Monday, March 30, 2009

Parental Moral Dilemma

So I have been battling my son for about 2 weeks now on getting his room cleaned up. Now, he is 4 and he is not fully aware of the concept of keeping his room clean. I have tried about a million different ways to get him to at least start cleaning his room on his own, with little success.

Last night was my breaking point. We got home and I was working on laundry and he was supposed to be cleaning his room. When I went in, not only was nothing even touched he had decided to sprinkle buttery popcorn ALL OVER his room and the hallway. He was, however, very focused on cleaning up that mess but not the mess of his room.

This morning when I woke him up to get ready to go, and I am still wondering how he slept at all, he was curled up in a ball on the smallest littlest clean spot on his bed. The rest of his bed was COVERED in cars, books, and any other kind of imaginable toy ever made.

Let me give you a little bit of background into my child’s bedtime behavior. Since we moved into this house 2 years ago, Austin goes to bed at eight, only he doesn’t go to bed. HE PLAYS. And plays, and plays. Sometimes he plays for as long as 2 hours after his actual bedtime. 2 HOURS! Well you can only imagine all the toys a 4 year old can drag out in 2 hours. I usually walk into a room that looks like a cyclone hit it the night before.

Well over time this mess grows and grows and grows. Now, typically I would have him clean it each night before bed, but given that I have class three nights a week (only 7 more weeks) and he gets to bed later on those nights than I would like, it’s hard to make him clean this all up at 10 in the evening.

So back to today…

I knew there was a possibility of my mom coming over today to let the plumber in to fix Austin’s toilet and rework mine as well, but since she never really mentioned whether it was confirmed or not, I simply de-cluttered some last night and made sure things were somewhat tidy just in case…

Well, I should know better. Not only did my mom come over, she cleaned up my bathroom, the laundry room, the front closet, vacuumed, and yes, cleaned Austin’s room till it was close to spotless! Here is where my dilemma comes in. What did Austin learn from this sweet gesture from my mom?

“Hey, let it get messy enough and Mimi will come over and clean it!”

Well I will say mom gave Austin an earful about keeping his room clean, which I hope he gets, but we will see.

In the meantime, my friend, Stephanne, from work had a BRILLIANT suggestion! Now when you hear this, you are going to think she is a mother (which she isn’t…yet) or that she is a teacher (nope, not that either). Her suggestion was to have Austin pick 5 toys and put them in a bucket. These 5 toys are the ONLY ones he can play with before bed. If he gets any other toys out, he has consequences. These for him are that I take away one toy for the night. If it happens again, I take another one. For each night he follows the Rule of 5 (Like that? Just thought of it!) he will get a toy back. If he has 5 toys, he can keep all 5. He can exchange out his toys before bed but once I tuck him in, those are his five toys.

BRILLANT, huh? THANKS STEPH!

Sunday, March 29, 2009

Week in Review: TV Edition

Since very few of the people around me seem to be into the same shows I am, I have decided to share my thoughts on a few of my favorite shows and see if any of you out there have your own opinions you want to share.
For my birthday I got DVR, so I can finally stay caught up on all my shows. WHOO HOO!!
So here we go...

Sunday

Brother & Sisters

So Tommy is MIA which has the whole family worried but seriously, this guy has kept the family drama going more than any other child! I am kinda over Tommy and his really bad decisions. I hope things with Kitty and Robert get better because they used to be so perfect, and the same with Rebecca and Justin.


Monday

Dancing with the Stars
OH boy! I have to say that this season is proving to have a half and half cast. Half of them are horrible, and half are fabulous. There are some obvious front runners...


And I kinda have a crush on a contestant who isn't in the top few in skills but has a charm that makes you want to pick up the phone and dial his number...STEVE O!


The Secrets of an American Teenager

Well, this week was the season finale, and the baby, John, is here. This one is a tough one to critique because the subject matter of having a baby at 15 is kinda past my worries at this point, but it is a compelling show to watch. We will just see what happens next season...

In the meantime, Greek is coming back tomorrow night...

Tuesday
American Idol
We are now down to 9! I have something to say about most of the contestants and predictions as to who I think it will come down to...but first I want to hear what you all think! I have noticed that others who watch this have varying opinions...What's yours?


Thursday

Grey's Anatomy

Well, well, well...

This show just keeps on getting better doesn't it?! I know there have been some lows throughout the season's but they always manage to draw us back don't they?!

So this week, we have a almost strangling between lovers, a very important brain surgery of one of the originals and an all-important, long-awaited proposal of Meredith and Dr. McDreamy! WHOO HOO!! So my next question is...will the road to the wedding be as long and bumpy as the beginning of the relationship?




Private Practice
This Grey's Spin-off has been working really well! The first season was hard for me to catch on but now that I can record it, I'm hooked!

This week I was absolutely blown away this week when Addison gave in to the handsome husband to one of her patients. For someone who proclaimed she wasn't a cheater (well except for that one time), she kissed the forbidden man who came into her life three weeks ago. Is Addison getting herself in trouble again?
So Share your thoughts...Share other shows you think I should catch...whatever you do...just share!

Sunday, March 22, 2009

Inspirations...

So, I decided last week to re-do my blog yet again. This time is was because I forgot my password since it has been so long time since I updated it. I also have been looking for info on how to do my own background and banners to spice it up/Heather-ize on my blog and finaaly got some sinsight from the blog shown in the upper left hand corner of my blog. YIPEE!! I am going to spend a little time re-adding all of my blog links and web links, but in the meantime I thought I would add a first post...

This week I ran into several things that have inspired me in different ways....

1.) The first occured in my Leadership Communication class at ASU. For those of you who don't already know, this has got to be the BEST class I have ever taken in my life. It is centered around Steven Covey's book 7 Habits of Highly Effective People and has really helped me manage my work life and personal life as well.

This week Dr. Palazzolo (ASU) introduced us to a quote. When he showed it to us, he said write it down, put it somewhere you can see it everyday, and never forget it. I was prepared for some thing profound simply because of the lead in but I was completely surprised at how this quote touched several different cords within my life. What's the quote you ask?

"You can't talk yourself out of something you behaved you way into."

Profound huh? It really made me think, so I thought I would share. I am hoping that remembering this quote will help me re-think my actions on things that might be questionable in the future.

2.) The second point of inspiration came for me after my Wednesday night class (Leadership Communications) on my way home. I was in the car listening to the country station, which in all honesty, I rarely do anymore but alot of that has to do with my favorite local station firing my favorite morning personality for a couple of goofs I think are pointless to even listen to. ANYWHO...I was listening to country and a song came on that I just fell in love with instantly! I thought it was new for Sugarland, but aparently it's on the most recent album which has been out for quite some time. The song It Happens is fantastic. I have attached a clip from YouTube with the song a lyrics so you can get the full effect and understand the words which come and go pretty quickly...




3.) I'm a huge fan of American Idol and and even bigger follower of Carrie Underwood, who as you probably know had her start on the show. I was watching (with the help of my new DVR) last this weeks results show after hearing all the talk on the radio on Thursday, the live performance of I Told You So with Carrie Underwood and Randy Travis and was completely in awe. I have always loved this song and when I bought Carrie's album, Carnival Ride, I instantly fell in love with her version of the song. Here is the video from the show...



Well that's this weeks inspirations. Come on back for more fun stuff when you can and if you would like to have your blog or website linked on mine, let me know. I'd love to share your thoughts and lives with others! Have a great week....