Updates on Dreams and Goals for October 2024

 

We have reached the end of another month of 2024, and I absolutely can’t believe we only have two months left in this year! We’ll save all my sappy thoughts on this year for another day and post, and we’ll stay concentrated today on how this month went. I made some goals at the start of the month, so let’s see how they went:

ONE. Choose a writing project: Well, I’ll start by saying that I didn’t accomplish the goal as I wrote it, BUT…I finished the first edit on the memoir project I wrote this summer. I love how it turned out, and even though it will always be (in its current form) only for me, I believe there are some things within that could be extracted to share at some point. So I’m excited I accomplished that this year.

TWO. Go on a fun and different kind of date. We did this on our engagementversary! I shared about it earlier this month, but if you missed it, we visited a new-to-us orchard for a Friday night of free music at their outside venue, and really yummy apple treats! It was a fun, fun night, and we’ve decided to make it a tradition to visit that orchard for a Free Music Friday each year!

THREE. Figure out picture outfits. This one did not go smoothly, but it did get accomplished with literally five minutes to spare. I had figured out a whole outfit for myself (to coordinate with the one Ryan wanted for himself) and as he was strolling in the door from work and the photographer was standing IN OUR DINING ROOM, I decided I didn’t like mine and wanted to start over! So I did! I haven’t seen the pictures yet, but here’s hoping it was not the worst choice in the world. Ha!

FOUR. Do better with the workouts. It wasn’t as great as I hoped. Part of that was because both Ryan and I had colds this month, so we ended up resting more than working out. That’s not the worst either, but it didn’t help me check off this goal!

In other adventures from this month….

·         Ryan and I served at our church’s fall fun night (alongside our fellow deacons) and had a blast doing it. This also gave us a chance to have fun at the Steele Farms Corn Maze – on our monthiversary, no less!

·         Ryan took a few more head shots for me one night when I was having a good hair day. 😊 You might remember this had been a goal in a previous month, and we did it and marked it off the list, but we just added to it, and I really liked how round 2 turned out!

·         I had a total blast updating Ryan’s resume for the new role he applied for at work this month. It was almost like a scrapbooking project for me, and I probably had way more fun with it than anyone should have sprucing up a resume.

·         Ryan and I worked together to repair the boat trailer for the pontoon. It was pretty old and had a lot of worn spots, so he researched how to fix it up, and we spent many evenings doing just that. I was excited to see it turn out looking great – for a couple of boat trailer rookies!

·         I completed my speaking at the church I’ve been sharing at throughout the year. That adventure was a complete surprise for my year and has been such a great learning experience for me. I am thankful.

·         I was able to see (and photograph) the Northern Lights, which I had no idea would even be visible this month, and they were SO beautiful!

·         We celebrated my dad’s 92^nd birthday with him.

·         Ryan participated in the choir at work, and I enjoyed both presentations of the concert they gave. It was so good!

·         My book order came (the one I placed with Better World Books that I told you about earlier this week) and I started reading! I am so excited to dive into ALL the books I ordered.

·         We had a couple of weeks off because of fall break and other activities, but we continued helping to serve with the kids’ ministry at church!

·         I traveled to a workshop for Run Hard. Rest Well. and learned some valuable information that day!

·         Ryan started his new role at work, and I have been busy plotting the décor of his new office.

·         I hosted the ladies from our Sunday School class at a little get-together at our house, and we had so much fun.

·         We had our family pictures taken for our Christmas card (and just to update home pictures) and had a blast, as always. Barb (our photographer) does such a great job and makes it so easy for us! (And she is a total champ for wrangling a toddler dog in the middle of it all!)

And that’s a wrap on October!

Decluttering Challenge #2

 

Last week I shared with you some ideas for decluttering, and they came from a packet Ryan brought home from a workshop he took. Today I thought I’d share a few more! (It was fun to hear how you started taking action in your own homes after last week’s post!)

Don’t hang onto excess/out-of-date hair care items. I shared yesterday about my thick, attitudinal hair, and I do try to corral it with all manner of products and hair pretties. But if you find that something doesn’t work for you, or you’ve owned it so long that it might actually damage your hair if you applied it now, get rid of it. We have limited bathroom storage in our house, so if it’s going to live under the sink, it better be worth its keep! Gel, mousse, serums, sprays…if they aren’t working, don’t keep them. And if you have hair pins, scrunchies, clips, etc. that are broken or tarnished or just not your style anymore, let them go! This will either free up your space to be far less cluttered, or it will create space for new products and pretties that you do love and do work for your hair.

The same for out-of-date skin care. I remember the year I learned that sunscreen expires. One burn later and I watch those dates closely now! Additionally, I keep a pretty small regimen of daily skin care. I use things up before they expire, but if you have a box full of stuff you’ve tried and didn’t love, let it go if it’s out of date. It’s not serving you – and it won’t serve anyone else, either! (If you have something you bought and tried and didn’t love, but it’s still good, see if you can find someone to share it with who might be able to use it before it expires!)

Let’s mention the unmentionables. Socks, underwear, anything you wear under your clothes…if the elastic has retired, the whole piece should retire. Has it gotten holey? Raggedy? See-through? Bye-bye! I think we have a tendency to keep these struggling pieces because no one can see them, so it doesn’t matter. But it does matter – and not just from a vanity perspective. You’ll actually feel better when you have pieces that are whole and functional!

Do a pre-fall scarf purge. I am excited that scarf season is back. I like accessorizing with them, but in the last year or two, I’ve gotten rid of so many that I didn’t wear anymore. Whether it was the color or the style that wasn’t for me – if they didn’t get worn, they didn’t get to stay in the small scarf tub I have in the closet. But I don’t think it would kill me to go back through it again and get rid of a few more. If I haven’t worn them in the past two years (and they don’t hold sentimental value, as a couple of them still do), they will not stay. (Note: your closet actually isn’t cold, so it doesn’t need the scarves living in it to stay warm.)

T-shirts don’t have to outlive you. I have made it a practice to use my “retired” t-shirts as lounging and workout shirts. When things no longer look good enough for everyday wear, they move to “the drawer” where I pull them out when I need something ratty to wear. But I’m starting to change my opinion on lounging and workout clothes. I don’t see the need for them to be ratty-shirt times. So I think I need to start weeding out some of the shirts that are showing wear, whether that be pilling or cracking graphics, or just not fitting right anymore. I remind myself there isn’t a prize for having clothing that outlives me!

GET RID OF EXPIRED MEDS. So important! Not only will expired meds not help, but they might even hurt. Don’t keep them. And make sure you dispose of them properly, too. (That’s a whole separate post.) Also – get rid of meds that didn’t work for you and you know you won’t use. Unless you actually do run a pharmacy, there are no prizes for owning one of everything. Or ten of them.

Bury the mail graveyard. I am pretty sure every home has a basket or drawer or stack of graveyard mail. It could be junk. It could need shredded. It could need dealt with. But it doesn’t need to be collected. If it’s junk, toss it. If it needs shredded, shred it (or put it in a box to take to a shred day, and then take it to the shred day.) If it needs dealt with, deal with it. Delegate a day each week to be mail-dealing day and work through it. Piles, even organized ones, typically just cause anxiety. Do yourself a favor and don’t hang onto your mail collection.

If you use paper coupons, ditch the expired ones. Remember Sunday papers with coupons? Many places have moved to digital coupons, so this probably isn’t as big an issue for most, but if you do still use paper coupons, look at them and throw away the ones that have expired. And throw away the ones you truly are not going to use.

It’s okay to let go of gifts you don’t like. This is really hard on the heart. When someone cares about you enough to give you a gift…but you really don’t like it or can’t use it…you might still feel guilty about getting rid of it. This might be made harder if the gift giver is one who checks up on gifts to see how they’re going for you. The truth is, once you give someone something – it’s theirs to do with as they want. And if they don’t want to keep it, it’s actually not a personal reflection on how they feel about you. They might just not have the space to hang onto something they don’t want or use. So if you have something that was given to you and it’s simply not your style, doesn’t fit your space, or you just don’t like it for whatever reason, you really, truly, and honestly don’t have to keep it. You can donate it or share it with someone you know will love and use it!

Nail polish doesn’t have to outlive you either. I confess I might be a bit of a hypocrite on this one as I still have the bottle of nail polish I used for our wedding TWELVE YEARS AGO. Maybe this needs to be my own challenge this week. I have gotten rid of all but four bottles of regular polish (which I still use on my toes) and keep my gel polishes pretty current. But if you have dozens of bottles of thick (or runny), mostly dried up polish, this is a great time to get rid of it! Again – it either frees up space you need or gives you room to purchase something new that you will love and wear!

            Hope this helps you let go of a few more things just taking up space in your house and heart that might not be serving you well.

Fun Finds for October 2024

 

I have several fun little finds for you today! These are things I’ve stumbled upon randomly throughout the month and thought I would pass along to you in case you, too, need a fun find!

            ONE. We all know I love books, and while I don’t think this is possible, some might say I love them too much. I tend to prefer purchasing my books because I often want to mark in them, and libraries frown on that. (I do read library books too, but if I think it’s going to be a keeper or a “writer,” I have to buy it. And that gets expensive!) Years ago, I learned about the website Thrift Books, but I always found it challenging to locate the particular books I wanted, and if I did, the prices didn’t seem that much lower than buying new. Maybe it’s just the books I read. I’m not sure. But this month, while reading a blog post, I learned about Better World Books, which is a website that sells used books to keep them out of landfills.

            According to some stats I read, this site has raised $35 million for literacy, donated 38 million books (they donate a book for each one purchased), kept 475 million books out of landfills, and has served 87 million customers. Not too shabby! I transferred my entire book wish list into that website and ended up placing a pretty big order that will keep me reading for a while. I loved it that all the books were in good shape, and some almost seemed brand new. Some had been library books, so they had stamps/markings from that, but I don’t care. My only complaint was that the company puts their own bar code sticker right on the spine, and it’s super sticky. Took a while and a lot of Goo Gone to clean that up. But the savings mattered to me, and I loved being able to find books that I can’t even get on Amazon anymore because the books are too old/out of print.

            TWO. I go through a lot of Greek yogurt every single week. I eat it every day, and I use it in a lot of cooking. It gets pricey to purchase a couple of tubs of that every week, so I found this post that teaches how to make a lot of dairy products at home. This month I branched out into making my own Greek yogurt. The great news? It’s not hard at all. The not-so-great news if you’re a busy person? You do need to be home to do the steps on a timeline. I have made it three or four times now, and I think it’s tasty! And it’s markedly cheaper than purchasing it. I am basically one step away from being Caroline Ingalls now. Note: We are just using store-bought milk for ours. I know this post is about raw milk, but it works with store-bought too!

            THREE. Maybe I’m the last person on earth to know about this, so just pat my head and bless my heart if you knew it and can’t believe I didn’t. You know my dear love of color coding, and in my day planner, I use Flair pens, because they write smoothly and are so pretty! But my one complaint is that when I write an appointment in the little square on the calendar, and then it gets rescheduled or canceled, my pretty page looks messy. I hate that. (And I’m running out of my stickers that say canceled and rescheduled.)

            The other day, I got curious about something and did some research. A few years ago, when I was in a Bible study back in Kokomo, the leader gave us erasable colored pencils. Like regular, sharpen-them-yourself colored pencils, but erasable. I love using them to highlight in my Bible, because if I realize I’m using the wrong color, I can erase and start over. But I didn’t think I’d like using them in a planner, because as the lead dulls with writing, the line gets fat and thick, and I don’t want to be tied to a pencil sharpener every moment of the day. But it made me wonder if they make colored MECHANICAL pencils, and it turns out they do! Did you know this??? I’ll keep using my Flair pens in this planner (so it all matches) but I am putting this on my list for next year’s planner!

FOUR. I mentioned this one a few days ago in a different post, but I wanted to come back to it again. (And if you didn’t see in the comments, Tracy also gave it a great review!) I went to a workshop at Camp Lutherhaven in Albion, IN, and it was the prettiest little place. This is a Lutheran Church campground, but they do offer an opportunity for people to come for a day or an overnight for a personal retreat. In fact, the day I was there, a gentleman was spending the day retreating and resting up so he could return to his busy life in school administration. If you’re in the Indiana area and want to read more about it, check out the retreat tab. Super peaceful place!

FIVE. Within the last year, I’ve been using ELF skin care and makeup products because they strike the balance for me between affordability and an ingredient list I can handle. I’ve been trying to find some similar balance with hair care products. Goodness, they can be so expensive!! I have a lot of hair, and it’s very attitudinal, so with any product I use, I’m going to need a chunk of it to manage this big ole mane. (Haircut is possible…stay tuned on that one.) Anyway, I happened upon Kristin Ess hair products and have decided I might give them a try. I purchased the dry shampoo, because I didn’t have any at all and wanted to see if it would work on my hair. It does! I’m going to slowly add a few more things as I go and see how it continues to work.

SIX. Ryan and I haven’t burned candles in our home for quite some time – largely because of our desire to eliminate synthetic fragrances. We get our fragrance from diffusing oils, and it’s been working really well for us for the last few years. I confess, though, that I miss the ambiance of a burning candle sometimes – especially in the cold weather seasons. So I’ve bookmarked this Antique Candle Company page to explore this fall. The candles are not super cheap, but they are made from good ingredients and address some of the toxicity issues we are trying to avoid. I haven’t made any decisions on it yet, but I am glad to at least have found the option for it!

SEVEN. This one showed up in my Instagram feed and blew my mind. Maybe you’ve seen it before, but it was new to both Ryan and me. (And we watch Shark Tank! How did we miss this?) It’s called a Kettle Gryp, and it clasps around a dumbbell to turn it into a kettle bell! WHAT!?!?!!?!? This saves so much space of buying both pieces of equipment! Mind blown.

EIGHT. Again, perhaps I live under a rock, and everyone knows about this one but me, but in case you don’t and it’s helpful, here you go! I read about these candies on a blog last week! The brand is called Unreal, and the candies are made with less sugar, no dyes, and better ingredients than traditional candies. If you are working on cleaning up the ingredients in your life and need an option for your sweet tooth (or want your kids to be able to enjoy what other kids are enjoying…without all the bad ingredients), maybe this would be a good option! In full disclosure, I’ve not tried them, but they look really yummy!

Bekah's Bookshelf: My 2024 Reads So Far

 

Last month when I wrote to you about my reading updates, I hadn’t yet finished Beth Moore’s memoir, but I did get it completed before September ended. And today…I share my thoughts with you!

            I know that a lot of people have strong feelings when it comes to Beth. Some really love her and some find her a bit much. And others did love her and found themselves put off by her when she spoke her mind and stood up to the SBC. I can only speak for my own opinions, so if yours differ, it’s okay!

            Beth’s writings and teachings have heavily shaped me through the years. She was the one who made me believe I could possibly learn about studying God’s Word even if I didn’t have a graduate degree attached to my name. She was the one who taught me by her own example to dig in as far as I could, to love word studies, and to write Bible studies. I’ve done many of her video/book studies and loved them all. I’ve been to one of her Living Proof Live events.

            I have always believed Beth is the real deal and I believe it even more after reading her memoir. I have no idea how she has withstood the storm of criticism that has come her way. Do I believe she has done everything right? No. And you know what? She would say the same! But do I believe she has done everything she has done with the best of intentions? Yes. And as a person who also hasn’t done everything right and also had good intentions, I hope for the same mercy and grace of God to cover my own failings and faults.

            Beth’s memoir is called All My Knotted-Up Life, and she writes exactly how she speaks. It’s one of the things that slowed me down as I read. I had to read it in her voice, and not being a natural at a southern accent, I had to work at it. (Fun fact: this is the first book in all my life that I want to follow up by listening to the audio book because I want to hear it IN her voice.)

            Beth has had a hard life. She was (as she has shared about in her teachings) abused as a child and it shaped her – as it would shape anyone. She writes candidly the hard stuff about growing up in a home where her father was known one way in the community and a very different way by his family. She writes about her brokenness and how she fought to find her way. She has had a hard marriage – which she has also shared about candidly in her teachings – yet she and Keith have worked hard to persevere and show God’s mercy through their own stories. They love each other deeply, even if life and love haven’t come easily.

            To read the stories of her faith and how it was shaped, the desire of her soul, the teachings that both enabled and strangled her, was so comforting to me. I appreciated her vulnerability, honesty, and willingness to say hard things for the good of the reader who might be living the same hard things.

            I loved this book. I’m so glad I bought it. I underlined in it and really do want to hear the audio so I can hear it all again in her familiar voice.

**

Source

            For the last five weeks I’ve been doing another Darlene Schacht (Time Warp Wife) Bible study. This time I did her newest release: Living Faithfully – A Journey Through James. I knew this book was going to be the topic of her next study, so all throughout the month of September, I did a slow, deep dive (personally) on the book of James, and then I dug in again with her for the duration of this study.

            The last study of hers I did (which I told you about earlier) was on the life of Jacob, and it was an eleven-week study. This one was just five weeks, and the study was not only shorter in weeks, but it was also shorter in daily readings. So if you need a study that isn’t super long and consuming, this would be a good choice.

            James is such a rich book, and I appreciate the themes Darlene pulled from it to teach how to live faithfully in specific areas of life, as taught throughout the book of James. As is her usual writing style, she shares personal stories as well as important context and word studies from the Scripture that make the lessons easier to understand and put into practice.

            I am a fan of her study style, so I have yet to find a book of hers I don’t like, and this one is no exception. I recommend it wholeheartedly! (And a reminder…if you can’t afford to purchase the book, you can sign up for her newsletter and receive access to free downloads of all the chapters!)

**

            Another book I read this month was one I found on display in the Swiss Village library. Ryan checked it out for me so I could read it. I’d never heard of it before, but it’s called The Wilder Life: My Adventures in the Lost World of Little House on the Prairie – a memoir by Wendy McClure.

            This book fascinated me because I simultaneously loved it and didn’t like it at all. I agreed and disagreed with the author, sometimes on the same points. How is that even possible?

            The premise of the book is that Wendy read the Little House books as a child and found Laura to be a kindred spirit…so much so that when she grew up, she felt she had to deeply explore the world of Little House to make sense of how the stories shaped her and how they still impacted her in her adult life. It was a concept that made sense to me, since many of the books I read and was shaped by as a child have pushed me to explore the lives and time periods of those books as an adult. But I’ve never taken it to the lengths she did with Little House.

            She was quick to say her love of the stories came from the books, not from the TV show, and if anything, she seems to be opposed to the show and its inaccurate representation of the true Ingalls family. We parted ways there, because I love the show every bit as much as the books. She wrestled with the line between fiction and reality within the books Laura wrote and spent many hours reading books written by others about Laura to learn more of the truth. I have never struggled with it. The books were what they are, and I am okay with them, even if they are somewhat fiction.

            She visited the sites around the country, went to plays and musicals and festivals – and through it all, she learned to work through her connection to and distance from Little House. Some of her experiences were funny to read about, and I giggled. Others were a little too strange for me, and at times, I wanted to quit reading because I was so annoyed by it.

            We all know I am a Little House fan and hope to finish visiting the real-life sites I haven’t yet seen. So in this way, I connected with Wendy’s draw to “Laura World” as she called it. I loved reading her thought process because it made sense to me. But I absolutely didn’t agree with everything.

            I am loving memoir as a genre more and more, so for that reason, I’m so glad I read this book and entered into this story. My biggest frustration with the book was unnecessary use of bad language. It wasn’t overpowering, but it was there, and it irritated me. Big picture, I’m glad I read the book, and I’m glad I stuck with it to the end. It isn’t one I need to own and I’m on the fence about whether or not I would even call this a book I’d recommend. I’ll just leave the facts here and let you decide!

**

            My final book for this month had been on my to-be-read pile for a little bit, and I finally got to it! (The pile was shrinking…and then I may have purchased a bunch more. Oops.) Anyway, thank you, Brompton friends for gifting me the beautiful book called Parks Across America: Viewing God’s Wonders Through a Creationist Lens. The book is written by Brian Thomas and Timothy Clarey, along with some other contributing authors and holds some of the most stunning photography.

            My friends, the Bromptons, know we aspire to one day travel to see parts of this beautiful country we have never seen before, and they know we deeply love to learn more about God’s handiwork across this world. The book includes not only beautiful photos that reinforce my desire to see these places for myself, but also explanations about the land formations and how God’s hand and the events of the Flood and history have formed and shaped the things that make them so beautiful.

            The book started with the Grand Canyon, which reminds me that I’m not sure I’ve told you that hiking that rim-to-rim is on our bucket list. So beautiful. The Painted Desert is an area I’ve learned a lot more about since researching Route 66 (since it is near that). It’s stunning. Acadia National Park in Maine is a must when we visit the far northeastern part of the country. (We hope to knock out about six states on that trip whenever we get to take it.) Diamond State Park in Arkansas was a brand new one for me. How have I not known about it??? I loved reading about Crater Lake National Park. I haven’t researched much about it yet, before this book, anyway. Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore in Michigan is a must-see when we get to visit the UP someday. There were many other places featured, too, but I loved learning from this book! So much good information inside! I’ll be referring to it over and over when we actually go to these places.

            So there you have it! An update on my books read. Two more months to go, and I really need to sort out which books I definitely want to read before the year concludes!

Dates and Verses

 

I worked on a project this week that took me on a trek through my Bible, reading verses from several books. As I flipped through the pages, I noticed the growing number of verses marked throughout my Bible as holding significance for me on different days for different reasons.

            Finding those verses reminded me that there is beauty in living in the same Bible for a while, and an equal beauty in changing Bibles every few years. I love studying from the same one long enough to establish the chronicle of how verses have meant something to my life story in a season. And I love seeing the testimony of different seasons as chronicled in different Bibles.

            I found verses texted and emailed to me from friends who walked with me through a particular part of my journey. (I remember sending one of those verses back to a friend a full year after she had sent it to me, which allowed me to walk with her through her difficulty as she had done for me in mine.)

            I found verses I had read in Bible study or daily devotions that seemed sent straight from the Lord as a gift, and I had written the dates and scenarios beside them to remind me what they meant to me.

            I found verses I prayed over a person God brought to our lives for a very short season. Even though our journeys weren’t meant to intersect for long, I pray for him each time I see his name beside one of those verses.

            It was such a sweet gift to me this week because it was a fresh reminder of how absolutely faithful God is to provide peace and comfort to my heart in every single season. He’s no different today than he was on any of the dates I marked beside the verses. He cares as much today. He is moving and working as diligently today.

            Maybe you also mark verses in your Bible, but if you don’t do it because you don’t like to mark in your Bible, I sure hope you’re keeping a chronicle of them somewhere. It’s such a great record of your faith story – your testimony.

            And one day – whether soon or way down the road – you might have the chance to talk to one of your children or grandchildren, or even a friend, and you can point to a verse and a date and share the story of what happened in your life and how those holy words carried you through that time! Maybe that story will end up encouraging them in the moment they need it most!

            I’m so glad for every single date I marked and every single verse that marked me!

Saturday Suggestions: Inspirations for Your Weekend

 

It has been a busy week around here! Ryan started his new job sooner than he originally planned, so he has been working hard learning the ropes. We had family pictures this week, I finished a big writing project, and we are excited for a Saturday at home! While we enjoy autumn at the lake, here are some fun things for you to enjoy!

ONE. 

You know (if you’ve been here even a month!) that I do love a good “versary.” Monthiversary, datingversary, engagementversary, anniversary, workaversery, houseaversary, you name it. Bring me a chance to celebrate, and I will do it. But how in the WORLD had I never thought of this idea of buying your house a “versary” present to mark another year of living there??? I not only love the idea for obvious reasons, but I love what the writer talks about when she mentions celebrating the gift of having a place to live and investing in its future. YES! So important. I love it.

TWO. 

Back in my Financial Aid days, I loved wearing red. It was a good thing, too, because it was one of the school colors! When we had big visit days or move-in days, all the staff wore red and black to be easily identifiable, and I owned a ton of red shirts as a result. As the years have gone by, I’ve come to understand that bright red is not really my best color (skin tone/hair color isn’t a great compatible match) so I have pretty much eliminated it from my wardrobe. But I liked this post that shows ways to wear red this fall – as an accent color. I think I could do that more easily than wearing it as the main attraction. I still don’t think I want to spend a bunch of money to incorporate it at this point, but if I landed in a situation where I needed to feature red in an outfit, I like these ideas!

THREE. 

Thanksgiving is just a month-ish away, and this post has a complete TREASURE TROVE of ideas for the day. Some yummy-looking recipes, some décor ideas – even a banner and planner! (Hey, that rhymed!) I feel like Thanksgiving is one of those holidays that is really easy to get in a rut with, so if you need some fresh ideas to bring new life to a standard day, maybe you’ll find something fun in there.

FOUR. 

It’s totally true that I’ve started watching Christmas movies on TV, but I’m still loving fall décor that I find online. All the trees around the lake are SO pretty right now, so I’m not moving on from fall in my head just yet. I really loved this fall tour of a home – probably because I feel like the majority of what she did would be my own choice for our house. It’s simple and not overly orange. (To be clear, I don’t hate orange. It just doesn’t work well with our colors here, so I keep it minimal. We have some, but not a lot.) BONUS: And speaking of home tours, look at this ADORABLE and proper cabin in the country of Virginia. It is so cute – and it comes with an honest-to-goodness mill! The cabin is little…could you live there??

FIVE. 

YOU GUYS!!!! Look at this office chair! It showed up on my Instagram feed this week, and I think it is a brilliant creation. I love the adjustable footrest that allows you to put your feet up or sit cross-legged or even take a nap! (Just kidding. No napping at work.) Am I the last person on earth to know this kind of chair exists??

SIX. 

I have thought often of the couples who had weddings scheduled in the path of any of the recent hurricanes and wondered what happened to them. (This line of thought has been impacted by knowing our own wedding venue is closed for the rest of the year.) So this sweet article about two couples who were AT the Biltmore for their own weddings on September 28^th was a delight to read. I love how the guests at the hotel made it happen!

BONUS: And here are this week’s capsule wardrobe combinations!

Saturday, October 19, 2024

Sunday, October 20, 2024

Monday, October 21, 2024

Tuesday, October 22, 2024

Wednesday, October 23, 2024

Thursday, October 24, 2024

Friday, October 25, 2024

Foodie Friday: This Week's Winners!

 

            Last week I shared with you some of the dishes I made throughout the week, and what I loved about them. That worked well, so I’m going to do it again this week. Maybe you’ll find some fun things for your recipes this week!

Taco Dip – This is not the first time I’ve shared this recipe on this blog, and in fact, this link takes you to the time I did share the actual recipe here. I’ve made this for almost a decade now and still love it. This taco dip doesn’t have refried beans in it, so if you’re not a bean lover, this will work for you! It’s healthy and super easy to put together. The one downfall of this dish is that it doesn’t keep for days and days without getting watery, so if you do make it, you’ll want to consume it pretty quickly. I made this Sunday for the little gathering we had at our house, and it was so yummy. (Ryan requested it again soon.)

Apple Crisp – This was another dish I made Sunday, and it comes from Dashing Dish, so if you don’t have a membership, you may not be able to see it. This isn’t the first time I’ve made this one either, and I love having it in my recipe box. It’s bountiful in the apple portion, and I love the taste of the crumble on top. It doesn’t have white flour or sugar in it – or butter either. We added ice cream to ours, and it was so good.

Berry Trifle – I made this one over the weekend to take to small group! One of the couples who used to be in our group moved out of state and they were back to visit this week. I had taken this to small group before and the wife of that couple loved it, so I made it especially for her visit. They all practically licked the bowl clean, which made me simultaneously happy and sad. 😊 It’s also a Dashing Dish recipe, so you may not be able to see it without a membership, but I feel like getting a membership for this one alone is WORTH IT. Such a good trifle with berries and a no-bake-cheesecake filling and some graham cracker crumbs. Oh no. Now I want more of it!

Mushroom and Spinach Scrambled Eggs – I made this for breakfast almost every day this week, and it was so good. I love adding things to my scrambled eggs to make the meal fuller – and make me fuller while I’m at it! I put feta on top of mine. I have grown to love feta in scrambled eggs and am so glad a server at a breakfast restaurant suggested it to me several years ago. Best breakfast tip ever!

Healthy Chicken Salad – I have made several versions of healthy chicken salad over the years, and I have a handful of favorites. This is one. For me, the hard thing about healthy versions is that most eliminate mayo entirely, which (for me) is the joy of chicken salad. This one includes it (low-fat) but not to excess. I did end up adding a tiny bit of Greek yogurt to this so it wouldn’t be quite so dry, and I was really happy with how it turned out. I also love boiling my chicken breasts/tenders and then shredding them in the stand mixer for easy prep. Pinterest taught me that tip years ago, and it’s been a game-changer!

Tacos – I made this taco recipe this week with a couple of modifications. I used ground turkey instead of ground beef (cheaper) and I used my own homemade taco seasoning instead of the one she mentioned. They’re not that different, though. I like adding in some bell pepper to the meat, as she suggests. Extra way to sneak in some veggies, right? I eat mine over a bed of greens, rather than in shells, but you can do it however you want!

PB&J Smoothie Bowl – I made this one for the first time yesterday and loved it. It felt like dessert for breakfast, and I did not hate that one little bit. I used a frozen mixed berry bat I had on hand – cherries, blueberries, and strawberries. It was the perfect flavor. I used all-natural peanut butter, because that is what I use in general. WHOA. So good.

            That has been my culinary week. I hope you find something worth keeping in here!

Decluttering Challenge #1

 

            A few weeks ago, Ryan went to a seminar on decluttering, and he brought home this fascinating packet of paperwork about it. And yes, I do recognize the irony in a packet of paperwork about decluttering. Ha! I thought I would write a few posts with some ideas that might help us all! (You can do spring cleaning in the fall, too, right?)

1.       Throw away wrapping paper scraps. Do you even use wrapping paper anymore? I would guess most people use gift bags now. But regardless of which one you use, do you have a bunch of jumbled gift wrap guts strewn about the house? Bags that are worn out? Tissue paper? Smashed bows? Here’s what I did this summer to help with this: When Mom and Dad moved, Mom bequeathed to me all her wrapping paper, gift bags, bows, tissue, etc. I went through everything in her stash and mine and took out the things that looked worn/bedraggled/not my style. I took a long, large plastic tub and neatly organized all the rolls of wrapping paper, gift bags, and folded sheets of tissue paper. Then in a separate, smaller tub, I kept the bows that weren’t smashed. Those two tubs are my max-capacity storage for gift wrapping supplies. My collection can never surpass what comfortably fits in those two things. They’re organized, they’re not damaged, they’re usable, and I know exactly where they are.

2.       Throw away Christmas lights that don’t work. We don’t (currently, anyway) put lights on the outside of our house at Christmas. Maybe one day we will, but for now, our only Christmas lights are the regular indoor tree strands. I do not keep strands that are half-dead. Here’s how I handle my Christmas lights every year: At the end of each Christmas season, I pitch the strands that have died, and I also try to purchase new boxes when they go on sale at the end of the season, so I’m prepared for the following year. We have, as you might remember, a lot of trees, so I don’t have time to mess with partially dead strands.

3.       Get rid of out-of-date magazines. Oh, I used to be so bad about this. There was a season of my life where I could have won an award for excessive magazine collections! Over time, I’ve eliminated them entirely, and I also don’t receive any magazines (currently) so I don’t have fresh issues coming into the house on a regular basis. If I did, though, here’s what I would do: I would read the magazines and pull out anything I wanted to keep for future reference – like a recipe, for example. Then I would find a good forwarding spot for the old magazines. If it’s still full and not partially destroyed, I would gift it forward for someone else to read. (Sometimes offices with waiting rooms accept old issues for reading material, too.) If it’s not full enough to pass on, I’d see if a classroom or homeschool parent needed any for projects!

4.       Toss old receipts that you don’t need. Ryan is the keeper of the receipts in our household, so these go to him, and he’s really good about sorting through them in a timely manner to keep or shred as needed. When I was single, I had a practice of taping receipts to copy paper if I needed to keep them for tax or other purposes and shredding the rest. Receipts, I believe, multiply in drawers, so don’t let them get the best of you!

5.       Say goodbye to worn out hair ties. Another item that multiplies in drawers! I actually need to do a better job of tossing the ones that have stretched out. I don’t know why I keep them. They’re so tiny and so cheap (literally and figuratively) that there is absolutely no reason to hang onto ones that no longer do their job well. Another thing: I need to put hair ties on the shopping list. I have a bunch that are standard ties. I have none of the tiny ones that sometimes wish I had for little braids. Do I ever think of it while I’m at the store? Absolutely not.

6.       Don’t keep unmatched earrings. My jewelry has gone through a bit of a capsule phase, much like my wardrobe. Over the course of our moves, I’ve eliminated all earrings that don’t match my current clothing colors. I also want to make sure I don’t end up with an extensive collection of earrings I am not wearing. I have a specific holder that I keep them in, and when the holder gets full, something has go to if something new comes in. It might be a good idea to expand this one to include – broken earrings, earrings you hate, earrings that hurt your ears, and earrings that no longer fit your style.

7.       Throw away worn out or unmatched socks. Did you know there’s actually not a prize for wearing socks until they fall off your feet? True story! My rule is as follows: If it loses its partner and is not the kind of sock that I have a dozen more to match, it goes in the trash. If I have more like it, I’ll hang onto a single sock because eventually a new partner will show up for it. If it gets threadbare on the bottom or gets a hole in it, it goes in the trash. My feet actually hurt after wearing socks with holes in the bottom, so there’s no point in keeping them.

8.       Why keep old CDs? I might be a fail on this one. I have a bunch, and I don’t listen to them, but I can’t bring myself to throw them away. Hey, I made it to number eight before I had a fail. That’s not bad. Maybe I need to spend some time thinking about WHY I’m keeping them.

9.       Damaged/worn out sunglasses need to go. This isn’t really a problem for me, because I tend to only have one pair of sunglasses at a time. When they break, I have to get new ones because I don’t have others. But if you keep some here and there, it might be time to go through them and make sure you’ve gotten rid of the ones you don’t wear or like. Here’s an idea: I’ve tried to be really purposeful about the sunglasses I buy. I try on a million in the store before buying and have learned what styles pinch my nose or hurt my head. I have learned the shades of brightness/darkness I love and hate and that makes it easier to only buy one pair at a time. I also almost always buy at Walmart or a dollar store so that if/when they break, I’m not out a ton of money.

10.   Don’t keep out of date makeup products. Eyeshadow palettes are always the culprit for me. Some of the spots wear out immediately and some hardly look used. But I try not to keep them excessively – and this is one reason I like buying makeup that is on the cheaper side. I don’t feel as bad if I have to replace it often. My favorite makeup idea was back when I used Mary Kay, and you could craft your own makeup tray with magnetized tins of colors. You could replace each one when it emptied and not throw away things that still have life.

So…how did you do on this list? Any of them a struggle for you? Any of them on your list to tackle soon?