Simply Living

Every now and then something comes along and saves my faith in humanity. Times are hard and the media is full of bad news and trashy celebrity gossip- oookay. Confession time. Hello. My name is Andrea. {everyone together now- "Hi Andrea!"} I am addicted to celebrity gossip. It's been over a month since the last time I was on the TMZ website. Promise. Anyway- When I stumbled upon Christie and her cause I was humbled and thrilled! I follow the blog and Instagram of an awesome lady named Melody (awesome blog- very real and encouraging. And she's from SC! Holla!) and saw on her Instagram that she'd shared a photo about a virtual shop on Instagram called Storehouse Vintage that was having its first Instasale. I had never heard of this Instasale stuff before, but after a little reading and looking I realized there are lots of people who use Instagram to sell vintage and handmade items, clothing, and thrifted treasures. (If you know me, you know that is right. up. my alley!)

So to make a simple story even more complicated, here's where I was humbled: Christie is running her shop to raise money to adopt two baby girls. From Africa.

Be still my heart.

As I realized this I shared a picture to promote her sale and encourage as many people as I could to participate and help her sweet little family raise money to bring her babies home! Unfortunately I wasn't quick enough to snag anything in the sale (the first person to comment on the picture of a desired item wins it- really fun & exciting!), but I did win! By sharing the picture my name was thrown into a hat and drawn out as the winner of one of her custom embroidery hoops she makes.

I'm so glad I won. My hoop is beautiful. I told her I really liked earthy & jewel tones, and I wanted the word "simplify" hanging in the middle. Well, that word was too long but was quickly remedied by using the words "live simply" instead. She was so sweet and had the hoop to me super fast!

It's now hanging above our stove for Josh and I to see every day and remember to take a step back and always think twice before getting hung up on the stresses of life- step back and live simply. or simply live. I'll take it either way.

To get your own, go follow her and her shop (storehousecrafts & storehousevintage) on Instagram- keep an eye out for when she is taking orders and get yourself a hoop!

God brought ours on the perfect day at the perfect time. I was feeling really overwhelmed about our finances and as I unwrapped my beautiful hoop I remembered that it's just money; and that a lot of my worry and anxiety will be helped if I just make an effort to

Thank you again, Christie!

-A

Them Ripped Khakis, Though.

Nothing screams "fat old teacher" quite like having two twiggy preteen girls come up to you at lunch giggling as they sweetly whisper "Mrs. Atkins you have a hole in your pants."

... seriously? Yes.

True story. Sadly.

I learned a good lesson from it, though. You see normally I would have been depressed and cried about it and hated myself even more, but I was kind of sick of doing that. I've been doing it a lot lately.

I'm having a hard time with my weight. It is so. hard. to look at that scale and truly love myself and believe that I am doing everything in my power to maintain a normal life as well as lose weight. It's hard but I'm doing it and it's discouraging because it's just not working. The scale continues to creep toward a number I have sworn to myself I would never ever allow myself to see.

*Note- I have Poly Cystic Ovary Syndrome and hypothyroidism. I'm fighting a seriously uphill battle in regards to weight loss thanks to my whackadoodle hormones.*

What to do, what to do. Well, on that day I refused to have the meltdown to which I have grown accustomed. I refused the anxiety and embraced a Kohl's credit card (only because of the additional discount. It's paid off and not to be used unless it will then immediately paid off). The pants that tore I had been wearing since college. Anyone that has gotten married knows that after marriage things don't fit the way they used to- it just happens.

So I got a new pair of pants. That are really loose. And comfortable. And will not rip. Ever.

Life has been full of these moments lately. Unfortunately in each instance I haven't always had the grace to forgive myself and trudge on. My husband tells me every day I'm beautiful and how much he loves me. I am so blessed in that.

So that's where I am. I wish I could continue this post with some sort of epiphany or happy ending, but too many 'bloggers' only talk about the good stuff and it comes off pretty pretentious. This space for me is meant to be a place to share my feelings, my memories, and things that I want my children and grandchildren to be able to look back on and laugh at, enjoy, and shed a tear over.

Y'all I am so not perfect. My life is not perfect. My husband is amazing but we fuss and fight with the best of 'em. I have a pretty smile and pretty hair but my midsection leaves much to be desired and I'm willing to admit that to the world.

I'M NOT HAPPY WITH MY BELLY. It happens. I'm working on it, but it's really hard because I like food. I'd love to exercise but have neither funds nor time nor self esteem enough to drive to a gym. But I'm hell bent on losing weight and getting healthier so my plan is to dig deep and make some time to walk/exercise and continue working on finding foods I enjoy that don't pack such a carby, fatty punch.

What's life without the not-so-savory stuff to make those rich moments all the sweeter?

Besides, one day those sweet little twiggy girls will get married and become mamas and know the same woes.  I hope. ;)

-A

Yumday Monday

And by Monday I mean Tuesday morning... doh!

School is pretty stressful right now so our menu this week includes a lot of quick, easy meals:

Monday- Jack Daniels Barbecue sandwiches with corn & mashed potatoes

Tuesday- Velveeta Cheesy Mac skillet meal with ground venison (lots leaner than beef!)

Wednesday- Venison Tenderloin with Broccoli Au Gratin Rice a Roni

Thursday- Baked Spaghetti with Salad and garlic bread

Friday- Shepherd's pie with ground venison

I'm looking forward to sharing some of the recipes I use a lot soon. Have a wonderful week!!

-A

Space Jam

I remember the soundtrack to Space Jam- and jamming to it in Ashley W.'s basement with all our friends like we were hot stuff.

Watch this video. He's got it right. I needed this- and I know some of you do too. Watch it once, twice, a hundred times. Whatever will make you stop being boring and go find your Space Jam.

Have a great week!
-A

Organized My Chaos

I don't know why, but I always like to start my stories off with the word "So." I think it's my attempt at convincing the poor soul I've wrangled into conversation that the story is life changing and epic. 

So, (you see what I did there?) one day over Christmas break I told Josh I was tired of how our house was so disorganized. Namely, our bathroom storage and closet storage. When I moved in I used our linen closet, bathroom closet, and bathroom cabinets as various 'shove stuff that doesn't have anywhere to go' spots. You know things are disorganized when the Advil is hanging out next to the Lysol toilet cleaner. Just keepin' it real, folks.

Anyway- this a little bit of what we were working with:

linen closet at the end of the hallway.

bottom half of master bathroom closet

top half of master bathroom closet

medicine & cleaning supplies. for shame. master bathroom cabinets.

master bathroom cabinets

I'd had enough of this mess. And when you've had enough of anything, there's only one place to go: Dollar Tree. I knew they carried lots of baskets and such because they are where I run when I need organization stuff for my classroom. Kids demolish anything, cheap or expensive, so I love having what I need for a very replaceable price.

When I got to Dollar Tree the Heavens opened and angels sang: They had brought in shelves upon shelves of buckets and baskets and bins (oh my!) to replace all of the Christmas decor. So naturally I wiped the drool from my chin and filled up my cart.

the picture I sent my husband. he knew better than to question my madness.

 Once I got home I started with the linen closet (the smallest/easiest) in the hallway. I took everything out and laid it on my bed. I sorted through all the items making piles to put back, donate, and trash. When all my schtuff was grouped I grabbed a few of the bins and further categorized the 'put back' things into handtowels/washcloths for the spare bathroom, extra home decor, and misc items. I then arranged the baskets and bins, found I had the room in the bottom to stash some cleaning appliances (woot!), and then stepped back to admire my work.

before. blech

after. gorjuss. and the vacuum fits!

I was so excited with those results I carried on (my wayward, sonnn) and used the same process on the master bathroom closet:

before. guh-rosss

after. do you hear angels? i hear angels.

Aaaaand the master bathroom cabinets:

before. dane-juh-russ medicine/cleaning chemicals mess

(lady products are behind the left door)after. medicine is in the closet now. huzzah!

before. random stuffs.

after. soaps in the basket. hardware, paint, etc on the right

I was on such an organizational high after all of this that I pushed forward (my back was killing me with all the bending and squatting and carrying back and forth. I cared not!) and cleaned out/organized the spare bathroom cabinet and the cabinet under the kitchen sink. I forgot to take pictures of those, but they had very similar yucky befores/beautiful afters. :)

Finally, I took care of one last problem. I was oh. so. tired. of wet towels ending up on our bed, in the floor, and hanging over the shower curtain. Both Josh and I will use a bath towel a few times before tossing it in the laundry (you're clean when you dry off from a shower, so why only use it once?) so I thought and thought until I came across this pin and was inspired:

source

We've had a towel bar in our bathroom since we moved in and the only purpose it has served is to hold a decorative towel. I decided it was fired.

Cute, but not working for us.

It did not want to go quietly. I had to google how to remove a towel bar that doesn't have outside screws. This webpage helped me a lot. Josh had to bring home his allen wrenches and I had to use the teeniest, tiniest one! I unscrewed the itty bitty set screw-

Which left me with this-

So then I popped that off with a flat head screwdriver (my PINK one! holla!)-

Which left me with this-

owner before us used a variety of screws. very frankensteinish.

So then I unscrewed the Frankenstein screws and had this-

Which I covered with spackle and then smoothed and painted-

After doing that process with both sides, painting, and allowing time to dry, I mounted two coat hooks I got at Target for a couple bucks.

Then I finished them off by adding the adorable little round frames (Hobby Lobby 50% off). To do the letters of our names I sprayed some cardstock with chalkboard spray paint and free handed the 'a' and 'j' with a sharpened piece of chalk.

Now we have a designated spot for our towels and they are easy to grab from the shower and can hang there and dry after being used. Functional and so pretty! Love!

Organizing those spaces of your home that get so easily cluttered really help keep stress levels down and allow you to put more time and energy into things that matter a lot more!

Until next time,
-A

Yumday Monday

Woo hoo! One week of healthy lunches and budgeting and meal planning done- and it was fun, to boot! :)

Menu for this week: (there may be one or two meals that rollover per week depending on any last minute changes that occur)

Monday- Chicken & Broccoli skillet meal & breadsticks

Tuesday- Double date night! Looking forward to some qt with Mike & Kayla from two plus bink

Wednesday- Jack Daniel's BBQ Pulled Pork sandwiches with salad and green beans

Thursday- Baked spaghetti, salad, & breadsticks

Friday- Venison meatloaf, mashed potatoes, & green beans

Saturday- Blue corn tortilla chip nachos

I hope everyone has a wonderful week!

Yumday Monday

Y'ALL<

That last two days have been awesome. Just. awesome.

Yesterday, we attended a Budget Class hosted by our church, Newspring. Now, I wasn't expecting much, to be honest. I thought to myself "I know what a budget is & we've tried to budget before, but I just don't think it can work for us." Boy was I wrong!

Our church has a saying: "Every number has a name; every name has a story; every story matters to God." People tend to think that because our church is so large with multiple campuses there's no way they can feel included and valued- and there is nothing farther from the truth. Check it out if you don't believe me. :)

Anyway, at our Budget Class the instructor told us to think about our money in the same way: "Every dollar has a name; every dollar has a story; every dollar matters to God." And for the next hour and a half she opened our eyes to making every single dollar that passes our hands honor God and bring blessing to our little family. Seriously amazing, guys. In the Stewardship area of the website you can access their monthly and weekly budget plans that are simple Excel documents. You just plug in your info and it does all the calculating for you! If you struggle with impulse spending like me, it will help you. If you are working paycheck to paycheck and feel like you'll never be able to save any substantial money (like us), it will help you. We are so excited to actually see on paper what we never thought possible for ourselves.

Which leads me to my next point- Food!

My husband & I love to spend time together in the kitchen. However, sometimes the urge to place an order over the phone or pick something up on the way home is too good to resist when you can't remember what's in your pantry & you don't know how long it will take to prepare.

This also applies to lunch- I'm more likely to eat unhealthy school lunch (chicken sandwich, chips, cookie) and Josh is more likely to eat fast food when we're scrambling around for something quick to grab and go in the mornings or we're bored with PB&J's.

Earlier today I found the blog BentOnBetterLunches and it is so cool! This lady documents the awesome, creative lunches she packs for her children and husband. There's a cool way of putting food together called Bento that involves making 'scenes' out of the food- really just making it fun to look at and eat! I spent hours today pouring over her ideas and checking out the healthy foods she incorporates into her family's lunches.

In order to help stick to our new budget as well as create a healthier eating lifestyle, I need accountability. So I hereby declare each Monday "Yumday Monday"! I'm going to try and share our weekly menu each Monday so that I can:

-Plan meals ahead of time to keep from impulse buying at the grocery store
-Hold myself accountable to cooking meals at home and not ordering out during the week
-Share more recipes with family and friends
-Keep variety in our menu so we don't get bored of the same meals over & over

I'm going to start just sharing suppers and work toward sharing lunches & suppers. I'm beginning packing healthy, organized lunches tonight and am going to give myself a week or two to get used to it before I start sharing what I'm packing.

First official Yumday Monday:

Monday- Breakfast for Supper (double chocolate muffins)
Tuesday- Parmesan Garlic Baked Fish with Salad and Steamed Corn
Wednesday- Crockpot Hawaiian Barbecue Chicken with Steamed Green Beans & Yellow Rice
Thursday- Baked Spaghetti with Garlic Breadsticks and Salad
Friday- Date Night! (thanks to our new budget! :D)
Saturday- Venison Meatloaf with Mashed Potatoes and Salad
Sunday- Velveeta Chicken, Broccoli & Cheese Skillet Meal

Have a yummy week!

-A