Random thoughts for a random day...

The Seattle Sehawks won Superbowl 48 last night.

 For the first time in the history of our little family, we all sat down together to watch the big game. To hear Caleb cheering on a sports team was quite amusing as he's typically complaining about whatever sport happens to be on at the time. He actually gave me a high-five at one point! While we're all big Tennessee Vols fans and hated to see Peyton go down the way he did, this family was cheering on the Hawks loud and proud! 

Yesterday was also our beloved Grandmother Hicks' 90th birthday!!!

 I credit this sweet, wonderful woman for so many of the amazing "habits" my husband currently exudes...his love of cooking, considering others before himself, his kindness towards everyone and mostly, his patience. I have never met anyone who is as welcoming to everyone she comes in contact with as her, much less, ever heard her speak a harsh word. Chris' family is so small compared to my own, but the love everyone has makes it seem soo much bigger...and we owe it all to her.  I can only hope and pray that I'll have as much faith, courage, and love as her when I reach 90!

The weather this winter has been absolutely NUTS! It's been beyond freezing, yet NO SNOW!!!! We did wake up last week to find our lake was completely frozen over! This is no shallow pond in the back yard...this is a 300+acre lake with depths reaching 50 feet. We had geese flying in from all over to rest, lay, play (?) on our lake. I had to snap a couple pictures, as I wasn't sure we'd ever see this again.

 

 Last but not least. February is here. It's officially my birthday month. Yes, I celebrate all month. Yes, I expect my friends and family to do the same. Yes, I am spoiled. Even better than celebrating the entire month for myself, I'm celebrating this little boy. Every day I'm thankful for him. He brings us absolute joy. I don't know how we went as long without him. Best birthday present ever.

The stress of a new year...

Does anyone else feel like January is just a complete "run, run, run, go, go, go" month? Shouldn't we all be relaxing and enjoying some down time after the holidays? Instead, it's all about getting back into shape, being more organized, finishing this project or that one. Well, you know what? I'm over it. Stick a fork in me, I'm done. Between trying to get everyone back in the swing of things for school to getting my house put back together after the madness that is Oct-Dec, I'm just done. Let me say it again..D.O.N.E. 

Please don't get me wrong. I love all the hustle and bustle of the holidays and even enjoy a good organizing spree, but man oh man, this year...it's damn hard. Call me a whiner, blame it on the new baby (my favorite excuse ever), or just the dang crazy, cold weather...whatever it is, I'm kinda ready for it to move on and me to feel like I can breathe for a minute...or twelve.

Next month will be better. It has to be dammit. I refuse to accept anything less. It IS my birthday month after all...and of course, Baby Lawson's 1st birthday! So say a quick prayer, send some good thoughts, do a mambojambo ju-ju dance. Otherwise, Momma's gonna be having a "come to jesus" moment with the world. 

 

Christmas '13 Wrap Up

I'll be honest with you. I had a really, really hard time getting in the Christmas Spirit this year. Usually by the time Thanksgiving rolls around, I'm ready to put the tree up, decorate the entire house, and settle in nightly with some hot cocoa and Christmas movies.

 

 This year....not so much.

 I think it was a combination of things. Family drama...not as many siblings coming in as usual...a baby who thinks the decorations are new toys...Whatever it was, it had me in a funk. 

 

Sometime around the middle of the month however, I was able to get my act together. 

The tree wasn't as decorated as it usually is, but it was still gorgeous with the million lights I have to have on it. Little spots of red and green popped up around the house. Santa was seen. Cookies were baked. And presents were bought. 

 

My focus switched from everything that wasn't the same as years past, to all that was new. Embracing and loving the new. A new baby to celebrate a first Christmas all over again. New helpers to our cookie day. New traditions, new friends, new memories. 

All in all, I'd call Christmas 2013 a success. The older boys were spoiled as usual, Chris and I soaked up as much family time as we could while he was off work, and even Baby Lawson got into the swing of things (between crying and being over stimulated) by ripping open everyone's presents and shoving the paper into his mouth.

 

Welcome 2014

I don't know how long I'll keep it up this year...blogging that is.

But I promise to put forth more of an effort.

Along with:

• Not allowing FaceBook to consume my life {I've already deleted it from my phone}
• Creating a more organized day to day life {Monthly menu planning here I come...}
• Being a more present wife, mother, friend
• Building my Origami Owl business

I'm not going to call these resolutions...they're just things that need to happen.

Many of my friends have chosen words to focus on instead of pointless resolutions they'll forget about by the 2nd of February. 

My word is Release.

Release what I have no control over.

Release the "friendships" that only cause hurt.

Release the pain I've allowed to build in my heart over the last few years.

Release the anger and resentments.

Release and breathe.

Happy New Year! 

What's that I smell?

Clean...fresh, clean laundry. 

I've seen this around quite a few blogs and actually have some friends who have been doing it for a while, but I'm a die hard Tide fan and just couldn't see the point in actually making my own laundry detergent. 

Bring on a lack of change in income and surprise, surprise-a new found need to save every single penny sets in. So instead of spending $10 on the bright orange bottle of goodness that will last approximately 72 loads, I instead spent $8 that will last me months and months of laundry (oh joy!).

It's seriously one of the most simple things I've ever done...and it works!

You'll need all of 3 ingredients...all which you can find at Wal-Mart or Target.

I actually decided to use two different soaps just to get a bit of the lavender scent in my laundry that I like so much.

Use a cheese grater to grate your soap-try to get it the tiniest bits you can so that it will dissolve better-a friend suggested blending it also, but well, I kinda forgot and it doesn't seem to be a problem for me.

Then just mix in one cup of Borax and one cup washing soda-stir well and taadaa! All done!

It only takes 1 tablespoon of the mixture for each load you do! Holy crap!!!

I just pulled out the first load from the dryer...they smell super clean...heck, the whole house smells clean! 

My husband hasn't stopped cracking jokes about it all afternoon...I expect to get a washboard for Mother's Day ;-)

A new obsession

I'm in love with the photo app instagram. 

If you have an iPhone, it's a must have.

It allows you to choose filters to change the look of your favorite pics. 

Recently, I was introduced to a "Photo a day" challenge using this amazing app

Fat Mum Slim's March Photo A Day Challenge 

You should join...and follow me on instagram

mlhicks23

Day 1-Up

 

Day 2-Fruit

Day 3-Neighborhood

Today's challenge is Bedside...jump in!

$100, 3 girls, and no plans!

So what do you do when you have absolutely nothing (for the first time in forever) planned on a Saturday, $100 cash to spend on anything you want, and the best Mom and sister you could ask for?

How about a little shopping, a little eating, and some bowling to top it all off!

I was actually kinda bummed about the weekend approaching...Chris had planned a fishing trip with his buddies last minute while I actually had wanted to get a jump start on some of those New Year's goals we had discussed. We were obviously not on the same page and I REAAAAAALLLLY didn't want to tackle the chaos that's called our bedroom by myself. 

My boss actually made the suggestion of just taking some much needed time for myself...it was a stressful week and I deserved some ME time...who knew that my amazing Momma had the same thought process going on?

7 HeyTell's later and 2 text messages telling me to WAKE UP!!!! our plan was set in motion...yet, there really was no plan! 

Allie and Mom showed up shortly later bring gifts of sugary goodness...the boys were pleasantly surprised by this and quickly ate their donuts so they could head back to bed...yep those teenage years are officially here! 

Then we were off to the mall, some Christmas returns (when did my 10 year old's foot get as big as mine?!?!?) and then on to check out Macy's boot sale. 

Oh wait...we NEVER buy anything at Macy's! Why do we continue wasting our time in there? 

Anyone else like this? It's too overwhelming I think...I have enough "clothes shoved too closely together, nothing organized" in my own closet to want to shop in a store that's racks look like I've got going on at home. Maybe it's just me....

Anyways, a quick trip to the food court to finally break our $100 bill and to enjoy the blissdom of carb coated chicken at the Mandarin Garden and we finally had a plan!

$76.89 (after our lunches) and our bellies full, we headed to a local bowling alley...

Now, I definitely don't claim to be the world's greatest bowler by any means...I couldn't even break 100, but little sister up there...I don't know what sort of warm up/release thing she had going on. I think she was confused and thought we were playing softball ;-) Haha! Mom...always the competitive one, won both games! 

All in all, we played a couple of games of bowling, did a little shopping, laughed a ton, and had a great, unexpected Saturday together. I couldn't have asked for any better non plan than that!

An added bonus? Mom went home with $20 left!!!