So much for my chores....

Up to date the chores list that I made has been really good for me. I love checking things off so much, no matter if they are something fun (changing my Scentsy) to something gross (cleaning the toilet). I have enjoyed keeping the house clean and feel a little proud of myself :)
Well, things have changed a little, that hour in the morning that I have been cleaning, has now been turned in to an hour of packing! We finally got a closing date, and we have to be out by April 23! They only gave us 21 days notice, and now we are down to 17 days! This is exciting, and a little scary, as we don't have anywhere to live. Not a big deal right? Not for us, we just seem to go with the flow!
The house we would like to move in to is occupied, so until the tenants accept their notice and move out, we are homeless....
Thank God (please do, I do everyday!) that we have an amazing family. We are going to crash in my sisters spare bedroom until the decision is made as to where we can live. Wasn't exactly the ideal outcome, but for now it works well. I'm so excited my sister lives over here now anyways, and I know it will be a like a big slumber party for a few weeks to a few months (I'm hoping for the earlier!).
With the reality that we are out of the tiny spaces, and moving in to a larger house, the dreaming continues. I have fully envisioned my room, but have so much work on the rest of the rooms.
I have so many projects that I have been collecting that I need to start mastering. Paint nightstands, dresser, mirrors, windows. Figure out how to hang windows as a headboard. Find a dining room table, living room chairs, and finish the pool table.
But for now we are living out of boxes. We started packing, our goal is pack for at least an hour every day. Living room, dining room, Dennis' closet, and half the kitchen are done. There are somethings I can't pack, like my Scentsy and my crafts, I have parties scheduled, and making crafts for a wedding, gifts, and a baby shower.

This is how I feel, we had to move boxes just to watch TV last night. The boxes are over the top of my head and we are not even half way done! I forgot how much I hate moving, but I know the worse is only to come, the unpacking, oh how I dread that!

On other news, today is Good Friday, or also known as Holy Friday, today commemorates the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. Today is a day to reflect on the sacrifice that was made for our sins. Today is a day to think back to where you were before you had Christ in your life. How Christ has saved you. I know I have shared my story in the past, and I will be spending today thinking about Jesus' sacrifice and what that means to me.
Today is a sad day, but also a good day, with out Jesus' death, He would be unable to rise again and save us.

Isaiah 53:5

"But he was pierced for our transgressions,
he was crushed for our iniquities;
the punishment that brought us peace was on him,
and by his wounds we are healed. "

   "God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son."
- John 3:16

101 - 120 & My Princess' Birthday

This past weekend was my first time baby-sitting. Now I have "baby"-sat when I was a kid,  in fact that was my first job. But this was my first time with an actual baby! Dennis and I went over to Hollie and Marty's and we got to watch my little prince all by ourselves! Dennis' allergies are really really bad, so we just watched TV and ordered pizza. We had a good time, Deklin is such a good baby, he hardly fusses and when he does it is for a good reason, hungry or gassy. Both happen quite often :)
I snapped a couple pictures of him when I could, if only I had a third hand I would have gotten more while he was sleeping in my arms! The best feeling in the world by the way :)

Today is also my little Princess Gizmo's birthday. Since my pets are my babies, and hopefully I always treat them that way, I also give each one a little birthday celebration. The cats are easy, they never want anything more then a little pat on the head. But Gizmo loves tuna fish, if you were to open a can she comes running and cries! For her big 8th birthday, she got a can of tuna! Well 1/4 of a can this morning and maybe some more tonight.

So that her little brother Burton didn't get it, she got to eat it on the counter!

Yup she loves it that much! I tried and tried to get a good one of her liking her lips but she kept following the light from the camera!

Okay on to my thankfuls! These are the moments in a regular day that I am thankful to be alive and witness something. Sometimes I'm touched, I'm moved, and sometimes it just makes me smile.

101. Finding the perfect item to finish a project.
102. When Dennis tucks me in after kissing me goodbye in the morning.
103. Watching my dad smile.
104. My crazy loud family
105. Reading someone else's story and feeling moved.
106. My dad and husband hugging.
107. Laughing til you cry
108. Watching father and daughter get baptized together.
109. Watching the movement of strings as a harp is being played
110. Knowing that your lost loved one is on a walk with Jesus.
111. Hearing someone say they just accepted Jesus.
112. Watching a widow clutch her bible and cry for the loss of her husband of 59 years.
113. Crunch of snow under your feet.
114. Watching Dennis and Burton cuddle.
115. Roar of thunder
116. Beautiful sunrise on a snowy morning
117. Legwarmers and buttons
118. Watching Deklin sleep in my arms
119. When a friend calls
120. Organizing

Chores

I love checklists, I make them quite often, love checking them off, they keep me focused and on schedule.
At work I have many check lists, even for my daily items, the excitement is a little unexplainable and slightly disturbing when I check something off, I have a feeling of accomplishment!
Since we are 7 months in to trying to move, we slowly gave up caring about our house, which in turn makes us hate it even more. I can't live like that, it drives me crazy, but with no motivation to actually do anything makes home not feel so "homey". So what motivates me? Since we rarely get any visitors that isn't it, but getting the wave of feeling accomplished? Oh that that motivates me! At our last Growth Group our discussion led to Pinterest and how we can use it in a good way. Someone suggested a daily cleaning list they found. I was instantly intrigued. In fact I went home that night and found what she was talking about.
Here is the blog for her Housekeeping Daily Chore List. This is a great list, but doesn't really fit our house.. plus its just for one person, I like to share my chores. Maybe if you are stay at home mom the single chore list responsibilities will be on your shoulders. Dennis and I are both working full time and love to serve each other in the house. Dennis is fantastic at helping out around the house, but he needs structure, if he doesn't have a "To Do" list, straight to the couch it is. Otherwise he makes sure to get it all done before I walk in the door.
When I first suggested this list to Dennis he was game, I updated her list to fit us, then we went over it and split up duties, he picked the ones he wanted to do, and I got the left overs :) We are almost a week in to our chores list and I'm loving it! Super duper Type A, I printed them in color, laminated them and got some erasable markers to check off our list!!!
This original list was designed to do about an hour of cleaning each day, only Monday through Friday, so that you can enjoy the weekend! Which I love the idea, as I get up every morning over an hour before I have to go to get ready for work and normally find myself playing on the internet and not doing anything that I should be doing. (Hence why I haven't updated my blog in awhile!)
In the beginning it took us much longer then an hour to clean, but I can see how from now on if we stay on our daily chores it will take us an hour or less every day. I'm so looking forward to this! Plus this will give us the structure that we need for when we get a bigger house and more responsibilities we are able to handle those too!

Here is my chore list, you can see I got all the dusting and organizing :)

I hate vacuuming and cleaning the bathroom, and luckily I have a husband that covers all the things I hate! 

Here is the original list off of Pinterest

Also, here are the blank ones and headers:

 Let me know if you need any help making a list of your own!

The End

Last night, sadly, was the end of the Me, Myself, and Lies Growth Group.From the first day that I walked in, I knew I wouldn't want to see this group end. Through this book, through these wonderful women, and through our glorious God I found hope. At the time I didn't realize I was seeking it, but oh did I find it.
There are so many things that I struggle with that came in to light through this book, I know that doesn't sound good, but it is. Because with out recognizing them, I can't work on them. I have a whole list of homework to continue to work on, to be intentional about.
We know that everything can be comforted in the Word, but do we actually seek those affirmations or answers? Most of the time, I think that answer is no. When I know I'm struggling I do, but what about those day to day times when we are telling ourselves lies about us, and we begin to believe them. I'm not good enough, I'm not skinny enough, I'm not worthy. Those are the times we should seek his Word, in reading and in prayer.

Preserve my soul; for I am holy. Psalm 86:2

I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Psalm 139:14

But by the grace of God I am what I am. 1 Corinthians 15:10

In this book we have learned what is in our thoughts (she calls it our thoughi closet because we end up wearing all of our thoughts), how to recognize truths, how to seek wisdom, guarding our thoughts, keeping God in the center of our thoughts, and how to find hope. Along with the DVD series you have so much room to grow. They both were great, but what I loved the most, was the ladies that I met, the wonderfully real ladies.
Through these ladies, I was able to open up my heart, pour out my soul and feel comforted. We had a mix of lovely ladies, great leaders that opened their home and their thought closets! I could find comfort, something in common, and a friend in many of these ladies. I can not wait to see where God brings everyone of them. I know he has big plans, and I know he is working through them and through me.
I will be intentional, in my devoted time for and with God. I will be intentional in my relationships. I will be intentional in my future. I will be intentional in what I think, and what I say, and I will be intentional in our next steps.

Scentsy Flower Magnets

I'm always looking for new Scentsy marketing ideas, if it s decorating my table for shows, hostess gifts or just something to give away with my name on it. I love making samples, I just need to be better about giving them away! :)
On one of the forums I'm on I found this awesome flower magnet project, after some tweaking, I was able to make one this morning in less then 4 minutes!

I got colorful stemmed flowers and mod podge from JoAnn's, bought a package of magnets at WalMart (heard that some dollar stores have them too), got JUMBO clear gems from Hobby Lobby (with a 40% off coupon). Used my trusty glue gun, and made my own template with my name, phone, website and Scentsy Independent Consultant logo.

Cut our the template, and just paint the writing side with mod podge and stick to the flat side of the gem. (there is something about the smell of Mod Podge in the  morning that brings me right back to my childhood).

I chose to pop the center out of my flower (I had to glue my petals together), I liked the nice clean look.

Glue the gem to the top of the flower

Glue the magnet to the back

Done!!!!



Display it on your fridge, give to your customers, you can put in their package when you deliver, leave them on every ones fridge, I have also heard of consultants putting them on the metal stalls in bathrooms!
Marketing! :)
I had a ton of fun making these and can't wait to give them out!


UPDATE!!!:

Here is the link to the template: Google Docs Template
You can also use a 1 inch crafting paper punch like this:  Martha Stewart Crafts Punch Circle
That will make it much easier! Good luck!

Chunky Minty Green Cookies

Well today is the color of green! (Well technically the color should have been blue, but modern society has associated green with it instead) Happy Saint Patrick's Day!
I love to partake in any holiday, I'm not bias, I just like any reason to celebrate. Our boss' birthday is today so we always have a big celebration for him at work, yesterday we had green cake, wore our flashing shamrocks and had a Limerick Off! We had a contest to write a limerick about the shop and the best one won a gift certificate to Scott's Bar and Grill. Only 2 of us participated, and because our boss wants everyone to win we both got the GC's! Here is my limerick:

There was a young boss name Bruce
He loved to make any excuse,
To be on his boat
He just loved to float
To kick back and dance to footloose

Yup uber cheesy, but totally worth the gift certificate! :)

In honor of his birthday I wanted to make him some green cookies, back to my best friend Pinterest and found a delicious recipe. They called them Mint Chocolate Chip Cookies, but I renamed my batch :)

The recipe called for creme de menthe baking chips, but I couldn't to find those anywhere, went to 2 grocery stores and came up empty handed, so I just decided to buy a 28 count package of Andes Mints. Just chopped them in to chunks and it worked perfectly!

The rest of my simple ingredients, soften the butter, mix all these ingredients and then fold in the chocolate.

Roll those pretty little green babies in to little balls.

Bake them for 8 minutes at 350 degrees, let them cool



And then enjoy!!!!

Chunky Minty Green Cookies

1 pouch of Betty Crocker sugar cookie mix

1/2 cup of butter, softened

1/2 teaspoon of mint extract

8 drops of green food coloring

1 egg

1 cup of creme de menthe baking chips (I just chopped up a package of 28 ct Andes Mints)

1 cup of semisweet chocolate chunks

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In large bowl, stir cookie mix, butter, extract, food coloring and egg until soft dough forms. Stir in creme de menthe baking chips and chocolate chunks.

Drop rounded teaspoon of dough 2 inches apart on ungreased cookie sheet.

Bake 8 to 10 minutes or until set. Cool 3 minutes; remove from cookie sheet to wire rack. Enjoy either warm or completely cooled.

Please down some green beer in my honor, until lent is over, no green beer for me :(

Green Dinner

In an attempt to be more "festive" for the the upcoming St. Patrick's Day, I decided to make something green for dinner. In so many ways this went wrong! But I will tell you my attempt, and mind you, I have made this before and it was delicious!
There is not a lot of green things my husband likes, unless it is green candy. But I on the other hand love green stuff, he is the carnivore, I prefer veggies over a steak. Most meals, either I just eat what he would eat (hence the weight gain) or I have to make separate meals. It is clearly unfair that men (at least my man) can eat almost anything and still look the same.
I decided to make chicken tacos and cilantro rice. Last year at our Uganda Mission Group Reunion we had a Mexican theme and I made this rice and it was a huge hit, very yummy, yet very green. But this time you will read my mistakes.

First I started with two of my favorite green items, cilantro and limes!

Cilantro Rice:
Cook white rice as usual (I use a rice cooker)
 For EACH cup of rice:
2/3 cup cilantro, loosely packed
1/3 cup chopped onion
1/4 cup chopped scallions
1 jalapeno
1 tbsp lime juice
1 tsp olive oil
Puree the above in a blender and to the cooked rice, stir well.

Super easy and very tasty, unfortunately I forgot my recipe before hitting the grocery store. I forgot the onions and scallions, then when I tried to blend up the ingredients, my magic bullet broke, like half way through it threaded and wouldn't grind anymore! So now I have a chunky mixture. Because my kitchen is so small I don't have enough counter space to make everything and use my stove, so I couldn't warm up the corn tortillas in a pan. I was in a different grocery store, not so familiar with it, and I bought green avocados, they are green right? Oh my, not sure if they were not ripe yet or supposed to be like that but they were the consistency of a cucumber, no good!
I still thought that it was yummy, but of course Dennis was not happy. He  just got plain white rice because the green mixture was too chunky (its a texture thing for him!). He didn't like the corn tortillas and he would have rather had his chicken shredded. But he got a warm home cooked meal... it was better then a hot pocket right? :)

Here is our final "green" meal. Since I have plenty of rice left over, I will attempt to do it again!
After dinner I made green mint cookies for my boss (St. Patty's day is his birthday), they were delicious, I redeemed myself! I will get that one up tonight!