A Penny For Your Thoughts

Weigh in on courses, kid tech, and our renovation!

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Super big bubbles of ideas!

New Course Ideas

I’ve been toying with the idea of making some new courses in topics I am passionate about: health and home organizing.

Fun fact: when I dreamed up the Digital Clutter Course, I had really wanted to do a home organizing one first. But it felt a bit too overwhelming and not niche enough at the time, so I decided to focus in on just the digital topic.

Now that I’ve built and marketed one course with success, I feel more confident in doing it again!

I would love to gauge interest in these two topics:

Prioritize Your Health:

If you once were health-focused but life got in the way, this course will help you shift your mental space on getting back to healthy. Refresh your knowledge on nutrition basics, learn techniques for intuitive and mindful eating, and get ready to prioritize your health again with like-minded women.

I’m imagining this course to have two tiers: a less expensive self-guided content that covers a breadth of topics and then an add-on community / group coaching / live-taught aspect inside of Kajabi Communities.

I’d love to hear your interest in each level.

Home Neat Home:

Declutter and organize your home top to bottom. Use techniques to go room by room and declutter, simplify, sort, and organize. After you have organized, implement systems to make your household run like a well-oiled machine. Honestly this course might come later in 2023 or 2024.

If you are interested in one of these or both, and they are something you would pay for, please opt in here.

Gizmo vs. Apple Watch vs. iPhone vs. Gabb

I think I’ve written before that Mazen has a Gizmo Watch. It’s a Verizon product that is about $79 to buy and $9 a month for the phone line. The reviews are not glowing overall, but it has been a great starter watch for us. He’s had it for 3 years now.

I really like the ability to track him via GPS and call or text him if needed when he’s out in the neighborhood or staying to play Gaga after school. He is also able to call us when he’s at his dad’s house and vice versa.

Mazen’s Gizmo is running on its last leg, and I’m not sure we’d buy another one when this one bites the dust.

Communication and Tracking are more for me than for him

At age 10, Mazen has been wanting more freedom to do things without parents: walk to school, walk to the downtown mall with his friends, play around the neighborhood, and go for bike rides in the neighborhood.

At this point, we feel that having some kind of GPS and text/call device is becoming necessary not so much for him but for us. It’s a huge peace of mind for me. So I’ve been debating options for possible Christmas presents.

A lot of his friends have started getting phones

Before you roll your eyes that I’m going to hand a 10 year old a brand new iPhone with social media – please know that not the plan! His friends who have phones have older generations and lots of parental controls, no social media, etc. That would be our plan too.

I had another mom of Mazen’s friend tell me that she looked into prepaid options, flip phones, etc. but adding her kids to her Verizon plan and getting them old iPhones was the best balance of GPS and use-ability for her.

I feel that a watch would be the easiest for him to carry around, but a phone (in an Otterbox) would enable him to do basic photos and Facetime when he isn’t at our house. I worry he would break it or forget it at home!

The Apple parental controls are fantastic and we are an all-Apple House

We use the parental controls on Mazen’s iPad, and I am able to monitor app activity, set screen time limits, and turn off all apps at a certain time. He is also unable to download new apps or make purchases without approval from my account. So I have been leaning toward getting an iPhone.

I’ve been researching the new Apple Watch SE (it’s advertised as good for kids) vs. an older iPhone vs. another option like Gabb wireless.

I would love to hear from parents of preteens and teens if you have any advice!

Renovation Update!

This isn’t so much a question but an update on our home renovation! (Read this post to get the context.)

We’ve been going back and forth with our architect, Ruth Ellen Outlaw of Outlaw Design, for months. We FINALLY have decided on a layout for our first floor.

We thought we had one and then after we plugged those plans into a 3D program we almost started from scratch.

The first version of our plans also had a storage shed on the front of the house (the front left corner of the garage) but that has now been vetoed in favor of a bigger pantry and a true mudroom nook.

Most of the things we store in the garage can be spread out in the other storage areas of our house, including a small gardening and tool shed in the backyard.

The only puzzle piece I haven’t figured out yet is where to throw all the cardboard boxes that come in the mail!

Here’s the latest layout for the first floor:

Here’s the problem we’re trying to solve:

Everyday “mudroom” chaos!

3D of the new kitchen

Believe me, I will not be using these barstools, haha. And of course this is a basic program so the kitchen will not be gray with brown counters. Look for spacial design only!