The Post-It Project

First of all, I am in no way affiliated with the Post-It company and they aren't paying me for this, but I do love the brand and it is the one I bought during the awesome back to school sales, so that's how the name of this little project came to be.

Now...

I got the idea a while ago for Micah and I to kick it up a notch with the "I love you's" that can become all too familiar and standard...you know, the ones that come with a kiss before leaving in the mornings and before closing our eyes at night.  So, I challenged him to 30 days of love note writing.  I mean, let's face it, in our world of texting and emails, the common note is becoming obsolete and I HATE that because I LOVE the written word.  There's nothing I love more than getting something in the mail with a little personal note attached to it.  I'm not hard to please.

It started because I found a note tucked in the back of a bathroom drawer that he had written a while back, just wishing me a good day (after what I'm sure had been a few harry ones).  I cherish those little ways of saying 'I love you' or 'I'm thinking of you' or 'I'm proud of you' or even 'You are smokin' hot and I'm dang lucky' that can easily fall by the wayside when you're rushing kids to school or to practice or washing dishes and feeding dogs and folding laundry.

So, I named it The Post-It Project and got us started with this...

 

Then we chose our colors out of my plentiful stash...and got started.

 

We wrote our notes, sometimes in the mornings, sometimes after we thought about it for a whole day, and then slapped it to the bathroom mirror.

 

 

 

And we met the challenge for 30 days!! 

 

Sometimes it was hard not to fall into the rut and wind up saying the same things over and over, but that was the whole point of the challenge and I think it was so worth it, even if some of the things were silly and not so serious.  Love notes are typically cheesy and if you can't be that way with the one you love more than life, then what are you doing??

 



It gave me the opportunity to speak his love language a little better and tell him how much I appreciate all his help and just how lucky and blessed I feel that he's mine and vice versa!

 

It also gave him the chance to say more than a scheduled/obligatory 'I love you' (not that I don't love those words every time he says them) and be specific about what he loves and to encourage me in my every day tasks that can feel overlooked and expected.

 

It was really fun and now I think we'll do it for the kids!

 

Give it a try!  You won't be sorry, I promise.  It's husband approved! 

(ps...I wouldn't click on those pictures...there may be married people talk involved.  i'm not sorry about it.)

sanity saver...AKA tips and tricks

Well, my friend Dana does tips and tricks on Tuesdays. They do works for me Wednesdays at We Are That Family. We all know I'm walkin' the line of sanity and...well...not sanity these days. BUT, anything I can do to get me to stay on the other side of the line, I'm for it. I thought you might be too. So, here is a tip that this mama did on her last school shopping outing that saved both time and sanity. That's right kids...a TWO-FER!!

I loathe, with the full on stink eye, shopping. WAIT WAIT WAIT...hear me out. I don't mind the looking process (enter obsession with junk/thrift/antique stores and yard sales.) But if I have to do anything that requires actual forethought for buying or heaven help me, trying anything on, I'm pretty much out. However, as the house manager, I discover more times than not that one of my little team players is in need of something in a bigger size (STOP GROWING ALREADY!!) This was the story a few weeks ago. Both boys needed school shoes. I have only taken my kids to try on shoes one time, EVER. For as long as I can, I will avoid it from now on. Here's how.

1. Grab your biggest most cooperative and at home during school hours cutest kid and some card stock (or scrapbook paper...or newspaper...or...you get it.) Don't judge the mound of clothes in the background b/c they are coming to some lucky friends out there.

2. Stand said child on the paper, leaving enough room to trace around each foot.

3. Make sure those lines are a little crooked at the toes and the heels. (If not, you just missed out on an opportunity to play with your kid for the only 2 seconds you can devote at the moment cause you only have about 6 loads of laundry to put away!!) I'm sorry. Where was I?
4. Once you have traced their very boy and Fred Flintstone looking feet, cut out around the tracings. They don't have to be perfect, but get the outline as close to the line as you can and hit the high points on the toes. And yes, I realize it's spelled wrong in the picture. sorry. I knew it didn't look right.
5. Label those jokers...especially if you have kids similar in age, you know...like twins...or quads. Be sure to put if it is their right or left.

Cause if you are on the brink of sanity one day, and you are out trying to find said sanity by getting out of the house, and you find yourself at a yard sale or thrift store, you don't need to teeter on the edge because you don't know your (or their) right from their left. Am I right?
6. Laminate 'em. You can be done after #5, but if you are going to multiple places and want to keep up with them for more than one day, i wouldn't choose that option. Or if you only use paper and not something heavier like card stock. I used Duck brand "Clear Laminate" (basically clear contact paper...cause I'm not as cool as a teacher.)
7. Punch holes in the foot and stick them through a paper clip or unused key ring. Stick them in your purse and go shoe shopping.
8. When you find some cute shoes, slide those puppies on the inside and see if it's a fit. Look at the top and be sure there is toe room. Look to the side so that you can see if the curve of their foot lines up with the arch support.

9. Be sure they are on sale and bring 'em home. I'm gonna guess you'll have happy feet (and more importantly will have avoided having to buy Hulk or Transformer shoes.)

and there you have it...how to save your mind shopping for the mythical unicorn shoes that fit.