Tis the Season

The winters are so difficult around here.  We run a very seasonal business.  For the last 2 years we have really struggled in the winters.  I am prepared for it.  I'm in lock down mode thinking we just need to make it to April.  3 months, so close and yet so far away.  So far we are doing okay.  Things are tight, as they will be this time of year.  But we have made some really positive changes this year that will help.  Our rent is lower by a few thousand dollars.  So that is significant.  I have 2 part time jobs this year.  They are part time but between the 2 of them I will make about $500 a week, $2000 a month.  So I have to feel positive thinking that we are saving about $4000 a month.  I think it will all be okay.  I'm also in a really positive place this year.  Last January I was 7 months pregnant and had no money (and it was my fourth kid) and I was really having a hard time being positive.  Now, we have 4 great kids, I'm doing a job that I am really excited about and everything seems on the upswing.  I am a realist, so in the back of my mind I am preparing for the worst but I'm also knowing that if the worst happens, we can still get through it, we have to.  If we did the last few years we can do it this year, things are in our favor.

I read a lot of other blogs about resolutions.  I think a lot about what is important to me.  The list is always growing.  I'm always having these great ideas on things I can do to improve my life.  I like being like that.  I enjoy trying new things.  I would always rather be the person who tried something new and was showing my kids that I have "stuff" going on then the opposite.  Sure, our life is pretty crazy sometimes.  Yes, there are days when we need simplify but overall it is good.  I want to instill in them the idea of not being afraid to try new things.  Never say no because you don't feel comfortable.

Tonight I'm going to a mommy and me painting class with my 2 oldest daughters.  They are both much more artistic than I am.  They have gone to painting classes before and they really enjoy it.  I'm excited to see them in their element and to try it with them.  It will also be good for them to see that mommy isn't the best at it, but I'm still trying and I can still enjoy myself while doing it.  Maybe I will post pics next time of ours side by side.  It should be fun!

Oh my goodness!  So much has happened since I last wrote.  For starters we had another baby.  A baby!  Yes, we now have 4 kids.  Three girls and a boy.  Since this is the New Year, I think I'll do what everyone else is doing and talk about my goals for the new year.

First of all, I recently started 2 new jobs.  Yay me!  I am working at the NECC, a local community center.  I get to go back to doing what I used to do.  So, I am still getting used to having a job.

I am working on learning Spanish, via rosetta stone.

I am exercising and cooking.

So my real resolution is to keep doing what I'm doing and work on my health and my jobs and family time and time for myself.  Just "having it all" and "living the dream".

When I think about the things that are important to me to accomplish I think a lot about the idea of "having it all".  A lot of times you hear people talk about having it all and whether that is really possible.  Can you have it all?  I say yes, yes you can.  You just have to have some wiggle room in there.  Having it all doesn't mean that you have to do it all perfectly.  I just think at the end of the day you need to feel good about what you accomplished today.  As I said I want to cook, learn spanish, exercise and spend time with my family and work.  Do all those things need to happen daily?  No. I think that way I would drive myself crazy.  I also need time for myself, time to read, relax, do laundry, all that stuff.  Small goals will make that all attainable.  I think having a separate job will make it attainable too.  When I was only working at the restaurant, I felt like I was working all of the time.  Little things all the time.  Working outside the home makes that all a lot easier.  I work 3 days a week.  On my non working days I work hard to not work hard.  Lol.  Focus on my other things like Spanish, exercise, etc.  Well, writing all this down is making me feel like I should go do something.  Because it's my day mostly off.  I think I'm going to go plan my dinner.  More to come…

oh, and it's the year of The Cocheo's!  We are turning our lives around this winter, it's a new start of a better life!

I am very seriously on the quest to find a bathing suit.  Last summer I was having a baby and although this summer I am not quite feeling my best self yet, I am getting there.  I am a believer that a good fitting suit will make a big difference.  It needs to make your stomach feel flat, it needs to have defined cups, or at least a shape that does not look like a sports bra.  I have been bookmarking cute suite for months.  When will I take the plunge and actually buy one?  I'm not quite sure of that.

this one is cute.

I like this one but my hubby says no way.

Current fav!

And I also like this one.

Call me crazy, but I know everyone says how great Lands End bathing suits are, but I don't.  I feel like a grandma in them.  My current rule of thumb is, if my mother and mother in law are wearing something from a certain brand line, then I probably shouldn't be.

Mid thirties is waaay too young for that kind of nonsense.

However, I admit I did google various versions of bathing suits for postpartum multiple times.  How long do you get to say you're postpartum for, nine months one, nine months off... right?  I am teetering at the edge of not being postpartum.

I love this time of year when it is getting warmer, I love envisioning lazy days on the beach with me and my family.  Everyone is just so much happier when we can spend the days outside.

This Chef's Wife is much more than a Chef's wife lately.  Since I last decided to post, a while year ago!, a lot has happened.  We have another baby!  We have moved!  We are innkeepers!  We are currently in the middle of the crazy stressfulness of running another business.  It has been hugely expensive and we are trying to renovate.  Renovating is supposed to be fun but guess what?  It isn't.  I actually absolutely hate it.  I hate spending money and I really hate spending money when I feel like there are less expensive options out there.

Things have been stressful lately.  I feel like I never do enough.  There is always so much to do.  It can be exhausting.  At some point you just need to accept that you can't do it all.

I need to find help.  It's hard to decide how much help I should have with the kids.  I certainly need help so that I can work but I also don't want to miss too much.  We moved from the city so that I wouldn't miss all this.  I need to find the balance, which as always, can be a bit of a struggle.

We are trying to plan a vacation.  We haven't been on vacation in 3 years.  I'm not really sure how that's possible.  But, other than a few days to Long Island, the 4 of us haven't gone anywhere else.  Kind of depressing.  Even though money is sort of tight right now, we have to make this vacation work.  So, we are on a strict budget for the next 2 months because on April 1st, we will be going on vacation.  I can't wait.  All the saving will surely be worth it.  We are going to Las Vegas.  At first I was not into the idea at all.  We don't gamble, and we have 2 kids.  But after some research, I'm excited about it.  We're not staying on the strip, about 15 minutes away at what looks like a nice hotel with a pool.  I'm convinced that this is all I need to have a good vacation.  A pool and a ipad.  I can picture it in my head.  The children will be playing happily, splashing in the pool, I will be reading and relaxing. 
Other than the pool, there's some fun parks nearby, we'll also go to Hoover Dam, and take a one night trip to the Grand Canyon.  I guess there's also some kind of circus there. 

This trip is keeping me going, I can't wait...

Whirlwind

Life is feeling like a bit of a whirlwind at the moment.
Things are busy, we have a messy house and a very naughty puppy who constantly makes the house messier.
Currently my daughter is wetting the bed daily.
I am trying to work from home, and with my jewelry business.
I am 17 weeks pregnant.
I am constantly driving my kids from dance class to dance class and starting soccer soon.
I never have the time to exercise, or read, or knit, or do all these things I want to do.

And yet, I decided we must take on this really big project the same month I am due.  

When I look at the glass as half full I can say:
We have a lived in, well used house.
I am lucky I am able to do all this laundry in my home, quickly and efficiently.
Thank God I don't have a 9 to 5 job where I have to leave my house all day every day.
We are having another baby!
We are lucky that our kids are able to do the extra things they want to do.

With the big project, we have the ability to make a real difference and that will be extremely gratifying.  We recently found out that our town has 50% of children in it who qualify for free lunches from the government.  These lunches are provided at school during the school year.  During the summer, they are not provided because there is no one who will do it.  We also have the opportunity to really serve these kids quality, local foods and teach them about nutrition.  So, we are going to a meeting today to try and find a way to make this happen this summer and serve the kids the good foods they deserve.

Today's Plan

Clean up my office.  A impossible task it seems, somehow my office became the dumping ground for things that need to be out of site.  I have a huge desk with papers on it and my kids laundry in a basket on the floor.  I am trying desperately to find some time to exercise.  That is the hardest thing to fit into my day.  Unless I get up at 6, which I just can't seem to do.  Oh well, we'll try again tomorrow.