SewMona – Page 35 – A slice of my Florida life

Book Review: Say Goodbye to Survival Mode

I received an advance copy ofÂ Say Goodbye to Survival Mode and was somewhat skeptical going into it – I figured it would rehash what I already knew. Boy was I wrong! In Say Goodbye to Survival Mode, Crystal Paine of MoneySavingMom.com shares her story of hitting rock bottom and then climbing her way back up becoming a better wife & mother on the way. Crystal shares nine simple strategies that work! Each chapter has a goal and a strategy to help you reach your goal. The book promises to reduce stress (Amen!), increase sleep (Woohoo!), and restore your passion for life (Yeah!).

Setting priorities is the first step to leaving survival mode. They have to be your priorities and not priorities that others have for you. Then you only say yes to your best – don’t take on everything that people think you should – focus on your priorities and say no to the rest. Set goals that are related to your priorities. Without goals, you have nothing to focus on, nothing to work towards each day.

Discipline is a word that no one likes, yet it’s very important! Self-discipline is what helps us work towards our goals. Self-discipline will also require some sacrifice as you work to reach your goals or even surpass them. Making small changes rather than trying to change everything at once is easier. One of the best suggestions is to do the hardest thing first thing each day. That way you have a feeling of success no matter what the rest of the day holds for you.

Part of leaving survival mode is getting your finances in order. Having a budget as well as short and long term financial goals. You need financial goals so you have something to aim for, something to work towards. A reason for living below your means, for sacrificing in the short term. Having your home in order will help you with your financial goals. Keeping the clutter down so you can find things means you don’t spend money on something you already have. Selling what you don’t need can help you put a little money away for emergencies.

With all of these steps, it’s easy to feel like a failure when you can’t do it all! Not so says Crystal:

Failure is inevitable. Ouch! Even though this reality might
sting, the truth is, you are going to fail in life. At some point. At
something. Failure isnâ€™t proof that youâ€™re a loser, a mess-up, or
someone who will never get it together. On the contrary, failure
is evidence that youâ€™re trying. And you know what shows even
more grit? Itâ€™s when you try againâ€”after youâ€™ve failed. (p.158)

Learn from your failure and try again – try a new strategy, a different approach, just don’t loose your focus – your goal.

Along your way to getting out of survival mode, look for ways to serve others. Find ways to reach out in your community and beyond. Practice giving (either money or time) – to your local food pantry, to your church, to a charity that you’re passionate about.

Finally, don’t forget about yourself! You need to make sure that you have some time just for you – to help you recharge. Find what works for you – everyone recharges differently.

Click on over to the survival mode website and read the first chapter. Then come back here and preorder the book.

Links above are affiliate links.

On Having a Microwave Again

When we first moved into our new home, there was no microwave. That was fine, I was up for the challenge. I quickly learned how to reheat food on the stove and while it didn’t really take anymore time, there are some things that are just so easy to do in the microwave – my husband loves melted cheese sandwiches – two slices of bread with a couple slices of cheese in between, microwave for 20 seconds. Presto, yummy gooey sandwich. My favorite thing to do in a microwave is this:

Melted chocolate and marshmallowy goodness!!

For Christmas, my parents got us a microwave. I’m not sure who was more excited – my hubby or me (or my nine-year-old who knew and didn’t tell!). However, we didn’t have a good place to put it. Counter space is very limited! We can’t do an over the stove microwave without some remodeling – there isn’t enough space between the stove and the cabinet. Our best choice was to put it on a table near the dining room table. We had a small end table that we use for our printer and telephone. My parents thought it would be perfect…if it had another shelf. Fortunately my dad is pretty creative with wood and he made a second shelf for it. A little paint, some minor adjustments, a little touch-up painting, and voila – a microwave/printer stand.

Computer Programming for Beginners

Once upon a time, before I was a mom, I was a computer programmer. I enjoyed programming – either writing them from scratch or modifying existing ones. I liked taking the requirements and turning them into a program that would actually run! Fast forward nine years and I have a seven-year-old who would love to write a Wizard 202 game (ala Wizard 101) except that in his game everything would be free (at least for family members). So, I’ve been searching for a way to teach him about programming and trying to explain that he would have to start with something simple.

When I was in middle school, we had computer lab where we learned Logo. Lo and behold, it’s still out there. I toyed with buying the program offered here, but I’m too cheap. I want free. So, I continued searching. I found Light Bot. My son really likes it. The game does get progressively hard so he usually just does the first three or four levels, but it explains basic programming concepts.

Then, just today I learned that this is Computer Science Education Week and there’s a website with all different options for teaching kids to code (be sure to check out the Beyond One Hour tab).

I also recently discovered this website with a Scratch editor. My nine-year-old tried out Scratch and thought it was pretty neat (I’m sure it had more to do with the cat than anything else!).

So, lots of options and now I just need to turn it into a “course” to teach my older two kids some basic programming (and maybe I can learn a thing or two about coding apps).

What about you? Do/Did you program? Do your kids program? Do you use a curriculum?

American Flag Tissue Paper Art

Recently we did an American Flag made of tissue paper – this would be perfect for Veteran’s Day or Flag Day or Memorial Day or 4th of July. I found aÂ printable online and used that as my pattern. Googling “American flag printable” and then looking at the images has lots of possibilities.

I gave the kids two choices – they could either do the whole flag in tissue paper or they could color everything but the stars. To do the whole flag took a good half hour.

You’ll need to cut lots and lots of 1×1 squares of red, white, and blue tissue paper.

We did the stars first so I put a dab of glue on each star (use liquid glue, not a glue stick).

Then put the squares around an unused pencil eraser and scrunch it.

Stick it on a star and repeat 49 more times.

For the blue background, we just put a row of blue around the edge of the stars. If you’re really ambitious, you could put a blue in between each star.

Finally, do the stripes (remember the first one is red).

To Grow a Pineapple

In August, we decided to try growing a pineapple tree from a store bought pineapple.

First, grasp the leaves (carefully!) and twist them off.

Carefully pull the leaves off up about one inch.

As you pull them off, you’ll notice some roots that have been growing.

Fill a pot with your favorite potting soil and make a small hole and set the pineapple top in there.

Gently put the soil around it, but don’t pack it down too hard. The plant will not be very stable so don’t move the pot around too much.

Water it (like the little watering can? That’s what happens when you have kids). Put it in a sunny spot and keep it watered. In a couple weeks it will be rooted and a little stabler in the pot.

For three months it did nothing, except loose most of it’s leaves. We were beginning to think that it was dead. We moved it outside where it would get lots of sun and some rain. Then, just last week we noticed it had sprouted!

You can see the dead leaves (and a rock) on the original plant and then the new plant sprouting up beside it.
Of course it will take 3-4 years before it’s mature enough to bear fruit and then it will only bear one fruit at a time! Have you ever tried to grow a pineapple tree? Did it bear fruit?