What are your habits?

.:HAULT!:. If you are a first time reader - please read my "I'm starting a blog...say wha?!" post for some background on my blogging philosophy :)

This week, in my leadership class I teach, the students are delivering presentations on "The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Teens". If you have never read this book, or any of the "habits" books, I highly suggest you think about picking one up. The teen version literally changed my way of thinking and life pretty much, as a young adult. It lays it out straight - do x,y,z and you will find success. I love when life comes with instructions - it's awesome!

There is a version of the "habits" entitled "7 Habits of Highly Effective Families" and for the next couple of blogs, I'd like to take you through my journey of my husband and I reading this...together. Ha! This will be interesting for sure :)

So, we starting reading this together before my little Princess (she's 6 months old tomorrow ::tear:: actually, I'm really not that sad about this milestone - I'm actually really glad lol. 6 months old is a glorious age...the screaming fits have diminished, no more nursing (praise The Lord - for real...), all I have to do is look at her funny and she laughs and giggles. 6 months - that's where it's at, I'm telling ya!)

...was born and we made it through the first two habits (throw us a partay - we rock!). Embarrassing, I know. Anyways, in doing this lesson with my students, I've been thinking introspectively about carrying this over to my own life - imagine that, actually practice what I preach?!

I love the "habits" concepts because of what "habit" actually means. The first poem in the teen version explains this quite clearly...

The Habit Poem:

I am your constant companion.

I am your greatest helper or heaviest burden.

I will push you onward or drag you down to failure.

I am completely at your command.

Half of the things you do you might as well turn over to me and I will do them - quickly and correctly.

I am easily managed - you must be firm with me.

Show me exactly how you want something done and after a few lessons, I will do it automatically.

I am the servant of great people, and alas, of all failures as well.

Those who are great, I have made great.

Those who are failures, I have made failures.

I am not a machine though

I work with the precision of a machine plus the intelligence of a person.

You may run me for profit or run me for ruin - it makes no difference to me.

Take me, train me, be firm with me, and I will place the world at your feet.

Be easy with me and I will destroy you.

Who am I?

I am Habit.

It's totally true. The things we do day after day, time after time - our habits - completely make up who we are. Whether they're good habits or bad habits, they are apart of us and they are things that we do without thinking about them. For example, it is a habit of mine to hold open doors - like for an obnoxious amount of time. I hold open doors for guys, girls, children, whoever. It is a habit of mine to say bless you - even when I'm in a lecture hall or conference full of hundreds of people. It is also a habit of mine to lean entirely too much on what other people think of me - I worry so much about how others perceive me and my actions that it sometimes inhibits me from doing something I know is right. This blog for example, I have analyzed every word over and over again in my head wondering "what if __________ saw this, would they think less of me?" When really, I should just take comfort in the fact that I am doing something for me. The glorious thing about habits, however, is that they too are changeable. We control our habits. End. Of. Story. This leads me into another thought...

I keep coming back to this vital question in a lot of aspects of my life - when did doing what you are "supposed" to be doing or just enough become "good" and acceptable? Friends, family, job, school, parenting - when did it become acceptable for simply being in the same room as someone count as "spending time together", when did standing in front of a classroom reading straight from a power point you did nothing to create become "your part of the project", when did it become ok to guarantee your buddy a job, even though they may not be qualified and many others are, why can't we just tell people the truth about themselves, plain and simple without all the wrath that comes with it, when did the television become the babysitter, when did a "good" friend become the person who messages you the most on Facebook and why on earth is it now considered "good" and acceptable to "just be that way"? Where's the "go above and beyond", where's the "time is too precious to waste"? (I have soooo many thoughts on the time issue - especially after reading the first book club book. Can't wait to share it with you once we talk about it in "M" club ☺)

The first habit in the "habit" books I have read addresses this question in a lot of ways... "Be Proactive." It's my favorite habit, so much so that I am going to re-read it and share with you my thoughts...come back and check it out :)

Y'all come back now, ya hear?! (Mayyyyybe. Not.)

Makin' baby's...

Makin' baby's food that is...ha ha, suckers...

::HAULT:: if you are a first time visitor, you should read my "I'm starting a blog...say wha?!" post in order to know and understand my blog philosophy ☺ you may proceed...

In my half night home tonight I realized that little Miss Kinley Princess (yes, we call her Princess. Yes, I realize this is going to cause a world of problems at some point in our lives, but right now, she's just so cute and sweet and I can't help it. ::Insert childish tone of voice:: Brent started it!) was going to be out of baby food by the end of the week, which is not good for a variety of reasons. 1) my only full night home was yesterday and 2) tonight was the closest thing to a full night I was going to have home (got home around 5:30, after dinner, Carter puking for the first time because he ate too fast (gross I know, and very, very weird. I knew he was ok because he proceed to literally RUN around the house naked for the rest of the evening, pushing Kinley in the walker and crashing his cars) therefore needing a bath, and a load of laundry in the washer because of the puking, it was not until around 7:00 that I actually realized Princess was running out of food...) and 3) the rest of the week is full of running around like cray cray. Meaning I had a SHORT window of time before Tarter Sauce needed to go to bed - myself as well.

Luckily I have (almost) perfected making said baby food in approximately 1 hour!! Woo hoo!! Tonight, from about 7:15-8:15 I produced about 95 oz of baby food, which will feed Princess for about 20ish days.

Here's what I do...

::Warning - I am a mess maker. I like to do things fast and throw as much of the mess away as possible.::

I use store brand canned or frozen foods mostly. I use fresh bananas and sweet potatoes too. I have made applesauce, but it is cheaper and a whole lot less time consuming to just buy the applesauce. Always check the labels though...

I had the husband buy sweet potatoes one time. He got candied yams in syrup from the can - just make sure there isn't anything in there you don't want your little princess to have. Ya...speaking of the husband. Here's his only job while I'm doing the food prep and clean up...

You would think he would be kissing the ground I walk on for all this mulah I'm saving us, but nnnnoooo..... Anyways, back to the food. I have no patience, so I cook my veggies and fruits and meats in a little covered dish in the microwave for about 3-5 minutes, like so...

Pop that stuff in the food processor...

I usually will chop it for a full minute or two depending on the item. Also, I add oatmeal cereal if it needs thickened.

Sounds delish right - green beans and oatmeal. Yuuuuumm. But Princess likes it ☺so thanks to my bestie, Kskank, I found these little gems at the Dolla (holla) Tree (10 for a $1 - don't mind if I do)....

I use the cheapo "bread storage bags" to pour the food into the cups...

Eeww...

Blah. Hey, whatever, it works ☺and I even got cute cups for when we go out in public he he...

Look...I even made sure the time was in the background so you'd believe me! Each cup is about a 2 oz serving and my little (almost) 6 month old Princess eats about 4 - 5 of these a day (2 at lunch and 3 at dinner). My kids looooove their baby food. They both really started filling out when I gave them baby food. Crazy kids. Oh ya, with Carter I did the ice cube tray thing and I do use it for any food that won't fit in the cups this time around. Looks like poopsicles....

I like the cups better because its easier storage...(don't judge me, but I still have frozen sweet potatoes stuck to the top of my freezer from strategically trying to stack ice cube trays with Carter. He's two and a half. Whoops...)

And it's much easier for grab and go. No need to pop out the cubes, find the bowl, lid and spoon - it's mostly all right there! Awesome!!

Ps. Sometimes I use frozen bananas. If you have bananas around the house that are ripening at a pace you do not like, throw them in the freezer. You can use them for baby food or breads or whatever really. They can even be a substitute for eggs! Weird...

Ok, I think that's it ☺

May the force be with you....(nope, though I do LOVE me some Star Wars)...

A solution to annoying children!

::HAULT:: if you are a first time visitor, you should read my "I'm starting a blog...say wha?!" post in order to know and understand my blog philosophy ☺ you may proceed...

So, I have been brainstorming ways to keep my oldest entertained and essentially not as annoying.

Here is what I have come up with....Activity basket!!

Took about a total of 3-4 hours to shop and put everything together. My bill at the dollar tree was $52 for everything, pretty good deal I think!

I put each activity in a gallon size plastic ziplock bag and have it ready to just pull out and go. It'll be a fun little thing to do just once or twice a day and hopefully he will start looking forward to it.

Rules of the basket:

Everything has to be put back in the bag with the instruction card. It'll lose it's novelty if all the pieces and parts are just sitting out and that makes your life harder. This basket is supposed to make it easier!

With a consumable activity, once the activity is complete, keep the bag and the card in there until you can replace it.

Put everything needed for the activity in the bag. You don't want to be hunting for those crayons you know you have somewhere...

And that's it! Enjoy!

Ps. If anyone would really, really like one, but knows they won't do it themselves, email me at crpalsgrove@gmail.com and we can work something out that I can make one for you :)

Bling bling!! (Nope, still not it...)

How to be a Superhero!

::HAULT:: if you are a first time visitor, you should read my "I'm starting a blog...say wha?!" post in order to know and understand my blog philosophy ☺ you may proceed...

You know that question you'll get sometimes in a random game or a weird session of twenty questions that's like "if you could have any superpower, what would it be?" And most people say the obvious...flying, X-ray vision, super strength, ability to eat a footlong in a single gulp (not common? Oh, my bad...)?

Well, I think I have finally perfected my answer: I would like a super memory.

There are soooooo many cool things that have happened or some minor detail somewhere that I have completely forgotten about. You ever look at a random pic of yourself and you're all like "I WENT TO DISNEYLAND WHEN I WAS 3?!?!?! Why in the hell didn't you take me when I COULD ACTUALLY REMEMBER IT?!"?

Ya, I would pick a super memory. My mom or my friends, or even Brent will be like, "remember when I told you ___________ like 3 seconds ago?" And I'm totally like "no." No faster way to piss a person off than that...try it ☺☺of course, if Brent (my DH - Dear Husband (see more initialismy thingys...)) argues that he told me, my obvious answer is "I WOULD HAVE REMEMBERED YOU TELLING ME THAT, IM NOT AN IDIOT" mwahahaha. Secrets out now I guess though....

Now, back to the topic at hand. So, I had an "oh crap" moment when I was about to have DD (dear daughter - I dunno who came up with these, but I don't think "dear" was the best adjective for describing these people). I really couldn't remember much about DS (dear son) and his arrival into the world, let alone his 2nd year of life. (His first year was pretty much covered, had a sweet scrapbook, I can post that some other time if I feel so moved.) Therefore, in order for myself and more importantly, my kids to have some insight into what their childhood was like, I began journals.

No, not fancy journals with pages and page of entries - just simple dates and memories. I originally started in paper journals (three bucks from Big Lots, holla!) for each, but I got an awesome Christmas present this year (iPad!! I was totally shocked. I think Brent (husband) had ulterior motives...) and decided to move my journal electronically. But, there is something about having something handwritten, especially from your momma, so I found this cool app called Paper (no I am not getting paid, or any royalties at all. It would be waaaay cooler if I was though....) to continue journaling to my kids.

Check it out, you won't regret it ☺ your kids will definitely (eventually) think you are a super hero.

Peace out (don't think I like this sign off...)

Meet the MILFs...

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Moms Investing in Literature, Family and friends...

::HAULT:: if you are a first time visitor, you should read my "I'm starting a blog...say wha?!" post in order to know and understand my blog philosophy ☺ you may proceed...

The heart and soul as to why I actually began this blog.

::insert somewhat sappy story here::

So, after having my second child (McKinley Jo - a girl, not what I was expecting, so different than my first, a boy - his name is Carter William. He's 2 - they have the same birthday. Somewhat on purpose. Oh, we have Presidents names picked out for our kids - adorable and clever, I know.) I entered into what I like to call, "the Milk Ages". Kinda like the "Dark Ages". But not. Meaning, I entered a time in my life where I was totally out of sorts. No one quite prepares you for a second child. I never found a good book to help me through that drastic change. My good friends were busy with their own children and my family was busy helping with my oldest. What about me? What about this new baby?

There was lot of support and books and generally great "warm, fuzzies" about having your (my) first child. Everyone is so excited for you, there are so many helping hands and generally everyone wants to support you in your new endeavor. Then the second (or third or fourth, I'm assuming) one comes, and people (myself included) assume you're good to go, you've already done this and you are just gonna do your thing. Meanwhile, you're freaking out (again) because God has this funny way of erasing a woman's memory - like pretty much entirely - of pregnancy, child birth and those first few, agonizing months of their life. Or it may be the sleep deprivation that erases your memory - none the less, regardless of it being the second (or third, or fourth) go around, you (I'm really speaking for myself here...) still don't know what the heck you are doing exactly. Except this time, there aren't as many visitors or helping hands or great gifts - they're all either busy with your oldest or their own. At least, that is what I encountered.

::Here begins controversial personal opinions and may be TMI (too much information) for some of you. You have been warned.::

"The Milk Ages" for me were full of just that - milk. I am an advocate of breastfeeding. I think it is the best possible way to bond with your baby and to nourish them for the first few month of their lives. I am a "first 6 months" person - and I would love, love, love to talk more about breastfeeding more with any of you if you'd like. But the reason I bring up breastfeeding is that, for me, the second time around, it was a very lonely experience. It automatically made me the person to primarily care for the baby - meaning someone else had to take care of my oldest during those feeding adventures.

To be absolutely honest - I am not a "I looked at my baby the moment he/she was born and knew I would throw myself in front of a truck for them" mom. It took me a little while to fall deeply, passionately in love with my children. I say this because, ::WARNING its about to get gross...:: here I was, a bleeding, hormonal, mess feeling like a ridiculous fatty who had to feed this baby every three hours in agonizing pain while someone else got to play with my fun, energetic, sweet two year old - who is so freaking cool because of all the work I put in by the way - and I MISSED him. Everyone else all around me was having the fun. I was having the bleeding nipples and no sleep. This did not bode well with me at all. I like having the fun. I like being the center of the fun. Where was my fun?!

Then, I returned to work. I returned to work about a month earlier than I did with my first. I returned to work amidst, arguably, the busiest time of my year. Now, I am an Ag teacher. If you do not know what that is, lets just say, I teach 115 8th-12th grade students of the business and production aspects of agriculture. You know, the industry that feeds you, keeps you alive. With that I am an FFA advisor. If I include planning time, I work an average of 55-60 hours any given week. It is nuts. I essentially have 117 children (you know, 2 of my own, 115 work kids) to care for and nurture. Crazy does not even begin to describe my profession. Google FFA, it is an amazing youth organization. It changed my life as a young adult.

Anywhoo, crazy busy at work, pumping any free minute I can, running around like a chicken with my head cut off for the little time I was home, and watching everyone else having my fun - suuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuucked. Like for reals. So, I created my own fun. It's called the Moms Investing in Literature, Friends and family club and if you put together the capitalized letters in the name of our club - it will tell you a lot about it 😳

We meet tomorrow morning - I can't wait ☺ I will let you know how it goes .... Here's how I invited the members through email....

Hello ladies! You are receiving this email because you are someone I truly value in my life! Keep reading....

So, after three weeks home and time to actually think and have intelligent conversation with some good friends, it has been decided that what some of us are missing in our lives (and by some of us, I really just mean me, so humor me here...) is a chance to have more rich conversation and meaningful "mom" time in our (again, I'm really just speaking for myself here, but maybe you are in my boat too...lol) lives.

Thus, an idea was born. Lets start a book club!! Woo hoo!! (I wish I cold add sound effects here!!! Maybe my exclamations will help you imagine my excitement more!!!) ok, I know that sounds incredibly dorky, and you're probably thinking "a book club, when in the hell am I going to have time to read a book?!" or even "spend more time with these crazy ladies? Why would I even consider that?" If you are thinking the first thing, I have an answer, if its the second thing, you suck and I don't want you in my book club any more >:( (He he...)

So, here's what I am thinking - I do not, repeat DO NOT, want this to be some stressful thing that you are freaking about about planning, or getting your book read or whatever. That is the cardinal rule of this book club (the unveiling of the name of this book club will be coming soon in this email...get pumped!!!! (No, not a boob pump ladies...) more exclamations!!!!!) therefore, the thought is that everyone picks a book they are interested in reading. It can be WHATEVER YOU LIKE - funny, romantic, helpful, pretty, cooking, whatever. I do think we should stay around the 400 page mark (like a range of 300-500 pages for my rule followers/details people here ::cough:: AMELIA MORAN ::cough:: so yes, that book that is 502 or 297 pages I think would still be acceptable) xoxo

The whole point of this group is to...

1) get out of the house WITHOUT CHILDREN (unless we deem a play date acceptable - which I think would be great occasionally!! Exclamations!!). On this rule I deem it necessary to say that no jeans or exceptionally styled hair is allowed. You will receive one too dressy outfit/hair warning, and then you will be kicked out if you are a repeat offender ;) or I will punch you and that will be that. In bouncing this idea around with Amy, we think that a standing 9:00am Saturday morning time would be perfect to meet and talk about what we've read over coffee/breakfast at a place of your choosing. I think meeting once a month is totally doable and will hopefully become something we all look forward to doing :) I would think that 2 hours is a good amount of time, giving you a chance to maybe run some errands and head home in time for lunch (and naps - woo hoo!!!)

2) expand our interests and knowledge - there's a lot of cool, fun, good stuff out there that we may not even know about. Obviously, we are all very different people and going to pick different things, which is kind of the point - step outside our comfort zone, shake it up a little!! (More exclamations!!!!)

3) require ourselves to have some "me" time. This is where I would like to explain why you, YOU have been chosen to receive a ticket into this group. Because, you are a mom, or going to be a mom, or pretty much are already a mom to some pretty amazing children. Children that are obviously so amazing because YOU give them A LOT of your awesomeness. Like probably 75% of your awesomeness, meaning you only have 25% of your own awesomeness left for yourself because enough are GIVING IT AWAY. These figures do not even account for the amount of awesome that your husband sucks out of you!!! (Meaningful exclamations!!!!) ;) sometimes it's nice to just do something to better yourself. That actually increases the amount of awesome you have to give, meaning everyone around you will become more awesome by you being apart of this group. These books are a reason for us to chisel out some precious time for ourselves and our club can be about more than just what we read, but about supporting each other in our new lives we are embarking on as moms (and moms of moms, and almost moms, and might as well be moms) :)

So what do you think?!?! I'm really hoping that you are in :) I value your friendship, experience, opinions and general pleasant company and would really like to see more of you. Not to mention I would love for all of you to get to know each other - you don't realize how awesome you guys are!

Here's how it will play out if you decide to join....

I would like the first official meeting of the (I'm going to introduce the name of the club now......

M oms
I nvesting in
L iterature
F amily and friends
Club

If you have not yet understood why this play on words is so funny, please google Urban Dictionary and type in "MILF". You will be in for a treat :) Aka the "M" club when we have to be semi appropriate (shout out to Amelia for the hilarious name!!) more exclamations!!!!!!!!! He he :)

....to be this Saturday at Barnes and Noble at 9:00 am for coffee and to choose our books for our months. From there we can set the real schedule with our real books :)

This is your one time invite to be a member of the MILFs. I sincerely hope you do - reply all to this email if you're in :)


Funny, right?! I think I will end up with some good blog material from it at the very least 😉

(I'm trying to think of a cool way to end my posts. Any ideas?) 👍

I'm starting a blog...say wha?!

Ok, I know what you are thinking. If I have time to write a blog, I must be a SAHM (that means Stay At Home Mom for all of you WOHM's, which means Work Out of Home Mom's) or at least a WAHM (which means Work At Home Mom...it took me a loooooong time to get this general blog lingo. There are SO many other abbreviations, anagrams, intitialisms, or whatever the hell they're called - I don't know I am NOT an English major - in the blogging/internet world. I will do my best to introduce you to them and define them for you. Yes, I know, I rock. I also do not have great grammar or spelling. Deal with it. (Ok, so I wish I could be that person that does actually end a sentence with "Deal with it." but, I'm not, so......) Please.) (oh, I also talk/write with a lot of side notes/parenthesis....sorry...) or some combination of the SAHM and WAHM worlds.

Nope. Not at all. And if anything, in my reading of blogs, books, etc. I have found that the authors of most (not all, MOST...let the whining comments to this post begin...) have been. I get that. Now, I need something I can relate to. I have yet to find that perfect voice, that perfect blog or book that helps me through my thoughts and reinforces that I, a FULL-TIME (actually MORE than full-time a lot of times) WOHM, am doing the right things, enriching my kids lives, along with being the generally good person and teacher I want to be.

So, this is it. I'm going to do it. I am going to be my own voice. I am going to put myself out there for all of my friends and family to see, so that maybe, just MAYBE, I can find some other Moms, Moms of Moms, Aunts, Uncles, Dads, whoever (ok, let's be honest, Dads, Uncles?.....bahahaha.....ok, so maybe a few will come out of the woodwork) that are experiencing the same aspects of life that I am. Isn't that what life is all about....people? Connecting with people, learning from each other and generally adding to the quality of life of each other?? I think so....

Therefore, in this, my first post, I am going to be 100% honest (this is actually a little scary for me) and here are the rules of reading my blog:

1) I am a terribly sarcastic, somewhat cynical writer. There WILL be some cuss words (I really, REALLY wish I could put emoticons in this. Maybe, I will find a way....for anyone who doesn't know, an emoticon is a cute little picture, typically of a face, that is the same size as the text.) though, I am not a huge fan of them (the cuss words, not emoticons, I love emoticons!) sometimes it IS entirely appropriate. Don't think less of me, just appreciate the emotion that particular choice of word(s) brings to the sentence.

2) I will be posting how I do things in my life. If you don't care how I do things in my life, it is ok to not read, you won't hurt my feelings. I am doing this for mostly selfish reasons - I like looking back on all the awesome things I do. Hopefully you will too. I actually can only hope that someone, ok ANYONE else also thinks they're awesome. (I am TOTALLY one of those people that need reassurance in life. Like, for real. I also know that my Mom and sister and best friends will be reading this. They will think I'm awesome - I need that in my life right now. It's hard/ok for me to admit that.) ☺☺ EMOTICONS!!! I also sincerely, deeply hope that this reaches someone else who needs it in their life and helps them laugh, cry or find a solution to something difficult they are also dealing with. Therefore, if you post a comment (I really, really hope you do ☺) please let it be something positive and helpful, NOT negative and demeaning.

3) I will be posting pictures and videos along with my posts. These are not, in anyway meant for any other purpose than to illustrate my post. If you would like to share a picture or video with a friend of yours, please share the entire blog post. If you do share a blog post, please direct them to also read this post first. I will also be suggesting this with every post anyway, but it helps to have back up.

4) Keep an open mind. Just like "Fight Club", there is a number one rule. And this is it. My posts are like therapy for me, so my opinions, ideas and general hilarity (I seriously am hilarious. Ask anybody. Ok, maybe not anybody, but anyone close to me ☺) will be dripping from these posts. Again, if you find that they are not your cup of tea, I won't be offended. I will not be posting all the time, maybe at first because it is the new shiny thing in my life, but eventually, they will taper off. I have lots of cool ideas of what I will post about - events I host (I think I am going to do some retroactive posts for this reason), make up tips, parenting ideas, time management ideas, thoughtful ways to become a better person, etc, etc. Anything I post about will be something I CARE about, so please keep that in mind while reading. In that same breath, I will also, probably, fly off at the mouth (fly off at the keyboard??) for one reason or another. Like my husband for example, I LOVE LOVE LOVE him. Which is probably why he drives me ssssoooooo CRAZY! Regardless of what a particular post may vent about - he's my partner in crime, the person I look forward to starting and ending every day with and my general savior in life. Even though he smells and holds our (currently 5 month old) daughter like a football.

Ok, so that's it! This is my post - my 1st post, woo hoo! I think you will learn quite a bit about me through my posts, but feel free to visit my profile to get some of the basics if you don't already know them ☺ thank you for reading. It means more than you know!