UPDATE!!!! The McLoughlin Dream House/Land 2014 Edition

UPDATE: We found our dream house and are moving around Halloween 2017! Check out the preliminary post here! It's creepy how many of our requests were answered!

I'm doing quite a bit of organizing around this house lately in preparation for a new homeschool year. This year the kids will be in grades 1, 3, 6, 8 and 10 and I'm feeling the weight of my 16-year-old gearing up to head out into the world. I decided it was time to clear off shelves, pack things up, get rid of things that would distract me from my main job of Homeschool Mom.

I came across a piece of paper from Sunday, April 27, 2014. It was a list of things we each wanted in our house when we moved. I can't believe it's been over 3 years since we made that list. We are really having trouble finding a house on land that fits with our family. Or if we DO find what we could love, life gets in the way and someone else grabs it before we can even take a look. Or it's just too dang expensive, like this gem.

Thought you might enjoy seeing what our wishes are. Especially the wishes of the littlest kids in our family, who were just 4 and 6 at the time the list was made. Some of the things we wish for are very telling about us as people and what we value most! We all started dreaming of country living after we spent five weeks in Wyoming on a ranch while my husband was working there in 2012.

This photo was taken on the day we made this list. Yes, Sam is naked on the dining room table. If you come over for dinner, you might want to bring your own Wet Wipes.

Daddy, age 47
Garage space for the fishing boat (3-car and big barn for workshop)
Newer -- no major remodeling
Big kitchen (he likes to cook and can)
Covered patio
Land -- minimum 5 acres

Mommy, age 43
Mix of woods and land -- weeping willow, lilac bushes, minimum 10 acres, sledding hill
Reliable WiFi for work and homeschool
Big kitchen and basement/rec room, bookshelves, fireplace
Not close to road/not too close to neighbors
Pond like in Wyoming

Joel, age 13
10 acres so we can ride four-wheelers; climbing tower with pool
Pond with fun amphibians and reptiles and fish
Wildlife
Good neighbors with kids
Good hide and seek house with man cave

Michael, age 11
Pond
LEGO nook or room
Big backyard
Nice neighbors
Lots of birds chirping all the time

Callie, age 9
Own bedroom
Blossom trees
Calm neighborhood, not close to street
Swingset
Chandelier

Eva, age 6
Hot tub
Basement with video game place [note: we don't even play video games besides Minecraft on the PC]
Garden in my room
Live in my own gingerbread house
Our table to be decorated with diamonds

Samuel, age 4
Sledding hill with snow that never melts
Pond for paddle boating
Big Foot but not a real one
Spongebob Movie
House to be pretty with decorations

Keep Your Whole Family Warm This Fall: Top Advice Moms Need

Now that fall is here, the weather has taken a dip. It means that our family are more likely to pick up a chill. After all, we know how easy it is for kids to pick up cold bugs. And once one child has got it, the other kids in your family will get poorly too! Therefore, you need to keep them warm this season to avoid them getting ill. Here are some top advice on keeping the whole family warm this fall!

Make sure they are wrapped up when leaving the house

When our body gets cold, our immune system drops, and we are more likely to pick up flu bugs. Therefore, it’s so important to make sure the whole family are all covered up before they go outside. That means, making sure they all have thick wooly jumpers that are going to keep their body insulated. Also, it means getting them a scarf, hat, and gloves to ensure they stay nice and toasty. Even if you haven’t got much money, you can easily knit them some that they can use on a daily basis! That way, they will stay toasty, and it will prevent them from getting cold bugs this season!

Pixabay

Fit their beds with warmer duvets and blankets or maybe even consider a Bedjet

You should also make sure that your family are all warm at night time. If they are cold in bed, they will start shivering while they are asleep and are more likely to pick up a flu bug. Therefore, you should ensure they have a warm duvet which they can wrap around themselves at night. Also, you should get them an additional blanket which they can also cover their body with, so that they keep at a good temperature. That way, they will avoid bugs and stay cozy this season.

flickr

Make sure the heating is set to a moderate heat

You should also ensure you have the heating working efficiently if you want to keep your home toasty. Set it to a moderate heat so that it fills the house with warm air. You should make sure you get it maintained so that it will work efficiently. You can look online and discover Save Home Heat and other companies who will come out and maintain your boiler. Also, getting it maintained will ensure it’s working efficiently to lower bills too! Just make sure you draft proof your home so that you don’t lose any of the heat from your home.

Buy a log burner or an electric fire for your living room

When your family are sitting in the living room, it’s easy for them all to start feeling a bit chilly. Even if your heating is on, it might not keep the living room warm during the fall.  Therefore, you should buy a log burner or an electric fire for your living room to keep the room warm. Putting a fire on for an hour or two can keep the room nice and warm so that your family can stay cozy while sitting in the living room. It also makes a lovely feature when you have friends and family over.

Image from Pixabay

And remember to make warming food for your family. Food such as chili and soup will help to keep your kid’s body warm and will keep flu away.

August 2017 #Swagbucks Referral Bonus and My Daughter Rules the World

It may almost be the end of Summer, but you can still earn big bonuses at Swagbucks, a rewards site where you earn points (called SB) for things you're probably doing online already, like searching, watching videos, discovering deals, and taking surveys. Then you take those points and exchange them for gift cards to places like Amazon, Starbucks, Walmart, Target, or PayPal cash. I've personally earned quite a bit of PayPal cash using Swagbucks for the last few years.

When you sign up through me this month, you can earn a $3 bonus! Here's how:

1. Sign up using this link

2. Earn 300 SB total before 9/1/17. You'll get a $3 (300 SB) bonus for it!

3. That's it. It's super easy, and Swagbucks is for real. I use it myself, and I've earned hundreds of dollars over the last few years and usually get PayPal cash, which I then use to buy homeschool supplies and other things the kids need.

I'm sorry, but if the kids are going to use my phone to take pictures of themselves and create funnies, I'm going to post them for everyone's enjoyment :-)

Have You Ever Had Shave Ice? #TropicalSnoKC

Back in 2015 my kids' fabulous grandmother took us to a little building in a parking lot. It was called Tropical Sno.

My mom fell in love with shave ice in Hawaii when she would go with my dad every year. I got to go with them to Hawaii one year when I was "in between situations" (memoir to come, haha) and remember it tasting like summer. You can pick up to 3 flavors in your shave ice and it is YUM! You can also make it meatier by putting some ice cream in the bottom of it for your shave ice and flavorings to run into.

$15 for 5 of us to have 5 small shave ices … so about $3 for a small. 

If you are in Kansas City, check out this local business this summer! Do you have a shave ice establishment in your town?

10 Ways to Break Through the Career Brick Wall

Wake up, coffee, and work. When you can sum up your days to a sequence of emotionless actions that are repeated day after day, it’s a clear sign that the everyday routine is not working for you anymore. When every Sunday is the worst day of the week because it comes just before Monday, it’s time to sit down and consider your career. Have you hit a professional brick wall, or, in other words, do you feel like your career is going nowhere? Unfortunately, more and more people feel like banging their head against the wall when it comes to the obstacles in their career. Here’s a tip for you: Firstly, it doesn’t work a bit. Secondly, it hurts. So, you’d better be looking at other ways to break free from the imaginary cell that is stopping your progress. We’ve compiled 10 ideas to help you move things forward. Don’t let anything hold you back again.

Successful career

#1. Not moving or not wanting to?

You’d be surprised to discover that your worst enemy when it comes to your career, is yourself. Indeed, people find a million of good reasons why they shouldn’t follow their dreams, from lack of money to fear of failure. The truth is that people will always lack money, courage and even time to move their career. But this is because planning is not always the best solution. When you think of your plan A and consider further alternatives for the cases where plan A would fail, then you are essentially planning for failure. In other words, if you choose to stick to your current position until you’ve secured enough money or enough time to change career safely, it’s likely that you’ll never change. Indeed, it’s refusing to take any risk that keeps you where you are.

#2. Train to impress

When you want to move your career forward, you need to impress the manager with your skills. You need to make yourself invaluable. What this means is that companies rely on their staff to grow. Consequently, if you are looking for a promotion or a change of career, it’s essential to have learned the relevant skills and collected official qualifications. Besides the skills you require for the job – and these vary with the roles – you should add any of the following to put all the chances on your side: A CPR certification or an online CPR renewal if you already have passed the test; a presentation qualification using PowerPoint or Keynote; a Google Analytics certification if you are aiming for a role in sales or design; a proofreading or editing certification for marketers; and a time management qualification for managerial roles. Always going the extra mile with your training is the best way to present a profile that will be valuable for the company.

#3. Are you shooting yourself in the foot?

You might be ready on paper, but your interview skills are stopping you from landing the dream job. Don’t laugh: Some candidates can say pretty weird things under pressure. The President of Darby Darnit Public Relation remembers a candidate explaining that his hobbies related to dating young women, for example. You can be sure that if you say something awkward, the recruiter will remember it… and choose against giving you the job! If face-to-face interviews aren’t your forte, it’s best to practice in advance and think about answers to the most common interview questions.

Old-fashioned interviews

#4. Social connections are precious

Believe it or not, but networking is a precious tool when it comes to finding your dream job. Why so? Because knowing someone in the company means that you can find a direct connection with the manager or recruiter for the position that interest you. Besides, it means that you can get a positive reference inside the company. In other words, pump up your LinkedIn profile and don’t miss important business conferences. It’s easier to get a job when you’ve got a friend inside the company.

Networking

#5. Become an influential expert

Interestingly enough you can create your brand in the digital world. Starting your own blog is one of the safest ways to share your expertise online. It might take some time, but it can be helpful to discuss cases and present ideas to establish yourself as an influential figure who knows his or her stuff. Unfortunately, with new websites appearing every day, you need to be rather smart to make it work and get noticed. Start by securing a domain on WordPress as it will help you to maximize your search result in the long run. Additionally, you need to develop a helpful content: After all, people read your blog articles because they are interesting, not because they know you – but that’s how they will get to know you, so think of your blog as a self-promotion tool. Avoid guest blogging, especially when large companies approach you for permission to republish your articles. Guest blogging, when done in that way, doesn’t work: It just means that people read your content on another blog and then move on.  

#6. Ask yourself: Do I like my job?

There’s one important thing that you should find out about your career block, namely, whether you love your job. Dharmesh Shah is HubSpot founder, and he gives a list of signs that are a clear indication that you’re in the right career path. First of all, Dharmesh considers the multiple layers of his job with pleasure: He hopes he gets to work on new things, instead of hoping to avoid it. He enjoys his time at work and doesn’t get any Sunday evening’s anxiety at the thought of going to the office the next day. He would recommend working at his company to his best friend, that’s how much he loves the place. Besides, employees who enjoy their job perceive their managers as a partner to work with, and not as the person they have to work for – this makes all the difference!

#7. What’s your passion?

Embracing your passion is the one thing you have to do to fall in love with your job. But this means two things: Firstly you need to find your passion. Secondly, you need to change career if your job is not fulfilling your passion. Finding your passion can be a little tricky at first, but you need to consider all the things you enjoy doing. Focus especially on the one you do without noticing that time is passing. That’s the thing you want to keep in your career! Embracing your passion, and turning it into a career demands a lot of courage and time, as nothing happens overnight. You need to invest in your craft as you build a portfolio list and a career.

Photo passion

#8. Don’t let the management style block the way

Not every manager has got their team under control. Some teams are just draining your energy and turning every work day into a nightmare. For the sake of your career, you should remain aware of obstacles that the management style is leaving in your way. For a start, if you’ve worked hard to hone your skills, you’d expect the rest of the team to work equally hard on their skills. It can be extremely demotivating to find that you’re the only one with high professional standards. Additionally, working in a team means that you can expect a fair exchange of skills and experience. The absence of it can lead to a devaluation of your skills.

#9. Work with a personal coach

More often than not, the best way to move your career forward is to work closely with a coach who can advise on your professional steps. It’s not only about what to say to whom, but it’s about getting an honest review of your professional abilities and improving them for the best. A coach can help you to address areas of improvement and make your profile more valuable to your manager or a recruiter.

#10. Learn from the mistakes of the past

Everyone makes mistakes, and that includes you. Naturally, you could cry over the faux-pas of your past or the many reasons why you haven’t succeeded in landing the perfect job. But, your time would be better utilized if you focused on understanding what went wrong and making sure that you don’t repeat your mistakes. A common mistake is failing to show confidence in your skills. Recruiters easily pick on a lack of self-esteem and prefer to avoid such employees as they feel they can’t be trusted with challenging projects. Knowing what to say and how to behave to express self-confidence and show that you know your stuff is helpful. Or maybe you’ve complained to a colleague in the past, and things have backfired? Knowing your friends and your enemies is another good tip here.  

There are plenty of ways to gain back control over your career and move it forward. Remember that doing nothing is never going to improve it. Take things in hand and build your professional success now!