kellicrowe

Current Obsession: The Big Bang Theory

Of course I print out an episode list from on line so I can chart what we watch...I mean, who doesn't?  Right?

I LOVE falling for a show that already is comfortably running in syndication.  Or is catalogued on Netflix.  Getting to immerse myself in the story is so much more fun than waiting for it to be piecemealed out, stingily, once a week.

Other people print out the episode guides for series they are watching.  I am sure they do.  Other wise they wouldn't have "printer option" options.

My chart: J for if my husband has watched it.  K for me.  And a O if we have it recorded.  I empty set it, O,  when we have both watched it and it is o.k. to delete.  (I know, that is a horizontal empty set. That is the way I write it.  I kinda think of it as a Saturn.  And I "Saturn it out" when we are all done with it.)

I am either all in or have no interest.  And with The Big Bang, I am so all in.  I haven't narrowed down which board game I want yet.  But I do have my favorite Sheldon inspired super hero t-shirts in amazon cart.

Next Halloween - we are so going as Amy and Sheldon.  I'll even let John David be Sheldon.

 

Getting Ready Christmas a Little Everyday: Decorating

This my upstairs hallway. Halloween items being packed up on the left and Christmas being unpacked on the right.  I set a goal to pull this all out and take only 1 week to decorate my house.

And then I invited people over for that deadline day.  People with little kids.  Who will want to run around.  So I will definitely have my breakable ornaments my grandmother gave me put up or put away by then!  If I didn't set this goal and then have people coming over...I'd leave these boxes here until Christmas Eve.

Some people may decorate all in 1 day, sure....but those people probably are not as lazy as I am.  If I did that, no one would eat or be clean or learn anything.  And I would probably be kinda mean.  Falalala. 

By having it all out in the hall, I can see what I have and find what I need pretty easily.

The key is putting it away organized. 

I have lived in this house for 10 years and have it down as to how I like to decorate it.  If I need the decorations for the mantle, I most likely will have the stocking holders and stockings all packed up together.  It makes it easy to carry one container to the loaction.  AND I take the things that are normally on the mantel down and put them in the same box for safe keeping until after Christmas. 

My mom always took away as much as she put out as far as decroations go so we never felt cluttered up during the holidays.  Some people's housees look so pretty but you can't find a single flat surface to put anything down on....and soon I start feeling closterphobic.

By storing like items together, I can better access what I need. 

But having said that, I will admit that the small wreath I was looking for was not in the small wreath container. 

Sigh. 

 

Thankful Mini Journals

We started "What Makes Me Happy" journals last November. We were all about them for 2 weeks and then...I don't know what happened.  We kinda just stopped.  Perfectionist me would have seen this as a failure.  Lazy me to the rescue! This was an opportunity to revisit the journals each and every November to prepare for Thanksgiving!  (Thanks goodness for Lazy Me!).

I call them Thankful Journals but we really list things that make us happy.  Here is why:

When I ask my kids to write down what they are thankful for, I get the same answers from each of them.  They list things they know they are supposed to write down when someone asks them about being thankful.  By asking "What makes you happy?" - I got those moments of thankfulness I expected, like Alex's entry for his family. But I also got much more specific things.

This is David's.  He is currently making a scrapbook of his best drawings.  He works on improving it each day.  He rips out any he finds sub-par and tosses them and replaces it with a new sketch.

(I kinda want to do that with my own scrapbook sometimes.)

It not only tells me he is thankful for the ability to draw but gives me a snapshot of what his life is like right now.

Max listed several things that make him happy today.  I think he thought he was doing a week's worth of "happy" in an effort to not have to think about it tomorrow.  Has he met me before?

This tells me things he likes and looks forward to right now in his life.  And will remind of the year he was diagnosed with dyslexia. 

Of course I am thankful for Alex.  AND, I am thankful that he is the kind of kid who makes milkshakes for the whole family.

Instead of just listing his brothers as something he is grateful for, I love that David wrote about how he likes to watch them play video games.  (David is the most knowledgable video game non-player I am aware of).   Of which I am aware? That I know. 

I bought the Moleskin mini lined journals at Barnes and Noble.  They came in colorful 3 packs.  But you can get something similar at Wal-mart that are slightly larger.

Just a little share of what we now have as a new November tradition at our house.  Until e get distracted again.....

Getting Ready for Christmas a Little Every Day: De-Halloweening the House

I put on our first Christmas songs of the season (Santa Clause is Coming to Town by the Jackson 5) and gave my family the terms: see how much of the house you can de-Halloween by the end of the song WITHOUT breaking anything.

It took a second song (A Holly Jolly Christmas by Burl Ives) for them to get the porch, mantles and kitchen table all cleaned up and put the decorations next to my storage boxes for me to pack up.

It made a kinda boring task pretty fun and quick.

It is easier for me to put away the Halloween decorations as I pull out the Christmas stuff because I keep the storage boxes in the same place.

Also, it kinda makes a mess to put things away (fake spider webs flying) and to pull out Christmas decorations (hello glitter).  I just assume do it all at once and then vacuum. Contrary to what people may think, I decorate early and a little each day because I am lazy.  Not because I am super obsessed.  And I think it is a fun thing to decorate so why stress out about something fun?

There are SO MANY things that are real and substantial to stress about.  A holiday mantle really shouldn't make the list.

 

**Photo of Max by Tara Whitney.  I added an eye patch right over the frame and put a few cobwebs on it to add a little subtle Halloween decorating.  All cobwebs in my house should be seen as intentional, subtle Halloween decor.