Not Everyone's Mama

As a mom to 4 I am always looking for ideas to make my life easier.  This might be more of a do as I say, not as I do post, because I am not good at doing what I know I should be doing.  Let’s call this, the list of 10 things The 24/7 Mom SHOULD be doing every single day to be less stressed.

1. During the school year, showers should be at night, not in the morning before school.  Less chaos, more time to get ready.

2. Again, during the school year, lay out clothes the night before. I know I should do this, I really do, but I end up scrambling every morning to find the right outfit for the temperature at that point in time, plus later on as it warms up.  Not to mention finding matching socks.

3. Buy in bulk.  That way you don’t run out as often.  We buy 10 gallons of apple juice at a time, literally.  It gets stored under the table until we need it.  Then I’m not running to the store all the time.  I can say, Pato we are down to 1 gallon, buy more apple juice after work. I buy meat in bulk to, separate it and put it in the freezer.

4. That brings me to number 4.  With 4 kids, I refuse to go to the grocery store (very often with all 4).  I plan my shopping around Pato’s days off.  I spend less and I’m not pulling my hair out by the time we are home.

5. Keep a calendar. I keep everything in my phone. Everything.  If it’s not in there, I forget that I have to do it.  I check my calendar every night before I go to bed to see what I have to do.  (I didn’t do that last night and I missed Kat’s parent teacher conference today when I was distracted with a sick kid.)

6.  Make time for you (and time with friends).  I went 4 years without going out with my friends.  Then I went twice in the last two weeks.  Do you know how much less stressed out a feel after getting some time to myself?  I’m more prepared to take on life and my kids.

7. Have chores divided up so not everything falls on mom’s shoulders.  We do here.  Jordan does the kitchen (minus the washing of dishes and scrubbing counters and floors), Katiana and Alyce do the living room (minus vacuuming), Pato does the laundry and takes out the garbage and cleans the bathrooms.  I do everything else.   When things all start falling on me, I get to be a very unhappy mommy.

8.  Keep the car filled up with gas so that when you’re running late for a soccer game, because you didn’t leave the uniforms out the night before, you don’t look down and say, oh no, as you see your gas gauge on empty.  Seriously, this has happened to me one too many times.

9.  Schedule check ups for kids at the same time.  All my kids get their eyes checked at the same time, their teeth checked at the same time, and God love my doctor, even as many well child checks as I can get in at the same time.  I don’t like repetition, I want it all over with at once.

10. Make time for your spouse.  I don’t know about yours, but mine is a much happier camper when I make one on one time for us rather than going straight to bed every night when he gets home and saying, the kids are all yours!

Ok, now give them to me!  I need all the tips on an easier life that I can get.  What do you do to make yours run smoother?

I wrote this blog post while participating in the TwitterMoms and Oral-B blogging contest, making me eligible to get full-sized Oral-B Glide products and a $30 Target gift card. For more information on how you can participate, click here.

About the Oral-B “Glide Into the Holidays” Program
To help make the holiday season easier, Oral-B Glide along with “General Hospital” star Vanessa Marcil Giovinazzo, will kick off the “Glide Into The Holidays” program benefiting Operation Smile, with a free skate day on November 11th at New York City’s Wollman Rink in Central Park. At the event, families are invited to Glide on the ice to raise money for Operation Smile, an international children’s medical charity that provides free surgeries to repair cleft lips, cleft palates and other facial deformities for children around the globe.
To grant holiday wishes to kids globally with cleft lips, cleft palates and other facial deformities Oral-B Glide will make a donation for every pledge made at the event. Additionally, Oral-B Glide and Vanessa hope to inspire others to stick to their oral care routine this holiday season by pledging to switch to Glide online through Facebook and Twitter. For every person who tweets or posts on Oral-B’s Facebook wall with the hashtag #Switch2Glide through February 28, 2011, Oral-B® Glide™ will donate $1 to Operation Smile with a guaranteed donation of $10,000 over the course of the entire campaign.

About Oral-B
Oral-B is the worldwide leader in the over $5 billion brushing market. Part of the Procter & Gamble Company, the brand includes manual and power toothbrushes for children and adults, oral irrigators and interdental products, such as dental floss. Oral-B manual toothbrushes are used by more dentists than any other brand in the U.S. and many international markets.

About Procter & Gamble
Four billion times a day, P&G brands touch the lives of people around the world. The company has one of the strongest portfolios of trusted, quality, leadership brands, including Pampers®, Tide®, Ariel®, Always®, Whisper®, Pantene®, Mach3®, Bounty®, Dawn®, Gain®, Pringles®, Charmin®, Downy®, Lenor®, Iams®, Crest®, Oral-B®, Duracell®, Olay®, Head & Shoulders®, Wella®, Gillette®, Braun® and Fusion®. The P&G community includes approximately 135,000 employees working in about 80 countries worldwide. Please visithttp://www.pg.com for the latest news and in-depth information about P&G and its brands.

About Operation Smile
Founded in 1982 and headquartered in Norfolk, Virginia, Operation Smile is a worldwide children’s medical charity whose network of global volunteers are dedicated to helping improve the health and lives of children and young adults. Since its founding, Operation Smile volunteers have treated more than 150,000 children born with cleft lips, cleft palates and other facial deformities and the organization has a presence in more than 60 countries. In addition to contributing free medical treatment, Operation Smile trains local medical professionals in its partner countries and leaves behind crucial equipment to lay the groundwork for long-term self-sufficiency. For more information, please visit www.operationsmile.org.
More info: http://www.oralb.com

Join Oral-B on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/oralb
Follow Oral-B on Twitter: http://twitter.com/oralb

Tweet-a-thon
Here is a tweet which for you to tweet in the Oral-B Glide tweet-a-thon for a chance to win one of ten $20 Target Gift Cards!
Support Oral-B Glide donations to Operation Smile http://on.fb.me/dfQE67. RT w/ hashtag #Switch2Glide for a chance to win a $20 gift card!
(Click here to Tweet this message to your followers)

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Who else loves fashion?  I do, I do, I do!  I always have.  That being said, I don’t have a runway budget.  I have a mom to 4 kids who need to have clothes also budget.  So, my tips to get some of the looks yourself without breaking your bank –

1. Pick a main piece from the look you want to achieve.  Most runway styles are really to flamboyant for day to day life.  Pick the gorgeous bright shirt, add a more tranquil piece on the bottom.  Pick a similar dress, leave the 12 inch heels to Lady Gaga.

2.  Thrift stores are your friends.  I get tons of my clothes from thrift stores – goodwill, Plato’s closet, any place that sells gently used clothes is my friend.  They are also the friends of most of the fashion bloggers I know.

3.  Garage sales can be a wealth of vintage clothing in the summer.  I am surprised sometimes at what I can come up with that when put together with other pieces that I have in my closet are actually stylish.

4. Go to stores like Sears.  They don’t break the bank but they have a lot of the same trends.  I know I do a lot of the kids’ shopping for school there.  They have sizes that fit Jordan and styles that Katiana loves.

5. Accessorize, accessorize, accessorize.  Costume jewelry.  I have just fell in love with it.  Before I’d only wear the real stuff, but of course I couldn’t have as much as I wanted.  Costume jewelry can look real and come in so many different styles for so many different looks.  Love jewelry!

6.  Get a chic fun hairstyle.  I have never felt better than when I cut off my hair in July.  I love how fun the style is and I feel a lot more stylish than I did before.

7.  Layer, layer, layer.  As I said yesterday, layering is a huge part of my wardrobe. You can mix up your looks and look stylish, fun, and completely different day to day.

8. I mentioned fashion bloggers, that’s a great way to stay up to date on trends and find new ways to use them.  I personally love Jenny at Closet 365 and Second Skin.

9. Don’t forget to do your nails and make up.  Yes, I have blogs I stalk for that too!  Painted Lady Fingers has the most fabulous manicures (on natural nails that I wish I had) every single day to take inspiration fun.  Perfect outfit?  Great hair?  Chipped nails?  Not cool.

10. No matter what, make it your own.  Don’t wear something just because it is trendy.  If it doesn’t look and feel good on you you’re going to feel uncomfortable all day.

Have fun with fashion!  I do!  I love clothes, shoes, make up, nails, I love it all.  I have a closet full of clothes and shoes that I am just starting to put together again the way I wanted.  Just because your a mom, don’t live like I did for years, thinking you had to dress like the soccer mom in yoga pants and t’s.

Tell me some of your fashion tips now!

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I wrote this blog post while participating in the TwitterMoms and Kenmore blogging program, making me eligible to get a $50 gift card. For more information on how you can participate, click here.

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I have to say, honestly, there are lots of things that bring comfort to my life, my mom when I’m sick, Pato’s homemade chicken and rice soup, a warm afghan that my mom made me when I’m snuggled up in it, a hug from my children when I’m feeling down, but right now, the big thing, the most comforting thing to me is Junie.

Some of you know Junie’s story if you have read my blog for awhile and if you’d like to continue reading Junie’s story, she has her own blog now, but I’ll share it for any new people who might be visiting.

Junie is a hairy hairless Chinese Crested dog.

She was a puppy mill dog and before she was passed around on Craig’s List, fought over by people trying to make the most money they could out of her, until a wonderful woman took her own money and rescued her from her horrible life. No one loved her before. They just wanted to get everything they could out of her.

She was rescued when she was 3, but before that she had horrible things done to her. At the puppy mill she was kept in a crate all the time. The vet said when he spayed her that my uterus was stretched out and saggy, like an old balloon that had been blown up and had the air let out of over and over again. I don’t know how many times they bred her. Too many. Who knows if she would have made it through one more litter.

When she was at the mill as a puppy her jaw was broke. No one took her to the vet to have it fixed. Because of this, her upper jaw doesn’t line up quite right with her lower jaw. In fact, her teeth don’t touch at all. She also lost a few teeth because of that.

Her nails are in bad shape. When she was in the mill in that crate, she had to poop and pee where she was.  Her nails are brown and brittle now because of standing in that for so long. I’m hoping that with trims, the proper diet, and lots of loving care that they will grow out to be like other dogs’ nails.

I saw an ad for her on Craig’s List. Her foster mom who rescued her was trying to find me Junie a forever home with someone who would love her and not use her. She said that they had to spay Junie and that she wanted to visit where she would be living.

Something about her ad tugged at my heart. I sent an email to the foster mom telling her thank you for giving her a future. I didn’t think we could have a dog in our apartment, and I tried really hard to help find Junie a home with other dog lovers I knew. When I went to the doctor one day to talk about my depression, the doctor and I talked about getting a companion animal. Studies have proven that companion animals help people with depression and kids with ADHD. Since I have struggled with depression my whole life and Jordan has ADHD, my doctor thought it would be perfect for us.

I emailed Junie’s foster mom and said the stars had alligned and that we could give Junie a home.

Things all fell into place and Junie came home to live with us at the end of October.  She is a 6lb bundle of love.  She just wants to be loved and give love back and I am happy to give and receive.  I love to just sit and hold her and it comforts me knowing that she is finally out of the life she was in.

I also try to use her blog to help other animals.  Anything that we can do to help anyone else who might be going through what she went through.

This little dog has been a big comfort to me and I hope that I have been one back to her.

I wrote this blog post while participating in the TwitterMoms and Kleenex blogging program, making me eligible to get a $40 gift card. For more information on how you can participate, click here.

About Kleenex®:
The world’s first and America’s best-selling facial tissue, the Kleenex® Brand is recognized by families in more than 150 countries. Invented in 1924, Kleenex® Brand facial tissues were initially marketed as a sanitary way to remove cold cream and makeup. Once advertising was shifted to emphasize the product’s use as a disposable handkerchief, however, sales soared. Always the innovative leader, Kleenex® Brand facial tissue has met the unmet needs of consumers for more than 80 years with products that provide the essential and uplifting touch that makes life better.

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What do you do to keep everything fresh and festive and just all around fun for the holidays?  I’ve got my tricks and I am definitely interested in hearing yours! 

1. I use a fake tree.  I know, the smell of a fresh tree is awesome, but I love my white tree with blue lights.  I hate the mess of real trees and the risk of fire.  Fake it is for us.

2. To get the smell of Christmas, since I have birds in the house and can’t use scented candles in all areas of the house, I bake cookies.  The smell of sugar cookies and chocolate chip cookies and all those yummy smells, that brings Christmas right to me.

3. We make our own wreath every year to hang on the door.  Want to see ours from last year?

It’s a fun activity and that whole wreath probably cost me $6.

4. That brings me to number 4, dollar stores are AWESOME for holiday decorations.  Use them as is, or do as I do and tear them apart and recreate them into something else.

5. Bake extra! When I bake cookies or treats, I always make enough to give to every branch of my family. Mom and dad, my brothers’ famlies, and my sister’s too.

6. Organize for shopping.  I get ALL of my shopping done black Friday.  I organize my list before hand and take it out with me.  I try not to stray too much unless something I wanted was sold out. 

7. Don’t overbook yourself.  Holidays should be about spending time with family.  Not stressing out about getting from here to there.  We honestly just do a couple of things.  The main being Christmas Eve with my dad for his birthday.

8.  This is big for our family, we read the nativity story every year.  I want that to be the focus on Christmas first and foremost, not the presents they get.  That’s just extra fun.

9. Go through the kids’ toys they don’t play with any more and donate them to a shelter or Goodwill.  Make room for their new and give the things that still have lots of life to other groups who can use it.

10. Keep your kids’ on something resembling their schedule.  Overtired, oversugared children are never fun at any occasion.  At the first sign of my kids starting to wear down, depending on where we are, they either get a nap (with family) or we go home.

11. Think of others.  We should really do this all year.  Start something now.  Volunteer at a shelter, help an elderly person who might need it, anything that could help someone else. 

12. We always try to buy something extra to donate to Toys For Tots or they have a tree at school with mittens on it.  You can donate what is written on the mitten to help a kid who might not get something.

13. Drive around and look at lights.  We do this a few times a year.  There’s a place here where you can pay by the carload to drive around and look at their lighting, but I personally just like driving around areas that are lit up bright and festive-like!  The awe on the kids’ faces is so beautiful to me!

14. Love your family.  Another thing we should be doing all year, but we spend so much more time with our family at this time of year than we do any other time.  Show them you love them whenever you can.

Staying destressed during the holidays is huge to me.  I don’t want to spend my time worrying and obsessing about every little thing. Now, tell me what are your tips to keeping a fresh and festive holiday without getting overstressed.  We moms can always use new suggestions, things that make us say, I MUST DO THAT! 

I wrote this blog post while participating in the TwitterMoms and Snuggle blogging program, making me eligible to get a $50 gift card. For more information on how you can participate, click here.

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