Growing skills in parenting and organizing.
Arguments with my children always bring out the worst in us. When tempers flare, voices rise and while we are trying to teach them what ends up happening is a power struggle.
With a strong personality in a kid (aka a strong-willed child), sometimes the argument becomes a power struggle. Does this sound familiar?
If your child always needs the last word then there is an awesome statement I have learned to use to defuse the situation.
Sometimes you just need a mental break. If it has been a long week or I am stressed out with a long to do list I just need to sit down for few minutes and regroup. This is when I find I am turning on House Hunters over and over. Why is this?
I find myself even using it as motivation to get a dreaded chore completed. Such as, if I clean the kitchen as quickly as possible I will allow myself 1 House Hunters. When I really thought about this the other day it struck me as odd. I have watched so many that I can barely find any that I haven’t already seen. I even like lots of other shows much better so why is it this particular show that helps me regroup? This is when I started to look at it and see why it is so mentally relaxing.
This show has been on for 13 seasons. This must mean that I am not the only one who watches it. I even remember when they had the other female host and the doorbell would ring whenever the next house would be shown. 🙂 Anyone else remember that? They certainly have improved and perfected the show and even my kids are now willing to watch it. This makes me super happy when I am tired of cartoons.
Anyone else watch these to decompress or find them very relaxing like I do?
Do you have a child that just can’t handle preschool drop-off? I have 3 children and my youngest is what is known as “Mommy’s Girl” which is otherwise known to me as “She Won’t Go to Anyone Else if Mommy is Around”. It can be tiring and draining especially when school drop-offs become so difficult that you consider just not even taking her. Or leaving her with a trusted babysitter is so difficult that you find yourself not scheduling as many date nights.
Have you ever been running listening to a great song and feel like you could run forever and then the next song comes on and even though it is a good song it slows you down? I finally figured out why that happens and how to find songs that keep me going at a good pace.
Each song has a certain number of beats per minute (BPM) and the more BPMs in the song the faster your pace will be while listening to the song. You want to find the correct songs for the pace that you want, you don’t want one that is too slow or even one that is too fast.
My favorite way to find out which is the right pace is the next time you go for a run or walk pay attention to which songs inspire you to run or walk at the speed you want. Afterwards go to your computer and find out what the BPM is for that song by going to this website, www.songbpm.com and typing in your song. Type in one or two that you like so you have a range of BPMs that work for you.
If you already know the pace you want to run/walk or you have now figured it out by the above website then you could go to www.jog.fm and it lists songs by pace.
For example it will say:
Shake it Off by Taylor Swift is 160 BPM and therefore a 9:00 mile pace
Love is a Battlefield by Pat Benetar is 181 BPM and is a 6:54 mile pace.
This is fun because it will give you ideas of songs that you may have never even thought of before. You also may try new artists that will pump you up for a good workout.
If you are like me, good music really makes a workout feel great. It even helps motivate me to go for a workout if I know I have new music.
What songs do you like to listen to while working out? I like Blurred Lines, Uptown Funk and Blow as some of my favorites. What are yours?
Here in the south we love monograms. There is nothing like a monogram to make clothing look expensive. For years, I have always kept my eye out for inexpensive clothes that would look good with a monogram.
The places I look for these clothes are Walmart, Old Navy and Target. If you keep your eye out you can find shirts and dresses that just take a little dressing up to look boutique.
Here are two dresses I purchased last week at Walmart and took to my friend that monograms.
Can you believe these were $4.97? I think they now look much more expensive.
Usually you can find someone that does embroidery out of their home if you ask friends or local Facebook groups. I find they are a little less expensive than a retail store and they actually have more options in fabrics and colors. Plus, I always need a little help with creativity. I ask her for ideas of good colors and fonts and this time I just said “Surprise Me”.
I can’t wait for summer to break these out. Because they are so inexpensive, I let her wear them just as an everyday dress and we will, for sure, get our moneys worth out of them.
So keep your eye out at the big box stores and dress up your finds.
This past summer my family took a highly anticipated Disney Cruise. I am notorious for getting super involved in the planning of the trip. I over research, over plan, and over think everything. But to be honest the planning of the trip and anticipation is half the fun of going on a vacation, anyone else think this way? 🙂
We had never been on a cruise and heard that Disney was the best when it came to cruise lines. I will say that we were super happy with the cruise line and with all the service and amenities.
Here were my major problems and where I went wrong so you can avoid these mistakes:
1. On a 3 night Disney Cruise you really only have 1 day on the ship! I didn’t realize this. I had all these plans of leaving the kids in the kids club so we could hang out at the adult pool and just relax. Only a day or two before the trip did I realize that since we were stopping at Castaway Cay for one of the days we would be off the boat that entire day. That meant that if we didn’t get off in the Bahamas we would have 1 day on the cruise ship to do everything we wanted to do, which was a ton! I had way too many things on my “Must Do” list. Meet the princesses, do the Mid Ship Detective Agency, pools, water slides, Goofy’s fun deck, live shows I had everything possible on my list. How do people get it all done?
2. No one else did any research before the cruise. This meant everyone was staring at me all the time asking “What’s next?” or “Where is that activity?”. It was my first time on the ship too. I may have over reacted a bit when everyone was staring at me when I said Bingo was on Deck 5 and they asked me how to get to Deck 5.
3. I did not give ourselves enough time to get ready for dinner. In such tight quarters it actually takes longer to get 5 people ready than if we had more space. I would constantly be using a hairbrush to brush someones hair and then set it down real quick to put a bow in and someone else would put something on top of it and then I couldn’t find it. There are plenty of drawers and closets in the room but not many table tops to put things on. I should have taken more time when we unpacked to put everything away in all the drawers.
My suggestions to avoid all these difficulties are:
My friend Andrea is a Disney expert and she has an awesome post 5 Tips For Planning Your First Disney Cruise that you should check out.
I will gladly go on another Disney cruise again but I would definitely have a talk with myself that it is ok to not do every activity on the ship. Hopefully we can even spring for a longer trip next time.
Happy Travels!
This post may contain affiliate links. See my full disclosure here.
Did you think Keurigs were just for people making coffee? Well, guess what. You can make other things too. When I found out that you can make soups and drinks that aren’t coffee in the Keurig I thought I would give it a try. Here are my top 3 delicious non-coffee drinks plus my thoughts on making soup in the Keurig.
I just got back from an annual girls trip I go on with some of my girlfriends. There is nothing like getting away and recharging with some great friends. It made me thankful that we all enjoy the same thing, the spa! About 15 years ago, it seemed that a lot of trips revolved around where the coolest bars and dance clubs were located. Bachelorette parties and Las Vegas are fun but now I like to come back from my trips feeling refreshed and recharged.
I am not saying that I didn’t enjoy a couple classes of wine. 🙂 But, I have no desire anymore for staying up super late and drinking a lot then feeling bad the next day.
There are lots of fun activities we can do that don’t involve a lot of drinking. Here are my Top 5 Girls Trip Activities that don’t revolve around drinking.
1. Spa – this is my favorite. You can book appointments at the same time and see if you can order food in and make it a couple hour event. Even just having manis/pedis is so much fun. I guarantee no complaints from anyone.
2. Cooking Class – This can be a lot of fun to all work together and learn to create a great meal. The 2 classes that I have attended were very hands on and so fun for a group. Usually you get to eat the meal you prepared at the end.
3. Painting a canvas – Have you ever been to one of these places? I thought I was a terrible artist and wouldn’t be able to create anything I would want to hang. Well, shocker, the night I went you could paint a front door hanger and I love mine and it is on my front door today.
4. Comedy/Improve show– a guaranteed good time. The whole point is to laugh like crazy. Last year I bought my husband tickets for us to go see a famous comedian as a Christmas present. We had so much fun. This would be a great time with a group of girls as well.
5. Pole dancing class – Yes I am actually suggesting this, especially for bachelorette parties. What could garner more laughs and bonding than this class? Plus, what better way to get your significant other on board with your girls trip than by saying, “Hey Honey, I’ll be learning a new skill that I think you will love!”.
So head out with some girlfriends and enjoy lots of laughs and still feel great tomorrow!
This post may contain affiliate links. See my full disclosure here.
Wow!! This closet has been a disaster for way too long and guess what my husband did while I was away on a girls trip? He cleaned and reorganized it! He rocks! And super extra bonus…he took pictures for me! He definitely knows me well. Ha Ha.
When I looked through the pictures I had to laugh. He took pictures just like a blogger with all the organizational hooks and racks that he put up last year. I wish he was home and I would have him write this post since he did it all but he would probably start off by saying, “My wife sucks at keeping things clean so I have to do everything around here.” Sorry sweetie! 😉
So this is how I left the closet as I went to my spa trip with the girls. A disaster, so nice of me right?
And
Yes, I let things get a little out of control. This closet was totally organized about 6 months ago but once Christmas break happened and some new crafts and games were added into the mix it blew up.
Last time we organized this closet my husband installed these door hangers. They are so great for all the little card games and coloring books. I use all of the card games and flash cards so much more often now that I can see them.
I am amazed at the transformation. He used a tub to store all our kids lunch items. The basket on top of the game shelf houses all our play-doh toys. I can even fit our vacuum back in the closet.
He also used a little clip to hang our chips.
Now I feel so much better when it is time to make the kids lunches every day. Thanks Honey!!
Want to see some of my other Bonus Cleaning Before and Afters??
Bonus Cleaning – Guest Room Before & After
Bonus Cleaning – After Christmas Clean Up – Before & After
Bonus Cleaning – Daughters Clothes – Before & After
This post may contain affiliate links. See my full disclosure here.
Getting through the potty training stage can seem like an insurmountable challenge. You read a ton of books and information about how best to introduce your child to the potty. While all my kids had different methods of learning to go on the potty, this method of positive reinforcement worked on all of them.
I came up with this way of rewarding my kids because I had twins but it works for any kid especially if they have siblings. Everyone always talks about using MnM’s as a training tool. When your child pees or poops you give them one or a couple and they are happy and hopefully (keep your fingers crosses) they want to keep earning more candy and do it again and again. Sometimes it works and sometimes it backfires.
This was going to be a problem for me when I had twins training at the same time. I didn’t like having one kid eating MnMs and the other one not getting any treat and being upset. I also wanted to avoid any competitiveness in who could earn more. One of my sons I could tell would be discouraged if he saw his brother get more than him or having success faster and probably wouldn’t want to try anymore. I think the problem is the same with any sibling watching this situation. They get jealous and upset that one kids is earning candy and they aren’t. Enter my solution…
The Lollipop Party!
When the child that is training goes pee or poop, everyone in the house gets a treat and we all make it a really big deal. That child earns everyone in the house a Lollipop Party, even Mom and Dad. We all dance around and thank the child that earned them and everyone in the house is thrilled. This makes the child that is training so proud of themselves. Immediately the other siblings jump in the potty training game become very involved in the training process. You should see the siblings the next time it is time to “try to go potty”, they all gather around cheering.
At first I thought having lollipops was a bit excessive but it worked for us. My youngest didn’t go more than 4 times a day and usually the other kids were only home for 1 or 2 of them. Plus this “party every time” only happened the first 2 – 3 days of training. It was so worth it to see how proud they were for earning everyone a lollipop. I would have that child pass out the lollipops. For some reason it was especially a big deal to give Daddy a lollipop and watch him eat it. My husband is not a lollipop lover but I made him pretend to enjoy it. It was his role in supporting potty training in our house to actually eat the lollipop that was offered…so difficult Honey, glad you could help us… Ha!
Obviously this could work with any treat you come up with besides lollipops. I used the small Dum Dum lollipops so it was like having a very small piece of candy. This can also work with a child that doesn’t have siblings. It is amazing how giving children are and how it makes it such a bigger deal to them to earn candy for you and for them rather than just for themselves. Instead of saying, please just go potty for me to make my life easier, you can say “OMG, Mommy is dying for some candy, can you earn some for me? Please!”. 🙂
If you are about to potty train a child, think of having them earn the treat not just for themselves but for everyone in the house. Make it a party!
In case you are interested, we used the Bjorn Potty Seat. This worked great for little boys especially due to the front lip on the seat.
And my daughter was obsessed with this book and it is still nightly reading 2 years later…potty humor never gets old I guess!
