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Operation Stay Young
So we are a month in to our New Years Resolutions or Goals. How are you doing? I’m feeling pretty good. Hubs bought me a pedometer, a basic Fit-Bit, for Christmas and it has been a wonderful motivator for me. It reminds me if I want to meet my goal by the end of the day I need to move. That may mean doing a little running in place while I fold laundry, having a mid-afternoon dance party in the kitchen with the kids (making sure I move my feet to keep those steps going) or just a couple extra jogs up and down our steps. For me it’s the…
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Simple Ways to Keep Household Chores Organized
I am not a clean freak. A clean bathroom is such a good feeling. Dumping the dirty water in the utility sink after washing the kitchen floors makes me smile. Crawling into bed at night with newly washed sheets is heavenly. But getting it all done. Such. A. Pain! Enter the power of Google Calendar (my preferred family-calendar). I use their simple Task interface to list the necessities. Then my must-dos are integrated with the family calendar as well as my weekly meal plan and it is all simple and easy to stay organized. Some things are done every 10 days, some things once a month and then some things even…
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A simple compliment and my heart smiles
Have you ever thought about how far a compliment can take someone? A couple of weeks ago my parents were visiting when one of them made the simple but genuine statement, “Leanne, your house is always so clean.”, and the other was quick to agree. Now let’s take a step back. From my perspective, my house is not clean. There are four boys (five including hubs). Weekends and evenings involve soccer, homework, Legos, Hot Wheels, running, jumping, playing. Although all of us are involved in one shape or form in keeping the house tidy (to the extent it can be) I am the cleaner. and cleaning is just not my thing. I love a clean…
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Girlfriends
Ah vacation … what is meant to be a great time to get away can be so very stressful. Especially those hours leading up to a trip. Packing the van for a family trip is my personal hell. Setting the expectation that my husband will help me when I want him to help me always leaves me… disappointed, frustrated, misunderstood. To say my husband works hard is an understatement. That I get. Let’s put it this way, vacation is scheduled to start today (like at 0800) and he is at work. There was nothing he could do about that fact. I have accepted that because flexibility is the name of the…
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The ‘busy-ness’ of Spring
Ah… Spring. A perfect adjective would be refreshing. We get out of the house. We start the garden. We clean off the deck. We pull out our soccer cleats, baseball gloves and running shorts. We pump up our bike tires, clean out our cars and hose off the outdoor dump trucks, bubble wands and kiddie pools. We open windows, smell the flowers, take long hikes. We start to fill the family calendar with all sorts of events. As military families we also might be looking at orders. We clean out our closets, get rid of the ‘extras’, plan for the future. We make last ditch moments to see the town we called home…
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“Mondays in My Garden”: Four Easy Ways to Save Money when starting your Garden
There are a few blogs that I just love. Household 6 Diva is one of them. Ann Marie is a down to earth Army spouse recently relocated from Germany to Texas and there are so many times that I think, “Wow, would we be good friends if our lives had ever crossed.” She started a series called “Mondays in My Garden”. Be sure to read her inaugural post here: Welcome to “Mondays in My Garden” Ah… my garden. Just the thought of it has my heart smiling. Yesterday it was 72 degrees out in NE Ohio. The back door was open all day. The front door was filled with sunshine. Smiles, laughs, giggles…
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Military Kids Website Also Helps Parents, Educators
Technology has come a long ways since I was a military-brat PCSing around the world in the 80s and 90s. I didn’t have to deal with year long deployments but I remember Dad being gone for six months at a time for training and schooling. Fast forward a ‘few years’ and I watched my husband head off to Iraq with the Ohio Army National Guard. I had a few print pamphlets and a couple of Internet articles I could share with teachers that weren’t accustomed to having military-children in their classroom but there wasn’t much more support then that.I am so glad to see our military families getting the support they need! The Defense Department…
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Small Business Saturday: November 24, 2012
I am really intrigued by this idea of “Small Business Saturday”. The premise is the Saturday after Thanksgiving you go to your local family-owned, small business stores to do your Christmas Shopping.I got this ‘chain email from my mother-in-law a couple weeks ago. Usually I immediately hit delete on chains. I get over 100 emails a day so the delete key is my friend. But this one caught my eye and hits right along the Small Business Saturday concept: As the holidays approach, the giant Asian factories are kicking into high gear to provide Americans with monstrous piles of cheaply produced goods — merchandise that has been produced at the expense…
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Frankenstorm and Gratitude
My friend, Ann Marie over at Household 6 Diva recently posted on Facebook this epiphany: There is always, always, always, always, always,something to be thankful for. #pinterestproverb We were really walloped by Frankenstorm Sandy. Folks in my area lost power in the storm on Monday, October 29th, and finally had it restored Sunday morning, November 4th. (I’m one of the lucky few to never have lost it.) Kids were out of school for ‘inclement weather’ (to say the least) for two, three and four days. Basements were flooded. Trees were down. Roads impassable. Yet, there were SO FEW posts on Facebook from my friends that were negative. A Hurricane and Gratitude? Can it be? Keep Reading…
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You Scream, I Scream …
I have a fun loving, head strong, wonderful two year old! As any mother may gush I think he is the best two year older this side of the Mississippi. However, he is a screamer. One of today’s many episodes happened in the library. Of all places. He’s also had ear piercing, atom splitting, dog-hiding under the pillow scream fits at the grocery store, in the kitchen, in the front yard, at the pool, on walks, in public restrooms. You name it, he’s screamed.The problem, usually? He can’t communicate. Sometimes as a mom it makes me feel better to just know why he is screaming. He may throw a fit because he wants…
