Housewife on Fire

Movie Party

2011-08-29T20:55:00.000-07:00

It was really fun.
And I am officially certifiable.

Here is how the party went down:

The kids all received a "movie ticket" in their invitation package.
My cute niece, Jordan, stood at the "ticket booth" in the front yard, and as the guests arrived, she took their tickets, gave them VIP glow in the dark bracelets and some fake money to buy candy, popcorn, and a soda at the concessions stand, and sent them to the back yard!

It was fun to see how excited they got.

One REALLY lame thing about starting a party at 8:00 p.m.?
It's too dark to take good pictures!
So I am very sad that I didn't get any shots of the concessions stand or popcorn buffet, BUT I am glad that I took a few pics for the blog earlier in the day.

Here are the cupcakes we made. {48 of them - yikes!}

And these are the salt shaker jars we made for the popcorn buffet.

Kids had the choices of :
1. Salt
2. Cheddar Cheese Powder
3. Lime Salt
4. Ranch Seasoning Salt
5. S'mores mix {Golden Grahams, Marshamallows, & Chocolate Chips}

It was a fun, loud, MESSY good time!

Kort got so many thoughtful, fun gifts. Our "Feature Film" was "Despicable Me" and one of our little party guests has a mom that has a REALLY cute business called CherubChic, and she made Kort a "Minion" hat for the party. It is so fun! He refused to take it off all weekend. I am so calling her this Halloween for Tennyson. She has RIDICULOUS headbands for little girls too. I wish I had her talent with yarn!

All in all, it was such a great birthday. I am pooped! {And consequently triggered shingles because I over-did it so bad, so... mayhaps I am not such a good example of "moderation" sometimes.} But hey, he will always remember his amazing movie party. And it's a good thing - cause it's ain't happenin' EVAH again!

So today, I am still recovering from one WICKED berfday party... what are YOU doing today? Will you please link up and share? And will you go even one step further and tell some other people about our great little project over at communal global? {On facebook, twitter, or your blog...and what not?}We would sure love it.

The Birthday {Cup}Cake

2011-08-23T23:19:00.000-07:00

When thinking {okay, and googling}about what sort of cake would go well with an "outdoor movie" themed birthday, I stumbled upon this lil' bad boy here.

I LOVED the idea of little marshmallow popcorns decorating individual "buckets" of popcorn, and decided that I wanted to do my own take on it. I also saw some cupcakes here that had cute movie-themed "toppers" sticking out of each cupcake.

I wanted all of the cupcake toppers for Kort's party to look the same, and I really wanted to stick to the old-style, "vintage feel" of a charming, country-ish outdoor movie. In other words, I wanted to Martha my popcorn cupcakes.

So these are the toppers my niece and I made:

We just used individual letter stamps to stamp out the words pop and corn, and then glue-sticked them onto red cardstock. I am really happy with the old-timey feel of them!

And I picked a blue and cream polka dotted paper {below} that we'll be using to wrap around the individual cupcake wrappers. I LOVE the blue and red together. You could always order REALLY great cupcake wrappers online, but, shock of all shockers, I waited too long and there isn't time for them to come in the mail. Oh well, this way I got to do it EXACTLY my way. Can't be mad at that.

The other project I've been working on is making more pennant banners for the party. I've decided to go with white table cloths lined with pennant banners. {And worry not, I am not - by ANY means - delusional enough to think that any of this will have a lasting effect on a bunch of rowdy third graders, but hey, love is in the details. And I sort of love that 3rd grader...like, a lot.}

invite

2011-08-22T09:12:00.000-07:00

Happy Birthday Mr. Kortland!

Kort is officially 8 years old today...and so begins party week. I have been hard at work getting all of the random details pulled together for this Friday's party, and I will be sharing them as we go along.

Today we are delivering invitations.

I made his invite using Adobe InDesign.

I took an "Advanced Editing and Desktop Publishing course at UVU to help distract and pass the time whilst in the midst of our infertility nightmare, and it was one of the best things I could have ever done. Love me some Photoshop and InDesign.

Anyway, I'm working on a bunch of projects today, more to come tomorrow!

party time.

2011-08-20T11:59:00.000-07:00

It's party season in the Dugovic household!

We have August 13, 19, 22, and September 3rd birthdays, which means that ALL of our birthdays are within 3 and a half weeks of one another. {Say it with me now: YIKES!}

Tennyson's birthday went great.
We had a low key celebration with immediate family.

The hub's Birthday was yesterday, and all he wanted was a Cafe Rio Pork Burrito.
{Gotta love an easy-going man.}
Done and Done.
We will also be having a gigantic "old school" Taco Sunday celebration on the 28th because we stinking miss seeing our old college and mission friends! He is really looking forward to it.

But the reason I am saying all of this to you is because this week, I am gearing up for Kortland's Birthday Party. He is turning 8. Can you believe that? It feels like he should be turning three...or four at the very most! For awhile there, I couldn't decide if I wanted to curl up in a ball and sob for a week or celebrate and throw him a big old party...but in the end, I settled on a party. {You're shocked, I know.}

We decided to do an "OUTDOOR MOVIE" theme this year. I have a few home-makeover projects that I want to share, but they are getting tabled for a week while I construct and share the various different elements of Kort's movie party.

Here are the plans:

Popcorn Cupcakes
Concessions Stand
Ticket Booth
Pennant Banners
Stringing White Lights
Popcorn Buffet
Big screen projector movie.
Showing: Despicable Me
{Is it just me, or is that just the best kid's movie ever?}

I want it to kind of have a vintage - old style - theme rather than the black and red and gold "movie theatre" style that is used for most movie-themed parties. We'll see how that goes...

Anyway, to get us into party mode, I thought I'd share some photos from a baby shower I hosted last week with my friend Katherine. She is an AMAZING baker/chef/cake decorator, so I did the decorating and left all of the gorgeous food stuff to her. We were NOT disappointed.

Come check in on Monday and enjoy a week of party mania!

mod-podgery and such

2011-08-18T09:38:00.000-07:00

It all started with a Sunday painting project.
Kort and I decided to paint our very own tag-team mural.
{Woot woot!}
It was wonderful.

We sat, and painted, and talked, sweating it out in our Sunday best in the 95 degree shade of the back porch's old tin roof. Then, I realized it wasn't a super-great idea to have a 7 year old paint a mural in his Sunday best, so I made Kort strip down to his undershirt...

And then I decided it would be even better for him to take that off and go change into some old shorts. Now I didn't have to worry about how crazy he got with the paint. Ahhh, very nice.

We painted a tree. 

I loved the look of it. 

Then, I decided that I really wanted it to have texture, so I had the hubs fish a financial planning book printed in the late 80's out of our 3,000 volume collection in the garage. {Our garage is currently a hoarder's dream come true...I'll tell you what...I'm not ambitious enough to think about tackling that one just yet.}

I ripped the book to shreds and started mod podging a black and white newspaper sky onto our masterpiece.

And that really got the wheels turning...

We worked on it for about three hours. 

Then we had to stop because I needed more supplies to continue. So, Monday afternoon, I went to the craft store and bought a bunch of patterned paper and another bottle of Mod Podge cause I was a-burnin' right through it! {Our mural is huge.}

I mod podged a funky black and white tree trunk, and then started cutting out all different sizes of leaves in all of the different patterned papers. Then I glued them in layers on top of one another.

I did a lot of them.
It sort of took hours.

And this is what it looks like.

We hung it in the dining room and I love seeing it during breakfast, lunch and dinner. It makes me smile. Trees are symbolic and lovely for so many different reasons. Tree of life. Family Trees. Growing deep and lasting roots. Reaching for the heavens. Bending to life's breezes. Rebirth each spring. Beauty. Tranquility. Shelter... just all sorts of good things that I want my home to represent.

{BELOW: This is a shot of the dining room. It's all decorated for Tennyson's Birthday party and in this particular shot, the table is all laid out for a double baby shower I hosted for two sweet neighbors and dear friends of mine - that has a post of it's own though.}

This Project:

Huge chunk of wood: free {from a garbage pile}
Mod Podge: $6 {used 50% coupon}
Book Paper: free {cause I'm a hoarder of sorts...}
Scrapbook Paper: $12
Brackets for hanging: $6

*If you liked this project, please re-tweet it, fb it, blog about it...you know, spread the gospel of mod-podgery and joy around a bit!

Nothing's gonna change my world...

2011-08-09T14:54:00.000-07:00

As promised, here is "day 2" of my FULL WEEK of home improvement projects:

As you may have seen a little while ago, I posted about my new turquoise desk. I bought it on KSL.com for $40 and then painted it aqua blue. I love it, and practically live in that little corner of my living room now. Here is what that corner has looked like lately:

Cute desk, but kinda empty otherwise.
SO,
When the hubs brought home a pile of construction wood that got dumped on his paintball field {Thank you "illegal disposers of construction waste"... whoever you are.} I decided it was time for a home-made wall art project!

So I:

1. Painted the board gray.

2. Printed letters in "Bulletin Typewriter" font and then laid the printed letters over old book papers and cut out letters. This was a "cricut-less" endeavor, so I saved about $200 bucks cutting it by hand, and it only took about 30 minutes. Plus, I watched Pawn Stars while cutting them out, so technically, it wasn't like "work" at all!

3. I used Moge Podge to glue the letters onto the board and also to do a glossy, sealed coat over the top of everything.

4. Using different patterns of scrapbook paper, I cut out strips to make the word "change." {And no, my poster is NOT a shout out to the Obama campaign...in fact, the meaning of this art work is just the opposite.}

5. We hung it up. It is quite massive, and therefore quite HEAVY! We used a bracket kit that we bought for a couple of dollars at Home Depot.

And, voila! That's it!

A few years ago, I saw a very simple painting with this saying on it, and put it in my memory bank as something I'd like to have in my own home someday.

"Across the Universe" has always been a favorite song of mine, and I LOVE the personal meaning this particular phrase holds for me.

I'm sure everyone can interpret it differently, but for me, it is a wonderful reminder that

No matter how tumultuous the outside world becomes, I have the power to create a heaven within the sacred walls of my own home.

It's a task that I don't take lightly, and, as a mother, I understand that I must diligently guard against any unwanted negativity at every turn. But it's a job I'm willing to do. Especially if it means that my family can have a healthy, loving, happy environment where we can learn and grow together.

I love the way that this is summed up by such a simple phrase set to such a simple melody. I now find myself humming it every day as I go about my work.
"Nothing's gonna change my world...
Nothing's gonna change my world..."

{So neener, neener, neener, cruel world. You can just get lost.}

Summary:
Board: Free
Paint: Already Had it.
Modge Podge: Already had it, and I still have a ton left over for other projects.
I used about $1 worth for this particular project..
Book Paper: Free
Scrapbook Paper: $4
Hanging Kit: $3

Now I have a piece of 47x45 inch wall art for $8 out of pocket. Woo-hoo!

*Note: I know that it's all sorts of crooked and skeewompus and such, but that's how the painting was, and I loved it that way. Perfection is over-rated.

Hello, gorgeous.

2011-08-07T23:09:00.000-07:00

Confession time:
I love office supplies.
Like, to a point that cannot possibly be disguised as normal.
So I'm not gonna even try, kay?
I'm a nerd.
A weird, weird, nerdy little nerd.
And I'm okay with it.

I love the smell of new file folders.

I love knowing exactly where
a piece of paper,
or a recipe,
or birth certificate,
or take out menu {yeah, you heard me}
is at a moment's notice.

So, you can imagine my excitement when I met this little darling at a parking lot yard sale in St. George, Utah earlier this summer:

Oh baby.
A HANGING file cabinet.

I had to put my game face on and try not to make out with it right there in front of the seller. I didn't want her to know that I'd gladly pay $20 smackers for it, being the office-supply lovin' nerdy nerd nerd that I am. {You know, no need for her to be takin' advantage of a poor lil office supply addict such as myself.}

She only wanted three bucks for it, so I gladly paid her and hauled it's heavy ace over to the trunk of my mother-in-law's car.

I love it so much, but do you know what I decided I would love even more?

If it was Ballet Slipper Pink.
Yup.
Is it just me, or is it like, SUCH a beautiful thing that you can buy a can of color called "ballet slipper" at your local Ace Hardware store?

I think I love Ballet Slipper Pink almost as much as I love office supplies.
{Don't worry, office supplies, I said almost.}
So here she is:

Oh how I love her.
Should we give her a name?
She prolly deserves one.
I hung her in the kitchen because the kitchen is the nerve center of our home both in placement and purpose.

If a full-time housewife managed to find a reasonable opportunity to use the phrase "Step into my office." the office to which she might be referring would most likely have dirty dishes and more Capri-sun packets than one could ever aspire to drink. So it's only fitting that my "office" should have a file cabinet. {A pretty one, preferably in the shade of ballet slipper pink.}

And file folders. Of course.
What's a ballet slipper pink file cabinet without a few file folders?

So, I prayed to the Gods of Target for a set of funky, mod file folders, and BOY did the Gods of Target deliver! Love, love these.

Here they are in their new home.

And my paper towel holder practically BEGGED me to make her ballet slipper pink too.
And who am I to ignore the humble wishes of a lowly paper towel holder?

Eek, I am ready to say goodbye to those countertops!
But, for now, I will just keep myself happily distracted labeling and filing everything under the sun.

{Note to self, put the light plates back on already! You painted the kitchen 3 weeks ago.}

There is SO MUCH more to do, but the house is coming along, and it's so fun to finally be making changes that I've been wanting to make for a long time! Hope you'll check in throughout the week. More projects to come!

project kitchen clean up.

2011-07-12T10:26:00.000-07:00

So, I have hated my kitchen ever since we moved into our home five years ago. It's my fault, really, because the layout of my kitchen is actually pretty awesome. I just hate the color I painted it. {DARK navy blue.} I knew that I hated it the minute it was up, but we had just finished remodeling and repainting a 2000 square foot house, and we were all painted/funded out.

So, it has stayed that way for five years while I have loathed it, and "intended" to change it, but never taken action. Well, that has FINALLY ended. Woo-hoo! I decided to tackle phase one of "project kitchen clean up."

Here is my action plan:
PHASE ONE: New paint
PHASE TWO: Art Work/Decorations
PHASE THREE: Curtains {When I find the perfect fabric}
PHASE FOUR: New counter tops and tile {When I find a great deal on the tile I want}
PHASE FIVE: Appliances

I woke up the other morning and said: "Today is the day!"

The hubs looked at me like I was nutty. {And in his defense, I am.}
I pulled some gray "Home Depot Reject" paint {that I'd been saving for a special purpose such as this} out of the garage, and wiped the walls down while Tens scooted along the kitchen floor and raided the Tupperware cupboard.

Then I put Tens down for his morning nap, PRAYED that it would be a long one, and went to work.

Kort was {mercifully!} invited to go to Seven Peaks with my dear, dear neighbor friend, so he was outta the way too!

{The stars were aligning.}

But what, you may ask, is a mother to do when she still isn't finished painting when her lil' dude arises from a THREE hour nap? {Yeah, that's right. A three hour nap. Isn't he a peach?}

Well, here was my solution.

Naked baby + Swimming Pool + A lil bit O warm water = Supervised-Corralled-Toddlerness

{Told you I was nutty.}

Phase One complete!

Can't wait to share what's next.

A major master-piece-y work of art is in the works.

Wish me luck!

Re-excited {not a word}

2011-07-10T21:56:00.000-07:00

So, I have recently started reading the book "Pillars of the Earth"

{My good buddy Oprah said it was awe-to-the-some, so I figured I couldn't go wrong.}
I'm a couple hundred pages in {not saying much since this whopper comes in at just under a thousand pages}and I am enjoying it...sort of. {It's a little harsh in spots, harsh but realistic, so I can't really fault him there.}

It's about a monk {well, a prior} who is passionate about building a beautiful cathedral to God.
He believes that a monk shows his love for God outwardly through the way that he cares for God's buildings, namely the small - very run down/neglected- monastery in which he is made prior. When he arrives at his new post, he is furious with the other monk's laziness and quickly whips the monastery into shape.

As I've read about his devotion to the place he calls home, it has caused for a lot of reflection about the care of my own home and the day-to-day life I lead here.

And it has inspired me anew to get to work!
And I am really excited about it.

Creating a beautiful, clean, and orderly space is honestly the most important task I have in this phase of my life {and probably in every phase of life, really}. This is the place where I'll raise my children. The place where all of their memories will be made. The place where my husband comes to relax at the end of a long day. The place where my children will learn and grow and form life-long sibling relationships. And I want it to be a ~~good~~ great place for them to do all of those things.

I also want it to be a space that makes me smile when I enter it.
A space where I can relax, do the things I love to do, and regenerate day after day.

I think that I have gotten into a rut again where I am choosing to do "other things" {reading, prepping the tv segment, running errands, working on craft projects...}BEFORE I do the essential things that will make our home a happy, organized place to be.

Don't get me wrong. My kids aren't living in a pile of filth and wondering where their next meal is going to come from or anything nutsie like that. I just know that our day-to-day existences could just be that much brighter. More meaningful. More beautiful. A better outward expression of our love for God and the joy that this love infuses into every facet of the way we live our lives.

So, I'm HOPING {fingers crossed!} that I can start blogging about our daily progress and sharing small successes with you. I want to do the following:

*Make our home more beautiful by decorating it with things that we love, things that have meaning, and things that make us smile.
*Clean more and more regularly. Try to find a system that works for me - something that I can stick with.
*Go to bed early and get up early and stop taking naps when Tentens does. {He's almost one and is sleeping through the night for crying out loud! I think the good old "Sleep when the baby sleeps." adage has officially hit it's deadline! Darn.}
*Keep spending quality time with the boys each day. Today we painted a painting to hang in the kitchen. Kort had so much fun, and we had such a good talk, and if I could regularly create moments like that, our home couldn't be anything other than heavenly {even if it was "technically" a mess}.
* Go from room to room and make a list of all of the small repairs or decorating issues that need to be tackled, then make a conscious effort to check those things off. {slowly but surely}
*Go through all of the closets and drawers in my house {one by one, baby steps, of course} and purge, purge, purge!!

I am working on some really fun organizational and decorating projects that I am really excited to share. {In true Laura fashion, they are all about 50% done... heaven forbid I start and finish one thing at a time! That would like, make sense or something!}

Pudding Paint.

2011-05-16T23:22:00.000-07:00

I decided to go all sorts of old schoolwith my kiddos and bust out some pudding paints. {a.k.a. 3 packages of powdered vanilla pudding mixed with milk, separated into several bowls, and then colored with different food coloring.}

After my anal Easter Egg Dying Tyrade last month, I felt it important to have a therapeutic crafting evening where anything goes!

And if I had a quarter for every time Kort gasped and said "Ooops! I just got some on the wall..." OR "Sorry, I just smeared it on the floor.." I would be one VERY ashamed millionaire! Oi.

I had to keep reassuring him. 

"That's okay bud!
We're just having fun.
No, really, it's okay.
That's okay too.
...annnnd, that's okay.
Just have FUN!"

And I was SO SAD to realize that I had done this to my child. 

He was so concerned about
"these things"
and
"those things"
and
"that thing"
and I thought - since WHEN did I start {unwittingly} teaching my children that "things" were anything more than just, well, THINGS?!

It was a wonderful learning experience.

It also put a microscope up to my perceptions of the kind of mother that I like to think that I am, and made me reflect on how I might make those {admittedly flattering} visions of myself manifest more readily in the here and now.

{Did that even make sense? It's getting late...}

One great example was Tennyson.

He was totally stressed, holding his pudding-dipped leg up in the air lest it drop down, touch MORE pudding, and therefore become even further pudding-dipped. {Which, would like, be a total nightmare, right?}

And I thought:

I want him to experience the sensations of cool pudding on warm fingers... and love it.

I want him to be able to play in the mud,

and to fearlessly tear into his birthday cake come August 13th.

I want him to have spaghetti in his hair and happy in his heart.

I want him to tread {dare I say it?} recklessly through the tactile parts of much of the world and feel and do and be as freely as other animals feel and do and be.

Without guilt.
Without fear.
Without over-thinking every gosh darn aspect of his
over-stressed/over-planned/much too restrictive life!

And I can help him do this by letting go.

Kort used to experience life this way,
and listening to him apologize for
every minuscule smudge
made me want to slap myself silly and scream
"What have you done to him?
Where is my wiley, silly, care-free boy?"

And I've decided that I want my children to live in a home full of joy rather than eggshells.

I want them to know that they are more important than the couches, the floors, the carpet, or any other THING furnishing the place.

But the best news?

Kids are resilient.

They bounce back.
They forget.
They live in the present.

And after ten minutes of
"It's okay's!" and "Just have funs."
They were both up to their eyeballs in
hideously unnatural shades of vanilla pudding.

And man, it tasted good.

The girls at communal global want to know what YOUR today looks like. Link up and share!

feeling springy.

2011-04-28T21:07:00.000-07:00

It just takes one beautiful spring day to get my happy going.
That, combined with a visit to the Springville Reams grocery store,
{in jelly sandals, no less}
and I was high as a kite.
Ah, and how I love their gorgeous produce.
In the interest of full-disclosure,
I don't get free things or money from Reams for saying that.
{I wish!}

I DO, however, get the royal treatment every time I go there.
As for this time?
Yeah, um, pretty sure that right as I came through the front doors,
there was a bag boy standing there.

{I don't like to call Reams bag boys
"bag boys" though.
I prefer to call them:
customer-service-specialist-executives/wonderful-chipper-and oh so helpful manchildren...
It's simply just more fitting.}

and what did the CSSEWCHMC say to me?

"Welcome, to Reams.
Can I wipe down a cart for you?"

You heard me right.
He offered to CLEAN my shopping cart for me.
Yep. Totally happened.
Eat your heart out, Kate Middleton.
You're officially no longer the only princess on the block!

{Isn't this purple-y garlic gorge?
I know, I know, I totally took pictures of garlic... nerd---y.

But I was just so darn tickled with them... Pretty, pretty.}

Amidst all of the cold storminess that IS April in Utah, I have been craving hot chocolate, spice cakes, creamy potato soups, and all sorts of fall-ish foods. But today, my cravings were influenced by blue skies, 70 degree temperatures, and the promise of a much anticipated spring.

I sliced up fresh zucchini and yellow squash
and sauteed it in butter and fresh garlic,
then I sauteed some chicken breasts in
garlic, olive oil, and Italian seasonings.

Then we melted fresh Parmesan Cheese on the top, and voila!
A light, simple, summery meal.

We spent the rest of the evening sitting on a blanket in the backyard
eating Smoked Gouda and Ritz crackers,
while I read "The Boxcar Children" aloud to my boys.

Kort threw a toy airplane around the yard while our
neurotic Border Collie harassed the neighbor dogs
through cracks in our 20-year-old fence
and Tennyson squealed with delight at
all of the various antics.

Now the wind is throwing branches against the side of our house
and rain is tinkling on the tin roof that hangs over our back deck.
Yep. My blue skies are already a thing of the past as
another wet April storm gets set to come barreling through.
It's a little depressing,
but I can't help but lay in bed tonight and smile.
Because those summer days are drawing ever nearer.
So close I can taste it.

morning.

2011-04-26T20:46:00.000-07:00

Wake to the happy sounds of an 8 month old chatting away in his crib.
Look at the clock.

6:45 a.m.

Think to self: I'll get get a few more z's while he plays in his crib.

Wake again.

It's 7:15 

Look at baby monitor and see that a 7 year old has now
climbed into the crib and is playing peek-a-boo with baby.
Baby is giggling.
Think to self: I'll just get a feeeew MORE z's while they play together.

Wake again to a cold little finger poking my bare arm.

It's the seven year old.
He is holding a big soggy diaper.
"Baby's diaper was REALLY big," he says.
"He needed a new one, so I took this one off,
but now I can't get a new one on.
I need your help."

Leap out of bed.

Hurry into the nursery.
Find a half-naked baby,
still perfectly content,
kicking and squealing
in a huge puddle of fresh pee.

But wait, there's more... 

Pee on the walls.
Pee dripping from the crib bars.
Pee soaked into his jammies.

Laugh out loud.
Did I really think that those extra minutes of sleep
wouldn't come at a price?
{Answer: no.}

Seven year old says:
"Oh wow, sorry mom."

Laugh even louder.
"That's okay, bud.
It was time to change Ten's sheets anyway.

{We don't call him Catalyst Kortland for nothing.}

It's so nice having a big helper around.

Get baby cleaned up.

Put baby into his high chair.
Dump a generous helping of Cinnamon Burst Cheerios onto his tray.

Make breakfast burritos.

Serve breakfast burritos.
Talk at the breakfast table.
Try to deliver believable laughs as 7 year old tells bad jokes.

Ask seven year old to please stop kicking his chair.
Ask seven year old to please stop tapping his foot.

Ask seven year old to please stop clinking his glass.
Ask seven year old to please stop slapping the table top.

Seven year old starts asking:
"Can I tap like this?"

No.

"Can I tap like this?"

I'd rather you didn't.

"Can I tap like this?"

Ignore him.

"Can I tap like....this?"

Keep ignoring him.

"Mom? Mom? Mom? Mom?
Momomomomomomomomomomom
momomomomomomomomomomom?"

"Kortland James Dugovic, you'd better watch it."

Seven year old laughs.
So glad SOMEONE thinks his is fun.
I threaten to ground said seven year old.

Go to the bathroom.
Comb his hair.
Coat, backpack, kisses, prayers.

Remind him to be good for his teacher.
Send him out the door.

Rinse.
Repeat.

{Sans the free-for-all-peeing and incessant pestering, yes?}

Yes.

How was YOUR morning?

neurotic.

2011-04-21T14:49:00.000-07:00

I noticed that I was a WHOLE lotta fun to dye Easter eggs with the other day. So I thought I would share the parental wisdom gleaned from our little dye sesh so all of y'all can be a fun mom like me. So, without further ado, I give to you:

Ten things 

you can say to your child 

to help make egg-dye-ing 

much less fun.

"Hold on bud, it's not ready yet."

{Because kids love to wait.}

"Not yet.... Not yet..."

{More waiting. JUST what a seven year old wants to do!}

"Wait! Not like that!"

{Because there is only ONE way to dye an Easter egg. Obviously.
Besides, art should be restrictive and anal...didn't you know?}

"You're dyeing your fingers. Put on these gloves."

{Because, yeah, purple-y blue fingers practically ='s end of the world. Who's with me?}

"You're dripping! You're dripping everywhere!"

{Again, end of the world. You have to... *gasp* ....wipe. drips. up.... and stuff!}

"Don't mix the colors."

{Cause kids shouldn't make their own colors... heavens no.}

"Be patient. Just let it soak in there for a minute"

{Cause arts and crafts time? ALL about micromanagement. That's what makes it creative... and fun.}

"It's getting all over the table."

{If you care so darn much about the table, then maybe you should have put newspapers down on said table. It is a table, woman. A TABLE!!}

"Don't get it on your clothes!"

{Maybe you should have had him change into clothes that could get messy. Just a thought.}

"If you keep dropping them in all of the different colors, your eggs are just going to be poop brown."

{So?}

"Hold on. I need to wipe this up."

{Yes. Right now. In the MIDDLE of our project, I need to wipe this up. Who cares that it will just get dirty again? Who cares that there are at least a million more drips to come before this egg dye-ing process is complete? I sensed that you were having fun for too many consecutive minutes and might even be getting into some sort of happy groove. So we need to pause and get the table all sorts of spotless before you continue to make your mess.}

Yeah, we ONLY like the good CLEAN kind of fun at our house.
{Does clean fun constitute an oxymoron? Perhaps.}

I think we need a do over.
Yep.

So, this weekend,
I'm gonna take a xanax,
and we're gonna try this again.

And I'm gonna let that kid
take a gall dern BATH
in egg dye if he wants to.

Because I'm a fun mom, dang it!
A FUN MOM!!!!

easter nests

2011-04-20T18:03:00.000-07:00

I was looking for something fun and Easter-y to do with Kort this afternoon,
and turned to the trusty Miss Nigela Lawson.
I wasn't disappointed.
{Neither was he.}
These were so much fun to make.
All you need is this:

1. Shredded Wheat. I LOVED going to the supermarket and locating the big biscuit versions of these. The nostalgia was all but overwhelming. I was instantly 8 years old again and transported back to my grandparent's home in Marysvale, Utah. I remember Papa {my grandfather} eating them for breakfast. I also remember ME eating them for breakfast because I wanted to be grown up, and sophisticated like Papa was. Mine, however, had about 4 tablespoons of sugar sprinkled on top to make those icky biscuits palatable.

So, I guess I wasn't so distinguished after all.

Flash forward twenty-two years later and you'll find, I'm not much better! Now, instead of a few spoonfuls of table sugar, I'm saturating them in milk chocolate.

2. Milk chocolate chips. {Of course, you can go with semi-sweet or bitter if you're all grown up and such, but as for me - I like my chocolate as sweet as it can get!}

3. Cadbury's Chocolate Eggs.
{Oh be still my heart, how I love those little pastel delights.}

Okay, listen up, this is where it gets complicated...or not so much: 

1. Melt the chips {via microwave or stove top, whatever floats your boat.}
2. Smush up the shredded wheat biscuits and sprinkle them into the chocolate. {I used a bag of choc. chips and three biscuits, but you can just play around until it's the consistency you prefer. Not a big fan of rules up in here.}
3. Stir.
4. Plop by the spoonful onto parchment and shape into little nests.
5. Decorate with lil' eggs {Having tried your darndest not to have eaten all of them already by this point.}

I think they are just so darn kitschy and charming.

These were so easy and rewarding, but I gotta be honest.
Chocolate? Not my fave.
So we decided to play around with some other options.

Like peanut butter. 

Mmmmmmm.

So we took these:

1. Chow mein noodles

2. Peanut butter chips

3. Cadbury eggs.

and made these:

The peanut butter melts kinda funny.
You have to just let it sit in the pot
{on low, low heat}
and NOT stir and just let it melt.

Strange.

Then I dumped in some chow mein noodles
{totally just eyeballed it}
and stirred.

These were a little more dry and crumbly,

but man are they delicious. 

{Says the peanut butter lover}.

I am going to try a different peanut butter recipe that I have used for peanut butter rice crispy treats, and see if those aren't a little more gooey and mold-able. I will let you know if I try...and if they are... and such...

And finally, for my absolute favorite of the nesty test kitchen experiments,
My own personal Arc Du Triumph....

Pretzels with white chocolate and cinnamon!!!!

These make the most chunky, random nests of the bunch, but they are also the yummiest. I crushed some of the pretzels and left others whole to give it some different textures, and sprinkled a cinnamon/sugar mixture into the pot as I stirred.

These are sinful.

I ate almost all of them all by my lone.

Aren't they just so twiggy looking?
Kinda fun.

So anyway, it was fun to try some new spins on an old favorite.
Let me know if you make them with your kiddos!

If you liked this article or found it fun or helpful in any way, please pass it along by sharing it on facebook, twitter, or even your own blog! {The tools to share are right below.} Thanks!

Fail.

2011-04-19T23:01:00.000-07:00

Okay, so my very first couponing trip was not really so great.
Since then, I have had a few mild successes and gotten a few freebies along the way.
However, for the most part, I have simply wasted a ton of time
{like 6 hours somedays, people}
clipping
and organizing
and scouring the ads
and putting together deals
and matching up coupons
and scouring the internet couponing sites for tips
and great coupon combos
and....

I really just don't think it's for me.

1. I think it is just a talent. Plain and simple.
Some people have this talent, and the rest of us just DON'T.
Sadly, I fall squarely with the "don'ts"

2. I live in UTAH.
Have you been to Utah?
Do you live in Utah?
Cause Utah is NUTS, yo!
We Utahns are suuuuper frugal.
{Present blogger included}
We can sniff out a deal anywhere.
There is no "too early" time to get up for a deal.
There is no such thing as "too many" of anything when it's FREE.
By 10:00 Monday morning, the deals are GONE.
And I am still clipping coupons at 10:00 Monday morning,
so I don't stand a chance.

3. {and probably the most important one}
I am a moron.
{No, not a Mormon...well, that too, but that's not what I'm talking about in this particular instance...}
And a little bit ditsy.
And I'm not saying that because I want people to write in and say -
"NO! You're not a moron! You're smart and wonderful and such!"
or anything like that,
I'm writing it because it is the gospel truth.

Today, I went to Walmart because they do double coupons on Tuesdays.
I just got SOME things, but was excited about the double coupon concept.
{P.S. Don't get too excited bout double coupons at Walmart,
they only double coupons up to a dollar.}
I have never done the double coupon thing at Walmart before.

So I get all of my stuff on the counter,
hand the girl my coupons
and we are off and running.
She gets to the end and tell me the total,
and I see that I haven't saved as much as I thought I might.

I ask her if she has doubled the coupons yet, and she is like, "Huh?"
{At this point I realize that it would have been NICE
if I had asked her about the doubling BEFORE we started the purchase!!!!!!!
Yeah, ya think?}

And I say, "Oh, don't you do double coupons on Tuesday?"
And she says {very nicely} "Oh, I have no idea. Let me ask."
So she goes and asks, comes back, and sure enough, they DO.

HOWEVER, since I didn't tell her this BEFORE she started ringing up my order, she has to VOID OUT all of the coupon-ed items, enter them back in, scan the coupon, double it, and re-bag the product.

Ugh.
Oi.
She is super nice about it.
I am super nice about it.{Which is fitting since this is all my fault.}
The guy waiting behind me in line is pleasant and nice about it.
The girl behind him, not so much.

It seems as though she is trying to stab me in the face via her eye balls.

It's working...on an emotional level.

You may not know this about me, but I almost never get nervous.

Do live T.V. in front of thousands of viewers?
So much fun.

Sing a solo in church?
No prob.

Botch a couponing transaction and make a line full of busy, tired people wait?
Get hot
and sweaty
and titchy
and nervous,
and basically want to crawl into a hole and die.

We get done,
I thank the girl and say {again}
how sorry I am that I didn't give her a heads up first,
and I GET OUT OF THERE!

It's official.
This is not one of my talents.

Sure, I may go to Walgreens for the occasional free item, because there is a coupon expert there who knows what to do and I can just hand her my stuff, save tons of money, and be on my way, but I don't think the mega deal grocery store style stuff is for me. There is just way too much that can go wrong, and in my case, {being flighty as a spring bird} it usually ALL will.

So, big old FAIL for me.
Boo.

I really can't justify spending this kind of time on coupons when I am this bad at it!

It makes ABOUT as much sense as me:
taking piano lessons,
or running foot races,
or trying to become the first Killer Whale trainer at Sea World
who totally has to plug her nose when Shamu tosses her into the water.

So I wish all you other crazy couponers out there the best of luck.

There will be one less girlie out there
trying to clear a hoard-worthy stash
of Nivea body wash from the shelves.

I will likely be stinkier for it,
but that's something I'm just going to have to live with.

xo,
Housewifey

Before and After {a.k.a. make-over!!!!}

2011-04-18T19:55:00.000-07:00

QUITE some time ago, I started the process of re-thinking the form and function of our living room and dining room. As you may or may not know, we purchased and moved into our house on something of a whim. We also {embarrassingly, and much like MANY other people at the time} purchased the house with the intention of living there temporarily, fixing it up, and selling it at a profit. Yeah, we thought we were sooooo "Flipping Out."

Well, we moved in, got to work, and really just designed the house based on what was popular, neutral, and safe so that it would be appealing to future buyers. And wouldn't you know it, by the time the house was half way remodeled, we had fallen head over heels in love with the neighborhood. We loved the school, the neighbors, the huge yard, the neighbors, the quiet and safe street, and did I mention how much we loved the neighbors?

We also learned {mi-i-i-ighty quick} that having doting grandparents one street over was WORTH OUR HOUSE'S WEIGHT IN GOLD.

{Why hello there
"rebirth of a regular date night
with FREE babysitting,"
where have you been all our lives?!}

We soon realized that our
terribly grand
{not to mention OH so original}
"flipping" plans were over.

We had officially burned out on the "do it yourself" renovations once we got the top level semi-finished, so our basement remained an utter mess until last month. We FINALLY got that finished {woo-hoo!} so now we just have to completely redo the top level again and design it for OURSELVES rather than imaginary potential buyers and ...oi.

So, after much waiting, and even more work, I have finally completed a few re-do projects that are finished enough to be worth sharing.

So, I give to you...
My dining room and living room before and after.

{Pictured above.} See the cluttered baker's rack? Yeah, it has plagued my existence for the last five years. Talk about a broken window! Actually, that sucker was worse than a broken window. It was a black hole. Nothing could resist it's gravitational pull. I would spend 2 full hours tackling it's ginormous piles of clutter, then spend 5 minutes neurotically threatening the very lives of my husband and children if they set so much as a paper clip on it's pristine surface, only to have it look just as awful if not MORE SO two days later. Well guess what? It's gone. It can't accumulate clutter if it isn't there, and honestly, I am kicking myself for not giving it the boot earlier.

Moral of the story?
If you have a broken window that won't stay fixed,
SHATTER IT, and move on :)

Now, I know this looks just AWFUL, but in my defense, we were in the throes of finishing the basement and every room in our poor lil' home was feeling the effects at this point. You can kinda see our living room too - big, heavy leather sectional, huge red armchair, huge ottoman... not loving it.

So I got all sorts of gangsta {yes, once again.}did a little bit of this:

I especially love the shot below because it includes the hubs' "Valentimes Truck" {see #21 on that thar post}
Isn't she a beaut?

And this is the final result!
I love it.
I know I'm weird for loving a collage of empty frames,
but I just do.
I love them.

And please note the beautious new {to me} table.
{Thanks Kristen!}
And the newly sprayed chairs.
{Thanks Krylon "Castle Rock" cans of spray paint!}

And here's a lil' sneak peak of what's going on in the living room:

I love spending time in this room already.
It isn't finished yet, the hubs and I are scouring craigslist and KSL DAILY in search of the perfect couch, but I am sure tickled with the pristine leather chairs that we scored for $75 a piece! Woot woot!

We still have a ton to do, but wow it is fun to finally see some of the pieces coming together! So that's what I've been up to, but the girls at communal global want to know what YOU are up to today.
Link up and share!

Edible Snowflakes

2011-02-27T15:13:00.000-08:00

STEP ONE * fold flour tortillas in half twice {into fourths}.

STEP TWO * cut out snowflake patterns with kitchen shears.

STEP THREE * unfold.

So CUTE!

{and s.i.m.p.l.e.}

STEP FOUR * smear soft butter spread all over each snowflake surface 

STEP FIVE * sprinkle with cinnamon and sugar.

STEP SIX * bake at 400 degrees for 5-7 minutes.

STEP SEVEN * enjoy!
{If your little brother will let you.}

Try them today!
{Your kiddos will thank you.}

{Source: "Playskool's Busy Toddler Play Book."} 

i sort of love conjuncta{freakin'}vitis...

2011-02-10T14:41:00.000-08:00

let it go,
let it roll right off your shoulder
don't you know
the hardest part is over



let it in,
let your clarity define you
in the end
we will only just remember how it feels



our lives are made
in these small hours
these little wonders,
these twists & turns of fate



time falls away,
but these small hours,
these small hours still remain



let it slide,
let your troubles fall behind you
let it shine
until you feel it all around you



and i don't mind
if it's me you need to turn to
we'll get by,
it's the heart
that really matters in the end



our lives are made
in these small hours
these little wonders,
these twists & turns of fate



time falls away,
but these small hours,
these small hours 
still remain



all of my regret
will wash away some how
but i can not forget
the way i feel right now



in these small hours
these little wonders
these twists & turns of fate
*
time falls away but these small hours
these small hours, still remain,
still remain.



...these little wonders still remain
{Rob Thomas ~ Little Wonders.} 

The house is a wreck,
my sink is not shiny,
it's 3:13 pm, and yep...
still in my bathrobe.
But man, it was a good day.

The pink eye is clearing up
and we have reveled in a
gloriously lazy day full of
pancakes with too much syrup,
basking in window-sun,
wii tournaments, 
and shooting a gratuitous
{and frankly ridiculous}
number of nakey-baby-pics.  

I love being a mom, do you? Tell me why. Link up and share!

Add a link to ANY blog post you have written that shares why you love being a mom.

Add a button to your site.

You can read "about" campaign mom by clicking the link in the header.

I hope you will participate.

Enjoy the journey {and share as you go.}

about campaign mom

2011-02-10T14:34:00.000-08:00

We are mothers.

Though we will accomplish much in the fields of education, literature, art, music, industry, public service & humanitarianism, we know that no accomplishment will equal the joy we find within the walls of our own homes as nurturers and educators of the leaders of tomorrow.

Motherhood is not a last resort, or second choice, or something we do as a result of failing to realize greater potential within ourselves or elsewhere... rather, it is our first choice, greatest joy, and singularly what we believe to be the best and most expedient way to effect positive change in the world around us.

We love ALL WOMEN, and respect and honor their right to choose the path of life that brings them joy whether this be in the home or in the workplace. True feminism {I believe} is loving and supporting women from all walks of life as they pursue their dreams...whatever those dreams may be.

zen crafting

2011-02-03T09:39:00.000-08:00

I am loving my holiday tree.

I love thinking of all the possibilities.

Even more than that,

I love seeing if I can create it without

going to the store for ANYTHING.

A fun challenge indeed.

so I get ornament hooks from the Christmas box...

and bright pink satin from my sewing scrap bag...

and little pearls and rhinestones from the bead box...

and I rip the pages out of thrashed, old books....

and I fold those papers in half and cut out little hearts...

you know, old school style,

like a second grader.

and I play around with punches...

and I start cutting hearts out of the satin too...

and I grab my trusty glue gun...

and totally immerse myself in all of it...

and I listen to piles of David Sides...

and the hum of the baby monitor...

and the occasional bark of a neighborhood dog...

And all feels right with the world.

So, I call it zen crafting.

Because it is THAT good.

5 things to do with a sheet

2011-01-30T21:40:00.000-08:00

It's ~~rainy~~ inversion day activity time, folks!

Because rainy? Not so much.

But sunny with a 99% chance of toxic haze? You betcha!

So here are 5 are inversion day activities to do with your little ones using

ONE

simple item that every household has:

A sheet. That's right.

A sheet.

Here we go!

#1 Build a fort!
This is one of Kortland's all-time favorite things.
At his insistence, his fort was made with his comforter, but you could totally use a sheet.

Some additional ways to enjoy your sheet fort are:
a. Watch a movie in there! Kort loves to build them in the living room and watch cartoons from their openings.
b. Have lunch in your fort.
c. Encourage your child to take stuffed animals and toys in there. They can role play being a little family, OR hold a session of school in the "school house" {a.k.a. fort, *wink, wink*}
d. Have a tea party.

#2 Make a sheet hammock.
Kort loved this!
The hubs and I nearly threw our backs out trying to satiate his ravenous hammock swinging hunger!
With little ones, make sure you keep it "low and slow" so if there are any tumbles out of the sheet, they only fall a few inches. Also, watch out for furniture - play in an open space!
This is a great activity for when dad gets home.

15 minutes of your time, and your kiddos will think they have died and gone to heaven!

#3 Blow Bubbles!
Blowing bubbles has been STRICTLY an outdoor/summer activity at our house... until now! If you cover your carpet and furniture with sheets - you can let loose and blow bubbles all the live long day. Kort was REALLY excited to demonstrate this one for all of you!

You can also blow them in the bath tub, if you're not looking forward to the soapy sheet laundry...

#4 Have a picnic!
This doesn't have to be a major production.
Stick a couple of snacks {fruit leather, crackers, gold fishes, cheerios} in IKEA bowls and let 'em have at it. Kort asks to have picnics roughly...EVERY day. So it's a treat, and can make even something small feel special.

Another variation on the "sheet picnic" is to have a popcorn party.
Set an air popper {if you have one} in the center of the sheet, and pop a batch of popcorn WITHOUT the guards on. Popcorn flies everywhere and your little ones will get a huge kick out of it.
They can pretend they are animals {puppies, goats, frogs...?} and crawl {or hop}around eating the popcorn off of the clean sheet.

The final idea is {not pictured, but that is my FAVORITE picture of Tennyson CRACKING up!} but it is:
#5 Sheet parachute!
You all know this one. They are awesome {and sort of hard to photograph}.
Get a BIG sheet, throw it up in the air, dive under it and pull the sides down around you. Now, sheets don't hold air the way that those awesome REAL parachutes do, but your little ones won't mind. Believe me, if they've got their mom laughing and diving onto the floor with them, they are going to be happy.

So, there you have it!
5 things to do with a sheet.
Did I miss something?
What cool things do YOU do with sheets?

And... is your sink shiny?
{mine is SO NOT shiny right now...but my kids are happy, so I guess the sink can wait...}

fantastic play dough recipe

2011-01-20T13:58:00.000-08:00

So, I tried{like, really hard}to find a GREAT play-dough recipe that did not call for Cream of Tartar {because I didn't have any on hand and I did NOT want to go to the store...} and while I found some that are "meh, okay" this one {which, unfortunately calls for Cream of Tartar} is fantastic!!!

1 cup white flour
1/4 cup of salt
2 tsps cream of tartar
1 cup water
1 tbsp oil
food colouring

Mix flour, salt, and cream of tartar in a medium pot. Add water, oil and food colouring. Cook and stir over medium heat. When mixture forms a ball in the pot, turn out, knead, and play!

play-dough prestige

2011-01-20T13:07:00.000-08:00

I just read an article that had me riveted. It was written by a feminist atheist who has no children and openly admits to being completely enamored with "Mormon Mommy Blogs." I think that she wrote the article in very witty, interesting, insightful, and {most importantly} respectful way. The comments following? Well, in true "troll-ish-nightmare-with-nothing-better-to-do" form, some people were disrespectful, random, off-topic, delusional, etc. Others, still, were intelligent and thought-provoking. I had to tear myself away in hopes of getting anything done at all today! {But alas, here I am blogging all about it, and because of it, instead.}

In the article, writer Emily Matchar writes:

"Enter the Mormon bloggers, with their picture-perfect catalog lives. It is possible to be happy, they seem to whisper. We love our homes. We love our husbands.

Of course, the larger question is, are these women's lives really as sweet and simple as they appear? Blogs have always been a way to mediate and prettify your own life; you'd be a fool to compare your real self to someone else's carefully arranged surface self. And Mormons are particularly famous for their "put on a happy face" attitude. The church teaches that the Gospel is the only authentic path to true happiness. So if you're a faithful follower, you better be happy, right?"

Kay, so, here is where I struggle. Not only with the perceptions of feminist atheists, but with the perceptions of, well MOST people, really. I know that some blogs seem really sugar-coated. I know that not everyone has a super-happy marriage, but I do, and I don't like being regulrly bombarded with skepticism saying otherwise.

I guess I need to take a step back and say:

"Is it really all that important that people BELIEVE you when you say that you love your husband dearly?"

{Obvious answer: No, that's actually not important in the least. Duh.}

But no one likes to be called a liar. Nor do they like to have such a sentiment implied in their general direction because they openly profess to love their husband, children, and their stay-at-home lifestyle on their blogs.

I think that it's a wee bit scary that we automatically disregard the experiences of others simply on the basis that we have never had those experiences ourselves. Or on the basis that we place different values on different things. Emily {author of the linked article} was likely raised to value education. {As was I} She was likely raised to value a promising/prestigious career. {Me, not so much, though it was always made clear that my parents would be super proud/supportive of me if I did choose that path.}She was likely raised to feel that believing in God was silly, impractical, and simply a much less-intelligent thing to believe in. And that's okay. I don't disregard her experiences based solely on the fact that I have not had them.

I was raised to value motherhood.
And that's okay too.
No, more than okay, it is absolutely wonderful.

I spent the better part of Monday {MLK day, so Kort didn't have school} making homemade play-dough for Kort and a neighbor friend. And I'm not even sugar-coating when I say: It was heaven.
{Okay, perhaps rather than merely a much dreaded sugar-coat-er, you think I am just plain nuts, but let me explain.}

I decided to do a test kitchen of sorts in search of the very best home-made play-dough recipe out there. {Yes, I fancy myself a scientist.} I tried four different recipes and determined a clear winner. I had two little helpers who enthusiastically measured, poured, stirred, and tested right along with me. When we determined the winner, we rolled out batch after batch after batch of perfect home-made play-dough. This was so ridiculously fullfilling.

If I were an executive working in a sky scraper, I might create a great product, or a fabulous ad campaign, and my boss might pat me on the back and give me a gruff "nice work."...and my girlfriends might take me out for drinks to celebrate... and I might get to spend the late evening eating Chinese take out on my spotless couch and watching whatever I wanted to watch into the wee hours of the morning, knowing full well that I could sleep in till noon the next day because no little feet would be pattering in around 6:00 a.m. and asking for pancakes, etc...

And this would be my reward for working my cookies off for weeks, MONTHS even. A pat on the back and a late night celebration. Sounds reasonable. But back to play-dough.

Let's talk about play-dough making benefits, shall we?

I spent 2 hours making play-dough, and what did I get?
Triumph! {When I zeroed in on the best recipe.}
Enthusiasm! {From two darling little boys/assistant chefs.}
Satisfaction! {As batch after perfect batch rolled forth from the last usable pot I own - ahem, because I have destroyed all of my other ones in unfortunate cooking accidents- um, because I am actually a disaster in the kitchen on most days, but I am DETERMINED to ge better every day.}
Gratitude! {When I snuggled my little boy into his bed that night and he pulled my face into his with a killer neck hug and said thank you - roughly a dozen times- for taking the time to do play-dough experiments with him... and for letting him use my good cookie cutters...and for rolling the dough out into a perfectly flat workspace...and...and...and... so much gratitude.
Fulfillment! {Knowing that my actions have expressed love to my son. Knowing that he feels it. Knowing that the little person that I care most about in all the world lives in a home that is secure, creative, loving, and fun. Knowing that simple, daily efforts and a commitment to doing "mundane" tasks everyday is creating a world for my family that is loving and beautiful.
Double Fulfillment! {Because I made extra, bagged it up, and will be taking it to my seven lil' babies in Nursery on Sunday. I will get to feel joy in connection to my play-dough making efforts once again as I watch one and two year old lil' munchkins press, and mold, and roll, and inevitably try to eat those joyous balls of colorful dough.}

All from making PLAY-DOUGH?! {You may ask.}
And to you, I respond with a simple: Yes. Yes, indeed.

It's all so simple.
The rewards of home making outweight my efforts ten fold every time.

Chocolate chip cookies made from scratch and served hot out of the oven with a tall glass of milk is worthy of a Nobel Peace Prize in my seven year old's eyes.

Making my husband's favorite dinner and having him "What About Bob" it up with every bite is the equivalent running a mere half mile and then being treated as though I've won the New York Marathon.

And what about taking a small, home-made birthday gift to and visiting for a moment with my dear, sweet neighbor who has terminal cancer, and will not see another birthday in this life? More fulfilling than any career you can throw in my face. More than anything you could offer to me, really.

I guess I just refuse to apologize for having a life made up of tiny little pieces and tiny little people that bring me undeniable joy.

{Kort's half-eaten ring pop that he stores in this cheapie IKEA bowl on top of our kitchen counter. Every time I walk by it, it makes me smile. And I stop and savor the image...because I know this period of my life is fleeting. I'm going to blink, and it'll be car keys. I'll blink again and it'll be a mission call. I am not going to miss out on one single opportunity to stop and realize that that ring pop is one of the most beautiful things I have ever seen. NOW we're gettin' crazy, no?}

I'm also going to immerse myself in the making of singed flowers. They are so much fun, and they come out beautifully every time regardless of the fact that I am not a talented crafter. And on the subject of crafts, do you want to know why women love making things so much? It's because we are natural-born creators. I don't care who you are: feminist, atheist, truck driver, career driven over-achiever...you name it! If you are a WOMAN, there is a part of your brain that will go totally zen when you pick up a paintbrush, hot glue gun, pair of scissors, or ball of clay.

It's science. 50% of the time, it works every time. You can quote me on that.

I do all of my happy crafting with my trusty baby monitor by my side. When Tentens is up, happy crafty zen time is over, and it's reading, drooling, giggling, bathing, eating, cooing time instead. And when Kort bursts through the front door after school, it morphs into snack time, brother time, homework, and friend-finding time. {And those times are equally fulfilling.}

And when the hubs is home from work, and Kort is home from school, it just might become FAMILY happy crafty zen time, and would you even believe it? Men and boys feel its beneficial effects too! Fancy that.

In closing, I really enjoyed the article. I thought she did an AWESOME job, considering her background.

I guess I just don't understand why

IT'S SO STINKIN' HARD TO BELIEVE

that mommy blogs are not totally sugar-coated,

and stay-at-home-moms just might be THAT ridiculously happy.

haha!

Am I nuts?

We are sheltered from the outside world.
We are loved and adored by our children for doing the simplest of things {i.e. reading a book, making play-dough, or I don't know, just listening intently to them and being genuinely interested in the things they have to say...}
We are treasured and respected by our husbands.
We get to choose who we let in, and who we keep out.
What's not to love?

I'm grateful for the small things.
Even the tiny things.
For, they truly are the things that make up our lives.

I love creating.
I love that I am so richly rewarded for doing things that I enjoy doing anyway.
I love that I am so richly rewarded for trying really hard to consistently do the things that I totally have no interest in doing. {i.e. laundry, dishes, getting out of my bathrobe by 2:00 p.m. - a goal which I am totally failing, btw.}
I love that I am the creator of my world, and I get to pick and choose who gets to be a part of it.
And I get to pick and choose how I want to beautify it.
And I get to pick and choose how I want to nurture the people who reside within the walls of it.

I'm grateful that I am human, and have the capacity to REASON.
The capacity to CHOOSE HAPPINESS and LIVE HAPPINESS every. single. day. of my life.

Because it is a choice, you know.
{Clinical depression excluded, of course, that's a whole other ball game.}

and I love making play-dough.
{maybe a little too much.}

*If you found this article helpful, please feel free to share. By clicking the "f" box in the bottom of this post, you can share it with your friends on facebook. {And I would surely love it if you did!}

How to write a Thank You note.

2011-01-12T19:19:00.000-08:00

Dear ~j,

I found your quaint tutorial describing the basic ins and outs, and why's and wherefores of thank you noting to be MOST helpful. I particularly liked the parts about personalization and appreciation. Very well said.

I also thought that your points regarding the pitfalls of insincerity {i.e. saying you were happy to "see" people when, in reality, you did NOT "see" them} were not only true, but rather funny as well.

You are funny, smart, and someone I am truly glad to know.
Sincerely,
{for reals}
Laura Dugovic

Update.

2011-01-12T19:11:00.000-08:00

Wow, I haven't posted for over a week! I am actually doing a great job sticking with my goals, I'm just not doing so hot at regularly writing about them, I guess. {eeesh.}

I CANNOT believe I have cooked dinner every night for a week. As long as I keep it simple, and plan ahead, it's easy peasy! What was I so worried about?

So far, we have had Kyle's parents over twice, and we've had some new neighbors over as well. We REALLY loved getting to know them better, and I have to say, in keeping with my new revelation that less truly is more, it was so nice to just have an intimate conversation at the table. Normally, we tend to invite two or three couples over at a time in an effort to make things lively, BUT, I am finding that I prefer the one on one stuff SO much more!

With multiple couples, it's fun and feels party-ish, but I don't feel like I come away from the experience actually knowing anyone better or on a deeper level. With less guests, it's very much about the "quality" aspect of our interaction. Love, love this.

It has also been a wonderful blessing to spend more time with Kyle's parents. We decided to make a weekly date of dinner and family home evening every Monday night, and we are LOVING it. Kort so looks forward to their arrival and is always sad when they have to go. He also gets disappointed when "We aren't having ANYBODY over tonight? Not ANYBODY?!!"

I need to be taking more pictures. I have been doing a good job of CREATING nice table arrangements, but again, not so diligent in capturing this on film. Pictured, is a simple table setting I put together for the week. Kort loves it. He gets to blow the candle out each night when the meal is finished. Tonight the hubs even sang happy birthday and told Kort to make a wish, you know, just to keep it interesting.;

Tennyson likes it too! {and then he gets distracted by something else...like fingers...ha ha!}

gratitude and cookies.

2011-01-05T20:35:00.000-08:00

About a week after Kort's crazy cookie decorating party in December, Kortland came home with a note that he said was for me. It was a thank you note...from a 2nd grader! Now, I'm a bit embarrassed to admit this, but this amazed me!

The note said:

"Mrs. Dugovic,

Thanks for inviting me to

your cookie party.

You worked hard!"

{and then he signed it.}

Ha ha! How cute is that?
I was so impressed.
And I thought to myself, "His mother is so lovely."
What a lovely thing to teach your child.
What an important lesson to be learned at such a young, impressionable age.
And I decided there and then that we were going to be a "thankful household."
We are no longer going to take the kindness and thoughtfulness of others for granted.
We are going to recognize service.
We are going to acknowledge kind deeds.
And we are going to do so with cookies and the written word!

So,we centered our family home evening lesson around gratitude, and then, when I told Kortland that I wanted to start making sure that we say thank you to people who have touched our lives, he immediately thought of all of his primary teachers. He has LOVED each and every one of them. They have each taught with such love and patience {ohhhh the patience} and have made Kortland's early church memories beautiful and positive. {A feat that I, as his mother, do not take lightly. At all.}

We decided that cookies would be a fun way to say thanks.

I told Kort that I would have the cookie decorating stuff ready when he got home from school on Tuesday. {A promise that I would regret on Tuesday morning when I awoke as a half-zombie after being up most of the night with Tennyson...} I was exhausted, BUT there is such a great feeling that comes with following through for your kids even when you don't think you have it in ya.

To sweeten the deal, {no pun intended} my friend Natasha decided to come by and bring her darling son, Taylor, to help us decorate. This girl feeds my soul, I'll tell you what. Her energy is so positive and effervescent, it literally drips off of her, infecting everything within a 40 foot radius. It's heavenly. And I needed the boost. I don't know what I'm going to do without her when she moves to Texas next month {sniff, sniff}. At the end of all of my "Housewife on Fire goaling and struggle for self betterment" if I am just 1/4, no, 1/16 of the woman, friend, and mother that she is, it will have all been worthwhile. {I could say that of a lot of the women I am so blessed to call my friends...all of them, really. Sounds like I need to bake another hundred batches of thank you cookies...}

Spending the afternoon with Natasha and Taylor, and catching up as our creative juices flowed into snowmen, crowns, and smiley faces was bliss I tell ya. Just bliss. And it reminded me of another "living your life" rule that I am TRYING to live by. And that is a commitment to QUALITY over QUANTITY.

As you may very well know, these types of cookies take a lot of effort! {2-3 hours JUST to cover the baking alone...etc}and I tend to get the {erroneous} idea that if I am going to do a TON of work, then as many people as humanly possible should come and benefit from it! Ha ha! Not so.

Nope, there is definitely something to be said for simplicity. And there is even more to be said for the restorative powers of an afternoon spent enjoying simple, one on one interaction with someone who you simply adore.

Lesson learned.
{Now if I can just remember, remember, REMEMBER it!}

That night, after dinner, I designed a special stationary letterhead for Kort to write his thank you notes on. I thought they were pretty funny. {Translation: I think I'm pretty funny.}

We went around and delivered the notes with cookies.
Then, just tonight when I tucked Kort into bed, he said:

"Hey mom? You know how you let me decorate cookies and then you drove me all over the neighborhood so I could deliver them?"

"Yeah."

"Thanks for doing that. I loved that."

{Aw.}

Of course, I know that I don't always have to slave over rolled sugar cookies all day in order to say "thank you" to someone. But I just wanted to have a fun "kick off" event to commemorate our family's new "attitude of gratitude."

In keeping with that attitude, thank YOU for visiting and sharing in this journey. I LOVE reading your comments and updates. I love your tips. I love interacting with like-minded women from all walks of life. So, thanks. I get WAY more hits than I do comments, so I just want to say thank you to those of you who step out of anonymity so that I can get to know you better. Thank you for "following" so I feel like I'm not doing this on my own. And thank you to everyone who drops in {even if you're too shy to let me know you were here.}

campaign mom

2011-01-04T19:13:00.000-08:00

why I love being a mom: reason #1

{Tentens and I were ENTIRELY over-due for one of these cliche' mommy-baby-mirror-self-portrait-thingies. So there. Done and done. -And done SPECTACULARLY... if I do say so myself. - I was having a REALLY good bangs day that day. Those days are getting fewer and farther between lately, so I'm glad I captured one. Oh, and add to that the ridiculously cute and very smiley baby? ...Yeah, no one is looking at my bangs, huh? Darn.}

Since some people think that mommy bloggers who claim to love being moms, and wives, and stay-at-homers, and like, "such as", are either 1. lying/sugar-coating or 2. just downright nuts {and in their defense, I just might be...} I have decided to launch a campaign to enlighten them and share my side of the mommy story.

{I DO eat {and BAKE} a lot of cupcakes, so maybe sugar-coating is inevitable, and I would be remiss if I didn't warn you that unicorns, rainbows and kittens may very well burst forth from your computer screens as a result of reading this... so consider yourselves warned.}

Last night, Ten woke up and would. not. go. back. to. sleep. At 2:00 a.m., after hours of rocking him to sleep, laying him down, have him start screaming, picking him back up, rocking him back to sleep, laying him back down, having him start screaming, picking him back up and rocking him {for like 20-30 minutes} back to sleep, and THEN holding my breath while laying him down... praying while laying him down, looking to the heavens and pleading "please let him stay asleep, please let him stay asleep, please let him stay asleep, please let him stay asleep, I will DIE if he doesn't just stay asleep...!" and then, right as his body hits the crib... he starts screaming... again.

Then, I had a "duh" moment, and thought "Why don't I just take him to bed with me?" Even if he doesn't sleep, he will happily squeal and poke my face and pull my hair for the next hour while I {who am completely exhausted and could sleep through a hurricane at this point} GET SOME SLEEP!

So, I picked him up, and carried him into my room. The SECOND we crossed the threshold to my room, he stopped crying. {Smart little stink.} And when I laid him next to me in bed...? Ha! ALL SMILES. Cutest thing ever. He does this amazing little *sigh* followed by a high-pitched squeal, and yeah, much to my delight, he did THAT about 20 times in a row. And then he pinched at my cheeks and eyes and pulled my bangs, like, really hard in an effort to pull my face closer into his so that he might take a big old bite, or at least just suck on a cheek bone for awhile... so I leaned in and kissed him all over the face and nuzzled down into the place between his chin and chest where there is SUPPOSED to be a neck, but really there is no neck to be found... just a lot of fatty deliciousness... and I made growly-eat-y sounds, and loud, squeaky-kissy sounds, and the giggles...ohhhh the giggles that came out of that boy...

And suddenly, 2:00 a.m. didn't matter anymore. {Okay, it was more like 2:45 by now... but 2:45 a.m. didn't matter anymore, either.}

And suddenly, the deliriously exhausted feeling that was threatening to eat me alive was replaced by pure joy. Seriously. Pure joy. {Because, you know, babies are like, 99% pure joy...and 1% poop. There, is that more along the lines of "keeping it real"? I said poop, and also acknowledged that babies do it. Does that drastically increase my street cred.?}

I passed out to the blissful melody of Tennyson's high soprano {he gets it from his Gaga} with kicky-feet drumming a separate beat all their own, and the occasional poke in my right eye. Awesome.

So, I love being a mom.
Go moms!

Monday - How did we do?

2011-01-03T21:24:00.000-08:00

I think I can write Monday off as a success. I had a HUGE break from what I would call routine {a.k.a. staying home all day everyday, puttering around, and slowly accomplishing the house-wifey tasks laid out before me}and went shopping with the hubs. Kort has outgrown or torn through all of his jeans {a--gain} and yesterday, after we rushed into church and settled down in our seats, I noticed {to my horror} that his only surviving pair of church pants...are a solid 3 inches too short all of the sudden. Yeah, he looked awesome.

So, today was a shopping day. {And yes, it takes both of us because I am running out to our gigantic van to nurse Tentens half of the time and SOMEBODY needs to be able to stay with the cart and/or finish the purchase while I haul my cookies to the mother ship.}

And shopping took F.O.R.E.V.E.R!

So, just out of curiosity, did all of y'all with seven year old boys in the fam go out and but your kids a TON of denim for Christmas this year? Cause, um, pretty sure we couldn't find ANY! We did, however, find two handsome church outfits, and a bunch of things that I needed {okay, and probably also did NOT "need"} for Tennyson, so at least we are good to go in that department.

Since shopping took SUPER long, we got home just in time for me to sprint over to the school, give Kort's teacher her belated Christmas gift {not my fault, they canceled school for a snow day on the day that I had planned to get it to her} sprint back home, fold laundry for ONE hour, {goodbye power of ten.. right out the window with you today...} vacuum the living room, and just as I started tidying up our messy kitchen, Kyle's parents arrived. They come over for dinner and f.h.e. every Monday night, and we love it so much!

I don't have time to get pictures up tonight, so I will wait and share more about f.h.e. tomorrow.

After a great dinner {Goodwood take-out}and family home evening {gratitude}.
I took a nice, slow, 20 minutes and cleaned the kitchen thoroughly tonight after we got the kids in bed.
Then I put the rest of the clean clothes {which I had stashed in my bedroom to get the living room tidied up for the inlaws}away, showered, blow dried my hair so that I have stacked the odds in my favor tomorrow, and here we are!

Shiny sink? Check.
Power of Ten? {yes, times 8 thanks to all that laundry}
Ready for the day? Check. {...and the hubs was like "Whoa!" ha ha! He hasn't seen me up and dressed first thing since before Christmas break! Yikes!}
Cook a meal? Well, sort of... I HOSTED one, does that count?{See? I told you that cooking is hard for me!}

How did you make out?

Back in business

2011-01-02T21:01:00.000-08:00

Wow, was it just me, or did the holidays get a little bit hectic there at the end?! Whoa. Well, I am excited to say that the tree is down, the décor is in boxes, and life is getting back to normal. I can’t even tell you how excited I am to get re-focused on the goals we’ve set and start adding new challenges as well.

Since the whole “start cooking more” goal was smothered half to death by the holiday season, I’m going to start back there and start cooking {or trying to cook} all of your recipe suggestions, so definitely keep ‘em coming if you have them. I will rate the dinners as we try them out. The rating system will share how easy I thought the meal was, how tasty I thought the meal was, and whether or not I could get the Kortmeister to eat any of it! {That’s the toughest part.}

2 additional goals I am adding for the month are:

1. Have guests over for dinner at least once a week. {This is so good for your soul, and you don’t even have to get a babysitter, so WHY on earth aren’t you doing it more often?!} Part of this is going to be focused on simple ways to make my table more beautiful, and like, such as, and so on, and such. And another part of this will be on maaaaybe trying out fun and different foods, things to do post-dinner and so on. I will give you detailed updates.

2. Teach gratitude and live gratitude. {More on that very soon.}

I’m ready to get down to business!

Goodbye bathrobe, (yes, I reverted… a little. Don’t you juuuudge me!} and hello shiny sinks, un-broken windows, the power of ten, and my sanity! Woot! Woot! {And yes, in case you were wondering, I am going back to doing all of those things bright and early Monday morning. 3 power of ten sessions {spread out throughout the day}

How were your holidays?
Is your sink shiny?
Are you going to jump on board with any of these goals…or do you have a few of your own up your sleeve?
Spill it.

REALLY about

2011-01-01T11:22:00.000-08:00

Oh, how I loved this {thanks, Clover Lane}:

AN ERMA BOMBECK COLUMN:

A young mother writes: " I know you've written before about the empty-nest syndrome -- that lonely period after the children are grown and gone. Right now, I'm up to my eyeballs in laundry and muddy boots. The baby is teething; the boys are fighting. My husband just called and said to eat without him, and I fell off my diet. Lay it on me again, will you?"

OK.

One of these days, you'll shout, "Why don't you kids grow up and act your age!"

And they will.

Or, "You guys get outside and find yourselves something to do ... and don't slam the door!"

And they won't.

You'll straighten up the boys' bedroom neat and tidy -- bumper stickers discarded, bedspread tucked and smooth, toys displayed on the shelves. Hangers in the closet. Animals caged. And you'll say out loud, "Now I want it to stay this way."

And it will.

You'll prepare a perfect dinner with a salad that hasn't been picked to death and a cake with no finger traces in the icing, and you'll say, "Now, there's a meal for company."

And you'll eat it alone.

You'll say: "I want complete privacy on the phone. No dancing around. No demolition crews. Silence! Do you hear?" And you'll have it.

No more plastic tablecloths stained with spaghetti.

No more bedspreads to protect the sofa from damp bottoms.

No more gates to stumble over at the top of the basement steps.

No more clothespins under the sofa.

No more playpens to arrange a room around.

No more anxious nights under a vaporizer tent.

No more sand on the sheets or Popeye movies in the bathrooms.

No more iron-on patches, wet, knotted shoestrings, tight boots, or rubber bands for ponytails.

Imagine. A lipstick with a point on it. No baby sitter for New Year's Eve. Washing only once a week. Seeing a steak that isn't ground. Having your teeth cleaned without a baby on your lap.

No PTA meetings.

No car pools.

No blaring radios.

No one washing her hair at 11 o'clock at night.

Having your own roll of Scotch tape.

Think about it. No more Christmas presents out of toothpicks and library paste.

No more sloppy oatmeal kisses.

No more tooth fairy.

No giggles in the dark.

No knees to heal, no responsibility.

Only a voice crying, "Why don't you grow up?"

and the silence echoing, "I did."

REALLY ABOUT: Cherishing this time NOW. Because it will be gone faster than any of us are able to{or any of us WANT to} imagine.

Now that's what I call a gingerbread house.

2011-01-01T10:48:00.000-08:00

So, My cute sis-in-laws and I decided to take a little initiative this year and plan fun activities for the kiddos each day leading up to Christmas. We were staying in my parent's new cabin house and knew that the kids would get a little stir crazy if they didn't have the proper outlets for all of that energy. It went off like gangbusters and we had a lot of fun.

But, the problem? We sort of... over-scheduled, and gingerbread houses didn't end up making it into the rotation. And, um, I bought like, a TON of candy for them! Now, the Christmas Season is over and gone, and here, in the light of the sparkly-shiny New Year, gingerbread houses are just sort of feeling "so last week." {Like, ya know?}

So, I think I have decided to shelf the idea until next Christmas and use all of that candy for a Valentine's Day cookie decorating party instead. {Fortunately, I bought a lot of rainbow colored candy rather than traditional red and green, so everything should be able to make a holiday shift-a-roo just fine!}And yes, I think I am addicted to cookie parties...in case you were wondering.

However, the REASON I AM POSTING ANY OF THIS is to tell you that my friend Emily {brilliant and creative mother of FOUR boys}had a way better idea for gingerbread houses that I am so doing next year! You can go here to read all about it. I can so relate to what she said about wanting to control everything and make it perfect, and honestly, in WHAT way is controlled perfection fun for rambunctious little boys? Luckily, Em is innovative and always looking for a great activity for her boys, and thanks to a HOMEWORK project sent home with her oldest son, she came up with the perfect solution for everyone.

what this blog is NOT about.

2010-12-31T15:28:00.000-08:00

So, I had the blessed, l.o.v.e.l.y. opportunity to read my dear friend Celeste's blog the other day and catch up on her life. When I happened upon a post titled "it feels like i'm in high school again, and it's my fault" I felt like I'd struck some ever-lovin' g.o.l.d.

This is EXACTLY what I don't want my blog to be about. {Oh, haven't you clicked over and read her post yet? Go do it! Then come back and we'll pow wow.}

I don't want a visit to Housewife on Fire to make women feel like"less" or failures once they are done visiting here. {And, in my defense, I am pretty sure that it TOTALLY doesn't, HOWEVER it's also a great reminder that THAT is not ever something I want it to morph into as time goes by.}

I feel exactly the same way Celeste feels. It's funny, when I got the opportunity to share some of my ideas on channel 2 news, I sort of freaked. I was like:

"This is so great!"

"I am so excited they want me to share some ideas from the blog!"

"I REALLY need to turn my blog into an AMAZING showstopper of a blog, and it needs to have crafts, and DIY home stuff, and it needs to show everyone just how amazingly well I can copycat ALL of those 'crazy/talented/far-more-popular-than-I-may-ever-be' bloggers out there. And I should probably raise chickens, and I should probably re-do my bathroom {kay, in my defense, THAT has been long in coming and I am still TOTALLY going to "re-do" my bathrooms, however, I will only "re-do" them in a way that makes me happy and not in a way that makes everyone else impressed.} and I should seriously start doing a ton of giveaways because that is a sure-fire way to get friends and loyal readers, and oh, wait, this REALLY is starting to feel a lot like high school... only in high school you sort of HAVE to deal with all that crap, but now as and adult, you totally get to choose what and who you surround yourself with, and you don't have to "hang" with people that make you feel "less than" so WHY ARE YOU DOING THIS TO YOURSELF?!

So, Celeste, I am so with ya, love! The fact is, we are not doing anyone any favors {least of all, ourselves} by trying to be something or someone that we simply are not. Free stuff is over rated. So are amazing bathrooms/pantries/insert amazing-blogged-about-DIY-project-you-have-been-beating-yourself-up-over-here _________.

But being a great wife and mom? Now that is a goal I don't think I will ever regret fully investing myself in.

And it doesn't HAVE to be over-the-top-and-complicated.

And it doesn't have to be perfect {kids are incredibly forgiving, have you noticed?}

And it doesn't have to be done with the intention of impressing someone else.

It can be joyful, and fulfilling, and it can make you feel amazing at the end of the day rather than leaving you feeling like you are always coming up short.

I've realized, {fiiiiiiiinally} that all I have to offer this bloggy world, is me. The real me. Not the "me" that I think maybe/perhaps you would like to read about. Not the me that is super impressive and so talented that it'll make your head spin. Just me.

And the only things that are worth sharing on here are:

Not gourmet -20-ingredient-dinners, but dinners we can all whip up in a hurry so that, even on crazy days, our kids can eat something good for them and feel like some things can always be counted on.

Not complicated, expensive crafts that have25 steps, cost $50, and are so difficult that our kids can't be involved in any way, shape, or form. Not only because they can get burned, nailed, stapled, or glued, but also because they are "messing everything up!" {boo to that.}

Not complicated crafts that have to be perfect, but FUN, easy crafts that are enjoyable, relaxing, and much more perfect for all of their imperfections. If it has to be perfect, and I am just going to feel like a failure at the end of it all, then what is the point, honestly?

Not activities {and "big-time" birthday parties - oi, have I seen a few doozies roaming around the blogosphere as of late!} that say "Look at how good, and extravagant, and over-the-top I can be ALL in the name of being the best mom ever!" Nope. Not here. Here, it's about plastic table cloths, shooting from the hip, and using what you've got on hand. Because kids don't remember how much it cost, they remember how your love and time and attention made them feel.

Not keeping a perfect, and immaculate home, but doing our very best every day. Setting ourselves up for success with the use of helpful strategies {think power of ten and shiny sinks!} and being gentle {ahem, SUPER gentle, please} with ourselves on days when, well, it JUST doesn't happen!

So, I just wanted to let you know, that's what this blog is about.

And I hope you will enjoy reading it as much as I enjoy writing it.

With love,
Laura

Christmas Activity at The Cabin

2010-12-23T12:39:00.000-08:00

I haven't done the "home-made play-doh thing" since Kort was like, um, three? And boy were we overdue! It was so much fun. I think I can safely say that the boys had more fun making the play-doh than they even had playing with it {but they had a lot of fun doing that too.}

They loved taking turns picking what color the next batch would be, and they became really good assistants as batch after batch after batch rolled out of the pot.

You can find the "World's Best Play Doh Recipe" HERE.

...and I have to say, it really is fool proof. {Not to be continuously self depreciating, but honestly, if I can do it, you really can too!}

Christmas Bucket List: popcorn & a movie

2010-12-20T11:54:00.000-08:00

I think this was, hands down, my most favorite “bucket list” item this year.

Instead of popping popcorn {the smell of which gives the hubs a headache} we had some “movie style” treats like big boxes of Milk Duds and Hot Tamales.

To make it extra special, we pulled out the couch bed in the living room {Kort’s favorite} and sat together as a whole family {dogs included}.

I can’t even tell you how great this was. The nostalgia of it all was palpable. Do you remember the first time you watched “How the Grinch Stole Christmas?” {And no, not the Jim Carey version, but the charming , hilarious, 25 minute cartoon one?}

Oh. So great.

I actually laughed out loud a couple of times as the film played, and I have to say, I have been doing A LOT of running around this month. I’ve gone to parties, I’ve hosted parties, I’ve made Christmas crafts, I’ve talked about Christmas crafts on TV., I’ve attended Christmas concerts, the list goes on and on and on and on, and I can safely say that {without question} this night together felt the most like Christmas.

Bar none.

I felt all warm and toasty inside as I layed on the couch hide-a-bed {I don't know why, but it totally makes Kort's DAY when we get out the hide-a-bed!} and looked around the living room at "my life."

*The same Christmas tree that the hubs and I bought as newly weds for our first Christmas {Walmart: $19.99}. Completely over decorated and glowing with hundreds of tiny white lights.

*Ornaments that represent 10 years of collecting, and family growth. {I still cannot believe I have ornaments from my child's preschool, kindergarten, 1st, and 2nd grade years. There is no way I have a 2nd grader...just no.way.} I love our tree...

* a {needy, mama's boy of a} golden retriever sleeping on my legs, a squealy, grunty, long-awaited 4 month old bouncing in my lap, the Kortmeister's head resting on my shoulder as he stuffs ridiculous amounts of Milk Duds into his mouth and smiles with oozey, chocolately glee as the grinch's little dog sends all of us into stitches...

* A hubs who I love more now than I ever thought possible...even on the day we were married.

Ah, yes. THIS is Christmas. Christmas is here.

Channel 2 News...

2010-12-19T12:12:00.000-08:00

was a blast! Go here to see the segment.

Holiday Tree/Bucket List Hybrid Thing-y

2010-12-16T19:09:00.000-08:00

My friend Kristen has one of these, and even though the hubs has deemed it "creepy-cute," I think it is brilliant! She uses hers to celebrate not only Christmas, but Valentine's Day, Halloween, and other fun holidays as well. I LOVE this idea because it is simple, and the tree branches are, {drum roll please} FREE!

{Oh how I love free}

The other thing I love about this idea is that it keeps your holiday decorations to a minimum. You could have a small box {Like, shoe-box size or smaller}with decorations for each little holiday and store them on a shelf in a hall closet. Your kids will love decorating it with each new holiday's ornaments and your home will remain reasonably uncluttered.

HOW TO MAKE ONE:

I put this one together with:

a branch from my backyard

white spray paint

some sparkly ornaments

{I got tiny ones at the Target Dollar Spot and glued glitter to them. 16 ornaments for $1 - can't beat that!}

rice {to stick the branch end into}

a bunch of random ribbons from my ribbon drawer

and some scrapbooking tags with hand cut embellishments.

I have also done gone made mine into a "Bucket List Tree" Hybrid thing-y. {Yep.}

I thought it would be fun to fuse the two. So, I labeled the little tag ornaments with bucket list activities and now Kort pulls a tag out of the base, reads the activity, we go and do it, then we hang the tag on the tree as a reminder of the fun we've had together.

It's all very special.

North Pole Cupcakes.

2010-12-10T08:51:00.000-08:00

I found this darling idea at One Charming Party.com and I think that charming is the perfect word for this cupcake! Wow. I am going to be thinking of an excuse to whip some of these babies up in the next two weeks. Go here to learn how to make them.

Bucket List: Cookie Decorating Party!

2010-12-09T10:06:00.000-08:00

Kortland's first bucket list item was to have a Cookie Decorating Party. As I said in the post about the Christmas Bucket List, when it's a big activity, you don't have to do it the same day that it is drawn out of the bucket. Give yourself a few days to plan {we gave ourselves three} and go from there.

Now, a little information to give you some perspective: I am clearly NUTS.

Kort wanted to invite a bunch of kids from his class. Like, ten of them. I said no. This is because I really don't think it's appropriate to invite roughly half of his class to a party and leave the rest of the class feeling left out. We've all been in the shoes of "the uninvited" at some point or another, and it doesn't feel good. I just didn't want to feel responsible for having a party {which is intended to create fun and good feelings} that made a dozen kids feel bad about themselves. The uninvited kids are going to tell themselves something destructive in order to explain why their names were omitted from the guest list. They will say to themselves "I didn't get invited because I'm too fat, or too skinny, or too shy, or too loud, or not funny, or not pretty, or not smart, or sort of smelly with too many missing teeth {Oh wait, scratch that last one, have you seen second graders? All of them have too many missing teeth, 7-year-old mouths are downright freaky!}.

My anxiety kicks into high gear as I realize that my little party guest list, if not executed with care, will inevitably be responsible for 20% of all cases of anorexia, bulimia, overeating, and promiscuity in Springville High's Class of 2020! This is a consequence that I simply cannot live with. So, I told Kort that we really should just invite kids from the ward and neighborhood and leave the whole school thing out of it...

Well, he really wanted to invite his class. Like, bad. Like, we kept talking about it, and he kept looking at me with those big blue eyes and saying "Mom, PUH-LEASE!!!"

And I thought - "Hey, this party is for him, I'm just going to throw caution to the wind and let him invite his class." That's right. You read that correctly. His. Entire. Class. I also thought to myself, "It's not like everyone will come...I mean, usually half of all of the people invited to any given event will show up, so, like, 15 kids will show up...it will be fine. Then we invited our neighborhood kids too. {Just to review, I have already copped to being certifiable.}

So, I woke up at 6:00 a.m. on the day of the party and baked over 200 cookies.

{Hint for your own party: DO THIS THE DAY BEFORE! What was I thinking?!}

And it's a good thing I made over 200,

because 30 kids showed up!

Yikes!

Thank you so much to the lovely moms who stayed to help out!

You were lifesavers!

And I decorated a sassy little holiday table.

One of my favorite moments?

When Kort came in and saw his table that morning and said:

"Wow! I can't wait until this place is PACKED!"

Ha ha! He is so much like his mom.

Table Decoration Costs:

Two Icy Blue {plastic}Table Cloths - $1.50 each. {$3.00 total}

Red Napkins {used here as place mats} - $1.50 for 24 {$1.50 total}

Two Packages of Icy Blue Paper Plates - $1:50 each. {$3.00 total}

Two Bags of Peppermint Candies - $1.00 each {$2.00 total}

{All from Wal-Mart.}

So, it cost me just under Ten Dollars total for table decorations!

{That's pretty darn good, right?}

I have to take a moment to gush about this awesome pre-made frosting by Betty Crocker. It is unstinkinbelievable! Now, to clarify, I made my own cream cheese frosting for kids to use as the main layer of frosting, but I don't have decorative tips and pastry bags of my own, {hint, hint, Santa}so this was a quick solution. CANNOT say enough about how awesome these were. The kids totally rocked them and made the cutest designs and very little mess. At $2.88 a piece, they were worth every penny!

I loved these festive snowflake sprinkles!

Yeah, some of the cookies were a little toasty! {Isn't that a lovely Christmas word for overdone?} Can you tell that I am just getting a handle on the whole "baking thing?"

Yeah, 200 some odd cookies... took forever! {There were three platters like this in all.}

Another favorite part of the day? Seeing the creativity of these kids! Their cookies were awesome!

Best/Most Popular decorating item on the table?

MARSHMALLOWS!

They all started creating marshmallow sky scrapers {with the use of frosting as mortar between each mallow} that shot up out of their cookies! It was so cute! They looked like the kind of thing that little Hoo-Children from Hooville would make.

{Above: Kort's Cookies}

Will I invite thirty kids again next year?
Maybe {but probably not.}

Best things about inviting 30 kids?
*No cookies left! {Yay for being able to button my jeans for the first time since giving birth to Tennyson!}
*When they all go home! ha ha! {But seriously, having 30 kids in your house sure makes your life feel spacious and peaceful when all is said and done.}

What SAVED the day for me?
Christmas music!
I can't even feel stressed when Christmas music is floating through the house. It was the perfect thing to keep me calm, happy, and focused. I use music this way a lot. The 80s mix the hubs put on my ipod is also a huge lifesaver when I'm working hard, and on a deadline!

Hope you enjoyed reviewing my ridiculous debut cookie party as much as I enjoyed putting it together! Thanks for stopping in.

In case anyone is interested, I will be posting my sugar cookie recipe {which is awesome} and the cream cheese frosting recipe{which is awesome-r} in a post of their own very soon!

Christmas Bucket List.

2010-12-06T14:38:00.000-08:00

I made a Summer Bucket List for myself and Kort last summer, and it was honestly one of the best things I have EVER done. We made so many incredible, special, FUN memories that summer... It was a great motivator to get out there and be an active, "fun mom" instead of the mom that's pushing her kid in front of the t.v. for hours on end to get through the summer! (I mean...not that I've ever done that...of course not. No, not me. Not ever...nope, wouldn't dream of it! ;)

The Christmas Season comes and goes SO QUICKLY and it's easy to lose track of time. It seems like the holidays always end well before I get the chance to do all of the Christmas-y things that I had "good intentions" of doing. Well, NOT THIS YEAR! I've put together a Christmas Bucket List to keep us on track.

To make the bucket list, I simply typed up all of the activities I wanted to be sure that we do, printed them out, cut them apart, folded each separate piece and put them all in a Christmas-themed Bucket. Now, we draw out a paper every day, or every other day, depending on how many activities we have to do within the time allotted.

If it is a big activity that needs extra planning, we do it within 3 days of drawing it out. For instance, Kort drew out "Have a cookie decorating party." We needed time to make invitations and get them out to friends, so it is scheduled for this Wednesday. We're going to decorate cookies and make Christmas puppets. I'm really excited! This is exactly the sort of thing I would have put off until it was too late. I LOVE bucket lists!

Another fun approach is to slide a slip of paper into the slots in your advent calendar instead of using a bucket. This gives you a two in one. Each day, when kids mark the countdown, they can also get a bucket list assignment.
My good friend, Natasha, came by for a visit last week and was lovely enough to brainstorm with me. Here are some ideas we came up with:

1. Straw for Baby Jesus (At the very start of the month, set out an empty nativity and challenge your children to fill it with straw for Jesus' bed by Christmas Eve. They earn a piece of straw {raffia or cut up yellow paper} by doing a good deed. The more good deeds that go on in your home, the softer Baby Jesus' bed will be when you lay him in the manger on Christmas Eve.) *I LOVED this one.

2. Build a snowman, and make a snowman kit.

3. Wrap up a bunch of your Christmas books and put them under the tree. Have a few of the bucket list days say "Unwrap and read a Christmas book together"

4. Pop popcorn and watch "How the Grinch Stole Christmas"

5. Pop popcorn and watch "A Christmas Story"

6. Make reindeer food (Granola and magic glitter and anything else you want to put in it) then put it in individual bags for all of your children, {labeled "reindeer food" of course} save it, and then sprinkle it all over the yard on Christmas Eve. {Make sure the kiddos understand that it won't ALL be gone in the morning because reindeer just nibble a little at each house!}That oughtta save you some clean up!

7. Have a family snowball fight.

8. Go sledding.

9. Do a family "secret service santa" day. Draw names in the morning and do good deeds anonymously throughout the day.

10. Go caroling with friends. Come home and have chili and hot chocolate.

11. Assemble and deliver neighbor gifts.

12. Have a Christmas Cookie Party!

13. Decorate a fun cake (have everyone help) and sing Happy Birthday to Jesus. Then have everyone in the family give a gift (of service/love to others) to Jesus.

14. Have an elf treasure hunt. At the end of it, kids can find their new Christmas pajamas.

15. Drive around and look at Christmas lights, or go to a fun light festival in your area.

16. Make gingerbread houses.

P.S. How exciting is it that you can make a stinkin' cute Christmas tree card with strips of brown paper, and green polka dot paper cut into simple triangles? I love how these turned out and they only took about an hour from beginning to end. {This includes a LOT of time spent designing the font and layout of the info in Word.

Do you have any awesome Christmas Activities your family loves? I'm all ears. My bucket list could stand to have a few additions!

Advent Calendar.

2010-12-06T13:49:00.000-08:00

Just got mine made and hung up...

{Better late than never I guess.}

Read on to learn how make one in 10 easy steps!

1. Get a cork board {on the smallish side}I got mine at D.I. {thrift store} for $2

2. Paint the frame if you prefer a different color.

3. Get 25 cellophane party favor bags {got these at Xpedex} and put a small treat (one for each child) in each bag.{I used Halloween candy so that I didn't have to go out and try to find 25 different tiny candies. My friend, Kristen, also had a great idea. She bought the candies in the "bulk candy" section of the grocery store. It was a little time consuming, but she was able to get 3 pieces of 25 different candies for only $3:00 total! Awesome.

4. Fold the bag over {so it will fit under your countdown papers}

5. Cut off the excess.

6. Cut 25 rectangular pieces of Christmas paper to fit over the candy bags

7. Print out numbers, {or use stickers, which is what I did} and attach them to each rectangle.

8. Pin candy bag and number to the board with a push pin.

9. Add the ribbon of your choice.

10. Hang on your wall, and
Voila!
A VERY inexpensive, simple advent calendar.

Where have I been?

2010-12-02T19:52:00.000-08:00

Um...
Hiding from you.
Ha ha!
I have been such a lazy little turd this week!

I am a bit overwhelmed by the leftover Thanksgiving Day mess, and the basement is half way finished, and Tennyson has NOT been sleeping all that well. So I am kind of a tired mess.

HOWEVER,

I am about to turn over yet another new leaf, and get back on track. I HAVE been getting up and dressed everyday, my sink has remained shiny (okay, for the most part) and I actually HAVE made dinner every night this week! (YAY!) So there's that.

I've decided that for the month of December, the focus of this blog is going to shift to family Christmas Traditions. I am REALLY excited about it! I am in the process of making an (overdue, late, tardy) Advent Calendar. It will be getting its own post in the next little bit. It's going to be like a summer bucket list, only Christmas-y and Advent Calendar-y.

I've also decided to do my first remodeling project here on Housewife on Fire! I am a huge believer that EVERYONE can have beautiful home. Whether they live in a 300 square foot apartment or a 6,000 square foot house and whether they have a budget of $10-or several thousands. I am in the process of re-doing my entire house, and my first project is going to be....(drumroll please) My main bathroom!! Here is what it looks like right now.

When we bought our house, we originally intended to fix it up and flip it, so we painted it a nice taupe-y, gray-ish, green color that everyone seems to like (except me). But when we got to know our neighbors, our school, our ward, and our community at large... we decided that there was no way we were moving! We love it here. So, the bummer is, we have to re-do everything again, and this time, do it for US, and not some unknown buyer we are trying to cater to. So, here is the inspiration for the new bathroom:

I know, right!? I love this shower curtain! I found it here and ordered it, and it is perfect! I am going to go with a dramatic black and white theme in there. And yes, I am even painting an entire wall black (which feels pretty scary, but hey, I'm all about the risky business when it comes to paint!)

I will be tracking my progress here and will share the finished product when I have it!

a good reminder.

2010-11-29T08:44:00.000-08:00

While I am definitely excited about taking better care of myself and making a daily effort to put my best foot forward, it's nice to have a reminder about what's truly important at the end of the day. Don't you just love the wisdom of Marjorie Pay Hinckley?

"I don’t want to drive up to the pearly gates in a shiny sports car, wearing beautifully tailored clothes, my hair expertly coiffed, and with long, perfectly manicured fingernails. I want to drive up in a station wagon that has mud on the wheels from taking the kids to scout camp. I want to be there with a smudge of peanut butter on my shirt from making sandwiches for a sick neighbor’s children. I want to be there with a little dirt under my fingernails from helping to weed someone’s garden. I want to be there with children’s sticky kisses on my cheeks and the tears of a friend on my shoulder. I want the Lord to know I was really here and that I really lived."

~Marjorie Pay Hinckley~

what I learned while hosting thanksgiving:

2010-11-28T20:57:00.000-08:00

{Me, posing with my wrecked table decor. ~Thanks Nancy~}

{My cute in-laws.}

1. Cooking a turkey, while intimidating, is totally doable. (That is, IF your mother-in-law completely preps, packages, and seasons said turkey, and then drops it off at your house with instructions to cook it at 350 for four hours.)
2.Chocolate brown table cloths with sparkly gold runners and earthy zen stones and lots of little candles are really pretty for a thanksgiving table.
3. Little children coming to your Thanksgiving dinner will likely blow out the candles, throw the rocks, and smear mashed potatoes into your gold runners and chocolate brown table cloths.
4. Little kids don't care that your tables are (excuse me, I mean, WERE) pretty.
5. Adults don't really appreciate it either because it just gives them one more thing to try to keep their kids out of.
6. I'm still happy I did it, because, to me, a beautiful table and a lot of effort put into making an event beautiful says "I love you." And that is exactly what I wanted to say. So there. I said it.
7. Saying "No problem! It's just a table cloth." (and meaning it) is an even better way to say I love you. Love is so nice.

In other news... this week the goal is:
*Keep up with all of the other goals.
*Try to cook dinner...MORE.

I was going to say "cook dinner every night," but since the name of this game is achievable, and I know that there is no way I will be organized enough to cook dinner every. single. night. right out the gate, we are going to go with "MORE." I am going to baby step my way to success!

So, PLEASE, I need two things from you:
1. More recipes. (Easy ones. Like, 3rd grader easy mmmmkay?) and 2. More great ideas for Family Home Evening! Don't hold out on me now...

family home evening.

2010-11-22T20:00:00.000-08:00

For f.h.e., we made gratitude tear turkeys. I had this idea last year, but never got around to actually following through with it. It was a hit! We talked about the importance of being grateful for everything we have in our lives, and then went to the dining room and made the tear turkeys. It only took about 15 minutes total, and Kort loved it.

INSTRUCTIONS:
Simply rip up strips of paper in an assortment of colors.
Cut out a brown turkey body (I just eye-balled it, and it seemed to turn out fine.)
Cut out beaks and legs and glue them on.
Let the kids color in their own eyes (Kort's was huge.)
Have kids write one thing they are grateful for on each "feather."
Glue strips on the back of the turkey, with the words facing the front.
Enjoy reading about the things that are important to them!

KORT'S LIST: My dad, my house, baseball, my friend Holden, the sky, the earth, my friends, Easter, football, the snow, St. Patrick's Day, Valentine's Day, my baby, the clouds, Christmas, Veteran's Day, The Holidays, soccer, the school, my mom, my car, Halloween.

“Feeling gratitude and not expressing it is like wrapping a present and not giving it.” -William Arthur Ward

holiday hustle.

2010-11-22T11:08:00.000-08:00

The December/January issue of House Beautiful just hit my mailbox, and it had a fun little insert with tips about how to get your house holiday ready. Here are a few that I found helpful:

1. Play energizing music to motivate yourself and make cleaning a fun workout. (The hubs put together an 80s mix on my ipod that pretty much makes me want to jump on him every time I play it. Paula Abdul, some classic Madonna, and soundtracks from "Pretty in Pink" and "the Breakfast Club"? Seriously? Heaven.)

2. Wear a big apron with deep pockets for holding all of your supplies as you move through the house. You can also drop in items that you pick up as you go and deliver them to their proper place. I also love using a caddy that holds everything I need for the bathrooms.

3. Look at each room as a guest might. See where your eyes are drawn first and start there.

4. Focus on rooms guests are likely to see. Okay, I totally said "Duh." when I read this one. (Yes, even though "duh" belongs to the 80s, and Bart Simpson, I still totally said it. Because, well, it was just that "duh.")

5. Do all your vacuuming at once to avoid bringing dirt from a dirty floor to one you just cleaned.

6. If you're really out of time with lots left to do, just dim the lights! Soft light or candlelight is intimate and festive, and can redirect the focus to what really matters- time together with people you love.

MY strategy for this week?

* Deep clean the house on Monday (a.k.a. today) to give myself plenty of time through the rest of the week to focus on grocery shopping, decorations, and addressing any last minute glitches.

*Do shopping by Tuesday and NOT the day before or the day OF Thanksgiving (even though that's usually how I roll).

* Have tables, chairs, table cloths, decorations, candles, and centerpieces COMPLETELY in place the day BEFORE the event. (This would be Wednesday, in my case.) I have always left that for the "day of" as well, BUT it has always made for a really hectic day, and a host (ahem, me) in her bathrobe with no make up on and a semi-messy house when guests start arriving because she grossly underestimated the actual amount of time it would take to get everything ready. A "guide to entertaining" article in November's "House Beautiful" suggested getting everything ready the night before... and I said: "Aha! That makes complete sense." So, I'm going to give it a try and let you know how it works out... though I'm pretty sure I can already guess. (One word: awesome.)

*Because I will have deep cleaned on Monday, shopped on Tuesday, and set up on Wednesday, I will be all set to 1) Get completely ready, 2) speed clean (just a touch up) 3) cook!

I'm excited.
Let's hope it works.

pumpkin cake.

2010-11-22T09:12:00.000-08:00

While I know very (ahem, v.e.r.y.) little about cooking, I HAVE managed to collect a very few, very select, but v.e.r.y. good (okay, they're actually more along the lines of amazing, you know, if I'm being honest) recipes. Here is one that people flip over. Every time. It's cakey on bottom, gooey in the middle, crispy on the top, and most importantly... it's pumpkin-y! (I have a love affair with pumpkin that is nowhere within or even near the parameters of "normal" and/or "healthy.") And even better still, it's foolproof. I mean, EVEN I CAN MAKE IT! So here it is.

Pumpkin Cake

{Assemble each set separately then put together according to directions.}

Crust:

1 box yellow cake (set aside one cup for topping)

1/2 cup melted butter

1 egg

Filling:

3 cups pumpkin

2 eggs

1 1/2 cups sugar

1 tsp. salt

1 tsp. cinnamon

1 tsp. ginger

12 oz. can evaporated milk

Topping:

1 cup cake mix (reserved)

1/4 cup granulated sugar

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1/4 cup butter

3 tbsp. flour

Crust: Mix cake mix, melted butter, and 1 egg well. Pour and press into lightly greased cake pan. Filling: Mix pumpkin, 2 eggs, sugar, salt, spices, and evaporated milk. Pour over crust mix. Topping: Mix remaining ingredients until crumbly. Sprinkle over pumpkin mixture. Bake at 350 for 1 hour. Cool and serve with whipped topping.

Your friends and family will love it. Trust me.

{and let me know how you like it!}

Press

2010-11-20T11:45:00.000-08:00

Channel 2 Morning News - December 17th 2010

End of day ten.

2010-11-19T20:37:00.000-08:00

Today was uneventful...

Dressed? Check.
Scriptures? Check.
3 Powers of ten? Check. Check. Check.
Broken Window? Ooops.

I took off in the middle of the day and went and spent the night at my parent's place in Cedar Hills, so I never got around to the broken Window of the day. That's okay though... I left my hubs with a shiny sink, and a very messy basement (that he was hard at work finishing - yay!) and my kiddos had a BLAST with their aunts, uncles, and grandparents - so it was worth it.

This coming week, we're switching gears. I'm going to continue on with the little goal-foundation I have built for myself, but am not going to be adding any new goals. On a week where I am hosting a Thanksgiving Dinner in my home for 38 people...it seems like adding any additional expectations for myself would be along the lines of abusive...and nuts.

So, on Monday focus will shift to traditions, cookery, and my personal favorite, DECORATING - yay! (on a teensy tiny budget! Double yay!)

Stay Tuned.

End of day nine.

2010-11-18T20:42:00.000-08:00

I was such a slug today!
I'm not quite sure what happened.
I got off to a good enough start...

Dressed? Check.
(Even a shower, and a blow dry, and full make up thankyouverrrymuch.)

Scriptures? ...ooops, I'll read those before bed.

Then I even juiced FRESH juice in my (Jack Lalane) juicer. (Sorry scriptures, it was between you and a geriatric juice enthusiast's super sweet infomercial appliance...the latter won. Better luck next time.) Carrots, apples, beets, lemons, and oranges baby! We call it "Super Juice" in order to get Kort excited about it, and so far, it's working. He drank a solid 12 ounces of it before he left for school.

I pretty much felt like super MOM after that great start! Then, I sort of hit a wall. Baby bits didn't sleep well at all last night, therefore, neither did I. So, when Tentens went down for his late-morning nap, I decided to join him. I slept for about an hour and 15 before he woke up. I felt much better, but I also still felt totally lazy.

So, I read VERANDA, ate my weight in leftover mini candy bars from our Halloween haul, and watched "The Talk" (which I find to be eternally disappointing BTW/IMHO, but I seem to watch it every day anyway since nothing else is on...)

I tried to talk myself into doing something productive (on several occasions) but... meh.

By four o clock, I figured enough was enough! I was going to get motivated! ...Then I saw that Oprah was coming on, so I grabbed another handful of Butterfingers and Milky Way Minis, sat down on the couch, and watched the entire show while Kort painted wooden craft animal things at the (now clean) dining room table and occasionally yelled "Mo---m! They just said 'sexy' again!" (It was a makeover show...and he basically thinks that "sexy" is swear word because I do not, under ANY circumstances want my child using the word "sexy'" at school. EVER! I'm pretty sure I would die of embarrassment. Not that I haven't dealt with worse...)

After Oprah, I realized that the day was gone. I hadn't planned anything for dinner (shocker!) so I put Tennyson down for a nap and left him with dad while Kort and I went to the library. We picked up Burger King on the way home since that was the only dinner I was equipped to provide tonight.

I DID, however, manage to get a broken window repaired after dinner. The project I decided to tackle was the fridge. I set the timer for 15 minutes, and was totally able to get her done in that time frame. I am so, so happy with the results. Why don't I do this more often? Seriously.

Broken Window BEFORE:

Broken Window AFTER:

{I thought that hanging Kort's masterpiece featuring an Egyptian Spinx was an especially nice touch.It makes me smile every time I look at it.}

After that, I was on a roll! It's what I like to call "the Rally" - which basically includes a timer (power of ten) and the soundtrack from Mama Mia (yay ABBA!) turned up full blast while I run like a nutter all over the house singing "Lay all your love on meeeeeeeeeeee!" at the top of my lungs and put that hot mess back together again. Oh, how I love the rally. 20 minutes later, the dishes were done, my sink was shiny, and the house was tidy and vacuumed! The power of ten is the perfect tool for me because I always feel like I can spare ten minutes, and ten minutes always manages to kick my house's booty back into shape. Love. It.

Favorite parts of today?

1. The fact that I could just walk right out the door and go to the library on a five o clock whim BECAUSE I HAD GOTTEN READY THAT MORNING AT SIX!! {I'm pretty sure that getting dressed first thing is my most favorite goal...and I'm pretty sure that my neighbors, Kort's friends, and the UPS man are with me on this one.}

2. A clean fridge! The hubs has officially been threatened with his life. If he breaks my window...I break his nose. Okay, not so much. He loves the new look and says it made a huge difference in the kitchen and he won't be putting anything up there anymore. Marital crisis averted.

How was your today?

Is your sink shiny?

Did you get dressed?

Did you eat your weight in mini candy bars

and watch crap-t.v. all the live long day?

End of day eight.

2010-11-17T20:30:00.000-08:00

Up and dressed for the day? Check.
Hair and makeup? Hair-yes, Makeup-no.
Scriptures? Check.
Sink shiny? Check.
Broken Window repaired? Check (Dining Room Table - yikes!)

Monday was really hectic for me, so Family Home Evening didn't happen. I am hoping that from here on out, I will be "on it" every Monday (or let's be reasonable - MOST Mondays). But, in the event that I let a Monday slip by, I am not going to let that stop me from having such an important event at least once a week. That is why tonight (Wednesday) ended up being family night. It went so great! I took Julie's idea of having a lesson on prayer and then painting prayer rocks for our activity and it was a total hit! (Thanks Julie) I highly recommend it for anyone who's looking for a good one!

I found a great lesson plan on prayer here, the lesson title was "Are you saying or praying?" I thought that was cute. It also included a link to a GREAT story titled "The Lord Sent Me a Shepherd." I also found a fun "Prayer Rock" poem online. I changed it a little bit because I can't stand when things don't rhyme AND have a rhythmic syllable count, so here is my version:

I’m your little prayer rock and this is what I’ll do
Just put me on your pillow until the day is through.
At night, turn back the covers, and climb into your bed
And whack! Your little prayer rock will hit you on the head.
Then you will remember, now that the day is through,
To kneel and say your prayers as you’re supposed to do.
When your prayers are finished, just drop me on the floor.
And there I’ll stay all through the night to give you help once more.
When you get up next morning, Ouch! I’ll stub your toe,
So you can remember to pray before you go.
Put me back upon your pillow when your bed is made
And your little prayer rock will continue in your aid
Because your Heavenly Father cares and loves you so.
He wants you to remember to talk to him, you know.

Kort had an amazing time, and while taking his tub later that night he asked "Mom, can we having family home evening EVERY night?" That just melted me. I was so happy that he loved it. It sounds silly, but this really is very new to me and it is so fulfilling. There is a different feeling in our home and I feel like our relationships are deepening and growing stronger with every sit-down dinner and well-planned family activity we have. It's pretty amazing, and my heart is full. I love being a mom. Especially a mom who does "cool stuff" with her kids. (Yay!)

{After Kort painted his rock, he painted this picture of a Spinx - I loved it.}

End of day seven.

2010-11-16T21:37:00.000-08:00

How did I do?
Sink shiny? Check.
Dressed first thing in the morning? Check.
Read scriptures for 15 minutes first thing after getting dressed? Check.
Repair a broken window? Oooops, not so much.

Instead, I:
Wrote a Lola Letters Blog.
Read the Ensign.
Read a lot of House Beautiful.
Drank a big ol' cup of spiced pumpkin flavored hot chocolate.
Went to my friend Kristen's.
Ate Pizza, and hot chocolate chip cookies straight from the oven. mmmm...
Snuggled with not one, not two, and no, not even three... but FOUR beautiful babies.
And visited with a wonderful girl.
And guess what? We even decided to make home-made ADVENT calendars for this coming December! How very mommy and Martha of us, no? I will have to share our little crafty project with you when we're done. Kristen has amazing style when it comes to these sorts of things, so it's gonna be a doozy.

Anyway, I owe myself an extra broken-window-repair tomorrow.
Also, we are having family night on Wednesday night this week and I am going to use Julie Weber's idea of having a lesson on prayer and then painting prayer rocks. I have a sneaky suspicion that it's going to be a HIT with my seven year old - but I'll let you know for sure tomorrow. Please email or comment with more suggestions if you have them. Thanks also to Mary for sharing great tips as well! I will be using and reporting on them in the weeks to come!

How did YOU do?
Is your sink shiny?

End of day six.

2010-11-15T19:59:00.000-08:00

"Broken Window" BEFORE:

and "Broken Window" AFTER:

Kay, in my defense, my landing is ugly anyway (even clean) but at least when it's clean it looks like we just haven't gotten around to THAT part of our renovation...instead of looking like we are just slobs!

I am so excited to tackle one of these each day! I should also say that I committed a bit of a FlyLady no-no. She says that you will be tempted to just go nuts and start cleaning out closets like crazy, BUT YOU SHOULDN'T because then you will burn out. Well...

I sort of cleaned the entire landing, half of the coat closet, and all of my REALLY overstuffed dresser. But they weren't "Broken Windows" per se...they were just WAY overdue for a good cleaning. And I'm not burned out so much as I am ecstatic, so, crisis averted. HOWEVER, I fully intend to make up for the overdoing it today by UNDERdoing it tomorrow. I have a standing lunch date with a bestie who just had TRIPLETS! So, I will spend the better part of tomorrow eating pizza, visiting with one of my favorite people on earth, and loving on FOUR babies!

How did you do today?
Any Broken Windows repaired?
Is your sink shiny?

week two.

2010-11-14T20:25:00.000-08:00

Here we go!

Week TWO!

Are you ready?

I've listed the goals in the column on the left. The goal is to KEEP doing the goals from last week, and ADD new goals for this week. So here's the deal, we're gonna keep getting dressed every morning, keep cleaning...except I have found that I can get a substantial amount done in less time, so I'm changing my goal to 30 minutes of cleaning (3 power of ten sessions) instead of 60 minutes. And I'm going to keep my kitchen sink SHINY! It's shiny now, as I'm writing this, and I can't wait for it to rise up to greet me in the morning.

For the NEW week, we are going to be repairing broken windows (not REALLY broken windows... see the post below this one for further information) and starting rejuvenating rituals. I'm going to write and talk more about rituals as the week goes on, but for my ritual this week, I am going to make myself a yummy, comforting beverage, nestle into a chair with a down-feather throw, and read my scriptures for 15 minutes...and House Beautiful for 15 minutes! ha ha! Sorry, gotta have some House Beautiful in there... I love my life when I read the scriptures daily, and I just don't do it nearly enough. So that is the goal.

Also, I am adding a new WEEKLY goal of planning GREAT family home evenings for my family (more on that later as well.). This where I could use a ton of help. I would love to hear suggestions of FUN and EASY activities and lessons any of you have used that have been a success! Email me at ldugovic@yahoo.com or jut leave it in the comments. I will try some of them, and then let everyone know how they work out!

I'm also going to try:

not getting a sore throat

not allowing my kid to eat his weight in Doritos before breakfast

and

not yelling at my husband/angry vacuuming

...we'll see how that goes.

Wish me luck!

What are your goals this week?

Is your sink shiny?

broken windows.

2010-11-14T10:47:00.000-08:00

It needs to be said that while I am actually terribly inconsistent (and consistently terrible) when it comes to housework and cookery of any kind, I l.o.v.e. reading about it. I guess I erroneously believed that if I learned enough about it, I would somehow be motivated and skilled enough to execute it. Not so. (Too bad.) I guess I'm going to have to resort to practical application and lots of dedicated practice huh?

One of my most favorite housekeeping books on the planet comes from Cheryl Mendelson and is called "Home Comforts: The Art and Science of Keeping House." I love this book. In fact, several years ago, when I first ran across this book at the local library, I nearly read it cover to cover (quite a feat when you take into account the fact that her book is roughly 800 pages in length.) I was riveted. (Strange, I know.) I renewed the book three times straight, then, when I could not get any additional renewals, I returned it, waited one day, then went and checked it out again and renewed it three times straight again. The hubs caught on and bought me a copy of my very own, and we have been blissfully happy together (my book and I...and the hubs too...) ever since.

I. love. that. book.

In it, (my BFF) Cheryl explains the Broken Window Theory. She says:

"Modern police successes are allegedly built on a sociological principal called the "broken-window theory." This theory says that any sign of social or physical neglect in a neighborhood causes people to who are disposed to antisocial conduct to feel more inclined to commit various crimes and misdemeanors. If there is one broken window and it isn't fixed, this suggests to malefactors that no one cares and no one is in charge- that therefore it is safe to write graffiti on the walls, litter, and break other windows. This in turn suggests to more determined wrongdoers that they could get away with mugging and burglary. The first broken window, if not tended to, leads eventually to total social deterioration. Thus, by making sure that graffiti, broken windows, and "quality of life" crimes are immediately stopped or tended to, police have drastically reduced the serious crime rates in many big cities. At least this is the claim, and there is good evidence that it is true. It sounds like common sense to most people.

The broken-window theory certainly applies to every individual home, and the reason why it does is clear. When people are cooperating in maintaining a household, the domestic equivalent of an unrepaired broken-window can result in a chain reaction that eventually sees the home in complete chaos."

Cheryl gives an example of how this works:

"In the hallway between our son's bedroom and our own stands a chair that serves various minor functions. One rushed morning I made the mistake of throwing my bathrobe and newspaper on it as I passed by. That evening, the chair held not only the bathrobe and newspaper but also my husband's dry-cleaning, a plastic replica of the Millennium Falcon, along with Luke Skywalker, a tube of antiseptic ointment, a copy of PC Magazine, and five Tinkertoys. (I remember because I recited the entire list to my smirking husband.) Yet this chair had stood entirely empty for the preceding six months."

This makes so much sense to me! As I read this section, my mind instantly made a list of all of the broken windows in our home.

The list goes something like:
Dining Room Table
Corner of the hallway by Kort's room
Baker's rack
Writing dest
Top of the fridge
(Yes, I just said "Top of the fridge"
- the hubs's favorite spot to put all sorts of crap.)

and the worst one of all:
the ledge of our split entry way.

I mean, it makes perfect sense to stash a bunch of clutter (dog leashes, mail, sunglasses, keys, dishes to be returned to neighbors and even more often to Kyle's mom who makes my most favorite soup on the planet... and sends over all sorts of other delicious things on a regular basis...etc.) right out in the open and in the very first part of our home that anyone sees, right? I mean, who wouldn't want people who come to the front door to see a whole mess of crap right off the bat? I know, right? Who's with me? Yeah, it drives me sort of nuts. Biggest broken window ever.

So, goal numero uno this week?
Repair (and maintain!) one broken window a day.

I will set a timer and take ONLY 15 minutes (and 15 minutes only) to do this each day. Then, I will maintain the un-brokenness of the now unbroken windows from here on out so as to not raise a household of window-breaking, graffiti-spraying, mugging, burglarizing deviants.

Where are your broken windows?
Are you going to repair them this week? (Say yes. Yay us!)

P.s. I think that the FlyLady is a stinkin' genius. To have the very first baby step be "Shine your sink and keep it shiny"? g.e.n.i.u.s. When the sink gets bogged down with dishes, it throws a wrench into all of my other housekeeping practices. In fact, I usually do the dishes at night and start the dishwasher. Then the hubs has a late-night milkshake, and leaves his cup in the sink, and then my window is "broken" right at the start of a new day. (And then I have to yell at the hubs and say "Quit breaking my windows!" Which sounds all sorts of weird.) What a smarty pants that FlyLady is! A smart little smarty pants indeed.

End of day five.

2010-11-14T08:17:00.000-08:00

I woke up really sick!
I was going to help one of my good friends with a party later that night, so I went into denial mode, assuring myself that I would feel better by that evening...and got in the shower...and blow-dried my hair...and got dressed...and then crashed into bed feeling like I was pretty much going to die.

So, I DID get dressed (which, technically, I wouldn't have expected myself to do since I wasn't feeling well, but hey, denial can be a powerful motivator...) I did NOT, however, do any cleaning. (That would have just been neurotically nuts and such.)

I spent the entire day in bed.
The trusty hubs even took care of babybits, only bringing him in when he needed to nurse every few hours. (I am so lucky. I won the husband lottery for sure.) I was SO SICK. Totally floored me. No fun.

Okay, I'll admit that I DID keep my sink shiny though...
Couldn't help it.
I'm an addict I tell ya.
Love me a shiny sink.

This wasn't my ideal way to end out the first week, but all in all, I have to say, I am amazed at the changes in me AND in my household in just 5 short days! I cannot believe the difference it makes in my life when I just get up and get going every morning. Wow.

By the middle of the week, I was so enthusiastic about my progress that I wanted to add more and more and more goals that would help me be more and more and mo' better...but I KNOW that baby steps is the way to go. No burn out for me. Slow and steady wins the race. Slow and steady... (Yes, I have to keep telling myself that...again and again and again and again.)

We're going to take it easy for the weekend, then back to business bright and early on Monday! Can't wait to see you and find out how you're doing!

End of day four.

2010-11-11T21:27:00.000-08:00

How did I do?

Um...

Did I get ready first thing?

Nope.

Did I get ready eventually?

Yep.

Did I get "all the way" ready?

Nope. The makeup didn't happen, but I did comb my hair and get dressed "head to shoes."

(In my defense, I got no sleep last night and woke up nauseous and exhausted with a sore throat to top all off.)

Was I pleasant and lovely to be around?

Not so much.

Did I let my 7 year old (who came in and woke me up at 5:30 a.m.) take an entire bag of Nacho Cheese Doritos into his room and eat as many as he wanted as long as he promised to leave me alone and let me sleep while the baby sleeps?

Why, yes. Yes I did.

When the hubs made the grave mistake of questioning the parental wisdom of that decision, (the one which I am now calling Dorito-Gate-two-thousand-and-ten) did I scream something along the lines of :

"I'd like to see YOU get 3 to 6 hours of broken up sleep for 3 stinkin' months straight and then wake up with a sore throat and feeling like you're going to throw up and NOT choose to 'pick your battles' with your seven year old at five freaking thirty a.m.!" ?

Um, yeah. That would be me. (I'm not proud of it.)

Then, before the hubs could say a word, did I flip the switch on the vacuum cleaner and angry-vacuum the entire house?

Sure did.

Let's just say it was a rough day, but it got better. (Poor hubs! It must be terrifying to live in crazyville round the clock.)

For those of you who are worried, we made up right after the angry vacuuming. He was sorry for being insensitive, I was sorry for being nuttier than a squirrel turd, and we were over it.

On a completely different note:

My sink is very shiny! The Fly Lady was right... It DID feel like a big, warm hug first thing in the morning. (AFTER DoritoGate2010, that is.) It is such a small simple step, but it sets off such a fantastic chain reaction. (Like Jen said in the comments - Clean sink, clean counter, clean floors.... it just goes on and on like the most delightful little puddle ripple you've ever encountered!) It's like crack. Crack AND magic! Now, I want it shiny all. the. time. I don't let any dishes stay in there and mess it up. Not when it has the potential to look so darn pretty all the time! I even like it. Every time I wipe it out, I like it. I even smile, and then I spritz it with bleach when I'm done because I love the smell of bleach, and it feels sorta like I'm treating my sink to a luxury spritz of something from a Nordstrom cosmetics counter...

Moving on... (I'm not going to pretend that that didn't get a little weird there at the end.)

Now I'm going to sleep.

Pray for me.

Pray for sleep.

(I don't mean to be greedy or anything, but more than 4 hours would be nice... I'm just puttin' it out there.)

Love this take...

2010-11-10T21:56:00.000-08:00

on the power of ten.

Stephanie wrote in and offered this awesome suggestion to turn "picking up" into a fun game for the kiddos. She said:

"One thing I do with my kids when their room is out of control is give them fun tasks like "Pick up 5 things that are red" or "Pick up 7 things that have sleeves" or "2 things with ears" etc. (I don't necessarily look at their stuff to come up with these tasks, I just randomly pull them outta my head) It gets it done, and they have fun doing it."

Love it.

style tip.

2010-11-10T21:14:00.000-08:00

A lot of women still worry about whether or not it's okay to wear white after Labor Day. Being that it makes me crazy to be told what to do, well...ever, I really liked Miss Kate's take on "Wearing white after Labor Day."

She says:

"Wearing white is a personal preference, and you needn't be bound by long-standing traditions. If white is basic to your wardrobe, then by all means wear it year-round. The trick is to tweak it so that it looks natural to each season. In early fall, try an ivory-and-blue seersucker blazer with a scarf. It's the perfect follow up to the pure white of summer."

Being that I am "winter white's" biggest fan, I'm always happy to hear a style-guru give advise that says it's alright for winter white to come out of the closet. (um...so to speak).

Go shine your sink!

2010-11-10T21:01:00.000-08:00

Some of you have written emails mentioning the Fly Lady, so I had to go check her out. And I have to say, I really LOVED the first "baby step" she suggests for turning over a new leaf with homemaking. She says to:

GO SHINE YOUR SINK!

"After you do this; you will keep it shiny by drying it out after each time you use it and making sure when you go to bed that it is shining so it will make you smile in the morning. This is how I get to hug you each day! That shiny sink is a reflection of the love that you have for yourself."

I loved this baby step because it tapped into one of the hugest problems I have when it comes to maintaining a clean home. When my kitchen sink is shiny and clean, (which, ahem, it almost NEVER is) everything else feels under control. When I let the sink get backed up, and both sides are full of dirty dishes, then we put stuff on the counter, then we leave it on the table, then, when I look at the mountain of mess, I feel completely overwhelmed...so I just walk away and leave it for another day. (Yes, I know how gross that must sound to expert homemakers.) Then, when I FINALLY bite the bullet. It takes a solid hour (and TWO loads in the dishwasher) to get it cleared away... and it makes me really sad and such.

I love this new suggestion so much, that I've decided to implement it immediately. Starting now. So, three goals: up and dressed, clean for a total of sixty minutes (maybe using the power of ten even?), and shine my sink (and keep it shiny!).

End of day three.

2010-11-10T20:46:00.000-08:00

How did we do?

This morning went so much better!

Up at 7:00 (Oooo, I sure like me some 7:00)

Kort got up at 7:00 too.

We turned on some reruns of America's Funniest Videos, snuggled in my bed, and Kort asked if Tennyson could watch too. This is what happened next.

It was sort of awesome. AND with Kort babysitting his little bro, I was dressed and ready with make up and hair done by 7:20. I made breakfast(eggs), cleaned up the kitchen, and got Kort out the door. My back has been k.i.l.l.i.n.g. lately, so a the hubs took me out for the day. Chiropractor, Costco, and even a little Olive Garden (woo-hoo!). I haven't seen the light of day for weeks! (And let's be honest... I didn't really see the light of day today either - it was overcast, and FREEZING! Boo, Utah...)

When we got home, I put away the haul from Costco, helped Kort clean his room, and even managed to start dinner by 4:00. (Chicken drumsticks that I pan fry and then leave in the oven to slow bake for 2 hours, and asparagus - sauteed right before we eat.) One thing I loved about starting dinner at 4:00, was that it enabled me to clean up after myself and have a clean kitchen to start with at 6:00 when it was actually time to get dinner on the table. This is why crock pots are also awesome, and why I need about 30 more crock pot recipes that actually taste good! (Right now I have about four.)

My favorite parts of today?

1. Not having to take my make up and do it in the car, because, when it came time to head out, I WAS ALREADY READY!

2. Listening to my delicious 7 year old and a hilarious neighbor boy rake and jump into piles of leaves in our backyard. This doesn't directly have anything to do with my goals... but I sure love being his mom. (Wait, maybe that has EVERYTHING to do with my goals - huh?)

3. Coming home from a day of running errands to find a reasonably clean home waiting for me. (Oh, and there was also the little 30 minute cat nap I squeezed in before Kort got home from school. I sort of loved that too.)

How did you do?

Power of 10

2010-11-09T22:43:00.000-08:00

One of my biggest pitfalls when it comes to cleaning is getting distracted scouring one project to the hilt, while the rest of the house is in shambles. I think the ideal way to approach housework is to maintain a certain level of cleanliness and organization throughout. Once the most important chores are done (beds made, dishes washed, floors swept) THEN (and only then) branch out and really get into the nitty gritty work. (Clean out a closet, deep clean an area, start a long-term project, etc.)

I have such a hard time sticking with this though! I will be cleaning the kitchen, find something that needs to go in my bedroom, take it to my bedroom, notice that the closet is a mess, and the next thing I know, I've pulled my whole closet apart. Then, I get tired of that and realize that I haven't eaten for several hours. So I go into the kitchen to make some lunch and realize that I haven't finished cleaning it! So, I finish cleaning it...then Kort gets home from school...I make him a snack...sit down and do homework...start dinner...clean the kitchen again... nurse Tennyson...get Kort in his jammies and into bed...bathe Tennyson...play with Tennyson...nurse Tennyson and put him to bed...go into my room exhausted and ready to fall on my face... and find closet vomit covering the bed and floor! Boo.

I was trying to think of how I could AVOID this scenario in the future. Then I remembered something my mom always did when we were kids.

It's called Power of Ten.

Here's how it works:

1. Set the kitchen timer for 10 minutes and focus on completing one full (compact) cleaning project within that ten minutes. When the timer beeps, reset it and start on another project. (Sometimes I even do 5 minute increments for even smaller tasks that need to get done.)

2. Give each of your children a bag or basket and have everyone pick up and put away ten items. This is a great exercise to do at the end of each day to restore the house to its original state. It's also fun to set a 10 minute timer and play upbeat music (Kort favors him some Black Eyed Peas "I Gotta Feelin'" as of late) while you work.

What time-saving clean up tricks do you use to keep you on track?

style tip.

2010-11-09T22:38:00.000-08:00

I had a happy stumbling upon a great book at my local library a few weeks ago. It is simply called "Style" by Kate Spade. The whole book is a yummy little treat, and I really like her definition of style. We have so many voices telling us what we should wear, and what we should like, and who we should aspire to be... I found Kate's take on style to be, well, refreshing. I thought that since this week's goal is to get dressed every day, it might be fun to share some of Kate's takes on Style.

Kate says:

DRESS BY YOUR OWN RULES.
STYLE IS NOT ABOUT THE RULES.

"When you are defining your own style, it's so important not to be nervous. Part of style is confidence - you need to own your sense of style and be relaxed. If you've already pulled off a simple, clean look, then you can add just one great piece: shoes or a brooch. Find something you're drawn to, something you can't stop thinking about. Enjoy it. Play. I'm a big proponent of owning pieces that you cannot wait to wear. You want to find something that speaks to you in a totally personal way."

End of day two.

2010-11-09T20:28:00.000-08:00

Today got off to a rough start. Tennyson woke up at 5:00 a.m. instead of 6:00 a.m. Um, five a.m. is sort of a deal breaker for me, so when I got him back to sleep at 6:00, I went back to bed too and slept until almost 8:00. By then, Tennyson needed to eat again and Kort needed to get out the door to school. I got up, resisted the (really powerful) urge to throw on my bathrobe, and got dressed. (bebe sweatsuit) Got Kort off to school, got the breakfast dishes rinsed, got Tennyson down for his morning nap, and was finally able to take 5 minutes and do my make-up.

The discovery? It is so. much. harder. to get up and ready for the day if I don’t do it right off. Life really has a tendency to get in the way. I was tired and moody. So then, while tidying up the dining room, a craft drawer jammed, so naturally, I reached in, pushed down the gift bags that were jamming it, and started pushing the drawer closed. It was really stuck…so I pushed harder. Then it suddenly gave way and I CRUSHED my hand in the drawer. C.r.u.s.h.e.d. I tell you, crushed!

Then, Tennyson woke up hungry, so I picked him up and started nursing him. I tried to turn on the t.v. so I could watch a morning news show while I nursed, and the TV box had reset and it was all messed up. Then Tennyson filled his pants. And it turned out to be a total blowout. And poop got all over my clothes. (SO glad I’d made the effort to get dressed.)

I looked at the hubs and smiled (A really creepy fake smile). Then, in the sweetest voice I could muster (so as not to scare the baby) I said “Eff today!” (I’m not proud of it.)

But worry not. I rallied.

My most favorite parts of today?

1. Getting all of the laundry done and put away. (I usually let clean laundry piles sit all over my living room for a minimum of 3 days before I get around to putting it all away. Not today! I had it folded, hung, and put away in everyone’s closets within an hour. Yay!

2. I made a goal to have Tennyson start sleeping in his crib (instead of his swing) on a regular basis and I stuck to it! (Even though his naps are shorter and I get less time to myself because he’s not used to it yet and wakes up sooner.) I’m proud of myself for putting “the big picture” and what’s best for my little man ahead of my current desire to have extra “me” time. I usually give up and go for short term gains, but today, I didn’t. And it feels good.

3. Taking a late afternoon nap and waking up to find that the hubs had fed Kort and gotten him into the tub (best hubs ever!) and ALSO that my house was clean! I only did ONE 15 minute power clean session (because all the rest of my time went to laundry) and it still made a huge impact! Clean kitchen and vacuumed floors? I’ll take it!

How did you do? Did you hit your goals?

Inspiration.

2010-11-09T09:04:00.000-08:00

Here's a little inspiration that I read whenever I just don't feel like housewifing....

I found what I thought to be a pretty hilarious homemaking book at D.I. It's from the 1960s, and some of it cracks me right up, but a lot of it is really well put. Here's a little snippet.

"Of course it is normal for every homemaker to have bad days when little is accomplished. At times she might be completely discouraged and depressed with her role in life. It is the purpose of this book {or this blog - yay!} to help you with those bad days and feelings of exasperation so that they will become infrequent and fleeting.

Let's begin by defining an ideal homemaker. An ideal is something for which we strive. It is our standard of perfection and excellence. An ideal, or goal, is like the North Star which guides the mariners at sea. Although they never reach the North Star, it keeps them charting their course in the right direction. We can't be ideal homemakers in every way at all times, but we do need a goal to be our North Star and to help us along in the right direction."

And later, she goes on to say:

"An ideal homemaker is ambitious and enthusiastic through application of the law that how one feels emotionally greatly determines how she feels physically."

and

"An ideal homemaker is devoted to the great career in which she is engaged. She is a professional in her field by being a homemaker every day and letting her devotion and sense of duty, rather than her moods, dominate her."

~Daryl V. Hoole

The Art of Homemaking~

I really love that last part. Because ideally, I don't want to have my life run by my moods. I "don't feel like it" way more often than I do, but that doesn't have to stand in the way of my desire to have a clean and happy home. I find that when I push past my feelings of laziness and go to work despite "not feeling like it," I shift into a better mood and pick up momentum in no time.

I have had SUCH a hilariously bad start this morning (more on that later tonight) that I needed a little motivation to keep going.

Oh, and if you need a little pick me up on the "getting ready every morning" aspect, Daryl Hoole also says: "BEAUTY IS A DUTY."

So do it!

Ha ha!

The best inspiration for me? Remembering who I am working for. They are SO worth it.

and another thing...

2010-11-08T17:54:00.000-08:00

I fed my kid some expired eggnog today.

awesome.

Can anyone guess what one of my 15 minute projects is going to be tomorrow?
What's that?
Clean out my fridge you say!?
Now why would I go and do a thing like that?

End of day one.

2010-11-08T17:36:00.000-08:00

How did we do?

Tennyson got up bright and early at 6:00 am. I nursed him (which is only taking 10 minutes now because he is such a fast eater. Yay!) and immediately got dressed. (wide-leg jeans, navy/white striped shirt, long gray sweater, red earrings, and pointy red flats...which I am actually only wearing out of the house... if I even leave the house. While home, I wear comfy shoes.)

I pulled my hair into a messy bun with bangs and "fringe" framing my face. Then I put make up on. This took 10 minutes total (hair and make up.) Then Tennyson and I talked and giggled and had a diaper change, and then he pooped in his brand new diaper, so we had another diaper change, tidied up the bedroom, and finally ventured out into the kitchen.

Since Kort wasn't up distracting me yet (he is sooo cute... and soooo high maintenance), I managed to unload the entire dishwasher, wash the dishes that were left in the sink from last night, and clear off the dining room table in 15 minutes - all before 7:00! (Wow!) Kestral made a great comment saying that "An object in motion stays in motion" and BOY is that applicable here... I had SUCH a Brady Bunch/Leave it to Beaver Morning!

So get this: Kort bursts in on the scene right at 7:00. (Thank you Daylight Savings Time). We usually wake him up to get ready for school at 7:30, so he had half an hour to kill. The first thing he said was: "Wow mom, you look pretty!" (Ha ha! Told you it was a rare occurrence around here!) Since he was up early, he asked if he could play with the Perler Beads we were playing with on Sunday night. I said sure. Then I wiped the kitchen clean while he worked on a new little project and even ironed it together before we had to start breakfast. My home just felt so happy and most importantly c.a.l.m! I loved it.

Once Kort was off to school, I set my timer for 15 minutes to do the second quarter of my cleaning goal. (Baby steps, right?) I was shocked at how much I got done on this set!

Here is the rundown:
Cleared dining room table
Rinsed/loaded breakfast dishes
vacuumed:
Living Room
Hallway
Tennyson's Room
Kort's Room
Master Bedroom

Then, Tennyson had the worst morning ever! He is usually so, so happy, but he was tired and fussy, and basically inconsolable. I'm wondering if his little bottom teeth aren't getting ready to make an appearance. (Kort's cut through right at 4 months, so with Tentens coming up on three...this may be the case.) Anyway, it was so sad! I spent the next hour and a half trying to sooth him to sleep, so we just snuggled and took it easy. Finally, around noon, he crashed. Since I only got about 5 hours of sleep last night, I went to sleep too! I slept until 1:30 and woke up feeling so great!

When Kort got home from school, he invited a friend over and it was so nice not to have to dash into my room to put something decent on! The boys played with Perler Beads (which I would iron together as they finished each project.)

The hubs got home at 5:00 and we made tacos in the kitchen together. I love him. Man, do I love him.

Another 15 minutes cleaning up after dinner, and my kitchen looks great! (That takes me up to 45 of my 60 minutes) I think what I love the most about doing these 15 minute increments is that it reminds me of how possible this is. It would be discouraging if my kitchen took an hour to clean... but 15 minutes? Hey! I've got 15 minutes. (Barely, but I've got it.)

For my last 15 minutes, I wiped down our main bathroom. I didn't totally scour or do the floors, but the mirror and sink are shiny and the toilet is totally clean.

The hubs is playing checkers with Kort to finish off our family night, and Tentens is sleeping in his swing. I'm going to go get my boys in bed, post communal global, and watch some t.v. with the hubs to wind down the night.

How did your day go!?

Did you try jewelry? Getting dressed?

Did you have a cleaning goal?

How did you do on your goal variations?

What did you find most rewarding?

My 2 most favorite things about today?

1. Not having to dash into my room to get dressed when Kort's friend came to play.
2. Tidying up and vacuuming my bedroom! I usually put ALL other house cleaning chores ahead of my bedroom (yes, even though Oprah, Nate, Martha, and every self-helper on the planet say not to!) because those sections of the house are seen by others. I can't believe how many times I smiled when walking into my bedroom today. It was like a happy little present, just for me.

Clarifications.

2010-11-08T15:11:00.000-08:00

Clarifications:

*Wow, I seem to have struck a liiiitle bit of a nerve right out the gate with this one! ha ha! So let me clarify.

1. When I say "dressed to the nines" I am talking about the kind of dressed to the nines that takes 20 minutes total. Here is my philosophy: It is just as easy to pull on cute jeans or a skirt as it is to pull on sweatpants. It takes the same amount of time and effort, but the "end results" are vastly different. I'm certainly not suggesting that I (or anyone else) should spend an hour each morning getting insanely gussied up - that would sort of defeat the purpose since my ULTIMATE goal is to be a more effective homemaker and time manager.

2. Jewelry is the BEST cheat on the planet! It takes like, two whole seconds to put on, and it makes you look totally put together. Like many moms with small children, I am going to have to fore go the earrings once Tennyson starts getting grabby, but a great necklace can go a long way and (as long as it's sturdy) can even be a great toy/distraction for the baybuh. Its cheap, easy to do, and really fun.

3. I don't base my self worth on my appearance, and I don't want anyone else to base their self worth on appearance, and the purpose of this blog is not to get anyone else to do so. That being said, on this journey to better, more organized living, I have found a very effective trigger point for myself. That trigger point is getting dressed everyday. The days I get up and get dressed, I take the world by storm. The days that I stay in my bathrobe, I find, at the end of said day, that the laundry is still piled high, the sink is full of dishes, and my son's homework didn't get completed (and he's already in bed for the night). It seems that a (comfy, luscious) bathrobe may very well be the ONLY thing standing between me and domestic bliss okay!?

4. I've decided to treat motherhood like the job that it is. This means treating it with respect, showing up on time, and coming ready to do the work. Am I going to have days where I stay in pajamas and do pretty much nothing? Probably. But those days should be the exception, not the rule. As one 1960s homemaking maven once said "If you LOOK THE PART, you'll feel like DOING THE PART." This just makes sense to me. It may not be for everyone, but for me, this part is necessary.

5. Sweatpants are so much better than a bathrobe. You can go out and get your mail in sweatpants. You can answer the door (without making anyone uncomfortable) in sweatpants. On days when I know I want to clean my house's guts out, sweatpants will be the clothing of choice. So don't get defensive just yet. I'm not waging war on our beloved sweat pants... (promise) I'm just trying to root out the biggest contributors to my slovenly lifestyle and turn them around! Dressing nicely each day is a great way to start.

6. I don't beat myself up about not being "that" girl. I'm sure she has her own issues to deal with, and Celeste and Jessie - you said it perfectly - to compare ourselves to others is just demoralizing and utterly counter-productive. What I intended to express with that example, is this: She is proof positive that it can be done. If a mom of 4 kids under five can do it - so can I! That's really inspiring for me. And on days when I don't, that's okay too. Thanks for the feedback so I could hear how that post was coming off. We all have to be the best "US" and not the best replication of what we think someone else is.

7. I never want this blog to make someone feel like their efforts as a mom and wife aren't good enough. I am so excited that so many of you are EXCITED about improving and making better lives for yourselves. At the same time, it's important that we are always supportive of one another as women and mothers. I will definitely be keeping it real and sharing the BAD with the good as I go along - I'd encourage all of you to do the same. We're not doing anyone any favors by acting like we're perfect and hiding the things we struggle with. It just makes women with problems (a.k.a EVERYONE) feel isolated. That's never going to be the goal or intention of this project. Thanks you to all of you who made comments that keep it real too! I think there should be a whole post called "Sweatpants confessions." Ha ha!

And finally...

THANK YOU - to everyone who is participating! It's really great to get feedback about how different women feel about different areas of homemaking. Most of all, it's just good to know that I'm not the only one who wants to do better and be better everyday!

week one: mommy style

2010-11-08T00:01:00.000-08:00

You know "that girl"?

The one who shows up to the 8:00 a.m. PTA meeting in a cardigan and pearls, looking like a million bucks while the rest of the moms are fresh from the shower, wet hair and all, sporting their favorite, over-sized Disneyland sweatshirt?

You know, that girl. The one who also never says no to anything, whether it's last minute babysitting, making dinner for a neighbor who just had surgery, or agreeing to head up teacher appreciation week?

And the one who has double (okay, and in my case triple) the number of kids you do, but is always on time and pulled together when you are not? The one who looks amazing, whether it's 7:00 a.m. or 10:00 p.m.? The one whose house is spotless and always has amazing smells coming from the kitchen (because she's making 200 cupcakes for the Children's Hospital Bake Sale, no doubt).

You know, HER?

I sort of want to hate her.

But I can't.

More than I want to hate her,

I sort of want to BE her.

Seriously.

We tend to vilify girls like her, but do we just do that because we know that "being her" is way more work than "being jealous and resentful of her?" (Answer: Probably.) Even though my human nature-y self wants to make fun of her and call her a Stepford Wifey, and even though I'd really like to think that she is just really, really fake, and really, really convincing... part of me knows the truth.

And the truth is.

SHE ACTUALLY "GETS" IT.

She knows what it truly means to be a woman and a mother.

She is dedicated to being an effective, organized nurturer and homemaker.

And I DON'T "get" it...

But I want to.

And I'm thinking that there must (simply must!) be something to the whole, "Not staying in my bathrobe and thrashed house slippers all the live-long day" way of life. Maybe if I wasn't in my bathrobe... I would take out the trash...and tidy up my front yard, and not feel like an idiot when someone knocks on my door...and maybe I would even go get groceries so we could have a decent dinner later that night...and mayhaps (if I got really productive) I would return the library books, and not be late for every appointment under the sun!

(Hey, it could happen!)

That is why I have selected:

1. Fully dressed (like, to the nines baby!) first thing in the morning, and 2. 60 minutes of cleaning each day as the goals for Week ONE!

I will give regular updates and tidbits of inspiration that I find along the way, every day this week. Stay tuned!

QUESTION:

Do you get up and get dressed every morning?

If not EVERY morning, how often (as in, how many days a week) do you get ready first thing?

Just wondering how "out there" I am compared to the rest of the mommy world.

I get dressed for the day about once every 10 days... and that's only when I have somewhere to go. (Oh wow, my poor husband...)

What about you?

*JUST SO YOU KNOW: I am pretty sure that Jackie O wasn't an expert homemaker... I suspect she left all that to the nannies, the cooks, and housekeepers, and such. But MAN could the woman dress! Whew! I think everyone should take a page (or thirty) from the Jackie book of style. The world would be a much prettier place.

about.

2010-11-04T19:41:00.000-07:00

Growing up, I never really paid attention. I didn't watch how my mom operated in the kitchen (nor, did I offer to be of assistance..thoughtful lil' miss that I was...). I didn't cook family meals. I cleaned, but not well, and only so I could get my allowance and buy two dollars worth of swedish fish and other scrumptious penny candies at the local drug store every Saturday morning. My days were spent dancing, acting, studying, playing, reading, and bossing around any unsuspecting little friend I could pin down for an afternoon. The whole "domestic" thing never really appealed to me.

My attempts at painting and knitting crafts were sad, and the end results were pretty much unrecognizable. I even gave my 4-H sewing instructor a complete meltdown when, for the first time in her 10 years as a teacher, she could not (for. the. life. of. her.) teach one of her students (ahem, me) to sew a square bag.

My college years were spent studying my brains out and dating a whole slew of guys (all of whom I feel very sorry for, in retrospect ;). I insisted, in no uncertain terms, that I was not going to be "some demure, subservient housewife who waited on him hand and foot!" In my (humble) opinion, I had brains, and talents, and p.l.e.n.t.y. to offer the world at large, and I was not going to waste "all that" by resigning myself to a life stuck at home vacuuming in a skirt and wiping snot-noses. (Yeah, I was a real peach back then.)

Enter the hubs. I fell. Hard. Gosh I loved him. I tried to hold on to my previous notions, but, if I'm being honest, I just wanted to take care of him. I wanted to cook for him, keep a beautiful home for him, give him foot rubs when he got home from work and talk about his day... (Okay, I got a little carried away there at the end, but you get the idea.)

Maybe it was because he was so respectful, and doting, and kind. Maybe it was because he was so low-maintenance that it made me feel like making him happy was actually an attainable goal. Whatever the reason, I wanted to be his wife. And everything else seemed secondary.

We were married on April 20, 2001 and moved into a tiny, one-bedroom apartment in a 100 year olf home in Provo. My early attempts at home-cooked meals ended in disaster, with nasty food on the table, and a sweet hubs choking it down with a smile. Then there were the times when it was altogether inedible and the hubs had to make a 9:00 p.m. Taco Bell run so we didn't go to bed hungry. Oh, and let's not forget all those nights when I got home late from work and didn't bother making anything at all.

After several failed, miserable attempts at some semblance of domesticity, I conceded. I was no cook, and that was that. We started eating out full time.

Enter a new baby. Kort turned our lives upside down. (In the best way possible.) Suddenly, the girl who scoffed at scrap-booking and all things crafty, (ahem, me again) had filled 6 HUGE scrapbooks with baby pictures before the little guy had even turned one. Becoming a mother sparked something in me that had been dormant all my life. Creativity. The next several years were filled with projects, diapers, and a home that ran like a well-oiled machine. Life was bliss. Then...

Enter Infertility. When Kort was 18 months old, we started talking baby number two. Then we started trying for baby number two. Three months into "trying for two" I got the sinking feeling that something was very wrong. As it turns out, I was right.

Enter years of devastating disappointment. Yeah, it was that bad. I managed to function pretty well up until Kort was about four... then, the hopelessness of it all set in (and BOY did it set in). Part of me wanted to pick myself up, dust myself off, and move on... but I couldn't. Part of me wanted to re-dedicate myself to being the best wife and mom the world had ever seen, but after a few successful days, I just fell back into blog-stalking all the live long day with an occasional nod to housework of any kind.

It's a funny (and completely flawed) outlook, but I started feeling like dinner wasn't worth making - if it was just for the three of us. The house didn't get very dirty - because it was just the three of us. It was impossible to talk myself into a cleaning routine because our lifestyle didn't call for it, but without a routine, the household fell apart. I found myself in a tricky middle area where I was a mother, but it didn't warrant a full time job.

Enter Pregnancy! That's right. 7 years after the birth of our first son, we welcomed a second. He has been the greatest, most spectacular, and completely unexpected joy since we gave birth to Kort. Life is so good. My desire to be a great mom and homemaker is back, and...

I have no idea what I'm doing!

I read and execute recipes incorrectly, I set my kitchen on fire (at least once every six months), I forget to do laundry until we have nothing to wear, I literally live in my bathrobe (which gets a little bit awkward when my cute, "pulled together" neighbors drop by), I'm not gonna lie - I'm a mess! This lifestyle worked okay when I was the mother of an independent 7 year old and the wife of the most easy-going man on the planet, but this is NOT going to work now that my baby-maker is up and running. I want a whole pile of babies, but I've got to figure out how to care for them first!

There are so many blogs out there that are written by brilliant women who are cooks and crafters and homemakers extraordinaire... this is not one of them.

But maybe someday, it will be.

the goal.

2010-11-03T20:45:00.000-07:00

The goal is simple.

A little less THIS:

And a little more THIS:

why?

2010-11-03T08:35:00.000-07:00

I believe that motherhood is the most important, sacred, and meaningful calling I will ever have in my life. I don't take this lightly. I believe that children deserve to grow up in clean, organized, and safe environments where they are free to learn and grow without fear of not being accepted for who they truly are. I believe that it is my job, as a mother, to make sure that my children have all the support they need to become the best people they can be. This includes, but is not limited to: having 3 nutritious meals provided for them every day, having a mother (or father) who will remember to sit down at the table with them (every. single. evening) and help them with their homework, sign it off, and make sure that it gets back to school with them the next morning, having clean clothes to wear, clean beds to sleep in, and two parents who are reasonably sane.

The problem is, I don't know how to hold it all together.

I try, but one (okay several) of the balls always seem to get dropped.
That's why I thought that slowly working into a lifestyle, (week by week, goal by goal) might be the answer.

I can't be the kind of mom I need to be if the dining room table is covered with laptops, mail, notes, dishes, and the like. I can't be the kind of mom I want to be if I don't learn how to plan simple, healthy meals and cook them every night. (This one is so, SO hard for me). I can't be the mom I want to be if I don't learn how to make a habit of getting up, getting dressed, and getting down to the business of every day life.

So THAT is the point of this blog. And it is awesomely helpful to know that I can be accountable to someone (a.k.a YOU) throughout this process (via this blog) to help me stay on track. Hopefully some of you will help me by sharing your knowledge. (Easy recipes and cleaning tips please!!!) Hopefully some of you (who are as clueless as I am) can learn and grow with me as we go along. (YOU could do my weekly goals with me ya know. Kinda like a workout buddy...only better! And you can update your progress in the comments section or even on your own blog and you can share the link in the comments section!)

The point is: My boys mean everything to me and I want to give everything to them.
Baby steps will get me there...at least I hope they will.