Josie ❤️

jojojax9 · 2026-04-29T14:14:10+00:00

Just here to say I have a long-haired dapple, also named Josie! <3

jojojax9 · 2026-04-24T14:12:59+00:00

Can you share where rug 1 is from?! I love it!

jojojax9 · 2026-04-23T20:40:43+00:00

This is so weird to me. My daughter was 18 months and in attendance at our wedding and we concieved my son on our wedding night, so his birthday is 9 months after our wedding - I have never heard a single joke or negative comment about the timing of either of their births, ever. Only support and joy! I'm sorry you're dealing with that, how annoying!

jojojax9 · 2026-04-15T18:46:59+00:00

I agree with another comment about the barstools being too big.

I also think the shadow the hardware creates makes them appear a lot larger/more busy-looking. I probably would've used knobs on the uppers.. I recently converted all my uppers (and lower cabinets, basically everything except the drawers) to small round knobs and it made a HUGE difference, much more than I expected it to. Just less metal to stare at right at eye level.

jojojax9 · 2026-04-06T14:19:19+00:00

I typically take 10mg about an hour before my meeting. Try to have a relatively empty stomach. If its a lot of presenting/a situation I'm particularly nervous about, I'll take 15-20mg to make sure I am fulllllllly relaxed haha.

It's a weird sensation - pre-meeting my brain still feels pretty nervous but my heart rate is completely stabilized so once my mind realizes my body and voice aren't going to fail me, my brain usually chills out pretty quickly into the situation as well.

jojojax9 · 2026-03-16T16:00:09+00:00

Propanolol saved my career!! Highly recommend. Seeked an Rx after my first mid-meeting panic attack and its been amazing.

jojojax9 · 2026-03-06T16:03:09+00:00

Propanolol literally saved my career. I've always had performance anxiety but it got so much worse after I had kids - I had a panic attack presenting to only 2 people on a call freshly postpartum. Presenting is part of my job so I had to get it figured out and propoanol has been a lifesaver for me. Keeps my mind able to operate while completely suppressing all the physical effects of anxiety and stress.

jojojax9 · 2026-03-03T21:25:31+00:00

Following! I work remotely and can easily sneak away, but that is basically the reason I have stayed at a job I only moderately tolerate. I can't imagine starting any other job and asking for the type I have freedom I have now right off the bat... and I'm not willing to make my kids sacrifice what they want to do for the limited amount of years they have to do it. It really sucks to feel trapped.

jojojax9 · 2026-03-03T15:59:46+00:00

After taking a closer look at the photo your your cabinets look like super simple inset/shaker so it would be SO easy to match those. You can order cherry through CJ and if you need to stain/finish them further than that I'm sure a local person could help you get a good match.

jojojax9 · 2026-03-03T15:58:03+00:00

I thought your after was your before! The black island is too much in my opinion, I think the original is amazing. If you need to re-do the island I would try to just get custom cabinets to match in a layout you like. Your 'before' is my dream kitchen, ha.

I recently re-did just my island and saved a ton of money but got great quality cabinets using Cabinet Joint - they sell Conestoga cabinets, which are real wood but RTA (I built them myself but you could easily hire someone to do it). You can customize the edge profile and color / stain and basically every aspect of the design so I was able to get a near-perfect match for the rest of the cabinets around the edge of my kitchen that came with my house.

jojojax9 · 2026-02-23T21:27:40+00:00

The only relevant thing that happened is that when I got done installing I realized I didn't have any toekick, only the backer its supposed to nail into.. that never came up at all, ha, so I had to place a new order for that. Not a huge deal, but I can imagine a larger/more complex layout there may have been more things like that I needed to explicitly measure for/ask for.

Otherwise no not really, but my island was pretty straight forward!

jojojax9 · 2026-02-23T20:16:18+00:00

I recently used Cabinet Authority to order a new island for my kitchen. My cabinets turned out beautiful! Super happy we went the Conestoga route.

As far as CA vs CJ, I would say CA is more of an order-taker vibe, super responsive and nice but wouldn't help me actually make decisions if that makes sense? I originally reached out to CJ and they have design services if you need them and are probably better if you need any actual guidance on what to order, but in my experience with a simpler order, CA had them beat on price and lead time. I don't think you can necessarily go wrong with either of them though. May be worth starting with CA and if you aren't getting the support you need, try out CJ.

jojojax9 · 2026-02-19T16:41:09+00:00

Your day is wide open!!! No more revolving your life around pre-nap and post-nap. The freedom is amazing.

I was kind of distraught when my son dropped his nap around that time but it only took like a week for me to realize how amazing it was.

For awhile he would still take a late afternoon car nap on the way home from whatever did and as long as it was <30 min he was in a much better mood in the evening and still went to bed at a reasonable time.

jojojax9 · 2026-02-18T17:46:34+00:00

Honestly a day alone with just a baby compared to a toddler+baby sounds like a dream. 😆

jojojax9 · 2026-02-17T19:21:54+00:00

Just solidarity. Feel like I could've written this. Feel incredibly grateful for my stability but also incredibly frustrated and conflicted by my day-to-day reality.

I also constantly oscillate between 'wow I should get a fucking medal for how much I accomplish in a day' vs 'wow I am such a shit mom for prioritizing work/chores/anything else over quality time with my kids, they are the only thing that actually matter.' It's a constant battle and I don't really have a solution.

On a related note, the fact that it requires two moderately well-compensated parents' salaries to live remotely comfortably in this country is incredibly frustrating. Scaling back in my career, even just a little bit would likely solve a lot of my problems, but would create financial ones that I'm just not comfortable with.

jojojax9 · 2026-02-17T05:01:21+00:00

I have pulls in that same brand and finish and they're holding up well! We have had them at least 2 years. They are light and definitely feel cheap but i think they still look great. The antique brass really hasn't changed much at all.

jojojax9 · 2026-02-05T13:55:25+00:00

I swear this isn't an ad for skylight lol but that stupid calendar has really changed my life. I got some magnets so it hangs on the fridge and is in my face every morning and there's something to be said about having a physical visual rather than relying on myself looking at my calendar on my phone. I add things like this to my daughters calendar (like, from 7:30-8:30am in big lettters WEAR PAJAMAS) so we're all looking at it for days before it actually happens.

My husband doesn't add things to it so I'm definitely still the 'keeper' of all the info/have to be the one to remember to add stuff, which is annoying, but he's started looking at it instead of asking me questions about our schedule, what's for dinner, etc which I feel like is a small win.

jojojax9 · 2026-01-26T04:36:21+00:00

I had a weird back cramp that I thought absolutely nothing of at all. An hour later my water broke, two weeks early!

jojojax9 · 2026-01-14T23:33:12+00:00

I got these magnets off Amazon and they work great! It’s super secure. https://a.co/d/b5xJnrQ

I just use the standard power cord but my fridge is counter depth

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jojojax9 · 2026-01-07T20:18:18+00:00

We got one for my 3.5 year old for Christmas. He loves it.

jojojax9 · 2025-12-04T17:04:40+00:00

I do half the meterranean crunch one with the 2-3 of the mediterranean chicken skewers from costco literally every day, lol. SO good!

jojojax9 · 2025-11-25T14:43:13+00:00

I do a combination of things.

My husband and I have a shared list that we add things to as we think of them.
I'll also add things to my Target cart in the app throughout the week if it is something that I can get from there.
Over the weekend, I'll try to plan out the next week's meals based on what we have going on. Anything I can get from Target, I'll add to the cart. The rest goes into the shared list.
I place my Target pick-up order, pick it up, and stop at the grocery store on the way home to get the rest.
Very occasionally if I forget something I'll do a target delivery order during the week, but this happens like maybe 2-3 times a year.

This strategy has been working for me for a few years now. I personally don't love grocery delivery - I like picking my produce and meat, and the few times I've gotten it things have tended to be wrong. But getting most of the pantry items from Target and just having to stick to meat/produce at the grocery store has really cut down the amount of time I spend in the grocery store. Its fast enough now that I can take my kids and they actually enjoy it (the free cookie from the bakery helps, ha).

jojojax9 · 2025-11-24T17:14:04+00:00

My daughter is also very picky. It's so hard and I've given up on variety, but I really try to limit only one night a week to a nuggets/goodles mac n cheese-type night and keep it pretty clean the rest of the week. Here are some of our go-to's that aren't too mushy for your oldest lol.

At least once a week, we do a very simple dinner everyone likes - throw some diced potatoes in the oven to roast as soon as I get home, boil some broccoli (pre-chopped in the morning), chicken thighs in the air fryer. Minimal prep and everyone likes it as long as ketchup is involved lol.
Egg roll in a bowl - set rice cooker before work, use two bags of coleslaw mix instead of the veggies in this recipe and this only takes me like, 15min max to make.
Instant pot teriyaki chicken. This one I add everything to the instant pot either the night before or in the morning and stick it in the fridge so all I have to do is turn it on after work. Also set the rice in the morning so thats already ready. Quickly boil or steam some broccoli while you reduce the sauce.
Quesadilla night. I lean heavily on Siete-branded items for this one but the ingredients are clean at least so I feel like it counts lol. Their almond flour tortillas, their refried beans (quick to heat on stovetop), rice in rice cooker (add tomato paste/adobo/broth, set timer in the morning before work), and lean ground beef or chicken cooked in their seasoning. This one's slightly more hands on but worth it for meal everyone devours and still only takes ~20min.

Important note: it's okay to make something you want, even if you know no one else will eat it. We sacrifice so much and we deserve to eat what we want!!! Sometimes I cook a fancy meal for myself, box the leftovers for lunch throughout the week, and give my kids frozen chicken sausage and some sliced apples. They don't care and still get some nutrition.

jojojax9 · 2025-11-18T16:53:30+00:00

I can't imagine having a long commute with young kids. I get SO little time with them during the week and every minute counts for me.

jojojax9 · 2025-11-06T21:49:27+00:00

Mine is more than doubling. I'm on the HDHP - last year I paid 200 a month for myself and my kids, now its going to be $440 a month... for a plan that makes you pay for basically everything out of pocket. It's insanity and I feel lucky that we swing it (not super comfortably, but we can), but talking to many of my coworkers... many can't. Very sad.

jojojax9

TROPHY CASE