Always, Alli

Hello, I am Alli’s new backpack.

In Alli’s mind, I speak with a Mexican accent. Similar to Esteban, the Mexican Mayor/ Drug Lord from Weeds. And no, I do not like to spank women. I just have the accent.

Alli bought me from Zappos. This is also where she bought her previous bag. And conincidentally, her previous bag and I are both from the same manufacturer- Dakine. Alli loves the fabrics Dakine uses in their women’s products. And you will notice Alli picked the bag with the orange accents, because you should know orange is her signature color.

Alli isn’t a bag lady. Sure her husband might mention how many bags she already has, but what Alli means is, she doesn’t like carrying more than one bag at a time. Her backpack has to be a workhorse. So, seeing a backpack with an insulated cooler pocket (perfect for kiddo’s snacks), zipper organizer pockets, and a hidden pocket at the top for her cell phone and/ or sunglasses? It was love, love, love at first sight.

As workhorses go, when she travels, I have to carry both Alli’s laptop and her camera stuff. Since she upgraded to the DSLR (fancy pants camera), she struggles keeping it safe and carrying the extra stuff she needs. I meet her needs, with the help of the new camera bag (kind of like Cesar, Esteban’s helper-dude on Weeds). There is also room for the various cords and such required for the technological lifestyle Alli leads.

The new camera bag is an insulated lunch tote made by the fine people of Thermos. Alli found it at Target, after she was drawn in by the pull of the polka dots. Alli’s previous camera bag was also an insulated lunch bag, but it was smaller and did not meet the needs of Alli’s upgraded digital photography lifestyle.

This bag carries all three of Alli’s lenses, the camera body, her external flash, extra battery, remote, and one hood. Alli realizes she doesn’t use all of these items on most outings, but when she travels (like she will be doing in September), she wants to have everything on hand.

It was very nice to meet you. Alli wants everyone to know her previous bag was well loved and is going to a good home. Her needs changed and since she is pregnant, a backpack seemed like a safe, yet stylish option. She is pleased to introduce me to the world and looks forward to carrying me with pride everywhere we go.

Esteban, out.

Technorati Tags: Zappos, Dakine, backpack

You know how when you get back from a vacation you feel like you need another vacation? Well, my dirty little secret is I sometimes slack off for a few days after getting home. Then something reminds me I am no longer on vacation and I start cleaning the house, unpacking our suitcases, and getting laundry done.

I totally thought I would do the same thing this time. Except on Tuesday afternoon I discovered one of the grossest things in my house- my freezer was unintentionally defrosted while we were gone. And the food inside the freezer had spoiled sending mold around the interior and flooding the floor beneath the freezer where mounds of dust and lint met a watery demise.

There was no lazing about to be had, I had to clean up the mess. And it included moving shelving, moving the freezer, and properly ventilating the house so I could use a bleach solution to kill the mold.

I know our freezer needed to be defrosted, I just didn’t think my husband planned on it happening this way. Our kitchen is finally back to a normal state, and maybe this week I can actually cook a meal in it.

Now our dining room… that needs to be addressed.

I just finished my to do list for the next two days… and it doesn’t really include a lot of online time. I am pretty good at surrendering to the timesuck of the laptop and ignoring other household duties. What happens is a paralyzing guilt that keeps me from writing because I know there is so much offline stuff to do. And then nothing, not even blogging, gets done.

So tomorrow I plan on grounding myself until I finished laundry, the Roomba in Fuller’s room, and kitchen prep.

Maybe I’ll have some posts to write when I clear the clutter in my kitchen.

I’m enjoying the warm weather recently and confident it will be sticking around to make Summer proud. Before I left for the weekend I did a quick clothing swap, pulling out my complete Spring/ Summer wardrobe and throwing my Fall/ Winter clothes in a pile on the floor.

I need Mary Poppins to show up, snap her fingers, and make the pile disappear into storage bins. Then the storage bins could magically float up into the attic so I didn’t have to climb the stairs.

Until she shows up, it looks like I will be working on that tomorrow.

I’m at the point in family travel prep where I can just start throwing stuff into suitcases and we could go in about two hours. Not that we are leaving in two hours. But if we had to, we could.

I hit my zen moment around 7 when I realized washing my bed sheets before I left wasn’t as big a deal as making sure I packed underwear for everyone. I also decided filling the ipod was more important than cleaning the kitchen, but somehow I think I will still clean the kitchen before I leave.

This is going to be a fun trip, even if I forget Damon’s deodorant. Atlanta has stores too.

Technorati Tags: travel, packing

I have a list forming in my mind. If I don’t write it down, I might forget some or all of it and at the end of the day I will have nothing to show except clean hair (because I can cross “take shower” off my list now).

Today my goal is the dining room. I need to declutter and put away items in the attic. I need to dust and roomba. And I find homes for stuff on the table.

I am frustrated because somehow our dining room has become the catch all and it needs to stop. I made a tiny step early in fall by installing a coat rack in the mud room so we would stop throwing our coats over dining room chairs. It got so ridiculous last year we would have several coats piled up and suddenly the chair would just fall over backwards. Not exactly a great use of the chairs, not good for our coats, and it just looked messy.

And I am happy to report my family does use the coat rack and when I start to throw something over the back of a chair, I stop and think about where it really goes.

The chair seats however… if I look into my dining room right now I see Fuller’s game, a box of stationary, two hats, a pile of papers, a bag of yarn, my mouse, and a shirt I need to exchange. This items are squatters and need to evicted!

I haven’t done the roomba in there since before Christmas, so I need to let the dust fly and then sic the roomba on it. If I end the day with an allergy attack, then I think I accomplished my goal.

My Motivation Monday: operation clean dining room

Technorati Tags: motivation monday, clean, household chores

Home is where the husband is. And my bed. And Fuller’s bed. And a mess I will have to clean up sometime sooner rather than later.

Damon has been home since last Thursday and yet there is laundry to be done. I find this somewhat amusing, since I did laundry yesterday at my mom’s house. I guess we left more of a mess than I thought.

I also have a very bare fridge. I guess I left less than I thought.

I’m still decompressing from the seven hour car ride, so I plan on wrapping my head around the to dos tomorrow.

My mother has a list. I know I get my listing habit from her, but it just strikes me as funny that I come to my parents’ house and am handed a list.

When I was growing up, we would go grocery shopping with my mom and she would have to push the cart so she could “think.” She would have both hands on the shopping cart handle and her list firmly gripped between her hand and the cart. She would constantly be checking it, crossing things off, and adding things to other lists she had somewhere in her purse or pocket.

I’m not as disciplined as Moma when it comes to list making, but I know it keeps me in check and on task. It’s a nice habit to be handed down.

Today my sister Austina, my mom, and I will knock out many items on THE list so we can start relaxing and hanging out with the rest of the family when my sister and her entourage arrives some time tomorrow.

We might need some term life insurance, just to make sure we get through the holiday in one piece.

Technorati Tags: lists, organizing

I’m staring at a list I made this morning and there are so many things crossed off, it makes me feel happy. And then I start adding things to it and I get a little overwhelmed.

Getting ready for travel does this to me and yet I find a zen place inside myself that 1) it will all get taken care of and 2) if we don’t have it, we didn’t need it.

I probably sound like a broken record since this happens every time we travel, but typing it out always helps me find peace again. Bear with me while I silently freak out about forgetting Fuller’s pullups and then realize they have stores in Ohio. Besides, he’s potty trained and accidents happen. It’s why they invented washing machines.

Tomorrow the list will grow and I will continue to get things done. And when I put my head down tomorrow night, I will be safe and warm in Ohio.

This post is sponsored by some folks who can help you find horse riding apparel, which is not something I had to pack to leave for Ohio.

I woke up this morning in a panic because of a bunch of stuff I didn’t do and need to do and wondering why I forgot to do them?

It’s because I did not make a LIST!

Lists are really a huge part of keeping me on an even keel. If I sit down, write things out (love my pen and paper), and see what it is that needs to be done, I can keep a handle on it. If I don’t, then everything swarms around in my brain waiting for me to pick it as the something to do.

For instance, this week I have been using my husband’s deoderant because I keep forgetting to write down that I need it. I finally got some (my friends will thank me), but really I had several opportunities before yesterday to pick some up.

Five minutes of listing can really help me for 24 hours. Why not just take the 5 minutes?

It’s next on my to do!

Technorati Tags: lists, to do