Change can be good

As Erica and I were at my sister's house this weekend I was telling them about a few new things I have gotten which I feel have literally changed my life. The first is my new washer which I've told you all about before. That was when I first got it though and I was just excited about the idea of it. Now I have been using it for a few weeks and it has literally changed my life. Since I've had kids laundry has always been a problem for me. There was always tons of it. Something would get put in the bottom of the hamper and it wouldn't be seen again for weeks! Now, with the help of my new big washer I find myself looking at the bottom of an empty hamper quite often. It's amazing how something so simple has made such a huge difference in the quality of my life. And maybe it sounds weird to hear someone say that anything having to do with laundry has changed their overall quality of life, but that was a major thing I had weighing me down, and now it's not.

As I was telling them about this new discovery of mine I thought of a few more things that have recently changed my life for the better. What I am writing this blog on is another. We just got our wireless internet connection set up with our laptop. I am sitting in the living room in front of the TV writing this blog right now!! It's awesome! Otherwise I wouldn't be able to go in the computer room while Ellie is out here playing and watching TV without her following me in there and messing with all our stuff which would lead to me getting frustrated and annoyed and the kids getting into trouble- it's a snowball effect. This gadget is great. I am looking forward to being able to check my email and blog and shop, etc. with much more ease. Also, I'm excited for Logan to be able to use it. Right now I never want him to go on the computer for a variety of reasons. He usually needs a lot of assistance when he's on the computer and the way our house is set up it isn't convenient to have him in there and me out in the house because he's always calling me back there to help him like every 30 seconds and I never want him to mess up anything on our computer, desk, etc. So it will be great for him to get more computer time to play his games and just learn how to be computer savvy which is a really important skill for kids in today's world. Also, he's getting older and I'm sure surfing the net and email is right around the corner for him. I'll be very happy to be able to be right there when he's exploring this new world. (yes, he does have a black eye. He was wrestling on the bed with Stuart and got an elbow to the eye! Ouch!!)

This is the first time I am using this new toy of mine and I'm sure the full impact isn't fully known to me, but I'm giddy with excitement at the prospect.

Another thing that has recently had a great effect on my life might sound silly, but my new haircut has made a big difference. I have been fixing it everyday and it has made an enormous impact to my sense of self. I feel like I look better and it makes me feel better. That may sound silly and vein to some, but it's been easy and I wish I'd done it sooner. I think it's really a nice thing to do for yourself and that we mom's who are always doing for everyone else need to treat ourselves now and then to things that make us feel good. We can take better care of everyone else when we take a little time to do things for ourselves now and then.

My friends and I have also been getting together on a much more regular basis and that has been a great release for me too. It's really essential for stay-at-home mom's to have some contact with other mom's without the kids around sometimes. You get to talk and laugh and feel like your crazy life is normal and you're not some crazy loon. It's great to feel the support of your friends who are going through the same things as you, to share stories and advice, to eat, drink and laugh, and most importantly to make fun of our crazy husbands! I truly cherish these times a few days a month and don't know what I would do without some great friends!

I just had to add a couple more pictures from last week. I just thought Logan looked so handsome in this one. I kept looking at it on my camera while I was in Dallas and it made me happy!

This one is what happens when the weather sucks for a whole week and you have kids to entertain. We set up the tent in the playroom just to give the kids something fun to do on Monday while we were home most of the day. (Also we saw Alvin and the Chipmunks that afternoon and the kids loved it. Ellie sat still pretty much through the whole thing again! Yippie!)

The last one is a sign Logan wrote and taped to the tent. It says "Privite only one grl" I just thought it was too cute. Especially since there was only 1 girl there (Ellie). Unless he meant me? Gotta love em!