What's saving my life is reading! There's truly nothing like losing yourself in another world. Currently in the City of Lights reading A Waiter in Paris-- very compulsive non-fiction with some found family elements.
Yes to reading! I just picked up the midnight library (at the library, ha) because I wanted to get lost in another world. I'll have to look up your rec!
Not everyone may find it as compelling as I do (I waited tables for 15+ years) but it's definitely a fascinating look into a completely different slice of life.
Making easy meals for me on Sundays. I had to start a special diet and so food is fairly restrictive right now and it has saved my Mondays and Tuesdays. Then I prep on Wednesdays for the following few days.
I don't have a lot of food restrictions but I wish I could get in a good rhythm with meal prep simply for the efficiency, and to cut down on decision fatigue during the week 😬 I like your system of tackling this on Sundays and Wednesdays!
Our bedroom is like a dumping ground but having the fire on made me feel motivated to get our room cleaned and maybe talk my husband into a cozy reading chair down here? Glass half full? 😂
Sending voice notes throughout the day week with my sister and best friend, daily sunset walks ( this is my destress reflection prayer time lately and excercise), hydration tablets, and reading on my 12th book this year and I hear some really good books come out this month 😉❤️
My wireless earphones things to listen to podcasts and audio books while I clean up and my husband is out at night... I also use it to listen to voice messages from a long distance friend which is just THE BEST!
Big batch of bland, protein-packed pancakes my husband made and threw in the freezer for me, in the throes of epic first trimester nausea. 💕 Toasted with cream cheese for even more protein and calories. Plus sliced strawberries, if we feel fancy. Am I the only one who eats pancakes this way??
This might sound crazy, but someone else’s cleaning routine. I follow her “prescription” for cleaning with lots of grace for myself and my home is cleaner than it’s been in years. What’s better is that I have been able to sit still longer and enjoy my kids or a book because I feel more content with my home.
Yes! It’s both. It’s like a guide with tasks to complete daily, weekly, monthly and rotational tasks. But they way she presents it reminds me of the principles from Atomic Habits, namely habit stacking and building habits in tiny steps. So it feels like there is a lot of grace and a long term view of building up to the routine. She also mentions taking a proactive instead of reactive view to cleaning. She sends out blogs with instructions on how to clean specific things periodically. You can go deep into her program or just glean a few things that you’re ready to take. I have just been using her free content and it’s been so helpful already! (Writing this out makes me think that I should probably tell her that. Haha!)
I hope it gives you some traction like it did for me (when you get through this crazy book launch season, of course!). And thanks, for doing a brave, hard thing to put a message out into the world that God has put on your heart to share.
Just wanted to tell you that I tried the pom pom bath tonight with my 1.5 year old. My husband took our older two out to do something f fun for the night, so my plan was to let the. 1.5 year old play in the bath as long as he was happy, throw the baby in at the end for a good rinsing, and call it a night. 20 min in, he pooped. He’s never pooped in the bath before. Soooo I got to scoop out all the pom pom balls with the poop, alone 😅
Ashlee, your candor and honesty about this season of life is refreshing. I have recently recognized that some seasons of motherhood require more of me than others and that is okay. I am also realizing that prioritizing rest for myself does not make me a bad mom. I am trying to be better about filling my cup before the kids and wow, does that feel hard sometimes. Thank you for your writing, your honesty about motherhood and I can't wait to dive into your book when it arrives. Oh, one more thing, happy birthday month!
Saving my life : knowing I can go through the Starbucks drive-thru for a latte anytime I want because I am an adult and can do what I want 🤣 I don’t always do it but knowing I can gives me joy
Regularly saving my sanity: “How to Keep House While Drowning” by KC Davis. The (very short!) book is excellent but if you only have 15 minutes there is a nice summary in her TED Talk : https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=M1O_MjMRkPg
🤦🏼♀️ can’t believe I forgot this : or - better yet - hire a housekeeper or cleaning service for the next couple months until after the launch. It might be the best $150 (give or take) that you could spend on yourself and your sanity.
Rewatching The Office with my husband after the kids go to sleep. There’s something about laughing so hard we’re crying that is cathartic and wonderful.
Woohoo for the preorder stage of your book!! Congrats!! That’s huge!! I’m currently on the journey to self publishing my poetry book on the nitty-gritty less than glamorous parts of motherhood, and it is a FEAT. Not to mention expensive 🤣 I am so glad that you have a community of women to send you notes and Pom poms 🙏🏼 I wish that for all of us! Things saving me right now: Blippi music and Ed Sheeran. My boys favorites. They instantly become nicer. (Do I wake up to Firefighting Helicopter blaring in my head? Yes.) I’ve let go of a lot of my self care the past few weeks, and reading that you go to yoga multiple times a week is a kick in the butt for me. It’s time to reset that 5:30am alarm *sigh* to drink tea and write alllllll by myseeeeeellllffffff 👌🏼 Any advice for someone in the process of publishing and needing to market said book while not being on social media....hit me up 🤣😘🙏🏼
Book launch month AND birthday month!! ✨🎉✨🎉 (fellow pisces 🐟 ☺️) SO excited for your book!
I knew I liked you!! What day is yours? I'm the 20th ✨ Literally asking God for sunshine on my birthday. Every other year it rains 🤣
3/16!
Me too, Fay! Birthday buddies!
Yay!! Hoping for some sun and birthday moments of rest for us all this month! ❤️
Text threads with friends is saving my life!
Yes! always!
What's saving my life is reading! There's truly nothing like losing yourself in another world. Currently in the City of Lights reading A Waiter in Paris-- very compulsive non-fiction with some found family elements.
Yes to reading! I just picked up the midnight library (at the library, ha) because I wanted to get lost in another world. I'll have to look up your rec!
Not everyone may find it as compelling as I do (I waited tables for 15+ years) but it's definitely a fascinating look into a completely different slice of life.
I, too, waited tables once upon a time. Not for 15 years but the experience left a mark on me!
I am definitely going to have to try the pom pom bath for my kiddos!
What's saving my life? Abbott Elementary, hands down. It’s been helping me to slow down, ignore the desire to be productive, and laugh more.
I still have not watched that! I need to!
Making easy meals for me on Sundays. I had to start a special diet and so food is fairly restrictive right now and it has saved my Mondays and Tuesdays. Then I prep on Wednesdays for the following few days.
I don't have a lot of food restrictions but I wish I could get in a good rhythm with meal prep simply for the efficiency, and to cut down on decision fatigue during the week 😬 I like your system of tackling this on Sundays and Wednesdays!
Ohh what’s saving my life- currently our gas fireplace that we never use in our bedroom because we lost power and it’s warming our house 😂
Oh no, friend!! I hope it comes back on ASAP. Sounds cozy in your bedroom though ;)
Our bedroom is like a dumping ground but having the fire on made me feel motivated to get our room cleaned and maybe talk my husband into a cozy reading chair down here? Glass half full? 😂
I mean if you can't use a power outage to redecorate, what is it even good for? 🤪
Sending voice notes throughout the day week with my sister and best friend, daily sunset walks ( this is my destress reflection prayer time lately and excercise), hydration tablets, and reading on my 12th book this year and I hear some really good books come out this month 😉❤️
;) Daily sunset walks! I am so ready for that. Our weather has been ALL OVER THE PLACE lately.
My wireless earphones things to listen to podcasts and audio books while I clean up and my husband is out at night... I also use it to listen to voice messages from a long distance friend which is just THE BEST!
Yesssss, I love that too.
Big batch of bland, protein-packed pancakes my husband made and threw in the freezer for me, in the throes of epic first trimester nausea. 💕 Toasted with cream cheese for even more protein and calories. Plus sliced strawberries, if we feel fancy. Am I the only one who eats pancakes this way??
Ummm, that sounds amazing. And I am not pregnant. We do peanut butter + bananas on our pancakes!
This might sound crazy, but someone else’s cleaning routine. I follow her “prescription” for cleaning with lots of grace for myself and my home is cleaner than it’s been in years. What’s better is that I have been able to sit still longer and enjoy my kids or a book because I feel more content with my home.
Please tell me more. Is this like specific cleaning directions, or a routine/schedule??
Yes! It’s both. It’s like a guide with tasks to complete daily, weekly, monthly and rotational tasks. But they way she presents it reminds me of the principles from Atomic Habits, namely habit stacking and building habits in tiny steps. So it feels like there is a lot of grace and a long term view of building up to the routine. She also mentions taking a proactive instead of reactive view to cleaning. She sends out blogs with instructions on how to clean specific things periodically. You can go deep into her program or just glean a few things that you’re ready to take. I have just been using her free content and it’s been so helpful already! (Writing this out makes me think that I should probably tell her that. Haha!)
You absolutely should tell her that! What's her name?? I gotta look this up!
Here’s her site where she has the free guide:
https://cleanmama.com/start-here/
I hope it gives you some traction like it did for me (when you get through this crazy book launch season, of course!). And thanks, for doing a brave, hard thing to put a message out into the world that God has put on your heart to share.
I love Clean Mama! I've been following her routine for years!!
Just wanted to tell you that I tried the pom pom bath tonight with my 1.5 year old. My husband took our older two out to do something f fun for the night, so my plan was to let the. 1.5 year old play in the bath as long as he was happy, throw the baby in at the end for a good rinsing, and call it a night. 20 min in, he pooped. He’s never pooped in the bath before. Soooo I got to scoop out all the pom pom balls with the poop, alone 😅
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO. NO NO NO NO NO NO.
NO.
NO.
JUST. NO.
I'm so sorry, Gerica. I have cleaned poop out of the bath before but never with poms. That is TERRIBLE. I wish I could send you a pizza.
Ashlee, your candor and honesty about this season of life is refreshing. I have recently recognized that some seasons of motherhood require more of me than others and that is okay. I am also realizing that prioritizing rest for myself does not make me a bad mom. I am trying to be better about filling my cup before the kids and wow, does that feel hard sometimes. Thank you for your writing, your honesty about motherhood and I can't wait to dive into your book when it arrives. Oh, one more thing, happy birthday month!
Saving my life : knowing I can go through the Starbucks drive-thru for a latte anytime I want because I am an adult and can do what I want 🤣 I don’t always do it but knowing I can gives me joy
Regularly saving my sanity: “How to Keep House While Drowning” by KC Davis. The (very short!) book is excellent but if you only have 15 minutes there is a nice summary in her TED Talk : https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=M1O_MjMRkPg
🤦🏼♀️ can’t believe I forgot this : or - better yet - hire a housekeeper or cleaning service for the next couple months until after the launch. It might be the best $150 (give or take) that you could spend on yourself and your sanity.
Rewatching The Office with my husband after the kids go to sleep. There’s something about laughing so hard we’re crying that is cathartic and wonderful.
Always love these lists so much so that I’ve decided to share one of my own each season!
Right now, a few things saving my life are the “my list” feature on the Target app, a new weekly rhythm, and Panera’s Unlimited Sip Club!
Pre-ordering your book this week and so excited to dive in when it officially arrives!! 🎉
Woohoo for the preorder stage of your book!! Congrats!! That’s huge!! I’m currently on the journey to self publishing my poetry book on the nitty-gritty less than glamorous parts of motherhood, and it is a FEAT. Not to mention expensive 🤣 I am so glad that you have a community of women to send you notes and Pom poms 🙏🏼 I wish that for all of us! Things saving me right now: Blippi music and Ed Sheeran. My boys favorites. They instantly become nicer. (Do I wake up to Firefighting Helicopter blaring in my head? Yes.) I’ve let go of a lot of my self care the past few weeks, and reading that you go to yoga multiple times a week is a kick in the butt for me. It’s time to reset that 5:30am alarm *sigh* to drink tea and write alllllll by myseeeeeellllffffff 👌🏼 Any advice for someone in the process of publishing and needing to market said book while not being on social media....hit me up 🤣😘🙏🏼