New Year, New Me

It’s seems every year I like to start fresh.  But maybe I should reconsider starting my new year in August when the school year begins.  It would be different but it would make more sense for my lifestyle. 

But as always, the new year chimes in, and I vow to myself and to my family that I’m going to keep my new year’s resolutions this year.  I tried something new last year, and it worked for about 6 months.  I listed 12 things that I wanted to change.  Every month, I was going to “add” on to my list, and become a better person.  So, the first month was be a better wife—the next, be a better finaical keeper, and so on.  As each month continued, I would be a better “whatever” while continue being a better “whatever”.  And let’s not forget about my 101 things to do in 1001 days!

The problem with my list from last year (2010) was that some of the things I was wanted to become better at, I already was better at.  (Not bragging or anything).  But how do you become a better mother when you’ve only been a mother for 8 months?  I am constantly becoming a better teacher, because I’m always seeking out new practices and changing my teaching styles.

So this year, I’m doing the same thing, but I’m going to try and branch out a little more.  I’m thinking more of lifestyle changes and not “be a better builder” (what the heck was I thinking?!)  So here is my new list:

January—Keeping “Hotspots” cleaned and clear

February—Better record keeping of our budget and bills

March—Keeping the car cleaned and clear

April—Cooking with whole foods and making more healthy choices, learn new techniques for the kitchen

May—taking better care of myself, get in better health

June—Plan for the holidays! (shop, make gifts, wrap gifts?)

July—organize and clean

August—organize at school

September—become a better Christian

October—read for pleasure more

November—plan family fun days for December

December—enjoy my life with family and friends

Yea, yea, yea.  I know.  Another list. 

In addition to this crazy “become a better Tenessa” list that I’ve created, I also have a to-do list that’s a bit more specific.  Would you like to see it?  Of course you would!  Plus, even if you don’t, I’m typing it here so I remember where it is!! :)

• Spend 1 hour a week cleaning a DE-CLUTTERING my house (areas specific—later)
• Clean and organize the basement—this would include getting rid of crap and getting rid of boxes!
• Fixing the floor in the attic so we can store more CRAP up there.  Actually most of what I want to store is baby clothes and baby items.  I’m scared that by the time we actually get to the attic floor, I’ll be ready to have another baby! :)
• Start and KEEP up with Photo 365 for a FULL YEAR!  (read my other blog site for more information!!)
• eat less meat (thanks, Suzie)
• Read the Bible in a year

Okay, what’s your new year’s resolutions!?

101 Things in 1001 Days (Update IV)

Update:

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 (I did this, but still not happy... I want to make this tote rack for the garage)

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
25. Sew baby’s 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 McCoy'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 the symphony
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 or church
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 (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 two 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 (actually starting in January 2011)

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 (is that just plan or actually go on!?)
99. Stay at a Bed and Breakfast
100. Go camping with baby
101. Plan a trip on the Train

Okay, here is a list of the things that I have to complete (without all the crossed off stuff)-- Wow!  Only 47 things left to do!!!  Half way there!!!

1. Wallpaper master bathroom
2. Paint hallway bathroom and hang up mural
3. Keep the kitchen clean

4. Organize under the sink in the master bathroom

5. Reorganize seasonal decorations (I did this, but still not happy... I want to make this tote rack for the garage)

6. Keep car clean for at least a month (clean it first!)

7. Finish wedding scrapbook
8. Make homemade birthday cards
9. Scrapbook for the baby
10. Sew baby’s Halloween costume
11. Finish Whit’s stocking

12. Learn to pickle cucumbers
13. Learn to sew a zipper
14. Take a photography class
15. Take a cake decorating class
16. Start and finish McCoy's Christmas stocking

17. Send birthday cards to every family member

18. Make a rain barrel

19. Frame Whit and Tenessa’s baby pictures and hang them in the hallway
20. Start Master’s Degree

21. Read Chronicals of Narina

22. Attend a local festival

23. Organize a Progressive Dinner
24. Have a fondue party
25. Go to a wine tasting party

26. Join a “story time” with baby

27. Learn to play a difficult piece on the piano
28. Practice piano at least once a week

29. Log all piano books and put them in order
30. Paint piano drawers

31. Don’t go out to eat for a week
32. Don’t go out to eat for two weeks
33. Don’t go out to eat for a month
34. Drink only one soda a week for at least a month
35. Walk at least three times per week
36. Lose 25 pounds

37. Participate in a Benefits walk

38. Pay off at least two credit cards
39. Pay off at least half of student loan (as of September 2009)
40. Keep a log of gas spending for four months

41. Get all bills automatically taken from bank

42. Make a savings plan and stick to it

43. Pay off the Yaris

44. Start an IRA or CD type of savings
45. Plan a summer vacation (is that just plan or actually go on!?)

46. Stay at a Bed and Breakfast

47. Plan a trip on the Train

Bye-Bye Ba-Ba!!

This just in… it’s official!  McCoy is done with the bottle! 

This is wonderful news!  No more pumping.  No more pouring.  No more mixing.  No more labeling.  No more washing and cleaning.  No more finding random parts to bottles around the house.  No more space being taken up by ba-bas!  Yes, folks!  It’s true.  My big boy has moved on!

Everything bottle related will be removed from the kitchen-area in the next few days.  Most is already gone.  We began to phase him off the bottle around 11 months, but there was always some reason why he needed a bottle.  He was tired—he was sick—he was whiny—he was.  But slowly the bottles began to disappear from the cabinet.  First, I took all the 4 ounce bottles away (a long time ago, but it started the process).  He stopped taking bottles at daycare, so we needed less at home.  He was only getting one bottle a day (at night).  So we only needed about six bottles in the cabinet at one time.  And then he started going to bed without one.  And now, there will be NO bottles in the cabinet!  Last week I took the bottle warmer (although I never really used that much… Whit did though).  I even took the bottle dryer rack off the counter.

So we reach a milestone—Bye-Bye Ba-Ba!  We will not miss you!  (at least I won’t miss washing you all the time!!!)

I would say that it was complete by 13 months.  (although I’m writing this at 14 months.)

**I am still nursing though.  At least once a day (at night), but sometime two or three.

The Art of Music Making

Tonight I am reminded about the true reason I am a musician.  It is not because I love to sing kid songs and teach children the art of how music can sound if you practice hard enough.  It's about the commitment that that you make to the art of music making.  Tonight I sat in the Lyric Theater awaiting my turn to go on stage and I heard the sweet, rich sounds of true music.  Music that has been practiced on instruments that have been perfected by committed musicians who make this their way of life.  I forget that music can evolve and change each time you listen with enthusiastic ears.  This is the music that can bring tears to your eyes simply because the cymbal player played a tremolo that led to a crash while the strings play a chromatic scale with a splendid crescendo and the trumpets are double tonguing in the upper register so majestically.  This is what I forget about.  This is what singing "Kookaburra," and "Jingle Bells," and "I've Been Working on the Railroad," oftentimes replaces.  This heartfelt music that I heard tonight is why I became a musician.  Music is more than singing those silly songs and teach children to sing on pitch "So, Mi, So-So, Mi"!

This is out there, folks.  Music beyond the music room that I live in.  It makes me want to experience this again the way it is meant to be appreciated.  If you sit in a theater with your loved ones, and close your eyes, you will be taken to a place where there nothing can go wrong.  It is a place that everyone wants to be, and you can be there-- you just have to find it.

Happy Music Making to all my friends today.  I hope you find your inner song and sing like today is the last day to make beautiful music.  

Food Waste Wednesday

This was another bad week.  I am ashamed to say that we just don’t eat leftovers.  I know I should, but I don’t want them again for lunch—most of the time.  Sometimes when Dad or Mom cooks a great meal, I love eating it over and over again.  But normally, when I cook, eh, it’s just okay.  So here is what was wasted this week:

• heavy whipping cream
• 5 cup salad (sorry, Mom!)
• Homemade chicken noodle soup
• Graduate meals (two)
• Chicken and Noodles
• Leftovers from Luigi’s
• Half a Dr. Pepper (sigh, Whit)
• milk
• pie
• half a can of dog food

 

Yup, I suck.

Tenessa's Christmas Wish List 2010

Tenessa's Christmas List 2010:

• Light Scoop
• Lightroom photo program
• Money towards getting my External Hard Drive fixed (I think the total will be more than $200!)
• Cake Decorating Classes
• At Joann's 
• The Culinary Center of Kansas City
• Actually, the more I browse the site of The Culinary Center of Kansas City, the more I want a gift certificate there!  It looks like so much fun!  I would love to take some classes there, maybe not just cake decorating but also cooking too. (Sorry, Codi, I stole your idea!  But maybe we can go together!!!)
• Burt's Bees REGULAR chap stick, in a tube (not tinted, or honey)
• Gift Cards
• Children's Orchard
• Wal-Mart
• Khol's
• JC Penny's
• Target
• Gift Cards for Restaurants
• On the Border
• Culver's
• Red Robin
• Kansas City Improv Theater tickets or Sanford and Sons Tickets
• Family Fun Magazine subscription (one year or two years is even better!)