Summer Madness Contained.....Possibly

I have a sign hanging by my front door that reads, "Chaos, Panic & Disorder. My work here is Done." This is how I feel most of the time but with summer break upon us I am determined to not let the chaos control us. Instead I have come up with a daily schedule we can look to for suggestions, but it's not mandatory. I have learned in my simple 34 years that high expectations lead to major disappointment, so we dream big but don't expect perfection.

So.....I have put together a daily schedule & a list of freetime ideas & quiet time ideas. I think they're really great references for any family of any size that feels they want a little more say in how their day goes. It's totally flexible which is just the way I like it. Although there are a few things that need to be accomplished everyday & it would be best if they were accomplished at a specific time. It's just a really good guideline. So I figured I would share them here.

It is an Excel workbook. 3 sheets. One is the Daily Schedule, one is Freetime Ideas & the other is Quiet Time Ideas.

Just click here to get it.

I really could have used more quiet time ideas, so if you have any, please add your comment!

Hope you enjoy these & have fun controlling the chaos!

Another Year Survived

It's been so long since I posted on my blog & how sad is that?!? I miss it so but just have not had the energy, time, motivation or desire to share the struggles & changes in my life. Currently Mark is deployed to Afghanistan for a year & I am still struggling with Stage 3 Bipolar Disorder & heavy periods of depression, who wouldn't with 5 kids & a household to handle all by themselves? I wonder if I did blog though, if it would help me feel like I have an outlet, a stress reliever to share my thoughts & dreams & failures & triumps (however small)? I just might try to start blogging again, because I need to reintroduce things into my life that I used to love doing. Wanna come along for the ride?

School Sack Lunch Menu

I searched & searched for a set menu for school sack lunches, but found nothing. BUT! I did find some great ideas that I used to combine our own menu & I figured I would share it with you!

MAIN DISHES:

Bow Tie Pasta w/ Veggies

Tuna Sandwiches (in the shape of a fish)

Mini Cracker Pizzas

Pretzel Kabobs

Chicken w/Ranch Dressing

Beanie Weenies

Hawaiian Roll Sandwich

Mini Bagels w/Cream Cheese

Chicken Nuggets w/Honey Mustard

PB&Honey Sandwich

Club Sandwich

Mini Football Subs

SIDE ITEMS:

vanilla pudding

Jello-O

mandarin oranges

edamame

deviled eggs

banana bread

chips & salsa

popcorn w/cheese seasoning

graham crackers

Chex Mix

If you want any of the recipes, just let me know. I invested in a 3 compartment Ziploc container for each child, as well as really small bowls for dipping sauces and one insulated container. This will cut back on ziploc bag use. We also bought a lunch bag for $3.00 at Wal-Mart that fits everything just fine.

We make our own pudding & Jello-O because the cost is cheaper, no matter how you look at it. My kids are finally EXCITED about packing their lunches & of course I add a little note from Mom in the morning. I think I have some printable lunch notes & riddles that I have somewhere....I'll link to them if I can find them.

Something to Show For it.

What do we have to show for all of our hard work?  What do we have to show for all the children that we birthed, well, the children!  But, what do we have to show for all the times we've attempted to teach them something we figured they would never understand or remember?  Where are our awards for all the dinners cooked & not burned? For all the laundry stains we've miraculously gotten out of that favorite piece of clothing?  Where are the ribbons for First Place in Speedy Diaper Changing? Or the plaque for Most Dirty Diapers Changed in a Single Day?  Where are the ribbons for making it through another day?  Well, the new day is our award I suppose, but once again, my husband is about to embark on a new journey for him, for our entire family.  He will report to Officer Candidate School on Sunday, the 30th.  I could not be prouder of him.  He has received numerous plaques, coins, ribbons, certificates, trophies and titles these past 9 years in the Army.  I often become envious of all of his achievements & the fact that you can see them & touch them helping you to remember where you've come from & where you're headed.  I feel so inadequate next to him & as he proceeds through Officer School, I know he will get high marks. I know he will do very well & come out on top. He'll undoubtedly come back even more fit than he was before, which was pretty darn fit & me, I'll just be the same old unattractive size I've been since having the twins.  With him being gone for 12 weeks (the trial run) at first, it will be my first challenge with 5 kids to care for & not just 3.  And often when I see the twins wreaking havoc, they feel like 6 kids.  I have been challenging my own demons, banging & knocking them down each & every time I can, only to have another show me it's not quite done with me yet & just as I get a handle on that, will I be able to handle my own family?  It's nearly mind boggling doing all we do with Mark here, I cannot imagine how we will survive with him gone.  I know we will, but at what quality of living & what will it do to all my mental progress?  He asked me last night if I was scared.  I couldn't help but say, "Yes, wouldn't you be?" He had to agree I had the bigger burden to bear.  Well, at least we can agree on that & having someone sympathize with you can help a great deal.  I need another mom with 5 kids, a set of twins, a husband gone (12 weeks at first, a month break at home, then away again for 6 months!!), a 5 bedroom home to maintain, the entire family household's finances to keep up, doctor's appts. to go to to keep you from running away & a desire to be more, to be able to do more or be happy with where you are at.  Where are those moms?  

I had not looked at the header of this blog for quite a while & when I did, it instantly brought tears to my eyes.  I don't even know that Maria anymore. I don't remember what she was like, what she loved to do, how she made it through the day with a smile on her face.  I look in the mirror now & it's not the same woman.  This woman has sadness in her eyes, anger on her lips and regret in her heart.  This woman wears two sizes bigger than the girl in those pictures because she gave birth to twins, very healthy, wonderful, adorable twins who needed more room in her stomach than she could handle & now all that extra skin is lifeless and permanent.  And she doesn't have the time, energy or the faith to even try to do something about it, fearing all the hard work would only prove to do nothing, but make the lifeless skin more noticeable against a smaller figure.  The one & only thing that I know to be the same is the love she has for the main man in her life.  In fact, that love is even stronger because of what they've endured, but she feels unworthy to ask for this kind of love, yet she holds on with all her might praying he won't break when things get even tougher because she's sure that they will, they always do.  

I just wish I could take all my gratitude for my 5 healthy, beautiful, wonderful children; my gratefulness for a 5 bedroom home with so many nice things and closets full of necessities; my love for good things and good people & just magnify it so big that I can't deny that it's there, that it will overtake all the bad & cover it with good.  But, that's not reality, hahahaha, that's just stupidity.  I have to grapple and inch and fight my way through it all to get to the top where all that stuff lies.  

I'm tired.  But, there's just a little bit left in me to keep going, for today.

anything to give me that extra nudge...

It's been a great while since I did any crafting or card making or scrapbooking, but I did eek out some time right before we moved to make a few cards for a lady that won some in a service auction back during Christmastime.  I was way overdue on getting them to her, so I figured to give myself a little inspiration to get back in the crafting spirit, I would share the cards I did make for her.  

The Simple Things

When life seems so incredibly rough, stormy waters every day, impossible decisions to make, waiting for things to get brighter, easier, better.... the simple things mean so much.  Like ripe summer fruit & a new favorite container to hold them in.  I got the container at Ikea during our trip to Cincinnati & knew it was perfect for these fruity treats.

"Who, me? You shouldn't have."

Click Here

Vote for Maria's Design

Kroger is hosting the Design a Reusable Shopping Bag Contest. Please view one of my favorite designs and vote for it before May 15. You also can create your own design and enter the contest. Show your support and vote for this design.

Sincerely,
Maria

To view this design and vote, visit
http://www.designareusablebag.com/vote-for-designs/bag.aspx?BagId=23620&banner=kroger

Eventually, I will live in Europe for an extended period of time & hope that this happens to me one day while traveling by train, which in & of itself is so totally cool. 

The Irony

My 3 oldest children & I spent a bit of our afternoon yesterday talking about the meaning of Easter.  I was very proud that they knew why we celebrated Easter & the Easter Bunny was merely an extra element to get them treats & candy, hahahaha.  But, it got me thinking about how I celebrate Easter.  I check off the to do items on my list: Get Candy - Get Baskets - Get Treats - Plan out Easter Bunny Arrival - etc.  My mother-in-law & I briefly spoke of it & how many other religions have week long activites & ways to remember Christ & rejoice for his sacrifice for us.  Our religion, however, doesn't do this.  I think they leave it up to us.  So, what was I to do? How could I bring myself closer to the idea & reason for our Easter celebrations?  

This morning I was sent my daily e-mail from Meridian Magazine, a site I highly recommend, it has great LDS contributors that write articles on many different topics both religious & not.  This particle article was titled, The Irony of Gesthmane, the Cross & the Garden Tomb.  I can be an emotional person but often when I read of the Savior's journey into the city & then into crucifixion, I feel great sorrow, but do not shed tears.  I do not shed tears because I know he knew his role & his strength in overcoming brought to mind a child running in a race & you stand on the sidelines saying, "Go! You can do it! I believe in You!"  He knew he had the Father with Him & that He was fulfilling the prophecies spoken of for many years.  He chose this role.  Where I do shed tears is when he appears to Mary & she not realizing at first who He is.  The moment He speaks her name, "Mary,"  she knows.  This is where the tears flow freely.  

Here is the part of the article that really touched me:

It could have been any one of us.(referring to Mary being at the tomb at that moment). He chose to reveal himself first to a single individual and in that moment taught the world that the Atonement is utterly personal. He made it universal to all, but he did so by making it intimate to each one of us, as he did to Mary. It is universal one soul at a time. To my mind, it is utterly inevitable that the greatest story ever told should finally culminate and convey to the world in the sound of this single word, a person's name.

How quickly fortunes can change for the worse, and how quickly, on the other hand, fortunes can change for the better. In Luke, we read that by the end of the first Sunday after the crucifixion, just the third day after the Savior's death, he had appeared to Mary Magdalene at the Garden Tomb, and then to other women of Galilee, and he had appeared to Cleopas and his companion on the road to Emmaus, and when these two returned to Jerusalem that evening to join the apostles, they were told that Christ had also appeared to Simon Peter. Three of these witnesses were identified by name, Mary, Cleopas, and Simon, and perhaps a dozen more were unnamed. And then Jesus suddenly stood in the midst of them, the apostles and others, and said “Peace be unto you.” Luke 24:36.

It may seem ridiculous but I struggle with a selfish feeling that our religion does not focus enough on women & I'm not talking about how we have Relief Society & Young Women's or how we are recognized in many ways by apostles & prophets & those around us.  I struggle with the fact that so much of what we learn was of men, written by men, experienced by men.  Thank goodness for sections of scriptures, like Ruth, to give me some hope.  But, it had been on my mind a lot lately, especially after returning to the temple after so long.  I didn't feel the message personal to me, as a woman.  Then to read the account of Mary at the tomb & how she was the first Jesus chose to present himself to & that he then visited other women of Galilee & then to the men.  I was overrun with emotion.  I put myself in that place & I could more easily do that because Mary was a woman.  And I tried to imagine her reaction, her feelings, her gratitude & joy & I felt washed in the Spirit.  

Why Mary? Why a woman? I thought about this for quite a while & my personal feelings are that we, as women, can feel love greater than any man. Only a woman can know another woman's sorrow at losing a child, just as Jesus' mother, Mary did.  Oh the sorrow she must have felt to see her Son so horribly treated, to know she would no longer have him near her to love and to protect. Oh the wonder Mary Magdalene must have felt at the tomb to see her Christ before her, not dead, but alive.  While Jesus prayed, seeming to bleed at every pore, the apostles slept.  A woman would see his anguish & want to run to Him to comfort Him, to help Him.  

How lucky I am to be a woman.  

Lost in La La Land

I haven't been the best blogger lately.  I started cleaning challenges & then lost sight of them.  My thoughts have been too scattered to really share.  BUT! I figured it was okay to share my successes.  

I am back to my cleaning schedule & it now includes scripture reading & prayer at the VERY TOP!  

I only have to go to therapy once every 2 months!!

I got a good report from "the pill doctor" today & I don't have to see him for another 3 months!!

I am hugging my kids more & more each day & willingly.  This wasn't so easy for me many moons ago.  

I have actually made cards & completed a craft this month.

So, although I don't have much to blog about on a personal level. I am still here, striving, thriving & living!!  

Weekly Challenge Preview - REC ROOM

Just so you can see what I have to work with.

NEWS FLASH*********************NEWS FLASH*****************

I've actually been doing some reorganizing, dejunking, whatever you want to call it & I am ready for another Weekly Challenge! So, I'll work some more on it this weekend & have fresh pictures for you on Monday. We're going to do what I call the REC ROOM, but if you don't have one of these, it can be your "extra room" or your "big closet". It's basically the place you put what doesn't belong anywhere else. For me, it contains our craft dresser, board game cabinet, the babies' toys & our coat bench & closet. So, I have my work cut out for me.

Get ready for the challenge, you know it will feel so good when you can stand back & see what you've accomplished.

And on a side note, I was putting away clothing the other day & realized that no matter how much reorganizing I do, my husband is still a neater person than me. The top picture are his Army clothes & he folds them. The bottom picture is his shirt shelf. I folded those. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA. When you look at the two together, it looks like a 2 year old did the shirt shelf, hahahahahahaha. I just can't stop laughing. hahahahahahahahaha If I went to Basic Training, I could accomplish so many goals in my life.

#1 - take orders from others without talking back
#2 - lose weight & gain more energy
#3 - learn to eat an entire meal in less than 2 minutes (I can just about do it in 5 now.)
#4 - learn to fold clothing & bedding in immaculate fashion - (you should see the corners of our sheets when Mark helps make the bed)
#5 - learn to be patient waiting around for hours doing nothing waiting for someone else that's going to tell you to do more nothing
#6 - learn to appreciate an extra hour of sleep even if woken up at 3:00 am to start your day
#7 - learn to keep phone calls short & simple

SIGN ME UP!

Thrift Store Finds

My fellow thrift store junkie, Sybil & I were talking about the art of shopping thrift stores. I have two other people in my circle of friends & family that seem to never have the patience or luck of finding those one of a kind or much needed items. One friend mentioned how she might need to take me along to add a little bit of luck to the dig, hahahaha. It made me want to share my latest favorite finds. They're a bit vintage, I have been feeling very vintage myself these past few months so they were fantastic finds to suit my new mood.

I have always wanted a wooden salad bowl set, especially with matching salad bowls & 6 of them at that! I scored this at our local Goodwill for $3.50 & it is in excellent condition! Now all I need are the wooden tongs which I believe I saw there for another $3.50 but didn't want to pay that much.

These caught my eye as I was checking out. What a beautiful emerald green color & so they have the whole vintage crochet thing going on. I don't know who they'll fit, but I'll get someone to wear them!

I could have jumped for joy when I spied these shoes! They aren't the girls' size, too small for Mavaney, too big for Isabelle, but they will sit in a special place until Isabelle or Daphne can fit into them. These instantly threw me back to a time when mothers took their little girls to the nearest department store, filled with wonderful things neatly stacked or hung and as they head to the shoe department, the little girl is dreaming of beautiful, shiny, patent leather shoes with a big gold buckle. Oh, it was a divine find for me! And at a mere $2.50!! They look like they have hardly been worn & are so well made. They even have a shiny gold sticker inside the shoe that reads, "Red Goose Shoes" with a goose pictured. Wow is all I can say.

Even when you are poor there is still a wealth of treasure to find.

Calling All Creative Minds!!!

We are planning out Relief Society Birthday Celebration for the end of this month.  Our theme is Relief & Aid.  We are focusing on the history of the Relief Society & how it was based upon bringing aid to others.  We plan on using basic birthday supplies, colorful paper products, balloons, but we need something along the Relief theme.  We are giving away these adorable charms that are shaped like Band-Aids.  So, I'd love to use gauze & band-aids, stuff like that.  I would love ANY ideas you have!!!  Thank You!

Kitchen Challenge Revisited

No excuses to give about why it's taken me so long, but I'm not going to be a quitter!! I tackled quite a bit yesterday: utensil drawers, linen cupboard, appliance cabinet, food cupboards, spice cabinet! The thing I'm happiest about? Getting rid of all the stuff I never used or didn't like. It feels so good to purge.

My Rules in Letting Go:
If you have not used it in the last month in 30 + days of cooking, you don't need it.
If you have not eaten it yet and it's expires, get rid of it.
If you have fabric napkins, but you haven't once used them, pass them along.
If it's an appliance you used once at Christmas, get rid of it. You'll figure out how to do without it next Christmas.

When it comes to utensil drawers, containers are key! I found out I also liked keeping my metals & plastics separated. If you can't do that due to limited drawers, containers would be a great way to make it happen. Think about how much fun someone else might have using that quesadilla maker or rice steamer! Because they surely aren't seeing any action at my house!

If you too have let go of the challenge in recent weeks - join me & pick it back up again!!! I think we might go for the office/desk area as our next challenge. What do you think?

BEFORE

AFTER

BEFORE

AFTER

No before, but let's put it this way, there used to be two cupboards this size full. Now I'm down to this, I think that's pretty good.

Leven Thumps for $1.99

Deseret Book has Book 2 & 3 of the Leven Thumps series on sale for a mere $1.99!!  Go here!

Just Commercials

If you're not a Super Bowl fan (which I'm not) & you don't even make the time to watch it for the commercials (which I don't).  Here is a link for you!!  Watch all the commercials from the Big Game here.

Free Bakeware!

Just grabbed a free baking liner that I cannot wait to use!  Go here & get yours today!  

**Be aware, shipping will cost you $1.00 along with a 7 day free trial to Home Savings Mall, BUT (and this is one of the #1 rules to learn in getting things for free) you simply call the 1-800 # and cancel within 7 days and you are charged merely the $1.00 to get your bakeware.  

Enjoy!