Hobbies and stuff

How many of you have dozens of interests that pull at your time? Lots of things you'd like to learn to do better, things you genuinely enjoy doing?

Okay, I might not have dozens, but I have a bunch. Cooking for one. I have a cooking blog here that I haven't updated in months. I blame it on school. And that's partially true: I don't have time to cook and bake as much as I did, and I certainly don't have a lot of time to experiment with food, and by the time I've cooked whatever it is we're going to eat, I don't have the willpower to make myself photograph it: I'm hungry, the kitchen's a mess, and often the last thing I want to do is worry about plating my food for a photo.
I do enjoy the writing; but I find the pressure to post often difficult to deal with.

Sewing is another one. When I moved into my house, I met my neighbor and she asked if I quilted. I never had, but had been interested in it ever since my sister-in-law's best friend gave her a beautiful quilt for her baby shower. So I borrowed my mom's 50-year-old Viking and started quilting. That same summer I made a skirt. I have to admit, the planning part is my favorite. I'm addicted to fabric and love picking out beautiful fabrics and envisioning the final project. Since I started, I've finished a skirt, 4 aprons, two quilts, 1 quilt top, and lots of unfinished quilt squares. I have loads of fabric waiting for me to start the projects...including fabric for a second Christmas quilt (if I ever finish the first one...), a tree skirt, an everyday quilt, some aprons...yeah. Lots and lots. Like I said: I love fabric.

Photography is my major one. I love photography. I like to think I have a good eye, as well. My dad started teaching me photography skills when I was about 12. I think. He had an old 35 mm camera and taught me how to focus and expose. He taught me the rule of thirds. He has always been encouraging and regularly points out photos I've taken that he finds especially lovely. I love it. A few years ago, I bought a dSLR camera, an entry-level Canon Rebel. I was so excited; and I'd told my husband that that was one of the conditions of getting pregnant: I had to have a good camera to take photos of our children! (Our baby girl followed a couple of years later.) I've acquired three nice prime lenses since we bought the camera, as well as a nicer flash unit. I now have dreams of upgrading my camera body to something a little bit more suitable to my needs. But how to justify the expense?

My main reason for writing all of this is to ponder the question: when do we do these hobbies? I have to admit, education/reading is another hobby of mine, and as a graduate student, a major time constraint. But I love it. With graduate school, I have deadlines, and I always think: after I'm done, I'll have time for other interests. But will I?

I really doubt it. The only way I can think of is to make time for them. Maybe once I can start getting the other things I should be doing under control (things like cooking dinner each day and keeping a clean house, those things on my lists I referenced earlier), maybe I can find a way to dedicate time to these extracurricular hobbies. I think all the hobbies I've listed are at least productive. It's all about starting slowly, right? We accomplish resolutions by starting with small bites. Hopefully, I'll small bite myself into more of these hobbies sooner, rather than later.

I'm ready for a weekend!

Yes, I realize the weekend is not yet over, but that doesn't change the fact that I'm still ready  for a weekend. This week was exhausting in an unfortunately not very productive way. It really started off rough, and I just never quite caught up again. See, my little girl had a really bad Monday. Like, awful. She turned one earlier this month, and also morphed into a tantrum-throwing toddler. And what's difficult for me, a new mommy, is distinguishing between her "I'm being a snot" tantrums and her "I genuinely need something and you're not understanding" tantrums, the latter of which I don't really consider to be tantrums so much as I think they're frustrating for all of us. I don't want to reward bad behavior, I don't want to feed the tantrum monster...I want a well-behaved child. But how to get that...well, I don't actually know.

So, to that end, Monday was awful. I ended up carrying her around most of the day, not getting anything productive done at all, and sitting on the floor watching her play. She plays by herself, as long as you are not doing anything except watching her. Get up to check your email, and it's all over. She also took a horrendously short nap (like, less than 40 minutes) so she was also exhausted. By 4 pm, I was so tired of the whining, the screaming, the tears, that I put a movie on and we sat and watched it. Rather, she cuddled into me (which she never does) for about 15 minutes and then climbed down off the couch and walked around the living room, sometimes watching the movie, sometimes playing with a scrap of paper on the floor, for the remaining hour, until I turned it off. Then the waterworks started up again, but at least there was only about an hour left before J. came home.

That night, we had dinner with our neighbors, and we were both so harried that as we prepared dinner, we couldn't help but laugh, out of desperation, at how frustrated we were with our kids. We decided that we could make it to the weekend, and would reward ourselves with a treat.

The rest of the week, to be honest, was not quite as bad as Monday, but not really much better, either. She had one good day where she slept for over 2 hours, but since I wasn't expecting a nice long nap, I got nothing done.

When Saturday finally came, J. asked me what I wanted to do. I find that if I don't set out goals for the weekend, nothing gets done because I let myself loaf about. So, I said I'd like to go out and do some unneccesary (but still productive) shopping. The thing is, I wanted to leave the house without needing to, without needing to be back by a certain time. I wanted to leave because I wanted to. So, we stopped at Lowes and picked up paint chips (for a huge project this summer), then we went to Michael's and picked up a foam wreath form for a Christmas wreath (yep, you read that right...in January!), and we wrapped up at Pier 1, because I'd heard they had all their Christmas stuff 90% off. (Again with the Christmas, I know, I know...). And on the way home, we stopped at In and Out and got a shake and an order of fries to split. A nice treat.

Now, why am I working on Christmas in January? Well, let me tell you. Last Thanksgiving, my sister-in-law, frustrated by the fact that we never go to my in-laws for Christmas, called with a proposition. She didn't say she was frustrated, but more that she wanted to be able to see us at Christmas, and suggested that we host next Christmas. She thought with over a year's notice, we'd have time to prepare mentally and all my husband's siblings would have time to save money for airfare. I like my sister-in-law, so I agreed. And then the panic set in.

See, I'm a frugal, young wife and mother. We've been married for five years, but we only bought our house three years ago, and I've been slow to decorate. (For Christmas or otherwise). We've slowly furnished our home, piece by piece, relying on hand-me-downs in the meantime. It's worked really well for us; we've never spent more than we feel comfortable spending and we're on our way to a beautiful home. But, this means I also don't have a perfectly decorated home at Christmas. We have a tree, and a few things, but the decor is really lacking. And, being a self-conscious daughter-in-law (the only daughter-in-law, mind you), I'm a little uptight about how I'm perceived by my husband's family. So, the lists came out. I wrote all kinds of lists and tried to take advantage of after-Christmas sales. And I got some good stuff...I'm not done, and there's a lot I need to make. And I don't think I'd be worrying about it now except for the fact that I'm a grad student. Which means that in addition to playing mommy all day, I have homework, a thesis to write, and a class to teach. I'm busy. And in October and November, when I would start worrying about it, I should be finishing up my thesis and preparing to graduate, which doesn't leave much time for doing all the sewing I have planned. (Umm...I don't have a tree skirt. Or a stocking for my daughter. Or table linens. (Which I wouldn't sew but am thinking about sewing some table runners). And I would really like to finish a Christmas quilt to go by the fire. And I have a kit for a darling nativity wall hanging.) I've been pretty ambitious in my plans, but I'm trying to be realistic. The quilt and nativity probably won't get done, but I need a tree skirt. And a stocking for my daughter. I figured the only way to get everything done and purchased without completely hating my life is to work on it all year.

One of the other things that I think is probably important is a wreath for the door. Thus the trip to Michael's. I got the wreath form for about $6 (I used a 40% coupon) and then it took me just about an hour to decorate it. I first wrapped it in ribbon and then hot glued old Christmas ornaments over it. The ornaments are what I've used for my tree in the past, but I've felt it lacked personality. I've used a couple of big boxes of cheap ornaments I picked up from Target after Christmas one year, one box in red and one box in gold. I liked the color scheme, but I'm going to go in a different direction this year in the hopes of making it more personal to my family. I've decided, since I have some Swedish heritage, to go with a Swedish theme, so I'll be going with a brighter red and white. So, I took all my red and gold ornaments and used them for this wreath, and then it feels less wasteful to not use them on the tree. I'm really pleased with it, and I think I'll just add a few more ornaments when I think about it, to fill it in a little better.

Unfortunately, now I need to figure out where to store it. I don't have a wreath box. And it's actually pretty big. For now, it's sitting on the dining table. Next to the purchases I made at Pier 1 that also don't have a home.

(Okay, I just have a brag for just a minute.) I spent almost $13 and I bought a roll of wrapping paper, 4 boxes of ornament hooks, 6 pillar candles, 1 box of 30 tea lights, 3 small boxes of "filler" (pinecones, fake berries and fake pine branches), 5 packages of 8 paper plates, and 2 packages of 20 napkins. Nothing cost more than a dollar, and the ornament hooks were 18 cents a piece. Great deals, huh?

Now I just have to find a place for it all.

Lists, Lists Everywhere

I am a list girl. There, I've said it.

Okay, I don't actually think it's anything to be ashamed of. I love lists. They help keep me on track.

At least, they're supposed to. Often, my lists are on made on scratch paper, which get shoved somewhere--a pocket, a purse, a drawer--and then lost. A lot of good a lost list does, right?

So, this year, I'm hoping to improve. Here's what I think will work for me.

I took a blank notebook of lined paper. The kind you pick up from Walmart for a nickel in August before school starts. I plan to keep this notebook right next to my computer, which happens to be in the kitchen. All of my lists should be in here. It's accessible, and already I've taken the notebook over to the couch while I've worked on my lists, and since it's so big (and not a small scrap of paper) it's harder to lose. Or easier to keep track of, however you want to look at it.

I'm also trying to be better about what kind of lists I make and how well I use them. This is still in the early stages and may change, but right now I plan on outlining the days of the week at the top with the main menu item for dinner each day. Then, below that, I outline each day again, and write down specific tasks or events. The obvious problem is making sure I remember events that are scheduled more than a week in advance: therefore, I also will try to actually use my Google Calendar...

I really like the way Google Calendar is set up. It has the nice reoccuring feature you can easily add, and it also has a variety of views. I genereally prefer the month view, but you could also select a few different versions of a week (business week, full week, Monday start, Sunday start, etc) as well as a single day. In short, I really like the idea and wish I was in a better habit of using it. But that's what resolutions are for, right? Making habits.

Back to the lists. In addition to my weekly planning page, I've also written a page of various household tasks that I should be doing, but am not. I'm a terrible housekeeper, and you should definitely pity my poor husband who has to put up with it. Now, don't mistake me: we don't live in squalor. I've sorted the tasks into daily, weekly, and monthly tasks. It's not exhaustive, but I felt it was doable for me at this stage. I have only three tasks for each day: pick up clothes, prepare dinner, and make the bed. There are a lot of things that should be done daily in additon to those, but I want to succeed, so I'm starting small and selecting things that I think will be accomplishable. If that's even a word.

I've also generated a list of about 35 main menu items that I can make (and that we've enjoyed in the past), so that when it comes time to prepare that weekly menu, I can do so easily and also plan meals that will use some of the same ingredients so that the remaining doesn't go to waste. For instance, I don't drink milk, and only use to cook/bake with, and I can't tell you how much milk we've poured down the drain because it spoiled before we used it all. (And I rarely buy more than a half gallon at a time!) But, if I planned better, we could use it for several dinners and baking so that none of it went to waste. Not only does throwing out food waste money, it also just plain wastes the food, and I hate doing that. I also hope that it will help us eat more balanced, not just in an individual meal, but throughout the week. Instead of eating chicken every night, I can make sure we're eating a variety of proteins, and that we aren't eating the same food every week. How boring is that?

I also plan to use the notebook to keep a running grocery list. I typically sit down the night before shopping and generate a list, but I often forget all the things that I ran out of through the week. I think this is primarily one of the reasons I've often had to run to the store 2-3 times a week--I think I have something because I always have it, but when it gets right down to it, I ran out and forgot to pick up more at the store. A running list, where I can record quickly the things I'm out of when I run out of them will help I think.

I'm sure other things will come up as I continue to use it, and I think that's one of the things I like most about using a plain old notebook. It's so flexible. It's not a day planner, it's a simple notebook. I don't like being told how to structure my scheduling device, and it's kind of ironic that I'm sharing it here, hoping it will help. So, I'll end this with a direction.

If you don't already have a scheduling system that works for you, think about your life and what you need to help you. Do you need a regular day planner? Do you need a calendar on the wall where you can pencil in big events? Or a big dry erase calendar that you can update and change each month? Or a simple notebook next to your desk? What kinds of lists help you stay on top of your life?

After you answer those questions, go forth and be organized. Good luck!

72 Hour Kits

This week, my husband didn't have to work! It's been fun to have him home all day, and we've tried to be productive. Yesterday, we pulled out our "72-hour kit," which gets to go in quotation marks because I'm not actually positive it would help that much. The way it was, anyway...

 

We went through everything in there, and took out 6 expired Clif bars, 2 corroded batteries, and several almost-expired batteries (which we'll use). We made a Walmart run (and by we, I mean my husband) and he picked up new Clif bars as well as some first aid helps.

 

We added a bunch of stuff to it as well. I added an extra outfit for me as well as a sweatshirt, and I added a long sleeve shirt to the Walmart list for my husband. I added extra undergarments to both of our bags. I added an additional battery-free (crank) flashlight. It's still not perfect, and we need to update our expired car kits, but we're on our way! I have no idea what to include for my 1-year-old, however. She's growing so fast that anything I put in there would likely not help much at all.

 

Currently, our kit contains the following.

• 2 pairs of jeans each
• 2 sets of undergarments each
• 2 pairs of socks each
• 1 long-sleeved shirt for me
• 2 short-sleeved shirts each
• 1 sweatshirt for me
• 6 Clif bars
• 3 rolls of toliet paper
• 2 toothbrushes
• 1 small tube of toothpaste
• 1 travel-sized shampoo
• 1 bar of soap
• 2 tubes of sunscreen
• 2 crank flashlights
• 1 batter-operated flashlight with siren and flashing lights
• 1 bag of assorted batteries
• 1 box of matches
• 3 ponchos
• 1 emergency blanket (the small silver kind)
• 1 spare pair of glasses
• 1 small bottle of contact solution
• 1 contact case
• 2 travel-sized sticks of deoderant
• feminine hygiene products
• 1 bottle of ibuprofin
• bandaids
• neosporin
• 1 ace bandage
• 1 benadryl stick
• sterile guaze pads
• medical tape
• moleskin
• throat lozenges
• decongestant nasal spray
• 1 flat of bottled water (approximately 2 gallons)

Pretty good, huh? Not complete, but getting there. I need to add

• rope
• 1 tarp
• tweezers
• an oral decongestant
• medical scissors
• triangle bandage
• more food options
• additional clothes for husband (another shirt and a sweatshirt)
• duct tape
• better food options
• a real blanket
• clothing for daughter

Really, not too bad. I'm glad we made the effort to go through it this week, and I hope we can get around to purchasing all these things sooner rather than later. We also need to have a small kit in each of our cars. We had purchased-kits that my mom gave us for Christmas one year, but apparently it's been a lot of years because the food and the water all expired. Time to make new ones! They will be smaller versions of what I have above.

Do you have an emergency kit? Where do keep it and what do you keep in it? How often do you go through it?