Writes for Kicks

The last of the leaves were raked yesterday (much thanks to my wonderful boyfriend) and I thought it was only fit to share why I love where I live, despite having to rake the leaves so much.

I must say, with the fabulous fall weather we had this year it wasn't even too much of a chore (well, I did ache a bit).  I guess the only times I really mind doing it is when it is freezing outside.

So, this is what I woke up to this morning:  spectacular!  I know my photos aren't doing it justice, but I try.

I don't know about you, but I'm starting to get that feeling that I get every year around this time.  You know the one...if you are ahead of me you are already getting wiggy about the upcoming holiday season.  Maybe you are stressed out about getting Thanksgiving dinner on the table.  Maybe, like me at this very moment, you are planning on getting your carpets cleaned.  (Whatever they are using to clean my carpets is totally annoying my eyes/nose at the moment. This can't be healthy for these guys who do this day in and day out.)  You are thinking about holiday decorations, greeting cards, presents, school concerts, outfits.  The list is endless.

Every year I think if I can just get enough stuff done early enough then I won't have to get stressed out.  And every year I seem to do a little better at this.  I put my holiday lights up (but not on yet) last week when it was still mild out.  I've already ordered and received my holiday cards.  A couple of years ago I typed in all the addresses of the people on my Christmas card list so that all I have to do is make some revisions each year and print out the list on labels.  I've managed to keep my house tidy enough so that when I host Thanksgiving dinner next week it shouldn't take all that long to clean.

Yet every year, no matter how prepared I am, the other shoe always drops at some point.  One minute I am fine and then the next minute I feel the stresses of the holidays come on.  I always think that this year will be the year it won't happen.  Adding to my potential anxiety-triggers this year is the fact that my children will be visiting out-of-town relatives with their dad which always makes the holidays a little more difficult for me. 

It was with all this in mind that I came across an interesting e-mail in my in-box this morning talking about not letting the stress of the holiday season get to you this year.  It is from this organization called "The scream free life" and though I think that title is kind of hokey, the articles that this woman writes are really interesting and seem to resonate with me, more often than not. So I can't quite get myself to unsubscribe from their mailing list.

Anyways, if you have a moment, click here.  I'm going to try a few of her tips and hope that this will be the year I buy into the true meaning of the season and not the stress of the season as well.

This opportunity is just too good not to share.  My sister just called me to tell me about a special offer she saw on Oprah.

She said Snapfish.com was offering a free, bound 8" x 11" custom-cover photo book to help Oprah viewers get organized.  Her guest, Peter Walsh, suggested taking digital photos of your children's artwork and then having them made into an album.  I had to laugh because I blogged about clutter last month and one of the lines in the poem I created was:  "Oh... and the most confusing part... what to do with all the art?"

I actually took pictures of all my children's art when I was getting organized; but I hadn't taken the next step yet and had them made into an album.  Well, I was just on Oprah's website and I got the coupon loaded into my Snapfish account for the free album.  Now the hard part will probably be how backed up that site will be.  To take advantage you'll probably have to go and make your album at two in the morning; but I figure it's worth a try.

So start snapping some photos and here's the link: http://www1.snapfish.com/info18

The kicker: you only have until Friday night to get the coupon and you have to make your album by Sunday, November 16th. 

We had orange roughy tonight for dinner.  They were just lightly breaded fillets.  My 10 yr.old walks up, sits down and says, "what kind of chicken is this?"  I answered, "it's not chicken--it's fish.  He said, "it's really good."  So I told him it was orange roughy.  He made kind of a funny face and then abandoned it and just said again that it tasted good.

I know this is not a big deal to you; but it is a huge deal in our house.  You see at the age of 10, my son seems to be getting past his picky-eater stage with no help from me whatsoever.  Things that he used to look suspiciously at and refuse to try, he now eats.  I'm not a huge fan of hot lunch, but now about once a week he'll announce that he wants to have it so I get a little vacation from helping him get his lunch ready.

The amount of restaurants we can now eat out at is drastically increasing since he has decided tomato-based sauces are o.k.  That opens up the world of Italian and Mexican restaurants for sure.  He will even eat things he doesn't really like that much; as long as it isn't too bad.

This kid was such a picky eater up until he realized that there were a lot of good foods he was missing out on.  I think he just got bored with eating the same things all the time.  He is still at his core a little picky.  He won't drink soda.  He doesn't think he likes it and I am all good with discouraging him from doing so.  He also won't eat pies or drink smoothies.  Again, fine with me, since he gets enough sugar in other sweets. 

It's just so cool to see your kids mature.  It seems like yesterday that my mom, ex-husband and I had to pin him down to take an antibiotic when he was little because he refused to drink it. It didn't work; he spit it out. (Did I mention how strong willed he was as a child?  Or the kinder description: determined.)  

I just remember thinking that you can battle your kids about a lot of things, but you really can't force them to eat something they don't want to eat.  At least, I was never successful at it.  At some point I gave up and counted my blessings that there were a lot of healthy foods that he liked.  And, though I was sick of always making the same things, I figured some day he would expand his horizons.  And that some day is now.  Yea!