Mom Planners: What make the best... The best.

2009-2010

School is starting folks. For some it has already begun!Today it started for us.

Of all the things I am passionate about it is my time. My time to do things, and have control over. I don't usually either of these things TIME or CONTROL. (See in Fig. 1) This seems to be my latest trick.

Hence, I obsess over tools, tricks and tips to give me as much time possible.


I am a Mom so I need something that is fun to look at, and I can relate to. UM......Hard to find for me ;)







Fig.1




Here is some of the best of what is out there. Thoughts and links are beneath each picture.

MORE TIME MOMS Mom's Agenda


These are easy on the wallet, slick smooth format of the weeks. Kind of a two for in the world of aesthetics. I like the set up of the monthly budget planner page.


Circa 2010 Weekly Agenda Notebook Junior


I just love how this is set up. So sleek like a desktop calendar. It is just straight up pretty and you can find others like it here.

Bob's Your Uncle 8 Days a week Planner Journal

I love that you don't have this one dated. It is perfect for the notes and journal I seem to combine anyways. The cover is happy and cheery, perfect for the inside of my purse.


momME Weekly Planner Sheets

I included these because they would be a fold and go. I only think I would fold and went ;) in my world right now but in the near future I do like this model. I just need all the wee ones in school first :) I am for sure getting this system when things slow down around here.


The MomAgenda


This has all the bells and whistles for moms and what they need. I just need a landscape view of my weeks. They are very hip and come in some awesome colors as well as durable covers for us messy types.


Busy Body Book Family and Personal Organizers


This is one of the ones I was really taken with. Cute cover designs. And awesome for the family schedule that is visible so you know when to leave. And for me when to set an alarm to leave :) I may have to get one of the wall calendars (scroll down to the bottom). SUPER FAB.


So I decided to make my own :)



Ok so the top area is the weekly schedule Starting with Monday.

The second area for the important things to concentrate on. "Priorities"

Then there are "Ideas" areas for your children and hubby. Or the categories you have some idea about. Ha Ha. There are lines so you can add your own time schedule for each day. It has helped me really focus on the things I need to.

The inside pages are only printed on one side. So I can take notes on the page above the week. I have been using it for a month now and I LOVE how it focuses my brain. Check back with me next month when I have left it somewhere and can't function lol. That is until I print out another one :)

Based on this idea. The only complaint about the originals I had was they weren't "pretty" enough :) I reversed the design and made them blank so I could fill in the dates. I just printed it and spiral bound it. Oh and had them laminate the covers.
***If you download it please let me know what you think in the comments area :)

Here are the documents in pdf format.
The Front Cover here.
Download the inside page in weekly format.
Download for free the Back Cover.

So.....
Do you like other ones? Did you find one in Italy that we can get in the US and I don't know about it?? I wanna here about it.

I found a new site.....

I know when don't I find new sites.....

But this one has easy sewing and creative projects to try. HELLO right up my alley? Heck YES.

Here is the latest and greatest one. I can't wait to do it and serve breakfast on these for the kiddos next wed. When SCHOOL STARTS!

Sorry here are the links

Creative Kismet

and table placemat will be the next project....

my picture???? soon my friends soon!
My camera charger died hope to get new one in the mail by next week or I'll cry a bit.

List list who has a list?

For those who know me I love things, lots of things. Here is a list of just some of the things I love.

1. Good Deals on Clothes, Hand bags and pens.
2. Pens (Parker and Uniball Jetstream are at the top of the list right now)
3. New Planners/organizers
4. Journals
5. Digital scrap booking
6. Drawing
7. Carving
8. Playing out Doors
9. Selling crap around my house on ebay
10. Watching Grey's Anatomy, Lost, and Operation Repo.
11. Reading good books.
12. Munching on Mochi
13. Helping others.
14. Clean floors. (So rare I think it is like finding a treasure when it happens)
15. Making things.
16. The 'idea' of Sewing
18. Illustrator
19. Randomness.
20. Gardening

Twenty things you LOVE what are they? Post them and I will make you something :)

Self Portrait.....

Ok Thing 2 is just cracking me up lately. I love that she loves to draw. But this cracked me up. Everytime she draws herself she is drawing this little stick person. I am so glad I am a mom. And her mom at that.

Imaginative Play taken too far.

Once upon a time, like thirty years ago. In a land called Idaho. There lived a little girl with lots of energy. She was two and took her diaper contents and spread it all over a beloved Dresser vanity mirror. "Finger Painting" was one of my favorite activites evidently. My father has yet to let anyone.... anyone let me forget by retelling the story over and over again. I was dubbed "PunkyDoodle" from then on.

Like many things it has come back full circle to me and my family. And payback's a _____(insert favorite word).
Here is a picture that describes (without a real description) what happened. Here is our newly bleached kitchen set. And no the accessories are not included anymore-sad face-or ewe face I can't tell which dominates at this time.

The Fish has a new nick name too. Lil' Chef.

Mr. Roboto:

We started with an empty can. And ended up with these fun things. I got the idea here.

The good experience was worth it.

N



The one thing I am really not content with here in Davis is the water and that it doesn't have fluoride in it.

She had gone to school and was coughing a bit. Her crown was from school that day. Thing 2 has cavities in her back molars. Two rather large cavities. The one we were into fix today was really big. 5 minutes into the procedure she was asleep. I couldn't have asked for a better way for things to go. She loved getting a "star in her tooth" and can't wait for the next one. We'll see how it goes.
We have another app mid next month. I hope she sleeps for that one :) She did awesome. I am glad we have the dentist we do. She is really great.

Free Tickets

Oh you know there are few things better in this life than a great band in the summer evening sun. Are you wondering why Coldplay looks so close? Because when they put on a show they change the stage local. We were like 20 feet from them for three numbers!! It was AMAZING!

The Beach is such a wonderful thing.

We just went to another Northern California Beach.
Heart's Desire Beach
It was awesome. The waves were non-existent the sand was a bit rocky, but great for the kids to stack and play with.
We were next to this family that had great shovels. They dug a trench and let the kids play. I am really considering what I can trade for shovels ;)

Farmers and their markets

I love the fresh produce and the extreme fun for the kids. The farmer's market here is seriously a market on crack though there is so much fun to be had every Wed. night. We have been quite a bit this year.

There are benifits to apt. living.

We have been here for awhile now we have some cool things going on here like apartment inspections. I have had three in the past two months. The city the county and the development company have all been out in the past little while. I love cleaning under pressure but to do it this many times really is getting this place functional. I am more organized and dirty laundry free. I feel like I am not able to work on anything when everything is clean. No organizing and re-arranging cause it is all done. What ON EARTH am I going to do with myself? I guess I could finish one of the MANY projects I have started. Like the business www.mommakes.com that is just stagnant and waiting to be done.

There are fun things to do too. Summer activities like:

The theatre that is putting on free movies.
Beaches
Camping
Lakes and Resivors
Library Free books
Gardening (future post)
Our town's Picnic in the park.

Friday we went.....

To Muir Beach!! It was so much fun! This summer has been one out door adventure after another with our little troopers. The feedback thus far has been good :)

I have been really impressed with the way the kids have handled the time with the shortness of on hand cash. We have been just driving to local places and getting out to walk and play around. This summer has been the best so far. Can't wait to see what else we can get into this week!

Oh Say Can YOU SEE??

The Fireworks? No not really, they were behind those trees like the parachuters were. But we all moved a slight bit over and could see everything just fine. It was fun to hang with the gals and all the families for a chill evening.

Here are some shots of the fourth of JULY ;)

Simple Sewing

Disclaimer: I am so excited to learn and look at fun projects, but really I totally understand my lack of skills in this arena.

Here are some links to some fun stuff.

Fabric flowers 1

another fabric flower

Sweet Sailors

Yeah I hit this point about a month ago when Thing 1 kept saying these things that made me laugh but I have no tools YET in the tool box for.

He had just come home from school all excited about learning about Octopi. I was thrilled as he told me that they changed color when they were angry. I totally grabbed my trusty laptop and started looking up video of these creatures. I found some results and as I showed my son he started singing in a five year old cute voice.....

"Octopussy, Ocotopussy..... and I just lost it.... Laughing. I should have really held it together because a couple of days later he said it again just to make me giggle. It worked, but we were at home with no one around. No sweat. And now a month or so has gone by and I haven't heard it again.

I could just be going through this 'let's-visit-fifthgrade-again' phase but I think i just am there all the time.

So we are reading Scriptures and one of the Prophets of the Book of Mormon is Enos. Well you can tell we have been working hard to get Thing 1 to rhyme, and he is good.

"Enos, Pe.... " is what came out so fast I couldn't stop the high pitched cackle that escaped.

Ok so today we are getting out of the car and Thing 2 gives me the "I am tattling on my brother" look and says,

"Gabe just said "it's so freakin' da_n hot," to which Thing 1 looks at me with this one squinty eye of "dang what is going to be the punishment this time. "

He had said it about a week ago but I wasn't paying close attention just let it go by and not draw any attention to it... and we may have been in the church parking lot. But I had made mention it wasn't a thing we needed to say.

Well after Thing 2 had said the magic phrase together THE FISH chimes in with "freakin' DA_N" over and over like a broken record. Awesome.... can't wait for church on Sunday. Wonder if it will be Hot?

We have outlawed some choice phrases like.

Shut up

Stupid

I hate you

I don't love you

Which before we told them they were not to be used weren't use on a regular basis. I hear them everyday now. SIGH. I don't even want kindergarten to happen to these sweet sailors. Folks, when they find out my favorite swear,* is a swear, we are all in trouble with our moms.

*It begins with Sh.... and is proceeded by "Piece of...." or "Little...." and in times of great peril it has an "OHH".

What causes anxiety?? I have video of what does it for me.

You may want to turn the sound down on your speakers. I will be purchasing ear plugs just to take the edge off.

Driving up out of the heat.

Saturday was a hot day but like all hot days I just want out of the heat. We got out on this day. It was awesome!

We loved the camp sites around here too. Anyone want to go?

Someone Graduated!!

One year down. This was last week and I was at traffic court fighting my ticket. I came right after they sang to everyone. But here are the shots of her special day.

She didn't feel that singing with her class was necessary for this party. So we have video of all the other children singing and Thing 2 just sitting in her Papa's arms with a frown. I will spare you another roller coaster video presentation :) In his defense he did have Thing 1 and the Fish to chase.

We had one fun time.

Flashing Back Friday

Bobbie's World..... Yeah Howie Mandel you have to check him out with hair.

Animaniacs: good idea bad idea.... Yeah it was way too good to forget that one.

I was reminded of this one last night at our Women's Journey Art Class (which we did aprons SOOOOO cute! when I finish mine I will post all about it)

Giggling Gals

My Thing 2 is such a funny girl. She heard she may be getting a shiny star on her teeth and now can't stop looking at the fillings in my mouth.

"I am going to get a shiny in my teeth?"

She was giggling as her teeth got cleaned. Who does that? My children. My kids love the dentist. They love getting them all shiny and clean. I just hope we continue to have positive stuff happening. She is going soon for a filling. She has enough for her to go get sedated and get them all done at the same time only I don't really like the thought of putting her under. We are going to "try" a filling first and depending how she does then we'll get the rest done. She is such a good kid I just don't want to spoil the joy she finds climbing into that chair :)

The Signs

Every morning during the school year the parking spot we call our own has an annoying "perpetual puddle". I have a certain feeling as I leave my house one of disdain and disgust for this puddle. It is a rare time that all three children enter the van and do not have wet feet, pant legs or skirts. I have to call out to them "get to the car, and don't go into the water!!"

Every. Single. Time. WE ENTER THE CAR.

On Saturday my children dressed like this.........













And to my horror the puddle looked like this today......














I just can't figure out what Mickey is trying to tell me.

Been There Done That.....

This week has been a whirl wind of people moving out of the ward and my children with me everywhere we went. So here is how it kinda went...

Monday....Worked out. Used the portable small screen in my van to play the DVD cause we didn't have keys to the library.Found out that King Fua is preggers. If she can have another maybe I wont need a sedation when I find out I am preggers next. (This is not an announcement. I am constantly paranoid about "expecting," I just never expect to be expecting.)

Tuesday.... worked out. Getting tired of Tony's voice lol. Fought with the Band over stupid stuff. Thing 2 is still in Preschool and so picked her up and went to the Park with VAL!! Yeah! Her kids are getting so big and I can't wait to see her new edition soon! Here are some shots of the wee ones at the park. I did ask everyone to look at the camera, but I guess I whispered it......in Korean. As we were walking back to the cars I got stung by a bee. Totally forgot how much those hurt. It was only my second sting ever. I have a new healthy respect for bees.

Wednesday Helped the A's clean their apt. And man I am going to miss them. We really have to get out to Utah to see them. Thing 1 helped clean the walls and had fun playing with the other kids. I just feel bad we couldn't stay and see them off. Picked up Thing 2 and she cracks me up about how excited she is to see us. She is always the last one eating snack. Wed night we had the neighbor kids come and chill while M went out with the girls.... Totally chill night. It was 11:30 and the smallest of the three wouldn't got to sleep and kept smacking me if I started to nod off. It made me laugh I was so tired that was all I could do.

Thursday Took the boys to WINCO. Another refreshing reminder why I don't shop with any one shorter than myself. As if I needed one after all the reminders of the past....like here... Or here on the old blog. I can't believe I tried it again. This time I had one lady cover her ears and shake her head. Yeah the fish has this crazy scream that he whips out only on special occasions. This was one really special one. For thirty minutes! I was loading the cart and he was at my knees trying to pull himself up my pant leg when I promptly put him back in the cart. He totally freaked and the checker came around the lane and opened my box of fruit snacks and handed him one single package. It was like he had administered a tranquilizer to my son. No crying. not a sound until I had packed up every item into neat little bags.

I felt better cause he started it all up again when my Band and Uncle Mike came to town :)
We went to McDonalds and had a good time watching the kiddos play and telling stories. You'll have to ask me about Octopus and the Book of Enos later. It was soo good to see Uncle Mike and catch up. I am sooo totally bummed that we won't be headed to the Family Reunion this month.
Here are the kids with their Uncle. Note: Thing 2 has an outfit on that defies all description.... this was her outfit # 3 of the day.


Then the Band left for HOBY. Don't know what HOBY is well I have a link for that. And yes you can ohhh and aawww over the site The Band and M put it together.

He left and won't be back til Sunday. I will be stunned to see all children still alive.

Friday It is the Band's Birthday and he is at HOBY and we all go see him around 1:45. The kids are going nuts and I am too by this time so no cute cake or any happy birthday festivities until later....I have to still cook something good up.

I got in the mail the cookbook that I printed on VIOVIO.com I love it! It came out awesome and all the recipes won't just be sitting any longer.

We go and clean up another family in the ward's apt. and man I took all three.... not really such a good idea if "Cleaning" is what you want to accomplish. I think we were there for a solid 45 minutes before the kids started to vacate the building on their own. I appologized and still feel bad that I wasn't much help.

Well that was it and today was a find the lost pair of Thing1's glasses for like 7 hours. My house was completely turned upside down and back today. Sorry kids. As Thing 1 put it "Can we do something really fun tomorrow Mom?"

Yep just getting that planned out now......

Friends leaving stinks....

This week a bunch of people who are going to be moving away and starting their lives. As excited I am for them I do wish they were staying...I have decided to write all the things down I am going to miss.

Funny kid stories... Certain books that their children like :)

Scrapbook late nights. Where we plan to pull all-nighters but poop out around eleven.

Park Days.

I hope we can go see you all or you can come back and visit soon!

Thing 1 Preschool Graduation.....This was tough....

My heart is in my throat as this year is comming to an end. We have had some rough patches and I am really thrilled that Thing 1 is doing sooooo well. He has mellowed so much in the past 6 weeks. I can't wait to play hard with my three "big kids" this summer! I love being a mom.....
We lucked out having such amazing teachers that worked with him so well. He already is asking to go visit them. They really see all the potential and work it out of him everyday.

Ok the video is a bit shakey but check out the child in front of Thing 1. All smile no singing KILLS ME! He was so happy he was catatonically smiling.... It was ADORABLE!

P90x

Could I love working out any more than I do? When was the last time I ever worked out 6 days a week? NEVER! But the girls in the ward started a little work out tape called P90X and I love getting my butt kicked every morning. I can't believe I actually for five days in a row woke up and made it at 6am. At the same time I love getting the feeling of doing something that active. I love to sweat. If I can just make it through the next couple of weeks I know that it will be easy to get to day 90 :)

The Cake

Oh Baking and I don't go together well. I am glad I don't have any pictures. But I can cross professional cake maker off the list of ambitions.