Archive for the ‘Parenting & Marriage’ Category
Happiness Is… Blowing Bubbles
Wednesday, June 11th, 2008Summertime Planning
Tuesday, June 10th, 2008
I was really inspired by Whatever’s summer list and vowed that we were going to do that this summer for our family. We headed over to the Dollar Tree and picked up a piece of poster board for $.50 and a fresh new Sharpie marker for $1. On the way home, we talked about all of the things that we wanted to do this summer and we both got really excited about all of our fun plans.
Ethan made the list with us and this is what we came up with:
Go to the beach (St Joe and/or New Buffalo)
Go to the dinosaur museum (the Field Museum)
Play Mario Kart with mommy
Make homemade slushies
Run through the sprinklers
Go to the zoo (Ft Wayne and/or Potowatomi Zoo)
Go to playgroup(s)
Go to VBS
Go to the dollar movie
Sleepover with our cousin
Have an Earth Hour family night
Make homemade pizza
Eat at the food court at the mall
Make homemade play dough
Go to St Louis
Go to Granny’s house to play
Make Magic Milkshakes
Go to Grandma’s house to play
Go to the park
Get our first library card
Go to the water park
Make banana pops
Wash the cars with daddy
Get out the rainy day suitcase
Watch the Car’s movie and eat Jimmy John’s
Have an ice cream sundae night
Buy presents for the homeless shelter and deliver them
Go to Krispy Kreme and watch them make donuts
Have a picnic in the backyard
Go to the AirZoo Museum
Ethan drew a picture of his family in the summertime to go along with our list and we hung it in our kitchen for the summer.
I love that the majority of the activities he picked didn’t cost money and that the ones that he did pick that cost something could be special things that we could look forward to together. Since we have no big vacation plans, this looks like a really great round-up of activities to keep us busy this summer.
It is kind of funny though… I think my husband & I are just as excited as he is!
More Coffee Talk
Tuesday, June 10th, 2008
It has been awhile since I had been to Sam’s Club, but after all the adventures in bread making that I had been doing, I had run out of a key ingredient for cooking… all-purpose flour.
I don’t know what it is about going to Sam’s Club, but it is like I have to give myself a pep talk for an entire week that I am going there. I think it is because it is so big and the lines are so long and walking the place takes so much time, but maybe that is just me? Usually I choose the Click ‘N Pull option, but our Sam’s is under construction so I thought it would be easier if I just ran in and got the stuff myself.
I usually run in and run right back out and rarely do I browse because, frankly, I end up spending money we don’t have. As I was making my beeline towards the flour, this shiny bag caught my eye and I was doing a little happy dance in the aisle.
Sam’s Club is carrying my FAVORITE coffee in the whole wide world- Folger’s Gourmet Vanilla Biscotti. I have been highly addicted to this coffee since the company sent me some samples to review and that, my friends, is why Freebie Friday might not really be free. I can’t tell you how many “free” things I have gotten suckered into buying and this coffee is no exception.
This is a killer deal though, $10.88 for two pounds of coffee! Don’t forget, Sam’s also carries Dunkin’ Donuts for cheap too!
What have you received for “free” that you are now hooked on? Tell me I am not the only one getting sucked in by free samples!
My Little Treat
Monday, June 9th, 2008
I can’t help it! I have wanted these shoes ever since I read Emily’s entry to her husband and now they are mine, all mine! I grumbled an excuse to my husband that Ethan & I had to run to Payless Shoes, after our church service, to get Ethan some sandals. As we marched into the store, I tapped my shoe on the floor waiting impatiently for Ethan to make a decision. After trying on a zillion pairs of shoes, he finally settled on the perfect pair and ran up and down the aisles as I searched the boxes for the pair of shoes that I had been dreaming of.
One pair left in my size, I clutched the box to my heart and practically kissed the $16.99 tag that was hanging off the side of the box. Yeah, it was a love like that.
The girl gushed over the shoes and said she had women coming in with pictures of these shoes asking for them, but they only had a couple of pairs left. And one of them walked out with me.
I had a hard time walking out with just one pair and my son (the perfect little boy he is) kept telling me, “Oh, mommy! You have to get those shoes! Those are perfect!” And then I would blink my long lashes and say, “Can you tell Daddy that when we get home?” After clutching four boxes, I returned three of them back to their spots. Aren’t you proud? You know me and shoes– it was tough!
Alas, we left with one lone pair, but all of the rest of those sweet summer prints will just have to be in my heart for now…or until the next BOGO sale!
Boo To McDonald’s
Monday, June 9th, 2008
I feel like there should be some scary 48 Hours Mystery music playing in the background or that this picture should do some eerie fade effect or that I just grow wider and wider. I just found out that my McDonald’s Vanilla Iced Coffees are made with WHOLE MILK. I only have one word to say to this…WHY?
This picture was taken after I went for a run. Yes, these were my little treats to myself after working out at the gym or doing something amazing like going for a run around the neighborhood in ninety degree weather (which I did this weekend and almost died). Little did I know that I was gulping all of the calories back into my body.
I discovered this after I had went to the gym one morning. Sweaty from a really good workout, I pulled up to the drive-thru and asked for the usual, but this time I asked the one question that I did not want to ask.
“Um, ma’am, can you tell me…is that coffee made with nonfat milk?”
“No.”
“Um, well, could you make it with some nonfat milk?”
“No.”
“Well, is it made with two percent milk?”
“No. It’s made with whole milk.”
“(teeny tiny voice) Can you change that to a medium please?”
What the hay? I love these coffees and they are so inexpensive, but I do not need to be gulping whole milk throughout the day. I am not on a diet, but I prefer not to ingest 11 grams of fat (according to McDonald’s website) in one sitting.
Oh, and here are the ingredients that they have listed:
Premium Roast Coffee. Light Cream: Milk, cream, sodium phosphate, sodium polyphosphate, DATEM, sodium stearoyl lactylate, tetra sodium pyrophosphate, sodium hexametaphosphate, sodium citrate, carrageenan. CONTAINS: MILK. Vanilla Syrup: Sugar, water, fructose, natural (plant source) and artificial flavor, caramel color (with sulfites), potassium sorbate (preservative), citric acid, malic acid. Ice.
Hmm? Sounds like a chem lab in my stomach!
Now I am going to figure out how to replicate this. After all, if I can crack the code on Starbuck’s Peppermint Mochas, these McDonald’s iced coffees should be a walk in the park.
Do you guys have some suggestions for making the perfect iced coffees? Any tips to share before I try to replicate my coffee experience with some good old-fashioned nonfat milk?
Happiness Is… Time & Space to Bake
Wednesday, June 4th, 2008
I Give In!
Thursday, May 29th, 2008You can find me on Twitter now! Here’s to another black hole sucking up my time!
Happiness Is…My Favorite Coffee Cup
Wednesday, May 28th, 2008
Bad Week or Why I Couldn’t Be a Single Mom
Thursday, May 15th, 2008Editor’s Note– I actually posted this post and then deleted it because I was a little embarrassed about my whiny tone. I got some emails that people were looking for this entry in their feeds so it is back up here…only read this if you can handle all the whining and moaning. Seriously, WHINING and MOANING. You have been warned!
My husband has been out of town since Monday and I thought I could do this on my own. I envisioned our fun-filled days and evenings that would be spent painting my toes and catching up on my reading.
Day One– The roofing construction begins on our home. A new roof has been in the works since we moved into this house. I never thought of how this construction would impact our day. No naps for kids means a tired mommy and grumpy children.
Day Two– My son comes down with a nasty case of pink eye. He can’t go to school for the next two days until we get it cleared up.
Day Three– Rained all day, which leaves our house quiet. Emily wakes up with a snotty nose and Ethan’s eye is gooped beyond recognition. The only thing I have to look forward to is my girlfriend coming for the evening. We cook. We clean. We prepare for her visit…she has an unexpected conflict and can’t come. I think we scared her off with all of our illnesses.
Day Four– Our gutters turn up missing (after being removed from our house for the roofing job). I have to file a police report and talk to a detective. I feel ridiculous reporting a case of missing gutters and embarrassed that I am wasting their time with something so trivial. They were our gutters though so I file my little plea that they figure out who the culprit is.
Day Five– Emily is sicker by the minute and wakes up with a 102 degree fever. I get a late appointment at the doctor and he tells me she has a bad case of strep throat.
Day Six– I can only imagine how great the day will be putting drops in Ethan’s eye three times a day, distributing penicillin to Emily and medicine to keep down her fever, as I swipe her little nose. I feel so bad for them both and am feeling blue myself.
My days are filled with nursing sick children and running myself into the ground. The evenings are spent playing catch up on the household chores and laundry. Fabulous dinners at home were replaced with two trips to the fast food joint so that I could keep my sanity. No painting of nails or relaxation in the evening, in fact, I didn’t even blow dry my hair this week because there was no time.
The final nail in the coffin is calling the bed and breakfast, where we have reserved our room for our anniversary this weekend, and letting them know we can’t come. One case of pink eye and one case of strep seal the deal.
How do single moms of the world do it? I humbly bow to them because I am a blubbering mess right now. I am so ashamed that I couldn’t do it for one week. I really believed it was going to be a great week, but it seemed I have a little too much confidence.
Creating Morning Rituals
Wednesday, May 14th, 2008
Today is going to be our last day in the book, “How Did I Get So Busy.” We have had such a great discussion from this book and I feel like I have made a lot of positive changes by sharing through this format and from encouragement from you. It has definitely been a positive transformation for me and I hope that you have gotten as much from it as I have.
For those of you who are just joining in on the series, we began with a busy bee quiz, questioned our reasons for being busy, had a discussion about technology and how it can intrude into our life, talked about self-care (or lack thereof), discussed our exercise routines (or lack thereof), taming our tech habits, and breaking the procrastination habits. There are many more chapters in the book so I hope that you can check this out from your library or can purchase a copy. I have heard from many of you who have gotten the book so I hope it will continue to benefit you.
Today we are going to discuss our morning routines and rituals. I have read other bloggers who have some really great morning routines, but I will admit that I am not a morning person and carving time for rituals has been something I think about, but don’t do. I will say that I have added some workout time to my mornings, after I drop my son off at preschool, and I have also been doing a morning walk with Emily on warmer days.
These are the suggestions from the author on ways that you can incorporate some rituals into your day:
1. Write a vision of your ideal morning. The author actually says she has a list of seven things that she wants to do every morning. She suggests writing a list down of the things you would like out of your own morning and putting this in a place where you will see it each day- on the fridge door, inside a medicine cabinet, next to your alarm clock. This list will help remind you of what your ideal morning would look like. I have seen moms take this a step further and have an ideal day written up for themselves and their children too.
2. Estimate how much time each morning ritual will take you. With all of our goals, we are encouraged to start small and work our way up. Begin with small things that won’t take a lot of time and build your routine up from there.
3. Identify a simple way to connect with loved ones in the morning. It can be a hug and a kiss for your kids, joining your child for breakfast each day so that you have special time together, or exercising with your spouse. Use this time to connect with the people you love most and see if it starts your days out a little better.
4. Choose things you truly want to do, not what you “should” do. Don’t do things you think you have to do, you need to do things, “that will truly nourish you and help you create the kind of life you believe is possible.”
5. Test your habits- and adjust them. If your routine isn’t working for you, don’t be afraid to switch it around. Continually tweak the routine until you have something you are really happy with.
In this chapter, the author focuses on ways to end your day as well. I have found that I am better about how I end my day then how I begin it though so this section really stuck with me.
Sound Off: I am interested to hear if you have a morning ritual that works for you? What are your mornings like? Do you struggle with a morning routine too?
MomAdvice Sound Off: Did you enjoy this book series? Would you like to work through another book together? What topics/books are of interest to you right now?