31 days:: day 17 :: happiness is taking a leap

I'm very excited to say that I have a huge pink box waiting on my doorstep for me when I get home! This box contains all the goodies I need to start my Thirty-One business!

I have toyed with the idea of becoming a consultant for Thirty-One before, but I was always on the fence, and it seemed to be more of a "what if", rather than something I was sure I wanted to do. 

However, over the past few months, the Lord has been trying to tell me to do something, but I wasn't quite sure what he wanted me to do.  Being the planner that I am, I know that one day when I have kids and a family of my own, that I won't want to work and be away from home for 13 hours every day, like I am now.  But, I also know that I don't want to wait until that "one day" comes before I figure out how I'll make it work. 

Then, I randomly asked a friend of G's how and when she got started with Thirty-One.  I've heard several successful Thirty-One consultants-turned-directors share their story with me, but it never quite sounded like something for me.  But, I wanted to hear my friend's story.  She's a straight-shootin' kinda gal, so I knew she wouldn't feed me any junk and would tell me exactly like it is.  I messaged her, and she called me the very next day and told me her Thirty-One story.  Right away, I knew this was something for me.  I'm not knocking those other stories- because every single Thirty-One story that I've heard has been successful and awesome, but I just don't think it was for me at the time. 

But there's no time like the present, right?

Shortly after a couple of conversations with J, I was signed up and have been patiently awaiting for the arrival of my big pink box! Thanks to UPS equipping impatient bodies like me with a tracking link, I now know that my start up kit is sitting on my front porch, waiting for me to tear into it.  [Which is not helping this work day pass by any quicker, btw.]

I soon hope that I can share my successful Thirty-One story with everyone, but for now I can tell you that I took a leap of faith, am trusting God to lead me in the right direction, and I am very happy about this!

The point of this post is NOT to shove Thirty-One down your throat, or even to try to convince you to buy my products.  But, I am so incredibly excited about God pointing to Thirty-One that I am genuinely happy about this adventure.  After toying with some part-time "work from home" options, I knew Thrity-One would be good.  After all, the company is named after Proverbs 31, is a Christian based company, and was started by a Godly woman and her husband.  God is good, so this adventure is sure to be good as well!

31 days:: day 11 happiness is clean dishes

I'm sure you've noticed that I'm now missing two more days of this 31 day excitement.  Sorry guys.  

I'd like to tell you that I have a great reason for not having these posts. But truth is, we took the kids on a field trip to the zoo Tuesday.  And, well, I was just plain worn out. This wasn't just any regular zoo visit with 25 four-year-old angels. No. Too simple.  This a trip to the zoo to wrap up a March of Dimes fundraiser that we've worked so hard to raise money for.  Now, as an aunt to two sick babies, one of which being a preemie, I am so incredibly thankful for organizations like March of Dimes.  However, I'd rather run 6230 March of Dimes walks than take 25 little people to a zoo filled with a billion other little people. 

But.  I survived.  In fact, we all did.  Shew. A

Anyway, I was in my pajamas dozing off by 7:30 Tuesday night- I got home at 7, be-tee-dub. <-- that means btw. or by the way. I'm clever, I know. 

Any well, last night. Let's just call it still not being recovered from the field trip. Or laziness. Either works for me.

So, here I am. I figured I'd better write this little slice of happiness pie before the lack of with-it-ness claims me. 

I've just been a little "off" this week.  As I've said before, I LOVE cooking.  This week, however, my poor boyfriend has only had 1 home cooked meal waiting for him when he came over.  That was Monday.  Tuesday, I blamed the zoo.  Wednesday, I blamed not having a clean Crock Pot.  

I don't have a dishwasher.  Well I do, but in human form.  And that human isn't me.  He's about 6'1" with brown hair.  I've finally gotten G to claim the glorious title of dishwasher. 1) because he owns the house I live in, and it doesn't have a dishwasher. 2) if he wants dinner, there needs to be clean dishes for me to cook with and us to eat on.  It's taken a while, but he's finally given in. And I love him even more for it.  

However, he doesn't have the same, exceptional amount of OCD running through his veins that I do.  In fact, he doesn't have any. At all. It's ridiculous really.  I think he just pretends not to, just to bug me. (it works)

So, I wanted to do cartwheels the day he realized it's much easier to wash a few dishes everyday instead of waiting until both sinks fill up after 3 days of not washing them.  He's developed a lovely routine, which I [as well as my OCD] love dearly.  He stops by on his way home from work, lets the furry child out, and washes dishes. It makes my OCD incredibly happy to have a clean sink when I come home. I mean, it's probably pathetic at how much unclean sinks bug me. But I refuse to be wrong here. 

Well like I said, I've been "off" this week.  And, apparently, so has my dishwasher.  He just decided to take the week off. 

As usual, I call my sweet, lovely, non-OCD fella on my way home from work to make sure my dog-child is alive and well, and occasionally I'm nice enough to ask G how his day was [actually- I ask him this every.single.day. my parents always asked me this growing up, so I think it's instilled in me to ask him]. Well, for the third (3RD) day in a row, I ask G if he's washed the dishes, knowing the answer is no.  Of course he laughs, so I know my answer. I guess when I'm off my game, he decided he doesn't need to be on his. wrong. 

Well, I walk in and see a counter slap full of nice, clean dishes. That sucker did wash my dishes. And it has made me incredibly happy. 

I know, I probably need new hobbies if clean dishes give me that much joy. Oh, well. 

Side-note: I started to write this post about alone time (since I've got the house to myself), but I started writing about G washing the dishes. Again, this proves just how sad my pathetic OCD filled life is. But I love it. Or it could prove how not-rested and off I am this week.  But the OCD idea makes me feel a little better. 

Good night lovies!

31 days:: day 8 happiness is God

If you're looking for days 6 and 7, ya aren't gonna find 'em.  At least not right now.  I hope to go back and write them, but I already feel like I'm so far behind on other things, and those two blog posts have been driving me way crazier than they should.  I decided that since I started this blogging journey a couple days late, that I should just keep moving forward.  After all, this is about 31 days of happiness, not silly stress, right?!

As I told y'all on a previous (rather lengthy) post, I have made more of an effort to find a new home church and become an involved member of a church fmaily again.  I'm not gonna lie, I've got a ways to go.  And I'm not ready to leave my job on Sunday mornings at my working church either, so for now I'm sticking to Sunday nights.  Hopefully soon I'll be able to add Wednesday nights to the list- when I get a job that's closer to home and allows me to get off work before church starts!

But like I said in that earlier post, I don't want to go to church, just to be going to church. I want to go to church to be active.  I want to go to church to worship.  I want to go to church to see how God moves me, as well as others, when we come together in His house.  I want to become part of a bible study group.  I want to learn more about God's Word, and what He has to say to me.

However, I know that all those things can't happen simply by going to church.  I have to make changes is ALL areas of my life.

I'm proud to say those changes have started.  And boy is it awesome!  I always thought I had to make tons of tremendous changes in my life to please God.  But I know that's not true.  I have made a bunch of changes, but they have all been pretty small, compared to what I thought I would have to do. 

Simple changes. 

Listening to Christian radio more often.  Taking time to point out the positive side in any situation.  Thanking God for opportunities.  Thanking God when I think an opportunity has passed me by, because I know He has something better for me in store.  Praising God at all times.  Changing the way I talk to and about others.  All these things, and more, and doing them with a willing heart, to make sure His Light is shining through in all that I do.

Now, THAT is happiness!

31 days:: day 6 Happiness is homemade

Good Morning world! 

Thursday is my normal day off from work.  But it never really is a day off to relax, enjoy being off, sit on the couch and watch tv.  Oh, how I wish! Thursdays have turned into my "catch up" days.  I usually tucker out and give in to my bed long before all my daily chores are done during the week.  So, Thursdays I try to wake up ready to go.  And by setting out my stuff Wednesday night, I did wake up early- I actually made myself lay in the bed for a little while longer- and I did actually want to get things done as soon as I was out of bed!

I was excited to attempt 2 (two!) new firsts.  I made my own shower cleaner and my own floor cleaner.  Let me just say. WOW! 

Not gonna lie, at first I wasn't so sure. I was even slightly disappointed at first glance. I've heard stories about it making your shower literally shine like brand new.  This was not my case.  Then I took into consideration how old my shower is.  My house is old. I love it. But it's old.  The bathroom was an addition. OLD. 

I decided to not give up.  I took my sponge and put a little elbow grease behind it.  I scrubbed the doors and walls a little more, and even sprayed a little more cleaner in some places.  Then scrubbed a little more.  Boy did that make a huge difference!  Then I cleaned the outside of the shower doors with (non-homemade :/) glass cleaner, just to make it a little cleaner.  

I forgot to take a picture before I sprayed the cleaner on.  I promise my shower isn't that disgusting.  After I sprayed the entire shower down, I ran and got my camera to snap a couple pictures.  Then I went about my day for about half an hour or so.  I came back, rinsed, then got to work.  

 

 When I took a shower, I could tell a HUGE difference.  It was literally lighter and brighter in the shower.  I could tell that a good portion of light was being let in, that wasn't previously. I was, still am, incredibly happy about this! 

I also went on to make my own floor cleaner, and mopped my whole house.  After the shower thing, I was driven harder to clean the floors good.  I even moved some of the furniture around in the living room and office Fisher's room.  Yes, it's sad that my dog has claimed his own room. He's such a spoiled little child. After rolling up the rugs in his room and the living room, Fisher decided it was best to just stay camped out on the back of the couch and spectate.  He wanted no part in this mopping mess.  

Since the furry child wouldn't mop, I got to it.  I'm pretty ashamed of the after picture of the disgusting mop water.  I regularly mop my floors with a Swiffer Wet Jet.  But, when I saw how gross the dirty mop water was, you would have never thought I'd even heard the words mop or broom before! Eww! 

As gross as it was, both of these homemade recipes made me, and my bathroom & floors, extremely happy! I'm actually looking forward to cleaning my bathroom again- which used to be my most hated least favorite chore!

31 days::day 5 Happiness at church

Let's just pretend this was written on Thursday. ;)

Over the course of the past several months, something has been tugging at my heart.  I've felt like I just haven't been doing enough to please God.  And I have wanted, very badly, to do better.  I'm not sure why this feeling popped up- but I am oh, so glad it did!

Now, I'm in church every Sunday morning. But, honestly, it's because I work in the nursery keeping [[precious]] little ones while Mommies and Daddies are in Sunday School and the service.  I LOVE the church where I work.  I have grown to absolutely LOVE the children I care for, as well as gotten close to some of their parents.  It makes me happy to be there.  But, lately, I just haven't been satisfied with being at church.  Although I love those little people, I have grown to not love being a part of the service, and being able to really listen to the words the preacher has to say.  I am lucky enough for one of the services to be able to turn on the speaker system so I can catch some of the sermon, but we all know babies require our undivided attention 99.9% of the time. 

That being said, I have been on G about us attending Sunday evening services at a church closer to my house.  We kept saying we'd go. And we kept not going.  I know that G wanted to go, but I guess making it a point to actually get to church wasn't at the top of his (or mine) priority list. 

Finally, I had it. I was going to go to church, and that was all there was to it.  We finally made it to the evening service at the church G grew up in.  They had gotten a new preacher lately, and he had nothing but good "reviews" from long time church members.  You can make fun of me, but I'm a little funny about things.  I was straight up nervous when we went that Sunday (which is why I was so adimant about having G for support). I could just imagine us showing up, with me getting wierd stares and not welcomed.  That could not have been further from what really happened.  I have never been so welcomed by strangers before in my life! Of course, they were all thrilled to see G again [and it was super entertaining to hear countless stories about him when he was "knee high to a grass hopper"], but almost everyone made a point to come and introduce themselves to me and shake my hand and tell me how glad they were to have me.  Although we haven't been back consistently yet [we're still working on that whole routine part!], everytime we make it to the evening service, we are all welcomed, hugged, and told that they are so glad we came.  I can honestly say I feel "at home" in that church.  I actually even feel pretty bad because several members already call me by my name in conversation...and I can't remember theirs to save my life! Again, I'm workin' on it! Names remembered or not, that is possibly one of the nicest, sweetest, most welcoming congregation that I have had the pleasure of worshiping with.  Being welcomed by such a wonderful, God fearing, church going, old fashioned Christian group of people has played a HUGE part in my happiness lately!

But I wanted to make sure I wasn't going to church to say that I was going to church...which I can save for another day, since we've still got 26 to go!

Now, I'm off to spend another few several hours with my funny 4 year olds! Then, G and I are having dinner with his sister tonight. Yay for yummy meals cooked by others! :)

Have a fabulous Friday friends!

31 days of happiness:: day 3 Happiness in small changes

Hello there friends!

Today (which should have really been yesterday- but I was late jumping on the bandwagon), I want to share with you a little tip that I have recently started doing that seems to make a world of difference for my mornings.

Although I claim to be, somewhat of, a morning person, let's face it: 4:30 AM is TOO early for any human being to be getting out of bed.  We're gonna ignore the fact that I get out of bed to hit the snooze and crawl back in.  Nonetheless, I'm up and at 'em by 5:00 most mornings.  Which, to me, is still a tad early to be happy about the day ahead. It's not even day yet. It's still dark out.  Let me sleep til 6 and we're golden. But, that's just not gonna work since I leave my house at 6:00.

On top of waking up before the roosters, I typically have to throw something in the Crock Pot so I can feed that boyfriend of mine who tends to show up around dinner time.  Although it only takes a few minutes, those are precious moments that I don't have to spare while I'm dashing around attempting to make myself took publicly presentable.  

A few weeks ago I started taking just a couple minutes at night to set out things that I'll need in the morning for dinner prep.  Obviously I can't set out meats or fridge goodies, but just setting canned goods, and even the crock pot, the night before has made the biggest difference in the morning!! I have no clue why I never thought of that before- it's so super easy and so super simple, but it has helped tremendously in my morning routine!

I hope that simple tip helps you in your morning routine, and makes a difference in your day like it does mine!

I was planning on catching up today and posting my 4th day of happiness...but then I invited the folks over for dinner, causing me to get sucked into the kitchen all evening! Perhaps I'll make up for my slackness tomorrow??

Later lovies!

31 days to happiness: day 2

Not gonna lie, after my last post I was having some serious self-doubts about me actually following through on posting again tonight.  But, here I am! My day 1 post had me all fired up and excited about this 31 days...but I knew there was a good chance that, after working for 10+ hours today and spending another hour driving home, I would want to come home, crawl into my pajamas, eat dinner, and head to bed.  

I'm pleasantly surprised to inform you that, although I did make a beeline for my pj's, I managed to stay up to write this.  I even browsed a few of the other 31 dayers, and I'm even more inspired.  There's over 1000 of them, and you can check them out here. All of those guys have linked up to The Nester, who has an amazingly awesome blog chock full of great stuff!! 

We're gonna go with day 2 of happiness being cooking.  I love, love, love to cook.  Ever since I moved into my first apartment in college, I was always the one who had friends over to eat dinner at least once or twice a week.  I still love to call up my best friend and tell her to come visit over a home-cooked dinner.  When I started my job a few months ago, I was upset when cooking dinner became more of a chore than something that I wanted to do.  See, we're working four 10 hour days, AND I have an hour commute each way.  Factor in my break, and I'm away from home for almost 13 hours almost every day.  Toss in over 20 3 and 4 year olds, and you tell me how excited you are about cooking. I don't care if your Martha Stewart, Paula Dean, and Betty Crocker all rolled into one- you'd be one worn out woman before you touched the first pot or pan.  

I realized that I had gotten out of the habit of planning my meals a week or so in advance, so I tried to get back into that habit to make it a bit easier more enjoyable.  Although that it helped a little to know ahead of time what I would be making that night, it also made it easier for me to talk myself out of cooking.  Instead of harping on what I was cooking, I was thinking about how long it would take, and how much I would have to do.  Usually about half-way home, I'd call up G and ask him if he wanted to just go grab us something.  

A friend of mine was sweet enough to share with me a method of cooking that she used for several months to feed her family of 6.  She cooked for an hour or two once a week, and they had dinner for 5 days.  Clearly, I was quite excited to learn about this! But, being the old maid that I have become lately, I wasn't so excited about having to throw something into the oven for 45 minutes or an hour when I got home.  Remember, my days are l.o.n.g.  I want to come home, eat, chat with my fella for a few minutes, then hit the hay.  I was, and am, still planning on trying it, but I plan on changing it up a little to better suit my needs laziness.

After sharing the method above with another friend, she told me about freezer cooking.  While looking at Pinterest, she found a link to a blog about freezer cooking.   Jaima at Ring Around the Rosies did an amazing job of making my life much simpler, and bringing back the happiness to cooking! You can find her freezer cooking section here.  Between her and the freezer cooking section over at Six Sisters Stuff, I have found the happiness in cooking, once again!! Although I didn't take pictures to share [I'll do better next time!], I was able to prepare 2 weeks worth of dinner (and plan on leftovers for lunch!) in less than 3 hours! Including grocery shopping!! 

It's so refreshing to actually look forward to getting home after a long day again! So far this week, I've come home to a crock pot filled with chicken cacciatorie, newlywed beef tips, and taco soup! They were all so delicious that I look forward to taking leftovers for lunch! 

Freezer cooking is definitely one of my greatest discoveries! I'm so happy I found so many great make ahead meals, and I've even started planning on making some of my own recipes into freezer cooking meals! Like I said, I am still going to try my other friend's method, but I definitely think I'll change it up a little to make it even easier.  I mean, what's easier than dumping a freezer bag full of food into a crockpot in the morning?! It's become a good way to start my day- because when I throw the contents into my crock pot, it makes me happy knowing I'll have a healthy, delicious meal waiting on me when I get home...which makes me even happier when I walk in to door after a long day! 

Here's to 31 days of happiness {and cooking!}

31 days to happiness...3 days late

I've read so many fun blogs of everyone doing 31 days of {insert whatever your topic of preference is here}, that I decided I MUST join in on the fun!
Honestly, it just took me 3 days to decide what I wanted to blog about for a whole month- as I am still pretty new to the blogging world. So, I decided to bring you 31 days of happiness.  Well, really 28 days + 3 belated posts. This month is dedicated to sharing with you tips, tricks, pictures, recipes, routines, or pretty much anything that helps me get to my happy place!
Anyone who knows me is well aware that I'm entirely too OCD for my own good.  I mean, I color-coded my planner to match my class notes while I was in college. And my closet is color-coded. And who else jumps up and down at the thought of making more lists?! So, I'm hoping along with sharing my ideas that I'll also get closer to my oragnization goal- and a few other goals as well!
In the past few months, I've gotten my tail into high gear and gotten more serious about making my house into the home I want it to me.  Although I'm not in my "forever home", I know I will be much happier if I go ahead and make the changes I need to make right now. 
As odd as this sounds, and I know I've said it before, I have autumn to thank for me decided to get my tail in gear.  It's my favorite season.  I guess seeing the changes fall brings makes me want to make changes in myself, my life, my routine, my surroundings- everything.  Fall makes me happy, and taking initiative towork towards being where I want to be makes me happy, too!
As I'm quickly typing this while on my lunch break, I feel as if I'm talking in circles.  So, I'm going back to wake my sweet students from their naps and will try my hardest to bring you the 2nd day of 31 days of happiness later this evening!

Later lovies!

Lindsey

Belated Birthday

Just two weeks after coming back from the beach, we loaded up and ventured down to Charleston for this precious girl's birthday!  As you can see, Izzy was rather excited about being 3, and wasn't shy to show it.  Unfortunately, this is one of the very few pictures I was able to take.  Very shortly after this picture was taken, it all became mass chaos.  Since Izzy was too excited to take a quick nap before the festivities began, she became just a wee bit tired and cranky not long after a few of her friends arrived.  However, she didn't give up, and she stayed awake to open presents (which she wasn't too thrilled about sharing with her friends when they wanted to play with them) and then make her own ice cream sundae.  You would've thought her parents hung the moon for her when she walked outside to see the little ice cream sundae station set up.  My sister in law shared with me that the sundae thing was all Izzy's idea- which I thought was pretty cool.  Gavin and I had to leave before the shindig was over so we could head back home. All that driving and excitement made for one very long, but fun, day!
I can't believe my sweet, silly girl is THREE years old already! Geez! It seems like not too long ago we were rushing down to Charleston to welcome that sweet baby into the world- and now the world is having to watch out for her!
Aunt Lindsey loves you SO much, Izzy!! And I couldn't be more proud of the hilariously energetic cutie you've become!!
I'll try to post a few more updates shortly, but for now I'm off to enjoy some yummy dinner that I threw in the crockpot this morning! So long, friends!

Lindsey

better late than never...

That's the logic I'm going with here.  We went to the beach [over] a month ago.  And, I just put the pictures on my computer ohhh about 2 hours ago. This was the first family vacation we've taken in about 6 years- and the very first family vacay with the sweet little people in my family! Words can't describe how much fun we had during those few days. Our mornings were spent watching the cousins play in the sand, building castles, and trying to {and failing miserably to} convince Izzy and Caleb to play in get anywhere near the ocean.  As long as they were a minimum of 10 feet away from the shore, the thought the ocean was awesome; one inch closer and it was screaming cousins! 

We would make our long trek [all of about 20 feet] back to the house about lunch time and get our bellies full.  Next up, was nap time- but usually it ended up that only the adults got any shut eye. As you can see, Gavin didn't do such a great job convincing Izzy to take a nap. However, he successfully passed out for a 3 hour siesta. Izzy was perfectly content staying awake because "the sun isn't sleeping, and we sleep when the sun goes to bed." Oh, the logic of a toddler. If only she knew how precious naps will become when she's 20 years older.  After naps, the cousin tots would usually find some sort of mischief creative activity to occupy all of us for quite a while! 

Perhaps my favorite part of our little routine was the evenings we spent out on the deck! Something about having waves crashing in the background and laughter of little ones in the foreground- it just doesn't get much better than that! Caleb and Izzy were completely beyond hilarious together! I loved listening and watching as they talked and played together.  If they weren't performing as a duo, they were still being silly all on their own...which is why it's impossible for me to take a "real" picture of Izzy these days! Even when I try to snap a quick picture, she beats me to the shutter and makes one of her trademark funny faces. Oh, well; maybe they'll make for some blackmail in a few decades. Doubtful- because she's still stinkin' cute! ;)

So, there's a quick, yet ridiculously late, recap of our ocean-side fun! Although I love, love, love fall, I'm still longing for next summer for another fun and entertaining trip with the little ones (and their mommies, daddies, nana and papa)!

Wordless Wednesday

Weekly Recap

So, I promise I didn't forget about my promise to keep up with my blog; I really have just been swamped. Between working long hours, my hour long commute, and my never-ending to-do list, I don't feel like there are enough hours in the day!
Last Saturday, after keeping those 4 precious children, G and I went to the jockey lot with his mom. We found a couple of pretty adorable shirts for my dog-child. I also stocked UP on some books! I think I was most excited about the 4 million Juney B Jones books that I scored! Hopefully one day, before the apocalypse, I'll have my own little classroom to put them in. But for now, they'll be thrown into the top of my spare closet with all of my other school books.
Sunday, after the evening service at the church G and I had been visiting, we went with his cousin and wife so the boys could run dogs. Yes, I am fully aware just how red that sentence sounds. ;) And it appears that this is going to be the theme of my life, as G has completely fallen in love with rabbit hunting. Seriously. We're on the way to let the little beagle pups run around in his friend's running pen as I type this. As much as I love that he has found something he loves so much, I sure do wish it wasn't quite so time consuming! And expensive. Geez! Perhaps it's a good thing I've become so adamant about couponing and saving money!
Which reminds me about my excitement over this week's grocery bill. I went across the road to Bi-Lo on my break the other day, did my grocery shopping, then threw my bags in the fridge at work til I headed home. I think this may be a new trend for me, since I'm always too tired to go after I get home. Anywho- I saved about 50% on my bill!! Woo hoo!! That's an all time high for me, and I can't wait to get better!! This purchase also included 2 half-loins, as well as a couple packages of ground turkey. Sinceeat always seems to be the most costly o of my groceries, I was extra stoked about that!
I also managed to implement a new laundry system this week. I hope i can stick to it! I really think it will make things run smoother, especially since I HATE folding and putting away clothes! I'll post pictures and details about it soon! Now I'm off to make more lists of things to help me get as organized as I want to be while I listen to little beagles bark and bunnies. So long, lovies!

Round 2

Two days in a row. Wow! I'm hoping I don't fall off the wagon after tomorrow since I won't be able to post.  Instead, I'll be having a slumber party with 4 of the most precious, well-behaved, sweetest children that you can ever imagine. :) I met this great family at church, where I work in the nursery on Sunday mornings.  It didn't take me long to fall in love with the youngest on our Sunday morning dates; from there I fell in love with her entire family and love keeping the kiddos.  I should definitely be taking lessons from their mommy on how awesomely she's raising her children.  I could only wish to have such well behaved kids (someday).
Oh, by the way- I guess my inner beings decided to compromise yesterday afternoon.  While I didn't get a nap like I wanted, I did go to my parents house to pick up some of my fall decorations I have stored there, ran a couple of errands, and came home to cook a delicious dinner of meatloaf, mac & cheese, and collard greens (with hot sauce, of course). Yummmyyyy! Then I protested the dirty dishes and hit the hay. 
It's hard to believe how "old" I am compared to just a few short years ago! For instance, this is what my night looks like.  I came home, threw on my jammies (did I really just use that word?? eww), and fixed a not-so-home-made dinner of those Ramen Noodle things.  I did, however, pour myself an ice cold glass of some yummy Moscato...which I only bought because it was on sale. Never mind that though.
I remember a time not so long ago that my Thursday nights were filled with getting dressed up all cute and going to weekly dinner dates with my favorite gals.  Now, I'm having trouble holding my eyes open past 9:00 PM. Shew!
I'm off to bed very shortly, but before I go I ask beg you to head over to Lily's CDH Story and read up on my sweet niece.  Please keep this sweet child (and our family) in your prayers! She needs God's healing hand- and we desperately need good news!

'Night Y'all!


 

Here. We. Go.

Well hello there lovies! Since my old blog was super outdated ((and pretty much abandoned)), I decided to start from scratch. Fingers crossed that I do better this go 'round. 

Usually people start new things at the beginning of a new year, but for some reason the first signs of my favorite season always lights a fire under me.  I am oh, so in love with autumn and everything that comes with it- except anything pumpkin flavored. Nonetheless, the weather is [finally!] cooling off, and I am sitting on the couch attempting to get my blogging act together while the windows are open and my lazy dog is taking his 2nd nap of the day.  

I'm quite positive all of you reading this (aka- just myself) have heard of Pinterest.  I discovered it almost 2 years ago, and became addicted to it within ohhh maybe 5 seconds of browsing.  (by the way, you can follow me, here.) Anywho- I've read and re-pinned tons of awesome stuff; most of which usually lead some pretty nifty blogs.  Over the summer I started following a few of these blogs, which has lead to me completing some pretty cool crafts, as well as better organization and cleaning ideas [when I actually bother to get up and try the cool things I'm reading]. I've also talked to some girls at work who are always telling me about crafts and recipes they've (very successfully) tried that came from Pinterest. 

Since I work about an hour away from home, and work 10 hour days, I decided that I needed better organization in many different areas so I can keep my house (somewhat) clean, and be able to actually feed my sweet fella a home cooked meal- at least a few days a week.  I love, love, LOVE to cook, but being away from home so much makes it hard to cook as much as I'd like.  I heard about 'freezer cooking' from a coworker, and a friend from church was nice enough to give me a copy of a cooking system she used for about 6 months.  My goal is to do most of my cleaning and cooking on my day off during the week, as well as during 1 day during the weekend.  Then, I can take it easy during the week.  Although, I've already realized that my OCD version of "taking it easy" will never agree, nor allow, my tuckered out teacher version of "taking it easy."  

The tuckered out teacher in my wants nothing more than to cuddle up and read a few more chapters of my book...but the OCD house-wife-wanna-be in me knows that I've got clothes to bring in off the line and fold, as well as dishes to wash and floors to mop. Not to mention dinner to cook! 

I'll letcha know which one of my internal beings wins this battle! ;) 

Later lovies,

Lindsey B