10 Things I Love About Working

I may be one of those odd mothers, who really enjoy working. I do, I love going to my job each day. Here are some reasons why:

10 Things I Love About Working

1. I love the interactions with other adults, and the great people they are.

2. I love having another focus outside of my own life.

3. I love the challenges that work presents to me. It takes my mind off of my own challenges.

4. I love the great friendships I've made through my work. Truly, the best friends I've made have come from my job.

5. I love the routine of going to work. I actually don't do well having too much time off. It is not that I don't know what to do with myself, but I feel out of sync, like something isn't quite right. It happens whenever we have a break (unless I'm in some terrific place like a tropical island...)

6. I love encouraging myself and striving to get better at my job.

7. I love (and sometimes feel guilty about) the downtime away from my family, to have a place for me, where things are about what I'm working toward.

8. I love encouraging others, whether other teachers or students, in what they are doing.

9. I love the people. Oh, have I already said that? Well, I do. I love the positive environment I work in. Of course people always have their concerns/issues, but that's just part of life.

10. I love that I love going to work, that it isn't something I dread. It is something I look forward to.

What are 10 things you love about a part something you do every day?

WFMW: wall art

I just love being able to display my son's artwork, so in various places in the house, instead of fine artwork, I share toddler artwork:

The bathroom-

The hallway outside his room-

The wall between the kitchen and living room-

and of course the fridge (no photos there). Doesn't everything put their child's artwork on the fridge?

Where do you display your children's artwork?

WILTW: Blogging

What I learned this week has to do with blogging. I started a family-focused blog in the fall of 2007, actually Labor Day weekend, when I had the time to play around and figure out how it all worked. It was a great way to share photos of myself growing as a pregnant woman, with family far away, and all the fun events, like baby showers and such. It was even more amazing once I had my son and could share the goings on without having to contact and stay in touch with so many people. Basically none of our family lives anywhere near us, so it was perfect.

I felt like I was lacking something though, like a place for myself, where I didn't need to edit every little thought and I could feel free to write about anything. That's when I started this blog, which has gone so many different directions that I love it, and I enjoy even more, making connections with other bloggers!

The difficulty comes though, in keeping up with two blogs, and trying to post daily to each throughout the week (I just started doing that at the end of May). I just can't keep it up. I used to do it only weekly to my family one, and I think I'll go back to doing that again.

I love to blog, but I don't want to feel the responsibility that it brings. I think I'm busy enough in my job and role as a mom and wife, and I want those to be priorities. So, if I'm not here every day, I need to let that be okay with me. It is exciting though, to have ideas to blog about, so perhaps I still will as well!

Let me ask you, how often do you blog (I admit, I do schedule mine for future dates though and do several at a time), and do you ever feel pressured to do so, with your own expectations of yourself?

Fun Bags

I went to this great bag party a month or so ago, and picked out some really cute products. Have you ever been to a Thirty-One party? (By the way, I'm not selling or trying to promote anything here, just sharing, and giving you a link if you want to check it out yourself.) From the moment I saw the catalog, I wanted one of everything! (Of course I can't do that, being the reasonable - well, not so much - woman who needs to come home to her husband and share that I didn't spend our life savings.)

Anyhow, I just wanted to share some of the cute things I got:

I got a little toy tote for my son, a beach tote, and a car tote organizer (we were heading to the splash park).

Fun stuff! I love bags, so I just couldn't resist. You should check out their things too, and if you're interested, you can contact the consultant I used too.

Click here and check them out!
Thirty-One Products

Happy 4th of July! (AKA: Don't Laugh at the Cake)

Many of you don't know about my birthday cake I made in April. It was sad. Very sad. I am definitely not a cake decorator! (Make that just cake froster in general.) Here it is in all its drippy glory. It WAS delicious however!

I even named this photo "40th b-day cake disaster" or something like that.

Well, I thought I'd just make a 13 x 9" pan cake with my son and decorate it for 4th of July, to look something like this.

I baked the cake, frosted it during naptime, and cut up all the strawberries and blueberries. I even showed the photo to my son so he could process it internally during naptime and visualize what we were attempting.

It began like this:

Not too bad, right? Then he began throwing strawberries on the cake. Next, he picked up the containers of fruit and dumped them, even while I was pointing and describing what we needed to be doing.  (I interject and make a comment that an author in a book I was looking at recently compared toddlers to cavemen...)

Well, I contemplated moving the fruit to the appropriate sides, but it was all stuck to the frosting. So, we adapted, and Mommy helped to create a reverse USA flag. Please don't call me unpatriotic. Flexible would be a better word.

How are you spending your 4th of July?

"Slow Down!"

So this morning, as my regular routine goes, I'm scrolling through my dashboard, looking through blogs to read. Little do I know my 2 1/2 year old is watching, and he says, "Slow down!" I guess I was moving so quickly, he couldn't "read" over my shoulder.

I laughed so hard! Of course, because I laughed, he kept saying it, and "Wait! Turn around!" as he pulled on my arm so my attention went to him.

Gotta love those moments!

Recipe: Chipotle Tostadas

This is one of my absolute favorites, even with all the prep time it takes for chopping the goodies that go on it. I meant to take a picture of a "decorated" on during dinner the other night and forgot, so you'll just have to imagine the creative mix of items you can put on your tostada to pretty it up and make it taste so good!

I honestly don't know where I found this recipe, but I can't claim it as my own.

CHIPOTLE TOSTADAS

2 tbsp olive oil

1 med. onion, chopped

1 teas. ground cumin

4 c. cooked pinto beans (I use 2-15 oz. cans, drained)

4 teas. Chipotle Tabasco sauce

1 tsp. salt

1 c. water

tostada shells

1 c. feta cheese or Cotija Queso Seco (I use feta)

1 c. finely diced tomato

1/2 c. thinly sliced radishes

1/2 c. loosely packed cilantro leaves (I chop them)

iceberg lettuce, thinly sliced, sprinkled with vinegar and salt

guacamole

sour cream

Saute onions in oil in skillet. Add ground cumin and cook 30 seconds. Add beans, teas. salt, cup of water. Use potato masher to mash beans until like lumpy potatoes. 

Here's what mine looks like at this point:

Cook on medium heat until water is absorbed.

Here's what mine looks like at this point:

Stir in Chipotle to taste and add more salt if desired. 

My hubby likes to add more Chipotle sauce on top of his tostada after he prepares it. I always say he makes the prettiest tostada, that I should take a picture of. I forgot until he'd taken a few bites, but here is one partway eaten. I'm no "glamour gourmet photographer", so please forgive the unbreakable family friendly plate!

For more great recipes see We Are That Family.