Author: Kathleen

quick takes

I can never seem to get these quick takes up before late Friday afternoon. Ah well, let’s knock em out.

one

Remember how I said I was having car trouble? Turns out that while we were away for the weekend and my car was safely stowed away in the garage, some kind of rodent crawled into the engine and starting chewing up wires to the tune of $545. Not cool. I guess that could have happened to any car, but we are still considering trading mine in pretty soon because it’s having more and more problems recently.

two

I had such a relaxing weekend when we were on our mini trip, yet I still felt just as tired when we returned. I’ve regressed back nearly to my first trimester fatigue in wanting to go to sleep at 7:30 every night. I guess that’s just par for the pregnancy course when you have a two-year-old at home.

three

I made a ton of progress on my niece’s stocking but I’m lame and forgot to take a picture. Tonight our church is having a ladies’ craft night (these are my kind of people) and I have been looking forward to it for weeks so hopefully lots more progress to come.

four

Some Meredith updates. One night this week we visited David’s brother and she hung out with her cousin Cameron, who is three, all evening. First of all it is adorable to watch them play together. Second of all, she spilled milk all over her shirt and because I’m a pro parent we didn’t have any backup clothes so she wore one of Cameron’s home. She refused to take it off so she slept in it, and in the morning when I tried to put regular clothes on her she had an epic meltdown. So I sent her to school in it because I pick my battles and I am not willing to die on the hill of toddler fashion.

For example, see the shirt she’s wearing here?

It’s one of her favorites, and it doesn’t matter that it’s almost too small or stained or really cheesy to begin with. She wears it all the time. Anyway, that’s Meredith’s sort-of cousin Stella with her, who came over (along with my brother and his wife) for dinner one night this week. We ate and made s’mores in the fireplace and Meredith followed Stella all over the house playing and the whole time she was sucking on her Tootsie Roll pop. I admired her dedication and she finished the whole thing.

five

So I used to be obsessed with Candy Crush just like everyone else, but then I got stuck on level 65 for months and I refused to pay money to beat it, so I eventually got bored and gave up. I hadn’t opened the app in several months until this week when I decided to play for the heck of it and I beat level 65 on the first try!!! And that is how I’ve come to be obsessed with Candy Crush all over again.

six

I’ve trained Meredith to make my coffee in the morning. It’s a Keurig, so it’s not rocket science, but she knows how to do it all including removing the drip tray to fit my travel mug in, throwing the old pod in the trash, placing a new one, which button to push to get the correct brew, and then to not touch it because it’s “ritty hot.” Usually I supervise her fairly closely but I was in a rush this morning and she was feeling particularly independent so she climbed up on her stool by herself and made me a cup, only I guess she was feeling adventurous and decided to push more buttons mid-brew and ended up turning off the whole thing before the cup was done. So then I ran another cycle using the same pod so the coffee was all diluted and I had to put in a bunch of hot chocolate mix to salvage it. I mean what do you have to do to get good help these days?

seven

Weekend plans: visit a friend and her new baby, get my hair cut, go to the library, have a visit from another friend, and host our church small group for dinner. That last one is stressing me out because our house isn’t super conducive to large gatherings with a bunch of kids so it will take a lot of preparation. Other things I want to get done: document a day in the life, cook some food, prep my holiday minibook, and do a Project Life spread.

Have a good one!

November 15, 2013
my everything notebook

I mentioned that I do most of my planning and list-making digitally, but sometimes there’s nothing like pen and paper. I decided I wanted a notebook to carry about with me that I can just jot down random ideas and lists and notes in. Sometimes I transfer these ideas to my digital lists later, other times I just refer back to the notebook.

I chose a Moleskine Evernote classic notebook to use. It’s a great size and very high quality. I liked that it could so easily transfer over to my Evernote, although I don’t actually use that feature very much. It also has a pouch in the back cover where I can tuck stray papers.

The only other thing I really wanted from it was divided sections, so I easily created those for myself. I used fabric tabs on the edges and then just doodled the section titles and put some washi tape underneath:

It’s nothing fancy but I really love my little “everything” notebook. I’ve been using it for most of this year and not only has it worked well for me but I still have plenty of room left. The notes themselves are just completely random and actually kind of fun to look through. :)

November 14, 2013
erin condren planner review

As this year winds down to a close (whaaat) you might be thinking about how you’re going to do your planning for next year, at least if you’re an organizational and list nerd like me. This year I purchased an Erin Condren weekly planner because I won a gift card in a giveaway. Even though I do most of my planning digitally (and am very much entrenched in my system) I was curious about the hype and wanted to see if I could adapt it to my lifestyle.

These planners are very popular so you might know what they’re like already, but in case you don’t: they are large, colorful, personalized, detailed, and include extras like stickers and labels. There is an overview of each month and then it is laid out weekly. I decided to use the included stickers on just the monthly overview pages so I could glance at them and know if there was a birthday or event coming up.

The bulk of the planner is laid out weekly. There are no time slots; instead it is separated into morning, day, and night. I really like that part. Since there were three big spaces per day to fill, I started using the “morning” space for my work assignment, the “day” space for blog post planning, and the “night” space for meal planning.

For awhile I liked using a physical planner again and would dutifully get it out every day. I know that if I didn’t have a complex digital system already this would be a great option. But after awhile I began using it less and less. It’s pretty large and heavy, and eventually I realized that it wasn’t worth carrying around anymore. For my work assignment now I use sticky notes, for blog planning I use the WordPress editorial calendar plugin, and for meal planning I am using Google calendar synced with my phone. It’s all working great for me, and for the rest of my planning I use Google calendar synced with my phone plus the Things app. Check out this post for more info on how I tackle time & task management.

If you love physical planners, have a lot going on, and have a big bag or purse I definitely recommend checking out the Erin Condren planner, but I found it wasn’t the thing for me. Tomorrow I will share with you the notebook that I do carry around with me!

November 13, 2013
hill country getaway

David and I took a trip to a small town in the Texas Hill Country called Fredericksburg for two nights over the weekend (but didn’t get any photos together – fail). It was to celebrate our fifth anniversary, and our primary objective was to spend time alone and relax. We chose to stay in a private cottage, and we could not have had a better experience. We were pampered, given lots of privacy, ate great food, did a little shopping, talked about Meredith a lot, watched movies, sat in the hot tub, slept in, and basically reconnected. It was so good for us.

After a rough drive home (lots of traffic, and I was car sick) we were so happy to pick up our little girl. She did perfectly staying with both sets of grandparents (one each night) and I was so proud. When I saw her again she seemed so old! I can only imagine how huge she will seem when we bring home a newborn. I was still feeling sick when we got home in the early evening, but thank goodness she was tired too and we both fell asleep around 7:30 and slept through the night.

Today I’m home catching up on chores, going to dentists appointments (for me and Meredith) and unfortunately dealing with car trouble! I’m waiting to hear back from the shop what the damage is. Back to the real world already!

November 11, 2013
project life 2013 : weeks 42 – 43

I am completely caught up right now! Feels good.

This spread is from October 14 – 27. It was normal everyday life stuff and I was really low on photos so there is more filler than usual. I kept a neutral color scheme and made it ultra simple because I just wanted to get it done.

I changed up my labeling style a little bit here and put them along the sides. Added in a “currents” journaling card.

Just photos, labels, and a stamp here and there. So easy!

That’s it! Now I’m out of here for the weekend and I’ll report back Monday! :)

November 8, 2013