Live Life: 2011

Late night anxiety...

Last night I had a moment of anxiety. I thought to myself, "why are you not working?" And I work, just not the typical 40 hours a week. And especially right now, I don't work very much, and neither does Kenny. It's winter and we both work for a landscaping company, so there's not much landscaping in the winter. And if it snows we work. He plows and I help with the calls that come in about how their driveways weren't plowed.

But other than that we don't work much. And it has only been a week and a half. I'm not sure why it struck me the way it did, but I find myself questioning our entire lives.

Will we have enough money?

What if we want to adopt some day? Babies cost money.

What if our car breaks down or the furnace goes out?

Wouldn't it be great if we both worked full time?

Why am I not working full-time?

The crazy thing is is that Kenny and I planned and prepared and wanted to be where we are at. We didn't want to be working crazy schedules. We didn't want the overtime. We just wanted time to be together and time to rest.

What I'm saying is, a few months ago, I was working 40 hours a week and Kenny was working 50+ hours a week and our schedules didn't line up. We'd both get up at 6am for work, and I would get home at 2 or 3 and then have soccer practice from 6-7:30 every night. Kenny usually got home at 6 every night so we would miss each other in the chaos and by the time I got home at 7:45 we only had a precious few hours before we had to go to bed. We were making money, plenty of money for the two of us, but we missed each other and we missed having time to be in community with others. We were being drained. So we decided to make some changes. I gave up two part-time jobs, one of them being on the weekend so we could have every precious moment together. I cut back to 25 hours a week which gave me more time at home. Time to cook dinner for Kenny and make life in our home more restful during the times when we were together. Kenny still worked a lot, but we knew once December came around, things would slow down, and that they did.

Right now I only work part-time. Busy weeks its about 25-30 hours and slow weeks it's down to 12 hours. I have tons of time on my hands. I spend it going on walks with friends, playing cards with my grandma, meeting with teens, crafting, walking my dog, making dinner for Kenny, and numerous other things I had only dreamed that someday I'd have time for.

We have plenty of money in our savings, Dave Ramsey would be proud. We are making enough to get by until Kenny is working full-time again, and we are happier than ever. We have all the free time in the world, and yet we feel guilty and empty at times.

Why is it that the world makes me feel like I need to make money to feel worth? Why do I find it so hard to see the worth in the intangibles? Why is it when you finally reach a place in your life that you've only dreamt of, you want more?

I pray that I will be content in our life, that I will have peace about where we are at right now. That we will be able to enjoy this time together.

Channeling Martha Stewart

Tis the season to make cookies, fa la la la la la la la la. I've been craving sugar cookies, but had no desire to do the roll out kind. Too much work for right now. Once I decided to make sugar cookies, I realized I didn't have a go to recipe for them, so I went to none other than Martha Stewart. If Martha has a recipe, odds are it'll taste good. So I found a recipe for Giant Gooey Sugar Cookies. Below is the recipe along with directions.

Compliments of Ms. Martha Stewart

Ingredients

2 cups all-purpose flour, spooned and leveled
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 1/2 cups sugar, plus more for sprinkling
1 large egg
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/4 cup sour cream

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, salt, and baking soda; set aside.
Using an electric mixer on medium-high, beat butter and sugar until light and fluffy, 2 to 4 minutes. Add egg and vanilla; beat well to combine.
With mixer on low, add half the flour mixture, followed by sour cream, then remaining flour mixture; mix just until smooth. (Dough will be stiff; you may need to finish mixing it by hand with a wooden spoon.)
Drop mounds of dough, each equal to about 3 tablespoons, 3 to 4 inches apart, onto two ungreased baking sheets; sprinkle with sugar. Bake until edges of cookies are just firm and tops are barely beginning to brown, 20 to 25 minutes, rotating sheets once halfway through. Transfer cookies to a rack to cool.

All of my ingredients

The mixing process

GIANT cookies, only 6 per cookie sheet

Voila! Mine looked very similar to Martha's, but I forgot to take a picture of the finished product.

Merry Christmas!!

Who I Love: My Husband

Kenny and I have been together for over 7 years!! We started dating in the fall of 2004 and on our first date we went and saw the movie "Saw", which was a terrible choice in hind sight. After the movie we sat in his jeep and talked for what seemed like forever. (Forever in a good way) The conversation was easy and I felt comfortable. Nothing was forced. It was as though we had been friends our whole life. From there we dated for what seemed like forever, but in reality it was 5 years. Since the early days of our relationship we had made a commitment to purity. It was not easy, especially for Kenny, but knowing that he respected me more than his desire for sex meant the world to me. After waiting 5 years we finally wed on July 24, 2009.

Since being married I have learned a lot about myself and I have learned what it means to be selfless and put Kenny first. It's not always easy, but it is worth it. Kenny is the love of my life. He makes me happier for being with him and I love him more today than yesterday. One thing I love about him is how comfortable and beautiful he makes me feel. He loves me just the way I am and he tells me just that. Not once have I felt insecure in his presence. He frequently tells me I'm beautiful and loved.

I will consider it an honor to grow old with him. He is my husband, the man who I choose to love everyday. The man I choose to honor and respect everyday of my life here on earth. I love you Kenny. Always and Forever.

"Life with you makes perfect sense, you're my best friend"

Olive Oil Bottles - Glass Etching

So it's been a while since I've posted any crafty things, but that doesn't mean I haven't been creating. My latest endeavor has been glass etching and I love it. The project I did was an olive oil bottle.

Things you need are glass, glass etching cream, a paint brush, and stencils (unless you are super confident in your painting skills, I am not)

First step is to tape on your stencils.

Second step is to start painting the etching cream into your stencils. Make sure to apply a thick layer. If not, you'll have to go back and reapply in certain areas. You'll want to follow the instructions on the bottle as to how long you need to leave the cream on.

After the required time, you rinse off all the cream and remove the stencils. This entire project takes under 15 minutes. The only downside is the etching cream is a little pricey. $12.99 at Michaels for that little bottle, but you don't use very much of it and I had a gift card. You can buy the glass bottles with tops already in, or you can use wine bottles and buy the tops from Bed Bath and Beyond or other stores with kitchen stuff.

Voila!!

Quotes Lately

Favorite Quotes Lately

As you simplify your life, the laws of the universe will be simpler; solitude will not be solitude, poverty will not be poverty, nor weakness weakness. ~Henry David Thoreau

Maybe a person's time would be as well spent raising food as raising money to buy food. ~Frank A. Clark

Each day, awakening, are we asked to paint the sky blue? Need we coax the sun to rise or flowers to bloom? Need we teach birds to sing, or children to laugh, or lovers to kiss? No, though we think the world imperfect, it surrounds us each day with its perfections. We are asked only to appreciate them, and to show appreciation by living in peaceful harmony amidst them. The Creator does not ask that we create a perfect world; He asks that we celebrate it. ~Robert Brault

Hans Hofmann – “The ability to simplify means to eliminate the unnecessary so that the necessary may speak.”

What will our children remember when they leave our homes--how busy Mom was or how joyful she made them feel?

Inspiration Lately

The things that have inspired me lately are all things that have to do with using what I have and living simply.

You can click on any of the pictures to take you to the original links.

This Christmas, I have vowed to not buy any wrapping paper and use brown paper bags and decorate them with whatever I have lying around.

These are etched wine bottles. I want to make some votive holders and olive oil bottles and etch the wine bottles to say olive oil.

I love re-doing old things to make them new and who couldn't use a cardigan.

I just like these. For Christmas I would like letter stamps so I can create more fun things.

Enjoy!

Laundry Detergent - Homemade

Here is another great way to save money. Make your own laundry detergent. It is simple and it saves tons of money.

Here is what you need:

2 cups finely grated soap

1 cup borax

1 cup washing soda

Cheese grater

Container to store

Step 1: Grate soap. 1 bar is about 1 cup.

Step 2: Combine all ingredients into a large container and mix thoroughly. You can shake, stir, or whatever method works best for you.

Step 3: Store in container for use later. This recipe fit in 2 old pasta jars.

Use 1 Tablespoon per load

And it is that easy!

Cost Breakdown:

1 box of Baking Soda (6 cups) = $3.99

1 box of Borax (9 cups) = $4.99

1 bar of soap = $0.50

1 Batch = 1 cup Borax + 1 cup Soda + 2 bars of soap

1 Batch = $0.55 + $0.67 + $1.00 = $2.22

You can get about 60 loads per batch which brings the grand total per load to $0.04!

I've been using this for a couple months now and have not noticed any difference in the cleanness of my clothes. Also, it only takes a few minutes to make.

Enjoy saving money!

Ghosting

What is ghosting? Well, please watch this video and it will give you some insight about the art of ghosting. And believe me, it is an art form.

Now that you know what ghosting is, here are some pictures from a retreat I went on with the teens. The pictures are not great because they were ghosting in a dark hall and I wanted to be subtle and not use a flash.

Becka is in the gray and is ghosting the women in the black

Double Ghost

Becka ghosting man in black. She ghosted him for quite some time.

I was pretending to take pictures of the swing dancers, but if you look past them, Travis is tailing a man with a beard.

And there goes Becka. Poor guy had no idea.

Travis stayed in it while Becka bailed.

Ghosting is quite the competitive thing. If we were awarding points, Becka would be the winner. Her dedication and ghost-like qualities put her a step ahead of the rest : )

Birthday Banners

Fall is birthday season in our family, and I thought what better way to spruce up a birthday party than with a fun banner.

Here is some of my inspiration

(you can click on the pictures to see where I found them)

I found all of these on Pinterest and the one on the right sells for $98! They are a bit time consuming to make, but the great news is you can use lots of extra pieces you have and you don't necessarily need to go buy new fabric.

Here is what I used:

1. Piece of cardstock (to use as a pattern)

2. Fabric (Enough for 13 triangles)

3. Scissors

4. Sharpie or other utensil for marking

5. Ruler

6. Sewing machine

Step 1: Make a pattern. If you measure a rectangle and then mark the halfway point on one end of the rectangle, you can mark from the top corner to the middle of the bottom. You can make triangles as big or small as you'd like

Step 2: Trace your pattern onto your fabric and cut out your triangles. I traced and cut four pieces at a time

Step 3: Cut out the letters. I free handed it, but if you want a specific font, you can print off letters and trace them.
Step 4: Once all my letters and triangles were cut out, I arranged them how I wanted them and pinned the letters to the triangles.

Here is Patrick. My pin cushion.

Step 5: Sew the letters on. I sewed around all of the outer edges and did not sew the middle parts. Like the little triangle in the middle of the A.

Step 6: Next you will need a really long piece of fabric or ribbon that you will attach all of the triangles to. I used fabric because I had a giant white bed sheet I need to use up, but ribbon would probably be easiest. I cut a 1" wide piece of fabric and about 6' long. I folded it in half, ironed the seem and sewed the two edges together. Once the edges are sewed together you will need to flip it inside out. The easiest way I've found to do this is to attach a safety pin to one end and feed the safety pin through the fabric until you get to the other side.

Step 7: Pin each triangle to the long band and sew them on. I overlapped them slightly.

There you have it. A birthday banner :) Ours is hanging between our living room and dining room and it makes me smile every time I see it. It's someone's birthday some where.

Reusable Bags made with Oilcloth

Kenny and I are always looking for ways to save money, and one thing we came up with was plastic bags. Kenny takes a cold lunch everyday and always has a plastic bag for a sandwich and another for a snack. So I got to thinking, what if we had reusable bags? This would save money and the environment. I had this thought a while back, but have not been to the fabric store to get any fabric that would be suitable. And then the awesomeness happened. I was in Meijer browsing the clearance section when I spotted what I had been waiting for. And the great thing is, I didn't know I was waiting for them. They were washable place mats that were on super clearance for $0.30 each. I grabbed the only 2 they had and started plotting my reusable bags in my head.

**Rarely do I find anything good in the clearance section. Most things are in the clearance section for a reason, but every once in a while, lightning strikes :)