Lessons From Memaw

My grandmother died over a year ago while I was pregnant with David. She was the world to me. I did not realize how much every moment we had together meant until she got sick. She had Parkinson's and was in a nursing home for almost two years before she died. I can honestly say she was one of my favorite people. She was the best friend I never had growing up. When I look back at my childhood I don't see memories of friends I see camping trips, homeschool days, lake house visits, and her! The role of a grandmother is so huge for some grand children and I was one of the kids. 

I love everything about her. I loved her many aprons that she always wore in the kitchen; it makes me want many, many aprons. I loved her fried chicken and baked goods. She made the best pies; everyone will tell you that. I love the fact that she had Christmas plates and glasses. I love that she had Thanksgiving plates and glasses. I loved her snowman village that she put up every Christmas. I love how she loved the little things in life. I loved that for as long as she could she worked 2 to 3 days a week even though they had no need for money. I love that she was always so involved in church and community groups. I want to be like her in so many ways. 

I must say some of my core interests and traits or through processes come from her. I have learned so many lessons from her. I miss her and think about her a lot. In some ways I am very jealous of her  sitting with Jesus and holding sweet Addie. But I wanted to share with you today a few lessons I learned from Memaw. 

• Keep the House Homey: I remember for every Sunday meal we would help her set up the table the right way. We would put out the cloth napkins, adult salt and pepper shakers, put out the mini kid shakers, and silverware. For birthdays, Christmas, Thanksgiving, New years, and on and on there were decorations and specials things to be put up that always made her house feel homey. I love that! 
• Sunday Meal: Sunday lunch is for family. After church she would always make a good meal and have us over. I love how she spent her time in the kitchen cooking and preparing for us. I see it as one of her acts of service. We were all visiting and having fun and she was in their taking care of us. I have such fond memories of those meals and how important they were. We always wanted to go out to eat with friends after church as kids. But trust me I am not looking back saying oh we had so much fun with whoever; the memories are in the family time. 
• Always Stay Manicured: She would always get a manicure and a pedicure like clock work. She got her pamper time and she always looked good. One day I hope to do the same, but for now my nails look like boy nails.
• Shopping is Girl Time: I have no clue if this is a good or bad thing I learned from her. But my love of shopping comes from my Memaw. My mom HATES shopping. But Memaw and my sister we would always go shopping. It was always fun, even if it was just window shopping. It was relaxing and exciting. 
• Bible Study Before Bed: I learned the importance of Bible study from Memaw. She always did Bible study before bed. She had monthly magazines for Bible studies or books. It was like clockwork every night before bed we would do Bible study. I love looking back at that and how she would give me old issues of her magazines to do as my Bible study. It was fun to feel like an adult.
• Family is Everything: To Memaw family was everything. That is what she lived for. She always struggled with depression but when her family was around she light up! She loved doing things with the family and watching us play. She loved taking us to church and showing us off. She did so much for us. She played with us at the lake house. She cooked us the best food. She taught me that quality family relationships are so important in life. She taught me that family time is essential for a happy life. 

I could probably go on and on the things I have learned from her but those are the big things. She never taught me with words; all the big things she taught me were with actions. I hope to be as amazing of a woman as she was. I hope to have a grace, love, and little joys that she had.

Healthy Food to Always Keep on Hand

The key to eating a healthy diet consistently is being prepared. That means always having healthy foods on hand. No more keeping cookies, Cheese Its, Blue Bell, Lean Cuisine, Red Bull, and Little Debbies on hand. You deserve better! You really do, your body wants good whole foods. I wanted to teach you about some foods I always keep on hand to ensure I have something to eat if maybe I ran out of my prepped meals or wasn't able to get to the store on time. I hope this helps you! Let me know if you have anymore questions. 

• Frozen Meats: frozen chicken, frozen ground beef, frozen ground turkey, turkey meatballs, and frozen fish. Frozen meats do take time to thaw but on the days I have no time to thaw meat I use the meatballs. You can put them in a pan with water on high and cook them in maybe 10 to 15 minutes. Also set out your meat to thaw the night before. Remember I said this was about being prepared. 
• Minute Microwave Rice: I try to always get the organic ones. You can find them at any store now even Walmart and Aldi. I get microwave rice because some days I am in a pinch and this is a huge help. Yes, I have good old fashioned rice and grains that I do use; but on those days when I have 30 minutes to be out the door and need food I can pop some rice in the microwave, blend up a Shakeology, and grab a banana.
• Easy Fruit: Banana, Apple, or Strawberries. I get other fruits as well but these I keep on hand. They are easy to use. I do get precut apples my teeth cannot handle biting into an apple due to my TMJ. My teeth move really easily. 
• Easy Vegetables: Premade Salads, Carrots, Cucumbers or Celery. This is huge and man do I compromise my preference by doing this. I love cooked veggies. I want them and I need them. I would say I hate raw vegetables. But some days I am busy or on the go and I need them. So I keep on hand premade salads to toss together real fast. I eat carrots and cucumbers dipped in balsamic vinaigrette. I eat celery with a little salt or peanut butter on it depending on the taste of the celery. 
• Healthy Sweets: Right now I have Halo Protein Ice Cream and Organic Ice Pop(Strawberry/Rhubarb and Orange/Carrot) I obviously do not encourage eating sweets daily. Lets face it though you do get cravings! Don't lie to me and tell me you do not get cravings! I know you do. So when you are craving that funnel cake or ice cream you can have an organic ice pop or protein ice cream!
• Frozen Veggies: I keep Hash Browns and steamable veggies with out any toppings. I use hash browns in the morning for my breakfast. I also use steamable veggies in emergencies. I know they are not the same as fresh veggies but it is better than having none.
• Shakeology: I always make sure to keep this on hand. It is an easy meal you can blend it up in a minute. It gives you tons of nutrients and energy. Eating Shakeology in a pinch is mucher better than a Lean Cuisine meal! Its so good for you I drink it every day. You can get a bag here.
• Energize: Okay confession I used to be a Red Bull and Rockstar junkie. When I was going to school senior year I lived on those with working part time and going to school. Now that I know they are so bad for you I use a pre-workout for me energy drinks. I also use them less often. I only need a BIG boost maybe every 2 weeks. But I always need to keep this on hand. The link to order some is here.

Now that you have this information you need to make a change. You need to act. You need to go get your grocery list and write at least 1 item down from each section. You need to be prepared. You need to make a plan. You are make for better things than being a victim. Go out an conquer your eating habits. Remember you are a winner! 

Family Pictures

They say a picture is worth a thousand words but to me these pictures are worth so much more! They are our first famly pictures since the birth of our son. When I first met Daniel I never thought we would be more than friends or that 3 years down the road we would become this beautiful family. These past 3 years have not been the easiest. Daniel and I have been through a lot. The loss of loved ones, the loss or jobs, fights, hurts, and the surprising news of David. I never imagined my life being like this. If I had told you 3 years ago what pictures I would be sharing with you today: it probably would have been my latest portfolio shots for my business card. If life would have gone the way I wanted it I would have missed out on love and this beautiful baby. Maybe my life could have been richer or easier but I love the one God gave me! I love you Daniel and baby Daivd!

Also thank you to my mother for getting the pictures taken! So without further ado here are some of the best!

Dream House Goals

So this week and well every other week I have been dreaming about my dream house. I seriously cannot stop thinking about it! So I thought it would be fun to share with you some of my favorite ideas for my dream house that I have found on Pinterest. I love dreaming about my dream house like I just cannot stop. It is so fun and exciting. So I will post a picture and tell you what I love about it and how I plan to make it my own. All credits for the photos are given below with the link from Pinterest.

The first thing that I ever knew I wanted in my house was a drink bar/station. At first I had planned on it being for alcohol since I had dreams of being a bar tender and even got trained in it. But as I got healthier and then go married; my husband and I don't want alcohol to have such a huge place in our house. So I want a tea and coffee bar! I will also have room for my workout drinks and Shakeology. I love in this picture how they have fresh muffins out. That is my goal to be the wife and mom that always has fresh treats. Of course all organic and super good for you. I also love the chalkboard; it will be so fun to write Bible verses, quotes, or the food I have laid out. I hate the cabinets though but everything else I love.

Another thing that I have always wanted is window boxes! I want them to look just like this. I want the ones on my kitchen windows to have herbs in them so I can just open my window and pick my herbs. I want the rest to be a mixture of flowers or pretty greens. I love nature but I hate the Texas heat so bringing the nature closer to me is perfect!

I absolutely love this! I want something like this for David. Of course we will have both DC and Marvel super hero's because I like both. But we will have a bigger poster of Superman because Daniel absolutely loves him. I think having this in my house and right next to it a reading chair with all the comic books in a bookshelf next to it. I want my house to be such a fun place for my kids to play and for imagination to be a huge focus in our house. This is a great way to do it! I also have to add mine will say, "Hero Up" it seriously makes me so annoyed that it doesn't have capitals.

My dream house will be on a lot of land. One of my goals is to be able to live off the land. Now of course I will buy stuff and I am not about to make my own clothes or give up Shakeology. But I want to be in control of as much as I can and be able to save money. I love this system for saving and storing rain water. Why waste! This would be perfect for watering the gardens.

This is like my dream pantry. I want all of the raw ingredient to be in jars like that and labeled with the chalk. I love it. It looks so clean and so natural. One thing that I would change is the cleaning products of course they will be Young Living!

Another goal of mine is to have tons of outdoor space for my kids to play on. I love this! I love how big it is and how much stuff you can do on it. I also have ones saved of teepees, cafes, and mud kitchens. The outdoor living spaces I want to create for the kids will be so much fun! (Your kid is going to want to come over to my house!)

I have absolutely no idea how you do this but I want it! How unique and special is that! I have a video recording of our wedding and I would love to be able to create this. It will be a very special piece of artwork in our home.

I of course want a home gym. I love how this one is set up! I love the weights and the towels. I will make it bigger and have a bigger TV though. But it is surprisingly hard to find pictures of home gyms that aren't like microscopic. So when I get mine set up I will for sure be making a blog about it and adding it to Pinterest. Your Welcome!

This is such a fun idea! It is a solar panel porch cover! It lets a little light through but works for you all day! I want tons of solar panels. I would love to be one of those people that collects enough solar energy that  I can then sell it to the power plants. My home is going to be a green home.

I feel like this is just a little bit like an old fashioned medicine set up. This will be my herb station. I want everything fresh. I love how this is set up. I love the raw look to it and how they use mason jars. I would want to change the labels though. I will want chalk board labels; I love how those look on mason jars. I am so excited to have this. My food is going to taste so fresh and mind blowing.

I love the romantic aspect of this. I want ton of outdoor living. I love the lights and candles in this one. I also love the curtains. The table being white with a stained top is my favorite part. The benches I feel give it such an opening and inviting feeling. I feel that chairs can feel confining in the outdoors; but a bench it means you can come and go as you please without scooting out your chair. It feels a big magical the whole set up. I love it.

Without a doubt I want my table bigger! I hate the end chairs but I LOVE the white table and stained top. I love the bench on one side. I love the vase of flowers. I feel fresh flowers in the house make it feel homey and welcoming. I am all about bring nature indoors! This is such a happy, bright kitchen table.

Well that was a tiny little peak into my big dreams. I know you may think I am crazy and I dream too big. But I don't. I know it is going to take a lot of work to get this and I know with wanting to live on a farm it forever will be work. But this is my dream. I grew up wanting to be a prairie girl and I will be one: one with a toilet, AC, and a car. But I will live out that prairie girl dream! I would love to know what you think!






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My Easy to Follow Cleaning Schedule

I have always been a total slacker when it comes to cleaning. Don't get me wrong I love a clean house and I can NOT focus in messiness. I just would rather do something other than cleaning. It is very hard for me and I tend to put it off. As a mom you cannot do that. The second you gave birth you signed up for being a life long maid. You gave birth to a little mess maker. So needless to say I have had to step up my game. I tried cleaning every other weekend but that just ruined my family time. My husband works 12 hour days and we honestly only get quality time on the weekends. I do not want to spend that precious time on cleaning.

So what did I do? I sat down and made a plan. I worked it and worked it until I got something I could live with. A schedule that wasn't too hard but got all the needs done. I have waited a couple weeks to share this with you because I needed to test it out. I needed to know it worked and was not overwhelming. I admit I have never had a perfect week where I got everything done. It happens life is hard. But man my house has never been cleaner. I have never been so consistent with trying to clean daily. I feel more accomplished and I feel empowered. I am no longer a slave to the mess. I control it. I am in charge. I can clean! I really can handle it.

With all that said I would love to know your ideas about my schedule and would be thrilled if you tried it out! It is the perfect size to print out on paper. I have it hanging above my desk. Be sure to let me know what you think! Also if you want to see it all in action be sure to follow me on Snapchat. I share my daily life on there including my cleaning habits. My Snapchat user name is daradventures

We All Have a Drug of Choice

We all have our own drug of choice. You know something to kill the pain or make us forget. Something to make the hard parts of life a little less hard. I know YOU obviously don't have one because you are a good person. But I am here today to admit I have one. I'm not proud of it, but when life gets tough it sometimes helps me get through. It helps me cope. It gives me short term happiness. It helps me forget, but not without consequences.

Let me explain. So we all know the consequences of alcohol, cigarettes, drugs, sex, and self harm. But even the small tiny things we do to numb pain come with consequences. Maybe it wont kill you or maybe its just a little bad. But do not turn a blind eye to those habits. If we all want to live good full lives we need to watch out for them when life gets so bad we need them. That's when we need to work hard at getting better. I can tell you with all honesty I do not want to admit what mine is. Why? Because then my family will know. They will then judge me next time I do it. It is not fun and I honestly could never stop. But maybe if I admit it and throw it out to the world something will change.

My drug of choice is TV. No not all the time. I could go weeks with out watching TV. But when life gets really hard and I become depressed; I turn to the TV. It helps me forget my pain and focus on others. It helps me forget. It helps me pretend. It numbs me. When life gets so hard and I just want to forget the TV brings me a false reality. How sad is that? And my goodness it is so addicting.

When hard times come in life it always seems that we do the wrong thing. In a time when we should turn to family, the Lord, and healthy habits; we so often turn to destructive things. Why is that? We know better. I will be sitting some days watching TV knowing I should be doing Bible study or working out but for some reason I just cannot get up. I cannot stop doing my drug.

In a dream world during the hard times I would only use natural remedies. I use my oils, I drink Shakeology, I workout, I do Bible study, I eat healthy, and I try to stay positive. But even still I turn towards the TV and neglect house work or personal goals for myself. It drives me crazy. I guess that's why it is hard to find change in your life at times. It is so hard to give up that drug and do what you truly need to do.

I am list girl. I love to make lists. I run out of paper so quickly it is ridiculous! So if you ever want to give me a gift give me paper! I make to do lists. I make lists of dreams. I always seem to make them right before life gets tough. Once life gets tough I start to give up on those list. Nothing gets cross off. Not because I no longer want them but because that TV has all my extra attention. It is so sad really.

I do not have a solution. I have no answers. I am trying to get better and I guess this is the first step by writing this blog. You see I have been working on getting the right words out for 3 days and that has given me some time away from the computer. It has given me a piece of freedom. I just want to encourage you to notice and figure out your drug of choice. Be mindful of it and try to say no to it every once in a while. It feels so freeing.