Vacation from my Vacation

Home for the holidays sounds so, well, homey. Comfortable, rejuvenating, happy, peaceful, joyous. All great words to describe a seasonal journey home. All mostly describe my trip home this Thanksgiving. Packing 4 little ones, and a hubby into our overstuffed Durango reminded me of a can of sardines. It did not help that I wasn't in the least bit organized for this trip. Of course that results in bringing to much stuff and improper packing of those articles. The fly watching from our wall would have thought that we were permanently leaving. When we stopped for gas we were asked if we were heading out for a long camping trip!!! Peaceful rarely describes those family of 6, except for now when I am the only one awake. We spent most of Wednesday flitting around town doing last minute errands and becoming a bit irritable with each other when we fell grossly behind schedule. Sound familiar? If it does then you recognize how rejuvenating doesn't quite fit either. We had a great time, don't get me wrong! We spent our time up in the Cascades of Oregon doing the marathon see everyone you ever possibly knew during your 20 years or so of living there packed into 4 days sort of thing. All the while keeping the kids happy and STILL somehow showing up at all the obligatory meals with whichever friend or relative booked us. It is so good to be loved. SO very exhausting to be loved. We are home now, I should be sleeping but I had to catch up on orders and unwind a bit from all the busyness. I hope to work through the vacation hangover tomorrow and then if I am lucky, REST!

Blessings, Kim

The Nourishing Gourmet: In My Kitchen: Coconut Sugar

The Nourishing Gourmet: In My Kitchen: Coconut Sugar Found a wonderful blog I need to share with the world!

Monday, Monday

Here it is another Monday. Time to update my blog. wishing I had something interesting to write about today. Nothing comes to mind. So this will be the Sienfield Blog. The blog about nothing. Well almost nothing.

Friday was Susan's 13th birthday. Her insane mom (me) decided to host a swim party at an area hotel for her and 9 of her closest 13 y/o friends. I booked two adjoining rooms, ordered pizza, bought a HUGE cake, lots of chips, soda and popcorn. First let me say that 6 medium pizzas is not enough for 12 people. Who knew? But when you have one kiddo who only eats the toppings, it really cuts down on the pizza mileage. BTW, you get what you pay for in pizza. I am not real impressed with Pizza Huts Pizza Mia's. Not really so good. Anyway, once you couple the lack of protein with the overabundance of cake and soda, you end up with a very wired gang of girls!!! We somehow survived. No drownings, only a few grouchies. I decided to treat the experience as more of an experiment. A field study of sorts. I watched personalities change from polite, my mom told me to be good or else angels to the we are now comfortable and over sugared little heathens. SOme definantly worse then others. It's funny how they are changeing. Didn't I still have a clue yesterday? I guess now that they are all 13, I no longer "get it".

Saturday was spent with a sugar hangover. Since I have been on a sugar fast, I now notice how extreme it can hit me. This is foreign territory to me, I am used to eating whatever whenever and not noticeing it's effects because it was the norm. Now that has changed. Sugar makes me feel like poo. Funny, cause I had always believed it was my friend!!

We did some recovery napping and sewing and then took the kids to the park. Hubby came down with something as soon as we got there. Usually that is his ploy to stay in the car while I chase kids but this time it was for real. He was sick. Which meant that after the park we went on a hunt for soup and nuesua relief. What fun!! How budget breaking it was too!! I declare that NO ONE ELSE IS ALLOWED TO GET SICK IN THIS HOUSE! People, we are trying to get ready to leave on wednesday and we have gotta stop spending money. It is eating away at our already tiny Christmas fund. Sunday was spent here at home. Recovery sewing. But I got 3 slings done and ready to ship. One more and I will have all my orders out before I leave. WAY to busy today and tomorrow. Gotta fit everything in before we go. Why can't some of this wait until after the holiday? I guess I have a knack for cramming everything together. Or maybe it is procrastinating until the last possible second.

That brings me back to the beginning of this post. Nothing to blog about. I am just to crazed with everything I am doing this week to truly think of any blog worthy subjects. Why blog this dribble instead you ask? Because I promised myself I would blog at least once a week and this is my only second to do that. Sorry!! I promise to be more entertaining next week. I am heading out to see family for the holiday. That promises to inspire many a blog upon my return!! ;)

Oh, one thing I did want to note, I was right about the ramifications from last weeks post. The "friends" I was referrign to never bothered to check it out. This is so very healing. I am figureing out my place in their hearts and that is allowing me to give them the proper palce in mine. Hey, I will always be there for them as much as possible, that is just who I am, but I don't have to bend over backwards anymore to make sure they are happy with me. AND, I am giving up the insane desire to model my life and family after theirs. I am starting to realize there was nothing really attractive about it to begin with!! Thanks Mom for that insite!!

Before I let you go, check out that ultra cute sling!! Yours free with a $50 donation!!

Blessings, Kim O

Well I figure I set this up, I might as well use it. Since sales are down, (slow economy, people just don't know about me, or whatever the case may be) I thought maybe I would just journel my thoughts here today.
Thought number one, blogs are a hard place to sell your product!!! Unless you have a grand following, nobody really sees what you have listed for sale on your blog. To solve this, I believe that maybe I need to spend more time just blogging and less time focused on sales here. Yes, my slings will still be available through my blog.
THought number two, I bet others are struggleing (and gettign flustered) just like I am!! If so, email me. Let me know what is happening with your businesses, lifes, etc. that seems to be a constant source of flustration, let me know if you have a solution too!! I could really use some solutions right now!!
Thought number 3, okay, this one will sound harsh but I am putting it out there anyway cause it seems to keep coming back up. (And I think there are many people out there that will understand this one too) I gotta let go of toxic friendships. You know the ones that drive you nuts because they use to be productive and now the people just annoy the heck out of you with their judgemental attitudes and such. WHY DO I CONTINUE TO SEEK THE APPROVAL OF THESE PEOPLE? They certainly don't care if I approve of their every whim, it's not healthy for me to put so much energy into seeking theirs!!! Okay, okay, I am a people pleaser I know. I NEED ofr everyone to like me all the time (sick huh). SO, maybe if I put these "friends" off to a healthy distance for awhile until I have this back into perspective.
THought number 4, there will probably not be any backlash for thought number 3 because these people don't read my blog anyway!!!
Thought number 5, I need to put this energy into something positive. SO I think I need to begin journaling. You all get to walk with me through this process!!! Cause Yep, I am chooseing to journal here! That should be scary enough!! Putting my heart out there for the world to see!! I should rename this blog from KimODesigns to Random thoughts of a grumpy housewife!!!
Thought number 6, you all think I'm nuts!! Yes, I'm a little paranoid (getting worse too!) But, really, if this wasn't in the least bit entertaining, you would not be still reading it. It is not like my blog is required reading for some college class!!! Of course, if I get real bizarre it could be. HMMMMM. No, that isn't my purpose. I just need a place to vent and if that helps someone else, well then great!!!

I am signing off now. I got soem required reading of my own to get done and a cyber meeting to attend.

Blessings, KimO