The Toy Box Years: I've Been Meaning To.....

The Creators of the Toy Box Years

The creators of the Toy Box Years are my two beautiful daughters and wonderful, handsome soldier husband.

"Nani" (our oldest) is a 11 year old 6th grader who loves Taylor Swift, ballet, books, fashion designing and sewing. Ask her what she wants to be when she grows up and it changes daily to anything from "an artist" to "a teacher" to "a singer/dancer". Nani is also currently fighting a battle against brain cancer -- recently diagnosed in June 2016.

"Nudgie" (our youngest) is a very smiley, very happy, very giggly, very spirited 8 year old 3rd Grader who's favorite toys are anything that gives mommy an anxiety attack - ladders, stepstools, the climbing wall at the playground. Like her sister, she has a love of reading and coloring, loves gymnastics and still provides mommy lots of snuggle time!

"My Marine" is my high school sweetheart. We've been married over 20 years and met when we were 17. (You do the math....) His favorite toys are Blackhawk helicopters, the lawnmower, our steam cleaner, and microbrew beer bottles. My husband is also my hero in that he proudly serves his country as a Blackhawk crew chief (hence his favorite toy!). And need I say that there is nothing hotter than my man in uniform!

All About Me......

Once upon a time I had a career and worked in the corporate world. Once upon a time, I dreamed about leaving that all behind to follow my true calling -- being a wife and mommy.

The first part of my calling was fulfilled in 1995 when I married my Marine (now soldier) and my love. Little did I know that being a military wife would change me in so many ways and that because of that, I would have an extended family all over the world from Japan, to California, to North Carolina.

The second part of my calling took a little doing, but I finally achieved that dream in 2004 with the birth of our first child, followed 4 years later by her baby sister.

So now, when someone asks me what I do for a living - I simply smile and say proudly that I'm following my calling - I'm a mommy and a wife -- and I couldn't be HAPPIER -- I'm living in the Toy Box Years!!

I have a To-Do list that's pages and pages long. Projects I want to accomplish, books to read, crafts to start, weight to lose.....you get the idea. But there are just some things that keep getting pushed further and further down the list. I'm taking that as a bit of a psychological cue that I just don't want to do these projects.

Things like:

1. Finally gathering up all those cassettes from our video recorder and getting them put on to DVDs. I have tapes that go back to right after Nani was born. (She's now 6)

2. Finally converting our outdated music cassette tapes to MP3s. I got My Marine this awesome gadget that you hook up to the computer, pop in your cassette, and it converts your music for you. The majority of the cassettes I can get on CD now, but some of the cassettes are irreplaceable and should be preserved. Note I said, "should be....."

3. Organize all those photos in shoeboxes and get them into albums. I don't have any baby albums for either one of my girls. Everything is digital....saved on disks. I'd like for them to each have something from their childhood.

4. Finally print out all those emails My Marine and I exchanged while he was deployed and put them into a little scrapbook for the girls to have some day.

And these are just the tips of the icebergs. Very, very, big iceburgs.

So, what have YOU been meaning to do?

7 comments:

MaryAnne May 20, 2011 at 5:06 AM: I have a TON of projects like this! No idea how many of them will actually get done...

One thing I do want to do is digitize the scrapbook I made when I was 18 using photos from my childhood. My kids look at it all the time, and if I just scan it in we will at least have a permanent copy!
Christy Killoran May 20, 2011 at 5:47 AM: My list goes on forever!
Kelli W May 20, 2011 at 7:06 AM: I have at least 3 craft projects scattered around my house right now, not to mention the huge pile of laundry that I keep ignoring:)
Anonymous May 20, 2011 at 1:15 PM: Oh my goodness, I can so relate. I mean, that was part of the reason for my "blogcation" and 1. I pretty much never took it since I kept blogging anyway, and 2. I never did any of the stuff I was hoping to do because I got sick and then busy and then, blah, blah, blah.

Actually many of the things on your list are on mine too. In fact all of them except for the email thing ;) I've got photos, videos, and cassettes to scan, transfer, and organize amongst many, many other things. And blogwise I'm starting to fall apart too. It seems like the more post-ideas I have, the less I actually blog. I doesn't make any sense. *sigh*
La-Dee-da crafter May 20, 2011 at 1:33 PM: Thanks for being a follower on my blog. I hope you can stop by and participate in my, Step up for the troops event. I am a proud Navy wife so this is very close to my heart.
http://ladeedacreations.com/2011/05/step-it-up-for-the-troops/
Have a great weekend!
Iva June 6, 2011 at 11:08 AM: I have tons of pictures on disk, too! I really should get them printed out and put into books. Books (to my knowledge) will never be out of date. CD's and the like, might very well be one day...
Stacey June 6, 2011 at 10:21 PM: Thanks for linking up!!

The Lazy Mom
www.imalazymom.com