July 4, 2011

I hope everyone had a fun and safe 4th July. We had some extended family festivities yesterday and some immediate family fun today. My children are still pretty young so before the needed to nap today we thought a nutritious much would be in order so we too them to the movies for a lunch of popcorn. It was the first time in a movie theater for either kids and they did ok. Girl child that is 4 did great the entire time. Boy child that is 2 and was trying to fall asleep in the car the short 10 minute ride there at 11am didn't do as well sitting the whole time. A little time in the lobby is fun for anyone right? I didn't mind since it's a cartoon that will most likely be played in front of me another 50 times in my life time. Dear husband had a good time taking his kids to the movies. He has many fond memories of movie watching in theaters as a kid. Glad we could make it happen.

Also thinking of all the lives and families that have given their service and more impotently their lives to our country. It seems so small to say thank you but I do thank them and their families. This is a great country. Happy Birthday America.

Missing In Action

I have been missing in action for WAY too long.  Where have I been exactly? Well to me its similar to my early 20's when I was just a sponge and couldn't help but get my hands and brain on any kind of personal growth information.

Lately I've been consumed by coupons and fitness.  I've changed my views on coupons.  At one time I didn't feel that I had enough time to dedicate my efforts to a binder and was happy with an according style letter keeper like in this post. Less money in our pockets due to life, and the cost of EVERYTHING rising I have moved to a coupon binder.  I have a 3 ring binder and I've based my categories and carrier off of Jessica's system that you can find here. Jessica's site is Utah Deal Diva and her site ROCKS if you are trying to save a dollar and live in Utah.  Every week when new ad's come out I check her "Grocery Smarts" link on the right hand side.  There is instructions on how to navigate and its a great tool that I feel is one of the BEST that is out there right now for Utah. 

I've also been consumed by my personal fitness and trying to find a pace and routine that is best for me. I've been soaking up information on what different foods do to our bodies and where that I feel will always be overwhelming I'm trying to make my way through it as best as I can with the time that I have.

We recently took a road trip to Indianapolis, Indiana.  We even hauled the 4 year old girl child and 2 year old boy child with us and yes it was in the car.  Do you know how long it takes to get there.  My maps app on my phone says "24 hours with traffic".  Love the 'with traffic' part.  Traffic really? Where? Well if there is construction and you get a slow, rude, lame semi truck driver that feels like being a jerk then I can see being a bit delayed.  It was a fun time all in all.  Will post more on the trip another time. 

I feel like I'm getting back into my groove and getting a little bit in front of the 8 ball.  I've wanted to put this component of blogging back into my life for a while. Hope anyone that still checks this blog is having a nice beginning to their summer.   

Playing Hookie

Today I am playing Hookie. I am taking the day off. In a perfect world I would be taking the day off to spend the day at a nice spa having all sorts of luxurious treatments applied to myself. Since this is not a perfect world I won't be at the spa. I will be at home recovering some of my "IT", my sanity. I will be taking my kids to the sitter and coming straight back home to do really exciting things like vacuum, laundry, empty garbage cans and other really thrilling things that if I told you about it might make you too sad to go any further in your day so I will hold back for the greater good.

Interesting how as life marches forward my idea of a good day off has changed. I don't mind it at all but find it funny.

Dinner Time Re-Design

If I had it my way I would spend more time in the kitchen every day. I honestly LOVE to cook and sometimes create with cooking and baking. Since having children it has proved to be harder and harder to spend the amount of time needed to even get the basics done. My weekly schedule would usually include one or two easy, but still cooked fresh meals. The rest were left overs from the weekend or some thing from the freezer. I have premade by me freezer items and prepackaged things too.

In an effort to get the kids into bed at a decent hour I have been playing with not cooking anything during the week, unless it's REALLY easy like scrambled eggs. I have tried the last couple of weeks cooking on the weekend the meals for the week and then warming them up during the week.

This has been successful so far. Nice to not have the hassle of the kids wanting to help or them just wanting to be near me while I'm in the kitchen. Too many people under foot has been a huge irritant for me since childhood. Possibly part of my ADD and it creating more distractions to pull me off task.

I'm sure I'll get back to cooking more one day but for now that is the way it has to be for a happier me. Everyone likes a happier me right?

WINNER :: Disney On Ice Give-A-Way 4 of 4

The WINNER of my Disney On Ice Give-A-Way 4 of 4 is comment number 3!

Beki said...

We've never gotten into the valentines day stuff either! and i thought i was out of place! Lol. We've gone out to dinner, and i get flowers and a card that actually is very heart felt. Come to think of it, i really lovegetting that card from my hunny.

Congratulations Beki, email me the address you want me to mail your family 4-pack of tickets to at masmith38@gmail.com. Good to hear romance isn't dead and you and your hunny have something to build on.   

Thank you to ALL my contest entry participants. I've had fun doing these and wish I had tickets for all of you. Thanks for reading and making my days fun. Finding fun in what I do is part of how I Keep IT Together.

Disney On Ice Give-A-Way 4 of 4

I have one last family 4-pack of passes to give away.   I don't know if any of you caught onto the "theme" I was making your comments be about but they were different things that they will be celebrating at the Disney On Ice Show.  For more details on show times and all other information that they will be celebrating and where to buy tickets for Disney On Ice presents Let's Celebrate click HERE. 

Here is how to play for my 4th and final pass give-a-way:

Leave a comment on THIS post about something you have done or received that was out of the ordinary special on Valentines Day.  Doesn't have to be this year.  Prior comments on prior posts will not be considered valid. All comments to be considered for contest entry must be submitted by SUNDAY, February 27, 2011, 6:00 p.m. Utah time. 

 

I've never been much into Valentines Day and my husband was never in to it much either. Since being married we decided to not celebrate on Valentines Day but the day that we met for the first time which is 2 days later. We can get Valentines Day card or an Anniversary card. A friend of mine had a fun tradition of making GIANT heart cookies for her family every year. So last year I adopted the idea and started to do the same for my husband and kids. Its nothing grand but its fun for us.

Bribery?

I have been having a struggle with my almost 4 year old dear daughter - dd. Specifically work days when it comes to getting dressed and out the door. I've polled family and friends to see if they ever experienced the same challenges when in my situation.

Had a number of suggestions on an earlier bed time. So we gave that a try and it helped over all but didn't seem to help with the morning specifically.

Had some suggestions of watching a favorite program while eating breakfast. My kids get breakfast at the sitters house so that isn't something that would work for me right now. 

I don't want to get my kids up any earlier than I already have to if possible and I know that the schedule I have been working with works if there aren't any major snags. I did decide to turn on a florescent light in the kids rooms and open their doors 10 minutes prior to time to get moving. My hopes in doing this was to slowly nudge them out of their sleep to make the transition a bit smoother.  I think this has helped a little.

After much thought and contemplation (honestly), I decided to use a reward system. Bribery in sheep's clothing you say? Well yes kind of. I like to think of it as an incentive program! Ha ha ... yes I have been told I can be clever when it comes to wording at times.

I implemented this system last week. Last week was successful.  This week we are still one day away from getting a reward after having a rocky start Tuesday morning. Here is what I came up with that I thought would work for us: 

Every day my dd cooperates in a tolerable manner (which includes does not cry, kick, scream, struggle, push clothes off) while getting dressed and out the door she gets 2 things.

1. a reeses miniature peanut butter cup after dinner; and 
2. a sticker on the calendar that day. 

If she gets 3 stickers in the week Monday through Friday then she gets a SURPRISE Friday night.  The surprise is different $1 items that I picked up at Target. I even wrapped them thanks to my sister's suggestion. This leaves it a mystery and the goal of keeping it an incentive will hopefully be successful. 

DD was very excited last week to pick her prize, "any one I want mom?", "yes, any one you want". She wanted to put the Dora stickers in her sticker book right then and there. She has also asked most every day, including the weekend if she gets a surprise today.

So far that is a good sign to me that this might just work, for now, and for now is great for me.  Progress is part of how I keep "IT" together.