Category Archives: Kind of Crazy

My New Vacation Fund Plan

Remember a couple of months ago where I shared my life-changing advice for saving for college tuition? I’m pretty sure 6 weeks in and we already have at least one kid’s books paid for an entire year.

Well, here I am back at it again ready to change lives!

School is back in (thank goodness). And it’s amazing how easily I blocked out my least favorite part of my day… the morning routine of getting the kids to school.

First, a little backstory:
When Andy and I were engaged, we went to a going away party for a family from our church. At the barbeque, they presented us with a wedding gift. It was a “Love Pig.” Basically, you put a dollar in the piggy bank every time you knock boots. And while 20-year-old me was super embarrassed to open that gift and read the story of the love pig in front of an entire group of people from our church, including our pastor, that silly pig paid for our trip to Hawaii after only 8 years! So … well done us!

Fast forward 5 years since Hawaii and now 3 kids, I’ve decided I have a new way to fund a future vacation! I’m not saying that the pig isn’t being fed on a regular basis, I just think my new way will expedite the funds…

Every time I have to tell a kid “worry.about.yourself.” in the mornings, I will put a dollar in a jar.

Our kids are at the ages where they are always at each other for something. So much tattling. So much whining. So much bossing. “Worry about yourself” is on regular rotation.

On the VERY first day of school, I said it no sooner than 15 minutes after all three of them were awake.

If it gets really bad, maybe I’ll make them pay with their own money.

Who knows… I’ll either have a luxury vacation funded within the year or we’ll be broke.

The second edition of my money-management/investment/parenting book should be out soon.

I gave up social media for 40 days. Here’s what happened.

Nothing.

Crazy right? The world kept on spinning.

Now, when I say I “gave it up” that’s not completely true. A big portion of my job is managing social media accounts. So, I kept at it for work only.

Was it hard? Not exactly. I didn’t miss it, but it was difficult to break the habit of mindless scrolling. I also had to be acutely aware of using my work accounts to mindlessly scroll instead of my personal accounts.

Not surprising at all, I had a lot more free time on my hands. And I was so much more productive! Instead of sitting on the couch on a Saturday morning playing on my phone while the kids watched cartoons I folded laundry instead. I was more present with my family in the evenings.

One thing I didn’t anticipate was missing news, announcements, and events. For example, I follow our local organization that our kids play sports through. Without having a Facebook post to tell me baseball sign-ups were happening, I almost missed signing Reese up for T-Ball.

I did miss seeing the photos that friends and family share. My sister would say to me “Did you see that picture I posted of the girls!?” and I’d have no idea what she was referring to.

Since my social media fast, I have kept Twitter off my phone, I deleted snapchat, I cleaned up my Instagram follows, and muted a whole lot of folks on Facebook. And other than checking Facebook for work, I have found myself going back there less and less.

I’m approaching it all with the “does it bring me joy” mentality from that book about tidying up, or whatever. Am I experiencing more anguish/annoyance/eye rolls than joy from this person I’m following? Unfollow.

Talk about refreshing!

I don’t think I will ever “quit” the internet completely. After all, I have social media and blogging to thanks for three of my favorite people on the planet. But, overall, I am so so happy I did it.

The universe is oh-so-funny.

So, last week I was lamenting about how busy we are. And that I’m sure my past self has felt the same way before.

Well, apparently right about this same time 6 years ago I was feeling the same way.

What’s hilarious to me is that was back when we had 1/3 of the children we do now. And Rylee wasn’t even in school or playing sports. Funny enough, I even say “I hate to think about what’s it’s going to be like when Rylee is in school or playing sports or she has a sibling.”

I really can’t help but laugh at myself.

I guess I take comfort in knowing that I’ve always felt like a hot mess? Actually what I really take comfort in, is the fact that looking back 6 years, I don’t remember feeling that way at all.

So, note to future self: You’re doing great! Keep on keeping on.

Busy.

You know what I hate? That when friends I haven’t seen for a while ask me how we’ve been the only answer I can ever come up with is, “busy.”

Or when someone asks me how my day was and I can’t think anything to say besides, “busy.”

At what point will I just accept that “busy” is just our new normal? Or maybe, I’m just not willing to accept it as our new normal. And also, what would I say then to those questions?

How was your day? … “normal.

How have you guys been? … “normal.

What kind of answer is that, even?

But, it’s true. Three kids is a lot of laundry, a lot of morning chaos, a lot of food to cook, a lot of dishes. Two of them are now in school so there are more lunches to make, more schedules to coordinate, more reading to be done. Two of them are playing sports so there are more practices to go to, more games to cheer on, more water bottles to fill, more team snacks to buy. Outside of the kids, there are careers that we love and aren’t going anywhere. The property that’s not going anywhere. Etc., etc. etc..

It’s just busy. But it’s our normal.

If I’m being completely honest? The constant dashboard of family stuff, work stuff, house stuff, that I have running in my head leaves me right on the verge of being completely overwhelmed. There’s always one.more.thing. that should/could/needs to be done before I can sit down and relax in the evening. That magical time of sitting down and relaxing seems to be getting later and later in the evening as time goes on.

It’s just busy. But it’s our normal.

So, I’m asking myself, why am I even here? In this space, I mean. Typing these words when there are so many other things that should be done right now. Why am I even contemplating the idea of adding yet another one.more.thing. to that dashboard in my head?

I’ve gone almost an entire year within nothing new here. So why now? It’s been so long, I even typed in the URL of my own blog wrong when I decided to log in and click “new post.”

The novelty and shiny-ness of the internet has long worn off. There’s just so much noise anymore. I actually kind of hate it lately. Social media in general, I mean. I took the twitter app off my phone. I’ve been clicking “unfollow” more and more. I’ve even said out loud on more than one occasion that if I didn’t have to have it for work I wouldn’t. And that realization actually kind of makes me sad. I miss the “good old days” of social media, ya know?

And maybe that’s just me in general lately. I suppose that’s why I’m here right now. Reminiscent of the “good old days” of being less busy. At least, that’s what I’m telling myself now. I’m sure that whenever those generic “good old days” were, I also felt busy all the time. Maybe I just handled it all better?

I don’t even know. I’m just rambling on at this point.

It’s just busy. But it’s our normal.

That Circus Life

Life is a circus, guys.

Yes, of course I love my kiddos. And of course I wouldn’t trade them for the world. And of course I can’t imagine my life without them. Full hands, full heart. Yada, yada, yada.

I know they mean well, but when people say “cherish every moment” I can’t help but be all…

And sometimes I’m even like…

Mostly because…

One is always crying.

One is always whining.

One is always tattling.

The laundry. Oh the laundry.

6 AM weekend wake-ups.

We basically bought a car with third row seating just so they can’t touch each other.

If I hear “mom watch” one… more… time…

Seriously… if I had a dollar for every time I heard “Mom, watch!”

It’s impossible to make a dinner everyone is happy about.

Unless it’s pizza night.

Coffee. Coffee. Coffee.

So, just remember, next time you tell me to “cherish every moment,” I may look like this on the outside…

But inside I’m probably doing this…