Caring for My Chaos

It's November 1!!! You know what that means, right? It's officially the holiday season! This is my hands down favorite time of the year. I live for Christmas. I have been scouring Goodwills all year for Christmas decorations, I have my Pinterest full of recipe ideas. I am that person. I have no shame in it either. I just hung up my Thanksgiving flag outside and I got all the fixins from the dollar store to do my holiday wreath. I think Hubby is sick of me coming up with present ideas already. Who's with me on this? Do you wait all year for November 1? When do you put your decorations up? We usually wait until the Friday after Thanksgiving but some years, I can't wait that long. And with our new house this year, I'll get to go all out like I wanted to last year but didn't have time. Note to self, never move at Thanksgiving again. I would not recommend it to anyone. I have so many plans this year. I can't wait!!!

**I was compensated for my 100% honest review of this website. All opinions are my own** Have you ever sent an e-vite? An online card? Normally, I'm an old fashioned kinda gal and send regular cards in the mail. But, when  Paperless Post  contacted me, I was intrigued. They have all kinds of online invitations, greeting cards, even stationary! I was so impressed with their selection. And some fantastic designers, like Oscar de la Renta, Jonathan Adler, and Kate Spade to name a few! I had so much fun just going through and looking at the different cards. It was awful hard to choose! I have a couple celebrations coming up, so I chose to send a birthday card to my brother, who has a birthday this month, and a congratulations card to my niece, who is graduating next month!  This is the  birthday card  that I chose for my brother. (He's older than me and I like to remind him of that!) The process of choosing the card was so easy. You simply click on the ...

**This is a guest post from award winning columnist and author Maggie Lamond Simone!** Note from me (Kerian) As someone who suffers from depression and anxiety, I can attest to the holidays being hard. I can also attest to not asking for help when I should. It is known as the silent epidemic for a reason. I believe that if we keep ourselves informed, and know what to look for, we can help our family members make it through the holidays smoothly! ************************************************************* As the holiday season’s spirit and cheer kick in, it can be hard to imagine feeling glum. But for the 3.3 million Americans suffering from anxiety -- plus millions more suffering from related conditions like depression and OCD -- the expectations of joy and merriment can backfire, triggering hopelessness and causing symptoms to flare. That’s because the mere thought of trying to meet these expectations can be overwhelming, Maggie explains.  People with anxiety and r...

**I received product in exchange for my 100% honest review. All opinions are my own** How much time do we, as mothers, spend finding all the right presents for everyone on our lists? And the lists seem to get longer each year.

**I received product in exchange for writing this review. All opinions are 100% my own.** Whatever happened to the good old fashioned cocktail party? You know the ones with different cocktails and little hors d'oeuvres?

I just finished this and hung it up outside, in time for Memorial Day. This one will carry through July 4 though. The materials cost me a whopping 3$. It's a very simple process. I get a spool of ribbon and 1-2 bunches of flowers from my trusty Dollar Tree. The grapevine wreath I found at Goodwill for about 2$. When I got it, there were awful wooden decorations on it, I just took those off. I start by wrapping the ribbon around the entire wreath. Most thicker ribbons I can just tuck into the wreath and they are secure, but this one was a sheer ribbon and I had to use Christmas decoration hooks. I just poked one end of the ribbon with the hook, straightened the hook out, and then wound the hook around a piece of the wreath. I did that at both ends so that the ribbon is secure. Then Hubby lent me his wire cutters so that I can snip the flowers off the bunches. You don't want the ends too long or they will hang out the back. Then when you hang it up and it rests against the...

  Who's ready for the holidays?? This is hands down my favorite time of the year. This year, I have to say, I'm not as excited since it will be the first season without my dad. But, I love the decorating, the present giving, all of it! Last year I couldn't wait and we had our tree up a week before Thanksgiving. The Black Friday ads are already being leaked. I haven't been impressed with the sales the last few years. Maybe it's because my kids are older and we aren't buying that many toys anymore. We'll have to see what they offer up this year! I always use my favorite trusty website  bfads.net to check out the leaked ads. Have you started any shopping yet? I've got some presents made, but haven't started shopping yet. I'm just ready for the cold to come!