An Observation

In December I went on a quest to find a new blog background.  I'm envious of the folks who have professional blog backgrounds and widgets, but I just haven't been able to convince myself to shell out the money yet.  As such, I'm left to troll the Internet in search of free backgrounds and free widgets that are cute, hip and fun.  But I digress..

Flashback to December when I began looking for that new background.  Being that The Answers Are Simple is a light-hearted, whimsical blog (stay with me on this), I needed a fun, whimsical background, right?  Enter the background that you currently see.  Owls, fun script, neat colors.  Jackpot, right?

Fast forward back to today when I actually read those fun, loopy script words.  So, tell me... did you notice that it's all about autumn a long time ago, or just realize it [IN MARCH], like me?

Thought Provoking Thursday 1

Welcome to my first 'Thought Provoking Thursday!'  Every week you'll be treated to a new question designed to make you think a little deeper and learn more about yourself.  There are no right or wrong answers ~ only clarity.  Remember, sometimes the questions are hard and the answers are simple.  

If you could live anywhere in the world, where would it be and why?

This is such a hard question for me!  We're lucky that we have three sets of grandparents who live within 30 minutes of where we are right now.  That right there is something that makes me like where we currently are.  Prince Charming and I also grew up in this area and have lots of friends to this area.  But...

I was born with wanderlust.  I love to try new things and go to new places.  It makes me want to try living in other places.  Because of the Monkey's ichthyosis, Atlanta is NOT a good locale for her.  It means that we'll either learn how to deal with the heat or at some point we'll move somewhere cooler and wetter.  

But, if NONE of those things mattered, nor did Prince Charming have to a find a job in the new place, I'd like to spend some time living in:

1. Europe (Belgium, Rome, Paris, London, and others)

2. Boston

3. Charleston

4. Canada
5. The Outer Banks

It's a start at least!

It's your turn! Where would you live?

GLEEk

Prince Charming and I just finished watching last night's Glee {many thanks to the person that created the dvr} and the ending commercial said new episodes will start in April.

Me: 'Boo.  April.'

Prince Charming: 'Mmhmm.'

Me: 'April! Really! Ugh.'

PC: 'Really, babe?  April's in, like, two weeks.'

Me: 'Oh. Boo. April.'

photo/webtvwire

Top Two Tuesday : Random Facts About You

Today I'm linking up to Top 2 Tuesday at The Undomestic Momma.  Today's challenge is to list two random facts about yourself.  Check it out!

1. I love milk.
I'm a big milk fan.  A lot of people thought I drank milk all the time when I was preggo because I was having a baby but really, I just like milk.  To this day, most nights I pour a big {red, plastic}glass of milk and take it upstairs with me to drink while I read in bed.  It's part of my nightly ritual and I love it.

2. I can't say 'both' properly.
I say 'bolth' instead of both.  I have to concentrate really hard to remove the 'l' that I naturally add.  Prince Charming makes fun of me incessantly for it.  I think it makes me unique.

Rare Disease Day

Okay folks, get your jeans on because it's time to support a great cause.  Rare Disease Day is held annually on the last day of February ~ usually the 28th, but sometimes the 29th.  February 29 is rare itself, happening only every four years ~ in a Leap Year.

Why Rare Disease Day?  The Monkey Princess has a skin condition called Ichthyosis and it is considered a rare disease.  You can learn more about Ichthyosis by going to www.firstskinfoundation.org (Monkey's specific form is Lamellar Ichthyosis, if you're interested!).

Even if you don't know us, even if you're not interested in Ichthyosis, wear jeans on February 28 and tell everyone you're doing it in support of World Rare Disease Day and the Global Genes Project.  And in support of a special little Monkey.

All the Small Things

It's the holiday season  Christmas time and it seems that most of the world starts to love each other a little more. Sure, there's the crazy stories of people crushing other people in efforts to get the perfect Black Friday sale item, but the stories that come more frequently (and the ones on which I choose to focus), are the stories of goodwill toward men.  

Last week one of the locals here went on his second annual quest to make December 1 "Pay it Forward" Day.  I love that he is trying to make life a little more loving and I definitely participated, but I think we should remember to pay it forward more often than just once a year.  Now, I know for some people, one day of paying it forward is a stretch and making it a specific day gets those people to think outside their comfort zone and do something a little different, but I imagine that all of you reading pay it forward a little more frequently than just once every 365 days.  So, what do you do? 

How do you decide when to do something? Do you pick one specific day a month or do you do it everyday? Or maybe you just do it when the time is right and it hits you that you should do something.  That's generally the way I do it, but I find that I go through spurts of giving, sometimes doing it a lot and sometimes forgetting for days at a time.  I also tend to neglect those times when I might give just a small bit of my time and not consider that as paying it forward.  But, you know what?  Just a simple smile to the mom whose demon spawn child is having a meltdown, might be the best thing you could ever give her that day.  

So today, almost a full week after "Pay It Forward" Day, I challenge you to do a little something for someone else for the next 7 days.  It could be as big as paying for the groceries for the person in front of you or it might be as small holding the door for open for the parent with the stroller.  And you should feel good about whatever you do, because I've been that parent before and I promise ~ holding the door open for me when I'm trying to finagle the stroller through it is one of the best presents you could give me.  

Will you take the Pay It Forward 7 Day Challenge? 

The Bathtub Diaries

So this is what it comes down to:  the only time I have to blog is when my child is in the bathtub.  Now, before you go and judge me as a terrible mother because instead of playing with my child, I’m instead blogging, let me make you aware of a few things. 

1.     1. Bath time is one of the very few times during the day when the Monkey has active, independent play.  I’ve try to encourage many small periods of independent play during the day, but she always wants a playmate (Partly because she’s an only child? It’s a theory I’ve considered, at least.).  When we realized over the summer that she plays happily and independently in the bathtub, we ran with it.

2.     2. I'm sitting on the bathroom floor watching her in the tub and I do talk with her.  I’m not that neglectful.

3.     3. Because of the Monkey’s skin condition, she must take a bath every single day (No matter what. Seriously.) and it has to be a MINIMUM of thirty minutes, but forty-five minutes to an hour is really better.  Okay, that’s a long time to be in the bath tub and it gets a little boring. 

Now that you know the full story, feel free to judge away.  (Keep in mind though, that means I can judge you next time…)

Back to my original point though, how is it that the only free time in my day is during bath time? I think it’s time to go back using the system I discovered in Managers of Their Homes by The Maxwells.  I encountered a small amount of criticism from other moms when I first started using it because you literally schedule everything during the course of your day (with the only exception being bathroom breaks).   Those who criticized felt that too much emphasis was placed on the timing of the day and that there was no spontaneity in it.  I found that it worked really well for me because there was a good amount of “found” time in my day this way.  When I originally used the program, I was able to schedule an hour long nap for MYSELF every day, have myself in bed by 10pm (which I love because I function better the next day), and even found time during the day to be a little crafty.  All of those little scheduling perks happened in addition to my regular duties that occur during my day as a domestic goddess and personal assistant to a two year old.


Regardless of where we "find" the time, I think it's important that everyone takes at least a little bit of time for him or herself each day.  Even if we find that time in the bathroom...