Just a little introduction
Today I spent the day making slow cooker ribs for my son and 100 Kpop stickers for one of my daughters birthday.
While that isn’t the most glamorous thing I could start my post with, I’m going with it. Because most of what I do is not glamorous; it’s pretty monotonous. I get up and get kids fed and ready for school. I then take kids to school. I clean up around the house, get a few business related tasks done, chase my 3 year old around, and then prep dinner. By the time I sit down for a late lunch, it’s time to go back out and get the kids from school, half of them get changed for sports, and back out the door we all go. I spend more time in carline and sports parking lots than I do anything else right now. Evening and bedtime routines are chaotic at best, and it’s rare if my toddler is asleep before 9 pm. Kari 2 kids ago would have NEVER let her little’s stay up that late, but when the needs must, the must needs doing.
I say all this with love though, because this really is the life. I spent a lot of time at the end of last year considering how I wanted the next stage of my life to go. How did I want to raise my family through the next chapter of our lives? Being wholly present for them is my primary goal right now, and if that means making stickers because a kid loves a movie or ribs instead of the tacos I wanted, then so be it.
However, even with shifting daily life to focus primarily on the kids, I have re-discovered that I absolutely need to find time for myself. And I don’t mean ‘self care’ like Instagram or TikTok tells you it is with nails and eyelashes, I mean activities that feed my spirit and leave me energized. It seems like such an easy ‘well duh’ comment, but it’s surprising how quickly parents get trapped in the rush of the sport and school whirlwind and are left without true time for themselves.
When I was bouncing around from hobby to hobby I realized that one of my absolute favorite things to do was something I’d been doing since I was 9, and that’s cook and decorate. HGTV and I were on a first name basis when I was a child, and those memories is where this blog idea was born. I want to create a space that feels like home for so many, in the same way that the old cable channels did for me.
So what is all this rambling about party favors and carline about? Well, it’s a very lengthy introduction to what I’ll be sharing with you all in the future. I have years and years of notes, scraps of paper, recipes (both handwritten and clipped, created by me or adapted by others), and party planning ideas that I’ve been dying to put to the test and share with everyone.
My objective here is to be mildly entertaining while I help you Meghan Markle (excuse me, she’s Sussex now) your way through hosting Thanksgiving or your first child’s birthday. Not to brag, but I’ve impressed my Greek in-laws with some of my recipes and party ideas, and that’s just not an easy thing to do.
If any of this sounds interesting, or you just relate to a life of chaos and want to watch a fellow mom avoid the crash and burn of approaching peri-menopause while raising 5 kids in today’s crazy world, follow along. I am SO glad you’re here.
Love
Kari