More YES's and less no's

Since summer is upon us, there is a lot of time to fill especially when you have a 7-year old, 5-year old and 6-week old and you only have six more weeks of maternity leave.  I randomly found a post called  "A Simple Tool for a More Positive Home" on handsfreemam.com.  After a lot of slacking off on my part(hey, I do have a newborn after all) I finally dragged the kids to the craft store where I picked up three mason jars and a bag full of puff balls.  The kids where curious to know what I was doing with such a random assortment of items.
After dinner I sat the children down and explained the process; every time they did something nice or did something without being asked they can earn a puff ball(bigger tasks can earn them bigger puff balls) and once they fill their jar they can choose do do something with just me or just their dad.  The bonus was that they couldn't lose puff balls once they earned them.  They seemed very excited!
We are now a couple weeks into the Puff Ball Challenge and attitudes are slowly changing.  There is more effort from the children to act nicely and help out in areas that yelling only turned them away from.  Also, there are more "yes" responses from both my husband and I.  So a win win for all involved.

Facebook Detox: Day 7

It has been a week since I have decided to walk away from Facebook for a while and the effects are significant.  I feel happier and engaged in reality.  My children have my attention and since I am only on maternity leave for another 6 weeks, they need it.  

Here is some catch up:

After noticing an increase in my attention to Facebook and noticing that I was becoming increasingly upset(angry even) I decided to go on a detox.  I contacted the only person on Facebook that I would talk to on a (more)regular basis to give her my email and phone number(which she had as it turns out).  Anyways here is how it has gone so far:

Day 1: not gonna lie, it was tough not to check in periodically(all the time?!?!).  I now needed to fill my down time when the baby was sleeping and the other kids where otherwise engaged with other meaningful activities.  I washed a lot of clothes!

Day 2: a bit easier, however, the email from Facebook about what I was missing was a bit annoying.  However, I did not give in and log on.  More laundry was done!

Day 3-4: Getting easier.  I no longer have a dire need to check in and see what I am missing.  But since the kids are engaged in other activities and the baby is still sleeping and I have done so much laundry, I am now having to entertain myself in a different way.  I tried to catch up on all my magazines that are laying around....that took all of a few minutes as I realized I read them all cover to cover before.  So what do I do, I start shopping online for vacations(bad idea!) but stop myself prior to typing in my credit card. (whew, that was close!!)

Day 5: got another "here is what you are missing" email from Facebook.  I am annoyed but in a moment of weakness(or was it boredom?) I log on only to be terribly disappointed that the notifications I received are invites from friends to play games or visit their pages. So, since I am already logged on I scroll a bit to see that my husband's cousin had her baby(YAY!) and there were no other important announcements.  

Through all of this I do realize I miss seeing updates from Ree Drummond(The Pioneer Woman) and Alex Guarnaschelli. They both post some interesting tidbits/ideas/etc.

Day 6: Oh boredom, you have gotten me!  However, I do not log onto Facebook instead my middle child and I read a lot, build castles with Magna-Tiles and I bug my husband.  It was a loooong day but the memories my middle child have now are much more important.

Today(day 7), I received my every other day email from Facebook about what I am missing.  I clicked the link on the email to see what notifications I am missing and again it was for joining pages/games.  I had no desire to go to my feed to scroll aimlessly.  

Let's see how long I can do this and how my attitude can change from here on out.

I encourage any one to take this detox and let me know how it changes your life and attitude!