Life Lately

So it feels like every week is just so crazy. It really isn't most the time, I'm just either catching up after crazy or preparing for crazy on the days it isn't crazy.

Hubby and I have decided to rearrange to make Ellie (3 years 7 months) a bedroom (she's been in a sidecar crib attached to our family bed since she was almost 2 and was in bed with us before that).
We don't plan on kicking her out the minute her new bed is assembled but I wanted to start transitioning her as she's ready.
(It can't really be child-led sleeping-relocation if she doesn't have a choice other than her sidecar.)

So that is our current crazy, moving everything out of the game/movie library/play room to make that room am office and then moving Ellie's toys, dresser and new bed into the current office.

So perhaps I'll blog this process.

The point if this post is, crap I don't know, I want to be realistic and say I'm just not managing my time well or that I'm lazy and I wanna be a complainer and say that we went from being sick to a busy weekend to my period to seasonal allergies (I refuse to believe I'm sick again, even though my antihistamines haven't been working.) really though, I wish I had my shit together. My house is a wreck, luckily we bought somewhat convenience foods or I don't know if we'd even be eating lately. I'm just tired of a messy crazy house and tired of having too much I need/want/should do and not enough energy/ time/patience to do it all.

So as an effort to not be such a grumpy gills, I will end this with a list of good stuff.

I decluttered most of both of our clothes closets the other day. I got all (except Ellie's) clothes folded and put away neatly, purged a few items. I packed away Ellie's too small shoes and penny's too small clothes.
I did an art activity with Ellie, and she even played outside today.
I'm ruthlessly purging my office/craft stuff as I bring things into the new room.

Family Halloween Costumes.

I know it's cheesy, but it's also so fun to coordinate our costumes each year.

Here is a look back:

First Halloween married
Red Riding Hood and the Big Bad Wolf dressed as Granny.
I made the wolf head (and legs you can't see in the pic), the hood and apron.

Ellie (Yoda)'s first Halloween. Daddy is a big Star Wars fan.
Myself as Princess Leia and Hubby as Hans Solo. (We had friends go as Some other characters also).
I made my costume out of an angel costume and turtleneck with a belt I made.

We were classic toys. Raggedy Ann, a sock monkey and a teddy bear (I will have to find a picture with hubby in it soon) My sister was a Lego girl mini-fig.

I did not make any of our costumes this year. 

Wreck-It Ralph (the movie), Vanellope Von Shweetz and Fix-It Felix. (My sister was also a character, Taffyta Muttonfudge (A mean girl bully to Vanellope).
I altered my hoodie, my skirt, "made" pants with 2 different designed legs, and made a bunch of candy clips for my hair (Vanillope is a "glitch" in a candy/sugar themed video game in the movie.)
I made Felix's hat and shirt patches.

This year we will be Jake and the Neverland Pirates.

I just wonder how long I'll be able to convince Ellie, and eventually Penny, to go along with my ideas. (Although Ellie thinks Jake was her idea).

Hard Water Stains Gone, Thanks Friend.

Someone on the ABFOL fb group posted her before/after of the years old orange hard water stains in her shower gone thanks to Bar Keeper's Friend.
I had a can because it was recommended for dishes. I didn't get great results with dishes but am quite pleased with it for hard water stains!

The Secret is in the positioning.

I am a big fan of The Secret, not for it's spiritual universe given gifts, but for the change in mentality of thoughts.
Assuming the best, believing that what you need will come to you, being grateful not only for what you have but for what you will receive. All of these practices of The Secret work well because it shifts the focus and positioning to the positive side. Your life will instantly improve, even if actual facts about the situation do not change at all.
At the very least, it cannot hurt.

What reminded me of this positioning shift was reading about The Pomodoro technique for time management. One of the key points that I pulled from the forward in the free sample of the book I got on kindle was that the timer is your ally, not your enemy or your competition.

I LOVE the idea that I am working WITH the time I am given and I can be grateful for that time to get things done.
This will completely shift my thought process regarding task management.
I realize that I like getting things done, even if I don't always like actually doing them. I recognize and appreciate the difference it makes in my life when things get done. Time is a partner, a friend, an ally to help me get things done. How great a feeling that time can be my friend, my partner in crime rather than my nemesis.
I can feel myself thanking time for being provided to me and feeling very positive about it.

So far the pomodoro technique is just a theory for my purposes but if I can keep the positive positioning in mind I bet I can use this mentality not only for time management but in food choices and physical activity.
Now, I am going to say thank you and good night to my bed and imagine my bed as my assistant and utilize her capacity.

Date Night and Grateful for my Husband

Woke up with bad back pain and stiffness, in addition to my period yesterday morning.
Hubby encouraged me to not "go" to work. (I work from home so "going" = sitting at my desk for 6 hours.)
He didn't exactly wait on me hand and foot but we all had a lazy day in bed most of the day watching HIMYM.

We had a date night planned and even though I had the "sick enough to stay home from school/work = too sick to play after school/work rule" solidly implanted in my brain from my hooky playing high school days, (thanks mom!) I decided I could take another dose of a different OTC pain med, a hot shower, and move around enough to loosen my back and we could still go out.
So we went to red lobster, picked up some DVDs then to Baskin Robbins. It was really nice. I had never left Penny before for fun (only for work, which I see her ever 2 hours, or a very quick errand) but she's 7 months and in good hands with grandma. I knew my milk supply could handle missing a feed or 2, I just pumped before and after and all is well.

My husband is wonderful. He's got a bad back with pain most of the time so he understands my pain.

I cannot miss another day of work this week so I need to get up and loosen my back, take some pain meds and feel good enough to sit up in a chair for a few hours.

Big Latch On

I was so excited to participate in The Big Latch On for the 4th time this year. 

Ellie was about 6 months our first year. We were one of 5687 latches in the US alone.
When she was about 18 months she was too distracted to actually nurse at the event, but 8862 other moms latched on globally!
At about 2 and a half, she was again not willing to cooperate. 37 moms at our location and 14536 globally latched on though.
The pictures above were from later those days.

This year though she was excited for the "contest" and nursed along with Penny for more than the full minute along with the 89 other moms at our location (some of which were also tandem nursing, but only moms
count, not babies).
This year 13,798 children breastfeeding during the one-minute count

14,173 breastfeeding women attended

23,906 people attended registered Global Big Latch On locations to support breastfeeding.

After, she said "I think I won the contest!"
When mommies nurse their kids, everyone wins!
What a great experience!

Tub Declutter

I was pretty tired of this hot mess:  

So I bought one of these a few months back:


And had found one of these at a yard sale for $4 last summer:



This will declutter bath toys from the floor in the bathroom where the old basket was.

But the perfectionist procrastinator I am, I put off installing it until I could get all the iron off the walls.
Which will likely never happen. So I decided I just had to clean the one wall for now, install, and perhaps the decluttered tub will inspire me to clean the tub walls.

After:

The hooks, razor holders and soap dish are all are command brand.
The little frog is a sub spout cover for when my kid takes baths. The lower razor holder has bath crayons in it. I still need another command soap dish, but I bought the last one in the store.

I put away the cast cover (which was from like 9 months ago) and purged some shampoos and soaps we didn't like to be used to clean the toilet later.

You can see my shower curtain is pretty badly stained. I simply buy a new one whenever I feel like it, rather than struggle to get it clean.

Side by side:

This does not show how there was a bunch of toys on the floor!
I am really happy with how this turned out. Even though the rest of the walls are still stained. I scrub at the walls a little bit each time I shower, and hubby has been squeegeeing the tub walls more now that the tub is less cluttered.

I later got another soap dish and it is above the crayon cup on the far right side of the after picture now.
I may buy another dispenser for bubble bath and kid shampoo, since those are the only bottles left.

In these pictures
Command Soap Dish 
Command Razor Cup
Frog Pod
Command Hooks 
Clear Command Hook (although this fell once, but I just stuck it back up and it has held, I wouldn't recommend the clear ones for showers, it is just what I had. )
Shampoo Dispenser 
Spout Cover 
Similar Squeegee
Goat Milk Soap  (for the babies)
Shower Curtain

(these are not affiliate links, but I do work for Amazon so might as well encourage you to shop there, right?
actually, before checking out go to Smile.amazon and find Nursing  Mother's Counsel of Oregon, or your favorite charity so a portion of your purchases will go to them!)