Keep Calm and Mommy On!

For us we are staring down the barrel of the last week of school, yes I home school one but the other attends Mothers Day Out /Preschool. My homeschooler does an online program with teachers, assignments I seriously just pay the bill and check to make sure her assignments/grades are good.
We try to mirror a traditional school setting, schedule so if she decides to return to public school that part of the adjustment is taken care of.


I work from home, have a farm and 3 kids. I am exhausted.


My kids are 21,16,3 lol so I have every walk of life and two who can take care of their basic needs with out me helping or reminding them to potty.


I am terrified my carefully crafted schedule will go kaput when schools out, organization and routine is key in keeping this family on track.  I've spent years reading mommy blogs, pinterest tips to keep on track and the below is what I have found to be the most effective.


A Sunday well spent leads to a week of content (my mantra)


Sundays are not for work but for God /Church and getting our week in line, naps, BBQ-ing (is that a real word?) and relaxing.


My Schedule
Saturday Night :
Set Coffee Maker to go off at 6:30am
Everyone takes a bath- If hair must be washed on Sunday morning its the only thing washed (sink or head over tub)
Clothes laid out


Sunday Afternoon
Church 830-12
Lunch 12-1
Nap - 1-4 We all respect this time, either by nap, reading, quietly cleaning (me catching up on DVR)
4pm - All clothes are laid out for everyone for the week, including tops, underwear, jewelry (that goes with said outfit), socks and if a specific shoes goes with out fit those are set with it.
Lunches are made for the week, we have a crisper drawer that's always empty for this purpose
Breakfast if it can be premade, its done
Coffee Maker is loaded  with timer for each day the night before
Dinners are planned, written on white board and Mondays nights dinner stuff set in fridge (if needed)
Planners, Appointments are written down & discussed
School work glanced over and if any thing is required for the little that week its done
(We have this down to a science, it takes maybe an hour to get this all done for everyone)
Dinner 5-7 this varies depending on what we cook, if we play in the yard or relax on the swing


After Dinner slow down, depending on what time dinner is served we either watch a movie, tv show or play a quick game


EVERYONE is in bed by 8:30 Except Mommy and Daddy


8:30-?? That's our time, to be together or catch up on various things we cant do when the kids are around.


Monday? That flows seamlessly most of the time, we do have hiccups but we all try to be up by 6:30 and ready for the day

Best Shave Ever

I hate shaving my legs, dont get me wrong I love smooth legs but I have 3 kids ages 21, 14 & 2. I never have enough time to shower, shave and get out the door looking nice. The moms who can, my hats are off to you! Jealous! A while back i saw a Pinterest post on making your shave last longer, yes it worked but I had some issues with the method and after a while I finally found one that works.

I double tested it this weekend and it gave me a good 3-4 days of smooth legs. Yes about day two i could feel some "prickly" (as my kids say) but its was a very small amount and only in one section. Today is day 4 and I do have hair you can feel but not really see

*** NOTE** You DO NOT have to use the exact same products as pictured or mentioned! I had them handy and found they did work but on occasion I have used other products in their places with same effects. I DO NOT sell these products, work for the companies and finally I am NOT being compensated by them for this post. Actually they have no idea who I am or that this post exists. ***

 Condition! Hair that is softer comes off easier. Coochy by Pure Romance is meant to soften course hair for easier rash free removal. I had this on hand, I have also used hair conditioner. Either works. Leave on for about 2-3 minutes and rinse off with warm water. 

Use shower gel, shaving gel, shaving cream to lather your legs, then shave as normal

Since most of us have some sort of shower gel laying around I decided to use this but I have even used baby shampoo. It all works!

Scrub

Course scrub or just a mild one does the trick, what you want to do is remove the dead skin on your legs. Then repeat Step 2. It provides a much closer shave which leaves legs softer for days. 

REPEAT STEP 2!

 Yes you read that right, after scrubbing repeat step 2

 Extra Tip, if you cut your self apply witch hazel to the cut. Lavender Witch hazel works best in my opinion. 

I love this product! Seriously you apply to wet legs (out of the shower) and pat dry! Legs looks great, feel great for 24hrs. Who could ask for more?! You can use any lotion this is just my favorite 

In the summer lotion feel "heavy" on my skin or i tend to get razor burn. 

I use this and it does give a cooling sensation which is nice for when i put it on and leave out into the hot Texas sun. Its medicated so it helps with any rashes, razor burn and cuts. 

 I detest spending $10 on a razor BUT i love love love Venus razors! So i use my cartwheel app (Target) and purchase the disposible Venus razors on sale.  To keep them sharp and lasting longer than usual I keep the razors out of shower and after every shave I pour alcohol on them. I cleans, dries up any moisture and keeps the blades sharp.  Let air dry and store them until next time.

 

To 2018 Me from 2017 Me



Hello all!


I only blog or post things when I feel led to, not because I need to write a post and its been a few months since I last posted.  I'll be honest in saying I am heart broken and dealing with some things I wish I wasn't; dealing with that I was reading blogs on bible studies and I came upon an intriguing idea.....


Instead of doing a new years resolution, bullet journal or even a list....write your self a letter to read at the end of 2018 from your 2017 self. Write about how you feel, your dreams, goals and most importantly advice you learned from this year and at the end of next year....write a letter to your 2019 self.  The point of it was to see how much you have changed in a year with out setting some silly new years resolution to do so because we are humans we change/adapt to our lifes around us with out thinking about it. Some feelings this year may not seem like something but will make a break through when read next here.


Since I always blog my resolutions here goes.






Carolyn,                                                                                                      December 26,2017


This year has been hard, real hard.  Losing Mary Lou was the surprise we saw coming and the pain we knew we would feel, what we didn't expect was the pain/loss was much bigger than we could have expected. While she will always be missed I hope in 2018 you can say her name, think of her with out tears in your eyes with out the pain sneaking up on you suddenly. Peace with it all is what I  hope 2018 brings you.


Its time to get the blasted ALZ tattoo that's on your pinterest board...do it. You know you want to and you've put it off.


Works been different this year than previous years, Max Lucado Anxious for nothing has helped, hoping that when you read this letter again that you have more peace and the Lords spirit has filled you so you are not anxious for nothing.


Weight, I know you have tried for years... 18 to be exact to lose the weights from the Hashimotos but lets work on that. Goal? 20lbs. You weight (haha not going to put that in the public post) and start that routine you pinned and bought the stuff for.


Open that Etsy store!! List those earrings and try to sell them. Set no goals and be surprised at what you do....its easier that way.


Finally retire from all things livestock, nothing wrong with it just finally let it all go. Who knows in a few years when Charl is older you may have to set up to do it again...don't burn out now (even though I know you are close to burn out as it is)


Bible study don't finish one with out a few one on the horizon, keep your hunger for God.


Chan will have her learners permit...REMEMBER GOD HAS HER DONT FREAK OUT TOO MUCH.


Charl...lol I hope you successfully have him potty trained by next year. hahah




Theres a very real possibly that next year you live in a new town, new home with a ring less finger. Pray and remain faithful in prayer let God guide you.  Keep your friends close


Most of all I hope in 2018 you finally let go of the doubt, self hate and find some confidence. I know you think you are werid, that everyone thinks you are werid and don't like you. Its quite possible that's the truth but who cares what they think...you are designed in Gods image He makes no mistakes.


Look in the mirror and actually like what you see, wear the make up, pull out the perfume/jewelry you been saving for a special occasion and use them. Love you self or find a way to love your self better.


FINISH THAT BOOK!!!


Love,
2017 Me

Thanksgiving 2017

The Houston Parade is on, the turkey is cooking & smells amazing, the kids are fighting but here I sit reminiscing about Thanksgiving past.


This year is a new for us in many different ways, for 15 years all my InLaw family came to Texas, (all 60 of them) and it was incredible.


Mother in law passed in August of this year, it was the surprise we saw coming...we keep telling our selves we had 3.5yrs longer with her than expected. My heart still hurts when I think of her, she wasn't just a mother in law she was a second mom to me.


So this year no in law family in, the in law family that is here decided not to do things with the family....so I am cooking my first turkey, having thanksgiving with just my family and missing my mother in law terribly.


So I am choosing to list the blessing instead of being sad


Gods Grace, Forgivingness and Mercy I do not deserve it, but he loves me so much
My kids- they may be fighting but they are wonderful
My husband  of 15yrs, hes pretty amazing...most days haha
Our Health
Home - No matter that its small and falling apart its home, paid for and provides us with warmth, cool and there is no rain on our heads
Work - I get to work from home and be with my babies
15yrs with my mother in law
29yrs with my granddaddy
Gilmore Girls Marathon
Coffee
Netflix, Amazon Prime TV, HULU
Suddenlink
Food in the fridge
Working Furnace
Water to pay my bills
Ability to raise my kids with a freedom of religion and vaccine choice
Clients- current, past & present
My boss - I pray he keeps me


This is just a few


Happy Thanksgiving to you!

31 Days of Slow Cooker / Freezer Meals - Plans, Recipe Cards, Shopping List and Monthly Plan

31 Days of Yummy Slow Cooker Meals just in Time for Back to School. Who don't like to dump frozen dinner in the crock pot to come home to yummy dinner in the evening? Not to mention after its prepped, it takes only minutes to get dinner in the crock pot or prepared in the evening. Less Dishs, less mess.


I personally do not use the crock pot liners, I put in the dish washer every night and every morning I pull it out. Also depending on the meal I leave our dinner dishes in the washer until I get home (I had washed them the night before) so I can use them for dinner. Again saving me time as I don't have to unload them in the morning and pull them out of the cabinets at night. I know super lazy but with 3 kids and a packed schedule all time saved matters.


I also included some extras besides the 31 day book, all free, no sign ups or ads. Simply click and its free to you.


** Some of the attachments are in other posts, the 31 Day book can only be found in this post, the Muffin and others you may have already down loaded in previous post. I share them again because they are so awesome!***

Click on the hyper link to find a PDF you can save, share and print if you wish

31 Day Slow Cooker Meals HERE

20 Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner for $ 150 HERE
20 Freezer to Slow Cooker Dinners (Some reason the shopping List is separate from this post)  HERE
Shopping List for Second Plan HERE
Blank Shopping List HERE
Weekly Planner Blank HERE
Monthly Planner Blank HERE
Blank Different Type Shopping List HERE
Planner Guide - This Weeks Goals HERE

Homemade Seasoning Mix HERE

Muffin Mix Recipes HERE


All the Above can be printed, saved or downloaded in one file HERE

* Printables, Recipes and Shopping list are creations of $5 Dollar Mom , I purchased them from her. All Credit goes to her

Two - 20 Freezer / Slow Cooker Meal Plans with Recipes, Shopping List and Extras

Easy to Follow Meal Plans, Recipes, Shopping List and Planning guides for Freezer or Slow Cooker Meals.  I don't like Blog post that put ads, make you sign up or join to get the recipes. So I will make this simple!  Below you will find the recipes and blank shopping list to help.

Click on the hyper link to find a PDF you can save, share and print if you wish

20 Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner for $ 150 HERE
20 Freezer to Slow Cooker Dinners (Some reason the shopping List is separate from this post)  HERE
Shopping List for Second Plan HERE
Blank Shopping List HERE
Weekly Planner Blank HERE
Monthly Planner Blank HERE
Blank Different Type Shopping List HERE
Planner Guide - This Weeks Goals HERE

Homemade Seasoning Mix HERE

Muffin Mix Recipes HERE


All the Above can be printed, saved or downloaded in one file HERE

* Printables, Recipes and Shopping list are creations of $5 Dollar Mom , I purchased them from her. All Credit goes to her

Make Lunches & Dinners with Pantry Staples Recipes, Shopping List

I don't like Blog post that put ads, make you sign up or join to get the recipes. So I will make this simple!  Below you will find the recipes and blank shopping list to help. Great for when there is too much month and not enough money, or when you simply want to eat down the panty because you stocked up at one too many sales (ummm that's me too often)

Click on the hyper link to find a PDF you can save, share and print if you wish

Panty Recipes HERE

Panty Staples List HERE

Shopping List HERE

Weekly Planner Blank HERE

Monthly Planner Blank HERE

Homemade Seasoning Mix HERE

Muffin Mix Recipes HERE

* Printables, Recipes and Shopping list are creations of $5 Dollar Mom , I purchased them from her. All Credit goes to her

Homemade Dressing, Seasoning Mix Recipes

Homemade Dressing, Seasoning Mix, Spice Mix Recipes

I don't like Blog post that put ads, make you sign up or join to get the recipes. So I will make this simple!  Below you will find the recipes and blank shopping list to help. Great thing about making your own mixes is YOU control what goes in. Yes it can be time consuming but in the long run its better for you and your family.

Click on the hyper link to find a PDF you can save, share and print if you wish

Mix Recipes HERE

Shopping List HERE

* Printables, Recipes and Shopping list are creations of $5 Dollar Mom , I purchased them from her. All Credit goes to her



Grab and Go Muffins Recipes

Back to School is right around the corner, so that means the scramble for a easy, quick breakfast is on!

Try these quick easy Muffin recipes to make breakfast that much easier. I meal plan on Sunday afternoons, including putting the weeks worth of clothes out. That includes jewelry, under garments, socks everything together. So that morning we are in a rush is easier, no thinking! Just grab and go!

Muffin Recipes (5 Recipes) HERE

Shopping List (Blank) HERE

*These Recipes, printables were purchased from $5 Dollar Mom, all credit goes to her



Monat - Honest Un Paid Review

I broke down and purchased Monat after trying a sample, I do have to say what prompted my order of the product was day after the sample I went back to my name brand salon shampoo and instantly hated my hair.
This Thread will serve as my 10 day, 30 day and 90 day review (Check back often!)


I have purchased these below products (the links do NOT take you to my page, its the corporate info page of each product. I DO NOT sell Monat, nor do I have a website for it)


Links only serve as info for you. I want you to know what products I used and what's in them.


Monat Black  Shampoo & Conditioner


Monat Revitalize Conditioner


Monat Blow Out Cream


Monat Curl Cream - For Some Reason this isn't on the website.....hmmmmmm interesting!


For Starters I have Oily, Frizzy, Wavy Hair. I have to shampoo twice, condition only the ends, use leave in spray conditioner, blow dry my hair and flat iron  to get it  to my crowning glory status. I have to wash my hair daily, in the summer twice daily! Oh and yes its true I color my hair.... have you met my kids? LOL They will give you gray hair too.


I am not too happy with the prices of the product BUT if it works I am willing to spend this much...well semi willing! LOL

Day 1 Review 

With using all but the Curl Cream (that's only on days where I am going curly)

I will say my scalp itched a lot, I am told this is normal BUT I only had to blow dry my hair. No need for flat iron. I also was still oily at end of the day. The shampoo has conditioner in it, so I think me using the Revitalizing Conditioner all over my hair wasn't the best idea to get non greasy hair.




10 Day Review
Itching stopped by day 2, I do feel my hair is cleaner than its ever been.
That being said....... the shampoo is stripping everything from my hair which means by 5pm its super oily. Even using the conditioner my hair lacks moisture that it has static cling.
When I don't use the conditioner my hair is soo dry because the shampoo (its actually a shampoo and conditioner) strips it of EVERYTHING! I cant get a brush through my hair with out the conditioner.
Day 1 was great by day 2 im back to using a flat iron. The blow out cream is a waste of your money. All it did was dry the ends of my hair out (contains alcohol) and I still had to use a flat iron. Even using the special brush they have.  Blow out cream is a joke and I would skip it.
My hair responds badly to alcohol, I had to get a hair cut to due to blow out cream ruining it.


So I got a hair cut, I go to a fancy salon that uses high end shampoo. When I left there my hair felt sooooo much better!!!


Also at Day 10 I am almost out of shampoo, I might have enough for another 10 days, Conditioner I might make it the month. I am using the super small amounts they told me to. I have thin hair but I have ALOT of it. Little irritated that the 85.00 didn't last me the month.
If I purchased the high end shampoo at my salon for 95.00 (Shampoo and Conditioner, separate bottles with a pump) I would have about half a gallon of each. Enough to last me 2-3 Months.


Monat reps keep telling me I need to just wait it out, wait the 90 days for my hair to detox so I can see the full benefits. Detox from what? One use of the shampoo stripped about 10 years of products off my head!! I only used high end shampoo and conditioner before, no other products and I had healthy hair. So what needs to Detox?


At this point I will finish the products (with the exception of the blow out cream) but I will not repurchase them again. Its a joke...I can purchase all natural products with no harmful anything for much less and get the same results.


I am so foolish for falling for this trap.




I do realize that yes some people it does help, I am not one of those people. I have average, normal healthy hair that isn't over processed, not full of products so this product to me wasn't for me.


If you have average hair...skip this product line. If you have problem hair...I would say give it a try.




07/30/2017 *** UPDATE***
I tried to cancel the Flex Ship that was coming up in August because I was simply unhappy with my hair. My hair was getting very oily by 11am-2pm. I simply couldn't keep it "clean" as I had with my Redkin shampoo.


I couldn't figure out how to cancel the flex ship so I sent an email to the company. Below is the response I received. I get the feeling that Monat is like a gang...blood in blood out, Except its $19.00 In and $28.00 out if you don't send back the products in 30 days. WHILE I will get my money back...I can say I was a little disillusioned by all this. If I had kept up with the "90 day detox" I would have to pay $28.00 to stop the shipments but because I had simply inquired about stopping a flex ship I found out about it in time. I am sending the products back, with tracking and insurance. LOL I wanna make sure they get it.


*** I DID WHITE OUT OR MARK OUT MY PERSONAL INFO***

08/15/2017 **** UPDATE****
Packing was received on time, no word from the company so I sent a message. Apparently all refunds are issued AFTER the 15th day of each month and that is something I wasn't told in earlier messages.
Below is a picture of my tracking from USPS and my latest convo with them. As of 08/15/2017 at 1:33pm cst No refund has been received

08/20/2017 ***UPDATE***

In July I paid 129.80 for my membership and products, when they mentioned a refund I fully expected to get only like 75-85 dollars back. That was the base cost of the products.

Today and I have my refund at the tune of $127.30 I was surprised, they refunded everything!

Now an update on my hair, I use Pureology, Paul Mitchell, Redkin and BIG hair products normally, I can safely say my hair is finally back to normal AND my oiliness is back under control. I can actually go 24-30hrs with out it being noticeable. YAY! Monat was making it quite oily with in 4hrs of use.

While I understand this product works for a lot of people it simply didn't work for me, I have average type of hair so I would say for a great many of people I would skip this product.

I regret the time I spent trying this product honestly, I feel as if I hurt my hair in some way.

 

09/12/2017 Update

Well its been over 30 days since I stopped using Monat, I can say with out a doubt that my hair is healthier now than before. I got a good cut, purchased good shampoo and finally I have normal hair back! I do not think Monat helped me in any way.

 

I do still have frizzy oily hair but its my crowing glory right? So my hair is a little oily in the mornings...oh well. Frizzy? Well that's why we have a flat iron.  

1/2018 Update 

It took some time, few hair cuts with a style shorter than im use to get the Monat experience cut off my hair.  Yes my hair is still oily but only when I wake up in the AM, still frizzy but thats how I was made. 

2/2019 Final Update

Only thing I miss about Monat is the smell. Lol I'm guilty of buying shampoos for smell only. 

Hair is back to normal! Long, almost down to my rear. 

How did I grow this beautiful hair? Not Monat! Instead I put collegen in my morning coffee, Vitamin B complex, Vitamin D3 with K2. 

No I don't have a brand to mention, just visit your local store. 

Sometimes I will go back and try a MLM product again..lol not this one!!