Week One

Well week (sorta) one down. I haven't weighed myself yet to see a change but I do feel healthier. Didn't walk over the weekend since I was out of town but I was a little more active with outings and corralling children so it evens out. Got back to walking Monday with my mom. Glad she came over or I wouldn't have went on my walk due to be being by myself. There was a storm moving in so the wind was getting up and we had more resistance than usual. Tuesday nights walk was good too. A little less breeze, a little more sweat. But all in all I'm feeling great. 

 My clothes are fitting looser so I guess that's good, except for when they no longer fit and I have to buy new. Maybe by then we will have the money for a whole new wardrobe. Wishful thinking. 

Mommy Monday

It's mommy Monday and after a long weekend away from the house I feel refreshed and ready to jump into reorganizing, cleaning out, and redecorating. 

After the usual morning cleaning; making beds, starting laundry, vacuuming floors, and general straightening; I decided to start on Kadees bedroom. This weekend while hitting up some thrift shops me and my friend found some cute items to repurpose for the room. I'm going to get some paint and repaint the items in my color scheme; fuchsia, turquoise, lime green, orange, and purple. The color scheme is based off this cute piggy bank that my daughter got when she was a baby. 

The lighting on the picture isn't the best but you get the idea of the colors. I'm going with solids because I feel they will grow with her and last longer style wise. We can add different items as the years go on and her tastes change. 

Of our thrift store finds we bought this wooden knick knack shelf.

These wire frame picture holders, which I plan on putting tutu skirts on.

And these figurines that will all get a solid coat of paint in one of the colors.

We also have these wooden letters that were used in her nursery and made by her nana that we will be repainting to match as well. 

So in preparation today for redecorating we cleaned, rearranged, and got rid of some items. It's crazy to see how much my baby has grown but we got rid of a full laundry hamper of too small clothes. Lucky little sister will be getting those in a few years, maybe sooner if she grows like her sister. This is the final product of rearranging furniture, at least for now. My idea is to put shelves all the way around the room for items but I might settle for a random scatter of long shelves since this is an apartment and  I don't want to custom make something that won't be able to transfer to a new house when needed. 

I will tackle the dresser issue when we have the money although this one is used for puzzles and books so I might switch to a small cubby type shelving unit instead. I've also been wanting to mount her tv on the wall up high so she isn't able to mess with the DVD player or pull it down off the surface it's sitting on. I'm also going to try and convince my husband to let me paint her toy box, which happened to be his growing up. I'll let you know how that one goes. 

As you can see my daughter has already pulled the toys back out. 

Her closet got a streamlined look as well after ridding of extra clothes. 

The dresser currently has pjs, panties, and socks in it but when we get a new dresser for the room the contents will get transferred to it and this dresser will be moved. 

While I was on the cleaning out kick I went through the new baby girl's clothes and opened up the next size up bag of clothes. About a month after she was born I went through all the saved hand me downs, & garage sale and thrift store buys to separate them into sizes. They were all bagged according to size and I just open the next size up when the time comes. I ended up getting rid of about  a diaper box full of 0-3 month clothes that no longer fit. Gonna be making a trip to the consignment shop soon. 

Hubby is in for a surprise when he gets home as well. We will be going through our closet tomorrow...

After the revamp of Kadee's bedroom I will move to her bathroom. The bathroom shouldn't take too long. We already have the hot pink towels. Just need to get a few bathroom accessories, a few box shelves for the wall, and a rug and call it done. 

Its getting to be garage sale season again so I can't wait to find items to paint and repurpose for the rooms. I might even start on our bedroom if I find items that will fit in my theme. 

Nap time is about over so I must finish up the cleaning so we can play the rest of the day and do a little school in the evening. 

De-Clutter

Most people do a Spring cleaning but not many do a Fall Clean-Out. Fall means many things, cooler weather, football games, school starting, and garage sales. What better time than fall to clean out old clothes, toys, and general household items. 

The kids get new school clothes so its the perfect time to get rid of the old, worn out, and too small. Plus it gives you a chance to pack up summer items for next year. When doing this remember that some items won't fit your child next year when it's appropriate weather to wear the outfit so it should be pulled out of the wardrobe. 

Consignment shops are a great place to get rid of unwanted, good condition items and earn a little cash toward new clothes. They are also a great place to purchase clothes for the kiddos. They grow so fast there is no sense buying expensive new outfits they will wear a few months before outgrowing. 

I've just recently gotten into consignment shopping. I've bought things before but never turned in items until this weekend. I brought in some sippy cups and bottles and got a little money to put towards something else. I will be taking some of the girls outgrown clothes to the shop when they are accepting spring and summer items again. 

I did a closet clean out yesterday with Kadees closet and Dylan's box of clothes. (We are using an old diaper box to store Dylan's clothes since they are little and we need to access them easily and quickly).

Today was a closet clean out for mine and hubby's closet.

I once saw a tip to turn all your hangers the opposite direction on January 1st. By July you should have made it through all the clothes you regularly wear and anything still left with the hanger facing the other direction should be pulled from your wardrobe. There are exceptions to this rule however. Coats, special occasion items, or sentimental clothes should stay unless you no longer need them. I will be using this method this next year but in the meantime I'm paring down our wardrobes to what I know we regularly wear. 

Before:

This is the before pictures of our clothes. 

I also plan on redoing my wardrobe basics list soon. You don't need a ton of clothes to have something to wear. Actually having more options makes things more difficult, thus the saying "I don't have a thing to wear". When you pare down your wardrobe to the basics and mix and match you'd be amazed at the number of outfits you can come up with.

After:

These are the few shirts my husband needs to go through. 

I will be getting some formal/wedding dresses dry cleaned and take them to the consignment shop soon as well. They aren't needed anymore and take up valuable closet space. 

This is the small pile of "get rid of" items I pulled from our wardrobe. 

Over the last year I've pretty much gotten all of our other household items down to the necessities. So there isn't much left to get rid of but anything that can't be consigned can be sold at garage sale. Donate everything left after a weekend sale. It's a tax write off and it'll make you feel good about yourself. 

De-cluttering your home will not only give you extra space but it can actually eliminate some stress in your life. By simplifying things there is less to worry about, clean, and store. Fall Clean Out is great for making room for those holiday decorations you'll be putting up soon and the holiday gifts you'll be buying and receiving. 

I remember growing up we always had to clean our rooms right before Christmas Eve at my memaw's so there would be room for all our toys. I take this to a whole new level with cleaning OUT before the holidays. Your children don't need a ton of toys to have fun, be happy, or even love you. In fact the same goes for toys as clothes. The more options they have the more they play with the toys. Too many options and some toys will get shoved in the bottom of the toy box not to be seen again until they are too old for it. A waste of hard earned money for whomever bought the toy. With fewer toys there is less to cleanup as well, making it easier for your children to clean. 

So as the seasons change and you are starting to think about the holidays, football games, and campfires remember it's time for your Fall Clean Out. 

The basics: 1. Fewer items provide more options 2. Consign, sell, donate whenever possible. 3. Enjoy the new and worry less about the old. 

This will also make spring cleaning easier too. 

Weekend Plans

Well Hubby is traveling for work this weekend, (tiny celebration in my head), and me and the girls are going to a friends house to hang out. Im looking forward to being out of the house and getting to see my friend. She lives about an hour away so we don't see each other than much. Our bags are all packed and sitting by the door ready to go. Just gotta do a few things around the house to get everything ready for us to be gone all weekend. Dishes, a load of laundry, take out the trash, and general straightening up. 

Takin a little nap before our trip. 

I don't get out much, as I'm sure you've read in previous post, so a whole weekend away will be great. Plus since hubby is gone for work I'm just in the apartment alone anyway and it'll be nice to have some adult conversation. 

Update: These are just some pictures taken over the weekend. We did some fun outings but didn't remember to take pictures. These were taken at the house. 

My Health Journey (The Beginning)

For my first official Wellness Wednesday post I'm going to let y'all in on some of my deepest secrets. My weight, body image, and emotional health. 

First off I'm going to put it all out there so please don't judge but by being completely honest I need my readers to hold me accountable. 

To help me somewhat justify this I'm going to start off by saying I'm 27 years old, 5'7", and I just had a baby about three months ago. This would be my second child. My first child is 2 and nothing toward weight loss or getting healthy was really done in the time in between the two so I'm doubly catching up. 

My weight: 250 lbs 

There I said it. 

It's out there. 

Now you know. 

That number is already about 50 lbs lower than my pre-pregnancy weight from this last child. No weight gain during the pregnancy and i actually lost about 25lbs, the average GAIN for a pregnancy. I had really let myself go before getting pregnant, good thing I have an amazing hubby that loves me anyway. 

I don't really have a weight loss goal in mind just a weight loss period. 

I do have what I consider an ideal size for me but once I get there ill decide if that's really where I wanna be since everyone's body is different and looks and carries weight differently at different sizes. Not to mention I'm not even sure how my body will react after birthing two children. 

I'm not having any body image issues or anything it's just more about being healthy for myself, and my family. I've had body image issues in the past so I'm quite proud of being okay with myself now, but I do want to be healthy, have more energy, and be able to play with my girls for a long time to come. 

So far I've cut back on my portions, and we've been doing our evening walks you've already read about in a previous post. I don't own a scale at home so I'm not sure about actual numbers but I do feel a little better about my health from doing that for a little bit now.

As far as my emotional health I'm sure you all know by reading previous post it's not doing to hot. I have good days and bad days, things look up and then we get knocked right back down. When I put myself out of the situation it's actually pretty balanced as far as the good and bad, but when deep in the mist of it there is no way out, at least that I can see.

 I know most people say money isn't everything, but it is when you don't have any. It's a source to shelter, food, electricity, means of transportation, and even a stress relieve now and then in the form of a night out. 

I'm not in denial, I'm aware the not all my problems stem from financial problems, but I feel like those are the most prominent problems as of late. Now that hubby has started working part time for the company he will soon, hopefully, be full time with the money has started flowing back in little by little. Now it's the catchup game we play for the next few months. Catching up on bills we owe, people we owe for help with bills, and then working on the past debt again and start savings. 

So I guess all of that sums up to... Today is a good day. The light is getting slightly brighter, and I'm just trying to not get my hopes up about anything right now. 

I hope all of you, my readers, are well and happy in your lives right now. God Bless. 

Potty Time take 2

Potty training has had it's ups and downs so far. Some days are great, others it would be easier to let her live in the bathtub. All in all I think she's getting it though.
We've upgraded to using the big potty most of the time and as long as I remind her she can go most days with no accidents. Training pants and panties are fun for her so far, sometimes not so fun for me. She likes the excitement of everyone making a big deal out of her and her accomplishments.
We've learned which direction panties, pull ups, trainers, and our pants, shorts, and skirts go on. She's learned to wipe, flush, and wash her hands after every potty break.
We are very proud of her accomplishments. Just crossing our fingers she keeps it up and starts doing it all on her own without reminding her.

Dear Friend

This is a letter I recently found while cleaning out my file cabinet and important papers. The letter is dated 5/13/2005, which would be a year after high-school graduation for me. 

Dear Friend, 

     I love you and miss you very much. I miss all the things we used to do. Our stupid runway shows at Katie's house, our movies we made to old songs at my house or Linsey's, our late night trips somewhere for breakfast, or to what's burger for midnight bathroom breaks since we couldn't use the restroom in our town. The countless times of watching "the movie" over and over again...and it being funnier every time. I remember pool parties during lunch break from band camp, birthday parties where we rented movies and ate "our ice cream". Remember the time Jodi ran through the trailer...I don't know if Tiffany burned that pillow yet or not, but I guess she doesn't have a good record with flame...at least a certain science teacher still thinks so. I've grown up with you guys, and I've loved every minute of it. No matter how many people were added to our group over the years, or taken away from moving or whatever. From the days when our parents dropped us off at someone's house and picked us up the next morning, to the times we drove ourselves, set our alarms, and left for work the next morning. The crazy games we've learned and played at most sleepovers. Sleeping on the trampoline was always great, even if we froze through most of the night and were too tired to get up and get more blankets or go inside where it was warm. Don't forget the time Paris, Jodi, and I think Tiffany locked themselves in the bathroom so they could shower together. The many days of going to Julio's to get free food, I mean what? We've been through the yearbooks plenty of times circling boys and talking about people. The many list we've used as blackmail from those occasions. Lol. We've been through many boys we've all liked at one time or another. The thousand and thousands of pictures we've all taken with each other over the years, some we look at now and think "what was wrong with us" (I.E....pictures from a certain skit at GA camp with side pony tails and horrible makeup). We've all done pretty much everyone's hair and makeup at one time, whether it serious or for fun. We've had those serious talks late at night about different things, and we've all cried and shared pretty much our whole lives with each other. Those talks where we would cry and tell each other how much we love each other and that we were sorry for anything we've said bad about the other. We've all been through countless fights, some seeming pretty serious, but we've always remained friends. Through it all we've always had each other to go to when something was going wrong. We started when we were little, and we've all grown up now. We've been to camps, middle school dances, proms, graduations, parties, and weddings together, and I'm sure it won't be long before one of us has a bouncing baby that we'll all be aunties to. I know not all of us have all these memories but most of us have heard the stories and could probably tell them as if we were there ourselves. I still want that relationship with you. I still want to be those kind of friends, no matter how far away anyone moves, or who is married, or in college, or anything. I still want to stay in contact and be those kind of friends. We need each other, we always will. We'll always need someone to call...even if its years from now and we haven't spoken for a while...we'll still have each other to call and ask advice when we need it. No matter how many boyfriends, other friends, fights with our parents, or even fights with each other, we've still got each other. I am so thankful to have had an awesome group of friends. We aren't all the same, some of us quite different from the others, but we compliment each other so well. We balance out each other and that's what makes our group so beautiful. I've never known better people than my friends and I think it's amazing that we've all gotten together and become friends. I hope we get to grow old together as friends, and go out for lunch when we're little old ladies. I think we'd be the cutest little old ladies. I want our kids to grow up together and be friends, and for this love to go down from generation to generation. Who knows maybe some of our kids will end up getting married or something...you know it happens all the time on tv. We're trying to get the pool cleaned out and when we do I plan on having a big party for all us girls...just like we used to. We'll do all the silly games, eat ice cream, maybe even make a movie, and stay up all night. I want everyone to come so I'll let you know in advance so can be home, take off from work, and all that. 

       I just want you to know that I love you and I miss you very much. I hope no matter how far apart we grow that we'll never lose the friendship we've all come to know over the years. I hope we always find it in,our heart to call, write, or even visit sometime or another. I love you.

    Greater love hath no man than this, that a man (or woman) lay down his (or her) life for his (or her) friends. John 15:13. 

Reading this letter several years after writing it brings back so many memories. And I love that all of the things in that letter are still true. Of the group this letter was addressed to two remain living in the town we grew up in, one being me. Two have moved about an hour away in opposite directions, two actually moved overseas to Germany, and other have scattered across the us. We've all remained friends, and come together about once a year. There's been marriages, divorces, deaths and births for all of us. Our kids are now growing up together and taking on our legacy. We all call, write, Facebook (which wasn't around during the time this was originally written), and visit each other whenever we can.         Although its been hard for me to make friends, as you've read in my previous post "how to make friends", I'm so grateful for these friendships even though we don't get to do the things we used to do as much as we like. Believe it or not at our age now, late 20s and early 30s, we still get together for the occasional sleepover....however there if very little staying up all night now. 

Reminiscing about yesteryear is great, but I look forward to what the future may hold for each of us. One just having her first child, one embarking on a marriage this year, one finishing up her masters degree. It's amazing how such different people can be such great friends and encouragement for each other. I still love these girls with all my heart and can't wait for the day my little girls have these kind of relationships. 

Control

With everything going on lately and my wavering faith I have to find distraction just to make it through a day. Tonight's distraction, walking. I find since everything else in my life is out of control I can control that. It makes me feel like I've accomplished something whether its true or not. 

Plus the upside is maybe a little weight loss and my daily exercise requirement. I'm hoping to continue doing this. Usually we take two laps, tonight we did six. (I needed extra distraction).

A/C is on the fritz in my car and my front tires need replacing because they are showing metal. To make it worse my warranty just ran out on the car about a week ago. 

The light is fading as the minutes pass. You know the one. The light at the end of the tunnel. 

God must think I'm superwoman, he has more faith in me than I have in myself...or him for that matter right now. Depression is starting to take over and I feel like every day is a fight just to get out of bed. I use cleaning my house as a coping mechanism right now. One more thing I can have control over. 

I'm ready to get control of my life back, just not sure how to do that. 

Potty Time

Our daughter turned two in July of this year, and we’ve been told by several people we need to get her potty trained. That’s easy for them to say, they aren’t the ones doing it. We have a 2 month old baby as well which can make everything more difficult.
We have the potty chair, the pull ups, and the big girl panties. We’ve actually had all those for a while just haven’t had the drive ( and neither had our daughter) to really push it. Well we decided it was time.
We’ve been hardcore potty training for about three days now. She has done really well. Gone all day with a dry pull up, wakes up with a dry one in the morning and after naps. She’s had very few accidents. Then today we get up and she has tummy troubles and isn’t making it to the toilet in time. So much for progress. We’ll just slack off for today and pick it back up tomorrow if she’s feeling better.

I’ve been told to get the cloth training pants and the plastic cover to go over them to help her feel like she’s not still wearing a diaper. Sometimes the pull ups can be confusing. So now we are on the hunt for some training pants. I will also be decorating her very own wipe container forger bathroom and get her some cute kids soap and towels for hand washing after potty time.

She seems to really have the desire to do it tho. Even started refusing her potty chair and started climbing up on the big toilet to go. She’s excited every time she goes, and upset if she has an accident. This is promising since she wants to learn and do it.

We will continue on in our potty training journey and hopefully it won’t take too long to have her completely trained. Pray for us.

Cloth Diapering

I've recently came to the realization that I am doing laundry every day. At least one load if not two. I've also realized diapers are expensive and we are buying for two babies right now. Putting these two thoughts together I came up with cloth diapering. 
Never thought I'd even be considering it because its always seemed so daunting to me and disposables are so much easier. But after my laundry epiphany I thought "what's one more load of laundry added?" 
I've began my research and quite frankly I'm overwhelmed. I reached out to a few friends that currently cloth diaper their babies and got some more direction in the options and what I should look for. I've narrowed down my choices a little but I'm still slightly overwhelmed by all the choices. Fitted? All in one? Pocket? Covers? Snaps? Velcro? Pre folded? 
And then there are several "systems" and brands in each of those choices as well. 
I have quite a bit more research to do before we decide what were gonna go with and then it'll be a matter of finding that set or system for a reasonable price. 

I know normally bloggers don't ask for advice from their readers but if anyone has and info that might help me I'd appreciate it. 

I will defiantly be updating our decisions on this on my blog and let you all know how it's going. 

The Journey

If we’re ever gonna get to this Happy Healthy Home I strive to have then we have to start somewhere.
First step to a Happy Healthy Home started family walks in the evenings. We had supper, gave the kids baths, and then decided to take a few laps around the apartment complex. I’m hoping we can do that every night. A nightly walk will actually do several things. Besides the basic function of helping get the family healthy it also gives us extra family time, and gets me and the girls out of the house (even if it is just literally outside the house). Having two kids under the age of three makes it hard for one person to go anywhere during the day. On occasion we do meet up with my friends and their kids for an outing but on those occasions I have help. By myself it’s easier just to stay home than try to pack everything and everyone up for something as simple as going to the store. So the walk around the parking lot is a good help for my sanity.
Step two to a Happy Healthy Home is potty time. This might seem a bit odd to most but I feel getting potty time under control will really help our family function better. We currently have two children in diapers, our two year old and our 2 month old. So we will be making a change with both of them. Our two year old has now started potty training. We have a potty at our house, a potty at her nana and papaw’s. we have big girl panties ready, her own wipe container ( which will be decorated soon) for her bathroom, and as soon as we find them cloth training pants. With our littlest one we will be switching to cloth diapers. Still researching to find the system that’s right for our family. I will write a post on our potty time journey with more details soon.
Step three to a Happy Healthy Home is financial security. There that’s the easy part, saying it. Now onto the hard part, living it. In an effort to get financial security me and the hubs will be taking a Dave Ramsey financial university class at a local church in September. I’m excited about it, hubby is a little iffy on it just because its not some financial expert teaching the class but just church members. I’ve researched Dave Ramsey methods before and I like, and already use, several of the methods but it’ll be nice to really know how they are supposed to work and put it all together. About a year ago I got a credit report for each of us. Our credit is pretty horrible. Mine from a messy divorce and my husbands from a little too adventurous adolescence and early adulthood. Nothing that can’t be fixed w it’s time but we certainly couldn’t get a decent loan right now. The goal is to learn a lot in this class, put the methods into practice, and be almost debt free in a year.

There are certainly many more steps in our Happy Healthy Home journey but we will take those steps when The Lord is ready to lead us toward them. For now we will just do the best we can with what The Lord has provided us and wait for further inscription from him.

Fresh Start

In ode to my most recent post "Rain" I've decided to start fresh. 
I owe a lot of that to my husband for taking the family to see an evangelist that he's seen before when he was younger. We checked his schedule and saw he would be somewhat local to us on Sunday so we decided to go see him. Being raised Baptist it was DIFFERENT to say the least. The evangelist was what I would consider a modern Pentecostal preacher. But I did learn a ton from his sermon, not just spiritually but historically as well. Some things I've read for years in the bible one way I realized meant something totally different due to the translation for the time period it was written in. I'm going to have to transition in baby steps because of the great radical differences, but I'm open to a new set of teachings. I've never seen my husband so into a church service or so "on fire" for The Lord as I saw during that sermon. 

In addition to a fresh start of our families spiritual life I've decided to have several fresh starts in our home life as well.  These fresh starts have prompted us to start looking into moving. Not necessarily moving "away" but moving somewhere better for our family. We've been too dependent on our extended family, not that there is anything wrong with that, but for where we are in our family we need some separation from them. If we lived just far enough away to not have them there for every beck and call we could learn how to depend on each other more. 
Our apartment lease is up in October and we will start looking then. Won't be able to buy anything just yet but looking to rent something for a year or so. 

Even though its August it's almost as if we've started a new year in our family. We've launched into several new beginnings for our family and I can't wait to see where we will be this time next year. 

Rain

You know the old saying “when it rains it pours”? Well that is defiantly true with our family right now.
Rain is a funny thing. Rain lets me know that God has a sense of humor. You either need it or don’t. Right now our area is in dire need of rain. The lakes are down, water rations have been set, and a burn ban in effect to prevent fires from getting out of hand due to the drought. And although we’ve had a small shower here and there its not been enough to make an impact on the lack of rain we’ve had. And as badly as we need rain there are other areas that need it to stop raining. Flooding seems to have been more frequent this year due to rain in certain areas. In both cases the rain has a negative effect on the people and places that it’s needed or not needed. This, perhaps, is the reason we use that adage I stated above. It implies a negative association with rain.
This is of course a “worldly” meaning for rain. God uses the rain to cleanse, purify, and renew us and the world we live in. You know the look and smell after a good summer shower? When everything looks and smells a little fresher and cleaner? This is the rain I like to think about. Sometime I feel like I just need to stand in the rain and let God wash over me and renew me in my thoughts, and actions. It almost feels like a fresh starts. Live life, mess up, rain, start over.

In fact when I was married to my ex husband and he told me he wanted a divorce I was obviously devastated. I went to my parents and more or less sat in what used to be my bedroom crying, not crying, crying some more. I wanted him back. I was willing to do anything, including giving up ever having children. After about a week of separation and contemplation and prayer we met up to discuss things. Going into it I wanted him back still, and I didn’t have the strength to go on without him. During our meeting it began to rain, and something happened during that talk. Somehow God let me see what he had planed for me. He let me know it was okay to let go, to move on, to have a fresh start. I gathered up the courage during that talk to stand up for myself and I let go of the marriage that day. After the conversation had ended I just went outside and stood in that rain. I’m not sure what compelled me to do that as I haven’t done something like that since I was a kid. I just stood there with my mouth open staring up at the heavens and thanking God for allowing me to let go. God renewed me through that rain. He cleansed me of the marriage that was weighing me down spiritually. I got my fresh start standing in the rain that day.

As you all know we’ve really been struggling lately. Auto Insurance has been canceled but thanks to family we will be getting that taken care of. Hubby wakes up this morning to head to a job and his truck is gone. Re-possessed while we were sleeping last night. Everything still in it, tools, computer, satellite radio my parents got him for Christmas, and lots of paperwork. After many phone calls, the conclusion…we need to come up with about $2000 by Monday.
Any ideas?
We’ve been selling as much of our possessions as we possibly can, hubby has been working where and when he can. We are just praying with all our might that his job starts soon so we can get back up on our feet. All extra prayers are greatly appreciated as well.
I feel like the saying “when it rains it pours” pretty much sums up our lives right now. While the “pouring rain” is seemingly pushing us further and further
down I feel our family needs the “pouring rain” to wash over us, renew us, and give us a fresh start.
What that fresh start may be I don’t know, but God does. And as hard as it is, and believe me it’s hard, to trust that everything will work out and God has a plan for our little family in his timing.

Lord, bring on the rain!

Update: This was originally written on July 26 at about 2pm and later transferred to my blog after editing. Later that same day it did begin to rain and after a really short shower there appeared the most vibrant full rainbow in the sky. I saw it as I was talking, and crying, to one of my best friends on the phone. I just looked out the back window and there it was, the biggest sign from God I could ask for. Rainbows are God’s way of letting you know everything will be alright. It’s not alright yet but he has a plan and we just have to have faith. I’m thankful he gave me a little hint that he’s still got it under control.

Healthy Home

I’ve decided since my last two blog post were pretty depressing I would do a little more upbeat post.
I’m going to introduce you to the craziness of my housekeeping routine and tips and tricks.
As most of you housewives know keeping up with everything is a never ending job. And inevitably the moment you get the floor mopped one of the kids spills something sticky all over it. I do my best, considering my OCD tendencies, to not freak out at the slightest mess.
I’ve gotten myself down to a routine. Every day I get up and clean up our bedroom and bathroom. Move to the kitchen and unload the dishwasher and load whatever late night dishes were used. Spray down the countertops and any spills down the cabinet doors with my homemade all purpose cleaner.

32 oz. spray bottle
10 drops essential oil
3 cups water
1 cup distiller vinegar

Then I start a load of laundry (yes every day) with my homemade laundry detergent. We usually only have one load since I do it every day. But if I skip it for some reason it seems like there are 4 loads…lol

1 Box borax
1 Box washing soda
1 bar soap
10 drops essential oil

Grate bar soap, mix together in air tight container. 1 tablespoon per load. 2 for large loads.
Then straighten up the living room, vacuum floors using my home made carpet fresh.

2 cups borax
2cups baking soda
20 drops essential oil

Mix ingredients in a shaker jar. I change up the essential oils I use in different products just to add some new variety of clean to the house.

All this time the kids are eating breakfast then playing in their rooms. When the baby sleeps late I can get all this done before time to start lunch. Hubby usually makes breakfast or we do cereal so I don’t have to worry about that while cleaning.
Then it’s time to figure out lunch, get the kids fed, then nap times for them while I relax and spend some bonding time with the baby. The rest of the day is pretty much go with the flow, but since I got my things done in the morning I don’t mind doing whatever the kids want. I know a lot of people with OCD can’t go to bed with things dirty or out of place but that doesn’t bother me as long as I know I did them at some point during the day. So after I clean up the living room if toys get strewn out everywhere again I don’t mind, and we usually get the kids to clean up all their toys and blankets any anything else they got out in the living room, or their rooms before we go to bed.
In the evening It’s supper, bathtime, cleanup, stories, hugs, kisses, sleep. I start the dishwasher I’ve been slowly loading all day and start it with my homemade dishwasher detergent, and get the clothes out of the dryer, fold, hung, and put up.

15 packets lemon koolaide
1 cup washing soda
1 cup borax
1/2 cup kosher salt

Use 1 tablespoon per load. Vinegar as rinse agent.

That’s pretty much my daily routine to keep up. I do a more thorough cleaning every so often on different rooms but it doesn’t take that long either thanks to my daily routine.

So it might be a little crazy but it works for me and my family. I will have more green cleaning recipies on a future post.

 This is my cleaning closet and all my supplies to make my cleaners. 

Update: We've gone back to cascade gel packs for the dishwasher because since we are in an apartment the dishwasher is highly used before we moved in and it has some issues. In order to have those issues fixed the part net is making us use regular dishwasher detergent to determine the problem. Seems to be a rusty water coming from the rinse agent compartment. All other green cleaners are still in use in the home and I've added a few more that I'll post about in the future. 

How to Make Friends

I’ve really thought about this lately. Maybe it’s just hormones, maybe wanting more adult interaction, but lately I’ve had a case of the “I have no friends” blues.
The truth is I have plenty of people I can count on for almost anything but “real” friends….I have maybe 3. One of those lives an hour away, one works all the time, one lives over seas. You do the math. I’m lonely.
I love my husband and family but sometimes I just wanna be able to go grab a bite with a girlfriend. As you can imagine limited friends makes this difficult.
The few friends I have are wonderful. I’m closer with them than some of my family. For deep serious talks, late night come over emergencies, and things like that I wouldn’t trade them for the world. However, I want more friends that I can just hang out with, go shopping, to dinner, just be friends with.

The sad part of all this is I live in the small Texas town I grew up in. I know everyone and they know me. If they wanted to be my friend we would be. So my question to you is, AS AN ADULT HOW DO YOU MAKE FRIENDS?
Seriously. When we were little on the playground it was easy. I even met my husband through an online dating service. I’m to the point my husband is “setting me up” with his friends wives or girlfriends. This might be good if we had anything in common, but it just turns into a very uncomfortable blind date or sorts.
The movie “I love you man” comes to mind.

So who out there wants to be my friend? I’m fun, and I promise I won’t talk about my kids the whole time…unless you don’t mind that sort of thing.

Struggles (originally written July18)

I want to start off by telling you I’m going to be completely honest in this blog. what you read is what you get with me and my family.
It’s been a struggle lately to say the least. New baby, stepson visiting for the summer, husband lost his job, finances, faith, marriage. Sometimes it feels like my whole world is unraveling around me.
I’ve been struggling with my faith lately most of all. When your world is falling apart it’s hard to have faith that God will get you through it. I feel like God has finally broken me to the point he needed me at to remold me into something better.
Though we are still struggling things are looking up. We have an amazing support system behind us in the form or family and friends. Husband went on a job interview today that went quite well. Keeping fingers crossed about that.

Although we are struggling I know we’ll make it through. We are a family and we have love. After all “all you need is love.”

Just Me

Welcome to my blog. I hope you enjoy a small window into my family’s daily life. We have our ups and downs, but at the end of the day we are family and we love each other.
After all “All You Need is Love” right?
I strive to be a perfect wife and mother but we all know that ain’t happenin’ so I settle for a happy healthy home (at least most of the time).

These are my girls. Just a sneak peek into my everyday.