So it's April....

and I'm in a funk.

I just can't bring myself to blog these last few weeks.

I'm not sure why... but I wish that I knew. I feel like my head is stuck in the clouds.

A lil' MacBook photo booth is always fun. haha! 

I promise I'm trying my best to get out of it.

I've been leading a pretty lazy, low-key, under the radar kinda life lately. Nothing is going bad and everything is going well... so, I'm flat out bamboozled on my lack-of umph!

I am driving down to Florida this week with my sister-in-law. She's moving down there.  Maybe I'll come back refreshed and a blog machine from that trip. I hope so. I miss blogging...

I do better writing when I write it out in my journal first or at least outline the thoughts and then blog them. I haven't been writing at all lately. So maybe I need to carry my journal with me and get some inspiration from something... somewhere. Maybe I'll find it during my 18 hour road trip?

I mean, I committed myself to writing this blog to get me out of a funk and have something to put my energy into. Now I've found myself in another funk and on an unwanted blogging hiatus. Dud!

I just hope that I find my normal headspace this week. I really, really do. I miss it.

Photo Explosion!

While on my recent organizational rampage and closet overhaul I unleashed a beast. A photo beast!

This big, huge, mess-of-a-pile of pictures was just shoved in bags and bursting out of that one container. They are old family pictures mostly... from vacations, school events and my nieces as lil' babes. When we moved into this house I just shoved all of these pictures into a closet of an extra bedroom. With the intention of putting them in order and by occasion. When I opened the closet to start the overhaul... it came spilling out.

I couldn't just walk away from them when they all dumped out. Kelso was taking his afternoon siesta and it was a great time to get started on putting some sort of order to the pictures. I started to sort them into piles by event so that eventually all I would have to do it put them in order and get them stored properly.  After about 40 minutes Kelso woke up and I let him outside and went back to the merry world of photo sorting. Then I heard Kelso barking to be let it after his outdoor adventure. At this point, I called it a day with sorting. Closed the door to the extra bedroom and went to get the dog.

I opened the sliding door and that mutt came running into the house like he had fireworks shooting after him and bolted right to the extra bedroom. He slammed into the door, opened it, jumped on the bed and went ape-crazy with the pictures! Needless to say they are no longer in order and some of them have bite holes in them. I could have screamed! But it was easier to laugh. Those pictures have been sitting in that closet for months unorganized and before that closet another closet unorganized for years. They can wait- they're not going anywhere.

So... someday, hopefully soon and by soon I mean who knows when,  I will have those memories sorted, put in order and stored properly.  

The ABC's of me

I saw this earlier during the week while I was reading one of the blogs that I read on a day-to-day basis, The Glamorous Life of a Housewife. I thought it was a cute lil' "get to know me" kinda deal...so, why not give it a- go? However, I did change the letter U. It used to say "U. Underwear:" and I thought that was strange!

Here are my ABC's of Me  for all of you, who ever all of you are.

A. Age: 24

B. Bed size: King- sometimes it feels like a twin with the space that is left after the dog takes over. 

C. Chore you dislike: Dusting... uugggghh! It is by far the worst. Laundry is also not one of my favorites... I do it at a very slow pace. Sometimes it takes me like 2 days to wash, dry, fold and put it away. 

D. Dogs:  Kelso! He is a Rhodesian Ridgeback/Hound mix and around a year and a half old. We adopted him back in September. He's the happiest pound puppy I've ever met! 

E. Essential start to your day: After hitting snooze for a minimum of 7 times I pull myself out of my warm comfy bed and immediately brush my teeth and use mouth wash. 

F. Favorite color: My favorite color is purple. But based on my wardrobe one would think my favorite color is black... it's just so slimming!

G. Gold or silver: I would prefer to wear silver and white gold. 

H. Height: 5 feet 6 inches 

I. Instruments you play(ed): Steering wheel drums and air guitar... mostly the drums. 

J. Job title: Elementary School Substitute Teacher. I love my job and I know that my full-time dream job is going to come soon. When it does- man, oh man.. I'll be the best teacher ever! 

K. Kids: Not yet... but someday. I want to have children more than anything.

L. Live: A happenin' place in Northeast Ohio. O-H.... 

M. Mom’s name: Mom or when the mood strikes I call her Donna-Donna. 

N. Nicknames:  Jaim and Jamers are most common.

O. Overnight hospital stays: I was in the hospital for some time when I was a 6 months old for pneumonia. I was born early and me getting sick was attributed to my lungs being a lil' underdeveloped. 

 

P. Pet Peeves: I can't think of one thing exactly but people who consciously are ignorant drive me crazy! Choose to be nice and do something good! 

Q. Quote from a movie: "You're killin' me, Smalls!" - The Sand Lot 

S. Siblings: I have two older sisters, Wendi and Keri. 

T. Time you wake up: Depends on if I have to work or not. If I do have to go into teach then I get up at 6:30-6:45ish. If I don't have to work I get up later like between 8:00 and 9:30. I LOVE TO SLEEP!

U. Ultimate weekend getaway: My favorite weekend city is Chicago. It's big city feel, very clean, not crazy expensive and it's just fun. The shopping on Michigan Ave is a definitely a perk too! 

V. Vegetables you don’t like: Radishes and I only eat mushrooms if they are chopped really small and cooked. 

W. What makes you run late:  Usually it's just my special talent of snoozing the alarm in the morning.  

X. X-rays you’ve had: I've had them on my chompers at the dentist. I used to have to get chest x-ray's every year when I was younger because of my respiratory issues. I've also had to get one on my back this past summer because of a stress fracture in my spine, ouch! 

Y. Yummy food you make: In general I like to think that I'm an alright cook but the most yummy thing that I cook I has to be my Grammie's chicken paprikash. Yumm, yummmm, yummmmmmmm! 

Z. Zoo animal favorites: Elephants, I talked about why I love them in my past post. I like that they symbolize something and that I am able to have a personal connection to that  meaning. Plus, the lil' babies are so stinkin' cute! 

Now you've read my ABC's .... come back soon, won't you please! 

Random Act of Kindness

Last week in the mail I got a package and I was all excited because I thought it was my new phone case that I had ordered. I grabbed all the mail, went inside and like a kid on their birthday I tore it open. Much to my surprise it was not my new pretty purple phone case. But- it was this shiny silver bubble envelope from Dogeared Jewels and Gifts. Inside the shiny envelope was a small bag with a card inside. On the card was a bracelet with an elephant charm dangling.

Elephants are my favorite animal and I have loved them since I was a little girl. I like to think that elephants bring me luck and they are a constant symbol of wisdom, strength and loyalty- especially to family. The card with the bracelet on on said, "Make a wish... and put on your bracelet. When your bracelet wears off, your wish should come true. Ask, believe, receive! 

I read everything inside the shiny silver bubble envelope and still had no idea who it was from. I went back and looked through the package that the shiny envelope came in and found a paper folded up with the shipping information on it and in a lil' box at the bottom of the paper was a note. It read, 

" I can't wait to see all of your wishes become a reality- a person as amazing as you deserves everything they could ever want! I could never wish for a better friend than you... love you, always - Amy" 

My eyes welled up and my head clouded up with thoughts of how lucky I am to have Amy as one of my closest and best friends. Her kindness spills over into everyones life that she touches. She is one of the kindest people that I know. She commits herself to everything that she does wholeheartedly and doesn't ever expect anything in return. Amy has enough kindness in her heart to go around the world tenfold. I can only wish that everyone is as lucky to find such a true and genuine friendship as I have with found. 

These stories, the random act of kindness stories, are not heard of too often these days and I wanted to share it with you in hopes of spreading a little bit of happy and trying put a smile on a few faces. Everyday we all wake up with the ability to act randomly and be kind. We should all ask ourselves, "How have I acted lately?" 

Hopefully you can answer that question with something thoughtful, selfless and kind.  

40 days

My entire life I have been grounded in religion. I was raised Lutheran, went to church every Sunday and went to Lutheran schools until I went away to college. I still go to church regularly and I stand firm in my faith. For me, my faith helps me stay balanced and keeps me grounded. It's reassuring to know that I can always turn to God and he will guide me in what is best for me and my life.

For Christians around the world Lent begins this week with Ash Wednesday. Just a day away! Lent is the 40 days in the church calendar leading up to Easter. In my family growing up we always gave something up during Lent- usually insignificant things like fast food, pop, sweets you get the picture. As I got older I realized that it shouldn't be about giving up the insignificant things that you know you'll be fine not having for 40 days. We should challenge ourselves to live our lifes with out something that will be a struggle to not have. I found this on a website and think it addresses Lent spot on.

Every time we want what we have given up, we are reminded of what Christ gave up for us. Christ gave his life. While our sacrifice pales in comparison, it serves as a frequent reminder of God's overwhelming and complete love for each of us in our season of preparation for the resurrection.

In the past I've committed to things like reading a book every week of lent, going to the gym everyday or trying to stop my swearing habit. This year one thing I have chosen is to be vegetarian for the 40 days- no meat!



There are many different types of vegetarians and the diet that I'm going to follow during Lent will classify me as a "pesco-vegetarian". This mean that I won't eat red meat and poultry but I will eat fish, dairy products and eggs. I am going to limit the amount of fish and eggs I eat because I want to stay as true to vegetarian as I can. I have begun training for a triathlon and so I do need to get protein to fuel my body that fish and eggs offer.

I think this might be hard considering that I still have to cook dinner for Gregorian every night and he is a meat and potatoes with a side of meat kinda guy. But I'm up for the challenge and I'm excited to share with you all how it goes and maybe even some meat-free recipes that I come up with. So keep an eye out for those! I'm hoping that in the end I will have a greater appreciation for those who have committed their dietary lifestyle to being vegetarian. I'm also fan of "clean eating", meaning that we eat organic and minimally processed foods. I also generally cook everything from scratch. Overall, I'm really excited about the health benefits that will come from my 40 days of being a "pesco-vegetarian".

I have also committed myself to a "do good" type thing for Lent. I don't want to share it yet because I think that it will have a bigger impact and I will appreciate it more once Lent is over. I guess that is another thing to watch out for in 40 days!

What do you have planned to do for Lent?

Potluck Posting!

It has been months since I have done a potluck posting. So, I wracked my brain to think of some lil' bits of my life to share with you in this post.

IN LIKE A LION, OUT LIKE A LAMB
Geeze-louise do I hope that this is true. March is here and hopefully spring lamb-like weather comes with it. We have had such a long winter. Our first big snow came in November and it has only been a week since the last blizzard. In NE Ohio we are used to this weather but, I mean come on! Enough is enough.

I can not wait for all of the snow to melt and for things to be green again. Seeing brown and grey everyday is depressing. The 5 day forecast is not looking too swell...

... but I'm holding onto hope and thinking positive about coming out of this month with lamb-like weather!

MY PRESIDENTIAL SWEET TOOTH
Easter is coming up in a few weeks and that means that jellybeans have hit the shelves. I love, love, loooooove jelly beans... maybe not as much as the late President Reagan did, but love non-the-less. My favorite kind are Starburst flavored ones. This year I decided to try the Starburst Sours.

 

I must say, they are yummy but they still don't compare to the originals. My lil' way of stopping myself from eating the entire bag in one fell swoop is that I take 2 of each flavor at a time and that is my "serving". I try my best to only have 2 "servings" a day. I know that seems a lil' weird. But, hey- we all have our own lil' things and this works for me! These lil' babies are sugar packed and I don't need any more teeth issues.  Ohhhh,  jellybeans- how I love thee!

NO CLOSET IS SAFE!
I have been reading so many blogs and websites lately that have had great ideas for getting more organized and using the space that you have wisely. I'm a self proclaimed organizational nut our hallway linen closet and food pantry are labeled by shelf. I believe that everything has a place. So as you can imagine reading these blogs and websites just gets my wheels turning.

I know this is a lil' excessive but try not to judge. I already have drawn up plans, literally, to over-hall and reorganize every closet in my house.



I am a planner. I must have a plan going into a project of any kind. So look out closets- you are in for a rude awakening!

NO DECENT POTLUCK LEAVES YOU WITHOUT DESSERT!
This is a picture of my cutie-pa-tootie lil' cousins that I spend the weekend with in PA a few weeks ago. Spending time with them was wonderful and they are just too sweet for words!

Here is something that everyone should have.

Yepper, you are seeing it correctly... it's a robe.

Once upon a time when I was in college I went to Chicago with three of my friends for a weekend trip. While we were there we went to Victoria's Secret during their semi-annual sale and I bought a robe. It was the most wonderful robe in all the land. It was super soft, teal blue with white polka dots and it was knee length. Everything thing about it I l-o-v-e, loved!

Then during the move from college to the house we lived in after we graduated, it went missing and has never been seen again. It was a sad, sad day. Then that next Christmas, Santa was oh-so-good to me and got me a new robe. It's the one that's pictured above. It's thick, comfy and just one of those gotta have it items for me.

There are not many things that I like more than getting out of the shower and just kickin' it in my robe. In the morning I bee-bop around with my robe and slippers on sipping on my coffee and taking my sweet ol' time getting the day started. Having a good robe is a must and I think it definably is something that everyone should have. Gregorian even has one. His had a zebra stripe print on it. We got at a fancy-pants hotel we stayed at in Washington D.C. a few years ago. Funny thing is, he's actually wearing it right now... whatta' coincidence.

Having a robe is like getting a nice, soft, fluffy hug and everyone deserves that!