..::: Mama Rants :::..

Life, as it Is

2013-06-07T22:08:00.001-04:00

My life lately has been one drama after another, so I keep getting irritated with this whole stay-at-home, freelancing mom thing.

After spending over a month getting no work done because I had family issues to take care of, my laptop crapped out. The little port you plug the power cord into fell apart on the inside. Of course, Dell, in their infinite wisdom, doesn't sell the port itself, just the entire motherboard that it is attached to. I did find a repair part from a third party seller, but am not sure if I want to risk taking the laptop apart and soldering it myself.

The really crappy part of this is I had a ton of private writing work already going past due and this has just made it later. I am glad the client still wants to work with me despite all this, but I feel totally crappy about making him wait so long. I finally got one of my old laptops working so I can get back to work now, but it is slow and I am missing all the work I had done already and am having to restart several projects from scratch.

Ready for the ride home.
They hopped out and rode on the back of the seat instead.

In possibly good news, we have 2 new kittens. Robbie wanted Chinese food last week, so we went to a local buffet. There were 2 kittens hanging out by the door going up to people and begging for food. Robbie said they were his kitties and we needed to take them home, so I asked the owner if they were strays and she said they'd been there a few days and to take them with us.

They are only about 6 weeks old but they are adorable and very friendly. They also cleaned up much better once they were given a bath to get rid of the pine tar that was covering their paws and matting their fur. We named the grey one Gremlin and the white one Mogwai.

I also got a reply back from Demand Media Studios a couple weeks ago. I know a lot of people don't like them, but I will be writing articles in a niche I know for $25 a pop. The workflow there seems pretty steady right now, so it will feel a real need for me. If I really stay focused, I can make as much there as I did when working, or at least enough to help keep me afloat once school starts. This is a good thing, because I've been putting off stuff like car repairs and dental work since last year and just hoping neither hit a crisis point.

For the foreseeable future, this is my life:

Ducks in a Row?

2013-05-13T13:21:00.001-04:00

Wow, I can't believe how long it's been since I posted.

Let's just say life happened, I've had a lot to do and a lot going on, and am back to "getting my ducks in a row" and working on taking care of myself and my son. A lot of internet stuff went by the wayside because I've been focused on work and life stuff. I don't want to over-share on all that, so I'll just pick up where things are now.

I'm trying to go back to school again in Fall. I'm accepted and everything looks good, but it will depend on financial aid and if I can safe enough up to cover books, daycare, etc until I get my financial aid check. That's what screwed me up last year - the aid money shows up about a month after school starts, so I'll need enough saved up to pay for books and everything ahead of time and for daycare costs until it comes through.

I lost 50 pounds when I was doing that challenge, then gained a bunch back after I got the $500 check and didn't have that motivation. So, I'm back to getting in shape the hard way again - walking, biking, and being more careful of portions and what foods I eat. I'm also taking the NutriThin pills again because they did make me feel better overall and seemed to help me lose weight. I'm trying to get back in triathlon shape by next year because I feel so much better when I'm active.

I've also been getting more involved in things to get out of the house and meet people. For so long, the only ones I've been around were my husband and a few of his relatives and friends, so I didn't have anyone really to talk to or just relax and be myself around. I've gotten back into volunteering, joined a book club with a bunch of really great people in it, and I'm trying out for a community choir next Monday.

I'm also still working on finding a more reliable and better-paying job, whether online or on-site somewhere, and getting more clients for the freelance stuff I'm doing. I've also sold a few pieces of jewelry and some custom rosaries, but I'm not focusing on that so much now because the supplies for making nice pieces can be expensive and there's no guarantee they will sell. Once other stuff is more stable, I will probably make more jewelry and try to sell some either direct or on consignment through some nearby stores.

Trying to Lose Weight Over the Holidays

2012-12-07T09:57:00.001-05:00

I've tried to get in shape and use weight a few different times in my life, usually with little success. I was doing good a year or two ago and managed to lose close to 30 pounds, thanks to a nearby gym that offered daycare. When you're a stay-at-home mom, working out is good; free daycare so you get an hour or two of "me time" alone is great. That ended when money got tight and I could no longer afford the gym membership.

I tried walking for a while, but it was hard where nowhere nearby that I could walk with a stroller. I was walking during the middle of the night once my son and husband were asleep but had to quit that because there were too many dogs running loose in the neighborhood at night and they were bothering me. I got a treadmill off craigslist and later found an exercise bike for free and used those some, but the treadmill got put away once rugrat outgrew his daily naps because my husband wouldn't watch him so I could use it and I was afraid of him getting hurt because he'd try to climb on it while I was using it.

Yeah, this whole post has been a lot of excuses, but those are easy to find when you don't have any real motivation. The last year or so, I've been concerned because I gained back the weight I'd lost plus another 40 pounds, but I've also been a little afraid of losing too much because I knew I wouldn't be able to afford new clothes. I'd gotten up to 346 pounds though and was getting sore just from my daily routine, so I knew it was time to do something. (I've been blessed with good health and never had diabetes, high blood pressure, or any weight-related health problems, but I could tell this was slowing me down and felt like I was pressing my luck if I didn't do something to at least get back down to my previous weight.

I found this program online through a work-at-home forum that should take care of both problems. It's called the EPXbody challenge. It's sponsored by EPXbody, which is a company that sells nutrition and weight loss supplements. (Yes, I've also signed up to be a distributor and those are affiliate links, but I wouldn't be using it if I didn't think they were worth it). The gist of of it is that you take their weight loss products for 3 months while trying to lose weight, send them before and after pictures and prove of your weight, and they pay you up to $10 a pound to lose the weight, in exchange for being able to use your photos in their marketing materials. The top pay is $500 for losing 50 pounds, and that is what I am going for. I started out with a sample pack that a friend of mine made up for me with 2 week supply a few of their products (EPX Burn & Nourish and Nutri-Thin) and lost 16 pounds in that time, so I think 50 pounds in 90 days will be doable.

Of course, of all the times to start a weight loss plan, November and December are the worst. I made it through Thanksgiving and still managed to lose weight though, so here's hoping Christmas goes good as well. I will be visiting my family and I've already hit my mom up to go walking with me (and probably tossing a few DVDs and many resistance bands and weights in my bag), so I'll at least be able to stay on track with the fitness side of things. I've also signed up for SparkPeople to help me track everything (I'd been using livestrong, but sparkpeople is more popular now and has groups, challenges, work out plans, and additional goal trackers - even some that are FlyLady-related to help me out around the house, too.). If you're a SparkPeople member, feel free to visit my SparkPage and add me as a friend.

*What Is/Was Your Child's Favorite Toy?

2012-12-06T22:20:00.002-05:00

My son has had a few short term favorites, but the number one was his Sophie the Giraffe teething toy we got him as a baby. He carried it everywhere, even as he got older and was past teething age, and Sophie was one of his first words. We even had to buy another because the first one got left at a restaurant by mistake and he was distraught until it came. At 2 1/2 years old now, he still plays with her some because she fits in with all his other toy animals.

I'm still waiting to see what the "favorite" toy will be for the toddler years, because he has so many interests, but it looks like airplanes and boats are the top contenders right now.

The Power of a Timer

2012-12-05T07:32:00.003-05:00

Being a devoted fan of both FlyLady and the Pomodoro Technique, you'd think I'd have realized by now just how valuable a timer can be.

After all, I use one to time cleaning and decluttering sessions - well, I need to get back to doing those regularly, but using one worked when I was actually doing it. And I use one for writing and balancing my work-at-home jobs with things around the house and play and care time with my son.

One thing I'd missed, however, is how useful a timer can be as a parenting tool. I discovered this the other night in a moment of frustration. Robbie, my 2 1/2 year old has a habit of dawdling and playing around instead of doing what he's asked, especially if those things involve eating, picking up toys, or putting clothes on. I was frustrated a few nights ago, reheated his food set the timer for 20 minutes (he's already been "eating" for close to an hour), and told him he needed to finish before the timer went off if he wanted dessert.

It worked great. Since then, I've used it to encourage him to get dressed faster before we left the house, to pick up his legos, and as a countdown to let him know when he can get out of time out. He seems to enjoy racing to "beat" it and it makes things easier on me because he doesn't argue with it or ignore it like he sometimes does me.

*Trying On Glasses, Virtually

2012-11-24T20:03:00.002-05:00

Me trying out GlassesUSA.com's virtual mirror

I was supposed to start wearing eyeglasses when I was a freshman in high school. I was worried about breaking them and not sure how they'd look on me, so I opted for contacts instead. Wearing them bothered me and I had trouble getting them in, so that lasted for about a week before I gave up. I made it through the rest of school and the next several years without wearing glasses by sitting up front and ignoring the fuzziness, even though I'd sometimes get a headache when I had to read a lot.

My eyesight finally got bad enough that I had to address it in the past few years. First, when I worked for the prison, we had to shoot a pistol and rifle qualification every year and I went from qualifying as an expert to barely passing it. One of the instructors even told me it seemed like I couldn't see the target well at a distance and recommended getting some prescription eyeglasses. I put it off for a bit longer and finally went to the eye doctor once I was getting headaches from reading on the internet and trying to write on the computer, and because it was getting hard to read street signs when I drove.

I'm still pretty vain though, so I opted for contacts again. I did a little better with them, but there are times that glasses are just more convenient and certain activities that it's not good to wear contacts for. My optometrist recommended getting at least one pair of glasses as a backup and they've come in really handle for dry and windy days when the contacts bother me and for days I swim and don't want to keep changing them between driving, swimming, and showering.

There are so many different styles of glasses frames available these days that I don't have to worry about fashion anymore. There are all sort of styles and colors available that will match any sort of style and fit any face shape, even some that work with my chubby cheeks and retro/punk fashion sense.

There is even a virtual mirror online at GlassesUSA.com that you can try out to see how different frames would look on you, and there's a share feature so you can send it to your friends and get their opinions on them. Be sure to scroll down to the bottom of this post, below the virtual mirror, for GlassesUSA discount codes just for our readers.

STOREWIDE DISCOUNTS FOR MAMARANTS READERS!!
- Take 15% off + get free shipping on your entire order (orders over $50). Code: FS15
- Take 10% off any order of prescription glasses. Code: Blog10

Homemade Twinkie Recipe - Save the Twinkies!

2012-11-16T21:59:00.002-05:00

I'll go ahead and admit that I've never been a big fan of Twinkies, but many people love them. With the announced closing of Hostess foods, it appears that Twinkies may be gone forever and some stores have already sold out of them as people have started craving Twinkies like WOody Harrellson in Zombieland.

If you've just gotta have a Twinkie now or in the future, you may want to bookmark this homemade Twinkie recipe or print it out for further reference.

Recipe: Twinkies
Todd Wilbur

Ingredients

Non-stick spray
4 egg whites
One 16-ounce box golden pound cake mix
2/3 cup water

Filling
2 teaspoons very hot water
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 cups marshmallow creme (one 7-ounce jar)
1/2 cup shortening
1/3 cup powdered sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla

Preparation

You will need a spice bottle, approximately the size of a Twinkie, ten 12 x 14 -inch pieces of aluminum foil, a cake decorator or pastry bag, and a chopstick.

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.

Fold each piece of aluminum foil in half twice. Wrap the folded foil around the spice bottle to create a mold. Leave the top of the mold open for pouring in the batter. Make 10 of these molds and arrange them on a cookie sheet or in a shallow pan. Grease the inside of each mold with a light coating of non-stick spray.

Disregard the directions on the box of cake mix. Instead, beat the egg whites until stiff. In a separate bowl combine cake mix with water and beat until thoroughly blended (about 2 minutes). Fold egg whites into the cake batter and slowly combine until completely mixed.

Pour the batter into the molds, filling each one about 3/4 of an inch. Bake in the preheated oven for 30 minutes, or until the cake is golden brown and a toothpick stuck in the center comes out clean.

For the filling, combine salt with the hot water in a small bowl and stir until salt is dissolved. Let this mixture cool.

Combine the marshmallow creme, shortening, powdered sugar and vanilla in a medium bowl and mix well with an electric mixer on high speed until fluffy.

Add the salt solution to the filling mixture and combine.

When the cakes are done and cooled, use a skewer or chopstick to make three holes in the bottom of each one. Move the stick around inside of each cake to create space for the filling.

Using a cake decorator or pastry bag, inject each cake with filling through all three holes.

Serving Size

Serves 10

On My Way to Becoming a Crazy Cat Lady

2012-11-12T16:25:00.000-05:00

Looking outside my window right now, there are 2 feral cats asleep on the rails around my back porch. We also have one inside kitty - she's hanging out on top of out entertainment center, her normal place to hide from the dogs. I'm not a cat person and have never been and neither is my husband, so how did this happen?

It started several years ago. One of our neighbors got several cats and, for some reason, decided to just let them roam the neighborhood. I don't know if this is because of the neighborhood-wide mouse infestation that happened a few years ago or if he originally meant to keep them inside, but he ended up not feeding or caring for them at all and they were mostly living in the woods on the edge of the neighborhood.

We'd see two of them in the yard on occasion and they'd usually run when we got near, although my husband did mistakenly bring the gray cat in once, mistakenly thinking it was out cat and she'd gotten out. For the past couple weeks, a large black cat has been hanging out on the porch, possibly because there are a few warm nooks to sleep in and stray pieces of dog food to eat. I noticed it and started leaving out a bowl of cat food and a bowl of water, and now it's living here for real. I've noticed the gray cat out there a few times as well, so I guess it's moved in too.

From the sound of it, they've been getting under the house at night to stay warm. We can't let them do that because they'll tear up the insulation and the ductwork, so I'm going to try to rig up some of the stuff we already have into DIY feral cat houses. I've seen a few cool plans for making them out of an old cooler, or putting a cheap foam cooloer or foam insulation inside a Rubbermaind tote, but I don't know if Billy is willing to give up either of those to turn into a cat house. In the meantime, I've got the old dog house that our Rottie lived in until she died amnd I'm going to see if I can find some free straw to insulate it with. It's big enough to hold at least a couple cats.

Works In Progress

2012-11-02T22:39:00.002-04:00

I mentioned earlier that I was working on some creative things, and I have two main ones in the works right now.

The big one for November is NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month). It's a yearly challenge to write a 50,000 word novel in 30 days. Yes, that's very short for a novel and it really means writing part of a first draft, but the point is to get into the habit of writing every day and then work on additional drafts and editing later. Of course, I came up with about 5 different ideas before I started writing, and I'm still considering switching over and working on a different project instead of the one I've started writing. I figure if I come up with even a good idea to build from it's worth it and the extra writing practice will do me good.

The other work in progress is one I started last month and then put on hold to give me time to write. It's a comic strip that I had an idea for. I'm still working on character sheets now - drawing each character with multiple poses, facial expressions, etc. Next will be backgrounds and then putting it all together and publishing. I think I'll do it as a webcomic first then publish comic books once I have enough done.

In other news, the toe is feeling much better. I took rugrat trick or treating (pics to follow when I dig my camera out) and I think the walking around actually helped it. My calves are tight and feel like I walked about 5 miles, but most of the pain in the toenail is gone and my toe is no longer all stiff and achy. I go back to the foot doctor on Wednescday and, if he gives me the all-clear, I'll probably start back on a walking and biking routine again.

Not Again

2012-10-27T23:35:00.000-04:00

Well, I'm back. Life finally slowed down a bit and I'm not very mobile right now so sitting here and blogging makes sense.

My son slammed open the gate on our porch last week and caught my big toe, breaking it and ripping the nail off. I am still in pain and not able to walk right, plus sore because the band-aid is stuck to it and I can't get it off after after soaking it for 2 hours in water and epsom salt (gonna call the doc back on Monday, but nobody's yanking that thing lose without numbing it or something first - I can't even stand to touch the edge of what's left of the band-aid now, after I tripped most of the unstuck part away).

Other than that, I'm still busy, but less with obligations and more with things I want to do. I'm hitting the SEO and content writing pretty hard right now, mainly because we're very short on cash and have a bunch of medical bills now on top of this (for October = 2 normal doctor visits for me, bunch of blood work, ER visit for the son when he fell and split his forehead open, and now another doctor visit plus the podiatrist visit he referred me to and at least one follow-up in 2 weeks). Can't win for losing, but I guess that's life.

Seriously though, if I get all tacky and stick a "donate" button in my sidebar, this is why. Yes, this also means more sponsored posts and such for a while, but I'll keep marking them with an asterisk (*) in front of the title so you can skip them if you'd like, and I'll try to write plenty of regular posts to balance them out.

I do have a few things in the works on the creative front as well, but more about them later.

2012-10-22T18:19:00.000-04:00

I'm back.

I haven't been blogging much because life has gotten a bit overwhelming and I took a break from most of my blogs and social media sites.

I'm going to start trying to update more regularly again in a week or two, including with a long-overdue review of a lovely dress from eShakti and a summary of some of the changes in my life lately.

The Zucchini Wars

2012-07-09T18:46:00.002-04:00

If you're a gardener in the South or have ever lived near or gone to church with a Southern gardener, then you know about the zucchini wars.

If you don't, here it is. We plant a few of these seeds in our garden each year, watch as the plants grow huge, then big yellow blossoms appear. All of a sudden, they start bearing tons of fruit, sometimes 6 or 8 huge zucchinis per plant. Of course, they all ripen at once and the same goes for every other zucchini plant within miles.

It gets baked, fried, shredded up into breads and muffins, hollowed out and filled with meat and tomato sauce and cheese, and used as a replacement for noodles in lasagna. Still, there's only so much squash a person can eat, so the "wars" begin.

Churches are notorious for them. Arrive early and leave your windows down, your doors unlocked, or the bed of your truck uncovered, and you'll probably find a grocery bag full of long green squash waiting for you after services. It happens in neighborhoods, too. If your neighbor gardens, then watch out! You may return home from work or walk out the door on a Saturday morning to discover "gifted" zucchinis propped up against your door or waiting in your favorite rocking chair. They can even find their ways into mailboxes and newspaper boxes, and occasionally even bicycle baskets.

And that's only the anonymous gifting. The more covert stage of the zucchini wars involved baked goods. Many a person has fallen victim to this by accepting an offer of zucchini bread or muffins. From there, it's a quick downfall as word gets out that you like them and you're offered even more.

There's no way to beat them and no polite way to win, so you might as well start liking veggies hidden in your breads and cake, till up a patch of ground, and head off the offers next year by growing your own.

If you need me, I'll be in the garden or in the kitchen, buried in squash. The truly disturbing part - I have twice as many butternut squash plants as zucchinis this year and it looks like they'll be ready to harvest in a few weeks.

Car Seat Emergency Stickers

2012-07-07T16:27:00.000-04:00

Another great idea from Pinterest!
I've seen a couple pins showing stickers attached to carseats with the child and parent's information, in case of an accident or other emergency and I thought it was a great idea worth sharing.

You can see an example at http://dontpatthebelly.com/2012/04/car-seat-emergency-information-stickers/

Apparently, you can by them pre-printed online, but they'd also be really easy to print onto sticker paper or just write on an index card, laminate or cover in clear tape, and tape to the carseat.

The link above includes the following information on the sticker:

Child's Name:
DOB:
Address:
Phone:

Parent/Guardian Names:
Phone Numbers:

Emergency Contact:
Phone Numbers:

Doctor/Pediatrician:
Phone Number:
Allergies/Medical Conditions:

Other things you could add include:
Blood Type
Organ Donor Status
Dietary Restrictions (Kosher, Vegetarian, Etc)'

My First Computer

2012-06-27T22:49:00.000-04:00

My first computer was a Commodore 64. It was originally sold from 1982-1984 and still holds the record for the most units sold of any computer system ever, about 17 million.

It had 64K RAM, a bunch of games, a full color display, and a sound card and interface that let you program your own sounds and music. It came with a really slow, loud floppy disk drive that was supposed to be an improvement over the original cassette-based drive and an old-school dot matrix printer.

Instead of a GUI, you had to enter all the commands in BASIC, but it seemed pretty easy at the time and I thought it was really cool to be able to type in code and create pictures, sounds, and short/simple programs. It was definitely enough to start a girl on the road to geekdom.

We only had it for a year or two, because my parents bought in in 1994, when I was a freshman in high school, and it quickly became clear that it wouldn't work well for word processing or this new thing called the internet that teachers were encouraging us to use for research. We got a Gateway PC with Microsoft Office, a "real" inkjet printer, and a dial-up connection the next year and were up to date as far as mid-90s computing went, but I still have a soft spot for the old Commodore for showing me that programming was fun and not too hard.

This post is part of the 2012 Blog Dare from Bloggy Moms.

One prompt per day, for each day of the year.

<--- Click the button to join us!

*Georgia On My Mind

2012-06-25T16:09:00.000-04:00

For some reason, my family keeps ended up in Georgia. My grandmother managed a bookstore there back before I was born and, when I was very young, my grandfather lived in a mountain community near Atlanta called Big Canoe. I remember going on vacations to visit them and going to Six Flags and riding the roller coasters and rides there.

When I was in college, one of my friends lived near Lake Lanier in Gainesville, Georgia. Her parents owned a chain of bar and grills in and around Atlanta and I had several friends in Atlanta at the time. She didn't have a car, so I would drive us down on the weekends and her parents let us stay with them. This way, we could visit friends and go see bands when they played in the area. I wanted to move down there myself, but out of state tuition and falling in love with the man who's now my husband kept me here in NC.

Still, I have a feeling I may end up there again in the future, maybe after we retire. Like parts of North Carolina, Georgia also has beautiful mountains and lakes and Atlanta has so much to offer for people of all ages. If we decide to look at retirement communities or senior living Atlanta would be one of the areas high on our list. There are so many places available with beautiful surroundings and pools, fitness, and other amenities nearby and being close to the city means more events and cultural offerings to choose from.

The Best Book I Read Recently

2012-06-18T19:03:00.000-04:00

I usually don't get into books that are trending, and I've skipped most of the young adult series that have been popular with adults lately, like Harry Potter and Twilight.

Still, when I heard about the Hunger Games, I was interested. I like survival stories and fiction and am into post-apocalyptic and dystopian books and movies. I waiting for a while to read it though, because there was a huge backorder at our local library, then finally broke down and bought the eBooks of the whole series because I wanted to read them before watching the movie.

I ended up absolutely loving the books and reading the whole series in two days. I still haven't seen the movie yet, but will probably catch it soon. We have a $2 theater that shows "second run" movies nearby, and they're planning to run it for several weeks. It's popular here all over again because the town where they filmed District 12 is just a few miles away.

This post is part of the 2012 Blog Dare from Bloggy Moms.

One prompt per day, for each day of the year.

<--- Click the button to join us!

Why Clean The House?

2012-06-07T02:23:00.001-04:00

(This is an essay I wrote for a homemaking course I'm taking.)

Why clean the house?

This was something I asked myself for years, with the wrong attitude and lots of “poor me” type statements tacked onto the end. Why clean the house – nobody appreciates it? Why clean the house – it’ll just get dirty again? Why clean the house – I’m not the only one who lives here?

For years, I had plenty of excuses so I didn’t clean the house, or I did the bear minimum to keep things halfway sanitary, but not at all neat or welcoming. I have never had to clean while I was a child, except as a punishment, and I had never really learned how to clean or keep things in order, but I had convinced myself that it wasn’t all that important and that I had “better” things to do.

I remember really thinking about it after reading a quote online at said something like “A cluttered house is a sign of a cluttered soul”. I didn’t know why, but that quote made me so mad at the time. How dare they judge me? How could they assume my house was any sort of reflection of me? Why was a messy house always the woman’s fault anyway? Didn’t they know I worked long hours and needed a break when I got home, too?

Looking back, those thought and attitudes were the very type of clutter my mind and soul were filled with. I was so focused on myself and on how busy and self-important I felt that I never realized that the clutter and chaos in my home was a reflection of me. I blamed my messy house on depression and constant fatigue, and then I blamed the mess for causing my depressed feelings and lack of energy. I felt overwhelmed by it all, but was too caught up in feeling sorry for myself to make even a small change. The sad thing is it took a stay in the hospital, when I was physically and mentally at the end of my rope, for me to realize that I needed to get my physical house in order the same way I needed to get my mental and spiritual “house” in order.

Being in the hospital was a little like being in a hotel. The room was sparse but neat and I was limited to a few outfits, basic toiletries, and some books and notebooks for writing and drawing. The first morning I woke up, I made my bed because it looked so messy and unkept and I started taking pride in keeping my few things neat. I realized then that order and routine set the tone for the whole day and lifted my spirits. It really began to sink in how much my cluttered home was dragging me down and affecting my moods and my energy, and I started to realize how it must be affecting my husband as well.

When I got back home, I started working on cleaning. I didn’t really know where to start, so I spent a lot of time sorting through boxes and drawers one small thing at a time, taking hours without making much visible progress. I finally found my way back to the FlyLady website and determined to give it a try. For a couple years, I would try it, “flutter” for a while and then get into a depression or get overwhelmed with work and fall behind again. Still, things were getting a bit better, very slowly. I still had way too much clutter and what I now realize was a hoarding problem, but at least I had routines to help me keep some of it in check and to keep on top of hygienic things like laundry, dishes, vacuuming, and clean bathrooms.

When I found out I was pregnant out of the blue, after 8 years of supposed infertility, it really put things into perspective. My house was still far too cluttered and hard to clean because of the piles of stuff in the way. I knew I needed to make some big changes quick and get rid of a lot of clutter and then do a thorough cleaning to make it safe and welcoming to bring my son home to. I had pregnancy complications that resulted in having to quit both my jobs early, which gave me lots of time at home. I was also blessed to have a chance, thanks to a television special, to get to meet Marla Cilley (the FlyLady) in person for help and encouragement in de-cluttering. I did manage to get things neat, for the most part (one thing we found out is my husband also has hoarding/packrat tendencies and he was more reluctant to let things go), before my son was born, but I had health issues after his birth that let things fall behind again. Things are much neater than they were, but I still have to push myself to keep on top of things and not let the nagging voice that tells me “it’s not worth it” or “it’ll just get messy again” win. It’s also just been a big adjustment to try to find time to clean with a small child who wants to get into everything as fast as I can straighten it up.

Now, I have so many answers to the question “Why clean the house?”

The first is simply, because it’s my job. I wanted to be a stay-at-home mom and have been blessed to be able to do so. Part of this “agreement” is that my husband takes care of earning most of the money to pay our bills and I take care of our son and the house. It is also part of the “job description” the Bible gives for a woman who is a “keeper at home”.

The second is because my family deserves it. Like I mentioned earlier, a cluttered house can make you feel very moody and depressed, and it often causes arguments between spouses. On the other hand, a neat and clean house can lift your spirits and is a calmer and more relaxing place to rest or come home to. My husband should be able to come home in the evening to a peaceful and welcoming environment, not to chaos and clutter that makes it look like I don’t care about what he has provided for me. My son needs a home that is neat and safe for him to play in and explore, and where he will be happy to invite friends over as he gets older. I also deserve a clean, orderly house, because it shows that I respect myself and my family enough to keep it up and that I respect my job as a homemaker.

The last reason is so that I can use my house to bless others. My husband and I used to enjoy having friends over to visit us before the house got so messy, and that is something we have only recently been able to enjoy again. At one point, I even had an informal book/study group with some local ladies that centered around FW, but I did not feel like I could continue that until I got my house back in order again because I would have been ashamed of the clutter and dust. I believe that one of the greatest gifts we can share with others, especially if we have the opportunity to be stay at home wives and mothers, is hospitality, but that requires a home that is clean and welcoming. I look forward to having a home that I will be glad to invite people over to again, and where I will not hesitant to open the door and ask someone in if they stop by for a moment.

Toddler Antics of the Past Week

2012-05-20T21:12:00.003-04:00

Friday night:

I was up late last night working on some writing.
Robbie gets out of bed around 1am, ignores me and goes straight to the fridge. I ask what he's doing, he says "I cook", and starts moving a chair.

He'd gotten 2 waffles out of the freezer, put them in the toaster, and turned the toaster on. When they popped up, he grabbed them, then went back to bed. When I went in there, he'd eaten half of one and was snuggled up with the rest.

Saturday:

Me: Let's go fix dinner.
Robbie: Cake please.
Me: No, we need real food first.
Him: Pie?

Yes, I do feed him, but I think he may be part Hobbit

Why I Didn't Weed the Garden

2012-05-18T19:37:00.000-04:00

Today started out with good intentions. I had a lot to do, was more motivated than usual (OK, that's not much, but it's a start), and was gonna get some stuff done around the house. Most of this is because my husband has been working a second job and I feel kind of guilty slacking here while he's working 16 hours some days, but it's a start.

My first bright idea was to go ahead and shampoo the carpet while the rugrat was still in bed. I picked up, vacuumed, and wet down a few areas with boiling water and carpet shampoo as a spot treatment, then went to get the shampooer and realized I was missing a piece I needed. After spending 40+ minutes looking for it, I threw in the towel and decided to weed the garden instead.

That's our mower under the tarp on the left. It's broken, obviously.

I went outside with my son and watered the plants we have starting on our back porch first. Luckily, I saw a squirrel in the yard and decided to show it to my son and stand there for a while and let him watch it

That was all good, until it got close to the garden and I saw this huge snake. I thought about running down there and attacking it with the garden hoe, but I didn't want to be handling snakes and swinging sharp metal objects with a 2 year old instead, so we watched it cruise around the gardens and went back inside instead.

Seriously, the thing was at least 3 feet long!

Since my carpet shampooer had already crapped out on me earlier in the morning, I took it as some sort of sign that I should just throw in the towel on actual work for the day.

We packed up our stuff and went to the park, because there was no way I was going back in that yard with the anaconda wanna-be lurking around in the grass.

I did go down there later to water the garden and didn't get eaten by the snake, but I am officially freaked out for the rest of the summer.

Boring Shoes + Sharpies!

2012-05-04T00:37:00.000-04:00

This is what I wanted the Sharpie markers for a week or so ago.

I've had these plain white tennis shoes for a while and they're so boring I never wore them anywhere. Even for around the house white is just not the best color because it shows every little stain and mark.

I decided I wanted something more fun, but it took me a while to decide what to do with them. I had though about coloring them to look like wingtips or saddle shoes, but my 80s/90s nostalgia won out.

If you are in or near your 30s, you probably remember Lisa Frank. They made stickers, folders, stationary, and all sorts of things featuring neon-colored animals, unicorns, and other stereotypical girly stuff. It's still around, but I think it was much more popular in the late 80s-mid 90s, when I was in elementary and middle school.

As much of a tomboy as I was/am, I have an undying love for the stuff, especially Markie the unicorn. I even carried folders and notebooks with him on them in college and in the office when I worked as a real estate broker, so I just had to bust out the markers and make me some neon rainbow unicorn shoes.

Roller Skating

2012-05-03T23:56:00.000-04:00

What caused me to change my career field.

2012-04-26T09:50:00.000-04:00

I talked about this when I first started the blog, but finding out I was pregnant caused some huge changes in my life, including my career.

Before I got pregnant, my husband and I had talked and planned on my staying home if/when we had a baby, but years passed and we weren't sure how to make it work when the time actually came.

As fate would have it, I didn't really end up with a choice. I had two hospitalizations in the few months before I got pregnant, including a car wreck that required surgery and months of physical therapy, so I used up most of my sick and family/medical leave time. Then, I had hyperemesis and fainting spells that caused my doctor to pull me out of work and recommend that I not even drive a car for several weeks.

All of this meant I didn't have enough time off to keep my job and they refused to move me to a position where I would be seated and not walking around a hot kitchen on concrete floors and surrounded by inmates. In order to pull my money out of my retirement savings and 401k, to pay my bills, I had to quit my job. I was upset over how it played out, but it was the best thing that could have happened.

As a result, I've been able to spend the past 2+ years at home with my son full-time. It's been great and I wouldn't trade that time with him for anything, even though he can be a handful. It's also given me a chance to think about what I enjoy and what I want to do with the rest of my life, and now I'm going back to college again, which I probably wouldn't have if I had kept my old job.

This post is part of the 2012 Blog Dare from Bloggy Moms.

One prompt per day, for each day of the year.

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If I only had $20, I would buy...

2012-04-25T22:41:00.000-04:00

A big pack of Sharpie markers.

Seriously, I've been doing a lot more drawing and artsy-crafty stuff lately and I love sharpies because they make great lines and come in so many colors.

I also have some shoes and things I'm waiting to decorate and I figure permanent marker is the easiest way to do what I have in mind.

This post is part of the 2012 Blog Dare from Bloggy Moms.

One prompt per day, for each day of the year.

<--- Click the button to join us!

*Some Information on Mesothelioma

2012-04-20T10:25:00.000-04:00

Living in southern Appalachia, it seems like almost everybody has either worked in a local manufacturing plant or "mill" or has family who had. Sadly, many of these people and their family members were later diagnosed with lung diseases that were likely related to their jobs, and many died from them. In most cases, it was only a few years between diagnosis and death and the majority never received any compensation from their employers.

One of my husband's cousins, who died from mesothelioma after working in a textile plant which manufactured asbestos fabrics, was even told he had no claim because he'd been a smoker and that was obviously the cause of his lung cancer. Some manufacturing plants in the area today make applicants sign a form that says they cannot sue the company for any health problems that are related to their employment - I'm not sure if this is even legal, but it was enough to keep my husband from taking a fairly high-paying job with a company that manufactures wallboard.

I vaugely remember seeing signs about asbestos when I was a child in the early 90s and being told it was something bad and they were getting rid of it in our school building, and I've seen the ads for mesothelioma lawyers on television, so I thought that it was a fading problem. Instead, I've learned that mesothelioma rates have not really gone down since 1989, when the asbestos ban was passed (the increased for several years afterward), and the survival rate has only barely improved. Because it was expensive to remove asbestos from many products, and some manufacturers claimed it was impossible or that the replacement materials were inferior, many manufacturers using asbestos were opposed to the ban and the the EPA was sued and lost in 1991, overturning much of the asbestos ban and ensuring that asbestos is still used in many products today.

Another surprise was finding that about 30% of mesothelioma patients are veterans, usually those who served onboard US Navy ships or in naval shipyards from the 1930s through the 1970s. During those years, asbestos was used extensively for fireproofing and insulation and the close quarters of the ship made it virtually impossible to avoid exposure. The VA does recognize mesothelioma as a service-related disease, but many people have trouble getting VA claims approved and it becomes an even harder problem while battling a deadly disease at the same time. Veterans, like many other mesothelioma patients, would be best served by getting a lawyer to represent them during this process.

Too Awesome Not to Share

2012-04-14T19:56:00.000-04:00

In case you missed it, or are too broke or trendy to catch television these days, Jenny Lawson ("The Bloggess" was on CNN today.

THEY thought they were getting another "mommy wars" story. Instead, she used her time to talk about the coming zombie apocalypse, her lady garden, and other awesomeness. Seriosuly, this had to have been the best CNN interview ever.

She has a video up on her blog and you have got to go watch it:
http://thebloggess.com/2012/04/and-then-i-used-the-phrase-lady-garden-on-cnn/