Happy New Year to all!

Looking forward to setting goals and accomplishing some great things in 2017!

After much reflection, I have finally decided on my word of the year:

Transform 

Looking forward to setting some goals over the next few days, using this word as my focus. There is much I would like to "transform" in my personal and professional life. Ultimately, I would like to enjoy myself more this next year. I am very excited to use my new bullet journal to set up ways to track my goals and focus on transforming many areas of my life. And, I am very excited to share my progress with all of you!

After trying out the whole "bullet journal" thing with a temporary, inexpensive notebook, I found I really enjoyed the process and felt like the format really worked for me. So, I broke down and ordered the highly recommended Leuchtturm Medium Hardcover Dots Azure notebook from Amazon. I was so excited that I would be receiving my new notebook on December 31st - just in time to start the new year!

When I received the email notifying me that my notebook had been delivered to my mailbox and was just waiting for me to dive in, I could hardly contain myself. I tore the package open, removed the plastic wrapping, opened my new, beautiful notebook and my heart sank. I had ordered the blank page notebook instead of the dot grid version. I may have said some unpleasant things. Thankfully Amazon has an easy return process. I logged on, scheduled the return, printed my label, repackaged my beautiful journal and dropped it back in the UPS box. My new/correct journal will be delivered in a couple of days. Lesson learned.

Until I receive the new Leuchtturm Medium Hardcover Dots Azure, I plan to browse through my "bullet journal" Pinterest board and make plans for how to lay things out. You can follow my Pinterest board here: J9billings/Bullet Journal Board. I have learned a lot from my bullet journaling over the last three months and really have a good plan for how to improve things as I move forward. I love the flexibility that the bullet journal provides. I can make it whatever I need it to be - and that seems to tame some of the chaos in my world!

One area of "transformation" that my husband and I decided to tackle before the year ended was to finally paint the woodwork and walls in our entryway. It has made an incredible difference in brightening up a dark, closed-in space. As with every project, I keep asking myself why we didn't do this a long time ago. We have now completely eliminated all of the ugly, brown woodwork from our downstairs and all of the rooms are now coordinated. The amazing thing is that by lightening the wood and the walls, we were able to keep our retro, herringbone tile floor - and it looks great! I will share the before and after pictures in my next post. Because - who doesn't love a good before and after!

Here's to less chaos in 2017!

I'm Back!

Arghhhhh!  I feel like I am always apologizing for my absence from this here little blog!

I would really like to be more regular in my posting - but life always seems to get in the way.  Isn't that everyone's story these days?

Lately, I have been understanding more and more what it means to be a "soccer mom".  I spend most of my late afternoons, evenings and weekends either sitting in my car waiting for a practice/tutoring session to end, or watching one of my children play or perform!

Somewhere in there, I do find time to get a few projects done.

Just yesterday I was able to finish a wreath that I had purchased the supplies to make, but just hadn't had the time to get started on.  It actually took less time than I thought it would and turned out really nice!

We are getting ready to start a major renovation project at our house - removing a wall and installing hardwoods throughout our first floor.  I'm excited to keep you posted with pics throughout the process!

The J9

Happy 2013!

I really love the promise of the new year - an opportunity to set new goals and get a fresh start on some old ones!

I always like to start out with a word of the year, following the example of one of my favorite bloggers, Ali Edwards.  My word this year is "ACT".  I really want to work to tackle my problem with procrastination in all areas of my life.  I know that if I can stop procrastinating and begin "acting" I will decrease the amount of stress I feel each and every day.  I'll keep you posted on how that goes:)

Today I will work on my list of goals so that I can share those here with all of you!

Also on my list of things to do today - get started on cleaning up and organizing my office!  I decided to participate in an online challenge to get organized in 2013.  First assignment is office - and I am ready to make mine more workable!

Here's hoping you all have a wonderful 2013 and that we all reach our goals!

- The J9

Laundry Room Reveal

We are finally finished!!!!!

We have been working on this project in stages for a while now.

I won't bore you with all of the details.  I'll just share the eye candy!

Well - first I'll share the "Before" pics:

It all just felt so dark and heavy to me.

Now for the eye candy "after" shots:

There's actually a bin next to the small coat tree that corrals our beach towels in the summer and the kids' hats and gloves in the winter.

My favorite parts of this room:

• The countertop over the washer and dryer.  In the words of my good friend, Mindy, "it's life changing!".
• The grey paint on the walls!
• White cabinets and trim!
• The amazing ceiling treatment!
• The fun shutter/key-holder project!  (I'll share how I did that with you later.)
• My unexpected little collage wall!
• It's so pretty - I just want to keep it clean and organized!

I would still like to install some hooks, or a better way to keep my kids backpacks organized since this is where we come into and go out of our house most regularly.  But, I need to keep pondering that one.

This little room is making me feel very motivated to continue painting our woodwork white and bring the grey into my kitchen, dining room and the other rooms of our first floor!

Thanks for looking!

- The J9

Taking Control of Dinner!

So, the last few months have been chaotic! We seem to have a lot more activities in the evening and I'm working more hours.

With all of this extra chaos, I have been having a hard time getting meals planned and on the table each night!  And, for those that know me well, I always start each week with a menu plan. Lately, though, that hasn't been enough!

This week I decided to menu plan as usual, but took some advice from a fellow blogger, and prepped as much of our meals at the beginning of the week. I also updated our "favorites" list to include more crock-pot friendly, grab and go meals. I keep this list in the front of my recipe book and refer to it when I menu plan each week. It really helps when I'm feeling a little less creative about what to cook!

Here's our menu for the week:

Monday - Baked Potato Bar & Salad
Tuesday - Meatball Grinders with chips and fruit
Wednesday - Breakfast
Thursday - Sandwich Night
Friday - Dinner at Friends
Saturday - Best Ever Burgers
Sunday - Pizza Night

After dropping the kids at school today, I headed to the grocery store and picked up the few things I didn't already have on hand. When I got back, I did something I have been putting off for a few weeks.  I cleaned out the fridge. You don't even want to know what kind of science experiments I found! I knew I would need to start with a clean slate/fridge to make sure I was successful this week:)

After the fridge was clean and all of my groceries were put away:

• I cleaned and prepped all of the veges for each meal.  
• I even prepped some fruits and veges for snacks and lunches.  
• I cleaned and prepped the potatoes to go into the slow cooker.
• I prepped the extras for our potato bar (cheese, sour cream, bacon, etc).  
• I made a batch of my meatballs and packaged what I would need for meatball grinders
• I packaged the rest for the freezer.  
• I made a big pitcher of lemonade (mostly so my youngest will stop asking for a soda every night with dinner).  
• I packaged up the Banana Crumb Muffins I made last night for a quick, grab-and-go breakfast.

It only took me about an hour and forty-five minutes to get it all together. And, now my meals are as easy as grabbing the right bags and cooking things up! I am feeling so good about how much time this will save me this week!  I'll let you know how it works out:)

Do you have ideas for keeping your sanity preparing meals for your busy family?  

I would love to hear them!

Ok - I'm off to tame the laundry.

Really wishing there was a laundry fairy about now!

- The J9

I'm Back!

I hope everyone had a wonderful and relaxing holiday weekend! We are getting excited for the promise of a New Year here at our house!

So - after a long absence from this here little blog - I have decided to commit more of my time and energy to sharing our home remodeling projects, my organizing journey, craft projects and all kinds of fun and fabulousness!

First up - it's time again for the "Word of the Year".

I've chosen CREATE as my inspiration word for 2012. I would like to "create" a more organized and beautiful home this year, "create" new products for my Etsy shop (with lots of ideas spinning around in my head), "create" a new me (if I reach my weight loss and exercise goals) . . . you get the picture.

It's not too late to chose your word for 2012:)

Second up - I wanted to share our latest home improvement project with you.

Last spring, our 17-year old dryer finally quit on us. We decided to purchase a new front-loading washer/dryer set. First time in my entire adult life that I have had a matching set! Not to mention the fact that I can do laundry in a fraction of the time I could before! A--ma--zing!

A new washer/dryer set seemed like a really good time to make some much needed changes to our laundry room. Here are some before pics so you can get a good idea of where we are starting:

We originally thought we would take out the cabinets, stack the units and create a work station/storage unit on one side. But, we weren't sure that would be best for resale later. And, it seemed like more project than we wanted to take on! (No, we aren't planning any big move, but you never know:)

Instead, we decided to leave the units as they are and install a counter/worktop over the units. We plan to paint the cabinets white to match the kitchen. Along with that, comes a complete overhaul of the storage/organization in the cabinets. Time to rethink what needs to be stored in here! I feel a little "chaos control" coming on!

Oh - and this little area across from the dryer needs a complete overhaul as well!

We made a trip to Home Depot today and purchased the wood, trim and stain we will need to start the project. I'm excited to keep you posted on how all of this turns out!

The J9

Happy New Year & Word of the Year

It's that time again. Time to come up with a "word of the year".

IIt seems like just yesterday that I was contemplating my "word" for 2010.

Some of my previous words have been: ACCOMPLISH, FOCUS, COMPLETE.

This year I would like my word to help motivate me in my journey to get stronger, lose some weight, become better about protecting my time, continue to improve our finances, get some projects completed, etc.

Phew! That's a lot to get done this year!

Here are some of the words I have been tossing around:

1. RENEW

2. HEALTH

3. BEGIN

4. ACT

I think I need a little more time to process.

I may have to revisit Ali Edwards' list here.

In the meantime, I am excited at the promise of a new year and an opportunity to reassess and make some changes.

The first change will be getting these Christmas decorations down and my house back in order! That's my plan for New Year's day - let's see how far we get.

I am feeling pretty good right now about my decision to decorate "light" this year.

Makes for a much nicer clean-up!

Here's wishing a wonderful New Year to all of my friends and family!

Have fun and be safe!

The J9

Hour of Power - Update

Wow! That hour went awfully fast!

Here's what I got done:

1. Cleaned up the kitchen.

2. Went through the mail.

3. Put away the Fall/Halloween bins.

4. Vacuumed the family room.

5. Rotated the laundry (I actually had to rewash the load in the dryer - ughhhh!).

6. Swept the kitchen floor.

7. Created the menu for this week.

8. Helped the girls make jello!

I feel pretty good about that list!

We have a little friend with us today while her mom gets some things done. She loves hanging out with Emma and Zach! Emma is so good with her!

Here is a peek at our menu for the week. I have some plans to change our menu board up a little. Another one of those projects where I hope to use things that I already have and spend no extra $$$.

I'll show you how it turns out!

Your turn - what did you get done?

The J9

Sunday, Sunday

Sunday is always a lazy start day for us at the Billings' household. It is the only day that we get a chance to sleep in. The cool temps this morning made it even more enticing to stay in our warm and cozy beds!

Now that I am up and moving, I am surveying all that needs to get done before we leave for softball double-headers this afternoon.

No projects for today :( Just clean and go!

I think I need an "Hour of Power". Have you ever tried this? Usually, when I am feeling a little overwhelmed, and a little under-motivated, I call a friend and ask her to join me for an "Hour of Power". We both do as much as we can for an hour and report back what we have accomplished when our hour is up.

Who wants to join me? I'm starting in 5 minutes - and will report back at noon.

Here's hoping for a big, long list of things that are done! "Hour of Power" here I come!

The J9

Gearing Up for Fall and Halloween

I love Fall.

It is, by far, my favorite time of the year.

That being said, Fall has been slow to appear here in Kansas. Up until this past week, we have still been seeing temps in the 90's. Crazy! Now that things are finally starting to cool down, I'm starting to feel the urge to pull out the bins with the fall/halloween decorations.

One thing I know my collection has been lacking is a nice bold, something for the front door.

I have been searching for a wreath or something to hang, but haven't been able to find anything that I really love - and that won't break my budget. Budget is important at my house!

While I was at Hobby Lobby last week, I found some fall bunches that were on 50% off sale. I grabbed a leafy bunch, some small pumpkins, a few accent pics, and a grape vine wreath. Best part - everything was on sale!

After bringing it all home, I cut everything apart with wire cutters, heated up my new glue gun and started playing.

I started by hot glueing the leaves randomly around the grapevine wreath. I just kept layering and filling in until I was happy with how it looked.

Once I had most of the wreath covered with leaves, I started placing the pumpkins and other accents.

It took me only about an hour to put the whole thing together - and I love how it turned out! I saw similar wreaths at Hobby Lobby for $79.99. Mine only set me back about $12.00! And, I think it is so much prettier - Just sayin'!

The plan is to get the rest of the decorations up this weekend, and finish off the fall decorating. I am challenging myself to use what I have on hand. No money on new decor items. I'll be excited to share how that goes!

Happy Fall!

The J9

My First Slipcovers

We can never go to the Maine house without a few projects waiting for us.

Last year it was apparent that we needed to buy new cushions for the wicker furniture on the front porch. I had some cute "lobster" fabric that I had never used - so I thought I would try my hand at slipcovers to save the cost of buying something new.

I have to say I was nervous at first, but it ended up being an easy project and looks great!

No new cushions for a while for these chairs!

Before: (Not very inviting.)

After: (A great place to sit and relax.)

I'm pretty proud of how they turned out. The lobster fabric was perfect. Plus - they were free! Hopefully they will last for a few years. The weather can be a bit brutal, but the fabric is very heavy weight. We'll see how they hold up.

I'm feeling empowered to try more slipcovers - and I have the perfect project in mind. It will be a little more complicated, but will really transform the pieces. And, it will save us the cost of new furniture. That's a bonus I can get on board with! Now, I just have to wait for the fabric to go on sale. I can be very patient.

I have to say - this was the easiest project of the trip. We cleaned out part of the attic and made a few trips to goodwill and the dump. The guys rebuilt a wall and put a new header in the garage.

One of these days vacation will be just that - vacation! Right?!

Maybe that's just wishful thinking.

The J9

Pickles, Pickles Everywhere!

We had a pickle party at our house last night!

I had about 10 cucumbers from our garden that I wasn't sure what to do with. So, my good friend KB offered to come over and teach me how to make and can pickles. Of course, I took her up on it!

She brought her family, we ordered pizzas, let the kids and hubbies hang out, and we got to work! We always have such a good time hanging together - our husband's have become good friends, our kids are the same ages and are great friends, and we have such a similar outlook on life and family!

It is amazing how much fun we had in my kitchen! We both commented on how much more enjoyable it is to can, bake, whatever . . . with a friend. I have such great memories of my mom and her best-friend (my "ma") canning in the kitchen when I was little. It felt so good to carry-on that tradition. And, I was amazed at how easy it was!

We now have 8 cans of "bread and butter" pickles to enjoy! We used a recipe that KB's husband had from his grandmother. I don't think I have been this proud of something I created in a long time. Now the hard part - we have to wait 30 days to enjoy the fruits of our labor. They are just so tempting sitting on my counter - I may have to move them out of sight!

Probably the most fun of the evening was sitting in the family room talking with the hubbies and listening for the "pop" of the canning lids as they sealed. I know - you're thinking we're a bit corny - but come on - you would have loved it too!

I'm now inspired to do more, so I pulled out a couple of cookbooks that I inherited from my mom and "ma". Both are books with recipes for homemade mixes and then recipes for how to use the mixes.

I would love to be able to pull out something like the "Quick Mix" and use it to create recipes like "Sunshine Coffeecake" or "Crispy Breadsticks". Besides being quick and easy, it's so much more healthful for my family.

I'll let you know how that turns out.

In the meantime, here is the recipe and a photo of our pickles.

Enjoy!

The J9

Grandma H's Bread & Butter Pickles

4 qts. cucumber sliced thin (I made mine into chunks instead)

6 medium onions sliced thin

1 green pepper diced

1 red pepper diced

1/3 cup salt

3 cups white vinegar

3 cloves garlic

5 cups sugar

1 1/2 tsp. tumeric

1 1/2 tsp. celery seed

2 tsp. mustard seed

Slice cucumbers thin, add sliced onions and diced peppers and whole garlic. Sprinkle salt over layers as you work. Mix a tray of ice cubes through the pickles and let stand for 3 hours. Drain and divide into two batches. Combine vinegar, sugar and spices and pour over pickles. Heat just to boiling. Ladle pickles into hot jars and seal. Allow to stand 30 days before using.

Makes 8 pints.

'Tween You & Me

So, Emma requested a room-makeover for her birthday.

Her birthday was in March - Oops!

It took me a little while to get things moving, but once I did, the inspiration just kept flowing. We are almost finished and wanted to share some "before & after" pics.

Not bragging or anything - but we are really proud of how it has turned out!

So here is the room as we prepped to begin painting the walls and woodwork:

She was done with the lavender and flowers! Just too much girly-girl!

And here are some with the woodwork painted, and as we began to cut-in the light turquoise color on three of the walls:

I was really nervous about the light turquoise color when we first picked it, but as we got it up on the walls I really fell in love with it!

It is a really fun and soothing color! And, it looks great with the new white woodwork.

Good riddance to the ugly old "honey/brown/orange"! You can see it in the hallway if you look closely.

Our inspiration came from her new bedding - a "bed-in-a-bag" set that we picked up at Target on super-duper sale. The colors in the bedding are a light turquoise, darker turquoise, lime green and brown circles. We knew we wanted to do some kind of circles on the wall, but weren't sure exactly what we wanted.

Leave it to my artsy-fartsy hubby! He created an inspiration wall in Photoshop that Emma loved. Now - how to get it on the wall.

Thanks to my artsy-fartsy mom, who has an art projector or two! We projected the printed Photoshop page up onto the wall and my mom traced the circles. Hard work!

Really glad for the "arty-fartsy" family in my life!

Then it was up to me to fill it all in. It was a tough project, but I LOVE how it turned out! It was well worth the hours spent (and the episode of vertigo that resulted)!

In progress . . .

More circles . . .

The final product! You can see the bedding that originally inspired us. Paper lanterns are from Pier One. The colors where perfect. Emma is holding out for a disco ball she spotted at Target to add to the lantern corner. Now we are just waiting for it to go on clearance or super-duper sale so we can snag it!

I still have some detail work to complete - need to paint the vent cover on the accent wall, paint out the closet, and hang a few shelves. But, otherwise, the room is close to complete!

We created a magnetic bulletin board by wrapping an old, metal shelf in a cute brown, seer-sucker fabric with white polka dots. We created magnets out of buttons and bottle caps. I'll try to get some close up shots soon so you can see how cute the magnets turned out!

After I get the rest of the detail-work done, I will take some real pics (not iphone pics) of the finished project.

I'm just glad that she loves it as much as I do!

Now, Zach is planning his big room makeover. Not sure when I will get to that one!

Thanks for taking a look!

J9

Where does the Time Go?!

Okay, so it has been several months - and actually an entire season has passed - since my last blog post! A lot has been going on here in Kansas, at the Billings household. I thought it might be a good time to catch everyone up!

We had an awesome summer - filled with lazy days, swimming at the pool, gardening, vacationing and friends!

We were lucky to have the time to travel to Maine and spend two weeks in Stonington. We were also lucky to be joined for the first week by our good friends the Bohlkens. It was so much fun to share our home and "Maine" with friends. Also fun to see things that we take for granted through fresh eyes! When we first arrived, the fog was thick and visibility almost nothing. As Dan, Kelly and the kids were staring at the fog out the big picture window in the living room, the fog began to lift and reveal the amazing view! They had no idea that we were right on the ocean with boats and islands surrounding us! It was funny, too, to hear Zach's comment of "I've never seen that before". I started to realize that he probably doesn't remember much from his last four visits to Maine because he was too little! We had great fun doing a little bit of everything from shopping to boating and hiking.

The second week we were joined by Roger's mom, Helen. She was a bit under the weather, but we still had a nice visit - and I know she enjoyed getting to see the grandkids! We had really great weather, with only a few days of fog and rain, so we were able to do some fun hikes and take the kids out on their first kayak outing. We collected lots of rocks and shells, had lots of lobster races, took some amazing photos and no one wanted to head back home. Did I mention that we drove again this year?! A bit insane - but all went well. Our kids are troopers!

We returned home just in time to start school (only three days to spare)! Emma is in 4th grade this year and Zach is in 2nd. They grow up so fast! Homework has been a bit of a challenge - things get harder as you move up - but otherwise everyone has transitioned well.

Emma decided to take a break from soccer this fall and is focusing her efforts on softball. Of course, she excels in almost everything athletic she tries (she must get that from Rog), and she has made no exception with softball. She is also gearing up to start volleyball academy in November and hopes to start playing next year. Her dad can't wait to start showing her the ropes! She continues to tumble when she can fit it in, and has joined the dance team and running club at school. She will be running a 5K in a couple of weekends! Go Emma! On top of all of this she continues to make straight A's at school! What a great kid!

Zach has given up on soccer for now and is exploring flag football with his buddies. He has had a couple of practices and his first game last weekend. Surprisingly, for the kid who doesn't like contact sports, he seems to really enjoy football. He even got tackled twice during Saturday's game, but popped back up (pulled his pants up) and got back in the game. He is hoping to play basketball this winter, and will continue playing baseball with the Mud Dogs in the spring. He has a great bunch of boys in his grade and they all have a blast playing sports together! He is improving his reading this year and is really impressing Rog and I! I know this is the year where we will see lots of changes in Zach!

Rog is still working for Golf Course Superintendents Association, and I continue to contract with Infant Toddler Services of Johnson County. Both organizations have been struggling in tough economic times, but we are grateful to still have meaningful and rewarding jobs. Our biggest project recently has been to paint our kitchen cabinets. It has actually been easier than we expected and so far is making a big impact on the look of our kitchen! We hope to have this project rapped up in a week or so. Then it is on to bigger and better things!

I promise to make a better effort to update my blog more often. In the meantime, here's wishing everyone a beautiful and peaceful fall - my favorite time of the year!

J9

I can't believe it has been over two months since I posted last! Where does the time go?

Lately our time has been spent at practices and sporting events. I'm not sure what we were thinking letting both kids participate in two sports this spring. It has been a bit of a scheduling nightmare - but manageable. Our practice schedule doesn't leave many nights free during the week, and games pretty much eat up our weekends. It has been fun watching both Emma and Zach on the fields, though!

Zach is playing soccer with some buddies from school. This is his second try at soccer after taking a few seasons off. Let's just say the time off hasn't done much to increase his competitive drive! He probably won't be continuing with soccer after this season. I'm not sure I could take the stress of watching him dance around the field again! At least we have kept the cartwheels at bay for soccer!

On the other hand, he loves baseball and is happy to be playing again this year for the Muddogs! So far, we are 2-o for the season! The Muddogs really do rock and are blowing the other teams out of the stadium at each game! Our coaching staff has done a tremendous job this year - and the boys look great! Go Muddogs!

Emma continues to play soccer with her team the "Banana Splits". I think this is her 5th or 6th season with the team. They are excelling and really starting to look like they know what they are doing out there! Lots of passing and fancy footwork! Emma loves playing goalie or defender. Not really loving the offensive positions, but she can turn it on when she wants to. She scored the seasons first goal during our first game!

Emma is also playing softball for the second season. We have only been practicing so far, but have our first game this Saturday. Looking forward to seeing how the Golden Aces will do this season. There are a few new girls and everyone has been looking good at practice. Emma is considering pitching and has been practicing with her coach. I will keep you posted with her progress as we get into our season!

Rog and I busily planted our garden last weekend, and we are eager to see things start to take shape. This is such an exciting time as we anticipate bumper crops of tomatoes, peppers, green beans, snap peas, watermelon, cucumber, etc. I would love to try my hand at canning some of our bounty this year, and may have to pay Rog's coworker Kelly to come teach me the ropes! We are also considering participating in a local Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) group for the things we can't grow or produce ourselves this summer. Rog is a bit nervous about what we might have to eat - for anyone that knows how picky he is - this is a scary prospect! I will keep you posted on how all of that turns out!

I must get to bed now. I am starting a new "boot camp" tomorrow morning and don't want to be too tired! My good friend Elizabeth (who was just awarded her personal training certificate) is going to train a bunch of us "mommies" in the school parking lot at 6:00 a.m., two mornings each week. I am hoping to have my buff body back in 6 weeks! Wish me luck!

J9

Climbing out of a Bad Weekend

So you didn't think my weekend could get worse, did ya? Well, it did!

Let me just say that scratched corneas are very painful. And, even more so when you are six years old and don't understand why your eye hurts so badly. Poor little man!

Anyway, my wonderful mom came up to help out Friday night and to serve as reinforcement as I attempted to get my kids out of bed on Saturday morning for a 7am soccer game. So, on Friday night we headed to Red Robin for dinner, then ran a few errands to Target and Home Depot. Somewhere along the way Zach began complaining that, not only did his eye hurt, but now his throat hurt as well. Warning bells started going off, since he was just treated for strep not two weeks earlier. We headed home, got in our jammies and watched "Mama Mia" before heading to bed early. I awoke at about 3am and couldn't get back to sleep, so headed to the computer at 4am. At 6am I woke the rest of the crew up and we headed to the soccer game, during which time Zach complained about his eye and his throat. As we loaded into the car after the game and prepared to head to Blue Springs for haircuts, Zach began crying and complaining that his stomach hurt. I quickly turned the car around and headed for home. He refused to eat or drink, and after listening to his complaints become worse over the next few hours, I placed my hand on his head only to find he was burning up! We headed to the pediatric after hours clinic, where after a two hour wait (and a fine episode of puking on the doctor), he was once again diagnosed with strep throat.

The rest of Saturday sucked! I could not wait for Roger to pull into the driveway on Sunday! I feel completely drained, even after getting a full night of sleep last night. Zach, on the other hand, was feeling much better today - even doing dance moves during the Grammy's this evening! He will definitely be heading to school tomorrow morning!

Thankfully, I have nothing scheduled tomorrow and can play catch up!

Have a great week!

J9

Update

Well, he slept through the night, only to awaken this morning and begin screaming and crying all over again! We headed to the pediatrician's office. They did a dye test - and sure enough - Zachy B. has a scratched cornea! We next headed to the pharmacy to pick up a prescription for antibiotic drops. Not sure how long it will take to heal - but I am praying for a speedy recovery!

A scratched cornea is incredibly painful! Poor little guy has continued to scream and cry since leaving the doctor's office. I am very grateful that my mom will be joining us this afternoon, and will spend the night tonight. A little adult commiseration is just what this momma needs right now! It is so hard to see your little ones in so much pain, and not be able to do anything about it!

If anyone has any experience or great ideas - please send them my way!

We will be laying low today and getting some welcome lazy time on the couch. It is beautiful weather here - with predictions that the temperature will reach 70 degrees! I still can't believe it is February in Kansas! Wacky weather for sure!

I will keep everyone posted on Zachy B's progress.

J9

To Urgent Care - Or Not

It has been a busy week - and we are looking forward to a day off to play tomorrow! Unfortunately, Zach began complaining early this evening that his eye was hurting. It has been off and on for the last few hours and his complaints have become increasingly more dramatic. I think he might have scratched it while playing outside this afternoon. (62 degrees in February!)

After listening to him cry/scream for about 30 minutes straight, I ended up calling the pediatrician's office around 7:00pm. I was surprised when one of the nurses actually answered. She was so nice and suggested treating him with saline drops, ibuprofen and patching his eye. She also said if he kept complaining, or it got worse, take him to the urgent care walk-in clinic tonight. So, after we dropped Emma at her tumbling class, we headed to the pharmacy to pick up some supplies. We are making a go at it - but his complaints don't seem to be easing much. Wish me luck overnight - it could be a long one! I'm really wishing Rog was home about now!

Will keep you posted tomorrow!

J9

One Month Down

Wow, it has been one month since my last post! I guess time flies when you are having fun. But, wait, have I been having fun? Of course I have!

You may recall in my last post I talked about an upcoming project - cleaning out and organizing the kid's craft supplies. Well, I have to be honest and tell you that I have yet to complete that project. I am setting a deadline to have it complete by this Sunday. So, stay tuned for some before and after pics!

For those of you who are curious about my "word for the year" - after a lot of consideration - I have chosen the word FOCUS. My goal with this word is to stop trying to multi-task all of the time, and really FOCUS on one project/task at a time. Multi-tasking is highly overated - and I feel it has given me a case of "self-induced" ADD. I will keep you posted on how FOCUS is helping me in my day to day life.

Roger is currently in New Orleans working the Annual Convention and Show for the Golf Course Superintendants Association. The kids and I are missing him already. We are especially sad that he will be gone for his birthday this Saturday. Personally, I am not looking forward to waking both kids at 5:45 am on Saturday morning to make Emma's 7:00 am indoor soccer game. My mom has graciously offered to "sleep-over" Friday night and help me Saturday morning. Thank goodness for Grandma Pat! Wish us luck!

Look for pics this weekend!

J9

A New Year - A Fresh Start

I love the beginning of a new year! It feels like such a fresh start!

Last year, on the advice of one of the scrapbook bloggers that I follow, I came up with a "word for the year". My word for 2008 was "ACCOMPLISH". I created a framed collage highlighting my word and hung it in my office/craft room. It was so amazing how that one little word, placed where I could see it and reflect upon it, helped motivate me to complete so many projects!

It's now time to decide on a new word for 2009. I have been struggling to find something that really reflects my goals for the year. I am a huge procrastinator - so I have been searching for something that speaks to that - as well as to my other financial/personal/organizational goals. If you have any suggestions, I would love to hear them! So far I have come up with: Motivation, streamline, action. But, nothing seems to be really "hitting the nail on the head". I'll keep you posted in the days to come!

Hope you all had wonderful holiday and New Year's celebrations. For the first time ever our little family was able to spend Christmas day at home opening presents, watching movies, making a steak dinner and playing with our new toys! We all stayed in our jammies the whole day! At about 10:00 p.m., Emma exclaimed, "This is the best Christmas I have ever had!"

A little change in New Year's plans - and we found out on Tuesday that the party was moving to our house! Wow! Lot's to get done in a little bit of time - but we pulled it off and had a blast ringing it in with a small group of good friends and their kids! We had so much fun that the party didn't end until about 2:30 a.m.! With clean-up, I didn't see my pillow until about 4:00 a.m.! Needless to say, New Year's day was another day spent in jammies!

Emma and Zach are back to school on Wednesday of this coming week. I am looking forward to getting back on schedule and into our normal routine. My organization goal this week is to clean out all of the kid's crafting supplies and get them consolidated in one easily accessible spot in our home. I will take pics and post the process and results in a few days. Wish me luck!

Have a great week and a great beginning to your 2009!

J9