Zen-Mother

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With the holidays behind you, no doubt your kids have received more toys for Christmas. Unfortunately, they are everywhere you turn.  Keeping the toys from overtaking the house is a simple process.  Let’s review some tips to help you bring your house back to order.

There are wonderful Tupperware chests you can purchase to store all of the toys skewed about the house.  In addition, most of them come on wheels, which make the picking up of toys easier.  They also come in colors and sizes, which can compliment any child’s room. Also available are hanging chests which would really make life easier for you. They can be hung on the wall of your child’s room, which is ideal especially if the bedroom is small.

Once you have all of the toys neatly assembled; the task before you is to get rid of the old or unwanted toys in your kids’ bedroom.  This is something you will have to either confer with your kids, or determine on your own which toys should go and which should be kept.  Just gather them up and place them in large boxes.  If they are broken, and you can fix them, give them to a charitable organization. If they are intact; add them to the charity box as well.

When kids receive new toys, they quickly forget the old; well, usually they do.  Again, the process doesn’t have to be traumatizing. Just discuss it with your kids, make a decision, and explain to them the importance of donating their old toys to charities.  Make sure you explain to them the more room they have, the more toys they may receive next Christmas.

Check online to view all of the different toy chests available.  Take your kids with you to buy these chests.  In this way they can participate and choose whatever color or style they like.  You can be assured once you arrive home; they will be bursting at the seams in anticipation of putting their toys in their new chests.

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Hey mom! Have you been longing to get out and have a good time?  Not surprisingly.  When the last time was you indulged yourself?  What can you do when you want to get away from it all? Here is some mom’s night out ideas for you to ponder.

Call a friend and plan on spending an evening together. A movie and dinner at your favorite restaurant sounds great, doesn’t it?  Or perhaps one of your friends needs a partner for their bridge game? Why not call some friends and go to the mall? Check out all the latest styles; then have dinner afterward.

Perhaps there is a play or musical you’ve been dying to see. If you’ve never been to an opera, this is your chance.  You can dress up in your best outfit and prepare to have a wonderful evening.  Are you a baseball fan?  Maybe you’d like to go to a game? You and your friends can have a wonderful time eating junk food and rooting your team on to victory!

Need some quiet time? There is no rule that says you can’t go out by yourself and just do whatever makes you happy.  You can be spontaneous and just get in the car and drive. You never know where you may wind up.  Remember, it’s your night, and you are your own best company.

If these moms’s nights out ideas are not sufficient, there are a plethora of things you can do.  Just ask yourself what is the one thing you would most like to do, now that you have the time to do it. Don’t think about it; hesitate or feel guilty over it; just go go go.  After all, you deserve it. You may not have this opportunity again. Have a great time!

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You know those kinda of days. It all started yesterday when I took my kids out to go shopping and we got a flat tire as we were about to get on the freeway. Well, I called my brother and he drove out to help us. He tried to change the tire only to find that the spare tire did not fit our the van! The tire place we got our tires from last made a big mistake, grrr.

So, my brother had to drive us home and then drop off the bad tire and wheel to be replaced while he went back to work. We ended up getting the van taken care of late that night.

Skip ahead to this morning. I got all the kids up to take Payton to school. As I started getting Paige dressed, Parker decided to grab her Strawberry Shortcake tennis shoes and throw them in the toilet. Aaaagh! It just keeps getting better and better.

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It is going great! I had my reservations that he would be able to behave himself but he appears to be doing fabulously so far.

He likes his teacher quite a bit and he even thinks “school is fun”.

We did have a little problem with riding the bus home though. He insists that the bus driver speeds, takes corners to fast, and he doesn’t like the fact that the bus doesn’t have seatbelts. Adorable!

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This is a VERY GOOD CAUSE! I just donated I urge everyone to do so.

The Organic Consumers Fund is a unique and totally grassroots lobbying organization. Every year, agribusiness, biotech, and other powerful special interest groups spend hundreds of millions of dollars lobbying public officials to pass and change legislation in their favor. It’s time that we, organic consumers and farmers, make our voices heard–from Main Street to the halls of Congress. To revitalize the country and move in an organic and sustainable direction, we’ve got to translate our already formidable economic clout in the marketplace into a political force. To do this we need your help. We will not take money from the corporate special interests. All we have is you, the grassroots. The OCF’s goal is to raise $50,000 in grassroots donations over the next 30 days, so that we can spread our Candidate Survey to thousands of candidates and follow up with phone calls, emails, and other lobbying efforts. Later in the fall we’ll publish our Voter Guide, to help people decide who deserves their vote. Our country, as you know, is facing a terrible crisis, whether we are talking about public health, environmental sustainability, a democratic media and elections, or peace and justice. Help us begin to move in New Directions by putting organic issues on the table in the 2006 elections.

Donate now: http://organicconsumersfund.org/donations.cfm

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Yeah I have cancer. Read all about on my other blog:

My Struggle

My First Oncology Appointment

My terror at the thought of Chemo

My depressing blog post about why Chemo IS that bad

I am telling you all this because I am determined to keep this blog up to date from now on and want to explain why I might throw in a little talk about Chemo and such…so there ya go.

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Today is one of those sappy days where you reflect on all that you have and feel an immense amount of gratitude. Yeah, I am sick mommy lately but I can still be grateful for all that I have right? Heck yeah! I will start with my oldest son Payton.

Payton is 5 years old and will turn 6 in just a few months. I love his incredible spirit that cannot be broken. Yes, many times it is this spirit that causes us to bump heads alot but I am glad that he is strong because I forsee that he has many obstacles to overcome in the future and his strength will be a blessing. My husband is pretty passive so I I know his strength comes from me, so how can I not love that?

I love that wakes up in a good mood every morning with hugs and kisses to go around.

I love that wishes upon a star most nights before bed.

I love that he takes his epilepsy medication with a good attitude…even though I am certain it tastes horrible.

I love that he adores playing outdoors, collecting bugs, and adventuring.

I love that fact that he already loves to travel and speaks fondly of his favorite spots that usually inlcude museums in New York City, Chicago, Miami or the like. He makes his own travel plans already. He is so cultured
I love the fact that he loves the ocean and the water. He also adores seafood and eats squid, octopus, lobster, crab, mussles, and oysters with gusto.

I love that he loves astronomy like me. I always wanted to work for NASA, maybe someday he will.

I love how he is almost never afraid of anything.

I love how attached he is to his nana (my mom).

I love how he hugs and kisses his baby brother…and Paige too if she would let him.

I love you Payton Maclivane….the sun rises and sets with you.

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Last week I got the best set from Mother Culture Herbs and Batik Bum Diapers. It consists of a fitted paisley diaper with an orange inner and snap in soaker, a patchwork fleece cover, and a tie dye T-shirt with a peace sign on the front in the same paisley fabric as the diaper. SO ADORABLE!! Well, Parker and I really like the set and he wears them as soon as they are fresh from the dryer. The patchwork cover is my favorite….it is just such a clever concept and really quite attractive. Here are some pics:

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Well I am freakin tired of being sick mommy. I used to be a relatively healthy gal….never a major illness, never a broken bone.What I am now is a far cry from that. When I became pregnant with Parker my normal gyno tests turned up my first surprise. Then half way through the pregnancy my digestive system and bowels went on strike. They have yet to return to duty. I also have gall bladder problems. Virtually every day I am in pain or sick in some way. I have about 15 different prescription meds in my cabinet, my hair is falling out in clumps, and I am often afraid to leave the house so that I won’t embarrass myself by curling up in a fetal position at Kroger. Emergency room visits are common now…like a couple times a month when I am in so much pain that only IV morphine or the like will suffice. As I write this I am cringing. Today has not been a good day. When will my alter ego…aka sick mommy go away. Will she ever go away? That question terrifies me.

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Here is Parker in his new Butterfly Kisses diaper cover. The asian inspired print is perfect for this little sumo

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