Balancing Act...

The issues with blogging when you are a full-time mom to three active kids is time! When do I have time to sit down and type out a blog entry?

I know, there are those out there that would block out some time on the weekend and write four or five entries and then just schedule them to post throughout the week. I have never done that. I take that back. I had one post that I wanted to show up on a birthday, and I scheduled it to post that day, but that was one time. I just don't like the idea of blogging ahead and then scheduling because I am sure I would forget to go back when those were done and do more.

I love the idea of writing daily as things come to me, but the time to do that is little and far between! It seems like something is going on every night of the week, and after school and during the day, and just anytime you could think of!

Now, I am not complaining, because you know that I love my kids, and they are so important to me. I wouldn't want to deprive them of any of the things they are doing that takes up my time, it is just a matter of craving out a little bit of "mommy" time somewhere in the day. At least I was able to crave a little out today...now off to pick Maeve up from school early so she can go to Peter Pan practice, then a kindergarten celebration tonight for Molly after school.

We have an older home with the small closets, so twice a year I have to do the clothing switch. Since I have been home recovering, I have been working on it, but just a little at a time.

I started in Tiernan's room, because well, being a boy he had the least to switch, in fact I found there was nothing to switch, but I did clean out the old clothes that no longer fit him and got things looking nice in his room.

I then moved to the girls room. This takes some time. I had to go through everything, getting rid of what no longer fit, passing things down from Maeve to Molly, pulling the summer stuff from last year out of storage and seeing what fit who this year, then putting the jeans, sweaters and other winter wear away, but only stuff that fit. It took me awhile, but I have that looking good. The girls have some pants put aways for the fall, and they have some summer clothes, although Molly has more because Maeve outgrew her stuff and passed it down to Molly, now I have to find new stuff for Maeve.

What is funny is that it feels weird to go to the store and only buy for one kid. I used to think that I needed to bring home equal amounts for each child, but I now realize that they grew at different rates, and this is a good thing. Right now I only have to get stuff for Maeve, and then if a few weeks or months I'll need to get for another. This breaks up the cost of clothing the kids nicely, and makes it easier on the budget.

Today I worked on my room. That is probably the biggest undertaking! I have work clothes, play clothes and church clothes, and so I had to go through the winter stuff, and anything that I did not wear this past year went into the Goodwill pile. I am not going to keep holding onto stuff, just because I think I might wear it, or something. I got all my winter stuff packed away and the summer stuff out, and that feels so good.

Over all, while I have been doing this bi-annual clothing switch, I have taken five garbage bags of stuff to Goodwill already and I have another two bags to go next trip. That is seven bags altogether. I know, I can hear you all yelling "yard sale" but you know what? I tried that last year, and I ended up with more stuff left over than I had to begin with! How is that you ask? Well, when my mother-in-law found out I was having the sale, she brought over a boat load of stuff, so when the sale was over, I had more stuff than I started with, and it all stayed at my house. Yep, everything my mother-in-law brought over that didn't sell, all got left in my basement! Not doing it again! It was way too much work for way too little reward, I'll just take it to Goodwill and write it off on taxes next year.

HGTV Green Home Sweepstakes

Anyone else love HGTV as much as I do? If the tv is on, and the kids aren't in front of it that is, I have either HGTV or DIY on. If you watch then you know that through June 4th you can register to win the HGTV Green Home.

http://www.hgtv.com/hgtv-green-home-2010-tour/package/index.html

That is the link to a tour of the home. Now, I would LOVE to win a Green Home, the solar panels are probably my favorite. I have wanted solar panels on a house for years now! And so of course I have entered, but you know the likelihood that I win is slim to none, which is probably a good thing.
I was looking at the house yesterday, and I realized that for this nice big home, it only has TWO bedrooms. Granted that one is a hugh master suite, but that only leaves one other bedroom, listed on the tour as the kids bedroom. Well I can tell you right now that my three kids would refuse to have to share one bedroom, and who would want them to!
You would think, that for such a large house, and all the things they are talking about in the home, it would have more than two bedrroms. Although there is a sitting room off the upstairs that I guess could beturned into a third bedroom if you needed it to be.

Oh well, it's fun to enter the contests, and fun to dream about a luxury green home, but it just wouldn't fit my family, so time to come back to reality and get on with the laundry. Oh, what I wouldn't give for those new big load washer and dryers, and a dishwasher!! Maybe in another life!

It has been a wild month. It rained forever and a day, pretty much all the month so far, until the last couple days, now the sun is out and it is looking nice.

Earlier in the month it was so cold, the kids have been having to wear sweatshirts and such to school, then all the sudden overnight the temperature has risen, and it is mid-summer like right now!

What is up with the weather? It is not just this month either, it seems like all year has been messed up. We never have snow days anymore. I remember when I was in school there was snow, but anymore none. This year we had EIGHT snow days! That never happens around here anymore.

Then just as spring came along, it got really hot, for about three days, then back to freezing, then hot, then back to freezing. It has been one wickedly weird year for weather!

Sunny Sunday Afternoon

It is a beautiful, sunny Sunday afternoon here in the MidWest. After almost a whole month of rain, it is so good to see the sun.
My daughter and I headed out to the yard to plant some marigold around the new pin-oak tree that she got. All the third graders in her school were given a pin-oak tree on earth day, and we planted it in the yard. It needs lost of water, so we planted in down in the "swampy" part of the yard, the part that seems to hold water when it rains, and this is suppose to be good for the tree according to the information they sent home with it.
Today we went out, and planted some marigolds around the tree, added some potting soil to the ground around the tree, and made sure it looked nice, then watered it with some miracle gro water and here's to hoping that it does ok.
Since we were out, we went down to the mailbox and planted some Zinnas around the mailbox. Hoping that makes the place look a little more like we care about the yard.
We have such a slope from the top, or left side of the property, looking from the street to the bottom or right side of the property. It would probably look good if we terraced it out of something, but it is so hard to figure out what to do with the slope.
We haven't done much with the yard since we bought the house in 2001, although we have the lawn grown in to a lush thick yard, it did have a number of bare sopts throughout the front yard, and we have planted a few things, but not a whole lot. Although I would love to do more, I always stop myself because I think, well if we do this or that remodel that we are talking about we would have to lose whatever I was planning in the yard, and so I stop myself. Here we have been in the house almost 9 years and haven't done a single remodling project, although they are all LONG overdue. So this year, I think I am just going to go ahead and do what I want in the yard, and if we do remodel, oh well, I can move it I am sure.

Excuses for not blogging...

Another excuse for my lack of blogging recently would have to be Facebook.

Now, don't get me wrong, I love my Facebook. I have found and reconnected with a number of friends from high school, caught up on their lives and children, and even a few grandchildren, and I love it. I will never give up my Facebook all together, but I have found that I go through cycles on it, with the games.

Yep, the games. I get caught up in a game and then I spend all my time playing it and I don't get my work done or blogging or writing or anything else. Then I will cycle through were I get bored with the games, and get back to regular life and blogging and working. Of course, I said it was a cycle, so I get hooked on them again, then off then on again, and around and around we go, where it stops no one knows.
At the moment, since I am home, I am not playing the games as much, which seems opposite, I should be playing more since I have the time, but at the moment I am more into figuring out a do-able schedule that works so that I can get what I need to done during the day, play a few games, and still have time to blog and review.
Being a stay-at-home mom again, even if I am recovering from surgery, is a joy and a blessing to me, and I love being home, but if I spend all my time on the computer and don't get any of my work done, then it is not working out for the family. That is my mind-set, finding a way to balance the rerecation of the games, with the chores and other things that I need to do. And yes, writing, whether it be blogging or writing reviews of products and books, is something that I really must do every day. I find that when I devote time to writing I am a much happier person, so I need to find the time to write each day, but still do all my work around the house, and then some relaxing time with the games.

It is still a work in progress, but I am getting there! Isn't life a long work in progress? I don't think we ever truly get it figured out until the end, and then there is no way to change anything. That's ok, I am living a learning from the choices that I have made so far, and the choices that I will continue to make, and what I learn from them is what will make me into the person I am and the person I will continue to be.

Peace and Love to you all!

Car Insurance

Car Insurance

If you have been following my blog, you will remember that I recently had surgery. To do that meant that I had to take a leave of absence from my job at the school. What that in turns means, we are living on one salary at the moment. It can be a scary thing, and so I have been doing alot of research and comparasions.

One place that I thought we might be able to save money was on car insurance, but where to start. We have all seen the commericals on tv, but I went to this website:
Car Insurance
and found a great resource. The website allows you to get quotes from different insurances, which a number of other sites will do also, but my favorite thing about this site, the information.

On the main page you get definations and explanations of all kinds of insurance terms, you know those ones that you have no idea what means and they can effect the price you pay for insurance greatly. Things like liablitity policy, collision coverage, comprehensive coverage, theft policies, and no fault policies (which is not available in my state, but is available in 12 other states). I had never even heard of no fault policies, and being that they are no available in my state that is probably why, but it was still neat to read about them and whay they offer.

I was impressed with this site. If you are looking to cut some cost in your budget, check it out. If you do, leave me a comment and let me know what you think!!

CarInsurance