Surviving

Recovering from Christmas

~ Kara Mills ~ 2 Comments

Christmas

I don’t know about you, but this Christmas seemed to go by in a blink of an eye this year. Weeks before Christmas, I was scrambling to get gifts together while hubs was finishing his first semester of med school (post about that to come later). This was our first year celebrating Christmas without any family around. Part of me was thinking that might make it more relaxing- no trucking all over the place – 2 hours here, 3 hours there. But, on the other hand, what could possibly be fun and memorable for the kids? I mean for us – hubs and me – it’s a little less magical than when we were younger. I remember having such fond memories of Christmas as a child. Time with family, Christmas lights, candlelight services at church, Christmas carols, and the list goes on. For our kids, they know that Christmas is about the birth of Jesus and we’ve had great traditions with our church to celebrate. We’ve just never had a steady tradition for our home celebration. When we lived in Michigan and the boys were really little, we did the driving all over the place thing. Now that we live in Minnesota, it’s not that easy.

So, as we were nearing the holidays and as I began really thinking about what we were going to do this year, I began feeling the pressure. You know, the pressure to make everything so perfect that your kids will brag about how great their Christmas was. Now, we are on a tight budget so I knew that they would not be bragging about crazy iPad/Xbox One/Wii U gifts, I had to “wow” them with an experience. I had that pressure, I’ll call it the Pinterest pressure, mounting. Continue reading →

Chaos is the New Normal

~ Kara Mills ~ Leave a comment

Every evening in our house is complete chaos. Okay, maybe not every evening, but at least most of them. I’ve tried many things to just have a normal night. You know, normal like everyone else- coming home from work, cooking dinner, doing homework and maybe relaxing. I’ve made lists. And I’ve made lists of lists, just hoping that ample organization might work. I’ve tried thinking outside of the box and letting the kids be “independent” and let them decide their evening. That crap does NOT work. So, back to the old fashioned schedule. That is about as close to normal as I can get. Although, that’s assuming that the boys are completely obedient (like all elementary aged kids of course) and that the baby is perfectly content. Thankfully, most nights it’s only one part of our evening that is crazy. Maybe homework is a struggle but by dinner and shower time we’re back on track. Or sometimes it takes FOREVER for them to get in the shower but homework and dinner were fine. And then, sometimes, at least once or twice a week (you know every day in my exaggerated world) all aspects of the evening are chaos. Take for instance, last night. I was dog tired picking the boys up. Continue reading →

…Book By It’s Cover

~ Kara Mills ~ 5 Comments

You know how the old saying goes “Never judge a book by its cover”. I’m not too surprised by how often this holds true. I can think of multiple situations where I find myself judging, thankfully usually in private, and am able to see that it might not appear to be quite what I had thought. Yes, I am judging. Don’t judge me…or do. Whatever. Either way, at the end of the day I realize the error of my inquiring questions and mark it in my brain to not do it again. At least not in that next moment.

My most recent episode of judging happened a few weeks ago. Hubs and I got a new car (yay!). You see, we had our delightful minivan, a 2006 that had graciously made it to over 203,000 miles. She was a trooper and saw us through many trips, kid pickups, work adventures, you name it, she got us there. However, she was getting old and tired you might say. I felt like a good analogy was that she was in hospice, it was only a matter of time and we had known this for a while. Continue reading →

It Was Inevitable…..

~ Kara Mills ~ 3 Comments

Well, the day finally came. I knew it would happen. I was prepared, mentally, to handle it. I even joked with friends about it often. And then it happened. It was only 10 degrees outside today so I was bundled up and headed to work. Friday is jeans day at work so I busted out my comfy jeans that are still work appropriate, after all, it’s been a long week- comfort is key! After I drop the last kiddo off at daycare, I realize my legs are feeling a little colder than usual, even a little drafty. Naturally I put my hand where I feel the draft is, and bingo! I have a hole in my pants! Now, thankfully, this is a hole that is relatively easy to conceal which is great. However, it’s the placement and why it happened that makes it the most interesting. Continue reading →