What I Learned In September

At the prompting of Emily P. Freeman's blog, Chatting at the Sky, I spent some time reflecting over September. I remember it being September 17 and remarking to Bill that it already felt like we had skipped September entirely and gone straight to October. The weather has played havoc with our sensibilities in the last few weeks and the pumpkin spice latte has already made an appearance despite the fact that the real pumpkins weren't even ready in the garden. Finally, I settled down into it really being September and here are a few things I've learned this month.

1. I've just started reading and learning about Enneagrams. While I've pulled together bits and pieces to understand myself more over the last months, discovering the enneagram has made so many things fall into place. I still don't know very much but I am eager to learn more.
2. I finally cleaned my make-up brushes. I used this simple method from CleanMama.net and wow, what a difference! You can find little bottles of Dr. Bronner's soap in Target by the sample beauty products.
3. I've spent enough time sitting, standing and waiting for my racers and runners to come in that I finally learned I am not a good crew person or volunteer if I don't eat. Last year I spent a long day volunteering and hardly ate. I did not enjoy my experience. I mean, I was grumpy. Last week, I waited a long day for Ben and Bill to come in from racing and then another long afternoon for them to receive their awards. I could have done a better job taking care of myself so I could take care of them. I don't think it's being selfish. It is being aware of the situation and being proactive. 
4. I buy my bananas at Sam's Club. Bananas are generally sold by weight but Sam's sells them by bunch at $X dollars. Here's a trick I've started doing- counting how many bananas are in the bunch. Usually there are 8 but I'll look for 9. On my last visit I scored 10 bananas!
5. I devoured Girl Waits With Gun by Amy Stewart in 3 days. It would have been less if I didn't have, laundry, cookies to bake, people to feed, etc. I heard about the book through Anne Bogel's podcast What Should I Read Next. Its my first novel in a long, long time! 

I loved putting together this little list and sharing it with you. What did you learn in September?

Favorites: Podcasts and Their Hosts, Super Bowl Food

Here are some favorites for you this week. 

Podcasts: I love a good podcast. You know I already listen to Another Mother Runner and Trail Runner Nation. Amidst my podcast queue is The Big Boo Cast hosted by two women, Sophie Hudson and Melanie Shankle. Both are from the South and have the most delightful accents. They talk all manners of things: fashion, makeup, crackers and dip, football, furniture, music, etc. It's literally like listening in on their phone conversation. (I linked it to some podcast listing site but I download all my podcasts from iTunes.)

Blogs and Books: Besides their blogs, both Sophie and Melanie have written a couple books each. I wanted to tell you about Sophie's latest "Home is Where My People Are" a couple weeks ago so you could pre-order it but, well, things don't always work out as hoped around here. In any case, whether you did or did not read her first book "A Little Salty to Cut the Sweet" which I shared last March during Spring break and you so need to read it, I believe you will really enjoy her second book as well.

Melanie has written two books and her third will be released soon. "Sparkly Green Earrings "is about mothering. "The Antelope in the Living Room" is about marriage. "Nobody's Cuter Than You" is about friendship. Pick the first two up and pre-order her third and be prepared to share them with your friends. 

Super Bowl Food: As you know the Super Bowl has come and gone. I really enjoy the food that accompanies the game. I inquired of my Facebook friends what they were eating and the most common answer was wings. Nice choice, friends. Here at the Ward household we went with burgers. The kids always like burgers and they really like it went I make them into sliders, too. I leave the burgers pretty plain as far as construction goes. Then I fancy them all up with toppings. I draw on Ree for slider inspiration. While searching for tomato toppings I found one using sun-dried tomatoes and cooking them down into a tomato jam. Oh yeah! A great way to use up those tomatoes I preserved last summer. (Also, I am really digging Foodie with Family's blog. Her food is solid, the recipes are right on and her writing is real and entertaining.) An avocado basil dressing, caramelized onions and caramelized mushrooms finished off my burgers. I nestled in some potato wedges, too.

I'm going to call it good today, friends. There are so many links today that I'm going a little nuts. 

Can you spare a minute to tell me what you do about Super Bowl food? It seems that I feel the need every year to make something new. Every year I love coming up with something new just for the party. Do you do that also? What recipe won your Super Bowl party this year? 

Last year it was these Tator Tot Nachos Supreme. 

I just made a Super Bowl Party Food board on Pinterest.

I'll stop now.

Don't forget to leave a comment.

Bye. 

Favorites

Here are some favorite things in my life lately. Foods I've tried, things I've listened to and recommend, books I've read, or just plain I really like these. Hope you enjoy this new (and hopefully here to stay) series.

Candied Jalapeños -In my Instagram feed this past summer someone posted a recipe for pimento cheese spread and topped it with candied jalapeños. It took me a while to save up enough jalapeños from my garden to make a half batch but I did. Oh my! I'm equal parts happy I made them and sad that I only made half a batch. We only have one jar (1/2 pint) left! This next year I will definitely put in more jalapeños plants. Put them on a cracker with a slice of cheese or the aforementioned pimento cheese spread. Pile 'em on a burger. I'm drooling just thinking about them.

More Run Hoodie- Ha! The moment popped up in my Instagram feed, I gasped out loud and told Bill I wanted it for Christmas. I put it on my Pinterest board, got him signed up for Pinterest, and maybe even sent him the link for it directly. You know that fine line between here's what I'd like to see under the tree, hint*hint*hint, and here's what I know will be under the tree? I think I crossed it. Especially when I picked up the mail and I grabbed package with a big return address label emblazoned with Run Pretty Far on it. Not sad at all.   

Crock Pot Maple Dijon Pork Chops -Who cares how I found these? These are delicious. And very easy. You can brown the chops and soften the onion on the stove first (I do) but you don't have to. (That's a major pet peeve of mine- here cook all of this food on the stove first and then throw it in the slow cooker. People, the point of a slow cooker is to do the work for you.) Make some sweet potatoes, green beans, or another veggie to pile on your plate and watch it all disappear. It does every time at my house.

Cornerstone Church's teaching series online -We've been asked if we miss church with our bike racing and the answer is yes, we miss church. When we first started racing, there was a Saturday night service but currently there is not. However, we can still hear the messages online or through the app on your phone, which is how I listen to them. There are over 30 message series online alone. Maybe you'd like to read through a book of the Bible but would like some guidance along the way. Or you need to fill your ears and mind and heart with more Truth, try these, please. 

Green Smoothies -A long time ago, I posted that I would try a kale and avocado smoothie. Then I reported back that it didn't go so well. Since then, I added spinach to quite a few smoothies but always laced it with berries. Then I came across these three and collected the ingredients to try them. Here's my take on them.

1. Green Protein Power- tangerines, spinach, pineapple, cashews, chia seeds, flaxseed oil. I didn't juice the tangerines separately, just threw them in whole. The rest went as directed. I couldn't place the taste as one particular thing but the smoothie was good. There was a little texture to it due to the cashews but it wasn't crunchy or disturbing. I will make it again.

2. Ultimate Green Smoothie- avocado, banana, parsley. To an average smoothie drinker, this list is weird. But the taste is great! It's creamy and bright flavored. I've made it twice just to make sure I liked it.

3. Sour Apple- Grape Crush- spinach, Granny Smith apple, green grapes, flaxseed oil. Maybe if I had a high-powered blender the texture could be improved since there is a lot going on but I don't. The taste is off-putting at first then grows on you, kind of like a sour candy. It's not bad but it's not for me. However, you might like it.

So there ya go. I'll try to keep the list a good mix (not all food). Let me know what you think of this new series and what you're curious about. Also, what are some of your favorites?

  

  

Paperworks Months and Weeks

Sorry I totally disappeared on you for a couple of days. I didn't mean to but it happens. 

Last time we met, I shared with you the planning system, Paperworks, I use by Emily at JDC. Starting today, I'll show you how I use it.

Right off, I print the monthly calendar. I pull up the family icalendar and jot down general things. No times unless its something very specific I should remember. I need the activity of writing to help me feel in touch with the month. (A total aside note: Writing was one way I helped my students learn their music. I told them I wanted as many senses involved as possible. If I could have made their music scratch and sniff, I would have.) It may look like overkill to have a digital calendar and a paper calendar and for some it is but this is what works for me.

Then I print out the weekly calendar. This is where I plan out more details. Basketball practice at 6. Overnight kids on Tuesday. Clean out fridge on Wednesday. 5 miles on Monday. It all gets put down here. I use the bottom portion for notes and goals. Sure, I've got this in my Wunderlist app (the productivity app I'm currently using, free version) but it helps me breakdown my week. 

I love the Wunderlist app because it's where I collect my thoughts and to-do's and always have it with me. However because of that very reason, it tends to collect my to-do's and gets very overwhelming. The paper week by week, keeps me focused. I don't have to look from this thing to that thing and get distracted (as much). Tuesday is a 4 mile tempo run and in the kitchen I need to wipe down the cabinets. I want simple and clean and get it done kind of mentality. (This is also why I like training plans and house-cleaning plans. More on those pending another post.)

I try to get my planning done on Sunday. It feels right to do it then. Then they go in a 3-ring binder which I can grab and cross off when completed. When the week is done, I transfer anything I need to and then throw it away. (There is a day planner page in the new planning system but I won't be using it.) There is plenty I don't write in. I don't write in personal Bible study time. I don't write in "read 15 minutes to the boys". I can't write it all in; it would feel to stifled and regimented. 

It would be very easy to focus just on the to-dos and the cross-it-offs and the like. That's my kind of personality. It takes work for me to balance it all out. I was directed somehow to this post by Ashley Ann about how she makes it all work out. She would first tell you it doesn't always all work out. (And my friends, I think we need to comes to terms with that. For real. There will be some unchecked tasks.) After I read her four goals for each week, I have started trying to incorporate them into each week. In case you don't hop over to her post, here is what she says: "Each week I give myself one goal in the following areas: Home Organization, Project completion, Something for Someone else, Each Kid." Ashley Ann from Under the Sycamore blog

 I'm an extremist and I'll go uber-tight or completely lacksadaisical. I need to infuse grace into this Martha mentality of mine, be it Martha of the Martha and Mary duo or Martha Stewart. At the same time, I don't think Jesus for once dismissed Martha's work. She just happened to miss the mark in one particular instance (that gets recorded for all time in Scripture). It's just that when Jesus happens to be reclining at your home and your sis is soaking Him all up, you can't exactly get Jesus to bend to your will because you tattled on her. This may be earth-shaking news only to me but people are people, not projects. 

I'm all over the place it seems but I'm still in process of figuring it out. Does this make sense to anyone else? I'd love to here from you. What encouragement do you have for me, for us? What's working for you? Here's how Emily uses portions of her Paperworks.

My Paper Planner

Hi there! Happy New Year! 

Right? 

Okay, so it's the 9th. It looks like I did write something last week. But I didn't wish you a Happy New Year.

My brain is in a fog. It has been something crazy cold here so the kids have had school cancelled one day and a late start another day and a regular scheduled early out day. I can handle my kids being home, its the routine thing that has swung me for a loop. There has been no routine. I think things should settle back down now. Unless we get more snow.

Now the main point of today's post is hopefully going to evolve into a series of what I use to keep me on top of things. I'd call it an organization series but that sounds so formal. I'm gonna share with you what I use and you can pull from it and use what you like. How does that sound?

I'm going to start with my paper organizer. I really like Emily's, from Jones Design Company, Paperworks. She has had a monthly paper subscription and has re-vamped it for 2014. It's a sharp product and I get excited to see the new design for each month. 

I think that is a major key to finding something you like and sticking with it. You've had plenty of experience with organization tools. If you're unmotivated to use it because it looks worn and tattered by month four, you might be less likely to use it. If you get through two months and find that it is a whole lot of extra, then you're not going to use it. Or if you can't stand looking at the same thing for twelve months, you are going to ignore it all together. I could talk myself out of that last one, telling myself to suck it up, but why? Emily's designs energize the start of each month which is a great motivator especially when the months can whir by so fast.

Paperworks is offered in two formats, each a monthly subscription. There is the digital  which is print your own and the print + digital, which a set is printed and mailed to you plus digital for your own printing. For just a couple more days, the Paperworks digital will be on sale so head over and take a look.

In the next posts, I'll share what I use to help me clean and to manage meals. I hope you are encouraged in them. I think we can all use more encouragement to keep doing what we're doing and new tricks to make it less complicated. I'll also try to include some actual pictures instead of all links.

I should also let you know that this is what I use. I'm not getting paid and wasn't asked to share my opinion with you by Emily. This is my own deal. Let me know what works for you.

Happy Blog-aversiary

Today marks the 3rd birthday of this blog. Hooray!

Here are a few stats about my blog for you:

These are my most popular posts 

Entry	Pageviews
A Dizzying Amount About Disney Mar 18, 2010	170
Best Dam Run Oct 6, 2010, 1 comment	168
Show Choir Hair Feb 16, 2012, 1 comment	127
Turn Around and Refresh Nov 11, 2011	96
Morning Glory Bakery Jul 20, 2011, 3 comments	87
Living History Farms Race, 2011 Nov 21, 2011, 1 comment	78
The Psalm Project May 2, 2012	73
Running For Miracle Oct 23, 2012	69
Living History Farms, '12 Nov 19, 2012	58
Thankful Thursday Mar 3, 2011, 8 comments	56

They are based on the number of views, which more than likely, was found by searching on Google. Since they have some good key words in the title, they pop up, except for the Turn Around and Refresh post. I'm not sure how that one ranks so high. It also explains how most of them have very few comments. 

These places give me the most referral traffic

Entry	Pageviews
http://team-sullivan.blogspot.com/	1914
http://farmgirlchaos.blogspot.com/	1092
http://www.team-sullivan.blogspot.com/	590
http://lelandsrunningtowardslove.blogspot.com/	210
http://www.energiesandaffections.blogspot.com/	138
http://www.google.com/search	132
http://odlemountain.blogspot.com/	96
http://www.lelandsrunningtowardslove.blogspot.com/	91

I need to send some big thank you's to those ladies for listing me on their blogs. If you have time, head over to their blogs, read a little and send them a happy message.

Pageviews by Countries Entry Pageviews United States 46346 Denmark 1716 Russia 1156 Germany 564 United Kingdom 266 Canada 239 Ukraine 217 Sweden 106 France 89 Japan 88

Interesting, huh?
I don't know who in Alaska is reading, but I'd love if you'd drop me a line to say hello. 

These statistics were taken from Blogger at 6:30 a.m. this morning. 

What's new for 2013 on here? I have a blog re-design coming that I won a while ago. That girl is busy (which is awesome), however, we are in the middle of design discussion so it will be coming sooner than later now. Yippee!

I'll still have cute kids, dirt bikes, recipes, and more bits and pieces of my life that I'll share with you. 

Thank you for reading and for all your encouraging words to me!!