A New Beginning

Every beginning has an end

Here we are at the start of a brand new year. I've been thinking about the end of 2010 and the start of a new year for a couple of weeks. There is something about a new year that is exciting to me. It's like an unopened book and I can't wait to see what is going to happen. 

I don't know about you but every year I've set New Year's Resolutions only to fail the same day or to start off strong and fade off a few weeks later.  This year I've decided to take a different approach. I'm going to set some intentions and keep in mind I have the whole year (and the rest of my life really) to make these intentions a reality. I'm really starting to understand that life really is a journey. I'm never going to fully arrive. You know what I mean? There is never going to be a day where I am able to say "okay, well I love myself enough now I don't need to work on that anymore". But to think that every day I can work on loving myself more and more; I can work on being a healthier me every single day; I can become a better mom & wife every day. Wow! What a journey this can will be!

My vision board created at Digital Dreamboard

Goals & Intentions for 2011

Physical Health & Fitness

1.  Make good self-honoring choices when it comes to food
2. Practice mindful eating
*work on establishing a healthy relationship with food
3. Exercise for at least 20 minutes every day
*yoga *wii game *walk
4. Go to sleep at a reasonable hour (10pm Every day)

Spiritual Health

1. Make time for myself every day to take a hot bath or meditate
2. Read a book or watch a movie each week that inspires me to think, feel, or do.
3. Write morning pages
*Complete The Artist’s Way
4. Set a daily intention
5. Read morning message from Good Morning
6. Start a notebook with my favourite quotes
(Emerson instructed us to “Make your own Bible. Select and collect all the words and sentences that in all your reading have been to you like the blast of triumph out of Shakespeare, Seneca, Moses, John and Paul.”)

Personal Growth

1. Set up & follow household routines; so I will have more time for fun
2. Work towards establishing my self-worth/fall in love with myself
3. Date myself for 1 hour every week

Family Goals

1. Spend less time online in the evenings
2. Plan activities for us to do as a family for fun (1 day or evening a week)
*Dinner & a Movie *Local family outings *Family game night *Ask kids for ideas
3. Complete the 20 Days to Being a More Mindful Mother blog challenge

Relationship with Spouse

1. Complete the Love Dare
2. Plan time to spend together alone to concentrate on building our relationship
*Date night (out or at home)
3. Practice really listening without rushing to judgement
4. Practice communicating effectively

Goals for Fun!

1. Blog every day (either on main blog and/or one of the sub-blogs)
*Work on building my blog(s) *Comment on at least 5 blogs every day *Set up a blog routine & be able to have blogs in draft for future posting
2. 365 Project – take a picture daily & put on Flicker
3. Craft – Set aside time each week to create
*get enough stuff made up to open up an etsy.com store

Financial Goals

1. Create & Follow a budget
2. Think about money in abundance

Business Goals

1. Enter accounting weekly
2. Set up monthly in-store classes
3. Create website for the store
4. Be more active on social networking sites

Did you set any new year intentions? I'd love to hear about them! Happy New Year!!

☮peace.♥love.☺joy

A New Beginning

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A Sisterhood of Sadness

A Sisterhood of Sadness

“I was once a member of the Pregnancy Club, my membership card consisting of two pink lines on a stick. I was eager to pay my dues, just like all the other members. Morning sickness, stretch marks, cravings — I welcomed them all.

But they never came. And before I knew it, my membership was revoked. No real reason — at least none I could discern — other than bad timing, perhaps. Or, at least, that’s what everyone’s been telling me. That and “God’s plan.”

Miscarriage is a terrible word. As if one has dropped something, or carried something incorrectly. Similar to “mistake” or “misunderstanding.” How I longed for it to be either of those things when I learned my baby was gone. Surely, it was a mistake, I prayed. If they would just look again, they would learn it was all a simple misunderstanding.

But the ultrasound screen showed otherwise.

1 out of every 5 pregnancies ends in miscarriage, say the books. That statistic terrified me when I was pregnant. So many lost babies, I thought. How can I keep mine from being one of them? But now that mine is one of them, that 1 out of 5 seems awfully small.

Or, at least, it did. Until soft-speaking female voices started whispering to me in my grief, “It happened to me, too.” Their eyes told me the stories of the pain that we shared, the pain that only a woman who has carried a child – and lost it – could know. For some, it was fresh pain. For others, it was dulled by healthy babies since born.

A sisterhood of sadness.

It’s a silent group, this new club of which I have recently become a reluctant member. Our membership cards are the scars we will always carry on our hearts. Our dues are paid in blood and tears. It is a painful initiation, and one never ceases membership. Because one never forgets.

I am joining, not because I want to, but because I wasn’t given the choice. But at least I know I’m not alone. At least I know there are hundreds of thousands of women with me, however silent and invisible, quietly holding my hand.”

- Author Unknown

Thank you to all the great friends on twitter that have been a huge support for me the last week. Thank you for being there and listening. Thank you to my real life friends that have called or left me messages - your support is greatly appreciated. Thank you most of all to my husband for helping me, supporting me and loving me through this difficult time in our lives.

A Sisterhood of Sadness

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Dream Big

When you cry be sure to dry your eyes
'Cause better days are sure to come
And when you smile be sure to smile wide
Don't let them know that they have won
And when you walk, walk with pride
Don't show the hurt inside
Because the pain will soon be gone

And when you dream, dream big
As big as the ocean blue
'Cause when you dream it might come true
When you dream, dream big

When you laugh be sure to laugh out loud
'Cause it will carry all your cares away
And when you see, see the beauty all around and in yourself
And it'll help you feel okay
And when you pray, pray for strength
To help you carry on
When the troubles come your way

And when you dream, dream big
As big as the ocean blue
'Cause when you dream it might come true
When you dream, dream big

When you laugh be sure to laugh out loud
'Cause it will carry all your cares away
And when you see, see the beauty all around and in yourself
And it'll help you feel okay
And when you pray, pray for strength
To help you carry on
When the troubles come your way

And when you dream, dream big
As big as the ocean blue
'Cause when you dream it might come true
When you dream, dream big

I heard this song for the first time yesterday. Since then I've played it a few times and I often find myself thinking about the lyrics. I especially like the line that says "And when you see, see the beauty all around and in yourself". Little reminders like this are so helpful to me at this point in my journey. I'm discovering how to love myself and to see that I am beautiful, so I feel it's important to surround myself with reminders like this. And the message about dreaming big - Yes! Dream big! I'm dreaming big every day. I'm dreaming I can change the world - I think that's about the biggest dream around. And I am changing my world every day. You can too - Dream Big.

I love this song and I wanted to share it with you in case you haven't heard it yet. Give it a listen and go Dream Big.

Do have a favorite song that speaks to you?
☮peace.♥love.☺joy

Dream Big

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Change is in the Air

Originally uploaded by icedgrandesoylatte

If you've been a reader of my blog for any length of time you know I'm not really great about regular posting but this time I've been gone for quite awhile.  I've been doing some personal work. By personal I mean I've been working on me.  I'm changing,  I feel like the butterfly.  Silly metaphor but that's how I feel.  I'm not going to stop blogging, but this blog might take a bit of a different direction.  I'm not sure how to go about it yet, or what exactly is going to change, but since I'm changing, I can't imagine that my blog would stay the same. Right now I have some ideas for things I want to do, say, and share; so it will be interesting to see where I am led to go. I hope that you'll stick around and see what happens in the next chapter.
☮peace.♥love.☺joy 

Change is in the Air

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Happy Father's Day!

Happy Father's Day to my husband - We are so blessed to have you!

To my dad - Happy Father's Day!! I Love you and miss you!

Happy Father's Day!

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It's The Ultimate Blog Party and You're invited!

Psst have you heard that 5 Minutes for Mom is throwing a huge party this week?  Yeah, I guess the kids or their husbands are going to be out of town or asleep or something and they are telling everyone to come to the party and bring a friend. I am so going! Are you??

Before you go any further...It wouldn't be a party without some music.  So go ahead and click on the play button so you can chair dance while you read. ;)



There we go, got the music up. Oh, you're new here? Well, in that case I should introduce myself. If you're wondering what Typical Ramblings, Atypical Nonsense is all about, the name pretty much says it.  I talk about everything from green living, products I love, recipes, organization, crafts, my kids, to parenting...pretty much whatever is on my mind. I'm not a natural born writer (how I wish I was though), I mostly I write like I talk. Sometimes I misspell things but usually that's because I'm breastfeeding while trying to blog, not because I don't know how to spell. ;)  I love my little corner of the blogosphere and I hope you'll enjoy your stay here and come visit me often.  I'm also hoping that maybe I'll find a way to make it to BlogHer'10 this August - and maybe I'll get to meet some of you while I'm there.

Oh, sorry I should be a better hostess. Are you hungry?  Would you like something to drink? Well, it's Friday night and at our house that means PIZZA!

I hope you like pizza. Good thing I had a bunch of these in the freezer, I was able to get them in the oven before you all got here and still look this good!  Here's my recipe if you'd like to make some for your family.

Need something to wash that down with? 

How bout a green smoothie? I kid!! The wine is just over there, help yourself. :)

Powered by Whrrl

The girls at 5 Minutes for Mom know that if you're going to throw a great party you have to have great door prizes.  I have to tell you what my top three prizes are that I'm hoping to win...

   $200 Apple gift certificate from CmomGo
   $200 gift certificate for any Wall Slicks vinyl wall decal from Modern Wall Graphics, the makers of Wall   Slicks
   $50 gift card to Amazon.com from Shasher’s Life

   And if my top three picks are already chosen, I’d love any of the following (in order of preference):

   USC 53, USC 56, USC 23, USC 22, USC 61 or any of the prizes because they are all really great!

Well, I hope that you've had a great time at my party & I hope you'll tell all your friends to stop by! I'm really looking forward to meeting & getting to know lots of new people this week. Don't be shy - say hi! and let me know if you had fun! :)

It's The Ultimate Blog Party and You're invited!

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Happy Easter!

Happy Easter!

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In Search of Me

Priority \Pri*or"i*ty\, n. [Cf. F. priorit['e]. See Prior, a.]

1. The quality or state of being prior or antecedent in time, or of preceding something else; as, priority of application.

2. Precedence; superior rank. --Shak.

Priority of debts, a superior claim to payment, or a claim to payment before others.

Syn: Antecedence; precedence; pre["e]minence.

Source: Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)

I've been absent from my blog this week because priorities have been on my mind.  Mostly the lack of putting myself as a priority. This is going to be a very hard post for me to write. I'm going to be admitting some things that are very difficult for me to admit.

I've been skipping out on Menu Plan Monday posts because I (once again) have had to stop raw eating.  I know that this way of eating is what is good for me.  It is what will work for me to lose weight and be healthy.  I've had glimpses of this during the periods of time that I have been able to stick with it.  This time it isn't a lack of will power or determination that has stopped me, but a lack of funds.  It is really expensive to eat raw. Even though I'm the only one of the five us eating raw it would add up enough extra to our budget that grocery shopping was costing over 200 dollars a week. Yes, you read that right - a week! I just can't justify that right now.  Not when I am a stay at home mom and we are relying solely on my husband's pay check.  So for the time being I am putting raw eating on the back burner.

For the last 2-3 weeks since I stopped buying all the stuff for my own special meals I haven't even payed attention to what I have been putting in my body. This is not good. Not good for weight loss, not good for my physical health, and not good for my mental health.  I shouldn't say I haven't been paying attention, because oh how I have. But I eat whatever and then I beat myself up mentally for it. I know all the right things to do, all the right ways to eat but I still choose to eat junk or way too much. I eat to deal with emotions, stress, boredom and lastly hunger. I'm also good for putting off eating until I'm so hungry that I will just eat whatever is ready to eat right now. 


And let's talk about exercise. Yeah, I've decided I'm just lazy. Well, that's not entirely true but when it comes to exercise it is true. I will do anything to not exercise.  I will make up excuses (that may or may not be valid), I will be so busy (this is true - partially) that I just don't have time to exercise.  I bought the Just Dance Wii game and told myself that I would use that for exercise over the winter.  I've used it a grand total of one time. wow. pathetic.  What is true is that I won't give up time I spend playing with Little E during the day to exercise. I could be taking him for a walk in the stroller though, and I'm sure the fresh air would do him good. What is true is I won't live in a messy house to make time for exercise.  A messy house stresses me out - seriously. What is true is I spend time on the computer that I could be exercising but I want to have "down time".  Why don't I consider exercising, something that is good for me to be down time? Oh, well because exercise is work.  All that said, I know that if I really want to lose weight (especially if I'm not going to be eating raw) then I need to add in exercise.  I know that if I add in exercise I will start to have more energy.  I do want those things.  I do.

What all this boils down to is I am not on my priority list.  And if I happen to show up on it, I show up at the very bottom. I know that this week I've spent some time crying and thinking about myself and what changes I want.  I just don't know how to do it. I don't know how to make myself a priority. I don't know how to get it through my thick head that I must exercise and eat properly - whatever that is. At this point I'm going to say I don't know how to eat properly.  I've got it in my mind that they only way I can lose weight is by eating raw foods because I know it works and I'm not left feeling hungry like when I try to diet.  So what do I do? I mean I can't possibly be the only person out there that has felt this way.  Someone must have some words of wisdom or great advice.  How do you make time to take care of yourself if you're a stay at home mom?  A mom that is involved with her kids, likes a tidy house, likes to cook; how do I make this work for me.  I need a teacher.

I look in the mirror and I hate what I see (this is even worse since I had E and I have that c-section tummy now).  I am uncomfortable in my own skin.  I want to feel good about myself, I want to feel sexy, I want to be healthy and fit. How do I find my way there? At this point I am at a loss.  I'm going to try spending some time this weekend thinking about this, searching for answers and hoping that maybe someone out there can help me.

In Search of Me

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Shit I Want to Talk About

This morning I had planned to write about something else entirely and as the day wore on I debated writing at all. It's just been one of those days.  Not any one thing, but an emotional day for some reason.  Finally this evening I got a few minutes to myself and as I was thinking about my day I decided I would go ahead and write.  This year I want to start writing more personal things. Not just crafts, recipes, or memes but real day to day things. Things that are in my head.  So what better day to start than today.

What I learned today:

I feel like life is perpetually like high school and I'm still that odd girl that just doesn't quite fit in anywhere no matter how hard I try.  I could study my ass off and still not be smart enough; I was never "cool" enough. Today I tried to have a conversation with someone and it felt just like high school.  You know, when you try to say something to the "in crowd" and they just look at you and laugh or roll their eyes and walk away. Yeah, that's what it felt like.  Maybe I'm just too sensitive. I dunno. It seems like these high school like feelings happen frequently. What I do know is I let how I walked away from that experience today shape the remainder of my afternoon. And that was no one's fault but my own.  I need to work on letting things go. I control my own happiness. I can choose to be happy or I can choose to let things get to me.  I'm going to work harder on choosing to be happy.  You know how ducks have waterproof feathers and when it rains it just rolls off their backs? I want to be the duck. ;)

Today I am admitting I am an emotional eater.  I wrote on Monday how one of my resolutions was to become healthier, and how part of that was to lose some weight. My plan to lose weight and get healthy involves eating a raw food diet until supper.  Well, after the above situation happened I blew that resolution right out of the water. I guess technically I didn't, as the resolution was to become healthier but I messed up on my "plan". I comforted myself in cookies and a mc mom (think homemade McMuffin) for lunch with the kids. Yeah, not exactly raw foods. Food is how I punish myself for bad feelings; it is how I stuff down emotions I do not want to deal with. Food is not a reward; it is not something I think of as a positive thing. Food and I have a long history and it's never been a good relationship (more on that later). Maybe just maybe by admitting that I use food to fill some emotional upset or void it will help me be more aware? I don't know. How does one overcome emotional eating? How does one find a healthy relationship with food?  I know this may be shocking some because of all my recipes and how I do love cooking and baking. I think my love for it is because I'm good at it (one of the few things I am good at) and it gives me a creative outlet.

Today I realized I sabotage myself.  I make a lot of excuses mentally why I can't do things. I want to be healthier & lose weight but I've yet to start exercising.  I want to get the Wii game Just Dance and I'm using that as an excuse to not exercise.  I've not been able to find it in the stores here yet and I keep telling myself "just as soon as I get that game I'll have fun exercise".  I have a Wii Fit but it's really hard to use with E up and running around since he wants to be on it when you are and if you say no, he will just turn it off on you.  It really doesn't amount to much of a workout that way.  I've tried using it when he naps and I swear he has wiidar.  As soon as I get it set up and on, he wakes up...every time.  So you can see how I have lots of excuses.  Well, no more.  I know about the No Excuses Workout - no equipment needed and it only takes 6 minutes.  Really I am sure I have 6 minutes a few times a day & that'll be better than doing nothing until I find the Just Dance game.

So these are the main things I was thinking about this evening. I hope that by writing them down here I will remember my resolve to do things differently tomorrow and the next day...

Shit I Want to Talk About

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Catchin Up

Finally today after over 2.5 weeks of being away I'm back. Honestly it wasn't an intentional leave of absence. If I had known I would have let you all know I was going to be taking a break. So what have I been up to?

Well...the kids started back to school. That is always really hard on me. I really love having all my kids home with me and I get very used to that during the summer months. Not to mention the lovely mornings of getting up late (usually after 8am, which is nice compared to the 6:30am school schedule)and having fun during the day. So the return of school is always bittersweet for me. For some reason it was even more so this year. Usually by the time the end of August arrives I'm starting to crave a little more routine. Not this year. Summer break seemed unusually short to me and I wasn't ready to jump back in. Since I have very little say in the matter the kids are back into school and so far they are really enjoying it. I'm settling into a routine of sorts, and while I can't say I'm great with them being gone all day; I am however okay with it.

About a week after school started I really started struggling with my health. Some of this has been going on for quite a long time (like since before I became pregnant with E)and it has just gradually been getting worse. Basically my symptoms were extreme fatigue and pain all over my body. It was like having the flu but not having the flu. One day I could feel decent - not great but decent, and the next just being awake would be painful. I'm seeing my dr now and after the first round of tests we found out I am deficient in iron and vitamin B12. So he has me eating more dark green veggies (I've been basically off the raw diet since June) and taking a vitamin B12 supplement for now. I'll go back in a month and we'll draw levels again. Hopefully I will be feeling much better by then but if not we'll also have to look at some other things. I think a lot of this came to a head due to some not so pleasant things I've been having to work through these last few weeks as well. I think it was all just to much and my body couldn't cope the way it was before. Anyhow so far the supplement and greens seem to be helping to a degree. My energy seems to be a bit better now, hopefully the pain will subside too.

With all of this going on, I've decided (sorta-kinda) that I need to work on weaning E a little bit. He is no where near ready to wean completely and I'm okay with that, however I do need him to nurse a little bit less through the day and at night would be even better. To give you an idea of how much he nurses - sometimes I swear he nurses like he's a newborn and not an 18 month old. That's a lot of hours spent nursing and it is exhausting me. So I've spent some time working on a menu for him to try getting him to eat more so that he'll not want to nurse as much. Some days it goes really well and he eats great. Which means less time spent nursing. Other days it's typical toddler-dome - very little eating and he wants to nurse more those days. For my menu plan Monday I am going to start sharing my toddler menus (and possibly recipes) so if you have a toddler or soon will, you might want to check back for that. I've tried to come up with some really healthy yet yummy ideas for him. Hopefully they'll help some of you out as well. One of the biggest reasons I had to sit down and actually make a menu for him was because I would stand at the cupboards wondering what to make him every single day. I'm sure I'm not the only one that does that and the menu really helps me. I also feel like I am feeding him better now and that makes me feel good too.

Oh! I almost forgot! I have a couple of product reviews I will be doing soon. :) One is for Soap Nuts from the Eco Bebe Boutique. The other is a planner from Dotmine. I'm really excited to tell you about these products and I might have a giveaway or two or three up my sleeve. ;)  So you'll definitely come back and see what is going on with that.  Some very exciting things I think :).

I'll be back tomorrow with a brand new Menu Plan Monday - hope to see you then! xx

Catchin Up

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Change is Good

Well, I'm sure you can tell by now I've done a little change here on my blog.  What do you think?  I decided last night something had to be done.  I was getting distracted by all the stuff in my sidebars on either side of my posts.  It was far too busy.  I think the layout now is easier on the eyes and it looks much cleaner.

The theme probably won't be sticking around for too long.  I'm working with Nicole from GrudgeMom Graphics to come up with a new pretty theme for my blog.

 I'm so excited.  She has done some beautiful work.  Go check her out. She's not going to charge you an arm and a leg for her work either.

In the mean time please leave me a comment and tell me what you think of the new layout.

Change is Good

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25 Random {Possibly Coma Inducing} Things About Me

This meme is making the rounds on Facebook. I did the first one that came around that was 16 things. Then someone decided that 16 wasn't hard enough to come up with so they upped the anty to 25. I tried to avoid this one, but I've been tagged more than once. Why, I will never know. I truly am boring. I think coming up with 25 things is going to be torture, but I will take a break from my other facebook addictions and play along. Besides posting it here I can get 2 things done for the price of one. lol

Rules: Once you’ve been tagged, you are supposed to write a note with 25 random things, facts, habits, or goals about you. At the end, choose 25 people to be tagged. You have to tag the person who tagged you. If I tagged you, it’s because I want to know more about you.

1. I think I was a criminal in a past life. I get panicky when I hear police sirens even though I know I haven't done anything wrong. I've been like this since I was at least 5. Odd.

2. I like when my kids are sick. Now before you think niiiice, let me explain. lol I don't like that they are sick, but I like how they are extra snugly and how they are just a bit quieter and easier to make happy. Plus when it's the big kids that are sick they get to stay home with me all day. *side note - I wish I could home school just to keep my kids with me all the time*

3. I'm addicted to Twilight. I dream about it, I waste time looking up things about it on the net.

I want to make "Twilight Cookies" so my ds and I can read together and have vampire snacks. *Thank you Hani for the recipe :)*

4. I am very shy. Until I get to know someone I don't talk much. I think my online friends would find this surprising.

5. I wish I was smart enough to be a Doctor.

6. If I could be a doctor, I would like to practice some sort of mixture of traditional medicine, homeopathy and holism. I believe sometimes medicine has a place but there are also things we can do for ourselves that don't involve a prescription.

7. I hate drama. I do my best to live my life drama free and I don’t care to keep up with whatever drama you have going on. Leave me out of it.

8. As a general rule, I hate talking on the phone.

9. I don't have a cell phone and I don't want one. R keeps hinting towards getting one, but I get very anxious of the fact that people would be able to call us anytime, anywhere.

10. I wish I could be a Vegan. The only way I think I could do it successfully was if my family would join in - hahahaha.

11. I want to work harder at clean eating. I would love to be in phenomenal physical health by the time I am 40.

12. I want to learn to garden - fresh tomatoes, peppers, cucs, lettuce - mmmm

13. I would love to go back to school. It would help if I knew what I wanted to be when I grew up though.

14. I LOVE my kids. I love being with them, talking to them, hanging out and having fun. I love my babies but as the kids get older I am finding that they are a lot of fun too. In fact as I am fast approaching the teen years with my oldest I have to wonder if I am not enjoying him more now than I did when he was tiny.

15. I love my husband more and more everyday. This has been a hard year for us, but knowing that after all the kids are grown and on on their own, we will be together - just us - fills my heart with complete happiness.

17. I am addicted to pajamas. Since giving birth last March, I have spent 95% of my time in pajamas.

18. I wish I was a writer.

19. I am not a girly girl. I would almost prefer to have all male friends. Men are less dramatic, and less likely to stab you in the back.

20. I only buy decaf, organic, fair trade coffee. I am a coffee snob.

21. I always have the TV on or the radio or something in the CD player. I can't stand sitting in a completely quiet house all day. I rarely sit and watch what is on the TV during the day, (never mind it's usually Noggin) I just like the background noise.

22. I am typing this with a sleeping baby on my lap :)

23. I am the oldest child and the only girl out of four kids. This probably explains why I’m rather bossy, opinionated, and competitive.

24. I would like to take some sort of photography class. I really enjoy taking pictures of people and things.

25. My favorite time of day is bed time. Getting into bed with my husband and our baby between us and snuggling and talking about the day. Love. It.

Now if you're still with me and you've been tagged start compiling your list of 25 fascinating things about yourself for me to read :D

25 Random {Possibly Coma Inducing} Things About Me

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Had to laugh...at first anyhow

Be sure to click on the photo to read what it says. Oh how I wonder how many men wish it was still the 1950's *haha* and how grateful many wives are that it is 2009! That was my reaction when I first read the article.

Then...I started thinking about it a little more...
-Have supper ready for him when he gets home. I try to most nights have supper ready when he gets home from work or soon there after. There are times he cooks for us, but as a general rule I try to have something going. I know when he gets home he is hungry and he usually doesn't eat much during the day at work.
-Prepare yourself. I definitely don't do that one. Would it hurt? Probably not. Would he like it? Oh probably more than coming home to find me in the same pj's he left me in. lol And really getting dressed everyday (staying home or not) probably would do something pick me up also.
-Be cheerful for him when he comes home. Really who wants to come home to a grump. I know sometimes as soon as he walks in the door I sometimes unload on him. Maybe that isn't fair. It's not like all of his days are rosy either and he rarely if ever comes home grumpy to me.
-Clear away the clutter. I know I hate coming home to a mess. I'm sure it isn't very welcoming for him to come home to a mess either.
-Be happy to see him. Again I repeat - who wants to come home to a grump. I used to give him a hug and a kiss every single day when he would get home from work. Perhaps I need to go back to that. A nice way to let him know he was missed I think.
-Listen to him. So many times I start babbling about my day. I need to take more time to listen to how his day went. While my topics of conversation are just as important as his, I need to focus less on me and a bit more on him.
-Never complain if he is late or goes out to dinner or stays out all night. HAHAHA yeah right...if you're reading this hunny - keep dreaming!! LOL
-Make your home a place of peace and order. This is for me just as much as it is for him. I need to work harder at this one. I would love to have a relaxing evening with him and it is much easier to do when things are done and the house is in order.
-A good wife knows her place. Yes, it is right next to my husband. We are partners in this marriage.

I think I've been focusing on myself lately. How I feel, what I want. There are two people in this relationship. I need to spend more time focusing on my husband. Showing him I appreciate him more. While things he does or doesn't do may not always make me happy, I have a really great man. He works hard so that I can stay home and take care of our children. If I want something he does his best to be sure that I get it.
I am going to make this part of my resolutions for this year. To show my husband I love and appreciate him daily.

How about you? Are you showing your husband that he is appreciated and loved each day? Is this something you need to work on also? Lets remind each other when those times come up where we want to complain that such and such didn't get done, that overall we have good husbands.

Had to laugh...at first anyhow

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Happy New Year!

Wow can you believe another year has come and gone already? It's hard for me to really wrap my head around it. So much happened last year. Probably the biggest thing that happened to our family was our new addition - baby Evan.
As I look around at different blogs and listen to other people talk, it seems everyone already has their goals and they've reminisced about the past year already. I suppose that is the point of the New Year's resolutions, and it's not like I didn't know it was coming. I'm a bit slow...to say the least. I'm still in the process of reviewing the last year in my head and trying to figure out exactly what I would like for myself and my family this year. Probably getting this all on paper would help me sort out my thoughts. I know for sure I don't want to just say oh I want to lose weight or something like that. I've made goals like that for as long as I can remember, and come the end of the year more often than not I am left feeling like a failure. I don't want that this year. Maybe I can try and work on coming up with something concrete this evening and tomorrow.
Have you thought about what you want for the coming year? If not, join me in thinking about it. It is a good thing to have goals. It gives us something to strive for so we don't become stagnant in the waters of life. Let's just make it something we know we can do this year :)
On that note, I'm going to head in and clean up the kitchen before going to bed. I know for sure I want to make that a habit this year!
*Hugs*

Happy New Year!

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Merry Christmas a Little Late...

I hope that everyone had a great Christmas. We definitely did! By the time it was over I was sure Toys R Us threw up in my living room. lol So obviously the kids had a good Christmas, not just all the gifts, but we had family in and talked to family on the phone. Several times that day I heard from them "This is the best Christmas EVER!" *Big sigh of relief* This year Christmas was more stressful for me than I ever remember it being. Just seemed there wasn't enough time to get everything I wanted to do accomplished. As it was before the kids could open gifts on Christmas night R and I had to go in the bedroom and finish wrapping their gifts. Maybe next year I will be able to get back to my usual schedule and have a more relaxing holiday....We'll see.

The last 2 days I have been thinking about the new year. As I look around the house I see lots of dust, lots of things out of place. I want to get things a bit more organized, and get a better schedule going so that I can relax more with the family. I mean truely relax. I spend lots of time with them now, but many times it is half hearted because I *have* to (ie I'm being forced by the baby to sit and hold him - therefore end up watching a movie or something with the kids and dad). In my head I have a zillion things I would/should be doing if this little person would just unleech himself from me for awhile. I want to find a way to get the things done that are bugging me so that I can really enjoy the time I get to spend with them. Anyone have any ideas how to do this with a leechbaby ;)?
I think I will spend some of today getting some things put away, working with my homemaking journal and finding some routines that will work for me.

Happy Monday!

Merry Christmas a Little Late...

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The Craziness Continues

I have been trying all week to get something posted aside from MPM. I don't know if it is just me, or has this week been crazy for everyone? It seems every day this week there has been a new stress, or something going on. Last night I finally had to have a talk with the children, there is just now way in the world I am going to be able to do everything we normally do this time of year. That doesn't meant we won't be doing something, it just means that some adjusts have to be made. Luckily everyone thought that would be ok. I really hate to disappoint anyone, but I'm just about at my limit this year. I never thought having an almost 9 month old would really slow me down as much as it has.
I've been baking and making candy when I have had a chance. I really want to share the pictures and recipes with you all ,myself or my one lonely reader, whichever the case may be...;). Today is going to be a fairly busy day but I will see if I can at least get one picture and recipe up here later on this afternoon.
Well the baby calls, so I must go. TTFN

The Craziness Continues

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The Amazing Freecycle

I was completely amazed today. Ok for several reasons. One, I got my darling husband to help me clean out our storage shed. We have had stuff in there for 3 years that family members had brought for us to sell at our yard sale. So the stuff that never sold I had every intention of getting rid of right after the yard sale...well my hunny just couldn't see why would should get rid of ohhhh say the cat travel box (the fact that we don't have a cat had no bearing on his case). Well, finally today he did it! We did a clean sweep of the shed. We had a keep pile, a trash pile and the freecycle pile. The keep pile was so small. I was very very pleased with how little we had to put back. Then I came in the house to start listing on freecycle.
People have been telling me for a couple of years that I should freecycle. I had this idea that you would list the stuff then have to wait days for them to come haul it away. And when I clean...I want that stuff gone yesterday, so I just didn't see how freecycle would work for me. Well to my utter amazement I listed the stuff an within 5 minutes I had replys! Everything we had to go is gone...Today! So my friends, if you have never freecycled and you are cleaning/decluttering for christmas, please give freecycle a try. If you don't know how to get started just go to freecycle.org, browse for a group near you, join and start posting your treasures.

The Amazing Freecycle

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