Let’s Gear Up for the New Year

Speaker 1: 0:07

Hey, cuties. Oh, I forgot to fill up my water. Okay, one second, I'm back, cutes. I know I would be so sad if I started without my water. And also, we need the Christmas vibes. Okay, cheers, cuties, some water for me. Take a sip of water for you. I'm just going to stretch my mic out. I'm doing this if you're watching me YouTube with my foot. Okay, delicious, welcome back to Five Years Time Podcast With me. Your host, grace. I'm so excited that you've joined us.

Speaker 1: 0:44

I have no idea what day the week we are on. I already know that I messed up Tuesday's episode by saying that it was Monday and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, but it doesn't really matter because you might be listening on a totally different day of the week. I also am realizing that my iPad is on me iPad, me iPad. Ain't trying to use that. My iPad is on low battery, but we're going to make this work.

Speaker 1: 1:11

I think last weeks or last weeks oh my gosh, yesterday's episode you could tell I was really tired. I feel much more refreshed, but I think what I'm realizing is that I am not taking my own advice and focusing on the present moment. I've kind of lost my organization a bit as we lead up to Christmas, our house is literally wild. Oh, it's so wild. It's just like there's stuff everywhere. I think I'm also, as I talked about in the gift giving episode, I'm also feeling like a little stressed because I know I have my pile of gifts hidden. Can't say where they're hidden. I know that there's stuff in all the nooks and crannies right now and I'm really trying to get the clean out on. But I also kind of am busy with things that I need to do keeping up with the podcast, making my daily recipes, and then Rose's done school. Come on out. Hi. Alibi's coming to join us. I know that I'm also done. Sorry, my lighting gets so funny when I open up that door, but I know that I don't even remember what I was saying, but I just oh, yeah, okay, I know that I have time, like after the holidays. Once Christmas is past, there'll be time. There's always time, there's always time. There's even even I'm even just now like it's only Wednesday when I'm recording this. I think it's Thursday when this episode's up, but anyways, I don't even know. But anyways, it's like it's only Wednesday. There's still the week's not over yet.

Speaker 1: 2:46

I have this thing where I always feel like my Mondays and Tuesdays. If you've been listening for a long time, you know that I always do this to myself. I make my Mondays and Tuesdays like so jam-packed with stuff and then the rest of my week usually is pretty open, which is great because it gives me lots of flexibility to like do random things that I need to do or whatever. If something comes up, I can head into the city, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, whatever. But I don't actually need to put that much pressure on myself for Monday and Tuesday. Like I can stretch it over the whole week, right.

Speaker 1: 3:17

But I always do that to myself and then I'm just like so stressed out and then sometimes that like makes me lose motivation or I'm just like stop doing things or I like let down a commitment that I've made, and it's like I need to stop doing that, because I'm feeling that today, Like even today, I feel like I had so much stuff I needed to get done and I was kind of like go, go, go, and I was like I need to get in the studio and record the podcast and then I was feeling like, oh, maybe I'll just do it tomorrow. But it's like I had time, I have energy. I feel good to do it, but just because in my mind I was feeling like, oh my gosh, there's this and this and this and this and this, it just felt overwhelming Like I just needed to stop and not do anything. But actually that's not what I want to do, especially now. I talked about this in yesterday's episode, or maybe two days ago, episode that I am really loving just having slow mornings and really quiet evenings, and so I appreciate that and I need to remind myself that, like once that like four, four, 30 time hits, we really start winding down for the night, we really start relaxing and unwinding and chilling. And I've been going to bed really early, like 839, which I'm happy with because I'm getting my good nights rest in, and then we're having we always wake up early in our house, at least me and Rodeau and so then we're having our early mornings, but we've had a nice long sleep and we're having a relaxing long morning and now that rose on vacation, we get to really stretch out those mornings, which is nice.

Speaker 1: 4:46

But anyways, my point being is that I need to remind myself that come four, 30, I can turn off. That's when I've set myself to turn off, to let go of commitments to, to switch into mom mode and like shut off the computer, shut off the to do list, and I just feel like I'm I'm also in the midst of adjusting to that where it's like at two o'clock it's like okay, I kind of just need to like there's so much stuff, there's so much stuff, but it's like it's going to go on tomorrow. Anyways, that's just a little bit. A little bit for me right now is that I've just been feeling a lot of different things and I really need to start writing stuff down, not just even digitally, I, because digitally I get things all mixed up and mangled and jangled and it's like I need a physical calendar. I keep saying this I've almost bought it like three times.

Speaker 1: 5:39

I used to have one, like a couple years ago, when me, trevor and Ro, when Ro just started school, me and Trevor were both working jobs that were outside of the house. Well, he works from home, but you know what I mean like not working for the home in the home, for ourselves, and I felt like we had so much, like I was. I was just it was coming out of COVID. All of a sudden, life had started again. Everyone had a different schedule and I had a physical calendar and that was really, really helpful. I need to do that again. So that's one thing.

Speaker 1: 6:08

And another thing is I need to start writing down physical to do list every day, because it's just, it's going to get out of my mind, instead of me all day thinking like, oh, I have this and this and this and this, and then getting all mixed and mangled and forgetting what I have to do and then just going to bed at the end of the night with my to do list still circulating and then waking up at three in the morning thinking like, oh, there's so much stuff to do and not being able to have a good night's rest. But this all leads into today's conversation, because we're talking about the new year that's on the horizon and all of the goodness that comes with fresh starts, especially for me. I'm a big lover of fresh starts. But I'm going to talk about that in just a bit, because first I just want to catch you up on a few things that we have talked about in the past couple of episodes and I now have, kind of like have updates on it, I guess.

Speaker 1: 6:54

So one is I did find Rose robot dog at the thrift store. I did. I showed it on my Instagram stories the other day, if you saw it. Oh my gosh, I found the coolest dog in the world. I didn't even realize that it was cool until I got home. So basically I went to Valley Village and I just went to the toy shelf and I quickly looked and I was like, oh, I don't know if I see anything. And then I slowly walked it and I found like three, four, five, I think there were like five. There were a bunch of furry ones and I wasn't sure what they did. And then there was two like actual robot looking dogs and All of them needed batteries. Like none of them were able to turn on. All of them needed batteries, except for this one which I thought was so cool. It looked the most robot, it had the most like movable joints. So I figured in my mind I was like, oh, I think it'll do the most things.

Speaker 1: 7:45

And it was like a USB Plug-in charger and I was like, amazing, we'll have a cable somewhere at home, you know, in the cable bin, and that would be awesome to not have to replace the batteries and just be able to charge it. Like, why not buy it? It was $3.99, four bucks. Take it home, try it out, we'll see, because I did do a quick look online for how much like robot dogs are and they're like I don't know about like a hundred dollars, depending on what you want to do. Like you get ones that just walk, like you have a leash and I guess you can press a forwards button and it'll just walk, but I don't know if that's what you want. I wasn't sure what you wanted. Anyways, I was like I'm not gonna lose on this $4 toy if it doesn't work. It's, I try. Life was okay.

Speaker 1: 8:26

So I brought it home and it was a little messy, like a little dirty, and I was like to Trevor. I was like I'm not gonna tidy it up, like I'm not gonna get out the cloth and the soap until I know what works. And so Trevor looked for a cord. And he act. We actually didn't have one. We do have. We have an e-reader that takes that cord. It's like a chunky Android charger I'm trying to think of what that's called, not a UBC, something else, anyways, but it's like a chunkier one. It's a little bit thicker and we couldn't find it anywhere. So Trevor just ran to the store and grabbed one from computer Canada computers, which is like our favorite place to buy bits and bobs Because it's like so cheap for chords and stuff Anyways, and he plugged it in and it turned red when it plugged in. So we had hope and then an hour later it was able to turn on and it's literally the coolest thing ever.

Speaker 1: 9:09

Trevor found a manual for it and it comes with this training manual. So basically it says dog that you train, and it has like it can hear your voice and then it has sensors on the front of it so it can like see not see, but like it can sense if things are in front of it. And it has a button on its back where you can press it to do random tricks or you can tap its head and it'll have like its eyes light up and communicate to you. So it'll have little question marks and so one of the question mark show you can ask it to do something. So in the training manual there's all these commands you can teach it like so many and it's so fun. It does like play dad. It'll like fully turn over, play dad. Put X's in its eyes and then it'll get back up itself.

Speaker 1: 9:52

It can do fetch. You can like wave an object or a ball in front of it and then say fetch or whatever the command is, and then you throw it and it'll run towards it. There's honestly like sit high, five, everything, like anything you think a dog would do, and then even more. And then it'll sing songs, it'll tell you it loves you, like all these things. It's so fun, I was having so much fun with it and Then you can either just leave it, you can turn it off, or you can leave it on and it'll just roam around like a dog and work, or for a profit if it. If it like bumps into something, or if it sees something or senses a wall, it'll turn. We have like On our back. We have like our rec room kind of has like a few stairs going into it like almost like a sunken, and so it like was in our main basement and then it fell into the rec room part and it just got up itself, like it figured out how to get back up.

Speaker 1: 10:45

It's so cool, so I'm so excited for Christmas. I'm so glad that worked out and, honestly, like I Wouldn't have even known what to get or what she meant, and this is just the coolest thing ever. So it's gonna be so fun. I think I'm gonna put under the tree. My mom had a good idea. I was like I'm just I'm not gonna wrap it, I'm gonna put on their tree and before we run down in the morning, I'll run down quickly and just turn it on so that it's like sitting and barking waiting for her. And my mom was like, oh, you should bow or something on. I was like, oh, that's such a good idea. So, yeah, I'm so excited, so that is so exciting and it was perfect.

Speaker 1: 11:19

On that note, another thing I did at Valley Village. I was just quickly looking for some bottoms, Leggings and things like row. Recently she's going, she's in the midst of like growing from whatever size she's in right now, and I'm really trying to get like when I do laundry, I'm just getting rid of whatever we don't wear, like I'm donating. Or if it's a holy pair underwear, socks, I'm just throwing it out. Like I'm really trying, instead of just putting stuff away and like knowing that the clutter is there, I'm trying to. Every time I fold a load of laundry, I'm trying to be like really thoughtful with like, okay, is this something we wear? Is this something that we wear. Is this something that we're too big for, like whatever? So, anyways, rows, kind of like running low on leggings and stuff, and Recently she's been going through them so quickly whether it be like holes or just growing out of them or getting them really stained and so I just like was like oh, I've never actually thrifted it for rows leggings at Value Village before.

Speaker 1: 12:16

I have thrifted clothing on like a few Instagram shops that are like local people who like go out and curate Kids thrift store, but most of the time I just go to like H&M, or usually H&M, because they have the packs of like three and they usually have a deal like buy to get one or whatever. And or Old Navy online. I don't like going Old Navy in store for kids leggings specifically because they never have any sizes, but online they always have the sizes, anyways, and it's like usually like maximum you get three for like $20, like that's the maximum price, but usually that you can get them less like five dollars at Old Navy event. Pretty sure you can get them $5 a pair of leggings. Okay, at Value Village it was $7.99 for like pretty much every single pair of leggings like I found this really awesome pair that was just like a plain pair of I think they were gray, with a fleecy lining.

Speaker 1: 13:14

I was like awesome, that'll be amazing for the winter time. And she actually just Ripped a big hole into the fleecy ones she has. So I was like amazing, will replace them? I'm thinking it's gonna be $1.99 to $99 max like that's what I was thinking. Looks the tag? I was like $7.99, this has to be wrong. I like look at all the other tags. I'm like they're all $7.99 for thrifted leggings. Like this is why it's hard to be sustainable, because you can just go to H&M and Old Navy and get them for cheaper in the front.

Speaker 1: 13:44

And I was looking at a pair of Carter's ones that were $8 and sure they look like they Hadn't been worn, but $8 at Carter's, for sure they have sales where they're less than that. Like I could not get over that. I was just like because at first I was like oh, there's so much cute stuff here. Like maybe I'll come here first. No, I'm confused. Why do I have to pay more for something that's already been worn, which, like what? It just doesn't make sense. I was shocked by that. So, anyways, I'm so interested If anyone else out there thrifts their kids clothes. Like I know the kids like the baby baby clothes.

Speaker 1: 14:20

You do like the pick a bag and you like fill it up with whatever like they have, like just loose stuff, and I that's why I never really thrifted for Rose close at Value Village, because I didn't like doing the pick a bag stuff. I found it really overwhelming to go through everything. But I was like, okay, the bigger kids clothes is hung up. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, eight dollars. I'm not spending eight dollars. What it didn't make sense to me. I was confused, I feel like that's how much adult pants should be thrifted.

Speaker 1: 14:46

Anyways, I did get her a pair of a couple pairs. I actually went over to the boy section and found that the boy stuff was cheaper than the girl stuff, which I don't understand why. And I did get her a couple pairs of sweatpants that were like $5 each and I was like, okay, fine, but I was really hoping for like $1.99, $2.99, especially kids clothes, because they're just gonna get worn through so quickly. Anyways, I was just like shocked. I hadn't experienced that. But that's my update on the thrift store.

Speaker 1: 15:13

I did get her a pair of sneakers, which was awesome, because she doesn't currently have any shoes other than boots and her pool slides, which she wears when we go to, like the public pool or whatever. But recently it's like it is actually snowy today, but recently it's been such lovely weather or it's just been like not snowy and not super cold, like you don't need to wear winter boots and we don't have any sneaks for her. And then I feel like, oh, she has to clunk around in these boots. So I did pick her up a pair of thrifted sneaks, these nice Nike, so fun, fun color, like they're like pink, blue, white, they're so cute. And there were $2.99. Like, come on, how come the shoes are $2.99? And the leggings, like think of leggings. They're like nothing, eight dollars. I couldn't, I was, I'm confused by their pricing. But anyways, I did pick her up pair of sneaks, so that's awesome, and I washed them and I'll put them under the tree.

Speaker 1: 16:05

But yeah, I think I was just like really confused. I didn't look at the coats, I was. I'm wondering how much like the coats and winter stuff are. We have so much stuff because one of the moms from the school I used to work at who only had one kid she gave me. So she like kept all of her stuff. She's amazing organized woman and she gave me like every size of coat until I still have a few more. I think we still have a couple of winters full of coats and snow pants, so I'm so grateful for that. But yeah, I was just really really shocked.

Speaker 1: 16:33

Anyways, that's the present update. That being said, also, I think I am completely done Christmas shopping, which is amazing. I got our gay gift too. I don't think any of my family extended family listens to the podcast Hopefully not, because I want to share with you because I think it's so fun. So I was walking around, my mom needed to get hers too, and she actually wanted to go to home since to look at something. I was like, oh awesome, I love home sense for the gay gifts because that's where I got the microphone last year and they always have such fun random stuff.

Speaker 1: 17:04

And the hard thing is you always have to think like unisex and kind of think about your whole family as a whole. Like what would everybody kind of like? And I didn't want to just get something to get something, because I personally know that I don't like to like receive, just like something as something. You know what I mean. I think if you listen to my gift giving episode you know. But I landed on.

Speaker 1: 17:24

First of all I was in the. I was going back and forth between like the game section. I did do a quick kitchen section, but there wasn't really anything at the beginning. Then I went to like the soap and bathy stuff. I was like, oh, maybe like a little spa situation if there was something cool that I felt like everyone would use. But then I was like I'm going to go back to the kitchen stuff. And then I got hooked on the Tupperwares and home sense always has the best Tupperwares. Like that's where all my snack containers are from when I do my snack pack videos except for the pink one that is from Zellers, but like my classic gray snack packs, that's where I got those from.

Speaker 1: 17:57

And I always see on TikTok everyone doing the tackle boxes where they take like a tackle box, like an actual tackle box from the like a Canadian tire or hardware store that people put tackle in and make snack packs out of them with like little everything. Like they put all of the crepes, candies, cheerios, like whatever goldfish. They just fill up the whole thing. And I've actually I think I've had a few people comment and being like, oh, you should try doing a snack box. But the one thing that always like made me feel off about that is that I know that that plastic isn't necessarily food grade, so I just didn't want to because it was like.

Speaker 1: 18:34

But I was in home sense today and they have snackle boxes. They like branded them as snackle boxes. The cubes aren't. They're not as small as a tackle box, but they're still like small and there's like I think there's like three, nine, 12, maybe 12 boxes, 12 compartments, and in this one you can actually slide out the things and like kind of make it different compartment sizes if you want. So you could use it for like sandwiches and just like two side snacks or you can use it as the full snackle box.

Speaker 1: 19:04

So I got a snackle box. I'm kind of regretting that I didn't get two because I think it'd be fun to make row snackle boxes. But anyways, I got one. We'll try it out and we'll see if I like it. So I'm gonna make a snackle box. I thought that was so fun. I think I'm gonna go to bulk bar and get a bunch of different stuff and I'm gonna build a snackle box. How cute is that? And then they'll have obviously the snack and then the container for moving forward, for just making their own snacks. But oh my gosh, that's so fun. I was like that's true to who I am. I'm excited to see if anyone guesses if I brought it. I'm excited, that'll be fun if anyone knows. Also, if you're my family, you shouldn't be listening. But yeah, so that's all my updates.

Speaker 1: 19:46

I think I also just finished Love Island, australia. Well, I'm not all the way finished yet. I'm at the parent episode, oops, but I already got spoiled. Who I know who wins, but I don't really care about the winner of it. It's more about just like finding out. The parent episode is one of my favorites, but it's more just finding out who the final like five or four couples are and then looking them up on social media after to see like what the situation is and about them.

Speaker 1: 20:11

But I thoroughly enjoyed the season. There was definitely a big lull at one point for me only because I was really watching it back to back like all day. So there was one day where it was just like oh my gosh, this is so lolling. But other than that, like there was a lot. The boys were irritating me. They always do, and there's so many opinions I have but nobody I know is watching it right now. So if you're interested in watching Love Island, australia, please watch it, because I want you to get in my DMs and I want you to share your opinions. I have so many and I've asked everyone I know who watches. Love Island is like no one's watching this season. I don't know if it's on hey you yet, which is probably why no one's watching it. Trevor found some random thing for me to watch it on, but I'll have to check if it's on hey you, because that's where obviously the Canadian cuties can watch it. But yes, I am enjoying it, or I am about to finish it. So I did enjoy it. And then I need to watch the second half of the crown because that's been uploaded.

Speaker 1: 21:09

But I've just been booked and busy in my own mind. In my own mind, stirring, stirring, stirring. Also, yesterday I took Rota Walmart because we needed to get our teacher gifts and I wanted to get some gift cards, and then I also needed to head over to the LTVO, which is next door. Anyway, it's a long story short is. She loves going to Walmart because she can just walk through the toy aisles. I vouch they need to put chairs in the toy aisles because we literally spent forever. She was just looking at every single thing, which is amazing. I'm so glad she was having fun, but I was like I'm so tired of standing right now.

Speaker 1: 21:41

And it was so funny because we went after school and then when we left it was pitch black, like literally pitch black, which like it's a pretty short window, but it must have been. I feel like it was only 430, maybe it was closer to five, but it was pitch black. And we're always like where did the day go? Like once we got outside, she was like wait, what happened? Where did the day go? And I was like we're coming up to the last. I think today is when you're listening to this it's the first day of winter, the longest day of, or the longest night of, the year. So from here on out, the days are just gonna be getting longer. Thank you, thank you, thank you very much, but I mean it's gonna feel pretty dark for a bit here. Anyways, those are all my updates for you.

Speaker 1: 22:24

Other than that, I apologize for the Jell-O recipe being late. All weekend I was like make the Jell-O Grace make the Jell-O and I just like could not bring myself to do it. It was one of those things where I was just feeling overwhelmed so I was just like avoiding, avoid, avoid doing the work at all costs. But we finally made the Jell-O, so I'm happy about that. I just yeah, I'm sorry about that, I'm sorry I flew off the wagon, but we have some really fun stuff coming up and I think I'm gonna have a special guest for our Friday's recipe, tomorrow's recipe, because my mom I was like, going through the recipes that I had the rest of the week to make, and my mom was like, oh, I'm making that on Friday. And I was like, ooh, maybe I'll do a little run-through with my mom. She can show us how to make it. That would be really fun because, I mean, she showed me how to make everything. So get it from the source, and it's nice to bring families in. So I think that'll be fun.

Speaker 1: 23:23

But let's get into New Year on the Horizon. Can you believe it? I feel like every year I always say this time is going by so quickly. I feel like I didn't even say it this year and actually my mom had said it to me recently. She was like oh my gosh, I can't believe this and this and this, and then I'm gonna be this because she's going on a trip later this winter and so I guess she's timing everything around that and she's like I can't believe this is gonna be coming up so soon. And I was like, honestly, I feel like I don't even focus on how fast time is going anymore, because it just does. It just flies by and I already told you I'm already stressing myself out with my own stuff. So I'm just trying to be more present. But as the New Year comes, I am feeling so much weight and I just know that there's gonna be.

Speaker 1: 24:11

I just really want this winter to be peace on earth. I just want to bring peace into my life. I want to bring calm. I want to energize myself by like removing distractions. I really, really want to build good habits. I think I just need, I'm trying to set these. Really. I'm trying to set clear boundaries between work and moming and taking care of the home and then having time for myself and for me and Trevor, and it's just like I want more. I don't even I guess structure. I want to add more structure, but I want it to be really peaceful, structure, like bring it all back in, just kind of like living, living simple, really simple. And so, for me, new Year's and like New Year's resolutions I was trying to think of what the word is, I am not big on like okay, new Year's Day is the start of the rest of my life. Like that is when I need to start.

Speaker 1: 25:18

I feel like, for me, like if I don't implement something right when I think it I think I've talked to you about this already there's a low chance. I'm going to like talk myself out of it. Like for two days I'm going to feel two, three days I'm going to feel like, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes. And then I'm just going to like talk myself out of it and be like, ah, there's no point. And then months later I'll be like, why did I never start that? I wish I did so I just kind of like to get it started now.

Speaker 1: 25:42

And so one of those things is like really clearing out our house. I feel like I'm talking about decluttering forever. But like I am so serious, I just need to. I need to get serious and I need to work on at least one thing a day, and I'm trying so hard to not feel discouraged if I don't complete a whole room because I'm not going to. I'm not going to, and I know that's the truth. And so what I'm trying to do is like every morning, that's when I have the most energy is like first thing in the morning, what I'm trying to do is we have our breakfast in bed. So chill, so lovely. I'm enjoying that so much, but then I really want to when I make my coffee, just like, have my coffee.

Speaker 1: 26:17

Well, I work through something, and so I actually cleaned out the closet cuties which, if you've seen my Instagram a couple weeks ago and I've talked about it here at my closet was so horrible not horrible, but just like so full, and it was at the point where I was literally shoving it shut. There was always stuff falling out. I had our spring, summer, winter, fall. Everything was in there all our boots, all our shoes, so much stuff and so I actually cleared it out the other morning and it felt so good. I just like was sitting on the couch and our living room was so disastrous at the moment, which I'm happy. I'm blessed and grateful because we're living and enjoying that space, but it's also just like, and because the Christmas tree is in there, like that's taking up space. And then we also brought down.

Speaker 1: 26:56

We have this huge beanbag chair that lives in Rose Room typically, but in the winter it like lives in our living room because it's so nice to put in front of the fire and sit toasty in front of the fire, and so that's taking up a big space in the living room and it's just like there's so much stuff. You have boxes and stuff and there's like packages coming more frequently, and so there's things everywhere and I have all these pictures that I need to hang up, but I know they're not going to get hung up, probably anytime soon, so I need to put them into a box and put them in the basement away for now, because they're just like taking, like it's they're not even taking up that much space on the ground, but like it's filling the space and it's filling my mental capacity and I can't deal. So right now our living room is just like so overwhelming, which is I, it's, it's a love hate, right, because like I'm glad it's being lived in, but also I need to, I need to declutter, declutter. But that being said, I was sitting in the living room the other morning and I was just like looking around and I was like I am feeling so stressed right now. This is just not working me up for the day, or this is working me up. This is not setting my, my mind free. So I was like, okay, I got to get up and do something right now. And so the first thing I did was look at the closet which is close to our living room, and I was like you're mine, and I just like started chucking everything out of it. I filled up two huge garbage bags full of stuff for Goodwill or Valley Village. Well now I'm like value, what's Goodwill's clothing prices? I want to. I want to give to the people who are setting the nice prices, anyways, but for Valley Village, and I am just like so happy about that and that's just like my goal, like truly, I think that's like my big January goal is just really working through everything and I I just want to make sure that every day I am really decluttering because it's just overwhelmed me.

Speaker 1: 28:45

And we also like recently got a few new appliances and I just need to find them homes, like small kitchen appliances, but it's like I need to find them homes or sitting on our counter and it's like I need to actually clean out our appliance cover, like all of those things, all the covers that I don't even go into every single day. I need to like properly clean them out and get rid of things that we haven't used, like in the past year or two or since we moved into the house. If there's things in our house that we haven't used since we moved into this house to do it, who taught Lou? But that's where I'm at right now. I'm just feeling really filled up and I want like of distraction and I just need to remove distraction. And so another thing I've really wanted to do, so I've slowly started doing that.

Speaker 1: 29:31

Another thing I'm really wanting to do this upcoming year and, as I say, as my resolution, remember, I'm starting them now. But another thing I really want to do is just have like a peaceful place for me. Like this area is like I'm so glad that we made the studio last year. We're actually coming up on a year of the studio. I feel like I made it at the beginning of season three. I can't believe we're going into season four, but anyways, I just feel like I'm so glad that I have this area because I'm able to just totally just like close the door and not have to look at my work stuff, and I actually had made this area so disastrous but at one point, but I finally cleaned it up, so we're good. So I'm happy for that. But now it's like I need a me space, a space where I can do stuff, and I think what I want to do is actually I just said a couple episodes and I'm not holding myself accountable to this, but I am going to try it out and see how I like it.

Speaker 1: 30:21

If not that time, then maybe at another time in the day, but I do think that I am going to try and get up before row at five. Recently she's been waking up at six, but sometimes she wakes up at like five, 15, but even 15 minutes to myself would be beautiful and I think I can wake up at five. Fine, I can't wake up any earlier than that. So that's that's what I'm doing, because anything earlier than that is literally the middle of the night. That's ridiculous, that's not acceptable. Like I can't do that. I don't think that's healthy. I think how like for me personally, in my, in my schedule, it's like I should say I'm going to sleep until at least five, but if I could just wake up at five, sneak downstairs.

Speaker 1: 30:58

I have this perfect little corner in our basement which used to it was originally my corner where I had like my yoga ball or my like what is it called Stability ball, the big one, and I would go down there and do my stretching and stuff. And I was so on stretching when I had row before I had row when I was pregnant with her and then after I had row, I was so good at stretching because I really felt the difference in my body and I just feel that too, I feel the stress in my lower back, I feel the need to just have a at least like just a couple of minutes, just a few stretches every day. So I think it would be nice if I could go down there, remake this area into mine, because then, when it was the pandemic, trevor had gotten all these weights and stuff so cause he couldn't go to the gym as we could work out down there. But he actually recently sold those weights or gave them away. I don't know where they went, but they're not there anymore and I'm glad because they took up so much space and they wait my, my, my, my, my, my space, which was fine, I was okay to share, but now it's back to just like being an empty space, but it still has like the bones of what my space was. It's got the mirror, it's got my yoga ball. I'd like to get like some floor tile mat thing, something cushy for the floor, and then I would love it if I could maybe get a little kettle for down there so I can make a cup of sneak down in the morning, make a cup of tea.

Speaker 1: 32:17

I kind of want it to be like a no, a no technology zone, in the sense of I don't want like to look at my screen first thing in the morning. I don't want to have like direct light from like a lamp source. I was thinking maybe I could get like a cause right now it's going to be really dark in the morning, um. So I was thinking maybe I would get like a softer type of light, maybe like one of those sunset lamps or like, um, the star projectors you know those something more softer like, maybe even just like some, um, electric candles what are those called? I guess I could do like actual candlelight, but I always get iffy with candles. I always scared I'm not going to blow them out and I hear they're like bad to breathe in and stuff. So, um, you know, like the, the candles, the electric ones that have like a little remote control, so maybe something like that, some sort of mood lighting that isn't like offensive, or we're going to like be like, oh, and my eyes already, because I look at a screen all the time, like For work and stuff. So it's like and I really don't want to go on my phone first thing in the morning.

Speaker 1: 33:18

I and I'm really I'll talk about this after anyways so I'm thinking, just set up this simple little mat area, get some mats and my stability ball there have a little electric kettle and a mug and some of my teas that are just like nice Healing teas, like I From Engel Hill they have these really beautiful teas that like all have a different purpose and they're just really lovely tasting. But they also like are, like I don't know if medicine is the right word, but like they're. They're teas that are, that are helping you in some way or another, and so make a little steep some tea in those teas. Always it's best to steep them for a long time, so 10 to 15 minutes. So then it's like as my tea steeping for 10 to 15 minutes I can work through my stretches.

Speaker 1: 34:05

I'd like to have a journal down there. I'd like to find a journal. If I can't find it, then I can't find it, I'll just get a plain journal. But I love a journal where, like, one side is like lists, maybe a prompt. I would love a prompt that just gets me a little thought, a little Gratitude thought in the morning, or something like that, and then a list where I can write Like my to-do list, and then I'd love one the other side to just be like a plain piece of paper so I can kind of like doodle and Because I love like doodling and coloring and stuff like that, so oh, I would love it if it had like coloring page. That would be so nice, because that's like almost mindless, where I can just like work through my thoughts after I've done my little prompt and my little to-do list and then I can just like color. That would be amazing.

Speaker 1: 34:50

I don't know if that exists, but I want to find some sort of journal like that and and then I can just like spend so as my teeth, teeth steeping, I can do my stretches and then I can do my, get everything out on my paper. So I have start with a clear mind, do some breath work and then just sit and have my tea, and if I can get that done, like I might even have 30 minutes one morning, but if I only have 15 minutes or 10 minutes, then I can at least get a little bit done and then row can know to come downstairs and find me there. That would be Perfection, like literally. I just feel like I would love that. I just think I would love doing that, and it's in our rec room. So then when row comes down, we also have a mini fridge down there near Trevor's desk, which is in the basement, and so even I could put in the mini fridge if I want to get really organized some yogurt cups and milk and Fruit, like things that row would eat for breakfast or just like a quick snack, because you know we have 12 breakfasts every morning not not 12, but like at least three. Like we were a grazing kind of time type of family. I also think it's just a kid thing, but where she could have her first graze, and there's obviously the TV there too, so she could watch a show. She also has a play space down there so she could even play. I really want to do that. So that's something I really want to start working on implementing, like ASAP, a SAP.

Speaker 1: 36:09

Even the other day I sent Trevor to winners to look for something for Hopefully she doesn't listen to this, but anyways and he called me to FaceTime me and show me the options of things. And then I had seen in the corner that they have the tiles, like the Little workout tiles, like they're like these foam tiles that you can put down on the ground, and I was like, ooh, but I hadn't measured the space and like it's kind of an awkward space, so I wasn't sure if those were the right ones. They might have been too big to fit, I mean, it might need smaller ones. So I was like, oh, but they do have them out there and that's something I would really love. So that's something I really want to implement into the new year, like just like I used to be so good at that, especially when we were in the condo and it was just me and Trevor, because it was easy for us to find your own space.

Speaker 1: 36:52

But now we're in the house, it's like there we have so much more space, but we don't have any doors that close really between our layers, so it doesn't feel like you ever get on the loan moment and then like the only time I could would be able to have like the basement to myself, even though it's just that corner, I want is like first thing in the morning, or maybe sometimes at nighttime, because Trevor works downstairs, so it's just like hard To like. It's like I really want it to just be my alone, by myself time. So that's something I really, really want to implement and I'm kind of so looking forward to it. And so that's one thing where it's like it's on my mind every morning. I'm like I just want that. I want to do that, I want to get started, but I have to like what do you call it? I have to Make a prioritize list because there's things that I need to get done before that, but I am going to start doing that super soon, hopefully. I'm so excited.

Speaker 1: 37:45

As I was talking about that, there was one more thing that I wanted to also start, but I can't remember. So I want to get my calendar going. I'm in my declutter era and I want to create that me moment every morning when I just spend time with myself. Oh, I remember what it is, where I just spend time with myself and without technology. Oh, another thing I wanted to get for that area. I was thinking when I was at Valley Village I was like, oh, I should check if they have them. But I was thinking I might get a CD player, because I really would. I think it would be nice maybe to have some like Viby music Playing in the background softly. Well, I go through like a stretch circuit, but I don't want to go on my phone and I don't want to like hook up to a bluetooth speaker because I don't want to look at my phone. So it's like, maybe if I can just get a little CD player and then Either burn myself a CD or like find a CD with the vibe I want on it and then I just have to press like play, that would be awesome. So, yeah, that's some ideas I'm having, because I really wanted to just be like a Technology free zone in the sense of like screens and stuff like that and like being access to social media, emails, text messages, people. I don't want access to anybody, so that, on that note too, I want to start not having my phone On my bedside table anymore, and this one's going to be tricky because a lot of the time I'll fall asleep with row and I listen to a podcast when I'm putting her to sleep.

Speaker 1: 39:09

I usually listen to a podcast when I'm going to sleep all the time. So I need to, I need to one lose that habit. Not for row I have to listen to, I don't have to, but if I'm laying with row, if I'm not listening to a podcast, I will 100% fall asleep. So I just need to be better at maybe not falling asleep with row. But I want my phone, maybe even not even upstairs, like I think I want to set up a charging station, because right now I really don't have a charging station on my side table. Ever since we came home from Italy Our charging cables, we were moved everywhere and now we just really haven't set up a good situation. And I used to have a wireless charger I still do, but now I have an octobuddy on the back of my phone so I can't really wirelessly charge.

Speaker 1: 39:47

Long story short is that I want to put my phone somewhere that's not by my bed and it's like I want to maybe even just leave it on the main floor. I think that's what I'm going to do. I think I'm going to set up a charging area on the main floor when I'll plug in that and then I'll have my e-reader next to my bed and I'll read to go to bed. That's what I really want to do and I love reading to go to bed. It's like perfect, it really puts you to sleep. And then if I ever wake up in the middle of the night I don't, I'm not, I don't feel the urge to go to my phone I'll read a chapter of my book and I'll fall asleep so quickly. So it's like I need to do that. I just really need to do that. So that's something I'm going to implement.

Speaker 1: 40:25

And I used to always be worried like oh, but what if somebody needs something in an emergency or whatever. And I always just think like, like, I do think worst case scenario, like okay, what if someone dies in the middle of the night? Like that's bad, but I do think like that because I've experienced something similar to that. But like it's like if that happens, like there's nothing I can do about it in the middle of the night, and Trevor will always have his phone, and like I guess I could put it on volume. Honestly, I'm not even stressed. It's like if something happens, something happens like what can it? What is me having my phone going to help doing I don't know? So, yeah, I just like don't want, I'm going to put my phone. I'm going to set up a charging area somewhere. That's on our main floor, either in our kitchen, our kitchen. Actually, that's a great idea. I should set up one in our kitchen because I always need to charge my phone in the kitchen, because I'm always recording in the kitchen. So, yeah, that's actually a great idea.

Speaker 1: 41:17

And we have a perfect little nook. We have a nook where are, like what is it called? Our microwave and our blender sit and our KitchenAid mixer. They all sit there and it's just like this little like. That's the only really cluttered area. It's not even that cluttered but like I really don't like stuff on the counter. As you can tell, I get stressed out with things being around me. So that's really the only area that like has a lot of stuff, but it's like kind of out of the way. It's not, it's not really a usable space because it's kind of like in the corner. So, anyways, that would be a good place to set up a little phone station where I keep my AirPods and my phone to charge and I just keep it away from the bedroom.

Speaker 1: 42:01

Okay, I'm so excited about that. Okay, so these are the things that I'm implementing for the new year and I really, really, really am excited. Like I'm just excited to touch grass, like that's what I feel like I need to do. I just need to like turn off my mind and really get things out on paper. Okay, there's one other thing that I want to start in the new year that I'm kind of super duper nervous about, and every time I like almost want to make the jump. It's like I can't. It's like okay, yeah, let's do it, and then I get nervous and that's therapy.

Speaker 1: 42:37

I think that I really want to start therapy, but then I also always get caught being like mmm, mmm, and I don't know what I'm scared about. Like, I think what I'm scared about is the unknown, probably, and that's what it always has driven me, my me fear. That's what's always driven my fear is not knowing, and for me I don't even know if it's like in my mind I think like okay, this is what they're going to talk about, like this is what, but like I don't know what we're going to unlock, but mainly it's like I just don't know what the what it's like. Like I've never done it before. I don't know what it's going to be. Like I don't know what kind of questions and conversation they're going to have.

Speaker 1: 43:13

I'm also like an open book. I'm super easy to talk about, but I kind of I think also I kind of just don't know what I want to talk about. You know what I mean. Like I I think that I want to just work on being like a. Really I want to work on a lot of things, but I want to work on balance and just like setting myself up with tools and processing and just like there's a lot of stuff, and like I want to work on how I receive feedback and how I work through things and conversations and lots of different things.

Speaker 1: 43:46

But I don't know exactly like what? The driving force of like what's like stopping me or all of that stuff. But it's like I don't know, like it's I think it's just I don't know. And then every time I get nervous, there's this I might try hypnotherapy. I don't know. There's a few things I'm just like I just need to start and like I know that it's one of those things that you have to work through, like Trevor's Mr Therapy. He is like the king of mental health and taking care of his mental health, like I'm always so like amazed and proud of the work that he puts into himself and like he is like a huge influence in my life in that sense. And it's just one of those things where it's like okay, I should do it too, I should try, yeah. So I know that it takes time and that you, that you like it might take a few therapists to get through, and like I do think I want to go in person.

Speaker 1: 44:42

I'm always up for an in-person thing, especially since I'm at home all the time. It's nice to have an in-person thing. Oh, sorry, I forgot you were here. I stepped on Alibi she's been so quiet, laying by my feet, um and I stepped on her. I mean, I just booped her a bit, but yeah. So I just feel like that's one thing I really want to do and I'm just nervous. I'm just nervous, but I want to do it. So that's something I should start setting up appointments for now, because even if I can't get an appointment till the new year, at least I've made an appointment. And Trevor did this thing recently when he was switching over to new therapists, where he actually set up like little intro appointments where he just did like 15 minute phone calls with a bunch of different ones and then made his decision. So that's something I could do too. But it's also one of those things where it's like I haven't been yet, so I don't know what I'm looking for. So I know it might be a trial and error, but I'm open to it. I'm just nervous.

Speaker 1: 45:33

So that's what my new year is looking like for me is just really finding peace and simplifying and just like I can feel myself wanting and feeling the need for things that actually don't matter. And then I feel myself getting overwhelmed when it's like I'm on my phone for too long or like I feel social media is really like weighing on me and like making me feel things that are like negative or like currently, so much stuff is just it's just so loud right now. I just feel so much noise in my life. So I'm just really trying to like simplify, quiet, center. I want our family to be the goal, like my heart, my whole right now, and I want to like kind of shut out anything that's making me feel like there's not enough, for I'm not enough or I don't have enough or anything like that. Because, like I am so rich in love and just like the beauty around me, like I am, so I have so much goodness and I'm so grateful and I literally have my dreams in my hands right now and I just don't want to take that for granted. So I'm just trying to center myself in this year is really about that, like just finding that center.

Speaker 1: 46:58

And then my final last one also now that I just talked about that is that for so long I felt like, oh, I don't, I'm lonely, I'm missing friendships. I wish I had close people in my life, and I agree with that. But also I all of a sudden, just like this thing clicked where, like I have the most amazing friends. I'm so grateful for all of them and we have this beautiful relationship where we don't have to see each other all the time. We all we don't get to see each other. I would love to see each other more often, but like when we do see each other, it is so rich, it is so warm, I am so grateful for the friendships I have in my life. Like truly makes me emotional thinking about it because, like I felt like for so long, I think also because, like, becoming a mom can feel isolating and then, obviously, moving away from, like, where your central group of friends are, but like I have friends all over and I am just so grateful for all of them and I'm so grateful because I know that I can always just pick up the phone and call them and set up a get together, a coffee date, a hang out, a sleepover, like I am rich with love in my life and I am so grateful for that. So it's just one of those things where it's like I just feel like I want to focus on the beauty that's in my life which I am so beyond grateful for. And so this year, moving forward, it's just like I just want to center myself in the love that exists around me because it is so beautiful, and I want to shut out the noise and the clutter and the distraction because I am just like tired of the circle of feeling not enough or I don't have enough for the wants, and it's like I don't care, like I am so, so, so, so happy for what I have, like I truly am, and I just want to sit and bask in that beauty and feed into those lives around me, and I think that I just need to shut out, shut out the noise. So, yeah, that's what I'm so excited for for 2024. I can't wait, and I just can't wait to make my cup of tea and have my quiet mornings and getting my phone out and just creating good habits. Oh, I can't wait. So, yeah, that's what I'm really looking forward to. Thank you so much for being here.

Speaker 1: 49:21

We got to talk about the recipe of the day cuties. I'm so broken excited for this recipe Cute we are. This isn't my recipe. I had to look it up. I told you when we came home from Italy I was going to find the perfect Genoa focaccia, because I had made focaccia in the past before and it was delicious. But then we went to Italy and the focaccia there which is where it comes from, is Genoa was like heaven on earth. I have never had focaccia so delicious and people told me like when you go there, it's going to taste different, not in a bad way. They just said you're going to, it's not going to be like what you've had before. It is so good. I found an amazing recipe that, like matches it beautifully and I am going to share it. I'm kind of friggin obsessed with it.

Speaker 1: 50:07

I am trying to. I'm trying to start a tradition where I make it every, because you can make it on like a night, like you can make it and let it rest overnight in the fridge to rise, or you can make it and have it rest on the counter and have it in like an hour or whatever, but like you can have a slow 12 hour rise and do it overnight and then make it fresh in the morning, which is just like the Italian dream, like literally make cappuccino so delicious. So I'm trying to make a tradition of doing that every Saturday, or at least like on the weekends, just because that's when we can have like our slow mornings with Trevor and everybody, everybody I gave me and Rosie. But like I'm trying, I only have done it once and then I just am feeling so overwhelmed right now but I'm hoping in the new year that that is something that I carry out. Another resolution, but I'm going to share that with you because I made for Becca's last Wednesday night dinner before her Christmas break.

Speaker 1: 51:02

I made this appetizer because she wanted to do an Italian night where I make everything we learned in Italy, I made an appetizer, which is focaccia a ball of barata and some meats. It was unbelievable, like I look. The second I sat down and took a bite, I was like I want this every single second of my life. It was so freaking good. The focaccia is super easy to make. It's a really forgiving bread, I find, and I am just so excited for you to learn how to do this, because I think you're going to work in love it.

Speaker 1: 51:33

If you've never had Genoa style focaccia, you have to try this one. It's so good. Get out your olive oil, because we need a lot of it. Cute. So I'm so excited to share this recipe because I'm also just so excited to eat it myself and since Rose off school, I wonder if she'll want to make it with me. She'll love doing that, putting the dimples in the bread. But that is our recipe of the day. Cuties, I'll be back tomorrow. Oh my gosh. Tomorrow's Friday, friday, saturday, sunday Three more episodes. I can't believe that this whole days is going by so quickly. I love you all so much, sending you hugs and kisses. Also, the recipes are posted over on Instagram and TikTok. Five each time focaccia.