200+ programs running.

when you look at your cell phone it will tell you how many programs are running. Sometimes I feel that if my brain were a cell phone or computer it would have crashed by now.  It always feels like 200+ programs (or more) are open and all trying to run at the same time.

BUT I am getting systems in place-- I am learning how to program my brain and for the first time it is clicking and working better.


There are 5 things right now that I am doing that are working.

None of them are amazing things I have never heard before, or even tried before, but for some reason they have clicked with me.  Maybe it is the combo of the three things working together, maybe it is all the little steps that I have taken have been all up hill and this is a down hill part.  All I know is that I have more energy, I am better organized, my house is not falling apart, and I am getting stuff done.

Over the next 5 days I will tell you my programs. I am not going to tell you all of them at once, cause I will show you step by step how this started working for me.

Here are the aspects of my life they do affect and the order I found them.

1. Spiritual
2. Physical
3. Organizational
4. Mental/focus
5. Parental/house

Can't wait to start tomorrow!

21 day mom rescue

I have been doing a thing called the 21 day Mom Rescue-day was my day 7 and it is getting to the point where you stop planning and start doing--the hardest part for me. It is a lady named Hannah and she helps you take steps to living the most productive life you can.  Big thanks to my friend Tomena who showed this to me-

Along with Hannah's stuff I have just learned about Bullet Journaling.  It is similar to what I have been doing for years, but makes a lot of sense and looks easier than what I have been doing--and more fun too!

So while looking at the Bullet Journals I ran across something called Miracle Morning--which is also amazing.

I am a seeker of information, but not so much a DOER of knowledge.  I am stopping my information overload while I get these systems in place.  I am really enjoying it, but find that I am still spending WAY to much time at the computer while my kids are awake, so that needs to be worked into all these awesome new things I am learning.

SO on Monday--yes I am ONE of those people who start things on a Monday-- I am going to do my Miracle Morning and work from my bullet journal and actual become a DOER.

PS: I have been doing my Lent stuff pretty well---

1. No tortilla's-unless I am using them for an actual meal. (I know strange, but I eat a ton of tortilla- they are my go to snack and I often put unhealthy stuff on them-- I miss them a lot, but I am doing pretty good)

2. De-clutter-- I haven't decluttered today--so I am off to do my shoes for 10 minutes. -ok didn't take me 10 minuets because I don't have a ton of shoes, but I did toss two pairs away-- a pair of slippers from Korea (donation bag) and a pair of slip on shoes (that is just about all I wear) that have seen better days.

3. Exercise Daily-except Sunday: I have missed one day, but since I use to  never exercise just about a month ago I think this is pretty good.  I am in a spinning class on Tuesday/Thursday - which I LOVE-so the other days I have a whole bunch of stuff on an exercise pinterest board--so I just go and choose one to do.  I mostly like HIIT stuff and Zumba videos.


Have you ever made a SMALL decision that changed your life for the better?  What was it?

Why this isn't working!

I had this beautiful plan that told me every day what I was going to blog about and now I can't find the file I saved it under, nor can I find the 20 pages (yes 20!) that I had printed out that told me every day what to post! I thought-can't find it, don't have my plan-can't do this.

So like I said--I love to plan, but then I find my plans so structured that I get overwhelmed and give up, and I think misplacing my papers gave me an excuse to ignore my overly structured plan.

Instead of going forward I just totally stopped doing the blog.

BUT

I have thought a lot about this and found that I will use my 'schedule' of posts as suggestions and if I feel something is more important I will share that.

SO (I overuse this word when I do blog writings--sorry)

I will do better. I will commit to writing every day this next week on my blog and then go from there.

While I will try to stick to the previous post themes-- I might differ.

Do you ever find yourself doing that in your own life?

What is something in your life you thought you had planned out perfectly - but found that actually doing your plan wasn't going to work?

2 weeks!

I made it about 2 weeks during my blog-- not bad!

That is about the story of my life.  Do a huge plan- get it all planned out--be gun ho about it and then...

well a few weeks go by and that is the end of my grand plan.

It is a horrible pattern I have found myself in.

I can't say that I am going to be back on track--cause those first few weeks I didn't have much going on in my life--but as they say---life happens.

I normally have lots of time at night to write on my blog, but I bought a subscription to a face paint website.  It is only good for a year SO I am trying to take advantage of every extra minute I have to watch the videos and learn all I can. The website has over 300 hours of face paint videos from all the professionals from around the world.

I will post-- I won't forget about the blog, but I am NOT going to feel guilt about missing a day (or even a week)!

Thinking Thursday-- The Professor

So I was going to write about my mother, cause seriously who is more influential in a persons life than the people that raise you.

BUT...

I am learning that this isn't a post I can just write up off the top of my head, I am going to have to give this some thought.

SO...

I choose someone else who has been an influence in my life, but not so much that I can't write something quick about them.


I had a professor at college and he was one of the best/worst teachers I ever had.

I may have cried out of anger in his class and I am SURE I was that girl that when I rose my hand or made a comment the other kids would groan.  Yes, I was that student in class.

Anyway.  The reason this professor changed my life is because he made me question everything I had ever been taught.

He taught that progression was bad. It was really the first time I ever wondered about that.  I had always been taught that we want to progress, get better, get healthier, get more.  He said all of that was wrong.  He wanted things to go back to the Amish way of life if not the cave man days, But on the other hand he liked inflation.  He was really a strange man.  

I was an 'older' student when I took his class.  I had gone to about four different colleges (but never getting an associates I was still considered an underclassman cause so few of my credits transferred) and had been married for a year when I took his class, which was full of upper class-men taking it to just finish school, freshmen who were just entering college, or the stoners knowing they could pass his class - I am guessing-because he was smoking it up with them on the weekends..

I learned from his class that I needed to really question some basic things I had been taught and seek some more answers for myself.  I have never been afraid to speak up (or against) teachers whom I thought were dead wrong, but in this class I took it to a new level.

I may or may not have said -ok, kind of yelled-  in class once "Does anyone else think what he is teaching us is total crap?"  I think at least 2/3 of the class was asleep or ignoring him, cause no one really said anything after I said that, but the atmosphere changed and the teacher just shook his head and said "It's ok, just calm down."

I was in two clubs that he was in charge of and was taking another class of his, so we knew each other pretty well and he wasn't offended.

There were a lot of other times when I just had to question what in the world is he teaching us and are these other students thinking he is right?  I felt I needed to say something, to let the other students know it was OK to think differently and to question this (any) professor-- I am not sure if any of the other students even cared as much as I did, but I felt it was my duty to speak up.

And so while I only knew him for about a year (he was fired/quit after during his review with the school board he yelled at them and swept everything off the desk)-- I will always remember the lessons I learned in his classroom, even if they weren't the ones he was teaching.

Craft Day

So today is a house, yard, kid craft day.

Outside isn't above freezing so I am skipping yard craft, and I am barely getting over Christmas decoration overload (at least for me)-- so that gives me a KID craft.

I live in a tiny town and my kids will be with the same 30(ish) kids through out their whole school career (K-12), so I want to get to know the kids in my child's class before they are don't want me around.  So on Tuesdays you can find me in one of the kids classroom.  

The 2nd Tuesday I help in my sons Head Start classroom. 

I am going to post about the craft I did with them.

I have to keep it kind of simple because 1. It is pre-school 2. I have about 30-45 minutes.

It was really fun and I think the kids enjoyed it.  I didn't take any pictures cause they are Head Start kids and I don't want to infringe on their rights--so I didn't take any...

But we did colors. I read two really cute books about colors

White Rabbits Color Book by Alan Baker

And

   What makes a rainbow

I liked both these books--very cute and they held the children's attention.

After reading these books I had the kids get around a big table.  I had 3 small mason jars with colored vinegar.  Red, yellow, and blue food coloring plus the vinegar.  I thought the kids would take about the stinky smell, but no one did.

I put about a tablespoon of baking soda on a cookie sheet and poured on the blue vinegar. The kids thought was so cool.  I did the other colors with their own small pile of baking soda-- then I pour the yellow and blue vinegar together and so on.

The purple didn't turn out very well, but the rest were about perfect.

I recommend this experience for any kids.  I think even middle-schoolers would think it was cool for a few minutes.  

So there you go-- a fun, easy, and pretty cheap craft/experiment to do if you have younger kids. 

funathomewithkids.com is where I got this last photo--I wish mine looked that pretty!

Parenting 101

If there is anything I have learned about parenting is there is no formula.

If you do A your kids will end up like B.

I wish that was true, but it just isn't.

I never understood why my sister in law parented the way she did until I had a boy.  I had two girls before I had a boy--and she had a boy first.

I don't care what people say boys are different than girls.  After having a boy I totally understand now why she did a lot of her parenting stuff the way she did and not the way I did them.

You can't judge parenting.  When I talk about parenting I am talking about parents who aren't on drugs or need social serves in their lives.  I am just talking basic 'normal' parenting -- and if DSS or drugs are a part of your parenting I am sorry and I pray for you and your family!

Why do I feel qualified to write on parenting?  I have 4 kids--2 girls and 2 boys.  Each are totally different--image that-- but they are awesome!  I really have been blessed/lucky to have amazing kids.  We have never had to deal with major illness or trauma.  I pray for those that have to deal with any of that.

I am just starting into the pre-teen era--so I have NO parenting advice (except my teenage years and what I have observed about teenagers from other families) when it comes to that age or older.

My daughter Squirt-she is 10 and my pre-teen. She is pretty amazing.  She is helpful, loving, obedient, smart, and just all around good girl.  She learns quickly and is a great friend.

My 2nd child, 8,  another girl, Firecracker is awesome.  She fits her name.  She wants to make people happy and is my listener--she likes to listen to the grown ups talk and know what is going on int eh world.  She is smart and works really hard when she is interested in something.

My boy, 4,  is Little Man.  He is a challenge for me, but I love him.  He likes to make people laugh and he is very interested in doing what he wants to do.  He wants to learn to read and loves school and playing with friends.  We have to remind him often that WE (parents) are the boss and he needs to listen to us and not just do what he wants.

Our little Monster, is 1 year 3 months.  We call him Monster because he had his front 8 teeth (4 on top and 4 on bottom) by his 8th month.  Right now he is pretty destructive.  He lives to empty bookshelves and drawers.  He is smiley and happy and eats a ton! He has his siblings wrapped around his finger!


Before I had kids, or even married-- I worked at a mall make-up counter.  A young couple with their young child (still in a stroller) came to my counter.  The child was drinking a milk shake.  My face must have said "How can you give that child such a horrible thing?" Because the young dad explained. "It is a milk shake. She has s cystic fibrosis and needs a high amount of calories than normal kids.  She normally gets ensure, but she had some pretty big tests today so she gets a reward of a milk shake."

I was so embarrassed. I learned quickly that I was a judgmental jerk.  I didn't know their story, but I judged them in a split second when it came to their child.

I have a soft spot for children and I don't think any child should have to suffer, but that isn't realistic.

SO back to parenting--- The first thing I want people to know is I am NOT judging you if I parent differently than  you.   I will tell you what has worked (or not worked) in my experience.

My peice of advice for parents, or anyone.  You know your child the best. You know the best way to parent them.  You know if timeout, a light swat to the bottom, or sitting and holding them while discussing their actions is the best way to discipline them.

You have been blessed with instincts to know what your child needs.  Listen to that inner voice when it says to praise your child, direct your child, or even check on your child.

If you read 5 parenting books you will have 5 different parenting styles--5 different ways to handle the same situation and 5 different outcomes.  Figure out what works best for your child (and different things will work with different kids!)

Next time (2nd Tuesday) I will give some more 'solid' parenting advice that might or might now work for you!  Aren't I helpful :)