The Meaning of Mommiedom

Let's be honest that finding a catchy title for your blog is hard.  I thought long and hard with the name for mine and one day it hit me- Mommiedom.

Why because as a Mom we...

1. Rule our little kingdom of mini people.

2. We sometimes have to rule with an iron fist while sometimes a gentle touch.

3. Sometimes we feel like the evil queen and sometimes we feel like Snow and Cindy as we clean and clean.

For me it is all about finding the fun, laughter and sometimes the brutal honesty of what it is like to be a Mom in this day and age.

People think I got it all together and most times, I am failing but I try to look decent while doing it. 

I yell to much, my kids eat more junk they I would like, I am more jugdy than I should be and I know my kids ARE far from perfect.

There are lots of things I would like to change but there are lots of things that work for us. 

I give it my all and a lot of the time the return is very little which is being a Mom!

I wish sometimes it was totally different and than their are times I love it and won't change it for the world!

That's what my Mommiedom is all about!

My Most Pinned Pin

Every once in a great while I look to see what my most pinned pin is and when it hit 200 remind I was so excited.

Honestly I haven't looked in ages but noticed that it was just pinned again so I went to see what it was up to. I was half expecting it to maybe like 500 but it was over 2000 times.

2000 times this pin here.

has been re pinned and saved to others boards.

It was one of the simplest and easy crafts to do. It was a test run for my Pinterest parties that we have a few times a year!

So take a look at my super simple craft pin and if you are interested in the actual post, you can view it here.

The post alone also has over 2500 views now I need to get all my posts that many! 

This amazes me so much and thanks for stopping by!

15 Facts About Me!

To be honest I really don't like to blog about myself but I am trying to blog more and there are some good ideas out there for recommendations on what to blog. There is a list of 30 days of me for blogging, so I figured that was a good springboard for when I want to add content but don't always have an idea of what I want to add. 

So today's post is all about me and 15 facts you may or may not know about me. Hopefully you will learn a little more about me and my crazy life. 

Here is a recent picture of me and what I actually look like (I like the Bitmoij slightly better). 

1. I was born and raised in Wisconsin. I lived there until 2003 when my hubby got a job in Houston.

2. I meet my hubby in 1999 in college (or as my Mom likes say in a bar). We had a ton of mutual friends and always had misconnections until we went out for Halloween. So Halloween is always special for us. 

3. I have two kids. One girl O who is 11 and about to start middle school and than one boy, Lumpy, who is going into second and is 7. I don't feel old enough to have these two kids.

4. I was born the same year Elvis died. My said she was very pregnant and very sad when she heard it. 

5. I have one younger brother who has 2 kids. Both the kids look a lot like mine so when all four are together, I look like I have a bunch of kids. My 7 year old and 6 year old niece look like they could be twins and actually have been called out that way. 

6. My hubby and I own a start up company called Windhover Labs. He writes the software and I do the accounting and HR. Never thought we would be self employed. I grew up with parents that were self employed. 

7. Hubby is 4 years older than me.

8. I worked for many years in government in The Wisconsin State Assembly.

9. Changed careers and worked for many years on the International Space Station program until I became a stay at home mom (best job to date - the SAHM one).

10. I got to drive the moon rover around NASA once. Hubby won an award and we picked that. Coolest day ever!

11. I once got to go to NASA prom which is a huge awards ceremony because my awesome hubby got nominated. 

12. I love sci-fi and read more end of the world books than I should. 

13. I love to craft. There isn't a craft I haven't tried but I mainly do paper crafts and love to make t-shirts. 

14. I am not a animal lover but I have a little dog who has stolen my heart. My Minion is my constant buddy. Everyone has that one pet that they bond with and he is it. 

15. I love to cook and rarely have an oops but when I do it is epic. 

So 15 things about me. Some are interesting and some are boring. Some might surprise you and some  might be how you know me. 

Thanks for stopping by!

Bunking with Kids!

The kids and I are staying with my parents for July and I have to bunk with the 7 year old which has been wonderful. I actually need to laugh about it some because most nights I get okay sleep but last night was rough. Hardly any sleep, horrible headache and listening to the hamster on his wheel (which is"suppose" to be a quiet one) for hours on end. 

I figured we all need a laugh at how our kids are when we have to share a bed. So I am demonstrating in stick figures (be impressed with my awesome drawings).

This is how I am use to sleeping with my hubby though we have a big king bed and it adjusts (it is wonderful).

This is how it is to sleep with either kid but mainly the 7 year old. 

This was how I ended up the other night with him on a queen size blow up mattress. I am the one with the angry mouth. 

Even though sleep was bad last night, the kid actually stayed pretty much where he belongs. I also need to add that BOTH dogs are also sleeping on the blow up mattress. 

Only a week and half until I am back in my own bed!

My Hair!

My hair is a hot mess most of the time. I have more gray than I would like and yes I dye it. Currently it is pretty dark (my 11 year old doesn't like it and thinks it it to dark). I have been thinking of a more fun color but the kids tell me that I am to old (I am a few months from 40) but I keep thinking why not because I am still young. 

Today I have to go to a shower with my Mom so I figured I needed to do more than a pony tail for that so I started to flat iron my hair. This is the second time in a week I have done it and like before that was I actually don't remember. I was for a long time a daily flat ironer. 

I was chuckling as I flat ironed my hair because I finished one side of head and noticed what a major difference the flat iron makes. How often do you get a before and after in one picture. 

Isn't it funny how big of a difference it makes? I have actual inches added to my hair. My hair is pretty long right now and I do need a cut to. 

Completed flat iron. Amazing what a wonderful tool the flat iron can do for one's hair. I use to have very wavy hair but it has relaxed a lot as I have gotten older which makes it so much easier to work with. 

So here I am all done up with makeup. I actually am not huge makeup wearer and feel like it is pretty heavy on my face most of the time. 

I also hate how when you take a selfie, that it looks like  have ninety chins so thhat is why I don't take them that often!

Thanks for stopping by!

Delightful (and Easy) Meal Planning

Let's be honest that the thought of meal planning is not a great one. You read all of these Pinterest and blog posts about how to make it easy plus they say it is life changing. 

Guess what it is really life changing because it makes your life so much easier. I have been meal planning for a while and am always looking for good ways to do it. There are certain things I want o achieve out of meal planning and when you determine that, I think that meal planning can be delightful and easy. 

The things I like to achieve are:

1. Less grocery shopping and trying to shop biweekly and even monthly though honestly for my family biweekly works the best. I notice two weeks are about how long goods that spoil last like milk and eggs. 

2. Having a easy go to menu and rotating it on a regular basis. I guess this means it can't always be taco Tuesday (though my youngest would have it every day if I made it). I am fine if that works for you but I get burned out with meals when I have tried that but if it works for you go for it. 

3. Cheap buys and buying what's cheap. I spend a few minutes to see what is on sale each week and tailor my planning and menu to that. It would be nice to have steak every week but I only get it when it really is on sale. Pork tenderloins are great to stock up when on sale and one can stretch two to three meals in my house. My kids love pulled pork so that is always a go to. 

4. Efficiency which means, I am not all about going to multiple stores. Lots of meal planners bounce from store to store, but I guess I am lazy in the regard. If I can't get it at one store, than I just don't get it but I also adapt as well.  This is why it is always a good idea to know your store and know their advertisement. For example, I know Aldi's and I know what I can and can't get there so I may shop there one week and than do Kroger's the next time. I than get variety of things without having to store  hop. 

I love to have my calendar laid out for the month so I created a fun and easy way to fill in with my meals for the month. I also mark down the times we go out to eat. We always do Sunday morning breakfast and Pizza night on Friday.

Here is my August plan

Here is a blank calendar to print out 

I also have this fun planner insert I got from Michaels which can break it down per week as well and help me remember likes and dislikes. Plus it also has a pantry and fridge inventory list so I always know what I have on hand for planning purposes. 

I can easily stick this in my purse for when I go shopping. I also can use the cloud and one drive on my phone to pull up my at home list if needed. 

I want to have a quick and easy way to plan and get the stuff I need so that I have more time for other things like work and crafting of course lots of crafting.

Thanks for stopping by!

The Essential Guide to a (mostly) Clean Home

Cleaning gives me a Zen feeling. When I complete the house and look around, I have peace inside which lasts about 2 seconds until one of my kids runs through to make a mess. 

I admit, I clean early in the morning usually before they are up in the summer and after they leave for school the rest of the year. This gives me some time to have it look nice. The nice clean smell, the shine of the appliances and swept floors are HEAVEN.

I also know that I can't be crazy and decided that a a schedule was needed to keep the house clean and myself sane. 

So, I started off breaking down areas of my house and working on those each day. Something different every day and I makes the house feel clean through out the week. 

I also make sure that the kitchen is clean before bed (dishwasher loaded, counters wiped and sweep up). Beds are also made every day to. 

It feels good to wake up in the morning and not have a sink full of dishes though on occasion it doesn't happen. 

I also work at doing one to two loads of laundry per day and always run the dishwasher daily. 

Both of these help wth keeping the house pretty clean though putting dishes and laundry away really is a chore that I MAJORLY dislike but it does feel good when it is done.

So I created a fun checklist to help myself out to clean the house wth daily and weekly chores. 

I just printed it up and hang it on my fridge. I also laminated it so if I want to just check it off with a dry easer marker. The kids also have jobs and will help me with the daily stuff that needs to get done as well. 

I pretty much know the list by heart and adjust as needed. It helps to have order and it makes me feel so good when everything is in order. 

Hopefully this will inspire you to create some kinda of schedule and you can maybe find your cleaning zen. 

Thanks for stopping by!

Happy Planner = Happy Me

 I have already admitted that I like trends in the craft world. I may not be a clothing or makeup trend person but ways to be creative, I am all about!

Planners are something I start, use for a few months and than stop using. I have had all sorts of ones but than I think well my computer, phone, and laptop are all connected with my calendar so I fall away from it. 

Though I am a sucker for cute stuff and when I saw last November the adorable MAMBI Happy Planner which was like 60 percent off, I thought why not try it. I have used that thing all the time and the reason I love it so much is because you can decorate it to your own personality. All of my stamps, scrapbook, and stickers that I own can be used to make it mine.

Here are my two planners!

I started off slow with it and just did some decorating here and there. Than I joined a few Facebook groups that are Happy Planner centric and oh my were they crazy but in the good way. 

There are sticker packs and freebies you can find on Pinterest. Phrases to motivate you and unlimited uses for washing tape which I used some but now ALL THE TIME.

I chuckled when I would see people with more than one and guess what I have two. A regular one that tracks the calendar and a mini which is my daily journal to track all the things in life. I love adding in my own pages of things like my bulletin journaling (more on that another day) as well as fun coloring pages. 

These planners reflect one perfectly and that was the one thing I always found that planners were lacking. I love tracking things in fun ways and different colors. I have the fall all laid out with the kids each having a place in the planner. I also purchased a label maker which I use for my planner and about anything I want to label. Stay clear of me unless you want it labeled!

Friends are getting in on it and my own mother has multiple ones as well. She is using stickers and loving the personalizing of it. I use it for way to remember the year that was. I track the good and the bad in them. I love that I can add pictures to it from my Kodak instant camera of our memories (see cute pic f my kiddo on my dashboard). 

I love that I finally found a planner that I have used more than a few months. It goes about every where with me and I have no shame in pulling that huge thing out to take notes, see what is going on etc. 

I love how this planner fits in how I love to craft and express myself.


Free planner Printable (for personal use only)

I created this and you can feel free to print up and use for a weekly layout. I used it a few weeks ago in one of my June layouts!

If you would lie your own Happy Planner, Amazon has great deals always and this is
 a nice starter kit! (Affiliated link)

Thanks for stopping by and feel free to leave a comment bout how you love your MAMBI planner!

Bitmoji Love

One of my favorite things is Bitmoji, which is creating your own personal emoji. I just love how custom you can make it. I love sending people texts with my own look and I think my Bitmoji looks a lot like me. 

My Bitmoji has been everything I can make it in the app on my iPhone. I sent one to my Aunt once and she loved it so much, that she had to create her own. It looks just like her to and she will send them to me randomly as a pick me up. 

I used the app recently to make Bitmojis for the kids and myself. I figure I could use them for fun stickers for my planners. I used a scrapbook program and just downloaded the pictures I saved off the iCloud to my laptop. It was super simple but a tad time consuming to add and size them all. 

The sheets look like this:

I can print them and hand cut them out on sticker paper or load them into my Cricut to cut (I already loaded to see how it would look).

I figure this will be a fun way to add a little something extra to my planner and all sorts of things like in the kids lunches. I figure I can print a sheet up for the girl for her school planner to keep track of all her stuff. 

Thanks for stopping by!

Are we there yet? Things to help with a road trip

My kids travel really well and our actually seasoned road trippers because with the cost of flying we can all get in the car, visit extra places and still some in way under than 4 airline tickets. Plus we go for extended periods so it is nice to be able to haul more stuff and have our own vehicle. 

So with all this traveling, I have found some wonderful things each and every time to make it so much easier on everyone including me because honestly if Mom is happy than everyone else is happy as well and if Mom isn't happy well we all know what that can be like ;).

Here are some of favorite tips for traveling:

1.  Have a dedicated box of entertainment like crayons, makers and things to color. My kids LOVE all that kind of stuff. 

2. Have each kid have their own car bag/backpack. These are things they want to come with and give comfort. My kids are both so different. My daughter packs it to the brim while my son just takes the basics like his favorite stuffed animals and a few books. 

3. Tablets, computers and DVD players. Honestly the tablets make it easy to be all in one. My kids didn't even bring any movies this time for the drive. They played games, and read mostly on their devices. 

4. Snacks, lots of snacks. I hate stopping and buying snacks at the gas station because every time is like 10 bucks for nothing. So we went to the dollar store and for 20 bucks got twenty different kinds of snacks. Everyone was happy to have their favs right there in a bag. My kids loved it and we will always be doing this but sunflower seeds are off the list now forever- need I say more.

5. Pack lunches because I am all about going as far as we can and stopping for greasy food isn't something I like to do for multiple days. Between the snacks and packed lunch we were good (this also includes drinks). 

6. Hard surfaces for kids. I have gotten all sorts of ones for the kids like the trays, and binders but the best yet was the $1 cookie sheet from the dollar store. It has so many uses like drawing space, lego building (yes my son for hours and hours on our trip built legos) and it is magnetic so that works as well. Best idea yet for that.

I love the Kindle for exactly that and they are a reasonably priced one to.
Shop Amazon Devices - Introducing the All-New Fire Tablets Starting at $49.99

7.  Charging station and enough cables for phones, tablets and computers. I created a cute pouch to store my stuff in for easy access so when a cable is needed, it was there. I also made sure to get stuff back. So far we are only missing a set of headphones (of course mine that I borrowed to someone). I will find them I am sure at some point unless they fell out somewhere which has happened. 

8. Charged phones for GPS and finding things. Without a good phone with GPS, we would be lost. I love just typing the stuff in to find plus it is a great way to update people about progress. My hubs like to use a find me app to help track our driving progress. Though it is is creepy to get texts from them welcoming us to the states as we hit them. 

9. Patience and lots of it. Things happen that are out of your control. You may turn the wrong way (I tend to do that more than I like to admit). I got turned around one time that costs us like thirty minutes. I was in tears but everyone else was laughing on our adventure. So just relax and enjoy the ride. 

10. Have comfy clothes to wear. Leggings and yoga pants are a must. Nothing with buttons or zippers because they can jab plus it is so much faster to go potty. Also wear layers because outside might be hot but with the air con, we get cold. I wear a sweater most of the time. 

11. Have pillows and blankets because without a doubt you will doze off at some point (just not while driving). I also include in my stash a eye mask to help it get dark. I also like the neck roll as well for trips. It actually gets fought over when I am not using it. 

12. Have fun with the trip. The drive can be ling and boring so find ways to change it up. Sometimes we have long family talks about the weirdest things while on our trips and other times we go for hours not talking at all. 

Road Tripping 2017

Every year the kids and I head up to visit my parents up in Wisconsin. Weather is so much nicer there in July than Texas (think our fall weather). Low humidity and bright blue skies with highs of like 80 most days. So we hope in the car and travel up and we have now decided it is fun to stop on the way up to see America. This year we decided (okay I was ganged up honestly) to go see Branson.

The hubby had been there like 30 years ago and I have never been. I have always wanted to see it and it was about a hour really out of our way. So we headed out on Monday to start the ten hour drive to Branson. We got into Branson about 5ish because we made sandwiches in the car and stopped only a short time for potty and gas breaks.

Branson is really a gem in the middle of the Ozark's.  It is a hilly and green area with pockets of fun scattered through the area. Everything close by but traffic is busy with really only one main drag (on the our second day, we figured out side roads were much better).

Our first day night there was just dinner and listening to the never ending firework display by our motel. The next morning, we woke up to rain and though well we will make the best of it but it cleared for most of the day.

The first thing we did was something we stumbled upon, the Celebrity Car Museum. My hubby loves this kind of stuff and it was a fun museum though not cheap (though not much is cheap there).  We looked at all the fun cars around. We saw it only because Ecto-1 was sitting out front and one of the kids screamed GHOSTBUSTERS!

After the museum, we decided to go see the fish hatchery which sounded really cool but because it was federal holiday, it was closed but we still got to see the awesome Table Rock Dam which was amazing. I don't think I had seen a dam before like that and the power it creates is amazing. They also had a nice visitor center that was open that you could look ver the dam and lake. 

After of course we got some lunch (how can you beat the 5 buck lunches at DQ. Boy just had to have his ice cream. 

After we went, we were going to go to Fritz Adventure but it was crazy busy so we went go karting instead. Both kids love go karting and bumper boats as well. I think the boy won because big sister was pretty wet. 

Of course the hubby saw a huge bust of Ronnie and made us stop for a picture because why not!

The kids and hubby finally got to go to Fritz's adventure which was ropes, warp wall and lots of fun. I think they spent like here hours there and I just bummed around Branson while it rained.  After they were done, we tried some moonshine and had dinner down in Branson Landing which was an outdoor mall. We ended our night with a awesome fountain and fire display and watched fireworks not he drive back to the motel. 

We headed out early to get to Wisconsin, which we made it by 5:30 pm so just in time for the kids to jump in the pool!

Thanks for stopping by!

Hand Lettering Fun

Hand lettering is the hottest new trend to add some spark to scrapbooking, decor and well about anything that you can think of that might need fun and cute hand drawn stuff. 

Handwriting has become a lost art because digital is pretty much how we do every thing now  a days. 

Even I don't actually write much. Both kids have been working on cursive writing because it is a lost art. 

I have been playing with hand lettering for a few weeks now. I have a journal dedicated to just experimenting with different hand lettering techniques. You can get all sorts of tips and ideas on Pinterest (all my inspiration is in my Planner board).

I have also been using a app on my tablet along stylus (I am on the hut for a more detailed stylus for detail work). It is so much fun to play along with creating different hand lettered pictures. 

I created my fun hello and added some cute accents. 

Of course, other fun things to create is actually doodling with it and I love my little sunflower. 

I just love how happy this new day file is and I am planning on printing it up to add to my planner and scrapbook pages. It would also be supper cute to add to a frame. 

My final fun one is a 4th of July hand lettering project. I added color and the app that I use has features to add stars as well as color. 

I love the idea that I can customize my hand lettering to specific ideas. 

Thanks for stopping by!

It's The Buy of The Century!

"It is the buy of the Century" according to my daughter.

It might not actually be the buy of the century but it is a really good buy. Like crazy good buy.

So are you wondering what this crazy buy was.

Well.... it is a sno cone machine for 8 bucks, yes a whole whopping 8 bucks and some change (it retails for 120 bucks).

We happen to stop by Tuesday Mornings today because I always like to look at what cheap scrapbook/planner supplies for cheap. They sometimes have the cutest stuff there for cheap. Nothing caught my attention but as we were walking out, the clerk asked if we would be interested in the sno cone machine for like 8 bucks. She said it is brand new and never opened. Someone had just returned it and she said it would go fast (yes it went fast).


The kids were giddy with excitement and could not wait to get home to put it together. We also needed to figure out syrup for it which we made ourselves and it was super easy to do.

We came home and after I did a few things, I set to work putting it together which wasn't that easy and I made a mistake and put something on backwards so it had to be redone.  All in all it took like 30 minutes to put together.

The syrup was so easy to make to. We made a simple syrup on the stove using 1 cup of water and 1 cup of sugar. We brought it to a boil and made sure the sugar was dissolved. Than we put in a packet of our favorite Kool-Aide flavor. We than put them into some mustard and ketchup plastic bottles for easy dispensing.

If I used this for a party, I can always just label which one is which. So after it gets mixed up and please be super careful because it is really hot.  We let the syrup cool for most of the afternoon in the fridge and it needs to be refrigerated when not using.  

So after dinner and showers, we went to work making sno cones. The kids loved it and just a small amount of ice made a huge mound of ice.

The kids went to work creating their sno cones and using the flavors we made (watermelon and lemon-lime). The Kool-Aide was on sale for 15 cents a package. So with the sugar it was like 50 cents to make each of the syrup.

Of course I didn't have sno cone cups so we just used some regular cups (the girl says we need to get those cups for the future).

Look how happy the kids are after they made thier sno cones. 

They are thinking how awesome it would be to have a sno cone stand to help with the heat. We joked that they could easily make our 8 bucks back.

Summer is about having fun lots and lots of fun. This was such a fun thing to get and have for the future. The kids will likely eat thier weight in sno cones this weekend. My daughter is thinking of all the flavors she could make (she plays softball so she is thinking pickle juice might be good). 

Thanks for stopping by!