Saturday, January 26, 2013

Good day so far.

Little shopping with my mom. A nice day outside. New fabrics. Great day so far.








Friday, January 25, 2013

Effort

The weather lately has been pretty screwy. One day it's freezing cold, the next it's 65 degrees. So we've been taking advantage of all the nice days whenever we get a chance between all the homework, school, swim lessons, CCD, and shop days. It's nice just to stop for 20 minutes and soak up some sun.
Still trying to figure out how to balance everything this semester. Really trying to spend more quality one-on-one time with the kids without a screen in front of us, trying to keep the house cleaner, finish some of these craft projects I've started, recycle more, get at least 20 minutes of exercise everyday, and eat a cleaner diet all while trying to keep up with school work....and decrease our overall stress. Good idea, huh.







 
Yes. It looks disgusting. It was my lunch today and it was actually very very tasty. 2 handfuls of spinach salad, an apple, an orange, and a handful of fresh parsley. Yea it looks odd to drink something that color, but it's no different than eating a salad and fruit, but I really don't enjoy salads that much unless I have ranch dressing like a lot of people. The sweetness of the fruit and parsley make it completely yummy to eat without ranch and easier for me at least to get all the yummy nutrients from the foods. I had the shake and a cheese stick 2 hours ago, ran 2 miles, and I still feel full. So that's a good thing. Green and clean. I watch the movie Healthy for Change the other day on Netflix and it has really gotten me thinking about what we eat and what I gives my kids. For example, the cereal Total has a cereal called Blueberry Pomegranate. Sounds really healthy, but there are no blueberries in it at all. There ARE chemically enhanced blue nuggets that taste like blueberries, but really it's just laboratory created food. So yesterday I went to the store and did my best to buy items that only had ONE ingredient in the label. Almonds. done. Dried cranberries. Honey. One freakin item on the list and I can pronounce it. Sounds good to me. Stepping off the soapbox.
The frames are coming along. The first colors I had picked out really ticked me off because they looked good in the tube but as soon as I had all the frames painted they were fugly. They laid downstairs on the tarp for a long time and every time I passed by them I just sneered and sent them the hate in my soul. Then I repainted them. Brightened the green and changed the yellow from mustard puke to daisy flower. Changed one choral to hot pink and one to gray and left the third one. What a difference. Now I'm just waiting for pictures of my mom and dad and in-laws to finish it up.
That is me at my Grandma's farm in Iowa.
Little Tim. Payton was so confused by this one. It looked like him, but he couldn't remember getting a fish that big. No Payt that's daddy.
My Mother-in-law is the youngest one in this pic. She was 13 brothers and sisters!
My older sister and I with Grandad. It's been really nice getting these pics together. See kids....mom and dad were little too.

Saturday, January 19, 2013

Bad Blogger.

I know. I have been such a bad little blogger. I would like to say that I've been too busy with being an outstanding mother, wife, house cleaner, student, community activist, saver of dolphins, and marathoner to worry about a trivial thing like blogging, but my number of pins on pinterest and my search rate on youtube would suggest otherwise. I have been a good little student. I'm 3/4 of the way done with nursing school and a couple days away from the start of my last semester. I've also been a good wife and mom (most days). It's just been harder and harder to sit and commit to forming an idea and making it beautiful on a computer screen. But the thing I really like about blogging is that it kind of keeps me on track in being the person I'd really like to be. My perfect day does involve a little bit of kid time, a little craft time, a little kitchen time, and a little me time. I don't know. It just seems like when you have the "pressure" of a weekly little blog, you end up trying to do something during that week that's actually blog worthy.

So I'm jumping back in. First of all, I had a very frustrating day the other day. Technology is really starting to bum me out. My kids are becoming very screen dependent. Payton is a little addicted to YouTube in the morning...it's like his morning cup of coffee. I hangs out in his pj's and plugs into the train crossings on YouTube first thing in the morning. The girls seem to "need" iPod's and iPhone's to survive even the shortest of car trips. So this last Friday we went back to the basics.  No screens.  Instead....

  Donuts.

  http://www.krissys-creations.com/2011/06/baked-doughnuts.html
This is the recipe we use for our donuts. I'd prefer a Dillons donut, but the kids had been sick all week so we were basically quarantined.
Donuts and crafts. Simple enough. Scribble on the paper, cut it into squares and glue it back in a different order. Simple. Sometimes when I think of craft time with the kids, my mind becomes like a sale aisle of Hobby Lobby....cluttered with too many big ideas. So I've really been trying to just go back to the basics. Glue. Scissors. Play-Doh. However....













I have the goods and the wall. Just need to do it.  Now. 
 
 The frames are going to have pictures of my husband and I when we were kids as well as pictures of when our parents and siblings were little.  Precious, huh?  Yea, that's what I thought.  Okay....hoppin' to it.  Officially a WIP.