Bein' Happy

My email inbox has been getting a lot of activity lately. You know the kind: The messages that get deleted before you even open them because you don't know the sender and can't figure out how the subject line even pertains to you. I just try to funnel through these, wasting the least time possible. All that being said, a little gem snuck in. I was asked to review a book, and since I'm a complete sucker for books, I had to read on. Turns out it was for a book called The Happy Book:

I was smitten right off the bat by how pretty it was, and the summary of it seemed to fit so nicely into this little blog space here. I read it and thought it might be something you would like too. Take a look at a little excerpt from the intro:

"The Happy Book is about celebrating what makes you glad, what gives you joy... what makes you quietly appreciative and full inside, or what makes you feel just dang content..."

It goes on to say that we practice and work on and hone so many things/skills/processes, but we don't practice being happy. We actually let happiness pass by in fleeting moments. This book is organized as a little journal that helps you to tap into what makes you happy. It's not this deep, complicated soul-searching process either. It's fun and goofy and light-hearted. From drawing hand turkeys, to listing your favorite scents, to describing how you'd spend an unplugged day, it's all about simple joys that are unique to you. I couldn't help but smile the whole way through. Oh, and did I mention that it has little quotes all the way through it? You know how I love a good quote. My favorite one from the book:

Have a wonderfully happy weekend!

Thankfulness Project

Okay, so I'm all about copying this week... I saw another great and simple (a definite prereq for me) idea. This thankfulness project is much like an advent calendar, but for Thanksgiving. When I saw it, I stopped down and gathered my supplies.

I resisted the urge to make it perfect and just went with what I had on hand and could finish in less than an hour. (Seriously, don't look too closely! And did I take into consideration that Thanksgiving doesn't always fall on the 24th? Not even this year: Oops.) I'm thrilled with what we've created, especially the message that goes along with it.

We're each writing down something that we're thankful for everyday and stashing it in the daily pocket. Then on Thanksgiving we can revisit everyone's thoughts. I'm thinking this will help us to celebrate this precious holiday and get us in the right mindset for the Christmas season.

This was so simple, really. I just used a placemat and the brown wrapping paper I keep on hand, but think about the cuteness potential if given a bit more creative planning and time! What about some fabric pockets stitched in a fun contrasting color? Of course, that would require me to know how to sew and well... I'm perfectly pleased with this quick and easy version! And I'm thankful to Kristen for sharing her idea and instructions with us... I might just write that down on my little strip of paper today.

Help!

I've fallen and I can't stop spending!

{I was going to use an image from the "Help: I've fallen and I can't get up" commercials, but I thought it might be in poor taste. So now I've opted to spam you with more pictures of my kids. Slightly less poor tasted?}

Seriously though, for my birthday I asked for a day of shopping, with no time constraints. My hubby had the day off, so I too took the day off. (Wasn't that nice of me?) I left the house at around 10:00 in the morning and didn't return until after 6:00. I shopped and shopped. I must have tried on 83 pairs of jeans and perused every rack of clothing. It was amazing, truly amazing. When I came home I was singing "Pretty Woman", swinging my shopping bags, feeling all glorious like Julia Roberts did (minus the hooker part). I had more fun showing off my buys without (much) guilt. My plan was to put that experience into a compartment labeled special one time birthday present. Nice plan in theory.... The shopping bug has done bitten me. I'll be using all my self-control reserves to resist it. No wonder I haven't been able to stop eating the Halloween candy!

Fall Decorating Idea

I have a friend (Hi Tara!) who has the ability to festively decorate like no other. Her seasonal knick knacks fit so seamlessly into her everyday decor (which is impeccable as well). I leave her house so inspired (and wanting to redesign my entire house: Hello house envy). There's not a whole lot of time left to fall decorate, but my sweet friend and this decorating idea inspired me. While it will take me a while to hone her decorating skills, I just happened to have all the necessary bits to create one new piece. Check it out:

It's simple and festive and classy. Perfect!

Now for the rest of the house...

And thanks to everyone who entered to win a PS printable. Your encouraging words are priceless! The random numbers were 26, 28, and 6. Dina, Kalee and Tracey look for an email from me soon!

Monday Meal Plan

My goal in mind while planning this week was to cook healthy-ish meals that the kids are sure to eat. I'm trying to balance out the extra sugar they are ingesting due to halloween festivities and all the trick-or-treating loot hanging around. This is what I came up with:

Monday:

tortellini

salad

Tuesday:

turkey/cheese/pear paninis

side of cantaloupe

Wednesday:

cooking playdate:

brisket tacos with avocado salsa verde

Thursday/Friday:

pork chops and rice

(trying my mil's recipe... will report back if I can do it justice.)

steamed broccoli

Saturday:

out

Sunday:

?

I'm still awaiting inspiration for Sunday... Any ideas?

Oh, and I haven't fogotten about the PS Printables giveaway.

Look for an announcement tomorrow!

Words To Inspire...

{beautiful thought}

Have a wonderful and safe weekend!

PS Printables In Use

It's been fun seeing pictures of my family rules and menu planners all framed, hung and in use. Here are a few pictures that have been sent my way.

{Loving them on Amy's bright green wall: So fun!}

{check out that super cute use of chalkboard paint!

And I just realized Tonya's got a diy up on the same type of thing.}

{She asked for the recipe section to be added... such organization!}

{This neat arrangement as seen here.}

Two of these are custom sets, using their own personal rules. I took the one with the Bible verses , modified it to go along with the standard set, and made it available in my shop. I've just got four printables available over there right now, but there are lots more in my head (just have to find the time to actualize them). Leave a comment here if you'd like your choice of a menu planner, calendar, or a set of family rules. I'll randomly pick someone and email your choice straight to you.

So I guess this little post turned into a giveaway:

Leave a comment as to which printable you'd choose if you were to win.

Who knows, maybe I'll giveaway a couple.

I'll let you know on Monday!

Spending Hiatus: Revisiting the Exclusions

Remember back when I started this Spending Hiatus and I made the exclusions list? We went on hiatus out necessity because our income what mostly cut out due to a layoff. It was a rough go there, but I really think we benefited from the back to the basics mentality.

Then, 6 months later, in July we entered into what I deemed Addendum~Possible Added Exclusions for when hubby gets a job. We were still very careful with our money, trying to play catch-up. We actually didn't add many of the exclusions to the budget, but did loosen up on our spending, especially in the grocery department.

Well, we're now so thankfully entering Addendum 2~ If the new J-O-B is really good (benefits: YAY!). We're currently assessing where we are going to spend the "extra" money... We are trying not to slip into the we've-scrimped-and-saved-so-much-that-we-deserve-to-spend-wildly phase, but we are going to add some exclusions/extras in... Even the thought of it sounds extravagant, but I'm sure we'll adjust.

I wanted to get that out there so you didn't think I have completely fallen off the spending hiatus wagon, as it's technically going on until the end of the calendar year. But we're working in some "exclusions", so I'm sure you'll be hearing me talk (and helping me to make :-) decisions about some purchases and home updates. The kitchen in on the "to do" list... And I'm already hankering for a new sofa... And some new duds... And... And... See, we really do need to be careful. It's about keeping it simple, focusing on family, and not accumulating stuff. Keep reminding me of that.

I love this quote. It will be a good one to keep in mind.

Feel free to keep reminding me!

Treasure Revealed

I took pictures of my General's Desk/Chest a few months back and put it up on Craig's List for $40, as that's what I paid for it. We were brainstorming ways to make some money and we decided to try to sell some of our "extra" furniture. I've always thought it was a cool piece, but it's pretty worn and it's barely seen being used currently as bedside table. Luckily it didn't sell because I just ran across this Vintage Collapsable Army Field Desk available for a whopping $750:

Wow! Not sure why I all the sudden feel richer, but it was like being on Antique's Roadshow! Wonder what else I've got laying around...

Meal Plan Monday

{Maybe one of these is in the plans??}

It's a weird week over here in our household... We've got birthdays galore (nephew, brother-in-law, mother-in-law, father-in-law, and mine) going on... My hubby has his last day at his job and first day on a new one, so there's potential happy hours... There are just a lot of possible eating-out opportunities and unknowns that could pop up. And it being bithday week for me (we celebrate in weeks :-), I'm not planning to spend all that much time in the kitchen. I don't not want to have a plan, yet I don't want to over buy and potentially waste groceries/money.

What I've decided to do is to plan for a few stand by meals to float over the whole week. They're easy ones that can easily be prepared by someone else and ones that will last until next week if we don't get to them:

Breakfast taquitos

Soft tacos

Spaghetti

That'll do it. I thought about not planning, but I've gotten so used to having a plan that I think I'd be too stressed to not. Wow: I've come quite a ways since I first begain meal planning!!

Love Me Some Packages!

I love getting mail... the mailman and the UPS guy are two of my favorite visitors. They make me so happy when they stop by my house. The squeaky brakes of that big, brown truck instantly brighten my day. The hubby has even eluded (jokingly, of course) as to why exactly I love them so very much. This week was a particularly nice week because four packages were delivered to my house... 2 purchases, 1 giveaway win, and a surprise:

Something I couldn't pass up from Little Byrd Vintage (Those litle green and red birds were too perfect to pass on):

A purchase for my little biz from Shoestring Home (Remember I've loved this store for sometime now):

The spoils from Kasey's shop LolaB's Boutique (I'm so lucky!! I can't believe it!):

A sweet surprise from sweet Joyce (DELICIOUS!):

Their sites and stores are full of good stuff!! Thank you ladies! You brightened my week! And I haven't forgotten about some recent tags, so if you've tagged me I'll be catching up on those soon. You know how I love a game of tag!

Have a wonderful weekend!

My Aha! Moment

My short term memory stinks. I used to blame it on "baby brain" when I was first pregnant (6.5 years ago!), but it never really came back. It's seriously bad: I can think of something while in the family room and forget it before I reach the back of the house, and we're not talking heading to the west wing or anything. We live in 1500 square feet. Not good.

So a few weeks, I'm in the bathroom getting ready for the day and realize that I'm low on deodorant. I make a mental not that I need to add it to the grocery list before heading to the grocery store. Well, guess who got dangerously low on deodorant? (Kinda scary when we were still close to 100 degree heat.)

Then the "Aha!" moment came: I need a list in the back of the house too. So before I could forget my brilliant idea, I cranked out this for the back of the house using a garage sale frame and leftover spray paint and chalkboard paint:

I'm thinking it's going to help me out in the short-term memory department. I don't know why I didn't think of it a while ago (or perhaps I did and just forgot). I just love it, and so do the kids! I'm a late bloomer in the chalkboard painting department, but after creating two I'm wanting to cover everything in it. Any chalkboard project ideas to share?

Words To Inspire...

{found at this awesome blog}

I'm going to breathe this thought in and try to keep it in my inner workings.

Such goodness in the one simple statement.

Park It

While I was taking my little timeout last week, I coincidentally came across these fun little mats. We use "timeout" in our family as a way of disciplining. My little guy still takes his timeout in his crib. I'm dreading teaching him to stay in a designated spot. Not sure if these would help speed up the process, but they sure are cute (and portable)! What do you think?