Wednesday, October 28, 2020

November Resolutions

Goals, to-do's; I sometimes think I might be the most dysfunctional person I know. I generally have a few million goals/ to-do's swirling around and fighting with each other in my head. Generally, as in at least 95% of the time every day. How can it be possible to need to address so many issues at all times?

This coming month there will be no less than a million goals swirling around up there but I've resolved to tackle just a handful in specified categories.

NOVEMBER RESOLUTIONS
Category 1.) Abe
-Work on gratitude
Okay, that's an entire blog post in itself. Can I do a quick synapsis... and go! 

My boy, growing so unbelievably fast has recently, or maybe not so recently been spending all of his time wanting. I'm not exaggerating. He watches maybe 15 to 30 minutes a day of youtube videos about Nerf guns, Legos, other random toys: scooters, hoverboards, oooh, can't forget the dog videos; he's constantly planning future pets. 15 to 30 minutes of youtube leads him to start dreaming and planning (both fantastic things) ALL DAY about how much money he'd need to save for which ever thing he's wanting most that day. What the time frame would be for acquiring said thing. When he's on an animal kick he's trying to decide which type of cat or dog would be best to start out with (when he's an adult and moves into his own place and gets his first pet). The problem is that he spends all of his free time and all of his head space dreaming. There's genuinely no gratitude for right now. And he makes himself crazy wanting, planning, dreaming. 

This month's "work on gratitude" plan includes:
-No youtube videos about toy stuff (or dogs or cats).
-Spending sometime each day consciously thinking and talking and doing some writing about things he's thankful and happy for RIGHT NOW.
-A bit less TV and more books.
-Purposed time playing with toys everyday. Yes, I am going to make him play with his toys.
-Have him train the dog, at least two new tricks
-And last but not least spending more quality time with him; going to the playground, doing puzzles, baking cookies, etc; Life gets so busy. He has TONS of stuff but it would do his little heart good to have more quality time.

Category 2.) Little Wren
-Get rid of baby potty
My baby is fully potty trained. No accidents, no naptime diaper, no longer needs reminders to go, but we still have the baby potty scooting around the living quarters with her. It's how we potty train. Judge away if you'd like but both my babies were potty trained almost fully at 20 months. It's going to take a little work on my part (MUCH less work than getting a 20 month old toddler potty trained) but I need to get rid of the baby potty. She's fully capable of using the regular one.

-Return three baby proofed areas back to normal.
It's not dangerous stuff like the cleaning supplies cabinet, more like, returning books to the front book case. Previously she would rip pages out of our books or totally shred them. And if not destroying them she would at least empty them all onto the floor (over and over and over). She's old enough now for these sorts of things to slowly return to normal. To clarify, she has her own book shelf filled with board books that she can access at all times.

Category 3.) Me
-Spending fast
Here we go again, back to the same old beast. The holidays are upon us. I am honestly not looking forward to Christmas expenses at all. I want to implement a serious spending fast like the good old days, at least for the rest of the year. Christmas presents will not be a part of the spending fast but that doesn't mean I intend to spend all willy nilly on Christmas either. 

Yesterday was the first time in a very long time that I really spent super creatively and it was so fun. I'm ready to spend a few months hyper focused on spending.

Yesterday I went to work with a $1.75 store coupon in my pocket. I grabbed a big handful of loose change from the change pile where my husband plops his loose change that he never uses. I brought my mug, a few bags of tea, and peanuts.

The first thing I did before ever clocking in was spend 99cents in change on a bag of m&ms for my little Wren who woke up when I was leaving and was crying franticly at my departure. I promised her m&ms upon my return (which calmed her down for my husband) and I knew that I needed to buy them so that I wouldn't forget, because for certain she would remember.

At my first break I jotted down a list of meals for the next two days:
Tues. Dinner :Cheese burgers with roasted sweet potato and onion (no necessary groceries)
Wed. breakfast: Bagels and cream cheese (check)
Wed. lunch: Alfredo on Rotini (check)
Wed. Dinner: Eggs and rice with peppers, broccoli, and onion -need rice and eggs
Thurs. breakfast: Eggs and Sausage (check)

My grocery list:
eggs $1.19
rice $1.59

I wasn't sure if I actually needed to buy eggs and I wasn't positive that we had rotini. I didn't have enough change in my pocket, combined with the coupon for both. The eggs were part a main meal and I was pretty sure we did have noodles so I chanced it. 

Unfortunately I have been having sugar problems this year (it's been boiled down to hypoglycemia). I started to feel a bit shaky with mild dizzy spells hitting. The mild dizzy with shaky is not too troubling but when full on vertigo hits at work it terrifying so I knew that I needed additional food. I ended up going to my car to dig up more change because I was determined to not use the bank card yesterday. I found enough to buy some Quaker rice cakes $1.69 which worked wonderfully at kicking the shaky dizzy feeling I'd been battling for about an hour.

I spent $5.46 yesterday.
$1.75 was the coupon
$3.71 loose change

I like that kind of spending day and I loved getting rid of so many pennies.
Today will be a good old fashioned NO SPEND. Even better.

Friday, October 16, 2020

Punk Pie Day

 



Last week Friday was a field trip day. We went to a really fun farm/ petting zoo with a ton of other homeschoolers and picked pumpkins from their pumpkin patch.




It's sort of become tradition to make pumpkin pie after we get home from the pumpkin patch. So both the kids have been asking if it's pie day everyday for the past week. This little one carried around her pumpkin all week asking for "punk pie."

We sliced the pumpkins in half, seeded, baked, and pureed them. Will roast the seeds later. We made pie crust from scratch. Baked it, then after mixing up the filling baked our punk pie. While it cooled we whipped up heavy whipping cream and wahla!



Hooray for our traditional punk pie day!!!








Tuesday, October 13, 2020

speak strength, live with honour

This year has been nothing if not absurd. I decided towards the end of last month that I was just done with it, done with the "chalk it up to 2020," done with the frustration, annoyances, overwhelmedness. I'm ready to make the most of what's left of an awful year. I am done with the muck!

I read the following quote in a book yesterday and I am ready to live this out to the fullest for the remainder of 2020, the most colorful year of my lifetime:




In January I wrote the following here on my blog:

New Year's Resolutions is a season. We fill the store with exercise equipment endcaps, weights, water bottles, yoga mats. The seasonal area (you know, where Holidays and garden time live) fills with vitamins, diet bars, protein shakes, the list goes on and on. The grocery side of the store runs ads and sales on "the healthy foods." It's tradition. People want to hope for a fresh start in January. Right? And the stores market to that. 
Not this year. I have the vast majority of my Valentines AND Easter displayers out right now. A few hit the floor before Christmas was over. The main aisles house a slew of Valentines items. The seasonal pad... can you guess what it's gone to now that the 90% off Christmas clearance has been stormed? GARDEN! Mind you, the Farmer's Almanac estimates our last frost date to be MAY 2. GARDEN? 
I noticed on facebook this month that almost no one was posting New Year's Resolution related things. I noticed that more people posted New Year's Resolution mocking memes and comments than that actually posted the fresh start ideas. Maybe my friends are just extra cynical. I can go with that. But the enormous store I work in too? Who decided that 2020 was the year that the New Year's Resolutions tradition dies?

Remembering this ponderance at the start of the year I have been thinking more and more, maybe a large portion of the population wasn't feeling the "new" vibe at the beginning of the year. By March, 2020 was like, "oh yeah, you think I'm nothing special, huh? Well, lookie here!!!"

I am going to try my darnedest for that fresh start right now. When it's time to say adieu to 2020 I will be the first and among the most eager to wave good bye. I will be all ready and waiting for the next fresh start. I will be happy to greet, with optimism and eagerness 2021. But for right now, I am ready to speak strength. I am ready to live with purpose and honour. I am ready to redeem 2020 and start fresh right here.


Another way of saying it (and also written in my journal):



 

Wednesday, October 7, 2020

Walked through it


One very positive thing that can be said for this wacky year is that my family got a whole lot of Vitamin D.



Between the stay at home orders (which, to clarify, instructed people that it was acceptable to go for walks), everything being shut down, and half of our favorite businesses closing down permanently we've gone for so many super long walks together this year it's unbelievable.




We live in a really nice beach town so walking around town for fun is really very enjoyable. We almost always walk from our house, down to Lake Michigan, and back through town. And for at least half the year there are fun little places that can cater to outside only business so an occasional ice cream, corn dog, or snow cone is an added bonus for the little ones.






One of my favorite things about this year's strangeness, encouraging us to walk about town TONS is that before the kiddos were born my husband and I went for really long walks or bike rides all the time.


This one was taken on a VERY hot day when we
were all melting, covering in sweat, almost didn't 
make it home. SOOOOOOOO hot!!!


2020 you have been a terror. I could say so many awful things about you. But try as you might there have been good things this year. So HA!