The Mabelhood

Where is Your Time Going?

January 12th, 2012
Written by: Tanna Clark

I had a friend share her TV watching line up with me recently and she had quite a routine with can’t miss shows. In the same conversation we talked about how overwhelmed she is with her job responsibilities. She can’t seem to get it all done.

The problem: She is doing work while watching TV. She is a stay at home/work at home mom. When the kids go to bed she needs to work but at the same time she doesn’t want to miss her shows.

The solution: Prioritize and track your time. We want our “me” time but more and more moms have work responsibilities at home now. We have to find that even mix. I told my friend to first track her time for the week in 15 minute increments. EVERYTHING she does for one week, honestly! We often don’t see how much time we are focusing on TV/internet/whatever and letting other things slip through the cracks.

My friend realized that if she chose two nights to dedicate to uninterrupted work she was more focused and got more done than if she had scattered it out every night while watching TV.

So I dare everyone to track your time for a week and see what is slowly eating away at your days and causing frustration. Prioritize what MUST be done while keeping some adequate me time!

Comments: 0

Picture It Organized

January 6th, 2012
Written by: Tanna Clark

Wanting to get organized this year once and for all? Don’t we all? I’m not big on setting resolutions; they tend to fade after a few weeks. We have the best intentions but really if you are going to do something you can just as easily do it now or in July. No matter when you get started the point is that you start!

Have you ever taken a step back and gotten a bird’s eye view of your home? This will certainly give you the motivation needed to get the ball rolling on an organizing project. Stop what you are doing and go take a picture of a random room in your home. What do you see??

Often we get so busy in our day-to-day lives that we don’t allow ourselves to see the big picture. We can easily let the clutter fade to the background as we go about our day. Once we get to the point of overwhelm we finally take notice.

If you are getting organized this year start by taking a picture of each space and taking note of those problem spots that stick out. The picture allows you to disassociate yourself from the space and for a moment you can pretend it is someone else’s clutter!

Are you taking on a big organizing project in 2012? Where will you start?

Comments: 0

Outing Santa

December 18th, 2011
Written by: Julie Cole

Good big brothers don't expose the Santa lie to little brothers.

I spoke last year about the difficulty of outing Santa to my son. He was at an age that most kids no longer believed, so he needed to know – I didn’t want his ‘believing’ to potentially embarrass him among his peers.
I took the opportunity to spill the beans about Santa to him last June. The timing was good since absolutely no one was talking about Mr. Claus. My son was shocked, but generally it went over well. I positioned it in a way that he felt a part of the inner circle of maturity – he now had the responsibility not to ruin it for his younger siblings. He was on the same team as us parents, and it seemed to have some legs.

Not long after that, my 10-year-old daughter came downstairs one morning in tears. Apparently that slacker of a Tooth Fairy had forgotten to visit for the third night in a row. I guided her into the mud room, shut the door and said: “OK listen, I’m the Tooth Fairy and I suck at it, so (reaching into my pocket) here’s five bucks. You’re getting a couple of bucks extra as hush money”. She started laughing hysterically and asked who else was in on it. I said her big brother knew so she sought him out for a quiet meeting for those “in the know”. Big brother assumed she knew about all of the parental lies so blew the Santa secret. No great surprise for her – she admitted to having some suspicions on the Santa front.

Now that the holiday season is upon us, my son said to me last week “Mom, I’m really mad at you for telling me about Santa, but thanking you since no other kids my age believe in him. But, it’s still OK for me to believe in the Christmas spirit, right?” Yes son, permission granted.

And so, I have four believers in the big guy left and suspect by this time next year I’ll be down to three. The good news is, the two biggies are a great help. I can take them shopping and not worry about buying presents for the other kids. Also, they are in charge of relocating that ridiculous Elf on a Shelf every day. If you think I’m a bad Tooth Fairy, that’s nothing compared to when I had Elf-moving duties. Let’s just say we had the laziest Elf in town – and that’s exactly what I’d tell the kids.

Do you have a houseful of believers?

Comments: 10

Setting Goals For the New Year

December 9th, 2011
Written by: Tanna Clark

Today I sat it on a wonderful meeting where we discussed goal-setting strategies for the upcoming year. It may be hard to think about the next year when we are right in the middle of the holiday hustle and bustle, but now is a great time to start thinking about what you want the next year to look like.

Take a piece of paper out and write down one business and personal goal you want to reach in the next year. Over the next few weeks start making a list of all the little tasks that need to be done to fulfill that goal. When the new year rolls around start implementing a few of those tasks each week until you reach your goal.

Plan out your week ahead of time to see how these new tasks can fit in. Be aware of this procrastination pitfall: As your list starts getting marked off you may see there are a few tasks you keep skipping over because you just flat out don’t like to do that activity or it is not a strength of yours. Instead of avoiding it all together, ask yourself if the task is necessary to get the job done, if so can it be delegated? As mom’s we tend to see ourselves as a “one woman show” when in reality we have a multitude of friends that would be willing to share a specific skill set. Don’t be afraid to ask for help.

Break your goals into manageable bite sized tasks while keeping the big picture in mind! If you are connecting the dots, which dot is next in order to get the picture to look right?

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Talking Penn State With the Kiddos

December 4th, 2011
Written by: Julie Cole

It's a sad day when you sit your kids down to warn them about being too trusting of coaches and mentors.

Last weekend, the whole family was in the truck and Daddy-o needed to dash into a shop. The rest of us waited in the vehicle, talking about capital cities. By the time he returned, we were in a big conversation about Penn State. He shot me the “How the heck did that happen?” look. As it turned out, the conversation went in a direction that provided an opportunity for this discussion. Besides, I had the undivided attention of all of them and had to take advantage of that.

I tried to explain the situation in simple terms – it was discovered that a trusted and loved coach was touching children in their private areas over many, many years. The point of the discussion was three fold; it was a chance to:

- remind them that people we love and trust can hurt us;
- once again say if an adult ever tells them to keep a secret from me, unless it has to do with a gift, it’s a red flag. Adults don’t ask children to keep secrets from their parents;
- re-state that no one is ever allowed to touch them or make them touch. If there is touching of any kind that makes them uncomfortable, they are encouraged to speak up and self-advocate, knowing that they will be supported by their family.

Then came the question period, and boy, did they ever do a good job of it. Three questions were particularly difficult and I was completely unprepared for them. I fielded them with honesty and think it went as well as it could.

Question #1:
Why would a grown-up WANT to touch a child like that?
(Insert my sad explanation about creepy pedophiles and the things they will do to “groom” a child).

Question #2:
What if the kid didn’t tell the coach to stop? What if the coach didn’t know the kid didn’t want to be touched?
(Insert my explanation that adults KNOW it’s wrong. Even when kids don’t speak up, adults know it’s against the law).

Question #3:
What if the coach didn’t actually “hurt” the child?
(Insert my explanation of different kinds of abuse, and how the ones that don’t physically hurt can be just as/even more damaging).

How did you deal with Penn State? Did you use it as an opportunity to speak with your kids about the hard stuff, or was it just too difficult to go there?

Comments: 4

ABOUT THE BLOG

The Mabelhood is the sum of all blogs, combining posts from Mabel Labels' bloggers Julie Cole, Caitlin Madden and a cast of guest bloggers. The Mabelhood documents the daily dramas of a group of people raising families and a label making business, plus everything else in-between.
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