A Day in the Life of This Mama

Little V recently turned 1 (!!!), and I still can’t believe I’m a mom. I used to think my old life (pre-baby) was busy, and now I wonder what I did with all that free time. Mr. Wonderful and I have no clue what new movies are out right now, and we’re lucky if we make it out to a restaurant once a week, but life somehow feels more full without those things.

Sometimes when I have the chance to grab coffee with a girl friend, I get asked, “So how’s life?” For some reason, I find myself at a loss for words when it comes to that question. It’s routine, it’s fun, and it’s busy, all in one. I thought it’d be fun to give you some iPhone snapshots of what a typical day looks like for us!

a day [Read more…]

The Practice of Slowing Down

Slowing Down

Some readers have asked where I’ve been, and when I would start writing again. Little V is already 7 months old–where has the time gone?

It all started with a foot injury in late June. An innocent pair of new, flat sandals did me in this time (two years ago it was a pair of too-tall heels). My podiatrist gave a little laugh at my vanity, but assured me it would be better in two weeks. Fast forward three months later, and the pain from my foot has spread to my heel, ankle, and entire lower left leg. Add on the classic aches and pains of motherhood–back problems and tendonitis–and I was forced to slow down. Way down.

[Read more…]

7 Decluttering Tips for Your Home

SimplifyLast week, I wrote about how Mr. Wonderful and I got rid of 400 sq ft worth of stuff. It was definitely not an overnight process. There are plenty of websites that suggest “5-Minute Decluttering Tips” and “Fill a Trash Bag with Items to Donate” but in all honesty, I can fill up a garbage bag simply by opening a few cupboards. A real purge takes a true commitment, and you won’t achieve it by “only” spending 5 minutes a day. For harder home project like plumbing repairs, it’s still better to hire a plumber than doing it yourself. If there are rust stains in toilet, professional plumbers may also help determine the cause and the best way to fix it.

Trying to set aside an entire weekend never happened for us (who wants to clean when the sun is taunting?), so we committed to decluttering a few weekday nights a week. This meant turning down double dates and fun events so we could clean. It meant “working” after a long day at work. Not fun. But commitment is the first step, and the ultimate goal of having a more simplified home kept us going. It took us about a month, but we did it!

Here are our tips:

[Read more…]

How We Got Rid of 400-Square-Foot Worth of Stuff

Thanks to my Mom, I always considered myself a fairly minimal person – regularly donating things to Goodwill, purging what I haven’t used in awhile, and only buying something new if I got rid of something else first. As a subscriber to Real Simple magazine, I knew all the tips to making life simpler. Mr. Wonderful, on the other hand, likes to keep everything on hand for a “what if” situation. When we first got married and were packing up his bachelor pad, I found a 1-inch piece of Velcro in a box.

“You can’t be serious,” I said, dangling the white strip in his face.

“You never know when you might need it,” he insisted. I rolled my eyes. Heaving a sigh, he tossed it in the garbage.

Next, I eyed a dusty box of mints. “We’ve been dating for over two years and I’ve never seen you eat these.”

mints [Read more…]

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...