Wishcasting Wednesday

It's Wednesday again, my new favorite day of the week.  I am once again joining in with Wishcasting Wednesday at jamieridlerstudios.ca

This week Jamie asks "What do you wish to step into?"


I wish to step into my dreams.  What are those you ask?  I'm not totally sure, but as I often write about, I wish to have more time for creativity in my life.  I think my dream is to have creativity and crafting be a part of my career.  I think I would love to have a studio with maybe a small cafe where I can have open studio time, classes, a place for people to get together with friends and benefit from being creative.  I still have to think about what this really entails and how to best go about making it come to fruition, but it is something I often think about.

When I was in grad school, my final paper was to be about stepping out of the box with regards to traditional social work therapy.  I wrote about scrapbooking with clients, specifically older adults and those at the end of their lives.  I actually found a researcher at the University of Alabama (I think) who was researching the therapeutic benefits of scrapbooking.  I would love to learn more about art therapy and maybe get certified to be an art therapist.  That way, I can use my social work degree and also my love of creativity.

I want to step into my dream of having creativity be a part of my career and have a studio where I can teach people the benefits of being creative!

I am also going to post this at my new blog http://amy-fratto-designs.blogspot.com   My new blog was started to post about my creations so I thought that it would be good to copy any post that pertain to creativity there.
Amy

Failure Follow Up

So far I got one response to my Failure post.  This response made me think that maybe I could just cut out dairy (cow) and wheat and gluten.  I am wondering if this may make things easier if I can have some things that are not crazy.  At least there are a ton of gluten free sites and even some gluten free dairy free blogs that I maybe able to look towards for some help in remaining on the right type of diet.   I know that something makes me feel horrible and I would have to say that cow's milk is definitely something that affects me.  I can't say for sure now if wheat and gluten make me also feel horrible.  I am hoping that getting rid of these foods will not be as limiting as getting rid of all the allergens in theallergy test.  As always, this is going to be a work in progress.  It will be interesting to see how I do with these changes.

Thanks Momma B for the suggestion fo slowly eliminating things and seeing how I do with that!

Amy

Failure

Why am I such a failure when it comes to eating the way I should be.  I know that I often have stomach issues, but really could never relate it to certain foods except dairy products.  Now that I have been tested for allergies, there are so many more foods that I need to check to see if are true allergens.  Why is it that I can not stop eating these foods long enough to see if I truly have an allergy to them.  I feel like a complete and total failure when it comes to food intake.  I guess this must be what a drug addict or alcoholic feels like on some level.  I know it isn't the same, but I truly crave these foods and I know that they make me feel horrible.  I just need to bite the bullet and start doing what I need to so to be healthy.  I had to eliminate something (substance that I craved) when I was in grad school for my substance abuse class.  At the time I chose caffeine.  Not a bad choice at the time, but thinking back I wish I had done something more like wheat.  According to my blood test (which there are many false positives supposedly) I need to cut out cantaloupe, cheddar cheese, swiss cheese, cottage cheese, egg yolks, gluten, malt, cow's milk, rye, tuna, watermelon, wheat, brewer's yeast, and baker's yeast, and maybe even yogurt.  Because of these potential allergies, it is even more important that I cook my own food and eat healthy.  I am on the path to eating correctly from here on out.  I know that there will be more failures, but I will always get back on the horse and do what I need to do for my health.

As for creativity, I still need to get better at creating.  I am making the cake for my mom's birthday.  I can't wait to play with the decorating.  It's going to be fun.  I can't wait to get better at making time to create.  I am working on a knit dishcloth for my husband's aunt and I will be giving her a pattern book for her to make things from.  Hopefully she'll like them.  I am also thinking that I don't really want to sell things I create, but I actually want to teach others the benefits of living a creative life.  Some day I'll figure out what my passion within creativity really is.

I'm off now to get the kids dressed and go to the natural grocery store with them.  I need to plan my meals and start thinking about how to be healthy for me and my family!

Amy

Current Projects

I have a couple of projects that I have either recently finished or am in the process of finishing, or am thinking about starting for Christmas gifts.  This past weekend, I just finished a fall wreath for our door that I think came out really good.  In fact I was so happy with it that I decided to make a gift of one for my mom to thank her fall all the babysitting she has done, so I went out this morning and bought the items to make a wreath for her.  Then earlier today, one of the blogs I follow posted about making pants out of old t-shirts.  I just had to try this and they actually came out pretty good even though I flew through the cutting and sewing.  I can only imagine how they would have come out if I had taken my time with them.

I have a scarf on teh needles that is just a simple garter stich scarf.  I am considering this for a Christmas gift for one of my sisters.  I'm sure that I have a bunch of works in progress (WIPs) that I just can't seem to think of right now, but I know that there are a ton of things that I have to finish.

I want to make two wine cozies for my sister and sister in law.  I want to make a scarecrow for the house.  I want to make things for the kids for Christmas.  I like the idea of making gifts for people instead of just buying something that is mass produced.  I just have to get over my fear of people not liking what I make!  I am also planning on making the cake for my mom's 60th birthday.  I'm really excited about that.

I need to get my Christmas list organized so that I can start on projects for people.  This way I won't be stuck with last minute things and then ending up buying the mass produced gifts that I don't want to buy!  I have soem housekeeping to do before I really get started on projects, but the new fall tv season starts this week and I want toat least watch the season premiere of things, so I may just try to be productive while watching tv and deal with house stuff later.  We'll see, but I  know that I need to work on things so that I can be more sane in life.  I aslo need to get organized (like I keep saying) so that I can feel like I can take the time to do my creative things.  I also plan on getting the kids to make some gifts for family members, so I get to be creative with them.  I want to start getting them to do some thing creative every day.   Maybe in tie I can use that time to be creative too. 

My last thing that I want to post about is scrapbooking.  I wish I had thought a little about this today at the craft store.  I want to get an organizer so that I can slowly work on pages for the kids scrapbook, instead of leaving it til they are too old and I give up.  I have enough pictures, I just need to print them out and get them into an album with some journaling along with the pictures.  And last but not least for to do projects is halloween bags.  This is the first year that the kids will get to go trick or treating.  I need to make them bags and finalize their costumes (if I am making new ones, or if I am just modifying the cowboy outfit I have for Eva Rose and do a somewhat Toy Story theme)!

Wish me luck in getting things done!
Amy

Wishcasting Wednesday

Again, I'm joining in with Jamie Ridler at jamieridlerstudios.ca for Wishcasting Wednesday.  This week Jamie asks:

"What do you wish for an abundance of?"

I wish for an abundance of creativity and motivation to do the things that I want to do and that I need to do!    As I've often posted, I want to do more creative projects, I need to eat better, and I need to get organized.  I need both creativity and motivation as well as energy to do all three of these things and all three of these things, at least in my mind, all work together.  I need to have the energy to actually start and complete projects.  I want to maybe start an etsy.com site, but I'm not sure if that is some thing that I truly want to do, but I do want to create and use my creations for gifts.  

I want no need to start eating better.  I start off with the best of intentions, but I always end up failing.  I need to be more creative with my meal planning and my snack planning.  I want to cook more creative foods that taste good and are also appropriate for what I should be eating.  I am tired of not knowing of some of my lack of energy is from not eating right and if I could physically feel better if I ate right.  I don't think I feel horrible, not great but not horrible, but I wonder if I am just used to feeling this way and if I ate better I would feel better and be amazed at how much better I would feel.

I need to be better organized in my life so that I can have more time to be creative and enjoy cooking and eating healthy.  I also think being more organized would allow me to feel better in general.  It would be so nice to know that I have a yummy healthy dinner planned, that my house is clean and organized, and that I have time and desire energy to come up with creative ideas for crafts and food.

Amy

Healthy Eating

Again, I am attempting to find the right diet that will get me to the right weight range and also help make me healthier.  Along with that, I want to start my kids off eating right so that they are not faced with the same difficulties with food as I am!  My husband found this diet, the name of which alludes me now, but it actually makes sense to me.  It may not to some people, but it really does to me.  Basically, and I'm sure that there is more to it than just this, but wheat and sugar are bad for your health.  I need to eliminate wheat, gluten, yeast due to my IgG ELISA test resulting stating that I am allergic to these and other foods, so eliminating wheat is something I need to do anyway.  Sugar, I really should eliminate or at least drastically cut back on it since there is the thought that I may have an issue with Candida too.  I had an awful day so far, but after I had my lunch, I made the absolute decision that I am actually going to do this.  This morning, I ate a bagel from Dunkin Doughnuts, then for lunch I had a frozen pizza.  How bad is that?  I am supposed to be eliminating milk, cheese, wheat, gluten and yeast, all of which are in everything I've had so far, not to mention the coffee with cream that I had.  Now, I don't know if this is any realtion to the food that I ate, but I definitely have a headache now.  I have to say that lately,  I have been having an issue with word finding, concentration, not being able to keep a straight train of thought.  I am totally assuming that this is related to my diet, especially since I got back my food allergy results.  It will be really interesting to see how these symptoms change once I eliminate the allergens from my diet, or even if they change at all.  I'm wondering what pysical symptoms I'll notice gone.  I think I'll notice a change with my digestion, maybe my energy level, skin, allergies, headaches.  I made almond crusted chicken for dinner tonight and my husband really liked it and so did the kids.  The best part was it was easy.  I attempted to m,ake a pudding using avacados.  It came out decent, but I think I need to run it through the blender to make it smoother and also add milk to make it thinner.  If this works out, I will be so excited.  Healthy chocolate?  What more could a girl want? 

I will be documenting my trials and tribulations of this elimination diet adventure.  I know it won't be easy, but I think I'll feel better eventually and isn't that what it's all about?  I just have to stay the course and get to the point where I actually feel better and then I know it will be worth it!  Please forgive all the failures that I have.  This is a huge undertaking for me and I think having a place to document how I'm feeling through all of this will be really helpful.

Amy

Thoughts

I think I love Wishcasting Wednesdays even more now than I ever did.  This blog has seemed to take on a new direction in some ways than when I first started it a little over a year ago.  I started this blog to talk about my thoughts and feelings on living a more natural and handmade life.  I still talk about these things, but I am also talking more about what I want out of life, what my hopes, dreams, and desires are, what my passions are and how can I fulfill them.  Fortunately these things fit right into living a more natural and handmade life, but sometimes, I think it may not come across that way.  Wishcasting Wednesday gives me a promopt about what I should write about for that day and usually it also helps to focus what I really want in life.  It also allows me to have others hear my wishes and comment on them.  I often feel less alone after writing a wishcasting post.  I would lover to meet these other bloggers who comment on my blog and whose blog I comment on.  Unfortunately, I don't get to read these blogs as often as I would like, or if I do read them, I often don't have time to comment and I wish I did!

Yesterday wish, for example, was "How do you wish to come out of your shell?".  This wish had a very special meaning for me since I tend to often be in my shell.  I wrote about being more of an introvert, which makes meeting new people really difficult.  It makes living life really difficult.  I'm sure that I'll always have one friend that is extremely important to me, like I always have in my life, but I want to have lots of friends that I can share things with.

Being an introvert also means that I'm often scared of putting myself out there regarding my creativity.  I love being creative and making things.  I love having the desire to give things away as gifts.  What I hate is the feeling of dread that I often get when I think about giving someone something and having them not like it, not respect how much time it took and how much love is often put into everything I make.  I have a huge desire to attempt to make a living out of my passion for creating, but I am so fearful that I will fail in this endeavor that I put it off.  I did start another blog with the name of my etsy.com shop. This is mainly a place where I will talk about the creative process and hopefully post pictures of the projects that I am working on.  The next step is to actually have projects posted in my shop.  I will get there someday.  The other thing that I want to spend time on is trying to meld my social work career with my love of creativity.  That may be another thing that I can post about on my other blog http://amy-fratto-designs.blogspot.com/

I love trying to eat healthy and cook healthy.  I, unfortunately, often fail at this.  I often feel like I am addicted to eating food that is bad for me.  I can't for the life of me figure out why I can't seem to keep myself eating healthy.  I'm sure that this has a lot to do with issues about how I feel about me, but one day I'll get to the point where I really am taling care of me!

The last thing that I am totally passionate about is using handmade beauty products.  Hopefully ones that I have made myself, but also ones that are naturally made by others.  I having been using my own deodorant, my own hair gel, and need to get back to my homemade toothpaste.  Ineed to get back to using more natural household cleansers and using my cloth diapers more.

This is quite a long post and I kind of spilled my guts on my feelings, but it feels good to put it out there.  I think it is good for me to have a place to write about my feelings, thoughts, fears and have others able to read them instead of just me!

Thanks for reading!
Amy

Wishcasting Wednesday

As always, I am answering the question Jamie Ridler asks at jamieridlerstudios.ca.  Jamie asks, "How do you wish to come out of your shell?"

I wish to take more chances.  I wish to open myself up and not be afraid of failure.  I wish to find and follow my true passion in life.

This question is huge for me right now.  I have always been a quiet, reserved, wall flower type of person until I get to know you and feel comfortable around you.  I tend not to take chances in case I fail.  I hate failure!  I guess that is one of the reasons that I tend to limit my interaction with people.  I am afraid that I will fail at the relationship.  I am afraid that others will have no desire to interact with me, which means the relationship will fail!  I am afraid to start selling things I create, due to my shyness, being more of an introvert, and fearing that people will not like the things that I create.  I would love to teach creative classes, but I am afraid!  I want to meet new people and make new friends.

I need to take chances and start talking to people!  I will never meet new people unless I put myself out there.  I want to meet new friends for me and my husband and for my kids too.  I have joined another group in my town called parents of tots.  I went to my first event today, and was so mad at myself for not putting myself out there.  I don't think that I went up to anyone new and introduced myself.  One way I want to come out of my shell is to start saying hi to people and talking to them.  I am also thinking about joining another twins group, just to get myself out there and meet others in similar situations that I am in.  For some reason, most of the people that I have met so far seem to not need another friend in their life.  Sometimes, I feel like I attend things and I am always on the outside looking into a group.  I haven't figured out if it is me, or if I just haven't met the right people yet.  I have met some really nice people since I have had kids, but we never seem to get together as much as I would like.  I think sometimes having kids can make things difficult with making friends, but I also think that my shyness/quiet personality plays a major role in things too.

I have been thinking about starting an etsy.com store for some time now.  I have actually started an account there, I just have never listed anything.  I want to give a rosary that I created to a family member for a Baptism.  It is a rosary made out of swarovski crystals in the baby's birthstone.  I made it a while ago and if I remember right, it came out nice, I just need to double check it.  Another way that I can come out of my shell is with my craft.  I love to make things and I tend to be fearful of giving things to people, fearing that they will not like what I made or that the quality is not good enough.  To come out of my shell in this area, I need to start creating gifts for people and feeling comfortable giving gifts of items that I have made!  I need to start posting things on etsy.com or actually sign up for a craft fair or find some other way to share my creations!  Maybe in time, I will have a studio and actually teach, or even get to the point where I have the education to do art therapy. 

I need to come out of my shell, embrace who I am and what I love.  I need to find my passion (which I think I may already have) and follow my true passion in life vs waiting and hoping for my dreams to come true.  For this to happen I need to take risks and absolutely and totally come out of my shell!

Thank you Jamie for prompting me to put this down in writing!

Amy

Routines

With my husband being back in school, I am struggling to get a little routine in.  Since I have all 3 kids all day with 2 days of early intervention and 1 day of playgroup, plus be home in time to get ready for work, I figure a routine will be beneficial all around. 

First off, I have to admit, I am not a routine/schedule type of person.  The only reason that I have somewhat of a schedule is so that I ensure that things will get done the way they need to.  Since we have things that are scheduled every week now, I am going to try to be better at organizing my day/week/month.  I keep talking about it, and I really do start to try to get organized, but I just never seem to keep up.  I'm sure following a routine will help with that as well as many other things that have gone by the wayside.

One of the things that is going pretty horribly right now is my eating.  I am trying to do an elimination diet to confirm food allergies.  I start off doing well, but then I go off track because my less than organized day is off.  My doctor said that I don't have to eliminate foods until I meet with the dietician, unless I want to.  My goal is to start eliminating so that I am closer to being done with it than trying to start it after my meeting, especially since I don't think that she'll tell me differently than my doctor has.  I guess my best bet is to make the appointment, along with the other appointments I have to make for the kids and be done with it.  I was going to start with eliminating foods again tonight, but I have a graduation party tomorrow and I don't know what foods will be there.  I know that the food allergy is not serious enough to make it important to start immediately.  I do think that I will have less degestive issues and maybe even less congestion issues if I do eliminate the foods that the test says I am allergic to.  The thing with eliminating these foods is that I will most likely eat healthier.  I have been doing better with that, except for lately, but getting into a routine and getting back on track will be good all around.

Routines and schedules are important, but for me and my family they are not carved in stone.  I know that there are a lot of people out there that swear by their routines and never deviate from them, but I am not that type of person, nor do I want to be that type of person.  My routines and schedule will be set to make life easier, but will also be flexible enough that if something comes up, say a playdate, we will b eable to attend!

Amy

Holidays and Creativity

With the holidays fast approaching and the kids being a little older this year, I would love to decorate more.  I know Halloween is more than a month away, but we always use to go to King Richard's Faire and I have even dressed up.  I no longer fit into my old very expensive costume, but I was thinking of making a costume for everyone this year for the Faire and for Halloween.  I went to Joann's the other day and bought a couple of patterns for female gypsy costumes for me and my daughter, but I wasn't sure that my husband was into it or not.  He still hasn't really decided, but I think he'll be fine with a pirate or a male gypsy costume for him and the boys.  These costumes will also be our Halloween costumes and since the is the first year I can really trick or treat since the kids were born, I am really looking forward to it.

Thanksgiving is the next holiday and even though it is not a huge holiday to decorate for, I still may attempt something simple.  Then before we know it Christmas will be here.  My goal is to make Christmas gifts for people this year, as much as possible.  The best part is, I probably have enough supplies on hand to make something for everyone on my list and not put a dent in my supplies. 

I really want to have the kids enjoy the holidays and enjoy being as creative as we can for their ages.  I figure there are many benefits to these goals.  I get to be creative with a purpose, I get to try to involve the kids,  I get to use my supplies, I may even have to go shopping for certain things I may not have on hand (always a favorite), I get to give people something that I created, and hopefully make the holidays better for my kids and the people that I am giving gifts to!

As for gifts, I made a rosary for someone awhile ago and it just didn't pan out for giving as a gift.  I have a Baptism coming up on October for a baby that was born in August and the Rosary is made with August birthstones.  I am planning on giving the rosary to this person and maybe making another on for the other person if I need to.  The Rosary has been hanging on my mirror for at least a year and I would love to give it to somone who will appreciate it!

These are my goals for the next couple of months.  Hopefully, there will be pictures of things that we create so that I can post them on here!

Amy

Wishcasting Wednesday

Jamie Ridler at jamieridlerstudios.ca asks "What do you wish for less of?"

Before I decided on my answer, I started reading other people's post and the subject of clutter came up.  I would say that this is what I want less of.  CLUTTER!

I tend to be a compulsive buyer of craft supplies to the point where I don't have time to use them, but I always want to have the supplies on hand just in case.  When I got married 3 years ago and sold the house that my grandmother and I had lived in (she died the year before), I moved not only my stuff but some of her stuff that I couldn't bear to get rid of, to my new home with my husband and his mother.  His mother was going to live with us because she was unable to live alone.  Now we had, my stuff, my grandmother's stuff, my husband's stuff, and his mother's stuff.  Unfortunately his mom passed away 1 month and 1 day after we got married.  I had just found out I was pregnant with my first son.  We tried to get rid of things, but we just didn't get rid of enough.  Three months after the birth of my son, I got pregnant with the twins who were born 5 weeks early and got sick and ended up back in the hospital for 3 weeks.  When they came home I had 6 week old twins and a 1 year old.  So, needless to say all the stuff that I had, just piled up and I really haven't had time to use it or get rid of a lot of it.  I keep trying, but I have a hard time parting with it.  Now that my kids are 2 1/2 and 19 months old, I am hoping that they can start doing craft projects with me and I can start using some of my things.

I wish to be able to let go of things that I will never use and to stop compulsively buying items that will only end up as more clutter.  I have made some progress in buying, but that is only because I don't let myself go into stores unless there is something that I need.

Amy

Fall!

Yeah, fall is here.  Most people think I'm crazy when I say that I am happy that fall is here.  I absolutely hate the summer heat and humidity that we get here in New England, but I also hate the winters that we get.  But, I absolutely love fall.  It is my favorite time of the year.  I love the weather, I love the smell in the air, I love the foods that you tend to eat more often, I  love apple picking, I love the fall fairs, I love the clothes that get worn, and I love Halloween (which is so much more fun now that I have kids).

Speaking of Halloween, this will be the 1st year since I have had kids that I will actually get to enjoy trick or treating with them.  Michael's 1st Halloween, I was pregnant with the twins and put on bed rest 2 days prior.  Last year, we got to go to a Halloween party for the twins group, but my sister got married on Halloween so we didn't get to do trick or treating.  Halloween of 2008, I made Michael a costume of the scarecrow from the Wizard of Oz.  In the past I had made Tom a scarecrow and I was Dorothy,  My plan was to sew me a new costume as the wicked witch since I was pregnant.  That didn't happen since I was on bed rest, but Tom and Michael got dressed up and went around the neighborhood.  Last year I made the twins' costumes and they were the scarecrow and Dorothy, so we had 2 scarecrows and 1 Dorothy.  I was supposed to be Dorothy too, but I didn't fit into the costume.  It's that time of year again, to start thinking about sewing Halloween costumes.  This year, I think I want to make costumes to go to King Richard's Faire, which will double as our Halloween costumes.  Today I went to the fabric store an got patterns for me and Eva Rose.  I plan to make us gypsies.  I haven't totally decided on the boys yet.  I can't wait to make them and also to go to the twins group party and actually trick or treating with the 3 kids!

I also can't wait to go apple picking.  We took Michael apple picking when I was pregnant with the twins and then we took all 3 kids last year.  This year all 3 kids are walking so it should be interesting to try to keep control.  I love taking pictures of the kids while we are apple picking.  I love making apple pie and apple crisp and apple dumplings and pretty much anything apple.

If you can't tell by this post, I truly love fall.  Now that I have kids I love it even more!  I am not looking forward to winter, but I am only going to focus on enjoying fall!

Amy

Allergy Testing

About 1 year ago the fall, I started allergy testing.  I found out that I have fall allergies, yealy allergies, candida allergy, and spring allergies.  Since having my allergiy testing, I am doing 3 shots per week and in the fall sometimes more.  Currently, I am do for my shots this week and my eyes are telling me I better do them soon!  Recently, I had a blood test for food allergies and like usual,, I figured I wouldn't have anything show up.  Well, I got my results today and lo and behold I have food allergies too (my husband knew I would be allergic to something).  Some of it I was surprised at and some I kind of figured.  The only issue is that there are a lot of false positives with this test.  The big food items that I am allergic too are cheese, egg yolk, gluten, wheat, yeast, and milk with a few others that didn't react as bad as these.  I was not surprised with the milk and cheese, since every time I eat them, I tend to feel sick.  I wondered about wheat, gluten, and yeast, but i really didn't think that there would be an issue.  Now I need to schedule an appt with a dietician and talk about where to go next.  Personally, I think I want to just cut out these food items and see how I feel.  One web site that I looked at suggested to cut out foods that reacted with a +3 or +4 for at least 10 months and then slowly introduce them back into the diet and things that reacted with a +1 or +2  for 3 or 4 months.  I will probably make an appt with a dietician, but I am thinking that the best thing to do is to eliminate these foods and see how I feel.

Today, I did really good until I went off to work.  As usual, I stopped at the local muffin shop and got something.  I had been feeling really good until then now I feel horrible.  Most probably because I ate something that I said I wasn't going to.  I am done now with eating things that I shouldn't eat.  The only problem is that the dinner I made was with flour and dumplings.  I can't decide if I should just eat it and start after that, but part of me says start now!  I seriusly feel nasty right now and really want to feel better.

I really think that I need to keep a food journal.  This is not going to be easy with 3 little ones, but I think that is the only way to figure out if things are getting any better.  So to start off today, I had tea with lemon and stevia, salad with lettuce, red pepper, tomato,cucumber, carrot, celery, goat cheese, walnuts, and dried cherries, and then I had a gingerbread muffin and diet pepsi.  I kind of feel bloated and will keep an eye on things! 

If anyone reading has suggestions for me, please let me know.  This is going to be a tough diet change for me!  My goal is to cut out the allergenic foods and also soda.

Curly girl update-I go for my first curly gorl haircut tomorrow.  I am so excited.  It's been almost a week since I washed my haid with shampoo.  I think my hair looks fine, but we shall see how it goes!

Amy

Let's hope Hurricane Earl is mild and over quickly here in the Boston area!

Wishcasting Wednesday

Jamie Ridler asks "What do you wish to begin?"

I love blogging on Wednesdays.  These questions often make me think and sometimes really get me started on different things in my life.  This week's question makes me wonder what I really want to begin.  I want to begin really taking care of myself.  I know that there are many things I need to do in order to really care for me. 

1) I need to continue to exercise every day or every other day.

2) I need to continue to make good choices with regards to my eating habits (They've gotten better, but not where they should be quite yet!)

3) I need to ensure that I do something creative every day!  That could be a craft project, a new recipe, a new project with the kids, just something daily!

4) With my husband returning back to work for the school year I want to continue to take care of our relationship.  Having 3 kids under 2 1/2 years of age is tough on a marriage/partnership.  I want to make sure that we take time for us, so that the kdis see how much we love each other!

5) I want to continue to make good choices regarding health and beauty product and cleaning products.  I want to continue to make my own as much as possible.  I want to continue to stop using things that are harmful to my family's health (as much as possible).

6) I want to continue to attempt to make new friends and widen my circle.

Before I know it, fall will be here.  I am so happy for that.  Unlike most people who see spring as a new beginning, I see fall that way.  I love the cool crisp air that it brings.  I love being outside in that weather.  I lvoe the smell in the air.  I love the food that you get to eat when it is cool.  I get energized by the warm yet cool air that is part of the days and the cool nights.  I am not a hot weather person and the older I get I am not a cold weather person either, but fall seems to be the perfect season for me.  I say all this because I think it is the perfect time for me to begin really taking care of me.  The summer heat and the winter frigidness makes any sort of desire to do things non existent.  I am looking forward to the crisp air of fall to give me the energy and the desire to begin taking care of me!

Amy