Guess.

Go ahead, guess how much I paid for all these goodies at Cub last week~ I dare you! I bought 8 boxes of Frosted Mini Wheats, two packages of Keebler cookies, one box of Pizza Rolls and one Cantaloupe.........So go ahead, take a guess!

A Better Mom.

Lately I've been thinking a lot about my role as a mom. As I think about what kind of mom I thought I'd be, what kind of mom I want to be and what kind of mom I actually am, I feel like I'm failing. The three are just not meshing and I am feeling a real need to buckle down and do a better job. So my goal for the month of October is to make some changes in that area of my life. (you have to know by now that I have to have goals, right?!)

They say it takes 21 days to form a new habit so I figure if I take the whole month to make a few changes they ought to be second nature by the start of the new year. Since I don't want to set myself up to fail nor do I want to feel overwhelmed, I am only going to make a few changes right now. Once I have those changes mastered I'll move onto other areas~ because holy cow, there are definitely a lot areas to cover!

So, to start myself on this exciting new journey (it's exciting to me anyway!) I have decided to actually make my kids breakfast in the morning. For some reason I have always thought I needed to be ready by 8:30 right along with all three of them.....talk about chaotic mornings and undue pressure! Sadly, in all that choas, a quality breakfast time has been all but forgotten. Don't get me wrong, the kids eat and they eat decently. But I'd like them to actually enjoy what they're eating. And trust me; they don't enjoy cereal. So I have decided to make breakfast a priority in our house by actually making my kids breakfast instead of just cereal. Won't they be surprised!

Another change I hope to make will be to just spend more time talking with them instead of continually parenting them. They know the basics. They know the rules. They know what's expected of them behavior wise in school, in public and at home. It's up to them to follow those rules and expectations. My continual nagging isn't doing any of us any good. So, I am making a promise to myself and the kids to spend more time just talking and less time mothering. Overall, they are great great kids with fabulous personalities and fun interests and I feel like I am missing out on truly getting to know them because I'm so worried about being their mom.

My last change for the month is to relax. (Oh shoot! Did you just spit your coffee clear across the room at that one?! Sorry. I'll help you clean it up.) Yes, this will be a tougher one for me to conquer because, well, you know me, relaxed I am not! But if I can commit and stick to baking once a week, I can learn to relax a little too. The hard part about this goal will be zeroing in on areas where I need to relax. (be quiet Marty!) But I figure if I can purpose to be more relaxed in general, then it will all fall into place eventually. Our schedule isn't set in stone. So what if we eat dessert before dinner? And who cares if Meghan is up till 9:45 instead of 9:30........life will go on and we'll all probably be a little happier in the process.

So, wish me luck on my journey.......I know there will be days I fall off the wagon, but I have the best of intentions. But what I need to tell myself is that every improvement, every change, no matter how small it may seem, is better than no improvement at all.

Good Day.

It's always a good day when the newest Ensign arrives in the mail!

What To Do?

Do I go back to work? Do I go back to school? If I go back to work; where do I go? If I go back to school what do I go back for? Somehow I doubt Marty will be too keen on law school. Besides I'll be 50 by the time I graduate and take the bar.......a little too old to be billing hundred hour work weeks if you ask me! Plus instead of leaving my kids an monetary inheritance, I'll be leaving them a debted inheritance. I couldn't do that to them. That would just be too cruel. So the original questions remain.....

What do I go back to school for? Or do I simply go back to work? I wish I knew.

What's Changed?

I've been thinking about my post about having more time during my day in spite of having a 17 month old in the house. I'm wondering if it's a conglomerate of things like Meghan and Noah being old enough to do a chore or two on a daily basis. I mean when you think about it that sure cuts my daily work by a good 20 minutes each day.

But then maybe it's because we're line drying our clothes more? My time spent ironing each week has decreased by hours. (yes, hours!) Or it could also be that now after the kids have gone to bed (at least Noah and Addison anyway) I race through and get things done instead of vegging on the couch watching Frasier for the 80th time. (I have found I can get my to do list done in 20 minutes or less if I wait till they're in bed instead of starting and stopping 10 times during the day and still not finishing.)

And let's not forget all the decluttering and reorganzing Marty and I have been doing. If everything has a home and actually kept in it's said home we're not tripping over it nor are we wasting time throughout the day searching for lost items. (When you think about it, we must have really unloaded a lot of junk if we were able to turn our under the stairs storage space into a craft room for me!)

Then there's all our easy meals. My crockpot and my bread machine have become my new best friends these days. Ten minutes of prep time in the morning while the kids eat breakfast saves me a good solid 30 minutes later on.

So, I guess when you break it down like that, those 20 or 30 minutes here and there really add up during the day leaving me with a good couple of hours to enjoy a good book and a fresh cup of coffee! Or better yet......blogging!

Ruts.

The bad part about being a stay at home mom for twelve years is you tend to get in ruts. I do laundry at 1:00 in the afternoon because that's how I've always done it. Not 1:05, not 1:45. 1:00! Or I have to do my grocery shopping on Friday because that's how I've always done it. Never mind that we ran out of food on Tuesday, grocery day isn't till Friday~ suck it up and enjoy some cabinet crumbs!

Anyway, it struck me yesterday when I decided to give a very cranky Addison a bath at 2:30 in the afternoon that I am in a rut. I'm rigid in my schedule and I'm in a rut. How did I know I was in a rut? Because I never give kids baths in the afternoon!

So I decided I was going to do just one thing differently today. What was I going to do? I had no clue! It's grocery shopping day you know! I couldn't miss getting groceries. My afternoon coffee time is at 1:30 and I can't miss that.....But I promised myself that I was going to mix things up a bit and see how I felt.

Well, here it is.....at 10:30 this morning I had a wild and crazy hairbrained idea to bike to the library instead of doing chores. Addie was getting ready for her midmorning snack, I had a book to pick up and I thought the extra 15 minutes of exercise would be good for me. At first I thought this was such a great idea! I mean Addie was eating her snack, we were getting fresh air, I was getting some extra cardio in and we were being productive. Ha!

By the time we got to the library, I had grasshopper guts stuck to my lips because apparently grasshoppers stick really well to lipgloss! And I mean really well! My hair was matted down because I was so sweaty from this wonderful extra cardio workout I was getting. AND it had a wasp stuck to it. (Yes, I am totally serious here!) Addison was full of grass clippings from I don't know where. AND I was dripping sweat so badly my mascara was running. Did I mention that I obviously had a hairbrained idea??

We managed to cool off a bit in the library. And I even managed to get the grasshopper guts off my lips. And I even managed to get the wasp out of my hair. But only after Addie kept saying "oh oh" and pointing to it 25 times. Just as I was thinking to myself maybe this wasn't so bad afterall......

We had to bike home. Addie was not happy to be sharing her Burley with my library book. I got a grasshopper stuck between my toes. I was dying of thirst. Sweat was running down my back making me feel worse than I did when I had grasshopper guts stuck to my lips. Addie was not happy to be sharing the bike path with the remaining grasshoppers or the frogs. And to top it all off.....

We biked right into a huge flock of Blackbirds. And I mean huge. There must've been at least a hundred of them. All I could think as I was reciting Edgar Allan Poe's 'The Raven' and hoping that none of them would swoop down on us was.....

Maybe ruts are a good thing afterall!

Now it has to be said that the outfit I was wearing was really what made the whole ordeal. I had on big hoop earrings, flip flops, white crops, a fun black tee and a trendy denim jacket along with freshly applied lipgloss and a fresh stick of peppermint gum! What a moron.

Time.

For some reason I am finding myself with a lot of unexpected free time these days. Well let me clarify this statement a little..... by lots of unexpected free time I mean I'm not feeling behind on housework. I used to feel days behind on my chores. I used to feel like I could never sit down. Especially during nap time.

But these days I'm feeling on top of everything so when Addie takes her nap (and I use that word loosely!) I feel like I can actually take that time for myself to work out, read or blog instead of scrambling to get laundry done and the floors mopped.

What I'm wondering is how? And why? You would think that having a toddler in the house would keep me busy beyond words. Especially when that toddler is Addie!

But then maybe that's just it. Maybe having Addison around has forced me to be more on top of things than ever before on the homefront. Maybe having Addie around has made me re-work my daily schedule to the point of being ultra efficient.

And we thought she was just here for us to say "Oh Addie!" as we rip her away from the chandelier for the thirtieth time that day!

Pondering.

I've been doing a lot of pondering the past couple of days. The Brigham Young quote that I posted really got me thinking. Wouldn't it be great if our days actually worked out like he suggested? Just imagine what you could do with eight hours of free time! Personally I wouldn't know where to begin! Do I work out? Do I scrapbook? Do I make a pot of coffee? Do I hit the mall? I could spend my eight hours just trying to decide on what to do.

Anyway, his quote got me thinking. So out of curiosity I broke down my day to see just how much time of my time is spent doing what and do you know what I discovered?

I discovered I "work" from 7:00am to 1:00pm and then from 2:30pm to 9:00pm. That's a 13 hour work day! No wonder I'm always exhausted! I'm speechless. A typical office work day is only 9 hours. So when you think about it, I'm working 4 hours of overtime five days a week. Or an extra 25 hours a week. Sheesh!

Well, that sure puts things into perspective! I think I need to talk to my boss about a raise!

Picture A Day.

I have to toot my own horn here and say I think I've done a pretty good job of posting a picture a day on the trusty blog! It took me a while to get into a groove, but I think I've found it. I know they aren't always the most fun pictures, but that's the beauty of it. The idea is to capture our life on a day to day basis no matter how mundane.

Apples!

I have the greatest friends in the world! This morning Paula brought over this huge bag of apples from their apple tree. She said she hoped I'd be able to make a batch or two of applesauce with them. I about cried! Not only because I was so excited to make more applesauce, but because of her thoughtfullness. Paula is truly one of a kind and I am so glad we're friends!

Judging by the size of the bag and the size of the apples, I should be able to make a double batch of applesauce and an apple pie. Yum!

Favorite Find.

This was today's great garage sale find. I have to tell you, I was beyond thrilled to get this little guy and here's why.......Way back after Christmas I had seen "Eddison" on clearance at Target. It was on clearance for $9.98. Not horrible by any means, but more than I was willing to spend for some reason. So after much hemming and hawwing in the toy aisle, I put him back.

Over the next couple of months I had thought about Eddie and wishing like heck I had bought him. So, ever the shopper, I started shopping for another one. And wouldn't you know he was nowhere to be found! Grrr....

Until.......

Last week when I was garage saling. There was a garage sale in our neighborhood that I decided to check out. Low and behold there sat Eddison! To say that I was excited would be an understatement. I was thrilled! I even had a fleeting thought that this was better than winning the lottery. But, I thought her prices were too steep as far as garage sale prices go. So, poor Eddison was left yet again.

Until.........

Today. When that same lady was having her same garage sale again! And wouldn't you know way down deep in a jumbled mess of a box, sat Eddison. Long story short? I finally bought Eddie at a price I was happy with......a whopping $2.00!

Homemade Granola.

Meghan and I love granola. Especially if it's in some Vanilla yogurt. I started making it a few years ago, but it's one of those things where you forget just how easy it is to make so I never make it! So yesterday in my attempt to stay busy so I wouldn't think about Meghan being back at school and start crying, I decided to whip a batch up. So glad I did!

Homemade Granola
3 cups old-fashioned rolled oats (not instant)
3/4 cup sliced or slivered almonds
1/2 tablespoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons butter, melted
1/2 cup maple syrup
1 cup dried fruits (optional)

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Either butter or line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
In a large bowl combine the rolled oats, nuts, cinnamon and salt.

In a small bowl, stir together the melted butter and maple syrup. Pour over the dry ingredients and toss together, making sure all the dry ingredients are coated with the liquid.

Spread onto prepared baking sheet and bake for about 30 - 45 minutes or until golden brown, stirring occasionally so the mixture browns evenly. Place on a wire rack to cool. Making sure to break up any large clumps of granola while granola is still warm.

Once the granola has completely cooled, store in an airtight container or plastic bag in the refrigerator. Makes 5 cups.

Yep. It's Passing.

Yep. I'm pretty sure my midlife crisis is passing! I totally got excited over a lifetime supply of baby wipes at Sam's Club today! I've been craving a Carmel Macchiato from Starbucks the past couple of days. And I even dismissed the thoughts I was having about making my own facial cleansers. whew! I'm still really liking our homemade laundry soap though, so I will be sticking with that for a while. Actually it's more like I'm determined to stick with it just to see how long it takes us to go through that vat! I'll keep you posted on our progress.......

Marshmallow Popcorn II.

All right, we tried the whole marshmallow popcorn deal tonight. Here's what everyone thought.

Noah: Hated it. He thought it was gross. But then he lives on pb&j, so....that isn't saying a whole lot.
Addison: Loved it. Couldn't get enough of it! But then this is Addie.....what doesn't she love?!
Meghan: Thought it was a bit sweet. Although she's not much for sweets....she's more into sour.
Marty: Loved it. Especially with chopped nuts mixed in. I always have thought he was a bit nutty!
Me: Loved it but thought corn candy mixed in would be really good. But then I really like sweet things......

So there you have it. Try it for yourself and see what you think! Then let us know!

Some Things.

Alright, so after a couple weeks of using my homemade baby wipes I have decided that there are just some things you're better off buying at Target! Maybe my midlife crisis is coming to an end?!

Garage Sales.

Gotta love garage sales! I paid a whopping .50 cents for this!

Bonfire.

We had a great night at the DeLongs roasting hotdogs, making smores and grilling corn on the cob. Good food, great company and beautiful weather. We couldn't have asked for a better evening!

Midlife Crisis?

Yep, I think it's official. I think I'm going through a midlife crisis. Between wanting to grind my own wheat flour, making my own baby wipes and now homemade laundry detergent.....

Somebody save me from myself, please!!!! Pretty soon I'll be knitting dresses for me and the girls out of dryer lint!