Medium: A Magnadoodle

It is very likely that any one whom has spent much time with us in our house, has seen Hannah's Magnadoodle. It's her favorite toy, which is awesome, because I got it for $2.99 at thrift store about a year ago. Hannah spends many chunks of time drawing on it.



Her favorite things to draw are happy faces. It's been fun to watch them evolve from the simplistic three dots above a curved line. Now they have character and form. Curly hair or straight hair. Sometimes they have beards or earrings.




The above is a self portrait. Not too bad, huh?

Tragically, they all end up getting erased. What better place to remember them, than mommy's blog?

Junk Drawer - The After

Voila! A little late, but done, nonetheless. I'm going to admit that this was slightly disappointing. Because, while it is much better and I threw out about a pound of trash, it's still a junk drawer - with junky thingies and what's its. Oh, that big book in front is the adress book. I think I may look into purchasing a smaller one. Although I do like that I can hide coupons in it.

Now I need to clean my kitchen because, we've been invaded by ants. They like grapes. Did you know that Windex is the best ant-killer ever. They die instantly. And it's not so toxic!

Getting organized.

My dear husband and I had a little chit chat the other night about organization and priorities and what not. It was a really great discussion because we both have been feeling overwhelmed with household stuff. It truly never ends. I felt like I've come such a long way from my former messy nature, but alas, I could be doing better. I almost always get the kitchen and front room squared away everyday by the time Jason gets home from work. I always make dinner. Laundry is washed, folded, and even (most of the time) put away. But I confess, I am quite negligent when it comes to organizing troublesome areas like the dreaded junk drawer. We're quite lucky if we can open and shut it without interference from a plenitude of glue sticks, coupons, receipts, pens that no longer work, and other junk drawer regulars. Beware of the top of my fridge as well. I'm on the shorter side, so out of sight, out of mind.

But my husband finds the things that I have the ability to "let go" of a dismay to him and a source of stress, which in turn, stresses me out. Who wants that? So we made a list of things we both are going to work on. We plan to establish some more routines as a family to make days smooth for all of us. We realized that our weekends get so crowded with chores and errands we have very little leisure time for each other and the kids. So our new plan is for Jason to do some of his usual weekend chores like yard work and car washing right after work. And I'm going to take care of some organizing projects by doing just one a day in addition to my usual tasks. I'm also going to try to get all our shopping done during the week days, something I normally try to do, but something always comes up so we end up going in different directions on Saturdays.

A little planning goes a long way, so I'm hoping this makes our family time happier and more relaxing for us. It was really encouraging to have one of these talks with Jason, and that it was so constructive, because I think even just a year ago, it would have been a difficult discussion, and we probably would have been defensive. It's a good feeling to know we've made progress as a couple and as individuals.

So here it is, folks, a terrible disaster of a junk drawer. Here is the before. And by the end of today, hopefully I'll be posting the after. Just for fun, notice Hannah's artwork to the right. A masterpiece, of course. Yikes, I'm already stalling.

Wish me luck.

Home Life

The house was clean and they were both sleeping, which for moms, is about as satisfying as it gets. I didn't know what do with myself. So I took off my month-old toe nail polish.

All little girls dressed like princesses need a break for some cold milk every once in a while.. James is getting huge. People are always amazed when they find out how young he is. Sadly, I'm cleaning out his drawers to rid them of all his newborn and 3 mos. clothes. He's such a content baby, and a true pleasure. Hannah is a devoted big sister. Any jealousy over the new baby has been trumped by her genuine love for him.