What’s saving me lately

Some days it feels like I fail at everything or just barely manage to hold everything together. Other days, everything falls into place perfectly and there is like a cheerful rainbow or a wonderful soundtrack following me around all day (those are so very rare!) I thought I would share some of the things that are making my life easier with you this week to a) make a reminder for my future overwhelmed self and b) maybe give you some ideas to help make your life easier as well.

1) Magnetic Student Driver Sticker

If you have a teen driver, do yourself a favor, spend $6.99 and get this magnet. I cannot tell you how many times Emma has driven a little bit too slowly while we are out practicing and then of course someone begins to follow her too closely or aggressively weaves around behind her, in hopes this will speed her up (morons…) This stresses her out so much! But….if we slap on this sticker, 90% of the time, the person behind us gives us more distance or even better, will just go around us. **I say 90% because there are always a few charmers who get angry to be driving behind a new driver and will zoom by shooting us dirty looks.

2) Meat Grinder

I had five huge roasts left over from the cow my dad had butchered last year and needed to use them up before the newest cow gets processed. Luckily I remembered my parents owned a meat grinder, so I borrowed it and turned the roasts into ground beef. This was a good thing actually, because I was down to two pounds of ground beef left in my freezer and beef prices are crazy right now. The meat was a little lean, but still perfectly okay. To make it even better, I promptly cooked the beef and now I have 5+ pounds of cooked meat ready to go in the freezer. **Having already cooked meats on hand is a life saver if the day gets away from me or heaven forbid we lose power for days and have to use our grill for all our meals (This happened to us after the 2011 tornadoes knocked out our power for almost a week!)

3) Podcasts

I have fallen in love with podcasts. I actually look forward to handwashing my dishes in the evenings because I get to listen to a podcast while I do it. My favorite ones are the Read Aloud Revival with Sarah MacKenzie and What should I read next? with Anne Bogel. Yes, both are about books. But I love books! Also, I get to hear from bookish people and get new recommendations everyday. What could be sweeter?? **Our dishwasher died over a year ago and we chose not to replace it. Mostly because we seem to be cursed when it comes to dishwashers and have to replace them every 3 years or so. I have found if I listen to something, I do not mind doing them by hand at all. Also, it saves us almost $30 on our power bill each month:)

4) Gravity Falls and The Last Airbender

Yes, those are cartoons, but they are so good! And both of my kids enjoy watching them, so it makes for a peaceful day when we can all watch something together. **I personally think that Gravity Falls is the last great animated television show produced….besides Curious George of course (I love him!) There is so much crap out there today!

What are you loving lately??