Something Old, Something New

I love the show Pan Am. Not really even for the drama, but for the outfits. The styles are so sweet and refreshing. The women dress to flatter their figure. There are ladies with tiny waists and fuller figures and they all celebrate their body in a flattering way. And so, my high waisted black skirt has become my go to when I want to feel pretty and sophisticated. The other day I wore this to our Amway meeting:

Now, to the real reason I am up past my bedtime to write to you all, whoever you are ;) I went back to that awesome thrift shop..


 The coloring is a little tricky in these pictures, but I'll try to get some more tomorrow outside before work. Using the tutorial I posted the other day, I was able to transform it! Most of my recent sewing endeavors have ended with more frustration that positive feelings. Thankfully, this one has redeemed all those bad ones! I picked the shirt up this afternoon, did other housely duties this afternoon (made up a bunch of potstickers! Yum!!), brought J dinner at work, and then spent the evening focused on this. I am finishing it before sleep, and that feels so good! I only could get off this one shot before my camera battery got tired. What do you think?

Much better than this, right? 

Not a bad new blouse for $0.80 right? ;)

Thrifty Day

Alright, confession time: thrift shops have always scared me a bit. The organization doesn't make sense to my brain, things are often dusty, and once I finally find something pretty it never seems to be my size. Usually I walk out disheartened and frustrated. But I read this one particular blog post that used some simple sewing to make a funny shirt into a beautiful and wearable blouse. Maybe the clothes will get another chance soon.

As far as other things go, I'm much more optimistic. And I do like that I can drop off the things I don't need and buy thing someone else doesn't need. It feels good to help cut back on waste. Today I ran into a new-to-me shop and was able to grab:

a fruit basket,

a sweet tea cup,

and a few greeting cards. The total was less than a $1.10. Are you serious?! We no longer have fruit strewn about the counter. That's worth the whole price to me. :) And since I went in for the basket, it's a good thing that the other items were a cheap splurge.


On a side note, I've never been a big collector of things. It always seems like if you say out loud that you like to collect something, you will be getting that for every holiday from everyone you know forever, which is quite daunting in most cases. However, I love tea cups. Something about them is so precious and light. Please note family and friends, this does not mean I want to have a house full of every type of tea cup :), but if someday I had a wall similar to this in my kitchen, I would be thrilled. 

From Girlfriend to Wife: A Testament to Joy

It's been an incredible transition from being a single girl to a married woman. Part of that reason is due to the huge location move. Although there were many teary days and nights after the excitement wore off, I have settled in a bit now. It takes much effort on my part to meet new friends and even more to let them into my confidence. Those first months were very lonely with J so busy with school. And then a funny thing happened. We came home for Christmas break and it just didn't feel like home the way I was expecting. I couldn't wait during those last couple days to come back home to Indiana where we had our own rhythm of life, simple as it is.
In the last two weeks the Lord has done such a great work in me. Some of you may know that I struggle on and off with the stumbling block of depression and overwhelming feelings of despair. Some days it was unbearable. Some days it was just on the back burner. And others, I felt totally free. During one of the unbearable days, I was able to talk with my dear friend, Kaaren, from home. I felt totally useless. New wife, not very patient and loving, surely not doing the best job in that department, working a job that is bearable on the best days, not making an impact in any of the children's lives, lacking close and meaningful relationships, missing the fellowship I had had not many months before, no longer in school (something I knew exactly how to do), exhausted, and unable to see any point to what I was doing. I tell you this (really, putting it out there for the whole world to see) not for you to feel sorry for me, but to show you how powerful and faithful our Father is!
Kaaren so helped me see the light. I have been entrusted with a great responsibility. I am to take care of the adopted and loved son of a king! Is there a more important job than that? In our society, the roles put on women are very interesting. What is expected is to be married, gracious, loving, sexy, fit, to work full time, to love your job, to be involved in other things, and to have children (whether or not you are actually the one raising them if you are working full time is another topic for another time).

Here I am, hardly doing any of the these. But I am not judged by societies expectations. I have been given certain responsibilities and not others. I can praise the Lord that I do not have more on my plate! It feels like it's overflowing as it is. Instead, I can now focus and become better at doing the little things.
What this has looked like in the past week may seem small, but my spirit is so joyful I refuse to discount the importance of these steps:

• I wake up just a half hour earlier each day (6 instead of 6:30) so that I can collect my self, get ready, pack up lunches, and make breakfast with time to semi-clean up so that the morning is not stressful and chaotic for J and I.
• During the day I focus on putting J first. I strive for "yes, of course" to be my default answer instead of being prickly and annoyed, which is so easy to fall into. I remind myself to act with the grace and excitement that mirror the gratefulness and love I have for this man. He's wonderful and I want to treat him so.
• I also am doing a better job of getting in physical activity. Some days it's easy to go for a walk with the sun shinning. When it's so cold, I hardly want to move though. I've been making efforts to get to the gym (and HGTV shows really help make the time feel fun and short). I don't usually want to go, but I am never sorry I went. 
• I take time out of each day for rest and reflection. This would look different for everyone, but for me it is a nightly bath. It's a time for me to clear my racing mind, get nice and warm, pamper myself a bit, think over my day, and pray. It is the perfect way to end each day. 
• I have started focusing more on studying and learning more about God's word. How am I to someday teach my children to be lovers and doers of the Word if I am not already? Even though children are not on the horizon yet, this was a great kick in the pants for my priorities. 
• I clean less and worry less about my house. Mom, please don't freak out ;) It's not that the house is dirty; now, I just choose not to let the guilt of the bathroom not getting cleaned for a week and a day to totally derail my peace.

Finding things that keep your spirit peaceful and joyful, and staying focused our Heavenly Father are the only ways to battle depression. Some days it's a little fight and some days it's a war. For any other's in the trenches: Keep fighting the good fight!

Productive Afternoon

Today I didn't get any subbing jobs. This has only happened once before since I started at the end of September. So, what should I do with this unexpected free day? Well, let me just tell you.

I had made a to-do list for myself just last night because I had so many things floating around in my head to finish. I totally tackled it! I cleaned out from under our kitchen sink because... eek!.. we have a mouse. Yes, totally gross and sick. I can hear it scamper through the walls sometimes and it is driving me crazy that we haven't caught it yet! So, I took everything out from under the sink and put a piece of cracker in the middle of the sticky trap. I hope I can report good news soon! (One good thing, apparently it's only entrance is into the sink cupboard since no other place has been nibbled on.) I also reorganized our linen closet. We had all these extras (deodorant, soap, shaving cream, etc) taking up prime shelf real estate. Lots of things got moved under the bathroom sink cupboard, which was previously basically empty, and now there's room for what we actually use on a day to day basis. Then I reorganized our shoes in the entry closet. We have a lot of shoes. I think we're about even on the number of pairs and I'll leave you to guess numbers ;). It gets out of hand sometimes even though we have a bunch of shoes organizers. So I did the same thing I did in the bathroom- put the most used items in the easiest to get to spots. And I sorted and folded our glove/hat/scarf/my purses bin, which was out of control. After that I took down all our sweaters and sweatshirts off the top shelf of our closet and re-folded and re-stacked. Ah, they look so much better. The house is slowly feeling better and better. It seems like every month or so, something gets moved or a picture put up or something switched or turned. I like it more and more!

On another note, J and I celebrated our 6 month anniversary this past Sunday! I cannot believe the months have gone so fast! We kept things pretty simple and it was perfect. After going to church, we stopped by the grocery store to pick up fresh salmon. We cooked up a lovely lunch of salmon, steamed broccoli, homemade rolls (made by J, mentioned a post or two back), and we had Gouda cheese and a little Chardonnay wine for an appetizer while things cooked up. Homework and the Superbowl took up the rest of the day. It was lovely.

One more thing, yesterday I started going to a Bible study at my church specifically catered to young wives and moms. It was so wonderful. I'm involved in a few other things, but all of them are with college students. I have been out of classes only since May, but I can see that non-college students are going to be lovely variety. And, I felt very cute- I had time to work out before and I had a fun outfit :).

Cardigan- Halogen, 

Awesome lace shirt- Mom (thanks for the extended borrow!!), 

Belt- Macys, Jean Trousers- Jag Jeans, Shoes- Ecco

Recipe Update

We tried two brand new recipes this week, and I am here to report both were a HUGE success! 


The first delicious meal was Vegetarian Quinoa Chili. I didn't follow the directions exactly. I put all the ingredients in our slow cooker (scaled down a notch so it wouldn't make too much). It was perfect- Super easy and our little apartment smelled so good. I think next time I'll add just a touch more chili powder and some more tomato sauce since it is really chunky. It's been perfect for taking for lunches with those Saltines I scored for a dollar this week. :)



The second big win was the Stuffed Peppers. Those I made up just tonight. I thought the chili smelled good while cooking, but this was even more incredible (perhaps because I was more hungry :). J and I each got a whole pepper since they are so nice and calorie conscious. They have a little bit of a southwest feel and would be great with some sliced olives. And to everyone reading: They were SIMPLE. EASY. SO TASTY. I think the name scared me. I thought they would take awhile and be fancy and complicated. Nope. You now have zero excuses, except the price of peppers if you're on a tight budget. But hey, we made it work! :) And for everyone's information, we could barely barely taste a difference between the green and red peppers. 


We also had a bonus cooking session too. J had a serious hankering for white bread. We make all our own breads, but we always use either whole wheat or whole white wheat which are much more nutritious, but also much more dense. Unfortunately I didn't get any pictures during the process, but I am happy to say we have about 2 1/2 dozen rolls in the freezer ready to rising and baking!

Weekend Wednesday

J's school schedule has been absolutely nuts ever since Christmas. The weekend usually include less time together than the weekdays, and with many of the nights taken up by meetings, Bible studies, and work, Wednesdays have started becoming something of a date night for us. This weekend was especially busy with J's big senior design project, and I have finally finished all my credit hours. Yes, last week I officially finished everything and as soon as everything goes through at the end of the term, I will officially have my degree!! And so, we had a fun date this past Wednesday. We went out to eat at Applebees (thanks to Grandpa's Christmas present :), then walked around a bit, exploring this really neat Christian bookstore, and after that it was time for our movie to start. We saw the second Sherlock Holmes movie. It was so good! I loved the first one and this one was absolutely just as good. If you haven't seen it yet, I definitely recommend it. It was so so good to have time to reconnect with my husband. I'm very thankful for our "weekend Wednesdays."