Organized Living: Noted

March 1, 2016Leave a comment

In college, we had to take the Meyers Briggs personality test – which I actually found to be pretty accurate. And just in a breif version now, I’m still the same personality type today. But I think one part has gotten even stronger…judging.

No, not what it sounds like. A judging personality prefers to have matters settled. Likes to make plans and details on what one is jumping into. A judging personality needs details and lists.

And if we’ve met? You know I love me a list (Stop laughing, Marilyn 😉 ).

I reached out on Facebook to my friends about the best way to keep notes in your phone and on your computer. The unanimous decision was Evernote. I quickly downloaded it and then began to transfer all of my notes from my Note app in my phone over. It took me a few weeks to get really used to it and organized in a way that works best. But now? It. Is. Awesome.

In general, I keep a running To Do list broken into work, writing and life. There are sub categories from there, but it gives me a quick and dirty. I can update it at school from my phone and when I get home and sit down at my desk, it’s there to remind me to order party table cloths. I can also print a hard copy which I love for the visual reminder at my desk.

I keep my grocery list, Target list and Costco lists there so when we’re in the car and a kid says “can we get popcorn at the grocery?” I can add it in and avoid the sad frowny face when I realize I forgot to purchase said popcorn because my list wasn’t handy. Now, my list is always handy.

I am just starting to try the “clipping” feature where you can put pictures, websites, etc. I love this because I always see a sign for something, or a website I think is neat and now I can clip it into Evernote rather than save the bookmark. And it’s allll in one place. One place! Everything!

Get downloading. You’ll thank me when you never forget something on your grocery list again.

Kindness Kits

February 17, 2016February 17, 20162 Comments

Baylor’s school had the privilege of listening to Sr. Adele O’Sullivan speak about our city’s homeless. And where their school is located, they see homelessness everywhere. She spoke about how it is our duty as Catholics to care for the least among us and how we can do that. Sr. Adele is the founder of Circle the City, a respite that delivers healthcare to the homeless. In anticipation of her visit, she asked all the students to bring in hygiene items, snack foods, waters and bags. Then each class created Kindness Kits that the Circle the City volunteers hand out to those that visit the facility.

We decided that this was a great way for us to continue this stewardship at home. With a quick trip the Dollar Store and $15 later, we were able to create 6 bags full of soap, toothbrush and toothpaste, water, EmergenC packets, snacks and a few other small hygiene items. We keep them in the car and when we see a homeless person, we offer it to them. Sometimes I get worried that the person won’t want it, but we’ve yet to be turned down.

Creating the bags opened up A LOT of questions. How do people become homeless? Why are they homeless? Why do they need all this? It was a heavy conversation to have. But it opened up a lot of topics too about how blessed we are to have what we have and how we can share that with others.

How to Leave for School in 5 Easy Steps

February 8, 20161 Comment

We all know what a hassle it can be to get out the door in the morning. Just moving people can be tough, let alone remembering all the stuff – lunches, backpacks, water bottles – I’m ready for a cocktail just writing about it! So here are some easy steps to getting out the door in the morning:

Step 1: Wake Up Children

If your house is anything like my house, then your kids sleep like angels until 7am on weekdays and are up at 5:45am on weekends. So how do you get those little sweeties up and at ’em? I like to think of it like waking a hibernating bear. Approach with caution. Open the door a crack. Open the door some more. Gently sweep hair off of faces and whisper “good morning”. Quietly open blinds. Stomp out of the room. Turn on light. Warn in a not-so-quiet tone that we’re going to be late. Commence physically removing rag doll children from beds. Threaten them with naps if they don’t get up right freaking now. Put palm to forehead when they ask why you yell so much. Inform children that they haven’t even seen your best yelling yet.

Step 2: Breakfast

You know what I love? Those amazing Pinterest posts about creative, delicious and nutritious breakfasts for kids. So step 2 is a snap; go to Pinterest, the grocery store and then wake up extra early to create said Pinterest breakfast and then spend 20 minutes force feeding it to your kids.

Step 3: Get Dressed

I have found that giving your kids a sweet printable checklist or adorably decorated magnets with pictures of the activities they need to complete is an excellent way to throw your money down the toilet AND it gives you another thing to scream about. Now not only can we repeatedly ask if they have their socks and shoes, but we can incorporate the checklist too! “Did you check item #3 off??” “I think there’s still a magnet on the ‘to do’ side of the board!!”. It’s an awesome way of adding a layer of difficulty to the morning.

Step 4: Gather All the Shit

Backpack – check. Lunch – check. Water bottle -check. Different water bottle – check. Uniform sweatshirt – check. Non uniform sweatshirt so we can fight about it – check. Teacher appreciation gift; roses in a vase that are sure to spill all over the front seat and my lap – check. Yet another fundraiser check – check. And after remembering all of this, you know who the freaking hero is?? Daddy. Because he ~~forgot to take out of the car~~ remembered the cheap, plastic bracelet for said fundraiser on the booster seat. Advantage; Daddy.

Well played, sir. Well played.

Step 5: Transport

After all of the stuff is loaded, begin the process of strapping children into the car. Do the willing ones first, that way when they change their minds and decided that they too need to find and obscure toy that might possibly be under the seat in front of their sibling, it’s too late because they’re already hog tied.

Once everyone is secure, put on what you want to listen to. They will fight about what is on the radio – even if it’s the Frozen soundtrack – anyway so might as well have a few minutes of peace.

After the extraction from the car is complete and your little angels are safely in the hands of their unsuspecting teachers, high tail it out of there. I prefer to do an arabesque on my way out the school gate. I find that it gives other parents hope that the misery that is School Morning is close to being over.

Good luck, kitties. It’s a jungle out there. Or rather in here. It’s a jungle in here.

Organized Living: Catch It All

January 28, 2016March 1, 2016Leave a comment

Any time I flip through a magazine or catalog, I always sigh when I see neatly organized “catch all” or mud rooms. I love the idea of having a place to house all the stuff needed for activities, school and life.

This is our finished catch all and I love it. It makes clean up easy (ok, slightly easier) because everyone can put their bags, gear and or reminders in one space. Plus there’s not back packs and soccer balls every where. Or at least in theory.

This bench is an antique that has been in our house since I was little. It sort of floats around rooms, but it always works. The mirrors and the baskets are Target. And the shelf is courtesy of Peter and his amazing carpentry skills.

I love the baskets. They make storage so pretty. And yes, having a crap basket is totally necessary.

One organized living solution that keeps my sanity is to have a bag for each activity. Swim, dance, soccer, softball – all of them get a bag. Then at the end of each game or practice, all the crap goes back into the bag. That way there’s at least a fighting chance of finding soccer balls and TWO shin guards.

And that orange bag? Is a life saver! It has pockets surrounding the inside and the wide opening means everything is easily accessable. It’s called The Game Day Tote from Simply Steph’s Monograms on Etsy. Tell her I sent you when you order yours.

Need ideas for your mud room? Head on over to Pinterest and get ready to lose a few hours. All you need is a little space and some imagination – now get organized!

Accepting Reality

January 26, 2016January 26, 2016Leave a comment

I had a business meeting yesterday morning that did not go as well as I had hoped. I don’t often write about the water company that we own and operate – it’s not really my happy place. But I realized last night as I was trying to laugh off a bad day with Peter, I’ve been managing this company for 6 year. Whoa. It hadn’t really dawn on me that it had been that long. And while Peter was was making my laugh by comparing the time to a prison sentence, I realized that it might be time to ~~embrace~~ accept it. To stop calling it “the stupid water company” as I usually refer to it. To give it the attention it demands. To recognize that I spend a lot of time running a business and that while I may not love it, I’ve gotten pretty good at it. I’ve learned a lot and together with my mom, we’ve turned a regulated business from solidly in the red to being in the black. It’s time to acknowledge our work and start to find the bright spot in the business.

As I dropped the kiddos off at their schools yesterday, Baylor knew something was up because I was wearing heels. When I told her that I had an important meeting, she responded with “I’ll say a prayer for you today”. The second word out of her mouth when I picked her up was “how was your meeting??”. When I told her that it wasn’t great, she told me that not only had she said a prayer for me, she asked her whole class to pray too and then the other class during religion to do the same.

I realized that no matter how unsatisfied I am with this business, there aren’t many things as amazing as being able to send our kiddo to a fantastic school and to have 35 six year olds saying prayers for you. And if I had to choose between an always amazing business or a six year old with a heart of gold, I’ll take that little lady every time.

Life is good.

Rockin’ and Rollin’ 2016

January 18, 20161 Comment

When you live near the Rock and Roll Marathon route, you can either try to get around the marathon, run it, or find away to enjoy it! We chose the last option and joined our friends, the B Family, for their annual water station. They are literally on the route so they are blocked in – which is a great excuse to hand out water and turn it into a party.

We rode our bikes over to their house and realized that this was a well oiled machine. Tables with cups and a system for filling and then refilling the water jugs was in place. Not to mention a great spread of breakfast and bloody marys for the volunteers. It wasn’t long until the first few runners came by, then the big waves came. It was so neat seeing the various kinds of runners – everyone was working hard. The sweetest thing was that so many runners not only slowed down, but some stopped to take the water from the kids and thank them for being there to cheer and hydrate. It was so cute to see the excitement on the kids faces.

Cutest helpers ever

The waiting

Someone has to drink the champs and bloodies

Working hard!

Towards the end, the kids handed out little candies too. It was a very sought after position

Congratulations to everyone that ran! And thank you to all the runners who took time to say thank you, you made a lot of little kids very happy!

Lazy Gurl Curl

January 11, 2016January 11, 2016Leave a comment

For years I have been trying to perfect “the wave” “the uncurled, curl” “the beach wave”. You know what I mean. That I just left the beach and my hair looks a-mazing! kind of curl.

But without all the, like, work.

Somehow last year, I finally made it work. And honestly, it was sheer laziness. It was summer, it was 115* and I was trying to do something with my wig. After I let it down, I realized that it had curled kind of…cute. With a little perfecting on my twisting and clipping, I had the perfect recipe for The Lazy Gurl Curl.

So here it is

Not too shabby, right? And not one curling iron used.

Here’s the how to:

Use a shampoo and conditioner that are moisturizing. I love Wen, but Pantene will do in a pinch.
Dry your hair as normal, round brushing the roots for volume.
Put a small amount of leave in conditioner in the ends – I like the Wen leave in or even a detangling spray will work. Anything that adds a little moisture and some conditioner back in.
Twist hair and then into a loose bun, right where your scull and spine meet (better known as your occipital ridge for all the yogis). Secure with a claw clip. This is the tricky part because it can leave a kink in your hair so be careful to clip it at the bottom of the bun.
Leave in place for about an hour. Remove the clip, shake out curls, a little hairspray – voila! Curls without the heat.

Hello, 2016

January 4, 2016January 4, 20161 Comment

I love new year’s. I love the excitement and the fun. And while I’m pretty sure our wild NYE parties are behind us, the alternative of banging on pots with the kids at “midnight”and making smores is pretty awesome.

What will I be working on in 2016? Here’s a few ideas….

No Negative

Whenever I’m looking for inspiration to write, I read. It always gets my brain moving and thoughts flowing. And in this hectic life, I find the thing I read most are short articles and blogs. The problem is, a few of the blogs I read, leave me irritated rather than inspired. At times I find the writers to be pretentious, judgy and shallow. I walk away feeling judged and annoyed. No mas. I’m clearing out my browsing history and saved pages. The only stuff going in now is the stuff that makes me want to write, uplifts and inspires.

Less noise

Ha! I know that’s funny to read with two kids and a dog running around. But I find my thoughts are scattered between schedules and to do lists and the news blaring in the background or a pod cast playing and FaceBook alerts chirping at me. It’s time to turn it all down. Waaay down. I don’t have a lot of quiet moments, but when I do, I need to not turn on the news, or radio or social media. Rather than filling up the quiet, I need to use the silence to clear my head and make way for creativity.

I’ll Do Me

I have really amazing friends. Like really amazing. And in addition to great friends, I think our little community is full of interesting, inspiring and quirky people. I have noticed that when I listen to a friend or acquaintance, etc. I find myself thinking of how I could be should be doing what they are doing. It’s some kind of odd self judgement. I’m great at making to do lists and checking them off. I’m not always great about sitting back and realizing what I’ve accomplished, of what I bring to the table. Peter is my biggest and best cheerleader and I think I finally got what he’s been saying for so long. So I’m going to keep listening, I’m just not going to feel the (self) pressure to take it to heart. I’m good at doing what I do and what I do every day has value and I need to remember that. My to do list for 2016 is big, I need all my attention here.

Merry Christmas 2015

December 24, 2015Leave a comment

As the kids rode their bikes and I walked behind them with Mac, I couldn’t help but feel the warmth of the season. The sun was setting in the most beautiful way, there was a chill in the air and the sounds of kids laughing as they rode. It has been one of the best Christmas seasons yet!

Here’s what we’ve been up to….

We talked to Santa during Dad’s Pancake Breakfast after mass (it was a promotion Sunday so B had to wear her uniform). He might have been the sweetest Santa ever! Auggie snuggled into his lap and told him all about the things he wants – like a fire truck that he can ride on and squirts real water (“Santa” had his work cut out on that one….).

Our annual tradition of Zoo Lights (or YOU Yights as Auggie would say) lives on. Auggs was so unbelievably excited this year! It was the best. Don’t let that face fool you – he was mid sentence about how awesome the trees were and he couldn’t stop talking to take a picture.

For what we think is the fourth year in a row, Stephanie D, myself and our friend, Susan, braved the cold and crowds to go to the train park lights.

Look how little they were!

And so big now

We had Christmas programs and Advent concerts. Both of them sang their faces off.

We hosted Peter’s client party for 55 people (I think I’m still recovering) and attended a record number of parties – we’re very popular apparently.

And cookies. Holy moly the cookies. We went to a cookie decorating party, a gingerbread house decorating party and then because that wasn’t enough, we made cookies for Santa with friends.

There is a big difference in how boys and girls decorate cookies. B spent 45 minutes decorating 6 cookies very intricately. Auggie opened his sprinkles, dumped them on the cookie and shoved it in his mouth. Game over.

The kids had never done gingerbread houses before. They loved creating a little world out of candy. They also ate a ton of it, hence the faces.

Santa is going to be one happy camper this year.

I hope your season has been just as fun. Merry Christmas!!

Hanging Memories

December 17, 2015December 17, 2015Leave a comment

When we were first married, we had the skinniest, fake Christmas tree. It was this sad little thing, but it was in the budget. I added big strands of garland to it to beef it up and disguise the fact that we didn’t have many ornaments.

See what I mean? (And yes, that is snow outside! Kind of miss that. For like a second.)

Every year since, I have bought an ornament with the year on it and popped our Christmas card picture into it. It’s so fun decorating the tree and pulling out those sweet memories. The little faces, furry faces and younger faces – all of them holding a little story of what life was like when they were created.

I’ve got the process down to a science now – as soon as I upload our Christmas card picture, I have one printed on ShutterFly in wallet size. Then I order the yearly ornament from Pottery Barn. I love the simplicity of the frame and how they are just a little different each year.

I think the part I love the most is when Auggie walks around the tree and exclaims “There’s me! There’s you, Baylor! There’s all of us!!”. It’s perfect.

And now that we have legit school pictures, I think we might need to start a new tradition with those…

So the Christmas tree this year is a bit better than that first tree…we had a very Griswold moment picking it out, getting it home and then getting it to stay upright. I still have sap on my hands.