#8. Too Much Television
I read or heard somewhere that American's, on average watch about 5 1/2 hours of television each day! Which I find astounding, but believable at the same time. I want to know where they can find the time! I have 3 tv shows that I watch regularly. Grey's Anatomy, Desperate Housewives (and let me just say I hate how the series is ending) and Pan Am. That puts me at about 3 per week. And then plus the occasional movie I watch with my husband. We don't have DirecTV or a Satellite or the like, so no cable for us! With that said, we get about 8 channels, 2 of which are PBS. Unfortunately for me, none of the other 6 are ABC. So I'm force to watch my shows online whenever I have a chance, which actually works out better for me anyways! I can pause it and not miss a thing!
In all honesty though, if I could, I would probably just get rid of our TV. I hardly ever watch it. Granted, Perry has binders and binders of movies that we watch occasionally, but I still would opt to just get rid of it. I'm tired (already) of the boys wanting to watch movies, over and over and over, when they could have more fun outside in their sandbox or swing set. Even in January. Not to mention, save the DVDs from scratches!
The boys love to watch Elmo and Word World. I don't mind them watching here and there, I just don't watch them to get "addicted" to it. I see so many little kids sitting around on their video games and watching TV. Its really a sad thing when these activities are chosen over the more active ones. Especially with the childhood obesity rates Americans are facing. Not the lifestyle I want my boys to live. But like many things, too much of a good thing is a bad thing. I do, however, believe that the TV is a great learning tool, if used wisely. Needless to say, our TV isn't going anywhere, anytime soon though....
Sunday, January 8, 2012
Saturday, January 7, 2012
Something I Need Daily
#7. Something I need daily.
I need my family daily. I love my boys to death. They drive me crazy and make me so angry sometimes, but other times, I just sit back and look at them. I watch them eat and remember when I had to nurse and spoon feed them. I watch them play and remember how a play mat used to entertain them for hours. Now I'm lucky for a few minutes with each toy! The things they say and the way they go about things just simply amaze me. I don't know how I was living without them. They flipped my life upside down. I miss them all the time when I'm not with them.
Aside from my boys, I need my husband daily. I need his hugs in the morning and his kisses at night. It really stunts my day without one of those. We'll see how having him do overnights affects me....GAH! More so than hugs and kisses, I need him to talk to and help me with the daily chores around the house. There's always something that needs cleaned when these boys are home! And I need his company, more than anything else. Even just sitting with him for a few minutes. For those who know what "Love Languages" are, I'm primarily a Quality Time person, meaning just that, I feel loved when my husband (or family & friends) spend time with me. Luckily for me, he knows that! <3
I need my mom daily too. I think a mom is something that everyone takes advantage of and then realizes later the wisdom and answers they hold. Sometimes I just need my mom's advice, and other times I just need to vent. But between the "how do you make this?" and the "what do I do when this happens?" etc. I need my mom daily. Mom's voices just have this way of comforting their children...
I need my family daily. I love my boys to death. They drive me crazy and make me so angry sometimes, but other times, I just sit back and look at them. I watch them eat and remember when I had to nurse and spoon feed them. I watch them play and remember how a play mat used to entertain them for hours. Now I'm lucky for a few minutes with each toy! The things they say and the way they go about things just simply amaze me. I don't know how I was living without them. They flipped my life upside down. I miss them all the time when I'm not with them.
Aside from my boys, I need my husband daily. I need his hugs in the morning and his kisses at night. It really stunts my day without one of those. We'll see how having him do overnights affects me....GAH! More so than hugs and kisses, I need him to talk to and help me with the daily chores around the house. There's always something that needs cleaned when these boys are home! And I need his company, more than anything else. Even just sitting with him for a few minutes. For those who know what "Love Languages" are, I'm primarily a Quality Time person, meaning just that, I feel loved when my husband (or family & friends) spend time with me. Luckily for me, he knows that! <3
I need my mom daily too. I think a mom is something that everyone takes advantage of and then realizes later the wisdom and answers they hold. Sometimes I just need my mom's advice, and other times I just need to vent. But between the "how do you make this?" and the "what do I do when this happens?" etc. I need my mom daily. Mom's voices just have this way of comforting their children...
Friday, January 6, 2012
My "Special" Place
For those of you following my blog, I've joined Blog Dare for 2012. It gives you daily prompts to write about...we'll see how I keep up! I'm a few days late, but at least I'm starting somewhere.
#6. Where do I go when I need time to myself or regrouping time? To my room. I would love love love to have my own little hut or something outside of my house that I could escape to, but this is real life. Maybe eventually I'll get my basement living room functioning how I would like it to so that it can become "my" space. But until then, I head for my room. More specifically, my bed. I don't know what it is about laying in my bed that just calms me down, but I love it.
I used to do a lot of writing right before going to sleep. I have notebooks full, front and back, of just the thoughts and happenings in my head. I could be the only one home (which was rare) or the only one awake and I still couldn't write a thing unless I was in my room. Even as an adult, I experience the same thing. Though as an adult now, I rarely get time to myself. With a 2 and 3 year old running me around from early morning to late evening, I'm tired at night. When I'm not, I just want to enjoy my husband's company before I get tired, which would only be a matter of time.
One of my goals for this year though is to make time for myself. I'm not good with New Year's Resolutions, but to want change, you have to create it I suppose. So time to myself can mean anything from blogging, to reading, to doing yoga. And hopefully in the comfort of my room! <3
#6. Where do I go when I need time to myself or regrouping time? To my room. I would love love love to have my own little hut or something outside of my house that I could escape to, but this is real life. Maybe eventually I'll get my basement living room functioning how I would like it to so that it can become "my" space. But until then, I head for my room. More specifically, my bed. I don't know what it is about laying in my bed that just calms me down, but I love it.
I used to do a lot of writing right before going to sleep. I have notebooks full, front and back, of just the thoughts and happenings in my head. I could be the only one home (which was rare) or the only one awake and I still couldn't write a thing unless I was in my room. Even as an adult, I experience the same thing. Though as an adult now, I rarely get time to myself. With a 2 and 3 year old running me around from early morning to late evening, I'm tired at night. When I'm not, I just want to enjoy my husband's company before I get tired, which would only be a matter of time.
One of my goals for this year though is to make time for myself. I'm not good with New Year's Resolutions, but to want change, you have to create it I suppose. So time to myself can mean anything from blogging, to reading, to doing yoga. And hopefully in the comfort of my room! <3
Stove Top Burns
This post goes out for little JP. Yesterday at breakfast he was watching as I cooked egged on toast. I warned him not to touch (a few times) because everything was hot. Generally speaking, we've never had an issue with either of the boys getting curious about touching the stove after we've told them not to. But of course, after watching me without touching for 5 minutes, I turned to put something in the sink, and SIZZLE. Poor little JP didn't cry when it happened, but let me know for the rest of the morning....
Luckily he didn't get burned bad. I ran his little fingers under cold water for a while and gave him some pain relief. Unfortunately for his dad, who now works overnight and was trying sleep, JP fused about all morning. He calmed down a bit when I suggested band-aides (with SpongeBob!), though he wasn't keen about actually putting them on. So for the rest of the day he wandered about holding and examining his fingers.
After everything was said and done, I googled "stove burns" to make sure I did everything correctly. Thankful he just had first degree burns, though one might be a 2nd degree. I found this website to be very helpful!
http://kidshealth.org/parent/firstaid_safe/emergencies/burns.html
Update on JP's Fingers
Luckily he didn't get burned bad. I ran his little fingers under cold water for a while and gave him some pain relief. Unfortunately for his dad, who now works overnight and was trying sleep, JP fused about all morning. He calmed down a bit when I suggested band-aides (with SpongeBob!), though he wasn't keen about actually putting them on. So for the rest of the day he wandered about holding and examining his fingers.
After everything was said and done, I googled "stove burns" to make sure I did everything correctly. Thankful he just had first degree burns, though one might be a 2nd degree. I found this website to be very helpful!
http://kidshealth.org/parent/firstaid_safe/emergencies/burns.html
Update on JP's Fingers
Wednesday, January 4, 2012
T-Shirt Scarf
I have a TON of old t-shirts that are just packed away in boxes. Initially they get put there because I either needed more room in my dresser, or I just simply hadn't warn them in a while. Seasons changes and the boxes get shuffled around a bit but the same shirts remain in the boxes time after time. I can't throw them away because what if one day I wanted to wear it again. Ugh! Plus some of them aren't just shirts. Some of them have memories attached to them. Like the one I brought home from Odessa when visiting a friend, or the one I received at State BPA. Clearly they are all at least 6 years old and haven't been wore for about 4 years.... So now its time I start making them into something that I will wear again.
8. Bunch up the strips of fabrics, holding all the glued pieces in the same spot. Using the hem strip, wrap it around the glued part to cover it up and then tie it in a pretty knot to hold it all together.
And Wah-La! A t-shirt scarf. Good to dress up, or dress down any outfit!
My younger sister was passing through tonight so I wrangled her into helping me out with this one. I didn't tell her what we were making - I just told her what to do to help : ) Turns out its hard for a lefty to use right-handed scissors. Initially we were going to make two scarves, but we merged them into one. Here's how we did it:
1. Lay out the shirt flat. An ironed shirt works better than a wrinkled one. Cut the bottom hem off and save it.
2. Grab a 9'' paper plate. You can either trace around it and then cut it out, or do like we did, pin the plate to the shirt and then cut around it. In total, you want to aim to make 10 circles. Using XL or XXL probably works best. I used size Large and could only get 8, which is why we ended up putting ours together. After you cut one out, place it on top the shirt and pin it. This makes cutting them out easier.
3. One you have all 8-10 circles, your going to do what I did when I made the felt flowers. Cut the circle into a long strip, approximately 2'' wide. The skinner you cut the longer it will be. Keep in mind, one of these pieces equals half a length of your scarf.
4. Once you reach the end, Hold the piece from what would have been the middle. Start at the top and gently put down on the fabric. This will stretch it out a bit and create a wavy look.
5. After all the circles are cut and pulled out, match up the lengths as best you can. (Robin had to cut one to make it shorter as it ended up 6'' longer than the rest because she cut it too thin!)
6. Using fabric glue, glue the matched pieces together. I glued the end of the strips together that would have been the middle of the circles.
7. If you used different colors like we did, mix them up a bit once they are all glued together.
And Wah-La! A t-shirt scarf. Good to dress up, or dress down any outfit!
Sunday, January 1, 2012
2011 In Review
2011 was a very eventful year for us! Here are some highlights!
February:
* Celebrated JP's 1st birthday. Check out his cake here:
http://sadies-story.blogspot.com/2011/12/barnyard-cake_21.html
* Perry and I went to Couer d'Alene for a parenting seminar - Very insightful!
March:
* Visited the farm and booked our Honeymoon.
June:
* Took a quick trip to Spokane with my sisters for a sisters weekend - I introduced them to Pass the Pigs :)
* Took another quick family trip to Oregon - learned to drive Perry's manual Kia. SCARY!
July:
* Visited my hometown for my bridal shower, where I received, about 25 pie pans!! : )
* Took dance lesson with Perry - lots of fun!
* After 17 1/2 long months, JP started walking!
August:
* Perry and I were in one of our friends' wedding.
* A dear hit my precious Grand Am, which turned into getting a new car. : )
* Perry left Sears and took a job as an Assistant Manager at Wal-Mart.
September:
* Perry left for AZ for 4 weeks to train for his new job. He finished the day before the wedding....
* Perry and I tied the knot (finally!) and had a blast the whole day! The boys were our ring bearers- they did awesome! JP was caught picking his nose on the alter : )
November
* Hunter shared his birthday again with the Cat/Griz football game. Good thing he loves football. Check out his birthday cake here:
http://sadies-story.blogspot.com/2011/12/fire-truck-cake_21.html
Decemeber
*Christmas was spent with my family at Fairmont Hot Springs. Here's how it went:
http://sadies-story.blogspot.com/2011/12/christmas-eve-christmas-day-2011.html
January:
* Bought my wedding dress after a day of shopping with my momFebruary:* Celebrated JP's 1st birthday. Check out his cake here:
http://sadies-story.blogspot.com/2011/12/barnyard-cake_21.html
* Perry and I went to Couer d'Alene for a parenting seminar - Very insightful!
March:
* Visited the farm and booked our Honeymoon.
April:
* Went to a church retreat with my mother-in-law and met some wonderful people!
May:
* I made a trip out to the Tacoma area to visit a sister and an old friend and to go bridesmaid dress shopping. This was the first time I had ever been to a piano bar - VERY cool!June:* Took another quick family trip to Oregon - learned to drive Perry's manual Kia. SCARY!
July:
* Took dance lesson with Perry - lots of fun!
* After 17 1/2 long months, JP started walking!
August:* A dear hit my precious Grand Am, which turned into getting a new car. : )
* Perry left Sears and took a job as an Assistant Manager at Wal-Mart.September:
* Perry left for AZ for 4 weeks to train for his new job. He finished the day before the wedding....
* Perry and I tied the knot (finally!) and had a blast the whole day! The boys were our ring bearers- they did awesome! JP was caught picking his nose on the alter : )
October:
* Our honeymoon took us to Jamaica - both our first times leaving the country (with the exception of Canada) After a 24 hour flight there we relaxed with a couples massage. We tried out snorkeling and zip-lining while we were there too!November* Hunter shared his birthday again with the Cat/Griz football game. Good thing he loves football. Check out his birthday cake here:
http://sadies-story.blogspot.com/2011/12/fire-truck-cake_21.html
Decemeber
*Christmas was spent with my family at Fairmont Hot Springs. Here's how it went:
http://sadies-story.blogspot.com/2011/12/christmas-eve-christmas-day-2011.html
Pancakes
Okay, so they aren't perfect, but the boys loved them anyways! Yesterday we had a family day. Perry and I very rarely, unless we request it, have days off together. We started it by sleeping in...til 8:30a. (A rarity at our house.) And finished the morning with a nice family breakfast.
I received a "I don't know what you call it" tube container thing in my stocking from Santa. It has a little piece on the end for you to draw out your shapes with. The first time I used it, my batter was too lumpy and think so they didn't turn out very well. This was my second attempt at using it before I hid it in the back of the pantry.
Hunter requested a pig. JP didn't know what he wanted so I created him a car. Turned out WAY bigger than I had pictured it in my head, so the boys ended up splitting the car and I at the pig. Perry requested a triangle. ( I later made him the letter "P" ) Aunt Kile showed up for breakfast just in time to request her heart shaped pancake.
I received a "I don't know what you call it" tube container thing in my stocking from Santa. It has a little piece on the end for you to draw out your shapes with. The first time I used it, my batter was too lumpy and think so they didn't turn out very well. This was my second attempt at using it before I hid it in the back of the pantry.
Hunter requested a pig. JP didn't know what he wanted so I created him a car. Turned out WAY bigger than I had pictured it in my head, so the boys ended up splitting the car and I at the pig. Perry requested a triangle. ( I later made him the letter "P" ) Aunt Kile showed up for breakfast just in time to request her heart shaped pancake.
