Things that need attention.

There are so many things I want to get done, that I generally just get overwhelmed, and then don't start. So I thought maybe if I started a list of the projects that I want to work on and complete, I could start hacking away at it.

 

This is my craft-tastrophy.  I like to make bows and dresses for my girls and the like. It's very extremely frustrating though, for obvious reasons.                                                                                       

   This is my storage. Uhm... so... yeah...                                                                                           

      My children are between rooms, so that should probably be worked on.

At the moment, those are probably the most pressing issues that need attention in my world. Well, and then there's menu planning, kids schedules, budgeting.. there are just too many, my brain is getting foggy. I must. stay. focused.  Wouldn't it be the greatest if there were like a book that you could write down things you need to do and stay organized and on top of things?.. If only there were some kind of thing like that, a note book used to plan...

I found list of things you can do in a monthly basis to get your food storage up and running. I don't remember where I found it or I would link it. I've tweaked it to fit what our family actually uses. August is 100 qts of fruits or vegetables per person and 24 pints of jams or jellies, and school and pet supplies. So this weekend I'm planning to can peaches. I'm not even sure how many I'll make. I want to do at least 40 but that won't even put a dent in the 600 number. I am thinking I'll do Apple sauce and pie filling, does that count? Sure it does!
I want to do tomatoes too. The garden was kind of a bust this year. I'm not sure what I did wrong, the tomatoes never showed up. So if I do them, I'll have to buy them. What other vegetables could I preserve? Any suggestions of things that work well?



                                                                       

Wonderment and inspiration.

 Hello, peasant.

 Yes, Hello.

 I have this stick!

 I can fold my tongue.

 Get out of here!

 That is simply wonderful!

 I can sing with my eyes shut.

 You are a wonder!

The tenatious sunflower.

Hey Kim! Wuzzup? I changed the name cause it seemed like a good thing to do. I want to always be righteous, so I followed my heart.
This is Oliver's sunflower. Can you say, "oh my WORD?" He planted it from a seed in his kindergarten class in, I'm gonna say, May? Anyways, he brought it home and it sat on our windowsill for a month and then we put it out by the back of the house for Moony to enjoy. It wilted. It died. For real. It was gone. Then out of no where, I noticed this large glorious weed. I almost pulled it, but didn't because I take a lot of pride in the weeds around my house. It is Oliver's sunflower come back from the dead! Resurrected! It is, not kidding, only a few inched short of our roof now. I'll post another picture when we have a beautiful flower on it. Oh yeah, and that is a sprig of some kind of tree that I didn't plant  over there on the left. Ah, nature!

Dairy free

I have been doing some research on being healthier and trying to listen to my body lately, and I am almost certain that I am lactose intollerant, again. (When I was younger I had problems but I figured it had gotten better.) A couple weeks ago I got thinking about why I had been having so many stomach problems and I decides to do an experiment and stop dairy consumption. awell within a week I started feeling tons better. Plus with the research i have found, getting rid of dairy can assist with weight loss as well as acne, (which I has been tormenting me for almost a year now since I got off birth control.)

So I am officially going off dairy. Today is officially day one, and so far I think my biggest challenge is not going to be ice cream, but cottage cheese and yogurt. I love it, and you are always being told how good the two are for you so it is going to be hard to give it up without a fight. I am actually going to take it a step further once I get adjusted to dairy free. I have looking into the paleo diet, and I really love the idea behind it, eating only whole foods and those foods that we would have eaten in the paleolithic time period. I am definitely not one to give up meat, I love it too much, but giving up dairy and grains, I think I can do that. From my findings, the average person lost 10 lbs a month, and feel a ton better with loads of energy. I think I am going to start that in a few weeks, (one so I can adjust my diet to whole foods and dairy free, and two because we are going to Disneyland, and who am i kidding, I will be on vacation.)

I am really excited about it, and I have high hopes that with this new lifestyle, (I hate "diets", and I dont want to just do this for a couple months and then go back to my old ways) as well as working out, I can meet my goal by August. That gives me just under 5 months. I better get my butt into gear.

The Deliberate Mother

I decided for Easter this year, (and Christmas as well) that I wanted to be more Christ centered, to focus on the purpose we celebrate these holidays. So on Palm Sunday (we dont actually observe Palm Sunday, but I wanted to focus on the whole week leading up to the resurrection), I gathered D and the kids and I read from the scriptures what Jesus did on that day before his resurrection. We have continued it so far the rest of the week, and although it is a simple thing and only a few verses that we are reading, I feel closer to Jesus and the spirit.

I believe as a part of this extra spirit in our home, I have noticed...I guess that is the right word... that I am not being the mother I know I can be. I have been thinking a lot about the time that I spend with the kids and what I have been doing with them, and...I am not sure how to say this with out it making it sound like I am putting myself down, because I am not, but...I am not putting my full effort in.

And I really dont want to put blame on anyone or anything, but I do know that a reason for this laziness is because of the internet. Take for example Pinterest. Although it is awesome and can give you so many ideas that you never would have though about, and I do think I may continue to use it if I am looking for anything in particular, I think it has made people more lazy. We sit on the computer or on our phone for hours just pinning all these wonderful ideas that we will "someday do". How many of us have pinned stuff and then just dreamed about it, never actually putting it into action? Not only that, I tried to remember the days before Pinterest, before the internet even. What did we do, what did our parents and teachers do when they had to think of something for us to do, or a solution to a problem? We had to use our CREATIVITY. I know I have it in there somewhere. But creativity is a like a muscle. It only gets stronger when we use it.

I was thinking back to when I was a kid, and I was pretty creative, just like L. That girl can come up with the most creative things, and she doesnt have pinterest to refer to. I am going to focus on getting creative with my kids, not just stealing other people's ideas.

Along with Pinterest, the internet has made us lazy in our communication with others. I had a presentation that I had to do in I think it was psychology, and I chose to do it on just this topic. What I came up with was this, (in a nutshell). The internet ruins our communication in two ways: we lose our communication skills with those we are speaking to on the internet, because we are relying on internet to do it for us. For example...facebook. We are relying on that little communication tool to tell us what are friends are doing, what has happened to them, and so on. We have gotten lazy to the fact that we cant call them up on the phone anymore, or send them an actual letter.

Second the internet is ruining the way we communicate with our family and friends close to us. As I look back at the past week for example, I have had my phone right there like a constant companion. I am really embarrassed to be saying this, that I was (probably still am) so dependent on that little box. Last night I made a decision though. I deleted the facebook app from my phone as well as any game app that took too much of my time. (Today has been a very interesting day, I had realized how much I look at my phone for those things. I have picked up my phone probably 20 times to look at facebook, only to remember that it wasnt there. Can anyone say ADDICTION?!)  I am also going to be getting rid of my facebook account altogether probably in a week. I am going to give people time to send me their email addresses if they want to contact me or if they want me to add them to my blog. I am going to strive to be better at communicating in the way that we used to and I am going to focus on keeping my blog up to date instead of writing it all on facebook. And I am going to focus on being involved with my kids. I am going to be a deliberate mother. Because that is what my kids deserve.

Just do it!

So, I have a new motto for myself...just do it! (I know Nike trademarked it) I think my problem with a lot of things is I get all these ideas and then I say, I will do it later when it is a better time. But Then I never get it done. Over the past couple weeks, I have been trying to do things as soon as I think of it, and I tell you what, it works. As soon as I think of calling someone, I stop what I am doing, (as long as I am not going to burn some food or break something,) and call that person. As soon as the thought comes to me to get something done, I do it, instead of procrastinating. I feel like my days have been so much more productive.

One thing that I need to do though that I have been putting off because it really does help me get a lot done, is get off of Facebook. It is the way I communicate with everyone, from setting things up, to finding a babysitter for myself to finding out what is going on with everyone. I really do feel like if I was off facebook, I wouldnt know what was going on with people, and I know that is a horrible excuse because I should be calling them to find out what is going on instead of rely on facebook. The reason I feel I need to get off is because I have what we call an addiction. I am always on, and I can see it taking away from my family.

I need to "Just Do It!" I need to just  relearn how to stay in touch with people like I did before the days of facebook, like by calling or emailing even. I also want to start writing more letters. Especially living out of state from most people that I know, I want to bring that back.

Kim, just do it!!

Some of the things I have cooking.

Today is such a beautiful day! I have full blown spring fever right now. A few weeks ago I planted some seeds in containers and set then on the side of my house (out door sewing) and guess what?! Some of them are sprouting! I was beginning to wonder if it would ever happen. Yeah, I'm a bit impatient.

I know, real pretty. Hopefully it works, because then I won't have to spend a bunch of money on plants for the garden.

This is the play house-

It isn't real pretty either. I'm crossing my fingers that we aren't "those" neighbors. But just wait, this is the "before" picture. I'm planning some major DIYing action. I'm thinking one solid paint color, some trees and plants and a roof for the big side.

I also want to build a chicken coop that I found on the Ana White blog. I'm actually really obsessed with the Ana White blog right now. There is an endless amount of things for me to dream of making. Of course it would be best if I actually just did one of them. Any of them. I'm kind of a recovering pinterest addict. My goal is to actually start doing all the things I pin and stop pinning. Enough is enough! ( Yeah, right. )

These are some of the cans I've collected. (hoarder) I'm saving all my cans and painting them gold to put citronella candles in. I pinned that idea too. When I get around to actually making the candles, I'll add the link to where I found these.

To end, I thought I'd add a challenge. Who can guess what Luci is eating?