Resolutions.....REAL Ones

My 2015 New Year's resolutions are:

1) Take a class. Art, perhaps. I still want to learn Spanish. I also want to be a better teacher to the boys in my church class so I could learn a new curriculum for them. The possibilities are endless and exciting.

2) Schedule household chores in small daily increments so that I don't feel overwhelmed all in one day.

3) Finish putting all of the pictures and mementos in Sam's baby book. For heaven's sake, he's 3!

4) Add a mile to my runs.

5) Put $50 per pay period aside for next year's Christmas shopping. I did this in 2014 and it was super handy to have a "bank" so Christmas shopping didn't hurt. (One quick note about the $50 per pay period plan. I learned from my mistake this year and will not purchase the Visa gift cards again. When I figured up what I paid in service charges, it was over $125!!!! That makes me ill just thinking about it. It's going to be good old fashioned cash this year!)

6) Chill out. The things that people do and the stuff that happens that pisses me off will NOT exhaust my mental energy.

7) Paint the kitchen cabinets. 

And finally......

8) My special resolution with my sweet, fabulous hubby! 

You remember right Jeff? REALLY looking forward to it. Like really!

Happy 2015!!!!!

It's Official....I Have A "Holiday Tree"

Friday, December 26th

A) I did something I've never done before?

B) Dove into the belly of the beast?

C) Embraced the day after Christmas shopping sale mania?

D) All of the above?

 

All of the above of course. When my brother's fiancé Tristan (I can actually say fiancé now. He asked her to marry him on Christmas Day!!!!) initially asked me if I wanted to go, I was like "sure, like 10AM or so"? Yea right, 8AM....at the mall....on a day off. But, I thought maybe I'd find a deal or two to make it worth while. Plus, it gave me time to spend some girl-time with my (almost) sister.

 

Whatever that place in me is, the place that thinks furious shopping with hundreds of other people for a special deal is kind of silly, well that place must have been sleeping. I got great stuff, lots of it, at great prices! For example, a bowl I had been dying for at Pier 1 which although looks nothing to me like a Christmas item, was classified as such and thus 50% off, four super cute Valentine's Day books that according to the clerk were included in the holiday clearance which made them 60% off, some delish gourmet pickles that were a third of the price they normally are, a few trimmings and stocking stuffers for Christmas 2015, a few sweet deals on clothes for Sam, and me, and the Pièce de résistance...... this tree!

 

The Winter Tree

 

We were waiting in line on Pier 1 and the lady in front of us turned and said "These trees make great Easter decorations. You can hang little eggs from them". This of course got my attention because I equally adore holiday decorating and a multi-use decoration. Once I saw that they were half off, my mind was made up. Tristan's too. We each picked one up and as we were waiting for our turn, started devising plans for ALL of the holidays for which we could decorate the tree. As it turns out, I will never actually be put all the way away!

 

Above is my winter version. So, if you divide the price of the tree by the number of holidays and seasons for which I plan to decorate it (Winter, Valentine's Day, St. Patrick's Day, Easter, Spring, Memorial Day, Summer, 4th of July, Fall, Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas), it comes out to about $1.67 per holiday. Add to that the bells, snowflakes, and pom-poms I purchased at Dollar Tree for about $4 and the winter poinsettia dishes, crystal snowflakes, votives, and tree candy dish that I already had and this beauty cost me about $6 total. I'm adding in fractions of cents for the silver cord I used to string the bells and pom-poms and the time that it took me to put all of it together.

 

I already got much of the ornamentation for Valentine's Day and St. Patrick's Day during our quick stop at Dollar Tree later that morning so stay tuned for more beautiful decorations.

 

Now to figure out how to organize it all........

Happy New Year everyone!
 

P.S. I'm still NOT going to participate in Black Friday. That's 2 steps beyond for me, even now with my little taste of the awesome savings!

 

 

Let's Raise Kiddos Who Can Handle Disappointment, Not Assholes Who Rule The House!

"Make my mom make me more....".
Are you freaking kidding me?!?!?!?

I was perusing Facebook and found the following link: http://twentytwowords.com/picky-eaters-gallery/gallery/14/. It's all about kids and their ridiculous picky eating habits. It's meant to be cute but it terrifies me that this many children are so coddled in every teensy, tiny, itsy, bitsy moment. It reminded me of a blog post I read a while back insisting parents don't give in when kiddos are frustrated because they don't want "that sippy cup". Basically, it was about making sure you, the parent, stays in the drivers seat and I couldn't agree more.

 

It's not always easy to not give in. Sometimes I think, "what harm would it be to dirty 5 cups before we find the one he likes" or "why not make him a PB&J when I already made him spaghetti" but the harm is that I would be validating trivial drama, giving Sam the upper hand, and now I have 5 more cups to wash and in the sea of dirty dishes that my already busy life makes a giant pain in the ass anyway AND I'm also now a short-order cook. No thanks! So it's a VERY rare, VERY VERY rare, moment when I give in. The whining and bitching and moaning is not more than I can handle and WAYYYYYY more importantly, I don't want to raise an entitled asshole. Because really, being a parent isn't about how to make things easier for me, it's about raising a good person who functions in the real world.

 

Maybe this whole things seems trivial but I guarantee that the parents giving in to the trivial things are giving in to ALL of the trivial things. And probably not-so-trivial  arguments too. It's a symptom of a much bigger thing. I love my son. I want him to be happy with my whole heart. But I also want him to be a good person who understands that in life you don't get EXACTLY what you want all the time. So I give him the zombie cup (if it already has something in it) instead of the Nemo cup. And I say no sometimes. And I don't feel bad about any of it.

You Like Me...You Really Like Me!

Ok I admit, I lost my steam. It's been almost 2 months since I wrote anything. Not because I haven't had lots to write about but ugh, life gets downright hectic and I let a little "boo, me" get in the way. I love writing this blog regardless of a million readers or my passionate 2 who have asked me "what happened to your blog?". So, I'm back. With too much to catch up on to write it all here. So instead, there are a couple things that make me really happy today that I want to share (and actually write down, in black and white, for all 2 of you to read) because there's a lot of ick out there online right now.

 

First, this guy:

 

Only finger guns would be cuter!

My hair is getting really long and it's finally the strawberry blond that I've been coveting for far too long!

 

Jeff gets home from yet another work trip tomorrow, yay!!

 

Saturday, my mom, my brother's girlfriend, and I will be having our annual Christmas cookie bake-off night!

 

There is so much Christmas in my house, it's crazy. Like in a really over-the-top, beautiful, exciting way. All those lights and decorations make me warm inside! Here's a little snapshot:

 

This is the prettiest tree I have EVER had!

I bought a new sweater on Small Business Saturday and finally got to wear it today!

 

I've joined the 365 Items in 365 Days decluttering and organizing challenge and it's coming along nicely! Check it out https://www.facebook.com/groups/548997695196098/

 

I finished my December menu planning last night, woo hoo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

THIS is my mom's Mrs. Claus hair after a 2 mile Christmas parade float ride:

 

This hair!!!!!

Just yesterday, ANOTHER reader asked me what happened to my blog and got my fire lit again!

 

Life is good. It's all about focusing on the things, no matter how little, that make the day-to-day of it all really awesome!

 

What happened to you today that was great?