2011 Smack-down!

I really wish that meant that I was taking it to the new year and really getting things off to a great start.  But...sadly...not so much.

I started getting a bit sick on December 30, was mostly okay on New Year's Eve, stayed out too late that night and was stricken down on New Year's Day.  I spent three days in bed - just a cold, I'm sure - but dizzy and miserable.  I'm still not 100% but I'm on the mend.

The frustrating thing is that I had such good intentions for the new year!  Work on resolutions (or plans, at least), make lists, start off fresh, and most imporantly - exercise.  But I couldn't do any of that.  I couldn't even think straight, let alone get to the rest of that.

So, it's now January 7 and I have no resolutions.  No plan.  And no exercise yet this year (other than one ill-advised hockey game that I should have slept through).  Which makes me feel like 2011 really has it out for me.  I can't remember a year ever starting off so poorly.

But, moving on, let's just stop being overdramatic and realize it was just a cold.  No one has it out for me.  I'm just a week late on getting into the 2011 game.  But I need to get to it this weekend and be ready to go by Monday at the latest!  Moving on....

New post!

Yes, I am mortified by my lack of blog posts.  Again with the perfectionism - I feel like I must have something significant to say, or it shouldn't be posted out in the world for all to see.   Not like many are reading, but still...

I need to get myself together and work on some resolutions or goals for this year.  I have so very many in my head, but I need to compile them all into a list.  Not because I can't make changes without a list, but seeing the list from time to time will do me some good.  And let me assess whether or not I'm making any progress.

But getting the list together isn't a lot of fun.  "Hey, let's look at all the things I'm currently failing at and write them down!  That sounds like a good time!"  Not.  But we do not make progress without assessing where we want to go.  So, off I go...

Onward ho!

Um....where did summer go??  Clearly I have been remiss in my blogging!

We all had a good summer - a couple of vacations, lots of work, house remodeling, etc.  Nothing thrilling to report, I guess.

The kids went off to school a couple of weeks ago.  I had a hard time with it!  I wasn't ready to let Megan go out into the "big world" of public school.  Preschool is so small that it's easy to be confident that they're on top of things there.  But with 400 kids in a big school, it seems like things could easily slip into the cracks.  Kids could get lost - either figuratively or literally!

But Megan was ready for kindergarten.  Excited to ride the bus (another source of stress for me) and excited to begin a new chapter in her life!

(I really hate posting unedited pictures, but I haven't done a blog post in so long that I can't have another excuse for not updating!)

Allison started preschool.  I'm not really ready to admit that my baby is growing up, but she was more than ready to go.  She had been to the school every day for the past 2 years to drop Megan off, so she didn't hesitate at all when given her turn.  "Bye, Mom!" - without any worries.

We're remodeling our kitchen at home.  It's in the "tear apart" phase, which means that it looks worse and worse every day.  Today the tile floor is coming out.  And the remaining cabinets (and oven and dishwasher) will be removed today or tomorrow.  I would say "fast food, here we come!", but we've been eating so much fast food that we're actually planning to eat LESS now that we have no kitchen.  Ha-ha.  At least we went grocery shopping yesterday, so we'll be good for a few days.

And, while kids are leaving and the kitchen is absent, life goes on.  We're working on establishing back-to-school routines so we can all feel safe and settled, even at such an unsettled time.  The routines are helping me with work, as well - knowing that I pick up the kids at a certain time makes me work harder during the day so I can enjoy my evenings with my babies.  It may not be peaceful, but we get to experience it all together!

Limitations

I read a blurb the other day that basically said this:

"What would you do if you knew you couldn't fail?"

Interesting.  I think we tend to limit ourselves to what we think we can do.  Or think won't be too much trouble.  Or probably won't embarrass ourselves with.

But what if we knew we could succeed at whatever we put our minds to?  And who's to say we can't??  I guess I need to think harder about what I want to accomplish.  I definitely put my plans in a certain sized box and don't let them grow any bigger.  I need to get out of that mindset.  And DREAM!

Experiment in progress

Wow - it has been a month already??  Oops...

So, the experiment is underway.  I think it's going well.  It could be better, but at least it's going.

What is it, you ask?  Well, I started thinking how ridiculous it is to buy toilet paper for the express purpose of getting rid of it.  We used cloth diapers and wipes on both kids.  Why on earth couldn't we use the same principles to do away with toilet paper (somewhat)?

So, first rule in my house - cloth wipes are for urine only.  There is to be no poop anywhere near them.  Yes, we used cloth wipes on poopy diapers, but I'm just done with it.  I'm fine with just using LESS toilet paper, not trying to get rid of it entirely.

There are web sites where you can buy "family wipes" for this purpose, but they're simple to make.  As a starting point for my experiement, I actually just cut up some old t-shirts that were going to become rags (not threadbare and actually very thick for t-shirts).  Because of the size/shape of the shirt, I ended up with wipes in the 6"x6" range.  After using them for a while, I would prefer something more like 8"x8", I think.  When/if I make more, they'll be larger.

I read others' experiences and they recommended a mesh bag to hold used wipes.  The air helps them dry out and NOT smell (really!).  I had a mesh bag, which is not the size/shape I would like to use.  But I didn't want my perfectionism to keep me from getting started, so I went for it.  If I keep it up (likely), I'll buy another bag - top opening and a little larger.

So, really, I like it for the most part.  The wipes are softer than toilet paper with no linty residue (I hate that!).  We have had two episodes of dropping wipes in the toilet which had to be fished out.  But only two.  Not bad.

I'm still working out the kinks, but so far haven't had issue with smells at all.  Washing is easy (I do them with the towels on higher heat, just to be more sanitary).  I recommend it!

Of course, we still keep toilet paper on hand for messier situations.  So we do not expect our guests to use our wipes or anything.  It's just an option, and used mostly by myself.

Now if I could just figure out how/where to compost, I think that will be my next project.  Getting greener takes some research but isn't really so difficult!

Shades of Green

With Earth Day this week, it seems an appropriate time for this sort of thing.  Although it was not especially Earth Day-inspired.  Just happens to be about the same time.

I have been rethinking our habits.  Our consumable items.  Our trash.  The whole she-bang.

The thing is that it's such an unruly can of fish - once you get into one area, another pops up that needs to be addressed.  (Can of fish???)

I don't even remember where I got started.  It may have been when I purchased toilet paper the other day.  I don't know about anyone else, but what else do we buy for the sole purpose of throwing it away??  What a ridiculous thing to spend money on.  Constantly.  (We have 3 girls in our house, and I work from home, so we use quite a bit.)

And then what about paper napkins or paper towels?  Why don't we composte our food waste?  Shouldn't I be buying more organic food?  Or at least food with ingredients we can pronounce?  And if I'm worried about what goes in our bodies, what about what goes on our bodies - shampoo, soap, etc. - it's all full of chemicals!  And then what about cleaning - more chemicals in the house, releasing fumes whenever I use them.  (Ah - a pitch to support my lack of cleaning!)  It's so hard to know exactly what items to change and the best way to change them.

So I'm trying to get a plan.  Or several plans.  Or some sort of baby steps to get to a better place.

I started researching my cosmetics, soap, etc.  I was surprised to find that on a rating scale of 0 (best) to 10 (worst), my cosmetics, soap, lotion, and lip balm (necessities) are all ranked 2-3.  My hair spray, which I love, is unfortunately ranked a 5 (as is my shampoo, but I'm not as attached to it).  But it's much better than I would have feared.  And leaves some room for improvement.

I have one experiment just getting started.  I don't think I'll share it until I have some sort of report.  That way the whole world (or my 3 blog readers) won't know if it fails miserably.  Or maybe they will - if that is the report I choose to give.

So, there it is.  Earth Day.  Trying to make improvements.  And hoping it won't hurt too much...

Finally...some P365...

I went through 2 months of pictures today (which included my Disney vacation, so it took some time) to pick my Picture Of The Day for each date.  So hard to choose from hundreds of vacation photos!

AND I managed to scrap one page.  Now this is from Week 2 of the year.  Sad, but true.  But now that I have chosen my photos, it should be easier to scrap them when I have a few minutes.  At least that's what I'm telling myself right now.

So, without further ado...



Credits:  Template - VW_BlockIt365, Alpha - Dream Big Designs Charity kit, Paper - Flergs Casual Attraction Kit, Drop Shadow Style - Jenn Barrette

I know - it took almost 3 months to get that done???  I'll improve.  I promise.