Monday, September 15, 2014

High Maintenance

I'm on my way to sunny California this morning for 10 days of training for the new job. Y'all I think I over did it on packing. The thing is, I have to have business clothes for each day and I'm not sure what the laundry situation will be. I went to Europe for over 2 weeks and took the same suitcase I'm taking today. I take my Girl Scout motto of "Be Prepared" very seriously. I don't want to get there and not have something. 10 days also means that travel sized shampoo and face wash won't cut it. And if I'm being completely honest here (and this is what defines me as "high maintenance") I packed coffee creamer. Not the powdered stuff, but the full on liquid. I froze it last night and put ice packs around it in a Ziplock so it won't go bad while en route. If you read my post yesterday, you know I'm weird about my coffee. So to make myself feel more at home, I packed my beloved sugar free pumpkin spice Coffee-mate to have in the morning while I get ready. Like I do at home. I also included a Tervis tumbler so I can take it with me. 

Speaking of making things feel like home, I packed a frame pic of me and the hubby. Again, I know. HIGH MAINTENANCE. What can I say? This is the longest I've gone being away from him and I'm a big ol' baby. I have friends whose husbands and boyfriends have gone off to Afghanistan for months at a time. I have a new found respect for them. How do they do it? 

Have a great Monday everybody! 





Sunday, September 14, 2014

Twenty Things

One of the blogs I read regularly (Pawley's Island Posh) had a post the other day where she was tagged by a fellow blogger to list twenty things about herself. A little get-to-know you game if you will. So I am going to start this chain on my blog and I am tagging The Fashionable Wife and Leslie Jerkins.
Let's go!

1) I met my husband at Harrah's Casino. Little did we know we had so many connections.

2) I am very picky about my coffee. I would prefer to have a vanilla no water chai from Starbucks every day. However, that's too much money and too many calories. I will drink coffee but only if I make it at home so its weak and I can put in a lot of creamer. And I mean A LOT. Like 10 TBSP throughout 4 cups of coffee. Don't worry, I get sugar free and I count my WW points for it.

3) I am one of those weird people who talks to their dogs like they're people. When talking to my parents, I refer to them as the "granddogs."

4) I clean my house every single week. I cannot stand for it not to be clean. I don't mean just picking up, but cleaning toilets, mopping floors, vacuuming, dusting, etc. I grew up in a family who did the same thing. We all had our assigned chores. I'm lucky my husband likes things neat as well. I also find cleaning very calming and soothing.

5) I love to read. I can have a few books going at once. I can read and watch TV at the same time. The problem is when I'm into a book everything else goes out the window, nothing gets done.

6) I can read a book I like over and over. I LOVE the Shopaholic series and have read it multiple times. I also love The Help. I read (er, listened) to it on audio when it first came out and now I've listened to it about 5 or 6 times. Twice in one year even!

7) I also can watch TV shows and movies over and over. It's very hard for me to get into something new. Christopher gets me out of my comfort zone. If it weren't for him I wouldn't even have cable and would watch Friends, Frasier, I Love Lucy, Everybody Loves Raymond, Designing Women, Gilmore Girls, The Nanny and Golden Girls reruns on repeat over and over.

8) Up until a few years ago, I didn't like cantaloupe. Now I can't get enough.

9) Same for oatmeal. Now I eat it every.single.day. I only like the old-fashioned kind (instant? barf!) and I put half a cup in a bowl with blueberries or raspberries and pour 3/4 cup boiling water over it. I put a plate over it and let it "cook" for 10 minutes. Then I mix in unsweetened applesauce and cinnamon with it.

10) I am a morning person, but not an up and at 'em morning person. Meaning: I like to get up early and have quiet time in the morning, but I don't want to be up early in the shower and out the door early.

11) As you probably already know, I was born in the wrong time. My favorite music comes from the 60's/70's/80's. I even like to listen to the big band station on my Sirius XM. I think I Love Lucy is the greatest show on television. I relish history. I think past fashions are better, movies from then are better. Back then, things could be funny without vulgarity. Actors and musicians had to have talent because they didn't have special effects and technology to make them look good. Dancing consisted of actually knowing steps and not just a guy grinding his junk into a girl's hind quarters. Actors and actresses actually had patriotism and didn't use their fame to bring people to hate their country.

12) I used to wash my hair every single day. Maybe it was habit from those oily teenage years. Now I can go every other day to every three days and it's ok.

13) I am a home body and so is my husband. Don't get me wrong, we love to travel. But, when it comes to being in town we love to stay home. Why go out to a bar when we can sit on our own patio? In sweats? The first thing both of us do when we get home is change. Usually I put on yoga pants or Christopher's sweat pants or pajama bottoms and a tee shirt or sweatshirt. He normally puts on sports shorts or sweat pants and a tee shirt. We like to be comfy. We like to come home and chill, I'll make dinner, we eat sometimes at the table sometimes on the couch and we watch our shows. Some nights we like to play cards or board games or the Wii.

14) I am a list maker. I get this from my mom. I have a daily to-do list, a work one and a personal one.

15) I have a love/hate relationship with social media. Love: finding old friends, staying current on what's going on with friends who live far away, etc. Hate: how it's created laziness (a wall post in NOT a thank you note), the narcissism ( what does it being Sunday have to do with the selfie you put up of yourself in the car?) the bitching (if your kids are annoying then why did you have them?) the bragging (no one gives a damn your kid slept through the night) and so on and so on.

16) I'm disgusted with how stupid society is. Everyone will go on and on for days about Ray Rice but no one seems to care about James Foley and the others who have been be-headed or the Christians being killed for their beliefs. They know who the starting forward for the Heat is but have no idea who the Senate Majority Leader is.

17) If I could have any career, I would want to be a Broadway actress. I have felt this way ever since I saw Camelot at the Orpheum when I was 4. I absolutely love musicals, except for Andrew Lloyd Webber musicals. I find them cheesy and annoying. Just call me Mr. Sheffield.

18) When I was little, my mom made days of the week tags for me to hang on the hangers in my closet .I had to pick out all my outfits for the week on Sunday night. If I didn't, I would make myself late for school. While I don't have tags now, I still have to have an idea in my head the night before or I will be late the next day.

19)  I absolutely love children and I want them. Just because I don't want to see a million posts on social media about them doesn't mean I don't like them. I just have an issue with all the baby/kid pics on the internet for a few reasons: a kid has an internet profile by the time they're one (creepy!), what if your kid grows up and says "I didn't want my picture all over the internet." (same reason why I can't stand when people pierce their baby's ears), it freaks me out that no matter what I have no control over whether someone else posts my child's picture on the internet.

20) I am a sinner. I am not perfect, nor do I claim to be. I am forgiven by the blood and sacrifice of Jesus Christ and Him alone. It's not about following rules, or doing good works. No one can live up to that. It's just about accepting Him as your Savior and knowing that through Him and only Him is the way to eternal life.

Saturday, September 13, 2014

Fall Cleaning

 
While I know most people do their deep cleaning inthe spring, I like to do mine in the fall. Maybe it's because I like the house all clean and ready for my Christmas decorations I don't know. I have made my list and have crossed off a few things already. I was hoping I would have it all done before I leave for a 2 week business trip, but that's not going to happen. I leave Monday.

Here is the list:

Kitchen:
- clean grout
- clean behind oven
- clean behind fridge
- clean inside of fridge
- organize pantry*
- clean pantry floor
- wash  fabric blinds on french doors (not sure how I'm going to do this as they have hardware on them that isn't removable)
- dust blinds
- clean window sills
- clean window
- dust light fixtures
- dust baseboards
- organize cabinets
- vacuum out cabinets
- Magic Eraser on all cabinets, oven/DW/fridge handles/backdoor**
- clean oven***
- clean copper canisters
- polish silver

* Our pantry has to be re-organized a few times a year as it is small and easily gets cluttered. Here is where I posted about it originally.
** Magic Erasers are life-changing! That natural discoloration that can happen to door handles (especially white) just from the same spot always being touched when opening said door, instantly gone with a little wipe of the Magic Eraser. Barely any elbow grease involved! I also use them on my baseboards.
*** Right, wrong, or indifferent I use Easy Off to clean my oven. I know the fumes are bad for me, but I have tried to use a home-remedy cleaner with baking soda or vinegar or whatever Martha and Pinterest recommends and it just doesn't work.

Powder Room:                        Upstairs Hallway:
- clean grout                             - dust baseboards/beadboard
- dust baseboards                     - clean vent
- organize cabinets                  - clean under/behind bookcase
- Magic Eraser on cabinets     - organize linen closet

Laundry Room (ahem, closet):         Coat Closet:
- clean washer/dryer                             - Old coats to Goodwill*
- vacuum behind washer/dryer             - organize holiday decorations**  
- clean/organize shelves                       - vacuum out bottom of closet

* Anyone else hold on to their coat for decades? One of my coats is worn and I couldn't figure out why seems like it's not that old. Then I realized I got it in 2006.
** We're fortunate that our coat closet goes under the stairs. I can get 2 Rubbermaid bins 4 deep and 2 high. All my Christmas/fall/etc decorations are right in the closet in our living room which is really convenient!

Guestroom:                                                          
- organize dresser/chest of drawers*
- organize closet*
- clothes to Goodwill
- dust baseboards
- clean windowsill
- clean window

* Yes, I have so many clothes that I have to keep them in the guestroom furniture as well as my dresser and closet in our room. The guestroom closet has my winter or summer clothes (depending on the season) and all of Christopher's suits in there. Along with craft supplies, scrapbooking stuff, knitting, etc.

Master Bedroom:                                       Upstairs Bathroom:
- dust baseboards                                          - clean grout
- clean windowsills                                       - clean shower rack
- clean windows                                            - wash shower curtain
- dust ceiling fan                                           - dust baseboards
- organize closets                                          - Magic Eraser on cabinets
- clothes to Goodwill                                    - Organize cabinets
- organize dresser drawers                            - vacuum out bins
- vacuum closets                                           - wipe down walls
- vacuum mattress

Living Room:                                            Patio/Outside:
- vacuum chair and couch                          - clean/organize cabinet (Thanks, hubby!)
- vacuum behind couch                             - clean glider
- dust baseboards                                       - clean doors
- clean windows                                        - power wash patio/bick wall
- clean window sills                                  - lights for flower beds
- clean above door                                    - clean bikes
- dust ceiling fan                                       - clean out flower beds
- go thru magazines                                  - plant fall flowers
- organize bookshelves
- take off books and dust shelves
- organize movies
- take out movies and dust all shelves in entertainment center

It would seem I have a daunting task ahead of me, but I like to do a few things each day. I know I won't get it all done at once. While that would be nice, it's not possible. DO any of y'all have an annual cleaning ritual?

Friday, September 12, 2014

Fashion Friday: Landsend

Happy Friday! I don't know about y'all, but this week flew by. I really didn't want it to. I will be gone for 2 weeks for training starting on Monday. I am such a baby. I really don't want to be away from my hubby that long. I remind myself of the women who have husbands are deployed for months at a time and they can't even talk to them. I can't complain and I am loving this new job. Anyway, a few weeks ago C and I were talking about Landsend. I said I wish we got the catalog. I know at one point they re-branded themselves and had clothes very similar to J. Crew. So, I went on their website and found some great pieces and great sales. I ended up ordering this dress:



Adorable, right? The best part is it was marked dow from $89 to 19.99! Landend isn't just for mongrammed backpacks and lunchboxes. They've got some really good clothes, reasonably priced and you know it's good quality. Here are some of my favorites:
 






 

Happy Friday, y'all! Enjoy the 75* weather!