20 Days of Writing: Day 8 - Favorite Winter Article of Clothing

This post is part of the 20 Days of Chill Writing Challenge hosted by A ‘lil HooHaa. Please check out the site if you’d like to see others or join in. And for those participating, take a moment and check out the other participants!

 

 

 

 

I don't know if I've ever had a favorite piece of winter clothing...except maybe a pair of warm gloves.

 

But now, I really do have a favorite piece of winter clothing....and it started with my husband.

20 Days of Writing: Day 7 - 10 Hotdogs

This post is part of the 20 Days of Chill Writing Challenge hosted by A ‘lil HooHaa. Please check out the site if you’d like to see others or join in. And for those participating, take a moment and check out the other participants!

 

 

 

Today's writing challenge is 10 Hotdogs.  So what am I going to do with this?

20 Days of Writing Challenge: Day 6 - What is Chill?

This post is part of the 20 Days of Chill Writing Challenge hosted by A ‘lil HooHaa. Please check out the site if you’d like to see others or join in. And for those participating, take a moment and check out the other participants!

 

 

 

So today is more than What is Chill - that would be easy - just show some pictures of the massive amounts of snow that we get....like this at Thanksgiving:

 

 

 

 

Today is What is Chill and How do I do it?  So here is my best rendition of being chill:

 





20 Day Writing Challenge: Day 5 - Invisible

This post is part of the 20 Days of Chill Writing Challenge hosted by A ‘lil HooHaa. Please check out the site if you’d like to see others or join in. And for those participating, take a moment and check out the other participants!

 

 

 How many times have you seen people get out of cars with the handicap placard who look perfectly healthy?  They can walk to the store seemingly fine.  The can carry big bulky items without an issue.

 

But how do you know they don't have an invisible illness?  One that qualifies them for the placard?  Or the driver is healthy, but their passenger (an elderly person or a child) isn't?

 

A mini van could really be a lift van that carries a person in a wheelchair.  Yes, the driver may be fine, but isn't the person who is in the wheelchair entitled to shop?  That person is the person for whom the placard is there.

 

 

Besides the driver of the truck being parking challenged....  the silver mini van carries a beautiful young woman who is wheelchair bound due to a neurologically regressive disease.  That mini van has a lift in it so she can get into and out of the car to get to doctor appointments.  This photo was actually in the hospital parking lot.

 

So the next time you see a seemingly healthy person get out of a vehicle that is parked in a marked handicapped spot, please realize it isn't all about them.

20 Day Writing Challenge: Day 4 - Travel

This post is part of the 20 Days of Chill Writing Challenge hosted by A ‘lil HooHaa. Please check out the site if you’d like to see others or join in. And for those participating, take a moment and check out the other participants!

 

 

 

On this 0 degree day (or sub-zero for some of us), I couldn't be more thrilled to write about MAUI!

 

I've never been to Maui, but I have a chance to go - all expense paid!

 

 

Yes, that's right - I am working toward an incentive trip with my new business Jamberry Nails.  How to I earn such a trip?  By helping women and girls have beautiful nails!! 

 

And the best part is that the trip is over my birthday next year!  What a way to spend a birthday.  So who wants to learn more about Jamberry or try a FREE sample?



20 Days of Writing: Day 3 - Willy Wonka

This post is part of the 20 Days of Chill Writing Challenge hosted by A ‘lil HooHaa. Please check out the site if you’d like to see others or join in. And for those participating, take a moment and check out the other participants!

 

 

 

Today's writing challenge is Willy Wonka's Greatest Candy Making Secret.

 

 

But before I reveal what I think is his greatest secret we have to look back (thanks to Wikipedia).

 

 

Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory is a 1971 musical fantasy film directed by Mel Stuart, and starring Gene Wilder as Willy Wonka. The film—a film adaptation of the 1964 novel Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl—tells the story of Charlie Bucket (Peter Ostrum, in his only film appearance) as he receives a Golden Ticket and visits Willy Wonka's chocolate factory with four other children from around the world. (source)

 

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory was first published in the United States by Alfred A. Knopf, Inc. in 1964 and in the United Kingdom by George Allen & Unwin in 1967. The book was adapted into two major motion pictures: Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory in 1971, and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory in 2005. The book's sequel, Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator, was written by Roald Dahl in 1972. Dahl had also planned to write a third book in the series but never finished it. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (2005), directed by Tim Burton and starring Johnny Depp as Willy Wonka, Freddie Highmore as Charlie Bucket, Deep Roy as the Oompa-Loompas, and Geoffrey Holder as the Narrator, was a hit. (source)

 

20 Days of Writing: Day 2 - Winter Comfort Food

This post is part of the 20 Days of Chill Writing Challenge hosted by A ‘lil HooHaa. Please check out the site if you’d like to see others or join in. And for those participating, take a moment and check out the other participants!

 

 

 

Everyone has their "go to" winter comfort food when it is freezing cold outside with the blowing snow.

 

Food and Wine has a slide show of 17 recipes.  Some of them are definitely what I would call winter comfort food:

• Hot chocolate
• Macaroni and cheese
• Chili
• Beef Stew
• Baked Potatoes

 

But what is curiously missing is soups.  My winter favorite is New England Clam Chowder - the hearty cream soup with big chunks of potatoes and onions and clams.

 

Photo from Wikipedia

 

 

So what is your go to winter comfort food?  You know, the one that you would eat all curled up in a blanket in front of a roaring fire watching the snow fall?  Yeah, that comfort food......

20 Days of Writing: Day 1 - Spilled Milk

This post is part of the 20 Days of Chill Writing Challenge hosted by A ‘lil HooHaa. Please check out the site if you’d like to see others or join in. And for those participating, take a moment and check out the other participants!

In the nursing mom world, spilled milk is the worst thing that can happen. Spilling the liquid gold that your body produces for your little one is precious.

But every nursing mom has had it happen at least once.  It could happen at work when pouring the milk from the catch bottle to a storage bag (which I did - all over the floor under my desk).  It could happen at home at the counter when pouring it from the storage bag to a bottle (which I also have done), or dropping a full bottle on the floor before giving it to your child (which I thankfully haven't done).

Since breastmilk is a supply/demand system, your body produces it when it thinks it is needed, so when you pump or when  your child nurses.  You can't recover what was spilled.

The first time I spilled milk, I did cry - because as nursing moms you are trained that you can't waste any bit of that liquid gold.  The second time I spilled milk, I kicked myself, but realized life would go on.  Because life does go on.  And unfortunately one day you won't have to worry about spilling milk because your child won't be drinking the liquid gold.  So there is really no need to cry over spilled milk.  Yes, you can't get it back, but your child will not miss it.  Clean it up and pump or nurse some more.  It will do your body good.




Also linking up to these lovely Mommy bloghops:

Wordless Wednesday

There are many link ups for Wordless Wednesday's - where a picture is supposed to say it all.

5 for Five - May 19

So what is 5 For Five? In the short form, it is 5 goals you want to achieve this week. Next week, I will report on my success (or failure).

Here were the goals from last week:

5 for Five - May 12

So what is 5 For Five? In the short form, it is 5 goals you want to achieve this week. Next week, I will report on my success (or failure).

Here were the goals from last week:

5 for Five - May 5

So what is 5 For Five? In the short form, it is 5 goals you want to achieve this week. Next week, I will report on my success (or failure).

Here were the goals from last week:

5 for Five - April 28

So what is 5 For Five? In the short form, it is 5 goals you want to achieve this week. Next week, I will report on my success (or failure).

Here were the goals from last week:

5 for Five - April 21

So what is 5 For Five? In the short form, it is 5 goals you want to achieve this week. Next week, I will report on my success (or failure).

Here were the goals from last week:

5 for Five - April 14

So what is 5 For Five? In the short form, it is 5 goals you want to achieve this week. Next week, I will report on my success (or failure).

Here were the goals from last week:

5 for Five - April 7

So what is 5 For Five? In the short form, it is 5 goals you want to achieve this week. Next week, I will report on my success (or failure).

Here were the goals from last week:

5 for Five - March 31

So what is 5 For Five? In the short form, it is 5 goals you want to achieve this week. Next week, I will report on my success (or failure).

Here were the goals from last week:

5 for Five - March 24

So what is 5 For Five? In the short form, it is 5 goals you want to achieve this week. Next week, I will report on my success (or failure).

Here were the goals from last week:

5 for Five - March 17

So what is 5 For Five? In the short form, it is 5 goals you want to achieve this week. Next week, I will report on my success (or failure).

Here were the goals from last week:

1. SMART goal - Prewrite 3 blog posts.  I did this.  I had a few from a few weeks that I kept moving. They all were posted last week.
2. SMART goal - read 2 newspapers a day - that should be between 10-14 by the end of the week. I read 6.  It's helping that I am separating 10 from the rest of the pile so I truly can be accountable.
3. Print some Shelby pictures to send to my Grandma since she is not "wired". Nope.  Didn't get to this.
4. Create at least 1 Shutterfly book.  I have a free coupon code that expires this week. Done!  Look for it to be posted in the next few weeks.
5. Finish the Elks brochure contest. Done.  I created a 20 page booklet showcasing our Elks Memorial Day Service.

I think that is pretty good. 3.5 out of 5.

So what are my goals for this week??? 

1.  Have a corned beef dinner.
2. SMART goal - read 2 newspapers a day - that should be between 10-14 by the end of the week.
3. Print some Shelby pictures to send to my Grandma since she is not "wired".
4. SMART goal - clean off the corner stand in the living room.
5. Start a blog redesign.


You are probably wondering what a SMART goal is.  It is a term I "borrowed" from Say Goodbye to Survival Mode: 9 Simple Strategies to Stress Less, Sleep More, and Restore Your Passion for Life by Crystal Paine.  SMART goals are specific, measurable, attainable, realistic, and time-bound.  Since all these goals are really time-bound (1 week), I just have to get better at meeting the other criteria.

Ok, who is with me?  Let's keep each other on track to a better year!



Disclosure: Some of the links in this post are my referral links. By clicking on these links I may be compensated.

Mommy Brain

A few weeks ago, my favorite health blogger, Dr. Claire McCarthy wrote a post about Mom Messiness on the Boston Children's Hospital blog.

Huffington Post picked it up about a week later and it has made it's travels around the social media pages.

We all see those moms (and dads) seem to have it all together.  You see them out and about and the kids are all clean, they are dressed nice with hair and makeup.  Based upon that impression and talking to them - they are part of the PTA, bring their kids to sports, make these amazing meals....their house must be spotless.  And we all try to strive to get to that point.

A few weeks before Dr. Claire wrote her blog post, my favorite coupon blogger, I Am THAT Lady, wrote about being Pinterest depressed - seeing all the wonderful creations on Pinterest and knowing that she couldn't live up to the creations.  Lauren (the Lady behind I Am THAT Lady) shows you what it looks like around that perfect shot or the next day.  With 4 kids, it can get a bit messy.  But you know what?  She's a loving mom.

Crystal Paine, in her book Say Goodbye to Survival Mode: 9 Simple Strategies to Stress Less, Sleep More, and Restore Your Passion for Life, relays a story about sitting at a moms get-together where one of the mom's said she had a cleaning lady come over every other week.  She goes on to say that as moms if we aren't doing everything in our house, we see ourselves as failures.

I always considered myself reasonably organized.  Then Dan came along, and for a while I was still reasonably organized.  Then mommy brain took over - putting something down to get back to it later because he needed something and then forgetting what it was I put down or where I put it down.  Amazingly, I still had a general idea where things were.  My hubby would call looking for something and I would say look "here" or "here" and it was usually in one of those places.

Then after he died, I went through a grief period where I just didn't care.

We have a dog and a cat.  Both shed and both are messy eaters, so there is food and shedded hair on the floor at all times.  Even when Dan was alive and walking around, my house wasn't spotless.  Yes, there are times I get frustrated with the "mess" and "clutter" and throw fits about not having time to clean it up, but truthfully, I don't think I could live in a spotless house.

So here is our kitchen table - the way it has looked for a least a few years now.  The stuff may change but right now, I'm happy with my little mess.  Because I am a mom and I have a kid who is more important than having a spotless house.

Disclosure: Some of the links in this post are my referral links. By clicking on these links I may be compensated.