My morning routine....Young Living style.

As I was finishing getting ready yesterday morning, I was struck with how Young Living has truly taken over our lives.  So I decided to take a few minutes and document my morning....YL style. Of course, as the day went on, I never took the time to actually post it - ha. Better late than never. ;o)

1 - I started the morning with Thieves Dentarome Ultra toothpaste with a drop of  Orange Vitality essential oil on it for some extra benefits. My teeth feel so clean and shiny after using this. I don't love the flavor of the Dentarome Ultra alone (I got the Dentarome Plus in my ER order this month to try after I finish this) but with the drop of Orange, it tastes so good.

2 - Got the youngest on the bus and threw a load in the wash. I love how little of the Thieves Laundry soap you need to get your clothes clean and fresh.

 

3 - Time to shower...Being totally honest,  I used to really REALLY not like YL shampoo but once I realized that my hair, like my body, needed a detox, I decided to suck it up and push through the first week of icky feeling and now love it. My hair feels so clean and healthy when I use it. I think all my buildup was fighting with it until it finally gave in and let itself be clean. It takes just a tiny bit of all of their products, which makes them last forever. The Orange Blossom facial wash is so concentrated that I put about an inch of it in this foaming pump bottle that I picked up on amazon and fill the rest with water. About twice a week, I add in about 1/2 inch squirt (lol) of the Satin Facial Scrub - Mint to the pump of Orange Blossom in my hand and give my face, neck, arms, etc a great scrubbing. My shower smells so amazing with all these oils flowing around. It's a great start to the day. I've used the Morning Start shower gel for about a year before trying out the Sensation Bath/Shower Gel because I wanted to try something different. Loved both and if I wasn't lazy, I would make foaming pumps of these too. It really takes such a tiny drop of them...I've used this bottle for about 6 months (I just checked my order history and I got it for free on Sept 20 by cashing in ER points I had saved up) and I still have at least 1/3 of the bottle left. These products last forever, smell amazing, work wonderfully, and don't fill our body with toxins....win, win, win, win!

4 - Ok - time to get out of the shower -  and move on with the day. lol. I used these two products in my wet hair to help to tame the frizzies. My hair is getting more wavy as I get older, and not in a "wow, your hair is so pretty and wavy" kind of way...more like a "woah! hot mess alert" kinda way. So I add a pump of the Mirah Shave oil and a drop of Essential Beauty Serum to my wet hair before drying (with a diffuser on the hair dryer) and straightening...or not straightening, depending on how I feel (or how much time I have!).

5 - Progessence Plus was the first product from Young Living that I ever used, and I've now used it every day for the past 3 1/2 years. Trust me. It's amazing and I have two spare bottles here in case something happens and I can't get a new bottle from YL for a while. Each bottle lasts me about 3 months and I used it every.single.day.  Having balanced hormones makes not only me happy, it makes the people around me happy. ;o) Today, I have a ton to do so added some En-R-Gee to the bottom of my feet before getting socks and shoes on.

6 - Ran to the kitchen quickly for my morning NingXia Red/NingXia Zyng drink. Fixed the middle two kiddos their morning NingXia shot and added a couple drops of Slique Essense to my cup. I love these metal straws (also from amazon - everything but my children pretty much comes from amazon!) so I can add vitality oils or Slique to my drinks and sip throughout the day.After I finish my glass of Red/Zyng, I keep refilling the glass with water all day. I sometimes add an additional drop or two of oils but the flavor from my morning drink lingers normally. (See the Lavender lotion on the counter? Paige is loving that this time of year as she is riding bikes a lot and her hands are getting too much sun.)

7- I've recently been introduced on facebook to Jen O'Sullivan's oil page. I love watching her vidoes and learning how the oils work and new ways to use them. She told us about this face serum recipe that she uses and I decided to give it a try...and am hooked!!! I use a drop or two each morning and night on my face and cover with coconut oil that has Melrose in it (premade in the jar). Please don't take note of the fact that I can't, for the life of me, remember how to spell Myrrh without autocorrect, or of my fancy "face oil" labeling! I added in Cedarwood the second time I made it because a) I like how it makes my face feel b) It is so good for us! and c) It's cheap - so helped stretch these more pricey oils.

8 -This week has been a bit hectic with some big things going on concerning our foster daughter. I was starting to get a headache so pulled out my iTovi and scanned myself. My #1 oil was Acceptance - lol. I added a drop to this simple leather bracelet that I picked up a couple of weeks ago at the Pioneer Woman's Mercantile for $8. I love it and put oil on it each morning and then can smell it all during the day.

So there you have it...my first hour of my day in oils, and I haven't even started the diffuser yet. Phew. When I think of how many toxins and junk we put in and on our bodies before learning about Young Living, I shudder. I'm so thankful that a friend introduced me to YL and for all the ways they have helped our family live a more healthy life. If you want more information about how to help your own family take charge of their health and wellness, let me know. I'm happy to share more of our story with you.

I'd love to see how you use Young Living in your daily life. Post in the comments or make your own blog post and link me up! I'm always changing up what I use and love hearing what works for others. :)

Things that make you go hmmmmmm.....

Last night, as soon as Caleb texted that he made it home and was waiting in the driveway for his friend to get here, I fell immediately asleep. I didn't even hear them come in the door a few minutes later. I woke up thinking I slept like a log....then stepped out of bed and saw this:

My watch said I slept 8 hours, but only 2 hours was "deep sleep." Apparently during some of my non-deep sleep, I decided to take my sock drawer out of the dresser? What the what?!?

I asked each of the kids if they did it. T was at a friends and says he didn't sneak home and do it. The other three didn't come in my room either. Maverick is a bit of a crazy dog, but not sure he would do this and then leave the socks in the drawer. I'm pretty sure if he was the culprit, there would be wet, holey socks scattered around the room.

Troy texted that there has to be a logical explanation, he just can't come up with one just yet.

The only thing that logically could have happened is that aliens came in and removed my drawer from my dresser and then got scared off by the sleeping dog and left before matching and folding them like a good alien.

Or I sleep walked and am lucky this is all I did.

Hmmmmmm......

Choose thankfulness...

February has tried to get the best of us it seems. Sicknesses, car trouble, and disappointments (major and minor) have pretty much been part of every day this month. We are ready for March and for lent and preparing for Easter. We could really get down thinking about all these things...OR....we could make a choice to find things to be thankful for in the midst of this crazy month. Some of these things are pretty big in our mortal eyes, and some are really more inconveniences. But even in the bigger ones, we are choosing to be thankful.

We are thankful that the mighty T-and-T are back to good health. (strep and flu and a bonus migraine hit this month!)

We are thankful I sometimes buy random clearance things that I can pull out on days like this when two are home sick and are tired of sleeping or watching Netflix.

We are thankful for medical advances that help add years to lives of our loved ones that desperately need it.

We are thankful that it only takes three washes (with a variety of "remedies") to get the skunk smell out of clothes.

#notanarmadillo

We are thankful that we have an "extra" car to drive while ours was being repaired...again.

We are thankful that hubby has a job....and for facetime and calls/texts when we are apart.

We are even thankful that his car broke down only 3 hours into his 21 hour drive instead of in the middle of nowhere or further away. And that the little town he broke down in "happened" to have a Ford dealer with a hotel across the street.

We are thankful that God has a plan for our littlest one's life, even though we currently have NO idea what that is, which is scary and frustrating for us.

I am thankful that my daughter loves to bake and shares the batter with me. My pants aren't as thankful for this!

We are thankful that we have friends who love us and laugh with us and keep us moving along when it seems like if one.more.thing goes "wrong" this month, we might just tap out.

We are thankful for encouraging words through songs and sermons and scripture and blogs and even memes. ;)

We are thankful for the wonderful name of Jesus. We sang this at church and it is stuck in my head.

What are you thankful for today?

Wednesday With Words - and a picture

Trenton worked super hard a few months ago in Civil Air Patrol to meet a goal that the squadron had. Last night, he was one of three cadets recognized and rewarded for their achievement.

He was so proud and we are so proud of him. It wasn't easy and he considered quitting after not passing once or twice, but couldn't let himself give up. He sucked it up and worked hard and tried one last time...and blew his goal out of the water. He had to run a mile and do a certain number of situps and pushups. He could easily run the mile and do the situps in the amount of time needed but the pushups were hard for him. He and I talked a lot about how he can't do it...alone...but he can do all things through Christ who strengthens him. (Phil 4:13) He was going to quote that while doing the pushups. On the final testing night, he did and did about double the amount he needed to do - surprising himself and all of us. ha.

I hope it's a lesson he carries with him for life. He can't do everything alone, but he can do ALL things through Christ.

No dot day!

Each night before bed, I look at my calendar on my phone and see what we have to do the next day. Each event has a dot. Some days have just a couple and some have way too many. Last night, when I checked, I got super excited....NO DOTS TODAY!

We slept in...woke to the sound of  the dynamic duo, T-n-T, trying to break the army men free from the ice prison they had frozen them into over night (T has done this for years...freezes army men or toys in cups of water. At least it's not anything that's alive!).

Got up and had breakfast and started piddling around the house. I cleaned off my desk and sorted 6 months worth of crap important papers. Then moved into the kitchen.

Sometimes I get a little side tracked and just clean random things...today was one of those days. But I didn't stop with one random thing. I cleaned about 8 cabinets and 4 drawers...so far.

I put the family to work matching up lids and containers that I pulled from the cabinets and drawers where they have been hiding. How do we have 25 extra lids? Where are the containers? Who even knows. 

Then took some of the containers that had broken lids and used them to organize drawers. LOL

Threw out expired things and things we don't use...and things we don't even know what they are. Any ideas what the heck this is? It's been in my randoms drawer for many years. I guess I thought I'd figure it out one day?

I kinda thought it was to cut butter and slide it off? But why does it have a chicken on it?
Hmmmm....
It worked great to open a package that came today. ha.

All in all, it's been a rather productive "no dot" day. I'm still in jammies at 4 pm, but that's ok. It will just make going to be tonight a little easier - ha.

Hubby is at the store with T buying a bigger live trap. After seeing that he caught the opossum, a neighbor wants him to try to catch an armadillo that is tearing up their yard. lol! I'll keep ya posted if he catches anything cool. ;o)

Happy Weekend!!

Just another Thursday....

Today started with Paige and I driving 3 hours each way to pick up the hubby, who was on his way to California for business yesterday when his car died 3 hours into a 22 hour drive. ugh. Car is in the shop but he needed to be home so we loaded up school and headed for a road trip.

I had an appointment at 1:30 so we had to leave early to make it back. While waiting for the dr, I get this series of texts from Paige, who is now home with Trenton. What the heck?!?!

 I'm glad there was no one else in the waiting room because I literally laughed out loud at them poking the poor thing to see if it was dead. #itflinched

Again...what the heck?!?! I have some odd children!

I came home and made him release the nasty thing. Ewwww.

Trenton has the flu and hasn't changed clothes in two days, but he was sure excited to finally catch something in his borrowed trap. Now he's going to really want one of his own! He knew there were critters under the shed....I'm thankful it wasn't a skunk! We definitely need to live in the country! Our neighbors must thing we are nuts.

How was your Thursday? Anything as exciting as a 6 hour trip before noon and catching a possibly rabid creature? It's ok...there's always next week. ;o)

Almost wordless Wednesday

The past few days haven't been awesome and today was no exception. 

The highlight?

Sushi Wednesday at Sprouts.

Yum!

The end.

Cleanse - Day 5

Boy am I glad this is only a 5 day cleanse. I don't think I could push through many more days! Down .2 this morning again like on day 3. I'll wait to publish this post until I weigh in tomorrow morning for the total. I'm so surprised that I don't wake up hungry or get hungry during the day. I really have to remind myself to drink the Balance Complete. Crazy!

Big day today...finished these:

Wahoo - that means the end is in sight.  Hubby brought home some little apples today that looked so good so I ate one of those, otherwise, I stuck with the no snack plan. It's weird to not be hungry! I've learned how much I snack out of boredom or just mindlessly. I'm not hungry, just want to grab something as I walk by. Total habit and not need. I'm thankful for this week to make me aware of that!

I also realized how much of our life centers around food. I didn't feel like sitting with the family and watching them eat each night so busied myself other places and missed out on sitting with the family and eating/talking with them each night. I'm ready to get back to that now. We made a menu and have a plan to keep eating healthy and keep working out. This isn't a 5 day fix of all your eating/health/weight problems. ha

OK, final weigh in this morning was another .2 pounds gone. Total of 3.6 pounds and a good start on getting back to my goal. I'd like to lose 5-10 more pounds before our trip. I started this am writing down what I eat. I did this a few years ago and the accountability of having to write it all down makes me stop and think before grabbing a handful of peanut butter filled pretzels just because I was walking by the kitchen. HA. I have a few meals left of the Balance Complete so after taking a few days break, I'll add those in for one meal a day until it's gone so I don't waste it or have it taking up space on top of the fridge for years.

Thanks to those that followed along and encouraged me to keep going. And thanks to my family for being understanding when I was griping about keeping going. lol. I'm glad I stuck it out and finished it. And enjoyed my oatmeal for breakfast this morning more than I probably should have. ;o)

If you want to try this cleanse for yourself, let me know and I'll help you get started and cheer you on as you go! The set is still out of stock but the individual products are each in stock so I imagine it will be back soon. Or you can get them individually and I'll send you the info for the plan.

Cleanse - day 4

WooHoo! One more day...I think I can, I think I can. I was so excited to be down 1.8 pounds this morning (3.2 total) that I didn't even complain too much about having to get up early to get my pill and drink in before church. I've found that in the morning, about 20 minutes after I drink the shake/NingXia, I need to not be driving somewhere or out in public...better to get everything cleaned out at home, if ya know what I mean. The other two "meals" don't hit me like this but the morning seems to this time around.

Today is the day that I just can't make myself drink this anymore without holding my nose. It's me, not you, yummy drink. ha

All was well today. I did the afternoon sunflower seed snack like yesterday because it worked so well yesterday. ha I also mixed my after lunch NingXia Red with a couple of ounces of kefir. Yumming!!

I spent an hour or so today looking up healthy (or healthier than we are used to!!) meals and making a menu and shopping list. Hubby will pick up the groceries tomorrow and we will be ready to start eating better Tuesday morning. I'm so glad I pushed through and didn't wimp out on this like I wanted to several times. Finishing something is a good thing!

4 days down. ONE TO GO!!

Cleanse - day 3

Today was such a fun day! Karen Hopkins, Royal Crown Diamond with Young Living, offered a free class to learn how to give the Raindrop Technique. This is something I've wanted to learn how to do for a LONG time so I jumped on the chance and two friends and I spent the morning and early afternoon learning. So much fun that I forgot to be hungry or anything. lol.

She talked about how digestion takes up so much of our body's energy. This renewed my will to finish this cleanse and keep giving my digestive system this little break so my body can aim that energy other places.

I did the normal cleanse protocol all day, except that she gave us NingXia Zyng and Nitro and it would have been rude to not drink it. ;o) I  normally drink Zyng every morning and have been missing it this week. It's a fairly new product to YL so I bet if they redo their cleanse protocol, they will allow it since they allow NingXia Red and Nitro...or so I'm telling myself so I don't feel like a cheater, cheater, Zyng drinker.

I also had the afternoon snack today of sunflower seeds....just because I could. ;o)

Down .2 pounds this morning so I striped and weighed again...it was the same. ha Better than up .2 pounds I guess. LOL!!

Officially over 1/2 way done! 3 days down, 2 to go! Not going to stop now!

Cleanse - day 2

The first thing on my mind when I woke today was "I wonder if I lost any weight yesterday?!?" Ha. I did! 1.2 pounds down. That gives me the motivation to do this again today. I know the goal is to be healthy and toxin free, but seeing the scale budge in the right direction helps keep me going.

Quick summary of the day...

Up and had pill and delicious breakfast of a Balance Complete shake and NingXia Red. Yum. Ugh. I remember day two last time where I chose to just skip a shake bc I couldn't make myself swallow it. I'm there again. I'd rather just not, but I will keep doing it. I'm not hungry at all this morning and my tummy finally stopped making freaky, alien sounds sometime in the night. Woohoo.

Yesterday, I didn't work out at all but today decided to see how it goes. I did 20 minutes of taebo, but not high cardio (10 minutes butt/legs and 10 minutes abs). Still feeling good.

Ran errands with Trenton today. I felt good until part way through his shoe shopping. Oops. I should have waited longer after "eating lunch" before running around. Came home and took an hour nap and felt better.

Dinner was same-same and I had a cup of grapes while watching TV and waiting up for all the kiddos to get home tonight. Not that I was hungry, but more that I was bored. Lol.

2 days down....3 to go. Almost 1/2 way done. I like how quick this is!!

Cleanse - Day 1

I think I'll blog about this the next few days. When I was deciding if I was going to do it, I searched for other bloggers who had done it and enjoyed reading about their experience.

So...Day one....Let's do this!

Woke up at 1 am starving. I know the hunger is all mental as I generally don't have a midnight or 1am snack. Also I was signing Taylor Swift's "Mean" in my head, but that's not really related or important, just randomness.   Woke at 4am with Shirley Temple's "Animal Crackers in my Soup" song on repeat in my  brain. This relates a little more to this post than the first song but both show that I clearly have issues. Hahaha. Slept terribly, but woke at 8:07 with my alarm (I know exactly how many minutes we need to get little miss ready for the bus and don't get up a minute too early!)  and was fine, and ready to tiredly start this day.

Took my first Digest and Cleanse pill at 8:30 with a Yeti full of water and got ready for the day. Had my first shake at 9:15 and the first taste was a wave of "oh yeah....the cleanse." haha. The flavor isn't bad, but isn't a chocolate milkshake from Braums or anything. I'm super dooper picky and the taste doesn't bother me. Last time I did it, I added in a drop or two of citrus oil to mix it up after the first day because I get bored. Washed it down with 2 oz NingXia and went on my way.

I had a ton of errands to run today and Paige and I didn't get home until about 1. I took the pill then and by 1:30, I was ready for my Balance Complete! Maybe that's the trick...make sure you are really hungry. ha I'm allergic to almonds so use rice milk in mine. Sometimes I mixed it 1/2 rice milk and 1/2 water when I accidentally bought the vanilla rice milk. The Balance Complete is sweet enough without adding sweet milk. With the unsweetened, it's really good. And NingXia is something I drink everyday normally and love so it's a treat to get to drink it all day instead of just once a day like I normally do. :)


OK - my tummy has been pretty noisy this afternoon/evening but no...ahem....trouble and I feel fine. I had my last pill, drink, and NR for the day about 6:30 and am feeling good. I picked up a few legal snack things today in case I need them but I'm not going to jump into it just because I can.

I upgraded from drinking it straight from the Blender Bottle and poured it into a glass for dinner. Fancy. Trying to shake things up a bit to keep from being bored. ha

Thoughts from the day...While I feel fine and am not starving or anything, I'm kinda already over this. One thing I notice is how often during the day I normally snack. Just grabbing a chip or few chocolate chips (yum!!) as I walk through the kitchen. Every. Time.

I don't drink pop/coffee/tea. I don't eat big meals. But I do snack all freaking day long. When I'm bored, I snack. When I'm happy, I snack. When I'm not happy, I snack. haha. It's really not a big snack either...just a bite of something here or there and here and there and here again. Man, I like snacks. So for now, I'm back chomping ice and going to push through. Hopefully this will break the snacking habit again for a while.

One day down....Four to go.

I thought I'd never do a cleanse...

And here I am about to start one again. I did the Young Living 5 Day Nutritive Cleanse back in September and survived....and didn't even have to spend the 5 days in the bathroom, which was always my excuse to not cleanse - that's one train I didn't want to start, for fear it would never stop! My family tends towards digestive issues and I was scared if I forced things, it would start something in motion that I couldn't reverse. Yikes! (tmi?)

I was pleasantly surprised when I had no tummy trouble at all during this 5 days. It's totally gentle. I was able to go about my normal life and wasn't stuck at home. Ain't nobody got time for that! I felt great actually. I wasn't tired. I don't think I was more cranky that any normal day - ha - might need to check with the hubby and kids to verify that one though. I really wasn't even hungry. I think I did the optional snacks maybe 3 times in the 5 days. It says you can do it between each meal if needed but I was so full from the protein drink that I never needed it.

My only complaint was that I missed chewing my meals...thankfully I was pretty anemic for the last few years and ate ice like it was a paid job (like I literally bought a 20 pound bag of my favorite ice and singlehandedly finished it every 4-5 days. I never left the house without ice. I would take a cup of it in the shower even. I was an addict. It wasn't pretty.), so I was able to crunch away whenever I wanted to. Currently, I have my body back full of iron and can't understand how I ate so much ice the last two years. Man, I was a weirdo! I don't eat it at all now. I might have to try this week though to get my chewing fix.

Also, I normally take MultiGreens every day and I need to reread, but I'm not sure I can take it this week. It's in my pic, but I might have to skip it, which I do think gives me more energy normally. But I can have NingXia Nitro, which I like too, for a energy boost.

Why am I cleansing, you ask?

Well, let me just tell you.

The good/PC answer is: I want to sort of reset my body. This cleanse gives your body a break from foods to allow your digestive system to clear out all the toxins that get stored up from our everyday life. What we eat, breath, wear, etc can fill us up with toxins. This clears those out and resets things to start back working normally.

The truth is: We are celebrating our 20th anniversary in May and going on a cruise. I want to jump start the weight loss that I keep meaning to do before I have to (get to) swimsuit up. Last time, I lost 5 pounds and haven't put that back on. I'm hopeful that I'll lost another 5 and can keep adding on with better diet and exercise and get to where I want to be before our trip and before summer.

I'd love to lost 10-15 pounds in the next 100 days and be back at my fighting weight, as they say. I know I'd feel better and have more energy and it would be nice to be able to fit in the clothes that are filling 1/2 my closet that I refuse to get rid of just yet. #denial I think I can do it if I stay focused. Paige and I had been doing Tae-Bo (yes...from like 1990, but I love it!) but slacked off the last few weeks. I started that back tonight and will keep that up. Caleb is teaching me some weight lifting things to help tone this old body. He was saying the other day that he has put on 9 pounds since joining the gym for Christmas...not exactly a selling point to most, but he's pumped. He's a machine. I made him promise that he's going to help me go the other way. If I gain 9 pound this month, I'm going to be ticked! He's great at researching and loves working out and weight training and I love him, so enjoying that he's helping me.

#45

This has been a busy week and I've already slacked on blogging (it's harder when Big Daddy is home and he's been off all week...I'll do better.). But one thing I didn't want to skip over, so we have it in our memories later.

Our new President was sworn in yesterday. #45 There has been an insane amount of drama surrounding this day and the days (months) leading up to it, but all that aside...our nation has a new President and that's a pretty big event.

I'm not sure why, but we haven't ever sat down as a family and watched the inaugural day events in the past. Maybe it was the day of the week (Fridays are lighter school days for us) or that Caleb and Big Daddy were both home, or that we were just really curious how it would all go down this year, but whatever the reason, we all plopped down on the bed and watched.

And talked.

And learned - thank you, Siri, for helping me answer many of the questions that I didn't know, including the age difference between between the POTUS and FLOTUS, which was asked - ha. Also, did you see how the White House staff busts their tails during the inauguration to move one family out and one family in in a matter of hours? I'd like them to come help us if we ever move!

We talked about nation's history and our nation's future. It was good, even if the first time Trenton was impressed was when the Obamas boarded the sweet helicopter - that got his attention and he wants to fly that one day! (not fly IN that...he wants to pilot it!)

We pray that President Trump will lead our nation on a good path, surrounding himself with wise and Godly people.

Regardless of your opinion on President Trump as a human, please pray for OUR President. He's what we have now and being cranky pants over it won't change that, so let's pray that he impresses us all and truly does makes America great. As Americans, that happens to benefit us greatly and we can use this to bless others. ;)

Ice, Ice Baby

Thankfully our ice storm wasn't as bad as they predicted it would be, and just left us with a pretty view this morning.

Paige went out barefooted and came back in saying it felt like walking on Legos. ha.

Few words Wednesday

That's more like it.

We have a prayer "tree" in our living room that we put an ornament on for each of our foster kiddos (also one for each of us and Rwanda). Our newest ornament came in this week. YAY!! I love it. It was hard to find something to represent Little Miss but when I saw this, it fit. :o)

It's a visual reminder of us to pray for each other and for those little ones that have come in and stayed with us for a time.

Happy Wednesday!

#Tuesday

Those that know me on a real-life daily basis know my feelings about Tuesdays. It has its own hashtag around here even. Like whatever happens can normally be explained with #tuesday and sometimes a bonus poop emoji for good measure. 😉 Some people don't like Mondays. I like them just fine...but I often feel like Tuesday could possibly be the death of me most weeks. It's the day we have to run around to activities and are down to two pieces of bread and some eggs to share between everyone because I'll basically starve before going to the grocery store on a weekend and Monday is spent on school. We also tend to deal with cranky kids (maybe they are hungry - ha) which leads to a cranky momma on Tuesdays because we are trying to balance school and home and appointments and anxiety and all that jazz.

Today is definitely a #tuesday.

 - Hubby is on his way home FINALLY after working in Florida since the beginning of October. We are excited. He's excited and sick of driving already after a full day yesterday to get him to Alabama. About an hour into his drive today he gets a flat, which leads to a 2 hour setback on time, partly because the first stop to buy a new tire after getting his tire changed didn't take credit cards. really. Hello, Fulton,  Mississippi...let's get with the times! #tuesday

-T and P have guitar and choir this morning so I get to sit in the car for an hour and wait when I could be doing a million other things. #tuesday

-I got to see my favorite dentist today, who I genuinely love to hang out with, except twice a year for cleanings. ha. She's great....dental work isn't my fave. #tuesday

-Woke up to the dishes (that I have rerun several times assuming we forgot to put soap in there or something since they are coming out wet but dirty) being still dirty. Looks like we need a new dishwasher...and get to hand wash three days worth of dishes. #tuesday

But as hubby and I were talking today, he brought up first world problems. All of these things are totally first world problems. Nothing else. I need to change my hashtag and stop whining and count my blessings. Thanks for the reminder, hon! Now get home....we miss you!!!

update on fostering...

Another thing that has changed but stayed the same for our family since I last blogged is foster care. We felt called about 4 years ago to begin taking foster kiddos into our home and it continues to bless our family as we provide a safe, loving home for different children. We have fostered 6 different kids so far and currently have a wonderful little girl living with us as she waits for her forever home.We have also been able to help others and do respite care for quite a few little ones for a few days up to a week.

It's not always easy and dealing with "the system" couldn't BE anymore frustrating, but we have to remind ourselves that we don't do this for DHS or even for the parents, we do it for the kids. It's totally not their fault that they drew the short straw on parents. I get so fed up with these parents that only think of themselves. We visited with our kiddo's attorney this week and he said it best as he was talking to our little one, "I don't want to sound rude, but I really don't care what you mom wants. She's a grown up and has had years to make her choices. I care what YOU want." This is exactly how we feel. It's not fair that our little one has been here over a year waiting for her mom to get her act together. It's too long for a child (or anyone) to live in limbo. We have some big decisions being made in her case this month and appreciate all the prayers you can spare. She's an awesome kid, who deserves way better than to live in foster care, even if we are a pretty fun place to live - ha. We are temporary and she knows it. She was asking me one night if we could adopt her and then said, "Oh wait, you all just foster." (Insert my heartbreaking in a million pieces!) Yes, baby, we just foster. :(

The kids made our family picture this week and nailed it.

I was looking back on here to see when we actually started "just fostering" and saw this post about our little Buzz. Funny that I said I had just met his grandparents and already liked them. Today, almost 3 years later, I just got off the phone with Memaw, who has now become family. I don't like them...I love them!! We got to see another little one for Christmas and I talk to her mom several times a week still. I love it!! Our very first foster daughter was only with us for 10 days but her grandma still texts me a few times a year with updates. I'm so thankful!

Fostering has definitely grown our family, and not just through the kid's and their families. It's also grown through the foster community. We have several friends that foster that we have grown closer to over these years. It's nice to be able to talk to people in the same situations as us who get it. We also have wonderful friends that don't foster but love the heck out of our fosters with us. This isn't an easy road to be on so it's nice to have friends on it with us.

TGIF...and thank goodness for YouTube!

Caleb got up at 4am today to go to work but his car wouldn't start. I told him to take my car and I'd check it out later...and tried to go back to sleep. Then he called and said no one was at work (they were supposed to be doing inventory today so all coming in at 4:30...he doesn't normally work that early) so he came home and set his alarm for 5:30, which he slept through until after 9. oops.

So back to the car. It has been stuttering when it started for a while so we assumed it needed a new battery. Big Daddy is traveling so I looked up a youtube video and Caleb and I set out to take the battery out and go get a new one. It only took the video guy 3 minutes...how hard could this be?

Took a little longer than 3 minutes (ha) but we did it. Woot. Feeling pretty proud of ourselves and very thankful for youtube! He's back in business and headed into town to the dealer to get the code to make his radio work again. I think he's more annoyed with that than with the battery being dead. lol

When we brought the battery in to be tested and to get a new one, it had fallen over and was upside down in the bag so the fluid was dripping out. The guy explained why batteries have to stay right side up and Caleb says, "So if I roll my car, I'll need a new battery." ummm yep. You will. The guy said to try to sell it and just say it has good tires, but will need a new battery....and frame. lol ;o)

It really wouldn't have been bad if it wasn't 19* out. Brrrr... but thankful for the fire to warm up next to and NingXia Zyng to pep me back up when we finished.  :)

Have a good weekend, everyone.

Can I be real?

Or maybe that should say, "Can I be real and you still like me?" or "Can I be real and you not judge me...out loud?"

I hope you answered yes, 'cause here goes.

I'm lazy. I look for ways to cut corners that aren't life changing. Such as.... buying only clothes that can be "ironed" by being rerun through the dryer with a damp washcloth. Or cleaning the shower while I'm in the shower. No need to come back later and clean it.

I also have narrowed down the clothes that actually need to be folded and take total advantage of the ones that don't. I don't fold socks, undies, or pajamas. Why would you? It kinda goes along with making your bed everyday. Why? But anyway, I decided yesterday to dump out my mess of a sock drawer and match and fold my socks. I love winter because it truly doesn't matter if your socks match bc they are hidden in boots or under jeans. It's a little trickier in the summer but I discovered slip-on Converse this year and between those and flipflops, I didn't wear socks all summer. Score!!

So as I'm folding my socks yesterday, Paige comes in and asks what I'm doing. I told her and she acted like I told her I had discovered the a new planet or something. "Oh wow!! So you can just reach in and grab a set." 😬 She's almost 12 and I've never mentioned that normal people match their socks in the drawer. I've failed as a parent. This is like the time Caleb came home from a friend's house and told us "Did you know you can eat INSIDE Arby's?" He was in 1st grade. I had apparently never taken my kids inside a fast food place. I preferred to drive through and eat at home...where it's clean. Ha.




So now the cat is out of the bag that socks can, indeed, have a cozy match tucked inside of it. I hope she doesn't start expecting me to do it. This is likely a one time gig here. 'Cause...lazy.

"Wordless" Wednesday.

Those that know me know that I don't do well with rules. This is one reason I'm a terrible cook...those recipe books are so bossy.

Wordless Wednesday, like a cookbook (wrote "recipe book" above and it didn't hit me until now that those actually have a name...hahaha!!), seems so bossy to me too. Like, why can't I use a few words? What will it hurt? It's my blog and I'll use words on Wordless Wednesday if I wanna use words on Wordless Wednesday.

So here's my first "Wordless Wednesday" post of 2017...with words.

Little Miss came home yesterday from visiting family for Christmas break. So we spent last night getting her ready to start school back up today. I'm still completely terrible at this, but she thinks I'm pretty darn good and I'm definitely better than I was a year ago (which isn't saying much!). Love this kiddo!! I should have taken a finished pic. It actually turned out pretty cute when I tied these braids up into pigs.

Going unplugged.....ok, or not.

Do you ever get so sick of everyone being completely tuned in to their electronic device and ignoring the world around them that you want to throw them all out the window and unplug everything (throw the devices, not the people out the window...just to be clear)?


Well, if I'm being honest, I want my kids to throw theirs out but let me keep mine and not give me that judgmental look when I just glance at Facebook or chat with my sisters for 30 minutes after I just threw a small fit that they are online too much. Ha. Total double standard in my dream home's electronic usage, I know. I'm not proud.





So here we are...new year, new plan. I decided that we can't exactly give it all up in this day and age and join an Amish community. I would be 97.5% suckier as a homeschool mom if I didn't have all the information in the world in my pocket at all times. And how would I immediately know if Baja Jacks has any artificial colors in their food if I hadn't instantly been notified that they replied to my message? This is important, right? I deserve to know these things...instantly, right? Ugh - total addict!





Last summer, we purchased a Circle with Disney device (#notasponsor ... or an affiliate link, but only bc I don't know how to do that or I'd totally affiliate ya up - ha.) and I love it. It gives us total control over the wifi in the house. We have assigned each of our devices to their owner and allowed different levels of access, times of access, and duration of access...all controlled by a handy dandy app on my phone. If a kid's friend comes over and logs into our wifi, I get a notification (on my phone and watch..see, I need it!!) and can set their parameters too. We can pause the wifi on one person's account or on the whole house with the touch of a button (useful when we've said to do something and they didn't listen bc they were in the middle of a Netflix binge of Cake Boss or something equally as educational).

The Circle is fantastic...but doesn't control non-wifi electronic use.  I've found that if I cut someone's wifi, they just move to a different avenue to get their electronics "fix" and it's making me nuts. I guess an app that cuts the electricity to one person only hasn't been invented yet. I'll get thinking on that!

So, I've typed up this bad boy that we started on the 1st and we will see how it goes. Basically, they have to earn their wifi each day by completing the things on the list BEFORE I'll unpause their wifi or let them use any electronics. I had to specify "except for school" so they didn't use this as an excuse to not do math or type a paper bc those use the computer. ha. I try to stay a step ahead, although more often than not, I probably just think I'm a step ahead.

We will see how this goes. It's just for T and P right now as C seems to get his stuff done and, quite frankly, is 17 and needs to learn how to manage his own time and all because momma won't be there policing him for much longer. He is on the Circle and limits are placed on his wifi content though. I'd rather he learn to fly here, than crash when he leaves because he didn't get to learn about time management through trial and error in a safe environment where the stakes aren't really that high...yet. 

Worth a shot. As for me? I'm just making more of an effort to leave my phone back in the bedroom or my purse more and not carry it around with me. I've temporarily missed calls and texts but you know what? We all survived and it would totally be ok for me to have not seen Moriah's spectacular  NYE performance until a little later than everyone else.  It will still a train wreck wrapped in a hot mess as it's replayed for years to come. Bless her. It's ok to not reply as soon as a text comes in. Life will go on. I never answer the phone anyway so that won't change...haha.

Here's to hoping this helps us all be more productive and more social in person and not just social online in 2017!