Thankful Heart - Day 4

You are going to learn something about me today, to some of you I'm sure it will shock you and will get
a head shake. Others will go "wow! How does she do it" My confession is: I have a house cleaner. There I said it and it is out in the open. It was a fight worth fighting between Farmboy and myself. When we moved to our house in 2009, I simply stated that it was time to get a cleaner and he bawked at the idea and of course simply said "Why can't you do it?" to which I replied " I don't want to spend my Saturdays cleaning house, and I work full time and can pay for them myself and basically I don't want to and  you can't make me" and then stuck my tongue out at him. That always seals the deal that I'm about to win (not really but sometimes you have to use to drastic matters). 2009 was also the year I convinced him we needed a inside dog. (that was a WHOLE different fight and no tongue sticking out was going to win that one for me. It was more of a wearing him down  until he said "I don't care" to which I took it as a yes and we now have Roscoe aka Fluff Fluff.) He might have known what he was saying with that one (but I will never admit it to him) ANYWAY back to my Thankful Heart.

So today I am thankful that it is house cleaning day. I look forward to coming home all day to walk into my house and it be cleaner than when I left it. It's like they are some kind of fairies to clean the mess all up and disappear. It's magic! It's also the little things that they do, like wash my front door and sweep away the leaves from the front door and wash my sheets and remake my bed and give Roscoe treats and never get mad when I accidentally lock them out (time after time). So today. Thank you cleaners.

I can enjoy my house for about 10 minutes until it is destroyed again.

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Thankful Heart - Day 3

This day is filled with lots of little 'thanks'. 

* I'm thankful for a Sunday where we didn't have much planned. After the last several Sundays of plans and running it was refreshing to have a day off. 

* I'm thankful for daylight savings time. On a morning where I got in really late the night before it was nice to have a extra hour to sleep in. 

* I'm thankful for the sun that shone today. 

* I'm thankful for the opportunity that arose at church today. I went to volunteer for something and was told they had already considered me for it. That rocks!

* I'm thankful for the person that congratulated me on Optimist of the Year. I have worked hard for the past year as President of Optimst and was voted as Optimist of the year and it felt wonderful to be recognized. 

* I am thankful for Lil Hoff that when he is dropped off at the nursery he runs off to play with a toy and just says bye. 

* I am thankful for the colors God has painted our world with this fall. They are amazing!!

* I am thankful for the mom that watches me with Lil Hoff at the restaurant after church and gives me that smile that says 'I Know' and then tells me he is a cutie. 

* I am thankful for Sunday afternoon naps. (Sooooooooooook thankful)

* I am thankful for Farmboy who takes Lil Hoff every Sunday afternoon so that I can attend a prayer time with other moms. 

* I am thankful for Farmboy for when he saw Lil Hoff in a vest he said he was going to wear his vest too. 

* I am thankful for this picture 

* I am also thankful for my Father in law and Mother in law that planted this maple that Farmboy and Lil Hoff are standing in front of. It so happens this is the second tree as the first one didn't make it through the winter last year. They planted a tree in honor of Lil Hoff being born. 

So overall on this wonderful fall day I am thankful and blessed!

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Thankful Heart - Day 2

As I am writing this post it is with such a joyful heart. My mom celebrated her 61st birthday yesterday and while she is such a incredible person and a inspiration of what a Godly woman, wife, and mother and that alone should make my heart joyful it is because I got to be part of her celebration. All of the women in our family got together and went to Springfield to eat out and go see "White Christmas". Both were fabulous!! 

What makes my heart so happy is that although it has been forever since all of us girls got together it's like no time has passed at all. There was so much laughter and smiles and chatter that it makes me feel so blessed to be part of this family. 

So today I am thankful for the women of my family. Each one of us brings a certain dynamic to the family and although we can be loud and intrusive and overbearing, I wouldn't want it any other way. 

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Thankful Heart - Day 1

I tried this last year and I lost momentium after about day 15. But it's a new year and slowly day by day I feel like I'm getting my life back to semi normal a feeling I haven't had since I had Olan. Also I am trying as hard as I can to realize that I don't have to be perfect. I don't have to have the perfect blog look or the perfect pictures or even the perfect blog itself what I feel like I am hearing from the people that read this is that they just like to see what is going on in my life. And as hard as it is to let go and not be the perfect image I have set up for myself I am really trying and everyday it is a struggle and I have to say to myself that the limits I have placed are unreachable so let it go. 

So here we go. Day one of being thankful. I am thankful for Pinterest. I have to limit myself in there or I waste too much time but I heart Pinterest. On one hand though it sometimes makes me feel inadequate as a mother, as a wife, as a Christian, heck even sometimes as a woman. You see all these amazing people that do 1001 things in a day AND blog about it and most days I feel accomplished if I have fed my family supper. But the reason I am thankful for it today is that it gave me this idea to do with Lil Hoff.

 I saw this and thought it was too cute to pass up and what a neat mometo to keep doing every year. Although from what I have figured out already ideas like this are always better in theory than in reality as I got Lil Hoff's hand painted for the first time and he said 'done' and 'mess'. He doesn't mix words. I usually know what he is thinking and what he means. So after begging and pleading we got through all the hands and the foot. (With a wipe in hand after each print so I could get him clean.) After we were done he skipped away merrierily with fruit snacks and I looked at my masterpiece with a smile and a full heart. 

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Message from Lil Hoff

Sorry everyone that my mom hasn't blogged lately....she has been super busy with stuff (and playing with me!)

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Feeling Fallish

Maybe it the shock of getting rid of so many clothes while cleaning out my closet, or the cooler mornings we have had, or that I seen this on Pinterest and my mouth started watering but I just had to make these delightful snacks.

Chocolate - Check!
Salt - Check!
Candy Corn - Check!

Sweet, salty, goodness! and oh so easy!!

First gather your ingredients. Be sure to get all of them.

Check, check, and check!

Heat your oven to 350 degrees

Line your pan with parchment paper and then lay out all the tiny pretzels. A normal bag of Hershey Kisses have about 55 kisses in it, give or take, so you can plan on laying out as many pretzels.

*Side note - I had enough pretzels and candy corn that I ended up getting another bag of kisses and made two batches. I'm a glutton for punishment but I promise you they are that good!!!

Then starts the painfully annoying job of unwrapping the kisses and placing them on the pretzels. This by far was my least favorite part.

Once you get them all "kissed", place your pan in your oven and bake for 3 minutes or just until your chocolate starts to get warm.

In my three minutes while I waited, I placed my candy corn in a dish for easy accessibility, feed Lil Hoff 3 pretzels, caught zero pretzels in my mouth that Farmboy threw at me, and had to play referee between Fluff and Lil Hoff on who got the pretzels that fell on the floor. But hey, in your three minutes you feel free to do whatever you feel like.

When that time dings you be ready with your candy corn to start placing on top of your ever so soft and melted kisses.

And then the finished product.

**Correction - Waiting for these to cool was my LEAST favorite part.

I have gave some to my hair dresser and to Lil Hoff's babysitter. Partly because I want to be nice, but partly because if I don't give them out I will eat all of them. Please make soon and enjoy!

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Addict Right Here!

I am about to admit something (and very shamefully) I.am.a.clothes.addict. I can't help it. First of all I love to shop. Secondly I have always worked for my money to be able to spend. Thirdly we waited so long to have a child that I never had a problem spending all the extra money we had on me. I know very selfish.....

So that is why right here in front of everyone I am admitting that I hoard clothes. I'm afraid to miss out on a style and I am also afraid, are you ready?? To wear the same outfit twice. Gasp!! The horror.

So I have made my mind up that I need help. I spent Wednesday cleaning out my closet in the hope to have more room and so that I can fully grasp how awful it is getting. I am showing my disgrace off to everyone so that next time you see me you can shamefully tell me how awful I am to have all these clothes to be worn once (some not even that much) while there are people less fortunate. But, please be kind about it.

Are you ready to enter my closet???

This isn't even a very good picture for you to grasp how full and out of control it is. If you can imagine there are two racks top and bottom all the around this closet and I fully control 80% of it all. (I guess that is one thing I can be thankful for that Farmboy farms, he pulls his clothes out, sniffs them and puts them on to wear another day so he needs very minimal closet space) Do you see in the top corner all the shoe boxes? Yea, it's like that all the way around too and this is approximately just half the closet space. Just to put it in prospective, I have given many, many, tours of my home including my closet and people literally gasp when they walk into my closet by how big it is. Maybe that should be my fourth point. I have a big closet, therefore I must fill it.

Let the cleaning begin.

Summer clothes first, I had no mercy. No keeping clothes because ONE day I might fit into it better than today, no that style will look better on me tomorrow than today, No just keeping it because I like the shirt even though I have never worn it. ALL must go....

I had two containers full of just summer! Oh the madness....

But on the bright side, it should be a LONG time before I have to purchase hangers again. Look at me with my optimistic attitude.

Here is where the madness doesn't stop.

Who had TEN crinkle tank tops? TEN! What am I buying stock in crinkle tank tops?? 

and all those white tank tops?? Geez, just lock me up and throw away the key, I will live the rest of my life cuddling with my tank weeping softly.

Hello Fluff, Fluff?? Are you paying attention to me?? Or are are you asleep fearfully awaiting to be hit by a hanger or stray shirt.

Back to addictions, not only is it clothes, but also shoes. Oh My Word! How do I love thee shoes??
I love shoes with heels,
I love shoes with color,
I love shoes that are impractical (which most of mine are),
I love shoes that I have never worn but were too cute to pass up,
I love shoes that make me buy a outfit just to match those shoes,
I love shoes that make me taller,
I love shoes that make a statement,
I just love shoes, but sadly all these shoes bid goodbye to my closet.
Take them! I will not cry, I.will.not.cry

The final product. Sadly the box with the fall clothes that I got rid of are not pictured. It was a heavy box and as soon as I got it hoisted up, it went to the back of my vehicle to be taken to a consignment shop. The other two boxes full of summer will be taken in the spring and the box of shoes hopefully will find all the love and attention they deserve on the feet of someone else.

So what have I learned through this process??
1. I have learned that I buy a particular style of shirt in multiple colors.
2. I am a impulse shopper.
3. I buy the same exact outfit that is on mannequins because it is cute and it has to go together with those exact pants AND shoes.
4. GAP needs to get bigger mannequins
5. Velour makes me instantly break out into a choking sweat. Not that I have ever wore velour, but the thought does.
6. I really don't need 4 different shades of Khaki capris. Surely one color would be good enough
7. I can't hold onto something just because it has a sentimental value. i.e. a skirt I wore on our honeymoon and had a picture of Farmboy and I taken with me wearing it which is STILL one of my favorite pictures. OR the dress I wore to my college graduation. Both very happy memories but I don't need the clothes to remember them.
8. I can wear the same outfit twice. (I'm working on this one)

What I am working on....
1. I still have some shoes I still might not wear in the next year
2. which means I still have a insanely amount of shoes
3. and jeans
4. and white tank tops
5. Getting rid of enough clothes to allow Farmboy a shelf to store some of excess work clothes.

The first step any in addiction is admitting you have a problem right??

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