Tag: family life

Opening the door…

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It’s interesting how things play out sometimes, and how one simple act can start a domino effect to something bigger.

I took the kiddos to the indoor play place today because the weather was crap and we needed something to do. Afterwards they wanted to go to Panera, which I am always happy to oblige because y’all know I love to eat. Ha! We went in, and walking in I saw the cutest kids with their mom by the door, and I told them both I loved their hair, especially the colors in the girl’s hair.

We walked up to the counter, ordered our food – the clerk asked dine-in or take out and I said dine-in. He responded that the restaurant was currently full and that there would probably be a wait to find a table. Not a problem, we don’t have anywhere else to be.

The kids and I stood around for 5-10 minutes, me eagle eyeing for an open seat or two, when I finally spotted a group of teens getting up from a table in the back, so I ushered the kids over and we grabbed our spot to eat. On my way to fill my drink, I notice the same mom and kiddos (adorable baby not pictured) glancing around the still packed to the gills dining room so I mention to her that I have a 6 person table I snagged in the back, and she’s welcome to sit with us, that we weren’t creepy (that I know of, LOL) – she accepted and we all sat down to eat.

It took about 3 minutes for the little boy to turn to Wyatt and in the sweetest voice offered to share his tablet, and within seconds the little girl sitting next to Tatum offered the same with hers. I sat there making some small talk and watching the kids happily play together like life-long friends and thought to myself, wouldn’t it be nice if us adults could make friends so easily?? At which my next thought was, well, why the heck can’t we??? So I looked up at the mom and said, “You know, I’d be happy to share my phone number with you if you’d like to set up some play dates or something” at which she laughed and said she had just been thinking of saying the same thing.

Turns out they moved here mid-last year and haven’t had the chance to make many friends yet with everything going on and her kids were super excited to meet some other kids their ages (much like mine always are!!) that they could hang out with.

So, now we have a play date with new friends scheduled tomorrow, and the moral of the story is, I don’t really know what – but sometimes just a simple thing can open up the door to some great new friendships! So good to meet you and your adorable kids, Ashley! (I won’t tag you though until you decide if you actually like me or not with my no-filter random self. LOL!!)

Opening the door…

admin

It’s interesting how things play out sometimes, and how one simple act can start a domino effect to something bigger.

I took the kiddos to the indoor play place today because the weather was crap and we needed something to do. Afterwards they wanted to go to Panera, which I am always happy to oblige because y’all know I love to eat. Ha! We went in, and walking in I saw the cutest kids with their mom by the door, and I told them both I loved their hair, especially the colors in the girl’s hair.

We walked up to the counter, ordered our food – the clerk asked dine-in or take out and I said dine-in. He responded that the restaurant was currently full and that there would probably be a wait to find a table. Not a problem, we don’t have anywhere else to be.

The kids and I stood around for 5-10 minutes, me eagle eyeing for an open seat or two, when I finally spotted a group of teens getting up from a table in the back, so I ushered the kids over and we grabbed our spot to eat. On my way to fill my drink, I notice the same mom and kiddos (adorable baby not pictured) glancing around the still packed to the gills dining room so I mention to her that I have a 6 person table I snagged in the back, and she’s welcome to sit with us, that we weren’t creepy (that I know of, LOL) – she accepted and we all sat down to eat.

It took about 3 minutes for the little boy to turn to Wyatt and in the sweetest voice offered to share his tablet, and within seconds the little girl sitting next to Tatum offered the same with hers. I sat there making some small talk and watching the kids happily play together like life-long friends and thought to myself, wouldn’t it be nice if us adults could make friends so easily?? At which my next thought was, well, why the heck can’t we??? So I looked up at the mom and said, “You know, I’d be happy to share my phone number with you if you’d like to set up some play dates or something” at which she laughed and said she had just been thinking of saying the same thing.

Turns out they moved here mid-last year and haven’t had the chance to make many friends yet with everything going on and her kids were super excited to meet some other kids their ages (much like mine always are!!) that they could hang out with.

So, now we have a play date with new friends scheduled tomorrow, and the moral of the story is, I don’t really know what – but sometimes just a simple thing can open up the door to some great new friendships! So good to meet you and your adorable kids, Ashley! (I won’t tag you though until you decide if you actually like me or not with my no-filter random self. LOL!!)

Nailed it….

admin

Not.

I’m truly terrible at updating this blog. Seriously – so much gets in my way. Work, Kid Activities, Living in general. I’m so easily distracted LOOK THERE’S A SQUIRREL!

For real though, I need to try to come here more, rely on this for my updates – Facebook and Instagram are starting to really piss me off with their algorithms that make it impossible for anyone interested (including my own family!) to see my posts so why not rely on a personal platform that is easily accessible (and not censored in any way) to everyone? Not that I post much that needs censored. LOL

The holidays are on their way, and I’ve started a new group (yes, it’s Facebook unfortunately) with lots of fun deals and steals for you to browse, so if that’s your thing come on and check it out and invite some friends!

MYBTX Daily Deals

I’ve been enjoying posting some stuff during the last few days and I hope you’re enjoying the discounts as well! Hopefully I’ll be better at keeping up with it than I am at this blog. LOL

I’ve been on the fence lately about keeping my “side-hustle”, The Carousel Cowgirl, open and running. I’ve been creating crafty things to sell on there since BC (before children) and nowadays building the effort to keep it up and going is a tremendous undertaking. I work part time, I have kid activities, I cook and generally take care of the house, I started coaching my daughter’s softball team, and somewhere in there I still need to find time for myself occasionally. I’m not complaining, life is full and it’s interesting, but something has to suffer, and it’s generally my craftiness that gets put on the backburner. Still mulling that one over.

Thanksgiving was great, we hosted and it’s always a wonderful time getting together with family. Today we tried like hell to avoid the shopping (Black Friday, anyone?), and instead took the kids for their annual photos with Santa. It’s always funny to stand in line because of all the different reactions the kids (especially the babies!) have to Santa. I still think my very favorite of all the Santa pics was my daughter at two months old in her precious Christmas dress sleeping snuggled in Santa’s arms. What a precious memory for all of us.

What are your favorite holiday traditions? Do you travel, or stay home? Celebrate with family or friends? I’d love to hear all about YOUR holiday stories!

Back on the Bullet Journal Wagon….. Again ;-)

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If you know anything about me at this point after reading this blog, it’s that I LOVE planning! It doesn’t matter that I’m not really that busy of a person, or that it doesn’t really help me be all that more production, but I love to put my weekly tasks and appointments down on paper and decorate it with stickers and washi until it looks like Lisa Frank threw up on the page. Yup, I have a problem.

I love to flit from planner to planner and try ALL THE THINGS, but when it all comes down to it I always end up coming back to where it all started, a bullet journal. Some people like the minimalistic bullet journal, but I love the flexibility it gives me to just let my creativity loose on the page and see what I come up with. I’m not particularly amazing when it comes to artistic skills, but I can draw enough to make myself happy generally. I sure as hell can put some stickers and washi tape down, but the whole point to the process is really no more than getting my tasks and appointments down on paper and keeping them all organized in one place along with whatever thoughts, journaling, and doodles I come up with along the way.

So back to my trusty bullet journal I go this week, but this time I’m approaching it differently. Before my weekly and daily layouts were very routine and I didn’t change it up much. This time I want to challenge myself a little more and more. So…..

Not too bad for a 40 year old wanna-be arteest!

Between today and tomorrow I played with a couple of new daily layouts – I love using my Hourly Washi from Erin Condren, so of course that’s always in there somewhere (nevermind the fact I have zero on the calendar for tomorrow, that’s just icing on the proverbial cake) – I wanted to leave room for my daily journaling, but still be able to place my hourly schedule and tasks on the same page. When I did that, however, it left a blank page before I wanted to start next week’s weekly spread so I decided to go ahead and draw that Lighthouse I have been wanting to draw for a while.

Way back when I first started bullet journaling it would have bothered the heck out of me to put a monthly cover anywhere other than the first of the month before any weekly or daily spreads had been started. Thankfully I’ve evolved to where I don’t care about that anymore….. much. 😉 I had a spare page, and I used it, and I’m happy with it, and that’s all that matters!

Next I decided to work on a weekly spread that was a little different than my usual go-to. I wanted something crisp and clean looking but still fun and pleasing to look at. I looked around on Pinterest to gather some ideas and ended up going with this one – It has the month top left, with the current week highlighted, then beneath that is a weather tracker that I plan on putting little weather illustrations along with the high temp of the day. I drew myself a little plant underneath that because, well, I wanted to. There’s 8 lines beneath each day of the week to allow for plenty of calendar items, and a section for next week’s highlights, finally followed by a notes section on the left-hand side for me to jot down to-dos or things I need to remember.

I’m not going to lie, that drawing of the lighthouse, followed by the weekly spread took me probably 2.5-3 hours, but it felt good to spend some time doodling and doing things just for me for a while. My husband always thinks it’s weird that I can sit in the same place for hours jacking with a paper book, but for me it’s my time to organize my thoughts for the day and decompress – plus I spend a little time each evening journaling about the day’s memories. My hope is that some day when I’m older or gone, myself or my kids can look back on each of these books and remember/learn a little more about how good life has been to me and my family, and enjoy a little peek into the past. I know I love to look back over the memory keeping I’ve done so far for sure! <3

Road Trippin’

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This is the year I officially hit middle age… the big 4-0. A couple months ago I decided there was no way I was turning 40 just sitting in my living room so I planned a trip to Galveston Island with hubs, the kids, and my parents. Fast forward to today and we’re in the car, road trippin’ for the next 4-5 hours with a 6 year old and a freshly potty trained, almost 4 year old, and I’m wondering WTAF was I thinking?

We’ve gone from this…
To this…

We had a few blissful moments of the youngest sleeping, but of course he knocked off about 10 minutes before we stopped for lunch so that was short-lived. After lunch we endured about 30 mins of arguing, an hour of ridiculousness, a stop at Bucees, 10 more minutes of cranky fussing, and now I have this mean-mug burning a hole in my from behind.

Pray for us, we are not ok…. 🤣🤷‍♀️🤦‍♀️

Road Trippin’

admin

This is the year I officially hit middle age… the big 4-0. A couple months ago I decided there was no way I was turning 40 just sitting in my living room so I planned a trip to Galveston Island with hubs, the kids, and my parents. Fast forward to today and we’re in the car, road trippin’ for the next 4-5 hours with a 6 year old and a freshly potty trained, almost 4 year old, and I’m wondering WTAF was I thinking?

We’ve gone from this…
To this…

We had a few blissful moments of the youngest sleeping, but of course he knocked off about 10 minutes before we stopped for lunch so that was short-lived. After lunch we endured about 30 mins of arguing, an hour of ridiculousness, a stop at Bucees, 10 more minutes of cranky fussing, and now I have this mean-mug burning a hole in my from behind.

Pray for us, we are not ok…. 🤣🤷‍♀️🤦‍♀️

SNOVID-21

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Well, it officially happened last week…. Hell froze over.

A small lake near my home in Texas, TEXAS y’all, that froze over so thick you could walk on it (not that I’d recommend that, of course.)

The snow started last Sunday evening and it all went to heck in a handbasket from there. SO MANY lost power and water, including my In-laws who finally gave up after three sleepless nights of below 40 degrees in their condo and braved the roads to make it here where we were lucky enough to have not lost power. The lakes froze over so thick people were actually ice skating on them. Stores, if they were open, quickly ran completely out of milk, eggs, water, bread, and meat. Maybe y’all think we’re a bunch of weenies if you live up north but the fact of the matter is Texas is, as a whole, completely unprepared for this kind of disaster. Tornadoes, floods, hurricanes, fires, we have the resources to deal with those. -2 degrees and a snowmaggedon? Nope. It just never happens down here, until now.

Wildly enough, the snow began to melt Friday after over a week of sub-freezing temperatures and by Saturday afternoon is was mostly gone… leaving behind a path of destruction in the form of previously frozen water pipes bursting like balloons. It’s not good…. so many homes and businesses are still without water, or have had to shut it off to minimize the destruction. It’s insane. Also insane? It hit 73 degrees here today.

Can’t go -2 degrees to 73 in one week, you say? Texas says: “Hold my beer.”

In the meantime I entertained myself by working a 60+ hour work week completely in panic mode alongside my team (also in panic mode), arguing with my kids who were batshit crazy from being cooped up, and taking pictures of the cats snuggled up together for warmth.

But today it was positively decent outside, and we started to assess my succulent gardens, which I’m super sad to say did not survive. I’m going to have to completely redo them this year. Honestly though, in the grand scheme of things we’re extremely lucky to have had heat and water the entire week, so there’s no way I’m going to complain.

And now I’m back to planning a normal week full of grocery runs and swim / art lessons and it’s weird, honestly, after the cluster that was last week but here we are, and it’s Texas, and like they always say….

“If you don’t like the weather here, wait 5 minutes…”

Random tidbits

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Still working on the Keto thing, but so far I’m really proud of myself for giving up carbs and sugar. It hasn’t been easy but I’ve stuck it out so far! I’ve been having fun experimenting with different foods and recipes. Last night I made salmon and asparagus foil packs and it turned out really well! I’ve never cooked salmon in my life so I was super pleased I didn’t screw it up!

Tonight I decided to try making a chocolate avocado pudding I saw online and it ended up being pretty good, though still a slight bit avocadoey- I read if you refrigerate it that minimizes that, so we’ll see how it tastes tomorrow. 🤣

Otherwise it’s been kind of a boring week with the exception of a couple things.

1. I got bit by a green anole the other day. I was trying to grab it and save it from the cats (which I’m sure would have been hilarious to watch because those damn heifers are fast) and when I finally grabbed it the dang thing bit me on the arm for my trouble. It’s not like it hurt or anything but it caught me by surprise because it basically grabbed a hunk of skin and shook it like a dog. 🤣🤣 Who knew?!!

Not here to sell car insurance…

Then today my daughter insisted we let the cats nap with us, which is fine if they’re sleeping and not acting like fools. I woke up to see this…

If you look closely you’ll see it’s actually two cats. Beans’s head is down by her hand, and his feet are actually propped up on her face. Look between her face and his legs and you’ll see Raisin, happily sleeping stuffed in there under the covers. Lol!!! I can’t believe it lasted long enough for me to snap a photo!

Monday we start a huge home updating project, Phase 1 – we have a TON of higher end wood paneling and trim in our home straight out of the 80s. I’ll be adding some before pics this weekend and also progress pics through the week! Although it wasn’t my choice to update all this I’m trying to imagine the pretty modern farmhouse look we’re going for and I think I’ll like it in the end. Guess we’ll see!!

Thinking inside the box…

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Leaving my Target run and as I’m loading my things on the belt at the register I start thinking to myself, this is weird, literally every single thing I am purchasing is in a cardboard box. Right about the time I’m thinking this through the cashier looks up at the belt and says, “Wow, everything you’re buying is in a box!” and gives me a funny look…

What can I say, at least I’m consistent in my weirdness. 🤷‍♀️🤦‍♀️🤣

Don’t laugh…

admin

I swear I start every post by SWEARING that I’m going to start updating this regularly. And then three months go by… Three months where I did NOTHING but work (from home, mind you), keep my kids alive, and collect more cats. I mean, it’s not that I lack the TIME to post regularly, but sometimes the effort can be hard to find.

To be completely honest, this is ALL getting to me – and not in the best way. I’ve been mostly hiding in my personal bubble and kind of hoping it will all go away or at least seem, well, not so awful. I really think the worst thing of all about this time in our lives is that humans can be downright cruel to each other. I’ve seen close friendships ripped apart, day after day, by differences in political opinions, personal preferences, opinions being rammed down each other’s throats, and every single one of us too proud/stubborn/whatever to admit that maybe….. maybe our way ISN’T the only path to be followed, and maybe EVEN THOUGH we don’t agree with the opinions or beliefs of our friends that we should respect them enough to treat them the way we wish to be treated. The world right now is absolutely 100% depressing, and it’s no wonder I choose to collect cats and hide out in my house and play with planners even though I really have nothing to plan.

Choice. It’s a simple matter. Each action we take, each word that comes out of our mouths is a choice. A choice you have the right to make, I’m not arguing that. But also keep in mind your CHOICES affect those around you. Words scar, actions harm, and everything we do is being filed away by our youth, our children, as an example of how to act in the future as an adult. Really, THAT is what scares the shit out of me. My daughter, and now I’m seeing my son as well, are both hyper-aware of the world around them. They hear when you do not think they are listening, they see what you don’t think they’re paying attention to, and their memory is impressive. My daughter, at 3 years old, could remember the exact location of a place I’d taken her to for ice cream ONCE a year previously. My son, at three years old, knows the location of all of mommy’s favorite Starbucks (parenting fail on that one, probably) – but what is getting “saved” to that memory right now that is going to affect who they become as an adult? Will they think it’s ok to break family and friendship ties with harsh words and accusations because of a difference in political beliefs? Will they remember all they’ve seen in the news and all the adult discussions going on around them in hushed tones? Will they be the kind of people that can love and appreciate others no matter their differences?

And how do I teach them to respect others when we’re all running around acting like righteous fools?

Maybe this is just a brain dump, and maybe I’ll end up catching a bunch of flak for it, but I hope not. I’ve been in such a funk, and probably a lot of it is the isolation speaking… I’m such a people person that I feel like I’ve lost all those except my closest family and a tiny few friends. Maybe that loss is cutting deeper because I see so many others cutting those they love out of their lives over things that may or may not matter in the end. It’s frustrating, it’s tragic, and it’s very very dark. I’m not even sure the light is there or that this horribly long tunnel of 2020 has an end.

I’m sorry if I am rambling and none of this makes sense, it’s therapeutic for me to blab it all out onto the page and get the thoughts out of my head. Maybe it does make sense and you too are feeling the darkness. If so, leave a comment, send an email, reach out to me or someone you love and make a connection, however fragile it may be. You never know, the person you reach out to may need that connection just as much as you do.

Tomorrow, back (maybe LOL) to posting cat photos and random crap on Instagram. But hopefully today’s deep thoughts stick and mean something for someone out there. Stay safe, stay bright, and be that person that brings light to others. <3