Typical Girl

I have to learn to pick one thing to research/do at a time, work on it until I'm either done or ready to shut that down and move on to the next thing.  I'm typical girl.  I have 546,348 things on my mind and it shows if you look at everything I have open on my computer.  Computers are supposed to multitask.  How bad is it when I confuse my computer?!

For instance... What is open right now?

- Tab 1- swagbucks.com playing in the background to earn points.  Essentially, this causes me to stop what I'm doing every few minutes to start a new video.  Distraction much?  That's ok, it's not as big of a deal when I am doing that and one other thing.

- Tab 2- Facebook.  This should really have subsections... but that'll just show my OCD/Nerd side, won't it?  Anyway, there I am keeping up with my personal page, keeping up with happenings on my Director's pages (uplines for thirty-one) with all of the Christmas/New Month, Booking/Hostess/Customer Specials announcements, and adding announcements to my closed Facebook page.  Oh, BTW, feel free to join my facebook page, Seren's Specials, if you're interested in keeping up to date with new product specials, give-aways, monthly customer specials, etc.

- Tab 3- "Tag Team" website.  Trying to learn  how to grow my thirty-one business via facebook!

- Tab 4- Pudding Cupcake recipe search.  I have to bake cupcakes for my Real Estate office holiday party tomorrow.  (Oh yeah, this reminds me... I still need to make a wreath for tomorrow too!  Gahhh!)  I made some last year for Hubby's work using peppermint-flavored cupcakes that got good reviews.  So of course I forgot how I did it and apparently did not write down the recipe.  Because... y'know... that would have made sense.  That's just not my way.  Anyway, I have a cupcake reputation to keep up, so I gotta figure that one out soon.

- Tab 5- Blogging.  This actually started as a FB post, then I was like "Hey, this could be a blog post!"  Yay!

I've also got a couple of word docs open too... also working on thirty-one-related things... like posts for my FB page.  So, I guess overall I would say the main subject for today is those posts on my FB page.  But then along the way, I end up thinking of other things I need to or want to do.  If I don't open up a new tab and at least get to a point where I will remember what the point is when I get back to it, I'll forget.  I had a couple of meal-planning websites open a few minutes ago, but decided they'd be handy to keep close by, so I added them to my favorites folder and closed them out.  I'll do those another day.

This doesn't include everything I'm intending on getting done today around the house... which desperately needs CLEANED and I eventually need to start on cleaning out what will be Carter's room and organizing things that need to move with him and pulling things back out to get our nursery ready for a new baby.  I need to work on getting things priced, photographed, and posted on the garage sale sites.  I'd like to get my house organized before too long. 

Then there's the thoughts of things I'd like to do besides even that...  I'd like to find a new theme for my blog... something a little less generic.  I need to look again for online teaching jobs, transcription/virtual assisting jobs, that sort of thing.  I need to work on invitations/letters for an Open House (for thirty-one) I plan on having and it sorta snuck up on me so now I realize I need to have it sometime NEXT WEEK.  What?!

All of this running around, and at the end of the day, how much gets accomplished?  A lot of times, I overwhelm myself so much that I end up not getting anything done because I just CONFUSE myself with what to do next.

Top priority is Organization.  Not only my house, but my mind and my train of thought.  Focus.  Hahahaha!  Funny.

With all that said, it's time to put everything aside and sit down with Boogie to get him down for a nap.

Pinterest- Nice Try.

I'm a Pinterest girl.  I love pinning.  My favorite categories are craftiness, health & beauty (because I swear one day really soon, I'm cutting my hair!), food, and looking for ideas for building my thirty-one business.  Occasionally, I try things out.  I thought I'd offer some feedback.

Obviously a health and beauty find... I found one that says to use baby oil gel to shave your legs.  I found there were some good and some very bad sides to this one.  Maybe it was just me not thinking (obviously), but I thought I'd offer a few words of advice.  It definitely made my legs smooth and I didn't have any razor burn (which is usually an issue for me, and never fun).  It also seemed to last longer than normal before it was time to do it again.  But maybe that's just me too. 

So what's wrong?  I got a call from my husband after he left for work to warn me to be careful in the shower because it was "slick as snot", and added he assumed it was due to the new addition to the shower- referring to the bottle of baby oil gel.  So, if you have a stand-up shower, you might want to think about maybe attempting this at the sink instead.  It would probably have a similar effect in the bathtub too. 

I do plan on using this method again, with a few changes.  I will probably sit on the side of our garden tub and use a small white foot tub (is that what it's called?!) to clean out my razor.  I'm just not talented at shaving at the sink... attempting to balance with one leg up that high.  Let alone the idea of a sharp object in my hand at the same time!  I can do it in the shower because we have a small foot rest that allows for a much easier time.

Anyway, perhaps give it a try.  I was satisfied with the effects on my legs, just not on my shower.  Just be careful and remember that baby oil is not necessarily what you want to have at the bottom of your stand-up shower!

Baby #2 is...

Boy!!

So I found out yesterday that our second little critter is a boy!  I am excited and hopeful that my two little men will be great friends and buddies... but at the same time I am a little sad that it's not a girl.  That is hard for me to admit, honestly.  I love my baby boy already with all my heart.  But like most mommies, I would enjoy having another girl in the house.  We may end up trying again, but this pregnancy has been a little more difficult for me and I'm afraid another would be even worse.

I ended up having to have seven iron infusions.  My iron got down to 6, and "normal" is 15-55.  I went all gung-ho and did them all within nine days. Crazy, perhaps... but my thoughts were a. get it over with and b. the sooner it all gets in there, the better I'll feel.  So, how do I feel?  Well... I thought I'd be bouncing off the walls by now and my whole house would finally be spotless and everything would be wonderful.  And?  Not so much.  When others have asked me this question, my answer has been "Well, at least I'm not so exhausted I feel like crying."  That's an improvement, right?

Back to Baby Boy #2- My next move is to start cleaning out the other bedroom that is currently being used as a catch-all room.  I believe my plan is to keep the current nursery just the way it is and move Toodle to the new room.  As a big brother, he gets a new space and a new theme.  So, I'm off to look for toddler room themes, though I'm thinking we're going with Cars (the Disney ones, specifically).  But I'm open to suggestions!  Nursery is going to stay themed with biplanes and clouds.   

A Million Directions

Wow... It's been 5 months since I last posted.  And, I must say it has been *quite* an interesting 5 months. 

Confession:  I always feel like there are a million things I need/want to do.  I get overwhelmed and my brain goes in 90-thousand different directions, and then guess how much of it gets accomplished?  Yeah... close to none.  At least I didn't say "None", right?  So, Husband and I decided that I am officially a stay-at-home momma.  I just need to find new ways to make money from home.    So here goes my train of thought.  Or... Trains.  Because what fun is just one?

#1:  Find ways to make a profit using Avon.  I've been selling Avon for... ummmmm... 6 years?  Maybe 7?  But I mainly sell to the ladies at my mom's company.  After expenses of books, and occasionally buying some products myself, there's usually a few bucks left.  So, I tried "tubing"- putting leftover Avon books in newspaper boxes.  I gotta tell you, I'm a pretty shy girl and I'm always afraid of getting yelled at.  So I try to do it as early in the day as I can get Toodle out the door.  I've only done it once with no results but I know I need to give it a few times before I can expect anything much.

#2 I became a thirty-one representative.  I love it.  My parties go great.  My biggest issue is booking.  I'm a little nervous about keeping things going if I can't find bookings.  I've only done three parties so far, but they've been good and I've had a lot of fun.  So I really do hope this is something I can get going.

#3  I am also thinking about opening an Etsy store to sell hand-made crafts.  My ideas here pretty much need to be sub-categorized.  I'm really trying to reel myself in here.  I have to remind myself that I can only keep track of so many things at once... Especially when my main focus is being the best mommy I can be.

#4  Oh yeah, speaking of which, I am also now growing another human!

"Hands Free" Time

This is what I call the time between Toodle going to bed and me going to bed.  I try to spend the last few minutes- 20 or 30 maybe- just chilling out and not having to worry about anyone or anything else.  Toodle goes through phases of when he decides to go to bed.  It all depends on the activities of the day, I think.  Some days he's ready by 8pm and will let me know he's done for the day.  Other days I decide by 9 or 9:30 that it's bedtime and it can be a struggle.    Either way, we have mommy & baby snuggle time and he falls asleep on my lap... eventually. 

The days it's a struggle, though, it can be 10 or later before he falls asleep.  On those days, I have to decide if it's worth it to take a little time for myself.  Most often, I decide it is.  But I know that I'm also cheating myself out of that extra sleep.  Let's face it, an extra 15-30 minutes of sleep is gold! 

I used to use naptime to... well, nap.  However, I have decided that I really need to use that time at this point to get my house in order.  There are certain things you just cannot do with a curious toddler around.  Even folding laundry can be a circus.  Once I can get everything back in order and get myself a cleaning schedule set up, I may incorporate a nap into my day a few times a week.  We may all be a little happier then :)

Easter Weekend

So, I'm a week behind.  Toodle has been a handful this past week.  Between that and the five interviews I've been on recently, my sanity may be only hanging by a string.  Well... not that it's normally much more secure than that anyway...

Last weekend was Easter.  Husband works for a company that gives them not only Good Friday off, but also what the employees lovingly refer to as "Better Monday".  We made plans to take a weekend trip, but as plans do, it didn't exactly work out as intended.  We were planning to be gone Friday through Sunday, but Husband ended up having to go into work.  That's just one "perk" of his newly-aquired management position.  So, we got started early Saturday morning instead.  As it turns out, it ended up being a day trip.  We started out at a place called Newport on the Levee.  It was a nice little walk with different sites and shops.  It was a pretty nice day too- a much anticipated change in the weather!   After walking around a bit, we went to the Hofbrahaus.  Husband had been talking about going there for a long time, so he was quite happy to finally get to go.  I was excited because they obviously had my newly found favorite food EVER- soft pretzels with beer cheese.  We ended our walk with a trip through the aquarium.  Toodle loves to watch the fish!  We had planned to go on a dinner cruise afterwards, but the timing was off for Toodle.  It wasn't set to leave until 7pm and it was a 2 1/2 hour cruise.  The last thing we wanted was to be "those parents" with the screaming child.  We could tell we had already worn him out and didn't want to press our luck... or, at least mommy didn't.  Before we headed home, we went to Jungle Jim's.  Husband had never been there, and I hadn't been there since the weekend my friend told me I was pregnant and then she and the other friend we were traveling with were trying to get me to take a pregnancy test at JJ's.  No... thank you though!  :)

Sunday was church service and then Easter lunch at Cracker Barrel.  Yeah, that's just how we roll around here sometimes.  Sunday and Monday were pretty quiet days and all three of us seemed to be just fine with that.

So, there is Easter weekend wrap-up... a small getaway, and an otherwise calm few days.  That's ok by me!  

Now... I'm off to find a recipe so I can make my own beer cheese!

Shop my AVON store!

Shop my AVON store!: Here's a sneak peak at some of the latest products available at Avon. Be sure to click

Where does the day go?

I always have grand plans for the day... and specifically naptime.  While Toodle is sleeping, I plan on doing the dishes and cleaning the kitchen, doing laundry, blogging, job searching, cleaning the living room... And what happens?  Usually none of the above.  At the end of the day, when hubby walks in, I feel like he probably looks at the house and thinks I've been lazy all day.  Yeah, sometimes I just am.  But I can't be that way every day.  Some days I feel like I've been busy all day, but there's just no evidence.  I end up feeling like a bad wife and not even that good of a mommy.  Thing is, I know I'm not alone.  People warned me that it was a full-time job.  Boy, were they right.  Today, I've at least got laundry going.  I don't know how people get things done while their babies are awake.  Toodle just seems to be in a super-clingy stage right now, and if I try to set him down in a walker or jumper, he gets mad.  I'm not one to carry him around 24/7, but he gets so upset sometimes.  The things that used to work just don't anymore.  I guess I need to find new things or this house will go somewhere in a handbasket.

One of my goals is to be more organized.  I've seen cleaning schedules on Pinterest, and I really need to invest time into looking into those and setting up my own.  I also want to start setting weekly meal plans for Toodle, at the very least.  I spend too much time deciding what he's going to have for his meals and snacks, and sometimes I think this leads to not-the-healthiest choices.  I really want to make sure he develops healthy habits.  It's hard to break those- I'm working on that myself.  It's easier to just not create them.  Honestly, it'll helping me to eat a little healthier too, just an added bonus!

So, here's to finding my "organizational niche"!  

What a Week

You know they say take one day at a time... I got attacked by all seven of the days in this week all at once.  It was a long, rough one for the whole family, including the dogs.  I really started feeling not exactly 100% last Sunday.  It was one of those lingering, lurking in the background feelings that I was hoping would just go away without blossoming.  NOPE!  Tuesday evening I realized quite abruptly that I had... the stomach flu.  I will spare the details, but I'll just say I hadn't been that sick in a very long time.  Tuesday nights are hubby's "guy nights", so he wasn't home when it all went down.  I was home with Toodle.  Luckily it was close enough to bedtime for him that I survived it until then.  I did text hubby and ask him to take the next day off to watch Toodle because I didn't know how likely it was that I'd be able to get out of bed.  Well, come to find out, that was a good request on my part for both hubby and myself.  He texted his boss, and I was at least happy that I'd have repreive the next day.

At about 6:15am the following morning, I heard my husband going through the same issues I'd been through all night.  So he was down and out now too.  Luckily, I called my mom (AKA "Nana") and she was able to take Toodle that day.  She drove down to get him and took him back to her house.  I had intended on him coming back to me that evening, but things just were not working out that way.  He ended up staying the night and most of the following day while mommy and daddy attempted to rest and get over this unforgiving bug.  We are still attempting to fully recover, but we are at least functional at this point.  Now I am just praying that Toodle does not get what we got.  I don't think I could deal with that.

Thus is the story of the first night Toodle stayed anywhere but with mommy.  We are both still trying to recover from the trauma.  On the other hand, he did have fun with Nana, and she is so excited that she finally got to keep him over night.  I guess when you are too sick to move, it takes some of the pain out of being away from your child for that extra extended amount of time.  That's right, I have not yet made it to the point where I'm willing to let him go for more than a few hours at a time.  Maybe with the next one... 

Time for Introductions!

Hi, I'm Seren.  I've put off starting this blog for a week or so now, mainly because I wasn't exactly sure how to start it.  I wanted to take time to figure out how I want to structure it so that I'm not all over the place.  Truth is, that's kind of my personality since mommihood, so I'm sure it'll happen anyway.  So, who am I?  Yes, I am a mommy... a SAHM at this point, to be exact.  While that is the biggest part of my life, I have to remind myself that it is not the entirety of it.  I think that's one of the big reasons I wanted to start a blog to begin with.  I am also... a Wife, the Avon Lady (it's not as old-school as many people think), an herbalife distributor,  an MBA, job-seeker.

With all of that being said, I will talk about my son ("toodle")... a lot.  I feel like I don't have to be apologetic about that here.  He just turned one.  He makes me smile, and honestly sometimes he makes me cry.  I mentioned I am a SAHM.  That was actually not the plan at all.  I was laid off from my job as a program manager in March 2012.  They called me a week and a half after having my son (via c-section) to tell me they were "restructuring" and my position had been eliminated.  Well, I'm one to believe that things happen for a reason, and while it's been stressful to be unemployed, I have enjoyed my time with my child.  Honestly, it can get lonely at times not having adult interaction.  So I am looking for a job and looking forward to finding one.  On the other hand, I know it will be difficult when I do go back to work to not have the chance to spend all of my time with that boy.

Anyway, as my blog takes shape, I hope to devote certain days to certain topics and let other days take shape on their own... "Free Days", if you will.  I figure that's where you'll hear of the adventures in mommihood!