Not Me Monday: Post Thanksgiving Edition

Today is Monday and that means MckMama's Not Me Monday blog carnival. This week, I am devoting my Not Me Monday post to Thanksgiving and all of the indulgences that I most certainly did NOT partake in. Seems appropriate, yes? Here we go...

• I certainly did NOT over pack for our trip to Philadelphia and end up wearing the same outfit (or slight variations of) the entire trip, thereby leaving 1/2 my suitcase untouched.
• I did NOT allow my 3 year old and 6 year old daughters to stay up waaaay past their bedtimes while visiting grandma and grandpa. There is no way that I would ever go to bed before Kaitlyn and hope that she makes it to bed sometime during the night. She did go to bed, by the way, but it was late. :)
• I did NOT COMPLETELY IGNORE portion control, moderation, or just about any type of healthy eating guidelines while in Philly. I would never eat pumpkin pie for breakfast or butter soaked stuffing for lunch! No way! And, let's not even talk about the chocolate chip cheesecake... Curse you Philadelphia!
• I would NEVER wait an hour and a half at the world's most amazing breakfast place for the world's most amazing banana pecan pancakes. (Travel tip: do NOT eat the world's most amazing banana pecan pancakes a couple hours before the world's most annoying flight home!)
• And finally, I did NOT curse LOUDLY at the TV while my Wii Fit "Mii personality" was "adjusted" according to my body analysis. Now, I look like a Weeble (thanks for the comparison, Theresa!!)

There. Phew. I feel better now. Errr, I feel better for NOT doing these things...

How was YOUR Thanksgiving!? :) Oh, and don't forget to become a fan of my Facebook page! Do it soon, cuz you'll need to be for next week! (shhhh...possible giveaway hint!)

Thankful.

Thankful
–adjective
feeling or expressing gratitude; appreciative.


I am not always thankful. I am not always appreciative. And I am certainly not always grateful. I tend to whirl around in my own universe and focus on my surroundings from just my own inner perspective. I don't take time to stop, take stock of my life, appreciate what I have, where I am, and what I have experienced.

Thanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays. We spend Thanksgiving with family and it's great to be surrounded by family. And Pumpkin Pie. Always a good idea to be surrounded by pumpkin pie... haha. This year, I want to really teach the girls what it means to be thankful. Kaitlyn, especially. I want her to really understand what it means to be thankful, what it means to be appreciative. She is at an age where she thinks she gets everything and everything is for her. We need to keep teaching her that no, you don't get everything and it's important to be thankful for what you have.

We live a pretty comfortable life here in Minnesota. We are healthy. We have a roof over our heads, We both have jobs we love (ahem--I would like to stay at my job please, oh layoff Gods... just sayin'), and we have a great network of friends and family who are everything. We have fun toys and are able to take vacations. We aren't worrying about our next meal or if we'll be able to make our mortgage payment next month. For that I am thankful. Truly thankful.

I need to stop and take time to really appreciate all that I've been given. I need to stop and be thankful. Be Present. Be Grateful.

And so, for you, the readers of my blog, I thank you too. I am thankful for my blog. I am able to reach out to people from all over the world, express myself, blabber on about my goofy problems. I am thankful that you leave me comments and advice and I truly appreciate every single interaction.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Up Up and Away...

image courtesy of the Up official site

OK, have you seen "UP" yet? What a delightful movie! That movie is now our morning movie. Chloe watches it every morning when I am getting ready for work. It took me about 4 times before I actually got to sit through it and watch the entire movie. Sigh... love it to pieces. The part when the balloons explode from the house when Mr. Frederickson launches his house took my breath away the first time I saw it.

This week is a busy week for us, and I suspect YOU too. :) The one thing about the official start of the holiday season (at least that's what I think of it) is that every day is packed with stuff to do. Well, almost every day. We are travelling to Philadelphia for Thanksgiving and while I LOVE going there for Thanksgiving, it's a lot of work shlepping our family of four back to the east coast. I work tomorrow and I am kind of glad. I need a day to get everything organized and try to complete what I can before "vacation mode" sets in. After we get back, we've got events going on every weekend, and mostly, both days every weekend. Very different schedule than we are used to for sure. But, December is FULL of fun stuff. :)

I have a few blog-related fun things coming up! I am hosting a superdy fun (that's a Kaitlyn term that is now part of our lexicon here--superdy) giveaway coming up for Merry SITSMas! on December 8th. I have a Holiday Gift Ideas post on it's way and some other fun things happening. A Twitter contest perhaps!? :) Check back and see!

Hey! For all of you Facebook folks, join my new Facebook Fan page!

I am trying to keep focused on the good things that this time of year brings and not the bad or potentially bad (ahem, layoffs!?). Things that are beyond my control will have to just step aside so I can soak up every second of the holidays with my family.

So, keep an eye out for the giveaways here, and enjoy the upcoming holidays. Don't stress. Drink Egg Nog. Eat a cookie. :)

Oh ya, GO BUCKEYES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Happy Birthday to my sister!

Happy birthday to you Janet! Have a fantastic day! And, oh ya, GO BUCKEYES!

:)

Suzi
(sent via blackberry)
Sent on the Sprint® Now Network from my BlackBerry®

Not Me Monday!

Today is Monday and since I’ve been a complete angel all week, I thought I’d take part in MckMama’s Not Me Monday blog carnival again. Time for all of us angels to talk about what we did, err didn’t do, this past week.So, let's get started...

• I canceled both a Girl Scout meeting and holiday pictures last Sunday because Kaitlyn was sick and I did NOT secretly enjoy the fact that we had to do nothing all. day. long.
  
• I did NOT spend a good amount of Friday going through all the files and books and stuff in my cube and re-arrange it. I also did NOT find a $5 bill behind my bookshelf. Score!
  
• I did NOT spend a fortune having my hair cut and highlighted last week. I am way more budget conscious than that. Psstt...check out my new profile pic!
  
• I did NOT have evening plans 3 out of the 5 weeknights last week and left Jason to be super dad and take care of the girls. Ha, he's in Florida now for a few days so I'd say we are even!
  
• I did NOT and would NOT ever call perfect strangers "scum" in a tweet. Ok, this one I DID do. But, I said that to Spencer Pratt so I think I am justified... :)

Ok, I am sure there are more, but you get the idea... So, now it's your turn. What would you like to confess?

Teaching her how to organize - and how to save our sanity...

Hey, guess what—kids don’t automatically know how to do stuff. Who knew!

Note: This beautiful girl does NOT know how to organize. Yes, it's true.

Case in point:

We have had trouble with Kaitlyn getting her school stuff organized the night before and have spent countless mornings running around looking for books, packing snacks, and generally just trying to hold it together without flying into a rage! Ha.

Why can’t she get her sh*t together the night before? Well, because we’ve never taught her too. Shocker. Here and there we remind her that she needs to put her books back in her bag, pack her snakc, etc. Yes, we never stressed upon her that it’s important, it’s her job to get this stuff together and have it all ready to go. I kind of feel bad because you can tell she was upset that she couldn’t find everything and she couldn’t figure out why we were so upset with her. So, Jason and I were at our wits end after the latest morning craziness and we had differing opinions about how to resolve this. Jason said that she needs to be grounded but I said that she needs to be taught how to be more organized and responsible. So, we talked to her and we told her that yes, you need to get your school bag ready to go the night before. Yes, you need to lay out your clothes the night before. Yes, you need to brush your hair every, single. Morning. Yes, you need to be clean all the time. Yes, you need to be responsible.

Today was the first morning after our discussion and things went better. She got up and got dressed. She had packed her school bag and snack the night before. The morning was a delight.

You’re probably asking yourself—are you really this surprised that this would work? Well, no. I am just THANKFUL that it did. It’s so easy to forget that kids don’t understand what it means to be organized, to be responsible, etc. Especially at 6 years old.

YOU NEED TO TEACH THEM.

Next lesson: how to do your own laundry. ;)

How do you prioritize?

I've got issues.

I am that chicken with no head. I am that working woman who is over-scheduled and over-committed. I am that wife who doesn't spend enough time with her husband, I am that mom who doesn't stop enough to just "be" with her kids. I am that person who doesn't spend nearly enough time taking care of herself.

I am that girl.

I have to find a better way to fit it all in. And, by "it", I mean the following (in no particular order):

• Kids
• Work
• Husband
• Girl Scouts
• Blogging
• Book Club
• Career Networking
• Exercise
• Mentoring
• House Projects
• House Cleaning
• Photography
• Family

I am sure I am missing stuff too. But, you get the idea. I am no different than you, or you, or you. But, perhaps I am different in that I don't have a great way to fit it all in, in the correct prioritization, and without causing stress with my loved ones. Maybe you do? I struggle with figuring out what should be top priority, what sould wait, and what can be left for another day. Just tonight, Jason and I argued about whether or not I should stay up and work on my blog, answer work emails, work on Girl Scout stuff, etc or go upstairs and hang out and watch TV with him. Tonight, I chose to work on my blog and other stuff. He's not feeling well, so I am hoping he went to sleep and gets some much needed rest. But still, I don't like having to choose between spending time with him after the kids go to bed and my computer stuff. I'd much prefer to always choose him, but when will I get the other stuff done? Not at work--I am loaded with work and have little to no time to deal with anything else right now. After work? Nope, that's my time with the girls or my gym time. So, when?

I am participating in a professional development program at work and the latest topic we are discussing is time management and prioritization. It couldn't come at a better time. I am hopeful that I will learn how to better manage my crazy life.

In the mean time, I am reaching out to you, my beloved readers. How do you prioritize? How do you make the hard decisions when it comes to scheduling?

I could really use your help! :)

Caution: Holidays Ahead

So, we’ve got just a few weeks before the holiday season begins. I am decidedly more excited this year than last year. I think because we were all so scared about the impending doom of the economy last year, the holiday spirit just wasn’t as obvious. Now, I think it’s getting back to normal. I am making my Christmas shopping list already, figuring out what new decorations to get, what cookies to bake, etc. We will travel again for Thanksgiving—to Philadelphia. I am very happy about that as I love going there this time of year and we have fun with J’s family. The girls go nuts there and love all the attention too. It’s the one part of being so far away that I regret—that these family times are few and far between.

I am also getting excited for our trip to Ohio over Christmas. After my dad’s heart attack in September I am eager to get back home and see how things are progressing. All signs point to good with him so that’s fantastic. We’ll have fun just spending time there and doing the Ohio things we love. I fully expect to meet up with my old high school friends this time—something that never quite happens when we go home.

All in all, I am excited. I love the colder weather and am eager to put up my Christmas lights outside and just start basking in the Christmas music.

I am trying not to let my super fun weight loss rut bug me too much. I mean, I have no one to blame but good ol’Suzi. I think I just need a break from it. Not a break from being healthier, but a break from the WW treadmill that I keep avoiding. I know staying on WW is good because I know it works, but I am not working it so why bother spending the $ and keep making myself miserable with the feelings of dread that come every Tuesday night—even though I don’t gain anything and even lose some. I think I might take a break from WW until the new year and it’s not why you think—I am not planning on going crazy with the holidays and eating a ton of crap. Nope—I am over that. I just need to stop, reprioritize what I want out of WW, and make that commitment to do it. Paying my monthly fee isn’t helping me lose weight—it’s not supposed to. I have a great group of friends that I met at my WW meetings. We formed an email group that has become invaluable to me. I am sure they will be sad that I am away for a bit, but I think it’s necessary. I’ll keep emailing and will return when I am ready. I think that’s the plan for me right now.

So, that’s where my head is at this morning. I know I have work to do, but I think I need to make some adjustments to my plan on how to get there. I feel like I’ve been treading water in a lot of areas just to get by. I don’t like to just “get by”.

Time for me to start swimming. Just keep swimming. :)

                                          

Halloween Hangover!

Hope you had a great Halloween! :) Our house was filled with candy, costumes, and sadly, very little kids. We got under 30 kids last night. Our neighborhood is PACKED with kids, but we didn't get the lion's share because our street is still filled with empty lots.So, it's quite dark. We got more than last year to be sure, but still not like the hundreds of kids that were wandering around the more developed part of the neighborhood. It's okay, they'll start flowing down here soon enough. :)

Here are some pictures from last night!

Kaitlyn (Devil Girl), Choe (CareBear)

Superstahh!

Ta-Dah!

Mommy and her girls

After trick-or-treating!

Chloe loved getting so many M&Ms (her fave!)

So, hope you had a great Halloween! Have pix? Send me links! I love to see all the ghosts, witches, and Care Bears!