All posts by NerdMom

life

The Struggles of My Bloggy Life

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Ok, I love my life. I love to blog. I love my kids. I love to homeschool. I love my husband. I would love to have a clean, de-cluttered house (I think, I have never had one;). I love to hang out with my friends. I love church. I love to serve at church. I love video games and comic books. I love politics. I love to read. I love to cook. I love to craft.

So with all this love I am sure you are wondering what my problem is. Well, apparently there is only 24 hours in the day and I can’t make any more hours appear;).  I want to blog for a living but I have a bunch of responsibilities. And then I have a bunch of things that I just desire to do. Even in my most ideal world, I can’t do everything I want to do. So that means that choices have to be made. I don’t get to play the video games I want to play or do craft projects that would be fun. That is just real life. But sometimes it feels like Sophie’s Choice. Ok, maybe I am exaggerating a little bit.

I am a yes girl by nature. Which means if there is something to do I will do it if it is physically possible, especially if it is a 1 time thing. So up until this semester it seems the thing I have always neglected is the house and doing projects with the kids.

But something had to change. My God, my family, my house and my blogs are my real priorities and they were all being short changed! So this semester I chose to give up my Thursday Bible Study. Before you all think that I am abandoning God, I have another Bible study that I am in. By giving up Thursday it meant that there was a day that we don’t have to go out at all! And do you know how valuable it is for homeschooling and blogging to actually be home? And I thought that would fix all my time and priority problems.

Then life got in the way. I started getting headaches. I have been having really bad headaches for about a month now. So I haven’t been writing the way I want. I have been doing projects with great companies but I haven’t been posting like I want because of the headaches. Then I got the flu and I got it in a way I have never had it before. I was dehydrated and shaky and miserable. To the point that I couldn’t even read my emails much less form sentences to return them. Then I barely got healthy enough to stand and I was off to Women’s Retreat.

I came home with a new outlook. I am in a season of NO. Do I want to go to a homeschool seminar this weekend? No. Do I want to host something at my house? No. Do I want to go to coffee (just for fun, not because you need to talk)? No.

Now this doesn’t mean that I am quitting things I already do but I am not taking anything else on without it being super special. Maybe this will bring some sort of clarity and peace to my crazy, mixed up bloggy life. And maybe I will go to the doctor for my headaches.

How do those of you who balance it all, how do you do it? Can I actually clean my house, teach my kids, play with them and be a successful blogger? Help a girl out!

tech, Tech Tuesday

Tech Tuesday: Original Video Content

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So for the last Tech Tuesday I talked about places to get free television content. But there is other stuff out there to watch! Original content is something that is really developing. Right now there are just a few sources that I currently go to.

Revision 3 is a great producer of podcasts! They have podcasts on tech, pop culture, etc.

TWiT (which stands for This Week in Technology) produces shows beyond just TWiT. They cover just about everything in tech.

YouTube is of course a source of tons of original content. I have found great comedy stuff, parodies, you name it. There are some great web series available. The most notable may be The Guild.  Now that YouTube is taking the 15 minute limit off submissions I think we are going to be seeing even more original content with more full series.

I am always looking for good, quality, family friendly content so I will post as I find more! But do you have any great sources? Please share!!!

Food

Meal Plan Monday: 1/24

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So remember how last week was supposed to be crazy? Well, it was even weirder than I thought it would be. I ended up getting severely dehydrated and basically was banished to the couch for the week. Then I got better with just enough time to go to my retreat. So this week is a huge catch up week for me!

Monday: Turkey Spaghetti with Spinach
Tuesday: Quesadillas, Carrot
Wednesday: Corned Beef, Buttery Rolls, Broccoli
Thursday: Crispy Chicken Thighs, Rice, Broccoli

Friday: Leftovers

Food

Meal Plan Monday: The Unknown Week

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This week is a crazy week! Part of the crazy is that I have been sick for a few days and while I am planning on going to the doctor tomorrow, who knows how long until I am tip top. So between that, Bible study, Awana and women’s retreat this weekend, I have no idea really what this week is going to look like!

But I am going to try and plan.

Monday: Dinner being brought by a friend (Love you Sara!)
Tuesday: Pork Chops, Mashed Potatoes, Broccoli
Wednesday: Shredded Chicken, Rice, Broccoli
Thursday: New York Steaks with Chili Beans and Broccoli
Friday: Hamburger Helper with Broccoli

Tech Tuesday

Tech Tuesday: Free TV

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We here at the NerdFamily house have always loved tv! But we realized that we were just watching a few good programs and a lot of filler. And we were paying $45 for the privilege. So as of January 4, 2011 we have been without cable or a satellite dish for 1 year!

So have we given up tv? Never;). There are many free options on the internet that give you many of the hit shows along with all the filler you have time for.

Hulu: They carry the most free tv. Their quality is high and you will find many cable offerings from USA, Bravo, SyFy and ABC Family. There are plenty of classic shows available and the viewer is a good quality. This is my first choice.  I only go to the rest if what I want to watch isn’t being shown on Hulu.

Fancast: This is Comcast’s viewer. I haven’t found much there that isn’t on Hulu but there are a few TLC shows.

SlashControl: is AOL’s tv viewer. They have most of the same main stream shows but they also have some different classic tv shows. This is where I found the whole series of Scarecrow and Mrs. King (one of my favorite shows ever!).

CBS.com: CBS doesn’t play nicely with Hulu. So if you want to watch their shows you have to go to their network site. The viewer isn’t as good as others and they only have 1 episode (occasionally 2) for each show.

CWTV.com: This has a lot of episodes for CW shows. At one point they had Buffy but that was a while ago;).

TNT.com: They have entire seasons of some of their original shows! NerdDad and I just watched entire seasons of the Closer and Leverage!

LifetimeTV.com: In addition to a bunch girlie Lifetime movies they also show a bunch of their original programming. Including…Project Runway!!!!

You will notice that I have only listed legal viewers. There are various illegal sites out there but…. So, it there any other (legal) places that you get your free tv? If so you really need to share;)! Next week we will talk about other types of online entertainment.

home projects, house management

Medicine Cabinet Tackle

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So I of my resolutions, both personal and bloggy, was to participate in at least half of the Tackle it Tuesdays. My house needs it desperately, but don’t judge me to harshly;). I am making myself vulnerable so don’t attack!

So I am starting with the after picture;). My Tackle this week is my medicine cabinet. I haven’t done it in quite a while. As was evidenced by the amount of stuff that was shoved in there that I am throwing away! There isn’t a before picture. That is because my husband is a saint! I had it on my todo list and so he started it without me. So instead of a before picture here is my garbage back.

That is the bag of garbage that was just sitting in the cabinet. Not only was there expired medicine but other odds and ends too! Including the pacifiers that used to be my 7 year old daughter’s. Yes, they were tucked all the way in the back of the top self. We hid them when she gave them up because we were afraid we might need them but at the same time didn’t want her to accidentally see them;).

And the bin next to the bag are things that didn’t belong in the cabinet to begin with.

So that is this week’s Tackle!

Food

It is That Time Again…

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It is once again time to plan this week’s meals! I am not feeling very inspired this week so I am going to make a point of finding a few new recipes for next week. But let us plan this week first and get it out of the way.

Monday: Ham, Latkes, Broccoli
Tuesday: Crispy Chicken Thighs, Broccoli, Mashed Potatoes, Buttery Rolls
Wednesday: Corned Beef, Potatoes, Buttery Rolls, Broccoli
Thursday: Ham and Cauliflower Alfredo Bake
Friday: Left overs!

So what are you eating this week? Maybe it will inspire me!