Baked: The Amateur Woman: raising children

Showing posts with label raising children. Show all posts

Wednesday, October 5, 2011

Banking Time

Schedules, timelines, to-do lists, blah blah blah….how is a mom supposed to get everything done in the day/week/month/year? I saw another post by my favorite blogger, James at Bleubird talking about how to get everything done without losing your mind. Here are my thoughts.

I find my days extremely exhausting! My days are repetitive but it works for me because I know once I have my chores done, I can relax or do something that has been pushed to the wayside.

Food: I make lunches for the next day and dinner at the same time so I can save dishes and time. While little man takes a nap in the evening I run on the treadmill and shower (sometimes this happens, sometimes it doesn't).

Fitness: If I shower at night, that saves me 30 minutes of blow-drying my hair. If he doesn't nap then we go for a walk outside. I recently lost 30 pounds, I'm not about to gain it back and I want to teach him to exercise or play daily! I also curl my hair and do my makeup at the same time....trend maybe?

Cleaning: Let’s be honest…this is usually the last thing I get to. I have forgone sweeping for mopping everything into a pile and then picking up the remains…lazy? Maybe. Out-of-time? Definitely! Showers I clean before I get in the shower, it’s already running so I might as well clean it as I clean myself. Each toilet has a bottle of cleaner next to it so I can just put some in, scrub and let sit till the next time it gets flushed. Dusting with a swiffer duster is the only way I have found to make that easier and faster. I live in AZ so everything is dusty…my motto: Get over it. Vacuuming…tough task. I would like to do it when little man is sleeping but he will wake up. So I usually get this done when dad is home on the weekend and can entertain the boy.

Others: I usually get my crafting time on the weekend when daddy gets little time in. Groceries happen on weekends and I try to shop for the month as much as possible so I can limit that errand. I pay bills/budget on breaks at work.

I like to do things in a way that "banks time" … doing 2 things at once saves me the extra time to do them separately. Anyone have any other ideas?

Hope this helps!

XO Sharon

Image location

Tuesday, October 4, 2011

Bucket List

Yup...I'm 29. That means there is only one year left to do fun, crazy, what-were-you-thinking activities in my 20’s. Some stuff you can pull in your 20’s….in your 30’s it’s just sad.

I decided that each week I am going to choose one thing on my list and work on it. A few are weekly things that have to happen consistently so I will touch on those a bit.

Opinion Requested: Should I add anything to the list?

· Create a blog with more than 20 subscribers – COME ON people I can’t do this without you clicking the “Follow” button at the top of the page! (Thank you by the way J )

· Learn how to use PhotoShop – Created Silas’ “Thank You” Cards..that was new.

· Week in Collage – I have made a few…just forget to post those…will do when I get home tonight

· Learn conversational Spanish – got Rosetta Stone…now need to use it

· Yoga – I need to find a yoga video that I can do at home when Silas naps…about 30-40 minutes long, any suggestions?

· Get a promotion – working on it J

· Healthy body/Healthy Mind – in progress…see “running” and “Operation Beautiful”

· Surprise my husband at least once per week – tried to take him hiking a couple weekends ago…but we got rained out. Surprised him with crab legs since he was craving them.

· Skype – I will Skype my sister in San Diego this week

· Grow something – working to keep my basil plant alive, it’s a little droopy at times but I think he’ll pull through – side note…need to find out how you dry basil….this guy has way too many leaves I think…side note to my side note, why do I grow basil if I only use it once per week?

· Accessorizing – I just bought some more bracelets and earrings…eyeballing a few fall hats…may have to go grab some.

· Hatchets – well…I have to figure out if there is anyone on this list… right now..not so much

· One on One time – I am taking my niece Eva out for ice cream and “jewelry” shopping this weekend J Soooper Excites!

· Friendships – unfortunately I haven’t been able to do this…but we are working on schedules

· Organic – I may be too broke for this lifestyle…I am doing lousy on the intent part…I generally eat cause I’m hungry and/or bored.

· Walking – I have been walking to the store more when I can with Silas. Work is too far…everyone else… too far.

· Traditions – First edition: Go on a beginning of Fall camping trip (camping story to come soon)

· Environmentally friendly products – working right now to use up all my “bad” products. Switching to ammonia, vinegar and baking soda combinations.

Thursday, September 22, 2011

Back to School....and taxes, grr

As the school year starts … so does the need for supplies, books, computers, and field trips. Working in an office I can attest to the multiple fundraising ideas that parent (begrudgingly and some good aunts, uncles, grandparents and friends) bring in for their beloved school aged kiddo. While I feel there is a need to teach kids how to fundraise for something that is important to them…I know of a great option for schools!

You pay state taxes, like it or not. Do you know where your money goes? I dunno…maybe I paid for part of that side walk someone just spit on…maybe it went to the governor’s office and they are eating lunch with it…who knows. Well, you can change that.

In Arizona, you can donate your money to a school and even a teacher of your choice. The funds can be applied to extracurricular activities or character building programs. I understand it’s not computers or pencils or the basics but just think if your teacher doesn’t have to come up with it out of pocket, then those fundraising dollars that would have to go to a zoo trip could then be spent on a computer lab or music room or art supplies.

You do not have to have a child or even donate to the school in your neighborhood, you choose what school and if you want it to go to a certain teacher. You can donate $200 filing single, head of household or married filing separately and $400 when filing married filing jointly. You do not have to donate all to one school or all at the same time, you can do it as you see fit. Contact your school for where to locate their donation form.

The catch here is that you have to make your donation up front and then wait for your tax refund to recoup the cost. I would try to work this out with your tax professional so that you pay less out of your check every month so that you can do this if you are unable to comfortably front the cash. You must get it registered as paid by December 31 so be careful that some schools close for Christmas break and won’t be able to fill out the necessary documentation. I.E. don’t wait till last minute. Also you must have a tax liability of at least $100 for the year.

Arizona Form 322

Check here to see if your school qualifies to be in the program

Disclaimer: I am not a tax professional…just a blogger who heard of a fabulous tax credit. Contact a tax professional for details.

xo, Sharon

Images from:

http://romulus.net/Pages/home.aspx

http://bearessentialnews.com/field-trip-guide.php

http://www.students.niu.edu/~z140184/website/Resume.html

http://www.mpsaz.org/zaharis/info/eca/

Wednesday, August 31, 2011

MY child's development

Thank you for writing this post first of all!

Here are my thoughts. <commence soapbox> I happen to agree with the opinion that moms are judged a lot harder than dads. I also feel that same judgment as Loriani when I find out my son hasn’t done something as fast as other kids. My response… “leave him alone, he’ll get there in time!” Ya, Timmy may have walked at 9 months and that is great for him but my son is taking his time and I’m actually grateful for that because this moment in time when he needs my help is going to end FAST and I want to preserve this baby-hood as long as humanly possible.

Now…don’t get me wrong I will try to teach him to walk and encourage his learning as best I can. What I refuse to do is compare my kid with yours, or your friends, or some child on TV. He’s happy, healthy and rather smart in my own opinion. All kids learn at different times and struggle with different things…this doesn’t make any one of them better than another.

If you are a mom, you should understand this so it boggles my mind that we judge each other or try to make ourselves feel better by our child’s accomplishments. We should be supporting one another. I would like to see a day when we can tell our stories without judgment of another’s family and offer experiences rather than “solutions” to another mom’s “problems”. Trust me I have gotten my fair share of "oh you know who's walking already?", "he's still on a bottle?" and the most condeming one of all "you let him watch TV?!"

Now on the fairness of moms versus dads…. I think this will always be lost. Single dads get more praise than single moms. Stay-at-home dads get more praise than stay-at-home moms. I think it is just the nature of the beast. Maybe it is because women are more maternal and nurturing so it is assumed parenting comes natural to us. Whereas when a man tries to take on the role, it is surprising and people tend to be impressed they can do it. Come to think of it…if I were to build something, say a cabinet or fix something like a car….I can pretty much assure you that people would give me a lot more praise than they would if a man did those things. Fair, maybe not, but I don’t think it’s really about fairness. It’s more about the nature of male versus female and what we are innately better at …. or just programmed to think about our genders that way.

Maybe that should be our concern, not about who is getting praised but about how we teach the next generation to view the capabilities of them as a person and not simply about what their gender normally functions as. I want to teach my son to be strong and self-sufficient and “manly” but if he wants to be a nurse, a stay-at-home dad, a stylist, then I want him to be the type of man that can do that without taking gripe from other people.