5 Words or Less

Have you ever had someone ask you to describe yourself in one word? I have. I can never seem to find the right word. I am an individual, I am unique. Just like you, but if we all said unique then that wouldn't really make us unique, now would it?

So I thought, how about five words or less, can I do that? Can I really describe my whole personality being in five words or less? Let's see. Mom, wife, outgoing... Do you feel like you know me yet? No? Are two more words really going to make you feel like you do? I doubt it, but we'll try it anyway. Caring and unique.
Well, what's your verdict? Do you know me now? From those five words, can you determine if we would get along? Could we be friends? Do you think we have a lot in common? Can you relate to me? Sure, maybe you're a wife and mom. Maybe you're an outgoing-caring individual, but do we care about the same things?

Anyway, since five words, ten words, or even twenty words isn't going to describe your personality or my personality or really anyone's personality; I thought "well how many words does it take?" The answer is simple... As many as you damn well please. We are individuals, we aren't just another word in the dictionary. (Insert corny joke about my name.) We can't be summed up in five words or less. So the next time someone asks you to describe yourself in one word tell them to grab some popcorn and sit down because you can't be defined by a single word.

With that being said, I would love to know how you describe yourself? What defines you? What, in your opinion, is important that other's need to know to really know you? I've been giving it a lot of thought, so keep an eye out for a follow up post on how I would describe myself.

Love, Laughter, and Messy Houses.

After a long day of cleaning (dusting and all) you can finally see my headboard!

So the other night, I was laying in bed struggling to fall asleep. All I could think about was how much stuff I needed to get done. If you are a stay at home mom to multiple children, you know what I'm talking about. The never ending abundance of laundry, the endless amount of dirty dishes, the trash that is over flowing because for some reason you're the only one that seems to notice it. Not to mention all the other cleaning that just doesn't seem necessary after doing laundry and dishes for hours on end. I mean honestly, who wants to vacuum every room, and dust every ceiling fan after they just spent an entire day folding clothes, then refolding clothes because their toddler insisted on "helping?" Not me! I always say "oh I'll scrub the toilets on Tuesday" or "is it completely necessary to get the oven sparkling clean today, I mean who looks in the oven anyway?"
I know I say this every single year but I really do need to make a cleaning chart. Right now my cleaning schedule is pretty simple. On Sunday I spend almost the entire day cleaning. I literally try to get all my cleaning done in one day. It's impossible. It's exhausting. It's stupid. You may be thinking "well what the heck does she do the rest of the week, and why Sunday, isn't that supposed to be a day of rest?" Let me explain. Sunday, is the only day my husband has off work, so he is here to help keep the kids entertained while I do work on the house. And usually he is sweet enough to spend his one day off helping me conquer my least favorite part of cleaning... dishes. Oh how I hate doing dishes! The rest of the week is spent potty training. Yes, it has officially taken over my life. Potty training is no joke.
Don't get me wrong, I do other stuff too. Not a day goes by that I'm not walking around picking up dirty clothes and tossing them in baskets. I'm also apparently the only one that can see hampers around here too. Of course, I take out the garbage when need be. Which, let's face it, is a lot. In order to keep down on polluting our precious planet, I do my best to recycle. That's no walk in the park either, just cans alone can be extremely time consuming. Way more than I ever imagined. But it's worth it. I started recycling cans about 6 months ago and since then I have made a whopping $24. I have another load ready to go to the recycler now, which will be another $12 at least. I know it's not much but the most important thing is that I'm making a difference. Every single can recycled makes a difference, and I don't know about you but I want to leave a better planet behind for my children and grand children. Also, when you think about it. I'm making about $6 a month so at the end of the year I will have made a little more than $70 on something that I was originally going to throw away anyway. That's $70 I can put towards Christmas gifts for my children, or reward myself with a mini shopping spree.
Now bare with me here, but if you really want to think about the BIG picture. Say I take that $70 and put it in saving. Every year I put all my can money in savings and don't touch it. After 18 years that's almost $1300 and that doesn't even include the amount of interest it would collect after all that time. But forget the interest, that is  $1300 that I can put towards my children's college fund. Now, I know that $1300 isn't a whole lot of money but it would make a difference. It could pay for books or supplies needed for their dorm. I have 2 kids so that means they would only get about $650 each. BUT, bare with me again. Imagine the possibilities. Think bigger!! Dream bigger!! I get $12 every time I take cans, which is every 2 months. So say I double it. I get $12 from the cans so I put that in savings plus $12 of my own money. So instead of having $70 at the end of the year I now have $140 to either keep saving or spend on something special. If you decide to save it for college in 18 years you'll have a little over $2500 and that doesn't include the interest you'd get from the bank. See what I mean? The possibilities are endless. Imagine if at the end of the year you took that $140 that was in your savings and you doubled, say with your tax money or something. Every year you could put another $140 from your personal account into the savings so it would go from $2500 in 18 years to $5000. I think you get the point. Every little bit of savings makes a difference.
Anyway, I went on this can rant to point out that although to others it may not seem like I do much all day. But when you look at the big picture I'm making a world of difference for my children's future. They won't remember the messy house or my messy hair. They are going to remember the love and laughter in our home, and I hope that is what your children remember in yours.

Just Like Mommy

So I was just on Facebook and saw this totally adorable picture. Instantly I thought "aw I can't wait until my daughter is a little older and I can paint her nails and take pictures like this." Well, I was about to comment on the photo and say how cute I thought it was when I noticed all the negative comments: "Just awful", "Wrong. Let kids be kids", "Don't like nail polish on babies!", "Horrible! Who puts nail polish on a baby?" "Too grown, should have used pastels".

Okay I'll be honest, I thought the color was a little too dark. I love painting my daughter's toe nails but I usually use a hot pink because it matches most of her clothes and a pastel pink never shows up with just one coat. She kicks her feet too much to try to do two coats. But the more I looked at the picture, the more I liked the color. My nails are actually painted that exact color purple as we speak! Well... I guess more appropriately, as I type. I love purple on little girls, it's a refreshing change of scenery from all the pink.

Anyway, my point is. I don't see why everyone was making such a big deal about it. It is just nail polish, it can be removed or it will come off on it's own. It is not going to hurt her. I don't understand how painting your daughter's nails prevents her from being a kid. My son is 2 and he always wants me to paint his nails when he watches me paint mine. Of course I don't paint his because I'm sure his dad would have a fit but still, that little girl could have asked her mommy to paint her nails too. Maybe the mom wasn't extremely fond of that dark color on her daughter but maybe her daughter insisted on being just like mommy.

Alright, rant over. I hope all of you have a wonderful Wednesday!

Sincerely,
Crystal

That Fine Line...

Between parent and friend.

Playing in the snow with his mommy aka best friend!

This is my goal. To find the perfect mix of being my children's best friend and thier parent. I'm talking more when they are teenagers but I'm pretty sure you need to find that line while they are young. I remember my parents always telling me I could talk to them about anything. Sex, alcohol, drugs, just anything I had questions about, I could come to them. BUT I remember one time I went sledding with a couple boys down the street. I told my mom I was leaving my cell phone at home because I didn't want it getting ruined in the snow but she knew where I was at if she needed me. Well, while I was gone one of my friends text me saying "Hey what are you doing tonight?" her signature was "IWantYouInMyBed" she was making fun of a song but I guess my stepdad didn't know what a signature was so he thought the whole text was "Hey what are you doing tonight? I want you in my bed" YIKES! I'll be the first to admit that sounds very bad and it didn't help that she was in my phone as Milkshake, it was an inside joke, I was in her phone as BananaCakes. My stepdad thought Milkshake stood for something sexual.
I remember that day like it was yesterday. When I came home I could tell something was wrong. I went to my room to change out of my snow suit and immediately noticed my cellphone was missing off of my dresser. Honestly, I didn't think anything of it, I had nothing to hide.... or so I thought. When I went back to the living room my stepdad was as red as a Coke can. I could tell he was about to lose it, and he did. Accused me of having sex and wanted to know who this boy was, he was ready to kill "him". Instead of calmly asking me to explain it he just lost it, threw my phone against the wall, said I was grounded and never getting it back. My mom didn't say much because A- it did look very bad and B- my stepdad was the one paying for the phone. Instead of crying and begging to have my phone back I got so mad that I honestly didn't care about my phone, I knew I had done nothing wrong and I didn't understand why he went through my cell phone in the 1st place, he had no reason not to trust me. Anyway, my point is, I don't ever want to be THAT parent. If a situation like that ever arrises I want to remain calm and simply ask my child to explain the situation from their point of view and then go from there.
I'll just go ahead and tell you how that story ended. My stepdad, as much as I love him, ended up looking like the biggest dumbass ever. He gave me my phone back and apologized. After he lost his cool, and gave me a chance to speak I simply told him to call my friend and that SHE would explain the "IWantYouInMyBed" part. I also explained to him that Milkshake was just a nickname from an inside joke (that I can't even remember now). If I remember correctly I actually did end up getting to go stay the night at her house, either that night or the next.


My sweet baby girl. I'm going to be her best friend too.

So as I was saying I want to find that fine line between parent and friend because when I tell my kids that they can talk to me about anything I'm going to mean it and I want them to know I mean it. But how are they supposed to believe me if I ever make the mistake of losing my cool in a situation like my stepdad did. It was moments like that, that made me think "Oh my gosh! If he'll get so worked up over a text message before I ever got to explain myself, how am I ever supposed to talk to him about sex or anything else."
So it is my goal to never lose my cool in a situation like that, to be understanding, and to give my children a fair chance to explain the situation before I deem them as guilty. No matter what the situation may be, I am going to try to live by "innocent until proven guilty".
When my children do end up messing up I also want to try to remain calm and remember that I was a teenager once. I want them to know that they can call me at any time, day or night, no matter where they are at and know that their mom will be there for them.
For example: Say my child goes to a friends house and ends up drinking. I want to be their friend enough that they feel comfortable enough to call me to come pick them up instead of risk driving home drunk. If that ever happens I hope I am able to keep my cool and realize that they were at least smart enough and trusted me enough to call me. Because if they end up driving home drunk, you best believe my reaction will not be cool, calm, and collected. But I hope I am parent enough to them that they understant even though, they were smart enough to call me, that there is still going to be some form of punishment. Even if it is just working extra hard and doing extra chores to pay for my gas to go pick them up and then gas to take them back to thier car the next day.
I would love comments on this topic.
Thank you!

-Lights, Camera, KIDS!

Fitted Sheet, Picture Edition

Hello! Sorry it took me awhile to get the picture version of Fitted Sheets up. Elizabeth recently started teething and we spent a few days battling a 101.4 fever. Good news is: she hasn't had a fever in a couple days. Bad new is: she'll be teething for the next year or so. Fun stuff, teething. Also, my pictures aren't as great as I hoped for. While going to world war III with that fever, my sheets got to sit in the dryer getting all wrinkly. So for your convenience I decided to use a crib sheet. It was a still wrinkly, considering it was in the same load as mine but it was smaller and a lot easier to fold by myself while attempting to take pictures with the help of Curtis, of course. He's my #1 helper! So, let's get to this!


Step 1.
Lay your sheet out, or hold it up, with the top two corners right side out.

Step 2.
Put your index finger perfectly in the corner of the other end of the sheet, inside out.



Step 3
With your index finger still in the inside out corner, place it inside the corner that was already turned right side out.

Step 4
Do that to both corners, and it should look like this.
(Don't forget, I used a crib sheet, so it will be much larger.)

Step 5
Fold. You can fold it anyway you'd like. You may want to try it a couple different ways until you get the size you're going for. Full size sheets are much more difficult than crib sheets. (Obviously!)

Voila!
You're done. Good job. Pat yourself on the back and jump around screaming like a little school girl "I did it! I did it!" then go brag to all of your friends that you finally figured out how to fold a fitted sheet.

This is what my full size sheets ended up looking like.
Almost the same thickness but the fitted one was a tad longer than the flat sheet. I ended up tweaking the fold just a touch until I got it just the way I wanted it. Which was after my son had gone to bed and I actually had room to do so. My camera had died by that point so I didn't get a picture of it.

So I hope I was some help. Now go take a break, after your put those neatly folded sheets away! You deserve it. I know how exhausting laundry can be, especially after about 5 loads. Washing, drying, folding, and putting them away in the right spots, now that's a full time job. Haha

Thank you and have a nice day.
-Crystal
Lights, Camera, KIDS!

Broken Tire - Broke Mommy

So tomorrow is my best friend's sister's wedding shower. I really want to go but the thought of taking a 2 year old to a wedding shower is not just making my stomach do flips, it's putting on entire olympic show. I keep picturing his little fingers poking every cupcake, ripping into the bride-to-be's gifts, spilling drinks, stepping on toes, you know the usual two year old problems. Plus while keeping up with him I'll also have to keep my, now teething, 5 month old calm. There will be other kids there but I just KNOW it will be my child that causes all the problems.
Also, we had to buy 2 new tires yesterday because one of our front tires was shredded. We also had to get new drivers lisences because my husband's was already expired and mine was going to expire on the 15th. So that was about $140 that we had come out of our budget and quite frankly who wants to go to a wedding shower with a cheap gift or even worse no gift at all? YIKES!
Anyway, I'll sleep on it and we'll see how it goes.
Oh and happy 22nd birthday to my best friend (another pro to going tomorrow, I'll get to see her!)



Our tire
 

Fitted Sheet

Good morning! So it's only day 2 of my blog but I'm just going to jump right in and save your life! Haha okay, that might be a slight exaggeration but I am going to show you how to properly fold a fitted sheet. Last year, when I was working, I taught one of my co-workers how to fold her fitted sheet and I swear she thanked me for it at least once a month. It really does make a difference. No more wadded up sheets! My mom taught me this when I got my 1st apartment. My tiny aparment had absolutely no storage space. 1 bedroom, 1 bathroom, a livingroom, 1 closet, and a "kitchen". The kitchen was just a fridge, stove, microwave, and a sink. There was 2 counter tops, the one the sink was in and the one the microwave sat on. Living in this apartment was my husband, myself, and our newborn son. So let's just say every inch counts when you are that tight on space and believe it or not being able to fold my fitted sheet nice and smooth really helped.
First I'lm going to write out verbal instructions, to the best of my ability. I will then have a post that is mostly just step by step picture instructions. Good luck. Feel free to ask for help, I'll try to be as detailed as possible.

1. Wash your sheets!
2. Dry your sheets!
3. Pat yourself on the back! :)
4. Fold your sheet in half
5. Align the corners
6. Now, turn 1 side's corners inside out
7. Put the inside out corners inside the other side's corners
8. Use your index fingers to make sure the corners a good and lined up
9. Once your corners are good and aligned, fold your sheet in half again
10. Then again
11. Keep folding it in half until it's just right!
12. Voila!
13. Now pat yourself on the back again!
14. Jump up and down like a little girl, screaming "I did it!"
15. Take a break, you deserve it!