Shannon Yee

I’m not sure which type I am… You can vote with your opinion, if you want. The last question/choice was really hard for me as I crave order for myself, but I think as a mother I really struggle to provide order and maybe get rid of more boundaries than I should.

Your type is: ISTP — The “Give ‘Em Their Space” Mother

“My feelings are my own business. Not theirs. So I honor their privacy too.”

* Non-intrusive and respectful of differences, the ISTP mother gives her children the personal space they need to develop as separate, self-sufficient individuals. As children grow and mature, she enjoys observing how each one becomes his or her own person. She seeks to accept and honor each child’s interests, opinions, and choices.
* The ISTP mother does not believe in authority or control for its own sake. Instead, she favors a non-directive approach. Yet she has high expectations for each child’s self-discipline as a key to self sufficiency.
* To these ends, the ISTP mother wants to “be there” for her children—to meet their basic needs and keep them safe. Her goal is to help her children think for themselves and take responsibility for their own actions.

Your type is: ISTJ —The “Responsibility” Mother

“I have a serious love affair with to-do lists. I could sit for hours reading, organizing, and rearranging my weekly calendar.”

* The ISTJ mother has a highly developed sense of responsibility: for work, home, family … particularly her children. Whether she’s overseeing daily baths or insisting on a 10 p.m. curfew, her efforts are largely focused on providing her children with order and routine. She wants them, regardless of age, to be able to count on her and the structure she provides.
* In carrying out her commitment to her responsibilities, the ISTJ mother is organized, industrious, and detail-oriented. Because her focus is the day-to-day realities of life, her children are likely to feel secure and well provided for.
* The ISTJ mother also sets a good example and provides her children with practical guidance on being a productive, responsible individual. Still, with all her seriousness, she may delight family members with her quick wit and observations about the details of life.

Learn more at motherstyles.com

After missing quite a few feasts…

Appetizer
What was the last game you purchased?
Candyland or Chutes & Ladders

Soup
Name something in which you don’t believe.
Santa

Salad
If you could choose a celebrity to be your boss, who would you pick?
Tyra Banks, because then I would probably be involved in some sort of modeling thing and would hopefully find it pretty interesting.

Main Course
What was a lesson you had to learn the hard way?
There are so many; I’ve learned that I cannot expect my husband to know what I want and do it without telling him very clearly.

Dessert
Describe your idea of the perfect relaxation room.
Warm, with a massage table and masseuse on standby as well as a comfortable chair and cozy blanket for reading books or journaling; there should be relaxing and uplifting music playing softly in the background.

The Christmas Meme

I got tagged for the Christmas Meme by Logtar.

1. Link to the person that tagged you, and post the rules on your blog.
2. Share Christmas facts about yourself.
3. Tag seven random people at the end of your post, and include links to their blogs.
4. Let each person know that they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.

Welcome to the Christmas edition of “Getting to Know Your Friends.”

1. Wrapping or gift bags?
Wrapping until I ran out of paper and then I resorted to bags.

2. Real or artificial tree?
Real!

3. When do you put up the tree?
Right after thanksgiving.

4. When do you take the tree down?
January 6 or there abouts.

5. Do you like egg nog?
Never tried it.

6. Favorite gift received as a child?
Probably the bike with a red, white and blue banana seat I got in 2nd grade…

7. Do you have a nativity scene?
Yes, several, but the glass one is strangely missing the head of a wiseman, the hand of Mary and the hand of a shepherd!

8. Worst Christmas gift you ever received?
Christian tracks…

9. Mail or email Christmas cards?
Mail. This year we didn’t send cards to friends we see regularly.

10. Favorite Christmas Movie?
“Miracle on 34th Street”

11. When do you start shopping for Christmas?
When I get around to it; hopefully by the middle of December – this year I started before Thanksgiving!

12. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas?
Pretzel Jello. Too bad I’m the one who has to make it!

13. Clear lights or colored on the tree?
Colored.

14. Favorite Christmas song(s)?
Currently, “O Little Town of Bethlehem”

15. Travel at Christmas or stay home?
To the Great Wolf Lodge – Sandusky for the weekend before Christmas and then home (sort of). We are really just sleeping at home and visiting family at various homes around us during the day.

16. Can you name all of Santa’s reindeer?
Yes.

17. Angel on the tree top or a star?
Nothing. I haven’t found a tree topper I like, so we still don’t have one.

18. Open the presents Christmas Eve or Christmas Morning?
Morning.

19. Most annoying thing about this time of year?
The cold.

20. Do you decorate your tree in any specific theme or color?
Christmas.

21. What do you leave for Santa?
Cookies and milk. Empty stockings, too.

22. Least favorite holiday song?
Grandma got run over by a reindeer

23. Favorite ornament?
Spock 😛

24. Family tradition?
Reading the Christmas story from the Bible on Christmas morning – all of us in the our bed.

25. Ever been to Midnight Mass or late-night Christmas Even services?
Nope.

I’m tagging Sally, Jen, Jessica, Meggan, Cheryl, mraven, and Natalie.

I have a tendency to be a bit ambitious, to bite off more than I can chew, to think that it won’t be *that* much work, and to consequently be disappointed and miserable. I am not an optimist as you might presume given my overly optimistic predictions of what can be done in an hour, day, week or even year. Rather, I am just foolish or in denial about how things really work. I want to be able to do all the things on my list and have my husband do all the of the things on my “Honey Do” list, so I try to wish it into reality.

While I was at the Hearts at Home conference, one of the speakers said that your misery factor is the ratio of your expectations to reality. If your expectations are unrealistic, you are bound to be very miserable. On the other hand, when you have hopes that are plausible, you have a real chance of being successful and feeling great! Unfortunately, I cannot seem to grasp what realistic expectations look like.

I have written down a list of what I wanted to do during Brian’s break from work over Christmas and while my family is in town. It is a little longer than I thought is was and I’m already disappointed because I am realizing that most of it probably won’t get done. Yet, I am looking forward to crossing things off this list and seeing how much gets accomplished in the end – and secretly hoping that it all gets done. Maybe I’m ambitious, but that is a good thing, right?

I have been reading a lot lately hoping to get some insight into how to make parenting two little ones easier. What I’ve come to understand is that it will be hard and that it’s supposed to be that way!

The strategies that I’ve employed include: offering choices, making demands, bribery and rewards, timeouts (for kids and mommy), lecturing, yelling, getting really annoyed and frustrated, and of course, threatening. I’ve even started to smack little hands occasionally, but I’m still not a fan and don’t want that to be a part of my repertoire as I would also like to remove yelling and all of those sorts of techniques.

Natural consequences and practicing good behaviors are new in my bag of tricks and are proving to be very useful as well as effective for Eila. She has learned that her feet get cold when she doesn’t wear socks or shoes outside and that it’s important to wear her seatbelt at all times in the car (we practiced this one, as it’s not loving in any way to risk death or injury by allowing natural consequences). At 15 months, Josiah is just not able to make the connections necessary yet. Although, after his spill down the stairs, he consistently turns around rather than trying the face first approach he goofed with that time!

I’m still having a lot trouble coming up with suitable “punishments” for certain crimes. For example, earlier this week, Eila opened all the drawers in her dresser and climbed up them to the top and opened the blinds on the window. She has done this before and knows that it is not allowed. But, what would help her really get it and how dangerous it is (especially with Josiah watching and taking notes at the bottom drawer)?

For whining, I’m so inconsistent. It really annoys me and so I often give in, which is not effective, but it stops the extremely aggravating sound emanating from my kids… I guess my thinking is sort of along the lines of: “This strategy isn’t stopping that noise, what else can I do?”

I’m always open to those with the answers. 🙂

I actually am not sure if the milk man is a man or woman, but I am proudly now part of those having local dairy products delivered to their door weekly. Each Monday, Calder Dairy, brings what I want or need right to my house. I am especially excited about the whole idea and love it!

I love supporting the local economy and not having to go the store for these things that I often need each week. The idea of it all seems fresher and healthier than buying it at the store; although, I doubt there is much to this vague feeling I have. The products we’ve gotten so far (2 types of milk and cottage cheese) are fabulous. I also love that it comes in a glass jar, so there is no waste.

This is another way I am going backwards in time – first cloth diapering and now milk delivery – what could be next?