Time Flies

I can't believe it's been a month since I last posted something. Funny how I thought that since I would be home all day, I could post more often, but it seems like I don't have a whole lot of time on the computer in the day time and by the evening, if I wanted to post something during the day, I've completely forgotten about by the time I get to the computer.

The more I think about it, another reason I don't blog as often as I would like is because my life really is sort of boring. I have no kids to post about and my housework is minimal since I have a small home, so I don't have anything interesting to say about that. I often wonder where I want my blog to go. Sometimes I think it would be fun to make it a homemaking blog since I am a full time homemaker now, but there are so many other wonderful homemaking blogs out there already, that mine would get lost and I wouldn't have anything new to add.

There are a couple things that I am mulling around in my head that I may post about, but I'm not really ready yet. Lately, I have been reading a couple of books about having a submissive spirit and I have a few thoughts about the topic, but I don't feel prepared to write about it yet. It may not be a hugely popular topic to some people and I want to prepare myself by *really* studying the Scripture so I can be prepared for any backlash that I may get. Also, these are things I am working on and struggling through right now, so I don't want to sound like I know everything when in fact, I'm still learning about it all the time. All I can say is God is doing a might work in this *very* independant and stubborn girl.

Looking back on my last post, I have done a bit better in my time management. This past week was kinda "meh" but I was in a mental funk and that seems to be over now, so hopefully things can go back to normal. Things are pretty much the same in our little corner of the world. I'm usually busy doing home-y things and Eric is researching anything he can find for work. We have been a little busy here and there between church, family and friends, but I'm really enjoying the slow paced life for right now. For a long time, it seemed like we were constantly busy and we were always going somewhere. Now we are usually home and I'm turning into a big ol' homebody. I have been wanting to get out my crafting stuff, and get my card stash going, but my stuff is in a few different boxes and it's a big ol' hassle to take everything out, make a huge mess and put it all back in those boxes again. I'm hoping to eventually make a crafting space in one of our rooms, but I'm not quite sure how I can go about that. I may have to think it through for a little while and see what I can figure out.

So that's my little update for now. I would really like to really get into blogging so hopefully I can post some more and hopefully you will all find it interesting!

Managing Time

One thing I am struggling with lately, is learning how to manage my time effectively. Sure I have a schedule all written out. That's the easy part! The tough part is actually following my written schedule. So far I haven't been able to tackle that.

The only part I am consistent with is my coffee in the morning. After that, it's all down hill from there. I have to admit that I get very easily distracted and I'd rather do things that entertain me, than to do what's important, or as we call it in our home "first things first". There have been quite a few days wasted because I wanted to watch just one more episode of Star Trek, or I wanted to check my e-mail and facebook "really quickly". It never was "really quickly". Time flew by before I knew it and my day was pretty much gone. Dishes still needed to be washed and laundry still needed to be folded.

To be completely honest, I've also neglected to spend a lot of quality time with my man due to my distractions. He tries to let it roll off his back, but I can see that he sometimes gets hurt by it and I don't blame him! I'd be really hurt too if he'd rather spend his time doing other things than spending time with me. I'm really a blessed women to have a husband who treasures our time together and desires to spend time with me. His love language is quality time my goal from here on out is to show him I love him through his language (as a note, I'm writing this post while he is at church for worship team practice).

My other main goal from here on out is to get rid of my distraction and get my life back in order of God first, Husband second and home third. I'm looking forward to seeing the new blessings in my life as I work through this!

Fruits of My Labor

As mentioned in my last post, today I was going to work on the first room on my spring/deep cleaning list. Just to show that I am human, here is the before picture of our bedroom. It's kind of embarrassing, but it makes the after picture look worthwhile. Here is the before picture as you are looking into our room from the doorway: Here is the after!

Here is the before shot as you are looking from the master bathroom:And the after shot:
Before shot taken from the window area:
And, of course, the after:

So that's what I did today. I moved all the furniture (except for the bed because that sucker is heavy) and vacuumed, dusted and wiped down the while room. Tomorrow I will be working on my master bathroom and doing some deep cleaning in there.

I feel great about what I have accomplished so far and I'm motivated to keep going on these projects! It's so wonderful to have time to do this now.

Today is the first day

Of my new job as housewife! I've got a couple projects planned for me to do today and I'm so excited to get to them! I've been trying for some time now to come up with a good daily schedule and while I had some good ideas on what to do, I made it really unrealistic for me and it was hard to keep up. I tried to do everything in a certain amount of time and I would get discouraged if things didn't get done in that time frame. Awhile ago on the blog, Her Southern Charm, I saw a daily schedule that Jennifer created to help her get through her day and I loved it. There was really no time frame, but it was a good way to break down a list of things to do. I decided to make my own version and so far, it's worked wonderfully! The nice things about not having designated times for things is that I won't get frustrated if I get off of schedule. For instance, this morning I planned on getting up and having my quiet time right away. Well, my wonderful husband wanted to make pancakes for me to celebrate my first day home, so who am I to say "no"! If I had a strict schedule to keep up with, I would have been annoyed at my hubby and I would miss out on a wonderful opportunity to hang out with him. So my schedule needs a little bit of adjusting, but I can work with it!

Today on my schedule is the spring/deep cleaning of the master bedroom. Unfortunately in the past, our bedroom is the last to get any attention. I'm hoping to change that and keep up on it now that I have the time! On my master cleaning list for the bedroom is this:

~Clean out closet
~Clean out drawers
~Clean under the bed
~Vacuum
~Dust
~Wash blinds and windows
~Hot spot decluttering (We have a few surfaces that likes to attract random junk, so I want to get rid of that!)

Later I will post before and after pictures so you can see my progress!

T-Minus One Day!!!

I am so excited that tomorrow is my last day of work... Forever!!! I've had a home keeping journal/binder for awhile now, but never fully used it since my work schedule was so wonky. Now, I've been able to sit down and start planning my days and really working on implementing a schedule that can help me in my new home keeping job!

The closer the time has come for me to be at home, the better I feel about my decision. I should be a nervous wreck that things won't work out and we'll lose our home, but I'm not! Both my husband and I are at peace about this decision and we are both so excited to see what God has in store for us. My main prayer now is that if anything does happen, our faith won't waiver and we won't start doubting this decision. I am also praying that both Eric and I can grasp on to our Lord and really learn how to hear his voice so that we know what the next step is.

Thank you for those of you that are reading this and praying for us during this time. We are so blessed by having many people in our lives that support this decision, no matter how crazy it seems!

It's 4:37 am

Do you know where your children are?

Does anybody else remember that commercial (even though they said it's 10pm, not 4:37 am?). Unfortunately, at 4:37 am, I know exactly where my "kid" is. Why? Because he won't leave me alone!!!!

No, he's not a biological child, just my bratty cat
Pumpkin. That's him right over here------------->
He's the orange one on the right. So, he may look all sweet and cuddly, but don't let his looks fool you. At 4;15 this morning, he decided that he wanted his mama to wake up so he can play, so he decided to wake me up by lying on my face, pulling himself up on our headboard (which he KNOWS is a no no) and pawing at me.

That stuff usually sweet and I usually soak it in, but at 4:15 in the morning, I wasn't exactly in the mood for it and now I'm wide awake because of this brat. Oh well, maybe I can accomplish some stuff in the next couple hours before Eric wakes up.

Getting Back on the Right Path

I just wanted to first of all say "hello!" to anyone who is coming over from Jennifer's blog. Thanks for stopping by!

I guess I should update what is going on, so you guys can understand what's going on in our lives right now.

Back in October, but my husband and I got laid off from our jobs. We worked in for a small engineering firm, and since business was very slow, we both lost our jobs. I talked about it in this post and a little bit in this post. Right after we got laid off, God was pressing in my heart that this was the time for me to stay at home. Sure, I didn't expect it to happen that way, but God was telling me that I was where He wanted me.

Fear then took over and questions were raised. Questions like "How are our bills going to get paid?" and "Are you sure you really want me to stay home right now? This doesn't make sense." When the flesh took over and fear crept in, I decided to take a job that seemed perfect at the time. Both my husband and I over analyzed the situation (well, he over analyzed and I did what I thought was right at the time) and stepped out in our flesh instead of stepping out in faith and doing what God was telling me to do. Because of course, we know more than God does right?

Fast forward 6 months. This job that seemed perfect at the time is not so perfect any more. Sure this job is WAY less stressful than my last job, but my heart is not at peace. I am unhappy and bitterness started to creep in. I found little things to be annoyed at and my attitude really changes. Seriously, I am a different person at work than I am when I'm home.

This past weekend we had a wake up call. God totally spoke to us through some fantastic spiritual mentors and we spent the weekend searching His word and praying about some big decisions that needed to be made. The biggest decision was that I am quitting my job. Today I am giving my two weeks notice. Here is the comment that I left on Jennifer's blog to summarize what is going on in my heart:

I just wanted to comment on what you said about being called to the home. I have been called to my home as a stay at home wife for awhile now and I had the chance back in October, but my flesh caused so much fear, I decided to take a job that now I realize, I should not have taken.

This weekend God pressed it into my heart so much that I NEED To be at home, that I am giving my two weeks notice today.

Here's the rub; my husband is unemployed and we were really relying on my paycheck to help pay bills and buy food. Does it make sense for me to quit my job? Absolutely not. On paper, it looks impossible for us to make our bills, but that's not the issue. The issue was that for the past 6 months, I have been in direct disobedience for God's command for me to be home and now is the time for me to step up and take that step of faith and trust God to meet our needs. Am I scared? I'm totally scared, but I serve a righteous God that will take care of us and will bless us for taking this step of faith.

I'm sorry I posted this huge saga of what is going on, but when God is calling you home, you may want to sit and listen and take those steps to be home, no matter how scary it seems because God knows what's best for you and He WILL provide.

So there you have it. This is where my new journey begins. I am back on track and yes, I'm scared, but I am so thrilled to see what God will do. I just want Him to be glorified in this time.

He is Risen!

Good Friday

Stricken, smitten, and afflicted,

See Him dying on the tree!
'Tis the Christ by man rejected;
Yes, my soul, 'tis He, 'tis He!
'Tis the long-expected prophet,
David's Son, yet David's Lord;
By His Son, God now has spoken
Tis the true and faithful Word.

Tell me, ye who hear him groaning,
Was there ever grief like his?
Friends thro' fear his cause disowning,
Foes insulting his distress;
Many hands were raised to wound him,
None would interpose to save;
But the deepest stroke that pierced him
Was the stroke that Justice gave.

Ye who think of sin but lightly,
Nor suppose the evil great
Here may view its nature rightly,
Here its guilt may estimate.
Mark the sacrifice appointed,
See who bears the awful load;
'tis the Word, the Lord's Anointed,
Son of Man and Son of God.

Here we have a firm foundation,
Here the refuge of the lost;
Christ's the Rock of our salvation,
His the name of which we boast.
Lamb of God, for sinners wounded,
Sacrifice to cancel guilt!
None shall ever be confounded
Who on him their hope have built.

Maundy Thursday

Luke 22: 17-20 ESV
And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks he said, "Take this, and divide it among yourselves. For I tell you that from now on I will not drink of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes." And he took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to them, saying, "This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me." ²⁰And likewise the cup after they had eaten, saying, "This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood.

Today is Maundy Thursday. This is the day we celebrate Jesus' last supper with his disciples. As we take communion tonight, let us remember our Lord's final moments with his followers.

Reason # 6,752...

Why I love Johnny Depp: (From The Bitter Waitress)

"While shooting his latest film, Public Enemies, in Oshkosh, WI, Johnny Depp and his party enjoyed a meal worth $2600. He reportedly left behind a more-than-generous $1500 tip."

Today is a great day...

It's opening night for the Anaheim Angels (oh, excuse me, The Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim). Tonight they are up against the Oakland A's and I'm crossing my fingers for a win for my team. It would be a great way to open the season!

Another one of My Favorite Blogs

There are many days while I am at work that I have nothing to do. Usually when that happens, I go to my usual web stomping grounds and sometimes those places lead me elsewhere. Well, not too long ago, I was lead to an adorable website called Warm Pie, Happy Home. Immediately I felt like I was at home in Ruthann's blog and I just wanted to shoot down to the Ozarks and settle down for a nice slice of pie in her amazing kitchen.

She recently revamped her website and it's just as cute as ever. She's even doing a wonderful blog giveaway to celebrate her new site! You can also sign up for her online news letter that has fun tips for your home, product reviews and giveaway announcements.

Come on over and take a look. I know you won't be disappointed!

I have something to post about!

It may not be too exciting, but I do have something to post! Recently, I found a wonderful blog that is written by a sweetheart of a gal and I am hooked! She has a little club that I decided to join in hopes of getting into a routine of waking up early to spend time with my Lord. It's not out of guilt or pressure that I am doing this, it's because I want to do this. I notice a major change in my outlook if I spend some quality time in prayer and in the Word. This club is to encourage other ladies to get up early and do the same and I am hoping that it will give me some accountability as well.

As a group, the 5:16 club will be doing a study of Habakkuk, starting tomorrow, and I am so excited to join in. I'm hoping to share little tid bits of what I'm learning along the way. I am so excited to see the growth that can happen thorough this!

Writers Block

So I have had no idea what to blog about lately. I don't even have anything too interesting in my life to blog about. I have no kids to blog about and I have no interesting facts or tid bits to blog about. Frankly, I'm stumped. I didn't necessarily mean to take a long blog break, but with nothing to blog about, it just happened. I'm kind of getting the feeling back, but I'm still a bit stumped. I should be blogging regulary soon.

Words

I love learning new words and the more I read, the more words I learn. Another blogger I thoroughly enjoy, also loves words and often will post her own collection on her blog If she doesn't mind my copying her, I also thought it would be fun to post a new word I have learned in my own reading.

I have recently begun the process of reading Jane Austen's books. I used to never be able to get through Pride and Prejudice, but after watching the movie and beginning to understand the Regency era, I cannot get enough of her! A good friend of mine let me borrow Jane Austen's last book, Sanditon. I'm about half way through it and I love it. As I read this, there have been a few times where I need to stop and look up a word. The most recent one is used here:

"He was convinced that the advantage if a medical man at hand would very matierally promote the rise and prosperity of the place [Sanditon], would in fact tend to bring a prodigious influx; nothing else was wanting."

Prodigious- from dictionary
–adjective

1.	extraordinary in size, amount, extent, degree, force, etc.: a prodigious research grant.

2.	wonderful or marvelous: a prodigious feat.

I'm ready for Spring

I don't know about you guys, but I'm ready for spring. As much as I do enjoy the cooler weather, I absolutely HATE the wind that comes with it. When the wind picks up here, my allergies get so bad and my skin dries out. I'm also ready to break out my cute skirts and spring-y outfits. I'm ready for warmer weather.

Things haven't changed much in our home. My husband is still out looking for work. There was a moment where something sounded promising, but it never panned out. Well, at least it seems that way. If God has that job in mind for Eric, it will happen. I have to admit, I am losing patience. Not with Eric, mind you, but with the whole process. With the whole country in a major recession, it just does not seem likely that Eric will find a job any time soon. I do get discouraged at times, but I just need to focus that God is greater than this and something bigger than we could ever imagine will come our way.

My job is okay. It's definitely not what I want to do at all and I often find myself getting discouraged at my situation, but I still remind myself that is a million times better than my old job and that my paycheck is really helping pay the bills. My only source of hope is that once Eric is in a steady job, I can quit this job and stay home. Finally! Looking back, I realized that I could have always stayed home. We are living on so little and and can still pay our bills and eat. I don't know why we never realized that to begin with!

As far as my baking adventures go, Eric and I and a friend of mine tried our hand at scones and lemon curd the other day. Eric worked on the lemon curd while my new found friend and I worked on the scones. They were so delicious! We will definitely be making those again. It's so fun to be able to be hospitable without spending a ton of money.

Well, that's it for now I guess. I will leave you guys with a cute picture of my snuggle bug, Stella.

A closeup of her sweet face!

25 Random Things

I posted this on my facebook account, so I thought I would just copy it here. I didn't think it would be hard to think of 25 things about me, but it took me quite some time.


1. I'm really not interesting enough to have 25 random things about me.

2. I'm pretty allergic to cats but I have two of them anyway.

3. Purple used to be my favorite color, but now my favorite is red.

4. I have lived in the same town my whole life.

5. The farthest I have moved from my childhood home is less than 10 miles.

6. I hope to change that someday.

7. I want to be fluent in French before I die.

8. So I can visit France and talk to the locals.

9. I love Styx and The Carpenters and I don't care who knows it.

10. According to my cousin, I "own" Sabotage by the Beastie Boys on Rock Band.

11. I met my husband on the internet.

12. I love Diet Coke and drink it all the time. Because of that, Eric calls it "Diet Crack".

13. I have a freakish obsession with Disneyland and can often spout off random facts about the park.

14. I often think about going back to college, but then I get an anxiety attack, break out in hives and get sick to my stomach. It's safe to say, I won't be going back to school anytime soon.

15. I'm really struggling with finding 25 facts about me.

16. I am the youngest of 3. There are 13 years between me and my eldest brother and 9 years between me and my middle brother.

17. I was a "surprise".

18. I have an irrational hatred of Nicholas Cage and I refuse to watch any movie with him in it because he annoys me so much, I want to punch him in the face.

19. I once spent 12 hours in one spot, just so I can see Johnny Depp in person. I saw his head. My life is complete.

20. My absolute favorite movie is The Princess Bride, followed closely by Singin' in the Rain.

21. I named my cat Stella just so I can yell "STELLAAAAAAAA"

22. I didn't enjoy the book Pride and Prejudice until I saw the movie (the 1995 BBC version). Now it's one of my all time favorite books.

23. I tend to jump on book bandwagons late on purpose, just so I don't have to wait so long in between book releases. For instance, I didn't start reading Harry Potter until the 7th book was just about out and I just started reading the Twilight series.

24. I am a severe procrastinator and always have been. I crank out my best work when the pressure is on.

25. I am an awful test taker. I can know the information inside and out, but once a test is in front of me, I completely blank out and panic. Which is probably why I freak out when thinking about school.

Schedules and Lists

As I have said before, I am not a list maker by nature. I usually go with the flow or fly by the seat of my pants. Needless to say, I drive my very structured husband crazy.

One of my New Year's goals was to really sit down and work on a schedule in order to create some peace in our household. It's not uncommon to see us running frantic around our house before we go somewhere, due to my lack of planning. I know my husband needs a good plan, and it's my goal to come up with a workable one!

So far, I have created a weekly list. This includes my work schedule, weekly Bible studies and Eric's sound schedule at church. I also keep spaces open for any events (birthdays, parties, potlucks) that come up. I include a space on each day of the week to write what I need to bring to an event. For instance, I have a lunch after my Bible study tomorrow and I have signed up to bring a pasta salad. I put that in there so I know in advance I need to add the ingredients to the pasta salad to my grocery list.

I also have a monthly calender where I just write a brief note on each day. Then I can look to my weekly schedule for a more detailed plan of what's going on. This way I have an overview of what's going on in the month.

At this time, I'm still working on a daily schedule. Every day is different for me, so I am trying to figure out the timing of things. So far I've got that I wake up around 5:30 every morning and I go to bed around 9:30 every evening. I'm still working on the stuff in the middle.

On top of my daily, weekly and monthly schedule, I'm also working on a cleaning schedule. I'm trying to break my cleaning into smaller jobs that I can do a little every night, instead of all day on a Saturday. I'm hoping to get this done by next week.

So there you have it. This is my first jump into an organized life. I'm hoping that this all becomes second nature.

Menu Plan Monday and Catching Up

Holy Toledo, has it been nearly a week since I last posted? I had so many blog post ideas last week and I just never had the chance to get on the computer to post them. I was really looking forward to posting my Works for Me Wednesday post, but I was gone most of the day on Wednesday and never got around to it. I'm hoping I can post it this week. My schedule is not as full as it was last week.

Speaking of schedules, I've got a post I'm working on (hopefully it can be up today or tomorrow) about my schedules. I'm a person who needs a schedule to get things done, however, I'm not organized enough to work on a schedule. I've decided to take control of my disorganization and sit down once and for all in order to create some order in my home. I won't be too strict on myself as far as keeping a schedule, but if I can just have something in writing, it keeps me accountable. A good friend of mine e-mailed me her schedule and I'm looking at it to get ideas for my own. Except my schedule won't include feedings and diaper changings.

Till I get that post ready, here is my Menu plan for the week!

As usual, breakfasts and lunches are about the same every day, so I don't include them in my menu planning. Here are the dinners.

Monday night- Out (yay!)

Tuesday night- Chicken stir fry and brown rice

Wednesday night- crock pot chicken, veggies, rolls

Thursday night- Leftovers

Friday night- Beef fillets (I found a couple in our deep freeze!) rice pilaf, broccoli

Saturday night- Spaghetti and Italian Bread

Sunday night- Leftovers