Category Archives: Uncategorized

The good ol’ donut trick

09 Tuesday Mar 2021

Posted by in church, coffee, food, lessons, life, Uncategorized

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There’s just something about donuts.

I still remember going to coffee and donuts in the Large Hall after mass on Sundays. I also remember feeling guilty about whether our family was “donating” the right amount to account for all the donuts my cousins and I ate, ha!

But there’s some kind of pull that donuts have, whether free, paid for, or under the pretense of “free.” As guilty as people may feel about eating them, they’re almost always worth the guilt. They make people happy, they bring people together, and they make a good impression.

I started “using” donuts when I was a new secretary for an intermediate school. I interacted on a daily basis with so many people at the District Office that I never actually met face to face. And I relied on them and their kindness – whether to be responsive to my 100th question as a newbie or to expedite something I needed done or approved right away. And somehow donuts came in to the equation. Every now and then (not often because let’s be real, they’re not THAT cheap and I was pretty fucking broke) I’d drop off a dozen donuts to various departments. At first it was just the maintenance department since I put in a million facility requests…but once I saw the positive effect, it quickly expanded to Ed Services, Fiscal, and HR (a girls gotta do what a girls gotta do).

Although I usually put my school name on the box of donuts rather than my own (it felt selfish and too transparent, ha!), I interacted with people in those departments when I dropped them off. And they were appreciative: it was a kind act that didn’t go unnoticed. And they always remembered who dropped them off. So they remembered me. So my emails were replied to quickly…my work orders were addressed when I called to check up, and usually with a kind word.

Fast forward a few years, and I now work at the District Office. I truly believe my easy transition into that work place was because of the familiarity those donuts gave me with a lot of individuals. I had already established connections beyond the emails back and forth.

Pre-COVID, donuts worked with my new co-workers as well. It’s something so small, but a little donut breaks up the monotony of one morning running into all the others. And I love being the person that gets to provide that moment of happiness, or distraction.

And they obviously work on my kids, too.

But I have to confess I’ve taken my donut scheme to a whole new level: my grocery store.

I love Stater Brothers. It’s my go-to grocery store every week (although our boys are quickly moving us toward Costco size grocery purchases…): I love that it’s kind of old-timey and not super modern, I know where to find everything, their produce is always great (no brown stem lettuce here…I’m looking at you, Ralph’s!), and….the meat counter. I mean…it’s a thing of beauty and wonder.

Recently I’ve been regaling Jeff with stories of my gradual conquest of the older gentleman that is most frequently attending the meat counter. It’s taken years, but recently I’ve gotten past the simple “can I get you anything else?” He’s used some terms of endearment (sweet, not creepy), and gone the extra mile to get me the cuts I wanted. So last week I thought I’d seal the deal…with donuts. I decided to split the dozen with the produce crew that also deserves and receives my gratitude, but that I don’t usually interact with directly. But it seemed like the right thing to do. So a small pink box with six donuts went to one of the produce stockers that I recognized, and another small pink box with six donuts went to Kyle behind the meat counter.

(Don’t worry everyone – I don’t call him by his name (not yet!), but there’s a name badge and how can I just ignore the fact that I now know his name?!)

We’ll see on Saturday morning if they did the trick: if my face will be more memorable because of the donuts I delivered. But on delivery day Kyle did go out of his way to thank me a couple times for the donuts. And I’m not gonna lie…I was nervous enough about my whole scheme that I forgot the ground beef.

Grocery Store Zen

07 Sunday Feb 2021

Posted by in adulting, cooking, family, planning, Uncategorized

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Well, if finally happened. On a perfectly sunny afternoon in February (the 6th day of February of the year 2021, aka yesterday, to be exact and for posterity), I finally reached my Grocery Store Zen. I had stopped by Starbucks for a little pick me up, then strolled in to Stater Brothers, pulled back my cart, pulled over by the avocados, put on my sweater (because I get COLD in the store, even if it’s 100 degrees outside), put in my AirPods, got my music going, pulled out my list, pen, and reusable produce bags to place on the kid seat portion of the cart, placed all other reusable bags on the bottom of the cart, and I just knew it: this, this is my Grocery Store Zen.

Quick aside: why is it always avocados, or tangerines, that they place at the entrance of the grocery store? I mean, they ALSO have them in the produce section…is it because they spoil quickly? I’d imagine almost all produce spoils fairly quickly…I’d say it’s because they don’t need those little water sprayer things…but neither do apples, and they NEVER have apples there! The INJUSTICE is all I’m saying….

[Insert Nacho Libre “Anyways” GIFF that I couldn’t find]

Cart. Avocados. We’re back.

After having kids, probably shortly after the second kid (of three), Jeff and I realized meal planning was our game changer. We hated having to figure out what we were going to have for dinner every day, then stopping by the store or whatever. And after thirteen years, we finally realized that meal planning our lunches is also necessary for us.

So on weekends I use my meal planner to lay out our dinners for the week, and make my grocery list, then I go shopping on either Saturday or Sunday. I go during the boys nap time – which I sometimes hate because I lose that down time for myself, but it’s what works for our little fam. It’s a strange thing: it’s such a pain to sit down and think of meals for the week, and go to the store, but also…I do get a little thrill in pulling down my meal planner and setting about this habitual task.

So buying groceries is definitely a part of my weekend routine, and I’ve gotten my system down pretty well, starting on the right with produce, then working my way across and ending with dairy/refrigerated stuff (it’s also the order of my grocery list, hellooooooo A-type personality!). Sometimes I would take my headphones and either listen to a book on Audible, or music, but the headphones usually got stuck on something, which would then make my phone fall out of my purse, or a headphone fall out…and then I had to add a mask to it, and well, it was a pain.

Then: Christmas. My in-laws bought me AirPods, and they’re also a game changer. No getting stuck on anything, no problem with my mask…the only difficulty is adjusting the volume when I get to the meat counter: I liked the ease if the pause button my the headphones, instead of having to take my phone out now. But you know…first world problems and all.

So, yeah, that brought my Grocery Store Zen to the ultimate level of bliss (if you can use “bliss” to describe shopping for groceries). I guess that and finding good music/playlists to keep me awkwardly singing out loud while I pick my groceries.

What about you? What’s your dinner/grocery buying routine? What makes it easier?

Literate Lushes: August 2018 to April 2020

15 Wednesday Apr 2020

Posted by in book review, books, Literate Lushes, Uncategorized

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Wow. I couldn’t even keep it within a year! Let’s get to work.

August 2018: The Cabin at the End of the World, by Paul Tremblay.  It’s obviously been a while since I read this one.  It’s an apocalyptic scenario, and I gotta say, not my preferred scenario to read about, haha.

September 2018: Circe, by Madeline Miller.  This book has the same author as The Song of Achilles, which I LOVED.  I also really enjoyed this book.  It’s an engrossing story, and I loved learning a little more about Greek mythology through it.

October 2018: Sharp Objects, by Gillian Flynn.  We’ve read a couple books by this author before.  Also not my favorite category of books, but an easy and entertaining read.  Definitely had some good twists and turns.

December 2018: Still Alice, by Lisa Genova.  This book was heartbreaking and heart warming.  I loved the “insider’s” perspective of someone going down the path of Alzheimer’s.

January 2019: Priceless: How I Went Undercover to Rescue the World’s Stolen Treasures, by Robert K. Wittman.  This was an interesting, historical book.  The writing wasn’t as enthralling as some other books, but the topic was interesting.

February 2019: Tin Man, by Sarah Winman.  Another book that was entertaining, and an easy read.

March 2019: What Dreams May Come, by Richard Matheson.  I skipped this one, and can’t really remember the movie, haha.

May 2019: Where the Crawdads Sing, by Delia Owens.  This book has made it to some pretty popular book clubs, including the Literate Lushes!  A good read – although I have to agree with some critics that some of it was unbelievable to the detriment of the story.  But intriguing and definitely kept me hooked to the end, which I kiiiiiiinda saw coming.

June 2019: Eva Luna, a Novel, by Isabel Allende.  I’m a huge fan of Isabel Allende, but not a fan of this book.  It was sometimes fiction, sometimes surreal, and the mix was just confusing (not sure I’m using the right literary terms…).  It also seemed at times like a collection of vignettes rather than a novel.

July: Small Great Things, by Jodi Picoult.  I had read this book a while back and chose it as my pick for the month.  It was a big hit, and provided for some great conversations.

September: The Power, by Naomi Alderman.  This book was giving me the major creeps until I realized what the author was doing, and then it was genius.  I thought it was a very clever way to show the challenges and disadvantages some women have in our world.

October: The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair that Changed America, by Erik Larson.  I’m not big on criminal/murder mysteries, and I was pretty pregnant at this point, haha, so I skipped this one as well.

December: The Vine Witch, by Luanne G. Smith.  I felt like the wine metaphors and descriptions were a little over done, but I guess to be expected from the title!  A nice, easy read.

January 2020: Educated: a Memoir, by Tara Westover.  With the holidays and a baby in the house, I didn’t have a chance to finish reading this one, but enjoyed what I did read.  The challenges some humans overcome amazes me, and makes me so thankful that my life is not book-worthy.  A really good read from what I read, and from the discussions at book club, very relatable for many people on the front of domestic violence and family relationships/dynamics.

February 2020: Less, by Andrew Sean Greer.  Not gonna lie, it was hard to believe this is a Pulitzer Prize winning book, ha!  An easy enough read, but I didn’t think the writing was that great, nor the story super entertaining.  I never grew to like the main character, which makes it hard to stay engaged.

March 2020: A Murmur of Bees, by Sofia Segovia.  One of my new favorite books!  I read this book in the original Spanish version, but heard that the English version translates just as well.  This book was heart wrenching and also, oddly relatable to our times since some chapters talk about the original Spanish influenza.  We actually had to cancel our book club meeting for this book because of the COVID-19 developments, and ended up eventually doing it via Zoom once we realized we wouldn’t be able to do it in person for a while.  The writing was spectacular, I loved so many of the characters, and loved the surrealism that was woven into the story.

April 2020: The Silent Patient, by Alex Michaelides.  This felt like a super quick read, but maybe that’s just because I’ve had a lot of down time while nursing all the time at home!  I enjoyed this book and definitely was surprised by the ending.

Extra reads:

Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine: A Novel, by Gail Honeyman.  I think I’m coming to realize that I really like European novels.  This was a great read!  Funny and sad, light and heavy.

The 100-Year-Old-Man Who Climbed out the Window and Disappeared, by Jonas Jonasson.  I loooooved this book!  So quirky and silly, and adorable.

Mr. Penumbra’s 24-Hour Bookstore: A Novel, by Robin Sloan.  Another fun read!  This one involves book stores, mystery solving, and secret societies – what’s not to like?

Beartown, A Novel, by Frederik Backman. How have I not written about this book yet?!  I know I’ve mentioned this before, but I love everything this author has written.  This book is heartbreaking, and beautiful. “We are the bears, we are the bears, we are the bears of Beartown!”

Us against You, by Frederik Backman.  A sequel to Beartown.  My review is the same as above.

Things my Son Needs to Know about the World, by Frederik Backman.  Super short and adorable read, with little “life lessons” on parenting.  Super relatable for me.

The Century Trilogy, by Ken Follett.  I read book 1 (Fall of Giants) and 2 (Winter of the World).  I love historical fiction, and really enjoyed reading these books and the historical moments surrounding them.  I loved that the characters spanned generations.  I read some pretty terrible reviews about book 3, and given how long they are, I just couldn’t invest the time based on the reviews.

Girl, Wash Your Face, by Rachel Hollis.  I had mixed feelings about this book.  Part of it was motivational, another part felt like high school peer-pressure to be a cool kid.  It didn’t change my life, haha.

Handcrafted: A Woodworker’s Story, by Clint Harp.  En enjoyable read.  My take-away: sometimes you just have to be in the right place, at the right time.  It does give me some hope that maybe someday Jeff and/or I will strike out on our own to do whatever it is that we find our passion for.

Currently reading/listening to: The Education of an Idealist, a Memoir, by Samantha Power. As someone who dreamed of being an ambassador as a child, I’ve been avoiding reading this book.  I’m afraid it will point out how I’ve fallen short in my professional achievements.  Which leads me back to “letting go of expectations,” and it becomes a vicious circle, haha.

What are you reading these days?  What’s been your favorite?

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Quarantine Diary: April 1, 2020

01 Wednesday Apr 2020

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I tried something different today. Monday and Tuesday were not my best days. I found myself with a super short fuse, filled with anxiety about Jake’s school work, house work, my work, keeping Josh entertained, and the baby alive. You know – the basics.

Today I woke up and decided I needed to take it easy. I said screw the schedule, and enjoy the day. I basically took a mental health day, haha. I started the day in a much better mood, and was way more patient and graceful about the boys going through their morning. I told Jeff I was switching things up, and that I’d need him to watch the baby during Josh’s nap so I could dedicate some time to Jake’s school work after lunch. Jeff is working from home also, so we’re trying to be good about communicating our needs to each other-when he has meetings and can’t help, when I need to respond to work emails and need him to take over, etc. It ain’t easy, folks. There’s guilt on all sides….I feel guilty for asking for his help when I know he has work to do, I feel guilty for not dedicating more time to a job that I’m so fortunate to have during these times (and all times), guilty that we let the boys watch MORE tv last night while we had our first zoom “happy hour” with some of our dear friends, etc., etc. But I digress….

During breakfast I talked to the boys about using a safe word when mommy gets frustrated or upset. Sounds ridiculous, but I think the boys holding me accountable for my mood, in a kind way, could be helpful for me. I decided on “spaghetti.” Ha! Jake thought we should also say a rhyme or joke, which I thought was overkill, but he put it in practice later that morning: the boys were brushing their teeth and started to argue about who was using what stool (a frequent argument in this house) and I told them to use their words. Jake said “spaghetti…what do you call a three humped camel?” Josh and him started talking, and Jake said “wow, that worked really well.” I had to laugh. The joke helped diffuse the situation, which was pretty genius! I also had to explain that he couldn’t call spaghetti on me for everything, like asking him to flush the toilet.

Instead of jumping into our schedule and doing school work (which has become a loosing battle with Josh), we went to a neighbors house and decorated her sidewalk with chalk to wish her a happy birthday.

We did some art work in the front yard. I got supplies for a couple different ideas I saw in Pinterest…neither of which interested the boys in the least. They just did their thing, which I’m learning to accept and embrace.

We had to pick up some materials at Josh’s school, and his teacher was wearing a mask. On the way home, Josh asked me why she was wearing a mask. I explained that people wore it so they wouldn’t get sick or get other people sick. He then told me he needed a mask. My heart broke. I told him we don’t really go out anywhere, and the people that need them are people that are sick or work in hospitals. “But I need one so I don’t get everyone sick.” Oh my baby. I tried explaining that he wasn’t sick, that there aren’t really many available, that we really just need to wash our hands all the time, etc. He wouldn’t let it go until I told him I could try to make him one. As soon as we got home, he went and washed his hands without me asking him too. My heart aches for his worry.

The boys played together in the backyard for a bit, they played while they ate their lunch (which I usually fight), and have them each a warning about what we had to do next: nap time for Josh, school work for Jake. Neither was super excited, but it worked out. Jeff took the baby so I could put Josh down for a nap, then I helped Jake get through his work. It was a lot faster when I could sit with him and get through it, then when I’m trying to do multiple things and push him along, and get frustrated that he isn’t do it quicker on his own.

I’m glad that we tried a different schedule and a different pace. I’m not looking forward to the rainy and gloomy weather we have coming up-it makes such a difference to be able to enjoy the outdoor spaces in our house. But, hopefully changing up our routine every now and then will help out.

What’s working for you and your family? How are you trying to keep it all together?

My favorite cleaning hack, and randoms

18 Friday Oct 2019

Posted by in advice, family, home, kids, tips, Uncategorized

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For all the blogs and Facebook posts out there about lifestyle hacks, I’m proud to say I came up with this one on my own.  I’m not saying it’s original or I’m the first to conceive of the idea, but it came to my mind on my own volition, haha.

I’m gonna be honest…we never have time to deep clean our house.  I wish we did.  The amount of times Jeff and I say to each other “we have to clean this house,” is pretty ridiculous.  But you know…life.  But bathrooms are a special beast…they HAVE to get cleaned every now and then, or things just get really, really gross.

We use Clorox wipes in our house a lot.  I wish they were paying me to say this, but they’re just super convenient and efficient for our little home.  I found myself always going to the kitchen to get them so I could at least wipe down the bathroom sink or toilet.  Then it dawned on me: thanks to our Costco size purchase of Clorox wipes, I always have like a bajillion of these in our garage.  So I put one under each bathroom sink.  And not gonna lie, it makes all the difference.

I can wipe down our toilet while I brush my teeth (gross, but true, and…life), or give the boys sink a wipe down while they’re in the bath.  It allows me to multi-task.  Part of me knows it’s lame…our house isn’t a mansion…so walking to the kitchen for wipes shouldn’t be a deal breaker for a clean bathroom…but in the mayhem of life, I’m learning to take any shortcuts I can to keep some sections of our home at least modestly presentable!

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I also wanted to share a little gadget that’s been making my life a little easier recently.  Now with Josh in pre-school two days a week, and Jake in school full time as a first grader, lunches and snacks have become a big thing.  I found myself packing stuff in tiny zip lock bags (which I’m trying to avoid as much as possible), and tupperware…and it was just annoying.  I finally pulled the trigger and got one of these little bento boxes for Jake.

bento box

It’s worked out so well that I bought a blue one for Josh, and a second one for Jake so we can alternate on having to wash it every day (the struggle is real, people).

•••••

Finally, Jake and I love listening to podcasts on the way to school when we’re not practicing our math or talking about dragons.  I stumbled upon Wow in the World, and it’s great!  I’ve learned more than I’d like to know about cockroaches (they can survive over a week without a head!!), the deal with bees dying, corroborated what Jeff told me a long time ago about brain freezes, and all sorts of random interesting stuff.  The characters are actually quite funny, and I love how they explain big science ideas in ways our little people can understand them.

•••••

What “hack” or household items/products make your life easier?

Family Motto

17 Thursday Oct 2019

Posted by in crafts, DIY, family, home, Uncategorized

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I’ve been wanting to make this sign for our living room for a couple years now (no joke).  With the impending arrival of Baby Boy #3, I found an extra sense of urgency and finally got it done.

I started by writing out adjectives and interests for individual family members, and things we value/appreciate as a whole.  I grouped the ones for each individual together, and the generic family ones together, and alternated them on each line.  I had to do some rearranging when it came time to print so I could fit have the “individualist” lines two to a line, and the family ones in larger print.

I did this so long ago that I’ve had to make several adjustments due to the boys growing out of stages…

Family Motto 1

Jake used to be into cars and trucks.  Like, a lot.  He would line them up in a straight line and just have them going all over that place.  After he turned three, his interests have just shifted with time, from cars to legos to dinosaurs to dragons, and now: tanks.  He’s probably drawn hundreds of tanks at this point, haha.

And Josh picked up an interest in play-dough, which I thought should be added to his list instead of just “farts and crumbs and bruises” haha.

I feel like this sign will be a little time capsule for our family.  I know the interests for the boys will be keep changing, and these will be obsolete any day now.  But I really wanted to capture this stage of our lives.  I know it’s unique and special, and maybe when the boys are all grown up and gone, I can look back at this sign and truly appreciate how wonderful (and crazy) this stage was.

As for the making…I couldn’t quite find the right size of pre-made wood, so I bought two pieces from Michaels and Jeff put them together for me, to make the perfect size.

I then designed our fonts and lines on our Silhouette machine.  I tried finding a little bit of a pattern on the fonts, so it wasn’t TOO overwhelming, but I do like the changes in size and fonts on signs like these.   Then it was time to cut and transfer!

Family Motto 2Family Motto 3

I’m not a perfectionist by any means…so some lines aren’t quite straight…but I’m pretty happy with the end result:

Family Motto 4

The only bummer is that we have different holiday signs for that part of our living room for Halloween and Christmas, so I only got to enjoy it up on our wall for a couple days, haha.  ‘Til January, my work of art!

Finding the Right Planner

23 Wednesday Jan 2019

Posted by in DIY, planning, Uncategorized

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Although I use my Google calendar for most of my scheduling and reminders, I’ve always liked having a physical, tangible planner to keep me company.  The last couple of years I’ve used a Happy yearly planner, and I loved the fantastic graphics, motivational quotes, fancy tabs, and beautiful covers.  Before that I really enjoyed the coolness of the Moleskin planner as well.  But I realized last year that I just don’t use it often enough to justify the cost, and the weight of carrying it around in my bag.  I don’t use it consistently every week, so I end up with a bunch of empty pre-dated pages at the end of the year, and then end up buying one for the next year, only to end up with a bunch of empty pages as well.

I’m not sure how or when it hit me, but when it did, it was like a giant light bulb went off: AN UNDATED PLANNER!  Brilliant!  I needed a planner that I could fill in whenever I needed it.  And so my search began for the perfect undated planner.  I can’t remember how many I looked into, but suffice it to say that planner ads are still coming up on my social media feeds (and yes, I clicked on almost every one at first to see if it was “the one”).  Although I guess all it takes to get ads on your social media is one Google search, so that’s not saying much.  Let’s just say, I looked at A LOT of different planners.

And not a single one was quite hitting the spot.  I wanted something I could customize and add my own templates to, something small-ish, in a format that I could switch pages in and out of.  I kept hearing Jeff telling me “don’t buy something just to buy something,” which I often do just to not have to keep shopping for stuff, haha.  And so another light bulb lit up: I’M GOING TO DESIGN MY OWN PLANNER.  And maybe become a millionaire.  This is it.  This is my idea that makes me a self-made millionaire.

While I was trying to figure out what the first step is in designing and producing something on your own, I went back to going through my Bloglovin feed (I’ve kind of just switched out two social medias for another one), and I randomly stumbled across this blog post.  My internal reaction was a combination of internal hysterical laughter and ugly crying.  Of course someone created basically the thing I was thinking about.  And of course, it’s free.

So, aside from crushing my dreams of being a self-made millionaire (because I definitely would have pursued this idea and gotten it into production somehow…I would never just let this project slide down on my priority list and be forgotten for all eternity…) I was pretty excited to discover all the free planner printables from The Handmade Home.

I downloaded some of their designs (I went with the A5 size to keep it compact), then had to find how I was going to put them all together, along with my own templates that I wanted to use.

I ended up finding this Martha Stewart Discbound Journal at Staples, but the tan version:

I also purchased tabs like these (I got the 8-tab one because I love tabs)…

And these bookmark checklists…because I love bookmarks and checklists…(these come in such a high quantity that I’m happy to share some with you if you send me your address, haha):

I was pretty excited once I found a notebook style that would work for what I had in mind.  The size was right, and the discbound format meant that I could move pages around easily.  My next hiccup though was getting the right hole punch so I could print out the free printables and my templates, and put them into this journal.  After some Google searches and watching a few YouTube videos, I decided on this one:

I know…I know…at this point, you and my husband are probably saying “isn’t it cheaper to just buy the dated planner and throw away the left over sheets?!”  THAT’S NOT THE POINT, GUYS!  The point is: I want something that’s more functional for me.  Plus…you know…I can reuse this stuff all the time…I’ll basically never have to buy anything again!  Except for…paper.

I didn’t want to use regular 20 lb white paper, because…well… for one, boring, and for two, you can see through it, and for threes, it just doesn’t feel like a planner.  But 60 lb card stock felt like over kill…by the time I added in all my pages I would still be carrying around a five pound planner.

I found the perfect compromise with the Staples Premium Ivory 32 lb Laser Paper.  I couldn’t find a link, but if you love planners…odds are you also love an excuse to walk through an office supply store…(lucky for you: the paper stash is all the way in the back!).

After that, I just had to print and hole punch!  Which…always easier said than done.  To fit the size I needed, I had to use the “two pages per sheet” setting on my printer, and flip the page around and back and forth to get what I wanted on each side.  Not the end of the world, but not as simple as hitting “print” and being done.

To make the most of the sheets, I tried to combine different templates together so I wasn’t leaving too many “blank” pages.  So I combined my to do list template (which is a combination of my own preferences and a to-do book I found at Michaels) with a grid page template on one side, and an upcoming schedule template on the other.  So when you’re flipping through the pages you’ll see: grid page on the right, flip and have centerfold with my two page to-do template, flip and have an upcoming weekly schedule where I can break down some of my to-do’s by day.

I left the outsides of my meal planner template blank, since I plan on pinning those to my fridge every week and therefore won’t be seeing the back side of those anyway.  But I like the convenience of having these in my planner where I can brainstorm future meals whenever I want to.  I’ve previously used this meal planner (just hot glued a giant magnet to the back of it) and have loved it (and it’s so pretty!), but I also love the idea of having a grocery list that already includes the stuff that I know I buy every week – and broken up by sections (if anyone wants an editable version, just let me know).

Finally, I really wanted to include some blank versions of my event planning template, so I modified it a bit to fit the format and size of my planner.  I like that I’ll have these in one place instead of loose leaf sheets in my bag.

Disclaimer on my templates: they’re not pretty, and they’re not perfect (I couldn’t get them to print without giant margins, which made the font a bit smaller that I would have liked).  But I’ll slowly improve them and make them nice with colors and fonts and borders.  Someday they will wow me!  But for now: they are functional!

Now…to find the right pen…I did find these, but if I had it in me to exchange them again I would go with a .5mm retractable pen, so I don’t have to deal with the hassle of taking the cap off.

Do you use a planner?  What features do you look for?

 

 

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He’s an Armchair Expert!

20 Tuesday Nov 2018

Posted by in blog, interviews, kids, life, Uncategorized

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Have you guys heard of Dax Shephard’s podcast, Armchair Expert?  Well, in case you haven’t, I’m here to tell you how awesome it is.  Dax Shephard is half of the amazing combo with Kristen Bell (this Kristen Bell).  And they’re just so stinkin’ cute.   I just played that video for the boys (Jake LOVES giraffes and elephants, so I thought they’d get a kick out of it – also, it helped pull Jake out of a grumpy mood, haha), and I just fell in love with them all over again.  I also realized that Jake needs to go to Africa someday to chase giraffes.

Since I started listening to AE, I like them even more.  And now there’s also Monica Padman to love.  Although Dax and Monica chat with mostly fellow artists of various mediums (actors, producers, writers, etc.), they also have “expert on expert” podcasts where they talk to someone that has expertise in any given area.

I love that the premise of the podcast is just to have open and frank conversations with people.  It’s to increase communication and dialogue, and it really allows you to get to know people you’ve seen on screen for years in a different way.  They become almost like you and me: I realize that Mila Kunis has some of the same challenges in motherhood that I have, so by extension, Mila and I could easily be BFF’s.

The last part of the podcast is the “fact check” with Monica – and it’s one of my favorite parts of the podcast.  This part is done in post-production, and Monica and Dax go through and fact-check some of the stuff that came up in the interview portion of the podcast.  It’s really great to hear Monica and Dax work through disagreements – it’s always a very civilized conversation and they both try really hard to understand where the other person is coming from.  I think this is also one of their ultimate goals in doing this podcast: showing by example how to work through differences of opinion but with love and understanding.  I also have found myself laughing out loud more than once during the fact check.

Speaking of laughing out loud: the commercials.  I’ve never laughed so much at commercials (and probably never at audio only ones).  Although  most of the stuff they advertise is way out of my price range (I’ve checked almost everything, they sell it all pretty well!).

Just a heads up that these are definitely not kid friendly – so don’t go listening to them in the car with children present.

I haven’t caught up on all of them, but here are some of my favorites so far and why:

  • Ted Danson (“TD”): TD talked about his parents a little, and I loved hearing about how exceptional his parents where and how that made his childhood that much more interesting.  I’ve seen that with a couple guests who speak so admiringly of their parents, and it really makes me want to do something extraordinary with my life, just so my kids can say “my mom was amazing..she was/did blah blah blah and accomplished x/y/z.”  Also, Ted Danson just sounds like an amazing human being.
  • Rob McElhenney: the actor and show runner for Always Sunny in Philadelphia.  They have some pretty hilarious conversations about the male physique (watch this video from the finale of Always Sunny if you want to see what Rob’s physique can do), but I love where Rob says that his favorite thing ever is when his son says “hey dad, I have a question.”  I find this to be so true.  Jake, at 5 years old, is so inquisitive about the way things work and why things are the way they are, and I absolutely love his curiosity.  And I love when Jeff or I get to explain something to him.  Or when we get to do an experiment to figure something out.  Rob follows that up by saying how kids ruin your life, haha.  The point he makes, and I would agree, is that they ruin the life you had before them.  Life after children is so completely different than the life you had before.  To balance things out, Dax spends a lot of time in other episodes talking about why having kids is so great.
  • Mike Schur (“MS”):  There were a couple things that really spoke to me on this episode.  One, MS talks about how his dad became an attorney because there was no money in the field he has then studying (linguistics).  His dad was never happy being an attorney but practiced it his whole life anyway.  The one thing his dad told him not to become was an attorney.  It makes me think a lot about where I am in life and the situation I find myself in because I did go to law school.  This will be a separate blog because Jeff and I recently had a really good conversation about this topic and how we don’t want to be sixty looking back and regretting the things we didn’t do because of the things we did do.  The other thing MS talks about is people that have won the “genetic lottery” by being born as a white male in a middle/upper class home, with two parents (or whatever the case is).  When I was working at Starbucks after college (right before going to law school), I worked with someone who I would say was a tad racist.  When he found out I was half-Guatemalan, he told me I won the genetic lottery because I look white and not Hispanic.  At the time, my friends and I were outraged that he would say such a thing.  As years have gone by, however, that phrase has popped up in my mind more than once and I’ve realized that in a lot of ways, he was right.  Although I don’t view it in the positive light that he probably did,  I do often wonder how my life might be different if my name was Alejandra instead of Alexandra (as my mom had intended), or if my skin resembled my mom’s olive tone rather than my dad’s.  I feel, sadly, that my job opportunities would have been different, and that my social circles would have been different as well.  And I would probably be a totally different person.
  • Jason Bateman: Maybe the funniest one for me so far.  Plus, Jason mentions Arrested Development a lot – which I LOVE!  And generally…I might have fallen a little in love with him.  Is that too weird of a note to end on?

Just in case it is, here’s something random to end on.  A couple years ago we started planning meals for the week – and it was such a game changer for our week nights.  If I can plan meals on the weekend, and buy all my groceries by Sunday, we’re guaranteed to eat better and to not spend as much eating out.  But, you know me…I need something to keep me organized…and to make lists upon lists.  I found this great meal planner on Rifle Paper Co. (I’m also really into all things floral lately, so that helps).  I used my handy hot glue gun to attach a giant magnet to the back of it, and keep it on my fridge.  The left side lists my meals for the week, and on the right side I can add things throughout the week that I need to get on my following run.

I hope you’ll start listening to AE – then I won’t be the only one I know singing “He’s an armchair expert….” to myself all the time…

Happy listening!

Gift Guide for Boys!

13 Tuesday Nov 2018

Posted by in Christmas, family, gifts, Uncategorized

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Back in the day, before children, and for only two years, I put together a Charity Gift Guide for the holidays.

As much as my heart is still very passionate about giving and volunteering, my available time and energy to dedicate to those causes has decreased significantly.  So this year I’m sharing a gift guide about a new area of expertise of mine: gifts for boys!

For those that aren’t intimately familiar with our family, our boys are 2.5 (Josh) and 5 (Jake), so my selections are tailored around those ages.

While attempting to potty train Josh, we read My Very First Space Book a lot, and Josh kept pointing to the telescopes and saying “me want.”  And how cool would it be for us to go in the backyard with the boys and learn about constellations?!  I found this starter one on Amazon that I’m hoping Santa will bring the boys (links are on the images!).

Kidcia Telescope for Kids 

Josh has already been really into Play-dough lately.  We had to get rid of it for a while because he would just eat it.  Now, he mostly plays with it, and just occasionally eats it, so it’s still a semi-supervised activity, but it’s the most I’ve seen him entertained by anything.  Thanks to random and creepy YouTube videos, these are the top contenders:Another YouTube find: instant ice cream!  The one featured in the video that the boys watch (over and over and over again) has terrible reviews on Amazon.  I found the one below that has better views, but also costs a lot more.  Not sure if this will actually make it under the tree this year, but if it did, I think it would make for good entertainment…for a few minutes.

Chef’n Sweet Spot Ice Cream Maker I remember bath times with Jake when it was all about him, and we would play and practice letters with his bathtub letters.  Bath time now is this thing to check off the list and get to bed.  We have some toys in the tub but it’s mostly stuff that the boys play with on their own.  I came across these cool bath toys that are STEM related and I think both boys would enjoy playing with:

Jake and Josh are also really into their play kitchen set lately.  I’m so glad because that was their big gift from Santa last year, and at first I thought it was going to be a waste of money (not that Santa cares about those kinds of things..).  Now I think I want to eliminate some of the other toys in the toy room and build up their kitchen ware:

Speaking of pretend play, I love this firefighter costume and that it comes with a hose!

I also should probably just stock up on hundreds of Nerf bullets for Josh, haha.

Jake is definitely going through a dinosaur phase (we listen to a dinosaur podcast every morning on our way to school – Dinosaur FUN FACT OF THE DAY! and Age of the Dinosaurs, on repeat – he carries his dinosaur fact cards everywhere he goes, and loves his dino action figures), so I thought we’d feed into that a bit.

This fossil dig looks pretty awesome:

These dino eggs also looked pretty cool.  We recently got one from Michael’s and the anticipation on Jake’s face was just priceless…for over 24 hours, haha. Jake also loves to read, so I thought these Bernstein books would be a good cross over:

Speaking of reading, Grandma Linda got Jake some e-readers a while back, and he loves them.  They come with different books that he can select on the e-reader and then click on the color that matches the color coded page.  We have the Paw Patrol one, and the Marvel Super Hero one, but I think this one would be a good addition:Another gift giving idea that Grandma Linda started with Jeff and I is a Barnes & Noble gift card in our stocking.  I’m starting to do this with the boys also, and let them pick a book.  I love the idea of the boys enjoying books as much as we do.  Maybe going to Barnes & Noble after Christmas to pick out our new books will become part of our Christmas traditions!

Once we’re done shopping for the boys, we’ll have just enough for a bottle of wine for mom (hopefully top shelf!), and socks and underwear for dad, ha!

What are your kids into these days?  What are your favorite holiday traditions?

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Dinner!

31 Wednesday Oct 2018

Posted by in cooking, Dinner, food, Uncategorized

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I’ve never been a lover of cooking, I’ll start there.  My grandma cooked some great meals when I was little, but I never helped enough in the kitchen to actually learn what she was doing.  My mom is a cook of specialty dishes: she makes amazing tamales, potato salad for EVERY family function (the family is not usually happy if there’s no Achi potato salad at any given event, ha!), and amazing traditional Guatemalan dishes, like pepian.  But being just the two of us when I was little, I also wasn’t in the kitchen much for the day to day cooking.

When Jeff and I first moved in together to our little apartment in Irvine, I’d venture to say he was the main cook.  Or he’d make the main dish and I’d make the sides.

I’m not exactly sure when the shift happened, but I’d say it was after we had Jake – when going out to dinner became less and less of an option, haha.  And having to buckle down on finances.  When we moved into our Lake Forest apartment, we’d been living with Jeff’s parents for a couple years, and I got to observe my mother-in-law cooking some really great meals – when I wasn’t busy sleeping on the couch…

I think all of those things combined forced me to start cooking more at home.  I’m by no means a natural chef…I’m a cook-by-the-recipe “chef” (not sure you can call someone that follows a recipe a chef…but I’ll give myself that title for now).  I think I’m just recently getting comfortable enough to improvise here and there – but only in small ways.  Jeff and I joke around about me messing with recipes – my experiments rarely work for the best, haha.  But I’ve come up with some good recipes for veggies and such small plates.

Anywho, a little over a year ago I was at Costco waiting on a cake order, and I gravitated to the book section to kill some time (everyone gravitates to the book section, right?!), and found this cook book:

I’ll admit, I’ve become quite a skeptic of cook books because I end up buying them and then realizing I don’t like any of the recipes in them (we’re not adventurous eaters…).  [How am I a recipe chef without cookbooks?  Most of my tried and true recipes come from allrecipes.com, but I digress again.]  But I kept skimming this one and finding several recipes that caught my eye, and after a good five-minute hesitation I decided to buy it.

I’m not exaggerating: this book has changed our life, haha.  The harissa chicken recipe is seriously our favorite dinner, and it’s my go-to when I want to impress family/friends.  It’s also easy to double and make for larger crowds.  A couple things I’ve learned from making it several times:

  • I use skinless chicken thighs rather than skin on
  • I add lemon rind to the yogurt sauce (I did it by accident the first time, as the lemon rind is also used for something else, but now we love it)
  • I cut the harissa in half since it can be pretty spicy.  Trader Joe’s used to carry an amazing harissa sauce but has discontinued it (we were heartbroken).  We’ve found a different version at a local Persian store – it’s not the same but it will do.
  • Harissa sauce spoils quickly, so it was a bummer to buy a jar and have it mold in my refrigerator before I had a chance to make it again.  A coworker who I shared the recipe with came up with a brilliant idea that has worked great for me: freeze a couple tablespoons in snack-size ziplock bags and freeze!  I can take it out just before using and unfreeze pretty quickly.

I also love the pizza chicken recipe.  This one I’ve paired up with angel hair spaghetti and it goes great.  I also freeze extra sauce and use it for a second spaghetti night – it’s a perfect spaghetti sauce!

The other recipe I make regularly is the chicken salad – with crispy skin!  It’s such a light and refreshing meal, but I do cut the sauce out (I made it the first time and realized it’s just not our taste).

What are your favorite recipes or cook books?

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