Pinterest Inspiration

We've start a little unofficial tradition where Marshall gives family members ornaments for Christmas.  This year I didn't want to just buy ornaments so I turned to Pinterest for some inspiration.  Now, we've all seen the Pinterest fails that have been floating around the Internet so I didn't want to do anything that was going to take a lot of time and be a huge disappointment if it didn't turn out.  Easy, right?

Well, I came across this ornament that looked like it would be pretty easy to do.  Now… to get a crazy 3 year old to cooperate!

I picked up some of the plain $6.00 ornaments from Target.  I thought blue would make a pretty background.  I also picked up some sharpie markers, white poster paint, and sponge paint brushes from Michaels.

As soon as Marshall saw the supplies he got super excited for the pending messiness that was soon to come.

Next steps were to slather on the white paint on his hands and keep him from touching anything! Easier said then done but we managed to complete the whole project with only paint on our hands and the ornaments.

After our hands were good and painty (is that even a word???), the next step was to mark up the ornaments.  We just set the ornament in the palm of his hand and he wrapped his fingers around it.  Since Marshall's 3 and has the attention span of a flea, I had to move quick for each ornament as well as reapplying paint in between.  I only made him hold onto the ball for a few seconds.  We had a few smudged patterns but overall he did pretty well with the whole process.

And here are our drying ornaments waiting for the final touches to be added.

I originally tried to do all of the embellishments with Sharpie markers, but the blue ornament was too dark so the black hats weren't showing up very well so I turned to some adhesive backed felt for the hats.  Otherwise, I used a Sharpie for the eyes, nose, and buttons.  The marker did each through the paint a little bit, but you can really tell.  It is possible that a different type of paint would be better suited for this type of project if you are really particular, but the poster paint worked fine for what we needed it to do.  And here is our finished product!

Not too bad for our first Pinterest project :)

Have you had any successes or fails at Pinterest project attempts?

~AKO

A New Start

That is what January 1st is supposed to be, right?  Starting over… forgetting about past grudges… getting things in order…

Well, that is what 2014 is going to be for me!  I've been thinking most of today what I want 2014 to be for me and my family.  I already know it is going to be a challenging year.  Our 1st deployment as a family will be starting very soon.  Freddy will be gone for most of 2014, which is a driving force behind most of my goals for this year.

So here goes… I decided to compile a list of both short and long term goals.  I think if I include some easy goals in the mix it will help me to stay motivated by actually completing something.

Complete a Deployment file

I mentioned a couple weeks ago that we attend our Yellow Ribbon event for Freddy's deployment.  Well I still have two full tote bags of documentation to read through and organize.  In addition, we need to gather all of Freddy's personal stuff that needs to be taken care of while he's gone and and basically just get organized.

Focus on my weight-loss and fitness

For those of you who have followed my blog for awhile, you know weight-loss is a popular topic on my blog.  I've always struggled with my weight and will try to make the right decisions this year to get started in the right direction again.  I may even give meal planning a try :)  I'm starting a 21 day sugar detox on January 6.  There is a large Facebook community also starting on the 6th so there will be lots of support.  Plus, if you sign up on their website, you can get daily emails of tips and encouragement.  It is based on the 21-Day Sugar Detox program.  I plan on going through the book while doing the program.  I've also toyed with joining Weight Watchers online again while their registration is free.

Run a 5K

Yep… I've been saying it for 2 years now but this is going to be the year that I finally run a 5K.  It has been hard, as a beginner, to run in my neighborhood because it is extremely hilly.  But we have a treadmill now!  My plan is to do the Couch-to-5K Running Plan and build up my endurance on the treadmill and then tackle the hills in the 'hood.  There is a Hot Chocolate run in Philadelphia, PA in April that I would like to target as my first 5K.  Who would run for hot chocolate at the finish line :)

Complete a Project Life Album

I recently discovered the Project Life system of scrapbooking.  With Freddy leaving, I've decided we need to make sure to document 2014 so he can see Marshall growing up.  I just don't have time for traditional scrapbooking so Project Life seemed like the perfect solution.  I already have my album set up and ready to go so look for a post this week for details.

Become credit card debt free

I've struggled a bit in this area over the past couple of years.  But I've started some research on some methods that will hopefully work for us as it seems like we can never catch up.  Look for a post on our game plan in the coming weeks.  The one good thing about Freddy's deployment is we'll be getting 2 paychecks again.

Complete a 365 day project

I started one last year and never completed it.  I'd like to try and complete one again this year and, coupled with my Project Life scrapbook, it will hopefully be easier.

Read 5 new books

I need to start reading again.  Enough said!

Redesign my blog

A big goal that I have for myself is to redesign and update my blog.  I've joined a blogging support group that will hopefully help me direct my efforts in the right direction.  This will also help me to blog more and include meaningful content.  You should start seeing some changes in the next 2 - 3 months.

Plant some flowers

I know this is pretty general.  I have some plans on what I want to do with our front yard and hope to make some progress on that this spring.

Do 1 thing for me each month

I don't know where this one will lead, but with Freddy leaving I know I am going to have to make a conscious effort to take care of myself.

So there you have it… my focus for 2014.  I have some other things that I want to get done this year as well but these are items that I wanted to make sure that I focused on this year.

What goals to you have for yourself in 2014?

~AKO

Goodbye 2013!

As the evening has progressed, I've been seeing a lot of posts on Facebook about how 2013 was a great year or was the best one yet.  I can't say that I share those same feelings for 2013.  Over the past few weeks all I've been thinking is that I can't wait for 2013 to be over.  The year was ok, not stellar, but ok and I think the end of September was really the turning point that sent the rest of the year spiraling downward.  I wasn't even in the mood to put up any of my holiday decorations for 3 of my favorite holidays - Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas!  Without going into too much detail, there have been some struggles both at work and at home.  Just about every day that I tried to take off during the last 3 months, I ended up working part or all of the day due to issues that dragged me in.  There have been a lot of changes at my job that have been putting a lot of strain on my department.  I was never really able to get into the mindset to get my eating and fitness in order.  I've been putting off researching and starting the preparations for our upcoming deployment.  My Aunt and Grandmother passed away in September and October.  Freddy had 2 cousins pass away in August and November.  Freddy had to miss Marshall's birthday for the 2nd year in a row and missed his first Halloween trick or treating due to a 3 week training for his deployment.  The week before Christmas we had to say goodbye to our Hadley way too early and Marshall's fish died while we were away for the holidays.

Needless to say I'm pretty happy to close the door on 2013.

I will be spending a lot of tomorrow just trying to come up with a game plan for 2014.  I have some ideas and I am eager to make 2014 about me.  I have never really focused on me on a large scale before but that's what I'm going to do.  My motto for 2014 is going to be "About Me in 2014" and I can't wait.

But, until then I hope you enjoy the last 20 minutes of 2013… at least on the East Coast :)  Whether you had a great 2013 or can't wait for it to end, I hope you have a happy and healthy 2014!

~AKO

The Date is Set

The deployment date has been set so now starts the countdown.  Being that we're dealing with the Army, I know things could change tomorrow, but at least we have a general date to work towards and plan around.  We still have a few months, but with the holidays around the corner I know it will go fast and deployment day will be here before we know it.

I've been trying to get us to do as much stuff as a family as we can before he leaves that I am exhausted!  I told Freddy that he was going to have so much family fun and activities crammed down his throat over the next few months that his head would be spinning :)

I think job #1 is making a list of the items that we have to get done before he leaves... like getting the gutters cleaned and covered... an electrician needs to come in and look at the light in the garage... things like that.  I think I'll need to put my project manager hat on for the next few months and try not to drive everyone else crazy!

Family fun will continue tomorrow when we have to go out and shovel the driveway and sidewalks from all the snow we got today!

~AKO

Changes...

It has actually been longer then I thought since I've posted anything.  The truth of the matter is that I just didn't feel like doing much online over the past few months.  I went through (and probably still trying to get out of) a little down period in my life.

I haven't really posted it much anywhere and have really only told a few people, but Freddy is scheduled to deploy early next year.  I'm still trying to wrap my head around it.  We dodged the last deployment bullet that was supposed to happen last year but I have a feeling we won't be dodging this one.  The longest that Freddy has been gone since we've been together is 6 weeks back in 2011.  But this time we're talking up to 9 months out of the country.  Marshall turns 4 next year and, by then, Freddy will have missed 3 of his 4 birthdays because of some kind of Army obligation.  Freddy was gone for 3 weeks in October, and Marshall had a really hard time with it.  He is at the age where he knows daddy is gone but he doesn't understand why.  What I have gotten him to understand is that daddy is away with the Army.

So I've been trying to figure out what I need to do to get through this.  I know one thing is this blog.  I feel like I will need to get my thoughts and feelings out some way and now sound like I'm whining on Facebook!  I know I won't be doing one of those counting up things that some mil spouses do because I KNOW I won't be able to commit to blog every day.  BUT, what I'm thinking is, at the very least, doing a monthly deployment recap or something like that.  I am a little concerned with trying to hold down the home front with 4 cats, a toddler, and a high stress full time job.  I know others have done it before me but I just hope that it won't take us long to get into our new normal.

I'm not sure what they do for Active Duty personnel and their families who are getting ready to deploy, but for the National Guard, they hold what is called a Yellow Ribbon event.  It is an all day event that provides A LOT of information on the services and resources that will be available to us while our service member is deployed.  Most of us do not live near a base so we don't receive this type of information regularly.  Our Yellow Ribbon event was yesterday.  I ended up with 2 tote bags full of pamphlets and papers to read through!  I think I'm going to have to create a couple file folders dedicated specifically to this deployment in our filing cabinet.  Throughout a full 8 hours of briefings and information, one thing stuck in my head.  It was during the 20 minutes or so that our FRG leaders had to talk to us with the service members out of the room.  Our FRG leader just had her husband deploy for the 4th time 4 days ago.  We are the only unit that she is responsible for that is also deploying around the same time but one of the things that she mentioned was about self improvement.  She said to focus on at least one task of self improvement during the deployment.  So here I am…

I will be working to get myself organized over the next few months.  Heck, I may even take the full week that Freddy leaves off from work!  But, one of the things that I had set up a couple months ago for fun and haven't really given much thought about until now is the Day Zero Project.  I actually got the idea from the blog She Follows The Sun.  Basically it is a list of 100 things that you want to do in 1001 days.  The site keeps track of your start and end date and also allows you to keep a "Someday" list.  So, here we go… I have my list of 100 things that I want to do in 1001 days.  I definitely plan to write some blog posts when I do finish any of them.  1001 is about 2 1/2 years.  Plenty of time to get some stuff done right??  You can follow my progress HERE.

So that's about it for now…  Look for some redesign coming to this blog in the coming weeks so I apologize in advance for any broken pictures or links.

~AKO