Thanksgiving to Preparing for Christmas

I missed writing my posts last week. I was too busy preparing for Thanksgiving and having my in-laws here. I was busy cleaning and shopping for the meal. I let everything except the turkey wait to the last minute instead of taking my own advice from my last post. I guess this means I need to work on my time management. 

Now that Thanksgiving is over and Black Friday has past, I want to share what I am thankful for this year. What were you most thankful for over this past year?

1. My Family, including people in New Jersey and Illinois, has been wonderful this year helping me deal with my stress and anxiety. My husband and our daughter so helpful and wonderful. I wouldn't have made it through the year without them.
2. I am thankful for my dog and cats who snuggle and love me. I am so happy that Lily has made it beyond her 17th birthday and that she has been a part of our family for over 10 years.
3. My home is another thing I am thankful to have. I am thankful for the town we live in and the great schools my daughter has been able to attend.
4. I am thankful for Weight Watchers and what a difference it is making in my life. I still have  more to go but am happy for what I have accomplished. I am so glad that I discovered running. I am still working on my couch to 5K training as I had to start over due not being able to run in the summer and lack of motivation in the early fall.
5. Last but not least, I am thankful my friends both in Ohio and New Jersey. I am also so thankful for my readers but most of you fit into the friends or family category!

Did anyone go shopping on Black Friday? I did go to Pat Catans (local craft store) in the late morning. I did do some on line shopping over the weekend. I was very thankful that the sales were still on Sunday because my Keurig  broke. I was able to buy the Keurig 2.0 450 at Kohl's. It was on sale and I had a 20% off coupon. What a great deal! There would be no way I could be without coffee as I get up on weekday mornings at 5:45 to get my daughter off to high school. 

Daughter in the car

Now is the time to make your list and check it twice. Also to start planning for family holiday meals, if you are hosting the meal or bringing things with you. I plan to start baking soon and finish my shopping. We are traveling for Christmas to my parents house in New Jersey. My brother and his wife are hosting Christmas day at their home. What are you doing for the Christmas holiday or the holiday you celebrate?

Things to Reduce Stress

As we are getting closer to the holidays, I think of stress. Stress effects everyone but I think life is more stressful than when we were younger. The world has change a lot since I was in high school - more dangerous, more electronics, more demands on students, ect. There are more things to worry about.

I have anxiety and panic attacks caused by too much stress from work and home. I am also very hard on myself which doesn't make life any easier. My stress is somewhat less without teaching but I still have other stresses. I am always looking for things to reduce my stress. Some of the things I have found a simple and others a little more complicated. 

Flanagan

1. My favorite way to reduce stress is to snuggle with my dog or cats. Therapy dogs are brought into hospitals to help sick patients feel happier and distracted from their illness for a while. Many patients look forward to visits from the dogs. Cats have started to be used for therapy as well. I have read research on cat's purring reducing people's blood pressure.

2. Another stress reduction is meditation. I haven't done much of it yet but I have a few meditation apps and free e-books about meditation. Meditation will be on my goal list for next year. I will write more about it as I practice it and learn more.

3. One I tried and want to do more of is yoga. I took a class in restorative yoga and it was very restful. I found a yoga studio called Blue Sky in my town. They have a bunch of classes. It can't wait to go back. It will also be on my goal list for next year. 

4. Exercise is an another way to reduce stress. The exercise I do is either running or walking. I am using couch to 5k to train for the Disney Marathon in January. I also decided to do one in December with some friends in the town I live in. I will tell you that I am not prepared. I was a doing well in the spring but then I had a part time job in a grocery store. I couldn't run because standing the whole time I was at work hurt my body too much. Also needs to go on my goal list for next year.

5. Spending time outside is also a good way to reduce stress. I walk or run outside (not sure what I am going to do when the snow piles up in Northeast Ohio. In nice weather, I like to sit on my patio and work on my planner, write or read. I wrote a lot of a novel one summer sitting on the beach at the lake. I also go camping and have a fire pit for my patio.

Fire while camping

6. Listen to music can also reduce stress. I like to listen to music when I read, write, shower, and run or walk. I also really enjoy watching my daughter in the marching band and her 2 concert bands. 

7. Pampering yourself can also be stress reducing. Thing like getting a massage, mani/pedi or hair cut. For me, baking is stress reducing. My favorite thing to bake is cookies and I also like to eat them.

I will be continuing to find new stress reducers and try them. I will also be working on the ones above. What do you do to reduce stress? Do you have a favorite?

A Thanksgiving with Less Stress

Its the middle of November and I am planning for Thanksgiving. Planning for holidays can be very very stressful. Busy moms (in fact anyone) can use all the help they can get. I am having Thanksgiving at my home for my family (3) and my in-laws (2). I am not having that many people but I still need to plan ahead. Here is a list of ways to make Thanksgiving less stressful.

1. Go to somewhere other than your home for dinner. You can go to a relative's or friend's home for dinner. If you are a guest, bring something easy such as a box of candy or a bottle of wine. Some restaurants are open and have a Thanksgiving menu planned. Just remember to make reservations.

2. If you are hosting dinner, make the turkey and have each guest bring another dish. Keep track of who is bringing what so that you will not have to many desserts and no veggies or potatoes! You could tell each guest what type of dish to bring or just say can you bring mashed potatoes or sweet potato casserole. Another thing to do is call your mom or aunt and ask them to make whatever is the favorite that they make for holidays.

3. When Thanksgiving is at your home, plan ahead. plan your menu early in the month of November and find out how many people are coming. Then you can start buying what you need for dinner a little at a time. I have already started myself. I bought my turkey at Target on Saturday. The Butterball turkeys are 99 cents a pound. I also bought turkey stuffing box mix which I dress up for Thanksgiving. I can share the recipe in a later post.

4. If you are only having a few people for dinner, you can make a roast chicken instead of a roast turkey. Some people also make fried turkey in a indoor or outdoor turkey fryer but be careful not to start a fire. My husband also suggested making cornish hens for each guest. I have found on pintrest how to make a turkey in a slow cooker as well as the sides.

5. The easiest plan of all is to get a turkey frozen dinner or fast food!

Happy Planning! What are your plans for Thanksgiving?

Things I Love to do - Camping

Camping isn't something I have always liked. The first time I went camping was with the girl scouts. We slept in platform tents which were extremely uncomfortable. It was like sleeping on the boardwalk at the Jersey Shore. I didn't make it through the first night. My leaders called my dad and he came to pick me up. I guess I didn't make a good girl scout.
That was the only time I camped until I was an adult, married and with a child. 

The first time I went camping it was at Dillion State Park in Zanesville, Ohio. My husband's parents were visiting us at my husband's first church appointment in Trinway, Ohio. They were camping there in their pop up camper. We decided to spend one night camping on their sight. We brought a tent and an air mattress. Our daughter who was about 3 decided to stay in the pop up with Grammie. It was actually fun. We didn't camp again for a long time. I was busy with going to school to get my master's degree, being a mom and a pastor's wife. 

We started camping again when we moved to Northeast Ohio. We still had the tent and air mattress and a daughter in high school. The first time we went camping we stayed at Geneva-on-the-Lake State Park in Ohio. It was very damp and rained all night. We had fun and meet nice people camping next to us. They gave our daughter some of the walleye that they had caught in Lake Erie and were cooking in packets on the fire. We also camped at East Harbor State Park which is near Sandusky (Cedar Point area). We camped there several times and it rained. We even camped there with friends. It rained then also. We seemed to have rain every time we camped. 


In a few years, it was getting hard to sleep on the ground even with the air mattress especially for my husband who has MS. (I'll talk about that another time.) So we looked into  buying a pop up camper. We looked for a few features that would make setting it up and taking it down easier on us. Our camper has an automatic up or down button (not the real name) so we don't have to crank the camper up and down. We also go an adaptor or a drill that helps to put down the supports under the camper. There are still some things to set up manually but this helps a lot. 

Our camper

My favorite things about camping:
1. I love sitting outside to read, talk and eat meals (When it's not raining).
2. I love the campfire and cooking on it. We make smores and sandwich pockets. I want to try cooking packets on the fire too.
3. I like having my own bed to sleep in (still working on make it comfortable).
4. I can bring my dog (when it's not too hot for a pug).
5. I love looking at the stars and the moon at night.

We didn't get to camp this summer due to all the rain we had in June and July. Then our daughter had marching band which is everyday during the week in the summer. We want to camp in September and October but our daughter had football games and competitions for band. Saturday mornings, she also is in an area wide concert band and has practice. 
She also is not fond of camping because of the bugs and they like her. Now that she is a senior, there will be no band and we can camp when ever we want in the fall. I can't wait for more camping! Does anyone else like to camp? Share some camping stories or favorite things about camping.

Memorial Day Parade

Some of My Favorite Things - Planners

It is the time of year that I start trying to choose a planner for the next year. I have had a planner since I was in college. In fact, my dad drove me back to school on a Sunday evening to William Paterson College and I had left my planner at home. I was starting to get up set and my dad said he would go get it and come back. We lived an hour from William Paterson. My dad drove 4 hours that night to make sure I  had my planner. I called that planner my life because everything was in there that I needed to know including my assignments for classes.

I have had many types of planners including daytime and Franklin Covey. I even tried to use a bullet journal in a moleskin notebook. I loved the notebook but hated the bullet planner. This year I had the ever coveted by my planner friends on Facebook, Erin Condren Planner. I like it a lot but I did have a few issues with it.  I didn't like that I couldn't add any pages. I got a single 1/8 hole punch but that didn't work out. There were too empty places on each weekly page. Now I have learned to print stickers from Facebook and Pinterest. I can fill up some of those spaces with stickers. The biggest problem with this planner was the price - $50.00. I did have a $10 coupon to be fair but I don't want to spend that much this year.

my planner

I have searched the internet to choose sometime different for this year. I found three. I like the Uncalendar, the Passion Planner, and the Happy Planner. All three cost around $25.00. The Uncalendar and the Passion Planner are similar but I choose the Happy Planner. I feel that it goes with my goals for the year and inklings of joy. Maybe next year I will choose one of the other planners. It should be arriving this week. I will post pictures on Facebook and twitter. I will start getting it ready and putting dates that I have on my future planning page for 2016.

I also use the calendar on my phone. My planner is too big take with me and I need to schedule appointments. It also has an alarm that reminds me to leave on time. What planner do you use? Do you like paper and pen or electronic? Do you decorate you planner with stickers and washi tape? I like to to to the dollar spot in target and the dollar tree for planner decorating things and post-it notes. Sometimes I go to the craft stores but I spend too much money there. Happy planning, my friends!

Favorite Seasons

I have a favorite season and favorite things about each season. Think about what your favorite season is and why. My favorite season is fall but it used to be summer. I think summer was my favorite because school was on break. I have been a student and a teacher but now that I am not a teacher I have realized that I like fall the best. I do like summer and spring, too but not winter.

There are many things I have always liked about fall - the leaves, pumpkins, apples, and just the way it feels and smells. I have now learned that I enjoy Friday night high school football (My daughter is in the marching band) as well as catching the Ohio State game on Saturday night at home. I am always excited when Starbucks begins serving pumpkin spice latte or frapachino. I love all the pumpkin drinks and sweets. I love to bake pumpkin spice cookies. They are so easy. Just last week I went to the fruit farm and bought a big bag of apples. There were jonagold and so good. I baked an apple pie and make crockpot applesauce. Both were very good and fun to make.

Fall

The marching band at the first competition 

My backyard after a snow storm

Winter is my least favorite season. I live in north east Ohio. We get a lot of snow and cold. We usually have gray skies all winter. We do have frequent snow days!!! Lily, the pug, hates the snow and it is often taller than she is. We have to shovel her a place to go potty. Although the snow can look pretty, it stays for a long time and keeps getting deeper. In the winter, we watch hockey. My husband prefers the Columbus Bluejackets but they don't win very often. I have switched over to the Chicago Blackhawks. My favorite things about winter is snuggle blankets, soft slipper socks, hot drinks and baking. Its coming soon. 

The next season is spring. Except for all the rain, this is a very pretty season. All the leaves return to the trees and the flowers bloom. Everyone in north east Ohio breathes a sigh of relief. It does take sometime to warm up in Ohio - June maybe.  I start itching to go camping but it is still to cool. The earliest we camp is Memorial Day Weekend. This year I am planning a container garden instead of just flowers. I live in a condo development and we can't plant a garden so this is what I am going to try in 2016. This spring our daughter will be graduating from high school and  I will be planning a party and hosting grandparents from out of state. This will be a busy and exciting time for us. 

Flowers at my house

Summer has beautiful weather. I love to swim and go to the beach. I grew up in New Jersey and spent a lot of time at the Jersey shore. I try to go there when I visit especially in the summer. Now I live 15 minutes from the beach on Lake Erie. My favorite thing to do in the summer is sit on my patio and read or work on writing and my planner.

Ive shared with you now its your turn. What is your favorite season and why? What do you like and dislike about the seasons. I plan I sharing things that I do based on the season to bring inklings of joy. What brings you inkling of joy in the fall?

Welcome to Inklings of Joy

     Welcome to my new blog! I’m Mary Beth Butler. I live in Northeast Ohio but I grew up in New Jersey. I’ve been married for 18 years (and counting). We have a daughter who is a senior in high school. She is in the marching band, school concert band and an area wide concert band. We keep busy running her around for all her band stuff. We have been busy this summer and early fall visiting colleges and everything that needs to be done for college applications.  We also have a dog named Lily and 3 cats (Yogurt, Shadow and Flanagan).

My family and I at senior night

Shadow

Lily

  

     I am brand new to the blogging world. I have wanted to start a blog for several years but didn’t know where to start. I was also to busy with my job as a special education teacher in an inner city school. While working that job, more and more of my time was devoted to work and sleep, not for my family or myself. I had no time to find any joy in my life. Now I am no longer working that job and looking for inklings of joy. This blog will be my journey to find joy and myself again.

I plan to post on Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Monday will be about things I do to find joy and how they work out. Wednesday will be about baking or reading reviews. Friday will be about travel and whatever else I come up with or you want me to talk about that match up the other topics.  I want to hear from you! I need your feedback, suggestions and questions.

There are a few things that are bringing me joy already – my family, my pug, baking and travel. I love writing, reading, using and decorating my planner. I want to learn more about blogging and other things that bring inklings of joy. I am also preparing to be an emptynester next August. I will share about that as well as needing your advice. Looking forward to hearing from you.