A Journal To Keep Me Sane

I started keeping a personal journal when I was in college. I'm talking about a private hand written journal here. When I started my journaling it was a way for me to cope with various things that were going on in my life at the time. I could write out all of my frustrations and not have to worry about anyone's opinion. It was my therapy.

Over the years my journaling habits have evolved a lot. I now write about all kinds of things, but my journal is still my sounding board. It's a completely private place for me to work through whatever issues are bothering me. I also keep all kinds of notes in there and snippets of some dreams I've had. Really, I write about whatever is on my mind.

During the course of the many years that I have been journaling, my writing habits have varied a lot too. That first journal actually took me a couple years to fill. At one point several years ago I was able to completely fill a journal in a week. There have been times when I haven't written for months, but for the most part I do write daily. The biggest adjustment came after my daughter was born. For months I simply did not have the time or the energy to write in my journal. Now I'm finally making time for it again and it feels good. I had forgotten how much daily writing helped me. Now I make sure that writing in my journal is on my to do list. By taking the time to write and clear my head every day I tend to have a much more positive outlook on life.

If you've never tried personal journaling, I suggest giving it a try. You can write in whatever is handy. Right now you can get spiral notebooks really cheap at various stores, but if you prefer a more "typical" journal you can check your local bookstore to see what they have. For your first journal I'd suggest sticking with some fairly cheap. You don't want to spend so much money on it that you're afraid to actually write in it. Wherever you write, don't be afraid to jump right in and start writing about whatever is on your mind.

For more Things I Love Thursday, head over to The Diaper Diaries.

Loving My iPhone

Ever since the iPhones came out I wanted one, but I resisted because I didn't want to spend the money on the data plan in addition to my monthly cell phone plan. Well, recently I had some trouble with my cell phone and wound up having to replace it. Even then I resisted the iPhone, but hubby pushed me towards it because he knew how much I wanted it. I wound up getting it and I have to say that I love, Love, LOVE it.

There is so much that you can do with your iPhone. Seriously, there are apps out there for just about anything. Right now I'm using various apps to track my food and exercise, track my spending and keep my shopping list. There is also an application for my to do list, for Facebook, Twitter, Craigslist, ebay and more. I'm still trying out various apps and figuring out what's going to work for me.

In addition to all the apps, it also links to my Google Calendar, Contacts and Gmail so I have the ability to check and update my calendar no matter where I am and I can send and receive emails from anywhere. It's wonderful. I feel like I am constantly tapping away on my iPhone. Hubby says that I'm addicted. Personally, I just love having so much information and organization right at my fingertips. It's heaven for someone like me who is a wee bit OCD.

Since I am still trying out various apps, I didn't want to comment on any specific ones, but I will be posting about apps I find that I love. So you can look forward to some posts on that in the future.

For more Things I Love Thursday, head over to the The Diaper Diaries.

Lily Love

I love the smell of Oriental Lilies. The Stargazer and Mona Lisa lilies are my absolute favorites. So when we moved into our house six years ago I wound up planting a bunch of these lilies near the front door and kitchen window. I love that you can smell them as you're walking into the house and whenever you open the kitchen windows. It's a small thing, but it's also something that makes me smile whenever I come home.

For those of you that don't want to spend a lot of money, look for these bulbs on sale in the fall, or, better yet, ask a friend who has some if they would be willing to share. After these bulbs have been in for a few years they should start to multiply so you will have even more to spread around your yard or to give away to friends.

For more Things I Love Thursday, head over to the The Diaper Diaries.

Reusable Shopping Bags

A little over a month ago I won a set of RuMe Reusable Shopping bags at a giveaway over on Oh Brooke. I had looked at these bags before, but hadn't wanted to spend the money on them. I figured, hey I can get a reusable bag at the grocery store for $0.99 and it works just fine. Well, those do work just fine for my large grocery runs, but I love these bags too. They are great because they fold up and even have a Velcro strap to keep them compressed. When they're folded they fit perfectly in my purse. That makes these bags a breeze to carry with me for quick trips to the drugstore or even a quick run to the grocery store for some milk and bread.

These bags also state that they'll hold up to 50 pounds. Me, being the slightly wild person I am, decided to test that theory. So first I put my dog in one. He was fine so I decided to ahead and put my daughter in out. She loved it. The bag held her with no problem and she loved being lifted up in the bag. I wound up having to hide these bags from her so that she wouldn't want to play with them all the time.

For those of you that typically only use the flat bottom reusable bags you find at the grocery store, you may want to check out some of these bags that fold up to fit into your purse. If you're handy with a sewing machine you could make some for yourself. If you aren't, you could buy some from Delight.com (where mine came from) or other sources both online and off.

For more Things I Love Thursday, head over to the The Diaper Diaries.

Freeze Dried Fruit Snacks

When we were at Costco the other day I saw these bags of freeze dried fruit from Brothers All Natural. I decided to give them a try because of the fact that they are 100% natural fruit with no additives and no preservatives. The ingredients list is literally only 100% freeze dried fruit of whatever variety is in that bag.

In case you can't tell by the little hand grabbing the bag in the picture, my daughter loves these snacks too. I think they are great because they are delicious and they almost melt in your mouth. My daughter is only 17 months old so I do still worry about choking.


The only thing I'm not crazy about is the price. On their website, the price for the 24 pack is $21.99. That works out to $0.92 per bag. I paid $12.99 for a 20 pack at Costco. That works out to $0.65 per bag. That's a little more then I like to spend on a snack for Pumpkin, but I love the product and it's worth it to get such a healthy snack for her.

For those people out there with allergies or special diet needs, these snacks are peanut/tree nut free, gluten free, soy free, dairy free, vegan and kosher.

My daughter loves these so much that I definitely see us buying these again and again. That is, unless I figure out how to freeze dry fruit snacks myself. Ok, that isn't very likely. So thank you Brothers All Natural for providing such a healthy snack for my daughter.

For more Things I Love Thursday, head over to The Diaper Diaries. This week they're giving away an Evenflo Comfort Select Breast Pump, so if you're interested in winning one, head over there and check it out.