Tuesday, January 25, 2011

First Day of School in Bullet Form (completely random order)

  • Today I became a college student... again.
  • ...after 10+ years of being a mommy and wife.
  • I was early. This hardly ever, ever, ever happens. I am normally fashionably unfashionably late... even weekly things that we do every week... happenings that are at the SAME time every week... late. that's me.
  • I've had quite a bit of anxiety about starting back to school because
    1. I feel like I have the brain of a 3rd grader... it feels like mush
    2. I'm starting back with a class that should be taken shortly after Math 4...
    3. I took Math 4 10-12 years ago.
  • Did I mention I was early?
  • Being 34... I totally thought I was gonna be the oldest person in the class. I'm not. There was a much older man in there.
  • The handicapped stall in the women's bathroom has a mirror directly across from the toilet. I do. not. need to see myself while on the toilet. Ever.
  • I had to park WAY far away but I was still early. I enjoyed the walk.
  • The teacher - or is it professor - was 10 minutes late. But that's ok because he's funny.
  • He moved the start time of the class to 8:10, not 8. He said if we're there at 8:10, we're not late, but on time. If we arrive at 8:11, we're 11 minutes late. Logical, yes?
  • We went over the syllabus - kinda.
  • He told us we didn't need our books (that I paid over a hundo for).
  • I only need 399 points to pass the class with a C, but I think I'm going to aim a little higher this time around. maybe.
  • He had us get into lil groups and discuss a very important question that had everything to do with Math 5.
  • Two people were in the wrong class and had to walk out as we all watched them. One guy was in the wrong building entirely. I'm glad that wasn't me.
  • I had a little piece of all of my family with me. Brooklyn's backpack from last year. I used one of my Honey's pencils with the Carpenter info on it. I had Brenna's binder and folder. The binder and folder had Emma's beautiful artwork all over the inside. Having the reminders of my family mad me smile.
  • The teach let us out at 8:50.
  • The class wasn't scheduled to be out until 9:50.
  • I didn't hear anyone complain.
Ok, so back to the topic questions. Here is the first one;
"If you had the opportunity to be truly happy for 365 days, BUT it's erased from your mind on Day 366, would you still want to have that experience?"

Topic two was more of a "Would you" scenario...
"I have $20,000 to offer you, BUT you cannot bathe, brush your teeth or wear deodorant for 3 months... would you do it?"

What are your thoughts on the two scenarios. I will do another post in a couple of days with the way I answered and some of the different answers others in the class gave.

  • I'm looking forward to rockin' this class!

Friday, January 14, 2011

Day 3 - Tupperware Cabinet

So this my Day 3, although I skipped a couple on the calendar! It's my prerogative, right? Actually, on the real day 3, I was run down and sore from the surgery... something about doing too much and not taking it easy to give myself time to heal. And then Day 4 was my birthday.... 'nough said!

So Day 3 is the Tupperware cabinet. Well, we don't have one. We have a Tupperware drawer that sits in the bottom of our pantry. The Hubs and I tend to get really stressed and aggravated if we have a ton of plastic tubs laying a round so we recently switched to a new type and just use that kind. No more sour cream or butter containers and lids floating all over.

However, you can see from this beaut that the drawer had been pulled out and had accumulated some items that *do not* belong in a Tupperware drawer... like the last two pieces of a loaf of bread. And then there's a can of beets.
I took the whole drawer out, cleaned it and organized what little we had and put it back in the drawer. All of that took about 3 minutes.
Then when I went to put it back... *SIGH*.... the sight of the pantry floor overwhelmed me. I couldn't just put my nicely organized Tupperware drawer among all of that chaos! There was all of the crap that gets tossed in without looking to make sure lands in the right spot.
So, I swept it all out to the middle of the floor.

*gag* *GROSS*

I called the Hubs in to take a look at the area that he was supposedly supposed to be keeping up on and got a shameful look in return. He helped to throw out all the trash and I fixed the rest of it so I could put the Tupperware drawer in.

And in, it is! You can also see the pantry floor now.
*shaking head*rolling eyes*shrugging*huffing and puffing*

I know that the Pantry is coming up, but it's definitely going to have to wait for another day! Here's a pic so you can see what I have in store for me.

I said "DON"T JUDGE"!!!



Tuesday, January 11, 2011

Day 2 - The Desk

The Desk... dun dun DUN!
So here's my crappy little desk.
Complete with paper galore and an unfinished candy cane!

I'm actually really unhappy with my computer desk and the fact that it's in the *dining room*. gaw! One of these days I'll figure where a good place is for this whole contraption, but in the meantime it definitely needs the attention!

While I was at it, I decided to do the dining room table. (another catch-all spot)

So... viola! It's done.


And so is the dining room table! I just have to figure out which table cloth we're gonna go with and it'll be complete!



Monday, January 10, 2011

21 Day Challenge - Day 1 - Junk Drawer

So I've decided that for the next 21 days, I'm going to take part in a cleaning/organizing challenge. Everyone else is on day 9, I think, but I'm on Day 1. (I'm gonna blame this on the surgery)! =o) If you want to learn more about it, it originates from a great blog; a bowl full of lemons.

So here it is, Day 1 - the Junk Drawer
I didn't really feel like it was outrageously nasty, but it definitely needed some cleaning!


The first step is to empty it out and clean it. It took all of 2 mins to do that part.

Then I just put the lil Dollar Store baskets back in there and started putting the items back that I've actually used within the last couple of months.
Going through all the junk that I didn't realize was actually in there is what took the longest. Empty gum packets, broken stuff, kids school supplies (that actually belonged somewhere completely different).

You're supposed to put things in keep, giveaway, throwaway/garbage boxes but I didn't actually find anything that I would find worthy of donating or giving away. I'm sure that box will come in handy in the next 20 days, though.

So here it is, my nicer and cleaner junk drawer. I still don't think it looks super organized, but it'd definitely more clean without all that other stuff in there.

From start to finish, it took me 24 minutes!
If you want to read more about the challenge, you can click on the following button!!


Thursday, January 6, 2011

To Know Her is To Love Her

Every once in a while, the mundane, never-ending processes of my day are broken up with a little surprise for mommy! I was uploading and editing pictures from the last couple of weeks and came across an unexpected batch - courtesy of our middle child! I hope they make you smile, too!

To know, know, know her,


Is to love, love, love her,


Just to see her smile,

Makes my life worthwhile,

To know, know, know her,


Is to love, love, love her

And I do,

Yes I do

Ooo-ooo-ooo

Wednesday, January 5, 2011

I forgot

I completely forgot how relaxing reading my favorite blogs could be.

I forgot that I had two blogs of my own.

I keep forgetting that it's important for me to keep on top of these. Not because I'm so sure that people *need* to read what I have to say, but because I *need* to make sure I'm taking time for myself. Even if I'm just rambling to myself and not making much sense, this is still ten or fifteen minutes out of the day that I'm focusing on myself and my own thoughts.

I'm not changing diapers, or fixing breakfast, or wiping noses, or crocheting, or cleaning the kitchen, the bathroom, the front room, or folding laundry, or getting snacks, or doing any other thing in my mundane list of chores that should be getting done everyday.

So basically, I'm taking a small step to *not forget* myself this year. It sounds like such a small, easy thing, but I know a lot of mommies probably struggle with the same problem.

Reading blogs and blogging myself isn't necessarily going to make the difference between my sanity and insanity, however it's just one small slice of the "Me" pie!

Some other things that I like to do that help to relieve some of the mommy/daycare/wifey/housemaid stress kinks are to:
  • get pedicures - I also love include a little sister time and go with my sister when possible
  • go shopping sans kids - whether it's grocery, clothing or retail therapy, it's nice to get out without the hassle that three children can create
  • go to a movie - I have to say that I have no shame in leaving the Hubs with the kids and taking in a move *by myself*. It doesn't happen often, but if things are really piling up on me, this is a good alternative to going postal!
  • create something *not* for the business - I know this doesn't sound like much of a break, but actually creating something for my kids or just something new that isn't being created out of necessity can be quite relaxing and rewarding.
Looking at my list I can see that it wouldn't hurt to find a few more "me" activities! Maybe even adding the exercise in there (gah)... What do you do for yourself to make sure that you're not a crazy momma?!