So much to do, so little time!

As life has gotten less simple around here, I've gotten better about how I organize my life. I'm trying to get the boys to do the same, but of course, that is just another struggle to add to my stresses!

I have always kept a family calendar, then also a personal planner. I put general family information on the family calendar, and more detailed info on my planner. My planner includes, things personal to me, such as school deadlines and my cleaning schedule all the way down to the little errands I have to run. But lately, I've found that we have so much stuff going on, that I've added a third method of organization to my system!

I now keep a white board on the back of my kitchen door. The top half is broken down by day, and keeps a color coded schedule for everyone in the family. It takes a bit of extra effort to compile the schedule each week, but after that I can easily add to it, and at a glance I can see where everyone has to go and when. It has really come in handy on days when I have several different people, going several different ways!

On the bottom half of the white board, I keep our weekly menu information. I put breakfast, lunch and snack options down, so that when someone gets hungry, they don't need to dig through the cabinets or the fridge. They can simply look at the board and see what kind of options they have. It comes in handy when I need a snack for the boys as we are running out the door, I can simply look, choose and grab and it saves me the time of searching! I also keep our dinner menu posted there. It helps keep us organized and our likelihood of grabbing something at a drive-thru or ordering in has gone way down!

While I'm not a huge holiday person, I'm gearing up for them. I'm more about the spirit of giving then the commercialism of it all. Well, let me clarify that...I'm about the spirit of giving to those who need it. I don't believe that Christmas should be about giving useless gifts to family that they never wanted in the first place. I would much prefer to take that money, choose a name off the local "giving tree" and provide Christmas for a child who wouldn't otherwise have it!

So in addition to doing that this year, I'm excited to be volunteering with the local hospice. Several times a year, they ask volunteers to bake up a bunch of goodies and then they package them up into baskets and send them out to the hospice patients and their families. So the first weekend in December, the boys and I are going to be baking up a ton of goodies. We plan to just spend the entire weekend baking! It should be lots of fun, and the bonus is that they will go to someone who will enjoy them, and not end up around my middle!

They are also doing a few jewlery making sessions. They then plan to sell their jewlery to raise money for a hospice in Africa. I'm hoping it will work out with my schedule that I can participate in this as well. If not, I'm going to ask if I can just make a bunch of jewlery and drop it off for them! Hopefully that will be an option!

If holiday stress gets to be too much for some, I thought I would share this link. It is a great meditation site, that has many quick guided meditations that can help remind you to slow down and enjoy your life! www.learningmeditation.com/room.htm

I hope everyone has a great day! And as you begin to transition into the holiday season, I ask you not to skip right to Christmas. Thanksgiving always seems to be the forgotten holiday, and I think it can be one of the best! So I will leave you with these words about Thanksgiving today:

"This Thanksgiving season, don't simply give thanks for all you have...give someone a reason to thank you!"

Simple Mommy's House has become a ZOO!

So I have been guilty of completely abandoning my blog for the last year. From what you've read previous to this post, you know that I prefer my life to stay simple, old fashion and creative. I do things to make sure our life stays simple....However, sometimes, there are just periods in our lives when things get hectic and we need to adjust.

Right now, I am going through just that. Both of my boys are now in grade school (Yea!), which is wonderful, but time consuming! Every night, we now have double the homework and double the reading projects! Which simply eats up many hours of the day!

We also lost our dog of 11 years over the summer. It was tough on the hubby and I, since Tyson was our first dog we owned together, and we had adopted him before we even got married. But as part of the "healing" process, the hubby talked me into adopting another dog. So Deisel, the Mastiff puppy came to live with us. I have started a puppy blog for him as well, just to keep a record for myself, of all the goofy things he does...at some point, I will link that blog to this one, as well!

Diesel is a huge sweetheart and he has attached himself to my side. He has definately bonded with me, since I'm home with him most often. We've been working really hard with him on obedience and I have to report that he is doing pretty well. We just need to make sure that he is a polite and well behaved dog before he hits 200 pounds! Oh, and he LOVES watching TV, which cracks me up! I've never had a dog who will sit and watch TV before. He especially loves watching all the dogs on the Dog Whisperer!

So, if that doesn't make me busy enough...I've gone back to school! I was pretty nervous about heading back to college at my age, but I was surprised to find that I was in the majority, at least in the night classes! So I didn't feel out of place at all. It's been ALOT of hard work and long hours of studying, but I do have to say that the hubby and the boys have been really supportive and I am not only passing all my classes, but I am getting A's! = )

So, my goal is to get back to blogging at least a few times a week. I would like to start getting my menu plans put back up, and just generally use it to keep a journal. I love being able to look at my own past menu plans for ideas and I like to be able to look back and have my own record of my own life. It's funny to see how I was feeling or what I was thinking at any given time!

So stay tuned. Hopefully, I will stay true to my word! And although, I haven't done much new baking or crafting lately, I plan to in December, when I'm on a break from school. So I should have tons of new Christmas crafts and LOTS of new Christmas recipes for you soon!