Sometimes It The Little Things.....

Have you ever noticed that sometimes it the little things that can make your week or leave you feeling great?  Sometimes as women and/or mothers we can get so caught up in our daily routines and our busy lives that we don't get a chance to do something for ourself and enjoy it. This week I had 3 things that kind of made my week that I wanted to share.

Anyone who knows me, knows how much I love my daily coffee.  That doesn't just mean getting to drink coffee daily, but means that I love to stop by our local Moxie Java that was one of the first coffee places to open up in Twin Falls, Idaho and getting to drink/savor my coffee while looking at the daily newspaper and chatting with many of the daily regulars that I have gotten to know over the past 14 years.  What a better way to start my day?  It helps me start my day on a positive note every day.  I love their dessert blend coffees that have a flavor baked right into the bean.  This way I can go out for coffee without ordering a drink with tons of added calories and because it is brewed by the pot it is very budget friendly.

However, this week I had a new coffee experience.  A new Starbucks opened in Twin Falls that has a Clover machine.  Many of you may be asking what that is.  The picture below shows what it looks like.

This lovely machine brews each cup individually with the help of the barista that grinds and measures the coffee for each cup and stirs it in delicately to the water that you see come out of the tap.  The machine then works like a reverse french press and it is really neat just watching the whole process.

I have to be honest.  I have never been a big fan of Starbucks.  I love my dessert blend coffees and anytime I have gotten a coffee at Starbucks I have always found it to be quite bitter.  However, I like to try new things and wanted to see what all the fuss was about with the "Clover".  I ordered a Clover Venti Pike's Place with a shot of sugar free cinammon dolce syrup (to give me some of the flavoring I enjoy with a dessert blend).  I will tell you that it is without a doubt the most amazing cup of coffee that I have ever had!  It is so smooth and creamy (remember I don't add cream or mild to my coffee)!  I felt like it was an experience.  One that I thought about over and over this week.  This will now be my "treat" every now and then in the afternoon when I either want to meet a friend for coffee or just take a few minutes for myself to sit down and truly savor a cup of coffee.  While you can go through the drive through and order one (I am not a coffee drive through person),  I highly recommend going in and watching them make it.

The next thing I want to share about my week is a new bra.  Yes, you heard me right, a new bra!  Remember I mentioned how busy we are with life?  How often do you get a new bra?  I know it is not a top priority on my list usually.  This week I got a new perfect shape t-shirt bra at Victoria Secrets.  Again, being frugal, bras at Victoria Secrets aren't usually in my budget.  However I had a coupon!  The salesperson made sure I truly got the right size for me (a different size than I thought I was) and I have been amazed at what a new, well-fitting bra can feel like! Definitely better than the last bras I purchased at Costco!  

Now for the third thing.  Some of you may have heard of 3-D fibre lashes/mascara.  Again, not something top on my priority list.  However, a friend was having an online party a few weeks ago and top support her I purchased a set of Younique.  While I received it last week, I just finally took the time to try it our a few days.  Wow!  I definitley like it has "opened" my eyes literally.

In the picture above, my right eye just has my regular mascara on and my left eye is done with the Younique.  Seriously check out the difference!  Look at how blue my eyes look and it really opens up my eyes!

So as I sit here drinking my Friday morning Moxie coffee taking a few minutes for myself, I encourage you to think of the little things that can make a difference.  You have to take care of yourself too!  Take time each day to reflect and some time for spirituality.  Take care of yourself physically and find time to share and fellowship with others!

Happy Friday everyone!

Is Comparison Robbing You Of Joy In Your Life?

I'm sure that many of you have heard this saying before, and if you haven't this may just give you a whole new perspective.  I have been wanting to write this post for a while talking about this as a woman and mother and how comparison can affect our lives.  What happens when we start comparing ourselves to others?  I do not believe it is a healthy thing and believe that the only comparison we should be making, is to ourselves and the progress we are making personally.  Everyone out there is living in a different situation and stage of their life.  How many single mothers are out there?  How many divorced women are out there?  Then there are those that are re-married and may have a blended family?  Who is in a more traditional situation where you have been married to the same person and have children with your spouse?  Who is a stay at home mom?  Who is a full time working mom?  Who is a part time working mom? There are so many scenarios out there that we may be living in and the last thing we should be doing is comparing ourself to others.  I could go on with the list, but I think you get the idea.  What happens when you see other women and compare yourself or situation to the one you see or perceive them to be in?  Did you notice that I said perceive?  Quite often our perception of things isn't even accurate.

When you see another woman/mother and think they have got it all together, is it based on the pictures you see on their "highlight reel" from Facebook or a blog?  Maybe what you perceive as being so amazing and perfect in someone else's life is simply a picture they are painting.  Do you see behind closed doors what their life is like or hear from them how they feel things are going?  These may be things that you are comparing that make you feel inadequate in your life and shouldn't.  We all have strengths and weaknesses.  You may see strengths in others that you feel you don't have, but what you may not recognize is that you have other strengths that the person you are comparing yourself too sees in you and wishes they had.  We were all made to function differently and chose different paths in life and that is ok.  I believe that everyone needs to base their decisions on what they think will work best for their family in their situation, not based on a comparison to others, and that as women we should be supporting each other along the way. 

As mothers/women we are faced with so many decisions.  Are you going to breastfeed or formula feed?  Do you use cloth diapers or disposables?  What type of sleep training are you using or are you (because you know you should be - note my sarcasm here).  Do you put your baby in their crib to sleep or do you co-sleep?  Regardless of what you choose or sometimes have to do when one doesn't work out, people will always have an opinion about it.  Are you doing what is best for you and your child in your situation?  Then move forward with it and be confident. Then comes the comparison of what your baby/toddler is or isn't doing yet compared to others.  Infants and children develop at a different pace.  Is your baby sleeping through the night yet? Is he/she rolling, crawling, walking, talking........  Have you started potty training yet?  Don't let someone else make you feel inadequate.  Are you a stay at home mom and loving it?  Embrace it, but don't judge others that choose a different path.  Are you a mom that works full time either based on desire or necessity too?  If it works for, or is necessity for your family then feel confident in that choice.  If you are a stay at home mom, don't make someone else feel guilty because they have their children in day care and are working.  It is very hard for working women to decide what type of child care is going to work for them.  I see women struggle with this all the time and it only adds salt to a wound when someone judges them for how they are doing things.  Where are your kids going to go to school?  Private, public, charter or Home School?  The list of comparisons can go on and on and what is truly accomplished?  Understand, that there is no one absolute right or wrong way of doing things.

Do all of these comparisons leave you analyzing yourself and situation constantly?  Do we really wonder why depression and anxiety in today's society are so high?   When you are constantly comparing your situation to how someone else's appears, the joy in your life will always be on a constant drain.  Even when you are using these comparisons to make you feel better about how you are doing things compared to someone else's mess you think you see are you really just building up a false sense of having your life in perfect order so that when something doesn't work out, your whole world comes crashing down around you?  When you are doing that, how are you making the person that's in the situation that you perceive as being a mess feel?  You certainly aren't building her up and encouraging her that she can move forward.  You could be distancing yourself from people that you are misjudging so that you build yourself up at the expense of another.  What if you stood by that woman and encouraged her through (not told her how she should be doing things)?  You might surprised because someday she might be your best ally and supporter when you are in a difficult stage or situation.

I have never believed in comparing myself to others.  I am fortunate that my dad instilled this in me at an early age.  So much so, that whenever I have been in a group where this goes on, I separate myself from it.  We need to be women that support each other and help each other grow.  Grow from what?  Whatever point you are at in your life.   If you are the woman that does not have any children yet, but when you see how other women are raising their children stop at the second you start to think "I would never.............. with my child".  Anyone with experience will assuredly tell you that will only come back to haunt you.  If you are the mom with a baby, don't compare to the mom who's kids are of a different age such as teenagers.  If your are now a grandmother, don't focus on how differently your children are doing things and tell them how they should be doing things based on how you did things.  Times change and how things are done change.

 

Instead, could we all agree to stand by, and be a blessing in each other's lives?  I think if we all did this, we would be amazed at the things we would notice in our lives.

 

I would like everyone know that a great amount of thought and time went into my writing this post.  In fact I spent weeks.  I would to hear your comments and apologize for my lack of posts while I have worked on this one.

Unplanned Blogging LOA

Looking at my blog for the past month, it kind of looks like I abandoned ship doesn't it?  What started out as a road trip to Canada for a family reunion (where I did actually manage to write my last post), turned into an unintended, month long leave of absence from Miss Mom Speak.  For those of you that have liked my page on Facebook, I did manage to share some great fellow bloggers post that I felt were worth the read.  Upon returning from our 2300 mile long road trip, I found us busy getting caught up.  While I had managed to buy almost all of our back to school supplies before we left, upon returning we had back to school eye appointments, well-checks, my oldest got braces, middle school registration, elementary school open house, and getting 4-H projects ready for/and our local fair.  It was a busy month to say the least!  Actually, I think it was our busiest summer yet and seemed like it flew by!

However, I am happy to say that we have 2 weeks of the new school year under our belts and I think it is going to be a great school year.  My oldest has started middle school and thinks it is great.  His maturity is amazing me and he has taken on many new experiences.  He has mastered the lock on his first locker, has learned busing to and from school (something we didn't/don't have available to us for our elementary school), is working serving lunches at school, has learned how to text and is doing great on communicating with me as needed, is currently trying out for and hoping to make it into the robotics club at school, and attended his first youth group at our church last night.  I am amazed and so proud of the young man he is growing into!

My middle son has taken on the big brother role of helping my youngest adapt to his first year at elementary school in the first grade.  My youngest moved from the daycare/school he had gone to since 12 weeks old where there was maybe 150 kids, to the school my older 2 have been at that has around 650 kids!  My middle son is showing him the ropes of eating breakfast at school, finding his way around, and taking the bus after school to Boys & Girls Club a couple days a week.  My youngest is done with day care!  He loves his new school and both boys love their new teachers!  My youngest even talks about all of the new friends he has made.

My role in all of this has simply been talking to them about their new experiences, preparing them, showing them around and walking them through the anticipated changes ahead of time.  The other thing that I always try to be conscious of, is if there is something new that I am nervous about, I do not share or discuss that with them.  I feel that really helps prevent them from becoming nervous about something new that they don't need the added worry about.

So while I was absent from blogging over the past month, I can happily say that we are well into a new school year that I think is going to be great!  Hopefully over the next few weeks, I will get caught up on some great new posts.