incredibly hard for me, as everyone knows but I am settling in a bit, I have a few friends I would miss if I up and left.  On the other hand too I have truly felt a million miles away and helpless for the most part over the last few months.  I never felt farther from home or my mom than the day she hung up the phone and said “I love you, call you when I am awake from surgery.”  On top of it we had to do that TWICE, broke my heart into a million pieces!  I knew in my mind there was nothing I could do about it, but I wanted to be there more that anything in the world.  My heart had never hurt so badly.

My poor Mama fell down on a dusting of snow and crushed up her little elbow  less than a week before Christmas.  She was supposed to come to Texas for Christmas, we had big big plans and like her little elbow those plans got crushed…(I think its okay to make such puns now!)  2 trips to Colorado in 30 days for one failed surgery and one successful surgery has kept us busy busy!  But it got me to thinking about the things that make me stay and feel connected to the people important to me far far away.

Now there are people far far away that are dear to me that I can talk to once a year, see them as they pass through town, send a birthday card to, chat with on Facebook…and be satisfied with that kind of relationship, but those are not the people who are my day to day.  It does not make them less important to me, it just is a different relationship.  I will NEVER be one of those kids who is okay talking to their mom once a month, my husband is and it works for him, but I am a “talk to my mom no LESS than once a day girl”.  I send “are you alive” text messages if I have not heard from her by 5:30pm on a weeknight!  With her home more since the “fall” I really wanted her to know more now how often we are thinking of her.  And then that blossomed into an over whelming sense of how important it is to keep in touch with those dearest to us even if they are not nearest to us.  These are not things that need done on a schedule or planned out, it’s like life, just in the moment!  I especially want this for L, she has amazing strong relationships with people and I really feel it is my responsibility to foster & maintain those right now.

1.  CAPTURE EVERYDAY MOMENTS.  The ones that are not planned or posed.  When I’m sitting outside watching L play, I won’t stop her playing to snap a pic I’ll just keep snapping until one actually come out fabulous.  Everyday big things too, I will take the time to video the entire soccer game because Grandma & K would love to see.  Not only does it let them know that we are thinking of them but gives them a chance even thousands of miles away in Colorado or Las Vegas think about us and for a moment be in our world.

2.  SKYPE…this is amazing. L Skype with Grandma ALL the time…usually I am not allowed in the room while Skype’ing with Grandma!   The first week we were in Texas L sat down in her room with a little table, her animals and her Grandma on Skype and had a tea party.  Grandma was far away but that didn’t effect the imagination of a 5 year old, Grandma was as good as there in her mind, sharing the moment.  We Skype with my BFF, the kids have “fashion shows”, show off their birthday gifts…they really get into it and are so adorable.

 

3. SNAIL MAIL…no matter who you are, mail in your mailbox hand addressed to you from a loved one is a welcome sight.  L loves to get mail, she actually gets a lot of mail because Grandma is amazing at sending her stuff.  And L loves to send mail. We send hugs and kisses to Grandma, artwork…etc.  She makes a bracelet for her friends we mail it, they Skype to show it off…it’s a circle.

4. TALK ABOUT PEOPLE who are not here in the moment.  L and I had the most fabulous summer vacation last year to Disney.  She talks about her cousin all the time, shows people the pictures, expresses her deep love for all things Tower of Terror!  We talk about our friends in Colorado, L and B have the same backpack, L will tell you it’s because they both have “intelligent taste” (ya I think she mis used the word, but she rolled with it)!

5. PICTURES…while capturing the everyday moments, be sure to capture the big moments too.  Snap pictures of people when you are with them, document your life!  L loves to look at the pictures from her brothers graduation, she has fond memories she will share with you, funny stories.  We make photo books at Walmart for incredibly cheap to document our travels and fun.  L loves school pictures we get from family and friends.  The pictures are memory triggers and they make it so easy to just talk and reminisce about it all!

6.  MAKE IT A PRIORITY to see people.  I have watched my aunt of the the last 17 years do the most amazing job of this.  She truly is inspirational at it.  She made family and people a priority for K, she did it when times were hard, when there was family conflict, she went out of her way to make sure that relationships were established for K.  She plans visits and takes trips to see family when I am sure she would rather sit on a beach with a Bud Light!  She also nourishes those relationships from afar, for example L just the other day got the cutest little door hanger from her, she sent L some Easter dresses last years…nothing on a schedule it is just a happy, thinking of you feeling you get from it.

7.  PLAN GET TOGETHER’S…I will do better at this.  I have always had everyone at my fingertips, it was just a phone call, and now I need to plan it.  I will do this and I will do it with intent.  The intent to spend quality uninterrupted time with my family and closest friends.  I have tried and not been extremely successful, it is difficult to plan for a group, to make it work for everyone’s schedule and budget…but I will practice this and it will get easier!

These are not hard things, they are good, fun, simple things.  Relationships no matter what kind take a little work.  I really value the people in my life, I want them to know that so I will be taking the little extra time to show them that I care, that I love them and I hope they know I feel so very blessed to be a part of their life and have them as a part of mine.

Simplifying Gift Giving…

I have always had a difficult time not going over board at Christmas.  I think its more that I love to give not that I love to shop (I love to shop too)!  My goal this year is to feel organized as well as simplify my process and control my budget.

THE LIST…

1. I made a list of each person receiving a gift; friends, teachers, coworkers and family; we have a small extended family so it is quite easy.
2. I assigned a dollar limit to nieces/nephews/cousins/close friend kids under 18 years old.
3. Families (adults) will receive one of the handmade choices.
4. This is the first year I have a couple recently turned 18 year olds on my list, I struggled with this but decided that after the age of 18 you fall into the “adult” portion of Christmas and no longer will receive a gift.  Exception will be my son but he will receive 1 gift.
5. I now examine the lists I have kept  for my children, mom and hubby; I keep an ongoing list in my phone accumulated from trips to Walmart or window shopping of what is on their want list (especially for the hubby because he never knows what he wants, but always wants something)! This list is also helpful when anyone asks me what those in my family are wanting for Christmas (or birthdays, since it is continuously on going)
6. When my list is complete this year I will shop on amazon, after moving I decided it is the simplest way to buy and ship to our family far away.  I keep a record of what I bought and spent on the list.
7. I will plan a day with the hubby to shop for the children.  And we will each take L to buy a gift for mom/dad.
8. I tally the handmade gifts, make a list of supplies need and intend to make one trip to the craft store to gather supplies for my handmade gifts.  I have forced a deadline on myself for these as I often drag them out to the last minute!

HANDMADE GIFTS for Teachers & Close Friends

Each year I try to have several ideas that may work for Christmas gifts, I gather them up through out the year and pick my top favorite to use.  I have received some fantastic handmade gifts; personalized pillow cases, inexpensive coffee tumblers with personalized coffee cozies, crocheted bible covers, handmade hats and scarfs..etc!  I am excited for the ideas for handmade gift ideas that I intend to use this year for teachers and close friends…some of them are in fact original IDEAS too!!  I am going to share my past success’ with you as not to spoil my gifts for this year for those friends and family reading!!!   In the past made sugar scrubs (you can scent them to fit a feminine or masculine theme).  I made homemade Irish Cream, it was a tremendous hit, and very easy!  I made handmade personalized coasters, they were amazing!  L personalized candles & coffee mugs for teachers while I added the sugar scrub and a Starbucks GF to make fun baskets; you could add some coco or delicious coffee to simplify!  There are links below to some of the gift ideas I have successfully done, we all know Pinterest can be a bit hit and miss when it comes to success!!

Sugar Scrub Recipes – http://www.pinterest.com/pin/386887424210267277/

Hand Decorated Candles – http://www.pinterest.com/pin/386887424210267267/

Personalized Stamped Coasters – http://www.pinterest.com/pin/386887424210267262/

Homemade Irish Cream – http://www.pinterest.com/pin/386887424210267260/

SIMPLIFYING for L

This is last years tree on Christmas Eve, before Santa appeared.  Now this is gifts from my mom and myself combined under one tree for 7 people but it is still A LOT…and mostly it was for L.  This year though I am attempting with L to approach Christmas in a different, simpler way.  I do not have concerns of materialistic behaviors, or lack of gratitude from her (most days!)  I feel like she is very blessed to have the things she needs and most of the things she wants, as well I feel very blessed that we can provide that for her.  BUT she gets gifts from grandmas and grandpas and aunts and uncles and extended cousins and really close friends…etc so I feel it is over whelming.

I have decided that this year I am going to attempt the WANT, NEED, READ, WEAR approach.  I am adding a few more categories:

1. PLAY (games are Christmas traditions at our house)
2. WATCH (a good movie)
3. CREATE (art or science project).

I have not given a second thought on how L will feel about it, she will love it, she loves Christmas and loves the season and the magic…it is less about getting for her.  Christmas morning is going to be great; I am going to have more time to focus playing with 1 or 2 items together instead of spending the day taking tiny Barbie shoes out of the ridiculous packaging just to have half of them lost before Christmas dinner!  I however am struggling to keep myself in check and abide by the categories.  I go out and see something, “oh L would love that”…I keep telling myself that the best thing I can do for her is give her my time and limitations on things.  I mean that horse she HAD to have last Christmas is sitting in the bottom of her stuffed animal basket and the princess castle she HAD to have 2 Christmas’s ago I sold on craigslist…she does not need these THINGS, she needs surrounded with friends and family who have time for her and a desire to spend it with her!!  SO as hard as it is I am going to stick to my guns!

I really enjoyed reading this Blog and loved her ideas for each category, maybe you will enjoy it too!! http://simplekids.net/gift-giving-philosophy/

Gratitude & Grateful…not verbs?

With the season of Thanksgiving upon us I see all my Facebook friends listing the things they are grateful for each day. I am not really a once a month kind of girl, gratefulness is a year round process for me so I don’t partake in this annual tradition.  I love seeing their posts, they often makes me think about my own gratuity, or what struggles they have endured to find their gratitude.  I can tell the difference from those who practice gratitude in a more year round process as I do than those who just started this November.  Please don’t be turned off if you happen to be one who just recently starting thinking of what you are grateful for and listing it each day, they say 30 days to new habit, perhaps you can continue your gratitude through out the year and consider this as your leaping off point!  I did start examining my own origins of gratitude because some of the things people listed I was confused by and thought perhaps I am not grateful for the right things?  I started with a definition of Gratitude and found it is a NOUN…a person, place or thing?  Yep, according Mr Webster Gratitude “the state of being grateful”, so the dictionary (like the Bible) makes us turn the page to find the actual meaning; derived from grateful…what is grateful?  Per Mr Webster  Grateful “feeling or showing thanks : feeling or showing thanks to someone for some helpful act”, and this is an ADJECTIVE, which I guess I would say is true if you consider gratitude a noun.  I simply disagree though both in grammatical purposes and definition.  I guess I just always thought of gratitude & grateful as VERBS; an action, something I did/do and perform with intent.   I think Mr Webster needs a revised version of Gratitude. Here are the 3 things I think were missed in the “grateful/gratitude” definition by Mr Webster.

FIRST:  I feel that the definition of Grateful the emphasis placed on the  “ACT” portion of it is wrong.  It implies that to be Grateful we require the action of another?  I so often find myself grateful for things just because they happened, not of my control or anyone else; not because someone ACTED them upon me on purpose.  I find gratitude in funny statements from my children, I am grateful when my dog doesn’t fart in the night…neither of these were done with intention they just happened, but they are good!

SECOND: I find Mr Websters definition also implies that the act must be “HELPFUL”.  I know that there are times in my life that I am now grateful for but they occurred because of the opposite of helpful!  If things were different it would of been easier, if things were different it would of been more fair, if things were different there would be less pain.  Even in things that still break my heart and can bring me to my knees in tears I can find reasons of gratitude that lacks helpful action of another.

THIRD:  Mr Webster seems to miss one of things I tend to find a lot of gratitude in; FAILURE.  I find myself often very grateful for the failures in my life, because when looking back they are so often the forks in the road that put me on my path today.  So often we look at the hick ups of life and wish never to go back to such troubles or wish the trouble away.  Without struggle where would one find happiness?  If we knew nothing but good would we appreciate it?  My guess is probably not on both accounts.

So Mr Webster I think you may need to reevaluate Gratitude & Grateful to make their definitions applicable to the “times”…I mean you did add “ain’t” in the dictionary!

In the mean time I will continue to actively look and find reasons for gratitude in everyday life, ones that happened because of no intentional action, ones that occurred because of less than helpful circumstances and for the ones that I really have to soul search to find.  It tis the season for gratitude and I don’t want those small moments to pass me by without a glance, I will be looking for them, finding them over and over every day, they warm me and make me smile, I take note of them, storing them away for days I can’t find a reason to smile (we all have those days!).  And this Thanksgiving I wish you many moments of joy, beauty and love along with some failures to help enlighten your heart.

Menu Planning in MINUTES!

I have always spend countless hours planning a menu, I feel like it makes my life easier and my shopping easier.  I have friends who just hit the grocery store and can produce meals routinely out of whatever they bought…I am NOT that girl!

I finally decided after years of working on it for hours every couple weeks that there had to be a simpler way to do this.  I thought and thought and have come up with a solution I am over joyed with.

When I start planning my menu I usually buy according to what’s on sale, if chicken is on sale we eat lots of chicken…etc!  So I go through all my ads, writing down by store what’s on sale that I need or have coupons for.  (By the way do you just love the cute tote A got me for my birthday??) 🙂

After I know what’s on sale I can make decisions about our menu for the next few weeks.  I was at Family Dollar buying something random and found this index card book and a light bulb went off.  I bought it up along with a package of small sticky notes and headed home!  I sat down, thought out all the meals I routinely make and wrote them into color coded categories (main dishes-pink, sides-green, bread-yellow, soup-orange). My husband will protest that soup is not a meal, but I love soup more than any other food in the world!!!

I created a reusable weekly menu planner to hang on my fridge.  I usually plan 2 weeks at a time, shopping on Sunday or Monday so my sheet is 2 sided for the 2 weeks I plan for.  I slipped it into a page protector so I could use my dry erase marker on it easily.  I also write activities and what days my husband works on the menu because it helps me decide what kind of meal I need & how much I need; crock pot meals for over busy nights, easy meals for not to busy nights, weather or not I need left overs for hubby’s lunch or if I have time to enjoy cooking a family meal!

If there is a meal that I require a recipe for I wrote the recipe on the card that it shares with the stick note meal.  I rarely use a recipe but sometimes I do still!

I stick the meal sticky note on the day it is planned for and I now write the side dishes because my sticky notes are to big for more than one to fit into the meal planner sheet.  I use the completed menu to make my grocery list and off to the store I go.

This is saving me so much time, I can plan our 2 week menu and complete the grocery list all in less than 30 minutes, while it used to take me a couple hours!  I hope it works for you too…if you find any ways to tweek it to work better I would of course love to hear about it!!

Related articles

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Elf Calendar & Christmas Planning!!!

The Elf on the Shelf is a big deal around our house!!  I mean a BIG DEAL, his arrival is much anticipated and his departure is always with sadness!  His name is WooHoo, this is our 3rd year with him…he is a nutty guy always up to something fun (I have grown to really enjoy WooHoo’s time with us…it’s so fun)!  Accidentally he visited us surprisingly in the middle of the summer this year…yep that was fun to explain!  It was right after we moved and last year I failed at putting him away properly so WooHoo moved cross country in a soft sided zip up lunch box! HAHAHA!  Never the less a short person who had no business digging in my cupboard found him and was FREAKING excited!!

I have n the past just winged his shenanigans, but I am trying very very hard to be more organized this holiday, so I created an Elf on the Shelf calendar.  WooHoo arrives at our house the day after Thanksgiving, he usually brings a trinket Mom finds in her Black Friday travels (but this year due to the GREY THURSDAY, as I have dubbed it, I will not be participating…rant for another post!!).  This year WooHoo is going to arrive with a box for each member of the family with instructions to clean out those closets and toys that we’ve outgrown that others could get enjoyment out of and take them to the goodwill.  I also thought this would be a good start to making room for the new items that come at Christmas.

Here is a link to my calendar for this year, hopefully I do not have to change any days due to bad behavior but one should always be prepared for that disaster with a sick elf or an elf who leaves a note regarding disappointing behavior…etc!

Elf Calendar

In addition to the Elf calendar I created I found some super cute FREE holiday printables for holiday planning and Elf fun.  I am going to transpose my Elf calendar to the printable because it is so cute!!  Here is the link to the free printables from Lovely Living.  Please if you feel inspired to do so donate to one of her current charities in gratitude for the adorable printables…I strongly suggest “heart kids”!

http://lovelyliving.com.au/family/printables/christmas/elf-on-a-shelf-planner

HAPPY THANKSGIVING WEEK!!!  MUAHHHH!!!

Laundry Soap UPDATE for Top Load HE!!

I have for the last few years for the most part made my own laundry soap (I have had trouble finding the ingredients in Texas but I almost have that figured out!).  I have always followed the recipe below and make powdered laundry soap because I have no desire to “cook” my laundry soap, who has that kind of time & or wants to do those dishes??

I have a front load HE washer and this recipe has always worked very well for me and my mom who has a standard top load.  However K has with top load HE washer and the top load HE’s do really work a bit different on how they dissolve the soap, how it is added to the load…etc.  So when I started using this soap K & I spent some time in the kitchen with our science experiment (I think we had cocktails too).  We dissolved the soap in different water temps to see how it did without agitation (because there really is none in a top load HE washer) and it was not as good as one would want and I understand her not wanting to have that build up inside her washer.

The part that did not dissolve as desired was the grated Fels-Naptha, this is like a bar soap that I have always grated with a cheese grater and stirred into the other ingredients.  My mom (who has the most fabulous natural nails that I DID NOT INHERIT) did not want to mess up her manicure to grate the Fels-Naptha and decided to try putting it in the food processor instead.  IT WORKED!  Cut into small chunks and pulsed in the food processor it made a nice powder!  Then my light bulb went off and… I think this adjustment would make it work for K and her top load HE washer!!!

Here is the recipe I have been using, I love it, I can use one batch for about 5-6 months (and I do a lot of laundry) and it costs about $15 for the batch!!!

1-4 lb 12 oz box Borax (2.15 kg or 76 oz) found in the detergent isle

1-4 lb box Arm & Hammer Baking Soda (1.81 kg) found in the cooking isle

1-box Arm & Hammer Super Washing Soda 55 oz (3 lb 7 oz) found in the detergent isle

3 bars of Fels-Naptha soap, found in the detergent isle

You can add Oxy Clean if you have messy kiddos (we do not because it irritates my husbands skin)

2 small containers of Oxy Clean or store brand Oxy Clean found in the detergent isle.

I like the way it smells but if you want you can add laundry crystals to each load. You can find laundry crystals in the detergent isle.  I still use grocery store fabric softener because making my own left to much residue in my washer and that is plenty of smell for me!

I mix all the powdered ingredients in a small box lined with a trash bag, this is my garage storage system, you can get much more creative if you want to with pretty jars, containers etc.  Now cut the Fels-Napth into small squares and pulse in the food processor or blender until it is powdery add this to the other ingredients and stir up….YOU’RE DONE!!

Use 1-2 Tablespoons per load, I keep a jar of it in my laundry room.  It is such a small amount because this is JUST SOAP none of the fillers you get in grocery store laundry soap.

You can find the original recipe I use on Pinterest, the above is my “adjusted” version for me!! Follow me on Pinterest too!!!

http://www.pinterest.com/pin/386887424210130841/

Grape Juice on the Menu!

Old wives tale or not grape juice is on the menu at our house this winter!  There’s lots of buzz about grape juice preventing the stomach bug.  I however am not big into medical research in such cases as GRAPE JUICE but I do participate in the watch and see power of observation!  Regretfully we spent a couple weeks sick last winter with L, with one visit to urgent care for IV fluids all while not participating faithfully in the grape juice prevention method, or GJPM as I will call it.  I had friends who were better participants than I and I would say they had pretty good results.  Supposedly the grape juice is chug a lug drank, winds through and cleans out the digestive tracks bad bugs while you’re digesting…simple as that from what I understand!

The wellness recipe we are going to use in our house (force feed to L, she hates it)!  1 cup of juice per day per person, if exposed to the stomach flu we up that to 3 cups of juice per day per person for 3 days.

Here’s what I know about grape juice:

1. When using grape juice for flu prevention it is said that you MUST use real 100% purple grape juice!

2. It does have antiviral “properties” (take note of the quotation marks) meaning that when put in a petri dish with stomach bugs the dishes with grape juice grew less aggressively for whatever reason.  But we all know that virus’s in real life do not work like they do in a petri dish!  Upside is in the petri dish the grape juice did not do any damage to the probiotic bacteria (your good gut bacteria).

3. Grape juice is packed with vitamin C.  Vitamin C is just good for you!

4. 3 Cups of grape juice for 3 days will make you poop…it makes poopy diapers too!

5. White wine has similar properties to purple grape juice!!  🙂

A perfectly IMPERFECT birthday…

I always make a big deal out of birthdays around our house.  My husband ALWAYS gives me the line “they only turn 5 (or what ever age) once” in his smart butt voice as he’s grumbling at the party store awaiting the decision on the perfect invitations for the themed party of my choice!!  I was pretty blue for a few days as I have been in the past a person who would set aside at least a week for a celebration, a month if necessary!!  After our move it meant that I wouldn’t be sharing the bi annual chic flick with K or the Olive Garden meal with A or the lunch that Papa always takes me too, or a day for mani’s & pedi’s with  my mom, dinner and drinks out with my whole family…as you can see I had created some very rich rituals for my birthday week.  A 1000  miles from that world I have to create a new set of rituals but not quite settled into that yet.  6 days ago on my birthday I spent a perfect day with a short little princess, doing all the things SHE would enjoy while the hubby worked.  We had no cake, no celebration, in fact I cooked dinner for my family, did dishes and went to bed.  Credit to my hubby who called from work to say I will meet you for dinner so you don’t have to cook, but really that doesn’t work in our world, dinner after he gets off means a restaurant around 6:30 dinner by 7 done by 7:30 at least a 30 minute drive home so home by 8 and still have to feed critters, bath a child, read a story…etc seems like more work than cooking so I declined!!!

I however decided that sounded like a terrible birthday and I needed to switch up the blueness attitude because it needed to be about the good stuff because all birthdays should be about the good stuff, I hate people who are all grouchy about their birthdays, it’s the only day of the year that is totally about you so enjoy it!!!  When I wrapped my attitude around the good there really was a lot….So here is what I found GOOD (and it has lasted a little longer than a week)

1 October 23rd in the dead center of my self proclaimed birthday week and blue spell I was talking to A on the phone she says “I just saw this and it was so you, I need your address to send it”.  I started to tear up on the phone and thought how lucky I am to have friends who think of me!

2. October 25th, off to Fall Fest at L’s school and the beginning of a very busy weekend I come home while on the phone with my mommy I see the most beautiful dozen of pink roses with shiny balloons!  From my mom of course (she’s so sweet).  My husband claims he got them for me….he says “I got them for you….from the driveway”!

3. K who I know firmly does not believe in supporting the greeting card industry (not really clear why…lol) says “your card came back to me because I forgot to put the “NORTH” on it so it will be late.”  Again my friends thinking of me 🙂

4. Saturday before my birthday the fed ex guy dropped off my super awesome planner my mom got me for my birthday, SO EXCITED.  Even though it was a “work thing” for the hubby we did get an evening out without L to the very impressive Gaylord Texas Hotel, all dressed up and I got to wear my new opal necklace and earrings my wonderful mother in law got my for my birthday!

5.  On my birthday I went to the mailbox because I didn’t get the mail the day before just in case there were cards in there for me I could get them on my birthday and sure enough my wonderful Godmother (who has a ridiculously awesome skill of ALWAYS getting a card to arrive on the correct day) had sent me a birthday card filled with love and smiles.  I got calls from my family and my friends though out the day and my facebook was filled with birthday wishes.  Finally as I put L to bed she rubs my face and says, “you are the bestest mommy and friend in the whole world thank you for a fun day, I love your birthday.”….TEAR!!!

6.  My mailbox has over flowed with birthday cards, I got my mom’s tear jerking card on Wednesday!

7. On Halloween Auntie E and M had sent me a wonderful purse (CAMO) that arrived it was chosen at the direction of my bff K…and the purse is so so cute!!!

7.  Saturday (today) Hubby says he’s taking L to get me a birthday present…I say to L do you wanna see what I want?  I call Best Buy to make sure they have it, print her off a picture of a pimp coffee maker to take with her, provide the hubby with a coupon and off they go!  They come home so cutely call from the driveway to tell me to go into the garage so they can present me with my unwrapped presents, on top of the pimp coffee maker, L got me a super cool new label maker!  SURPRISE!

8.  And today to conclude my “birthday week” the hubby, L and I will be heading to the Cheesecake Factory for a little chicken and biscuits (YUMYUM) maybe some wine and cheesecake too. 🙂

So overall when looking back not a bit of blueness should come from my birthday week, although a bit different than my what I have always had in my head and done done in the past it’s full of smiles and blessings.  More and more I am finding this to be a new chapter, I just have to keep working on the new story and will be good just going to be a bit different…in fact all in all it is was just a Perfectly Imperfect Birthday WEEK ++!!

Erin Condren Life Planner….IN LOVE!

Something you should know about me is that I spend a substantial amount of time “planning”.  I use my planner for everything!!  It is one of a couple tools I use to keep myself and my family organized.  I also utilize a large calendar on the fridge that is really just a repeat of what’s in my planner BUT if my planner and I were in a fiery crash I would want hubby to know where to pick up L that day & when his next dentist appointment is in 6 months!  LOL!!  I also have started to use a few tools I have created to help me with my meal planning (I will share those another day)…BUT this new planner has a space for my meal planning!!!  Many of you will say “why don’t you use your phone?”  Well I when I worked I did use my phone, but I also sat at a desk A LOT where my calendar was physically in front of me on the computer screen.  I know that I need to see the big picture and my little Iphone screen is not a big enough picture for me!  So today I want to share with you my newest “friend”!  My mom bought me this for my birthday and I in LOVE with it and almost everything about it!  I did a lot of shopping and comparing before deciding on this planner but I am so so happy with it….Meet my Erin Condren Life Planner or “EC” as I call her.  I am a “planner person”, I make lists, need things in order, need to at a glance know who is where doing what…you know all those type A personality traits!  I find so often that planners have a lot of stuff I don’t use or are missing pieces that I need so I get frustrated shopping for them at the big box store.  I considered creating my own planner using an ARC system but as creative as I am the final cost associated after covers, ARC punches, paper, printing and my time to create printables was quite hefty.  As far as planners go the Erin Condren Life Planners are quite affordable, mine was about $60 before any tax or shipping.  I was also timid going from a ringed planner to a spiral bound one but I feel my EC has everything I utilize so really no need to take out or put in!

HERE WE GO….

Shall we start with how pretty the packaging is!!  Who wouldn’t LOVE opening this?   My mom claims she wrapped it but I know that they all are delivered beautifully wrapped like this!

It came with the planner itself (with my name on it), the ruler “page placer” and the extra stickers (with my name on them…with a name like “kindsvatter” its exciting to have things with your name on them!).  I ordered the pen holder and beautiful stretch bands separately <~ I love these they are so pretty!!

The composition of the planner is FAB!  It is thickly laminated on the front and back covers and spiral bound.  The spiral binding is extremely solid about three times as thick as a spiral notebooks binding.  The tabs are also laminated for each months and other sections (Special Dates, Annual Calander, Notes & Contacts).  The holes of the pages that are often used like the full spread months are also laminated, which I thought was a great idea!

I love all the inspirational statements inside…they make me smile!

The full month layout is great, again with the inspirational messages…see how cute the stickers are!  And LOOK MY MOMMY’S COMING (I also love my washi tape)

The daily sheets are a week at a time, starting on Monday’s, which I like because then I can see F, S & S all together instead of starting on a Sunday like most planner weeks do.  I love how it is broke down into 3 day time sections.  I color code for each family member to help me know who’s doing what at a glance.  At the top corner there is a month calander so you don’t constantly have to flip back to the month spread.  Along the side there is a section for notes, lists…etc, I won’t use that much as I keep a stick note to do list going constantly.  And finally along the bottom is the menu and exercise planning section!

This is the ONLY section that I am disappointed in.  😦 This one page is literally all the contacts space there is.  I guess I will have to update my phone and my actual address book because I have more than 15 friends!  LOL!!

Pre printed stickers….LOVE EM!  I am actually gonna make it a point to use at least all the vacation and party sticker…I also think there should be at least triple the number of mani/pedi stickers but I will use ALL of those too!!!

The double sided pocket folders are great, I was worried with a spiral bound planner where would I stash stuff…here of course!  Hey and look more inspirational messages!!!

The clear plastic re-close able bag is great too, this is really a standard in a ringed planner and I love that it’s included in my EC!

That’s the end of my beautiful new EC…so in love with it.  If you wanna check out all the great designs Erin Condren has visit their website at www.erincondren.com

BIO DAY

Today is day ONE!  Let’s start with getting to know me! I am absolutely the most “imperfect mommi’; I feed my kids sugar, we have had ice cream for dinner, we stay up late and sometimes skip homework, I cave from the pressure of a 5 year old, I send money to the 19 year old and don’t tell my husband…etc the list can go on and on BUT I firmly believe that the mommi out there who is sure she is doing it all right is one of two things…A LIAR or AN IDIOT and is living in a world of falsehood and misrepresentation!!

I currently am a stay at home mommi, it has not always been that way in fact I need a job!!  I have been a working mommi who worked 70 hours a week with an infant at home, I have worked an over demanding job at night to have a schedule opposite of my husband to avoid daycare; so I understand how it feels for mommi’s of many roles!  I have decided to blog after lots of thought and conversations with my dearest friends, whom you will come to know as K and A, they are my sounding board, great advisers and truly the best friends a girl could ever ask for!  I realized that we read dozens blogs, one for crafts, one for family, one for relationships, one for child rearing, one for education, one for budgeting, one for couponing, one for…etc but I figured if there are at least 3 of us looking for the same things in a blog there must be more people who think like us (because we are pretty smart) so why can’t all of those things we want in a blog be in one place?  So my goal is to share my (our) ideas in one place!  And to hit subjects that we all struggle with but seem not talk about, I think most of us share the same struggles we just don’t wear them on our sleeves.

A LITTLE ABOUT ME…I am married to a wonderful but complicated man, we have been married for almost 11 years we have 2 kiddos to whom his is the most amazing father to.  L is 5 years old, she is our adopted princess.  We are unable to have children people look at us and say we choose such a wonderful path of adoption, but in reality it chose us and was/is the most amazing journey,  L is in kindergarten, she is smart, beautiful, full of life, she has a fire in her that lights up the world.  J is our 19 year old, opinionated, finding himself but still misplaced child!  He is my husbands son from his first marriage, but is my little man all the same.  J and I have been together since he was 5, and really have a wonderful relationship, he is a fantastic kid.  J graduated high school in May of 2013, it was amazing, we are so proud of him however he is on a path that requires much patience on my part, it’s so hard when you know what’s best for your kids, you tell them and they do the opposite, that’s where we are with J.  I know there are only like 5-10 more years of this and I will again be the genius he loves!!    I love that our family is COMPLICATED, I love traditional families too but I also know that the world is not always just mom, dad, brother & sister…it is filled with parents who share weekends, struggle with biological parents, struggle with step parenting, that family really is more than those  you share blood with!

We just relocated our little family to Texas (Myself, husband and L) J stayed in Colorado with his mom.  I NEVER thought I would leave Colorado and this has been a huge adjustment for me.  I have a lifetime of friends and memories in Colorado and here in Texas I have not seen a familiar face at Walmart in  months…it’s weird for me.  I miss my mom, my friends, my support system…I cry because I don’t know who my emergency contact would be…LOL!  But I am getting the hang of being far from “home” and I know I am not the only one in my shoes!  I am taken back by the bravery of people who just up and move or military families, I don’t think my heart could handle that life.

So for today that’s me in a “nutshell”.  I have a “to do” list a mile long today so I will get working on it…you know right after I get the flat tire repaired…yep that’s real life BABY!!  I look forward to sharing with you and hearing your feedback.  Please be patient with me I have decided to allow this to be a work in progress instead of a perfectly launched blog…Hard for me to do with my type A personality!!!