Pinterest: Blogs & Blurbs

Oh, how I love Pinterest. It's saved my life...just kidding! Well, actually it has returned my enthusiasm for constantly finding new teaching ideas, solved many organizing dilemmas, introduced me to the world of blogging, provided many yummy recipes, and sparked many brilliant ideas. I refuse to feel guilty for spending a few minutes each day pinning when it's been such a great resource and SO much fun. It's also what prompted me to begin blogging and hatched my blurb plan.

Let me explain... I didn't really begin reading blogs until around Christmas of last year, and it didn't take me long to decide that I wanted in on the fun. Two blogs later, I'm hooked! Then a few weeks ago I pinned an idea for making family yearbooks through Blurb. At first I dismissed the idea since I've always used Shutterfly, but the more I considered it the more it makes sense. My former brilliant idea had been to just create Shutterfly books for all my kids individually, but making a family yearbook (and then ordering copies for everyone to take with them when they grow up, maybe...someday down the road) just makes so much more sense. The deciding factor, though, was the realization that I could incorporate blog posts into this book. Holy cow! Talk about making two hobbies suddenly go from being exclusive to working hand in hand. Totally resonates with my resolution to simply my life this year and "work smarter, not harder."

I am definitely not a fabulous blogger, yet, but I've found that I do really enjoy it. It has the same therapeutic quality as journaling, even though your thoughts are being broadcast to the world. Still, I have neglected to write many times when I should have because I've felt guilty investing the time. Now, however, as I'm narrating the day-to-day I can use it to string each year together. Woohoo!!! I am just so excited to begin working, and I may even work my way backwards all the back back to our wedding. After all, if a scrapbook I began 9 years hasn't been finished yet, it probably won't ever be (yes, our wedding album...how embarrassing). Josiah's baby book and the journaling I attempted can be included, the unfinished Christmas scrapbooks can be included...so many fragmented projects can all be incorporated and finally finished! And the best part...new purpose for my blog!!! I will probably still post about some of the projects I'm working on, because that makes me excited too, but the main purpose will be to tell the story of our family. Which means...when I make each blurb book most of the journaling will be done already! If you've read my earlier posts, you already know that I'm great at starting and not finishing, and if you have ever scrapbooked you know that journaling is the final step. How awesome to not have to try to remember and detail events from months ago!

So...I know have to wrap up this post so that I can begin another which will, of course, go in our blurb book for 2012!!!!

Favorite Summer Pictures (so far)!!!

I would love nothing more than to sit down and do these pictures justice by creating separate posts and narrating each event, but...alas...it's 12:38 am. This is normally not a cause of alarm, however I've just realized that there are only 3 weeks remaining until school begins. Considering that I haven't gotten out of bed before 8:00 all summer presents a problem. So for now, here are just a few of our favorites. I'll tell the stories later!!!

A Sleepover...3 Year Old Style

Oh how I love watching my sweetheart grow and experience things I remember from childhood. Last night we had an impromptu sleepover with our neighbor, and they lived it up big time. Full bath with lots of splashing and a squirter (the ceiling was a little wet), wearing their matching pajamas, and squishing side by side on the bed with Jim to read Oh the Places you Go (Dr. Seuss is Jim and Josiah's favorite, besides Waldo)...then wrapping up the evening by giggling and whispering instead of going right to sleep. Listening to them from the next room made my heart smile. :)

So I am also, admittedly, on a mission to be one of Josiah's friends' favorite moms and known for cooking all things yummy, and I stayed up late to bake a special breakfast just for the boys. We have 5 lbs of "to die for" blueberries, and I found a super scrumptious recipe on Pinterest. Here it is! http://www.alexandracooks.com/2011/06/29/buttermilk-blueberry-breakfast-cake/ I stayed up until after 1:00 waiting for that puppy to finish baking! Not only that, but trying to double a new recipe that late at night usually takes me twice as long because I'm paranoid about doing everything correctly and doubling ALL the ingredients. AND this one required butter and eggs at room temperature, which I managed to NOT realize at the same time. Oops! Anyway, after staying up extra late neither of them ate more than two bites...turkeys!!! Oh well, more for me, right?

The sweetest part of the sleepover was this morning, when both kiddos came and snuggled with me in bed. How much longer until Josiah grows out of his snuggling phase? I'm afraid it can't be too much longer since he's already three and a half, so I'm going to cherish every minute until it's gone. Anyway...we spent the remainder of the morning playing T-ball in the backyard, retrieving golf balls out of the pool (using the golf ball retriever since it's a whole foot deep), jumping off a toy tote into the pool over and over...here's a few action shots!!!

Finishing!

If there was an award for starting the most projects I'd win hands down! If there was an award for not finishing the most projects, I'd win that too. I am notorious for having great ideas and starting them, but I am not a great finisher. Jim's classic example of this is the stack of books with bookmarks (all usually less than 1 cm worth of pages away from the front cover) sitting on the top of the shelf next to my bed. I also have at least 5 unfinished scrapbooks (at one point in my life I did actually work on these), and organizing projects either begun or hatching in my brain in every room in our house. AUGH! No wonder I make myself stressed and frustrated, and no wonder I always feel like I haven't accomplished anything at the end of the day when I haven't even sat down. Can anyone else relate?

My mission for the summer is to simply finish. Finish a book before I start another, go through the stacks of paper I've piled in the office and kitchen to file "later," finish the hosta bed in the back, finish staining the fence...you get the picture. I know that I will never be able to finish all the things I've started or begin to tackle all the other things I'm itching to start, but I have actually managed to finish a few things things I set out to do! If you read a few weeks ago, I DID finish cleaning out ALL my kitchen cupboards and install a shelving system in our garage. Woohoo!!! Current projects to finish: cleaning out clothes, filing and wrapping up paperwork in more places than I can count, clean out the bathroom cupboards, deadhead and prune in the yard, and finish reading Inheritance. Think I can do all that in a week and a half? Wish me luck!!!

Lovely day!

Top 10 things that made today fabulous, even though I overslept this morning!

• Started my day with a mocha from Caribou
• Got to "work" today with 3 amazing teachers from WF. While working on our district curriculum for next year we shared a plethora of inspiring ideas and resources!!! Found some GREAT third grade blogs for inspiration / Pinspiration!!!
• A colleague shared an idea that will solve my classroom organization woes...1 small bookshelf for each student table, complete with book boxes, text books, math toolkits, and kleenex!
• Had a blast with Josiah at my school today while he "helped" me move things from my old room to my new room. He did make lots of messes, but for the first time he picked up each mess prior to making a new one without complaint! Ahhh...and he was in a great mood to top it off!!!
• Ate on the patio at the golf course with my two favorite boys. Had a delicious wrap and fries (so unhealthy, but so good!)
• Jim and Josiah made chocolate cookies...being a spectator for that was SO much fun.
• Eating homemade chocolate chip cookies.
• Two Pinterest projects --- extra special payment gift for Josiah's babysitter this week and snazzy thank you notes printed off to have on hand.
• My laundry is done and the house it quiet.
• Look what came today!!! I cannot wait to learn how to use this thing and combine my two favorite things...making things on my computer with cute fonts and being crafty! Hmmm...what to make first...labels for the pantry that I just reorganized or lettering for my classroom...

Ok...enough playing on my computer...it's 12:53...if I'm not mistaken one of my New Years Resolutions was to be in bed earlier so that I could read, rest, and be up earlier. Guess I'm not meeting that one this week...

I heart summer break!

So I survived a few days without Josiah...ok, I LOVED a few days without Josiah. He is totally my favorite little man and I love his energy, enthusiasm, and non-stop inquisitive mind, but having a few days to myself allowed me to do some of the things that just aren't possible when he's here. Jim and I went for dinner on the patio at Ushers without having to get a sitter, think about how he was doing, or rush home. It was so wonderful to have a date! I was able to run errands TWICE! Again, without rushing or consideration for any kind of schedule. I can't remember the last time I did that! Finally, I cleaned out and organized our kitchen cupboards and the garage. Woot woot!!! I'm pretty sure that neither of those have been accomplished since Josiah was born, and having two of the spaces in our house that are used most often and store the most "treasure" back into a temporary state of order makes life just seem to function again. Oh, and did I mention that I got to blare my Friends reruns, stay up way too late, and then sleep in since no one came crawling into my bed in the wee hours of the morning? 

We have so many fun things coming up in the next few weeks too that I can hardly stand it! 3 different trips in 3 weeks time!!! We get to spend a weekend + a week at the lake and head to the cities for at least a week too. After visiting the MN Zoo, several parks in the cities (including the one formerly known as Chutes & Ladders), seeing cousins & grandparents, and spending so much time at the lake Josiah is going to think Fargo is awfully boring. Hopefully he'll be ready for some down time at home. After so much excitement (and packing and unpacking) I'm going to be ready to just settle in and enjoy my too few weeks at home. Oh how I love warm weather, all day with Josiah, and getting to do things that the school year doesn't permit! 

I HEART SUMMER!!!!!

Kidless - What's a mom to do?

I am sailing through uncharted water in my world. For the first time since December 5, 2008, I am home alone without my son for the next 3 days. Yikes! Over the past year Josiah has slept over with his buddy R across the street probably 2-3x when we've taken turns going on dates, but that's been the extent of our separation. Alright, yes...we are probably WAY overdue for this, but without grandparents or other family nearby we've never had the option. My parents graciously offered to take Josiah to the lake for a few days, and OMG was he excited!!! Watching the sparkle in his eyes as he ran around collecting his whiffle balls, butterfly net, baseball glove, golf club, bike...was so much fun. And I only cried for less than 5 minutes after I got him in his carseat in my mom's car (yes, I'm clearly inexperienced in being home alone)!

So, what am I doing all by myself? Well, since Jim was already sleeping by the time Josiah left, I did the only logical thing a mom can do...start cleaning out our kitchen cupboards! I'm pretty sure that some of them haven't been cleaned since we moved in 6 years ago, and even those that have been cleaned more recently have become a gigantic cluttered mess over the last 3 1/2 years. Now, those of you who know me well are probably thinking...Laura is one of the most organized people I know (or so it may seem), so her cupboards can't possibly be that bad. Well, they were! I cannot believe some of the things that I've put up with (like about 200 random lids in our tupperware collection). The kitchen has been on my list for at least a year, but I knew it would require a great deal of time and deliberate planning to actually get everything situated how it needs to be. Now that I've discovered Pinterest and an AMAZING blog devoted to organizing totally my style I've been dying to get our little abode whipped back into shape. If you haven't already been here, check out... http://iheartorganizing.blogspot.com/ I'm pretty sure Jen and I would be great friends if we lived closer together!

So far I've gone through all our dishes and created a "kid zone" cupboard, downsized our tupperware from two gigantic drawers to half of one, and emptied everything out of the pantry to our kitchen table. Here are a few pix of what's done!

Previously a baking cupboard...
What I hated: everything was hard to pull out, the vitamins were taking over the bottom shelf, there were cds, scissors, and candy shoved in random places, and it just looks like a jumble of randomness.

Now, it's our cupboard for all things kid-related! (Inspiration from blog sited above) What I love: everything for Josiah is in one place and not mixed in with adult dishes, Josiah's vitamins and medications are corralled in one container, and the two cups I found at Target for his utensils are super cute!

Forgot to take before shots, but all my baking gear needed to find a new home in another cupboard, and since I don't typically grab those items on a daily basis I decided to move all our dishes to the bottom two shelves in these two side-by-side cupboards and store mixing bowls above. What I love: now that I adjusted the shelf heights all our tall coffee mugs can stand up and not lay on their side (what a concept!), I can reach the cereal bowls without Jim or standing on a stool, and there is no longer coffee or snacks for Josiah mixed in with dishes!

Tomorrow will be my first full day on my own, and I can't wait to finish! I will be on a mission to pick up a few more organizers for our kitchen utensils and pantry, clean out the spice cupboard, and replace all the empty yogurt containers in my tupperware drawer with quality BPA-free plastic and glass containers. Woot woot!

Disclaimer - yes, cleaning out and organizing makes me more excited than the average person, and doing it at 2:00 am only intensifies that. But since I don't have anyone waking me up in the morning for the first time since Josiah was born, I can stay up as late as I want and be able to recover!!! See y'all tomorrow for phase 2!