Back home safe and sound. Love looking at the photos now in my controlled environment and realizing ~ hey, it looks on paper like I  actually had some fun! Ahhh… I’m a carefree and laid back mama…

An extra special thank you to Sondra for posing the questions in the last blog post comment section:

I would love some tips for traveling away from home with little children. We will be on vacation for over a week and besides feeling anxious I am also wondering how to keep our vacation on the simple side while still having fun.

 

Your questions are my video making commands sweet mamas. And digging in to come up with these tips was a great reminder tool of what works for me. So keep that in mind; what’s important is to remember to what has worked in the past and what might resonate with your heart and ideal parenting style. And with that, here we go!

Too busy packing to watch the whole video? Here’s a quick synapse:

1.  Keep car entertainment expectations low.

Like mama said when she came over when Edie was a baby, “Of course, she’s laughing. There’s nothing here to laugh at.” With fewer distractions, the sight of passing trees sprinkled with the occasional herd of cow will fill your little ones with delight.

And when our kiddos’ eyes need an extra dose of sparkle we’ll listen to a Sparkle Story. Love this story for kids subscription service!

2. Do Bed and Breakfast hit up if you have to stay somewhere.

Or as my slowly encroaching speech impediment says it ~ “Bread and Breakfast.”

3. Don’t bring many toys with you.

A sister tip to tip number one. This one meaning for once you land to wherever you’re headed to. This one is age sensitive but even when ours were wee we (hee – just typed ‘wee we’!) would just bring one or two favourites and allow grandma’s toys or Tupperware drawer to be the big highlight of the trip. Now it’s a big pad of paper and Mama’s special pens to play with.

4. One bag for each family member.

Half filled please. Makes it more squishy that way and challenges one to get creative with mixing and matching outfits.

5. Double duty toiletries.

Essential oils, face and body wash kills and sanitizes many stinky spots with one stone.

6. Simplify meals on the road.

Breakfast can be dialed down in one word: homemade granola. So easy to make. My recipe: 5 cups of oats, 5 cups of whatever seeds/dried fruit (including coconut flakes) you might have on hand mixed with a pinch of salt, a tablespoon of sugar and a  cup each of canola oil and maple syrup. Bake at 350 degrees for 25 minutes. I’m at an eye ball relationship with this recipe now so you might want to play with it some to get a blend you like. I like to throw in cocoa nibs when it comes out of the oven by the way!

7. Inbreath breaks for the kids.

An overstimulated child equals a stressed out mama. Balance out the high activity days with chilly chill ones.

8. Keep consistent bedtimes.

Though it might be later than usual bedtime, try to keep it reasonable and at least consistently inconsistent.

9. Tap into your own needs, Mama!

The most important one! Breath through any travel related stress, observe it with curiosity and breath through the surprising array of emotions these adventures can present. That and get some napping or solo adventures squeezed into your itinerary.

And know I’d like to hear from you! Please leave your ‘what works for me’ tips below or a totally unrelated question for me to address in a future vlog episode. Happy holidaying!

We are on the road! Each year we take a trip out to the big city to visit the grandparents. It’s always beautiful to fall into my mom’s arms and comfort foods but this time it’s safe to say it was a good call to limit myself to one triple shot latte a day this time around.

These mama’s nerves were getting awfully challenged at the beginning of the trip. I know there are a couple of factors in place (much transition awaiting us upon our return for starters) but I think too I’ve become more sensitive to changes in scenery and routine.

Too much in terms of sounds, visual pollution, different quality in food for this counrty bumpkin~ not to sound like a  snob in reverse but I felt some serious culture shock this time around and combined with the reality that a move awaits us in just a couple of months I pretty much got immediately home sick and even a tiny bit panic stricken the first couple of nights.

Luckily my little four year old reminded me of a tool to move me through some of the discomforts that road tripping with little ones present.

The trip started off with a visit to a rope course high up in the trees as we joined Edie’s class for their year end field trip to this outdoor obstacle course. Craig followed them around and I stayed clear; watching from a far because I knew if I got too close I would not be able to contain myself from saying “careful” over and over again like a parrot with Tourett’s syndrome.

Once I saw that the kids were getting the hang of the course, and after some careful study of the safety net systems, I went all National Geographic journalist and began to creep in a bit closer to the action to take some pictures and video.

When I got right under my little man for some trippy underfoot type shots I was able to hear him muttering to himself under his breath:

“I am brave and true. I am brave and true.”

A  little man mantra!

Pretty cool because it’s not like we sat down for a family meeting with mantra making as a the task at hand. This little practice I just witness was 100% organically grown practice he came up with all on his own. I swear the monks are going to pop up any day and take him away!

Though I wasn’t up there with the kids testing my mental and physical limits in such a extreme, Mountain Dew commercial kind of way, leaving our cozy homestead for a family trip always challenges the homebody persona I have grown into. There is this discomfort and a tinge of anxiety even when we leave the comforts of our family routines and familiar foods, smells and environment. A part of me describes it as homesickness.

But the mantra reminder opens the Another part of me describes it as a yogic edge that I get to explore with curiosity and breathe deep into.

A deep inhale and then exhale a private, or not so private, prayer for what I wish to be feeling a bit more of right now. A little internal stretch and then filling in that space with gratitude for what can be experience and dialed up half a notch more by whispering it so.

If you haven’t had a chance to do so yet, if you sign up for my free ecourse, Ten Days from Crummy to Yummy, Day Two  guides you through a meditation which sets you up with an affirmation of your own. Take a moment to tap into what you want to feel into a little bit more into your life right now and affirm with the statement:

I am a blank-ity blank blank mama.

With all my antsyness at the beginning of this trip I tapped into wanting to feel more laid back, open to adventure, carefree and relaxed. So now…

I am a carefree and laid back Mama. I am a carefree and laid back Mama.

And it’s working and a bit of his brave and true is rubbing off on me too.

Feel free to leave your mantra in the comments below. Bonus points if you say it twice.

Ten months ago I used the example of taking dance classes as my ‘gets my tail wagging but kind of freaks me out’ activity for day seven of my thank you ecourse for signing up for my newsletter: Ten Days to Get You From Crummy to Yummy, Mummy (you can read more about it and sign up here)!

You can play along with me if you want to check out that fear popping video here . Happy to report my fear balloon got popped big time when I got on stage a couple of weeks ago for our end of class performance.

And along with that pop explosion I felt like I’ve sprouted some wings where a bunch of excuses once weighed me down.

The performance coincided with my Mom’s annual spring visit. Last time she saw me on stage I was decked out in a tutu and bunny ears, standing there like a critter paralyzed by headlights, bawling because I thought the audience was laughing at me.

The night of our performance we performed two numbers; a belly dance and a hip hop. My best friend from highschool just so happened to be sitting in the front row because her five year old was performing that night too (we blew them out of the water by the way) which calm me down a bit. I pretended I was performing for her eyes alone and considering how much we’ve embarrassed ourselves together in our youth, I’d survive this too.

I was then able to let go of perfection and just have fun with it. And even get a little goofy (surprise, surprise).

During intermission I was able to join my little clan in the audience and I asked Edie if she was able to tell from where she was sitting that my arms were shaking when they were suppose to be floating ever so gracefully over my head .

“Yep. It looked like you were waving at the audience,” was her brutally honest witness account.

That’s okay. I didn’t pass out on stage which was my chief goal. And my heart and body was expressing huge thanks for taking the time to dance again. My mouth expressed, “Oh god, Craig. I needed that” when I came home from the first class. I felt released from the fears beyond just performing onstage in front of what felt like hundreds. Fears like driving on snowy highways to class, leaving sick kids with Craig some nights ~  leaving the house in general.

I felt this experience has been a symbolic turning the page to the next chapter in my life’s hellava novella.

How I’m envisioning this is I’m dancing out of this slow, luxurious, inside out turning birthing labyrinth and am feeling ready to play again.

This morning I rode my bike to meet a friend for tea. There is a part of the ride I always challenge myself to take on without getting off my bike. I remember from my harder core mountain biking days I use to always mutter under my breath “Hesitation kills. Hesitation kills.” but have noticed these days the mantra has morphed to simply reciting this quote in my head:

Because I’m not on Little Prozac (my bike’s name by the way) everyday (though in the summer I try to be) I notice there are many little ways to dare to scare myself and you can too~

:: tell someone you love them

:: forgive someone

:: apologize

:: let go a little bit

:: say yes to an invite

:: say no to a request

:: wear what you dare

:: indulge in a small treat

:: indulge in a big treat

:: go on a walk by yourself

:: bring up a touchy subject

:: don’t say anything at all

:: enjoy the silence

:: sign up

:: sweat it out

:: start it

::  stop it

:: write it

:: paint it

:: hang it

:: publish it

:: hit send

Next item on my fear balloon popping list ~ speaking in public. Going to check out some Toastmaster action in these parts. Toastmistress has a yummier mummier ring to it though, no?

What’s a dream of yours that gets you a bit tail waggy but kind of makes you want to tuck it in between your legs a little bit at the same time? Leave your fears at the door (or at least in the comments below)!

Inspired by the J Peterman Company catalogue (and thank you to Ash from the Middle Finger Project who reminded me of the genius of their copywriting ~ she’s pretty smarty herself) I  introduce to you the pieces you can create in the re-release of Sew Blissful Mama all JPC style.

From the J Peterman catalogue:

Second Date Dress.

1:14 p.m. (on a Wednesday).

She steps from behind this little voile curtain, tossing her espadrille. We’ve been married 22 years. I can’t just look up from my map of this neighborhood in Florianopolis; it’s handwritten. Her second shoe prevails. I look up.

My IQ drops. Pupils dilate. My amygdala dances as she saunters about barefoot, wearing this fresh sundress solely for my entertainment. Afternoon delight.

The six patterns from my newly re-released sewing ecourse, Sew Blissful Mama:

And with that she hit publish and allowed the swish swoosh of her smock float her away to her offspring. Offspring dazzled by her smock wearing-bliss.

There’s nothing like  a visit from your mom to have you reassess the simplicity that reigns, or is lacking, in your life.

Simplicity, like beauty, in the eye of the beholder I just decided. And that eye is a lazy one at that. Always moving around willy nilly.

My mom’s out here for her annual spring visit right now and with some technical hic-cups like power outages, toilet flushing challenges, dance recitals and general spring crazies, I worry that my life looks anything but simple.

She’s so helpful, being on top of the laundry, vacuuming, dish washing, and fridge cleaning, but with all this helpfulness I find myself self-conscious that my life choices made in the pursuit of simplicity might actually be complicating things.

 I’m not feeling like the Queen of Simplicity Bliss as I brand myself to be.

But here’s where reminders come in handy:

Recalling the big ‘Why’s behind my simplicity seeking choices and how it’s actually created ease in other ways in my life.

::   I milk a cow each morning. Though on paper it sounds like alot of work it’s actually not bad. If I don’t want to milk for whatever reason I simply keep Daisy and Buttercup together overnight. But with my milking chore I get some guarantee alone time each morning, enjoy the dance of the swallows, sink into the blah, blah, blah of my latest podcast download and, of course, down the most stellar straight from the cow latte afterward.

::  I don’t iron because, well first of all I’ve always been scared I’ll accidentally burn down the house but truth be told I’d rather wear wrinkle clothes so I use part of that time to work on my online business/coaching practice which affords me to stay close to the hobby farm fires and contribute to the household income. Oh yeah, not to mention follow my passion for this work and that little calling to help overwhelmed seeking more time to have fun Mamas out there.

::  We’re taking our time signing up our kids for too many extra-curricular activities while they’re still so little. I wonder how it looks that I signed myself up for dance class instead but, hey, Grandma got to see my bust a move on stage Sunday night  (she said she liked our ‘heep hop’ number) and the kids got to see me bliss out on a whole other level. Maybe next year my little ones.

::  And, Mumsy even commented that the dog has more toys than the kids but check it out; these kids really now how to rock pretend food made from shrubbery to play hours upon hours of fairy restaurant. Not to toot my genius hedonistic Mama horn but I planned it that way. All that self-directed imaginary play frees up this mama to sew, garden and write. Big bliss! Usually. It’s creeping back more and more the more that I type.

To carve out the time and space to welcome what you’re craving in your life some corner cutting has to be involved. And when I feel low energy, stressed and under scrutiny I can feel like things are actually more complicated than they actually are.

A simplicity mood swing does just that. It swings.

But it can be tempered by reminding yourself of the time you’re crafting, or maybe should craft, for the important stuff. The stuff that’s important for your own unique family unit.

And that means cutting corners in some areas in your life so you can live in accordance with your values and ideals in other areas. And when my mom comes to visit I can see how she immediately gets busy on picking up off the floor  the clipping remnants. It’s a sweet gesture of love from her.

What’s been great about my mom coming up to visit (other than she’s super fun to hang out with and we all love her) is that it helps bring to my attention the areas I’ve consciously done different int he realm of what my role as mama and homemaker is.

And how simplicity could always be made a little more simpler.

I often daydream of the day of the day Edie makes an honorable Grandma of me. Like way off in the future after she has properly explored her twenties and got party good times out of her system (no pressure). What’s it going to be like to stay over at her place. Is her simplicity seeking ways going to look exhaustingly complicated to me?

I’ll pick up the torch from my Mom. I’ll support here whatever way I can,  play with the kids, or the dogs, while she kicks back and plays with her internal bliss and schemes of blissier ways to be.

I virtually bumped into an old friend of mine on the internets not too long ago (no Craig, I didn’t Google him) and was stoked to see he has a You Tube channel just like me. So I checked out a couple of videos hoping to catch a glimpse of his mug (you know, always curious how people look 20 years later).

But instead of satiating my superficial curiosity all his videos consisted of hours of footage of planes painting the sky in his neighborhood with contrails while his voice behind the camera (hasn’t changed a decibel by the way) mutters angry but creative profanities at them.

Guess what I thought.

What a coincidence. We both grew up hating chem trails!

Living in conspiracy laden central I was introduced to the concept soon after moving out here. I floated into the grocery store one afternoon after gardening all day saying to the check out girl; so strange how I’m feeling so exhausted and spacey these days.

“Chem trails,” she says so matter of factly.

Holy Debbie Downer! Thus my paranoia (in that department anyway) began.

And then last week I went for a bike ride to our local video/new age book/crystal  store. Had a la-la-la experience until I noticed the criss cross patterning forming across the pristine blue expanse over my head. I got off my cruiser, Little Prozac, took my helmet off and shook my fist in the air.

When asked by the video/new age book/crystal store owner how’s it going I answered ‘was going fine, until I saw all those chem trails. Hate chem trails!’

And this man was there. This man who always seems to pop out of nowhere whenever I’m going through some existential crisis. And he said to me;

“You shouldn’t say hate. It changes your body chemistry.”

Thank you! Now chem trails aren’t aren’t only just falling on my head they’re seeping into my body chemistry now.

But I was thankful for the reminder; my reaction to my perception of reality was probably doing more harm than any manufactured sinistery makings. And my heart was then kept open to more gifts of this reframe nature. A beautiful one fell out of the sky just a couple of days later.

After having dinner with my knit night sisterhood last week we went for a walk with our kids down to the river when on the way back we all were drawn into the mind-blowing beauty of the surroundings that is our home.

Framed by this awe-inspiring view was such a plane. Just a spec in the sky. A spec with a long tail.

Just as I was ready to raise my cramping fist for a shaking frenzy my friend pointed out the plane to her toddling daughter.

Awww… look at that plane in the sky. It’s so pretty.

And the genuine tone of awe in my friend’s voice teared me up. It was loving, so trusting. So motherly. I saw the plane through her little girls eyes for a moment. And my kids’ too. What a gift. I was carried away to my own childhood.

Growing up with a dad as a pilot planes in the sky were constantly pointed out to us as kids. We did the obligatory look up, stare for about a minute or two while it passed as my dad and brothers identified what kind of plane it was. I instead was just imagining it to be the same glass model that Wonder Woman flew on Thursday nights.

And we would watch it float by. Its plume following far behind, harmlessly like the remnants of a quickly forgotten dream.

I got transported back to those times with my friend’s words. Transported up to the expanse that is our world, the miracle that a person is flying like a bird over our heads, the joy of being with my dearest friends who are all so amazing and hilarious. I was taken back to a time, no that long ago, when conspiracy theories were just that. Just theories.

Magic reigns once again with  that subtle but powerful shift to awe.

A fun and awesome tool to embrace and use often as a mama is to point it out the miracles of the world that surround us at every moment.

Awe… look, a glass bird flying in the air.

Awe… look at how blue the sky is behind those rain clouds.

Awe… look how that one fluffy cloud kind of looks like a giant, floating wiener dog.

Awe… the river is so bubbly like a bubble bath for fairies today.

There are so many aspects to life that are simply awe-mazing. We just need to pay extra attention to these and point them out.  But not only point them out but live into the energy of the awesomeness of it all. Even when, and maybe especially when, it feels like some engineered clouds have no silver lining.

Take a look around you right now, perhaps out the closest window if you’re tucked cozily inside somewhere and share with me in the comments below something awe-some around you right now.

PS  I think you’re pretty awe-some.

To check out the resentment list making tool I speak of in today’s vloggy vlog you can either sign up for my free day ecourse here (plus get in on my newsletter and all its subscriber only deals including the Crazy Mother’s Day one coming up this weekend) or get access right away to the Day 4 video here.

Have a glorious Mother’s Day this weekend and be sure to spread the bliss thick the whole year through!

I think of the word side-kick and, being a pretty attachment parenting type mama a few years ago, am transported to having  a hefty little one, saran-a-wrapped to my side, whacking me in the kidneys with a wool-encased, chubby hoof.

Those were the days I referred to them as my day-goes. As in ‘they go where where I go’. And they would frequently tell me to giddy up some with a gentle kick to the side.

Side kicks.

And that’s sometimes the essence of being a multi-passionate mama. There’s a cowgirl vibe at the heart of it. I love to lasso and wrangle in all these different life callings and varying needs of all our of our crew members of cute that sometimes the complicated creeps up when really, what I’m truly desiring, and know is most nourishing for the family, is the serenity of simplicity.

With simplicity in our parenting we create the space where bliss can cultivate.

But like riding a pony, sometimes to move in the direction of our desire to lead a more simplified family existence a little side kick to the ribs can at least get a transfer of a weight shift happening and can be delivered in a couple of different ways.

Signs of when I’m in need of a little side kick include having muddled thoughts, being forgetful, seeming snappy (and not as in ‘looking snappy’), showing indecisiveness to the point of tears and displaying sheer exhaustiveness from being pulled in all the directions life demands are tugging from.

And tis the season of complicated.

The garden is going in,  summer holidays are being planned, kid day camps are enticing miniature multi-passionates and the lush spring scenery is simultaneously beckoning us to lay on the hammock and chillax already. But. there. is. so. much. to. do.

What helps during times like these is a bit of a pull back. A pulling back on the reins, taking a breath and then drawing in a gentle side kick. Take a pause to reassess which direction simplicity lives at and point your horsey’s nose to it before you resume at a rodeo princess-style gallop once again.

By inviting in the simplicity side kicks we welcome more space and time into our lives that can be filled up with what really nourishes our mama souls at the cellular level. What’s good for the rodeo princess is also good for the rodeo clowns (the rest of the family in this particular analogy).

Little Side Kicks

::   Ask yourself the small question “how would it feel if my mothering experience was just 5% more simple?” and really turn the crank up on that feeling for just 30 seconds.

::   Check out, if you haven’t already, my free ecourse Ten Days to Get You from Crummy to Yummy, Mummy which offers the best of my coaching tools to help pull you through the ‘does it really have to be this complicated?’ slumps.

::   Have some mamas over for wine and cheese or, if you’re clean like that, some herbal tea and glutton free cookies and have a collage making party and leave the scissors out of reach. Ripping into the images and words that speak to your simplicity seeking soul with full on ripping as oppose to careful cutting really lends to a more intuitive and primal experience. Wear berets and explain the soul of your collage in fake french accents when the wine or cookies kick in.

:: Make an emergency list of what can be simplified for a temporary time period if possible. When Craig goes out of town there are corners I cut so that I’m not laden with too much and age ten years upon his return. For instance; I keep the cows together so I don’t have to milk everyday, chickens go super free range, we eat random ingredients from the fridge for lunch but then have an early supper, dishes are creatively rotated to avoid excess washing, activities are skipped, we all wear the exact same outfit everyday (not the exact same as each other though). This stranded scenario offers a reminder that the world will indeed continue spinning if a break is taken from some of what we might consider absolutes in our lives.

:: hit that hammock and busts some clouds.

Big Side Kicks

:: Check in with your partner and see how your values and ideals are being reflected in your day and day activities and behaviours. Keep the conversation light but productive (*idea: make cookies then when the sugar hits say ‘quickly ~ three of your top priorities at this point of your life or I get to flick your nose’). It makes life so much less complicated to know where you’re partner’s head is at.

::  Go on a Straycation. With the whole family, girlfriends or just by your beautiful self.

:: Hire a coach. I have a a couple of different ones I’ve worked with in the past, and even now in the present, to help simplify different aspects of my life. I’ve had a career coach, life coach, creativity coach, book coach and many others that Craig’s eyes will pop out of his head if he was to read the whole list so I’ll stop now. Yes, there are loads to choose from, but I’ll tell you how I’m a little different (as if you couldn’t guess that by now).

My expertise is honing in on what’s gunking up your mothering experience that’s preventing simplicity from reigning. Then we replace that with bliss. It’s like a bliss transplant and I’m the brilliant surgeon. Or at least the nurse that hands you over the medical devices to you for, come to think of it, you will be the one all scrubbed for surgery.

But don’t purchase now for I’m offering a super huge Crazy Mother’s Day Sale on my coaching services this weekend only. Just  be sure you’re on my mailing list if you want to get a heads up on this and all my subscriber-only specials.

If you can’t wait until then, or are already all coached up,  I now offer all my simplicity side kickage type products in a newly released little bundle, The Bliss Bundle, on my shop page. This should tide you over until the loveable mother madness begins this weekend.

I hope you have a glorious Mother’s day, Mama. Just a little suggestion;  like my birthday I like to milk it for about a week so. Begin today. Celebrate your awesomeness a little bit each day this week in a small simple, small way.

A great place to start is to identify where things don’t really have to be that complicated and find the support or shedding of that you need to draw in more of the things that make you giddy-up with giddy.

The question that gets asked alot: how do I manage working from home with small kids?

This is it ~ my Planner Pad daytimer. Like my head it’s different from week to week but always in technicolor (a different colour each day to track my different days’ musings). The design of this daytimer helps keep my non-linear brainwaves waving in a nice, parallel fashion at least.

So there’s no time a-wasting when it’s Bliss Beyond Naptime tasking time!

I switched over to the Planner Pad system two pads ago  and I can’t go back. It’s all funnel-y which I love because everywhere I look these days a funnel analogy follows me. Funnel in the complicated and allow simplicity to drip out. Wear funnel neck tunic top and Craig making fun of me drips out.

All the areas of urgency I feel in my life (anything that is outside the realm of simply being mama) is written across the top of the page and slowly begins its slow drip down to my daily to do list. And I try to only allow for three because three feels managable. If I see more than three I make myself put little stars on three items and if more than that gets accomplished ~ awesome. If not ~ so what? There’s always next week. You just simply turn the page.

Here’s my typical morning routine to give you some insight on how I make all this magic happen:

:: I wake up before anyone else, make a latte, come upstairs to my office and open up the Mama Pad (sounds so much feminine don’t it?).

:: I see what I’ve marked down as my top three ‘should do but don’t sweat it if I don’ts’ that I’ve marked down the night before (fig.3). I meditate on those three but if I don’t see them I scan the top of the page for contenders for these spots where there’s space to assign columns for up to seven categories in my life.

My life categories are constantly changing. Like, every week.

For instance this week my categories read: Kat (my virtual assistant), Newsletter (ideas for), Filtering (my current ecourse), BBN (stands for Bliss Beyond You Know What), woah, Kat again (she assists me with alot ~ so really my secret is Planner Pad plus Kat), and… Life (filled with dog and kid related appointment making type to-do’s)

Other categories sometimes include just plain old Kids, Blog Posts Ideas, Guest Posts, Clients, Nelson (list of to-do’s for when we next go to town), Xmas, Current Ebook/Project. Love how the essence of this formatting reflects the fluidity that is the life of a multi-passionate mama.

It’s fun flipping through it occasionally to see where my focus has landed over the last year and seeing how these goals are chipped away little by little because the next step after writing out all the notes of the life categories (Fig. 2)

What I love about this system (other than the option to get your name embossed on the cover)  is the funneling energy. Literally I can see how my energy gets funneled from brainstorming play to the small steps to take to meet those goals.

Then these steps filter down to Fig. 3; which I mentioned before ~ the specific to-do’s I like to review before I turn off the lights in my office to sit on the coach with Craig before bed and braid each others hair for a few hours before we turn in.

Again, I see how those top three tasks resonate with my energy of that new day as I check in too with scheduled appointments.

It’s an interesting mix of logical sequence and abstract randomness. Kind of like mothering.

And that’s where this assists in the balancing my two passions of my work at home and being a present as possible Mama. It highlights how everything can be broken down to small tasks. Three small tasks are doable. And partially because of this I’m more motivated to get to bed as early as possible so I’m as fresh and focused as a Sunday morning pancake when my time to work presents itself and I get to say good morning to  ‘PP’ (my decided new name for my Planner Pad) and do what it tells me to do.

Would love to hear from you now. Two ways please!

1. If you have a second please fill out my online annual survey. As a thanks for that you get a link to a podcast I created featuring some somewhat silly simplicity musings and my favourite summer flavoured songs and the chance to win a $25 gift card to Amazon.com

2. Second way, let me know in the comments below: What’s your secret is to keeping your to-do’s under control?

When I first quit my day job to teach yoga full time twelve years ago  Craig busted me a few times on the couch watching The View between classes which, to put it bluntly, appalled him.

Finally he took the wire cutters to the cable cord and *snip*. Just like that ~ I was cut off.

But the man is not totally heartless. He did revive the cable when he came home from work early one day and witnessed me pathetically holding the severed wires together so I could catch a particularly juicy episode of Oprah.

But then we had Edie and I had a change of heart.

I remember the moment I told him I agree. We should get rid of the tv.

I was staring out the window as we were driving home from visiting the land we just purchased. For weeks we were immersed deep in nature, cuddling at night inside our candle-lit camper, laying out the blueprint of our dreams together.

These dreams meshed more with a tv-free home.

I decided gazing at the beautiful landscape we were leaving that I wanted this to be part of the change I wanted to see in the world. I wanted my kids to be deeply talented at self-directed and cooperative play and to build up their imagination muscles.

And I don’t know if it’s a sign of becoming an old fart or what  but it also seems like kids’ shows aren’t the wholesome offerings they were when we were growing up . And I know they weren’t offered 24/7.

So we gave our brand, spanking new tv to my mom and haven’t looked back. Instead we looked forward to using our laptop to watch rented movies and HBO series we love. And the kids too occasionally get to watch shows but it’s nice because ~ no commercials! And we can afford a little more control on the quality of shows they end up watching.

But after talking to some friends and clients it looks like our tv or not tv partner dynamics might be a little reversed.

The trend seems to be that it’s usually  the Mama who’s the instigator in the tv toss out idea with Dad being not so onboard. So delving from my experience as the cut cable cord holder on-er, here are some pointers on how to gently introduce the idea of creating a television-free home if you’re partner still wants to suckle at the boob-tube:

1. Print out this article and leave it by the toilet :: Things get read if strategically placed and offered in bite sized pieces.  The American Academy of Pediatrics discourages media use for children under 2. This article is laden with reasons why the longer we delay the introduction of this element of modern life the better. Footnotes galore, and solid, scientific proof that can’t be too heavily argued because it’s also so intuitive.

2. Suggest baby steps :: Craig got the Family Drama Queen award that day he went pruning scissors happy. Not recommended. It was a little shocking to my delicate, The View-watching psyche at the time. Some small steps might include covering the device with a cloth or piece of fabric; cancelling the cable or satellite tv subscription or moving the darn thing to a more inconspicuous place in the house.

3. Work an angle :: Knowing your partner, get creative on presenting reasons to take on these babysteps. Bring up how much money per month you’ll save by cancelling cable . Make a list of all the different things the kids can be doing instead of staring gape mouthed on the couch. Plant the seed that, as a team, your core values will be the prominent ones reigning the household. Or, an angle that always works in these parts, tell your partner that being in a tv-free house turns you on.

4. Suggest a trail period :: How about sending the tv on a retreat to the basement or to a friend’s in a temporary need? A few weeks is the minimum to accommodate potential withdrawal symptoms. Ideally, take it away for the summer to go with the flavour of the ‘get outside already’ season. Or even better yet, start now in the spirit of International Screen-Free Week.

5. And if in the end it stays :: Set up boundaries around when it’s allowed on and the types of shows the kids are allowed to watch. And then encourage your partner to watch the shows the kids are particularly drawn to so they know what your parenting persuasiveness is up against.

Our homes are such sensitive eco-systems. An invitation of one entity, or the elimination of one, can really shift the vibe for the better or for the worst. Sometimes it takes an actual, physical removal to see how things can be, even for just a limited time. But take the time to see for yourself if it’s a worthwhile change or if things are fine just as they were. You can always revert upon observation.

But, it’s important to have team support for this one. And if it the tv stays, don’t throw out the husband with the bath water. Keep the lug and simply model yourself responsible, age appropriate, viewing habits.

PS  If you need more support in this quest to simplify your home in this particular realm Filtering ecourse begins this Wednesday! I do hope you can join. Right on time for Screen-Free week. Total fluke ~ swear to Oprah!