Mimi – Page 23 – Unlikely Martha

MOMing

Cold and Flu Season Prep

This post is sponsored by DiaResQ® and The Motherhood. All opinions are my own

I’m not a fan of medicine. Times have to get desperate for me to open up the trusty medicine cabinet, but I will. Learning from experience I have had to make one too many late night, read wee hour of the morning runs to the corner drug store because we didn’t have a fever reducer, or something to stop vomiting.

I’m getting ahead of the sickies this year, because it is rare that they pass over here. If and when they show up, your girl is going to be ready. Last year we fought strep, regular colds (too many times), stomach virus x 5 and a host of other nuisance ailments. Amazingly we missed the flu.

I recently went through our medicine cabinet and took inventory of expired medicines, half empty bottles, and bottles missing measuring cups/spoons replacing them with fresh bottles.

I fell victim to the stomach flu twice last year, the kids only had it once but I suppose the germs from school liked me. Took me out once and came back for a remix. I think I would have rather had the flu. I sweated it out, and didn’t take anything but this year I’ve added DiaResQ to our. It’s a naturally-derived diarrhea reliever that is supposed to work fast.

With me not being big on “medicine” I like that DiaResQ is drug and antibiotic free, it’s actually a food made from safe, naturally-derived ingredients. It’s safe for adults and children as young as one year of age. DiaResQ has been clinically demonstrated to resolve most cases of diarrhea on day 1 of use. (meanwhile I was on the BRAT diet for like a week).

Diarrhea as unpleasant as it is, is the body’s natural immune response to try and remove an invading microorganism, and some other products work by slowing that response ( and trapping that organism in your body). DiaResQ is different-it works with your body to address the underlying issue fast.

At the first sign of any type of stomach bug, I’m going to be like take this. It’s available at CVS and Amazon, but I encourage you to get it before you need it, cause the law of motherhood makes theses things present at the most inopportune time.

Now that we are all up close and personal about these things, I’m going to send you here to learn more about DiaResQ to see if it is an option that you may find use for in your family. I haven’t used it yet, but options and knowledge are always good, especially when it comes to products we give to our children and ourselves.

*DiaResQ is not intended for the relief of chronic diarrhea, nor for infants (children aged 12 months or less)

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Living• MOMing

Teaching My Girl to Love Herself Unapologetically

This post is sponsored by Scholastic.

I’m currently at the point in my parenting career where the switch has gone off in my head, and I realize that I am no longer merely responsible for their daily things in life, but also understanding my role fully as one of the two most important people that will help mold them into responsible, and hopefully whole, human beings.

This is a huge job.

My talks with Addison recently feel like I’m talking to a friend. She has more advanced questions that need edited, but thoughtful, answers. No lies told here, sis. If she asks, we’re discussing it.

Recently, she asked me if she was “thick.” I thought a minute before responding because I need her to know her body is perfect just how it is. I wasn’t sure if someone said something to her, or she read something about being “thick,” but I just knew my first reaction and answer to the question would be her take-away.

I finally came up with, “If you were, would it make a difference?” Then, I go on a spill about terms not defining us, and how people come in all shapes and sizes. I further explained we need to make sure our bodies are healthy, and she is perfect the way she is. I praised her for her dedication to dance and how proud she must be of her abilities.

See what I did there? I answered her question and laced it with praise and self-love affirmations. I do this every chance I get.

My wish for her is that she learns to understand that all parts of her body are hers, and she should protect them fiercely from a very young age.

She was recently gifted My Wish for You by Kathryn Hahn with illustrations by Brigette Barrager. She has a few favorite pages in the book that she connected to, and they describe her to a tee. I intentionally choose reinforcements that stand behind the things I want her to understand because, if we are being honest, kids don’t always listen to us. This is why positive reinforcements matter.

I try not to overthink this parenting thing, but the pressure is on. We have a huge job, and we need all the help we can get from books to the village. Let’s be intentional about the messages that we are sending to our babies!

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DIY• Home

One Room Challenge Week 2 | Master Closet Makeover

We’re at week 2 of our master closet makeover and we might be a smidge behind but I’m more than confident we will get everything done on time. If you missed last week, we are participating in the One Room Challenge.

If you aren’t familiar with the ORC it is a six week challenge where designers, and guest participants share the transformation of a room from concept to completion.

There are so many talented people across the internet that I am looking forward to not only participating, but also following along on other people’s journeys as they transform their spaces. You can follow along as well by visiting the One Room Challenge blog. Every Wednesday for the next six weeks we will be uploading our progress.

If you missed last week, START HERE.

I apologize in advance for the bad photos. The closet is closed off from natural light and we currently don’t have a light fixture installed because I haven’t found one. Well, I have my eye on one, but I’m hoping if it sits in my shopping cart long enough I’ll get one of those magical email offers with a coupon.

When we were planning our course of action, we decided to work from the top downward. Our first order of action was to attack the ceiling, which involved removing the bar light, scraping the popcorn, patching/skimming the drywall and painting.

We vowed to never, ever (ever, ever) scrape another ceiling after the living room, but you know how that is. He made light work of getting it scraped, and thanks to a dry-vac loan from his brother the dust was minimal. Then he patched the other two large holes where the ends of the light fixture were attached in the attic.

About that.

The whole attic process defies words. I captured the process on Instagram Stories for your viewing pleasure.

The next process involved him skimming the ceiling with joint compound, sanding, and painting.

He really got it smooth, if we find some areas that need a little more work after we add in the light we’ll address them. However, from a poor lighting aspect, things are looking good.

I know the space is small but I wanted to go a little dramatic so I hope this dark color doesn’t come to bite me, but I like it and think my brass light (the one I’m still waiting on a coupon for) will contrast nicely. The color is Portland Twilight by Valspar

Here’s a sneak peek at what’s going down this weekend. (Wish us luck. If you want a front/behind the scenes seat be sure to follow my Instagram Stories, always fun times over there.)

Photo

We’ll be making this and installing, as well as patching the walls to prepare for paint. We’ll be using a paint sprayer instead of brushes. To make sure everything is seamless we’ll need to get all of our built-ins put in, and have the holes in the walls patched first.

Update: The shelving has been completed!

Here’s our list from last week with a few additions. In other words, this is a working document.

Here’s what we need:

More hanging space
Better shoe storage
Shelving (built-ins, shoe shelving, high shelving for storage)
New flooring
New lighting
Paint (~~ceiling~~, walls, built-ins)
Drywall repair (~~ceiling~~, walls)
New hangers
Glass closet door
Baskets
Floor length mirror

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Home

One Room Challenge Week 1 | Master Closet Makeover (Before)

For quite a while, please don’t ask for date specifics because I might be forced to lie, but just know for quite a while now our closet has consisted of rolling garment racks placed in the shell of a closet.

We removed the existing system that came with the house, you guessed it… a while ago, and since then we’ve managed to make due with rolling garment racks.

Time’s up. I won’t replace another garment rack because my heavy sweaters weighed too heavily on metal poles that gave way, and landed my clothes on the floor.

I’m joining the One Room Challenge and giving ourselves SIX weeks to transform our shell of a closet into something spectacular.

If you aren’t familiar with the ORC it is a six week challenge where designers, and guest participants share the transformation of a room from concept to completion. There are so many talented people across the internet that I am looking forward to not only participating, but also following along on other people’s journeys as they transform their spaces. You can follow along as well by visiting the One Room Challenge blog. Every Wednesday for the next six weeks we will be uploading our progress.

Here’s the vision:

The closet is fairly compact, with high ceiling so the plan is to go up for storage. I don’t like your typical wire closet system, I want something that looks built in for a fraction of the cost so there will be a lot of DIYing and watching YouTube videos to pull this off.

All of the images below contain some sort of element I want in the space.

A transformation is only as good as the trashiest of trashy before images. It is my pleasure to oblige.

Remember I said a while ago we ripped this out. On some Alanis Morrisette irony, this was better than those garment racks. Hindsight is always 20/20 but no better time than the present to make some closet magic.

Here’s what we need:

More hanging space
Better shoe storage
Shelving
New flooring
New lighting
Paint
Drywall repair
New hangers

If you follow me on Instagram Stories you’ve already seen a little sneak peek, but I’m not sure I will be sharing them moving forward. You may have to wait with bated breath for Wednesday’s to see the progression.

…and we’re off. See you next week for the ceiling color and drywall repair.

Wish me ( and by me, I mean Adrian) luck…..please. We’re going to need it, ~~and a few dollars~~.

PROGRESS

Week 2 is now complete. We painted the ceiling, see here.

Week 3 is now complete. Shelving is built.

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