Managing the MotherLoad by Jennifer Applin

Does your spouse "Rock?"

A few months ago I was flipping through a Christian magazine and saw an ad for From Me Tees-Celebrate Your Spouse in Style. Once I checked out the website I decided to purchase one of the My Husband Rocks t-shirts. I figured I wear all kinds of t-shirts with a wide array of messages. In a day and age where we are bombarded with images of infidelity, bad marriages and spouses behaving badly, why not wear something that shows a positive image of marriage? The truth is I really do feel that my husband "rocks." He is such a great person and wonderful husband and father. He knows I feel this way and when I where the shirt others know it too :-)

My one word for 2008

I've come across a number of blogs where the authors are posting about their one word for 2008. I thought it'd be fun to do the same. Although I was trying to come up with something really unique and creative to describe my goals for 2008, the same word kept popping up in my head. That word is GROW!

Some of my 2008 plans to grow include:

-my writing career. This will only be my second full year of freelance writing, but I've been blessed with many opportunities. This year I plan to really focus and make the most of these opportunities.

-religiously/spiritually. My husband and I have been trying to find our way in a religious sense for a few years. Although it has been a difficult journey we are thrilled with the results. We have joined a church that really promotes spiritual growth and we look forward to all of the positive changes that come with that.

-my health. Inevitably I will grow older each day. My plan is to make that growth as healthy as possible. I don't have specific goals for dieting or fitness, but I do want to adapt an all-around healthier lifestyle for growing older.

-my family life. A few years back my husband and I realized that we needed a whole-life makeover. This has been a gradual process, but we've now reached the point where we can reflect on how far we've come. A driving force behind that makeover was the desire to have a greater family life. Thanks to changes in careers, schedules and priorities we will now be able to enjoy more family time together. I look forward to the ways we will grow closer as a family.

-our family size. Although I will address this in a separate post down the road, I am happy to annouce that we are looking into starting the adoption process this year. If not by the end of 2008, then sometime soon after we anticipate that our family will grow in size.

So, these are some of the reasons that I kept coming back to the word "grow" as my one word to describe my plans for 2008. What's your word?

Coming Soon....

I have a lot of new plans for this blog all set and ready to go for 2008. The new content includes:

-book reviews

-organization tips

-parenting advice

-suggestions for making time for yourself and others

-ideas for being charitable

-ways to live a faith-filled life

-Featured Resource Friday

Stay tuned....the new blogging format starts today :-)

Conscious Consumer Meme

Megan at Having Enough tagged me for this Conscious Consumer Meme (fun, fun!-I haven't done one of these yet :-) Here's the description:

Here’s how it works: post the directions on your blog, tell everyone who tagged you, answer the questions, and tag five or more people. That’s it! And if you want to grab the graphic to put on your blog as well, feel free.

The purpose of this meme is to inspire some reflection about how we shop and what we purchase. The idea isn’t that consumption itself is somehow bad, but that we all could probably stand to put a little bit more thought into what we buy. And, of course, it’s supposed to be fun.

So here goes! Pick a recent shopping trip — for clothes, shoes, groceries, doesn’t matter. The only guideline is that it will be easier to play if you purchased at least a few things.

Now tell us, about your purchases:

1. What are you proud of?
2. What are you embarrassed by?
3. What do think you couldn’t live without?
4. What did you most enjoy purchasing?
5. What were you most tempted by? (This last one may or may not be an actual purchase

Okay, I'm not much of a shopper, but I did recently purchase a bunch of items online at Kohls (I heart Kohls!) Now what is truly rare is that all of my purchases were for MOI! Ideally I would have actually gone into the store and spent a few hours browsing, trying clothes on and buying what I really wanted, but those hours weren't showing up in my schedule. So I took advantage of the 30% code, spent enough to get free shipping and stayed up late "shopping." Here's my take on my purchases once they arrived:

1. What are you proud of? I'm proud that I was being very selective about what I decided to keep. Even if it meant making the trip to return some items I wasn't going to keep it unless I really loved it and it fulfilled my purpose of updating my wardrobe to look nicer and get me out of yoga pants on a daily basis.

2. What are you embarrassed by? Actually it's the way some items fit now compared to my pre-birthing four babies figure. I really don't need to lose weight, but I'm definitely feeling the need to tone some areas. The only good thing is that this kept me from keeping all of my purchases and my little spending spree didn't cost as much.

3. What do you think you couldn't live without? I thought I couldn't live without this really cute long plaid wool skirt. Not something I would normally buy but I loved how it looked in the ad. This was also the most expensive item. But when it turned out that I wasn't as crazy about it in person (the colors didn't appear the same) and I wasn't thrilled with the shirt options, I was fine with "letting it go."

4. What did you most enjoy purchasing? There were three other skirts that fell in the "sure I'll stick it in the cart and check them out" category, but I LOVED them in person.

5. What were you most tempted by? (This last one may or may not be an actual purchase!) More yoga pants ;-) But I did good...well, okay, I did buy one microfleece set, but in a bargain with myself I did purge a few older similar items from my closet :-)

Okay, I tag: Sparkly Like a Holiday, Owlhaven, Ramblings of a SAHM, April Showers, Motherhood...and My Crazy Life

S.M.A.R.T. Habits Saturday

Okay I compiled my list of wanna-be habits and it is quite long. So I've decided to just post 10 now and I'll add one a week until I get to 20. By then at least one of those original 10 should actually be a habit and can be replaced with something else (right?!?). So here I go:

EXERCISE-let's start with 30 minutes 3x's a week for now.

LAUNDRY-2-3 loads a day Mon-Sat. But here's the kicker-it has to be put away!!

READ TO MY KIDS DURING LUNCH-I do read to them regularly, but I've found that reading during lunch helps keep their lunchtime goofing off in check.

DAILY SCRIPTURE/DEVOTION TIME-I'm really working on having a Christ-centered life and keeping His plan for me at the forefront of my mind.

MEAL PLANNING-Must do this. NO excuses!

READ DAILY-DURING THE DAY-I love to read for pleasure, but I usually wait until I crawl into bed around midnight. Therefore I get through about a page and a half before I fall asleep. I want to treat myself to about 30 minutes of reading somewhere, somehow before going to bed.

BE MORE DILIGENT WITH MY PLANNER-I flaked on a doctor's appt this week-enough said!

STICK WITH A TO-DO/ROUTINE LIST FOR THE KIDS- they benefit from habits just as much as I do. I just need to help them manage this more.

LISTEN TO MUSIC DAILY-I have a wide range of music on my computer, so there's sure to be something to suit my mood. In the evenings when I like a little background noise while I work, music is a better choice over the TV. It's inspiring and uplifting without being distracting.

GO TO BED EARLIER-I think sleeping 11-6:30/7 is best for me. That way I can get up a little before my kids do and actually wake up before I start meeting the needs of four little ones.

There it is-on paper, well the computer at least, for all to see and keep me accountable. Be sure to check out Lara's blog, The Lazy Organizer, for more SHS, and check back next week to see how I did!

Another parenting blog?

So here I am, hopping on the the blogging bandwagon. I have been blogging on a few other sites for about 10 months now, but this is my first personal blog. It's mine, all mine, and I love that! But does the blogsphere really need another parenting blog? Well, as a writer I've learned that you can never have too much helpful information. So that's why I'm blogging. Parenting, more specifically mothering, can be so daunting and just about the time you feel you've got things figured out then your kids pull something tricky like growing and starting a new phase. We can all benefit from sharing information to become better mothers.

Why the title "Managing the MotherLoad" and what does "helping moms manage the important aspects of life" mean? The moms this blog targets are those who have many "loads" to manage. We play a primary role in helping these little people entrusted to us reach their full potential and grow into beautiful adult human beings. We are responsible for most, if not all, of the domestic duties at home. We strive for a sense of balance in our lives and at times struggle with putting our needs (especially sleep) last. We are trying to stay connected to friends, family, our spouse, and even other aspects of our own identity. We are charitable women who give of our time and talents to help others. We are faith-filled women. We understand that everything we have is a gift from God and we are committed to making the most of these gifts and sharing this responsibility with our children. These are some of the aspects of motherhood I find most important and what "Managing the MotherLoad" is all about.

Now just a few words about my blogroll. The majority of the blogs listed are like-minded blogs, but not all. You will find a few listed where I don't have a lot in common with the blogger as far as parenting style or philosophy, but I admire their commitment. For the most part they don't do things the way I do them, but what they do, they do well. I can respect our differences and reading these blogs helps me grow as a mother.

So can the blogsphere really benefit from another parenting blog? I think so, and I know I'll benefit from having one. Thanks for reading!