Getting to know myself! So I found this other BlogSpot while cruising Pinterest, and by cruising I of course mean obsessing over a million things I wish I had thought of first and/or had time to do myself. It caught my eye and I read through it and it really made me stop and think. This is the link here. I read through the questions and thought that although this was designed to get to know your significant other better, and for them to know you, this was an opportunity to discover myself once again. How often do we become bogged down by the day-to-day and forget who we really are? I'm not talking about the obvious labels of Mother, Daughter, sister, wife, friend and such. I'm talking about deep down what do we really know about ourselves. Are we dreamers? Do we practice what we preach? Are we living the life we thought we would when we were young and dreaming of our future? I think that by answering each of these questions we give ourselves the opportunity to become better acquainted with who we are now. Some will be easy and simple. Others will require thought and even some soul searching. I encourage everyone to visit that site and see how many questions you can answer. Make it a fun activity to share with your significant other and I hope you find some insight into yourself. Who knows? Perhaps this will give you a starting point for a new direction. With that here goes the first entry for my list of 30. #1. List 20 random facts about yourself. My 20 random facts: 1. I love the colors pink and purple. 2. I never thought I would ever own a black car, but now I do. 3. I was told I would probably never be able to have children...I have 3. :) 4. I wear flip flops practically all year round. (I have even shoveled snow in them.) 5. I hate doing dishes. 6. I have a twisted, sarcastic sense of humor. 7. I don't even know what my real hair color is anymore. (it keeps changing seasonally) 8. I have lost almost an inch in height over the last 20 years. 9. I love to dance! 10. I always wanted to learn to play guitar. 11. I am allergic to beer. 12. I sing EVERY SINGLE DAY! (sometimes only in the shower.) 13. I have broken my nose...twice. 14. I talk to my mom and/or sister almost every day. 15. I gained more weight AFTER my last child than I did the ENTIRE 3 pregnancies...combined. :( 16. I am addicted to MOVIES & TV. 17. I love to travel. 18. I am a side sleeper. 19. I am addicted to shoes!!!! 20. I never decided what I wanted to be when I grew up. I challenge you now to post your randoms. Don't think too hard....just start typing.

Summertime slow-down?

Who else has a problem with the Summertime slow-down? My problem is...it DOESN'T. I spend quite a bit of the school year planning summer activities, family vacations, weekend trips, house renovations or updates and looking forward to a little more "me" time without the crazy schedule of kids and battling winter weather. I am a DJ entertainer by trade and this is also my busiest time of year with graduations, reuinions, and weddings. This becomes a problem when I have crammed all of this into a small 8-10 week window. I have now created MORE scheduling conflicts and kids' activities to keep me busy and looking forward to the return of school when the children will be occupied once again and I will have a little more "me" time. LOL

Pinterest in real life

So my foray into the world of Pinterest recipes has been going well. Tonight we tried the homemade pizza rollups with pepperoni, string cheese and crescent rolls. Not bad, but not as great as they raved about. It was a fun snack to make with the kids and they liked them so I will keep it in the rotation of fun kids' meals. Over the Christmas break we experimented with several cookie recipes from Pinterest. Some were not all they promised and will need lots of tweaking if they want a permanent spot in my recipe box. There were others that were very yummy, but didn't look like what they were supposed to. If the taste is there, we decided it was a keeper and moved on. One of the other things we tried out over the holiday season was some of the house cleaning tips. Our biggest hope for success was in the cleaning tip for bringing life back to microfiber sofas, of which we have a very large one. It basically consisted of just saturating the whole thing (one area/cushion at a time) with straight up rubbing alcohol and scrubbing it with clean rags and then letting dry. A clean hard-bristled brush rubbed over the completely dried area then brings back the original softness and texture. So....the result is...this process needs to be repeated....repeatedly if your sofa is a dark color and/or badly stained. Some of these stains can also just be from waterspots from previous cleanings. Nevertheless it did work somewhat and if you have a lot of ambition this tip turned out to be ok. The other big tip was the dawn/vinigar and hot water floor cleaner. Basically...yeah with soap and hot water combo it really cleaned my wood floors....the smell however was NOT as pleasant as they claimed. So I may just keep using my Mr. Clean with febreeze scented all purpose cleaner. As the adventures in Pinterest continue I will keep experimenting. Some of the tips seem so logical it makes you wonder why you hadn't thought of them yourself,but then if we all had the time to contemplate these things and come up with the solutions for ourselves....there would be no Pinterest. ;)

New Direction

So since I started this blog and subsequently abandoned it due to lack of time a lot of things have changed. My hubby has taken a job working out of state which has him gone for 2 weeks and then home for a week off. While this move has been an adjustment, we are all working through it admirably. The new position at a new company has doubled his income thereby allowing me to work much less out of the home. Some of the other perks have included a recent purchase of 10 acres south of town and the dream of living in the country has finally reached the realm of reality. The children are now back in school and while some may think new year's resolutions are hardest to keep, I believe the "once the kids are back in school I will...." resolutions are hardest. Never-the-less, I have set certain goals for myself this year and hope to chronicle more of them on this blog. (Thus killing 2 with 1 stone by reactivating and updating this blog). Let me start with my newest vices. I have defeated the Facebook gaming monster. You can only feed so many imaginary pets and grow so many imaginary crops before you realize the lost potential of time and energy. I have however discovered Pinterest and in the ensuing months have mapped out an imaginary life in the form of numerous boards which I hope to start actually living this year. There are SOOOOOO many wonderful recipes and craft ideas and with the thought of a new house in the future I find that I am inspired to actually start TRYING these new recipes and creating new things and really appreciating what I have accomplished. I have a board of all the great pllaces i have traveled to or seen and one for all the places I want to go. The site is in a way our very own expanded "Bucket List". So why wait till it's too late? I'm going to start being the person I want to be and trying new things. My hope is to by residual effect, enhance my family's life as well. So my new direction is going to start with the recipes. For those of you that have seen the movie "Julie & Julia" it will be something like that. In the movie Julie decides to take Julia Child's cookbook and make everything in it within a year. This could very well be an expensive feat, so I have decided to try at LEAST one new recipe a week. My hope is to actually do more, but I'm trying to be realistic. I will be mixing it up (pun intended) by alternating main dishes, sides and desserts at the whims of my family and their taste buds. So wish me luck! Another direction I am taking is with the current house we are living in. After 14 years we have started and abandoned many home improvement projects, but if we are ever going to start building a new house and sell this one, they must all be completed. So far I have repainted the vaulted entryway stairwell which I would strongly recommend anyone else intending the same to make sure they have a sturdy and TALL ladder. We have also remodeled the downstairs bathroom.

I have to finish putting on new triim and install a new fan and light fixture, but the new tile, toilet and vanity are done as well as a fresh coat of paint. Progress feels great and hopefully will beget more progress.....I will keep you posted. Finally, the inevitable resolution that we ALL stuggle with....getting healthy and losing weight. I have discovered that I am more motivated to either workout or eat better when I have a buddy. This is a good lesson for all walks of life. Everything is easier with the buddy system. So I have tried several different classes. Zumba is lots of fun once you overcome the awkward stage of learning the different steps and dance moves. Pillates was easier than I thought for a woman my size, and although I didn't leave the class winded and aching, I certainly felt the pull of unused muscles 2 days later. I also have gotten the mini trampoline out for 6 minute sessions throughout the day. This is good for all over impact and time constraints. I use it while watching TV and waiting for water to boil or for when I'm baking cookies and can jump around while batches are baking. Just stay close enough to hear the timer go off. I will be updating more frequently and sharing any tips, successes and of course the failures. I look forward to contructive comments.

Sunday contemplations...

So it's a lazy Sunday and I find myself contemplating lots of life changing decisions.....to fold or not to fold the laundry....make lunch or order pizza??? Not the biggest of decisions but there you have it. Sometimes the most stress in our lives comes from the most unimportant things. The Vikings are playing the Miami Dophins as I type. Does it matter if one team wins over the other? NO, however, if you have money on the game, are a football fanatic fan of one team over the other, or if you have one of the players on your fanatasy football team, you will disagree with me. In the big scheme of things however, it's still just a game. The dishes will still need to be done and the laundry will not fold itself regardless of how the game ends. So why not funnel our energy and efforts into more productive activities? Why am I typing to no one but myself when I could be getting work done, going for a jog, or reading a book to my 4 year old?
Every year there are millions of people who make new year's resolutions and try to stick to them for as long as possible. I'm going to start a new goal right now. If I could keep a running log or daily diary of my activities and choices, perhaps I would be able to make the changes I need to to be healthier, more organized and happier with my life and for my family. This will be my facebook experiment. Maybe someone will start following my blog and maybe this could help other people as well. We will see and keep you posted....

School Daze!

So the summer just FLEW by and now the boys are back in school. I can still recall when my oldest went into 3rd grade and I was soooo happy that we were done with the horrid 2nd grade teacher. Now he's entering the High School years and his little brother is now a 3rd grader! UGH! Where is the time going? At what point in life do we go from being a child and carefree, measuring the time in seasons and fun activities to a 35 year old other of 3 wishing she had more time? When we were kids we knew summer and swimming and biking were right around the corner only to look forward to jumping in leaves and sledding down snowbanks. Time was not a factor unless it was getting too dark to play outside and that meant dinner and bedtime only to awake the next day for school, after school cartoons and so on. Somewhere during the teenage years we started to panic about time, school ending, what do we do with our lives. Then it was basking in the freedom of being an adult, making our own choices and unfortunately taking responsibility for ourselves. The twenties were a time of great changes, challenges and I believe just too much life and experiences to really be bothered with time flying by. Some of us got married, started our own families and further bogged down the clock with playdates, PTA and extra laundry. Others focused on careers and climbing the ladder and establishing themselves in business. The few lucky ones were able to do both, or not so lucky depending on the demands of time and your perception of quality of life.
I have always been very happy to be a wife and a mother. I have always worked and even started my own business, but not in hopes of becoming rich, or famous or even to fill time. I did it to be master of my own time and schedule. I was already a slave to my husband's and children's schedules so I wanted to be able to make money to pay bills and still be available for school plays, teacher conferences, and dentist appointments. I wanted my children to have a good life with a few luxuries, but mostly with a mother they could count on to be there for them. I have driven them to school the first day of school for every year and school they've gone to. I have taken them to all their dental and doctor appointments and brought them to their football practices, attended games, orchestra concerts and school carnivals. I don't always enjoy everything I have to do, but when the kids do, it makes me happy. The only regrets I've ever had were for the passing of time and wishing I'd had more and done more. It's really moronic when I also wish I'd had more time to relax and do less. This seems to be the curse of all men and women as they grow older. We can become melancholy over our children attending school, wishing we were back there again when all we wanted when we WERE there was for time to fly and for it to be over. Life is such a long and strange journey. How funny that the beginning of another school year can trigger such reflection and contemplations of life.

Frustrating Age Tests

So my life isn't amusing enough, I decided to take an "Age" test. This is basically a long questionaire that you fill out about your health, diet, habits, enviroment, etc. and it is supposed to tell you what specifically in your life makes you older. My calendar age is 34.4 and apparently my "real" age is 41!!! Now Im not a big drinker, partier, etc and I am very active, but don't work out as often as I should, so I knew this was coming. But SERIOUSLY! People, I still have a problem with being 30, so this is only adding to my stress level which of course will only up the imaginary "real" age....and the vicious circle continues. Next week I think I will take a "Dream Funeral Quiz" and see how that turns out...NOT! LOL