Living Simple.......

Have you ever heard of the term "Minimalist"? It was new to me up until about a year ago. I am now a Minimalist fanatic! Here is my own personal definition of the word, "Someone who is NOT defined by their STUFF. Someone who strives to have a clutter free home and mind".  I could sit here for hours and write about being a minimalist, and it's benefits for you..but I am instead going to just give you bits and pieces (along with photos) in several different posts.

We will call this post,"Being a minimalist introduction".

Since i was a kid I have always been pretty tidy and organized. I can even remember removing things from the kitchen counter top and shoving them in my mom's kitchen cupboards as a kid because I disliked clutter. What kinda weirdo kid does that?? :)  So, I will confess that as an adult, I am an admitted  organized clean freak!   If you are still engaged into this post...I am going to assume that you are also giddy over the mere thought storage bins, labels, and the delightful smell of bleach?? (I may be going to far here...i hope i did not scare you away!) Lets dive in then shall we? What does it mean to be a Minimalist:

#1 You need to see your STUFF for what it is. I tend to put things in 3 different categories. Stuff that makes my heart smile, useful stuff and lastly emotional stuff. Let's start with useful stuff. These are the things that you NEED. Clothes, shoes, dishes, food, toiletries, COFFEE, blankets, wine....you get the gist. Here is where we get confused though. We DO NOT need 16 pairs of shoes *insert a nudge to my sister* :) We do Not need 3 different types of dishes, or 7 brushes, or 13 purses (I do not own one purse :o) Chances are, if you have more than you NEED...you are using your stuff to define who you are. Or maybe you need lots of stuff to make yourself feel whole? I am here to let you in on a secret! The LESS stuff you have the HAPPIER you will be! It's true! So, get rid of duplicates. Keep only ONE of everything that you need. It will be easier to let the STUFF that makes you smile shine through. Which leads us to our next category. Things that make your heart smile. For me, this is a picture of me and my husband from our wedding day, a few framed family pictures that my kids have painted, some candles, a cross on the wall, photo of my parents, couple of pine cones from a date day with my husband that i collected, and last but certainly not least a vase of flowers (even a cup of dandelions from my daughters will do) I do not have an overabundance whatsoever of these things. Only a select few..because less is MORE. Category three, emotional stuff. I know that for a lot of you that this is a toughie! Personally, I have never been one to put to much emotion on things. However....Up in my daughters closet, their are roughly 14ish blankets (folded nicely) on the shelf. Do they NEED 14 blankets?? Umm...NO! For whatever reason, I am emotionally attached to them. I look at each one and it reminds me of when they were babies, I love every single one and I am emotionally attached to them. I gave away about 4 of them the other day...baby steps! There are several options to help with purging out emotional items. For example, My husband had a sheer genius idea the other day in regards to the baby blankets. He suggested that I take a chunk of each blanket and have it made into a giant quilt!! That hubby of mine, he made me proud with that idea! If you had collected a huge amount of sea shells from your honeymoon, and you could not imagine giving them away..then don't give them all away. Pick 3 of your favorites and let go of the rest. You get the idea. Just come to the realization that getting rid of the stuff will not get rid of the memories. The LESS you have to more you will really enjoy and appreciate what you do have.

I am going to wrap this post up (as i literally have kids climbing up my legs) I am going to conclude this post with a couple of photos from my own home. Hopefully, these will give you a visual of what it means to me to be a minimalist.
                                      

                                      

                                                                          My bedroom
                          

 

                                                                           My kitchen

                                                    Our family room (Baby toys taking over...grrrrrrrrr)


I will be back soon, hopefully tomorrow (baby permitting) with part two of becoming a minimalist!!

Playdough Bakery!!

A few weeks ago me and my girls decided to create a "Playdough bakery". Oh my gosh, it was so much fun! We got out all the cookie cutters, rolling pins, fancy dishes and creativity! We even made a bakery sign. I love creating memories with my kids, I know that they will remember times like these forever. It's the simple things in life that create our legacy when we are gone. Simple things like playdough, cookie cutters and smiles :)

 

It's like riding a bike right??

As in...blogging? I have not been here in about...ahem....FOUR years!! whaaaaaaaat??? Ya, I know! I have missed writing, and I have missed the friendly connections that I would make in the blogging world. I feel like I should just jump right back in..as if I never left!

So, here is a short and sweet update starting ...now! Me and my handsome hubby are going on 12 years of marital bliss (most days) haha...we have had a fourth baby, her name is Alyse and she turns one yr old on May 22.

I have acquired many more hobbies in the last 4 years (spelling and punctuation NOT being one of them) such as: Organizing, gardening, baking, cooking, more organizing, living everyday with a purpose! That's what this blog will be about! Creative..fun and random, Kinda like me :)

So...ya...it's great to be back. I look forward to writing and meeting new blogging friends!!!

School + GOD = A GOOD thing!

*If you are a non Christian...please do not take offence..this is just my personal opinion and my core values (not to mention MY blog). I never look down or judge anyone for their own beliefs and choices.

Often people ask me why me and my husband pay so much money to send our kids to a private Christian school. The first thing that I always say is this, "I believe that our children are gifts of the Lord. We are responsible to train them according to His Word not only at home and in church, but in school as well." Christian school educators teach all subject matter from a Christian context. They put the Bible at the center of the curriculum and ask students to evaluate all they see in the world through the eyes of God. I think it is SO important for me and my family to view everything we do through the eyes of god and through his LOVE for us. I am no perfect being (far from perfect..totally wicked far actually ) and I don't always see life through God's eyes..but God's strength is MY core, and even when i stray off the path..I can be rest assured that God will pull me back and back in the right direction. I can go on and on about the small class sizes, extra attention, and the fact that Christian schools offer a better level of instruction. There is no question about it. The test scores over a long period of years are conclusive. The annual Stanford Achievement Test administered to first through eighth grade Christian school students in the western states shows these students to be seven to nineteen months ahead of the national norm in reading, and seven to thirteen months ahead of the national norm in all subject areas. BUT....All that for me is simply icing on the cupcake. GOD'S word is why I choose to send them to their school. Below are some pictures inside Anna's classroom.

Anna says to me, "Mommy look me and God share the same Birthday month!" *SIGH* seriously, it does not get any sweeter than that!!

This is my most favorite poster hanging in the classroom!
amen!

I hope everyone has a blessed day! Love to you all!

Randomness at it's finest...

I have so many random thoughts swirling around my brain like little tornado's. So...This little Blog post is dedicated to random thoughts served to you on a silver platter straight from a very quirky mind...that would be my mind....

• First things first. Never go to bed with wet hair...but always brush your teeth at least twice a day...and floss to..i DO this now, but I hate it. Which is a random thought in itself. Why do people hate to floss? It really does not take up to much time...but everyone just despises it! Everyone knows they really should do it...but they don't! Me included...it's so weird, and make NO sense what so ever.

• Second of all...why in the world is there a baby fly flying around me right now? Is this not the time of year that flies die and disappear into holes or something? Did this fly hatch too late or what? Maybe he did NOT get the memo. Either way..he will see his death today if I lay my eyes on him again.



• Have any of you seen the movie, "Under the Tuscan Sun"? I watch that every night in bed. I get lost in that movie...pretending that I am Diane Lane..running away and buying a Villa In Tuscany...really living. Someday maybe.



• Routine. I know that when you have three kids..routine is essential. But I'm so not routine...Sometimes I think i am to adventuress and spontaneous for my own good. When the kids are all away at college working on their phd's...I'm gonna wake up some mornings and go online, buy a random plane ticket (Italy or Hawaii preferably) and just GO...no thinking..just flying away.



• Spaghetti tacos..think about it...it could be a good thing!



• Is it weird that I spell check stuff like every three minutes, oppose to just doing it all at once at the end of my writing?



• Oh...and here is a random thought that has really been weighing me down. If you DVR something, does it still get credit for the shows ratings? I worry that the shows that i LOVE are not getting credit because I am DVR ing them oppose to watching them live? Any thoughts on this?? Anyone? anyone?



• SPELLCHECK....



• Seriously...I am a HORRIBLE speller, it is so embarrassing! Is there a way to get better at that? Or did i just miss out on something in like third grade, and now I'm just screwed?



• do you notice that in the grocery stores they put all the really surgery crappy for you cereals at the bottom for the kids to see...and all the healthy stuff wayyyy at the top? Check it out...they do!



• You know..This thought is just way to deep..especially following a thought regarding cereal placement. But really...sometimes i DO NOT get life...and what is thrown at you at certain times? Why people come into your life at the wrong times...it's so frustrating! I can only hope that someday down the road it will make sense..but it sucks at the time when it makes NO sense at all!!



• Is it wrong that when i smile at a complete stranger to make their day brighter, and they look back at me with a glare...that i wanna then smack them in the head...hard? Why cant people just SMILE?



• squirrels love to eat pumpkins. Why do i know this? Well...i grew my own pumpkins this year with visions of having lots and lots of pumpkins on my porch until THANKSGIVING...ya well...they ate all 10 of them!! Those furry little animals are lucky that I love them so much.



• My college team plays tomorrow morning at 10:00am...is 10:00am to early for hot wings and beer?



• I can walk into a Barnes and Nobel and get lost in their for hours..i think i may have to make a trip very soon.



• This morning 2 of my kids were putting oatmeal ON top of toast..i seriously threw up in my mouth a little bit.

Holy mother of all that's pretty...bless your heart if you made it to the end of this crazy...blog consisting of complete non sense!! Hope you all have a wonderful weekend...I mean that too ;-)

p.s. I totally think that fly was a literary insect..because i have not seen him once since the start of this post! He must have read that insert about him and got the heck out of dodge! Smart fly he is!!

Thursday Thankfulls & Hot dogs in the snow!

Wow...either I have a had a crazy busy last few months, or lacking some caffeinated creativity. I think it's a mixture of both! It's fall now...and things are winding down..well kinda. I really miss reading and writing my Blogs...so here I am..kicking it off with some Thursday Thankfulls:


1. God and his forgiveness


2. 2nd chances


3. My wonderful..rockin awesome 3 kids


4. Egg nogg lattes from Starbucks..had my first one of the season yesterday...yummo


5. Snuggling with my girls in my bed at night reading good books


6. Art and books


7. the fact that the older i get..the more silly i get!! =p


8. prayer


9. Friends


10. Snow days...me and the kids grilled out hot dogs IN THE BLIZZARD....so much fun!




Oh how I mis blogging....I hope everyone has a great day..and a blessed week!

Friday Confessions...whoop..

Oh man i miss doing Friday confessions!MMMkay....lets see what Melissa has been up to:

1. I said Dude...a lot at Michael's back to school night. Everyone knows that I heart the word dude...but i should prob try and refrain from saying it in front of his teachers! Although Michael's little peeps appreciated it!!

2. Titanic...that's all I can say about that. Sweet confessions...and this is one that I will NEVER regret

3. oops i did it again...again i cant go in to detail on this one either...but i had to get it off my chest!! Phew...i feel so much better =)

4. I have only flipped off one person in the car this week..but still that's not a good thing, I hate the "When Melissa gets behind the wheel personality", she can be so ugly!!

5. I watched Twilight 6 times this week!

6. I'm pretty sure I said Edwards name in the night double that!!

7. I have ate the same thing for lunch and dinner since Monday..except once. Ham and Swiss on rye. Its not really something to confess...but it's just weird!

8. I have had Starbucks way to many times to even confess..i mean remember!

9. I smoked a cigar one night on the front porch by myself one night at like 10:30pm...Who does that???

10. I washed the same load of towels that are in the washer 3 times..maybe 4!

11. Oh ya...seriously i almost hit this kid on a bike

12. I love the new Miley Cyrus song, climb. This is just so wicked embarrassing..the fact that I am actually publicly confessing about it ...is crazy!!

13. As always on the list...watching cartoons ALONE!

14. Okay..i am adding onto confession #4. I feel i need to explain here! I am a "Grandma driver" I have kids (my precious kids) in the car...so I drive the speed limit and I DO NOT..I repeat DO NOT turn left on orange arrows or lights. So its the people that ride my a$$ and yell at me that get me mad..and i end up flipping them off.. and at times i even get out of the car (at an orange lights) throw up my arms and yell out, "Wanna go?"

15. hmmm...#15...i need one more confession. I cannot stop at 14, that's just weird...so....lets see...okay..here is one...Allie has had a crappy (literally) diaper the whole time I have been writing this blog post..I totally should have changed her by now..but I was on a roll!!! But ya...I'd better go take care of that business!!

Have a fantastic weekend everyone!!!