100 Moms Surviving the Chaos: Meet Kristy Mabe

1. Who are you?

Most people would likely catalog me as a plain Jane Southern mom. Yes, I’m Southern since I’m rooted and living in NC. I love t-shirts, jeans, Jesus, and sweet tea. I have the t-shirt to prove it! I graduated college with a B.A. in Art and a minor in English, but wound up at an insurance company for 19 years (and counting).

I’m also an ex-romance writer who covers couponing for a top coupon site, and penned non-fiction for national parenting blogs anonymously. The writing shifted after I had my daughter (now 5). But that’s not all she changed!

She brought me back to the Lord, and is the reason my husband and I graced a church sanctuary again. If it wasn’t for God I wouldn’t be here, and wouldn’t be embarking on the adventure of running Simple Joys with plenty of inspiration from my daily life.

Like many moms I’m continuing the fight against my weight with exercise, which shifted from running to more wogging (walking/jogging). I’m proud of completing 1,000 miles last year and my family is about to cap off the Amerithon Challenge of over 3,000 miles across the U.S.

Check out my Etsy shop –> Simple Joys

2. When is your favorite time of day?

Night time after my daughter is in bed.

Let me rephrase…when I can get her to stay in bed. I get to steal a little time for myself by watching a program on demand (since I rarely get to see shows live), read, or spend time with my husband.

3. When is your most chaotic time of day?

Mornings! Though we have a typical routine none of us are morning people. I’m always trying to be sure we have everything we need before we leave the house.

4. What is your mom chaos confession?

I had my daughter when I was 37. I was in the best shape of my life as a runner, and told everyone that my age wouldn’t be a problem. Now I confess that most days I’m pooped! My daughter, on the other hand, is like the Energizer bunny.

Another confession is that I hid my PPD except from my husband. It was the darkest time in my life. I didn’t want anyone to know how I felt because again I wasn’t the typical mom who had it all together. Now I know almost none of us do!

5. What is your best tip for managing the chaos?

Having a plan! We have a fairly tight schedule in the morning and a general one for the evening. I always have a list of things to do and rank them in order of importance. If I get the top 3-5 done I’m happy. We haven’t started “big school” yet, but I know I’ll be that mom who lays everything out the night before. I’m a planner, though these days I don’t seem as organized. After becoming a mom, and trying to work 2 jobs (even before Simple Joys was born) as well as keep house I had to lower my level of perfection.

6. What does a typical day in your chaos look like ?

Hubby and I are up about 7 a.m. He gets ready for work while I fix my daughter’s breakfast. Her faves are warm milk, peanuts and popcorn or a banana. Generally I’m munching on fruit with a full glass of water or making a smoothie to take along. I get her up by 7:30 and she watches a little t.v. as I dress and grab anything we need to take with us for the day.

Hubby feeds the cats, gives us a quick kiss, and is out the door to his full time job by 7:45 am. I wrangle her into her clothes and fix her hair and am out the door by 8:10. We make it to preschool by 8:20 where I get her stuff stored, take her to the potty and drop her off in class.

I dash up the interstate to be at my full time job for 8:30 am, sometimes drinking my smoothie on the drive. Most times I’m munching on a granola bar as I check my e-mail first thing. I work until 10 am and walk if I can. At noon I head out for errands for Simple Joys and sometimes lunch with my mom, sister or a friend. Mondays at lunch I’m usually working on couponing content. If I don’t have errands or a lunch date I will work on ideas for posts/products or read. I have a little pink Bible my mom got me that’s awesome for on the go. Most days I also try to check my social media content for a few minutes as well.

Back at my desk by 1 pm. When the weather is nice I take a short mile walk about 3 pm, and then work until 5 pm. Dash back to get my daughter by 5:30 unless my mom has picked her up. (I’m so thankful my mom has retired, though her days are now full helping care for my grandmother.)

Monday nights occasionally mean classes at the local Small Business Center to expand my knowledge for Simple Joys. On those nights I’m home about 8:15 pm. Tuesday nights are gymnastics and I meet my mom and daughter at the gym for class until 6 pm. If it’s a normal day I’m home about 5:30 and change into casual attire while I breath for a few minutes. 🙂 Usually hubby is home by 5:30 too since he commutes from a different part of the city. On Tuesday nights after dinner I complete my coupon work for the week and usually finish up about 10 pm after putting my daughter to bed. Wednesday nights we go to church from 7-8 pm.

Dinner is usually between 6 and 6:30 and finished up by 7 to 7:15. If we have dinner out I drop my mom off at home and we head home. I try to spend time with my daughter and husband watching TV, reading, playing a video game, or doing an activity. Usually I have my daughter in bed by 9 pm (though getting her to stay there is proving difficult of late). We usually potty, brush her teeth, take any medicine and then I read her a book or we do a find the difference/shape puzzle. Then I prep her two night lights, humidifier, color changing alarm clock, and CD player (which now often plays the Moana sountrack). Plus her cover must be arranged just so with her babies by her side. Then it’s time for a round of tickle attack or a custom story that I weave 🙂

Afterwards, depending on what I have going on, I work on social media content, placing orders, making products, or filming short videos. That’s generally a solid hour, then I get a few minutes to unwind before heading to bed about 11. As of late my daughter has started waking me up mid-night. It used to be due to bed wetting, but now is generally due to bad dreams. I’m a mombie again!

My sister, mom, and I also recently signed up to do a local exercise program so we have exercise classes mingled in on a couple weeknights and weekends for 3 months. Unless I have a scheduled class I tend to only get to the gym or park on the weekend, and most time it’s with my daughter in tow. Which means more playing than training. Weekends are also the time when I catch up on errands and housework along with family adventures (occasionally a race where my daughter also likes to dash).

Saturdays are my hubby’s sleep in day, and I usually take the opportunity to do things with my daughter. We love to watch girly shows, paint, and go to the library! Sundays were my sleep in days for a short time, but now I’m up by 9 am and wrangling everyone to be ready (including my mom) for the 10 am church service.

Kristy is entered in the Etsy Small Business Contest – Vote for Simple Joys to help her out!