Christmas Shopping Kudos

I'm sending these out to my hubby, who did a bulk of our Christmas shopping yesterday!  As I said in yesterday's post, I HATE Christmas shopping.  I always say that I'm going to collect gifts throughout the year so I don't have to deal with the Christmas lines and the stress of last-minute "what the heck do I get this person?" shopping, but once again, I fail miserably at actually doing it.  (Okay, this last year, I feel like I have some pretty good excuses for not getting anything done ahead of time...not to play the "I had a baby two months early and then she had to have a heart transplant and spend months in the hospital" card or anything...but, it happened...)  So, I just wanted to say that he did a great job.  He got a TON of stuff at Bath and Body Works, where I had a 20% of $25 purchase (you can get yours here by signing up for their email list) for only $39!  He also braved a visit to Target for formula and some big tubs of mixed nuts for my dad and brother-in-law, and visited a local fly fishing shop to finish off his brother and sister-in-law's gifts.  So, I'm WAY ahead of where I have been in past years!  I need to make some calendars for both the grandparents and our friend who helps us take care of Bean.  I think I'm going to find 12 outfits that somewhat go with each month of the year and take a picture of Bean in each for the calendar!  It will take a little time, but it will be fun and the calendar will be super-cute that way!  I'm actually looking forward to that.  I need to do it soon to be sure we can get the calendars by Christmas for people.  I think these make great gifts and they're pretty cheap to get online for the most part.

Other than that, I have a feeling today is going to be a somewhat lazy, rainy day for me.  Well, maybe not lazy.  I need to grade, unpack a few boxes that are strewn throughout the house from our clearing space in the garage, review some of the resources on the Want What You Have blog and prepare for this coming week of finals, meetings and preparing for visitors (we have both sets of grandparents possibly coming plus friends of ours from the Bay Area possibly....ahhhhhhh!).  I wish it could be a lazy day...we can dream can't we?!?

I also wanted to share another blog with you all that I found of late that I heart!  "To The Max" is a blog written by the mom of a little boy with Cerebral Palsy.  I love the blog for a couple of reasons.  First, she is really honest and open about the trials of dealing with a special needs child.  It feels good to read what she has learned and experienced when dealing with Bean.  Second, she has GREAT GIVEAWAYS!!!  For instance, today she is giving away this incredibly cute box set of candles!  I love me a good giveaway!  So, cruise on over to "To the Max" and let me know if you win!

Free Stuff in the Mail!!!

I almost forgot to share...I got some free stuff in the mail this past week.  This was quite the package - it cost me $5.50 for postage because of the forwarding from our old address to the new address, but I was glad I paid it when I opened it up and found TWO dinner kits - Wanchai Ferry's Orange Chicken and Macaroni Grill's Chicken Piccata.  In the past, I have paid to eat Macaroni Grill's Creamy Basil at home and it was absolutely delicious!  These kits only require you to add a few ingredients and I am hoping that the Orange Chicken and the Chicken Piccata end up tasting as good as the Creamy Basil did.  I currently have some chicken breasts defrosting in the refrigerator to use with these kits, so tomorrow I should have a report on how they taste!

You may be wondering why I got them free in the mail.  A while back, I signed up with Pssst... and since then I have received a couple of samples that I have not been able to spread the word about due to extenuating circumstances - hospital stays that prevented me from truly enjoying the items or my husband eating them before I got to them!  So, this is the first time I am blogging about items received.  In addition to sending me the dinner kits, they also included a generous number of $1.25 off one dinner kit coupons.  So, if you are reading this blog and are interested in receiving a coupon or two from me, just comment with your email address and I will email you for your snail mail address and send them along. I know the website for the Dinner Kits has $1 off coupons as well, but for some of you with double and triple coupon options, the $1.25 may save you significantly more.  Plus, I've got all these coupons...might as well share a few, right?

Okay - now I'm REALLY going to bed for the night!  Hopefully Bean isn't up too often and I can get some sleep!

Exciting New Resource

After my little "episode" yesterday, I have been thinking about where I need help in my life and how to find that help.  In looking around on the trusty internet, I have found an exciting new resource that I am going to be exploring over the next week or so.  "Want What You Have" is a mom's blog with a definite religious focus (just to warn those of you who might be turned off by that sort of thing - me, I need all the help I can get!) that offers a bevy of additional resources.  I found it while looking for a realistic daily schedule for me and Bean - she is getting to an age where we really need to start establishing a schedule for her - eating, sleeping, playing, etc.  My husband and I are definitely not good at sticking to a schedule, so I figured looking for one online and then tweaking it to meet our needs and then DISPLAYING it should really help us out.  It works for Supernanny right?  So, I took a look at the daily schedule for stay at home moms on this blog.  Although I am not officially a stay-at-home mom, my work schedule is flexible enough to consider myself one for the sake of planning.  I really felt like Heather was speaking for me in the opening paragraphs leading to the schedule!  I have definitely slipped into the unmotivated and undisciplined areas she speaks of!

I am not set on a schedule yet.  As Heather says, I have to figure out what works for me - what I have to get done.  I also would like to integrate this idea with some of the Flylady scheduling I have been working on.  I think that the Flylady routines will integrate well into the daily schedule.

So, I'm heading off to bed and tomorrow I will work on figuring out this daily schedule thing and I look forward to exploring more of the resources on Want What You Have!

A Little Stressed...

So, I had a mini-breakdown yesterday.  The month of December is always a big stresser for me.  Its the end of the semester and I'm usually behind in grading.  Its the end of the year and we're usually starting to run short on funds (even without the health issues that came into play this year).  Its usually a little dismal weather-wise, so that has a negative effect on me.  Its the time of year I reflect back on the last year and realize all the things I had WANTED to do that I didn't do, for yet another year...So, I had a little breakdown - a little cry...

I think I've rallied a bit today.  My husband, who is often a little unaware, has been fantastic.  He went out and did Christmas shopping today - yes, I said HE did Christmas shopping!!!  That is a huge relief because I usually have it hanging over my head and I really hate Christmas shopping overall, but ESPECIALLY at the last minute! So, that has been fantastic.  In addition, I have been able to accomplish quite a bit on my to-do list (which is the size of Mt. Lassen right now) in the past couple of days.  But, sometimes I just feel like I'm spinning my wheels.  I do the same things over and over and over and over and it doesn't leave time for me to get the additional things done.  For example, I feel like I have to clean my kitchen two or three times a day...and of course, it doesn't stay clean (in fact, its a mess right now).  I finally got the dining room cleaned up two days ago and now the table top is no longer visible.  We cleaned a space in the garage to put the bassinet so we would have a space for the Christmas tree in the living room and now there are boxes in every room of the house needing to be unpacked/sorted through AND there is a giant pile of stuff that needs to be sorted and organized in the middle of the garage floor.  I've done load after load of laundry over the past couple of weeks and there are still a number of loads to be done.  Its never-ending!

So, I'm starting to realize how overwhelmed I have let myself become by letting things go.  I am very much a "out of sight, out of mind" kind of gal, and when something pressing is happening (e.g. Mackenzie's health issues), everything else just gets thrown in the metaphorical drawer to be sorted through later.  But, my drawer is now overflowing - in fact, I probably have a dresser full of stuff or more - and I'm running out of room for it.

I realize I have to take more control of things in my life.  I need to take things out of the drawers and at least put them in see-through containers where I can spot those things that are starting to cause a problem before they become a problem instead of just letting things go and go and go and go...

Procrastination is definitely my major, major weakness and it needs to stop here and now.  I sometimes procrastinate about ending my procrastination....so, I'm not going to make this a New Year's Resolution - I'm going to make it a December 12 resolution.  I am really going to start to do things now that I can do now and to schedule everything else in and stick to the schedule, no matter how painful that may be.  Again, its all about prioritization.  But, I need to remember how crappy I felt yesterday and it will help me if the reason I'm doing things is to avoid that feeling!

What are the rest of you changing as the new year approaches?  What are some of the things you changed over the last year that you are particularly proud of or happy with?  Give me some encouragement!!!

Keeping Things Clean...

...is the bane of my existence.  I feel like I'm just not good at it...or I'm just lazy.  But, it seems like everything I clean gets dirty again in a matter of minutes (sometimes seconds), and I'm just fighting a losing battle.  With Bean's immunosuppression, I have been really good about keeping the kitchen clean.  I got antibacterial cleanser that I use on the counter tops constantly.  But, now, Bean is starting to get to the stage of crawling and this really terrifies me.
I just don't see a world where I can keep up with keeping the floors clean.  We have a dog who goes in and out from the backyard and she brings in dirt, etc.  And the carpets in our rental weren't that clean to begin with.  I have a Bissell Pet Hair Eraser, but its still a carpet and I don't vacuum EVERY day...although, I will probably need to.  I have some area rugs I was thinking about using because they have a lower pile and will be easier to clean, but I don't know if that will really solve the problem or not.  I swept and mopped the kitchen and dining room floor today and they were disgustingly dirty.  But, I haven't swept or mopped for a couple of weeks.  I just need to stay more on top of things than I do.
I also let things pile up too much.  I am really trying to clear things out in the living areas so we don't have to deal with moving things constantly, etc.  But, I haven't finished unpacking yet and we have so much stuff its hard to find a place for everything.  But, that is truly the secret - a place for everything and everything in its place.  Its just easier said than done...
We were used to the hand-washing and antibacterial hand gel because Bean was a preemie and came home during flu season.  So, we have antibacterial soap and antibacterial hand gel at every sink.  We also have a roll of paper towels at every sink because germs can live in towels.  It seems a little less green to use the paper towels, but it definitely makes me feel safer.  And keeping her room clean at this point is relatively easy.  She doesn't do much in her room and I am good about putting her dirty clothes out in the laundry and cleaning up whatever medical debris is left after her daily medications and heparin in the Broviac.  I would like to get her a rug (ladybug if possible, as that is the theme in her room) so if she does play up there she has something other than the carpet to lay on as I don't think the carpet was totally clean to start with.
But, the living room is an issue.  She has the bulk of her toys, swing, bouncy chair, and bassinet in addition to the usual living room clutter - pictures, dvds, cds, etc.  And the bar between the living room and kitchen is the catch-all area for stuff coming in from the outside.  Again, much of this would be solved by a place for everything and everything in its place, but it sometimes is a bit overwhelming.
So, I plan to try to stick to a weekly chore schedule where the floors get cleaned at least once a week - then I can do spot cleaning on other days, but it won't be as overwhelming as things won't build up.  With the daily schedule of medications, we already have a built-in daily routine, but we definitely don't use this to our advantage in other areas.  I also will have to finish unpacking and really work at finding a place for everything, then forcing myself and my hubby to put everything back in its place.  Again, easier said than done, but something we can work towards.
I have one more day off in my Thankgiving "vacation".  I put that in quotation marks because I was working in North Carolina until Tuesday, flew back straight to San Francisco so I could go to the hospital, where Bean was due to some loss of weight and throwing up last Sunday and Monday, got discharged on Wednesday, went to my sister's in Davis where we stayed on Wednesday night and had Thanksgiving on Thursday with her, her husband and my parents and returned here on Thursday night.  So, I really only had three days of vacation at home.  And I really needed the whole week. I am behind in grading, need to finish unpacking the garage, need to clean up the house, and need to organize the walk-in closet of hell in the guest room, where I have literally piled every office, scrapbooking and random item as I have unpacked.  It isn't pretty!  Tomorrow, I will focus on cleaning and grading.  I think I will use the Crisis Cleaning system from Flylady, but instead of just cleaning, I'll include 15 minutes of grading in every hour's cycle.  We'll see how that works...
I did a search online for "cleaning for immunosuppressed child" and didn't find anything much that was helpful. If any of you who are reading this have suggestions, please put them in the comments to help parents who come looking for ideas to make their new regimens a little easier in any way possible!

Heart Healthy Giveaway

Just wanted to give any  readers who happen to land on my blog today a chance at some free heart healthy items for them or their kids - $30 Weekly Grocery Challenge, a great money-saving blog, is giving away a giftbox of Campbell's low sodium kids soups and V-8 Fusion drinks.  Check it out here.  You can tell her I sent you!  :)

A Year of Thanksgiving...and Soul Searching

Some refer to today as Black Friday, but since my days as a retail clerk, I refuse to participate in the shopping extravaganza.  So, to me, today is the day after Thanksgiving - or leftovers day!  I am choosing today to start this blog because I have a lot to be thankful this year - and I feel like I could spend a whole year saying thanks.  So, this starts my year of Thanksgiving...
My daughter is just over nine months old, and four and a half months ago, she received the greatest gift that she will receive in her life - a new heart.  She was suffering with Dilated Cardiomyopathy and she was in cardiogenic shock, ventilated and barely awake (to keep her from pulling out the ventilator and to let her heart rest).  We spent almost three months in a Ronald McDonald house before getting to come home a little over a month ago.  Needless to say, our lives have been turned upside down.  We have to give Bean medications three times a day.  We have to flush a broviac line (something like a semi-permanent IV) each day.  She has a lot of doctors appointments that are about three and a half hours away from our home.  We also have to take precautions not to expose her to germs - she is immune-suppressed and the Swine Flu has added a whole new layer to that worry.  My husband (pictured with Bean) has had to give up one of his two jobs, meaning we are extremely low on money. Although our lives are changed forever, we are incredibly thankful - for Bean's new heart, for the wonderful care she received from the Doctors and Nurses at Lucille Packard Children's Hospital, for the availability of a room at the Ronald McDonald House Stanford for only $10/night during our stay, for the incredible generosity and love of friends and family during our time at the hospital...the list goes on and on.
But, even as we are thankful, we also have to realize that there will be serious challenges.  We will need to figure out additional forms of income.  We will have to get our lives more organized in order to get done what we need to get done while still dealing with additional medical responsibilities for Bean.  We will need to deal with insurance debacles that are threatening to put accounts into collections.  We will need to become aware of medical issues that come with Bean's medications and treatments.  And because of the experience we have had during this, we will need to find a way to give back - to make sure that others going through this or similar things will have resources they need available to them.  Whether that be through charity fund-raising, sharing information on this blog, or doing speaking for the causes close to our hearts, I haven't figured out yet.  But, I do know that I HAVE to find a way to give back.
So, welcome to A Second Heart.  I hope you will find something that is helpful to you!