Friday Letter

Dear Mike -

In and amongst the craziness that is my life right now, you have been totally understanding and supportive, and I appreciate that. But when it comes to the house, a little less so. When I put in a 12 hour day at the office, I don't want to come home to a sink full of dishes, piles of laundry and a quick pass-off of the three-year-old for bedtime. I'm not saying you have to do it all, but a little more would be nice. Yes, I know you do plently around the house, help out with chores, also have a full -time job and that you want to relax when you get home; but I am feeling like I am doing it all these days.

I have no problem being "super-mom and wife" most of the time - but the stress of 50+ hour work weeks and the insanity of the Walk next week, along with trying to keep the house clean, clean clothes in the drawers, getting dinner on the table, dropping off and picking up the little guy every day and trying to take a few minutes to myself is getting to me.

So, thanks for understanding my work life is crazy right now, but could you please try and help me keep the balance of work & life by making the home part a little easier, at least until next Saturday?

Love,

Me

It's SEPTEMBER for cryin' out loud!

Ah, the holiday season - the lights, colors and smells of joy. Not something you would normally find me thinking about in...September. I can't help but feel a little stress and pressure from the world to start thinking about Christmas - and pressure from the family as well.

This afternoon, I ran to Target to pick up a few things for work when I noticed, just past the aisles of Halloween costumes and candy, white lights and the slightest glimpse of...you guessed it, evergreen. I felt the need to look a little closer, and I found two aisles and four endcaps dedicated to Christmas, while a measly 1/2 aisle in and amongst the Halloween decor was allocated for "fall" themed items. The last time I checked my calendar, it was September.

SEPT-EM-BER.

A week ago, it was still SUMMER here in this land we call Minnesota. Sure, we've heard of Christmas in July, and the fact that the retail world starts slipping Christmas in earlier and earlier each year, but I am not ready to start thinking about Christmas shopping when I don't even know what cute-overpriced costume my son will wear in 6 weeks for Halloween, (which, in my opinion is the earliest date that holiday crap should hit the shelves!).

After all this, I remembered the conversation I had earlier this week with my Mother-In-Law. It went something like this:

MIL: "With the way things are going...it's probably best to start shopping earlier then usual this year."
Me: "Shopping? Oh, you mean Christmas. Yeah, I suppose, more time will allow you to find better deals. I might have to think about that."
MIL: "Yes. I think that's my plan. I'm going to need your Christmas lists in the next couple of weeks alright?"
Me: "Sure." (You don't argue with MIL about Christmas lists, you just don't do it.)

So again, it's still basically summer (well, 2 days into fall) and I am being hounded for a list of items I might want in 3 months, a list of items my 3 year old might be interested in 3 months from now and a list of items my husband would like to add to his pile of stuff.

Did I mention it's September?

(Do you start getting into the holiday spirit earlier then most people? Do you get as annoyed by christmas ornaments in the costume aisle as I do? Got any good holiday shopping stories? Please share!)

BOM Challenge 4

The 4th Challenge (Yes, I'm jumping around, challenge 3 is going to take some research) 

SCHOOL CAREER 

Which schools did you attend from Grade 1 through 12? Was it the same school or did you change schools frequently (like me)? Did you love or hate school? Do you have fond memories of any of your teachers? Who were your best friend/s at school - do you still keep in tough with them? Were you involved in any extra-curricular activities? Were you bullied? Were you a bully? Were you a nerd or with the "in" crowd? Any really horrid moments? Happy moments? 

My Take:

The Journaling (I added some doodles throughout, if you're wondering what the weird looking spots are, to make it look more like my notes actually did.): The first day of school was exciting. It started with new clothes, a new backpack and a family picture, it set off the new year in an exciting manner. It aws a tradtion in our family since I started school in 1988 until I graduated (and after) in 2008. I started pre-school in 1988 at Our Redeemer Lutheran school. From my first day here, I loved school. In Kindergarten my favorite thing was to put on shows for the moms and dads and to practice my reading. When I started first grade I was at Locust Lane Elementary and had perfect attendance my first year! I spent the next few years in the same class as my then best friend Lisa. Locust Lane had a tunnel of love on the playground, and everyone in our 4th grade class got to get married. I was lucky and got to marry  Chris Leinenkugel. The summer before 5th grade we moved and I attended Stilson Elementary and Chippewa Falls Middle School. In 6th grade I joined the diving team and volleyball team, but these activities were short lived as halfway through 6th grade we moved again, this time further, to Minnesota. I started at Oak Point Intermediate. I only had a half of a year at this school, but met my friend Chelsea, so I consider it successful! I then moved to Central Middle School for 7th and 8th grade grade. I joined Central Singers and Odyssey of the Mind, while I was there. In 1998 I started High School at Eden Prairie High, I was overly involved here the Speech Team, Prayer Group, touch football, Drama Club, planning committees, post secondary classes and more. In high school I started going to dances and more school activities too. My senior year was extra fun ] as the captain of the speech team I got to give a lot of speeches at school and outside of the school for presentations. By the time I graduated, I was so busy I didn’t know what to do with all the free time I had! School was a great time of my life. I really enjoyed my education and the experiences I had.

BOM Challenge 2

The Second Challege

"This week requires a little research - use your favourite search engine to find out the meaning of your name or go along to your local library (when last did you enter the hallowed halls of a library?) and research the meaning of your name. Do you like your name? Do you think that the meaning of your name somehow reflects a little bit of who you are? How did your parents select your name - is there a romantic/funny/endearing/strange story behind the selection of your name? If you could change your name which name would you choose? Tell the story. You do not necessarily need to put any photos on this page – you are merely documenting the story of your name."

My take:

The journaling reads: 

Amanda means Worthy of Love, I find this incredibly accurate - I fought through so many bad relationships to find loving ones, both with fathers and partners. My name wasn’t decided until I was born, my mom and biological father gambled with my name: if I was born in the morning I would be Amanda, if I was born in the afternoon I would be Desiree. I am so thankful I was a morning baby, I am so not a Desiree! The middle name was never a debate, it was always to be Marie, a family name. Marie itself means bitter sea, but is a variation of Mary which simply means bitter. You won’t find many that call me Amanda though, I usually go by Manda, which has different meanings. The Indian meaning is river while the Spanish meaning is Battle Maid. My maiden name, L---- means “of the sea” while my married name, K-------, means Innkeeper. I haven’t always liked my name - in fact, I have gone by so many variations of Amanda/Marie and even tried mixing in other names to escape it. I think it was just too popular, there were five Amanda’s in my first-grade class. I guess if you don’t think of me as a lovable, battle-maidesque, water adoring innkeeper, then you just don’t know me at all!

Book of Me

For the past two years, I have subscribed to Scrappers Guide. I get monthly lessons for Photoshop Elements, a monthly digital scrapbooking kit and weekly tips and tricks. In the past two years, I have used bits and pieces of these kits and lessons for very, very minor projects - not for their purpose, and I am disappointed in myself. I decided to pay for this subscription each year to give myself a digital creative outlet, and have failed. Until today. Today I came across Tracy's Charmed Life. A couple of months ago she started a year long challege - A Book of Me (BOM). Basically, every two weeks she issues a challenge, my job is to create a one-to-two page scrapbook layout based around the challenge. After about a year, I will have a book all about...me. I was hooked after reading this! With the wedding over, and a little more spare time on my hands I can finally focus on a goal I've had while completing a fun project. So thanks Tracy for this opportunity, I look forward to catching up and working through this challenge! 

Being 7 challenges behind, I have some catching up to do - Tracy suggests starting with the most current challenge and doing one additional one until caught up, but I thought it was important to start with the basics, and the first challenge to get me rolling. From here I can jump around until caught up. So, here you go - the first page of my BOM.

CHALLENGE No. 1 

"Introduction to me

This is a brief introductory page about you and must include a recent photo of yourself (eeek). I like to call this a quick "CV" or "brief description of you" page as we will go into much more detail during the course of the next year. This page must reflect who you are at a glance - use colours and embellishments to describe you, along with the words."

The journaling reads: 

i am: a wife, a mother, a daughter, a friend, a sister, a granddaughter, a co-worker, a lover, a listener, creative, a dreamer, a reality tv addict, intelligent, busy, tired, employed by the leukemia & lymphoma society, obsessed with purple, a chocolate lover, an alright chef, a newlywed, a blogger, a planner, an aquarius, adopted, a scrapbooker, a designer, a lover of chick flicks and disney channel movies, a country music fan, a cat owner, in love with sweets, an alright driver, easily distracted, a shopping addict, bad with money, learning, growing, twenty-four, beautiful, funny, a secret keeper, a leader and a follower, a wanna-be gardener, a wanna be home owner, not witty, not a big sports fan, imaginative, fun, silly, still a child at heart. i am Manda