Hello, I’m Unfinished Mom. Remember Me?

Have you ever been through a season of life when things were just out of whack?

If you’re a mom, you've been there before. Something happens, and the schedule gets off. Someone gets sick and it takes you a month to catch up. There are lots of reasons life gets out of whack - schedule changes, new milestones of life, new responsibilities – you know the list. The end result is that you just can't seem to find "normal".

That's pretty much where I've been the last few months. There isn't really a good reason for it. No one’s been sick. No births; no deaths. Our schedule hasn’t really changed. There’s just been a confluence of events that sucked up time and energy. (Before you wonder, if this is goodbye – no it’s not!)

And there’s been the introspective re-examination.

It started several months ago - I don't know exactly when – this funk that has seeped into the crevices of my thoughts. I knew life could be better. I knew I could manage our home life better. I needed to figure out how.

So, I questioned.

I questioned the many tasks in my life. I wondered if I was doing too much (Um, yeah, that's an affirmative – still haven’t figured out what to stop doing). I felt overwhelmed with all of what needed to be done. I got up in the morning with my head whirling. I thought, "If I could just stop the rest of the world, I could catch up!"  I told my husband, “I really need to step back and regroup.” But there wasn't time. There was more to do. And examining the calendar didn’t reveal additional time either.

So, that’s why I haven’t been around much over the last few months.

If you’ve visited in the last few months, and wondered where I’ve been, Thank You!  I appreciate your interest and encouragement. I’m still around. Sort of hiding out at home, re-examining my life, and trying to develop a new more Godly paradigm for who I am and what this blog will become. I have not figured it all out by any means, but the picture is becoming clearer.

That’s where I am…

How is 2010 shaping up for you? What have you been up to?

It’s Party Time!

Welcome fellow party goers.

Come on in.  Have a slice of my Mommom’s Applesauce Cake:
Oh wait. Some of you may not know about the party. This week is party week at 5 Minutes for Mom. It’s my second Ultimate Blog Party. Last year was so much fun; I had the chance to meet a whole bunch of neat bloggers. I hope you’re having fun meeting some new folks too.

If you’ve stopped by in the morning, well, the cake is wonderful for breakfast too – toast it with a bit of butter. Yumm. But, if you’d prefer, you could try some of this delicious Apple Raisin French Toast

While you’re here, let’s chat and get to know each other a bit.
A bit about Unfinished Mom:

I live in Maryland with my two great kids and fantastic hubby. As you can tell from the name of my blog – I’m not finished. Like many stay-at-home moms -- I’m not an expert, but when I come across a good recipe or idea I like to share it. I’ve shared tips I’ve learned about keeping barrettes in fine hair and how we cope with picky eaters at our house. I love to find (and share) new ways to save money and live frugally, too.

There’s so much to learn when you’re a mom. I certainly don’t have it all figured out. Sometimes I’m not sure which is the harder part of being Mom – keeping the household organized or teaching my kids to be the people God wants them to be. It’s all a work in progress. What’s the hardest part of being a mom, for you?

In the next few weeks I’m planning to share some more great recipes I’ve found and a few things I learned when our kids were infants and toddlers.

What are you learning about being a Mom? I’d love to hear what you’ve learned. Introduce your blog or yourself and share your thoughts in the comments.

Oh! Don’t forget – there are some great prizes at this party. I really like the Collected Recipe Cookbook Binder (US27), but of course any of the Amazon gift cards would be cool too. But, my first choice would be a blog design (INTL 8); UnfinishedMom is due for a little redecorating.

Humbled

Wow. I'm amazed and humbled.

I feel so honored to have people reading my blog. It really is kind of amazing to me that there are people interested in the thoughts and trials of this Unfinished Mom.

Several times over the last few months some wonderful readers have given me an award. The latest one came from Joshlin at Saving Moms Sanity.  It surprised the daylights out of me, because I just don't think of myself in that way. So, thanks to Joshlin for this honor.

The Best Blog Award rules are:

1. To accept the award, post it in your blog together with the name of the person who has granted the award and his/her blog link.

2. Pass the award to 15 other blogs that you have recently discovered and think are great! Remember to contact the bloggers to let them know they have been chosen for this award.

Okay.  Confessions: I don't think I'm going to have time to find 15 new blogs to pass this along to. So, I'm going to join Joshlin in her rebellion and pass it along to 8 other bloggers. Please, if your blog isn't listed, don't take it as an insult, it just means I ran out of time.

I will pass this award to:

# 1Caroline at QAMom

I love the peaceful theme of her blog and, though she's new to the blogosphere,

I think she's off to a great start.

#2 Erin at Closing Time

I keep running into her blog when I visit various memes. I am enjoying getting to know her. I've also gottten some really good tips from her.

#3 Penny at My Life on Planet Mom

She's new to being a Stay at Home mom and learning so much about how wonderful it is.

#4 Mikki at The Not So Perfect Housewife
Mikki is also kinda new to blogging. I think we're going to find that Unfinished Mom
and the Not So Perfect Housewife have a lot in common.

#5 The Frugal Girl
Okay, so this one isn't new and it isn't even new to me. I've been reading her blog for a few months and I've really enjoyed it. I think she's the one that inspired me to actually shop at a thrift store for once in my life.

#6 Mother Hen at Ship Full of Pirates 
 She blogs about her oh so unusual (for me) life in Texas raising 5 boys and a girl (oh my!)

 #7 Amy at Mason Dixon Magnolia
She's a friend IRL who recently began her own blog. She's already posted some really great frugal tips and some great inspiration for this mom.

#8 Jennifer at Saving and Giving
Amy actually introduced me to her. This is where we found the tip for peeling a potato in 10 seconds. I also discovered we have similar tastes in blogs - our blog rolls are very similar!

Posts are Coming

There are posts coming in the near future.

I promise.

It's been an unusual week and it's taking me a while to get into a good summer schedule.

Thanks for your patience.

Summer Blogging

It's official: The kids are home from school. Friday was the last day.

So....
Kids home all the time.
Little quiet time to do things which require my brain - like blogging!
Re-evaluating priorities.
Re-evaluating time & energy allotments.
Adjusting schedules.

End Result....
Probably blogging less
Will try to post 3 times per week.

Hope you all are having a great summer.

Internet Problems

We are experiencing some difficulties with our main computer today. It's kinda been on the fritz for a few days, but today it wouldn't do much of anything - including access the internet.

Until it is fixed I won't be updating the blog. Hopefully Hubby and I can figure it out and get things up and running again in the next day or two.

Many thanks to my loyal readers - your patience is wonderful.

Sharon

Welcome, Ultimate Blog Partiers

Hi. I'm Sharon.

I'm an Unfinished Mom.

Why unfinished? Because it seems like nothing in my home is ever finished.
The dishes.
The bill paying.
The laundry.

The decluttering.
The reorganizing.
The repairing.
The cooking.
The decorating.
The budgeting.
The grocery shopping.

The coupon clipping.

I've got tons of goals to accomplish and never enough time/energy/space and motivation all at the same time to get them done. It can be frustrating at times.

I'm also unfinished because, well it may sound cliche, but God's not finished with me. I am a believer and follower of Jesus Christ. And I am a work-in-progress. God has a great future planned for me. He said so in the Bible - Jeremiah 29:11. And, He promised in Philippians 1:6 that he would continue to work on me. Right now that's what I'm counting on. Because, frankly I certainly haven't got this whole mom thing figured out.

In fact, I don't think I've got much of anything really figured out. It's all a work in progress. I'm still learning. And, that's what I blog about. I blog about this journey. The journey to being a better Mom. A better cook. A better housekeeper. A better economist. A better Christian.




Please, come in. Look around. Have a cookie. Make yourself at home.



As you mosey around, you may run into my two great kids; a boy age 7 and a girl age 5. He's into SuperHeroes, Pokemon, and is desperate for us to let him spend his itty bitty savings on a Bakugan! She's seriously into princesses, especially Cinderella, and recently discovered Fancy Nancy. They keep me busy.

I also have a fantastic husband. He is incredibly patient. He puts up with a lot of unfinished stuff. And he's really good at encouraging me. God really knew what I needed. I am humbled and grateful.

As you roam around I hope you'll find a lot of hospitality and a bit of encouragement along the way because, hey, we all need a little encouragement. And after all, aren't we all a bit unfinished?

For my part, This is my first time hopping the party, but here are few gems I've found along the way (I'll add to the list as the week continues).
BookClub4Boys
SimplyatHome - another Maryland blogger!

Just in case you haven't heard, there are lots of prizes to win at the party. My personal top three would be:
#58 The Kitchen Aid Artisan Stand Mixer
#68 $30 Gift Card to Christian Book Distributors
#123 $20 Gift Card to Kohl's

Great Blogger Resource for Newbies

I cannot tell you how happy I am to discover this great blogging resource for Blogger. I have been wanting to convert to 3 columns for a long time. I wanted to do it with my old blog, but never could find enough time and the right information to get it accomplished.

Oh, but thanks to The Blogger Guide I have finally managed to convert. It was wonderful.

I am pretty new to this blogging thing and know nothing about HTML, except that it holds the code to making this whole blog thing work. I needed a resource that would help me convert without incurring any costs. I'm not making money on this blog, though I have hopes of doing that one day. So, I didn't want to have to pay a web designer.

Enter TheBloggerGuide. I found this page with fairly easy step-by-step instructions on how to change the code. I carefully followed his instructions, clicking back and forth many times to be sure I was following it exactly - I knew one wrong keystroke would mess up the whole thing. When I got to the bottom of the page, I saved my template, moved my widgets around and ta-dah! It worked.

I am so happy. And, so very grateful to TheBloggerGuide for his very clear help in accomplishing this task.

If you're new to Blogger and need a bit of help changing to a 3-column template, this is definitely the place to go.


This website definitely worked for me!

Please note: Works For Me Wednesday is now hosted at WeAreTHATFamily.

Beginning Again

I've been contemplating this new blog for several months now. The old blog (Journey to Frugal) just didn't seem to fit where I was going. I liked blogging about being frugal. But there was so much more I wanted to blog about.

So, I'm beginning again with this new blog. I wanted to blog about the many things I am truly passionate about - cooking, kids, parenting, my faith, taking care of my family, as well as some of my other interests and things going on in my life - grief, perpetual organization issues and a host of others.

But, as I contemplated this new blog I got stuck on a name very quickly. I am no expert at any of the things I do. I'm not a parenting expert or an expert cook. I've been a Christian for over 30 years, and consider myself a mature Christian, but I still have many questions and the occasional crisis of faith. I am definitely not the most organized of persons. I have much to learn in all these areas. And so, after much contemplation and exploring many options I finally settled on "Unfinished Mom".

I am a work in progress. That old saying "Be patient with me, God is not finished with me yet!" certainly applies. But, as the verse in the header states - "God began a good work in me and He will be patient to complete it." He will be patient to complete His good work in you too. There are so many things I'm still learning about being a good mom, a good wife, a good Christian woman. There are some things I've learned that may be helpful to others. But mostly, I want to share my journey... what's happening in my life, where I've been, and occasionally where I think I am going. I'll gradually be bringing over some of the recipes and posts from my old blog. But there will be a lot of new thoughts to share as well.

So, that's where I am. If you are on this journey as well, please join in, and share your thoughts from time to time.