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if I close my eyes and make a wish will fairies come and check off my to do list?

By on May 17, 2012 in help!, stuff we do, ☢ rants

because I could seriously use some fairies about now…

I thought while I was waiting for the fairies to show up I would come on here and tell you about my to do list. I promise that it will make your day at least 2% more interesting.

1. we are on a quest towards minimalism. it is freakishly harder to get there than I wish it was. as in, time consuming! I wanted to make a “30 days to” but I don’t want it to take that long!!! it is, however, sort of inevitable I think. the sleeping room probably has another day of optimization left. and meanwhile, we live in quite non-optimal surroundings… (we haven’t yet even started on the other 4 rooms)

2. I NEEEEEEEEEEEEED to organize, sort, delete, systemize all of our files, pictures, videos…………………………….. because we really can’t keep just buying another external hard drive every time we run out of room. and I’m battling all of my drives trying to be in the red zone right now. UUUUUUUUUUUGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

3. I need to track down whatever happened to the picture scanner we bought while in Costa Rica. it wasn’t here when we arrived. soooooo where is it? do YOU have it?!

4. we have various client projects to follow up on. nothing horribly urgent, thank goodness, but all there in my head adding weight. and oh yeah, have to set up two in-person meetings. those always take more time…!

5. we really need to finish our Kaleidoscope site makeover because the portfolio section which already needed to be updated lost all but one picture for each project in the transfer. #headache

6. we need to finish sorting out the details of our self-service sites for Kaleidoscope (Premium Webspots)

7. we need to keep working on our Beauty of One site because it’s currently too confusing and etc. etc. I need to go through all the work that Krista has started and refine it and put it up on the site.

7.a I have a TON of pictures/textures/etc. that need to be sorted and uploaded for stock photography, etc. hopefully develop a little side income there…

8. I need to order new sets of BlankCanvas cards. but I hate ordering, so maybe I could bribe Krista into doing that for me… hmmm.

9. I need to order t-shirts.

10. I need to know where the money is going to come from for above said ordering.

11. speaking of money, we ended up having to get an extension for our taxes because things were just too crazy right around the time that we had procrastinated up until and so yeah, we still have to do those. #timesimnotsureifdeathwouldntbeabetteroption

12. I need to update our Beauty of One social media

13. I need to do at least 10 things for the project related to the trip we are hoping to go on this summer. I need to blog about that also. because I hate when people are vague as much as you probably do.

14. I need to make a very last minute flyer for our church’s youth pastor woohoo! did that in a half an hour

15. I need to make more IRLO Mashup updates and schedule at least 3 more introduction posts = time consuming.

16. I need to figure out what we are having for supper because we need to go grocery shopping. I don’t remotely want to go anywhere today.

17. there is yard work that is being completely ignored. because we can only do so much.

18. there are about 15 things on my church secretary to do list.

19. I want to make a bunch of updates on THIS site.

20. I really want to be the kind of friend who celebrates people on their birthday and checks in with people during the week and all of that. but I can’t right now and it kills me! I recently missed even wishing my friend, Althea, a happy birthday, and that makes me sad. it wasn’t that I didn’t think of her around her birthday, it was just that things happened.

21. obviously there are lots of things we should be doing with our kids. Maeve needs to learn to read better. you know, simple, basic things that are kind of important for success in life.

well. that is a small picture of why I am feeling stressed out today. there are easily 10 more things that I want to do and lots of ways the above things could be broken down into lots of little things. everything just takes so. much. longer. thank it should take!

YES we want to simplify our lives, but getting to the simple is an annoyingly long process! and of course there’s always that whole money factor in there. can’t forget that.

having a huge to do list is just rather paralyzing. I regularly pray that if the work we are doing is not in line with what God has for us that he would show us and direct us in the right way. I feel like he is doing that, but it is scary and we have no idea what it ultimately looks like, so we just keep bumbling along one day at a time. sometimes I think he lets us get pushed to the breaking point so that we will be ready for the next thing that he has for us. we’re there, God, we’re there!

I just want to do this again!

Comments { 5 }

warning: don’t irritate me. I’m detoxing.

By on April 20, 2012 in Costa Rica, help!, Lifestyle, Low-Maintenance Girl, Musings

while we were in Costa Rica I was feeling pretty gross… yes, there were lots of fruits and vegetables, but there was also an overabundance of white flour and rice. and maybe just a few late night ramen parties… oh my word, that picture makes me HUNGRY. seriously, SO yummy. ok, but so not good for my stomach, sheesh.

I had mentioned previously about being a bit of a lard at the moment, and when we got back I waited to step on the scale until after a weekend of binging on snacks and sweets at the marriage retreat we attended. so Monday was the fateful day, and the scale told the same story that my ill-fitting clothes had already spoiler-alerted me to.

I had, however, promised myself that I would kick-start my getting back into normal eating mode by detoxing the first week back in the States. I was trying to figure out what I should do and kind of asked God for something and felt like the lemon detox (aka master cleanse?) was what I needed right now.

Source: Uploaded by user via tico♥tina on Pinterest

 I was fairly certain things would go as they have in the past when I’ve made similar attempts = basically just really pissed that I can’t eat, PLUS no weight loss. I mean, as you can see from the picture, I did kind of downgrade from the recommended “fresh” lemon juice and “organic” pure maple syrup. but this family’s budget says no to that, not to mention my Low Maintenance Girl tendencies.

well, this is day 5, and I am quite happy to say that the first 3 days were AMAZINGLY easy – I honestly wasn’t even hungry. (my stomach was probably still digesting all the weekend crap, lol) yesterday I didn’t start drinking as early as I should have and ended up running out of maple syrup, as you can see from the picture, so I was actually hungry and started to get that frustrated feeling. a carrot with some salt sounded like a feast! I just could NOT stand to intake any more sweetness, even if I would have had the maple syrup I needed.

I came really close to caving, especially since we decided to finish the last episode of Downton Abbey and eating and watching something go hand-in-hand, you know… but Mr. D encouraged me and I decided to just drink some chicken broth – technically cheating, but I didn’t have much for options, so.

my most favorite part of this whole thing is that I’ve actually almost accomplished half of my goal of 12 pounds! obviously I’ll probably get a bit back when I start eating again (and exercising, which I have been dying to do now that I’m back to my exercise ball and stair-stepper!), and just pounds on a scale is not the real goal, but wow how I DO love parts of my body not touching other parts that aren’t supposed to. I intend to basically stick with the foods I was eating last summer that helped me meet my get-back-to-wedding-weight goal, as well as portion control, which tends to be my biggest problem.

so thankfully, this week has largely been a blessing, not full of bad moods like I was afraid of. I was reading a devotional this morning that I felt pertained:

Anger can be traced to a few sources. First, when we lose control of a circumstance that we have placed certain expectations on and those expectations do not result in our desired outcome, we are tempted to get angry. The source of this type of anger is both fear and protection of personal rights. You see, when we believe we have a right to something, we have not given the Lord permission to allow an outcome different from what we want. If an outcome is different from our expectations, this may stimulate fear.

in this case, I feel like food is a right, which is what makes me so mad when I can’t eat. but I have definitely experienced the fear-based anger as well. I try to keep the whole “emotions are like the car dashboard for your heart” thing in mind, but sometimes it is just hard to care in the middle of things :)

how about you? does not eating make you made at the world?

I definitely think about all the many people around the world who have much more right to be angry they can’t eat than “poor” little old me in the USA.

Comments { 6 }

that time I wore clothes and felt awkward.

By on April 18, 2012 in HA! ☺, help!, it's an "outfit"

as I’ve mentioned previously, I am NOT a true outfit poster. I can’t be bothered to figure out where my clothes have come from – conglomeration city. not to mention that too many of the items in my closet are too old to remember anyway.

I’m also not a fashion person. I like simple, eclectic stuff, and I CAN’T keep up with trends. so I’m pretty random with my clothes. my dad once pointed out that I could appear to be from several different eras in one week. that was back when I actually wore outfits, lol. now it’s pretty hit and miss… but I want to try more because it’s just one of the many avenues of creativity that I appreciate.

I’m one of those weird people who cleans up ok and can look decently pretty, but can also look for reals ugly really easily. I am always jealous of those girls who look completely gorgeous without any help whatsoever. I have a feeling Maeve is going to be one of those girls… I don’t see the point of putting my worst side out here on purpose, but I’ve definitely been pretty real in most of our vlogs. that said, my makeup routine is really simple and minimal (and almost always put on in the car on the way to whatever we’re doing), so I guess that’s something.

I honestly really struggle with the whole concept of outfit posts…

HEY LOOK AT ME! I’m wearing clothes and trying to look cute! come on over and ooh and ahh! I’m not full of myself at ALL!!!

it’s kind of the same reason why, when I wrote lyrics for a song back in college and got my friend, Karla, to write the music for it, she surprised me by putting it in the talent show. (she was going to have me sing it, but she heard me saying that I did NOT get talent shows – HEY, I think I sing pretty, ENJOY!) interesting side note: I was sitting with Mr. D for the show when he suddenly got up for one of the acts and I was all, what? I didn’t know you were doing something! and it turned out he was percussion on my song. that was one of my funnier moments in life and one I will never forget, thank you Karlita :)

so the point is, while I think outfit posts are very fun and really enjoy them on other people’s blogs, I feel VERY awkward doing them myself… but I do believe that people are one of God’s most beautiful and interesting creations and creativity and fun with how we present ourselves should be celebrated, so… I want to have fun with it every once in a while and hopefully some personality comes through.

anyway, you’d think that would be enough disclaimers for one post, but I have another one! we were at a marriage retreat this past weekend and I didn’t think about taking pictures until the end of the night when we were back in our hotel room. between crappy lighting, clashing surroundings, and the fact that I have completely lost my posing mojo, there was just really not much to work with.

I think Maeve stole it, because she is a natural poser. I just feel awkward now.
hopefully I’ll get some of it back someday, but until then, here’s all we could manage to snag.
(trust me, black and white is best here…)

I don’t know if this should count, but I’m linking up with WIWW and RMRS :)

 

pleated poppy

Momma Go Round

Comments { 8 }

when life drops 212 pounds of lemons in your lap, I hope you have a He-Man to make lemonade

By on April 13, 2012 in Costa Rica, HA! ☺, help!, traveling

people, I am forever amazed at the insanity that is Mr. D. he is my He-Man for real, and he killed it on our way home.

do you SEE this mound that we were toting around with us in the wee hours of the morning?!

I had the stroller, one of the rolling carry-ons, and the little man. Maeve had one of the rolling carry-ons – 5 year olds are helpful! and Mr. D had ALL 212 pounds of that other stuff, ON HIS BACK! he’s sort of like the Hulk, in my completely un-biased opinion.

I could go on for a good hour recounting the various aspects of the adventure that was getting home. it was the kind of adventure that is quite difficult to embrace in the moment. But let’s just keep it to bullet points, shall we? I was starting to feel like one of those annoying whiny people with some of my recent posts, so we don’t want to go there…

Tina’s Travel Adventure Observations:

  • people in FL wear swimming suits like undershirts? unless it was just a lot of tourists? either way, I’ll call it “fascinating” to be polite.
  • speaking of attire, I was reminded that one good thing about living in the Midwest is that at least part of the year people are kind of forced to dress somewhat modestly out of the necessity to try to stay warm. sheesh people, wearing shorts that look like underwear out in public is just… kinda gross.
  • I did not think “OH MY WORD, everyone is FATTT” this time like my family all did when we moved back to the States from China after a year and a half when I was 16.
  • do those tropical braids (which I’m sure probably have an actual name that I can’t think of right now) actually look good on anyone who is not black, or at least really brown? I am sorry to say I succumbed to some back in 2002 on a cruise to the Bahamas with some girlfriends, but seriously, white scalp is, well, really WHITE.
  • as I was waiting with the kids and our ridiculously huge pile of luggage for Mr. D to find our van, I saw a couple of [ablebodied!] men wheeling those flipping $5 luggage carts around carrying a mere backpack and like an iPad. seriously. (and no, it didn’t appear that they were going to pick up anymore luggage) I was like, wow, can I have those when you’re done NOT getting your money out of them?! I hope we have money to waste like that someday. except that I promise you we would not waste it.
  • ok, whoops, I kind of got whiny again, sorry. some situations just really beg for sarcasm.
  • if one of your kids is about to pee her pants and the other one has crapped his up while you are waiting for two hours in the middle of the night with your huge mound of luggage while your husband attempts to locate your van in one of the vast long term parking lots at O’Hare, running over to catch a group of police/security to beg for one of them to stay with said bags so that you can run your kids to the bathroom might be your only salvation. thank God they came along…!
  • when your husband has no phone and is at his whit’s end hopping shuttles and trying to find above mentioned vehicle in the insanity that is O’Hare, all the while thinking of his poor wife and kids waiting for him back at the terminal, he just might shed a few tears of frustration. even if he IS the Incredible Hulk.
  • carting 6 large pieces of luggage, 1 crazy heavy backpack, 4 other personal item bags, + 1 temperamental stroller, and 2 small children on and off and between shuttles and buses without a cart actually IS possible between 2 adults. certainly ill-advised and a big-time last resort. but possible. if your husband is a He-Man.
  • taking pictures and video, and laughing are all very helpful ways of keeping up one’s spirits during all of the above. as is simply being together, no matter how ridiculous the scenario.
  • having a dad who needs a part picked up in CHItown is very, very handy when he offers to pay for your hotel in order for you not to have to start home at 2:30am.

so let’s review: it was crazy. we survived. Mr. D is a seriously amazing man whom the kids and I am sooo lucky to have!

but I promise you, this is not the end of our adventures. not. even. close…

(we happily danced our way home after a good night of sleep.
because that’s how we do. feel free to make fun of us.)

and yes, it is coming later today :)

Comments { 19 }

that time we tried to leave the country… again!

By on April 11, 2012 in Costa Rica, help!, IRLOMashup, Transitions, traveling

here we go, folks… it’s our “the third time’s the charm or we’re just staying here in Costa Rica forever” day.

more than being embarrassed about it all, I mean I think I kind of got over that, is the whole scrounging around for clothes and then dirty clothes piling up again when we had had everything clean the first go-round; the finding the right clothes for the kids to wear while traveling for the third time – you know, decent, but not too good, not easy to stain, that sort of thing; the packing and cleaning for the third time in a week. we were only leaving Mr. D’s hair clippers here last time, as we discovered, but now, WHO KNOWS. we might be leaving a shoe under a couch somewhere…

actually we found the other one of Maverick’s sandals that had ruined his pair previously, so that’s something. though they were only $1 at Walmart, so… it feels like a bit of a bust compared to the hundreds we’ve had to dish out in “stupid tax” over this whole situation. (Dave Ramsey anyone?)

humbling.

humble pie has got to be like the worst breakfast food.

I hope they’re not serving it at the airport again today. or force-feeding more like it.

see you in Florida tonight, if we make it and can get online, lol. pray?
(Eddy might be praying we get stuck again)

meanwhile, start training your clicking finger so you can be one of the lucky first 10 team members (and in other words, the ones who get to choose who else is going to be on their team) when the races open on Friday! We’ve already got our first giveaway sponsor signed up and we’ll be posting about them as we go! #IRLOMashup baby!!!

Comments { 2 }