Today I'm Free

Switching Over...

I have made the switch over to WordPress and from now on, all of my blog posts will be there. Please join me there and check out my new design and "About" section. Good things are coming. See you there!!! P.S. In case you aren't sure, you just click on one of the pink "there" above and it will take you there. ;-)

Choking on Clutter

I'm an easily overwhelmed person. Things make me anxious. I can be a complete spaz (just ask my husband and kids). Something I am convinced adds to my anxiety and feeling overwhelmed is clutter. My house is filled with far too much of it. I want to change it, but I just feel so incredibly overwhelmed by the ridiculous amounts of it. I feel paralyzed when I even think about cleaning it up. And so, a vicious cycle continues. I told Brian on Saturday that I knew exactly where I was starting and what my plan of attack was for this week. I know that I need to have a definite plan, or I'll never get started and I also know that it has to be a plan that won't overwhelm my spazzy self. So here it is...I am beginning with my kitchen. My plan of attack? I'm committing to clean out two cupboards per day this week. Now, I know that doesn't seem like much of anything, but it's something that I know I can manage and I'm pretty sure I'll end up doing more than two per day. If I don't though, I'm not going to feel guilty or beat myself up about it. I'm just going to stick to the plan and if I do extra, I'll just consider myself awesome. Seems like a pretty good plan, right? Now, the task at hand is actually a pretty big one. My cupboards are filled with who knows what. Things that are spilling out onto us every time we open a cupboard. It's like a fun little game of wondering if a random piece of plastic ware is going to tumble out and smack me in the head or if a pan is going to slide out and crush my toes. As much as I love games, this really isn't one I'm all that into. I've risked extreme embarrassment and taken pictures of the disaster that my kitchen cupboards are in and I'm publicly declaring that I AM GOING TO DO THIS this week and I'm going to post pictures of the end results to prove it. Pretty good motivation, right? So here it is, the ugly truth of one serious area of clutter in my house. You'll notice that the top of my fridge and a "junk" counter are included in this. Now, there's two little cupboards behind the junk on my fridge, so I'll have to take a picture of that when I get to it. I seriously have no idea whatsoever as to what is in there. I hope it's something good. Ha! I'm guessing that once I finish this task, I'm going to be much more motivated to move onto another area of my home that needs to be de-cluttered. So, here's to taking control of my home and my sanity and eliminating some of what's choking me and causing me to not be able to enjoy life to the fullest. Check out this mess...

Pretty bad, huh? I'm guessing most of you have at least one cupboard that looks like this. Just humor me and say you do. Or maybe there's another area of your home that you seriously struggle with clutter in. Where is your clutter pit? I'm going to do a little series on dealing with clutter and I hope you'll join me and maybe take care of some of the clutter in your home too. Let's tackle this together!!!

Share a Song Sunday

Sundays around our house mean going to church in the morning, grabbing a few groceries while we're in town (we live in the country and don't have any real grocery stores close by) and coming home for a relaxing evening before the start of a new week. I thought I would continue that relaxed feeling into my Sunday posts and just share something simple that makes me happy. Each week I will share a song that I personally love, gives me inspiration, etc. I hope that you will find them inspiring too... This week's song is Word of God Speak by MercyMe. It only seems fitting to start with this song, because it is the first song I heard when I became a Christian and started listening to Christian music, that perfectly stated what I was feeling. I didn't know what to say, but I just wanted to hear more and more of what God wanted to say to me. Sometimes in the busyness of life now, I love to listen to this song and remember that I need to slow down and go back to when Christ was new to me and I couldn't get enough of Him and that makes me grow closer to Him again. We need to remember to be still and let Him speak into our hearts, and when we do, He will.

The Importance of Dating Your Husband

You read that right, you should be dating your husband. I feel that this is such an important element of a marriage that so many people ignore. I get it. Life gets busy, especially when you have kids. When you don't have to be running kids somewhere or there is a moment to just be home, then that's what you want to do. What you don't realize is that you're missing out on the chance to feed your relationship with your husband. Do you know that when your marriage is strong, you can be a better parent? What I mean by that is that when your children see you and your husband laughing, being playful and loving on each other, it gives them an incredible sense of security and a healthy picture of what a marriage should look like and what they should look for in a marriage. It's hard to feel playful with your husband when you're tired, stressed and dealing with the madness of home-life. That's why it's important to break away and have some time where the two of you can talk, eat, etc. without being a mediator between arguing kids, having to clean up a mess or trying to yell to each other over a wrestling match in your living room (hey, it happens). You and your husband need to go on dates! I mean the kind where you get yourself all done up and wear your best perfume. When I go out on a date with my husband, I want him to know that I view my alone time with him as being as special and important to me as a special event I would get ready for. I wouldn't wear jeans and a hoodie out to a special event, so why would I wear them out on a date with my husband? I want him to know that I am excited to spend time with him and I want to look special for him. Since I never leave the house without my hair and makeup done anyway, this means that I do something a little extra special with my makeup and I wear a special perfume that I know he really likes. I like to wear an outfit that I don't typically wear and maybe even do my hair a little different. Brian is always very complimentary to me, but he points out specific things on our date nights, which lets me know he notices the special attention I put into getting ready to go out with him and that he likes it. Such a simple thing, but makes such a big statement. Doesn't your husband and your marriage deserve that? I sure hope so. For our date night last night, I decided to make my hair a little bigger than usual and did my eye makeup a little darker...

I decided to wear a pair of black pants with a cute shirt and some black wedge booties. (Sorry the lighting is so bad).

We just went out for dinner, did a little shopping at Hobby Lobby and went and got a gift at Family Christian for my soon-to-be Goddaughter. Nothing super fancy, but we just had fun getting to eat in peace and getting to shop without kids asking over and over if we could leave the store yet. Aaaahhhh, it's the little things, people. So do yourself, your spouse, your marriage and your children a favor and go out on a date with your husband. I know it's not always easy to get babysitters, so it might not get to happen really often, but if at all possible, try to spend some time alone together at least once a month. You both need this and you just might be surprised at how much fun you can have together when you get away from the distractions of everyday life. You just might discover something new about each other too and you'll be refreshed and better able to handle the kids...at least for a couple hours or so.

Hairstyles and Body-Shaming

I am a girl who craves change. Not the kind of change that involves some major life adjustment or anything like that, but I need something new in my home, a new outfit, new accessories, SOMETHING! Probably my most favorite thing to change though, is my hair. I'm not afraid to try things when it comes to my hair. It grows back, ya know? I've never understood how people can have the same exact hairstyle for years. Not that I'm knocking it, I just get so bored seeing myself look the same all the time. So, as you may be figuring out, I'm in the mood for a hair change. After scouring Pinterest for weeks and just not quite finding anything that was really calling out to me, I stumbled upon a video for styling short hair and instantly knew it was the style I was looking for. I love when that happens! So, let me show you what I've got going on now...

Eh. I loved it for the past several months that I've had it this way, but now I'm just feeling bored. I need more funk. Now let me tell you a little something I have done in the past that is seriously not cool. Not healthy. Not right. I have, at times, not allowed myself to get a new hairstyle because I felt like I didn't deserve to get one until I lost some weight. I would play these stupid games with myself of "If I lose 5, 10, 15 pounds (whatever the magic number of the moment was), then I can get a new hairstyle." Now, don't get me wrong. I think it's awesome to reward yourself for your accomplishments. So, saying something like "Once I reach my goal of losing 10 pounds, I'm going to get myself a cute new hairstyle!" is awesome and perfectly fine, but feeling like you're not worthy of something cute until you lose some weight is downright unhealthy and just plain stupid. I would look online for hairstyle ideas and the pictures always seem to be of these ridiculously cute and "small" women. So, being insecure about my weight, I would think to myself that those hairstyles couldn't possibly look cute on me unless I lost some weight. How incredibly ridiculous. If you remember nothing else that I ever say, remember this...YOU deserve to feel cute, pretty, beautiful, strong, amazing, confident, etc. NO MATTER WHAT YOU WEIGH! EVERYONE does. I refuse to allow myself to not wear outfits I like (I'm a modest dresser, so it's not as though I have things hanging out where they shouldn't be). I have just as much a right to wear a skirt with my short, stumpy legs (and I'm not saying that to put myself down, they just are) as someone with long, slender legs. My body is just the thing my soul is walking around in and my soul is downright gorgeous, so I can dress this body in whatever makes me feel beautiful! Don't you dare not allow yourself that new outfit, those cute shoes, that lovely smelling perfume, etc. because you think your weight/body are somehow not worthy of them. You are worthy of so much more than all of that. When I saw this, it was as though whomever wrote it had stolen it right from my heart. What the world defines as pretty and beautiful means absolutely nothing. The Creator of your very soul and your very being designed you in His image and He is the most amazingly beautiful thing that exists, so you better darn well believe that you are amazingly beautiful too!

I cannot stress to you enough how long of a journey it has been to get me to where I am with my self-esteem and I have to be very conscious about not letting myself slip into the destructive thoughts of that I'm somehow less than the tall, gorgeous girl with the long legs and seemingly perfect figure. It's something that loves to taunt me and I have to stop the negative voices and remember who I am and Whom I belong to. That is such an amazingly freeing realization. Now, with all of that being said, I still love to switch up my look and give myself a fresh style every now and then and while I'm conscious about wanting to choose a hairstyle that compliments my face shape, I no longer decide whether or not to get a new hairstyle based on my weight. Remember that style I mentioned way back in the beginning of this post? Well, it just so happens to be the hairstyle of a stinkin' adorable gal named Amy who has herself a great little blog that I am so thankful I have found! Her blog is called A Cup Full of Sass and I think it perfectly describes her cute style! This is the video I found and completely fell in love with this style and the ease of doing it. Short styling time is what I loved so much about having short hair for all of the years that I did and it's strongly pulling me back to having short hair again. Isn't that easy and totally adorable?! So, I've definitely decided that that is my next style (that I am hopefully getting next week). The decision I would love some help in making is whether I should just keep my all-over dark color or add some highlights in there? I would love to hear what you think and would love for you to leave a comment letting me know whether you think I should add some color and if so, what kind? If this post has inspired you to make a hair change, I'd love to hear about that too! Please feel free to leave comments on anything about this post that maybe spoke to you or has you thinking. Thank you so much for taking the time to read some of my rambling thoughts!

Yes, this is really happening...

It has been FAR TOO LONG, my friends. I can't believe it's been like 2 1/2 years since I have posted on my blog. Why? Well, honestly I had just gotten to a point where I was a little overwhelmed with things. My boys are getting older and their schedules and activities had increased and I'm a pretty easily overwhelmed gal and I just needed to break from some other things that I had going on and re-group. But, I'm feeling a little less crazed at the moment and thought it seemed like a good time to maybe get back to blogging on occasion. I've always loved fashion and hairstyles and all that good stuff, but never thought anyone would be interested in seeing my ever-so-average self sharing outfits, hairstyles etc. Then I realized something. Whenever I'm looking for outfit and hairstyle ideas, I'm always so disappointed that all I can seem to find on Pinterest and things like that are these model-type women, who I will NEVER look like. Not that I want to either. I would just like to be able to picture my frame in an outfit and that's really hard to do when I'm barely 5'1" and carrying some extra poundage and the outfits are on these 5'9" slender women. So, maybe some people would be interested in me sharing about the clothes, jewelry, hairstyles, etc. that I love. Now, I'm by no means a fashionista. I buy most of my clothes at the thrift store or off of clearance racks, but people are always complimenting me, so I guess I must be doing something right, right?! So, here it is...my officially back first post. Hopefully I'll have something to offer my readers that will be interesting and fun and just be a creative outlet for me as well. So, let's do it, shall we? I'll see you tomorrow with my next post!