Kathi Lipp's Blog, page 91
September 22, 2015
Parents Guide to Decluttering: Stage Two – Toddlers
A Series by Paula Tobey
How many times have you literally just picked up all of the toys, quickly threw them in the toy bin, only to turn around after one minute (literally one minute- and you know this because you are re-heating your cold coffee in the microwave) to find your toddler has pulled out all of the toys you so desperately wanted put away?? AAugghhh. Again!!
Such is the life of a mom with a toddler- or two! Yikes, I remember those days. They were also a blur. It may be because I was sleep deprived, but either way, what I do remember is that it was hard!
I’m here to tell you- there is HOPE! And this hope comes wearing a cape. (Enter SuperMom)
The super mom I speak of is the one I imagined myself to look like, if I had my life all together when my girls were toddlers. So here is what MY SuperMom did. (For me, this did become a reality but not until the girls were older and not toddlers anymore).
Parents Guide to #Decluttering: Stage Two – Toddlers #clutterfree #parenting
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Declutter the toys-
Toys are something that your child needs developmentally and socially. However, when the toys no longer serve that purpose and they are crazy clutter, it is time to part ways. (Maybe slowly because if the child knows they are gone, s/he may turn into the Tasmanian devil). Nap time/ MDO is a perfect opportunity to go through the toys. I started doing this monthly when my girls were in preschool and it was wonderful! Get rid of the excess (ones missing pieces or are just not loved).
Have a BTH day-
No not bath. B.T.H., Bless the Home Day. This is a day (or a few broken up) where you dedicate to cleaning. Blessing the Home means you are bringing peace, organization and happiness to your home. You are literally pouring blessings onto your family by having a clean, neat space for them. (When I first wrapped my brain around the idea of a home blessing, my whole attitude changed about cleaning! REALLY. Try it!
Hoe out closets–
I did this (till it was bare or next to bare) twice a year. Winter and Spring- now I have the kids help. We see what fits, what doesn’t, what has stains, holes etc. and get RID of all the clothing that is not working. We bag up most of it to donate and throw out the things that are- well just that bad. There is something so freeing about looking into a closet that is organized! (If you are looking for help, I have a video on YouTube about it).
Help Mommy Clean–
My girls have always been great helpers. When they were little, the ‘help’ was not always that helpful but I realized they felt empowered when they helped with chores. I looked into routines for kids by ages and what I found surprised me. Kids can really do a lot of things at a young age if you actually LET them. Perfectionism is usually what stops that. Don’t be a perfectionist. Just let them help! Chose one thing at first, then two, then more things that they can help you with. Maybe it’s sorting and matching your Tupperware lids to bowls, maybe its folding towels and wash cloths. Let them help you! They feel good, you get more things done, and truly it is a win, win!
Just remember, what makes you a SuperMom is not getting it all done all by yourself in order to be recognized as a hero and awarded a medal (wishful thinking, right?) The goal is that you have a happy home full of love and laughter and some very little people who desperately want to please. So, go ahead and let them! Now that is what I call a Super Mom!
RELATED RESOURCES
Want even more ways to get rid of the clutter and start living the life you were designed to live? Get Kathi’s book Clutter Free Quick and Easy Steps to Simplify Your Space!
What are your best decluttering tips for before baby? Tell us in the comments below and we will randomly pick one commenter to receive “21 Ways to Connect with Your Kids” by Kathi Lipp and Cheri Gregory.
Do you want more great information to make your family the best it can be? Subscribe to Paula’s blog and get weekly posts and encouragement to help you on your parenting journey. http://phemomenallife.com/
Paula Tobey is founder of PheMOMenal Life Ministries a community for women to go get encouraged and equipped to be the best mom’s they can be to their children by living a healthy balanced life and by becoming all that God created them to be.
September 21, 2015
Parents Guide to Decluttering: Stage One – Before the Baby
A Series by Paula TobeyWhen was the last time you had an urge to clean out all of your closets and you were not pregnant? There is something about ‘nesting time’ that I believe we just need to take advantage of because, let’s face it, when you have them crawling all around under foot, you don’t have the urge whatsoever to declutter your closets, so…. Let’s go! It’s time…
Parents Guide to #Decluttering: Stage One – Before the Baby #pregnancy
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Areas to Declutter Before the Baby Arrives
In the kitchen-
You will want to have enough space to have bottles, or cereal bowls, some baby food jars and teething crackers. (Those items take up the most space so I won’t list everything you could put here). So if you are currently lacking one shelf’s worth of space, it’s time to decide what needs to go. What have you not used in the last year? Is it that food dehydrator you got from Aunt Mary or is it a set of dishes that are so fancy you won’t even use them on Christmas? Whatever the item is, determine this – Do I Love it or Do I Let it Go? Really you have to love it. If you love it, it is worth keeping. It makes your life easier, faster or its just soooo pretty! J If you don’t… it’s time to part ways and BLESS another mom! You basically want enough room to get you through six-nine months’ worth of changes because, truth be told, you do not want to do this over and over!
In the laundry room–
You will be spending quite a bit of time here. For some reason the littler the person, the more laundry they create! LUCKILY their stuff is so small and you can fit more in! It’s most important to have a laundry room stocked with only what you need. It should not be a store-all closet. You, your belly and the hamper need to be able to fit in there and it can be a huge challenge if your laundry room looks like a bomb went off! If it’s time to clear off “Mount Washaton” then do so, so you have a clear surface to put down that darn basket! One basic principle to live by when in the laundry room is this: Keep
In the Linen closet-
Keep it Simple Silly! Seriously, just keep the basics, find other places or throw away the objects that don’t need to be in there! In the Linen closet or baby closet, make sure that you have sheets, towels and bedding in a very convenient place because you will be in here all of the time! It’s mind boggling to me how fast diaper changing pads and spit up cloths are needed so often, but they are. Declutter your linen closet to ONLY the sheets and towels you have to have! For real. You don’t want to do more laundry than you need to.
When living by the love it or let it go philosophy you will create a much happier home environment for your whole family. Clutter equals stress and with a new baby and little sleep, who needs that in the equation?! Not you! Keep that Elsa song playing in your head and declutter your way to a (slightly) more peaceful home!
RELATED RESOURCES
Want even more ways to get rid of the clutter and start living the life you were designed to live? Get Kathi’s book Clutter Free Quick and Easy Steps to Simplify Your Space!
What are your best decluttering tips for before baby? Tell us in the comments below and we will randomly pick one commenter to receive “21 Ways to Connect with Your Kids” by Kathi Lipp and Cheri Gregory.
Do you want more great information to make your family the best it can be? Subscribe to Paula’s blog and get weekly posts and encouragement to help you on your parenting journey. http://phemomenallife.com/
Paula Tobey is founder of PheMOMenal Life Ministries a community for women to go get encouraged and equipped to be the best mom’s they can be to their children by living a healthy balanced life and by becoming all that God created them to be.
September 16, 2015
Wicked Wednesday: Ten Things Smart Stepmoms Say to Themselves Out Loud Everyday
Ten Things Smart Stepmoms Say to Themselves Out Loud Everyday
Jesus loves me personally. ( John 15:9)
I am never alone. (Hebrews 13:5)
I am forgiven. (Hebrews 8:12)
I am accepted. (Romans 15:7)
I am slow to get angry at people and circumstances. (James 1:19)
I am quick to forgive. (Ephesians 4:32)
I am empowered to do hard things. (Philippians 4:13)
I can choose words that give life. (Proverbs 15:4)
I can choose my thoughts. (Philippians 4:8)
My dignity comes from God and does not depend on what others say about me or how they treat me. (Psalm 62:7)
Wicked Wednesday: Ten Things Smart Stepmoms Say to Themselves Out Loud Everyday
September 15, 2015
Episode #167-Shaunti Feldhahn’s Through a Man’s Eyes: Helping Women Understand the Visual Nature of Men
Ever catch your man’s eyes wander as the woman with the low-cut blouse with the lacy bra peeking out walks by?
Does your son suddenly stop what he’s doing and stare at the TV screen when a certain fast food burger commercial with the seductive women comes on the screen?
Sometimes this leaves us feeling hurt or angry. Some want to say men are pigs or perverts.
What if you found out that science has shown that men’s brains are physically different than women’s making it hard for us to understand the draw they have to certain visual stimulation? That the first initial reaction to the stimulation is an involuntary reflex?
Kathi talks with Shaunti Feldhahn about her book Through a Man’s Eyes: Helping Women Understand the Visual Nature of Men. While is the full responsibility of men to make the right choices, it is also time to let women in on what that truly entails, and how to be “empathetic without endorsing.” Through compassion and candor, women can finally learn what guys have long wished they knew, but had no idea how to explain—and then see the amazing difference it makes in their relationships.
Listen to this amazing episode as we work to understand our men in order to have a better marriage.
20 Date Ideas for $20 AND a Giveaway!
Nationwide Date Night is the 18th! Are you planning a date with your spouse? Are you fresh out of ideas and maybe fresh out of money too?
Don’t let money stop you from dating your spouse. Get your copy of 20 Dates for $20 here.
Please leave a comment below sharing some of your date night ideas. You might be the winner of all of Kathi’s marriage books!
September 10, 2015
5 Books That Will Change Your Marriage
Last week, we ran a series of posts featuring articles and five books that will change your marriage. As part of the series, we gave away each of the five books to five winners. Yes, one person per day won five books! This series was such a hit. Now it’s time to announce the winners:
Congratulations to Sarah M, Tracy H, Missy B, Heather L and Rachel V! Your books will be on the way soon so watch out for them.
Now if you missed this series, be sure to check out each post and please consider buying the books that we featured. These truly are marriage-changing books.
It’s Easy Being Married to You by Arlene Pellicane featuring 31 Days to Becoming a Happy Wife.
The #1 Secret to Ending Arguments in Marriage by Fawn Weaver of Happy Wives Club featuring The Argument-Free Marriage.
Sex is for you, too! by Sheila Wray Gregoire featuring Nine Thoughts that Can Change Your Marriage.
The Secret He Secretly Wishes You Knew by Shaunti Feldhahn featuring Through a Man’s Eyes.
How to Be a Hot Mama in Your 40’s by Kathi Lipp and What it Looks Like to Be a Hot 30-something Mama by Erin MacPherson featuring Hot Mama: 12 Secrets to a Sizzling Hot Marriage!
September 9, 2015
Don’t Miss These Great Deals!
My publisher has decided to run a month-long sale on two of my ebooks!
The “What’s for Dinner?” Solution: Quick, Easy, and Affordable Meals Your Family Will Love is on sale for $2.99. Click here to purchase!
The Get Yourself Organized Project: 21 Steps to Less Mess and Stress is on sale for $6.99. Click here to purchase!
September 8, 2015
Trouble loving your body?
Image borrowed from Elisa’s post
Do you have trouble loving your body? Today I’m guest posting over on Elisa Morgan‘s blog about loving your body even when you have reason not to. Please join me!
Also, we’ve picked our five winners from our 5 Books to a Better Marriage series. Congratulations to Tracy, Rachel, Sarah, Missy and Heather! We will be in touch with you soon and you should have your books in no time.
Thank you everyone for leaving such great comments and for joining us each day!
Don’t miss this: 10 Hot Date Night Ideas for Married Couples is FREE on Kindle!
September 7, 2015
Episode #166-Hot Mama: 12 Secrets to a Sizzling Hot Marriage
Let’s get the conversation started
…sex isn’t bad
…sex isn’t dirty
…sex isn’t shameful
It’s not an easy topic to have a conversation about. We have been taught a lot of things about sex, but how often do we talk about how God created it and that it’s a GOOD thing? Listen now to this episode as Kathi and Erin discuss their new book Hot Mama: 12 Secrets to a Sizzling Hot Marriage
Join the conversation where we encourage each other to have a better sex life!
Episode #166-Hot Mama: 12 Secrets to a Sizzling Hot Marriage
September 4, 2015
How to be a HOT MAMA in your 40’s
“Earlier this year 37-year-old Maggie Gyllenhaal revealed in an interview with The Wrap Magazine that she was denied a role opposite a man almost 20 years her senior because she was ‘too old’.
‘There are things that are really disappointing about being an actress in Hollywood that surprise me all the time,’ she said. ‘I’m 37 and I was told recently I was too old to play the lover of a man who was 55. It was astonishing to me. It made me feel bad, and then it made me feel angry, and then it made me laugh.” DailyMail.com
I love Maggie Gyllenhaal’s evolution of feelings when it comes to being judged as “too old” at 37 to play the love interest of a 55 year old actor.
First, she felt bad.
Then, it made her angry.
Then, it made her laugh.
When one of us is made to feel badly about ourselves, for our age, our weight, our sags, our lines, I know very few people who embrace such a body positive image that we’re able to just laugh straight off. Just as there are seven stages of grief, I believe these are the three stages of self-acceptance.
As a woman who is trying to make sure that I’m doing all I can to feel great about myself and my marriage, the world is definitely not making it easy on us.
How to be a HOT MAMA in your 40’s #bettermarriage5
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And so at 40-something, when I start to feel bad about the criteria the world uses about how I look, about my sex drive, my energy level, I realize I need to move from stage one to stage three pretty quickly. (For my sake, and for the sake of my husband.)
Because the sexiest things about a wife are confidence and the ability to laugh at yourself – and fellow forties friends – this is where we have it all over our younger sisters.
We mamas in our forties know a few secrets that our younger friends may have yet to discover:
Our teens think we’re hard of hearing because we play the TV so loud, (but really that’s just to cover up the sounds of our nooner on a Saturday after lunch.)
We realize that naps aren’t just for sleeping anymore. (Daytime sex is awesome, especially since most of our kids aren’t so “little” anymore. When they stopped taking naps, we started.)
We love Meghan Trainor’s song “All About That Bass” (and buy lingerie with some structure so we too can keep “all the right junk in all the right places…”)
We understand that while the visual is important (that’s why, even at our “advanced” age, we’re STILL going to the gym,) that the pat on the butt and the “Can’t wait to see you tonight, the kids are staying with friends overnight…” as he’s going off to work can have a pretty daunting effect.
So as I work at being a Hot Mama in her 40’s, I want to give you a real glimpse of what it looks like:
My Hot Mama Marriage: Recently, I had breakfast with Elisa Morgan, the founder of MOPS. Elisa and I have known about each other for a long time, but hadn’t spent any time together until this breakfast. After the food had been placed on our table, she turned to me and said, “I want to know about you. Well, what I do know about you from Facebook is that you are madly in love with your husband.”
Yep – after the fact that I’m a Jesus girl, that’s the most important piece of information you could know about me. But it hasn’t come without a lot of struggle and pain.
Two divorces (one his, one mine,) two kids, two step kids, and two exes. Debt, death, and did I mention exes?
It hasn’t been an easy road, but now, in our forties (OK he’s in his fifties, but he acts like he’s in his forties – in the best way possible,) we have the gift of having a few years under our belt and being supremely and utterly comfortable with each other. It’s such a gift.
My Hot Mama Bedroom: OK – you know how all those romance books tell you to reserve your bedroom as a sanctuary for your romance?
For me? Not so much.
I run a business from my home, and grand central is a corner of our bedroom. BUT, one of the advantages of being in my late forties? Pretty soon all the bedrooms in our house will be vacant and I will have my own little office. I will be able to dedicate our bedroom just to bedroom activities (which include sleep, Seinfeld reruns, and sex. In that order.)
My Hot Mama Exercise Routine:
I was trying to be a runner.
Keyword: trying.
Until the scourge of Planter Fasciitis hit. And now I’m a walker. (But at least I’m not using a walker, so that’s a good thing, right?)
So while I’m not “crushing it”, I’m taking exercise more seriously than I ever have before. I’m walking a mile every single day, and have walked two 5Ks. I’m trying to challenge myself in new ways. And part of the reason is I can feel the difference when I exercise like never before. When I don’t move? I feel it for the rest of the day. That’s even more motivation than looking great – feeling great.
My Hot Mama Clothes:
I spend more money on my clothes now than I did when I was younger, but I’m also way more confident in what I look good in, and what I should avoid at all costs. And remember – confidence is sexy.
My Hot Mama Nights:
Monday through Friday? I love to cook a good dinner, and after a long, long day, relax with my man for an hour or so, (I get up at 5 AM, so the hour between 7 and 8 PM is the best one I have,) where, if Roger had his druthers, I would spend the entire time scratching his back (and sometimes, that’s exactly what happens,) and then Roger goes back to work in his office (his team is India) and I wind down for bed.
Hot – right?
But that connecting during the week pays off on the weekend when we go out with friends or travel on the weekends. It’s a comfortable routine, with a little hot thrown in on a regular basis.
My Hot Mama Sex Life Challenges:
Let’s be honest – if you’ve hit the forties, you’ve noticed some changes in your sex life. Physically, things have changed – for you and for him.
It’s at this point, you can’t be shy about talking to your doctor. There are meds, there are over the counter helps. Don’t be shy! Your great sex life depends on it!
My Hot Mama Confidence:
I am absolutely more confident than I was in my 20’s or even my 30’s. In your 40’s, you stop trying to please the world and start working on pleasing the ones that are important. In my case, that’s God, my husband, and in my forties, I can finally say, myself.
Are you a hot mama in your 30’s? Then head on over to Erin MacPherson, my co-author’s post about hot to pull off being a Hot Mama when you still have some kiddo in the house… http://wp.me/p33YCp-Kz
Want to up the heat in your marriage, no matter what your age? Check out Kathi and Erin’s new Book Hot Mamas! http://shop.kathilipp.com/product/hot-mama-12-secrets-to-a-sizzling-hot-marriage/
