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Stephanie Iraggi

[Shark Bites- August] Black Eylids and Same Colored Socks

Published 5 months ago • 5 min read

Streamline Your Mom Life.

Hey Mamas!

Welcome to the August newsletter for Mama Shark!

We just got home from a lovely long weekend with my parents. I seriously wish everyone could have parents/grandparents as awesome as mine are- they build legos, take the kids to the pool, and take them for ice cream and more. And in the meantime, the parents get to mostly chill and it's AMAZING.

One of the funniest things that came out of this last visit happened during a family game of "I Spy" that happened out on their back porch. Keep reading to find out why- and to find out how I'm streamlining my mom life for the back to school season!

In this Newsletter

  • Black Eyelids and Orange Hiccups
  • How I streamlined my mom this month
  • This Month's Mom Hacks
  • Coming Your Way in September
  • Behind the Scenes at Mama Shark

Black Eyelids and Orange Hiccups

In case you're not familiar with the game of "I Spy", it goes like this:
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​Person A: "I spy with my little eye something [insert color of their choice]."
​Person B (or the rest of the group: *guesses until they guess the correct object*
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It's usually a pretty quick game, especially with kids.

My kids love to play this game over and over with my parents (who have far more patience than I do for these things).

On this particular evening at my parents' house, my 5yo son Levi had declared that he spied something BLACK.

So we guessed. "The handle of that thing!" "The back of that chair!" "Mommy's watch!" "the door hinges!" and on and on with no success.
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We did our best not to give up, but eventually we all gave in and asked what in the WORLD he had found that was black that we had not yet guessed.
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His answer: "When I close my eyes, the back of my eyelids are black!"

Of course.

Later that evening, his sister also got in on the fun and when we couldn't guess her orange item, she giggled and proclaimed: "it's my hiccups!!!"
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Many laughs were had over my kids' silliness, but there's a little truth nugget hidden in there for this season as moms...
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​Sometimes you just can't guess what's coming next.

As we enter into another season of school and fall routines, we've all probably got some plans for how we want things to go.
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But then one (or more) of the kids show up and declare the rules are changed and the answer is the back of their eyelids or their orange hiccups!
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So here's my gentle suggestion for when the rules get changed and the answers are things you couldn't even have guessed: take some deep breaths (no really, it's good for you) and roll with the punches...and try to laugh a bit along the way, too. :)

How I Streamlined My Mom Life this month:
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  • Prioritized Planning: Even though I know my kids will totally veer off whatever course I plot, I still know that if I don't know where I'm going, I'm never going to get there. So I've done a LOT of planning this month- for homeschool starting up, for the new swim team I'm starting, and for the Home Strategies Collection that opens next week!
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    And btw- prioritizing planning meant some things went undone for a WHILE. Because not everything can be important at once, and sometimes you have to sacrifice in the now to have a better later.
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  • Used the Accessibility Features on my iPhone: Why have I never done this before??? The feature that will read your screen to you is amazing! I've currently got the Kindle Unlimited free trial and wanted to read as many books as possible...but I also don't have the luxury of sitting and reading most of the time. So I tried this feature and guess what! It will read your books to you. So now I'm in like Book 6 of this new series I'm totally obsessed with (psst you should read it and start with Book 2 because it's the prequel and it makes so much more sense to start there!). And now doing chores is that much more fun.
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  • Ate Later Dinners: Usually since I'm the one at home prior to dinner time hours, I make the dinners (even though I really do not get joy out of cooking). However, over the last few weeks we've been eating later and my husband has been cooking on his awesome griddle! He got something like this off of Facebook Marketplace for a great deal, and we've been having so many yummy (if later) meals that I didn't have to cook!

August Mom Hacks

Here's some more of my favorite mom hacks!

  1. The Rag Bins/Bucket. I got this hack from someone else and I have no idea who it was at this point but it's GENIUS. In both our bathroom and my kids' bathroom/guess bathroom, I have two baskets: one with clean rags/washcloths and one for dirty ones. It empowers the kids to clean up their own messes and selves and makes it super easy for me to dump the basket of dirty rags into the laundry when it's time to wash. I also have a bucket on top of the washing machine that collects kitchen rags/towels!
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  2. Assign Your Chores to Days. It's never fun to feel like you have a looming list of chores hanging over your head. So assign them to days! For the weekly chores, this might mean something like you vacuum on Thursdays and collect the trash on Fridays. For the less frequent chores, at least pick a time when you'll tackle each thing so it's not all weighing on you! For more on organizing your chore list, check out this post!
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  3. Buy the same color socks. I know the colored ones are so cute, but if you buy the socks all the same color, it's a lot easier (for kids especially) to find a match!

Coming Your Way

Here's the section where I'll let you know what sales and such I have coming up! If it has a BUTTON or LINK, click the BUTTON or LINK to opt in to hear more about that sale when more info is available. Don't want to hear about ANY sales (unless you click a button to opt in)? Click here to opt out of all sales-related emails except this monthly newsletter!

The Home Strategies Collection is coming September 4th!

I'm super excited about this Collection- I've been working on putting it together, and this is going to be the best Collection yet!

The Home Strategies Collection is filled with ideas, plans, and blueprints to refine your at-home routines and systems!

And at 98% off, it's going to be an amazing deal, too!

Sign up now for the Early Bird List to get exclusive bonuses leading up to the Collection dates!

Behind the Scenes at Mama Shark

  • I'm working super hard on the Home Strategies Collection- be sure to join the Early Bird List to grab the exclusive bonuses leading up to sale dates!
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  • Once we get into a fall routine, a site overhaul is coming! What would you like to see on the new Mama Shark site?

Happy back to school season!

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My emails often contain affiliate links. This means if you make a purchase through my links, I will receive a small commission at no extra cost to you. I don't promote anything I don't love and think you'll love, too!​
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Stephanie Iraggi

Prior to having children, I was the founder, owner, and operator of a successful small business teaching children and adults how to swim. When I was pregnant with my firstborn, I made the decision to become a stay at home mom- and it was quite the transition! My life became busy in so many different ways than it ever had been before. During those early days as a new mom, I felt like my identity had become mostly “Mama.” Having my daughter (and later my son, too) brought me so much joy- but I felt like I lost a piece of myself in the process. The overwhelm was real, the chores seemed endless, and I missed having my own business. As the days and years went on, I realized that owning a business and managing a home and family actually have a lot in common. As a mom, I was carrying just as many (actually a lot MORE) responsibilities than I did when I owned my own company. And just like in a small business, there was a need to figure out how to run things more efficiently. Instead of allowing myself to be overwhelmed by the day to day tasks, I realized I needed to learn to do my daily mom life more effectively- and I’m now on a mission to figure out ways to do mom life smarter, faster, cheaper, and easier…and of course to share what I find with YOU!

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