Jump around!

Making the jump to the Wordpress site fully today. It's a work in progress so it's still pretty sparse but check out today's post. And feel free to make (constructive) suggestions. 😊

(For now you'll have to copy and paste since I'm on my phone and can't get a link to work. GRRR!)

https://simplepeach.wordpress.com/2015/01/29/todays-project-tackle-the-dress-up-stuff/

Today’s project: tackle the dress up stuff!

And now a haiku

Grout is gross, gross, gross

Scrubbing on hands and knees is

Not enjoyable

New Year's resolutions suck. But you already knew that.

It's here. It's happened again. I've blinked and another whole year has disappeared. You know the feeling. You look up from your extremely narrow focus and BAM! New year. Smack in the face. Every year I hope this won't happen again and every year it does. Can I keep it from happening next year? Probably not. But I'm hoping to try some different things this year to see if I can.

First and foremost, I need to keep my head up and look around. It's so easy for me to become micro focused on the current crisis or deadline that I don't see what else is going on around me and in front of me. A monthly review would be great and it's something I've tried in the past but it always seems to get pushed aside because honestly, it's no fun. Next year goal: figure out a way to make a monthly review fun without turning it into another project that will seem overwhelming and not get done.

I’d love to finally start budget effectively and feel like an adult. Ugh. I hate that word: budget. In my dream world in my head, I’ve already got a well planned, effective budget that I stick to every month. In reality, I can’t even face reality enough to figure out a realistic budget. And don't even get me started on talking to hubby about this. Money is such a difficult topic to talk about! And as I've probably said before, I’m not good at difficult. Unless it's what I'm not supposed to do. But that's a whole other topic. Next year goal: hell if I know. I've tried YNAB and quicken and I think I've done a modified envelope system before. I may just have to bite the bullet on this one and just do it. I can totally see me pushing this off and off and off and being in the exact same situation next year. Will somebody buy me a trip as a reward for budgeting? That might motivate me.

The next thing that pops into my mind makes me realize why New Years resolutions or whatever you care to call them can get so depressing. We're picking out all of our short comings and trying to change them. It's just another 'I'm not good enough" statement running through my head. And those are bull. I AM good enough. For me. For my family. For my husband. And if that's all, then that’s enough. That being said, I feel better when I exercise - especially outside. But it’s something with which I have a total love hate relationship (there a whole list of those by the way). I love the way it makes me feel but I hate that it takes a gigantic amount of motivation to get me to do it. It seems to be engrained in me to want to get out side at the end of the year though so I might as well take advantage of it. So far this week we’ve been outside pretty much every day and we walked to the library and the playground so I suppose that’s a start. I’m definitely going to try to work exercise back into my routine this year. I don’t have a plan. I know I should. Maybe I can work that into my fun planning session.

I have a friend that I went to high school with that made a resolution to eat more ice cream last year. And I thought that was the most brilliant resolution that I had ever heard. It was fun and easy and did I mention fun? I think that’s my next area of focus. Fun. I find myself defaulting to ‘stern mommy’ and ‘serious mommy’ WAY more often than I’d like these days. I don’t see the fun and humor in things like I used to and I want to. I don’t just want to be ‘the fun mom’, I want to have fun! I want to be fun. I want to continue to find ways to enjoy my life, my family, my husband and laugh with them. More laughter is always a good thing so next year, more laughing, less scowling and head shaking.

My biggest goal next year is to begin writing consistently. I've spent a year with my blog and I've done very little with it. But I want to and I know what I need to do. I’ll be moving to a wordpress address shortly and working on building my blog content and features over the next year. Promotion will have to be a part of that too. So more time writing. Less time worrying/stressing/maybe even cleaning! Ha ha!



I’m not sure if any or all of these will keep me from being slapped in the face again next year when 2016 rolls around but I’m pretty sure they will help me to have a great 2015. Cheers to you and yours on a happy and healthy new year to come!

Noon Year's Eve

My girls have a friend that's going to be over to play on New Year's Eve during the day. The other day I got an email about a nearby event that I wanted to take them to but at $35 bucks a pop times three and probably the best part of an hour drive each way, it seemed like more of an obstacle than I was willing to tackle. But it looked so cute!!! It's a noon years celebration. It's from 11 to 1 and they do a countdown at noon for the kids. What a fabulous idea right?! And so since I wasn't willing to make the drive, I wondered if we could do our own Noon Year's Eve celebration here! So, I started thinking and of course headed straight to Pinterest and created a board for all of the fun stuff I’ve found. So far, I’m hoping to:

Make a paper plate clock

 

Make and decorate paper plate shakers

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Play New Year’s bingo

 

Make pipe cleaner crowns & rings (The rings don't show up on the pinned link but they look pretty straight forward: grab a few pipe cleaners, twist around a finger and bend tops out to look like a firework.)

 

Do 'look back’ and maybe resolution sheets

 

Countdown at noon with noisemakers and maybe even a pots and pans parade outside if it’s nice

 

 

Play with glitter playdough

This is a fairly ambitious day for me since I’ve pretty much been a slug since the Christmas festivities ended but I think the girls will like whatever we can get done. Stay tuned for the redux to see what we really got accomplished!

Quick crafty Christmas gifts

I'm hoping to write a full blog post about these (or just improve this one) but I wanted to get this up while you still had a little time to make them.

Christmas has been rushed for me this year. Between moving and a partial kitchen remodel, I've been feeling behind the eight ball. So when it came time to think about gifts for all of those helpful people in our lives - teachers, bus drivers, friends, etc - I needed something simple and cute. And did I mention simple? I considered kiss balls (you know... gluing Hershey's kisses to an ornament ball?) but I'm not 100% sure where my glue gun is so that was anxiety inducing. Then I found these cute little Santa jars on Pinterest and thought, "I can do that!" The buckles were supposedly available "inexpensively at your local craft store in the sewing notions department". The closest I found were vest buckles at $2 per pair so I bought the last 2 packages the they had but I'll be using silver pipe cleaners in the future. Did I mention I've got 18 of these to make?

So anyway, I used small jelly jars because that's what I had and 5 miniature kit-kats, 5 Hershey's kisses and 5 dove dark promises later, I've got a cutie gift!

Slackin off like a boss - 101

So today's prompt over at nablopomo is to write a "how to" post on something that you're good at. And I sat and thought... and thought... and thought...

What am I good at that I can share with you? The fact that I failed in my quest for nablopomo on day one lit a light bulb above my head. Procrastination! It's definitely my strongest and most well honed skill.

So,  I've decided to share some tips for effective procrastination.

First, you'll need to make a to do list. It's got to be long and complex. And long. (Did I say that already? Long.) Number one should be 'make to do list'. This is an easy and empowering start. Now, walk through every room of your abode cataloging all of the projects - no matter how big or small they are - that you see. Or imagine that you see. Don't like the curtains in the bedroom? Why not learn to sew your own? Hate your stained carpet? You can definitely rip it up and install hardwood. Need more dragons around? Papier-mâché 'em! Don't forget to toss in, 'use the bathroom', 'eat Cheetos', 'watch real housewives'. Items that are easy to check off will build your sense of accomplishment and keep you going. Or derail you. You never know which.

Next, find a 'to do list organizational style' that works best for you. Some options include:

• highlighting your existing task list by location
• highlighting your existing task list by priority
• rewriting your list on paper by location
• rewriting your list on paper by priority
• writing each task on a post it and posting on a cork board; sort by location or priority. Try both ways and see which you like best. Then try the other again. Just to be sure.

If you really want to get fancy, you can spend an hour or two creating a spreadsheet to cross reference each task by location AND priority. Throw in potential return on investment and interest level if you want. Or start researching apps that will do it for you. I mean, why reinvent the wheel, right?

Go use the bathroom.

Check off 'use the bathroom' from your list. See? Motivational!

Now check your email to make sure nothing else needs to be added to your adequately organized to do list. Investigate the picture that facebook notifies you you've been tagged in. Fall down the facebook wormhole for at least an hour.

Use the bathroom again.

Make a mental note to include 'use the bathroom' at least twice on tomorrow's to do list.

Look at the clock and realized you've only got 20 minutes till dinner time.

Grab that bag of Cheetos, flop down on the couch and commence a real housewives marathon until you pass out drooling on your couch. Now that's what I call a productive day. Without children, of course. With kids around, the procrastination gets so much easier but the screaming can escalate a whole lost faster.

Resistance is futile. You will be assimilated.

The other day I posted on facebook that I was confused about the holidays. A friend's comment about poor Thanksgiving not getting its month got me thinking and I have to agree with her. It's this lovely, warm, beautiful, earthy holiday that's all about family and togetherness. And of course food, which I love. But it's getting taken over by big, red, greedy, sparkly, bully Christmas who just keeps encroaching more and more every year. I see decorations on sale with the school supplies. 

I get that if you sell it, they will buy. I myself was tempted to buy limited edition Christmas ziplocs just 3 days after Halloween because what if I end up making cookies for friends and need something to put them in but all of the ziplocs are gone because they're LIMITED EDITION? And then I realized the ridiculousness of what was going through my brain. So what if the Christmas ziplocs are sold out? Will the world end? Because if I don't make the cookies, I'll be using Christmas ziplocs well past Easter with the rate that we use them. And honestly? Are my fiends going to realize that they could have had Christmas ziplocs if by some miracle I DO end up making cookies?

I find it's easier not to venture into stores more than necessary starting after Halloween. The merchandisers are on their a game at this time of the year. They put out all things sparkly and shiny and 'limited edition' knowing I have just so much willpower and this will likely be enough to toss me over the edge and begin a spending spree. All of those 'just so' displays make me feel 'just so' worthless. My mantle isn't that sparkly. My lights don't flash like that. And I'm sure that's what they're going for. Because if I just buy all of their sparkly and shiny things, my home will be as beautiful as everyone else's and I'll finally be enough. 

I feel like that's Thanksgivings biggest hurdle. There just isn't enough money in togetherness. Thoughtfulness doesn't leave you wanting to buy and put up a giant dancing inflatable turkey in your front yard. Thankfulness doesn't leave you searching for a way to cure your perceived inferiority with the use of your wallet. 

So far, I've resisted the pull of Christmas but it's only November 5th. I'm pretty sure I'll end up getting sucked in before Thanksgiving but I'd really like to keep our family's focus on this beautiful November holiday before the bully beats us down. There'll be enough of that in December.