One thing at the time

Sometimes things happen that makes other things fade in the background and last week things happened.

This year I am Co Coordinator (Coco for short) for my church’s MOPS group. Leaving for Norway this summer I knew I was going to be the Assistant coordinator, but when I came home I learned that the coordinator was moving to Colorado and that me and the other assistant had to take over. Then there were an unnoticeable communication failure in the system that got set up and last week it surfaced and roared it’s ugly head.

Women were crying, angry, confused, stressed, feeling guilty without reason, anxieties soared and things seemed to be falling apart.

I had to start somewhere. My Coco and I had agreed upon me taking care of the Newsletter, Hospitality and Moppets so I started there. Newsletter was running smoothly, the Newsletter Coordinator was on top of it and I were done with my article and edits within a few hours. Hospitality was running smoothly as well and communication was good between me and the Hospitality Coordinator. Then there were Moppets.

One of my friends had taken upon herself to learn how to write a database for our MOPS group and she was getting frustrated trying to communicate with everyone involved. The Database involves Finance, Registration, Discussion group leaders, Mentors and Moppets and while communicating with Finance and Registration was going well she still got nothing done because the others were not communicating their needs to her.

For a whole week I had meetings with everyone involved and after changing the Leadership of Moppets I now have communication in place there as well. After later finding that Discussion group Coordinator and Mentor Coordinator was not communicating well, I had had enough and told everyone involved that from now on we will just have to have one meeting a month for a while where we can discuss everyone’s needs and expectations to this database. So now there is peace again.

What I have learned from this is

• When you don’t hear anything from somebody that is not necessarily good.
• When no one else can I can, if someone else can I can’t.
• Always take one thing at the time and solve it before taking care of the next problem.
• I have strengths I didn’t even know I had and I am more organized than I thought I am and if not I can always wing it.
• Tomorrow is always a new day with new sheets of paper and brand new crayons.
• Whatever mistakes you have made there is no shame in admitting it, ask for forgiveness and then fixing it.
• Working with friends are hard, but as long as you are open and speak truth about your shortcomings, your hopes and expectations you will still keep them.
• Communication is key.
• Pray and God listens.

So due to this I did blog about some pins with ideas for Christmas gifts, but I have not made a list yet, maybe I will do it tonight when I am done with everything MOPS for tomorrows meeting. I have not made a Thanksgiving décor list, but I have pinned a lot. And the room by room list is not yet made unless you count the mental one in the back of my head. And that new system for meal planning is not started yet, but I have at least blogged about one of my favorite baked treats this past week.

I am so blessed that I get to be the Coco of such a great group of women (we got about 86 women counting mentors and all) and I love all and every one of them and feel ever so blessed that I get to serve for them before I move next year.

And lastly a picture of what happens when mamma gets to busy with MOPS… thank you Sofie for being so good at entertaining yourself…

Linking up with

I have a life

My friend and I were joking the other day about our “work titles”. We are both “stay at home moms”, but lately neither one of us have been spending much time at all at home. She has four kids, all girls, the oldest is in kindergarten and the youngest is about 9 months old. I have two girls at two and seven years old. Her days are filled with dropping off and picking up one at school, taking this same one to her ballet classes, taking the second oldest to gymnastics classes and then doctor appointments and play dates. My days are filled with dropping Isabel of and picking her up from school, play dates for Sofie, meetings and volunteer work where I have to visit other peoples homes or be at the church. For a while I spent up to 6 hours a day at church working on volunteer stuff while Sofie was playing by my feet. Our new titles we found were “Stay in van mom” and “Stay at church mom”.

For a while I was worried I wouldn’t know what to do with myself ones this busyness subsided and I would have to go back to being a “stay at home mom” again. Things slipped at home and I just did a minimum when I was home.

Finally the day came and I had to find out if I had a life again. I got so overwhelmed. My house was a mess and I had to clean it up as our realtor told us that our buyers bailed on us and we again had to put the house on the market. When you have to you do it. Over the course of a weekend I managed to clean up the whole house and get it show ready. Now I do only minimum maintenance to keep it up and it is working out good.

I also finally got back at blogging again. Slowly finding me in all of this mom business and volunteer busyness. The next thing now is getting back at making lists. Christmas is coming up really fast now and considering the fact that I have to send gifts to Norway I need to get started a.s.a.p.

Also considering the fact that I have to start focusing on downsizing due to our upcoming move back to Norway I will have to start working through room after room to find what we want to keep and what we can give away or sell.

By next week I will have a Christmas gift list made, a Thanksgiving décor list, and a room by room list started. Also I will have started on my new system for meal planning.

I am linking up on Anti Procrastination Tuesdays to keep me accountable.

What can I do?

“What can I do?” is a question I hear quite often both at home in the US and here in Norway. Back in the US I try to come up with an activity for her or we end up going to the play area at a park or at the mall. Being that we are on vacation in a place where there is absolutely no other kids except your 5 year older/younger sister and it takes 20 minutes by boat just to get to civilization you are on your own trying to entertain yourself.

“Can I go outside and play” is another question that I hear a lot and back in the US I have to tell her no and here all I have to say is stay off the big rocks and the seagulls nest and please do tell me where you  are headed.

One day there were just to many mosquitos outside to be able to go outside to play and Isabel was getting restless. She’s got plenty to do here too, but sometimes she does need a reminder. On the dining room table there is a pile of reading books, writing books, math books, science books and drawing books. Upstairs there is a playroom just for her with Barbie’s and other little toys that Sofie shouldn’t get her hands on. The reminder; “Here is a list of chores you can do if you don’t have anything to do”. I didn’t see her until bedtime.

I love the freedom the kids can have here, running around the house, playing outside and inside. Using their creativity and imagination to play and entertain themselves.

As for the TV… as far as the kids know there is only children’s programs on for about 40 minutes every evening and I prefer it that way. Let us keep it to ourselves that there is a whole children’s channel showing kids shows all day.

What to pack for 20 hours of travelling

When we leave tomorrow we will have two big bags that we send and three carry on bags/backpacks.

Sofie has a very small one holding some books, Crayola Color Wonder pad and markers, a felt play kit, to felt puppets, her Winnie the Pooh figurines, earphones, Pooh receiving blanket and a stuffed animal or doll.

Isabel has several drawing pads, Crayola Color Wonder pad and markers, ordinary markers, a felt play kit, felt puppets, Nintendo dsi (or gameboy as I call it), iPod, earphones, two stuffed animals, books, writing pads and something of her choice.

I have clean clothes, diapers, wipes, snacks, water bottles, iPod, netbook, eReader, writing book and pens, tickets, passports, camera, cellphone and wallet in my bag.

This is what I have found works for us. Clean clothes is the most important one as I have been covered in someone’s stomach contents when arriving at the airport at least once.

Everyone needs something to keep them feeling safe like a favorite stuffed animal or receiving blanket.

Water bottles / sippy cups are a must as I have also arrived soaked. You just have to remember to empty them before the seatbelt sign goes on before landing.

Snacks are very important since my kids hate airplane food.

And generally some entertaining stuff is always good to have.

Note; I am writing this Saturday evening and by the time this is posted I will have arrived at my destination.

I don’t know when I will be able to update you on our travel, but I have scheduled a few posts over the next few days.

Have a great summer.

Packing for a 7 week vacation

The birthday party is over and it was a huge success. The weather turned out beautiful and warm and the girls had a blast at the park playing in the spray park with all their friends. Afterwards I was exhausted as can be expected and yesterday I just stayed home cleaning my dining room and kitchen. Today I got to run errands all by myself as my hubby was home and took care of the home base, and I even got my hair done for the first time since March of last year. And now I have started packing.

We are going to be gone for about 7 weeks. I am travelling by myself with a 7 year old and a 2 year old. Needless to say that the less we need to bring the better it is. I am also contemplating bringing to Norway things that I won’t need this next year, but would like to have in Norway when I move there next summer. This is why we will bring very little clothes. 

I always try to start early when packing for a trip like this, but as with everything else I end up procrastinating. Knowing that I was going to write this post for Anti Procrastination Tuesday made me feel accountable to someone outside and actually got me started earlier than I would have otherwise.

I have been doing laundry for days now and all the kids clothes are clean. The first thing I did was putting all of Isabel’s clothes on our bed and sort them. She got to point out a few of her favorite clothes and I got to put away a few items that she has outgrown. Seriously that girl needs to stop growing, we just did this a month ago too.

For Isabel we picked out 5 t-shirts, 5 tank tops, 2 sweaters, 4 pairs of pants, 4 pairs of capris, 4 pairs of shorts, 2 skirts, 4 dresses and 1 wedding party dress, one fleece set, two pjs, socks and underwear. There will also be raingear, a jacket, shoes, sandals and rain boots.

For Sofie there will be 5 t-shirts, 5 tank tops, 2 long sleeve onsies, 3 long sleeve shirts, 1 blouse, 3 sets, 2 sweater jackets, 4 pairs of pants, 4 pairs of capris, 4 pairs of shorts, 4 dresses and 1 wedding party dress, one wool set, two pjs, socks and underwear/diapers. For her too there will be raingear, a jacket, shoes, sandals and rain boots.

For me there will be training clothes (I will stop procrastinating and start exercising), two pairs of pants, one pair of capris, two pairs of shorts, four t-shirts, 8 tank tops, one sweater, two cardigans, a skirt, a dress and a wedding party dress, socks and underwear. Raingear, a jacket, two pairs of shoes and sandals. I will have to buy rain boots when I get to Norway.

Here it is all stacked and ready to go into the bags.

 

What do you think? To much or to little? While we are in Aanderbakkan we will have to hand wash everything and we will be staying there for at least 4 weeks. I really hate packing as it is always so hard to know exactly how much to bring.

Update on our adventure in selling our condo

My last post on this except for the one about my living room was in the beginning of May. Since then we got it on the market and for two weeks I kept it immaculately clean. I can’t even describe how stressful it was to keep my place that clean. We had four viewings and two who really wanted it. Then we got our first offer. Now all we can do is wait to see what the bank will say. I am just happy that I can go back to normal house cleanliness again.

This however doesn’t mean that I’m not busy still. This upcoming weekend we are throwing a major birthday bash for both girls and the weekend after the girls and I leave for Norway. Till then I need to get a lot of stuff done since so much could happen while I am gone. The bank could deny the offer in which we will have to have more showings or they could accept and we my husband would have to find an apartment for us and pack and move while we are gone.

So how do I keep on track and get things done?

As some of you know, I am a list maker. I have a notebook that I write everything down into. Right now there are 6 lists in there. One for the birthday, one for crafts, one for MOPS, one for the blog, one for travelling and one for the house.

I also try to focus at only one thing at the time which for me can be kind of hard since my mind tends to wander a lot. Today I worked together with one of my MOPS newsletter contributors on the new layout for our churches MOPS newsletter. It is looking good and I am honestly ahead of myself there and she is working on it as we speak by adding material to the MOPS file that I keep in Dropbox. Love the fact that it pops up every time she adds something.

I also picked up and organized the upstairs this morning. I am constantly going through things, purging and packing up things that we don’t need for the time being, but I do know that I need to step it up at this point.

The birthday party is coming along. I’ve got the crowns made, the banner is done, treat bags all ready to go, tomorrow I will pack up the car with all the décor and start making the treats.

The blog is the one thing that I end up procrastinating on. I have so many things to do that it does fall behind sometimes. I do have a list of posts that I want to write and I have a plan of writing up posts to schedule as well, but so far I just haven’t had the time to get it done.

As for travelling I am trying not to think to much about packing yet, but I have been cutting down on my craft list by crafting a lot of stuff for the kids to have with them on the trip. As soon as Monday rolls around I will be in a packing frenzy.

How do you keep your head organized and get things done?

Why oh why did I procrastinate

5 years ago this month my little family moved all the way from Norway to the USA. We bought a small condo that was newly renovated and made it our home. One year later I was tired of the one wall color that the previous owner had used all over the place. I wanted color, but I was afraid of using it. I decided to jump in with both feet first and picked a blue that I used in my living room. I liked the color, but it made the room very dark and a little sad. Still I didn’t want to change it because I hate change. I don’t even like to rearrange my furniture. For 4 year this is what my living room has looked like while I have been complaining that it is too dark and that I wanted a lighter color.

Then came the day about a month ago when we decided we had to sell our condo. We had a real estate agent come and give us some tips on what to do to sell our place. The first thing she said was that the blue had to go and we had to lighten the living room up. I went straight to Lowes, closed my eyes and picked a card. Then I picked the lightest color on the card, bought a gallon and went home. I couldn’t even paint myself as I was so scared about my choice. I spent the whole day out while my husband painted.

 

Now I love my living room. The color is perfect. I don’t even know it’s name, but I love it and I am selling my condo. Why didn’t I just do it earlier instead of procrastinating? I lived for 5 years with colors I didn’t enjoy and now I might get a few months with colors I do enjoy.

Oh well, lesson learned. Do not procrastinate when it comes to decorating your house. You never know how long you will be able to enjoy it when you finally get it the way you like it.

Linking up to my friend Amy’s New Nostalgia

Party favor bags

For the kid’s birthday party I wanted to make some nice party favors. Usually we do a piñata, but I have grown tired of all the candy and being beaten by kids once a year.

In comes the party favor bag filled with Bubbles, Note book, Pencil, Headband for girls, 3D Puzzle for boys, Lollipop and Beanie Bands.

Here is how I made the “Lollipop head bands”. I used felt that I cut thin strips of and stretched a bit then folded them in two. I rolled them up together and glued them flat to a piece of felt and cut out around them. Using and extra piece of felt, I glued them onto headbands. I also made a few smaller ones for hair ties. Same way as before, I just didn’t fold the felt before rolling them up.

To decorate the bags I made some pinwheels using this tutorial found at Ohdeedoh. And I made my own bubble wraps using Publisher. I also made tags for the bags saying “Thanks for making our party so sweet”. Now I just have to get them all assembled.

Sharing this over at these wonderful blogs

The Family To Do’s

We are back at our regular schedule again this week, well except for my husband who actually has three days off. This means that we will get more done and that we might be ready to put the house on the market by next week.

Last week I made a very short list and I barely made it.

make a newsletter for MOPS.

make teacher appreciation gifts for the PTA.

get my house back together after the guests leaves.

purge and organize the water closet room.

This week I will be making a list for every one in the household. These are all things that is not on our ordinary to do lists, except for Isabel’s Norwegian Homework because we have to do twice as much this week on it due to catching up this week.

Isabel’s to do list

• Norwegian Homework
• Purge outdoor clothes
• Purge shoes
• Pick up and organize toys

Sofie’s to do list

• Purge and organize toys
• Dust and clean table tops

Jesse’s to do list

• Prime and paint living room walls
• Drop stuff off at Goodwill
• Use carpet cleaner in living room
• Post stuff on Craigslist

Marianne’s to do list

• Prep walls in living room
• Attach molding in dining room
• Touch up paint
• Clean the floors downstairs
• Use carpet cleaner in living room
• Purge and organize storage closet
• Help kids with chores
• Make dinner list for May
• Organize outdoor clothes closet
• Clean baseboards
• Clean powder room
• Buy and hang up curtain rods and curtains in laundry room
• Put away Easter decor
• Decorate living room for sale
• Clean decks

There will probably be more added on to this as we go along.

And look at that we actually got a head start :)

Linking up to A-P Tuesday at New Nostalgia.

Getting things done

Last week I had a long list of things I need to get done by today. I am happy to report that I finished most of it by Monday. It has actually been so busy I have hardly had time to post anything lately. Here is a recap of what got done and the few things that didn’t.

• Kitchen ceiling: cut trim, put it up, spackle, sand, clean and paint ceiling.
• Dining room: Clean off craft table, cut trim, paint trim, put it up, clean walls and repaint.
• Entry: Sand the door, wash it, paint it. Plant flowers and spruce up the stairs.
• Walls, baseboards and doors: clean them off with manpower.
• Master bedroom: Pack up books, disassemble bookshelf, purge, pick up, make bed ready for guests, spackle, sand, paint, and put up new curtain rod. Wash window and vacuum.
• Walk in closet: Purge, pack away and organize. Vacuum.
• Master bath room: Purge, clean, organize cabinets. Change light bulbs. Make ready for guests, wash floors, sinks and bathtub.
• Hallway: Do laundry, purge and reorganize Sofie’s closet. Vacuum and pick up.
• Bathroom: Organize laundry area. Purge, clean and organize cabinets.
• Kids bedroom: Go through preschool papers and artwork. Purge, pick up organize and vacuum.

I think that should be it.

The few things that are left on my list is fine if it waits till closer to the day we actually have our condo listed. This week I am taking the week off. I still have a few things I need to get done, but mostly I am just enjoying having family visit with us.

Till next time I need to

• make a newsletter for MOPS.
• make teacher appreciation gifts for the PTA.
• get my house back together after the guests leaves.
• purge and organize the water closet room.

Thank you for keeping me accountable, I really appreciate all your comments and encouragements.

Linking up to A-P Tuesday at New Nostalgia.

So much to do, so little time…

Sorry I didn’t post yesterday and I am terribly late today. It has been two very stressful days for me and it will only get worse before it gets better.

That is why I need to do a brain dump here now, but first lets see what I managed to get done last week.

Wednesday: Clean my mother in laws house; wash floors at home; do laundry; wash walls at home; clean my netbook; clean grout in kitchen and powder room.

Thursday: Clean my bathrooms; cook up my ground meat; bake; ok ok I will plant flowers; clean up my craft table.

Friday: Sew something; clean something; if it’s not raining…it is Seattle folks I will do my kitchen ceiling.

Saturday: Make a dent in the community mulch pile.

Sunday: Organize my calendar; clean up a little; post some ads.

Monday: Grocery shop; run errands.

I am not going to really go into the grout in the powder room as it really isn’t dirty, but I will wash down the walls and the floor later. The walls are yet not done, but I got the tools to get it done. Flowers are thriving although still not planted in my planters. I just found out I need to get some more to fill it out and make it nicer here. My craft table will get done, but I am a creative person…. The kitchen ceiling is in progress.

Next week I will:

• Kitchen ceiling: cut trim, put it up, sand and paint ceiling.
• Dining room: Clean off craft table, cut trim, paint trim, put it up, clean walls and repaint.
• Entry: Sand the door, wash it, paint it. Plant flowers and spruce up the stairs.
• Walls, baseboards and doors: clean them off with manpower.
• Master bedroom: Pack up books, disassemble bookshelf, purge, pick up, make bed ready for guests.
• Walk in closet: Purge, pack away and organize.
• Master bath room: Purge, clean, organize cabinets. Change light bulbs. Make ready for guests.
• Hallway: Do laundry, purge and reorganize Sofie’s closet.
• Bathroom: Organize laundry area. Purge, clean and organize cabinets.
• Kids bedroom: Go through preschool papers and artwork. Purge and organize.

I think that should be it.

We just gave away our dog this evening. We have had Laika since spring 2007 and she was and is very much loved by my children. But with Sofies illness and my husbands crazy work schedule she just didn’t get the exercise and care she needed. On top of that, with us selling our condo as soon as we can and then moving back to Norway next year, she needed a new home. She is not going to live with a young family, mom, dad, two month old baby and a 7 year old female dog. They have already invited us to come back and visit with Laika.

I am sad to see her go, I will miss the crazy dog who never gave up being a puppy. I will miss my running buddy and I will miss my daughters best friends and confidante. My heart is bleeding especially for Sofie who first word was Aika and who asks for her as soon as we have been away from Laika for more than an hour.

I have mentoring tomorrow evening and a meeting on Thursday evening. I really don’t know when I will have time to blog. Now it is almost time for me to go to bed. Better post this and link it up to Amy at New Nostalgia.

I keep doing it

Lets see….

• Flowers bought 4 weeks ago, not planted yet.
• Finish trimming the dining room, not bought yet.
• Finish trimming the kitchen ceiling, not started.
• Paint my front door, spray paint bought.
• Sell two of my strollers, pictures taken.
• Put the dog up for adoption, kind of sort of done.
• Sew hats and put up for sale.

I keep procrastinating on these tasks and believe me, I have some really good excuses for doing so.

• To much pollen outside, my allergies are bothering me.
• My brother in law have not bought them yet.
• My neck hurts to much to work on the ceiling.
• To cold outside to leave the front door off for a few hours.
• To scary with all the craigslist murders and robberies.
• My kids love her too much.
• To busy with the kids.

So what have I done?

• I have had a lot of fun with my kids and my husband.
• I have made two pieces of artwork.
• I have redone my master bedroom.
• I have purged and organized.
• I have washed windows.
• I have washed kitchen cabinets.
• I sewed slipcovers for my chairs.
• I made baby shower gifts.
• And a whole lot more I can’t even remember.

This week coming up I will

• Wednesday: Clean my mother in laws house; wash floors at home; do laundry; wash walls at home; clean my netbook; clean grout in kitchen and powder room.
• Thursday: Clean my bathrooms; cook up my ground meat; bake; ok ok I will plant flowers; clean up my craft table.
• Friday: Sew something; clean something; if it’s not raining…it is Seattle folks I will do my kitchen ceiling.
• Saturday: Make a dent in the community mulch pile.
• Sunday: Organize my calendar; clean up a little; post some ads.
• Monday: Grocery shop; run errands.

It is now in black and white, a day to day plan. Will I make it?

Linking up to Amy’s Anti Procrastination Tuesday at New Nostalgia.

Spring Cleaning Day 2

Planned procrastination is something that happens during Spring Break. Welcome to fellow Spring Cleaners and Procrastinators.

This is what I was doing yesterday (Monday) instead of Dusting my house. My oldest daughter Isabel and I went into the city, to the fancy mall as we call it and we had a blast. Cupcakes for brunch and lunch, Frappuchinos and dinner at the Cheesecake Factory. Don’t judge me, it was a special day celebrating my birthday and just the big girls hanging out together with out a screaming toddler taking all the attention from big sis.

Eventually in the evening I got started and did my whole kitchen. I only got one before picture there though.

See how black the top of my fridge is? And yes we do keep the bananas there as Sofie tend to eat too many of them if she sees them all the time and that is not good for her tummy.

Medicine cabinet. Norwegian meatballs, a Christmas gift from mom. Got to love my mom and her always practical gifts.

 

I wish I had a before picture of this cabinet. It was a disaster. My husband came in while I was working on it and commented how happy he was that like to prune and get rid of things. I filled a whole paper grocery bag with items that I no longer need.

Today I started on the living room. I dusted our entertainment center. No real visual difference since I dust and clean here twice a week due to sticky toddler fingers.

 

Then came my mantle. Which a decorated for spring and Easter.

After the kids got in bed I dusted in the master bedroom, but I didn’t get any pictures there. We have one bookshelf there and I pruned out a whole paper grocery bag of books, vases and other trinkets that I didn’t know we had.

Then tomorrow (Wednesday) I hope to get to my kids bedroom and their shelves. Every time I have had time to get in there have been during naptime of which of course that room is off limits.