Top 5 Ways to Beat the Winter Blues

I know I've been a terrible blogger this holiday season and I must say it felt great to take a step back and slow down. We had several weeks where the after school activities were on hiatus and it felt great not to be rushing everywhere all the time.

Alas, all good things come to an end and our chaos starts back up this weekend. On top of that I start school on Monday. We're busy bees!

What's making this post holiday transition harder is the weather here. It's too friggin cold! I hate the cold, snow, ice and winter. Yes, I do live in BFE in between a bunch of mountains. Boo. One day I hope to convince hubby to move somewhere warmer. The lack of sun and cold everything brings me down.

 

Here are my top 5 winter blues beating activities (in no special order):

 

1. Read, read, and more read. [I have a small problem with it ;-)]

2. Start a new project [crochet, jewelry making]

3. Watch movies with my loves.

4. Try to force myself to exercise. [endorphins help you feel happy]

5. Plan trips for the Spring/Summer. [helps take my mind off things]

Holidays

I have been very VERY behind on posting lately. With the holidays approaching us, a sick child, and general chaos I have let this slide.

I am happy to say we are almost done shopping :-) We always look through the clearance sections all year round and pick up things as we go. This year we scored several large items much cheaper then even waiting for Black Friday or Cyber Monday.

We scored an awesome desktop computer that was originally $800 for about $200. I needed his for my upcoming classes in January that I am taking online and my laptop is evil. Next after several years of saving we purchased and iPad Mini with 32G and Retina display for under $100.

The break down:

For the computer my hubs researched online for months about the type he thought would be best. next he watched for sales and then looked ahead at the holiday ads. He had his plan in place but it did get thwarted as the model he wanted was discontinued and they were putting out a newer version that was not even as good as the one he wanted. The miracle on this was that we found the exact model at a store most people don't go shopping for computers at and found they were selling the display model on sale plus an additional 20% since it was the model. BINGO we got it and they did a fantastic job of  getting it ready and packed for us. They spent a good deal amount of time showing us how to reset the computer out of store mode and get all of the factory setting back including the trials of all the fun stuff. I know I know this is really luck but he had it down to $400 prior to them discontinuing the model. We also had points saved up on our credit card that we put towards it brining the cost down further.

The iPad has been something we've been working on for years. Hubs has been doing online surveys that he turned in for Game Stop gift cards. We also waited for sales and got a used one. They have great warranty's for this kind of stuff. I have bought him an used Xbox years ago from a store and they replaced it no problems when it didn't work. It was on sale for $299.00 then we had over a $100 in gift cards. They also had a special deal with free shipping. Score one for us! They shipped it in less then a week and it looks like it  has never been touched.

So moral of the story is to do the leg work it pays off! Even when it's frustrating.

Chore/Behavior Chart

Lately we've had trouble with having our daughter complete her chores and keep her behavior in check. We decided to create a chart.

There are many different chore charts and behavior charts out there. I have not been able to find just one that I like. I also didn't want two different charts floating around our house. So I found different examples of charts and combined them to make one chart that fits with our family's needs. Essentially it's a bunch of ideas put into one.

All items I either had already or purchased from Walmart.  The supplies used were round sticky magnets, dryerase magnetic board, ribbon, tape, my computer, and a laminating machine.

First I searched Pinterest for different ideas of chore and behavior charts. I went to many different websites and looked at all the different types that they have. I made sure to find items that I would be able to use for free.

Next I printed out the different ideas that I liked best. I then wrote on note paper how I wanted it to look like. This helped me organize my thoughts.

Once I have my thoughts together I started creating with pic monkey and Microsoft Word the different items I would need for the chart.

I laminated all of the important parts that would be needed for our chart. I then placed magnets on the back of each laminated piece. Every piece was cut out individually. I laid them all out on our dry erase magnetic board.

After messing around with a bunch of different layouts I finally decided on one.

Our chart has several different parts to it. There is the upper part where it's divided by the days of the week as well as things to do, things that are done and the total for the day.

The to do column has a list of chores she needs to complete for the day. When she's completed them she moves them to the done pile. 

At the bottom there is a how's my behavior doing section. It is divided up into five sections. Awesome where she can earn three tickets, good where she can earn two tickets, start of the day, warning, and loss of privilege.

Some loss of privileges we may use are loss of television, loss of innotab time, loss of play date, or loss of activity.

 Each day she can earn up to three tickets. At the end of the week she adds up the total amount of tickets and can redeem them for a prize.

They're only five choices of prizes for two different prize tiers. We did 7 to 14 and 15 to 21 tickets earned. She may pick out one prize from each section depending on how many tickets she earned for the week.

Some prizes we used were pick out dinner, pick out dessert, rent a Redbox movie, pick out a family activity, and pick out a game. These are just some examples of the prizes we used.

It's not perfect but hopefully it will work for us. 

Frozen Halloween Update

Late last week the Princess received a package from her Mimi. Inside was the Elsa costume! Needless to say she has changed her mind and wants to be Elsa for Halloween. :-) Such a fickle pickle she is ;-)

The excitement she had once she opened it was ridiculous.

6 Things No One Told Me About Having a 6 Year Old

So we are going through a rough patch of it I guess. It's like having a 6 going on 16 year old sometimes! So I have decided to make a list of the 6 things no one told me about having a 6  year old. (those that know me will understand why this is hard for me ;-)

1.  They question everything and have an answer to contradict what you tell them. Especially when they don't like the answer they gave you. Mom what color is the sky? Blue. No it's not it's green. 

2.  Stuck somewhere between being independent and not quite so. At least in our house she is capable of doing things but does not always want to or want to try to. 

3.  Making decisions is like asking her to throw away a favorite toy or something. She can't do it.

4.  You can't trick them into thinking homework is fun. They are too smart now a days to be swayed into thinking this worksheet is awesome!

5.  Every in justice in their lives is the end of the world. No you cannot wear make up. But whhhhyyyy? I'm big enough. Older girls do,  it's not fair! Mommmmyyyyyy!

6.  Cleaning your room is sacrilegious.

A Tale of a Frozen Halloween Costume

There once was a fair Princess from a not so far away land where she was asked by her Mother what she wanted to be for Halloween. Like many other Princess' from the other kingdoms this fair maiden wanted to either be Queen Elsa or Princess Anna. When she went to open up her dress up bin she was disappointed that her Queen Elsa dress was short unlike her Princess Anna one. So she picked up her Princess Anna dress and decreed to all the land, "I shall be Princess Anna for Halloween!"

Now I was happy she picked something we already owned but sad she picked something like everyone else. Last year she was Olivia the Pig :-) If I was uber creative and motivated I'd make my hubs dress as Kristoff or his favorite Olaf.

Rambling: Age bias

I'm not sure about any of you but I experience a lot of age bias by other parents. Meaning because I look/am younger the older parents either think I'm not responsible or loose if you catch my drift. Many people are choosing to wait to get married which then pushes back having children later in life then previous generations. Guess who does not fit that mold.

Several years ago at my daughter's old daycare I had a parent come up to me and ask me why I thought my child should attend the daycare since I was a teenage single Mom; she also asked why I was bringing my accident child to such a great daycare when there were other centers in town for people like me.   HELLO???!!! First of all not all teen Mothers are bad. I have seen/known some very awesome ones. Next who the hell do you think you are to come up to me and say that especially in front of my then 2 year old?! I'm sorry I am not what you think a Mother should look like.

I was married for 2 years prior to getting pregnant but since we got married at what is now considered young (22 & 24 yrs) I am obviously some young, irresponsible, uncaring, parent who let's their child live in chaos. WRONG! I am an uptight, over protective, strict, structured, loving 32 year old parent of a 6 year old. I am involved in her life and put her first. I'm sorry if that doesn't fit your hoity-toity view of an appropriate aged parent. Find something better to waste your time on.