Lent season

The Lent season is upon us. I am feeling a bit out of sorts with what to give Combine this with my need to regain my house back from clutter and another bloggers post found here
http://www.littlelucylu.com/2011/03/40-bags-continued.html

So for lent I have made my own 40 bags in 40, it will be a daily lent project. So here is my list

1. Kitchen cabinet (the one with the tupperware)
2. The hallway linen closet
3. Dresser in my bedroom
4. Tv stand in my bedroom
5. My closet
6. Danielle's closet
7. Mikey's closet
8. junk drawers
9. drawers by window in kitchen
10. basement closet one
11. basement closet two
12. basement closet three
13. Yarn closet
14. Laundry room day one
15. Laundry room day two
16. Garage day one
17. Garage day two
18. Garage day three
19. Garage day four
20. Entry way day one
21. Entry way day two
22. Spice closet
23. book holder
24. pantry
25. mikey toys
26. danielle toys
27. scrap booking stash day one
28. scrap booking stash day two
29. Kitchen snack closet
30. Cleaning supplies
31. Yarn day one
32. yarn day two
33. refridgerator
34. gardening supplies
35. living room
36. baking supplies
37. bathroom drawers
38. bathroom drawers second room
39. husband's drawers
40. garage one last time


So here is my lofty list... thanks to Bec at Little Lucy Lu for the inspiration.

Time for something to change...

Well I have been in this weird mood, I am restless and feeling out of sorts.

At first I thought what is going on? Then I knew. This always happens to me when we change Mikey's meds or something along that line. Right now we are introducing a new medication that was hard for us to buy into.

The thing is when you have kids, you just want what is best for them. You protect them and want to make all the right choices, do all the best things.

Well having a baby that was in NICU for a while and then came home with a shopping list of problems, was hard. Not in the sense that you think though. It was hard because being a new mom, I had no idea what to do or believe. When you are meeting with doctors, specialist etc and they all have ideas and opinions, it is hard. I have a masters in education not in neurology or anything else. So you start down the path, you research and trust. You try and fail. Mikey has been on so many medications, I fight with our insurance on a regular basis (ironic that I work for the company too). I have learned to be a great medication giver, learned how to use feeding ng tubes, deal with ear tubes, hearing loss and three types of seizures.

Over the last nine years we have been on the road less traveled and it has been great and terrible. It has been a learning experience and sometimes a living experiment.

So last month when Mikey broke through his medication and he lost 7 pounds, his doctor decided time for a new path. We have added some more folks to our team and we were given some options. None of them easy. The medicine is a category we have not been on, that has terrible side effects. But if successful we can lose two other medications that he has been on for years.

But every time we are here, in this spot, I do this. I eat lots of bad foods and just hold everything in. I don't let myself acknowledge the sadness or how hard it is. But I need to. I can no longer be the one who holds it in and together. I need to find balance and that is something I have not been able to do in nine years. I think the worst part is that being a full time mom who does therapy, doctors and all the "normal" after school activities and working full time is where I start to bite off more than I can chew.

So this month's goal is to spend time with the planner, plan things better, make a schedule that works and figure out how to get it all done and find some time for me.

Feb 1...31 days since the new year

How are your New Year's resolutions doing? Notice I did not share mine this year.

Though I will state I am doing great.

My one and only goal was to quit smoking this year. Notice I did not say I started on the New year. That is too much pressure. My quit date was right after it and I have stuck to it. I am three weeks free of smoking and I feel great.

Well mostly. I have been sick with sinus and now have my first migraine ever.

Today is also the start of my 14 days of love in my house. I made cute mail boxes for my two kids and one for the hubster, and I have 14 days of treats planned.

I will post pictures tomorrow when I feel better.

Casey

Pinning dinner and other things....

I have found a new hobby of sorts...well to be honest it is not a hobby. It is becoming a little bit of an obsession...pinterest.com. It is a virtual pin board.

It is fun. You can pin anything you like up and it is great. It has been super useful for finding neat crafts to do, cakes to make and great recipes.http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif
http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif
Plus I have found great organizing tips online.

Tonight I made peperoni casserole that was great.

Also I made Chubby Hubby bars...which were to die for...


Proof is my kiddos are eating it:

Diapers

My best friend Monica is having a baby any minute. I have been trying to make cloth diapers like a mad woman... and my machine has been being a pain.

And my needle kept snapping

And oh I had never sewn with elastic.

So finally here is the first one:

So happy ....isn't that great.


casey

Working mom...or just a crazy mom?

Well as most of my family and friends who read this know, for two years when we first moved here to Duluth Mn from Miramar Fl 6 years ago, I stayed home. I went back to work when Mikey went to school, as finding daycare here for him was hard.

So whats the point you might ask ? Well since then I have become this weird version of myself, never having enough time to do it all or even come close. The first two years I struggled to find myself, I mean who was I? I have two beautiful children but I was not able to do the mom things I wanted to do. I also couldn't do the work things I wanted, I do not have teaching license here and because MN is so shttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifpecial, in order for me to have it I would have to do more school. The reason that was out is that I owe over 70 grand for the three degrees I currently don't use, there are not a whole lot of teaching jobs here and with working full time, I did not want to give up more time with my kids.

So I work in Corporate America, and it is okay. But the hard part for me is finding that balance. Getting dinner on the table when I might be working over fifty hours a week, or getting my kids to their after school activities on time, being okay with having to miss things like my daughter's girl scout installment because I have to work.

My biggest help in finding my balance is planning. This year I am using a new organization system. I bought the motivated mom system again

and I also found some additional pages that I just loved here: It is the dayplanner link


I printed them all out at office max and I am picking them today. Super exciting. I also bought a great mom calendar, I have always used the busy mom calendar but this year I went with a different one. I liked it because it came with magnets.

I am off to clean up the house and do my errands.

I am looking for a good recipe system, if you have one that makes your meal time easy, let me know.


Casey

Cookie Caper?

Well I baked again and I am having problems.

Not sure what is going on. When I baked my Christmas cookies they all came out flat and gross a little bit....okay a lot.

I checked everything I used and discovered that both my baking powder and baking soda had just expired.

So I bought new ones. WEll tonight I baked again, and while these are not as bad....they are not good.

Anyone know what I am doing wrong? I have never had this problem....the weird thing is as bad as they look, they taste good