Life Fails and New Ideas for the New Year

Last week I asked a few questions on Instagram stories as a bit of an informal reader poll. And as usual, you all were so helpful! I asked for suggestions on what type of content you’d like to see more of or read more about this year and honestly, you gave me so much more credit than I probably deserve. 

It was great to hear that you still want to see more style and outfit inspiration, as well as more makeup and beauty recommendations. There were also quite a few requests for hair tutorials and hair products. And many of you also wanted more life updates, kids product recommendations, and insider info on how I do all the things. (I'd love to hear any other ideas in the comments in today's post.)

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SWEATSHIRT (sold out) // JEANS (similar pair) // SHOES // EARRINGS // SUNNIES // COAT
PC- Sarah Sweeney

I am so honored when I get messages asking me for recommendations on stuff like what to buy a boy for a birthday gift to how I deal with fighting kiddos. It matters to me that my advice matters to you because, although most of what I share over here is outfit inspo or a hair tutorial, I do deal with all of those real things too. We still have kids who fight or don't pitch in at home. We still have an impossible time getting kids to bed at a reasonable hour and we still have disagreements as a couple. But I am always working on finding better ways to do things, ways to progress and to do things with my top priorities in mind. So I hope I have something helpful to say in a lot of areas! While it may look like I have it all together based on what photo I choose to post, I always want to share the bad with the good. Some bloggers seem to not only be great at home decor and shopping the best sales, but also magical sleep whisperers and fantastic organic cooks. Their blogs have tips for doing everything and anything just right, and I'm over here like, yeah I'm not an expert at all of the things. So I only post the things that I know I can give great advice about. My babies never sleep through the night early on because I'm not a pro at that.  I'm sure there are a few things I could learn there, but until I do, I won't be posting anything like "5 Ways to Get Your One Week Old To Sleep Through The Night". If it ain't happening here, I'm not posting about it. My boys go to sleep later than I admit even to myself and they definitely pee all over and around the toilet seat. I use paper plates at almost every meal and I'm not into coupons anymore.  In fact this week, our heater wasn't working and I called the heating and cooling company. They came out to see about the problem and informed me that our propane tank (which heats our house and powers our stove top and a few other things) is on empty. Not a good thing when it's 20 degrees outside. We moved into this house last Summer and while we knew the house used propane, we didn't know how to monitor the tanks fullness or when it would need a refill. Well, now we know.  Apparently it needs to be filled about once a year and it's most expensive to fill it now and the propane company is booked out for a week. #notgood So we are using space heaters and our oven and griddle in the mean time and hoping they schedule us in soon. On top of that we had an ice storm last night that I wasn't expecting which kept kids home from school and caught us without milk, bread, butter and oh yeah- propane to heat our house. Ah real life.  What else happened this week?  Oh, I washed a nighttime diaper (again) and it made a HUGE mess in my load of laundry.  I sprayed a tee with wrinkle release spray only to find out that my MIL had refilled the bottle with a bleach solution. Bummer.  I finally paid our electric bill that was only three months late.
I still have a few doctors' bills to pay that are also a few months late. I've blown the breaker in our living room twice in the last 24 hours by plugging in way too many things.  Yeah, I could go on. :) So all that to say, we have our life together about as well as the next family. It's messy to have lots of kids and run a business and yet we still love it. I do have some posts in the works about the hacks that I use to keep life moving along, keep the house decently clean, keep kids thriving and also work full time. I told Soren the other day that I think I cut more corners in the name of progress than anyone I know. But it works! Most of the time! And if it doesn't we learn and move on.  So if there are topics you want to hear about this year please leave a comment or send me a message. I would love to share more and although time doesn't always allow it, I always appreciate the suggestions!