Welcome 2018 you will be awesome

Another trip around the sun

I have 60 years left on this planet. I am going to live until I am a healthy 100 years old.

 In 2018:
I will turn 40
My oldest will turn 18
Papabird and I will be celebrating 20 years
My Dad will turn 69

This will be a year of milestones for sure.


2017 was a great year but it was a year of great change. There were many things thrown at me that were very unexpected most I did not handle very well.

I did not react well to most things, but I have the power to change that. I am a highly reactive person and usually strike back hard and fast  when hurt or angered without thinking. I have worked hard over the years to get this reaction in check but  I had some recent situations in my life that caused many hurt feelings.The second half of 2017  is when I really focused on what I needed to change.

"All bad habits start slowly and gradually and before you know you have the habit, the habit has you." Zin Zigler

I realize now that life is about perspective and the law of attraction.

The thoughts you have in your head become who you are. Raised by a police officer  I grew up in a house where the glass was half empty. There is always something bad out there, someone is always out to get you, expect the worst and be prepared for it......

Well living this way put me in a very negative place. I mean how can I be happy and positive if I think that something bad is always around the corner  and am too busy preparing to deal with situations that have not yet happened.

Sure bad shit is going to happen but I am trying hard and have making giant steps on focusing each day on the good in life, NOT the bad! The birds are chirping and the sun is shining- even when they are not!

1.Yoga
2.Mediation
3.Exercise
4.Green juice

Are some things that I have been doing regularly in 2017 which I really believe have helped. When your body mind and soul are nourished and  feeling good, life will follow. I have lost 25 lbs. and am a much stronger me. Physically and mentally. I am excited for 2018 and am ready to take it on with a new mindset and motivation. I have some exciting projects that I am working on, this will be an amazing year!

Bring it on 2018

Harvest Moon Camping

I said many times and I will keep saying it: I love the moon and feel alive, invigorated and empowered every time there is a full moon. Maybe there is actually power in the full moon or maybe I just am excited about seeing something so beautiful, I may never know. What I do know is that I  will never stop looking at the moon in all it's magical beauty.

I did not actually take this photo of the moon but this is what it looked like on Sept. 6, 2017 as it was rising and peeking through the dark gray/blue storm clouds. As it rose it looked whiter, brighter and smaller.

Fun moon facts:

The full moon will always look bigger when it’s near the horizon, but it’s not actually bigger. It’s totally an optical illusion. You can test this by just holding an penny at arm’s length. The penny will exactly cover the moon when it’s by the horizon and it’ll do the same when you hold it up to the sky when the moon is higher up but appears smaller.
Also the moon and the sun will look redder when they're by the horizon. The reason for this is because we're seeing them through the maximum thickness of atmosphere, which absorbs blue light and transmits red.

I decided to take my 4 younger kids camping at Maumee Bay State park this year to celebrate the full harvest moon and our journey into the fall season.

Our campsite was gorgeous, a spectacular view a yellows, whites, and deep golden wildflowers along the large pond. I had been watching the weather and it looked like we might get a few hours of rain at check in time when we were supposed to set up our tents. So we left very early and arrived by 11pm to set up our tents before the rain.

Canary stole my phone and took a bunch of photos, most of them were of grass and and the tires on the van but this one was a great action photo of me setting up our tent.

The weather was great, we spent the day exploring and going on bike rides along the shore. I did not take many pictures but I was fully in the moment feeling the wind on my face and the sun on my skin. Owl came up with a great game that we played while riding, it was called "What to you see that is beautiful." We took turns looking around us as we cycled along naming one item at a time that we thought was beautiful. Such a great game!

We went back to our campsite to cook dinner and to make moon water which we infused with small shards of black tourmaline. We also made some glow in the dark bracelets with glow in the dark beads.

Some of our tiny moon water charms hanging in a tree waiting for the moon.

Getting ready to head to the beach for our lantern walk after reading a page in the book Full Moon Lore we love this book so much, we brought our library copy but I need to add this to my amazon shopping list ASAP.

Everyone loved the cute little mice nibbling on corn!

We watched the moon rise, wrote messages in the sand, listened to the soft lake waves, and walked with our lanterns while listening to some beautiful lantern songs found on youtube.

It was such a calm peaceful walk.

Back at camp with our lanterns glowing into the night.

Gorgeous moon photo I caught on one of our many walks to the bathroom.

Around 11:30 Robin and I sat out by the fire after everyone else was asleep just chatting about books and life. It was a nice moment, I think we should go camping together one night just the 2 of us!

Just as the moon moved out of a 100% full one of my children woke up vomiting, which brought our camp out to an abrupt end. I built a fresh fire for the children to sit around and by the light of the moon and our warm fire we torn down out tents and packed up the van with the help of Papabird who rode out on that beautiful  September night. 

We had many activities planned for the next day but I assured the children that we would stop back next week and spend the day there.

Despite the fact our camp out ended in a vomit covered mess I would do it all over again because up until that point we had a blast. 

We picked up these great books from the lodge gift shop that I cannot wait to use for our studies.

Don't clean - go play!

I was sweeping the kitchen floor after dinner and feeling overwhelmed by the mess in the house with  Papabird working late. That is when my 2 boys raced outside to  kick a ball around.

This struck me as odd because usually after dinner they get a bit of electronic time. They did
 not even ask, they just wanted to play outside. This was even after playing outside for 2.5 after school.

They are always asking me to play with them but my response is usually "I do not have time" all I could hear in my head as they were playing was:

(A fellow mom made this card for me, it was taped to the inside of my planner for awhile)

So I left my pile of crumbs on the floor set the broom down and went right outside.

They were so excited that I was going to play them...

Yes, Duck decided to take of his boots and play in socks, Sigh! I need to buy stain remover in bulk!!!

We had so much fun.

We laughed

We ran

We even fell down, all of us! My ankle still hurts to walk on today. As an extra bonus I got in 30 extra minutes of exercise according to my fitbit I burned 180 calories. Good things because my ankle is so sore today my workout is going to be quite light!

I look at my now 16 year old and am reminded everyday how quickly time passes. I really do love a clean house but before I know it my house will be clean and empty with grown kids who have moved out.

I know all too soon I will long for the days that my kids were little and the house was messy.

No time = not a priority.

While I was eating lunch at my desk this week I pulled up a random TED talks video to watch while I ate my delicious pico de gallo. The video was was about Time management by Laura Vanderkam.

There are so many valid points in her video  the word "Too busy" does not necessarily mean "Too busy" what it really means that those said items are just not a priority.

No time means not a priority.

Every minute I spend in life is  my choice

There are 168 hours in a week how we choose to spend them is up to us, EVERYTHING we do is a choice. Should I scrub my toilet or should I read a book? = choice!

If you asked me last year why I was not reading for pleasure I would have responded  with "I have no time" I was just too busy. I decided when 2017 started that I would read 1 book each month for the next 12 months. I was surprised that once I made that a priority I was able to read not only just one book but TWO!!

How did I do that? Well, I took my book with me everywhere I went and I found 5-10 minutes here and there that I could open up my book and read instead of pulling out my phone and playing with that.I also started reading in bed for 10-40 minutes each night (some nights I read more because the book was really good) I found that doing this has helped me sleep better as well. I remember reading a few articles years ago about how blue light affects our sleep click here for an article about blue lights from your phone.

Laura Vanderkam suggests writing a  year end review of what you would like people to read about the successes of your year. This sounds like a great way of setting up your goals for the year.

What I found really important was that she suggests each week  ( Friday afternoon) writing out a priority list and putting it in your calendar making sure you make time for what you really feel is important.

I have a lot of things in the works  right now with my kids being in school, this video just dropped  many items off my list. Some things are just not a priority at this time  for me.

Simplify and re evaluate 

Interested in hearing more about Laura click here to be directed to her website.

Maybe one of her books will be on my reading list in the coming months.....