The Sensible Mom

10 Goals for the Week

June 11, 2014 by Sandra 8 Comments

I didn’t make a whole lot of progress with my business goals last week, but I did pretty well otherwise. 🙂

Here’s what I accomplished:

Family/Mothering Goals:

1. ~~Continue to work on memorizing two verses of scripture as a family~~

2. ~~Plan a fun day for our last day of home schooling! I can’t wait for summer break!~~

Personal Goals:

3. ~~Finish reading How to Monetize Your Food Blog by Kiersten Frase~~

4. ~~Drink water with lemon (or lime) and cayenne pepper 5x~~

5. ~~Read 20 pages of 52 Things Kids Need From a Mom by Angela Thomas~~

Home Management Goals:

6. ~~Fill one bag with items to donate — I need to keep this on my list for ongoing de-cluttering purposes!~~

7. ~~Clean bathrooms~~

Business Goals:

8. Design a new Facebook cover for my page — It’s on my Google Calendar for this week.

9. Move subscribers over to a new email service — The technical issues have been worked out, and now I need to go through the steps to move my email subscribers over to Mad Mimi.

10. Write 4 blog posts — I wrote two posts.

Here are my goals for this week:

Family/Mothering Goals:

1. Continue to work on memorizing two verses of scripture as a family

2. Plan a Family Day — Last week, we ordered pizza and watched right around six hours of The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings. We never do that, and I’m not really into movies. But I was hooked. No guilt. 😉 It was fun!

Personal Goals:

3. Read 20 pages of Virtual Freedom by Chris Ducker

4. Drink water with lemon (or lime) and cayenne pepper 5x

5. Read 20 pages of 52 Things Kids Need From a Mom by Angela Thomas

Home Management Goals:

6. Vacuum upstairs

7. Clean coffee maker

Business Goals:

8. Design a new Facebook cover for my page

9. Move subscribers over to Mad Mimi

10. Write 4 blog posts

What are your goals for this week?

P.S. I recently discovered that Amazon’s affiliate program was reinstated in Illinois (yay!), so some of the links in this post are affiliate links.

David’s Story: 6 Month Post Transplant Update

June 7, 2014 by Sandra 17 Comments

And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose. (Romans 8:28 NASB)

As I sit here writing this post, my 5-year-old son sits next to me.

His name is David.

He had a bone marrow transplant nearly six months ago on December 11, 2013. I know that if you’ve been reading my blog for the past year, you probably know about David. You know all about how he was diagnosed with severe aplastic anemia and had to undergo a bone marrow transplant as the only means of a cure. I documented some of our painful journey here on The Sensible Mom in blog posts. Then leading up to David’s transplant and throughout his entire month-long hospital stay, I shared videos when I could.

Now more than ever, I’m thankful that even through the sorrow and the roller coaster that life was at that point, I was able to find small ways to remember David’s reality through it. We’ll never forget what he’s been through, and because of that, we’ll praise God for the rest of our lives for what He’s taken us through and for what He’s given back to us.

To be completely truthful, looking at pictures of David before his diagnosis — from when he was sick and we had yet to realize it — is downright gut-wrenching. As his mom, I see those pictures and my heart aches, because I know that while the rest of us were smiling, he was suffering inside. We simply hadn’t yet connected all the dots and made that trip to the emergency room.

I have similar issues when I look back at pictures of what David went through in the hospital during his transplant. I posted a few on his Facebook page, but there are far more that I can’t share publicly. I try to prepare myself mentally to look back at those photos.

I know that it’ll all get easier with time and as we continue to heal as a family, but right now, it’s hard.

Living with Fear

Another thing I’m dealing with is fear. There’s this fear that lives inside of me that wasn’t there before. At times, it triggers frightening thoughts. Other times, it makes me tense up, and I feel all edgy. I know that this fear is a part of me now because of the trauma of this whole experience.

On August 3, 2013, a bomb exploded in my life, and we’re still recovering from the devastation that it caused.

I believe that my Savior is going to get me through this, and I won’t live with this type of fear forever.

Moving onto the Happy Part of this Update

Enough about how I’m doing, let’s talk about David. 🙂

He’s just about to approach six months post transplant, and he’s doing well. He still has some issues with graft versus host disease of the skin as a result of the transplant, but we’re praying for a total healing of David’s body over time. Graft versus host disease is a very serious complication that can occur when you’ve had a bone marrow transplant, but thankfully, David’s GVHD has not spread beyond his skin.

Also, while it’ll be a LONG while before David truly looks like his normal self again (because of the side effects of current and past medications), he is starting to look more like himself.

Here are pictures to give you a better idea of some of the physical changes that David’s had to endure since his transplant:

As you can see, it’s been quite a journey. But we’re here — six months since a complete stranger (whom we can’t wait to meet one day) donated his bone marrow so that our son could to do what he’d constantly talk about doing — GROW UP.

We love you, David. You’ll forever be our #1 Superhero.

Click here for more posts and videos about David’s Story.

10 Goals for the Week

June 2, 2014 by Sandra 4 Comments

I have thirty minutes to write this post and share it on social media.

I’m getting a little alone time in before we put the kids to bed, and I thought that actually getting my goals post up on Monday (as opposed to Tuesday or Wednesday…) was just the thing to do. 😉

Here’s what I accomplished last week:

Family/Mothering Goals:

1. ~~Continue to work on memorizing two verses of scripture as a family — This will be our last week of Ephesians 4:29, and we’ll memorize the second part of Exodus 20:7 (Third Commandment)~~

2. ~~Work on sewing~~ with Breanna — I was finally able to break out the needle and thread and sew the things that needed to be fixed, but I didn’t get the chance to work on these things with my daughter. Next time.

Personal Goals:

3. ~~Read 20 pages of How to Monetize Your Food Blog by Kiersten Frase~~

4. ~~Drink water with lemon (or lime) and cayenne pepper 5x~~

5. ~~Read 20 pages of 52 Things Kids Need From a Mom by Angela Thomas~~

Home Management Goals:

6. ~~Fill one bag with items to donate — I need to keep this on my list for ongoing de-cluttering purposes!~~

7. ~~Mop the floors and then put diatomaceous earth around the house to kill spiders and insects~~ — Thanks to my husband, Ruben, the floors were steam cleaned. 🙂 I put diatomaceous earth around the house, and I hope it makes a difference as we enter ~~bug season~~ Summer.

Business Goals:

8. ~~Take and edit photographs for a post to be published this week~~

9. Move subscribers over to my new email service — I tried to get this done, but I ran into technical difficulties. I’ve emailed my new service, and I’m sure things will be resolved soon.

10. Write 4 blog posts — This is my ultimate weekly goal for posting here on The Sensible Mom, so I’m going to keep on working on it.

Here are my goals for this week:

Family/Mothering Goals:

1. Continue to work on memorizing two verses of scripture as a family

2. Plan a fun day for our last day of home schooling! I can’t wait for summer break!

Personal Goals:

3. Finish reading How to Monetize Your Food Blog by Kiersten Frase

4. Drink water with lemon (or lime) and cayenne pepper 5x

5. Read 20 pages of 52 Things Kids Need From a Mom by Angela Thomas

Home Management Goals:

6. Fill one bag with items to donate — I need to keep this on my list for ongoing de-cluttering purposes!

7. Clean bathrooms

Business Goals:

8. Design a new Facebook cover for my page

9. Move subscribers over to a new email service

10. Write 4 blog posts

What are your goals for this week?

P.S. I recently discovered that Amazon’s affiliate program was reinstated in Illinois (yay!), so some of the links in this post are affiliate links.

Review and Fave Features of the HTC One (M8) Harman/Kardon Edition Smartphone

May 29, 2014 by Sandra 2 Comments

I participated in a campaign on behalf of Mom Central Consulting (#MC) for Sprint. I received a product sample to facilitate my review and to thank me for participating. #SprintMom

I mentioned in a previous post that I’m a 2014 Sprint Ambassador. This means that over the course of a year, I’ll have the amazing opportunity to try out various Sprint devices and service options and then share my experience with you here on The Sensible Mom.

Today, I’m sharing my thoughts on the beautifully crafted all-metal HTC One M8 Harman/Kardon Edition smartphone.

This phone is awesome.

What really sets it apart from other smartphones is the high-caliber design inside and out that provides you with a music experience unlike any other. No joke. The sound quality coming from this phone is superb. The HTC One M8 Harman/Kardon Edition smartphone even includes headphones that are not only comfortable, but they also help to create a marvelous listening experience.

3 Favorite Features

Besides the listening experience, here are the other features that I love about this smartphone:

1. I love the 5-inch Full HD screen. My regular smartphone is the Moto X, which has a smaller screen than the HTC One M8 Harman/Kardon Edition, but I instantly fell in love with how my site and other websites displayed on the larger screen.

2. With Sprint Sound Sessions, I love having access to Spotify’s catalogue of more than 20 million songs! My favorite music to listen to is Christian music, and I was pleased to see that after getting the Spotify app set up on my phone, I could immediately start listening to the music I enjoy most.

My husband and kids will confirm that I’m the type of girl that likes music playing all day long. I’ll turn it on in the morning and then let it encourage us until late in the evening. Dancing and singing throughout the day with my baby girl isn’t optional. 😉

3. I love the camera. It actually takes better pictures than my current smartphone.

Here’s one of the pictures I took during one of our playtimes outside:

And here’s a picture I snapped at the NRA Show in Chicago:

Harman Kardon Onyx Studio

Along with the smartphone, I was able to try out the Harman Kardon Onyx Studio. And just — wow. This little speaker is unbelievable.

Let’s just say that we watched the movie FROZEN during a recent family night, and the Harman Kardon Onyx Studio has been blasting out Elisabeth’s new favorite songs, “Let It Go” and “In Summer.”

We don’t own the FROZEN soundtrack, but because of the bluetooth technology in the Harman Kardon Onyx Studio, we can listen to anything we want to from YouTube and make it sound awesome with this speaker.

Oh, and we also used the speaker when we celebrated Nathan’s 14th birthday last weekend. It definitely took our little family party up a notch!

And Finally…Who’s Keeping the Smartphone

Sprint’s website talks about the type of person who will love the HTC One M8 Harman/Kardon Edition smartphone. They say this phone will be adored by “creative changemakers.” I guess that’s me. But I also hope that it’s my husband, because he’s going to keep it.

I’m calling it an “Early Father’s Day” gift. 😉

Living with Fear

Moving onto the Happy Part of this Update

3 Favorite Features

Harman Kardon Onyx Studio

And Finally…Who’s Keeping the Smartphone

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