so many books!

I have been a lot better about finding time to read over the last couple years than I ever have before! I don't know why, but after high school I never went to the library to check out the latest book from anyone's top best books of the month/year/decade whatever. I read from time to time in college but I never got into a certain genera or had a favorite theme I really got immersed in. I never felt left out of a conversation because I didn't read non-fiction on a regular basis, even through all the Harry Potter mania, and I never had the urge to go check out what all the fuss was about. I did enjoy the movies and hearing about how parts were different from the books and I do go see movies that are from books, but never find myself wanting to read the book first before ever seeing the film version.

I don't know, I guess I like informative articles from a magazine or the newspaper instead!

But I've been able to find some really great deals on books, which I prefer since it takes me months to get trough one book, as well as the library for sale cart and other used book fairs around town. My favorite is Thiftbooks.com, they have great prices as well as HalfPriceBooks.com and HPB has two locations in my area on days I can be by myself to browse! Another place I go for books is Savers. If you do not have one near you or you just haven't stopped in, you are missing out!

This year in St. Louis County, all the libraries have been remodeled! Some have a much better atmosphere than what was, others look awful compared to how they were and that is disappointing! Still most have added space to the existing building including an interactive kids area that is half playground, BUT you still need to use an inside voice ... library rules still apply! Speaking of, people don't understand that and still talk so loud on their phones and don't give a rats ass!! That might have to be another topic for another post!

So my 2019 book list, and i hope I can get through the majority of these titles this year, are as follows ...

Witness by Ruth Gruber. I caught the last part of a documentary on PBS about her and had to find out more! With her perfect memory (and plenty of zip), ninety-five-year-old Ruth Gruber—adventurer, international correspondent, photographer, maker of (and witness to) history, responsible for rescuing hundreds of thousands of Jewish refugees during World War II and after—tells her story in her own words and photographs.
Gruber’s life has been extraordinary and extraordinarily heroic. She received a B.A. from New York University in three years, a master’s degree from the University of Wisconsin a year later, and a Ph.D. from the University of Cologne (magna cum laude) one year after that, becoming at age twenty the youngest Ph.D. in the world (it made headlines in The New York Times; the subject of her thesis: the then little-known Virginia Woolf).

In Witness, Gruber writes about what she saw and shows us, through her haunting and life-affirming photographs–taken on each of her assignments– the worlds, the people, the landscapes, the courage, the hope, the life she witnessed up close and firsthand: the Siberian gulag of the 1930s and the new cities being built there (Gruber, then untrained as a photographer, brought her first Rolleicord with her) . . . the Alaska highway of 1943, built by 11,000 soldiers, mostly black men from the South (the highway went from Dawson Creek, British Columbia, 1,500 miles to Fairbanks) . . . her thirteen-day voyage on the army-troop transport Henry Gibbins with refugees and wounded American soldiers, escorting and then photographing the refugees as they arrived in Oswego, New York (they arrived in upstate New York as Adolf Eichmann was sending 750,000 Jews from Hungary to Auschwitz).

A Wrinkle In Time by Madeleine L'Engle. I surprisingly never read this one in school! Winner of the Newbery Medal in 1963, is the story of the adventures in space and time of Meg, Charles Wallace, and Calvin O'Keefe (athlete, student, and one of the most popular boys in high school). They are in search of Meg's father, a scientist who disappeared while engaged in secret work for the government on the tesseract problem.

Furiously Happy by Jenny Lawson. I was looking for a humorous story about everyday life to relate to and found this! In Furiously Happy, a humor memoir tinged with just enough tragedy and pathos to make it worthwhile, Jenny Lawson examines her own experience with severe depression and a host of other conditions, and explains how it has led her to live life to the fullest:

"I've often thought that people with severe depression have developed such a well for experiencing extreme emotion that they might be able to experience extreme joy in a way that ‘normal people' also might never understand. And that's what Furiously Happy is all about."

You Are Here by Thich Nhat Hanh. A friend of mine talked about this book and I thought I would see what it was all about! In this book Thich Nhat Hanh, the renowned Zen monk, author, and meditation master, distills the essence of Buddhist thought and practice, emphasizing the power of mindfulness to transform our lives. “Mindfulness is not an evasion or an escape,” he explains. “It means being here, present, and totally alive. It is true freedom—and without this freedom, there is no happiness.” Based on a retreat that Thich Nhat Hanh led for Westerners, this book offers a range of simple, effective practices for cultivating mindfulness, including awareness of breathing and walking, deep listening, and skillful speech. You Are Here also offers guidance on healing emotional pain and manifesting real love and compassion in our relationships with others.

Wildflower by Drew Barrymore. I love Drew, what can I say! Wildflower is a portrait of Drew's life in stories as she looks back on the adventures, challenges, and incredible experiences she’s had throughout her life. It includes tales of living in her first apartment as a teenager (and how laundry may have saved her life), getting stuck under a gas station overhang on a cross-country road trip, saying good-bye to her father in a way only he could have understood, and many more journeys and lessons that have led her to the successful, happy, and healthy place she is today.

The Awakened Family by Shefali Tsabary. I needed a parenting book that wasn't a typical parenting book and came across this which made me happy there are alternative and empowering parenting books out there! We all have the capacity to raise children who are highly resilient and emotionally connected. However, many of us are unable to because we are blinded by modern misconceptions of parenting and our own inner limitations. In The Awakened Family, I show you how you can cultivate a relationship with your children so they can thrive; moreover, you can be transformed to a state of greater calm, compassion and wisdom as well. This book will take you on a journey to transcending your fears and illusions around parenting and help you become the parent you always wanted to be: fully present and conscious. It will arm you with practical, hands-on strategies and real-life examples from my experience as a parent and clinical psychologist that show the extraordinary power of being a conscious parent. 

The Paris Wife by Paula Mclain. I really like this era in thw world and I saw this on a book list awhile back, so finally, I picked it up! Chicago, 1920: Hadley Richardson is a quiet twenty-eight-year-old who has all but given up on love and happiness—until she meets Ernest Hemingway. Following a whirlwind courtship and wedding, the pair set sail for Paris, where they become the golden couple in a lively and volatile group—the fabled “Lost Generation”—that includes Gertrude Stein, Ezra Pound, and F. Scott Fitzgerald. Though deeply in love, the Hemingways are ill prepared for the hard-drinking, fast-living, and free-loving life of Jazz Age Paris. As Ernest struggles to find the voice that will earn him a place in history and pours himself into the novel that will become The Sun Also Rises, Hadley strives to hold on to her sense of self as her roles as wife, friend, and muse become more challenging. Eventually they find themselves facing the ultimate crisis of their marriage—a deception that will lead to the unraveling of everything they’ve fought so hard for. A heartbreaking portrayal of love and torn loyalty, The Paris Wife is all the more poignant because we know that, in the end, Hemingway wrote that he would rather have died than fallen in love with anyone but Hadley.

And before New Years Eve festivities came to, I finish Crash Test Girl by Kari Byron, so awesome and funny! I love Mythbusters, always have, and she was amazing to see along with the M5 Industries crew testing all sorts of fun stuff! Happy reading in 2019 everyone!

BOOKS ARE UNIQUELY PORTABLE MAGIC

xo

oily lady

I love essential oils! Have I mentioned that before ?! {lol} 

This year I have really tried to switch over so much of our household to essential oils instead of buying things like a veggie wash, hand soap, and dryer sheets, and I think I've kept up pretty well too!

My new favorite that I really like, is making hand soap. You don't need anything special, the pump from the old bottle or snagging a glass bottle with pump top from Amazon, castile soap from Target and boiled water from the kettle. Why do I have a kettle if I'm not a tea drinker you ask ... french press, of course! Fill up the dispenser 3/4 with castile soap the rest with water, add Lavender, or Thieves, or Tea Tree EO along with vitamin E oil and there you have it! Super simple and my hands are clean and moisturized!

So my veggie cleaner is another super simple recipe and I feel much better about slicing up some peppers and broccoli to feed the kids then I ever have before! All I do is fill a bowl or sink basin with cool water, add 2 drops of Thieves EO along with a tablespoon of apple cider vinegar, add the fruit and veggies and swirl around before letting them sit for about 5 minutes. Then I take each one out to pat dry and let sit on a towel on the counter if it needs extra drying time. I usually do this right when I get home from grocery shopping, I make a pile of produce as I go through the bags putting everything else away and then they are all right there to clean!

Then I have my counter cleaner that is really great for any surface ... fridge shelves, fridge door, stove top, dining table. Again a glass bottle, this time with a spray top, from Amazon along with Young Living Thieves Cleaner and I follow the directions on the back of that for potency, which is usually half cleaner and half water. There is no grimy residue and the kitchen smells so fresh with out a gross chemical smell that I'm afraid to put said produce in a pile on!

Two of my most favorite ways to use essential oils for cleaning is in the laundry and for the carpet!
Get a pack of wool dryer balls and ditch the dryer sheets because there are so many great combos of scent you can add to those dryer balls any day of the week!

~Purification

~Orange & Joy
~Stress Away & Lime
~Lavender & Citrus Fresh
~Rosemary & Lavender
~Lemon & Basil

The list goes on! And these EO scents can be used in a carpet cleaner of borax and baking soda mixed together. Shake on the carpet (I save parmesan cheese shaker containers for this) and let sit for 30 minutes then vacuum up! 

Check out my Pinterest page for lots more ideas on using essential oils for your home and if you are interested in ordering, click here!

But if you are still skeptical about all the essential oils hype and why so many people are using them, I have a couple of great reads, a guide about how they work that I think you should check out.

THERE'S AN OIL FOR THAT!

xo

potty training! (oh what fun)

I decided over the summer that we would not start potty training Z until after the holidays because we planned on going to visit relatives and fun outings like Christmas light walks, festivities on Main Street, and Kiener Plaza activities. There would be so many headaches bringing a potty seat, finding a bathroom, or dealing with port-a-potty (YUCK). So I just wanted to make it easy and after the holiday hooplah start into all that fun stuff, since we don't do much of anything in January and February.

BUT ... little lady decided that after I bought her underwear in September (because I plan that far ahead and I had a coupon!) that she wanted to try them on for a day and thought they were so awesome (like big brothers!), that she only had two accidents that day and she wanted to try again! Well I was pleasantly surprised that after a week of wearing her undies and telling me she felt the urge to potty, she was in undies by the end of the month! Each day she had maybe three accidents but most were small as she was in the bathroom already, just close calls before hoping on the toilet!

I was so proud of her and I couldn't believe it! With S it took a little bit longer and there were more accidents, even after doing really well for a weeks time, so I was expecting about the same for her. With both kids I started just a day here or there putting them in underwear just to see how they would be and so they could get a feel for what it's all about. A few other things I did to get ready for potty training are all the "go-to" standards I've read all around ...

~Let them pick out their underwear

~Have books about the potty and their usual books in the bathroom (Potty by Leslie Patricelli and My Big Girl Undies by Karen Katz are great!)

~Make a chart and get lots of stickers

~Put out the potty seat and step stool all the time everyday so they can see it's easy and ready for them

~Small prizes for sitting and/or using the toilet (we did M&M's, small, not too expensive, always fun!)

~Progressively larger prizes for milestones like staying dry all day, staying dry all week, etc

I also made it a rule to only sit on the carpet with no blankies or pillows or anything else because it would be a hassle to clean up! There were a few days we tried walking abound bottomless but that didn't seem to make any difference to them and did not help the process. Luckily, our September was slowing down from summer craziness and the only thing we had was gymnastics class, so it was a nice ease into making sure we go before we leave the house or before class starts and it was an environment that was familiar, where if there was an accident, it was no big deal! I feel that both of those aspects helped her too.

Now the diaper bag is lighter and it is awesome!! I still feel the need to carry it with a change of clothes for both and I'm so used to carrying it on my back all these years, it would feel weird to change over to a purse!

There is still the hurdle of overnight potty training that we are in the midst of with S who is 6. For awhile we decided to do pull ups and try to keep those dry overnight but there was no difference, so then we moved onto an alarm that he wears around his upper arm that vibrates and lights up when the wetness indicator is tripped. The alarm sometimes wakes him up, so we have determined he is a heavy sleeper. I set the alarm to light up and to beep the last couple weeks and it is loud enough to wake me up and help him get up and go to the bathroom, but most of the time it's just an alarm for me to go get him up to change the sheets and his pj's! {sigh}

There is barely anything to read about how to overnight potty train! I have looked for months and have come up empty handed, so if you have an article to suggest, by all means PLEASE! Basic common sense stuff is all I can find, like no drinks after dinner or just a sip in the evening. Also going potty just before getting into bed and waking him up and taking him to the bathroom just before we go to bed. Which by the way, that only works if you feel like getting kicked in the face at 11-ish at night! He is such a heavy sleeper that he gets angry when woken up and fights me when I gently rub his back and lift him to sitting up!

I'm really at a lose for overnight potty training, so for now it's either washing sheets and pj's all the time or spending money on pull ups! But at least both kiddos are diaper-free during the day now!

ACHIEVING MILESTONES ONE KID AT A TIME

xo