Things I'm Loving Right Now

**Disclaimer: I am not affiliated with any of these companies nor did they send me these things for free because I am the voice of the Interwebz. This is just stuff I have purchased that like and I'm telling you about it because I'm a nice person and you're super cool because you read this blog. Kthnxbai!!**

It's SUMMER!!

What better time to talk about all the fun things that are making me giddy right now. It's just a plethora of plunder!!

Since my gray hair is coming in like a freight train without brakes, I've had to change up my hair care routine. I mean, Einstein hair is okay, but when you want to look put together, it doesn't send out that message. Gray hair is rude. It just laughs at you. Dares you to try to make it do something. It's like having a teenager on your head. When you need it to do one thing, it does another and laughs at you. Gray hair, you're a jerk.


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My hair is super fine and dry, but also super fickle. I can't use anything extremely oily or I look like I haven't seen a shower in a few months or that I'm possibly going to buff marble floors with my head at any minute. I gots more sheen than Charlie!!

So when I found something that worked without making me look like a wet cat, I was thrilled!!

These two little gems I found at Walmart. I use them after I get out of the shower and behold, glorious, sleek, shiny, and soft hairs. And it smells luscious too, if I do say so myself. **sniiiiiiiiiiiiiiiff**

Yes, this picture is of my hair stuff on the bathroom floor.
Why?
Because I'm professional like that. 

And what is Summer without sandals?! A sad, sweaty, stank foot season, that's what. Ain't nobody got time for that. Living with a house full of dudes, the less stench, the better. From this blog to God's ear! **pulls out Febreeze and Odoban just in case**

I've killed several pairs of sandals this year, including my thoroughly abused, yet loved Born sandals. I had them for close to 10 years and they finally decided to retire. I wanted to cry!! So I had a shoe funeral for them which basically consisted of me telling them I loved them and they made me very happy, but they had to go since the straps were broken and unable to be repaired. Then I tossed them in the trash and had one of the kids take it out before I dug them back out to be unused shoe zombies in my closet. Because that may or may not have happened in the past.

Okay, okay.... so maybe it's happened several times. DON'T JUDGE ME!

So after reading all the sandal recommendations in the Sorta Awesome Hangout FB group, I decided I needed to upgrade to Reef flip flops. I found these at Academy and I'm loving them. Cute and comfy. Two big things in my book.

Then I ran across these at Sam's Club. They were the last pair and needed a home. I'm not one to say no to orphans, so I adopted them. Shoes, you now have a home. I loves yew.

When you have newly adopted orphan sandals, you need some cute nail polish to put on your toes, right? In my world you do. I found these Sinful Colors polishes at Big Lots and Walmart. Some are from the Kandee Johnson line. She's my favorite YouTuber and maybe I want to be her when I grow up.

I'm a sucker for color and being an extremely fair person, I need all the help I can get looking semi-tan. Some of these are matte, but I just throw a top coat on and matte be gone. Matte polish just looks weird to me. I wind up staring at it while I'm walking and run into walls and stuff. In case you didn't know, I am one heck of a smooth operator.

I'm currently wearing the mint one. You'll have to take my word for it because I'm not showing you my hairless Hobbit feet with gnome pinky toes out of courtesy. Yes, I am a good friend. You're welcome.

This next one is my favorite find so far - The Snarky Bar.

I have extremely dry skin, so I pretty much look like a lizard from the waist down. You can see scale-like patterns on my calves most days, even when I use lotion. It's very not sexy and itchy. Totally perfect for a certain awkward someone married close to 20 years trying to woo their husband. I am quite a catch. He is a lucky man. **brushes piles of dead skin away**

I was talking with one of my close friends and mentioned said scaliness and she told me about a bar of soap she had used and how it practically scrubbed all of her dead skin off in the shower. I was like, "WHOA! Sign me UP!!"

Y'ALL!! FOR REAL!!

This is the best body scrub I have used EVER. And I've used loofa gloves, loofas, mesh body puffs, pumice stones (Yes, on my body. Yes, it hurt. No, I didn't care.), store bought body scrubs, homemade body scrubs... pretty much every kind of exfoliant I could find outside of taking a pack of sandpaper in the bathroom with me. Still lizard legged afterward. LAME!!

This thing... is AHHHMAAAZING!! I got the Sweet Breeze one.

It felt like I sandblasted myself in the shower. I'm not kidding, I was having an Herbal Essences moment scrubbing it on my hips. I probably should have been embarrassed, but I was just so amazed that I didn't look like Lady Vastra anymore I didn't care.

It smells fab and it's made in the USA with natural products if that's important to you. You can check out more of their products here. They also have a Passionfruit Coconut Oil I'm going to buy. It smells so good I get all Joey Tribbiani with myself. "How YOU doin'??" RAWR.



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Moving on to lipsticks before this gets too awkward.

It's too late, isn't it?

Crap.

I'm still in the process of figuring out my favorite Summer makeup looks. It's kind of hard to find one since Summer + Texas usually = melt your face off temps. That's not very conducive to wearing makeup. I did find these Burt's Bees lip crayons on Amazon that I'm really enjoying though. These have been my go-to for the last few weeks. I really like the nude color with a neutral lip liner. If I don't wear a slightly colored liner with a nude lip I look like this.

Not my best look.

Although my husband probably would enjoy that look from time to time, preferably when I'm in mid-rant about something he doesn't give a hoot about. We won't talk about how often that really is. This is why I make him pie. He earns that stuff. 

So these are a few of the things I'm loving right now. What cool summer stuff are you loving right now?? 

A Peek at our Spontaneous Kitchen Remodel

So we have lived in this house 11 years now. It definitely doesn't seem like 11 years! It's easy to keep up with because we barely made moving in before boy #3 was born. Like we literally moved in the last of our stuff and 3 days later, I birthed a ginormous baby. That's cutting it pretty darn close!

When we first built this place, my kitchen was ama-zah-zing!!!

Copper and cabinets for daaaayz!! 

Gorgeous cabinets.

Plenty of workspace.

Loads of storage.

Beautiful copper countertops. 

It was seriously a showplace.

And I LOVED IT.

Until I realized copper countertops are like having an infant in your kitchen. 

You have to baby them. There is no "I'll just wipe this down with soapy water and be done."

Nope. You have to keep them dry or they oxidize and stain your clothes. Not to mention how copper is like a giant mood ring and almost everything will leave some sort of spot on it. 

I am not neat in the kitchen. Real life happens. Flour showers happen.

I need a way to clean up easily. 

So for 11 years, my countertop cleaning routine was scrub off anything stuck to the counters (use a razor blade if need be), dry them with a towel, and then spray with glass cleaner and wipe down. It never felt like it looked clean to me. I was always worried it looked gross when I had guests. I daydreamed for a long time about updating the countertops. I mean, I married a guy who sets amazing tile. He can make amazing things. He is extremely talented in multiple trades AND has supreme taste in women. (HELLO. He married me after all.) But I didn't want to trouble ... harass him about it because Super Hubby needs some downtime.

Imagine my surprise when he announced a couple of weekends ago,

"Hey, we're going to re-do your kitchen this weekend."

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Part of me wanted to laugh it off, but the desperate housewife part of me was all over that idea like stink on a skunk. I was so tired of it taking so much longer to clean the kitchen. I was just done.

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We went from mood ring copper ... 

Look at the shiny spots, ignore the cake. 

to these lovely formica countertops. 

And we updated the sink from black fiberglass to white cast iron.

This is a picture I took in Home Depot and texted to J to make sure I had the right things. Words cannot express how I loathe buying plumbing stuff. 

Then, J blew my tiny little mind by putting in a tile backsplash.

Ignore the heinous lighting. We're working on
updating that so it doesn't look like we live in a cave.

Y'ALL!!!! It looks so DIFFERENT!!! It's beautiful!! It's like someone else's house with my stuff in it! 

And of course, I don't have any pictures of it as of yet since I'm trying to rearrange storage options and we are in the middle of living. I will get an updated, BETTER LIT picture up ASAP.

We still have a few things we'd like to change... 

update from caveman lighting to a daylight tone...

build new barchairs...

change up the arches over the oven and sink...

swap out the glass in the corner cabinet...

add knobs and pulls to the drawers and doors... 

But we're not in a major hurry on those right now. We will work on those in intervals. 

I'm in absolute awe of my kitchen. And my husband and sons. They spoil me.

Unfrump Yourself Update

Hey there!! So sorry it's been a while. The last few weeks has just been bombarded with shenanigans and honestly, I've been left with absolutely NO words. I'm in full Grumpy Cat mode.

Look at these things to do!

NO!

Hey, you need to do this...

NOOOOO!! 

Yo, get this done!!

UH-UH!

*to-do list taunts me* Cash me outside. How 'bout dah??

How 'bout  NOPE!!

*covers ears and hums*

La-dee-da!! I can't hear yooooooou, adulting!!

But alas, the adulting must be done, so adulting has been happening.

Peter Pan, you knew what you were talking about with that not growing up stuff.

So in the midst of adulting, I haven't done super great at looking adulty and unfrumped. 

I have come across some simple outfits I'm really loving and have worn them several times because they're easy and cute.

I'm really a big t-shirt and jeans gal, so my summer go-to is shorts or denim capris, so you'll probably see repeats of those in a lot of upcoming pictures. 

This t-shirt, Y'ALL!! This has fast become my favorite shirt this season!! Target, you are my favorite.

This was just a simple, extremely comfy outfit I wore on a slightly chilly day. I'm pretty sure that hoodie isn't going to be back out for a while. 

 And this t-shirt!!! I wear this one at least once a week. It's so dang comfy!! AND HUGE! This is a medium and it's pretty big. 

These capris are amazing. Nine West elastic waist skinny capris. They're comfy, simple, and go with a lot of tops. My only issue is the pockets on the front are fake. **side-eye** Do not tease me with fake pockets, people. I need pockets. I have stuff I need to carry! Like keys, gum, lip balm, small rocks I pull out of the washing machine, spare change I find in the couch or abandoned in parking lots, and occasionally rogue Legos or a cow's tooth in the middle of my floor. Pockets are life. Stop it with the fake ones, bruh.  

I found these capris at Sam's Club. The shirt too. I'm really loving the clothes at Sam's Club. They're good quality and affordable. I had to replace a pair of capris I previously purchased there this year. For some reason, it is frowned upon to wear jeans with a see-through behind. I think that's a double-standard. I mean, did you SEE the pants with clear windows on the legs? Maybe I just needed some clear plastic on the seat of those pants and I could have had a booty window. How do ya like me now, fashionistas?? 

This was a simple "around the house" outfit.  Yeah... I totally cheated and wore capri yoga pants, BUT it was something I wouldn't have been ashamed to be hospitable to drop-in company. 

Here's my modern version of the homeschool mom look. No denim jumpers, but still denim. I felt comfy and cute here. And I think I *almost* look like I know what I'm doing here!! Like some sort of responsible adult or something! WHAT THE WHAT?! 

I KNOOOOW!! 

Shocking! 

I had to include these shoes. They are my new faves and have a fun story. 

So I was window shopping on Amazon for shoes one night before bed. I found this pair of Aerosoles (One of my favorite brands) for $24, so I popped them in my wishlist for later. 

The next day, I ran to Goodwill to scope out their, well... goods. I always go look at the shoes in there. I've found brand new and slightly worn Converse, Uggs, and various other expensive brands in there for $10 or less. I scan each aisle carefully and didn't find much until I reached the very last shoe aisle. Low and behold, the EXACT SAME SHOES I just put in my Amazon wishlist the night before... IN MY SIZE for $6.00!!  You better believe I grabbed those puppies immediately. I would have elbowed the Pope if he'd made a move to grab them off the shelf. I was ready to fight for them. Thankfully I didn't have to. But I did have my "bail me out" sisters on speed dial if I needed them. 

So obviously I'm not unfrumping as much as I intended to, but I'm working on it. I shall prevail. I've been trying out some new makeup and skin care items lately I'm planning on sharing with y'all in upcoming posts. I'm going to do my best to blog more regularly starting with this post.

SOOOOOO....
What are some of your favorite spring/summer clothing items or accessories you're loving this year?? Let me know because I may need to add them to my list too! 

 

Randomosity

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Yes, I am aware that "randomosity" is not a real word. 

J and I go back and forth over my made-up words. He thinks it's ridiculous, I think it's ridiculously creative and fun. The word that annoys him most is "ginormous" so I, of course, have to use it as much as possible. Thank you, Buddy the Elf!! Imagine my absolutely unabashed GLEE when "ginormous" was added to the Webster's Dictionary a few years back. It made my happiness ginormous. I tip my hat to you, Webster's Dictionary people.

It has been a busy couple of weeks around this Casa de la Casa.

We had spring break last week which was basically spent helping a friend redo their bathroom. The guys pulled out a bathtub, turned the space into a shower, and we tiled it. I stayed home 4 out of 6 days to get some uninterrupted cleaning done and binge watch Bones.

Y'all, Bones is my favorite thing ever right now!! I just finished season 11 and then I have to wait for season 12 to stream on Netflix. I'm pretty sure I'm going to die while waiting. I'm already grieving. It can't be over!! 

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Okay, and so maybe I did some Lady Gaga karaoke while I was home alone, too. 

The 2 days I helped the dudes consisted of driving 385,984,726 miles for supplies, babysitting the friend's anxious doggie while all the traffic and shop-vaccing in her house freaked her out, supervised the 14 yr old running the tile saw so he kept all phalanges intact (See, watching Bones is useful!!), and then I helped grout and wash tile.

I'm pretty sure we went through 45 lbs. of turkey lunchmeat and 200 loaves of bread in 1 week.

I also got an Instant Pot a couple of weeks ago... which I have yet to use. But it looks nice sitting on my counter and I feel like an accomplished adult by taking that FOMO like a boss. I've also been stalking recipes to try and learning how to avoid blowing up my kitchen. Baby steps, yo!!

I completely FAILED at the Unfrump Yourself challenge last week. I think I put on jeans 2 days, both of those days were the working days. Makeup happened approximately ZERO times and I was just happy I brushed my hair. I also bid a sad farewell to my favorite yoga pants I mentioned in a previous post. The worn spot in the crotch finally blew out, which made for a wonderful discovery as I squatted like a sumo wrestler scoping out what treasures were in the lowest shelf of the pantry. Nothing will get your attention quite as fast as a sudden breeze in your nethers and you are quickly reminded this was a sans-undies day.

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I'd also like to take this moment to raise all the praise hands for long t-shirts because they are responsible for it being ONLY ME who knew it was a casual-CASUAL Friday south of the border. Long t-shirts, you are my boo, my Bae, my PB&J, my smoochy-lovebug forever!! Don't ever change!!! *blows kisses*

I watched linemen repair a broken high line dangling right over our road. Yes, I took pictures of them. No, I didn't get a restraining order. Yet. I'll have to do better next time.

I had a rat snake on my porch. I tried to pick him up, but he hissed, "STRANGER DANGER!!!" and wasn't having it. So I just touched him a few times and watched him skedaddle.

I got some new paper and markers to play with. Yes, I am 5 years old. 

On Tuesday, the man-cubs had their eye exam and got new glasses so they can see their school work. They really liked that reminder.

*sigh* Moooooooooom!!!

What can I say? I like to be practical. If it's extra harassing and I get eye rolls, that's just a free perk. Those perks are definitely a plus when said man-cubs' arrival caused you to have to turn your girl bits inside out in front of various strangers. That is what I call fair.

I'm looking forward to some not quite so hectic days. When will they come, I'm not sure, but I do have hope they're on the way soon.

Okay, so I'm totally lying to myself and promising myself wine. That's the same as hope, right?

RIIIIGHT???

Eh, whatever gets you through the day. 

Unfrump Update 1

The struggle is real, y'all!! 

Last week I started my Unfrump Yourself challenge where I wear "real" clothes at home 3 days a week. 

It was a little iffy at the beginning of the week. I fully intended to dress cute on my birthday, but wound up being gross sick. When you have a faucet for a nose and your head throbs, and staying awake for 5 minutes is too much to ask, you aren't exactly inspired to look cute. You wear your comfy clothes and plug the nose dam with kleenex. It's a totally sexy look, let me tell you.

But after I started feeling human again, I DID manage to unfrump for 4 days with 3 days of picture proof.

Some things I have discovered since starting this challenge:

* The lighting in my house is awful. Seriously, a spelunker trekking through the bowels of the earth probably has better lighting than I do. It's all Coldplay up in here because they were all yellow. 

* I need a full-length mirror. Y'ALL. I am 35 years old and haven't had a full-length mirror.  This feels like a monumental fail somehow. I am determined to right this.

* My patience with doing my hair is on the negative end of the spectrum.

* My hair styling skills are probably even more in the negative than my patience. I would probably try to pull my hair into a ponytail if I had G.I. Jane hair.

So here are a couple of the outfits I wore last week. Please pardon the craptacularness of these pictures. I am figuring out how to make them better. 

Day 1: No makeup or hair doin's since this was the day after I felt like caca. 

Day 2: I really liked this outfit. Unfortunately the abhorrent yellow tinge kind of makes this picture horrid. BUT the positive side is I got dressed, did my makeup, and wore jewelry. My children were completely dumbfounded. 

I also attempted beach waves with my flat iron. That magic did not happen, hence the crazy-eyed look. 

Day 3: I LOVED this outfit. It was like a cheater outfit. So comfy and cute. I'm pretty sure jeggings are where it's at, y'all. This picture is horrid. This is why I'm not a fashion blogger.

Outfit = Love

Picture = Poop emoji

Makeup done and hair is not in a COMPLETE ponytail. I count it a win. Ignore the tremendous eye bags happening here. That's one of the joys of a cold in the middle of allergy season.

Day 4: AKA the cutest outfit of the week and I DIDN'T GET A PICTURE OF IT!!!

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It was really cute though. You'll have to believe me. If the weather decides to be highs in the 60s again, I'll have to do a redo. Green sweater, black pointe pants, and black ankle boots. I actually looked like I knew what I was doing for a minute!  

Well, week 1 is in the books. Let's see what week 2 brings! 

Reflections

Taken last week from my porch. I love my view.

I always seem to be in a nostalgic mood when my birthday comes around. I guess it makes sense. It's the perfect day to look back to the past and plan for the future.

It's really funny how you change with age. When you're a child, you look at birthdays as the day to party, get presents, and rejoice as your entire world revolves around you. When you're an adult, the parties aren't as boisterous and there are no clowns, thank goodness!! It's the small things that are the most precious, like how your husband and sons bring you a special dinner in bed, sing "Happy Birthday" to you while you're laying in a pile of pillows with kleenex shoved up your nose because you're dog-sick with a cold.

It's the phone calls, texts, and Facebook messages from your family and far-away friends that make you smile because they thought of you in the middle of their busy day. It's looking back on the last few years seeing how much you've grown and changed mentally.

5 years ago, I turned 30. I won't lie, it was tough. I dreaded it for months. I felt like all vitality and youth was going to fly out the door as soon as midnight struck. I felt like I was used up, a discarded shell of a woman. I felt like I used all the "good years" second guessing my every step, wishing I had the confidence to say and do things that I wasn't brave enough to do. I expected to peel the covers back that morning and see a gnarled, hunchbacked, saggy-skinned OLD LADY. Think the Evil Queen from Disney's Snow White. 

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Well that didn't happen. I know. Shocking.

I didn't look any different, I didn't really feel different. It was just another day.

Then, several months later, something funny happened. I finally embraced ME.

The ME I had always been trying to change to impress others, the ME who's a little kooky, the ME who has no fashion sense or much of a filter, the ME that my husband sees in varying moods and disarray and yet he still stays around. That man is a saint.

I finally decided to be ME and not care what others thought about my ME-ness. You can't live your life dictating to every opinion. The only opinions that actually matter are those who live under your own roof. Life is too damn short to second guess why you like something or feel awkward from the disdainful looks you get because something out of the box makes you happy. (Planners, anyone?!?)


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We only get to live this life once. If you're so busy worrying about what other people think, how in the world are you going to have time to actually ENJOY IT??? You are you for a reason. You are different for a reason. This world needs your YOUNESS!! The differences make things fun, exciting and make for excellent learning opportunities. If we all liked the same things or looked the same, it would be flat-out, mind-numbingly BORING. What if crayons were all the same? Coloring would suck.

So as I settle into my 35th year of life, I'm just going to keep being ME. I like ME. It took a long time, but I do. 

I like my continued hunger for learning. 

I like my crazy, silly sense of humor. I like pushing it on my not so crazy or silly husband because I find his reactions hilarious. 

I like being that weird mom who sings her directions or irritation in terrible, rhyming opera that echoes through the house. (The acoustics in here are awesome, btw.) 

I like being so animated babies find me as fascinating as I find them. 

I like my gray hair because it's naturally stylish and I don't even have to try and I look like I'm in style. (Lazy FTW!!)

I like being passionate and loud because nobody ever has to wonder how I feel about something. 

I like my determination and still being determined to do it even when Plan A was a bust.

I like snort laughing over dumb things which results in a continuous cycle of snort laughing. Even in public, which usually makes me laugh harder. 

I like that I get obsessed with strange things.

ALL of these things, plus many more that aren't even coming to mind right now, help to make up ME. 

It took me entirely too long to like ME. I owe it to ME and my kids to keep liking ME. How else will they be able to learn to like themselves?

This year, I'm going to learn more, grow, have fun, enjoy my kids, make friends, and just keep liking ME.

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Unfrump Yourself!!!

Phew! I'm finally back. We've had dueling sickness running through the house for a few weeks now and I've either been mentally spent from it or completely cracked out on cold meds. I couldn't make you guys suffer through a medicine-fueled, stopped up brain post. You're welcome. Believe me. You are WELCOME!

I'm about to embark on something I've been thinking about doing for a long time. Shoot, let's just lay all the cards out here. I've been NEEDING TO do this.

So what is the "this"?

Dressing like a competent human being at home.

I can see some of you rolling your eyes and hear the extended sighs. HOW in the WORLD is this even a thing?? And now I'm sure some people are wondering if I'm a nudist. 

So let's break this down.

1) No. I'm not a nudist. I wouldn't do that to the world. The only time I've contemplated nudism is when I have 256 Million piles of laundry to do.

2) I'm a homeschooling WAHM. This means getting dressed or looking good while I'm hanging at the house hasn't been extremely high on my priority list. When my day starts, it starts like a cannon shot. but I still have some time to focus on me before the kiddos emerge. When the kids get their day started, there's not a lot of thought about my personal appearance or uninterrupted time. The days I do make an effort are usually the days I go to the "Big Town" to shop, homeschool events, or if we're having company. I mean, I do have to make people think I can adult, you know. It's to the point now that if I put on jeans and a decent shirt (i.e. a not stained t-shirt) the kids start asking where we're going or who's coming. That can't be good. 

So I'm starting the Unfrump Yourself challenge in March. It seems like a great time since it's a new month and right after my birthday. Gotta start 35 on the right foot, you know.

This is a keepin' it real pic for sure. This is how I look 99.9% of the time. Absolute hotness. Rawr.

I've been inspired by the Life as MOM blog. She has a great Fight the Mom Frump series that was like a smack in the face. I'd swear she was tuning into my head and writing about me.

Y'all know I've been working on some sort of a wardrobe challenge for a while now. I got sucked into researching capsule wardrobes a couple of years ago, tried making my own, but I always, ALWAYS wind up climbing back into my comfy, frumpy, stained lounge or yoga pants and t-shirts. Oh, and don't forget the amazingly faded capri yoga pants that have an almost invisible crotch due to wear. *Sigh* I love those pants. I just can't quit you, dilapidated pants!!



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I DO have nice clothes, I just don't WEAR them. What sense does this make?? Well, NONE, of course!! DUH! My main reasoning seems to be fear of ruining my "nice" clothes cleaning and cooking. But really, what good does it do to just have them sit in the closet and take up space??

And yes, I do have aprons and I DO wear them, but I have a fantastic talent for getting stuff on them AROUND or SOAKING THROUGH the apron. The struggle is real, y'all! 

So here's my thinking about doing this challenge...

I'm at home most of the time. My family sees me at home. They see me looking unkempt and honestly pretty blah most of the time. I fix myself for other people and not the people that I love the most! That seems a little... odd. I do realize that this means I am comfortable in my home and that I am at ease for them to see me in any state and that is great. I'm not knocking that for myself or anyone else.

BUT

Wrap your cranium around this thought for a minute...

How do you feel when you look your best? 

When you have on the jeans that look like they were tailored just for you...

When you're wearing that shirt that makes your skin glow...

When you're wearing cute, but comfy shoes...

When you look completely put together...

You feel strong, confident, motivated, and pretty darn amazing!!!!

You feel ready to take on the world!!!

You're ready to punch today in the face!!!

The to-do list doesn't seem as daunting when you feel like a supermodel badass.

You're not worried about people seeing you and thinking you've been sick, kidnapped, out of running water for a couple of weeks, or just not taking you seriously.

Let's face it, we've all had this happen to us. Probably more than once. 

As a WAHM, I think it will also be beneficial. If wearing "real" clothes makes me feel confident and motivated, all that is going to do is be helpful to me in my business! When you work outside the home, most jobs have a dress code you have to follow. This sends out a professional vibe. If I'm my own boss, I still need to be professional. Not to mention, showing my children that being professional is an important part of being an adult. Impressions, especially at job interviews, are important. **Please say "professional" again. My overuse of the word "professional" is probably not professional. 

As a SAHM, I find myself not wanting to go places or be in many pictures because I "look like crap." Seriously, think about that! I don't want to be in PICTURES with my KIDS because I don't like the way I look. I'm literally cutting memories off at the knees because I'm wearing stained clothes. To boil it down:

I AM LETTING CLOTHING DICTATE MY LIFE!!!


I also find it bothersome that I don't dress up very often for my husband. When we were dating, I was very diligent about looking my best for him. We're talking makeup, hair just right, looking my very best. Now after almost 17 years of being married, he may see me looking nice maybe once a week. That doesn't seem right. It seems very unfair to him in a way, like I've stopped caring about his opinion of me. That's absolutely not the case. And it wouldn't hurt my feelings if it awakened his inner Joey Tribbiani. Just sayin'...


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SO... after all of that rambling and 'splaining, let me let you in on my evil plan.

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THE PLAN:

I'm going to ease into this with baby steps.

* Dress in "real" clothes 3 days a week.

This includes makeup, jewelry, and fixed hair. This DOES NOT include the day I go shopping. 3 separate days. Lawd Jesus, this is going to take some discipline!!
Note: This will not include dresses. I don't do dresses or skirts unless it's a funeral or special event.

* Document outfits so you can go back and see what looks the best.

This should just be called, "Figure out how to dress and take pictures so you don't look like an idiot in the future."

* Have accountability partners.

I am definitely someone who does a lot better with accountability partners. I need someone to message me and say, "Did you get dressed today? Let's see. Send me a picture of your outfit." I need a strict taskmaster.

* Post how this challenge is going.

This is also for accountability's sake and hopefully inspiration for people who may be going through this same thing. I'm all for helping others be it with my successes or failures.

If you want to join me, leave a comment!! Let's channel our inner Beyonce together!!

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January 2017 Planner Situation

**Disclaimer: I am not affiliated with The Happy Planner and have not been compensated with free product for this post. These items have been purchased by me and this is my personal opinion on these items.**

Seeing that January is almost over, it might be a little late to post the 2017 planner situation. BUT it's never too late for planners in my book!

I've changed up things a lot since last year. There are just too many things to try out and sometimes when life changes, you have to change too. And as long as it works, that's what matters.

Back in 2015, I was SUPER into bullet journaling. You can check that out here.

Then beginning in 2016, it modified to this.

And later last year, I discovered the ring binders from Michael's Recollections line and things changed again to this.

As you can tell, there's always planners happening in my life in some way, shape, or form.

2017 has brought changes again.

The opening picture shows my two main planners - the large Happy Planner and the classic Happy Planner are my baes this year.

The classic is my personal planner. I keep up with my to-dos, events, appointments, and play around with decorating in it.

I'll let you have a peek inside.

I posted these pics in the last post about goals, but here they are again because they live right inside the front cover.

I like them right there so they're the first thing I see in the morning. Nothing like a good goal reminder each day. 

Now to see some spreads.

Here's how I've been having fun. 

Here's a half-week look.

Here's last week - AKA: When my FitBit gave up the ghost. RIP, Charge. You served me well. *sob* 

Here's a peek at the monthly spread for February. I'm still filling it out as things come up, so it's a work in progress.

And a "before the pen" shot. Y'ALL. I can't even express how hard it is for me to NOT write on a week to take one of these blank shots. This is where my obscene stash of page flags and post-it notes comes in handy. This was so monumental, I had to document it on Instagram.

Before you go all Sweet Brown on me and say, "Whoa. All those stickers?? Seriously?"

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That's perfectly fine. You don't HAVE to decorate your planner. It's not mandatory. I personally do it to relax. I love stickers, color, and little things that express my personality as well as inspire me to do all the adulting I've written down. Here's what a virgin weekly spread looks like.

It's still cute. There are more minimal versions of The Happy Planner out there, but y'all, I gots ta have some color in my life. GOTS TA!


Now I don't make my work planner all cute. It's strictly for getting stuff done.

I've looked and looked for examples of how The Happy Planner can be used as a work planner, but I came up empty-handed. Or empty-search engined might actually be a better way to word that.

SOOOOOOO

I thought I would show you how I use the same style of layout to work for my entrepreneur life.

Here's a monthly view. I'll be adding my monthly goals along the left sidebar so they're easy to find and glance at when I need to kick my booty in gear. The things that are concrete are already added. Impromptu events, conference calls, product release dates, etc. will be added as they come up.

This is how I've modified the weekly view.

If you're new to the planner realm and wondering why the days are split up into 3 separate sections, that's for Morning, Afternoon, Evening. Some companies actually label them as such, but I just washi taped over it. I like skipping that step. DON'T TELL ME WHAT TO DO!! YOU'RE NOT MY MOM!!

So on my weekly layout, I use the top section for daily to-dos. Basically, my daily action items. That can be posting on FB or IG, writing a blog post, recording a video, sending out a newsletter about new product info, emailing... all that good stuff. I sectioned the bottom of that area off to track new social media followers for each day.

The middle section is devoted to calls. Conference calls, following up with customers, calls with my leader or team. Then any new team members we add goes by the purple arrow. The green exclamation points are to track daily sales and website traffic.

That bottom section is for keeping track of who I contacted that day.

Simple, but takes care of so much on two pages. I like simple.

NOW I know you're wondering, "Did you just turn your back on bullet journaling?"

Nope. I just do it in a different way.

"Enlighten me!"


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As my kids would say when they were smaller, "Prepare to be DA-MAZED!"

I no longer bullet journal on a daily basis. I save that for the unholy busy days where I need my own clone army. That's when I pull out the fantasmaglorious Happy Planner insert pages.

VOILA!

Here's where it gets a little weird. I like to use the insert sheets for the Mini HP instead of the Classic size.

WHY?

Because I like to see my weekly page behind the list. Yeah, I'm a weirdo. You guys HAVE read this blog before, right??

So here are the inserts. They're all pre-punched so you can just pop them right on the rings when you're ready. There's regular lined paper. It's lined on both sides. I like these for longer lists. This is also what I have my goals written on in the picture up there. **Points back up**

 These little dudes are the coolest little inserts. These are sectioned out for hourly things and a checklist with pre-made boxes to check. I'm a sucker for check boxes. The Brain Dump side is what the back looks like. Super cute.

These also come in the Classic size. The hourly/checklist ones are slightly different, I believe.

And here's what it looks like using Mini paper with a Classic.

I love how easy it is to pull it out and add it back in. I've never liked disc-bound planners until this year. I guess I've matured. Good grief. Don't let that get around. *shudders*

So that is what is going on in my planner world. If you made it to the end of this post, you get a sticker. You don't have to put it in your planner if you don't want to.

Do You Set Yearly Goals?

I fully intended to have this post out two weeks ago, but we wound up partying with various plagues. One kid decided to get turnt up with Hand, Foot, and Mouth disease. So at this point, it looks like we're done with germ raves for the time being. Thank you, tiny 8 lbs. 6 oz. Baby Jesus!

I prefer to call them goals rather than resolutions. Goals just seem more doable. Resolutions are notoriously kicked under the rug and given up on, but goals... that word just sounds more approachable.

I love setting goals. Yeah, I'm weird. But seriously, who doesn't like a road map of their year, month, or week? I like plans. Planners and plans go hand in hand. Heh. Corny, but true.

So I'm one of those people who wrote goals and set a word for the year. Why? Because ALL THE GOALS AND GOALY THINGS!!

My word for 2016 was "Fearless." I really liked and NEEDED that word. It wasn't a cushy, snuggly, comfort word, it was one that would peek around the corner at me and give me hard stares and snarky comebacks when I tried to second guess myself. Which is like ALL THE TIME on some things. "Fearless" encouraged me to be myself and not worry about people thinking I'm weird and over the top. I mean, I AM, but "Fearless" gave me the guts to not worry about it, accept myself for me, and not over analyze. "Fearless" pushed me forward to do things I wouldn't normally do, like showcase my dorkiness via video on my Facebook page, talk about things I normally wouldn't talk about, and push myself in my business.

"Fearless" wasn't a meek mistress. No, she was the no-nonsense voice mocking me, "You're seriously scared of THAT?! LAAAAAAME!" That scoff earned her the stink-eye a few times, but even though I was muttering curses under my breath, I would drag myself out of my comfort zone and do it. I feel much more confident in many areas because of "Fearless."

I went through 6 or 7-word choices before I finally settled on "Grow" for 2017. It seemed so demure compared to "Fearless," so...Meh until I really thought it all out. "Grow" is a pretty powerful little word to have only 4-letters and it's a 4-letter word you can actually use in polite company. Winning!!

Here's how I plan to "Grow":

"Grow" is going to be my fertilizer for my other goals.

Something about that doesn't sound quite right, BUUUUT I'm going with it anyway.

Personal growth is a big one for me this year. I'm really wanting to read more, learn a new skill, work on my appearance at home, keep my kitchen clean, and work on self-care. Here's a peek at my personal goals for this year. Yep, it's in my planner, along with my reading list.

The whole "work on appearance at home" has been pretty laughable so far. That's definitely one I need to focus on. I blame the revolving door of cooties. You don't really care how you look when you're BFFs with the toilet or tending sick off-spring. Honestly, when I wear "real" clothes, I feel more competent, more confident, motivated, and I know J would like to see a wife that actually resembles the person he asked to marry him 17 years ago. Gotta keep that marriage spark a-flamin', you know. *wink, wink, nudge, nudge*

I've also put learning to knit on the back burner too, but that's going to change. I've got my needles, yarn, and tutorial videos all ready for me to sit down and do it. BOOM! Needles ahoy!!

I've also been not so hot about blogging (DUH!!!!!) and trying new recipes. I need to go through the 50 bajillion recipes I've pinned and pull out some things to try out. I'm also considering getting an Instapot in the hopes that it will help pull me out of the cooking rut.

Now I HAVE done great with using what I have in my planner stash and not buying more. That's probably because the majority of the Michael's planner aisle made it's way to my house over the last few weeks of 2016. I still count it a win.

That's where I am with goals for the time being. Anybody else have goals or One Word for 2017? I'd love to hear them.