Tis the Season to... ORGANIZE!

Okay, Christmas Day is nearly over (that's another blog on it's own-- later, later). It's time to make a plan. Let's organize!

Today, I was "tied up" (pumping) and looking through a magazine. The cover says, "Get Organized! 50+ ways to --Pare Down, Cut Clutter, Store More" etc, etc, etc. Okay, this is it. This is the kick in the butt I need. So I started reading like a motivated little Tenessa does. Well, it seems now-a-days, you must read a magazine near a computer. They are FULL of web addresses that show awesome sites. These sites are wonderfully helpful. And one must visit them all, of course. So, what used to take about an hour of reading/browsing through a magazine, now takes days! :)

Here is a website that has inspired me at the 8th hour in the night: Perfect Box Instructions. Now I'm sure you are wondering what I'm going to do with "perfect sized boxes". Well, I don't know. BUT! I can do so much! I was thinking for starters, I would organize my junk drawer. I need to clean it out and keep only what I need in there (who needs 50 gazillion magnets anyhow?) and make little dividers. I also want to make boxes for McCoy's socks, slippers and shoes for his hanging basket holder in his closet. And maybe my own socks. I won't be getting that fancy stuff though, I'm thinking cardboard will do and some strong glue-- maybe rubber cement or duco cement? We'll try it out and see what works. I have gobs of fabric that isn't being used. What better way to use my fun fabric?

Okay, sometimes my ambition is larger than life, but hey, we can always set goals. It's what keeps me entertained!

New's Years Resoltions. Coming soon!

Merry Christmas! (eve!)

It's such a busy time of the year. Add a baby on top of that, and good luck! I can't believe that I got done all my Christmas shopping, finish wrapping, baking, cooking and cleaning all before today (okay, the cleaning is not that great, but hey! "I HAVE A BBAAAAABBBBYYY") I even separated out the gifts into three piles-- pile for tonight's gifts, pile for tomorrow's gifts (my family) and one more for Saturday's gifts (Whit's family). I feel so organized! I even have a stocking for Mr. McCoy. Yep, that's right, handmade (mostly by my mom, but I ironed on his name-- that counts for something!) Here it is 1:55, and I just need to pack up McCoy and have make Whit load up the car, and leave by 3:45. That's right, I have almost TWO hours to spare. Go me, again!

Last night, we went to Pat's house for dinner. You will never guess who showed up? SANTA! I guess he was taking the reindeer out for a spin or a practice run or something, but he stopped by Pat's house and saw Peyton, Parker and McCoy. He even had gifts for us all!




Here are a few pictures of my Christmas tree, fire place, and stockings!







Merry Christmas!!

The Joys of Baking

I love Christmas! I have spent so many countless hours in the kitchen, baking up lovely treats during this time of year. I took McCoy to daycare today, went to the commissary to get 6 boxes of butter, two pounds of sugars, flour and a "baking to do" list. I plan on making treat boxes for the families (Whit's family) and bringing over dessert to our dinner party tomorrow night. For our New Year's Eve party, I'm bringing over dessert as well... I can sort of cook, but man I LOVE to bake!

Today's agenda:

Homemade Toffee
Butter Mint Cookies
Ranger Cookies

Pictures to follow.

***Update: 10:50 pm-- Holy Moly! I got everything done on that list! Whoo-hoo!


Toffee before it's cut into pieces:


Butter Mint Cookies: (yum! These are so good!)


Ranger Cookies: (I've never made these before, but they have corn flakes, coconut, and oatmeal in them... weird)


I forgot to mention, I also made Fudge Meltaways for tomorrow night's dinner! Go me!

Book Review: Growing Up Green!

I don't normally review things, especially books. I'm not sure when the last time I actually sat down and read an entire book. I've started many, but finished them? I'm not sure.

I recently read "Growing Up Green!" by Deirdre Imus.

My first initial thought before reading this book was that I hoped it would teach me a few tricks on how to make my life greener, especially for McCoy. Maybe it would help me save some money in the long run, and give me ideas on how to change the things that I'm doing already that are no so green.

My first initial thought after reading the book, was "oh man, I feel bad." This book not only made me feel bad about the world that we've become, but it really made me feel bad for things that I already do. After making me feel bad a bit, I turned upset. There is no way I can change everything that was mentioned in the book. It was almost like the author was accusing me of being a bad mother! I know that was not the intent, but the writing and wording made me feel like I was.

The author discussed a lot about the chemical gasses and population in our atmosphere, both inside and out. And she talked about how to eat ALL organic food, use natural cleaning solutions and even that we should not buy plastic toys-- especially toys that have been made outside the USA. Now, I'm all for buying wholesome foods, but come on-- I can't afford to buy ALL organic. I just can't. Am I a bad mother because I eat regular bananas? Am I a bad mother because I like the "occasional" (hahaha) chocolate chip cookie? I'd like to think that I'm not a bad mother for those things. But this book made me feel like I'm horrible!

The book talked about school lunches-- how the school lunches in America's schools are filled with horrible, fattening choices. We should pack our child's lunch everyday (which I probably will anyways, BUT), don't forget to use PVC-free plastic wrappings, like the healthy cellophane wrap made from cottonwood trees (WTF?) and don't use brown paper sacks-- use cotton canvas lunch bags to reuse. (Okay, I can do that, but what about little lunch pails?) "Avoid vinyl lunch boxes and bags, which may contain lead-- look for the 'lead safe' label if you choose a vinyl product. And instead of high-sugar boxed drinks, send your kids off to school with water in a reusable bottle. Stainless steel bottle are the safest, as reusable bottles made out of hard plastic #7 might leach bisphenol A." (pg. 172). Oh my.

Then it talks about vaccinations. Let me just say, I have to take McCoy to daycare. Daycare INSISTS on having vaccinations. No argument there. But you can imagine what the author states about vaccinations.

Now before this sounds all too bad, there was one section that I liked. The book listed a lot of wonderful resources with websites (I just love that now-a-days. Books, magazines, etc. doing the dirty work by looking up cool websites that we can all benefit from). This particular section was on toys. It listed websites like Willow Tree Toys, Magic Cabin, and Hazelnut Toys. These are toys that are handmade, not plastic, and doesn't require battieries! Now, I do agree with that. I want McCoy to use his imagination, and not let the toys do the thinking for him.

The book also contained an entire section of resources which included healthy recipes, foods that should be substituted, recommended further reading, buying green products (for hair, cleaning, building, clothing, etc). It also has a section on medical stories about chemicals and children's health and doctor's biographies.

Okay, so the book talked a lot about the stuff that is bad in the environment, but it sure did make me feel bad. I want to change the things we do in this household, but come on-- I would have to order EVERYTHING online. And I'm simply not ready to change my lifestyle to that extreme. Slowly but surely I might get there.

Yikes!

Flying time

I can't believe this was three months ago.

Martin Christmas List 2009

Whit:

*Sports Tickets: KU Football, Basketball, Chiefs tickets
*KU funny shirts
*KU hats
*Beer
*Gift cards to Best Buy, Cabelas, Bass Pro
*XBOX 360 Games: WET, Section 8, Call of Duty: World at War, Gears of War 2 (YEA! Got it!), Resident Evil 5, Saints Row 2, Assasin's Creed II, Prototype, NCAA Football 10, Prince of Persia, Mirror's Edge
*Wii Games: EA Sports Active
*Money Clip
*Poker Books: Harrington on Hold 'Em: Expert Strategy, Harrington on Tournament End Game, Gus Hansen: Every hand revealied, Full Tilt Poker Strategy, Cash Games Vol 1, Hold 'Em for Advanced Players, Phil Gordon's Little Handbooks


Tenessa:

*clear glasses these ones please (YEA! Got it!)
*wireless mouse for laptop much like this one (YEA! Got it!)
*Black Current Vanilla hand soap from Bath and Body Works
*Gift cards to Wal-Mart, Target (YEA! Got it!), JC Penny (YEA! Got it!) for clothes
*Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince DVD (YEA! Got it!)


McCoy:

*Frog Humidifier-- please, please, please!!! (YEA! Got it!)
**Money towards a high chair** (YEA! Got it!)
*Extenders-- like this
*Carter's/Babies R Us/Target/Walmart Gift Cards--
*Cloth diapers--
-bumGenius cloth diapers 3.0 one size-- Boy colors, please
-FuzziBunz cloth diapers One Size-- Fuzzi Bunz
-Happy Heiny cloth diapers one size-- Happy Heinys
*G-diapers-- G-Diapers
-refill packs-- Medium and large
-gPants
*Books--
-Green Baby-- Green Baby
-Cooking for Baby-- Cooking for Baby
*Swing for outside-- one like this one, please (has to be for 6 months and above)
*Foam Bath Numbers and Letters-- like this (YEA! Got it!)
*Burp Cloths-- like this
*Size 6 months and up (sleepers, please)
*short sleeved plain white onesies

101 Things in 1001 Days (Update)

Just an update on my ginormous list... I have completed 19 tasks. I am working on doing more, but with the new baby and all... I'm doing good to get these done. I just wanted to repost my list to show that I am still doing it all.


The Mission: Complete 101 preset tasks in 1001 days
Start Date: August 2, 2009
End Date: April 29, 2012

House:
1. Organize the master room closet
2. Organize the baby’s closet
3. Move stuff back into the basement
4. Install doors and trim in basement
5. Organize the Tubberware cabinet
6. Buy new pots and pans (Paula Dean)
7. Wallpaper master bathroom
8. Paint hallway bathroom and hang up mural
9. Keep the kitchen clean
10. Replace all burnt out light bulbs
11. Organize under the sink in the master bathroom
12. Clean out refrigerator once a month
13. Clean out the pantry
14. Donate old coats/jackets to Project Warmth
15. Organize drawers in kitchen
16. Re-organize red shelf in dining room
17. Clean out storage under stairs
18. Reorganize seasonal decorations
19. Get new tires (Elantra)
20. Keep car clean for at least a month (clean it first!)
21. Plant trees

Hobbies:
22. Finish wedding scrapbook
23. Make homemade birthday cards
24. Scrapbook for the baby at least 2-4 pages per month
25. Sew (by myself) baby’s 1st Halloween costume
26. Finish Whit’s stocking
27. Decorate the fireplace mantel
28. Make homemade Christmas gifts
29. Learn to pickle cucumbers
30. Learn to sew a zipper
31. Take a photography class
32. Take a cake decorating class
33. Start and finish baby’s Christmas stocking

Personal Enrichment:
34. Get a new hairstyle
35. Start photography 365
36. Keep a blog
37. Use the library more
38. Send birthday cards to every family member
39. Start/continue to use reusable shopping bags every time
40. Send Christmas treats to families
41. Make a compost pile
42. Make a rain barrel
43. Join a church
44. Frame Whit and Tenessa’s baby pictures and hang them in the hallway
45. Start Master’s Degree
46. Take Level II Orff Training
47. Read Chronicals of Narina

Entertainment:
48. Attend a local festival
49. Go to a pumpkin patch
50. Organize a Progressive Dinner
51. Have a fondue party
52. Go to a wine tasting party
53. Go to a dinner theater
54. Go on a picnic
55. Take a nature walk with Whit and baby

Baby:
56. Join a “story time” with baby
57. Buy an Air Purifier
58. Make baby food and freeze
59. Cloth diaper at least part time
60. Teach baby sign language
61. Read the Bradley Book
62. Give birth naturally (sort of!)

Music:
63. Learn to play a difficult piece on the piano
64. Practice piano at least once a week
65. Keep better records for piano lessons
66. Start hand bells/chimes at school
67. Log all piano books and put them in order
68. Paint piano drawers

Wellness:
69. Don’t go out to eat for a week
70. Don’t go out to eat for two weeks
71. Don’t go out to eat for a month
72. Drink only one soda a week for at least a month
73. Walk at least three times per week
74. Lose 25 pounds
75. Take trips to the park weekly (when baby is born and weather is nice)
76. Use up all shower gels and lotions before buying new
77. Participate in a Benefits walk

Cooking/Baking:
78. Make a dinner plan for the month
79. Bake a pie from scratch
80. Decorate baby’s 1st Birthday cake
81. Cook less from a box or frozen bag
82. Bake a cake from scratch
83. Use the cookbooks more
84. Use the vegetables from the garden to cook

Financial:
85. Pay off at least three credit cards
86. Pay off at least half of student loan (as of September 2009)
87. Keep a log of gas spending for four months
88. Get all bills automatically taken from bank
89. Start using coupons
90. Sell books on Amazon.com
91. Read Dave Ramsey’s book/information
92. Make a savings plan and stick to it
93. Borrow items from friends and family instead of insisting on buying new
94. Buy a camera
95. Pay off the Yaris
96. Have a yard sale
97. Start an IRA or CD type of savings

Travel:
98. Plan a summer vacation
99. Stay at a Bed and Breakfast
100. Go camping with baby
101. Use the cabin at the lake five times

Eat At "Mom's"!

Eat at "Mom's"!!!

Open 24 hours a day-- 7 days a week!

2 convenient locations!

FREE REFILLS!!


Okay, okay. I didn't make this up. It's a onesie I'd love to purchase one day... "Eat At Mom's"