August is almost over!

Just a quick post. I know I haven't been blogging as much as I would like. The boys are back in school and although I work during the day (and well even the evenings and weekends), I'm hoping to make some time to send you a little something daily or weekly no matter how small. We'll see how it goes. :)

Image by Joel Kramer www.flickr.com/photos/75001512@N00/3603563538/

I hope everyone's summer went well! Ours went by faster than I expected. That's what happens when you try to stay busy though. Unfortunately, many of my plans got cancelled since it was RAINING so much and we had stir-crazy kids, BOYS at that, stuck inside. Yes, pretty much from the end of June until mid-August. This week has been the dryest we've had in long time. AND luckily it's not as hot or humid as before. That's the Florida humidity for ya'! Don't ever say you miss it, or that you even love it because we may think you're crazy! ("Cuckoo for Cocoa Puffs" has invaded my thoughts.)

Alright, well I need got to run and get back to my wonderful housework and whatnot. I'm trying to get ready for an Open House I'm having tomorrow. You're welcome to stop by and check out my Scentsy products and our current specials. :) Just send me an email (or call me if you have my number) and I'll get you the details.

Also, I'd love to hear about your summer! So enlighten me in the comments section below. :) Have a great day everyone!!!

Body Image

Well geez, how many ways can we cover this topic? Have you ever been in the mindset that if you only lost this many inches or pounds you would feel better about yourself? Most of us have. The body "norm" that society pushes on us is unrealistic, and actually not even the norm, or average. Because that's what "norm" is...the normal, the average. And really, let's just remember that even those perfect little lean-yet-fit bodies are also AIRBRUSHED before they even print up the images. Why do we do that? Why does society feel the need to make even the best physically fit people even slimmer? That's what most of the body image hype is about these days, being healthier. 

Some of you who know me may have heard the story about my husband saying he is fat. But for those of you who aren't, let me give you a recap. My loving "fat" husband made this declaration after grabbing a small little pinch of pudge around his belly. Overstepping his unintentional insult I declared it myself. "That's not 'fat' -- THIS is fat" as I grabbed my own pooch. Well, do you know what his answer was? "Oh but you've had two kids, so it's reasonable that you've gained weight and that's not "fat". I've never been this fat, so this is fat for ME." My husband used to be so skinny that his family jokingly called him a "string bean" growing up. We got married young (he weighed 110...yep a string bean at 5'7"), and I started feeding him food he LOVED even more than his mama's home-cookin'. Then, of course many men in their 20's start trying to build up muscle definition. Even so he didn't get up to 150 pounds until after 8 years of marriage. Fast forward to this past year (almost 12 years after our blessed nuptials) when he starts proclaiming that he is FAT! Yes you heard me, fat. Granted everyone else will say that he is skinny. Not "string bean" skinny, but still thinner than most men. And here I am after two kids, and lots of emotional (which became weight) rollercoasters... weighing approximately 50 pounds more than I did when we got married. So there I was, thinking Yeah, like I had ever been this fat before? To say that I was awestruck about his explanation is an understatement.

While he doesn't make me feel bad about my body image, the body image society sets up is negative for every gender and every age.

Since that mishap, my husband still says every once in a while, how he's fat. And the last time he did it, the boys were there in the room. While they may have laughed and joked with him about it, that small little inkling remained in their minds. My youngest declared one day out of the blue that I was fat. I had to talk with him about how saying that hurts people's feelings and we don't call people fat. Plus that's a relative term, so I also added that I may be bigger than some people I am also smaller than others and I don't consider myself "fat". Hey it makes ME feel better right? Fast forward a few weeks, and my oldest is sitting next to me. And this EIGHT-YEAR-OLD BOY says "I'm fat". That's it, just I'm fat. I laugh and ask him what made him think that? "Because of this" as he pinches the SKIN on his tummy. Not pudge, just skin.

There we are folks. At 8 years old, a boy, who is at the 50% mark for his height and under the 50% mark for his weight, claims he is fat. That means he's skinnier than the "norm". I wish that MORE of society realized how absurd these body images are. And please!! Be careful of whose around when you complain that you don't like your body type. Little ones are everywhere, and even though you THINK they understand the logistics and reasoning...they really don't.

Now it's your turn. Share with us an incident of body image (mistaken or not). I'd really like us ALL to see how unfair it is. And remember, that it really doesn't matter what your body type is, as long as you are happy in life. More importantly, your BODY image is no replacement for who you are as a PERSON. So remember that beauty comes from inside.

Calendars Big and Small - What do you do with them all?

Okay, so a couple weeks ago, I spent hours trying to make sure that my three calendars were all coordinated and had the same appointments/events. As you can see, they are even color coded! :) I have one wall calendar that my family uses, my portable calendar/planner because it ROCKS and I can easily see my month or week and to-do lists at the same time, and my phone calendar app that I use to schedule appointments while I'm out.

Unfortunately my wonderful phone stopped working. Hubby just upgraded his, and he saved his old phone for me to use as back up. Which was very lucky for me because I needed it within a week of his new phone arriving. That was some Divine planning! I put my old SIM card and memory card in my "new-to-me" phone. I still had many of my apps; the ones that were missing were still on a list of my "purchases" so it was easy to find them all again. And I even had most of my files for them since they saved a back up to my memory card.. Amazingly after a couple days of searching I found that all of my photos and my contacts were saved!! MANY thanks to GOD!! I assumed everything was stored on my phone and not my memory card, and that was such a blessing I cried tears of joy. The pictures really would be the worst things to lose since I could track most people down on Facebook.

But I did lose my calendar after all of that hard work. For some crazy reason my Google Calendar on my phone didn't synchronize to my Google Calendar online. So I've just spent an hour or so putting in new settings, color coordinating, etc. entering appointments for the next two weeks. It'll be easy to add appointments in the future since the basics are set up. 

Here's a question for you: I know that anything added online will sync to my phone. Do you know how to sync them reversed? Meaning new events from my phone synchronizing to the online calendar. 

How do you manage your own calendar?

No More Mess!

This week the boys have been on Spring Break. Our big project has been to re-organize the toy room. We even cleaned out the closet. Unfortunately, I didn't take "before" pictures. But here's the final look. :) An inexpensive bookshelf from Wal-Mart, some soft baskets, and cheap (yet sturdy) plastic bins from Sterilite were key to this project. And I made some labels to make it easy on the kids to find things (and put them back where they belong). Although I think I'm missing three or four. I'll get those on tonight. :)

A Day in the Life of Wellington the Duck

The boys with their Scentsy Buddy Christmas presents

If you've followed some of my posts, you may know that I am an Independent Scentsy Consultant. Well seeing as how I sell these great products myself, it's only natural that I have a lot of them in my home. This includes the Scentsy Buddies designed with your kids in mind! My two boys look through my Scentsy catalogs from time to time, and I casually asked them last fall which animals were their favorites. They were going to be Christmas presents. Penny the Pig for the oldest and Wellington the Duck for the youngest. So they've had them for a few months now. They love the scents I chose for them, and sleep with them often. If you don't know this, each stuffed animal comes with a Scent Pak of your choice that hides inside a little zippered pocket.

A couple weeks ago, my youngest had a nightmare. My husband had already gotten up to get ready for work, so I let my Little Man join me in bed. Most people with nightmares can fall back asleep faster if someone is there to comfort them and keep them safe. The next night, he had TWO bad dreams but didn't wake up scared until after the second. Again, my husband was up and getting ready for work, so Little Man joined me again. He rarely has bad dreams much less three in two days, and I knew this was bothering him. So I explained to him that I used to (cough) cuddle a stuffed animal to make me feel better when I was alone. So he stayed with me, cuddled a bear, and instantly felt safer.

The next day, Little Man woke up bright and early with a smile on his face. He was so happy that he didn't have any bad dreams that night, saying that Wellington had kept him safe!!! Wellington was his new best friend, and he took him everywhere (except school of course). But I was expected to treat Wellington as if he were any other person. Even while Little Man was at school, I was supposed to care for this yellow ball of fluff and feed him until my son got back. This cute little stuffed duck even had breakfast, lunch, and dinner with us. Each toy and game Little Man played with, Wellington joined him.When Little Man went to the bathroom, so did Wellington, using a stool to "stand" and reach the toilet. Little Man also helped to make sure he had healthy hand-washing habits. Wellington had the same daily routines and same expectations as the boys.

The next day was the same. And fortunately I was able to take photos of Wellington doing activities all around the house. So here is a peek at The Day in the Life of Wellington the Duck. Now the fascination has started to wear off, but Wellington is still doing some of the routines and activities with Little Man. And he is still known to talk to people, answer questions, and tell secrets. I'm just glad Little Man enjoys his present so much. :) Even Big Brother has started playing with Penny the Pig more often. Wellington has definitely been treated like a member of the family!!

P.S. When you buy Wellington, he comes with a rain coat. Which is adorable!! But seeing as how it doesn't rain inside, we opted to use a Build-A-Bear shirt instead. And all of Wellington's food was really eaten by Little Man. :)

Morning Checklist

Throughout the Day

Even Bathroom Trips!!