Overdue Post :)

Hello! It's been a while since I've been here! The daily posting thing just isn't working out for me right now. We took a family vacation for the last TWO WEEKS! of July and since returning life has been busy, busy, busy! The kids are back at school and work is crazy. Some day I will return to a regular blogging schedule, I promise.

Our youngest just began her last year of preschool. I can now calculate how much I'll be spending on childcare for the rest of my life! (I hope...I guess stuff could happen.) $7,128 max. My oldest is now 10, and with two kids in daycare at times etc., I estimate I've easily spent $75,000 on daycare. I'm actually not complaining, it was worth it. For many reasons, least of which was my mental health, I needed to work. With one notable exception (with whom we entrusted our child for about 5 weeks), I have loved the daycare providers my kids have had, and they have enriched their lives. I wouldn't complain if there were some better system and childcare were free. But it wasn't, so when I think back on the amount I've spent I relax a little and I think oh, so that's why I haven't managed to build up a true savings. That's why my credit cards don't have a zero balance. Soon, I will be able to make real financial progress.

That said, I've been doing some gig work in my downtime to help bring in just a little more money. I will need to write about mTurk some time, but lately I've been obsessed with transcribing for Transcribe Me! (TM! for short). I've been getting a lot of typing practice while learning about interesting, random topics. It's flexible. Some days I can't even think about checking on available jobs, and other days I can do job after job. They have built a community there that is so kind and understanding.

And if they treat freelancers so well, I can't begin to imagine what it's like to be their client. While I'm transcribing, I think about how useful the services would have been to me when I worked in a program evaluation office. I had so much qualitative research to do, and I spent hours and hours transcribing interview data--hours that our office billed to clients at a very high rate. If only they knew about Transcribe Me!, they could have saved so much money, I could have saved so much time, and they could have had their reports back much sooner than they did. Live and learn, I guess. I know in the future there's no way I would ever consider taking on those kinds of projects as a researcher, not when an accurate, affordable service like TM! exists.

Because I believe in the work I've done with Transcribe Me!, I recommend this service to anyone. So...visit us at www.transcribeme.com !

Family Friday: Wife of Christopher

This isn't going to be easy to write. How do I sum up my love for my amazing husband?
I think I'll start by showing some pictures of people he sort of looks like to varying degrees.

Chris "Mr. Big" Noth

Australian Actor Anthony LaPaglia

Bad Boy Charlie Sheen

Hilarious Comedian Eugene Mirman

And here he really is, the handsome culmination of the best characteristics of all the above:

I looked through my own recent pictures and they're all blurry action shots, so here's the picture from his work.

We met at probably the worst possible moment in time. I was out at a bar with a friend celebrating signing my first real job contract. I was going to be teaching at a college in Illinois in a few months! The bar was in Kansas, where I was attending grad school and where C was pretty well established with his house, new business, and full-time job. He was out with friends after helping one of them move. He still can't believe I found him attractive when he'd just been moving a friend all day. But he smiled at me from a neighboring booth, and I smiled back, and we waved back and forth, and he invited me over to his table and bought me a drink. It was pretty sickeningly sweet, now that I think about it.

So we clicked, but had some decisions to make. I'd been through relationships with at least some long-distance component, and those never worked out well (obviously). So we spent a lot of time together that summer and decided that we'd make it work, distance be damned. And we did! We talked every day and had some long weekend visits and on New Year's Day (7 month anniversary) at around 3 in the morning he proposed. Having completed one semester of full-time teaching I was already pretty certain that it wasn't something I wanted to do for the rest of my life, so I finished out the second semester to fulfill my contract and then moved back to Kansas. Then we got married a couple weeks later! 

He always wanted kids, lots of kids. I wasn't so sure about them. But we adopted our dog Sprocket together, before I went to teach, and he let me get two kittens as soon as we got back from our honeymoon. And this may sound ridiculous, but when one of the pets misbehaved, seeing the way he handled the situation helped me to relax about the whole thing. He was able to laugh things off, and that made me laugh things off, and I realized if I could laugh off whatever mini-catastrophe had occurred, I may just be able to handle a kid. 

But first, he insisted I finish my dissertation. Always looking out for me, that one. He knew better than I did that once we had kids it would be so all-encompassing that I may never return to that, and I would always regret getting so close to finishing my degree. So he supported me and put up with me as I was learning to navigate a full-time job and spending my weekends holed up in the home office he cleared out just for me. But I got that done, and then the kids came. 

He's the most awesome dad. Just like I predicted based on the pets, he can take any bad situation and turn it around with his sense of humor. And he actually started collecting Box Tops before the kids were ever in school, can you believe that? He is so loving and involved in the kids' lives, and it's so fun to observe.

He's a practical dreamer. He is always thinking about ways we can have a better life and he has so many great ideas. He's completed multiple NaNoWriMo's! But he also stays firmly grounded in our present reality, so we never have to worry about paying the bills or putting food on the table. And a major bonus--he handles all the major paperwork because he knows paperwork makes me cry. And the technology set-up at home. I have no idea how people manage these days without having a professional tech person at home.

He's not perfect, and I'm not perfect, and we occasionally butt heads. But even our fights are pretty funny sometimes. I don't know how I got so lucky, but I'm so glad I met this guy at the worst possible time. 

Thoughtful Thursday: Procrastination

At Weight Watchers this week, the leader spent some time reviewing the previous week's topic of clutter, and referred to clutter as the result of delayed decisions. And as I thought about the fact that I'd been storing a pair of tanning goggles for 12 years with no plans to ever go tanning again in my life, that certainly struck a chord!

That also sounded to me a lot like procrastination. You can talk about clutter as being physical or mental, but what seems to clutter my mind are the various tasks of life that I know I need to do but don't want to. I generally try to tackle the things that are bugging me so they're no longer on my plate, and I always feel fantastic after I do them. There are some things I take as just a fact of life--I always do laundry on weekends, for example, because if I don't then there will not be clean clothes to wear. There's a clear consequence of not doing laundry.

But there are many other things that just sit there, waiting to be done and because there's no real punishment for not getting them done, they can sit there, waiting, clogging up my brain. Sometimes I can just make a list of things that need to be done, and that frees up my mind a bit. But sometimes I start the list and I think, "Why am I making the list when I can just do the thing?" When I catch myself writing down these sorts of tasks, I can be pretty confident I'm just procrastinating.

Here are some recent things I've done that I'm glad are done:

1. I went swimming with the family at a nearby pool

I've been putting this off for so long. I like to swim, but I hate the preparation, the worry while we're at the pool about something happening and needing to stay vigilant the whole time, seeing co-workers while I'm in my swimsuit (this happens a lot in a small town), and then the rush when we get home to change, shower, etc.

But we went a couple weeks ago for the first time this summer and it was fun! It took a bit of time to get our stuff together but now that we've done that, we've got a system in place where we can pretty much just grab our stuff and go. In fact, we went back again this past weekend and I was looking forward to it.

2. Haircut

I hate getting my hair cut because I just always feel so awkward and I don't know what to say to the hair stylist and I hate sitting there with my glasses off and not being able to focus on anything. I hate making the decisions and communicating what I want my hair to look like, or feeling awkward showing a picture of a celeb with the hairstyle I want. It seems like most people like the experience of being pampered, but not me.

My recent strategy to get out of getting a haircut was to try to grow it out. It's summer, so why not try out something new? But my limp hair just hung there and I couldn't deny I needed to do something. So I went to Great Clips on Tuesday night (the height of luxury, I know! But when you procrastinate about something and decide you just want to take care of it, it's best if you can just walk in) and got a couple inches chopped off and I love it! I need to remember that it may feel a little awkward for 15 minutes but then it's over. And now my hair is a lot easier to do in the morning and my neck is cooler, which is no small thing when the temperatures frequently reach over 100 degrees.

3. Email to my new boss

The boss I've had for the past eight years is retiring as of this afternoon, and the new boss sent a lengthy email on Monday to all of us in the department with some questions she wanted us to answer. I was actually eager to start on this task, but not to complete it. I started jotting down some quick thoughts but then put that list aside. I thought, if she doesn't start until Friday why bother replying now? And then there's a three day weekend, and she didn't put any sort of deadline, so I could just wait.

But it just kept gnawing at me on Monday night, and I knew I needed to put some closure on this particular request. So Tuesday morning I got to work. I spent hours writing my response and editing it. I knew going into this that it would take a long time. It's always hard to sit and reflect, right? That's why I was trying to find ways to procrastinate. But now that it's done, I don't regret spending that amount of time on it.

I figured this was probably the one opportunity I'll have to introduce myself, describe my role and communication preferences, and honestly assess some problems we've had in the department. I did more professional reflection that day than I have in a long time. So I finished editing my response and sent it off, and felt so relieved. And then I was so much more productive for the rest of the day! Because as it turns out, when I put off doing some big thing I don't want to do, I'm not actually motivated to do other necessary tasks. I waste time instead.

In general, I've learned that this is one of the biggest benefits of adopting the "Just do it!" mindset. When I have the big thing looming in the back of my mind, I don't really want to accomplish anything at all. But once I decide to tackle the big thing I feel so accomplished that all the little things just fall into place, and then I can sleep soundly at night. And I love my sleep.

Wellness Wednesday: Back into a Routine

At my weigh-in last night I was down 0.8 pounds! Yay me! That brings my grand total to 15.8 pounds. Honestly, I would love to be down more. There was a woman who joined the same night I did and she is down 36 pounds now. But I am trying hard not to feel bad, because I still know I'm making the best progress I can right now.

I am going to be proud of the fact that I FINALLY returned to the gym on Monday night. The longer I'd been away, the easier it was to find excuses not to go. And I didn't sleep well on Sunday and had a bad headache because of that on Monday. So I went back and forth so many times: You can go to the gym on Wednesday instead, it will be fine...No, go tonight, you'll feel good! And maybe you'll stop having so many sleep problems...But this headache...But just go!  

So I told myself I could just go, I could stop after a half hour, and I could take it at the world's easiest pace. And I did just that. Usually once I make those promises to myself I end up going harder and longer (heh), but that didn't happen on Monday. I did my half hour and I was out of there. But I was nice and sweaty and relaxed! I finally got the big, scary return out of the way.

I also decided to try to give up counting Points on Monday, and go with a more flexible WW-inspired approach as well. I know what's been working--basically cutting out snacks between meals (even the healthy ones) and carby side dishes. Getting to the gym more times than not. Making good choices more often than not. And I've kept a cheat sheet of the meals I've had while losing weight as a quick reference.

Now the hard part: Finding out if I will still make progress without tracking every bite. I've gone through this before and usually I need to go back to counting eventually. But just as a life practice, I don't know that I can continue. Tracking puts me on the all-or-nothing diet mindset. I am a lot better than I used to be about that but there is still that tendency. I've read so much on intuitive eating to know what I need to do to have a healthy balance.

So that will be my plan for July: To make the healthy choices, to assess my hunger frequently and honestly, and to move as much as possible. We're planning two weeks of travel at the end of July and I think it's good I'll have a couple weeks of practice under my belt before then. I think if this works out I can actually maintain or even lose on vacation!

Transformation Tuesday: Bathroom Decluttering

After last week's Weight Watcher's meeting, which demanded a commitment to declutter something, I decided to pursue my little, personal bathroom. Occasionally someone else will use the toilet in this bathroom when the main bathroom is occupied, but otherwise it's all mine. Therefore, I had no one else to blame for the cluttered state it was in. It's very tiny, but I still managed to get a lot of stuff in there over time, thanks to a plastic drawer set and a medicine cabinet we put in.

I had actually already decluttered under the sink recently, thanks to a leaky pipe, so that was done. But I needed to get serious about the set of drawers, which I believe I've owned for nearly 15 years and has not ever been cleared out.

First I tackled the top, which functions as a small counter, and the top drawer. I kept my makeup on top, and a small jewelry box, and whatever random toiletries I was using at the time. Here you get a peek at the top drawer as well.

Before: "Counter" and top drawer

My makeup case (yes, it's a Caboodles) was very disorganized and had makeup in it that is probably considered a biohazard at this point. I tossed most of the makeup that was on the bottom of that case, which you can't see in the picture. The black thing there is a Curl Secret, which is new and not cheap and kept falling off its precarious perch. That is part of what motivated me to undertake this project. I'd be pissed if I broke it because it fell. 

The top drawer was very full too. I kept all kinds of stuff in there, so it was part junk drawer but also part storage for products I didn't need yet. Also, books, random printouts for quick bathroom reading, etc. 

And here is the result! Here's the top. It may not look less cluttered but nothing is stacked on anything else anymore. Plus that book is pretty to look at, and funny!

 After: Top of counter 

(You can see by the Nyquil that I was still getting over my recent awful sinus infection.)

After: Top drawer! 

Now the top drawer is mostly just storage for products I will need and a few books. Don't ask about the ointment please. You can't handle it. It's nice to be able to see at a glance if I need to purchase more toothpaste or whatever. 

Next, I cleared out the second and third drawers. In the second drawer I kept all my electronic hair gadgets. I know I had at least one straightening iron that didn't even work anymore, so part of the decluttering process was plugging in every last gadget to see if it would turn on. Once I identified the offender I got rid of it once and for all. 

Here is my second drawer before and after. It used to contain all the electronic hair gadgets...

Second Drawer Before

But now it only contains a hair dryer and the Curl Secret. I use one of those each day, so it's nice to be able to grab what I need quickly and to know they're safe.

Second Drawer After

And then there was my big, secret shame: The bottom drawer. I found so many headbands in there, all my failed past attempts to do something interesting with my hair. There was old jewelry from ex-boyfriends, and those little butterfly clips that people wore all over their heads 15 years ago. There were goggles you wore when you use a tanning bed. I used a tanning bed approximately three times before my wedding 12 years ago, so I don't know why I was still holding onto them. It was just a big, jumbled mess of stuff I didn't know what to do with. 

 

Third Drawer Before

So I cleared that drawer out, tossing probably half of the stuff in there and giving away most of the rest to my daughters, who will look adorable even in a dated fashion accessory. I don't really have an after picture of the 3rd drawer, but it basically holds the rest of the electronic gadgets that used to be in the 2nd drawer.

Then I tackled the medicine cabinet. This was mostly just reorganizing, taking things out of boxes so they would take up less space, etc. Well worth it!

 Medicine Cabinet Before 

Medicine Cabinet After

So since this is a tiny space, it's hard to see a major difference, but I can tell you the bathroom is so much more functional now! It's hard enough to wake up and get ready for work each day. Now it's just a little bit easier.

Money Monday: Stretching Products

I am trying to become a wise consumer and not purchase as many one-time use products. For example, when I need to wipe up the kitchen counters, I know that I should get out a clean dishrag and add a little soap and water and wipe away. And despite the fact that the rag drawer is 100% reachable from where I keep the disinfecting wipes next to the sink, I am way more likely to reach for a wipe. I'm not a monster, I sometimes do opt for the rag, but usually not.

My bad.

I also use too many paper towels, but I now only purchase the make-a-size kind and use a half of a regular sheet to wipe my mouth when I'm eating spaghetti. 

But I do try my best to stretch these products. If I pull out a wipe to clean up a small spill, I will continue to use the entire surface area of the wipe until it is all used up. So if there are a few drops of milk I want to clean off the counter, I would wipe those up and then possibly wipe up the kitchen sink until it's shiny. 

Here is another I stretch my disinfecting wipes: If you use these products with any regularity, you may notice that there tends to be quite a bit of fluid remaining after the wipes are used up. So I don't let that go to waste. I will usually rip off five half-sheet paper towels, ball them up individually, drop them into the container, and shake. The fluid saturates the paper towels and you have bonus wipes! It's so simple and that buys me about another week of use.  

Of course, you could just pour that fluid onto a cloth rag and wipe away, but if you do you are a better person than me. 

Family Friday: Mother of Leah

One thing is certain, my Family Friday posts are the easiest to plan and to write. Today I'm talking about my oldest child, Leah.

10 months old and the first to wear the duck costume for Halloween

Leah was born after a long night of labor. What made it long is that she had some trouble on her way out, and was in distress. But she finally made it and I was excited to see that she had hair! I had been bald forever as a baby, and so had my husband. Little did I know that it was just temporary hair and that it would soon fall out and she would actually follow in her parents' footsteps hair-wise.

As Leah was my first child (and I was the baby of my family), I had no idea what to expect. My husband actually had to teach me how to change diapers. But I soon learned what people were talking about when they said you will love your children like nothing else. I remember just sitting there, holding her and crying because I was so overwhelmed with my love for her. It was pretty intoxicating.

I think she was objectively adorable. Sure, she had no hair and was often mistaken for a boy even while wearing pink from head to toe. But she had the sweetest, biggest grin and as it turns out, people love grinning babies. We would go out to eat and the whole restaurant seemed to stare at her (in a nice way). We would have people over and she owned the room. It was as if the only reason they came was to look at her, in her mind. And that became a self-fulfilling prophecy.

I was so amazed by her and my love for her that when she was only 5 months old I knew I needed another one, and that's how Patrick came to be.

First Day of First Grade

Leah was a sweet young girl. She loved singing, and dancing, and princesses. Oh boy, the princesses. She had to wear pink all the time. She wanted long hair, poor thing. She was all girl. 

She also loved to read and write and draw. She loved school in general. She was always so empathetic. When she started kindergarten and I was crying about her starting that huge new chapter, she cried with me. She was a social butterfly, which was truly baffling to an introvert like me. As she enters 5th grade this fall and her roster of former teachers grows, they continue to tell me that she finds them at recess to give them hugs. 

Nine Years Old, 4th Grade Picture

I did write those last paragraphs in the past tense, and much of that is still true. At her core she is still sweet and empathetic, and she still enjoys clothes and fashion. But she hates princesses and pink and seems to have made peace with the fact that her hair will never be full and voluminous and long. She is very smart and uses big words and loves to write and create, and read. She still loves hanging out with her friends, but she has a very sweet, shy quality as well.

*But*...she is 10 now and has always been precocious, which means that she is basically in full-on teen mode. I've learned enough to know that I can say that and still have no clue what sort of trouble I'm in for when she actually is a teen. But wow, the drama. She can be so extremely sweet to her siblings one minute, and then scream at them the next. She has mastered the practice of unnecessarily slamming dishes when we make her do them, and stomping off to her room to slam the door.

Programming a NAO Robot at School

But that's okay. It's good to know that she's fired up, right? I don't know what the next few years will bring, but it will be fun to watch this one turn into an adult.

Often timid, but eager to try new things like jumping on a velcro wall.

I'm watching the Gilmore Girls series for the millionth time, but this time I'm bringing Leah along on the journey. I see so much of Rory in Leah, and lord knows I need a road map for navigating the teen years with my daughter, this amazingly complex creature.   

Thoughtful Thursday: Leadership

Here are some observations of how not to be a good leader, from someone who has been an employee. This list is inspired by actual events. 

1. Hold meetings where you tell your department it is everyone's responsibility to know everything, and to stop referring every question to yourself. Then get mad at people when they answer someone's question without consulting you first. 

2. When someone asks you a question, blow it off completely. But when you ask them a question and they don't answer within an hour, spend a half hour at the next department meeting demanding to know everyone's schedule because you can "never" find people. 

3. Spend large amounts of time at meetings talking about your adult son even when no one asked about him, but when you talk to employees about their kids, be sure to mix up their names. 

4. Promise to host retirement parties and baby showers, but forget to plan them and/or tell the honorees they are to attend. 

5. Be sure to drop everything when loud, annoying employees want something from you or they tell you about yet another free app for your work-issued technology toy. However, don't bother to praise the people who wrote the grant that brought you the toy in the first place (that part is boring). 

6. Demand to be copied on every email everyone sends out, but never include people on emails you mention them in. Let them be surprised when they get a request from someone out of the blue and with absolutely no context! People LOVE to feel like idiots. 

7. Hold a meeting outside someone's office, loudly mention that person by name at least 10 times during that meeting, but do NOT invite that person to be a part of your meeting. Let them wonder what you're saying about them. 

8. Buy some people flowers after putting in a few long days, but not others. 

9. Never remember to say happy birthday to employees. Instead, hound them for a report you need that day that you never asked for in the past. 

10. When you have a series of minor operations and everyone pitches in for flowers, do not send a thank you email. 

11. Talk to your employees about other employees. Trash them like crazy! Then don't ever confront the original person about the problem. This makes everyone feel insecure about their performance and what you might be saying behind their backs. 

12. Promise people certain unsavory aspects of their jobs will be phased out, but then out of the blue resurrect them! 

13. Schedule meetings months in advance, send out a reminder a day in advance, then just when the meeting should be starting, send an email to cancel it. 

14. Schedule meetings months in advance, then don't say a word about the meeting again so people have to go out of their way to ask if it is still going on. 

15. Hire the candidate who is the least experienced and most annoying, even when everyone on the hiring committee is against it. 

16. Micromanage! Don't trust the people you hired to do their job! Then, gripe constantly about how you have to do everything. Never, ever make a connection between being a control freak and having to do everything yourself.

17.  Even though you spend a lot of time out of the office for sick leave and appointments, make sure to approve everyone's vacation leave requests. But, only approve these while stating how nice it is that someone gets to take vacation, since you never get to. 

18. See how long you can make it between sitting down one-on-one with your employees. Cancel annual evaluations. Don't provide any meaningful feedback to them. Expect them to still know everything that's going on. 

Wellness Wednesday: Decluttering

I had my WW weigh-in last night and I was unsurprised to see that I was up 1.8 pounds. That is the exact amount I lost last week. I say I was unsurprised because I got my period on Monday. That's instant weight gain. I'm sure most of it is water weight, but I know I overindulged this past week as well.

And I've actually been sick for the past two weeks. It started with a basic cold and then when I usually would have started feeling better I felt worse. I have diagnosed myself with a sinus infection for the second leg of the illness. I never had a fever so I didn't go to the doctor (I've been hearing that most sinus infections don't respond to antibiotics anyway). But that seriously impacted my gym schedule--in the sense that I didn't go at all for two weeks. I was so tired and my throat burned every night as it was I guess from all the drainage, so I figured extended cardio activity causing me to breathe heavily would have made that situation worse. All of this to say, I miss my gym and I've felt lost in the afternoons. It really wrecked my schedule. If I go to the gym after work, I leave feeling calm and refreshed enough to make good choices for the rest of the night. When I don't go to the gym I tend to spend a lot of time staring at my phone and eating ice cream.

I am not trying to excuse my weight gain, but I do take it in stride. Weigh-in is a chance to start over and now that I've gotten the worst of the illness out of the way, and the worst part of my period is over, I really can start fresh. The WW meeting topic this week was also about starting (over in a sense)--decluttering.

I, like many others, have read The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up by Marie Kondo. I recommend it. It is actually a fun read, Kondo has a delightful narrative style. You can probably find out the gist of the book by searching online, but at the heart of the method is to gather all items of a certain type in your home (e.g. if you have winter coats in your bedroom closet and also an entryway closet, bring them all together). Hold each item in your hand and if it "sparks joy" keep it. Otherwise, it goes.

Spoiler: "Tidying Up" is code for getting rid of all your junk.

I have not followed the method faithfully but I have certainly cleared out a ton of clutter in recent months. As someone who's ridden the weight-loss/weight-gain roller coaster, I have my fair share of clothes that don't fit at the moment. I truly hope I will fit into most of the clothes at some point, but I still managed to get rid of a lot of my aspirational sizes. It turns out that even if a lot of those clothes eventually fit me, I wouldn't want to wear them. They don't spark joy, so they don't belong in my life! Easy.

There are so many ways I can imagine clutter impacting my health. I've been on a decluttering bender lately, and one thing I have come to enjoy very much is walking into a room after I've cleaned it out. I just stand there and marvel at the beauty of the open space. I spent so many years trying to fill empty spaces and I have no idea why. (Kind of like feeling the need to eat to fill time, to procrastinate?) Perhaps this is just a sign of maturity. I want to empty and downsize.

Now, when I look at my closet, I can get a peek at the smaller sizes and I like everything that I see. That is so motivating! I'm no longer looking at some dress in a smaller size that I wore once and didn't really like, but didn't get rid of because it cost money. Now I'm looking at that outfit that I wore all the time and felt so great in--that's what I want to feel again. That's why it's worth it to track everything I eat and go to the gym.

I also have spent a lot of time decluttering the kitchen. This is important for health because when the kitchen is clean, I want to spend more time in there. When I'm willing to spend time in my kitchen I end up eating healthier food. I take the time to wash fruit, cut up vegetables, and marinade chicken breast to grill. When I don't want to spend time in my kitchen, I am more likely to eat out. And when I eat out I rarely make healthy choices.

But there's an indirect impact on my health as well. When I have clutter, what I have is something that made its way into my life, either because I purchased it or someone gave it to me. For example, when I saw a bread machine in the corner of my kitchen, I saw this big thing that took up space and that I used a few times years ago. I regretted making this purchase, but I felt if I kept it perhaps I would start using it again, and my purchase decision will be redeemed.

But. I don't really go out of my way to eat bread. Bread is one of those staples you can purchase at the store for not a lot of money, even the fancy stuff. So when I want to have good bread with cheese and wine on a Saturday night, I can still have it. Or, if I want the house to smell like baking bread, I can just find a recipe and bake it in the oven. And to be honest, I didn't like the bread from the machine all that much.

We had a yard sale (my first ever!) about a month ago and I sold the bread machine, a bread cookbook, and a homemade bread loaf keeper, all for $10. I would have given it to Goodwill to be honest, but it's nice to have gotten something for it. I sold a bunch of other kitchen gadgets, uni-taskers, as well. I have that extra space in my kitchen now and that's great. But I also have that extra space in my mind because I don't see all these purchases I made that I regret. That lightens up my mood, and a good mood signifies health to me.

Tuesday Ten

It didn't take long for me to run out of Transformation Tuesday ideas! I have projects in the works but nothing very photo-worthy at this point. So when possible, I will share projects I've completed. When I don't I will try out this idea: Tuesday Ten (I found the idea here: http://www.the-golden-spoons.com/p/tuesday-ten.html )

For my first Tuesday Ten, I'm going to share some pins I've saved on Pinterest in a board called "Why did Pinterest pick this for me?" If you use Pinterest, you are probably aware that there are auto-generated recommended pins based on your supposed interests. I started thinking some of them were strange. Like, what in my pinning history suggested I would enjoy that pin? I'm sure I exacerbated the issue by actually creating the board and pinning the more questionable pins, but that's okay. Here I share with you my favorite head-scratchers of recommended pins.


1. I just want to graduate. 

 


I completed my PhD 11 years ago and haven't gone back to school so...?


2. Easy Copycat Nesquick Powder

 


Yeah, I like to save money but I also like to save time and Nesquick really isn't that expensive in the grand scheme of things. I'll just go buy some, okay?



3. Be someone's Sunday, Not Saturday night.




I haven't gone out on a Saturday night in forever and if I did it was with my family, and even if I was a party girl would that be so wrong? This whole pin is like "be a good girl" and frankly, I resent the implications.



4. The Fate of the Romanovs



I'm not interested in reading about history. But thanks for thinking I'm that deep.



5. Tongue coming out of a ketchup bottle.



Gross.



6. "A smile can get you far in life, but a smile and a gun can get you a whole lot farther."



So just a couple things wrong with this...I am not a Miranda Lambert fan (if she even said this). I'm very shallow but I just can't get past her whole face situation. And also I'm for gun control and not using guns as a threat to get your way. Nice try, Pinterest!


7. Easy Creamy Mushrooms




I hate mushrooms, which Pinterest would know if it actually read. Yes, I pinned mushrooms once, but it was in my board entitled "Products I Hate."



8. This sentiment. 




I mean, why with the minions? And at my age, I pretty much just text my husband when I'm shopping to ask if I should buy something for dinner and "k" is a perfectly acceptable response.



9. "Man is not free unless government is limited."




I guess I like the picture of the barn but otherwise, this pin is not something I enjoy. Reagan was the president for most of my childhood so he was the last president I was able to respect 100% because I didn't know about politics yet. Now that I know more, I do not like most of his policies. And I am not a fan of the whole "small government" ideology for many, many reasons I will not get into here. So this was a fail, Pinterest.


and #10: Give it to God and go to sleep.



Nope, doesn't work. I've tried repeatedly. You know what does work? Nyquil!

Money Monday: Saving at Target

Our town has a Walmart and a Target. I occasionally go to Walmart but Target is always my first choice. Not only is it closer to my home, but just...Walmart. Ick. The crowds, the dirt, the fact that when you need to go to the bathroom, it's closed so you go to the other bathroom and it's closed. It's a guaranteed frustrating experience.

When I was talking to an acquaintance about shopping at Target, he snarled and said "But it's so expensive! Walmart is so much cheaper!" I suppose that could be true on some items, but I'm not sure it's generally a true belief. I also remember passing someone in Target who must have been a regular Walmart shopper, and she was so surprised that the Soda Stream was actually cheaper at Target than it was at Walmart. I don't want a huge influx of Walmart shoppers to adopt my beloved Target as their favorite store so I generally keep my mouth shut. But if you know all the ways to save at Target you will enjoy a calmer, nicer shopping experience for probably a lower price tag overall.

I probably strategize more than many others are willing to when they go shopping, but part of that may be due to the fact that I get paid once a month and I do about 95% of the household shopping for our family. So on payday I pay all my bills for the month and I get most of the basic household stuff I know we'll need. That usually include toilet paper, paper towels, pet supplies, and enough applesauce for 32 for Emma to take to her preschool for her monthly special day.

So typically on payday after I've paid all my bills, I will bring up Target Cartwheel online (as described last week) and search for the items on my list to see if there are any offers to match those, and to also search for really big discounts for other things that may not be on my list but that would be useful. I am really working on not purchasing things that will just become clutter, so I admit searching for big discounts may be counterproductive.

I like most of Target's brands, like up & up and Market Pantry, so I tend to save money just by purchasing those as compared to name-brand products. There is almost always a Cartwheel 5% off offer for up & up paper products, so I always keep staples like those in my account. But sometimes I will find it is cheaper to purchase the name-brand due to a sale and/or Cartwheel. For some things like dog treats and cat litter, I don't have a major brand preference so I will happily choose whatever is the cheapest given a Cartwheel offer or a sale. It's in this case that doing a Cartwheel search by discount can really save you a lot of money.

How much money? Well here is my total Cartwheel savings before...

...and after my last shopping trip. (I've been using this app since 2013, so I'm saving about $237 a year). You can see that it took me an hour to shop by looking at the time on my screen shots, which is sort of a long time, but I enjoy shopping so it was fine. It helps that I don't have to take kids with me when I do this kind of shopping. This was also a Friday evening so the store wasn't crowded. That can help a lot too--you don't feel like you're getting in the way when you stand there contemplating all your options.

Just by adding purchases to my Cartwheel account before and during my shopping trip I saved $11.96. (My total purchase was around $139 after all my discounts were applied). That is more than I usually save when I shop, I admit. A lot of that came from big discounts like 25% off Mott's applesauce pouches. If I didn't have that Cartwheel offer I probably would have purchased Market Pantry applesauce, but in this case it was worth it to get the Mott's.

I also scored by purchasing two boxes of cat litter, because there was a Cartwheel offer and an in-store offer for a $5 gift card if I bought two boxes. I would have had to purchase another box in a few weeks anyway, might as well buy it now and get $5 back. You get the idea--if you just shop with a slightly open mind you might save quite a bit of money!

I know it's hard to see but if you look at the bottom of the receipt, it says I saved a total of $30.42 on this shopping trip. $11.96 of that came from Cartwheel, and $5 came from that gift card I received for buying two boxes of cat litter. There was $2.50 off on Dunkin' Donuts coffee (another staple in my house)--it all adds up. But the final way I saved money at Target was by paying with my Target REDcard.

When you check out at Target the cashier will likely ask you if you are paying with a REDcard. You can get it in credit card or debit form. I resisted the REDcard for so long because I assumed it was only credit, and I knew I could get into trouble with Target credit. But once I learned there was a debit option I signed up right away. It's linked to my bank account and I track my transactions immediately. Just by using that card instead of my regular debit card I saved over $6 on this trip.

If I had any traditional coupons I would have applied them as well, but I don't have a lot of coupons to use at Target. I don't look through flyers or anything for coupons, but I sometimes get some at the checkout and I save them for later. I do have a lot to use when I shop for groceries--but I do the bulk of my grocery shopping at Kroger and Aldi.

So that's how I save a lot of money at Target. It's a little more work than just popping in but that's something I don't mind. It's like a game to me! Don't get me wrong--there are many times I just stop at Target for one thing and I don't go through all this. But it's nice to know I'm set with all my basics for a month and that I've saved money too.

Family Friday: Mother of Patrick

For my second Family Friday post, I will talk about my only boy, Patrick.

3rd Grade Picture, Last Fall

Patrick is a good boy. I know moms just say that kind of thing, but he is so good! If I ask him to do something, he is the most likely to just do it out of all the kids. Even when he was young and did something he shouldn't have, if I told him to go to time out, he dropped whatever he was doing and just...went. And he went quietly, too.

First Halloween-All of our kids wore the same duck costume.

He was always a good kid. He was a good baby, from what I remember. That sounds terrible, but he was born when his older sister was just 14 months old. She kept me running like crazy, and I didn't have much bonding time with him, unfortunately. 

6th Birthday

He's a sweet, sensitive kid. He loves to snuggle with soft things. He's a best friend to Leah and Emma, and can relate to both of them on their respective levels. It's so fun to see him in his big brother role. He was the first person to get a laugh out of Emma when she was a baby, and he takes good care of her. 

First day of Kindergarten

So he's good and he's sweet, but he's also very smart and creative. He doesn't like to be bogged down in details, but when he starts thinking about something you never know what crazy but deep insight will come out of his mouth. He loves math and science and video games like Plants versus Zombies and Skylanders. He also likes to read but he's not a big fan of having to track what he reads for assignments. 

One time when he was at recess in first grade he thought of a poem, which he shared with me that night, and which I recorded and transcribed. Here it is: 

Up High

I’m going so high,

High, high, high.

Higher than the trees,

Higher than the sky,

Higher than the clouds in the sky.

So high,

I’m higher than Earth!

I’m going so high up,

I’m past the moon.

Past the sun and stars!

I’m so high up,

I’m past the Milky Way!

So, so, high,

That I’m at the end of space!

But I want to go back down again.

So I go

Down, down, down.

Down past the Milky Way and Pluto.

Down, down, down.

Past the stars and the moon.

Down, down, down,

Down at Earth.

I go under the sky, clouds.

Under the trees.

Back on the ground,

Where I belong.

Isn't he the best? I love him and I just know watching him grow up will be full of fun and surprises. 

Thoughtful Thursday

Ah, Thoughtful Thursday. A nice way of saying I have no idea what to write about on Thursdays! So today I will share with you words, phrases, and pronunciations that annoy the heck out of me, usually for no good reason. 

• Soda Pop
• Pizza Pie
• Supposably
• Hot Cocoa
• Moist (I know I'm far from alone on this one)
• Data pronounced like "datta," not "date-a"
• Nuclear pronounced "Nucular"
• Collegial pronounced with a hard g. I believe there is quite the debate among academics about the proper pronunciation, but the hard g is just too much for me.
• Especially, Espresso pronounced "Expecially," "Expresso"
• When writers include (..., anyone?) in every article instead of coming up with a new way to elaborate on something. For example, "Summer is the best! (Free sun, anyone?)"
• "I seen."

Wellness Wednesday

Welcome to my first Wellness Wednesday post!

One of the things I love to talk about is weight loss and weight in general. I have such a long history of losing and gaining weight. I think the first time I successfully embarked on a weight loss campaign was toward the end of my freshman year of high school. That time I used Slimfast and being really busy and doing workout videos. I remember this one the most vividly:

(I could probably pop this video in and muscle memory would take 

over and I would do each move perfectly, 26 years later).

Anyway, I followed SlimFast perfectly and it worked. But I was young and didn't understand that it took a lot of work to actually maintain weight loss, so naturally the weight came back on before too long.

For now I'm going to skip over the 25 years since then and describe where I am today. I (re)joined Weight Watchers (WW) in January of this year. I have, like many others, gone on and off WW over the past decade and I find that I just do better when I'm on. I'm not always super-committed and I experience many plateaus and gains even. Still, I am currently down 16.8 pounds since the end of January, with my loss yesterday of 1.8 lbs.

Whenever I think I should be down more, or when someone who joined at the same time as me is lauded for a loss that is double what mine currently is, I simply remind myself that if I wasn't doing WW I'd be up those 16.8 pounds and probably more. It's the weekly weigh-in that keeps me moving downward, even if it's a slow decline.

The things that are working for me this time are that I'm following (yes, actually tracking) SmartPoints, which IME is basically low carb eating. WW would probably never say that it was low carb, but when you look up the Points in different things, you realize you wouldn't get to eat very much at all if you ate mostly carbs. I eat a lot of lean protein and vegetables, thanks especially to my Paderno spiralizer.

(Holy crap, I love this thing! More on this later.)

And the other major secret of my current success is going to the gym. By "going to the gym" I specifically mean locating one of the two remaining models of elliptical that I love and hopping on for about 45 minutes while watching TV with closed captioning and listening to Pandora, 4-5 times a week. In other words, I need a lot of entertainment to get me through my workout. I don't actually hate exercising, and in fact I love getting sweaty and just feeling calm when it's over. But I do get bored pretty easily. 

Let me tell you, in my 26 years of weight loss attempts I have truly tried just about everything in terms of diet and exercise. And not all of them were bad or unsuccessful. But for now, this is a routine I can live with and can help me move forward. As my life circumstances change, it is likely that my go-to's will as well. 

I look forward to sharing my wins and losses on this plan and any future plans I follow. 

Transformation Tuesday: Bathroom

Hello! For my first Transformation Tuesday post I am sharing a recent project, our main bathroom.

We've lived in our house for 8 years now. I believe on the first day we lived there, we had plumbing issues. Then, within a month or so, all the pretty ceramic tiles in our kitchen and this bathroom started cracking. As it turns out, the people who lived in the house before us were terrible at home improvement. And they didn't know that you should put some sort of padding down under flooring. We were not happy. But we went with it, fixed the plumbing problems as they occurred, and started just watching our step so we wouldn't step on a crack.

But we noticed that there was a leak into our garage coming from the bathroom recently and we could no longer ignore the issues we were having. Christopher thought he would try to re-seal the toilet and caulk the tub and see if that worked. But naturally, we were so sick of the bathroom situation. I hated stepping out of the shower onto cracked ceramic tiles. So we went on a trip to Menard's and as usually happens, ended up with more than we intended to purchase. We decided to get a whole new toilet, new flooring of course, and what better time to paint than when the bathroom was going to be torn up?

While looking at paint colors I was considering the normal boring neutrals. But then I saw this picture of a bathroom with blue paint and just started smiling. So I knew that had to be the bathroom color. I've never made a paint decision so quickly in my life.

So we had about 5 days without a main bathroom. Thank God for the other toilets in the house and the fact that I have a gym membership. I did not enjoy showering at the gym but I am so glad I had the option! And on the 5th day, which coincided with the kids' last day of school, the new bathroom emerged.

Here are some pictures of the process. The bathroom was in pretty bad shape before and I didn't think to snap a before picture. I mean, most people don't have a lot of pictures of their bathrooms, do they?  

First, this is just a picture of the tiny space we were dealing with. The step stool is where the toilet normally is. At this point, the new floor had been installed already. Ideally I would have painted before the new floor went in, but nothing is ever ideal in this life.

The tub was a wonderful space to store various bottles of cleaning solutions, as well as a perfectly dangerous spot to prop a step stool in. There were several times during the painting that I thought I was going to kill myself and I'd end up being some internet joke. But alas, I survived.

Here is the wall where I first started painting.

My big viral-worthy hack of the job: Placing gallon bags over the light fixtures so I wouldn't get paint on them. Ideally we would have taken the fixtures down but again, nothing is ideal. I used a lot of tape all around the trim, and it worked out alright. It was hard to get the paint brush behind the lights, and I did end up with a fair amount of paint on the bags so I was glad I had them. 

Oh and did I mention I just used a brush for the entire paint job? In this small space, I didn't see any other options even though a roller makes painting go so much faster. That made for a long job for such a tiny room. 

And yada, yada, yada, the final product! I invested in a new shower curtain (from Target) but in trying to keep things frugal I re-used the curtain rod (which needed some major cleaning-yuck!) and hangers. I SO wanted to buy new towels and a bath mat, but they just weren't necessary for now. With three kids and 5 indoor pets (one of whom, a cat, was given a bath in this very tub yesterday morning thanks to my oldest daughter for no good reason), I'm just sick of buying new things and having them ruined within minutes. So maybe we'll get new towels once the youngest is off to college. I did purchase some new wash rags, and arranged them in a pretty pattern.

Well that's it! Off to ponder the next transformation.