Ten Things You Will Always Find in My Fridge

1.  Fruit & Vegetables - I have a drawer full of fresh fruit and vegetables.

2.  Organic Spring Mix or Artisan Lettuce - I eat salad almost every day for lunch and there is always a huge Costco tub of lettuce in my fridge!

3.  Spa Water - I have been trying to drink more water.  I keep a big pitcher in the fridge with lemons and limes and cucumbers in it to keep me inspired to drink it!  It works!

4.  Cheese - I love cheese.  Cheese is my weakness.  Cheese makes me weak in the knees.  You will usually find several varieties of cheese in my fridge, ALWAYS, always a block of Parmesan, usually goat and feta and Monterey Jack and quite often some other cheese that whispered my name as I walked by it at the grocery store.

5.  Milk - My friends say my fridge looks like a dairy case.  I buy organic 1% milk at Costco for the girls, Skim milk for me and Half n Half for Jason's coffee.

6. Organic, free range eggs - My youngest daughter and I don't eat meat, so we get protein from other sources, like eggs.  Quite often there is a bowl of hard boiled eggs in there, great quick little snack especially around 3pm when you feel sluggish--protein works better than caffeine or energy drinks!

7. Nuts - Since Piper and I don't eat meat nuts are another source of protein for us.  I buy almonds and hazelnuts, pecans and pistachios in bulk.  We keep them in the fridge because it's the oils in nuts can go rancid quickly.

8.  Acidophilus - We usually have yogurt, but if I have not been to the store in a while we may not...even so, when we get bellyaches, we always reach for the Acidophilus.

9.  Whole Grain Bread - I keep bread in the fridge because it seems to get moldy fast if I don't.  My mom always kept bread in the freezer, but sometimes it gets freezer-burned, so we keep it in the fridge.

10.  The weirdest thing in my fridge is lipstick!Yes, you read that right, I have lipstick in my fridge.  It is the lipstick I wore on my wedding day almost 17 years ago, it has survived 5 moves in two states and it is in my fridge. Yes, I can still buy the color but for some odd reason that tube is really special to me.  I don't know if it really makes a difference or not, but I feel keeping it in the fridge helps preserve it.

Time Management

I love to read.  I live to read.  Seriously.  On a hot summer day or a nice spring day, the thought of heading to my deck (or the lake or the pool or the beach)  with a book and a glass of lemon water is like pure heaven.  In winter and fall all I want to do is burrow under my down comforter, lay against my down pillows, sip some Tazo tea and lose myself in a novel.  It's like a little carrot being dangled in front of me all day long...as soon as I get this, this and this done, I can go read!

Except that rarely happens.

I don't get this, this and this done...and it's usually not until after dinner that I can adjourn with a book!

::Sigh!::

This has been really bugging me and I have been feeling like I don't get a lot done and I never have time to do what I want!

So I took a long hard look at it.

1.  First, I decided to really think about HOW I WANT to spend my TIME:
I would love to be reading, homeschooling, with friends, art journaling, field trips, blogging.

2.  Next, I looked at what detracted from that:
I spend absurd amounts of time on the internet.  I also spend a lot of time avoiding stuff I don't want to do and dreading doing those things.  I also spend a lot of time feeling crappy because my kids' rooms are a disaster (when anything in my house is out of place, I can't think straight, OCD maybe??)

3.  Eat That Frog! I remembered this book that Jason had read.  The premise of the book is to do the stuff you don't like doing FIRST so that it isn't hanging over your head making you miserable all day.  As my mom would say, "First you do the things you have to do, then you do the things you want to do."

4.  I decided to identify things I don't enjoy doing.  Some housework. My day is better if I exercise in the morning rather than put it off.

5.  I also realized that the girls were sleeping too late.  When we started homeschooling, I had said they could stay up reading as late as they wanted, never realizing Allie would read a book a night and not get up til noon!  I have been eating those words for three years!!  But I am the mom and I have to put my foot down.  If the girls are not up by 8 or 9, I wake them up.  We have to get our day started or it ends up feeling like the day is over before we start!

6.  A little planning goes a long way.  I have always kept a notebook of things I need to get done in a day, menus, grocery lists, errands, etc.  This helps me so much!  Every night I take a few minutes and jot down what I want to accomplish the next day.  But I am realistic: I only put 3-4 housecleaning or errands on there and 3-4 homeschooling or fun things on there.

7.  The BIGGEST thing I have done though is to change my thinking.  I was trying to pack too much into a day and then feeling upset by not having time for what I want.  And I wasn't happy.  So, I have made it that I get THESE FEW THINGS DONE and then we do something we want to do.

I have also had to change the way I feel about errands, instead of "getting them done" I am trying to not feel pressure to get them done and let that pressure take away from time spent on  other things.  So, yes, I could "get them done" but then I may just have to run to the store again a few days later if I was hasty.  I keep a running list in my trusty notebook and we are learning to "make do" until I get there!

8.  Delegate!  My girls have been helping with housework for a couple of years.  Allie wants to do her own laundry and does.  Recently both girls have shown an interest in cooking and several nights a week, I plan "easy" meals--pasta, eggs, etc. that the girls can cook and several nights a week they help me, we put music on and it's fun!  In the morning after breakfast, the girls clean their rooms while I throw in laundry, do dishes, etc.

9.  Stop and smell the roses.  I live on the East Coast, just outside Manhattan and I have most of my life.  Slowing down is not normal for us here.  I have to force myself.  But I am trying.

10.  Guilt!  This is the biggest.  I often feel guilty doing something fun when my husband is busting his butt at work.  He always tells me that he likes the idea of the girls and I having fun, it makes him happy, it is why he works so hard.... He is awesome and I am working on it!

Do you have any tips for managing time better?

Link Love

I have seen other bloggers do this and I think it is so neat.

I have been keeping track of posts and things I see around the internet that inspire me or resonate with me or I just like.

How Rock n' Roll Can Explain The Economy--this was an interesting, simple way to look at and explain the changes in our society, technology and our economy and how they relate to one another.

.Breaking the Silence. -  I am so inspired by Tiffani.  She and her husband have adopted two boys - one with special needs and one a teenager - from Africa.  I just love what she wrote about growing in her faith:  Jim and I are pouring through the book of Luke, and we are learning so very much about the posture of our Jesus. He was such a renegade! As I read the stuff that He did, and how He was accused of being a drunk and a party animal and a friend of sinners, because of His lifestyle, I am so struck by how the churches I come from would react to Him today. A lot of the stuff I was taught before is being questioned as we read this book with fresh eyes. I am desperate to get rid of the Pharisaical practices that permeated so much of my church experiences. It is exciting. It is freeing. So here we are, together in this adventure, following Jesus, trusting Him inside of the chaos. And He is truly right here.

A Barefoot Day - I LOVE Meg's blog.  She is a young mom who just loves being a mom.  She does share the harder moments but she is so genuinely grateful for the opportunity to be a mom and a stay at home mom and I ALWAYS leave her blog feeling GOOD and HAPPY. 

15 Einstein Quotes About Education - when I think this homeschool thing is too hard or worry my kids are not getting what they need, a quote from Einstein usually reminds me why I do this.  Such wisdom.

Week of June 8 -- I'm so excited!!

Story of the World Volume 4-- SO EXCITED!! #obviouslyanerd

I am so, so glad that Piper asked to do SotW 4 over the summer when we have less regular activities and we can really dig in to it.  I have spent so much time this week thinking how awesome everything works out.  I am SO EXCITED about SotW4!  This is a book to savor and go slowly and REALLY dig into!  I learned a while ago that planning too far ahead in homeschooling does not work for me.  BUT I could not help myself with planning a bit for this curriculum because I really want my girls to absorb and understand things like Sputnik, the Cuban Missile Crisis, the Berlin Wall; who FDR was, who Dwight D. Eisenhower was, who Ronald Reagan was; I want them to know who Gandhi was and Nelson Mandela; Khruschev, Ho Chi Minh, Mao, Rasputin...I could take a month to dig into Anastasia and my girls are at the perfect age for it.  My girls have loved history in the past, but the events & people in SotW are ones that are STILL shaping our world, the effects of some of these events are STILL being felt...THE events and people in SotW 4 are ones my girls NEED to know because they will hear about them in casual conversation and they need to understand to whom or what someone is referring.  I AM SO FLIPPING EXCITED to cover this with the girls--This is what I dreamed of when we started homeschooling, what came before was a foundation that we needed to set and establish, but I feel in some ways, this is where it all comes together !  Oh and Mom & Dad, you are NOT off the hook: our visit to the lake in August coincides with learning about The Suez Crisis and the Marshall Plan and I would love for you to talk to the girls about what you remember about these things.

We will be learning about Ghandi in Story of the World 4, but we read this book already because we just got it at the library and it peaked our curiosity.  I am LOVING Lisa Genova's books.  The girls are enjoying SotW 4.  This Beatles book was really funny!

In our homeschool this week...

• Read several chapters in Story of the World 4, created political cartoons and played a card game from the Activity book, in addition to filling in the outline and answering review questions
• played several hands of Division War
• the girls decided on Teaching Textbooks for next year and took the placement tests--they tested right where I thought they would!  Even though we don't plan to start this until the fall, I went ahead and ordered Pre-Algebra for Allie because it's one less thing I have to think about.  Piper can use Math 6 that we already have--yay!
• the girls memorized The Gettysburg Address--Jason and I challenged them to do this because we thought it would be a good brain exercise; in the end the girls were quite proud of themselves for having done it
• we went to the dentist for a cleaning, and Piper found a fun "dentist" game for the ipad
• Allie played tons of iCivics
• We dusted off the old Wii Fit this week and played that a few rainy afternoons
• We swam in the neighbors pool on the sunny days

  

  We forgot how fun the Wii Fit can be--I love the balance games.
  Our neighbor's pool has seats with jets for your back--I could get used to that!

• Making and watching 7 Cool Homeschoolers videos
• Piper continued working on her handwriting
• Pinning things that inspire us or that we want to try or learn on Pinterest
• watching CNN Student News--last one til fall, so disappointed!
• A few weeks ago Jess mentioned Writing Down the Bones by Natalie Goldberg and it was weird because the book I was reading mentioned that book several times...it seemed like a sign (ok, maybe I am weird but it did) and I ordered the book, devoured it and have been trying to work on one exercise every single day privately.  It's amazing the things that are surfacing.  It's absolutely meditative and I love it!  I actually ended up emailing friends asking for prayers about some of the stuff that was surfacing.

  

  Our homeschool field day got rescheduled because of possible bad weather that never happened--so instead we had friends over.  We had a sunshower in the afternoon and the kids played right through it!

  
  
  
  

Places we are going and people we are seeing...we went to the dentist this week, the girls came to work with me, hung out with some public school pals and the homeschool neighbors, of course!  We went a friend's house to draw Mandala designs and had friends over on Friday.

Art journal cover inspired by Pinterest, created by Allie.
Drawing Mandala designs at a friend's house.
My husband got a laser temp gun and ran around taking the temperature of everything he aims the gun at!  

My favorite thing this week was... realizing all the events we get to cover in SotW 4 AND realizing some of them I remember very clearly from when they happened!

Things I am working on... finding great resources for Story of the World 4

I'm cooking... Red Lentil Dal, but I prefer this recipe; I taught the girls to make brown butter and how to boil ravioli this week and we did a lot of grilling!

I'm grateful for... Our neighbors who tell us to use their pool every time they see us!

I'm praying for... clarity and understanding.

The girls have been playing Barbies again and created these backgrounds on the white board for their barbies.  Top left is lockers, top right is an Art Room and bottom right is a Cafe.  Bottom left is something Allie created in the art studio--she spends a lot of time in there, doing her own thing and creates some awesome stuff!

I rewarded my kids this week... I don't know if I would call it rewards, but we had some treats, like Water Ices from Rita's and Smoothies at the Health Food store.

Something I am ogling or have my eye on...my old Nikon D90 died last summer in DC.  I didn't realize shutters have a "life" and when they exceed it, they stop working.  we have been debating having that camera repaired or replacing it--technology is so much more now than when we bought that camera.  I've had Jason's D7000 available, but it's big and heavy and bulky and feels awkward to me and even after 9 months, I still don't like using it...so I am looking for a small, lightweight DSLR with clear photos and minimal noise ;-)  

This weekend, we are hanging out Friday night with friends, Saturday the girls are going to a birthday party and Sunday we are celebrating Father's Day by going water-tubing in the River and grilling some steaks!

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