Happy Friday everyone, we made it to the weekend!
Unlike most weeks, this one seemed to drag it’s feet. After feeling under the weather the past few days, coupled with late nights getting projects out the door, I am more than ready to relax with a movie and a glass of wine or 4 tonight.
Speaking of movies, last weekend Ben and I rented Boyhood – it was so wonderful! In case you haven’t heard of it the movie follows 4 main characters over 13 years, and was shot in just as many years, so you see the actors aging in real life throughout the movie. It’s unlike anything we’ve ever seen and I can’t recommend it enough. I want to get my hands on Gone Girl next. I devoured the book a million years ago but haven’t gone to a movie in, well, 17 months, so I didn’t get to see it in theaters. It’s now available on Apple TV for $6 but I don’t really want to pay that much for it. That said, Neighbors, which we watched a few weekends ago, ended up costing us $8 and, ok, Boyhood cost us $6, simply because we can’t get our act together and return Redbox movies in a timely fashion. I think I just solved my dilemma!
Anyway, given the aforementioned under the weatherness and bookoo busyness, I wasn’t going to post anything today, but was recently tagged by my girl Courtney to answer a little survey called At My House. The questions were really fun so I thought I’d post that instead of nothing. As I mentioned, 2015 is the year of dabbling so, why not? :)
Without further ado (and gosh that was a lot of ado!) here we go – and be sure to come back for a fun, fitness-inspired giveaway tomorrow. Have a great weekend, everyone!
Household chore I actually enjoy
Is this a trick question? Baha! Hmm, I’d have to say the the household chore I quote-unquote enjoy is vacuuming. I don’t necessarily enjoy the act of it, but there’s something about those carpet lines that makes me feel like the entire house is clean, dusted and organized. It’s, um, not, but everything feels more put together when I see those lines.
Biggest house disaster
The basement. No question! Every time I go down there I say to myself, just one box a day – that’s all you’ve got to do! That is, of course, referring to the boxes (plural) of stuff that are still sitting there, unpacked, from when we moved in a year and a half ago. I told Ben we should just donate it all because if we haven’t needed it in a year and a half, chances are we never will! TBC…
Before company arrives, I hide
ALL THE TOYS. I never in a million years thought I’d be the person who has toys strewn all over her house. Ha. Hahaha. HAHAHAHAHA! I don’t really have a choice! That is to say, I tidy up but certainly do not “hide” the toys that are everywhere before company comes. I know in 18 years I’ll probably cry because they’re not around anymore. (That legit almost made me tear up thinking about it!)
Oh and all the piles of stuff that are usually on our kitchen table. Still do not have an organizing system down that works for me in the absence of a built-in desk in the kitchen. Any tips are 100% welcome!
Most recent music download
I’m more of a Pandora or iTunes Radio girl (Lincoln is LOVING the Taylor Swift channel right now!) but I’ve actually been really into business-related podcasts lately. My brother turned me onto Tim Ferriss (author of The 4 Hour Workweek) and I’m soaking the information in his podcasts up like a sponge. That dude is SO smart. Like, prodigy smart. Like, HUH??? smart. Obviously smarter than me. ;)
The last thing I bought online
Bulletproof coffee. Yep, fell hook line and sinker for the stuff after hearing my brother talk about how it’s changed his life for the better. Apparently BP coffee has no mold in it, which reportedly 90%+ of the coffee on the market contains, and is carefully sourced. Mix the brewed coffee with a Tablespoon each of Kerrygold grassfed unsalted butter and unrefined coconut oil and it’s supposed to give you mental clarity like woah. I know, totally woo woo, but I’m giving it a try. The brain fog I experience because of my Celiac Disease is honestly awful so I’m willing to try (almost) anything once!
I hate to shop for
Jeans. Fellow shorties holler if you hear me! It’s really hard to find jeans for short legs (I’m 5’2) so when I find a great pair that fits I usually buy two pairs. Last year I found out that Banana Republic does free alterations, and their jeans always have a little stretch which is welcomed on account of my mom-bod, so I’ve been sticking with them.
Favorite family ritual
This is going to sound crazy, but it’s turning on E! News at 6pm and watching Lincoln go nuts when the theme song comes on. It’s so hilarious! I don’t know what it is about the song but it causes him to bounce his knees, throw his arms in the air, and shake his head back and forth – it’s honestly the funniest thing I’ve seen in my entire life because it’s so unexplainable. We watch the clock like a hawk then switch the channel over from the news at 5:59pm every night to watch the show – Lincoln’s, that is!
I sleep in
Ben has the most ridiculous collection of t-shirts you could ever imagine. Dozens and dozens of them! That said, it’s nice because a lot of them are really old and super soft. Every night I pick one out then pair it with some flannel pants. Cute? No. Comfy? Yes! Sometime when I’m having a tough day Ben will pick out the softest one he can find and lay it out on the bed for me. It’s basically the best thing ever.
I have a style crush on
Hmmm, this is a tough one because it’s literally anyone other than myself – I have no style! Instead of one person I’ll just say J. Crew as a whole. Classic, comfortable, quality (now if we could just add affordable to that list!) ;)
I’m currently reading
Wild. I followed my plan to eliminate social media icons from my iPhone’s homescreen and it’s working like a DREAM. For better or worse I haven’t checked social media (on my phone) for almost a week and I’m already four chapters into Wild. That’s not a ton, I guess, but it’s more than I would have read otherwise.
What’s up with the ___ trend?
Are we done using “bae” to describe our significant others yet? It’s not even a word!
How did I ever live without
I think the obvious answer is my iPhone but for now I’ll say gluten-free Barilla pasta. How ridiculous is that?! Honestly, a big part of battling Celiac-Disease is mental so to be able to sit down and eat a big frickin’ plate of pasta if I want to, that tastes no different than the real thing, makes me feel completely normal for a bit. “Normal” in quotations, of course. ;)
So there you have it! Woo, that was fun – hope you enjoyed a little Friday free reading. ;) In lieu of tagging anyone, I’ll open the floor to you guys! Pick a question or two and give us your answer – can’t wait to read.
Have a great weekend!
I’m a bit behind on reading my blogs in my email but I still wanted to comment. I LOVED this one. Something different. I vote for a video of the Eonline dance!
Renea
Des Moines, IA
Brain fog. Is it possible you have some thyroid issues? I’m a just diagnosed hypothyroid and the brain fog was the symptom that finally drove me to insist on full testing. And not just the basic TSH which is widely regarded to be worthless unless you have Kishimoto or some major thyroid disease. I had to insist on full testing
[…] another ode to old school blogging I found this little blog meme a long time ago at Iowa Girl Eats (one of my favorite food bloggers- gluten-free AND from Iowa so you know she is awesome). I meant […]
I’m a little behind on your posts since I was on vacation last week, but just had to throw out another jeans tip from a fellow shorty. I used to always have to hem my jeans until I discovered LOFT jeans. I order the petite sizes and they are the perfect length (I’m 5’2″ as well) with no hemming required–YAY!. Bonus is that they come in regular and curvy sizes, so if you are a little bigger on the bottom, they still fit nicely. AND they always have stretch in them, so they are forgiving for moms who need a little extra give. They are more affordable than most jeans and LOFT is constantly running sales, so watch for the extra 40% off and try a pair!
For what it’s worth, I have some info on the bulletproof coffee. I’m a big Joe Rogan podcast fan. He had the CEO of bulletproof coffee, Dave Asprey on his podcast a while back. A lot of the three hour podcast was devoted to the talk of mycotoxins and how his coffee does not have any. Well a while later on a different podcast, after doing some research with a company that Joe Rogan is a partner of (Onnit), they found out that most of what Dave Asprey said was BS. Anyway, I left the link below so you could see for yourself and make your own decision.
I can’t wait to see Wild on the big screen! LURVED it!
I’d be TOTALLY happy to loan you my copy of Gone Girl! Got it last week, watched it Saturday (third time I’ve seen it now). I could drop it in the mail, you could watch it a few and send it back! :)
Oh man, the “I sleep in” one killed me. Keep that man forever! = )
Everyone else is weighing in so I wanted to chime in too :) Toys are a struggle, particularly in a house that doesn’t have a designated room for them. We keep most toys in my daughters room but since my girls don’t play upstairs 24/7 we also keep toys on the main floor and in our finished basement/TV room. I have an IKEA Expidit 4 cube shelf with kids books, diapers and changing items and toys in 2 IKEA wicker baskets. (I use it as a changing table and it works great!) I also keep a play yard in the guest room with little people and two little people houses for my 18 month old. This play yard folds up and the little people go in a small plastic container that I can quickly hide away if necessary. I have a drawer in my coffee table that houses my daughters collections of crayons and art supplies, puzzles and coloring books. And in the basement I have a large plastic tub that all my daughters toys can go in and it has a cover so if it gets too full and the cover doesn’t fit I know that it’s time to clean it out and put some toys upstairs in the bedroom. I also have a small table in the basement where the girls can color and keep extra coloring books, crayons and such in a basket where I can easily throw things in if company comes.
I have no idea how to organize things in the kitchen area. We currently have a large peninsula that gets covered with papers, mail and other junk and I go through it and sort everything to be taken down to the office (which is in the basement), throw away the junk and try to stack a pile of anything I think my husband needs to see, but honestly right now it’s covered with crap. I hate it because you can see the peninsula from my front window so if anyone looks in they can totally see it. For the most part my house is pretty clean but that area is always a mess. I want to buy a charging station that I saw at Pottery Barn and a mail sorting station that I saw at IKEA but haven’t gotten around to it yet. Maybe sometime in the next month or two… good luck!
I don’t have a built in desk either but use my kitchen table but it’s always clean. I am feeling generous today so here’s what I suggest, lol:
-Get a clipboard. On my clipboard I keep a few items-daily routine (I have it typed up and I keep copies in a binder. Front side is my daily routine and on the back it my to do list.) I write anything that is “pending” on the front so I don’t forget. This might be something I ordered or just waiting for someone to return a call.In addition to my daily routine, I keep a copy of my grocery list, errand list, cleaning list and papers that I need to call on “that day”. I use a clear clipboard and have a calendar on the back of the clipboard so if I am on a phone call, I can flip the clipboard over and see the calendar through it.
-Process all mail to completion-bills, to do, to file and to shred are my categories.
-If you need to, get a basket to put the mail in until you have time to process it. Once you sit down to process it, process it completely.
-All filing is done before the end of the day. I have to do this because I never ever want to file so I just do a little every day otherwise I’d have to do a lot in one day!
-Get a few binders-I have a “to do binder” that stores all of my lists (and I have a lot!). Examples are 2015 goals, mission statement,décor tasks, home maintenance tasks, organization projects, office tasks, medical, wants, needs, books, clothing, diet, exercise, tornado list, prayer list, etc. I know a lot of people keeps digital lists but I sometimes need to see this stuff on paper so I keep a lot of Excel files and print them off. I have a budget binder, a medical binder, a cleaning binder, décor binder, important papers binder etc.
-Have a place to put everything-for invitations-I’ll enter the date in my calendar, enter a date to buy a gift, etc. and map everything out and do the rsvp THEN file it the same day.
-I converted a small closet near the kitchen that stores all of my files and shredder. I don’t use regular files any more but have a binder for just about everything. That way, nothing is sitting out unless I am working on it.
-I have an errand bag and binder. I put anything that I need to do on errand day in the bag. The binder stores coupons and holds any papers that I need to drop off. On errand day, I grab the bag and I am ready to go. I never take the bag out of the car on errand day-I just grab the items I need for that store out of the bag when I do the errand.
-I use the insides of my kitchen cabinets for things too so that nothing is out on the counter-I have my son’s medication list, a calendar, a tornado action plan and an emergency list. I put everything in plastic sheets and tape them neatly on the inside.
-For cleaning, use the Fly Lady system. It works.
-Start small, organize all of your office supplies first so you can get to work.
-Go on Pinterest and search for “command centers” for some ideas.
Hope this helps. I love to organize! P.S. Your gluten free carrot cake breakfast cookies you posted a while back were delicious!
This is such a good idea! I love getting invited into people’s daily lives!
I am a fellow shorty & I buy most of my pants & denim from LOFT. They have a lot of different styles & they have regular promos so they’re very affordable! On a side note, do you have a coffee maker recommendation? I am currently using a Keurig but I don’t love it & I feel guilty with all the waste generated from the k-cups.
I started using this coffee dripper recently and I really like it!
You could watch Gone Girl on Amazon Prime streaming for $4!
A couple of suggestions for Lincoln…remember his “baby” toys will be no longer around when he hits about 3. Then it is easier to hide everything. I use clear totes for my son’s toys. He is currently 7.5 and is already clearing out any and all toys except for his matchbox cars.
Another thing I do for him, (remember I work full time out of the house)for faster out of the house in the morning, I make 5 piles of clothes for Monday through Friday. So all I have to do is grab a stack from the top of his dresser. I have done this his entire life, it saves me so much time every morning.
Another request for a follow-up post on your thoughts about the coffee!! :)
Thanks for the tip on Banana Republic! I can’t stand it when my pants are too long (I’m just under 5’2 as well). I can completely relate to finding good gluten free products. The toughest part is feeling like a black sheep when going out.
I recommend to you Lolita jeans (skinny and boot) at Lucky Brand. No hemming required if you get the 30″ length. I started with 1 pair and now have 4. If you sign up for emails you get coupons periodically to use in-store or online.
I deleted my Twitter account a couple of months ago, and today I deactivated my Facebook account. I’m still on LinkedIn, but am not very active. Apparently, you can’t deactivate your LinkedIn account, only delete it entirely and I’m not quite ready to do that. Social media = major time waster. More than that, all the negative people were really getting to me. I need a break.