Prioritizing

I have sadly been neglecting my blog lately, and that frustrates me, but it is what it is.  I told you a couple of posts ago that I had an attitude shift, so I've changed things up in my family's life quite a bit.  I wanted to approach my staying at home as more of a full time job, because I swing in and out of balance on this all the time.

So basically I decided to get really busy.  If I would have read that a year ago, I'd shutter, but I really do think it's a good thing this time because each thing has purpose within the values of our family.

• I started BSF and take the two younger boys who do their own lessons while they're there (not just being babysat).  This is meeting a great need within me, too, as I've been so hungry for God's word lately.  (value: spirituality)
• I started running again (after taking a break for both my injury and my surgery), both outdoors and at the gym.  I love that it shows my kids my value for fitness, and when I go to the gym they get good social and play time.  (value: fitness)
• I started helping out with a ministry at my church, and it's cool because I get to take Samuel with me so that he can go to his class.  I get to bring him along with me to the last part of the meeting that I help out with, and it's great that he gets to see me serving.  I also like our car drives together.  I miss him since he started school.  (value: service)
• Speaking of, I started scheduling a weekly school lunch date with my kindergartner.  This was something that I started out school saying that I would do all the time, and I think I did it ONCE last semester.  It really means a lot to Samuel, and now that I see that, I feel so terrible for neglecting it last fall.  (value: family togetherness)
• On Tuesdays and Thursdays while my almost 4 year old is in school, I don't think of it as "my" time anymore because my 1 year old is really missing out when I do.  Sure, I try to get a few things done while he's napping, but I'm also playing with him a lot more and taking him to do things like story time at the library.  It sounds so simple, but it's easy to forget those little things with the third one.  (value: family togetherness and education)    
• Just this past week we implemented a weekly family night.  Levi was the first one that got the privilege of choosing everything (dinner, dessert, activity).  I don't know why we didn't do that a long time ago.  It was so much fun.  We really value the relationships within our little family, and no matter how busy we are, we want to foster connectedness within the five of us.  (value: family togetherness)
• Both of the older boys are starting soccer soon.  I have no idea how that's going to work with practice once a week and games on Saturdays, and to be honest, this might be a mistake.  Levi might love it, but I don't think Samuel is a team sport guy.  I wish I would have put him in swimming instead.  (value: fitness)
• I'm leading the kindergarten's group for this year's Multicultural Day.  I really didn't know what a big commitment it was when I signed up for it, but I'm all in now.  I'm not good at getting other people to help, so I'm pretty sure I'll be a stressed out mess.  It's nice to have a creative outlet, but honestly I probably could do without this on my list.  (value: creativity, although I don't really have the time for another one)

So looky there...it seems as though I've swung out of balance in the other direction.  That's pretty much how I roll - all or nothing...yet again.  

Tipsy Tuesday: Shrinking Clothes

Michael and I both had some jeans that were too big, so I tried washing them in extra hot and drying them in extra hot.  Guess what - it worked!  They were the perfect size!  They used to be one size too big, and now they fit perfectly.  I'll probably have to always wash them like this to maintain that size, but it's worth it to me to not have to buy new jeans.  :)

I haven't tried this trick with tops yet, but I'm sure it's trickier since the risk of them riding up in the waist is higher.  Anyway, give it a try if you have big pants!  What have you got to lose?  You're probably not wearing them anyway.

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!!! <3

For Whom I’m Voting

I don’t like talking politics, but it’s no surprise that I’m Republican, right?  So my Dem friends aren’t going to hate me all of the sudden if I talk about it a little, are you?  The main reason I don’t like talking politics is because I’m not as informed as I’d like to be (busy, you know – three kids and all – no energy for the stress of it all). 

So here’s my deal.  I’m a little worried about this upcoming election.  I don’t think that any of the Republican candidates are just awesome.  So without talking about issues (because I hate debate I’m a chicken), I thought I’d give you my non-intellectual, half-informed OPINION/FEELING on each of them, which, if you think about it, is kind of like most Americans – God help us all (and if/when you comment on it, don’t be surprised if I don’t comment back because I hate debate I’m a chicken):

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Romney -  When I look at him I get that slimy politician feeling.  He seems like he’d say whatever it took to get elected, and I just can’t trust a guy like that. 

Gingrich – I thought I liked him because he’s so smart, but darn it to heck if he isn’t just so dang arrogant.  He’s a bit too smug, and that won’t win an election.

Santorum – Gosh, I wish I liked him.  I’m sure he’s fine, and he’s good on the issues and whatnot, but whoa, he’s a bit nerdy.  And that’s fine; you don’t have to be all cool to be president, but his nerdiness makes me question his confidence and ability to take charge.  He doesn’t elicit confidence from me in him. 

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Ron Paul – I’m coming out of the libertarian closet on this one.  I like him.  I do.  He’s the only one that I feel has a vision for a better America.  When he talks I can tell that he really believes in the Constitution and will make hard decisions to uphold it.  So I’m going to vote for him in the primary , even though it probably won’t matter.  I do want to send a message, however, that our generation is done with slimy politicians, and we just want back to the basics. 

I know that Ron Paul will not win the primaries, and I will still vote Republican in the election, but I sure hope things change in politics in the next generation.  Anyway, okay, I’m done talking about politics now.  If you want to read more about Ron Paul, I think my bil is his biggest fan over at Trunks and Asses (get it?).  And he actually has like real information, not feelings. 

My Full Time Job

Sorry that I've been a bit M.I.A. lately.  I've been being kind of introspective, and it's been really good.  God had kind of been showing me the "monster in the mirror", as they say, so it was a good thing because I really needed to change some things about my life to be a better me.

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I had a revelation the other day (thanks to the Heart in a Box episode of Grey's Anatomy).  I realized that I hadn't been treating my stay-at-home life as a job as much lately as I used to.  I started thinking back to when I was working in casting, and I worked my butt off.  I worked long hours, was always available, and was diligent. I could always be counted on, and I had unlimited energy and drive.  The only times I got depressed were when work wasn't coming in.

Now it seems that I get depressed when life gets too stressful.  But when I'm stressed, I realized that it was because the focus was on my needs, not on those of my family's.  So I told myself, 'If my stay-at-home life isn't half as good and productive as my working life, then I'm wasting my time and should just go back to work (because I wasn't doing anyone any good by being huffy all the time).'  I also had to redefine what a productive and successful home life looked like, and it involved a much more selfless approach (and a bit busier).  (This has nothing to do with staying home or working; it is simply an attitude that I'm talking about.  God could have told me to go back to work while maintaining a selfless approach to my family, but instead He told me to do it from home.)  So a simple focus change has pretty much revolutionized my family's life and rocked my world in a really good way.  Isn't it funny how when we're selfless, life is better?  That's just like Jesus, isn't it?

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Anyway, as for an update on my recovery, I'm doing great!  I'm still not 100% (didn't realize how long it takes to fully recover from a tummy tuck), but I'm able to start jogging again, which I'm very grateful for.  I do have to start small again, but that's okay.  :)

Finding Contentment In My Home

I really didn’t mean to paint a picture of great discontent in my house with my last post.  I’m really not unhappy, and I really do love my home.  I was just trying to give the reasons for which we were discussing moving last year.  I could recreate the list of reasons why we wanted to move, but I thought it might be more conducive to my new resolve for contentment if I gave you some reasons for which I love my house.  So here it goes:

1.  All of my kids were brought here when they were born, and this is the only home they’ve ever known.  I’m not sentimental, but it’s cool.

2.  My mother-in-law lives right across the street, so it’s nice to not only see her but to crash the get-togethers when everyone else comes over to visit her.  It keeps us in the loop more, and my kids know their family a lot better as a result.

3.  I’ve almost succeeded in remodeling every single surface in the interior of the house, save the kitchen cabinets and counters.  That means that it’s totally custom!  I have it looking so that it reflects our family-vibe well, and it’s always morphing to fit our needs or whims.  (And honestly, I don’t have the patience or the energy to remodel another bigger house.)

4.  It’s small, but that means there’s less to clean.  It also means that the kids are easier to keep track of.


5.  I love my hardwood floors.  And the expense of putting them in a new house (with more square footage) isn’t appealing. 


6.  The elementary school that the kids will all go to is one of the best in our town.  People transfer from all over town to go there, which means there’s high parent involvement, too.


7.  Living in a small house forces us to live simply, and living simply is such a great value of mine that I really am grateful for that.  I love that every furniture purchase or organizational task has to be thought out with great effort and detail so as to maximize usefulness and minimize space costs.

8.  I just like old houses and old neighborhoods.  I feel like the houses are well built, and I like that there are grown trees in the neighborhood.  I also like that there is little risk in terms of where the neighborhood is going.  It has a track record.  I also like that there are other people just like us in the neighborhood that like old houses and remodel their homes all crazy like us, too. 

9.  Did I mention it’s paid off?  I love having money to do other things, as I mentioned in my previous post.

10.  Contentment is so important for me and my sanity and my marriage.  And, for me at least, it's such a slippery slope in regard to wanting and getting more.  And that doesn't mean that if I get a bigger house I'm going to just want an even bigger one after a few years, but if I don't practice contentment, then that could very likely happen.  That's pretty much a major reason that our country is in the shape that it's in - people kept wanting more and getting more.  So instead of tempting myself with that slippery slope, I think I'll just practice contentment instead, because you know what, I have a pretty great life.  :)

Living Like No One Else

I don’t know if you remember this, but a while back I was really getting new-house-fever.  I wanted something bigger, nicer, cooler – something I’d be a little more proud to invite people over to. 

We currently have a tiny house that was built in 1955 (not in any of these pictures) in a neighborhood that’s……meh – I don’t know – nothing to get excited about.  But, you know what, the house is paid off, and that makes it look a hell of a lot better!   

So our long-term plan had been to save money so that we could buy a bigger house when Samuel got into junior high, about 6 years from now.  But gosh, that’s so flipping daunting and depressing because we’d have to save 20-25% of Michael’s take-home pay a month to be able to do that.  And we’re just now getting to a point where we’re where we want to be savings-wise.  So saving for that house just seems like it would make things unnecessarily burdensome when we could just learn to be content where we’re at.  (“What?!  Why on earth would someone say that?!  That’s stupid,” they seemed to say…)

So we were talking about painting the outside of our house at some point this year when we have the cash for it (to create at least a tiny attempt at curb appeal), so we went driving around taking phone pictures of the houses that we liked their paint colors on to get ideas (I do this a lot – totally looking like a private investigator or, more likely, stalker).  We ended up in this one neighborhood that I’ve been drooling over for a few years now (only one pic is from there because their brick isn’t cheap enough to paint), and Michael asked if I still wanted to live there.  I said, “You know, it’d be nice, but I’d rather go to Europe every year.”
Upsizing life and downsizing lifestyle – that’s our philosophy on money right now.  Living like no one else, so that we can live like no one else.  Perhaps if we had a double-income we could have it all, but since we don’t, we have to choose what would give us the life that we want.  And having a single income was a lifestyle choice as well, so I’m not complaining at all, just recognizing that it was what we wanted. 

This trip that we took to Prague was my first time ever in Europe – ever!  And I left with such a desire for more adventure and enrichment in my life and in the lives of my family.  I’d so rather go to Europe or Japan or Australia or Alaska or wherever than have a bigger, better house.  And I think my kids would be better off traveling the world than having their own rooms. 

But you know me; I’m fickle.  I could totally change my mind in another year or so, but that’s why I wrote this post – to remind myself of what I’m thinking at this moment.  Who knows? 

Prague Pics

I was a little too busy to show you these in a more cool way, but if you want to see the complete set of Prague pictures, you're welcome to look at this or just go to the album here. Warning: there are lots of plain ol' camera phone pics in there, but most are not.  ;)  Enjoy!

Click here to view these pictures larger