Tag: SAHM

My Week in Review – Local Beans, Free Bowling, Pavers and a Magic Wand

This week I stumbled across a local bean roaster right here in Jax Beach, set the first paver stone down in my new front patio, learned (sort of) how to use a curling wand and introduced my son to the wonders of the bowling alley.

My week in review 6/17 -6/23 

First Crack Coffee CompanyPsst…you got the beans? My husband loves fancy coffee and grinds his own beans every morning, so I’m always looking for new or unique coffee for him. I ran across First Crack Coffee Co while booking our dinner reservations at Doro and loved the fact it was locally roasted beans, right here in Jacksonville Beach. I messaged about getting a couple bags, and then the next day we met up in a nearby parking lot to make the purchase. Have to say, that was a first, lol. But my husband said they were delicious, and on top of being local and great quality, they also cost less than Starbucks beans so  I may be making another parking lot appointment soon!

Beachy waves like magic – I tried a curling wand for the first time and loved it! The curl is closer to my natural waves than the traditional clamp style curling iron. The one I tried is the Nume 25mm Classic Wand with a tourmaline infused ceramic coated barrel that actually makes glossy curls. It also comes with a heat resistant glove, but unfortunately I didn’t discover that until after I had already done my whole head and nearly burned myself about 10 times!

I got to set the first paver stone down in our new patio/fire pit area. My husband and a neighbor are doing a total DIY project on a grand scale. When we moved in, the front yard center piece was a 6 ft. tall, five tier concrete fountain, with a pineapple on top, spray painted black and filled with fake flowers because it didn’t work. I was lucky enough to sell that monstrosity off on CraigsList.

We’ve totally been taking advantage of Kids Bowl Free this summer! Bowling alleys all across the US are giving kids two free games a day all summer! All you have to do is sign up at KidsBowlFree.com. You can even add two family members for around $20. There’s also an app you can download and then you don’t have to worry about printing out coupons.

That’s it for my week! How was your’s?

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You’re the Reason We Can’t Have Nice Things

img_9755I have a fancy new white couch and a toddler.
WTF was I thinking???

I also chose white cabinets for our kitchen remodel. I’ve obviously lost my mind.

I spend wayyy too much time wiping hand, feet and God knows what else kind of prints off everything from the couch to the light blue colored walls. I feel like my time might be better spent doing other, more important things than erasing toddler grime, but I made my nice clean bed and now I must wipe it down before I lie in it.

The funny thing is, it doesn’t really bother me anymore. As my son entered his 3rd year with an impressive resume of destruction, I realized I’ve let go of some of my nitpicky tendencies and just accepted things get dirty, things break, and things stay in new condition around a toddler about 2.5 seconds.

Oh I see those sparkling clean white/grey/beige Instagram feeds from popular mommy bloggers, looking all fresh and put together. I understand it is possible. And while I admire their aesthetic, that’s just not me. My life is messy, colorful and often smeared with mud and/or chocolate. I learned to relax and not stress over the mess.

messy toddler room
Godzilla in a TuTu

I mean, I wouldn’t turn down a regular maid service so I could spend more time putting together fresh pastel ensembles in a spotless house, but unless this blog thing really blows up, I am the maid service around here.

And our maid sucks…lol

We’ve Become Those People

My husband and I used to go out to dinner a lot. We would usually sit at the bar and spend several hours drinking wine and eating appetizers for meals. We rarely sat at a table and would just enjoy the experience of sampling food and drinks.

th2nr6ln33
Not my actual child, but you get the point

Now no more bar for us- we need a table that can fit a highchair, or preferably a booth where we can pen the kid in at one end. Also, you probably want to stick us somewhere in the back where we won’t be a nuisance. But not too far back because one of the kids may open the emergency door and set off the very loud alarm.

So the other night, as I sat on the toilet at the restaurant, listening to the screeching alarm going off, I totally knew that was our table causing the commotion. We were out to dinner with friends that had two boys, 4 and 6. So I did not burst out of the bathroom worried there was some sort of actual emergency. I may have actually lingered a moment or two longer than usual, hoping the alarm would be off by the time I stepped out.

Back in before baby days, we would be at the bar, rolling eyes and laughing at the hapless parents trying to enjoy a meal and wrangle their children. Most likely thinking what a bunch of brats they were and how if we had kids they would be sitting quietly like little angels.

Bwahahahahhahahahha

Oh how the mightly have fallen…right off their barstools.

 

Watch out Betty Crocker!

My son surprised me by asking to bake cupcakes this week. He usually has no interest in helping out in the kitchen so I immediately dropped everything and got to baking! In full disclosure, I was doing yardwork and it was hot and any excuse to take a break sounded like an amazing idea.

Trying to do anything with a toddler is an exercise in patience, mostly me trying to teach him to have some and let the muffins actually cook. But we both had fun, the kitchen didn’t get splattered by batter (at least not too much) and I got to share a great new experience with my son. I loved how excited he was when I popped the beaters out the mixer and told him he could lick it! Probably right now someone’s going “ewwww raw eggs, he might get sick….” but whatever, I loved doing that as a kid!

The cupcakes were delicious and I was happy to get to use some leftover Miss Jones frosting from the sampling party I did last month.

I was starting to sense a theme when later in the week he asked to make cookies. We ran into a problem when he wanted the star cookies just like on the box. I’m starting to hate pictures on boxes and the high expectations that follow! I had no rolling pin and no cookies cutters so I improvised with a glass. Guess what I learned in a very loud screaming freak out way? Circles are NOT stars. Also squares and any other shape I may have had on hand do not equal stars. So I took that dough and squashed and pinched and made that kid some stars! The results were as supurb as expected:

star cookie fail by geekmama.com

So what do you guys enjoy making with your kids? I hope your results were as spectacular as mine. (haha) They may not be pretty but at least they taste good!

The Greatest Shower of All

bathroom selfie in a towelI showered today! And why is that a monumentous occasion? Because I wanted to take a shower and I did! I didn’t have to ask anyone to cover for me, or wait until 9PM! I even shaved! That’s a lot of exclamations! But you get the point, this is exciting stuff.

As a mom, you often feel like your basic human rights have been taken away. You no longer eat, sleep or shower on the your own schedule. So today, a tiny piece of freedom has been handed back to me. Something I used to take for granted. The option to shower when I please, as long as I can keep the kid entertained for at least 15 minutes. It was glorious.

It’s a big day we’ve slowly been working up to. Today was the first time I didn’t get out three times to check on him while dripping water all over the floor. Next time I’m going to get crazy and try to shave AND wash my hair! Whoah!

Things are looking up over here. It does get better. You do get your normal life back, piece by tiny piece. And I’ve never appreciated those tiny pieces so much!

P.S. – I contemplated titling this “the golden shower moment” but probably don’t need that kind of traffic 😂