# 1 Worst Parenting Habit Ever....broken by me.

All mom's have heard this before: DON'T EVER LET YOU TODDLER SLEEP IN YOUR BED! Or else they will stay there- forever.

Two months ago we took the side's off of John's crib and made it into a toddler bed. Now, free to get up and down as many times as he pleases, John has this habit of getting out of his bed, and coming into our room to get in bed with us. It doesn't help that Mommy and Daddy's bed is in the same room as the kitchen, living room, dining room, TV, etc. All the fun stuff is where Mommy is! To make it even harder, John's room has a tendency to get a little colder than the rest of the house, so if his blankie falls onto the floor and he gets cold, I can't blame him for wanting to sleep with us. Nothings better than warming up with some body heat!

Don't let the cheesy grin fool you. John and his bed are not friends.

After several weeks of failed attempts to get this child to sleep in his own bed, I've resolved that this is a fight that I don't really care to win. Is it so horrible of me that I want to cuddle with the cutest little man every night? That I actually LIKE being squished over to the side of the bed while John and Daniel take up all the room?

Come on people, it's not like he'll be sleeping with us while he's in high school. Eventually he'll think we're squares and want his own space. Maybe when he can actually carry on a conversation with me I can explain to him how cool it is to sleep by yourself, that only babies sleep with their mommy's. Yep, I plan to make fun of him until he can no longer face the humiliation of sleeping with us and then he'll want to stay in his own bed. (Insert Evil Laughter Here).

So, would that be #2 Worst Parenting Habit Ever....."Never Make Fun of Your Kid"....also broken by me? Maybe...

Got any other bright ideas Super Nanny?

I went without shoes for a day, and here's how it turned out....

5:30am WAKE UP!
I finished sewing Daniel's shirt for the half marathon and drank almost an entire pot of coffee. Also read some of THE WORD from 2 Cor 11. Without Shoes. The concrete floor of our garage house was pretty chilly, but I didn't mind too much. I got JD dressed and put his shoes in his diaper bag, just in case. He never wears shoes during the day anyways so today will probably be easier on him than me!

7:45am OFF TO WORK!
We have a gravel driveway that consists of some little rocks but mostly big sharp rocks. My car is only a few feet away from the porch but I had to make several trips back and forth from the house to load up my stuff and JD. Without Shoes. Needless to say I was walking VERY slowly but it was still pretty painful. I dropped JD off at Nana's and then headed to work. The ground outside my work is kinda nasty....lots of cigarette butts to watch out for.

10:00am WALKED TO THE MAILBOX
My office's mailbox is all the way down the street. I had to dodge a broken beer bottle by walking in the wet grass. Without Shoes. My feet were cold and wet!

11:00am PAPERWORK!
My office is fairly clean, but today I was thankful to stay at my desk and work on paperwork. Without Shoes.

12:00pm LUNCH!
Went to Nana's to eat lunch with her and JD. Without Shoes. I showed Nana my dirty feet and she asked me if I wanted to wash them in the tub. I said no thank you, and tried not to get her carpet dirty.

1:00pm CUSTOMER CAME BY THE OFFICE
My day up until now had been pretty routine, with no real drama. Then a customer came by to pick up an order and I had to help him load it into his car. Without Shoes. I also had to go out to our warehouse to get the order, and I had to jump over some oil spills. I got to tell my customer the story of TOM'S shoes and show him a picture of JD wearing his shirt!

3:00pm OFF WORK!!
Went to pick up JD, and we headed home. JD and I sat outside on the porch, I read a magazine and he played in the mud. Without Shoes.

6:30pm PLAY PRACTICE
It was a challenge to rehearse for Faith County, Without Shoes. At first I thought I'd go ahead and wear my TOM'S for rehearsal so the other actors wouldn't feel like they were going to step on me,  but no one seemed to mind that I was barefoot so I went for it! The stage was REALLY dirty and it was freezing up there!

8:45pm FINALLY HEADED HOME
I drove home from play practice. Without Shoes. After walking across the sharp gravel for the last time, I went inside to take a bath. Here's the final pic of my dirty feet before I washed them.

After my shower, I put lots of lotion on my feet and then put fuzzy socks on. My tootsie's definitely took a beating today, and I didn't even go running! As I now lay in bed and write this, my heart breaks for the little one's out there who live day in and day out not wearing shoes.

10:00pm PRAYER
Dear Lord, thank you for allowing me to own shoes. I take for granted that shoes are something so easily acquired. I pray that you comfort those in the world who do not have shoes to protect their feet, and I pray that through TOM'S and other organizations this problem would soon be solved. You are a loving and merciful God and I thank you for all that you do. Love you, Daddy. Goodnight.

Love,
Les

Tomorrow is TOM'S One Day Without Shoes!

TOM'S shoes is getting the word out about diseases that affect children in underdeveloped countries because of inadequate footwear by having a One Day Without Shoes. The idea is to go an entire day without wearing shoes and see how it affects your day. Children in underdeveloped countries are sometimes not allowed to participate in school without shoes, not to mention all the dangers and diseases that can come from not owning a pair of shoes. The mission of TOM'S is One for One, which means that for each pair of shoes you buy a pair is given to a child in need. Pretty neat huh? Daniel, JD, and I all three have a pair!

 I plan to try to go without shoes tomorrow as much as possible. My day is pretty routine, I have work, then I'm meeting Emily for coffee at 5:30, then play practice at 7pm. I'm expecting a few stares, as well as questions as to why I'm not wearing shoes, but I'm prepared to answer them!

John is even going to be wearing a special shirt I made him just for ODWS:

I know it's hard for some people to go an entire day without shoes, but I encourage you to try. Even if it's just walking the dog around the block without shoes! Take note of how the ground feels to your bare feet, and all the obstacles you encounter just by going outside for a few minutes without shoes. Then imagine a child growing up without ever putting on shoes!

Also, you can visit the TOM'S website and buy your very own pair to support!

I can't wait to share with you my day tomorrow!

Sanity Saving Monday Tip: Closets that Multi-Task.

Some of my close friends have seen my closet in person, and can attest to the fact that it is quite small for what all it has to hold. Not only does my small closet need to house my clothes, it's also storage for bathroom supplies, purses, JD's clothes, and our linens. My sweet husband did install some clever shelving units to help with organization, but it's up to me to keep things tidy so that I don't become overwhelmed with all that I have stored in there. Here's a picture of my closet before I had time to actually sit down and plan some sort of organizational method.

Basically, my jackets and dresses were all hung on the left. Below them are plastic drawers containing our linens, and above are purses and my jewelry chest. Top right are my tops, beneath them are baskets containing bathroom supplies and meds. Bottom right are my pants/jeans hung with JD's hanging clothes. In front is a laundry basket with misc sweaters. Notice there is absolutely NO ROOM for shoes. At the time this photo was taken I was storing shoes under our bed. Not the best method, let me assure you. Just looking at this photo I feel stressed. There's no flow. A closet needs to feel relaxed and easy. A person should be able to open their closet and know exactly what's in there, not feel like things are stuffed in every corner. This closet needed major help, and after just 20 minutes of tweaking, here's how it turned out:

I made several changes that really help with the flow of the space.

 1. I organized all my clothes by color. I get dressed based on moods, so this is perfect for me. I noticed I have a lot of blue and pink colored clothes, which is also kind of interesting because I wouldn't consider those to be my favorite color.
2. I went through the all the bathroom supplies. I still need to store extra medicines/bathroom stuff in this closet, but anything that I haven't used in the past 6 months I gave to my mom. Why keep 15 bottles of travel sized shampoo?
3. I started storing my shoes on the floor of the closet. Before, I had all of my shoes under the bed in a Shoes Under storage compartment. I still use the Shoes Under, but just for my boots and winter shoes. I put all the shoes I'm wearing now and will be wearing in the spring on the floor of the closet. Not the most ideal really, I'd like to have a shoe rack to sit them on, but it will do for now. At least I can see all my shoes now and know what I have.
4. I organized the top shelf. Before, all the purses/misc items were just thrown up there. Now I have them arranged neatly and I bought a step ladder so I can access them more easily.
5. I added a "closet door." I didn't have any way to hide my closet before. It was just open and everyone could see all my mess when they came into the room. I used an old queen sized flat sheet and attached it to a curtain rod. Now I can just pull the sheet closed to hide everything.

The major difference now is that I feel more relaxed when I open my closet. Everything has it's own place and the whole flow of the closet just feels better to me.

How do you feel when you get dressed in the morning? Do you feel overwhelmed, or relaxed and confident? If you're stressed about your closet situation, take 20 minutes and do a little tweaking!

It's finally done.

It's April 1st, and we're officially finished with the rental house! The amount of relief I feel is seriously overwhelming. To know that there are happy renters in the house with great references and the deposit has been paid is a wonderful feeling! To celebrate all our hard work Daniel is going on a fishing trip this weekend with a friend, and I'm doing my most favorite thing in the entire world: Staying Home. I have some fun things planned but what I'm looking forward to most is staying in my pajamas and cuddling with JD.

Another reason to get excited is that my hands are finally clean! For the past 3 weeks I haven't worn any nail polish (and you know how I feel about my nail polish) because of all the painting I've been doing. Since we're totally finished painting, I got myself a perdy new nailpolish to celebrate!

Essie, Sew Psyched. Kind of looks like an army green color on. Loving it!

I hope you all have a lovely weekend, and remember we'll be home so if you want to drop by you're welcome to! Just don't expect me to look my best since I'll probably be in my robe 24/7 :)

Vintage Finds!

Went on a little treasure hunt over my lunch break last week and came home with these goodies! If you've never been into Annie Laurie's Antiques you are missing out!!

Just an ordinary little wooden folding chair, but I knew it would fit perfectly on my front porch. I added a coat of light blue spray paint for a fresh Spring update!

Just the right amount of color for the porch, don't you think?


I also scored these adorable embroidered napkins, which already have a wonderful new home with a friend of mine. Didn't get a pic before I gave them to her, but trust me they were lovely.

My most favorite find is this vintage 100% silk floral top - only $6.50! Tag says that the designer is "Carole Little" which is my aunts full name and Carol is my middle name. It's kismet.

Gotta wear a sweater with it right now! Can you believe this cold weather we've been having?? Spring....come back!

Product Review: Loreal Sulfate Free Shampoo and Conditioner

I've mentioned before that I used to be a bit of a hair snob. I only wanted the purest, most expensive products to touch my scalp. How did I end up like that? I actually had a bad experience with a so called "moisturizing" drug-store shampoo that caused so  much breakage to my hair that I had to get it chopped. I don't want to bash brands, but if you email me I'll tell you which brand exactly :) I did eventually change my finicky ways and switched to drug store mousse and hairspray, but I still could not tear myself away from Biolage shampoo's and conditioners. I even blogged about how they were the only shampoo out there for  me. I was spending around $30.00 per month on shampoo and conditioner alone. That's a lot of money for me! Not to mention it also had to come from my personal allowance since it couldn't be bought at the grocery store. So, after a recommendation from a friend, I decided to give Loreal Sulfate Free Shampoo a try, hoping I could switch because it's only $6.99 per bottle, and one bottle lasts about 3 weeks.

I did a little research, and I had no idea that Loreal companies were actually the largest cosmetic and beauty developers in the world. Started in Paris in 1907, their name was originally Société Française de Teintures Inoffensives pour Cheveux, which translates literally to "French Society of Inoffensive Hairdyes." Pretty neat huh? Sounds like from the beginning Loreal's goal was to develop natural hair products.

I also learned a little bit about sulfates. Apparently, sulfates are used in shampoos to get the dirt and grime out of our hair. They're actually a detergent like what is found in our dish soaps! I don't know about you, but it's pretty rare for me to actually have dirt in my hair! Even when I'm gardening it's not like I'm rolling in the mud or anything. I've also been reading about how it's GOOD for our hair to be a little dirty. Our hair needs to be able to cycle through our natural oils to make our hair strong. When we wash our hair everyday with harsh detergents we're depleting our hair of its natural oil!

Keeping all this in mind, I tried Loreal's Sulfate free shampoo for 1 month. I have to say I'm impressed. While it doesn't get all the tangles out of my hair like Biolage Detangling Solution does, I really can't see any other main differences between the two. I actually prefer the smell of Loreal much better than Biolage. It's kind of a peppermint-eucalyptus smell which is awesome and very awakening! My hair still feels healthy, and still has body like with Biolage. All in all I'd say Loreal is a great value, and worth trying!