The Year We Remembered

I am the world's worst at remembering what I say I'll remember, especially when it comes to family events and milestones. I also never get around to scrapbooking or filling out memory books. Prairie Girl's baby book is halfway done, Prairie Boy's isn't even started, and I have no idea what happened to the wedding scrapbook I was supposed to fill out 8 years ago. But this year is going to be different. This will be the year we remember.

This year I am committed to documenting what we do, even if it's not in great detail. I have a 2-step plan for this. The first step is thanks to my dandy little pre-Christmas present - an iPad mini. I swore I wouldn't give in to having technology follow me everywhere (we'll save that rant for later), but I almost have. And that little tablet is making my life so much easier. So what am I doing with it? I am taking pictures, tons of pictures, every day. My kids are always doing something cute and funny, so those moments are easy to capture. But I'm also taking pictures of the ordinary - things like having coffee and washing the dishes. Why? Because that's my life right now, and 20 years from now, I want to remember what I was doing "in the good ol' days." And out of all those pictures, I'll be posting at least 1 a day to Instagram, so if you want to follow along on that adventure, follow me at technoprairiemom.

The 2nd step is rather old-fashioned: I'm journaling. Remember journals, those things that English teachers made us write in everyday so we could reflect on life and its triumphs and atrocities (thank you, Mrs. Rustin)? Every day I am writing down in just a sentence or two what we did, where went, and who we saw. It may be as simple as "We went to Wal-Mart to buy chicken and milk, and then we came home to wash dishes" or it may be really exciting like "We put on princess dresses, went to the movies, had cookies and coffee at Starbucks, and ran through the yard after dark with glow sticks" (hey - for us, that is exciting!). Regardless of what we did though, I'll remember it.

What about you? Are you going to remember this year? Commit to recording your life in some format. Create something you can share with your family this year and in years to come.

A New Beginning

I'm back! At least, I hope I'm back. Around the time of my last post in April 2012, my life started changing so fast that I just could not keep up with this blog. This time I'm hoping (although not promising because life happens) that I will stay dedicated. It helps me immensely to write, and I am hoping that I might help others as well. So now I am back where I started last year on New Year's - making resolutions.

I love New Year's Resolutions. Like I said on last year's list, I love the idea of having a goal with a year to complete it.So did I accomplish my resolutions from last year? Yes and no. I made progress with most of them but I admit to getting off course at times. For example, as soon as Prairie Babe was born (who will be referred to as "Prairie Boy" from now on! Yeah!), I  failed at following through with homeschooling Prairie Girl. But she is only 3 so it's not necessary right now anyway; we are just trying to form good habits. And I had to stop trying to lose weight since I was pregnant, but I did continue to exercise. I did feel like I grew in my relationship with God, and I did a lot more Bible studying than in previous years, but that can always be improved upon.

What are this year's goals? Well here they are, along with my plan.

1. Continue to devote more time to studying God's word
    *Learn with my daughter through her homeschool lessons from ABCJesusLovesMe
    *Complete the devotional book The Busy Mom's Devotional
    *Look up and study the passages used in the Christian fiction books I read
2. Make each member of my family feel special and like they have my full attention
    *Spend one-on-one time with each person on a daily basis
    *Plan special activities and outings for each person
3. Get back to focusing on my "life skills" I have studied throughout the years
    *Prevent clutter by limiting my shopping and selling/donating what I no longer need
    *Be conscious of my plastic consumption and avoid bringing in new plastic
    *Use natural products and avoid chemicals and packaged foods
4. Lose my baby weight plus 5 pounds
    *Track calories every day for every food
    *Resume my previous gym activity

And here's a little different list of measurable goals that can be "checked off"
*Complete at least 5 5Ks and 1 10K by the end of the year
*Help Prairie Girl complete 1 Complete Curriculum Pre-School Book
*Create checklist cards for the kids' daily routines and my housekeeping
*Read 12 books (children's books don't count!)
*Log 500 miles on my exercise bike
*Go on 12 dates with Prairie Dad (not just family outings)
*Complete baby books for both children
*Take at least 1 picture each day
*Write down what our family does each day even if it is only 1 line

And there you have it. I have no plan of perfection, and life happens, so I know I'll get off track. But I have something to strive for. And I'll probably add to the list throughout the year. But for now, I feel good about this.

Happy New Year to you and yours! Now tell me about YOUR resolutions!

Reverse Shopping

One of my resolutions this year was to de-clutter my house to the extreme while avoiding bringing new items in. By de-cluttering, I mean I want things OUT of my house for good - not just packed up into storage. When we pack things away, we aren't getting rid of the problem; we're only shuffling it to a new location and hiding it in a container.

A lot of people suffer buyer's remorse when it comes time to part with items. We have those pangs of guilt -
"But I spent my hard-earned money on it!"
"I needed it at the time."
"I might need it again!"
All of those may be true, but so what? I suffered from all of those claims, and I finally came to several realizations. That money is already gone, you don't need it anymore, and if you do need it again, you can probably scrounge up another one.

Right now my family is very blessed by the fact that my husband has a secure job with a predictable paycheck, but we've been through enough times when that wasn't the case, so I hate the idea of wasting money, especially when I've already spent it. Rather than donate half the contents of my house, I decided to sell what I could to try to earn back some of what I'd spent. I call it "reverse shopping," and it's become rather addictive.

I used to do the standard yard sales - load it all up on tables, mark it cheap, and watch it get hauled away. But in the past couple of years, I've discovered Facebook garage sales. I just have to photograph everything, list it with a price, and meet the buyer who claims it. So far my transactions have been very smooth, and over 2 years, I've had about 300 transactions. I usually meet people at the grocery store, or if I know them, they stop by my house. I get more publicity since there are 11,000+ people in the garage sale group, and I can get a better price, especially for new items or groups of similar items.

I'm not money-hungry though, so I don't sell everything. In fact, I give a lot away to family and friends. I have also donated a lot to help local organizations. I'd rather see things really help someone than for me to get a few bucks from it. Selling so much has also helped me really learn the difference between "need" and "want," so items I think people may "need" often get donated first.

So how is this affecting my house? I've been clearing out every room and making space. I've even tackled the storage rooms I used at my parents' house, and I've cleared out almost everything from there except some Christmas decorations and baby clothes. And I haven't missed a thing. I had so much stuff that wasn't used on a daily basis, that I never fully realized I had it anyway. Now I'm down to a select number of clothes and kitchen utensils, and I use what I have every day. If it's in our house, it has a value. This reverse shopping has also helped decrease my desire to go out for conventional shopping. I don't want to bring things into my home if there's a possibility I'll have to get rid of it later.

How do you get rid of your things? Do you sell or donate?

Reaching the Resolution - February

At the beginning of each month, I'll check in with my progress with my new year's resolutions. While this is mainly to keep myself accountable, I hope that my readers will consider their own life goals and evaluate their progress. 

When I made my new year's resolutions, I was filled with optimism. After a hard month has gone by, that optimism is still there, but the drive behind it has dwindled. But I am not the kind to lose hope. I didn't make resolutions for them to be forgotten - I made them to better myself and maybe even to inspire others. Here's my progress (or lack of).

1. Devote more time to studying God's word and prayer
I admit, I feel like a failure on this one. While I knowing I've been praying my heart out all month, it wasn't the way I had really intended. We've had struggles this month. I lost my grandmother, my husband was very ill, and I went back to working nights at the library. While I skimmed through my Bible for comfort, I didn't devote time to studying it or reading my devotional books because I felt like I didn't have time. This is my biggest regret this month.

2. Establish a homeschooling routine for my daughter
This may be my most successful resolution this month. I have been working with Prairie Girl as many days as possible, and we've developed a curriculum that works for her so far. We're using a combination of materials from ABC Jesus Loves Me and letteroftheweek.com, and we both love it. She loves the routine and learning new things, and giving her that has made her much more calm and focused, even when we aren't having our school time. My hope for February is that I can incorporate more art and science into the curriculum.

3. Make our home more eco-friendly by eliminating plastics and using more natural products
This has also been a success this month. I've been reading Plastic Free: How I Kicked the Plastic Habit and How You Can Too by Beth Terry, and it is changing my life. I've eliminated almost all of the plastic storage food containers in my kitchen, given up frozen dinners, and diligently used my reusable shopping bags. I've also been able to find more natural body care products for myself and Prairie Girl, and I've found ways to eliminate some plastic packaged items from our lifestyle. I am loving all of it, and I feel like my house is a healthier, happier place because of it.

4. Avoid buying things I don't need while de-cluttering excess from my home - to the extreme!
Also a success. I greatly down-sized my shopping habit and have been running errands just one day a week. I've resisted purchases and walked out of stores empty handed when I didn't find what I needed (as opposed to settling for some second rate product I didn't need). As for de-cluttering, I've donated several huge bags to charity, given away items to friends and relatives, and sold items online. I'm in no way done, but I've made significant progress, and as I get rid of more, it's easier to let go and discover how little I need.


5. Finish the craft projects I started in 2012 and use up my current supplies
Another failure. I completed about 5 rows on a potholder I'm knitting, and that's it for this month's craft projects. There just wasn't time.

6. Lose the last 13 pounds so I can finally achieve the 120s for the first time in my life
I wouldn't exactly call this one a failure because I didn't gain any weight this month, I just didn't lose any. But I didn't try. After losing weight for 8 straight months, I gave myself a little break. I couldn't handle the stress of life and scrutinizing every bite I ate, so instead, I gave myself a little flexibility. I feel good about it though and will hopefully be back to losing in February.

7. Limit my computer usage so that I can accomplish more
I did limit myself when I thought about it. I refused to take my iPad out of town with me, and I purposefully logged off some sites so I wouldn't be so tempted to check them throughout the day. I am planning to start measuring my time at the computer so I better gauge how to limit my usage.

Overall, I think I had a pretty good month for progress. Like I said, it was a hard month that was far from the norm. February may be short, but I think it will bring good things. At least I am starting with good plans.

What were your successes and failures this past month? Feel free to share so we can help and encourage each other.

Prairie Style (Lack of) Shopping

One of my new year's resolutions was de-clutter my home "to the extreme," and I've been doing just that. For years now, I've been doing annual de-cluttering sessions in my home to get out all the excess. But just as soon as I clear it all out, it starts piling back up. This year is different. This year I'm breaking the cycle by preventing things from coming in while I'm sending them out.

Why am I de-cluttering? After all, my house is pretty tidy, and it's pretty small, so we don't have junk rooms or junk drawers because every square inch of our house has to be usable. I am de-cluttering for a move towards simplicity because I feel like my life is ruled by stuff. Sometime around the new year, I realized that a good portion of my time is devoted to buying, cleaning, and putting away stuff. A lot of it is stuff I don't need.

How did I get all of this stuff? Shopping. I love(d) shopping. My mother and I used to hit clearance sales ever week. Nothing gave me a greater thrill than finding clothes 75% off and dishes 90% off. Who could refuse such bargains?  After all, I used coffee cups on a daily basis and wore clothes everyday, so I'd put everything to good use, right?

Wrong.

I had 20 coffee cups in the cabinet, and we barely used over half of them. Clothes would get worn just a few times. Christmas decorations never got used because I had too many. These things weren't "needs," so I didn't make much of an effort to ensure they got used.

About a month ago, I had a revelation. While falling asleep one night, I had the phrase "you need less but you need more" on my mind. I don't remember hearing this anywhere, and honestly, I'm not sure if God implanted it my head or if it was just my subconscious dwelling on some things I'd read, but either way, I knew God would agree with it. I had placed too much emphasis on stuff in my life and I had ignored how it affected my family. I should have recognized there was a problem when Prairie Girl always requested to go to Wal-Mart when I asked her what she wanted to do for fun.

I'm taking steps to reduce my shopping habit. I try to only go shopping one day a week, and on that day, I try to visit as few stores as possible. When I go into a store, I have a list and the necessary coupons in hand. That list has been carefully prepared at home and only includes things we don't have at home and things we need. We have a running list of things we want, and we're taking time to contemplate the and find the true need for them. Currently on that list are things like stainless steel water bottles, a couple of books, and dress pants. I don't spend time lingering in stores either. I get what I need and get out. Looking at things may not be the same as buying them, but too many times I have found myself coveting dishes or dresses, and that's not something I want to do.

So far I've drastically cut down my shopping. I've only bought absolute necessities like food and medicine. We haven't bought toys or clothes or gadgets. I even returned some things that I'd bought before Christmas because I realized we didn't need them. The great news is, we haven't suffered a bit. Since I've been spending less time shopping, we've spent more quality family time together. Instead of shopping, Prairie Girl and I have worked on projects, watched movies together, and cooked together. And Prairie Dad loves that we're not spending every weekend at a mall.

Something else has happened since I cut back on shopping. I've realized how much we have that we don't need. And as less stuff comes in, more stuff is going out, probably because I don't have new stuff covering up the old stuff. I'm simplifying routines and routines are becoming easier. We're discovery how, much like people who lived on the prairie, we don't need multiples of a lot things, and there are a lot of things we just don't need at all.

Bringing home lots of stuff did not bring us happiness. Time is bringing us happiness. More time is what we needed. Time to love, time to laugh, and time to live.

Where is my Underwear?

Before: Too much stuff that not in its proper place

I de-clutter my house at key times in the year. I do one good sweep at the beginning of the year so I feel more prepared for new possibilities. But I don't dive in and do it all at once. I start with small projects that can be effective yet done quickly.

This time around, I decided to start with the chest of drawers in my bedroom. It's all mine, so I can go through it by myself and rather quickly. I like to start at the top and work my way down. The top drawer is devoted to my underwear, slips, socks, perfume, and the phone and iPad chargers since the drawer is next to the outlet.

When I opened up the drawer, I found a HUGE mess. Despite my organizers, nothing was in place, and there were things there that didn't belong. Not to worry though! I have an easy way to sort through these kinds of situations.

1. Empty the drawer - Get everything out, wipe down the drawer, and replace the organizers to start with a clear workspace.

2. Purge the unnecessary items - It was easy to pick out things that didn't belong - Scentsy cubes, birthday cards, hair bows. Next came things that were worn out like old gym socks. Finally came things that don't fit. Since I have lost so much weight, I had to eliminate some underwear and slips.

3.Only replace what fits - Folding makes a big difference. I love the Youtube videos from Linda Koopersmith, the Beverly Hills Organizer. If things are properly folded, they can fit in the organizers. Organizers also help you know when you have too much. My sock organizer holds 32 pairs, so if is overflowing, I know I have too much.

After: Tidy and de-cluttered. Everything fits!

4. Carry it all away - Things that belong in other places were promptly put away. Things I discarded went in a donation bag. Now don't lose it here - I don't expect anyone to wear my old underwear. But I do know of a local thrift store that recycles anything they can't sell. Fabric can be recycled, and I'd rather see it go on to a new life than go in a dumpster.

When I was finished, I was happy that I'd worked on my resolution to de-clutter and simplify. Now I know what I have and where it is, and I know that I don't need to buy anything, so I won't be tempted when I see pretty fuzzy socks on clearance.

Take 10 minutes, and go de-clutter a drawer!

New Year's Resolutions

I love new year's resolutions. I love the idea of setting goals and having an entire year to complete. I like to make some measurable and some not. I don't think we have to necessarily complete our resolutions, but I think any amount of progress towards them is positive. Mine always revolve around my personal convictions and life goals. I also like to work on refining my resolutions throughout the year and developing new ways to accomplish them. So since it is new year's day, and you're still finding out what I'm all about, here are my resolutions and the current ways I have planned to accomplish them:

1. Devote more time to studying God's word and prayer
    * Read Bible stories to my daughter
    * Read from my weekly devotional books
    * Locate and use a Bible reading plan to help me make it completely through the book
    * Focus on setting aside specific time to pray rather than sporadically throughout the day
2. Establish a homeschooling routine for my daughter
    * Devise a curriculum that focuses on Bible study, phonics, math, science, social skills, and life skills
    * Read one story a day
    * Help her complete an art project three times a week
    * Create a loose schedule of when activities should be accomplished
3. Make our home more eco-friendly by eliminating plastics and using more natural products
    * Purge our home of plastic containers and use only glass and stainless steel
    * Use reusable shopping bags in stores
    * Use baking soda, vinegar, peroxide, and castile soap as the basis for my cleaning products
    * Avoid buying packaged foods - purchase unwrapped, organic produce and local eat
    * Avoid using disposable products including frozen dinners that come in plastic containers
4. Avoid buying things I don't need while de-cluttering excess from my home - to the extreme!
    * Only run errands 1 day a week  - if we don't have it, do without!
    * Do not use shopping as recreational family time
    * Do not attend clearance sales unless I really need something
    * Purge my house of items I don't use, clothes that are worn out/too big, and things I don't want
5. Finish the craft projects I started in 2012 and use up my current supplies
    * Use my yarn stash to make things that I need for my home like a table runner, pot holders, and doilies
    * Complete the scarves I've start knitting and give them away at work
    * Create a plan for bringing my daughter's scrapbook up to date and work on it every month
    * Devote a weekend to sewing projects to complete doll diapers and clothes for my daughter
6. Lose the last 13 pounds so I can finally achieve the 120s for the first time in my life.
    * Eliminate white sugar and white flour from my diet
    * Exercise in the gym or at home at least 3 days a week
    * Drink 8 glasses of water a day
    * Focus on overall nutrition
7. Limit my computer usage so that I can accomplish more 
    * Set a timer whenever I sit down at the computer and leave when it beeps.
    * Close my computer after my last session at night so I am not tempted to sit down again
    * Set aside specific times to use the computer rather than throughout the day
    * Create lists of what I want to accomplish at the computer

Whew! I think that's enough for now. I'm sure you've guess that my blog posts this year are going to focus on these topics, so you'll be on the ride with me watching me accomplish my goals. But enough about me. What are your goals? What do you want to accomplish in 2013?