Errant Thought Roundup #68

I love, I love, I hate, I hate,
I like, I wish, for goodness sake...
I hope, I hope, I pray, I pray, 
I will, I won't, and for today...

I love it when Sadie devours asparagus.
I love rediscovering children's books that I haven't read in years and years.  We're reading Charlotte's Web right now!
I hate having to explain to Sadie the dangers that she may have to face one day, but I just found myself confronted by it.  It's so unfair.  Can't six year olds just be six year olds?
I hate watching the news.  Does that make me a bad American?  I'd so much rather read something fictional than be informed.  Being informed is heartbreaking.
I like being able to buy honey from a beekeeper I actually know.
I wish insecurity wasn't such a common characteristic in women...why do we beat ourselves up, point out our own flaws, second guess our every decision, and swim in our feelings of unworthiness?  Sad, sad, sad.  Stop that.
For goodness sake, don't be one of those jerks who tries to pass on the right when everyone is clearly going as fast as the car in front of them will allow.  I block those people and pretend I don't know I'm doing it.  Like this:  "Oh, look at me!  An oblivious driver - say, what's that?  I blocked you from passing?  You're now stuck behind granny in the right lane?  Tsk, tsk...that's too bad, sweetie.  Watch me slow down to granny's speed...rolling road block, anyone?"
I hope I pass my glucose screening tomorrow.  Here's to disgusting orange drinks.  Blech.
I hope my doctor can help me with my leg cramps.  It's not potassium, but thank you to all 50 people who suggested bananas.  It's a nerve problem.  I gotta get it fixed, it wakes me up 3 or 4 times a night in severe pain.  [insert sad face]
I pray for my husband.
I pray that my daughter would always remember that it's more important to be kind than to be right and that it's more important to have a good heart than a pretty face.
I will try not to be so antisocial.  I am an introvert in an extrovert's body.  I can handle being around people gracefully for a little while, but then I want to be a hermit, and I want everyone to leave me alone and stop trying to talk to me.  Sometimes, while I'm smiling and nodding politely, I visualize myself slamming doors in people's faces.  Is that awful?  Don't care.
I won't ever call my husband or my children names.  In fact, I don't really like the idea of calling anyone names...it seems like prophecy to me.  Don't you think if you tell your kids they're rotten little monsters that they'll try hard to be rotten little monsters?  Or that if you tell your husband you think he's an idiot that he'll start feeling like one?  I don't know - it just never struck me as a productive way to address another human.  Speak life.
And for today...here's a pic of me and Fergus at the beach.  My mom saw this picture and thought maybe Fergus could possibly be a girl...who knows?!

Birthday Beach Weekend 2013

Saturday morning, Sadie woke up to this in her room:

She has been asking to go to the beach for over a year - we didn't get to go last year, and honestly, until last week, we didn't think this year was looking too promising either.  At the last minute, Eric and I acknowledged to each other that Sadie isn't getting a big birthday celebration this year - with other birthdays in the family, Eric's pending graduation, and a trip that I have to take for work, there's just not a good weekend for us to have a party.  Instead of planning a shindig, we decided to celebrate Sadie turning the big S-I-X by taking her on a whirlwind trip to the beach.  Best.  Decision.  Ever.

Saturday morning, she bounded into our room at six o'clock - bright-eyed and bushy-tailed and squealing about getting to go to the beach.  She was already dressed and had put her bucket and shovel in a bag! (I think that's considered "packing" for a six year old).  It is indescribably elating to be able to do something for your kids that make them squeal with excitement...I don't think the smile disappeared from my face all morning long.  How is it that a kid's excitement can be so contagious??

Here's our awesome family beach weekend in pictures...

Fueling up on our way out of town...

First thing we did when we got down there...of course!

She's such a nature girl...sea shell collecting was high on the priority list.

I have a distinct memory of building drip castles with my mom at the beach when I was little...these are the kinds of things I want etched into Sadie's mind too.  Good memories with mom - you never know when you're going to need to dust them off and live in them for a few minutes as you get older.

If you look really closely, you can see her beard made out of sand :)

My two faves...

And this was her very favorite part of the entire trip (according to her)...standing right at the water line and feeling like she was "moving backwards without even moving!"

Eric mentioned being buried in the sand, and she said, "I've NEVER been buried in the sand, Daddy!"  Daddy checked that off her tiny bucket list post haste:

Writing her name in the sand...

After the excitement of the ocean, we got changed and went to play out on the town for a while...

with a T-Rex :)

Then we went mini-golfing...you should see her stellar golf stance.  Why yes, that is a hand on her hip.

Love my sweet birthdaymonth girl :)  And look!  Fergus made an appearance too!

  A balloon artist made her a few goodies...she refashioned them after they started popping.  For what it's worth, I like Sadie's designs even better.

Pizza dinner, by special request:

Vegging for a few minutes before we went back to the beach...

 

We made a pit stop at the ice cream shop on our way to the water...

Staring at sea gulls...

Aaaand, after we all crashed from an exhausting day of awesome, we were up-and-ready for some Sunday morning excitement too!

My family took me out to a Mother's Day breakfast! (Awww)

...where Sadie proved that she will one day have some mad Instagram skillz:

And of course, we had to hand feed some ducks...

And hit the beach one last perfect time:

It was a sensational trip...it couldn't have been more perfect.

Happy Early 6th Birthday to the BEST Mother's Day present I ever received!

Minimizing and Simplifying - April: Unsubscribe!

YAY, APRIL!!!  This has been my best month so far - I killed my unsubscribe goal.  Like...slaughtered it.
You can catch up on my 2013 mission here:
Minimizing and Simplifying in 2013 - Part I

Minimizing and Simplifying in 2013 - Part II

Minimizing and Simplifying in 2013 - Part III

And here's the journey so far this year:
January:  Reduce Clothes in Closet by Half
February:  Get down to Fifteen Pairs of Shoes
March:  A Month Without Purchasing

My minimization and simplification goal for April was to get rid of the "noise" of junk mail and emails.  I don't enjoy looking through catalogues (who has time for that?), I hate having to write and mail a check for a bill, and I DESPISE getting five bazillion solicitation emails from that one company I ordered something from back in 2008.

(source)

I really didn't think I'd get as excited about this month's challenge as I have.

Here are the email distribution lists I've successfully unsubscribed from this month:

LivingSocial

Groupon

Travelocity

Amazon Local Deals

Express

Pick Your Plum

LikedIn Subscription (not update) emails

Victoria's Secret

Shutterfly

Canvas On Demand

Mint.com

Expressionery

Barnes & Noble

State Farm Promotions

Newsletter from Sadie's old Day Camp

Job Newsletters

CREW Philadelphia

Crown Mvelopes

Reunion Manager

NY&Co

Flirty Aprons

Pinterest (everything but comments and moved to once per day)

Mother's Lounge

Levenger

Time Warner Cable

That's TWENTY-FIVE fewer places vying for my already-limited attention span.  I can still go to their websites when I'm interested in a product/item they have, and I will likely sign up for a couple before the holidays so that I can get discounts via email at places I typically buy gifts from.  And then unsubscribe again.

For the junk mail and catalogues that come to our house, I signed up for CatalogChoice.  Uh...you need to do this.  I get a lot fewer catalogues in the mail than most people, so I'm going to consider this one a work in progress (unsubscribe from them as I receive them), but so far, I've managed to get rid of:

Oriental Trading Company (what a DRAIN on natural resources that stupid catalog is).

American Express

And for our bills, I've gone paperless at Cigna and T-Mobile and I'm waiting to hear from the rest of them so that I can unsubscribe from them as well!

I check our stack of mail every afternoon, and it has been dwindling - it's a glorious thing.  Fewer pieces of paper on the counter top?  Yes, please.

April's goal?  Check!

May's goal:  Ride a bike to anywhere less than a mile away.  Sorry, kids.  As I mentioned last month, this one isn't going to happen, sadly.  I'm almost 6 months pregnant, and I don't own a bike.  Bad combo for the May goal, don't you think?  

Instead, I'm going to read a book.  I know that doesn't sound like a real simplification goal for someone who loves to read, but I haven't read a book since last year...you know...besides Harry Potter and Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of Nimh.

I'll let you know what the book is when I decide.  May is going to be a kick-back-and-take-a-few-minutes-for-me-each-day kind of month.  And I'm excited!

I Love My Thirties - Part IV

I Love My Thirties - Part I
I Love My Thirties - Part II
I Love My Thirties - Part III

And one that's near and dear to my heart:

I can almost serve without being trampled on.

This may not be an issue for you.  This may have never been an issue for you, so it's possible that you have no clue what I'm talking about.  Some of us have a gift for serving others...I am one of those people.  If you are having surgery, I want to fluff your pillow at the hospital.  If your [insert close relative] dies, I want to handle the funeral arrangements for you so that you don't have to.  If you are out of work, I want to write, edit, and revise your resume.  I like tangible, beneficial, service-oriented giving.  I'm not good at receiving it, but I'm an expert at dishing it out.

I love to serve, but it has, on occasion, caused me some heartache.  I have been completely unable to say "no."  Completely unable to resist a pouty face (or the grown-up equivalent thereof).  I was unable to draw a line between being a help to someone and being a door mat to them.  A couple of friends have lectured me on the "hows and whys" of saying no so many times that they've probably gotten tired of it.  But, I'm finding that as I get older I get more gumption.  I have a little now.  That's better than none at all, right?  I always pleasantly surprise myself when I say "no"...even when it's something I really want to say "yes" to.  I'm beginning to realize that when I draw lines for my personal sanity, I'm not offending anyone.  I'm protecting myself and my time with my family.  I'm allowing myself to give my family, my friends, and ME the best of myself.

I say that I'm "almost" there because I do still have a bit of a guilt complex that I need to shake off.  Awareness is the first step, right?  When you can acknowledge a flaw, you're already 90% of the way to improving it.

I'm learning that in order to be excellent in a few areas rather than mediocre in a lot of areas.  I'm learning that saying "no" sometimes is totally ok.  Thirty gave me that.

Reusable Snack Baggie Tutorial!

These DIY reusable baggies are food safe, easy to make, water-resistant, inexpensive, washable, and easy open/close for little hands.  Sadie and I have been using them for a week and love them! 

We have used (and used and used and used) disposable snack bags for our lunches.  We go through a box of 50 in about 2 weeks - that's freaking ridiculous.

Recently, as I was emptying out yet another box of snack bags, it occurred to me that most of the time they barely get used, and then they're tossed.  I've seen snack bags commercially before, but the adorable ones come with a not-so-adorable price tag.

Before I could go fabric shopping, I did some research on food safe water-resistant fabrics.  Here's the skinny:  Use ripstop nylon.  It's food safe, water-resistant and inexpensive.  

Note:  Oil-cloth (you know...the stuff your grandma's table cloth was made out of) is NOT food safe.  Don't try to use it to bag up your baby's (or your!) snacks.

This tutorial is great for beginners or for a quick, instant gratification project.  In fact, it's so easy that Sadie has already made one by herself (with me dictating the tutorial to her).  If a five year old can do it, you can do it!

Ingredients:

Ripstop nylon - I ordered mine online.

Fabric in whatever colors/patterns you want  (I got 8" strips of five different fabrics)

Velcro (I got four packs of 30" Velcro strips)

Fabric Scissors

Sewing Machine

A rotary cutter and cutting board make life easier, but they aren't necessary...regular old fabric scissors will do.

With the materials above, you'll be able to make about 20 baggies.

Directions:

Step 1:

Wash and dry your fabric and nylon - you may want to use a delicates bag because the strings will be everywhere. (Ask me how I know...)

Step 2:

Cut your fabric to the sizes you want your snack baggies to be...remember that you'll need 1/4 inch seam allowance all around when you're cutting.  

 -- You'll need two (2) pieces of fabric for each baggie and two (2) pieces of identically sized ripstop nylon.

Step 3:

Cut your velcro (hook side AND loop side) to the exact width of your fabric - this will be your closure for your baggie.

Step 4:

Place the hook side of your velcro on one piece of nylon, and the loop side of your velcro on the other piece - they should be about 1/2" down from the "top" of each piece of nylon.

Step 5:

Stitch the velcro pieces in place one at a time.  You'll want to go over them multiple times.  I stitched across the top of the velcro three times and again across the bottom three times to ensure that the velcro won't come off the nylon when the baggies are pulled open

Step 6:

Once your velcro is firmly adhered to the ripstop nylon, lay the WRONG side of your fabric on top of the nylon, velcro side up.  The velcro should be *facing* the right side of your fabric.

Step 7:

Line up your fabric and nylon and then place the pieces under the machine - nylon side on top (the velcro will be on the underside - see photo below).  Stitch between the velcro and the top of the nylon (about 1/4" from the top).  REPEAT this stitch (yes, pull the fabric out and stitch right over the top of your previous stitch again).

(The stitch is going in between the velcro and the top of the fabric)

This is important:  Anywhere you're stitching the nylon, REINFORCE the stitch.  Stitch over it a second time just to make sure it won't come apart.  Guess who found this out the hard way?  You're welcome.

It's so important, it bears repeating:  Anywhere you're stitching the nylon, REINFORCE the stitch. 

Once you're done with those stitches, your baggie pieces should now look like this:

Step 8:
This is where the fun starts!!  Take your velcro pieces and attach them together - make sure you line up your velcro *really* well because once it's together, there's no changing it.

It's ok if the fabric pieces don't line up perfectly - those are forgiving...the velcro is not, so make sure it's straight.  Don't get hung up on  the fabric not being perfect...your stitching will take care of any little irregularities in the next step.

Step 9:
Leaving the velcro attached, stitch up all three sides of your fabric (wrong side out!).

Step 10:

Stitch up all three sides of your nylon (wrong side out!) leaving a small (2") hole in the middle.  It should look something like this:

(it's hard to see, but the arrow is pointing at the hole)

Step 11:

Trim up strings and ugly edges, and get rid of some bulk by making sure your seam is no more than 1/4" all around.

Step 12:

Flip your bag right side out by pushing all the fabric through the little hole you left!  While you're flipping the fabric, you'll have to open up the velcro so that you can pull the fabric the rest of the way through.  Once you've opened the velcro and pulled all of the fabric right-side-out, it should look something like this:

(This is the hole from the other side!)

Step 13:

Push out your corners of your fabric while there's still a hole!  You can use a corner tool if you have one...I just used a dried out ink pen - work with what you've got.

Step 14:

Stitch up the hole in the bottom...I used the machine because it's the liner, so WHO CARES if it's an invisible stitch?  I sure don't:

Step 15:

Flip the velcro and liner to the inside of your baggie, and have a snack!

Total cost:  Approximately $1 per bag

Total time investment:  Approximately 10 minutes per bag

Have fun!