I have a secret.

This time of year can be crazy.

Yep. That's my secret. Oh, wait...you already knew that?

Well, here's another secret.

It's OK to just stop for a minute. Just stop and breathe and relax.

It's OK if the house isn't decorated perfectly. It's OK if the Christmas card photos aren't spectacular. In fact, it's OK if you don't even send out Christmas cards this year...what?!?! Gasp!!! Yes...I know. But it is. It's OK.

We (me included) tend to forget that Christmas is going to come no matter what...so we may as well be calm and happy and ready to enjoy it...every single minute of it...whether the boys have their hair cut, or the lawn lights get put out, or 20 kinds of cookies get baked, or whatever...(insert your pressure situation here). Just because it's on Pinterest and it's gorgeous and your favorite blogger has already made 274 of (whatever) doesn't mean you have to...it's OK.

This year I am vowing to slow down. Just. slow. down.

And breathe.

And enjoy.

And so far, it's working. I'm happy. I'm not stressed. I'm enjoying the season.

Two weeks until Christmas and all is well.

How are you doing?

Last week I took a step for my blog that I had been hesitant to make for a looooong time...I bought my own domain name.

Had you noticed?

I'm now Midwestern Girl!

And my new address is www.midwesterngirldiy.com



Cool, huh?

I had been tossing the idea around for a while, but never went through with it, UNTIL I learned that you can buy your own domain name through Google for just $10/year! If you are currently on Blogger, then nothing changes...absolutely nothing...you just have your own .com (or .net, .tv, .org, whatever). Your old .blogspot.com address automatically redirects all of your traffic, so there are no interruptions at all.

Here's how to: just go into your dashboard, click on "Settings" and you will see a link under the "Publishing" section that looks like this:


Just click on "+Add a custom domain," check the availability of the domain you would like, and follow the directions. It is so simple.

For complete directions, click here...

Not only do you get a new domain name, you can get up to 3 email addresses with your "new" site. My new email address is maggie@midwesterngirldiy.com

Your new domain also renews automatically every year so you never have to worry about losing your name.

I'm pretty excited about my new name...and my new address...so far it's the best $10 I've spent in a while.

...we were blessed with this lovely little girl...


Happy Birthday, sweet Kate...we love you.

...sugar.

Yep. I'm gonna try to not eat sugar this week.

Does that sound hard to you? Well, it does to me. See...if you know me IRL (in real life), then you know how much I love to eat. And by love I mean LOOOOOOOVE...like no off-switch love to eat.

When I was younger, it was no big deal. I think I weighed 140 pounds from the day I started high school until the day I got married. Then I had 3 kids in 4 years and I just kept packing on the pounds...all the while telling myself it was no big deal, that the weight would come off when I stopped nursing, when I was getting a full night sleep, whatever...

But guess what? It didn't. I was still eating whatever I wanted, whenever I wanted...and it caught up to me and kicked me in the butt. Hard.

Last year I had decided I'd had enough and I took some pretty drastic measures to lose weight. I virtually stopped eating and tried to stay active ALL THE TIME. And guess what? It worked. I dropped almost 50 pounds in 3 months (yes, I know that is dangerous and not the best way to lose weight...I know, I know...), and I was back down to my 140 lbs. I felt awesome. Sooooo awesome. In fact, I felt so awesome, I decided I would start eating again, because I could always go back to not eating and I could lose the weight again. Uhn-uhn. Didn't happen. In fact, now I'm gaining weight like crazy and I've got to take control again. The right way.

Soooooo, I'm starting. Now.

This week I'm knocking out sugar. I have a huge sweet tooth, so this is going to be hard. Especially since Valentine's Day is tomorrow. Good thing the kids' schools don't allow treats anymore...
I've done it before, I know I can do it again. And if I can do it for a week, I know I can do it for longer.

I'm hoping to drop something new every few weeks and to add more and more activity as time goes by. This time I hope to lose the weight slowly...and to keep eating a lot...just eating the right things...

Wish me luck...

Have you ever just felt...crazy? Like completely scattered and messy?
That's how I feel right now.

I've been working on getting my house organized and "clean-swept" for the new year, but, in the process, I've really made a messy house. Rarely do I have the time to start a project and finish it in the same sitting...so I've perfected the 10-minute cleaning ritual. OK, "perfected" may be a little incredibly generous...but, because I have only about 10 minutes at a time, I have a number of different organization projects going on at once.

Here's how it went yesterday morning...

I woke up, got Ty breakfast & tore out all of the things on one shelf in my closet. Then I made the beds and got Gray breakfast. Kate got up and Ty had his second breakfast. I organized the shelf I'd just torn apart and started a load of laundry. While I was in the laundry room, I pulled down some board games and started going through them to make sure they were all intact. Then Kate and Gray ate and I made the kids' lunches. The driveway needed a'shovelin', so I did that...then I came in to get Ty his third breakfast (yes, I know...he eats 3 breakfasts and then hardly anything for the rest of the day...except yogurt...he has about 4 yogurts for dinner...I don't even try anymore...). When I was done with that, I put the laundry in the dryer and grabbed a bin full of Kate's crafting stuff from the basement to go through. Then I put the clothes in the dryer, called my mom and got the kids on the bus. Then I cleaned up the kitchen (sorta) and got Ty's shoes on...drove him to school and headed to the grocery store...

Now, I know this probably sounds exactly like most moms' mornings...in fact, this day was really pretty tame compared to some. But, in just those 2 hours I managed to start 4 organizing tasks and to finish exactly none of them. A few days of that and my house looks like little mini tornadoes hit every. single. room.


Not to mention I'm changing my blog look...again...I know, I know. I just have this picture in my mind of how I want it to look and I haven't been able to translate that into reality. Yet. It'll happen...but, in the meantime, please forgive the craziness.

So that's where we are now. I'm making progress...but slowly. And that's OK. It's a lot easier to just shove things into the closet and shut the door...but the mess is still there. At least now that it's out in the open I'm forced to deal with it. And it feels good. I keep thinking about my "one word" - ACCOMPLISH...and I'm making strides to do just that...amidst the craziness, scatter & mess...

How are you coming with your goals so far this year?