Friday, May 31, 2013

That's What It's All About

You put your left hand in, you put your left hand out, you put your left hand in, and you shake it all about.. Some days I wish the Hokey Pokey really WAS what it was all about, cuz I sure can turn myself around! Trying to remember why we're here, what my 'job' is as a parent (more specifically, a MOTHER), as a wife, and as a friend. In our society and crazy busy lives, it is sometimes lost in the shuffle.  In my rat race, sometimes I lose site of His greater purpose. I have to constantly remind myself, Love God, Love others.. Love God, Love others.  How do I do this correctly? I mean, I think I do! But, do I do it for the right reasons, or with the proper heart? 


" I've learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel."


I have run across this quote numerous times, and I LOVE it EACH time I read it, but it REALLY speaks to me today! It helped me to put some things I've been struggling with into perspective, and reminded me that, although I'm not prefect, I am not failing. 

Gift giving is an area where (I feel) I excel.  The cards, wrapping, thought, and sentiment are always customized to the recipient. I think about their current needs, the person that they are, and what they would truly appreciate. I research by looking into scripture for the meaning and purpose behind occasions and gifts. I take careful thought, time, and effort in presentation. I always walk away feeling good about my delivery. Sometimes, I worry that if it brings me too much joy when giving a present, then I'm only doing it for me. However, I have to tell myself that if they enjoy it just as much or more than I do, then it's a successful mission. 


Where I sometimes struggle, is with my words. Not in finding them, but in choosing them! I have a quick wit, and sharp tongue. There are occasions when the things I say effect people in a way I never intended. I recently had a conversation with one of my friends, where she let me know I had unintentionally hurt her feelings based on observations I had been making. I was concerned about her and some of the choices she was making. I felt I had approached it carefully and gracefully, but the truth was she just didn't want to hear it. In some ways, she was right. It's none of my business! I am allowed to be concerned about her, I can mention it to her if (after prayer) I feel it is really necessary. But after that, I have to let go and let God! If I am still concerned, I need to continue pray for her and know that she is in God's hands. Bringing it to her attention every time I see it happening doesn't make her feel good, doesn't solve anything, and puts a wedge in our relationship. We all have our journeys to travel, and WE get to choose how we get there. And, Lord knows, I don't want anyone telling ME which path to take! Don't they deserve the same privilege and respect? Let my words and actions show Christ's love.

It all boils down to figuring out what you feel is the most important for you and your family and doing that! (and remember that it is ALWAYS ok to change the focus with the seasons of our lives) Read a great post this morning on a different perspective: Gina at The Shabby Creek Cottage talks about paying attention to some life lessons from and unexpected source. Since I had already been thinking about this topic, I really enjoyed her view. Why is it when we grow up, our focus changes, and we let other people tell us what is important? I don't need to compare myself to the mom down the block, or the CEO down the hall. I need to pay attention to what my children are (and aren't) saying to me. I need to make sure that I am fulfilling mine and my family's needs. I need to encourage people in their strengths, and rely on God to fill my weaknesses. I need to remember we are all a work in progress.






Sunday, May 19, 2013

The Time Has Come!

I recently began a weight loss journey with a group of some of my favorite women from church. It is an amazing program that helps you break your food addictions/habits, and transform yourself in the way God intended for YOU! It has been a GREAT experience for me, sharing and learning. We are not all the SAME person, and we ALL require different things. It is up to us to find out what those things are. With all the media and chaos nowadays, it is sometimes hard to figure out where to even START.



I have been able to take a deeper look at the choices I have been making, my current/future relationship with God, and the life I WANT to live. These first six weeks have been pretty tricky. It has REALLY been scary, eye-opening, and TOTALLY worth it!



So, you may or may not know that I have 'special' Pinterest guidelines for myself. If not, you can read about that crazy here. I have really enjoyed using the 'new' secret board option to discreetly design collaborative spaces , plan parties (mostly baby showers), and gather gift giving/presentation ideas. At first, I was upset irritated that they limited the number of secret boards allowed.  However, upon further contemplation, I am appreciative that they set those boundaries for me, because I probably wouldn't have the self-control to do so. I mean, NOBODY else can SEE them! *Deep Breath*


During this journey with my group, I have had to change so many of my eating habits and menus.  And by this, I mean I've had to ACTUALLY make a menu. Usually Hunnie would take care of all that thought process (which is AMAZING), but I can't eat most of the things we've been making. When I started, he told me he was completely on board and would support me 100%. He said he would cook/make whatever I needed him to, but I had to figure out what that was. I thought/think that is a VERY reasonable request!

So, to collect some recipes and inspiration, where do you think I went? I hope NO ONE said cookbooks (even though I have about 15 on my kitchen counter).. How ARCHAIC!! That's right! I turned to my trusty Pal, PinterestIf you guessed that, do not pat yourself on the back, it was a NO BRAINER! As I scrolled.. and scrolled.. and scrolled.. and scrolled (you get the point), I realized that I didn't have any board I "could" pin these awesome recipes to. None of my criteria left room for FOOD (which was an original intention because of my poor eating habits). attempted to just 'like' recipes, (remember that 'EXTRA' board loophole?) but it was too hard to find them later in the slew of all other liked pins. I started pinning some to my <3 Myself board, but stopped because I did want to keep that as fashion ONLY. I wrestled with the decision for about a week or two and then FINALLY decided to create a NEW board.

http://www.simplyhappenstance.com/finding-some-zen/..And so My Temple was born! Part of the reason it took me a while to create the board, was choosing a fitting name. I didn't want to just name it 'FOOD' or 'YUMMMM', because then I could pin ANYTHING on there. By doing that, I would be defeating the whole purpose of the board. It was to incorporate my new choices into my life. I did what I always do when faced with a question I don't have the answer to.. I Googled "What the bible say about [food]". I found A LOT, but here is what spoke to me the most:
"Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body." ~1 Corinthians 6:19-20


With this, the board quickly morphed into more than food, but also fitness, good thoughts, and inspirational things. I open each description with a predetermined sub-category. If it is not {FOOD}, it is {MIND},{BODY},or{SOUL} OR any combination of the three. My guideline you ask? How would God truly feel about that? Yep! That's it! 


Do you have any Pinterest Guidelines?



Wednesday, May 15, 2013

Keep-"Pin" In Check

When I started on Pinterest (you know, BEFORE it was an app on everyone's phone *wink* and you had to actually be INVITED *double wink*), I only used it to plan parties more efficiently with my friends.  Now everyone and their mother is on, which does make pinning a more fun adventure, and has opened a vast of new ideas & opportunities into my life.

But.. It did bring up a dilemma for me. I become addicted to social medias & craft ideas SO easily. When you put those two together, LORD help us all!  BP (Before Pinterest), when I was looking to decorate a specific thing, try a 
craft or plan for an event/holiday, here is what would happen:  I would do a google search, open a THOUSAND tabs on my browser (not an exaggeration-have you ever seen the pop up that says 'memory
low-close windows'? I have!) and then sort through to see which ones I would print. Pinterest turned those days a thing of the past (mostly), and made it much easier. 
But is it too easy?


 Since the feed NEVER ends, neither do I!
Bottom of Pinterest
I could go on and on and on and on and on and on.. you get the picture. SO MANY GOOD IDEAS! TOO MANY FUNNY (AND MOSTLY INAPPROPRIATE) E-CARDS!
So, in order to keep me in check, and allow me to continue to function as a normal human being, I had to give myself guidelines to follow:

#1 - Create Practical Boards

For Pinterest to serve it's purpose in my life & home, I need to only create boards that are useful to me & my family.  This means no boards specifically for E-Cards, cute animals, etc.  Here are the original ones I created for the different areas in MY life: 
I created these later as the need arose:
  • Cute As a Button Baby Shower Collaborative board for my seeester's shower-I don't think I have added anything to it in almost 6 months, but people are following it and still repinning from it, so I haven't deleted it. *EDIT* This has now been changed to: 
  • Baby Showers to accomodate other friends showers I am helping plan or brainstorm for, without creating ANOTHER board for EACH. Each of my pin descriptions begin with {BRACKETS} noting a shower theme or generic category.
  • Valentine's Day Hunnie and I don't really 'celebrate' this day.. "If you can't show me you love me every other day of the year, don't buy me over priced roses/candy/stuffed animals ONE day."  BUT, this has fun ideas for school parties and thoughtful 'gifts'-Started this in January, and am still adding stuff for the coming years.
  • 1 Peter 1:3 {EASTER} I think this is self explanatory-Since I believe it is one of the most significant Holidays for Christianity, I LOVE it and am ALWAYS adding stuff to this, year round!  (I wonder if eventually I will have a board for EVERY holiday..)
  • Gifts I've Given I have a secret board for gift ideas (so the recipient won't know until they receive it), but once I give the gift, it gets moved here.. along with my comments of how it went.

#2 - Pin Where Applicable ONLY

If the pin does not fit EASILY into one of the board descriptions above, DON'T pin it! I repeat, DO NOT PIN IT! (Side note: If you 'LIKE' something on Pinterest, it's like a whole other board that doesn't show up on the feeds!)

#3 - Pin Only If Plausible

If you don't think you will ever: do it, use it, make it, buy it, wear it, cook it, or try it, DON'T pin it! (You are more than welcome to 'LIKE' it, comment on it, or tag another friend, but don't even THINK about pinning it to one of your boards!)

#4 - Forget About Repins&Followers

I still get the updates if people repin/like something I've pinned, start following my boards, or if one of my friends posts something to our shared board.  However, I do not let it consume me or judge the value of myself and my pins.  My pins are for ME.  If other people enjoy and benefit from them, GREAT!  If not, oh well.. I'm happy!  (The reason I keep the updates is because sometimes people I am not following start to follow me/repin something. If they like something on my boards, the likelihood of us having similar interests/tastes/goals is fairly high.  Therefore, I can find new people to follow and more inspiration sources to pull from)

#4 - Set Time Limits & Restrictions

For a while I was ok with just the parameters for pinning.  But.. after a while, I had to pull a Mommie on myself!  Just like I have restrictions on the kids' screen time, I enforced it on ME! NO PINNING

  • While I am with the kids & they are awake
  • When there are other chores to be done
  • On date night *DUH*, more than 10 minutes at a time with AT LEAST one hour in between pin-sessions.
 (So that leaves: *TMI ALERT* morning/evening potty time, lunch break, and in bed before I go to sleep)


I'm sure as time goes on, I will have to create more boundaries, 
but with that being said..



Sunday, May 5, 2013

Nap Whisperers

Alissa at creativewithkids.com posted this question recently in a Community Q&A article post:

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How do you keep a baby’s nap schedule when you’ve got multiple kids?

Moms Q and A - How do you coordinate nap schedules when you've got multiple kids?
Does anyone have any advice about coordinating schedules with multiple children? I have a preschooler and a baby and would love to to hear some different ideas about how to make our days work.   My biggest problem is that it is difficult to maintain the baby’s nap schedule.  Seems like it always gets delayed because we’re doing something with big brother. ~Leanna

Here was my response:

My two kids are at pre-school while I work during the week, but when I have them on the weekends this is what I do:
After a nice trip to the park (or running around in our grassy common area), that has sufficiently taken LOTS of energy out of the both of them, we head back to the house. Lunch time! Sometimes BabyGirl will fall asleep on the way back, (if I took a stroller) and she eats when she wakes up. If I visit a park that requires us to drive, we will eat snack/lunch at the park before we leave, because BabyGirl will DEFINITELY fall asleep on the way back-TheBubbster could go either way.
Once BabyGirl (now 18 months) is finished eating, she goes straight to bed, with the door closed. She will whine and cry a little bit, but she is tired and will go to sleep. Then TheBubbster (now 3 1/2 years) gets to finish his lunch and have nice one-on-one time and conversation with ME (Mommie!). This is usually when he tells me the BEST stories! As soon as he is done, wash hands, peepee on the potty, and nap on Mommie & Daddy’s bed.
Yep, you heard that right! Although, at night, my kids share a room, daytime naps are in separate rooms. (If your kids don’t share a room, you won’t have this problem) This decision is 2-fold: 1-BabyGirl is a lighter sleeper at naptime than at bedtime. One crack of that door, or whimper from her brother, and we could have blown ‘Operation-Both-Kids-Sleeping’! 2-Since they fall asleep at different times, they wake up at different times. Just because one child has received sufficient rest, does not mean the other has. Why should the rest of us have to suffer for the remainder of the day with Cranky-Kid, because Sibling woke Sleeper up too soon?
I have come to accept the fact that when I have both kids, and how i choose to handle it, my nap window is smaller than it used to be. I have been lucky enough that both of my kids usually take 3 hour naps, so when their nap start times are staggered, my ‘alone time’ is shortened. However, I am thankful for what I can get! Plus, this allows me small moments of individual attention for each of my children. As I mentioned above, TheBubbster gets my time while BabyGirl is headed to dreamland, but BabyGirl is usually the first to rise. That time before her brother wakes up is filled with cuddles and giggles. I get to enjoy her without the usually ‘battle’ for attention (or toys).
Just how I do it.. but you gotta get the groove, and what works for your own family! I am thankful to only have to coordinate 2.. Lord knows what would happen if there were more (For ME)! I’m sure there are other Mommies out there that are stronger, wiser, and more patient than I! I NEED my nap window, even if it’s SMALL!

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There were TONS of other GREAT answers!  If your situation is different than mine, check it out (here) to see there is one that would work better for you!



Thursday, May 2, 2013

My Monday..

What a way to start the week!

Little back-story: Hunnie was sick on Sunday, so we did not get to our household chores. AKA, the house is a small DISASTER! The day of being a 'semi-single' parent tired me out. My hat is off to ANY PERSON who has raised small children by themselves!

So, I predictably over-slept on Monday, but knew I couldn't pass up taking a shower based on how hot it was this weekend (don't judge me, you know you have gone a day without one at SOME point). Therefore, with traffic, I got to work 30 minutes late. I realized (after the late fee cut-off time) we had not paid Pre-School tuition for the week. After getting our first (and last) free pass, and requesting my husband bring by cash as soon as he could, I got a call from the Ear/Nose/Throat office we were supposed to be visiting at 4:00pm. They wanted to reschedule our appt (which had ALREADY been rescheduled and switched to another practitioner once) up to 1:30pm. Normally, I try to be flexible (and especially since they said it was because the practitioner wasn't feeling well), but this time I was a B! =\

I took a moment to ponder, and then I said this: "I'm really sorry to do this, but based on the facts that this has already been rescheduled once, I requested the afternoon off work for this (time of which I do not get paid), the travel time/distance between my work/my daughter's childcare/your office, and that I already have made arrangements to have alternate care for my son," (One of my dear friends, who has 3 kiddos of her own offered, without me asking, to pick him up, keep him until we were done, AND feed us all dinner when we got to her house) "I would like to keep my current appointment time." Now, where I REALLY turned the B-Factor up, was when I followed up with this: "Is it possible for me to meet with someone else?  Because, I know when I'm not feeling well, I'm not at 100% at MY work." She assured me it would be fine.

Hunnie got off work in time to pick BabyGirl up.  I was so happy to not have to drive back to our house to get her! Left work at 3 to meet them at a centrally located Starbucks (as to not add too much extra $$ on gas for the work van to our April Budget) by 3:15 (yes, I am geektacular, and did set events with reminders on my Google Calendar for each of these things). I got there before them, which NEVER happens, so I got to go in and get my beloved FREE Venti Ice Water. We got to the appointment at the check-in time, I had the paperwork already filled out so I didn't have to deal with little grabby hands, and we waited. It wasn't too long before the let us in the back. 
While we were waiting in the exam room, BabyGirl spilled most of my water. =( Two ladies came in the door, asked us some questions, and then started the 'examination'. They cleaned the wax out of her ears, confirmed there was fluid, and suggested tubes. She gave us a brief explanation of the surgery process, and gave us a packet for scheduling. 
Quick & painless. Made it to the car in record time, when I realized I hadn't validated. Back upstairs for me while the two got settled in the Wagon.

We were headed out of the parking structure when I realized I had left the DVD, that I was supposed to drop off for my weekly group, at work. Thinking fast, (like most mommies do) and not wanting to deal with downtown traffic, I called one of my friends from work. Thank the Lord she was still in the office and lives nearby. She was kind enough to grab it for me and met us at her house.  Plus she was excited to see BabyGirl (or as she refers to her: 'My BooBoo'). Half way into our drive to get TheBubbster and eat dinner, we realize we have to side track back to Starbucks, so Hunnie can pick up his work van. Where was my Calendar reminder for THAT?!?! Made it safely to the van, we give our kisses, and parted ways. 


SHOOT! I should have slipped through the drive-thru to refill my water on the way out!

He headed home to drop off the van, I headed to Group to drop off the DVD. I picked him up and we drove down the street to have dinner with our friends. 

Arrived to TheBubbster playing baseball outside, with the tip of his nose gray-from pressing it against the screen door. Dinner:Burgers(no buns for me)-Dessert:Watermelon-Yumm! Our families sat down together and enjoyed a meal as a whole unit. *SIGH OF RELIEF* Then Ms. H and I were off like a flash (late) to our monthly Worship Committee Meeting (the reason I was missing group and had to drop the disc). Had a nice conversation in her SwaggerWagon, and right when we were about 5 minutes from church, I get a call: "Where are the car keys?"

Stuff Sale is the BEST!
<---------------------------HERE
Yup! They are in my purse, on my lap. Way-to-go, ME! We offered a few 'clever' mom-gestions of how to get Hunnie & the kids home, but they ended up walking. *SIGH* Is it bedtime yet?

Had a good meeting, and when I got home, Hunnie said it was a nice walk and TheBubbster ran pretty much the whole way. That made me feel a little better. 


Wonder what the rest of the week will look like.. Hope it's NOT something like this: