We’re still recovering from our fun week in Boulder, Co. One morning we even let our daughter sleep in after going to bed at 5:30 the previous evening. Girlfriend slept for 14 hours straight and woke up smiling for the first time in days.

I shared an easy and frugal Advent Calendar on a friends blog. She is kind of awesome and will save you money.

I’m sure I’ve already told you about this – but on CurvyGirlGuide I shared my Breast Reduction story.

Work from home but need to expand? I wrote some tips for when to move locations, offices or for growth on Turnstone.

I also share a few inside tips on what it means to work from a coffee shop. Respect the earbuds.

Ever have those moments when you’re trying to explain the simplest of tasks to someone and you’d rather just be able to show them? How about how to make a PDF? You’re welcome. I also cover how to attach that file (or any file) in an email. If you send emails and need to send documents … you must know this.

Lastly – yay! I was featured on Chickabug with my Mini Pinata’s. So fun.

BREAK! I’ll see you back here tomorrow.

How do you get started? What are your tips for time management? The emails I’m not getting from friends because they think I’m too busy for them.

So. My lovelies.

Weekends are my overtime. I have a helper who loves to hang out with his kids. He’s amazing support in the fact that I can disappear for half a day and not come home to a messy house, crabby kids or worked up husband. He literally steps in when I’m away or working.

I make time for my friends – meeting for coffee or play dates. I recently had to decide if I want to be the kind of friend who always says yes and then never shows up. I have friends, who time and again, show me how important I am in their lives just by making time for me – when I know they have a million things to do.

That feels amazing. I want to be that friend.

I also want to be that mother. So yes, I have a lot on my plate – but my kids schedule, needs and wants come before any of this. If I can’t be somewhere I need to be – I always have backup in a sitter or family member who is willing to help out once in a while. I make it a point not to abuse that not because I want to wear out a welcome – but my kids will catch on pretty soon if I’d rather be working than investing in their lives.

Which I do not wish.

As for tools to help me stay on task: I need to write stuff down. My lists are every where and that usually means there’s a paper trail. This is where Evernote comes in – it’s not always easier because writing it down helps me remember better – but it’s organized much better and I’m getting the hang of depending on it.

Google Calendar is amazing because it syncs my calendar to Aaron’s work schedule (which is imperative to having any kind of life outside of work.) we also sync each of our kids’ calendars all in one – so I know when our daughter has piano and not to schedule a doctor’s appointment for my son on that day/time.

We all have a COLOR and then our “Home” calendar is for family events. Extended family visits, Thanksgiving dinners, birthday parties, vacations etc.

Aaron is BLUE
Jodi is PINK
Home is GREEN
Jessica is PURPLE
Oliver is ORANGE

I look at a rainbow every day.

Not all, but a good portion of what I do here on jodimichelle.com are family invested things. The photos and how-tos. So much of what I put here is something I’m doing anyway – so it’s not the extra time to create it – it’s literally the effort to share it.

My daughter LOVES to help with the food and video taping things. Pretty soon we’ll see more of this because of her. You can thank her personally – she digs that.

I still am not awake before my kids every day but I always start my day with them – getting them breakfast or making it hot then hopping in the shower and doing my morning routine.

I make lunches, do hair – make sure everyone matches – double check home work and kids’ school schedules. Who needs to wear what shoes today for gym? It’s RED day! Go up and change! And put on socks. (Seriously with the socks!)

If I have AM carpool some time’s Aaron will bring the kids on his way to work and I stay home with our son – either getting him ready for his school day or just beginning our day together at home.

Once our daughter is off for the day I make sure I know what I have to get done before she gets home. Usually laundry, dinner, snacks/baking and some cleaning. I try not to clean their rooms but some times I just have to.

Then we run errands – stores, accountants, book keepers, post office, coffee (always the coffee), groceries, thrifts etc. Some days we don’t go any where. Most days we’re out for a bit in the morning.

If my son has school too – then I drop him off and either go work at a coffee shop (working on articles or photos), have a meeting or come home to work/clean.

After preschool is always lunch (on non-preschool days we’re home by about then too) and then nap.

Oh how I love the nap.

During nap time is when I get the most “work” done on writing or photos, conference calls, emails, contacts etc. I run most of my “upkeep” through nap time. Scheduling a post, emailing an article, corresponding with a company or contact/brand for Gleek etc etc etc.

Some days? I stare at the wall.

After naps if I have PM car pool we go get some kids – otherwise after my daughter is dropped off we all get in the car and head for the gym.

I spend at least an hour at the gym every day running. This is what we’ll call “sanity”.

I make it home in time to make dinner, greet Aaron at the door, sit down and eat and then we have a marathon of parenting until bedtime.

Homework, picking up, baths or showers, making sure we know what’s happening tomorrow, signing permission slips or reading the book that’s sent home with our daughter from school on what’s going on in her classroom. Then there’s bed time – brushing teeth and tag-teaming corralling the tired little people into bed before they get the giggles and then we’re gonners.

Read stories, ALWAYS get a drink. Even if they already had one. Use the bathroom AGAIN. Door open, lights on … zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.

I continue to check my email and will sometimes write after the kids go to bed, too. Drink a glass of red wine, sit down and talk about our days. We’ll watch some TV or read next to each other ………. zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.

This is obviously a rough outline of my day. My life is not a marathon of things to get done. I enjoy my life. I love to write. It’s like breathing for me – so it’s not a task I’m ever without.

We do a lot of “non working” fun stuff during the day too. Building train tracks or chasing one down in town. We have dance parties and mini photo shoots. I dream ideas so we often try something out to see if it would work or I share them on twitter or with friends so someone else can chase them down.

I volunteer in my daughters school whenever I can and help in my son’s once a month. I also have time during the week when I allow myself to be out and not working on something. I have a sitter and want to go to the library – then I will. Or get coffee and read – that’s fine too.

I’m not always working when I’m not with my kids and I LOVE seeing my friends and having the flexibility to walk away from my computer to have a life.

One of my favorite things to do, though? Is to get together with a bunch of other bloggers and have a life with them. It’s like we’re all weird off-brand Trekkies. I love them so much.

I’m guessing I made this more confusing for you – so just keep asking. I have a mind that literally does not stop talking to me. It’s all about embracing that.

So ok. I let it go.

Now we drive past this house every week, a couple times a week and I see it sit there alone. Sign still in the yard, papers posted to the front door. I see the arbor in the back and the garage that was going to be my haven. Beyond the things I was attached to I see a hollow place that wasn’t meant to hold my family. I see how it wouldn’t have been the place we landed longer than any of our other houses. It wasn’t a forever house … not that any of them are for us.

But I see it now – how even though we thought we wanted it so badly (and we did) how a year later we would have been restless for change again.

Now bigger things on our radar … so no looking back. For too long. Here’s the second house we almost bought: wah wah wah.

You’ll have to look past the “clothes” this house is wearing. All finishings were going to be replaced. Carpet – gone. Wall color? Painted. Floors? Re-done. It has “character” and charm and the room sizes were workable. It also had major plumbing issues and electrical problems because of the plumbing. Yay!

Oh the kitchen. I would have loved this kitchen … and gutted it like a butcher on a deadline for delivering a cow as steaks.


This blue/aqua bathroom was right off the kitchen and other than ripping out carpet and painting I had big plans for this little space. Sigh.

And upstairs:

Upstairs had the Full bath and 3 bedrooms – one of which we were going to turn into a playroom.

The “bedrooms” were very small – but we had big ideas.


Playroom:

It had all these built ins and lovely nooks and crannies.

The full bath?

Had possibilities. Look beyond the pink tile. Which was similar to our last (owned) house – and it’s BLUE bathroom. Oh Fifties, you were so confused.

This was my “Hello” …

And it had me.

And now it doesn’t.

Here is the listing on Zillow if you’re interested. They lowered the price right after our deal fell apart … apparently the plumbing/electrical is fixed … and I hope that whoever finds it makes it the home they’ve always wanted.

Who knows where we’ll land next or when we’ll buy another house. We’re not looking but I’m excited for the day I get to …

Over at MyTurnstone I talk about Adding the Funk in Functional:

I personally would stock it with Atomic Fire Balls, screw two small holes in the funnel and insert a chop stick as a trap door. Someone wants a candy? Pull the chopstick and win the lottery of FIRE BALLS. I love it.

It’s how I see things.

You can also join me over at Curvy Girl Guide today where I share my recipe for Maple Glazed Cinnamon Biscuits as an easy, go-to recipe for school mornings. (Which also means, any morning.)

Aside from that I’m stocking my fridge for school lunches, easy mornings and carpool melt downs. One of the best tips I can hand out for school lunches is this:

Freeze your grapes – they’ll act as the cooler for the rest of the lunch and by the time your child is ready to devour it – they’ll be thawed to perfection and the rest of her lunchbox will still be fresh.

What are your plans for Labor Day weekend? We’re MOVING! (Our storage unit … finally) And I think we’re going to venture into the world of camping in a tent with our kids. This has not happened since our daughter (now 6 1/2) was 6 months old. You can start praying for us right now.

(See my Disclosure here)

I’ve told my kids so many times “I learned that in Mom school!” “Dad learned that in parenting school!” just the same as I was told growing up and couldn’t WAIT to get to this mythical school. It was my plan to be mom – what is college all about any way?

I have no idea, because my outline is half scribbled on by the best artists in town (my kids) so my thoughts on this ebook are generally in my head; however I’m pretty sure the first chapter might read something like this.

Enjoy …

There are some things you won’t be told when you announce you’re pregnant. This is a smart decision on everyone’s part. There are the books that “tell the truth!” about pregnancy and parenting infants and toddlers and then there are the medical books that warn you of everything you would have slept better without knowing. It’s my belief that the Medical Field wants you all to be scared shitless and have them on speed dial. Your Insurance Company cringes at your upcoming birth and yet – they’re delighted to sucker you in to needless office visits, weight checks AND OH EM GEE the fear of bathing your child or pooping. (You’re the one who needs to poop, by the way.)

That’s all fine and dandy. I encourage most of this because naiveté is usually your best-friend as a new parent. You just need to get through the day – wearing gloves if needed. Hold that baby, feed him/her and enjoy the quiet. Because age 3 is on the horizon … and this is the chapter the Tell-All’s leave out.

How to react to your child when they say things like “I put something in my butt!” “My nose hurts because I shoved a stick up it to see what it would do.” “Mom, is it ok to eat the soft brown things on the side walk? It looked like candy!”

Oh hello! You’ve walked into my life.

We’re past the infant carriers, high chairs and baby dvd’s (thank you, Jesus) but we’re in new territory without even one map.

Enter: The Myth of Parenting School; so your child just turned three?

dot dot dot.

We just talked through how I store my digital photos and now that we have them all neatly organized – how do we share them?

You should be using Flickr if:

You have a blog that has a photo on it. When you upload a photo into your {wordpress/blogger/etc} gallery to use in a post that photo needs to load before your site is visible to your audience. If you have a million photos on your main page (say you allow 5 of your current posts to just scroll on your landing page and each post has at least one photo – all of them you just uploaded to your gallery to use within your content management system for blogging – EACH photo slows down the load time.) Also? If you lose your site files or your content package when you upgrade or change themes?? You lose your photos, too. Have fun with that one.

Having your photos (as a blogger) load from Flickr in a post (I’ll show you how) lessens load time because your server is reading a “place” not a “file” and will load the content quicker because of it.

You take more photos than the average person. This is when you need to have a pro account. It’s all of $25 a year – well worth it. You can download original size files (which is why I do not store my edits, I delete them all once they’re on Flickr) – Flickr is essentially my secondary storage of my photos. But it works (literally, like an intern) for me – so it pays for itself in the first 30 minutes.

Go ahead, I’ll wait while you sign up.

There’s a free account too – so you can ease in to it – but only 200 photos will be displayed/usable in a free account. Currently I’m storing just shy of 17,000 photos on Flickr … so uh, 200 is a drop in the bucket. (BUY A PRO ACCOUNT.) Ehum, sorry – did you hear something?

There are a number of ways to upload your photos to Flickr once you have your account. (Because you have one now, right?)

When you’re in the HOME tab you can Choose to UPLOAD YOUR PHOTOS

From here it’s pretty easy to walk through the process.

Now you’re photos are uploaded to your account. You could stop here and not lose a thing. BUT … you can organize, tag and group your photos together for easy navigation (and SEO, for those who want it) in this next screen … so I think we’ll go through that.

A set is like an album. Organize your photos into groups that make sense. For this tutorial all my photos are in a set called “Storing Digital Photos” – and it’ll include ALL the photos from this series of tutorials on digital file photo storage and what to do with them after.

I make sets differently than I do with my original files (that I store according to YEAR_MONTH_DAY and every day has it’s own folder. In Flickr I use descriptions for my albums and groups or sets. You can have “parent sets” that hold like-minded smaller sets (so for instance, KIDS and then all the sets “Jessica’s birthday!” “Oliver does the critter barn!” can live underneath the hierarchy of KIDS. It’s like a word tree – with words that are really photos.

I do this because I only ever put my edited images on Flickr. I do not save copies of edits anywhere else. Once I process a batch of photos, burn them to a disc for a client (if needed) or upload them to flickr – I wait about a week before I delete them entirely. I have all the originals and all my edits either live on Flickr or a disc or both. Redundancy is only good twice, then it’s just too much.

Photos are a large part of what I do, so having this system down pat is important for me. It streamlines my time and effort when I need to sit down and batch edit 900 photos at a time. I’m not wasting time, emotionally or otherwise, worrying about my photos because I have a system that I trust and has worked for me for 6 years.

You only have to add your TAGS once in the batch edit after you upload (in the field above) and it’ll automatically add those same tags to every photo in the batch. Nifty!

When you’re through with all that (seriously less than 5 steps!) you click SAVE and you’re ready to roll.

Next we’ll tackle the Flickr Uploadr (makes this whole process easier) and then How do you put your photos in a blog post?

Questions so far?? Comments? Let me hear em!

I’ve been getting some emails about our journey to debt freedom and our living situation.

Click on photo for larger view.

This timeline is the actual progression of things over the last 15 months (I say 15 months because the sale of our home was a few month progression to offer/agreement/closing).

Looking back would I do it all over again?

Yes

However I would do a few things differently. Perhaps instead of finding an interim apartment (originally for 4 months while the house we were building was completed) I’d find something I was comfortable being in long-term. If there’s one thing we’ve proven the past year it’s that Anything Can Happen.

I’d probably save myself a lot of heartache and just not try to buy another house, no matter how ON SALE it is, for a good year. Anything Can Happen, Yes – but we don’t always have to be rushing to the next hitching post.

We could have paid off our car instead of trying to buy the first house that didn’t work out. We stalled and waited and then tried to buy ANOTHER house.

We were knocking out our debt but we could have been here 4 months faster if we just stopped and followed through. Ever since we got married it feels like we’ve been on a fast track to better. Better what? I couldn’t even tell you. I had this image of what life was supposed to be like, unfortunately it mirrored the image of where my parents were at age 50 – successful in their careers, no mortgages or payments … who could easily go on vacation or spend thousands on a purchase with a check … because they worked hard, saved and built their financial security with diligence. Not frivolous risks.

We were poor when I was younger but I never knew it. We didn’t live poorly even though we couldn’t afford things. And really, I didn’t know any different.

I love getting emails from readers who say I’ve inspired them to work hard at their own debt-free plans or just to change one small thing about money in their lives. I love having these conversations: I love money. But not in an idyllic sort of way. I’m enamored with the math of it.

I’m a geek. And it’s just money, after all.

We’re still on a path to building a future and we’re doing well. I’ve had to confront my expectations on this issue so often. Life isn’t a rear view mirror.

We’ve come so far in such a short amount of time (read about it here) that I have this idea that we’ll get to the end EVEN FASTER!

When really – I don’t ever want to get to the end. How boring does that sound? I want to get to a place where I feel like there isn’t an end coming. You know? And that’s not financially. Just in general. I’d like to find a place to be present in my today and willing to cope with my tomorrows.

So! I’m a geeky numbers gal who loves a budget and a savings plan. Compounding interest is by far the most fun thing to play with. Ever.

Seriously – if all you do (and you’re close to 30, + or -) is set aside $200 a month in an account that on average (over a 10 year period) yields 12% (which is not astronomical or a myth) you’ll have over 7 million dollars by retirement age.

The math geek in me jumps around at that equation. COME ON! It’s stupid not to think like that. $200 a month? For most people that’s less than only one of their car payments. Not even a months worth of groceries. Day care? $200 a month isn’t hard to find when you look for it.

Ok, one more thing and then we can move on. And we are moving on!! I have stuff to show you!

I’m not a couponer and have a decent grocery budget – we eat out often, pay for a babysitter weekly (or more) and enjoy dating each other. Our entertainment budget is large. I have no qualms about it. But I make up for it in other areas:

Literally, I don’t shop. I do not go shopping. Groceries it is for me! The occasional pair of shoes for the kids or thrifting for a need (shorts, jeans) but for myself – for the house? I have patience. I don’t impulse buy, and I used to all the time.

I browse the aisle of the side of the road, behind industrial shipping agencies and yes, have dumpster dived behind popular retailers. Craigslist is my favorite “box store” because what can’t you get there?

When I do buy new I price shop first but don’t feel bad when I find out I haven’t gotten the best deal on the item. Gas costs money too. I DIY everything I can and I allow myself to make mistakes and try again. It’s still less costly than quickly filling a “need” which usually ends up to be a “want”.

Your turn:
If you were going to change one thing about your life – financial or not – what would it be?

Over at My Turnstone this week I give my best tips and tricks for how to get out of a working rut. What are your’s??

You can also see my at CurvyGirlGuide.com this week where I share my recipe for How to: Make Walking Tacos and self expose with an article on My Favorite Relationship: Food.

Join the conversation! To keep up with all things I love join me on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Google + or LinkedIn.

I had this bizarre dream yesterday Wednesday while napping with my kids. It could be chalked up to the fact that I haven’t napped mid day in over a year or that I’m emotionally raw and receptive to all kinds of 4th dimension thinking when my eyes are closed. Or that I was so exhausted I just made up some really fantastically awkward situations for myself in a dream.

As promised by Aaron today:

We’ll get to the news one of these days – and this dream has to do with the current status of this situation called Our Address. Or rather, Our Hunt For An Address. Or rather, How We’re Trying Not To Be Homeless In Nine Days.

I interrupt this broadcast to yell: Grandma? Please look away.

FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCCCCCCCCCCCCCKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKK!

So the dream, then.

We’ve been looking at homes to rent these past few days because our lease at our current rental is expiring the end of this month and is already re-rented to a new tenant.

In the mean time – early last month we put an offer on another home. And told NO ONE about it. For a good 6 weeks. Can we keep our mouths shut about being pregnant? Not for a second – but buying a house after the first try earlier this year didn’t work out in epic proportions – we were damn well going to cross every single T and dot ALL the I’s before admitting to trying this again.

Like Mortgage Infertility.

We weren’t having any luck looking for a rental that would be a month to month situation while we figured out the closing date and what not of the home. Our realtor has a rental he showed us and we are forever thankful to him for all the work he’s done for us this year … without getting paid because we have yet to close on a house. Seriously. Ugh. However – there is a real possibility this rental (where ever we end up) could be another permanent-for-the-time-being situation if we didn’t get things ironed out with the house. And the rental he showed us wasn’t something we could see ourselves living in long(short) term.

When the skies opened and we found a house to rent in town. An entire house. It has a dishwasher. It’s almost double what we’re paying in rent now (ugh!) but it’s a whole house and did I mention the dishwasher? And hopefully, it’s temporary. I want my own house. Let’s just be clear there. Renting needs an expiration date in my life.

So, hi?! There’s a dream in here somewhere.

We had yet to see the house, in fact had just heard about it and finally I stopped vomiting and crying constantly about WHAT THE HELL ARE WE GOING TO DO NOW when I laid down with my kids and fell dead to the dream that folded out like this:

In my dream we hadn’t signed a lease yet but were given keys to move things in – only instead of moving things in we became squatters in the house. There was orange carpet and the owners were on vacation so we were just there. For some reason, Aaron was naked. (I said it was awkward) and we were all sleeping when the owners came home to check on things … only to find us just literally hanging out in their house.

Enter the most difficult dream-conversation I’ve ever had to direct with my eyes closed.

Good news is: we did meet the owners and saw the house (no orange carpet) and are signing a lease (month to month for now) tomorrow morning. We’re also moving tomorrow.

However: About our Mortgage Infertility …

So guess what? We were promised by the bank that we were all set – things were a GO! We had a tentative closing date, then a home inspection. And here’s where we take a left turn. Or would this be considered the round-about? Are we lost? We’ve been down this road before.

Still haven’t told any one. Refuse to write about it online or make any proclamations. Why? Why not just tell our families and get the support of our closest friends? Because I want this so bad. Because I want my own kitchen and bedroom and I want a garden and safe place for my children to play.

There were some major issues with the house after the inspection – and the bank (the home was a forclosure) was willing to fix the biggest of the problems but would not give us a time line and of course, we’re counting down the days til we have to be out of the apartment we’re already in.

Last week Aaron took a couple days off work because we were looking at homelessness as a serious option for a good month. Our families are mostly around here but no one has enough room for a family of 4 to live with them for an extended period of time. And house-hopping is just no longer and option for us.

Somewhere in there we told our families who then would not stop asking us questions about the house or what color paint am I thinking for the kitchen …. SERIOUSLY? THAT IS NOT OK. Stop. It.

Painful is what this is – to constantly be reminded that something we want so badly is not available to us.

We had started to tell some friends about this as well – we announced We’re Buying a House! a few weeks ago only to have things fall apart from there.

I’m embarrassed and ashamed. Not because we didn’t keep this quiet longer or because people are going to find out, again, that this isn’t working for us – but for believing so blindly that when we were ready – a house would be too.

Which I suppose begs the question: Are we really ready, then?

This post could also be titled “How we went from taking a loss on our home, to building – and selling that home all the while renting to trying to buy a bungalow – to not buying a bungalow to still renting to wanting to buy a home while renting – to our lease is expiring and we’re going to be homeless … To: We’re still renting. Somewhere new.”

I guess I just needed to write this? Sorry it’s forever wordy. I’m a fragile flower lately – and tonight I’m going on a fabulous date with the love of my life and some of our best friends. Tonight? I have an address … and it turns out, tomorrow I will too.

Also? Truth: The last few posts I’ve tried to make in my status bar on Facebook but each time was told I had too many characters. SO FINE, Facebook. We’ll thank you for forcing me to update my website this week.